This article by John-Roger was previously published in the Movement Newspaper, March 1985
“It is important when we are dealing with our beloveds that we do not violate the ground they are walking upon. It is not our role to judge their rate of progress. We demonstrate our support for them by manifesting our love.” – John-Roger
When we attempt to achieve the ideal in this world, we are seeking after a quality which is designed not to be attained. The purpose of the ideal is to give us a model by which we can improve. For this reason, the perfect model, the ideal form or quality, is not found in the world. It is a standard we can use to improve what is already here. So, in a beauty contest or a car show, we may judge the winner by the one who most closely depicts the ideal. However, the criteria that one person adopts as being ideal may not qualify for another person and this may cause difficulties.
Historically, Moses gave us an ideal of codes and commandments, then Plato and Socrates presented our age with ideals of thought. Later, Jesus the Christ, who represents the line of Spirit back into God, demonstrated an ideal to guide our lives. The Mystical Traveler consciousness brings an ideal of living love, which is unconditional loving at all times.
Unconditional love is not an emotional expression. It is an inward response that represents the core of all beingness. When we love ourselves unconditionally, we love all things unconditionally, for the Self is in all things. This Self, which has become individualized into many forms, is the Truth, the Soul, the Spirit, the I AM and the Christ. Whatever term you choose, we are still dealing with the ideal.
To some extent, the ideal can be realized. However, all those which I have mentioned, from ideals in the world to the ideal of living love are expressions into the physical world. The codes and laws are given as models for this world. The example of living love, however, is the most difficult one to emulate and follow because it comes from a hidden place.
The teachings of the Christ were clearly presented to us through Jesus. Similarly, Moses delineated the Ten Commandments. These were ideal for the time and the level of consciousness that was present. The people at the time needed directives with which to formulate their lives. Today, we find that the Mosaic Law is still an ideal for us to follow. We can follow the teachings of Jesus and they remain ideal for us today. No one can live like Moses, nor can anyone live like Jesus, because Moses and Jesus have already done that. So, we live the teachings and through them we can realize part of the ideal.
Although the ideal cannot be found in the physical level, we can manifest it within our own beingness. Often it will appear as a state of silence. The ideal is realized in the silence. However, in the realization, nothing may be going on. Realization without actualization is a form of frustration. You can sit in the ideal of your own beingness, but because you look out into the world attempting to validate your spiritual experiences, you may never manifest your ideal. You might want your spiritual experiences to relate like everyone else’s, but they don’t. Therefore you may feel you have not fulfilled an ideal that they have set up.
Seeking after fulfillment in the world is to go after fool’s gold. The true gold is inside you and it is the ideal. Can you have the ideal inside? Yes, it is called self-realization. Realization is the process of dropping back inside yourself. Once you arrive at a certain state of manifestation you cannot sink roots and remain there. You must constantly reach to the next higher state. To do that in the physical body becomes a fallacy of the ideal for the ideal does not change. The body changes, the emotions change and the mind changes; therefore, they are not your ideal. The ideal is to do the best you can with what you have. That is reality, that is practical spirituality.
All these teachings were presented perfectly so that if man were to follow within the discipline, then he would come into this time and place with the manifestation of living love. It cannot be accomplished unless you are fulfilling the ideals as set down by all the prophets and all the law-givers.
If we are trying to be loving, we are not loving. But we can emulate love. This means that regardless of how others react to us, we always respond in love. That applies on whatever level we find ourselves; with the dishes we’re washing, the music we’re playing and the streets we walk. If we keep expressing the love inside of us, we are manifesting living love.
This does not mean we don’t establish standards for ourselves. A standard is a flexible point in time and space. When a child is young, you have a certain standard for it, something you establish for the child to reach and you do everything you can to assist it. After the child has reached the standard, you establish a new, higher standard for the child to go after.
Standards can create frustration if they seem impossible to accomplish. Therefore, one of the greatest standards is continually manifesting love. In the love, we are fulfilling our ideal on whatever level we find ourselves. It is important when we are dealing with our beloveds that we do not violate the ground they are walking upon. It is not our role to judge their rate of progress. We demonstrate our support for them by manifesting our love.
The message for this dispensation is change; that is the commandment. The ideal in this level is flexibility and change, because it is the only thing that is permanent here. Even as we manifest our love, we must continually be changing it. And love is the spiritual exercise that lifts us into God Consciousness.
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