The Message and the Messenger

K. writes:

I've shared my concerns and doubts with other aspirants in person (away from the lodge setting). Usually I'd be advised to "do the work and avoid the politics". Good Advice, I think.  But this situation is similar to loving your workmates at the office, but having serious doubts about the company itself. I have been struggling with the ethics of this situation for a long time (and occasionally out loud on this list). 

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K, I read your critique on your web site, and I have to conclude that what's needed here is some keen discernment (discrimination K6) between the Message and the Messenger, where in this case the "Message" is the Ageless Wisdom teachings and the "Messenger" is the Human Institution which distributes the "Message".

So the dilemmas become:

Can one criticize the Message without criticizing the Messenger? 

If the Message is valuable, does this automatically elevate the value of the Messenger?

Can one criticize the Messenger without criticizing the Message?

If the Messenger is the vehicle which is carrying the Message, then if one kills (or damages, or criticizes, etc..) the Messenger, then does one have an alternative means of still obtaining the message (or "lessons" as the case may be) ?

Can a "flawed" Messenger still deliver a "pure Message", or do flaws in the Messenger also taint the message itself?

Does the Messenger really matter at all?

If not, then maybe it's because the "Message" chooses different vehicles (Messengers) at different times, in order to present the Message in a form which can have the greatest impact and assimilation upon humanity?

Are there any other more accurate Messengers out there (FLO, OTO, AMORC, etc...) which do a better job of carrying the Message, or do they ALL color the message in order to make it more palatable for the different constituencies which these organizations serve?

Can one ever do away completely with the Messenger?

I say YES, and it occurs when one comes into conscious contact and awareness of the guidance of the Inner Teacher.  ALL Outer Teachers, ultimately must be proven flawed as all Outer Vehicles have their own personalities which are more or less transparent and/or opaque as the case may be.

BUT just because B. (or any other organization) has its own Unique Personality does not make it any different in kind from any other vehicle or Custodian of Ageless Wisdom. What matters is whether or not all of its thoughts/words/deeds/messages are consistent with its MAIN MESSAGE (the Ageless Wisdom Teachings).

So assuming that we are OK with the core message, about all one could say about this or any particular vehicle is that:

It is really only this last criticism which really has any punch, for it points out an inconsistency between the Messenger and the Message.

HOWEVER, one must first UNDERSTAND the Message (and its practical application in the personality realm) in order to judge the Messenger (personality) by that message.

Here's a final question:

Should we be judging the Messenger at all?

JC
 (Working the VERIFY the Message, who-ever the Messenger may be)

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S.E.,

Don't fret. This issue comes down to the Message Vs. the Messenger. If you don't want someone to drink from a glass containing poison, then even though the glass itself may be very fine and of high quality, (if one gets on the scene late enough but still not too late) they may find it necessary to slap the glass out of their hand before they drink.

But the issue here is not the glass.

She can drink of that glass just fine (if she's of a mind too, which I really don't know), but the issue is that I don't want her drinking the poison (as I "smell" it) that happens to be in this glass at this time. All I can really do is to try and help her understand that while the glass itself (the personality of that individual) is OK, its current cargo (the message/philosophy being conveyed) is NOT OK as it contains a "dis-integrating" energy.

So obviously I care enough about my friend to not want to see her become "dis-integrated".

I have nothing against the individual in question, but sometimes while the vehicle is very kind and pleasant at the personality level, they can be "off the mark" in terms of the message they're delivering. Discrimination then too is the ability to "separate" the vehicle from the essence, and the personality from the message that that personality is delivering.

Of course the key is "discrimination". ie Knowing the difference between nutritious food and the kinds of things that taste sweet in the mouth, but are sour in the belly. So not only must one discriminate between the messenger and the message, but they must also apply discrimination to the message itself.

Dave Koresh, Jim Jones, etc.. I'm sure all had very charismatic and magnetic personalities, but their dupes all had one failing - their inability to "separate" the messenger from the message.

Btw this was a similar theme in my critique of the recent Joan of Arc movie "The Messenger". It seems that when a person comes into contact with some energizing power (from where-ever) it also "energizes" their personality (both higher and lower aspects), and the individual can make the error of assuming they've "found IT" (truth, God, the one true path, etc...) based upon the magnetic effect it has upon them.

The hazards of being "half-wise", are many.

"The half-wise, recognizing the comparative unreality of the Universe, imagine that they may defy its laws. Such are vain and presumptuous fools, and they are broken upon the rocks and torn asunder by virtue of their own folly"

Transmutation, not presumptuous denial, is the weapon of the master.

JC