The Essenes – Preparing the way – Then and NowThis material delves into the spiritual teachings of the Essenes and their role in preparing for the coming of Jesus of Nazareth. It explores the concept of a messenger sent to pave the way and the importance of prayer, meditation, love, and endurance in serving as a platform for the Master’s return. The text highlights the historical connection between the RAM group members and the Essenes, emphasizing the significance of internal peace for the Master’s return. It also discusses the continuation of Essene teachings in modern study groups and the relevance of their spiritual practices in today’s society. The material underscores the necessity of living a spiritually oriented life amidst intellectual challenges.
Preparing the way/sending the messenger
Q Concerning the lesson given on September the 22nd, 1973, the statement was made in the lesson about preparing the way. What is meant by preparing of the way?
S Behold, I send My messenger before thy face. He shall prepare thy way, see?
Q What was meant by the key?
S As given, behold, I send My messenger before thy face! This is as the key, that which goes before, as has been before, or even as that group known as Essenes came before too, see? In the preparation of the thought, in the preparation of the way, in the preparation or the presentation or the awakening or the awareness to give to that as the platform to that which will be as the awakened return of the Spirit or the One Who is Master of the Way, the Master of Life, the Master of Love, see?
Q We’ve been told, sir, that the channel (110) is the key in preparing for the coming of the Son of man. Does this refer specifically to the entering into the earth plane of our Master, Jesus of Nazareth, as He was?
S And He shall come again in glory, prepared by those who would form again, as before, that which was as the Essenes of old, see? And even the herald of the coming, see, that He may return as He left in body and in glory. See?
Core group told they were as Essenes returned
Ram Reading 10-14
Q What do we as a group have in common that we were chosen to do this work? (172)
S Ye have in common that the Lord, thy God, has chosen thee. That is what ye have in common! Ye have in past times chosen to serve the Lord, thy God, especially among those called Essenes, especially in those times preceding and after the coming of the Prince of Love within this earth. This is what ye have in common: the love of God and the search. However the many mistakes you have made it’s the search. Keep it up.
All members of the RAM group were Essenes and members of the early church
Q How are the members of the committee to assist the key in carrying out the mission? How does the mission – is it applied to the material plane?
S First we would give this: as to become as of old, as these entities were before, as Essenes, see, to be the prayer, to be the cleansing force as a nucleus, to spread, to be the power, to focus upon that which is the law, that which is love, and each in his own way will be told in the proper time and place those specific things beyond that which is as meditation, prayer, love, and endurance, see? For it is an act of endurance to be about thy Father’s business in so many ways and to be as a channel of power, a channel of love, the basis, as given, the platform from which He will return upon.
Q Were there any members of this group in the earth during the period when the Master walked the hills of Galilee? If so, please identify each individual and indicate whether any of those experiences are pertinent to the task at hand.
S First we would say that each and every member in this room has been as an Essene in preparing the way. We have then each and every individual in this room who in one manner or another has dwelt, has come in contact with the Master of Life and even those in this room that have touched, that have eaten with the Master, among that being honey. But before we delve more deeply into the position, into the name, into the action of each member of this group, it is best that some time, and some lessons, and some work readings come in between. For at this time we would rather know, or have you know that He Who is the Lamb would give that which is to be given in the nature of that question asked, at a further time and place, naming the name to each who has come in contact with Him and once again renewing that which is the blessing of life, and love, upon each who is in truth His brother and His sister even as they were in the flesh.
Search for God study groups (prayer and meditation groups and material studied is based on the Edgar Cayce Readings) as one base for preparation
Q Do we continue with working with Search For God groups as one of the bases for this preparation?
S Yes. For there shall be continuation not only among these peoples but other peoples as the work, as the light, as the message, grows bolder, grows stronger. It cannot be repressed, but to spread among that organization as it did in days of old from the Essenes to those others who believed, who became as the followers, as the disciples, as those who were Christians first, see?
In the same way the Essenes prayed for peace we too must pray for peace to be found within each individual
Ram Reading 10-04
Q You said that we were to pray for peace. This has always bothered me, sir, because of interfering with law and . . .
S Ha. The peace of God which passeth understanding. Forgive us for not making this clear.
Not for peace as man to man but peace within each man that they may find their way and understand their Maker. Even as peace was given through the Essenes so that He might come, so must a platform of peace within individuals and a group come into this world that He may come again, see?
Questions about ways to proceed (as individuals and as a group) to help with His coming:
Ram Reading 10-08
Q The Source gave, at one [time], that we were all of the Essene group earlier. How long did it take us to make the way possible the first time? (10)
S Four hundred years of concentrated effort.
Q Since we know our objective is to light the way for the Master, to make ready for His coming, could you help us by giving us a guideline for questions which we should ask ,when in this group, that would be pertinent, that would help with His coming? (199)
S First that which applies to each and every member as to that which is their personal search in seeking and understanding. And then to that which is as the general or broad for the pathway of many, or others who might seek. For those questions that are not pertinent, we will be the judge as to the justification of the answer, or answers.
Essenes then and now
Ram Reading 10-13
Q Did the early Essenes have a counterpart to our Source and the channel? Did they have similar guidance?
S They did at times. These were called prophets.
Q Is it possible, really, to live that way in our society today which is so intellectually oriented? We don’t have the community existing today as the Essenes did with their 400 years of preparation.
S Yes. By choice you can. We would enlighten you further when the time comes, but we will give you, even as has been given before – if you would read John 14, 15, 16 and 17 as given by Cayce, or through Cayce, and study it. For here are all the answers to the question you have given. It is the promise and the promises of God the Father, God the Mother. It cannot be denied. They will not be rescinded. It was spoken for you, as each individual is. And we will enlighten you on those promises, phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence, promise by promise, love by love. It is your hope. It is your cross. It is that which will lift you up and carry you forward. It is your resurrection. It is your heaven. In short, it is Jesus the Christ giving to you the love of God. If you doubt that you can live in this world today because of those forces as we see them of negativity, the world thought, selfishness, then read that which is given.
The Teacher of Righteousness
Ram Reading 10-22
Q What was the our Lord’s relationship to the Teacher of Righteousness, referred to in the Essenic material?
S The Man of Good who walked 4,000 years ago. One and the same.
Q We thought that, from the Dead Sea Scrolls, he was only 100 years before Jesus.
S Oh, much more. This was carried on even as the traditions are carried on–and dating is impossible by your time.
Modern day Essenes
Ram Reading 10-23
Q Are there a lot of souls in the existing A.R.E. study groups that were Essenes before the birth of Jesus that are back to help with this work?
S There are some here, there are some among those which would be termed the Eastern beliefs or path. We see several prominent Buddhists that are in this country as Essenes of quite influential beings at other times.
Pythagoras an Essene?
RAM Reading 10-25
Q Was Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher, a forerunner or “father” of the Essenes? If so, did he do much in the pre-planning for their later work in preparation for the coming of Jesus?
S He learned from them, from those who would be the first or the forerunners of the Essenes, you see. Formulated and fed back that which is –the information. As the mind developed, the soul understood. It was, once again, a triangular effect.
Many organizations similar to the Essenes existed in the Middle East from Iran, to the Caspian Sea, to South Arabia.
Q You gave us about the three wise men who succeeded in getting to their destination. Could you give us a little more about the four who didn’t?
S These are the more base elements of the body or the bodily centers. Representational of that, they must be a basis, as to that, for those who would reach, or that which would become the three higher centers. They, those four, knew in advance that they were not to proceed the entire way, but had a journey, nevertheless, to make. Those entities passed much time in that which you might call lecturing, or preaching, to an extent, though on a very intellectual basis, especially to those organizations that were similar to the Essenes in other areas in that which is the Holy Land, or those areas bounding upon the Holy Land as of today, which is as Syria, South Arabia, Iran, and that area by the Caspian Sea that lies south of the Ukraine.
Jesus’ education not mentioned in the Bible: explanation
Q Why is there no mention about His education in the Bible?
S For it was not traditional Jewish, or Hebrew education. The man Jesus was tutored in Egypt and in other places. This was against the grain of Jewish tradition. For Egypt and the Egyptians were hated, and so were those who they riled against from the far east where Jesus was trained, and so were that which were the Essenes, which also gave much to Jesus in the matter of training. As to the Christians who came later, no one wanted to (as they would see it) degrade Jesus as coming Godlike with all knowledge, ability. Could not stomach that He, too, learned.
Reference to the lilies that, similar to the Lotus flowers, rise up from the earth – symbol of God unfolding from within – eastern thought.
Matthew 6:28–3 1
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
S Once again, raiment, food are that which is the outer man. And that which is even as the purity of the white of the lily is that which rises within self. Even to that which is the lotus flower to those who are in the East, so to those of the West (or that which was the meeting of the East and the West at this time), so the lily to the Essenes was that which represented the unfolding of God from the mire, from the muck. From that which was the earth came that which was life and beauty.
Importance of not allowing rituals to get in the way of finding the path to God.
Matthew 15:1-2
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
S Here ye have that which is a misunderstanding with even the body of self, that you may search, that ye may pray, that ye may meditate, that ye may confess God regardless of what you do, or when you do it. For there‘s an attitude, even in the mental or even with that which is the intellectual self, that requires dogma, that requires this to be done, or that to be met. This is, then, the overcoming within self of that which are those objects or formats set up by the ego self, by the intellectual self, by the mental self, which restricts you from finding that which is the path to God.
Q Some of the disciples, we understand were Essenes. Didn’t they make a practice of washing before eating?
S Yes. However, you see, there was then the understanding being put forth by that which is Jesus the Christ, that ritual for ritual‘s sake is to be put aside. For if ye do it for others, then ritual has its place. But to attain by ritual, for so oft even those who are spiritually inclined are led subtly astray by this or that, by those forces from without, or even latent forces within that would lead themselves away. Therefore, they had to learn that they, too, did not possess that which was the key to heaven or understanding. No man does. It must be, then, through the opening of self to the Christ, that ye find that which is the proper key, and there is no ritual, no dogma.
Q What was this ritual based on of washing the hands in those days?
S This was representative of two things: first, the need to be clean. For that which was the mind recognized the physical necessity. It was also that which is the spiritual denying of the earth or the earth forces. For if ye have washed yourself of them, there is no need to be pure in the earth sense, that is to say, where disease or poisons exist, for they no longer exist. Therefore, it’s step from one to another. But it was as ritual and often those, even Essenes who understood, lost its meaning. For mind will stray. Mind of man is occupied by many things, ever subtly here and there, even as each and every individual here is led astray by themselves at times, even in those times they would pray or meditate. It even was for them, too, these things.
Essenes chose to stay away from the temple and the Sadducees and Pharisees
Matthew 16:1-4
The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, “When it is evening, ye say, ‘It will be fair weather: for the sky is red’. And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowring.’ O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them and departed.
Q Was there any distinct difference between them in their understanding of rebirth?
S The Pharisees believed in a life after death, but not as that which was reincarnation. Whereas that which was the other believed in the most popular belief of a nothing after death. They were, though, proponents of that which would be considered, if anything, that the material world was the reward system of God. Nothing beyond – no heaven. If anything, a sheol.
Q Did both of these groups participate and share in the temple?
S The Pharisees the more. Only at times were others even (for the power, you see, of the pharisees was the greatest at that time), were the other sects allowed in. The Essenes, as a sect, stayed far from, or as far as possible, from that which was the temple, for that which they considered the pollution that had evolved around the temple by those other sects such as the Pharisees.
John the Baptist taught by the Essenes from an early age
Luke 1:80
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.
S In the tribulation, or the tribulations within yourself, the dissoluteness of the desert, the lacking of the spiritual, or that which is the temptation of the physical-mental man to that which is the spiritual being, comes that which is the trying time. And in the overcoming of these things, then you, too, may come forward and be as that which is the enlightened or the one who has washed from self as much of sin that is allowed for self to do, preparing yourself to be a way, a channel, for that which is the spiritual growth of others, that the sins truly will be alleviated and rectified through the Father.
Q Was John actually taken from his parents when he was about seven and trained in the Essene community?
S Was even trained before that but was taken from the parents at approximately the seventh year, being that which was seen as the culmination of the development of the seven centers to the degree that the learning processes, as given, would be correct at that time. John spent the next fourteen years learning, studying and moving about.
Q Was he at Qumran primarily?
S He was there, but not primarily there. Was in Alexandria, also in Persia, also in India.
Q Were the parents upset when he was taken away from them or were they prepared for that?
S Prepared, but, as all parents, grieved a bit. But knew that which was as the honor bestowed upon that one, even as the honor bestowed upon themselves, for being as, to an extent, a channel of love, a channel that brought forth that which must have been brought forth that the law and the prophets would be fulfilled.
Q Who cared for John during the period when he was still a little child?
S First seven years, his parents – natural parents – then those who were instructors. Especially there were two females, prophetesses in their own right, that were much responsible for the second seven years of that entity’s existence, where the entity was among the Essenes, especially preparing for that which was Alexandria and then the journeys towards that which was the Indus Valley region.
Q Who baptized John?
S You have no record, but John was baptized by Reuben. Reuben was as spiritual leader to the Essenes, not group leader but spiritual leader, or titular head. A mighty man in that which is the spiritual understanding and concepts. A man who regrew his limbs to prove to others the spiritual process of God.
Q Was Reuben from Carmel or Qumran?
S From both.
Q With reference to the subject of baptism, how long had the Essenes practiced baptism, which Christianity thinks started with John?
S Well, in your terms of time, 400 years previously baptism was used. It was a common rite, not only among hebrews but other peoples, even before-hand. It is a holdover from the days of the worship of One.
Q Does this stem, in other words, from Atlantis?
S You are correct.
Q Was it introduced into the Essenes by the Master of Righteousness?
S You are correct.
Of those present at the dictating of the Revelation – half were Essenes
Prologue to Revelation
Q Were they Essenes?
S Essentially, at least half were Essenes. For there were some that wavered between that and that following totally of the man who was Jesus the Christ.
Q Please explain the implication here as to the Essenes’ loyalty to Christ’s teachings.
S Even in those that are dedicated to finding the way, the truth, and the light, there are implications of self. For you are each an individual and that which manifests truth within each individual varies as to its interpretation by the mental processes of the individual, no matter how highly they are evolved, unless that which of the spiritual overrides the mental foundations or manipulations of each individual. Even so, at the time of Jesus the Christ were those who saw and knew and yet wavered. It is that which mankind has as an essential force within self, a doubting, or a searching for furtherance of that which is seen for the individual to be as the truth. Remember, not all experience that which is the spiritual awakening or the spiritual take-over that is acceptable to the mental conditions, the physical conditions of the body and the mind, or mind and body combined. For each of you hear these words as an individual, each interprets as is best for that entity, or as the entity has processed, or built the processing abilities within self. Therefore, there were those who wavered, or did not see all that could be seen, hear all that could be heard, or feel all that could be felt. Remember, the essence of that which is faith is in itself not just of the mind or of the body, but in itself is a feeling as represented in the spiritual quality of the individual.
Essenes connected to the White Brotherhood representing the spiritual nature of mankind.
Ram Reading 10-116
Q In regard to the listing of tribes, why was the tribe of Dan left out?
S The tribe of Dan assumed a function of its own as to be supported by all rather than fulfill a specific function as the tribes were seen to do, being that which was chosen to sustain that which is the force, the spirit, that was to become seen among those which were the Essenes, that which is the White Brotherhood and the spiritual nature of mankind..
Q Why was Manassas included as a tribe and Ephraim, the brother left out?
S For Manassas is the meeting of the forces of mankind or that which was the symbol of same. Whereas, the brother you see became the passive to the active, Manassas being the active. In all things you must have a positive and a negative. In the end the negative is absorbed by the positive or the meeting of self in the understanding of the Holy Spirit. [10-116]