On the Lemurian Fellowship’s 80th Anniversary, a Special Tribute Written By the Fellowship Staff of the 1940s
Lemurian Fellowship staff picnic at Mt. Palomar, 1950s
Can you imagine the privilege of working for the Great Ones? We find a peace and tranquility in our work beyond our greatest hopes, beyond our ability to express. And we find in the others of our group the same hope that animates our own hearts.
Each of the Fellowship staff comes from a different background and environment, but all must live together in peace and harmony. This takes constant work on kindness, tolerance, sincerity and charity. The Golden Rule, moderation and balance are essential as each of us helps the others gain what’s deficient in their makeup, just as they help us.
Much of our work is correspondence with our students, but there are also meal preparation, landscaping and care of the grounds, housework and maintenance. There are personal interviews and visitors who are extended every courtesy, the many details of bookkeeping, reports, writing lessons and articles, and much more. We must be versatile in our ideas, creative in our approaches, like clay in the hands of a sculptor, receptive to the molding of our lives as the pattern grows clear.
Some ask us about jobs like housekeeping, seeming to think this sort of service holds no opportunity for advancement. They don’t realize we work at our self-selected tasks for the pleasure of serving, knowing we are working for the Great Ones to the best of our ability and gaining the spiritual advancement every Lemurian seeks. It doesn’t matter how we serve. In the early years, the office staff contributed much of their precious time in canning fresh fruit and vegetables.
If you have a big family, you may know what it’s like to have twelve or more for a meal. Our group comes from different parts of the country, with different eating habits and individual ideas. Yet, each fits into the group and becomes one great, loving family. To do this, we have to use all the virtues, or the harmonious, peaceful, and understanding consideration we enjoy would not be possible.
We have a most splendid example in our dear Dr. Stelle. We all turn to his ever natural and valuable counsel in our time of need. We have yet to find him too busy, impatient, or unwilling to help. He never seems to tire under his heavy burden, and we each try in our own way to repay him with the love and devotion he richly deserves. Maybe this will help you better understand the happiness and feeling of true brotherhood which makes our serving a source of endless joy, and helps our advancement along the Path.
Each day, as twilight beckons our family to the supper table, we find ourselves surrounded by smiling, happy faces, each a little more kindly than the day before, and each a little more appreciative of the others. I can think of no greater or more splendid wish for all who read this than that, someday, you too may find yourself in just such a haven of peace and loving understanding as our daily life here at the Fellowship.
We weave the thread of our desires into a pattern of beauty linking God, our brothers and sisters, and ourselves. This we gain from our work which feels like the velvety touch of Spring on the pure face of the apple blossom whose fragrance permeates the air so softly. And as evening shadows fall, a gentle breath of night air rustles through the trees and brings us closer to the time when all our dreams will become realities.
I felt an inner strength and knew I was doing the right thing
One of the hardest things I ever did was standing up to my father and telling him he could not stay in my home.
I’d thought of courage as brave acts. But I came to see it as overcoming the fear of looking bad in others’ eyes.
After I married, Dad asked if he could stay with my husband and me while he was in our area. It seemed only sensible, but I had mixed feelings. He was an alcoholic, and the effects of this were fresh in mind. I knew the worry and fear when a parent can’t control himself, and his alternating self-pity and anger.
So I decided he couldn’t bring this problem into my home. I had to lay down one rule, hard as it was: he couldn’t drink in my home or come home drunk. I rehearsed, gathered my courage, standing up to my father and explained this to him. To my surprise he agreed and I sighed in relief, naively believing that would be the end of it.
When my father came in later, the slurred speech and familiar odor told me he’d gone back on his promise. I was surprised, then angry. This parent had expected me to follow basic rules of consideration he and my mom taught us, and he was ignoring the rules. How could I possibly handle this? My hands trembled and I shook with fear. My dad had been very strict with us and until this moment, I always tried to go along with him to avoid his anger or judgment.
Now, struggling to stand straight as he sensed my displeasure, he was ready to fight. It was the moment I had dreaded since I let him stay. I knew what I’d asked of him was right, and now had to stand by this decision or things would get worse. So I spoke a quiet prayer, blurted that he was drunk and he’d have to go to a motel.
He was more than upset. He used every argument in his lawyer’s arsenal, saying I was not upholding my Christian beliefs, he was alone and how could I turn him out? When he spoke of my beliefs, I felt an inner strength and knew in my heart I was doing the right thing. The Lemurian Philosophy had helped me deal with his alcoholism, not run from it, and now there was only one way to handle this very difficult situation, by standing up to my father. After a very tense moment, he left.
Later, Dad called to say he was proud of what I’d done. It would have been music to my ears if he’d been sober. But like so many times in my growing up years, he hadn’t changed. Yet my life changed forever. I would never accept my father’s drinking again. Until now, when I was afraid of what someone would think or say, or how they’d react, I’d bend the rules to avoid the upheaval I feared. But this experience helped me know I must do what’s right, even if it brings the reaction I fear most.
My relationship with my father changed. Though we never talked about that incident, he has treated me as an adult ever since, and never again has he expected me to accommodate his drinking. Having the confidence I needed for standing up to my father opened a bigger door, too. Today, when I feel something is truly wrong, I am not afraid to stand up and say no, no matter who appears to be in charge.
There is more to life than increasing its speed. – Gandhi
Facebook! Twitter! Instagram! The news, the internet, TV, radio, or just ask Siri! How to slow down and start living is the urgent need of our time.
With so much information at our fingertips and in our faces, it’s hard for people to get why they should investigate the Lemurian Philosophy, and even harder to slow down enough to actually try it. After all, if you’re interested in Mu, there are countless books and websites offering every shade of interpretation of this term, from the sublime to the ridiculous. So why turn to the Lemurian Philosophy?
Many of us got into this study because we were interested in Lemuria, Atlantis, or ancient Egypt, and we’ve learned a lot. But that isn’t why we decided to make this philosophy our way of life. That came from digging into the Lemurian information to understand its principles and appreciate its wisdom, then learning to use these with the Fellowship’s help until we discovered for ourselves what they can do for us.
Take the Lemurian virtues. Everyone thinks they know what virtues are, and so what? Why bother to be kind when many people aren’t, or even take advantage of your kindness? “I could be tolerant if I wanted to, but I don’t see the point.” Easy to say we could express a virtue if we wanted, but not so easy when you actually make the commitment to do it, no excuses. And you have to do it to find out what the point is.
If you’re like most of us, once you’re persuaded to improve your virtues, or at least try, you might decide to use patience for a day. You hold it in the back of your mind as you go to work. “Be patient” rings in your ears and you plan ahead for a couple of ways to be patient. But this takes a few tries, it turns out, because you keep running into people who need someone to set them straight, and others who clearly do not deserve your patience. But at last, you find the perfect conditions to wait twenty or thirty seconds longer before blowing your stack, and you feel a warm sense of accomplishment from using patience. That glow lasts about ten minutes, before some so-and-so does something to set you off again. But, no matter, that night you carefully document these events and, having conquered patience, set off next day to master kindliness.
At that point, of course, you’ve made only the barest start at developing the power of patience, but it was a start. You realize just reading about patience, no matter how spiritual it makes you feel, doesn’t confer the hard-won knowledge only using patience can bring. The patience to control ourselves and inspire others with confidence in us will never be ours until we pledge, “I really want to become a finer person, and I’m going to start with patience (or courage, or precision).”
There are eleven other virtues just as powerful and effective as patience to work on. But patience is a great one to start with, because it helps us slow the frenetic pace of our days so we can begin to recognize the wonderful possibilities, opportunities, sights, sounds and people around us. As much as anything, patience can help us learn how to slow down and start living, relax, and begin to truly enjoy the precious gift of life.
As each day brings us scenes of sectarian conflict and heart-wrenching misery, I wish I could share what I’ve learned with these poor, afflicted people and help them find a safe harbor.
My daughters and their families are Catholic, my son Jewish, his wife, Buddhist. My sisters are Unitarian, one brother follows the Tao and another ranges through many schools of thought. My in-laws include Spanish and Irish Catholics, Conservative and Reformed Jews. All are good, moral people. I can see that each of their beliefs has its place and purpose for them, and helps them navigate life.
But different beliefs can separate people, creating dissension and discord.
When my husband and I agreed to divorce, I found that my church would accept me only if I denied my marriage through annulment, which would be very expensive and make my children’s births legally ambiguous. I told my father I no longer felt our church was for me. He was furious. He tried to dissuade me, not from the divorce, which was needed, but from leaving my church. When I wouldn’t comply with his wishes, he sent me away, telling me never to come back to his home.
I did move away, and met the man who would become my second husband. Then his parents tried to dissuade him from marrying me because I was not of his faith! But he accepted me and we made our marriage work. We raised our son in the Jewish tradition, and I investigated many beliefs, looking for a safe harbor. I always loved Christ’s message but was surprised how differently it was interpreted by divergent groups.
Then I got a job working for a boss who had a cheerful and kind way of running things – a breath of fresh air in the working world. I wondered what made him tick. One day I asked him about a beautiful wooden box on his desk. He said it had been hand crafted by fellow students at the school where he studied the Lemurian Teachings, derived from an ancient civilization on a continent that had once existed in the Pacific Ocean.
I had heard of the “lost continent of Mu,” and was intrigued. When I found the Lemurian Fellowship was a distance-learning school, so you could study at home wherever you lived, it didn’t take me long to write. I wanted the calm, cheerful faith my boss had!
I learned that the Lemurian Philosophy is based on Christ’s teachings and it was presented in a straightforward, inclusive way. As I read the lessons and corresponded with the teachers, the history of the world and how things came to be as they are, made more and more sense. How each belief system began was revealed, along with the need for everyone to understand and use basic virtues and universal laws to create a better and happier life. We aren’t really so different from each other, after all.
My years as a Lemurian student working to understand and apply tolerance, so difficult to practice consistently, have enabled me to more calmly accept decisions my beloved family members have made, as their own and right for them. If this simple thing could be done by everyone, all could find this safe harbor and how much closer to harmony the world could be!
Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. – Mother Teresa
Many people talk about random acts of kindness, and their stories are inspiring. To quietly serve another person seems to amplify the good many times over, especially when it’s widely shared on the Internet. I got to thinking about not-so-random acts of kindness that may be less often expressed but just as valuable despite their rarity.
My first inkling of this came in a store one day. I asked the clerk for an item I needed and he turned to get it for me. A man and his little girl stood next to me and as I glanced over I saw his face was beet red. Momentarily puzzled, I suddenly came to and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh. I am so sorry! You were here first and I didn’t even see you!” He visibly relaxed. His face returned to a normal shade as he smiled and kindly said, “It’s okay, no harm done.” Who performed the act of kindness here? I’d say that patient guy led the way.
Another time, I pulled into a Post Office parking lot to drop letters in the mailbox near a woman in an SUV, and saw her cursing loudly and literally bouncing off the walls of her car in fury. I pointed to the mailbox and mouthed, “It’s okay, I’m going over there, not parking.” The seemingly wild beast of a moment before immediately relaxed. A not-so-random act of kindness but a focused one, easing someone’s obvious pain.
Another instance caught me off guard. Actually I was shocked. Grocery shopping, I was near the end of the meat case checking prices when an exasperated voice said, “For God’s sake, every time you move I’ve moved out of your way. But I’m not going to move again!” Wow! How did I completely miss this person and his courteous attempts to give me access to the meat counter, or his rising ire? I said, “Oh, wow, I am so sorry.” He laughed then and said, “It’s okay, I’m just having a bad day.”
Being aware of the people around us seems so basic and ingrained in us that it’s a shock to discover we’ve missed something so important to another person. But when we make a sincere connection with that person, it so often clears the air.
It reminds me of a time I was driving and some teenaged boys pulled right up behind me obviously wanting to pass. I couldn’t do anything about it then, but as soon as I could, I pulled over. I thought they’d probably yell at me as they went by, but they didn’t. They honked and waved, and as their car pulled next to mine in passing I saw them smiling and saying, “Thanks!” Wow! I know that according to universal law, what I give out will come back, but it can still surprise me when it happens.
These are some of the seemingly ordinary, everyday moments that are without price, when we can express a kind of connection that shows someone we value them, we’re all in this life together. When we make this small effort that costs us nothing, they feel happier, relieved, less stressed, and whatever the problem was evaporates in the genuine caring of a thoughtful human exchange.
