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Twenty-Two Days at The Temple of The Presence

by David Tame

Following so much past discussion on the various forums about The Temple of The Presence, as I shall further explain, I decided to go there in person for an extended period. This was my first physical contact with The Temple of The Presence, and it was for 22 days to be precise.

I had perceived that The Temple of The Presence�s critics, and possibly even some of its supporters, had experienced little or no actual contact with the organization. Without a firm foundation of knowledge, opinions either way are of little use, and carry no weight.

In attempting to express what I discovered at The Temple of The Presence, I feel it may be useful to present this in three quite different ways. The first is taken verbatim (apart from the concealing of others� names) from my handwritten journal. While clearly this is of a personal nature, I am most happy to make a couple of days� journal entry public on this occasion.

Sincerely to all,

David Tame

 

Before Breakfast, 6(th) July, 1999

How does one express the inexpressible? Last night the Maha Chohan came, on the first day of Acropolis Sophia, following the conference. When his coming was announced, I expected "a Dictation" by the Maha Chohan.

This was not "a Dictation".

I will not describe the effect last evening had on people except to say that even this morning nobody talks about it. What happened was too holy and precious for each one.

Never, never have I known the Maha Chohan like this. So real, right there in front of me, speaking private words to me, so intimately, so very, very close to stepping through the veil which had become no veil at all.

Yet it was no mere Dictation. What He did for us and where He took us no words can describe. I shall not attempt it.

O, holy, holy, holy.

O, wondrous Electrons of God's Active Intelligence. O, Thou Great and Loving Reality of the Great Central Sun in which we bathed.

Thankfully I had only to step into another building to sleep, for we were warned to take all the time necessary to become partly and sufficiently anchored into the physical again before attempting to drive.

To think! All the world has no idea what is going on here in Vermont! Not yet.

Possibly this will be released on CD, but how to ever capture such an experience, and where it took us - in just one evening - perhaps forever.

One day of Acropolis Sophia down. Six to go. . . .

But what could there possibly be more than this?

And I only just heard that xxxxx from xxxxxxx only found The Temple of The Presence, and was extremely suspicious of it, mere weeks ago. In fact, she had given up on Ascended Master movements perhaps, but the nature of her first contact somehow drew her here. I suppose she never expected to hear El Morya speak live again. Or perhaps, I hear, she was doubting the existence of El Morya. During his Dictation of the conference, her eyes streamed.

No, the world does not yet know, though it will.

Why, on the last day of the conference I still had the one-week Acropolis Sophia to come, plus the more time I�ve arranged to stay after that. Yet on that, just my sixth day here, I literally spent the whole second half of the day trying to hold back any tears. I already had visions of having to leave and - God help me - I do not know how I am going to accomplish that, or how I shall do it in a manly way. I never want to leave, but must.

That last conference day I kept a dry face by, unfortunately, tuning out of Dictations and talks, and trying to think mundane thoughts. Had I fully engaged, my heart would have been so opened that I would have been overwhelmed. I could not do that in public. Already I am not sure I will actually be able to face saying goodbye to Carolyn, Monroe, and the staff here. I actually find myself considering a silent, solo departure to avoid all those good-byes. But these, I must remind myself, are early days yet, and these are my feelings of now, not of then, which is still the unmanifest future.

7(th) July, 1999 Morning

An amazing teaching on Cosmic Law and how to use it by Monroe yesterday, in T.S. (Theosophical Society) terms. Heros and Amora in the evening. Another 10 minutes trying to figure out how I am ever going to leave this place and these people in a manly way . . . .

Stayed up late last night, chatting. Xxxxx was something like the fourth person ever to join the staff of the Summit, in 1962, and he left staff in 1976, so is of course interesting to talk to - not the "fossil" he jokingly refers to himself as. Then I stayed up with Xxxxxxx, for we have so bonded, and it seemed the right thing to do, to share our hearts through to around 2 am. An amazing core mandala is being put in place here by the Brotherhood, and it is such a joy, such a happiness, to know them.

Part 2

I first found out about the existence of the Great White Brotherhood and the Masters through Theosophy. Believing from what I first read in Theosophical literature about the Masters, I gained the impression that they would all be in the Himalayas and India. Therefore it was largely in order to try to find the Brotherhood and to make contact with them that I set out overland from Britain, for India and then the Himalayas, in 1975.

That was an eventful journey to say the least, and beloved Morya�s Zen test of myself, for those weeks were far from easy. To cut a long story short, the result was that I did indeed "find" the GWB (Great White Brotherhood) while in India - in the form of the address of The Summit Lighthouse, Box A, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

However, I do not believe myself to be a credulous person, and for one solid year I painstakingly searched through all the world�s major religions and New Age movements of the time to ensure that The Summit Lighthouse was indeed the highest Path available in the outer world. It was, and I became a Keeper of the Flame in 1977. I was either the first or among the first to join the Fraternity in Europe, and certainly the first in the British Isles where I experienced the great honor of being able to help national outreach throughout the years. It was also my honor to be Vice-President of The Summit Lighthouse (United Kingdom) in the beginning, and later Co-President from 1987. For personal reasons I eventually stood down from this position in February 1992.

Some may have heard of me through my first book, "The Secret Power of Music", which concluded with parts of Morya�s "The Chela and the Path", and which Mother introduced to the organization along with Archangel Gabriel�s "Mysteries of the Holy Grail" one day in 1984.

Those who were subscribers to the KOF list back in November may recollect my joining in the initial debate there when the subject of The Temple of the Presence first arose. Though I�ve never been to them, archives of this forum exist in some form, in which could be traced my initial skepticism about The Temple of The Presence in November through to more of an open-minded "don�t know" period in December, by which time I had more information on The Temple of The Presence to hand and had visited their website.

The subject of The Temple of The Presence has, we know, been conspicuous on all the CUT-related forums this year. I personally believe that a great proportion of the posts on this subject have been of little if any value, however, since it was clear that many were writing from a standpoint of scarce, inadequate knowledge. For this reason, as 1999 progressed, I believe I can say that my posts on The Temple of The Presence were not so much supportive of The Temple of The Presence per se as they were affirmations of the eternal reality of progressive revelation in general - that revelations from the GWB ("Heaven") have not and will not stop with CUT (Church Universal and Triumphant) or any other movement.

This still did not enable me to offer an opinion upon The Temple of the Presence from truly first-hand knowledge, however. And it seemed to me to be an issue one should have first-hand knowledge of, given that it was believed by some to be the new Activity through which the GWB were continuing their contact with their chelas and seeking to transform the world consciousness.

I therefore arranged to travel to Vermont for 22 days, all of which I spent at The Temple of The Presence or with The Temple of The Presence people, and during which I took in the summer conference or Conclave, and the week-long Acropolis Sophia that followed.

Having gone through all stages from outright skepticism to "don�t know" and to an acceptance of The Temple of The Presence, and having gone through all the other previous stages publicly on the forums, my present article on The Temple of The Presence, is not "advertising" but a reportage. Previous to-ing and fro-ing on the subject by the relatively uninformed had perhaps become of little value. But the perspective of one who had never before been to a The Temple of The Presence event, and who had never before actually met the Shearers, but who then went out there for over three weeks, may be of interest to some. I now feel I can report with authority. My report is positive, and if my findings had been negative I would equally have reported on that.

It is difficult to know how to sum up one�s impressions of a full 22 days into just a few words. I have therefore opted to give some basic overall facts presently, while the other two are vignettes - one from my journal, and one being an email response sent to a friend.

What, then, did I find in Vermont?

During the conference, the week-long Acropolis Sophia, and a Sunday Service a week later there were at least 20 live Dictations - by El Morya (twice), Gautama, Kuthumi, Krishna, Pallas Athena, Lord Maitreya, Kuan Yin, Saint Germain, Mother Mary (twice), Godfre, the Maha Chohan, Heros and Amora, Apollo and Lumina, Purity (with Astrea), Hercules, Cyclopea, Peace, and Arcturus.

In my opinion these were Dictations as we know Dictations to be, and as they were before Mother became ill. To me, the Saint Germain Dictation was unmistakably beloved Saint Germain, the Mother Mary Dictations were unmistakably Mother Mary, etc.

Much of what I gained from my time in Vermont, however, comes also from Monroe Shearer�s discourses on the Path, and on the practical use of the three Outpourings from the three Solar Logoi. In my opinion these teachings are potentially life-transforming and Path-transforming. As with any spiritual teaching, whether they prove to be so for myself will of course be a matter of free will.

In addition to this I found gorgeously lush countryside, an array of the most wonderful friends and heart-flames, cooking (in the instance of the conference) by a Master Chef (no, not an Ascended Master), and recreational swimming and sight-seeing.

In addition to attending the conference and the Acropolis Sophia, I arrived a couple of days early and stayed on over a week afterwards, staying mostly at The Temple of The Presence headquarters itself. I met the Shearers and all their closest helpers, and got to know them all well. I found nothing but purity of heart, purity of intent, harmony and the deepest, deepest love in any of them.

During question times, from early on I raised various of the issues or doubts that others have voiced on the net forums. These were answered by both Monroe and Carolyn, and more than once El Morya Himself (in my opinion) replied through one or the other. To sum up all of these answers, I would simply paraphrase from memory El Morya to me during the conference when He said that those who believe this or that about The Temple of The Presence do so simply because they do not know the whole teaching and have not experienced it. The Masters� teaching through The Temple of The Presence needs to be taught, therefore, and needs to be experienced at source in order for this or that little particle of second-hand misunderstood teaching to be comprehended.

At the Temple I found a thriving up-coming generation of children and teens.

Nothing but any normal parental requirements are expected of these children. In other words, nothing is forced and the children all have free will. The attitude toward youth is in fact very laissez-faire as compared to, say, CUT in the 1980s. I saw little children who earnestly desired to decree and to be present at Dictations if they could. I also saw that children of any age were free to go their own way and do their "own thing" at any time, which some did, within the parameters of the above-stated normal parental concerns.

There have been half-stated opinions from some who have not been to The Temple of The Presence along the lines of its being somehow "old-fashioned" or a return to the culture of the I AM Activity. Nothing could be so cosmically far from the truth. The people at The Temple of The Presence are healthy of mind, relaxed, loving and extremely fun-loving (the tales I could tell!). The teachings are presented and people practice them as they desire. It is not an Activity based upon rules and regulations.

As Scripture says, "The first shall be last, and the last first". What an immense joy it was to find that some of the purest and most earnest of hearts, who appeared so close to God and to the Brotherhood, are, at The Temple of The Presence, not members or ex-members of CUT but entirely new students of the Ascended Masters who had not even heard of them 18 or 15 months ago.

Given the background of my books, it was fascinating to find a greater emphasis at The Temple of The Presence upon music. Musical meditations before and after Dictations are more varied, and tend to be longer. Some of it was quite new to me, and exerted a quite profound effect before the Master even began.

The world-famous sitar player, Roop Verma, who was trained by Ravi Shankar, has a close association with the Activity, and with his family stayed for two days during the conference to play the music for Dictations. He introduced me to nada yoga - "sound yoga" - which is the more ancient parent of the raga. So powerful is his ability to perform nada yoga for an audience that for one Dictation his playing and our attention upon it was said to be equal to the preparation afforded by decrees, so that no decrees were required before that Master came.

Carolyn too is a musician, with a wonderful voice. It�s Carolyn Shearer we hear hitting the high notes on CUT recordings such as "God Is My Victory". A number of the songs in The Summit Lighthouse Book of Songs were also penned by her. For example, "God�s Real In Me", which she has now copyrighted.

When I first came to accept, from afar, that The Temple of the Presence was an authentic, new Ascended Master Activity, I saw it as being one in the lineage of such Activities which, in the West, have included the I AM Activity, the Bridge to Freedom, and The Summit Lighthouse/ Church Universal and Triumphant. In other words, I saw The Temple of The Presence as being a continuation of that lineage of movements, and knew that when the Bridge and the Summit were formed, their Messengers were not accepted by the existing Messengers of the prior Activities either.

I do still hold to this view, but it has been much refined and added to during my 22-day stay at The Temple of The Presence�s headquarters in Vermont. Now I would tend to express things another way. This is as a result of what I have heard in the Dictations, and what I now know of the Great White Brotherhood�s latest plans and hopes.

The I AM Activity was not a failure, but it was not wholly successful either. What we have from it as a victory is a wonderful array of teachings, the entirety of which probably only a tiny number of Keepers are familiar with, if any. But culturally it went awry. And its reputation in the eyes of the world was broken by innuendo and the mud-slinging of an IRS case which brought that Activity to its knees, and from which it never recovered its reputation, though it won. (In fact it won a vital victory for religious freedom in America, of such importance that one can read about it in the Encyclopedia Britannica.) Yet there originally was never intended for there to be a need for another Activity: through the I AM, literally the Golden Age was intended to have come forth.

Keepers tend to know very little about the Bridge to Freedom. This is a real pity. Its teachings are marvelous, and are authentically from the GWB. The Temple of The Presence sells many of its books, and I�ve come home with an armful. So in terms of its teachings it too was wonderful, yet it too did not reach fruition, and its Messenger died in an untimely manner, all the evidence pointing to accidental death by drowning. Again there was no Golden Age for planet Earth.

Those of us who have been around long enough in CUT know what it was meant to achieve, and that again there was no conception years ago that there would be a need for yet another, fourth Activity. Will CUT lead to a planetary Golden Age now? Does this appear to be where the Church is headed? I shall not elaborate all the Church�s current problems, for they receive sufficient airing on the forums as it is. Suffice it to say that in my humble opinion a planetary Golden Age will only be brought about whilst chelas are consciously in detailed cooperation and communication with the Great White Brotherhood in the here and now. The Brotherhood will always do what they can to help a humanly-led organization, but for the ultimate and planetary Victory they have need for the contact to be direct, and they have need for the release of Light.

I returned home a couple of days ago absolutely bedazzled by the current hopes and visions, and the exuberant confidence, of beloved El Morya, Saint Germain, Pallas Athena, Lord Maitreya and all the other Ascended Host not only for a long-term planetary Golden Age, but that it can begin soon in the smaller scale. Even that it has begun. The foundations are firm. The dream is still alive. And in fact it is more, and always was more, than just a dream. It is no further distant from us than the I AM Presence Itself - awaiting our manifestation of oneness with It, hand-in-hand with Those who have ascended into the Light before us.

A Letter to a Friend

As explained previously, after having spent quite some time at The Temple of The Presence, I felt no one way of writing about my conclusions or feelings would be adequate. In this section, since the letter is written anyway and I can simply paste it in here, I choose to share a personal letter I wrote during my stay in Vermont.

I have of course taken out the more personal paragraphs, for this was a letter to a friend. I should also explain the humorous circumstances in which the letter was written. While driving or about to drive, a volunteer at The Temple of The Presence told me there were numerous inquiries each day from around the world, and that "We even had one from England today". This being my homeland, I asked to see it - only to find it was from a good friend who once served on the staff of CUT in Montana. Since we shared the same sense of humor, I knew he would see the joke if his inquiry to The Temple of The Presence was unexpectedly answered by me!

The bulk of the letter follows.

My deepest love to all,

David Tame

 

Dear Mr. Xxxxxxx,

Hi! This is Mr. Tame here responding to your comment sent to The Temple of The Presence! Among the inquiries they received yesterday it was mentioned one was from England, so I asked to see it, and it was your fine self!

Xxxxxxx, the Conclave finished a week last Sunday, and then I attended the Acropolis Sophia for a week which ended last Sunday, two days ago - though one "run on" Dictation is still to come during the service next Sunday. They have been among the most spiritual two weeks of my life, and among the most wonderful two weeks of my life in many other ways. It is still the size of a large extended family, and basically everybody knows everybody else, so yesterday was spent running people to the airport (Boston) which is a long drive. Today, Tuesday, is a day of recovery, for it was very busy for the people putting the events on.

<snip>

Although all are free to partake of the free broadcasts and the free live broadcasts which are just weeks away, and to receive the Ruby Chalice Visitations, last Sunday a formal membership was introduced for those interested in being more committed. These are the Torchbearers of the Temple, of whom beloved Saint Germain plans for there to be 10,000 as soon as possible.

<snip>

All that was passed on to me was your address, the inquiry, and the comment "I love the new wine!"

They are producing CDs even as I write: there is an 11-CD album of a seminar done in Bozeman a few weeks ago, and a new gizmo is churning out the CDs for back-orders of this - it takes 40 minutes for 5 CDs. I�ll be bringing one home.

<snip to omit a personal paragraph and a more official response to the inquiry>

Xxxxxxx, the Conclave was wonderful! Great though the available material is, nobody has any idea of the immense Power being released here until they visit physically. Everybody comments on it, and three-quarters are former CUT members. It is as though Carolyn is able to release a purer version of what the Masters are conveying both in words and Light. Saint Germain and Morya in the conference were those Masters as I have never known them before. I had the feeling that I had never quite known them precisely until then.

The week-long Acropolis Sophia was attended by 22 students. The Shearers were present every day. They used to do this all day long, but it was taxing on the students, so this time they did not themselves begin until 1:30. It was a profound course of study. I had expected a back-to-basics SU type thing, but it was nothing of the sort. Monroe gave deep and new teachings from the GWB on precipitation and God-Mastery, and the Dictations were mostly along the lines of this course. Among the Dictations were six of the Elohim, so it is Arcturus still due next Sunday.

It is all so intimate! Mother Mary "spent" the afternoon with us, wanting to answer any questions we had on stress in relation to the Path. Strangely (!) there were soon no more questions on this, so it moved on into healing and kundalini. While under the Ascended Masters, as you know, the raising of kundalini is usually quite gentle, Carolyn talked at length about the fact that even under the Masters a whole range of symptoms can occur, and this was gone into. We are welcome to telephone them if ever we are concerned about anything along these lines happening to us.

The three most memorable times for me were:

(1) Saint Germain�s Conclave Dictation was just so, so wonderful! I never knew him so tangible and amazing. He is so joyful and positive at the new Activity, and assured of its success, and that it will, this time, stay on track. Carolyn said afterward that she could hardly shape the words, and in fact had to repeat a few, because His grin was so great it was pulling at her mouth! It was a true tour de force Dictation, and I think we all saw the split-second in which He was suddenly gone. Afterward Carolyn confirmed that in a sudden, final dramatic flourish, He shot out and upward so suddenly that she almost fell over!

(2) On the first day of Acropolis Sophia the Maha Chohan took us on an indescribable meditation, and our consciousnesses within that forcefield went far away. A key member who is a friend here had warned me that to do this course I would need a "cosmic visa". I hope to tape that before I leave and try it again, though it may not be the same that way.

(3) We were all able to write down - anonymously - one question for beloved El Morya. This was not to be too self-concerned (e.g. who is my twin flame, or where should I live) but a personal question for which the answer could still be applicable and helpful to all. But I had expected Carolyn herself to answer these in an overshadowed mode. No! . . .

First El Morya dictated. Then He sat down, Monroe read out the questions, and El Morya replied to us in full Dictation mode. I was just yards away, and it was surely as close as close could be to actually sitting tangibly at Morya�s feet in the Darjeeling Retreat. He was right there, answering sweetly every question, and all were good ones. He answered at length to each. He even answered things on the writer�s mind which had not been written down, but all anonymously. When it came to my question, He knew precisely who had written the question and, though His reply was useful to all, it was nevertheless His own personal response to me. Morya said Himself that He welcomed such close contact, but joked that He did not know what they would do to maintain this Acropolis Sophia practice when there are hundreds of students.

Beloved Morya continued in this way until the last question was answered around 11:15 p.m. Then Hercules dictated, and El Morya sealed the session. I remember Carolyn then asking Monroe if he would take her hand, "For this Messenger can scarcely stand up".

One great thing about having been here is to witness the purity of heart of these Messengers. Even among the students there is no gossip or human "stuff", and it will be a prime goal of the Temple to keep things that way as it grows. Concerning growth, it is not a question of numbers but of the quality of how close Temple members can remain to their I AM Presence. There are magnificent plans for building the first public, outer post of the Great White Brotherhood since Atlantis - and I do not believe this is intended to be decades down the road. This will be a true, wonderful Temple, with gradations of floors to which various students have access. . . .

<snip>

This BTW is a Dispensation, to build such a place, released to the Summit through a Pearl of Wisdom in 1960, but never taken up. The GWB "caught" the unmanifested Dispensation and held on to it, to release it anew now for The Temple of The Presence.

Well, it was pleasant and, I thought, fun, to be able to answer your comment from here!

I had better get on with the day.

Love and Peace from Vermont,
David

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