October 21st 1967
"Call ye no man perfect but the Father."
Being born or incarnated into a body of flesh, on the physical and human level, means that that one is imperfect, and that there is so very much that this one must learn.
And that because the creator of all creation, understanding the needs of His children, and wanting for each and every one only the very best, sees fit that this should come again, perhaps, and again upon the Earth plane, into the body of flesh, to learn and experience those things which will eventually bring this soul into and unto perfection.
But, when a human being says unto you, "I am not perfect, my thoughts are many, my weaknesses too, then this is a sign of an awakening, a realisation, for, as you have just said, if one feels that they know everything, that they are satisfied within themselves, that they have done all they can, and left nothing undone, then this is a sure sign of great imperfection. And if it were not so tragic, we could smile because of this. Because it is, in very truth, the exact opposite. It is only the one who sees within himself, shall we say, the stinking lump of which you have heard. You have heard it described as a stinking lump, and this in very truth, is how the true seeker, at one time or another, inevitably sees himself. And there is no exception. Unless this vile man is at one time or another, met with face to face, there can be no real, no lasting change, spiritually, in this soul.
And we would have you remember Mary and Martha, and how Jesus loved them both. And He found Martha very, very useful, and He realised, because He was a man upon the Earth, who had a body to contend with, and to comply with, He appreciated the part which Martha played. That part of seeking to bring about good things for one's creature comfort, for the body and for the person, and He appreciated this and thanked Martha for her work, and for her nature, and for being what she was.
And because Martha was human, she grumbled. She grumbled because Mary seemed to be getting as it were, more attention from Jesus, because she sat at His feet, wrapped in admiration and love. Trying to understand His message, drawing, as it were, from His personality. But Jesus said that although Mary perhaps played the better part, and that her work and her quiet and her longing to learn, was the greater part, still Martha played a very important part.
And so, we want to ask, if both these parts, both these characteristics meant so much, and Jesus could appreciate them both, then what better thought than this, develop both, develop both these parts, and bring them together as a perfect whole. Do that which you have to do concerning the ordinary, the everyday, and the mundane. But do not fret or be anxious if at times you feel that you must give in to this desire to sit, to be quiet, to listen and to learn. In other words, give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's,unto God, unto love, unto the spirit, that which belongs to God, the other side of yourself.
And you will feel the Spirit of Christ, the God within you, responding, and linking up, and talking to you, in its own way, Spirit linking to spirit, and the attraction of like attracting like.
But never disparage the other side of your nature.
Always, at all times, do your very best in all circumstances, on all levels, in all conditions, for there are many who say that they would give their souls to see the Christ. And they would go to great lengths and they would travel great distances to visit this shrine and that, to sit with this master and that, to worship in this temple, to possess this parchment, and to be allowed into the sacred and the secret places.
But, they leave so much behind undone. They leave so many in need. And their eyes are glued, as it were, upon the distant horizon, and they do not see the tiny, wayside flowers, the other small experiences in life, which help to enrich the Earth experience. They know not, because they are filled with their own desire to know and to seek, they know not the relief of rest, when the body is utterly weary. They know not the joy of coming back, as it were, into their own peaceful vibrations, after being in the vibration of the Spirit and the poor, and the tormented.
They know not this peace of coming back, of being aware that they have helped to bring comfort, and a little peace to a tortured soul and a tortured body.
Ah, those of you are blessed, who after doing this and that doing this service and that, can sit in the quiet, in the peace, and have felt and known this holy weariness. But these, these other little children, are full of animation all the time concerning their spiritual growth, longing to see their God. And yet, they need not have moved one inch. They have only to turn their head, and to look into the face of another human being, who perhaps needed a little help and encouragement, and they would have seen their God, their Father.
And so it is not good always to try to play the part of Mary. It is good to combine the two and to do your duty, and to find pleasure, if you can, in the ordinary and the everyday. And only this, only this perseverance, this accepting, this overcoming, will bring eventually, perfection.
And until these two parts are developed, the practical, the ordinary, and the spiritual, no man can be called perfect. He is perfect inasmuch as the Spirit within him is developed, and no one man can possess the whole of God until every man sees the Father in every other man, until the Spirit is recognised and the….
"Call ye no man perfect but the Father" grounds this transcript's central reassurance: imperfection isn't a spiritual failing to overcome once and be done with, it's the actual condition of being incarnate — the whole reason for repeated Earth lives at all. Its sharpest point is a genuine paradox: the person who feels satisfied, finished, with nothing left to learn, is thereby shown to be furthest from real progress, while the one who sees in himself "the stinking lump" — confronts his own faults honestly, without flinching — is, by that very self-recognition, already further along. Feeling imperfect, on this account, is evidence of waking up, not of falling short.
The transcript then turns to Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38–42), and does something Jesus's own words to Martha don't quite do — it refuses to rank the two sisters against each other at all. Where the Gospel has Jesus gently favour Mary's choice, this transcript insists both are needed and both are loved: "give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's... unto God that which belongs to God" — practical care and contemplative stillness treated as two halves of one whole person, not a hierarchy to climb.
Its most pointed warning is against a spiritual seeking so intent on the horizon that it misses what's underfoot: those who travel far, seeking shrines and masters, while leaving "so many in need" close at hand, and who never learn "the joy of coming back... into their own peaceful vibrations" after service — the relief that follows real, tiring, ordinary help given to another person. The transcript's conclusion is almost startlingly simple: no journey is required to see God, "only to turn their head, and look into the face of another human being who perhaps needed a little help." Perfection, whatever it eventually means, is reached only by developing both halves together — the everyday and the contemplative — never one without the other.