June 26th 1970
… of Jesus on the mountainside with the hungry, tired, multitude around him, fixing the tent for a brief respite from the hot arid day. And they had nothing but their faith in him to suffer and endure the long dark hours of night. And how he produced, from one small basket of fish, enough for all that were hungered to be satisfied and to sleep a short sleep of peace.
Let us look further, let us try to read, as it were, in between the lines. Your faith, if it is complete and absolute, this is the soil in which the Spirit of Christ, the life-force of the Spirit begins to grow and to develop within yourself. In this soil of faith and trust. And at last, as the Spirit begins to feel and to know itself, to realise its power through love, then the one who, shall we say, is housing or surrounding this Spirit, the body of flesh which is the sacred casket for this very, very precious jewel, begins to shine, because the Spirit is shining through. And in the darkness of the world a light is always welcome. And those that are passing in the dark shadow will look towards the light and come nearer for warmth and for comfort.
And although, and you say it yourself, 'I am inadequate. I feel inadequate.' This is absolutely inevitable, this feeling of being inadequate is part and parcel of the true Spirit. Humility, the key note, the fundamental, basic, beginning of Spiritual progress, of the development of the Christ Spirit within. And this feeling of being inadequate is like having in front of oneself the small fish. And when looking out into the darkness, into the
shadows which the world creates through it's own dark thinking, misunderstanding, ignorance and fears, which come forth from the minds of men, how can I supply, how can I share, how can I make this one tiny fish, as it were, one morsel feed so many. I am inadequate. But faith has been tempered with understanding. Because humility and purity of heart and all the trials and tribulations which beset the one who makes the search, all these things temper the character, all these things add up and bring forth the total sum of wisdom and understanding.
And as one after another comes towards the Light, towards the one, the casket who is developing within itself the Christ Spirit, this one can make, as it were, can create this Divine food, this nourishment, this something that, at all the world, every human soul hungers for, it knows not, that which will satisfy the craving within for Spiritual truth. And it does not matter how afraid the one may feel because at times the hungry come forth in greater numbers than expected, and the larder of the mind and of the body seems empty. Yet, never, ever, will the larder of the mind be empty because it is drawing on an everlasting, eternal supply, which is life itself. And the supply will always be equal to the demand. And even though there are they who will take of the fish, as it were, who eat thereof and afterwards feel, 'It was pleasant, but it is not my niche, there are other things that I would enjoy more. I will go forth and get that which my heart desires.'
We ask you not to worry and not to be anxious, for too much of what you have would make this little one sick. They could not enjoy it. But the time will come when they will remember the Spiritual taste of what you gave and in this world or another world they may come forth out of the great darkness to seek once more that food, that Spiritual food. And they will know that this is the only thing they really need. But in the Earth world, in the grosser, heavier, slower vibration, it is very difficult for the Earth child to know exactly what it really needs. It knows exactly what it wants and sets forth to get it, but it is so difficult, so difficult to satisfy the eternal craving in the human breast. And all these cravings and desires for the food of the world entail terrific energy and the one who finds real-happiness realises that the great gift was there all the time. But it is very difficult for the human mind to grasp that the greatest treasure is there, within himself, at his own feet, within his own heart, in his own house.
The feeding of the multitude (Matthew 14:13–21) is read here as an inward parable about a real and unavoidable feeling: inadequacy. The disciples' "one small basket of fish" against a hungry crowd becomes the exact shape of what any true seeker feels when facing the world's need — "how can I make this one tiny fish feed so many?" The transcript's key move is refusing to treat that feeling as a problem to overcome before beginning; it's named directly as "part and parcel of the true Spirit," humility itself being the very soil the Christ Spirit grows in, not an obstacle standing in front of it.
Its central promise addresses the fear of running dry: "never, ever, will the larder of the mind be empty," because what's drawn on isn't personal supply but an "everlasting, eternal supply... the supply will always be equal to the demand" — the same assurance offered in "Search For The Pearl Of Great Price" a few transcripts back, given here its most concrete image yet.
The transcript is candid, too, about a discouraging but ordinary outcome — that some who receive real spiritual nourishment will taste it, find it "pleasant, but not my niche," and turn back to what they wanted instead. Rather than treating this as failure, the transcript insists nothing given is wasted: the taste, once known, remains, and "in this world or another" it may be remembered and sought again, once genuine hunger, rather than mere want, has had time to grow clear. The transcript's closing turn is its gentlest: the human craving that drives so much fruitless searching in the world is, in the end, aimed at something already present — "the greatest treasure is there, within himself, at his own feet, within his own house" — the whole exhausting search circling back, eventually, to what was never actually missing.