Messages from Michael (Part 2)

Michael for the Millennium Cover Art

 

After writing the post "Messages from Michael", I took another look at the other three volumes in the series of books by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.  It has been many years since I first read them.  Hundreds of pages in More Messages from Michael (1986) are devoted to Ouija board communication about fragments (souls) and their 'roles in essence' and assorted factors in the 'overleaves'; human relationships; and such topics as 'Monads'  (experiential relationships), "the rule of Maya," the planes of existence, and diverse aspects of life on our physical plain.  

A 25th anniversary "updated" edition of More Messages from Michael was published in 2010.  The Introduction featuring "opening words from Michael" first appeared in the original edition and concluded with the following paragraphs.

Let us encourage each of you to question his or her life, to examine your experiences and perceptions, so that you may recognize and validate your perceptions, if you wish to seek self-awareness.  Not all lives are chosen for self-awareness, just as not all persons wear the same size shoes.  Essence will indicate the path you have chosen if you care to give attention to those inner promptings, if it is your desire to know.  Your decision on this, as in every other issue, is yours to make. 

Let us point out that every one of you is growing and evolving, as fragments, as members of entities that are themselves evolving.  All choices contribute to this evolution.

Our information in given with unqualified love.

I found some comments concerning the lives of men associated with "Transcendental Soul" and "Infinite Soul" manifestations.  In these messages as recorded, the obvious metaphorical significance of these men's circumstances was not articulated.  The observation about "Fragments who gave up their bodies to the manifestation of the Transcendental Soul" is worded in a way that gives an impression that contradicts historical records and common knowledge. 

Here is how karma is defined in one passage of the book.

Karma, as we have indicated before, is the result of removing another fragment's ability and/or right to choose for itself, and is a profoundly compelling tie between fragments until the karmic ribbon has been burned by equal payment.

Here is an excerpt with commentary on people's willingness to accept others on their own terms.

While we do not advocate tolerance—or anything else—as such, we are always aware that where true tolerance is present, growth is more likely to occur.  By true tolerance, we do not mean a condescending attitude that all too often passes for tolerance, but a genuine acceptance that every fragment has its own choices to make and it's own life to live and that beyond a certain level of concern, each fragment is responsible to and for itself.  By this level of concern we speak of the ability to perceive others as as valid as oneself.  To be willing to release expectations, of oneself as well as of others does much to advance tolerance.

The following excerpt from More Messages from Michael is presented as an example of the subjects presented in the book.  During one session 'Michael' advised Katherine about a Buddhist whom she had met while employed to work on effects for a movie:

This fragment is a second-level Mature Priest in the passion mode with a goal of growth, a realist in the intellectual part of emotional center with a very strong chief feature of arrogance.

'Michael' went on to recommend —

What might be the best procedure from here is to bring various books on Oriental philosophical and religious thought with you when you work with this difficult fragment and tell him that he has piqued your interest in Oriental religions, so you are exploring the possibilities.  It would be more beneficial to avoid the works of those associated with his particular school of thought . . .

It might be wise to avoid long discussions with this fragment, and say only that you have not yet studied enough to understand the material well enough to discuss it.

The following excerpts are from Michael's People (1988).

We would wish at this time to remark on what might be called the communication glut.  There is so much information flooding the technologically advanced societies at this time that it might be seen as overwhelming and wholly unwieldy.  This is not entirely inaccurate.  While we would agree that enhanced communication is definitely a "force for good in the world," learning to adjust the communication diet is a technique that has not yet been discerned or addressed by science or art.

Let us observe that where there is total intimacy—that is, essence  contact—there is true agape.  Beyond this plane there are other planes of greater unity, where the consciousness of multiplicity within an entity vanishes and is superseded by a higher comprehension that is as incomprehensible to us as we are to you.

First of all, Fenella, we would wish to remind you that the fragment who is now Jessica is free to choose whatever she wishes in terms of this or any other aspect of her life.  That she has chosen to stop channeling is in no way a "fault," and it is in no way a "rejection" of you.

Where the lessons of a previous life have not been fully integrated or there are aspects of the life yet to be fully validated, it is not uncommon for the fragment to have a fascination with the period of history and society where the incarnation occurred.

In a 2009 postscript published in the new edition of More Messages from Michael, Yarbro divulged that a few people in the original group remained active.  ". . . over the years more than two dozen members have left the group for a variety of reasons, and over the same period of time about twenty have taken their places."

Here are some excerpts from Michael for the Millennium (1995).

All choices are equally valid and have no "right" or "wrong," only consequences.

(In response to the question "Is there any reason not to eat meat?")  Only if you choose to perceive one for yourself, and it is not the imposition of someone else's choice, such as most religiously based food restrictions are, although that is a matter of choice, not of any greater validity.

As we have said before, ensoulment of your species took place between fifty and sixty thousand years ago, and is marked by the development of abstract thought, which in turn led to language, esthetics, defined emotions and perceptions, "flights of fancy," anticipation, worry, intimacy, including self-intimacy, identity, and then to what you on the physical plane call art. That is not to say that  proto-humans did not have rudimentary verbal communications, but so do chimpanzees, and like all "clever" animals, proto-humans could recognize a very wide variety of discreet sounds.  But abstract "thought" widened all the potentials of the proto-human species.

In general, we consider "morals" to be a negative influence on the societies embracing them, for the imposition of such "codes" inevitably leads to a justification of cruelty.

We do, in general, think that an understanding of ethics is far less "intrusive," and provides fewer "excuses" for the kinds of actions that have marked "moral" actions.  Of course, there are fragments who "disguise" their moral postures as ethical dilemmas.

On no other plane does choice have so many forms of manifestation as it does on the physical plane, and on no other plane of existence does the nature of the plane itself impinge so relentlessly on fragments extant there.

The impact put upon any date is a cultural artifact, not a cosmic event, and while it is not amiss, from time to time, to review experience and the "state of society" if you choose to do so, there is no set "time" when this is more "auspicious" than any other, which includes the day you have designated to begin what you have defined the third millennium.

Reading the Messages from Michael books, I often wondered about the sensibility being expressed by the communicating intelligences.  I perceived possible philosophical rationales for some of the responses.  There were also many occasions when I was inclined to think that some manner of didactic irony was being invoked.  I was also reminded that in relation to people responding to these teachings, there are different 'levels' of truth and this is due to the complex circumstances of Earth life.

In Yarbro's first book, the comment "We are not here to give you a new dogma" seems of great importance.  'Michael' explained:

It is too easy for you to be lured by your expectations into making this a new faith, which is in complete opposition to our intention.  Blind faith eliminates understanding, and without understanding there can be no growth or agape, which is the goal.

 During a discourse about human spiritual growth, 'Michael' commented:

We would ask you to think about your lives for a moment.  When you are gardening, you think about plants and earth and fertilizer and shade and root conditions as well as the weather and the plantness of plants.  When you are making a meal you think about smell and taste and texture and hunger and appearance and time and resources.  When you listen to music, you think about notes and rhythms and dynamics.  This is an automatic concentration, a pattern of concentration that has been learned.  Most of the time, if you allow other considerations to intrude, your planting or cooking or listening will not go as well, and you will be disappointed.  You will be aware of it at the time.  Something will not seem right and you will get easily irritated or frustrated.  It is the same with this teaching.  As you learn the most workable pattern of concentration, it will be easier to maintain that concentration.