We are all to an extent strangers in this earth, as is repeated in many books of the old testament and new testament. We journey with other exiles from paradise in a world where we are expected to be helpers to our fellow travelers. Indeed everything in the world is responsible in some way for something else. And this responsibility, called by Ann Ree "Reciprocal Maintenance" demands that every person and thing give of itself in some sacrificial way.
Ann Ree wrote,
We entered this earth to develop a certain kind of consciousness. As an eternity body, we are an offering to the Christ, through which He unites us with God.
There is no freedom of mind until one realizes that Reciprocal Maintenance supports all worlds and universes. Man creates through taking on the weight of Creation as willing creators with God.
There is no creation without renunciation ... When Intentional Suffering is accepted as a way of life, joy and creation begin. One steps beyond the Maya penalties for unknowing into the glorious transcendental knowing.
Other scriptures acknowledge this too. In Hinduism there is the idea of the Yajnas or the offering of materials or labor. When done ritually, an offering is put into a fire. Closely related to yajna is the Zoroastrian yasna, though the latter is associated with water, not fire. In Islam, one of the five pillars is alms to the poor. Whatever one thinks of the violent elements in Islam, hospitality is present and almost an obligation in the small villages in Islamic countries.
In daily life there are many sacrifices. Some of them involve suffering against our own will. Ann Ree called that alien suffering. But when we recognize our responsibility and sacrifice willingly and joyfully, we have entered into true intentional suffering, which is the key to our evolvement. Ann Ree described some sacrifices and insights that many mothers share,
When I nursed my child, sick and weak, I shared the suffering of my child and experienced Intentional Suffering. When my child was healed through prayer and supplication and mediation, I was in the midst of grace, which is the natural result and response in Intentional Suffering.
When I took on the financial burdens of those who had lost their way in moral ethic as to debts, I experienced Intentional Suffering, and thereby opened the vital grace of prospering …
In Reciprocal Maintenance, nothing is my possession; I may by grace have leased it or borrowed from my accumulation of grace. If I understand that possessions which I call “mine” belong to the universal reciprocal-maintenance account, I then shall be bestowed with all forms of prospering under the law of Reciprocal Maintenance, where I shall lack nothing …
I, having suffered all, am beyond that which seeks to force alien suffering upon me.
Whether we are aware of it or not, our own individual existence is maintained through the sacrifice of some thing or some person. For example, when we eat food, a plant or animal has sacrificed its life for us. In turn whatever resources that animal or plant uses is a sacrifice by some lower form of life - even by the minerals in the soil or water from the some stream.
From the Venerable One,
Each plant is a baptismal font holding up its branches, its leaves, its fruit, crying out to man, “Take of me. This is my life for you. And yet on the morrow I know my root shall be scarred and burnt by your thoughtlessness.” This is the lesson the plant giveth to man: the silent love, the silent knowing, the silent serving.
In the kingdoms above us are great beings whose total lives are for our sakes. They are not engrossed in their own evolvement, though they do evolve because of their loving service to us. Think of the sacrifice of their total labor for the lower worlds. It is the true bodhisattva vow that prevents them from working on their own behalf until every blade of grass, or thing below them, is enlightened.
One never knows when he will encounter an angel unaware working through a presumed lower person or creature. The parable of the good Samaritan is a moving example. The Samaritans and Judeans each forbade their members to interact with the other. But the one looked down upon by the Judeans, a Samaritan, was the one to help the beaten down man.
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
Through reciprocal maintenance, high and low are united by a chain of obligation. The seventh Light Stream is the one that looks back on the other Light Streams as heir and uniter. Ritual is an earth performance but affects and unites the lowest plane with all upper planes, including the highest. It's lowest expression is black magic or the very opposite: inverted and selfish use of energies. The Master of the seventh Light Stream, Master R, was Noah in a past life, who metaphorically gathered all the creatures from lowest up to man into the Ark. Jesus, the Divine Mediator between low and high, was the one who said,
Even as ye have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Another aspect to seven is the idea of the lost one or wanderer. The seventh of the Pleiades was the wanderer. She correlated to the exile of the Jews in Exodus. It is said that in our chain of solar systems, we are the lowest of the twelve. How unfortunate it would be for us if higher beings did not condescend to lift us. Jesus, who came from other eternity systems to lift ours, had words for a certain scribe:
Then a scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
In other words, we have no claim on any place or thing. We are all strangers in the earth. The only thing that is ours is the potentially limitless power to give, once we have overcome egotism, covetousness, and selfishness.
I'm sure we can all give examples of where we gave expecting nothing in return, and received an unasked for blessing. For many, it is the blessings in later life from children raised well. There are other forms of time tithes as well. I'll give an example from my experience perhaps more easy to relate to by the general population. Money ;) When I was out of work for two and a half years, my finances were drained. Once I got a fairly low paying job - it was about a third of what I make now, though it increased to about half - I didn't see a way to survive with a negative cash flow, so I fell behind on my tithe. After some time the ingratitude of such an act became too unbearable. I determined to not only tithe, but pay all the back tithes I missed, even if it was possible only slowly. Eventually I was able to do this in full. Once I had done this, I noticed not less money, but more. This, of course, was not my aim else I would probably have been saddled with still more lessons.
My mother was a sterling example of not counting the cost. She always tithed, and always gave a portion of what meager amount was left after providing for her children, to some cause. She seemed to have an innate knowing of sacrifice. Her blessings were more on the inner. She had many spiritual experiences.
I would like to close with this beautiful mantram by Ann Ree sealing in our knowing of our eternal quest through this world to find our spiritual home:
My soul is a lantern lit of God.
My soul it a seeker, seeking to make earth Heaven.
My soul is a voice waiting to speak of eternal things.
My soul is a household awaiting its master.
My soul is a threshold inviting the stranger.
My soul is a wanderer homesick for the eternals.
My soul is a door awaiting the key.
