What I would like to do here, is to explain to the community why I decided to sign my emails with the phrase "Your Little Brother." I made this decision in early January 2004, after responding to a fellow student's question regarding how I came to find the Teachings. I used this phrase in my signature for the first time in responding to that question.

     Now, given the fact that this question, regarding how I found the Teachings, and my answer to it, was the immediate precursor to my decision to use the phrase "Your Little Brother" in my signature, it would be appropriate to set forth my answer to that question, before continuing my explanation of the deeper meaning that this phrase "Your Little Brother" has for me.

My Response to a Fellow
Student on the Path, who asked me
how I came to Find the Teachings.

     In response to your question, about when I found the teachings, it was back in 1979, when I was living in Evergreen Colorado, a small town about 30 miles or so west of Denver, situated up in the mountains, along a moderate sized water feature known as Bear Creek. There was this little book store that occupied an old 1920's era Victorian style frame house that sat next to Bear Creek at the upper end of the downtown area. It was painted bright yellow. I had been buying various metaphysical books there, reading a lot in that area, and one day I found a copy of Kuthumi's Studies on the Human Aura, and the rest is history. I took the book home, and as I was reading it, an angelic voice said to me "UNITY". The voice was a clear as any voice you would hear in the physical, i.e. with your physical ears, but it was not physical. The word was heard clearly and loudly within the scope of my inner mind. In other words, those mechanisms used to register sound within my mind were employed, because the word registered on my mind as any spoken word would, but the input to these sound registration mechanisms was not my physical eardrums.

     I attended my first conferences at Camelot in 1981, that was the Easter Class. This is when I became a Keeper of the Flame. I moved back to California shortly thereafter so I could be close to Camelot, and I had the opportunity to attend more conferences through 1982, living at the Ashram of the World Mother in Los Angeles for a couple of months during the summer, and attending the first conference at the Heart of the Inner Retreat up in Montana that fall.

     Circumstances unfolded in an unusual manner after that. I found myself back in Colorado, at the end of 1982, found a job there, and worked through the winter, spring, and summer of 1983, for one purpose, and that was to pay my tuition to SU. The job I found gave me the opportunity to begin my writing career, such as it was. I was hired as a field service technician for a company that manufactured machines that examined glass bottles for flaws. This machine would sit on the production line in a glass bottle manufacturing plant and scan each bottle that passed by it on the conveyor belt. If it detected a flaw in any single bottle, it would kick that bottle off the line, and into a bin. After a couple of months on the job, a position opened up in the Research and Development department for a technical writer to write test procedure manuals that would be used by the technicians who tested these machines in the factory in Denver. I took that job, because I loved to write, and I did not like the travel associated with the field service position. That was certainly the best job that I ever had. I got to work under the head of the R & D department who gave me total freedom. In addition to being able to write, I got to work with the technical drawing people to generate drawings for the manuals. And I got to work with the metal shop people in the design and construction of various test fixtures. And I got to interface with all the people in the production test department in determining what should be in the test manuals. So, I was very sorry to have to leave after so short a time. As far a work environment goes, this was a close to paradise as one could get. But, I had the job for one purpose, and that was to attend Summit University.

     And so, that is how I earned the money to attend Summit University, and that is how I got to write for a living, all in one package.

     Traveling back to California in September of 1983, I attended Summit University at Camelot during the fall. This was the class of Jesus and Chatham. I will remember that as the most precious experience of my entire life. No matter what else happens, this will be the memory of absolute paradise. I became a Communicant at the end of that SU Class, December 1983.

     I served on staff at Camelot there for a period of time in the first few months of 1984, in the Audio Visual department, having experience in the electronics field.

     After leaving staff, I worked in the local area, and stayed very close to the community, attending all of the services there, and conferences there, through 1984, and 1985, and into 1986.

     Again, very precious memories. Some of those memories I have recorded in the Roses of Camelot piece on the Journal website.

     I would note that again, I had the opportunity to attend the summer conference in the Heart of the Inner Retreat in 1984. This was the second conference held in the Heart. Having attended the first two conferences that were ever held in the Heart of the Inner Retreat, and having those dictations written upon my soul, this will explain to you why it is impossible for me to ever believe that the Masters would sponsor another activity after this one. This one is it. This is the one we have to make work. Again, this is an actual fact, and it is part of me. Their hopes and dreams and plans for the Inner Retreat are written onto my soul. The Masters will never let those hopes and dreams go, and they will never do anything to frustrate those hopes and dreams, because those are the hopes and dreams of God our Father (and Mother). There is no other place where those hopes and dreams can be fulfilled, other than the Inner Retreat. No other place. And the organization that has title to that land, is the organization that has control of whether there will be mass ascensions from this planet, or not.

     Sure, a highly dedicated individual, with a substantial momentum of victory already built up, can make his or her ascension from anyplace on the planet. Dedicated people don't need special assistance in this regard. Their momentum of dedication draws to them the assistance from on high that they need. But there are many more people who do not have that momentum of dedication, who do need the assistance that the great magnet of the Inner Retreat will offer. Here, the collective victory of many will coalesce to produce that magnet, that will serve as the catalyst for the mass transformation that will bring in the Golden Age. That I believe is an accurate synopsis of the Teaching on this subject.

     In the middle of 1986, circumstances unfolded in such a way as to make it impossible for me to attend activities at Camelot. But the move to Montana was made in 1987, so I did not miss much. I was homebound about 20 miles north here in Newbury Park.

     This is the point where I began bringing forth my sacred labor, which is writing. Given the fact that there was not a local study group in my area, I had to keep the vigil in my sanctuary at home. This I have been doing ever since.

     For a period of time, there was a study group in my area, and I loved to attend services there. But, at one point, those who sponsored that activity had to move out of state, and I was back keeping the vigil at my home altar. I miss that experience of being able to gather together for services with fellow Keepers of the Flame. I miss sitting around the dining room table addressing envelopes for those who had requested more information about the Teachings.

     Now, the Idea of starting the Homeward Bound Journal came to me in 1995. But I did not actually begin to generate material for that on a regular basis in until 2000. That is when the expansion of the Internet made it possible.

     I now spend full time writing for the Journal.

     For the time being, I Am a Keeper of the Flame in good standing, and I would NEVER voluntarily relinquish my association with that Fraternity, no matter what happens. But, under current circumstances, given the tendency of the church leadership to set examples in order to zip the lips of the membership, well, who knows what they will do. As the January issue of the Journal will show, I will now publically jump into this issue with both feet. And those in leadership will not consider me to be their friend, though I am probably the best friend they could ever have.

     I have never considered that there was a need to do this, but I would encourage everyone who has issues with leadership, and who feels they need to address those issues whether in public, or private, to make a daily call for Archangel Michael to guard and protect their Communicant Status, and their membership in the Keepers of the Flame Fraternity, as if these were the two very precious scrolls in the Ark of the Covenant. You remember what is recorded in the Bible, about what happens to those unauthorized individuals, who touched the Ark? What the Lord has joined together, let no man cast asunder.

     Now, as noted, on January 4, 2004, I responded to a question of a fellow student regarding how I found the Teachings. And I gave him the long detailed answer reproduced above, probably telling him more than he wanted to know, and when I came to the end, the issue of how to sign this particular email was, for some reason, highlighted in my mind.

     The issue of how people sign their emails has always interested me. There are several basic forms that people use, most of which I am not comfortable with using myself, and so, I have always simply signed my emails, sincerely, me. Or perhaps with an expression of gratitude for something or other, thank you, sincerely, me.

     I looked at how this student had signed his email, "Always Victory", which is a fairly common thing, many students use that, but I have never liked it, especially when I am not sure that I am always being victorious, and I am certainly sure that there are many who are not being always victorious, even though they sign their emails like that, (but I am not talking about that particular person in that respect), in other words, he could have been Always Victorious for all I know. It's just that there are some people who would not know what victory is, if it bit them on the Big Toe, and they sign their emails, Always Victory. And of course, there are also people who have just finished trashing me, out of the deepest cavern of darkness in their souls, and they can sign their letters, God Bless You. And this is quite an irony. And so I am thinking, on this particular occasion, as I always think when I see that signature, Always Victory, what's the point of that anyway?

     This same student, for whom I drafted the forgoing response in regards to how I found the Teachings, and later reading this explanation regarding my problem with the signature "Always Victory", responded to my observations in this regard:

From PoW Vol. 32 No. 7, Beloved Mighty Victory - February 12, 1989, comes the point of greeting a friend...

"May I say to you, beloved, if you will remember me, if you will remember us and if you will remember to say to one another, rather than the proverbial hello, "Always Victory!" "Always Victory!" with your handshake, with your farewells and with your greetings...

[Congregation affirms with Mighty Victory:]

Always Victory! Always Victory! Always Victory! Always Victory! Always Victory!

...And when you say it, beloved, will you see that golden light that is more brilliant than the noonday sun that you almost cannot look upon even at inner levels save with the closing of the eyes? Will you exchange the light and the greeting of the Sun of Victory and the greeting of the causal bodies of our twin flames, which we now conjoin with the causal bodies of the God and Goddess Meru over this place?"

     For this reason, I like to sign with "Always Victory!" It is just the science of the spoken word, you will become what you say and visualize. Even if you don't feel victorious, just start saying "Always Victory" and visualize that "golden light" manifesting around you and so it will be. Exercise this day in and day out, like priming the pump of an old-fashioned water well, and you will get that tremendous sense of Victory! No more doldrums and despair.

     I use "Always Victory!" instead of "Sincerely," "Yours Truly," etc. In your letter below, your greeting, I guess, is still "Sincerely." However, as you also explain, by using "Your Little Brother" you say something about yourself. Is it a greeting? Or is it more like a "title"? A title like Saint Therese of Lisieux "of the little flower of Jesus" or "Saint Germain" (which means Holy Brother)? Nonetheless, I think it is cute that you sign with "Your Little Brother."

     I recognize the intrinsic value of the statement "Always Victory!". And my sense of the value of it has been increased many fold by this new information which shows that the origin of these words is found in an admonishment by the Ascended Master Mighty Victory himself.

     But that does not solve the problem that I mentioned above. There are some people who this exclamation, who obviously don't know what victory means. But I am thinking that while this might be true in some cases, it cannot be not true in all cases, and it would therefore be an error on my part, to apply such a faulty generalization to every person who says "Always Victory!". And therefore, I will change my thinking behavior in this regard. I will set aside this tint upon the lens of my mind that has been put there by the bad example of a few. I will forgive them, and move on.

     In the future, when I see this exclamation, Always Victory!, instead of thinking, I wonder if this person knows what victory is, I will instead recall the words of the Master Mighty Victory, as set forth above, and I will say a short prayer, directed to Mighty Victory himself, to help that person, and all members of the church, and myself included, to understand more clearly what victory really means, and to thereby make it possible to achieve more of them. For it is clear to me, that if one does not UNDERSTAND what victory means, then the achievement of victory is impossible.

     I would just say one more thing on this subject. The Light of Illumination is a nice thing to have. The Light of Illumination, is the Light of Victory. But to "have" it, there must be a chalice for it in your own mind. And that chalice, the structure of it, is composed of understanding. This represents the principle of the crystallization of the God Flame that Mark Prophet liked to talk about so much. The actual Light of Illumination must crystallize, and take form within your own mind. And that divine crystalline structure, that is actually able to hold and transmit Light, is called understanding. Only to the extent that you have understanding, will you have the Reality of Victory.

     And therefore, in the land of email, and web sites, and information servers, I would challenge every person who uses this phrase "Always Victory!" to include a link in their signature, to a file that explains, in their own words, what victory means to them. I will offer to host such pages on the Homeward Bound Journal website. Send me the statement, and I will post it, and I will send a URL back to you that you can include in your signature file. And that way, when you say, in your emails, "Always Victory!", the reader can click on that link and read what you have to say, and in this manner, the message of victory can be spread more broadly among the student body.

     Now, getting back to this decision point, regarding the issue of email signatures, it came to me, on that day, as I was contemplating how I was to sign that particular email, that the context of my path, in terms of what has become very important to me over the last several months, does provide me with the possibility of adding a useful sign-off signature that would actually communicate something valuable about who I am, and even about who we are, and what we all have in common which is of real value and paramount importance, and so, that is when I decided to use the sign off signature, Your Little Brother. I believe this will more accurately express the sense of identity that I am now trying to fully absorb in relationship to all members of our larger Divine Family.

     This sense of being the Little Brother, comes from what I can now see, as the actual, and unceasing love, unceasing kind regard, and even high regard, of our Heavenly Brothers and Sisters, and that holding our attention upon this, is a very important part of our sense of Divine Identity, one that God our Father, and Mother, would have us embrace, without interruption, as it works, and quite naturally so, to fill us with a greater appreciation for the beauty of the Whole Divine Family that our Divine Parents, have themselves Created. Yes, the treasure of our Heavenly Brothers and Sisters, the value and preciousness thereof, naturally adds to the stature, and our sense of ever increasing wonder, in regards to the Glory of our Divine Parents. As we contemplate the beauty of these relationships, the golden treasure that flows in a continuous circulatory system at higher levels through the nexus of the golden heart, the admiration for what God our Father and Mother have created for us, in this respect especially, grows, and grows, and grows.

     And so, I have come to cherish my place in that Divine Family, as the little brother, that itsy bitsy brother, hardly more than a babe, who has so many beautiful and blessed elder, and older, and monumentally more majestic Brothers and Sisters, all working tirelessly for the victory of the plans and purposes of God our Father, God our Mother, our mutual Divine Parents, through the mission of the Summit Lighthouse, and the Teachings of the Ascended Masters.

     And in this, the Little Brother is enamored of the whole family business of planetary healing, in which all of his older brothers and sisters are so intently and one pointedly engaged, so genuine is their desire to see fullfilled, the hopes and dreams of God our Father, and God our Mother, for the healing and the homecoming of all souls on this planet.

     Now, one thing I know for sure, is that our Heavenly Brothers and Sisters cherish ALL of their little brothers and sisters. And so, let us all, each one, bask in that cherishment, and gain strength thereby, for the arduous work ahead.

     And in that respect, let us strive together to pass every test on this great path that leads to the summit of divine glory.

     We have a challenging New Year ahead of us. Let us hope that we can all rise to meet these challenges, and come out the victors. Always Victory? Let us not be fooled by false hopes. The climb ahead is steep. And there are people falling off the path, and down into the canyon of absolute confusion every day. Just take a look at some of the individuals in the leadership of our organization, if you think that victory is a sure thing. It is not. Victory, as the purest gold of enlightened action, is not spread liberally and universally among even ascended master students. The crown of victory will rest upon the head of the vigilant only.
 

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