When I dig into the L/L Research Conscious Channeling Archives, I’m not just trying to find diamonds in the rough. What I find particularly interesting are the thru lines between this earlier work and what Ra ends up articulating. That’s helping me construct a kind of genealogy of contact where I can make sense of work that follows and precedes Ra, understanding the concepts as evolved by increasingly tuned contact as the principles of stable practice are better understood over the course of the 20th century.

But then there are times where the sheer poetry and exuberance of conscious contacts seems to overwhelm Ra’s dry and terse delivery. This is the Confederation in something much closer to “preacher” mode, giving their testimony on the ideas that move the needle of seeking. This topic of love, the generosity it engenders, and the sacrifice that this entails seems to be just one of these moments. It’s a subject that Ra deals with a couple of times making nearly the same point, but it is in the words of Hatonn that I find the inspiration to live this and not simply apply a program from on high.

I am with you, my brothers. I am Hatonn. It is a joy to me to see that my words have meaning to you. Your vibrations are known to us. The vibrations of all your peoples are known to us. Your thoughts and your desires are known to us. Your free will is completely preserved, yet you are known to us. It is this knowledge that allows us to be with each of you as you desire us. We feel the desire that quickens within you to know love. There have been many who have dedicated their lives to a love of one kind or another, and for this love a man may sacrifice years and years in a position which he may hate, in order that he may take care of those that he loves. A woman may sacrifice many, many desires in order to nurture her mate and her children. Love seems always to offer sacrifice. Have you pierced the veil of this truth of love, my friends? It is written that the master known as Jesus said, “In order to love Him, we must pick up a cross.”

My brothers, this is truth: love is sacrifice. There is a further and transforming truth that can only be learned once the leap has been made into love, once the sacrifice has been freely given, not grudgingly, but freely. That which you give is given to yourself. Truer words never were, my friends. As you love, so you will be loved. What you are, what your reality is, is totally a result of your thought. To sacrifice to another is your only way of giving. That which does not cost you anything is not a true gift. To give, it must be infinite; it must be all. It may not be physically of any moment or importance. Yet within yourself, to be a gift it must be at some cost to yourself, and freely given. Then, my friends, you have considered your brother as the master and yourself as the servant. And you are interested in serving your brother. And then, you have found the secret of love. For all of the creation was designed to be of service to each other part of the creation. That which you give enriches you beyond measure—and that which you hold back will strangle you. How often people think that they are poor, when in fact they simply have not given enough away. How often have you been lonely, my friends, when you could reach out and aid another’s loneliness? Do you not know that to sacrifice is to love—and to love others is only to love yourself?

This is not an easy lesson. We know that. Go back into the silence when you have difficulties, and you will have difficulties. As often as you can, regularly, find love within you. And then, give it away. For you are truly rich, my brothers.

- Hatonn via Rueckert: January 18, 1976

Originally posted on r/lawofone_philosophy.