Reflections on The Law of One, Session 23
The desire to help is one of the most beautiful movements of the human heart. We see another person struggling, and something within us reaches toward them. We want to share what has brought us peace, offer what we have learned, and make the journey a little easier.
Yet love also asks us to listen. Another person has their own path, their own timing, and their own inward relationship with the mystery of life. Our desire to help matures as we learn to honor that freedom.
Session 23 of The Law of One explores this delicate responsibility through Ra’s account of contact with ancient peoples. These accounts belong to the channeled material rather than established history. Their spiritual themes, however, invite reflection on something familiar: how to serve with love while remaining humble about our understanding.
The Humility to Listen
In Session 23.6, Ra describes an attempt to walk among the Egyptians as brothers and teachers. Their intention was fellowship, but their presence created confusion. What the people perceived in these extraordinary visitors overwhelmed what the visitors hoped to communicate.
There is a lesson here for anyone who has tried to share a spiritual insight. We may have found something deeply meaningful, yet another person may receive our enthusiasm as pressure. We may intend encouragement while unknowingly placing ourselves in the position of someone who has the answers.
Humility makes room for a different encounter. We can share an experience without requiring agreement. We can listen without preparing a correction. We can trust that the same sacred mystery we seek is also at work within the person before us.
Sometimes the most loving contribution is the space we leave for another person to discover.
One Heart Matters
When asked whether the Egyptian efforts succeeded, Ra offers one of the session’s most compassionate teachings: the awakening of even one person has value (23.10).
This invites us to reconsider how we measure our own service. We may never know what becomes of a kind word, a patient conversation, or an act of generosity. Much of what sustains human life happens quietly, without recognition.
A person who feels heard may find courage to face another day. Someone met with forgiveness may begin to believe that change is possible. A small kindness may travel farther than we can see.
Ra also accepts responsibility for the confusion associated with these attempts to help. The passage holds hope and accountability together. We can cherish the good that came through us while remaining willing to acknowledge harm, make amends, and learn.
Our imperfect efforts can become wiser expressions of love.
Sincerity and the Desire for Power
Akhenaten’s story adds another dimension. Ra describes him as devoted to the Law of One while still influenced by power. After death and review, he is said to choose further lives without that attachment (23.12).
Within this account, spiritual sincerity does not remove the need for self-examination.
We can sincerely want peace and still insist on having the final word. We can love someone and still become attached to directing their choices. Recognizing these tendencies gives us an opportunity to grow.
The question becomes simple and searching: Does my help leave this person freer to listen to their own conscience?
Each time we release the need to control the outcome, we make more room for trust.
A Sacred Place for Everyone
The South American account describes places intended for meditation, rest, and awareness of the One Creator. These were meant for all people (23.16).
That intention carries a beautiful understanding of spiritual life. Everyone deserves room to seek, to rest, and to remember their worth.
We can express that welcome in ordinary surroundings. A home becomes a place of peace when people can speak honestly. A conversation becomes healing when dignity survives disagreement. A community becomes more compassionate when those with little influence receive care and attention.
In the session’s account, teachings intended for healing eventually become entangled with domination and sacrifice. This reversal invites us to examine the living results of our beliefs. Are they helping us become more patient, generous, and attentive to suffering?
The way we treat people gives our spiritual understanding its daily expression.
A Connection With Jesus’ Teachings
In the Bible, Jesus places service at the heart of greatness:
“And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.”
— Mark 10:44, KJV
This speaks directly to Session 23’s concern with spiritual teaching becoming entangled with power. If we wish to help, we can begin by standing beside another person, listening to their needs, and honoring their dignity. The desire to serve becomes clearer as we release the need to be important.
Jesus also offers a practical measure for discernment:
“Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
— Matthew 7:16, KJV
In its biblical context, this is a warning about false prophets. Applied reflectively to Session 23, it invites us to consider what our spiritual commitments produce. Do they deepen compassion? Do they encourage honesty and freedom? The outward beauty of a teaching matters little if our treatment of people contradicts it.
The Gospel of Thomas offers related sayings attributed to Jesus. In Saying 3, we read:
“the kingdom is within you and it is outside you.”
— Gospel of Thomas, Saying 3, excerpt; Patterson–Meyer translation
Read alongside the Law of One, this can invite us to recognize sacred worth both within ourselves and in those we meet. Such recognition gives humility a spiritual foundation: the person receiving our help also has an inward life worthy of reverence. This is a connection between the texts, rather than a claim that their teachings are identical.
Saying 24 adds:
“There is light within a person of light”
— Gospel of Thomas, Saying 24, excerpt; Patterson–Meyer translation
The saying goes on to describe that light illuminating the world. As a reflection on service, it reminds us that inward discovery seeks outward expression. Patience, forgiveness, and generosity allow what we cherish within to become something another person can experience.
We can begin wherever we are. The next conversation, the next disagreement, and the next opportunity to be kind all offer a place to practice.
Session 23 leaves us with a hopeful invitation: let love guide how we help. We can serve humbly, respect another person’s freedom, and trust the value of even one small kindness. Whatever remains uncertain about the distant past, the next encounter gives us an opportunity to recognize the sacred in another person and respond with care.
Source: The Law of One, Session 23, February 11, 1981, particularly 23.6, 23.10, 23.12, and 23.16. Home of The Law of One material, L/L Research. Additional sources: Mark 10:42–45, KJV; Matthew 7:16, KJV; Gospel of Thomas, Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer translation, Sayings 3 and 24.
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