CHAPTER 1

Why Were We Born?

My daughter was a catalyst in my life. She wasdogmatic, argumentative, and stubborn in many ways,but she helped open me up to different views of life. Iwas pretty much a dreamer, and not too involved in life in general.It was her death in November 1990 that shook me into a realityI hadn't wanted to face; one that I would never have wished forin my wildest dreams. But it was a reality that is far beyond thephysical world of the senses. It is a reality that smacks of thespiritual world; and the forces therein. It does not pertain to thisworld of materialism, as it is now, yet the two interact, and thereis no way to differentiate them. I felt, no, I knew, there was moreto this life than just this physical reality.

I find it sad when I hear some people say this life is all thereis, and at the end there is death, the closing of a blind, noughtbut blackness, nothingness, a void. I cannot, and never could,accept that death would be the end of life. I guess I never reallythought about it very much, but I certainly didn't think there wasnothing after this life. A loving Creator could not have created usby chance; for no reason but to live and die into nothingness.

If we take a look at nature, we see the birth and death of theseasons; the birth of plant life, its death, and then it springingback to life as each new season dawns. If we look at the treesand plants, for example, as each tree dies; a little seed falls, andin time; a new tree shoots up out of the fertile soil. Within eachlittle seed is the making of a new plant, tree, or flower. Evolutioncontinues in nature; as indeed it does in the animal and humankingdom. Our souls are continually evolving; as surely as lifecontinues in the great universe. Each moment new planets arecontinually spinning, evolving, and being birthed. Nothing thatexists came into being without purpose. Every experience inlife has a continual spiral of purpose. We are told by spiritualphilosophies that nothing happens by chance.

Our rational mind looks "out there" for an answer. Our innerself sees everything as being part of self. In Deepak Chopra's bookThe Way of the Wizard, he gives us an explanation for the orderof life:

"Energy and information are basic to everything we see,hear or touch in the relevant world. Yet their primordial state isformless. A bundle of energy can drift away in a chaotic swirl likea puff of smoke; information can break down into random blipsof data. It takes another force to organise the wondrous order oflife—intelligence. Intelligence is the glue of the universe."

Intelligence has created life for a purpose. I believe we are borninto this world to learn to evolve spiritually into our true nature.Every experience we have, we learn from in some way. We are allpart of the intelligence that is called God. There are many namesthat are used to describe this intelligence: God, Source, Universalenergy, the universe, the All-That-Is and many others. Whateveryou call this oneness with Source, it matters not. We are all partof it. We are as much a part of this Source as any other humanbeing or, in fact, any part of nature or the planet, or the universesthemselves. Everything that exists is God. There is nothing thatis not God. You may find this hard to accept if you were broughtup with a religious background, seeing God as a separate beingsitting on a throne in heaven, but the great masters throughouttime have told us that all life is experience of God Source.

Before we come into this physical dimension we are and alwayshave been spirit. Our souls have always existed as part of thecreative force. They were before the beginning of the world, andwill be still when the world has passed away. We are far morethan our physical bodies. We are told we have lived many, manylives, and each time we die in the physical sense; we are given anopportunity to view our past mistakes. We see what we failed todo; or how we may have hurt someone; or infringed on their freewillthrough trying to control them or bend them to our ways.Sometimes failing to do something is the greater error. To makeamends for these past "mistakes" we are given an opportunity tobe born into circumstances that allow us the chance to alleviateour wrongs and so give our soul another chance to grow into itstrue oneness with itself. The circumstances we are born into;reflect the amount of learning we have completed in life.

It is our soul's choice when we choose our particularcircumstances. If we are far enough along the path in ourlearning, we are given the privilege of choosing our parents andcircumstances in order to advance further in our soul's learning.Most of the events in our life pattern are planned before we areborn into the human body of a baby. Many of the circumstanceswhich happen to us in our lifetime do not happen randomly, butare actually part of our soul's planning, and they are chosen forour greater learning, prior to our being born. We have choicesalong the way, but the main shape of our life pattern is not alteredto a great extent by these choices. Our guides and spirit helpersare always prompting us to follow certain patterns at differentjunctures in our lives.

Our choices and circumstances are our responsibility. It is wewho choose the hard lessons in life or the easy ones. Those whoface the toughest times are often facing the greatest growth. Thosewho face loss of children, for example, or adverse circumstanceslike unhappy marriages or broken families; have, on a soul level,actually chosen these circumstances for their own chance to grow.No lesson in life is ever wasted.

Deep within our own being; we will find the answer to whywe chose our particular circumstances or situations. The law ofcause and effect exists in the universe. It is an immutable law thatcannot be altered one iota except through the grace of God. Youmay have asked yourself why there seems to be so much unfairnessin the world. Why are some born to rich and healthy parents andsome are born deformed, or to poor parents, with seemingly littleor no opportunities in life? The answer can only lie in the law ofkarma, or cause and effect. Many who are born into deformedbodies; are learning their soul lessons faster than most. Theyhave chosen that pathway in life in order to speed up their soul'sprogress and eliminate many of the mistakes they may have madethroughout their lifetimes.

We are immortal beings with many chances to achieve whatwould be impossible to achieve in one lifetime! Life is an ongoingcycle, always spiralling upwards towards our further growth. If weturn down opportunities for growth; or diverge from our chosenpathway, we will inevitably have as many lifetimes as we need inorder to advance. But do we really want to come back time andagain to learn the same lessons? It would be like staying down inclass because we hadn't learnt our lesson and hadn't advanced agrade.

We often fight our circumstances, wanting to alter them. Butthe lesson is always waiting to be learned. If we refuse to learn it,it will rebound on us again and again in various forms until we dolearn it. The way we learn is by loving and accepting all that comesto us in life unconditionally, by loving and accepting ourselves,and by loving and serving our fellowman. Whatever we are givento do in life, we should do it with total acceptance and love. Thisis the quickest way to learn our life's lesson. It is the way back towhat every soul ultimately seeks—the way back to the God-head.

The reason we appear to be separated from our God-sourcehere on earth; is to learn our lessons, and take them all back toSource at the end of our sojourn. We never lose our own particularpersonality aspect, yet we become a part of the whole at the sametime. Nothing of our personality is ever lost. It just merges intothe oneness called God. We have to learn to integrate our lowernatures with our higher natures. To do this, it helps if we gowithin, to our very depths, and ask our Higher Power, or HigherSelf, or God Self, whichever name we choose to call it, if we aretaking the right step. We will always get back an answer if welisten for it. It may not always come in the form we expect, so it isbetter not to have expectations. Just ask quietly, and be open towhatever answer comes.

We are given free-will on this planet in order to understand,eventually, that the only thing we seek is the will of our God-Source.It is by trial and error we learn the lessons in life and; likethe prodigal son, trying to find happiness outside of his home; weeventually learn that the very thing we seek; namely the love of ourCreator-Source, is right there in our own backyard as the sayinggoes, or inside of us; all the time. We have learned many, manylessons in separation, and the Father loves us even more when wefinally realise that the only way to find our true peace is throughturning back to our beginning. We are loved more than the angelswho have stayed by his side, when we finally turn back and reachfor the arms of our Creator.

Freewill gives us the chance to learn. This planet, with itsdense atmosphere, is one of the few with free-will in so great adegree. Our planet is so populated at this time by souls returningto learn the tremendous opportunities for growth which are beingoffered as Earth passes through its transition into the new Age.

At some stage in our lives, we often cease to find purpose anylonger in the usual rush and bustle of our outwards lives, andstart searching for real meaning to life. Why are we here? Theremust be more to life than just to exist, eat, procreate, work anddie? There comes a time when we start to question the reasonsbehind our existence.

We are all made up of energy. That energy is from Source,or ultimate intelligence. There had to be a Creator to create thatenergy. Nothing comes from nothing. Energy is created from mind,from thought. There has to be the thought first before physicalmatter comes into existence. Spirit is that energy. It is spirit thatcreates physical matter. We are not a physical body with a spirit.We are spiritual beings, and we created our physical bodies exactlyas they are; through, and by, our very thoughts. The physical bodyis only important in that it is our vehicle to carry us through thislife, in order to fulfil the purpose we came to accomplish.

Death of the physical body does not stop us learning thelessons we came to learn. Life is an ongoing adventure; each timecontinuing on through the cycles in an ever-expanding spiral. Ifwe could but realise that we create our own circumstances in orderto learn and to grow.

Karma is being brought to the fore at this time faster than itever has before. We are in changing times. We are being givenan opportunity to live out the results of deeds we have done; orhave neglected to do; in order to cleanse them forever from oursouls. We can overcome our past karma by learning to love all thatcomes to us unconditionally. The changing times are happeningso quickly, many are overwhelmed with the speed of the thingshappening to them. Everything that we have ever done is catchingup with us, and all our thoughts and deeds will soon be revealedfor all to see. The Bible says of these times "nothing can be hiddenfrom their eyes".

This is the time now to wake up and realise our true potential.This is the time to wake up and know why we were born. We areimmortal beings and the reason we were born into this existenceis to learn to give and experience love. Nothing else has any reality.Nothing else can be taken with us when we pass from this mortalexistence.

CHAPTER 2

Releasing Judgement

One of the things that are important for us to realise aswe become more enlightened, is that we have to let go ofthings like judgement, criticism, hurt ego and separation.Knowing this, doesn't make it any easier. The greatestphilosophers throughout the ages have emphasised releasing ofjudgement as the way to greater freedom, and it is still being broughtup as an issue. This means of course, releasing the judgement wehave of both ourselves and others which amounts to criticismin any shape or form. It does not mean lack of discrimination inseeing a danger when it approaches, or in ignoring our inner voice.It means just that: releasing judgement or criticism. Until we learnto do this, we cannot find true freedom or enlightenment.

I was going through a bad stage, judging and criticisingmy husband for various reasons, and I asked for Divine help inovercoming it. The answer I received was:

We have mentioned to you before that the only way tofind unconditional love is through non-judgement andacceptance. This applies very much now in your husband'scase. Observe, but do not judge him. He is indeed beinga reflection for you. See in him what you lack in self. Hislife is one of service and giving. He is tired of not beingappreciated. Send him your love, your understanding, andmost of all, your acceptance of him, and acknowledgementof him as a perfect being in God's light. He is shining hislight in his own way. He is serving well. He has great needto take time unto himself for rest periods. He feels afraidto do this. He bears his responsibility heavily, and feelsthat to let go of this responsibility would be to let othersdown. Help him to recognise the love within himself. Showhim your appreciation of him for just being who he is.He needs your love and support now more than ever.Go within and seek his eternal self. He has much to facewithin himself. Be accepting and forgiving.

Releasing judgement is one of the hardest things we haveto learn to do to reach a stage of enlightenment. If everybodyon the planet could accept all that is, without judgement, ourplanet would become enlightened immediately into the beautifulstar it was always meant to be. Unfortunately, we are broughtup in societies that are constantly judging, compartmentalising,and criticising others for being different. Every time we labelsomething as good/bad, black/white, tall/short, etc. we are judgingit with preconceived ideas. If we can accept things without makingtoo many judgements about it, we feel a warm glow inside, as werelease the blockages which cause our emotions to come to a stop.

We are in a separate reality to our brother, neighbour, or coworker,every single day. The only way to overcome this is to lookat everyone we meet, everyone we speak to, and everyone weread about, as if we were looking at an aspect of ourselves. Weshould then acknowledge that aspect of ourselves, and acceptit, rather than trying to hide it. It is surprising how hard it is torecognise what we see in others as part of ourselves, or as a mirrorof ourselves. Often it is part of us that we refuse to acknowledge,hidden deep within us. It is through learning to love and acceptevery part of ourselves, even the so called 'shadow side' of us, thatwe learn to accept it in others.

I hadn't realised how often I judge other motorists on the roadwhen they suddenly cut in front of me and I swear out loud tomyself: "You silly idiot!" Wow that slipped out so easily. How easyit is to say: "Don't judge". We do it all the time! I had been watchingmy behaviour and realised I judged and criticised constantly. I wasjudging and criticising my husband for smoking and, because Ihave a very sensitive nose, I criticise him for smelling of cigarettes.Yet, although I don't smoke, there must be an aspect in me thatI have not acknowledged, in order for me to judge him this way.

I know I don't take too kindly to criticism myself, so that initself is a lesson for me. I had a terrible argument with my husbandone night, over his critical approach to everything. I believe I wasunjustly criticising him for reflecting back to me, my own attitudetowards him so often. That has been a very valuable lesson for me.

If we listen to the news on television, we are bound to findourselves inwardly judging or criticising. We may judge peoplefor everything from being on drugs to murder. Until we can reallyunderstand those people, by putting ourselves in their place, or"walking a mile in another man's shoes", as the saying goes, wecannot really understand life from their perspective. Everythingin life has a cause and effect. These people may be having familytroubles, or physical or mental ailments, which are part of an innersoul karma which they have to work out. It is not up to us to judgethem. We are responsible for everything we see and do. If we seethem as "bad", then it is because they mirror a judgement we,ourselves, place on ourselves on a subconscious level.

I know of people who are very much against homosexuality.But if homosexuality had no relationship to the way we think, whyshould it affect us so? If we see things from a different perspective,we would not be tempted to judge others the way we do. We livevery much in social mores and see life from that perspective.If homosexuality, for example, was accepted as normal in earlyGreek times, and our society tends to be less lenient towards it onthe whole, then is it fair to sit in judgement of something merelybecause it is scorned in the more conservative social circles today?How can we judge from the point of view of society today? Isn'tit fair to accept that each individual has a right to be just as heis, and be more open to another's way of being? Isn't that whatunconditional love is all about?