Friday, March 1, 2013

Remembering Who You Are

The twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates. `What are they doing?' Alice whispered to the Gryphon. `They can't have anything to put down yet, before the trial's begun.'

`They're putting down their names,' the Gryphon whispered in reply, `for fear they should forget them before the end of the trial.'


 Today is Friday, March 1, 2013. 

It seems silly to think that people could forget who they are, unless they are suffering from amnesia.  But the fact is that we ALL forget, at least temporarily, who we are.  Some of us manage to remember while we're still here on earth.  Others remain clueless all their earthly lives. 

We are all Soul, each of us created with a spark of whatever it is that comprises what we call "God" or the "Creator."  We're all here in the physical world for a while, sent here to learn some things.  Some of us believe we've been here many times. I do.  Maybe it's because I'm a slow learner. 

Soul has no form, no movement, and no location within the worlds of time and space.  It has the ability to know, see, hear, perceive, and hold opinions.  Like Its parent, God, Soul is a creator, on a lesser scale.   It is the creative center of Its own world.   Soul is ageless and eternal.  Soul is the True You.  You don't "have" a Soul.   You ARE Soul.   

In her book 35 Golden Keys to Who You Are and Why You're Here, Linda C. Anderson writes, "Investors would think of it as having access to legal insider information.  Artists might name it their muse.  Biologists call it instinct in animals.  It's been referred to as inspiration, motivation, illumination."

Soul never sleeps.  It is the part of you that has adventures, especially at night while the body is at rest.  Dreams are your memories of those adventures in the Worlds of Spirit.  Soul is the one who an work on a problem while you are sleeping so that you will have the solution when you get up in the morning.

Soul has no gender, no race, no ethnicity, and does not subscribe to any particular religion or creed.  The body, mind, and personality have these things, but they are like a suit that Soul puts on in order to live, move, and have Its being in the physical world.  It's like a spacesuit that an astronaut puts on in order to walk in space, or a dive suit that a diver dons to explore the depths of the ocean.

Linda Anderson also writes, "Through God's love Soul is connected with all aspects of humanity, creation, and the heavens."  Sounds a bit like a computer connected to the internet, doesn't it? 

My spiritual training says that Soul exists because of God's love.  Soul is never truly separated from God, abandoned by God, or hidden from God.  Each Soul is unique, and Souls may manifest different states of consciousness, but all Souls are equal in the sense that they all come from the same Source, and they are all loved equally.  No Soul is greater in God's estimation than any other.   Some Souls have earned a position of authority over other Souls, but that does not make them any greater than those they are responsible for.

Soul's mission is to be of service to God and to all life.  Soul comes to the physical plane many times, each time interfacing with a different body, in order to learn how to do this.   The physical world is where we learn how to get along with one another, how to assist one another, how to work together towards a common goal, how to choose wisely, and how to create responsibly and harmoniously.  If you look at the way things are in this physical world, it is easy to see that the vast majority of Souls here have not mastered many of these lessons, yet.

Soul never dies.  It existed before physical creation and it will continue to exist, to infinity.  It keeps on growing and learning.  It does not languish for eternity in hell, nor does it enjoy total bliss in heaven.  It continues to come back to physical life for as long as It needs to. Then it goes on to learn what It can in the higher realms of heaven.  After that, it's time to come back to physical life to be of service.  The learning never stops.  There is always something to do, somewhere to go, someone new to meet. 

That's pretty heavy-duty, isn't it?  

How come we forget all that when we come into a physical lifetime?   If we've had other lifetimes, why don't we remember them?  

When we come here, we start with a blank slate.  Imagine what would happen if a baby came into this world, shouting, "I'm gonna get that bastard if it's the last thing I do!"   

Or if a toddler suddenly said, "What happened to all my money?"   

What if a preschooler whined, "I'm so in love with Mary Jane; I simply have to be with her."  (...except that Mary Jane is a 90-year-old woman...)

Actually, very small kids DO sometimes remember parts of earlier lifetimes, but they can't always express what they know in kid language, so they are generally considered to have a particularly active imagination.   You might try asking a child of three or so, "What did you do when you were big?"  Don't be surprised if you get an answer.  A little girl in one of my first-grade reading classes once started telling me about a past life as a pilot.  We were reading a story about going up in an airplane.  The other little kids didn't understand what she was talking about, and quickly lost interest.  As the teacher, I regretted that I couldn't continue the conversation with her without losing control of the class.

Earlier in my life, I was sitting on a park bench with a little girl who was about five.  Her mom and older brother were showing a Japanese exchange student around the park.  This particular little girl was not very happy in life, and it showed.  She often acted out her anger, with the result that she was a quintessential "mean little kid."  Her brother, by contrast, was smart, sweet-tempered, and sang like an angel.  No wonder the little girl was jealous of him. 

In any event, as we sat there, she asked me, "Do you like your suit?"  

I wasn't sure exactly what she was talking about, so I touched the shorts I was wearing and said, "You mean, this suit?"  

In reply, she shook her head and touched my bare knee.  "No, this suit," she said.  

As soon as she asked, some scenes from my life as a teenager flashed through my mind, and I recalled how I had cried and railed against God for giving me this particular body.  I was a little over weight at the time, and considered my body rather "dumpy."  Being blind in one eye and having hearing problems were also marks against me, in my opinion at that time.

By the time the girl asked her question, I was in my mid-30s and had learned that the body that each Soul agrees to come into in any given lifetime is carefully chosen for the lessons that it can offer to the Soul who interfaces with it.  Souls who are fairly new to the physical world experience don't actually make the choice themselves.  That is up to their teachers in spirit - in much the same way that earthly parents choose a school for their child to attend.  But Soul does in general come into agreement with the choice, just as a little kindergarten student eventually starts to like going to school, even though it was scary at first to be away from Mom and Dad all day.   Souls who have been here a number of times get to help with the choice, just as high school and college students get to choose the courses they will take each semester.   Our bodies in any given lifetime (including our gender and race) - as well as the family situation we are born into, our location on earth, etc., are all chosen and agreed to beforehand!  As a teen, I had screamed at God, "I didn't choose to be born this way!"   But now I realized that I did, too, chose it.  I chose everything.  I wanted to communicate this profound wisdom to this little girl.

I could think of to say was, "It's a pretty good suit." So much for sharing my profound wisdom.

I asked her if she liked her suit.  She began to wiggle around, as if she wanted to get out of her "suit," and shook her head vigorously.  I often wonder where she is now, and what she's doing with her life.

For me, the best part of knowing all this is that my fear of death has all but disappeared.  I know that my life, such as it is, has been worth something.  I have a place in the Universe, in the scheme of things, that no one else can take.  I am OK.  I am a Child of God.   I am loved.  I am Soul.

And, whatever happens, I am exactly where I need to be right now.  :-)

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