July 24, 1996

• Divinity as the basis of equality

• The place of suffering and long hospitalizations

• Sudden deaths

• Praying for departed souls

God brings each of your souls together in this gathering. God not only brings you together but also makes available to you the radiance of God’s presence to be felt by each of you according to your needs. You come to this group with different concerns, many unspoken, but it is God’s wish that as you leave to continue your own individual activities, you will take with you some insight, a new perspective, a changed understanding that will work its way into the manner with which you conduct your lives.

The gift of God is that each person can grow through different insights gained from the same source. Your perceptions of life, of reality, are very different from one another. What you seek in life is very different. What you agonize over is also very different, for you bring with your human lives a soul that is unique and that contains life experiences of its own. The uniqueness of your soul contributes to the uniqueness of your humanness.

Despite this difference one from another, there is at a core level something which you all share. There is a divinity of which we have spoken often that is part of each of you. That divinity is given by God equally to all. There is no one who is more divine than another. There are of course those whose actions reflect that divinity and others whose actions deny it. But the divinity is there and it is in the end that divinity that you take with you as you make the transition to our side. Worries, prejudices, suffering, all that has given you joy in the past are but window dressing which contributes to your sense of living, but that is all cast aside, and when you enter your new sphere of life, the divinity that you bring is equal to the divinity of all.

We are aware of that equality. We see that equality constantly among all souls who live on our plane. There is indeed no significant difference. There are of course differences, but those are superficial—differences in development, differences in perspective, but no difference in the essential quality of divinity.

Each of you seeks balance in your lives. You wish to balance the joy with sadness. You wish to balance release from pressure. You wish to balance peace with the tension that you see around you. You wish to balance love with the act of hatred and negativism. You wish to balance patience when there is none. It is this balance that you seek, this kind of equilibrium of life that is at the root of much of human behavior.

When someone recognizes injustice, a natural and immediate reaction is to eradicate the injustice and to bring forth justice, fairness, equality. That is a balance that is sought, and it is a balance which is essential to allowing human life to contribute to the development of all souls. Human life is but a balance which is placed opposite spiritual life. Each of you existed spiritually long before you experienced human life, but for the soul to develop, as you know, human life is essential. Without it there is no opportunity for action, no chance for compassion, no ability to act out of love.

The balance that you seek is a means of providing a complementary experience to the spiritual growth that is so important in life. When one concentrates on the spirit and ignores the physical life, then life loses its perspective. It denies the potential which grows from the physical experience. By the same token, life lived strictly from the physical perspective loses the enrichment that comes from the accompanying spiritual development. Both are important. Both are a part of the balance of which we speak.

There is a balance that is observed among those who are preparing to join us on our side. This balance, this moving back and forth of which you spoke this evening, is a very real part of the human experience. It is an essential ingredient of spiritual development and it provides dignity to human life.

When you pray for one to be released of the suffering, we know that you are praying out of love and compassion, but you must recognize that what appears to be agony and suffering is really the crucible out of which grows the sense of balance and the acceptance of that for each individual. When humans have no opportunity for that important view, that vital perception of balance, and their lives are terminated suddenly without preparation, there is considerable spiritual turmoil as they join us, for they are ill prepared to accept their new lives and have little understanding of why they do not continue to pursue human life. For those who are given the grace of experiencing the environment of balance which accepts the reality of pain and discomfort and emotional anguish, the transition is smooth and joyous and fulfilling, and the adjustment to the new life is full of promise and that new life is enhanced by that experience.

The father of one of you is indeed close to moving to our plane of existence, but he is also blessed in ways that only we can see from our side—he is given this opportunity of drifting in and drifting out and preparing himself for the journey. Those who suffer long hospitalizations may experience emotional anguish in addition to physical pain, but that experience is not one that is wasted and pointless without benefit. It is an expression of God’s grace on that soul. Difficult as it may be to accept this, it is important nevertheless to make an effort to recognize it whenever possible. Life indeed is a series of balancing acts between pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, but at the end it is also a matter of balancing, of swinging from side to side, from physical to spiritual and back to physical. The grace of that experience is never lost on individuals, you may be assured of that.

You continue to pray for peace, to pray for the growth of souls who have joined us. Those prayers are indeed helpful. Peace you can work for. Praying for the soul of someone who has joined us is beyond your reach to work, but for those, prayer in itself is all that is needed. Your prayers for those who have made the transition give great strength to the souls with us. We see their lights intensify enormously. It is as if you blew on a fire in the fireplace and the flames became brighter and the sparks moved upward and there was great energy. That is what we see as a result of your prayers. Never hesitate for a moment to pray for others who have gone before you. Their lights are intensified, their souls are warmed by your love, and they are indeed grateful for those loving prayers. You cannot see that gratitude and you cannot hear or feel that gratitude, but know that each soul experiences enormous joy and renewed strength and increased love from those prayers. That too is a kind of balance for you.

There are ways that you serve as the hand of God to those who are around you through your actions and your efforts, but there are also those who receive great benefit only because of your prayers, because they are out of your reach in a physical sense. You therefore have a unique position as human beings, for you directly affect the growth of other humans as well as the growth and development of souls that have gone on. What a blessing that is to have the opportunity of aiding another in such a significant way!

Balance is important—balance between right and wrong, balance between various objectives that you seek, balance in terms of what is appropriate at this time and at this place for this individual. Your prayers do provide options and it is your free will to choose, but by recognizing the balance in life your choice can be assured to be reflective of your view of God. Pray for peace, yes. Work for peace always. Pray for the ability to be compassionate, then exercise that compassion. Pray for the benefit of other human beings. Work for that benefit, then pray for the benefit of all souls whom you know.

Our love for you is permanent, infinite. It is always patient, it is always personal, it is always concerned for your well-being, and it is always blessed by your welcome. We feel your prayers when they are offered toward us. We are therefore more sensitive to God’s presence in our own lives as a result of your prayers for us, and we thank you for that increased vision that you give us. Both sides grow—we grow and you grow— that too is a balance that is part of God’s creation.

Believe indeed in the goodness of humanity. It is difficult to do that when you see such injustice, when you know of violence or experience violence, when you see so much physical and emotional suffering. But despite this always remember the divinity that is shared by all. Because that divinity is always present, humankind is basically good.

There are many who insist that humankind is evil, but we say that the goodness of which we speak is guaranteed by the divinity you all have. Recognize that divinity in yourself and be willing to seek out a view of the divinity of another. We bless you with that divinity that every human and every spirit share in common. Elevate that divinity in the light of God’s presence. Affirm it, work for it, insist upon it, and you will be strengthened in your journey.

Amen.