January 29, 2001

• The interdependence of body and soul

• The importance of silence

• Meditation

God, who is the Teacher and Creator of all that is and will be, holds you in the arms of peace and love. We, the assembly of your guides, share in that embrace. It is an embrace filled with love, support, compassion, peace, and the dedication to your growth and the nurturing of your souls. The embrace of God and of your guides actually remains constant for all time, but it is in moments such as you now find yourselves sharing that your vision is opened to accept the possibility of its reality. God is not merely a creator, but of equal importance is a sustainer. You have been created by God, but you are never left alone. You are sustained by God’s love. You are sustained through God’s presence. You are sustained by all whose lives reflect the presence of God. It is the matter of sustaining you that we wish to clarify in part for each of you.

There is need among all living things for sustenance. But for human beings sustenance is beyond the physical, although that is of course essential. The sustenance we speak of in this context is the sustenance of the union between body and spirit. You know that God sustains the soul. You know that God cares for the physical component of existence, the humanness, but we wish to address the sustenance of the union between body and soul.

In fact, the body and soul are not completely separated. They are not wholly independent, but the body is influenced by the spirit, and the spirit experiences what the body experiences. There is an identifiable union between both the body and soul. The body has limits which define what is impermanent. The soul has an identity that defines what is permanent. These seem on the surface to be mutually exclusive—the permanent/the impermanent, the divine/the secular, the spiritual/the physical. In truth, each has an impact on the other and therefore is closely associated with the other. You’re impacted by your souls, but your souls also are influenced as a result of your physical lives. Because there is an interdependence, a cause and effect, antecedents and consequences, both the body and the soul are indeed indelibly connected. There is a permanence that resides for the length of the body’s existence. There is no time during the human life cycle when the spirit and the body become separated. They are always united. The nurturing, the sustenance that ensures the strength of this union in the end is spiritually based.

Your guides are always aware of the relationship between body and soul. They see when that relationship operates with great security and strength; they see when that relationship seems to falter. The relationship between body and soul is a dynamic one. Sometimes you are aware of its unity and other times you suspect a division, but there is in fact no division between the two. It is only your vision that falters, not the facts.

You depend upon your soul as an anchor, as a point of reference, as a center of gravity. It is your soul that can provide a direction for your human lives. But it is your human life that informs the growth of your spiritual self. What you learn as a human being becomes part of the soul. If you experience a life of jealousy and suspicion, it is more difficult for the soul to learn generosity and compassion. The learning still takes place, but its intensity is inhibited. Your lives provide the framework for your spiritual growth.

Your soul experiences human life through the prism of the physical body. Just as a prism bends light, so can the physical body bend spiritual light. If there is great love around you, that love has an unbelievably glorious glow. But an individual can spurn that love, can deny it, can turn from it, and what comes through to the soul is much different than what emanates from the source. So your lives provide a kind of conduit or lens that enables your souls to grow, to become stronger, to become more vibrant. Likewise, your soul has the potential of informing your temporal selves, your human lives. You can choose to ignore the teacher, to walk away from the instruction, to reject the opportunities that come your way. As a result, your soul experiences less. So both you and your spiritual selves are dependent upon one another for growth.

It is God who provides this system of mutual benefit. The benefit is not automatic, but the opportunity for all is equally distributed. There is no one who experiences human life who is incapable of learning from the soul, who is incapable of providing light for the soul. All humans have that potential. It is up to each of you to recognize that potential, to exercise that potential. Your lives are not a kind of existence on a remote island. Your lives are an interaction with those around you. Your lives are a contemplation of nature, of history, of geography, of geology. Your lives are a contemplation of the arts. All of your lives are interactive.

We spoke about the importance of silence. Silence does not imply a lack of interaction, a lack of existence. Silence is often a state of mind. To achieve silence, you must withdraw from activity, but you can withdraw from activity while remaining present. It is a matter of consciousness. You remain consciously unaware of disturbances around you. You are able to find silence. You are able to locate places of peace, quiet and tranquility regardless of your physical location. That silence then transmits spiritual realities to the soul. The communication between body and soul becomes full and complete. The silence allows for this nurturing between body and soul to be effective.

The result of the nurturing of silence is growth. It is an expanded capacity for loving. It is renewed compassion. It is a sense of balance—what is important in life, what is less important in life. The silence benefits both the physical and the spiritual. In the end, it is through silence that communication exists. You cannot hear God’s voice when all around you are clamoring for your attention, for then you are drawn to a sense of obligation to respond to that noise. We ask you to turn away that noise for a moment, to listen within, to examine oneself in a silence that blocks out controversy, that blocks out rivalry, or jealousy, or any number of negative influences. By finding your place of peace, you are ready to receive all that God wishes. Your body and soul, therefore, benefit within the environment of quiet.

To achieve that quiet that opens your understanding of your spiritual and physical selves, the silence that is necessary can be found through meditation. Meditation does not have to be words or sounds. The most beneficial meditation is an emptying of the clatter of the mind. It is the willingness to be, not to do. Such meditation is beneficial for each one of you.

You have been told you each have the capacity to be a channel, to be able to receive God’s guidance by any of a number of different means. For that to happen, you must allow yourselves to come into the presence of emptiness. It is there that you see the connection between the physical and the spiritual, between the temporal and the eternal. Meditation takes many forms, but the most helpful for your growth is one that allows you to suspend all thoughts, to suspend fears and anxieties. Allow yourselves the luxury of existing. Hold that place as long as you can. For some it may be a few moments; for others a significantly longer time. But you will know what it means to be supportive of your spirit as a result of your work in silence.

The connection between body and soul is powerful. It is absolutely permanent. The difference is how you use that relationship. Support your soul, and your soul will be reflected in how you live. Nourish the soul in periods of quiet, and your soul will empower you in all aspects of your lives. Allow the soul’s influence to wash over you. Allow yourselves to be submerged in the loving bliss of spiritual presence, even if it only lasts but a moment, you will know what it means to be in direct contact with your soul. Yes, your soul is permanent; your physical selves are not. But your physical lives provide a unique opportunity for your souls to grow and to in turn enhance your spiritual lives.

It is a blessing to be given a soul, for you have within you the potential for seeing the great value of life far beyond your normal understandings. Welcome your soul within your physical life and allow the opportunity of your physical life to enhance the growth of your soul. The combination of the two cannot be beaten anywhere else. Both are essential for the flourishing of the other. The body and soul become one, really. They may have two identities, one physical, one spiritual, but they clearly are a part of a single entity.

The blind man who comes across a large animal, and through his remaining senses perceives one part of that animal, experiences a portion of what is reality, of what that animal really is. Although that view is not complete, it is valid. Your understanding of God will never be full during your human lives, but it will nevertheless be valid for who you are and where you are. There is no denying the validity of that understanding.

You are blessed by God’s embrace. You are blessed by God’s compassion and love. We share in that embrace, we share in that compassion, we share in that love. When you exercise compassion and love, you are sharing those characteristics of your spiritual selves. Those are the ideals that reflect the highest purposes of God. Each of you has the capacity to fulfill those challenges. Your growth may not be complete, but it will be substantially strengthened, and you will be brought closer toward a full awareness of God and the connection between God, your spirit, and your physical lives.

We thank you for your prayers for us. You are a part of our reason for spiritual life. Your responses enhance and make light, they bring love, they increase understanding. We bless you with that increased understanding. We bless you with God’s light. We bless you with the union of body and soul together. We bless you as you are warmed by the fiery light of God.

Amen.