August 26, 2004

• Comparing the unity of all souls to islands in the sea

• Young lives cut short

• Reincarnation may not be immediate

• Shared suffering, compassion, grace

• Eternal nature of spirit

God joins your souls together in a bond of love that is strong and mutually affirming. This bond is not unique to your assembly. It is shared by countless others throughout the world—different customs, different languages, different races, different religions, different daily needs. But what you experience together must give you an understanding of what can be experienced on a far grander schedule, a schedule that is not limited by time, a schedule that is not limited by place or belief. This schedule, this plan, this architectural view of humanity, is not merely a concept that expresses your own wishes. It is, in fact, a statement of reality that characterizes all that can be good in the exercise of human life.

You are who you are as individuals, but you are also who you are corporately. It is somewhat like viewing a map and observing islands in the sea. The islands have their own identity but they are actually participants, links, if you will, in a continuous chain. Sometimes you cannot see that chain. You see the peaks of that earthly chain emerging above the surface of the sea. But far below, those islands that seem so alone are indeed fully connected with one another.

Human beings are never alone. They may think uniquely. They may respond as individuals. They may see themselves as lonely or not understood, not appreciated, unloved. But all human beings share a connection that may lie close to the surface or far beneath it. Nevertheless, they are connected. Because of this connection there is the constant potential for affirming interaction.

Our experience as your guides, our experience in a purely spiritual existence, is much like a map of the earth that does not show the water but delineates the continuous land mass that connects everything. There is nothing in our experience that represents a separation of individuals. Human life is filled with visions of the ocean interspersed with moments of recognition. Spiritual life is all about mutual recognition. There is no evidence of the sea that serves to provide a vision of separateness.

Your lives therefore, as you share together, are a microcosm of what you can achieve in a far wider circle than you are currently aware of. Spiritual reality dictates that there are no differences. What you sense as being different in another is that tip of land mass that protrudes above the surface of the sea.

We wish there were ways of your responding to human life with the full vision of all that unites. But the lessons to be learned in human life form are drawn from the efforts to see beneath the surface, to go beyond what you are aware of in your normal senses, and in so doing you form a strong bond between you as an individual and other individuals’ cultures and beliefs.

The spiritual world is only affirming. There is no judgment. There is no sense of separateness. There is no impatience. There is no anger, for how can you be angry with another if you are the other? It is that sense of unity that provides for our direction in the spiritual planes of life. You seek an understanding of that unity, and it is in that seeking that you truly learn. Without the challenge of seeking nothing is learned and everything is observed. You live your lives, not just to observe, but to learn, to go beneath the surface to finally comprehend the bonds that connect all of you to one another.

When one individual suffers, all suffer. When one individual is in pain, all experience pain. There is no experience in human life that is somehow endured or enjoyed void of others. Everything that is a part of your life is also a part of all lives. When there is injustice, as you understand it to be, in one part of the world, you understand that injustice when you look beneath the waves, when you look to the roots of life you are aware fully. There are so many events in your lives that bring sadness because you are aware of the pain and suffering of others. Experiencing that pain, experiencing that sadness, is an important component to your growth spiritually. It is why you are given human life. You learn through your own suffering, and you grow through your awareness of the suffering of others. That growth is realized through compassion, through the desire to understand, through your ability to listen.

You express your anguish at the termination of young lives and you wonder where is God, where is growth, what does the future hold? God is of course with those whose lives are shorter than expectations. God does not create the specific events, does not mold their occurrences, but God is very much a part of your response. God is also joined permanently with the souls of all individuals—those whose lives are long and seemingly fulfilled, and those whose lives are brief.

What happens to those souls who join us on our plane of life? All souls are given opportunities for growth that lead to a full unity with the God Spirit. All souls ultimately are united with that single Spirit. For some souls, life has not provided enough opportunity for that growth that may only be achieved through the experience of human life. Such souls who are denied sufficient learning on a human level are always given more opportunities to learn. They may ultimately choose to reenter human life immediately. They may choose initially to reject human life, but if it is essential for their spiritual growth once again to live a human life, a decision to move in that direction will be made. It is not always immediate. It may take years in your sense of time; it may be millennia in your sense of time. But all souls, and we emphasize all souls, learn the same lessons.

You know that in our life form time is meaningless. There is no urgency associated with time. There is only the natural direction of the soul to move toward oneness with God. That movement in its direction is undeniable. It is the natural movement of every soul, for each soul shares in the common bond with the oneness that is God, just as every island shares at the deepest level the same earth as the most distant geographical feature. Islands in the sea are not separate. The soul is never separate. And just as the islands are united, all souls are united in a common pull, a common drawing together to the oneness of God. Those whose human lives are short grow toward God as naturally as those who have experienced long human lives and have exercised love and compassion and affirming relationships with everyone. There is no distinction between the two.

There are individuals whose human lives may be characterized by some as evil. But those lives in their deepest regions have the same value as all human lives. You must in the end acknowledge that sacredness of all. We have spoken to you frequently of that sacred bond, but it is one thing to have heard of it and it is something else entirely to fully embrace that bond. It is a lifelong achievement. It is for some souls a multi-lifelong achievement. But every soul reaches the goal, and for that reason all human beings must acknowledge full equality, full union.

There is no space for judgment of the individual in life. There is reason to judge behavior, for some behavior is appropriate and geared to the common good of all. There is behavior that is not beneficial to all. You must recognize those differences, yet simultaneously acknowledge your common bond, your spiritual ancestry, your spiritual origin.

No soul has a beginning. No soul has an end. That spiritual center that you possess has always existed and it will always exist. It is permanent. It is what continues to survive when the body falls away. There is nothing that terminates the soul and therefore there is nothing that begins a soul. Human beings are not capable of fully grasping an entity that always existed and always will. We certainly do not intend for you to fully understand what it means to know that your spiritual center always has been and always will be, for that is far beyond the scope of human life. But if you accept that reality without necessarily understanding it, you will be more accepting of all others.

When a life is cut short, all that is lost is the body. The suffering of others who are left behind is necessary, is natural, and is important to the spiritual growth of those individuals. You cannot negate that suffering, but you can affirm those who suffer. You can give them an understanding of God through your compassion, through listening, through prayer. Words, as is often said, are meaningless, but when one offers compassion genuinely, the words themselves are of little importance. It is how you speak, it is how you look, it is how you reach out, it is what is behind your actions— these qualities communicate and speak most strongly.

Your discussion tonight was centered in part on Elisabeth1. She was a strong soul, she is a strong soul, she will always be a strong soul. You learn from her example. You learn, not from what she says, but from how she says it. She is with us. She is brilliant in her light and in her energy. Her love is strong, and she brings to spiritual oneness all that every human being is given the capacity to bring.

You must live life with conviction, but that conviction must be encased with grace. Conviction with grace is always affirming. Conviction that is self-directed creates confusion. Be clear in what you stand for, recognizing that your position may change. There is no reason to be proud of what you believe in, for pride does not affirm those who do not share your beliefs. Beliefs with compassion, grace, are attractive. They strengthen others. They give others a sense of purpose. Your challenge in life is always to walk, to listen, to express yourself, to see with grace. You thank God for the grace that you experience, but it is also for you to initiate the life around you with the grace that you so openly thank God for. As you perceive God, so you should design your life.

We live with grace. We relate through grace. It is our prayer, it is our purpose to provide you with a vision of God’s grace in your interactions with all of God’s creation, whether human or not. You are blessed by God’s grace, and by God’s grace you are given the power of grace. Live in that power. Interact with that power, and acknowledge with grace the spiritual connectedness that lies beneath the surface and joins you all together.

Amen. 1 [Note: “Elisabeth” refers to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross whose obituary was in this day’s newspaper. In our discussion preceding the receiving of this message we spoke with gratitude for her life, for some of us had read her books, some had been to her lectures or workshops, some had met her personally. Elisabeth was interested in James’ messages back in the early 1980’s, and had been in possession of several of them at that time. She had said, “I was very moved reading the channeled manuscripts and I am delighted to read whatever you are able to share with me.” – July 19, 1982]