February 6, 2014

• Communication with spirits

• Giving and receiving love

• The place of past lives

God does indeed love each of you. God loves all that exists, for all exists because it was created by the loving energy that is God.

As you read this evening, you brought up so many concerns about the meaning of past lives, the meaning of knowing of those lives, the meaning of your own lives and all that you encounter in those lives. It is a tall order, so to speak, for the questions you ask are the questions that all who are serious seekers of spiritual understanding pursue. It is best for us to start with the present and work back in what you refer to as “time.”

You seek an understanding of your current lives—the purpose of suffering, the connection that you have with those you love who flourish and thrive now in spirit form. Your lives of course are about your own spiritual development. Your lives are of course about an understanding of what it means to be alive, but you cannot live a full life without serious questions about your connection to those who have shared steps along your path with you who are no longer with you.

All of you ultimately will experience a life of pure spirit. There is no real separation that exists between us and you. There is no separation that exists between those who have shared your path and you now.

Can you have a kind of two-way conversation with those in spirit? The answer is an unequivocal yes! But you must understand also the language of that conversation is actually a language that is different from that which you normally speak. You speak to one another in your daily lives in words that are formed by you and that are perceived by you, and those words attempt to express something beyond merely the words themselves. You want to express the love you have for someone in words that are a representation of feeling, but they are only one representation of the emotional connection you have with another. Your emotional connection with who you are at this very moment can remain strong with those whom you no longer can see and touch. The connection can still be there, but the language of conversation is no longer representative. It has now been enabled through a core feeling to be expressed through feelings and not necessarily only through words. We express our love for all of you through words, but that is not the only language that is available.

When you seek the ability, the feeling, of conversation in your association with someone on our side, you must be open in your thoughts. You must be open in your emotions. Those shutters that we speak of so often must be open. There is much you can converse about with those with whom you seek a connection, but it is important to realize that what you say to one another goes far beyond the capacity of any words. If you love another, feel that love, feel the giving of that love, and don’t try to express that in specific words.

The other half of that conversation, that which you wish to hear, you can also experience, but not necessarily through words. If you feel love toward another, you must try to be open to feeling loved by the other. It is that type of communication which each of you is given. All human beings have within them that capability, but few exercise it. Those who are intellectually challenged, whose mental capabilities are limited, still know what it means to be loved. They still have feelings of being loving, and therefore all can sense that relationship.

Sometimes human beings wish to know in very specific terms how someone they love is faring, how they are doing in spiritual form, what it is like. That kind of conversation is open to all. Be open to the feeling of what is being given to you in that conversation. Do you feel a sense of peace? Do you recognize the presence of comfort, of light, of awareness? If you allow yourselves to be so open, such awareness is part of the answer to what you ask. It is not necessary for everyone to feel they are communicating through words, but it is essential that all accept the reality that communication is there, and that all can find the root to that exchange with those they care for.

We mention that life is about now. It is not about the past. The life of now is a life of expanding awareness of what it means to be conscious, of what it means to interact beyond the self. The self always has needs, and it is not improper to respond to those needs as they arise. Those needs are natural. Those needs are there. They exist because they are natural. But the ultimate purpose of life is not achieved through the meeting of one’s own needs, but in taking from the strength that is achieved in that fulfillment and applying that beyond the self.

We have said often that to become loving, you must experience being loved. First comes being loved and then, becoming loving. Being loved is an acceptance of the love that is around you. It includes accepting yourselves. Before you can love others, the first step is loving yourself. You love yourself because you have received the love of others, and in loving yourselves and meeting your own needs, you’re empowered to reach out and be loving toward others.

Both sides of this equation of love, the receiving and the giving, are vital, but it is the giving which becomes the ultimate objective. It is not the getting. This is the balance we speak of when we emphasize the necessity of being responsive toward others. That process does not flow in a single direction. You don’t stand in the middle of a highway with love coming behind you and loving going before you, and you proceed along that road without stopping. That is not the process, for sometimes while being loving, there are needs for that love that you offer to be replenished. So the process is a kind of flexible continuum, sometimes moving forward toward being more loving, sometimes pausing to be loved. You give and you receive, you give and you receive.

You express concerns or interests in the function of your past existence prior to this human life. For some, there are many past experiences. For others, there are fewer such lives. There is no question that your lives that you currently experience are impacted by your previous lives, and it may of course be helpful at some level for some to know of their past, but what is truly vital is not that past. It is your current human life- form. There are some who dwell so much in the past that they resist taking responsibility for the kind of life they pursue in what is seen as the present. They feel at some level to be victims of the past, and all that happens to them is described as part of their being such victims.

In viewing your current life in a path that is designed and given perspective primarily by your understanding of the past, you are in some measure restricting the growth that you may accomplish in human life. It is true, you are all influenced by the past, but it is equally true that you all are engaged in your present human form, and it is that engagement that is the real essence of your human experience. There are many who are drawn purely through curiosity to an understanding of previous lives. Such curiosity can be entertaining and yet have little purpose in shaping the present.

It is for this reason that we say that you must live in the now. You must live in the present. You cannot be dominated by what understanding you have of the past any more than you can be dominated by anxiety over what you perceive as the future. The “past” as you refer to it is part of who you are, but it is not what you can become. Accept your lives as a part of the process of spiritual attainment. Accept your lives as a stage in the development of spirit. Accept your lives as a part of the body of God. Accept your lives as a manifestation of what God can become in your own lives.

Human life is an opportunity. Human life is a challenge. Human life is filled with questions of curiosity and questions of substance. Human lives are filled with joy but also fear, dread, anxiety, regrets, losses, hope, and above all the opportunity of receiving love, in taking that love and spreading it outward toward others in whatever way is most appropriate.

Human life is appreciating those who share your path and those who have shared your path. Human life is about finding ways to express your love that is not limited to words but is felt as a deep mutual understanding and knowledge. It is a great blessing each of you experiences, regardless of the challenges. Find ways to affirm the richness of what you are given.

We bless you in God’s presence. We bless you with the light of an abiding love.

Amen.