Life leads to death; death leads to life.

August 22, 2013

God accompanies every one of you on your journeys of human life, but God also accompanies you on your journeys of spirit, your quest for growth, your quest for further development as spirits, individually and as part of the collective experience of the spirit, which is an important component of all that God is. We spoke recently about the necessity of your collective presence to the reality of God. 

God truly is because you are, but there is also the corollary that you are because God is. By saying that God is because you are, the emphasis is on you are. It is not just because God is. You are important, you are part of creation, and you hold within your hands the potential, the future, of what it means to be human. Since the human condition is a part of God’s creation, it is therefore a part of who God is. 

God is not an external force that essentially states “I will create...,” and you fill in the blanks. God’s reality is that all that is created is a shared spiritual entity. Each individual shares a common value because you are a part of the energy of creation. You belong to the act of creation, and in your own way you belong to an act of re-creation, for you are engaged in what it means to re-create, to renew what has been formed through the spiritual reality you call God. 

As we have said often, God is an energy, and it is that energy that belongs to creation as you know it. You cannot deny God and affirm creation any more than you can deny your family and affirm a neighbor. There is no distinction. Affirmation is affirmation. The family is the neighbor; the neighbor is the family. What has been created is in part the Creator. There is no separation, and because every human being is part of the energy of creation, every human being has an equal place at the table. There are no special guests. There are no spirits that are considered at a higher level than others. 

We who serve to guide your lives are not a special separate form of life that is essentially unrelated to yours. We are a voice of God, but we are in a real sense because you are, for there is no guidance if there is no one to guide. There is no love unless there is something to love. There is no compassion unless there is something that draws the compassionate spirit. All of the characteristics you associate with God, therefore, have no meaning without your presence to provide that meaning. 

What is friendship if there are no friends? 

What is hatred if there is nothing to hate? 

What is the purpose of warmth if there is nothing to be warmed? 

What is the purpose of healing if there are none who are healed?

Both sides are essential in order for each to survive. God is an embodiment, so to speak, of love, but if there is no one to love, the potential remains fallow. There is nothing to be done. 

What is a teacher if there are no students? 

What is a scientist is there is no science? 

And so it is with God. What is God if there is no reality of exploration for God? 

It is for that reason that we say, “God is because you are.” You learn about love because you learn about God’s love. So you are necessary for the love to be expressed, and it is also true that the expression of that love is necessary to experience before you in turn express that love. 

It may seem that God has no purpose unless there is an acknowledgment of God. But the truth is that God flourishes even without any acknowledgment, for the strength of God comes not from the presence of the Spirit Center but from the reflection of the Spirit Center. Your experience of godliness is a reflection of the godliness that you have encountered on your path. Certainly you exist in the realm of creation because of the reality of the creative force. So in that sense, you are because God is. But in terms of the growth of the spirit, in terms of the presence of the Spirit Center in human life, that presence, God, by whatever name it is called, exists because you exist. 

You are not being elevated above God. God does not exist because human beings perceive there is a God, for that reality exists regardless of perception. But your awareness of God reflects back to your representation of God as you see that presence. 

We ask you to be loving, of course, and you all understand intellectually what this means. But you are asked to be loving, not because it is a task for you to fulfill, but because it is a natural fulfillment of God’s existence. You’re asked to be compassionate, not because you are punished if you are not, but that compassion is exercised as a manifestation that God is. God cannot be compassionate unless there are those who are in such need. It is for you to recognize God, but it is also for you to be more than a recognition, to be evidence of that which you perceive to be God. 

You live to serve God, but you also live to serve as God, and there is a great gulf that exists between these two. Reflecting or serving, being or serving, interpreting or serving—both the one who serves and the one being served are essential to that relationship. 

You’re asked to listen, but you ask others to listen so that you may speak. Listening works in both directions just as love works in both directions. You give, you receive, you give, you receive. This love is not a selfish love. It is a love which is directed outward entirely, for the love that is God’s love is a love that is directed outward entirely. 

Evidence of spiritual leadership is leadership that is totally natural and unselfconscious. The leadership of spirit is a leadership of listening. If you listen to God, your leadership is from God. If you don’t listen to God, the well soon runs dry, because the well needs replenishment. Your faith needs replenishment. It is never one hundred percent present. It takes nurturing. It takes challenges. It takes learning. If it is to thrive, it must expand. 

Your acknowledgment of God is but a portion of what it means to be godly. You are asked to be godly, but that is a challenge with intention. The intention may be expressed as action. It may be expressed through your thoughts and attitudes. 

Life always has with it the challenge of finding meaning. For some, perhaps seeing or feeling that meaning is a tangible experience, but for many others, there is a constant reminder of the unpredictability of life, and one might say the predictability of death. Life is a process that leads to death, but death is a process that leads to life. 

When individuals take their own lives, they are devaluing what it means to be human beings. There are no guarantees to the ease of life. There is only a guarantee to having the strength to accept life. When one takes one’s own life, it is of course motivated by many factors, not the least of which is fear. One doesn’t take one’s own life in the absence of fear, but what causes the fear and what is its nature? 

This fear may be caused medically. It may be caused from an emotional trauma. It may be because of relationships as they are observed. If you have experienced in your lives relationships that are not respectful, that are not expressions of equal value, then it becomes a temptation to expect that all life is a life of chance, that all life is just a roll of the dice. And it becomes more practical for some to find a resolution to this randomness, for life is uncertain and changing. But life after life is unknown and perceived to be constant. For some, it is a journey from uncertainty to certainty. It is not necessarily a response to personal pain or agony. 

Each of you is a product of all you have experienced in this life, in previous lives. Your experience of earlier life-forms has a very definite impact on your current experience, and yet others are unaware of such earlier experiences as they relate to someone else. Every human being has a history. Not every history is known, but each of you has that history, and you are a product of that history. And while nothing is predetermined, there is a predisposition for everyone to make choices, not on the basis of current rational thought but as a consequence of something that they are aware of deep within themselves. 

When a spirit joins us after having chosen to make the transition, there is a kind of assessment, but this is not an assessment of what was done right and what was done wrong. It is not an assessment that leads to punishment or reward. It is merely and more importantly an assessment of what kind of growth has taken place. In the case of one who is young and who takes one’s own life, what has been experienced is much less than others may acknowledge. No one can fully understand the grounds for such actions, but the spirit accepts what has occurred, and if there is more to be learned, then more will be learned. If there is more to be learned within the human context, then more will be learned in the human context. Lives that are cut short by choice are not destined to obscurity or emptiness. Such spirits are renewed and life continues. 

Some of you may have an awareness of previous lives or a feeling that they existed without concrete evidence, and that is normal, but it does not tell the whole history of your life. Allow yourself the opportunity to reflect, to listen, to simply be and not do and not control. That is not a life of weakness but a life of great strength, for being and listening are ultimately of greatest importance. You learn to love by listening to love. It is not words about love but listening to evidence of what being loving means. 

Give yourself the chance to be, to listen. Give yourself the opportunity to reflect what you can learn, what you have learned, and what you are capable of learning about spirit, about others, about what it means to be truly a part of God. Then you will see that God exists, flourishes, affirms and uplifts and loves because of what you do. You are the hands and eyes, ears and mouth of God. 

Listen to God. Speak as God, for the speaking referred to is the language of intention. There are no words. There is no language designation for God. There is only intention, and it is you who give power to that intention and give it direction and consequence. 

Increase your awareness of being the part of God that you are, and allow yourself the luxury of thinking that God is because you are. That is a beautiful dance of life. Engage it fully and laugh! 

Amen.