Love is sacred.
October 29, 2007
God surrounds and blesses you on your journey, on your search. You are being given your lives to pursue this search, yet you have asked important questions that go much to the center of your purposes in life.
Each of you seeks to know God, seeks to see God, seeks ultimately to be God, and you can be assured that all that you seek will indeed be achieved and embraced and made a part of who you are. Beneath every question that was posed is the issue of identity, an identity of who you are and what you should be doing, an identity of God, an identity of your guides. You’re being asked constantly to be open so that you are able to identify all that you seek.
You ask about the morality of in vitro fertilization, and an understanding of our responsibility and your responsibility, where God belongs in this and where you belong to this. Such questions are enormously important, for they touch upon the value of human life and human responsibility. We must begin by assuring you that God is a part of the decisions that all of you face. The questions of in vitro fertilization cause great anxiety, for there is a fear of inducing death by one means or another, of whether that is morally correct, spiritually appropriate, and God-directed.
The gift of choice is a gift from God. There is a choice to be made. That choice must be directed by a personal sense of what is believed to be in harmony with God’s purposes. We must say that above all else, God is love. God wishes love to be expressed. God wishes love to be experienced. The desire to provide a home surrounded in love for a child is wholly directed by what brings favor, one might say, to God. It is totally in harmony with God’s purpose.
But does the aim justify the means? When you are approaching such an issue, first of all it is approached with prayer, and in praying for knowledge, for an appropriate decision, any action that is based on the love and the desire to share love with another, is indeed appropriate. If it is for selfish reasons of self-pleasure or status, that is not in keeping with the path that leads to God. The direction or action can only be followed when it is accompanied by a deep conviction to provide love for another.
When individuals approach the question of in vitro fertilization, they must squarely acknowledge why it is they wish to provide for a child. They are not specifically killing, they are not specifically intending to kill, but they are doing all that is possible to make a reality an opportunity to be loving. If a couple is fully committed to the importance of being loving, then such a procedure in itself is not wrong. What happens to the other entities that are not selected or that are created and yet do not survive? The couple is not directly responsible for the death of an embryo, the death of a living organism in such processes, for all options are surrounded by a commitment to being loving.
It is for God to find an appropriate life to accompany a soul within the human experience. The soul is not yet a part of the reality of in vitro fertilization. Such joining of life forces in IVF is the beginning. Before there was life as you know it, there was God. Before you experience human life, there is the spirit. The spirit is continuous. It is only an issue of whether life in human form is to be joined with spirit now or at some later moment. You are not denying the spirit the opportunity to grow in the human experience, for the spirit will find appropriate attachment.
There is much that human beings are concerned about regarding IVF, the issue of abortion—whether abortion should be allowed or not, and until what stage. The question always arises, “When is spirit a part of human life? Is it at conception, at birth, or some time in between?” Spirit joins human life before birth. That is a fact that is undeniable in its truth. But in the process of starting a human life, the spirit has not attached itself, and therefore efforts to begin life with love are appropriate. Efforts to end life at that stage as a means of rejection and resentment are inappropriate.
When there is pregnancy that is not wanted, are issues of abortion, resistance, justified? When the embryo is created through mutual love, the embryo should be allowed to develop as it develops. If the embryo is created in violence and anger or poor judgment not based on love, then termination may possibly be appropriate.
It is not for human beings to play the position of God. It is not for human beings to judge that attempts at providing life which might result in termination are right or wrong. There are no grounds for judgment other than love. You are not creating pain, you are not creating suffering if the fertilization does not develop into a fully formed human being.
Life is sacred. Love is even more so. You live to love; you don’t love in order to live. If your lives are governed by what it means to be loving, your lives will be directed in an appropriate way. You will be on a path illuminated by God’s presence, but that path is surrounded by a commitment to being loving.
You cannot judge others on whether or not they make a decision to terminate pregnancy, terminate life in such a way. You may approve or disapprove, but you cannot judge.
Any time you are faced with decisions that can create enormous stress and doubt and concern, always ask first whether it is a decision based on being loving or not, for being loving is never self-directed. You are therefore doing what you do because it directs love outside, beyond you to a wider circle. If you feel you are motivated in your actions by what is self-serving, self-comforting, and in the process take advantage of others, that is not a path illuminated by God, for God, as we say so often, is love, and therefore your path toward God is a path toward love, not a path away from it.
You will never be fully love during your human life, but you can become dominated by your capacity to be loving. It is a life of giving. All decisions based on love are correct decisions. Issues of morality come into play when violence in self-defense is exercised in the name of love. What is most important is to acknowledge and recognize the relative strength of each. It is love that must dominate. It is the light of that love that must radiate outward. Your lives are challenged by the necessity to be loving. When others are loving, you, then, are loved. Loving is both giving and receiving, but the state of love, the state of being love, is only reached as you continue further along your spiritual pathway.
You look for signs of how you know you are being guided. How do you know what path to pursue? Again, the single yardstick is what is loving, what is best for others, not what is best for you. Certainly, in any decisions, any crossroads that you approach, it is natural to say to yourself, “What do I want? What is best for me?” And those questions come from the human experience. But the answer to “what is best for me” is “what is best for you,” because in doing what is best for you, that is what is best for me. What is best is what is most loving. You benefit by being loving. You benefit by acting with loving intent.
Life is precious--there is no question. Life should be respected. You know of the commandment to not kill, but that killing is a killing directed out of anger, out of spite, out of pride, out of all of those emotions that are self-directed. You cannot go to an individual and kill them because you love them. That is impossible. When you consider the beginning of life, you are making decisions on the basis of your own commitment to being loving. It is more the commitment that is important than what follows, for whatever follows the commitment is appropriate to that commitment, and there is no need to fear that a wrong decision is being made.
How is it that you know of our presence? You know about our presence, but that is different from knowing our presence. For some, as you have discussed, there is a physical sensation that affirms our presence. For others, it is an emotional levity, a lightness, a light of spirit that is recognized. Some hear voices, some feel a touch, some see at a level that others cannot. There are many ways.
What is most important is that you all look for evidence in your life of being guided. That is so much more important than looking for an opportunity to hear words specifically, for everyone, every human being, is guided, and it is for each of you to become more aware of when that guidance takes place, for in observing past opportunities for guidance being received, you can then have more faith that you are being guided. Merely being told you are being guided is not enough. You must reflect upon your lives and recognize, “That’s not a coincidence. That didn’t just happen. It could only have been guidance.” When you have such firm recognition, it is easier for you to have faith that guidance continues. Then pray that you will be receptive to the guidance that is offered, and that is all that is asked. The more you reflect upon your lives and the guidance that is given evidence, the more guided you will feel, the more sensitive you will become to the efforts of your collective guides.
Each of you has so much to be thankful for. Life is good to each of you for you are growing from your life experiences, and you are seeking further knowledge, further opportunities to be loving. You are seeking further opportunities to know of the guidance you receive, further evidence of God in your lives.
We echo again our prayer for you to open your eyes. Open your hearts to love. Open your souls to God’s enduring light. Be blessed in your understanding. Be guided in your vision.
Amen.