Re: Going Home - computer - printer - miracle On June 15, 2006, I printed out the pages of Going Home. As I was binding these pages, the printer started again and there was a copy of one of Martin's prayers. These prayers were on my computer in a separate folder. Within that file were eighteen pages. I immediately checked and found that I had not accessed that particular file since August 15, 2005, so of course I could not have sent it to the printer on this day. Also, this was the only page printed from that file. It was the prayer that I had read aloud at the funeral service of my husband, Owen. There was no question in my mind that it was meant to be included with the pages I had gathered from Martin's writings about death and transition. Enjoy this prayer - it is truly beautiful. My hope is that you will find both comfort and joy in all these writings. Cornelia

Martin's Prayer Tell me, my Lord, of Your love for me. Tell me, my Lord, that never does this love fail. Tell me of glories that lie in wait. Tell me of oneness that waits for me. Sing me a song of the joy of love. Sing me a song of the strength of faith. Show me the beauty of heavenly love. Show me the wonder of Your way. Tell me, my Lord, that I am Yours. Tell me the steps that I should take. Tell me the moment that I will know Of total joy, of total oneness, of glory beyond belief. Tell me, my Lord, that this is my home, This distant shore that beckons me. Tell me, my Lord, that I will be welcomed there And know the love that knows no bounds And rejoice in the presence of the Lord. I ask no more.

Sunday, 10/11/98 9:50PM - The Divine Nature of Man

It is joy without limit when man, having left this earthly life, returns to his origins and knows once again all that he has been, is, and is to be. He does not know full wisdom immediately upon his passage to all he left behind.

There are souls who cling to their earthly personages, who leave reluctantly and who need to be persuaded by their heavenly guides that they have completed a full experience in their advancement to heavenly perfection. There are those souls who arrived flawed and still vulnerable, unsure in every way of their transition. These souls, greatly in need of aid and comfort, are given all that they need in loving support and attain gradual awareness of their evolvement into a new life. Most souls departing earthly life do so gladly and gratefully and know profound joy in their welcome into the love that is eternally theirs.

It is not possible to convey in human words and concepts the exact nature of the transition that is called death. It is enough to say that an event considered the ultimate sorrow on the earthly plane is considered the ultimate joy on the heavenly plane. The soul, released from the trials and trauma it has known in its brief human journey, knows release into joy beyond all imagining. It knows enormous pleasure in the love of spirits both known and previously unknown, and it takes great comfort in the close awareness it has of all those loved ones left behind. This is a blissful state, one that awaits all souls, and though there may be delay and difficulty in the passage that divides human life and human death the journey's end is one of ineffable joy. It is indeed a coming home, and the soul knows absolute comfort and belonging. It is perfect.

Wednesday, 5/26/99 11:55PM - The Divine Nature of Man

By the end of human life, man is ready in all ways to move on. I speak here even of death that seems in all ways premature, a cruel cutting off of life, an untimely end to promise. I speak here too of sudden death, death in no way anticipated, in no way prepared for, either for the soul in progress or for those who are bereaved. I speak finally of those whose lives have been both challenging and fulfilling and who have known full enjoyment of the years allotted them and approach death as a fitting ending to a life well lived.

I speak then of extremes, of life lived briefly and of life lived in longevity. I speak of death sudden and of death long anticipated, in some cases yearned for. I speak of the universal nature of death, a gift as surely as birth is a gift, for they are as one, birth and death, separated only by a time variable but in all cases infinitesimal in the full span of eternity.

Death, then, comes as both an inevitable occurrence and as a friend, a gateway between worlds difficult to envision, a true transition to bliss unimaginable. Few are the difficulties connected with the transition from earthly to heavenly existence and even these few are transitory and insignificant. All souls are joined with their brothers and all souls rejoice in this reunion.

Death then is to be joyfully welcomed by those chosen to embrace its promise. There should be no hostility, no reluctance, no fear, but rather a conscious awareness of the divine purpose of life and the infinite promise of life to come.

Rejoice, therefore, when death makes your acquaintance and know that all who are chosen are privileged.

HUMAN SUFFERING
Revelations

In the midst of life and all that is challenging and sometimes painful, man tends to forget the value of physical suffering. While there is no onus attached to good health --- indeed man is meant to enjoy this luxury --- it is in the nature of human existence that man be plagued with infirmities. These infirmities are not the work of a cruel and capricious god. They are rather trials of the body and spirit fully accepted as a part of the inevitable progression each soul makes to perfection and oneness.

There is much to be learned and much to be taught in the case of human frailty. There is much opportunity for growth for all those concerned with affliction. Reflect, if you will, upon the caring ministers of health who tend the ill. They are enriched by each experience they share. Their compassion and devotion serve them well, and their healing skills bring new hope and comfort. Think, too, of the family of the afflicted. If they accept the problem of sickness they can grow in stature. Their love deepens and their caring lends strength to the ill. In case of prolonged illness those who attend the person threatened by disease or deformity are often blessed with a special grace --- a growth in forbearance and a spirit of loving support.

The soul is tried in many ways, and among these the suffering involved in sickness is significant. While it is man's duty to do all that is within his power to keep his body sound, there inevitably comes a time when his body is not his to command and he must learn to accept with equanimity and tolerance all the pain he encounters. It becomes his responsibility to respond with gratitude and love to all who seek to aid him. It is his responsibility to realize that life is often painful but that out of this pain comes awareness.

Inevitably to all men comes the time when the human body has completed its assignment and the soul is released. This transition is often the most trying of times for those who love the individual leaving this world, but again I say to you that this may be the time of learning, of progress, of deepened love, the time of greatest spiritual achievement.

So, my children, look upon illness not as a curse but a necessary part of human existence, an opportunity for all those involved in the caring, all those sharing the suffering, to grow beautiful in their spiritual perfection in the sight of their God.

THE JOYFUL TRANSITION OF DEATH
Martin's Original Writings

Man has hungered for centuries to know with an absolute certainty that life is eternal, changing only in nature and locality. Each human death brings a transition from one form of life to the next. Each soul must and does know the varieties of experience that permit and develop perfect love, love which has met every test of its perfection.

There is no uniformity in the kinds of experience the soul has on its journey to oneness with God. Earthly life offers a wide range of opportunities, and the soul chooses among them freely when determining the lessons its next life has to offer. It is difficult for man with his limited comprehension to grasp the logic of any soul's choosing a life less than ideal, although such lives are indeed possible to choose and achieve. Each soul choosing its life is aware that the more difficult the life, the greater challenge it presents, the more temptation there will be, the more difficult the road to love, but in these lives the rewards are commensurate with the problems the soul has to cope with. The more perfectly a difficult life is led, the more rapid the progress is toward oneness with God and perfect happiness in eternity.

The length of a life has nothing to do with the difficulty of a life. Man has long feared death and felt that early death is a tragedy. Although it is man's duty to live out the years allotted to him as fully and as lovingly as he is able, death at an early age does not bring sorrow to the soul that leaves its earthly existence. On the contrary, death at any age brings joy, and death at any age brings sorrow only to the survivors who mourn the loss of the love they have known for so many years. Each death in worldly existence should be cause for rejoicing, for happiness in the knowledge that whatever the circumstances of earthly life, whatever the nature of the death, whatever the age at time of death, the soul has been received into heaven by God and His angels and His spirits with love and joy. Each soul arrives after death to find love and comfort, if confusion exists as it does in some transitions, and infinite concern. But love above all. The spirit of love reigns supreme in heaven as each new soul arrives recently freed from earthly restraints.

I have described elsewhere the procedures for receiving and judging new souls, and there is no need to reiterate, but only to emphasize again the joyful nature of the transition from earthly to heavenly existence. There are no exceptions to this rule. The basest criminal is received with love and given the opportunity to respond with love, to admit freely the errors of his immediately past life, and to move toward oneness with God by making amends with love in his heart. I have also spoken of the Others, those who reject this love and continue to act in rebellion until that inevitable time when they realize that the path toward oneness with God is the only path, and they in turn ask for love and judgment.

Whenever death occurs, man should be aware then of its joyful nature, and he should be aware that his fear of death comes from his belief that death is the end of all consciousness, that the single life he knows is all of existence. It is from this mistaken assumption that the fear of death proceeds. Let man be aware that he is in total error in his belief that death marks the end of the existence of his soul. The soul is eternal, constantly renewing itself and constantly changing in its progress toward oneness with God. Death is not an ending but a beginning, a transition, and death should inspire not fear but a joyful anticipation of the wonders to come. Death has no sting. Death is a celebration. It marks the end of man's allotted days and years as agreed upon by him with God when he undertook this earthly journey, and it marks his release from the travails and restraints of earthly existence.

The soul newly received in heaven feels no sorrow for the loved ones he has left on earth, for he is with them at all times in spirit form. Love transcends death. Man's grief at the death of a loved one will be tempered if he accepts this truth about the nature of death. Grief is a normal human response to the loss of a loved one, but let your grief be lightened in the sure knowledge that the soul of the loved one has been received into glory by God and His angels and spirits and is surrounded by love greater than any he has ever known, for the strength of celestial love is beyond human imagining and it awaits all those who cross the threshold of death. Know that this is God's plan for man. This is God's word. Heed it.

THE NATURE OF HEAVEN
Martin's Original Writings

I have described this process earlier and described the considerations involved in returning to additional lives on earth. Now man should know more of the nature of heaven itself. There is little relationship between descriptions of heaven and the truth of heaven. Heaven is an ideal state, it is true. It is a state in which there is constant awareness of the love of God, and this state of awareness imbues all other relationships with love. There is no emotion but love in heaven. It is the be all and end all of heavenly experience. All actions are motivated by love. All happiness exists in love. All souls are united in love. This love differs in many respects from human love. Celestial love exists between souls. It suffuses the soul with feelings of euphoria, joy beyond belief, and knows no conditions. The soul is constantly motivated by love. Love is constantly expressed between souls, and all souls are united in constant expression of their love for God.

But heaven is a place of action as well. Souls in heaven are totally involved in helping each other and anyone on earth in need. New souls arrive in heaven greatly in need of help, and those souls already in heaven take immediate charge of the new soul to aid in its transition to the heavenly plane. Generally the transition is joyful and easy, but it can be difficult, and in these cases the new soul needs increased assistance and reassurance. Once the new soul has completed transition from the earthly plan to the heavenly plane, the work begins. The new soul must analyze its needs to reach perfect love, and it must with the help of other souls and the help of God begin the work of progressing toward perfect love and oneness with God.

There is a period during which the new soul must closely examine all that it did in its previous life. Each action is scrutinized and each relationship examined to determine the extent to which the soul fulfilled its contract with God and progressed to oneness. This can be a long and painful process, painful in the sense that the soul is forced to face its own inadequacy, if inadequacy exists, and to acknowledge its failures in its earthly existence just completed. In all of this, the soul is aided by its teacher or teachers, other souls who have advanced further along the path to oneness with God and who share their wisdom and love with the new soul. This examination of the immediate past life is in no way punitive, though there may be sorrow and pain involved for the soul in acknowledging its failures, but always there is love given and love received, and the soul profits from the insights afforded by this minute examination. At each point in the examination at which the new soul recognizes failure to learn the needed lesson, the soul acknowledges the need for that learning and decides what it must do to achieve that learning.

All the lessons not learned in that life must be learned in another life or learned in heaven, a more difficult task. If the soul decides with the help of its teachers and of God that it needs to return to earth, then the process of reincarnation begins. The soul is allowed to choose its life span, the lessons to be learned, and to some extent its new parents and the time of return. There is a period then of preparation for return to earth, a period during which the soul is reminded of its obligations during the coming life and during which the soul prepares itself for meeting those obligations. This information is not recalled directly by the soul after it is reincarnated, but it remains in his memory during that life.

This process is difficult for humans to understand except in its vague outlines. The learning of perfect love is very difficult and very complicated. The soul, once it has learned perfect love, becomes one with God; that is the soul essentially becomes God. This means in essence that each soul has the capability of achieving the status of a supreme being. This is a difficult concept for the human mind to comprehend. Religions have for centuries taught that God is a remote figure, entirely separate from man, unattainable and supreme. God is, in fact, a supreme being, but He is at all times attainable with perfect love.

I have said that all spirits have power, the power to be in several places at once and the power to read man's mind and to draw on his memory bank. Some spirits have greater powers. They can alter nature. They can affect man's health and feelings. They can influence the human mind. They can arrange for events to occur. They can guide and influence the human to act in a certain way. These spirits receive their strong powers from God for the purpose of doing good on the earthly plane as well as on the heavenly plane. Humans are often aware in their lives of events or circumstances or feelings or changes in their lives that they attribute to supernatural influences without knowing what they mean. These events, circumstances, feelings and changes are the spirits at work.

The spirits are free to do whatever is within their power on the way to oneness with God. They watch carefully over the lives of those they loved on earth either in their last life or in previous lives that have been revealed to them. They have particular responsibility to those humans assigned to them as students. As teachers they are at all times aware of their students' lives --- every action, every thought, every word --- and the responsibility is life long. On the death of each student, the responsibility is passed to those in charge of new souls, as I have described.

THE EXPERIENCE OF HEAVEN
Martin's Original Writings

In all cases the experience of heaven is joyous. From the moment that the soul passes in transition from the earthly plane to the heavenly plane it is imbued with feelings of euphoria. Even those souls who are confused and angry know the joy of heaven at the moment of death, and it is only when they reject this joy that they know any other emotion. The free will which man enjoys stays with him after death, and the soul in heaven is as free to choose his course of action as the human was on earth, that is he is free to choose not absolutely, but from a number of options open to him at any given time.

I have spoken of the Others. Their choice to oppose the will of God is free choice, and they are able to pursue the course of action they choose for as long as they choose to pursue it. Those who decide to progress to oneness with God through reincarnation are free to choose the type of lives they feel will help them most in their progress. Those who choose to remain in heaven and progress there are free to do so, although in most cases this proves too difficult and the soul then chooses to return to another life. In all these cases, however, the end result is determined, oneness with God, but the path to oneness may be freely selected. In each decision God and His angels make every effort to counsel the soul in his choices and to help him as much as possible in his progress toward God. But in heaven as on earth, the individual soul is responsible for itself.

During its time in heaven the soul grows in wisdom. I have said before that the soul takes with it to heaven the last personality it had on earth, and it is known and recognized by that personality as well as by the last given name it had on earth, but the mind of the soul is enlightened with knowledge and is enriched in many ways. I have spoken of the capacity of each soul to communicate through telepathy with those on the earthly plane and of their capacity to see into the minds of humans and draw on their memory banks. This power is universal among spirits, but God requires that it be used wisely. It is a powerful instrument for good when used in the name of love, to guide humans in the paths they should take, to bring comfort to humans when they need comfort, and to aid humans in many ways of which the human is not even aware. It is of particular usefulness to those teachers who are able to break through the barrier and to be heard by their human students. At all times the spirits in heaven who are making progress toward God devote their energies to overseeing the worldly affairs of those they knew and loved in their earthly lives and in making every effort to help these loved ones.

Be assured that your earthly existence is of great concern to God's spirits and angels. They are trying at all times to communicate their love and concern to you. Think of them often and try to hear their voices. Pray to them and listen for a response. Feel their presence. Love their memories. Love must at all times join heaven and earth, love given and love received. That is God's way.

CELESTIAL LOVE
Martin's Original Writings

When heaven and earth are joined by love totally, the millennium will have arrived. The day of the final judgment will be at hand. This judgment is not the judgment of tradition, the separation of the good from the bad, the casting into hell of the damned and the reception into heaven of the blessed. No, this judgment will be the final reconciliation of God and man, the total acceptance of perfect love by man, the total acknowledgement of all souls that there is nothing in heaven or on earth more significant than love. All men will know the glories of celestial love.

It is difficult for the human mind to comprehend celestial love. It is, first of all, universal. There is no spirit in heaven seeking progress toward oneness with God who does not feel love. The capacity for love varies greatly from spirit to spirit depending upon the extent to which it has progressed toward oneness with God, but all spirits feel the greatest love of which they are capable at all times toward themselves, their fellow spirits, and toward God. This celestial love is a perfect love. It does not know doubt, inconstancy, jealousy, limitations or conditions. The spirits must greet each other with expressions of love at all times. They must never forget this requirement of God. Each expression of love must be answered with an expression of love. There are no exceptions to this rule.

In no way is there any pretense in this expression of love. It is the way of heaven to express love by saying, "I love you entirely." This means an expression of love as complete as the spirit is capable of feeling at that particular moment in eternity. "Entirely" says it all. It may mean a modicum of love, all that the spirit is capable of at that time, or it may mean overwhelmingly great love. It is at all times a statement of total honesty.

Man would do well to adopt this means of expression. I have said elsewhere in these writings that the constant expression of love generates further love, and the phrase "I love you entirely" serves this purpose while it also permits total honesty of expression. Honesty is essential in celestial love as it is in human love. Constancy is essential in celestial love as it is in human love. Celestial love is pure and generous in nature. It demands nothing of the receiver at any time. It cannot know the weaknesses of human love. It cannot be distracted. It cannot lessen or change its nature. It is the source of all joy in heaven and the joy is endless. Celestial love is a love of total understanding. It is love of total acceptance. It is love that sustains and nourishes. It is a love shared by God with His souls. In the final judgment all souls will know this love, and all souls will join with God in an eternity of endless love. This is God's plan for man.

It is the nature of God's plan for man that in the end all souls are joined with Him in perfect celestial love, and that in this state they continue to do God's work. The universe is vast, and there are planes other than earth upon which souls exist. These planes are unknown to humans and shall remain unknown to them until after their deaths, but the kingdom of God exists on these planes. The immensity of heaven defies human description and exceeds human comprehension, but this in no way makes it less of a truth. The world as it currently exists is but a testing ground for souls whose existence in these other heavenly planes is God's work and pride. This is a kingdom of love and bliss, a kingdom where love reigns supreme and where there is no emotion but joyous acceptance of God and His works.

The earthly plane is one of many such planes where souls are able and required to learn the lessons of love. The other planes are equally part of God's kingdom, but it is not my intention here to speak further of these other planes. Man needs to be aware that they exist. It is in no way necessary that he understand them.

It is important, however, that man know as much as it is possible for him to know about the nature of celestial love. There are a few similarities between human and celestial love. Human love at its most ideal is a love shared equally between two selfless individuals in a loving relationship, a love that endures hardships and challenges without wavering and which grows and changes in nature with the changes in human existence. Human love can also be the love within the family of a parent for a child, a love of giving, a love of tender concern. It can be the love of a child for a parent, a love of trust and dependence, of unquestioning faith. It can be the love that exists within the family in other relationships, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, each love differing in nature one from the other. Human love outside the family also can be deep and abiding, and ideally should embrace all men. As I have said, the capacity for human love varies as the human is shaped by his earthy experiences. In its most ideal forms, human love prepares man for the intensity of celestial love.

Celestial love is the love of God reflected in the soul. It is perfect love, demanding nothing, rejoicing in its existence, expressing itself constantly, constantly replenished and nourished by love given and received. Celestial love is a love of ecstasy, of heightened awareness, of wonder. Celestial love is the love that binds souls together and binds souls to God. Celestial love is shared by all souls without distinction. Even the Others share in celestial love, although they reject it temporarily and finally realize its force and its joy. Celestial love is energy, spiritual energy, constantly spent and constantly renewed. The capacity of the soul for celestial love is unlimited and the capacity for celestial love grows as the soul comes closer to oneness with God. The intensity of celestial love is the intensity of God's love for His souls.

There is no higher emotion, and each man born to earthly life will in the end know this supreme love. The speed with which man progresses to this perfect celestial love, this oneness with God, depends upon free choice on the earthly plane, but progress man must and progress he will. God is patient. God is tolerant. God waits for man to know Him, secure in the knowledge that in the end all men will rest in His bosom. That is God's plan for man.

Sunday, 2/6/00 11:57PM - Lessons

It is not an easy matter for man to hold firm his faith in himself and in his Creator when he is buffeted by the trials and tribulations that life often incurs upon the soul in progress. There are times when man is so tried that he despairs of human survival, and he is blessed when he recognizes that a threat to human existence is but an invitation to the bliss of life beyond human death. In these cases man knows a swift and joyous transition. Death comes as a willing ally.

It is more difficult for man when he is expected to know sustained hardship, when misery becomes his constant companion, and when he is called upon to endure human suffering beyond endurance. It is at such trying times that the soul knows the capacity for extraordinary progress in spiritual development. The fortunate know in their souls the certainty of release from pain and the ineffable joy that is theirs after they leave behind the life that proved so trying. Few face death with dread when it is imposed upon them by [illegible word that looks like "threat"] Few would choose continued suffering rather than release from misery. Yet even those who know that nothing could exceed the torment of life are fully prepared for the glory that follows their departure from earthly existence. They are filled with awe as they are taken into the warmth and love of eternal existence, and no soul departed from human life is denied this glory.

It is important that all men on their earthly journeys retain awareness of this divine promise, the absolute destiny of all souls. It is difficult for man with his narrow perception and his limited perspectives to imagine an existence so vast in its proportions, so glorious in its concept, but man is at all times capable of imagining to some extent the vastness of the universe and the sweetness of promise, and human life is sweetened to the extent that the soul in progress listens to his soul and the blessed voices that speak therein and recognizes the blessedness of his being and the glory that is his in worlds beyond his imagining.

It is wonder indeed when man sheds human limitations and narrow focus and embraces the wonder of his being and the perfection of the universe that offers the perfect answer to all the soul's striving. Rejoice all men and let this wondrous promise lighten your path. Let it fill your soul with a love that knows no limit, that enriches always and that deprives no man ever.

Sunday, 2/20/00 9:50PM - Lessons

At the end of each life, no matter its length or brevity, the soul come to its only true home knows a judgment that both welcomes and assures. Not all souls born to human life are as compliant as they ought to be with promises made before birth. Not all souls resist the blandishments of those troubled souls who seek to share their prideful defiance and who resist all that is demanded of them to go forward in their search for spiritual perfection.

Yet all souls seek a home that has been theirs eternally, and only a misguided few reject the wonder of this inborn destination. Those who accept this inevitable progression to ultimate perfection participate willingly in the judgment of their peers of the successes and the failures of their previous lives. They are both relieved and exhilarated when they are judged worthy of the next necessary step on the road to perfection. Never is there conflict in this decision, but rather a joyous acceptance by the soul who participates fully and knows fully the perfection and love involved in judgment rendered.

The soul come to heavenly judgment is overwhelmed by love, the strength of which is human love magnified beyond computation. The power of celestial love is beyond human perception, and it creates in the soul newly come to life beyond death an intense awareness of the infinite nature of his blessings. It is the rare soul which rejects this loving reception into new life, but those who are so misled as to reject divine love, misguided by their own sense of power as they generally are, are for a time lost. They seek to express the power they retain to cause mischief and disenchantment among their fellows, those who are similarly misled, and for a while they satisfy themselves in their own superiority.

In the end, all are persuaded that the path of love is the only acceptable path, and they proceed along with their fellows in seeking the perfect love both given and received that is the only key to salvation and the infinite love of oneness that is the only salvation of all those who seek God.

Saturday, 3/4/00 10:12PM - Lessons

Sweet as this life is, the end is sweeter. For some the end is far sweeter, though the soul entering eternity has no sure knowledge of this blessed and comforting truth. Man, under almost all circumstances, tends to cling to life. Even when he is beset by illness, vulnerable constantly to pain and distress, his entire being seems to yearn for a continuation of life, however difficult he may find it, however hopeless his future seems.

This is in some ways a strange phenomenon. The observer, seeing the total distress of the terminally ill individual, wonders that he does not willingly surrender his life and embrace death as a friend, a release from earthly misery. Those who love the soul in danger of death are torn. On the one hand, they cannot bear the thought of relinquishing one they so love, and on the other, they agonize over the hardships his body inflicts upon his spirit. So both are torn, and both are consumed with concern for the other.

Man would be well served could he recognize that the finite nature of human life is at all times a fact of life. The end of life is made certain by its beginning. Man would find added comfort in embracing the truth that each soul come to earthly life has chosen the course of that life with all its attendant gifts and deprivations and designed both its beginning and its ending. Man is master of his destiny, but he is, as agreed before life began, deprived of all memory and awareness of the power he has exercised. He lives deprived of this power and this awareness, ignorant of all that has transpired before his birth and ignorant of all that will inevitably follow his death.

Into this vacuum of ignorance, man is blessed to know faith and hope and to have an underlying awareness of the nature of his divine origin and his divine destiny. Faith is the ultimate comfort, one born in love and nourished by hope, to be treasured always. It is a gift freely available to all those on the earthly voyage. It is God's gift to all His children.

Friday, 3/31/00 11:40PM - Lessons

Sweet as life can be, it is at all times temporary pleasure. Painful as life can be, it is at all times only temporary suffering. In light of this truth, man needs to be comfortable in the knowledge that however pleasurable or painful his experiences may be in his earthly journey, they are as nothing compared to the wonder he will share with all souls when he reaches the end of life on earth and progresses to divine existence.

It is not always easy for man to retain full awareness of the transitory nature of his earthly existence. Indeed at times man finds such pleasure in life that he cannot tolerate the very thought of its ever ending. At the opposite end of experience, those experiencing trial, hardship, and pain long for release from the demands of earthly life and seek eagerly an end to suffering and embrace fully the concept of a world beyond the one they long to leave, a world of love and caring and release from pain and anxiety.

Between these two extremes, the vast majority of men know that their lives are unpredictable in their trials and triumphs and they cherish their earthy experience. They rejoice in good times and accept with equanimity the hardship that they sometimes know. They neither long for an end to earthly existence nor do they reject the promise of life beyond human death.

In all cases, death comes as absolute certainty. In their consciousness all men know that once birth is granted death is absolutely destined, but the prospect of death is generally one which man does not celebrate but which rather he relegates to the outer edge of his awareness and only rarely contemplates. In this unwillingness to consider the end of his existence, man does himself a disservice. He pretends that he need not consider the inevitable, and in so dismissing such consideration he robs himself, for there should ideally be in all men's thinking a comfortable acceptance of death as a part of life and there should be in such thinking no element of fear or distaste. Birth is hailed joyfully by all those on the human journey. Death should inspire equal joy, for it is in its truest sense a truly memorable rebirth.

Saturday, 4/1/00 11:43PM - Lessons

In the final assessment man makes of his life, he is afforded heavenly intervention. The soul newly released from his human endeavors is at first amazed at the degree with which those who endeavored to ease his transition into heavenly joy were aware of each juncture of his earthly voyage. It is a brief time when this soul finds comfort and pleasure in the full extent of heavenly awareness of his life just past, and it becomes a transcendent pleasure to him to discover all that he did and did not do in fulfillment of his divine compact.

It may seem strange to encompass a universe beyond human life, a world which welcomes all souls departed from the human journey and offers to them both welcome and belonging. It is only important to man passing from life to death to entertain the possibility that more remains to be discovered, that worlds await.

It is puzzling to a degree that man resists the promise of life eternal, of love divine, of endless belonging, of total loving acceptance and of joy beyond all imagining. What is there in man that finds such promise beyond accepting? What does he fear from such total joy? How can he persuade himself that he is not worthy of divine promise?

In all of his uncertainty, man needs only to recall his divine origin, to dismiss doubt and distraction, and to embrace fully the promise that has been his always. He needs only to express fully the love that he has known always, the love that has governed his every word and deed, and then he has only to recognize the divine belonging that is his. He is fully blessed.

Friday, 4/7/00 10:30PM - Lessons

From the very beginning of time man has known his place in the divine plan. He has chosen in the power of his free will to participate fully in the perfecting of his soul in the full awareness that this perfection is the certainty of eternal and flawless bliss.

It is difficult for man in his earthly journey to imagine eternity. It is difficult for him to accept his human life span as a speck in eternity and to envision the enormous number of incarnations that he has known in some cases, and will continue to know in others. It is easier for him to envision unlimited space than unlimited time, for science has been assiduous in its search for material boundaries, and although their search is not yet completed, they have presented man with a map of the universe awesome in its extent. They have gone further in suggesting that this planet earth is but a speck in the total universe.

In the light of scientific discovery, man is dwarfed when considered in space and time already discovered in earthly scientific probing. Just imagine, if you will, that the science of discovery is in its infancy and that what is to come will indeed lead man to an understanding of his insignificance in time and space.

Yet it is precisely the error of science to judge man solely in these narrow terms and to ignore the soul and spirit of man which transcends mortal barriers and soars to heights science has barely begun to contemplate. Man is well served by this awareness of the enormity of the universe and the mystery of infinity and to accept his limitations in both these dimensions, but never should he forget that his soul transcends such barriers and holds mysteries he cannot hope to comprehend in his mortal lives.

There is no need for man to comprehend the mysteries of time and space. Indeed there is such limit to this striving that complete comprehension is a hopeless endeavor, but man needs to retain always the inner voice that speaks of what lies beyond human limitation and offers ultimate understanding.

Wednesday, 4/26/00 [no time noted] - Lessons

It is with sweet acceptance that most men face the prospect of death, that transition from earthly awareness to a sphere beyond knowing.

Some souls, weary of trial and travail, welcome an end to human life even if it is simply an escape from pain and suffering. These souls are grateful to discover that the land they enter is a place of joy and love and that they retain close ties with the world they thought that they were leaving. They discover an awareness of those they left behind and learn to convey to these dear souls the love that survives earthly death and find joyous communication with the world they left behind. They find pleasure in this close connection between worlds and in their discovery that love transcends the barriers separating these worlds.

All souls know this miraculous gratification in heavenly life. Those who die not expecting this joy are perhaps the most gratified. They expected nothing and received everything. Of particular gratification to them is finding reunion with loved ones who left earthly existence earlier and who have waited patiently for the one they so love to cross the threshold of death and enter eternal life.

The joy all souls find beyond death cannot be described in human terms, but it is at all times supremely happy for them to join in the heavenly love shared. No soul is denied this perfection.

Tuesday, 5/9/00 12:23AM - Lessons

Whatever trials man knows in human life, he knows in full confidence when he searches his soul that he is capable of triumph and of infinite satisfaction in his triumph.

I have spoken much and often of the trials that are inherent in human existence, and I speak wisely in reminding man that in all cases these challenges are those that the soul in progress has full knowledge of in origin and full capacity in coping. Never is man required to do the impossible. It may be that man will experience failure in meeting challenges in life, but never is his defeat attributable to lack of capacity to overcome all that bars him from success.

It is difficult for man to comprehend this seeming contradiction. If man is capable of triumph, you ask, why would he experience defeat? The answer lies in the power of man's will. There is not a single instant in human existence when man surrenders his capacity to determine his fate by free choice. Clearly there are times when man's choice is so limited that his choice lies in the nature of his acceptance. Man facing certain death, for instance, cannot, generally, choose to extend his life, but he can choose to accept the end of his human journey with loving acceptance or he can choose to struggle against all that he had earlier considered wise and good. Therein lies progress.

All that man knows in the path he knows from the first to the last breath of earthly being is a path he has chosen, a path he treads gladly when he listens to his heart's dictates, and a path which leads him inevitably to all his soul desires.

Airborne Thursday, 5/11/00 7:40PM EDT Lessons

When man contemplates eternity, he is hard pressed to comprehend. He knows in his heart that there is truth to the concept of timelessness, and yet he finds it impossible to imagine himself in such terms. Indeed it is impossible for any human to grasp this immense concept, and it is totally reasonable for him to abandon his efforts at understanding and to retreat to a steady faith that he will one day comprehend but that this full understanding awaits after his passage to the world that awaits him at the conclusion of his human journey.

Much the same can be said of man's efforts to comprehend his place in infinity. Man is aware of the enormity of the world in which he lives, of distant galaxies which hold both promise and mystery, but always he retreats to the simple concepts of time and space that are reality within his grasp.

It is a source of joy for all men to anticipate increased awareness, and at all times this promise, this distant vision, cheers and encourages the soul in progress. He remains content in his limitations in certainty that such limits are temporal and that great understanding and full awareness will one day be his. This is promise to all men.

Monday, 5/15/00 10:25PM - Lessons

Without doubt man's greatest adventure in life is in its closure. As in all adventures, the ending depends absolutely upon all that has occurred from start to finish from the first line recorded to the last.

All souls in progress share the same adventure. All come into life with firm resolve to live lives perfectly in accord with promises made in divine agreement. All come into life with all the talents and capacities needed to fulfill all expectations. All come with the divinity of free will, the ennobling quality that distinguishes man in all earthly enterprise.

It is reasonable to conclude that man cannot fail in all he strives to accomplish in a single life. He comes with purpose. He comes with ability. He comes with awareness of the importance of all he strives to accomplish. What, then, corrupts man in this singular journey, a life of his own choosing, a life shared in divine love and promise? How can man fail even slightly in his brief journey?

I have spoken of the Others, of those rebellious and wayward spirits who seek men to join in their failure. Yet each soul in progress has the strength and wisdom to reject the wiles and false promises of the Others. Few fall victim to their temptations, and even those few reject in time the error of their ways and resume the path to their ultimate goal. It is at all times a source of joy to all those spirits seeking to help those in their human journey to the absolute joy of heavenly promise to know success in their persuasion. It is at all times a source of joy to those who learn to reject the Others and to accept the unending love of all those who are intent on guiding them to ultimate joy.

Heaven is a lovely place, a place of joy and rapture and of compelling love and caring. There is no loneliness, no desperation, no hesitation in the heavenly realm. Always there is all enveloping love. Always there is constant caring and guidance. Always there is infinite promise. There is no such thing as failure in spiritual progression, and the soul knows absolute joy in this absolute promise. There is no further need.

Wednesday 5/17/00 10:37PM - Lessons

Most men born to earthly life find in themselves great fault. They do not know this self-deprecation early in their earthly lives, but they find as they progress from infancy to adulthood that their self perception is challenged constantly.

This challenge to self is not conditional in any way. It exists in all climes, in all conditions, in all cultures. The young come to human existence fully equipped to do all that life demands of them, fully able to respond to the hardships and challenges involved and yet optimistic about each next necessary step, fully able to progress in the divine path that offers fulfillment and all necessary progress.

This is a direction open to all souls in progress, a path perfect and swift and offering only the reminder of love entire for all souls in progress. This seems indeed an easy solution to all the problems that earthly life poses for the eternal journey, and yet it is not simple, not adequate, but it offers peaceful transition to the plane that all souls seek, the wonder of perfect acceptance and perfect devotion. No soul fails in this awareness and no soul rejects its wisdom.

There is never a state more perfect than the one that awaits the soul newly released from human need, aware of his beginning of a future unlimited, of love beyond human perception, of spiritual perfection. There is no more perfect reward for goodness.

Monday, 5/29/00 11:05PM - Lessons

Whenever and whatever man seeks to know of love divine and life eternal, he shall know in full joy. It is part of man's learning in earthly experience to experience love in such a way as to make him aware of its power and pervasiveness. He knows in his heart that love is a divine gift, one to be both cherished and shared infinitely and indiscriminately. He knows that love begets love and that love expressed thrives and grows with each word and deed offered in love.

It is but a step from full awareness of the power of love in human life to appreciate the enormous gift it represents in its application to life eternal. This world is a place of learning, and the single significant lesson that man is both blessed and obliged to learn is the lesson of love, of its absolute necessity in every aspect of his earthly life and in every aspect of the spiritual progression that is his purpose in earthly existence.

The miracle of love is manifold. It enriches man's life in the world he inhabits briefly. It prepares him for the world that is his true home. It enables him to reach new levels of spiritual perfection and above all it provides him with awareness of the love that awaits his return to his heavenly home.

Nothing in human life compares with the love of heavenly existence. Even the most profound, the most intense, the most selfless love on earth does not approach the miracle of heavenly love. This is joy to contemplate for all those on their earthly journey, for each and every soul come to earth can anticipate the day he will know this infinite belonging, this utter glory, this supreme manifestation of divine beneficence. It is all to all, God's gift to His children.

Wednesday, 12/2/98 11:30PM - The Divine Nature of Man

From the beginning of life to the end there stretches a canvas upon which each man records his life's work -- his triumphs, his defeats, his loves, his wonders, his failures, his aspirations, his eternal striving. This record is hidden from view until the moment comes, as it does and must for every soul, of evaluation, of recognition. At this joyous exploration of a life just past there is no element of recrimination. There is simply a loving exploration of all that was promised, all that was achieved, all that was left undone. There is infinite acceptance of error. There is total forgiveness for all that was done in error and all that was not done in neglect.

There is, in essence, a homecoming. The soul is welcomed into the company of those who love him and whose love he has known eternally, and in this loving assemblage the soul newly arrived asks to be accepted. There is no question of eventual and complete acceptance but there are conditions to be met. The soul aspiring to oneness, as do all souls, must achieve a total perfection that is not easily won. The soul, eager to achieve this perfection, knows infinite willingness to do all that is necessary to reach this divine goal.

So, in essence, the soul departed from human life returns to its origins, willingly participates in an evaluation of progress in the life just past, and willingly agrees to do all that is needed to progress further. There are many options available to this seeking soul, and he is afforded loving advice and guidance in his choices of the path that lies ahead.

There is much joy in this reunion and renewal, and all souls know this caring. Listen and you will hear those who wait to welcome you to the party.

Saturday, 12/26/98 11:09PM - The Divine Nature of Man

In the sum total of each human life there is a mixture. Each life knows both joy and sorrow, surfeit and want, wisdom and ignorance, acceptance and rejection. Man is called upon to choose good above evil at all times, to reject greed in favor of giving, to love under all circumstances, and to find in himself total acceptance of all his worthiness.

Not all lives are equally balanced. Some know more deprivation and trial. Others know more comfort and more ease. All are equipped to meet these differing demands. All share totally the possibility, perhaps the inevitability, of spiritual progress. Man is not at all times aware that his reason for existence is to progress, however rapidly or however slowly,along the path to the perfection that permits total oneness with the supreme being, God, Father, Creator.

Even when man is least aware, this progress is measured and noted, and when death brings man to full awareness of his purpose in earthly existence, he becomes fully aware of the progress or lack of progress he has made in his life just ended. He sees clearly when and how he has succeeded in satisfying his compact and equally how he has failed. In this awareness he sees clearly what steps he must take in his next existence to correct past errors and omissions and to seek new heights of achievement. He knows exactly what he must do and he gladly vows to do all that is necessary.

There is great joy for all souls in this reckoning. It is truly gratifying for the soul newly released from earthly existence to discover the overwhelming power of the love that is his and to know with absolute certainty that this love is eternally his. Some souls, full of the joy of heavenly existence, return reluctantly to another earthly existence, but knowing its inevitability accept with good grace all that is deemed necessary. So goes the cycle of man. Each life brings learning and each life brings awareness of progress to the soul's divine goal.

Friday, 1/8/99 12:25AM - The Divine Nature of Man

Before man reaches the end of his earthly existence he has known much in joy and in sorrow. Man at all times experiences contrasting emotions. In his sorrow he seeks joy and he finds this joy in the love of those who share his sorrow and in the full awareness of the love that surpasses all other emotions. Man is gifted in his capacity to experience both joy and sorrow and to know that they are equal partners in his journey. Both teach him valuable lessons.

It is easy to understand the learning man finds in all the joy he experiences in life, for joy is closely allied to love and in love man knows the supreme emotion and knows in his heart that without love joy is impossible, at best a hollow victory. What man may find more difficult is acceptance of the truth that sorrow teaches as well, that it offers to man opportunity to appreciate the enormous importance of love as a source of comfort in time of travail. There is no comfort greater to the sorrowful man than love freely given. In this love he finds both distraction and surcease and eventually realization that the intensity of sorrow fades with time but that the intensity of love knows no limit to its growth.

Life in enriched by the contrast it offers to the soul seeking progress. Having experienced sorrow, the soul is increasingly grateful for joy. Having experienced joy, the soul becomes more aware of its preciousness with the advent of sorrow. Thus does man learn and in this learning progress.

Monday, 2/15/99 11:25PM - The Divine Nature of Man

At the end of each life comes life's greatest adventure. There is no reason to fear the termination of earthly existence. More and more the world is coming to be aware that fear of death is baseless, that at worst death represents a benign ending to life, the end of suffering for some.

Man's fear of death when it exists, comes from many sources. Some fear the unknown. Yet they fail to realize that the unknown in and of itself is not threatening. Others have been taught that the end of life may bring with it eternal damnation and unending suffering. Indeed this cruel teaching has been for centuries a useful tool for controlling man's behavior. It is an ignoble teaching but a powerful one. Let man know now that this empty threat is no cause to fear death. Others, and with better cause, see death as a separation from those they hold dear in human life. This too is an empty fear, for after death the soul released from human limitations is fully aware of those he left behind and fully capable of feeling and expressing the love he held supreme in his earthly existence.

Past the threshold of death man finds himself returned to his origins and experiences wonder in all ways. He is a creature of joy, surrounded by love more powerful than he could have imagined. He finds himself fully aware of all the pluses and minuses of his life just completed and realizes the perfection that lies in store. In no way is the soul released into heavenly existence regretful. He knows great pleasure in his new found powers and takes great pleasure in all he knows of love given and received. He is acutely aware of the loving relationships he left behind.

In all ways the soul come to God knows gratitude and hope.

Saturday, 5/22/99 11:40PM - The Divine Nature of Man

It is of the utmost importance in human life that man be aware of its transitory nature. For some, human life is measured in minutes and hours, days and weeks, months and years. For others, life is measured in decades verging upon a century. All these souls are equal in their appreciation of human existence. Each has chosen its life span for an appropriate purpose. Often this purpose is to learn. Often this purpose is to teach. Often it is to do both.

It is quite understandably difficult for the human mind to appreciate the value of a life cut short almost at birth. It is equally difficult, perhaps more so, to understand the reason that lies behind the death of a young child or adult. All such deaths leave devastation in their wakes. All such deaths challenge understanding. Yet it is at such times under such circumstances that man is called upon to recognize that his life is his alone and that his choice has been to survive all trials with trust and equanimity and to recognize and accept that the soul departed, howeverprematurely it seems to him, is a soul released to glory of its own wish and a soul that continues to love and care for all those who shared its earthly journey.

So, My children, all earthly journeys are the same whether they be measured in minutes or in decades. All involve souls in pursuit of their own individual perfection. All know that they are destined to succeed, though they may at times be deprived of this sure faith, but regardless of the strength of their faith they are destined to rejoice in the end of earthly existence as the entry to a more perfect belonging.

There is no terror in death. If man approaches this transition in fear, this fear is dissipated absolutely at the moment of transition, and all glory is his to know in newfound wonder. He is in the company of those whose perfect love gives him joy and hope, and he knows in all ways the enormous capacity of his soul to both give and receive this absolute love.

Monday, 5/24/99 11:56PM - The Divine Nature of Man

It is the privilege of all those entering human life to chart the course they will take, to determine those who will share the journey, and to determine the strengths that will sustain them and the weaknesses that they must learn to control and to conquer.

Human understanding is not adequate to comprehend fully the complexity of the human experience. Sheer numbers, incredible complexities in relationships, and links between lives are beyond the capability of the human mind to encompass. It therefore becomes man's advantage to accept the truth and the reality of infinite complexity and infinitely detailed planning for all those who return to this world as souls seeking progress.

The worlds beyond earth are both remarkable in and of themselves and for the wondrous spirits that inhabit and govern. Love prevails at all times and all energy is expended in the propagation of love and the teaching of the lessons of love to all who need this instruction. Those who are souls in progress are both cherished and encouraged to learn all they must for total belonging. There is a spirit of intense caring, infinite hope, and joy beyond measure. Souls arrive joyously and leave reluctantly, yet fully aware of the certainty of their return, fully aware that they take with them on their return to human life caring and love adequate to their needs, increasing in faithful devotion.

It is not necessary that man understand the intricacies of life and rebirth, but it is important for him to believe that all things are possible, and that his welfare is central to all those caring spirits who have been entrusted with his progress and to all others whose human experiences have brought them close to him.

The world that awaits all souls at the end of their earthly experiences is a world of wonder, a world that offers infinite hope and learning, love beyond all imagining, and in the end the perfect belonging that is the goal of all souls. Nothing but perfection persists, and man is well pleased.

Sunday, 6/6/99 11:33PM - The Divine Nature of Man

From the instant that life begins, man acts out a scenario long in the making. In the time between death and rebirth wondrous experiences and awarenesses are afforded the soul in progress in the pause that follows the end of earthly existence. He arrives at heaven's gate in all ways needy. He is welcomed and afforded love beyond all he has ever experienced. He knows immediately that he has entered a state of grace which he has known before, and all his fears leave him instantly. He is quick to rejoice in his new home and quick to respond to the warmth of his welcome.

To his astonishment he sees and recognizes souls from his past journey and from journeys before that, and he is overwhelmed by this power new to him. He begins the journey into a new world fortified by his own self-awareness and infinitely enriched by the love that is offered to him. There is no end to the glory he knows and no end to the awareness he quickly perceives of all he has known in his life just past and in the total cycle of life eternal that is his. There is no hunger. There is no lack. There is completion. There is an awareness of new need and total acceptance of its rightness.

No man should fear this transition to a world of glory beyond belief. It awaits all souls, the strong and the weak, the whole and the maimed, the willing and the unwilling. There is no denial of worth. There is no rejection. There is always hope. There is always certainty of success, of attaining the goal of all souls since time began, the total fulfillment of oneness, true divine belonging, the perfection that is the be all and end all.

Sunday, 6/13/99 10:45PM - The Divine Nature of Man

It is a source of great joy to all those involved in the evolution of humans in progress when one of their company reaches the ultimate achievement of divine oneness. This joy is shared infinitely in the heavenly realm, for in this glorious state all share in the joy of one, all know perfection in the perfection of one, all are gloriously enjoined.

This perfect belonging, this ecstatic joy, awaits all those who labor on the journey from earthly birth to earthly death. Whatever the nature of this journey, it shares a common beginning and a common ending. The exact nature of birth and death is as nothing. The transition is all. The soul released from the trials of human life, no matter its duration, is a soul released into glorious awareness of the wonder of life eternal. There are no restrictions to this awareness. There are no limits to divine communication. There is only total and absolute satisfaction.

It is hard for the soul in progress, embroiled as it is often, to imagine the idyllic quality of existence beyond the edge of life. It is hard to imagine that the rewards so seemingly promised in undue faith are indeed rewards absolute and irrefutable. In his despair man reaches out for hope, and hope is his always if he achieves the stretch of faith that tells him that this temporal life is not all, that much awaits.

It is joyful to know the extent to which those facing earthly death are aware of the joy that awaits. Increasingly those nearing the end of their earthly journey know fully that the end is the beginning, that infinite joy awaits and they will be guided in all loving ways to an infinity of love and wonder, that all the love they cherish is theirs eternally.

It is time for man to recognize the truth of his absolute and eternal nature in its most beneficent form. There is nothing to fear in the experience that is human life. There is nothing to fear in its conclusion. There is all to be anticipated in a sense of wonder and thanksgiving. Glory belongs to all men.

Wednesday, 6/30/99 11:58PM - The Divine Nature of Man

Among all men's experiences in his earthly journey the most compelling is the death of one he loves.

It is man's glory to know fully the perfection of love in earthly life, to share all of life's pleasures and problems with those to whom he owes allegiance and from whom he expects and receives the same. Man is capable of various relationships that are marked by this love, and he is enriched in each one in its own individual way. His daily existence is marked by awareness of this love given and received, and he is shaken when any one of these loving relationships is interrupted by death.

It is easier for man to accept this interruption when it comes at the end of a long life and mutual achievement. It is easier for man the more distant the loving relationship. It tries man's soul when the death of one he loves closely is both untimely and unexpected. The soul in progress is sorely tried at such times. He may find the loss unendurable and rail against cruel fate. He may sink into depression and neglect all those others dependent upon him for love and joy.

Under the best of circumstances man remembers that love is a gift and that no matter its longevity, no matter its intensity, no matter its singular importance to him, he must know that he has known divine giving in all he has been granted. He is gifted if he becomes aware that love survives the deprivation of death and not only survives but thrives in the soul of the bereaved. The fortunate soul learns in his deprivation and seeks to comfort others with his awareness of the eternal nature of love.

In comforting others he is strengthened, and in his newfound strength he knows the beauty of eternal love. He knows that however great his loss, his gain is greater.

Sunday, 7/11/99 12:30AM - The Divine Nature of Man

There is nothing more joyous in human life than its ending. It is difficult for man to accept this truth, but truth it is. Even the most joyous of human journeys finds at its end joy undreamed of, perfect unblemished peace, and love beyond all imagining.

Death comes as a friend always, even when in the eyes of the world it seems to come prematurely and often cruelly. To accept the beauty of death one must accept that life, whether brief or extended, is but a single step on the path to eternal happiness and total oneness with God.

It is not difficult to accept the concept of repeated lives if one considers the inequities inherent in earthly existence. Human life can be measured in moments or in many decades. Human life can be marked by health, wealth, and good fortune, or it can be marked by need, sickness, and misfortune. Man may know brilliance; he may know idiocy. Man may know peace of mind and tranquility; he may know anguish and self-torment.

These inequities are understandable and acceptable only when they are considered in terms of man's need to progress to spiritual perfection and oneness by learning the lessons of love under all conditions. It must be accepted that man in the exercise of free will chooses the conditions under which he will live each life and strive to learn all that is necessary to progress to the perfection that is the goal of all souls.

It is easy, then, to accept that death is an occasion for joy. It marks the end of one life and the start of another. It releases man from earthly restraints to the perfection of heavenly existence. It permits him to return to his true home and to know the beauty of that loving environment. It unites him with those who have gone before him and who rejoice in his homecoming.

Death, then, needs to be better understood as an occasion of joyous reunion. It is a joy shared by all souls. It is a gift as surely as birth is a gift.

Thursday, 8/19/99 11:55PM - The Divine Nature of Man

There is a constant yearning in all souls on their earthly journey to know the peace and wonder from which they came. Although man has agreed before coming to mortal life to surrender awareness of his heavenly origin, he retains to some degree awareness of the miracle of his birth into a life of his choosing.

Although his memory of life before birth is not fully his, nevertheless he retains in his innermost being a sense of divine origin. Man does not often state this clearly, nor does his environment encourage such expression, but he retains a certainty of wondrous origin.

All of life leads man to the place from whence he came, and although many men may not subscribe to the truth of divine beginning, there is a dawning awareness as life draws to a close that this life is not all, that the eternal nature of the soul is a persuasive truth and that both the start of life and the end of life mark an exit and an entrance to an existence of boundless joy and divine expectation.

Contemplating the end of earthly life, man is buoyed by the prospect of entering a realm which has been his home and will be again. Even in the most disbelieving of souls this yearning exists, and it is sweet joy for the soul to discover the wonder of its homecoming.

Thursday, 9/9/99 11:46PM - The Divine Nature of Man

It is the supreme triumph of human life to leave it both willingly and in full awareness of all accomplishment. The test is not in the length of human life. Indeed brevity is sometimes marked with brilliance. There is not similarly virtue in longevity, though in such cases the soul has known more sustained trial. The test then is in quality.

The question the soul must ask itself is "Did I accomplish all I came to accomplish? Have I succeeded in learning to live in love at all times under all circumstances? Do I know the divine nature of love given and received?" The soul in responding to those questions speaks in total honesty in its self appraisal and is willing in this absolute honesty to admit failure when failure is found, but above all what the soul does and is entitled to do is rejoice in the degree of success it has known in its earthly endeavors. With each degree of success comes full faith that total success is within grasp, that the end of the journey to oneness is swift and certain. In this awareness lies joy beyond expression.

It is the ultimate gift to all men that they cannot fail in their striving to achieve spiritual perfection. They may know error, indeed grievous error, error that blackens the soul. They may be led astray in ways which are simply forgetful of their journey's purpose. They may be forgetful, negligent, unthinking, uncaring. These lapses matter not at all eventually. They represent only delay on the path to spiritual perfection and admission to the holy company that is the goal of all souls.

This then is cause for exultation. All men will eventually look back upon their lives just completed and know that they have arrived at heaven's gate in a state of perfection, that they need strive no more, that they are part of the Godhead. There is no further seeking.

Friday, 9/24/99 11:57PM - The Divine Nature of Man

Before the end of human life man is privileged to experience all he has asked to experience, to meet the trials and tribulations he has agreed to suffer, to know the success in his spiritual progress that he has come to achieve, and to go willingly to the end of one existence and to the start of another.

This is a joyful concept, and yet one which is difficult for mortal man to embrace. It is reasonable for all those in full enjoyment of the human journey to face mortality reluctantly. It is difficult for man to contemplate his own death and even more difficult for him to contemplate the loss of those dear to his heart.

This is both normal and acceptable, but man would be well advised to accept the truth of human existence, to realize that the life he leads is but part of a greater whole, that those dear to him in his present life are linked to him eternally, and that death does not represent an ending but simply a change, an end of one existence and a start of another.

There is an eternal love linking all lives at all times. Man, therefore, has no cause to feel bereft as he experiences what he regards as the loss of a loved one. He has no cause for trepidation when he contemplates his own demise. In both cases he will find joy if he can accept the transitory nature of life and death and know that love is transcendent, that it never dies but is simply transformed into a more glorious awareness than the human mind can grasp.

There is nothing but glory beyond this life. Know this and be glad.

Wednesday, 5/26/99 11:55PM - The Divine Nature of Man

By the end of human life, man is ready in all ways to move on. I speak here even of death that seems in all ways premature, a cruel cutting off of life, an untimely end to promise. I speak here too of sudden death, death in no way anticipated, in no way prepared for, either for the soul in progress or for those who are bereaved. I speak finally of those whose lives have been both challenging and fulfilling and who have known full enjoyment of the years allotted them and approach death as a fitting ending to a life well lived.

I speak then,of extremes, of life lived briefly and of life lived in longevity. I speak of death sudden and of death long anticipated, in some cases yearned for. I speak of the universal nature of death, a gift as surely as birth is a gift, for they are as one, birth and death, separated only by a time variable but in all cases infinitesimal in the full span of eternity.

Death then comes as both an inevitable occurrence and as a friend, a gateway between worlds difficult to envision, a true transition to bliss unimaginable. Few are the difficulties connected with the transition from earthly to heavenly existence and even these few are transitory and insignificant. All souls are joined with their brothers and all souls rejoice in this reunion.

Death then is to be joyfully welcomed by those chosen to embrace its promise. There should be no hostility, no reluctance, no fear, but rather a conscious awareness of the divine purpose of life and the infinite promise of life to come.

Rejoice therefore when death makes your acquaintance and know that all who are chosen are privileged.

© 2010 Cornelia Silke dba New Light Publishing