Revelations

of

The New Age of Love and Peace

channeled through the pen of

Marie Fox O’Brien

A List of Books

Marie’s Story - An Extraordinary Odyssey

Channeled Books

Martin’s Original Writings

Revelations

The Divine Nature of Man

Lessons

A new Endeavor

Concepts

Prayers

Past Lives

Moses

Zorah

Rose

Joseph II

Edam the Elder and Saleh

and Inga - Pala - Bana

Peter and Ann

Romulus

Remembrances-The Holy Family

Martin’s Life Remembered

God’s Love

There is and there always will be room in My heart for all My children, all those who seek to abide with Me forever. God's love is infinite. It is joyous and shared freely and fully with all souls. It is a joyous love. It knows not fear. It knows not conditions. It speaks directly to the heart. It is the ultimate love and it awaits all souls. It is the love of destiny, the be all and end all of heavenly existence. This is the love that all men born of woman strive to achieve in their earthly lives and it is available to them at all times in full measure. With each earthly death the capacity for love is transformed into the capacity for celestial love, love of an intensity only dreamed of by humans, love of an intensity that binds spirit to spirit and all spirits to God at all times. The infiniteness and intensity of God's love is beyond human comprehension and man can but grasp at its dimensions, but it awaits all men at the joyous moment of death, of transition from the earthly to the heavenly plane, from human love to celestial love.

Let all men know of the greatness of God's love for them, of the joy, the total bliss, that awaits them, of the eternity beyond earthly time, of their only true destiny. Let man know that each day of his life he should be aware of this ultimate goal and all his actions and all his words should be tempered by this awareness. Let him speak to his heart of God's love for him, of the promise absolute of heavenly love, and let his soul be suffused with this awareness of love, this light of God's love. Let his burdens be lightened by this awareness. Let his worldly concerns be displaced by this constant affirmation of love. Let his actions be governed by the need for this love. Let man hunger for God's love and in hungering achieve it. This is the ultimate achievement. With God’s love in his heart man needs no more.

The Angelic Presence

It is time that all men know of the greatness of the power of love, of the total miracles that love can create. It is time that all men know that it is their destiny to know this truth, to act in accordance with this truth, and to take their rightful places in the hierarchy of heaven. Much has been written about the nature of heavenly beings. Much has been speculated. Little has been known or accepted as absolute fact. All men should know that there is an order in the heavenly plane much like the order that exists in a society on earth which is benevolent and fosters the welfare of all its people. There is in the heavenly plane a constant striving for perfection among all spirits high and low in the heavenly order of things.

At all times those higher orders are bending their efforts to assist those less able to know perfect love to achieve this end. At each level of achievement there is recognition of the extent to which that spirit has aided and assisted to a higher level those spirits lower in the hierarchy. It is not for man to be able to comprehend with any exactitude the nature of this striving, its complexity, and its difficulty. It is enough for man to know that this is the nature of heavenly existence and organization.

Beyond assisting their fellow spirits, angels, for those are the most advanced of all spirits, are expected to aid those on the earthly plane to achieve spiritual perfection. They have great powers and great freedom to do as they will. They agree upon their duties and are judged by their achievements. At all times their efforts are designed to bring humans to a greater awareness of God and his heavenly hosts, and at all times to inspire in these humans an awareness of the need for love, the more absolute the love the more desirable it becomes.

The powers of God's angels are many and manifold, and stories of angels abound in writings throughout the ages. Some humans are and always have been more conscious of angelic presence. There have been miracles wrought by angels throughout the history of human existence. There are lesser miracles occurring constantly in human lives throughout the universe. The more spiritually advanced man becomes the more he can expect to be aware of the presence of heavenly bodies, of their communication with him, of their absolute devotion to the nurturing of his spiritual welfare.

At all times man should be aware of angelic presence and listen for angelic voices. The presence is there, the voices are there, but man alone is responsible for hearing and feeling. Man controls his own responses at all times.

Be now aware of the need to respond to the angelic voice that speaks to your heart of the power of love. Hear it now. Hear it always. It is your destiny to know perfect love, and God's gift to you is the ministrations of His angels to lead you along the path you must take. This is God's way.

The Angelic Process

In the span of time each life is but a brief interlude. Each life represents one step in the progression each soul must make to oneness with God. Each step ideally is marked by a striving to learn the lessons of love, to know perfection in this love. It is not possible to comprehend fully the role each soul plays in the drama of life with any exactness. There is a plan, a pattern, in all of existence, and its nature is known to all but those playing a part in this drama. At all times those spirits who dwell with Me are aware of the true destiny of each soul living an earthly life, and each is aware of the paths chosen by those in his care. There is a level of responsibility among all the angels of God which has been to this time only partially and rarely revealed. I have written of the angelic presence. Now I write of the angelic process.

Each man born to woman has from birth the care and protection of an angel, a spirit of rare perfection, of perfect love. Each angel agrees to be responsible for trying at all times to guide the soul during its earthly voyage, to speak to him in words of love and caring, to tell him insistently of the path he should take, of the choices he should make. Each angel of God takes his responsibilities as a total commitment, an absolute dedication. There is no way to describe the methods used by these angels who seek to guide souls. I have said that angels have great powers and are granted the power to use these powers as they see fit and necessary. Angels can assume many forms. They can speak with many voices. They can be many places at one time. Always they are part of the Godhead and always they seek to achieve perfection in their work among earthly travelers.

Their efforts are not always blessed with success, but their successes outweigh their failures overwhelmingly. Much of the time it is possible for angels to speak directly with those whose welfare is their responsibility. The humans who hear the voices of their angel teachers are often completely aware of this communication, a communication that is not necessarily exact in its verbalizing, though it may be, but is often conveyed in feelings, a sense of direction given and received, of a compulsion to make certain decisions and to take certain actions without totally understanding the reason why.

Children are most open to heavenly direction. They are born with an awareness of their divine origin and, as I have said, with a capacity for love which is not limited in any way. Most often this awareness and this capacity is blunted by human experience, but in a rare few it increases with the passing years, and this gifted minority makes rapid progress in its earthly voyage, guided at all times by the inner voice that speaks its love and its concern.

It is God's wish that this inner voice, this angelic presence, be more widely heard and respected. It is His wish that man so conduct his life as to know at each moment the guidance that is his, the love that he has only to accept, and the joy of a life lived in love and acceptance of this angel of God sent to him in caring and concern. Let no man doubt that such an angel waits for him to know the angelic presence, the message of love that God sends through His angels to all souls. It is in the nature of earthly life that challenges must be met. It is in the nature of life that temptations must be overcome. It is in the nature of life that man must strive for spiritual perfection, sometimes against odds that seem insuperable. But man must know that at each step of this journey he has the capacity for spiritual progress, that he has the capacity to hear this voice,urging, strengthening, caring, and loving him, to follow the path of love, the path that he must choose to fulfill his destiny.

Angels, as I have said, have great powers. They can manifest their presence in many and varied ways. They can speak to man in many ways. Always their powers are used with the full blessing of God Almighty whom they seek to please at all times in their endeavors. At all times these angels speak their love to their God, their love of Him and of all His children, all those making the earthly journey that is a prerequisite to the joy of heavenly existence.

Listen then, all My children, for the voice that speaks to you of My love, of the love that your angels bring to you at all times. Seek to communicate with this heavenly presence. Ask what you will of your angel. Your angel strives at all times to aid, to comfort, to support, to speed you on your earthly journey and to accompany you on your transition to the heavenly plane. The earth is alive with these celestial spirits, the messengers of God to His children, the guardians of man at all times. Hear them. Heed them. They are God's gift to you in the name of love.

The Dichotomies of Human Life

There are many things in this life that do not lend themselves to easy understanding. There is, first of all, the discrepancies that exist among men, women, and children. The very rich seem privileged beyond compare and the very poor deprived beyond compare. This is the surface. There are men possessed of rare intelligence and incomparable talent and there are idiots. There are humans of exquisite beauty and bearing and there are the grotesque, hideously malformed and repellent to behold. There are those who live rich full lives with minds that serve them well and there are those who lead lives of tortured self doubt and depression, lives that invite self destruction. There are those who find fulfillment and love in their families and friends. There are those who know only loneliness and desperation. There are those who are purely good in thought and deed and those who know only evil thoughts and evil deeds. There are those who would do nothing but good for others and there are those who are possessed by selfishness and self involvement. There are those who know joy at all times and those who never know the fullness of joy. There are those who live to be centenarians and those who die at birth.

All of human life is marked by this dichotomy, this series of contrasts, and it is difficult for the human mind to discern a pattern, a plan, in a world so diverse in its distribution of talents and travails. It is not for man to understand God's plan in all its details, but enough for him to know that there is a purpose in all this diversity, that each man, wherever he exists on the scale of worldly benefits, is a child of God serving a purpose in this life, both with regard to his own salvation and the salvation of those who affect his life and are in turn affected by it.

Each soul come to earthly life comes with a challenge to live that life as perfectly as he can, and in the scale of things it is of no consequence to spiritual development if that life is one of richness or poverty, of health or sickness, of length or brevity. It is the quality of the soul that is significant and the extent to which that soul achieves spiritual progress through love, always first love of self, then love of his fellow man, and above all love of the God who sent him to this worldly existence.

Know always that each act of this earthly life is judged in context and that the most despised of men in material terms may be the richest spiritually, and that conversely the richest and most successful of men may be an empty shell. At all times man controls his own spiritual destiny. All men are equal in this regard, and all men find the same judgment after death. Death has been called the great equalizer, and to some extent this is true. At death the basest of men is welcomed into heaven as completely as the saintliest of men, provided that he comes to his maker with love and willingness to do whatever is required of him to compensate for any mortal errors in his life. No man escapes judgment. God Himself is judged after His human lives, as is His spouse after each of hers. There are no exceptions to this loving treatment of man freed from the confinement of earthly existence. This judgment is gentle and loving. There is no element of fear involved in any way at any time.

And so, in the fullness of time, the diversities of material existence on earth are as nothing. The poorest, most desolate of men may be making spiritual progress to be envied; the richest and most envied materially may be stagnating spiritually. The poorest man may know inner happiness; the richest may know despair and loneliness.

So look not upon those well endowed in this earthly life and find envy in your heart. Look not upon those deprived to whatever extent of worldly goods and talents and feel that these are to be pitied. They may be the richest of souls.

There is in all things a divine plan, and implicit in this plan is self responsibility. From the lowliest to the highest man controls his own spiritual destiny and to some extent his material destiny. It matters not where he begins. It matters where he ends and how he gets there. In all things, man must be guided by his God's single requirement, that he act in love at all times. With love in his heart and in his actions man is on the path to his destiny. All men will in the end know oneness with their creator. There is no alternative to this destiny, but the path taken is the path chosen by man in his earthly existence, and this path may be straight and swift or it may be tortuous and slow. Man has that choice at all times and the accouterments of his earthly life are of no consequence. This is the way of the Lord.

Free Will

It is not in the nature of life that total understanding of God's plan for man be achieved, but it is in the nature of things that man is able to achieve total compliance with and acceptance of God's plan for him. God is entirely benevolent. He knows only love for man, and it is God's plan that man know only love for Him.

At the creation man was given free will and the capacity to make choices in each life he leads. On the heavenly plane, all spirits are equally endowed with free will and capable of making choices. This free will of man and spirit is an integral part of God's plan for man. It is the source of both joy and sorrow for God and for man. In the exercise of this free will man controls his progress toward oneness with God at all times. In the same way on the heavenly plane, the free will of spirits dictates the course of their progression to oneness.

From the beginning of time, man has known choices, and he has always been given the capacity to choose to love. Each soul become man is born with that capacity and at birth full knowledge of the essential nature of love. Each soul born to woman is endowed with free will along with this capacity to love, and in an environment which nurtures this capacity for love, man grows in the way God intended man to grow. All too often in a world gone astray, man has chosen to exercise his free will in a way which stifles this God-given capacity for love and so loses his direction. He forgets and neglects his compact with his Maker to pursue a life of love and goodness and learn the lessons he needs to know. In each case, man must in the end return to love as a motivating force. In each case man must live and relive lives to reach this end. In each case man is given unlimited opportunity to live in accordance with God's plan for him. There is no alternative to eventual oneness with God. All souls born to woman achieve this in eternity, but the path toward oneness is strewn with temptation, and when man forgets or ignores his absolute duty to love first and last, his free will permits him to succumb to temptation and stray from the path of holiness.

In his earthly existence man is capable of error at each point in his life, and having committed one error finds the next easier. For some men the temptations presented are overwhelming, but in each case man has agreed in his compact with God to face and overcome these worldly temptations and follow the path to oneness through love. In his worldly existence man has no memory of this compact, but after his death he faces judgment of that earthly life and is fully aware of promises made and kept or promises made and broken.

There is no fear or bitterness in most souls after death, and they fully recognize their failures in their past life, if there are failures, and the need to expiate and compensate for such failures. Each soul is aware at all times of the love that envelops him on the heavenly plane and feels sharply the failure, if there was failure, of lacking love in his past earthly life. There are souls who reach the heavenly plane having led exemplary lives, lives of love and holiness, lives that completely satisfy the demand of God's plan that man exercise his free will in seeking after love, love given and received, and at all time placing the giving and receiving of love above all worldly considerations. These souls face judgment with full knowledge that they are pleasing to their God and that they are pursuing the path to oneness as He would have them do it, with love in their hearts at all times and with the exercise of free will devoted to loving actions and responses and pursuits. Such souls reach perfection and oneness in accordance with God's plan having exercised free will wisely and well.

There is in all of this plan God's profound and unwavering love for all souls, all His children, at all times. There is at all times understanding and forgiveness for error, no matter how great the error. At the same time there is an absolute requirement that no matter how long it takes, no matter how tortuous the course, man must achieve total love in his earthly existence before he can progress further on the heavenly plane to oneness with his Maker.

Free will is, therefore, both a gift from God and a challenge to man. It is a quality of soul and existence that is indeed god-like in its power, and it is the responsibility of each soul to use this gift of God to achieve perfection, and perfection is achieved only by using free will in the pursuit of love, love given and received, love felt in the heart and soul, love translated into action at all times. Love drives out all baser emotions. Love nourishes and nurtures. Love pleases God.

Perfect Love

There is in the nature of man much that needs to be better understood by all men. It is in the nature of man to strive for perfect love. Man is born into this world with that instinct. Regard the infant, helpless and dependent. With love, he thrives. Without love, he withers. The infant offers love to all who care to recognize this offering. The infant demands love above all as sustenance. Love given and received is the beginning of all life. This love is variously defined, but in its purest form it is close to divine love in its power and persuasiveness. This love is, above all, the love of God in human existence.

The purest love that man knows is the love he experiences in his innocence, in the beginning of earthly existence. It is a love born in dependence and nourished by need. It is a love that is both demanding and generous. The love of a child knows no measure, no conditions. It survives cruelty and rejection. It thrives on responsiveness and returned love. This love, so perfect in its giving nature, is changed only by the growth of awareness that marks the end of innocence. This change is not one that comes to all souls at the same stage in human existence. It comes to some earlier, to some later. It comes to some abruptly and to some gradually.

There is a time in each human life when this innocent love meets the challenge of survival in a hostile world. This may come early in human existence or it may come later. To a fortunate few it comes not at all, but to most humans life presents a series of challenges, experiences which test their capacity for perfect love, and each of these challenges successfully met marks an advance in spiritual progress if perfect love not only survives but is strengthened. Challenges are varied both in type and in difficulty. Man needs always to know that each of these challenges presented to him represents a portion of the compact with God he made before coming to this earthly existence and that in each case he has been given the strength to meet and profit from this challenge, but it is also in the nature of human existence that he has no memory of this compact, no certainty of his strength.

The gift of free will which each man enjoys overrides all other gifts, and man may choose any course open to him in the varied choices he is offered in his earthly life. In each case, and there are no exceptions, the choice man is offered, whether it be major or minor in his mind, is the choice to respond in love or to act in the absence of love. Each loving response takes man further along the road to oneness with God, to the spiritual perfection he came into the world to seek and to achieve. Each response lacking in love is a step backward, a regression which makes the next decision more difficult insofar as he has lost or diminished his inborn desire for perfect love.

Thus disappointments and trials of human life are transformed by a loving response to them, and all those affected by each of these trials profit from a loving response. The human making this loving choice knows in his soul the peace and love that tells him of the rightness of his choice. Those observing this loving response are moved to consider the need and the value of love in their own lives. Each loving response to a challenge is like a stone cast into a pond, sending ripples through the entire body of water. So a loving act, a loving response, a loving choice sends ripples that are felt far beyond those directly affected by this act of love. Each of those directly affected affects others in turn with their loving choices and responses to challenges both great and small, and the habit of love is reinforced in numberless minds and hearts.

Thus at all times man should be mindful of the importance of meeting challenges to his love with love, to know in each instance that the perfect love he knew in his innocence can survive all challenges, that this perfect love will grow and strengthen and sustain all the days of his life if nurtured by a habitually loving response to all that life offers. Bitter as these challenges may be, his free will permits man to choose to love at all times. In the face of the most terrible adversity man needs only to remember his capacity to love, the gift of his Maker from creation, and to use his free will to respond with love in his heart and on his lips. This way lies happiness in this world. This way lies the spiritual progress that pleases God. This way lies eternal bliss and oneness with God.

Falsity in Religious Leaders

There are times when it is difficult to know the truth of a given statement. On the surface the statement may seem to be filled with wisdom and goodness, may seem to offer hope and solace, may seem to be spoken in sincerity and warmth. Underneath this surface there may be guile and falsehood.

I speak here of those who would deceive man with the promises of pseudo religion, who speak not from the fullness of faith and love, but from the crass motives of greed and a hunger for power. Such men appear frequently, enjoy a momentary fame, and then disappear from public view, having enriched themselves at the expense of a gullible but loving congregation which suffers from a sense of betrayal once the reality of this pseudo religion is revealed.

This is not to say that man must be constantly suspicious of those who claim to speak for God. The good and the sincere and the truly motivated far outnumber the opportunists, and in each case where man is betrayed by a leader whose motives are impure there is some benefit to those who are victimized. They sought God and learned of the fallibility of man, but if their searching was sincere, their faith strong, then there is a benefit involved in the learning that took place. In such cases man must know in his heart of the imperfectability of his fellow man and at the same time embrace him in understanding and love. He must bear no animus toward this individual who betrayed his faith and trust, but rather with a new wisdom forgive and love and go on seeking the love of God. He will find it. There is a myriad of ways, and each road taken in love and sincerity is a road acceptable to God. He seeks to speak to His children in many ways, and He hears their words of seeking and love, and He tells Hischildren that those who seek crass profit from man's search for his God are not thereby enriched, that though they may profit materially, they are empty within. They know this in their hearts. They sense the unworthiness of their motives and their methods and in the end they must recognize the unloving nature of their actions and know them to be reprehensible.

Know then, all men, that although there are those who would take advantage of the searching faith of man they do so for only a little while. Falsity cannot thrive in the hearts of men searching for the truth of God's love and caring, and those who speak falsely are in the end known to be empty shells, abandoned by their followers and themselves turned seekers.

Judgment

There are many roads to God, as I have said, but in the end all souls must come to God in love and trust for the judgment that awaits. I have spoken of this judgment. I have said that it is kind and loving in nature, that there is no fear or sorrow involved, that there is at all times awareness on the part of the soul of its shortcomings, if there are shortcomings, and of the need to achieve perfect love.

It is not a simple thing to grasp the implications of this judgment. There are those who would say that their God would not be so demanding of His children, that a loving God would accept imperfections and transgressions and forgive freely and require nothing in return from the soul so imperfect in nature and deed. This is not God's plan. This is not the nature of heavenly existence. This is not what awaits all souls at the end of their earthly existence.

All souls have from the beginning of creation the capacity for perfect love. This perfect love is a love divine. It knows no barriers. It knows no hesitation. It knows no conditions. It meets cruelty with love. It meets destruction with love. It embraces all and excludes none at any time. Think on your life and ask yourself if you have known perfect love in your life. It is God's requirement that this perfect love be achieved, this capacity satisfied, before man knows total oneness with his maker.

It is not possible for man to comprehend fully what he would call the "reason" for God's demands of all His creatures. Much of what lies in wait for man beyond death must stay obscured from human vision, but it has pleased God for man to know that what awaits man at the moment of death is perfect peace, joy, and love, and that at no time is there anger or sorrow or accusation in judgment of his past life. There is rather a searching, an effort to understand how far the soul has progressed toward oneness, how the soul has fallen short of his promises in that life, and what the soul must do to progress toward spiritual perfection and oneness with God.

This is not a simple progression, and it is largely beyond human comprehension. It is not necessary for man to have total understanding. It is necessary only for him to know that it is in the nature of God's plan that no matter what the earthly experience, no matter what the religious practice, no matter what the nature of passage, judgment awaits all souls, a judgment of love given and received, love of self, love of fellow men, and love of God above all.

It is important for man to know now the loving nature of this judgment, that it is designed solely for the benefit of the soul seeking perfection, for it is the nature of the immortal soul to hunger for this perfection, to know its absolute necessity, its glory. Man in his journey through earthly life all too often loses awareness of this inborn hunger for perfection, of his capacity for perfect love, and of the absolute necessity for achieving this perfection of love. Some humans are more aware than others in this earthly experience of this spiritual capacity and live their lives accordingly. Some lose sight entirely and fall victim to distraction and worldliness.

Let all men know, then, that in earthly existence man may choose from a multitude of ways to seek after God, that each of these many ways will permit his progress toward spiritual perfection provided that love is at all times given freely and finds expression in action and deed, that all these roads taken lead to a single destination and a single experience, that of love and joy beyond human comprehension at the moment of death, of judgment, kind and loving in nature, and of continued progress toward oneness with God, the destiny of all souls without exception. There is great joy in this knowledge of God's plan. It knows not fear. It knows not harshness. It knows not anger. It knows only love.

Man and Scientific Achievement

There is in life much misunderstanding of its nature. Man is inclined to feel that he is indeed the center of the universe, that all of creation is and was from the beginning designed with his needs in mind, that he is master of all he surveys and in total control of his destiny. From the beginning of time, this attitude of man has served some purpose. It has led him to strive to control his environment, to use his God-given intellect in the pursuit of knowledge which will serve him well in making his earthly environment a pleasanter place. He has developed his scientific achievements to bring an end to the back breaking labor that marked early existence on the planet. He has developed the arts to educate himself in the beauties of this world, its history, its beliefs, and the intricacies of the human mind in its perception of the world about it. Man has achieved a high degree of proficiency in manipulating nature to meet his physical needs. He is currently in danger of going too far in this area.

God has watched man in his endeavors throughout the centuries, indeed has participated to some extent in these endeavors, and He has at all times been cognizant of the idealism that motivates man in his striving for a more perfect physical world, that is a world which more perfectly meets the physical needs of man, be these needs real or imagined. There seems now to be no limit to man's capacity to create a scientific utopia, a world in which nature is harnessed and obeys man's commands, a world in which machines of infinite precision perform tasks heretofore undreamed of, a world in which medical advances vie with nature's creative skills. In all of this God takes great pleasure. It is part of His plan for man that he use his talents in the service of the human race, in progress in all areas which will result in a life of ease and privilege, a life which so frees man from the physical demands that existence imposes that he has time for his spiritual development, for living his life in a way totally pleasing to his Creator.

In all of the world today, man has achieved a degree of scientific achievement which should indeed make a utopia of earth. Instead, the benefits of this scientific achievement are unevenly distributed, so that while some benefit greatly, others are totally deprived. The wealth created by this scientific achievement is equally ill distributed. Man in his haste has forgotten his origins, his duty to his fellow man, his absolute fealty to his Maker. Science has been perverted too in the pursuit of war. Weapons of destruction threaten the very existence of the planet and man's management of these weapons, always subject to human error, is an equal threat.

There are those in the world today who cry out in protest against all these distortions of scientific achievement, who call for the equitable distribution and sharing of scientific achievement and its rewards, who see the need for strong and forceful leadership in all the nations of the world today to share both the responsibility and the rewards of all that man has discovered which promotes the welfare of the human race, and to abolish forever the weapons of war and aggression which threaten this welfare. There is no time to lose. Each nation must feel its singular responsibility in this matter and all nations must act in concert to effectuate solutions and programs for the benefit of all men. The need is there. The answer is there. All that is needed is man's effort to do the will of God to benefit his fellow man.

The Mandate to Love

In the most difficult of times man must remember the solace that comes from awareness of his true destiny. Once man achieves full certainty as to his eventual victory over all difficulty he is able to see more clearly the path he must take in his journey through earthly life.

Man, as I have said, is born with full awareness of his divine origins, of his goals gladly accepted as goals in this life, of the depth and intensity of his love for his Creator and for all those on the heavenly plane. He is able to hear these divine voices and is intensely aware of the ministrations of his angel who has guided him in all his preparations for this life and accompanied him on his journey to this earthly plane. The exact nature of the preparation the soul is afforded for each earthly life is not to be known by man in all its details, but let it be known that each soul before its earthly journey learns of all he must do in this earthly existence to satisfy his promises to his Creator and to achieve the level of spiritual perfection for which he strives. He is made aware of the temptations and pitfalls with which he may have to struggle, and he is made aware of the strengths he will have to develop to meet all the challenges he has accepted as part of his compact.

It is not in the nature of the heavenly compact that each detail of a life can be known in exact detail. All of life is a series of challenges and each of these challenges to man presents him with choice. The exercise of this choice is the basis of free will. Man throughout his life has a series of choices to make, from the earliest days of infancy to the last days of his earthly existence. The beginning and the end of life is set. All that remains is subject to the free will of man. Each step of his earthly existence is marked by choice. There are times when man is less aware of his choosing and times when choice causes anguish. At each turning in this life, at each choice made, however casual that exercise of free will may be, man has the capacity to respond to the challenge presented to him with love or to ignore his divine mandate and act in the absence of love. Control over his physical choices may be limited at times, but choice of his spiritual response is never limited. Even the basest of men having lived lives of loveless activity, of selfish pleasure, of reprehensible thoughts and deeds, knows the capacity for love and is capable until the moment of his earthly death of choosing to act in love.

The soul has a resilience and an innate goodness that survives the most difficult of earthly lives. There is no such thing as an evil soul. There is only the soul who has failed for the moment, for life is but a moment in the span of eternity, his divine mission on this planet, who has been so beset by difficulty that he has failed to do all that he promised before beginning his earthly sojourn.

What, you ask, is the nature of a God who would subject His children to the trials and travails of human existence? What, you ask, is the purpose of suffering, of repeated failure to meet the challenges that life presents with the love that is required of man in this earthly existence? What, you ask, can justify the inequities of human life if each man is held to the promise absolute to act in love? All of these questions invite careful consideration of the fact that man's free will has from the beginning created the world in which he lives, that from creation the nature of earthly existence has depended upon the extent to which man acts in love or fails to act in love at each point in history. Each glorious step forward in the history of planet earth is attributable to man's exercising his free will with love in his heart. Each black epoch is just as directly attributable to man's forgetting his divine compact and failing the lessons of love. Look back in history and know this truth, and know that each time that man has failed to act in love and brought violence and chaos into his life and the lives of those around him, there have been souls, loving souls, who have restored peace and order.

Earthly existence varies in the nature and difficulty of the challenges that man faces, but know that earthly happiness lies in the acceptance of the divine decree that each step of this existence must be marked by words and deeds of love, that love must dwell in the heart and animate the mind, that each step of this earthly journey takes man closer to the spiritual perfection that the soul seeks so long as at each step man exercises his free will with love in his heart and in his actions. Each time he fails to act in love he weakens his capacity to love. Each time he acts in love he strengthens his capacity for loving response and knows the joyful satisfaction that a loving response brings to him.

Not all men remember at each step of their earthly journey the joy of loving acts, loving thoughts, loving words. Let them know the power of love to transform life. Let them act in this awareness and let them make of the world a holy place, a place where all men are motivated by love of self, love of their fellow men, and above all love of their God who loves them fully and completely and demands this love entire from them.

Spirit Guidance and The Power of Love

In the best of times it is incumbent upon man to remember that at each step of his earthly journey he is surrounded by the spirits of those he has been bound to in love during his earthly journeys and on the heavenly plane. With this awareness, man finds it easier to pursue the paths of love. He finds it easier to do those things he should do in the name of love and to forswear the temptations of earthly existence in an awareness of his spiritual needs.

From the beginning of creation God intended earth to be for man a place of pleasure and holiness, a place where each soul could enjoy those experiences which were necessary for him to reach understanding of perfect love and to live his life at each step of the way satisfying this basic need. Much has been written of the experiences of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Know now that this is myth, but it exemplifies the plight of man once he had forgotten the divine mandate to live in love and fallen into worldly pleasures and concerns.

This did not happen quickly, nor did it happen in all places. There are still places in the world today where communities of men and women live out their lives in total love and devotion, and within the larger communities of the world today other men and women are aware of the needs of their brothers and know the pleasures of living in love.

There is no joy like the joy of giving and receiving love, of being bound to another soul by these tender ties. Such lives of love are at all times lightened by the awareness of the overwhelming love that God feels for His loving children. At all times, as I have said, there are many roads to the joy of oneness, but each of the roads is a road of love. There is no other way. This is, as I have said, God's single requirement of all His children, all those souls He longs to take to Him in the oneness of perfect love. Until all men know and recognize this overwhelmingly important truth, the world will continue to be an imperfect place. Until all men enter the Age of Love and Peace in an active seeking to transform this earthly plane with words and deeds of love, the world will know suffering of the body and suffering of the spirit.

Know though, My children, that the Age of Love and Peace is upon us, and that it is destined that all men hear the voices of those loving spirits who seek to guide him in the paths of love and seek to fill his heart and soul with awareness of the beauty of love given and received. Love engenders love, always. Love has an inevitability of its own. Love lights the way when the way is darkest. Love turns away anger. Love inspires hope in the most hopeless. Love is the gift of God that man, all men, must learn to cherish above all other gifts. Many who dwell in this presently imperfect world have learned this truth and seek to change their world for the better in every loving way within their powers. It is the wish of God that these numbers become legion and that in the New Age of Love and Peace all the world will know the joy of a universe transformed by love.

The Godhead

There are many things beyond human understanding that it pleases God for man to know in partial detail. Among these things is the nature of the Godhead. I have said that it is the destiny of all souls to become one with their creator, to share in the powers and privileges of the Godhead, and to know bliss for all of eternity. Know now, My children, that the exact nature of the Godhead is beyond human understanding. Know that there is nothing in human existence that compares with its nature.

You have been told that all of life is a preparation for oneness with God. You have been told that after each earthly life man is judged in all love to determine the extent to which he has progressed in his search for perfect love. You have been told that the exact nature of perfect love is beyond the comprehension of man, but that in his earthly experience man must strive to act in love and to feel this love in his heart under the most trying of experiences. Man must take into his heart his bitterest of enemies, his most ungrateful of friends, his most loathsome of oppressors. Man must be prepared to pass the threshold of death with a heart filled with love for all those he has known in this life and for all those who wait to welcome him into the next.

The nature of celestial organization has been likened to a government benevolent in all respects, with each heavenly soul suffused with love and acting in love at all times to please God in His desire that all His children be united with Him in the Godhead. It is not a simple matter for a soul to reach this perfection. There is a long period of what on this earth would be called service. Each of heaven's inhabitants is charged with the responsibility of helping those less advanced in spiritual perfection to progress toward oneness. It is not for man to know the exact nature of heavenly existence. It is enough for him to know that it is a society entirely benevolent with each heavenly soul totally devoted to God and to fulfilling God's wishes.

As has been written, as each soul progresses on the heavenly plane toward oneness with God, his powers and responsibilities increase. As the capacity for celestial love increases, so does the capacity to know oneness with God and so does the power to help other souls on both the earthly and the heavenly planes. The designation of angel is granted to those who have succeeded in their quest for spiritual perfection, for perfect love, for fulfilling the will of God in all ways. These angels are the messengers of heaven to those on earth. These angels are the guardians of men on earth, guiding them on their way, waiting to be heard, waiting to be heeded. These angels are dear to God's heart at all times and rejoice with Him as each soul achieves perfection. These angels are at all times loving, sharing, concerned.

Let it be known that there are gradations of power among God's angels, that some share fully in god-like powers, that others are less endowed, but all have the power to move men's souls, all have the power to communicate fully with mortals, all have the responsibility for sharing God's insistence that all men know oneness with the divine power of God.

Let it be known, then, that these angels of God who serve His purposes at all times are part of the Godhead, that this path is open to all souls and the destiny of all souls. It is not an easy path. It is not a simple journey. It is a path of joy and devotion and love. It is a journey marked by accomplishment and unselfishness. It is a journey that all souls take. It is a journey that ends in total bliss, in total understanding, in absolute love of God. It is a journey that starts with a single step, a single act of love. Let all men remember this at all times.

The Divine Balance

It is in the nature of things that man must assume total responsibility for all his actions at each juncture of his existence. Each man born into human life comes with the capacity for the judgments he must make. Of some men much is demanded, of others less. Each is judged according to his capacity to do what is expected of him, and at no time is more expected of him than he can give. There is in all of human existence a fine balance between experience and the capacity for experience, and although the human in turmoil may feel he is being tried beyond his capability to respond with love and compliant caring, he is at all times able to meet the challenges he has chosen to face.

Each man in the course of existence is given a set of talents and abilities, and his accomplishments are measured totally in terms of what he has been given in his mortal existence. Those who are less endowed are not judged in the same way as those endowed with high capability. In all of this there is a divine balance, and each soul comes into this life aware totally of the limitations and expectations of the life he has freely chosen to lead, full of challenges he is able to meet. In some cases, he has chosen a life fraught with difficulties, the more rapidly to progress to spiritual perfection by meeting these challenges with a loving response.

There is never a moment in human time that man is incapable of performing as he had promised before coming into this life. This is not to say that all men succeed in their earthly lives in doing all that is required of them. Indeed at each step of human existence the temptation exists to take the easy route, to evade the problems life presents, to reject the responsibilities that life imposes, and to forget the absolute imperative to act in love, the only absolute imperative in human life.

There is no easy path through the trials of human existence. The most supremely gifted and privileged of men has beneath the surface struggles that try his soul. The most generously endowed in earthly riches are often the most lacking in spiritual riches. And so, as I have said before, the surface of each life is only that, and beneath that surface lies the truth of man's progress to spiritual perfection.

This is not to say that it is in any way inevitable that the richest of men spiritually is the poorest of men materially, but it is indeed the case that there is a relationship between what is given and what is expected, and each soul before it returns to human existence is aware of this balance and chooses his human experiences accordingly.

It has been granted to many men an awareness of the nature of repeated lives, repeated striving for perfection of soul and spirit, for the knowledge certain and practice absolute of perfect love. This awareness is a growing phenomenon in the world today and will be an increasingly accepted belief in the Age of Love and Peace.

All men of all persuasions should welcome into their minds and hearts the beauty of this concept. There is no end to God's willingness to take each of His children to Him in the perfection of the Godhead. Indeed it is a mandate granted in love pure, absolute, and perfect. It should give man cause to abandon doubt and despair, and to embrace endless, eternal, buoyant hope, and to know that each day of his life he is taking one step closer to the absolute glory of perfect love.

Know now, all men, that God speaks these truths for all to hear and to heed, and in His infinite generosity promises to all men this ultimate glory. The paths chosen are the paths chosen by man before entering this life. The choices along that path are made by man alone in the infinite power of his will to act in love. Know that there is no such thing as absolute failure for the human soul. There is only temporary error, temporary weakness, temporary fallibility. In the end, no matter how tortuous the path, no matter how often the path is trod, all men walk toward oneness with their creator. All men are destined to know ineffable joy and eternal peace. That is My promise.

The Nature of Life and Death

It is in the nature of things that man frequently pursues false gods, that he strays so completely from the path he has chosen to tread that he falls totally into error and fails completely to learn all that he came to this life to learn. It is in the nature of things that in these cases man forgets utterly all that he has promised to do in this earthly life and confounds all who seek to guide him back to the path of righteousness and love. It is not easy for any man in this earthly life, surface reality to the contrary, but for those who have chosen the most difficult of lives, much more is expected.

In each existence from the very beginning of human life, there is a plan and a pattern the soul is destined to experience, and even if his actions cause him to stray from this destined path temporarily, in the end he arrives at death's door exactly as planned from the very beginning. The end is destined in all cases, and the end has since birth been the end chosen by the soul before coming into this earthly existence. The fact that no man has memory of this compact is of no consequence, nor is it of consequence that man feels himself in control of his own existence to the point of postponing the transition that is called death.

There is in all of human life, therefore, the absolute certainty of a beginning and an end absolutely destined, though not in every detail. From this beginning to this end, whether the life span be measured in hours or in decades, man is in charge of his destiny. It is unthinkable, some would say, to hold an infant or a child before reason responsible for acts which are deemed irresponsible or reprehensible, and indeed there is some merit in this objection, but it is essential to consider that before the soul becomes man and assumes a place in this world, he has agreed with his Maker on the length and purpose of that existence. His will transcends birth, although he quickly forgets his origins and quickly becomes vulnerable to the temptations and inequities of human life. It follows, then, that from the very moment of birth, man has agreed to his experiences and promised that he will meet all the challenges and tribulations and temptations he has readily agreed to in a spirit of loving compliance, and that at each step of his life, at each point in his existence, he will choose to act in love and to pursue the path to spiritual perfection that has been his destiny since creation.

As I have said, the span of human life is of infinitely small proportion, and the time of human existence is dwarfed by the enormity of endlessness. Man has but the smallest intimation of the brevity of human life. It is in the nature of mortal existence to assume that life is central, that man is supreme, and that all that occurs during this life span has no equal in any other dimension. There are those who do, indeed, realize the fallacy in this thinking, who achieve an awareness of the grander scheme and live accordingly and learn what they have promised to learn, and who draw to the end of their lives with an awareness of the nature of death as transition. These gentle souls abound, and much can be learned from them.

Those who forget their divine origins, their compacts with their Maker, too offer lessons to all who observe them. They speak wordlessly of the horror the soul can experience when it abandons the path of goodness and love. They display to all who know them the frivolity of worldly pursuits, the inevitability of despair, the total hollowness of lives lived without awareness of the importance of loving deeds and loving words. In the end, their lives end with the same inevitability that all men know, and they die not knowing the peace they might have achieved had they chosen to act in love in this worldly sojourn.

So, my children, know that life and death are as one, that there is no escaping death once birth has been granted, and that this death is the death agreed upon before entering this world. Man has not yet learned to alter this inevitability, though he sometimes persuades himself that he has this power.

Striving for Perfect Love

It is in the nature of heavenly existence that each soul know at all times the joy of striving. Each soul possesses an awareness of its capacity to achieve perfect love and oneness. At all times the striving soul is afforded insight into its needs, and at all times the soul is aided in its quest by those loving spirits attuned to its needs.

There is no exact human counterpart to this striving, though man in his human existence seeks to emulate the striving of the soul in heaven when he is aware of his destiny. The awareness in humans of the need to seek perfection in love varies from individual to individual, although all men are born with this awareness. Some are able to maintain this awareness. Others lose it in greater or lesser degree. No man loses completely the innate knowledge that he is rewarded emotionally and spiritually by acts of love, but too often man despairs of achieving the degree of success in worldly pursuits that he covets and permits himself to forget his first responsibility in this mortal life.

The degree to which man remains aware of the need to strive for perfection in his love determines the ease with which the soul after death proceeds to perfect oneness. All of death, as has been said, is a joyful transition, but the degree of joyfulness can vary from soul to soul depending on individual readiness to proceed to perfect love and oneness. Death as a transition permits the soul to take with it an awareness of all the events and achievements and failures of its immediately preceding life, and this awareness molds the soul in its striving for heavenly perfection insofar as the capacity for spiritual perfection transcends death. A holy life permits the soul easier progress, though all souls, no matter how reprehensible their human experiences, know the joy of progression and accept the inevitability of doing whatever is deemed necessary to achieve the beauty of perfect love.

Love in Marriage

There is nothing in this world to compare with the beauties of heavenly life except for the sacred link of love that joins man to man and woman to man and each to the other and to their children and all those whom they encounter in their earthly journey. I have said that the relationship most pleasing to God is the enduring love that exists in human life between a man and a woman, a love which in the best of circumstances molds their children in such a way as to make it possible for them in their maturity to know this most gratifying of loves, this most enduring of relationships.

It is not always the case that each man achieves the permanence of a single relationship with a woman during his life span or a woman with a man, and in these cases the establishment of an enduring relationship becomes a constant challenge, for it is man's nature to seek an alliance which brings with it the security of stability. In all too many cases, man seeks to find a relationship which involves the receiving of love and devotion but fails to reciprocate adequately in the giving of love and devotion. In these cases where an imbalance is either real or imagined, the relationship is threatened and often doomed.

It is in the nature of man to be defensive in cases like this, to feel that he is right in all he has done, even if the facts glaringly contradict his comfortable assumptions and assertions. This can be true of one partner in the relationship or of both. The seeds of discord flourish when both hold themselves blameless for the deficiencies of the relationship, and when thoughts find expression in words and action, the very basis of the relationship, the love that each once felt for the other, is slowly destroyed and the relationship along with it. The effect on children of such a disintegrating relationship is disastrous, though the full effects may not be obvious for some time.

It is time that man understand his absolute obligation to act in love, particularly in the single central relationship of marriage, whether that marriage be consecrated in religious or legal terms or not. There is a sacred obligation undertaken by each of the parties when a man and a woman pledge loyalty and love to each other and enter into a relationship in which the propagation of new life is not inevitable but highly likely. There should be no frivolity in entering this relationship, and there should be no lack of unselfish love in maintaining it.

Man finds it difficult often to realize the eternal truth that happiness in his earthly sojourn lies in giving, rather than receiving. Look about you and know this truth. It is incumbent upon man to know that true happiness is his for the asking in this life if he will but recognize his obligation to act in love in all the relationships that this life affords him, and above all in the central relationship this life affords, the relationship between a man and a woman which ideally spans the adult lifetimes of each party and which grows in richness with the passage of the years with the constant giving and receiving of love.

Love is God's gift to man, but it is man's responsibility to nurture this capability at each moment of his life by acting in love and knowing the joy that such actions bring. There will be no regrets for the human who pursues the path of active love in word and deed. In this life he will know the richness of all he gives and the joy of all he receives, and when this life is over, he will know the glory of celestial love that awaits each soul come to his God with a loving heart.

Love for a Stranger

There is something in nature that binds man to man in the face of hardship and travail. It is an essential aspect of his divinity that he knows without question his kinship with his fellow man when his fellow man is in need of care and solace. At these times, the heart is touched, and the soul knows the universality of suffering and feels compelled to reach out in many ways.

It is understandable, you say, that man show concern for those he loves in need of help, and indeed this is true, but it is true that man is moved to action by the plight of strangers. Acts of heroism and extraordinary generosity are, fortunately, not uncommon in a world which needs and thrives on acts of love. For this is love in its purest form, love generated by the need of a stranger, action undertaken in loving caring to meet that need and aid a fellow man regardless of any personal relationship. Such acts reflect the capacity of the soul on its earthly journey for the love which is universal in its response and in its universality exists on the heavenly plane and which ideally should be practiced at all times on the earthly plane.

Such acts of generosity and love change both the giver and the receiver. The love generated may be only a spark, but it is often fanned into flame and often affects many others who observe this loving kindness and who are moved in turn to loving acts of their own. It is not always true that loving acts receive the recognition or the gratitude that they deserve from a world that has learned to be uncaring too much of the time, but this lack of awareness in no way limits the effectiveness or the beauty of the bond that is created between the human in dire need and the stranger who meets that need in a spirit of loving fellowship. Such acts of love are pleasing indeed to the God who seeks to find love in every soul and who finds in the loving acts of His children everywhere the ultimate joyful satisfaction He seeks.

Know then, My children, that love is at all times the supreme emotion, that acts of love are at all times the reason for human existence, and that acts of love toward a stranger in need of any sort reflect the highest form of love. Let no man fail his brother. Let no man forget that all men are brothers. Let all men know the joy of his brother's love. That way lies salvation.

Envy

In the best of times, man knows the peaceful heart that is his by nature. He seeks goodness in himself and in others, and knows the depth of satisfaction that life can offer to an individual whose chief concern is to exist peacefully with his neighbors and to regard each man as his brother. Too often, this peace and love is disrupted by emotions unworthy of a child of God learning the lessons of love.

Chief among these base emotions is envy. There is no emotion so destructive of love as this covetousness that steals into man's heart without invitation and insidiously destroys his peaceful acceptance of what life has given him. He labors under the impression that he has been unfairly treated by the powers that be, that his neighbor has been given worldly goods in excess of his needs while he suffers from lack.

Nor are worldly goods the only basis for envy. Many a man bemoans his lot in life. He would be more talented, more educated, more capable of doing work which commands respect and prestige. He will bemoan his fate and cease trying to fulfill his destiny with the willingness and industry demanded of him. In the end his discontent makes him unfit for any pursuit, and he loses completely the peaceful acceptance of himself as a worthy individual. For it is in the destruction of the individual that envy is most dangerous. Man's happiness in this life comes from acceptance of the role he has chosen to play, of the richness or poorness accompanying that choice in all aspects of his life, and an awareness of his God-given ability to fulfill all his promises of loving acceptance of all he has been given and equally of all he has been denied.

I have said repeatedly that the inequities of this earthly journey are as nothing in the larger scheme of things. They are momentary at best. But they are significant in enabling man to progress to the perfection he has sought from the beginning. It is difficult for man with his limited vision to see deprivation as a blessing, but believe Me, My children, it is exactly that if accepted in loving obedience and absolute love. Embrace the limitations you have chosen to bring with you into this life whatever their nature, and do not let the insidiousness of envy enter your soul, your heart, your mind. Look about you and see beneath the surface of other lives, and know that in each of those lives, some apparently greatly privileged, some apparently greatly deprived, there is a compact with God, a promise absolute to meet the challenges that human existence presents, and to end that human existence having lived in the love of self, fellow man and God in every way.

The rich and the poor, the whole and the maimed, the wise man and the fool, the ancient and the infant, all come to the transition of death equal in all respects, and welcome the loving judgment that awaits them. All souls, whatever their earthly station, whatever their earthly experiences, whatever their successes or failures in life, stand equally willing and anxious to take the next necessary steps to achieve their destiny --- to know the glory of oneness, of perfect celestial love, of the beauty of the Godhead. This is My promise.

Challenges to Love

There is one thing above all others that man must remember, and that is his sacred obligation to act in love at each and every juncture of his life. He must regard all others as worthy of his love regardless of his relationship with them or indeed if there is no previous relationship. When I speak of love, I speak always of love expressed in word and deed, but as well, I speak of an all pervading love that is in the heart of each man at birth and which when nurtured develops in awareness and lends richness to all his relationships.

Let us examine the process by which love is engendered in the human heart. Man is born to love. He has come to this world knowing fully that his purpose in earthly existence is to live with love as a constant in his mind, heart, soul. He comes to this world having agreed to live a life of challenges to this love to better perfect its completeness. The degree of difficulty he has agreed to in his compact with his God was freely chosen by the returning soul in the full knowledge of his capacity to live in a way which fulfills this agreement.

From the start, love is nurtured by love, and the soul which is starved for love at a tender human age faces a life long struggle to achieve the inner peace that the fullness of love brings to human existence. This is not to say that the soul deprived of love at an early age is doomed to a loveless existence, but it is to say that the challenge of achieving perfect love in that lifetime increases in difficulty, though the soul has the capability of achieving it at all times during its earthly journey.

The temptations of the material world are a constant challenge to all men during the course of their lives. Whether the need for material goods is a matter of survival or surfeit, man in his human frailty feels a need to have for himself the luxuries and the necessities of this world. Not all men are so possessed, but most are unable to relinquish a sense of possessiveness that interferes with their first obligation. It is incumbent upon all earthly travelers to be aware at each point in their lives that each choice, no matter how trivial, in word and action and feeling is a choice to be motivated by love or to neglect this absolute supreme obligation.

There are times in each existence when man is sorely tried, when he is tempted to hold his fellow man responsible for the difficulties of existence, and to feel justified in feelings of lovelessness. At this point in time, the soul in need of help is the soul that has chosen not to love and to act in love, regardless of the material aspects of his life. Man finds it easier to forget to choose love the more often he does so, and he finds it easier and easier to justify his choices until he has quite forgotten the beauty of a loving response and its total effectiveness in generating love in the hearts of others. For love nurtured is love strengthened in the heart and in the mind, and each act of love, conversely, makes the next act of love easier. Such choice becomes habit, and the soul that chooses habitually to act in love finds a pleasure and a vision in this life denied to the loveless individual.

There is such a strong connection between love and joy in human existence that it is surprising that any man can be so blind as to not see it. It is imperative if man is to achieve this insight that he consider carefully each and every opportunity he has to choose to act in love, even in the most trying of circumstances. The more difficult the decision, the greater the rewards, both in quick gratification in responsive love received and in progress on the road that all men must follow, the road to perfection in love, to oneness with His maker, to eternal love and peace.

So rejoice, My children, when the difficulties of human existence challenge your capacity to act in love. Know that at all times you have this capacity. It is yours to choose at all times to act in love and know the rewards that love offers both in this world and the next.

The Need for Tolerance

There are many things that need to be revealed to man. Chief among them is the absolute need for tolerance. There is little acceptance of this absolute necessity in many parts of the world today. All about you, you see the ravages that intolerance produces. You see brother set against brother in the name of patriotism or religious fervor. Both are destructive when combined with a failure to accept the beliefs of others as valid and permissible.

It behooves man to take steps to correct this error. First, he must look into his own heart. It is easy to overlook this character flaw in oneself. It is simple to accept without thinking prejudices which are so inborn as to seem natural and based on fact. It is easy to become so self satisfied that the errors of judgment become a matter of habit. There is great need for each individual to examine his beliefs closely and to discard those which are prejudicial in any way. Beyond this he must guard against any action which reflects intolerance. His words must reflect acceptance of all those beliefs which differ from his own. Finally, the individual must at all times seek to curb intolerance in those about him. He must seek to persuade others of the destructive effect of such intolerance. He must by his example lead others into an awareness of the absolute necessity of acceptance of the beliefs and customs of others, no matter how different or even repugnant they seem to him.

Those in authority have an even greater responsibility, one which is all too often neglected and ignored. Those in a position to command the respect of others should at all times be aware of their power and use it for the common good. In all cases the common good is served by an open hearted acceptance of all God's creatures and of all the differences which may exist among them. Never should a leader attempt to bolster his popularity or his power by appealing to the baser instincts among his followers. All too often this temptation proves irresistible. It is all too easy to appeal to prejudice, to flatter and cajole by telling men that they are superior to their brothers and neighbors and that therefore their superiority entitles them to intolerance. Man, by nature seeks security, and all to often finds it in the kinds of superiority that breed intolerance.

In all areas of the world today intolerance exacts its price. In all areas of life man must as an individual change this emotional crippling. Governments and religious organizations must recognize the dangers inherent in intolerance. A look at the past is convincing. A look at the present is convincing. Let man assure himself and generations to follow that a look to the future demands a world free of the corrosive influence of intolerance.

The Need for Loving Acceptance

In the midst of sorrow find joy, for the travails of this life are a path to goodness and God. The more intense the pain, the greater the challenge. The greater the challenge, the purer the response.

Man in his contemplation of the world about him often feels confused by the unequal distribution of material benefits. He regards wealth as a blessing and health as an equal blessing. In many cases man fails to delve below the surface to examine the relationship between material blessings and the happiness and self esteem that lie below superficial appearances. It is true, often, that the soul in torment is a soul who is sorely tried by the deprivations of life, by the torment of bodily pain, by the loneliness that life often imposes. It is equally true that the soul in torment may reside in a human gifted and blessed in every material way.

What is the answer, then, to happiness and joy in this earthly journey man takes from birth to the grave? The answer lies in the response man makes from the very beginning to each challenge that life presents to him. He is obliged to respond with love to all that he experiences. This is the path and the only path to earthly joy.

Let us ask how one man can differ so completely from another in the degree of loving acceptance he knows to all that life demands of him. The answer is not simple, but those who know love and who accept the love offered to them by others find it easiest to achieve this loving acceptance of all that life offers. Those who from birth have a loving example are most likely to live in the ways of love, but this is not always so, and the soul who achieves this loving response to all that life demands of him without having the blessing of example achieves the greater victory and often knows even greater self satisfaction in his triumph over travail.

A loving response, then, to all that life offers and demands is, then, the only path to earthly joy. All men face challenges in this life. No one is spared. All men are born capable of sustaining a loving acceptance of all that is given and demanded of them. All men are responsible for doing what they promised to do before coming to this life. All men thereby please themselves and in pleasing themselves please their God. There is no greater happiness.

Human Suffering

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.

Individual Responsibilility in Spiritual Progress

There is little that needs to be said about the process by which man achieved the recognition he sought as a child of God, fully able to perceive and understand the relationship which exists at all times between him and his Creator. The countless individuals who facilitated this recognition by their thoughtful and sometimes scholarly teachings have been recognized in some cases and not in others. It is important for modern man to understand the extent to which his perceptions have been shaped by these teachers and religious leaders and to return to individual awareness of the relationship between the deity and all those being tried in the crucible of earthly life, for the journey from birth to death can be compared to a crucible.

The process of human existence is a solitary process in one sense. Each man born to life is entirely responsible for his progress in the path he treads. He is equipped at birth with all the strength he needs to fulfill his promises to live a life of love. He knows the perils and temptations that he will face, and it is his conviction that he is capable of not only surviving but profiting spiritually from the problems he must solve, the challenges he must meet, and the relationships that he chooses to experience. It is the responsibility, therefore, of each individual that needs to be foremost in our consideration.

At all times there is an individual spiritual relationship that exists between the earthly pilgrim and those heavenly powers ready to lend him strength and guide him on the way he has chosen. It is incumbent upon each individual to be aware of this intensely individual relationship and to hear clearly the direction this relationship affords him. It is important that he not surrender will to other forces which urge him in ways not conducive to spiritual progress. These voices can be both compelling and deceptive. They can lead him into the paths of self destruction and misery. Often they tell him what he wants to hear. They flatter. They cajole. They invite surrender.

Man must use all means available to him to distinguish rightness in his actions and in his relationships. He must know at all times the overwhelming need for him to choose to heed the forces within himself that counsel love and goodness above all else. He must learn that the temptation of those who would destroy his spirit is to be resisted and dismissed. He must pursue the path of holiness in all ways. Only in this way will he find in earthly existence what he came to seek. Only in this way will he achieve the perfection and progress that will take him closer to those forces whose concern for him is paramount in life's journey.

This is truth.

Inner Voices

In the best of times man seeks to know the path he must follow to be pleasing to himself and therefore to his God. In the worst of times, man surrenders to evil impulse and fails completely in all he needs to do to find pleasure in himself and in his God.

It is imperative that man be aware of the absolute need to listen to the voices that speak to him of goodness and faith. It is imperative that he learn to distinguish between these voices encouraging him to follow his innate goodness and find satisfaction in acts of love that inspire others to goodness and acts of love. From the very beginning of human existence man has had this duty. He is at all times capable of good, and it is only when he fails to heed those who counsel him with love and caring and surrenders to those voices who speak of self indulgence and acts of aggression that he strays from the path he is meant to take.

Believe, My children, that these inner voices exist. Believe, My children, that the choice is always yours to make -- whether to follow those who urge love and caring or to follow those who urge selfishness and uncaring. All men will in time know the importance of this choice.

Progression

In the fullness of time all answers will be given. Let us consider the nature of life as man now knows it. He regards the world as an imperfect place. His life may be marked by good fortune and well being or it may be marked by ill fortune and unhappiness. In each case, life presents to him challenges and opportunities to learn. In either case, man knows at all times that he is capable of meeting these challenges, of accepting these trials, and of knowing the satisfaction of progression.

It is difficult with limited human vision to accept the inequities of life and to hold fast to a steady faith that for each human experience there is reason and purpose. It is difficult to comprehend that in pain there may be pleasure and in pleasure pain. I speak here of the purpose in life beyond simple human perception.

Let us consider for a moment the perfection of performance that marks the soul speeding on its journey to perfection. This soul, come to human existence for a period of its own choosing, to live a life of its own choosing, must both accept and learn from each challenge he has chosen to experience. Do not feel that all challenges are marked by pain and deprivation, though this may be the case. The challenge may equally be to live with a surfeit of life's pleasures and riches. In each case the demands upon the soul in its human manifestation are the same. The soul must learn that only by acts and professions of love can he do as he promised to do. He must leave his mark on the world in this way. No other path is acceptable. No other path will bring fulfillment in his quest for eternal belonging.

When the soul is in torment the soul does not know love. When love is both given and received the torments of life be come blessings. All souls know this. In human guise the soul sometimes forgets this.

Contrasts and Challenges

In the midst of sorrow, find joy. There is little else need be said when the human experience is so trying that the soul struggles to meet challenges that seem insurmountable. It is the very nature of life that man constantly finds himself faced with choice, and often these choices seem to him beyond his capacities. It is the nature of human striving that man finds in himself the strength to do what seems to him at the beginning impossibly difficult, far beyond his ability.

Each time that man triumphs over adversity he is immeasurably strengthened, and each time he finds in his strength a source of unending joy. It may at times seem unreasonable to expect joy to be born in sorrow and travail, but indeed this is truth. Let us consider the very nature of birth itself. Man is born in pain and suffering. There is no experience which is comparable either in its anguish or in its subsequent joy. You may say that the coming of a new soul to earthly experience would be joyful under any experience, that suffering is not necessary to produce joy. Yet all of life is contrast, and the greater the contrast the deeper the emotion. Man cannot sense the joy of loving companionship in its fullest unless he has known the anguish of loneliness. Man cannot savor success unless he has known failure. Man must know hunger to appreciate fully sustenance.

In all of this there is much to be learned. Man must learn to embrace challenge to know the joy of solution. Man must embrace sorrow to know joy in its cessation. Man must find comfort in companionship when it replaces loneliness. In this series of contrasts which the human experience offers constantly there is much to be learned about the triumph of the human will and the strengthening power of adversity. Man comes to learn and to experience is to learn.

Challenge and Response

It is implicit in life that man face with courage all the trials he encounters if he is to achieve the ultimate satisfaction that life offers. It is sometimes difficult to understand how such challenges provide opportunity for spiritual advancement. It is difficult to understand the reason for such challenges, difficult as they often are.

Let man realize that he himself in his wisdom and need designed each of these challenges. He needs to be aware in this human existence that he is the architect of his own life plan. Most individuals, given this truth, find assurance in their strength, their capacity to not only survive but to gain from each challenge met and overcome.

It is futile to protest and to deny one's ability to rise above the problems that life entails. It is without question man's responsibility to accept cheerfully all the demands of his life and to know both their divine origin and the strength he possesses to achieve peaceful victory of all he faces. The greater the challenge the greater the satisfaction.

There is much seeming injustice in this world, but know, My children, that in each life there is both need and will to endure. There is in each soul come to earth an inherent capacity to do all possible to right the wrongs of this planet while struggling with the demands of his life. Do not consider any positive response wasted. Each courageous act, each honest protest, each cheerful acceptance of challenge is a source of inspiration and joy, inspiration to those who, observing, are stirred to emulation, and joy to the individual whose triumph takes him one step closer to the perfection he came to this earth to achieve.

Not all the challenges of life are great or dramatic. Each day brings its share of small challenges, and each time man meets these challenges with courage, love, and acceptance, he triumphs.

So, My children, know that when the road traveled is a less than easy path, there is right and reason in hardship and that there is no limit to man's capacity to achieve growth and satisfaction in his response. At the end of this road lies the reason for its beginning.

Triumph in Tragedy

In the best of times man finds it within himself to meet the challenges of life with a willing heart and to feel within himself the certainty that marks progress to spiritual perfection. He finds within himself a ready acceptance of all that he is asked to do and to take into his heart those he encounters in his daily life. He seeks to please both himself and those whose lives touch his. He lives with a steady awareness that all he experiences has reason and purpose and that even the seemingly most insignificant of decisions demands loving response.

There are times when man is sorely tried, times when it is difficult for him to keep a steady faith, but it is precisely at these times that it is possible for the soul to triumph in the most meaningful of ways. The more difficult the challenge, the greater the reward in spiritual progress.

Be aware then that at all times there is triumph in tragedy, and that at all times victory over material defeat is possible. Know that all strength and goodness finds its reward. Know that at all times man must live in love if he is to achieve all that is needful to fulfill his purpose in this life and to find the inner harmony that gives meaning to human experience.

The Power of Love

In the midst of life man finds hope in many places. No matter the circumstances, he finds hope in the love that is his. This love may be a result of his choosing or it may be a love he has been blessed with by birth.

Love is a powerful transformer. It magnifies joy and it makes sorrow more bearable. It stirs man to heroic deeds and it comforts him in his hours of great deprivation. Above all, love gives meaning to human experience as nothing else can. Love in its finest form has a permanence that defies all trials. All else may be transitory. Wealth may be variable. Health may be threatened or lost in pain. Man may be roughly treated in material ways, may perhaps be scorned or violated in his day to day existence. His best efforts to succeed may be frustrated by ill fortune. Yet if man knows love, all else fades into insignificance. He cannot fail fully.

Look, then, My children, to love to give meaning to human existence, to protect the soul from the buffets of life, to lift the soul in all ways. Seek love. Cherish love. Give love. Nothing can replace love. Nothing compensates for its absence. No man is complete without this gift.

The Importance of Man’s Response to Need

In the midst of life man occasionally forgets his first duty. He neglects those whose care is his responsibility and neglects their needs both physically and emotionally. When this first occurs, it is man's tendency to excuse himself, to find reason for his lack of caring. Those he neglects are at first puzzled, then resentful, and finally despairing. The cycle of love is lost in a cycle of selfishness, of unfeeling.

When man first is tempted to ignore the responsibilities freely accepted by him before his entry into this world, he causes spiritual injury both to himself and to those dependent upon him for love and nurturing. What began as a loving relationship sours into hostility. The inner peace that man finds in meeting responsibility and challenge is destroyed and his soul withers.

There is only one answer for man. He must from the very start of life realize that both joy in this existence and progress in spiritual life are born in love and caring. He must never reject the needs of another. He must respond fully and promptly when he encounters need, no matter its nature, no matter its intensity. He must do all within his power to help those who turn to him in petition. There is no other path to happiness. There is no alternative in spiritual progress.

Let man then remember at all times that the choice he has made prior to entry into this life is his freely made. Let him realize that he has the capacity to fulfill all promises, to meet all responsibilities, to thrive in all ways in this existence. Let him know that the single answer is a loving response to need, and above all a loving and constant response to the needs of those fully or partially dependent upon him. Let him remember that those souls whose lives touch his are those of his choosing, come to this life to teach and to learn the lessons of love. Let him profit by this awareness and let all his actions be so guided. He will then know the inner peace that all men strive for. He will know God.

Importance of Awareness of Death

In the midst of life man tends to forget its inevitable ending. He chooses to lose this awareness in the myriad activities and pleasures of his human existence. He banishes from his awareness thoughts of death. Even when he is sharply reminded of the brevity of life by the death of another, he chooses to disregard.

It is right and good that man live fully each day allotted to him in earthly existence. It is right and good that his experiences offer to him opportunity for pleasure and for learning, but in both pleasure and pain man needs to be aware of the divine purpose of life and to live each day in full awareness that his days on this earth are limited and that at the time when he is called to another world he should know full satisfaction in all he has done in this life. He should be free of self reproach. He should have no sense of failure.

It is incumbent, then, that man live each day of his life as though it could be his last. This should in no way be regarded as macabre or as brooding, but rather as healthy awareness that no day should be wasted and that each day should see at its end all responsibilities discharged, all love freely offered, all gratitude expressed freely, and all regrets resolved. Each day should afford opportunities for growth in all ways, and for all men full knowledge that a day spent in generous giving in both word and deed is all that is required. A day so spent in full awareness is pleasing to both God and man.

So know, My children, that the specter of death is not a specter at all but rather a gentle reminder to live life fully each day and thereby to know that at the end of life there is nothing left undone that should have been done and that there are no regrets. This way lies joy.

The Inevitability of Oneness

In the fullness of time all answers will be given, all misunderstandings resolved, all yearnings satisfied. Man, having endured uncertainty, hardship, loneliness, and need, will find his joyous destiny and be gratified. Little will remain to try his soul.

I speak here of the end of mortal life and the start of eternal life. When man experiences this transition he knows instantly the inner peace that he has sought from the instant mortal life began. He achieves an awareness of the significance of each mortal act, each mortal relationship, each mortal experience. It is at all times a state of grace. It is at all times a time of renewal, of reexamination, of accountability.

Each soul making the transition from mortal life to life beyond is endowed with powers and capacities and awareness of all he should and must do. Each soul is given absolute choice about what it does. It is beyond human comprehension to know totally all that is involved in the passage from life to death to life, but it is enough for man to know that at all times and for all men this is an experience of joy and unending opportunity.

The soul come to God is aware of all he has and has not done in his mortal life to fulfill his compact, a compact willingly agreed to before birth. In most cases the soul may regret all he has failed to do in fulfillment of his life plan, but he is aware that failure is never final, that opportunities abound for him to succeed in his spiritual progress to oneness. Most souls eagerly accept the loving choices offered. Most souls are grateful for the love and support offered to them by spirits filled with caring and capacity. For some souls the process of death, judgment, and rebirth is swift and joyous; for a few it is slow and painful. But in all cases, the passage from death to life is a process of discovery, of renewal, of choices freely made and gratefully accepted.

Time, as earthly man knows it, is not of the same nature as heavenly time, and it is difficult to judge. What seems an instant on earth may be an eternity in heaven. The opposite is equally true. So man cannot in this life envision the span between earthly death and heavenly existence. For some souls the transition and adaptation is swift, for others less so, but let it be known that in all cases the end of human existence is marked by a joyous awareness of the intense love that permeates heavenly existence. The soul departed from this life has the choice of accepting this loving welcome or of rejecting. In the latter case, the soul may find progress to oneness slow and difficult, at times even painful, but the intensity of God's love does not permit any soul to ignore his destiny indefinitely, and in the end not a single soul born into human existence of his own choosing is permitted failure. Therein lies the miracle of birth and death, of the inevitability of oneness, of eternal joy.

Transformation of the World Through Awareness

Beyond this life lies infinite learning. Man all too often is complacent in his belief that a single life is all that is his destiny. He permits himself to believe that what he knows in earthly existence is all he needs to know, all there is to know. He looks into his mind and fails to look into his soul.

It is difficult, though not impossible, to imagine a world in which each and every man, woman, and child, brings to existence awareness of the true nature of the earthly experience, a world in which all souls live each day in full awareness that their journey through life is but an episode in total existence. In this world man's awareness of the search for perfection would be paramount, the supreme motivation in each human life.

What would be the result of this awareness, you ask. Indeed, the question demands response. This world would be without conflict. Man, aware of the ephemeral nature of life, would cease striving for temporal power knowing that this power itself is ephemeral and not worth the cost. Man, freed from the need to achieve superiority over his brother, would be free to love those who depend upon his strength and to freely surrender superiority for brotherhood. In this world love would so dominate existence that conflict would be unthinkable, totally undesirable in all ways to all people.

The day is coming when this world will be realized. The first steps have been taken. The rest is soon to come.

Religious Symbols

It is beyond human understanding to know exactly the workings of heaven. It is enough to know that God accepts with gratitude each word and gesture of faith in His goodness. He regards with gratitude all those who choose to devote their lives to furtherance of faith and the promulgation of awareness of the power of the divinity.

There are times when man in his hunger will pursue practices which on the surface seems suspect. He will seek to identify the supreme being in symbols, and there are times when these symbols will seem to acquire a life of their own.

There is no harm in symbols so long as man does not forget that they are merely reminders and that he must go beyond reverence for these symbols and realize the need for direct communication with his God. He must know that all material representations of the deity are merely reminders and not worthy of veneration in and of themselves.

Through the centuries man has found symbolism a useful tool in many ways, and he will continue to do so justly and reasonably. Yet the symbol in and of itself is meaningless. It acquires significance only when it inspires man to reverence and to awareness of the underlying reason for the symbol. A flag is a symbol of patriotic fervor and inspires man in this way. Religious icons are symbols of belief in God and His spirits and as such are useful as reminders and inspiration. In and of themselves they lack credence.

It behooves man to remember this distinction.

The Nature of Human Life

There is much in life that defies understanding. Man comes into this world as into a school. He comes of his own volition to learn and to teach. He comes with full awareness of his mission and with full intent to meet all challenges with steadfast faith and love. He knows fully the import of his response. He is aware of the need to accept the trials and tribulations of this life and to profit thereby.

All lives are fraught with trial, some more obviously so, but all try man's capacity. In every case only response is significant. The greatest trial is no more significant that the least in its import. No man fully understands the nature of another's life. No man can judge the quality of another's inner existence. The most tormented of souls often lives a life of cheerful acquiescence.

In all of human existence chance plays a part. Man is totally in control of his response to all that he suffers, but he can not always control the nature of that suffering. There are times when a chance decision becomes a fateful one. There are times when catastrophe brings an untimely end to human existence. In such cases, man is hard pressed to either accept or understand the vagaries of human existence. Yet he has little choice but to do so, and in this very acceptance comes a measure of learning. The very brevity of life's journey becomes clear whether measured in months or decades.

Once man reaches acceptance of human life as no more than a stage in his spiritual evolution, it becomes easier for him to know that no matter the length of a single life, no matter the degree of difficulty of that life, man achieves to a greater or lesser degree what he came to this earth to achieve.

His success is measured not in length or quality of this earthly journey but in his response to each and every choice. The human spirit is capable of infinite love. The soul knows this. The mind sometimes forgets.

Cornelia Silke dba New Light Publishing © 2010