The retreat at Quantum Leaps Lodge near Golden B.C continued with Neale Donald Walsch and Master Young Hee challenging us to reach a higher level of being. One aspect of our discussion was why we bring the pain of the past into today’s reality. Since this moment is all there is – all that warrants a reaction. We create the feelings anew. That is what is so fresh and exciting in that we start with a clean page every day and by the choices we make, the day will be. The skill to be learned is how we leave the negatives of yesterday behind. When I bring them forward, the question I must ask myself is what is the benefit to me that I recreate the past and react to it again in the present? My brain cannot say “that happened yesterday it isn’t happening now.” So it is forced to react all over again. A reaction is a learned behavior. “I always get angry when such and such happens to me.” This is a habit. I have choices. Hopefully in time I can learn to make the right choices. I have learned that my right choice may not be someone else’s. What honours my soul’s journey will be understood by me when I accept gut reactions and intuition. I certainly feel a lot lighter and freer once I leave yesterday’s baggage behind. Working through grief is a lesson in letting go of stuff that adds no value to today. My DVD Aspects of Hope discusses starting over after the death of a loved one. I was a caregiver for a long time and when that role was over, I had to grieve my lost identity as well as my lost relationship. Temporarily I saw no purpose in life. Another life lesson was needed.

So in the last entry I wrote about lesson #1 being that I can blame no one for my circumstances when I take responsibility in choosing my own beliefs and values. But neither can I be a victim. Lesson  #  2 deals with the eternal spiritual question  - why am I here? What is my purpose? I have decided that I actually don’t need to have a specific answer. I will know I am doing what I am supposed to do when deep inside I “know.” Like the Geiger Counter making more noise when it approaches metal. The signal from deep inside vibrates more clearly when I am in sync with my soul. So the specific “what” may not be outcome oriented. But may indeed be a process. A process of becoming; Always morphing into a more conscious me; Always behaving in such a way that others may be encouraged to morph into their higher selves too. Surely this is what the essence of love is. The gift of self which makes another becomes their best version of self.

It seems to me that our society is “outcome oriented.”   Where happiness can only be achieved by reaching a goal; Believing that you are nobody until somebody loves you and so on. Consequently life becomes filled with frustration and disappointment because of unmet expectations. But on page 225 of Conversations With God, Book 3, Neale Donald Walsch  states that the purpose in being human is
 
“To decide and to declare, to create and to express, to experience and to fulfill, Who You Really Are. To re-create yourself anew in every moment in the grandest version of the greatest vision ever you had about Who You Really Are. That is your purpose in becoming human, and that is the purpose of all of life.”

So life and its purpose for me is an evolving process. If it is a constant re-creation then I must leave behind yesterday’s baggage carrying only what I need today. It also means as I age that I do not have to feel as if I have failed, not measured up, not reached my potential - for no where is it written what that final product is. Hopefully death for me comes while I am still becoming the grandest version of myself.

As I age I am beginning to find comfort in life everlasting - the endless figure of eight crossing between physical life and spirit life. I’m comfortable with the belief that all will have this journey no matter how they behaved in this life. No punishment on the other side, no day of reckoning, just the endless movement between being visible and invisible to the human eye.

So if my God doesn’t punish bad behaviour how can one live a moral life? Give me a break! “Thou shalt not kill” is one religious rule. Yet it seems in God’s name, many wars are being waged at this moment. I believe that when our world functions at a higher level of consciousness, war will not be needed. But currently we live in a world that seeks gratification from material wealth and power. In such a world there will always be those who have, and those who have not. After all how do you know you have made it in a materialistic world unless you see people around you who have not? So the oppressed will always be angry and fight back. Those who have, will always defend their possessions and territory. Any group that controls or wants control of another person or country will, by their behaviour, create a terrorist who will fight back. England had colonies in many parts of the world. Most won their independence by terrorist activities and revolutions. The founding of the United States serves as a good example. I digress.

The Golden Rule is the backbone of most religions.  “Do to others what you would have them do to you” from Christianity.
In Islam, “Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.”
Confucius said “What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others.”
From Judaism comes “And what thou hatest, do to no man.”
Buddha said “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”
“Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you” comes from Hinduism.

Well, that sounds good to me. I will try to live by what these major religions started out by believing, but some quickly forgot.

So I feel quite comfortable with the journey so far. At this retreat I was surrounded by people on similar journeys. We were learning to radiate our joy. This does not mean that we have not experienced the tragedies and dramas of life or have at some time felt helpless and hopeless. Living from a place of joy and gratitude enables us to attract more of the same; Living from a place of joy and gratitude enables us to experience compassion for the pain and suffering of others. I am learning to experience life by living life: By honoring life and celebrating life. I am learning that there is more to reality than meets the eye. The physical is not all that matters, but purely the tip of the iceberg. What is below the surface, what might appear as invisible is the realm of consciousness.

I have felt honoured to be part of this group for it, and the words of Neale Donald Walsch, have validated the reality that is me. They have reminded me that we are not all separate entities. When I look into someone’s eyes I will see me and the whole of creation. If I look into the eyes of a person filled with hate, I will see one who lives in separation and who is crumbling in the absence of love. But that person is still a part of me and what he/she sees in my eyes may be seen as an invitation back to oneness. In seeing the pain in another’s eyes, be they in Darfur, Afghanistan or the back streets of  Calcutta that pain is mine and I cannot turn my back on it.

For those who feel able, it is time to shift to a new paradigm, a new way of looking at things. It is my opinion that the person who would rather fight the enemy than talk to the enemy has chosen to maintain the drama rather than heal it. Likewise the person who makes no effort to heal and forgive yesterday’s drama has a vested interest in the festering wound. Many do not know that they have a choice in the way they interpret their reality: their attitude towards its events: the perspective from which they will act.  I can only speak for myself. It is a time for me to heal all festering wounds from the past so that they do not impact negatively on today and colour my future.

Before I headed to B.C for the retreat I had written the script and almost completed the production of “Antarctica – A Soul Journey – awakening.”
On my return to Toronto I knew for sure it needed no alteration.

There was obviously much quiet soul searching on river bank and wooded slope while at the retreat. With wild tiger lilies, massive thimble berry, bunch berries and dogwood, white ox eyed daisies, ragwort, fleebane and cinquefoil before the painted skies of the setting sun . During those times I believe I felt the presence of Sue’s spirit. (More info in the care giving videos). But more about that when I share about the exercises we did to face and overcome our fears….such as fire walking.