A Confirmation

THURS., OCT. 27, 1983, 5:24 AM
ANN’S STUDY, BLOOMINGTON

The conference yesterday with the nurses was one to which I guided you… yes, o son… and it was a confirmation of some important ideas about spirit that I have taught you. You knew I would have a comment, sooner or later, and since you woke to My call this morning without the buzz of alarm this seems like a good time.

“Meaning and purpose in life.” The mind can generate short term purposes and can attach meaning to happenings of many kinds. Yet “real” purposes are a product of spirit. The purpose you considered yesterday that concerned your children is a good illustration. Mentally & socially you could purpose to have children for the satisfactions they might bring and for the fulfilling of a societal role, which, in your younger days, was one of pressure for a number of progeny. The spiritual purpose, however, centers on the contribution you should make to the next generation… in lives that shall contribute to the upward movement of humankind. When it seemed that these sons of yours might not contribute, in these desirable ways, the hurt was in your spirit.

Another aspect of having children is in your providing bodies for spirits that want and deserve an incarnation in the earth. Again, there is no guarantee that these souls will profit from and contribute to life around the, but it is one of your spiritual purposes to offer this opportunity.

This observation leads to “meaning.” The meaning of life is, in the fullest sense, that of a spiritual journey of potential growth. Life is, in order that you might grow, and the most growth comes when you are genuinely serving others rather than consciously trying to grow. A non-spiritual interpretation would be that if a major purpose of life is growth then you should try to grow, with conscious effort. This works with the mind, but not so with spirit. Major growth comes when you are not trying for it, but are serving others or Me. And it’s like your “law” about finding lost objects… you can’t be secretly “trying” for spiritual growth as you parent, teach, write…

Loving is, of course, a major function of spirit. Not much of substance was said about loving, so let Me emphasize that it includes giving and receiving… both. They are reciprocal. Just as I said to love your neighbor as yourself (implying, yes, that you cannot give to others more than you feel for self), so it is that the spirit is that which receives love from others as well as offers it “back” and “out”. The well-developed spirit discerns love in others, even elicits it, while the less developed spirit would judge, “I don’t feel any love”.

The best interrelations are those based in love, and the person of spirit knows this and comes to be able to express it to others. Spirits can actually create relationships before the other aspects of personality have accomplished this more slowly. You can think of some obvious examples of relationship based in spirit, and some that were probably begun in that unconscious intermingling of spirits. Let this be a gentle guide for assessing present relationships and being in “new” ones. (Always be ready for the awareness of relationships that have commenced in some other time and place. This is one of the most fascinating aspects of earth life, which most folks miss. You needn’t.)