Replay On Perspectives

FRI., DEC. 13, 1996, 6:58 AM
FARM, STUDY

It will be interesting, perhaps even fascinating, to tabulate the responses to the perspectives on life and death from your students at the end of the course. It appears that my old Christian perspective will continue to dominate… perhaps more than earlier. Reread their statements, for they should give you some further insights for this next term’s course. You do see that going over each perspective in some more detail helps in the understanding, if not in the acceptance. Emphasize that each of these is held strongly by some persons… and education helps to appreciate the holding of positions different from “the one you’ve been raised with”.

My Christian perspective was your heritage, without much thought. The ethic of the medical profession to keep everyone alive was just gathering momentum during your youth, but it was beginning to dominate. The Christian perspective values human life, but always secondarily to the continuing life of spirit. When you have come to Me, as the Christ, your continued, eternal life is assured, so how long your body lasts is of secondary importance. The vital question is: what is the purpose of your life? … not how long should it be?

And each life can have several interrelating purposes, but they, eventually, should all point back to Me. One of your long life purposes has been to teach. You did well academically, but you were not to be a scientist, of any sort. I wanted you to teach in an area in which, eventually, you could include the reality of spirit. So over your career you have come to an appreciation of spirit, and you can include it easily (and you do have tenure).

You realize that early in your career you let your “Christian love” for your students be evident. Then came the years when students were not as important as projects, research, and publication. Now you are free to be a loving Christian in your interactions with students. Emphasize that in the Christian perspective a purpose in earth life is to be a loving person… to as many people as possible… and when you are accomplishing this it is both important that you live longer AND unimportant, for you have accomplished that vital purpose.

In relation to length of life you can ask the question (and you might even try it in the classes that lie ahead): would you Christians today, or humankind in general, be better off if I, as Jesus, had not died young but lived to be an old, feeble man? You would certainly have a longer New Testament, but would a natural death, after a long life, have been of more value than the “assisted suicide” route that We chose? Hmmm.

In contrast to this one earth life and then judgment as to how you will live spiritually and eternally (with many of you, apparently, apart from Me in eternal suffering) is the tandem of the Ecological and the Humanistic. Each affirms that this earth life that you’re in is the only one, with nothing after it. One advises to adapt and live as long as you can, but not at the expense of other life and the health of the earth. The other says humans are the greatest and everything should be done to prolong this only life.

Then there’s the opposite contrast in Reincarnation, which says that many of you have lived here before and will return again. There is this “long” purpose in life… to be a loving, giving, happy… and the goal is to be thus, no matter how “long” it takes, in the earth or in other, more spiritual realms. The Life After Life perspective gives a glimpse of this non-judgmental continuation of life, with some having a chance for more of it, as the same person, but energized and enlightened by the near-death experience.