Posted by Roberta Grimes • June 06, 2020 • 103 Comments
Afterlife Research, Jesus, The Teachings of Jesus
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
– Clergyman John Newton (1725–1807), from Amazing Grace (1772)
You were supremely brave to plan and actually enter yet another earth-lifetime. Give yourself a lot of credit for that! The vast astral plane where we spend nearly all of our blissful, golden eternity includes what we call the afterlife, which operates as a kind of foyer from which we launch into our earth-lives and to which we return when these bodies die. But the astral plane is far more than just that afterlife foyer! Evidence suggests that it is fifteen to twenty times the size of this material universe, and it is chock-full of earth-like amusements and also very much greater pleasures that never have been imagined on earth. It is brightly lit by a perfect love so palpable and so intense that even near-death experiencers, who of course never go near the afterlife but instead spend time in the astral plane, are often altogether transformed by that love. In comparison with the astral plane, even the most beautiful places on earth are dark, depressing, and grittily hopeless.
We have talked about why our coming to earth is necessary in order for us to grow spiritually. But we have not until now much considered the sacrifices that our coming to earth entails! We leave behind beauty, fun, a host of friends, and the joyous love and safety of the Godhead; and in our urge to elevate ourselves spiritually, we plunge into a welter of fear and despair where we have access to such a limited part of our vast, eternal minds that not even a memory of why we are here remains to us. No wonder babies cry!
But why must we submit to such complete amnesia when we enter these 
material bodies? In order to be born on earth, we must temporarily give up every memory of our pre-birth lives, and we even agree to submit to waking amnesia of the active lives that we lead every night while our bodies sleep. Many people have asked me why, if what I am teaching them is true, they have no memory of any of it! And the easy answer to that question is the fact that amnesia is part of what we agree to accept when we are granted approval to enter another life on earth. There are far more beings who want an earth-lifetime than there are available bodies being born! So we are in no position to negotiate the terms of this deal. The real question is, “Why is our amnesia important?” And the answer to that is pretty much the same kind of answer you will get if you ask why working out causes sore muscles. In order to grow spiritually, you must put yourself in a position to be emotionally and spiritually stressed by awful negativity.
Without that amnesia, you would spend your life here pining for the wonders of your astral home. You would know that you are here to grow spiritually, and you might put forth some effort to grow, but in truth you likely wouldn’t stress yourself much. You wouldn’t even try to preserve your body! Without amnesia, you would know that you could just hang out on earth for a lifetime without doing very much at all, let the body go as soon as it falters, and then gladly boogie on back home.
In order for you to grow spiritually while you are here, your life on earth must be designed to make you take this illusion seriously. Let’s consider just how stringent the restrictions on our earth-lives must be in order for this material reality to be maintained as a useful spiritual school:
So now let’s sum up the horrors of our present situation. In coming to earth, we
have chosen to spend our earth-lives trapped in a negativity-based reality full of dangers to our existence and horrible sources of fear and pain that we have no choice but to fight to escape because the death of our bodies will be the death of our minds; and even with all that, we cannot see any purpose to our lives on earth, nor any goal beyond the alleviation of some of this suffering for one more day. We have willingly made this awful deal for numberless earth-lifetimes, and always in full awareness of the horrors that would plague each of those lives. We have submitted repeatedly to this charade because we so deeply crave spiritual growth. If you didn’t feel heroic when you first began reading, I hope you will give yourself some credit now!
Given how clueless we must remain if we are to make the most of our lives on earth, how is it that anyone has actually managed to grow spiritually? This system does work. But why does it work? The key to its success is the amazing depth and range of God’s grace.
According to Messrs. Merriam and Webster, “Grace is unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.” And God’s grace turns out to be all that we need! Each of us has a lifetime spirit guide who will call in other guides for specialized assistance when needed, and these divine teams are our connection to the Godhead. Even if we never are consciously aware of them, our guides meet with us on many nights, teaching us and strategizing with us and helping us to achieve the spiritual 
growth that is the purpose of this earthly adventure. Sometimes, when people in their ignorance go very deep into negativity, their guides must wait for the perfect time to help them make leaps of wisdom and growth; but they are patient. They know that their charges’ negative wanderings are building a base for spiritual growth to come.
The hymn that is quoted in part to begin and end this post is among the most popular songs ever sung. It has been estimated that it is sung ten million times each year, and it has been recorded tens of thousands of times. Its author’s epic personal tale is a lovely example of the ways in which God’s grace operates in our lives through the work of our guides.
John Newton was an adventurous young man who went to sea and soon was caught up in the Atlantic slave trade. His guides had to bide their time. Then while he was doing some of the most evil work ever undertaken by humankind, a violent storm overtook his ship off Ireland’s County Donegal. His guides managed to get his attention, and they inspired him to call to God for mercy. At once the storm began to abate. It was several years more before he quit the slave trade, but he later came to see that day when God calmed the wind and waves at his request as the moment of his spiritual conversion. He went on to become a minister.
Only read the words of this amazing hymn! Each of
us carries God’s grace with us as part of the package that we take to earth. With the help of our spirit guides, that grace is sufficient to lead us through the horrors of each earth-lifetime to another leap in love and wisdom, and then to take us safely home.
Given how well this system has worked, and how important to the Godhead this planet is as a crackerjack spiritual school, afterlife researchers are astonished to find that those five points given above are now in part beginning to break down. Many of us began to notice around the turn of this century that searching out more of the evidence for the afterlife and the greater reality, and figuring out how it all fits together, suddenly had become amazingly easy! Then soon our guides were telling us that the consciousness vibrations of humankind had sunk so deep into fear and negativity that we could no longer raise them on our own, so there was a concerted effort being made at the highest levels of reality to raise the consciousness vibrations of all of humankind just enough to save us from the ultimate destruction that they said was just two hundred years away. And now we actually begin to see the results of these first divine efforts! My dear Thomas tells me that the changes being made won’t turn life on earth into a walk in the park, but they will make it possible for sufficient people to discover and internalize enough of the truth that we will be able to re-establish a healthier balance on earth between love and fear. Thomas now believes that soon we actually will be able to begin the process that Jesus gave us to bring the kingdom of God on earth.
God’s grace is the greatest of all gifts. It is the Godhead working directly in each of our lives through God’s servants, our spirit guides. And grace ties us to God so intimately and with such perfect eternal love that there is nothing that any of us can do to separate ourselves from the love of God. The God of the Christians is a judgmental tyrant, quick to anger and ready to condemn you to hell if you don’t pick the right denomination from among the forty thousand versions on offer. But the God that Jesus reveals to us is infinitely powerful and perfectly loving Spirit. And you, dear courageous human being, are the one true Godhead’s best-beloved child.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
We have already come.
T’was grace that brought us safe thus far,
And grace will lead us home.
– Clergyman John Newton (1725–1807), from Amazing Grace (1772)
From what I think I’ve learned, I either fully agree with what you are saying, or hope you are right.
Here are two small comments.
Re your point that the world is in constant, continuous change as it “exists” basically as an infinitesimal point moving along a line of eternal length, there was a time several years ago when I became anguished over changes I saw; after a long, difficult effort at meditation to appreciate change, with concern getting worse, instead of better, the explanation was”whispered: to me (the idea that enters the mind as an insight from without), that such change was actually at the core of existence, for without that, the world would be frozen dead.
Re guidance we get, there is a well known NDE/OBE report where a patient having a difficult surgery saw from out of body that there were angels working alongside each person, sometimes more than one, to assist them for patient success. Although this help was given, the doctors and nurses seemed unaware (their thoughts were read during the OBE).
Dear Jack, I love the thought that change is at the core of existence. That is so profoundly true! And I recall reading about the NDE where “angels” can be seen assisting each surgeon. Of course, NDE experiences are pulled from the mind of the experiencer, but nevertheless I’m sure that this is quite literally what would be seen! What is real is actually far more wonderful than anything that any of us can imagine 😉
Enjoyed reading your message roberta well done terry
Thank you, dear Terry! This was one that Thomas tried to get me to do on my own, but I couldn’t do it to his satisfaction. He came in on Saturday morning and rewrote the last part, and I think he made it really wonderful!
Dear Roberta, Thank you for this week’s entry. There is a lot more contained within it than can be taken in during a first read, so the hope is that folks will not make their first read their only read. In fact, I wonder what your data tells you about people’s reading habits of each entry. I get the feeling many people read and then write their own comment, independent of other comments, and that’s all; many more read but think about it privately and don’t comment at all; and then there are the regular commenters. I hope this particular entry engages everyone.
Now, speaking strictly for my own personal experience, it took me a long time to move from the adage “everything happens for a reason,” and it’s related “God has a plan for you” to “I choose my own plan.” I now realize that the last of these three is what free will is all about. The free will part enters into it before we sign up, before the experience we perceive as incarnation begins — and, as you point out — the adjustments in response to what may have been “curve balls” to the initial plan are made by us, ourselves, with guidance. This is truly a powerful idea. I hope people take this to heart.
Dear Mike, to answer your question about readership statistics, in truth I have no idea! We do know that thousands of people seem to read each post at this point, with most never commenting, and my personal gauge of the quality of a post is how many commenters are commenting for the first time. This one is the current standout, with most people commenting on it never having commented here before, which is lovely!
And your analysis of the planning process is sound. We prepare our life-plans with the help of our guides and in collaboration with the people who will be prominent in the upcoming lifetime and their guides, and once we have it done the evidence is strong that a council must approve it. If we are being too ambitious about awful experiences, the council may ask us to justify why, for example, our house should burn down with everyone we love inside AND we should be rendered a paraplegic by our unsuccessful efforts to prevent the deaths. And they may ask us to rein that back. Their goal is to ensure that the events of the life will help us grow spiritually, but will not cause such despair that actually we are set back instead. But if this life is tough, we have no one to blame (or thank) beyond ourselves and our pre-birth sense of being invincible!
Roberta, yes it’s great to see first-timers among the comments and let’s hope they comment again.
Meanwhile, your point about the life planning made me laugh out loud. Not so much because these experiences are funny but because it’s true: there are overachievers in the astral plane as much as there are in the earthly one. But the cosmic overachiever may not look that way from an incarnate perception; the sickly, outcast homeless person may in fact be participating in an especially grand scheme to move many people forward quickly. Our plans are entangled, and at this point in the earth’s timeline, this is more true than ever. But that may be stuff for another post.
Dear Mike, indeed there are some surprising stories in the literature! Apparently when we have been at home for a while we are so comfortable, confident, love-filled, and divorced from the whole idea of time that we think of coming to earth for another lifetime as not such a big deal at all. And if we come in as a quadriplegic blind homeless person with a speech impediment, we can knock off a lot of spiritual lessons at once and just get it over with 😉
Hi Roberta, you must have watch Craig McMahon’s very insighful films offered free on Amazon Prime right now 😉
Been watching them too.
BUT, I just don’t agree with the amnesia deal.
What’s the point of the constant “ground hog day”, wash, rinse, repeat cycle of lives after lives?
Just imagine a world where we come in with no amnesia whatsoever and hit the ground running toward fullfilling our purpose. Instead of wasting half our lives figuring it out. Taking forever to realise that we need to survive all them negative energies put on our path. Ending up in our golden years realising it’s too late for us to accomplish what we came here to do.
We’re just so exhausted by all this work we had to do to finally raised our frequencies where we can live in peace with ourself.
Personnally, at my age I just want to commune with Nature and Mother Earth and give thanks to the Universe for this paradise I get to experience and appreciate.
I pray that I can remember all this and hit the ground running in my next incarnation. I ain’t coming back here only to wash, rinse and repeat again. NOPE! Not moi 😉
Imagine a world where they teach the Afterlife in early public school. They teach the Co-dependants anonymus twelve steps program to the younger souls where you learn how to be yourself. You’re perfect as you are. Go on fullfill your purpose.
Oh what a world I long for……
Hello LG! I have never heard of Craig McMahon. Is he saying the same sorts of things that I say? That happens all the time, actually: there is only one very complex truth. Back when I used to attend afterlife conferences, those of us who had been at this a long time would be meeting for the first time and at once cheerily completing one another’s sentences.
Dear LG, a lot of us don’t like the fact that agreeing to amnesia is required. But indeed it is required, and even now when they are trying to make it easier for us to grow spiritually so we can raise the consciousness vibrations of humankind overall – they tell us the survival of our species is at risk! – they still are being careful to do as little as they can to only tweak and not to disrupt this very ancient process.
The reason why we must be amnesiacs is of course not completely clear to us, but it seems to be associated with our need to experience genuine negative emotions – fear, anger, and so on. There was a time when I could easily experience the whole range of negative emotions, both mentally and physically, to an overwhelming degree! But once I had absolutely convinced myself that I could not die, my ability to feel any negative emotion declined by at least 70%. Then I did the exercises that I share in The Fun of Growing Forever, and my ability to feel anything negative declined to almost nothing. I am now entirely stable, yes, but also I think my growth for this lifetime has basically plateaued. Imagine if we came in knowing even as much as I know now. There would be almost no growth possible, for anyone!
Dear LG, rinse-and-repeat IS our purpose in coming to earth! We don’t go back to zero when we enter another lifetime, but instead we start from a higher level. I know a few people who are obviously very advanced beings, and they have been that all their lives – they have come in now to aid in the planetary shift in consciousness.
And yes, the world will be a far better place when even children are being taught the truth. We have begun to plan an online presence called Seek Reality Online, and one purpose of it will be to teach the truth to people of all ages. Things really are going to get a lot better! But just how much better is probably something that we will be able to see only in retrospect.
Hi again, Roberta — As you know, I’ve stated before that I was optimistic about 2020. Even now, I still am (after all we have half the year ahead of us; why write it off?). I can’t take credit for this, but yesterday I came upon an item that pointed out that “hindsight is 2020.” So it’s true, we may only appreciate this turning-point year as we reflect back on in.
Dear Mike, I think it’s right that we are living through another year – like 1968, for example – that will live in infamy as a year of calamities that felt world-ending at the time and can be understood in a historic context only in long retrospect.
Thanks for your reply Roberta. I just finished Fun of Growing Forever and I’ve been practicing meditation every day since I had my mini-session with Medium extraordinaire Susanne Wilson. I emailed you the video.
I highly recommend to go watch Craig McMahon’s Life to Afterlife : I died now what? on amazon.
He interviews the best mediums in the nation, including Susanne Wilson.
Of course it’s nothing new to you but some people here might learn a thing or two like I did.
There’s also a new project network being formed right now that you might be interested in exploring or offering your show Seek Reality to a new audience. https://youtu.be/nbq6iHG8Q2c
God Bless!
Dear LG, thank you for your kind suggestions! At this point, what I do is being pretty strictly controlled by Thomas, who has his own very focused plan for our work. He has nixed both my watching Mr. McMahon’s video and our allying with anyone in this next stage beyond a very few that he has tested and trusts. He wants Seek Reality to remain independent, and to move to become a distinct online presence. I don’t know all the details – I’m always on a need-to-know basis with him – but he has been working us toward this for years. We’ll see….
Hi Roberta – this is it in a nutshell.
Thank you so much, George! I love that this message resonates with you.
Roberta’s postings always show up when least expected (for me) and are always relevant to what I need to hear in my life at that particular time! What a blessing for me to have her guidance in my life.
Thanks!
Bob Amato
Roberta , this is just what I needed to read, thank you 🙏🏻 yet again for your words which help to encourage Me ( have had an ungodly fear of death since childhood now 59 yrs old.)
Goodness know what I was meant to learn spiritually This time , I must have had a warped sense of humour at some point, to want to come back to have had a life suffering with this crippling anxiety and to put my husband and children thru it too xxxxxx
Dear Louise, I was once also very much afraid of death, so I do understand these emotions. And if we are here to experience and overcome negativity on an individual level, then all your fears and anxieties are in fact gifts, aren’t they? I am living proof that if you will do the necessary learning, you can overcome the fear of death altogether. And if – as evidence suggests – the journey itself is the destination, then you will have triumphed!
Thank you so so much for taking the time to reply…I am truly grateful xxxxx
Oh my dear Bob, this is such a beautiful thing for you to say! I don’t think of it as guidance, really – I think of it as sharing our journey – but I have spent my life studying these matters so I can help to make your journey a little brighter!
Dear Roberta,
Your blog today took me from curiosity, depression, then right back up to elation and joy. Loved it!
Heh – thank you, Kitty. I love this! I think that effect was precisely what Thomas was going for, because now he is smiling, too.
Another wonderful Sunday Morning read and meditation.
I hope you know how much I learn from you and allow my spirit guides and grace to lead me, teach me and love me.! Thank you. Yes I always give my self high fives for this life. I often think I deserve a medal just for stopping in.!
And rightfully so, Marilyn. I think we ALL deserve medals just for “stopping in.”
And so you do, dear Lola. And the medal that you and Marilyn and all the others here most deserve is considerable spiritual growth in this lifetime. Let’s go for it!!
You do indeed deserve a medal, dear Marilynn! And thank you for your lovely words. I have told Thomas that at this point, we’ve got to do a blog post every week because you and others depend on them, and he seems to be up to the challenge: in response, he planned our topics as far as August. Which makes it easier for me to research and prepare for them ahead of time!
I would like to attend a Church that preaches the Gospel that is expounded by you.
The message speaks to my soul and I feel deeply that this is the correct gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you.
Dear Richard, your wish is our command! There is no Christian denomination of which I am aware that espouses just the teachings of the Lord as they are supported by testimony of the dead, so we are going to have to create our own. And we (Thomas and I) are heading in that direction. He called it The Way, as did His earliest followers, before Constantine appropriated the movement and turned it into the fear-based means of controlling people that it soon became. So we should call our effort to recapture and build the Lord’s original movement The Way, don’t you think?
As always, very deeply touching and meaningful to my life at this time. Thank you so much!!
Oh my dear Karen, I am so glad you have found this helpful!
Great article! I’ve been wondering for several years now what revolutionary, planetary changes would occur if Dr. Gary Schwartz gets his SoulPhone operational. To use your school metaphor, I have always wondered if the school superintendent has given the green light for us in Earth School to communicate with our guides and luminaries in the so-called ‘spirit’ dimensions via electronic devices. This would imply that we have permission to evolve our planet, which could be seen as creating heaven on earth. We’d have permission because we would be getting more guidance (albeit not all the answers) from people we used to think were dead.
Dear Joshua, there are a number of teams like Gary’s working on simple methods of electronic communication, and beginning to have some success at it. I have so much else on my plate that I don’t follow any of their work closely, but I understand that right now Sonia Rinaldi in Brazil is having the most success. And it certainly will happen! There are some complexities in doing it right, though, beyond the simple electronics issues. For one thing, general knowledge there is highly stratified, so there is a lot that people below the fifth level don’t know, and they may not even realize that their assumptions are wrong; but when we are there and being contacted by the living we kind of feel like big-shots who know everything so we expound nonsense as truth. This is a frustrating problem for researchers, who soon learn to be highly selective about which communicators we trust to expound on which subjects, and it will present considerable problems when each of us is in daily contact with our third-level relatives and all their unsupported ideas!
Oh Roberta — this is so true! People tend to think that when someone crosses to the other side that they know what they are talking about, and people give credence to all they say, but the truth is that they are hearing only opinions of the communicator. Judge Hatch, who communicated through the medium Elsa Barker, said that most souls in the afterlife are just as stupid as they were when they were down here (his words, not mine). This will be another hurdle to overcome when communication becomes more common. Add to this the fact that their thoughts project a reality that may be unique only to them, and this will be another headache to overcome with future communication. I think it will change the definition of what is “real.”
Dear Lola, you’re right about all of this. In the early-20th-century materials communicated through deep-trance mediums, a lot of the newly-dead expressed frustration that they weren’t suddenly brilliant and holy! The fact that easier independent communication is going to compound this problem is one reason why I crusade against anyone’s thinking that NDEs contain real universal experiences, and we are working now to spread information about what happens at and after death far and wide before electronic communication becomes more widespread. If we let the truth be mucked up with nonsense, then nobody anymore will be able to die with confidence that death will unfold as they have been led to expect that it will unfold!
I think that’s because people from that era thought that by joining a certain religion, they would automatically become holy when they died. I’ve heard of many being surprised that they didn’t meet God face to face! I guess the best people to communicate with would be those who understand that their religious beliefs are not necessarily the absolute truth, and it would be best to communicate with those who are not newly dead, as they wouldn’t have had the chance to learn “the ropes” yet. There is a lot to learn there, and most of it will be a huge surprise to those who stubbornly cling to a certain belief system.
Hi Roberta,
Thanks as always for the profound information. I have just a few comments.
While I understand the concept of amnesia, it appears that some individuals do in fact have a clear memory of events from prior lives.
You indicate we are not supposed to bring memories from the astral plane although that is exactly what we spend much of our earthly lives in search of.
Use of the word wretch in “Amazing Grace” bothers me somewhat since it reminds me of traditional religions which teach the fear based doctrines of sin and the need for redemption.
Hey Tom,
I agree with you about the word ‘wretch’ in “Amazing Grace.” This is the one nasty word that I replace whenever I sing this beautiful hymn.
‘Wretch’ makes me think of being so unworthy and such a low life individual, that only the expansive Grace of God can possibly save me! And that’s not what being an eternal soul who is loved by God is about.
So if I find myself joining in singing “Amazing Grace,” I change the word. Instead of singing ‘wretch’ I substitute ‘shmuck’ and it works for me. 😉
Of course a reasonable person might choose a more fitting word for themselves. Why not simply substitute ‘soul’ for ‘wretch’? There you have it; a noun that reflects who you are in essence.
Cheers and thanks for mentioning this thorn among the roses in “Amazing Grace.” 🙏🏼🌅🕊
Oh my dear Efrem, leave it to you to think “schmuck”is an improvement over “wretch.” That gave me a smile!
Dearest Roberta,
Thank you for making myself and all fellow blog contributors so warmly welcome. Thank you for all your work responding to each and everyone here, and doing so with so much earnest sincerity and love. 🙏🏼❣️🌅
Oh my dear, I do try! But I’m also preparing for and delivering our Seek Reality podcast each week, responding to lots of emails, and writing our next blog post, all of which constitutes a full-time job! I love the fact that on Mondays and Tuesdays, especially (we record SR on Tuesday afternoons), you and others here will step in and respond in my place. We are one big family!
Yes, Tom, great points! There are indeed glitches in the theoretically complete amnesia that we agree to accept in order to come here. Many young children have some memories, which fade and are buried during toddlerhood; and there have been a few people who retained some memories through life. No universal system is perfect!
As for the use of the word “wretch,” I understand why you and others don’t like it – and probably don’t like the word “saved” either – but in the non-religious vernacular, I see both words as appropriate. You can substitute other words if that makes you more comfortable! But if ever there were a wretched individual who needed to be rescued out of a shameful and degraded life, it was a man who was spending his life brutalizing people stolen from their birth-countries into slavery!
This post was beautiful i remember the astral plane as a child leaving my body sometimes
Dear Ray, I love hearing this! Would that all children could astral travel too, and have even only that much memory of the astral plane. What a difference that would make in the world!
I believe I experienced some astral travel too as a child. I remember it, but for the longest time, mainly because I didn’t have a frame of reference, I thought I was remembering dreams.
Beautiful!
Roberta,
I replied to this once today, so I thought. Trying again.
This is such a meaningful post for me. I’ve always loved this song especially the line about eternity. But, I had kind of stopped singing this because in my mind I was brought up to believe that Grace was mercy or pardon from Jesus, and I try to avoid any song centered around that specific message. But now as I read into that word, it isn’t it at all. Wow, that makes me feel really stupid in a sense, once I read all the beautiful meanings of God’s Grace.
Dear Timothy, don’t be bothered by this. We who seek to really follow Jesus have a difficult path to thread at first, eager to follow Him closely while having to pick only what is useful from the religion that uses but doesn’t follow Him at all. I have been confused myself, many times! I generally follow “when in doubt, throw it out,” which is the same rule I follow in doing afterlife research. But there is so much that is good and beautiful in the Christian tradition, and I have come lately to see that my rejection has been in some cases too hasty. Rediscovering this beautiful hymn and better understanding what these parts of it are saying is one such case!
Thank you Roberta for another inspiring, insightful letter. Knowing that we are all immortal beings travelling in ageing “containers” makes it that much easier to deal with life’s ups and downs. It certainly gives me a sense of security in these uncertain times. I am now 75 so I know I won’t have much more time on this planet, but life still has much to offer in the time I have left.
Thank you again.
Penny
Dear Penny, I smiled at your “ageing containers” reference. How on earth did we go in one fell swoop from young to old? And why don’t I feel as old as I am?? I’m coming to think being old is just a state of mind, and I refuse to adopt that state of mind. I’m so glad you find these missives helpful – it’s what keeps me writing them! (Well that, plus Thomas’s constant nagging. He’s worse than my husband!)
This post really resonated with me and I’m reading it at just the right time – thank you Roberta!
Dear Elaine, I’m so glad to be of help to you!
Hi Roberta. Thanks for your latest newletter. Amazing Grace is such a beautiful song that is beyond religion.
I’ve been exploring The Joseph Communications. Have you heard of this? I really like what I’m reading. Joseph is the channelled spokesperson for a very large group of higher level souls/angels. They say that there was a Fall but not because we are sinners but because the a group of the original angels broke off from the rest, against advice, to try an experiment. It was a disaster and as a result the earth is contained in a negative “Field” cut off from our spiritual roots.
The trance medium, Michael G. Reccia, and his group don’t take any income from the sale of their books, which is so refreshing. They have a few videos on You Tube. The vibe I get from them is a little like the Offthelefteye Swedenborg material who are also non profit. They also have international meditation times a few times a week to help channel Light into the world where it is most needed.
The concept that we spiritually grow through suffering is fine but the problem is that the suffering on earth is over the top and can just as easily break some people. For example, imagine telling a child in a pedophile ring that he/she chose this life to learn from suffering. Also, some people grow a lot without having a great deal of suffering in their lives.
I thought I’d add an excerpt to explain it better:
From The Joseph Communications “The Fall”: You bring yourself back to the start point and your only option, if you are not sufficiently spiritually aware to remove yourself from the cycle of the journey, is to start out again [reincarnation]. But you start out again not from a point of view of being totally released from the last journey, but from the point of view of having aspects of the last journey bolted to you as though you were wearing a backpack and carrying heavy bags and luggage. You are setting out again with baggage from the previous journey in your hands, already colouring your experience of the next journey that you are undertaking. Now I hope that this explains, very simply and very logically, why karma exists.
Rid yourself of the view that karma is something that is piled upon you by a God who wants you to evolve! Rid yourself of the view that karma is something that is piled upon you by the Lords of Karma because they want you to evolve! God wants you to return to the start-point and return to Him and nothing more. Your karma is caused by you embarking upon the same cycle again …and again …and again. Your karma is simply detritus from the past journeys you have undertaken heaped upon your back by you because you are unable to rid yourself of those historic memory molecules that cling to you whenever you set out on a journey in physicality on the Earth plane because of the effects of the Fall.
So, we are suggesting that you inject Light into every situation in your life on a daily basis and that you start your day by going to your heart-centre. By moving your point of consciousness down from your physical mind into your heart-centre, and by remaining there for a few moments, you flood yourself with the white Light that changes things. So, before you set out upon your day, imbue the situations that you find in your life at this time with that Light.
Dear Francine, there are a number of communications from upper-level groups of beings who communicate essentially as one being, under one name. Joseph is one. Imperator is another, who communicated at the end of the nineteenth century. I have read his work but I haven’t read any of what has come later or studied these materials at all because Thomas won’t allow it. He is preparing me to teach under his own guidance, and he approves of none of what is being channeled now. Based on what he has allowed me to read and has channeled through me, and on some of what he has said, I gather that he wants me to teach lapsed Christians who are seeking the genuine Jesus, and to teach the Lord’s teachings from an entirely Western perspective.
But those restrictions don’t apply to anyone else, so thank you for giving others who find this website a taste of what Joseph has to say!
Dear Roberta and friends, just a reminder that Silver Birch is another such collective voice. I was introduced to Silver Birch through Victor Zammit. Then one day a few months ago my beloved spirit guide threw shade on Silver Birch. Then she let up in him for my sake, although I still think she prefers me to seek insight elsewhere. Silver Birch seems to me very insightful and timeless, but my spirit guide says these are different times that call for different metaphors (she expresses everything in terms of metaphor nowadays). I think that essentially I am saying I understand where Thomas is coming from, Roberta, in limiting your exposure. We each are here for our own unique mission and some of the voices may resonate with our mission and some may confuse it. I know your topic plate is full, but maybe there’s a blog entry in how each of us can find our true calling and caller!
I wasn’t aware that Silver Birch spoke in metaphors though I haven’t read ALL his books. From what I recall, the things he said match very closely with things that have been said here. I suppose the same thing could be said of Jesus who predates Silver Birch by many years. However, truth is truth no matter what era of time it is said in and though some of the words may sound archaic, the principles are unchangeable.
Hi Lola, I wasn’t clear. Silver Birch is very direct. My own spirit guide, whom I call Arrow (an English translation of her unpronounceable Native American name) speaks to me lately in metaphor.
Thanks for your reply Roberta. My concern has been that although some suffering is required for us to grow, there is too much of it here that breaks people. All the other belief systems I have come across so far just seem to offer platitudes. I don’t know if the Joseph material is true or not but I liked that it at least addressed the issue of why things are as bad here on earth.
All the best with your endeavors with Thomas.
Hello. That was an interesting post. It sounds rather similar to a Buddhist idea of getting off the wheel of rebirth, by going through the stages of stream-enterer, once-returner, no-returner (where you rebirth only in a more enlightened realm), and finally arhat. I notice Roberta Grimes’ forgiveness practice (and my modified Sedona Method practice) is useful in cleaning out the karmic “detritus” you mentioned.
“Imagine telling a child in a pedophile ring that he/she chose this life to learn from suffering.” The assumption is that it is Divine Law, or part of the contract, to accept the suffering, for to go against it is to go against the Divine Will, or the contract. There seems almost a desperation to make suffering fit somehow into the Divine Plan, to keep the status quo. Perhaps a better way to look at things is the example of Tina Turner, who for a time was trapped in an abusive relationship with Ike Turner. A friend introduced her to a practice that basically allowed her to awaken her Buddha nature of wisdom, life force, courage and compassion and from that state of Absolute Happiness faced her difficulty, left the relationship and developed her own solo career. (Yes, I looked at Nichiren Buddhism for a time).
That is an interesting idea of the Fall. I did some research for possible writing of a Renfield book, and found writings that might describe the experiment, but from the viewpoint of the experimenters. Terms like “Xeper” and “Black Flame”, Michael Aquino’s short writings “The Diabolicon” and “The Book of Coming Forth By Night”. Mitch Horowitz has a YouTube lecture called “God of the Outsiders”. Some other books in the same vein are “Cain” by Lord Byron and “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” by William Blake.
“God cleanses and sanctifies us,
Comes to us with grace and love.
God makes us happy,
as only children can be happy.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dearest Roberta,
I’m very moved by this blog post about Grace. How could I not be? Grace is the Divine gift of loving favor that never tires, lessens or falters. And I’m reminded that to ‘allow’ myself to feel this abundant grace, is to allow myself to accept that I’m worthy of such powerful love.
Please indulge me to share with your good self and our blog family a Grace meditation that I do. It has helped me to overcome my belief that I was too faulty to be worthy of Divine love :
So I sit comfortably and still my mind as much as I can in a relaxed way. I shut my eyes and picture small flecks of gold falling slowly from above, like gentle snowflakes, onto me and my surrounds. Occasionally I see beams of soft light also fall from above and light the golden flecks, glintingly.
Sometimes I play soft background music that inspires me and light a scented candle as well.
Then I feel-know the golden Grace falling on me (and everyone else) is real. It is part of the unseen Greater Reality and hence is abundant, powerful and loving. I love back and am grateful, knowing that it will all be okay in the end.
I guess I needed something like this meditation to clear lifelong feelings of unworthiness. And it works for me.
All in all, I had to let God love me.
❣️✨🌅
Efrem: that sounds very calming. It sounds like something, if done often, would help alleviate stress and cause a sense of peace and harmony. In fact, I think I’ll try it too with “China Roses” by Enya playing in the background. It sounds like a strange name for a song, but it is truly beautiful – almost hypnotic.
Hey Lola,
I love Enya’s angelic songs! I will listen to ‘China Rose’ and I thank you for the suggestion my dear.
This grace meditation is just what works for me. It has helped to rid me of a persistent old way of thinking. Feelings of unworthiness are best shed; this is part of clearing the burdens of the mind and heart.
Hope you enjoy this meditation Lola. Of course we can design any type of meditation that we choose.
Whatever works. 😉❣️🕊
Efrem: Ratu Bagus is a spiritual healer and teacher from Bali. About 8 years ago, he tried an experiment at his ashram. He assembled a like minded crowd, and at first the sky was black and without any anomalies. As he directed the crowd to think about love, light and peace, gorgeous orbs started to accumulate until they filled the sky and surroundings. The background music is beautiful and great for meditation, but in addition, it proves that our minds are powerful and can bring about change. Type in “Ratu Bagus energy orbs youtube.” There will be 4 selections to choose from. Choose the first one called “Energy Orbs.” It’s amazing.
Thanks Lola, I’ll check out the ‘Ratu Bagus energy orbs’ video on Youtube forthwith. I bet it is amazing! It sounds exceptional my dear.
🙏🏼 ❣️
Hi again Lola,
Just letting you know that I’ve listened to ‘China Roses’ and it is perfect for such a meditation as described above. Thank you. 🙏🏼
May I suggest ‘Boadicea’ by Enya. (You can find it as a loop on Youtube.) It’s one of my favorites. It’s good for more ponderous, quietly dignified contemplation…
Music is so emotionally evocative, is it not!?
❣️ 🎼
Dear Efrem, of course I’m happy for you to share your meditation here with anyone who wants to try it! Thank you!
Dearest Roberta,
I think this statement from your blog “There are far more beings who want an earth-lifetime than there are available bodies being born!” casts a serious light on abortion. As I understand it, when one of us selects a scenario, not only must our chosen parents must go through with the birth, there may be several others from our soul group who must be born about the same time to provide context for the new life. I presume that from the Astral Plane it may be determined which babies will be aborted and which will be brought full term, but every abortion will make a group of prospective parents ineligible as the lack of one baby would change the scenario.
The fact that our birth rate is below the replacement level now not only has serious implications for pensions, Social Security etc., but also slows the rate of reincarnations and the subsequent learning.
Cookie
We have to keep in mind that the world is presently overpopulated, and soon there will not be enough resources to sustain a quality of life, so to suggest there should be more availability of bodies makes no sense to me. If anything, birth control is a crucial issue that is being ignored. The earth was a beautiful planet that is now being overrun with sewage, waste and lots of other ugly scenarios. If our birth rate is below the replacement level, I’d sure hate to see what it would look like if it wasn’t below the replacement level.
Dear Lola, in the early seventies the fact that we were then having such a population explosion that by the eighties there would be mass starvation was a known certainty. The world population in 1975 was just over 4 billion people. Today the world population is close to double that number, and there is actually less starvation in the lesser-developed parts of the world now than there was in 1975. And if you are flying anywhere and you spend any long flight looking out the airplane’s window, you will see a few cities and suburbs but otherwise breathtaking stretches of no people. Even today.
Those who are not now in bodies tell us that the risk that humankind faces in the next few hundred years is not overpopulation at all, but instead it is wars of annihilation and extinction unless we can raise the world’s consciousness vibration enough to prevent that result.
Dear Cookie, there is some evidence that since there is no time in the greater reality, babies that will be miscarried or aborted will lose their incarnating being at the start, or even before the start, so those children are empty bodies, which is a comforting thought that I cling to when I think of the horror of pain-capable children being torn apart in their mothers’ wombs.
And we are told that there are an incalculable number of other planets that can support life, so if we lose the use of this one, that will not impede humankind’s spiritual growth. But this is the best such planet. So losing it might slow our growth down a bit.
I’ve heard that they will perform abortions up to six months of pregnancy. I think that’s far too advanced and borders on murder. What did you mean when you said “those children are empty bodies?” Does that mean they don’t have a soul yet? I’ve heard so many “teachers” say different things about when a soul actually enters the body. Some say at conception, some say during the 4th month of pregnancy, while others say that a soul hovers around a pregnant female just prior to her giving birth. It’s impossible to say which version is correct, or indeed if any of them are.
Dear Lola, the question is whether aborted fetuses have a spirit attached, or whether since they were going to be aborted they were only physical tissue.
According to the evidence, normally each new fetus is assigned to a spirit, often even before it is conceived. That spiritual being then goes through a process that I can only call shrinking, and generally attaches to the body within days after conception but often just comes and goes until the third trimester, when more and more will enter the body and remain there. So even though the assignment has been made, and probably it is a whole planned life that is lost in abortion, generally the being attached to the body won’t be spending a lot of time there until shortly before birth.
That’s what I thought. I think the confusion came from thinking that the spirit stays with the fetus all the time, but it doesn’t until, like you said, shortly before giving birth. Since abortion has been legal for many years and millions of them have been performed, this must have made quite an impact.
Thank you for this beautiful post Roberta. The first image that came into my mind when I read it was the famous image from Michaelangelo’s Sistene Chapel of Adam reaching his hand to God and God reaching back. It may have had a different meaning to Michaelangelo, but to me it brought to mind how Grace, in my sense of it, is that if we are willing to reach out to God/Spirit/Love, whatever name we give it, no matter how far we have sunk into the mud, It always reaches back, sending light, love, and guidance back down to us, like in Efrem’s beautiful meditation, but it isn’t an old man on a cloud, it’s our brothers and sisters in God, our collective spiritual “family,” especially our guides, angels, and
loved ones in spirit, all helping us on our mission. We are never really alone, but can be lifted higher as soon as we have seen the light.
Hey Scott,
This is a most inspiring and beautiful comment. Thank you for writing it. Yes it is true, God/Spirit/Love always reaches back. We do have our collective, spiritual family! We really do. I don’t feel alone either. 🙏🏼🌅🕊
… And isn’t our collective spiritual family beautiful!!
Thanks Efrem, and thanks for all the
beautiful and inspirational comments you contribute. Did you ever write professionally? If not, maybe you missed your calling. I will use some of that meditation imagery in my own meditations. 😌
Dear Scott, to me the most significant thing about that Sistine Chapel ceiling is that God has His hand extended in love, but Adam, even though he is reaching for God, has his finger kind of bent away, as if he is resisting that connection. And isn’t that true about so many of us, that we resist the unmerited perfect love of God!
Lovely comment, dear friend!
Thanks Roberta. That is a very interesting and perceptive point. I hadn’t really noticed that. It’s like Adam is a bit too into himself. He needs Eve’s help to learn more about love of others, and maybe learn about his feminine side, to find wholeness (whole-i-ness?) If that is Eve under God’s arm, ready to go on her mission to help him, she looks like she knows she has her work cut out for her. 😄
Hey Scott,
Maybe it isn’t too late to write a novel… It would be great fun to write a story featuring both sides of existence; earth life and the afterlife.
There could even be a new genre of ‘fiction’ based on the Greater Reality. Imagine how much interest in the purpose of life and the levels of the true Afterlife could be generated. 👍🌅📚
Hello. I have a practical question. Do you have any suggestions on resources (books, YouTube videos, etc.) for people to learn Lucid Dreaming, Astral Travel, Remote Viewing or other ways to help the reader of your blog break through the amnesia wall while sleeping, or in other ways?
My experience, I have only been able to Lucid Dream a few times, and it can sometimes be hard to hold the state. Astral Travel, have not done the type with the silver cord, but have done the type that is more of a creative visualization a few times. Have not yet learned Remote Viewing, but think I may have found a useful course.
Thanks in advance for the help.
Dear Jason, since none of this is my expertise, we are going to have to find teachers who can help you all to do the amazing things that, as the veil thins, more and more people still in bodies are readily able to do!
Hello again.
OK, I will see if I can gain a bit more proficiency in these areas. If I succeed, I will write back in a future blog with the resources I used.
Thank you, Jason! I am being kept focused on the basics now, but I’m eager to see what you might discover!
“Each of us has a lifetime spirit guide who will call in other guides for specialized assistance when needed, and these divine teams are our connection to the Godhead. Even if we never are consciously aware of them, our guides meet with us on many nights, teaching us and strategizing with us and helping us to achieve the spiritual growth that is the purpose of this earthly adventure. Sometimes, when people in their ignorance go very deep into negativity, their guides must wait for the perfect time to help them make leaps of wisdom and growth; but they are patient.”
Dear Roberta and friends: This blog post appears to be heading for 100 comments, which I think is great! Often by Friday, comments have already slowed to a trickle or ceased, in preparation for the next week’s entry. Anyway, before we do move on, I would (well, I am exhorted to do so) like to return again to a theme in Roberta’s original entry. It’s important to remember that while each of us is here to experience and learn our own unique lessons for growth, we are all of us participating in a larger mission — this appears to be especially true now.
I have been shown by my own guide through dreamwork that the experiences we each have are unfolding in a far-reaching network of entangled experiences, and that an enormous number of sentient beings on this planet (including animals) have bought into this mission. Our respective guides are working together — most of them even know each other, are close to one another themselves, or at least know about the others. They consult and orchestrate together. It’s a collective spiritual growth. That bad or good thing that happened to you? Someone else experienced it from another perspective and perceived it to be either bad or good depending on their role in the larger mission..In short, nothing that happens is happening TO us, but rather, we are participating, together.
This, too, is the point of grace. The knowledge that we are not alone. And, perhaps this is a theme for a future blog entry either here or elsewhere, but we can each participate even more in tandem with not only our own guides, but the group of guides, simply by inviting them in. They enjoy being invited in. They are already doing the work, and our lessons are already entangled, but once we ASK (as Jesus implored us to do), the flood of grace really can open up.
Then what dreams may come!
So Mike, you refer to the entanglement of us and our life lessons. You write of each of us being able to work with our own guides, who can work with a group of guides to great effect, if we but ask for it.
So – each instrument plays together with an orchestra which joins with other orchestras in concert. The resulting, soaring music reaches the skies.
Involving us here on Earth, and our guides behind the veil, this would be a meta concert that is powerful and surely more than equal to the sum of its parts.
I begin now, to imagine what this could achieve. So yeah, I for one will ASK. What an inspired idea. And as I have had the experience of my own blessed (and pushy) guide working with other guides, I attest that this does happen and it deepens my understanding considerably. 🙏🏼🌅🎻
Efrem, I have been shown that my guide is connected to a host of other guides, a cosmic “mission control,” if you will. The entangled nature of participating souls would appear to include everyone.👁🧶🕸
Dear Efrem, you so often write like a poet! Yes, those working together now, both in bodies and out of bodies, really are much like an orchestra. And to make the music of worldwide spiritual growth, we do have to play in harmony! Which is why our guides are managing us so closely now. I must just add that having even each our own tiny part in this enormous undertaking is beyond thrilling!
Dear Mike, from what I am seeing and experiencing, you and Arrow are right about the enormity of this mission and the fact that our guides are working closely together to orchestrate something gigantic of which those of us in bodies are kept largely ignorant. From my perspective, there is a hurry-up-and-wait feel to just about everything I do! Thomas was urgent about our writing two books plus a children’s book, for example, that he now has delayed our publishing for two years or more, while we do other things. He was urgent about our starting an online program two years ago, and then a year ago, but he paused that and now apparently it is to happen early next year. There are other things, too, that he has pushed and paused and then suddenly they had to happen right away. I am used to it now. I always assume that things will happen when they are supposed to happen, and he all but tells me that these things have to happen in concert with a lot of other things and on a global scale. It is fascinating to watch, and no need to worry since we know that Someone is in charge!
Dear Roberta, Arrow relentlessly remind me (in her infinite patience) that a major theme of the experience I perceive as incarnation is, in fact, Patience. “Do little and accomplish much. Do nothing and accomplish everything!”
Mike and Roberta. This is a great image, of our guides also possibly having guides, or at least consulting with each other or higher levels. These various collectives could be like different organizations that inter penetrate and work with each other. An image came to me a coulpe days ago in meditation that makes more sense in light of this discussion. It was of astronauts in their space suits about to enter the craft and blast off. My attention was brought to an odd slit in the back of each space suit, like a special access point. All of us are like astronauts coming from spirit to this world, and all the planning and support that goes into the mission would be akin to all the engineers, trainers, corporations, and the mission control people that were behind those missions to the moon. I think the image of the access point at the back was symbolic of our guides, and all that may be behind them, working behind the scenes – that they have our backs, and are ready to help, even when we feel lost in space.
Scott: The Divine, through our guides, does speak to us in images it seems. The metaphor (often a visual one) must be an effective way to get through to us.
I particularly like your image of the astronauts in space suits, entering their spacecraft in preparation for blast off. What an apt image for what happens behind the scenes. (The suits even have a port at the back for a help line or some such!)
I mean, earth life does seem to be a mission to a strange, possibly hostile planet. 😉 And yes, we need all the help we can get from ‘mission control’ to get us through.
My own signal from mission control only seems to have become clear enough to hear about two years ago!
We do need patience, in the sense of not attempting to dictate events but instead passively allowing them to unfold according to a plan to which we are not privy. I know people working in this field who are flush with the joy of what they have discovered, and thinking they can make themselves prominent experts. Thomas has been adamant about making me know that I am just in service, and he has steered me well away from those promoting themselves. Patience and humility: a two-fer!
Mike and Roberta. This is a great image, of our guides also possibly having guides, or at least consulting with each other or higher levels. These various collectives could be like different organizations that inter penetrate and work with each other. An image came to me a coulpe days ago in meditation that makes more sense in light of this discussion. It was of astronauts in their space suits about to enter the craft and blast off. My attention was brought to an odd slit in the back of each space suit, like a special access point. All of us are like astronauts coming from spirit to this world, and all the planning and support that goes into the mission would be akin to all the engineers, trainers, corporations, and the mission control people that were behind those missions to the moon. I think the image of the access point at the back was symbolic of our guides, and all that may be behind them, working behind the scenes – that they have our backs, and are ready to help, even when we feel lost in space.
Scott, through dream work I have realized that this is a very good metaphor for the planning and implementation; metaphor only, because the experience takes place in what Arrow has indicated to me could be called the “timeless now (since there is no time or literal place—but experience)” so it is a difficult construct to communicate in any language. But no matter how we envision the “activity,” it is regarded as very important. Incidentally I am fairly convinced that she recruited me with great effort as I initially said no a number of times. In short, I didn’t ask to be born!
Dear Mike, I think that many of us were recruited by our guides, and not the other way around. Perhaps I wasn’t recruited, precisely; but my beloved friend wanted to get some important things done on earth at this crucial time, and essentially I said, “Here am I.” That much I do know!
Dear Scott, that is a lovely image! Personally, I am immensely relieved that the burden of making this work doesn’t rest on us, nor does it rest even on our guides, but rather it is being orchestrated at the highest levels of reality. Our guides are in service as much as we are, attuned to the highest levels and joyous in serving both us and the Godhead. It really is a glorious system!
Dearest Roberta,
Thankfully this blog format allows us to chime in at different places in the chat stream and at different times. (I’m glad this format has not been changed, merged, subsumed, reconstituted or reworked etc..) However it seems that many of you are awake when I am asleep and visa versa.
Hence, I was delighted when I awoke to such an interesting turn in the conversation that had occurred when I was asleep and clueless –
If I’ve learned one thing in this life, it’s that service is the real point. Service is also where the joy can be found. You know, I have experienced both positions of (up front) leadership, and of working as purely one of a team. And I’ve learned that in either position, it is a heart of service that makes you most effective.
In short, I could achieve much more by serving others than by self promotion. When I attempted to set aside my ego self for the greater good, things worked out in bigger ways than I could have ever anticipated.
In the vital work of saving humanity, which is born out of the love of the Godhead, what is more wonderful than playing our own chosen instrument in the great symphony that was created for us from beyond the stars?
And may Divine Grace bring it to resplendent fullness.
Dear Efrem, all of this is such a surprising voyage! Yes, the core joy of all of it is service, and for me even a still greater personal joy is that now I am listening to Thomas in my heart, and through him I am in touch with the Godhead as I never have been before.
I love the way that you, Mike, Scott, and others are working so openly with your guides, but that never was me. To be a writing channel is not the same thing as working directly with your guide every day, and knowing what your guide is actually saying and thinking! I was always far too practical, and – frankly – too skeptical for that. He always worked just as a part of my mind. He never spoke directly. I had no idea of him as a person, nor did I even know his name. And we both thought that was ideal.
Then came Liberating Jesus. I refused to write something that he had signed me up to write thirty years before, so in early 2015 he had to come out to me through a medium and convince me to do it.
I was in touch with Thomas through a medium for a couple of years after we wrote LJ, and I loved that! It was like having a new best friend. But soon he found that way of working was distracting me from our actually doing the work (I kept asking him questions about Jefferson, for one thing), so he abruptly ended our use of a medium and insisted that we go back to internal communication exclusively. I resisted that. He was abandoning me, and I couldn’t do this alone! He had promised me as a condition of my allowing LJ to be published that I would have daytime contact with him for the rest of my life, and now he was breaking our deal.
So then he taught me how to more deeply listen, and how to trust. And as I did that, there he was! I think it’s a lot easier for most of you to trust enough to really hear your guides, but not me. However, he has gradually opened me to knowing him not as the external friend that he was for two years, but as my direct conduit to Spirit – still himself, but so much more! – and now we are closer than we ever have been, either when he was working as part of my mind or when he was briefly my external buddy.
Now this dry and practical researcher has found God not as the certain concept that I discovered during decades of researching the afterlife, but as the glory at the heart of all. And that is Thomas’s greatest gift, and now my very greatest joy.
Sorry for the duplicate. I had trouble being recognized as a human. 😄 wifi issue probably.
Dear Scott, this is fine. The more we have of you, the better 😉
‘Jesus looked at them and said,
“With man this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible.”’
– Matthew 19:26.
Jesus has such a wonderful turn of phrase, doesn’t He? Even after two translations over two thousand years, everything He says is still so beautiful, and so directly at the heart of truth. To be reading the Bible from cover to cover and leave the Old Testament and begin Matthew always felt like a great surprise to me, like plodding through the ancient world for months, and then unexpectedly finding a deeply modern man there, speaking to me directly. Even as a child He always had that effect on me.