Dream and Reality

If the Spirit World is reality and the Earth merely a shadow, does this mean that when we have passed from here everything we experienced will seem like a dream? While we are here everything seems so real and so immediate. It appears impossible that our five senses are deceiving us but . . .! We are told that when we sleep here on Earth, we are often taken to visit the Spirit World. Maybe after we have passed we will revisit the Earth in our dreams!

It may not be as strange as it sounds. Physical life and spiritual life are so closely blended it is often difficult to notice the dividing line. Who is to say when we experience moments of intense emotion, sometimes for no apparent reason, that we are not at that moment more our spiritual than our earthly selves? Most of us tend to dismiss such ideas as fanciful but are they? Yesterday I wrote about the immense influence love can have on our lives. Who would be brave enough to deny that the feelings experienced between true lovers, between mother and children, between siblings are spiritual in origin? Certainly not me; I believe that the main objective of life on Earth is to refine our spiritual selves through the cathartic action of the furnace which is physical life. Physical experiences subject our spirit selves to spiritual challenges that are very different from those we underwent when in spirit. How we choose to react to them provides the measure of our spiritual progress.

This I believe is why we are often faced with a variety of options or choices. Rarely do we find that there is just a single choice to make when we are faced with deciding on an important factor in our lives. When we choose to change the direction that our lives are taking, the road we choose is never the only one available. At such times we should develop the habit of ‘going within’ or meditating to help us make the best decision. Why? Because inside, deep in our spiritual selves, we really do know why we chose to subject ourselves to this furnace of life. As a result, in meditation we can bring that knowledge to the surface of our conscious mind.

Those who meditate regularly will also have experienced those meditations that happen only occasionally; when you are suffused with such a powerful energy, often accompanied by bright light, that for the remainder of that day and sometimes longer, it as if you are floating on cloud nine. Undoubtedly such transcendental experiences are powerfully spiritual and designed to reinforce our inner knowledge of the eternity and purposefulness of life. Yes, the spiritual and the earthly are essential parts of each person and sometimes the dividing line that is usually apparent, disappears completely. We should be so grateful to the Great Spirit whose love for us is shown by these kindly glimpses of our true nature.

When the challenges of life seem almost too much to bear, we should remember where reality lies. It lies deep within each one of us and is not physical; it transcends all physical sensation and emotion. It is pure spirit. It is the real you, the indestructible, vital and beautiful you. Never doubt that you are beautiful. No matter what facets of your personality your earthly experience has brought to the fore, beneath all that you are a pure, beautiful and eternal spirit, who one day will take your place alongside the angels and archangels.