Tuesday’s votes are already counted

"Vote" buttonA spiritual teacher I highly respect recently confided to me, “Contrary to the view I usually hold of human beings as inherently holy, I have trouble holding that view of one of the political candidates. I would have less trouble holding Hitler as holy; at least Hitler had some passion. This guy, no matter how hard I try to see him otherwise, seems empty, soulless, and zombie-like to me. And I wonder why I can’t seem to get past this with him. He makes me shudder.”

I could relate to her concern; but I couldn’t concur with her angst. That’s because while I fervently believe all souls are inherently holy, I don’t hold the same view of human beings. For me, “human” is the costume we’re wearing; it is not at all who we are.

The Body and Soul Disconnection

Distinguishing the mortal body from the immortal soul provides a different and deeper context for the drama on Earth’s stage. It enables me to watch the action from Life’s balcony more objectively, and opens me to the possibility that there is a script outline guiding the acts.

Paper ballots in boxesWhen you watch Life long enough from the balcony, you can glimpse evidence that “the script is already written.” This U.S. presidential election drama is no different: The votes were cast and counted eons ago, just as the evolution and devolution of this planet were obvious in the Big Picture.

A Body with a Soul or Vice Versa?

Let me explain: Imagine that you were made in the image of your Creator: immortal, invisible, and invincible. There is no beginning or end to you. You are soul, and as soul you have the free will to do whatever you want.

One day, you learn that something dramatically transformative was going to occur on teeny tiny planet Earth during the 21st century. Grand theater! You don’t have to watch it from afar; you can actually be part of it.

You survey the planet’s locales, and decide the perfect place and circumstances. You spot old friends over there who could be your parents and siblings. While their bodies sleep, you huddle with them and plan your entrance onto Earth’s stage. It’s all quite exciting, and what a break from the monotone life of soul: *Om*

But here’s the thing: You quickly discover that millions of other souls had the same idea. Bummer.

Entering Earth’s Stage

There you are, in the wings of Earth’s theater, surrounded by a swarm of souls patiently awaiting their stage cues. There’s no pushing or shoving. There’s no anxiety—with the exception of those who are returning to the stage because they bombed miserably in their previous performances.

Golden Rule on bronze bears statueThese bad actors have reason to dread the return. They violated a rule so simple and so basic that some call it golden: They treated others in ways they wouldn’t want to be treated. Now, they will be treated the way they treated others. Ergo, the queasy feeling in their celestial bellies. Diagnosis: Bad karma.

But enough of those unfortunate karma creators. You’d rather focus your attention on your temporary home, an intriguing location called the United States of America.

Intriguing is an understatement. This particular spot on Earth, considered the leader of the free world and a Christian country, paradoxically was founded and has been sustained for more than 200 years through acts of oppression, suppression, bigotry, injustice and violence—often under the guise of religion.

The Karmic Ricochet

America is in a “what-goes-around-comes-around” world. It is governed not by the laws of men, but by the Law of Karma. Some call it the Law of Attraction or the Law of Reciprocity. It all means the same.

Most of us don’t believe that because we’ve seen too many people fail to receive what they have given. But karma isn’t attached to people. People are merely human body costumes that souls wear during that bat-of-an-eyelash experience called a human lifetime.

We step out of our bodies, leaving them like a heap of gym clothes on a locker room floor. And the karma we created while wearing those bodies follows us, just as the glory or embarrassment of athletes’ performances follows them, not their uniforms. Karma is also attached to the soul of a nation.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

The karmic energy of this country, a mere molecule of this dust speck of a planet hanging in the massive universe, is seductive to those who revel in pain and discord. But it is just as attractive to souls who want to heal pain. That’s why you and I were so determined to be here now.

We knew about the karmic history of this place; some of us even helped create it. We knew that 2012 would signal a major turning point, a shift. We knew that the schisms and “isms” that have historically mired this nation had to be coaxed from the underbelly into the sunlight so that they and the nation could be healed. We also knew that one incredibly courageous actor would volunteer to be the target of the venom and the catalyst for the healing.

We’ve read the script. We know the outcome. The votes were cast and counted before most of us stepped onto the planet. Tuesday our body costumes will discover what we already know: whether or not this nation, through blatant disregard and disrespect for all of creation, will eat itself alive.

The dreaded karma conversation

(continued from “Troy Davis left something for you“)

When we look at Earth’s stage from here, the first thing we notice is that every performer is wearing a costume that functions exclusively in this atmosphere. Most of the actors appear to be following a script., although there are some who are trying to do improv with varying degrees of success. (Ha’ mercy, entering the stage without a plan can be a recipe for disaster!)

You’ll also notice that not one of those actors thinks Earth’s theater is real Life. Not one of them entered intending to stay. Each came with its own purpose, time line, to-do list and exit strategy. If you could see their scripts, you’d have some insight into these souls’ history, and some context for this phase of their eternal lives. More important, you might even discover context for your own.

I believe that is the gift that Troy Davis and others present us when they perform in front of global audiences. If we’re paying attention, we might grasp the lessons they’re teaching. We might ask, “What do they want me to know about myself, as an immortal soul?”

Know thyself

No one is here by accident. If we are to discover and accomplish our purpose for the visit, we must be conscientious and receptive to new information. It could come from anywhere, even from souls playing the roles of former Death Row inmates Troy Davis and Samuel David Crowe.

We can’t intrude and read their scripts. But when we look at their contrasting outcomes, we have some clues about the scripts’ content and their souls’ histories. Through them, we might discover more about ourselves.

Troy Davis and Samuel David Crowe

Credit: Ga. Dept. of Corrections/Reuters

Both Davis and Crowe were in the Death Row section of Earth’s stage, convicted of murder. Davis (left) was executed, despite pleas from Pope Benedict XVI, former FBI Director William S. Sessions, Bishop Desmond Tutu, former president Jimmy Carter and the prayers and online petitions of tens of thousands of people around the world. Crowe (right) was spared, due mostly to the efforts of a lesser known group, Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Why were their outcomes so different?

If we look beyond the color of the costumes these souls were wearing, one answer is obvious: The outcomes served each soul’s purpose and honored each one’s schedule. No one, not even the Pope, can override the will of a soul on a mission. If a soul wants to leave its body—even if the ego in that body adamantly disagrees—the soul will do it. According to the evidence, the soul inside Troy Davis’s body wanted total freedom on September 21, 2011, or it would still be confined to it. Just as clearly, the soul inside Crowe’s body had not scheduled its departure on May 22, 2008, or it would have left behind human remains.

But there’s also a less obvious answer: As souls, Davis and Crowe have been alive forever, and have different karmic histories, which naturally results in different scripts with different outcomes. As far as we know, the soul that became Davis might have gotten away with murder or falsely accused someone else of murder while performing another role, in another play, at another time in its immortal life. Just speculating.

But what if that really is what happened? The soul is very much aware that a human lifetime on Earth is only a bat-of-an-eyelash experience in the Universal time/space continuum. Why wouldn’t it take a second to restore balance to another situation?

In this case, punishment for a crime Davis didn’t commit would balance. It would be considered a victory, a mission accomplished. What if it came with a karmic bonus? What if, in the process, the soul inspired a multitude of people to take the next step in man’s evolution, to move beyond revenge, barbarism and flawed man-made law to become more humane, if not divine. A twofer! Again, I’m not stating fact, just offering some possibilities, based on the real Life principles we use in Drama Queen Workshops:

  • Life is always fair.
  • God is never far.
  • Death is not THE END.
  • Absolutely nothing is unforgivable.

And that brings us to Crowe. Based on the testimonials of those who were advocating on his behalf, Crowe was very repentant, remorseful, and took full responsibility for his crime. With this context, it’s possible that the soul that became Crowe chose a different technique for restoring balance: He forgave himself. That’s a little-known option that substitutes for the “having it done to you” part. I discovered it in one of my readings years ago. After seeing how spectacularly it neutralized negative karma for me, I now highly recommended. (I related that life-altering situation in EARTH Is the MOTHER of All Drama Queens, pp.116-118)

That brings us to the final question in our dreaded karma conversation:

How can we use and share the gifts these souls have given us?

Davis and Crowe remind us to be more conscious as we perform our roles and interact with others on Earth’s stage. I’m reminding you to maintain top-of-mind awareness that we are immortal souls temporarily wearing the costume of human beings. No matter what skin we’re in, the Laws of Balance and Reciprocity will apply to us; so it is in our best interest to doing nothing to someone else that we would not want done to us at some point in our eternal lives: That means everything from being dishonest or taking something that doesn’t belong to us to harming or depriving someone of their body.

It’s also in our best interest to discover why we’re here on this planet at this time. It’s so easy to become distracted by the sights and sounds of Earth. We’re susceptible to messages that we are in control, that we can have anything we want. That applies to the real you, as soul, not your body costume. Use those prayers and affirmations to find clues to your soul’s purpose. Pay attention to what it embraces and what it rejects.

Jobs, relationships,and entrepreneurial income may keep eluding you for any number of reasons. Take the time to cultivate a relationship with your real self to find out why. Ask for guidance and follow it. Part of the reason it’s said that it’s so difficult for a rich man to get into “heaven,” that state of peaceful consciousness, is that he’s too distracted by the outer world to find the real treasure within.

Periods of lack could be the most evolutionary of your soul’s existence. Replace stress with real success.

We keep looking at life from a human perspective when that literally scratches the surface. From the viewpoint of soul, I can confidently say, “This is not Pat’s life, it’s mine. She’s necessary so that I can be visible in Earth’s atmosphere. Through her, I am fulfilling my purpose for coming. The Divine within me is not here to do her will. She is here to do ours.”

Balance is natural; balancing karma is a victory, no matter what it looks and feels like on Earth’s stage. Davis’s victory demonstrates that real Life is greater than our physical eyes can see, and as souls, we are more powerful and present than we realize. Our immortal souls’ desires are more potent than prayers, thoughts, visualizations and other manipulations.

We could save ourselves a lot of frustration and disappointment by trusting our immortal selves to know what is for the Highest Good in any situation. Trusting the Divine within, instead of becoming attached to the one created in our mortal brains, enables us to embrace any outcome, and know that all is well.

Having said that, I was hopeful that barbarism would not rule the day on September 21, and my heart broke when I read the news of the execution. But I trusted that everything was in Divine Order, happening as it should, no matter what it looked like here on the stage. I trusted that by sacrificing his body (not his life), Troy Davis made a huge difference in the world.

And he did.

Troy Davis left something for you (in two parts)

Today we laid to rest the body of Troy Davis, whose execution last week stunned the world and attracted more than 1,000 mourners to his funeral in Savannah. Davis’s state-sanctioned premeditated murder exposed our interminably slow costume change from Ardipitheus ramidus to fully civilized human beings.

Yes, our bodies have evolved over billions of years; but it appears that we have not yet shed our Neanderthal nature. We still have a death grip on barbarism, justifying our behavior with man-made scriptures mandating that offenders “shall surely be put to death.”

With every highly publicized act of inhumanity such as this, it’s beginning to dawn on us that our primordial behaviors are just as beastly now as they were then. Were it not for souls such as the one who came to play the role of Troy Davis, we might still be brutally clubbing each other for sport, and offering the bodies of dead innocents as live sacrifices to imaginary mountain- and sky-dwelling gods.

It’s no coincidence that Davis came to Earth during a period when electronic communication galvanizes millions in minutes to advocate for a cause. He made us stop whatever we were doing and cry out for justice, compassion and reason. Rallying around this cause reacquainted us with the dormant Divine within our souls. It felt good, it felt right to declare that the man-made law of capital punishment is always a barbaric and inappropriate response in a civilized world.

So why were we stunned and outraged the next day by news reports that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, which had been so adamant about killing Davis, had aborted the execution of a confessed killer in 2008? Samuel David Crowe was only three hours away from a lethal injection when his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

“Unfair! we screamed. “Double standard!”

More than meets the human eye

Limited by the sight lines of Earth’s stage and blinded by its footlights, all we could see was the inequity the treatment of the two Death Row inmates: The black man, whose guilt had not been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, was murdered. The white man, whose guilt had never been questioned, was spared.

On the surface, we saw blatant bigotry. But in the balcony of this drama, our Higher Self saw something else. Of course It would: It has crystal clear vision. It sees many dimensions beyond this fantasy called physical life. It sees real Life.

The Higher Self knows that real Life is always fair and it always makes sense—no matter what it looks like from Earth’s stage. An omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and unconditionally loving God would not have created it any other way.

Looking through that lens, what could logically explain the heartbreaking scene we were witnessing? Rather than give God the benefit of the doubt, most of us are satisfied with concluding that Life and the God who created It are simply unfair. We are too afraid to look on the other side of the stray thread of the Universal blanket protecting our fearful little heads to see what’s there. We are not open to the possibility that anything exists beyond the physical world.

If we dared to believe in an awesome God, we’d discover that real Life is not constantly deteriorating matter; it’s invisible, invincible and immortal energy. Life cannot be saved or taken. It has no beginning or end. Its governed by divine laws that are simple and cause no harm.

The rule is golden for a reason

BalanceOne of those laws in real Life is balance. Like gravity, the physical law with which we’re most familiar, balance is in play all the time; it applies to everyone, equally. Balance is the “eye for an eye” undercurrent that flows through real Life. When we create imbalance in our relationships with ourselves and others, the process of restoring that balance naturally begins. It doesn’t require our awareness or effort, much as gravity doesn’t require anything from us.

We lose sight of that law when our souls are weighted down by human body costumes. Everyday is Halloween: We become totally immersed in our characters; we lose ourselves in our roles; we focus our attention on achieving stature and acquiring physical things. We treat others based on the costumes they’re wearing. If they’re not the same color or class as ours, we become suspect or worse, superior.

We lose awareness of real Life’s simple law of balance: Do unto others as you would have them to do unto to you. We forget that the process of restoring balance is the reason the rule is Golden: Whatever you do will be done to you.

We tend not to believe that, or we think that there are exceptions to the rule, because we don’t always witness or experience the restoration of natural balance within the bat-of-an-eyelash time frame that our souls are wearing a particular body. It only means that we’ve forgotten something else: Consequences are not attached to our mortal body costumes; they are tied to our immortal souls.

It’s the lucky soul who experiences the reaping while wearing the same costume of the sower. At least some dots can be connected. Imagine the whiplash when what goes around comes around while a soul is playing an entirely different role. The occurrence seems inexplicable, maybe event unfair. Those who are familiar with my soul’s checkered past, which I discovered during many years of spiritual sleuthing expeditions and shared in my memoir, EARTH Is the MOTHER of All Drama Queens, know precisely what I’m talking about.

Every goodbye ain’t gone

We’re deluded into thinking that we’re mortals; when our bodies die, we’re dead. But anyone who has felt the presence of a loved one who has “passed” (note the active verb) or experienced a “something told me to…” moment knows that there are more life forms here than we can see with our human eyes.

If you’ve ever attended a seminar with author Rebecca Rosen, as I had the great privilege of doing during her book tour a couple of years ago (Thanks again, Lyle), it’ll remove all doubt: Life is invisible; it’s not a physical body. I didn’t doubt it at all when I walked in the door, and was stunned and exhilarated to witness the exchange of information between souls and the relatives they’d left behind. One of the skeptics there, a young widower whose wife died following childbirth, left the auditorium believing in eternal Life, after speaking with her soul that evening.

It seemed that she and the others were determined to prove that they are still alive. Some repeated things their loved ones had said in the car, on the way to the theater, or talked about food they had just eaten or prepared. One soul thanked his widow for still leaving his slippers next to his favorite chair. He even mentioned that he was hanging out with his long-time buddy. The widow didn’t even know the man was dead! They’d lost contact.

What I’ve learned is that no one “rests in peace,” a phrase highlighting our delusion that at some point, we will be dead bodies, not vibrant souls. On Facebook right now, there’s an “R. I. P. Troy Davis” page. True, Troy’s body is supine; but he’s not resting in it. He is the soul, the life, and the breath that left it.

As an immortal soul, he lives and is active, just as he was actively living before he donned that body costume 42 years ago. I have no doubt he was relieved last week to awake on the other side of the prison walls for the first time in 22 years. But how did he get there in the first place?

Spirit is directing me to delete the rest of this post because everyone’s not ready for the answer. For those who are, meet me at Part Two: The Dreaded Karma Conversation.

Yes, I am going there. If you have the stamina and an open heart, I invite you climb to the next level in Balcony of Life. Quite possibly, things will become even more clear from that viewpoint.

Your entire life in six words

Prolific thinker and author Ernest Hemingway once said that his six-word story was one of the best pieces of writing he had ever penned: Ever read it? For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn. Brilliant: Opening act. Climax. Denouement. Curtain. In six words. And nobody left the theater wondering what happened.

Many have issues challenges to write a story in only six words–fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, romance, even autobiographies. The cutest one I’ve seen was the life story of an elderly dog: “Lost then found. Worked out great!”

As humans, we tend to complicate our lives, then we say that life is complicated. But we’re the ones unnecessarily creating challenges, and often making an even bigger mess when we try to resolve those challenges. Consider this: Life is not difficult; only a sadistic God would have made it so. Most things in life can be handled as simply as a six-word story, if we follow a few simple guidelines:

  • Love yourself. Once you know who you are, you can’t help but love every bit of you. And when you understand that you are part of the One Presence in the Universe, everything changes.
  • There is no spot where God is not. Consider the possibility that God is bigger and greater than a mythical male being who lives millions of miles away. If a spark of God is in every soul, everyone encountered is a Holy One. Is that how we treat them?
  • We reap what we sow. If we reflected on everything we did or said to someone during this past week alone, would we be eager for our harvest–or regretful?
  • Judge nothing, condemn no one, forgive everyone. It is reported that a loving Jew, who centuries later came to be known as Jesus, said: “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37) At the end of the day, we will not have to account for what others did to us–only for what we did to them. 

 

We frequently excuse or justify our unChrist-like retaliatory behavior by pointing fingers at the other person, and repeating what he or she did–as if it’s our job to determine harvest time. All we’re really saying is that we don’t trust God to do God’s job. We use it as an excuse for not doing ours: Our job is to be the Light of the World. Our job is to remember that Light and Darkness cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Our job is to see Invisible Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient Spirit that is God in everyone.

Let’s also remember that God must balance each situation on Earth through a physical channel. That channel might be you; but the only way you’ll know is if you ask for guidance, and remain open for direction, so that you can take the proper action.

There will be times when Spirit says, “Sit down, I got this.” Sit, trusting that the matter will be resolved in a most divine way, for the Highest Good of all concerned.

Other times, Spirit might say, “Listen, this is what I need you to do…” Do you know Spirit’s voice when you hear it? Don’t fool yourself or try to fool anyone else by saying that Spirit directed you to do something mean-spirited or self-righteous. If the solution is not simple or loving, it’s not God. You’re listening to your ego. You’re serving a false god. Be careful: It will compel you to make a withdrawal from your soul’s karmic bank account, and you might not have enough deposits to cover it.

Trust that everyone will get exactly what’s they deserve, in the manner and intensity that their behavior warrants. That’s the immutable law of the Universe. Unfortunately, our egos are so short-sighted that they want justice to show up a certain way, at a certain time. They don’t have enough insight to distinguish the mortal body from the immortal soul.

Egos have no idea that everything we do becomes part of our soul’s record. Some of the consequences meet us right way. Others don’t revisit until after our bodies fall away, throwing us off-guard, making us think that we’re victims.

If egos were eternal, they’d care more about that; but personalities die with bodies, and we’re left cleaning up the mess at some other juncture in our eternal lives. How do we get the upper hand?

Personally, I try to be very mindful of the consequences of every action. I ask frequently ask myself, “How would I want someone to treat me, if the situation was reversed?”  I also pay close attention to the kinds of situations in which I find myself, always asking: “Why did I attract this situation or person? What lesson do I, as a soul, want to learn that this scenario or person came to teach me?”

I’ve discovered that certain dramas encore at a mind-numbing rate. The reason: I didn’t learn the lesson the previous times. I didn’t respond with love, rather than anger or revenge. I wasn’t patient with myself and others. I didn’t forgive. I didn’t let the Light lead. I didn’t choose peace. I didn’t trust God. If, as a soul, I have made a commitment to learn these lessons, I will voluntarily repeat these classes and call in tougher teachers until I pay attention and capitalize on these opportunities to practice responding to all situations in a more Christlike manner.

Life is not complicated when you seek higher consciousness. Actually, it’s so simple that you can write your memoir or epitaph in six words: “Asleep, then enlightened. Life became fun!” And nobody will leave your theater wondering what happened.