ja_mageia

We have become very familiar in the modern world with the language of rights and responsibilities, but I want to explore a very different way of perceiving the human condition that we call ‘life’.

The soul – like all the energies of this cosmos – is eternal. Unlike human life, it has no beginning and no ending. A yet for a period of a few years or a few decades the soul becomes incarnate (- born) in human form; the soul appears in human form as a human being. And this human being is subject to the natural laws of birth, growth, death and transformation.

There are some interesting questions to ponder here. What triggers the eternal soul to appear in human form? Why does that transformation happen at the specific moment in history that we call the birth-day?  And perhaps most intriguing of all, what purpose is served by the incarnation of the soul in a temporary human form?

We have no awareness of any control or choice over when, where or how the soul is made incarnate. So life is simply a gift. Life is given to the soul by or through the Creator. Stop for one moment and stand in the enormity of this statement: as a human being today, my soul has been given this gift of life. I don’t know how long this gift will last. I don’t know why it was given. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do with this gift.  It’s a gift unlike any other gift we receive. The gift grows with us throughout life: it keeps changing and transforming. We have some control over what we do with the gift and how we use it, even though we have no idea when the batteries are going to run out. It’s a most fantastic gift that we can use for all sorts of purposes, selfishly or generously, good or bad, constructively or destructively. When we talk in everyday conversation about human rights and human responsibilities, we are usually only scratching at the surface of the magnanimity of this gift whose origins and purposes we cannot know.

The only choice that we have is what use to make of this gift in each moment and each day that is given to us to live.

Does the Creator have a purpose for incarnating my soul here, today, in this place. Is my soul walking on this planet in human form at this specific time, for a purpose?  Given that I am surrounded by other incarnate souls during my time on Earth, then I can view the question of purpose in one of two ways. Either, this gift is given me for my benefit, to use for my own pleasure or selfish gain – whilst realising that any pleasure or gain is purely temporary and transient. Or, this gift of life is given me in order that I might bring benefit to other beings – perhaps through peace, wholeness, love, compassion and healing, and thereby leave a legacy beyond my life that has an impact on others.

This is a fundamental choice that each of us makes, consciously or unconsciously in the way we live this gift of life.

And if I am to live this gift in a manner that leaves a benefit or a legacy to others, it requires my incarnate soul to manifest physically and exist temporally with as much authenticity, truth, integrity and sincerity as I can muster. Uncovering this truth within us, finding this authenticity, appears to be a lifetime’s work for most human beings. Whilst the incarnate soul is born simple, pure and whole, it quickly become corrupted. Getting past our emerging self-deceptions, ego-ambitions, and judgements is the task of awakening into consciousness and the awareness of our own true soul nature.

This perhaps takes us full-circle. The purpose of the gift of life is to continually present us as human beings with opportunities to realise the nature of our eternal soul. And when we have re-membered that soul, we can lay down the human gift and resume the soul path.