2008-09-08-Honoring Your Conscious Lives

Session

Opening

Dear Michael and Mother Spirit, Welcome. As we get together to feel your presence and to honor you, our spiritual parents, we ask you help us keep in mind the profound other reasons we gather like this, and those are because we can. Help us keep in mind those human rights that we are blessed to enjoy in a society and political culture that more than grants them by constitutional law, but actually acknowledges them as fundamental and inalienable--those abilities to assemble together and be free to express ourselves, to share our innermost thoughts and truths with each other. And as we value these basic human rights, help us then to evaluate both our own and others’, and other society's progress in developing and evolving and assuring these rights for all. This we ask in the name of your definition of us as beings created with will dignity--the dignity to choose and the freedom to get together to experience and share what those decisions are based upon. Amen.

Lesson

• (Honoring your conscious lives)

MICHAEL: Good evening, my children, this is Michael, your spiritual father, your one-time brother in the flesh--so even, still, and always, your spiritual brother too. You are not only my sons and daughters, you are my brothers and sisters. We are all children of God and it is both my and Mother Spirit’s great delight to share your lives with you. We can feel what it is to be you from the inside-out as well as from the outside-in. This we wish to assure you, over and over again, that we treasure these equally. It is not only our ability to see you as your spiritual parents, with many hundreds of billions of years experience now on literally millions of inhabited worlds--the way in which we can see you even more fully and completely that you are yet able to see yourselves--your God-given personalities, your evolving souls; also we appreciate and we honor the way in which you see yourselves, the lives you live for yourselves.

This way we can see you as well as a very dynamic, profoundly growing self. We give you this assurance that as you feel yourselves, as you experience yourselves--however limited, however changing, however prone to necessary relapses into unconsciousness to sleep and rest; still these conscious selves--the conscious lives you live, have their own spiritual value that is growing. So we would have you, my children, value and feel the spirit in yourselves, in your conscious lives, even while you humbly acknowledge there is as yet so much more to you, just there is so much more to Mother Spirit, and myself, and our mutual Universal Father, that must remain a matter of faith, something to grow into as your experience and your wisdom also evolve.

As we see it, this is what it is to be a human being as you mentioned in your opening prayer, a creature of will dignity. A corollary to that, my children, is: how to increase in a valid way the true dignity you can earn for yourselves day to day, and not be led off into some spurious, phony, unreal, what you call an ego trip, some unbalanced and very harmful over-evaluation, over-inflation of yourself? It’s all very much a moment-to-moment kind of living balance, getting an ever greater capacity to feel all you are and all you are growing to be, at the same time also maintaining an ever increasing open-mindedness, an ever evolving ability to avoid prejudice--pre-judging any number of things before you actually experience them. This is seeking and actually relying upon spiritual humility rather than fearing feeling your self to be such a limited, finite creature. Glory in all that reality that is greater than you that you can be aware of.

We gave the example once before of standing on the seashore and, rather than feeling dwarfed and miniscule and insignificant, just a tiny little self-conscious speck of reality, glory in all that you can be aware of--that illimitable ocean, that infinity of personal beings surrounding you, every one of them an infinity to himself or herself inside. This is the glory of humility, of being aware of what is greater than you that you can orient yourself towards as the way forward, the way to grow.

Yes, it is true that what you value in your own life becomes a kind of tool that you can use to evaluate yourself and others, your growth and theirs. And here again you have that balance, that humility in acknowledging that everyone has their own profound inner uniqueness they share only with themselves and with God, with Mother Spirit and myself. For as you feel this personal uniqueness deeper and deeper within yourself, and welcome it without feeling cut off or isolated or lonely because of it, to that very degree you can grant this to others; you can actually see it in them. This is how you avoid simple-minded generalities and prejudices while you seek for true spiritual simplicity, those universal threads that run through everything and everyone.

This is how you keep in mind you are all experiential beings--your life’s experiences are what fill your souls. This is what you most truly are--all those experiences you’ve had--that even God had to create you and set you free, to have for Himself through you, with you, as you. Here again you could feel so utterly, terribly limited with your few years of life compared to that vast eternity stretching out before you, and so we tease you by calling you tadpoles; but only with respect to what you will become some day. You also, my children, already have souls that are enormous, all those thousands and thousands of hours of living experience captured and vouchsafed by a fragment of God.

This is, if you will, your life seen through His eyes, with His understanding, His knowledge, His wisdom, and so we’ve given you ways of getting in touch with this enormous soul of yours, not only feeling and glorying in your conscious life, but taking time out in your busy, necessary activities to value this contact with spirit. If you set aside some time just to be and let whatever of your soul that wants to, pop up, this will assure you that it too is there: your soul is more than just faith. This is how faith becomes a matter of experience.

• Faith (Acting on faith)

Here on this very special world of yours where things have gone so wildly askew from a one-time possible divine plan, all of you who can have faith, who can act on the evidence of things unseen, who can act with all the help of Mother Spirit’s Mind/Spirit Adjutants--especially those of courage, understanding, counsel, worship and wisdom; those who can actually act on these do fulfill the special role of Agondonter. This is contrasted to those who live on worlds with the long time spiritual out-workings of a loyal Planetary Prince, Material Son and Daughter, the Planetary Prince’s material staff--they are all there, but for the Prince--physical living beings to see, feel and touch. You don’t have these and so those of you who can actually act upon your faith, and realize it--feel that marvelous transformation as faith becomes experience, becomes part of your soul; this develops a kind of character, a kind of personality soul-possession that even the angels envy you--(Michael chuckles)--your so-called blighted planetary condition.

Such choice you have, such dignity of will you can evolve here. And seeing this, and understanding this, gives you that confidence in God’s essential goodness, God’s sense of balance and compensation. He compensates for you being on the lowest rung of personal beings by giving you a Fragment of His pure Self to be at the tender mercies of your decisions, of your taking time out to value and befriend Him within you.

And so congratulations, my children, this is why Mother Spirit and I have such confidence in you. We are blessed to see you growing in ways which are not yet perceptible to yourselves. But every day you lean into the challenges, every day you exercise your faith, you are developing the precious quality of character. This is the ultimate value of your personality, if you will, its sole but only necessary possession.

As you encounter each other this is what you can feel, what you perceive of each others’ soul: that ineffable but very real quality of character. So be of good cheer. Fight the good fight of faith, loyalty, and consciousness. Glory in all that you are and all you’ve known so far, ever humble to that enormity out there you will never ever, in all of eternity, even begin to exhaust. This is also how you put your trust in our Father, Mother Spirit, and me. This is how you step off, trusting the ground will be underfoot when it’s all new. Keep leaning into it. Keep being determined to experience; and then let us do the rest. Trust in us to be there for you. This is our joy. This is our glory in being your spiritual parents, and son and daughter of God.

If you have any questions or comments this evening, just stretch out your hands and open your minds. Reach for us, my children, and we’ll meet you half way.

Dialogue

Student: Father Michael, I was wondering, once more I guess, about ego and how it plays a role in my life. I have an extreme difficulty with meditation stillness. I can’t even sit down and do it. I’m wondering why. Why can’t I sit down and do such an important thing?

MICHAEL: Yes, my son. First let me ask you what you mean by ego for that term, as you know, has such a variety of meanings in different psychologies, and almost every person has a different sense of their own.

Student: I don’t have a good definition, I guess I’m looking for one. Maybe it’s not even ego; maybe it’s plain fear or something. Maybe it’s just plain sloth. I have no idea what it is.

• Ego (Ego and self)

MICHAEL: We once likened ego to your bathroom mirror, a very handy, even necessary device by which you try to see yourselves. The simplest definition of ego is your self image if you expand that to include all of your self perceptions, even how you feel your own body, moment to moment, which is also ever changing; along with your memories of who you feel you’ve been. Like your bathroom mirror these perceptions are necessary and useful, on the one hand to shave or put on your makeup, more broadly to take care of yourself. And also like the mirror your ego is very limited dimensionally and is not by any means your full self. What Mother Spirit and I have been trying to instruct you is that even your conscious self, that you can be aware of, is more than this ego: something ineffable; something transcendent.

But what you are on the edge of, my son, is what we mean by your being infinite to yourself--not just the enormous, partially-spiritual Morontia soul you’ve developed already; not just the millions of electro/chemical processes in your body--all the unconsciousness activities of your brain and nervous system; not even the forgotten memories that pop up on their own while listening to a piece of music: all these are hints that you are more than just your provisional ego so susceptible to your ever changing moods.

Because your ego is only a small fraction of you, by focusing exclusively on this self image are you led astray. It’s mistaking a limited image for your true spiritual reality, and because you are then based on the illusion of this fraction being your whole self, there is an inherent anxiety that leads to what you call egomania. You see this intrinsic, inherent anxiety most clearly in folks who feel driven to prop up their ego not only at the expense to themselves and their own growth. Egomaniacal tyrants all through history have showed the ruthlessness with which they were willing to sacrifice anyone else to keep propping up that shaky part of themselves.

Stillness is essentially quieting some of this self-propping-up by sitting down and just feeling yourself living--being thankful to be alive for awhile. Many good philosophies and metaphysics have evolved any number of meditative regimens--things to think about, mantras to repeat to yourself--and all of these are good exercises in and of themselves, and not to be slighted. Yet what we call stillness is just being, just relaxing the frantic need to support some notion of who and what you are by devoting a certain amount of time to relaxing and seeing what emerges.

Relax and let some of your soul wealth come to the surface. This is the wonderful fullness in otherwise worn-out memories that lets you relive for some precious few moments some other time of your life, and lets your poor, shaky ego be aware there is so much more to you than just it. The conundrum is: how do you enable a small, shaky, fearful part of you to relax into what it does not know will come along? This is the fear in meditation: if you relax this hold on yourself, this self-image, my goodness!--who knows what might come out--because it does.

Sometimes individuals have to wade through an enormous fear of pain involved in past experiences, in their soul. Yet you have opportunity to re-experience these previous times in the light--now--of your advanced wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Let these moments of your soul emerge and truly feel who you were at five, or ten, or fifteen. Take this opportunity to embrace and forgive those who may have hurt you so terribly, or those terrible mistakes where you find it so hard to forgive yourself. This is how your consciousness expands to embrace all that you are, including all you’ve been--your soul.

But finally, my son, let me remind there is no particular formal way of doing this. You do not have to sit down. You don’t have to get in some yoga position on a little pillow…

Student: …I can’t do that anymore, anyway… (Michael and group laughs)

• Soul (The fruits of ones soul)

MICHAEL: Just reflect as you go through your days--what we call little mini-meditations. Enjoying the fruits of your soul is, in a sense, escaping the narrow ego orientation, enjoying more and more who you are, what you are, what you are becoming. This is the real stuff. This is the real meditation. If you are doing this, you will be way ahead of the game for, in a way, this is the more advanced stage of what sitting in a formal kind of meditation ultimately leads to--a continuous, self-supporting and -reflecting awareness. This is the living, tipping balance I was talking about between what you are and what you are becoming--those perceptions you can act upon, and that faith that allows you to act upon what is not yet perceptible, but only possible.

So think of it this way, my son. See how much you are meditating, how much you are gaining a certain kind of stillness already.

Student: Thank you, Father Michael, you really are my brother and my father, and I appreciate your love and your words and the simple fact you are with us. Thank you.

MICHAEL: My pleasure. I see you are growing, and you become aware of this from time to time. You are growing more inwardly still, more confident. You are gaining in knowledge and understanding. You are feeling more free--as you have expressed so many times. Hopefully you’ll lose the fear of fear itself. When those fearful moments come along, you’ll simply recognize them: here I am fearful again. Just wait them out, or even approach them with curiosity. Keep going, my son, you’re doing well. And be in my peace.

Student: Thank you, Father Michael.

Student: Good evening, Michael. Going to a study group today we were reading about the idea of returning good for evil in all its aspects--the idea of turning the other cheek, and going the second mile. I also wonder about how you would work with someone to return to them their sense of self respect and self esteem.

There was also the idea of having to act on the good, to use your will to actually take action in the world. For me my struggle has always been with the sense of not feeling quite good enough to do it, and that for me…I know that you and God and His spirit are there for me--totally--but I never feel quite equal to it. My will never feels quite strong enough to really act on how I feel or perceive what I would need or want to do. It’s almost as if I’m too tight inside with fear and being overly-aware of myself. I freeze in the moment. A lot of the time it feels like there’s something missing, something I didn’t get--I’m not getting. I would just like to hear what you have to say to me about it.

• Inner Life (Inner feelings of fear and something missing)

MICHAEL: My daughter, it strikes me you are a very keen and courageous observer of the human condition. That is both a kind of glory in and of itself, being able to perceive a limitation that so many folks who get carried away with themselves and their projects lack, yet you are also feeling the trepidation and the constant need for courage to act in the face of this awareness. So first of all I want to congratulate you on that perception, for this is, as Mother Spirit reminded you; to feel this finiteness, this limitation in being a human being, this is what it is to be one in full consciousness.

You are very much identifying with spirit, for this is what gives you the perception of physical and mental limitations. You can understand that for those who do not have this perception from this point of view, they have no such sense. They may feel they are more than quite good enough for anything. Those who identify only with their physical strength--such as a young and inexperienced person--often require a solid object to run into--(Michael laughs)--over and over again before they begin to acknowledge they are not a be-all and end-all in themselves. And so it also is for those who have a great ego sense of their intellectual abilities and magnificence, who have no self-doubts that they know all there is to know about anything that might arise.

Still and all--understanding this, seeing this clearly--the feeling is still there of things not being quite good enough. I think you need to allow yourself to feel a little glory in what I talked about tonight as genuine accomplishments. I say this because you have such a keen sense of other’s ego trips you fear falling into such a trap yourself. You can be overly-cautious this way and belittle your own genuine accomplishments. And I mean this in your day to day fulfilling your duties to your children and friends and yourself. There is really no need for self-abasement, about yourself or in what you see.

You very correctly intuit that there is a kind of relaxation possible in allowing yourself to be content in God’s spirit, even though you feel so terribly finite and imperfect in this beginning stage of your life, my daughter, compared to all you will grow into. See if you can feel what Mother Spirit and I have talked about as completeness in each moment, insofar as you and everything else are God’s creation. There’s a kind of stillness in each instant of reality in which you and all the universe are complete already and, in a very--granted--humanly-strange sense, don’t need to continue on. You simply do--by God’s will: time and movement are God’s will. Each instant is complete and absolute and unique; incompleteness and imperfection allowing for growth and evolution exist in duration. In time you are growing, you are growing more perfect through your efforts. But in each instant there is nothing missing. Everything that exists--right down to the subatomic particle in its little nano-second of life--is the full resolution of preexisting forces. The seeming imperfection of every physical object is what makes it unique in its own self.

Does any of this resonate with you, my daughter? Can you get a sense of what I mean by this completeness, this full sufficiency of existence, that everything is fully real as it is moment to moment?--yet how this in no way limits you in making things better according to your own sense of goodness, your own sense of God’s will?

Student: Sometimes I can think of it and know that it’s good enough--complete in the moment. Other times I can’t.

• Courage (The need for courage and self-forgetfulness to get going)

MICHAEL: There is always that need for courage, and it is quite OK to pray for this, to ask for Mother Spirit’s and my help in this. Sometimes even a greater curse than fear is inertia, just getting going. (Yes) As you know, for so many folks in your culture this is the main use of drugs--stimulants--just to get that initial nudge. This is where your acute sense of yourself in your human condition has to be set aside in self-forgetfulness, right in what you want to do. Be open-minded. Ask yourself: what is there then that really captures me? What quest must I go on to discover that which takes me out of myself and fulfills me? In what can I loose myself in the very doing of it? This might be a necessary quest for you continually outgrow things, situations, and conditions. You are a living, experiential nodule of self-awareness. Really feel that. Be unafraid to feel. Then rest in that experience of life. Thank our Father for that--whatever it is. This is how you keep leap-frogging--(Ed: spelling?)--yourself with your momentary successes and accomplishments. Because each one runs out; each leads only to the next. But the whole keeps getting bigger. Your soul keeps getting bigger.

Student: And your faith as well--right?

MICHAEL: I understand, my daughter, that it is…tricky. Because of your own creativity there is a kind of self-fulfilling prophesy to it all. If you get lost in fear then that is what comes about through your own creative dread. I once said that to those who have much will more be given, while to those who have little, and are lost in fear, even that little may be taken away. And that doesn’t seem fair at all. But you have to trust the wisdom that set it up this way, that gives you the consciousness of your own finiteness, your own imperfection, your own need to grow--and the means to do so. You may have a fear of your unbounded curiosity because it seems to question those things you want to keep sacrosanct. To see disquieting curiosity for the blessing it is does take a bit of ironic humor.

Student: So in a sense the way that it is for me is the way it needs to be--for me, in order for me to grow.

MICHAEL: Moment by moment: acceptance and will-power. It is part of your acuteness of perception that you can see it. (Yes) Now you need to welcome that as a positive ability. Think of the more gross errors it keeps you out of. It is a kind of caution, and you can be too cautious. This is that living balance I spoke of. If you’re overwhelmed with worries and concerns and plans and projects, set them aside for a while and just meditate on your breath coming in and out. Feel the power of this living being you are. It is an ability, and you are learning it; you are earning it. And that too is part of God’s plan for you, certainly, to learn those positive abilities which enable you to handle what has been put into your hands, and what you too have chosen to do and be. I’m just reminding you that choice is still alive in you, that choice to welcome and embrace life, and be thankful for it. And be in my peace.

Student: Thank you.

Student: Yes Michael. So the circumstances we are a part of are what will benefit our own growth in experiencing a wholeness and oneness with our Father.

MICHAEL: Yes, that possibility is there if you take those circumstances the right way.

Student: And that’s where stillness comes in.

MICHAEL: It’s a great help. As I mentioned to C, that stillness can be a number of things; it can be an inner quiet and confidence and acceptance that lets you see the completeness and uniqueness of everything that is. Every grain of sand on a beach, every tree in a vast forest, every one of you: no two are the same. This is a big part of those circumstances you mention.

Student: One of the challenges I seem to have is patience with the circumstance of desiring something else, but not knowing what that something else is. I do want the wisdom and the faith that whatever that is, it is for the highest good and benefit. So sometimes the hardest thing, as Paul said in the Bible, is waiting things out, and not trying to coerce or shove or push the envelop to have something else created. Because I feel that if I do that I’m coming from ego. I’m coming from that self-image that is limited. So for me, waiting things out is that wisdom; the rewards are greater.

• Patience (Ego and patience)

MICHAEL: Well, I just have to totally agree. (much laughter) That is a good definition of ego--that limited self that is based on ignore-ance--ignoring, the lack of humility to see and accept the bigger picture and how things are progressing, irrespective of oneself.

Patience is a virtue insofar as you are not yet able to see and experience that perfect unity that you will be able to some day. Without that unity, patience is the wiser part of you suggesting to the impatient part that wants to push and hurry up, that it’s best to wait a change in circumstances…

Student: …which is prompted by anxiety--that impatient part of me; or fear.

MICHAEL: Or as you correctly recognized, the ego part of you that is anxious for itself because it is just a part; it’s intrinsically anxious because it doesn’t feel the wholeness which is possible with relaxing into spirit awareness.

Student, laughing: Yes, because it feels like it’s going to loose itself--which is an illusion.

MICHAEL: But--ironically--this is what needs to happen. Ego has its own, funny little mock-wisdom of being afraid for itself. It fears getting lost in something so much bigger than it--yet this is exactly what you--as your ego, when you are identifying solely with your self image--have to get over. That’s why it takes courage and accumulated wisdom and experience---maturity--for you to let go of yourself into that greater reality that is there for you. Sometimes you let go; sometimes you’re completely overwhelmed and taken out of yourself, and then--my goodness!--surprise!--you survive. You not only survive but, like wading into a tough chore that scares you, all of a sudden you experience that other thing for which there is no substitute--genuine accomplishment. You take a chance and let go and you not only survive, you begin to thrive.

Student: And that is understanding.

MICHAEL: Right, it’s based on experience. Otherwise just clinging onto yourself cuts you off from the very experiences which can help you grow. All you experience is your own fear.

Student: It’s like taking a drop of water from the ocean. You feel isolated and defenseless and powerless and unknowing, but then you realize you are!--you’re not going anywhere. If you die it’s better to go back to the ocean and feel that power and wisdom.

MICHAEL: Or you can grow into where you feel both--both your full individuality, the fact you are identical to no other drop, yet you are always in the ocean, you are always surrounded by God--in God, and of His continuing creativity.

Student: In seems, in our society, we always want to push the envelop, to create something that may not be in our best interest. That’s where patience comes in, and tolerance. With my own family situation, I’m learning about wisdom where sometimes it’s wiser to be quiet and just hold my opinions, and allow the truth to unfold in its own way with my daughter and her boyfriend. Because I could say things until I’m blue in the face, but if it’s not the right time, it doesn’t mean anything. They’re not ripe for it. And our egos are just telling stories to satisfy us; they’re good at that.

MICHAEL: In that sense your ego is the story you are constantly telling yourself. And it has its own uses--like a mirror. Consider that those without any sense of themselves generally have to be institutionalized and taken care of. The ideal is to have a strong and healthy, valid sense of yourself and what you’ve accomplished, along with the sense of your personal limitations and all that other out there--both--as where next to explore and develop. Allow yourself, feel yourself going in these pulses of accomplishment and then the need to let go and extend once again.

Student: The dichotomy I’ve been wrestling with is the one of surrender and resignation. I don’t want to settle; there’s a fear in me of settling--although I don’t think life will let me; I have a little two-year-old granddaughter to attest to that. She keeps bringing me out of some kind of dream-life into the one I’m actually living.

• Understanding (Understanding yourself)

MICHAEL: Yet there’s also the truth that without your dreams, you’re lost. Your dreams are your orientation to what you want, your inner compass to: wouldn’t it be nice… Like your ego, these aspects of your inner life are so useful, even necessary--so long as they are understood for being what they are. That understanding comes from--represents--your greater self, your personality’s soul-wealth that transcends the moment. Ideally it includes the pure spiritual input from your Father Fragment, as well as that of Mother Spirit and myself.

We see the wisdom in teasing you and dangling things out in front of you to get you to stretch your understanding, and choose. And so it can be for you and those younger than you. Having a good experience of your soul keeps you in touch with your own younger self when you didn’t yet have the experience and wisdom, and you had to go along pretty much on pure principles and abstractions. So you too can tease and maybe offer a few hints to nudge them in the right direction. A good parent gives their children the freedom to explore and experience on their own.

Student: So they can grow their own wisdom. OK. That’s more or less what I’m learning to do.

MICHAEL: I enjoy this feeling of patience you’re developing, of talking yourself into waiting a bit for the right moment, letting your wisdom have a voice within you. This is how you get along well on the way to becoming unified with all your inner aspects.

Student: Well, it’s like I have no choice, or I’d go crazy. I’d be really, really frustrated, and what good is that?

MICHAEL: Yet that is what happens to many. It is a possibility.

Student: Yeah--OK. I guess a better way, a positive way is to say how I’ve been realizing my life is my own; my circumstances are me---kind-of. I don’t have to be a victim of them. That’s a choice I make. It allows me to be more authentic, to experience what you call my will dignity more and more. So that’s…that’s what I am.

• Origin, Destiny (Origins, abilities, destiny)

MICHAEL: Your Urantia book mentions when you look at a creature--a created being--see its origin, and its present abilities, but then too its destiny. In one way your destiny is your future out there for whatever kind of being you are--human, or seraphim, or Melchizedek--whatever. But also, as Mother Spirit pointed out, your destiny is what you are doing day to day. That is fulfilling your destiny. Your circumstances are your life, and yet you have the freedom to be a bit apart from them, with the spirit to evaluate them, and the dignity to choose to accept or change them.

You feel that apart-ness. You can see, from a human viewpoint anyway, imperfections in your circumstances and how to go about changing them. You see the need for dreams and their orientation, and still--(Michael laughs)--still it calls for that living balance, and that balanced living to feel both at home in the world, and yet be willing and able to change it for the better. For you can see your poor brothers and sisters who do suffer terribly when they are incapable of this--I mean the self-doomed, those who cannot see they are living out their own self-fulfilling philosophies, who cannot credit their own creativity and be responsible for it: an enormous amount of suffering. So hopefully, slowly they start to connect the dots and see what truly leads to what, and have the courage to step out and try something new.

Student: My one critique of that is like, how about people who don’t have that choice, like in war zones, or areas of nothing--nothing to eat, not even water? They didn’t decide to be bombed, or have nothing. When they have nothing but survival, is that their opportunity to experience God--because that’s all there is?

MICHAEL: Very true, my son. There are folks caught up in circumstances over which they have no control. I was referring to those who, mainly through family or cultural conditioning, feel they have no freedom of choice even while they are greatly choosing how they are living.

But yes, I once gave the example of those standing out on the beach when the tsunami came in; people in the middle of an earthquake; a small child who has no comprehension whatsoever of someone else releasing a bomb at 40,000 feet above him. This is your very definition of chance--that ultimate connection known only to God. And yes again, they have only the opportunity provided by what you call life after death to continue their search for the Father. Your critique is very valid.

Student: Well, thank you.

MICHAEL: You are very welcome. You are finding a measure of my peace.

• Surrender (Letting go)

It seems, in this living balance, sometimes your only desire is for it to stop--for everything just to stop awhile and not do this tipping back and forth, and up and down, and in and out of security and comfort. And so there comes the blessing of sleep, of letting go, of just relinquishing yourself. Maybe you can remember as a small child when first the fact, and then the growing wild and out-of-control terrifying concept of death--your death--occurred to you, and came in to your young life. Remember those nights when you were afraid to go to sleep?--when you said your now-I-lay-me-down-to-sleep to comfort your little terrified soul, hanging on and hanging on and getting tinnier and tinnier until finally warm oblivion overtook you way, way out there? How many times did you have to go through that to trust that you would pop up again in a new morning? That too, my children, is part of your soul: something you’ve all come through and need to remember, and relive--now, for your understanding--being that small child so afraid of death, and sleep; so afraid of letting go.

Closing

Mother Spirit sends you her love, and I bid you be in my peace. Good evening.