Some of the most difficult questions I've ever been asked are: If we are one with God, then why wouldn't God have created us with that thought to begin with? What is the purpose of not knowing? Why don't we feel perfect?
I meditated upon these questions for two decades before I was ready to see the answer.
Before we are born, we choose to exist and decide how best to help ourselves and the One Spirit in the process of re-discovery. This is because each individual soul develops as it wishes, while assisting all other souls in their journey. All are experiencing and gaining more of an understanding of the nature of Love. We choose who we will be and to whom we will be born, to best serve that purpose.
Adjusting to the Physical World: Having "Real" Physical Experiences
We also choose to experience "transformational amnesia", to temporarily forget our spiritual consciousness in order to adjust to the physical world and allow us "real" physical experiences. If we knew we were invulnerable spiritual beings, the effects of these physical experiences would have little or no significance for us. We would know they were not real.
Imagine that you are a passenger on a flight during a severe storm. The plane is shaking and you see lightning all around you. The "fasten seat belt" sign is illuminated and you start to get frightened. There's a large blast of thunder nearby, and the lights go out inside the cabin. People scream while the aircraft is bouncing up and down like a toy, feeling as if it could break apart at any second. Babies are crying and, as you look around, you can barely make out some people praying in the dark. Your heart beats faster, you start to sweat, your breath shortens, and panic becomes a possibility. You are terrified, and understandably so. No one is telling you anything, and you wonder if the pilots are in control.
Suddenly, the plane calms down and the cabin lights come back on as you hear an announcement; "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are out of the storm now and it should be pretty smooth for the duration of the flight." Some passengers applaud, and you're overwhelmed with relief.
If You Knew Your Life Was a Movie...
What if you were watching a movie of yourself in this situation and knew the ending? Would you have been as scared? What if you knew during this predicament that everything would be OK? Would you have had the same emotional experience? Of course not. You needed to live through it without knowing, so you could gain a very "real" experience. If you knew what would happen before it happened, it wouldn't feel real.
This is the same with our entire physical existence. Before we are born, we choose to forget who we are so we can get the most out of what is available for us to experience. We're in this world to experience all life's situations as "reality", so we can eventually know ourselves wholly, body, mind, and spirit, as Love.
Re-Membering Ourselves as Members of the One
If you realize you are here as a spiritual being, that suggests you've had enough physical experiences to begin to awaken. You start to re-member who you are and why you came here. You lose the feeling of isolation and "re-member" yourself as part of the One Spirit.
When and if this happens, you are ready to experience a new perspective on life. You either experience it firsthand or by using your memory, knowing you are a spiritual being inside a physical body. You then begin to realize, as psychologist Frances Vaughan says, "I have thoughts, feelings, and sensations, but I am not my thoughts, feelings or sensations."
Because we must first forget, most of us get caught up in the "reality" of what we think we see and have a difficult time remembering who we really are. Until we begin to awaken, we remain blind to the perfect process. Since you are reading this, odds are you're awake, or are beginning to awaken, and are becoming aware that the Higher Intelligence is within and all around you, regardless of what you think you see.
The Universe created this entire process of re-discovery and it is perfect. As part of this process we, in this physical form, play our roles perfectly, whether we realize and understand it or not.
The above was excerpted with permission from the book:
"Relax, You're Already Perfect: 10 Spiritual Lessons to Remember",
Reprinted by permission of Ebb/Flow Publishing.
©2000 Bruce D Schneider, Ph.D.
Related Book:
When You Think You're Not Enough -- The Four Life-Changing Steps to Loving Yourself
by Daphne Rose Kingma.
Click here for more info or to order this book. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About The Author
Bruce D Schneider, Ph. D., is founder of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), a spiritual psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, Usui Reiki Master, psychorientologist, and metaphysician. His seminars, workshops, and counseling sessions have helped others transform their lives.
