Channel: Michael Hersey | Source

There is a great deal of confusion behind the asking of this question, but there shouldn’t be much in the response. The first thing I would ask you to look at is what you mean by soul. The answer may be that it is something you have had for many lifetimes, that you will always have, that has gone through a development or growth. You might add that there are other souls with whom you feel particularly connected, with whom you have shared many lifetimes, and with whom you are eternally connected. If this is what you mean by soul, I would next ask if this soul is separate from God? Is this soul One with God or is it connected with the ego mind? Is the soul something that is connected with the physical body or bodies – past, present, and future? If the ego feels itself to be separate from God, is the soul likewise separate from the Totality? If that is the case, how can something separate from the One be eternal? If the soul is a part of duality, then it, like all phenomena, is not real but part of the illusion.

The thinking mind might then say that – yes, yes, you understand all of that – but don’t you have a separate awareness and growth, a soul, as you are working toward your awakening? This brings us into the second area of confusion. You talk about your soul. Who is this you who possesses a soul? Who are you? Where is this you who has a soul? This also brings us back to the false sense of authorship or ownership. This suggests a you who does things, a you who possesses a soul, a you who makes choices to improve that soul through different learnings, thoughts, practices, and activities. You see how muddy and cloudy the water is around this idea of a soul.

If you say that this soul is the connection between your ego and your Divine Self, to God, why do you call it your soul instead of the Divine Soul. Why do you create a picture of separation rather than One Soul shared by all? I suggest that you look long and hard at this idea of owning a soul that is separate from God. If you say that your soul is there to guide you to God when there is no distance to go to find God, why would the soul be necessary? If you know how to choose God, do it! If only the soul knows how to do that, then you have no choice or ownership in this. The soul simply becomes another word for the Will of God, of Life, of the Totality. It is not yours. You is an idea that has no reality.

This begs another question around the idea of soul development or growth of the soul. If your soul is the Divine You, the You that is One with all, One with God, how can it grow? How can it be developed or improved? Is God growing, not fully realized? Was God ever growing? Is God in horizontal time like the human ego? Does God need to improve? This is all confusion about what God is. It contains the idea that God is a separate being as you are a separate being. God is everything. Is God only the “good” and not the “bad”? Is God not working perfectly within Life at every moment. Do you have to correct Him by resisting what is offered by Life? Do you know what should be? There is this confusion of thinking you have to go somewhere, become a better person, or do the right things in order to be One with God. There is no soul that needs to improve. There is just extra baggage to be let go of and there isn’t even a you to choose to do that. Nowhere to go; nothing to do. You are One with God, but there is no you – just Oneness. There is nothing that can be chosen here because there is nobody to do the choosing. It can be no other way. If there is a definition of Soul it is Oneness with the Totality. There is no you to own it. This is not earned; it is all that is.

This also brings in this enormous field of past lives and karma. Are there things you did wrong in a previous life that now need to be atoned for? Are corrections required so that in this or a future life you can become enlightened? This idea of soul growth makes no sense whatsoever. It is no different than the idea that God can grow and change. I am reminded of a story attributed to Mark Twain. He quotes a young man who relates, “When I was fourteen, I ran away from home; my father was impossible to live with. He was a controlling, judgmental, angry idiot. I didn’t see him again until I was twenty-one. I was amazed to see how much he had grown during those seven years.” Projection is a wonderful thing. Nobody is growing or changing, other than that which occurs through the reprogramming that life provides. You do not choose so you cannot choose wrongly. There is no karma because you have never chosen anything. There is no soul development because you are already just as you are created, for whatever purpose Life has in mind. Going back to the original question, do you have an eternal soul? You have nothing. There is no you to have anything, just as you have no past story in this mind/body. There is only what is being presented now. You have no past lives, only what is here now – and you don’t have that. It is simply here. Karma is just baggage carried by your thinking ego mind. When you accept only what the Totality brings you in this moment, all karma is dissolved. You have done no wrong. There is nothing to correct or atone for. You have chosen nothing. The Divine has been working through you. Relax and let It work.

You are One with God and God is. There is no beginning or ending; there is no death. Are you eternal? Yes, but there is no you. There is no eternal body. There is no continuation. Eternity is not something that is earned. It is not something you can experience. It is what is always there when the identification with self disappears.

Let us return for a moment to the message from last month. We have been talking about the thinking mind. The working mind goes through all sorts of changes and growth. Skills are learned. The programmed mind continues to be reprogrammed. This has nothing to do with the soul or with the idea of karma. It has to do with the maintenance and functionality of the vehicle, with operating in the phenomenal world.  This is not passed from lifetime to lifetime. The function of the human mind is to learn these skills; it is not to think. It is not to choose, to moralize, or to judge. It is the function of the human mind to have thoughts. Thoughts come. It is not its function to analyze them.  It is neither your job to follow them or not to follow them. You will do what you do. It makes no difference either way. There is no choice here. It is its job to notice thoughts are there, as you notice that feelings are present. But you will notice them when it is time for you to notice and you will act when it is time for you to act. If there is something that could be called spiritual growth, it simply happens. Choice is not involved. The beliefs that it can and should make a difference are not based in reality.

The thinking mind judges things as unacceptable and wants something else to be there. Notice that, but there is nothing that can be done about it. You cannot change what is and you cannot change having thoughts that you can and should change what is. When you feel guilt over what you have done or as a victim to what has happened, seemingly, to you – that is not the function of the working mind. That is the thinking mind, the ego, in action. The thinking mind does not have the ability to understand any of this. Over time that awareness may settle in … or not. You don’t decide what kind of musical or athletic talent you have. You didn’t decide what your childhood state of health would be. These things just happen. They are decided for you. Nothing is any different. Everything is decided for you. To give some special value to this piece of meat that lives in the world and is going to die, that is not eternal, can only lead to confusion and suffering. But, again, you will do that until you don’t. That which is aware of the piece of meat and what it is or isn’t doing – noticing this without a horse in the race – that is eternal.

Any sense of separation or thought of playing a role comes from the thinking mind. What could be termed the awakened self does not have any sense of being a person. It observes the operation of the physical person in the world with no pretence of ownership or choice. The person is doing what the person is programmed to do. The awakened self is responsible for nothing, incapable of feeling guilt or pride from the actions the person is scripted to do. Whatever is being done is part of the Wholeness of Life. The human can only operate as it does. It cannot choose to awaken, but the time may come when it does, when the you drops away. Should that happen, there will be no you to notice that there is no longer a you. Any awareness of a noticer would create another you, another separation. In this simple noticing of what is happening, there is no difference between the piece of meat that is present and any other person. It is all a part of the immortal Totality.

Good Now

Sanhia/Spirit                      

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