Day 815- To Serve Man
This weekend I’ve been at the Afterlife Research and Education Conference. The conference itself has been outstanding with the top experts in afterlife research making appearances.
As our questions about the afterlife are answered, one question remains and keeps coming up over and over again. If the afterlife is so idyllic, why the hell do we come here to do this? Not only do we do it once. We do it over and over again. Not only do we keep repeating it, we plan in the pain. We even plan for things as masochistic as the death of a child.
There is not on answer to this question of why. The best theories are that we do this for personal development or growth. Roberta Grimes likes to say this is just a bad afternoon in the gym. Another prominent theory is we do it for excitement or adventure. It’s boring being in perfection all the time. We want to experience separation. We want to experience lack. We want to experience pain. These answers are ultimately focused on the self. We want to grow so we can be better than others or at least better than we are now. We want to advance to the higher levels. Or, this is just a play for our amusement or a trip to a sometimes scary Disney World. I think it’s a little of both of those things. But, what I’m coming around to is the main reason is we come here to serve and to love. Personal development is great because it increases our capacity to serve in greater and greater ways. The strong we become, the more we can empathize, the more we can serve.
This weekend, the conference within the conference has been me hanging out with a group of warrior women from Helping Parents Heal. Colorado Beth, Hawaii Beth, Colleen, Heidi, Irene, Lynn Maryann, Sara,Sue, Terri,Tracy and Tywana are all with Helping Parents Heal. Each of us has had the experience of the “loss” of a child. Don’t ask me why there are no men here. It is what it is. Some of these women I have known for a few months, even though the bond is so strong it seems like several years. Some I have known via social media. Some I only met a few days ago.
Last night, after the agenda for the day was over, we went over to Whole Foods, grabbed some prepared foods and came back to the hotel where we sat on the patio and shared food and a glass or six of wine. As I looked around the circle, I was reminded of the mini series Band of Brothers. This is a band of sisters, and Brian. We are on a mission. Maryann told us that she is descended from the Spartans, appropriate for the mission she is on. As we were discussing what we are doing here, I reminded Colonel Beth (not a metaphor, she is an actual Colonel in the US military) that we signed up for this mission. We have to see it through. These are the bravest of the brave. They did not comes here to have fun. Nor did they come here simply for their own personal growth. Sara tells us she and Scott, her son who passed away at the age of 19, have done this numerous times. You don’t do that for fun. And I really don’t believe Sara is a slow learner that needed to repeat the same lesson again and again to get it. She does it to heal the world, as we all do. As much as we hate to say it, and more so hate to hear it, we have probably done it before and we will probably do it again.
As we sat in the circle last night we took a break from our mission of saving the world, but we didn’t stop serving. We served each other. We have all been battered and bloodied on the mission. We took a night to dress our wounds. We shared our stories. And what stories they are. The tales are so fantastic that anyone who hasn’t had these experiences wouldn’t believe them. Colleen shared stories that would be cut from a Hollywood script because the audience would never believe 26 feathers would fall from the sky to show a skeptic Austin is still here. The stories are also too numerous to tell here. These are not one offs. They are not rarities. We are being assisted and guided on this mission. As we shared the stories, the magic that the universe tries to hide, making us believe life is all random and chance, was exposed. I was spontaneously filled with gratitude for this revelation. People keep telling me to “practice” gratitude. “Being grateful will raise your vibrational level and draw good things to you.” Well, gratitude comes hard to a parent who has “lost” a child. I’ve seen parents faking it, posting sweet affirmations on Facebook trying to convince themselves and the wold they are feeling something they are not. For me, gratitude comes naturally when I step back a bit. When I remember I am not just the human who will live here, I am the Observer who planned this whole thing and am, slowly, day by day fulfilling my mission, when I trust in that, in spite of the appearances, that is when the gratitude comes naturally.
We comforted each other as well as sharing our stories. We reminded each other of the bigger picture that is so easy to forget in the day to day skirmishes. As we sat there talking I got the feeling the plan was coming together. I love words. The word coalesce came into my head. We had just seen Suzanne Giesemann channel a group of advanced beings she calls Sanayyah. I wonder if perhaps we are a Sanayyah in the making. I’ve been told that on, the levels above the astral planes, people instead of identifying as individuals identify as a collective.
Sanayyyah reminded us that, while our children’s “deaths” are tragic from our human perspective, they are no tragic from the perspective of the soul. They are opportunities for growth. More importantly, they are opportunities for service. And, each and every one of these brave women is serving with honor.
As I sat in the circle, lyrics from a Don Henley song played on a loop in my head.
You think this is love
Your education starts today
So you think this is love?
So tell me
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you want it?
Not bad enough
So you put a hold on happiness
… a day, a week, a year
You got to bring somethin’ to this party, boy
If you party here.
Yeah, to be a part of this party, you got to bring something all right. We have all paid a dear price to be in this circle. We have put a hold on our personal happiness. It’s a temporary hold. We will have this party again in the Summerland one day and we will have some stories to tell then! I wonder if they have boxed wine in the Summerlands.
As I got my download this morning, the title for this post came to me. A couple of options presented themselves. “To Serve Man” is the title of an episode of the Twilight Zone. In the episode, humans find a book left behind by an alien. They translate the title to find out it says To Serve Man. The twist is the book is not a book about serving, but it’s a cookbook. But, that’s not important to my tale today. I liked the title. As I sat alone at breakfast on the patio, I overheard a conversation between two women at the table next to me. They were marveling about the advancements of technology. One said to the other “Isn’t it amazing. I can download any episode I want of Twilight Zone to my phone and play it whenever I want.” What? Did she just mention Twilight Zone? I’m not even amazed by the synchronicities anymore. I am grateful for them. I note them and I cherish them. But, I know they will just keep coming as the plan unfolds itself and we serve until the mission is complete.
p.s.- I like to get two events before I call something a synchronicity. Otherwise, it could be random chance. Either two validations of the triggering thing or two triggers each with a validation. Tonight, after the farewell party, we were being driven back to our hotel. Suzanne was talking about “the heart” and just then Don Henley’s The Heart of the Matter came on the radio. The radio volume was pretty low and I don’t think I would have noticed had she not pointed out the coincidence. What I didn’t tell anyone is that I had made a Don Henley reference in this post this morning and was actually considering another Don Henley song as the title. Synchronicity number two. Validation noted.
