Life

The purpose of life from the physical perspective is to live, grow, reproduce, and finally die. However, the purpose of life from the perspective of your immortal soul, is to be exposed to experiences that help your soul to learn and grow as it moves ever closer to the center of God. Some souls never choose to experience a life directly, but instead, merely share thoughts with other souls that have experienced life. Some souls only experience one life, while others experience many. The choice is up to each soul. There is no guarantee that experiencing a life will help you to advance in Heaven. Experiencing a life is a risk, but one that is usually beneficial, if not always to the degree you might wish.

This may be your one and only life. You should make the most of it. Most of your life may be spent learning the basics. If this is one of several lives you have experienced, you spend most of your time relearning the same lessons. Your goal is to learn enough to progress to the next level, but you don't know your current level. Therefore, you should learn, mature, and grow as wise as possible, in the hope that it will be sufficient for advancement.

First you must decide what is right and good, versus what is bad and evil. You are responsible for this decision. It is totally up to you alone. You can accept what someone else tells you, such as a parent, teacher, or other leader, but you will bear the consequences. You can accept what you have read in books, as being the ultimate truth, but the responsibility is still yours. You can accept society's standard as your own, because it is the easiest to live by, but in the end, it comes back to you. Of course, this decision is not likely to be made once and for all, except for rare individuals. Most people reevaluate their own private standards as they learn and grow.

Second, after you have made the first decision, you will measure yourself according to your own standard. You either decided what was good and bad, or let someone else do it for you. Do you choose to be good, or not? If you fail to live up to your own standards, do you feel bad, or do you not care? Did you make a mistake in setting your standards so impossibly high that no one could reach them? Did you set your standards so low that they have no meaning?

In Heaven there is a perfect system of reward and punishment. In Heaven you are surrounded by other souls that are just as good, or bad, as you are. If you advance, you are with other advanced souls. If you fall back, then you are with less advanced souls. The system is based entirely on how you are, and not on what you've done. If you've done something bad, but you've learned and changed for the better because of it, you advance. You can lie to others, and you can lie to yourself, but there is no fooling God. He knows your thoughts. When you are in Heaven, you know He knows. By experiencing the structure and system in Heaven, you learn about God's standards. You learn what God considers good and bad. When you are surrounded by other souls that are just as good as you, you begin to understand why you are at that level. It is common for young souls to wonder why they are forced to be with such bad souls. Older souls usually figure out what they have in common with the other souls on their level. What is more difficult is to figure out what you don't have in common with the souls on the next level up. And of course, sometimes you understand what is needed, but are not ready to make the necessary change.

On earth it is quite different. Good and bad people are intermixed. There is no consistent measure for good and evil, and no consistent system of reward or punishment. Life isn't fair. You try to decide for yourself what standards are important for you to follow. You judge yourself by your own standards. You find out there is often no reward for doing what you have decided is right. You see there is usually no punishment for doing what you think is wrong. If you are mature, you may see rewards and punishments that are not always immediate or obvious. You may choose to do what is right for the long term benefits you predict. You may choose not to do wrong because of the long term harmful consequences. If you are wise, you will set your standards high, and use them as your goal. You understand that it is a goal you may never reach, but whenever you fall short, you try again. You learn from your mistakes and move on. You try to help and not to hurt others. You do what you think is right, because it is the right thing to do. You are not concerned with rewards and punishments.

God wants you to grow up. As a child, your parents had to teach you right from wrong. They probably found it necessary to resort to some kinds of rewards and punishments. They hope that someday, you will understand the difference between right and wrong, and that you will choose what is right. When you are grown, you shouldn't need the rewards and punishments. You should want to do what is right, because it is right. God wants the same thing from you. He wants you to do what is right because it is right, without the hope of reward, or the fear of punishment.

What is right and good? I cannot tell you. You must decide for yourself. Many good and wise people over many centuries have struggled with this question. Mine would just be one more small voice among many, trying to contribute my few thoughts. My advice is to keep an open mind, but question everything. Carefully consider everything you see, hear, or experience in other ways. Take the truth you find, whatever the source, and leave the rest. I expect anyone who reads this to treat it the same way. You must do what is right for you. If you find even one truth among my writings, I will have succeeded in my efforts to help you take your next step closer to God.

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