Observations placeholder

Out on a Limb – Shirley MacLaine
A shudder went through Kevin. His head moved around until once again he had assumed the character of John.

"Hail," sad the John voice. "You have inquiries as to your past lives?"

"Yes," I answered.

The telephone rang. John reacted and cocked his head. I waited. I could feel John "adjust his vibrations," as McPherson had said. The telephone rang again. Again, I didn't answer.

"You will find," said John, "that to understand the soul within yourself today, you must also understand something of the previous civilizations you have known."

"Really?" I said inanely, feeling sort of ridiculous and nonplussed.

"Indeed," said John, "you were incarnate several times during the five-hundred-thousand-year period of the most highly evolved civilization ever known to man. It was what the Bible symbolized as the Garden of Eden. I would like you now to understand one very important concept. The level of achievement in any civilization is judged by its spiritual evolvement.
Technological advancement is important and attractive, but if it detains, detracts, or deters spiritual understanding, it bears the seeds of its own destruction. You are bearing witness to such a simple truth in your present civilization on Earth today. Your spiritual understanding is lagging at great lengths behind your technological knowledge and as a result, you are witnessing progressive insanity, depression, confusion of purpose, and total human inequality and despair."

"So where is the hope for us then? I mean, if we're going backward instead of forward, why are we living?"

'A good and important question," said John, "which brings us to the subject of karma yet again, and makes it necessary for you to grasp your basic identity and the understanding of the power of your free-will to understand your divinity and partnership with God."

"Excuse me," I said, "but can I ask where religion fits into all this, please?"

“There is much that I am saying that your worldly religions would take exception to. Your religions teach religion-not spirituality. Religion has exploited man for the most part. Your world religions are on the right track basically, but they do not teach that every individual is fundamentally the creator and controller of his own destiny. They teach that God assumes such a role. What I am endeavoring to explain is that each individual is a co-creator with God. This does not sit well with your churches and religions because they prefer to have control over mankind, rather than help teach that mankind can only control itself through self-knowledge and through knowledge of the past and of its purpose in the present and future”