Spirituality 101

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I was raised loosely Catholic, but was very uninspired by religion. During my young adult years, I explored other religions, but none of them ever resonated with me on a deep level.

As time went on, I began, like many people, to question existence. The meaning of it all…. Was there even a God?  I think this was due, in part, to religion and all of it's structure and rules. I found myself asking, "well what about my non-Christian friends or my homosexual friends, … what happens to their souls"? Oh, and by the way, in the Catholic religion *not* attending weekly mass was considered a mortal sin…. soooooo, I was basically going to hell, right?

It wasn't working for me. I felt myself becoming cynical towards religion in general and pulling further away from God. There was one point where I was more atheist than not. 

The turning point:

Over a decade ago I met a man, by chance, who claims to have had a near death experience. He was a respected doctor; a man of science and had not been particularly religious or spiritual himself prior to the experience. He was in his early 60s and had recently undergone open-heart surgery. During the surgery he died on the operating table, but was resuscitated. As he relayed the experience of his encounter with the divine, I felt chills running through my body. You know how sometimes your body just "feels" truth in things? This conversation piqued an intense interest and curiosity in me. I had heard of near death experiences (NDEs) before, but couldn't understand why I never bothered to research them! I was usually open minded, but I guess I put NDEs up on the shelf with UFOs and ghost sightings.

I began looking into this phenomenon and came across a ton of information; experiences, blogs, books and videos on this topic. Most notably, a website called NDERF (Near Death Experience Research Foundation) which contains hundreds, if not thousands of NDEs from all over the world, collected from people of all religious backgrounds, from Christian, to Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and even atheist. After reading through these NDEs insatiably for months, I discovered, that across the board, people have had extremely similar experiences, regardless of culture or religion (or lack thereof).

It was inspiring and gave me hope that I could believe in something real for the first time in my life.

Once the awakening began for me, it just spiraled. I took a deep dive into spirituality reading and researching anything that I felt guided towards. I felt as though the universe had put me on a trajectory to finally come to know the truth of existence. Books and reading materials literally fell into my lap. I read books by respected spiritual authors, books written by regular people who had deeply spiritual experiences (usually induced by extreme suffering), NDE survivors, spiritual gurus, past life regressionists, mediums, etc. Everything seemed to align! They were all saying basically the same thing.

I even understood and appreciated the teachings of Jesus in a way that I never had before because for once it was presented to me in a way that made sense. There were no strict guidelines or routines clouding my purview.

How had I never clearly understood his pure and simple messages?

Forgive, love, help if you can. The pieces finally started coming together. 

When you begin to awaken, not everything you come across will resonate with you. But you will be able to discern the truth when you hear it. Your heart and your intuition just know.

Some of the more notable resources that propelled me forward in my journey:

Near Death Experience Research Foundation: www.nderf.org, Eckhart Tolle (The Power Of Now & A New Earth), Neale Donald Walsch (Conversations With God) Doreen Virtue (10 Messages Your Angels Want You To Know), Dolores Cannon (Between Death & Life), Laura Lynne Jackson (The Light Between Us), Anita Moorjani (Dying To Be Me), Rajiv Parti (Dying To Wake Up), Eben Alexander, & Deepak Chopra

 ✨Life is a spiritual learning experience. We are here to have the problem, experience it, learn from it, grow and go on.

✨Forgive - Forgiveness releases us from the burden of judgment. As human beings, we are not equipped to judge, and to do so can cause great harm to ourselves and to others.

✨In relationships... you meet someone...fall in love...it ends...you gave each other a lesson to be learned...you both carried out the relationship's purpose.

✨We are here on earth to learn lessons. Those lessons are; love each other, help each other, give of each other.

✨In the end, forgiveness and love are the answers.

✨There is only one truly significant work to do in life and that is love; to love nature, to love people, to love animals, to love creation itself, generously and compassionately, just because it is. 

✨Each soul is connected, each has a purpose and each person is to perfect skills required to fulfill that purpose. A soul touches many other souls so they can fulfill their purposes.

✨Nothing is coincidental - every person, every circumstance, every experience has value and is necessary.

✨The only important thing is love, kindness, compassion, empathy, helping others, humans as well as animals, even plants.

✨The power of LOVE is actually the power of the universe.

✨Be around people as much as possible.

✨Family doesn’t need to be biological.

✨Share food.

✨Have compassion for hurting or troubled people.

✨Speak the truth. Learn to say yes or no and then keep your word.

✨When you cannot hold space for others, use the space to care for yourself.

✨Have goals but release expectations (practice non-attachment).

✨Balance is key. Carve out time for passion, creativity, play, relationships, friendships, self care and space. Work is important but you can't take your bankroll to the grave with you.

✨Be a peacemaker.

✨Say sorry (it frees you).

✨Use your special gifts or talents that God has endowed to you to help others.

✨In the deepest, unadulterated desires of your heart lies your purpose and your mission.

✨Release what doesn't serve your highest good

What happens when you die?

Very generally;  your soul leaves your physical body, you will feel very light and peaceful and may encounter spiritual guides, deceased relatives or warm lights, then you will eventually have a life review and then enter the divine light / spiritual realm where memory of all past lives and who you really are will finally return.

What is the purpose of life?

The purpose of incarnating here on this earthly plane is to grow as a soul and to experience yourself as the creator. There are lessons to be learned, missions to be accomplished and karma to be worked out. You have planned your life prior to incarnating to bring you the experiences you need in order for your particular soul's growth. The universe will try to orchestrate these occurrences to the best of it's ability, but can only go so far. That is why it is important to recognize your free will and try to follow your inner guidance. Be around people as much as possible and listen to your intuition. What things, places, activities, hobbies, causes are you are passionate about? Seize those creative urges! You cannot experience all you have planned for yourself sitting on the couch. 

When living this life and find yourself in doubt, always follow the sign posts to "love" and "forgive", but continue to listen to your inner guidance which is your greatest asset. 

How many lifetimes must a person live in order to learn all of their lessons?

Some very awakened souls can learn and grown in just a few lifetimes and others must live many or even hundreds in order to understand, progress and work out all of their karma. There is time spent in the spiritual plane between lifetimes where a soul can meet with divine guides in order to plan future experiences. Life on earth is not the only plane where a soul can incarnate. There are many other planes of existence in the multiverse depending on what the soul needs.

What about God?

God is Source - the divine creator. All souls are pieces of God/Source with individual consciousness. There is no single entity that is God as God/Source is the collective conscious of all that is. It is the highest vibration of divine light and energy. God is the frequency of love energy. You can pray to God and you are heard. Source, angels, your soul group and the intelligent multiverse are always conspiring for your highest good. God is also within you. Accessing your highest self; the part of you that feels love and compassion for all living things, is accessing the God energy within.

What about people who die young or suddenly?

Every soul has a plan and purpose for entering this life. A part of that plan is how the soul will exit and when.  When the soul has completed what it came to accomplish, it is time to move on to the next phase of their existence. Our human brains remain oblivious to these plans and so when people die young or unexpectedly, there is great sorrow. However, even a soul that dies as a baby has fulfilled or accomplished some purpose. Many times the fulfillment was the impact that their life (however short) had on the survivors. 

What about those born with physical or mental disabilities?

Souls who undertake this type of incarnation are usually very advanced souls that have come to fulfill an important mission or progress quickly. Major growth occurs not only for the soul that has chosen to live what other's might consider an extremely difficult existence, but also for those helping that person through life (such as their family). If the soul can rise above limitations and access their sense of peace, joy and humor, they advance very quickly. They learn lessons that it would have otherwise taken several lifetimes to learn. 

What about suicide?

Suicide is never part of the "plan". Casting off the body before it is time keeps the soul from fulfilling the missions it had set forth to accomplish and it also cheats other souls from the experiences that they were supposed to have with that person.

A soul that makes this choice will be incarnated into a substantially similar life situation until they can work through those issues. Those who have had NDE's due to suicide experiences were given this knowledge almost invariably. They just need to do the best they can when living a particularly hard lifetime.

What about hell?

There is no hell. Our souls are all from source and will all eventually return to source. There are those souls that identify with dark energy (criminals, etc.) that refuse to see the light. The closest thing to hell might be when a soul ends up living particularly hard lifetimes on repeat since learning is not occurring.  Such souls will also end up in a void between lifetimes until they turn themselves towards the light. These souls are not judged by source, but during their life review they will judge themselves. They will vicariously experience all the suffering they inflicted on others and feel personally ashamed of their actions in that lifetime. Learning from the previous lifetime will occur while on the spiritual plane and then a plan will be worked out between the soul and it's divine guides for future incarnations which will hopefully help that individual to progress.

Why do we feel pain?

Physical and emotional pain are learning tools. If we remove ourselves and have patience, we can rise above it. Pain also exists as a teaching mechanism that might humble certain spirits. Our souls need to learn to rise above the pain to a more spiritual level and then the pain can be dealt with. The goal is not to succumb to the pain or make it more powerful than it really is.

Time and space?

There is no time in the spiritual realm. Everything happens simultaneously in the now. This is a very hard concept for the human mind to grasp since time and space are natural laws of the physical universe in which we live.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

In answering this question it is important to point out that some people might take offense to what I offer in response, especially those going through a tough time currently. Please be patient with me as I try to articulate this (using examples) to the best of my ability.

First it is important to distinguish that what human's consider "bad" and "good" on the earthly plane, might not be labeled as such on the spiritual plane. For example, if someone gets sick and dies, humans would consider this a terrible occurrence. However, on the spiritual plane, please consider that the sickness potentially needed to happen as a learning tool. Perhaps that soul would benefit from being cared for by loved ones while they were in a vulnerable state. The people in that person's family got to benefit from being able to show such immense love and care for their ill family member. All souls were able to grow and learn from this. The human, with all of it's flaws, is able to access it's compassionate and loving higher self (the God within) to overcome issues rather that succumb to them. If there were no sick people, there would be no doctors or nurses. If there were no criminals, there would be no benevolent law enforcement officers. There needs to be Yin and Yan on this earth in order for learning to occur. 

Please also consider this example; someone endures severe trauma and it propels them to become an advocate, a crusader, a counselor, a healer or beacon of hope for many others and they potentially save many other souls from enduring that same trauma. If it weren't for that trauma, that soul wouldn't be in a position to save so many others. 

Additionally, there is the aspect of Karma. Sometimes a person needs to experience "bad" in order to appreciate the good or to attune for or learn lessons related to mistakes made in this lifetime or the previous incarnation.

Lastly, there are those things that occur that were not "part of the plan" but resulted from the aspect of free will. Life on earth, in this learning plane, is based upon souls making free will choices. God does not intervene in free will. God and our guides will always try to influence us to do the right thing, if the soul is receptive to that intuition. However, sometimes the "bad" outcomes that happen from a soul's lower vibrational choices were not part of the plan, but were a result of a soul's free will. If God were to intervene before every bad free will decision, there would be no free will.

Reiki and spirituality

Some people ask if Reiki will "cure" their physical or mental ailments. It is important to understand that curing and healing are two different things. Wonderful results and miracles stemming from Reiki have been reported. Reiki assists in healing for a souls highest good. Reiki energy IS source energy. It is beyond intelligent and well aware of each soul's path and mission. If a person's path and purpose in this lifetime is to have a certain physical or mental ailment, Reiki will only assist where it is needed and where it serves the soul's highest good. Reiki will never cause harm. The fact that a person is seeking Reiki is good evidence that they will benefit from it in some way, even if a total "cure" is not imminent. That's not to say that total healing won't occur; it all depends on the soul's path.

© 2019 Danielle Marie Reiki - No part of this text should be copied or reproduced without permission.