Riding the Tide of Change: Preparing for Personal & Planetary Transformation. Martin F. Luthke PhD
eons of time until our soul has learned enough from the hide-and-seek game to ascend, i.e., to graduate from the school of life on earth. (Our ascension from a life in a human body, however, is just one step on the long journey home to God; there is no end to learning and growing.)
Contemplating the grand scheme addresses the fundamental question of the purpose of human life, the reason for our existence. My understanding can be described in simple terms: The eternal portion of our totality, which we called Higher Self, delegates an offspring of itself to go to school on the material plane in a human body. In the classroom called "life" each being undergoes a learning process according to an individualized curriculum. The principal in this school is the being's Higher Self which supervises the curriculum in collaboration with higher vibrational beings (the superintendents, so to speak) and in accordance with the laws set forth by God (the legislature). The principal respects the free will of the student but insists on the supreme goal of learning and growing. If a student refuses to learn a lesson, the same lesson will be presented to him over and over in various versions and disguises -- until the student is tired of avoiding the growth. Most of us are inclined to avoid growth and change even if our resistance comes at a high price. Only when the pain becomes intolerable are we willing to do our homework and learn the lessons. The prevalence of learning through painful experiences, of course, is not due to some cruel divine law; it is simply the consequence of our habits and our ignorance. Our Higher Self is primarily interested in our progress as student in the school of life, not so much in our comfort. Like a wise and benevolent parent, the Higher Self orchestrates experiences for the student which provide the greatest growth opportunities for the highest good of all -- even if the student fights it tooth and nail.
Obviously, no student enters the school of life as a blank page; we all bring some characteristics, dispositions and attributes with us as we enter this plane. (Parents who have more than one child need not be convinced of this assumption.) In addition, we are being handed an outline of our lifetime's curriculum as reflected in our natal horoscope. Both, the outline of the curriculum as well as our innate characteristics, are in no way accidental. While we can never fully understand everything that went into the creation of a human life, let us assume two major factors: What we are is determined by what we were and what we shall become. Using the school metaphor again, whether we go on to learn 11th grade math is determined by our performance in 10th grade math and our aspirations for our educational future. Eventually, all students have to master all subjects, but neither in the same lifetime nor in the same order or at the same speed. (To be precise, we don't really learn anything new, we only learn to remember what we already know.)
Karma
While each student has been given free will, the school of life is only seemingly anarchic. None of us can escape the Law of Karma, also known as the Law of Cause and Effect or the Law of Balance. Most religious traditions have based their ethical reasoning on some version of this law (e.g., "Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Gal 6.7; The Golden Rule). According to such teachings, it is how we use our free will, i.e., the intent behind our thoughts and actions, which is the deciding factor in producing "good" or "bad" effects at some later day in one's life, at the time of judgment, or in another lifetime, depending on the specific religious tradition.
While such reasoning may be legitimate in an effort to give ethical guidance, it may also involve somewhat of a misunderstanding. A slightly more neutral, less value-laden interpretation of the Law of Karma sees it only as the Law of Balance, requiring us to "experience the other side," accepting all experiences and rejecting none. This viewpoint would deny that there are "good" or "bad" experiences, only lessons to learn. Which interpretation is right? While all experiences are part of the grand scheme of God experiencing him/her/itself, and thus all principally neutral and valid, from a human point of view some causes and effects are clearly more pleasant than others. We should not forget, however, that the goal is learning, not comfort. And as students of life we know that our most painful experiences often prove to be our best teachers.
One could also think of karma as referring to debits and credits on our cosmic bank account. Just as a businessman does not expect debits and credits to balance at the end of each day, but rather is striving for a balance over a longer period of time, so do humans not reach a karmic balance within one lifetime. Instead, the karmic balance is being achieved over many incarnations but with unfailing precision. We bring into each incarnation a balance sheet of imbalances with certain others which we intend to adjust during a specific life. This objective is one of the factors entering the design of a lifetime's curriculum. Another factor would be the spiritual and karmic agreements with other souls which our Higher Self negotiated on higher planes prior to our incarnation. These may be agreements to help a fellow soul advance on his or her spiritual path or to provide opportunities for learning and balancing of karma for others.
In summary, if we observe seeming injustices -- some becoming rich and famous, others suffering endlessly -- we should remind ourselves that all is ultimately in divine order as the Law of Balance rules supreme. Furthermore, we should try to look beyond the human preference for comfort which underlies our judgment of things being "good" or "bad." Just as eating ice cream and pastries every day is more pleasant than healthy, having a lifetime of ease and comfort may not truly be for our highest good. It is wisest to relinquish judgment of what is "good" or "bad" for us or others, as we can never really know, and to trust that all is in divine order. Lest this objective view sounds callous, we should be reminded, of course, that wisdom and compassion in the face of suffering are of tantamount importance -- seeing yourself as one with all others.
Before we move on to the next chapter, let me briefly comment on the popular notion of God punishing us for our sins and transgressions. The teachings of karma and reincarnation have an obvious advantage as they avoid the awkward concept of a Deity who is supposed to be loving and merciful on one side and an objective judge of our vices and virtues on the other. In my understanding God does not judge at all, He/She/It is the legislature, decreeing the laws, but not the judge or the police. The universal laws cannot be escaped; they apply to all without exception, just as the laws of physics. If we violate another being, the Law of Balance will apply automatically, making the transgressor the only one who determines the consequences of his or her actions. To put it even more simply, if I drop a hammer on my foot, there is no one injuring me other than myself, the hammer only follows the laws of physics. Violating another is also like dropping a hammer on our own foot, as all is one and an aspect of our Self. There is no divine punishment, only the application of universal laws of metaphysics, and we have God's permission to experience these as often as we like.
Chapter 5
Co-Creation and Manifestation
Many have heard the formula that "you create your own reality." While this has become a mantra-like staple of New Age thought, it is an idea not well understood. When we find ourselves in a painful situation we may rather doubt that we really chose to experience such pain. No matter what we proclaim, when we become really miserable and uncomfortable we tend to see ourselves as victims of adverse circumstances or actions, feeling that we have been wronged by others, by life or by God. After all, who would have chosen to go through such an experience?
And yet, there are no victims, we do have free will, and we are the creators or our own reality. The choices, however, aren't necessarily conscious choices of our human mind. These choices may have been made in other lifetimes or before we entered this incarnation. Or they may have been made by our Higher Self in the interest of balancing karma or progressing in the school of life. Remember, comfort is not an important concept for our Higher Self but soul growth and expansion is.
It is the Higher Self that chooses a set of parents, relatives and circumstances, and it chooses a certain time and place of birth, thus setting in motion an astrological blueprint to be played out in the course of our lives. Although some may argue that this blueprint limits our choices, there is still ample room for choice all along the way. In fact, in every moment we determine the level of frequency of our thoughts and feelings and there are myriad opportunities to choose actions, thoughts, feelings and intentions. And each choice has consequences, whether they are limited to the subtle planes or manifest on the material plane. Rather than thinking