What’s the significance of freedom of choice in a world where the outcome is a given?
What’s the outcome? The outcome is the full and complete realization that we are God, that there is no difference or distance between us and God.
If it all works out in the final reel and all of us are destined to realize our true identity “one day,” if all of us are to be fed, some in the morning, some in the afternoon and some in the evening, then what difference does free will and choice make?
Einstein once said that all he wanted was the ability to know God’s thoughts. I don’t know them myself. But I imagine that God did not want automatons as partners in creation. I assert that He/She/It wanted fully-developed, masterful individuals and the only way to create the level of discernment desired and required was to allow us to sharpen our skills through making choices and realizing their consequences.
Freedom of choice is only one side of the equation. The universe mirrors back to us the consequences of our choices through the law of karma or action and reaction. What we sow, we reap and that, over long periods of time, is what assists us to sharpen our discernment.
How can I say that the ultimate purpose of our lives is to know ourselves as God and merge with him/Her/It and in the next breath talk about individuated partners in creation?
Archangel Michael has changed my mind on these matters. He says that we can absolutely realize our true identity, spend “time” merged with God, and then come back out on mission when requested. That was not in my lexicon before. He said:
“When you go home, you can reunite in the heart of One. …
“So you come, you return, you gain not only understanding, wisdom, knowledge – what you can think of as spiritual regeneration – and then, in concert with many, including your guides and guardian angels and, many times, whoever you are going to be working with – for example, myself or Archangel Raphael – you emerge again. …
“And there is a time – well, what you would think of as time – where you do go back and simply unite.” (1)
He goes back to Source for a rest and then re-emerges when satisfied or requested. That’s the kind of new information we’re getting from being able to talk to archangels.
I now no longer think that we disappear upon merging with God.
What he said is reinforced by the stories Ramakrishna used to tell of beings existing happily in the Transcendental. The Seven Sages (Swami Vivekananda was an aspect of one) are examples of beings resting in the Transcendental and creating as God’s partners.
We tend to think of what we would be like at higher levels of creation by extrapolating from our experience in the Third Dimension. Therefore, for instance, we think of having bodies in these higher realms. We have trouble thinking of ourselves as pure Consciousness. Nevertheless pure Consciousness is who we are, as difficult as that is to imagine.
Residing in bodies, we put emphasis on activities like eating, drinking, sleeping and procreating. None of these activities survives into the higher realms. But choices survive. And other acts in consciousness survive.
I once experienced myself in my Seventh-Dimensional “oversoul.” I acted without acting, moved without moving. All was occurring in consciousness. But it’s very hard for us in our normal state of awareness to imagine that.
Nevertheless this Third/Fourth Dimension we’re in now is the training ground to develop the discernment that will serve us through much of our journeying in the higher realms. Other lessons are learned later on but major lessons are learned here. That’s why the act of choosing and the choices we make are so important.
I’ve already talked about the language of action and commitment (stands, declarations, promises, etc.) (2) and how to presence the Self or call It forth. When that Self speaks, it’s constantly making choices. As we move further and further into our power, grace and glory, we make more and more powerful and consequential choices. Eventually we’ll see, I predict, why the Company of Heaven refers to us as masters.
Footnotes
(1) Archangel Michael, An Hour with an Angel, March 26, 2012, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2012/03/archangels-michael-and-gabriel-on-the-angelic-realm-hour-with-an-angel-transcript-march-26-2012/ .
(2) See for instance “The Breakthrough or the Barrier,” Sept. 3, 2015, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2015/09/03/the-breakthrough-or-the-barrier/ , “Taking a Stand on Ourselves and ‘TruingUp,'” Dec. 10, 2013, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2013/12/10/taking-a-stand-on-ourselves-and-truing-up/ and “Making Lemonade Out of Social Isolation,” March 11, 2015, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2015/03/11/making-lemonade-social-isolation/.