A reflection on the reasons we are here.

This post is channeled and was sent to me by a goddess whose name I am still trying to understand, so let me call her the ‘nameless one’ for the time being. If you want to visualize her, think of a woman clad in white, bearing a crow upon her shoulder. The background shows you a single star in an otherwise empty night sky.

I would like to tell you more about who she is, but the truth is that I do not yet understand myself. There seems to be a relationship with figures like the Norns, as well as with the Morrighan and the Maiden aspect of the Goddess, and the Tower card from tarot. But none of these are quite the whole picture, and I do not think it would be right to try to understand Her within the confines of a single pantheon, or even within just Paganism, as there is also a strong underlying connection with the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalen.

This is the goddess that is bit by bit beginning to take a central place within my druid practice. Her main concern seems to be the process of birth, but taken in the widest possible context, including revolution and personal breakthrough moments.

And she wishes to say something about this journey we are all undertaking while incarnated in human flesh.

Consider darkness. Real, unbroken darkness. The type that would not go away when a candle or flashlight is lit, but rather would just swallow up the light. Are you afraid of the idea? Or does it sound like a comfortable place for incubation, a place where you are not disturbed during your time of growing and becoming, like a butterfly before birth, when still caught within its cocoon.

It is this darkness, in both aspects, that we all face in regular intervals during our lifetime as a spirit being. It is essential for our growth. Both the nourishing and the terrifying version. For it is precisely the prospect of having to face the utter unknown that forces us away from complacency. The realization that there is limited time before everything we have built will be taken away from us, and the only thing we will be able to keep are the memories we have built up during that time. For it forces us to live. To make the most of the time that is given to us, where eternity would create a state of stasis, of nothingness brought on by the fact that the motivation for living and defeating death simply is not there.

If you want a single reason for the fact that you have been born, then this would be it. Because being alive comes with the opportunity to experience the mysteries of death and total transformation. It is the greatest gift that was given to your world. The fact that you are forced to live within the confines of a temporary body.

I know that a lot of people will find this hard to grasp, or are even actively disagreeing with me. And I understand. It is indeed true that that is how your culture has taught you to perceive death. You are being told over and over again that this is not real, that you should just go through life as if you were immortal and that time cannot harm you.

But deep down each of you knows that this is a lie. Each of you knows that there will be a point when you are no longer here, and that long before that, you have to surrender youth and embrace a life that is even more restrictive physically. And very few of you are ready to face that reality. And I am here to tell you that that is one of the main reasons why you are currently coming so close to totally destroying the very planet you are living on. Because you cannot accept the reality of death. And so you cannot accept the fact that life is something that needs death in a very fundamental way.

You do not see yourself as part of the world around you because you refuse to acknowledge the effect time has on your body. You stubbornly choose to live in the illusion that you will be here forever. And because of that you also forget to live. For if you would have an unlimited number of days at your disposal, then indeed it would not be such a big deal to waste 30 or 40 years of that time doing a job that you dislike and spending the rest of your day watching television or something on facebook.

But let me bring you a hard truth. You are not going to be here forever. So why waste your prime years in a state of living death? Why waste valuable time not existing but merely going through the motions?

Would you not agree that it would be far more valuable to live a live that was shorter in absolute terms, but where every moment of every day was spent in awareness and gratitude for the wonder of being here, of being able to draw breath, taste delicious food and.. have a bit of fun?

You have been indoctrinated in thinking that this is unreasonable, that it is your duty to be grown-up, and contribute your fair share to society. And that idea is not even wrong. Until you begin to think about what might constitute a valuable contribution to society. Is it valuable to be a ‘consumer’, and to measure the value of your life by what you own? Is it valuable to spend the best years of your life in making other people live through this illusion by being one of the people facilitating it? Is that really a life you consider worth living? And when you reach the end of the road, how many life lessons will you have derived from that that you can take with you on your way out of this place?

Take a moment to allow that to sink in.

A lot of people suffer from depression. Why do you think that is? What do you think that is a symptom of? It is nothing but a soul realizing that they ended up being trapped in the prison this world has become for many of you. It is a scream for help, a begging to be allowed to wake up. Alas, most of the time such people are ‘treated’ by binding them even further, giving them just enough oxygen to not drown completely, but then left to their own devices and considered as ‘weak’, while they really are the stronger ones among you, still able to let a part of the messages from their subconscious get through. The ones who have decided to entirely block that thread are the ones coping, the ones who consider themselves ‘normal’. But the moment when they have to face their own demise, they will come to the realization that they do not have the slightest clue as to who they really are, and what this life has been about. And they will pay a price for that after they die, when they come to the realization that lessons were not learned. They will find themselves on a road where they need to make the difficult choice between a harder life that has challenges built into it that will make it impossible for them to ignore the crucial lessons next time round, or otherwise decide to abandon the possibility of spiritual growth and return to the cauldron of non-existence. It is the anguish caused by being forced to make such a decision that is seeping through into your world now. It is creating a profound feeling of unease that is affecting all of you.

Because the balance has been upended. You are forced to begin to face the dark for real, or accept that it will swallow you in such a way that the final choice will be made for you rather than together with you.

Am I being to harsh, you think? Why am I talking about something that sounds quite a bit like a prospect of damnation in the afterlife? I am not. The fact that you perceive my words that way is a precise illustration of the issue.

Life is meant to be lived. It is a gift that is meant to be used. Or do you continue to give the same gift to a person after it has become obvious to you that they have no intention of actually using it? Why would things be different for humanity?

And so I am here to tell you that part of the prophecies you read in the bible and other scriptures are indeed true. There will be a time when a judgement is made. Only the classical interpretation of what that means is completely and utterly wrong. There is no way people will be given marks on how well they have performed and how nicely they have managed to follow a rigid set of rules. The question asked would be one and only one.

Are you living? Or are you already dead without being aware of it?

And when confronted with this truth, a second, equally simple question:

Would you like another attempt? Or do you actually prefer being dead?

And the choice is free. Completely free. But the fact is that the space on this planet is limited, and it cannot continue to accommodate those that do not have an actual desire to be here. And so it only seems fair to restrict access to include only those that are actually motivated to come and be alive, would you not agree with me?

This is the thing I would like you all to ponder. What would be your answer when it is your time to be posed these questions?