Many people living on Earth believe it erroneously to be a place of perfection. They complain when things are difficult or go wrong, often becoming angry, cursing Creation, even threatening suicide. But Earth is not a place of perfection; it is a planet of accelerated deep learning. Moreover its lessons and the conditions in which its people must confront them are among the most demanding and testing in the entire scheme of evolution. Acceptance of this fact reinforced by an understanding of its divine purpose can make life much easier, and help to ensure that we gain the most evolutionary benefit from Earth's lessons.

Evolution in the first half of its cycle is movement away from the Creator's Unity. The farther we journey away from that Unity, the Creative Center, the denser the level on which we have to live and function. This has the multiple effect of weakening our connection with the Highest Wisdom, whilst at the same time enhancing the sensation of self with its concentration on worldly wealth, power and influence. In the denser atmosphere, actions become slower and heavier, and the body creates its own demands for an easy life, or in frustration, the bodily gratification through various forms of sensation-motivated excesses. It is well-known on higher levels that Planet Earth represents one of the farthest points from the Spiritual Center, with some of the harshest lessons and one of the levels of greatest density-related difficulties.

The extreme density surrounding this phase of our evolution on Planet Earth has also created over time a "Veil of Forgetfulness" surrounding and dividing us from the higher spiritual worlds, constricting our present field of vision and awareness, rather like a dense fog. We are unable to contact or perceive life on higher spiritual levels, and we have over time even lost the ability to communicate telepathically with the animal and bird lifeforms who share our planet at the physical level. This "Veil" between us and the spiritual worlds also conceals from us both knowledge of our preceding incarnations and our potential future, our lives before birth and our future beyond death. Not only can we not recall past lives or review our future path, but we cannot contact those who have recently "passed over" or any of the billions of other spiritual Beings living on higher vibrational levels.

The "Veil" was established over a long time around our particular world as a vital protection in learning the difficult and painful lessons of the dense physical plane. It was in fact requested by us ourselves on higher levels, through our collective Human joint-consciousness, for our own "peace of mind", as Tendor, a Spirit Guide from the Higher Spheres of Earth, explains.

If incarnating spirits on Earth could carry with them even a faint recollection of the joys and beauties of the Spiritual Sphere it would make it impossible for them to remain in tenancy of a physical body. To drink deep from the cup of experience it is necessary to contact life in its lowest form of manifestation. In order to do this you have to slow down your vibrations to a very slow rate and come under the cumbersome laws which govern that form of matter. To one who remembered what life really is, the ache to return would be so intolerable that no spirit could hold down an Earthly body. It is a merciful provision of God that such memories are temporarily veiled. [Full Cycle by Ripley Webb - Marcus Books, Queensville, Ontario, Canada]

The "Veil" and the sensation of separation, while essential to the "Earth Experience", is in fact an Earth-born illusion, not a spiritual reality. We are forever spiritually linked to the Creator, to our past and future, and to those above who stand always ready to help and guide us. It is important to remember, especially during our more difficult periods of Earth incarnation, that we have never been, nor can ever be separate from our Creator, or from all of the rest of Creation, above or below us.

Yet this "forgetfulness" of reality is a necessary part of our evolution and our learning experience. Our world of individuality, separateness and strife may well be an "illusion" as Buddhism and many occult philosophies tell us; but it is an illusion which must appear real to us if we are to learn from it.

As we watch a drama unfold on television we may well remain detached, reminding ourselves that "it's only a story"; but by maintaining such detachment we will gain no benefit from it. It is possible to learn by reading stories or observing enactments of the lives of others, but we can only do this through full emotional involvement with the story, its characters and their predicaments, their hopes and their failures. Similarly in "real life" it is the very collective act of turning illusion into reality, which makes learning possible on the physical and emotional plane.

This apparent "contradiction" between illusion and reality is paralleled by another contradiction often argued here on Earth: the nature of Good and Evil.

In the sense that all is learning, all is evolution, there is no evil, for it is precisely through the experience of alternatives that we learn to choose the Highest Wisdom through our own volition, understanding and motivation. In this sense there can be no good or evil, only evolution, and the learning, experience and wisdom which it imparts.

But to us here on Earth, 'Evil' is the path of self, of ego, of separation from the rest of Creation, a separateness leading us into exploitation and conflict in our relationships with one another, and the abuse of the planet and the animal kingdom which we consider to exist purely for our personal exploitation and gratification.

In contrast, the path of 'Good' is found in placing the self not above, nor below others, but among them, respecting them as we would have them respect us. And this applies equally to all life-forms. The worm's life may be unimportant to you, just as your life is incomprehensible to the worm; but the worm's life is important to the worm, just as yours is to you. From this basis of equality we can then develop the concept of respect of others and service to others, graduating ultimately to the total radiation of unconditional love which is the mark of Higher Beings.

'Good' and 'Evil' are very real to us here on Earth, and must remain so. Thus we need to maintain a difficult 'balancing act'.

On the one hand we must strive to comprehend and remain constantly aware of the ultimate objectives for which we must aim: namely the Universal Laws of Right Conduct and Highest Wisdom. As we do so we attempt to avoid and reject the opposites of self-centeredness and ego-motivated aggression.

On the other hand as we inevitably "fall" into wrong thought and wrong actions we can at least learn from them by making ourselves fully aware of their effects upon ourselves and the other life-forms around us, and ultimately rejecting such actions in full understanding. In this way we are enriched by the experience of "evil" and its consequences.

Throughout the journey of evolution we are faced with choices. Indeed without free will/free choice the very concept of evolution could not come into being. We cannot become individuals following the path of Highest Wisdom through personal conscious choice until we have experienced the alternatives and their effects. Free choice allows the individual to choose between the path of Highest Wisdom and the path of Self, then having done so, to experience, to the full, the consequences of each decision.

Many of the great Masters, Teachers, and Occult traditions confirm that here on Planet Earth free choice is put to its greatest test under the most difficult conditions.

When you come to look at the Earth and, in particular, at the actions of Humanity on its surface, here you witness only disorder. Why should this be so? It is because Humanity has been given the Divine gift of free choice and so can create the nature of its own world. Obviously, this must fall within the evolutionary cycle and the destiny of the God or Lord of this solar system; but within those broad restrictions Humanity can choose the nature of its own evolutionary path. [RAMALA - channeled by the Ramala Centre, Glastonbury - The C.W. Daniel Co. Ltd., Saffron Walden, Essex]

Through free choice we create for good or evil, and having done so we must then experience the results of our creation. This is a continuing process and exists throughout the spectrum of life. We make choices and create the results from moment to moment and from life to life, both as individuals and collectively as communities, nations, races, and religious groupings. We can escape neither choice nor the results of it. We can only observe, experience, assimilate, and learn from our choices and the effects which they have on ourselves, on other living beings and on our planetary home, then having learned and gained in wisdom, amend our future conduct accordingly.

As we experience the trials and tribulations of Earth we are often moved to ask why we are undergoing such misfortunes. In reality it is we who have chosen both our Earth incarnation and its specific circumstances. All the difficult confrontations in our lives have been pre-planned by us with the help of our Guides on the Higher Planes and with our total agreement, so that we may confront, overcome and learn from them down here. All the unexpected, difficult and painful experiences we encounter in our Earthly lives do not come as some form of 'Heavenly retribution', but are pre-planned by our spiritual selves as a vital lesson to overcome and learn from whilst the opportunity exists on the physical plane. Down here it is much easier to make rapid progress in evolutionary learning than on the 'easier' Higher Spheres. Rejecting, opposing or failing to fully embrace these lessons we have come down here to learn will only delay the process and cause unnecessary pain. By recognizing and contemplating our errors and assimilating the lessons to be learned from them, we can then flow with the learning process and derive the maximum benefit from what is universally regarded on other levels as a unique learning environment.

Earth is a planet of learning, not a planet of perfection. But its imperfections are of our own making and it is therefore within our power, individually and collectively, to rectify them.

Book Of Life: Chapter One - CREATION here!

Book Of Life: Chapter Two - EVOLUTION here!

Book Of Life: Chapter Three - VIBRATION & DENSITY here!

Book Of Life: Chapter Four - OUR HIGHER-SELF & GUIDES here!