As already explained, we begin our long evolutionary journey as evolving ‘Sparks of Spirit’, created out of and as a part of our Creator's own Being, particles of His own Spirit and Thought Force. Each newly created Spark of Spirit near the Godhead in fact in time also becomes the "Father/Mother" of an extension soul of themselves, and thus the originator of an extended "family" of closely inter-related soul units. This "family" relationship with its original "Higher-Self" soul allows a close inter-connection and intuitive inter-communication between the higher planes and the lower planes of existence. There is also a continuous sharing of experience, not only from lower levels up to the highest, but also from the higher level down to the lowest. The higher level intuitive advice passed down to the physical level helps prevent individual souls from becoming enmeshed in any one particular area of evolution and thus losing an overall sense of direction. The "Higher Self" continually tries to keep them on their correct path of evolution.

And so we have the establishment of an elevated group of ‘High Oversouls’, also known to us as our ‘Higher Self" or the ‘I Am Presence’. Each of these Higher-Selves is then allowed to create or birth a further group of 12 ‘Prime Soul-Extensions’ so as to extend the experience life on worlds nearest to the Spiritual Light Plane. Then these 12 Prime Soul-Extensions are themselves each allowed to create a further group of twelve souls, or ‘lower soul-extensions’, for experience on yet denser worlds. Thus there can finally arise a total 'Family Soul Group' of up to 144 closely related ‘Soul Mates’, all linked to the same "Higher Self".

This Soul Group of 144 will not all be incarnating together at the same time, or on a particular vibration-level or dimension, but instead may be manifested throughout a Galaxy on many other dimensional levels or planets. However, all the individual members of these groups, under their collective ‘Higher-Self’, will remain linked throughout their long evolutionary journeys as a group of related Soul-Mates, often incarnating in a particular world with one another as life-partners or friends, or as members of an extended family.

The Higher-Self ‘oversoul’ must nonetheless always observe the fundamental Laws of Karma which require that we should all ourselves fully experience the cause-effect relationship between each of our actions and its results. Thus the Higher Self will always respect the self-determination or free choice (free will) of each of the separately individualized lower soul-extensions. The High Self will only help when directly asked for assistance, and will never interfere karmaically to alleviate those hard lessons that each soul must learn for itself.

As the soul-extensions then descend into the lower worlds of materiality, they further develop their inherent split into the two major polarities of positive and negative; each expressing more and more forcibly the male (positive, outgoing active force) or the female (negative, returning/in-going, nurturing force) polarity. This is part of the Creator’s Plan to provide the soul with a deeper balance between the two major polarities of Creation, and provides a strong impetus for each soul to return to the Unity of the Godhead. Thus, two ‘Twin Souls’ or ‘Twin Flames’, are created as part of one spirit at the highest level, and remain forever as eternally joined parts of one soul-extension. After descending and ascending through the Cycle of Evolution together, they are eventually destined to re-unite at the end of their long evolutionary journey, as one complete and androgynous (that is to say, united male/female) Being, and yet they shall forever also be two souls-in-one and even retain an element of their two polarities as well as their individualities.

Each individual Twin-Soul, endowed during its descent into matter with a predominantly male or female polarity, thus acts as a balancing force to the other; one featuring an inherently forceful male and worldly-active, positive, outgoing characteristic, the other with a more receptive, nurturing and spiritualized in-going female characteristic. This inherent division into two opposite, but magnetically attractive polarities, not only provides the necessary impetus towards a later re-unification of these two souls, but also promotes a desire within all individualized souls to seek unity with all other souls, and thus their eventual return to the collective Unity of the Godhead.

As their evolution progresses, the Twin-Souls gradually learn to develop a greater balance between their two polarities or genders. Sometimes a Twin-Soul will switch gender for one particular incarnation in a physical world in order to learn from the inherent qualities of the other gender polarity. This explains the varying difficulties of sexual identity which many people experience down here on Earth, after they have in fact chosen on the spiritual planes to incarnate into an Earth body of an opposite and ‘unaccustomed’ gender. For instance, a soul of predominately female characteristics, when incarnating into a male body, will by nature be more attracted to the opposite sex, that is, another male. Likewise, a predominately male soul incarnating as a female, will most likely be seeking the close intimacy of the opposite polarity of attraction, another female. The sex-changes that many people have felt a strong urge to make through an operation, exhibit a more extreme example of this unaccustomed position of opposite gender.

Thus the Twin-Souls learn to balance the positive (male), out-going/forceful, with the negative (female), receptive/nurturing quality of their polarities. They will then eventually be in a position to become totally re-united as balanced parts of a united androgynous (male/female) soul, although they will each, part of a greater united being, still retain a certain individually and an element of their original polarity.

When one Twin-Soul incarnates on a lower physical-level planet such as Earth, the other usually remains behind on a higher plane in order to provide a nearby spiritual connection with the higher world. There are occasions, however, when Twin-Souls do arrange to meet and share together an incarnation at the physical level, such as whilst undertaking an important joint mission on Earth. At such times, unless they have chosen to be born as close relatives or twins in the same household, the time and place of their first meeting on the dense physical level is always pre-viewed and pre-arranged on the Spiritual Plane. And so when they first meet on Earth, they often experience a feeling of instant and deep ‘love at first sight’, intuitively remembering their old love connection as well as recognizing their meeting place pre-arranged on the spiritual level. Such a ‘coming together’ forever touches a fundamental note of human longing amongst all of us, and is frequently featured in many of our great romantic Earthly love stories.

Even when we may not be destined to meet our Twin Soul or Twin Flame down here on Earth, it is possible that we may instead experience a very close association with one of our own Spiritual-Family Soul-Mates, a member of our larger Soul Group. We may also quite likely have been closely associated with that particular Soul-Mate in a past incarnation, either as a former family member or as a close friend during a previous Earth experience.

During the long evolutionary cycle, when souls descend into the lower worlds of 'matter' and then rise up again, the Higher-Self, remains on the highest spiritual level, constantly accumulating and recording all the evolutionary experiences gained by those evolving soul-extensions on lower levels. This accumulated knowledge is then accessible back to them via the Higher-Self as an inner voice of conscience, always there to assist them in taking the correct course appropriate for their further development.

We can, therefore, with intent and suitable training, obtain access to all this accumulated spiritual knowledge via our Higher-Self, simply by turning our thoughts inwards in quiet contemplation and seeking a connection with our ‘I Am Presence’.

This store of evolutionary knowledge and abilities accumulated by the Higher Self also provides each of the lower incarnated souls with a background of traits, talents and abilities acquired during previous lives. This continuity of development and attainment explains why some people are born on Earth with unusually exceptional natural talents, such as in the field of healing or science, or perhaps as a scientific genius or musical child-prodigy.

In trying the visualize the nature and appearance of a ‘Higher Self’, we have a very good description of a meeting for the first time by Shirley MacLaine with her own Higher Self, conducted through a psychic exploration with her friend Chris Griscom. She writes in her book ‘Dancing In The Light’ [Bantam 1985]:

"I breathed deeply into the center of myself as though I were getting my psychic balance. Then a picture swam into my mind, at first diffused, but then very clear. It was absolutely astonishing. I saw the form of a very tall, overpoweringly confident, almost androgynous Human Being. A graceful, folded cream-colored garment flowed over a figure seven feet tall, with long arms resting calmly at its side. Even longer fingers extended from the arms. The energy of the form seemed more masculine than feminine to me. The skin of the Being was ruddy and its hair was long to the shoulders and auburn colored. The face had high cheekbones and a straight, chiseled nose. The eyes were deep, deep blue and the expression was supremely kind, yet strong. It raised its arms in outstretched welcome. I got an Oriental feeling from it, more Oriental than Western. And I had the intuitive feeling that it was extremely protective, full of patience, yet capable of great wrath. It was simple, but so powerful that it seemed to ‘know’ all there was to know. I was flabbergasted at what I saw, and what I felt about it.

"Who are you?" I asked, hardly daring to hear what it would say, nor what to make of this kind of dimensional experience. The Being smiled at me and embraced me!

"I am your Higher Unlimited Self," it said.
"Oh, my goodness," I heard myself say stupidly to it. "Are you really there?"

It smiled again.
"Yes," it said, "I have always been here. I've been here with you since the beginning of time. I am never away from you. I am you. I am your unlimited soul. I am the unlimited you that guides and teaches you through each incarnation."

"Listen, " I said, "why do you have a form and why does it look like this?"

It smiled again.
"Because," it said, "you need to see me in the form of an Earth-plane dimension. The form of the soul is the form of the human body, in any case. The only difference is that the soul is a form without mass. But if you could see the Light-form of a soul, you would see a head, two arms, a body, and two legs. The soul is high-frequency light without mass. That is the only difference."

"Well, why do you seem so masculine to me?" I asked.

"I only seem more masculine than feminine because I am powerful. The energy of the soul is powerful, but it is androgynous. That is to say there is a perfect balance between the positive energy, which is male, and the negative energy which is female, or yin (feminine) and yang (masculine). The masculine positive energy is thrusting and active. The feminine negative energy is receiving and acceptive. Both are equally necessary to achieve life. One cannot operate without the other."

The image of Higher Self stood calm and centered. I had the impression that it wouldn't assert itself unless I motivated it to do so. I looked out of the window at a tree outside. It was swaying in the breeze.

"Listen," I said, "if I asked you to help me stop the movement of a tree, could we do it?"
"Try me," said Higher Self.

"Okay," I said. "That tree outside. Let's stop it from swaying."
"Very well," said Higher Self. "Feel my power become your power. Know that together we can accomplish anything."

I tuned in to this energy of my image of Higher Self and melded with it.

"Now," it said, "ask the tree for permission to control its movement."
"Ask the tree for permission?" I asked, suddenly becoming aware of the more refined subtleties of karmic interaction.

"Why, certainly," said Higher Self. "All life must work in harmony, balance, and respect for all other life. There can be no abuse of power without reaping consequence. You will hear the tree respond to you. You will know how it feels about it."

"Trees can feel?" I asked.

"Of course," said Higher Self. "All life vibrates with feeling. And the natural state of feeling is love. The state of love is achieved by simply being. Nature is a manifestation of the state of simple beingness. It just is. And that which is, in its purest sense, is perfect balance."

Shirley, having then successfully stopped the tree swaying with the help of her Higher Self, continues:

I looked up at Higher Self in my mind. The arms came down gently. "You see?" it said. "You did that. You can use your energy for anything. But you need to recognize me in order to do it."

"Then what is the difference between you and God?" I asked.

"None," it said. "I am God, because all energy is plugged into the same source. We are each aspects of that Source. We are all part of God. We are all individualized reflections of the God Source. God is us and we are God."

"And you are me."

"Precisely."

"Then does everyone have a Higher Unlimited Self of their own?"

"Exactly," said Higher Self. "And each Higher Self is in touch with every other Higher Self. All unlimited souls resonate in harmony with each other. The reason you do not recognize that truth on the Earth plane is because you are not in touch with the individual soul energy of your Higher Selves. But you will get there because there is no other place to go to achieve peace. Peace on the outside comes from peace on the inside. Peace on the inside comes from understanding that we are all God". [‘Dancing in the Light’, by Shirley MacLaine - Bantam Books, Inc., 1985]

To further guide and watch over us during our incarnations here on Earth, each of us has various Guides and Guardian Angels working from the Spiritual Worlds. At birth, our Guardian Angels keep a particularly close watch over us when we first incarnate into the physical body, especially up to the age of seven. Young children, whose etheric sight is usually still functioning, are indeed often able to see their Guardian Angels as they stand over them, protecting and guiding them.

In addition to our Guardian Angels, there are other Beings on the Spiritual Plane with whom we usually have had some past connection, also acting as our Guides, guiding and protecting us as we follow our life's path. Such a Guide is usually an ‘older brother’, a soul of some considerable evolution, one who has probably lived many previous lives down here on Earth and who can therefore well understand the nature and the difficulties of life at the physical level. Our Guide may also himself or herself be gaining some useful additional evolutionary learning experiences by watching our life and learning from our lessons.

However, whilst our Guardian Angels and our Guides are ready to advise and assist us at all times, there are two fundamental qualifications to this help. Firstly: they will not normally interfere unless we ask directly for their help; they must always respect our free choice and thus not deprive us of the important lessons we have to learn ourselves. Secondly: we should not assume that ‘whatever we ask will be given’, for we must remember that Higher Beings have a higher, wider vision, and they will not help us to do something which is not for our ‘highest good’. It could be so easy for us to feel, when our fervent prayers for help do not appear to be answered, that we have been 'let down' by our Heavenly Guides. But we should understand that the links between us and our Guides were formed and exist on the higher Soul level. At this level they know, and indeed we too recognize when we are visiting the higher planes in our sleep-time, what is best for our ‘highest good’.

Apart from the personal help and advice we may receive as individuals, wisdom and guidance is also made available in its wider context to the Earth world by other Higher Beings, known as 'Masters'.

"A Master may give his counsel unseen, perhaps guiding the voice or the hand of a prophet; or a Master may incarnate on Earth, giving through his life an example to mankind. A Master incarnate on Earth may even be "overshadowed" by a yet greater Master who, with his "junior's" consent, acts and speaks through him. The Master Jesus-Sananda was himself overshadowed in this way during the last years of his ministry by The Christ, the highest embodiment of the Creator. Thus "Jesus Christ" should not be thought of or referred to as one single "person", but rather as the Master Jesus-Sananda, for a time overshadowed by The Christ.

Masters, such as are part of Earth’s Spiritual Hierarchy, are highly evolved Beings with a fully developed degree of wisdom and consciousness. They fulfil Universal Service. They are not usually linked to any one individual soul on the Earth as are your Guardian Angels and your Guides. They serve a far greater cause, and when they come to this Earth they come, not so much for the individual, but for Humanity as a whole. They often speak through trained and inspired channels to give messages to Humanity. When they do incarnate on the Earth, they come in order to serve Humanity and to bring wisdom and knowledge to the Earth as a whole. They are not so much concerned with the individual as with the Greater Plan. It is through the Masters that Knowledge for this Earth is thus revealed and given to Mankind, and that the Divine Plan for this Earth is revealed and carried out." [The Master RAMALA - channeled by the Ramala Centre, Glastonbury.]

There is indeed a wealth of advice and assistance available to those who seek it in peace of mind and humility of spirit. Spiritual knowledge teaches that through a process of bodily lightening, detachment from ego-centeredness, and a developing awareness of the Universal Unity, we can open to worlds beyond our present limited perception of ‘reality’ and learn to receive the ‘Higher Knowledge’, the wisdom of our Guides and the great Masters. And it may be said without exaggeration that ‘we need all the advice and assistance we can get’, for the incarnations we experience here on Earth at the physical level are the most difficult and testing in all of our evolutionary journey.

Book Of Life: Chapter One - CREATION here!

Book Of Life: Chapter Two - EVOLUTION here!

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