From the Spirit World’s perspective, birth is no small thing. Even talking about it is a major challenge, trying to squeeze explanations of an exceptionally complicated procedure into language humans can understand. This overview, then, is intended only as a rough sketch of the process.

We’ll start by talking about the spiritual and psychological conditions of the birth process, which relate to karmic law. Then we’ll see how the technical aspect of birthing is directly connected with this.

 

Consider that our next life is already prepared, at least to some extent. And we are, in some way, responsible for this. Nothing’s set in stone though, since up until our very last breath things could still change. There’s a good chance, in fact, for that to happen—far more so while we’re still in our bodies than once we get back to the Spirit World.

Why is this? Because life there, in the Spirit World, is easier than it is on Earth. And that’s why development happens more slowly there. This means it’s considerably more difficult to wait until we’re there to try to effect a change. In other words, if we truly want to advance on our spiritual path, the time to do so is now, not after the end of this lifetime.

Up until a certain point in our development, we are not actually allowed to make too many decisions on our own. But then we reach a certain stage, as we make our way through the cycles of incarnating, when we have the right—as well as the duty—to help decide what the circumstances of our next life should be. And depending on our personality, these decisions may or may not be good ones.

It’s hard not to notice that sometimes we humans are just really lazy. We lack ambition and are satisfied with having a certain amount of comfort. As a result, we may not work too hard to reach higher levels of consciousness or happiness. If that’s us, we’re going to opt for an easier life than would be good for us. For we don’t yet have a very good understanding about the whole purpose of coming to Earth.

And then there’s the other type who is overambitious and overactive. Such individuals will tend to take on more than is good for them. This too hinders progress and can cause a temporary setback. In this case, the individual is not able to accurately assess their own limitations. Either way, both the overly optimistic and the overly pessimistic type are at risk for using poor judgment.

Any extremes in our character will result in a lack of harmony, and that’s what influences proper judgment. We need to find the middle ground before we become at all reliable in our decision-making abilities. Until we mature to such a level of development, higher authorities will make decisions on our behalf.

To be sure, even then we are consulted about what we imagine would be in our best interest for our next incarnation. This is actually a test, and afterward it is explained to us why our less mature ideas wouldn’t work out so well. They might even be dangerous. Hence, at this stage of the process, the decisions are mostly made by highly developed spirits who are trained in such matters and who can help assure a stronger chance for advancement.

Schooling, then, doesn’t stop after Earth-school. It’s inherent in the planning process for determining our next life. So, if we learn nothing while we’re here, we’ll be schooled by this process alone. It’s a gradual process with no definite border between when we’re ready to make our decisions and when we’re not.

As such, it may happen that some of our ideas are usable, and then they will be adopted. Others still may need to be rejected. Slowly we learn, incarnation after incarnation, so that more and more of our ideas can be factored in.

Along the way, while we’re still navigating between suggestions for lives that would be too difficult and others that would be too easy, our advisors will offer us other alternatives. Then, according to our free will, we can either accept or reject the advice. Should we reject their good advice, we’ll get a chance to review how things turned out and see the effect of our faulty judgment. What a great learning opportunity. This is possibly the only way we were going to learn our lesson.

For we might never have been convinced of the error in our thinking if we hadn’t been given the chance to make a mistake. At the same time, we’re protected from ourselves. If the case is too hopeless or would create too much hardship, the following of our wishes will be postponed. There is so much that is carefully considered.

Failing or succeeding at our life plan, regardless of whether we planned the incarnation or a higher authority did, determines the speed of our development. We might speed things up or slow things down, but it’s never a single occurrence. Life on Earth involves a long series of lives, with each life nothing but a small link in the chain. And the evaluation of our performance—whether or not we met our duties and fulfilled our task—will depend on many, many circumstances.

We each have a Book of Life, and everything gets written down in it. It is a record of everything there is to know about us. It includes our special talents, our inclinations, our personality trends and the characteristics that led us to fall from grace in the first place. All these things are inscribed and continually updated. It also tracks our progress since the Fall, including our Earth activities and whatever we have accomplished in between incarnations.

Every incarnation is meticulously planned by carefully following the information contained in our “general ledger.” And before each incarnation, we get to look at the whole book. Even if we can’t yet make our own decisions, we are allowed to see the purpose of what we’re supposed to accomplish in the upcoming visit to Earth.

Karma, or the law of cause and effect, doesn’t always work itself out from one life to the next. Often, a cause from one life will only produce an effect three or four lifetimes later. This happens because we are never required to bear too much at one time.

Generally speaking, though, the further we are in our development, the more quickly will the effect follow the cause. But it doesn’t always go that way, so be careful about comparing, judging and generalizing. Our view is very limited, seeing just one life at a time. Even with that, what we see is still more limited. This makes it extremely foolish to think we can be the judge and jury on how justice works regarding God’s laws.

Whenever we’re inclined to say that our life is too difficult to bear or that someone else has it too easy, we need to slow down. We wouldn’t think this for a minute if we saw all the missing puzzle pieces. Further, it is with good reason that the curtains are drawn on all this. It must be this way until we have personally gained a state of consciousness where having behind-the-scenes information would be good for us and those around us. We need to have some humility.

In short, we should never judge. We simply can’t compare our life with anyone else’s, or the fates of any two people we know. If it seems like we’re being asked to shoulder a heavier burden, it’s because more can be expected of us. We are stronger, which means we’re further along in our development.

Or maybe, if we happen to be one of those particularly ambitious people, we have chosen to take on an unnecessarily tough life. We may have even gone against the advice of wiser souls. It would be good to think long and hard about this.

We said earlier that our next incarnation is already in the queue. Plans are being made. The thing that most determines what opportunities we will have next—and what we need to work on for our overall development—is how much of our current plan we fulfill. If we don’t advance much this time around, or we don’t learn our lessons well, we will need to repeat all or part of the current plan.

On the other hand, sometimes we are highly motivated, and we accomplish more in our lifetime than we set out to do. Or maybe we complete our task early. When that’s case, we can begin on what we planned for our next incarnation. This will change the blueprint for our next incarnation of course. But don’t worry, the plans are always subject to change.

Again, don’t jump to judgment. An easy, pleasant life may not indicate that the previous one was a great success. It could be that merits were earned, possibly three or four lifetimes back. Likewise, a tough life might be the result of actions in our last incarnation. Or not. A zealous person may make the choice to pay off an enormous demerit in one lifetime, while another pays off just as great a demerit—maybe even a bigger one—but does it in smaller steps.

All this is good food for thought. We can sit with this material in meditation realizing that we have so many chances to do things differently for the betterment of our life plan. We can annul bad karma we’ve accumulated over the eons, and we can do this so much quicker if we grasp the point of what life is all about.

Regardless how we live our life, one day we will die an earthly death. After we conclude things up here, an accounting will be made, with every little minutia thoroughly and justly checked so there can be no argument about it. In the Spirit World, everything is out in the open and it can never be that one opinion opposes another.

There, everything has definite form, including our thoughts, feelings, reactions, attitudes and deeds. These are as visible and substantial there as a table or a chair here. Actually, they are more so. So they can’t be argued about. It would be like two normal people arguing about whether a table is a circle or a square. This is not a matter of opinion.

The forms of our incarnation, then, cannot be argued about, which isn’t to say that arguments aren’t allowed. But when the truth is sitting there right before our eyes, we simply can’t keep denying it and deceiving ourselves the way we do when we are hidden behind matter.

As such, a full accounting is made and carefully considered. A side-by-side comparison is done with the original plan for this incarnation, along with a look at our overall plan. If we did well, the negative trends and faults we overcame will get taken off the list. It will be noted that we fulfilled our task.

There’s a fairly long gap, by human standards, between incarnations, typically in the 300-year range. Many spirits need to take a pause and rest, especially if they’ve suffered a lot—physically, mentally or otherwise. The time of accounting may occur either before or after the rest period. Then we’re back to school, enrolling in classes according to our personal needs. We then each remain in a sphere that matches our level of purification. Actually, the sequence of these events may vary, as there is no rule governing how these phases proceed.

While we’re in the Spirit World, we often do our purification work in connection with souls who are incarnated as humans, which may seem odd to hear. For example, say we were supposed to straighten out a particular relationship during our last visit to Earth. But we didn’t get it done. We never learned to love and accept this person. It may now still be possible to finish this task, which could happen through a variety of different means.

It also happens that in our time between incarnations, we may do service work. We can help further the Plan of Salvation if we’re far enough along ourselves to be helpful. Or we may work on purifying ourselves further during our time in one of the spheres that exists on many different levels in the beyond.

All of these phases—fulfilling tasks, purifying ourselves, summarizing the last incarnation, planning for the next—may overlap or be sharply divided. Note, all this is only true for those spirits who have volunteered to be part of the Divine Order. There are other souls who are still trying to make it on their own. They too have an accounting and planning department, but it’s on a lower level, so to speak. Free will being what it is, all the same principles apply but not in the same way.

An entity’s decision to become part of the Divine Order—or not—has a big impact on both their time in the Spirit World and on what their incarnations will look like. As our spiritual consciousness is lifted, we’ll be able to discern which group we are in. In all cases, justice is always preserved.

If we still find ourselves in the cycle of incarnations, as nearly all humans do, the time will come to be reborn. Once again, we meet with the authorities who have helped arrange all our previous visits and assessed our progress on previous incarnations. The bookmarked plans for the next life are reviewed and changed as appropriate.

The preparation of the final plan takes considerable time, and all choices must be made in the most practical way. The right parents have to be chosen, along with the nationality, religion and life circumstances. Certain “fated” life phases must be considered and figured in. For instance, if there are certain disharmonies in the soul, the parents are selected who will create the best environment for bringing this out.

This means that particular imperfections will be needed in the child’s environment. For if everything were perfect, the shortcomings wouldn’t get a chance to surface and be healed. Then why bother coming to Earth at all? At the same time, the parents may have a karmic link to this spirit, so it may be time to pay off a karmic debt.

Upsides and downsides in the upcoming life are weighed against the overall plan. How much should the entity take on? Which character trends need the most attention? Those who are highly developed and able to take on a task for the Plan of Salvation will factor this in with their own personal work.

Some talents will be brought forward, while others are slated to remain hidden this time around. The entity then gets to add their own input. And if they aren’t yet capable of adding even that much, they at least get to share what they’d choose if they could. All this is painstakingly studied, processed, explained and reviewed.

Finally, a plan comes together. Special spirits are then sent out to various places, including Earth, to prepare the way using guidance and inspiration. Occasionally they must report back with bad news: things are not as expected and won’t be suitable for the purpose of this incarnation. Then other karmic ties are brought forward into this life that would otherwise have waited for a future opportunity.

Now the plan is really coming together. Conditions are checked. Preparations are made. The entity is then led into a different sphere. Think of this like a spiritual hospital where spiritual physicians are working. In fact, many of our physicians here on Earth have come from this place—which exists on many levels—where they have spent time learning.

There are also many spirits working in this place who are out of the cycles of incarnation, as well as many who never participated in the Fall. They have the responsible task of mentoring other spirits. There are many different departments in this hospital-like sphere. One, for example, handles spirits who have died in accidents or whose life ended abruptly in a violent death. In such cases, their fluid bodies may have been injured, and they require special care to nurse them back to health, if you will. Then they are ready to resume their activities in the Spirit World.

In another large area, the entity to be incarnated is brought into contact with their guardian spirit or spirits. This could be a familiar old face or someone new. This guardian delivers the action plan to the spirit in charge of this sphere, who thoroughly reviews everything again. Then assistants are called in to work on the incarnating entity. The plans are intricately poured over, and preparations are made.

Let’s pause here. Does this all sound impossible? Too human? Too concrete to be believed? Of course, it is quite different from how things are done on Earth. It’s not exactly the way our minds might imagine. The words used to describe all this create close facsimiles but not exact replicas.

But all this exists: hospital spheres and spirit physicians, high-level authorities and able assistants, general ledgers and specific life plans. For nothing exists here on Earth that is not a poor copy of what already exists in the Spirit World, even if in a somewhat modified way.

Let’s go back to the plans. When everything is in order, the entity waits for conception to occur. For this aspect, astrological factors must be considered. Also, nothing—absolutely nothing—happens if it’s not God’s will, including the conception. Perhaps the timing isn’t quite right yet for the incoming entity. Then it will be prevented by spiritual means, but may happen with these parents the next month.

The complexity of how the specific so-called genes of the parents are called into play is far too difficult to explain. Suffice it to say, they are studied in depth and must align with the entity coming in. They are governed partly automatically, as an effect of causes set in motion. They also work partly according to certain magnetic fields, rays and fluids which are administered by spirit helpers.

Once conception happens, the incoming entity goes blank. In such a state of unconsciousness, a great part of this soul’s knowledge goes dormant and will only come back after this life on Earth is complete. Other parts may come back during life on Earth, but only when the entity leaves the body, as happens during sleep. During the process of growing up, consciousness will also awaken. This all happens according to how the spirit physicians have prepared certain types of personality-related fluids in the entity.

The genes, as we know, affect the physical shell of the being to be incarnated. The baby’s body, then, is growing inside the mother’s body in such a way that physical karmic aspects will be fulfilled. Nothing is left to coincidence. Nothing is left to itself. When it says in the Bible that God has counted every single hair on our heads, we can believe it.

There is no detail that doesn’t correspond, that doesn’t have meaning and a deeper significance than we can ever possibly guess. We have our notions about symbolism backwards. Our bodies are symbols of our spiritual development and psychological trends. They are an out-picturing of what’s inside. But be very careful about making generalizations. No rules apply.

Back to the genes—they are worked on to assure that the shell, or body, is properly prepared. Some genes are going to have an influence, others will not. Sometimes the mother’s genes are in the lead, and sometimes the father’s genes are. At one time, the parent’s genes may not activate at all. But then those of a grandparent or great aunt may suddenly switch on. This is never arbitrary or left to chance. For each and every detail, there is a reason.

At this point, as the baby’s body grows within the mother, there is no spirit in it. Everything is proceeding however exactly according to plan. In addition to the preparations for the physical body, other highly trained specialists have concentrated on preparing the psychological and spiritual factors. Through their treatment of other certain fluids, some consciousness will return to the person as they grow. Other types of consciousness, meanwhile, are destined to remain hidden.

And so it is that one person grows up feeling a strong connection to God, even though they may have atheistic or materialistic parents. In another case, it’s just the opposite. Maybe there will be a strong urge to become a painter or a physicist, despite early influences to the contrary. All this is related to how these fluids have been prepared prior to birth.

Sometimes a fluid is prepared to assure that an urge, trend or leaning will surface at some appointed period. Other fluids might be prepared in such a way that certain conditions must be met first. Does this give a glimpse of how infinitely complicated and exacting this preparation process must be for every incarnating soul?

The faults we plan to work on in our lifetime are like currents of energy. They will be meticulously laid down in the fluid bodies in such a way that it won’t take much to bring them out. Again, just the right parents and life situations will have been selected to assure that those next up for transformation won’t be overlooked. Some others are supposed to remain hidden, to be worked on in the future or only if the plan for this life gets completed ahead of schedule. Thankfully there are experts who skillfully prepare for every contingency.

We can use this information to explain what might be happening when a friend or loved one suddenly displays new and unusual traits. Perhaps they were a decent person who was conscientious about their shortcomings and seemed to be making good progress on their spiritual path. Then suddenly they change, and not for the better.

We’re shocked and dismayed at this turn of behavior, having thought they were working quite well, spiritually speaking. Maybe they really were making progress and now more deeply buried trends are surfacing for purification. It’s not uncommon, in fact, for someone on a spiritual path to seem to go rogue, as it were.

Positive traits and talents are treated similarly to faults—some will surface readily and others only after definite conditions are fulfilled. After we clear a certain hurdle, new doors open within. It could be we have full access from a young age. Or we may need to show we will stay on task before we earn access to our own gifts. It’s all there on our chart, although with far more complexity than can even be hinted at here.

This processing and treatment of our fluid bodies, in preparation for the day of birth, takes about nine months to complete. When things get ready early, the baby just waits in an unconscious state. As we know, sometimes the little one arrives ahead of schedule, if the conditions for beginning life are more suitable then. Or it could be the parents need to experience a premature birth—or a late arrival—to fulfill some karmic conditions. Always, it goes according to a plan.

Here’s one final detail to consider. During the pregnancy, the attitudes of both the mother and the father may result in a change. If either has an adjustment in their spiritual attitude during this time, the arriving entity may no longer be the best match. Perhaps the parents would now be best suited with a more highly developed spirit as their child. Or maybe they would no longer serve to bring out the issues of the incoming entity, now that they have a more spiritualized outlook on things.

There are plenty of parents to choose from who offer the limitations needed for growth. Far fewer can offer the right environment for an entity who will have more to give to the world. Such a task carries certain responsibilities for these parents. They must be worthy of rearing a child who has a greater task to fulfill. This worthiness is often determined by the spiritual outlook such a person has about life.

If changes occur in the parents—for better or for worse—last-minute changes can be made. As we might expect, plans have been made to accommodate every eventuality. Remember, in the Spirit World, our Book of Life is available for perusing. So much more is known about what’s in the realm of possibility than we can foretell with our human senses.

When a switch to a different child must be made, the first intended child will proceed without delay or difficulty to another pregnant woman. Therefore, expecting mothers are encouraged to spend time becoming quiet within, turning to God and focusing on spiritualizing their whole being during this important time. Then, when the exciting moment of birth finally arrives, many spirits are called on to assist in placing the carefully prepared fluid bodies into the body of the baby.

It is with such intricate and intimate care that we are tended to when preparing for our next incarnation to begin.

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Read Original Pathwork^® Lecture: #34 Preparation for Reincarnation