Chapter Eight

Spirit (Ling): Greetings and welcome to the lady visitor.

Visitor: Thank you.

Spirit: Perhaps this morning we will talk on, ‘Learning and Teaching’.

The biggest percentage of the people living in your world who think, (and I emphasise ‘think’), may well think, “What a monotonous life I lead”, “Why am I here?”, “What have I learnt?”, “What is to become of me?”

Now from the learning point of view, you are well aware that one does not accumulate knowledge in one sitting. One must go back and back, to the font of knowledge. And so through your monotonous life, if that is what it is for you, though you are not aware of it you are going over and over a learning.

Initially you, and those who help you... (when I speak of you, I mean the spirit you, your soul)... has decided that there are things you must learn, and perhaps on the earth you may learn them quicker, as you choose a situation which will enable this to happen.

It may be a simple thing such as patience, control of emotion, to overcome a propensity to greed and selfishness… there are many facets of your soul that no doubt each and every one of you, would like to develop further.

So look back on your lives, and you may realise that there was a time when something happened to put you on a slightly different path, that had lead to further learning. You may perhaps as a child, have had an inclination to, we will say, music. But owing to circumstances that appeared to be not of your control at that time, after a short time, that music has gone into the background but perhaps in your teens it has come again. But you have got caught up in the work force, and you don’t carry it out; but later, something, it may be reading a book, an article in a paper, a friend you have met, opens the path to what you may have always wanted to do... study music. There had to be a right time, and at that time that has eventually come to the fore, you are prepared to put the effort into it.

This applies to all aspects of your life... that you put the effort into it at the right time.

As a very old person you look back, but remember no matter what your age you are still learning, but for the moment we say that you look back, and you find you may have learnt a number of things, not necessarily material things. But even if they are, in learning that material thing such as (very down to earth) laying a concrete path, you have learnt patience, because that path cannot be laid without forethought and preparation. You have learnt discipline - that you cannot haphazardly mix anything together with a bit of cement and get your path. Now your whole life if you look back, has had learning in it. It may seem trivial to you, you may not have degrees but you have learnt, and much of this learning, if you have really taken it into yourself, assists in the development of soul.

Now your life is over we will say, (but I contradict myself there because remember life is never over, you have merely changed from the physical to the spiritual), and having looked back on your life with your friends and discovered where you have achieved, and perhaps where you haven’t, you look forth into eternity not sure at this stage what you are going to do; I’m assuming that you are on a level that is reasonably pleasant to be in.

So you look at your life, your material life, and say, “What have I learnt?”

“ I learnt compassion. I learnt it because someone I cared for was very ill and I really learnt to love and look after them, and to know compassion. Perhaps I could teach people that?” Or you may say, “I have been a great musician. Perhaps I could teach that”, not the music as such but teach people to know that it takes dedication - really hard work, not physical always, it is also a mental discipline, particularly if you get down to writing the music that you hear.

It would also apply to a gardener. “I have grown plants, but in growing those plants I have thought, ‘If it wasn’t for God, and for life eternal, I couldn’t do this; there is something more”.

And perhaps you can help others to start thinking that the world isn’t just this planet earth, that there is a universe, and beyond that - think! And so on, and so on as you climb the path - and it is slow.  After all you have eternity, but remember, take note of everything you learn, pass it on when the opportunity offers... you don’t have to wait!

And remember - everybody has freedom of choice. Keep your mind open. Observe and learn, no matter where you are, so that the Spirit that is you can keep travelling that eternal path, to reach what is called God.

There are many helpers always, to help you on your path, but there is tremendous satisfaction my friends, in being one of the helpers. You make more friends, and from those friends you too are learning. No help given to others is ever lost; it comes back, and sometimes multiplied.

Is there a question pertaining to what has been said, that you would care to ask - perhaps the lady first?

Visitor: It’s very hard to know what to ask. Perhaps you could give an indication as to where we should go from here, in the way of learning?

Spirit: All I can say, all we can offer at the moment to you, is ‘open-mindedness’. Do not close your mind to anything you hear. Listen, and then choose for yourself. But listen and read at every opportunity, no matter what the subject, what the religion, or who the people are.

You are young, you may smile at this but you are young. You have plenty of time to learn, so grasp everything you can, assimilate it and then toss out what is not applicable to your thinking, no matter who it comes from. You are developing your soul. Do you understand that?

Visitor: Thank you, yes.

Spirit: Did you have anything, my friend?

Sitter: Well I do wonder... you speak of eternity, you speak of us in Spirit getting much satisfaction out of helping others... if I were to choose to help others with say music, does that mean that I have to continue on always with that one subject? Or can I have a change from time to time, to help in other fields?

Spirit: You would be a very dull, flat, spirit, if you had only one subject. There are many facets to all souls, and these must be developed. To put it in a material like manner that would perhaps be applicable to your world, you would teach your music but not twenty-four hours a day, and remember, in Spirit at any rate, there is no time, so having spent a certain amount of ‘time’ for want of a better word, ‘teaching’, you would then think, “Well I wanted to find more out about astronomy”, and off you would go, but you wouldn’t drop your music completely because that is part of you, nor would you drop your pupils until they are ready to go out on their own. And while you are studying your music and astronomy, you may possibly be helping people on earth with healing. You may also spend some period of time with animals - they badly need help    - and so on, and so on.

There are people too who come over here needing healing, not physical healing but mental healing, so that they can feel comfortable with themselves.

There is so much to do, that no way can one Spirit comfortably spend all their energies on one subject, after all... wouldn’t that be lack of balance?

Sitter: Ah yes, indeed. Thank you.

Spirit: I think for this morning we have left you with a number of things to think on and talk about, and may God and his helpers be with you always.

Good morning.