There is an interesting section in a translated communication titled The life of Jesus. It was reportedly a communication from spirit Jesus to a medium in France in the 19th century. The medium was only known as Medium X. The book was translated into Italian, then Spanish, then into English. It was not completed until a second medium took up the work in the 20th century. We are told in the “About” section:
“The Spanish translator was also a medium who received the dictation of the second part in the 20th Century. His name was Ovidio Rebaudi, born in Paraguay, but lived in Buenos Aires. At first he was reluctant to translate this book into Spanish, because he himself had lost faith in Jesus, believing him to be a myth. But a series of apparently unconnected occurrences happened which made him change his mind and he set forth on the difficult task of translating the book. It seems he was a very special person and highly spiritual indeed as he was then used by the Light Forces to transmit the second part Jesus had in mind. He is referred to in the book as Medium XX.”[i]
One must always be careful with purported communications, especially from famous names, since many spirits will use a false title to bring more weight to their message. Interestingly, in the communication itself is a warning that we should tread carefully because one should verify messages from the spirit word. But, of course, this could be a false flag.
Still, The Life of Jesus is an interesting document and explores aspects of Jesus’ life that haven’t been exposed anywhere else. But since, I am not sure about the authenticity, I have chosen not to write about that; I suggest the reader look at the message and decide for oneself. But, I did find an intriguing section which spoke about the difficulties of a spirit in the flesh, which echoed and provided greater detail than what Socrates said about the thousand distractions of life in a body. In summary he told us that wisdom is unattainable as long as we live in a physical body … only after leaving our flesh will we be able to think without waves of emotional distractions handicapping our ability to focus our thoughts.
I have often thought (unfocused of course) about this statement and believed it to be true and deliberate by the spirit realm. It is part of our training, to withstand any emotion washing over us while maintaining our equilibrium. I am reminded of a television film, presented by a Public Broadcasting Station, inspired by a series of Kurt Vonnegut stories, Between Time and Timbuktu, where in the future, everyone would be equal. The government enforced equality; intelligent people had to wear headphones that interrupted their thoughts every thirty seconds, talented ballerinas were force to have sandbags attached to their limbs so they couldn’t dance better than anyone else. Kurt Vonnegut and the other contributors of the film adroitly exposed the true dream of many socialists, where equality is force-fed to the unwashed masses. This may account for the reason I never saw it again on any PBS station.
In essence, Between Time and Timbuktu regulated all people to live a handicapped existence … where any attempts to rise above normality proved almost insurmountable. We on earth are in the same boat when it comes to placing our spirituality above our material and emotional desires. As we attempt to swim against the tide of our culture we are met with sharp reefs that impede our progress. Luxuries and sensual pleasures are so much more satisfying than attempts of self-restraint. Those who are successful may sometimes seem fanatical and frankly unpleasant to associate with for long. Be that as it may, there are many wonderful people who pull it off.
Growing up, my parents went to the local Episcopal Church in Anaheim, California; the Reverend John Kimball Saville Jr. was a family friend. We would rent a house at the beach together for a couple of weeks during the summer. He was the nicest and most non-judgmental person I had ever met. Unlike the stories of so many other Pastors, his children were also lovely. I remember my mother telling me, that his parents were atheists and wouldn’t hear any talk of God or Church, so he would sneak out to attend church services. I also remember - I may have been around twelve at the time, when his children painted flowers all over his car. To me it was ghastly, in my twelve year-old mind, I would have thrashed them. The Rev. Saville drove that car around without the least bit of embarrassment.
The Rev. Saville, by his manner, by the love I felt emanating from him, made a great impression on me. In fact, in my child-like way, I thought he was God. Which I would announce to my mother whenever we were in church and I saw him walking to the podium, I would nudge her and say, “Mom, God is coming.” She would just look at me and then stare straight ahead. Looking back, I think she tried to keep the damage to a minimum. She told me much later, that women would come up to her and tell her how sorry that her son was “special”. Hence, she was smart and didn’t engage in any dialogue with me within the hearing of others, since it would have cemented their opinion of me.
I digress, but it was for a purpose; to prove that a person could be highly spiritual, kind, loving, and wonderful to be with. It’s not impossible, nor improbable, it is just not easy. Now to the point, why it’s not easy to be a high spirit, is explored in what was disclosed in Chapter 11. This is what we were told:
“The Spirit oppressed by a science that exceeds the power of comprehension of those who surround him, often diverts his eyes from the bright horizons and lets combinations of a material order invade his thoughts to associate different forces towards a specified goal, if not glorious immediately, at least usable for a future glory. The Spirit honored in the past by productive partnerships, with visions and realities full of promises in the present hour, walks with sure steps, especially in the midst of difficulties, deceits and revolts that are set up against him by the ignorant and the wicked. Then the Spirit weakens and does not recover his courage but convulsively, and throws himself into the vagaries of the ideas in accordance with the views of men and transforms the torchlight that he possesses into an incendiary torch. So did the Spirit of Jesus proceed in the last years of his life as Messiah.”[ii]
The insight above that stands out is the innate knowledge of a more perfect world by a mature spirit and the effect of the obstacles (and maybe the dawning realization of the impossibility) which stand in the way from achieving that goal. The plain truth of the general frailness of humanity weakens that resolve, and then an incarnate of a more mature spirit rebels against the hopelessness with a force that is not attuned to the circumstances.
There is an example of that in the same chapter, when Jesus was experiencing his last days in Jerusalem, he reportedly said, “All men are equal and must divide the goods of the earth between them.” While this has not been passed down to us from the Bible or history books, the spirit Jesus points out that this message was at the wrong time, it was a vision of life in the spirit world or life in an advanced world, but not one possible on earth. Not two thousand years ago, not today … due to the state of maturity of mankind.
We have seen this in purported leaders who wished to achieve a new world, but ended up eliminating anyone who didn’t conform. From Lenin, to Mao, to Castro; all saw a world of equality, but finished with a corrupt regime, killing, in some cases, millions of innocents, due to their crime of being a normal human, who had desires. This same blindness as to what spirit-vision policies can lead to plagues us today. Politicians and pundits spout unrealistic goals and then condemn everyone but themselves when basic human nature corrupts the process.
To believe in the fraternal and equality driven future is noble … but to miss the un-readiness of society to respond is negligent. After the volcanic eruption in response to the fruitless act of trying to improve life for everyone on the planet, the more mature spirit may spiral off into a misguided need for direct action. Action that can’t possibly work, except to make the person feel like they have done something, anything to move the dial forward.
Hence, for those toiling toward justice in the world, I urge restraint. It is a fine thing to push for a better world, but we must acknowledge that we work with the tools we have and the truth is we have immature spirits about and amongst us. Invariably, they will work out the best path to please themselves. We must follow the Divine Law and allow free will. Humans must be free to choose selfishness, even though it seems so wrong. But only by letting mistakes be made, can many learn the true path, the path of light and love. Therefore, a less than perfect world is perfect for our planet of atonement. There is greed, chaos, and danger – all important items to supply the lessons we need to learn.
This state will not last forever. The spirit realm is guiding us to a better world. We shall evolve to be planet where good spirits dominate, where selfishness, envy, and hate are seldom encountered. We should all do our part, but only with love and respect, not with yelling, name-calling, or violence.
To learn about Spiritism and what it tells us about our many physical lives and what is heaven like, read my book Spiritism - Everything is Connected.
[i] Baker, M, M., “The Life of Jesus”, n.d.,
https://lifeofjesus.wordpress.com
(accessed July 15, 2016)
[ii] Baker, M, M., “The Life of Jesus”, n.d.,
https://lifeofjesus.wordpress.com
(accessed July 15, 2016)
I am so encouraged by this, to not feel responsible for others choices. We each are, where we are.