Chapter 19: Why Are We Here?

 

  

There are existential questions that everyone asks once they are at an age of reasoning.  Kids do sometimes think about these types of questions too.  Kids also ponder higher order questions all the time. Zak was a depressed 7-year-old.  My son was remembering dying in a war.  He felt that life was short and meaningless and that he would be dying once again when he reached adulthood.  That was his cognition about life.  It was all pointless.  I am the mom, and I was surprised to hear this belief of his.  I am glad he shared because then we could start to confront these beliefs and create a new reality.  That is called cognitive restructuring.  Sounds so fancy for a very simple construct or concept. 

It is human to have questions.  Why are we here? 

I decided to take a crack at it.  Why not?  There are drips and drabs of this basic inquiry in past blogs.  I just never hit it head on. 

 The humanist psychologists were asking all the right questions.  Maslow started looking at highly successful people and then asked them what motivated them. What makes people happy?  It seems the pursuit of happiness is part of our purpose.

  Carl Rogers was also a humanist psychologist.  He looked at humans as having an internal map of guidance.  We are not born a blank slate that someone must mold.  I worked as a play therapist at an elementary school.  Kids had preferences and goals already in place. Children do experience frustration at being forced to do those things that do not appeal to them.  Adults feel that as well.  So how did our consciousness already exist within the very small humans I worked with?  

The behaviorists were more about molding human behavior.  Unfortunately, they did not consider other strong human motivators.  For instance: I like eating breakfast and I feel more energetic when I do.  I am listening to my body and avoiding the consequence of hunger.  Behaviorists work with using consequences or punishments as a way of changing behaviors.  I would totally ignore breakfast if a loved one was having an emergency.  My son woke me up at 5 AM stating that he had swallowed a whole bottle of pills and now regretted it.  Without coffee or even dressing better we headed to the emergency room.  I am not a morning person.  The behaviorists did not think of higher motivations that take precedents over other needs. 

                                  Beck and the Dali Lama
  

Cognitions or beliefs were the stimulus of behavior according to Aaron Beck.  If someone believes everyone is out to get them, they probably stay home quite a bit.  I was reading that Beck is still alive.  This famous psychologist is 100 years old so he must be doing something right. Beck gave the psychology field many ways of measuring depression and suicide.  No other tests have replaced the Beck inventories.

  Since Freud was looking at pathology or what is “wrong” with the patient, the humanists were saying what is going right?  So, all these men were trying to study humans and bring forth a common language that will define our motives and behavior.

Maslow was defining why someone would be a starving artist? Ah, and he would say they have ignored the basic need for food to learn and express and evolve.  Starving artists are expressing the need for self-actualization.  He also felt that expressing the creative and humoristic sides of language demonstrate the pinnacle of self-awareness.  Abe Maslow is known as the creator of the hierarchy of needs.  Needs can jump around and not stay in a certain order. Some needs give way to other urgent situations.  

It is wonderful that some of our greatest minds have tried to answer this existential question.  I don’t have to start from scratch.  Psychology has done a great job of creating language.  That separates the novice from the expert.  The language. 

Concepts have existed since man started developing religion, community, healing rituals, the study of astronomy and geography, and many other endeavors like building castles. Geography is significant when deciding where the edge of the earth is.  Then Columbus “discovered” America. That continent was always there and inhabited by humans, so Columbus did not really discover it.   Concepts like the afterlife were especially significant too.  Whether it is the contents of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, or the Three fates and the river Styx, what happens after one is dead, is very important. There are many ideas about what happens.  Now we have near death experiences.  Medicine has been able to rescue people from the river Styx and they live to talk about it.  Death might not be the spooky subject it was to our ancestors.  IANDS has done surveys that suggest 15% of adults have experienced near death and had experiences to share about this subject.  There was Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead.  That was a huge event, and it did convince many of the Jewish people that Jesus was the Messiah. Lazarus might have seen the tunnel and deceased loved ones, but he is not reported with saying anything about it. 

 

If we are asking about this life and its purpose, then to me it seems that those with near death experiences are in a unique position to answer some questions.   From what they say, there is a life review for everyone.   The review is kinder than “judgement”.   From all the experiences in one’s life, some were critical and taught the life reviewer a profound lesson.   It seems that we live on earth to learn certain things. Each evaluated experience is unique to the experiencer.  Edgar Cayce reviewed lifetimes and would say, they gained this much awareness and they depreciated in some ways too.  It reads somewhat like they gained two steps and took one back. 

There is an excellent book by Cayce https://www.amazon.com/Edgar-Cayce-Meaning-Life-About-ebook/dp/B07L7GF3HH and I am reading that one right now.

I have read a thousand near death experiences and I am never bored with the accounts.  I have noticed that when being reviewed, the experiences of great significance were those of human love relationships.  Love of parents, children, siblings, and spouses as well as good friends all hold poignant realizations in the review.  It is said that some of the accolades, plaques, and certificates hold very little value in a life review.  If nothing else, it seems that the afterlife stories show us what was important and worth celebrating about our adventures in the earth realm.   Simply stated it appears we were learning about love of all types.  In the end, it was a deeper grasp of love that we took with us beyond the grave or river Styx.  This is the treasure that is incorruptible.

Why are we here seems to hint at life purpose?  Our purpose might also exalt a group of people.  Humans have always done better in tribes or villages.  Jane Roberts and other psychic channelers seem to indicate that there are soul groups.   I have a dream of a very happy lifetime as an Islander.   I visited Maui and was almost unable to leave.  I also visited a castle ruin in Scotland and could not bare myself to leave.  As an islander, I remember knowing the concept of family and being a part of something larger than myself.   Now in these days it seems that we are unconcerned about the welfare of others.  Not all of us but there are many out there who have narcistic tendencies.  Let me just say that perhaps all the extended family on my island were my soul group.  As we expired and sloughed off our earth body, we had to make the decision. Collectively there was a decision to expand and live elsewhere or come back as the “Great Grandmother” guide for our village.  It is now apparent to me that many of my soul group are not on earth or even in this solar system at the same time I am.  There is the ever-expanding consciousness of the entire group to consider.  In this concept it is not just “why am I here” but why is my group here”.   This is where another concept begins. 

Evolving consciousness of our planet and our solar system.  This is where I recommend Neale Walsh’s trilogy “Conversations with God”.  God is experiencing life and growing through us.  Neale speaks of highly advanced societies.  They might not be from earth, but some are.  We seem primitive and backwards to some of the neighbors in this galaxy and beyond.  Some ETs are like family and some are not as each group has its own agenda.  There is a whole new study in exopolitics for us the humans.  How do we treat other cultures and advanced societies?  Now there is an intersection between (why are we here), and who is coming to dinner. 

As this question seems to naturally expand, I remember watching a video on Gaia TV Called the Café at the End of the Universe with Jerry Wills https://www.gaia.com/share/cksxx4ed800nk0ipacvd1eh9j?language[]=en&utm_source=share I can share a limited amount of material from that site.  It is worth joining.  In the café Jerry is able to have big discussions with ETs from all over.  These beings gather on occasion to share knowledge.  There is a built-in ability to communicate by way of telepathic means.

This discussion on why we are here grows and has no real end.  Dr. Peebles, a disincarnate guide, once said that your purpose can grow and be whatever you like.   Michelle Pfeiffer once said, she was just trying to be the best cashier she could be when she was discovered.  As doors opened to better more challenging movie parts, she continued to expand and grow in her purpose and her craft.  Donald Trump just wanted to build the best skyscraper in New York, and he kept taking steps towards bigger realizations.  Saint Francis of Assisi probably never thought as a young man he would become a saint. It has been said that all the roads you choose lead to the path you were meant to walk.  Abraham/Hicks has said, just wait for inspiration to take the next step or journey.   It seems to be a day to day unfolding and journey we take with us beyond this physical lifetime.  This question of why we are here just keeps on growing with you.  It should be a fun ever expanding learning of things.