Why Are We Here?
Growth, Love and the Human Experience
Do you ever stop?
Actually stop.
Do you ever contemplate and meditate on the very existence you have here on Planet Earth?
Earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours. At the equator, the speed of the Earth's rotation is approximately 1,000 miles per hour, or 1,600 kilometres per hour.
Astronomers have used data from missions such as the Kepler Space Telescope to calculate that, on average, there is at least one planet for every star.
Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, contains roughly 100 to 200 billion stars. That could mean hundreds of billions of planets within our galaxy alone.
Current estimates suggest that there may be around two trillion galaxies within the observable universe.
When we begin multiplying numbers of this magnitude together, we arrive at an almost unimaginable number of possible worlds.
And yet, here we are.
On this planet.
At this particular moment.
Living this particular human existence.
So let us break this down.
What are the possibilities of coming to Planet Earth and sharing our lives here within this very small window of time?
The average human lifespan is somewhere around 75 to 80 years. Even if we live considerably longer, an entire human lifetime is almost nothing when compared with the age and vastness of the universe.
Yet for those few decades, we experience love, fear, relationships, loss, pleasure, pain, learning, conflict and growth.
Surely there is something extraordinary about that.
So perhaps the question is not simply:
Why are we alive?
Perhaps the deeper question is:
What are we here to experience and learn?
Why Do Our Paths Cross?
Through meditation and my own findings, without deliberately allowing myself to be influenced by other people's books, philosophies or spiritual ideas, I have gradually come to my own realisation about my spiritual life here on this planet.
I have felt this so strongly that I have written a book about my own spiritual journey.
Within that story is not only my life, but also the lives of the many different people I have met.
Each person has their own story.
Each person has their own journey.
And yet somehow our paths cross.
I believe they cross for a reason.
When I look back at the people who have entered my life, I can see how each person has influenced me and helped shape the person I have become.
Some have helped me through love.
Some through friendship.
Some through conflict.
Some through difficulty.
Some perhaps without ever realising the effect they had upon me.
Equally, I believe that through my own interaction with them, I may also have influenced their journey and helped them grow in some way.
This brings me to what I see as one of the fundamental reasons for our existence:
We are here to help each other grow.
What Does Growth Really Mean?
But what does growth actually mean?
We only have to look around us.
Plants grow.
Trees grow.
Flowers grow.
Animals develop.
Land changes.
Nature constantly moves through cycles of birth, growth, transformation, death and renewal.
Growth is therefore not simply part of human consciousness.
I believe it is part of a much greater planetary consciousness.
Perhaps nature itself is one of our greatest teachers.
If we observe a tree or a flower, we can see reflections of our own existence.
A seed rests beneath the Earth.
To the human eye, it may appear that nothing is happening.
Yet beneath the surface, transformation has already begun.
The seed in the ground can be compared with the seed of life growing within the womb.
For a period of time, it remains hidden.
Then, when the moment is right, it pushes towards the surface and reaches for the light, much like a child emerging from the womb into the world.
Eventually, the first buds begin to appear.
To me, these buds represent the periods in our lives when we are learning, gathering knowledge and beginning to understand ourselves.
Then the flower opens.
The learning continues, but now we begin showing our true potential.
We become visible.
We begin to reveal who we truly are.
Eventually the flower becomes fruit.
For me, the fruit represents maturity of the soul.
It is the stage when everything we have experienced and learned can begin to nourish other people.
Our lives are therefore not simply about our own growth.
They are also about sharing the richness of our experiences and knowledge with others.
And eventually the fruit disappears.
What remains?
A seed.
And the cycle begins again.
Life repeats itself, yet perhaps each time with the potential for more knowledge, more awareness and greater understanding.
Other People Become Our Teachers
If growth is part of our purpose, then every interaction becomes an opportunity to learn.
Every experience, whether we consider it good or bad, can teach us something about ourselves.
Even our reactions are lessons.
Why is it that one person can annoy us simply through their manner, behaviour or words, while another person behaving in exactly the same way does not affect us?
What is being triggered within us?
Perhaps the person who annoys us the most is actually presenting us with the more difficult lesson.
Maybe they are teaching us patience.
Maybe they are revealing insecurity.
Maybe they are showing us something we have not yet accepted within ourselves.
The challenge is learning how to understand that reaction without creating further pain and anguish.
It does not mean allowing people to harm us.
It means asking ourselves:
Why has this affected me so deeply?
Every interaction can become a mirror.
And sometimes the mirrors we least enjoy looking into teach us the most.
Why Would a Soul Choose a Difficult Life?
This brings me to another question.
If our lives are about growth, what about people who experience enormous suffering?
What about a child born into abandonment, abuse or a complete absence of affection?
Touch and human connection are extremely important to a child's physical and emotional development.
A child who grows without love or meaningful human interaction may carry deep emotional fears and difficulties into later life.
There is a spiritual belief that we choose our parents and, on some level, choose circumstances through which we experience our existence on Earth.
If that were true, the obvious question would be:
Why would anyone choose such a difficult life?
Perhaps because the journey is not only about the spirit experiencing that life.
Perhaps the person also becomes a teacher for the people around them.
Imagine meeting somebody who had never experienced love or affection.
How would their story affect you?
Would you want to help them?
Would you turn your back and decide that their problems were none of your concern?
Would their experience touch something within you?
Would it awaken compassion?
Would it create discomfort?
Would it remind you of something within yourself?
Perhaps their journey is also teaching you.
A child who grows without love may later develop extraordinary strength.
They may eventually experience love and affection and decide that their purpose is to help others who have suffered in similar ways.
Another person may react completely differently.
They may become bitter.
They may become angry.
They may feel cheated by life.
Some may turn towards crime or violence because of unresolved pain connected with childhood, family or abandonment.
There are countless possible paths.
Each person responds differently.
Whatever that path becomes, it is still part of a human existence on this planet.
Perhaps the Hardest Lesson Is Love
This leads me towards what I believe may be the hardest lesson within human existence:
Love.
Not romantic love.
Not love based upon whether somebody behaves the way we want them to behave.
Not love that exists only while another person agrees with us.
I mean unconditional love.
I believe unconditional love may be one of the greatest spiritual lessons we come here to understand.
And I feel that this was at the heart of the teachings of many of the great prophets and spiritual teachers.
Jesus.
Buddha. Krishna.Mohammed. And others.
Cultures, religions and traditions may use different names, stories and symbols, but I believe many of them ultimately point towards similar ideals:
Compassion.Forgiveness.Connection.Understanding.And unconditional love.
What Does Unconditional Love Actually Mean?
Do we actually know what unconditional love is?
To me, unconditional love is a love that does not judge.
It is an energy that accepts you for who you are.
Imagine, for a moment, replacing the word God with the word Love.
How different would many religious conversations become?
Instead of arguing over whose God is correct, perhaps we would ask:
Do I believe in love?
Most human beings would probably say yes.
If love became the centre rather than doctrine, perhaps we would find it easier to accept differences.
We could accept that people have different opinions.
Different cultures.
Different experiences.
Different beliefs.
We could accept that people are entitled to love whom they want to love without shame, judgement, persecution or torture.
But this brings us to an uncomfortable question.
Is it actually possible for us to become unconditional towards one another?
Really think about that.
Meditate upon your own reactions towards other people.
Think about the way other people live their lives.
Who do you judge?
Why?
When you believe that somebody's choices are wrong, ask yourself:
What makes me believe this is wrong?
Where did that belief come from?
Did I discover it myself?
Or was I taught it?
Was it given to me by my parents?
My culture?
My religion?
My education?
Society?
Fear?
And then ask yourself another question.
Am I perfect?
Have other people judged me?
How did that judgement make me feel?
Healing as an Expression of Unconditional Love
My own understanding of unconditional love becomes particularly important when I am giving healing to another person.
When I give healing to a client or patient, I listen.
I allow them to speak.
I allow them to open up about what they wish to heal, whether they experience that need on a physical, mental, emotional or spiritual level.
I do not believe the healer owns the healing.
The healer becomes the vessel.
The channel.
I see healing white light as unconditional love flowing through the healer rather than belonging to the healer.
If somebody facing cancer told you that their intention was not to continue fighting their illness, could you listen without immediately imposing your own wishes upon them?
Could you remain present?
Could you respect that person's humanity and their own journey?
Or would you insist that your belief about what should happen is more important than theirs?
Being unconditional does not necessarily mean agreeing with another person.
It means recognising that every human being has their own thoughts, experiences, fears and journey.
The healer listens.
The healer does not become the judge.
The healer becomes a vessel through which unconditional love may flow.
And that brings us to an even more difficult question.
Would you provide healing to somebody who had murdered another person?
Would you provide healing to a rapist?
An abuser?
Someone living with AIDS?
A homeless person?
An alcoholic?
A person dependent upon drugs?
Or would you begin deciding who deserves love and who does not?
If we decide that somebody must first qualify before receiving unconditional love, then is that love truly unconditional?
This does not mean accepting or excusing harmful actions.
There are consequences for behaviour, and society must protect people from harm.
But spiritually, I ask a different question:
Who are we to decide that another human being is completely undeserving of love?
I have provided healing to people whose lives or circumstances fall into some of these categories.
I have witnessed tears.
Emotional release.
The embrace of a hug.
And sometimes what appeared to be the beginning of their healing journey.
Perhaps somebody who has caused tremendous pain is carrying tremendous pain themselves.
Understanding that does not erase responsibility.
But perhaps unconditional love can exist alongside responsibility.
What Has Religion Become?
For me, religion means something deeper than institutions, rules or labels.
To me, religion means:
To reconnect.
To realign with the Earth.
To realign with ourselves.
To reconnect with the Divine.
I do not believe that true spiritual connection should be based upon fear.
Yet I feel that throughout human history, people who have stepped into positions of power have sometimes manipulated religious and spiritual teachings.
Stories have been interpreted, rewritten, removed or emphasised in ways that enabled institutions and individuals to influence the masses.
This is where I believe spiritual teaching and organised control can become very different things.
The original teaching may be love.
But human beings can transform love into rules.
Rules into fear.
Fear into obedience.
And obedience into power.
Hell, Fear and Human Control
I personally do not feel that Hell exists in the way many people have traditionally been taught.
I believe that human beings have created powerful images of Hell and the Devil, and that these ideas have often been used to frighten and control society.
Fear is an extraordinarily powerful method of control.
Tell somebody:
Obey these rules or you will suffer eternally.
That person may become afraid to question.
Afraid to explore.
Afraid to follow their intuition.
Afraid even of their own thoughts.
Human beings then become divided between those who are supposedly saved and those who are supposedly condemned.
But what if our spiritual journey was never meant to be based upon fear?
What if it was intended to bring us towards understanding?
Growth? Responsibility? Compassion? Love?
Karma and the Human Journey
Imagine that we come to Earth partly to work through karma carried from experiences before this life.
Perhaps some situations we encounter are not punishments but experiences.
Opportunities.
Lessons.
Moments through which something within the spirit develops.
This may include joyful experiences.
But perhaps it also includes extremely difficult ones.
We may encounter certain people because something remains unfinished.
We may experience circumstances that force us to confront something within ourselves.
We may find ourselves repeating the same types of relationships or conflicts until we begin to understand why.
If that is true, then perhaps life is not simply something happening to us.
Perhaps, on another level, it is something happening through us.
Are We Becoming Disconnected From Being Human?
While I believe our spiritual journey is about connection and growth, I also feel that modern society is moving in another direction.
People are becoming increasingly dependent upon machines to do everything for them.
Technology calculates faster.
Processes faster.
Finds answers faster.
Communicates instantly.
There are enormous benefits to this.
But there is also a question we should ask.
If machines continually perform more and more of our thinking and everyday tasks, what happens to our own abilities?
If we never need to remember directions, do we lose part of our ability to navigate?
If we never calculate anything ourselves, do we lose confidence in our own reasoning?
If all communication happens through screens, do we lose something within human interaction?
If machines constantly provide the answer, do we stop searching for answers within ourselves?
Perhaps the danger is not technology itself.
Perhaps the danger is forgetting what it means to be human while using it.
What Happens When Everything Stops?
Think about what happens during a major blackout, similar to events that have affected Spain and Portugal a couple of years ago.
Suddenly, systems upon which society depends begin to stop.
Telephones may stop working.
Internet communication becomes difficult.
Electronic payment systems may fail.
Cooking becomes more complicated.
Transport and everyday services may be interrupted.
Suddenly, modern life changes.
And within a very short period of time, we are forced to return to something much more basic.
How do we communicate without our devices?
How do we prepare food?
How do we organise ourselves?
How do we help one another?
How do we survive?
Perhaps experiences like these remind us of something important.
Self-reliance.
And perhaps they also remind us of community.
When our machines fail, we suddenly need one another again.
Every Event Teaches Us Something
I believe every event that happens in the world can teach us something about ourselves, each other and ultimately the human race.
I also believe we may not be the only race that has ever existed upon this planet.
Other races may have existed before us.
Others may follow us.
Civilisations appear.
They grow.
They reach great heights.
And eventually they disappear or transform.
Just like the flower.
Just like the fruit.
Just like the seed.
Perhaps even civilisation follows the same cycle of growth that exists throughout nature.
Have We Become Desensitised?
There is another aspect of modern life that concerns me.
We constantly see suffering.
War.
Violence.
Disasters.
Abuse.
Death.
Movies reproduce these experiences as entertainment.
News brings real suffering directly onto our screens.
Social media shows us tragedy from all over the planet.
Because we see so much, I feel we can sometimes become desensitised.
We watch suffering from a distance and move to the next image.
But when a disaster suddenly happens around us, something changes.
It becomes real.
We smell it.
We hear it.
We see fear in another person's eyes.
We become participants rather than spectators.
Perhaps when we find ourselves physically present during these moments, there is something within the experience for us to learn.
Do we run?
Do we help?
Do we freeze?
Do we become compassionate?
Do we discover courage we did not know we possessed?
Again, the situation becomes a mirror a reflection of who we are.
The People Who Shape Us
Think now about the people you have known throughout your life.
Some encouraged you.
Some loved you.
Some criticised you.
Some rejected you.
Some protected you.
Some hurt you.
Some may have influenced you so deeply that their words became part of your own internal voice.
Think about how people from your past may have shape-shifted your understanding of yourself.
How many limiting beliefs about yourself began with somebody else's opinion?
Someone may have told you that you were not intelligent enough.
Not attractive enough.
Not talented enough.
Not successful enough.
Too different.
Too emotional.
Too quiet.
Too loud.
Too ambitious.
Not ambitious enough.
And eventually their voice may have become your own.
The same thing can happen with our opinions about other people.
We inherit beliefs.
Judgements.
Fears.
Prejudices.
Rules.
Expectations.
And eventually we forget to ask where those ideas originally came from.
So perhaps an important part of our journey is removing those layers.
Asking:
Is this actually what I believe?
Or:
Is this something somebody else taught me to believe?
Who Are You Beneath Everything You Have Been Taught?
Perhaps this brings us back to the beginning.
You are here.
On Planet Earth.
On a planet moving through space at enormous speed.
Within one galaxy containing billions of stars.
Within a universe containing an almost unimaginable number of galaxies.
And for perhaps 75, 80, 90 or more years, you have been given this particular human experience.
You will meet people.
Some will stay.
Some will disappear.
Some will love you.
Some will hurt you.
Some will teach you.
And you will teach them.
You will experience joy.
Pain.
Success.
Loss.
Fear.
Discovery.
And throughout all of these experiences, perhaps something within you is growing.
Perhaps our purpose is not simply to exist.
Perhaps we are here:
To experience.
To interact.
To question.
To learn.
To grow.
To overcome.
To reconnect.
To help one another.
To understand ourselves.
And, ultimately, to rediscover unconditional love.
Because beneath our fears, beliefs, conditioning, judgement and experiences, perhaps there is something much simpler.
There is light.
There is love.
And perhaps the journey of human existence is not about finding something outside of ourselves at all.
Perhaps it is about remembering what was already there.
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