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‘If you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear.’

Jane was considering the options. Her last incarnation left her with hundreds of questions, a few regrets, and a high degree of satisfaction.

She had to step into earth mode temporarily to feel these emotions and thoughts, as making an informed choice was difficult from a state of total bliss.

Jane reflected on hours spent in conversation with her family and friends about karma, guilt, fear, love, the ascension, spirit and other trivial matters… She had indulged herself in a life-long search for wisdom, technologies and teachers who would help her make sense of it all.

Her [last] childhood had been materially grim but she had chosen loving parents. In the last 30 years of her life, she had started to let go of the resentments, fears, anger and frustrations she had built up in the first 60.

As the memory of letting go of all the accumulated mental junk came back, she lapsed again into the state of bliss and decided to stay there for a while.

‘I see you can’t dwell too long in memory mode’ said her last earth partner, Gerry.

‘I was, for the purposes of enlightenment, wondering how we across here can help them grasp living simultaneous lives, how ‘time’ has no meaning and how to ‘make sense’ of this when it is beyond the five senses, and sometimes beyond even ‘knowing,’’ replied Jane.

‘We don’t want the buggers gate-crashing do we? Hearing that mind-numbing ‘music’, watching them roll about half-cut, chewing gum, and feeling like we did in Earlestown on a Saturday night,’ retorted Gerry.

‘You know that’s all rubbish. I wonder at times if you’re not still back at the ‘Queens Arms’ yourself. How can the ‘buggers’ ruin perfection? Buggers only exist in the dream the earth plane perpetuates. But I do get a frustrated at all the chaos they create. However, it’s all going according to plan.’

‘Mine’s a pint of Landlord,’ shouted Gerry as it manifested in his hand. ‘You don’t need to read ten books and spend hours practising here do you? Think and it’s there.’

Jane and Gerry continued to enjoy the banter, as it had no consequences, hurt no-one, and resentment didn’t exist in spirit.

‘Oh sod it,’ said Jane, ‘I’m off soon. I’ve chosen my parents, my gender, my kids, people who will come into my life, those who will love me and those who will betray me. I’ve cut down the betrayals to four, as I’m dealing with them much better after my last life as a teacher from a persecuted minority. Do you want to feature in this life Gerry?’

‘Not deliberately thanks. I can’t not feature can I? We are immortal. I’ve no idea how to get their heads around the absence of time. You’ve just said ‘I’m off soon’ as if you are waiting for a celestial taxi. You’re there now, an apprentice blacksmith in 18^th century Paris. I’ll leave you a surprise for your 21^st.’

‘Great, can’t ‘plan’ it all otherwise what’s the point?’ mused Jane.

‘Just ‘before you go’ listen to this’, said Gerry. ‘How can they reconcile planning and leaving it to the cosmos?’

‘You know they can’t,’ replied Jane, ‘and for that matter neither can we. We decide the basics, and then the rest is an adventure. There would be no point in going back if we ‘knew’ the whole thing, and no point if it was totally random and chaotic, as those who currently appear to run the shown on earth want to portray.’

‘But what would happen if enough of them woke up and saw through the illusion? The number who are awake is growing, and it’s on the cards they could manage it ‘soon.’

‘Look,’ growled Jane, well out of her bliss state. ‘We seem forever to be having this discussion. You know that before enlightenment/awakening the biggest obstacle after forgiveness is letting go of the material world and making a connection to all beings. There early stages of waking up are accompanied by a feeling of superiority as you move away from Budweiser, Nike, Coke, John Prescott, Aspartame, Donald Rumsfeld, Victoria Beckham and in your case, Timothy Taylor’s Landlord.’

‘You’re ‘right’ of course. And then the hardest part of all, the realisation that even the stuff and people you have just mentioned are part of the illusion,’ said Gerry with a grin.

‘How’s the river of forgetting for my bath?’ asked Jane, ‘I don’t want to be one of those poor souls who know what their future life will be like when they are in the womb. It’s bad enough Jean having dreams about Kate Moss. Imagine knowing about Thatcher, wheelie bins and people being microchipped, Peter Mandelson, SPAM and the time-slipped 1984 before you get out. You wouldn’t want to know would you?’

‘Fast forward to earth year 2012. They are doing, and there are no cameras, no litter and-sorry Gerry-no more pints of your favourite beer’, laughed Jane.

‘Well if that’s the case, let them stay asleep, gutsing burgers, gasping fags and walking around with their stomachs hanging out of their trousers. I can wait a bit longer for the collapse of the illusion. I loved that ale!’

JS October 2006.

* Britain has more cameras watching the population than just about any other country. Middlesbrough council in the north-east of England has gone one step further than merely ‘monitoring’ people in its town centre. If any of them drop litter, ride bikes on pavements or commit any other petty anti-social act, they are barked at via loudspeakers. ‘If you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear’, said a council spokesperson…