Writings by Essa

Once upon a time, life ended on earth before it began. To live life in the direction of birth was considered the way to go because youth and infancy would be the gift for living a long and prosperous life. The elders of the community were revered for all knew that without them there would be no society. They had the wisdom of their age to know what would work, and what wouldn’t. They knew they needed to appreciate the gifts of life because over time their lives would transition. They knew that nothing was permanent.

But, over the years, as the generations continued to move in this direction, many began to fear birth and conception. Along the way, they perceived their life slipping away, as they were losing their freedoms, and they were required to attend school and unlearn everything that they had ever learned. As they grew younger still, and drew closer to birth, they lost their ability to eat, as they had – often remembering the delicious foods they used to eat. As they remembered how they used to be able to feed themselves, they didn’t appreciate others feeding them.

Often people would become disillusioned by the losses in their life as they got to the birthing point of their dreams and relationships. By the time they reached their late teens, many were cynical and sarcastic…mourning the fact that they didn’t appreciate what they had when they had it. Often one could be heard to say, “Seniors have no idea how good they have it. The wisdom of old age is wasted on them.”

They also noted that the parts of them that they admired changed with youth. They lost their personality often looking at the seniors with jealousy. If only they could be that way again.

One day, the universe wondered if it should reconsider the order in which life was lived. It held a forum, heard opinion, and then a vote was taken. By an overwhelming majority it was felt life was meant to be lived in the other direction. It seemed to be the preference, as many feared birth, and there had been numerous complaints. The universe wasn’t convinced but, listening to those who live life, decided to change everything – and let life be lived backwards – to let people live in the joy of their accomplishments, to be able to build on them.

Many now felt that people in their senior years would be able to reflect on a life well lived, and be able to come to the point of death peacefully – there would be no more kicking and screaming at the time of departure. Death would be welcome, as they would have accomplished all that they had come to do.

At first, people seemed to enjoy the fact that they could live life “backward”. It had been what they had been wanting all along. It would be so great. The first few generations died peacefully, knowing what it had been like to live life in the other direction. They appreciated the universe’s change of heart. The thing was, though, that as new generations were being born, the awareness of the earth’s previous inhabitants was beginning to fade into nothingness. There were tales and stories, but no one seemed to take them seriously.

Youth became a troubling time because every child was in a hurry to grow up. Youth wanted to get on with its life. The appreciation of having needs taken care of, and the appreciation of the leisure of youth was lost. Adulthood became one challenge after another. People were more stressed than they ever had been in the history of mankind. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another…and to make matters worse, they watched as their parents became seniors and wrinkled and then passed on, in mourning, because they had felt that they had not done all that they could, or should have.

Death began to be feared. It was no longer a peaceful passing from one existence to another. It had become another reluctant choice that people were making. Seniors could often be heard to say, “Youth is wasted on the young,” and conversations ensued about what it would be like to live life in reverse – wouldn’t it be great?

The universe just listened, but this time did nothing to change the order of life. “These humans! They don’t seem to get it. Life is meant to be lived, period. It doesn’t matter if it’s death first, and then birth, or birth first and then death. It’s what’s in the middle that counts.”

The universe always looked for opportunities for people to realize this simple truth. It worked on creating a focus on something outside of the immediate human self, for it seemed that while humans were focused on one another, they couldn’t focus on their death. The universe realized that fear and Love could not co-exist, so it created many opportunities for the expression of Love so that people could be distracted from their fears.

People had seemed to have forgotten in the middle of all of their concerns about how their lives were being lived – why exactly they were living their lives in the first place.

When Love was ignored, the universe got creative, and provided humans with opportunities to rediscover why exactly they were here. It didn’t always occur as pleasant, but during these times, as well as at all times, there was always an opportunity for Love to show up and confirm the purpose of life.

The universe noted that while humans had much to divert them, they had the ability to focus on only one thing at any given moment. The one thing that people could count on to feel good with each and every moment that their focus was on was Love. It was this thing that would, when focused on, would give human his purpose.

Humans were offered times to be reminded of their purpose, and to be reminded that it was this purpose that was important, not their life itself. For the purpose is what links one human to another, and transcends each individual’s experience.

If humans remembered that they were a part of the ever-present Love, their struggle would be over because they would recognize that the experience of life comes through the body, and that life is not itself the body. Having this perspective would allow them to experience the infinite and to see and feel Love and beauty in everyone and everything.

In its infinite wisdom, the universe realized that there was no way it could make humans happy. Only through the choice of a human’s focus could a human be, and truly feel, content.