Wisdom of Ramadahn by Ursula Roberts

CHAPTER EIGHT

Do Animals Survive Death?

 Can you speak briefly about the evolution of the animal kingdom?

 The animal spirit, even as the less evolved human spirit, is in a group consciousness, for many of those whom you regard as individual souls are really part of a group soul working up from a lesser plane of development. Even so is it with the creatures of the earth. They belong firstly to a group consciousness and then, as the whole soul breaks through into individualised facets of animal existence on earth, it is slowly increased in wisdom and power by what each animal brings back to the whole soul after its period of earthly life. Thus you see elephants of great power and intelligence. Firstly they are of a group, they roam the forest together, mate and love, and in time they come to know certain elemental forces. They will remember that the fierce striped creature is an enemy, and when the elephant dies this thought will be returned to the group consciousness. Thus, other animals will be born with the instinctive knowledge that the tiger is a fierce and unrelenting enemy against whom they must guard.

 In time the elephant will come into contact with man, perhaps through injury, and man may use his healing herbs and skill upon the wounded flesh. Thus man establishes an understanding with this mighty creature so that the elephant will submit unto his will and come to know that he has skill and wisdom unknown to the elephant soul. On returning to the group soul at the end of life it will share this knowledge with the group, and when another elephant comes to earth it may not fear man but will submit more readily to his will, labouring for him, and thus it comes to understand more of mankind.

 When that elephant dies its consciousness also returns to the group soul, but because it has gained a higher degree of intelligence by its contact with man, it remains an elephant who is more advanced than the whole group amongst whom it lives. Thus on returning to earth once more it will be known as one with great intelligence and individuality, and on dying and again returning to the group soul it will be recognised as an individual soul who can help to lead forward the whole group to a higher degree of consciousness. This is the way in which the animal group soul slowly advances.

 As men develop spiritual power and knowledge which makes them masters and guides of other men, so do the creatures of the wild develop their own individuality and wisdom, making them leaders of their kind also and, when they die, guides of their own groups, leading them slowly into higher states of individuality.

 If love is necessary for a full life, what about the animals in their wild state?

 The animal in its own wild state, unloved by man, is ever conscious of its own sense of joy and unity with the great creative power of life. It will not feel the lack of man's individual love unless it has already become conscious of contact with man himself. But if the animal has felt the stir of devotion to the living master, then if unloved it suffers loneliness and as a result sometimes develops sickness.

 Man's responsibility towards the animal creation is in giving them love and kindness, otherwise he should leave the living creatures to work out their own destiny in harmony with the great ebb and flow of the life forces. But where the animal becomes conscious of man's influence and its intelligence develops and love is awakened within the heart, then man accomplishes something of great importance, for he lifts through his own loving hands some part of the lesser creation. He individualises a part of the great group soul. When he himself leaves the mortal body to continue his life within the spiritual realm, he will find that the individualised animal will rise with him.

 It is good, then, that love should be given to the animal creation?

 If that love is attracted from the heart by animal creatures, it is good. If man or woman cannot love the person who is nearest but can give love and service unto such a creature, still if the channel of love is open, then it is good and should be increased.

 The animals war with each other, but if they are unified by the love of man they will cease to war and learn the lesson of unity. There are some spirits who incarnate for the express purpose of trying to unify these warring parts of the animal creation. Through their efforts you will see the lion playing with a dog or cat.

 If an animal is slightly vicious and refuses to respond to tenderness and kindness, when the time comes for it to depart this life will it leave that viciousness behind?

 No, for the animal carries within its memory harshness and hurts inflicted upon it in a previous life experience. You who dwell within your gentle English land know little of the cruelty which man inflicts upon the creatures in his care. Even your doctors of medicine in their experiments bring about great suffering to helpless creatures, who are unable to wreak vengeance or rebel against them.

 Sometimes after a short sojourn within the grounds of happiness they return into the earthly experience to meet people of kindness. But their desire for revenge against man may make you say, "This is an intractable creature." Where you meet such an animal, give it your love, and even if it has to complete its life in this state of rebellion still, as it passes back again into the lands of happiness, it may carry a happier memory of the influence of man and may come again into a better state of incarnation.

 If people become ill through wrong actions, why do domestic animals become ill?

 Animals often absorb an impure magnetic force from the radiations of the people tending them and also become sick and ill because they are not taught to control their appetites. Men and women are not always wise in their tending, for even as they indulge their own bodies with sugar and excessive food, so do they allow the creatures in their care an excess of food or comfort which weakens the harmony of their bodies. Animals, too, feel very intensely the lack of love, or unjustness, of a master. This causes grief or loneliness. Therefore when you say that people become sick because of emotional upset, so also does the living creature.

 Why do animals have to kill other animals for food? They seem to have no alternative food as does man.

 Try to view the whole realm of creation as a unity, then you will see that every form of life is giving itself in a joyfulness of sacrifice unto the other.

 The moss feeds upon rock, the grass feeds upon moss, and animals and birds feed upon the grass and herbage. Man himself exists by reason of his food being obtained from the waters or the living herbage of the earth, or from the sacrifice of creatures. Therefore animals in their natural state accept this law of sacrifice.

 I find it difficult to love the destructive tendency found in certain animals; when a cat catches and plays with a mouse, we know the mouse is suffering.

 The cat and mouse. This is not a phase of life governed by the law of love, and because the cat creation has this cruelty within itself which is against the law of love, so many of them come under the care and influence of men and women.

 It is to eradicate by love this destructive tendency that the animal soul incarnates within the cities of the earth. It may take centuries and many, many times of teaching, but if the master or mistress would project thought into the consciousness of the cat whom they love and mentally say to it, "It is wrong; we do not like to destroy the birds and mice," then gradually the cat will become less cruel in its approach to forms of life weaker than itself. In time this intelligence would sink into the whole consciousness of the cat creation. Not all animals live as they should, and even as men and woman develop cruelty and disharmony within themselves so have the lesser creation developed rebellion against the law of love and harmony. You who are stronger in love should help them to learn this law.

 Can you tell us about animals in the spirit world?

 First, I would speak of this law of harmony and love, for only in your understanding of this can you begin to understand the animal creation.

 Is it not true that where there is harmony there is an absence of fret and fury, of fear and of hurt? Harmony stems from love, and where there is love there is a peaceful blending of component parts into one harmonious whole. So it is in your natural world for if you sit quietly in woodland or desert places you become conscious of a peace not found in the city. Here within the spiritual realm of Peace and Harmony this same law governs the relationship of persons unto each other, unto the place wherein they dwell and the animal life around them, as well as the relationship of one animal to another.

 Any man or woman who loves and tends a living creature, no matter what their failures, no matter what their sins, this one at the time of death will find a friend and a guide. The animal reasons not, but only loves. In its lovingness it will welcome one who has fallen or sinned and lead them away from regret into the light, towards fulfilment, for this is part of the great and beautiful interblending of the life of the living creatures with the soul of human beings. All are part of one another, all are moving onwards and upwards in a beautiful forward going of evolution, transmutation and change that the whole earth itself may slowly become refined, etherealised and filled with the radiance of life and love.

 In your desert and wilderness places of earth, until the lion is hungry he does not destroy the little antelope. Here in the spiritual realm hunger and thirst are known no more and the animals roam in great green silences. The lion, the jackal and the tiger live side by side with the beloved dogs and cats which man has loved during his earthly experiences. In the spiritual realm, man or woman may have as a companion a lion, or any other animal, if they have within themselves a sufficiency of love. Joyful it is to see them walking together or exploring the counterparts of the forest places.

 The animal in its earthly existence has no sense of time as you understand it, except as it is governed by hunger and thirst and an awareness of the rhythms of master or mistress. Thus, in the spirit realm the animal may continue for many years without unhappiness because it has not the rhythm of hunger or thirst to make it aware of time, and timelessness makes "time" go swiftly by.

 So, when you come to the end of your life's journey, you may step forth into spirit and find awaiting you the beloved horse upon which in your youth you rode across the flowing plains, or the gentle cat who cheered your heart, each aware of you although you may have been unaware of them.

 Mankind slaughters animals so that thousands die every hour in an atmosphere of great terror. How is this regarded on your side?

 In the spiritual realm it is regarded as a great wrong because man, by his interference with the natural laws of the animal creation, upsets the balance of nature. He breeds animals to his own desire and destroys them to his own desire, often in a spirit of greed and lust and with total disregard for the fear and feeling of the animals. But memory of the creature is a short one; many have simply lived in a herd consciousness in the care of man and are not yet individualised. So there is only a short remembrance of terror as they become aware of the slaughter places. As soon as their spirit is freed from the body the animal rejoins the herd and will enjoy itself within the "'happy hunting grounds". But it would be better if man did not destroy the living creatures.

 Is it wrong to have a pet put to sleep because it frets for the owner who has died?

 Such an action, if carried out as an act of compassion, does no harm because the creature may be unhappy in its longing for its master or mistress who has passed to the spirit existence. The release from its body, if carried out painlessly, will but bring the soul of that creature into unity once more with the person who loved him. If for any reason you need to terminate the life of any creature, I would say: as you bring this into being, send forth to the soul of the animal the living influence of your loving thought and blessing, for truly that which is radiating from you will help it in its spirit existence.

 How can one acquire harmony whilst being aware of the suffering of animals?

 Harmony can only come into being deep within the spiritual self. Try to adjust your consciousness away from the thought of the suffering in the earth and think upon the happiness within the happy hunting places of spirit. If your spiritual vision can be opened to see, even for one moment, the beauty of the vast flowing plains in which animals disport themselves with an abandonment of complete joy, you will say even as I have done: "Their memory of fear lasts for such a little while. There is the joy and compensation of the creature."

 When animals reincarnate, do they enter another animal life or do they progress to a higher form of life?

 It depends upon the amount of intelligence or affection mankind has been able to stimulate within the soul of the animal. Throughout evolution the animal soul has become gradually changed out of its elemental and primal state into that which is extremely intelligent and affectionate, through man's influence upon certain types of animal. As he fondles a dog, so does he stimulate the sleeping divinity within the animal, and this animal soul will continue to live within the etheric world until such time as the spirit of that man no longer has interest in it. Then the animal will return unto the group soul from which it emerged, giving to it the sum total of its newly developed intelligence so that the whole group soul becomes of a higher order, and the new animal form which will be born into the world will be of a higher intelligence than previously.

 But if the man (or woman) who first stimulated affection within the soul of this animal possesses sufficient warmth of love for this creature, he may continue to develop the creature's intelligence throughout the etheric world, so that the animal evolves a body of "feeling" in order to follow his master or mistress into higher states. If the love is strong enough between them, the animal soul may become externalised in the Land of Light to which the master or mistress has withdrawn. This is within my own personal experience, for my own horse has progressed through many states of consciousness and still remains with me when I withdraw into the Planes of Light.