"Can you tell me if Tim is going to be okay Phoenix? - Will he live? - Will he be able to walk?" asked Billy, as he strolled with his spirit friend along an astral beach. The particles of sand sparkled like beads of polished opal as the receding waves of liquid aquamarine washed over them. Billy could not see the sky because the atmosphere was so bright but there were curtains of colours flowing all around him that scintillated like clouds of ionized gas.
"I'm not able to tell you that Billy, all I can say is that you will want to comfort him as much as you can when you see him but you won't be able to do all that he asks."
"But don't you know? Can't you see? You spirits know everything don't you? Can't you just tell me straight?" Billy was becoming tense and he looked towards Phoenix who had sat down on the edge of a large crystalline rock and was lobbing pebbles into the sea. A ray of light shot through his translucent robes and refracted as a spectrum of radiating colours but when Phoenix turned to face Billy they all faded to shades of grey.
"I could tell you a number of things that might happen and one would upset you as much as any other. It's not my job to tell you what will happen nor is it my wish to. I'm afraid Tim is in charge of his own destiny but he will decide quite soon. You can only offer him comfort and understanding Billy and you must also help Tara through this sad time."
"Why do horrible things happen to nice people, Phoenix? Why do they deserve to suffer?"
"If you were to ask a Buddhist, they might tell you that only through suffering can one obtain enlightenment."
"Yeah, but I'm asking you Man!"
"Then I would say that perhaps it is what they need to do."
"But why doesn't God reward good people and only punish the bad?"
"That depends on your view of what the Great Spirit, the creative force might be. Perhaps the singular entity concept - the old, bearded man or the Goddess Mother image - might not be true. Perhaps GOD stands for a Gathering Of Divinities or a Grand Old Democracy or perhaps their name should be the STOALCAE - the Sum Total Of All Life, Consciousness And Experience - whose only collective concern is for the freedom of will and the development of the Soul through Life. Like adoring and understanding parents the G.O.D or whatever, allows its children - its future fellow members - to make their own mistakes, to burn their fingers on the fire, to fall and graze their knees because they know that everybody has to experience it in order to learn and grow."
"But surely there must be a better way than that?" insisted Billy.
"Perhaps, young man, you should ask one of the millions of souls who are waiting to incarnate or reincarnate on the Earth, if there is a better way. Why is it do you think, that the most dangerous and most scary rides at the funfair have the longest queues?
"So what are you saying, Phoenix? That the University of Life on planet Earth offers the best crash course in Spiritual Enlightenment and everyone's queuing up for the excitement and the blood, sweat and tears?"
Phoenix turned around showing the mysterious swirls of vaporous colour within the cowl of his robe - they were intense and flashing as if mirroring his mood but they quickly abated and toned down. Billy felt as if his own mind was being soothed and relaxed.
"I would not have changed - I would not have progressed had I not experienced what I did during my own time on Earth. If the world was perfect there would be no need for change so for those who need to change in order to perfect themselves, the world is therefore ideal.
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