During one of our practice sessions while I was training with Denise Linn, I had a past life experience where I was a man that was running a marathon. I could see the number on my shirt and the muscles in my legs very clearly. Denise had divided us into groups of three and our task was to visit a past life and we were to recognize what our unique talent or ability in that life had been.

I could feel and see myself running in place and stretching in order to get ready for the race. I knew that I had run many races before and that I was a strong athlete. In fact, the specific ability that I took away from this life was my individual fitness and strength. That had been my source of pride in that life time. That part was unremarkable. The interesting and confusing part for me was that my race was taking place in San Francisco and from the design of the automobiles around me and the clothing that the spectators wore, I would place the time period some time in the late 1960's. At the end of each regression, it is common to bring a person to their death in that life time in order to go full circle and feel closure. When I saw myself at my death I was in an apartment, sitting in front of a television with a TV dinner. I was an old man wearing a thick, brown sweater and I knew that I was in Ohio. The scenery indicated that it was the late 1970's or early 80's. I was distracted by this. How could it be that I was a young man in the 60's and a very old man in the 80's? Additionally, the year of my birth for the life time that I am currently in is 1971. This made no sense.

When we returned to our group, I explained my confusion. Denise shrugged and said, "Oh, that is not uncommon. Time is not happening in sequential order as we preceive it. Everything is happening at one time. All life times are lived at the same time." I didn't get it. The past is done, the future hasn't happened yet and all we have is right now. Of course time is happening in a linear fashion!

Only now am I beginning to understand. We have only this moment and eternity is not about dying and going to a place where time goes on FOREVER. Its about timeLESSness, as Eckhart Tolle says. The angels, too, have been trying to tell me this from the beginning. Eternity is now.

I seem to slip in and out of understanding. I'm writing it out here in the hopes that it becomes more clear for me. Here are the steps of my understanding:
A. Our souls are connected to all things. We are, in fact, all one in this giant realm of consciousness.
B. We are not only connected to other human beings, but we are a part of the vibrations of animals, trees, rocks, angels etc..
C. As a part of this enormous consciousness, we drop in to have an individual experience, but our souls are not limited to only this body in this time. We are greater than time and space.
D. Our souls are having a multitude of individual experiences at one time. Like being in a hall of mirrors where you see yourself mulitiplied and divided everywhere that you look. We see this hall as an illusion of replicating ourselves.
E. The life that we perceive as our sole reality is in truth, the illusion. Our BEING (or higher self, soul or spirit) is expansive and unified. We don't lose our uniqueness or individuality in the vastness of consciousness, but rather we gain freedom from our limiting minds.

This is why I believe anyone can see angels or spirits. Why wouldn't you be able to? We are all part of each other and our thoughts limit our ability to understand that there is no SEPARATION from the spirit world. Or any other world or any other creation.

I have more ideas, but will type them in part two.
C