Carol Ruth Knox — Our Right To Abortion

Hi Friends –

Sometimes the decisions we make are both pastoral and political in nature. The decision discussed in this resource and post – the decision to terminate a pregnancy – is one of them. The reason I’m sharing it now is because the rancor of political disagreement can undermine the much needed pastoral support a woman may need at a most difficult time (there is another reason which I will get to further down).

The availability of abortion is a political decision. My opinion is there is nothing wrong with the church addressing it, but the church has a higher responsibility to support those with problematic pregnancies with loving pastoral care. Pastoral care comes first.

I want to introduce you to a great piece of metaphysical thought and writing – and one that directly addresses abortion from a pastoral point of view. Click here to read this very well crafted sermon by Carol Ruth Knox, given July 19, 1981 at Unity of Walnut Creek. The board of trustees has given me permission to share her work.

Her talk is important not only because she concludes that abortion can be moral, but because what she has written has the capability to support the woman and her partner with deep spiritual insight throughout the entire process from spiritual intention and conception to the decision to carry full-term or terminate the pregnancy. I don’t see many resources that can do that.

The first two parts of this resource – Spirit and intention – are perhaps the best metaphysical explanation of how we are conceived into the human race ever produced by a Unity minister. To say I was blessed by reading them is an understatement; these two parts changed my life.

Her conclusions about termination are formed in the final three parts – conception, manifestation, and abortion. She acknowledges that they “will be presented with the conscious awareness that they contain within them the weakness of duality.” That is to say it is possible to read through and arrive at a different conclusion; but it is not likely that any of us will be able to do so and remain judgmental of others (or ourselves) for choosing a different outcome.

The gist of her essay is that Spirit and intention are absolute and easy to proclaim, whereas conception and manifestation is usually a messy process. She states why she has written the essay: “which is the real issue of being here, to clean up our unclarity, to clarify our seeing, so that the intention from Spirit is able to come through quickly and directly”. Providing a loving pastoral framework so that “the intention from Spirit is able to come through quickly” is why this essay has the ability to provide loving pastoral support.

The other reason I’m sharing this resource is because the unclarity she addresses is not only our individual uncertainty but also our collective reluctance to address responsible sexual activity. For example, she correlates untamed sexual desire to our compulsion to overproduce and overconsume products. In other words, an unwanted child, voluntarily conceived, may be compared to unwanted refrigerators and gas emissions in that they are both products of behaviors not rooted in Spirit and intention.

At the end of the part on intention she has a not-too-subtle praise of celibate marriage. And, although she does not talk about plant based eating, what she has written about overconsumption of food is prescient of today’s problem of obesity and climate. I cannot help but link this to the two items which were removed in 1939 from the Unity Statement of Faith:

28. We believe that all life is sacred and that man should not kill nor be a party to the killing of animals for food; also that cruelty, war, and wanton destruction of human life will continue as long as men kill animals for food.

29. We believe that the misuse of the generative function is responsible for the majority of human ills. Therefore, we believe that purity and control of sex are essential to health and the final overcoming of death.

These are sensitive moments today and we need good spiritual insight to address our decisions. My sense is that our task in Unity is to first address the issue from a pastoral perspective and only then to address the political. I’m not sure it’s possible, but I know plenty of women (and men) who need understanding and loving pastoral support far more than they need political activism. I hope we can do that.

Mark Hicks
Sunday, May 22, 2022

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Download Our Right To Abortion by Carol Ruth Knox in PDF format

OUR RIGHT TO ABORTION

given by
Carol Ruth Knox
July 19, 1981

Introduction

In preparing a lesson such as this, it is important that I establish certain awarenesses with the reader. It is my belief that this lesson came as a result of my personal commitment to Spiritual values and Principles, applied both in my own life and therefore believed to be applicable in the lives of all people here on earth. Spiritual Principles are not of the mind; they are of the Universal. Yet, in order to receive these ideas, it is important for the reader to let go of their personal lives and be willing to jump into a heated issue which is a part of our times. In fact, I ask you to let go of seeking inspiration in this lesson, which tends to be the norm for Sunday morning lessons, and put yourself in the position of being at a college or university class – rather than being here to be inspired by the light of the Spirit, you are here to become aware.

And why would you become aware? Because this material has important ideas for you to use, if you should meet anyone who is talking about this national issue of abortion. This material has important ideas. Spiritual Principles, which will give you a foundation upon which to build your beliefs about the rightness or "wrongness" of abortion. Contained herein are important matters of information which have not been derived from encyclopedias or the library.

In preparing this lesson, I did as I usually do, I sat down and I waited. I do not know what happened in the first half hour as I sat and waited. I know the refrigerator man came and talked to my housemate; I know that my present "family" of dogs, five in number since we had taken in a stray who had been hurt, were playing and snarling in occasional jealousy, about my feet; I know that some larger resource was doing Its work within me. At about 7:30 in the evening, I got up from my chair, went over to the few books I now have, and my hand was "led" to pick up three books, and I did not know why at the time – they were, the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible and a book of Williams Wordsworth's Poetry. I went back and sat down, again waiting and thumbing through the books in my hand, then, somewhere within the next fifteen minutes, I knew that the entire content of the lesson had just fully become conscious in my mind. It happened, not as a result of thinking; it came in a different way, from another part of my being.

The material I am about to present is serious. It requires your attention and thinking, for this is indeed a life and death issue. The material requires your following my thought process through a series of foundation stones. All I ask is that you pay attention; I do not ask you to agree. This statement is not a dogmatic epistle from Unity School in Lees Summit, MO, since that is not the nature of our organization. You are reading the thoughts of a person like yourself, who has gathered Spiritual Principles together, in order to handle the issue of abortion, just as we all must face it, either through our personal involvement or by watching those around us.

The Issue of Abortion

I see the issue of abortion involving five stages:

Spirit – the activity of God

Intention – the activity of God and man

Conception – the activity of man and woman

Manifestation – the activity of the new man (man used generically)

Abortion – the activity of the new man, man and woman, and God

These stages are not presented in a linear concept, but in a circle, beginning with Spirit and returning to Spirit:

Circular graphic for Our Right To Abortion by Carol Ruth Knox

In the paragraphs to follow, I will take each of these concepts and clarify. The most important concepts will be those to which I address the majority of my life, Spirit and intention. They are the ones which carry within them Principles; they are the ones in which we can find Universal threads of awareness to share together. The other three concepts, conception, manifestation and abortion will be presented with the conscious awareness that they contain within them the weakness of duality, true for all of us. In the areas of Spirit and intention, you will find that my ideas carry the most "clout".

Spirit

To present the ideas of Spirit, I have drawn upon three major texts; the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu classic; the Holy Bible, a Judaic Christian canon; William Wordsworth's Poetry, a classic poetic master of the late nineteenth century, mystic and poet. As you read these ideas, remember that they come from classics, classics which would be defined in any university literature class as those parts of our society which have survived the test of time and which are able to ring a bell of common connection amongst all of us. There is no scientific proof for these ideas, yet they are so profound and so universal, that they have lasted for thousands of years and as each new generation comes along, we say, "Yes, that is right, and I know because it rings a common tone in my being."

I will draw upon these three texts to share three Spiritual Principles, I will build my premise for our right to abort! (?).

First, all souls exist as one in the One
Second, all souls have a Divine Plan inherent within them
Third, the theory of reincarnation

First, all souls exist as one in the One. From the Bhagavad Gita:

"Never was there a time when I was not, nor thou, nor these lords of men, nor will there ever be a time hereafter when we all shall cease to be." Chapter II, Stanza 12

S. Radhakrishnan provides the following interpretation. "The reference here is not to the eternity of the Absolute Spirit but to the pre-existence and post-existence of the empirical egos. The plurality of egos is a fact of the empirical universe. Each individual is an ascent from initial non-existence to full existence as a real (form)."¹ In other words, we all recognize that we have become a multiplicity of divergence and difference. This statement is saying that at the point of Spirit, before the beginning of time, and always throughout eternity, according to Spiritual Principles, all souls live in the One. The One is a huge, amorphous force where our souls, individualities, live, and at points in time, one of those pieces of individuality, a soul, breaks off and begins its journey to move into form, manifestation. That is how life forms according to Spiritual Principle. "...the Gita reconciles plurality with the Unity, the one in whom we live, move and have our being."² In other words, we have always been, we always will be and actually, there is no such thing as living and dying. There is only Spirit continually breaking off to take on form. That means that you have always lived, you will always live, and in one sense of profound realty, there is no birth, there is no death – there is only Spirit taking on form through individual souls which break off to do their traveling. And "traveling" is involved in the evolutionary process of continually evolving more of Spirit consciousness into each person's awareness. As more appears in each person, the evolution of mankind expands here on earth, because it is shared and seen, believed and practiced.

This concept is also taught in the great Christian book, the Bible. In the New Testament, Book of John: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God...all things were made through him..."³ You have always been in God; all of you come from God and take on form. Life is. It cannot be killed or destroyed. It lives eternally.

I rest my case. All souls exist as one in the One.

Second, all souls have a Divine Plan inherent within them. This means that when a soul breaks off from this huge Allness, that is nothingness interestingly, and forms into individuality, incorporated within it is a plan. This is very important to the issue of abortion. Incorporated in this plan is birthing and dying. Incorporated in this plan is the involvement of the parents which will receive the soul, the parents select the child, (the soul), which is waiting to come into form. Incorporated in this plan is timing, the manner in which the soul will take shape, and the issues which the soul will take on. Jesus spoke of this Divine Plan, I believe, when he made the statement, "Let the dead bury the dead." Hearing that phrase today, one might call it cold and uncaring, yet he is only saying that death is a part of the soul's built-in process. Life is a part of the timing of the soul's built-in process just as death is part of the same timing. Let the dead be on with their death, and let us get on with our life. If we all understood that together, we would allow death to. happen, just as we allow life to happen, and realize it is a part of the soul's Divine Plan.

Jesus also referred to this, in relation to his own life, just as he left the Garden of Gethsemane. Having been turned in by Judas, he kisses Judas, calls him friend, and then watches as others attempt to save him from the soldiers. He states,

"Put your sword back...do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father and He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?" Matthew 26:52-54

He is stating that intervention, to keep from experiencing his own death, would stop the Divine Plan, the Scriptures from being fulfilled. The Divine Plan built in each soul is complete and includes all personal options.

I rest my case. All souls have a Divine Plan inherent within them.

Third, the theory of reincarnation. The following stanza from Wordsworth's "Ode, Intimations of Immorality from Recollections of Early Childhood", may ring a bell of deep resonance to the Wisdom in you that knows this is the truth about yourself:

"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
   Hath had elsewhere its setting,
      And cometh from afar:
   Not in entire forgetfulness.
   And not in utter nakedness.
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
   From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
   Upon the growing Boy..."⁴

Wordsworth goes on to state that we forget who we truly are. We forget that we have always been. We forget that we always will be.

Jesus speaks to reincarnation a number of times. For instance when asked by probing priests about whether he thinks he is Abraham, Jesus answers, "Before Abraham, I am." He does not state, before Abraham I was, but I am. Jesus recognizes his always existence continually taking on form. Further, remember that in the transfiguration scene, Jesus indicates that the forms of Elijah and Moses are present. If you would understand the Spiritual understanding of the evolutionary process in all of us and how we participate, it is that we learn, leave, gather our strength and energy, return in a new body to learn again...and to clarify Spirit's potential here on earth through us and all the great ideals we uphold as Spiritual beings seeking to live them out ever more clearly. As you believe this and come to understand it, you see that reincarnation is a built-in part of the process.

Incidentally, reincarnation was clearly taught as a part of Christianity until 325 A.D., when it was removed from its teachings, at the Council of Nicea. It is a part of Judaic teaching, at least at the time of Jesus, or the transfiguration experience would not be presented as it is. We are a part of an endless tie to creation, ever expanding, evolving, unending. It begins over and over again. If you took in these Principles being shared in this lesson, you could never fear your own death. You would understand truly who you are, an expanding, always being, on-going process of expansion.

I rest my case. Spirit — the activity of God: All souls exist as one in the One, all souls have a Divine Plan inherent within them, all soul's are participating in reincarnation.

Intention

The activity of God in man. This portion of the lesson is very important, for it must be understood with full clarity in order to understand the final ideas on abortion. Intention is that point in man where Spirit moves in full purity and clarity prior to coming into form, I remember when I was engaged in 1969 and my mother-in-law to be stated that her thoughts about the possible marriage were, "There's many a slip between the cup and the lip." Many factors come into play, human factors, between our intentions for life and the realities that come into form. Intention is an internal experience that happens prior to taking on form; it is a high Spiritual Idea. It involves those wonderful ideas of creativity which come through you and me. Then when we try to move them into form here on earth (which is the real issue of being here, to clean up our unclarity, to clarify our seeing, so that the intention from Spirit is able to come through quickly and directly) the intention gets lost. We have to express our intentions to organizations, explain them to our husbands and wives and children, and as we do, the purity of the intention gets further and further away, the closer it gets to coming into form. Yet, intention itself is a very pure state.

I read recently about the feeling of intention, in its purest form, in relation to the issue of birth. In some cultures, abortion is not known because people live so in time with God Spirit, they live so in tune with the inner nature of their bodies and the right timing of the Divine Plan, they live so in tune with the Law of their Being, that abortion never has to happen...all births are intended and intended Spiritually, not just mentally. The place where such purity of activity has the potential of occurring is at intention. My assumption for this taking place in humanity would be that in an ideal Universe, we would live at this point of purity, we would be in tune with the right timing of our bodies and the nature of Spirit revealing Itself to us.

As I have described up to this point, the Universal God Substance splits forth itself into souls to take on form. As stated, this means that life is always present. It cannot be born. It cannot die in reality, for Life/life is. As it splits itself off in order to come into form, it needs a right container, recepticle to receive it. People who are attuned to the subtlety of the Divine message would be people who could/would receive souls who are ready to enter in a perfect way. That means that these people would be prayed up, they would be in tune with their physical bodies for the right timing to receive a new soul. These people would be purified intellectually, soulfully, emotionally, so they would not get involved in the clutter of sexuality, romance, passion, human needs for caring and exploration. And in this purest state, there would be a soul waiting to enter, because the soul has built into it, its Divine Plan. It would have been released to enter, and so released, it would knock on the door of the two souls who would have a prayer investment in listening to receive a soul. Rather than going to bed together for "mere" sexuality or just to "make a child," we would listen for the call, and when the soul called for us to receive it in its time, we would come together in a special time for creating the soul, now ready to enter.

This statement about intention has huge ramifications. The United States Government has stated that birth or life begins at the point of conception. I am stating in this lesson that the United States Government is wrong. The point of life taking form is not able to really be stated, because life always is, so it is always ready to enter. And as a soul, how does it wait? It waits for a sperm and egg to unite, at which point it then can enter into the beginning of its physical formation, but it always is, so it cannot be killed. It rests and it waits and it waits for the perfect vehicle to give it form. In classic stupidity and unclarity we have stated it is right to practice birth control and rhythm and implied that did not have as low a place on the totem pole of killing. Yet, if you bring two people together and give the allowance for the soul to enter, and if it does not have the right to enter through birth control or rhythm, then you are denying it, no matter what system of denial (killing?) you practice.

To carry this to its final point in terms of intention, may I suggest an ultimate practice for receiving children. I am implying the existence of a group of human beings who would understand that the intention of coming together sexually is for special creation. These people would have purified themselves, and they would wait for the call of Spirit to inform them when to Unite to give birth to a soul who has tapped them and said, 'I am waiting.' They would listen, they would hear, and they would respond. They would not respond and then listen and then hear – backwards. There are many people living on the surface of our earth right now who are willing to live this out. There are at least three couples in our Center right now who are living this out. I also know that many of us feel that what is being stated here may be a denial of their right to express, and I am with you. I am with you; I am not ready for this ultimate. But for me to remove this potential expression of the highest possible known amongst us, would be for me to deny the rightness of an idea that wants to be born just like a child. If the idea is heard by me and others already practicing it, then the idea's time has come at a point of intention in human consciousness. I trust you understand! Daring to suggest such an idea, even when one knows it is ahead of its time, reminds me of a story about an evolutionary process which took place on an island near China. Some scientists involved in research were examining the monkey population. They discovered that the monkeys on that island long ago had dug up their sweet potatoes from the earth and eaten them in their grime and dirt. One monkey however had gotten the idea to wash his sweet potato off and did so. The others seeing, believed it was a good idea apparently and followed suit; the practice spread about the island. Then at some point in time, after a large percentage of the monkeys had started the practice, the same practice began on all the other surrounding islands, without its having been communicated to those other islands through sight or sound. The mutation in consciousness happened. This idea of intention, of purity, is beginning to have its time. Please do not do anything about it until you are led to do so. But as we listen and are led, it is possible we too could participate in a perfect mutation here on earth. I hope you believe in the possibility, whether you like it or not.

Finally, if at the point of intention, purity is carried out (and this does not mean purity of action as if there were something wrong with conception) in terms of listening and receiving, then it is my belief that all children would come into form in perfect order, through perfect vehicles, into perfectly receptive families, into perfect bodies. And further more, it would affect the numbers here on earth so that there would be order in the numbers of inhabitants here. At this point in time, we are still very much caught in our animal instincts and so we produce without thought of results, and we proliferate and overproliferate our earth's surface, as the animals do. Until we take in Divine ideas and incorporate them into our lives, we will continue this process of excess and a subsequent inability to care for that which we produce.

I rest my case on intention.

Conception

Conception is the activity of man and woman. I have really stated enough about this area already. There is one point I would clarify, if it is not already clear, and it is important! Those who would judge, read carefully, for I am clear. If the awareness of Spirit, and if the attention to intention is not being communicated through the two humans, then at the point of conception Spirit as an awareness is left out. You may even make love, thinking you are acting in a Godly expression and well you may, and you are. However, if in the involvement of giving a perfect vehicle to an awaiting soul, it has not come from Spirit into intention, and then into action, then it is not clean and clear, and the change for human error begins to appear on the scene.

Manifestation

Manifestation is the activity of the new man, the new being taking on form. Only through a body does Spirit take on form. But there are precious issues involved in manifesting the vehicle. And when we get to these issues, then we begin to have an understanding of the necessity of abortion in our lives. Abortion is not necessary if you are not functioning all the way through, then the necessity for abortion exists for very practical reasons, very loving reasons, frankly, at the point of manifestation.

Here are those necessary reasons. First, in order for a living being to be received here on earth, it must have a right environment and that means parents who want the child. In order for a living being to take on form here on earth it needs a right body. You do realize, don't you, that our government is investigating right now, the right to deny birth to some because they know that a right body might not be formed in the womb. A series of tests is performed on the mother before the child is born. If the tests indicate the possibility of cruel lamformation, then the government is considering that this might be a possible right reason for aborting the child. I ran into this experience yesterday with the stray dog who had a concussion and found its way to our home. Upon taking it to the veterinarian, I was told that if medicine did not help, the dog would live swirling around in circles, losing its balance, and finding it very difficult to get its own food. I might have to choose to take its life. The fact is that we do have to make those decisions when we come down here into human form, and those decisions incorporate not only a right vehicle for the child (body) but also a right environment.

Therefore, it is important for us to get consistent about our issues, once we move away from the purity of the realm of Spirit and intention and start talking about conception and manifestation. Once so removed, we start getting confused. We get caught in duality. We say it is important for a life form to live, a human life form, at least, and then we say it is alright to kill the extras in a litter of puppies (?). Yet, if we would believe in life, then let's get consistent and let's be believers in life everywhere. And let's not kill flies and let's not kill insects, nor spray malathion. These are the issues that I deal with – issues here on earth that run as true as those in Principle. If we cannot run them all the way through, then we have no authority to point fingers and establish laws. Do I/you want to kill a fly? In terms of all life and not taking any kind of action towards death. then a person would not kill any life for any reason anywhere. We cover ourselves in the face of this issue, then, we say humans are special. We say humans are evolved, and therefore we will value human life as if human life were suddenly more important than any other form here on earth. That is all right to so declare, but if it is so special, then it is our responsibility to treat it special and be pure recipients of such a special soul. Yet, when the Spiritual teacher suggests that valuing life calls for purification, listening and connecting with Spirit so that the intention is clear, thereby bringing into form a being in a state of perfection and harmony, we resist and defend sexual pleasure and doing as we wish. Such an attitude is no more special than animal behavior. All I ask is that we be consistent in our emotional demands of each other.

To review, then, the issue of manifestation is not only have a right environment, but also a right body. And with these two, comes a third, the responsibility of caring for life. I looked at the five dogs in my house yesterday – five dogs living in 600 square feet. As I prepared these ideas, the little dog healing from the concussion was playing at my feet, the beagle, Cindy, was being jealous about the puppy, the terrier. Chance, was barking at the neighbors, the two golden retrievers were standing up at my desk trying to read the content of this lesson. I got up from my desk, backed away from all the animals and talked to them about my responsibility to these animals. I said, "You know, friends, this fifth dog cannot be here because I have a responsibility to care for our lives. I cannot take right care of all five one must go," They all seemed to sit there and nod their heads and understand.

When you receive something into form here on earth, does our government also support the idea that we have a responsibility for right caring for it as well? Or does our government support the willy-nilly idea in birthing children that it does in its production lifes: If you get a great idea, regardless of its domino effect on everything else, put it into production. Who cares how much gets released? Who cares about who is going to care for it once it comes through? Do you realize how much we do this in many areas of productivity in our country? For example, we produce an abundance, an overabundance of food. In our unclarity and inconsistency, we destroy the food, finally. We have too many produts; we do not care for them. In our desire to continually produce without responsibility for the effect, we even build in failure, just to keep producing and continue buying. The issue of manifestation is, when a being comes into the woman, if it has not been clear all the way through from Spirit and intention Into conception, then we must face the issues of right environment, right body and responsibility to that which we produce. Remember, such a thought is not addressed because as a nation we do not practice responsibility to that which we produce. We even design religious courses that state we can create as much as we want without thought of caring for it once manifested.

I rest my case.

Abortion

The activity of the new man, man and woman and God. Abortion is only necessary as a consideration, if the purity has not funneled from Spirit to intention through conception into manifestation. Abortion involves the activity of the new man, along with the father and mother, and now God again. Abortion means to deny ongoing life to that which has taken on life. Yet, it has been stated over and over again, throughout this lesson, that life/Life always is. Keeping this in mind, let's look at abortion.

In science we build in abortion. Technology builds into its products, such as missiles and rockets, self-destruct principles abortion. Abortion is built in purposely, between intention and manifestation. If anything goes out of order between intention and manifestation, technology builds in automatically, abort the mission. In humans, at the body level (which removes the right of the mind to become involved in the process, thereby denying the most significant addition in our evolutionary process, the mind), the body aborts, and it is called miscarriage. And, if we disapprove of abortion, then we deny the right of anything except miscarriage to abort the mission. Remember, however, abortion is a ceasing of life in anything that has taken on form. We hear people on pedestals and soap boxes, spewing their words about the right to life and valuing life, as if it were a complete statement of logical thinking and justice to the God of our fathers. We do not realize, nor do they I would presume, that as they spew about life's importance, the/we all are aborting our own lives daily... we are denying our own life that lives here in this body. We talk about 'don't kill life,' and yet we live out the activity of killing our own life. We see this evidenced in the cancer and shows in the body, which is saying life is being aborted by the user of that body. We see this evidenced in heart disease, which is saying life is being aborted by the user of that body. We see this evidenced in the new information revealed to us daily, informing us about the killers which we put in our bodies without even knowing or understanding – such killers are damaging our bodies and denying them their full expression of life, which is known to be approximately 130 years. We must get out convictions consistent with what we live if we would dare those who, through a mental choice, say, this life form in me does not have a right environment, will not have a whole body, will not have the right potential for being cared for. Let us look more honestly at ourselves before we condemn and then profess for life, while at the same time we are aborting our own life through mis-use, through the lack of purity, through the lack of preparing a clear channel. And then as we see ourselves, let us then honor ourselves and love ourselves for who we are in our own self abortion.

So on this morning in July, I am stating very clearly that if we connect with Spirit through intention our receptivity to the soul asking to enter because it knocks on the door of two waiting to receive, then conception and manifestation are clear and pertect, I am sure. But if we are not in tune at all the levels, and if we are not purifying our bodies and minds to be receptive, then we do have a built-in conscious mechanism. This mechanism knows when the environment is not right, the body is not right, the opportunity to care is not right, so it has the right to become involved, to abort this mission.

This leads to the completing of the circle, the role of God again, at the point of abortion. Is it possible? To do that, let me return to the beginning. Remember, Spirit is in charge of this mission, whether we are conscious or we are not. Spirit gives every soul a Divine Plan. When that soul is ready to enter, do you really believe that a human mistake could be anything but a part of the plan of that soul on this mission for expression? Therefore, I am stating that even with the mind participating and saying, "No, not now," to the soul already implanted, that is a part of the soul's saying, "No, I do not want to come in." You cannot kill a soul. It is life/Life eternal. All you are doing is saying to this soul, through the mind as it evolves in its awareness, "No, not now, not on these conditions, wait around for a better time." And even the waiting around for a better time is a part of a Divine Plan built into the soul.

I would like to close by sharing the last page of Kahlil Gibran's, The Prophet.⁵ As you read it, think about all those precious souls we think we are killing when we abort them, and we cannot kill them, not in Principle – who do we think we are that we can take life or keep life...life and its process is all a part of a tremendous Plan. Think about those little souls which are tossed at us in emotional news items and speeches, and hear a larger attitude and awareness about what is happening:

"A little while, and my longing shall gather dust and foam for another body."

(That's all. You are giving it its right to live in its right way...so little soul, if you stop now, through abortion, a little while and your longing will gather dust and foam for another body.)

"A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me."

(...the right woman at the right time in the right environment.)

"So saying he made a signal to the seamen, and straight away they weighed anchor and cast the ship loose from its moorings, and the moved eastward.
And a cry came from the people as from a single heart, and it rose into the dusk and was carried out over the sea like great trumpeting.
Only Almitra was silent, gazing after the ship until it had vanished into the mist.
And when all the people were dispersed she still stood alone upon the sea-wall, remembering in her hearing him saying,
'A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me.

And that is true of you who fear even your own death, you cannot be killed...a little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear you.