Hi David,

I understand. You need a different perspective. I do refer to the explanation of the big bang and expansion of the universe, but that doesn't imply that it "happened."

Here's what I mean. We are in the drama that is our lives, with other actors also living their Earthly experience. The scenery is created by consciousness, the mind of God. We are part of that creative process because we are our minds and our minds are one with God.

In the part of the drama that is our lives, we're accustomed to days going by--sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset. We recall the past days and create the notion of a past. We know more days are coming just like the past days, so we create the notion of a future. However, past and future exist entirely in our minds. The reality is that we experience only the present in the Earth realm.

If we think about how we came to the present in the Earth realm, we recall what's in our minds about our childhood and arriving at the place in our lives where we are now. It all fits. But that's all in our minds.

In the same way, the history of the universe and of the Earth is entirely in our minds. We experience a naturalness and continuity in that history just as we experience it in our own personal growths. It all fits. But we couldn't suggest that it happened in "time," like sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset. When no human beings were present, the notion of time becomes irrelevant. Past and future exist only in the mind.

What I am suggesting to you is that the origins of our home, the universe that has been created precisely so we can live out our dramas and learn our lessons, do seem apparent to the human mind, but it's only because the mind of God has given a reason and a continuity to what we live in now. And we, as inquisitive human beings, can discover that continuity. As a result, we can create a past, but it is only in our minds.

All that is important and relevant to us as we have this conversation is what is happening now that is helping each of us to grow in spiritual maturity. The scenery, including all of the universe, was created to allow us to live the drama together and learn the lessons. But only the now is important, not our conjecture about the past--that's just scenery.

So the story of the big bang is just that--a story. Our eternal selves, the spiritual beings we are, were engaged in something else, somewhere else, over thousands of incarnations and experiences on other planes and other spheres before coming into the Earth plane. When we arrived in the Earth plane, the scenery had been constructed so we can have the now we experience. Where it came from or when or how are superfluous. We have a convincing story about the big bang, but it's just a story, and we know only that the universe now is as it is, perfectly created to allow us to have experiences. That's all we know.

Let me give you a little more to show you why that's true. We know the mind is not in the brain. If you've read my book, you'll realize that's true. The chapter I have online at http://youreternalself.com explains that. The mind knows things before the body is involved and then tells the body how to react, including what parts of the brain to light up. That's just fact. The mind uses the brain like a puppet. The reason for that is that as we live in the now, we need an explanation for how the body can act in the physical realm. So there's a brain and muscles. But they're just part of the scenery. The brain doesn't control thought; thought controls the brain. The mind, our eternal selves, think and tell the brain and body what to do. That's what the research data tells us. It only seems like the brain thinks and tells the body what to do. That's an illusion. The brain, the body, and the universe are just scenery in which our eternal selves act out the dramas that are our lives.

What's important is that you, the eternal being, cannot be harmed, cannot be changed against your will, are not affected by what happens to the physical realm, and will continue blissfully through eternity regardless of how the scenery was built or how it will change.

Love and peace, Craig