Sage advice from Friends on the Flipside - Tacitus and Plato

"Deride the stupidity of people who believe that today's authority can destroy tomorrow's memories." Tacitus

Tacitus - Roman historian

Last night I was in a deep and profound sleep. 

I was aware that I was talking to some fellows. I can't tell you how they were dressed, this morning I would argue they were in togas, but that's as a result of looking up information about one in particular.

I had the impression that I was "talking" to "wise guardians." (Or so it seemed)

For those familiar with my "Flipside" "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" and "Hacking the Afterlife" reports, people often claim to be speaking to "wise guardians" or "spirit guides."  In this case, I didn't feel connected to these folks, just that we were having a conversation.

As I started to return to consciousness - waking up in Santa Monica - one of these fellows says "search "Tacitus" "souls return." He says "It will prove this is not a dream." 

So when I wake up, I try hard to remember that sentence.  I've heard things from the Flipside before, some I remember, some I don't. In this case, I remember "Tacitus souls return."

I don't know who Tacitus is or was... I may have been familiar with his name, as an abstraction, but absolutely no clue why. So I wikipedia'd him...  Tacitus was a Roman era historian (56 to 120 AD) who wrote a number of books about life under the Emperors. One of his books is the earliest reference to Christians, where he reports Nero's torching and persecuting them. 

He provided the quote above about how burning books, or burning people, doesn't change or alter the fact that we can learn from them.

Hmm. Okay. So Tacitus is a guy from an ancient era. Maybe that explains the toga.  What about the term "Souls Return"?

I search and find references to this in a couple of books - one from 1814 by Hugo Grotius, the other a book by Leon Denis written in 1909 - Denis is talking about the afterlife, and he provides a quote from Plato's Republic:

“Divine souls, return ye into human bodies and therein undertake a fresh career. Behold, here are the destinies that life offers. Choose freely, but remember that the choice is irrevocable, wherefore, if it be ill, accuse not God." 

Wow.

Doesn't get any more Flipside than hearing "new information" in a dream. By "new information" I mean - I get a message from someone not on the planet, who tells me to "search" something (Thank God he didn't say "Google" but I would have if he had anyway. If he said "Bing" I would have been more surprised. But he just said "SEARCH.")

Then by putting those words into a search string, I found the Plato quote, and learned that Tacitus ascribed to the same philosophy.

Divine rainbow.

“Divine souls, return ye into human bodies and therein undertake a fresh career." He's saying we all choose our life. "Behold, here are the destinies that life offers." Choose our lifetime. Choose our role. "Choose freely, (that choice is based on free will (not karma) but remember that the choice is irrevocable, wherefore, if it be ill, accuse not God." Once you make the choice "Don't blame God for your decision!" 

Which is exactly what they say in "Flipside" "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" and "Hacking the Afterlife."

We choose to come here.  That once we're here we try to fulfill our contracts to the best of our ability.  If contract sounds to harsh, then think of it as solemn vow.  But what happens when we break the solemn vow and go back on our word?  

Nothing. There is no punishment over there. But there is disappointment. And it begins with ourselves realizing that we didn't fulfill the journey we set out to do, and likely screwed up everyone else's journey who agreed to come with us.

If being admonished by all the actors on stage for "muffing your part" "screwing up the lines"or "behaving like a fool" isn't motivation for not screwing up, then it's like the actor isn't doing his job properly.  Again - no "spanking machine" - no gauntlet to run. No spears to be poked by. No fires of hell.  But there are fires of embarrassment. Fires of humiliation.  Sadness for failure. Those are pretty hard lessons.  

But the argument can be made - from this side of the stage - that there are no lessons that shouldn't be learned, there are no lessons that shouldn't be tried to be learned.  Eventually we get it right. We're in no hurry to get it right.  But we do want to succeed.  We don't have to succeed - but it's a hell of a lot more fun when we do.  

Isn't it?

(The above Tacitus quote comes from his reaction to the Empire burning one of its critics books; "This makes one deride the stupidity of people who believe that today's authority can destroy tomorrow's memories. On the contrary, the repressions of genius increase its prestige. All that tyrannical conquerors and imitators of their brutalities, achieve is their own disrepute and their victims' renown." From the "Annals of Imperial Rome" by )