The Four Stages of Man and All Life Matters

In this ongoing conversation with the flipside, I've gotten to a point where I'm having a conversation while sound asleep, become aware that I'm having a conversation mid conversation, and ask as many questions as I can before I "wake up."

I have no clue what part of this is invention, dream state, or related to the pepperoni pizza I may or may not have had the night before.  

But when I hear a message that is repeated so that I can "write about it later" I make a note. What I heard the other night and made note of was to write about "the four stages of mankind" or "the four stages of man."

I don't think it refers to sound stages, music stages, or theatrical stages.  

Because I asked, "What does that mean?" and I got the following:

"There are four stages for man."  

I know that whomever I'm speaking to on the flipside is trying to keep it simple enough for me to comprehend, but I wrote it down. "They want you to write about the "four stages of man."

In recalling this, what I get is "Humans have a before life. A during life. An after life. And a between life."  

Okay... Well... aside from possible pepperoni pizza induced conversation, let's break this down.  Say what?

The "before life" refers to the time when we come into existence" - as noted in "Flipside" a guide described this process as something akin to "two photons" coming together, one male, one female - but not really either of those - but one masculine energy and the other feminine energy (whatever that means). Reportedly, that's the inception or beginning of a "souls" journey - or the conscious energy that becomes who we are.

Over eons (a long time) guides and teachers add "bits and pieces" to that zygot of a photon, depending upon what they're trying to accomplish by bringing us into existence.  (No one referred to it as such, just trying to use a metaphor.)

At some point during this conversation I asked (because I wasn't aware) "Who am I speaking to?" And the answer I got was 

"Source... but with a small s." 

Okay. More on that later.

But in terms of the "process" of "going from nothing" to something, I got (via an interview with a guide in "Flipside") that this photon child (conscious energy just formed) is tended to by other spiritual beings, until it's time for them to incarnate. At that point they are "assigned a guide" that "watches over all of their lifetimes."

The guide is someone who has already "lived all of his or her lifetimes" and has "volunteered" to watch over ours. (No other way to put it. Tall task, but someone's gotta do it.)

One guide (in "Flipside") said "When I graduated from all of my lifetimes, my graduation gift was this person, this soul."

Apparently, the process begins with the guide and the conscious energy of a person (that "soul" or conscious energy) agree on what the path will be, how the portrait will be achieved. 

I have heard the metaphor of "a blank canvas, each life will represent various colors on that canvas, and at the end there will be a magnificent portrait of a person."

So once we begin to "incarnate" (either on this planet, or in some other realm) we begin that second part of the journey.  

Then comes the second phase of "man."

That is, the lifetimes we lead.

(Some, including me, are startled at the idea of "living lifetimes on other planets, in other realms" but I report a number of these in the books "Flipside" and "Architecture of the Afterlife.") 

And we traverse each life, learning lessons, going through difficulties to learn or teach lessons in a linear fashion (otherwise we couldn't learn anything). 

We may not be very adept at it - but in general, we start small before we take on a complex lifetime.  

I have interviewed many who recall lifetimes "on other planets" where the life form was simpler (or way more intelligent and complex.)  

But that second phase of "a person being incarnated" is important because that's when we are in school, learning the difficult lessons from the "University of Life."  

It applies to anytime we choose to be here, any class we choose to take.  

Again, I'm trying to interpret, or remember as best I can, this conversation about the "four stages of man" with regard to existence.  

It would be great if I brought a recorder with me, but often it's me rolling over in the morning and writing something down (like "Four stages of man") and then writing about it later.

Many of us work out elaborate details in our life planning sessions, working out to the "nth degree" what we are going to learn or accomplish before we even get here. One fellow (in "Hacking the Afterlife") described it as "doing a PhD dissertation" where he argued convincingly about all the aspects of the life he was choosing to live prior to doing so in front of an audience of sage colleagues.

I've also met people who claimed "it was no big deal" and just "hopped aboard the nearest roller coaster" and "came in for the ride." (In "It's a Wonderful Afterlife.")

That's disconcerting to some - to hear that they may have chosen a lifetime "willy nilly" - but reportedly we only bring about a third of our conscious energy to a lifetime. 

Important to note that they report each and every one - whether we chose it to experience personal lessons, or chose lessons as a result of loved ones "asking us to participate," or casting us in a role that they asked us to play - each has it's own lessons.

Which brings us to our third aspect of "man."

Which is the between lives arena "while we are incarnated." There is always roughly "two thirds of our conscious energy" back home while we are here in class, or here on stage. 

And that two thirds isn't "twiddling thumbs while we are suffering" but is having it's own adventures, classes, learning process that goes on simultaneously.  That two thirds is aware of the one third is up to, or complaining about - but the one third, "we" aren't aware of what we are doing back home (unless we have an NDE, OBE, use LSD, or some other consciousness altering event like deep hypnosis or guided meditation or sometime via vivid dreams.)

That means we are both on stage and in the audience at the same time. 

Many are surprised to hear that we leave behind more than we bring - that about two thirds is always back home. Many are disconcerted to hear we might have "chosen our role" on the planet, or been cajoled, pleaded with or begged to participate. I'm just reporting.

However for the more advanced actors, they claim to be able to navigate two different roles at the same time. Meaning on earth, they're living a lifetime, and somewhere off planet they're living another one. 

The timeline may include a lifetime "over there" that lasts 500 years, so they may go through "many lifetimes on earth" while still being incarnated elsewhere.  

When asked "How can that be?" one guide said, "Do the math."

So if we bring "about a third of our conscious energy" to a lifetime, that leaves behind "two thirds" to do "other things" - then what the heck are we doing "back home?" 

Those other things reportedly include classrooms, flying around the planet or into other realms, constructing realities and games we like to participate in, as well as watching or being aware of our journey here. Both inside the theater and on stage.

It's a lot to ponder, but I'm just reporting.

The fourth phase of man is after the journey on the planet (or being alive) is finished. 

So after we've had our 22 or 722 or 750k classes here (or where ever is needed) we may opt to "graduate" from this university to something on another level (on the flispide). 

That includes, but is not limited to becoming guides, teachers, guide's guides, teacher's guides, council members, council member's teachers, tour guides for incoming souls, beings who serve as ambassadors to other realms and many other roles that don't require us to incarnate. I've interviewed variations on all of those, including but not limited to council members who I've interviewed in "Architecture of the Afterlife."  

One council member, who appeared to the person I was interviewing as someone from "another world" - when asked "Have you ever incarnated on earth?" said "I wouldn't stoop so low."  To which I replied, "So then how did you get a seat on this person's council if you're not aware of what they're going through?"

Sometimes I ask cheeky questions. The council member said "Yeah, we've heard about you. You're the troublemaker who asks questions."  Nothing quite like interviewing someone I've never met (in this case it was Simon Bown's podcast #19 about the afterlife) whose council members points a finger at me and says "Yeah, we know all about you smartass."

I think it's important to note that the flipside, people report there is not a hierarchy per se, that people see each other over there as "light" - just older, wiser forms of that light. 

People report that they aren't forced to incarnate, but they opt to, they volunteer to, they want to, but in general, some folks don't need to, they've moved beyond that playground, moved beyond that university. 

It's like going back to sit in a sandbox and watch the kids argue with their toys - kids throwing sand, or going back to one's grade school and sitting in the tiny desks provided. 

It might be fun for a few minutes, but hard on the knees.

So that's what I got the other night. "There are four stages of man" and when asked "who was telling this to me?" the answer I got was "source but with a small s."  

Later, I asked "Does that mean there is more than one source involved?" but I didn't get a clear answer to that annoying question. (I think it was "yes," but they weren't interested in answering it, or decided I didn't need to hear the answer.) It's brings a whole raft of other questions that are likely "above my pay grade."

Again - I am just reporting this ongoing "conversation about the flipside" that appears to be happening while I'm pretending to be asleep.  I would be remiss if I didn't report it, because when I have these conversations, I don't get the impression they are for me, but for someone else, someone reading this post at this very moment, who has a "eureka" moment of their own, or it helps them on their path in some way. Happy to help.

In terms of the concept "All life matters" it also came as a result of this conversation.  

It's not to do a play on the important movement that makes people aware that people of color have traditionally been dismissed or conceptually hurt by the perception of race - that's a real thing that needs to be addressed in order for us to progress.

It refers to the idea that "everything that exists on the planet exists for a reason." 

That is - that we spend a lot of time parsing, judging, dismissing or not thinking about what life is - whether it's cutting down living breathing trees (our source of life or oxygen, and our rescuers who provide cleaning carbon) - or running over animals, plants, killing animals, elephants for sport. Something that is not only completely unnecessary, but contradicts our claim that we want to be on the planet.

The blatant disrespect that we humans have to all life is an extension of our casual relationship with consciousness. Because we are not aware of consciousness functions, how it imbues every animal, everything on the planet - we tend to dismiss those things that we don't  find important.

For the same reasons people of authority have an illusion about color or what it means, we are in the cycle of misunderstanding what our journey is.  

Since we don't die, since we all choose to be on the planet - since we choose incarnation, how are we supposed to fix anything or anyone if we aren't aware of why it's here in the first place? If we begin with "all life matters" - whether it's a plant or person, whether it's an insect or a butterfly - by addressing what life is, how it works, we have a better understanding of why we are on the planet in the first place.

The star of the film "My Octopus Teacher" - worth watching which reveals the

sentience of this majestic creature.

As an aside, I highly recommend watching the film on Netflix; "My Octopus Teacher" - which demonstrates that this octopus is highly intelligent, perhaps more intelligent than the filmmaker, and demonstrates more consciousness in one year of life than we do in 80. It's an astounding film and I highly recommend everyone watch it. It will alter one's perspective in a way that most films cannot.

As I reported in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife," I filmed a session with a guide who answered the question "What or who is God?"  He reported that "God is beyond our capacity to physically understand, that we can experience god by opening our hearts to everyone and all things." 

So if that's accurate, then "talking to God" would be "talking to a representative of source" or "Source with a small s." But more importantly:

We can experience "source" by opening our hearts to everyone and all things. 

It's an impossible task, but that is how reportedly how one can achieve it.  

Just reporting.