Why did we come here?

Why are we here?  Where is here anyway?  What is this place and what am I doing here?  These questions have consumed me for all of my life.

For a long time I was pissed.  It seemed that I had been dropped here, a stranger in a strange land, without even a map.  What kind of a lousy deal is this anyway?  And the natives are insane!  Beam me up!

I still don't know, but I will share what I think, based on many years of searching (and rejecting various doctrines: religion, science etc.)  and many years of meditating.

I am a soul in a skin suit.  I chose to be here, at this time and place, because it gave me an opportunity for growth and expansion.  Some of this I have achieved, but I am still in process.  I'm still here, after all.

This whole physical thing is a chimera.  We have to forget who we really are and where we came from because otherwise we couldn't take it seriously.  It's like acting in a play but we had to forget that we are not really the actor and the play is just make-believe.  Otherwise, we would just walk off stage when things get difficult.  Wouldn't we?  Some do.  It's called suicide.

Just recently, I was complaining a lot.  I still didn't (don't) know my purpose.  Okay, I chose to be here.  Check.  But why?  And why NOW?  I don't fit in.  I don't believe anything that most of my fellows believe.  The current society that I live in is messed up beyond belief.  Couldn't I have come into a more benevolent time and place? 

Then I got it.  We are the ground crew.  What we are is bigger (much much bigger) than our physical manifestations that we seem to be stuck in.  It's like we are the tip of an iceberg.  Only the very tip is visible but the greater portion is below the surface.  We look around at the other tips and we think we know who they are but we don't know shit.  How can you judge the whole when you can only see the tip?  You can't.  You can't judge another person's life. You don't know the whole story.  You can't even judge your own life unless and until you can discover what is beneath the surface.  Whenever I feel tempted to pass judgement, on myself or anyone else, I just remind myself that I don't know anything.  It takes the wind out of that sail.

So.  We are the ground crew.  This is a critical time in the history of the Earth and we signed on to be part of the ground crew.  The entire Universe is watching and benefiting from our experience (including our greater selves, the big portion below the surface).  Our job is to send back reports of conditions on the ground.  Their job is to send in the new energies to help us raise our consciousness. 

And there is a map, after all.  It is within us.  We can access it anytime.  The huge part of us that is below the surface is us also.  We have to alter our consciousness a bit for access.  We access it though dreams, meditation, hypnosis, and the like.  Bringing back the information can be tricky.  Information gathered in an altered state doesn't always translate easily.  But if you ask, the answer will come.  You have to be alert because it can come in any way.  We are quite creative in giving ourselves messages.  It can come in a passage in a book you are reading.  A casual conversation with a stranger.   Finding a lost item.  A street sign (literally, A Sign).  There are no accidents.  It isn't random chance that you are reading a book and a passage jumps out at you.  You are the actor and the play.  There is nothing in your play that you didn't put there.  Pay attention.

I decided that it is time for me to stop my whining and complaining and just be part of the ground crew and do my bit. Whatever occurs to me. I have to trust the process.  Trust the Universe.  Trust mySELF.  There doesn't seem to be much other choice anyway.