On the other hand, when we enter the space of life selection, we are full of hope, promise, and lofty expectations. Here souls are virtually alone, with their guides out of sight, while evaluating new life options. This hectic, stimulating place is described as being much larger than other spiritual study areas. Case 22 considered it a world unto itself, where transcendent energy alters time to allow for planetary study.
While some spiritual locales are difficult for my subjects to describe, most love to talk about the place of life selection, and they use remarkably similar descriptions. I am told it resembles a movie theater which allows souls to see themselves in the future, playing different roles in various settings. Before leaving, souls will have selected one scenario for themselves. Imagine being given a dress rehearsal before the actual performance of a new life. To tell us about it, I have picked a male subject who is well acquainted with the way his soul is assisted in making appropriate decisions.
Case 25
Dr. N: After you have made the decision you want to come back to Earth, what happens next?
S: Well, when my trainer and I agree the time is right to accomplish things, I send out thoughts ...
Dr. N: Go on.
S: My messages are received by the coordinators.
Dr. N: Who are they? Doesn't your trainer-guide handle all the arrangements for incarnation?
S: Not exactly. He talks to the coordinators, who actually assist us in previewing our life possibilities at the Ring.
Dr. N: What is the Ring?
S: That's where I'm going. We call it the Ring of Destiny.
Dr. N: Is there just one place like it in the spirit world?
S: (pause) Oh, I think there must be many, but I don't see them.
Dr. N: All right, let's go to the Ring together on the count of three. When I am finished with my count you will have the capacity to remember all the details of this experience. Are you ready to go?
S: Yes.
Dr. N: One, two, three! Your soul is now moving toward the space of life selection. Explain what you see.
S: (long pause) I ... am floating towards the Ring ... it's circular ... a monster bubble ...
Dr. N: Keep going. What else can you tell me.
S: There is a ... concentrated energy force ... the light is so intense. I'm being sucked inward ... through a funnel ... it's a little darker.
Dr. N: Are you afraid?
S: Hmm ... no, I've been here before, after all. It's going to be interesting. I'm excited at what's in store for me.
Dr. N: Okay, as you float inside the Ring, what are your first impressions?
S: (voice lowers) I ... am a little apprehensive ... but the energy relaxes me. I have an awareness of concern for me ... caring ... I don't feel alone ... my trainer's presence is with me, too.
Dr. N: Continue to report everything. What do you see next?
S: The Ring is surrounded by banks of screens-I am looking at them.
Dr. N: Screens on walls?
S: They appear as walls themselves, but nothing is really solid ... it's all ... elastic ... the screens curve around me ... moving ...
Dr. N: Tell me more about the screens.
S: They are blank ... not reflecting anything yet ... they shimmer as sheets of glass ... mirrors.
Dr. N: What happens next?
S: (nervously) I feel a moment of quietness-it's always like thisthen it's as if someone flipped a switch on the projector in a panorama movie theater. The screens come alive with images and there is color ... action ... full of light and sound.
Dr. N: Keep reporting to me. Where is your soul in relation to the screens?
S: I am hovering in the middle, watching the panorama of life all around me ... places ... people ... (jauntily) I know this city!
Dr. N: What do you see?
S: New York.
Dr. N: Did you ask to see New York City?
S: We talked about my going back there ... (absorbed) Gee-it's changed-more buildings ... and the cars ... it's as noisy as ever.
Dr. N: I'll come back to New York in a few minutes. Right now I want you to tell me what is expected of you in the Ring.
S: I'm going to mentally operate the panel.
Dr. N: What's that?
S: A scanning device in front of the screens. I see it as a mass of lights and buttons. It's as if I'm in the cockpit of an airplane.
Dr. N: And you see these mechanical objects in a spiritual setting?
S: I know it sounds crazy, but this is what is coming through to me so I can explain to you what I am doing.
Dr. N: That's fine, don't worry about it. Just tell me what you are supposed to do with the panel.
S: I will help the controllers change the images on the screens by operating the scanner with my mind.
Dr. N: Oh, you are going to operate the projector as if you were working in a movie theater?
S: (laughs) Not the projector, the scanner. Anyway, they aren't really movies. I am watching life actually going on in the streets of New York. My mind connects with the scanner to control the movement of the scenes I am watching.
Dr. N: Would you say this device resembles a computer?
S: Sort of ... it works on a tracking system which ... converts ...
Dr. N: Converts what?
S: My commands ... are registered on the panel so I can track the action.
Dr. N: Position yourself at the panel and become the operator while continuing to explain everything to me.
S: (pause) I have assumed control. I see ... lines converging along various points in a series of scenes ... I'm traveling through time now on the lines and watching the images on the screens change.
Dr. N: And the scenes are constantly moving around you?
S: Yes, then the points light up on the lines when I want the scene to stop.
Note: Lines of travel is a term we have heard before in other spiritual regions to describe soul transition (i.e., Case 14).
Dr. N: Why are you doing all this?
S: I'm scanning. The stops are major turning points on life's pathways involving important decisions ... possibilities ... events which make it necessary to consider alternate choices in time.
Dr. N: So, the lines mark the pathways through a series of events in time and space?
S: Yes, the track is controlled in the Ring and transmitted to me.
Dr. N: Do you create the scenes of life while you track?
S: Oh, no! I simply control their movement through time on the lines.
Dr. N: What else can you tell me about the lines?
S: The lines of energy are ... roads with points of colored light as guideposts which I can move forward, backward, or stop.
Dr. N: As if you were running a video tape with start, fast-forward, stop, and rewind buttons?
S: (laughs) That's the idea.
Dr. N: All right, you are moving along the track, scanning scenes and you decide to stop. Tell me what you do then.
S: I suspend the scene on the screens so I can enter it.
Dr. N: What? Are you saying you become part of the scene yourself?
S: Yes, now I have direct access to the action.
Dr. N: In what way? Do you become a person in the scene, or does your soul hover overhead while people move around?
S: Both. I can experience what life is like with anyone in the scene, or just watch them from any vantage point.
Dr. N: How can you leave the panel and go into a scene on Earth while still monitoring the action in the Ring?
S: I know you probably won't understand this, but part of me stays at the controls so I can start up the scene again and stop it anytime.
Dr. N: Perhaps I do understand. Can you divide your energy?
S: Yes, and I can send thoughts back to myself. Of course, the controllers are helping too, as I go in and out of the screens.
Dr. N: So, essentially you can move time forward, backward, and stop it while tracking?
S: Yes ... in the Ring.
Dr. N: Outside the Ring, does time co-exist for you in the spirit world, or is it progressive?