Dr. N: What are you doing in front of your temple?
S: I am on the steps judging a woman. She is my mother. She is kneeling down in front of me. There is a look of pity and fear in her eyes as she looks up at me.
Dr. N: How can her eyes show both pity and fear at once?
S: There is pity in her eyes because of the power which has consumed me ... in taking so much control over the daily lives of my people. And there is fear, too, for what I am about to do. This disturbs me, but I must not show it.
Dr. N: Why is your mother kneeling on the temple steps before you?
S: She has broken into the storage house and stolen food to give to the people. Many are hungry at this time of year, but I alone can order distribution. The food must be measured out carefully.
Dr. N: Did she act against some rule of food rationing? Was this a question of survival?
S: (abruptly) There is more to this-by disobeying me she is undermining my authority. I use the distribution of food as a means of ... control over my people. I want them all to be loyal to me.
Dr. N: What are you going to do with your mother?
S: (with conviction) My mother has violated the law. I can save her, but she must be punished as an example. I decide she will die.
Dr. N: How do you feel about killing your own mother, Haroum?
S: It must be done. She has been a constant thorn in my side-causing unrest among my people because of her position. I cannot govern freely with her here any longer. Even now, she is defiant. I order her death by banging my staff on the stone steps.
Dr. N: Later on are you sad about ordering your mother's execution?
S: (voice becomes strained) I ... must not think about such things if I am to maintain power.
At this point Steve's mind had relived two emotionally wrenching events involving voluntary actions of separation between mother and son. Although he had made the karmic connection, it was important that his abandonment as a baby not be isolated as pure historic retribution. For healing to begin we had to go further.
The next stage in our session together was designed to recover Steve's soul identity. To do this, I took him into the spirit world. In each of my cases, I try to bring the subject back to the most appropriate spiritual area to get the best results. In Case 13, I used the place of orientation. With Case 27, we will go back to relive the spiritual time just after his return from the place of life selection. In this setting, I want Steve to see the reasons for his current body choice and the role of other soul participants in his life.
Dr. N: By what name are you known in the spirit world?
S: Sumus.
Dr. N: All right, Sumus, since we are now in the spirit world again, I want us to go to the period just following your initial viewing of the man who is Steve. What are your thoughts?
S: Such a resentful man ... he is so angry about his mother dumping him on a doorstep ... and those hard-nosed people who will take over as his parents ... I don't know if I even want to take this body!
Dr. N: I understand, but why don't we put that decision aside for a few minutes while other things develop. Tell me what you actually do once you leave the place of life selection.
S: Sometimes I might want to be by myself for a while. Usually, I am anxious to have the opinions of my friends about the lives I look at, especially one this rough.
Dr. N: Surely, you had more than one body option?
S: (shakes head) This is one I should take ... it's a rough decision.
Dr. N: Tell me, Sumus, when you are back with your group of friends, do you discuss the possibility of yourself associating with some of them in the next life?
S: Yes, more often than not, these close friends are going to be in my life to come, just as I will be in theirs. Some of my clutch will not be in certain lives. It doesn't matter. We all discuss our next life with each other. I want to get their ideas on details. You see, we all know each other so well-our strengths and weaknesses-former successes and failures-what to watch out for ... that kind of thing.
Dr. N: Did you discuss with them any details about the kind of person you should be in your next life before actually going to the place of life selection?
S: Oh yeah, in a roundabout way. Nothing concrete. Now that I have seen Steve, and who the others might be in relation to him in this life, there are reservations. So I talk to Jor.
Dr. N: Is Jor your guide?
S: Yes, he listened a lot to what I had to say about who I thought I should be before I was sent to the place where we look at lives.
Dr. N: Okay, Sumus, you have just returned to your primary cluster group from the place of life selection. What do you do first?
S: I talk about this guy Steve who is so unhappy ... no real mother ... all that stuff ... what kinds of people will be around him ... their plans, too ... it must fit all together for us.
Dr. N: You mean which souls are going to take certain bodies?
S: Right, we need to firm that up.
Dr. N: Are soul assignments still negotiable at this point, or is everyone told which body they will be in after leaving the place of life selection?
S: No one is forced to do anything. We know what should be done. Jor ... and the others help us make adjustments ... they are sent in to round out the picture ... (subject's face becomes grave)
Dr. N: Is something bothering you at this moment, Sumus?
S: (in a cheerless manner) Uh ... my friends are moving away ... there are others coming ... oh ...
Dr. N: I gather some deliberations are about to occur with other souls. Try to relax as best you can. On my command you will clearly relate to me everything that is happening. Do you understand?
S: (nervously) Yes.
Dr. N: Begin! How many entities do you see?
S: There are ... four of them ... coming over to me ... Jor is one of them.
Dr. N: Who is first?
S: (subject grabs my hand) It's ... Eone ... she wants to be ... my mother again.
Dr. N: Is this the soul of the woman who is Haroum's and Steve's mother?
S: Yes, she is ... oh ... I don't want to ...
Dr. N: What's going on?
S: Eone is telling me it's time for us to ... settle things ... to be in a disordered life as mother and son again.
Dr. N: But Sumus, didn't you know this at the place of life selection when you viewed Steve's mother taking her baby to the church?
S: I saw the people ... the possibility ... it was still an ... abstract consideration ... it wasn't actually me yet. I guess I need more convincing because Eone is here for a reason.
Dr. N: I take it none of these newly arrived entities is from your own clutch?
S: (sighs) No, they are not.
Dr. N: Why did you and Eone wait 4000 earth years before discussing a balancing out of your treatment of her in Arabia?
S: Earth years mean nothing; it could have been yesterday. I just wasn't ready to offset the harm I did her as Haroum. She says the circumstances are right for this exercise now.
Dr. N: If your soul joins with the body of Steve in Texas, will Eone consider this karmic payment for your debt?
S: (pause) My life as Steve is not supposed to be punishment.
Dr. N: I'm glad you see that. So what is the lesson to be learned?
S: To ... feel what desertion is like in a family relationship ... deliberate severing ...
Dr. N: The severing of the mother and son bond by deliberate action?
S: Yes ... to appreciate what it is like to be cast off.
Dr. N: Allow Eone to move away and have the other entities join us, Sumus.
S: (distressed) Eone is floating back to ... Jor ... coming forward are ... Oh shit-it's Talu and Kalish! (subject squirms in his chair and tries to ward off the two spirits in his mind by pushing the palms of his hands outward)
Dr. N: Who are they?