Those we are close to are related to us in complex ways, historically, biologically, and in terms of soul-connection. Yet often, what outpictures on the level of the physical, does not reflect the intensity and meaningfulness of the soul connection that has brought us into proximity with another, whether for a few moments or for a lifetime.
Where the bond is strong and one of commitment, we tend to assume that there is a deeper connection. However, what is actually true is that this connection exists even where relationships do not function smoothly or carry a great deal of difficulty. Even in such cases, the soul connection may be one of a purely positive nature, though many serious problems or challenges may be manifesting on the physical plane.
The confusion about levels of relationship comes up commonly in two ways: when we feel a deep heart connection with someone, whether for a few moments or for many years, and this sense of connection is not reciprocated or acknowledged by the other, or, when we have a great deal of difficulty with another or suffer at the hands of another, and wonder why they are in our lives and what, that is positive, could be the purpose of such a relationship. In both cases, we are presuming a relationship on a different level that is the explanation or cause for what we are experiencing.
The truth of soul relationships is more complex than most are aware of at this point. On the one hand, what one soul recognizes may not be what another is capable of perceiving at a given point in time. This does not make the relationship or connection untrue. It just means that the other is bound in their perception by limitations on the personality level and cannot register or be aware of the deeper currents of relatedness. The discrepancy between our own perception of things and that of someone else can lead to disappointment and even to sorrow if we do not understand that what exists at the soul level has to find its way into physical expression in its own way and time. In some instances this may not happen nor serve the highest good within a particular lifetime.
Similarly, with relationships that have a strong negative component, whether familial or introduced by external circumstances into our life. Souls never come together to harm each other. They always come together in order to further each other’s learning on the level of the heart and spirit. No matter who we encounter in life, especially in the context of a long-term connection, the other soul is crossing our path in order to convey something that we have chosen to learn. What this is, involves the mystery of embodied experience, and can shape the course of a lifetime.
Suffice it to say that often, the direction we think things should go in with another, does not become the direction that they actually go in. This is not because the inner connection is not there or is faulty, but because the point of meeting with another brings into awareness for each participant, the portion of meaning they are capable of holding in the present, and what is true within the perception of one person may not be true for the other.
Souls, in their desire and capacity to help each other, may also choose periods of time apart from each other. Sometimes the separation is what is needed in order to further the relationship. Sometimes, the learning that takes place can only take place with periodic or intermittent contact with another. In addition, there are many levels of meeting or contact between souls. Souls have the capacity of meeting not just on the physical plane, but on the plane of dreams which, for many, involves actual meetings that are conducted within the energy-body while asleep. The kind of communication and support that can take place through these non-physical meetings can be quite significant. They can further or continue a relationship, even where one participant has left their body through death. This is because those who have departed are still connected with us as souls and can choose, for various reasons, to meet us within our energy or dream bodies while asleep so that we may share further experience as part of an ongoing relationship.
Where souls are meeting primarily in the dream body as opposed to the physical body, it can happen either because the inner directives of one soul have caused them to depart from the physical plane while the other remains. It can also be caused by limitations on the level of the personality that prevent a soul from acknowledging the connection with another due to defensiveness, fear, or simply to a lack of awareness within the existing personality of what the soul knows on its own level. And so the inner connection is maintained when the personality has less say over making contact, generally at night, but sometimes also during the day. At these times we may experience the presence of others with us where it seems that there is an intentionality to their being there and a desire to communicate in words or through feeling. Becoming able to listen and to hear these communications without fear or self-invalidation, but with a sense of wanting to help and to love, is a task of the maturing soul that opens the door to the many faceted relationships that exist within the spiritual universe.
Finally, let it be said that souls also meet outside of their physical bodies because of the level of their spiritual development and their increased capacity to do so in an intentional way. These meetings are part of the growing development of consciousness to manifest reality in a myriad of ways.
In the end the connections with others on the level of the soul enrich life immeasurably, and add to the dimension of the physical, the dimension of the spiritual in ways that will one day become quite natural and commonplace, which, for today, may seem the exception.
For other writings by Julie Redstone, see Pathways of Light, including the Light Omega Reader. For more about relationships, see
the Sacred Relationships section of the Light Omega website.