[The following is a channelled communication from Maitreya, spokesperson for The Ascended Masters, in spirit.  These higher spiritual beings offer guidance to those who are ready to hear these messages]

Maitreya: What is the soul?  The soul is the sum total, of all you are.  It is the past, present, and future - as you know it, it is the NOW!  The soul resides in your heart, not in your head.  The soul feels, breathes, and lives while in your Earthly body, as a part of you.  You are body, mind, and soul.  The Spiritual part of you is the soul.  It is each soul's purpose, very like the sperm trying to find the egg, to strive in this incarnation for growth, freedom from the Earth plane and the contiuing round of existence it continually endures. 

The soul will lead you to teachers, books, and all sorts of ways of freeing yourself from the Earth.  Often you do not listen.  You do not listen because you fear change, fear looking at yourself, which is a very important part of moving forward.  You see you have a (Lower) Self.  It is attached to the Earth plan, and does not want to see you ascend, nor does it want you to grow.  The (Lower) Self will do everything in its power to stop the Soul from growing.  You the body and mind are usually unaware of this.  That is the soul, look to your heart, not your head - it is not logic, but of the heart.  It feels it is the TRUE part of you.  The part you will return to Spiritual realms.  Find the Soul, and you will have found the most wonderful part of you.  Logic will tie you up in knots with explanation. 

The purpose of the soul on the Earth plane is to grow.  The soul has lived many incarnations, and it is working to free itself from attachment, from desire, greed, all of the emotional ties, which tie many of you to the Earth plane.  It is about FAITH, it is about TRUST, it is about SURRENDER to a higher power.  Yes, it is about letting go of the (Lower) Self.

The Higher Self will always lead you to safety, and may I say, to a better life, and better conditions.  It does not want you to live in a negative way.  It does not control either, but suggests the higher way.

The purpose the Soul is to conquer the (Lower) Self, so that one may experience the peace and tranquility of total love from the Divine, and with all that you need being manifested.

There is no struggle, no fear, no desire, just a knowing that all that you need will be there.  Often this manifests as more than you desire.  Doing this is not easy and the path is rocky and hard.  For those who do it, they will find a wonderful way of life.  They also have the knowledge that there are no more incarnations, that their time on the Earth plane is finished.

The purpose of life is to grow in spirit.  Life is a school, an education.  All those who come into your life are the teachers.  Every soul acts as a mirror for you.  Every soul is a teacher.

From the beginning of your life you choose the conditions you require for your learning.  Only you are responsible for what you choose.  You then start your path through the grades of school, learning, growing.  Many souls complete their learning that they set up for themselves.  Others fail, others achieve some of the learning.  You are the only one who can help YOU to achieve the learning.

There is one barrier to you achieving your goal of learning and that is FEAR.  Fear is the worst energy you can have.  It will stop you dead in your tracks, it will keep you a slave to your life lessons, stopping you from moving on.  The Master Jesus spoke of fear often in his teachings.  If you have fear in your life then you have no growth, for the fear will stop you growing.

Look your fear in the face and see it for what it is, an illusion that you have created, and you will move forward and grow.  It is not easy letting go of fear, but once it is faced, it becomes nothing, absolutely nothing!  Why not face your fear?

You were created so that you may have choice.  Each one of you can take many paths.  You are born with a plan, a map you could perhaps say.  That map/plan is your astrology chart. (Soul Life Blueprint)  That plan can take you into many routes or directions.  You make the choice.

Only when you become enlighted and choose to fulfill your spiritual destiny, do things change.  When you are on the path of normal life, without spiritual development, your choices do not cause too much harm to yourself, although they are important.  However, when you choose to fulfill your spiritual destiny then we in spirit come in to help you.  The choices you make become more important.

It is usually at this Earth time when souls choose not to go forward.  Spiritual development is one of the hardest things to do.  Each soul chooses how they will learn their lessons.  Some choose to suffer humiliation, some to lose those close to them.  Others choose that life will become difficult for them.  Each soul makes their own choices.  We just bring the souls into your life to help you learn.

Often this is connected to karma.  They are programmed to do exactly what is needed for you to learn.  For instance, my channel had to learn lessons of ego, and her friend who was also intuitive told her that she would go to America "to read famous people and film stars".  This was bait to her ego to get her to go.  Because in past incarnations she had been only interested in fame and fortune.

This was designed to test her to see if she would take the bait again.  She took the bait.  Things were designed in America to see if she would take the same path.  Doors closed on her, her ego was shredded to pieces, she was tempted by those with money and position, but this incarnation they could not touch her, she did not take the old path.  She passed her test.  When she had done this, then we gave her the keys to her future.  The keys to work with us.  Had she been tempted and gone with these offers, she would have still done good, but would not have been connected to us the Masters.  She made the choice.

Those who are your enemies on this Earth plane, are often your best friends in other dimensions.  They come to the Earth plane to help you to grow.  Your choices decide your future.  Each one of you will be tested to see your worthiness to work with us.  This has to be done.  You make the choice before you were born.

The more emotional energy you give to situations, the more you stop your spiritual growth.  It is often difficult to make the right choice, because the (Lower) Self says one thing and the Higher Self another.  Yet, when one lets go and separates from the situation, then the way is shown of which choice to make.  Often this means letting go of people you love, the things you own, yet the more you let go, the more you grow.

Yes, it is painful, but remember the illusion is that these people are real, these situations also but they are not, they are only created for you to learn.  Your husband/wife/partner now, will not be your husband in the world of spirit, he/she will just be another soul.  In another incarnation, that person could be your son, father, friend.

When you raise your vibration you see beyond the illusion, you see life as it really is - an illusion.  The choices YOU make decide whether you grow in spirit or not. 

What Is The Meaning Of Life