QA179 QUESTION: I would like to ask a question about the relationship of the spiritual state of a mother to her child when she’s pregnant. And also, which is more important – that general spiritual state or the moment of birth, where you said that the spirit enters the body after the first inhalation? Is that the crucial moment?
ANSWER: Well, it might be. Let me explain. In most incidents, the soul that comes into incarnation with a specific mother is determined even long before pregnancy takes place. Then during pregnancy, the preparations are, so to speak, made and then the birth is the final product of the preparations. This is true in most cases.
Under certain circumstances – if there is a substantial change of consciousness in either the mother or the father or both, or the circumstances change in some way – in the last minute, different dispositions may be made. The only criterion is the state of consciousness, the development of the mother and also the father to a certain degree. But more so the mother. To the degree the growth takes place, a commensurate being will be pulled into the birth processes.
QUESTION: Does the baby to born have an actual conscious choice in the matter?
ANSWER: Like on earth, the consciousness has something to say, but the more disconnected it is from the inner processes, the more the events that take place seem coincidental or hazardous. The processes are the following. Before a soul goes into incarnation, or is ready for incarnation, it has a certain plan. There is a certain understanding what has to be accomplished in a life.
The preparations are very exacting [Lecture #34 Preparation for Incarnation]. And only to the degree development exists can the total plan be made by the individual entity. But there are always Helpers, guides and more developed spirits, whose task it is to help and to make dispositions. And then there is, in connection with this, or as a result of the consciousness, certain laws that take place – laws of attraction and repulsion.
A certain specific entity can be pulled into certain circumstances only, just as the magnetic laws exist. It could not possibly be pulled into other circumstances. But to the degree awareness exists of these laws and of the self, deliberate choices can be made. To the degree such awareness is lacking, the choices will seem hazardous or coincidental.
QUESTION: But are they made by other spirits?
ANSWER: No, I would say, other spirits in conjunction with the entity itself. It is almost impossible to convey this to mankind, because the concepts are lacking. It is a tremendously important thing when an entity is being born. And a great deal of investment of spiritual energy is made in order to effectuate the right kind of circumstances.
