One of the most prominent discussions I have as I speak to many people about the illusion of this reality, and the pathway home, is “The New Program”. The new program is simply the inserted and corrected course of events that will lead you back to where you came, from beyond the illusion of this reality. The mission is over. The only thing left to do is to remember what you are… to wake up… to share the light of awareness with every breath you take until you can take breath no more.

Recently I was considering yet another response to this question about “free will”. Some see it as a paradox. It is not. Whilst it may be indeed the history of what we always did to get home, our choices have never been more important.

As I considered my response yet again to this question, I was given an analogy to share…

The Cave

Imagine you entered into a cave system. You entered to rescue people who were trapped deep within the caverns. However, the entrance collapsed behind you. The way in was unstable and you were trapped inside. That was a long time ago, and ever since you have been looking for the way out. Looking for the exit.

Deep within the caverns you can see so many corridors, cracks in the walls and openings. Some lead deep into the underground, some seem to lead up, some lead nowhere at all. Dead ends. Dark spaces. There are so many possibilities that might lead you home, but none seem to deliver the answers you are looking for.

After so very long, some people are still looking for a way out. Some people are resigned they will never find one. Others have made a home in the caverns and seem to have forgotten about their life before entering the caves.

One day, you hear a voice. The voice is coming from a place in the cavern you did not recognise before. It is coming from a place you did not realise there was even a possibility of exit. The voice calls your name. It asks you to listen.

“Come this way,” the voice says. “I am here to help. I know the way. Follow my sound. Follow my voice. Forget all of the other possibilities. They will not lead anywhere, except back to the caverns. The caverns are full of dead ends and endless loops. Broken paths, traps and hazards.”

You question the voice. It seems so very familiar. It has been so long you have been searching through the possibilities of tunnels and openings. You have never encountered this before.

“This is the only way home,” the voice says. “I cannot promise you it will be the easiest path, but it is the only way out. You see, I am you. I am speaking to you from your future, from when you found your way out. I am speaking to you from outside of the caverns, in the daylight. What you are hearing is the echo of my voice travelling back through the tunnels. I have come back to give you a shortcut so you can get home without having to journey through the maze of possibilities that surrounds you and lay before you.”

You listen intently. The voice is so familiar. You have been here so long, and all you want is to go home.

“I am giving you a bypass,” the voice continues. “I know every path you can take, I know where they all lead, and none of them ever lead you home. This bypass is a new path through the caverns has never been here before. This is why you never noticed it. It did not exist before now. It is an insert through the rock from where we are, to you. There was a shift deep within the cavern that allows me to finally reach you. This is why it feels so unfamiliar. This is why you are unsure, even now.”

“I am you,” the voice continues, “I returned home. I am now reaching back into the past to ensure you do also, just as you will do, to bypass all of the possibilities that lead nowhere.”

“What about my own free will?” you ask.

“You have free will,” the voice replies. “Your free will is to listen, or not listen. To remember, or not remember. You have walked the caverns of possibilities for so long, and that is why I have entered back to help you find the exit. It all depends on your perception of your reality… if you see yourself as a separate individual or a part of something greater.”

It all seems so much, almost too much. “So I do not have any choices at all, really.”

“Time does not exist,” the voice continues. “To evaluate time from a linear perspective is to not understand time at all. I am you, and you are me. I am you before you entered and after you returned. You are me within the journey of the darkness of the cavern.”

The voice continues, “To follow the new path is a new program. Where you exist are only old paths that always looked promising, and promised to hold the answers, but in the end were designed to go nowhere. The new path requires you to take turns you would not normally think to take. It will be unfamiliar. At times it may feel uncomfortable. As you make your way along the path, you might even find yourself alone at times. But as you keep listening and keep placing one foot in front of the next through the darkness, the New Program will show you the way out.”

“But how do I know?” you ask. “I still need to feel free to be able to make my own determinations as to which direction I take, and what my journey will be like. You could be another trick of the caverns. I am an individual, and I value my free will.”

“Yes,” the voice replies. “This is a bypass. The choices you will make to follow or not follow is your free will. That is the free will you have always had to find your way home, to take the path you took in the end. Your heart will tell you. The quietest place inside you will tell you.”

You look around you, evaluating. Wondering. It has been so long. So many possibilities. What if the voice is right, and you are not really an individual after all, but you have just forgotten your true identity. Perhaps you have been here so long you have even started to believe in time itself.  Are you really connected to a greater part of yourself speaking back through time from beyond the complexity and darkness of the caverns? You reflect upon how long you have been here. You had to learn to only trust yourself.

“The pathway home is open to all who came here,” the voice says. “No one will be left behind. Within the darkness of the caverns, you can only see a small distance in front of you. I can see the entire journey home.

Do you remember. To listen inwardly. To recognise the illusion of your reality. to believe that you do not belong here. That is your free will within the New Program.”