Separation, fragmentation, fear, insecurity, hostility result because we have lost touch with the continuum of life that is the Source of all creation. When we are there we realize that the self is no other than this unity, and this unity is no other than the self. With this realization comes compassion. With compassion comes love, and with love comes peace . . . When love rises in us, it will rise in the world as a whole. A new reality will be apparent that is laid on the foundation of health, happiness, and personal freedom.
According to a Talmudic legend, an angel escorts the soul from its abode in heaven into the tomb and there unites it to the embryo. The angel tutors the new being in the mysteries of the world, transporting it to heaven and darkness to see the heights and depths of creation, revealing to it the ways of beauty, truth, and goodness, disclosing the potential of its future life on earth, even to the time and place of death. As the child matures within the womb, it ponders the wonders it has seen. Then, at the instant of birth, the angel touches the child on the mouth, erasing all memory of these marvelous revelations.