A Vision of Eden: The Living Path of Returning to Our Natural State of Being

Recently, I asked God/Source a question: “What should I do with my words?”

For more than thirty years, I have written and spoken about the importance of finding and living our calling, recognising who we truly are, and experiencing the joy, peace, freedom and fulfilment inherent in our natural state of Being.

Throughout those years, I have held a vision of what the world could become if every human being lived as an expression of their true nature.

I had explored the philosophy behind this vision and its implications through my books, articles and teachings, and developed the principles that underpin my understanding of Being, Soul Identity and our relationship with Life. Yet, despite having spoken about this vision for so long, I had struggled to articulate the larger picture that brought everything together.

Then I received a vision of Eden.

I saw how the ideas I had been developing for decades belonged to a single vision of humanity returning to its natural way of Being. I could see the relationship between our Soul Identity, our natural state of Being, our calling and the Living Path of Awakening.

More importantly, I could see the path of return to Eden.

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My Vision

My vision is of a world in which every human being lives as an expression of their true nature. A world where we no longer seek fulfilment through becoming something we’re not, but discovering it through expressing who we already are. When each of us lives from the joy, peace, freedom, and love inherent in our Being, those qualities become the foundation of how we work, relate, create, and contribute. This is how we bring heaven to earth: not by changing who we are, but by allowing who we truly are to find expression in the world.

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The Return to Eden

Eden represents humanity’s Natural State of Being, before our identification with the separate Self-Image and the accumulated beliefs and judgements through which we have learned to experience life.

In the biblical account, Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden before eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their subsequent awareness of themselves as separate, vulnerable individuals marks a profound change in how they experience their existence.

Within my philosophy, this story reflects the human experience of forgetting our true nature and becoming identified with a separate image of ourselves. We begin experiencing life through the accumulated beliefs, meanings and identities that form our Self-Image, eventually mistaking that image for who we truly are.

As our identification with the Self-Image strengthens, we increasingly experience ourselves as separate from the Source of Life. We seek security, acceptance, peace, freedom, and fulfilment through the circumstances of our lives, believing these qualities must be obtained before we can experience them.

Yet these qualities belong to our natural state of Being. They are inherent in our Soul Identity, which remains connected to Source regardless of the circumstances through which we experience life.

The return to Eden is therefore a return to the recognition of who we truly are, our oneness with Life, and the natural qualities of Being that have always been present.

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The Living Path of Return

The path of return to Eden is expressed through what I call the Living Path of Awakening: Recognise → Rest → Reflect.

Recognition is awakening to who we truly are beneath the accumulated mental images and identities through which we have been experiencing life. It is the recognition of our Soul Identity, our connection to Source, and our oneness with Life.

Rest is abiding in that recognition. It is remaining in the awareness of Being, allowing ourselves to experience the qualities of our natural state without continually seeking them through external circumstances. In Rest, we recognise that joy, peace, security, acceptance, and freedom are already inherent in our nature.

Reflection is the expression of that Being through our participation in the world. Our thoughts, words, actions, relationships, creativity, work, and contributions become the means through which our true nature finds expression.

The Living Path describes how the recognition of who we truly are becomes the expression of who we truly are. Recognition reveals our nature, Rest establishes our orientation in Being, and Reflection allows that nature to participate in the world.

This path has significance beyond our individual experience. As human beings recognise, rest in and reflect their true nature, the qualities of Being become increasingly visible through the collective life of humanity.

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Humanity as the Flora and Fauna of Eden

The image that brings this vision together is that of humanity as the flora and fauna of Eden.

In nature, the lily expresses itself as a lily, the bird as a bird, and the lemon tree as a lemon tree. Each participates in Life according to its own nature, expressing its particular qualities and capacities through the circumstances in which it exists.

The lemon tree produces its blossoms and fruit because that is its nature. The bird sings and flies according to its nature. The lily grows and flowers according to its nature. Each expression is unique, yet all participate in the same Life.

Humanity belongs to this same natural order. Each person has a unique Soul Identity, an individual expression of the one Source of Being. Just as the natural world reveals an extraordinary diversity of forms, human nature finds expression through an extraordinary diversity of gifts, interests, abilities, relationships, creativity, and contributions.

Our individuality is an essential part of this expression. Each of us participates in Life according to our unique nature, while remaining connected to the same Source.

This is also where Jesus’ teaching about the lilies of the field and the birds of the air becomes particularly meaningful. In Matthew 6, Jesus draws attention to the way they participate in Life without the anxious striving that so often characterises human existence.

The lilies grow according to their nature, and the birds participate in the provision of Life according to theirs. Their existence and natural expression belong to the same living reality.

The vision of Eden is of humanity living in this way, with every human being recognising their true nature and allowing it to find expression through their lives.

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Finding and Living Our Calling

This understanding brings greater clarity to the relationship between our calling and our Natural State of Being.

Our calling is the expression of our nature. It arises from our Soul Identity and finds expression through the particular ways we participate in Life.

The roles we fulfil, the work we undertake, and the contributions we make provide opportunities for that expression. These forms may change throughout our lives, while the nature from which our calling arises remains.

Finding our calling begins with recognising who we truly are. Living our calling allows that recognition to become visible through our participation in the world.

Our calling is an integral part of our awakening. Through the Living Path of Awakening, we recognise who we truly are, rest in our natural state of Being, and reflect that nature through our participation in life.

Finding and living our calling is part of this unfolding, as our unique Soul Identity finds expression through our work, relationships, creativity, and contributions.

When we live our calling, our creativity, love, joy, freedom, and other natural qualities find expression through what we do. We participate in the abundance of Life by allowing that abundance to be expressed through our individual nature.

The diversity of our callings is essential to the vision of Eden. Humanity does not return to its natural state by everyone fulfilling the same, identical purpose or expressing themselves in the same, identical way. The richness of human life arises from the unique expression of each individual Soul Identity.

As each person finds and lives their calling, the qualities inherent in Being become increasingly present in the world through the ways we work, relate, create, and contribute.

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Bringing Heaven to Earth

Heaven on earth is the collective expression of humanity living from its Natural State of Being.

The return to Eden begins within each of us, through the recognition of our Soul Identity and our oneness with Source. As we rest in that recognition and reflect our nature through our lives, the qualities of Being find expression in the world around us.

Love becomes visible through our relationships. Creativity finds expression through our work and contributions. Peace, acceptance, and freedom become the ground from which we participate in the circumstances of our lives.

The extraordinary diversity of human nature becomes a means through which the abundance of Life is expressed.

This is the significance of the Living Path of Awakening. Recognise → Rest → Reflect describes the movement from recognising our natural state of Being to allowing that state to find expression through our lives.

Eden is already present as our natural state of Being. The path of return allows us to recognise, rest in and reflect that reality through the particular circumstances of our human existence.

My vision is of humanity returning to Eden, where every human being recognises who they truly are, rests in that Being, and reflects their unique nature through the way they live.