I was asleep alone in a condo in Hawaii. I heard my name being softly but urgently called, over and over. Half asleep, I turned over to see what was going on. There, just above the bedroom dresser, was The Light. It was indescribably bright but at the same time, impossibly tiny--as if it was shining from light-years away, or peeking through from another dimension. My soul instantly recognized it, and in a burst of pure ecstasy, leaped out of my body toward and into it.
The Light is all hidden knowledge revealed, all hurt healed, all longings granted, and an endless reservoir of love, patience, humor, tenderness, power, and understanding. It pulled away from me, and then led me through the walls of the condo into the garden, which transformed into a glorious temple. I understood then that a temple was what it had been all the time, only I hadn't been able to see it. I was also made aware that The Light is around us all the time, but like the fifteen pounds per square body inch of pressure that the atmosphere exerts upon us at sea level, its presence is so common and so constant we can't "see" it anymore. It "hides in plain sight."
There were people in the garden’s temple. I couldn't say how many, more than two but less than forty is the best estimate I can give. They told me how much they had missed me, and led me to a spring of clear water flowing through the center of the temple. They bathed me in this water, and dressed me in the same flowing all-color garments that they wore except for a sash around the waist. They explained that if I put on the sash, I could not return, and I must return; there were things I must do, but first there were things I needed to remember.
This was the thread that ran through the entire episode: Remember. None of us are new to this plane of existence.
I was taken to an ornate chair upon which rested an enormous book. One of the men opened it and pointed to a page. Each page was a separate life. Each page flowed into the next, more like a video than a book. What I was shown was specific to me, and it is not something that I share with others. However, my guides explained to me that, for everyone, life could be considered a very serious game. I can only describe it as an eternal game of chutes and ladders. We are free to pull one another up, or push one another down, and each choice we make in our lives acts to secure a particular place on the game board. Less flippantly, we are reborn again and again, to experience all that there is to experience both good and bad, including love, hate, tenderness, abuse, murder, suicide, birth, and death. This is so we may ultimately return, not just to become one in understanding with The Light, but to become a light ourselves.
I was led back to my body and told I should return (this I understood was a choice I actively had to make; it could not be forced upon me. At the same time, I realized that everything in the universe is the sole possession of deity except for one's immortal soul.) When I returned, I felt paralyzed and could not move for roughly half an hour, and I was as cold as if I'd awakened in a snow bank.