George Anderson, Walking in the Garden of Souls, Part 1

Even though we have no conscious recollection of it now, we were once born of this world and we understood it well. Even though we may not feel it now, we were once children in the Garden of Souls with hearts filled with love and peace. But living on the earth, we have become so easily disarmed by the circumstances of life here and the struggles we have to endure, that our disappointment and despair have eroded the memory of that place and diminished in our hearts the wonderful light from the Garden.

The longer we live on the earth, the more life circumstances drain the reserves of the peace and love we had before our journey here began. We live on, we get older, we experience pain, we endure tragedy -- our hearts harden, our peace disappears, and our souls no longer remember why we are here. We forget that we are on the earth to learn strength in our adversity, to learn peace in our struggle, to learn joy in our sorrow -- to learn. This is the understanding that leads us to knowledge, and our knowledge that leads us back to the Garden -- back to our home.