There’s a question that lies quietly beneath every life experience, every moment of wonder or suffering, every turning point we face, and it comes to us in our quietest moments: Where do we come from?
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It’s a question we ask as children, again as adults, and often in the quiet moments of challenge or wonder. We look up at the stars or deep into our own eyes and feel the tug of something more. Something vast. Something half remembered. For some, it’s a philosophical curiosity. For others, a deep longing. But for many of us, it becomes a doorway – the first stirrings of spiritual awakening.
And the answer isn’t found in biology textbooks or family trees. Not really.
The deeper truth is this:
We are not our bodies. We are not even our minds.
We are eternal spiritual beings, fractals of Source Energy, temporarily experiencing life in a physical form.
This Earth, this lifetime, is a brief and beautiful immersion into the physical realm.
But it is not our origin. And it is not our end.
This article offers a multidimensional exploration of the “Where do we come from?” question. Not just through one belief system or one voice, but through many perspectives that all seem to converge in a chorus of spiritual teachings, ancient traditions, and modern revelations. Let’s go deeper.
We are fractals of Source Energy
Let’s start with the foundation. The very essence of who and what you are.
You are a unique, eternal expression of Source Energy.
The idea that we come from Source Energy – also called God (and all God’s associated names e.g. Allah), the Divine, the Universe, or All That Is – is echoed across spiritual traditions. But more than that, many teachings suggest that we are not just created by Source, but that we are Source, expressing itself in a unique way.
Abraham (via Esther Hicks) calls it “the larger part of you” – the part that remains in the non-physical, ever-connected to Source, even while you’re focused in a physical experience.
Esther Hicks, channelling Abraham, says:
“You are Source Energy in a physical body. The larger part of you remains in the non-physical, ever-focused on your expansion and joy.”
The Ra Material (also known as The Law of One) explains:
“You are every thing, every being, every emotion, every event, every situation. You are unity. You are infinity. You are love/light, light/love. You are.”
Neale Donald Walsch in Conversations with God writes:
“You are an individuation of divinity. A singular voice in the eternal choir.”
The Seth Material, channelled by Jane Roberts, states:
“The soul is not something you have – it is what you are. You are a multidimensional personality.”
These understandings aren’t just poetic metaphors—they’re intended as literal truths by many who share them. Just as a wave is not separate from the ocean, you are not separate from Source, ever. When we come to Earth, we just forget that temporarily so that we can find our way back. We come from Source – from the eternal field of consciousness that underlies all of reality. We emerge from the timeless, boundless, vibrational realm of unconditional love – and we will return there again.
But let’s look at some evidence from near-death experiences (NDEs).
Near-Death Experiences & past-life memories
Those who have touched the edges of this life often return with astonishing clarity about where we truly come from. You can read more about NDEs and the remarkable similarities between them in my article on NDEs here.
The term near-death experience (NDE) was popularised in 1975 by psychiatrist Raymond Moody in his groundbreaking book Life After Life. He used it to describe a set of common features reported by people who had come close to death. Earlier accounts of similar phenomena existed, but Moody’s work gave the experience a formal name and framework for study.
Near-death experiences consistently reveal:
- A profound sense of returning home
- Encounters with beings of light or guides
- A “life review” in which one feels their actions from all perspectives
- A sense of being completely loved and accepted
Anita Moorjani, who experienced an NDE during a terminal illness, writes in Dying to Be Me:
“I felt all the pain and fear leave me. I became aware of a boundless space and a feeling of unconditional love. It felt like I was returning to something I’d always known.”
The NDERF.org website has collected over 5,000 NDEs, many describing the same core experience: a return to an eternal, loving, non-judgmental presence.
Similarly, Dr. Jim Tucker and Dr. Ian Stevenson at the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies have studied thousands of cases of children who remember past lives. These memories often include specific, verifiable details of a previous incarnation, suggesting consciousness survives death and chooses to return.
Dolores Cannon’s work with QHHT (Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique) further supports this. Thousands of recorded sessions revealed people remembering life between lives, soul planning, and choosing specific lessons for their next incarnation.
Cross-cultural perspectives through time
These spiritual truths have not been hidden. At times, cultural narratives have steered us away from fully discovering them, but there is a lot of evidence throughout history as to our true origins.
Ancient civilisations and religious beliefs
- Egypt: Believed in multiple soul aspects (ka, ba) and a journey back to the Divine after physical death
- Hinduism: Teaches that the soul (Atman) is a spark of the divine (Brahman) and moves through many lives
- Buddhism: Speaks of rebirth and the illusion of separateness, with the goal of returning to unity (nirvana)
- Christianity: Speaks of the soul surviving the death of the body and returning to heaven or hell according to the Day of Judgement
Indigenous wisdom
- Aboriginal Dreamtime: Life is an ongoing dream; the soul exists eternally in a non-linear time
- Native American teachings: Emphasise the spiritual nature of all beings and the cycle of return to the Great Spirit
- Mayan cosmology: Includes multidimensional realms and the idea of soul evolution through earthly trials
Mystical traditions
- Kabbalah: The soul descends from the Infinite Light (Ein Sof) and journeys through lifetimes to return
- Gnosticism: Humans are divine sparks temporarily trapped in matter, seeking reunion with the Divine
- Theosophy & Anthroposophy: Explore the evolution of the soul through many incarnations and planes
Across all these systems, a common truth emerges: we all existed before this life, and we will continue beyond it.
Why do souls come to Earth?
If the non-physical is so blissful, why leave it? If we are whole, eternal, and basking in love in the non-physical realm, why choose to be here at all?
These are often the next questions that follow. The answer is:
- Because the soul seeks experience
- Because the soul seeks growth, depth, and expansion
- And Earth offers contrast, polarity, and physicality
Dolores Cannon, through decades of QHHT (Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique) sessions, recorded thousands of cases where clients remembered pre-life planning and soul contracts.
They spoke of choosing lives not by accident, but with intention. To grow. To serve. To understand love from a new angle. They often described Earth as a “tough but beautiful” place. One client said:
“It’s like spiritual university. It’s hard, but the learning is powerful.”
and another,
“Earth is one of the hardest schools, but the growth is immense. It’s where we learn how to master energy in density.”
In NDE accounts – such as those collected by Dr. Raymond Moody, Anita Moorjani, and the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies – people often describe returning to a home they had forgotten. A place of light, love, peace, and a sense of being fully known.
Many report a life review – not with judgement, but with compassion. A chance to see how every action affected others. To feel it all from the perspectives of ALL involved. To remember the interconnectedness of everything.
What do you think you would learn from an experience like that? Something profound, no doubt.
A temporary immersion, not the whole story
Earth life is compelling. It can be very loud and intense. It can make us forget who we are.
That’s part of the plan so you can find your way back to unconditional love even in the midst of so-called adversity and suffering.
Imagine diving into a movie or a video game so fully that you forget you’re in the cinema.
That’s Earth.
I liken it to being an actor in a play. At the start of the play, we know we are fine and well, and in the pub afterwards, chatting with other actors, we can laugh about our death scene or the fine acting of the other characters, safe in the knowledge that it was all an act, a play, not ‘reality’.
But when we’re on stage or in the movie – boy, does that feel ‘real’.
In Earth school, we are not alone. We have guides and other sentient beings to help us. And there are moments – little nudges – when we remember, such as:
- A feeling you get that you’re something more, that you can’t explain
- A sudden wave of love for a stranger
- A dream that feels more real than waking life
These are glimpses of home.
Glimpses of who you really are beneath the layers of personality, pain, and programming.
Esther Hicks often says:
“You are Source energy in a physical body, and the better you feel, the more fully connected you are to your true essence.”
On a personal note here, I have ALWAYS felt homesick for somewhere I feel inside me. Where there is only love and greed, abuse and suffering do not exist. I’ve felt this since I was a child, and my family still joke about me coming “from a different planet”. I view my entire existence in eons rather than our ‘three score years and ten” as suggested in the bible, and this website is the result of me trying to explain that to everyone I ever meet.
Awakening to the truth
Awakening doesn’t always look like total bliss or a sudden rush of kundalini energy. Sometimes it begins with a breakdown, a crisis, or an unexplainable yearning. Many people returning from an NDE experience a significant time when they feel depressed or saddened because they have returned to Earth and it can take them some time to adjust and integrate their experience into their everyday life. This is not the case for everyone, of course, but a significant number need time to reflect and assimilate their newfound knowledge. And almost all completely change the course of their lives to live a more harmonious life of service to others.
For those of us who have not had an NDE, we can gradually unpick the programming we have received from our parents, teachers, societies and start to remember:
- That love is our natural state
- That joy is a guide
- That we are more than our stories or scars
- That intuition is real and powerful
- That we are more than our physical body
Meditation, breathwork, yoga, journaling, and quiet contemplation can reconnect us to our soul’s memory.
You may feel the truth of it in your bones: You are not from ‘here’. You are just visiting.
And yet, you are meant to be here. Now – on purpose – because you chose to come!
But that’s a whole other story…
The journey home is inward
If you’ve been searching…
If you’ve ever felt like you don’t quite belong here…
If your heart aches for something more – something eternal and real – It’s not just you.
It’s the memory stirring. Your soul whispering. The veil lifting.
You are waking up.
And as you do, you may begin to ask:
Not just “Where do I come from?”
But “Who am I really?”
And “What am I here to become?”
We’ll explore those questions next.
But for now, let this truth settle into your bones:
We come from Love.
We come from the beyond stars, from the frequency of light, from the Infinite Creator.
But here’s the twist:
You never really left.
Your soul is still connected. Still part of Source. Still whole.
This human experience is just one focused expression. A unique angle through which the universe learns more about itself.
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Or, as Ra might put it:
“You are not in the universe. The universe is in you.“
References and more information
- Ra Material / Law of One (www.lawofone.info)
- Seth Material (Jane Roberts)
- Conversations with God (Neale Donald Walsch)
- Abraham-Hicks books and videos
- Dolores Cannon’s QHHT
- Dying to Be Me – Anita Moorjani
- NDERF.org – searchable NDE cases
- UVA Division of Perceptual Studies (past lives and NDEs)
- The Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and ancient texts
- Cross-cultural studies (e.g. The Myth of the Eternal Return, Mircea Eliade)
Related posts
Who am I? The first and most important question of all
Common threads in near-death experiences
