By Robert Schwartz

Book review by Tedi Elliott

Once I heard a group of people talking about a tragic, fatal accident, in which a small child had been killed when a garage door closed on him. They were trying to come to terms with why such inexplicable things happen in life and spoke of how horrible it was and how heartbreaking this must be for all those close to the child. Someone wondered why God would allow such an awful thing to happen. I wondered why too, and started in on a thought process that went a little something like this:

First, I pictured an uncaring, disinterested God, (long, white beard… sitting on a cloud) randomly picking out accidents and tragedies and illnesses for whoever happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even worse, what if God actually punishes people this way? What if there is no God? Are these simply the natural consequences of living life on Earth? Is it just that accidents happen? Do we all have to be constantly on guard at all times to avoid these disasters? How could I possibly cope if something so horrible happened to me?

In his excellent first book, Courageous Souls, Robert Schwartz plants the seed of a very compelling idea on how and why our great life challenges come about: that we, ourselves, make intricate plans before we are born into the physical plane, about the kinds of experiences we want to have in order to assist our growth on the soul level. In making our plans, we have lots of help from our spirit guides and various discarnate beings. These beings love us a great deal and act in our best interest in all things. In fact, love is the basis for this entire idea.

What we come here to learn (or remember) is that we are love, that we are never disconnected from each other, and that we are eternal. We agree in advance to have these challenging life experiences and nothing is forced on us or decided for us by anyone else. Although specific plans are made, free will always remains available to us during our lives so that when choices present themselves, we may opt to continue with our plans or not.

So, when a person contracts cancer or AIDS or has an “accident” that renders them paralyzed, perhaps it’s not merely an inexplicable occurrence or horrible luck or the punishment of a vengeful god. It is that person’s specially chosen life challenge that will assist their growth in compassion or in self-love or in overcoming fear or rage.

Can you imagine the shift that could occur if, instead of feeling punished or victimized or self-pity for being unable to hear, your deafness created an opportunity to more clearly recognize yourself, and everyone else, as love? You might look at a homeless person asking for money on the corner in a much different light. You might notice the dissolution of the usual judgments you hold around the poor, the obese, the drug addicted, the foreign-born, the religious fundamentalist, and even yourself. You might begin to see yourself as the courageous, light-filled spirit you truly are.

Now things get even more fascinating. Schwartz gives us real, live individuals, courageous souls, who generously share the stories of their own life challenges. Each of these individuals consults with several gifted mediums and channels who connect with spirit beings, who then corroborate and confirm each person’s pre-birth planning session in sometimes astonishing detail. Speaking to and through the mediums, these spirit beings give us insight into exactly how and what each individual learns from their chosen life challenges. It becomes amazingly clear that the spirit realm is closer to us in our daily lives than we may know, providing guidance and support and speaking to us through our emotions and our dreams, as well as directly through some very tuned-in human beings.

I feel unable to convey here the genuine warmth, love and compassion that Robert Schwartz manages to express throughout his book. In the prologue, he explains how he began this journey, how he searched for meaning in his own life, delved into his own pre-birth plans and learned that writing this book was part of what he was meant to do. At the end of the book, Schwartz provides his email address and asks readers for feedback, comments and questions. He’d like to hear from others who may want to share their life challenges. This book inspired me to learn more about the journey of my own courageous soul. And since we’re all courageous souls here, maybe we’ll meet each other along the way.

Tedi Elliott is a freelance writer and massage therapist.  She can be contacted at  telliott79 {at} hotmail {dot} com