Introduction
The suggestion that I write this book came to me as I was driving back
to the Minneapolis airport after my 15th college reunion. I had graduated
a geology major, and returned as an alternative healer, the sort of alternative
healer who makes homeopaths and aromatherapists look downright conventional.
I hear voices in my head, for goodness sake. Were all my old friends and
acquaintances going to think I'd lost my mind? What of my dear old professors,
who had spent four years molding me into a careful and critical thinker?
I had been asking myself those questions for months, and gradually I came
to the conclusion that the only person I needed to convince of my sanity
was me. If I believed, to the very core of my being, that I heard voices
belonging to very wise and loving Spirit Beings, and that these Beings
wanted to help me in my healing work -- then other people would see that
I have no doubts and they would, perhaps, not see a need to convince me
to visit a psychiatrist. And so, when I found myself sitting with six
physics majors at dinner the first night, and we were going around the
table sharing something of our lives since graduation, I took a deep breath
and plunged in.
The response? They said, how remarkable! Tell us more! When did you discover
you could do this? How do you think it works? Can you treat the knee I
injured last week? And they started sharing some of their own experiences
which were difficult to explain with conventional science. Soon we were
all speculating about what else could exist beyond the "five senses",
and wondering which discoveries could be on the horizon to help mankind
understand the Universe more completely. Like the best scientists and
rational thinkers, they were open-minded and curious. I'm not so afraid
to tell people what I do now.
But it seemed that my work was changing. My Spirit Friends wanted to help
me write a book. I've always loved to write, and I can always be sure
that anything they nudge me to do will be educational and worthwhile,
but I wasn't sure about writing another book of channeled wisdom. There
are so many books of this type on the market already, why write another
one? They didn't answer, but just smiled silently in my mind.
A few hours later, on the airplane back home, they gave me a list of chapter
topics, along with the identity of the Spirit Being who would like to
"dictate" each chapter. Several of these Beings were not known
to me at the time, so I started visiting them in my mind, asking them
to give me the "flavor" of their personalities and perhaps some
preview of what they would like to say, if I agreed to help with this
book. Before long, my own curiosity had gotten the better of me. I was
hooked.
What was Veronica going to say in her concluding chapter, vaguely titled
"tomorrow?" It depends a lot on what the others say in the first
nine chapters, she replied. But I've been thinking, I may not know what
they are going to say yet, but she knows, surely. I'll be helping to choose
the best language to capture their ideas and personalities, but I won't
be changing the messages. In essence, the book is already written, so
she must know what she's going to say at the end. Well, Veronica, am I
right? In response, she is giving me an image in my mind, of herself with
a finger held up to a lovely but mischievous smile. "shhhh."
And now she is using her finger to beckon me forward.
"let's begin...."
1. Reflections on Love
Every person on your planet has a Higher Self, a consciousness which is
Divine in nature. Frequently this consciousness remains buried in your
minds, and your day-to-day lives are run by a personality consciousness,
one which corresponds to the gender, age, profession, and so forth of
your current physical incarnation. If you are especially attached to your
personality consciousness, you will feel quite lost and miserable, because
this is not the True you. You are not your shape, your size, your career,
your clothes. You are Divine.
We in Spirit encourage each of you to identify with your Higher Self.
Feel it, listen to it, become one with it - and gently let go of the feelings,
the voice, the identity of the smaller, personal self. Expressing it another
way, we encourage each of you to become a cleaner channel for your own
Higher Self. Every human being is a channel, a vehicle for a Divine spark
which exists beyond physical dimensions. In fact, you are channeling your
Higher Self all the time, even if you are not aware of it and even if
the signal becomes distorted during transmission.
Emily has discovered that it is also possible to channel the Higher Selves
of other individuals, when they wish to speak to her. I wish to speak
to her now, because she and I are very old, very dear friends. More precisely,
her Higher Self and I are very old friends - Souls who have lived hundreds
of lifetimes together. At the personality level, we are also friends in
this lifetime, but we do not speak of spiritual matters and my personality
consciousness does not know that the two of us are special friends. Thus,
I am only identifying myself by the initial "W" which I chose
at random from the alphabet.
Emily feels somewhat uncomfortable with the idea that she is speaking
with the Higher Self of a friend, without that friend's knowledge. I don't
suppose it would be comforting to her to know that her own Higher Self
speaks to hundreds of individuals each day without her knowledge. (what?!)
No, I didn't think so. What can I say? Don't be afraid, Emily. Where there
is love, everything is safe.
* * * * *
In all the Universe there is only Love.
Wherever Love appears to be missing, that is only an illusion. The illusion
of emptiness is created precisely so that the Love can be known more completely.
It is difficult to observe brilliant white light on a background of brilliant
white light. On a dark background, the light is magnificent.
Love creates the darkness. We in Spirit say to you, Love the Light and
appreciate the darkness for allowing the Light to stand within it, radiating
outwards.
Do not hate the darkness. Do not hate anything. Hatred of any kind, including
hatred of evil and hatred of the Self, blocks out the Light. Choose to
love. Love the world, love the children, love the plants and animals,
love the air and water, and love the murderers, love the polluters, love
the viruses and bacteria. And most of all, love the Self. You yourself
are a manifestation of Love.
In all the Universe there is only Love, so what else could you be?
In all the Universe there is only Consciousness.
Wherever Consciousness appears to be absent, that is only an illusion.
The illusion of non-awareness is created precisely so that consciousness
can re-discover how magnificent it really is!
You sit by yourself on a rock and stare at the moon, and experience an
aching, lonely emptiness so deep that you wonder how you can possibly
continue to live. At this very moment, the rock and the moon will begin
to call out to you: Remember us! The illusion has served its purpose now.
Come back, come dance with us!
The rock is conscious. Each mineral, each molecule, each element, each
atom within it is also conscious. Within you, each organ, each tissue,
each cell, each strand of DNA is conscious. Each one has its own stories
to tell. You are never alone! Such a thing is impossible.
In all the Universe there is only Divinity.
You may call it God or the Creator or Divine Consciousness or Divine Law
or the Great Spirit or Love or the Christ Principle or the Almighty or
whatever is personally comfortable to you. Just remember that they are
all the same, and they are all that is. Everything else is illusion.
God is Love.
If a toddler pulls the tail of a cat, and the cat turns around to scratch
him, what does his mother say to the child? "Come here, my love,
and let me hold you. I'm so sorry kitty hurt you. She wasn't trying to
be mean, you know, she just doesn't like having her tail pulled. But you
didn't know that, it's all right. Let's get a bandaid... there, does that
feel better now?" This is love.
It is amazing to us in Spirit how many people think God is less loving
than a caring mother.
A person makes a simple mistake, and suddenly it is labeled a "sin."
God punishes those who commit sins, some people say. If someone makes
a mistake and gets hurt, they imagine God would say, "It serves you
right. You got what you deserve. Maybe if you're really sorry and make
me a lot of promises about how you will behave in the future, I will get
you a bandaid. But first I'll let you sit there on the floor and cry for
a while, to be sure you've learned your lesson."
God is the most perfect Love in the Universe. How could God behave that
way?
Some people will make the argument that God is not Love, or perhaps that
God does not even exist, because otherwise the young child would never
have been scratched by the cat in the first place. But consider the mother
who is trying to raise a happy and healthy child. Will she never allow
him to play with the cat? When he is 15, will she refuse to let him light
a match, because he might burn himself? Will she take him to work and
back when he is 35 because she is afraid to let him learn to drive?
God does not want to keep you in safely padded play rooms all your lives.
That is not love. God wants to see you fly, be independent, learn to make
decisions, set your own course. Naturally, you will make mistakes from
time to time, naturally you will experience pain and frustration. You
may even become angry at God for seeming to abandon you.
God never abandons. God never punishes, or scolds or lectures or gives
dire warnings. God is Love. God and Love are everywhere, because there
is nothing else in the entire Universe.
Your pain comes from the choices you have made, not from God. God allowed
you to make the choice that resulted in your pain because God loves you
and would never take away your free will.
* * * * *
God is always, always available at your side, to give comfort and advice,
and to heal your pain if you ask for help.
Remember, "God" is just a human word, a name with the same meaning
as Love or Consciousness. There is nothing in the Universe that is not
God or Love or Consciousness. As long as you direct your prayer to some
element of the true Universe, and not toward illusion, your prayer will
reach God. You may pray to Christ or Buddha or Allah or the Virgin Mary
or Saint Patrick. You may pray to Vishnu or Hanuman or your family's household
gods at a small altar in the corner of your house. You may pray to the
stars or the moon or the Great Spirit. You may pray to your family ancestor
spirits or to your recently deceased grandmother. You may pray to a dog
or a flower or a speck of dust. God is big enough to hold all those. God
is not petty or jealous. Pray with love to something that is the embodiment
of love for you personally, and your prayer will reach God.
Consider the prayer, also. Isn't a prayer a loving message from you to
this one that you love? Prayers can be made in churches and temples, with
elaborate ritual and ceremony, or while kneeling beside one's bed, or
at the laundromat. Prayers can be words or pictures or a smile, a message
that expresses gratitude or shares feelings or makes a request.
The form of God and the structure of your prayer are not important, as
long as they are based on love. All messages of Love reach to the source
of Love, and Love answers all messages. Then, because Love grants you
freewill, you may choose whether or not to receive the reply.
* * * * *
There is no valor in embracing your pain and holding it close, as if it
was meant to be there. Likewise, there is not a single person in your
world who is "meant to be" suffering for any reason. Pain is
the natural consequence of a freewill choice -- in this lifetime or a
previous lifetime. Let it go and choose differently next time.
You ask, what about the pain of others? If their pain comes from their
own choices, then am I responsible for helping them ease their pain? No.
You are not responsible for taking care of anyone other than yourself.
But consider the situation carefully. If you see someone who is suffering,
and you know that you could help, but you choose not to, you are also
making a choice! Perhaps you will also experience pain as a natural consequence
of making this particular choice, if the choice was not based on love.
If you give $10 to a man begging on the street, be clear in your mind
that you are giving to help yourself feel good, because you love yourself,
not because you think you should, or because you feel sorry for the man,
or because you think that you are helping him. Give because it feels good
to be generous.
Now you may ask, is it ever appropriate not to say yes to a request for
help? Of course. In order to avoid pain, you need to make choices based
on love. Frequently the most loving response to a request for help is,
"I'm so sorry, but I don't have the strength or energy to help right
now. I'm going home to take a long hot bath and then go to bed early."
If you are truly tired, then this is not a self-ish response, this is
a self-love response. It is a loving choice.
The same principle applies to any opportunity to help, not only to a request
for help. If you know there is a community clean-up day at the local park
and you are planning to stay home and rest that day, your decision should
not be affected by a personal phone call requesting your help. If decide
to go after you have been phoned, why did you change your mind? Was it
because you felt too awkward or guilty to say no? Was it because you make
a policy out of never volunteering and always waiting to be asked? Or,
on the other hand, was it because you just learned that your best friend
would be there and you were even more inclined to spend the day with her
than to stay home to rest?
And now Emily is asking the question: How does one know when it is more
loving to help others than it is to take care of oneself? You will know
because of the way it feels inside, assuming that you have not forgotten
how to listen to your inner feelings.
Love never causes the one who loves any pain.
If you give love to another, in the form of time or attention or energy
or an object, and you feel even the smallest twinge of resentment or discomfort,
then you were not in fact giving love. You were perhaps meeting an obligation,
or allowing yourself to be pressured into something, or simply acting
without any awareness of where your resources were going.
If your action is not motivated by love, you will feel some level of pain
in the moment, and you will also experience pain later on, as a consequence
of making an unwise choice!
In a situation where you are obliged to give, as when it is time to pay
your taxes, can you see how important it is to gauge your inner response,
and make every effort to mail your check with joy?
Whenever you give, give with love. If you cannot give with love, make
every effort not to give, or to delay your giving until you can muster
up the joy to go with it.
Emily is wondering what I would say about a hypothetical selfish millionaire,
who made his fortune off cheap foreign labor, and now happily spends his
time in exclusive country clubs and his money on vacation homes and yachts.
First of all, I would like to gently suggest that this picture reflects
a common misconception in your world. Most rich people are not selfish
with their money. It is very difficult to become rich if one has a grasping
and hoarding attitude. And the ones who are selfish are rarely happy.
They may spend their fortunes on luxuries rather than giving those fortunes
to charities, but they are miserable. Luxuries cannot fill the emptiness
created by lack of love. Have compassion for these people. They have chosen
a hard road.
Anyone who is well-off (and this includes nearly everyone in the US and
other affluent nations) will find joy when they learn to make loving choices
about sharing their abundance. And as long as they pay their taxes with
groans and grumbling, and make charitable donations solely to give a certain
public impression or to satisfy pangs of guilt, they will feel a degree
of pain and misery.
Those who are not well-off and would like to increase their prosperity
would do well to examine their own attitude toward abundance. Do they
believe that abundance is being controlled by wealthy people or institutions
or governments, that the only way they can become abundant is to take
from the wealthy, by force or law, and hoard and protect every penny?
Do they believe in scarcity? That there is not enough for everyone? I
would again gently suggest that this attitude, more than any innate selfishness
on the part of those with wealth, blocks these people from finding abundance.
Their desire for wealth is not as strong as their desire to judge the
world as scarce and selfish - and since they can't have both, they are
given the one they want more.
Among some people who are seeking abundance, there is the tendency to
see money as "dirty," a sign that the wealthy person is not
on a creative or spiritual path. Many artists, poets, musicians, healers,
charity workers, etc., block their own prosperity with this judgment.
Subconsciously, they would rather be poor than judge themselves as materialistic
or superficial. And so they are! Their un-loving judgments about wealthy
people return to them as pain in their own lives.
* * * * *
There is no "reward" for living a life of self-sacrifice. A
person does not receive blessings in this life, a seat next to God in
heaven, or easy subsequent incarnations for putting himself last and treating
himself as unimportant. If he does not love himself and take care of himself,
he will suffer.
Now, many Souls choose lives of self-sacrifice as part of their education
-- in other words, to help themselves learn the value of self-love. We
in Spirit applaud the initiative these Souls have taken in designing their
education this way, and look forward to the time when they feel they can
learn in another way!
Have you ever watched, with tender compassion, a small puppy trying to
reach his favorite toy under the bed? He struggles and strains and finally
pauses breathless. But then it seems he is struck by an inspiration --
he realizes he could reach the toy easily from the other side of the bed.
In a moment he is playing with it again, a wonderful look of triumph on
his face. Would you deprive your beloved small friend his moment of triumph
by retrieving the toy for him before he had a chance to try to get it
himself? Would you scold him for trying to reach the toy from the near
side of the bed? Would you expect him to think of trying from another
side before he had tried a few times to reach it the most obvious way?
We think not. But you might start offering some encouragement if he seems
to be getting too frustrated, and maybe a few hints and clues to help
him realize how he could solve his problem. This is love.
Many people make unloving choices over and over, and receive pain over
and over, and take many, many lifetimes to hear the Divine hints and clues
all around them. But that is OK, they are never in any danger. They have
all the time in the Universe, and eventually they will be triumphant.
* * * * *
Some people's Souls choose pain itself as part of their education. Perhaps
they want to experience what the world is like when one is blind, or gain
first-hand knowledge about depression in order to be more empathetic toward
loved ones who have been depressed. If they have not made any choices
which would give them these kinds of pain as a natural consequence, they
may freely choose that pain directly.
Quite often Souls choose pain and suffering directly because they have
agreed to give others around them a chance to develop compassion. How
often through history have men looked at those who are suffering in a
very obvious and public way, with leprosy or AIDS for example, and declared
that these people are being "punished by God for their sins"
or are "paying off their karmic debts." It is much more likely
that these individuals are highly evolved Souls, who have agreed to lives
of public agony as a service to their fellow men! Are you making the most
of the opportunity they are giving you?
It is certainly possible to choose pain and suffering, and to make sacrifices
for others, out of pure love! A sacrifice made for others out of pure
love is a beautiful thing, and by very definition, it causes no real pain
to the one making the sacrifice. Do you think Christ suffered on the cross?
Not at all! He went willingly and joyfully to his death, because God had
shown him how his death would benefit the world.
* * * * *
One action truly motivated by love will make up for many actions where
love was lacking.
The harried housewife gives all week to her family, but she may not always
give with love. Her family may take her for granted and not offer much
assistance or appreciation. Inside, perhaps deeply buried where she can
barely feel it, she is resentful. In 20 years, her continued choice to
not act in the most loving way (in this case by noticing her resentment
and learning to love herself more), she may develop arthritis. But once
a month she makes arrangements to go out for dinner -- just her and her
two best girlfriends. They have a nice meal, with wine, and she comes
home late, very happy. She may not get the arthritis after all.
If she were to feel guilty about this act of self-love, however, she would
completely erase its benefit!
* * * * *
Thoughts are just as powerful as actions.
A negative, fearful, hateful, or judgmental thought will return to you
in the form of pain as effectively as any action that is not motivated
by love.
Consider the average family who spends the evening in front of the television.
Perhaps they watch the news, and feel angry toward a criminal who committed
a crime, depressed about the latest environmental disaster, and judgmental
toward a politician who had an affair. Then they watch a spy-thriller
movie. They cheer for the "good guy" and hiss at the villains
and shake with fright at all the suspenseful parts. You can not imagine
all the suffering that is poised to return to this unsuspecting family!
Of course, it is possible to watch uplifting shows on television, and
even to watch the news and movies from a detached point of view, without
getting caught up in all the negativity, but very few people choose to
do this.
Remember the power of love to cancel out the products of illusion! We
in Spirit suggest to you to fill your day with loving actions and your
mind with loving thoughts, to the highest degree that you are able.
Simply do the best you can. If you think negative, critical thoughts about
yourself for not doing as well as you think you should have -- well, you
have just made the situation worse!
Notice how much you like the music on the radio or the flowers in the
neighbor's front yard -- you are thinking a loving thought. Say a blessing
over your food, smile as you pass grandma's photo on the mantle piece.
When your boss has been particularly nasty, consider that perhaps he has
made some unloving choices in a past lifetime, and now he has chosen the
painful consequences, the poor man.... it must be hard to have such an
unpleasant disposition. Find some compassion for him if you can, or do
your best to think of something else.
Whenever you give, give with love, and this includes giving energy to
the world in the form of your thoughts! If you put your thought-energy
behind the idea that all politicians are crooks, you will directly contribute
to the manifestation of this idea (because thought creates form), and
also your non-loving and judgmental thought will carry pain back to you.
If you find it difficult to think the thought that all politicians are
dedicated and honest (which would be the best and most loving thought,
if not the most technically accurate), then try a thought like this: The
world being what it is, we do seem to have a lot of crooked politicians
around, which is regrettable, but surely not inevitable. Any day now there
is sure to be a major change in the situation....
In a Universe that is only Love, what is the point of having a pessimistic
outlook? Eventually, all illusion will dissolve and you and your world
will all return to One, so why delay your journey Home by creating more
illusion? Negative thinking creates your negative surroundings and keeps
you stuck there.
* * * * *
Love is much more powerful than truth!
If you look carefully at a loaf of bread, and you think that it is enough
to feed four people, then you are probably right. Your thinking that it
would feed four, and the collective thoughts of thousands or millions
of rational people that such a loaf would feed four, all come together
to manifest a loaf of bread that would feed four. In this case, your thinking
and the thinking of the general population are fairly automatic and based
on your past thinking and experiences.
But imagine you are Christ. You have one loaf of bread, and 100 dearly
beloved friends to whom you wish to feed the bread. Look carefully at
the loaf of bread, and direct a loving thought toward it -- a thought
that contains no doubt or fear, a thought which is stronger than all the
other thoughts that say it will just feed four. "You, my fine little
loaf of bread, can feed 100 people easily, with some leftover." Your
thought -- your gift of love to the Universe -- will be more powerful
than the "truth" that one loaf of bread can't feed 100 people.
We in Spirit invite you to use your love to change the world, literally!
If it is too much of a stretch for you to imagine, without any doubts,
that your loaf will feed 100 -- then begin by imagining that it will feed
five. Anything is possible, with love, if you believe that it is.
* * * * *
When you give love, give the deepest, strongest, purest type of love you
can imagine.
Do you remember the way love felt the first time you fell in love, in
high school or college? Your beloved smiled at you, and suddenly the day
was perfect, life was perfect, everything in the whole world was perfect.
Your landlady came to complain you hadn't mowed the grass, and you greeted
her warmly and set to mowing with a song in your heart. A policeman pulled
you over because one headlight wasn't working, and you felt nothing but
love, for the policeman, the old car, your parents who had refused to
lend you the money to get it fixed.... All you felt was love. There was
no room for anything else. Love was intoxicating! That is the best and
purest form of love.
The best and purest love rips you apart
tears the world limb from limb
until all illusion is reduced to dust
and you stand alone before God on a barren plain
without a trace of fear
and say, I know you.
I know love.
Unfortunately, this kind of love doesn't last very long on Earth, in general.
It tends to get mixed up and adulterated with hormones and possessiveness
and control and chores and mortgage payments. Here in the Spirit world,
that is the kind of love we experience almost constantly. We are madly,
madly in love with each other and with every single object (and consciousness)
from atoms to stars. We study, we work, we play, we rest, all with a song
in our hearts. Life is grand! Everything in the whole Universe is perfect!
We are in love! We are love! We are conscious, we are Divine, we are part
of God (there is nothing else) and we'd like to share everything with
you.
With love, your friend W.
Interlude 1
It is November 2005. I haven't read through this book at all in several
years. Mostly when I open it up to a random page and read a few paragraphs,
I end up rolling my eyes, closing the book, and stuffing it back in the
drawer. I've thought about just throwing it away. But I spent so much
time writing this book, and the process was so important in my own life,
it seems a pity not to do something with it. So now I'm trying my best
to dust it off and make it "fit." Ideally, I would like it to
fit the "new me" and also fit today's potential readers. But
how do I manage that?
"Fitting" is a touchy subject for me right now. I moved to the
Netherlands in 2003 to be with someone I love very much. I am working
hard to learn the language and the customs here. But despite my best efforts,
I don't fit. In fact, I don't think I'll ever fit, and the more I try
to fit the more trouble I seem to have. I'm beginning to think that it
makes more sense for me to look for happiness in the Netherlands as a
misfit. As long as I respect and try to understand other people, I don't
have to become just like them, right? Maybe they will respect me and want
to understand my point of view, or maybe not. In any case, I think it
is time for me to take the first step, and respect the "old me"
who wrote this book, and try to understand her.
Who was the old me? She was certainly someone with a hundred thousand
questions and no good answers - or at least no answers that she found
completely satisfying. Like a woman with 100 dresses in her closet and
nothing to wear to dinner, she read a lot of books and tried on a lot
of different ideas, but couldn't find exactly the right thing. The old
Emily was searching for spiritual meaning, and she knew that she should
avoid becoming too attached to any particular outcome, and also that she
should avoid becoming too identified with the "seeker" if she
wanted one day to become a "finder." She should find the truth
within, and feel it to be true in her heart, and not simply believe it
to be true in her mind. And if it was hard to find it, then she should
create it, using the power of her own thoughts and beliefs. There were
a lot of "should's," including some very wise advice in one
book which encouraged the reader to slay the dragon "thou shalt."
The old Emily got overwhelmed, broke down from the stress of it all, and
ended up with terrible chronic headaches.
Now I look back and see that I really made it so complicated for myself.
Why did I have so many questions? Most of the answers were not important.
Part of me wants to say to the reader now: close this book. Go outside,
pick up a leaf, and BE with it. Then you will have all the spiritual meaning
there is. This book, if it prevents you from BEing with a leaf RIGHT NOW,
is nothing more than an obstacle on your path.
Yet, at the time I wrote this book, I had no idea myself how to BE with
a leaf. I think I needed to ask all my questions and get all my answers
before I could go on. Having a structure, with Spirit Guides and karmic
laws and lots of organized details, gave me a measure of inner stability.
If someone were to ask me now, do I believe that I actually channeled
this book from Spirit Beings, my answer would be, why does it matter?
The experience I had and still have is consistent with that explanation,
but maybe there are other explanations that are just as good or better.
The point is, I can BE a leaf now - and what a tremendous thing that is!
And I can BE a Spirit Guide named "W", and in the next chapter
a Chamomile deva, and that is tremendous also! "Real" or "imagined,"
the world as I experience it is a tremendous place. That is worth sharing,
I think.
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