Читать книгу Guided By Angels: Part 3 of 3: There Are No Goodbyes, My Tour of the Spirit World - Paddy McMahon - Страница 5

Now that Margaret Anna has provided extensive illustration of what life is like in spirit, I feel that it’s a timely opportunity for me to explore further the whole area of communication with guides. Much of this has been conveyed to me by my spirit guides, and through my own experience over many years of working with them in my own life, in individual consultations with people and in running workshops. I cannot, however, fully discuss the role that guides play in our lives without considering where ‘free will’ fits into the equation.

By the way, in what I’m writing I hope I don’t sound dogmatic. It would be tedious if I had to preface everything with statements such as ‘my understanding is’, or words to that effect, so I’m going to use a direct style. You will realise by now that when I make statements about life in spirit they come from information I have been given by my guides.

All souls have free will, and can choose whether they wish to incarnate or reincarnate in physical bodies. As we are all part of God/unconditional love, there can be no conditions attached to how we use our free will. (There are, of course, ultimately self-imposed consequences, as Margaret Anna has illustrated in the stories about Johann and Alfredo.) It’s open to us to choose whether we want guides to help us during our lives on earth. Those guides are evolved souls who are familiar with conditions on earth and who have already learned the lessons it has to offer.

As I thought about it, it seemed perfectly natural and logical that it should be so. In the physical world the vast majority of people are willing to help each other when they’re aware of a need to do so. I know that’s not the impression we may get from reading newspapers, or listening to radio or television news items. Stories about man’s inhumanity to man are, perhaps understandably, perceived to be more newsworthy than those depicting tolerance and love. It’s the former that come to our attention most frequently – and persistently. That has its own merits, in that cruelties, etc., are highlighted; however, it presents an unbalanced view, in a negatively slanted way, of how things are.

Certainly, in my now lengthy experience, I have rarely met an unkind or unhelpful person. As an aside, I considered making an exception of a teacher in a primary school that I had to attend for a couple of years when I was about six or seven years old. She used the leg of a chair to inflict punishment. Even when I knew the answers I was unable to verbalise them; apart from my nervousness, I knew from experience that being right was no guarantee of escaping her wrath. A sure sign of what was to come was when her false teeth began to clack and the top teeth dropped onto the bottom ones. However, in the mellowness of my advanced years, I can say that outside of school she was regarded as a hearty, friendly person, and she probably saw herself as having the best interests of her pupils at heart. So I won’t make an exception of her, tempting as it is!

Things have changed considerably, even in the space of my lifetime. For example, the approach to teaching personified by the chair-woman would now be inconceivable. As people grow in awareness they automatically want to make the world a better and happier place for everybody. If that happens within the restrictive framework of the physical world, it surely stands to reason that as souls move into higher vibrations they are even more inclined to help those of us who are still struggling with the human dimension.

Getting to know the guides

When I began to ask my guides for help, at the outset of my communication with them, I was concerned that I’d be letting myself in for a lot of pain and suffering. I had no doubt that they would always operate in my best spiritual interests, but my childhood and adolescent experiences had cemented in me the belief that there could be no spiritual growth without suffering. With the ‘way of the cross’ weighing heavily on my mind, it took me quite some time before I could accept that planet earth was never intended to be a vale of tears – and that life on it could, ideally, and in accordance with my higher spiritual purpose, be experienced as a joyful adventure rather than a painful one. Asking my guides for help brought with it an assurance that I would be nudged along paths that would be rosy rather than thorny or that, even if the thorns couldn’t be completely removed, their sharpness would be dulled.

In the early stages of my adult consciousness of guides, such as Margaret Anna, I wanted to know all about them. That was also true of people I met. We’re so used to placing everything in boxes and labelling them that it was understandable that we’d want to do the same with our guides. I expected to have the type of communication we have here on earth, with questions fully answered in a straightforward manner, when I asked them. I expected to learn intimate details about my guides that would fit in with my own experience of people.

The reality could not have been more different. Sometimes I’d get some information – such as a name or names – but more usually what I got was doled out in a meagre sort of way. Eventually I came to realise that our guides were – and are – seeking to help us grow out of confined, literal, black-and-white patterns of thinking. When I obsessively tried to personalise my guides, I wanted to bring them down to my level in a literal way. They were, however, seeking to help me to raise myself to their level and, in the process, to see myself in a much more expansive way than I had been used to. The ironic thing was that, once I understood that, the labels weren’t important and so became more readily available.

During one of his meditations, a man named Donald was given the name ‘Beelezebub’ as that of one of his guides. To say that he was taken aback would be a major understatement! His understanding of the name was that it belonged to the Prince of Devils – Satan himself, the ultimate personification of evil. Did that mean that he himself was irretrievably caught in the grip of darkness? Yet the only feeling coming to him from the guide was one of great love. When he accepted that Beelezebub was only a name – in fact, a rather nice-sounding one – and that he was being guided not to take up positions on the basis of his conditioning and absolutist tendencies, he had no difficulty. He even learned to play with the name, when he wanted to – and call the guide ‘Beeleze’ or ‘Bub’. Guides don’t mind what they’re called.

That story brings up a commonly asked question. How can we be sure that it is our guide or guides communicating with us, and not some less-evolved or mischievous spirit? Shebaka had a good answer to that question.

He said, ‘If you make a conscious decision to ask your guides for help, they will see to it that no other spirit can communicate with you without invitation on your part. Remember that you make the decision. If you don’t ask for their help, the guides cannot impose themselves on you. That’s the nature of love; it never seeks to possess or impose. There’s no limit to the amount of help available to you; if there is a limit, it will have been set by you.’

In that context, I think it’s good to remind ourselves that when it comes to material problems, such as difficulties with plumbing, electrical gadgets, cars, computers and so on, we have no hesitation about asking for help from those whom we regard as experts in their particular fields. It’s surely obvious that the same thing applies in asking for help from the experts in spirit. I doubt if few of us could say that we don’t need it.

Working with groups

When I did individual ‘readings’ I needed to get direct information and to trust that whatever I received was in the best interests of the people concerned. Apart from one case, which I described earlier (about the imminent death of a woman’s mother) I don’t remember ever getting information that I would be hesitant about passing on. I stopped doing individual sessions after about eighteeen years, as I wanted to devote more time to working with groups and to writing. Apart from the fact that I no longer had the energy to cope with the insatiable demand for individual consultations, I believed that in the long run it would be far more helpful for people to find ways of getting their own answers rather than coming to someone like me for them.

In the group situations we attempted to find the style of communication that suited each person. For example, we considered how impressions normally came to each individual in the group. Questions like these were relevant: Do you tend to get visual images easily? Do you operate more on a feeling level? Are you comfortable with ideas? Do you understand things better when you write them down? Do you find that you just know things at times without having to go through a logical process to work them out? The answers to questions such as those showed how the participants’ guides would tend to develop communication with them through their particular styles.

I mentioned earlier that the three most important elements involved in achieving direct communication with guides were relaxation, patience and trust. Of the three, I regarded relaxation as being the most difficult. Any form of anxiety, for example ‘trying too hard’, creates a blockage.

Suppose you have a problem, or a decision to make. You decide that you’re going to ask your guides a direct question about it. You sit as comfortably as you can. You have arranged to have no interruptions, and then you ask your question. You find, though, that random thoughts keep intruding. What about this, that or the other? Did I forget to do something that I should have done? What time is it? Should I have collected my son from school? What should I have for dinner? The list goes on.

How do you stop that from happening? It’s very difficult to control our thoughts by consciously trying to do so. Instead of trying to brush them aside, try observing each thought as it impinges on your consciousness. Hold it steady, without reacting to it in any way – even if the thought itself is disagreeable. After a little while it will fade away. Repeat the process for other thoughts as you become aware of them. Soon you will find that the thoughts are no longer crowding in on you, and that your mind will grow still. Then you’re in a better position to ask your question.

A colleague in my first work assignment had a stock phrase that he occasionally trotted out: ‘Resist not evil, says St Paul.’ It stayed in my mind because it struck me as incongruous that St Paul could have said something that seemed to be incompatible with Christian teaching. (I seem to remember I found, when I looked it up, that the statement was attributed to Jesus, rather than Paul.) With the passage of time, and in my more awakened state, I realised that what was meant was that resistance always reinforces; by fighting against something – such as an emotion like fear – we feed it and strengthen it. When we take up fixed positions on right and wrong, good or bad, we get lost in a tangle of wasted energy and our minds can’t reach the stillness they crave.

So the relaxation bit works, your mind is still and you’ve asked your question. Now be patient and see what answer comes to you. It will probably appear in a form that best suits your style. Trust it, if you can, and see what happens.

In my workshops we usually found that looking at the participants’ auras individually was interesting and informative. I simply asked one participant at a time to sit against a white or brightly coloured wall; the rest of us looked in as relaxed a way as we could at his or her forehead and then let our eyes drift around the body.

Nearly everybody in my groups was successful at seeing auras – if not immediately, then at some point during each course. Most were able to see colours; others could only see white light around the person under scrutiny. It was exciting when people saw shapes of light moving around the person. Usually, spirit guides show themselves in that way. We did lots of experiments in communication; for example, we accessed past lives and got information that was usually very relevant to the present lives of the people concerned. Most of the participants gained confidence in their own styles of communication. We had great fun, too!

Given that guides cannot be present physically, communication has to be arranged rather like a telephone conversation – but minus the sound. When somebody contacts you by telephone, you’re aware of the caller before you can hear a voice and you don’t have to pinch yourself and ask: ‘Is it my imagination playing tricks on me?’ Before you lift the telephone you get a signal – the ringing tone – and you know that there’s somebody at the other end of the line. Similarly, you can arrange to have a signalling system with a guide or guides that will be your way of satisfying yourself that you are having authentic communication. If you want to have a chat with a guide, you could ask the guide for a signal that you can continue to use as a lead in to your communication. The signal could be a visual image, a shivery or a tingly feeling, a word, an impression of being touched, or perhaps a feeling of an inflow of energy or being gently rocked. The main thing is that it should be an easy signal that would also be unmistakable.

Nudges from our guides

A question that has been frequently asked during discussions in which I have been involved is how to distinguish between ‘imagination’ and communication from guides. I have to admit that this is a question with which I have struggled myself. I find that the more relaxed and non-judgemental I am – without allowing wishful thinking to influence me – the less I’m prey to doubts about whether my guides are getting through to me or not.

I always like to get signs or ‘auguries’ that the lines of communication with my guides are working. Sometimes I ask for them just for the fun of it; at other times they come unexpectedly. The following is an example.

Some years ago I needed to rearrange an appointment with a man named Mike. I called the number I had for him, and when a male voice answered I asked if he was Mike.

The voice said, ‘Yes.’

When I began to explain what I wanted, he interrupted me to say that he wasn’t the man I was looking for. Remarkably, though, his name was also Mike. Strangely, too, this ‘Mike’ had been thinking of ringing me. He didn’t know the other Mike and, of course, his telephone number was different. How I got through to him was a mystery.

Following our conversation, he participated in a course I was running, one morning a week over a period of eleven weeks. On the last morning of the course he told us that he had been notified the previous week that he would be needed as a witness in a court case that was due to be held on the morning of our meeting. He said to his guides that they would have to make sure that he wouldn’t miss the last part of the course. He informed the legal people that he had a prior engagement that he couldn’t cancel, and that they could contact him on his mobile telephone when he was due to be called to the witness stand. Shortly before we finished he got a call to say that the case had been settled and he wasn’t needed.

I don’t know what combination of circumstances led to the settlement but, presumably, it was the best solution for both parties. In any event, Mike’s guides came up trumps not only for Mike – but also for the rest of us in the group, who benefited very much from his presence.

In the following story, I hadn’t asked for a sign but it came anyway.

Before I got round to being able, after a fashion, to use a computer, I had a very accommodating typewriter that allowed me to type laboriously on it with one finger. The day after I had typed some comments about guardian angels, I went out to have photocopies made. On my way back I remembered that I wanted to buy something. I was drawn to go into a particular shop. A pleasant, serious-looking woman took my order. As she was handing me the item, her whole countenance lit up with a beautiful smile and she said: ‘There you are, angel.’

Perhaps having noticed my somewhat mystified expression as I thanked and paid her, she explained: ‘I heard you speak.’

That was all. She went back to what she had been doing before serving me, and I left the shop. I think I was too awed – not so much by the incident itself (although the woman had given me a lovely gift for which I was very grateful) but by its timing – to ask her for elaboration.

On the face of it, that was only a minor, passing happening; but, to me, it was a wonderful affirmation of how angels reveal themselves to us and encourage us, if we’re open-minded enough to allow them to do so.

Once again, however, revelations don’t always come directly; for example, they often happen through other people, through hearing a song or a piece of music, or reading something. Our guides are infinitely ingenious in finding ways to communicate with us, even if we are totally unconscious of them. When they communicate, the primary consideration for guides is to help people raise their levels of awareness, so it’s always important to remember that answers may not come in a literal way. This story may help to illustrate that point.

A woman named Antoinette telephoned me on a Friday evening to say that she was due to be married in two weeks. The invitations had gone out and all arrangements had been made. However, her fiancé had just told her that he couldn’t go ahead with the marriage. She was devastated. She was due to go away for the weekend with friends, but she couldn’t face that now. She asked me if I could consult my guides and ask them to talk to her fiancé’s guides, in order to change his mind.

I couldn’t agree to ask that of my guides – which would be an interference with free will – but she wasn’t in any mood for philosophical arguments. I asked for guidance and I told her that the message I was getting was that the whole situation would be sorted out by the following Monday.

She called me again on Monday evening. After talking with me on Friday, she had assumed that her fiancé would contact her on Monday to say that he had suffered a temporary aberration and now couldn’t wait to be married to her. She was delighted by the prospect, and happily went off on her weekend, which she thoroughly enjoyed. But when she got back her fiancé informed her that, far from changing his mind, he was even more firmly entrenched in his decision not to marry her. So, she wanted to know, what was I, or my guides, or both, up to in assuring her that the situation would be sorted out by Monday?