Conversations with Other Lives

Do you ever wish you could give your younger yourself some advice? Maybe you went through a rough period in your life and looking back now you wish you could pick up the phone and call your younger self with some words of wisdom gained from hindsight that could have made your life easier. That's the process I attempted this morning by trying to access a former lifetime.

I sat at my keyboard and invited a conversation with whichever of my other selves wanted to come through. Contact came almost immediately and we conversed for approximately 20 minutes. The results were somewhat mixed, but certainly worth sharing.

Below is a transcript of the conversation. The style is similar to that which my friend Frank DeMarco uses (see The Challenge of Our Times), but you may notice some other similarities as well. For instance, the first name I get is Bertram, which is the name of one of Frank's contacts. Similarly the contact is from 13th century Britain, while Frank's Bertram is from medieval England as well. I think that is suspect and it is discussed below. Nonetheless, some fresh messages come through and for me they resonate with a certain sense of truth and accuracy. So here's the conversation.

Welcome. My name is Matthew. I live in the 21^st century in Colorado, USA. Who am I speaking with?

I am Bertram. I am a monk from the British Isles in the 13^th century.

Any relation to Frank's Bertram that I was reading about last night?

We were contemporaries.

So how is that we're speaking?

You drew me to you by your intention for conversation. I answered your invitation.

Well thank you for doing so. What types of similarities bring us together at this time?

You are on a spiritual quest to help others in your time find their own personal connection with the Divine. This was a mission in my lifetime, just as it has been countless other lifetimes that you/I/we have had.

I'm thinking of that life in China where we did astral travel. The life as Li Chien.

Yes. That was one lifetime that has been brought to current conscious awareness. There are many others as well. Part of the path that we are seeking in our soul maturity is to serve as teacher or guide to help others discover their own Divinity, and we have walked this path in many lifetimes and in many life circumstances, learning different ways to explore spirit and teach others about it. Yours is the first lifetime to do so with a modern American entrepreneurial spirit, and certainly the first to have a host of virtual technologies at your disposal for connecting with people whom you do not need to meet with personally. This is an interesting experiment. But we have tried before in many other ways.

Can you tell me about some?

I can. I shall tell you about my own life. I was a monk who wandered from monastery to monastery. I worked within the Catholic order but I was never particularly enamored of the politics and rules of the Church. I was a bit of maverick in my day, always asking questions of those in authority and pressing when the answers I sought were not forthcoming. I was not a trouble maker. I worked hard but I made the church leaders uncomfortable because I was always striving to help the common people to better understand the nature of God.

This is fascinating, but it sounds a lot like Frank's transmissions. How much of this is my difficulty in filtering?

We can discuss that if you wish but it will cut off the flow of the storytelling. I'd rather tell you my story of my lifetime as it relates to you and then we or you can sort out the filtering issues later. Is that OK with you?

I suppose so, yes. Please continue.

I was a man who preferred to wander among the people, talking with them and helping them to find God. This went against many of the precepts of the Church which sought to keep us relatively isolated and in a state of contemplation. I always sought jobs that would take me into the villages or on errands in which I could travel on missions to distant locations. I think this worked out well since my superiors were glad to have me gone. In fact, I often would be gone for weeks or months at a time.

I was based in Glastonbury. That is an overlay from Frank, but it will suffice for now. I know you do know much about the 13^th century and less about Britain in that time period. That is fine. That will help you to understand that what I tell you comes from me and not from your subconscious. Although it actually does come from your subconscious because that is the place from which springs our awareness of our connections with Source energy and hence with the larger portion of who we truly are.

Back to my story. On a winter day I was sent on a mission to a monastery in the north of England called the Isle of Wright. [Note: Near as I can tell there is no Isle of Wright-or any other phonetic spelling that is similar. The Isle of Wight (with no "r") is on the south coast of England. Perhaps I heard it wrong.] There I was to deliver some very important papers about the Church's acquisition of some new property for a new monastery. On the way there we, my traveling companions and I, encountered a very bad storm and we took shelter from it beneath a cliff face. We built a fire, but it was a bad place to be with little protection from the elements. We huddled around our meager fire and did our best to defend it against the raging wind and driving snow.

After a time the storm died down and the fire had a good coal base that helped to ensure its longevity. I began to doze off in front of the flames. In my half state of awareness I stared into the fire and saw it not as a release of energy from the wood we burned as fuel, but as a metaphor for my own inner fire. And then I realized that is was no metaphor at all. The spirit that moved me was the same as the flame. The spirit that moved me was alive with an inner fire. I was that inner spirit, but it was hidden from the world by my body just as the flame within the wood was hidden within the branches not yet thrown onto the fire. I realized that it took the action of the fire to release the flame and heat and light within the wood. And so too it took the Church to release the flame and light and heat within the human body. The Church was the fireplace. Christ was the spark. We [humans] were the unrealized energy within the fuel. That was our true nature.

This was a true epiphany for me. And although I describe it in words to you, it was not merely an exercise in logical or creative thinking. It was an experience. It was a direct experience of my own self as the flame and a sense of definite knowing that that flame burned within everyone. That was the moment of awakening within my lifetime, just as you have had your moment of awakening in this lifetime.

We have awakened in many times so your awakening is not unique in that regard. But it is special in that many others never awaken. That is what you are here to help with. And that is why I have made myself available to you.

If you are interested, in the times ahead you can call on me for advice and guidance on how to go about facilitating the experiences for others to learn how to do the same. My methods were appropriate in my day and they will be different in your time, but the fundamental aspects of the experience of discovering our inner light are the same in every time period. I look forward to exploring that with you.

We have a stronger connection now. Can we take just a moment and go back to who you are? I think the Bertram from Glastonbury is an overlay.

You are correct it is. But I do come Britain and I was a wandering religious teacher. Your mind sought out the most readily available information and reached for Frank's information since you had just read it. This is a frequent danger with this type of communication until you learn how to strengthen and clarify the connection. However, it also serves a useful purpose since it was likely Frank's messages that helped you open to the possibility of this conversation and to make yourself aware of my presence. So do not despair about the erroneous overlay of the name Bertram, since that was what brought us together.

Thanks for that. So can you tell me your real name?

We'll get to that. For today let's leave off here.

As you wish. Thanks for joining me today.

My pleasure. It required only your invitation. Call again and we can continue this conversation.

End of conversation

This conversation was certainly intriguing. Some of the material is questionable and is probably contaminated by information in my mind at the time, but it came through quickly and clearly just like I was speaking on the phone. There was a definite personality behind the voice and I heard very little hesitation in bringing it through. There was definitely not enough time between words for me to be making up the next word let alone the entire message.

In my own experience and from what I've learned reading Frank DeMarco's comparable conversations, the artifacts and mistakes that appear tend to be caused by an ability to bring the information in clearly, rather than by the personality on the other end deliberately distorting information. I trust that if I pursue similar conversations our connection will strengthen and grow clearer over time.

And pursue it I shall. I welcome advice and guidance from a wide variety of sources. A wise man seeks counsel in diverse sources, but ultimately makes his own decisions.

As always your thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Comments

[Marilyn Traver]

This is great Matthew. I would love to be able to do this too. I once asked Frank if he thought I could and he said anyone can and referred me to certain pages in "Muddy Tracks". So I think I'll be giving it an earnest try.