- And ultimately, if
there is a true message, that includes angels or angelic presences, it always boils down to,
find out who you truly are, find your connectedness
with the source of all life. (bell chimes) Well, some people seem to have contact with different entities that
are not physically embodied, and there's no doubt that there are entities that
are not physically embodied. There are lots of guides, those entities, who are also pretending
to be somebody else. And the main criterion is what is the quality of the information that you are getting, rather than trying to figure
out who they really are. And this also applies
to so-called channeling. This is still quite popular, I suppose, in some places more than in others. In the States, there's
a town called Sedona which is a new age kind of,
in Arizona, a new age town, where it seems every other inhabitant channels some kind of spirit guide. So I have seen many channeled writings, and a large percentage of them seems not all that relevant to anything. Small percentage, yes,
there's something there. A prominent example is
"A Course in Miracles," which is not for everybody, but it is a high quality text, scripture, whatever you want to call it. And that was definitely channeled because the person who wrote it had an inner dictation and she wrote down what she heard. She did not fully understand what the dictation was saying and she couldn't live it, the teaching. And yet the book was produced. You may have heard the
saying, as far as deceased, some people think at the
moment they're deceased, they know everything, but there's a saying that goes, "Just because they are dead,
doesn't mean they are smart." (audience laughing) So whether you do channeling, or you go to somebody who does channeling, who goes... the eyes usually close, and they go, "This is
so-and-so talking to you." (audience laughing) And whether or not it's genuine, listen to the quality of the teaching, if it is a teaching, the words. Is it just, is it fictitious? Could it be information
that you have to believe in and they could say anything? And does it make any
difference to your life whether or not what they
say is right or wrong? Perhaps they're talking about life on those distant planets
and what happens there. It could be a science fiction novel as far as you are concerned, but some people are so impressed by the fact that these are
channeling and they go, "Okay, and then what
happens on those planets?" Or they identify themselves
as entities from outer space. Who knows, Ashtar? "My name is Ashtar, commander
of the galactic fleet. (audience laughing) "And I have come here to guide you." Okay. So what do you have to say? And ultimately, if there's a true message, this include angels or angelic presences, it always boils down to, "Find out who you truly are. "Find your connectedness
with the source of all life. "All true answers will
come from within you, "and whatever I say, verify
it in your own experience. "Don't believe me. "If you cannot verify it
in your own experience, "then it's not relevant." This is what the true guide would say. So the great scriptures of the world, they're not the authors. Some are anonymous. There's a difference between spirit guide and teaching that comes
from a deep connectedness of the teacher with a source. In that case, the teacher does not feel that it comes from an entity, but it comes from the source. And if an entity gives you information, where do they get that from? From the one consciousness. So it may well be that
this entity's more closer and more deeply connected
to that one consciousness, but they're not separate consciousnesses. There's only one consciousness. And every guide, the one consciousness can
only speak through any guide, no matter who it is, whether it's an angel,
or a deceased person, or Ashtar, commander
of the galactic fleet, there's only one consciousness
that can speak through them. And the essence of their
message needs to be, if it is to be true, find out who you are in your essence and then begin to live from
the essence of who you are. So use your own insight and I believe you will be able to tell whether what they say is helpful or not. At the moment, I can only
think of "A Course in Miracles" that's of a high, high quality. There was a time when there
was Seth, the writings of Seth, a woman channeled an anti-god, Seth. Some of that is interesting and has some helpful things there. It doesn't necessarily
go to the deepest level. Nevertheless, there's some
useful information there but not at the deepest level. When I speak, I don't feel
that some other entity speaks through me, but I do realize that this is not the person speaking. This is consciousness using
the mind, this person's mind, as a vehicle, and consciousness
speaks through me. In that sense, what I
say is also channeled. Also I don't know what
I'm going to say next. And most of the time I don't
know, even before a talk, what words are going to
come out of my mouth. And that connectedness is important. That is the connectedness with the source, with being, with stillness, with presence, whatever you want to call it. And that you have that
available to you also. You might not give public talks, or you might at some point,
and some of you already do, but in whatever area you are active in, to be connected to the
source will empower you in whatever area you are active in and will make your work
much more helpful to others and more empowered. You become more inspired and you become an inspiration for others. Even if you are just a... sell tickets, cinema tickets, or whatever, it doesn't matter. Everything becomes transformed through your connectedness with source. But to have that, the vital thing is to be able to access
the space of no thought. And another way of calling
that space of no thought, which I sometimes express by, because it's an inner space, thinking, thinking,
thinking, you remember? And then you go: (shushing) Present. That's the space of no thought. So in order to have the
connectedness with source you need to open up that
space of no thought. Alertness, relaxed alertness, it seems almost paradoxical, but they go together, relaxed alertness. And you could also call that becoming comfortable with not knowing because otherwise your mind
always thinks it knows already. So when you are trying to help somebody, somebody has a problem, often people will immediately
try to say something helpful. They think hard. "Okay, what can I say to this person "who is suffering so much? "I need to say something helpful." And you search in your mind. And usually it's not that great. And it's not well received by the person. And it's not that helpful. They might say, "Okay, thanks." (audience laughing) But they feel it doesn't come from any deep place within yourself. Although your intentions are good. You're trying hard to
say something helpful. But to be really helpful, you need to become comfortable
with not knowing anything. Because the space of no thought is you don't know anything
in the space of no thought, at least not conceptually. The miracle is that in
the space of no thought you access the source of all knowledge, but it hasn't reached concepts yet. It's potential. It's the potential of all
knowledge, the primary source. So many people are actually
afraid of going there because they're afraid of not knowing. And so they need to keep thinking. So if you can, somebody comes to you, let's assume you have practiced already beforehand not
knowing, for example, by not labeling compulsively
everything around you, but actually be present with a tree, with the sky, with another person. Or another way of putting it, you almost disappear as a person in that state of no thought because in no thought, who are you? You're simply a presence. You're not a particular person anymore. So it's a voluntary
kind of disappearing act where you as the personal
entity disappear. And there's just a space of consciousness where you were before. This sometimes happens to
people who suffer greatly. They suffer so much that their ego gets destroyed and eroded and what's left is just a presence. This could happen to you, but probably won't need to happen because you're already
voluntarily going there, so life doesn't need to push you into it. So to become comfortable with not knowing. Let's say a person comes to you, is in suffering again, or is close to death, or somebody has just died, or they have just lost
everything, or whatever it may be. Of course it could be pseudosuffering too. It could just be suffering
totally created by their mind. No actual situation, just
totally mind created. In which case I naturally always have a little smile on my face. I'm not laughing at them. I'm just smiling 'cause I
realize it's a delusion. But let's assume it's real suffering. Somebody has just died,
or is approaching death, or has an illness. And then instead of figuring
out, what can I say? You just go still and you just listen. And it may be that no words come. But an energy, you contributed an energy to that situation that is
helpful, that is healing. Some healing comes, the deepest healing really
comes in that way too, when you access that, it's not always words that
come out of that space. Sometimes a wordless emanation
comes out of that space, which some people might call healing, and healing is not necessarily healing of a physical symptom. There's a deeper level of healing that helps that other person to connect with the deepest
source within themselves. And that's really the true, the ultimate and true healing. So, when I was, many years ago, I was, many, many years ago, I was beginning to work with people who came to me for advice
and counseling and so on. And I was always naturally
becoming very still. And it all came out of that. I never knew the answer beforehand. Just get still and listen. "Oh." And I may have told this story before, that for a while I thought I was a healer, 'cause that was early on after
my shift in consciousness when I didn't understand much. So I was sitting with a woman who had been a Catholic nun for 15 years and then left the order because
she hadn't found God yet. And she came to me. And I was sitting in that
state of not knowing, but being comfortable with not knowing, not being uncomfortable with not knowing, because that's not pleasant, and then it gets blocked immediately. And she said she could feel the energy suddenly that was flowing and she said, "Oh, you are doing
healing. You are a healer!" I said, "Oh. (audience laughing) "That's what I am." And I thought, "So that's
what this energy is." And then for a couple of years, the word must have spread. People called me a healer. And some people came for physical healing. And some people had a pain there, and the foot was hurting,
and "Can you heal my foot?" "Well, I don't know." And then I realized after two years, most people who then came were just interested in getting
rid of certain symptoms. They were not interested
in a deeper healing. So I made an announcement that
says, "I am not a healer." (audience laughing) (water rushing)
Emanations from Source