by Paul Elder
Copyright © 2005
by Paul Elder
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work in any form whatsoever, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for brief passages in connection with a review.
Cover design by Marjoram Productions
Cover digital imagery: eye © 2004 PictureQuest/Image Ideas; angel © 2004 Jonathan Friedman. All rights reserved
Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.
Charlottesville, VA 22902
www.hrpub.com
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2004028314
ISBN 978-1-57174-429-6
Printed in the United States of America
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Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Eyes of an Angel—“Windows to Your Soul”
1: The Awakening
2: Where Was God?
3: Search for Truth
4: Expanding Horizons
5: To Die Again
6: Guidance
7: We Are Not Alone
8: The Ultimate Mission
9: Spiritual Connections
10: Exploration
11: Our Journey Together
12: Removing Walls
13: Healing Hearts
14: The Reading
15: Affirmation
Poem: Eyes of an Angel
About the Author
Acknowledgments
There are many people who have contributed to the completion of this book to whom I am eternally grateful. To Robert Friedman, Frank DeMarco, Ginna Colburn, and the entire staff at Hampton Roads Publishing Company, I offer my sincerest appreciation. Sarah, Richard, Grace and all the rest—thank you for your dedication to excellence.
To an extraordinary agent and friend, Bill Gladstone of Waterside Productions in California, thank you for your enthusiasm and faith.
To my friend and colleague, Skip Atwater, author, former Operations Officer for U.S. Army Intelligence “Project Star Gate,” and current Research Director at The Monroe Institute, I offer my heartfelt gratitude and admiration.
To Dale Graff, author and former civilian director of “Project Star Gate,” thank you for your friendship and tutoring.
To my friend, Will Murray, prolific author and extraordinary writer, thank you so much for your assistance, advice and tutoring. I am forever grateful for your guidance and friendship.
To Laurie Monroe, Darlene Miller, and all my fellow facilitators and friends at The Monroe Institute, in Virginia, thank you for your years of friendship and support.
To Paul Bernstein, editor of the International Association for Near Death Studies magazine, Vital Signs, thank you for your encouragement. To the people of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada: thank you for your trust and faith over these many years.
To my friends, Steve Garrison, Ron Reinhart, and my sister, Josie McGuire. Thank you for spending so much of your time reviewing my manuscripts, providing valuable feedback, and keeping me on track. And to the rest of my brothers and sisters, Dale, Joe, Marg, Evalina, Pauline, Eva, Anna, Elizabeth, and Lena, thank you for sharing your love.
I would also like to offer special thanks to numerous other dear friends for their reviews and encouragement: Margaret Whelan, Ariane de Bonvoisin, Duff Marshal, Carol Hansen, Donalee Campbell, David Hughes, Tom Coates, Winston Fuller, Ed Thrall, Tamera Knobel, Celeen Vizer, and Professor Buddy Wynn. Thank you all for your wonderful contributions.
Thank you, Patricia, for returning once again to this world to touch my heart and soul, reminding me of our greater purpose and ultimate goal.
And to a most wonderful, gentle soul, thank you, Lisa, for all your love and support.
And finally, I want to thank three very special people who have shared with me a lifetime of love, laughter and tears. Candace, Stacey, and David, you will always be my special Angels, and I will love you forever.
Introduction
Eyes of an Angel—“Windows to Your Soul”
This world we live in is truly a remarkable place: so many mysteries to solve, incredible wonders to marvel at, and so much to learn. But, all things considered, what's even more astonishing than the power of the human mind is the fact that none of this is new. We already know the answers to life's mysteries, we've only forgotten. It's all there, just below the surface, tugging at us, begging us to take the time to look. And the best place to start is in your own eyes, and the eyes of your loved ones.
Here's a common experience. You're meeting someone for the first time. Reaching out to shake his hand, you glance briefly into his eyes. And then a strange thing happens—you get the oddest feeling you've met this person before. Another place perhaps, another time? Even though you're sure it's not the case, you're left with an inner turmoil, a fluttering in your heart that you can't explain. Perplexed, you shrug it off as some strange quirk of the mind. But, wait a minute! What if it isn't just some weird anomaly? What if there is more to it than meets the eye?
It's often said that our eyes are the windows to our souls. What if this were true? What if we could somehow learn to recognize and identify these subtle, innocuous feelings and intuitions? Would it not completely alter our perception of the world? Could it possibly lead to a better, more understanding, loving universe?
Eyes of an Angel addresses some of the most revealing and astonishing aspects of the relationships binding each and every soul in our universe. It's the story of the evolution of consciousness of an avowed skeptic to that of an ardent spiritual believer. It's the kind of story I wouldn't have believed had it not happened to me.
Within these pages you'll find the details of some remarkable conversations and messages from the spirit realms—concepts, thoughts, and lessons from souls who have been through it all before, but choose, out of love, to help the rest of us remember who we really are and where we're heading. These conversations and events really did take place. Since there wasn't, obviously, a way to record the actual dialogues, their reproduction was dependent on my reconstruction of the material. To the best of my ability, I've tried to accurately present these experiences and messages just as they happened. It is my sincerest hope that from within these timeless messages of the soul, you too might recognize your own truths and pathways.
True in every respect, Eyes of an Angel offers a detailed, first-hand account of a remarkable spiritual adventure. It's a story about soul travel, angels, spirit guides, and soul mates. But most of all, it's a story about everlasting love.
1
The Awakening
Through shaded eyes we view the world
Present, past, and future swirl
Only fleeting glimpse there revealed
The mysteries of life concealed
What would you do if you suddenly awoke to find yourself floating near the ceiling of your bedroom? It happened to me, and it changed my life.
I first heard the term “out-of-body experience” in the summer of 1979. A local television station had broadcast an interview with a man named Robert Monroe. He had written a popular book, Journeys Out of the Body. Intrigued by the incredible story he told, I borrowed a copy from the library and read it from cover to cover.
In the book, Monroe claimed that in his early forties he began to spontaneously leave his body in spirit form while remaining fully conscious. He gave fantastic detailed descriptions of traveling in this spirit body to places on Earth as well as into the spirit world itself.
When the experiences first began, Monroe was afraid that he had become ill, or was actually losing his mind. Submitting himself to intense medical and psychiatric examinations, he was reli
eved when all tests found him to be healthy and normal. Eventually he just quit worrying about it. Meticulously documenting his experiences, he decided to take advantage of the continuing phenomenon, pursuing every opportunity to explore and learn.
“Fascinating story,” I thought, “but the guy's obviously a brick short of a load.”
Having been raised in a poor farm family with ten brothers and sisters, my grasp on reality was far too entrenched in the physical world to give this kind of fantasy much sway. Returning the book to the library, I soon forgot all about it.
To my amazement, eleven years later, my perception of reality would be changed forever.
This life-changing event took place at the end of a long and hectic week. It was late Friday night and, looking forward to a quiet weekend, I sat at my desk thinking about the recent events that were complicating my life. It had been more than five years since I was first elected to city council, and everything in my life was running smoothly. Then, one day, some important government people showed up, asking me to make a big commitment. They wanted me to run as a candidate in an upcoming election to the Legislature. With more than a few reservations, I had agreed to let my name stand. But it wasn't long before I was second-guessing my decision.
With only days remaining before the nomination meeting, I waged an internal battle. Was this what I wanted to do? Would it be good for me? With all the time I'd have to spend away, would our family life suffer? Would it be worth it? Finally, around 1:30 in the morning I gave up and sleepily crawled into bed, vowing to sleep until noon. The second my head hit the pillow, it was lights out.
The next thing I knew, I was wide-awake. But something was terribly wrong. In dazed confusion, I scrambled to get my bearings. What I was seeing was impossible! Instead of being in my bed, I was floating like a balloon near the ceiling, bumping lightly against its stippled surface.
Disoriented, a landslide of possibilities flooded my mind. There had to be a rational explanation. Below me in bed were two sleeping bodies that seemed so familiar I couldn't divert my attention from them. As I looked down, a stunning realization hit me: the woman in the bed was my wife, and the guy sleeping beside her was me.
This couldn't be happening. Here I was, floating around my bedroom ceiling, without a clue as to how I'd gotten there. Closing my eyes, I shook my head, praying that when I reopened them, everything would be back to normal again. But nothing changed. I was still floating in midair.
My thoughts reeling, I knew I wasn't dreaming. But there was another possibility. I began to wonder if I had somehow died. It didn't seem likely, though; I felt completely normal, my mind had never been clearer.
The memory of Robert Monroe's book flashed into my awareness. Maybe, I thought, Monroe wasn't crazy after all. This was absolutely real! Although it seemed beyond belief, somehow the experience felt strangely familiar. It had the feeling of routine, like I had done this many times before. I knew I was just now returning from some sort of journey, but I had no idea where I might have been.
As this insight filtered into my mind, a strange calming sensation flooded through me. Most of the fear and apprehension I had been entertaining slowly evaporated into the surrounding darkness. Far from feeling out-of-sorts, I could not remember when I had ever felt better. How could I have felt better? I was doing the impossible—I was flying.
Although it seemed such a familiar feeling, it was, nevertheless, unsettling. After a few moments I wondered if I shouldn't be returning to my body. However, I wasn't sure how to make that happen or, for that matter, if it was possible. I didn't have a lot of time to worry about it, though, because with just that simple thought, I began to slowly descend towards the bed.
To my dismay, when I finally came to a stop, I wasn't in my body. Instead, I hovered beside the bed, about two feet above the floor. At first, I worried about having somehow missed the target, but within moments my concerns subsided as I quickly became engrossed in studying this quiet, peaceful form beside me.
There didn't seem to be anything unusual or out of place. My body appeared to be in a normal sleeping state. Thinking how odd this was, I chuckled in nervous amazement. Here I was, staring at my own face from an outside perspective, examining it as if it belonged to someone else. It occurred to me that other than looking into a mirror, we never actually see our own faces, so this felt more than a little strange.
In the darkness, my face seemed a lot older than the one I usually saw in the mirror. It looked weary and surprisingly gray and colorless. The more I thought about it, the more I began to feel compassion for my seemingly abandoned body, and I had to admit that I should probably be taking better care of it.
Emotions building inside me, I thought I had better try again to get back into my body. To my surprise, at the very thought of it, I simply floated across the two foot span, and just like that, I was back inside. For the briefest moment, I felt faint. A spinning dizziness overcame me, everything faded to black, and then, with a startling jolt, I opened my eyes.
Back in my body, I could feel my thoughts slowing down. Like a genie being sucked back into a bottle, I felt squeezed and confined. And I didn't like it at all.
As I lay in bed lamenting my increasing heaviness, I became aware of a strange vibration gently rocking me. Every molecule in my body seemed about to burst with this bizarre, bubbling electrical energy. As I focused on the vibrations, they began to surge in waves back and forth from my head to feet. It was the most energized, exciting physical feeling I had ever had. My body felt like it was expanding, contracting, and rolling with the sensations. Waves of energy flooded my awareness. I could not conceive of anything more strange or delightful.
For several minutes I lay analyzing the intense energy until the feeling in my arms and legs returned. I tried to move, but the lower part of my body felt heavy, almost paralyzed. Finally managing to turn my head, I noticed the time on my nightstand clock. It was 3:02 A.M. I had been asleep for only 90 minutes.
Closing my eyes, I lay in bed struggling with my emotions, my mind desperately searching for a rational explanation. When I began to wonder why it happened, a feeling of melancholy came over me. “My God,” I begged. “What on earth is happening to me?”
The word “God” stuck in my mind. It had been a long time since I'd paid much attention to God, but for some reason I felt the most compelling urge to be thankful for His blessings. As I contemplated the gift of this experience, love and gratitude slowly overwhelmed me. Tears began trailing down my cheeks.
In this euphoria, my mind began to wander. Dreamlike images of events in my life took shape and then quickly dissolved. And there were faces, so many faces. Some I knew, but most I couldn't place even though they seemed familiar. I was becoming lost in my thoughts when a sudden snap of my body brought me back to the present.
Opening my eyes, my attention was drawn to the ceiling. My eyes had to be playing tricks on me. Not only could I see the stipple on the ceiling but I could also see right through to the clouds and stars in the night sky. Hoping to correct this obvious anomaly, I closed my eyelids tightly and then quickly opened them again. But nothing changed.
My senses seemed to be reaching overload. My heart was pounding with excitement, while powerful vibrations continued flowing through my body. I couldn't imagine a more incredible sensation, but, at the same time, I worried where it was leading.
A sudden sharp surge in the vibrations gripped my attention. The electrical tingling became so intense I began to wonder if it would be possible to leave my body again. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that I could.
I had just begun to consider my next step, when another wave of energy swept through me. My awareness seemed to expand outward until I thought I could feel the air pressure increasing in the room. And then it hit me! A chill ran through my body. I had the creepiest feeling that I wasn't alone. Someone was watching me. I sensed the presence of other energies or beings around me. Appearing as pinpoints of light, they
seemed to be everywhere. I started to panic. The thought of having unknown spirits in my room terrified me. I wanted so desperately to float out of my body again but there was no way I could force myself to do so with these “things” around.
Summoning up every ounce of courage, I projected a thought into the room asking the intruders to please leave. I waited, but nothing happened. The feeling persisted. Again I asked, this time more forcefully. Still nothing. With mounting anxiety, I mentally yelled into the room, demanding that everyone leave. There was no change. Finally, in desperation, I found myself returning to the Catholic teachings of my youth, and I prayed to God and Jesus to help and protect me. Incredibly, the moment the words became articulated in my mind, I felt a sudden change around me. In an instant every single unwanted presence in the room blinked out and disappeared, leaving me alone in the darkness.
Elated, I thought of floating up into the air, and that's all it took. A surge of energy rushed through my body while a high-pitched sound began to resonate in the center of my head, spreading through me. With the sound of air hissing in my ears, I felt a slight wobbling sensation, but then firmly and steadily rose into the air. The rush of vibrations and sounds, so consuming just a moment before, quickly faded as I separated from my physical body and floated silently to the ceiling.
As I hovered in midair, trying desperately to make sense of it all, a tidal wave of understanding swept through me. Throughout most of my life, I had doubted the existence of God. The God that we were taught about as children seemed an all-too-human, punishing, and vengeful being. I could not fathom nor accept a God like that, and decided I wanted no part of it. To me, the concept was nothing more than a fabrication by organized religion to keep control of the masses.
Since childhood, the image of God that stuck in my mind was that of a stern-faced, bearded old man—someone to be feared. But, as these thoughts flooded through me, I suddenly understood that my long-held perception of God was wrong.