by Paul Elder
A moment later, an electrical spasm shot through my body. I was being called back. I didn't want the experience to end, but the pull to return to the physical was powerful and unrelenting. The morning wakeup music had begun to play over the room speakers, along with Monroe's voice bidding us to “rise and shine.” For a moment it seemed that my consciousness was simultaneously in two places. Although I was back in my bed, I could still see through the aperture. Finally, when I could no longer maintain this level of consciousness, the vision of the two beings faded and the aperture closed. Completely back in my body, I remained alert, but emotionally shaken.
Turning down the speaker volume, I lay back to process the experience. I couldn't believe the time that had actually passed. It felt like I had been gone for only a few minutes and yet nearly two hours had evaporated.
Previously, I had read about spiritual helpers and guides. I had never given the idea much consideration, but now I somehow knew that these two beings were my spirit guides. I sounded his name over and over in my mind, “Meldor. What a strange name.” My thoughts then turned to the other spirit, and it dawned on me that he hadn't told me his name.
There had been such a powerful connection between us. I had the feeling that nothing about me was or could ever be hidden from them. Meldor had said that all I had to do was call, and that was exactly what I planned to do, at the first opportunity.
The remainder of the day was a washout. I couldn't chase the experience out of my mind. For some reason an uncomfortable pressure formed in the center of my chest. I wondered if it was my heart reminding me that it still required more time to heal. Perhaps the opening of my third eye and meeting my spirit guides had been a bit too much emotional stress.
During each of the remaining sessions, I had difficulty remaining focused. When I was able to relax into an altered state, I felt my heart pounding so loudly it seemed to drown out the Hemi-Sync tones. It destroyed any chance of success through the last day of the program.
I would be heading home the next morning, and even though I had lost a day of sessions, I certainly wasn't disappointed. It had been an incredible week. I had been blessed with experiences that would keep my mind busy for days to come.
Back at home, the power of the visions and experiences continued to occupy my mind. Floating invisibly through walls or flying home to watch my wife arrive for work paled in comparison to experiencing a past life and meeting my own spirit guides.
As usual, I eagerly shared all my experiences within minutes of walking through the front door. Always an enthusiastic listener, Candace couldn't wait to hear about my new adventures. When I told her I had been floating above the school just as she arrived for work, she confirmed that on that day she had, indeed, been wearing the outfit I had seen. A small, relatively unimportant confirmation, but to me, it was greatly reassuring.
The new energy that had built up in my body during my stay at The Monroe Institute continued unabated. Still buzzing from the revelations I had experienced, I wanted so much to reconnect with the two spirit entities. The memory of their faces, their vibration, and the love I felt in their presence was continuously with me.
A couple of weeks after arriving home, the end of a long business day found me sitting in my office chair daydreaming about the encounter with my guides. Wondering if I would ever see them again, I lolled deep in thought when the abrupt sound of a distinct male voice jolted me to attention.
“We are here!”
It startled me so much I bolted upright. At first I thought there had to be someone else in the room. Where else could the voice have come from? I glanced around, but I knew that there was no one else in the building. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that the voice had to be inside my head. It sounded like the same voice I had heard a few weeks earlier at The Monroe Institute. It had to be Meldor.
Sitting back in my chair, I calmed my mind and moved into a meditative state. Within a few minutes I was hovering at the edge of sleep, when a sudden chill went up my spine. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Fighting every impulse to jump up and run, I refused to move. Moments later a warming vibration began to move down the back of my skull to the bottom of my spine, and then back up to the top of my head. With it, a wave of heat spread through my upper body. Everything began to spin. I felt like I was about to faint, and then I heard the voice again.
“We're sorry we startled you.” Meldor's words were quiet and soothing. “We have been working with your internal energies to help you become more receptive to our communication. We wanted you to know that it's not necessary for you to be separated from your body in order to be aware of our presence.”
Breathing in deeply, my body shuddered as I exhaled. I had a vague sense of slumping into the chair, my mind riveted to the new impressions inside my head. It felt different than anything I had ever experienced. I could clearly hear words and thoughts which were not my own.
I wondered if the spirits were able to hear my thoughts. Meldor's clear and measured response came quickly.
“Yes, we can hear your thoughts and your spoken words, but only if you have directed them to our attention. If you call us, we hear you.”
I tried to remain calm. There were so many things I wanted to know. Although unsure of my ability to communicate, I began, “I think I've seen you in my dreams. You seem so familiar, but I need to know who you are. Are you my guides or guardian angels?”
I heard a soft chuckle. “No, we are not angels in the sense that you have come to understand. We are helpers. We have been with you through many lifetimes in this physical world. We have agreed to assist you in the challenges and goals that you've set for yourself. The circumstances of your early years were tougher than expected, but you have overcome many barriers and are now beginning to remember and reconnect with your true essence.”
“But if you've always been with me,” I questioned, “why haven't I been aware of you before?”
“When you first begin an incarnation as an infant,” Meldor replied, “you are still closely bound to the realms of the spirit. As your physical form grows and you become more and more involved in the physical aspects of survival, your connection to the world of spirit begins to fade. Incarnated spirits, for the most part, slowly forget their origin and true identity. The consciousness of the soul, operating through the human brain, can be very slow and dense. Therefore contact between the helper and the soul is easier when the body is asleep or in an expanded state of awareness. We are able to communicate with you in your dreams and meditative states, sometimes to simply put a thought into your mind.”
This was all so fantastic. I didn't doubt his words, but being the type of person I am, I needed proof. Meldor was way ahead of me. With a small titter, he admonished me, “Okay, Missouri.”
Instantly I was transported back in time driving my car through British Columbia. It was a long haul through the mountains and I was having difficulty staying awake. At some point I had fallen asleep while approaching a long curve in the road. All of a sudden, I became aware of a voice screaming in my ears, “Paul, wake up!”
Jerking back to consciousness, I found to my horror that I was in the wrong lane, heading straight for a truck coming from the opposite direction. Jamming on the brakes, I cranked the steering wheel. With tires screeching, the car lurched across the centerline, missing the truck by inches.
The mental imagery came to an end, and I recalled the entire incident. I remembered having had to pull over to the side of the road while I waited for my heart to crawl back into my chest.
“That was you?” I asked. The question needed no answer.
Before I could refocus my thoughts, another memory started playing out in my mind. It was the terrible car accident I had been in years before. I was back in the car as it careened down the ditch, crashed, and spun wildly into the air. Everything went black, just as it had during the crash. The next scene, however, was not part of that memory. It was something new. As I lay unconscious in th
e frozen field, I became aware of someone calling my name, urging me awake, telling me to get up. I had to get help or I would die.
Only vaguely aware of my body, I drifted in and out of consciousness. Then, out of the darkness, a luminous mist began to appear beside me. It continued to expand and grow in intensity until it surrounded me. At its center appeared a radiant being. As he loomed over me, I was enveloped by an overwhelming feeling of love and compassion. The glowing form bent down and, putting his arms around me, drew me close. I could feel the warmth flowing from his body into mine. I thought that I must be dreaming or hallucinating, but it didn't matter. Completely at peace, I slipped again into the blackness of sleep. The next thing I knew, I heard my name called again, this time more forcefully.
“Now, Paul, you must get up now.”
Jerking awake, I sat up in the field. The being was gone. I was alone. In the distance I could see headlights approaching. Although it had to be more than two hundred feet to the road, I had to get someone's attention. Desperately, I began crawling. But it soon became apparent that I wouldn't get there in time. Struggling to my feet, I ran for all I was worth. Just as the car was approaching, I lurched to the edge of the road, frantically waving my arms. The car careened by, but then with a spray of gravel, it came to a skidding stop. The driver put the car into reverse and backed to where I stood. The passenger side window rolled down, and someone exclaimed, “Jesus! Take it easy, man. We'll go and get help.”
With that, the engine roared, gravel flew from the tires, and the car sped off into the night.
The scene faded, and a moment later I was back in my office chair.
I was stunned. This episode had never been part of my conscious memory. All of these years I had no idea that a spirit had come to help me in that frozen field. As feelings of love and appreciation flooded through me, Meldor continued his narrative.
“We would never interfere with your intentions or free will, but there have been times when we have interceded to prevent a transition before your intended time. There have been many instances in your life when we have been in direct contact with you, in times of trauma or at critical points in your development. The two examples you have been shown are the extreme. Normally, we merely try to provide a subtle guidance to nudge you along, to help you achieve your goals.”
I was deep in thought. What an opportunity! A new question occurred to me.
“Meldor, you said that you have been with me through many lives. A few days ago at The Monroe Institute, as I'm sure you're aware, I had an experience that seemed to be from another lifetime. It left me with a lot of confusion and a number of questions. Was that a past life? Did I kill someone, or was it me that was killed?”
“Yes, it's unfortunate that the experience was cut short,” Meldor replied. “As you now understand, you have had many incarnations. The one you experienced was the most recent life in your linear concept of time. We know that having the experience interrupted left you in confusion. If you wish, we can assist you with a continued look at that short life.”
Although a bit apprehensive, I certainly wanted to unravel the mystery. “Yes, please,” I responded, tentatively. “I'd like to know.”
Immediately, I began to feel a slight pressure at the center of my forehead. There followed a surge in vibration and a blur of colors. The next thing I knew, I was gasping for air, wracked with pain.
The assault on my senses was unbearable. A moan escaped from my throat. My head hung down, my chin resting on my chest. Opening my eyes, I realized it was nighttime. I was outdoors in the cool air. Looking down at my body, a wave of shock spread through me. I was naked and filthy, my chest blackened and covered with blood. On my inner left thigh, a large gaping wound was crusted over with blood trailing down my leg to a pool of scarlet beneath my feet. The entire left side of my body felt like it had been crushed. An incessant pain throbbed in the left side of my chest and I was having difficulty breathing. The salty taste of blood filled my mouth. I knew there must have been a hole in my lung; I could hear bubbles as I drew each painful breath.
My hands had been tied behind my back and bound tightly to a pole. Overhead a dim yard light shone from the top of the pole, and about 15 feet in front of me stood a gable-ended building covered with tin. Exhausted and in agony, I couldn't take much more. I knew they were going to kill me, and I just wanted them to get it over with.
Moments later, two soldiers stepped out of the building, slamming the door behind them. One of them, a man I had seen in my first vision of this life review, strode up to me, raised his pistol to my left temple, and pulled the trigger. In an instant I found myself floating above my body, which now hung awkwardly from the pole. With a dizzying spin, everything faded to black, and I was back in the quiet of my office.
Emotionally drained, I needed time to recover from the intensity of the experience. Meldor's voice focused my mind once again. “We are pleased that we had this time to communicate with you. But we must now withdraw our vibration so that your energy may be restored. We are with you always.”
With that, the vibrations disappeared and the ringing telephone brought me back to the physical world. It was Candace, wondering when I'd be home for dinner. It was almost 6:30. The encounter had gone on for more than an hour.
7
We Are Not Alone
Though the stock of angels be divine
Must we yet refuse to see the sign?
Why is it only when troubles abound
He finds us kneeling on the ground?
Life in the aftermath of meeting my spirit guides grew ever more compelling. My days were divided between operating my business and performing my duties at City Hall, but at night I would shut out the rest of the world to investigate the nature of human existence and who I really was. My experiences with Meldor led me to realize that my understanding of life had been rather limited. There was so much more that I needed to learn about the universe and my place within it.
So many profound experiences had occurred during my last trip to The Monroe Institute that I had almost overlooked a significant event—the opening of my third eye. Although it had been a fairly recent discovery for me, it was a powerful and intriguing portal to the spirit world. In those early days, however, this new psychic vision would, more often than not, leave me confused.
I found that the best time for successful out-of-body exploration was just after awakening from a night's sleep. One morning, I woke up but stayed in bed watching dreamlike images in my mind.
As I lolled in comfort, the high-pitched sound I had become accustomed to while entering an altered state gripped my attention. My eyes closed, I began to see a tiny ray of light in the center of my forehead. Anticipating another trip to the Other Side to see Meldor, I was surprised when the opening merely widened into an oval-shaped viewing portal. Through this aperture—about an inch in diameter—a clear and vivid scene materialized.
It appeared that I was in a lecture hall with people seated around me listening intently to a presentation. I could hear a male voice droning in the background. Everyone looked like ordinary, everyday people, but the vividness and color of their faces was astounding. My own flawed physical eyesight had never revealed such depth and clarity. Where was this place? Who were these people? Opening my physical eyes, I shook off the altered state. The vision disappeared and the aperture closed.
I couldn't imagine where I had been. Had I been watching an event in the spirit realm or had I somehow remotely viewed another physical location on Earth? It was unfortunate I hadn't maintained the vision for a while longer. If I had listened to the lecture it may have given me some idea as to where I had been. Whatever was happening to me, I was grateful and excited by the possibilities. There seemed to be no end to the changes taking place in my life. As if meeting my spirit guides wasn't enough, a new means of travel and perception had opened up for me.
Over the next few weeks, it became clear that my sensitivity to many different forms of psychic pheno
mena had increased dramatically. I noticed subtle changes occurring when I hovered in the borderland before falling asleep. I began to see faces—all kinds of faces. Usually, a face would momentarily appear in my third eye, then, after a few seconds it would fade out, and another would replace it. Where they were coming from, or who they were, I didn't know. Sometimes as many as a dozen vivid beings passed before me. I couldn't tell if they were checking me out or I them. Some looked vaguely familiar, but I could never place where I might have seen them.
One of the strange things I noticed about these visual montages was the difference in the quality of those occurring in the morning and those I saw at night. The morning apparitions were usually clear and in color, while the nighttime visions were mostly black and white and not nearly as vivid. The only explanation that made sense was that in the morning, after a good sleep, I was more relaxed than at night. Perhaps the degree of relaxation had a direct effect on my ability to see the Other Side. The frequent visions became so interesting that most nights I could hardly wait to get to bed to see who or what would show up.
Over a period of three months, “the parade of faces,” as I began to call them, materialized on numerous occasions. Mostly, it was like looking at a series of still photos. Their features didn't seem animated, and there was no indication that the spirits were either willing or able to communicate with me. Although I had become comfortable with it, I wasn't sure why the phenomenon continued to work that way. That, however, was about to change.
During a weekend convention in another city, I sat in a lecture hall with comfortable seats and a boring speaker (not a good combination at any time). Late to bed the previous night, I grew drowsy as the speaker droned on. The lights were dimmed, so I thought nobody would notice if I were to doze off. Closing my eyes, I quickly relaxed into a hypnagogic state.