Beyond Heaven and Earth

by Steven H. Propp

  And he decided to walk the three miles home, rather than take the bus, just enjoying the beauty of the Sunday Morning.

  That song “Teach the Sky” was right: The seasons are our hymnal, the heavens are our choir, and the Earth itself is sacred text. This world, as beautiful as God, can be all the Heaven we ever need.

  But what if our desires go beyond what Heaven can offer? Jobran wondered.

  21

  MANIFESTATION

  As the bus drove away, Jobran checked his watch: 7:40 PM. As he started walking toward his destination, it occurred to him that he should have asked either Jana or Andrew how long the session might last, since he had to be at work by 11:30 PM tonight. (Presumably, it would be considered unspiritual—not to mention rude—to get up in the middle of a session, and announce, “Hey, it’s been really great sharing with you this time of receiving metaphysical information from beyond our planetary realm, but I’ve got a bus to catch!”)

  Since first being introduced to channeling at the New Millennium bookstore last week, Jobran had been fiercely studying the subject, and was thoroughly confused. Although there had been many people since the beginning of the modern “Spiritualist” movement—which began with the Fox children, Margaret and Kate, in 1948—claiming to be able to communicate with deceased persons, the channeling movement seemed to be operating on an entirely different path. (And curiously enough for two related movements—which one would have thought would be closely allied with each other—the two groups almost never seem to mention each other in their writings, as if they were blissfully unaware that the other group existed.) Perhaps this was due to the fact that the Spiritualist movement begun by the Fox sisters—although it attracted some brilliant and noteworthy minds to it, such as Oliver Lodge, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alfred Russell Wallace, and William Crookes—and was extremely popular between 1880-1920, seemed to have passed its “prime,” and had in any case been involved with a great deal of controversy (numerous claims of outright fraud, etc.). While newer spiritualist mediums (such as Sylvia Browne, James Van Praagh, and Rosemary Altea) were still appearing and attaining large followings, the channeling movement was in a sense a “fresh start.” Furthermore, unlike the older Spiritualist emphasis upon communicating with persons personally known to bereaved persons, modern channels tend to communicate with entities (known as “Guides”) who are supposedly able to provide much more information about God, reality, and the afterlife.

  Most people traced the origins of the channeling movement to 1963, when poet and fiction writer Jane Roberts began furiously scribbling down (as if they were being “dictated” to her) a series of notes entitled, The Physical Universe As Idea Construction. In 1966 her first book, How To Develop Your ESP Power was published, which along with other paranormal experiences mentioned her contact with an entity who had been through several reincarnations, most recently as a man named Frank Withers, but who preferred to be called “Seth.” Her publishers were highly interested in Seth, as were the students of Roberts’ twice-weekly ESP class, and a long series of books followed containing the “Seth material,” as well as Roberts’ own discussions of the material. Roberts herself had many health problems (which raised questions among both critics and supporters, about why she was unable to use Seth’s teachings to heal herself), and died in 1984 at age 55 after long stays in the hospital.

  But her work may have been very influential on those who came after. The text known as A Course In Miracles (supposedly dictated by Jesus, and which was the inspiration for Marianne Williamson) was published in 1975. In 1970, an entity (composed of a group of beings) known as “Michael” purportedly began giving messages through a Ouija board, which were not published until 1979. Jach Pursel claims to have been receiving communications since 1974 from a “group being” known as Lazaris living in another dimension from ours. J.Z. Knight says that in 1977 she began receiving spiritual messages (first published in 1985) from a 35,000-year-old warrior spirit from Atlantis known as Ramtha. Then in 1983, Shirley MacLaine’s book Out On A Limb brought channeling (as well as her favorite channel Kevin Ryerson, in addition to Ramtha and Lazaris) into mainstream media attention and an eventual television miniseries. Since then, hundreds of less-known channels have appeared on the scene. Their were even channels who were teaching classes on “How to Channel” to others—a far cry from the Spiritualists who felt that their psychic abilities were a “gift.”

  Some channels (such as Neale Donald Walsch, as well as Eileen Caddy, cofounder of the Findhorn Community and its famed garden in Scotland) claimed that God spoke directly to them. There were also channeled “entities” that claimed to be spirits that once lived on the earth (often in exotic places like Lemuria), including such figures as Jesus (or “the Christ”) and his mother Mary. There were also entities purporting to be from outer space (particularly from the Pleiades star cluster). As with spiritistic mediums, there seemed to be very little friendly communication going on between different channels—and a lot of implied antagonism and competition—much less any real consistency between their respective teachings. Often, the channels seemed to gather persons about them, who were filled with an almost cultlike obsession for the teachings. And not a few of the channels had a number of famous persons in their following, of whom the most well-known was actress Shirley MacLaine, whose books Out On A Limb, Dancing In the Light, Going Within, It’s All In the Playing, and The Camino introduced millions of people to channeling and other phenomena.

  (Jobran couldn’t help but observe, however, that although the channels claimed that they themselves were not the source of the channeled teachings, this didn’t stop them from copywriting their books in their own names, or from accepting the royalty checks from the books, tapes, and seminars whose information supposedly came from the channeled entities.)

  Jobran shook his head as he thought about it all, and wondered, “Am I becoming cynical in my quest?” It was a difficult and troubling thought, which was of increasing concern to him. My initial goal was simply and objectively study each religious and spiritual tradition, remaining fully open to the possibility that it might indeed be right; but the more you research, the less you are able to maintain that perspective. You realize that all of these diverse ideas can’t all be right—they contradict each other too much. And I can’t just be like Jana, and allow all of this cognitive dissonance to just continue in my mind unresolved. But the longer I study, the more I start to wonder, will I ever ultimately be able to actually commit myself to a single one of these traditions or practices?

  He arrived at the address printed on his ticket; like the Tibetan Buddhist Study Group, the channeling session was simply being held in a private residence. I wonder if the neighbors of people who conduct such groups in their homes know that ‘unconventional spirituality’ is being practiced right next door to them? Jobran thought with a smile. Or maybe they just figure it’s some kinky S&M group, and they’d better not ask questions.

  He rang the doorbell, and was greeted immediately by a young woman with long, frizzy red hair, wearing a long silk dress. “Hi!” she said, enthusiastically.

  “Um…hello,” Jobran said. He fumbled and started to show her his ticket by way of explanation, and she motioned for him to come in, saying, “Come on, come in; the session’s due to start in a few minutes.” Extending her hand, she said, “I’m Lucy Skinner.”

  “Jobran Winter,” he replied, shaking her hand.

  “This is your first time at one of Andrew’s sessions, huh?” she said, not really asking a question. “I’ve been with him since his very first public session,” she said proudly. Then, in a conspiratorial whisper, she added, “There were only two of us there, besides Andrew. But it was a fantastic session! I learned so much in that one night…” and her eyes went wistful at the memory.

  She led Jobran into the lower-level living room, which was directly adjacent to the doorway, where about eight or nine people were stand
ing around chatting, or else sitting down in large pillows scattered everywhere around the room. As Jobran entered the room, Andrew noticed him, and smiled and came over with his hand outstretched. “Jobran, it’s good to see you again!” They shook hands, and Andrew also gave him a warm hug, which embarrassed Jobran. “Rikki, can you introduce Jobran to everybody? Thanks, sweetie; love you…” and he went to take his place at a chair that was centrally-located at the end of the room, and adopted the full lotus posture, and clipped a portable microphone to his shirt, that ran to a tape recorder off to the side. Then, resting his palms upward on his knees, he closed his eyes, and appeared to start performing breathing exercises.

  “Have you ever been to a channeling session before?” Rikki asked. She was short, and fortysomething, with thick, wide glasses, and long straight hair.

  “No,” admitted Jobran, “But I’ve been reading a lot about them recently.”

  “I’ll make sure that Lucy gives a careful introduction, then,” she said. “Actually, this is a really good opportunity to get in on the ‘ground floor,’ so to speak, of a new teaching. There’s only about a dozen of us—plus ten or so stragglers that are less committed than we are—that are aware of the teachings of Andrew’s Guides, but I just know that he’s going to be big, very soon. The three or four Guides that he manifests bring a really unique message, I think.” Holding her long, carefully lacquered silver fingernails against her chest, she said, “I met Andrew at a UFO conference; we both attended a seminar on the teachings of the Pleiadians. Are you interested in alien civilizations?”

  “I don’t really know much about them,” Jobran said.

  “No problem,” Nikki said, “I wasn’t interested, either—until I was abducted by group of extraterrestrials, of the ‘gray’ type!” and she gave him a sly wink. (What kind of people am I getting myself involved with? Jobran wondered, trying to keep his facial expression neutral.) “Let me introduce you around,” she said, and Jobran realized that, except for Andrew and himself, only females were present at the session, which made him even more uncomfortable. Jobran didn’t recognize anybody, and was relieved to see that that everyone looked like relatively “normal” people (the sort you might expect to see on Friday nights at a nice restaurant, or at the theater, rather than attempting to contact otherworldly beings).

  The doorbell rang again, and Jobran heard happy words of greeting from the next room, including one voice that sounded vaguely familiar.

  As Lucy entered the room with her visitor, Jobran recognized Jana. She was making her way into the room, greeting everyone with a smile and a hug. When she noticed Jobran, she called out “Jobran!” with genuine enthusiasm, and came over and kissed him on the cheek, then gave him a long, affectionate embrace, which he shyly returned. Wiping her lipstick mark off his cheek with her finger, she said, “I’m just seeing you everywhere these days, Jobran; you’re really becoming a part of the crowd, you know?”

  “Well, I don’t know about that,” Jobran said, blushing, and she laughed gently, seeing his discomfiture. Still, when he noticed that Jana’s approval of him seemingly made everyone relax, he was grateful to feel less like an “outsider.”

  “I almost thought you weren’t going to make it,” Andrew said to Jana, apparently awakening from his meditation and/or preparations.

  “You must be crazy, if you think I’d miss one of your sessions,” she said, with genuine feeling. “I keep hoping that Lucy will miss two sessions, and then I’ll be tied with her for ‘seniority’!”

  “Dream on, girl,” Lucy said, with a laugh. Then, motioning with her hands for everyone to take a seat, she said, “I think everyone’s here that’s supposed to be here, right?” Looking around the room for any dissenting voices and seeing none, she continued, “Let’s all take a seat, and make ourselves comfortable.” Andrew had closed his eyes again.

  “We’ve got newcomers, so let me go over the ground rules,” Lucy said, in a no-nonsense tone, standing directly in front of Andrew, who seemed oblivious to her, as he continued his preparations. “First, you absolutely cannot get up and move around, or leave, while Andrew is in trance. Andrew is, as you know, a deep-trance or ‘unconscious’ channel, and it could be dangerous for him to be disrupted while he is ‘between worlds,’ so to speak. So if anyone needs to use the ladies’ room—or the mens’ room—it’s right down the hall, on the left. Otherwise, you’re going to be here for the duration of the first session.” Looking at Jobran, she added, “The first session usually goes about an hour, depending on which entities are manifested. Then we take a break for about fifteen minutes, and we have a second session that may be a little shorter than the first. Finally, we break for tea and refreshments, and people can either leave, or stick around.”

  “Second, no food or drink while Andrew is in trance; same reason as for the first rule. If you absolutely can’t go without something for one hour, you can suck on a cough drop or chew gum, only please, no audible chewing or popping bubbles!” This brought on a few laughs from the group.

  “Third, no interruptions during the session! If you have questions, please save them for the end, because Andrew always has a Q & A session after the second session. Since Andrew is in full trance, he can’t respond to questions about tonight’s material—which he won’t know anything about—but he always thoroughly reviews the tapes from previous sessions, so he can answer anything about earlier material. OK, that’s about it; anyone have any ‘procedural’ questions?”

  “Do you sell transcripts, or tapes, of the talks? Or can we tape-record them ourselves?” one woman asked.

  “Why don’t you save that question for Andrew’s Question-and-Answer session, at the end?” Lucy said. “Anyone else?” Looking around the room quickly, she said, “OK, then, let’s begin,” and she sat down, after which everyone in the room reached out and held hands with the persons sitting on either side of them. Lucy and the woman on Andrew’s other side completed the circle by touching his knee with their free hands. At a sign from Lucy, everyone bowed their heads, and listened to Lucy say, in a solemn tone, “Oh Great Spirit; protect us as we attempt to pierce the veil between the worlds; bring us knowledge, and enlightenment, that we can use to assist us in our life journey. We thank you, and await your blessings; amen.”

  “Amen,” answered the group (except for Jobran). They all let go of each other’s hands, and quickly made themselves comfortable.

  After everyone appeared settled, Lucy held up her hands, indicating the time for silence. Jobran sneaked a surreptitious look at his watch: it was 8:23. Absolute stillness reigned in the room, except for the regular sound of Andrew performing his breathing exercises.

  Suddenly, there was the sound of the front door opening. Everyone jumped, startled, and saw a large man with a workingman’s coat and hat standing in the doorway, staring at the group, and taking a long pull from a can of beer.

  “Oh, God,” Lucy said, blushing furiously, as she jumped up, to greet the visitor. When he reached him, they could hear her softly say, “Honey, you’re late! We’ve almost started….” The visitor embraced Lucy quickly, then (shaking his head at the group of “seekers” sitting on the floor of his living room) crumpled his beer can in one hand, and holding the rest of the six-pack in his other hand, said to Lucy, “I’ll use the shower in the back, then finish watching the game in the den; see you later, Babe,” and left the room.

  Still blushing furiously, Lucy rushed back to her seat, and said, “I’m sooo sorry, everyone!” Looking anxiously at Andrew’s closed eyes, she asked tentatively, “Do we need to start over…?”

  “There is no need,” Andrew said gently, with a serene look on his face, and Lucy looked as grateful as if she had been pardoned from Death Row at the last minute. “But now, it is the time for silence…” Andrew said softly, and silence returned to the room.

  The only sound in the room again was of Andrew’s regular, stea
dy deep breathing. (There was also the very faint noise of a basketball game coming from the den.) Jobran was afraid to look at his watch again, for fear of disrupting the group, but he guessed that about eight minutes had gone by when abruptly Andrew spoke in a strange, almost feminine, voice, “I am Kui; I have returned, to this illusionary place of Sun-Ra.”

  It’s a distinctly female voice, with a curious accent, thought Jobran. That’s very unusual; I’ve never heard of a male channeling a female before, even though lots of females claim to channel male entities.

  “I am here at the request of the one you call ‘Andrew,’ whose true name is ‘Ansar.’ I have but one brief word for all of you: Respect your sacred integrity as a personal spiritual being. That which is within you—your inmost essence—is not your own; it is the possession of the One Above All. It has only been given to you temporarily, for the purpose of your instruction, and you must return it to She who gave it, multiplied tenfold. You sorely grieve the One Above All, by your pettiness, your lack of fervent devotion, your lack of wholesome spiritual practice. You must realize that troublous times are ahead, and those who lack commitment shall fall before the winnowing shear. Yet you still have time to turn, to honor the vows you once made, to She to whom you made them. The sacred Mother, giver of all life, holds open her arms to welcome you back. She loves you, and wants only your intimate and ultimate union with the One Above All. You must give this offering to her, no matter what the cost, out of respect, and out of love for that spiritual essence she has placed within you. Receive ye this solemn warning about your personal sacred integrity: It must not be soiled—her Spirit must not be further grieved. You cannot allow yourselves to compromise, to vacillate, to show uncertainty. This is the time for faith in the Mother, and trust in your Guides, which must be done out of love for the One Above All. This is the message I bear to you; Be Ye Blessed.” As soon as this was said, Andrew’s head slumped to his chest, and he sat motionless.