Short Answers and a Bit of Cosmic Humor

Spiritual Concerns

Question: What does it feel like to die?

Aaron: It is the way you feel when you have stayed underwater just a bit too long. You emerge into the fresh, sweet air which fills your lungs with gladness, and into the sun's warmth which fills your soul with light.

Q: Should I become a vegetarian? It feels wrong to eat meat.

A: There are no "shoulds" here. You must do what feels right to you. But I tell you that it truly does not matter. Can you avoid destroying life as you walk through the grass? Should you never again have the sweet joy of walking through a sunlit meadow? Can you avoid destroying life even as you breath?

Simply give thanks to that life, which gives itself in love to sustain you. Do not take anything for granted. Thank all beings, large or microscopic, for the part they play in this great dance of life.

Q: You talk about the sanctity of all life. I was driving and accidentally killed a squirrel. How serious is this? I feel very guilty.

A: What does this experience teach you? Was your mind completely on your driving? Could you have been paying closer attention? Guilt is a negative emotion; it will not help you learn. Open your heart to life's lessons compassionately and without judgment. Learn what you need to learn. And thank this small being for its great gift. It has given its life to teach you something important. Perhaps this gift of love was its life's purpose. Thank it with all your heart, and send it your love.

Q: What are your favorite things on earth?

A: To list my favorite would be quite impossible. I am very fond of butterflies, rainbows and a sip of good cognac.

Q: Is my anger bad or wrong?

A: No, my dear one, it is never wrong to feel. It is immature and unskillful to use your emotions as an excuse to injure another.

Q: Where were the favorite places you lived while incarnate?

A: When I was young and lived in fertile valleys, I yearned for mountains. When I lived on mountains with stunning vistas and crisp air, I yearned for valleys.

Then I matured enough to stay in the moment and to love each for what it was, and found that each place had its own incomparable treasure.

Q: Is the sky the same color blue where you are?

A: Truly, yes, but what I perceive is different. I am not bound by a body and human perception. The blues look bluer and the flowers smell sweeter. I perceive the reality of things and do not see them through the lenses of fear, or self, or expectation. Even in your human form you can learn to see and hear more clearly. Let go of your expectations of the way things should be and you will learn to see them more truly as they are.

Q: Are you real?

A: I am as real as you are. And NO, I am not "dead," thank you! I simply exist on a different plane. You are made of light and substance; I am only made of light. When you move beyond the substance of your human form, then you also will be only light, until your next human incarnation. You call this death. I call it just a step in the process of our evolution to maturity.

Q: Can you talk directly to God?

A: We can all talk directly to God. Do you think He hears you less because your human form fogs your clear perception of Him?

Q: Do you feel pain where you are?

A: I feel no physical pain; I have no body to ache. I do feel pain at times, but do not personalize it as you do. Instead, I allow it to flow through me, as part of the energy of the universe. I feel the pain of all beings who suffer, and send them love.

Q: All religious systems claim to be truth. How do we tell which is really truth?

A: There is a Buddhist teaching that one must not mistake the finger pointing to the moon for the moon itself. All religious systems of thought are fingers pointing to the moon. The Dharma is not the Truth; the Bible is not the Truth; the Koran is not the Truth. To bow, chant, bind one's head and arm or face east in prayer are not Truth. They are all fingers pointing to the moon.

As you regard these "fingers," these paths, one will speak to your heart. It will call you to focus your attention in such a way that you finally begin to look beyond the finger and clearly see That to which it points. Then you will have found Truth. You will continue to have deep love and respect for the religious path that allowed you to see Truth, but you will know the difference between the path and the destination.

Q: Sometimes I feel a push to work on spiritual things; other times I feel lazy. Does it matter?

A: You are always working on "spiritual things." Each moment of your life, each thought, feeling, or event, is part of your path and planned to teach you. You have free will, and you decide whether or not you will utilize these opportunities to learn what you came to learn.

There is no time schedule here; you have all the time you need. But you must recognize that each moment is precious. There is only one "now." Learn what you can in this moment and you will be a wiser and more compassionate person in the next "now."

Q: You say we should learn from our mistakes. What are my worst mistakes?

A: If another must point out your mistakes, you are not yet ready to learn from them. I urge you to look deeply, but compassionately, into yourself and your mistakes and areas of learning will become obvious. If there are special questions you have relating to this, I'd be glad to answer them, but another being cannot do your learning for you.

Q: What is the meaning in the song of a bird?

A: You do not want the scientific, technical meaning here. The deeper meaning is Love!

Q: Will you incarnate again in a physical body?

A: I think not, dear ones. I have finished my work on your plane and have learning elsewhere. I must go where my own path leads me.

Social Issues

Q: Talk about the plight of the homeless people in the world.

A: To which home do you refer, your spiritual home or that house you build to maintain your illusion that the body is all that needs a home? In truth, you are all home. You have never left. The illusion that you are separate from God is in itself what drives you to pierce that illusion, and understand your oneness.

Perhaps the physically homeless are one step further in penetrating the illusion.

Q: What can be done about starvation in the world?

A: Starvation is caused by the fear in some of you that there will not be enough, that your needs will go unmet. Fear drives some to take more than their share, and others starve.

When you outgrow this sense of self and other, when you learn the lessons of love, then there will no longer be need for starvation.

Please recognize that each starving person offers a gift of teaching to those who view themselves as separate, who out of fear must hoard against a shortage. How many children must you see starve before you transcend your fear and learn the lessons of love and oneness?

Q: I understand what you've said about starvation, but what about the reality of it? Are you saying it's all right to let people starve?

A: OH NO! It is NEVER all right to allow suffering and not try to alleviate it. On the physical plane, work as hard as you can so that not a single person need starve. But you must also recognize that on the spiritual plane, each soul has chosen its course with its own wisdom. Your lives weave an intricate tapestry. None of you stands separate from all others. Perhaps that starving child is here to teach you wisdom and compassion, and you are here to see that she need not suffer. You are all learning from each other.

Q: Aaron, can you talk about child abuse?

A: Violence against any being, for any reason, is never to be condoned. But what is being learned here? Trust the wisdom of that soul which gives itself into suffering to teach another. Is this not what Jesus did when he died on the cross?

Your lives interweave with infinite complexity. You teach each other and learn from each other. Always work to overcome violence in your world, but when it occurs, and any being dies or suffers, honor that being for the gift of its suffering, which is meant to teach you all.

Q: Is AIDS a punishment?

A: NO! NO! NO! AIDS is simply a disease. Let it teach you about love, not about fear! Open your hearts to its teaching.

Political Concerns

Q: Nationalism seems to lead to hate, yet some countries do have so much more personal freedom. Is it wrong to defend that freedom?

A: National boundaries accentuate your separateness. This is all illusion. You build your fences out of fear, and they keep you separate, safe within the illusion yet desperately alone and afraid.

When enough of you learn to trust and love, the fences will come down and you will all know that the differences between you are very minute compared to the oneness that binds you.

Q: Are you saying that the arms race is unnecessary?

A: The arms race perpetuates the illusion that fear can serve as a bridge to oneness. NO. NO. NO! This illusion is not truth. Only by letting go of your fear can you learn to love, and only through love can you move beyond your fear. You must begin somewhere. Each of you, individually, must learn to listen to that inner voice that bids you to love and trust.

Q: Are you saying we can trust other nations that have weapons pointed at us? History shows that our protection lies in our strength.

A: What history? How old are your souls? I do not mean to minimalize the issues of your present world, but look at it for a moment from my perspective and not your human one.

How many individual beings have lived and died? How many nations have lived and died? Always there will be places of greater personal freedom and places with less, until you all learn the real lesson here, that of love. When you can begin to live your lives from that truth there will be no more need of nations, nor of governments as you know them. Then all your lives can be lived from the truth of love, and not from fear.

Q: Aren't you being awfully utopian in this idea?

A: Not at all. You are all evolving toward a higher consciousness. More and more, you are all getting ready to live your lives in love.

Q: When will we have world leaders who are ready to lead us toward world peace?

A: When enough of you have learned to love, and choose such leaders.

Q: You talk about trust. How can we learn to trust?

A: Learn to listen with your hearts. Learn to love and you will walk through life with truth, and that truth will be a radiance which touches and illuminates all lives.

Cosmic Humor

Q: Hey, Aaron, heard any new jokes this week?

A: If I told you a good one and that it was at least nine hundred years old, would you be offended? The beauty of reincarnation is that not only the spirit but the jokes get another chance!

Q: Aaron, what happens to all the socks that disappear from my laundry?

A: They spin into the higher densities and we thoroughly enjoy them here, as we don't have the idea you humans do that they must match. They are very colorful!

Q: Would you mind sending some favorites back? In return, I'll send you the ones that were pairs to socks that got holes.

A: We'd be glad to ask them if they will return, but you must understand that if they come back it must be through reincarnation. They will be very small, infant socks, you might say.

Q: If time is non-linear, can't you send them back before they get lost and need to reincarnate?

A: That would be before you've made this request and they'll simply spin away again! To ask them not to spin away would be a violation of their free will.

Q: Can you just keep sending them back?

A: Please note that they do not belong to you but merely agree to live with you. If they have decided to pursue their journey elsewhere, what right have I to interfere? I think you had best take it up with the socks.

Have you heard the saying, "Trust God and tie your camel"? Before you wash them, ask them if they will please remain in the machine and express your love and appreciation. Then pin them together. You may lose whole pairs but at least you won't have odd socks. Or start a new custom of wearing mismatched socks. They really are very lovely that way! Are there further questions?

Q: Do you report back to anyone on the spirit plane about your work with us?

A: It's not quite "reporting" yet I do convey important information to others here, such as some of the funnier jokes I learned last night.

Q: You tell us nothing is ever lost, but just goes somewhere else or changes form. If my ego keeps getting smaller, doesn't it have to go somewhere? Where is all the ego of all the enlightened beings?

A: Certainly. We have a big "ego bin" here and recycle it. It's far more efficient that way. Often we offer it to aspiring politicians and world savers. If we had to transmute ego energy each time it surfaced, we'd never have time to ponder the wonder of butterflies!