Saturday, 16 December, 2000
Michael: Hallo, my Higher Self. [a]
Higher Self: Hallo, Michael. Nice to see you again so soon.
Michael: Well, it's been a week. I suppose it's a coincidence,
since there's no special reason why I might come to you for a dialogue on
Saturday evenings.
It feels funny to say "Hallo, my Higher Self". But I can't think of
anything better; "Bivalia" doesn't feel right any more, and I can't think of
another name that feels more right.
Higher Self: It matters not. You should just use the best thing
that is available to you in the here and now, and needn't worry about what might
come in the future that's better. It is your intentions that count, not the
external form.
Michael: Well, today's Beethoven's birthday, of course. I can't
let that go by without a mention. He's 230 today.
Higher Self: And still writing the most wonderful, glorious music.
Unfortunately for you, it is higher-dimensional music that can't really be
presented in your physical world, but if anything it is even more wonderful than
that which you already know. And you will be able to hear it at some later
time, either when you leave the physical level, or perhaps when you physical
world takes that step in evolution that some call ascension. But I can tell
you, Ludwig is making quite a sensation in some of the higher realms with his
music in which he shares his great love with everyone.
Michael: Tell him I hope to meet him one day.
Higher Self: You will, indeed. It won't be the first time your
paths have crossed. In the end, after all the to-ing and fro-ing of
incarnations is over, it will turn out that we all know a great many more people
than we imagined we would. It shouldn't be surprising to find out that those
people we feel closest to, or whose work we have the most intense interest in,
will turn out to be people we have known for a very long time, whose paths have
crossed with our own time and time again through the aeons. It should not
surprise you to know that you have a great many musical friends in the universe,
and you will meet again and work together once more after this current time of
separation.
Michael: I almost gave you words slightly different from what you
just said. And I stopped and had to focus on spirit again, ask it to come more
fully into me, to be guided back to channelling your true thoughts and words.
Higher Self: Yes, I know. There is nothing to worry about; you did
the right thing.
Michael: I almost had you say that Beethoven was a close friend of
mine in stronger terms than you said, and had to stop and ask myself whether my
own wishful thinking, from my own mind, was getting in the way and masquerading
as your words.
Higher Self: It is okay. This is a very easy mistake to make, and
as long as you are alert to it and pull yourself up when you become aware of it,
you will handle it all right. And of course you should bear in mind that there
may be occasions when you do this and don't realize it, and do write down words
that are not purely from me. You have to realize that channelling, however pure
and honest, always has at least something of this hazard, and that is why no
channelled information should ever be taken as infallible, like some people take
scriptures. (For that matter, scriptures are either purely human writings, or
they are channelled - but whichever it is, they are subject to the same thing,
too.)
Michael: Yes, that's why I have little sympathy in general for
religions based on a book of some kind.
Higher Self: But of course such writings may contain much wisdom and
insight, if they are read with this consideration in mind, and with a critical
but open mind.
Anyway, although I can't promise that everything you write in your
dialogues under my name is absolutely pure, I can tell you that, on the whole,
you tune into me reasonably well, and manage to filter out most of what would be
grossly wrong; what slips through is not likely to be of any major concern.
Michael: Unless of course that statement itself is one of the
grossly wrong ones!
Higher Self: [LAUGHS.] Touché! Of course. But your
saying that in itself indicates a healthily critical mind.
Michael: I can't stay long now. I want to listen to New
Dimensions on the A.B.C. in 35 minutes or so, at 5 past midnight. It's a
kind of New-Age program, featuring an interview with some New-Age-oriented
person. Sometimes it interests me, and sometimes it doesn't, but I usually
like to tune in and see what it's like.
Higher Self: That's perfectly fine. I'm just glad you felt free to
drop in for a while, even though time is limited. As you know, I encourage you
to be free to drop in casually, even for a short time. I don't want you to
think a dialogue is such a deep serious thing that it can only be embarked upon
when you have hours and hours of unbroken time ahead of you.
Michael: And my mother just called while I was in the middle of
writing this dialogue and I had to break off for a couple of minutes. She just
rang to tell me that I could come to stay the night if I wanted to. I'm playing
at the Church of Antioch in the morning, and I don't like driving all that
distance (30 or 40 miles) so early in the morning when I'm likely still to be
tired. I had suggested to my mother earlier it would be nice if I could come to
her the previous night and spend the night there, but it wasn't possible because
she was having visitors that night. Well, she was just ringing to say they had
just left and I could come on if I wanted to. I will do that after I've
finished this dialogue. (I will probably listen to New Dimensions while I get
ready to go.)
Higher Self: Anyway, does anything special bring you here now? Or
did you just feel like a chat with me?
Michael: Oh, I don't know. A bit of both of those. I just went
out now to buy something I needed, and was struck by how tonight is full of the
spirit of summer. It's a very recognizable feeling, and it seemed to be
everywhere. While driving to the all-night service station, I noticed that a
new café in Healesville called "The Bodhi Tree" was open, and I decided to stop
there for something to eat and perhaps some iced coffee. (I had been
considering buying something to eat at the service station as well as the toilet
paper I needed to buy.) I had met the owner, Firak, a few times before: for
months he has been working there preparing things, and I sometimes met him if I
walked along the footpath at times when he was there, and chatted with him
occasionally. I guess I was curious to find out what sort of food he served,
and am always interested to check out anything new that happens along in
Healesville, which is rather small and gets a bit predictable at times.
Although I must say that I should soon be able to have my fridge working (having
at last completed my move from Trumper St.), so I won't need to rely so much on
take-away food (or sit in and eat food), but it's always nice to do that for a
change. (Yes, I've got most of my stuff here, except for some things still in
storage - but it's so crowded and chaotic yet that I still haven't got around to
moving my fridge into the kitchen and starting it going.)
Anyway, I sat down and had a focaccio, plus a complementary sample of
curry, followed by iced coffee, and I talked with Firak a little. I was already
noticing the spirit of summer: the warm air, insects hovering around lights,
people out and about late at night, and so on. The stars are bright when you're
away from the lights, and Venus was fairly bright in the western sky; the moon
isn't up yet, but it will probably be fairly bright, even though I expect it
will be far from full. (I don't remember what phase it's in now, but it might
be almost half-full and waning, or possibly even less than half.)
I went on to the service station and got the toilet paper, plus an
ice-cream (a very summery thing to have), and I could still feel the spirit of
summer, somehow.
Higher Self: Indeed, it is a most recognizable phenomenon. I'm glad
you are still able to be aware of these things.
Michael: Well, I guess I'm glad too; although I must say I find it
very difficult these days to believe in anything spiritual, and seeing a
phenomenon like that as somehow spiritual rather than purely as a physical,
material phenomenon, seems artificial and unconvincing, somehow.
Higher Self: Maybe it does seem that often; but still, you keep
thinking of it in those terms, which is a very good sign. You won't go too far
astray if you just keep that connection, and don't let it slip away.
Michael: I'm sure you understand why I have written few dialogues
recently, and why I still feel it's possible I could just write two or three
now, then fall into silence again. I think without other people to interact
with, it's very difficult to keep a sense of spirit.
Higher Self: Indeed it is; but you manage to, even if it is tenuous
at times. It is not an easy path you are following; you are not taking
convenient short-cuts such as conformist religions with their pre-digested
thinking. It is more difficult in the short term, and you do seem to lack what
many of the other people have - but refusing to bow down to conformist thinking,
refusing to accept dogmas on outside authority, will in the end yield the most
progress along the spiritual path.
The way you are doing it isn't easy, but all the same you manage to keep a
basic awareness of spirit, even if it seems to be dormant at times. You
wouldn't be writing this dialogue now if you didn't manage to keep this
awareness, and wouldn't have written our dialogue of a week ago. Since your
circumstances largely deny you of other people of compatible spiritual outlook
to associate with at the present time, such dialogues are a very valuable way of
keeping that feeling of spirit alive, of reminding yourself of the wonderful
hopes you know reside within you.
Don't lose heart, my friend. You are in less danger of losing that
awareness of spirit than you think, and things will change sooner or later: you
will find other people once again with whom you can share your feelings, just as
you did in the early and mid 1990s, when you became aware of the ascension
phenomenon and attended channelling, and had people to talk about these new
ideas with.
Michael: I think I just wanted to talk about that feeling of the
spirit of summer with you. I don't have anyone to talk about things of that
sort with, and it may seem like the desperate action of a pathetic little boy to
have an imaginary dialogue with an invisible companion so I can share some idea
in that fashion, if I lack a real-life person to share it with; but at the same
time I do have this feeling that if I can share it with someone, even if only an
invisible companion such as you (however little-boyish it might seem), I can
somehow anchor that spiritual feeling within me more firmly. If I just talk
about it, even in a dialogue with myself, so to speak, I somehow feel it will
serve to remind me of the things of spirit more often, keep that sense of spirit
alive.
Higher Self: Indeed, you are right; it will do that, and I would
encourage you to do this as often as you please, if it is the only way to keep
such feelings alive and in your mind. And I wouldn't worry about how
"little-boyish" it seems. While I wouldn't want to suggest that people at large
become childish in the sense of immature and ignorant of things, I might point
out that it would do your world a great deal of good if people did become more
child-like in some resepcts - such as retaning that sense of magic and wonder,
keeping the imagination active, being less subject to conventional conformist
"adult" ideas, being creative and spontaneous. To my mind, the "little-boyish"
aspect of what you've done tonight is like that rather than like the immature
side of being childish that I don't advocate (although even so it would be a lot
less harmful than many of the "adult" ways of thinking that are current in your
society).
Michael: Yes; well, thank you. I've nearly run out of time (it's
midnight now), and my mind is already starting to focus on other things. Not
only the program (which I could miss if I got involved enough in this
dialogue), but also a few things I have to do before setting out in the early
hours of the morning for my mother's. She'll be asleep, of course - but I don't
want to arrive there too late.
Higher Self: I will let you go now, my friend. Thank you for your
brief but delightful visit.
Michael: That does sound like we belong to a little
mutual admiration society.
Higher Self: I think things would be wrong if we didn't have
favourable feelings towards each other. It's when people are separated from
their Higher Selves that they get into trouble and start doing antisocial or
destructive things. No-one in tune with their Higher Selves would do anything
of that sort.
Michael: Okay. Good night then, Higher Self. (And do let me know
if you can think up a better way for me to address you than that.)
Higher Self: That is quite fine with me. Good night for now - and I
will look forward to our next meeting.
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