Beyond Heaven and Earth

by Steven H. Propp

  A number of voices whispered excitedly, “Did you hear that? Who was that?” “She’s from Mu; Andrew’s manifested her several times before,” before Lucy succeeded in getting them all quiet again. Jobran took advantage of the confusion to glance at his watch again: 8:36. Lucy held up her hands again, and silence took hold of the room once more.

  Suddenly, Andrew’s head jerked up to life, his eyes opened, and a broad smile came to his lips, and he said, in a deep masculine voice, “I am Omazio! I have come to share the message of peace and acceptance with you, my Beloved.” (“Omazio’s” accent seemed vaguely English to Jobran.) Omazio continued, “Peace be with you, my Beloved; my gentle flowers, my lambs, my precious doves. Your presence here this evening is a blessed event—not just to me, but to each other, and for all of sacred eternity! You are so beautiful, so lovely, so holy; the entire planet is being blessed by your spirits.”

  They’re just eating this up, Jobran thought, looking cautiously about the room, seeing the blissful smiles on the women present.

  Omazio continued, moving on to talk about things of practical concern, such as energy fields associated with gender, male/female differences, relationships, our working lives, infinite love, physical love, emotional intimacy, self-image, eating disorders, true beauty, unrestricted bliss, and many other topics. He seemed to travel from one topic to the next in a rambling sequence, without any sense of logical progression, but at the same time he seemed intimately attuned to the “mood” of his audience: whenever they seemed to have had enough of a given topic, he immediately switched to a fresh one. Most amazingly, “Omazio” never seemed to have to pause to gather his thoughts, and never used terms like “uh,” “umm,” and so on, but continued speaking in his freeflow chain, only pausing long enough to allow Andrew to catch his breath before continuing. Finally, he paused dramatically for several seconds, then said, “You are my jewels, my treasure, my garlands of lovely scarlet, and every one of you is loved—deeply, fully, completely, and eternally, just as you are. My peace I leave with you, my Beloved.”

  Suddenly, Andrew’s head slumped to his chest again, and he was silent. Jobran looked at his watch: 9:25.

  After waiting a moment to ensure that Andrew was not still in trance, Lucy rose to her feet, and said matter-of-factly, but with a bright smile, “We’ll break for 15 minutes. There’s tea in the next room, and you know where the bathroom is. If you need to smoke, please go out on the patio through the side door over there.” And she began graciously but efficiently herding them all out of the living room.

  Jobran glanced back, and saw that Andrew had apparently not moved. Does someone need to stay here with him? he wondered. But seeing that Lucy and the others who had been through these sessions many times didn’t seem concerned, he shrugged his shoulders and followed the rest of the group.

  He accepted a cup of hot tea, declining the offer of any sweetener to add to it. He found himself wandering about the edge of the group, trying to look inconspicuous, but carefully listened to and observing their reactions to the messages they had just heard. By and large, they were ecstatic, except that a few persons did not seem to like the Kui entity much. “She’s too negative,” he heard one woman comment. “Besides: maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I don’t think that men should channel female entities.” “But Andrew is different; he has a lot of feminine energies,” came the response, which didn’t seem to satisfy the questioner.

  Lucy had succeeded in getting her husband (who was now smiling and wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and slippers underneath a purple robe, and looked as relaxed as if he had already drunk most of his six-pack) to “come and say ‘Hi’ to the girls,” and he did so quite graciously, even giving Lucy a warm hug before excusing himself to return to his den.

  Disrupting his attempts to look inconspicuous, Jana came and stopped directly in front of Jobran. “Well?” she asked, pointedly. “What do you think?”

  Jobran shrugged his shoulders.

  She laughed gently. “I thought so. So far in this session, it seems like Omazio has been geared more to us ‘repeat customers,’ and is focusing on the kinds of things we ask Andrew about in the Question-and-Answer sessions afterward. But I don’t suppose this is of much relevance to you in your study of life after death?”

  Jobran shook his head, and said, “Not really.” Discouragement in his voice, he added, “You think there’s much chance for change in the second session? If not, I may as well leave to go to work.”

  “Wait, let me see,” Jana said, and energetically motioned for Lucy to come join them.

  “Isn’t this great?” Lucy asked, still beaming.

  “Actually, I think Jobran’s a little disappointed,” Jana said. “He was kind of hoping that Omazio would talk a little more about what the other world is like.”

  “Omazio is the only entity that Andrew manifests that talks much about the other worlds,” Lucy said, a doubtful expression on her face, “I don’t know if Andrew can manifest Omazio twice in the same evening; he’s never done that since the earliest days. Manifesting Omazio is more physically exhausting to him, much more than any of the other entities he does.”

  “Maybe you could talk to Andrew?” Jana asked. Indicating Jobran, she added pointedly, “Remember that Jobran is a first-timer, and we’ve been trying to get some more men to participate in the group, after all.”

  “I guess it wouldn’t hurt; he should be out of trance by now,” Lucy said. “After all, we want your first impression to be a good one, don’t we?” and she gave Jobran a wink, then disappeared into the other room.

  “Thanks,” Jobran told Jana, who smiled and said, “No problem,” as she sipped her tea.

  “So tell me, who is Omazio supposed to be?” Jobran asked her. “An extraterrestrial, or maybe one of those ‘composite’ entities?”

  “No, he’s strictly earthbound,” Jana replied. “Except for his time in the spirit world in-between incarnations. But he’s been incarnated ten times so far, so that’s why he knows so much about the death process and the next world.”

  “If he’s not a supernatural being,” Jobran wondered, “Why should anyone put any trust in what he says about relationships, intimacy, or love? Didn’t Marianne Williamson say in one of her tapes that the mere fact that a channeled entity is 50,000 years old doesn’t necessarily mean that what it says is true?”

  “She did, and she’s right,” replied Jana, without batting an eyelash. “But Omazio has been both male and female in previous incarnations, and has experienced every sort of relationship you can imagine: straight, gay, bi, open, closed, monogamous, polygamous, you name it. So you might say that he has just had a wealth of practical experience by living through and remembering ten lifetimes, and so he is able to share what he’s learned with us now.” She held up her hand, then added, “But always remember—you don’t have to accept anything Omazio, or any other channeled entity says, unless it accords with your own beliefs and experience. There’s no compulsion with channeling; this isn’t a religion, where you have to accept certain dogmas and beliefs.”

  Before Jobran could reply, they heard Lucy beckoning them back into the living room. Jana went over and knocked on the window to the patio, to let the smokers know that it was time to come back in. After taking breath mints, freshening their makeup, and checking their outfits in the hall mirror, they were all once again seated in the living room as before. Andrew had already assumed his previous meditative posture, and was performing his breathing exercises. Lucy held up her hands for silence, again.

  After only a minute or two, Andrew’s head snapped to attention again, and his eyes once again opened, but this time there was a directness and a fierceness to them, as he said, “I am Omazio! Once again the one you call Andrew has drawn me out, and I have made the journey, due to the depths of the feeling that I have for you, my Beloved.” Omazio then got into much more substantive teaching
, as follows:

  Beloved, I offer my teaching to you out of love; I have nothing to ‘prove’ to you. My teaching stands on its own, and is independent of any sort of evidentiary standards. There is no need to offer evidences, to analyze data, to convince skeptics, because the Truth is its own validation.

  Do you think that my words are fantasies, dreams, illusions? Then you are not only mistaken, but you are in exactly the opposite of the truth, for that which you think is ‘real’ is nothing but illusion. This so-called ‘physical’ world is insubstantial, nonexistent. It is nothing but an inessential creation, the manifestation of its preceding thought essences.

  Time, too, is but an illusion. You flatter yourselves by thinking yourself ‘young,’ or devalue yourself by thinking yourself ‘old,’ but these are all fantasies. There is no ‘past’ or ‘present’; any knowledge, and any awareness that you have of the past or the future is based upon your experience of it now, in the present instant. In the eternal spirit world—the only world of substance—all events are simultaneous. There is only the eternal instant, the Now, the immediate instant of consciousness. It is eternal, it is indivisible, it encompasses all of history, all of the future, in the immediate moment.

  Even as you believe in time, so you believe in space. You think that things have ‘extension,’ that they physically exist in some precise location. But where does a thought exist? Where is a prayer located? Can you locate your eternal essence on a map? No!

  Beloved, never forget that you are all eternal spirit essences. Do you feel that you have problems? Troubles? Concerns? Beloved, why are you concerned? How can you be lost in this world, when you are so loved by the All-Encompassing?

  It is foolish to think of our troubles in this world as being caused by Satan, the Devil. Do you think that the All-Encompassing would allow such an evil being to operate unchecked, undoing all of the All-Encompassing’s purposes in the world? What nonsense!

  You believe in a supposed ‘duality’ of all things: Hate/Love, Good/Evil, Black/White, Rich/Poor, Male/Female, Gay/Straight, yet you do not realize that these are also but illusions. If there were no ‘poor,’ how could you call someone ‘rich’? These concepts arise mutually, and interpenetrate each other as do the yin and yang symbols; there is no precise point of boundary or distinction between them. You may think that now, in this present incarnation, you are a ‘female’ or a ‘male’ being, yet these are fictitious concepts. The behavior patterns you associate with ‘maleness’ and ‘femaleness’ are all invented, they have no permanent existence. Ultimately, we are all beyond gender distinctions, because our eternal essence is not physical, but spiritual.

  All of you are here, in this time and place, because you have chosen to be here. You are not the effect of preceding causes; you yourself are the cause, the motive force, the initiator. Your past does not create you, you create it, in one eternal, unchanging action, for we create our own reality from eternity to eternity.

  Do you think that some things are ‘real,’ while other things are ‘false’? The only falsity lies in your thinking it so. Do you think that there are such things as ‘coincidences,’ that certain things are of your own choosing, whereas other things ‘happen to you’? There are no coincidences, and nothing can truly happen to you without your tacit consent. This was the case with your birth, when you chose to be incarnated in this world, in this situation. It will also be the case with your death, your temporary shedding of your physical limitations in order to be rejuvenated with more vigorous knowledge as a spirit being, before returning once again to the physical realm for further growth.

  You can think of this world as a school, but one far more rigorous than one you ever attended in your youth. For your object here is not simply to achieve some external grade, obtain a degree or diploma—which is nothing more than a worthless piece of paper, after all—your object is to achieve God-realization, and union with the All-Encompassing, for we are all God, in this undeployed form and bodily manner. Once we have understood experientially our own Godhood, we will achieve perfection. To achieve this realization, however, may require many more cycles.

  You cannot expect that the present world will be perfect, however; indeed, if it were perfect, how would you learn? How would you achieve? How would you accomplish anything of lasting value? It is only through effort that you can come to your own level of godly manifestation.

  My Beloved, some of you remain trapped with feelings of guilt, and lack of self-worth. You fear that the All-Encompassing views you as ‘sinful,’ and unworthy. But I am speaking to you from beyond the veil, from eternity, and I can tell you that there is no such thing as ‘right’ and ‘wrong’! This is because nothing can violate the purposes of the All-Encompassing! Truly, all things work together for the ultimate good of each and every being.

  The All-Encompassing will not ‘punish’ you for your actions or beliefs! How very absurd! There is nothing you can do that would harm or negatively affect the All-Encompassing. And whom would the All-Encompassing be punishing, but itself? Do you think that one person is poor, and another is blind, and another has AIDS, because of something they did? No, all of these things are just challenges, opportunities, chosen by us in order to achieve greater levels of spiritual growth. Think of this world as being like a stage, on which we are all acting out our parts in a play, but unlike the conceptions of some Eastern philosophies, this play has a purpose—that of supreme God-manifestation!

  You did not commit some primordial ‘Original Sin.’ You did not ‘Fall’ by eating a piece of fruit containing the knowledge of good and evil—how foolish a thought! Don’t you know that the All-Encompassing wants you to know the nature of ‘ good’ and ‘evil,’ and to see its origin within your own reality? You do not need to be ‘saved’ by some force external to yourselves; you can save yourselves, by your own efforts, your own energies. You yourselves possess all the needed power, you are sufficient unto yourselves.

  The highest value is understanding, or comprehension. This is the only truth, the only sacred thing at this earthly level. To understand something truly, in its deepest essence, is to know all. To understand something deeply and completely is to achieve eternal life, right here and now.

  But Beloved, some of you remain concerned about the ultimate so-called ‘death’ of your physical being. What of our ‘soul’ you say? Do we not persist as conscious beings, beyond our physical death?

  Fear not, Beloved; you do exist beyond your bodily death, done at this physical plane of existence. I have been through the stage called ‘death’ many times, and I can assure you that the transition from life to so-called ‘death’ is completely free from pain. It is only life, and the travails associated with this physical body, in which pain may be manifested in us. But that which is your ultimate essence, your cosmic reality, your eternal nature indeed shall live forever!

  Don’t you understand that your ability to realize, even momentarily, the infinite nature of the All-Encompassing, proves that you yourself must be equally eternal? It would be impossible for the finite to comprehend the Infinite; therefore, you are mistaken—you are not in fact finite, but you in actuality are a single glorious spark of the infinite Divine flame.

  Your Spirit Soul is not something you ‘have,’ as with those teachers that say that humans consist of mind, body, and spirit. In truth, everything that constitutes ‘you’ is contained within your one Spirit Soul; it is absolutely indivisible. It is your essence; the summation, and the consummation of all that you are.

  So be at peace, Beloved! The tidings I bring to you are assured and irrefutable. Your part is but to continue on your journey to self-realization, so that you may one day join me in the Infinite, all-encompassing, and unspeakable bliss of that which is All in All…”

  Suddenly, Andrew’s body jerked, and his voice stopped. The animated face of “Omazio” was replaced by Andrew’s own agitated look. He looked back a
nd forth around the room, seemingly disoriented.

  “Wow! That was intense!” said one excited woman, unable to keep silent. When they saw that Lucy (who herself looked rather nonplussed) did not reprimand her for speaking, the rest of the group began talking in very animated tones. Lucy had gone forward, and was talking gently to Andrew, who seeming to be starting to recognize her, and nodded to her. Standing and facing the group, Lucy announced, “That will have to end this evening’s session, folks; sorry it’s a little early—but we got to hear from Omazio twice tonight, so I don’t think there’s anyone who will complain!” There was general applause from the group, which continued for several minutes, and Lucy and Andrew looked pleased. Finally, Lucy held up a hand to bring an end to the applause, and said, “As usual, refreshments are in the other room.” While the rest of the group excitedly adjourned to the refreshment room, Jobran glanced back to see Lucy open a 20-ounce can of a popular brand of malt liquor and hand it to Andrew, who gulped it greedily, finishing it in about 20 seconds. Taking the empty can from his unsteady hand, she lit a cigarette and handed it to him (in violation of her own “house rule”!), and he sucked down the smoke greedily, as Lucy sat patting and rubbing his hand gently. Strange, thought Jobran. His watch showed 10:08.

  Entering the next room, Jobran saw that Lucy’s husband was considerably mellower, and had placed all the serving trays out, and was playing the part of gracious host quite well and amiably.

  As soon as she could work her way past the other people, Jana went up to Jobran and demanded, “How was that? Any better?”

  “That was definitely better,” Jobran said. “I got my money’s worth that time.”

  Jana looked pleased. “I told you Andrew was my favorite channeler,” she said, adding in an undertone, “And I just wish that some of these old biddies would get with it about Kui; she’s really quite profound—Andrew did her in a private session for me once, and she’s really got a lot to say, even if some of it is just the least bit scary.” She grimaced a bit, then added, “So who cares if Andrew’s a male? T.Z. Knight’s a beautiful lady, but she manifests a sometimes-vicious warrior!”