Free Inner Guidance by Anne Archer Butcher Page A

Our Divine Birthright
    I stood transfixed by the scene of the glorious waterfall. Ah, if the world could only know about this exquisite beauty, this absolute peace, this breathtaking world of divine Light and Sound. It felt like home, a place where we all belong.
    This world was now the only reality I ever wanted to experience.
    N ow that I was a student of Eckankar, I was learning so much. Pure love is the essence of life, I realized; it links us all together for the good of everyone.
    Each day, I was being reminded how inner guidance can work not only for oneself, but for the benefit of others, especially our loved ones. I was experiencing, as I did in this contemplation journey to the mysterious ocean, the divine inner connection that allows us to know things and sense things beyond the ken of our everyday awareness.
    Letting go and trusting the power of love is the heart of the journey we’re on. At the time, discovering this level of love was a startling new dimension of inner guidance.
    O ne night, a headache came on suddenly. I was getting ready to leave for the master’s-degree class that I attended three times a week, but my temples were pounding like a hammer, and with each throb came excruciating pain.
    Jon sat down on the couch with me as I became more lightheaded and dizzy from the headache. He sat holding me, concerned, wondering aloud if I needed to skip my class.
    Missing a three-hour class was greatly discouraged.
    If it happened twice, you were out. Besides, we were Inner Guidance_CH 06-10.p65
    62
    7/3/2013, 7:58 AM
    The Ocean of Love:
    Inner Guidance during an Out-of-Body Experience 63
    expecting a guest speaker that evening, an international expert in documented mystical and spiritual experiences. He was coming to share his stories and insights gleaned from encounters with outstanding shamans, mystics, and revered spiritual men and women of various paths and faiths. I certainly did not want to miss that.
    But a strange and powerful feeling was enveloping me—an eerie, cold sensation. I sensed the now-familiar, unspoken, yet perfectly clear, communication. My inner guidance was warning me about something, and soon the words came through, loud and clear: “Someone close to you appears to be dying.”
    I couldn’t believe it. First, I turned to Jon and asked him anxiously, “Do you feel well?”
    He laughed at my question. He felt fine. “Why are you asking me if I feel well? You’re the one with the headache.”
    And indeed, the headache and the message seemed to be linked somehow. But how? Maybe I was not listening intently enough to the message. I sat very still for a few minutes, listening more carefully and trying to ignore the pain. Was someone dying? If so, who? And was there something I needed to do about all of this?
    As a few minutes ticked by, I gained the impression it was someone else who was dying, someone emotionally close to me. My mind raced to figure out who it might be. I thought of my mother, so I walked to the phone and called her in South Carolina. All was well, and she felt fine.
    Next, I called my older sister in New York City. No answer, but this was not unusual for her. Debbe was a high-powered executive working for an international banking firm. Her life was busy, demanding, and full.
    I imagined her out for the evening in the city, laughing Inner Guidance_CH 06-10.p65
    63
    7/3/2013, 7:58 AM
    64
    Inner Guidance: Our Divine Birthright
    with friends and enjoying herself.
    I couldn’t think of anyone else I should call. Maybe I misunderstood the inner message. Maybe the problem was actually with me. Needing relief from the headache, I remembered to send out a silent plea for guidance and protection.
    “Please help me!” I said.
    H arold Klemp writes, “Dreams, visions, and other experiences mean nothing in themselves. But in the context of our spiritual life, they are signs of how much we are in accord with life. In fact, the whole point of life is to teach us how to come