Did you ever hear the story about John Lennon and the promise he made about his death? He told his son Julian that after he left this world, he would communicate with him by appearing in the form of a white feather to let him know he was okay.
Julian told no one about the promise and for many years there was no sign from his father. Then one day, while on tour in Australia, Julian was presented with a white feather by an Aboriginal tribal elder. He claimed that seeing the feather took his breath away, it was the sign he had been waiting for.
A Christian author says there’s another way to communicate with those who have passed.
In the book Cross of a Different Kind, Cancer and Christian Spirituality, Anthony Maranise reminds us that humans are more than physical beings, we’re spiritual beings endowed with a soul—and those souls survive death. He says that when we “sense” the presence of our loved ones, it’s not by accident, they’re there with us. Maranise writes:
Souls don’t cease interaction merely because the embodied vessel in which we came to know them is no longer a usual fixture in our lives. Souls still know us, love us, and love to hear from us—even intervene and intercede for us.
While he says we can’t communicate directly with them, Maranise claims we can talk to our deceased loved ones through a middle man: “prayer directed to God.” The author writes that “God understands our need to speak and to continue to communicate with those we have come to know and love in this life.” God then passes our messages along to them.
Is there an easier way to communicate with our deceased loves ones? Maybe.
In California there’s a woman by the name of Christina Rasmussen who teaches people how to reconnect with loved ones who are no longer with us. She wrote about the process in her recent book Where Did You Go? A Life-Changing Journey to Connect with Those We’ve Lost. It’s a process she uses herself to communicate with her own late-husband.
Rasmussen believes that “when a loved one dies, we can open a door between this world and the next.” That door leads us to a meeting place where we can visit and connect with our deceased loved ones, soul-to-soul. But before we go to this place, let’s look at the beliefs behind the idea.
The author states that “the people you lost are not actually gone forever” because when we die, it’s not in our reality but in someone else’s. She continues:
The essence of who we are, our individual consciousness, continues after death. There’s a world beyond this one. It’s hidden. Our loved ones have gone there, and we can, too. Without dying. We can access it, regardless of our religious beliefs or lack of any mystical abilities.
Rasmussen loosely bases her beliefs on principles from quantum physics and the idea that “when we entangle with other humans, with other particles, we are never separated.” In other words, the strong bonds that form during this life, that connect us with loved ones even when we are physically separated, also continue after death.
A mind-blowing concept, huh? What makes this idea even more radical is that instead of waiting for a sign from our deceased loved one, as Julian Lennon did, or entrusting our communications to God, as Anthony Marinise suggests, we become the initiator of the contact with the deceased. We do this in a place Rasmussen calls the Temple World.
To experience this world, she says that we need to mute, or power down, our five senses and use a sixth sense, “the ability and skill to perceive something or someone that the other senses can’t detect.” This sixth sense, something we all possess, allows us to access the Temple World, which while seemingly real, has no physical location and is “made of pure energy.”
The first step to entering the world is via a mental exercise that involves passing through “the door.” Yes, a literal door, but one that you conjure up in your mind—it can be any shape or size and can be made of any material. The door creates an opening that allows you to enter into “another dimension and a different state of consciousness,” much like you would during an out-of-body experience.
I was in contact with Christina about “the door,” and asked whether it was a prerequisite. I wondered if you couldn’t just come upon a clearing and walk into the Temple World. Her response:
Some never see a door, they just find themselves inside the journey. These types of journeyers seem to not need an opening. Their brain is more ready to find its way in, without having to use a familiar and safe entry point. Others, see just an opening. And some find that music is enough to enter the journey. They are immediately there.
What I’m providing below is a greatly condensed, edited version of the Temple World journey, the full details are in the book. It’s recommended you take the journey once daily. Also, here’s one additional note of guidance from Christina:
You’re going to ask your brain to take you as far as it can…as you go through the door, let go of the logical, linear, and spatial physical experience of the body and switch to letting your consciousness guide you.
The 7 Steps of Connecting with a Deceased Loved One
- Take a deep breath. Then, with your eyes closed, walk slowly toward a door, or whatever type of opening you see. When you see your door, take a good look at it; notice the details.
- Start approaching the door. Imagine wisdom and light emanating from it. Soak up this wisdom and light.
- Draw closer and closer to the door. It may be slightly open; it may need to be opened. Cross the threshold of the door and as you do, feel the energy and joy.
- Look around you. You are standing at the entryway to the Temple World. How big is it? Is there a place to sit? Is it circular? Is it narrow or vast? As you look around, what stands out?
- Find a place to sit down or, if you wish, you can continue walking. You’ll feel a sense of calm and knowing.
- Absorb this reality, how it looks, how it feels. Is there anyone there? What are you seeing or feeling? Be open to whatever comes to you. Look around. Do you see your beloved? Capture what you see in your heart and mind and slowly turn back toward the door. Cross its threshold back into everyday reality.
- Take a deep breath and wait a moment. When you’re ready, make a few notes. Feel the peace that remains and know that you can make the journey anytime you want.
In point 6 above, you’ll see that you are asked to look around, specifically for your “beloved,” a loved one you lost. Many people see their loved one on their first visit. For others, it takes a few visits. But according to Rasmussen, virtually everyone finds the loved one they’re looking for in the Temple World and, in most cases, a wordless form of communication ensues between the living and the deceased.
Wait a second. How do I know I’m not just making this all up in my head?
I was wondering about the difference between a real Temple World journey—and a journey of the imagination, one where you paint a vivid picture in your head and imagine seeing and connecting with your lost loved one. It’s a question I posed to Rasmussen. Here’s an edited version of her response:
There is a big distinction between what your imagination can create and what it feels like to have an experience. When we imagine something, it feels like thinking, or visualizing. When the journeyer has an experience, it feels like they went somewhere and they had no control of the journey.
It is almost like when you are dreaming, you are in a very different place. The body loses its presence. Some people feel tingling. Warmth. And spinning. They lose time. Even if imagination started the journey what happens next is far away from imagining. It is as if something opens through the Temple World and it doesn’t go away once they are back.
When the journey feels like our imagination we have not really left this reality. We are still here, but close to the opening. The deeper we go the more chances we have in experiencing the journey and know without a doubt this was an experience and not something our imagination created.
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