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Mindstates
Messages from Beyond
A Conversation with James Van Praagh
by Sydney L. Murray
What happens to people after they die? Is there life after death? James Van Praagh, medium, clairvoyant, teacher and bestselling author of Ghosts Among Us and Unfinished Business: What the Dead Can Teach Us About Life, is world famous for bridging the gap between the living and the dead. For those of you who watch TV, he is the original Ghost Whisperer, a widely popular show on CBS, and has appeared on Oprah, Larry King Live, Dr. Phil, A&E Biography, Maury Povich, 20/20, and 48 Hours.
For the past 25 years, Van Praagh has been sharing his paranormal experiences with the world, empowering people to learn from the wisdom of the dead, heal from the loss of a loved one and get in touch with their own spiritual abilities. Recently I had the chance to speak with him about his unique experiences and his belief that life takes on a whole new meaning when we realize that, living or dead, we are all connected as one.
Vision Magazine: How can we access the wisdom of those who have passed over?
James Van Praagh: Everyday the spirits try to influence us in some way, whether it is through different signs or maybe a thought that comes through to us. The best way to contact them is through meditation and going to that silence. Then you begin to open up and hear because you’re not in that rational mindset. You get to hear the subtle whispers and messages from them. And then you start really paying attention.
Because they are outside of linear time, they can see a little bit of the past and a little bit of the future. It’s like a helicopter above the road. They can tell you where the detours are and warn you. And it’s really that intuition that we all have; we’re all born with it. It might feel like I shouldn’t turn down this street, I shouldn’t go to that meeting, or this person isn’t good for me. They can guide us that way.
VM: Is there a meditation that people can do to ask for guidance from those on the other side?
JVP: Definitely. There is a regular meditation which I have created. But people can do it by just going within, centering and learning to listen with their hearts, which is one of the hardest things to do, because people are in their heads a lot, always thinking, thinking, thinking. It’s about bringing the energy into feeling. I work with the heart energy—that emotional center. That’s the real stuff because love is real—it’s the only thing that’s real. So when the spirits come through at an emotional level, it’s so that you can hear them clearly. The best way to get to that emotional part of us is really through meditation and the heart space. Then you ask for guidance. And that’s it.
VM: Why do you think that in this human form, we sometimes make life difficult for ourselves?
JVP: My philosophy is simple: This is our schoolroom down here and there are definitely lessons that we come back to learn. Some of those lessons might be about compassion, forgiveness, loving yourself, respecting others—whatever it is for that particular soul. We set up this blueprint before we come back on this Earth of what our classes are going to be this time around. And we do it with other people too; our family and friends are our soulmates. We come with a group and learn together. The people in your life who are the hardest to deal with are your greatest teachers. If you go by the theory that we’re all one and we’re all connected, then they’re actually a reflection of what’s going on inside of you and you’ve got to learn something about yourself through them.
Life is a series of choices and the choices are based upon love or fear. It’s very much like tuning into a certain station on a radio. I can tune into that fear station very easily or I can choose love. So it’s really tuning into that loving vibration and realizing that people do things for different reasons. Maybe it’s the level that they’re on or their understanding of something. Everybody has a station that they’re tuning into and we need to respect each other’s path as what we need to learn this time around.
We are God, energy, or whatever you want to call that light. And our natural state of being is love. God says yes, so we can have anything in our lives that we want. And why don’t we get what we want right away? Because the ego says no. The ego blocks that God energy because the ego is fear in many respects.
VM: Would you say that by tuning into love, we break down the ego?
JVP: There is a healthy ego and there is a destructive ego, which is fear-based. A healthy ego can be good to help motivate you. For instance, my ego had to be somewhat decent in order to get out there in front of the public. If I didn’t believe in my work or in myself, I couldn’t do it. A lot of people can’t be successful or get things done if they don’t have a healthy ego. But if people seem egotistical, it’s really just insecurity being projected as the ego. They have a void inside themselves. They actually don’t have a strong ego because there is such a void that they overcompensate, making it look like there’s an ego, when really, there isn’t. Somebody once asked me at the workshop, “How do you know that what’s coming through is real?” And I said the only way you know it’s real is if you’re true to yourself. The more you know yourself, the more you know your truth. You know what’s real and what’s not. But you have to know yourself. And how do you do that? Again, through meditation and having a relationship with the inner world—the world of the silent.
VM: Can you talk about your belief that all things are derived from spirit?
JVP: This world is an illusion. Most of us are just aware of the vibration of the frequency we’re on. I often use the analogy in my workshops of cell phones, TVs and radios. Your voice is going out to the ether in the sky when you’re on your cell phone. You don’t hear the voices in the sky, but you know they exist because we receive them on our TVs and radios, and we hear the other person’s voice on our phones. So that means they have to be somewhere. Those waves are just at a different frequency; just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. We are spirits having a physical experience. We need a body for the spirit to walk in this dimension. But it’s all spirit, first and foremost.
I had a near-death experience three years ago from food poisoning. I went to the bathroom, blacked out and my head hit the sink. I was looking down at my body from the corner of the room. I remember this sense of oneness. That’s all there was—there was no time like we have here. It felt like there was this big universal tapestry and a thread was connected from the top of my head to the tapestry. And every single person has a thread to this tapestry. The more you love, the brighter your thread is, and in turn, the brighter the tapestry is. And when you’re in that dimension, you have the perspective that we’re all one. I also use the analogy of ice cubes: When you take ice cubes out of the freezer, they’re individual. But when you put them in a glass or a bowl and let them sit for awhile, what happens? They melt and become one; you can’t differentiate one from the other. It’s the same thing with us.
VM: What do you think the year 2012 will bring?
JVP: I don’t think that it’s a literal thing. I believe that it’s an energetic transformation and it’s already starting to happen. We’re getting closer to the veil and the energy is speeding up. We’re evolving. When I first started to talk to dead people 25 years ago, people thought I was crazy. And when I went to sell the book, all the publishers thought that no one would want to read a book like this. And I said that we share two common experiences: one is birth and we’ve been through that, and the other is death. People want to know what’s going to happen when they die. And that’s exactly how it turned out because the consciousness is shifting. 2012 is a point to notice that the transformation is happening and that love is going to be the answer.
Experience An Evening of Spirit with James Van Praagh at Pala Casino in San Diego August 15, where he will share his personal techniques for developing psychic abilities, accelerating spiritual development, and healing from the pain of losing loved ones. For more information, visit www.vanpraagh.com. Get your tickets at www.ticketmaster.com or call 800.745.3000.