When Erik describes Heaven, I react differently depending on the state of affairs in my life. If the shit’s hitting the fan, I’m like, “Sign me up. Let’s get a first class ticket for Mama E!” But when I’m loving life as I have recently, I’m more hesitant. The thought of having no contrast sounds, well, boring as hell. Let’s see what Erik has to say about it. 

Me: Some people wonder if spirits get bored. Like [my son] Lukas said, “Ugh, I don’t think I wanna die. Heaven sounds boring!”

Jamie laughs.

Erik: It’s definitely not boring! There’s way more to do here than there is on Earth. I think people believe that if they don’t have conflict or chaos, that things are boring because you can only be happy for so long before something goes wrong.

Me: Yeah.

Erik: Well, that’s just human training. We don’t need that shit here.

Me: Good.

(Pause)

Me: Tell me more. One thing is you don’t get that element of surprise or anticipation, “Ooo, I wonder what’s going to happen next.” Not only bad stuff, but good stuff, too.

No surprise birthday parties and no meeting your husband at the door in a negligeé.

Erik: Yeah, that element of surprise is dampened a little bit, but there’s still discovery. You can still come across things that are perceived as new even though you already attained that knowledge. It’s kind of like how people fall into amnesia like a pretend amnesia or fake to forget—

???

Erik: Or just stopped eating bread for ten years and then had a piece of bread. It’s like a new experience.

Me: Oh, I see. Okay.

Erik: That’s how it is here. No matter what, we can get all the information, but at the same time, if we want to know, we can just kind of go to that spot and gather up that information and know.

Me: Okay.

Erik: But if we don’t want it that way, we just kind of go into it without consciously wanting to receive the information beforehand, and, as you might say, we muddle our way through it.

Me: Well, do you like it there better than you like it here?

Erik: Is this a trick question?

Me: Mm mm.

Erik: Yes.

Me: What about others? Are there spirits who prefer to be on Earth as a human?

Erik: I haven’t come across an entity who’s been trying to get back to Earth who hasn’t had the ability to, because if you really like Earth that much, you can just go back into another body.

Me: Okay. So there’s nobody who’s like, “Forget this Heaven stuff. I want to dive right back in. I’m ready to go. Boom! I’m going to Earth.”

Erik: Yeah. Not so much, plus when we’re talking like that, we’re assuming that you can only be in one place at a time because you’re missing it so much that you’re not connecting to it or are there. But since time is all happening at once, all the incarnations you’ve chosen, even if you’re not focusing on one of them, you’re in other incarnations.

Me: Okay. That makes sense. You can just focus your intent on that one. Bella, get off of my questions. She’s on my desk walking around the questions. Bella, let me see the next one. Okay, this is from a blog member. “What advice do you have for people who know they want to live for others like their family and kids but the pain of life is so great that they fantasize about the relief of death?” This is a really cheerful one. Woo hoo! Yay!

Jamie laughs.

Erik: Well, Mom, we gotta remember that death and dying isn’t a sad thing, but our culture has engrained in us that it is. We’ve been taught that it’s sorrowful and negative to think about. So we feel ashamed and we punish ourselves if we are more attracted to death than to life.

Me: Mm hm.

Erik: We just have to find a more compassionate way to accept this person’s needs as is. So I would say to this reader, this—

Jamie: Blogger?

No, that’s the person who writes the blog.

Jamie: What are you saying, Erik? B-l-o-g dash capital E. E is for Erik. Blog-E. There we go. I knew I was missing something.

Erik: What I would say to this blog-ee is, “Don’t ignore your feelings.” I don’t want everyone to think that I’m on one side or the other when I give this advice, so please read with an open mind and an open heart. We shouldn’t ignore what our needs are. Now, the biggest question is “Are we in a healthy place in our life where we can best identify those needs, or are we using escapism?”

Me: Mm. Yeah.

Erik: And so I would seek help making sure that how you’re viewing your life has meaning and accuracy for you. I would go to a life coach, therapist, whatever floats your boat, whatever makes you feel comfortable when you’re talking about these needs. And then if you’re in the boat like so, so many of us where you absolutely want to die, but you would never take your own life—you’re just not interested in that. You’re just like, “C’mon. When? When’s the end of the story? Let’s do this! Let’s get out of here.” The way to deal with this is learn astral projection. Learn transcendental meditation. Try the deprivation technique. You know, find techniques that take you to an altered state of mind to go to other dimensional states. That way, you can have that pressure relieved. Guess what? You don’t have to wait until the end of your life to have the joy where we are. You just don’t have to wait for the end.

Me: So I guess hallucinogens like LSD might be an option, too, under the supervision of a doctor.

Erik: Hell yeah! Look at my mommy!

Me: I’ve learned from the best!

Erik: It’s true. A lot of people can’t take their minds and just let go, but under supervision using hallucinogens—it’s just amazing. Stop forcing yourself to live the life you’ve already willingly disconnected from. Be responsible. Start going beyond the boundaries that you were taught had to be maintained for you to have your life and start living in a way that fulfills all of your needs.

Me: Exactly. Start tripping.

Erik: Start tripping! You know, maybe it requires that you move away from the city and you get into nature. Maybe you live in a nature preserve and start taking care of the animals. Maybe it’s a very unconventional life, but, guess what? It allows you to go beyond this human structure—society’s structure—and allows you to live more in an altered state of mind, which gives you joy.

Me: That’s true.

Erik: Reconnect your life back to your needs.

Me: I love that! That should be a bumpersticker.

Jamie: Yeah, it should be. Highlight that. Bold Italicized. Red font. Let’s go all the way.

I chuckle.