Bet you guys are scratching your heads on this one. The title is all Erik, so don’t shoot the messenger.

Me: When things go awful in one’s life, what’s the best way to handle it? Faith? Letting go? How?

Erik: Come on! That’s a really broad question, Mom. We first have to know what’s awful, and we have to identify it for each individual. Then we have to go into the same fucking talk we do every time which is why you identify things as awful. Everything just is. Everything just is. We need to stop giving it a positive quality and a negative quality. Just be it as it is, and then you won’t be fucking dealing with this shit.

Me: Easier said than done when you’re mired in it.

Erik: BUT IT IS WHAT IT IS. Look at the lessons in it. Know that you’ll get through it. Even if it’s joy, you’re going to get through it. Even if it’s jealousy, you’re going to get through it. Even if it’s your workday, guess what, you’re going to get through it.

Me: Yeah.

Erik: Surgery? You’re going to get through it. Bankruptcy? Guess what? You’re going to get through it. There’s always a movement forward. As Winston Churchill says, “If you’re going through Hell, keep going.”

Jamie laughs.

Me: Exactly. Get through until you reach the other side. The same thing with grief. So really, you don’t have to let go, or I guess that is kind of a way of letting go, because you just keep on keeping on.

Erik applauds.

Me: Anything else on that, Erik.

Erik: No, that about sums it up. I could henpeck a bunch of details about awful situations but, you know, it’s not really going to give anybody any extra insight. The core in keeping it simple is to stop identifying it as positive and negative and keep going for what it is to YOU. It’s going to be something completely different to the person next to you even if they’re going through the same shit.

Me: Mm hm.

Erik: They’ve stepped in the same dog shit, but guess what? They have a different pair of shoes than you. You know, maybe you have a pair of flip-flops on that’s way more grosser and they have Crocs or whatever. It’s just different for everyone.

Me: And some people have those hiking boots with the Vibram soles. It takes forever to get the dog shit out of those crevices. I’ll take the flip-flops over those any day.

Jamie laughs.

That was a short post, so I thought I’d give Erik a chance for a curtain call.

Me: Can you hate over there in the afterlife?

Erik: If you want to, you can.

Me: Yeah, but do they, as a general rule? Does anybody hate?

Erik: Not really, no. And it’s very difficult to hold a grudge, to feel anger, disappointment, jealously. You can do it, but it’s very difficult to hold on to.

Me: How come?

Erik: It just kind of goes against the natural flow. You have to exert so much energy to have it that you just normally give up and you just end up seeing the—

Jamie (laughing at Erik): What are you rolling your eyes for? (Pause) Seeing the what?

Erik: Seeing the better part of the emotion.

Me: So it’s like gripping on to monkey bars with wheel bearing grease slathering on the bars?

Erik: Yeah. Yes, yes, yes!

Me: Okay.

Erik: But I don’t want people to think that there’s a negative and a positive way to think about something. It’s just that the denser energy is so much harder to hold on to up here that it’s just not worth it. That’s why people say that they feel such unconditional love when they have those near death experiences and their whole life flips over. It’s just because all that heavier shit on Earth doesn’t translate.

Me: What do you mean, doesn’t translate?

Erik: It just, there’s no room for it. Like I said, it’s so hard to keep it here that you just don’t want to anymore.

Me: So it’s just pushed away? Is that it? The denser energy is pushed away?

Erik: Yes.

Me: It’s like oil and water, so—

Jamie (sounding surprised): That’s the exact same thing he just said! He used the same metaphor!

Me: Very cool!