The results are in for the medium contest, although I will defer to Erik’s advice when I ask him this coming Friday. So far, first, second and third place are Kate Sitka, Kim Babcock and Heather Quinto, respectively. The numbers were very close! Of course Jamie and Robert will be part of the mix, too. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I enjoyed camping with Arleen and Rune, although I did come home with chiggers. We saw rabbits, deer, cute little froggies and a feral kitten that was very think and covered with fleas. We made sure she was fed and got plenty of water, and I was planning on taking it to the SPCA the next day, but when we woke up, she was nowhere to be found. I hope she makes it. She’s pretty tame, so I bet other campers have played the part of foster parents while they’re there. 

Here’s what Erik says about skeptics, often the bane of our existence, especially when they make us doubt our own beliefs. 

Me: Hi, Erik, my boy!

Erik: Hi, Mama.

Me: I love you, in case you didn’t know. All right, we’re going to talk about something that I’ve butted my head up against since you died and that is skeptics. I used to be a skeptic myself having been raised by two atheists making it really hard for me to imagine if you were anywhere after you died. There are so many people who say we’re talking to the devil—which is probably true since you are a little bit of a devil—especially those who have the thinking of organized religion. What can you tell me about skeptics?

Erik: You just mentioned atheists and the religious. If we look at the religious skeptics, in every religion that’s been documented, there has been communication to the Beyond whether it’s God, deceased, angels, helpers, teachers, whatever it is. That is proof that there is communication with the afterlife. With those who are skeptic, it’s not necessarily our job, really, to change anyone’s belief system whether religious or atheist. With atheist skeptics, maybe this is what they need to fulfill their life.

Me: How?

Erik: How?

Me: Yeah. How does that fulfill them?

Erik: Hm. By letting them believe that they are an individual, that they are alone and that they can be self-focused.

Me: Okay. That doesn’t sound like fun.

Plus it makes no sense.

Erik: But it can be fun.

Me: So, that’s one of the reasons they want to be atheist? I don’t get it, which should come as no surprise.

Jamie chuckles knowingly.

Erik: To be able to come down and have a lack of a belief system—

Me: Makes you feel alone.

(Long pause)

Erik: No. It doesn’t really make you feel alone because you have friendships; you have other human people, relationships with animals and so forth. It’s not that kind of loneliness, but the atheist’s deal: it takes away that structure of, “There is something greater and outside of you that has some sort of control or influence over you.” So it puts the responsibility directly into the “I.” It puts the “I” first. Self first is not self-ish. Jamie chants that all the time.

Jamie: Yes. It’s not a mantra, but I do say it all the time.

Me: It’s a good one.

Erik: It allows them to learn more about human life and capability rather than thinking, “Well, I’m not responsible for this because God is going to take it from me,” or “God is going to help me,” or “God is going to give me the answer, so I’m going to sit still until God does.” I’m using “God” as a very general term.

Me: Sure.

Erik: Please do not make it personal. Just replace that word with whatever you need, people.

Me: No hate mail, please.

Jamie (laughing): Yeah, please!

Erik: Again, it’s not our job to change them, but if they’re at the website, if their looking at the materials so that they can find something wrong with it or so that they can leave a comment, it really means inside of them, they know there’s something greater, but they just haven’t found where they belong yet. That’s mostly with the atheists. With the religious skeptic, they want to be good—

Jamie (laughing): He said, “Good beliebers.”

Me: Beliebers!

We both laugh.

Me: Did you just stumble over a word, Erik? I didn’t think that was possible in the spirit world!

Jamie: Justin Bieber.

Me: Oh! So it wasn’t a stumble.

Just a little jab at Bieber fans?

Erik: They want to be good followers; they want to be loyal, so they’re going to take verbatim what the words are, take what they need from them and listen to the person saying, “I’ve walked this path. It was good for me, this is how you should follow it.” So they’re substituting loyalty with the religion vs. personal truth or personal reality. Listen, I’m not saying this is right or wrong. I’m just having a discussion, so if you’re ruffling your feathers—

Jamie: He’s putting his shoulders up and down.

Erik: —then I’m sorry, but we’re just sharing. That was for a few of the watchers. But if you find yourself coming here and you’re totally a skeptic, it’s really because you know, deep down, that this exists for you, and it should be real. You just don’t know how to describe it. Again, you can’t just watch something or hear it from somebody else or read it in a book and claim, “Okay. That’s for me.” You have to experience it.

Me: True.

Erik: We’re coming across all these spiritual journeys, this “talking to the Beyond,” and my pranks and blah, blah, blah. Hearing [and reading] it is great and everything, but you have to experience it to make it your own. So stay open.

Me: That’s true, and as much as I’d like everybody to believe all of this because it’s so comforting and so enlightening, I can’t shove it down their throats. It would just be wonderful to have that key that unlocks their hearts and dump it all in, but at this point, all I do is if someone comes and asks questions, and they’re willing, they show that they’re open, then I speak with them.

Erik: Yeah. You give them your experiences and your answers. What I wanted to interrupt with is that when people are going to a psychic or a medium or something like that and they’re not pushing their belief system down your throat, then you know you’ve got a pretty healthy person. They’re not saying, you know, “Hey, you gotta come back three times. I gotta do this, this and this before you’re going to be able to do this.” If you’re approaching someone in search of greater answers and they are following your lead, then you know you’ve got someone who’s willing to go at your speed for your needs. That, in my personal opinion, is a person with a great awareness and presence, and that’s where you want to be.