Looking back on my life, I see the wreckage of tragedy in its wake with only small islands of peace and joy. As I reflect on the dark side of life, I ask myself, ‘Why are we here if only to suffer?’ Is the human experience just some random affair? Is it the cruel joke of some Higher Power? If it is either, I want a refund.
Me: Erik, this is a simple but powerful question, maybe the most important one in the book. Why are we here?
Erik: The reason we’re anywhere is because consciousness is about being and life in the physical world as well as in every other realm is about learning to appreciate and become aware of that process of being and everything that it brings with it. That’s the short answer. That’s the purpose of life.
Me: What do you mean by “process?”
Erik: A process is something that’s never complete. The process of being is never complete It’s always changing and perpetually evolving. It doesn’t have a beginning point; it doesn’t have an endpoint.
Me: But why do so many of us, maybe most of us, have to come here and have so many hardships, tragedies and, you know, adversities of all kinds.
Erik: We subject ourselves to struggle, suffering, separation and pain because it’s valuable. When you get to experience what you think is so difficult; it’s hard to believe that –
Erik starts looking up to his right.
Me: Are you thinking?
Erik (in deep reverie): It’s hard to believe that when you die, when you leave your body, all of a sudden, those things that you fought against and didn’t like have so much light that you finally can see the value in it all. You see why you needed to be beaten to within an inch of death or raped or put in jail for a crime you didn’t do. You see why you ended up blind or mute or whatever is was you felt you couldn’t accept as something that was building you up when before you thought it was tearing you down. You wouldn’t think, you know, that when you—
Pause as Erik looks off to the right again, obviously still in deep contemplation. He has his elbow on his knee and his hand under his chin, constantly fiddling his fingers.
Erik: It’s hard to think—I really wanna pick the right words so that anyone who’s reading this will say, “I might be able to believe that.” I think that if I can get people somewhere near believing that this is how it works, it’ll help them change their perspective of what they’re going through.
Me: Right. Opening the door just a sliver to get your toe in.
Erik (laughing): Yeah. We’re doing toe work, Mom!
Me: Instead of footwork!
Erik: But, ultimately, each person has to decide how wide the door will open and what toe they should stick in. It’s not about leading the person to that door, giving him the key, telling him how much to open that door, how to walk across the threshold and where to go afterwards. That’s not what this book is supposed to do.
Me: Well, why can’t we learn what we learn here on Earth on an intellectual level? I sure would have loved to have just read the Cliff Notes or a memo. I would have loved to have thought, “I can learn from child abuse without having to go through it.” Why go through the suffering at all?
Erik laughs.
Erik: Here at Home, where I am, we don’t have those opportunities to get those struggles where we’re forced up against the wall, and—
Me (in mock sarcasm): Oh, poor you!
Erik: It’s really nice being here, but, obviously, if we keep fucking choosing to come back to Earth, there’s something that we’re lacking here.
Me: And that is?
Erik: Being able to have that intensity, those denser parts of what life has to offer. That’s why we choose to incarnate into life. So really the life you’re living is that memo you’re trying to read. This one life you’re living isn’t the complete part of you, your true essence, and I think people get lost thinking that it is. We get so wrapped up in being logical and labeling things so everybody can be on the same page that we see ourselves and our life in a very narrow way. We’ve kind of lost our ability to be more intuitive, and that makes us define life differently. Life isn’t just a narrow string of experiences. It’s an ebb and flow.
Me: What do you mean by the ebb and flow?
Erik: Well, we’re designed to do things according to somebody else’s idea of what life should be. We set a mark or goal based on someone else’s experience or opinion. Yes, that often helps us strive to become better people in terms of society’s standards, but it gives us markers that don’t allow us to enjoy the natural marks that we’d hit on our own. It takes away the joy of your natural forward movement. It makes very rigid what should really be that ebb and flow, that musical way that life moves. Think about it. How the fuck can a person or society tell you what rigid marks to follow and reach? You think you’re going to get punished if you don’t and rewarded if you do. That punishment/reward system doesn’t allow us to follow our hearts. It only tells our brain to kick our asses every day.
And I have the boot prints to prove it.
Me: True. So what you’re saying is, “Follow your heart rather than someone else’s.” Then you can filter it through the brain to see if it all makes sense, logically.
Erik: Yes. You have to know how you feel first. Feel first, think second. I’ll talk more about why some of us choose to suffer and bury themselves in all sorts of struggles, but basically, we’re here to remember who and what we are. We’re here to remember how to love. We’re here to remember that we are love. We know that conceptually where I am, but you need to know it experientially, too.
As many of you already know, Erik loves to visit and prank blog members. He’ll give them his signature goosebumps or horrible smells, but he also plays with electronics: cell phones, TVs, computers, appliances and more. On some occasions, many of you have reported physical manifestations and dream visits. If any of you have had such experiences, please don’t keep them to yourself! Click here to share:
Here’s just one example
Hello Dr. Medhus,
I stumbled upon Channeling Erik a few months back and have been reading the excerpts and watching the videos since then. Last week Thursday I decided to join the forum and asked Erik to come say hello, about 30 seconds later out of the corner of my eye I saw a white flash in the shape of a human being, it must have been only a fraction of a second. Immediately after that I felt a ‘presence’ enter my room, a slight warm feeling, I could almost track its movement. I had asked Erik if he wanted to come watch some TV with me, just sit and relax beside me on the couch. I could feel this ‘presence’ beside me on the couch when all of a sudden i felt a distinct tingling on the left side of my face and cheek. Just as soon as I felt it, it was gone and a strange smell lingered to which i could not find the source. I have never had an experience quite like that before, it was to coincidental to be anyone else but Erik. I just wanted to acknowledge Erik here and say thanks for stopping by, you are welcome to hang out anytime. Dr. Medhus, I am very sorry for your loss, words i’m sure are no comfort, thank you for making this blog and these resources available.
– JF
