Me: Okay. Tell me about some of the work you do there, you, specifically, but others too.

Erik: Hi-ho, bitches; I don’t go to work.

Me: You’re so lucky!

Erik: I have a purpose and I have a passion, but I definitely don’t go to work.

Me: No nine to five, then?

Erik: No, and I think you’ll find that everyone here that you’re asking, you know, “Do you have a job; do you work”, they won’t be able to identify that it was either. It’s not like how it is there—that you design your life around what your talent is or what your work is or what you chose. And people often describe themselves by the work that they do. “Oh, and who are you?” “Well, I’m an architect.” Or “I’m an artist.”

Me: Exactly.

Erik: And if you ask somebody here who they are they go, “Well, I’m Erik”, “Oh, and what’s your passion? Do you do something?” “Oh yeah. I do da-da-da-da-da.” You tell them about your “work” and how you choose to engage in your life. So when I’m hanging out with my mom or hanging out with the people from the blog, I don’t consider that work. That’s really more of a discovery process of my own personal life as well as the lives I’m interacting with. It’s all about growth. It’s all about getting into the experience and the knowledge, and I think that on Earth, that description of work, jobs, career lacks that definition of, you know, “I do it for growth—for more encouragement, for more understanding.” Most people get stuck in one thing like licking stamps, and that’s what you do. You lick stamps. But they forget to leave that job once they’ve understood it and got into it and go on to something else. And I’d like to tell everybody out there who’s [reading]; you’re not stuck in your career. You’re choosing to be in that career. If you’ve learned it to the max, if you’ve maxed out, step over to the left, step over to the right, or step up. Make a change so that you can discover more growth in your life.

Me: Great advice!

Erik: I try.

Me: You try. You try hard, too. Do you have to go through some preparation or learning or apprenticeship for some of these jobs?

Erik: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get what you’re saying. I get it. Yeah, because there are a lot of things, a lot of situations that the newbies—

Jamie (to Erik): What are the newbies?

(Pause)

Jamie (to Erik): Just explain everything out in detail.

(Pause)

Erik: There are a lot of positions that we don’t want, or we don’t need spirits to come into this place: Home, Heaven, higher dimensional planes, to just jump in and start helping. You need to have your own personal journey first, and through that, it places you into that growth pattern, that “job” or “career” that you want to do for yourself. So we don’t really run into spirits trying to force themselves into a position that really doesn’t fit their needs. So, it’s not like you have someone over you going, “Okay, you’re number two, and you can only hang out with the number two zone. You can’t go into the number three zone.” Like we don’t have that kind of structure. Everything is internally guided.

Jamie: That came with more visuals than words. (Laughing) Makes sense in my head, but I don’t think it translates well.

Me: So, here, you wouldn’t expect somebody in elementary school to do brain surgery. Let’s hope not! I always envision like when you were a rookie guide like you’re in the Olive Garden where a seasoned waiter follows you and you have this label that says “trainee” on it. The guy’s supervising how you take orders.

Erik: What the fuck? I’m not good enough for Bennigans?

Jamie and I laugh.

Erik: TGF Fridays? I’ve gotta be at the Olive Garden, huh?

Jamie: He’s just laughing.

Erik: No, you’re right. I knew I wanted to help people, because I started that through you. You understood what my choices were, you know, helping my family, my brother and my sisters. And to do that I found fulfillment. I found growth for myself. I found this calling, this purpose, whatever you want to call it. Now they weren’t going to let me jump into that in the highest degree. I did have to learn that I couldn’t interfere with people’s destinies, that I couldn’t just dole out advice if it was going to interfere with that person’s lesson, that there’s a difference between guiding someone and doing it for them. I needed to be very clear with that before I let loose. And also—

Jamie (to Erik): Also you get a lot of feedback? What do you mean?

Erik: You get a lot of feedback from those who are working in a similar area and in your similar interests. It’s not so much as a teacher. It’s more of—I wish there were better words for this shit, goddammit! It’s so fucking hard!

Jamie and I laugh.

Erik: You just know this shit. You sit down and have a goddamn conversation.

Jamie (to Erik): You’re ticked!

Erik: I’m ticked! Yeah, when you’re where I am, most of the time you’re feeling it. It’s a whole nuther fucking conversation in and of itself, and you sit down and you take away that and you want me to talk about it? Ah, man. That’s where it just gets crazy.

Jamie (giggling): He’s just smiling, but he’s so pissed about it, I can tell.

I chuckle. I can just see him.

Erik: You just can’t do it to the hundredth degree—do everything that you can or you want to. They’ll have someone that you can check in with, but it’s not this kind of thing where “You can’t do that, young man! You’ve gotta do it this way. No, no, no!” It’s not black and white. It’s not as tangible as it is on Earth. It’s kind of like them grooming you so you can sit with the information, right? Cuz if you can sit with it, be with it, make a relationship with the situation, then you already have the fucking answer. So you don’t have to go to somebody else to mentor or teach your ass because you didn’t know the information to begin with. That’s how it is.

************************

Dear Reader,

The journey on which you’re about to embark will take you through stories that are deeply personal and involves a relationship between a mother and her son.

As a physician raised by two atheists, I had no personal belief system about life after death. In a word, I was a confirmed skeptic. As my journey progressed, my mind opened. It is my sincerest hope that yours will open as well and that you will have a greater understanding of your own life and what’s to come ahead.

Although Erik sometimes paints a rosy picture of the afterlife, time and time again he stresses that suicide is not the answer to one’s problems. If you struggle, please understand that the information in my blog and my book is no substitute for professional help. Please click here for a list of resources for help when you find yourself considering taking your own life. Know that they are readily available when you feel that hopelessness and despair that many of us feel from time to time in our lives.

I refuse all donations and ad revenue on the blog. It is my dream to one day establish a nonprofit organization that delivers a variety of spiritual services for those who have lost loved ones to suicide and cannot afford that assistance on their own. It’s a mission of love, sacrifice, and dedication.

Love and light,

Elisa