Always remember that the least evolved [spirits] are the most anxious to make communication. When you're calling them, you're getting the least evolved, and they'll give any names to get your attention. So if it [just] happens [without you calling the spirits], that's one thing, and if you call them, it's another.
...If you just keep willing to do God's will, you'll be all right. Your life will go along smoothly. You'll make it so much easier for yourself.
[Note: Ben H. Swett and other writers have all warned about seeking psychic phenomena. I've run into "Jesus' father's cousin's best friend" - it was a joke! Seek God instead, seek love!]
For instance I met a young man in Arizona. This was a sad thing because he was very young and had such potential. But he wanted to come out of his body and see his body lying there. Can you imagine anybody desiring a thing like that? It happens occasionally when you come back from your sleep state. But imagine desiring a thing like that. And so he went to somebody who could induce this experience, and in due time he came out of his body and he saw his body lying there. But he's never been able to attain complete control of his body since. He now has what is sometimes called seizures.
[Note: Ben H. Swett has other stories on the dangers of seeking an Out of Body Experience - possession, etc., can occur.]
[Note: This is VERY similar to Dr. George Ritchie's NDE description of what happens to alcoholics who pass out while drinking. It is also similar to Ben H. Swett's writings about possessing ghosts who desire earthly experiences.]
What I was going to tell you about, all of a sudden through this medium came a voice, a man's voice, and this was a woman, but a man's voice cussing a blue streak, and everybody in that seance circle was just terrified. So I said to him, "There is much to learn where you are. Why don't you ask for a teacher?" Stopped. That was the end of that. But then I was supposed to speak two Saturday nights there, and the next Saturday night I went back again and they held their little [seance]. About ten minutes it lasted, she was a trance medium, but it didn't last long, and they held their little seance, and in came the same voice, and he spoke very quickly and he said, "They won't let me stay long, I just wanted to tell you that I've asked for a teacher and I'm learning."
And then there was another one, another chair. There was a chair that was the most beautiful oriental carved chair - I would say Chinese. Beautiful carving. Nobody liked that chair. It was beautiful, but there was something about it that people didn't like. Of course I knew right away what it was. It was the man who had spent the last years of his life carving that chair. He was protecting it. He was possessive of it. I did the same thing exactly. I admired the chair and then said the same thing to him, and you know she's got that chair down in the living room now and she's made a cushion for it and people sit in it. You see, I think really that's the kindest thing to say to them, just remind them that as soon as they ask for a teacher it will be provided and they can get out of those desire realms, those lower psychic realms.
This is the common thing. But this can be another thing too. It can be recall. Now in this case, you have not desired it, it has merely come upon you without any desire whatsoever for it. It has just come upon you. I'll give you an example of this. In Montana a woman asked if I would have lunch with her. We were alone for lunch in her house and I could see immediately she had a problem. She was a Methodist woman, she was an intelligent woman, she was a teacher and she had a contract to teach the next year. And she said, "I haven't even told my husband this because I feel I'm losing my mind and I just don't know how to tell him." She knew what I knew, that they do this at mental hospitals. And she said, "let me tell you what happened to me." And she told me this story:
She had had a problem which she couldn't find a solution for. She went into her Methodist church and she went to the alter and she knelt at the alter where she had knelt for communion many times. Methodists kneel at their own alter for communion. And she said, no one was there. She was alone, and she said, "I perceived the answer to my problem and I wanted to thank God and I found myself speaking in a language which I did not understand." And of course she was terrified because she thought her mind was leaving, she thought she was losing her mind. And I said, "Don't worry about it. It won't hurt you and it may never happen again. "But," she said, "explain it to me. What happened to me." And I said, "Yes, I can explain it but not in the Methodist frame of reference, I would have to go beyond that frame of reference."
And of course I had to open her horizons so she knew there was a before as well as an after, and then I said, "All right, now it's easy to explain and I'll first explain it in earth terms. Suppose you had lived in Europe and had learned to operate in some European language. But then you came to the United States and you learned to operate in English and under ordinary situations you would operate in English. But under extenuating circumstances you might revert to the language which you once spoke and that's all you did. It won't hurt you. You may never have that experience again, you didn't desire it." You see, what we need to avoid is any desire for phenomena. This is deadly. Our only desire should be for God, and then if such a thing does happen, it would not in any way harm you. It would not be possession; it would be recall. That's quite a bit about this topic.
[Note: Ben H. Swett wrote extensively about this: "Give, not get!" I have also written about the dangers of not knowing one's own spiritual state - it is possible to mistake one's own inner clarity, and subconsciously be desiring to get more than give.]
Some of them were speaking in a language which nobody could understand. I was there with five college professors who were linguists, that's why we were there. They just took me along, I'm not a linguist myself. Some were speaking in a language none of them could understand and I said to them, "Well, do you understand all the languages that are spoken in Africa?" And of course they didn't. There are many languages that even linguists don't really understand. Some were speaking in a language that they didn't understand. There was a woman right in front of us, you see we couldn't hear everybody, that's another thing, they naively thought you would be able to hear everything that was said. They thought they were going to speak in an orderly fashion, one after the other so you could easily hear everything that was said and of course it was nothing like that at all. It was simply bedlam. And except for those right in front of you, you couldn't hear at all what language they were using. But there was one woman right in front of us who was speaking in a language that we could understand. At least one of the professors sitting beside me said, "She's speaking German. I understand every word she's saying." And a man jumped up from along the edges, he was interpreting, and he said she was praising God, and the professor said, "She is not. She's bawling somebody out." She was saying (German) you could tell she wasn't praising God. Then there was a man speaking British English, and I said, "This is strange because they use very bad grammar, those that I've heard speak." But I talked to the woman who spoke German and the man who spoke British English. Why, he used very bad grammar, and the woman couldn't speak a word of German. They were actually speaking in a language they couldn't speak in their waking state. This was possession, of course. Everything with extreme motion is possession.
What bothered me most was what they were doing to the children off in the corner. They were trying to make them talk in unknown tongues. They were slapping them on the back, and the children were crying, and I wondered if I shouldn't do something about that, but you see what can you really do? It's their children, I mean it's not something you can really do anything about, I just felt like doing something about the children. After all the adults were there of their own accord, but those poor kids. I saw a real good or bad, whatever you want to call it, example of what this is like. And then I've met a lot of victims of it. A lot of those I worked with, disturbed people, had been in these extremely unstabilizing groups who talked in tongues and things like that.
It's a very unstabilizing thing. Of course, I naturally evaluating by groups, I would warn people to stay away from such things. Well, I would warn them not to sit in development classes under mediums either, as far as that goes. I would say, don't attempt any psychic communication, because the least evolved are the most anxious to make communication, and they'll give any name to get your attention. So I would warn against all attempts at psychic communication. If it comes without your attempting it, it will not harm you. But if you make an attempt in that direction, you're apt to get something that isn't good.
[Note: Ben has said that often a supposed "Holy Spirit" is not the Holy Spirit at all - it may be a possessing spirit masquerading as such! And spirits do lie about their names and identities! Be careful what you desire!]
[Note: I think she means seminars and the like - not including books (since she also advocated reading many books to get many opinions). Having had bad experiences with seminars myself, I tend to agree that profit-oriented spiritual seminars are dangerous!]
There's a great deal of difference between psychic healing which is removal of symptoms, a temporary thing; and spiritual healing which is the removal of cause, a quiet thing. A great deal of difference. Many people mistake the psychic for the spiritual. This is unfortunate because, don't forget, I'm sure all of you believe there is an unembodied side of life. When you get into the psychic all you're getting into is the unembodied side of life. They're people like we are, and the more evolved [spirits] are about their Father's business. The less evolved are very anxious to make earth contacts. They will give any name in order to get your attention. If you're listening to voices that speak in your head or if you're trying to interpret visions of some kind, these are psychic things.
And I grant you, I have not had these things lately but in the very beginning of my pilgrimage or even before, there were a few of these things. Enough so that I can talk about them and I know what they are. But the interesting thing was that even though I did have a few visions you might call them, there was always the inner interpretation that came right along with them. I never ran around and said, "Say I had a dream, it was so and so, can you tell me what that means?" When somebody comes to me and asks me something like that I say, forget it. If it were important you would know what it means. Forget it.
The psychic things are vague and you don't know exactly what they mean. The spiritual things you know exactly what they mean. That receiving which comes through the spark of God within you, the indwelling Christ, the kingdom of God within. That receiving comes with complete clarity and understanding. You can explain it. You can discuss it. There's nothing unclear about it. You're sure of it. Remember, they say about some people, "He spoke with authority." You know. It's not a believing, it's a knowing - a deep inner knowing. Pay attention to those things, of course. No one can stop you from paying attention to those things when they come. But don't pay attention to these vague psychic receivings. Don't get into the psychic. Aim for the spiritual.
There are many devices that explain the life governed by the self-centered nature. They operate at their level, and you know many of these devices. I'm sure you've heard of them. There's many such devices. They operate at their level. Astrology, numerology, craniology, personology, palmistry, handwriting analysis. I could name a whole lot of them. They operate at their level, but after all, are you interested really in explaining the life governed by the self centered nature, or in transcending the life governed by the self centered nature? Which are you interested in, you see? I'm glad I never got involved in any of these devices, because I've never met a person who was able to well explain the life governed by the self centered nature, and later transcend. I've never met one. Now there may be some. It's not impossible but I've never met such a person. If you can explain it you stay with it.
Then another thing. Don't get sidetracked. You see in your spiritual ongoingness you will come to many places where there will be some phenomena. You might say these are the spiritual tests, if you want to. First there are inklings of them and then they become very clear. At the time when they're very clear if you concentrate on them and do not commercialize on them, the only thing you keep if you commercialize on it is some contact with the lower psychic realms. They just don't care. In any case you concentrate on it and do not commercialize on it, you can retain it.
But look what happens. Off you go on this side track and you spend the rest of your life finding lost objects or whatever you're side tracked on. Frankly you shouldn't even find other people's lost objects. Those are problems that are set before them for their spiritual growth and why do you want to take away their opportunities to grow spiritually. You go through many of these. Finding lost objects. Knowing what people are thinking. Seeing past lives and seeing the unembodied side of life and maybe the devic realm and all kinds of experiences. The best thing is, don't let yourself get side tracked. Let yourself go right through the experience. You'll never lose it completely and go on to the next experience. This is another thing that commonly happens to people who want to walk the spiritual path and then get side tracked.