You’re Never Alone — Meeting Your Spirit Guides

by Paul Smith

Part One
Why Jesus talked to dead people

Wherever there are people, there are spirit guides. In my understanding, a spirit guide is a non-physical being who can be your loving friend and empowering companion. They also may appear in one-time events to impart encouragement and comfort. Sometimes called “spiritual guides,” I call them spirit guides to distinguish them from our flesh and blood human friends and teachers who serve as spiritual guides also. The Bible almost always calls them “angels” in a misleading translation of the Greek word angelos, which means “messenger” (We will deal with “angels” in Part Three).

Don’t believe everything you hear and read about spirit guides, including what I write here. However, I want to make a case for evolving Christians that makes plausible some claims about spirit guides. But ultimately, it must be your own experience that demonstrates their reality or unreality for you. I invite you to consider this dimension and go on an adventure with me — if you dare.

My first spirit guide was Jesus, although they didn’t call him that in my Sunday School. He certainly fits my current definition of “a non-physical being who can be your loving friend and empowering companion.”

I was taught early on that he wanted to be my friend. Everybody talked to him in my Southern Baptist church even though they recognized he was not physically present. It was the way you “prayed” and the thing to do. I don’t know if they heard back from him or what, but it was assumed he heard them. I said “prayers” to Jesus, but no one ever suggested that Jesus might want to say something back to me personally. Nor did I sense that he was close to me. I always assumed he was in “heaven,” which at that time I believed was far away “up there.”

Interestingly, this situation more or less lasted throughout seminary. Most seminaries seem more interested in religious information rather than spiritual experience. We were taught to be suspicious of experience except for a “conversion experience.” If not an actual experience, you needed at least a day and time when one decided to “accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.” I was a rebel at a young age and said I have always loved Jesus and therefore did not have a “conversion.” That was true.

In seminary and beyond, I continued to pursue my fascination with the phenomenology of the Bible, rather than the theology derived from the spiritual experiences of Jesus and others that were reported there. Later, I hung around some of the more reasonable and sane leaders in the charismatic movement, hoping their experiences would rub off on me. However, I was still early in my twenty years of therapy to get at my buried emotions and still unaware of my natural gay sexuality. That was a lot of repression and energy to keep feelings that God supposedly disapproved of out of my experience. Many people have no idea of how traumatic and damaging abusive religion affects LGBTQ+ folks as it is directed at us and our God-given sexual orientation. The result of this was that  I didn’t have much “spiritual presence” left over to sense God’s presence.

That all changed at age 60, late bloomer that I am, when a practicing Buddhist named Ken Wilber enticed me into subtle states of consciousness where the Living Jesus now resides. And at the same time, I came out to myself as gay. That was a double whammy, and when my sexual feelings opened up, so did my spiritual ones! And there was my friend, Jesus, waiting for me, oh so patiently! And there were some of his friends waiting for me, too.

When I began real-life conversations in the subtle non-physical realm with Jesus, I started to see things I had missed before in the New Testament. Although a life-long follower of Jesus and student of the New Testament, I had yet to notice the glaring implications of Jesus’ need to talk to his two spiritual guides, Moses and Elijah. I always wondered why he would speak to them when he could talk to the Abba God so close to him. I was about to find out.

The Transfiguration account, featured in the center of the first three Gospels, is a vivid and practical model for connecting with our spirit guides (Matt. 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36). Like our WeSpace groups, this was a small circle of friends of Jesus who shared their lives and experienced together the presence of God along with other spiritual guides. At the Transfiguration, the most intense part of the mountain top meeting began as two of the centuries-dead heroes of the Jewish tradition, Moses and Elijah, appeared in living, visionary color and sound. In their non-physical but recognizable energy field forms, they were encouraging Jesus. “They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31).

Jesus needed some help about his upcoming death, which was weighing heavily on him. Who better to encourage him than two dead guys! Interestingly, Peter, James, and John, having been shocked into the subtle visionary realm of awakened consciousness by the powerful spiritual energy floating around them, were seeing Moses and Elijah, too! All the energetic fields were alive with dramatic, life-changing awakening. Then God got personally involved, and there was more conversation going on from God to all four of the remaining spiritual beings who were still in their physical bodies.

SIX THINGS TO LEARN FROM JESUS’ CONVERSATION WITH HIS TWO SPIRIT GUIDES

I have found that embracing this event as a model for my own life has resulted in the following practical yet transforming implications for my life.

1.    Jesus had a conversation here with two identifiable, named, non-physical beings. He did not seem to consider this unusual. We know that previously in his temptation, his guides were present (Matt 4:11; Mark 1:13), and later in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43), they were present again. Serious followers of Jesus should not need much more to recommend this as a legitimate activity for themselves. Jesus, whom many people, if not most, consider an extraordinary human being, regardless of what one thinks about him metaphysically, talked to dead people. This series is about why we can, too.

2.    So why didn’t he talk with his Abba about his “departure?” We know from other accounts that Jesus had extensive times of prayer with the personal presence of the God that he called Abba. Jesus needed something more — something that only formerly flesh and blood beings could give him. He needed something from those who had personally experienced life and death. The Apostle Paul beautifully summed up the purpose of hearing from the other side — comfort, strength, and encouragement (1 Cor. 14:3). I have always assumed that if Jesus needed this kind of help, I need it even more.

3. This contact with Jesus’ spiritual guides occurred in a non-ordinary state of consciousness. It doesn’t happen while working at your computer, taking care of the kids, or watching TV. It occurs after a walk up the mountain, alone or preferably with a small group of friends, where you intend to connect with someone from the mystical realm.

4.    This was a back and forth between Jesus and his two friends from the other side about what was going on in his life. This mystical dialogue was an honest conversation about his struggles. He needed help. And he got it from two dead guys.

5.    There was, in this case, visionary phenomena — his guides were visible in the non-ordinary realm of deepened consciousness. It involved the energy fields of the subtle body presences of non-physical beings. It also involved mystical light, pulling back the veil to reveal Jesus as a being of great dazzling light. He was undoubtedly aware of this experience when he said that both he, along with us, were “the light of the world” (John 8:12, Matt 5:14).

6.     Jesus had other, less dramatic encounters with his friends from the other side. The stories of Jesus’ birth are filled with spirit guides appearing to his pregnant mom and dad. They announced to Bethlehem’s shepherds that Jesus had been born. This was followed by another spirit guide telling the new parents to take their child and flee to Egypt. Spirit guides helped the grown-up Jesus in two crucial times — in the wilderness temptations (Matt 4:11) and praying in Gethsemane nearing his death, “A spirit guide appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him” (Luke 22:43).  From these multiple, mystical phenomena, we can learn the extent to which spirit guides are available to help us on our journey is much more significant than we sophisticated, modern folks have thought.

Most often, our connecting with our spiritual guides are much less dramatic but no less transforming. I have never visually “seen” Jesus or my other guides. My conversations emerge as words inside my mind, although occasionally, they seem almost audible. I eventually began to have regular experiences of being touched and beautiful light in my visual field. We are all different, and don’t let the seemingly more dramatic experiences of others keep you from your own.

I went to an energy healer for many years who was acquainted with spirit guides. One day I asked her how I could find out if I had any guides besides Jesus. Aware of my Christian background, she asked if I was attracted to anyone from the Bible or religious history.  I said that I was fascinated with Jesus’ friend John. She said, “Ask him if he would be a spirit guide for you.” So right then, I asked him and heard back the words in my head, “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me!” I immediately burst into tears, unusual for the emotionally out of touch, reserved me. I said to him, “I didn’t think you would have time. You must be busy.” His reply was, “Come on, you know that time-space stuff does not apply in my world, only yours.” So began a long, liberating relationship of many years with John. I wrote down what we talked about for several years. Now I enjoy his loving presence and his hand on my right shoulder with occasional brief conversations.

Jesus was also becoming more and more real to me, and I could now sense his presence in front of me. One day I asked him to come closer to me. I immediately felt him in front of me, about an inch from my nose. I said, “That’s too close!” He laughed and moved around to my right side and said, “Is this better?” I felt the touch of his hand on my right arm, which has remained with me, day and night, for many years. I can feel it now as I am writing this. Although I now see other’s spiritual guides relatively quickly, I have never “seen” Jesus, as I said, but I feel his presence somatically and intuitively.

Abusive religion has turned off some to Jesus to such a degree that he is not very accessible to them. If you are one of the mistreated, my message to you is that Jesus understands and happily helps us find other forms to come beside us. These other forms can be the biblically feminine Sophia beside us and other beings of light that we can connect with as companions and guides to encourage us on our journey. For some, this leads to enough healing of the religious trauma to reestablish a healthy relationship with the Living historical Jesus present now in his spiritual body. With others, this may have to wait until the other side.

My encouragement is to, like Jesus did, connect with the guides that are most helpful to you.

Next week we explore the difference between “knowing Christ” and talking to Jesus.

The following guided meditation may help you begin to meet your guides, from Jesus to Mary and other saints, and beings of light.

Or click here to learn more about WeSpace groups

Other Image Credits (In order of appearance):
Journey Inward by Elizabeth Wang
The Transfiguration by Henry Bloch
Jesus Comes to Us by Vera Wang

Previous Writings: