Does Spiritual Knowledge Lead to Happiness?

I often travel beyond the veil during meditation to meet my spirit friends. He-who-answers-my-questions is one of these friends.

During a recent meditation, I found myself sitting with he-who-answers on the rooftop terrace of his magnificent sandstone home, sipping a beverage tasting like lemonade.

As always, I wanted to discuss something with him. He waited patiently, glowing radiantly as the Being of Light he is.

“I’ve devoted years to spiritual study,” I began “I’ve crammed my head full of spiritual knowledge. But my efforts haven’t brought me permanent happiness.”

He-who-answers looked thoughtfully out at the green landscape dotted with scattered homes. Beyond lay the towers of a crystalline city in the distance. I saw no roads but knew I could travel to any destination at the speed of thought.

At last, he turned to me and said, “Dear friend, your experience is not unusual. Humans search endlessly for happiness. It is what they most desire. They believe doing certain things will bring them happiness. You, for instance, believe that acquiring spiritual knowledge will lead to happiness, just as others believe that acquiring money will lead to happiness.”

The exotic fragrance of potted red flowers growing nearby distracted me for a moment. The flowers seemed to glow from light within and even emitted a faint musical sound like chimes.

“It isn’t sufficient just to know stuff,” I pointed out. “How can I learn to feel it?” My question reminded me that the distance from my head to my heart is like a journey of a thousand miles.

He-who-answers smiled gently. “What is it you expect to experience from the knowledge you’re amassing?” he asked.

“Perhaps enlightenment,” I answered. Then I reconsidered and said, “I want to establish a closer relationship with Spirit while still in the physical world.”

“You’re already doing that,” he said. “You’re doing it right now. The spiritual knowledge you’re acquiring is helping you grow spiritually -- and helping you develop a closer relationship with us. How does that feel?”

“Wonderful!” I exclaimed.

“Then you already know the answer to your question,” he said. “You always thought you might experience happiness once you had attained enough spiritual knowledge at some time in your future. You thought you might even become enlightened, once you acquired enough spiritual knowledge. But know this: happiness is something you can experience right now, regardless of how much spiritual knowledge you have attained.”

Just then, two small, brightly-colored birds alighted on the terrace railing. They began to sing a joyous melody and fluttered happily about. I laughed in delight.

“You should spend more time in nature,” he-who-answers suggested, noticing my fascination with the birds. “Being in nature brings you closer to Spirit, and that closeness to Spirit leads to the happiness you are seeking.”

He selected a clump of luscious black grapes from a bowl on the small table between us and seemed to inhale them. Then he continued, “Do you remember when you were 10 years old? On a certain autumn day, you went walking along a tree line bordering a field of corn that had recently been picked. It was what you call Indian summer, when the temperature turns warmer for a week or two following a brief cold spell in Pennsylvania and there’s an enchanting haze in the air and the leaves turn crimson and orange and yellow. It was raining lightly. You were alone and a lingering state of bliss overcame you. Do you remember it?”

His description brought back a captivating memory and I nodded.

He continued, “You often experienced bliss and wonderment when you were young -- especially when you were alone in nature. On that autumn day, you were very close to Spirit. That’s why you felt the way you did then. I was with you that day. But soon you became a teenager and then an adult, and you got caught up in things of the physical world. Your life experience as an adult eventually turned into utter misery for you, and you began to anesthetize yourself with alcohol. You lost all contact with Spirit. Any remnants of your childhood bliss and wonderment vanished completely. After years of stress and chaos, your life began to implode, and we knew you wouldn’t survive much longer. That’s why we had to intervene in 1990 and again in 2000, in experiences that you refer to as spiritual awakenings.”

He paused to make sure I understood and then continued. “Your youthful feelings of bliss and wonderment are returning at long last. So is your sense of adventure in life. You are getting close to Spirit once again. The spiritual knowledge you are acquiring is helping provide a cure for your many years of misery.”

Yet again he paused and then said, “The veil that once seemed to separate us from you is becoming thinner now. Soon it will not exist for you at all. Soon you will not only know but will actually feel that you are not separate from us when you are in the physical world. Indeed, you will know for certain that you never have been separate from us. It has only seemed that way.”

My time with he-who-answers was drawing to a close. I thanked him and, in an instant, found myself back in the physical world. I now knew that my journeys beyond the veil would continue to bring me spiritual knowledge -- and happiness.

What Is My Life Purpose? -- An Encounter With the Spirit Being Who Answers My Questions

I met the spirit being who-answers-my-questions for the first time during meditation in December 2011. That first encounter was unexpected, and I don’t recall what he and I discussed. But I have met him in meditation several times since. And each time we meet, he answers any questions I may have.

That’s precisely why I call him “he-who-answers-my questions.” I don’t know his actual name -- or if he even has a name. But it doesn’t really matter, you see, since we identify each other by vibration rather than by name in the spirit realms. He is a translucent being of radiant light whose facial features are difficult to distinguish.

At the outset of a recent meditation, I requested that he be present, along with my primary spirit guide, Max. No sooner did I make this request than both of them appeared.

I smiled, happy to see them. I then turned to he-who-answers-my-questions, and without hesitation, I said to him, “May I ask a question?”

He nodded. “Of course.”

“My question is this: What is my life purpose?”

He chuckled in response to my question. Then in a serious tone, he replied, “We know this question is important to you. We have observed you in search of an answer to it for some time. Your activities are helping you find an answer.”

He was referring, of course, to my spiritual studies, conference hopping, and Spirit Quest events.

The three of us were standing in a lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows on one side, looking out upon a resplendent valley to mountains beyond. For a moment, he, Max, and I gazed out at this spectacular vista.

Then he-who-answers-my-questions turned to me and said, “You have always seen yourself as weak and limited and thus incapable of accomplishing your life purpose. You don’t know what you really are. That has been your real problem -- not your lack of knowledge.”

I knew he was right and said, “Okay, that’s true, but how can I deal with it?”

“Well,” he responded, “you have already encountered some great spiritual teachings that seek to change the way you perceive yourself. And you have undertaken some helpful spiritual practices such as meditation and chi gong -- though sporadically, to be sure. But how you feel is far more important than what you do. When you think of something that might be your life purpose, how do you feel about it? Passionate? Or stressed?”

He briefly touched the center of my chest with his fingertips and for emphasis said, “When you think about it, how do you feel here?”

He paused, as if waiting for me to answer. When I didn’t answer immediately, he said, “You like to complicate things. It’s so easy. Just feel it.”

Finally, I said, “I guess my purpose is to evolve -- and to help others do the same.”

“Good. That’s very good,” he said. “But you have also forgotten that you’re supposed to be having fun in the physical world. It is not meant to be a place of never-ending pain and suffering. That’s what you made it into. You bought into the idea that life consists of work and responsibility, that there is no time for fun.”

He glanced out the window and then turned back to me. “Yes, that’s one of your biggest misconceptions. You feel there is much to do and little time in which to do it. You feel a sense of urgency. You feel constantly stressed. But relax! You are an eternal spiritual being -- you literally have as long as you need to accomplish your purpose. You’re already evolving at an accelerated pace, just as you asked to. We’re supporting you. But have fun! A sense of bliss -- that’s what you really want, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” I admitted, feeling a little overwhelmed by the intensity of his explanation. Then I said, “You know what: I’d love to go outside. I love being in nature.”

So he-who-answers-my-questions, Max, and I walked through an open, arched doorway, crossed a smooth, flagstone terrace, and from there, began to follow a tree-lined lane stretching out before us, with Max on my left and he-who-answers on my right.

Max had been unusually quiet during my discussion with he-who-answers.

“Capture the feeling you now have,” Max admonished at last. “Take it with you always.”

Suddenly I began to laugh in delight. They both joined in my merriment. This is how I was always meant to feel but never knew it.

He-who-answers said, “You are now living your purpose. That’s why you feel so joyous.”

Walking between them, I threw my arms around both their shoulders in a way that would have seemed uncharacteristic of me not long ago. “I love you both,” I said to them. “I appreciate you both, and I’m grateful to both of you. You are such good friends.”

They smiled, knowing what I meant and felt.

We strolled along a while longer, until I had to acknowledge that it was time for me to leave this place of beauty and my two dear friends. “I need to return to the physical world and fulfill my purpose,” I told them.

“You are already doing it,” they both assured me.

Their words still echo in my mind.