Jim: The question this evening from J is, “How can I enter into contact with my higher self and get daily guidance from it with such clarity that I would be able to clearly identify that I am receiving guidance from my higher self and not from my imagination or from any other sources? What spiritual principles may I use to aid me in receiving guidance?”

(Carla channeling)

We are those known to you as Q’uo. Greetings in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator, in whose service we come to you this evening. It is a privilege and a pleasure to be called to your circle of seeking. We are delighted to share with you our humble thoughts concerning the subject of receiving information from your guidance system.

However, before we begin, as always we would ask all of those who listen to or read these words to use their discrimination and discernment in choosing which of the thoughts that we share to retain. Follow the resonance in that which is said. If thoughts are resonant to you, keep them by all means and work with them as is useful to you. If they do not resonate to you, we ask that you leave them behind. In this way we can be sure that we have not infringed upon your free will or the sanctity of your spiritual process. We thank you for this consideration.

The subject of receiving good information from one’s guidance is a good subject upon which to ponder and to seek because the quality of that which is given you from your own guidance is very high. It is the gift to the self from the self to have this guidance system. Each entity exists both in third density, as a creature of flesh and blood, and as that energy body which is the self within time/space [within mid-sixth density. These two are] inexorably linked. This energy entity is a citizen of eternity and dwells in infinite time.

The foundation of each seeker’s guidance system is his own higher self, that self who, in mid-sixth density, has experienced all that is desired. When that entity realizes fully that he shall no longer desire or seek to fulfill desires, but instead turn towards the call of the infinite Creator to rejoin It fully, it turns one last time to what you would see as the past and creates a thought form that contains all of the harvest of that which he has learned throughout all of his incarnations in all densities through the sixth.

This thought form he leaves with the developing entity wherever it is, in whatever incarnation it is experiencing, so that at any time he may call upon his highest and best self and ask how to evaluate things and whatever other advice he deems needed.

This higher self is joined by at least three angelic entities. This instrument calls [two of] these angelic entities the Holy Spirit in his male and female aspect. Others consider the angelic entities to be gurus or literally angels. Some entities who are seeking to serve the light collect about them as many as a dozen angelic presences or more, all of whom wish to support and encourage that service to the light which the seeker has undertaken within incarnation.

This service is not necessarily an outer service. Many are those who create that portal within themselves which holds a space wherein light may come through from those realms of pure love into third density. This is a great service in itself and may be offered by a seeker in any condition of life whatever.

The spiritual principle involved in seeking one’s guidance is that which can be called faith. Faith is often misunderstood among your peoples for they confuse faith with belief. Belief is always belief in something; perhaps a creed or a system of tenets that form a dogmatic system. A believer believes specific points or speaks to a specific creed.

Faith, on the other hand, has no content. It contains no knowledge. It is an attitude. It is the attitude that knows beyond doubt, regardless of the circumstances, that all is well. And the entity who is living a life in faith cannot be daunted by circumstance. Faith is an attitude which assumes that the infinite Creator, the higher self, and that self which planned this incarnation before taking flesh have provided ample opportunities for learning and for service.

Sometimes involved in learning is suffering. Sometimes there is sorrow and pain. Yet one living a life in faith knows that that which is happening is perfect. It is precisely what is needed to advance spiritually and to be of service. Consequently, such an entity cooperates and harmonizes with circumstance and allows creativity and imagination to play a part in the flowing forward of events.

Faith does not recognize closed doors. Faith abides, patiently, trustingly and with infinite attention. For there shall come those hints, inklings and information from spirit that shall illuminate the situation within the present moment. And this faith is that which shall serve you well, my brother, as you learn to listen to and communicate with your guidance system.

There is no such thing as being able, without any doubt whatsoever, to know that you are communicating with your guidance. There is a reason for this unknowing. Each entity within third density is given complete free will to choose those things which he desires. And that which he desires shall be given unto him. In this atmosphere of free will, it is not desirable from the standpoint of spiritual growth that there be some way to test and prove spiritual events or influences.

Instead of such objective means of determining the validity of metaphysical experiences, the seeker is given, instead, the ability to set intentions, such as speaking with one’s guidance. Once this intention has been carefully and profoundly set in such a way that the self hears the self on a deep level, it is necessary only to proceed to have a conversation on a continuing basis with your guidance.

This instrument communicates with its higher self using a computer. She types in her questions and then allows her mind to be filled with a thought. That thought comes and she types it into the computer. If she desires to communicate further, she types in another question and then again waits for a thought. When it comes she types it without questioning it, judging it, or in any way analyzing it.

It is a simple procedure, my brother, and it is a protective one in that your guidance system dwells within your protected aura. This communication cannot be disrupted by psychic greeting. Its very simplicity however, frustrates and baffles the intellectual mind. If the intellectual mind is allowed to work it shall immediately begin asking, “How do I know that this thought is not my thought? How do I know that I am receiving guidance from a legitimate guidance system?”

My brother, you shall never know in that objective way of proof until the day comes when your scientists are able to create instrumentation to track vibration of this subtle kind. By the time this is done, my brother, you shall be either in fourth density or your home density, having concluded your service and your learning upon Planet Earth.

Therefore, your objective needs to be to continue and persevere, having conversations, if possible, daily, keeping a record, either on the computer or writing by hand. Gradually, you shall build up a sufficient amount of material in order to have the ability to look back upon the collected experiences of this conversation as it continues. The longer that you continue with this discipline, the more dense shall be the patterns of congruency and harmonization that you shall begin to see. Gradually you shall begin to gain confidence in this source of intelligence, not because of objective proof but because of an increasing amount of synchronicity and coincidence of a spiritually interesting nature that shall begin to grow up around this conversation.

Eventually you shall come to trust in this source of inspiration and information because it has stood you in good stead over a period of time and because there has come to be a certain energy which you can associate with this conversation which comes at no other time.

We sympathize with the frustration that you feel at not being able to be certain in an intellectual way of the validity of this method of receiving guidance. However, it is not spiritually helpful to experience that model where you purchase guidance as though it were a product that you can buy at a store. It is far more helpful to you to dwell within your humanity in unknowing while pursuing a life in faith.

You dwell as a human being in third density in a world of facts and figures and weights and measures, and often, my brother, they do not speak the truth even though they are facts. Conversely, in the world of spirit you dwell in a land of mystery and paradox, yet that information which you are able to bring through in your protected, sacred conversation grows into that substantial reality which to you becomes more real than the facts and figures, weights and measures of third-density, space/time reality.

We applaud you, my brother, for seeking your guidance in this way. We know that you shall launch yourself into midair as is the way of faith and that you shall find firm footing in that midair as you allow yourself to remain empty so that you may be filled with those gifts of the spirit which are yours.

My brother, a life in faith is supported best by entering the silence on a daily basis in whatever way that you should wish. Within that silence is all of the information you need. However, it is not offered in words, or even concepts. It flows, rather, in the currents of silence into your deepest heart, there to lodge securely and to bubble up into the daily life in dreams and visions and those feelings that are typical of a gnostic knowledge rather than an intellectual one. 1

May we ask if there is a follow-up to this query before we take other questions? We are those of Q’uo.

[On the telephone.]

Would you like to ask one of your other follow-up questions?

The follow-up question is, “I started a few months ago to write every morning and every evening all the things I’m grateful for. How do you see this? Is it useful? Is there any way to improve it? What spiritual principles would help me think about the situation?”

We are those of Q’uo, and are aware of your query, my brother. Gratitude is indeed a spiritual principle, my brother. The energy of gratitude contains a world of wisdom and compassion. For one is gratified not only because of the good things, so called, not only the sunny days, but the rainy days, the stormy days, the tsunami. All weathers whatsoever, all, are occasions for gratitude. Therefore, this practice is of a very high order of excellence and we commend you, my brother, for working with this principle in humility and in joy.

There is simplicity to the spiritual walk that baffles the intellectual mind. All that occurs is that which comes before the self in order that the self may practice responding with vibrations as close as humanly possible to the vibration of the one infinite Creator, which is unconditional love. Consequently, the response of one that is vibrating at his highest and best shall always be love.

Garnering to oneself the energies of thanksgiving and gratitude create for the self a tuning of the instrument that is his deepest nature, so that he may more and more be able to sound the melodies of spirit that flow through his wind instrument as he breathes, as he speaks, as he thinks, and as he acts. This attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude creates an ever uplifting energy that brings the seeker more and more into the realms of truth, that truth which cannot be spoken but which can be felt.

We would not know how to advise you, my brother, of how to improve upon this practice. However, as you have already initiated a practice of recording those things for which you are thankful, and as you are seeking diligently to begin and continue a conversation with your guidance system, we feel that if there are refinements or additions to such a practice, it shall organically well up within you, in quietness and in confidence, as to how you shall alter your practice.

You are like the tree that is planted by the water. As your roots drink the infinite love and light of the one infinite Creator, and as the sun of your turning to spirit allows you to thrive, so shall you bloom, first with the bud, then the blossom, then the leaf and finally the fruit. Who knows when your seasons turn or how you shall experience them? What is certain is that in establishing these practices, you are opening yourself up maximally to those resources that shall offer you the way forward, step by step, never reaching, never avoiding, but always walking in faith.

It is said in your holy works, “In quietness and confidence is your strength.” 2 So, my brother, is the way of those whose feet are set upon the King’s Highway. 3

May we ask if there is another query at this time? We are those of Q’uo.

[On the telephone.]

Would you like to go onto the visualization question?

The next question is, “What is the purpose of dreaming and the benefit of lucid dreaming?”

We are those of Q’uo, and are aware of your query, my brother. The energies of love and light that we have discussed previously that are so richly filled in silence are those energies of a very deep nature, communicating with the roots of consciousness within you, that consciousness that you share with all that is. Within this consciousness lie energies that are as rivers, lakes and oceans. You tap into them with your emotions thusly. As you go through your day, if there is little emotion felt then you do not impress or call these deep-flowing waters upward into the conscious mind.

However, my brother, it is rare that there is a day in which there are not those emotional responses to catalyst that do reach an intensity that calls to those archetypal waters in the roots of mind. The response to those emotions and events felt and seen in your day build up until, within your sleeping time, there is that response from deep within you which is called a dream.

[Dreams] are gifts of spirit. When one’s emotions are muddied, the dreams may well also be muddied and shallow. However, when one is on a spiritual path and has developed practices such as you have developed, the events of each day have a tendency to become more lucid and to reach down with a refined emotional energy so that the messages within dreams can bubble up in a clearer and more lucid fashion into your conscious mind.

Oftentimes there is the attempt within dreams of the self to come more into balance with that which is distorted either for joy or for sorrow. Images seen within dreams often give one clues as to the true nature of perceived experience or the deeper nature of that experience which has many layers, some of which you may not have seen.

The keeping of a dream journal, then, is a way of receiving intelligence concerning those issues which are grist for your mill as a spiritual seeker. Such a practice constitutes a genuine resource for the seeker.

The virtue of lucid dreaming, where one becomes aware that one is dreaming, is the same virtue of one who becomes aware within the dream of waking life that he is a true witness and that he has the capacity to form his own responses. When one is able to, say, move an arm within the dream character that represents himself, or is in some way able to enter into the dream as though it were a waking vision, that lucidity sharpens the ability to grasp and retain the infinite details of the concepts which are couched within the dream.

There is a priestly responsibility that goes along with lucid dreaming. That which one is able to comprehend, one is then responsible for using. As this instrument would say, it is more important in lucid dreaming to “walk the talk” of the dream.

We thank the one known as J for this query, for we do feel that focusing upon dreams and giving them honor and respect shall inevitably offer the improvement of this activity as a spiritual resource.

We are those of Q’uo, and would ask if there is another query at this time.

[On the telephone.]

Which one would you like to go to now?

The next one is, “Could you give me advice on out-of-body experiences and how to have one, and are they safe?”

[Side one of tape ends.]

(Carla channeling)

We are those of Q’uo, and are aware of your query, my brother. For each entity, the answer to the question of, “Are out-of-body experiences safe,” is different. Indeed, for one entity in incarnation the answer would be variable. To be conservative, we would respond by saying that the moving out of body is safe only when it is a learned experience and that learning takes place in a group wherein there are senior entities who are experienced at collaboration with those who are traveling out-of-body and who are aware of ways to surround such activities with protection.

It may be said that we are conservative when offering this opinion, for in many cases there is an innocence to moving out of the body. Yet in some cases, that innocence can be rudely interrupted, for it is a crowded universe, my brother, and when one is seeking the light with all of one’s heart and soul and mind and strength, one stands close to the light. And when one stands close to the light because of one’s intention to serve and seek the light, that light causes the entity to cast a shadow that is seen by service-to-self entities who are fond of distracting and even destroying entities who are out of body.

It is as though one were taking a walk in a neighborhood that was high in crime and violence, or in a war zone. Perhaps you should be able to move into the farthest reaches that you wish and come home to your body without incident. However, it is also possible that you might be set upon and then you should find it difficult to move back into your physical body. Consequently, we would suggest that you pursue this interest by contacting a trusted source of knowledge and experience, such as the Monroe Institute. 4 We take this information from this instrument’s memory.

Again, we feel that such interests should be pursued with that organic feeling of resonance. If this is an activity that is resonant for you then we encourage you to follow it, but not by yourself.

May we ask if there is a final query at this time?

[On the telephone.]

Do you have a final query?

The final query is, “How can visualization help create things in my life and do you have any recommendations to improve this activity?”

We are the principle of Q’uo, and are aware of your query. This question on visualization is a delicate one, my brother, in that it is possible to visualize and desire many things. And it is a legitimate thing to desire anything whatsoever and to visualize it in order to bring it into your experience. And it shall work if you wish to use the power of visualization in this way. You have only to identify precisely that which you wish and then spend time gazing lovingly at that object of desire.

However, it is possible to desire the things of Earth which can be spoken of and listed in number. It is also possible to desire those things which are of the heaven-world, shall we say, such as desiring to do the will of the one infinite Creator, desiring to see the love in each moment, desiring to see the Creator in the eyes of all whom you meet, and desiring to dedicate your life to service in the love and the light of the one Creator.

The desiring of these things and the visualization of them is likewise powerful, yet it attracts to you not this or that; rather, it attracts to you that resonance within which you may associate with the one infinite Creator…

We must pause while this instrument becomes able again to enter its original tuning, for the telephone device and the headset which this instrument was using ceased working. 5 This instrument has now found another instrument, as it were, with which she may continue to relay the thoughts that we wish to share. And as we speak through this instrument we are restoring the tuning, that we may continue to answer this query on visualization.

My brother, we would recommend that you be careful and cautious in visualizing anything that is an object. Rather, we would encourage you to create visualizations concerning your highest and deepest desires to serve, asking simply that you be an instrument that the Creator may play according to Its will, so that you may be truly inspired and a creature who vibrates with the love and the light of the one infinite Creator.

If you desire and visualize this, then that which you need for your learning and for your service shall come to you without reaching, without worry or concern, and you shall find that your life develops in a way that is far more rewarding and, as this instrument would say, awesome, than any visualization which you may choose.

We would, however, say that there are visualizations for the good of humankind, such as peace on Earth, peace in the hearts of humankind, love in the hearts of humankind, and such concerns as this, that are the proper concern of those who would do work in consciousness. These visualization on behalf of the tribe of humankind are blessed indeed.

We find that this instrument and this group’s energies begin to wane, and so at this time, reluctantly we must admit, we shall take our leave of this instrument and of this group, leaving each in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator. We are known to you as the principle of Q’uo. Adonai. Adonai vasu.


  1. Gnostic knowledge comes through direct apprehension of truth and one’s intuition whereas intellectual knowledge comes through learning facts and arranging them in logical order. 

  2. Holy Bible, Isaiah 30:15: “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” 

  3. This phrase is seen in several currently popular songs, but the one to which the instrument refers is the hymn written by E. A. Cummins in 1922. The first verse of this hymn is, “I know not where the road will lead I follow day by day, or where it ends, I only know I walk the King’s Highway.” 

  4. The Monroe Institute’s web site is www.monroeinstitute.org

  5. The instrument’s headset telephone, which makes it possible for a person to attend a session by telephone and hear what is channeled, chose this session as its time to die. The instrument fiddled with the phone to get it to work but failed. Jim then handed her another portable telephone, which she held by hand for the remainder of the session. She regained her tuning quickly.