NOTE: I have had many interesting questions about 'trying' or 'testing the spirits' to see if they are valid entities and I am placing this blog to address those questions adequately.Knowledge of Self is paramount in one's communication with the Spirit Realm, because in the development of self-awareness, the problem of ego distortions in perspective are brought under conscious control, thereby reducing identifying self and boundary problems.
As much non-involvement with your own desires allows a person to determine what is real in this communication and what is not. Look for the signs that abound about you and especially within your so-called dreaming states where access to the after-death environment is more readily achieved.
Allowing yourself some freedom to explore without too much criticism over the results will, on a supra-conscious level, encourage those who are trying to get in touch with you from beyond the veil to make contact.
Voices from beyond are common--and I am of course differentiating between a) the common sound of your voice, and 2) delusions of the psyche--although it would do you some good to read Julian Jaynes on The Origin of Consciousness to become acquainted with the voices schizophrenics hear as the 'voice of God."
Cultivating a proper atmosphere for Spirit Communication is essential for attracting either the kind of presences you prefer, such as old friends or family members. I like to use an aromatic incense, a candle and darkened sitting room and sometimes hold hands with my wife, to establish good energy. Inviting Spirit Communication will sometimes bring immediate results, sometimes none at all.
Though I am not a Christian fundamentalist by far, I do believe in the Pentacost, that is, the mystical experience associated with the 'tongues of fire' which is possession by the Holy Ghost. I have had that experience and acknowledge its profound and long-reaching effects.
Granted, there are those who have gone before me who have dealt with Spirit communication more in-depth than I, so in part, I yield to their guidance. I end with this note:
The bible warns us to:
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1-5).
I think this reservation is based, in part, on an approach that tends to separate reality into dualistic camps, thus creating oppositions, that is, suggesting that God is of only one dimension of reality, and not the whole, i.e., just of good but not evil. I believe evil as evil does and that it does not belong in a separate reality, unreachable in terms of changes. Everyone is redeemable, even the worst among us. The bible teaches this in its deepest Spiritual messages.
Unfortunately, the former approach does not allow for growth or changes from within the Spirit world--which do occur. Once we pass over we don't stop evolving into a new person. Even there we can grow and transform into a spiritually centered Self. Our identity is only one pinpoint of light within a gestalt. In fact, I have interacted with my father whom I had problems with in this life, but in the Spirit World we worked it out, and I could see that he had changed.Not only do we benefit in terms of the power of forgiveness to transform, but so do the Spirits we interact with.
Growth goes on and we become new people and so do others. Interaction continues with the Spirit World continuously, whether we know it or not, so take heart, even if you seem to fail in your efforts at Spirit communication, at some level the specific reasons for this communication with those who have passed over will always go on.
Blessed be!
Nahu Lanham
author of: UFOs: GOD FROM INNER SPACE