Vision Number Three: Peace
Described in Question and Answer Format
between Mike and Shelley
This was a vision that occurred in January of 2008 at around 9 AM. I was
laying in bed, I had not yet gotten up for the day. The evening before, Mike and
I had had an verbal disagreement with a couple that were very present in our day
to day lives and decision making. It was a relationship that wasn’t on the best
of terms in the first place, so the incident and how to deal with it laid heavy
on our hearts and minds.
I awoke that day and groggily fell directly into thought and prayer…suddenly
I had a vision. After some time I came back to the consciousness of laying in
bed next to Mike and woke him so that I could tell him immediately. I couldn’t
believe what I had seen and felt. This was truly a revelation of how to find
peace. We quickly ran to the kitchen to get the vision onto tape.
MIKE: Was this vision based on last nights disagreement?
SHELLEY: It seems to be. I had a revelation, a vision of how to obtain true
peace. I went to bed last night and I was so upset wondering how to find peace
when I am dealing with external things. I woke up praying this morning, like do
when I have a problem that seems bigger than I can handle and I can see no
obvious answer.
MIKE: What do you mean by "external things?"
SHELLEY: Well it is easy to be religious and have faith and the best of
intentions inside of myself alone, but it seems that when I deal with others and
their emotions and needs my responses aren’t always the best and I sort of
forget faith and the "good path" and just respond in ways of anger or wanting to
retaliate.
MIKE: Retaliate in what way?
SHELLEY: Well in this case, that disagreement and the interaction that took
place with them seems to lead me to want to do things to get back at them.
Things that would actually be within our rights legally and some would say
morally. As I was thinking through the things that we could do to retaliate I
felt so angry and dark. All of them would make us "look good," but each of these
things didn’t give me the feeling of being exhonorated from the upset of the
situation. They didn’t make me feel more right, better, or peaceful. They gave
me no closure.
MIKE: Is this the point where the vision started?
SHELLEY: Yes, suddenly I was in a totally dark room.
MIKE: What did the room look like or feel like?
SHELLEY: Well, I really couldn’t see anything, it was totally dark. I wasn’t
afraid though. It seemed to me that I knew the room was open behind me, but in
front of me it seemed rounded, as if it were a half circle. As I turned there
was always a half circle in front of me. I turned each time I engaged a new
thought of how to deal with the situation.
MIKE: How did you feel physically? Was it warm or cold in the room?
SHELLEY: I was comfortable physically, not warm or cold, but my focus didn’t
seem to be on my physical body there. I felt immense discomfort in my mind.
MIKE: What sort of discomfort?
SHELLEY: Well, each time a scenario would play through my head about how to
deal with the situation it would play all the way through to the end and then I
would feel what the results would make me feel like. For example, when I turned
slightly to the left, I thought of angry things I could call them to say to
justify us. I felt angry as the scenario played through my head. I saw us all
act it out. I could hear each of us saying the words like players in a play, I
could even feel my muscles tense as I talked. Oddly, I was also conscious of
standing in that curved room watching it play out. As the scenario played
through, I might feel like I was getting the best of them in the conversation,
but as the "me" watching, I could hear howling like an angry wind, and there was
so much anger in my head, everything just seemed like it was spinning and angry
red. I gained nothing and nothing seemed worth anything.
MIKE: So you were yourself, watching yourself play a part?
SHELLEY: Yes, I felt different things as each person. Later, it would seem
odd that I had been able to watch myself, but at the time, it seemed perfectly
normal.
MIKE: Could you feel the emotions or thoughts of the others in the
scenario?
SHELLEY: No, they seemed like real human interactions.
MIKE: You said the room was curved and you chose scenarios. Were there doors
you opened to enter the scenario?
SHELLEY: Yes and no. The room was curved and solid and open behind me, but as
I turned the opening was still behind me and the curve would be in front of me.
As I decided on a scenario, it was as if a door was created and I stepped
through to act it out, where before that there had only been the curve and the
possibility of a door. It seemed as if choosing a scenario, I created the door
and then made the door open. I then became that second person "me" and acted in
that scenario. I felt it all as if I was really in it, but I stayed the person
watching in the dark room the entire time too, looking at it and deciding what
to do next.
MIKE: How many scenarios did you go through?
SHELLEY: I’m not sure. Four to six I would say. It doesn‘t seem important
that I remember exactly how many there were or what I chose. The important thing
seemed to be that even though, in human terms, I would "win" the fight, find the
words to come out on top, I had no feeling of victory. I felt only anger,
confusion, and the desire to go further to find that feeling of self
righteousness, that feeling of the win. I knew that I could, if I chose,
literally exhaust my self in each scenario and never find that.
MIKE: What gave you a sense that you would never find it? Was it something
you saw?
SHELLEY: Yes, as the vision of each of my choices played out, I could see the
vision get deeper and further away with each interaction. As they got deeper and
further away, my actions became more and more desperate in my attempt to
win.
MIKE: What do you mean deeper, from what?
SHELLEY: Further from the view of me in the dark room watching.
MIKE: What seemed to be the conclusion?
SHELLEY: There was none. The first scenario would continue to play while I as
"the person in the room," chose another scenario to act out. I never saw the
other door close. It just wasn’t my focus anymore, the new scenario was, but I
knew that the prior had no ending. It would just be a futile thing leading me to
exhaustion.
MIKE: But you said this was a vision of peace. How did you find peace?
SHELLEY: Well, like the others, I guess I turned my focus in the room again.
This time it felt different. Suddenly I wondered what I could do to deal with
the situation to make it the best it could be by following God’s laws in my
actions, regardless of what the others chose.
MIKE: What made you decide to do this?
SHELLEY: It wasn’t a conscious decision. It seemed as if, though playing out
the scenarios, I had finally just gotten so exhausted by trying to win and
knowing there was no end, no amount of effort that would make me finally have
that triumphant feeling that I finally surrendered. I knew there was no end to
this path. I remember that brief time of exhaustion and the feeling of finally
surrendering, not wanting to try to win anymore, but wanting something else.
Something to give me peace and make it stop.
MIKE: Did you go to another door or search for another door at this
point?
SHELLEY: No, at this point, I stopped exhausted, and suddenly, the howling in
my head stopped and the answer came. I didn’t search for it. As the answer came
and I humbled myself to it in exhaustion, the door opened itself.
MIKE: What did you see or feel when the door opened?
SHELLEY: When this door opened I was only my one self in the curved room. I
was no longer a person watching myself. I remember feeling as if my head was
bowed, as if I had finally given up. I had no more energy to fight. When this
door opened it only opened a crack at first, showing a vertical stream of light.
As I chose to take this path, it opened further showing more light. I felt
absolute peace the more I gave myself over to this path. Finally I accepted it
totally, gave myself over. The door opened fully. It was a place of light I was
suddenly in. I was no longer in the dark curved room at all. It no longer
existed for me, nor did the other scenarios.
MIKE: I know you said you didn’t consciously make this decision, but what was
the decision that you accepted?
SHELLEY: I didn’t make the decision, but I did have to choose to accept it.
The decision was to do the one thing that I personally could do to make the
situation the best it could be instead of winning. I wholeheartedly decided to
perform that task, and then winning was no longer even an issue. It just left me
with the complete desire to do my part to make it better by following God‘s law.
From there I even forgot that I had decided that that, once I dedicated myself
to doing it. I felt only peace and the warmth and love from that light. I wanted
nothing but that. Having that light and peace meant more to me than anything. I
forgot everything else. I no longer thought of the other scenarios.
MIKE: How did you feel physically at this point?
SHELLEY: I felt totally rested in my mind and body. Almost like I would
imagine it feels to be newly born. I felt soft and alive, loving and completely
loved. I was warmed by the light.
MIKE: Could you tell where the light was coming from or if anything else was
there?
SHELLEY: No, it was just a place of light. I got no sense that it came from
any one thing. It wasn’t like the sun or anything. It was it’s own place of
being. A place of comfort and rest. I didn’t sense or feel anyone or anything
there, just that feeling of absolute peace. The scenarios were gone. That place
was all I seemed to know, or had ever known. I was so grateful to be there. I
felt joyful, and such relief.
MIKE: What happened next?
SHELLEY: I came back slowly to a knowledge that I was actually in the bed
next to you, but with a new understanding of things. I still had a complete
understanding of the vision in my mind.
MIKE: What was your understanding of the vision?
SHELLEY: I understood that the peace that people in this world, including
myself, search for is found not through gratification of winning in this world,
but by following the base tenements of the ten commandments and the rules given
in the bible for self conduct. By making the choice to do, within yourself, what
you can in the situation to follow these rules, instead of worrying about
conduct to win, one can truly achieve peace. I wouldn’t have believed it myself,
but after making this choice all of the other things of this world don’t even
matter. Just the peace I found. No matter what is going on around you, what
distraction or scenario this world has to offer, the fundamental reason for
these things are so that they can be reduced to choosing to follow one of these
basic rules or ideas of the bible. That is truly one of the only reason’s for
them it seems.
MIKE: What about the personal feelings we have toward these things. The good
stuff like love?
SHELLEY: Loving others is one of God‘s laws. What it all comes down to is,
are you responding with love and following these rules? It is literally gets
distilled to a yes or no choice. There is no in between. Just that one answer,
will you follow the ideas and rules given to us. Those other answers just lead
to things that will go on forever, and will still never bring peace, joy, or
fulfillment. It has to be reduced to this yes or no answer. It is the answer
that is important. The feelings for those other things just go away when the
choice to follow is made. Then there is no other path.
MIKE: Do you think that you will always go straight to that yes/ no path now
that you know this?
SHELLEY: Absolutely not. I will still be presented with scenarios and will
probably choose the wrong one until I exhaust myself and give up in prayer. I am
not exempt just because I know, but I will always carry the knowledge. Once I
exhaust myself and remember to pray and submit, I will find the answer that will
bring that peace back to me. I will carry the understanding that there is more
than winning the scenario I am in. I will know that it doesn’t matter what
others do, only what I choose to do, following God’s laws. Now everyone who has
read this has that option too. It is real, I felt it. I found that peace they
spoke of in the bible.
MIKE: What did the absolute peace feel like?
SHELLEY: Absolute peace is silent with no words. I couldn’t hear myself talk.
I had no feelings of physical, emotional, or spiritual need. It was as if time
stopped. I forgot all other things and distractions. I didn’t even remember or
contemplate how I had gotten there. It was as if it had always been. I even
forgot I had craved peace. I just was bathed in that light and so joyous.
MIKE: What happened then?
SHELLEY: That was when I came slowly back to my awareness of being in the bed
next to you and I woke you to tell you.
Described in Question and Answer Format
between Mike and Shelley
This was a vision that occurred in January of 2008 at around 9 AM. I was
laying in bed, I had not yet gotten up for the day. The evening before, Mike and
I had had an verbal disagreement with a couple that were very present in our day
to day lives and decision making. It was a relationship that wasn’t on the best
of terms in the first place, so the incident and how to deal with it laid heavy
on our hearts and minds.
I awoke that day and groggily fell directly into thought and prayer…suddenly
I had a vision. After some time I came back to the consciousness of laying in
bed next to Mike and woke him so that I could tell him immediately. I couldn’t
believe what I had seen and felt. This was truly a revelation of how to find
peace. We quickly ran to the kitchen to get the vision onto tape.
MIKE: Was this vision based on last nights disagreement?
SHELLEY: It seems to be. I had a revelation, a vision of how to obtain true
peace. I went to bed last night and I was so upset wondering how to find peace
when I am dealing with external things. I woke up praying this morning, like do
when I have a problem that seems bigger than I can handle and I can see no
obvious answer.
MIKE: What do you mean by "external things?"
SHELLEY: Well it is easy to be religious and have faith and the best of
intentions inside of myself alone, but it seems that when I deal with others and
their emotions and needs my responses aren’t always the best and I sort of
forget faith and the "good path" and just respond in ways of anger or wanting to
retaliate.
MIKE: Retaliate in what way?
SHELLEY: Well in this case, that disagreement and the interaction that took
place with them seems to lead me to want to do things to get back at them.
Things that would actually be within our rights legally and some would say
morally. As I was thinking through the things that we could do to retaliate I
felt so angry and dark. All of them would make us "look good," but each of these
things didn’t give me the feeling of being exhonorated from the upset of the
situation. They didn’t make me feel more right, better, or peaceful. They gave
me no closure.
MIKE: Is this the point where the vision started?
SHELLEY: Yes, suddenly I was in a totally dark room.
MIKE: What did the room look like or feel like?
SHELLEY: Well, I really couldn’t see anything, it was totally dark. I wasn’t
afraid though. It seemed to me that I knew the room was open behind me, but in
front of me it seemed rounded, as if it were a half circle. As I turned there
was always a half circle in front of me. I turned each time I engaged a new
thought of how to deal with the situation.
MIKE: How did you feel physically? Was it warm or cold in the room?
SHELLEY: I was comfortable physically, not warm or cold, but my focus didn’t
seem to be on my physical body there. I felt immense discomfort in my mind.
MIKE: What sort of discomfort?
SHELLEY: Well, each time a scenario would play through my head about how to
deal with the situation it would play all the way through to the end and then I
would feel what the results would make me feel like. For example, when I turned
slightly to the left, I thought of angry things I could call them to say to
justify us. I felt angry as the scenario played through my head. I saw us all
act it out. I could hear each of us saying the words like players in a play, I
could even feel my muscles tense as I talked. Oddly, I was also conscious of
standing in that curved room watching it play out. As the scenario played
through, I might feel like I was getting the best of them in the conversation,
but as the "me" watching, I could hear howling like an angry wind, and there was
so much anger in my head, everything just seemed like it was spinning and angry
red. I gained nothing and nothing seemed worth anything.
MIKE: So you were yourself, watching yourself play a part?
SHELLEY: Yes, I felt different things as each person. Later, it would seem
odd that I had been able to watch myself, but at the time, it seemed perfectly
normal.
MIKE: Could you feel the emotions or thoughts of the others in the
scenario?
SHELLEY: No, they seemed like real human interactions.
MIKE: You said the room was curved and you chose scenarios. Were there doors
you opened to enter the scenario?
SHELLEY: Yes and no. The room was curved and solid and open behind me, but as
I turned the opening was still behind me and the curve would be in front of me.
As I decided on a scenario, it was as if a door was created and I stepped
through to act it out, where before that there had only been the curve and the
possibility of a door. It seemed as if choosing a scenario, I created the door
and then made the door open. I then became that second person "me" and acted in
that scenario. I felt it all as if I was really in it, but I stayed the person
watching in the dark room the entire time too, looking at it and deciding what
to do next.
MIKE: How many scenarios did you go through?
SHELLEY: I’m not sure. Four to six I would say. It doesn‘t seem important
that I remember exactly how many there were or what I chose. The important thing
seemed to be that even though, in human terms, I would "win" the fight, find the
words to come out on top, I had no feeling of victory. I felt only anger,
confusion, and the desire to go further to find that feeling of self
righteousness, that feeling of the win. I knew that I could, if I chose,
literally exhaust my self in each scenario and never find that.
MIKE: What gave you a sense that you would never find it? Was it something
you saw?
SHELLEY: Yes, as the vision of each of my choices played out, I could see the
vision get deeper and further away with each interaction. As they got deeper and
further away, my actions became more and more desperate in my attempt to
win.
MIKE: What do you mean deeper, from what?
SHELLEY: Further from the view of me in the dark room watching.
MIKE: What seemed to be the conclusion?
SHELLEY: There was none. The first scenario would continue to play while I as
"the person in the room," chose another scenario to act out. I never saw the
other door close. It just wasn’t my focus anymore, the new scenario was, but I
knew that the prior had no ending. It would just be a futile thing leading me to
exhaustion.
MIKE: But you said this was a vision of peace. How did you find peace?
SHELLEY: Well, like the others, I guess I turned my focus in the room again.
This time it felt different. Suddenly I wondered what I could do to deal with
the situation to make it the best it could be by following God’s laws in my
actions, regardless of what the others chose.
MIKE: What made you decide to do this?
SHELLEY: It wasn’t a conscious decision. It seemed as if, though playing out
the scenarios, I had finally just gotten so exhausted by trying to win and
knowing there was no end, no amount of effort that would make me finally have
that triumphant feeling that I finally surrendered. I knew there was no end to
this path. I remember that brief time of exhaustion and the feeling of finally
surrendering, not wanting to try to win anymore, but wanting something else.
Something to give me peace and make it stop.
MIKE: Did you go to another door or search for another door at this
point?
SHELLEY: No, at this point, I stopped exhausted, and suddenly, the howling in
my head stopped and the answer came. I didn’t search for it. As the answer came
and I humbled myself to it in exhaustion, the door opened itself.
MIKE: What did you see or feel when the door opened?
SHELLEY: When this door opened I was only my one self in the curved room. I
was no longer a person watching myself. I remember feeling as if my head was
bowed, as if I had finally given up. I had no more energy to fight. When this
door opened it only opened a crack at first, showing a vertical stream of light.
As I chose to take this path, it opened further showing more light. I felt
absolute peace the more I gave myself over to this path. Finally I accepted it
totally, gave myself over. The door opened fully. It was a place of light I was
suddenly in. I was no longer in the dark curved room at all. It no longer
existed for me, nor did the other scenarios.
MIKE: I know you said you didn’t consciously make this decision, but what was
the decision that you accepted?
SHELLEY: I didn’t make the decision, but I did have to choose to accept it.
The decision was to do the one thing that I personally could do to make the
situation the best it could be instead of winning. I wholeheartedly decided to
perform that task, and then winning was no longer even an issue. It just left me
with the complete desire to do my part to make it better by following God‘s law.
From there I even forgot that I had decided that that, once I dedicated myself
to doing it. I felt only peace and the warmth and love from that light. I wanted
nothing but that. Having that light and peace meant more to me than anything. I
forgot everything else. I no longer thought of the other scenarios.
MIKE: How did you feel physically at this point?
SHELLEY: I felt totally rested in my mind and body. Almost like I would
imagine it feels to be newly born. I felt soft and alive, loving and completely
loved. I was warmed by the light.
MIKE: Could you tell where the light was coming from or if anything else was
there?
SHELLEY: No, it was just a place of light. I got no sense that it came from
any one thing. It wasn’t like the sun or anything. It was it’s own place of
being. A place of comfort and rest. I didn’t sense or feel anyone or anything
there, just that feeling of absolute peace. The scenarios were gone. That place
was all I seemed to know, or had ever known. I was so grateful to be there. I
felt joyful, and such relief.
MIKE: What happened next?
SHELLEY: I came back slowly to a knowledge that I was actually in the bed
next to you, but with a new understanding of things. I still had a complete
understanding of the vision in my mind.
MIKE: What was your understanding of the vision?
SHELLEY: I understood that the peace that people in this world, including
myself, search for is found not through gratification of winning in this world,
but by following the base tenements of the ten commandments and the rules given
in the bible for self conduct. By making the choice to do, within yourself, what
you can in the situation to follow these rules, instead of worrying about
conduct to win, one can truly achieve peace. I wouldn’t have believed it myself,
but after making this choice all of the other things of this world don’t even
matter. Just the peace I found. No matter what is going on around you, what
distraction or scenario this world has to offer, the fundamental reason for
these things are so that they can be reduced to choosing to follow one of these
basic rules or ideas of the bible. That is truly one of the only reason’s for
them it seems.
MIKE: What about the personal feelings we have toward these things. The good
stuff like love?
SHELLEY: Loving others is one of God‘s laws. What it all comes down to is,
are you responding with love and following these rules? It is literally gets
distilled to a yes or no choice. There is no in between. Just that one answer,
will you follow the ideas and rules given to us. Those other answers just lead
to things that will go on forever, and will still never bring peace, joy, or
fulfillment. It has to be reduced to this yes or no answer. It is the answer
that is important. The feelings for those other things just go away when the
choice to follow is made. Then there is no other path.
MIKE: Do you think that you will always go straight to that yes/ no path now
that you know this?
SHELLEY: Absolutely not. I will still be presented with scenarios and will
probably choose the wrong one until I exhaust myself and give up in prayer. I am
not exempt just because I know, but I will always carry the knowledge. Once I
exhaust myself and remember to pray and submit, I will find the answer that will
bring that peace back to me. I will carry the understanding that there is more
than winning the scenario I am in. I will know that it doesn’t matter what
others do, only what I choose to do, following God’s laws. Now everyone who has
read this has that option too. It is real, I felt it. I found that peace they
spoke of in the bible.
MIKE: What did the absolute peace feel like?
SHELLEY: Absolute peace is silent with no words. I couldn’t hear myself talk.
I had no feelings of physical, emotional, or spiritual need. It was as if time
stopped. I forgot all other things and distractions. I didn’t even remember or
contemplate how I had gotten there. It was as if it had always been. I even
forgot I had craved peace. I just was bathed in that light and so joyous.
MIKE: What happened then?
SHELLEY: That was when I came slowly back to my awareness of being in the bed
next to you and I woke you to tell you.