As I stated in my diary, the spirit world has made ongoing efforts on my behalf because of my status as an unknown dream theoretician, and during that process I've managed to attain a conscious awareness of some of those communications. Those messages have been about more than just my personal efforts and related life situations.

A number of the communications from spirits have been about political topics.

On November 5, 2008, President Obama's grandmother communicated her utter hope for her grandson's presidency and her related love for him. Then, still in a good mood, she was almost apologetic for being so emotional.

The spirit world appeared to think the invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11 was a mistake. The impression I received (which could be a mistaken inference on my part) was that the results wouldn't be worth the loss of life, the injuries, the psychological effect on the soldiers and civilians, the destruction, and the expense.

Regarding the war in Iraq: I sensed a communication that President Bush's soul would have to pay the legacy of having caused an unnecessary war. A couple of days later I received another message about Bush's legacy. That second communication was hard to perceive, but it had something to do with "The quality of mercy."

I noted in my diary that Abraham Lincoln felt pangs about the fact that the Civil War could have been prevented with wise diplomacy. The spirit of Hitler expressed the same intensity of grief while communicating that nothing could make up for what he did to the Jews.

The Ayatollah Khomeini came to me after the First Gulf War began. He had an opinion about the U.S. policy of bombing Iraq. "The great Satan," he communicated. The next day he communicated that message again. I sensed the message wasn't because he was unsure whether I'd received the first one; he just wanted to express the depth of his emotions.

President Kennedy's spirit communicated that the economic embargo against Cuba should end.

A lesson to be learned from these various messages is that the decisions that affect the flesh-and-blood realities of large groups of people should be made whenever possible only while such qualities as empathy, mercy, and rationality are predominant in the reasoning process.

The spirits try to help with the development of talents. It doesn't matter if the person trying to develop his or her talent is at a level far from perfection; the effort is what matters.

Ezra Pound was a famous poet during the first half of the twentieth century. I read some of his poetry and was a bit mystified by much of it, but also liked parts of what I read. Subsequently, after I'd written three lines of a would-be poem I sensed his presence. Those lines are:

The hawk was looking at me as if it were Sherlock Holmes.

"Hello, hello," I said. "Hello, hello.

Hello, hello, hello, hello."

It might seem nonsensical that a spirit would provide assistance about a poem of such amateur quality. But Pound, by his presence, was trying to be encouraging.

Charles Dickens was a talented author, to say the least. His spirit provided me with writing advice. The sum of plot elements and related details should add up to an overall richness. When plotting, try to focus on what adds up to a pleasing sum.

On Martin Luther King day, Martin Luther King surfaced in my mind and communicated to me to write about important topics.

The spirits seek to give us guidance about everyday matters.

I'd had to rescue my cat from a dire situation. She'd climbed onto a neighbor's shed, then climbed an adjoining tree. When I located her by her loud and plaintive meows, she was perched on a limb approximately eight feet above the shed.

There were complications. It was winter and the tree and shed were icy. The neighbor's dog in the yard below killed cats. Mushroom (my cat) couldn't be left to make her way down the tree.

It was evening, close to bedtime. I knocked on the neighbor's door, hoping he wouldn't be angry about being disturbed. When he came to the door I explained the situation.

He brought me a ladder. I climbed onto the shed. I shined a flashlight in Mushroom's direction while calling to her to come down. She didn't budge.

My girlfriend had arrived, and she suggested I shine the flashlight on myself. I did so. Mushroom could see my face. She began to carefully descend.

I grabbed her when she was in arm's reach, put her in my girlfriend's upstretched hands, and climbed down the ladder.

What a relief! But as we were taking Mushroom back to my house I wondered, grumblingly, how many more times I might have to rescue her, and whether those occasions also would involve night and winter.

A spirit appeared in my mind. It was Jesus Christ. "Rescue her as many times as are necessary," Christ communicated in what seemed an amused manner. He evidently saw some humor in the situation and my self-centered mindset in relation to it.

I was out of work. I lay awake at nights wondering if I'd ever get a professional job. Employment for people with just a master's degree in psychology (rather than a Ph.D.) was hard to obtain. I'd been offered a part-time position to be a roommate for a man with polio. Homer (the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey and, as reflected in his books, no stranger to the encompassing aspects of being human) suggested I take that position. I did so. It worked out well (although I had a few nightmares lamenting how I should have done things differently in the past). Subsequently I was offered a position as a psychologist at a prison. I was apprehensive about working with prisoners. Again Homer suggested I take the job. So I did. The prisoners didn't give me a hard time, and I learned how not to get in trouble. (Don't throw a chili dog at anyone; it might result in an aggravated battery charge. Also, don't use illegal drugs. It reportedly takes two months, on average, for a drug user to undergo a total and ruinous change in adaptive functioning.)

While on the topic of Homer's interactions with me, the following seems worth mentioning. I sensed his supportive presence. Then, as his spirit was departing, I seemed to glimpse this communication from him: "An unknown dream interpreter won't go unloved." I was unsure whether that message was for me or whether I managed to sense it while he was communicating with other spirits, but in any case it is an example of the nurturing the spirits provide.

I went to an animal shelter to look at the cats but wasn't planning on adopting any of them because I already owned more cats than the legal limit of four. One of the cats there was eager for attention, and when I opened his cage he crawled onto my shoulder and pushed his face against mine. He pleaded for more interactions when I put him back in his cage. Subsequently Idi Amin (an African leader) communicated the zest he'd felt about aspects of his unconventional life. He was encouraging me to break the rules if I wanted to and adopt that cat.

How does one become aware of spiritual interventions?

It's presumably more difficult if one isn't in a situation warranting either immediate or ongoing assistance from the spirit world, but it's not impossible.

Can you spot enriching shifts in your consciousness which aren't caused by your conscious self? That's a first step.

I usually can identify which spirit is visiting me, but I don't know a sure way for others to acquire that awareness. The following may help. Ask two friends to join you for a telepathy exercise. The exercise involves sets of two 30 second trials. On one of the trials person A will try to feel love for you. On the other trial B will try to feel that love. See if you can identify which person is sending the love during each trial. Sit with your backs to them as the exercise proceeds, so that facial cues won't provide non-telepathic data.

At best the spiritual visits will be obvious. They're usually not, though. In that context, the spirit of Robert Heinlein (the great science fiction writer) once jokingly complained to me that people in science fiction weren't sufficiently responsive to his communications.

What is the nature of the spirit realm? I have a few incomplete answers.

Spirits have provided me with attempted assistance the same day they'd died, and an assumption is that the transition after death leads to immediate healing of any pain and trauma experienced while alive.

But a spirit who had been tortured communicated to me the experience of pain beyond human imagination, and it seemed as if that spirit (I couldn't tell if it were male or female, and perhaps its sex organs had been destroyed as part of the torture) was receiving nurturing by other spirits, even after the ending of all physical pain.

Is it a contradiction that all suffering ends after death, but nurturing for earthly pain nevertheless can continue after death?

As this next example illustrates, gratitude and friendship for constructive behavior performed while alive continue after death. A rescuer of Jews during the holocaust lived past 90, and a number of the people whom he'd saved died prior to his death. I received a communication that those rescued persons had been present at the time of his death to welcome him to the spirit world.

Is "God" an emissary from an advanced alien civilization?

Consider the following speculative scenario. An intelligent alien species manages to survive its growing pains while it develops scientific technologies. Eventually it manages to preserve the "soul" via exotic computer technology (or by some more advanced means). In essence, that race thereby develops a form of immortality. It decides to share that technology with other living beings, and launches spaceships in search of life in other solar systems.

Did one of those spaceships find our planet?

These speculations are derived from a communication I had from the entity I referred to in the diary as the "spaceship captain." I'd been inactive about writing a book about dream interpretation. The spaceship captain surfaced and communicated (while seemingly in a good-humored mood), "I traveled across the universe; you can write." The lesson was that if the spaceship captain could undertake that task then I, with his spiritual assistance, could exert the necessary efforts to write my book.

The technology to preserve souls also encompasses the ability to preserve only the best parts of the flesh-and-blood personality. Yet even though all spirits have constructive intent, some of those spirits evidently have to perform actions to make up for their flawed behavior while alive.

The comedian P.G. Wodehouse included in one of his stories someone asking a man who'd been acting strangely whether he thought he was Napoleon. People in mental institutions back then reportedly would claim to be Napoleon at times. Napoleon had launched a series of wars across Europe, and undoubtedly the spirit world didn't approve. After he'd died, was he required to provide attempted assistance to people with mental problems? And as a consequence of those visits, would some of the recipients sense his spirit's presence and claim a kinship of identity with him?

I came across a picture of a fierce-looking concentration camp commander, and his image's spirit seemed to be emanating a love for racial diversity. That love seemed to be trying to be contagious, and I sensed it more than 50 years after the Second World War had ended. His spirit evidently still was required to undertake that task.

Shortly after the First Gulf war began, Golda Maier (who'd been a leader of Israel while alive) communicated she'd failed with Hussein. I gathered that she'd tried to persuade Saddam Hussein to make the decisions necessary to avoid the war. Had she been assigned to that endeavor? If so, an assumption is that while in charge of Israel she'd made wrong decisions with regard to fair and kindly treatment of Palestinians and other Arabs, and as a consequence her spirit had to try to make amends.

More messages from the spirits:

From a hero at Chernobyl who helped prevent the spill of radiation from being worse than it was, and who died as a consequence of his exposure to that radiation: "I had all of life ahead, but I chose to sacrifice that life for the benefit of all. If others make similar choices of heroic action at moments of utter crisis, civilization will survive."

From a woman Palestinian who'd blown herself up in a suicide bombing to protest Israeli restrictions: "We need other, better options."

From Charlie Chaplin: "One reason for the success of my films was that I succeeded in arousing sympathy for the plight of the wretched underclass even while the audience was being entertained."

P.G. Wodehouse: "May there always be rich relatives or friends who can come to the rescue, no matter how tight-fisted and cold they might seem in ordinary circumstances."

Mae West: "Monogamy is the safest policy in this era of AIDS. If I could, I would share with monogamous people my memories of all my different lovers."

Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall (a supreme court justice while alive), and Steven Biko (a political prisoner who was beaten to death in a South African jail): The injustices which occur can outrage even the spirits. People should be evaluated by others according to what they accomplish if given the opportunity, rather than in relation to how they respond during times of injustice. The spiritual love sent to the victims of injustice sometimes will come from those who were among the most oppressed and sometimes will come from those who were unjust while alive."

Jesus Christ: "Judas and I are friends."

Peter Van Damm (The boyfriend of Anne Frank): "There are good people in all the races and religions."

A developmentally disabled girl who spent her life in an institution and died there: "I'm in heaven now."

Jack London: "By my suicide I wasted the creativity inside me."

An eleven year old boy who killed a child and then was killed by his peers in revenge: "If I'd had a good role model, I wouldn't have acted as I did."

Jesus Christ: "There's a Lazarus inside everyone."

Sarah Bernhardt (a famous actress during the late 1800s and early 1900s): "Everyone should have scenes in everyday life in which they can be highly emotional in a good cause."

Michael Faraday (a great scientist and also reportedly a kind person): "The balance between having a productive career, loving spouse and children, and the friendship and respect of colleagues is the sort of balance everyone should have the prospect of attaining."

Reader, I like to believe that the constructive efforts of spirits aren't wasted. So here is a poem which includes the initial lines which seemed to evoke Pound's encouraging presence.

The hawk was looking at me as if it were Sherlock Holmes.

"Hello, hello," I said. "Hello, hello.

Hello, hello, hello, hello."

It blinked an eye. Perhaps I wasn't keeping its attention.

"Hello, hello," I said again, not being able to vocalize with imitative hawk sounds.

I sensed its presence in my mind.

"There will always be available mice," it communicated,

"So do not be afraid of hunger."

Then it was silent.

"Talk to me, talk to me," I said. "Oh, don't stop now."

It fixed me with its gaze. "Human mortal," I sensed from it.

"Oh, that's quite enough," I said. "It's been jolly good,

But now I think I'll go see the giraffe."