← Next Level Soul Podcast with Alex Ferrari
Next Level Soul Podcast with Alex Ferrari
BONUS MONDAYS: America's Top Psychic REVEALS Mankind's Next Stage of EVOLUTION! Prepare Yourself with James Van Praagh
01:27:05
Welcome to today’s enlightening conversation with the legendary James Van Praagh, a global leader in the realm of mediumship and one of the most accurately gifted spiritual mediums of our age. James is renowned for his exceptional work as a “survival...
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- [00:01]
Alex Ferrari
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- [00:04]
James Van Praagh
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Alex Ferrari
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James Van Praagh
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- [00:14]
Alex Ferrari
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- [00:17]
James Van Praagh
Ah, sounds like peace of mind. American Home Shield.
- [00:20]
Alex Ferrari
Don't worry. Be warranty. Visit ahs.com listen for 20% off any
- [00:25]
James Van Praagh
plan video chat feature available as benefit to AHS members with select plans. See ahs.com for hours and details. Are you ready to awaken to your soul's highest path? On Next Level Soul tv, you'll discover a sacred space for transformation, truth, and deep inner awakening. It's like Netflix and Audible for your soul, streaming content that feeds your spirit and elevates your consciousness. Explore Next Level Soul originals, soul stirring films and series, and enlightening audiobooks from spiritual masters. Dive into masterclasses and courses that guide your growth and join live events that connect you with the global community of seekers. Whether you're just beginning or deep on your path, everything here is designed to help you remember who you truly are. Just go to www.next levelsoul.tv next levelsoul tv where your soul goes to grow
- [01:27]
Alex Ferrari
welcome to Next Level Soul, the place where we deep dive into the mysteries of existence, uncover hidden layers of consciousness, and explore the journey of the soul. I'm your host, Alex Ferrari, and every week we sit down with the world's leading spiritual teachers, mystics, scientists and truth seekers to illuminate the path towards awakening. Here we ask questions that truly matter. Why are we here? Where are we going, and how do we elevate our lives, our purpose, and our consciousness to the Next level? This is a space for transformation, a space for expansion, a space to remember who you really are. So take a deep breath, open your mind, and prepare to step into your Next Level Soul. Now, if you're ready to take your spiritual journey to the next level, explore Next Level Soul tv, our streaming platform filled with exclusive movies, docs, original shows, transformative series, guided meditations, channeling sessions, audiobooks, and deep spiritual teachings you won't find anywhere else. New content drops every week, helping you expand your consciousness and live from your highest potential. Start your journey today at Next LevelSoul TV. The views, opinions and statements expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or positions of of Next Level Soul, its host, or any of the companies they represent. Now, let's dive into today's episode. I'd like to welcome to the show James Van Prague. How you doing, James?
- [03:01]
James Van Praagh
Very good, Alex. Thank you for having me.
- [03:03]
Alex Ferrari
Thank you so much for coming on the show, my friend. I'm excited to talk to. You've been in this spiritual game for a couple of years now.
- [03:11]
James Van Praagh
About 40, give or take a year.
- [03:14]
Alex Ferrari
Give or take a year or two. Right, that's. Yeah. So you were doing this work when it wasn't truly in vogue.
- [03:20]
James Van Praagh
If you know I was a first medium on television, I was out there and I didn't want to do it. I moved to LA to be a sitcom writer because I'm funny. So I thought I'd make money as a broadcasting sitcom writer, which I've done a couple by the way. But it was there that I went through a series of jobs in la. Temporary jobs, ended up at the William Morris Agency, not in the mailroom, but in the basement pulling staples out of contracts eight hours a day. And I was there and I knew I had to be there. For some reason I thought, there's something going on here, maybe I'll meet an agent who'll get me a sitcom, whatever. And it was there that I had a supervisor who said, do you want to go see a medium? And I said, is that. And she said, he's someone who talks to dead people now. I just moved to LA from New York, said the cynical New Yorker. And I heard California landed fruit and nuts. I'm like, okay, here we go, we're in California. So I humored this lady and I went to see this gentleman by the name of Brian Hurst. And I walked into his apartment in Manhattan beach and he said, you're a medium? And I said, well, thank you. Small, but thank you. And now the spirit world, they want to use you as to change the consciousness and in two years time they're going to do that. And I'm like thinking, okay, this is crazy. But he went on to give me a message from love ones who passed over detailed messages, really incredible stuff. And I was fascinated. How did this guy do this? So I went to a place in LA called the Bodhi Tree, which you're probably very familiar with, the Bodhi Tree and Melrose. And I used to go every weekend and sit and read as much as I could. All different subjects from near death experiences to Himalayan texts to everything you, you mentioned Edgar Casey, everything. And I started meditating, not knowing how to, but I just, just relaxed myself and visualize a rose or whatever and I became very, very sensitized. I went to my series and I remember it was. I was working at Paramount Studios. And it was. I was a contract administrator, so I moved from the Way Morris Agency to Paramount Studios there with the. You know. And I was working in the contracts for syndication shows. And I remember it was 12:30 in the afternoon. I just come back from lunch and I went to my cubicle and this girl next to me, her name was Jo Dallas. And she walked into her cubicle and I looked over and I saw a dead lady standing next to Joe Dallas. And this dead lady looked at me like, stared at me like sixth sense. And like. And she said telepathically, I am her grandmother. I lived in Idaho. A white house, the yellow shutters. We did a footstool together and other things. I'm like, what? So I asked this girl, does this make sense? Every detail. And she said, oh, yeah, that's my grandmama. We made a pact that when she goes, she'd come back and tell me she was okay. So I freaked out. Ran out of Paramount, not knowing what was happening with me. Went to my apartment, not knowing what was going to go on. And I didn't know who to call because it sounded like I was crazy. And like, who do you go to? So I called up that man, Brian Hurst, the medium. And I told him what's going on? And he said, james, don' to remember the prediction the spirit world made. And I said, yes. He said, james, that was two years ago today. So everything is in divine order, you see. And he took me under his wing and helped me develop my mediumship and my sensitivity. And then it was really a matter of me deciding I can contact with my guides. And it was really me deciding with them. They said, if you work with us, we'll always take care of you. And it was a matter of faith. I was being tested, obviously, and I knew that the loving energy that I. I felt when I worked that way, in a mediumistic way, that there was nothing that could ever be better than that. This love. So I said, yes, I'd do it. And from that point on, I started doing mess readings with seven years in development. But I started doing readings for people and it was all word of mouth and I'd be two readings a day. And it went on for. I was booked for two years at a time and so forth. And then eventually producers come to my house and get a read in my apartment. And then I was Unsolved Mysteries. And then I was on a show called the Other side, NBC in the early 90s. And that was the first time a medium has been on. I was in There pilot program and the pilot went crazy and we were on for about a year and that was really my stepping off point. And then he was on. I wrote a book called Talking to Heaven based on my work. I'm giving the shorter version of this whole thing. And I went on Larry King and the book was. It was funny. It was very, very funny. The spirit world said to me, it's going to be a book that'll change the world. I'm like, okay, so I'm open to it. So I went to Larry King show and the book had 6,000 copies initial printing. I went on that show December 7, 1996, I think it was 97. And book went from 6,000 to 600,000 in less than a month. And the CNN bureaus around the world did not stop ringing telephones. It's ringing till it started Friday at 6 o'. Clock. Didn't end till Sunday, 3, 3pm around the world. And they were constantly bombarded. So that was a. They called the miracle of publishing in those days. And that got. That opened up the door for a lot of different things to happen.
- [07:58]
Alex Ferrari
So. So when that. Thank you for that very.
- [08:02]
James Van Praagh
And it was a really strong history, life history. You.
- [08:08]
Alex Ferrari
When you were. You weren't raised, were you raised religious, spiritual. How were you raised?
- [08:12]
James Van Praagh
I was raised Catholic. My mother was very Irish Catholic and my father was Presbyterian. He didn't really care about either one. And so I went through a Catholic school for eight years and then I went to a seminary to be a priest for a year. Don't ask. And. But it was really that sense of. I enjoyed the, I guess you'd say the incense and the pageantry, ceremonial. Right. That part of it. I love that, I love the prayer part. But I didn't understand certain things like eating the body, drinking the blood of Christ because for an eight year old, you know, what does that mean? Are they cannibals? So it didn't fit for me. But there was essence. There was an essence of it that I liked that filled me up. So I would say to you that I, you know, people often ask about religions. And I said, well, there are certain things religions will teach us. And with everything in life, you take what works for you, what resonates to your soul and you throw back the rest. And for me that was that sense of service of humankind that really sat there, that service of humankind and making, you know, being good to people, living the golden rule. And that's really helped with that foundation, I'd say.
- [09:17]
Alex Ferrari
So. So when you Started to. I mean, because I was raised also Roman Catholic, so. And I'm still. You and I are both recovering, I'm assuming, recovering Roman Catholics. But when. When you were kind of confronted with this idea of mediumship. Now I'm Latino from. From where I'm from, so this idea of passionate, very. So this. This concept of mediumships and psychics is culturally kind of baked in to the Latino culture, South American culture, Caribbean culture. Absolutely. But from your Irish Catholic, not so much. So when this was presented to you and you started hearing ideas or voices, not. You thought you were going, how did you reconcile the religious, the Roman Catholic you, with this new version of. Of what's happening to you in this great question.
- [10:06]
James Van Praagh
And I have to go back to my childhood, because in my childhood, I used to see spirit all the time. I used to all the time. When I was a really a toddler in the crib. I remember they. They. I remember very well. They put me in the back room in the crib, and I wanted to be with the adults in the living room, so I cried my eyes out. And I remember my father used to come back, give me a big lollipop, thinking, that's gonna do it. But every night I'd see this man with white hair in the corner of the room. He'd walk over to the crib, and he'd had some kind of a toy he'd play with me. And years later, my grandmother was showing me a photograph album, and we. She turned a page and I said, who's that man? She said, oh, that's your grandfather. He died before you were born. And that was that man. And he's come several times since that. And then I. Those experiences. A child when I used to play with friends out in front of the street, you know, stickball or whatever it was. And I'd see a spirit around them. I'd see their aura, the colors around them. And I thought every kid could do that. Everybody could do this. This wasn't anything weird or unique. It was just every way it was. And when they started saying, oh, you're a weirdo, I'm like, I'm not a weirdo. Just, I see those things. And I remember I was saying prayers at night with. My mother would say prayers every night before I go to sleep. And I would. Once happened, I saw these beings at the end of the bed with these lights around them. And I'd say, mommy, who are those people at the. And she goes, oh, them. Those are God's angels. I used to see them Too When I was a little girl. They'll always take care of you. Nothing to harm. They'll always take care of you.
- [11:23]
Alex Ferrari
So we'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.
- [11:35]
James Van Praagh
She was very into tune. My grandparents on both sides were very in tune. From the Welsh background and the Irish background. There was very much that natural ability. And it does pass in families. So to me it was. I don't know, it didn't feel separate from the religion was a way of thinking, I guess, for some people to belong. I've never gotten into it, but I knew what was natural for me. And I've always lived my life that way. It was natural. And one thing, Alex, which I'm going to share with you. And for all you people watching or listening to this. One of the biggest things I've knew from the very beginning is I knew who I was. And I think when one person knows who they are. Then they stay pretty grounded and go forth. And I never care what other people thought of me. Because what other people think of you is none of your business. Because nobody gets to know you better than yourself. So I know. I know who I am. I think we all have to know who we are. And I think a religions. I think people are searching for something to fill up their soul. That maybe that religion does it. And all religion does to me is it reminds us who we are. Yeah, it can help assist us in that reminding. But it's a mediumship to me, I guess, for my love, my development, my soul development, expansion. It's very natural. And I know I prepared as I think we all do prepare for our life, a role in this lifetime. And I'm very much a firm believer. I'm not sure you are not in quantum physics. And I believe in past life, future lives, all lives at one. I know that I definitely prepared for this lifetime to communicate with the spirit world. And to change the consciousness of the planet. I never would have thought that before, but I see it's happening. And things are very, very different now than they were when I first started. Of course, now we're much more accepting of other ways of thinking, alternative ways of being and so forth.
- [13:13]
Alex Ferrari
Well, this conversation wouldn't have happened in 1980.
- [13:16]
James Van Praagh
That's right, that's right. I remember there were people that used to. That skeptics who used to go to the studio and watch me do work, my demonstration work. And they would say, oh, we did cold reading. And I said, what is that? I don't even know what that means, oh, you know things before. You ask certain questions and they give you answers. And. And all this stuff is coming at me like, that doesn't work for me. That does. That's not what I'm doing. That's not. And I thought all these people are ignorant. They're not aware of how I do this, and they're making these things up. It's like, that's bad. You can't do that. So they didn't understand it. And I think in most of the world, there's ignorance. If people don't understand something, they put it down. I think fear, you know, unfortunately, live in fear. And fear is limiting, of course. I think fear is a human emotion, not spiritual. I think it's very human. And I think when people don't understand something, they judge it because they fear it. They live in fear. They judge it because they want to be better than. They want to be in control, if you will. So if I put you down with that and the fearful and make you worse than judge you, then I feel better than. And it's just fear based, basically.
- [14:13]
Alex Ferrari
Well, yeah. And anytime there's something that kind of shakes the foundation of your belief system, you either. If you're insecure about that, you will then fight back. If you're secure, you could care. You could tell me that the sky is purple and I would be like, this is fine for you, but that's not my truth. I don't have to. I don't have to go out and kill you. Like, no, the sky is blue. And we start a tribe about the sky's blue people, and we're going to go kill everybody, Everybody, make sure everybody knows that the sky is blue. That's where it comes. But it comes from a level of insecurity because if you are secure with your belief system, you don't have to attack or defend. It just is. Am I right? Would you think?
- [14:52]
James Van Praagh
Exactly. 100%. And it's also a control issue. So many people think I've got to be in control. I got to control my environment. I control what happens in my life. The truth is we have no control. You can't control another person. You can't control what someone says. The only thing we can control is how we respond to things. But when people freak out, oh, my God, this is outside of my paradigm. What am I going to do? Well, it's a paradigm shift. And, you know, that's really important that people realize they have no control. Once you realize you have no control over other people and what other People think of you as none of your business. You shift, you open up and you expand.
- [15:26]
Alex Ferrari
Now, you have done probably tens of thousands of readings over the course of your, of your career.
- [15:32]
James Van Praagh
Yeah.
- [15:33]
Alex Ferrari
And this at all those times, you must have had an inside view of the human psyche in a way that most human beings don't get in a lifetime. Is that a fair statement to a point?
- [15:46]
James Van Praagh
To a point. I mean there's so, you know, it's worlds within worlds within worlds.
- [15:51]
Alex Ferrari
Right.
- [15:51]
James Van Praagh
Think about it. Just such a vastness and expansion. So I definitely have had a look at certain aspects of the human and how they play and the soul self and the different dimensions of the soul and different sense of awareness, if you will. And I'm very down to earth. I'm pretty grounded. I'm double Earth sign, Capricorn and Virgo. I'm pretty down to earth about things which I think is very helpful in this, in this regard. So to me, I like to say that, yeah, I've been a witness of all these different types of experiences. And to me it always back to the simple truth that we are souls having human experience, not the other way around. We're souls first having this human. This is our school, this is our soul school. And there are many, many schools. This is one one of the most unevolved, I guess you could say, because we're still killing one another, we're still fighting. We still think money is power and so forth. So unfortunately not ev. Because you know, when you kill another person, you're killing yourself. We're all, we're all connected, of course, so we're not really evolved in that respect. You know, here's a simple one which I like that life to me as I've learned these things, the simple truths. Spirit says it's always very simple. It's the. That it really is simple. The truth is very simple. But the human being likes to get caught up in the complexity of the simplicity. See, they want things to be complex because it's complex. That means something. Not necessarily to me. It is really. It's all about choices in life. So we are souls and we come back and choose if you will, our family, our friends, our lessons we're going to learn in this lifetime. And the series of choices. Choices are based on either two things, either love or fear. And that's really it. And fear F E A R false ego appearing real is limiting. Where love is expansive and we're here to love. Our natural vibration is of love. The soul is of love, not fear. Fear is of the Human vibration. So it's very interesting to see if people just go back in their lives and see what they chose that have changed fear, whatever people think of them, what my parents want me to do, what society wants me to do, to be accepted, or did you live in love? Just do who you do, you, you do you do you want to do and see and see the difference. And it's amazing. So it's a simple truth, if you will.
- [17:59]
Alex Ferrari
So can you explain to people what the process is for you? Are you seeing, are you hearing voices? Are you seeing people?
- [18:05]
James Van Praagh
Do you see dead people?
- [18:09]
Alex Ferrari
Or is it like images in your mind? What is the actual process when you're doing a reading?
- [18:13]
James Van Praagh
Sure, great question. So this is. It's just a little bit of background here, is that to me, and it's my experience I've had, that the soul is. Many people think the soul is encompassing the physical body. Not really. I would say my equation might be off a little bit, but the idea behind it is, right, that 70% of the soul is outside the body and only 30% is here. You know, we are living on these fields, I call them minefields, outside here. And there are many, many levels, I call them these minefields. And the mind is the soul, the soul is the mind. And this remnant, the smaller part here is like, I call it the big toe to the soul. Because there's more of us outside here than in here, right? So what I do in preparation of communication and because the spirit world is all around us, you know, it's not up there, heaven or hell, it's all around us. It's all these different vistas and fields, if you will, around us that vibrate or move at a certain rate of speed. So we have all around us different types of waves, gamma rays, X rays, microwaves, television waves, all these different waves of energy. And I once said this to Barbara Walters. I said, you know Barbara, she asked me on the View, so, well, how does this work? How does this work? I said, so you're working in a field of television and you're not sure how it works? Well, right, when you think about it, broadcasting degree, right? I have a broadcasting debris. And I said to her, you know how it works, Barbara? Is your, your television, the station is sending out a signal, right? It sends it a certain signal, a certain vibration. And there are receptors on the televisions, the receivers that will receive that certain vibration and able to use, take that vibration and manifest it in a visual, right? That's basic, basic broadcasting there. And so same thing works with Mediumship in that I have to attune myself to a higher frequency, a higher vibration of energy. So it's all energy and the mind. What I do with my mind in many years, development of this is I bring my mind to a certain space, an altered state of consciousness, you could say, to a higher level of consciousness, where it's vibration very, very quick. So mind is very, very open. And what I do is. Because the spirit people communicate with us. They have to. Everything is done with thought. They live in a thought world. It's all thought. We have the physical world. They're in a mental world. So everything in that world moves with thought, and they have to think to themselves. Okay, I want to communicate, so I'm going to slow myself down to the level that the medium is able to receive me. So they consciously think, slow myself down, they lower themselves down to a certain level. The medium raises up their vibration and they meet in the middle. And that's why it's called medium in the middle. And what happens is then I raise myself up that space. I've done it so many years now, Alex, that's. It's like push up, push a button, and there it is. And, and. And really they come in. This is an interesting, interesting one that all the spirits that come and communicate, you have to realize that they might not have never done this before. It might be the very first time they're doing this. So just because they're dead doesn't mean they know how to do this. It's a process. So many times when I do demonstrations or call them for audiences or people online, there'll be beings around me, spirit people, who have nothing to do with the people that, that are in the demonstration or on the zoom call. They're watching the process so that another time they might come through and do the process the right way. So they have to slow down their thoughts and create in their minds a picture.
- [21:25]
Alex Ferrari
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show,
- [21:35]
James Van Praagh
which could be representative of memory, could be a picture of the person they loved when doing something the day before. And they have conceived of this concept and sent it to the medium's mind. And the medium knows nothing about him, nothing about these people or anything. So I had to be open enough to say, I see a calendar. It says February 28, 1985. I know. I feel that there's a lady here. I feel there's a mother feeling. And I'm feeling, oh, and she shows me now. She's now showing me Clairvoyantly, she didn't image. She had brown hair and blue eyes and a beautiful red smile. And she wears that yellow daisy dress. She loved the yellow daisy dress. And yes, that's my mother. That's exactly what she wore. And that's the date she died. And then. So it depends on the spirit because everyone communicates differently, just like in this human life. Some people more visual. Some people are auditory. Some people sense. Most of us sense things. We walk into a room or meet someone we sense. So that sense sense first as a medium, I get the sense of them. They put. They push into my mind the sense of what they want to say. And my guides who work with me and their guides will help them to prepare or go through, if you will, the correct way of sending a thought, of creating an emotion state, of bringing that to the medium's mind that I'm able to understand it. Another interesting fact is that the mind of the medium is very, very important. So as the makeup of the medium, as a makeup for myself, my personality depends a lot, but it affects a lot. I'm a person, as you can tell, I have a good sense of humor. I like to joke. I'm very down to earth. I'm very real. But I love not taking this over seriously, just lighter. And so the best spirits I have communicate will be those who are aligned to my personality traits. So I bring through great people's sense of humors, like to have a good time, who are very serious, who are very kind. That works in line with my. And my personality traits and my aspects, my soul aspects. And it makes it reading very successful. Now, that doesn't mean I can't bring other spirits through. I do like, I always usually bring other people through, but the easier ones are ones that are aligned to my personality traits. I'm throwing a lot at you.
- [23:34]
Alex Ferrari
So no, I'm. That's. I completely get everything you're saying thing.
- [23:37]
James Van Praagh
The.
- [23:38]
Alex Ferrari
So is there an energy issue with you? So, like, do you get a wave event? Because channelers have that channels get like this wave of energy. A lot of times I've heard that they've had to kind of on the other side and here prep their nervous system to handle this flow. How does it work with you and mediums?
- [23:58]
James Van Praagh
Yes, very, very good. So sitting in what I call development and. And sitting. The stillness of your being, which is really, to me, really important in developing mediums. And I have a school online. It's. And it's been ded dedicated to that. And it's really about Preparation, as you say. So preparing the space. To me, working with the spirit world is this. Here we go back to the religion. Now, to me it's very sacred. So it's like going to mass. It's like you're setting up the sacred space. And to me it's. You're a representative as a medium. I'm a representative of the spirit world. And to me it's an interesting one. I work for them. I don't work for the living. I really work for them. They're my boss. And that my job is to bring through information that will help the spirit person come through and to move on. So this is an interesting one. Just because someone passes away doesn't mean they go right to heaven. They go here, they go there many times because they pass over into the mental world, right? It's a mental. What we all have once we pass over is a life review. And we're outside of time. So you're not with a clock, linear time anymore. So what happens is you tend to see all those moments in the lifetime that you lived that you had impressed others or what you said to someone. So the example I like to use is, let's say you were in a really bad mood one day and you went to the gasoline station and you yelled at the person, the clerk behind the. In the cash register and. And that person yelled as a storekeeper, a partner in the store. And the person in the store went home and yelled their family and blah, blah, blah. Rippling effect. When you have the past life, when you have that life review, you're going to become that person behind the cash register and you're going to feel everything they felt when you yelled at them 10 times, 20 times, 30 times stronger than originally sent. And you'll become aware of how your thought, your word affected that person and that person and that person. And you'll see the rippling effect of your one thought, your one word. That's kind of scary, right? Especially living a life where you hurt people. Imagine that's your own hell. So you create your own heaven, your own hell based upon your thoughts, words or deeds. So my job is really as a medium is to bring through, let's say that spirit who has unfinished business, who's ever come back and say I'm sorry to his door, daughter, I'm sorry, I didn't love you. I didn't know how to love, so how could I loved you? I'm so sorry. So it's unfinished business, basically with my job is to bring through that so to Provide proof of life after death.
- [26:11]
Alex Ferrari
So. But it isn't. Okay, I agree with that. But doesn't that get caught up in karma? Meaning, like, in another life, they deal with that? Or can they deal with. Or can they deal with it like this?
- [26:22]
James Van Praagh
100%.
- [26:22]
Alex Ferrari
So.
- [26:23]
James Van Praagh
So what's going on is they kept. Again, it's all learning. It's learning, learning, learning that what you give out, you get back. And that's karma. So every action is a reaction, reaction. Right. So every act that someone does has a reaction. And. And that's a natural law. So there's a natural law involved. So. Yes, but if they can. If they can willingly and have the awareness to say, I'm sorry to say this, that will help. That certainly helps because they're in that state of apathy. They're in a state of. That they're. They're in a healing state. They didn't know any better. They're awakened, if you will, on the other side.
- [26:56]
Alex Ferrari
On the other side.
- [26:56]
James Van Praagh
Yeah, that's correct.
- [26:57]
Alex Ferrari
Correct.
- [26:58]
James Van Praagh
That's correct. On the other side. And many who are awake over there, who wake up and realize what they've done, they feel bad about it. There's a little bit of, you know, I'm gonna say, I don't want to go back to our Catholic purgatory thing, but there's that waiting station, because they gotta take care of themselves. They gotta honor what they did and what they didn't do. And one of the most interesting things that the spirit people have said to me, they've come through is. And I wrote a book called Unfinished Business because I got tired of hearing the spirit say this. And they would say, wow, if only I knew then what I know now, I would have made different choices. I wouldn't have behaved that I would behave more loving, more compassionate, more kindness. I would have forgave easier. I wish I had known that. So I wrote that book just for that. Because if the world knew that, you know, just imagine if everybody knew that when they left the physical body, they'd have a life review and have to feel everything 10 times, 20 times, 30 times stronger. How they treated people.
- [27:49]
Alex Ferrari
Wow.
- [27:50]
James Van Praagh
Wouldn't the world be different because it'd be a sense of responsibility. Yeah. And I think that's a secret. I think that really is a secret. In the teaching people, you have to be responsible. Your thoughts, your words and your deeds, because they don't go unnoticed. This energy you're putting out there.
- [28:04]
Alex Ferrari
Let me ask you this. Do you. You believe in the soul blueprint or so I plan. Okay, so with that concept, from my understanding of my, my research and people I've spoken to on the show, you, you choose your life and you choose the actions you're going to do in that life. So a lot of times you're in your soul family, which is in your group, right? So let's say you and I are in our soul family. And in this time we're sitting, we're sitting, having coffee, coffee on the other side. And we're both talking. We're like, look, I'm going to go back down. You want to come with me? Yeah, sure. Like, you know when in this life I really need to know what it feels like to have someone who doesn't love me. And because, and then I'll go, you know what, I'll go down, I'll take the bullet and I'll be your dad and I won't show you any love. So on a, on a soul level, we have this kind of pre built plan. So then when they come back and they're still saying, oh, I wish I would have known, it doesn't connect. Can you kind of explain that? We're going deep, we're really going into weeds here. So I'm just curious what your thoughts are on this.
- [29:05]
James Van Praagh
So also suicide. So maybe suicide is wrong. Well, not necessarily. Because the soul group might have agreed upon that. That in that soul group, one of them had to learn what the experience of suicide it was and how the rest of the people around them would handle that. That happens quite a lot. So a lot of experiences we have here, whether it's physical problems, mental problems, whatever it is, interaction. And the biggest, of course teachers are our family. Hello. They're number one teachers because they represent you. You're looking at yourself. So there is that sense that we all have destiny points. I'll call them destiny points. That we're destined to do certain things, but then comes this part of free will, right? So it's destined that we have this situation happen. Let's say we meet for coffee on the earth and we can do many things with that. We can be friends forever. It can just be a quick meeting with a coffee or we can decide to live together, whatever it might be. But there's free will involved there. So again, the more someone knows their soul self, the more they know themselves, that inner self, the easier it is to make the right choice. That's right for them at the moment. That makes sense.
- [30:05]
Alex Ferrari
That makes sense. Makes, yeah. So the closer you are to your true self because then you will Be connected to that true mission.
- [30:12]
James Van Praagh
And even if it makes sense, because many times it doesn't make rational sense at all, right?
- [30:18]
Alex Ferrari
You be you becoming a medium, you know, this makes no sense.
- [30:23]
James Van Praagh
When you were like, no sense. I mean, I really jumped in because, like, I had no way of knowing how many get paid, how to pay the rent, how pay my insurance, right, Anything. But I did it with faith, because I knew that they said to me, we'll take care of you. And I never knew how it was to come about, but it's come about and they've taken care of me. For 45 years, I've been taken care of. And I think we're all taken care of. When we do the right thing and we take responsibility for who we are and we see God in everyone, which is that brilliant light. We all have that same God. And if we just treated each other, we see God, we'd be better off. I think that every day we're given opportunities, every day in our path, you have either a teacher or a student walks in your path and to recognize that what are you going to learn or what are you going to teach? And that's what it is. You know, I really do believe that. And what you give out, you get back. It's that. It's that karma, whatever you want to call that, that energy, that natural law.
- [31:10]
Alex Ferrari
And James, I mean, I agree with you 100. Because when I started the show, I was like, this is insane. Why am I starting a spiritual show? I'm not a guru. I have no street credibility in this space. But I was guided to do this and I jumped in with fitness faith that it would all work out and it wouldn't destroy what I had already built because I was afraid. Because as you know, when you, when you come out, go public with this kind of stuff and start talking, it's not the norm yet. It's more accepted and it's growing daily. But this is still, you know, people, you and I are having a fairly intelligent, grounded conversation about this, which is really helpful for what we're trying to do in the world and raising the consciousness this. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show. But we also have.
- [32:02]
James Van Praagh
Alex, we don't mind. I think that as you said that I don't mind me getting a hit for you, but I have to. I think that when you say that that the part of your soul self on the other side knew this and was had to do this and the physical is now is catching up on it. And I think that it's meant to be, obviously, and that the conscious, like you're here to change the consciousness. You're open the minds of people up and more and more people and whether we want to talk about, you know, the world the way it is right now, the darkness, the fear, whatever it is out there, People don't feel connected. It's work like this, that pink pill together, because there's a resonance. There's the sense of truth it opens up, that stirs their souls, that this is truth. And it gives them a platform. It gives them a platform to go to and say, well, I understand this, this is more, this makes more sense to me than other things. Do you know, this is the truth? I don't know about Instagram and Facebook, but this is the truth right here, you know, and that's, I think, a great thing to give people that opportunity to, to have that sense of, to that faith and have a. When I started my school, the JP School Mystical Arts, four years ago, it was a school that I wanted to leave as a legacy for my work. And something happened out of that, which I never expected. And what happened was there became a sense of community, a lot of community. And people thanked me over and over again for having a space that people can go to, are like minded people, because there aren't many. So what you're doing, what I'm doing, many others doing, are presenting that space for those who think the same way, who can think out of the box, who believe in faith, whatever that means, you know, you can't limit God. I think religion go back to that religious thing. I feel in many ways religion limits God and God is limitless. You know, you can't put a name on God. It's limitless. And I think the more people that knew themselves would know God better.
- [33:43]
Alex Ferrari
So this is, this is always something that's fascinated me about mediums and psychics in general. General is we all saw the movie Ghost, you know, back with Whoopi Goldberg,
- [33:52]
James Van Praagh
Ike did a standing ovation. I was working at Paramount at the time, and it's standing ovation, the screening room at Paramount and people looking at me like they got it right.
- [34:00]
Alex Ferrari
So, I mean, it was so perfect. And I've had, I've had Bruce, the writer on the show and he explained
- [34:05]
James Van Praagh
to me, researched, he did a great job.
- [34:09]
Alex Ferrari
No, he had a psychedelic experience, talked to God, came back, wrote Jacob's Last Matter. I mean, and you watch those movies and you're just like, okay, everything all makes sense. So when he wrote Ghost, which nobody wanted but eventually got made. Whoopi Goldberg's character, that she sees dead people constantly. I always wondered, do you have an on and off or open and closed sign? Because if not, you're like eating. You know, you're in the bathroom and you look over, oh, Jesus, not now. Like, how does that work? Do you have like barriers or just like, hey, hey, guys, no. Or yes, I'm open for.
- [34:46]
James Van Praagh
It's a great question. And it's an important question you're asking because I am the. I scream about this from the mountaintops because. And God bless Mr. Rubin for doing that move because it really has opened people up. So mediumship in general to me, I developed in the old fashioned way and I developed a seven year sitting in the quiet, sitting in the stillness. And I wouldn't do one reading because I had to work on my, my energetic self, my, my soul self to really develop that, that progression of development in order to be able to give a message to someone. Because it's very much like, to me, like medical work, a doctor or a lawyer. You have people's lives that you're responsible for and that can be taken easily. That's not no joke. You've got to be really a lot of integrity. And to me, I've been very, worked very, very hard throughout my. Well, not hard, but my integrity is really strong in that I would not present something if it wasn't the right way.
- [35:37]
Alex Ferrari
It was.
- [35:38]
James Van Praagh
And, and if I didn't know, somebody said, I don't know if you know, just because I took dead, I don't know everything. So to me, I tried presenting mediumship with my TV show, the Beyond Show I had. And John Edward did a good job with his show Crossing over. And it was presented a certain way, which I like. But then what happens is younger people that come into mediumship want to be stars. They want to be fast and furious. They want to get in, be on TV and be a star. It's like, it doesn't work that way. You don't, you don't go to mediums to be a star. It doesn't happen that way. And think of all those people's lives that you're hurting by doing it the wrong way. Now when I say the wrong way, like for instance, there was that lady Theresa Caputo who had the Long Island Medium. You remember that show, Long Island Medium, and she was a lady who, nice lady, I met her once, very gifted lady. But the producers who produced that show did not know how to produce it correctly. They do not know about mediumship. I went through the same thing with the show Ghost Whisper I was involved in. I had a lot of trouble with the producers who didn't know at all how to produce this sort of thing. And the way that there's no sense of responsibility of what you're putting in the airwaves. So they have Teresa Caputo out there in a bake shop, in a butcher shop, in a car, and she sees dead people. Oh, my God. This person. Oh, my God. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way because that person would end up in a nut house. Because.
- [36:53]
Alex Ferrari
Right, that's why I ask. Yeah.
- [36:55]
James Van Praagh
And they're teaching that. They're throwing that to the public, thinking this is the way it is. No, it doesn't work that way. As a medium, as I said before, you have to. It's a sacred. It's a sacred space. You have to prepare yourself. And when you're ready to work, there's that, if you will, an on, off, switch, as you said, you're able to open yourself up and you say, what. What you get? It's not like, pop, here goes this one. Pop, goes a weasel. Here's this one. It doesn't work that way. The media may be aware of those people around, but certainly it's. It's like a ceiling fan. You can't have that ceiling fan on all the time because you'll burn out the motor. Same thing with mediumship. You gotta be very, very careful. It's a delicate art because you work with your adrenal system and the glandular system and that nervous system. Yeah, it'll tax it very, very easily. You'll be taxed out. And I've seen many medium pass away with cancers and bad dis. Endocrine problems because they're not. They're not integrated the right way. They're not measured. The work is not measured. And it needs to be measured. Needs to be a process. There's another guy on tv, the young kid that's on right now. And again, again, we're throwing this stuff out there now. He might have abilities, certainly have some kind of ability. It's not worked out because he comes from a psychic point of view and a medium point of view, and he doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know what's psychic or what's medium. He doesn't know the difference between the two. And they throw that to the public. Doesn't know any better. And it's like, that's this. That's going to harm people. It's going to harm him because he's a young boy. He's 24. He's had no life experience in order for the spirit world to draw from, in order to get a message out. And it's showing the public like, this is the way it is. That's. That's not. That's not the way it works. And that is a really tough one, you know?
- [38:31]
Alex Ferrari
Yeah. And in that show too, you could see where he wears out. You could actually. I've seen some of his episodes. You start seeing him as like, I can't. I need this. He's having problems with it because he hasn't dropped properly, been trained.
- [38:43]
James Van Praagh
It's called running your energy. He doesn't know how to run his energy properly because we're talking about chakra points, we're talking about opening up those electrical. Electrical beings. And if you don't charge it the right way, you're going to be depleted quickly. And I'm telling you as it is, then you have all the pressure from television and producers and all that kind of stuff who don't understand the work at all. Listen, I did a show called the beyond show as one for a whole year. It was like a kind of a talk show. I'd go on, I'd do it readings for the audience and do a project, private reading on stage. I remember the people that produced that with me, this woman named Carrie Sagan, her name was. And I gave her a reading before we went to the pilot just so she would know what the process was. And I brought through a girl, I said, this little baby girl that died. She said, a twin of yours that died. She goes, yes, that's right. And it was very. A good reading because I wanted to give her the awareness of, the education of it. And then during the show, I'm doing a message for a lady on stage and she had lost her someone very important. And she. And the producer was so fearful of, is he gonna get a hit? He's gotta get a hit. So instead of having just the bride die, we have the whole. The grooms, the whole wedding party dies like crazy, the way they think. So I'm working with this lady on stage. In the corner of my eye, I see an associate producer in the wings and she's holding up a sign that said make her cry. And I said, stop tape right now. Not only is that hurtful to the audience members and the lady getting the master message, but that is completely wrong space. So I went literally Went up to the booth and I yelled at the, at the producer. I said, you cannot do that. Don't you ever insult us like that. I never insult the spirit world like that. And then another thing that happened was which I never forget this. I did many shows a day. I did 15 shows, whatever it was, we double booked stuff and I worked my rear end off and I remember there was a series of murders and I don't know what's going to happen. I separate myself in a different building, which I shouldn't have, but I did. And there was all these murder stories and it to was pleading and probably the sixth murder. I said, I will not do this again. This week. I done murders. Murders are heavy duty. The energy, energy, energy, heavy. So I said I won't do that. And she goes, okay, it's your last one. It's your last one. And said, well, I won't do this tomorrow, no way. So because I had to protect the vessel, I had to protect it. So the next morning I come in, 8:30, there's a script there, it says A murder of Joshua. And I'm like, I throw it back out to the priest. Said I'm not doing doing this. And you. Oh, just one. I said no. And I literally. Alex, to have to go to this point of a young and I. Who wants to do this? I had to literally lock my door and not come out of my dressing room until they changed the story.
- [41:09]
Alex Ferrari
Like, like, like a, like a temperamental actor.
- [41:12]
James Van Praagh
Yes. And I'm not that way. But that's the level I have to go to for them to understand that's not appropriate. And this head of the studio came, my agents came, managers came, was like, you have to understand the sensitivity, the nature of the sensitivity of this work. And if you don't, that's not my problem. That's your problem. I won't harm myself or other people for this.
- [41:33]
Alex Ferrari
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show. You know what is so interesting too, because I come from that world very, very much so. I've been for 30 years. So you. Oh, I understand. At such a deep level. You have no idea, James, because. Because you're absolutely right in many ways. And this happens with young actors, this happens with stars who just blow up all of a sudden. It almost is like, and please forgive me for using this word, let's bring out the freak and let's try to use and milk this as much as we can while it's. The good is going that's Hollywood. Best Hollywood since the days of Chaplin. It's always been that way. And sometimes you get, you know, a good team that makes it go work. But many times you get the, the like the more elaborate kind of reality show kind of like let's make them cry, that kind of aspect of things. And I hope that this show, I really try to bring more of a human face to this kind of work. And also channels, which channels on a whole other level because they get like especially trans channels turn into other people and the voices change and all the talk about like, ooh, let's, let's see what the. What the quote unquote again, what the freak does. Let's put the camera on them and let's make money. How can we make money money with this? It's not that you have to respect what you. What we're all doing in this space process. Yeah, I do believe and I think and I'd love to hear your thoughts from where you started in the 80s to where we are now. I believe things have changed a bit in regards to the space, the respect of this art and what we're doing. Would you agree?
- [43:14]
James Van Praagh
Yeah. Yes. And you said it correctly. It's an art. It really is an art and it has to be looked at that way. It's not an entertainment, it's an art. Now if you have personality like me and personality that can do that and bring out the art but also bring the fun of it, that's great. But it's an art and it's got to be respected and it's a sensitive art. You know, I. I did a. There was a movie of my life with Ted Danson played me and it's based on my first Talking to Heaven. Yeah, I don't know if you knew that and I didn't know that. When did it get movie background? Yeah, I'll tell you that. It's a fun story and it shows you how the spirit world is also interactive intervenes and how every day they intervene in our path. Well, the book did so well that CBS bought the book to do a movie. It was movie the week time.
- [43:53]
Alex Ferrari
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [43:55]
James Van Praagh
Right. So NBC had it. They. They dropped it down and development. Then CBS bought it. And I met with a long story. But I heard. What I heard was this way it worked out. I got a call from the man was writing the movie Talking to Heaven. It was such a great way. I went to a miniseries. So they went to a miniseries. Nina Tesl. I want to do a miniseries and less Moonfairs okay, so from what I understand, Mary Steenburgeon was on a plane, and she said to me, I never talked to people on a plane. So there was this man sitting, writing a script, and she's sitting next to him, and she heard her father say, you have to talk to him. You have to talk to him. So she asked the guy, she goes, what are you writing? He goes, oh, I'm funny. You're sitting here. I'm just thinking of you for a part in this. It's Talking to Heaven, based on James Van Prague's book. And she goes, oh, that's my favorite book. I've given it to all my friends about blah, blah, blah. And he goes, oh, yeah, I'm writing this miniseries here. And she goes, can you get me in touch with the author? And he goes, yeah, I'll probably be able to. So I met with Mary and I did a reading, which I rarely do, but I felt I had to do this. It was important. I don't know why I felt it, but I did. So I said, yes, Mary, I'll be love to do a reading with you. And I went to her house in Brentwood, and we had her and Ted and friends of theirs. And we're all sitting around, and I'm like, okay. So I do this thing was really good night. Spirit was right there. And Ted's father came through. And Ted is sitting on a. A little ottoman. And his father said, ted, I'm here. I have my whiskey and my herringbone jacket. And he said. And he said, you know, I'm in heaven if I'm having my whiskey in my herringbone jacket. And Ted Danson looks at me and he starts crying, and he falls down on the floor. I'm like, oh, no. What did I do with Ted dancing?
- [45:31]
Alex Ferrari
Oh, God, did I break Ted Danson?
- [45:33]
James Van Praagh
Oh, geez. I break Ted Danson. Oh, geez. So it was so funny because afterwards we're hanging out and it was just a great night. He goes. And he didn't believe in any of it until then. And he said, that was just so weird. Every night, my father. Every time my father come home from work, every day, he put on his herringbone jacket and had the whiskey in front of the fireplace. And that's how he died. James. I said, wow, that's incredible. Ted. The next day, I get a phone call from the production company, and they said, listen, we don't know if we're gonna do the movie. I said, why? Well, no one wants to play a medium. Gary Sinise turned it Down. And someone else turned it down. And Les Moonves at CBS said there's only one more person he could try because he has a contract with this guy who does Becker, Ted Danson. I said, ted Dadson. I was at his house last night. Wait a minute. Well, can you ask him? I said, no, I can't ask him. I can't cross that line. That's not appropriate. I cannot do that. So is that weird? It was so weird. So then what happened was his manager called me, Ted's manager called me and said, can you meet with me regarding this? CBS calling said, sure. So we met and Ted agreed to do it because based upon that reading that his father came through and the miniseries happened with Queen Latifah was in it, Diane Ladd, all these people. Jack Palance played my father. And it was just so weird. And it was the number one miniseries of CBS history, except for Jesus. And because of that miniseries, and you can still download it now on Amazon, whatever it then opened up to, they want to do more with me. So we did another movie with a lady by the name of who's just starting out and Eva Longoria, you've heard of her, right?
- [47:04]
Alex Ferrari
She's in on the show.
- [47:06]
James Van Praagh
Okay. So she, she was in New Orleans. We're doing this. This man miniseries. She said, came up to me during the break. She was, Mr. Van Prague, can I ask a question? I said, sure. She goes, I just finished a pilot and I was wondering if it's going to do anything. And I said, well, what's the name? She goes, it's called Desperate Housewives. It's going to change your life. She goes, really? I said, oh, it's going to change your life. You'll see. Well, years later, we know the history of that. Then the miniseries, the movie did so well with Anne Heche and Eva Longoria. And that was before Eva's Eva. It was Anne Haitch for the star. And it went so well that they want to do a series now. They wanted to do a series. So they asked me to develop a series. And I developed a Ghost Whisperer with Jennifer I and love you it. And it did really, really well. And five years and the middle, I'm at Universal cafeteria, right? I know office at Universal. And also I see Eva coming over and our eyes met at the same time. I said, did it change your life? And she goes, oh, my God. So, yeah, wow. One of those stories that, you know, how the, the interweaving of all those things that the spirit world, you know, they were in Our lives and how they work really hard behind the scenes to make things happen.
- [48:10]
Alex Ferrari
Well, you know, it's funny too because it's something that I've said on the show so much is when you, when you learn how to let go of, of this false idea that you could control everything, right. When you let go, things start to happen. It's kind of like doors start to open that were closed before. And that's such a. People don't understand when they hear let go. I'm like, I can't let go. I have, you know, I have to, like I didn't. They say stop, Just sit down and wait for the door, door to knock, get up. And you know, I always say cut the wood, carry the water, but don't connect where that would cross.
- [48:40]
James Van Praagh
We need the wood.
- [48:41]
Alex Ferrari
Yeah, there's that too. But I always say that don't, don't expect where this is all going to go. Just do the work. And if you're going on the right path, doors will start to open.
- [48:51]
James Van Praagh
And yeah, the Buddhists have a great saying that I love to use every day. It is, you can't push the river. You can't push that river. You got to let it flow. And it's very, very true because when you open that spot space up, you allow the energy to flow. It's all about letting the energy flow. So I do a lot of work with people. We do, we call scanning and we scan the body energy of the body. And we'll scan the body and there'll be certain, let's say the emotional body. There's some, I call it staining. And we'll say, oh, you have stain in there. Oh, yes, I went through a divorce. Well, it's still there and it's blocking the rest of the energy flow. And we have that every day. And I think it's really important that through meditation, through self awareness that you open up those channels. Everybody day. Because a lot of us, Alex, I don't know what your thoughts about this. We take on energy from other people. I think we absolutely, especially being sensitives and beings here, this is energetic beings. And I think, and I want to hear, I'd like to hear your point of view on this because I just thought about this two weeks ago that, you know, we take on the people's energy and many times we keep the energy there in our space. We tend to look at life or make choices based on that person's energy because we're looking through rose color glow glasses. Does that make sense to you that we're not.
- [49:57]
Alex Ferrari
It does. It does make sense to me because I have. I have a family which is all women. My family. I have no boys. I have no testosterone in the house at all. And as being the only male in the. In the house.
- [50:11]
James Van Praagh
Yeah.
- [50:11]
Alex Ferrari
A lot of times there's some drama in the female side of the fence. Not with me, just on the. You know, because they're young girls. And so a lot of times I was. Will pick up on that energy and then I will notice myself change and I would be like. And I start getting a little angrier or I get a little bit more perturbed or my. Or my patience threshold drops dramatically in the only way. Only in the way that family does.
- [50:38]
James Van Praagh
Right. Greatest teachers.
- [50:40]
Alex Ferrari
Yeah, the greatest teachers. So I do notice that. But everybody, I think, can agree that when you walk into a room sometimes, sometimes you will go, what happened just here? If there was a fight before? And now it's quiet, you walk in and go, there's something in the air. We all can feel. Or you meet somebody and you want to, like, take a shower afterwards. Like you just met a car salesman. Sorry, car salesman. Or, you know, a sales guy of some sort. And you're just like, oh, I just. I feel icky just being around this person. That's an energy thing. That's an energy thing. So. Absolutely. And a lot of times that energy will stick with you. I'm not sure if I'm at the one off with the salespeople, but. Or salesperson as a Nikki salesperson person. But people that are close to you. Absolutely. Your. Your mother comes to visit, your father comes to visit, your brother comes to visit, and you have issues or you have history or they say that word that just sets you off because of all that history that sticks with you. And you. You can't make clear decisions when you're in that state. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.
- [51:50]
James Van Praagh
Right. So I think it's really important. And the way I look at it, like, is many times it's program. So because broadcasting degree program, sending programs, and we pick up those programs and we see them, and then we can realize whose program it is and let it go. Or we don't recognize it and we make it our own. See? And part of it, we get stuck there because we make their problems our problems. Their energies are our energy. And it's their program, not our program, but we make it ours. So we have to be able to translate and find out whose program is this. Why Am I feeling this way? What just happened that I'm sensing this? Am I pulling? Am I holding onto this energy or can I let it go? And with mediumship, what I do with the work I do is many times I will pick up the energy of that person. How they passed away, the, the grief that they have from the spirit world. I shoulda, woulda, coulda. And it's so amazing because then when you. And you're working with someone who's in the living state and they hear their life loved one, their orc field opens up and expands and there was something was deep, dark down and dense, opens up and expands and you see a beautiful light, you feel beautiful energy. And they feel so much better and the spirit feels so much better. So. And it's just a matter of love. So love is that love is the best way for us to let go of other people's energy from our space and to really open up our own self as love of self, being aware of self. But love is the ingredient that brings all things together.
- [53:08]
Alex Ferrari
And you know, you, you and I both have studied Yogananda and studied the yogis in India and you hear these stories that there's nothing that really moves them in the sense of energy like that because they have so connected to the inner place. That thing that we were talking about earlier, they're so connected to it that the one, I think the Maharishi, they gave him some psychedelics. He ate like a pot and didn't nothing. He just laughed after he ate it because he literally had so well controlled of his physical and spiritual state that didn't bother him. So those energies don't. They kind of just bounce off or they don't even connect with them because our deep understanding of who they. They're at a whole other level that you and I are not at this point. But does that make sense to you?
- [53:51]
James Van Praagh
Completely. Completely. And it's the emotional charge that. And it's that holding on to a charge, waiting for the outcome. What's with the outcome? As there is no outcome, everything should be neutralized. I think a good point, Alex, and I've helped a lot of people, this has helped me as well, is you become the observer. You step back and you observe everything. It's almost like you're sitting in an audience watching a theater theatrical show and you see the show play on stage, but you don't get involved in it. But you're aware of what's, who the characters are and what's going on. But even life, you can be objective Be observant. Be an observer of life. Don't be so involved when you don't have to be, only when you're. When you're meant to. But just observing really helps a lot. Really helps a lot. Same thing happened me with psychedelics. I was giving them. Nothing happened. I was giving and some. What was it? Ayahuasca, years ago. And I had an experience. People are leaving the room and they're throwing up and having, you know, diarrhea and all this, like, what's going on here? And I didn't feel any of that. And I just had an awareness, like an awareness of my guide or my higher self. And it was just. It was like validation of what I already knew. It was nice, but I don't need it. I don't need it.
- [54:57]
Alex Ferrari
Exactly. And if I can quote Yogananda on this, he's like, so. So many times we get caught up in. If we're in a movie theater, we get caught up with what'? The screen. Which is what you're saying, be an observer. But we get caught up in the people dying and people yelling in the wars and the anger, and you get caught up in the drama. He goes, but you need to stop, look back and turn around. And your goal should not be to look at the screen, but to find out where the light is coming from.
- [55:23]
James Van Praagh
Oh, that's great.
- [55:24]
Alex Ferrari
The projector. To look back at the projector, I was like, huh? Oh, that's so. That's so wonderful. It's so, so wonderful.
- [55:31]
James Van Praagh
The remind, if you don't mind, it reminds me of an experience I had with a good, good, good friend of mine who passed over. Her name is Olivia, and she was a British lady a little older than I was. And we used to go to spiritual healing circles for years, 30, 40 years, using mediums and do a whole bunch of different things. And we made a pact that when whoever goes over first comes back right away and tells the other one what it's going to be like. So I'm driving. I'm in Sanitas, California, and I'm driving down the street, and I see her face and my windshield, like, olivia, are you dead? And she said, I'm not the dead one. You are. I'm like, what? So I go back home, and her daughter sent me an email sent from Australia, and she said, my mother passed away at 1202. And I said, oh, I know very well. And then I asked. Olivia says, show me. And she took my mind into a space, into a cinema, like you're talking about. And Olivia said it was very weird, James. It was very strange. I walk into the cinema and I'm walking in and all these people are sitting watching the screen. And she showed to them everyone looking up at the screen and I realized, oh, and I go into the screen and suddenly all these beautiful flowers are there and these colors and people that I haven't seen in many, many years who are just smile child at once came to greet me, to receive me. It was the most beautiful thing that was so alive. I looked back at the people in the seats watching the screen and they were the dead ones. And she just talked about that and she said it was beyond her belief and she's been into this work for a long time beyond her belief. And she said it's the little things you do in life that matter the most. And she goes, those people as kind people. I did, I gave a kind word, I opened the door, I smiled at someone. They're the ones that came to greet me, to thank me, to welcome me. Very important.
- [57:01]
Alex Ferrari
Yeah, that's beautiful. It's so beautiful.
- [57:04]
James Van Praagh
I mean, you never know what your one thought, your one word. Any interaction you have with people, it'll make a difference. Every day. I did my best. Whenever I'm interacting with the public, I'll put a smile on someone's face. And that's just because energetically I'd like to change that. So if I go to Starbucks and someone's having a hard day, say I love that green apron you're wearing, no one can wear it like you. And I just let them stop and give them moment of cheer and, and if it changes our whole day, you know, oh, that for us.
- [57:30]
Alex Ferrari
Exactly. A nice wall, a nice little comment, a nice little saying. Just as the same way as like you say something negative, you could easily say something positive.
- [57:38]
James Van Praagh
Exactly. And it's either fear or love. The negativity is fear and love is positive.
- [57:43]
Alex Ferrari
So James, I'd love to talk to you a little bit because we've kind of dabbled a little bit about what happens on the other side now. We've had a lot of near death experiencers on. I have a general, general idea.
- [57:54]
James Van Praagh
I've had a near death experience too, so.
- [57:56]
Alex Ferrari
So I would love to hear about this near death experience. But from my understanding between the work, I do have a somewhat of an understanding it changes. But the general, there's big mile markers, life review, you know, these kind of things. I'd love to hear your near death experience, if you don't mind me sharing. And then from your Experience. What does truly happen on the other side? Well.
- [58:18]
James Van Praagh
Well, my experience was. And I was doing mediumship for quite a while when this happened. But I remember I was drinking in LA after a show and I went, my friend Victoria. And I think maybe that was. I'm not sure, but we had one glass of. One bottle of wine that was really. It wasn't a lot, but somehow I started bleeding my esophagus. I was bleeding, I guess, and I was throwing up. And I came back. I lived in Laguna beach at the time, and it came from LA down to Laguna and every exit in the freeway to go off and throw up. Okay, I feel good for like a good 15 minutes. Then I had to go again. And so I got home in Laguna beach and I called up my partner at the time and I said, I'm really sick. I don't know what's going on. He said, well, just wait, you know, tonight I'll come by. It's okay. And I. Again, every half hour I'd go. So that night came over and he's. Everything was fine. And he said, oh, here it comes again. And I went to the bathroom, bathroom. And I. And I blacked out my head to the counter, and I fell on the floor and I pulled right. I popped right out of the body. And I'm looking down at my body, I'm like, okay, what's this about? Like, okay, I know it's not my time. I know I was immediately outside of linear time, but I knew that this was not my time to go. I just knew that. And I said, what's happening here? And all of a sudden, my cousin Patricia came in front of me. And my cousin Patricia completed suicide when she was 48. And she taught me metaphysics when I was a child, right? And I hadn't seen her since. And I said, pat, Pat, is it over? She goes, it's going to be over, don't worry. I said, you mean over, over or over? Please let me know because I need some help here. And all of a sudden, she disappeared. And I immediately became aware of everybody having this, if you will, this sense of a cord coming out of the top of their heads. Yes, this cord. And it went into this tapestry. Matrix, tapestry, whatever we call it. And I knew that the thoughts that we had created this color or the structure and into this ribbon. And this ribbon then bled into that tapestry. And I realized, oh, my thoughts create in that tapestry the beauty or the ugliness in that tapestry. Like, oh, wow. And we all have that cord, that ribbon that Bleeds in there. And at the Life review, we look and see what we did with that tapestry to make it more beautiful, or do we not? And then I immediately had that insight. And then I then was into a garden and my father was there and he was wearing a brown suit. And he came, came to me, said, come here, you gave me a white rose. He goes, it's not your time. You got to go back. I said, okay. And all of a sudden I fell right back into the body and my head hurt. And my partner Brian at the time was like, james, wake up, wake up. And the first words out of my mouth were, dying is easy, living is hard. And now why did I have the experience? I only know that years later I was doing a seminar, some kind of seminar with a lot of people. And the lady who organized it said, well, you're reading is a little bit different. They're a little bit more high end, like a high level teachings. And she was right. So however that worked, I definitely was bringing through higher awareness, if you will, life lessons more than I had done before. So. And it just helped me realize even more that our thoughts are things and how we treat each other is very, very important.
- [61:23]
Alex Ferrari
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show. Yeah. And imagine so that you were through that near death experience. It kind of elevated your vibration to a point where then you could start picking up these new signals of these higher teachings. Does that make sense?
- [61:44]
James Van Praagh
Correct. And I'd have to say Alex, based upon my sister just passed in April, who's also in mediumship. Yeah. And she was, she was very funny because she kept her sense even to the end. She goes, is this death? Because I don't like this. I said, well, it's time for a magic carpet ride. You're gonna go soon. Anyway, what she said was. And other people have said, it come through. They say, first thing to say is, well, we're part of many, many worlds. We're worlds within worlds. There's all these different worlds that we're part of, and we choose what world we're going to emphasize in the lifetime we're part of all these different worlds. And she said to me, I was watering my garden I have here in Encinitas, and it's a pretty garden. And I said, lynn, I hope you love the garden. And she goes, I wasn't able to see beauty in this lifetime, shouldn't allow herself to see beauty. So it's interesting because we take on the soul, takes on all of These we have attributes of the soul. And we take on all these experiences and situations that really test those attributes, that bring those attributes out to the surface and really do tests them to make us better, to help us to understand each other, to live someone else's life. I mean, it's a great opportunity here in this three dimensional world called school, called Earth, but all different stations in life and we have everything. The astral world is very much similar the Earth, but even better. The gardens are. The colors are more colorful. They say the colors that you have, the real sense of color is natural gemstones. That that really is the right color, if you will, to measure color from your dimension. So and you can have anything you want that you on the other side. And I remember I was on Larry King once I told someone, your father's playing golf. And Larry goes, they have golf over there. So you can have whatever you want. If you want to golf, you can have golf. If you pass over, you have your, you like a drink, a cocktail, you can create that with your thoughts. And you'll have a cocktail in your hands and you can drink it and you'll have a memory of that. So it's created. You won't have the same hit as you would in the physical because you're not a physical body. But you have the memory of that. So certain things are memory. Like there might be desire to have food again because you have the memory of that, the Earth, but that'll die off because you won't need that anymore. Once you adjust or acclimate to your new way of being being, that old stuff fluffs off. You don't need that anymore.
- [63:44]
Alex Ferrari
So you said, this is something I want to kind of dig into. You just said there are many, many worlds. And this is starting to touch into quantum physics and into parallel lives and the multiverse and multiple worlds. And then it's kind of like you go out side to side and you go up and down and there's depth. And so it's like all the way way between parallel lives and multiverses and quantum jumping to different realities and things like that. That again, quantum physics is talking about this concept of multi worlds. And we choose which one to emphasize. I've heard. And this is difficult for our brains to kind of process. But all of our lives are happening at the same time. Completely very difficult for us to understand.
- [64:30]
James Van Praagh
For us.
- [64:32]
Alex Ferrari
Because we say past lives. We literally say past lives. So like, oh, I was an Aztec or I was in Rome, or I was in Egypt or something like that. So from my understanding. And please, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. We're living right now. This is where the needle is on the record at the moment, from this perspective.
- [64:49]
James Van Praagh
Right.
- [64:49]
Alex Ferrari
And we are dealing with things that happened, quote, unquote, in the past, let's say our Roman life, that we're dealing with problems, you know, or. Or the. The when we were hung or we were burned at the stake, we're still dealing with that kind of trauma that we're working out in this life. When we work it out.
- [65:08]
James Van Praagh
By the way, just different names, names of the war. It's still the war, but just change the names, you know, very much so
- [65:15]
Alex Ferrari
now it's all social media, but you don't get hung on the square, you get hung on Twitter. So. So if we fix or deal with or overcome the. That lesson in this life, apparently it ripples to all your lives in the past, and it ripples all to your future lives. It starts to mess with your head. Love to hear your thoughts, sir.
- [65:39]
James Van Praagh
Good boy. You got it. Good boy. Good boy. That's right. So it's hard for us, like you said, to conceive. So I like to use analogies a lot. So let's say we're a diamond and that each experience we have in this. Let's say in this lifetime cuts another facet of the diamond. And let's have a different type of light, different degree of light. So we think that we're a diamond of souls, a diamond and all these different facets from every experience of lifetimes. So I totally agree with you and that we want to experience more of that aspect or that aspect, or understand about caring or compassion or forgiveness. We'll take on all these different types of situations. And I do believe, and I know. And a friend of mine made a comment. Friend of mine was visiting fourth of July, and he made a comment. It was a strange comment because he was not this way, but just dropped in his head and he said, if we can live in the moment, there's no other way things will work out. We just have to. To live in the moment. It's very, very true, because you're in the moment. You're aware of what's going on right now. The past has already happened. The future is yet to be now. If you can at this moment forgive someone for what they did, that that energy of forgiveness ripples all the way back, like you said, and changes things in the past and the future. You can change your past lives, you can change your future lives by what you're doing at this particular moment, the more you love that you show and demonstrate will affect all those experience in the past and all experiences in the future. Don't ask me how, but it does happen. It's energy, it's thought, it's. You've reached a point where you realize that love is the answer and forgiveness is a big one. You know, if I forgiving others, forgive yourself, forgive yourself, forgive others. It's living in that moment. But I agree with you. What you do now affects the past and the future, no doubt.
- [67:12]
Alex Ferrari
So if this is the record needle, as I use in my analogy on the record, are there multiple record needles in different lifetimes or is this just the perspective of this one and there are other ones and let's not even get into parallel lives, current parallel lives, or this is a tripping one.
- [67:28]
James Van Praagh
So here's a trippy one. Another trippy one in that the soul, as I said before, 70% of souls outside the body, 30% is over here. So if we go to really understand the soul, we want to go to 70% those different fields of levels. Well, every one of those fields is a different way of life, right? So you're existing right now in a past life, in a future life, right now, as you're simultaneously living this moment right now, you're living those other lifetimes at the same exact, exact moment. And it seems that what you do in this, this physicalness, if you will, and see what I mentioned, will affect those other lifetimes and vice versa too. By the way, there's. There's aspects of the higher life or the different fields that. That can bleed down. We heard the higher self. If we bring down that energy of the higher self into the awareness of the moment, it can affect that moment. And that goes back into meditation. Sitting in silence, being the stillness of your being, you will be influenced by that higher, higher self. So that's how it works. But again, the secret is to know thyself to thy own self be true. And that is really it. Never compare yourself to other people. Be who you are because you are who you are, because you're meant to be who you are.
- [68:31]
Alex Ferrari
So one thing I've noticed about your work, James, and this is unlike other quote unquote psychic mediums that I've spoken before.
- [68:39]
James Van Praagh
I don't like that term psychic medium, because so mediums, it's redundant because every medium needs to be psychic. Every.
- [68:45]
Alex Ferrari
Fair enough.
- [68:46]
James Van Praagh
That psychic. Get your money back because, hello, every medium. So psychic is a perception, right? So psychic we perceive and everybody is Psychic one degree or another. And a medium receives. So not every psychic is a medium, but every medium is psychic. So that's a very, very.
- [69:00]
Alex Ferrari
Okay, okay.
- [69:02]
James Van Praagh
That difference in there. And so psychic medium to me is. It's just redundant. So to me a spiritual medium would be really more accurate. I'd say so.
- [69:09]
Alex Ferrari
So spiritual medium. One thing I've learned about spiritual, it sounds better, it's better branding. But your, but your work as a spiritual medium, you really seem to connect a lot of ancient ideas and teachings in the work that you do in a way that I don't see very often because a lot of times it's all about give me the lottery tickets or am I going to meet my. Or am I going to meet my dark stranger or is this pilot I just did going to blow me up or these kind of ideas where your work. I know that must be extremely important for you.
- [69:43]
James Van Praagh
That's the way it is. Can you give me the numbers of the lottery? And I was like, you think I'd be talking to you right now. Numbers of lottery. I certainly right now. But it's again how you use it. I'm very much as I said from very beginning in development of my work that I have open minded and I believe that I'm a sage from way back or that those lifetime sage, wisdom, philosophy. I know that and I always bring that forward to however I can. I wish I could bring more forward. But also you know, I think it's really important and Alex, you do a great job at this and it's presenting interesting information to the general public that you can. And I do this in my books that when I write my books and I don't mean to sound detrimental here or put people down, but it's. You have to feed them, you have to spoon feed the public. So these complexities, these, these, these insights into other dimensions and so forth are there. But we in order for people to understand them, you got to give them something to understand that they can relate to. So I think when you have to, and I hate to say the term, you have to kind of dumb it down. But you to have, have to of course got to dumb it down. I understand what you mean. It's important that we bring these big concepts down to the finest which is love. Love or fear is basically it. Then you can get into. Once people understand that then go into a little bit more about how you treat people. The golden rule, a sense of who you are. Then we go a little bit further and receding, receding them. You know, I Have a lot of people say to me, God, this is so amazing. I wish I could tell my husband the work that you did, that you brought that through. And I got to tell him. I can't wait to tell him. I said, listen, he might not get it.
- [71:17]
Alex Ferrari
Don't.
- [71:18]
James Van Praagh
Don't be so caught up in him getting it. Just plant the seed. When he's ready, we'll get it. It's just. You can't control it. Just plant the seeds. That's all we can do. And that's what you're doing and I'm doing. We're planting the seeds. And I don't know, I think it's just, again, it's. It's having a sense of awareness. It's not just like I said earlier, like the circus or the fun act or whatever, that jump to the hoop or whatever. It's not. Not that it's who we are as spiritual. We're souls having a human experience, not the other way around. And as a soul being representing that those lives, I think, you know, the Bible says my father has a house with many mansions. And I do believe there are many, many levels and spectrums and spheres and worlds within worlds within worlds. And that. That one element that brings all those worlds together is love. Love is the only energy that goes through all of those dimensions, all those time spans is love.
- [72:06]
Alex Ferrari
Love.
- [72:06]
James Van Praagh
Love is the answer. And that's exactly why it is. Yeah. Now we got responsible for that.
- [72:13]
Alex Ferrari
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show. Without question. And that's one of the reasons what I think that movies and television and media in general has such a responsibility in that aspect. Because. Because there are certain movies that I can say simulation theory to you, and they'd be like, what? I go, it's the Matrix. And they'll go, oh, the concepts there. Yeah, there's kung fu and there's other aspects that they kind of did. But the concept of philosophy, the idea of multiple or the multiverse that Marvel is now bringing out and that concept. Yeah, it's superheroes fighting in the multiverse.
- [72:56]
James Van Praagh
It's okay, because that's great way of entertainment. Just like in A Ghost Whisperer, we opened up with fear. Like people are afraid of these ghosts, but yet at the end, it was all about love and healing. Same with the. The Marvel comics. Now they're bringing their edge, and even the producers are doing. Probably have no idea what they're doing. They're just being used by spiritual beings.
- [73:16]
Alex Ferrari
Right.
- [73:16]
James Van Praagh
As to bring the Teachings out and people. It'll open people up on those levels. It'll open them up. They might have to get through entertainment or a strange way. But I going to say something else with you and talk to you about something else too, which I think is really. It's bothered me over the years and I think you get it too. It goes back to that responsibility that what you put out in the masses, whether it's through television or social media, whether it's the movies, you have responsibility because it's all energy. So if you're going to put a movie about killing and fear that stays in the ethers, that energy is there and it stays there. It doesn't just dissipate. You're putting out that use of the creator of force and making it negative or violent, whatever that's going to feed people. I really do believe that. So you wonder where you have gun violence, you wonder why people are negative. Because we're feeding it. We're feeding that. And I just get a sense. And this is such a responsibility with what you put out to the public, whether it's through social media, whether it's through movies or television, there's a responsibility about it. And people got to understand that.
- [74:12]
Alex Ferrari
Yeah. Without. I agree with you 110%.
- [74:16]
James Van Praagh
I did.
- [74:17]
Alex Ferrari
The fear that gets pumped out by the media. Media. Because when you're in fear you buy more and all that kind of stuff. I get that. And there's. I think people are starting to wake up to it. The numbers of this show are starting to say that because there's. We're talking about millions so far and hopefully tens of millions, hundreds of millions, maybe billions one day of people.
- [74:36]
James Van Praagh
Yeah.
- [74:37]
Alex Ferrari
To try to get this kind of information out there in this big way. It is changing. And I think people are starting to figure things out on a very instinctual soul level. They're just like. That doesn't make sense for me. I don't want that anymore. But you could already start seeing the crumblings of the old system where the networks, they're just not getting the numbers anymore that they used to. Where there's YouTubers who are getting 100 million views on an episode. Episode. Can you imagine that in network television or even as streamers you start. People are starting to figure things out and I think it's where everything is going to go. I have to ask you this.
- [75:20]
James Van Praagh
Along with that is responsibility that they have. With that, those. They have a big responsibility. It doesn't matter how many people you can get on your page. It's the in the. What you're putting out ability you have.
- [75:30]
Alex Ferrari
Yeah, absolutely. What you're putting out there. So let's talk a little bit, James, about the future of where we're all going now. This is one aspect of things, and. And I know I've had other people come on the show and talk about what they see for humanity, where we are all going, that we are going through this big shift, human shift. The first question I want to ask you is what part do you believe the work of mediums, of channels, of this spiritual ideas that we're talking about in this episode? What effect is that going to have? And what is the future of those things? Are channels going to be the next and medium is going to be the next. Kind of like people will be respected and feel like doctors and lawyers are now. Where do you see all of this going?
- [76:12]
James Van Praagh
I. I would hope so. The quality is always a question. Right? That.
- [76:16]
Alex Ferrari
That's also with doctors and lawyers. That's also with doctors and lawyers too, my friend.
- [76:20]
James Van Praagh
Yes, it's true of every single organ. That's exactly right. You know, from my point of view, it. To me, the. The. The world, most of the world are asleep. Most people are asleep. They're asleep, walking. And like, only 3% are conscious. Only 3% of the world is awake. 3%, that's a very small amount. 3% of the entire world, I mean, 97% are sleeping. They're sleepwalkers. So we have to wake them up. And shows like yours, and shows like mine and schools like mine do that, they touch on a certain nerve, a certain sense, a certain soul, part of that soul, they'll open them up. And I think that's going to happen. I think more and more when there are shows like yours and more spiritual work out there, that's not threatening to. To people, that's really assuring people. And if mediumship is done the right way, you know, inequality and a responsible way, I think people tend to see a connection. A connection that. Why this is real and that there's more to life than just this physical world. I think that's the number one thing. The first thing is to realize there is no. There's no death. And that's my work from day one, is to teach people the two greatest illusions we have. This physical world. Number one, separate separativeness. No one's separate. We're together, but we want to be. It's the world teaches the separative dissolution. Second thing is death. There is no such thing as death. You can't die for the best of you, you just can't die. Or energy, you don't die, you just slough off the physical, which is painless in many respects. Leading up to. It might be hard with the disease, but there are medications for that to get you out. And I totally, you know, the spirit people have inspired those scientists to come up to invent that. Those medications, they happen first in the spirit world and they are slowly brought down to the physical world. So I think it's a matter of, number one, educating the public that there's more to this than just this physical world and that people. And I think mediumship is doing that. I think shows like yours are doing that, that help people to realize there's so much more. Number two, I think that they become connected with their power, with themselves, learn who they are and go back in and not pay attention to what people say about them on the social media. Not get so caught up in that, what people are saying and doing. You know, Kim Kardashian, who I did a reading for many years ago, before she was Kim Kardashian, there's a big responsibility she has and she had. And I, you know, I'm not going to say I'm not going to blame people, but you know, when you're out in the media that way there's a responsibility and you got to be careful because it'll back. It'll bite you. It'll bite you if you're not careful. And I just hope that people do things more of the conscious way, how they're affecting other people. I think it's a slow, slowly moving. But in some ways it isn't. Because I started in the 80s and, and listen, when I was doing, I was the only one out there doing this. And now, now it's very, very popular. Popular. And I always use a funny thing. It's like, well, remember when herb tea started? No. The herb tea. You drink herb tea. That's a weird herb tea. And now. Now. Right. So that's so. And that was relatively quickly. So that's only 30 years. The herb tea thing, that's pretty fast when you think about it. So I do have hope that things will be changing and I think much quicker. Alex. I think once people get it. Oh, and they catch up, they catch up. My feeling is they catch up and they start moving. So I would think by the next like 20, 25, 5, hopefully there'll be another sense of that, of self awareness and self knowledge. I think in some ways wars, negative things, and people have had enough of it. Whether it's the COVID or the wars or people are tired of that, they want something else, want something new. So in a way it forces them to look within themselves and to question what's. What's with. What else is there, what else is there, I can expect to make me feel better. So I think it's going to force us to have a sense of who we are, get back to our soul self and go back inside, not outside, out here to validate yourself, but inside ourselves. And I think that's going to happen.
- [79:56]
Alex Ferrari
Now, do you, do you believe that we are heading in a direction that as, as a, as a species, as a human consciousness, are we heading in a positive or what Is this a
- [80:08]
James Van Praagh
little bit better question?
- [80:08]
Alex Ferrari
What does the spirit world have to say about where we're heading as it's,
- [80:13]
James Van Praagh
it's funny because they don't judge it. There's no judgment. So we can't say positive or negative. It just. It is what it is.
- [80:18]
Alex Ferrari
Because that's all.
- [80:19]
James Van Praagh
That's right. That's all it is. It's just an experience. It's really just experiences as experiences of loving oneself, of loving another. And that's really what it's about. Loving oneself and loving other and not judgment. Judgment, again, is fear based. Like I said earlier, it's very interesting because, you know, we have the whole trans thing now and you have one thing I'm not so comfortable still with is it pronoun thing, because I'm an author, a bestselling author, and I had a lot of trouble with the grammar thing, so I get that. So I don't want to judge that, but I want to say everybody is. Is God, no matter who they are. And the diversification is what makes God. God has all these different sparkles, all the lights in all different ways. So we can't judge another's experience. I think if everybody just didn't hurt anyone else, be fine, be who you are, do what you want to do, as long as you don't hurt people. That's. That's the key right there. And I think that more and more that's going to happen. I think more and more I just think we're at a point now extremism with religion and power politics and trying to control those people's rights, because this country is based on a freedom of rights and that's, that's waning and it's because. But I don't think that's going to stay. I think people are going to be fed up with that, you know, Roe v. Wade, the whole thing. You know, it's so amazing to me that the, you know, people are fighting abortion, abortion, but yet it's okay to kill an 8 year old with a semiautomatic gun. What about that? It doesn't work. It doesn't work. You can't have it all in one or the other, you know.
- [81:41]
Alex Ferrari
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.
- [81:51]
James Van Praagh
So I think that's, it's forcing people to change, to look at things a different way. I think it looks back to self learning about self and just really loving, appreciating self and each other, that we're all connected. We're not separate. We're one. We are one. Omnipresent, nurturing energy. We're one.
- [82:09]
Alex Ferrari
Do you see the new generations being born now completely differently than the inner generations that your generation or my generation is? I mean, they come in.
- [82:19]
James Van Praagh
Your dad, come on. Yeah, these dark kids are everywhere. Star seeds are everywhere. I mean, I mean, it's amazing. Different, amazing. You know when they sort of used to talk about they're on the spectrum. Well, they're way beyond us. Such advanced species coming in. Totally. I thought about this this morning, actually. I talked to a friend of mine because she told me one of her people in her life, kids, whatever was inspector was like, well, they're the ones that teaching us or it's such an advanced stage. And I say, personally, I can't relate to technology. I'm not a technical person or creative. So every password I put in every day I have under that freaking password. But it's like it's. These beings are coming in now that can handle all that technology. Oh, waves of these souls. It's waves of these technical souls that know all that and that I know that there's a place in time and space and time and in physical vibration. These beings is, what do you call them, Evolve. They don't like to judge. Right. But these, these beings from other species, other star systems are coming in, no doubt about it, and changing things up and working with the technologies and being aware of that, no doubt about it. So we're evolving, if you will. I believe that should be true. So what we do with it is a free will.
- [83:24]
Alex Ferrari
That's very true. And I just love to hear your opinion on ascended masters. I mean, in your work. Have you, have you come across any?
- [83:32]
James Van Praagh
Have any. I'm looking at one right now.
- [83:37]
Alex Ferrari
Well, please elaborate.
- [83:39]
James Van Praagh
Show like this. Hello. Well, it's an, it's an interesting concept because people, many people, and I understand, they say, what's my guide's name? It's like, what's your guide?
- [83:50]
Alex Ferrari
Bruce. Bruce. His name is Bruce.
- [83:52]
James Van Praagh
Bruce. Bruce. It's putting such a human trait to something which has a human trait to it. So it's, it's putting that limitation on that. And, and so, you know, there are many levels and species and levels of being. So we talk about ascended masters or angel, angelic beings or different levels of awareness, consciousness. It's just evolvement. And I think they're those, those beings who, I think there are many ascended masters, I think there are many species. I mean, I remember when I was first developing my abilities in sitting in development circle, I used to have these being come to me and we would call them aliens, I guess you'd call them aliens. And they're the most evolved beings I'd ever been around. And I remember I was in Sedona, Arizona once, and I brought a group out there to see you, UFOs, because that was a place of UFOs. And we got out there and I remember it was 10 o' clock on a Saturday night. And the man who was helping me run this said, well, nothing's going. I said, I, we got to hopefully see these because people are here. And I heard a words in my head say, you need to meditate, you need to raise your vibration. So we all meditated, raise the vibration. And then I walked out to the middle of the field and all these lights were around, like TV tower lights looked like. And these are UFOs we call UFOs. And I remember hearing very, very clearly, not only hearing, but feeling that this energy had really slowed themselves down, really lower themselves down. It's like this, mate, like a 747 in the eye of a needle that really slowed themselves down. And I heard them say, we are from the Pleiades and we do not understand one thing. You human beings have the energy of love all around you, yet you don't use it. Why is that? And that makes sense. It's all around us. Why can't we use love? So that's, that's what it is. Ascended masters, you know, I don't put names or labels on it, but beings who are evolved beings who just are. Those evolved beings have been through ups and downs all around, and teachings and philosophy and beyond our, you know, awareness, if you will. But I think they just, I think our higher selves are connected with those. And the more we can bring in the energy from a higher self, that awareness, then Then it's the right thing. We're light beings. We have to be Illuminati. We have to be that illuminous. The illuminous. We got to be the ones. Show people the light. The light. The darkness opens up to light, and we got to bring that light out.
- [86:03]
Alex Ferrari
Now, James, I could talk to you for another four or five hours, but I'm going to ask you a few questions to ask all of my guests.
- [86:09]
James Van Praagh
Okay.
- [86:10]
Alex Ferrari
What is your definition of living a fulfilled life?
- [86:13]
James Van Praagh
If I can look back at my life at the end of my life, when I look back at my life and I see the earth is a better place than it was when I first got here. That's a filled life.
- [86:21]
Alex Ferrari
If you had a chance to go back in time and talk to little James, what advice would you you give him?
- [86:26]
James Van Praagh
I'd probably go back and say, believe in yourself even more.
- [86:29]
Alex Ferrari
How do you define God?
- [86:31]
James Van Praagh
Everything and everyone.
- [86:32]
Alex Ferrari
And what is the ultimate purpose of life?
- [86:35]
James Van Praagh
Love.
- [86:36]
Alex Ferrari
Beautiful. And where can people find out more about you and the amazing work you're doing for the world?
- [86:40]
James Van Praagh
I have. I have two places. I have a school online. It's called the. The jvpschool of mysticalarts.com and then I have a website with my last name, Van Praag.com v a n p r a a g h dot com. That's how I remember who it is, my last name. And then of course, my book Talking to Heaven. And I've written 14. 14 different books, but that's on Amazon. But yeah, that's the best way we can have our community together.
- [87:02]
Alex Ferrari
And do you have any parting messages or does the spirit world have any parting messages for the audience?
- [87:07]
James Van Praagh
You know, use, use love in everything you do. See? See, you know, remember that every day on your path, you have a teacher or a student, and be accordingly and treat others as you want to be treated. And that's all I can say.
- [87:20]
Alex Ferrari
James, it has been a pleasure speaking to you. We have to have you back. You are a joy.
- [87:24]
James Van Praagh
Definitely. I'd love to come back. You're great to speak with. With, really. It's rare that he gets someone who's intelligent and aware of this. This level that we can, you know, understand these things. It's nice conversation, you know, so thank you. I appreciate it.
- [87:39]
Alex Ferrari
Thank you for spending this sacred time with us today. If you feel called to explore this conversation further, you'll find the show notes for this episode@next levelsoul.com 3, 2, 1. And if your soul is craving an even deeper journey, step into Next Level Soul tv, our streaming sanctuary for spiritual films, documentaries, original shows, guided meditations, channeling sessions, audiobooks, and transformative teachings. It's a space created to support your awakening, your healing, and your return to the truth of who you really are. Begin your journey at Next LevelSoul TV. Until next time. Keep exploring, expanding, keep seeking, and keep walking your path towards the next level of your soul.