James Van Praagh - Looking Beyond: A Teen’s Guide to the Spiritual World

A Teens Guide to the Spiritual World

James Van Praagh

Illustrations by Benjamin Vincent

A FIRESIDE BOOK
Published by Simon & Schuster
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Copyright 2003 by Spiritual Horizons, Inc.

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Designed by Ruth Lee

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Van Praagh, James.

Looking beyond : a teens guide to the spiritual world / James Van Praagh.

p. cm.

1. Spiritualism. 2. Spiritual life-Miscellanea. 3. Teenagers-Religious life-Miscellanea. I. Title.

BF1272.V36 2003

133.9-dc21 2003050586

ISBN 0-7432-2942-8
eISBN-13: 978-1-4391-4657-6

To Brian, for always being my sunshine in all kinds of weather.

Linda Carwin Tomchin Thank you for yet another reincarnation! You give my words meaning and my message wings to fly. You are truly one of heavens finest.

Kelly Dennis I have never been the same since meeting you! Your gifts of laughter, song, and dance always uplift my soul. Thank you for helping me remember how to be a kid again!

Kelley Kreinbrink You are a blessing in my life. Thank you for keeping me organized and always giving me life support!

Phyllis Heller I appreciate you always being there talking twice as fast as any other New Yorker I have ever met! Thank you for your dedication, friendship, and trust in taking this journey together.

1. Spirits in a Material World
Look Inside, and All Will Be Revealed

2. Here We Go Again!
The Wheel of Life Goes Round and Round

3. Think of It and Presto, Its Yours!
The Magic of Your Mind

4. I Know What I Know, and Thats That
Tap into Your Sixth Sense

5. Everyone Is in Your Life for You
Meeting Your Soulmates and Spirit Guides

6. See Yourself As You Really Are
You Have Something Unique to Offer

7. Watch Out for Mind-Numbing Traps
You Have a Destiny to Fulfill

8. Stop Whining and Do Something
Be Responsible for Yourself

9. The Genius Inside You Is Trying to Get Out
Use Your Creative Energy

10. The Energy of the Universe Is Always in Motion
Your Wishes Can Come True

11. Love + Forgiveness = Happiness
Give with a Grateful Heart

12. Take the High Road
Let Your Soul Inspire You

My name is James, and I am a psychic and a medium. As a medium, I am able to contact the dead and communicate their messages to the living. I have been doing this for the past twenty years.

You may have seen me on television, doing readings for people. When I read for people, I tune in to their energy to feel around them a spirit who wants to tell them something. I have done thousands of individual readings for people all over the world. After a while, I started to do these readings in front of large audiences. I call these large-group gatherings demonstrations.

Over the years, many people have come to me with stories filled with tragedy and love, seeking guidance, healing, and peace with loved ones who have passed on. I hope that I have been able to put their minds and hearts at ease.

The gift I have is not extraordinary, though many have said so. I believe that everyone has psychic awareness, but few have the patience, understanding, or perhaps the desire to develop it the way that I have. I did not fully utilize my psychic abilities until I became an adult, but I was very aware of them as a child. A lot of patience and years of practice went into the work I do today.

The truth is that everything you want to know is already inside you. That is why I wrote this book: I want you to recognize that you are a spiritual being who is a part of a large cosmic family of spiritual beings. As you learn that there is more to you than meets the eye, you will find that you have the power, strength, and talent to fulfill your own individual earthly destiny. May your journey be filled with love.

Look Inside, and All Will Be Revealed

I See Dead People

When I was a young boy, I used to see ghosts all the time, like the kid in The Sixth Sense. It was like one giant ghost party around me. I used to see people standing in my room just as I was going to sleep. Sometimes, they would pop up when I got into trouble. It wasnt scary or creepy like in the movie, though. Actually, it was quite the opposite. My ghosts had kind faces. They were gentle, not spooky. Mostly, they were family members who had died, like my grandfather or aunt. They just wanted me to know that they were watching over me like guardian angels.

To me, these ghosts appeared as solid forms with heads and bodies just like everyone else I knew. The only difference between the living and the dead was the beautiful glowing light that surrounded the ghosts. And when the ghosts spoke to me, it was a mind-to-mind communicationno one ever moved their lips.

Frankly, I thought my ability to see ghosts was pretty cool. I was quite innocent, though, and thought everyone else could see ghosts, too. It wasnt until I was hanging out with a few friends and told them about my ghostly visions that I found out I was very different. But while my friends thought I was ready for the loony bin, I didnt think of myself as a freak. I knew in my heart that what my friends were saying about me was not true. They couldnt see ghosts, but I knew what I saw, and I knew it was real.

I didnt have a clue about how life really worked until I understood why ghosts appeared to me. It was a pretty simple, yet far-out, idea. It certainly didnt fit the picture of life that I was being taught. Time after time, spirits impress upon me the idea that all of us, dead or alive, are purely spiritual in nature. We are not human beings, but spirit beings in human bodies.

So, in this book, I want to share my thoughts about how life really works, what I have learned from all the spirit beings who have contacted me. If we all knew who we really are, we might have a better understanding of ourselves and others.

Who Do You Think You Are?

How many times have you looked at the stars and wondered what lies beyond them? Could there be other life in far-off galaxies? Could there be alien life forms right here on our planet? Of course there are. Wasnt that what they were trying to tell us in the movie