Observations placeholder

Exercise 10

We were given the task of taking a message for another person on the course, whose name would be revealed to us at dinner as we gave our messages. So we had no idea who our messages were for – no chance to make anything up with this one! This was going to sort the imaginative from the rest!

It took no time at all for me to get a picture - moving, the images were very clear. I saw a truly beautiful alpine valley, lush green grass, a huge number of alpine flowers. The sky was a deep clear blue with white fluffy clouds. The mountain above the valley was exceptionally high, snow capped with glaciers, but the valley below was bathed in sunshine and free of all snow. It was all lush meadowland, no hedges or boundaries, no houses that I could see, but quite a few deciduous trees, which logically I thought a bit odd as this looked more like Switzerland than anywhere else I had been, but there were no pines and the number of trees was quite high for an alpine valley. Still this was all symbolic, so I had to take it as it comes. There was a warm wind blowing, soft, gentle, but no insects, just the wind.

Then a phrase '.Here shall be peace, here shall be peace'. Just that.

Then a really sudden switch to this awful dark street, lit only by some stark street lamps, empty except for parked cars, terraced houses on either side, it could have been anywhere in some European town, but so cold and stark and empty, no people and no lights on in the windows. The switch was so dramatic it was quite a shock – the contrast. Then a voice 'Not here, not here'.

Then back to the valley [a great relief], warm wind again, more flowers, as if to show me how nice this place was and how peaceful and safe. The other place seemed hostile, this valley seemed so sheltered and safe by comparison.

Then the phrase again exactly as before '.Here shall be peace, here shall be peace'.

End of exercise

Well I wrote it all down, but it made no sense to me however nice the place was. I read it out a dinner and immediately one chap said, 'it's for me, I know it's for me'. At the time, he gave some rather weak explanation about why he knew it was for him, something to do with reconciling an argument with his sister, but as I said the voice said 'shall be peace' not 'will be peace', but it turned out the message was for him.

I found out later he was nearly eighty and had come to the course looking for messages about what happened after you die, as well as some way of coming to terms with death, but of course he wasn't going to say that to everyone over dinner.

I must admit I was quite pleased I had been 'chosen' as a conduit for a positive message.