Originally Posted by
Alder
Hello, Liasdaughter! So sorry to leave you hanging for a week or two there. Sometimes between health, caring for parents, caring for children, career, I end up being away from this site longer than I would like, particularly because I don't want to just disappear in the middle of a conversation with someone. Anyway, my apologies for the delay.
If I understand your question, you were responding to my comment that you would sense the presence and love of your mother on a personal "heart" level, even though it might be in a way that would be hard to explain or understand in words; and you had asked me how you would know when that happened, what form it would take?
Boy! Tough question! The truth is, it's different for everyone. It's what works well for you. Everyone is capable of many kinds of spiritual awareness. It's not like some people in our world are psychic or magical, and others are not--are, well, muggles. Everyone can live a spiritually meaningful life, everyone can find their own way of tuning into that inner voice or feeling we call intuition.
The hardest lesson for most of us is learning to use our imaginations, learning to not be afraid to play with it. We were all taught that if I am imagining something, that means it's not real. But imagination is useful. Imagination lets us see patterns in things, and put random bits of data together into meaningful ways. In other words, scientists use it to imagine theories and behavior of atoms and so forth, so they can explain what they see in their laboratories. Often when it comes to spiritual matters, you know something to be true--like knowing that the love you and your mother share is stronger than death--but you know it on such a deep-down level that it is hard for you to give it some form that you can see or explain. So you use your imagination to give you something your conscious waking mind can hold onto. In other words, you are using your imagination to put an image on, put clothes on top of, something that underneath is very real.
You said something very insightful regarding your friend: That she believes in the spiritual experiences she has, but she may be seeing these things merely because she desires so badly to see them. Well, that's a tricky thing. Because our intuitive senses and our ability to imagine and dream are so closely connected, it is always a challenge to separate the role our own desires play in our experiences. Heck, that is true even if we are dealing with flesh and blood people, instead of spirits. How many times have you had a friend who thought her boyfriend was just wonderful, when everyone around her could tell he wasn't so great. She was letting her own yearning for a fulfilling relationship color her judgment.
Sure, we're all susceptible to letting our desire make us see things, and, just as likely, sometimes when we want to have a spiritual experience, we yearn for it so much we can't relax into the open, intuitive state of mind we need in order to actually have that experience. I'm sure you've heard the expression "inner peace"? Well, that's what it's all about. The way you do it is to let yourself be silent on the inside, just sit back and trust and be patient, and let your intuitive knowing of your mom's presence happen. Notice I said "let it happen." You can't "make it happen." The harder you try, the less you succeed.
Which brings us to your dream. Your dream of the flowers, of course, answers the question you asked me about the form that your mother's presence in your life would take. You wrote on this site, "I believe in dreams," and declaring that to the Universe did the trick. In response, you received this very beautiful dream about the flowers. You are entitled to believe that this dream came from your mother, that this was her answering your call and your wish. She sent you flowers.
So now you have the opportunity to make this dream real in your own life. Go get some flowers and put them in that vase, and put it next to your mother's picture. Then every day when you see them you can say, "Thanks for the flowers, Mom! I got the message, and I love you too." Then you can rest easy knowing that your mom is keeping the connection of love strong on her end, and you have done all you need do to keep it strong on your end. You have, in effect, hit the "reply" button in response to the dream-mail message she sent you. She might send you more dreams, and it's okay if you want her to, but try not to get into a state of yearning so desperately for a dream from her that you actually disrupt your own brain from being able to do it. Dreams often come from things not fully worked out yet, and if you manifest the flowers in your life, in your home, then no more dream may be necessary.
I hope this answers the question of is it real, how do I know if it's real? What we are doing is turning it around so you are the one in control: You have the right to make it real in your own life by believing in it and by making it real for yourself--by buying "real" flowers that you can "really" see and touch and even had to spend real money to get (in our culture, if you spent money on it, it must be real, right?). You get to choose to make it real for you by your own actions. There's a little part of your brain that handles the words and the numbers that will always doubt and say, but am I just tricking myself? And you may have other skeptical people in your life who say the same thing. Well, that's their business. You can choose to believe, and that's fine.
Here's the final point: The test of your beliefs is what you do with them. If your beliefs lead you to live a wonderful, vibrant, meaningful life of reaching your full potential and showing kindness and compassion for all beings you meet, then they are good beliefs, regardless of whether they are "real" according to some skeptic's analysis. The final test of whether your ancestors are fully manifesting in your life is whether you make something beautiful out of your life.
Well, it's like I said--your own experience trumps anything I or anyone else here can say. Your own dream is a better response than anything we can give you. In our culture, you might feel pressured to say, "It's just a dream, it doesn't give me all the answers." But you don't have to look at it like that. You're free to instead accept the dream as a gift, and to honor it and bring it into your waking life.