Messages from the Universe

“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the
Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore
strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new
civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

I can still hear the song from the opening credits. Growing up in the 70’s in my house, our family would recite these lines along with the television every evening at 6 o’clock. Star Trek had been cancelled in prime time, but was living on in rerun-land. Invariably, we would race to see which one of us could first correctly guess the episode that was airing. I usually won and my best record was about 3 seconds. Yep, even at the age of 6, I was a Star Trek geek.

Star Trek was always one adventure after another as Captain Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy would race against time to protect the universe another day from destruction. We delighted in participating in the fanciful tales. They were pure fantasy…or so I thought at the time.

As I grew up, I started to see more and more reminders of Star Trek in the real world. How many inventions have been created by curious minds that were fascinated by all the gadgetry from Star Trek? Take the cell phone, for example. Engineers have made “the communicator” a reality by producing these ubiquitous devices. The idea had been sparked in their minds by a television show and they were driven to make futuristic communicators commonplace today.

In the beginning of their history, computers started out being the size of a house and were generally only owned by governmental or scientific agencies. In 1966, when Star Trek first aired, secretaries and students were still using typewriters and certainly no one had a computer at home. In addition, the information highway was not readily available to the everyday Joe. Once again, with the help of a television show, people were bustling to invent smaller, more proficient and cost effective computers so that nearly everyone would have access to them. Forty-two years after the first episode of Star Trek aired computers can now be found as small as the size of an envelope. And with the advent of the internet, a plethora of information can be discovered on these computers, which is accessible at the touch of a person’s fingertips. Visit the Louvre; find out who invented the light bulb; locate biographies on your favorite stars; practically any sort of research can be accomplished online. When Captain Kirk wanted to find an answer, he simply asked the computer. We now have the same capability.

Within one generation portable telephones and computers were not only made into a reality, but a staple in our lives. We didn’t have to wait for the 23rd century to arrive to have communication easily accessible.

And it is not just about technology. Star Trek presented metaphors of peace and created an advanced world where a monetary system no longer exists. Earth was no longer segregated by nations or caste systems. The federation was a conglomeration of unified planets joined together for the advancement of peace and gaining further knowledge. A person could then become whatever they were meant to be without the worry or fear of where the money would come from for support. No one was stuck in a job they disliked.

While we are not part of a unified galactic order, nor have we abolished the use of money, the United Nations represents the unification of the countries, albeit at the infancy stage. In 2008 money is still necessary to sustain life. However, more and more of us are taking a cue from Native Americans and other spiritually advanced societies by becoming aware of the value of trading goods and services. These ideas are catapulting us toward our future with a more ideal standard of living. Hording will no longer be a part of our future and neither will starvation. Star Trek presented an idealistic society. With the planetary shift we are currently experiencing, we are finding an increasing amount of evidence that we are moving towards this way of living ourselves.

So, where did these ideas of the communicators, smaller computers and an idealized way of living come from? Did Star Trek’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, come up with this conception on his own or was there some other source for his inspiration?

As I am moving through my awakening process, I find that I have sudden bursts of inspiration all the time. My creative process, ideas or factual information that I had no way of knowing before, suddenly appear to me through dreams, meditation or simply by walking down the street. Am I creating these ideas myself or are they being sent to me from another dimension?

As I have become increasingly aware of my ability to receive these messages, I am becoming more fascinated by the process with each passing day. Recently, for example, while reading a book, I heard a bird outside and was delighted by its song. I put my book down, looked out the window and saw the little brown fellow perched on the fence. He was adorable and I wondered what kind of bird it was. Within a few seconds, the word “finch” came to my mind. Where did that word come from? Until recently, I always liked nature, but from a standoffish sort of perspective. I was more like the “hey that’s pretty, but I am ready to go now” girl, not fully appreciating the wonders of its beauty. I would have had no idea of knowing if this bird was a finch, a sparrow or a cuckoo. But when the word “finch” came to my mind I knew that it was indeed a finch. To verify my intuition I typed "finch, brown, image" on my computer and the very first photo that appeared on my screen was the same bird I had just been looking at a few minutes earlier. It was indeed a finch. Did I just somehow intuitively know what kind of bird it was, or was this thought being whispered into my ear by a spirit being?

This single incident is not the lone occasion of intuitive clarity for me. In fact, while in a class the other night, I was explaining this very story to the teacher, when a gentleman commented on how earlier he was talking with me about a book he had just finished. He couldn’t remember the author or the title. Yet, I instantly said the author’s name, even though I had never read anything by him before. How did I know?

Looking back to my past, it seems that I have always been receiving messages; long before I was aware of them. Thirty years ago, I was involved in a serious bicycle accident. While speeding down a hill, my front tire became caught in a niche in a railroad track and the bike flipped me through the air. Witnesses reported that I skidded face first on Greenbrook Drive for 100 yards. While I think that it was probably more like 100 feet, “yards” is what was reported.

The mother of one of my friend’s came looking for us and drove up right as the accident occurred. How did she know where to go and that I would need her? She took me home and I was raced to my pediatrician and a neighboring dentist. Thankfully the dentist gave me laughing gas and the pain subsided momentarily in order for me to tell a few jokes to the staff. However, I was not doing well. As my mother tells the story, my face looked like “chewed-up hamburger meat.” I only looked in the mirror one time a few minutes after the crash and the image staring back at me was monstrous. The right side of my face was seemingly gone forever. Along with my damaged face, I was now missing two front teeth and could claim a broken jaw.

For the next several weeks I could only lie on the couch and drink my meals from a straw. My mother didn’t tell me until years later that she snuck protein powder in my drinks so that I could have the healing power it offered. Three times a day she would also dutifully bite into a vitamin E pill and smother my face to prevent scarring. With the exception of a small rock embedded under my chin where no one can see unless I point it out, my injuries were completely healed within 2 months and a few dentist trips later. With my mother’s tenacity in helping to heal me holistically my face had been restored. How did she know that I needed the protein and the Vitamin E? Was her interest in health part of a bigger plan so that one day when I had this accident she would know what to do?

Thirty years later, I recalled this event again. Remembering that my father wondered so long ago why I had turned my head to the right instead of falling face forward as logic would seemingly dictate. At the time, I responded that I didn’t know. But today, I finally had the answer. It occurred to me that if I had landed nose first, I surely would have died. The impact was so great it certainly would have pushed the nasal bone into my brain. So, why did I turn my head to the right? I had no way of knowing to do so at that time, and even if I had known, the experience was too traumatic for me to react rationally. Was I being sent a message to turn my head and I actually unconsciously listened? I believe so.

The years passed and one morning I was driving along Geary Blvd. in San Francisco. Geary is a major thoroughfare crossing much of the city. Unless you are traveling in the middle of the night, there are always cars driving, people strolling and waiting at the many bus stops lined up along the street.

I came to the corner of Geary and Divisadero and the light was green. I was several car lengths back and seemingly in slow motion I saw a filled liter soda bottle roll across the crosswalk. I looked in the rearview mirror and strangely enough there weren’t any cars for several blocks behind me. So, I made the judgment to stop at my green light and wait for the bottle to pass. I began to notice that there weren’t any cars in any direction and not only that no one was walking on the street as far as the eye could see nor were there any people at any of the bus stops either. It was unusual to say the least. It was eleven o’clock in the morning. Where was everyone? I found the entire scene eery and at the same time comical not unlike a Charlie Chaplin silent film. I giggled for a moment. The description of this scene takes much longer to write as the entire incident took place in a matter of a few seconds. And then it happened…

A speeding car driving at perhaps 100 miles an hour raced through their red light to get somewhere. Had I not stopped for the soda bottle I would have been in that intersection at that moment. At the rate of speed he was driving, I am certain that there would have been no survivors from the collision. I literally screamed out loud, “Thank you!” to the universe for saving me once again. I looked around at my surroundings one more time before leaving and wondered where this full bottle came from? There was no one in sight. While I understand an empty bottle being thrown away, I do not believe someone would just leave behind their filled liter bottle. Did the universe make sure to keep the normally busy street clear and roll a bottle down the road just for me to stop? Of course it did.

What about dreams? Are they simply a way that our body can release whatever is on our mind or is this simply another avenue for messages to appear to us? Dreams often appear like silly disjointed movies that we tend to ignore. However, if we paid closer attention to the complexity of the dream we could find answers that we are looking for. Journaling dreams is a wonderful beginning; then analyzing each individual aspect of the dream: who was in it, the colors, the sights, the feelings etc to come up with the answers we are looking for. Dreams are individually based. We all see the outer world from our own viewpoints and we see our dreams from our own perspectives, as well. Finding an interpretation from a dream dictionary won’t necessarily be the right answer. If you are from the West, the color pink might symbolize a little girl, while for someone from the East, it might symbolize marriage. While analyzing dreams isn’t always easy, it is rewarding and sometimes innovative ideas for inventions come from dreams that inspire scientists and engineers. Dreams are simply downloaded information from the other side to help us create a better future for ourselves, society and the universe at large.

In meditation and in shamanic journeying I receive answers in the form of symbols, words or intuitive knowing every day. As I still my mind from the noisy chatter it likes to make, the ego steps aside and my True Self answers my questions without the fear sometimes allowed by my ego.

What if Roddenberry received messages such as these about communicators, computer technology, space travel, idealized societies and even Vulcans for that matter? What if each bit of information we have is actually a message from the universe to help countless people see and want to mimic a better future?

Whether large or small, the universe sends us messages all the time. The more open we are to receiving them, the more likely we will actually “collect” the message. Messages come in the form of dreams, a song playing on the radio at the right time, a series of coincidences that repeatedly show up or from simply chatting with someone in a coffee shop. They can and do come from everywhere. The universe is very wise and beneficent and continuously gives us clues to help us succeed. We simply need to open our hearts to listen.

Thank you for reading and Namaste! (The Light in me recognizes the Light in you!)