Spiritual Traveling in a 1960 Chrysler Imperial
Last night I was taken in vision to my grandparent’s house, the place I recall visiting as a child. My grandmother, whom I called Doe, was waiting for me. We spent the evening talking about many things in her living room and I was both happy and sad because I knew I would likely never see her in this way again. She told me that when I woke up in the morning she’d still be asleep, but that I should not wait for her to awaken. She then surprised me by gifting me with a car – a white 1960 Chrysler Imperial that my grandparents had always dreamed of owning. “When you get up in the morning, drive this car home. You will find it is a very special car.” We hugged and I told her how much I love her. I went to sleep and when I woke up, I followed her instruction and started to drive that car home.
I was then suddenly filled with the reality that she had passed on. I was so overcome with grief and loss that I thought I wouldn’t be able to ever breathe again. I began sobbing with tears and started to wake myself up. As I continued to weep, I found I could not quite fully wake up. I remained suspended between the dream and being awake.
In this moment I recalled the last years of Doe’s actual life. In her nineties she began to lose her memory and I was amazed at how this enabled her to live totally in the present. During that time I made a videotape for her with me sitting at the piano and playing her favorite hymns. I would pause to talk to her as if we were having a conversation and allow a few seconds to pass as if I was listening to her say something in return. I would then sing her a hymn. The whole video was like this – alternating between conversation and song.
It became a family source of humor that she spent the last years of her life watching this video all the time. She would get up in the morning and sit in front of the television until a meal was served, watching the video over and over again. She watched it each time as if it was the first time and she interacted with me, remembering all the songs and the things I spoke to her about. She spent the last years of her life singing her favorite hymns with me.
As I remembered this, a voice pointed out that without knowing it I had given her a means of spiritual transport that enabled her to journey from her stuck situation to being fully alive inside holy songs. I was brought to my knees with longing, loving, and gratitude as I realized she had just gifted me in my dream in a similar way. Doe also had given me a spiritual means of transportation – the car that was now parked outside our home.
The voice continued, “Take that car out for a drive. It can take you anywhere including back to your Doe.” At first I didn’t want to do this because I thought I was too awake to spiritually travel. I have an aversion to daydreaming posing as spiritual traveling because I do not trust too much consciousness inside my dreams. The voice replied, “Don’t worry about that. This car will take you somewhere and your mind has nothing to do with it.” That startled me, and so in suspension between sleep and dream I went to that Chrysler and turned the keys. I started heading to my grandmother’s house.
Spiritual Traveling
The trip was as vivid as I recalled when my family drove to visit my grandparents in my early childhood. I passed all the places I had not thought about for decades. The small towns, buildings, houses, and trees were there as they always had been. This was not a fast flight, but a trip that seemed to take the same amount of time that it had in my past experiences. As I entered the city of St. Joseph, Missouri where they lived, I passed the old pony express statue, the old Indian Chief Chili stand, and all the old haunts of my childhood. Up the hill I went, passing the public library, and then turning left and down a few blocks to where their house stood. I parked where we used to leave the car and walked up the backstairs. Doe opened the door and it was the entry into her kitchen.
I felt totally amazed at how I could experience every detail of her house. I slowly and surely walked through each room and stared at every item, nook, and cranny. I absorbed everything and noticed the exact placement of all the furniture, the items on her dresser, and the old upright piano that was the first piano I ever played. I never felt that present in reality in a dream before and I was fully conscious of it all.
We went back to her kitchen and sat down at her table. We started to sing “In the Garden” together. I sang with all my heart and soul as we stared into one another’s eyes. Tears fell down my face and then the voice said, “You can travel anywhere with this car.” At that moment, a place in the ceiling near the back door opened and I looked up and saw a ray of light that seemed to stretch to heaven. Before I knew it, I was in that car driving along the beam of light. I said to myself: “I am flying faster than a speeding bullet!”
The voice asked, “Where would you like to go?” I replied, “I want to see Doe.” I was suddenly shot in space to a place that I knew was heaven. There was a choir singing in a church and I had no doubt she’d be there. I got out of the car and went to the source of the music. There she was singing in the first row of the choir like she always did. I went right up to her and we sang again like we had in her kitchen. This time the intensity was amplified and I felt an awareness of her truth expand in a way that I cannot describe. We became one in that shared song and it was as beautiful and wonderful and joyful as any experience possibly could be.
I then thought that I wanted to see my grandfather and was instantly thrown back into the car and shot to another place inside heaven. I trembled to see that he was sitting in a throne on the right side of God. I could not see any detailed image of God other than noticing there was light flooding from his place of occupancy. Furthermore, I did not want to take my eyes off of my grandfather who sat with authority in his place. He was pleased that I had come but he remained where he was, allowing me to see that this is where he belonged. I used to see him this way when he was a country preacher. His chair was like a throne that was situated to the right of the central pulpit. There he was back in church, this time the holiest of churches, and my grandmother was in the choir.
I asked out loud where Pointer Warren, Mother Ralph, Archbishop Pompey, and the other elders from St. Vincent were and the voice said, “They are in the mourning room.” I was shown how they were praying in a celestial mourning room, doing so as other seekers on earth were also mourning. In that moment I was shown that whatever spiritual role you had on earth is continued in the heavenly plane. This time, however, you are the complement or other side of someone reaching up from below. For every spiritual mourner and seeker of vision, someone in the heavens is also mourning and seeking vision with you. The singing on earth is matched by the singing in heaven. The same is true for teaching and preaching and all the spiritual roles. In this way both ends of the rope are brought together. Heaven is brought into earth and earth into heaven as both sides reach for one another. I marveled at how all this spiritually works and could not wait to tell Hillary.
This Car is Big Enough for Everyone
I hopped in my car and shot back to earth where I told Hillary to jump into the car. I drove her to heaven. I took her first to meet my grandmother. Doe was still singing but this time she stared at Hillary and gave her all her attention. I could see Doe light up with delight as she radiated a communication that said, “Hillary is purely sincere and true. I am so happy for you.” I was slain by this celebration from my grandmother.
I then took Hillary to meet my grandfather and all my spiritual elders so they too could revel in this reunion. In this love I truly felt I could forgive anyone and that whatever harm had been done to me in the past needed to be left behind. Though I previously thought I had been forgiving, I realized that there is always more love and forgiveness needed in our ongoing journey into eternal vastness with its everlasting love.
I was then handed a spiritual gift from by grandparents and elders. It was a small black case and when I opened it, I found a pair of spiritual tweezers. I was told it was for removing splinters and thorns. At first I was confused and then I remembered that Bushman doctors say that sickness is a dirty nail or arrow and must be removed. In older times Bushman doctors used to call a nail a “thorn.” The voice spoke again, “This can also be used to attach the ropes to people, pulling the thread through their skin.” In the vision, I recall thinking that I should perhaps ask my friend, Dezsoe Birkas, a medical doctor, if his father, who also had been a medical doctor, had a pair of those tweezers I could borrow and bring into the spiritual realm.
Hillary and I were shown many spiritual wonders and marvels. We were taught that we could bring others to the visionary classrooms with this vehicle. I had been told many years ago that it was possible to help others spiritually travel and now realized that the Chrysler would make this possible. We went back and loaded everyone into it – the spiritual car had enough room for everyone. We loaded all our mentorship students into the car and took them to the spiritual classrooms.
Each student was sent to a different place. I recall one man being sent to a spiritual mill where he made holy flour and his wife was baking it as spiritual bread, pulling it out of an old oven – these are both high spiritual anointments. I trembled when I saw another man sent to be among the disciples. One woman (who is a flutist) was given a flute and told to walk into the ocean. Her eyes remained above the surface of the water while she played the flute under the water. I witnessed everyone being dealt with and sent somewhere. I helped attach ropes all around one man’s body, preparing him for an ascent. Another woman was thrown into the body of an octopus to absorb its effortless movement. Some were sent to the crossroads to learn to pray and mourn. Some hearts were washed clean. Others were sent to specific classrooms. I recall that another man wanted to go to the Kalahari, but knew not to ask. He was sent there and when he arrived he jumped with glee. On and on this went.
After a night of visioning, I came back to myself with deep thanksgiving. I also brought back a new car and it’s waiting for you:
– Bradford Keeney