Q: I’m confused about channeling. How do I know whom I’m hearing and if it is really another being or just myself? I sometimes think I’m crazy when I hear a voice of guidance. If it is another being, how do I know if what it says is true? Another question: It seems that many people claim to be channeling famous teachers or spirits, and yet their answers about what to do and how to live are so different. How do I know who is right?

Let me take your questions in parts. First, my own experience is that there is spirit and it is accessible to you. I cannot prove that. In the end, it does not matter. The sincere seeker raises a question. An answer comes. Who is speaking is not as important as whether the answer is helpful, is congruent with your values, and offers insight beyond your prior understanding. It is wise not to get caught in asking, “Is it real?” The answer is real. Let go of the source.

All beings hold some positive and some negative energy. The positive side of expression flows more freely through some people in the world and we think of them as being very clear. Other people are more caught in negative thought. If someone stole your wallet and you caught him, then turned to people with the question, “What shall I do with him?” you would hear very different answers. That is no surprise. When one answer is filtered through the processes of a person who is able to express his wisdom and compassion, and another answer is filtered through the processes of a person trapped in anger and hostility, the answers will differ.

Which you would choose to believe would depend on you. If you are able to open to your innate loving clarity, the answer, “Speak to him of your pain on being robbed, ask for the return of the wallet, and then forgive him,” will make sense. If you are steeped in hostility and fear, “Beat him up!” will make sense.

Each person carries energy of different vibrational frequencies. When you call forth a spirit guide, there is a tendency to call forth what resonates with your present state. This is why channeled answers are so varied. Whatever comes forth, your responsibility is to ask, what you can best do with this statement? If the answer you received was, “Beat him up,” that statement can be very helpful to you precisely because you reject it. In that rejection, you see the distortion⁵ of your anger. Then you can ask yourself, “What is my highest intention here? Is it to get even or to share truth and to hope to bring forth harmony?” Positive energy may say, “Open your heart to the pain you both feel. See that which is afraid and seeks control. Then you will be able to release your fear and anger enough to respond in a strong but loving way.”

⁵ Distortion: Aaron does not use this word in a negative sense. When a bright light hits water, it appears to bend because of the heavier density of the water. Any such “bend,” where there is a shift in direction as thought or object strikes a different density of material, is a distortion. It is an energetic movement, usually the result of a contracted energy.

You may find that you are led to a new question. “Beat him up” may not resonate as truth for you, yet some angry part of you might be drawn to that answer. How do you release your anger in such a way that you may truly bring forth harmony and growth? Spirit with a somewhat negative disposition may offer advice with a subtle slant of negativity. Such advice resonates with the part of you that is angry. It is important to look at intention, to discern if it reflects your deepest truth. Remember that regardless of what any being tells you, whether incarnate or discarnate, it is with you that the final choice rests.

Please remember that these positive and negative biases are all aspects of the evolving consciousness. There is no ultimate evil within the self or outside the self. It is more like a board with two ends. Even if you stand at the very tip of the board and speak from there, the rest of the board is still attached. All beings are in some place on the continuum. All are learning to express positivity, but some must move through a phase of this process in which there is a need to explore negativity for a while, as part of the path toward expression of positive polarity. You are where you are and cannot be elsewhere. Each new situation presents the next step for your learning. Which resonates as truth, the positive or negative reply? Are you willing to investigate negativity when it arises rather than either follow it or attack it? Such investigation opens the way to wisdom and compassion.