The Stars Still Shine

In a small paperback book called The Stars Still Shine we have detailed testimony from “the other side.” It’s the reports of “Michael” who tells his stories through his father-in-law, Robert Murray, a psychic. Murray began getting messages soon after an accident claimed Michael’s life on June 8, 1997. Michael left a young wife and baby daughter. His wife was home asleep at the time of the accident but woke up with a psychic sense that something terrible had happened. Michael was an outgoing and popular young man whose funeral was well-attended by his many friends.

Messages From Michael on "The Other Side"

“Father Murray” receives the messages as both words and visuals and writes down the words as Michael relates them. This is not the same as automatic handwriting (the method used in Letters From the Other Side, another book I reviewed). It actually provides more information, and Murray has included some sketches of the places Michael describes. What emerges from Michael’s reports is a spirit world tailored to the thoughts, desires, and needs of the person who has crossed over. Michael finds himself in a pleasant town that is mainly inhabited by entertrainers. The town has a Club where performances are staged, “Holy Street” where churches are located, a Library where research into former lives can be carried out, and homes and shops. No one needs money, although some use it. Housing, food, clothing and other items are simply available when needed.

Michael arrives first at an infirmary where he meets his Aunt Mollie, who seems to have the role of guide, as she appears off and on throughout the reports. She meets with Michael when he has questions and to encourage him to plan his activities in ways that benefit him and others. Another more advanced spirit named Gabe takes Michael on some trips and shows him a vision of possible future work he could do. Michael moves into a house in town and soon becomes very active at the Club where he attends and participates in entertainment. One of his first desires is to meet Elvis Presley. Sounds like a silly thing to want with so much to discover about the spirit world, but in life Michael had been obsessed with Elvis, performing as an Elvis impersonator and collecting Elvis memorabilia. Elvis represented more to Michael than just a popular singer who had died years ago and meeting him was an important goal.

An Elvis Fan Meets "The King" — on "The Other Side"

Michael eventually does meet Elvis, who takes him to a baby nursery (the Diaper Ranch) where babies who have died are kept. Turns out Elvis loves caring for babies and influences Michael to do the same. Michael becomes a helper there, visiting daily to care for these babies, who, he reports, develop much faster than on earth. Babies stay until they are the equivalent of about three years old, then go to foster homes. I was a bit startled by the news that there are baby spirits. I always thought a baby who dies would simply reincarnate very quickly in a new human body. Apparently, there is always a period of adjustment for newly-crossed-over spirits of any age, even infants.

Michael’s special friends in the town are a psychiatrist called Dr. Yes and many famous entertainers. In addition to Elvis (who doesn’t live in the town, but visits frequently), he hangs out with Sammy Davis Jr, John Candy, Karen Carpenter and Sonny Bono. Sonny moves in with Michael and cooks up a lot of Italian food. Later he takes over the house next door and transforms it into a fancy restaurant. Michael’s reports are full of descriptions of very human, material things like food, furnishings, clothing, and transportation methods. While Michael learns that more advanced spirits do not need cars and airplanes, he travels by both of those earthly methods. He has a car he seldom uses and he and Dr. Yes go by foot, car, boat, bus, and airplane on trips to other places. Michael does not initiate these trips; he is asked to go by either Mollie or Dr. Yes. The purpose seems to be learning, to get him thinking about his purpose. Michael seems spiritually naïve, but the reports make it clear that there are many spirits even less curious than Michael about how to advance spiritually.

Spirits "Stuck" in Earthly Past

Michael takes up a number of projects, one coming as a result of a visit to a place called Coventry. In this town, English soldiers think they are still alive and are worrying about attacks from “jerry’s” (a term I had not heard before, meaning Germans or Japanese soldiers). They think World War II is still going. Michael also visits a village stuck further in the past -- a medieval village, apparently populated with people who died of the plague and haven’t moved past the life they had on earth, recreated in this after-life village. Michael begins making trips to Coventry to try to get the people to understand their true condition. Nothing seems to work until he enlists the help of his grandfather who comes to Coventry and first gets everyone singing and having a great time at the pub. Then he comes again and shows them “movies” of more recent English history, including the death of King George, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and her marriage to Philip. This jars them out of their “stuck” condition, but many are still doubtful and wonder why “the government” didn’t tell them the war was over.

One of the most touching parts for me was the conclusion reached by these spirits as a result of learning their real condition. They decided to eliminate rationing, have more food, rebuild schools and homes, improve medical care and other activities along these lines. How ironic that they had all along had the ability to live in peaceful abundance but their own ignorance had kept them in bondage to fear and worry. Could that be true in our earthly lives as well?

In addition to hanging out with Elvis, Michael is also in regular touch with Princess Diana. She makes caring for children her work in the spirit world. She is a regular visitor to the Diaper Ranch as well as the hundreds of other nurseries she visits. She travels extensively seeking more volunteers to care for the babies and asks Michael to organize a benefit concert, and later to write a song she can use in her campaign. Michael writes a wonderful song, has his entertainer friends perform it, and Princess Di is thrilled with it, comparing Michael to Elton John.

The Levels of the Spirit Realm

What do we actually learn about the spirit world in these reports? We learn there are levels to the spirit world and Michael is in a lower level, but not the lowest. Michael attends a series of lectures given by more advanced spirits and these yield some interesting information. According to this information, there are “layers” in the spirit world consisting of:

• First layer - earth, souls exist in physical bodies
• Second layer - which contains “fairies, elves, wee folk, pixies nature spirits and various creatures in other cultures which ‘peep’ into the Earth Layer now and then… the basic souls of animals and vegetation… thought forms… souls tied to the earth by various means.”
• Third Layer - the spirit world in its first level, where souls have spirit bodies much like their earthly bodies and have no knowledge of higher realms and live like they did on earth; they need the help of more advanced spirits
• Fourth Layer - The second level which is like the first, but easier. Spirits have bodies, eat and sleep but don’t work to maintain themselves; their needs are provided and they work at what interests them
• Fifth Layer - The third level, where spirits are aware they can glide and move in thought-time and can change their vibratory rate
• Sixth Layer - The fourth level where understanding increases and appearance can change easily; more thought communication and interaction
• Seventh Layer - the fifth level where bodily functions have vanished and spirits are less visible to those in lower layers; communication is mind-to-mind
• Eight Layer - the sixth level, where spirits no longer reincarnate and bodies are transparent or a yellow glow
• Ninth Layer - the seventh level; so high no information is available about it

Learning in Spirit

In one of the lectures he attends, Michael learns that mankind is older than the earth and populates other worlds besides ours. Man had to find a physical form that suited the environment, and also tried living on Mars.

Michael only gradually learns about reincarnation. He begins visiting the library, where he is assigned a guide who takes him into a special room where he sits in a chair that takes him into scenes of his past lives. He visits short snatches of several lives, one as recently as Word War II, where he died as a soldier named Samuel Edward Beaton. The short scenes are too little to reveal much about the past patterns of Michael’s lives. Michael has some interest in returning to earth, but he realizes he would then forget his identity as Michael and would not be in touch with his earth family any more. He never does learn exactly how the process works.

The Stars Still Shine paints a picture of someone advancing in his own understanding of the condition of the spirit and the purpose of "life." The means to his understanding are the help and direction of other spirits and Michael’s own giving of himself to help others. Both knowledge and service seem to be necessary to move to a new layer. At the end of the story, Michael does move up one layer, moving to a new house in a new place, away from the town of entertainers where he first lived as a spirit. Much of this is consistent with other reports of spirits who have communicated with earth people.

But Could It All Be True?

The most problematical part of Robert Murray’s "Michael" reports is the mention of so many known celebrities who have passed over and the fact that Michael — who we are told worked in a car dealership in life — would be hanging out with these luminaries, or that Michael would be a great singer and songwriter performing alongside Elvis Presley.

I admit the Elvis part almost made me put the book down, thinking I would rather not waste my time on something so seemingly ridiculous. But since I too am a big fan of The King (who died on my birthday) and have many Elvis CDs and never pass up an old Elvis movie on cable TV, I decided to read on. Heck, I'd like to meet Elvis too. Even Richard Nixon wanted to meet Elvis. But do I think Michael actually encountered the spirit of Elvis and the other famous entertainers mentioned? I can’t say for sure (no one can), but I’m inclined to wonder if spirits can create their own pals as well as their own surroundings. Could "Elvis" and "Princess Diana" have been more advanced spirits who took those forms to help Michael? Given that we can never really "prove" anything about life after death, I feel a seeker looks at all sources, even information from spirits who say they sing at the Club with Elvis.

Consider how what Michael found after his crossing compares with descriptions of Martinus, a Danish mystic, whose insights are reported in the book, Life Without Death by Nils O. Jacorbson, MD (see my article on Life After Death)

"…the surroundings immediately after death are not remarkably different from the surroundings immediately before death. The difference is simply that the surroundings are now constructed solely by the being's own conceptions…."…the being behaves in his hallucinated physical world precisely as he did before death. He continues to live as usual, uses tools and machines to shape matter, walks, drives cars or takes trains, collects money, eats and sleeps. Existence resembles his physical one so much that a long time may pass before the being even realizes he has died and is no longer in the physical world."

Michael’s experiences make an interesting story, and for those who simply want confirmation that our spirit continues after death, it should give some comfort. But a larger question is why Michael had these experiences. Perhaps they all happened because these were exactly the experiences that would get Michael to that next layer. You could theorize that Michael created these experiences himself, or that other advanced beings assisted in creating them. The people in the town were all “on the same wave length” but when Michael was able to shift his interests beyond hanging out with entertainers, he moved up, retaining contact with those at a lower level, but still not perceiving the higher levels he could attain.

One could also simply explain that when we die, we see what is of comfort and inspiration to us. I always tell people that when I die I hope I am met by a former pet of mine, Nutmeg, a brown tabby cat whom I loved dearly. Michael, who idolized Elvis, saw Elvis. Maybe I will see Nutmeg.

Robert Murray and Michael’s wife, Lynn, have both written introductions that provide a bit of information. I would have liked to know more about Michael’s work in life, how much he had been involved in entertaining. Did living in the town full of entertainers represent a fantasy he had in life or was entertaining a part of Michael’s reality in the physical world? The book does not give a complete picture of this soul entity called Michael, but it would be surprising if it did. We have to simply accept that this is the information Robert Murray got and we must decide for ourselves what to make of this material.

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