The Clear and Simple Way
Judith "Indira" Parsons, MSW
PROLOGUE
THE BEGINNING
But the angel said, "Do not be afraid; peace be
with you.
Bless
God forever. As far as I was concerned, when I was with you,
my presence was not by any decision of mine, but by
the will of God.
God is the one whom you must bless as long as you
live.
God is the one you must praise."
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M |
y earliest childhood memories are of trying to find God
so that I could understand the meaning of existence and where everything came
from. I remember sitting quietly, willing myself to return to the beginning of
everything, intent upon finding God, meditating before I knew the meaning of
the word. I would have a sense of my body dissolving into nothingness and my
consciousness expanding into sparkling space. Just when I was sure I was there, almost touching truth, I would disappear into a
deep void. I would awaken from these meditations as puzzled as ever, wondering
what had happened and where God was.
My
spiritual quest led me to explore many teachers, cultures, religions,
philosophies, and paths, both Western and Eastern. I traveled throughout India,
lived in ashrams, meditated on cold stone floors, and studied Eastern
disciplines, including hatha yoga. Although I had many experiences during these
times, I never met anyone who talked about near-death encounters or seeing
angels, nor were these concepts part of my reality.
Nevertheless,
it was with the intervention of angels that I survived a near-death experience
in 1981, during which I encountered the Light of all wisdom, love, and
compassion. I chose to go to the light, but an angel sent me back to my life on
earth. Angels and Beings of
Light intervened to protect and guide me,
not only while I was out of my body, but also after I returned to it.
This
experience shook the cornerstones of what I considered to be acceptable
reality. It profoundly transformed my way of thinking and living and changed
the course of my career. My natural intuitive abilities, always very keen,
began to deepen and expand. I sensed the angels around me and could intuit
their messages. Amazed and astounded by this, I questioned deeply what was
happening to me. I had always thought of myself as a very pragmatic,
down-to-earth person, perhaps even more so since my contact with the angels,
because angels, in spite of the many myths human beings have created around
them, are among the most down-to-earth beings one could ever encounter.
Soon
after this incident, I was sitting at my desk, intending to compose a letter,
but instead found myself writing messages from angels! I did not know it then
but these messages were the rudimentary beginnings of these lessons. It was as
if I were translating another language - the language of angels! The writing
itself held a certain primitive beauty, as if I were a not very good translator
of a foreign language.
I
continued to write and talk about my experiences, mostly because I could not not do so - my everyday reality had been shattered in so
many ways. My experience with the Light and the angels was more vivid and real
than anything I had ever known; it touched and transformed me deeply and
profoundly.
Unbeknownst to
me, my experiences were also touching the lives of the people around me.
Friends and acquaintances began to approach me, asking me if I would write
angel messages for them as I did for myself. My first reaction was, absolutely
not! I could not imagine how this would work and had no context in which to put
it.
I
do not remember how that no changed to yes, but I soon found myself at my typewriter, watching
my fingers type messages for other people. I do remember the first person who
asked if I would give her a spoken reading instead of written. Again my first
reaction was no. When she persisted, I surrendered and gave the first verbal
reading in 1981.
An
intuitive reading is not so mysterious. It is simply a deeply empathic
counseling session that helps you better understand yourself, your relationships,
and deal more effectively with your life. I contend, however, that there is no
instant magic formula to living life. We must each commit to walking our own
path with personal integrity and be willing to take the steps that lead to
self-fulfillment. Angels assist us in this effort; they do not do it for us.
Some
years later, I was once again in India, at an Advaita seminar with Ramesh
Balsekar, where I was honored to give a reading to Dr. Henning von der Osten, a
well-loved and prominent psychotherapist who has helped transform the lives of
countless human beings. He invited me to give readings at his seminars in
Europe. With the support of Dr. Henning and Elke von der Osten, my work
expanded to include seminars and lectures throughout Germany and Switzerland
where I have toured since 1994.
Around
1996, I began writing a correspondence course, which I called The Clear and
Simple Way. I was living on Maui at the
time. My backyard was the ocean, and my nearest neighbors were guava and banana
trees. One day, I fell into a strangely despondent mood, which I could not
shake, despite the beauty of my surroundings. It lifted on the fourth morning
when I woke up knowing that I was meant to write down the teachings of the
angels in the form of a correspondence course that would ultimately benefit
many people.
Filled
with the kind of glorious inspiration that gives incredible energy, I jumped
out of bed and ran to the ocean to watch the sun rise. As I strolled along the
shore, the first lesson came to me in its entirety. I raced home and wrote it
down. Over the next two years, I authored twenty-four lessons. Each lesson was
equally inspired. All I had to do was "show up" - that is, sit down at
my laptop and place my fingers on the keys. The lessons have since evolved and
transformed, although the essential message remains the same.
The
first students were those people who had been coming to me over the years, both
in the United States and Europe. I sent each student a monthly lesson by mail
and maintained the course for three years. I am grateful for the trust those
individuals placed in me when they subscribed to the angel course. They
inspired me to keep showing up each month to write yet another lesson and thus
were instrumental in helping this book come into existence.
The
lessons were also translated into German as, Der Klar und Einfach Weg, and distributed in German-speaking countries. The
first translators were Lutzie, Claus, and my dear friend, Grace.
I
stopped writing the course soon after my only sister passed away from a long
illness. She had been executing the business side of the lessons. It seemed an
appropriate end to that phase of the work. Lessons 19 and 20 were written in
the last months of my sister's life, while I was with her, in our hometown in
rural western New York. Following her passing, I did not return to Maui;
instead, I moved to Los Angeles, the city of angels, where the final lessons were composed.
After
completing Lesson 24, I followed through with my commitments to the remaining
students and then put the lessons away and forgot about them. One day, I took
them all out, put them together, and realized I was holding a book in my hands!
I had never thought of the lessons as anything more than a monthly
correspondence course. I made copies of the lessons, bound them together, and
made them available in both German and English, and so the first book of angel
lessons was born.
The
lessons have evolved over the years, to become the book you now hold in your
hands. This book is the expanded, revised edition, the only edition legally
available and authorized for sale in English. For information about the German
version, Der Klar und Einfach Weg,
graciously translated in its final form by Annie Baumhardt, you may e-mail, theclearandsimpleway.
THE CLEAR AND SIMPLE WAY
