Question: Mental images are not real and need to be let go of. We need to perceive through our pure consciousness and we do not need the mediation of the mental images we hold within our four lower bodies. How can we distinguish between mental images as non-realities that interfere with our perception of reality and visions given from the ascended realms? How does the vision given from the ascended realm differ from the so-called mental images?
Answer from the Ascended Master Mother Mary through Kim Michaels. This answer was given during the 2023 Korean Conference.
You do actually need mental images because how else would you function in the world? What we have called your separate selves or your subconscious selves also can be seen as mental images. Whenever you are relating to something in the physical realm during your daily lives, you are using various mental images, and you will actually continue to do this as long as you are in embodiment. There will be some mental images you have of how you interact with the physical body, how you relate to other people, how you function in society.
But what happens is that as you grow towards a higher level of consciousness, you become less and less identified with these images. You are not thinking they are absolute or they are depicting reality as it is, but you just see them in practical ways.
You can compare this to you having a job at the United Nations where you are a translator. You are translating from one language to another language. And you know that the two languages are talking about the same thing. They are just using different sounds. And it is the same way with the mental images that you use in order to function in the world. You are not identified with them. You know they are just one language for interacting with the world and with other people.
And this means that the higher you go towards the 144th level of consciousness, the easier it becomes for you to switch and function in different situations. You become much more flexible because you are not identified with your mental images.
The difference between mental images and images given from the ascended realm is a very subtle topic because many people have had visions, as the Divine Director explained, that do not come from the ascended realm but come from the identity realm, the mental realm or even the astral plane or the emotional realm.
What we can say, in general, is that the mental images that you have through your selves, the subconscious selves, are all created in reaction to the world. They are relating to how you deal with the world. And generally, when you have a vision from a different realm, it is not a reaction to the world, but it is a vision coming from a different realm.
The question is, does it come from the ascended realm or a lower realm? And there are numerous examples of people who have received a vision from the mental realm and they are convinced that it is from the ascended realm and that it is the highest possible vision. There are many channelers who channel beings in the mental realm but think they are channeling ascended masters. There are books out there that are claimed to be of the highest wisdom but actually come from the mental realm. We realize that it can be very difficult to discern.
That is why if you are an ascended master student, you have our dictations and our teachings as a frame of reference for evaluating whether something perhaps comes from the mental realm. And what you can use as a guideline is that the more elaborate, the more complex, the more complicated a vision is, the more likely it is to come from the mental realm or the lower identity realm.
You need to understand here that the primary goal of the ascended masters is to set you free so you can ascend. It is not our goal to make you feel superior because you have this very complicated mental image of how the world is or how the spiritual realm is. As we have explained, the basic mechanics of the spiritual path are fairly simple to grasp. And we of the ascended masters are not giving you these elaborate visions, but you can find visions out there that are very complex, about different worlds or different planets or different realms or parallel realities or many of these very complicated visions but they come from the mental realm and they attempt to pull your attention into focusing on the mental realm so you do not go beyond.
You will see, if you look back at history, that the most profound spiritual teachings are often fairly simple. Did Jesus give a very complicated teaching? Did the Buddha give a very complicated teaching? Why would you in the modern age need this elaborate vision of some other realm, or some other world, or some other planet that is so complicated that perhaps nobody can fully grasp it, or perhaps only a few people grasp it and it makes them, therefore, feel superior because they have this elaborate vision that nobody else has.
The spiritual path is about overcoming your illusions, including your mental images. And you do not need a complicated mental image to do this. On the contrary, the more complicated, the more it traps your attention in, perhaps, the mental realm. You need to recognize that in the mental realm there has been created—not only specifically for earth but also in other planets and solar systems—there has been created this very, very elaborate vision, and some people have been able to tap into this. Some people have even seen it during a near-death experience.
But you need to recognize here that there is an almost infinite variety of these worlds that are created. There are many, many places that people can go. There are many, many places that some people have gone when they have left the body and you can keep exploring this, almost forever, finding new and seemingly exciting things, but the question really is: If you are an ascended master student, why would you need any of this? If you really want to ascend, you do not need to explore the mental realm or even the lower identity realm. You need to reach for the ascended realm and it is not that complicated. You do not need a complicated mental image. You actually need to simplify and surrender and let go instead of building this more and more sophisticated sense of self.
Copyright © 2023 Kim Michaels