Author David Dennis - Although christened as a baby, I did not receive a religious upbringing. My dad was a confirmed atheist, and my mum had turned against all form of religion due to the nuns in her convent school when she was a child. As a result, I received a neutral upbringing and grew up as a confirmed atheist, although I had an interest in the afterlife and anything of a supernatural or esoteric nature. This was reflected in two verbal presentations I delivered for my English Language O-Levels between the ages of fifteen and sixteen: The first was about religion; the second about my pet subject of UFO’s.
My spiritual outlook changed dramatically due to a traumatic event when I was sixteen. I believe it was on a Saturday morning that my parents ushered me into my dad’s old Ford Anglia, and we drove to my paternal grandad’s house in a town called Basildon in our county of Essex. I’d always loved Grandad dearly, and for some reason inexplicable to me at the time, I’d felt closer to him during the past few years than I’d felt towards my parents.
We arrived at Grandad’s house to discover approximately twenty to thirty family, friends and neighbors gathered downstairs. Grandad, I was informed by my parents, was seriously ill upstairs in his bedroom, with two nurses and his second wife, (not my grandmother, but whom we referred to as Aunty D). Suddenly, I felt an irresistible urge to walk up the stairs to see him. I followed my urge, although I’d been instructed by my parents to remain downstairs. When I arrived at his bedroom door, which had been left ajar, I saw Aunty D and the two nurses tending him in bed, looking incredibly sad. He was unconscious and had the death rattles. I watched him for about thirty seconds before heading back downstairs, having been too shy to intrude on them.
Moments later Aunty D came downstairs, as white as a ghost. She then announced that Grandad had just died. A cold shiver ran down my spine, knowing that I’d been summoned to him just moments before his death. We were then all invited upstairs to pay our final respects to him before positioning ourselves along three walls of his bedroom. I felt totally numb, having never experienced death before. To my shock, Aunty D suddenly grabbed his left hand, removed his wedding ring, and dashed over to me. We’d never really liked each other, so I was surprised she’d done this. Then, to my astonishment, she placed his wedding ring in my hand, held it tightly shut, and informed me that his last dying wish was for me to keep his wedding ring and never to part with it. Why he’d chosen me for this honor, and not my dad, his siblings, or Grandad’s immediate family, I’d had no idea at the time.
Next day, I awoke with a profound belief in and love of an Infinite Creator or Supreme Being, which I’d never previously experienced. I can’t really explain what happened to me between Grandad’s passing and my awakening next morning, but I can tell you that my life has been dedicated to understanding the Creator and the nature of reality ever since. I’m also convinced that I’ve received direct guidance from Grandad over the years. It’s almost as though his death opened a conduit between us and set me on a quest for knowledge that drives me to this day. It was only later in life that I discovered a profound set of connections to Grandad of which I’d previously been unaware, including our significant past life connection during the Ante-diluvian (Atlantean) era, which I intend to share with you later in this series.
End of Part Two (Part One saved within group feed)
