Who Are We?

 

This website is currently (as of December 2014) a labor of love created by myself, Bill Gaum.

 

My Spiritual Awakening

 

If you would like to learn how I awakened to my spiritual path in life, feel free to read the following excerpt from the biography I'm writing of my spiritual teacher, Pearl Dorris.  At the end of this article I explain a little bit about the purpose of this website.

 

 

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The Author Meets Pearl

 

In August of 1978, the author of this biography met Pearl for the first time.  Those who watch over us all had evidently laid the foundation for this important event in my life very carefully.  And in retrospect I can see that hints of it occasionally surfaced, although they were unrecognized at the time.  I have been quite fortunate to have had good parents of high integrity and a kind brother whose own values in life have set an inspiring example for me.  Thanks to my mother I had grown up in a home that valued spiritual truths – regardless of whether they were orthodox or unorthodox.  And, even though we went to a Protestant church on Sundays, we also occasionally studied various metaphysical teachings at home.

 

Inwardly, I was deeply spiritual during my growing up years, but outwardly I hardly ever allowed this to show.  This sacred feeling was so dear to me, that I did not want any of my schoolmates or friends making fun of it.  As I grew older and searched for ever-deeper spiritual understanding, I gradually grew more and more discouraged with the traditional religious approaches.  Orthodox religions just did not answer the kind of questions I was asking, and there were too many self-contradictions within their teachings.  By the time I got to college, I was inwardly seeking spiritual understanding more intensely than ever, but I was unsure as to whether any of the existing spiritual paths were reliable enough to follow.  At this point, about all I that could be sure of was that there had to be a reason for life; that being kind was essential; and that it was of paramount importance to be a good person.  And since I did not know, who or what GOD was, I simply defined GOD as all the energy and consciousness in the universe.  Although, by now I was not even sure if GOD existed.

 

Entering college as a science major, I was considering becoming either a forest ranger or a geologist, so that I could spend my life working in the peaceful beauty of the mountains.  I did not care for parties or dances, and while I have always had a good sense of humor, I tended to take life seriously – sometimes too seriously.  During my first two years in college, in addition to my science courses, I also enrolled in several psychology and philosophy classes, as well as reading prolifically on these subjects during my tiny amount of spare time.  In philosophy, I was surprised to discover that all of the various philosophical ideas that had been formulated and discussed throughout the centuries, were ultimately based on assumptions that could not be proven.  And in those days, psychology was not any better.  It was just beginning its emergence out of the dark confusion of Freudian thought, and was only just starting to carefully test its theories to see if they were actually based on fact.

 

Because of this, I found myself gravitating toward the physical and life sciences.  I deeply enjoyed learning about the universe, and science was something I could actually test through direct experience.  I took chemistry, physics, and calculus to gain a clearer understanding of how the physical universe operates and the laws that govern it.  I took a year of biology classes for biology majors in order to have greater insight into the mystery called “life” and to better assess the evidence for the theory of evolution.  In my junior year I had to choose a major and, since the field of geology still attracted me, I chose it.  I also took all the courses required for entrance into medical school, as well as those recommended for law school, just in case I wanted to research alternative forms of healing, or become a lawyer in the fields of human rights or environmental law.  When I was twenty-two years old, I graduated and began working as a temporary field-geologist for a government earth science organization.  I had dreamed of such a job since childhood – working in the Pacific Northwest helping to uncover the geologic history of its mountain ranges.  It was literally my dream come true.

 

And after the summer field season, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to continue my work.  Was I happy?  Strangely enough, I noticed that as much as I liked geology, I still felt an emptiness within me.  And yet within the world of geology it could not get any better.  I was already working for the top earth science organization in the world, with one of the best structural geologists in the entire Pacific Northwest, studying the geologic history of the beautiful Cascade Mountains.  But something just did not feel right.  It was as if there was something else I was supposed to be doing, but I could not quite figure out what it was.  And even though contributing to science was gratifying in its own way, still I felt that I should be helping people in a more direct way.  Within this same year something happened that changed my life – someone took me to meet Pearl.  I was soon to discover through direct experience that the “meaning of life” could not be found with the mind alone, but rather that the heart was the secret door.

 

On the way to Mount Shasta, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner and as we said “grace” I could feel an unusual uplifting energy flowing through me.  I wondered what it was.  Arriving in Mount Shasta late that night, we camped on the mountain.  The next morning, after reading the first chapter of Unveiled Mysteries together, and then having breakfast, one of my two companions phoned Pearl and asked if we could visit her.  Pearl said to come right up.  Within a few minutes we arrived at her quaint little cottage that was soon to become so familiar to me.

 

After sitting down in her living room, Pearl came in from the kitchen where she was canning some fruit and took her seat.  She looked much younger than her 72 years and had a natural peaceful, happy quality about her.  After chatting with us for a minute or two, she turned and quietly looked at me.  She seemed to be seeing something of which I was unaware.  After a few moments she serenely, but intently said to me, “Focus your attention on your heart.”  So I turned my attention to my heart.  “Now,” she continued, “Visualize your heart as a Golden Sun.”  I did.  “Now you say, ‘I AM Pure Light.’”

 

As I silently did this, a brilliant golden white light literally began pouring out of my heart-center in all directions!  It was the first time I had ever seen the “Light.”  I was absolutely astonished.  I did not know that such a thing was possible!  At the same time a very soft, yet enormously powerful divine energy began pouring through me.  It was like a river of golden energy moving through my body and my entire consciousness.  Within seconds I was lifted into a transcendent spiritual consciousness.  And in this new consciousness I was aware, with absolute certainty, that GOD was real!  How I knew this I do not know, but I knew it in the deepest recesses of my heart and in the broadest extent of my mind – I could feel it in every fiber of my being.  GOD WAS REAL!  At that moment I felt as though I must be the happiest person on earth.  Everyone on earth could have gotten together at that moment, voted, and decided that GOD was just a figment of our hopeful imaginations, but it would not have made any difference to me.  I now knew from direct experience that GOD WAS REAL!

 

This was what I had been searching for all my life!  And now I was feeling, knowing, and directly experiencing GOD’s reality!  And in this blissful, transcendent consciousness I could somehow feel and know that the Light, GOD, and I were all One.  While I was undergoing this expanding spiritual consciousness, Pearl was quietly observing all that was taking place.  The whole room had become filled with a soft golden light, and it was particularly bright around Pearl’s head.  Quietly she said, “Every human being has lived hundreds of different lifetimes throughout the ages.  In embodiment after embodiment you have gradually been learning the lessons of mastery – the lessons of compassion, mercy, kindness, courage, wisdom, and the right use of power.  Your destiny, and that of every other human being, is to ultimately become a Master or Lady Master like Jesus, Mary, Saint Germain, Quan Yin, and Buddha.”

 

I was amazed.  Now I knew the purpose of Life!  Existence finally had meaning!  I seemed to be in heaven.  On one hand all this seemed too good to be really happening, and yet I was not only seeing and feeling the Light, but everything she said rang true within me.  And inwardly it felt as though I had somehow known all of this before.

 

For another forty-five minutes or so, Pearl continued to explain the Universal Laws of Consciousness.  By this time I was so happy, so filled with divine bliss, that my face must have been one giant grin.  And during this entire time, GOD’s love, light, and power continued expanding through me.  After what seemed to be only a few moments of sitting in her living room, but what was actually an hour and a half, she reached out, took our hands, and said, “Thank you for coming.”  She was thanking us!  And as I stepped out of the door she softly said, “Now you come back.”  My feet hardly touched the ground!  I literally felt like I was floating.  I was so happy!  I had never been so happy in all my life!  GOD WAS REAL!  YIPPEE!

 

We came back to see her several more times that weekend.  Each time I could feel the Light expanding within me more and more.  In fact, since that first day of meeting Pearl, I have never stopped feeling the Light.  And not surprisingly, I immediately began applying the profound sacred truths that she shared with us.  By the time I returned to the Bay Area I was thinking, “Well, geology’s great – but ‘this’ is greater.”  So I started considering moving to Mount Shasta to study with Pearl.  I purchased Unveiled Mysteries at the San Jose “I AM” Sanctuary and read it with deep interest.  Within a few days I was up in Mount Shasta visiting Pearl again.  This time I was on my own and would visit her twice daily – once in the morning and once in the evening.  On one of these visits Pearl pointed to a large picture on the wall next to her.  It was of an unusual looking man dressed in a long orange robe, whose gentle, brown-skinned face was surrounded by a dome of curly dark hair.  For some reason I had not even noticed the picture before, which was unusual considering its large size and the fact that it was right next to Pearl.

 

“Do you know who that is?” she kindly asked.

 

“No,” I answered, studying the photo.

 

“Oh,” she replied intently, “That is Sai Baba.  He is a very great saint who lives in India.”  She used the word “saint” because I would not have known what an “Avatar” was.  “You should learn more about him,” she continued.

 

No sooner had she said, “You should learn more about him,” when an uplifting spiritual feeling and a sweet fragrance vaguely similar to jasmine filled the entire room.  “That is Sai Baba and he is blessing you,” Pearl calmly informed me.  I was astonished!  This man was literally halfway around the world in India, and yet he was aware that Pearl and I were talking about him and miraculously created this jasmine-like fragrance for us.  Somehow he knew that as a scientist who lived in a world of facts I would need proof in order to believe.  And I must say, directly experiencing something like this was the best way to convince me that such a thing was possible.  To say the least, it gave me much to think about.  (A year or so after this experience with Pearl, a Sai Baba devotee offered me some vibhutti, a sacred ash that Sai Baba often materializes from his finger tips.  Its aroma was strangely familiar.  It was then that I realized that it was the very same fragrance that had filled Pearl’s living room when she had first mentioned Sai Baba’s name a year earlier!)  After this sweet aroma filled the room, Pearl was prompted to write down the name of a book, Sai Baba: Man of Miracles, by Howard Murphet, and suggest that I read it.  So after leaving Pearl’s house an hour and a half later, I walked a few blocks to a nearby metaphysical bookstore and bought this now classic book.  Needless to say, I was astounded to discover Sai Baba’s divine abilities and was thrilled to know that such a Divine Being was now living on the earth!

 

What an auspicious time those three weeks were in my life.  The first day that I met Pearl, I discovered that GOD was real!  And within the next few weeks I had welcomed Jesus, Beloved Mary, Saint Germain, the Buddha, and others of the Ascended Host, as well as Sai Baba into my heart.  During this period, I traveled back and forth from the San Francisco Bay area several more times and would visit Pearl twice a day.  On one of these trips my parents, who had flown out from the East Coast to visit, accompanied me.  My mother felt an instant spiritual affinity with Pearl and was delighted to begin studying Saint Germain’s and Sai Baba’s teachings, which she continues to this day.  My father also immediately liked Pearl, but he was a “down to earth” practical, civil engineer, who was not as interested in the spiritual side of life as my mom was.

 

So Pearl did three things which built a bridge of understanding and appreciation between her and my dad.  First she compared our Higher Self, the I AM Presence, to a transformer on a utility pole.  Explaining that, just as the transformer “steps down” the high voltage power coming from the power generating station to a lower voltage which can be safely used by our home appliances, the I AM Presence “steps down” the powerful spiritual energy coming from the Godhead, to a level which our bodies can safely handle.  I had not mentioned to Pearl about my father being a civil engineer and marveled at her ability to know the perfect thing to say.  Then she shared how one day she heard a mother bird tapping with her beak on her living room window.  So she went outside to see what it wanted.  It flew down on the ground to a little baby bird who had fallen out of its nest, and then up to the nest.  It repeated this action several times while Pearl received the clear impression that she wanted Pearl to pick up her baby and place it back in the nest.  After Pearl fulfilled this request the mother bird sang a little song of gratitude to her.  Again, Pearl could not have shared a better story with my dad, because the loving trust and inner communication between her and the mother bird clearly showed a saintly quality about her.  In fact, he was so touched with her kindness, as well as the fact that she took the time to see us, that he wanted to make a donation to her for her work.  But every time he tried to give her twenty dollars she graciously refused it.  This was the third perfect thing she did.  Now he knew she was not only wise and pure hearted, but she was also truly sincere and had no desire for personal gain from sharing her teachings.  Thus, even though he was not as interested in Pearl’s spiritual teachings as my mother and I were, he now felt good about my studying with her.

 

Soon I confided in Pearl that I wanted to move to Mount Shasta to study more deeply with her.  She quietly responded, “You are being moved into position.”  This simple comment meant a great deal to me and filled me with inner peace.  Shortly after this – during another visit – I mentioned that I was starting to look for a place to live in the Mount Shasta area.  Pearl was sitting very still, again very much “intune,” and in the most natural way said, “There is an apartment available, right downtown across from the railroad tracks.”  I did not realize at that time just how attuned Pearl was to the Divine Plan and I thought to myself, “I don’t want to live downtown.  I don’t want to live in an apartment.  And I certainly don’t want to live next to the noisy railroad tracks.”  Even though Mount Shasta was a charming alpine town of only about 2,500 people, like so many new comers to Mount Shasta, I was dreaming more of a little cabin sitting in a meadow of wild flowers with a stream meandering by it.

 

So I did not say anything to her, but I spent the entire weekend looking for my dream home.  Nothing was working out.  People rarely seemed to be answering their phones and when they did, most of them did not show up at the agreed upon times to show me their rental properties.  And the few places I was able to look at, were not suitable for one reason or another.  I looked around all that weekend and could not find a thing.  The next weekend I was back up from the Bay Area looking again.  Still nothing was working out and all the time I was making powerful “calls” that I find the perfect place.  Monday morning, I was driving out of Mount Shasta feeling kind of low when I happened to see a sign that said “Apartments.”  So I checked with the manager and sure enough there was a small studio apartment available.  It was such a tiny, skinny, little place that I never would have even considered it just two weekends ago.  I said, “I’ll take it.”  I paid the first and last month’s rent and was relieved that I had finally found a place.  As I was pulling out of town to head for San Francisco, I decided to stop by Pearl’s house and let her know what I had found.

 

When I came in, she was sitting quietly in her characteristically attuned manner.  I sat down across from her and happily shared the good news, “I finally found a place.  It’s a small apartment, right downtown,” and as I said, “across from the railroad tracks,” it began to dawn on me that this was the very same apartment that Pearl had suggested that I rent in the first place!  It was incredible!  But she was not surprised – only I was.  She just serenely replied, “Oh, that is where you’re supposed to be.  Now the lady who lives across the hall from you is named, Sunny, and she is a very spiritually developed person.  Sunny used to work for DeVorss and Company and was the one who edited the fifth volume of the Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East, by Baird T. Spalding.  The Great Ones have moved you there for a very important reason.”  This was my introduction to how attuned Pearl was to the divine plan!

 

I lived in Mount Shasta for three and a half years.  I did carpentry part-time, and I spent most of my free time either visiting with Pearl, or quietly sitting in my little apartment meditating or reading high quality spiritual books.  In particular, I loved learning the deeper truths that showed the oneness of the world’s religions.  In addition, I was attending meditations at Pearl’s house three evenings a week.  But most importantly, I was applying the teachings of Saint Germain and Sai Baba in my life.  During this period she was shown by the Arisen Ones to open her personal library to me and I was able to study many profound books explaining the various spiritual paths on our planet.  I also had time to explore and hike through the beautiful surrounding mountains, as well as visit with friends who were fellow students of Pearl’s.

 

To say the least, this precious time spent studying with Pearl was a time of tremendous spiritual growth for me and treasured period of my life.

 

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(This was an excerpt from a biography I am writing about my spiritual teacher, Pearl.  - Bill Gaum)

 

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A Little Bit More About Me & My Hopes for This Website:

 

As a result of meeting Pearl and experiencing the Light, I delved deep into prayer and meditation, as well as into studying various spiritual paths with deep interest.  I gradually learned many helpful, marvelous spiritual truths that I wished I had known during the years when I was growing up. It would have made my life so much easier and happier!  So I wanted to create this website as a time saver for you, so that you can learn these same transcendent truths that have been such a blessing to me, without having to do all the years of research and study that I had to. Plus, I am thrilled that young people can now have easy access to these deep, spiritual truths so that they can begin transforming their lives early on.

 

Also, I believe that there are as many different interpretations of spirituality and spiritual paths as there are human beings on the planet.  So naturally, this website reflects my own unique interpretation of these spiritual paths.  And while I have studied many, many different spiritual teachings and paths, my main spiritual background has been the teachings of Sathya Sai Baba, the Ascended Masters (as given by Godfre Ray King, as well as Pearl Dorris), and the teachings of Jesus (as given in the New Testament and The Aquarian Gospel).

 

Also, please consider me a spiritual friend, rather than a spiritual teacher or mentor.  I'm just happily and humbly sharing what I've learned as a result of my own studies, meditations, prayers, spiritual practices, experiences, and intuitions. Please don't think that I'm trying to persuade you to change to a different spiritual path from the one you're already on.  Just include in your life whatever spiritual teachings you find helpful within this website and ignore the rest.

 

By the way, I've designed, created, and maintain this website myself.  I don't have any staff.  It's just a heartfelt labor of love. Please let me know if you like it!

 

And everything is free! There's no organization to join.  You don't have to believe anything in particular.  And we don't ask for donations!

 

I currently live on the West Coast of the United States in a mountain home surrounded by peaceful giant firs, pines and cedars.

 

I hope this website is a blessing for you and I am deeply grateful if it is.

 

May you all have very happy, spiritually fulfilling lives filled with GOD's Love, Light and Peace.

 

- Bill Gaum

 

(By the way, I launched this website on December 7, 2014).

 

Copyright 2018 Bill Gaum All Rights Reserved