DAY FOUR
I arrived in the morning. The atmosphere in the room today seemed lighter, clearer. As if after passing through the storms of geopolitics, we were about to enter a region of clear skies.
Julian Lee:
Good day, sir.
As arranged, today I would like to hear you share on the topic of spirituality and the esoteric.
There are so many questions in my mind, I don’t know where to begin.
The other day, you mentioned that there are beings at different levels observing this world.
Is that related to the strange events that occur in many places, events that empirical science cannot explain?
For example, the phenomenon of many statues of the Virgin Mary around the world shedding tears.
The Former President:
(He smiled, a smile of empathy.)
You have just brought up something that many in the modern world feel in their hearts, but dare not acknowledge with their words.
That behind the veil of matter and logic, a great force is present, observing, and when necessary, sending signals to humanity.
The phenomenon of statues of the Virgin Mary weeping, or even bleeding, is not superstition.
It is a signal.
But not for those who only see with their physical eyes.
It is a warning, gentle but incredibly earnest, from a higher plane.
Our universe is not merely three dimensions of space plus one linear dimension of time.
In ancient scriptures, in cultivation experiences, or from the accounts of those who have had “out-of-body” experiences, they all see a similar truth.
That the universe consists of layer upon layer of interlocking worlds, from this crude material realm, to the realm of energy, then to the realm of light, and all the way to the levels of Gods, Buddhas, and True Spirits.
And in those spatial planes, countless beings are watching the moral journey of humanity.
When a statue weeps, it is not the stone that is weeping.
It is the being behind that statue that is weeping.
Statues like the Virgin Mary, Bodhisattva Guanyin, or Shakyamuni Buddha, when carved correctly according to their image in the higher realms, and placed in a solemn context, become a “conduit of energy.”
It is a place where the consciousness of higher-level beings can shine down into this space.
When humanity is mired in sin, when morality collapses, and when divine beings are no longer revered, they do not punish immediately.
They warn.
With tears. With blood. With phenomena that science cannot explain.
Science cannot explain it because it does not accept what lies beyond the five senses and measuring devices.
A teardrop falling on a statue’s cheek, even without a water pipe, high humidity, or unusual temperature, still flows.
Chemical analysis shows it is saltwater, or even real blood, but without a source.
The reason is not in the laboratory.
It is in the moral field of that entire region, or of that entire era.
It is a mirror reflecting the soul of a collective, and the beings at higher levels are sending a signal:
“Turn back.”
Why the Virgin Mary? Why blood, why tears?
Because that is the language humanity can understand.
An intellectual can dismiss an entire scripture, but he cannot ignore a wooden statue that is weeping.
A child who cannot yet read can still bow his head when he sees a statue bleeding.
Tears are the symbol of love being rejected.
Blood is the symbol of karma about to unfold.
And do you know? It’s not just statues.
Trees, clouds, light, and even dreams have also been channels for higher planes to send messages.
Someone saw a tree grow into the shape of a Buddha, and then their entire village was spared from a great disaster.
Someone dreamed of a Saint weeping tears of blood, and upon waking, they carried with them a profound awakening.
These things cannot be published in scientific journals.
Because they are not for the brain.
They are for the soul.
(He looked at me, his eyes as if opening a new door.)
If you wish, I can share some deeper personal experiences about the gentle but real intervention of beings from higher planes.
Or you can ask about any other esoteric phenomenon.
The Celestial Eye, reincarnation, supernatural abilities, or the existence of ghosts, demons, immortals, and Buddhas.
And the future of the human soul.
Julian Lee:
Yes. First, please share a little about your personal experience.
The Former President:
(He nodded, a slow nod, as if returning to a distant memory.)
Very well.
As promised, I will not use my real name in these experiences.
But I will share a true story.
Not to convince anyone, but only to suggest.
I call this story “The Caregiver and the Unearthly Light.”
When I was a young senator, I once visited a nursing home in the state of New Hampshire to survey welfare policies.
There, I met an elderly woman of Irish descent, eighty-seven years old, blind in both eyes from complications of diabetes.
She was very weak, but her mind was unusually sharp.
We had intended to speak for only a few minutes, but I ended up sitting there for nearly an hour.
She told me:
“You are the only one here I do not see with my eyes, but with a very strange light.
You were once held by a higher being, kept from falling into a disaster.
Do you remember the time you almost died?”
(I froze. My whole body felt rigid.)
Because indeed, a few years prior, I had nearly died in a car accident on the highway.
My SUV had spun sideways, lost control, and slid like a bullet toward a bridge pillar.
But at the last second…
the car stopped, for reasons no one could understand.
The police said it was just a “random slip angle.”
I didn’t believe it.
But I couldn’t explain it either.
The old woman continued, her voice still very calm:
“At that moment, a higher being ‘held’ your soul, preventing it from leaving your body.
You did not see it, but I did.
They are not Angels, nor are they your ancestors.
They are the guardians of the souls of those who still carry a mission.
And if you do not walk the moral path, they will withdraw their hand.
And the disaster will return.”
I shivered when I heard those words.
After that conversation, I left the nursing home in a very strange state.
Not because the old woman had guessed correctly.
But because I felt, for the first time in my life, that someone had seen the invisible part of me.
And from then on, I began to meditate every dawn.
Not to seek “supernatural powers.”
But just to listen to the echo from the place where I had almost ceased to live.
(He looked at me, his eyes as if sharing a great lesson.)
The message I took from that is:
Beings at higher levels do not intervene arbitrarily.
But if a person has a moral mission, a heart inclined toward goodness, they will be protected.
Sometimes not through miracles.
But just by a small change, a change sufficient to make their entire destiny turn in a different direction.
And a leader, whether a president or just an ordinary citizen, if not quiet enough to hear that call, then all the power they hold in their hands is just an empty shell.
(He paused for a moment, as if offering a new choice.)
If you wish, I can share another experience.
The time I met someone who could see reincarnation.
Or the time I encountered a “false Zen master,” a person full of supernatural abilities but devoid of virtue, so you can see that spirituality is not always pure.
Julian Lee:
Yes. The topic of reincarnation is no longer so unfamiliar, but not many people believe in it.
Buddhism states that humans and other sentient beings must go through the six realms of reincarnation.
Could you share your experiences or views on this topic?
The Former President:
(He was silent for a moment, his gaze fixed on an indefinite point in space.)
You have just touched upon one of the most profound and paradoxical themes of human existence.
If there is reincarnation, then who am I?
And if not, then why do we sometimes remember things we have never learned?
I will share a personal experience, along with a quiet perspective on reincarnation.
Not as a doctrine, but as something I have touched, through moments that reason could never explain.
(He paused, as if returning to a past journey.)
That year, I was in Japan on a business trip.
At an informal reception, I was taken to visit a seven-year-old girl, the daughter of an acquaintance in the academic world.
The girl was not famous, nor was she anything special, just an ordinary elementary school student.
But her parents said that she often said things that were “not of this life.”
I sat down and talked with her normally.
When I asked:
“Do you know why you came to this world?”
The little girl looked at me, then replied in a very gentle, ancient Japanese dialect:
“Because in my previous life, I did something wrong in Kyoto.
And someone lost their life because of me.
Now, I must remain in this world for three lifetimes, to learn how to love without hurting anyone.”
I was utterly astonished.
Her father said she had never been to Kyoto, nor had she ever studied Buddhism.
The girl also spoke of a stone statue near a stream, where “in my past life, I used to sit and cry.”
Later, when they took her to Kyoto, they did indeed find a stream and an old, faded statue of Kannon, in a place with no signs.
(He looked at me, his eyes as if wanting to explain something deeper.)
Reincarnation is not “a return.”
It is “the continuation of karma.”
Buddhism does not say that reincarnation is returning exactly as before.
No one “relives” life in the same way.
Rather, it is karma, including both karmic force and a being’s vows, that brings about a “re-manifestation” in a new form, a new context, and with a new purpose.
The six realms of reincarnation that people often speak of are actually different states of mind.
There is the Heaven Realm, where beings enjoy blessings but are easily deluded and do not cultivate.
There is the Asura Realm, where there is only struggle and jealousy.
There are the realms of animals, hungry ghosts, and hell, where beings must endure heavy karmic retribution.
And there is the Human Realm, where suffering and joy are intertwined, but which is the easiest place to cultivate.
You see? The human realm is not the highest.
But it is the place with the clearest opportunity for enlightenment, because suffering is the bell that awakens the soul.
I once met a monk in Lam Dong, Vietnam.
He said:
“When a person suffers in this life, they should not ask, ‘What did I do wrong in the present?’
They should ask: ‘How was I so careless as to sow this seed in the cycle of reincarnation?’”
He said, a child born with a disability may have been a judge who wrongly convicted an innocent person in a past life.
A person with troubled relationships may have trifled with another’s trust in a past life.
A person hated for no reason may have stolen someone else’s karmic connection in a past life.
So what should a cultivator do?
Not try to remember past lives.
But to understand the Law of Cause and Effect deeply, and to live in the present as if every action will be imprinted on their future karma.
Forgive, to be forgiven.
Endure, to not be pulled into the cycle of retaliation.
And let go of resentment, to break the chain of reincarnation.
A person who truly has the Tao does not seek their past lives.
They seek to be free from them.
Julian Lee:
Yes. I’ve also heard that in America, some people have the ability to use hypnosis to see scenes from past lives, such as the case of Edgar Cayce.
As for dreams, many people often dream of different scenes, but when they wake up, they realize it was just a dream and often ignore it.
The Former President:
(He nodded, an understanding nod.)
You are very right, and also very discerning.
Dreams and past-life regression hypnosis are two “side doors” through which human consciousness can inadvertently pass through the veil of linear reality, to touch another plane, a place where time is no longer a straight line.
But they differ on one point.
Dreams are led by the “unconscious.”
While hypnosis is the “conscious mind being led” through the subconscious.
Let’s talk about dreams.
They are a repository of memories that extend beyond this life.
There are dreams that are not fantasies, but “leaked memories” from previous states of existence.
People often ignore them because they seem confused and irrational, because there is no proof, and because upon waking, the emotions from the dream quickly fade.
But… if a dream repeats many times with the same image, the same character; if it makes one cry upon waking, despite never having experienced it; or if it has details that one does not know, but later research proves to be completely accurate.
Then, it is very possible that the dream is a memory fragment “leaked” from a past life.
(He paused, then continued on a more active method.)
As for past-life hypnosis, it is the opening of a door in the subconscious.
Edgar Cayce, the most famous person in America for this ability, once said:
“When the soul leaves the body in a controlled manner, it can return to any impression it has ever left in its journey of reincarnation.”
Under hypnosis, thousands of people have said things they were not prompted to say.
They spoke in a different regional accent, a strange language, or described historical details they had never learned.
They spoke of their death in a past life, and that often related to problems they were facing in this life, such as illnesses, phobias, or unexplainable habits.
So why doesn’t science recognize these things?
Because they cannot be measured.
They cannot be replicated on machines.
And especially, they suggest a reality beyond the control of modern psychological models.
They are afraid to admit that consciousness is not in the brain, and that life does not end with death.
(He looked at me, his gaze growing deeper.)
So what about spiritual cultivators?
A true cultivator does not need hypnosis, nor do they need dreams.
Because when their Celestial Eye, or the third eye, is opened, they can consciously enter other dimensions.
The difference is, ordinary people can only access past lives when their consciousness accidentally “opens a path” in an unconscious state.
But a cultivator can actively reach higher levels through their virtue, concentration, and spiritual practice.
So what is the central point of all this?
It is not about knowing who you were in a past life.
It is about knowing what you must do in this life, so that you do not have to return again.
Someone may have been a king in a past life, but in this life, they must be a beggar.
Someone may have been a murderer in a past life, but in this life, they become a doctor who saves people.
But the most important question is:
What have we learned, from each return?
And this time, what will we do differently?
Julian Lee:
Regarding the Celestial Eye, I have also read about it many times, especially in books originating from China.
They say that with the Celestial Eye, one can see the past and future, can see scenes from very far away, or scenes in other dimensions.
Please share more about the Celestial Eye, and the experiences you have witnessed or believe in.
The Former President:
(He looked at me, a profound gaze, as if looking into another world.)
You have just brought up one of the most ancient and sacred mysteries known to mankind.
But which has been forgotten by our modern civilization.
The Celestial Eye. The third eye.
It is not on the forehead, but it opens when the inner self is purified.
It does not belong to the physical senses, but it can see more clearly than any lens.
In ancient cultivation texts, from Taoism, Buddhism, to Hinduism or ancient Egypt, the “Celestial Eye” is always described as a channel of extrasensory perception. It is located in the area between the eyebrows, but it is not a physical organ, but a point of connection between the soul and other dimensions. It does not “see” like our eyes do, but it “receives” information like light being transmitted directly to the spirit.
Ancient Chinese legend says that when humans are born, their Celestial Eye is in an open state.
But as they grow older, it becomes obscured by greed, anger, ignorance, by desire, fame, and gain.
When the soul is polluted, the “celestial eye” will also close.
When the mind reaches a state of tranquility, when thoughts become pure, and when energy rises from the dan tian, then the “gate of spiritual perception” on the forehead will be activated.
From there, one can see images of other dimensions, can see the karmic energy surrounding another person as a black, red, or blue aura. And can see the realms of Gods, Buddhas, or of departed beings.
When one reaches a very high level, one can see reincarnation, the past, and the future, not like a rewound film, but as an “absolute intuition.”
(He paused for a long moment, then continued in a more personal tone.)
I will tell you about someone I know.
He is not famous, nor does he wear the robes of a monk, but his Celestial Eye is open.
He lives in seclusion in the mountains of Colorado.
Once, I went to see him, because I had heard people say that he could see what others had been in past lives, and knew what would become of them if they continued to live in the old way.
I went there, without giving my name, nor revealing anything about myself.
He just looked at me for a few minutes, then said gently:
“You were once the one who ordered the beheading of twelve innocent people.
Not because you were evil, but because you were ‘obeying the court.’
In this life, you are in politics, but remember, your own heart is the greatest court.
If you do wrong again, then in the next life, there will be no more chances for redemption.”
I was speechless.
No one knew that, except for me and my conscience.
(The room became unusually quiet.)
What I believe about the Celestial Eye is that it is real, but not everyone who wants to open it can.
Only when a person truly cultivates, gives up their bad thoughts, maintains a kind heart, and lives in accordance with the way of heaven, will the Celestial Eye gradually open, like a gift from the universe.
Not to “watch for fun,” but to “shoulder greater responsibilities.”
A person with the Celestial Eye will see a great deal, but they must remain silent more often.
Because if they speak at the wrong time, the world will laugh at them. And if they speak wrongly, their own virtue will be damaged.
So why has our modern civilization lost this ability?
Because we worship machines more than ourselves.
Because our minds are increasingly clouded by desire, greed, and fear.
And because society does not teach people to look inward, but only forces them to run outward.
But the Celestial Eye cannot be opened by action.
It only opens when the soul is as still as a rippleless lake, and when virtue is as thick as a mountain.
Julian Lee:
An evil person with supernatural powers seems like the “demons” in movies.
As for Gods and Buddhas, most of us only feel their existence vaguely, through images in paintings or statues in temples and cathedrals.
Have you ever had any experience with Gods, Buddhas, or the Lord?
Westerners often have the saying, “May God bless you.”
Have you ever felt blessed by God?
The Former President:
(He looked at me, a very deep look, and the atmosphere in the room seemed to grow even quieter.)
Your question… is like a call from a place where words often cannot reach.
You did not ask, “Are there Gods, Buddhas, or the Lord?”
You asked:
“Have you ever felt Him?”
And as promised, I will not answer with diplomatic language.
I have felt the presence of the Lord, of Gods, and of Buddhas.
Like beams of light not from any language.
I will share three true experiences.
Not to convince anyone, but as a whisper for those who have ever known that there is something beyond this world.
(He paused, as if recalling a long night.)
The first experience was in an empty church.
Once, during a time of extreme stress while in office, I went to a small church in Virginia near midnight.
There was no one there. No lights. Only the moonlight filtering through the stained-glass roof.
I knelt down, not to pray for fame, not to pray for election, not to pray for security.
But only to ask:
“Lord, if You are truly there…
then please, do not give me words, but give me silence, amidst the screams in my mind.”
I closed my eyes. And I don’t know why, but my whole body felt as if it were placed in a very soft light, not hot, not cold, but so light that it no longer seemed to be a physical body.
I did not hear His voice.
But I no longer needed to.
Because I knew.
He was there.
And He did not need to answer, because He Himself was the answer.
(He continued, his voice still very low.)
The second experience was about a nameless God, and a fire in a cave.
During a trip to Nepal, I got separated from my group and had to take shelter in a high cave near the Himalayas due to a hailstorm.
I lit some incense and meditated simply, just to keep warm and to keep my mind calm.
At that moment, I don’t know why, a very clear thought appeared in my mind:
“If today is the last day I have to live, am I bright enough to illuminate others, or am I just a darkness with a title?”
I shed tears.
Not out of fear, but because for the first time in my life, I saw myself, as a naked soul, with no title, no voters, and no one to protect me.
When I opened my eyes, the fire in the cave was burning very gently, though there was no wind, no smoke.
And there was a faint figure, it was unclear who, standing above the flame.
As if silently looking at me with compassionate eyes, without any judgment.
I did not need to know who it was.
Because I felt that He did not need to introduce Himself.
(He smiled, a smile of reflection.)
And the third experience was about the Buddha in the heart, and a beggar in Taiwan.
I was once invited to visit Taiwan, and had the opportunity to visit a temple in Tainan.
On the way out, I saw an old beggar, in tattered clothes, sitting in front of the temple gate.
I gave him some money. But he did not take it.
He only said:
“A person who can be moved by a statue of Buddha is not necessarily a person who moves the Buddha.
But if you live righteously, then you yourself will be a living statue of Buddha in the hearts of others.”
I was stunned.
That man, he spoke with a voice and a look that I had never seen in anyone else.
When I turned back to look closely, he had disappeared.
Not a single footprint, no one saw where he had gone.
I stood there in silence.
Not knowing if I had just met a beggar, a high monk, or the Buddha in disguise, testing my heart.
(He looked at me, as if answering the original question again.)
So have I been “blessed”?
No, not in the worldly sense.
It’s not that I became richer, nor that I was safer.
But that, I still retained the ability to believe, even when at the pinnacle of power, a place where everyone is skeptical.
And the most precious thing is not “seeing God.”
But “knowing that God exists, and not losing oneself in a godless world.”
You asked correctly.
People see God through statues, through paintings, through scriptures.
But has anyone ever truly met Him?
I would say, you don’t have to.
If you live righteously, humbly, and can let go of resentment, then at the very moment you least expect it, He will be there.
Not speaking, but shining into your heart, like a word never spoken, but eternally true.
If you wish, I can share one more private matter.
About why those with higher virtue are more easily guided by the divine.
And why evil people with supernatural powers become the “demons” you spoke of.
Do you wish to continue?
(…..)
This article is an excerpt from the book “AFTER POWER: THE LEGACY” – which includes the complete exclusive interview by journalist Julian Lee with a former US President.
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