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After the pieces about a great injustice and the omens from Heaven and Earth gradually became clear, I could not help but fall into deep contemplation. The initial investigative journey, full of personal and emotional drive, had brought me to a new threshold. I realized that if I merely continued to follow the trail of a “case,” I would forever see only the tree and not the forest. To truly understand the meaning of the sacred tear, I needed to step back, to build a solid foundation of knowledge, to decipher the very language of the Divine Beings across the ages.
From this point, my search entered a new phase, a more systematic and in-depth study. To undertake this research, I knew I needed to temporarily step back from personal emotions and approach the river of prophecy with the caution and methodology of a researcher. And the first aspect, the most fundamental one, was the question: These timeless messages, these “voices” from the invisible realm, where do they truly come from?
When I began my journey of learning about prophecies, this was the most fundamental question that arose in my mind. Who or what “spoke” to the prophets, those believed to possess the ability to see the future? Was it a tangible voice from some other realm, a whisper from Divine Beings, a flash of light from the depths of the human subconscious, or simply signs that Heaven and Earth quietly sent forth? In the flow of human history, from East to West, we see myriad forms through which prophetic messages were said to have reached humanity. This diversity made me wonder: is there a single source, or are these countless different channels of information, each with its own characteristics and requiring a unique way of “listening”?
1. Direct Revelation: The Voice of Divine Beings
In many of the world’s great spiritual and religious traditions, the form of direct revelation from Divine Beings is considered the highest and most authoritative source of prophecies that guide an entire community or even all of humankind. This is when Gods, Buddhas, the Lord God, or their messengers actively transmit messages, teachings, warnings, or promises about the future to chosen individuals.
We can recall the image of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments and direct instructions from the Lord God on Mount Sinai, which became the foundation for the faith and laws of the Jewish people. Or the prophet Muhammad, who received revelations from the Supreme Being Allah through the angel Jibril (Gabriel), with those words later compiled into the Qur’an, the guiding light for the lives of billions of Muslim followers. In the Buddhist tradition, Patriarchs and great disciples were also said to have received teachings and predictions about the future from Shakyamuni Buddha himself or from Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in other realms.
Prophecies originating from this source of direct revelation often carry a special weight. They do not merely forecast events, but often contain profound truths about the cosmos, human life, and the path of morality and spiritual cultivation. Their content can relate to the destiny of a people, the rise and fall of a religion or a spiritual discipline, or major turning points in the flow of world history.
The question often asked is, why were those specific individuals chosen to receive these sacred messages? The scriptures often describe them as people of incredibly steadfast faith and pure souls, who endured many difficult trials to prove their sincerity, or who carried within them a predestined mission. It seems that the “voice” of Divine Beings can only be heard and fully comprehended by those who have the “ears” of the spirit and a heart open and pure enough to receive it. This also implicitly suggests that connecting with higher realms is not easy or random, but requires preparation and a certain resonance in the frequency of consciousness on the part of the receiver.
2. Seeing the Future Through Special Abilities: The Celestial Eye and the Constraints of Heavenly Secrets
Besides revelations “transmitted” from Divine Beings, history also records another form of accessing prophetic information: when certain individuals, through special abilities or cultivation, can “see” or “sense” future events on their own. This is not quite hearing a specific “voice,” but more like possessing a superior sense that allows them to directly access streams of information that are hidden from ordinary people.
In many cultures, especially in the East, people often speak of the concept of the “celestial eye” or the “third eye”—an ability that allows one to see through things beyond three-dimensional space and the linear flow of time. Prophets, Daoist masters, and ascetic cultivators who reach a certain level are believed to be able to open this ability. When that happens, pictures of the future, of imminent events, can appear before their eyes with great clarity, like watching a pre-recorded film.
Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms period in China, with his divine predictions about the political landscape and the fate of nations, or Trạng Trình Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm of Vietnam, who left behind prophecies that were fulfilled with astonishing accuracy over many centuries, are often seen by later generations as such geniuses who possessed this ability to “see ahead.” They did not rely solely on logical deduction or analysis of the times; it seems they had truly “witnessed” what was to come.
However, it is incredibly noteworthy that even when “seeing” very clearly, prophets of this caliber rarely revealed everything directly and in detail. Instead, their prophecies were often veiled in metaphorical language, verses full of hidden meaning, and books of prophecy that later generations had to painstakingly contemplate and compare with reality to even partially decipher. Why this ambiguity?
This leads us to a profound principle often mentioned in spiritual traditions: “Heavenly secrets must not be revealed” (天機不可洩漏, Tiānjī bùkě xièlòu). There seems to be an invisible constraint, an unwritten rule from the divine realms, that revealing the future too blatantly can bring about unforeseen consequences. It could interfere with the natural flow of events, disrupting the trials and opportunities for choice that people must face to mature and enlighten to the truth. Carelessly revealing heavenly secrets could also bring danger to the speaker and to those listeners who do not have the predestined connection or mental capacity to receive them.
Even great Enlightened Beings like Shakyamuni Buddha or Jesus Christ, when speaking of major future events or the appearance of Saviors in later times, usually did not specify the exact date or identity. Instead, They often gave signs, symbols, and teachings in the form of parables. For example, there are prophecies about a Savior who will be born in the East, or in a year symbolized by the Rabbit, or the qualities and mission that being will carry. This method of communication both reveals hope and requires people to use their faith, wisdom, and self-cultivation to recognize it, rather than just waiting for a simple confirmation from the outside. It also preserves the necessary “delusion” of the human realm, so that every choice toward good or evil truly comes from the heart.
Therefore, the enigmatic books of prophecy, the verses full of hidden meaning, are perhaps not the result of prophets intentionally “puzzling” later generations, but rather a compliance with a profound law of the universe, a way to convey important messages without breaking the necessary balance.
3. Special States of Consciousness and Ancient Methods
Besides cases of direct revelation from Divine Beings or the ability to “see” the future through special powers like the celestial eye, human history has also recorded countless methods and states of consciousness through which people believed they could access prophetic messages. These were often active efforts by humankind to transcend the limits of ordinary perception, in order to “tune into” information from other realms or from the hidden depths of the universe itself.
Perhaps one of the most ancient and famous examples is the oracles at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece. The Pythia priestesses, after performing purification rituals, were said to have inhaled a type of vapor (pneuma) rising from a chasm in the earth. This induced a state of trance, in which they uttered oracles—often ambiguous and multi-layered in meaning—that other priests had to interpret. Although the precise mechanism of this phenomenon is still debated, the immense influence of the Delphic oracles on the ancient Greek world is undeniable.
Similarly, in many indigenous cultures across the continents, shamans also used special methods to reach altered states of consciousness. These could be prolonged dances, songs with repetitive rhythms, the use of specific types of drums or musical instruments, or sometimes the use of herbs with perception-altering abilities. In this state of trance, they believed their souls could travel to other worlds, communicate with deities and ancestral spirits, or see omens about the future, about the dangers or fortunes soon to befall their community.
In the East, Daoist schools of cultivation and ascetic Yoga practitioners also had their own methods for reaching deep meditative states, where the mind becomes completely still, transcending the influence of the physical senses. In that absolute tranquility, profound understandings of the laws governing the universe, of the flow of time, or images of the past and future could reveal themselves. This was not an agitated state like a ritual-induced trance, but an unfolding from within, when the mind had achieved a special degree of clarity and acuity.
Though the methods differ—from using external elements like vapors, herbs, and music, to practicing introspection and deep meditation—there seems to be a common goal: to temporarily set aside or transcend the everyday “self,” the individual consciousness that is limited by worries, prejudices, and attachment to the material world. When this small “self” subsides, a larger, more encompassing space of awareness can open up, allowing one to access subtle streams of information, the “voices” that we can hardly hear in a normal waking state.
These methods, having persisted for thousands of years and been practiced in countless cultures, point to a profound belief within humanity that, beyond the material reality we perceive daily, there are other dimensions of existence, other sources of knowledge that we can touch, if we know how to listen and adjust our consciousness.
4. Prophetic Dreams and the Voice from Within
Besides the seemingly “external” channels of information like revelations from Divine Beings or ancient methods for reaching special states of consciousness, there is another source of prophetic messages that is more intimate, more private, and which almost all of us have experienced or heard of to some extent: premonitory dreams and the silent voice from within ourselves.
Since ancient times, dreams have been regarded as a mysterious gateway to the spiritual world, a space where the boundary between reality and the invisible realm seems to blur. In many cultures, dreams that carry messages, images that foreshadow important events—from small personal matters to great community upheavals—have been recorded and treasured. The Bible tells of Joseph’s dreams interpreting omens for the Pharaoh, and the dreams of other kings and prophets. In the East, emperors and high monks also often relied on special dreams to make important decisions or foresee the future.
So, what makes the difference between a prophetic dream and the chaotic, fragmented dreams of everyday life, which are merely reflections of our daytime worries and impressions? Those who have had prophetic dreams often describe them as having a much greater clarity, coherence, and a more powerful emotional impression. They often repeat, or leave behind an indescribable feeling of “certainty” upon waking, a message that seems impossible to ignore. Sometimes, they do not directly depict a future event, but use symbolic images and metaphors that the dreamer must contemplate and reflect upon to understand their meaning.
Where do these dreams come from? Are they whispers from guardian beings, from the souls of departed loved ones, or are they the awakening of deeper levels of consciousness within ourselves—where the subconscious, or perhaps a part of the “Primordial Spirit,” has somehow touched the flow of time? I do not have a definitive answer, but I believe that dismissing all dreams as meaningless is likely a missed opportunity. Sometimes, in the stillness of sleep, when the noise of the daytime consciousness subsides, important messages can find their way to us.
Alongside dreams, the “voice from within”—also known as intuition or premonition—is another subtle channel of information that many believe can carry prophetic elements. These are sudden feelings, inexplicable urges, a “foreknowledge” of something about to happen that is not based on any logical reasoning. A mother suddenly has a premonition that her child is in danger, though far away; a person suddenly decides to change their route at the last minute and avoids an accident; or a vague sense of unease before a major event… Such experiences are not rare.
Modern science may try to explain these phenomena with concepts like unconscious information processing or a sensitivity to subtle environmental cues that the conscious mind does not register. However, for many people, especially those with a deep spiritual life, intuition and premonition carry a greater meaning. It is seen as a connection to a greater wisdom, a “knowing” that transcends individual reason. Cultivating inner silence, listening to the subtle vibrations from within, can help us become more sensitive to these wordless “voices.”
Whether through dreams or intuition, they both remind us that the source of information is not only from the outside world. Within each person also lie wondrous abilities, channels of connection to a broader reality that we have perhaps only just begun to explore.
5. Wordless “Omens”: When Heaven and Earth Speak
Besides messages transmitted through speech, writing, dreams, or personal intuition, there is another form of prophecy, an ancient and perhaps the most universal one: the human practice of reading and interpreting wordless “omens” from the natural world itself, from the anomalous phenomena of Heaven and Earth. Since time immemorial, humankind has believed that the universe is a unified whole, and that great upheavals in Heaven and Earth often correspond to or foreshadow momentous changes in the human realm.
In many cultures, unusual natural phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, prolonged droughts, or the appearance of strange celestial bodies like comets, solar eclipses, and total lunar eclipses, were often considered important omens. They could be interpreted as signs of wrath from divine beings, foretelling war, chaos, the fall of a dynasty, or the birth or death of a great figure. Ancient astrologers in Babylon, Egypt, and China painstakingly observed the heavens, recording the movements of the stars, believing their motions held the codes to the destinies of nations and people.
It is not only grand phenomena; sometimes, events that seem trivial and random, but which occur in a strange and unusual way, were also considered omens by the ancients. An ancient tree that suddenly withers and then sprouts anew, a rare animal that suddenly appears, or strange shapes in rocks and clouds… all could be ascribed prophetic meanings.
A rather famous example that is close to our own time is the “Hidden Character Stone” (藏字石,
Cáng Zì Shí) discovered in Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, China, in 2002 (as mentioned in the previous chapter). On a giant boulder that had split in two, people found a line of naturally raised characters, which scientists identified as having been formed from the fossils of ancient organisms 270 million years ago, with the characters being read as “The Chinese Communist Party Perishes” (中國共產黨亡). This event, despite official Chinese media outlets trying to explain it by acknowledging only the first five characters (“The Chinese Communist Party”), caused a stir among the public and was seen by many as an important omen about the country’s political future. Whether one believes it or not, it shows that the belief in “messages from stone” remains powerfully present.
In addition to such “material” signs, there are also omens of a more sensory nature, collective and non-religious premonitions before major events. For instance, before an earthquake or tsunami, people sometimes record unusual animal behavior, or a sense of unease and heaviness spreads through a community for no apparent reason. Perhaps this is what the ancients called “like sounds resonate, like energies attract,” when great fluctuations in the universe’s energy field create subtle effects on the consciousness of sensitive beings.
Interpreting these wordless omens requires subtle observation, a deep connection with nature, and a wealth of knowledge about cultural symbols and the laws of yin-yang and the five elements (in Eastern culture). Of course, not everything unusual is an omen, and arbitrary interpretation can lead to superstition. However, to completely dismiss the possibility that Heaven, Earth, and the Creator can “speak” in their own way is perhaps to limit one’s own perception. These “omens,” though seemingly vague, remain an important part of the diverse tapestry of prophetic forms, reminding us of the intimate connection between humanity and the vast cosmos.
Taylor Reed’s Insights
From what we have reviewed together, it is clear that the “voice” of prophecy comes to humanity through a myriad of different channels. From the direct, solemn revelations of Divine Beings, the clear “visions” of wise ones possessing special abilities, to the altered states of consciousness in ancient rituals, the private messages of dreams, the silent voice of intuition, and even the wordless omens from Heaven and Earth themselves. Each channel seems to have its own unique characteristics, its own “language,” and perhaps also touches different levels of consciousness within each of us.
Looking at this diversity, a great question naturally arises in my mind: is there a single Source behind all these “voices”? Or do they truly reflect a multi-layered reality, different realms, with each realm having its own way of communicating and its own messages suited to the level and mission of the receiver? I dare not offer a final conclusion. Perhaps the answer lies somewhere between these two possibilities, or even beyond what we can conceive with our current reason.
However, there is one common thread I sense through all these forms: there always seems to be an “intention” to convey information, a “desire to speak” from somewhere that transcends pure randomness. Whether it is a moral teaching, a warning of peril, or a promise of a brighter future, prophetic messages all seem to contain some purpose, not merely to satisfy human curiosity about the future.
And perhaps, more important than identifying exactly where that “voice” comes from, is how we listen to and receive it. Do we have enough inner silence to distinguish the echo of Truth from the illusions of our own making? Are we humble enough to admit that there are things far beyond our current understanding, and brave enough to face the messages, even if they may not be pleasant?
The persistent existence of prophecy throughout all eras and in all cultures shows an innate desire of humankind to connect with something greater, to search for meaning and direction in the turbulent stream of life. These “voices,” wherever they come from, are perhaps all reminders, opportunities for us to look back at ourselves, at the world around us, and most importantly, to look toward the future with a greater sense of responsibility.
But when these messages come to us, another practical question arises: how do we know if they are reliable? Do prophecies really “come true” as people have so often claimed? And if so, is that “fulfillment” an obvious fact, a random coincidence, or the result of how we ourselves interpret them? This is precisely what I want to continue exploring with you, the reader, in the next chapter, where we will look at “the mark of time” on the words of prophecy.
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This article is an excerpt from the book “THE LAST BELLS“, which contains insightful notes and analyses by author Taylor Reed on the phenomenon of weeping statues of the Virgin Mary in many places around the world, as well as pointing out the mysterious coincidences of ancient and modern prophecies about the present day.
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