I have been in Arizona for the past three days. I have been having conversations with spiritual voices over the last three months. They have been guiding me through my life. Over roughly the past two years, I have been thinking about a story for a graphic novel. I have always wanted to write one, but I decided to put the idea away until I was much older. I had this idea when I was young that I was way too inexperienced because of my age to have anything to say.
The story came to me in a period of about five minutes—from beginning to end—as I was reading Marcel Proust’s Rememberance of Things Past. I knew that it was a love story. I had no idea at the time, however, what the motivations of the characters would be. So I again decided to put the idea away.
Until very recently.
The spiritual voices, those of monks who have been protecting my family, began to speak to me and guide me through my life. They have been working with me to flesh out the story, pointing me to old spiritual philosophies, leading to my research.
At some point, I made it a point that the story was about spirituality, companionship, and eternal love. The idea for the story, to me, seems to parallel core beliefs in the Mormon faith.
This past week, with the guidance of the voices, I was navigated to a Mormon temple in San Diego, where I had very stimulating conversations with two sisters who were stationed as missionaries at the temple. During the conversation, they mentioned that there was a temple in Phoenix that was being erected, and that, before it was consecrated, I would be able to enter it as non-believer.
With the guidance of those voices, I came to Arizona, firstly to surprise my sister’s family, but also secondly to travel this spiritual journey. The drive ended taking a big toll on my body. I had meander in my drive to visit side cities. By the time I arrived in the Peoria area, looking for my sister’s house, I suffered from a slight heart condition.
I am now sitting in a psychiatric safe house, after getting shuffled through a couple of hospitals and emergency departments. I will move on to yet another center in the next several hours. My hope is to continue with my planned trip to see the Mormon temples. My spiritual guidances have promised that they had chosen a temple for me to visit. Once I return to civilian life, I will pay the missionaries at the temple a visit in the hopes that they can guide me through a journey of study and understanding of the Mormon faith, as well those others within the Arizona, Nevada, and Utah areas.
I still have a couple months left before I return back to my post at work. I hope this spiritual journey will lead me to become a different person—even if in the slightest way.