Camel Caravans and Future Generations

Alan tells of his life in camel caravans.

First Spirit (Alan): Good evening this is Alan.

Sitters: Good evening Alan.

Spirit: Because Ling is only going to speak for a very brief time tonight, I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you a little more about my life, and what made me think of it was the message I sent to you Ken about the warmth of the sun.

Sitter (K): Yes I remember.

Spirit: You were correct in saying, 'What a blessing it can be' and I will explain a little more about it.

The caravans I travelled in were very long, anything from half a mile to a mile in length, the camels strung out, up hill and down dale, and they took a lot of organising.

There was a leader. (I was the leader of the personalities, perhaps would be the best way of explaining it), but there was a leader who knew the land, the geography, a man who had travelled it many times, and we would start off from the city or town, usually at dawn, but this man would decide the exact time, because he knew the distance that must be travelled before nightfall. And so he would arrange his animals accordingly, and if there were any that were sick, or slow, they would be put in charge of another leader whose job it was, to attend to these animals and care for them as you would a sick person, because they were our lifeline.

And so we would start on our way, initially aiming for a midday stop if this were possible, and when I say midday, when the heat was at its highest.  We were dressed accordingly, because it wasn’t so much the sun that worried us at this time, it was the sand.  Think of yourselves, walking across your beach onto soft moving sand, I’m sure you must have had the experience of hopping from one foot to the other, trying to get across it because of that intense heat.

Sitters: Yes

Spirit: Well that heat rises, up under our flowing garments.  That is why we have very big pants similar to your pyjamas, only much roomier, and these are banded around our ankles to stop that heat rising further.

So it is important that we have, if possible, shade in the middle of the day.  There are rocks, there are huge cliffs.  When we speak of the desert, most people think of it as nothing but sand, but it can have huge canyons full of rock, stone, but the sand is permeating through all that so it does get the heat; but these great cliff faces can cause shadows, and quite often at their base there is water.

So the aim is always to make somewhere like that for the middle of the day.  If for some reason this doesn’t happen, tents are put up, and when I say for some reason, as you well know, there can be sandstorms and perhaps a group of animals may wander into thorns and become crippled, because a camel’s foot is a very soft pad.

And so, after a period of rest in which we have a drink, but not a lot, we continue on, moving faster with the cooling of the day, until eventually we are travelling comfortably, and as soon as it starts to get cold, and you will know again the effect of lovely warm or very hot sand, once the sun leaves it, it can strike you as quite cold. The surface does not keep its heat, it goes very quickly.

There are two things one can do if, for some reason, one gets lost.  One is to dig a hole, because lower down perhaps as much as two feet you will have the warmth in the sand and you make use of it, but it is not a thing one chooses to do.

Well the tents are put up and the carpets, if you are a wealthy merchant, are hung around the walls, and if possible across the top.  Some tents enable you to do this.  In the meantime people are preparing a meal, and after a meal we sit around, talk, teach each other, because many young people start on these caravans too at an early age, and they have got to learn the laws of the road, to read the stars, predict the weather… but we also have, usually just one in a caravan, a troubadour.

When I say, 'A caravan', it doesn’t mean to say that every camel has a rider.  So we haven’t got men that can cover a mile in distance.  Most caravans work out to be about forty human beings.  It varies, but it is never very safe to have a caravan of one person, unless they are very skilled.

So as a group you get together of an evening, and you have with you the troubadour, who is usually a very highly intelligent man. He is skilled with his instrument, he is skilled in his speech, he speaks many dialects, in fact if he travels through other countries he usually knows their language, and when he comes to villages, towns, and what you would now call cities, he vanishes for hours at a time, and he gains knowledge.  This he brings back and shares with us if he can, sometimes he takes it back to his own town, in other words he acts as a newspaper – and as a spy… what you would call a spy.  But he’s a man who keeps a balance between the various towns, and he is very important to us.  He will play for us for an hour or two, and when everyone settles down for the night quite often that man doesn’t, he moves off into the town and will return at dawn.

Now the encampment itself is usually starting to move before dawn.  The unloading, or the lowering of the tents and the packing of the animals, feeding them, bringing them in from where you have had them overnight all goes on, so that you start off at first light.  It is a good time to travel, and this we do day after day sometimes for many months if we are travelling from country to country, so it becomes a travelling village of its own where everyone knows everyone else, and we learn from everyone else.  Some people have far more knowledge than others, some are sent as teachers.  We have men who are advanced in Holy knowledge, men who are advanced in world affairs, our world affairs… and that for many years of my life was my life.

But when we start off at dawn, we have the sun rise after being bitterly cold, so cold, that it is worse than your frosts that bite your nose.  If anyone inadvertently wanders away there is a very good chance that they will not survive the night, because of the bitter cold.  And so the sun to us is a devil in many ways, but it is also a blessing.  It revitalises us and gives us the strength to face another day, and as we feel that warmth we look forward to the glory of its setting in the evening, as you can well imagine.

Well that’s all from me.  I hope you have found it of some interest.

Sitter (K): Very much so, but do you rely on that one man to guide you across the desert… what happens if he should die?

Spirit: Many of us who travel time and time again, we have a lot of knowledge but that is his responsibility – to get us there.  If in my case I had the master mariner shall we call him, die, I feel I could get the caravan to wherever it had to go, and many of us have this knowledge, but it is the one man who ultimately takes the responsibility.  We each have an important function to do in this caravan.

Sitter (K): Thank you Ling?

Note: I am not sure why Ken says 'Ling' as 'Alan' was talking. The communicator does not seem to notice. It may be there is a change of presentation and style, which Ken recognises as being 'Ling'. As he does not say there is no way of knowing. J. H. 2010

Sitter (H): What part of the world did you actually travel in Ling?

Spirit: Actually we travelled in Africa, we’ve also travelled in China, and sometimes it was by boat.  People travelled far more than you people realise, many years ago, and that’s how knowledge got from place to place, that’s how people learnt to appreciate other things.  Small nations that didn’t travel, or were perhaps island bound, weren’t able to advance as much as those that could travel.  But I was fortunate, I travelled far and wide.

Well friends, it’s been a pleasure to talk to you, and I hope enlighten you a little bit as to the hazards of sand and deserts. (Mirth).

Sitter (H): Thank you very much, I found it very interesting.

Sitters (J&K): Thank you.

Spirit: Bless you friends.

Sitters: Thank you, goodnight.

2. Future generations do have a future despite earth changes

Second Spirit (Ling): Greetings this is Ling.

I have just a few words to say tonight.  I don’t see into the future, I’m not a prophet, but people are being upset, (some of them), throughout the world because of the world changing… the actual earth itself.

Now what people must realise is that this isn’t the only world.  There are many, many worlds; many places for mankind to travel to as a soul, all part of God, and mankind as you know it, without the materialism I should think will continue… life everlasting.  The world has turned upside down more than once.  There have been dramatic things happen, but God, the Great Soul, Life – is eternal!

So though you may worry about your great, great grandchildren, and those coming afterwards…don’t!

Worry about their souls, but not about where they are going to live.

Do you comprehend what I am trying to say?

Sitters: Yes, thank you Ling.

Sitter (H): Everybody is very worried about climate change.

Spirit: True, and some are getting needlessly so, because as long as you believe in life everlasting, why shouldn’t you be happy? Make the best of your world, make the best of your teaching, be an example… that’s all you can do… and trust in your politicians. (Laughter).

Sitter (K): Sometimes it’s hard that one! (Laughter).

Spirit: Well, I must admit, even in my time, always had a tongue in cheek. (Mirth).

That’s all I wish to say because I don’t want, I wouldn’t like to think of my friends, and I like to consider you people my friends, worrying about your future generations.

Sitters: Thank you Ling.

Spirit: Bless you… and keep on with the good work. Goodnight.