Ghost Writers

In this life-affirming book, author David Shaw explores ten major themes that affect us all – and offers a unique way to engage with them.

Whether it’s fear or forgiveness, credence or clarity, materialism or acceptance, Shaw gives us the benefit of ten spiritual authors who pen their intriguing and stimulating words through him as modern parables.

In doing so they offer us a steadying rudder in the choppy, often violent, sea of life’s cruelties and uncertainties.

Presenting an engaging and fascinating blend of fiction and nonfiction, Ghost Writers presents in a non-stuffy style information whose light-hearted humour belies its powerful emotional punch.

So sit back, relax and share David’s absorbing, gripping and spellbinding journey of a lifetime – and beyond.

Also by David Shaw

An Average Joe’s Search for the Meaning of Life

Ghost Writers

David Shaw

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2014

Copyright © David Shaw 2014

David Shaw asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition © December 2014 ISBN: 9781474008457

Version date: 2018-10-30

DAVID SHAW

lives in Ayrshire with his wife, son, Labrador and a houseful of ghosts. When he is not writing books and magazine articles, David works as a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and Reiki healer. But his biggest passion is working with his spirit guides and connecting this world with the spirit dimension. His only real aspiration is to be accepted as an Average Joe, oh, and to maybe see his favourite football team, Kilmarnock, actually win a game!

You can follow David on Facebook.com/spiritcounsellor& Twitter @sp_counsellor

Thank you to my editor, Victoria, and all the other staff at HQ Digital and Harlequin. Also, thanks to Dean Lewis for all his editing expertise and encouragement.

Big thanks to author Carol Arnall for continued support and encouragement. Thanks to my family for putting up with this mad psychic for ever. And special thanks to my friends for not laughing at me too much!

Thank you to everyone at 3tfm for allowing me to air my views on the radio, especially to my co-host Robert for giving me the opportunity to work with him on The Para Normal Show.

To everyone on Facebook, Twitter etc. who has supported this book – my indebted thanks. You all know who you are – much appreciated!

Heartfelt thanks go to the spirit team who have made this book possible. I know that there were many of you working behind the scenes to ensure that the writers were able to come forward. As always, Mr Chung, SiBir and Black Hawk – forever in your debt.

And last but not least, the ghost writers. It’s been a privilege to work alongside you on this project. I have learnt more than you will ever know.

To Morag – a great friend and neighbour

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Book List

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Acknowledgement

Dedication

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter One: Materialism

Chapter Two: Forgiveness

Chapter Three: Fearlessness

Chapter Four: Self-Belief

Chapter Five: Education

Chapter Six: Patience

Chapter Seven: Credence

Chapter Eight: Tolerance

Chapter Nine: Clarity

Chapter Ten: Acceptance

Denouement

Afterword

Extract

Endpages

About the Publisher

Foreword

I talk to the dead. There, I’ve said it, now you can start laughing, unless you’re dead of course as the dead can still read books too!

I’ve always been able to communicate with those of us who have passed over to another world; it was only ever my lack of awareness of this fact that continually stifled my early progression through life. And as for the dead – well, that’s just a myth: nobody dies, we all just turn into butterflies that flutter through the minds of those we love, hoping that they might notice us and heed our advice. After all, the dead should now know that life is not terminal, nor is the notion that love is lost whenever we leave this world. In reality, we are only ever as dead as the morbid thoughts that imprison us.

Through my extensive work with the spirit dimension, I have been given the opportunity to work with the ‘the big team’ as I like to call them. The knowledge brought forward by this highly advanced spiritual group is incomparable, but I can only ever ask that you take my word for this. Their only request is that I write about the reality of life, no fantasy or fairy-tale – just life as it is laid bare for every soul that should grace our shores.

Thankfully, I have been blessed with some extra hired help for this project. I’m forever being reminded that the greatest spirit mediums on this side of life have always been the creative minds – artists, composers and authors. Therefore, ‘the big team’ have invited ten of the greatest writers ever assembled to come back and share their stories through my very own mediumship.

It is not important which particular writer comes forward to work with me, nor is it absolutely necessary to know how I receive the information that’s brought forward, but it is essential that you attempt to understand the underlying message being relayed by each writer – that is all they ask. And who knows, you may find that you have been guided towards this book by a loved one from the land of the dead. Perhaps a little butterfly has attracted your attention and now wishes to send you a sign of their love from afar. If that should be the case then grasp this opportunity – I promise that you won’t regret it.

Finally, please remember that the next breath that you take is always the most important one – I hope it’s filled with the kindness that you deserve.

Introduction

Hello. My name is David and if this is the first time we’ve met then the honour is surely all mine. If we have met before through my other books then it’s great to meet up again. How have you been? Still trying to put the world to rights? Me too! Let’s have another go. It’s us against them…just as it has always been.

Now then, what’s all this ghost writing business when it’s at home? And furthermore, exactly whose ghosts do I intend to write with? Well, all will be revealed soon, and, believe me, you won’t be disappointed!

I must admit that I’ve been wallowing in self-pity for the last few months, wondering what to do next. Should I start a novel? Should I concentrate on promoting my other books? Or should I just do what I do best – set the dinner table; ignite the oven; invite friends round for a feast, before serving the most wonderful food that you can ever imagine? Not cooked by me, of course. I am only the server, the messenger or sometimes just the choreographer — nothing more and nothing less.

What we are about to embark on today is quite unique. This book will endorse ten spiritual commandments. However, there will be no parting of the Red Sea, nor will Charlton Heston need to search for his wooden staff and sandals! These commandments are only meant for guidance, so they’re more like polite requests. It’s your choice whether you wish to heed this advice or carry on with your merry way. That’s the beauty of the spiritual world – it won’t strike you down with lightning if you make different choices. But if you’re like me, and every now and again you tend to drift away from your spiritual roots, then this book may just give you the gentle kick up the ass that should hopefully bring you right back on track.

To help us along the way, there will be some celebrity guests appearing. Ten different spiritual authors will grace this book with short, fictional stories that will hopefully marry the factual words brought forward by my guides in spirit. At this stage I do not know who these authors are but I do know that their influence will be remarkable.

So, non-fiction and fiction in the same book! What next? Is there anybody else invited to the dinner table? I can’t wait to find out.

As before, my role in this book is to simply receive knowledge from the spirit world and pass this information on to you. And if you choose to dine with such divinity then I can promise you that you will leave this book a far better person in the eyes of those whose journey you share.

And when the last ass has been firmly kicked, we can reflect on this momentous feast of knowledge received, before embarking on the next part of our voyage of discovery.

Napkins at the ready – shall we begin? Why not?

Chapter One: Materialism

Now then, where did we leave it? Oh, yes, at the conclusion of New Mediumship – our second helping of this lung-sapping marathon of knowledge brought to you by Spirits Inc. And now, the end is near, and so we face the final episode (sorry, Frank) of our trilogy of hope for the future…for mankind …for the sake of true and unconditional love!

STOP right there! No more lovey-dovey nonsense; angels in heaven spreading their wings over our manically depressed flock; love and light all around us like some kind of halogen stalker; Archangel Metatarsal and his cosmic ramblings from a nicer Galaxy than ours… NO!

As before, we are not that kind of book. So, if you’ve just joined us and you don’t want to know the score, you can look away now. There are numerous self-help books aplenty that empower the notion that only positive thinking can save the world and they’re beautifully written. And they will make you feel good. But so will morphine – for a while. In actual fact, if you are living a life of extreme poverty, where just finding enough food to eat is a marathon in itself, then no amount of positive thinking alone can realistically break this ingrained mould. Nevertheless, a life borne through this means is no less important, nor valuable, than any life of material luxury. Of that, I can promise you.

To be fair, positive thinking is important to all of us. It can give someone living within extreme hardship the willpower to keep going; to feel a part of life itself and to feel love in its most powerful form. But it won’t necessarily get you a BMW.

This spiritual kick up the ass is simply a reminder to all of us that life is merely a test of our worth as individuals. There are many trapdoors set throughout our journey. This book will show you how to avoid falling down them. It will also show you that if you do fall down one, you can easily climb back up a more knowledgeable soul, and a more spiritual individual.

An Average Joe was the first instalment and highlighted my own roller-coaster ride through life’s perils and permutations. New Mediumship then gave us the impetus to seek meaning in everything that surrounds us, aided by the knowledge of Master Guides, Mr Chung & SiBir. Now, Ghost Writers sets our wheels in motion. So, let’s now attempt to put everything that we have learned into practical use. Let us try to help our neighbour live a life not less worthy than what we would expect of ourselves. And please let us do this regardless of the choices that anyone has made, or the path that they have selected for themselves.

You may have heard this quote before and I make no apologies for going over old ground. ‘There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility.’ Mark Twain.

Please remember these words and you will never stray far from the correct path.

* * *

When the dinosaurs first roamed our Earth in search of food, and perhaps other dinosaurs ‘to play with’ (it’s a family book!), there wasn’t technically that much wrong with our world. Okay, the big guys would normally eat the little guys, but has that changed much today? Not really, except for maybe the smarter guys eating the thick ones. No, what’s really changed is the complex nature of our lives today. Back in the days of Barney and Godzilla, our Jurassic friends lived a life of simplistic harmony that revolved around a natural cycle of being born, breathing, sleeping and dying. Freud suggested that man and beast will never really alter their primal instincts to hunt and survive – but realistically, who are we kidding? We don’t need to hunt for food now that Tesco delivers twenty-four hours a day. Nor do we need to fight each other to eat this food, unless it’s Lindor Milk Truffles (I’d kill for them!).

Our world today is based on the hypothesis that the more you have in the way of possessions, the more you strive to increase your load. Materialism in any fashion is simply just the result of self-progression through fears of being left behind. The effects of stimulation ensure that our brains are motivated just enough to stay in the race and the more we are motivated, the more we feed off every branch of the material tree.

But is this addiction to bettering oneself responsible for much of the world’s problems today? No – it’s responsible for all of the problems in our brave new world, and the sooner we address this problem, the sooner we can start again – right back to when Barney was just a little purple egg!

But wait! If we have nothing left to motivate or stimulate us then what’s left in the cupboard to keep us from eating each other like our prehistoric friends? Hasn’t man developed significantly enough through centuries of iconic inventions and innovating discoveries to deserve the right to choose his own way of life? The answer is, undoubtedly, yes. After all, we are here in the physical world to experience the effects of emotional involvement in every capacity. But, if the results of these endeavours lay privy to the detriment of many who are unable to follow in these footsteps, then perhaps a revaluation is indeed in order.

If that is the case, then what should we do with our precious timeframe here on Earth, whilst the strands of time welt our bodies like the melting wax from seven billion candles? Well, we could maybe talk more openly to each other and discover what values we appreciate in life. We could listen more intently with a view to appreciating those values without fear or judgement. We could even tear off all of our clothes, run naked into the street, before shouting out to the world that it’s simply great to be alive and to be able to feel everything around us in all of its natural beauty.

If we were to strip ourselves (not again!) of all material possessions, what would we have left to stimulate our poor insatiable brain? What would we do when all the talking, listening and streaking had left us scratching our heads with boredom? One answer could be to assist those less fortunate than ourselves to live a fulfilled life where a caring, compassionate society exists. This sounds a fairly straightforward task. But, in all the millions of years that man has walked this Earth with a self-professed superiority based on pure intellect alone, we have never completely managed this feat on a universal scale. Sure, we’ve had notable periods like the 1960s, where music and culture rose up against the war machine and for a while gave it a run for its money. But, inevitably, power and greed prevailed as the prime motivation for the young and the restless, and the world returned to an endless cycle of incessant stimulation, resulting in ever-increasing divisions within society.

Nowadays, as we still find ourselves caught up in the backlash of the great banking crash of the early ‘noughties’, the spectre of materialism ironically still lies at the door of even the most frugal of suburban households. Of course, it doesn’t help that technical gadgets are now so cheap and plentiful that these comparative luxury items of yesteryear are now affordable to nearly everyone who desires them. A recent study by the UN reported that, in India, more people have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet. Where’s the logic in that? I know that India is a profoundly spiritual country, but surely it’s much better that you refrain from buying your children the latest smartphone if it means they don’t have to shit in the street. Seriously though, it is a worrying statistic and it suggests that materialism is now becoming a global problem and not just confined to those trying to keep up with ‘The Joneses’.

Another statistic that sounds even more alarming is that if you took the bank account interest accrued from the combined wealth of the top 103 wealthiest people on Earth for just one year, then it would completely wipe out world poverty. Just think about that for a moment: just the interest accrued – not even touching the amount of money owned by these individuals! It is true that some of the world’s wealthiest people are the biggest donators to charity, but come on! Instead of the superpowers gathering together at an annual summit to try and save our planet, why don’t the aforementioned 103 tycoons get together and do the right thing? Sounds easy, but it would be like trying to convince an overweight child that too many sweets can be bad for you.

So what’s the answer, then? Should we all give up everything we own and send it to the Third World? Of course not! Each and every one of us has to decide the best way forward for our own life and we shall be judged on our own choices when the time comes. Extravagance can be tolerated, but overindulgence should always be carefully monitored. When we return to the spirit realm the same question will always be asked – could I have done more for my fellow human being? The answer must be truthful and can often be tinged with great shame and remorse. There are sure to be at least 103 of them falling into this category. Nevertheless, that’s why we are here in the physical world. We are here to learn from our mistakes and we cannot blame anyone else for these misgivings as it is our sole responsibility to live our lives as individuals.

I am the first to acknowledge that I could do more in the way of helping my fellow human being. I could give more money to charity; I could offer my therapy sessions for free; I could spend more time with people who are struggling to cope with addiction; I could even stop writing right now and go and spend more time with my family. All of these declarations, in their own way, would keep the spiritual boot from my ass for just a little while longer. Realistically, we don’t need to be saints to make a difference in this world – we just have to care enough to want to see a difference, and that is all I am asking you to consider.

As we found out from our last endeavour through New Mediumship, the great burden of extreme materialism can ignite a passion within any man that is often determined by a spiritual force called the ego. Whereas our brain feeds off stimulation, the ego feeds off energy forged by unconstructive spiritual activity, and the effects of this manifestation can even be felt long after physical death. The battle with one’s ego is the greatest test of our eternal life journey. Even the most spiritually advanced individuals on this physical plane still strive to keep this monster under control. It is inevitable that the more wealth or power an individual accrues, then the greater the task of keeping the ego in check.

It is not my personal goal to sell millions of books worldwide and become a best-selling author, but if it were then I would have a major problem restraining my ego from basking in its self-proclaimed glory. We cannot escape from the ego until we are at a highly advanced state of consciousness, similar to that of Mr Chung and SiBir. So, it is crucial that we work closely with the ego and learn from the many challenges it sets us.

Our ego is fundamentally manifested from all of our past lives, and in addition contains elements of our behavioural characteristics from each former incarnation. In theory, if you have previously lived a life of extreme wealth or power then you should have learned how to control your ego accordingly. However, the potential is still there to let it slip out of control and under strict spiritual laws your spirit guide cannot interfere with this predicament. The task then is firmly set at our own door. This is why materialism should only be tolerated in moderation and not overindulged, since regaining control of an exorbitant ego can be immensely difficult to achieve, with the after effects being felt throughout endless incarnations.

Okay then, it’s clear that we shouldn’t try and amass a mountain of money as it might just go straight to our head! Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But how many of us play the National Lottery? How many of us work excessive hours till we can hardly think straight? How many of us would invest in the stock market if we knew we couldn’t lose? Most of us – correct? We dream of a lifestyle that gives us a plethora of choices without worrying about where these choices will leave us. We yearn for the opportunity to indulge in excessive behaviour because we see others enjoying that very dream. We strive to create an environment that is befitting of elegance and extravagance. And it may only be a dream for most us, but would you truthfully turn down an opportunity to sample this abundant lifestyle if it was presented to you on a plate tomorrow? Even for just a few moments? No, neither would I, despite the fact that my ego is fairly well shackled, and I don’t play the National Lottery. Bah humbug! But we can always dream…

The point being that most of us would like to know if the grass really is greener on the other side and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this most ‘human’ form of curiosity. Because that’s why we are here in the physical world – to experience changes in our self and in those of us who we love. We cannot condemn those who seek material gain unless we find out for ourselves just how such a fallacy affects the human soul.

If I were to ask you if you would willingly give up every single material possession that you owned if it helped to save the life of your child then I know that you would do it in a heartbeat, and so would I. Indeed, the importance of being in a position of wealth where your range of choices is huge is without doubt a tempting entrée for any palette. However, once you dine at the table of Caligula, you may never again wish to cook in the kitchen of humility.