Saskia Praamsma

The Ara Messages Saskia Praamsma

A posthumous collection of early communications Harold Sherman received from his Higher Self, whom he named "Ara". HAROLD SHERMAN (1898-1987) was an ESP investigator and a lifelong student of the mysteries of the mind. He published a number of bestselling self-help books, beginning with Your Key to Happiness in 1935. A popular lecturer, he traveled across the United States spreading the message that man needs to learn to utilize the powers of his own mind in order to live life to the fullest. Sherman's wife Martha shared in these studies. In 1941, while living in New York, they began corresponding with a man named Harry Loose in California, who quickly became their spiritual mentor. Loose told them about the Urantia manuscript, a voluminous document reporting to be a revelation from higher universe beings. He believed that this work, which was finally published in 1955 as The Urantia Book, would change the thinking of the world. Loose described to the Shermans much of the manuscript's contents, including its portrayal of a universe teeming with spiritual beings and influences. Sherman was particularly struck by the manuscript's teaching that a fragment of God lived in each human being. The manuscript called this fragment of God the "Thought Adjuster" and said that a Thought Adjuster indwells each of us, to guide and inspire us. Harold believed that he was becoming aware of this inner voice, which identified itself as "Ara". Ara began to communicate messages of various lengths, which Harold copied down as they presented themselves in his mind. Many messages had to do with the role Harold believed he was destined to play in the eventual presentation of the Urantia revelation to the world. The Ara messages were recorded, neatly typed, in a loose-leaf binder, together with accounts of dreams, psychic impressions, and Urantia-related poems. These writings span the years 1938-1952, with the bulk of the material recorded in 1941-42.