"When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going? Into the spiritual world…Where is the spirit world? It is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go together? Yes they do…. Do they go beyond the boundaries of the organized earth? No, they do not…. Can you see it with your natural eyes? No. Can you see spirits in this room? No. Suppose the Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you then see the spirits? Yes, as plainly as you now see bodies " Brigham Young
If I remember correctly, Parley P. Pratt said that when we sleep, our ancestors and other deceased loved ones come to us sometimes and speak to us. He said that they tell us things that stick with us subconsciously, though we don't remember it when we wake up.
This much I know, what Brigham Young said is absolutely correct. There have been times when I have felt the guidance of my ancestors, whom I have never met but always admired. I have felt them nudging me to do what is right. I have felt their disappointment at the mistakes I've made. I have even felt their approval when I've done things right. I felt them leading me toward the Church, and so I don't take credit of myself for joining the Church, even though among all my living relatives, I'm the only one who is a member. I believe my ancestors made a deal with me, so to speak. I believe they had been taught the Gospel perhaps before I was even born, and I believe they watched over me and placed their hope in me that I would eventually join the Church and do the Temple work for them. I believed they saved me first, so I could save them in return. I can only hope that when I meet them I will feel worthy to stand with them.
I'll take this a step further, and I apologize if this sounds like I'm inventing new doctrine. If I understand Bruce R. McConkie correctly, the Holy Spirit is not omnipresent, and therefore can only be in one place at a time. Therefore, logically, I believe the Holy Spirit would need assistance to comfort, guide, and warn everyone who seeks after His help. I believe that the Holy Spirit delegates a lot of this work to peoples' ancestors. I believe that my ancestors have not only watched over me my whole life out of love for me, but also as a duty assigned to them by the Holy Spirit. I believe He told them I was their best hope at getting their Temple work done, and that He told them to help me find the Gospel. I believe they have led and comforted me, acting on the Holy Spirit's behalf, at least some of the time. Maybe they were using His power, kind of like how a Priesthood holder uses the Priesthood when in reality it comes from the Savior and not the Priesthood holder. I don't know. I only have theories.
But I do believe my ancestors have been watching over me and helping me my whole life. I believe that we are surrounded by the deceased, as well as the third of the host of Heaven that was cast out with lucifer. I believe that they exist in the same "plane" or "dimension" or whatever that we do, just that the matter of which they are composed is so fine that we cannot perceive them, kind of like oxygen.
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