1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,129 Father Nathan Castle: It was before we had televisions on 2 00:00:02,129 --> 00:00:07,000 walls, but it was like that, and it got right up close to 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:11,360 me, and inside the picture frame, something like a video 4 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:15,990 played of a car from the late 1950s, the kind with lots of 5 00:00:15,990 --> 00:00:17,399 chrome and fins on the back. 6 00:00:18,210 --> 00:00:20,780 There was a young man sitting on the radiator of it with 7 00:00:20,790 --> 00:00:24,380 the hood open, and he had not been in a collision, but for 8 00:00:24,430 --> 00:00:28,950 some reason, he burst into flames on the engine of a car 9 00:00:29,410 --> 00:00:31,720 and was screaming as he died. 10 00:00:35,220 --> 00:00:38,200 Rod Bland: My guest today is Father Nathan Castle, who's 11 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,210 a Catholic priest of the Dominican order and author of 12 00:00:41,290 --> 00:00:43,110 several books, including the one I'm reading now, which 13 00:00:43,110 --> 00:00:46,310 is Afterlife Interrupted, Helping Stuck Souls Crossover. 14 00:00:46,910 --> 00:00:48,760 Father Nathan, welcome and thank you so much 15 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:49,480 for coming on the show. 16 00:00:49,790 --> 00:00:50,500 Father Nathan Castle: Great to be with you. 17 00:00:50,500 --> 00:00:51,330 Thanks for inviting me. 18 00:00:52,330 --> 00:00:53,830 Rod Bland: All right it's fun actually, I'm really 19 00:00:53,830 --> 00:00:55,200 enjoying reading your book. 20 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,590 And what I'd like to do is to start with your early years. 21 00:00:59,590 --> 00:01:01,670 Can you tell us a bit about what it was like 22 00:01:01,790 --> 00:01:04,030 growing up for you to the point where you decided to 23 00:01:04,030 --> 00:01:05,370 study to become a priest? 24 00:01:05,590 --> 00:01:06,150 Father Nathan Castle: Sure. 25 00:01:06,210 --> 00:01:07,860 I'm I'm 67 years old. 26 00:01:07,860 --> 00:01:11,920 I was born in 56 and I'm from Southeast Texas, 27 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:13,280 right on the Gulf coast. 28 00:01:13,630 --> 00:01:17,280 My parents are Catholic folk and my dad had two 29 00:01:17,330 --> 00:01:20,520 siblings, two sisters who both became Dominican nuns 30 00:01:20,570 --> 00:01:21,870 and first grade teachers. 31 00:01:22,870 --> 00:01:24,370 My mom was a great woman. 32 00:01:24,370 --> 00:01:28,400 She and she was not only a religious person, but you know 33 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:30,310 how some people say they're spiritual, not religious. 34 00:01:30,310 --> 00:01:35,350 She was both and she really taught me how to move in the 35 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:39,400 spirit, how to pray and talk to the saints and so on. 36 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,160 So I was raised in Catholic faith that was not just about 37 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,550 rules and regulations, but was really very spiritually 38 00:01:44,550 --> 00:01:45,840 grounding from the beginning. 39 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:49,330 And part of that comes into this conversation about 40 00:01:49,330 --> 00:01:52,290 the afterlife and souls and so on, is that I was 41 00:01:52,290 --> 00:01:56,205 taught very early on that we were all kind of dual 42 00:01:56,215 --> 00:01:58,135 citizens of earth and heaven. 43 00:01:58,805 --> 00:02:02,245 That by our nature, we are God's children. 44 00:02:02,595 --> 00:02:03,635 We belong to God. 45 00:02:03,655 --> 00:02:06,955 We're here for a while on the earth and after 46 00:02:06,955 --> 00:02:10,835 our deaths, we'll go home to our heavenly home. 47 00:02:11,515 --> 00:02:14,035 I was taught that when people die we can 48 00:02:14,045 --> 00:02:15,245 pray for their good. 49 00:02:15,275 --> 00:02:17,715 We can help them advance or progress or something. 50 00:02:18,170 --> 00:02:21,010 And so I went to sleep most nights doing that. 51 00:02:21,060 --> 00:02:24,250 So I've been at this for really 60 years, 52 00:02:24,770 --> 00:02:25,230 Rod Bland: All right. 53 00:02:25,375 --> 00:02:25,985 Father Nathan Castle: more than that. 54 00:02:26,485 --> 00:02:28,295 Rod Bland: That's a long time to be praying for people. 55 00:02:29,295 --> 00:02:30,485 It takes, that's a lot of commitment. 56 00:02:30,985 --> 00:02:33,155 It's something you just said then about knowing that. 57 00:02:33,775 --> 00:02:35,745 No, it wasn't knowing, it was that we're dual 58 00:02:35,745 --> 00:02:38,825 citizens in, here on earth and also in heaven. 59 00:02:39,145 --> 00:02:41,845 It's one of those things that's, even though I've 60 00:02:41,845 --> 00:02:44,235 not, don't have direct experience of that, it's one 61 00:02:44,235 --> 00:02:46,535 of those things that I've always felt like was true. 62 00:02:46,665 --> 00:02:49,045 Some things you just have a inner knowing about them 63 00:02:49,635 --> 00:02:52,705 and that's always been the basis for my fascination in 64 00:02:52,705 --> 00:02:56,765 anything that's not to do with our actual physical reality. 65 00:02:57,140 --> 00:02:58,540 Father Nathan Castle: I had a really good advantage, 66 00:02:58,870 --> 00:03:01,280 a nice head start, but you know how, have you ever been 67 00:03:01,290 --> 00:03:04,100 around little kids that are fascinated with dinosaurs? 68 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,960 Rod Bland: Oh yes, I have a nephew who is autistic 69 00:03:08,190 --> 00:03:10,260 who is very fascinated with dinosaurs, yeah. 70 00:03:10,365 --> 00:03:12,255 Father Nathan Castle: That I'm much older than wherever 71 00:03:12,255 --> 00:03:13,635 the, however that got started. 72 00:03:13,635 --> 00:03:15,645 But in my childhood, I was fascinated with 73 00:03:15,645 --> 00:03:19,985 pirates and I had a record player and a little book 74 00:03:19,990 --> 00:03:23,135 that had pictures and I couldn't even, before 75 00:03:23,140 --> 00:03:25,175 I could read, I could play the records. 76 00:03:25,175 --> 00:03:27,065 The records lived inside little sleeves 77 00:03:27,065 --> 00:03:27,815 inside the book. 78 00:03:28,815 --> 00:03:32,285 it was Peter Pan and that involves pirates. 79 00:03:32,315 --> 00:03:35,825 And there was a picture of an island with a should like you 80 00:03:35,825 --> 00:03:39,785 live in the South Pacific, an island with a palm tree and it 81 00:03:39,785 --> 00:03:43,525 had a broken boat and a crab and a dotted line with an X. 82 00:03:44,525 --> 00:03:48,125 Well, of course, kids learn early on that a dotted line 83 00:03:48,125 --> 00:03:50,765 and an X on a map means that's where the treasure's buried. 84 00:03:50,915 --> 00:03:53,115 My mom taught me how to make the sign of the cross that 85 00:03:53,115 --> 00:03:56,825 Catholics do, where we touch our forehead, our heart, and 86 00:03:57,035 --> 00:03:59,755 shoulder to shoulder, making a cross over ourselves. 87 00:04:00,105 --> 00:04:02,555 And she said, she asked, what letter does that make? 88 00:04:02,565 --> 00:04:03,905 When I was still learning the alphabet. 89 00:04:04,505 --> 00:04:05,915 She wanted me to say X. 90 00:04:06,265 --> 00:04:09,925 And she said, yes, X marks the spot, and right in the middle 91 00:04:09,925 --> 00:04:12,835 is your heart, and that's all you have to do is knock on the 92 00:04:12,835 --> 00:04:16,125 door of your heart because the treasure is buried inside you. 93 00:04:17,125 --> 00:04:20,185 God, who created you, placed himself inside you. 94 00:04:20,185 --> 00:04:21,835 And if you want to talk to God, you just make 95 00:04:21,835 --> 00:04:23,415 the sign of the cross. 96 00:04:23,415 --> 00:04:25,865 You knock on the door and you talk. 97 00:04:26,155 --> 00:04:27,955 You just say, God, I want to talk to you. 98 00:04:28,955 --> 00:04:30,865 So I was doing that really early on. 99 00:04:31,865 --> 00:04:32,365 Rod Bland: Interesting. 100 00:04:32,385 --> 00:04:36,055 And at what point obviously growing up in a Catholic 101 00:04:36,055 --> 00:04:41,285 family and surrounded by those of that faith, was that 102 00:04:41,285 --> 00:04:45,825 sort of what made you decide, okay, I'm going to become a 103 00:04:45,845 --> 00:04:47,675 priest or did that come later? 104 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:49,280 Father Nathan Castle: It did come later. 105 00:04:49,340 --> 00:04:52,820 I went off to college and studied sociology. 106 00:04:53,820 --> 00:04:58,070 And, my parents raised me with the idea that I be 107 00:04:58,085 --> 00:04:59,525 anything I put my mind to. 108 00:04:59,585 --> 00:05:00,545 Did you grow up that way? 109 00:05:01,545 --> 00:05:03,375 Rod Bland: I did, yeah, I grew up in the bush 110 00:05:03,375 --> 00:05:04,305 in Western Australia. 111 00:05:04,305 --> 00:05:08,575 We were miles and miles from any other person and you had 112 00:05:08,575 --> 00:05:13,715 to become so self reliance and doing, being able to do, 113 00:05:13,765 --> 00:05:16,885 to put to any challenge, to take on any challenge was 114 00:05:16,895 --> 00:05:18,995 something that we learned from a very early age, yes. 115 00:05:19,425 --> 00:05:20,955 Father Nathan Castle: My parents didn't go to college. 116 00:05:20,955 --> 00:05:23,325 They were, they graduated high school in, I think 117 00:05:23,325 --> 00:05:26,505 1939, just on the cusp of the Second World War, 118 00:05:26,535 --> 00:05:29,445 and they didn't have that advantage, but they made sure 119 00:05:29,445 --> 00:05:32,740 that their five children all had a college savings fund 120 00:05:32,740 --> 00:05:34,090 the first week of our lives. 121 00:05:34,540 --> 00:05:38,270 I think my dad went from the delivery room to the bank 122 00:05:38,570 --> 00:05:40,180 and created a college fund. 123 00:05:41,060 --> 00:05:43,670 So I just knew very early on that I would go to college 124 00:05:43,670 --> 00:05:45,150 and I would become something. 125 00:05:45,190 --> 00:05:47,620 And they instilled in me that I could become just about 126 00:05:47,620 --> 00:05:49,590 anything that I wanted to be. 127 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,880 But once I was in college, I had a spiritual experience 128 00:05:53,010 --> 00:05:56,300 at 18 right before leaving home to go off to college 129 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,990 that persuaded me if I needed any persuading that 130 00:06:00,020 --> 00:06:02,430 it was all real and that God was near me, loved 131 00:06:02,430 --> 00:06:03,500 me, was paying attention. 132 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,180 And I began to think this is the most important 133 00:06:06,180 --> 00:06:08,650 thing that I could think of spending my life on, but it 134 00:06:08,650 --> 00:06:11,540 was really after college, four years later, that I 135 00:06:11,810 --> 00:06:14,980 really had to get serious about the specifics of it. 136 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:15,950 Would I stay Catholic? 137 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:18,370 For one thing, I went to a Presbyterian college. 138 00:06:18,870 --> 00:06:20,670 Many of my friends were not Catholics. 139 00:06:20,770 --> 00:06:23,490 But anyway, I did decide to try out the Catholic 140 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:26,670 system and I ended up sticking around. 141 00:06:26,710 --> 00:06:30,370 It'll be 44 years next week that I joined the Dominicans. 142 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:31,470 Rod Bland: Wow. 143 00:06:32,020 --> 00:06:33,790 The spiritual experience that you spoke of then, 144 00:06:33,790 --> 00:06:35,260 would you mind sharing a little bit more about that? 145 00:06:35,260 --> 00:06:37,110 Was that the one where you were with your friend 146 00:06:37,110 --> 00:06:38,380 and you were seated 147 00:06:38,670 --> 00:06:39,530 Father Nathan Castle: At the Grand Canyon. 148 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:40,570 Rod Bland: Yeah, at 149 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:42,060 Father Nathan Castle: No, it was even earlier than that. 150 00:06:42,110 --> 00:06:44,980 I had I, I grew up in a household of five kids. 151 00:06:44,980 --> 00:06:48,090 I was the middle it was a busy household and 152 00:06:48,950 --> 00:06:51,330 I grew up without feeling like I knew my dad at all, 153 00:06:51,580 --> 00:06:54,090 even though he was there, but he worked really hard. 154 00:06:54,110 --> 00:06:57,520 He had, he worked on ships and was asleep 155 00:06:57,520 --> 00:06:58,800 in the daytime a lot. 156 00:06:58,860 --> 00:07:02,350 And anyway he and I just didn't mesh somehow. 157 00:07:02,350 --> 00:07:06,335 And my older brother and he had a very strong bond, 158 00:07:06,745 --> 00:07:08,505 and I just felt that's just the way it was. 159 00:07:08,505 --> 00:07:10,085 There wasn't anything to be done about it. 160 00:07:10,805 --> 00:07:12,915 And right before going off to college, I was invited 161 00:07:12,915 --> 00:07:15,565 to go on a retreat at a Catholic college campus 162 00:07:15,565 --> 00:07:16,655 center near my home. 163 00:07:17,475 --> 00:07:20,555 I didn't want to go, but I was not exactly forced into it. 164 00:07:20,555 --> 00:07:21,325 Pretty close. 165 00:07:21,985 --> 00:07:25,545 A lot of my friends were going, and I capitulated 166 00:07:25,545 --> 00:07:26,215 and went on it. 167 00:07:26,245 --> 00:07:27,815 And I thought it would be about prayers, 168 00:07:27,825 --> 00:07:29,015 sacraments, commandments. 169 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,120 I'd been Catholic all my life, so I figured as 170 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:32,940 long as we stay to those things, I'll be fine. 171 00:07:33,510 --> 00:07:37,450 But when we got there, the people leading it said, the 172 00:07:37,450 --> 00:07:39,750 theme this weekend is what do you think about your parents? 173 00:07:40,300 --> 00:07:43,040 I was really angry at my father and hadn't spoken 174 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:45,270 to him in about five years other than pleasantries. 175 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:46,340 I was not impolite. 176 00:07:46,380 --> 00:07:47,320 I just shut down. 177 00:07:47,380 --> 00:07:52,543 He hurt me and I nursed a grudge and I I just, you know, 178 00:07:52,543 --> 00:07:55,778 it's not that uncommon for teenagers and parents to have 179 00:07:55,778 --> 00:07:59,568 a difficult time communicating and I just closed down inside. 180 00:08:00,188 --> 00:08:02,998 And then on this retreat they asked us and people 181 00:08:02,998 --> 00:08:05,078 started telling the truth and I had never seen 182 00:08:05,078 --> 00:08:06,028 that depth of sharing. 183 00:08:06,028 --> 00:08:09,248 Have you been in groups where people talk uninhibited 184 00:08:09,248 --> 00:08:10,488 about their personal lives? 185 00:08:10,953 --> 00:08:12,193 Rod Bland: Yeah, I actually have a very similar 186 00:08:12,193 --> 00:08:13,933 story to the one I think you're about to tell. 187 00:08:14,073 --> 00:08:14,313 But, 188 00:08:14,818 --> 00:08:16,158 Father Nathan Castle: These people who looked as just 189 00:08:16,158 --> 00:08:19,008 to be as ordinary as could be started talking once 190 00:08:19,008 --> 00:08:21,298 they knew that they had the full attention of others 191 00:08:21,818 --> 00:08:23,178 and compassionate listeners 192 00:08:23,668 --> 00:08:24,588 And tell their stories. 193 00:08:24,588 --> 00:08:27,038 And so when it was my turn, I told my story about 194 00:08:27,318 --> 00:08:28,278 how my dad had hurt me. 195 00:08:28,288 --> 00:08:29,748 It was all over report cards. 196 00:08:30,228 --> 00:08:32,308 I had our Catholic school closed when I was going 197 00:08:32,338 --> 00:08:34,548 into the eighth grade, which it was in a K through 198 00:08:34,548 --> 00:08:37,398 eight school and it just blew what it blew up. 199 00:08:37,398 --> 00:08:40,308 It went away and I lost my whole community that I'd 200 00:08:40,338 --> 00:08:41,498 had since kindergarten. 201 00:08:42,068 --> 00:08:46,428 And I was, I felt thrown into a school of 900 kids that 202 00:08:46,428 --> 00:08:48,668 were always saying the F bomb. 203 00:08:49,668 --> 00:08:51,528 I thought they were talking about forks. 204 00:08:52,528 --> 00:08:55,188 And I didn't forks are pointy and I thought maybe 205 00:08:55,188 --> 00:08:57,338 they're talking about jabbing somebody with a fork. 206 00:08:57,348 --> 00:08:59,748 They're so angry and they talk about forking you. 207 00:09:00,048 --> 00:09:03,078 And I didn't know why they were so angry, 208 00:09:03,078 --> 00:09:03,958 but I came home. 209 00:09:04,008 --> 00:09:07,298 I was, I had my growth spurt later than most kids did. 210 00:09:07,708 --> 00:09:12,688 And I couldn't climb a rope to the top of a gym in a physical 211 00:09:12,688 --> 00:09:17,148 ed class and I got a B in PE, A's in everything else. 212 00:09:17,658 --> 00:09:19,958 And I came home on report card day, and my dad just said, 213 00:09:20,248 --> 00:09:21,218 is report card day in it? 214 00:09:21,218 --> 00:09:22,118 And I said, yes, sir, it is. 215 00:09:22,118 --> 00:09:22,998 And he said let me show you. 216 00:09:23,348 --> 00:09:27,378 And he flipped past five A's to a B in PE, and all he said 217 00:09:27,378 --> 00:09:29,108 was, what happened in PE? 218 00:09:29,948 --> 00:09:32,778 And on the outside, I said, I couldn't climb a rope. 219 00:09:33,503 --> 00:09:36,443 And on the inside, I said, fork you. 220 00:09:37,303 --> 00:09:40,073 And I went to my room and sat on the edge of my bed 221 00:09:40,073 --> 00:09:44,583 and just shook and made the tears run on down 222 00:09:44,583 --> 00:09:45,993 the inside of my cheeks 223 00:09:46,493 --> 00:09:48,113 In Texas, big boys don't cry. 224 00:09:48,853 --> 00:09:52,333 And so I just, I was just furious and angry 225 00:09:52,333 --> 00:09:54,013 and wanted to run away. 226 00:09:54,363 --> 00:09:55,893 And I decided, you know what I'll do? 227 00:09:56,053 --> 00:09:58,083 I have to stay here five more years. 228 00:09:58,768 --> 00:10:01,238 I'll be so perfect, they won't need to parent me. 229 00:10:01,758 --> 00:10:03,878 I had two brothers and two sisters, and I thought 230 00:10:03,878 --> 00:10:04,988 they're very busy people. 231 00:10:05,258 --> 00:10:08,038 If I just never give them a reason to pay me any 232 00:10:08,038 --> 00:10:10,288 attention, that'll be my plan. 233 00:10:11,218 --> 00:10:12,928 And I pretty much did that, and I had a little brother 234 00:10:12,928 --> 00:10:15,118 who obliged by needing a lot of parental attention. 235 00:10:16,118 --> 00:10:18,568 it was working just fine until I went on this 236 00:10:18,568 --> 00:10:21,788 retreat, like a month, two months before graduating 237 00:10:21,788 --> 00:10:22,988 and going off to college. 238 00:10:23,508 --> 00:10:26,818 This thing opened me up, and I told the truth. 239 00:10:27,383 --> 00:10:30,493 And I said, I need to talk to my dad and I don't know how. 240 00:10:30,883 --> 00:10:33,213 I don't want to leave his home in what I felt was pretty 241 00:10:33,213 --> 00:10:35,473 much a once and for all event. 242 00:10:35,553 --> 00:10:39,033 I knew that I'd only come home as a visitor 243 00:10:39,343 --> 00:10:40,113 and that was true. 244 00:10:40,663 --> 00:10:43,823 So I just thought this was a life moment that 245 00:10:43,823 --> 00:10:44,923 needed to be done right. 246 00:10:45,093 --> 00:10:46,643 And I tell these people that and I said, I 247 00:10:46,643 --> 00:10:48,843 don't know how to do it, but I know I need to. 248 00:10:49,583 --> 00:10:51,723 Anyway, they brought in a priest and said, anybody 249 00:10:51,723 --> 00:10:52,713 want to go to confession? 250 00:10:53,078 --> 00:10:55,498 And I hadn't done that in years, but I already 251 00:10:55,498 --> 00:10:57,498 did the hard part, all I have to do is repeat 252 00:10:57,498 --> 00:10:58,878 it and shorten it a bit. 253 00:10:59,318 --> 00:11:02,328 And the priest gave me absolution and I went 254 00:11:02,328 --> 00:11:04,718 to communion at the mass that concluded this thing. 255 00:11:04,948 --> 00:11:06,568 And when I went to communion, I had my 256 00:11:06,568 --> 00:11:07,918 own private Pentecost. 257 00:11:08,918 --> 00:11:10,178 People call it different things. 258 00:11:10,348 --> 00:11:12,388 Kundalini Awakening or whatever. 259 00:11:12,418 --> 00:11:15,008 I had all this energy that just flowed through me. 260 00:11:15,058 --> 00:11:15,868 I felt loved. 261 00:11:15,968 --> 00:11:20,588 I went to sit down and my body quaked and my hands heated up. 262 00:11:21,028 --> 00:11:23,218 I started crying real tears on the outside of my 263 00:11:23,288 --> 00:11:26,498 face and I felt like I was starting life all over again. 264 00:11:27,463 --> 00:11:28,373 And it stayed with me. 265 00:11:28,373 --> 00:11:30,913 I went home and that was about a half an 266 00:11:30,923 --> 00:11:31,933 hour, 40 minute drive. 267 00:11:32,323 --> 00:11:34,543 And when I got home, I sat on the edge of my bed. 268 00:11:34,543 --> 00:11:35,443 I'm an 18 year old. 269 00:11:35,443 --> 00:11:37,823 I woke my dad up, which was one of the rules 270 00:11:37,823 --> 00:11:39,543 of the household that you'd never to do. 271 00:11:40,183 --> 00:11:41,703 And I just thought if I don't do it right now, 272 00:11:41,703 --> 00:11:42,733 I might lose my nerve. 273 00:11:42,833 --> 00:11:44,573 So I woke him up, which was difficult. 274 00:11:44,613 --> 00:11:46,623 And I outlined that in my first book. 275 00:11:46,643 --> 00:11:48,303 My first book is on the wizard of eyes. 276 00:11:48,848 --> 00:11:51,038 You might, I don't know if you can, it's dark over 277 00:11:51,038 --> 00:11:53,398 my shoulder, but it's on, there's a picture of it 278 00:11:53,398 --> 00:11:54,368 on the wall behind me. 279 00:11:55,233 --> 00:11:58,903 And in that book, I described this event and that I woke 280 00:11:58,903 --> 00:12:02,323 him up and had a heart to heart with him and told 281 00:12:02,323 --> 00:12:04,903 him why I was so angry and that I asked if he knew I'd 282 00:12:04,933 --> 00:12:07,173 quit talking to him and he said, yeah, I just didn't 283 00:12:07,173 --> 00:12:08,013 know what to do about it. 284 00:12:08,703 --> 00:12:11,263 Which was extraordinary for him because he was a big manly 285 00:12:11,263 --> 00:12:12,903 man who never admitted defeat. 286 00:12:13,723 --> 00:12:16,703 And for him to say, I didn't know what to do about it was 287 00:12:16,703 --> 00:12:18,543 really humble and truthful. 288 00:12:19,413 --> 00:12:22,963 And so we had a conversation that and I told him I loved 289 00:12:22,963 --> 00:12:27,613 him and actually all the way at the end of his life he 290 00:12:27,613 --> 00:12:31,953 died of Parkinson's disease and was in dementia for 291 00:12:32,793 --> 00:12:34,163 probably two years at the end. 292 00:12:34,863 --> 00:12:38,883 And the week after his death he, he told me, whatever you 293 00:12:38,883 --> 00:12:40,253 did that day, do more of it. 294 00:12:40,363 --> 00:12:41,283 It's really important. 295 00:12:42,283 --> 00:12:44,073 Rod Bland: He was referring to when you spoke to him 296 00:12:44,073 --> 00:12:45,103 when you were 18 years old. 297 00:12:45,253 --> 00:12:45,853 Father Nathan Castle: Exactly. 298 00:12:45,903 --> 00:12:48,893 And he was, I was, I think I was 53 or 4 at 299 00:12:48,893 --> 00:12:51,973 the time of his death, but he said, whatever you did 300 00:12:51,973 --> 00:12:52,913 that day, do more of it. 301 00:12:52,913 --> 00:12:53,813 It's really important. 302 00:12:54,363 --> 00:12:57,733 So anyway, that just made me, all that happened in a 303 00:12:57,833 --> 00:12:59,113 Catholic religious setting. 304 00:12:59,113 --> 00:13:02,293 And so it just made me think there's more here than I 305 00:13:02,383 --> 00:13:03,553 have paid attention to. 306 00:13:03,553 --> 00:13:05,393 I'm going to, I'm going to pay more attention. 307 00:13:05,393 --> 00:13:07,123 And then one thing led to another. 308 00:13:07,123 --> 00:13:09,693 And then four years later, I was entering a seminary. 309 00:13:10,693 --> 00:13:11,043 Rod Bland: yeah. 310 00:13:11,733 --> 00:13:15,243 I grew up in a a very, not a religious background, so I 311 00:13:15,243 --> 00:13:18,303 may ask questions that seem obvious but I'm eternally 312 00:13:18,303 --> 00:13:22,323 curious about all religious faiths, all kinds of people, 313 00:13:22,393 --> 00:13:23,633 so that's what I, that's 314 00:13:23,633 --> 00:13:24,503 Father Nathan Castle: Fire away, that's 315 00:13:24,513 --> 00:13:25,343 why we're together. 316 00:13:25,893 --> 00:13:28,173 I'm, I'll answer any question you ask me. 317 00:13:29,053 --> 00:13:31,013 Rod Bland: How does the process work, so obviously 318 00:13:31,053 --> 00:13:33,503 going to college is part of that, getting a degree and 319 00:13:33,503 --> 00:13:38,473 then to the, how did things evolve after that, I guess 320 00:13:38,473 --> 00:13:40,123 you would have joined the priesthood at some point 321 00:13:40,123 --> 00:13:44,203 in time and then when did something occur where you 322 00:13:44,213 --> 00:13:46,043 have, this current work that you're doing with Helping 323 00:13:46,043 --> 00:13:48,223 Stuck Souls, when was the first inclination that 324 00:13:48,223 --> 00:13:49,073 something was going on there? 325 00:13:49,143 --> 00:13:51,233 Father Nathan Castle: By that time, I was ordained a 326 00:13:51,233 --> 00:13:54,663 Catholic priest when I was 29, and by that time, I was, 327 00:13:54,673 --> 00:13:56,713 I've been in campus ministry most of my life, 328 00:13:56,713 --> 00:13:58,843 especially after having that powerful experience 329 00:13:58,893 --> 00:14:01,123 at a Catholic campus center for college students. 330 00:14:01,553 --> 00:14:02,173 That's what I've done. 331 00:14:02,263 --> 00:14:04,993 I'm at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and school 332 00:14:04,993 --> 00:14:06,153 is just starting next week. 333 00:14:06,533 --> 00:14:08,773 I don't, I'm not employed here, but I'm still living 334 00:14:08,783 --> 00:14:09,813 on a college campus. 335 00:14:10,253 --> 00:14:11,133 That's been my life. 336 00:14:11,648 --> 00:14:14,098 And I was at Arizona State University, which has 337 00:14:14,098 --> 00:14:16,728 about, at the time, it had about 50, 000 students. 338 00:14:16,728 --> 00:14:19,498 It was a very big job and I was on a retreat with a 339 00:14:19,498 --> 00:14:20,998 number of people in the... 340 00:14:21,288 --> 00:14:24,698 In Arizona, we're a desert and it's hot but if you go 341 00:14:24,738 --> 00:14:27,758 north, it's mountainous and it's, it gets cooler as you 342 00:14:27,758 --> 00:14:28,958 go to the higher elevations. 343 00:14:28,958 --> 00:14:33,488 We were up at a, we were on a retreat and I was the, I was 344 00:14:33,778 --> 00:14:35,048 helping to give the retreat. 345 00:14:35,778 --> 00:14:38,008 But I was asleep on a Friday night when we 346 00:14:38,008 --> 00:14:38,708 had just gotten there. 347 00:14:38,708 --> 00:14:41,268 And in the middle of the night, I had a dream that 348 00:14:41,458 --> 00:14:45,168 was, I was playing golf with another priest and we 349 00:14:45,168 --> 00:14:46,318 were finishing the round. 350 00:14:46,808 --> 00:14:48,438 Do you know the phrase, the 19th hole? 351 00:14:49,438 --> 00:14:52,008 Rod Bland: I have heard of it, yes, where you go to have 352 00:14:52,463 --> 00:14:53,183 Father Nathan Castle: It's the bar. 353 00:14:53,473 --> 00:14:55,373 It's where you go have drinks after a round of golf. 354 00:14:55,773 --> 00:14:56,713 Golf is 18 holes. 355 00:14:56,723 --> 00:14:57,763 The 19th is the bar. 356 00:14:58,033 --> 00:14:59,403 We went into the 19th hole. 357 00:14:59,823 --> 00:15:03,883 And in the dream we walked into a silent auction. 358 00:15:04,883 --> 00:15:05,943 Are you familiar with those? 359 00:15:06,683 --> 00:15:07,663 Rod Bland: Yes I am. 360 00:15:08,483 --> 00:15:10,523 So you, there's nobody's putting their hands up. 361 00:15:10,523 --> 00:15:11,703 It's all written down. 362 00:15:11,833 --> 00:15:13,473 Father Nathan Castle: yeah, it's mostly you walk around 363 00:15:13,473 --> 00:15:16,333 the room and there are objects lying on tables or whatever, 364 00:15:16,333 --> 00:15:18,863 and there's a sheet next to it, and you're having 365 00:15:18,893 --> 00:15:20,823 cocktails or something, and you walk around, and 366 00:15:20,823 --> 00:15:23,103 you bid on objects, and if you're really interested 367 00:15:23,103 --> 00:15:24,993 in something, you have to keep going back and checking 368 00:15:24,993 --> 00:15:26,843 it because somebody else might be overbidding you. 369 00:15:27,843 --> 00:15:29,903 Anyway, I was at this silent auction and I looked 370 00:15:29,903 --> 00:15:32,133 across the room and saw this ghastly piece of art 371 00:15:32,153 --> 00:15:35,643 on the wall, and to my partner I said, look at that 372 00:15:35,663 --> 00:15:37,963 god awful thing, who would donate that to a charity? 373 00:15:38,753 --> 00:15:42,333 But it was so compelling, it was horrid, but I needed 374 00:15:42,333 --> 00:15:44,013 to see it more clearly. 375 00:15:44,333 --> 00:15:46,693 I walked toward it and it moved off the wall and 376 00:15:46,693 --> 00:15:48,073 began moving toward me. 377 00:15:48,443 --> 00:15:51,143 It was before we had televisions on walls, but 378 00:15:51,143 --> 00:15:55,893 it was like that, and it got right up close to me, and 379 00:15:55,923 --> 00:15:59,803 inside the picture frame, something like a video 380 00:15:59,803 --> 00:16:04,433 played of a car from the late 1950s, the kind with lots of 381 00:16:04,433 --> 00:16:05,843 chrome and fins on the back. 382 00:16:06,653 --> 00:16:09,223 There was a young man sitting on the radiator of it with 383 00:16:09,233 --> 00:16:12,823 the hood open, and he had not been in a collision, but for 384 00:16:12,873 --> 00:16:17,393 some reason, he burst into flames on the engine of a car 385 00:16:17,853 --> 00:16:20,163 and was screaming as he died. 386 00:16:21,163 --> 00:16:21,923 And I woke up. 387 00:16:22,433 --> 00:16:25,523 I've had to, at different times in my life, keep 388 00:16:25,523 --> 00:16:29,113 a pager on my nightstand if it was my turn to 389 00:16:29,123 --> 00:16:31,643 respond to an emergency call at a local hospital. 390 00:16:32,643 --> 00:16:35,453 Most priests have had to take their turn doing that. 391 00:16:35,943 --> 00:16:39,703 And so if that happens, you might be in a sound sleep 392 00:16:39,883 --> 00:16:42,633 when the pager goes off and you suddenly have to rouse 393 00:16:42,633 --> 00:16:45,153 yourself and talk to the nurse's station and get the... 394 00:16:45,733 --> 00:16:48,503 Patient's name and then the room number or whatever. 395 00:16:49,243 --> 00:16:50,103 It was like that. 396 00:16:50,343 --> 00:16:53,193 I felt like I was called in an emergency way to help a 397 00:16:53,233 --> 00:16:54,663 man who was burning to death. 398 00:16:55,348 --> 00:16:59,098 And so I woke up and said, Hello, I'm Nathan. 399 00:16:59,348 --> 00:17:02,138 I will help you any way I can. 400 00:17:02,348 --> 00:17:04,688 I prayed for him right then and I said in the morning I'm 401 00:17:04,688 --> 00:17:07,358 going to meet with a partner and we'll figure this out. 402 00:17:08,358 --> 00:17:09,318 So that's how it started. 403 00:17:10,318 --> 00:17:15,008 In the morning, there was a woman on this retreat who 404 00:17:15,198 --> 00:17:17,188 had been a prayer partner of mine and I knew her to have 405 00:17:17,188 --> 00:17:18,418 uncommon spiritual gifts. 406 00:17:19,143 --> 00:17:22,063 I said, could we get together at a break and pray about 407 00:17:22,063 --> 00:17:24,503 this and see what we might be able to do to help? 408 00:17:24,863 --> 00:17:26,803 She had what I call the gift of prophecy, 409 00:17:27,003 --> 00:17:27,933 of prophetic speech. 410 00:17:27,983 --> 00:17:30,563 It commonly gets called channeling in other circles. 411 00:17:30,923 --> 00:17:33,553 But in the Catholic Church, that word is radioactive. 412 00:17:33,553 --> 00:17:34,573 It upsets people. 413 00:17:35,053 --> 00:17:39,083 I don't use it, but she had that gift and we prayed to St. 414 00:17:39,093 --> 00:17:41,423 Michael the Archangel and Holy Mary and surrounded 415 00:17:41,423 --> 00:17:42,743 ourselves with protection. 416 00:17:43,398 --> 00:17:46,208 And she said, whoever this man is, he really 417 00:17:46,208 --> 00:17:47,028 wants to talk to you. 418 00:17:47,028 --> 00:17:48,318 Is it okay if I let him? 419 00:17:48,788 --> 00:17:50,248 I said, yes, it is. 420 00:17:50,528 --> 00:17:52,198 So she allowed him to speak. 421 00:17:52,248 --> 00:17:55,628 And the first words he spoke were, who the hell does he 422 00:17:55,628 --> 00:17:58,398 think he is taking me just when my life was getting good? 423 00:17:59,398 --> 00:18:01,138 You're probably familiar with that story because you 424 00:18:01,138 --> 00:18:02,368 told me you started reading 425 00:18:02,638 --> 00:18:03,878 Rod Bland: I have yeah. 426 00:18:03,928 --> 00:18:06,708 It wasn't clear who he was speaking through when I 427 00:18:06,718 --> 00:18:10,588 first read that that he was speaking through your your 428 00:18:10,708 --> 00:18:11,328 Father Nathan Castle: my partner. 429 00:18:11,568 --> 00:18:14,058 Yeah, speaking to me through the prayer partner. 430 00:18:14,348 --> 00:18:17,808 I also have that gift, but it wasn't manifesting 431 00:18:17,858 --> 00:18:19,858 hardly at all 27 years ago. 432 00:18:19,858 --> 00:18:23,278 Now it's common, but that I knew that I had it 433 00:18:23,278 --> 00:18:25,368 because it had happened once before when I was 434 00:18:25,368 --> 00:18:28,328 at the Grand Canyon after graduating college, but it 435 00:18:28,328 --> 00:18:29,768 lay dormant for a long time. 436 00:18:30,428 --> 00:18:32,868 But anyway, that's what happened and we learned 437 00:18:32,868 --> 00:18:35,798 that he had died in 1960 when I was four years old 438 00:18:36,208 --> 00:18:38,518 and we said what is it that, why are you here? 439 00:18:38,518 --> 00:18:39,678 What can we do for you? 440 00:18:40,268 --> 00:18:41,188 What is it you want? 441 00:18:41,878 --> 00:18:44,768 And he said, my wife she's an old woman now. 442 00:18:44,868 --> 00:18:46,508 I've been watching her since I died. 443 00:18:46,528 --> 00:18:49,148 Now she's an old woman in her sixties. 444 00:18:49,328 --> 00:18:51,378 She's dying of cancer and I want to greet her 445 00:18:51,378 --> 00:18:53,738 when she passes, but I can't the way I am. 446 00:18:53,748 --> 00:18:57,458 I said, oh, okay, now at least we have our marching orders. 447 00:18:58,458 --> 00:19:01,008 And I said what have you been doing for the last 40 years? 448 00:19:01,008 --> 00:19:03,108 And he said, nothing much, just watching my wife. 449 00:19:03,818 --> 00:19:06,338 And I said it sounds like now you want to be in a big hurry 450 00:19:06,608 --> 00:19:07,928 to be ready to greet her. 451 00:19:07,928 --> 00:19:09,448 So I'm probably going to have to push you. 452 00:19:10,013 --> 00:19:12,743 People don't normally like being pushed, so if I push 453 00:19:12,743 --> 00:19:14,923 too hard, you can push back and tell me to stop. 454 00:19:15,733 --> 00:19:18,433 Just know that I'm only trying to serve you, and 455 00:19:18,433 --> 00:19:19,433 we'll figure this out. 456 00:19:19,953 --> 00:19:23,053 That was this assignment, how to help a man who had been, 457 00:19:23,173 --> 00:19:25,423 he was, he was so mad at the world, he was mad at God 458 00:19:25,423 --> 00:19:28,063 because he was taught that the reason that people die 459 00:19:28,063 --> 00:19:29,713 is because God takes them. 460 00:19:30,568 --> 00:19:30,968 Heard that? 461 00:19:31,498 --> 00:19:33,938 Rod Bland: Yeah, I think it, depending on people's 462 00:19:33,938 --> 00:19:36,098 beliefs or as they grew up, I often hear that, 463 00:19:36,138 --> 00:19:37,618 that term used, yeah, 464 00:19:37,923 --> 00:19:39,473 Father Nathan Castle: and for him, that made God 465 00:19:39,883 --> 00:19:44,183 a body snatcher, and it made him like a tyrant. 466 00:19:44,853 --> 00:19:47,573 Nobody asked me to have my, I didn't ask to be 467 00:19:47,573 --> 00:19:48,523 burned to death in a fire. 468 00:19:48,533 --> 00:19:49,803 Who the hell does he think he is? 469 00:19:50,343 --> 00:19:54,463 So he entered the afterlife angry and desiring to 470 00:19:54,463 --> 00:19:57,733 isolate, except he wanted to be able to watch his 471 00:19:57,733 --> 00:20:01,673 wife and he kept it, he kept tabs on her over the years. 472 00:20:02,028 --> 00:20:05,848 For about 40 years, so we, we had to break the problem 473 00:20:05,848 --> 00:20:07,108 down into component parts. 474 00:20:07,108 --> 00:20:09,558 And we did that and it's described in detail in the 475 00:20:09,558 --> 00:20:12,578 1st afterlife book, but we were able to help him get 476 00:20:12,578 --> 00:20:13,538 what he wanted in the end. 477 00:20:13,648 --> 00:20:15,508 He just, I had to tell him. 478 00:20:15,508 --> 00:20:17,598 I think the problem is that you're just a caveman. 479 00:20:17,598 --> 00:20:19,518 Every time you talk about it, you sound like you own 480 00:20:19,518 --> 00:20:20,868 the exclusive rights to her. 481 00:20:21,368 --> 00:20:23,248 She's loved by other people besides you. 482 00:20:23,248 --> 00:20:25,258 I think if you just calm down and take your place 483 00:20:25,258 --> 00:20:27,878 among a few other people and be a gentleman about 484 00:20:27,878 --> 00:20:28,938 it, I think you'll be fine. 485 00:20:29,518 --> 00:20:30,808 And that's the way it turned out. 486 00:20:31,808 --> 00:20:33,298 He was able to greet her in the end. 487 00:20:33,308 --> 00:20:36,098 And then finally when it was time to say goodbye. 488 00:20:36,948 --> 00:20:38,728 I said Ray, it sounds like you got what you 489 00:20:38,788 --> 00:20:40,318 what you came looking for. 490 00:20:40,738 --> 00:20:43,058 But I said, now that you're an afterlife greeter and 491 00:20:43,058 --> 00:20:45,378 you know how to watch people before they die, would 492 00:20:45,378 --> 00:20:46,578 you keep an eye on me? 493 00:20:46,878 --> 00:20:49,168 And when it's my time to die, would you be 494 00:20:49,168 --> 00:20:50,298 there to greet me? 495 00:20:51,098 --> 00:20:53,688 And he said, why, sir, I would be most honored. 496 00:20:54,258 --> 00:20:56,018 Just look for the perfect gentleman. 497 00:20:57,018 --> 00:20:59,828 So we call that chapter Ray the Perfect Gentleman. 498 00:21:00,828 --> 00:21:02,588 Rod Bland: yeah, I enjoy that part of the story. 499 00:21:03,198 --> 00:21:06,418 So what do you think it is that how, let 500 00:21:06,418 --> 00:21:07,178 me rephrase that. 501 00:21:07,808 --> 00:21:10,638 How do the people who contact you through your dreams, how 502 00:21:10,638 --> 00:21:11,798 do you think they're chosen? 503 00:21:12,798 --> 00:21:14,788 What is it about them that, that makes them 504 00:21:14,788 --> 00:21:16,078 a candidate, let's say? 505 00:21:16,678 --> 00:21:19,168 Father Nathan Castle: I only have a clientele, 506 00:21:19,168 --> 00:21:22,128 I guess you could say, who died traumatically, 507 00:21:22,148 --> 00:21:23,238 violently, suddenly. 508 00:21:24,238 --> 00:21:25,958 Shootings, stabbings, drownings, lots 509 00:21:25,958 --> 00:21:27,058 of car crashes. 510 00:21:27,148 --> 00:21:29,608 Once in a while a medical emergency that caused their 511 00:21:29,608 --> 00:21:31,318 death quickly, but mostly not. 512 00:21:31,348 --> 00:21:34,318 Mostly non natural, sudden violent deaths. 513 00:21:34,828 --> 00:21:37,888 And once in a while I'll get people that had some 514 00:21:37,968 --> 00:21:40,098 trauma that happened to them during their life. 515 00:21:40,498 --> 00:21:44,978 That kind of broke their soul and they might have 516 00:21:44,978 --> 00:21:48,268 lived on for years, but only as a kind of a shell 517 00:21:48,268 --> 00:21:49,248 of their former self. 518 00:21:49,448 --> 00:21:52,248 Once in a while I'll get that but most of the time 519 00:21:52,548 --> 00:21:54,508 they've all been through trauma of one kind or 520 00:21:54,508 --> 00:21:56,438 another when they pass. 521 00:21:57,143 --> 00:21:59,333 Their trauma is too large. 522 00:21:59,393 --> 00:22:01,663 When you go to funerals, have you ever heard people talk 523 00:22:02,003 --> 00:22:06,423 at funerals about what they hope the joys of heaven are? 524 00:22:06,423 --> 00:22:09,933 And you're, we're hoping that Jack is up there with all of 525 00:22:09,933 --> 00:22:12,333 his card buddies or whatever. 526 00:22:12,353 --> 00:22:14,923 That people have some idea that there are joys that 527 00:22:14,923 --> 00:22:16,363 people are now free to pursue. 528 00:22:17,123 --> 00:22:19,463 Not if you're, not if you died suddenly, violently, 529 00:22:19,473 --> 00:22:21,033 tragically, and you're a mess. 530 00:22:21,583 --> 00:22:22,613 You might not want that. 531 00:22:23,263 --> 00:22:25,083 You might just be angry that you died. 532 00:22:25,603 --> 00:22:28,423 So some of them need a kind of a team of people 533 00:22:28,423 --> 00:22:32,783 to assist them at the front end for a while and help 534 00:22:32,783 --> 00:22:35,083 them calm down, heal a bit. 535 00:22:35,553 --> 00:22:39,353 And then there comes a time when they're, I think 536 00:22:39,353 --> 00:22:41,743 of us as the discharge staff at a medical center. 537 00:22:42,613 --> 00:22:44,293 Have you ever had to be overnight in the hospital? 538 00:22:45,293 --> 00:22:46,863 Rod Bland: Thankfully no. 539 00:22:47,733 --> 00:22:49,413 Oh, and one time, one time, 540 00:22:49,648 --> 00:22:51,138 Father Nathan Castle: yeah, I've been very healthy too, 541 00:22:51,138 --> 00:22:53,868 but I know that if you've had surgery or whatever, 542 00:22:53,868 --> 00:22:56,443 and you have different follow up therapies and 543 00:22:56,443 --> 00:22:58,843 medical appointments to meet and so on. 544 00:22:59,113 --> 00:23:02,283 There's maybe a social worker whose job it is to help 545 00:23:02,283 --> 00:23:05,083 you get all packed up and ready to leave the hospital 546 00:23:05,613 --> 00:23:09,073 and make sure that you understand your medications 547 00:23:09,123 --> 00:23:10,453 and follow up detail. 548 00:23:10,763 --> 00:23:13,453 I feel like we're like that where they're brought to us 549 00:23:13,823 --> 00:23:15,893 and they show up in a dream. 550 00:23:16,233 --> 00:23:17,123 I've had some of them. 551 00:23:17,263 --> 00:23:19,443 I used to ask often, how did you find me? 552 00:23:20,043 --> 00:23:21,983 I quit asking because I got the same answer 553 00:23:21,983 --> 00:23:22,953 just about all the time. 554 00:23:23,728 --> 00:23:25,868 One of them was, I don't know, somebody brought me here. 555 00:23:26,638 --> 00:23:28,858 One time it was, your light was on. 556 00:23:29,408 --> 00:23:33,718 One lady used to shop, catalog shop from big paper catalogs. 557 00:23:34,718 --> 00:23:36,768 Growing up in the outback, did you have to do that? 558 00:23:37,768 --> 00:23:39,738 Rod Bland: Yes, that was the only way we could get stuff. 559 00:23:40,443 --> 00:23:41,173 Father Nathan Castle: Yeah, when I was 560 00:23:41,173 --> 00:23:41,913 growing up in the U. 561 00:23:41,913 --> 00:23:45,213 S., there were two companies that had really big catalogs. 562 00:23:45,223 --> 00:23:46,063 Sears and J. 563 00:23:46,063 --> 00:23:46,253 C. 564 00:23:46,253 --> 00:23:46,653 Penney. 565 00:23:47,183 --> 00:23:49,893 And this lady was from about the 1950s and she 566 00:23:49,893 --> 00:23:50,973 used to catalog shop. 567 00:23:50,973 --> 00:23:53,843 And so when it was time for her to make this crossing 568 00:23:53,843 --> 00:23:56,368 thing, they said, there's lots of ways that you can do this. 569 00:23:56,368 --> 00:23:59,003 Why don't you sit down here with this catalog and page 570 00:23:59,003 --> 00:24:01,283 through it and see if there's something that appeals to you. 571 00:24:01,783 --> 00:24:03,463 And she turned a page and I was on it. 572 00:24:03,973 --> 00:24:05,683 And she said, oh, look here, there's a Catholic 573 00:24:05,683 --> 00:24:06,493 priest that does this. 574 00:24:06,498 --> 00:24:08,353 I think I'll pick him 'cause I was a Catholic. 575 00:24:09,743 --> 00:24:10,703 That's what she told me. 576 00:24:11,703 --> 00:24:12,363 Rod Bland: It makes sense. 577 00:24:12,363 --> 00:24:15,263 I have a good friend of mine, Nicky Alan, who's a 578 00:24:15,263 --> 00:24:19,573 psychic, and she has had that described in the same way. 579 00:24:19,573 --> 00:24:22,053 It's like she has a light, and her light's 580 00:24:22,063 --> 00:24:25,103 on, and that's what brings people towards her. 581 00:24:25,163 --> 00:24:26,363 So it makes sense. 582 00:24:26,573 --> 00:24:27,663 Perfect sense to me. 583 00:24:28,163 --> 00:24:32,513 So I wanted to ask you, oh dear, I lost my 584 00:24:32,513 --> 00:24:33,573 train of thought there. 585 00:24:34,393 --> 00:24:35,003 Oh, that's right. 586 00:24:35,093 --> 00:24:39,133 So when you have the dream and given that these are 587 00:24:39,133 --> 00:24:42,913 all somewhat traumatic ways that people have died, how 588 00:24:42,913 --> 00:24:44,123 do you experience that? 589 00:24:44,363 --> 00:24:46,813 Is it like first person, third person? 590 00:24:47,173 --> 00:24:48,243 Are you detached somehow? 591 00:24:48,443 --> 00:24:48,983 How do you, 592 00:24:49,213 --> 00:24:50,353 Father Nathan Castle: That's a great question, Rod. 593 00:24:51,023 --> 00:24:52,463 You must, you're a podcaster. 594 00:24:52,518 --> 00:24:54,588 I imagine you probably are a storyteller too. 595 00:24:54,638 --> 00:24:56,018 Podcast is storytelling. 596 00:24:56,428 --> 00:24:58,648 It really depends on the point of view that a 597 00:24:58,658 --> 00:25:00,458 storyteller or a writer takes. 598 00:25:00,468 --> 00:25:04,178 For example, a lot of the deaths that I've been witness 599 00:25:04,188 --> 00:25:06,108 to were in automobiles. 600 00:25:07,333 --> 00:25:10,863 Sometimes it's the driver who died and so they'll 601 00:25:10,863 --> 00:25:13,833 have me behind the wheel of the car and they'll show 602 00:25:13,873 --> 00:25:16,643 me a truck that suddenly crosses the center line is 603 00:25:16,643 --> 00:25:17,733 about to hit them head on. 604 00:25:18,243 --> 00:25:21,333 Other times I might be as though in a helicopter and 605 00:25:21,333 --> 00:25:24,543 seeing it from above and watching cars crash into each 606 00:25:24,543 --> 00:25:27,443 other almost like they're toys or the size of toys. 607 00:25:27,798 --> 00:25:30,108 Maybe I'll be on the sidewalk next to a thing. 608 00:25:30,658 --> 00:25:33,258 So it really depends on the way a person tells a story. 609 00:25:34,258 --> 00:25:37,448 Once in a while they'll especially in the car crashes, 610 00:25:37,598 --> 00:25:40,238 what that they're merciful in that they don't make me suffer 611 00:25:40,488 --> 00:25:41,918 and they don't terrorize me. 612 00:25:41,918 --> 00:25:44,208 They do what they can to make their point without it 613 00:25:44,218 --> 00:25:45,848 being too graphic or gory. 614 00:25:47,253 --> 00:25:50,173 But they helped me understand that this is not my experience 615 00:25:50,173 --> 00:25:51,293 and it's not a normal dream. 616 00:25:51,293 --> 00:25:52,633 And I call them a contact dream. 617 00:25:52,913 --> 00:25:55,873 I make the distinction between having a dream 618 00:25:56,473 --> 00:25:57,553 or receiving a dream. 619 00:25:58,553 --> 00:26:01,473 For me, having a dream is my own psychobabble, like 620 00:26:01,473 --> 00:26:03,663 the golf game that I was talking about earlier. 621 00:26:04,583 --> 00:26:08,153 Receiving a dream is the part where there's violence 622 00:26:08,153 --> 00:26:10,283 and circumstances that I've never been in, falling 623 00:26:10,303 --> 00:26:12,393 off a cliff or being shot or something like that. 624 00:26:12,943 --> 00:26:15,663 Rod Bland: And do the dreams themselves, apart from the 625 00:26:15,663 --> 00:26:18,253 fact that they're events you've not had any experience 626 00:26:18,263 --> 00:26:22,023 with, do they have a different essence about them as well 627 00:26:22,033 --> 00:26:25,283 that makes them distinct from your everyday dreams? 628 00:26:25,403 --> 00:26:25,843 Father Nathan Castle: They do. 629 00:26:25,913 --> 00:26:26,903 They just feel different. 630 00:26:27,063 --> 00:26:28,293 I don't know how else to put it. 631 00:26:28,663 --> 00:26:31,373 They and very often they have a little, they can have a 632 00:26:31,373 --> 00:26:34,513 perplexing quality because I'm still receiving it. 633 00:26:34,743 --> 00:26:38,808 I had one last night and it had in it, dreams can be 634 00:26:38,808 --> 00:26:41,548 either very short or they can feel like they're very 635 00:26:41,548 --> 00:26:46,518 long and but yeah, there's a texture to them that 636 00:26:46,648 --> 00:26:47,858 that is somehow foreign. 637 00:26:47,998 --> 00:26:50,588 In fact to me, you're a foreigner you're on the other 638 00:26:50,588 --> 00:26:53,728 end of the globe in Australia and I'm in the United States. 639 00:26:54,388 --> 00:26:56,708 Sometimes I get it, most of the time I'm dealing with 640 00:26:56,728 --> 00:26:59,228 people who died in the United States, but not always. 641 00:26:59,903 --> 00:27:05,043 I'll get an inkling that I'm in Iraq, or I'm in 642 00:27:05,043 --> 00:27:08,973 South America or something, and usually that ends 643 00:27:08,973 --> 00:27:09,823 up being borne out. 644 00:27:10,183 --> 00:27:13,033 I'm in some place that I've never been, but the 645 00:27:13,033 --> 00:27:15,553 person that's showing me their death died there. 646 00:27:16,553 --> 00:27:18,543 Rod Bland: Can you tell us about one of those experiences 647 00:27:18,543 --> 00:27:22,653 where you've contacted someone from another country that has 648 00:27:23,233 --> 00:27:25,673 Father Nathan Castle: I can, and and this, the 649 00:27:25,683 --> 00:27:28,253 book that you're reading is the first book of two, and 650 00:27:28,253 --> 00:27:30,393 there'll be another one out in that series this fall. 651 00:27:30,993 --> 00:27:32,453 It'll be Afterlife Interrupted, book 652 00:27:32,603 --> 00:27:33,783 Rod Bland: I think I'm probably about a quarter 653 00:27:33,783 --> 00:27:34,573 of the way through. 654 00:27:35,073 --> 00:27:37,293 Father Nathan Castle: In the second book, there was a man 655 00:27:37,353 --> 00:27:43,633 who who showed me a dream of, I, I felt like I was a Muslim 656 00:27:44,013 --> 00:27:48,873 man at prayer in a bunker like room without windows and 657 00:27:48,873 --> 00:27:50,473 there was a machine gun fire. 658 00:27:50,683 --> 00:27:54,063 I was with other men and we needed to decide you know 659 00:27:54,063 --> 00:27:57,963 how the Muslims don't, they Pray separated by gender. 660 00:27:58,963 --> 00:27:59,753 Rod Bland: I didn't know that. 661 00:28:00,408 --> 00:28:00,788 Father Nathan Castle: They do. 662 00:28:00,818 --> 00:28:03,558 The women pray in one place and the men 663 00:28:03,558 --> 00:28:04,598 pray in another place. 664 00:28:04,738 --> 00:28:08,618 They were in Baghdad during the war and their 665 00:28:08,628 --> 00:28:10,068 mosque had been bombed. 666 00:28:10,748 --> 00:28:13,648 And they really had no proper Imam. 667 00:28:14,518 --> 00:28:17,948 Some of the elders, he was a businessman, Nadi is his name, 668 00:28:18,888 --> 00:28:23,988 had to step up and reorganize the congregation and find an 669 00:28:23,988 --> 00:28:25,828 alternative place to pray. 670 00:28:26,183 --> 00:28:31,083 They chose a windowless warehouse for security, 671 00:28:31,433 --> 00:28:33,593 but the women were across the street in another 672 00:28:33,593 --> 00:28:35,883 place when they heard this machine gun fire. 673 00:28:36,423 --> 00:28:40,273 So he decided he couldn't bear thinking that his wife and 674 00:28:40,273 --> 00:28:43,173 daughters might be endangered, so he went out into the street 675 00:28:43,523 --> 00:28:44,813 and saw people bleeding. 676 00:28:45,213 --> 00:28:47,853 And he turned to his right and saw a ten year old girl 677 00:28:47,853 --> 00:28:52,103 with a machine gun with two men pointing guns at her head. 678 00:28:52,543 --> 00:28:56,413 Forcing her to shoot at him and kill him and she did. 679 00:28:57,393 --> 00:29:03,563 He died because of that and then we worked with him and 680 00:29:03,993 --> 00:29:05,173 it was, he was very sweet. 681 00:29:05,183 --> 00:29:07,023 He said, I would never have thought that 682 00:29:07,043 --> 00:29:08,303 I would be talking. 683 00:29:08,483 --> 00:29:10,183 First of all, he didn't speak English, but 684 00:29:10,183 --> 00:29:11,083 that didn't matter. 685 00:29:11,423 --> 00:29:13,483 He said, all I'm doing is forming my words and 686 00:29:13,483 --> 00:29:16,693 they're coming out in your language and he said I 687 00:29:16,693 --> 00:29:20,083 would never have thought I would be doing anything like 688 00:29:20,083 --> 00:29:23,033 this at all, but certainly not with an American, a 689 00:29:23,033 --> 00:29:24,333 Christian, and a priest. 690 00:29:25,333 --> 00:29:28,683 I was about as other an alien as he could imagine. 691 00:29:28,903 --> 00:29:31,273 He said, I would never have thought this was 692 00:29:31,273 --> 00:29:32,073 going to be my life. 693 00:29:32,493 --> 00:29:33,663 But I said here we are. 694 00:29:33,893 --> 00:29:37,493 Let's let's figure out how to get you where you need to go. 695 00:29:38,003 --> 00:29:41,103 And I used to ask them, can you think of anybody? 696 00:29:41,133 --> 00:29:44,003 I said, you, the reason you've come to me is your 697 00:29:44,003 --> 00:29:47,303 team deems you ready to move on to a next afterlife 698 00:29:47,303 --> 00:29:50,803 level where you don't need as much, healthcare. 699 00:29:51,803 --> 00:29:54,483 Apparently you've healed to the point where you're ready 700 00:29:54,483 --> 00:29:57,223 to take on new adventures and you just need to move 701 00:29:57,233 --> 00:29:58,773 from one plane to the next. 702 00:29:58,853 --> 00:30:00,123 That's what we facilitate. 703 00:30:00,593 --> 00:30:03,563 In the end, for him, I used to ask them, can you think 704 00:30:03,563 --> 00:30:06,043 of anyone who loved you, who died before you did, 705 00:30:06,533 --> 00:30:07,643 who you know loves you? 706 00:30:08,643 --> 00:30:11,603 And would it be okay if we invite them forward? 707 00:30:12,453 --> 00:30:15,543 After a while, we didn't even need to ask anymore. 708 00:30:15,553 --> 00:30:16,883 People started showing up. 709 00:30:17,238 --> 00:30:21,778 And in his case, if you remember a little bit of 710 00:30:21,978 --> 00:30:24,818 geography from that region of the world, the Tigris 711 00:30:24,828 --> 00:30:28,018 and the Euphrates rivers run through it, and it's called 712 00:30:28,428 --> 00:30:30,768 Mesopotamia because it's the land between the two rivers. 713 00:30:31,758 --> 00:30:34,018 He said that part of the world that we lived in would hardly 714 00:30:34,018 --> 00:30:36,728 be habitable if it weren't for the two big rivers, and 715 00:30:36,768 --> 00:30:39,388 almost everything we did depended upon the rivers, 716 00:30:39,568 --> 00:30:42,618 and all of our festivals were somehow linked to the rivers. 717 00:30:43,618 --> 00:30:44,638 He said there'd be different. 718 00:30:44,788 --> 00:30:47,278 Instead of having a parade down main street, we 719 00:30:47,278 --> 00:30:49,948 usually had floats that floated down the river 720 00:30:49,948 --> 00:30:52,348 with different holiday themes attached to them. 721 00:30:53,288 --> 00:30:58,428 So when it came time for him to cross a parade of floats, 722 00:30:59,018 --> 00:31:01,778 started drifting in and he said, the space that I then 723 00:31:01,778 --> 00:31:04,628 has, it's the water's rising and there's now about a foot 724 00:31:04,628 --> 00:31:08,238 of water that I'm waiting in enough that floats can 725 00:31:08,238 --> 00:31:09,678 be supported by the water. 726 00:31:10,313 --> 00:31:13,353 And in his case it was a decorated float with 727 00:31:13,353 --> 00:31:15,383 his father and other family members on it. 728 00:31:15,733 --> 00:31:17,503 And he said, it's time for me to go now. 729 00:31:17,783 --> 00:31:19,843 My father's beckoning me to get on his float and 730 00:31:19,843 --> 00:31:20,883 we're going to float away. 731 00:31:21,883 --> 00:31:23,443 So that's what happened with him. 732 00:31:23,443 --> 00:31:25,613 And then he's ended up coming back and helping 733 00:31:25,613 --> 00:31:28,053 another Iraqi child who died. 734 00:31:28,273 --> 00:31:30,813 I have that happen sometimes where somebody is an alumni 735 00:31:30,813 --> 00:31:33,593 of the process and they return and help somebody else. 736 00:31:34,593 --> 00:31:35,393 Rod Bland: That's fascinating. 737 00:31:35,773 --> 00:31:38,573 There's have you ever read any of the books by Bruce Mohen? 738 00:31:39,593 --> 00:31:40,823 Father Nathan Castle: No, how do you spell the last name? 739 00:31:41,273 --> 00:31:42,673 Rod Bland: It's M O H E N. 740 00:31:42,923 --> 00:31:44,123 Father Nathan Castle: M O H E N. 741 00:31:44,693 --> 00:31:48,133 Rod Bland: Yeah, he's a graduate of the Monroe 742 00:31:48,133 --> 00:31:50,073 Institute, which I'm sure you've probably heard of 743 00:31:50,553 --> 00:31:53,983 and they did some things that were quite similar as 744 00:31:54,393 --> 00:31:57,643 people, because everybody takes their, I guess their 745 00:31:57,643 --> 00:32:00,293 mindset, they seem to, we seem to take it with us. 746 00:32:00,663 --> 00:32:01,063 Father Nathan Castle: We do. 747 00:32:01,163 --> 00:32:02,943 We definitely do it by experience. 748 00:32:03,643 --> 00:32:05,633 Rod Bland: And that can hold you in a certain place and 749 00:32:05,633 --> 00:32:09,003 he, especially like with you, people with traumatic 750 00:32:09,003 --> 00:32:12,043 experiences the earthquake, the the bombing that was in 751 00:32:12,043 --> 00:32:16,563 Oklahoma and they would help people move a bit further 752 00:32:16,563 --> 00:32:18,803 and often there would be, loved ones who had already 753 00:32:18,833 --> 00:32:21,373 passed and others and I thought, wow that's, it must 754 00:32:21,373 --> 00:32:24,973 be such a rewarding thing to be to participate in. 755 00:32:25,418 --> 00:32:26,128 Father Nathan Castle: It really is. 756 00:32:26,158 --> 00:32:29,138 I've been I wasn't public about it until 2018, 757 00:32:29,638 --> 00:32:33,258 because I was still a pastor, usually a pastor in a campus 758 00:32:33,258 --> 00:32:37,308 church, and many of them were very large congregations, 759 00:32:37,368 --> 00:32:42,158 and staff, I had about 20, 21 staff members, and all the 760 00:32:42,158 --> 00:32:46,188 fundraising, and five services every weekend, and lots of 761 00:32:46,188 --> 00:32:47,608 retreats and service projects. 762 00:32:47,608 --> 00:32:48,708 I was a really busy guy. 763 00:32:49,708 --> 00:32:51,628 I was just afraid that if I went public with 764 00:32:51,628 --> 00:32:54,488 this, it would be too upsetting or jarring. 765 00:32:55,078 --> 00:32:58,048 I just thought I can continue to do this on the down low 766 00:32:58,978 --> 00:33:01,928 and there'll come a day maybe when I'll go public with it. 767 00:33:01,928 --> 00:33:05,468 And I decided when I was about 60 years old, that 768 00:33:05,468 --> 00:33:06,568 it was time to do that. 769 00:33:07,318 --> 00:33:09,098 Rod Bland: And what's the general reception been like 770 00:33:09,108 --> 00:33:11,838 from people who have learned about this other work that 771 00:33:11,848 --> 00:33:12,618 used to be on the down low? 772 00:33:13,168 --> 00:33:14,388 Father Nathan Castle: It's very gratifying. 773 00:33:14,808 --> 00:33:18,958 For, there are sometimes people who disapprove many 774 00:33:18,958 --> 00:33:21,148 people who are disapproving are polite about it. 775 00:33:21,528 --> 00:33:23,188 And just don't want to hear any more about it. 776 00:33:23,898 --> 00:33:27,578 Others, sometimes there are snarky remarks and 777 00:33:27,578 --> 00:33:28,838 stuff on the internet, 778 00:33:29,388 --> 00:33:31,138 Anybody that has an internet presence is 779 00:33:31,138 --> 00:33:31,968 going to get some of that. 780 00:33:31,968 --> 00:33:33,658 I should think that you've had your share of that. 781 00:33:34,308 --> 00:33:34,858 I don't know. 782 00:33:35,388 --> 00:33:37,418 You really just have to not pay too much attention 783 00:33:37,418 --> 00:33:38,168 to that kind of thing. 784 00:33:38,548 --> 00:33:41,668 And on the whole, I've been received sometimes. 785 00:33:41,668 --> 00:33:45,328 It's my day started this morning with a Catholic man 786 00:33:45,328 --> 00:33:47,098 who found my work upsetting. 787 00:33:47,098 --> 00:33:48,128 He had just learned about it. 788 00:33:48,638 --> 00:33:51,438 And he wrote me an email, but he took the time to lay out 789 00:33:51,498 --> 00:33:55,208 his questions and concerns and he did it with with Grace. 790 00:33:55,948 --> 00:33:58,568 But I called him on the phone and we talked for about half 791 00:33:58,568 --> 00:34:00,608 an hour and we'll talk again. 792 00:34:01,148 --> 00:34:06,523 And I get a lot of emails from people that don't just 793 00:34:06,523 --> 00:34:09,593 have an academic interest in this topic, but whose 794 00:34:09,613 --> 00:34:10,763 child committed suicide, 795 00:34:11,478 --> 00:34:15,038 Or they're grieving their, especially drug that in 796 00:34:15,038 --> 00:34:15,508 this scourge right now of 797 00:34:16,008 --> 00:34:18,008 Rod Bland: I think we probably have it in equal 798 00:34:18,088 --> 00:34:20,308 portions to what other countries like in the U. 799 00:34:20,308 --> 00:34:20,688 S. 800 00:34:20,718 --> 00:34:21,028 would. 801 00:34:21,168 --> 00:34:21,498 Yeah. 802 00:34:22,243 --> 00:34:24,583 Father Nathan Castle: fentanyl. 803 00:34:25,083 --> 00:34:27,433 The illegal drugs that are coming for us, they come 804 00:34:27,433 --> 00:34:31,393 up mostly from Mexico but they're candy colored and 805 00:34:31,693 --> 00:34:34,113 they, one pill can kill. 806 00:34:34,628 --> 00:34:39,148 And so there's a lot of grief coming from that and 807 00:34:39,648 --> 00:34:41,998 so I end up doing a lot of grief counseling and helping 808 00:34:41,998 --> 00:34:45,668 people I teach them spiritual practices that they can 809 00:34:45,668 --> 00:34:49,948 do and I do some, I don't do long term counseling. 810 00:34:50,518 --> 00:34:52,618 The subtitle of my first book was Helping 811 00:34:52,618 --> 00:34:54,138 Stuck Souls Cross Over. 812 00:34:54,868 --> 00:34:57,568 And using that metaphor of being stuck, I'll say 813 00:34:57,568 --> 00:35:00,598 to a person that wants help from me, I'll say, 814 00:35:00,888 --> 00:35:03,028 I think of myself as the tow truck driver. 815 00:35:03,028 --> 00:35:05,148 I might be able to pull you out of the ditch, but I can't 816 00:35:05,148 --> 00:35:06,068 follow you down the road. 817 00:35:06,958 --> 00:35:09,678 I'll make 1 hour long appointment and help a 818 00:35:09,678 --> 00:35:13,408 person assess a possible, a lot of times people 819 00:35:13,418 --> 00:35:17,148 feel stuck because they've arrived at some certitude. 820 00:35:18,148 --> 00:35:19,968 And I'll challenge the certitude and say, what if 821 00:35:19,968 --> 00:35:21,788 that's not what if there's another way to think of it? 822 00:35:22,593 --> 00:35:25,783 And if they're willing to shift a bit, sometimes that's 823 00:35:25,783 --> 00:35:27,063 all it takes to get unstuck. 824 00:35:27,613 --> 00:35:30,103 For one thing, the idea that you would be in charge, 825 00:35:30,133 --> 00:35:31,123 do you have children? 826 00:35:32,098 --> 00:35:33,238 Rod Bland: I've got four actually. 827 00:35:33,693 --> 00:35:34,063 Father Nathan Castle: All right. 828 00:35:34,413 --> 00:35:37,733 Sometimes parents who have lost a child, especially one 829 00:35:37,733 --> 00:35:41,593 who was depressed or suicided or a drug death, sometimes 830 00:35:41,593 --> 00:35:44,633 they feel like now they're responsible for their, that 831 00:35:44,683 --> 00:35:46,093 child in the afterlife. 832 00:35:46,333 --> 00:35:50,303 And they panic and feel all stress about how do 833 00:35:50,303 --> 00:35:51,923 I help my deceased son? 834 00:35:52,308 --> 00:35:55,198 In the afterlife and so sometimes I have to sit 835 00:35:55,208 --> 00:35:58,268 with them and challenge some of that and help them 836 00:35:58,268 --> 00:36:01,328 stay in the present moment and do the present good. 837 00:36:02,028 --> 00:36:05,498 Anyway, I end up with a gratifying work to do 838 00:36:05,498 --> 00:36:07,133 for for people that... 839 00:36:07,133 --> 00:36:11,303 A lot of people are searching for some sort of spiritual 840 00:36:11,303 --> 00:36:13,253 meaning and they're using the internet as the place 841 00:36:13,253 --> 00:36:15,493 to look around, especially during the pandemic. 842 00:36:15,913 --> 00:36:18,463 Even people that had houses of worship and communities 843 00:36:18,463 --> 00:36:20,653 that they were attached to, many of them were locked 844 00:36:20,733 --> 00:36:21,543 'cause of the pandemic. 845 00:36:22,858 --> 00:36:23,728 Rod Bland: Yeah, I think that's true. 846 00:36:23,728 --> 00:36:26,328 There are people, we're all looking for answers. 847 00:36:26,508 --> 00:36:29,628 And, People are starting to question what they 848 00:36:29,628 --> 00:36:32,718 know and accept other things that may other 849 00:36:32,718 --> 00:36:34,058 information, other evidence. 850 00:36:34,288 --> 00:36:36,258 I think this is where things like near death experiences, 851 00:36:36,258 --> 00:36:39,548 your own experiences, there's no real way to prove these 852 00:36:39,598 --> 00:36:41,928 in the sort of scientific sense, although I think 853 00:36:41,938 --> 00:36:43,648 that's also making progress. 854 00:36:44,303 --> 00:36:46,643 And, but there's this truth, there's this element 855 00:36:46,643 --> 00:36:50,013 of truth that rings, something that rings true 856 00:36:50,013 --> 00:36:53,003 about it, and people are, that's what they need. 857 00:36:53,003 --> 00:36:54,663 People just want to have some reassurance 858 00:36:54,673 --> 00:36:56,053 that it's not the end, 859 00:36:56,428 --> 00:36:56,878 Father Nathan Castle: Yes. 860 00:36:56,878 --> 00:36:58,498 And it's, it really isn't. 861 00:36:58,503 --> 00:37:00,148 And it's not about religion, I believe 862 00:37:00,148 --> 00:37:01,528 it's about metaphysics. 863 00:37:01,528 --> 00:37:03,328 It's about the kind of thing that we are. 864 00:37:03,708 --> 00:37:05,988 I believe that we, from the time that we come into 865 00:37:05,988 --> 00:37:07,878 existence, we always will be. 866 00:37:08,418 --> 00:37:08,538 And. 867 00:37:09,413 --> 00:37:10,403 Do you know ions? 868 00:37:10,433 --> 00:37:12,173 The Inter International Association for 869 00:37:12,173 --> 00:37:12,893 Near Death studies? 870 00:37:13,723 --> 00:37:14,113 Rod Bland: Yeah. 871 00:37:14,123 --> 00:37:16,813 Many of my guests have are part of that, or 872 00:37:16,823 --> 00:37:18,903 have, spoken at their conferences and whatnot. 873 00:37:19,293 --> 00:37:20,953 Father Nathan Castle: I'll be speaking we have one coming 874 00:37:20,953 --> 00:37:23,533 up at the end of the month, and we're recording this 875 00:37:23,533 --> 00:37:25,803 in August, and it's, it'll be at the end of August and 876 00:37:25,803 --> 00:37:26,703 the beginning of September. 877 00:37:27,163 --> 00:37:31,363 I'll be speaking there, and there, there is a lot of 878 00:37:32,003 --> 00:37:34,753 scientific research, and even on the campus where I live, 879 00:37:34,763 --> 00:37:37,973 at the University of Arizona, there's a lot of research on 880 00:37:38,073 --> 00:37:39,473 especially on mediumship here. 881 00:37:40,293 --> 00:37:40,643 Rod Bland: Yeah. 882 00:37:41,143 --> 00:37:42,473 Father Nathan Castle: double and triple, quadruple 883 00:37:42,473 --> 00:37:44,423 blind studies to try to... 884 00:37:44,973 --> 00:37:47,313 See about the veracity of the medium and the 885 00:37:47,313 --> 00:37:48,413 messages they bring through. 886 00:37:48,543 --> 00:37:51,873 So I'm hoping that I'm going to be in that milieu more 887 00:37:51,873 --> 00:37:52,923 and more as time goes on. 888 00:37:53,823 --> 00:37:55,293 Rod Bland: Yeah, it's a fascinating area. 889 00:37:55,403 --> 00:37:56,413 Somebody once said to me, 890 00:37:56,683 --> 00:37:58,823 there's a lot of work that's going on to try and 891 00:37:58,823 --> 00:38:01,993 prove things in a, in an empirical sense of, about 892 00:38:01,993 --> 00:38:04,533 the validity of things like mediumship, about what you 893 00:38:04,533 --> 00:38:05,963 do and psychics, et cetera. 894 00:38:06,593 --> 00:38:09,243 But I think the most important thing is what is 895 00:38:09,243 --> 00:38:11,313 the impact of that information on you as a person? 896 00:38:11,313 --> 00:38:14,463 Like when I, I read your story, that, that sort of 897 00:38:14,503 --> 00:38:18,013 further cements the belief that we do go on after our 898 00:38:18,043 --> 00:38:19,683 physical death and there is more to our life and 899 00:38:19,683 --> 00:38:20,623 we're an eternal being. 900 00:38:20,623 --> 00:38:22,883 Like that just cements it even further and gives me 901 00:38:22,883 --> 00:38:24,203 more confidence about that. 902 00:38:24,543 --> 00:38:27,773 And so the feeling for me is beneficial and positive. 903 00:38:28,163 --> 00:38:30,423 I think that's the thing that's most important, whether 904 00:38:30,423 --> 00:38:32,823 or not it can be proven or not, I think is secondary 905 00:38:32,823 --> 00:38:36,093 to how does that actually impact your life and whether 906 00:38:36,123 --> 00:38:37,943 Father Nathan Castle: Yes, and I'm happy to hear that. 907 00:38:37,943 --> 00:38:40,853 If reading only a quarter of the way into my first 908 00:38:40,853 --> 00:38:43,613 book has had a positive impact on you good for you. 909 00:38:44,378 --> 00:38:44,738 Rod Bland: Yeah. 910 00:38:44,843 --> 00:38:46,623 Father Nathan Castle: I can also teach people if they... 911 00:38:47,208 --> 00:38:50,198 If they're frustrated that they wish they had psychic 912 00:38:50,218 --> 00:38:52,588 gifts and could talk to their, back and forth to their loved 913 00:38:52,588 --> 00:38:55,928 ones and so on, I can at least teach them how to send, 914 00:38:56,908 --> 00:39:00,398 How to convey a message to their loved ones, that's 915 00:39:00,518 --> 00:39:01,868 standard Catholic praxis. 916 00:39:02,308 --> 00:39:05,438 How to think about where they are, because oftentimes 917 00:39:05,458 --> 00:39:08,718 people will talk about the man upstairs, or they'll presume 918 00:39:08,718 --> 00:39:12,088 that, that God, whatever God is at a faraway place. 919 00:39:12,348 --> 00:39:14,548 And as I told you earlier, my mom taught me, no, 920 00:39:14,568 --> 00:39:15,278 it's right in your heart. 921 00:39:15,998 --> 00:39:18,498 All you have to do is, all you have to do is cross yourself 922 00:39:18,548 --> 00:39:19,758 and say hello in there. 923 00:39:20,668 --> 00:39:24,788 So I can teach people to, to at least experiment with some 924 00:39:24,788 --> 00:39:27,348 different practices that are common to Catholic Christians. 925 00:39:27,568 --> 00:39:29,428 Do you have any, do you know anybody that does yoga? 926 00:39:30,428 --> 00:39:32,038 Rod Bland: Yeah, I used to for many years myself, but 927 00:39:32,708 --> 00:39:33,108 Father Nathan Castle: All right. 928 00:39:33,328 --> 00:39:34,298 Rod Bland: Here in Sydney especially. 929 00:39:34,358 --> 00:39:34,868 Father Nathan Castle: yeah, sure. 930 00:39:34,868 --> 00:39:37,248 And the next thing I ask is, do they want to become Hindus? 931 00:39:38,248 --> 00:39:38,448 Rod Bland: No. 932 00:39:39,098 --> 00:39:39,488 Father Nathan Castle: Usually 933 00:39:39,508 --> 00:39:40,198 Rod Bland: None that I know of. 934 00:39:40,258 --> 00:39:40,598 Yeah. 935 00:39:40,608 --> 00:39:42,048 Father Nathan Castle: They're just borrowing a practice 936 00:39:42,048 --> 00:39:44,148 from one of the great world religious traditions 937 00:39:44,148 --> 00:39:45,818 because it looks beneficial. 938 00:39:46,398 --> 00:39:49,828 And so I feel like I can be that Catholic priest 939 00:39:49,848 --> 00:39:52,408 that's not trying to turn you into a Catholic, but I 940 00:39:52,408 --> 00:39:54,988 can say to you, if you want to borrow a practice from 941 00:39:54,988 --> 00:39:58,568 this tradition, I can teach you about how to do it. 942 00:39:59,548 --> 00:40:02,648 And we have a lot of different practices and tools that I 943 00:40:02,678 --> 00:40:06,648 think are helpful in dealing with life, death, afterlife, 944 00:40:06,868 --> 00:40:10,463 and being connected to loved ones that preceded us, ones 945 00:40:10,463 --> 00:40:12,283 that we knew in this life and ones that lived long 946 00:40:12,283 --> 00:40:15,263 ago, the saints, right? 947 00:40:15,413 --> 00:40:16,783 I have lots of saint friends. 948 00:40:17,683 --> 00:40:18,873 I'm talking with them all the time. 949 00:40:18,873 --> 00:40:19,953 I'm hardly ever alone. 950 00:40:20,953 --> 00:40:21,253 Rod Bland: Yeah. 951 00:40:21,283 --> 00:40:22,043 I like this idea. 952 00:40:22,043 --> 00:40:24,103 This is often, I don't know very much about the 953 00:40:24,103 --> 00:40:26,233 saints, but I'm learning and I'm sorry, I was actually 954 00:40:26,243 --> 00:40:29,323 thinking of archangels just then as well, like Archangel 955 00:40:29,323 --> 00:40:32,453 Michael, but the saints is something fairly new after, 956 00:40:33,453 --> 00:40:35,373 as I've started to learn from reading your books. 957 00:40:35,383 --> 00:40:38,483 So now that's a, another area of explanation, 958 00:40:38,693 --> 00:40:41,013 exploration that I'd like to learn more about. 959 00:40:41,448 --> 00:40:42,758 Father Nathan Castle: If I can help, let me know. 960 00:40:43,658 --> 00:40:45,768 I feel like that's really my strong suit. 961 00:40:46,178 --> 00:40:48,298 I have great, they're all delightful. 962 00:40:48,298 --> 00:40:50,648 The saints are all all human persons who have 963 00:40:50,648 --> 00:40:51,678 died and lived on. 964 00:40:52,148 --> 00:40:54,938 And many times in the Catholic church, some 965 00:40:54,938 --> 00:40:57,698 saint will be the patron of architecture or the patron 966 00:40:57,698 --> 00:40:58,748 of gardening or something. 967 00:40:58,988 --> 00:41:00,908 And it's usually because they loved that thing 968 00:41:00,908 --> 00:41:04,138 in their human lifetime on the earth and they, 969 00:41:04,198 --> 00:41:07,158 because they loved it, they don't need to give it up. 970 00:41:07,368 --> 00:41:09,933 They just take it to the next level somehow 971 00:41:10,933 --> 00:41:11,783 Rod Bland: Yeah, I see. 972 00:41:12,233 --> 00:41:14,723 So if if people do want to learn more about what you 973 00:41:14,723 --> 00:41:18,553 do, Father Nathan, or get in touch with you, what's the 974 00:41:18,553 --> 00:41:20,093 best way for them to do that? 975 00:41:20,383 --> 00:41:21,613 Father Nathan Castle: through my website, which is 976 00:41:21,613 --> 00:41:27,603 Nathan, n a t h a n, Nathan Castle, c a s t l e.com. 977 00:41:27,663 --> 00:41:29,133 Nathan castle.com. 978 00:41:29,133 --> 00:41:31,573 There's a And the thing I don't do, or a couple 979 00:41:31,573 --> 00:41:33,663 of things that I don't do, I don't do demons. 980 00:41:34,203 --> 00:41:36,893 Sometimes people immediately associate Catholic priests and 981 00:41:36,893 --> 00:41:40,993 spirituality with exorcism, and that's not my gift. 982 00:41:41,363 --> 00:41:45,293 I don't do that, nor do I deliver messages from 983 00:41:45,293 --> 00:41:46,243 deceased loved ones. 984 00:41:46,988 --> 00:41:49,208 I would discourage people from saying, Would you 985 00:41:49,208 --> 00:41:51,088 please let me know how my grandmother's doing? 986 00:41:51,478 --> 00:41:52,338 I wouldn't do that. 987 00:41:52,928 --> 00:41:55,548 But I'd be happy to listen to whatever their concerns are. 988 00:41:55,548 --> 00:41:59,098 And then you and I are talking via technology all 989 00:41:59,098 --> 00:42:01,168 the way across the Pacific. 990 00:42:01,588 --> 00:42:03,118 It's not hard to set up a Zoom 991 00:42:03,143 --> 00:42:03,553 Rod Bland: zones. 992 00:42:03,978 --> 00:42:05,178 Father Nathan Castle: Yeah, yes, and many times, 993 00:42:05,178 --> 00:42:06,018 and a different day. 994 00:42:06,508 --> 00:42:07,458 Isn't it a different day? 995 00:42:08,183 --> 00:42:08,603 Rod Bland: It is. 996 00:42:08,603 --> 00:42:08,893 Yes. 997 00:42:08,903 --> 00:42:09,793 It's Friday here. 998 00:42:10,188 --> 00:42:12,298 Father Nathan Castle: In fact you were patient with 999 00:42:12,298 --> 00:42:14,608 me in just setting up this call because it took us 1000 00:42:14,608 --> 00:42:17,658 a few tries just to agree upon what day and what 1001 00:42:17,658 --> 00:42:21,258 time, but I'd be happy to do whatever I could to help. 1002 00:42:21,468 --> 00:42:24,288 The thing that I ask people to do first is if 1003 00:42:24,288 --> 00:42:26,758 they're really interested in what they've heard, buy 1004 00:42:26,778 --> 00:42:27,918 and read the first book. 1005 00:42:28,763 --> 00:42:29,103 Rod Bland: Yep. 1006 00:42:29,158 --> 00:42:30,838 Father Nathan Castle: Please don't ask me to explain things 1007 00:42:30,838 --> 00:42:34,178 that I've already explained in detail in a book that's not 1008 00:42:34,178 --> 00:42:36,598 very expensive and that you could order from Amazon and 1009 00:42:36,598 --> 00:42:37,528 have the day after tomorrow. 1010 00:42:38,193 --> 00:42:39,323 Rod Bland: Yeah, and it's a good read. 1011 00:42:39,663 --> 00:42:42,573 I ordered the Kindle version, so it's I got it instantly. 1012 00:42:43,573 --> 00:42:45,193 Father Nathan Castle: And we also have all three, 1013 00:42:45,193 --> 00:42:48,593 all four three of my books are on audible.com. 1014 00:42:49,373 --> 00:42:52,073 They're all audio books that people prefer to do, that. 1015 00:42:52,073 --> 00:42:53,543 A lot of people do that while they're 1016 00:42:53,633 --> 00:42:55,373 exercising or commuting. 1017 00:42:56,373 --> 00:42:58,383 Rod Bland: Yeah, I'll put all those in the show notes. 1018 00:42:58,423 --> 00:43:00,623 And is there any final message that you'd like to leave 1019 00:43:00,693 --> 00:43:02,803 people with before we wrap up our conversation today? 1020 00:43:03,283 --> 00:43:04,543 Father Nathan Castle: I also have a podcast. 1021 00:43:04,548 --> 00:43:06,433 My podcast is coming up on a year old. 1022 00:43:06,433 --> 00:43:10,163 It's called The Joyful Friar, f r I a R Dominic St. 1023 00:43:10,163 --> 00:43:12,298 Dominic the founder of our order. 1024 00:43:12,718 --> 00:43:13,738 That was his nickname. 1025 00:43:14,183 --> 00:43:18,033 And I've just borrowed it to for my show, but you can find 1026 00:43:18,033 --> 00:43:20,533 The Joyful Friar wherever you get your podcasts. 1027 00:43:21,013 --> 00:43:24,453 And I would just encourage people to to keep exploring 1028 00:43:24,453 --> 00:43:27,333 in that direction and trust that, that they're really 1029 00:43:27,333 --> 00:43:29,523 not only a temporary being. 1030 00:43:29,523 --> 00:43:31,963 You're, we're both temporary and permanent at the same 1031 00:43:31,963 --> 00:43:33,033 time in different ways. 1032 00:43:33,523 --> 00:43:36,553 There's a part of you that will die and the essence 1033 00:43:36,553 --> 00:43:37,483 of you will live on. 1034 00:43:37,493 --> 00:43:39,073 It's just the way the universe is built. 1035 00:43:39,573 --> 00:43:41,273 Rod Bland: Father Nathan, thank you for that message. 1036 00:43:41,463 --> 00:43:44,353 I appreciate you and thank you for coming on the show today. 1037 00:43:44,748 --> 00:43:45,138 Father Nathan Castle: All right. 1038 00:43:45,178 --> 00:43:45,778 God bless you.