NDE Survivor, Life Coach & Author! 📘A chat with Ray Catania for 'Living Life Consciously' 🌈✨

The way I see things today is completely my entire perception of everything has changed.

I totally can relate to that.

The things that we get upset about are so ridiculous and, and granted there's tragedies and things like that that take a long time to work out, but these little things like road rage and, and, and you didn't get the right thing you ordered or something, I mean, that's just so ridiculous. Ridiculous to me. Like I can't even wrap my head around those things anymore. And even losing the car. So the insurance company buys me a new one. So what? You know what I mean? Like, just. And that's the way I approach life now. And I don't let anything bother me. I don't let anybody else's stuff bring me out of my state of flow because I don't care enough about it, you know, so it's just a different way of being. And this is what I try to teach in my coaching practice today, is how to adopt detachment, how to understand surrender, how to understand these techniques. They don't make you less powerful, they make you more powerful. When you don't care, you can't be bothered. It can't happen. So, yeah, there's still going to be big things. Like I said, there's going to be big things. There's going to be grief, there's going to be loss and things of that nature. And yeah, they are going to require attention to get over. But the more you understand that death isn't really the end and it's. There's more to it, the less it hits you like a ton of bricks.

Yeah.

And the more accepting you can be to the world around you.

Alrighty. Hey there, beautiful souls. It's your girl, Ally. And we are back at it again for another episode of Living Life Consciously. We have a very special guest guest lined up for you today and I am stoked to get started. So without further ado, Justin, say hey.

Hey, cosmic thrill seekers. I'm Justin and this is Living Life Consciously, where we explore the extraordinary, ride the waves of inspiration, and embark on an adventure of limitless curiosity together.

And I'm Leslie, also known as Light Being Love, an eternal spiritual being having a temporary human experience. And I'm happy to be here now.

Awesome. Ray, can you say a quick hello?

Sure. I want to say hello to everybody and it's an honor and a pleasure to be here and I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Absolutely. Can't wait for our audience to dive into your situation. But before we do that for the audience at Home. Join us as we delve deep into the cosmic tapestry woven by this acclaimed author, metaphysical teacher and certified life coach. Get ready to embark on an electrifying journey with Ray Catania, a beacon of wisdom in the realms of metaphysics, spirituality and personal transformation. From surviving a near death experience to delving into the depths of metaphysical parapsychology, Ray fearlessly navigates the realms of science and spirituality. Discover the transformative power of Ray's award winning awakening series featuring mind bending titles like the Atheist and the Afterlife and you'd are still Alive now act like it. Explore the profound insights and intuitive prowess that make Ray a sought after practitioner of transpersonal psychotherapy and a luminary in the field of metaphysics. Uncover the fascinating research of the Human Anatomy Project where Ray explores the intricate dance between human energy and biological tissues. As an ordained minister, USUI Reiki practitioner and certified meditation instructor, Ray seamlessly blends ancient wisdom with modern science to guide others towards inner peace and self empowerment. Ray, thank you so much. Is there anywhere specific you would like to start?

Who wrote that? Because that's phenomenal. Who is that guy? I want to meet him.

Wow. Thank you. You're very welcome. If you don't know where to start, I'll start with a question if that's cool.

Please do.

All right. Awesome. So, Ray, your journey from skeptic to sage is truly, truly remarkable. Can you share with us the pivotal moment you realized there was more to life than meets the eye?

Well, there were several actually. But if I had to choose one that was one of the largest, I would say it was likely the NDE that I had around the age of 20. And it was a time when I was still living at home. I was with my parents when I say home and wasn't quite thrown out of the house yet. My bedroom's on the second floor and it was right above the kitchen and the kitchen stove and the stove had a gas leak and nobody really recognized their new. And I guess it was getting worse all night while I was sleeping right above it and it ran on natural gas. So the gas was rising and coming up into my room and I was breathing it in. And in the morning I guess my mother woke up and just turned on the stove and there was this big ball of flames and it went out pretty quickly. Yeah, the wall caught fire and I think there was some smoke, but it was put out with an extinguisher by my father. It wasn't really a big deal, but it wasn't the smoke or the fire. It was the gas that ultimately did me in, so to speak, right? So I hear the fire trucks and I hear the police and I hear all this commotion and I try to get out of bed and I. And I can't really like lift myself up because all of a sudden I weigh. I feel like certain parts of my body just weigh me down. Like my legs are like a thousand pounds each. And my head, I can't get it off, excuse me, off the pillow. And the parts that did work were my arms. And what I would do is I was trying to pull myself to the edge of the bed. And as I would do it, I would pass out. And then I would wake up because I would hear them downstairs again and I would pull myself a little bit more, a little bit more. And you know, finally I was. It took a while and I was like, if I don't get out of this bed, I'm going to die. Like, I just kind of knew that what's going to be the case. And no one's really coming upstairs to even look on me or anything. So I'm like, I got to get out of here. And I'm pulling and pulling and pulling. Finally, I tumble out of the bed and I hit the floor. And I remember hitting it face first. I mean, there was no mistaking that I hit a face first. But what was really strange was, is there was no pain after I hit it. And the reason for that is because at that moment, I guess like a millisecond before the pain sets in, I'm out of the body and I'm not in it anymore. I'm in the corner of the room and the room is a perfect square. And so my energy or my consciousness, spirit, soul, whichever term you wish to use, is now in the corner of the room looking down on my lifeless body. And you would think that this is scary, but it's not. It's actually like the greatest feeling I've ever had in my entire life, really. I've done a lot of drugs and this is the best.

I love you for saying that. That's so funny.

And the, you know, adjacent for me is, is this cone shaped light, white light, and it's a tunnel. And it is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my entire life. And I'm like one with the light. So the light and me are completely commingled by energy and the light's energy are one in the same. And this doesn't. Again, I'm not really scared. I'm not frightened. It feels euphoric. It feels painless. There's just so many adjectives that are amazing to describe this light and this feeling that I'm having in this moment and at the end of the tunnel. So I want to go into the tunnel. And at the end of the tunnel is a being who says, ray, it's okay to come into the light, or it's okay to come into the light, Ray, something like that. And I was like, oh, knows my name. And I have no idea, you know, who that is or what that may be. And only to a degree do I. Now, I still don't really know completely, but I start to go towards it and I start to go into the tunnel. And as I go through the lighted tunnel, it. But the. The euphoria increases, if that's possible.

Wow.

So it's getting better and better as I'm moving forward and forward. Right.

Okay.

Now, in that moment, my father comes through and kicks open the door. And he's just, you know, comes in, picks me up, grabs me from the floor, and he starts yelling for the paramedics and he's crying and he's distraught, and he's my son, my son. And he's showing a lot of emotion. Now, my father, you know, and I didn't have a particularly good relationship, not really one where he would hug me at all. And in fact, now I'm dead. And I'm, you know, kind of receiving that attention, that love that I didn't really get.

Oh, wow.

So I. I asked if I could go back. That was the reason I asked if I could go back. And, you know, I don't know. I know I never heard a yes or a no or maybe or anything else for that matter. The next thing I know is I'm awake and I'm not in that room anymore. I'm on the living room floor, and I wake up, I'm flat on my back, and the paramedics are on top of me with all their tools doing their thing. And I wake up and I'm still feeling. Feeling euphoric.

You got residual happiness left over.

Oh, my God, yes. And I'm like, guys, guys, get off me. Why are you touching me? What are you doing here? You know, like, stop touching me. Right? And I'm like, what are you doing? And, and. And I was like, I feel great. I feel fine. And they're like, listen, you are not fine, kid. So just lay there and we're going to bring up the truck and you're going in. I'm going into what? What am I Going in, you know, so the truck means ambulance, and I'm going into the hospital. But, you know, I'm just hearing them talk back and forth.

I'm surprised they didn't call it the bus. Sorry, go ahead.

The bus. Right. Well, here's what happened. So then I say, well, did you see the light? Did you hear the voice? And now, you know, all of a sudden, it's turning into a bus. Right? Because now they're like, wait a minute. This really messed up, or something's wrong with him. Right. But I immediately shut that down. I don't say it again, because I can see that all of a sudden, everybody started to change in the room. And it was, you know, was he. Was he crazy? Was he on drugs? What's going on?

Right.

And, you know, prior to this, like, before in my youth, I was able to see energy. I would meditate for hours, but I didn't know I was meditating because I was just a kid. And what I was trying to do is really just escape my own reality.

Yeah.

The house I lived in was pretty tumultuous. It wasn't a great place to grow up or live. And I would hide. And we didn't have phones or we didn't have computers. We didn't have anything at all. So basically it was just me and me staring at a wall, hiding in the basement or in the yard and just imagining them someplace else. Well, you know, when you're. When you're. And there's trauma all around me.

Right?

Trauma. Trauma.

Just thinking that I was like.

I was like.

I was just sitting here thinking, like, that's a total dissociative reaction to a traumatic environment.

That's right.

Yeah.

And so you try to. You exactly. You try to disassociate, and you realize you can. Your mind is detachable. It actually can disassociate. You can leave your body. And so I started to push through the veil. So I always had this thing, if you will, with energy. Like, I could see it. I could. I could stare at a wall long enough, and I could start to see. And I could see it in the air, and I could see things floating. I just thought everybody could this. I didn't think it was a big deal.

Okay.

Now when I try to tell anybody that I'm crazy. You're absolutely crazy. That didn't happen. And when I have my nde, I went to my mother. You're crazy. That did not happen. Don't tell anybody. They're gonna lock you up. You're absolutely Outta your mind?

Yeah.

Okay, so it's always, yeah, right. So it's always suppressed, always pushed down. And I'm starting to believe, okay, there's something wrong with me. I better not discuss this ever again. And I put it away. Even as beautiful as this was, I still had to find a way to justify it and get it off my mind because I was trying to figure out what was that. And I don't have a computer. They're not invented yet. So I can't just go to my desk and type in NDE or near death, or what the hell happened to me? Anything? Nothing. So I'm stuck with this. And basically the way I justified it analytically was I fell in front of a window on what was likely a sunny day. The sun was the white light that I thought I saw. And the voice and everything else was hallucinations from inhaling gas fumes all night long. That's it.

So you tried to rationalize it.

Rationalize it, yeah, because my parents were Catholic and, and, and that was the religion and that was that. And, you know, it was what it was and I didn't particularly take that or like it. So I rebelled by going the other direction and decided I was going to be an atheist.

Okay.

Even before I even know what that really is. I'm just rebelling.

Gotcha.

But I'm not believing in what they're telling me. And I know, you know, they're constantly telling me I'm crazy. So the bottom line here is I'm going to believe in absolutely nothing. I don't really care. Um, you know, in the back of my mind, I know I kind of died. Right. I kind of have this gut feeling that I really do know what I saw and where I was.

Yeah.

And. And, and so what this does is it. You take a kid who's grows up from chaos and chaos was my comfort zone. Right. It's where I thrive. It's all I knew. So now I'm going into my 20s. I'm not afraid to die. I really don't care if I do. And I'm coming from a place of chaos. So if there's no chaos, wherever I am, I'm the lighter. I'm gonna light the fire, I'm gonna gaslight this place. I'm the trouble.

Okay? You're the kerosene.

This is it. Yeah, right. You don't have enough chaos. I'll bring it, don't worry. Because I know how to. I'm comfortable navigating, that sort of thing. What I'm not comfortable with is relaxation and love and being.

Because it's so foreign to you. You're not used to it. You never experienced that. So you. That's foreign.

Yeah, that's right.

Gotcha.

So if things aren't dysfunctional, I don't know what that is. Right. So now, you know, at this point in my life, I start to put myself in really bad places. I work for some shady characters. I am involved in a lot of times where I should be dead. And every time there's this point where whatever the it is, wherever I'm in and I. And I could technically die. There's that being that was there the day of the nde who tells me how to get out of this situation.

Really?

One time. Yeah, one time. It's. I'm in a nightclub where after hours, I'm leaving. I'm just like, throwing some glasses behind a bar. I go behind a bar, somebody asked me for a drink. I go to get the bottle, I hear pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. I know what that is. It's not firecrackers. Right? So I'm trying to hold it together and figure out how am I going to get out of here? Because once I don't think they realize I'm down here. But once I get up, everybody knows I'm there. So how do I get out? What do I do? The being says, side door, side door, side door. And I'm looking down, I gotta go. I gotta get up and go that way to get to the side door. And I'm thinking, I'm not gonna make that. That's just too far.

Okay.

So I'm thinking of my options, and I have no options. So I go with what I'm being told. And I'm just like. It's not like you're not hearing these. This information. You're not. None of the five physical senses that I'm referring to am I really using. It's all in here. It's just. It's like a download.

Okay, I'm glad you clarified that.

Yeah. If I was hearing and seeing, then I'm schizophrenic and you really can put me away. Okay. So now I run to the side door and I open it up and I start running down the hall because there's another hallway. I gotta go all the way down. And then I go out another side door, and I'm out in the. In the parking lot, and I parked my car right there. I've never parked my car there in, like seven years that I was There. And I parked it there that night, that day or whatever you want to call it. And I got. And that's how I got out of there. And there's just so many other examples of times when. And I wrote a lot of these in the book where I just technically shouldn't be here anymore. And I can't. I don't know if it's a male or a female. That being, that energy has always been there for me.

It's cool that you recognize it and listen to it.

Yeah. I mean, yeah. I can't remember, I think the first time I was 10 years old and I nearly drowned. And I was in the ocean and the undertow kept pulling me back and I couldn't get back to shore. And what was happening was, is that every time I would try to swim, if you try to swim forward, the undertow just takes you back and you wind up going nowhere. You're just in a standstill. And there were a group of kids on the other side. There was 10 kids that needed help. And the lifeguards were really focused over there. And I was the only one on this side. So no one was really seeing me or paying attention. Started to go down. And in that moment, I heard, felt, saw, however you want to express it. Calm down, swim sideways, Take all the time you need.

Okay?

Calm down, swim sideways, take all the time you need.

And I. Reassurance and guidance. Wow.

I can't calm myself down because I'm 10. So it's done for me. And all of a sudden my heart just stops beating rapidly and a feeling of calmness overtakes my whole body. I could, like, feel it. So a little bit right now and I start to swim this way on an angle. And eventually it takes a long time, or it feels like it takes a long time. I don't know how long it really took. And I eventually get to shore and I just collapse. And then a bunch of people came around and said, are you all right? Are you alright? Which freaked me out even more. And then I tried to get up and run away, but I have no breath and I'm falling down and getting up, falling down, getting up. And I'm, you know, completely traumatized to say the least. But I get out of this situation again and it's thanks to. I'm gonna say him, for lack of a better word.

Okay. Wow. I'm just sitting here.

That's the first time you heard from your spirit guide would be when you were 10?

I think. So I don't.

And I was wondering like your mediumship like abilities or gifts did. Do you think they came from the near death experiences? It sounds like you've had multiple kind of. Well, I don't. That wasn't really a near death experience, but. So, yeah, it seems like you had these abilities but prior to your, you know.

Well, I don't see energy as in human form yet. That takes many, many years. So I'll tell you the next part of what I go through is when I move into my own place. And Now I'm early 20s, it's post NDE and I. What I, what I interpret is it feels like the house is haunted, but I don't see anyone. I don't recognize it as being that. I just see lines going across the room, across the wall. I see the swirlies in my eyes. I feel pressure, like there's other people in the room, but there's nobody there. But I'm not seeing anything that leads me to believe this. These are dead people. They don't look like dead people. They just feel like energy right now. That'll change. But that's the way it is right at this point in my life. And so. And nothing in the apartment works, right? From the, from the alarm system to the electrical appliances. The phone goes on and off. I must have called the maintenance guy a hundred times. And he comes and he says, he goes, listen to me, kid. There's nothing wrong with your place. Don't call me again. You're crazy. So here I'm crazy again, right? I'm sorry.

Here's another person that's telling you this. Right?

Right. It's just, it's the constant of my whole life. You're crazy. So I'm not going to tell anybody. And I remember one time I was on the phone and I was, I was telling my friend and I said this completely unjust. I kidding around. I was like, hey, man, I think my house is haunted. Click. And I. And this is a landline, right? And I call him back and I say, hey, why'd you hang up with me? He goes, I didn't hang up on you. You hung up on me. I said, no, you hung up on me. And right now, click. There it goes again.

The ghost in the house is like recognition.

And I'm like, do you. Do you understand? I don't believe in you. You're not real. I'm an atheist. Get the hell out of my house. Yeah, you're not real. Yeah. So I'm trying to convince myself that this is simply not possible. It's not Real. And I move into another place. I leave that place early, and I move into another one. And I think it's going to be a clean slate right now. Same thing, different house. It's not the house that's haunted. It's Ray that's haunted. I go, these guys are coming with me.

Okay?

So. But I. I. In this period of my life, I can't turn this off. So I turn to alcohol and drugs to do it for me, because it's the only way I can sleep.

It's honestly a typical reaction, really, to numb it.

Look, I'm crazy anyway, right? And I don't really. It doesn't really matter if I live or die. I'm just going back to the light. Not really a big deal. So what the hell, let's party. And I just. I really, really took it to a level that was ridiculous, but it was really for sleeping. That's how it started. Because I would be up all night. Like, they were just so constant in their ability to rattle my cage. They could vibrate my insides. And it was just. It's so disturbing. And you feel like you're being looked at, and you feel like there's something on the wall, and you look really quick, and there's like a. And it's gone. Yeah. So it's just this over and over and over and everybody telling me I'm crazy. So I'm like, I remember I went to a drug dealer and I bought a hundred rupees. And the guy's like, are you Bill Cosby? And I'm like, no, I. I wind up with the drug dealer who's got, like, a conscience, right?

Oh, my God.

He doesn't want to say. I'm like, dude, they're for me to sleep. I swear to God, I'm roofy and myself, guy. I don't have an injury myself that's only interested in getting some damn rest.

That's wild.

So. So, yeah, I mean, that's. That's what we used to sleep. That's what I did. And it was absolutely insane. And then. So when I get married the first time, I'm about 30 or early 30s, and I get married and I have two kids now I have a reason for living. Okay? These are the kids. This is the reason. Right? So everything shifts.

Monumental shift. Thinking that term in my head, and.

You said it, they need me. So I have to go to rehab. I check myself in. I have to go back to college. I have to get a real job. And I do. And I do very well. And I work myself up the ladder, and then I do it again a second time, and I do it again.

Congratulations.

Thank you. And I've lost count of the years, but it's about 15 or so that I've been sober and I don't touch anything. And very happy that, you know, I made that choice. And my kids are my life right now. And the marriage falls apart quickly, but the kids are everything to me, and I want to give them a life. Not the. Like, the one that I had, but something that's considerably better. You know, I want to be a father who listens. I want to be a father who's part of their lives. I want to be a father who tells them I love them. I never let them leave without me telling them that, you know, that's so important.

Honestly. Yeah.

I mean, I think it is. Anyway. I think it made a huge difference.

Absolutely.

Not just I'm not the perfect father, but I think that I know that I was better.

You did better than what you received, so that's an improvement. That's nice.

Exactly what I tried to do. Yeah. So anyway, the marriage falls apart, and I date a little bit on and off, but it's nothing that's considerably serious. It's just like a little bit of dating. And then as time goes by. The reason is because I don't want to bring a strange woman into their lives. I have two sons, and I don't want them to be negatively affected by, you know, they're not going to adjust to just a new woman. Right.

Sure.

So I wait, and when they're older and they're late teens and about to go to college, I decide I'm going to date seriously and settle down. And I go online and I go to some of those websites that no one ever goes to. Right. To find a date. And I was going through the different sites, and they give you a couple of examples of women that live in your area to entice you to get you to join. Right?

Sure.

So one of the sites I looked at, she was the third one down. Never forget it. She was the third one down. And I saw her picture and I said, that's. That's her. Like, I knew her.

Really?

Like, I knew her. Yeah.

Instant recognition. That's like a soul contract situation.

Right. And I said, that is my wife.

Oh, that's so cute. I love that.

And I have to tell her this. So I joined the site and I'm. I'm writing this email, and I must have rewritten it 50 times. I actually copied and pasted it in the first book. And whatever I said was, you know, funnier than the way I'm about to say it, but it was more or less like, hi, I know you don't know me. My name is Ray. I just want to tell you, you're my wife. You don't know this yet, but if you have dinner with me, I can explain everything. So.

What an opener.

Lol. You're crazy. I said, I know, I know.

I've been hearing it forever. I'm aware. But.

But do you want to have dinner?

Yeah.

Okay. So we are married. We are here today. We are still together.

That's amazing.

She's my soul mate.

Oh, amazing.

And here's really how I know why. So when we're first dating, in the beginning, this is where I start to actually see things differently. So I meet her, and what happens is the first time ever that what I call the movie screen opens up in my mind. And on the movie screen is a person who's speaking to me. And this is the first time I see energy in a human form. And that's how it speaks to me. And it's. He says, I effed up. I made a mistake. You can help her. I cannot. And I was like, wait, oh, what just happened? What was that? You know, like, he was, like, right here, right? Big guy, beard, mustache, thick black hair. Right like you, Justin. And you look like him. And he was, like, right in my face. He's like, I effed up. I made a mistake. You can help her. I cannot. I have no idea who this man is.

Wow.

And I have no idea what he's talking about.

Okay?

And this is a Friday, and I'm at work, and so I decide that I'm going to go home and just, like, get some rest. I'm getting a headache. It's killing me. And I. And I do that, and the next day, there he is again. The wind, the window, the movie screen pops up. There he is from the second I get out of bed. And it's like every hour on the hour, he's back, and he says the same thing. So he's being persistent to say, you have no idea. By Sunday, it's like every five minutes.

Oh, wow. That's real persistent.

Wow.

So this message is, like, important, but I don't even know that it's a message yet. I don't know what this is. I just want to make it stop. And I can't drive. I can't function. I can't have a conversation with anybody. I really Am crazy. That's the way I see this right now. And the breaking point for me was I was in the store and I was paying for my stuff. I don't know what I said or did to this day, but the lady behind the counter goes, are you okay, sir? And I said, no.

You're like, not in the least?

No.

Okay.

And I took my credit card back and I went back to the car and I just put my head down, and I was like, what the. How could you do this to me? Like, I worked so hard. I went to rehab, I went back to college. I did everything I was supposed to do. I got out of the crazy life, I got out of a crazy world, and now I'm insane. Now I have to deal with this like, it finally happened. That's what I'm thinking. It finally happened.

I broke.

I'm officially insane. And I have to figure out, how am I going to provide for my kids when I'm dead? Because my days of cognitive reasoning are going to be limited. And so I call my brother, who I know has my will, my DNR and everything else, and I go through it with him, and he's like, are you okay? And I was like, yeah, I'm fine. I just want to make sure you have everything. I don't want to get into it. So I'm making sure that my kids are going to be taken care of. This is literally where my head is at in this moment. So now I'm at a point where I have to tell this woman that I love, that clinically insane, and let her find somebody else so that she can move on with her life and to make this story crazier than what it already is. She is by trade a doctor of psychology and neuropsychology.

Wow.

That's what she does for a living.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I'm going to tell a doctor. Psychology. I see people that aren't really there, and this is going to go over great. So the boy.

Sorry.

That's gonna be a wonderful. It's okay. It's okay. It's funny.

Just the way you said it was really funny. It was, like, super sarcastic.

Well, it gets. Here's what happens, right? So I, I, I tell her, and I'm expecting her to say, so here's a referral. Here's call this guy. Never call me again and see you. Bye. But that's not what happens. I actually, I get into it and she's like, well, tell me, tell me more. Tell me more. What have I got to lose? At this point, right? So I just tell her the whole thing. I feel the vibrations and I see the lines and swirly things. And then all of a sudden, the movie screen opens up, and this guy's on there, and he's big, husky guy, beard, mustache, black hair. And I effed up. I made a mistake. You can help her. I cannot. And she's just like, that sounds like my dad.

Stop it right now. Stop it right now.

And I said, babe? I said, babe, babe, babe. I said, wait a minute. Wait a minute, Right? Your dad is dead. You told me. And she goes, I know. And now I'm thinking she's crazy. And I'm going, check, please. You're supposed to be the doctor. You think I'm seeing dead people? So I'm running. I'm ready to run for the hills. And she's like, relax, relax. You're probably a psychic medium, and you don't know it. I said, what? She goes, you know, a medium? And I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. No idea.

Wow. So she's telling you. I like how.

She's telling me.

Plot twist. I like this plot twist, Right?

Yeah.

So she explains what this. What a medium is, what they do and how many times she's been to them. And then her dad has always come through just the way I'm explaining. And I said, but this guy, like I told you, he was a heavy guy, and he had the facial hair and the stuff. And it doesn't look like your dad. I saw the picture, you know, it's on the mantel. I saw it in the living room. And she goes, wait a minute. She goes, that's, you know, old that picture is. She goes, let me show you what he looked like when he died. And she shows me a picture of the man in the movie screen. And I said, you know that guy? And she goes, yeah, it's my dad, silly. And now I don't know what to do. Like, I'm just completely lost. I have no insanity. I understand. Okay? At least it's a concept I'm aware of, and I understand what it is, right?

But this is a whole new ballgame.

Mediumship. I've never heard the word before that day. Okay, so. And. And. And psychic I've heard, but I don't believe in any of that stuff. And I would. They would have been the butt end of all of my jokes, so I would never have taken either of that seriously until that very day.

The irony is not lost on me right now.

You better believe it. I was the biggest skeptic of all time. And it was me, reject, in denial, denying what I could do myself.

Yeah.

And, and, and that's what we do, right? When you, it's like, I know you are, but what am I? I know you are. What am I? When, when like kids are, are teasing each other, what do we tell them? They're telling you about themselves.

Right.

So if I'm making fun of psychic mediums, I'm making fun of it because I am one and I just, I'm not, I'm not saying that. Right.

Yeah.

So this is my, maybe my way of dealing with it up until this point. And she says, and I don't know what I'm going to do now. But of course she has the idea because she's the soulmate. And she says, why don't. There's a medium who's coming to our area who's very, very well known. She's only going to be here for two weeks. I'll make two appointments with her, we'll meet up, and you can talk to her privately and tell her what's going on and then you can figure it out for yourself. And I'm like, okay, this sounds cool. I'll do that.

Yeah.

And we do it and we get there and I'm like, shaken. I'm, I'm, you know, here's a guy that's like been in shootouts and OD'd and all this other stuff. And I'm like, oh, my God.

I mean, this is what rattles you, right?

This rattles me, right? Yeah. Bullets flying overhead, whatever. That's like fourth of July. So I go in and I sit, I don't even sit down yet. I go in and I say, hi. She said, I said, hi, I'm Ray. She goes, oh, you're that Ray.

So she's already expecting you?

Yeah. Full on expectations. And I'm like, yeah. She goes, tell me what's going on, Ray.

Have a seat.

And I sit down. And I said, well, I see, I sort of, I see people that aren't, aren't there. She goes, me too.

The normalization of this is like, yeah, you really.

I'm just stunned at this moment. Right. Say, this is the first time in my entire life I've explained this to somebody and they get it and they're.

Not telling you you're crazy. They're like, me too.

Right.

Such a relief for you.

Right.

I just, I, I, I broke, I was just, I was on. The more she explained, the more emotional I got. And I was like, holy, this person understands me. Like, they really get it. They really get it. And she even confided in me that when she was young, that her parents thought she was crazy, had her evaluated, had her put in a hospital, the whole nine yards, really.

It sucks that so many intuitive people go through that.

To get out, you gotta say, no, I don't see anything. Everything's fine. No, I don't know what you're talking. Everything's great. Yeah, I feel great.

Right.

It could have went a whole different way with your now wife or soulmate if she wasn't open to that. And it really shows a lot for the times we're in and the changes that are happening. And, yeah, it's gonna, you know, hopefully get better for those who do experience things. And people will not basically have them shut. Shut it down and.

Yeah.

Mold them in a way that makes them.

She said that I had seen several mediums and my father comes through. Right. So we. That. That was, like, right around my birthday of that year, the following year, I. Oh, by the way, that that woman was kind enough to take me under her wing and be my mentor. For the first year. She wasn't teaching students anymore. That wasn't what she was doing. But she did take me because I was such a disaster, basically.

Okay, you were her pro boat.

And I think she. Yeah, I think she knew I was gonna die if. If I didn't. So, you know, so she takes me under a wing for first year, and then after that, it's a birthday of the following year. And my wife says, what do you want to do for your birthday? And I said, well, I don't know. What do you want? She's like, you want to go to Aruba? You want to go on island? You want to go this, you want to go that? And I said, I just want to see trees. I just want to sit in front of a tree. That's it. I just want to be around trees. I don't like people anymore. I like trees. That's it. I want to hug trees. I want to be with trees. I have no idea who the hell I am anymore. What have I become? You know, this is. This is what I'm attracted to. I want to sit in the middle of nowhere and I want to hug trees. And that's what we do. And we got a cabin in the woods, and there's nothing and nobody around, and we just meditate the whole time that we're there. And so the time that we're there, though, she takes out an illustration. And it's a. It's an illustration. And she shows it to me. And I was like, that's your dad. And she goes, I know. And I was like, but what you don't know is that's exactly the way I see him. When I see him on the movie screen. That's. That's him. And. And she's like, what do you mean? And I said, well, that's the shirt he's always wearing when I see him. And his hair is exactly like that. That's him. And she goes, well, this was drawn by a medium. And I said, you know, a medium that can draw. Whoa. How cool is that? I wish I could draw. That's the ultimate validation. You draw the person, show it to them. You can't go wrong, right?

Yeah.

So I'm like, who is this guy? I gotta meet him. And we go to his website and we pull him up. And right on the front page of his website it says, we are now accepting applications for a two year program for a mentorship program. And the deadline to apply is February 15th. That's my birthday. Wow.

Oh, wow.

Synchronicity. Oh. Just lining up to this moment. So I submit an application, and this is a mentorship that's not a class. So you have to get accepted. And I had to go through first, the application was nothing. Then there's another application, and it's like this thick. And you're. It's all essay questions you have to answer. What happens first, what happens second? How do you. How do you know about this? How do you know that? How do you know when it's a psychic premonition? How do you know when it's a. You're talking to. And you just on and on and on and on and on. You got to completely convince that you're eligible to be there or you're not getting in. Then there's an interview. If you get past those two steps, then you get another application if you get past that step.

Really?

And it just goes on and on and on. Right. So, yeah, I mean, if you want to be in the class, anybody can sign up. But this is a mentorship. You have 247 access. And.

And it's okay.

Amazing. So anyway, I. I never heard them from them. And I was just like, okay, I guess I didn't get it. I'm, you know, I'm not in. And then my mind starts to revert back to how much of this stuff that I make up, how much of the stuff that maybe I saw something, maybe A new. Some, you know, I don't know. You know, I start doubting myself completely, okay? And as that happens, I said, well, let me just call his assistant and just see, you know, what's going on and whatever, confirm I didn't get it. And she says, oh, no, no, no, no, no. There's hundreds of applications. You don't understand. He's got a lot to go through. And I was like, oh, hundreds of applications. And I'm like, okay. And I hung up the phone and I was like, so maybe I did make it. I don't know. But there's hundreds. I'm not going to make it. There's hundreds. All of a sudden my ego's talking to me, right? It's just shooting me down, tell me I'm not good enough. But here's the thing. I do the math on this. Hundreds of people times thousands of dollars. This is a two year program. It's not cheap, right? So you got hundreds of people at thousands of dollars. You do the math. That's a windfall for him if he.

Were to accept everybody. Right? Yeah, right, right.

But I was the 11th of 11.

That made it okay.

Wow. So out of hundreds of applications, he picked 11 people. And so, so essentially he was letting go of all that potential money because he really wanted to narrow down on the people that were serious. And you were the 11th, which is an angel out of 11, so. 11. 11. Synchronicity.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I noticed, you know, I've the his name is Ray. And I can't help but think Ray and Light, you know, are one and the same too, so.

Oh, good point.

That came up someplace very recently. I forgot where it was, but maybe it'll come back to me.

Oh, wow. Okay.

So when I saw this man's integrity, like he was the real deal, if you're not. It wasn't that the other people weren't real, it was just that if they couldn't prove it, they weren't able to get in. And that was. That was his thing. Is that you? He's. And I remember one time in class he was saying to us, he was like, you know, if you don't have integrity, you have nothing, especially in this business. You're asking people to tell them you see dead people. Okay, put yourself in the regular person's shoes for a moment. Okay? You don't have integrity, you got nothing. And I was like this, that you're my dad. You're my dad that I never had. I don't care if there's a Two year program. I'm six years in now to this two year program. I'm never graduating and I never want to.

Wow.

I'm. I'm considered an alumni and I just keep coming back and coming back.

You're the super, super, super senior, right?

Right. I'm the one that sits in the back and I'm still there and I'm not going anywhere.

That's cool though.

And you know, I just know I thank you, the universe, for him. I thank everybody for him. I mean, he was, he's just been the guiding light that I. That I needed on multiple fronts.

Right, Right. I'm glad the universe linked you guys up and that he, you know, accepted you into that mentorship and it's become very fruit for. Fruitful for you. That's cool.

Yeah. And the way it all happened, it is wild and very intricate and you're like with, with the lady now who basically tie it all together, it seems like.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

She.

She really was the key to all of that.

Yeah.

I don't know where, where this story would have ended up had it not. Had I not met her on that website. Third one down.

Go figure, right?

Yeah. Right.

It's just all too coincidental to be a coincidence, right?

Exactly.

It's a great story and I love how you just went with everything. Even though you didn't know what was going on, you still followed it, which I think happens regardless. Like, you might lose your way and you were, you know, choosing to not pay attention to the gifts and the things that were, you know, happening with you. But anyway, you ended up where you needed to be. And I feel like, I mean, do you feel like everything happens, you know, for a reason and that it was meant to be that way for you? I mean, or do you. How do you feel about that?

Well, I mean, yes, I. It had to go that way for me. And. But I think that it was. I was being guided. Right. Because I would. Left to my own devices, I. Who now knows what I would have done. Right. I was making very bad choices. Right. So, you know, there's a moment in time when, you know, this guide is, is looking over me and, and, and, and I'm not special. I'm not chosen. I'm nothing special. There's nothing special about, like, I'm just a regular guy, you know, there's nothing about me. I don't even know why somebody would say, I don't have no idea. But for whatever reason, my guide has always been there, tells me how to get out of situations. And brought me to meet her and, and just, just about everything that's happened I have to accredit to him because I have no other explanation.

Yeah, it'll be neat when you finally do, you know, crossover. I'm sure there was a serious like, you know, what do you call it? Ally like plan to. For him to do exactly what he was doing because of the situation that you were born into, which you probably chose. That's the way I see things anyway. It's like we do kind of agree. That's what I'm learning from near death experiencers anyway. And I feel like that's the way it is. But can you tell us more about your book and the inspiration behind it? And I, I'm speaking about your newest book, but if you can speak on both books, but.

So the first book is the Atheist in the Afterlife and it explains pretty much it goes into the story that I gave you, just more details about various things. And it's a story of how I went from childhood and being an atheist to being a believer. And then the second book kind of picks up when I meet my second mentor and he teaches us so many things, not just mediumship. And I don't practice mediumship anymore. And I chose not to because when I was writing the second book and I was nearing wrapping it up, I had a massive spiritual awakening. I had been working on myself. Now it was like, like four or five years going into retraining, getting rid of my ego, getting rid of my anger, that was a big thing for me. My emotions would always default back to anger regardless. I was anxious, I was angry. If I was sad, I was angry. It would always go to anger because that's what I knew. So I had this huge just moment where I was. I didn't have to tell myself not to get angry. It just didn't happen. And it was. And it was a moment that I was driving and I had an expensive car and I thought that was a big deal at the time to have an expensive car because my father had one and I thought I was supposed to have one. So I did and I drove it and it was snowing and I drove it into a deer and the old ray. I don't know what the hell I would have done. Gotten out, yelled, screamed, took a bat out of trunk, I don't know. But nothing happened. I didn't even get, I didn't flinch. I was just caring about the deer. And now I really don't know who I am. I'm going from tree hugging to Deer hugging. I'm just. I don't know what I am anymore, but I'm not. I can't get angry. I can't get angry. I don't care about the car. And I get out of the car and I pick up the deer, and the deer gets up, and we have this moment. Like, she looks at me, I look at her, and she walks away.

Stop it. I was just gonna say I hope she walked away. Oh, good.

I thought this thing was gonna be mangled. It just. And not at all.

That almost seems spiritual. Like some sort of spiritual thing that happened.

Like, I. I try to. I try to replay it in my mind because it was so surreal and that, like, it's like. It was like magic. She got up, and we're making eye contact.

Right? Right.

I've never been that close to a deer. You can't get that close to it if it's alive. You can.

Anyway, deers are very spiritual.

They really have instincts like, yeah, amazing.

Yeah.

And so I check myself, and I'm okay. Physically.

Okay.

Physically. And. And then I look at the car, and I'm. The car's trash.

Is it? Oh, wow.

And I don't care. Like, I literally do not care. So I pull the car to the side of the road, right? And the deer's gone. And now it's just me in the car. And I can't turn back the time. Right. There's nothing I can do. So if I get upset, sad, angry, or feel any negative emotion whatsoever, I'm only hurting me because nothing about this situation is something that I can change. So why not just be happy and pretend like I meant for it to happen? And there we go on our lives. And I started to dial my wife, and I'm like, well, we didn't live together at that time. We weren't married yet. And I wasn't driving to my house from her house. And it was a snowstorm. That's what happened. And I'm dialing her number, and I'm like, well, what am I calling her for? I'm gonna dump my accident onto her, and then she's gonna get upset. That doesn't make any sense. It might make me feel better. It's not gonna do anything for her. So I hung up the phone and I drove. The car was drivable. I had to drive very slow. And I got it to the body shop, and I just left it there. I ubered home, went to sleep. Didn't lose any sleep at all.

Wow.

I don't even recognize myself. But I wake up feeling, you know, my kids, like, somebody stole your car. Somebody stole your car. And I'm like, no, relax. I had an accident. I just. Accident? You had an accident? You didn't call me. You didn't tell me my kids are 20. You know what? What the man. I would have came and got you. And I. And I said, relax, I didn't want you to react like that because I don't care. He's like, what do you mean you don't care? What happened to the car? I says, it's mangled. It's a mess. Where's my dad? And.

And who are you?

Right? Yeah, yeah. Who are you? My dad.

It seems like emotional intelligence really, like, clicked for you at.

I just don't care. Yeah, I really don't. What's the word? So what, I'm going to take an Uber to work? Like, what, that's another car picks me up and carries me to the work.

Right.

It's the way I see things today is completely. My entire perception of everything has changed.

I totally can relate to that.

That's amazing.

The things that we get upset about are so ridiculous. And granted, there's tragedies and things like that that take a long time to work out up, but these little things like road rage and, and. And you didn't get the right thing you ordered or something, I mean, that's just so ridiculous to me. Like, I can't even wrap my head around those things anymore. And even losing the car, so the insurance company buys me a new one. So what? You know what I mean? Like, just. And that's the way I approach life now. And I don't let anything bother me. I. I don't let anybody else's stuff bring me out of my state of flow because I don't care enough about it, you know, so it's just a different way of being. And this is what I try to teach in my coaching practice today, is how to adopt detachment, how to understand surrender, how to understand these techniques. They don't make you less powerful, they make you more powerful. When you don't care, you can't be bothered. It can't happen. So, yeah, there's still going to be big things. Like I said, there's going to be big things. There's going to be grief, there's going to be loss and things of that nature. And yeah, they are going to require attention to get over. But the more you understand that death isn't really the end and there's more to it, the less it hits you like a ton of bricks, and the more accepting you can be to the world around you. And that's the second book. So the second book is really about how can you. Or I don't mean you personally, but I mean, people can read a book and go do exactly what I did. Every training step that I did is in there, how I did it and what I learned as I went along. And you'll get to the end of. I had to go back and rewrite the book after that happened.

Oh, wow.

It's like a.

It's kind of like a path. It still has a lot of stories that are crazy, too, but for the most part, that's what. That's what it is, and that's what I've chosen now. And I've even told my mentor. I was like, you know, maybe someday I'll return to mediumship, but right now, it's just. It's too taxing for me. I just want to be. I just want to relax and just kind of enjoy this. Because the first half of my life was chaos. It took me 50 years to get here. Now I'm now 56, and I'm like, I want to relax for a little while. I want to enjoy this good feeling.

Yeah, I feel like I could learn a lot from you, to be honest.

Thank you.

Can you tell.

Thank you for your question.

Oh, I'm sorry. Can you tell our audience a little bit more about your coaching and your website? Just drop your links and tell them where they can find you and what kind of services that you offer is this way, in case they feel inclined to work with you, they know where to get to. Yep.

Ray Catania.com is the web address, and you can go there and find out more about me, my books, my coaching platform. I have other things coming out. We're really expanding this website into something that's going to be really big. So I'm excited about it and it's coming to fruition. And I'm so happy and grateful and honored, and I appreciate you allowing me to say that. So thank you very much.

Absolutely. That's why we do this. You know, we just want to give people a platform to share with our audience their thoughts. And, you know, I love hearing people's spiritual journeys because it shows such change and growth and integration for me. I just really appreciate the process. So thank you for being willing to share yours with us. I really appreciate that.

Thank you. Thank you.

And like you, I also was an atheist. I started out religious, grew up Baptist and just Christian, and Then I became an atheist. And I would say probably in 2017, I started exploring UAP and UFOs. And that kind of led me to take a hard look at this phenomena that's been going on with a viewpoint from science. Right. And that actually led me to spirituality.

Yeah, it really did, I guess, because it started to make you think outside the box. Right.

Yeah.

It made you look at things differently.

Right, right.

And then that car over into other things.

Yep, yep. Carried over into meditation and then learning about meditation and learning about spirituality. And I just feel like it's opened up a completely different avenue for me that I never thought I would have been on, you know?

That's fantastic.

Thank you for sharing that. That's cute. And you're a meditation teacher too, Right?

So I was just gonna say, I, I, I listen, I'm. I'm a huge fan of Jesus, first of all. I. But I love Jesus and find a statue of Jesus meditating. It took me a year to find one, but I finally found. I wish I could show you.

I was gonna say, I don't think I've ever seen that.

Yes, I have him meditating. And I was like, oh, my God.

You're gonna have to send me a picture so I can edit.

I will. I'll send you a picture.

Oh, wow.

Oh, wow.

I've never seen anything that is my meditating Jesus. I love that.

Yeah, I've never seen that before.

That is great. I want to take a screenshot.

That is very cool. I think if I grew up seeing statues like that, I would have been meditating a long time ago.

Yeah.

There's actually a story in the second book after I had, I bought that, and I also had a statue of Buddha. And what happened was, is they started to spin just very, very slowly, like a clock. They would turn just a little bit. And I debated whether or not to put the story in a book because it's even so crazy for me.

Okay.

To accept. Okay. But I would come home and it was just moved a tiny little bit. Tiny little bit. And finally, like, after six months, it made a full revolution.

Wow.

And then I would reset it and then check because I felt like every time I did something really good, Buddha would move just a little bit. Like. Right. And I would come back and. And I remember one time I did something, it was really cool, and I came back to see if Buddha moved and he was straight. And I was thinking to myself, what did I do wrong? And I hear the vacuum on the other side, and it was the cleaning lady. And she never cleans my office ever. And I'm Lucy, did you go in my office? She goes, yeah, didn't I do a good job? Yeah, you're the best.

Thank you.

You know, I don't want to, you know. Yeah, I can't tell her about the spinning Buddha. So I was like, I was like, yes, thank you, thank you. I just want to let you know how much we appreciate you and. But I was looking forward to see like I was actually measuring my success.

Based off the spins.

Based off the spin. And she came in and dusted him off and put him back the way he was supposed to be. Yeah, it's pretty funny story. That's in the book too.

Can you ask your famous question?

Yeah. So now I have a question that I like to ask of all of our guests. What is your greatest hope for the future of humanity?

That we all realize a couple of things. One is that you are the creator of your life. You are co creator of everything. You are one with the creator. Not separate than, not less than, not more than, but equal to God, the universe, whatever term you wish to use, you are one with them. And as such, you can create your own life and you can create things for other people around you. And some people every now and then will create something for all of humanity. But start in your own backyard and help the next person. And help the next person and then see how far you can go. And remember, you're all. If we're all one, then by harming your fellow man or woman, you are harming yourself. And you really got to get that. We got to understand that sooner rather than later.

Beautiful answer.

Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you for that, James. Leslie. Wow, this has been an awesome conversation. I really appreciate your time today, Ray. Thank you.

Thank you. It's been an honor. Thank you so much.

Yes, absolutely. If you had any other last words or pieces of advice for our audience, now's the time.

I love you guys. Thank you. Thank you for watching. I really like you guys. Thank you. I appreciate you very much. Thank you for having me.

Awesome. And for our audience that's still sticking around, please do us a favor and smash that, like, button. Click, subscribe. Ring our little notification bell, drop a lovely comment down below and share this video with your family and friends to help us spread the good word. Much love, peace, and Namaste. The evolution of life on Earth seems to have been profoundly altered by collisions with such bodies.