Rosemary Brown Channeled Songs from John Lennon

 

Rosemary Brown's 1986 memoir Look Beyond Today chronicled how new songs from John Lennon (1940-1980) had been passed on to Rosemary, who often interacted with people in the ascended state of existence.  The lyrics of three songs were included in an appendix: "Look Beyond Today," "Love Is All We Ever Need To Know" and "Just Turn Away."  Rosemary introduced her commentary about Lennon with reflections about her contacts with people who achieved public recognition in addition to "people who were totally unknown in this life, except to their own relatives and friends":

In their life on earth these actors and actresses, musicians and composers, writers and public figures were in the business of communicating.  It's not so surprising, therefore, that they are communicating still, and a sensitive like myself is a useful channel for conveying their thoughts and ideas back to a world which still remembers them with interest and affection.

Here are some excerpts from the "Familiar Faces" chapter of Look Beyond Today.

 

Because I've worked almost exclusively with classical composers in the past, I was most surprised when John Lennon came to see me, comparatively recently, in spring 1985, and visited me quite regularly after that. I wondered at first why he had contacted me — I'd been aware of the Beatles, of course, but I can't say I was ever a fan.  With two young children to bring up, I was too busy to follow the careers of a pop group.  Nevertheless, that didn't seem to offend John.  I look forward to his visits nowadays, enjoying his Liverpudlian chatter.  I believe now he visited me because he knew I was writing another book, and so took that opportunity of getting his most recent thoughts and work before the general public through me. 
 
He is taller than I always imagined him in this life.  I seem to see him as he looked at the height of the Beatles' early success — he looks to be in his late twenties or so, is clean-shaven, fresh-faced, doesn't wear glasses.  I can feel great excitement and vitality emanating from him.  He speaks quietly, tapping his fingers together but not his thumbs.  His voice still bears a marked Liverpudlian accent, and when I commented on this once in surprise, he said, "Oh, that's a part of me."  Liverpool went a long way towards shaping John's character, and he still hasn't lost his Liverpudlian traits. 
 
I get the impression that behind the extrovert image was a deeply thoughtful character, a mystic really, though he often describes himself to me as "just an ordinary bloke."  He says that had he been born into a different environment, he might well have become some sort of a philosopher, though he doesn't believe he would ever have become religious in the orthodox sense.  He talks about the Maharishi frequently.  Meeting him, John says, gave him a glimpse of the true meaning of life, though he was still rather baffled by life's enigmas, its hotch-potch of mixed values and beliefs.  "It takes you a long time to work it all out and very few people that I knew got very far in solving the mystery of life," he told me once.  "I always thought we were not meant to know or understand everything during our life on earth.  The trouble is, too many people have tightly closed minds." 
 
John told me he very much wants to give a message to the world; a message of hope and reassurance that there is ultimate peace, ultimate justice, a righting of all wrongs and a healing of all hurts.


He always felt there was something more to life, and he was constantly searching, trying to find out what it was.


John's outer life didn't always correspond with his relatively developed inner life, so he had to cope with a certain amount of conflict within himself.


What has most surprised John is that there is a continuing process of learning and evolving on the other side.  He told me that the "after-life is very much a continuation of this life.  You pick up where you left off.  You don't suddenly change or know everything."  At first he found this puzzling, but now he is pleased that there are still new directions in which he may develop.


During one visit, John told me that he had come specifically to ask me to tell young people: "Don't mess around with drugs."  He can see how much of a problem they are, and how much damage they can do.  At one time, he thought some drugs weren't harmful, and even helped to soothe people, but now he realizes they are the thin edge of the wedge, and he thinks it best not to touch any drug at all.  John hopes that what he has to say on this matter might hold water with young people.  At least they know that he has been there himself, been a part of the drug scene, and can look back and say: "It was a big mistake to get mixed up with drugs.  They bring you so easily to a point of no return, when no one can help you, and you can't help yourself." 
 
Sometimes, when John appears, he will do so in a great hurry, as if he has just thought of something and wants to pass it on to me before he forgets.  While I'm hunting for pencil and paper, he will be chatting on at great speed.  But you can't say to spirits: "Oh, I'm busy.  Come back later."  It may have taken a lot of effort on their part to get to you, and they won't always find you ready and prepared.  That's why some of the things John has said to me, I can't recount in his exact words but have paraphrased from memory. 
 
Looking at our world today, John thinks that the people of the West are living a too highly pressured lifestyle.  Life has become too artificial for many people and our lives are geared too much to machines.  People have lost touch with their roots, he says.  He feels they would be much happier, calmer and healthier, if they would somehow connect themselves back to their roots.  He feels that everyone needs to find some kind of philosophy, something that will have a steadying influence on them.

Once, when I was talking to him, he thought back to how he was killed.  When he was talking about the way he died, I started to pick up some physical sensations and felt as though I had been struck in the neck.  John says he just remembers falling, and after that everything happened so quickly he didn't even realize he was dying.  He told me categorically that he bears no malice against his murderer, Mark Chapman; he knows the man is mad.  His feelings about his death centre mainly around his great pity for the suffering it caused so many people, particularly Yoko and Sean.


He passed over so quickly that he felt afterwards as though many things had been left unresolved.  At first, he found himself rather at a loss on the other side.  He felt he still belonged primarily to our world, where he had always been a great partaker of new experiences.  He felt isolated and cut off from this life but he soon realized that he could still observe events in this world, even if he could no longer take part.


John constantly describes himself to me as "just an ordinary person."  Despite all the adulation, he never felt he was all that special.  He always felt it strange the way other people thought the Beatles were such a great group, because he believed that lots of other groups, given the same chances, would have been as successful. 
 
Sometimes he feels guilty about the way the group manipulated their audiences, and once spoke for ten minutes on the way people allowed themselves to be manipulated today by political leaders, religious leaders, even the media.  "Life is about thinking for yourself," he went on, "working out your own destiny.  What you do today is going to affect you — even as soon as tomorrow.  You are building for the future, and for when the time comes for you to move on to the next life.  A lot of people, when they arrive here, are sorry that they built for themselves such a horrible future because they have to work through that before they can move on to better things."

John says that one of his greatest joys on the other side is to listen to people while they unburden themselves to him.

 
Rosemary reported that Lennon had been communicating with her for about six months when he starting giving her songs.  A lyric in "Love Is All We Ever Need To Know" looks forward to a reunion "on that transcendental plane" before the song concludes with "We are one, yes, we're one, we're together once again."  
 
Here are the lyrics for the song "Look Beyond Today" by John Lennon through Rosemary Brown.
 

VERSE I 
 
When you've waited and you've waited as the years go rolling past. 
 
For that one love that is special that you hope you'll meet at last; 
 
And when it doesn't seem to you that your dreaming ever will come true, 
 
There is one thing, yes, there's one thing you should always keep in view:

REFRAIN 
 
Look beyond today, for another day will dawn, 
 
And the clouds will all be swept away, and happiness will be reborn. 
 
Then your love at last you'll find, leave your troubles all behind; 
 
And the sun will shine for ever and ever on that lovely day. 
 
You'll have peace for ever and ever on that lovely day.

VERSE 2 
 
When there's someone you love dearly who's been taken from your side, 
 
And you're fighting with the sadness that is really hard to hide, 
 
Remember that you'll meet again at that final turning in life's lane, 
 
So keep hoping, yes, keep hoping, for your love won't be in vain.

REFRAIN . . .