In response to Matt’s message from “the other side” about the drips in his paintings, a reader asks whether Matt ever talks back to the spirit voices that sometimes engage him—and whether he is ever afraid of them.
Matt responds:
The talking is absolutely a part of the process, but it is not physically articulated; it is more of a realization of the reality of the spirit communications. They are very specific. They’re not universal.
The spirits are very cognizant that each person is an individual. Each person has their own way of responding to the spoken and the unspoken. The spirits are in complete communication with our inner selves.
Therefore, the way they communicate with me and with someone else, would be completely different. They know that I am base, that I come from the rough-and-tumble Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, and so when they talk to me, they use salty words that would be offensive to some people.
But for me, there’s no wiggle room. There is no way for me to miss what their message is. The spirits are not going to talk the same way to prim and proper people as they talk to me because if they did, they would be disregarded as vile creatures.
We all come from a certain standpoint of what the reality of our own reality is, what is good and bad based on some spoken or unspoken culture or processing. In many cases, I feel these things are superficial and are used to dazzle us and defeat us and control us.
Christ, in his ministry, called certain people “whited sepulchres,” white and seemingly pure on the outside and decayed on the inside.
I think there are two different spheres: the material and the spiritual.
In the material world, we act and talk in a certain way. But in the spiritual world there’s a completely different mode of communication, and when the spirtis enter our small minds, they have to use the simplest programs they can find. It’s like talking to your dog or your baby: “Goo goo ga ga...”
The spirits come into our minds and communicate to us in the unspoken specific. My unspoken specific could not be preached from the high altar, but it’s very well known to the gang members or other people who I try to influence to come into the light from the dark side. So the spirits use the same approach with me.
It may put off some people, but it is impossie to please all people with the spoken word, no matter what it is.
I used to think that the words “peace,” “love,” “tolerance,” and “hope” were universal, I have found that even those words have other meanings around the world. We have to discuss them, debate them, and sometimes change them because they might mean something completely different to another culture than they do to us.
Am I afraid of the spirits? No, I’m never afraid of them.
Do I talk back? Usually I keep my mouth shut but sometimes I debate and push when it comes to what I think my reality is.
I find it very exciting and I always look forward to their visits. I know they’re not going to give me a nice kiss on the cheek. It’s usually a big kick in the ass!
Matt