TOM SAWYER’S TEACHINGS
When Tom came back from his near-death experience he saw humanity, and the world, from a spiritual perspective. He understood the need for love, far beyond the romantic, sexual love of novels and movies, and much farther beyond the “I love peanut butter” of advertising. He understood agapé in the ancient meaning of the word, and the power of free will.
Three days after Tom Sawyer was “kicked out of heaven” he was aware of his job: to tell people the simple truth about God’s unconditional love and tell them that there’s nothing to fear about what comes next. It all boils down to actively using our free will to shift our own attitudes, because that’s the only real way to heal ourselves, each other, and this whole planet.
As with all NDErs, Tom was specifically commissioned to share and spread the transformative power of God’s unconditional love. Cultivating love within ourselves is essential for changing individual and collective attitudes. By doing so, individuals can overcome the fear of death, gain profound spiritual understanding, and contribute to a global shift of humanity.
Tom’s teachings serve as a guide for living a more spiritual life. Cultivating spirituality can transcend dogma and lead to a personal relationship with God through compassion and a desire to teach and heal.
Our Favorite Teachings
Countless hours were spent by Tom, Sidney and friends, interviewing for material that culminated in two full books written in his own words. For more context to his teachings, and information about others such as paradise, suicide, abortion, angels, reincarnation, marriage, karma, astral projection and “cruising the main”, please read Tom’s books. He has shared too much wisdom and insights to have them all on this website. Below are notes on some of the most important teachings compiled from his books.
- God’s Love is Unconditional
- Free Will is Equal to God’s Will
- Love is the Antidote
- Attitudinal Changes
- Reverence for Life
- Compassion
- Laughter and Humor
- Spiritual Hugs
- Healing is Love
- Meditation
- Breaking Through Imagery
- Death is an Illusion
- You Are Your Only Real Teacher
1. God’s Love is Unconditional
Tom’s experience with the unconditionality of God’s love comes from his direct contact with God during his NDE. Tom chose to merge with the Light, which he identified as God, and became part of total knowledge. This firsthand, ineffable encounter revealed God’s absolute and unchanging loving nature.
According to Tom, Unconditional Love is the absolute, pure, and omnipresent essence of God itself, as he experienced during his near-death experience. This love is total knowledge, a concept beyond human comprehension. It is the fundamental nature of God to not only be love, but to create love. God’s love cannot be divided, conquered, or annihilated, existing everywhere and encompassing everything. It is agapé, the highest form of love, a divine gift accessible to all through fervent prayer, self-reflection, and releasing ego and fear. It is in and around us at all times. The illusion of separation is a paradox for humankind.
What we typically perceive as punishments or hellish circumstances, such as those for suicide, are understood by Tom as ultimate love gestures, a method of compensation created by God, not actual punishment. God does not punish or persecute, and eventually, everything will be reunited in the Oneness of God’s Light.
PURE FORM OF LOVE
The pure form of Love is the absolute, unpolluted essence of God itself. It is synonymous with total knowledge and God itself. Tom explains that the universe, and particularly human beings, are a corruption or polluting of this pure form. Spiritual energy has been condensed and compressed into physical matter to create the universe.
 | “God’s love is total knowledge. From total knowledge and unconditional love, there was the first breath of the universe, the real Big Bang. The “Ommmmm”. The onset. Humans are the putrefaction of pure form. Unconditional love and total knowledge are equal. Pure form is unconditional love, is total knowledge, is God. This is an absolute paradox, because in terminology it is a contradiction: can God ever be less than God? Well, we are that. We are the pollution of the pure form of God, super condensed to physical mass or to the physical realm.” – Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer and the Spiritual Whirlwind, Chapter 4 |
Despite this apparent pollution, Tom also presents a paradox: God is perfectly beautiful and divine, and humanity, though a less than perfect mirrored image, is still inherently perfection in God’s eyes. Our existence in this physical, gross state, with its duality and imperfections, actually serves the purpose of allowing God to experience His own totality.
Ultimately, pure form is the unchanging reality from which everything stems, and despite human alterations, it remains whole and cannot be divided, conquered, or annihilated.
2. Free Will is Equal to God’s Will
These three gifts are granted to all of us when we are born: the gift of life, free will, and the ability to love unconditionally.
Free will is equal to God’s will, in that you can refuse God’s will for you.
According to Tom Sawyer’s teachings, free will is equal to God‘s will. We have been given free will to do as we wish and God, by way of loving us unconditionally, will not override or transgress that–even if we are harming ourselves or others. Humanity’s misuse of free will has led to choices that seemingly “separated us from God,” and is the reason for so much suffering on Earth.
DIVINE INTERVENTION
Because of our Free Will, Divine Intervention is made possible through our love and prayerfulness. While God generally respects human free will and does not alter decisions made through it, this very gift allows for the possibility, and channel, for divine intervention. In fact, Tom reserved the word ‘miracle’ to describe a direct intervention by God.
Fervent prayer is a direct means through which individuals can invite or facilitate divine intervention or spiritual enhancement. Typically undertaken alone and with a “very fervent attitude,” it focuses on the ultimate good for the well-being of others. It is described as creating a psychic, telekinetic link-up capable of facilitating healing or influencing distant situations.
Similarly, Tom explains that radiating unconditional love, a process he likens to “spiritual hugs” or “love gestures,” can bring about profound attitudinal changes and healing in others, even from afar. He gives examples, such as the collective “love-balming” that averted a Middle East bombing, where human love and prayer shifted a man’s attitude from hatred and revenge to love, thereby changing the outcome of a situation.
Therefore, it is through the conscious and loving exercise of our free will–expressed in prayer and love–that we become receptive to and actively participate in divine intervention, acting as spiritual facilitators or catalysts for positive change.
3. Love is the Antidote
Tom emphasizes that unconditional love is the very essence and fundamental nature of God. This ability to love is a divine gift granted to us when we are born, described as a prerequisite of being born, instinctive and God-given. The average human possesses this capacity from birth, though society often teaches us not to love openly quite early in life. Tom views human beings as a mirrored image of God, whose nature is compassion.
The importance of love, therefore, is paramount, extending from individual well-being to global transformation. Tom stresses that loving oneself unconditionally is a crucial first step before one can truly extend love to others in abundance. This self-love is foundational for healing, achieving contentment and true inner happiness.
Love is the ultimate antidote to suffering and dysfunction in the world, directly linking much of Earth’s suffering not to God’s will, but to humanity’s misuse of its free will and a subsequent lack of love. Negative attitudes stemming from greed and ego are the “singular, largest threat to the planet”. Unconditional love provides authentic empowerment and freedom from the need to maintain an image.
In practice, love is presented as a powerful force for positive change, healing, and divine intervention. Tom demonstrates and advocates for “love-balming,” a form of fervent prayer and collective love, as a means to effect profound change, citing instances where it prevented a nuclear detonation and averted a plane collision. He states that love can be promulgated and magnified, enhancing healing capabilities and overall well-being.
| “Love yourself and learn your lessons as best you can.” – Tom Sawyer, What Tom Sawyer Learned from Dying, Chapter 20 |
His own post-NDE life serves as a testament to this, as he gained the ability to love everyone unconditionally, even those he previously judged or who seemed evil. Tom believes that a collective shift towards unconditional, non-judgemental love would upgrade the attitude of society as a whole and is vital for humanity to achieve a global economy through love, prayers, healing, attitudinal changes, and education.
4. Attitudinal Changes
Personal attitudes are a paramount factor in shaping both individual and global reality, identifying an attitude of greed and ego as “the singular, largest threat to the planet”. Cultivating a positive attitude–deeply rooted in unconditional love–is profoundly transformative, capable of upgrading the attitude of society as a whole. This shift requires individuals to release self-centeredness and the expectation of reciprocity, fostering a mindset of selfless giving that leads to real contentment. Tom’s personal journey, where he learned to overcome his own judgmental attitudes after his near-death experience, serves as a testament to the power of this internal shift.
Beyond personal well-being, positive attitudinal changes are crucial for addressing major global challenges, from environmental issues to societal discord. A widespread shift to a more positive collective attitude could significantly influence even physical phenomena and far surpass conventional problem-solving approaches. While acknowledging that changing ingrained attitudes is often difficult, demanding conscious effort to shed biases and fears, Tom stresses that embracing virtues like compassion, selflessness, and even humor is vital for humanity’s spiritual evolution and survival amidst chaos.
The only way to bring about true change in the world is to change people’s attitudes. Tom advocates for “love-balming,” which involves focusing love and positive energy on individuals and situations to facilitate attitudinal change. This can even affect major events, such as preventing a malicious bombing in the Middle East. He suggests practicing this by facing the things one fears or hates, purposefully and methodically shining love upon them to balance oneself and promote our own attitudinal shifts.
This planet is a schoolroom, and we are here to learn about Love and creativity against a backdrop of greed and ego. “We will have a peaceable kingdom.” Tom tells us. “We will learn how to cohabit with all sentient beings, but there will always be greed and ego. This is a planet of duality.”
5. Reverence for Life
Reverence is a true appreciation for any aspect of life, demonstrated by sharing truth and caring to be helpful to others while expressing love non-judgmentally. It is a crucial element for spiritual growth and a deeper connection to the divine. It’s important to maintain a true reverence for any aspect of life, which intrinsically involves recognizing God or the Light as the ultimate source of all knowledge and pure spirituality. A deficiency in reverence is linked to negative human traits like greed, ego, and “stupidity,” which can lead to detrimental outcomes and even the end of life if sacred warnings are disregarded.
Cultivating reverence, in conjunction with unconditional love and honesty, is vital for spiritual understanding and personal transformation.
6. Compassion
Compassion is an essential and inherent aspect of true spirituality and our fundamental nature. Unconditional love, or non-judgemental love, is intrinsically linked to compassionate understanding; one cannot truly dread or hate something if they fully comprehend it with compassion. Tom exemplifies this by extending compassion even to those typically deemed “evil,” such as the man in Attica Prison or the potential rapist of the lost girl, recognizing the divine within them.
Trauma can naturally lead to increased compassion as people reach out to others in need, or need help themselves. Societies with a spiritually compassionate way of life are better equipped to navigate the challenges of. However, actions taken under the guise of compassion can be misguided, like prolonged grief or overriding another’s spiritual journey, highlighting the profound responsibility involved in genuinely compassionate interactions.
7. Laughter and Humor
Tom Sawyer teaches that laughter and humor are essential and powerful tools for personal well-being and spiritual growth, identifying them as an important, instantaneous, healing aspect of life. He considers humor a virtual necessity for himself, crucial for coping with frustration and hardship, and for addressing issues that might otherwise cause distress.
Tom embodied this, often acting as a clown to connect with people, make them feel better about themselves (and him), and even to subtly convey profound spiritual information in a curious and funny way. He encourages using humor, even “stupid” jokes and comedy movies, as a means to maintain a positive atmosphere and extend unconditional love, which he refers to as radiating telekinetic love energy or offering “spiritual hugs”. For Tom, embracing humor is vital for individual spiritual evolution and collective societal change.
 | “In fact, our life lately has been more fun than not. We laugh and joke a lot. Remember, one of the most important, instantaneous, healing aspects is laughter. You know, it’s very important to deal with frustrating situations with a light touch. And, if you can twist it around, or act like a clown, and just turn that frustration into laughter, you’ll be a success. If you can laugh together during the frustrations and hardships, chances are good that you will stay together.” – Tom Sawyer, What Tom Sawyer Learned from Dying, Chapter 9 |
One instance of humor within the priesthood is how the original phrase “to teach and to heal” was played with. Someone lightheartedly rephrased as “to peach and to teal” or in a more fashion forward sense “too peach and too teal”. We’ve also had a lot of fun with, “Everything is sacred, but nothing is serious,” which has a double meaning. “Everything truly is sacred, but don’t take yourself too seriously,” and “Everything truly is sacred, but the Buddhist concept of ‘no thing’ is very serious. Try it and see.”
8. Spiritual Hugs
According to Tom Sawyer, hugs are a profound expression of unconditional and non-judgemental love and a powerful healing tool, transcending mere physical contact. He distinguishes between physical embraces, which he truly enjoyed as genuine expressions of love, and spiritual hugs, which are telepathic transmissions of comfort and healing energy across distances. Spiritual hugs are direct, energetic transmission of unconditional love and healing energy, often occurring telepathically, that can comfort and assist individuals, even from a distance.
For Tom, spiritual hugs manifested as a “supportive telekinetic love energy” during a crisis, are a way to ease a dying person’s transition, or even a loving interaction with nature such as smiling at a tree. Tom states that one can “spiritually or psychically hug somebody who is in a plane crash and make their life a little bit better, or make their passing a little easier,” and that this can be done through fervent prayer for people one doesn’t even know personally.
These acts, whether physical or spiritual, are rooted in his core teaching that “Love is healing; healing is love”, emphasizing that genuine self-love enables one to extend this healing energy to others.
| “Sidney is aware of her ability to be an antenna for me to those in Berea who were in the path of the awesome power unleashed by the storm. They recognized spiritually and psychically Sidney Saylor Farr, the woman at the college library, the woman who they see on the street, the person who is ready, willing, and able to give those spiritual hugs even though she might not know that person by their first or last name.Very simply, it was through Sidney’s eyes and heart that I was able to add measurable amounts of telekinetic energies on an emergency basis. This took the form of telling someone to move to the left or right, or helping them to be emotionally or psychically receptive to a loving nudge or hug for the purposes of additional protection from a significant personal injury.” – Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer and the Spiritual Whirlwind, Chapter 3 |
9. Healing is Love
Tom Sawyer differentiates between two primary forms of healing: spiritual healing, which he defines as “divine enhancement or intervention from the highest source,” and psychic healing, which he describes as a “manipulation or interference” stemming from human consciousness.
While both can achieve positive results, spiritual healing is rooted in God’s unconditional love and requires no judgment or justification, whereas psychic healing, performed from a human perspective, carries inherent judgments and can be less virtuous. Every human possesses a self-healing capacity and the ability to be a healer. Love is healing; healing is love. Tom posits that one “cannot heal outwardly if you don’t have at least a minimum amount of love for yourself,” and that an overabundance of that love allows one to shine and heal others.
He describes instances of healing others through fervent prayer, telekinetic love energy, and subtle suggestion.
Tom’s own experiences demonstrate the profound yet demanding nature of healing. He cautions against the misuse of healing abilities, admitting he was unbelievably selfish in one instance where he psychically healed a man to prevent paralysis, overriding what he believed was a necessary affliction for the man’s spiritual journey. This act resulted in a price for Tom, manifesting as physical ailments like back problems. Psychic activities are draining, unlike purely spiritual work which is never draining. His stories imply that true healing, particularly the spiritual kind, aligns with Divine Will and is deeply intertwined with unconditional love, compassion, and a positive attitude, which he believes can collectively upgrade the attitude of society as a whole and address global suffering.
10. Meditation
Meditation is a profound, self-induced state achieved by being alone and still, entering a very fervent attitude. A very fervent attitude, for Tom, is a selfless, pure, and deeply spiritual disposition that opens one to divine connection Its essence lies in releasing conscious thought processes, ego, and preoccupation with the physical world, thereby allowing one to “rise above the mundane to a spiritual attitude” and connect with pure spirituality, shedding imagery and analytical thought.
This deep stillness enables individuals to attain clairvoyant and telepathic rapport, making it a more precise and effective means for important work to be done than fragmented dream states.
Tom’s standard of meditation was to leave his body behind and “cruise the main”, an astral projection that operates faster than the speed of light, looking for places in the world to be of assistance.
 | “Creation starts mentally. In a deepest meditative state you can be creating while still a human. You can go into the deepest meditative state for the purposes of being a creative expression of yourself, not just to receive. God has manifested this process, and it is possible to enter into the deepest meditative state for purposes other than receiving or serving. At that point you would be the pure mirrored image that you actually are.” – Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer and the Spiritual Whirlwind, Chapter 4 |
Through meditation, individuals can achieve a state of grace and experience spiritual enhancement, acting as a “creative expression of yourself” rather than merely receiving. Tom underscores its importance for spiritual enlightenment, viewing it as a stepping stone towards “ecstasy, or higher learning, or sudden realizations or, hopefully, a spontaneous spiritual awakening”. Meditation is crucial for self-reflection, fostering unconditional love, and gaining the clarity needed to navigate life’s challenges.
11. Breaking Through Imagery
In his NDE, Tom went beyond imagery; he encountered no dead relatives, no beings of Light, no crystal cities, etc. He went beyond these human limitations to perceive and communicate directly with pure spirituality. This was one of the most profound aspects of his NDE.
Going beyond imagery takes one beyond paradise–which still relies on human constructs and symbolic imagery–and verges on the ultimate state of heaven where there are no images or unfulfilled desires, only pure Light and perfection. This is vital because it allows for a direct perception of God, which is total knowledge and at-one-ment. A full and realistic perception of that Light is actually not bearable while in a physical human body. We cannot withstand that kind of love or “touch that love” while still in human form. Tom warns that if humans were to have a realistic perception of the essence of God, they “could not bear it and would explode.”
Tom would break through imagery by:
- Eliminating his analytical thinking process and all accumulated mental images. Tom stated that in higher spiritual realms, one must “cast off or eliminate their thinking process, their process of analysis through images, to be able to communicate with pure spirituality”.
- Engaging in a deep meditative state, spiritual at-one-ment, or spontaneous spiritual awakening. Images are often a “hindrance” in these states, making their removal necessary.
- Losing all forms of self and the “awareness of the individual consciousness” by merging with the Light, which is God. This allows for “total knowledge” and an at-one-ment with the divine beyond human comprehension.
12. Death is an Illusion
For Tom Sawyer, death is an illusion: a profound misconception arising from our limited human perception of reality. Death is not an ending, but rather a “progressive transformation” or a change in form–another divine gift from God. Tom explicitly states, “Nothing is lost. Everything that is in physical reality merely changes form“, and that the human spirit or soul continues to exist and evolve beyond the physical body. Tom did not have a “death wish” in the typical sense, but he was looking forward to graduating naturally from this world, to go back home. If you’re not afraid of dying, then you’re less afraid of living to the fullest.
Our current physical life, from his perspective, is merely a lesser reality or illusion compared to the more permanent and true spiritual realm that has existed for “eons before a natural life, and will exist for an infinite time thereafter”. Having experienced this firsthand during his near-death experience, Tom aimed to eliminate the fear of dying. Existence seamlessly transitions to a state of paradise and eventually merges with the pure Light that is God. This understanding “takes the sting out of death” for those who embrace his message. He teaches that life in the next world is paradise, and the Light in paradise is heaven.
The human purpose in this physical life is to learn, teach, and help one another, continuously striving to embody and express non-judgemental love. Reincarnation provides an opportunity for a personality to evolve through multiple lifetimes, but the soul itself remains constant and does not evolve, always retaining its pure, powerful connection to God.
| “Paradoxically individuality can still be retained, but not by the individual at one with God. Personality and individuality can be reserved. Which is my definition of a miracle. As I merged with the Light personality was not lost, but it is a contradiction or a paradox that I became not that which was reserved. I became Light. While in that part of the realm where there is no uniqueness I was further blessed by being allowed to come back to the personality of Tom Sawyer which had been reserved. Only with the reconstitution of my personality was it possible for me to resume my human existence.” – Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer and the Spiritual Whirlwind, Chapter 4 |
13. You Are Your only Real Teacher
Each individual is their own most important teacher, gaining true knowledge and growth through firsthand experience, honest self-analysis, fervent pondering, and cultivating self-love. Tom explicitly states, “You are your only real teacher, other than God“. While God is the ultimate and best teacher, human teachers–even the best ones–have limitations in conveying emotional or experiential truths.
True knowledge and learning come from real, firsthand experience, not just intellectual acceptance or reading about something. For example, you can believe 2+2=4, but you don’t truly “know” it until you reproduce it yourself. When you teach yourself, you conceptualize the appropriate emotions, making the learning deeper and more receptive. This contrasts with external teaching where a lack of simultaneous emotion can make the lesson shallow.
Being your own teacher is taking personal responsibility for your spiritual growth and self-realization. The self-esteem gained from making your own choices, even if they lead to initial failure, is more valuable than relying on others. The process of being your own teacher is a “never-ending cycle” of learning and evolution that continues throughout life, regardless of one’s background or spiritual status. Even highly evolved individuals like sages and saints are still in this cycle.
It requires fervent pondering and honest self-analysis to gain true answers. However, Tom cautions against subtle head games or denial when seeking answers from within. For analytical individuals, he advises analyzing a problem and then stopping the analysis to avoid becoming obsessive or paralyzed.
A significant barrier to self-teaching is a lack of self-confidence and cultural conditioning that discourages trusting one’s own intuition and inner feelings. Tom encourages people to follow their heart and not hesitate to break away from what is safe. He suggests that major life issues often have answers already within you, rather than needing external psychic or professional help.
Being your own teacher often means not being “normal” or average and being willing to be perceived as different.