AN INTERVIEW WITH TOM YOUNGHOLM
AUTHOR OF "THE CELESTIAL BAR" A Spiritual Journey
 by Robert Ross

Whatever happened during that meditation session, Tom Youngholm author of "The Celestial Bar", will never be the same. A few years later this first time author is involved in another startling experience, it's called a bidding war. A dozen New York publishing houses are bidding on his first novel, "The Celestial Bar". The bid is rumored to be at $400,000. Add that to the twenty or so foreign countries that have snatched up the rights, and the talk of a movie and you have . . . I believe it's called . . . a dream come true.

In the book, (The Celestial Bar) Mr. Youngholm's alter ego, Jonathan "Digger" Taylor is a forty something would be composer whose life has been a series of failures and broken relationships. He's stalked by a ongoing nightmare that affects his dreaming and waking state. Digger is searching for something that will not only lessen the sense of foreboding that he has in life but will also bring him a realization of balance and fulfillment. He finally gets the break in life that he's been looking for, an opportunity to compose a music score for a major motion picture. He's invited to a piano audition, arriving early and exhausted, he takes a nap in the studio's dressing room. Soon, in his dreams Digger Taylor is again being pursued by the foreboding force which has been stalking him for years. In his attempt to escape the force he enters a fictional bar (as in drinking establishment) called the Celestial Bar. In this cosmic tavern, "Digger" meets some very unusual people; Ahmay, a Shoshone medium who acts as his spiritual guide, Paula, who he recognizes as the love of his life and soulmate, and Ramda, an interactive computer who adds new meaning to term "virtual reality". All of these characters assist him in putting his life back on track and discovering PEIS - physical, emotional intellectual and spiritual balance. Five minutes before Digger's audition is to begin, he's awakened by the stage manager. Of course, he's not the same person who went to sleep an hour earlier. Digger auditions of course, and . . . well, it's worth reading the book just to read about the experience of the audition.

The following interview took place at the home of Tom Youngholm:

Interviewer: How about a brief background of Tom Youngholm

Mr. Youngholm: I've always felt that something was missing in life. I grew up in Chicago, worked for the Sheriff's office, Youth Services department as a family therapist but didn't find my life meaningful. I got burnt out. I was in a relationship and got a divorce. That wasn't it either. One weekend in Chicago I was nearly killed twice, and decided it was time to leave. The following Monday I turned in my resignation. I moved to Florida and opened a floating restaurant. The restaurant was for a time, successful, but eventually sank during a storm. That wasn't it either. The feeling that something was missing in my life was still there. I had always wanted to move to San Diego, so I eventually worked my way across the country, ending in San Diego where I was employed as a waiter and a training consultant for a large corporation. At that point I was feeling stressed out and started researching stress management.

Interviewer: What kind of books and techniques did you follow?

Mr. Youngholm: Yoga, meditation, relaxation techniques, and breathing exercises. My friends from back east thought I was turning into a real Californian. One day during a meditation exercise I went very deep inside. I started feeling a hand gently rocking me from side to side and felt a presence. I remember coming out of it a half hour later and screaming the word "No!".

Interviewer: Was there a special meditation you were doing?

Mr. Youngholm: I was focusing on my breathing in the area of my heart. During the meditation, I went somewhere, I have no idea where I went, but when I came out of the meditation I knew things that I hadn't known before. I could explain reincarnation, spirit guides and angels. The book, The Celestial Bar, is a fictional account of where I went.

Interviewer: Did you actually go some place or did you just uncover what was already within?

Mr. Youngholm: I believe we all have access to this information, we all know the answers, we all have a "celestial bar" within. The book is a reminder of that place.

Interviewer: What motivated you to write The Celestial Bar?

Mr. Youngholm: There were several factors. The guides that I made contact with during the meditation, eventually encouraged me to write the book. I don't like to write, in fact the thought of writing is painful. I started teaching the principles of what I had learned during this meditation, but that gnawing feeling was still there that I had to put this information in a book. The story was building within me. I had to give birth to it. I started writing the book in December of 1993. I gave myself one year. In October of 1994 it came off the press.

Interviewer: Why should someone read The Celestial Bar?

Mr. Youngholm: I believe there are more and more people opening up to spirituality. This book provides a different perspective. It's fun when the information is presented as a story. It's both left brain and right brain. We need to get this information in many different formats. It's a piece of the puzzle. Eventually when you get enough pieces of the puzzle you have what psychologist call the "ahah" experience. "Ahah", now I get it.

Interviewer: What's the message of the book?

Mr. Youngholm: There's a place within that we can go, a "celestial bar" to find answers, and to find balance in the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual areas of our lives.

Interviewer: The book implies that you, and all of us have spirit guides. Do we?

Mr. Youngholm: Yes, definitely. We all have at least two.

Interviewer: How do we access them?

Mr. Youngholm: You have to be quiet, you have to trust that they are there. You have to pay attention to how they respond. Usually they respond very quietly, very subtly. You have to trust that they're going to talk to you. It might be in a feeling, rather then visually or in words.

Interviewer: That sounds like we can interpret anything as a spirit guide. Is there anyway that we can know for sure that we've contacted a spirit guide?

Mr. Youngholm: There's no logical way that we can know. Skeptics look for logic, and believe me, I was a skeptic. There's many different ways we know things, intuitively, or divine knowing. Can we prove love logically? There's no way we can prove love logically, and yet it is the most important thing in life.

Interviewer: Are guides a metaphor for knowledge that we have within or are they separate entities?

Mr. Youngholm: Here again, we have a paradox. Both. Ultimately we are all one, and our guides are a reflection of who we are, and yet we can also see them as separate entities. We chose our guides to learn. We're all looking for balance. Our guides are with us to help us learn to find this balance.

Interviewer: In general, what are your guides saying to you now in your life

Mr. Youngholm: Forgive, love, trust, let go, follow your heart.

Interviewer: Do you actually hear these words?

Mr. Youngholm: Sometimes in words, sometimes in intuition, or an emotion that comes in and out rapidly.

Interviewer: I guess the area of "spirit guides" is always going to be somewhat of mystery, unless one has an actual experience to make it real.

Mr. Youngholm: Yes, this is true. It was for me. I was a complete skeptic. I didn't believe in any of this metaphysical stuff, until I had that experience.

Interviewer: The interview winds down, and we chat. As I'm driving home, thoughts of the Wizard of Oz float through my mind. Did Dorothy find her Celestial Bar? Follow your heart and seek balance, follow your heart and seek balance, click your heels three times, I want to go home, I want to go home. Dorothy . . ., what were you trying to tell us?

Robert Ross can be reached by e-mail at: SanDiegoRoss@Yahoo.com   

Return To the Archives