When Spirit Calls

There are many different ways in which each of us can be called upon to be of service to Spirit. Many believe that serving Spirit means preaching or mediumship. If they are not gifted in those areas, they feel Spirit will not be making a call on their services, but they are wrong.

Serving the Spirit is all about serving our fellow creatures, human and animal. It is not a religious thing at all. It is about using the awareness you have to sense the needs of those around you and then trying to do the very best that you can. There is an old saying that is very true in this context: “Who does the best his circumstance allows, does well, acts nobly, angels could do no more.” Each one of us is particularly good at something and some people are good at many. Such gifts are given to us that we might use them, not keep them to ourselves or to those closest to us. It is also true that by using our gifts, they grow stronger and we learn to use them more effectively.

There is much misunderstanding about how one receives a call to serve Spirit. It is mistakenly thought that such a summons to help must be received objectively. That is, somebody from the spiritual world visits you in a dream or clairvoyantly. Alternatively others believe you only receive the call if you have a sense of vocation, like ministers of religion, doctors, nurses, nuns etc. None of this is the case. Each one of us, including animals and inanimate natural objects too, is spirit, here and now. Because of this, if we ‘listen’ to our inner voices, they will guide us unerringly to where our form of service will be most beneficial.

Our spirit always resonates with other spirits within and around everything and everybody with whom we come into contact. Sometimes that resonance is positive and at others it is negative. This is because our aura, the sensing mechanism our spirit uses to make contact with other spirit sources, is either in harmony with the other, or not. At times, the inharmonious response is a warning for us that there is some kind of danger here and we should take great care, but not always. Often, it just means the vibration of the other spirit, is on a different wavelength, as it were, not anything negative at all. I am sure you have experienced a reaction when first meeting another person that, for some reason you are going to get on really well together or sometimes the opposite. This happens before you consciously know anything about the person concerned. This is due to the resonance between your two auras. The same is true of places. Sometimes, without knowing why, you feel drawn to a particular room or building or alternatively feel repulsed by it. This is because the walls of buildings have auras too and they absorb the energy from everything that happens around them. Where such events are highly emotional or even violent, the imprint on the aura will be greater.

It is well therefore that we practise listening to the messages the aura sends to our conscious mind. If we do, then two things happen. Firstly, we avoid trouble and conflict and secondly we are able to distinguish how we can help in a given situation. That help may be support for someone who is suffering in some way; it may be listening to the person because in that act of listening, you provide them with the opportunity to diagnose and cure their own problem; it may be offering your services to further the work or activity in which the other is involved. It is my belief that we are not drawn to one another by chance. Our aura and theirs are in contact with one another, sometimes over great distances, for sensing is not governed by geographical location. Our auras know our needs at any particular time and are constantly searching for others who can help meet that need, which sometimes is a desire to help others, not to receive help oneself. That contact inexorably draws each into the others orbit, even though again, we may have no conscious knowledge of this. We should always try to discover therefore, why a new person or even an animal has been drawn to us and we to them. There is always a reason and a purpose and by developing the habit of ‘listening’ to our inner ‘voice’ we will be able to determine what these are.

So, the call to serve Spirit comes from within for us all – no exceptions. That service may seem mundane to you at the time but you can be sure its effect upon the recipient will be significant. In the case of people, that service may be a small, one off, thing after which you may never come across that person again. Service is not about creating long term relationships – sometimes it is but more frequently it is spontaneous, happens quickly, is frequently forgotten speedily by the person giving the service, but it is a vitally important part of our attempts whilst on earth to further the growth of our own spirit and that of others too.

Regression Therapy

There are thousands of Regression Therapists throughout the Western World and they claim two things for their treatment. 1) It proves that experience in previous lives can cause health problems, particularly mental health problems in this life. 2) By reliving those past life experiences, patients can have their health restored.

I accept these claims but do not place the same interpretation upon them as the therapists appear to. Once a person is hypnotised, they enter an altered state of consciousness that is identical to that experienced by trance mediums. One therefore has to be extremely careful about how one interprets any utterances made whilst in that state. I believe even people who have no previous history of trance mediumship, can under such circumstances, be used by those in spirit to recount their own experiences whilst on earth. It is by no means certain that the details given are accounts of past lives on earth experienced by the patient.

I have never been hypnotised but I do know the early trance mediums such as Andrew Jackson Davis were 'magnetised' into trance using mesmerism which is a form of hypnosis. Once entranced and in that altered state of consciousness, with the hypnotist taking the patient back to previous lives, I see no reason why a person from spirit could not move into the picture and begin relating their life on earth. After all nearly every person who undergoes regression therapy knows nothing at all about trance mediumship and in entering trance they offer themselves for use as trance mediums. People in spirit have so few opportunities to contact the earth, that when such opportunities present themselves, they jump at the chance. The therapist asks questions and from my knowledge, spirit will always respectfully answer such questions, so any mystery about why they would describe their life on earth can be explained in that way.


Allan Kardec, the founder of Spiritism, obtained all his information for the Spirits Book and the Mediums Book, with their emphasis on reincarnation, through trance mediums that he had personally magnetised into trance using Mesmerism and he refused an offer from Daniel Dunglas Home (the leading trance medium of the day) to work as one of his trance mediums. The reason? Home insisted on entering the trance condition on his own as he normally did. He refused to be magnetised because he claimed Kardec would thus impose his personality upon the entranced medium and would receive from spirit exactly what he was looking for. How can that be? There are many in spirit, who believe absolutely in reincarnation and because of this, when they are asked about it, they affirm it is so. Hence the biblical caution to “test the spirit”. Many believe in it to such an extent that they insist on reincarnating. The mind is supreme in the spiritual world. Just as those who are convinced they will not awake after death until the sound of the last trumpet, remain asleep until more enlightened souls in spirit can help them to see otherwise, so the reincarnationist will seek to reincarnate and from all accounts, will succeed.

My position on this is dictated, I admit, by being uncomfortable at the idea of compulsory reincarnation and its effect of reducing the spirit world to a mere waiting room. I know from conversations with spirit people that it is not like that. Life moves forward in spirit, there is no question of hanging around near the earth waiting for an opportunity to reincarnate. That some people might choose to do so, I am willing to accept but regression therapists maintain everyone they treat gives accounts of previous lives. Please don't misunderstand me I am not saying that past life regression has failed to prove it is a viable way to treat certain people. I am sure many have recovered their stability following such treatment. All I am saying is that it is misleading to regard what is said by patients under hypnosis as invariably proof of reincarnation and that therefore reincarnation is a natural part of human spiritual growth. There is another way to look at it.


As I have said there are many in spirit, convinced they must reincarnate and do so many times. There is a school of thought that holds such people will do so but their objective can only be achieved at the expense of the spirit/soul who was intended to live in the body they have commandeered, If this hypothesis is true, regression could be helping to deal with the conflict and inner guilt caused by the stronger of two spirits forcibly preventing another from properly using its rightful home. The theory goes that this condition is possession (a condition dismissed as superstition by most, these days) and the possessors will coarsen their spirits by successive incarnations, rather than strengthen and purify them, as reincarnation theory asserts. By this theory therefore, regression therapy may well be proving reincarnation occurs, but it needs to think again about the reasons reliving past life experiences cures people of phobias etc. In failing to draw the conclusion that reincarnation is unwholesome and retrograde, rather than progressive, they are missing an opportunity to demonstrate the fallacy of reincarnation. Were they to do so, many may be spared the agony of having their physical bodies possessed by these zealots.

I write this as an alternative view in an attempt to persuade thinking people to accept there are other ways to look at the question than that put forward by ardent believers in reincarnation. Once a theory becomes part of religious belief, (as reincarnation has in Spiritism) objective thought is discouraged. I realise that to many, the idea of reincarnation brings great comfort, especially if they lead a life of deprivation or it seems to them that luck is always deserting them. They can blame it on their karma. I do not wish to remove comfort from anyone but believe it important that, before accepting any theory as truth, one should examine the alternatives with great care and also look at the possible disadvantages of unquestioning acceptance of the theory.

Too many of us are persuaded to look at life only from the narrow viewpoint of life on earth and I believe reincarnation theory reinforces this approach. To look at life in this narrow manner means it appears grossly unfair in countless ways. On the other hand if one views earth life as a small part of one’s life in eternity, the apparent unfairness of life on earth disappears. Earth life is not an end in itself; it is a means to help our souls evolve because the effect on the soul of being constrained by a physical body is similar to the effect on a stream of forcing it into a narrow channel. The strength of the flow is increased

A Dream…

I was away for a couple of days and couldn't get to the internet so I apologise for not posting anything since Friday. Here is something I wrote while I was away - I hope you enjoy reading it. Lionel

Wake, wake, my soul to the bright, bright morning: The day of the spirit has returned and the world is changed! The dross of materialism has been swept away; all doubt and uncertainty concerning immortality, gone with it. The scales have been lifted from our eyes and the world is suddenly full of light and colour.

Each tree, each plant, each flower, each insect, blazes with the inner light of the spirit; the light of life – and I can see it! The beauty and majesty of even the most humble creation takes my breath away as its light dances before my wondering eyes; light that pulses with fire and colour and is in no way outshone by its more illustrious brethren. The whole world is alight! What yesterday seemed dull and life-less, today is splendid, and pulsing with life.

To my astonished gaze each human head is surrounded by a brilliant array of lights and colours, shooting outwards like a series of comet’s tails; lights and colours that change constantly. Their beauty is breathtaking and I realise what I am seeing is the action of mind. I am seeing thoughts! Each thought, each emotion, registers its own individual colour and light so bright it is difficult to distinguish the physical features of the person. I am conscious only of the lights and colours, in a display of pyrotechnics that outshines even the most spectacular New Year’s Eve firework celebration.

As each individual registers the changes going on around him, it is fascinating to watch the play of light around the head. At first it seems tinged with shadow, as though unsure whether to accept what is being revealed. It seems to pulse and probe and hesitate. Suddenly, it erupts like a Vesuvius – a veritable explosion of colour and brilliance. Realisation has dawned; realisation that the light shining everywhere is the light of life. This is quickly followed by acceptance. Acceptance from the overwhelming evidence on display, that all life is one. The light that animates the glowing flower, shares the light that animates the dancing butterfly, the industrious bee, the swaying plant, the nodding pine, the soaring bird, the leaping trout, the running deer and the mystified human being too. All are equal regardless of size, shape dwelling place, natural ability, colour of skin or earthly possessions.

Surrounded by such beauty and spectacle there is no room for doubt, or fear, or hate, or envy: The soul has come into its own once more: The day of the spirit has returned to stay. The past is dead: All is in harmony and can be seen to be in harmony: There is certainty that the aspirations of each and every person can and will be realised in and through love.

Michael Jackson

Last night we heard the sad news of the death of Michael Jackson, who was only fifty years old. Understandably, because of the unexpectedness of the news, people are shocked and equally, because of his fame and talent as a musician and entertainer, the number of people who are feeling shock is enormous. The last similar occurrence to this was the death of Princess Diana in Paris.

The death of the Princess was followed by a huge and very public outpouring of grief all over the world and I expect something similar to happen in the case of Michael Jackson. It is quite astonishing to me, as a member of the older generation, to see such public demonstrations of grief from people who only knew those who died through their fame and all the publicity surrounding that. It seems to me quite natural to register shock at the tragic and unexpected death of anyone famous. Especially one who’s every move has been reported avidly by the media and in the case of Michael Jackson, whose music has thrilled millions. However, to move from being shocked into grieving publicly and laying millions of flowers in memory of the person concerned as though they were close family members, is to me strange and says much about the way society has changed in the last fifty years.

I believe it is a measure of the sheer terror of dying that so many people hide deep inside. It demonstrates how far we have moved away from a general acceptance that life does not end with physical death, even though to most, the form that life after death takes is a complete mystery. The paradox here is that although the grief is driven by the inner terror, it also reflects the shock of realising the idol concerned is not immortal!

The problem highlighted by this new phenomena is the inner conflict growing daily more pronounced, between Science, with its materialistic convictions and the inner knowledge of each individual. This conflict is undermining the natural balance that should exist in each individual, between physical and spiritual awareness. The soul knows life is eternal and that to accept as truth only what can be measured with our five senses is madness. However, the inner knowledge of the soul has been progressively hidden under thicker and thicker layers of materialism. I see this previously unthinkable public outpouring of grief in such circumstances as a cry for help. It is the soul saying, I know there is more to life than can be contained in the short span of earthly existence: LET ME PROVE IT TO YOU!

Let those who have the knowledge of eternal life, ask for guidance from the Spiritual Centre as to how best they can use their knowledge to help the millions who walk the earth in spiritual darkness due to conscious ignorance of their own immortality. It is the greatest challenge that faces humanity. If we can restore inner balance in every individual, all the other challenges we face will be simple to resolve.

THE BHAGAWAD GITA SIMPLIFIED

I am usually suspicious of 'potted versions'; of re-interpreting ancient writings to fit in with the lazy life-styles of today but this seems an exception to me. It is not a substitute for reading the Gita or the Upanishads but it does I feel, give more than just a flavour of the fundamental truths contained therein.

Lionel

Why do you worry without cause? Whom do you fear without reason? Who can kill you? The soul is neither born, nor does it die.

Whatever happened, happened for the good; whatever is happening, is happening for the good; whatever will happen, will also happen for the good only. You need not have any regrets for the past. You need not worry for the future. The present is happening...

What did you lose that you cry about? What did you bring with you,
which you think you have lost? What did you produce, which you think got destroyed? You did not bring anything - whatever you have, you received from here. Whatever you have given, you have given only here. Whatever you took, you took from God. Whatever you gave, you gave to Him. You came empty handed, you will leave empty handed.

What is yours today, belonged to someone else yesterday, and will
belong to someone else the day after tomorrow. You are mistakenly enjoying the thought that this is yours. It is this false happiness that is the cause of your sorrows.

"Whatever you took, you took from God. Whatever you gave, you gave to Him. You came empty handed, you will leave empty handed"

Change is the law of the universe. What you think of as death, is
indeed life. In one instance you can be a millionaire, and in the other
instance you can be steeped in poverty. Yours and mine, big and small - erase these ideas from your mind. Then everything is yours and you belong to everyone.

This body is not yours, neither are you of the body. The body is
made of fire, water, air, earth and ether, and will disappear into these
elements. But the soul is permanent - so who are you?

Dedicate your being to God. He is the one to be ultimately relied
upon. Those who know of His support are forever free from fear, worry and sorrow.

Whatever you do, do it as a dedication to God. This will bring you
the tremendous experience of joy and life-freedom forever.

The Journey

As I travel the highway of life, I ask only that I might be allowed to proceed at a pace slow enough to see the beauty all around me: The beauty of the trees; the seemingly uncountable shades of green of the foliage, plants and woods; The beauty of the flowers, with their innumerable colours and scents; the beauty of the animals and the way they care for their young ones and their mates; the beauty of the hills and valleys; the beauty of the sky through all its changing phases; the beauty of the lakes and streams; the beauty and liberty enjoyed by birds and the sound of their music; the beauty of human beings as they try to find their way along the vast network of highways – the way they often stumble but then pick themselves up, dust themselves down and try again.

I ask to be allowed to feel the gentle touch of the breeze on a summer’s day but also the rage of the gale in autumn and winter, with its lashing rain and destructive power. To be reminded by this that the same extremes happen in our lives; to remember that the person who seems hateful when in a towering rage, can be gentle, kind and understanding in other circumstances; to remember that to judge a person on the basis of what I see, hear and feel is as misguided as to judge God on the basis of the destructive force of the gale, or the despair of losing a loved one.

I ask to be taught to listen, more than to talk; to understand rather than to be understood; to see the smile behind the frown; to love rather than to be loved; to see the hand of the Creator in everything around me; to hear the voice of my soul, rather than the aridity of my reason; to know there is a unity between nature’s heart and mine; to hear the music in the ripple of the stream; to feel the connection between music, colour and light; to find more joy in the lisping accents of a baby than in the finest utterances of the orator; to live my life on earth in the knowledge of the life which is to come.

I see the journey as an adventure in time and space; a unique opportunity to experience through this physical body the joy, beauty, love and yes, the heartbreak, misery and frustration of life lived through those five poor measures - all that we have as guides on this incredible trip. Yet, I know that behind those measures lie the power, majesty and understanding of the Spirit – our spirit, part of the one Great Spirit. To serve the Great Spirit in helping just a few to understand a little more about these wonderful truths and bring the light of knowledge into the darkness of their ignorance is as much as any should expect as we tread the road of discovery that is our life. Greater this than all the treasures of gold, precious stones and power that the world offers to those who only labour in her dark and self-deluding basement.

MEMORIES

What are your happiest memories?











Are they of personal achievement in job or hobby? Are they of moments shared with loved ones and friends, or are they of moments when you were alone and for some inexplicable reason happiness and joy arose unbidden in your heart?

I guarantee that the older you are, the more your happiest memories are likely to be those shared with loved ones or the unexpected onset of joy and happiness when alone in some beautiful place. I think when we are young the highlights of our lives tend to be closely linked to material things. At first we would remember our first bicycle or our first cat or dog, or Christmas because of all the gifts. Later we would have happy recollections of achieving promotion at work or seeing the company we founded expanding successfully.

Ladies tend to remember things to do with family more than we men do. They will always remember their wedding day, the birth of their first child, the first steps taken by the baby and its first words. Men focus on more practical, less romantic memories mostly. However, as we grow older, apart from the thrill of remembering the birth of our first grandchild, the best memories will be of activities involving children, grandchildren and other family. After retiring, we have a little more time to look at the world around us, to really appreciate what a beautiful place it really is; to notice how some people have this wonderful knack of being able to say and do exactly the right thing at the right time, whereas others seem so wrapped up in themselves they obviously care nothing for those around them.

One of the great benefits of growing older is realising one does have time to appreciate those things that really make a difference in our lives: To understand that it is people and feelings that matter and not things. It demonstrates, I believe, the growth that has taken place in our souls over the years since our birth. Our character is shaped by everything we experience, good, bad and indifferent, as well as by the people we meet, especially those who teach us to understand things that have always been a mystery. That can be a simple as the dawning of light as one particular teacher touches something in us so that suddenly we know the intricacies of mathematics, or science, or grammar; Things that until that point we could not understand no matter how hard we tried; or it can be an old relative or friend teaching us how to recognise the footprint of a rabbit in the snow, or the difference between a mushroom and a poisonous toadstool.

As we grow older too, our inner self asserts its knowledge, often without us being consciously aware of it. Because the inner self knows we are moving closer to the time when we will return to that world of the mind and of thought known as the spiritual world, it influences us to place greater store on things of the mind (and I do not mean things of the intellect here) and the emotions because those are what we take with us. It is the emotional and spiritual response to everything we experience on earth that helps, along with our treatment of others, to build our character and influences the light that we generate from within our soul. That light is what will determine our dwelling place when the time comes to “go home” again.

Try to create as many loving memories as you can, while you can. Respond to the world and the people around you – but in as loving and as positive a way as possible - whether you are young or older. Allow people, situations and the world of nature, whether in town, city or countryside, to uplift you; to help you see and feel the joy that should be inherent in all lives. Above all allow them to let you see and feel how everything is connected to everything else. The lesson life on earth has to teach us is love vibrates everywhere, if only we will look and that despite the actions of humanity, natural law ensures everything is in balance at all times.

Love to Silver Birch

“Love takes many forms, ranging from friendship founded on sympathetic attraction and mutual interest to supreme heights where, without thoughts of self, it seeks to serve wherever it can.

Love is a word which is misused in your world. Very often those who use it do not mean love at all. It is mistaken for activities of the senses when there is only the desire for gratification of certain instincts. But love as I understand it is part of the spirit stirring within, seeking expression when it realises its kinship with the divine creator. The greatest love is the love that has no trace of selfishness; that does not seek in any way to perform any action because it will bring some satisfaction to the individual. That is human love in its greatest aspect. It is the spirit that has enthused all who desire to uplift mankind, to help the needy, to sustain the weak, to fight the vested interests that prevent the unfortunate from extracting the beauty that life could offer them.

All who, in their own land and in foreign lands, have sought with altruistic motive to raise the standard of mankind, to make it aware of its infinite potentialities, are exhibiting love in its finest form. There are degrees – when the same spirit animates a man or a woman to serve the object of his or her affection - That need not be selfish; it can be unselfish. And there is the lowest kind of love, the love that is restricted, that desires to protect and help only the ones to whom it feels an attraction and feels no pity, no mercy, no sympathy and no compassion for strangers. Divine love covers the universe. It is love that has shaped its course, it is love that has regulated its evolution, it is love which is part of the divine beneficence, it is love which activates all those advanced spiritual beings who, forfeiting all that they have gained by their attainment, return to your cold, grey, unattractive world to give service to those who need it.”

Why Are We Here?

What follows is a short extract from my book "Please God Why?"

If, as I am convinced, there is purpose behind everything, there are very good reasons for us being here on earth. We are eternal spirit beings and yet we spend what many of us consider, an unconscionable time in an environment that makes it difficult or almost impossible for us to give free expression to that spirit being. It is almost like a land mammal moving away from the land and spending many years living in the water, where many of his physical faculties will be useless or at the least, unhelpful. Let us stay with that analogy for a moment. What do you suppose would happen to the mammal? It would adapt, yes? Even though its legs could not be used for walking, it wouldn’t be long before he became an excellent swimmer using them. Although he would still need to breathe air, he would probably be able to remain totally submerged for longer and longer periods as time went by.

Is that not what happens to us? The difference of course is that we have a body perfectly designed to function on this planet, to breathe its air and cope with its gravity. Our mammal, because he still has a body designed to work best out of water, is constantly reminded thereby of his non-aquatic origins. We, on the other hand, have no memory of the time we operated as spirit beings in a spirit environment. Furthermore, the ego is always persuading us that spirit doesn’t exist, that material things are everything that matters. So our analogy breaks down at this point. However, our spirit is very much a part of our earthly body and it definitely adapts to the constrictions of earth life in our early years. So the analogy holds good for adaptability. Remember Wordsworth’s “homely nurse doing all she can to make us forget that imperial palace whence we came”?

Why do we need to adapt? Surely if the spirit is so powerful and the spiritual world such a great place to live, why leave it behind and incarcerate ourselves in what is by comparison, a hostile environment? Robert Frost in The Trial by Existence says it is “for some good discerned.” What good? One important element is that on earth, although social mores and language tend to separate us, we nevertheless all share the same planet - good, bad and indifferent people. In the spiritual world, we are given to understand, it is the brightness of the light we project that determines our dwelling place. We must therefore live with those of similar mental and spiritual achievement, unless we choose to visit realms where the light is dimmer. Could it be we come here to experience what our reactions are when we have to live amongst all manner and types of people?

More important I believe is the fact that our inner, spiritual selves have to fight, here on earth, for recognition. Material values are uppermost in people’s minds and finding ways to register the needs and abilities of the spirit, takes much effort and ingenuity. I am not speaking here of psychic and mediumistic gifts only, but much more of the higher human attributes of love, kindness, sympathy and self-abnegation. In making that effort and using our ingenuity we are exercising our spiritual faculties and they are strengthened, in the same way that the physical body is strengthened by exercise. Also, because human beings on earth are such a mixture of character types, there is ample opportunity for those who choose, to help those less fortunate than themselves.

The Power of the Spirit

“The power of the spirit is invisible”, said Silver Birch. “It does not conform to any of the recognised standards of man. It has no length, it has no breadth, it has no height, it has no weight, it has no colour, it has no size, it has no taste, it has no smell. And so, by all the usual methods of calculation, it does not exist, according to those purblind materialists to whom reality can only be appreciated when it comes within the radius of their five poor scales. Love is unseen and unheard. Love is colourless, without taste or measurement, but love is real, as those who experience its deep emotions can testify. But great as is the power of love, so infinitely greater is the power of the spirit.

You live and move and breathe, you think and reflect, you decide and judge, you ponder and consider, because of the power of the spirit. You see and hear, you move and walk, you think and talk, because of the power of the spirit. All that you do, all that you are, is due to the power of the spirit, for your whole world of matter, and your body of matter, is dependent upon that vital, energising influx of spirit which gives it being, purpose, direction and life. Nowhere in the world of matter itself, is to be found the secret of consciousness. Nowhere through the labours of the scientist, or the chemist, or the physician, is to be discovered the motive power of life. It does not reside within matter, for matter is but its temporary dwelling.

The power of the spirit is the power that you call God, even though you do not understand what that term means, even though you have misinterpreted it and give it finite limitations. The power of the spirit is the power that breathed life into a world that was once all fire. The power of the spirit is the power that raised man up from the slime of the earth and endowed him with the qualities of divinity. The power of the spirit is the garment that the soul wears. The power of the spirit is the power which fashioned all life, which controls every motion and mutation of natural force, the power which regulates all the seasons and governs the growth of every seed, of every plant, of every flower, of every bush, of every tree, the power which is responsible for the whole scheme of evolution in all its intricate phases.”

"Service is the Coin of the Spirit"

If you think about it, everything that exists is designed so perfectly when looked at as part of the whole. Each organ in our bodies is designed to work in conjunction with others in order that the whole body can function correctly. The balance in nature of predator and preyed upon, of aggression and timidity of male and female is perfect when not interfered with artificially by humanity. The balance in nature is designed to allow each species to live but without becoming so dominant that it endangers others. When a species becomes too numerous, its food supply becomes insufficient and that remains the case until numbers are reduced to the point where balance is restored.

The balance does not just apply to physical survival and I want to examine the balance of gifts among human beings. One of the greatest wonders of creation is that human beings exist by the millions and yet each individual is different in one way or another and when one knows a person, you can pick that person out easily from others. One factor that individualises us is the gifts that we possess. No two people have exactly the same combination of gifts and I believe there is a reason for this.

This varied distribution of gifts is to encourage us to demonstrate our love for one another by sharing. This is another way of saying serving one another. An examination will quickly enable you to realise that our gifts are meaningless and bring little satisfaction to us unless they are shared. Even composers, poets, writers and painters who doubtless obtain satisfaction from the creation of their work of art, do not as a rule, create for their own amusement or edification. They see their gifts as a service to their fellow human beings. They have a message that they wish to communicate and unless it is seen or read by others it is lost.

Not all gifts are of the artistic variety, they cover the entire field of human activity. Some have an absolute genius as mechanics; others are fantastic house painters, whilst more have a gift for growing plants or husbanding animals. Then there are the orators and the raconteurs, the clerks and the shopkeepers, the fishermen and the doctors, the musicians, the actors and the comedians. The list is almost endless and whatever your special gifts, they are intended I believe to be shared with other people. Never refuse an opportunity to serve in whatever field the chance arises for true service is the highest expression of love for others.

Because of that we should always try to develop our gifts to their highest level so that the service we render is of the very best. In doing this, not only do we give needed and valued service to others but we honour God to whom we owe our gifts and increase our own sense of satisfaction. A job well done, no matter what it is, is a thing of beauty and perfection. Look, for instance, at the garden of a person who is a dedicated gardener, one who has green fingers and who has taken the trouble to learn what grows best where and when. Such a garden is not only a place of beauty but its effects go far beyond the eyes. The entire spirit of one enjoying such a place is enhanced and uplifted.

Each of us is an individual, eternal spirit being, dependant upon others to realise our full potential. We depend not just upon help from others in our times of need but also to enable us grow through the help we can offer them using our gifts. We need to be able to eat, house and clothe ourselves whilst on Earth, so it is only fair that our gifts are rewarded so we can achieve this. However, reward should not be our sole object, if it becomes so, then the quality of our gifts is diminished, we are less appreciated by those we help and there is little true satisfaction for us. This is because our gifts have been given to help us evolve spiritually, not physically. If we use them just to satisfy physical ends then the taste is as ashes in our mouth and instead of evolving spiritually, we regress.

To the great Silver Birch, that wonderful teacher from the spiritual world, “Service is the coin of the spirit”. It is the means of exchange used to purchase our evolution towards the light; towards greater understanding, wisdom and love; towards our true destiny as co-creators of this incredible spiritual and physical universe that we inhabit. It should therefore be given with a loving heart and its reward should be in its performance only. Anything else should be incidental.

The Torch of Spirit

The torch of spirit has been borne aloft by people of all types over the centuries. Some came from wealthy backgrounds like Guatama Buddha, others, like Jesus of Nazareth were from ordinary, everyday families. These are of course two celebrated bearers of the torch but behind and ahead of them, millions of anonymous people have suffered and even died in the cause of the spirit. None of them questioned the need to suffer or die. Where they were aware of it, they accepted it as part of their duty. Others, like Daniel in the Old Testament, dared to face up to and overcome the lions, with the help of his God, in order to keep trust with the spirit. He had no idea whether or not he would survive, he just trusted the power of the spirit, prayed to God and he was spared. “God stopped the mouths of the lions,” as he put it.

Coming closer to home, many pioneers of Spiritualism and especially mediums, suffered enormously in their service to spirit. To begin with, physical mediums were often cruelly bound and trussed (in the interests of science and to prevent fraud!). Other mediums and known Spiritualists had to run a gauntlet of cat-calls and worse whenever they left their homes. Still others, especially in England, were imprisoned because they were mediums, using the ancient Witch-Craft Acts. Many Spiritualists were discriminated against in different ways – especially by those professing to be “Christian.” Why such people persecuted the very one’s who could prove that what their founder had taught was true, always mystified me.

It is now our turn to carry the torch! In the present day, Spiritualists are still discriminated against by some and the press in particular seem dedicated to giving great publicity to the most ridiculous views of mediums and Spiritualists. Whilst Spiritualists are expected to prove beyond any doubt that their claims are true, arch-sceptics are applauded for their criticisms when many of them have never bothered to study mediums, mediumship or Spiritualism at all! The clamour of ignorance speaking against the truths of the Spirit is sometimes deafening.

However, compared to the pioneers, our lot is easy. Perhaps it has become a little too easy? In the days in England, for instance, when working as a medium could land you in prison and Spiritualist churches never knew when the ‘strong arm of the law’ would come pounding on their doors during a service, the energy and sheer dedication of ordinary Spiritualists was astounding. Churches were packed, the standard of mediumship was exceptional and the standard of public speaking was high also. A far cry from the situation today where most churches are sparsely attended, mediumship standards have slipped badly and really good speakers, able to propound the life-enhancing philosophy of Spiritualism, can be counted on the fingers of two hands at the most.

The solution lies in our own hands. If we really desire the work of the Spirit to flourish, as it did once, we have to rededicate ourselves to accept only the best and that means for ourselves, not just other people. To accept anything less is to frustrate the spirit world. Reaching for the best needs effort, dedication, honesty and trust; we must trust the spirit and trust our own sense of right. We must be prepared once more to “stand for the right” and not withdraw in order to maintain a quiet life. We must be outspoken but fair in our assessment of the readiness or not of individuals to use their gifts of the spirit in public. We must accept that the expectations we have of others will be just a rigorously applied to ourselves. Above all we must ‘practice what we preach’ and truly love one another – even those people we don’t like. We must be vigilant in guarding and maintaining high standards in all that we do but also be understanding and supportive when individuals fall short of those high standards. We can be positively critical but never judgemental. As the Bible says, “First cast the beam from your own eye before trying to remove a splinter from the eye of another.” We must be willing to make sacrifices for the Spirit - It takes time and dedication to develop fully our spiritual gifts – we must deny neither and must be honest with ourselves when people say that we are not yet ready to move into the public sphere with our gift or gifts.

The world is in crisis – a spiritual crisis. People are crying out for help and guidance. People sit at home despairing; others become deeply depressed and have no way of understanding that in many, even most instances, the cause is an inability to recognise and provide for their own spiritual nature. As a society we have fed people a diet of materialism for so long, the spirit is dying of malnutrition. Those who know the truth about the spiritual heritage of humanity and that individual human life does extend beyond the grave, have a responsibility to try harder to feed those starving spirits. This is the way I believe to carry the Torch of Spirit in our modern world. The challenge is enormous – even daunting, but the power at our disposal both from our own spirit and from those in the spiritual world, is unbelievable.

Our aim? - To seek the restoration of the power of the spirit in the lives of every human being.

Our reward? - The resultant joy and happiness which will transform the world as we know it.

“The Peace that Passes all Understanding”

Why is that very special peace that is referred to in the Bible, called “The Peace that passes all understanding?” It has nothing to do with peace between warring nations or individuals. Neither does it have anything to do with actively seeking to be calm and peaceful. It springs unbidden like a joyous and excited puppy leaps into our arms when we arrive home.

It cannot be understood because there seems to be no logical explanation for the feeling that suddenly comes over a person, usually without any external cause. External surroundings sometimes influence it but you can be in apparently identical surroundings another time and not undergo the same experience. Haven’t you ever been all alone on a hillside, beside a stream or walking along a beach when quite inexplicably, a feeling of total and utter peace and contentment steals over you? Why now and not at other times when you have been in the same place?

I believe it happens because for a short time and such feelings are usually short-lived, a combination of things – your thoughts, the sounds of birds or of water, the colour of the sky, the warmth of the sun, a combination of these, or whatever – triggers a memory from before you were born. A time when you were a spirit dwelling in a world of spirit; a time when you knew beyond doubt the interconnectedness of all life, animate and inanimate; a time when you had no doubts about the eternal nature of the spirit of life; a time when no physical senses came between you and your certainty that love permeates everything and that evil truly is a lack of love, rather than something separate, encouraged by a mythical figure known as the Devil.

In that place and at that time you were totally at peace, understood that you were exactly who you were supposed to be and where you were supposed to be but also aware, without it causing you unease, that there was an infinity of growth and experience waiting for you in worlds physical and spiritual. When we are born into a physical body, the five senses mask this innate awareness and understanding. Instead we become all too aware of how finite things are on this Earth of ours and we are saddened because we know many who are near and dear to us will be taken away and there is nothing we can do to prevent it. The almost constant awareness of impending loss is one of the most difficult things with which we have to cope during our incarceration in a physical body. We gain relief from these dark fears during sleep, when we are permitted to return and visit the scenes of our former life in the world of the spirit.

Occasionally, just now and again, we are permitted waking relief in the form of that peace which passes all understanding. When it happens to you, treasure it; revel in it and under no circumstances try to analyse why. Analysis is the antithesis of magic, and make no mistake, such moments of utter, unreasoning, spiritual, peace are magic and a pure gift from God.

IMAGINE

Imagine a world without strife!
Imagine a world without people starving!
Imagine a world without war!

It’s difficult isn’t it? Yet it could all be so different if only human beings cared less and less for glory, fame and power and more and more for beauty, love and integrity. If it were just possible for all of us to resist harder the siren call of the physical senses and realise they are temporary and insubstantial, despite appearances to the contrary, whereas our inner self is eternal, solid and has access to more real power than the world at present understands.

There are two opposing ways of looking at our earthly situation. The first is to bemoan the foolishness and ignorance that leads people to value things of the flesh higher than things of the spirit. The second is to accept that the world is like it is for a purpose. The purpose is not the same as the reason. The reason is the shortcomings of generations of human beings but the purpose is more elusive. Conflict was always present but only in modern times does it seem to have got out of hand What could possibly be the purpose of creating a world of conflict that by its very nature appears to make it difficult or impossible for individuals to achieve their spiritual aims?

Why should we always stop to smell the flowers on our journey? - Because the journey is far more important than the destination. Our lives on earth are the same. It is not the final destination that is so important, that is the same for us all, but the journey and what we make of the challenges and opportunities we meet along the way. It might seem paradoxical, but the opportunities for strengthening the spirit are likely to be much greater in a world of conflict than in a world where all is sweetness and light. Were it not so, why leave the Spirit World in the first place? When we are faced with an awful choice like many have been, where it is necessary to choose between one’s own security or even one’s own life and that of a loved one. When we are at our wits end due to a succession of reverses or to pain that seems to grow worse by the day; then are we forced to seek strength deep within. These are extreme cases I know but I am sure you can think of many circumstances where there seems to be no hope, where despair is the only emotion. Viewed with minds conditioned to consider physical life is all there is, such circumstances can only indicate life is grossly unfair. In fact the spirit that goes through such dreadful experiences emerges strengthened and with its light shining more brilliantly, just like the ore that has been subjected to the heat of the furnace before emerging as pure gold!

Humanity has created the conflict within our world and only humanity can reverse the process. Here is another challenge for the spirit. What can each of us do to reduce the conflict? It is more obvious in these dark days of weapons of mass destruction but it was always there. When Mankind first emerged he had to contend with savage beasts and with poisonous reptiles and plants. The starting point is to recognise that it is possible to do something about it rather than despairing. Like the man who walked along a beach littered with small shell fish that had been washed up onto the beach by a storm and threw as many as he could back into the sea. Another man seeing what he was doing asked him what was the point when there were thousands and thousands of them on this and neighbouring beaches, He couldn’t possibly make a difference by just throwing a few back into the sea. The first man smiled, picked up another shellfish, threw it into the sea and said “Made a difference to him!”

We may think the activities of each of us as individuals couldn’t make a difference to the state of the world but don’t you believe it. The world is made up of people – individual people – the state of the world about which we are anxious is so because of the actions of individuals. If, for instance, each of us decided tomorrow not to be manipulated by the news media: If we stopped watching or listening or at the very least refused to react negatively or with anger to what was reported, what do you think might happen? Remember what we discussed earlier? Our inner self is more important and has more power than the physical self. That includes the mind and the cumulative effect of millions of minds reacting angrily or negatively to news stories deliberately slanted to produce such reactions is startling but in a frightening, negative way. If instead, we reacted with love, not by condoning any wicked act but by sending our love in the form of light to ALL concerned, the effect would be equally startling in a positive way.

Yes, I believe there is a real and positive purpose to the conflict we find on earth. Perhaps it is because only spirits that need the conflict in order to progress to the next stage of their evolution are sent here. Much conflict is there by design but we have made it so much worse through greed, megalomania and ignorance. By recognising our individual responsibility for this, we can change things. We will never get rid of all forms of conflict but the worst of it we can stop if enough of us really wish to. The power of the Spirit is immense and the mind has a direct link to it. If we will learn how to connect them together with love our world will be transformed.

“To Love Another Person is to See the Face of God”

Remember those days when you were young and carefree - days that seemed to be endless with new adventures waiting around every corner? No responsibilities, no worries about the future or the past, just looking forward to getting together with your friends and chatting. It’s difficult to remember what you chatted about now, but it seemed so important at the time. It seemed to each of us that it was possible to make a real difference and change the dreadful mess the adults had made of the world.

Then there were the girls – silly, giggly things they were who couldn’t understand why you wished to spend so much time with your mates. They had no idea about all the brilliant ideas you came up with during your chats, or the comradeship that gave you absolute trust in one another. The girls just wanted to talk about clothes and sloppy weddings and things. You spent as little time as possible with them – until she came along!

She, the first girl to steal your heart away; the one who made you want to make excuses to your mates about why you weren’t able to meet them tonight after all. The girl who made your heart beat faster, made you want to sing and to be with her all the time. The girl for whom you wanted always to look special; the one for whom nothing was too much trouble; the one who made you tongue-tied and awkward except when you were alone together. In her company, the world looked different; you found that things and people that had previously annoyed you suddenly became tolerable. Probably for the first time in your life the needs of another outweigh your own. You became interested in clothes, something that had never bothered you before. The time out of her company dragged interminably while when you were with her, it just flew. You were in love and your whole being seemed attuned to the higher vibrations of life. The colours, sounds and scents of the natural world intrigued you whereas before, you ignored them. You felt somehow an integral part of what was going on all around you. Because of your love for her, you were responding to the love that pervades every living thing.

I am writing this from the point of view of young men but everything is just as true when applied to young women. Our first love is an incredible experience and one we never forget. It is the first occasion that we really become aware of how wrapped up in ourselves we have been to that point. It is our first full awareness of the true, creative force that is responsible for all that there is. The power of love is the power of creation and is the motive force within all life. There are those who will tell you that there are many different grades of love and that romantic love, such as I have described, is very low on the scale of things. Pay no attention to them. All love, romantic or otherwise, is our reason for being and if we were only able to retain the feelings of magnanimity and joy inherent in our first experience of romantic love, our world and our lives would be so much richer.

I believe those who bemoan the negative and violent state of our world and urge us, rightly, to seek the spirit within and let its light shine out, sometimes complicate matters too much. Indeed I am as guilty of this as anyone. Love is so simple, so straight-forward and yet so profound we allow ourselves to become too serious about it. We allow its profundity to obscure its simplicity and spontaneity. If instead of encouraging complicated exercises and meditations, we talked more about romantic love (instead of being flippant about it) and encouraged everyone to try harder to recapture the wonder they felt inside when they first fell in love, more people would understand what we meant. There is no doubt that Victor Hugo was inspired when he penned the words of the title of this post.

Let us all try harder to rekindle that “first, fine, careless rapture” that was ours – let us smile more and frown less, be joyful as we were then, rather than doubting and uncertain, let us uplift and not ‘put down.’ That first love sprang upon us uncalled for and unexpected, we didn’t have to pray for it or work for it, it just happened. The love that can transform the world is equally spontaneous. We just have to let it happen and follow our inner feelings when it does. Our feelings will, in the long run, achieve more happiness for all than will our intellect.

WHAT?

What am I and why am I here?
What is God and where is He?
What am I doing here?
What is the purpose of life?
What happens when we die?

How often have you asked questions like this?

Life is a very confusing business, chiefly because our natural element is the spiritual world where we all came from and yet while we are here, the earth and everything physical seems to be all important. Our five physical senses are so powerful they make us forget our origins. The poet William Wordsworth explained this in his poem “Intimations of Immortality:”

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The soul that rises with us, our life’s star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, which is our home;

We really do come from God and deep inside we know this but in our moments of despair and confusion, even this inner knowledge becomes clouded and we forget. Earth’s mother, nature, has convinced us this life is everything and when we die there is nothing – we live on only in the memories our children have of us. As a result, the efforts of many, focus on ensuring those memories are as strong as possible by what has been achieved in purely material terms during their lives. Accumulating fame and material possessions becomes all-consuming.

In his poem “The Trial by Existence,” the American poet, Robert Frost, suggests a reason for this. The poem describes what happens in heaven as souls wait in line to be born and hear in exact detail everything that will happen to them in their future life on earth. They are then asked to choose again whether they still wish to be born. Always the answer is “yes,” despite hearing all the sad and hurtful things. Then …

But always God speaks at the end;
“One thought in agony of strife
The bravest would have by for friend,
The memory that he chose the life;
But the pure fate to which you go
Admits of no memory of choice,
Or the woe were not earthly woe
To which you gave the assenting voice.”

If Frost is right, there must be a good reason why we are unable to remember that we chose this earthly life. We are eternal, spirit beings and yet confining ourselves to an earthly body that denies us any easy recognition of our heritage, must be an important stage in our evolution: Evolution from ignorance to knowledge and from darkness to light. In some wonderful way the spirit must have unique opportunities in our earthly environment to progress in ways that would be much more difficult to achieve in the spiritual world where we come from.

I believe at least part of this reason is the fact that on earth all types of people, good, bad and indifferent, are required to live together in communities, which is not the case in the spiritual world. This sets us many challenges, including the need for tolerance tempered with understanding. This does not mean condoning the distasteful actions of others but it does oblige us try to understand, to refrain from judging and to love without necessarily liking. It also helps us gradually to understand the operation of Natural Law and its superiority over man made laws. We each fail over and over again as we are faced with such challenges but, in spite of ourselves, we learn something more about others and ourselves each time it happens. The cumulative effect of these experiences is what makes the difference.

The paradox is that amnesia about our origins induced by the five senses, makes all the more wonderful the discovery that life is consciousness and consciousness is unaffected by death: This discovery, though made by comparatively few, is not deliberately hidden from us. It is available to all through the simple expedient of stillness. Take a few minutes each day to retire from the physical world, be still and look within. There will you gradually discover who you are, why you are here and become aware of the brilliant light that blazes within you, as it does all people. This is the light of eternity; the light that is the real you; the light which is all you can take with you on the next stage of your journey following physical death; the light that all too often is buried beneath layer after layer of ignorance, superstition, anger, hatred, avarice and greed.

By learning to be still amid the rush and panic that surrounds us we learn that God is not “out there somewhere” but is within each one of us, in that ineffable light. We learn to respect the brave decision each person made to be born, despite knowing all the bad things that will happen to, and/or around them. We learn that life does have purpose and it is a vital part of our evolvement as eternal spirits. Finally, we learn that after death we return to the world of mind, the spiritual world, which is our normal environment and that when we get there everything will appear to our spirit forms to be just as solid as material things appear here to our earthly bodies.

Plus Ça Change …

Friends, I shall be unable to access the Web until Sunday, so this will be my last blog, probably until Monday next week. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Lionel

Born, as I was well before the half way point of the last century, I have seen many changes. Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to say I have seen more changes in my lifetime than any of my forebears. The growth of human ingenuity during this time and the amazing technological developments achieved seems little short of miraculous when I remember what we assumed were the greatest boons to human life when I was a boy.

People were still talking about the twin transport disasters of The Titanic in 1912 and the R101 in 1930. Each craft was designed to be the last word in comfort and offer larger passenger capacity than any earlier craft. They were to herald a new era of luxury and comfort, as well as making long distance travel more affordable. Instead, each brought a huge increase in human misery and subsequent investigations have shown that greed and a thirst for power contributed enormously to both disasters.

Europe had but recently emerged from “The war to end all wars” and yet most people were anticipating another war before long, and they were right of course. Many homes in Britain when I was a boy had neither running water nor electricity and central heating was an undreamed-of luxury. Horses still did most of the heavy work on farms and horse-drawn carts were a common sight in the city in my younger days. The DC3 or Dakota was still on the drawing board and the only acceptable way of travelling from Britain to the USA was by steamer. It was the days when the leading steamship companies competed avidly for the ‘Blue Riband’ for the fastest trip between Britain and New York. Television had begun to make a nominal appearance in London but general access to TV was still thirty years away! Telephones in the home were a rarity and those who used public phones had to contend with Button A; Button B and making all calls through an operator. Inland long distance calls, called ‘trunk calls’, were difficult and overseas calls frequently involved making an appointment for hours ahead! Computers had never been heard of and the first Tabulator had been invented by the founder of IBM only a few years earlier. Remember those Hollerith machines?

I recall being asked at school to write an essay on “The Future.” I felt the greatest boon to humanity would be if all drudgery was replaced by machinery. Man released from such soulless toil, the money saved by using machines would be distributed fairly amongst all and humanity would become more caring and I saw a time of great happiness for all, where no-one had an empty belly. The drudgery has effectively been removed now – there are very few jobs that rely on human beings carrying out monotonous, repetitive tasks like Charlie Chaplin did in “Modern Times” - Are the bellies full? Is humanity happy?

These are rhetorical questions, for we all know the answers; but why is it that the arrival of the ‘promised land’ has not brought the anticipated benefits? For the answer, we need to look closely at ourselves. The complex collection of things tangible and intangible that comprises what we call a human being is a great deal more than what is seen when we look into a mirror. We are similar to icebergs – at least two-thirds of us lies completely hidden from view beneath our ordinary, day to day consciousness. However, we have allowed the five senses to so dominate our lives that most people have no idea that they are anything but a bundle of flesh, bone and nerves. No matter to whom you speak about ‘progress’ during the period I have mentioned, they will refer to exactly the kind of things I have mentioned, plus perhaps urging you to marvel at the progress made in medicine, thanks to new technology and new drugs. Nobody is likely to mention progress in human behaviour or morality. Ask them if they think we as a race, are happier and the answer will be at the best a hesitant ‘maybe’ but more likely it will be negative.

In scientific research, as in all fields of human endeavour, if you concentrate your efforts too narrowly, you produce an imbalance. Drinking too much alcohol produces drunkenness and early death; smoking cigarettes damages one’s lungs; over-stimulation of any of our senses produces insensitivity; over-use of antibiotics produces immune bacteria, etc., etc. It was a wise man who said “In all things, moderation.”

Moderation is exactly what we are missing. Not only in our relations with one another but also in the focus of our research and technology. Human beings are spirit, mind and body. I set them down in that order deliberately because that, I believe, is their relative importance. During my lifetime humanity has focussed almost entirely on the latter and ignored both mind and spirit. We do this at our peril! The imbalance we have thus created is becoming more and more serious every day. Some will tell you the mind has not been ignored but I take issue with that for what such people think is the mind is in reality the brain. They have so confused themselves by their exclusive focus on things material they believe the brain (a physical organ) and the mind (an intangible organ) are the same.
What is needed is a complete re-orientation of our priorities and a good starting place would be to remove the air of ‘godliness and infallibility’ from those engaged in all scientific disciplines. Secondly, the distribution of resources needs to be re-examined. For the next century our main focus should be research into the mind and the spirit, using the same methods of reproducible results before accepting anything as fact, but retaining open minds. We need this in order to redress the balance. Only then can we really take stock and consider what real progress we have made.

Accepting that the spiritual and mental parts of humanity are imperishable, unlike the physical body, such research is not only long overdue but will produce some amazing and fantastic results. For the time-being however, man’s spiritual and moral nature remains largely unaltered despite all the ‘progress’ on the technological front. As the French say, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose.”

The Way of Immortality

Here is another piece by Ian Fearn, this time taken from his book “The Way of Immortality.”

The joys of life are the right of us all. The troubles we suffer from are mostly due to our mistaking existence for Life and so condemning ourselves to the dreary role of mere toiling tenants of mortality.

Man is in truth a traveller, passing through time, with the worthwhile object of realising Life that is supra mortal and does not end with death of the body. But it seems that the acquiring of a physical form tends to make him forget why he wanted it and its possible usefulness.

He comes from afar, from a world he cannot see, that his five senses cannot contact; a realm of substance, that stands under the realm of appearances; that is not mortal like the temporary vesture he acquires on being born. That invisible substance is the origin of all he is and indeed the essence of all he can hope for. But when he first arrives in a physical world all his senses compel him towards solids. Launched in a world of matter, his instinct from birth is to boost his bulk to gain at least the consolations of solid incarnation. So the minute material bundle of mystery and appetites called a baby is almost entirely occupied with its material surround that seems to provide the obvious means to gratify its wants and to make its miniature self regarded as a person of importance. A world of materialised objects challenges on every hand and as the inexperienced neophyte bounces and bangs amongst its boulders, he assumes that here is the very real world and that the material ménage is the place where his interests have to be sought and served….
The way of immortality is won by the child of the Spirit, who has learned to pass lightly through the things of time and struggles not to lift all the heavy luggage of existence into the realm of Life.

Existence is laborious and those who spend their days contending for material gains become weary and heavy laden but when the Spirit is allowed to break free from the obsession of weight and bulk, the burdens of its merely temporal equipage, then the body and soul are quickened with the motif of Livingness and the sense of freedom and fulfilment emancipates the whole being from strain and care.

But this does not mean that we attempt to bypass the experiences of time, to slip through the solids as the criminal would dodge the cordon of the law. Our education in immortality must inevitably begin in the kindergarten school of solids, for we can only master the rudiments of reality by coming up against and contending with the surface world of five sense man. All the accessories of time and space are means to teach the neophyte those introductory secrets of Life which must be learned in the school of earth.

The material forms that appeal to the senses are but stepping stones which the traveller employs to enable him to tread firmly, confidently, through the scenes of time into the realm of substance, which by means of the tempering of material experience, he learns to know and value as the Kingdom of Life that is eternal.

All the surface things will inevitably be swept away from the temporal table, as the crumbs from the breakfast cloth. They are but the remnants from the feast and Life, kindly but strongly, is ever urging us to move on from the husks and shells of our surface meals. Every different experience can be a means of making new values and discarding old patterns in the progress that Life invites us to share. To pass through things temporal means that there are no regrets about the past, however much we may have suffered, to have been misused or even to have lost. No resentments can be woven into the way of release.

The new child of Life’s immortal lineage is content to travel light. The solids he encounters on his Life-borne way are held only so long as they serve the Living inspiration of his untiring quest to temper the body and tutor the soul to fit him consciously to share in Life’s vital continuity.

It is through our mortal experience that we travellers through time develop conscious sympathy with Life that is supra normal and only waits for us to attune ourselves to synchronize with its higher frequencies, that time-tutored, matter-matured, we may, even here and now, taste our immortality.

The Pursuit of Happiness

This article was written by Ian Fearn, an Anglican priest whose spiritual outlook and insight is to me much broader and more incisive than most of his colleagues.

All through the ages, man has been chasing happiness, but the way in which it comes and goes in our lives remains, for the most part, a mystery!

Some have found the pursuit of happiness so futile in a world beset with worry and fear, suspicion and strife, that they have deferred the fulfilment of happiness to a future heaven. Others confine the quest exclusively to earth: ‘Let us eat, drink and be merry today, tomorrow is a long way off. We want our happiness now!’ One thing is clear - wherever we hope to find it, we know we cannot do without it, or life would become a misnomer, and existence an endurance test with the dice heavily weighted against us.

What is happiness? Who can define it? Can riches or prosperity confer it, or can power possess it? None of these can ensure happiness! The word itself gives us a clue to the secret of its elusive quality. It is derived from ‘hap’, and hap means chance, something that cannot be fixed as here or there; it cannot be found ready-made or fabricated by any means. Happiness seems to come by chance; indeed, happiness just happens!

Try to hold it and it will vanish; perpetuate it and we lose it. Happiness is a beautiful thing, the flight of Life in its passing through time. The pursuit of happiness always defeats its object; it is on the wing before our clumsy efforts can check its flight! As well might we hope to secure a butterfly with a harpoon!

Yet many of us spend a large proportion of our time and strength in this worthless occupation. And if happiness does not come our way we are disappointed, even resentful. ‘Why is happiness denied me?’ we complain and blame a cruel fate that has robbed us of something which gives zest to life. We become depressed without it - happiness is to the soul what oxygen is to the body.

Life’s Invitation:

What then is the secret of happiness? To we on earth, it is an elusive pleasure; it but mocks anyone who tries to hold it to the earth, and certainly, it is not a commodity that can be purchased with carnal currency! Happiness is a condition that is earned through response to the magic of the Spirit of Life.

Life is a very lovely thing; a beautiful becoming - never fixed never final. Anyone who would share it to the full, must attune his whole being to its quickening vibrations. Happiness is found through sensitive response to Life.

When

When you find the going tough and nothing seems to gel,
When everything you ever hoped for crumbles into dust.
When friends you loved and in whom you put your trust,
Prove suddenly all too human and there seems no reason why.

When things that once seemed easy suddenly get hard,
When even the most routine task proves beyond your powers,
When jobs that once took minutes begin to take you hours,
And you feel the world’s against you without a reason why.

When you cannot trust a soul and don’t know where to turn,
When the freedom you once enjoyed seems like a prison cell,
When folks who always smiled at you and used to wish you well,
Become sullen and obstructive and there seems no reason why.

When you know that you are right but things prove otherwise,
When every time that you call heads, the coin turns up tails,
When faced with easy choices, your selection always fails
Despite the good advice you took. What is the reason why?

When you decide to buy a stock it seems it always falls,
When you borrow to finance a deal; interest rates go up,
When you think, ‘I’ve got a bargain’; you’ve been sold a ‘pup’.
This sudden change of fortune must have a reason why.

When you accept life is designed not just for number one,
When you are able to accept that nothing stays the same,
When instead of pushing self, you advance another’s claim,
You will begin to understand there is a reason why.

When you can learn to take the knocks and realise they help,
When you can look inside yourself and see how much you gain
When failure strikes; understanding nothing is in vain,
You will be so much closer then to that reason why.

When once you understand that life on earth is not complete,
When you know that consciousness goes on and on forever,
When you begin to look at life knowing nought can sever
You from eternity; clearer is that reason why.

When you start to realise that absolutes are fiction,
When you acknowledge that all things have a reason,
When you see and feel in truth the beauty in each season.
Then are you beginning to find the reason why.

When, accepting all that comes, you learn to praise and trust,
When you realise the importance of unconditional love,
When you know we all are part of that glorious Power above,
Then you’ll have your answer friend; that’s the reason why.

© Lionel Owen 2009

More from "Please God Why?"

We have examined the claims of materialism, the discoveries of science and the way in which these have persuaded so many people that life, wonderful though its mechanisms are, is no more than a biological accident that occurred in the primeval mud and developed through the process of Natural Selection to the state it is today. Its only purpose has been to reproduce and adapt to environmental change in order to ensure the survival of the species.

There is an alternative view. The view that not only does life have purpose and design but it is eternal and spiritual: All matter being shaped and held in its form by the power of spirit and its agent, mind.

We have already discussed the sensitivity of certain human beings to non physical energies and emanations. We saw how dowsers used their special sensitivity and how, very likely, shaman used theirs to discover healing herbs and plants. The range of such gifts is much wider than this. Psychic researchers have and still do investigate the gifts of mediums, which are many and varied and will be discussed in detail in a later chapter. Seers have been able to apparently foretell future events in great detail and have also been able to describe, in equal detail, events happening many miles from where they are. This is distinct from Distant Viewing, mentioned earlier.

Poets and some other writers too, appear able to attune themselves to the vibrations emanating from a higher world than ours and Mystics, by following rigorous programmes of spiritual discipline, have transcendental experiences of incredible beauty. Sometimes, ordinary people experience these too, quite by chance and usually only once. However they all say, without exception, that such experiences changed their lives forever. They never lost the certainty that all forms of life are inter-connected and shine with a radiance imperceptible to us under normal circumstances.

Searching for Evidence of Survival

Extracted from Chapter 10 “Please God Why?”

In my experience, obtaining evidence of survival, like many of life’s experiences, is a very personal matter. Vicarious evidence is never as convincing or as satisfying as that received in person. Many books have been written on this subject and for readers wishing to discover just how wide-ranging and incontrovertible is the evidence, I would recommend three books in particular:

The University of Spiritualism, by Harry Boddington, published by Psychic Press Ltd. ISBN 0 85384 061 X

The Imprisoned Splendour, by Raynor C. Johnson, published by Pelegrin Trust ISBN 0 946259 30 5

The Archives of the Mind, by Prof. Archie E. Roy, published by SNU Publications ISBN 0 902036 13 0

Despite my reservations about the limited value of vicarious experience, I want to relate the evidence my family and I have received over the years. I hope it will encourage you to seek for yourself, ever remembering the biblical caution to, “Test the spirit.” Be objective, do not judge on the basis of hearsay and never be afraid to oppose conventional wisdom when the evidence convinces you, you should. Never accept anything at face value but once you are satisfied there is no other reasonable explanation than communication from the world of spirit, accept it and treasure it.

Prayer

What follows is a parable that formed part of a Trance Address given at a home circle by Mrs Bray, a friend of the famous medium, Ena Twigg. The speaker called it an “Aperçu of Prayer.”

And I said, “Show me what I have to learn.”
And my teacher said, “Let me show you people praying.”

And it was as though I looked down on many, many people who were praying. He said, “That one is a mother praying for her child. But she is not praying that God will restore him to health if it be God’s will, she is telling God to make him well. As God is perfect law, if it is not in the scheme, the child cannot recover. That prayer does not reach very far. Although it is intense and it is pure, it is conditional.”

Then I saw a man dressed in a sack and he was praying and he said, “God, I am an unworthy part of you but if I can be used, use me.”
And the man n the sack had a great light come down, it caught his prayer – and my teacher said, “That prayer has been accepted.”

Then we saw a mass of people in uniform who were devising weapons of destruction; and they were praying that their weapons would be used successfully – and darkness came over. My teacher said, “Those prayers are not accepted, only by the dark forces. They have no validity and do not reach out.”

And we went round and round, then we were looking at an old lady praying for her husband who was dying and she was saying,
“He belongs to You, God and although I love him dearly, I give him to You.”

This prayer reached out and again a great blaze of light came down. My teacher said to me - I was weeping - and he said, “Have you learned anything?”

I said, “Oh how much I have learned by looking at this thing, much more than I ever learned from my own prayers.”

CHOICES

Here are some words that came to me as I pondered the total lack these days of respect for life and the rights of others to choose their own pathway in this world.

Many reasons in this dark age,
Are given for taking life,
Seems to me standing helpless by,
We’ve created mostly strife.

We’ve turned our backs, from what I see,
On tolerance and love.
Consumed by power and money, now
Many exclude the Power Above.

They think that Man can change the rules,
Can decide who lives and dies.
To gain more wealth and influence,
They ignore their victim’s cries.

They choose to close their eyes and ears
Like all tyrants, hard and cold,
To the wails of victims’ families,
Whilst they pursue their gold

Man is they say, the highest form
Of life upon our Earth.
But such egotism running wild,
Mocks claims to higher birth.

It makes one feel Man’s destiny,
Is short and self-destructive,
Where this will lead if still pursued,
Is ominously instructive.

The Natural Law cannot be changed,
Or circumnavigated.
If we carry on attacking love,
All lives are dislocated.

Darkness will reign o’er all the earth,
Then for those who are the cause,
Their after-life will bring much pain,
No escape; such are the Laws

Pain and darkness will deeper be,
For those who persuade others,
Paradise or Heaven awaits those, who
For the cause, kill their brothers

We cannot mock that Creative Power,
By trying to pretend,
We can escape the consequence,
For death is final; it’s the end.

Death is the beginning friends, of
Life in a world of mind,
Where light that pours out from our souls,
Finds us high or low there.

Soul light is determined by,
Thoughts and actions here,
Our acts not our beliefs ensure
How bright it does appear.

All this can be so different,
If only we will learn,
We cannot live by taking all,
Giving nothing in return.

Within us all, both good and bad,
That light divine is lit,
It can transform our world at once,
If we will nurture it.

Once learn to use that perfect light,
And refuse to entertain
Dark thoughts or negative reaction;
Your life is not in vain

For darkness cannot long resist,
The brilliance of the light,
It dissolves dark all away.
The Law it is and right.

One shaft of love-directed light,
Can disperse hate and fear,
And in its place put hope and joy,
Where angels can appear.

So if the forces dark and drear,
Attack your spiritual lines,
Go within to that bright place,
Where light eternal shines.

Call upon the help of those, who
Have passed the second birth,
Together then, their light and yours,
Hurls darkness from the Earth.

Turn to love and through its power,
We can overcome all terror,
And don’t despair, love is divine,
Perceiving human error.

And he who lived a lowly life,
Saying, “Turn the other cheek,”
Was right; for conflict settles nought,
Give love if peace you seek.

© Lionel Owen 2009

The Afterlife - Continued

So you will find that a man with that mental outlook upon entering the astral world finds it very difficult to readjust himself to his new life. In such a case as this he usually enters one of the homes in the astral world and we endeavour to teach him. But like certain men in your world, he usually has his own ideas and is still allowed to think along those lines, if he desires to do so. But those who believe in the finality of death will not progress far in the mental world.

They usually stay in the first sphere, or shall I say in “the babies class” until they mentally desire to go a step further and explore the new life in which they live. They find themselves in a solid body, in a world of activity very little different from their earthly understanding and since it is very near the earthly expression of material life, they continue in the “babies class” without any desire for anything better. They are at liberty to do that; no one forces them. No one deprives them of their free will any more than we would deprive you who are in material bodies here and now.
That is the first state of the astral world. Some of you might question what they do in the astral world. What do you do in your material world? Firstly, there is great activity; so also is there in the astral world. Secondly, in your world you keep your mind and your hands fully occupied. So do they also in the astral world. What do you think they live in? You earthly folk use your mentality to fashion things with your hands; through your mind you take the attributes of the earth and with your hands you mould a ship. You mould guns; you mould weapons of war.

We do not teach them to do that in my world but we take the material and through the mind and hands of your fellow man in my world we weld things of beauty in the higher states of existence. Some of you might say, “But Red Cloud, a soldier who has always handled a gun could not be happy fashioning beautiful things!” To that I would answer that a soldier who handles a gun in the astral world dwells in the lower strata of the astral world, he also realises instantaneously that it is of no use because he cannot kill.

The Afterlife

Here is part of a description by Red Cloud, of the Astral World and how our beliefs affect our reaction to it when we get there.

You have a very limited idea of life in the world past death.

First of all I should like you to know that the world from whence I come is as solid to us as your world is to you. When we study your minds we see that you have an idea that the next state of existence is a totally different life from the one in which you now live. I want you to put that idea completely from your mind and to know that the next state of life that you inherit will be as solid as the body in which you live now.

Does life continue? Definitely. From the moment that the body, the coat I call it, in which you are encased at present drops away from you, activity of mind and being continues as before, for man is indestructible. He lives because he never dies. When he enters the next state surrounding your earthly belt, he enters a new life. At first it may be bewildering to him because his mind believed many things to the contrary whilst in the physical body. He believed he was obliged to lie in a grave until the Resurrection Day. Man is eternal and at no period can his activities cease.

When he has had such a belief and enters the astral world, he finds it is difficult to realise that he is dead. He gazes around at his fellow men and asks them how it is he is dead yet alive. It is all very bewildering.

Then again you have the man who believes that his sins are forgiven him whilst in the body with the result that his life in the astral world is very disappointing. He has not remembered the teaching of Paul which says, “Work out your own salvation.” He has not realised the law of Cause and Effect, which rules that no man can forgive your sins. You have to work out your own evolution here and now.