“Fill Me With Life Anew”

This is a line from the famous hymn “Breathe on me Breath of God”. What is meant by the breath of God? Anyone who has had the privilege of sitting in a Circle with a good Materialisation medium will have some idea. During every such séance, usually when the power has built to the level where materialisation is about to take place, a wind will suddenly blow through the circle and usually it is not only strong but fairly cold also. I have seen the curtain on the front of the cabinet blown so that it is horizontal! This is as close to experiencing the ‘breath of God’ that I have ever come and after feeling that ‘psychic wind,’ as some like to call it, the atmosphere in the séance changes perceptibly. To me it becomes more reverential, not parsimonious, fun and laughter are very much part of physical phenomena, but reverential.

I am not sure what others feel but I feel as though I am filled with an indescribable joy. Suddenly, the Earth and everything I considered so important before, shrinks into the background and I know I am in the presence of a power so great but so loving, that for a while, my spiritual eyes are opened and I am filled with wonder. I really do feel as if I am “filled with life anew.” Once having experienced this intense feeling, one can never again disbelieve in the eternity of life.

I am filled with sadness however, when I realise that many attending such séances must not have felt as I did because otherwise there would have been no attempts to cheat and to defraud and Spiritualism would not have been brought into disrepute as a consequence. That physical phenomena were the first types of mediumship that launched Modern Spiritualism is no surprise to me for at its best, it combines the physical and the spiritual. It demonstrates, again at its best, the beauty of true communion between the physical and spiritual worlds even to those not blessed with a gift of mediumship.

Similar feelings can be experienced under other circumstances of course. For instance, when walking alone in beautiful natural surroundings, we are sometimes overtaken by the same feelings of joy indescribable; sometimes in meditation we seem to go deeper than others and again we seem to ‘feel’ the divine presence of the “breath of God; when idly looking at something specific but not really concentrating on it, so that our conscious mind is totally relaxed, we can also become aware of being far greater and more aware than we have ever been before; paradoxically, the same thing can occur after we have been through a period of great stress, pain or despair. This is due also to total relaxation of the conscious mind I believe. The stress, pain or despair has so lowered our physical resistance that the power of the spirit within us all takes over bringing relief with the blessing of the Great Spirit.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love what Thou dost love,
And do what Thou wouldst do.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Until my heart is pure,
Until with Thee I will one will,
To do and to endure.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Blend all my soul with Thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
So shall I never die,
But live with Thee the perfect life
Of Thine eternity.