Looking Beyond the Obvious

Because our lives are so much built around impressions received from our five senses, it is so easy to go through life experiencing it merely on a superficial level. Why should we try to do anything else? After all, we are living a physical life in a physical world, so why pretend there is more to it than that? Surely simplicity is the rule we should follow? Why complicate an already complex picture by trying to imagine what appears not to be there? Surely the sensible option is to follow the adage, “Live, laugh and be merry, for tomorrow we die”? However, so-called simplicity can in fact be self-induced blindness. To live life with knowledge, acknowledging basic truths, is not to complicate it. On the contrary it makes life’s uneven tenor easier to understand and accept.

Some people live their lives superficially. Yet it seems that the shiftless, uncertain, unsettled stress that is such an integral part of life here in this age seems to afflict such people the most. They may have everything that money can buy, live in luxury wanting for nothing yet . . . Try as they might to live their sybaritic life of unconcern, they cannot seem to shake off a feeling of doom, or at the very least of disillusion, that haunts them at every turn. Why should this be? Is it perhaps because life is a great deal more than it appears on the surface? Could it possibly be that it is not the act of trying to grab the most enjoyment from life that is the problem, but the act of doing so selfishly, while refusing to accept the hidden agenda that governs us all?

I believe it is just a simple as that. Life is not intended to be a long round of suffering and deprivation, of moving from one crisis to another. Neither is it meant for us to go through the experience selfishly seeking only for self-satisfaction. Life should be a joyful experience for everyone and the more we share it, the happier it will be, although it will always have its ups and downs. Just as constant summer weather can be trying, to say nothing of bringing drought, we need the contrast of some wet or cloudy days even when these bring pain. Some people retreat into selfish introspection as a result of being hurt during such sombre periods, thinking they can thus avoid further pain and disappointment. They may achieve this objective but the cost can be great. In avoiding pain, they also avoid the joy and happiness that comes, often unexpectedly, from sharing with other people. It is as though they are drugging themselves against feeling. In such an anaesthetised state, they go through the remainder of their lives as if in a fog of unfeeling and increasing bitterness and isolation. How different is the reality from the expectation.

The old story runs, “Two men looked out from behind prison bars; one saw mud and the other saw stars.” We should look for the stars and not the mud. By raising our eyes to the heavens, we release our greatest gift, the imagination. As our eyes are lifted; so too is our soul. We begin to see beyond the obvious. We become conscious of the incredible beauty of the heavens, as well as the beauty revealed on earth by the gentle glow of starlight. We begin to feel that we are in some indiscernible way a part of the cosmos we see spread out before our wondering gaze. Yes tiny though we are when compared to the immensity of the heavens, we feel kinship with the stars and planets and suns. We belong!

In belonging comes the conviction that everything is meant to be; that if we accept the simple truth of interdependence and inter-relationship with all that is, we set ourselves free. Free from the shackles of materialism and self; free from what seems difficult and uncompromising in our lives; free to celebrate human life in its eternal totality. No longer is life merely that tiny fraction of it that constitutes earthly life but it is full and abundant and everything that happens to us is an important part of this totality. Thus freedom teaches us acceptance and humility. We learn to truly “love one another,” in the widest sense of that phrase.

Dream and Reality

If the Spirit World is reality and the Earth merely a shadow, does this mean that when we have passed from here everything we experienced will seem like a dream? While we are here everything seems so real and so immediate. It appears impossible that our five senses are deceiving us but . . .! We are told that when we sleep here on Earth, we are often taken to visit the Spirit World. Maybe after we have passed we will revisit the Earth in our dreams!

It may not be as strange as it sounds. Physical life and spiritual life are so closely blended it is often difficult to notice the dividing line. Who is to say when we experience moments of intense emotion, sometimes for no apparent reason, that we are not at that moment more our spiritual than our earthly selves? Most of us tend to dismiss such ideas as fanciful but are they? Yesterday I wrote about the immense influence love can have on our lives. Who would be brave enough to deny that the feelings experienced between true lovers, between mother and children, between siblings are spiritual in origin? Certainly not me; I believe that the main objective of life on Earth is to refine our spiritual selves through the cathartic action of the furnace which is physical life. Physical experiences subject our spirit selves to spiritual challenges that are very different from those we underwent when in spirit. How we choose to react to them provides the measure of our spiritual progress.

This I believe is why we are often faced with a variety of options or choices. Rarely do we find that there is just a single choice to make when we are faced with deciding on an important factor in our lives. When we choose to change the direction that our lives are taking, the road we choose is never the only one available. At such times we should develop the habit of ‘going within’ or meditating to help us make the best decision. Why? Because inside, deep in our spiritual selves, we really do know why we chose to subject ourselves to this furnace of life. As a result, in meditation we can bring that knowledge to the surface of our conscious mind.

Those who meditate regularly will also have experienced those meditations that happen only occasionally; when you are suffused with such a powerful energy, often accompanied by bright light, that for the remainder of that day and sometimes longer, it as if you are floating on cloud nine. Undoubtedly such transcendental experiences are powerfully spiritual and designed to reinforce our inner knowledge of the eternity and purposefulness of life. Yes, the spiritual and the earthly are essential parts of each person and sometimes the dividing line that is usually apparent, disappears completely. We should be so grateful to the Great Spirit whose love for us is shown by these kindly glimpses of our true nature.

When the challenges of life seem almost too much to bear, we should remember where reality lies. It lies deep within each one of us and is not physical; it transcends all physical sensation and emotion. It is pure spirit. It is the real you, the indestructible, vital and beautiful you. Never doubt that you are beautiful. No matter what facets of your personality your earthly experience has brought to the fore, beneath all that you are a pure, beautiful and eternal spirit, who one day will take your place alongside the angels and archangels.

On Top of the World

The old song by The Carpenters runs:

“I’m on top of the world looking down on creation,
And the only explanation I can find,
Is the love that I’ve found, ever since you’ve been around,
Has put me on the top of the world”

Love, even romantic love, always has this effect. When we are personally involved we find that our life changes, the world around us seems a much brighter place and even the most serious problem seems to be a minor irritant because we are in such a positive frame of mind. Everything we do seems to be easier, we get along better with family and friends, are more sympathetic to the difficulties experienced by others and tolerant of their, previously annoying, foibles. Why can’t we always feel like this? Maybe we can if we try harder!

If ever we need evidence of the vital and uplifting force represented by love, surely we need look no further. The well known phrases that have been coined with regard to love speak for themselves and show we humans do have a deeper awareness of the positive role love can play in any life.

“Love is blind,”

“Love never counts the cost,”

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread”. ~Mother Teresa,

“Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.” ~Albert Einstein

“There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved. It is God's finger on man's shoulder.” ~Charles Morgan

“You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.” ~Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum"
And from Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians:

Though I speak with the tongues of Men and of Angels, but have not love, I am as sounding brass or tinkling cymbals. Though I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and have all knowledge; and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. Though I give all my goods to feed the poor and give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love envies not, it does not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, it seeks not its own, is not provoked, takes no account of evil and rejoices only in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.


If only we could find a way spend more time and effort in cultivating love that follows the foregoing principles, what a difference we would see in our lives. Because, “no man is an island,” such a personal transformation would soon translate itself into changes in society and from there to the whole world. Even if we just try harder to recapture Robert Browning’s “First fine, careless rapture“ and raise our spirits by recalling those moments from our memory, we would make ourselves and those around us so much happier.

And the ultimate? To find ourselves on top of the world: By far the best vantage point from which to view the Earth and all upon it.

TRUST

Of all animals, the human is perhaps the most impatient, especially those of us brought up in the so-called Western tradition. We prefer to plan everything down to the last item and become most upset if something intervenes to delay the realisation of those plans. We live in a society where most people feel that the progress of each individual life is solely dependent upon the energy expended by the individual; that everything happens due to our own efforts. Such an outlook on life leaves little or no room for the idea that in fact each life is governed by a divine plan set out before we were even born. There is much truth in the story that a wag, on being told that a certain individual was a ‘self-made man,’ commented, “That relieves the Almighty of a huge responsibility!”

When something occurs in our lives that is beyond any remedial action by the individual; when for instance nature decides to exert her power through, fire, wind or water; when another individual whose permanent presence in our lives has been taken for granted is removed by death or some other cause; when the operation of man-made economic systems brings financial and or social ruin; when we are brought face to face with our comparative weakness. Where can we turn? In a society where personal, temporal ambition is prized and worshipped above ethics; where corruption is de rigour even in so-called advanced societies; where social responsibility and caring for the weak and less fortunate are believed to be duty of the State, how are we to cope with apparently insuperable problems, to say nothing of the seeming aimlessness of our lives?

Surely we need to learn, not just from our own experience and from seeing what is going on around us, but from the past as well. History is full of examples where enterprise was combined with humanitarian principles and successful businesses were run on totally ethical lines. Take Robert Owen the eighteenth century Welsh social reformer and businessman for example. His enlightened business practices revolutionised industry, gave education, decent wages, decent housing and good medical care to his workers and in the process brought him handsome profits. The principle of “might is right” that seems to be the driving force behind today’s multi-national corporations is not the only way to run successful businesses. What is more, personal lives based upon the highest ethical principles have always brought mutual satisfaction and happiness to all concerned. Greed and envy have no place in a caring life but such a life need not be dull and unadventurous as some would claim. Having said this it is vital to recognise that such negative qualities are present in our nature and a constant battle must ensue to conquer them and often we will fail. We must never give up the fight or fail to offer understanding to others for they are waging the same battle.

As with all collective problems, solutions have to be found within each one of us. Society is merely a reflection of the attitudes and behaviour of the individuals of which it is composed. In my view to create a better, more caring society, we need to begin by re-examining our basic beliefs. Materialism is probably the most sincerely practised “religion” in our modern world. It has brought in its train big improvements in the living conditions of millions but it also lays waste much of our planet. Additionally it has produced an attitude of mind that is directly responsible in my view, for the overworked medical and psychological professions that are trying in vain to cope with humanity’s neuroses and fears.

Materialism has separated human beings from their spiritual heritage as well as from Mother Nature. These twin amputations are producing a race of human beings that are sick at heart. Sick because we have lost our spiritual bearings. We foolishly believe that only with what can be measured by our five poor senses, can our earthly lives be successfully lived. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus of Nazareth urged us to “Consider the lilies of the field; they toil not, neither do they spin and yet I say Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these…” Look also at the lives of country people not just in the past but today also. Because they live closer to the rhythm of nature, they have an innate appreciation that life is a great deal more than is revealed by our five senses. Consequently, I guarantee that the level of sickness among them is significantly less than is the case with those living and working in cities.

The basic truth we need to acknowledge before we can bring about the improvements to our world and our society that are so urgently needed is that life – all life- is of the spirit. It is therefore eternal. Accept this simple fact, for which there is overwhelming evidence, and our whole attitude towards life and other people will undergo a transformation. We will not only realise that this earthly life is not all there is and that material success is not the only yardstick by which to measure our worth but it also becomes easier to accept the existence of that divine plan I referred to and to TRUST. To trust that what is happening to us is part of our growth as spiritual individuals. It does not of course relieve us of the need to act but how we act takes on a new and more tolerant meaning. Trust that every experience is important, act with consideration towards others and do the best we can at all times; Thus will our lives become less stressful and more fulfilling.

“Who does the best his circumstance allows, does well, acts nobly, angels could do no more.”

Communication – Part 2

I stressed yesterday that communication between a person in the spiritual world and a medium here on earth is achieved using telepathy and it is important to bear this in mind when considering the whole question of mediumship and communication. The process is extremely subtle and apparently small things can interfere with it. The attitude of mind of both the sitter and the medium is vital; for instance a sitter who is grief-stricken and only wants to hear from one particular person in spirit can quite unintentionally create a barrier with their grief and thus make it impossible for the loved one to communicate. Similarly, if the sitter is completely and negatively sceptical of mediumship there will be a barrier created making it difficult or impossible for the medium to work effectively. Scepticism of itself is no bad thing, so long as the sceptic retains an open mind and looks upon the sitting or reading as an experiment which may or may not prove communication between the two worlds. If on the other hand, the sceptic is willing to swear black is white rather than accept evidence which disproves his scepticism, then communication will be impaired.

If therefore communication takes place telepathically and the medium by relaying the information thus received is able to prove beyond reasonable doubt to the sitter that the communicator is who the medium claims it to be, where is the communicator? In previous blogs I have explained that there are many different spheres or planes in the spiritual world, each one delineated by its light. Does this mean therefore that a medium has to be capable of reaching many different spheres depending to which level the communicator has progressed? I think not. The Buddhists have always claimed that mediumship only deals with the lowest of the spiritual worlds, the Etheric. It is for this reason that they decry mediumship as being too lowly. After years of working as a medium I find myself agreeing with them about mediumship being concerned with communicating with the Etheric World only but heartily disagree with them that therefore mediumship is a lowly gift and one to be discouraged.

Why do I think this? Because from conversations with people in spirit, I know that there is totally free movement between the higher spiritual worlds and the lower but not vice-versa. It does not follow therefore that because a spirit is communicating with a medium from the Etheric World, they automatically belong there. Some communicators clearly do; they have not progressed any further at the time of the communication (maybe they have only recently passed) but others are obviously, from their comments, residing in one of the spiritual spheres beyond the Etheric. They wish to communicate with a loved one who remains on Earth and they know mediums can only work with the Etheric, so they move down to that sphere and by slowing their vibrations so as to become compatible with that world they are then able to speak to a clairvoyant telepathically. Here I should explain that ascending from one spiritual sphere to another is not a matter of time only. Some people move away from the Etheric Sphere almost immediately after passing because the inner light they possess as a result of the way they have lived on Earth, equips them right away for a higher world. Others may spend years of our time in the Etheric Sphere working to brighten their light. This is not a criticism of one individual over another, for life is eternal and we will all progress through the many spheres eventually.

Neither, I hope, will this blog be looked at as in some way diminishing the role of mediums; it does not. Mediumship is a wonderful gift that can be used to bring comfort and understanding to many who are searching blindly for a meaning to their lives. It is a gift to be treasured and nurtured and the fact that it may only operate between this world and the one immediately beyond it does not diminish its importance and value in both worlds one jot.

Some Thoughts on Communication

I am often asked how spirit people communicate with their loved ones through mediums and why it is that certain people communicate regularly but others, who were close when on earth, never seem to make contact. The first factor to understand is that the spiritual world, even more so than ours, is a world of thought, a world of the mind. Therefore communication between spirits and so-called clairvoyant mediums is a mental process – telepathy in other words.

To answer the second question first, there may be several reasons for this. Firstly, the people who have passed to spirit may not yet have fully understood what has happened to them, let alone have discovered it is possible to contact those remaining on earth. In other words, they may not have realised they have passed or maybe have been so convinced there is nothing after death that they are in a kind of coma of non-realisation until some kind spirit friend is able to penetrate that fog of misunderstanding and convince them of the reality of life after death. In earthly terms, it may take a long time for this to happen which could appear very unfair to those of us on earth waiting for comforting words from them. However, if we take into account that the life of the individual consciousness is eternal, it may help to put this into perspective. This may also help you to appreciate the damage that can be done by those who are able to convince others either that physical life is all there is, or alternatively that everyone has to wait in some “in-between” world until the sounding of the “last trumpet” when everyone will ascend to spirit simultaneously.

Secondly, because communication between a person in spirit and a medium is a very subtle process, it may just be that the person in spirit has not yet found a medium with whom they feel comfortable enough to work. Thirdly, the Etheric World, which we all enter on passing from earth, is full of fascinating surprises and opportunities for learning and experimentation, especially as there is no need to buy clothes, food or homes, so working for a living becomes redundant. We work there at things which we love or which fascinate us. Some people become so carried away with investigating these surprises and opportunities that they lose all track of time and don’t realise years have passed since their death, for time seems to be so less important in their world than in ours. There is also a category of person I believe, who is so convinced of imminent re-incarnation that they think it a waste of time to try to communicate with those left on earth. I am ambivalent about re-incarnation but whether it is a fact or not there are two important things I am convinced do apply should it be a so. 1) It is a voluntary process and no-one can be sent back to earth against their will. 2) It is extremely unlikely that immediate re-incarnation would be permitted. Such an occurrence would seem to be invalidated by near-death experiences (NDE’s). If immediate re-incarnation were possible, why would a person be returned to their body after an NDE, being told it is not their time to go yet? A further consideration would appear to be the risks involved in meeting relatives who knew you in your earlier incarnation.

I hope this has shed some light on why it is that not every loved one or acquaintance who has passed from earth is successful in communicating the fact of their continued existence in the spiritual world. Tomorrow I will try to explain how the process of communication between spirits and mediums takes place.

Contrast

I am back again and apologise for the length of time I have neglected writing blogs. Please if you read this and find it meaningful, tell your friends about it. Go with your God, Lionel



We live in a world of opposites it seems, although some claim that such a view is arrived at because we form our judgements based upon appearances only, in other words they are superficial. Many see a world where chance and accident play apparently vital parts and where design seems at the best imperfect and at the worst non-existent. If we dare to look beneath the surface or beyond the immediate, then a completely different world order is revealed. As Alexander Pope, the eighteenth century English poet said in his Essay on Man, “All chance is direction which you cannot see” and “All are but parts of one stupendous whole, whose body Nature is and God the soul.” Thomas Say from Philadelphia told us, “Each moss, each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank important in the plan of Him, who framed this scale of beings.”

I believe these statements have the ring of truth about them and how anyone who accepts them can hold there is no plan, no design to life is beyond my understanding. Indeed it can be argued that because of the insistence of science on having empirical evidence for everything, which in the West at least has become de rigour, we have thrown away a valuable map that could lead our faltering footsteps around the apparent pit-falls and obstacles of life on earth. That map is our in-built sensitivity or intuition. How we feel is a far more accurate measure of underlying reality than are our five very imperfect senses.

Indeed I believe that in the very contrasts which are an integral part of our perceived world of opposites, we can find the underlying verities of a life that is far from accidental or spontaneous. It is by examining the contrasts that we gain a true understanding of the colourful and awe-inspiring reality of this wonderful world we are privileged to live on and share for a few short years. By listening carefully to the raucous cries of the Rook or the screams of the Peacock, we grow to appreciate more the glory of the song of the Nightingale or the Song Thrush; By examining the microscopic world of Particle Physics, we come to understand the order and beauty that pertains in the Cosmos and how identical it is to what the microscope reveals; By seeing the colourless life-forms that inhabit the dark places of our world, we grow to appreciate the value of light and colour in our lives; and by gazing in wonder at the power of a mighty waterfall, we come closer to understanding the peace and tranquillity that is at the heart of all life.

There is no doubt in my mind that our lives are planned. Despite the existence of free will that enables us to follow the plan in our own individual way or even to stray from it, we are always led back to the path that is right for us at any particular time. We truly are where we are supposed to be and experiencing what we are supposed to experience, even when at the time, such an experience seems painful or even tragic. To understand this, we need to use our higher senses, feel what is happening around us and spend some time regularly going within in meditation. By using these sadly neglected attributes that are part of each one of us, we will become convinced from within, not by empirical experiment, that life or consciousness to give it a better name, are eternal.

Therefore, is this earthly life a mere part of a much larger reality for which our experiences and relationships here are preparing us to understand and live in its full glory.