The Mirror

Today I offer a little poem that I hope you will enjoy. Lionel

I gazed into the mirror by a candle´s gentle glow,
My eyes seemed out of focus for there all shining bright
I saw a pretty lady, smiling, dressed in white,
Eyes full of joy and happiness like lanterns in the snow.

I searched and searched my memory to find an echo there,
For the face seemed so familiar, but I couldn´t find a name,
On the tip of my tongue it seemed to be but just never came.
Apparently I was not to know who was that lady fair.

She was so young and radiant, her hair a gleaming gold,
Skin like alabaster, she gave love through every pore.
I knew if she would only speak, I´d known her voice before,
Her eyes they were so eloquent, their love did me enfold.

I tried to voice my thoughts aloud and ask who she could be,
How seemed she so familiar but no name could I recall?
We met perhaps in dreamland, maybe at some gracious ball?
I knew it was important to find her identity.

She drew me like a magnet, the mirror disappeared,
Suddenly right by her side, touching her tender frame,
Anxiety, cold touch of fear I´d felt before she came,
Vanished like ephemera; never more I´d be afeared.

I have never seen an angel but this one must be near,
Her light, her shining eyes, her love and sweet concern
For me and my problems, showed me I was here to learn,
Live and learn and learn to live, to love and conquer fear.

Then I knew it was my mother; my heart near burst with joy.
She left when I was very young and came during the war,
To comfort me and care for me when bombs fell near and far,
Though now I am a senior, to her, I´m still ``My Boy.``

MIDAS

You will doubtless remember that everything King Midas touched turned to gold because of an agreement he reached with the Devil to feed his greed for that metal. This meant that he was unable to touch anything that needed to remain in its original state in order for it to be useful; neither could he touch food or drink and elaborate means had to be devised so that he could keep body and soul together

Of course it is a fable or a parable, written to bring home to people the strange consequences if greed for gold is carried to its logical conclusion. The fact that it was written so very long ago illustrates that the greed to possess as much of one of this world´s scarcer resources has been evident almost since time immemorial. Is it not ironic that with the vast majority of gold in the world, we go to enormous trouble to dig it out from the bowels of the earth, spend a lot of time separating it from the dross and then refining it until it becomes the beautiful golden metal we know and admire. We do all this and what do we do then? We proceed to bury it in the bowels of the earth again in some vast bank vault! Amazing isn´t it? We take so much time and trouble to make the gold pure and beautiful and then hide it away!

It was not always so of course. Because gold is the most beautiful of all metals and the easiest to work, many of the ancients used it lavishly to decorate their holy places and to make the most incredibly beautiful jewellery. Both were of breathtaking beauty! Of course we still make beautiful jewellery with it today and it is the metal used, because of the significance of its scarcity and beauty, for wedding rings. It was a sorry day in many ways when the first human being persuaded his leader that money as a means of exchange was a much more sensible way of carrying out business than barter. Once leaders were persuaded of that it was not long before it was realized, that for it to be considered of any value, money had to be backed by one or other of the Earth´s scarce resources. Gold was chosen, not because it was the scarcest but because it was relatively scarce yet in plentiful enough supply to be used by every advanced country. So the lure of gold became even greater. Once sort for its beauty and malleability, it was now a means of obtaining great personal wealth.

Despite bringing many benefits in its train, the monetary system is the anchor of materialism if you think about it. Money enables all manner of goods and services to be traded simply and effectively and it has fuelled our consumer society in no uncertain way. Unfortunately, it has also made it easier for a relatively few people to become immensely wealthy and to use their wealth, not only to give themselves an opulent life-style but also to exercise enormous power and control over their fellow humans. Money has been of immense benefit to humanity and if we still used barter as a means of exchange, we should all have much lower standards of living. However, there is an old song that runs, ``Money is the root of all evil.`` It is not money but the love of money that causes the problems, because the love of money and the love of gold has fanned the most base of our negative characteristics: Greed and Megalomania! They have donemuch to delay the spiritual and mental growth of humanity I believe.

The way gold has come to be used in the materialist system, is the perfect example of all that is wrong with the system from the point of view of our eternal souls. In order to prop up a system that does everything possible to deny humanity its true heritage as eternal spirit beings, it has hidden away a source of great beauty, when it is used as a decorative material. Not only that but removing a source of such beauty means we have less opportunity to admire the glory of this beautiful metal when it is worked upon by skilled craftsmen. Every time we are drawn to marvel at the beauty of some aspect of the Earth, be it nature, art, music, sculpture, literature or architecture, we draw closer to our inner, spiritual self and thus to the Creator. Where gold is concerned, we can only do this now in museums and a handful of ancient buildings. Our life has been impoverished as a consequence.

It seems contradictory that gold should be the colour of wisdom and of high spirituality but it is; hence the use of gold in the old paintings to depict the halos around the heads of saints. Perhaps it is God´s little joke, in the hope that eventually we will see how ridiculous we are behaving and come to our collective senses?


Maybe, when we have learned to accept that our differences are what make us interesting and give life its special flavour, we will agree to differ in our opinions too, live in peace everywhere and adopt a more enlightened attitude towards the use of gold.

Thoughts on Losing my Computer

I lost the use of my computer today and it felt as if my right arm had been cut off! It made me stop and think. I realised I was allowing myself to become so dependent upon a machine, sophisticated though it is, that I was ignoring other things I should be doing and other means of communication. Now fortunately I was able to borrow another computer, which is how I am able write this. That does not alter the fact that I felt so devastated when discovering my computer had crashed and it led me to ponder.

It is fascinating I think that we become so accustomed to certain things in our lives that when we lose the use of them for a while, we feel lost. Most of my life I had no means of electronic communication, even the telephone did not make an appearance there until I was in my thirties! Yet, now after only sixteen years of using computers, I am almost a slave to them! It makes me wonder just how much the electronic revolution, from radio, through telephone and television to computer, has altered the way we look upon ourselves.

My grandparents had no radio or telephone for they had not been invented so what did they do in their spare time? Apart from the fact that they had far less spare time than me; working hours were longer and there were few, if any, labour-saving devices in the home, they were certainly not bored. It could be said we are bored more frequently these days than were they. They read a great deal, using the public library, for they could not afford to buy books and they read chiefly for self-improvement, for basic education in their day was very basic indeed. They interested themselves in people by belonging to a church. Initially it was the Methodist church but later, my grandfather learned about Spiritualism and due to an incredible experience he shared with his eldest son, the whole family switched to Spiritualism.

Almost every evening, except in the summer, after supper was finished, the family formed a circle in front of the fire. They wanted to spend time with relatives and friends in the spiritual world. They did not want to become mediums they just wanted to feel the joy that came from contact with the spiritual world. They were rewarded with the most amazing experiences and some did in fact develop mediumship, although none used their gifts in public. These days there are relatively few home circles operating and when they do, they meet only on a weekly basis. This is understandable for people live further from the workplace today and there are many more calls on their time than was the case with my grandparents.

I cannot help feeling though, that much as we gain from the wonders of electronic communication across the globe we also miss wonderful opportunities to learn more about the spirit side of life, and in the process ourselves and our role on earth. Even though computers have the potential to help us understand spiritual mysteries more clearly and to access great works of art in many different fields, most of us use them for mundane purposes. Also, because of the time taken up in ´´entertaining´ ourselves with them, at the cinema or in front of the television, there is little time left to form home circles and seek the inspiration and joy that comes in such gatherings.

Perhaps we should think more deeply about the uses to which we put the many boons of modern civilization provided by human ingenuity. Instead of using them to enmesh us deeper in the coils of materialism, we should find how they could help us understand ourselves better. Can they further humanity´s eternal search for the solution of the mystery of life? (We must not assume that only scientists should undertake such work). Can they be used by our friends in the spiritual world to draw closer to us and help us? Can they be adapted to help the healing energies from the spiritual world become more effective in treating earthly ills? Wherever such thoughts may lead us, the important thing is to think. Allow our imagination to become free and we will be amazed at the ideas that will flow and the solutions which will occur to us. In this way we may well discover the means to combat boredom and stress, whilst generating untold benefits for future generations.

It´s a thought!

Lift up Your Hearts

It seems to me that many people are heavy of heart these days; whether it is because there are so many news bulletins, each competing to give the most negative and morbid picture of what is happening in the world, I don’t know. I am sure there is a connection. Most people seem to accept that, because of human ingenuity and clever technology, the world has become a much smaller place. Consequently, many of us ordinary folk are able to travel to different parts of our world with relative ease and to obtain a clearer picture of life in other countries, from this and via television. These things have the potential for making our lives much more interesting and fulfilling. However, this does not appear to have happened. Why I wonder?

Perhaps it is because we are using the fruits of our ingenuity and technology incorrectly. It is wonderful to be able occasionally to visit some exotic part of the world that one has only dreamt about in the past and to discover for ourselves if everything we have read about the place is as described. It is fine to be able to leave the shores of our own country during the cold months of winter and journey to somewhere warm and sunny; just as it is fine to be able to fly to a country that has much snow and enjoy all manner of winter sports not available in our own country. All this should lead to a better understanding between the citizens of the various countries but does it? I think the level of understanding grows no more than a little. The reason is perhaps, that such journeys are taken for almost exclusively, self-centred reasons and often little or no contact takes place between the visitor and the ordinary people of the country being visited.

Governments, rightly or wrongly, have used increased technology to produce more destructive weapons of war so as to be better able to impose their own view of what is right and what is wrong upon the citizens of other countries, whether they want it or not! The governments themselves do not describe it in this way of course! Far too many people have cynically used increasingly sophisticated technology to control people’s thoughts and reactions, in order to further their own vested interests. It is small wonder, therefore, that the levels of stress and unhappiness amongst ordinary people have increased so much.

None of this need happen, I submit. The ingenuity of human beings in exploiting the Earth’s resources and our own inventiveness could so easily be used much more constructively. If more of us were prepared to think for ourselves instead of being lazy and allowing others to take on that role for us; if we stopped to think that our minds are being manipulated in a thousand different ways and tried to do something positive about it; if we took time to be still instead of being whirled along in the maelstrom of modern life; if we looked around us more and began to appreciate the beauty and majesty of the natural world. If enough of us did this, we might at last begin to see swords beaten into ploughshares and true help, with no strings attached, being offered to countries and people in need.

Fear is the emotion that has driven humanity to its present excesses, excesses that are widening daily, the gap between rich and poor. Fear is what has persuaded countries to focus so much upon ‘defence’ and so little upon understanding others. Fear is what is despoiling our beautiful planet to feed the ever open mouths of materialism.

Only one thing can counter fear – LOVE! There is love a-plenty in the world but it appears to get swamped at every turn by the negative emotions generated by unrestrained self-interest. The wonderful property about love, unconditional love, is that it does not oppose fear; it does not oppose hatred; indeed it opposes nothing. Just as it is not necessary to heave out the darkness before flooding a room with light, so in the same way, love dissolves fear and hatred. Equally, just as one small hand on the light switch enables that transformation to take place, so a small number of truly loving people, dedicated to spreading the light of love around our world, can have a disproportionate effect upon the darkness that fear and hatred have created.

The good news is that the number of such people appears to be growing. More and more people are beginning to question the headlong dash to exploit the Earth’s resources, regardless of the consequences to ourselves and to future generations; more and more people are spending time learning to be still and in that stillness discovering who they really are and finding in the process, they are no longer stressed; more and more people are rejecting creeds and dogmas and using their inner awareness to order their lives.

Oh yes, there is much reason for hope and less cause to be frightened for the future of humanity than we think. Though things may look dark at times and it seems the forces of negativity are winning, this is not the case. Lift up your hearts; reach out with love to the world around you; refuse to be intimidated and manipulated; look within; find the beautiful light of love that is there and let it so shine before all that it will illuminate their road as well as your own.

Was it an Angel that I Saw?

I thought I saw an angel, sitting at the end of a rainbow, bathed in every colour, glistening and shimmering. It seemed she was bathing herself in all the colours of the rainbow and appeared to be in ecstasy. The strange thing is, the more she appeared to draw the rainbow’s colours to herself the brighter glowed the rainbow. It was as if each was drawing colour from the other and I watched spellbound as with its brighter colours, the rainbow’s arch lengthened until it touched the opposite hills and thus spanned the broad valley below. Never have I seen such a rainbow and then; I had to look twice to make sure I wasn’t imagining it; at the opposite end of the rainbow sat another angel!

For several minutes, although time appeared to me to stand still and it could have been hours, I watched the colours in the rainbow vibrate as they flowed from one angel to the other and then back again, all the while intensifying. Then it was I heard the voice in my ear.

“My son, all the love and joy you can imagine is contained in those vibrant colours and though you may not realise it, all who are gazing on this spectacle, both in your world and mine, are being touched by that love and joy.”

No longer need I wonder why I felt so uplifted, or why my heart seemed to be bursting with joy for no apparent reason. The feelings I was undergoing at that moment are difficult to describe and somehow, knowing others were experiencing their own wonders, made it all the more special and rewarding. The feelings were similar to but more intense than those I felt when first I thought, at the age of ten, I was in love. My heart seemed too large for my chest and the blood coursed around my body as though it would burst forth at any moment to announce to the whole world the indescribable beauty of love. I felt myself lifted up and it seemed that everything around me shimmered with light and energy. The birds, the flowers, the insects, even the stones were alive with an intensity and vibrancy that took my breath away. The light surrounding each one was so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes and yet each one, even of the same species, was slightly different from the other.

As I gazed in awe at this precious revelation, I began to understand that what we, with the limits of our physical senses, think are identical are just as different and individual as we ourselves. When you look at a clump of daisies, do not they all look identical to you? When you see them in all their glory, as I did in that moment, then you begin, but only begin, to glimpse the true wonder and majesty of creation. You become super-sensitive and it seems the whole of creation is speaking to you. It speaks in a language that is wordless; I absorbed what was being revealed as though by osmosis and even though I still recall the ecstasy of that moment, I cannot put it into words, for language contains insufficient imagery to do justice to the completeness and profundity of the experience. In those few moments, it was as if I became aware of everything at once. I became omnipotent; I knew all things and l was aware that I always had this knowledge, though it had been hidden from me. I realised the truth of those wonderful words in Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians:

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love,
I am become as sounding brass or tinkling cymbals.
And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
And though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love,
I am nothing.”

As I remembered these words I realised that what I was feeling and what I was being shown, was in fact love, pure, unconditional love.

Though I may never again see those beautiful angels, the lesson they taught me that day will never be forgotten. Never again will I doubt the unity of all creation, or call into question the presence of the power of the spirit in all things. Neither will I ever doubt the eternity of life, all life, no matter what physical form it might take.

Saved by the Hand of God

It is 1776 and such a terrible night; I am caught in a thunderstorm; the wind is howling and the rain began falling in sheets. I am high in the Mendip hills in Somerset, England, with no farmstead or house anywhere near. I found it difficult to walk because of the wind which was blowing so strong directly in my face, forcing the breath back into my lungs. It was dark and turning colder by the minute; in fact at that moment, large hailstones began to fall and they quickly blanketed the path I was trying to follow to my destination.

I began to think my last moments were approaching for with not even starlight to illuminate the path and with the hail making it almost impossible to see an inch in front of my face, I was at my wits end. I realised I should have listened to my friends and stayed overnight with them instead of setting out so late. But it wasn’t stormy when I left and I thought I would soon cover the five miles to my destination. The hail grew deeper and my steps slower. I realised I was climbing, so knew I must have wandered away from the path. How on earth was I to find my way back to it in this weather?

I fell to my knees in desperation, ignoring the blanket of hailstones that quickly soaked my breeches. Clasping my hands together, I cried out in desperation, “Please Father help me; I promise I will do anything to be of service to you in future if only you will help me now.”

At that moment I opened my eyes and a flash of lightening illuminated everything around me. I glanced to my right, as though following instructions, and there beheld a huge rock on the side of the hill with an enormous split down its centre, wide enough for a man to pass through. I struggled to my feet and eased myself through the split in the rock. As I had hoped, the split widened and there was a larger space inside with a flat, sandy floor. Because of the way the rock was split, the inside was completely sheltered from the elements.

I fell to my knees in the sand and thanked God for his providence in guiding me to this safe haven from the storm; a storm in which I most certainly would have perished had I not come upon this refuge. I knew then that I must use this experience to persuade as many people as possible of the love and power of our father God.

I am not completely certain that this is exactly what happened to Augustus Toplady, the Curate of the Parish of Blagdon, in 1776 but it is true that he was overtaken by a fierce storm in the Mendip Hills and found shelter in the space created by a huge cleft in a rock on the side of the hill in Burrington Coombe, which can still be seen to this very day. This is my version of what I think might have happened. What is certain is that following his experience, Toplady wrote one of the most famous hymns in the English language; a hymn sung at the funeral of that great 19th Century British statesman, William Ewert Gladstone. Here are the words:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labour of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eye-strings break in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

As I Gaze . . .

A little story today:


As I gaze out to sea from this beautiful sandy beach, where the sun shines bright and warm and the rollers constant rumble lulls my thoughts, I feel sad and troubled for all is not well in my life. Idly, I wonder if another person, just like me, on the other side of the Atlantic, is doing just the same. I search the distant horizon where the oh-so-blue sky meets the curvature of the earth, where here and there, a smudge of smoke betrays the hidden presence of a ship. Can he or she see that same smudge of smoke? Is he or she wondering about me? A frigate bird lazily strokes the air with his huge wings and wish I was up there with him, for then I should be able to head towards that distant shore and find out for certain.

My mind strays to stories I have heard that after we die and return to our true homes in the spiritual world, it is only necessary to think about another place to find that one is there. How I wish at this moment I could do just that and find myself on that distant eastern beach. Perhaps it is not sandy like here. There may be pebbles everywhere and rocky pools where little fish and tiny crabs dart here and there, in blissful ignorance of their exposure to birds and little boys. There may be steep cliffs in the background crowded with screaming sea birds, because it is far from human habitation. Perhaps only one, lonely figure lingers there, sitting on a flat rock gazing out to sea just as I am.

Why so alone and so far from other humans? It seems to be a man but I cannot tell yet if he is just alone, enjoying the peace and tranquillity of this isolated spot, or if he is lonely. Maybe he is sad and missing the presence of one with whom, in the past, he has been able to share this scene. What happened to her I wonder, for I feel it must be a woman? Did she succumb to some dreadful disease and pass away after much suffering, with my friend (for now I consider him such) sitting patiently at her side in frustrated agony, holding her hand and watching her suffer? Did she perhaps pass away in an accident, quickly and without pain? Maybe she is not dead at all? Perhaps instead they had a quarrel and just had to part from one another? Or yet again, she may have been called away to visit a sick or dying relative. Who knows and is it my business anyway?

With these thoughts my vision seems to sharpen and I see my new friend clearly now; his head sunk on his breast and his eyes filled with tears. He is lonely. He cries out to the wheeling sea birds,

“Why! Why are you still free to enjoy your life, while mine is over? Where is the justice that one so young and beautiful had to be taken away just when she was beginning to enjoy her life?”

“Never again will I gaze into those beautiful green eyes, nor hear her tinkling laughter or feel the gentle touch of her fingers on my arm. Her light has gone from the world and I am left in bitter darkness with my memories. Why, God? You are supposed to be good and now two lives have been blighted, hers and mine. You could have prevented it. Why didn’t you?”

With that he raised his hands to his face and burst out sobbing. After a while he stood up, raised both fists to the sky and shouted at the top of his voice,
“You have ruined my life! There is nothing left for me. If You are so wonderful, tell me why I shouldn’t end it all by walking into the sea right now!” With that his head dropped to his breast once more.

I watched in horror, afraid I was going to see him do just that, when suddenly a miracle! Gasping he jerked his head up, looked out to sea again and as I followed his gaze, saw a figure coming towards him, skimming the waves. Dressed all in white with golden hair tumbling around her shoulders, she looked like an angel. She spoke to him:

“My love, yes, it really is me; I am not lost. I am still by your side, please don’t be sad. I know you miss me and you feel your life is over but it isn’t. There is work for you to do and I will help you do it. Your dear, sweet mother needs your help and your young sister will need your strength and guidance as she grows up. Your friends look up to you and many of the boys at the Boys Club will go astray without you. Please return home now and forget your grief and anger. You are needed and I want you to carry on helping as you always have and to do it in memory of me. And one day we will be together again, never fear.”

She drew him close at that and as they held each other so tenderly I felt like an intruder. With that feeling the scene faded and I was again looking out at sea from the sandy beach. However, I was a different person. No longer was I depressed, sad and troubled for I knew what I had seen was true. I knew there was a message there for me and inside was convinced that what I had been privileged to witness had actually happened and it changed me forever. Life had a new meaning now and I sensed that by allowing ourselves to stand in the shoes of another, we see ourselves more clearly.

Was it a daydream? I wonder?