DANCING IN THE RAIN

I know that thanks to Gene Kelly, “Singing in the Rain” is more widely quoted. However, following on from yesterday’s shipwrecked sailor blog, I wanted to look in a bit more detail at how we react to difficult and unexpected circumstances in our lives; those occasions when nothing seems to have worked out as we expected and we feel lost, even betrayed sometimes. It is as though the flowing river of universal consciousness has passed us by, or at the very least, left us marooned in a pool far away from it. At times like this we discover that when the going gets really difficult, our own resources seem scarcely sufficient and any of those we hoped would help us, either cannot help very much or ignore us altogether. We are dependent upon our own devices; we feel abandoned to find our way out of the maze into which fate seems to have deposited us, all on our own.

Of course, although we do feel like that when the difficulties or challenges are extreme, we are never totally alone and how quickly it is before we become aware of those trying to help us both here and from the spiritual world, depends upon our attitude. The deeper we sink into self pity and blaming others for our plight, the more alone will we feel. Although we cannot see it, there is both a cause and a reason for us finding ourselves facing this challenge. Because we are only dimly aware of the real world, the spiritual world which is our true home, we tend to look for causes in the wrong places, in the short term, and as to reasons, we rarely become conscious of these until long after the event, if ever. This should teach us to take the long view more often but usually, the challenge we face is so acute, all rational thought deserts us. We bang around hitting out blindly, looking for things or people to blame and tend to waste far too much effort on this largely futile exercise.

It helps sometimes to look back on our lives and remember the occasions, during our youth especially, when things were difficult and see what happened to us subsequently. In many instances, we will find that the new circumstances though seeming difficult at the time, presented us with opportunities that we would never have been aware of before the difficulties arose. Why should the present situation be so different? Can we not by changing our thinking and our attitude transform the difficulty into an opportunity? It might seem impossible at first but if we try to relax, put negative reactions and thoughts out of our minds, and allow our inner light to guide us, it is amazing what can happen. We tend to make so many assumptions in life that it often conditions us against accepting change of any description. This is a shame because life is a dynamic experience. How boring it would be were our lives always predictable. Just think about those people you know who always act and react in predictable ways. Are they not, as a result, less interesting than those happy, relaxed people we know who never seem to react in the same way twice?

How do you measure up against such people? Do you accept life as it comes, adapting to changing circumstances as flexibly as you can or do you expect life to follow a fixed, invariable pattern? Do you have a wider outlook on life, realising that there is purpose behind everything? Do you accept that nothing happens by chance, no matter how difficult it might be to detect a cause? Do you have an inner conviction that physical life is not all there is, even if you cannot put that conviction into words and are not especially religious? If you do then you are well equipped to take advantage of opportunities that come your way, even when disguised as problems. You are also well equipped to allow yourself to be helped by those both here on earth and in the spiritual world that care deeply for us and always want to help. We are never alone, even when certain decisions have to be taken on our own initiative. Guidance is always available and often we accept it without being completely aware that we have been helped. This too is part of the wonderful, rich pattern of life.

So next time the rain clouds gather and it looks as if a terrible storm is approaching remember this:-

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain."

Frustrated? Nothing Ever Goes Right?

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Everyday he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.
Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. . . He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, "God! How could you do this to me?"

Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! "How did you know I was here?," asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

I am sure you must have experienced this type of frustration in your life. No matter how carefully you have planned or how hard you have worked, everything seems to fall apart. It is as though some evil genie is doing his best to ensure that you do not achieve whatever it was that you set out to do. It is especially galling if you are a religious or spiritual person and have used fervent prayer to back up your plans, or to obtain release from an intolerable situation. It seems that your God is laughing in your face. Indeed, in some similar circumstances, people have been known to lose their faith in God altogether.

Although we may think we see everything clearly and know what is best for ourselves, this is often not the case. I am not suggesting we should stop making plans or working out our own ideas as to what is best. However, when things turn out differently, I am suggesting that instead of wringing our hands and turning away from our God, we should examine carefully what has happened. We should look at the new situation and weigh up its benefits before condemning it. It could well be that with a small change in our attitude we could make far more of the new situation than we think. Indeed, it may turn out to be better for us than we were planning.

Life is full of uncertainties and as we grow older, experience should teach us to be more adaptable. In practice, the reverse is often the case. As we get older, we become more set in our ways and find it very difficult to accept anything other than what we thought was best. Adaptability is usually a quality more associated with youth than with age and it is what enables young people to face up to and overcome challenges that their parents and grandparents may have found impossible. Why should it remain the preserve of the young? Perhaps if we “oldies” were a bit more flexible, we would find our interest in life and what happens, stimulated more often. We might conceivably retain our youthful outlook longer, enjoy life more and be more fun for younger people to spend time with. I seem to remember reading sometime that “age is an attitude of mind,” and I grow more convinced about the truth of that than ever.

One of the great excitements of life is its uncertainty; we never know what is waiting just around the corner and if we are sensible we should leave it that way. Those who consult fortune tellers in order to find out what the future holds for them are making several mistakes. First, they assume that some people have the ability to see or know exactly what the future holds. Second, that we would be a great deal happier and more settled if we knew for certain what was coming. Third they are taking an almost entirely materialistic view of life.

Taking the first point, some people are particularly sensitive and can read far more into situations and emotions than ordinary mortals. However, much fortune telling is obtained by the sensitive being able to detect in the aura of a person certain strong desires or fears. By using these insights as though they were glimpses of the future, they are able either to reinforce the desire or calm the fear. This is not ‘seeing the future’. We create our own future and in my view the fortune teller merely primes the pump so that we create what we desire or avoid what we fear. That is the ‘future’ seen by the fortune teller. In this way such services can of course be very helpful to certain people but it is important for them to know what is really happening.

Would we be happier knowing exactly what was to happen and when? I very much doubt that we should. It would be yet another matter to worry about! Indeed, it can be argued that if we did know exactly what was due to happen, it would so change our mental attitude that what we would in effect change the future. Although I believe in pre-determination, the impact of free will is significant and mental attitude can undoubtedly delay or modify what is pre-determined.

Understanding the way a psychic works is very important and so few who consult them know this and indeed most psychics are in ignorance of it too. Thus a psychic consultation is often a matter of the ‘blind leading the blind”. Learn about the operation of these gifts; learn about your own aura and how it reflects all that is and has happened in your life and above all, learn to accept life’s uncertainties in good faith. In these ways life’s mysteries will become much less mysterious and your need to ‘see what is coming’ will be greatly reduced. You will be happier and more contented. This is particularly so because physical life is but a tiny part of our individual and eternal existence. Sometimes, bad things that happen to us and difficult challenges we have to face and overcome are part of our long term spiritual growth and have little or nothing to do with physical life.

Accept that we cannot see or know everything and that forces are operating around us and within us about which we cannot be aware. Remember the immediate impact of an apparent ‘accident’ is often misleading, as our hero in the story found. Take a longer view and be adaptable. This way lies inner peace.

The Nature of Spiritualism

These days it seems to me there is much confusion surrounding the true nature of Spiritualism, particularly as its wonderful philosophy has become much overshadowed by two things. First a greater (in my view unjustified) emphasis on what is loosely called ‘clairvoyance” and the ‘messages’ that clairvoyants bring. Secondly the importation into our philosophy of the sometimes rather woolly ideas of the New Age movement, though it can hardly be described as ‘new’ anymore.

I believe it might therefore be helpful to look at what an earlier age felt was the Nature of Spiritualism, which I have copied from the British Spiritualist Lyceum Manual:

Spiritualism is the knowledge of everything pertaining to the spiritual nature of Man; it is a science, a philosophy and a religion, presenting a just view of Man’s duty, destiny and immortal relations. Also, as Spirit is the moving force of the Universe, so Spiritualism, in its widest scope, embraces the whole realm of Nature.

Spiritualism as Science:
Spiritualism is a science because it is based upon well-proven, world-wide facts, which can and have been scientifically classified. It promotes the search for truth in every department of being, and is therefore the science of life.

Spiritualism as a Philosophy:
Spiritualism comprehends Man and the Universe in all their varied relations, physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual.

Spiritualism as a Religion:
Spiritualism gives us a better conception of the Creator and His works, encourages us to act according to our highest sense of duty and stimulates spiritual growth and purity of life, thus preparing us for the immortality it proves.

Spiritualists:
In its broadest sense, Spiritualists are those who believe in a continued further existence and that departed spirits can and do communicate with us on Earth. However, it is only as they cultivate their noblest faculties, live true lives and forever strive to improve in goodness and wisdom that people are entitled to the name in its highest meaning.

The Nature of Man:

Man is a thinking, reasoning, self-conscious and morally responsible being; the highest type of being that has yet lived on Earth. He is also a threefold being, composed of a physical or earthly body, a spiritual body and an innermost spirit.

The physical body is the temple of the soul, it is the basis on which it rests; by the five bodily senses the soul is brought into contact with the physical world.

The spiritual body is an organised form, evolved by and out of the physical body, having corresponding organs and development, and it resembles the physical body. It outlives the change called death and becomes the external body of the spirit.

The innermost spirit is the intelligent, ethereal and immortal part of Man, his life itself, a spark from the Divine.

The Soul: The term soul is almost synonymous with the term spirit and is often so used. In the Lyceum Movement, and we would prefer if it were so in Spiritualism as a whole, the term soul is never used to refer to the spirit body.

It can thus be seen just how far Spiritualism today is removed from these early ideas about its nature and validity. The pioneers of Spiritualism placed a very high value upon the cultivation of the highest ideals by everyone, whilst it recognised the difficulties inherent in this self-appointed task. How many of us today can put our hand on our hearts and say with conviction that we are Spiritualists in its highest meaning as defined above? Certainly I cannot but until all of us become determined to try harder to live up to these high ideals and less in thrall to what I call phenomenal Spiritualism, so the Movement that bears its name will continue to languish amongst the worlds little known, ignored and largely ridiculed religions.

HOME

Home’s not merely four square walls,
Though with pictures hung and gilded.
Home is where affection calls,
Filled with treasures the heart hath builded.
Charles Swain

Home! When we are away from it the very word conjures up feelings of belonging, feelings of comfort, of familiarity. It can mean a house, apartment, a grand mansion or a hovel. What matters is not the structure but the love and the memories we have built within it. Home is not home unless there are others with whom to share it, for it is with others we have built those precious memories; memories of love and tenderness; memories of joy and happiness; memories of pain and sadness; memories of birth and death, of arrivals and departures, of celebration and commiseration.

To many, home is a country, a city, a town or a village and thinking of this my mind turns to those forcibly separated from their homes and loved ones by war. Those whose love for their country is such that they are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and give their lives to protect it and what it stands for. In particular my mind is drawn to the English lyric poet Rupert Brooke, whose longing for his home county of Cambridgeshire and for his beautiful home there is so perfectly described in “The Old Vicarage, Granchester.” It was written while he was travelling in Germany and here are the first two verses:

Just now the lilac is in bloom,
All before my little room;
And in my flower-beds, I think,
Smile the carnation and the pink;
And down the borders, well I know,
The poppy and the pansy blow . . .
Oh! there the chestnuts, summer through,
Beside the river make for you
A tunnel of green gloom, and sleep
Deeply above; and green and deep
The stream mysterious glides beneath,
Green as a dream and deep as death.
— Oh, damn! I know it! and I know
How the May fields all golden show,
And when the day is young and sweet,
Gild gloriously the bare feet
That run to bathe . . .
'Du lieber Gott!'

Here am I, sweating, sick, and hot,
And there the shadowed waters fresh
Lean up to embrace the naked flesh.
Temperamentvoll German Jews
Drink beer around; — and THERE the dews
Are soft beneath a morn of gold.
Here tulips bloom as they are told;
Unkempt about those hedges blows
An English unofficial rose;
And there the unregulated sun
Slopes down to rest when day is done,
And wakes a vague unpunctual star,
A slippered Hesper; and there are
Meads towards Haslingfield and Coton
Where das Betreten's not verboten.

Rupert Brooke fought in World War One and died of septicaemia on board ship in the Aegean in 1915. The following short poem was written by him in late 1914. It is called The Soldier and shows just how deeply this young man cared for his country:


If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

The other day I wrote about “Our Home” (Nosso Lar) the film based on the book given to the Brasilian medium Chico Xavier through Automatic Writing. Today, I bring our thoughts nearer to the Earth but with a spiritual understanding of the importance of our home and its surroundings, wherever it may be.

Be happy, thank God for your home and those who share it and have shared it with you.

“IT GOES ON” (Robert Frost)

In my mind Robert Frost is one of the most gifted American poets and the title of this blog is part of a quotation, the full text of which is:

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned in life: It goes on”

I don’t believe this was from a poem but was something he said. Rarely have I come across a statement that is so full of meaning while at the same time being perfectly succinct. It can be interpreted in different ways, depending upon your own philosophical outlook. The atheist or the person sceptical that life continues beyond death, will interpret the words as meaning that life continues on earth through our descendents after we have passed. They may also use it to illustrate that despite what we as individuals may be experiencing at any given time, life goes on around us and few others are affected by what has perhaps devastated us.

Those who know life is a continuous process with no end, like me, will see it as the perfect statement about eternity and our role within it. In those three simple words “It goes on” is contained the kernel of a philosophy that can transform our world. It can lead us out of the darkness of cant, hypocrisy and selfish materialism into the light of understanding; an understanding of the true nature of life and consciousness that can free us from the fears that constantly haunt the minds of millions in this desperately sad world we have created. Some will say of course, “I thought you claimed God created the world?” Indeed that great power we call God, did create the physical world. He did create the myriad life forms that inhabit it and he did create each individual spirit that energises them on this wonderful globe. He did create the flowers, the gently swaying silver birch, the plants, the grass, the mountains, the lakes and the rivers. However, the conditions that pervade the Earth, the social, political, religious and economic systems are the creation of humanity alone.

It is in devising these systems that create conditions, often so injurious to health and happiness, that humanity has shown, despite the best intentions, that almost everything designed to make the impact of life fairer for all, has been subordinated to the desire to accumulate wealth, power and influence. The charge so often levelled at Communist societies that those at the top are “more equal” than the rest is just as true of so called “free” societies. We constantly show the truth of the words of Paul in his letter to the Corinthians,

“Now we see through a glass darkly . . .”

We see darkly because we use only our physical eyes, which anyone listening to three different witnesses describing an accident, will know are a poor instrument for uncovering truth. Until we begin to exercise our spiritual eyes, guided by our inner and higher selves, we will continue to frustrate the design of God and delay the creation of heaven on earth.

Many a poet and seer have stated that creating heaven on earth is not beyond the ability of humanity. All the basic ingredients are here. The natural beauty that abounds is designed to elicit wonder in the heart of the beholder; it is designed to make us realise that only a mind so great as to be beyond our comprehension could create such magnificence. Were we to follow the advice of William Cowper more frequently, we would start to activate that higher awareness that is within each one of us. His advice was:

“Go, mark the matchless working of the power, that shuts within the seed the future flower,”

Once we come to understand in our hearts the truth and vast import of “It goes on” then and only then will we be able to design social and other systems that create the opportunity for all to enjoy fully the wonder and beauty of this Earth of ours; to enjoy the love and companionship of others, human and animal, without fear and with total respect. Only when we successfully eschew the illusory charms of power and learn to exercise it with love and humility, instead of falling victim to its corruptive influences, will we understand the true beauty of life eternal. We are as children in our understanding of the vast breadth of our everlasting lives. Indeed, it is not going too far to say that modern humanity knows less about this than did the ancients. Having placed the technical exploitation of the resources of the earth above the need to understand our own true nature, we have diverted ourselves into a materialistic cul-de-sac.

It is not too late to retrace our steps but we will need a great deal of help, for the inertia of vested interest will take a huge effort to overcome. Our help lies with those who have passed beyond this life and are now fully aware of the truth. There are millions in that greater spiritual world willing and anxious to help us to escape the continuing consequences of our own past folly. But they cannot act alone. First they need us to ask for their help and once it is forthcoming, we must be willing to accept change, even when such change proves inconvenient or worse.

It is a huge challenge my friends; one that requires courage and trust. Courage to change what in our hearts we know to be wrong and trust in the love and power of the Spirit.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

There is a definite change in the air here in Rio! Not only is it much warmer suddenly but more flowers are coming into bloom and the birds have begun to nest. What a wonderful time of the year is Spring (or Primavera as it is called here), for me one of the most fascinating of the year. Even here in a tropical country when winter is mainly only apparent because of lower temperatures, it is noticeable. The blood seems to move more quickly through the veins and one becomes more energetic. New life appears everywhere and it is little wonder that for so many people, the magic of Spring is so special. Somehow our thoughts take on a brighter, more attractive dressing to match the trees and the flowers. Problems that seemed insoluble in the darker, colder days of winter seem much less intractable now. The hope that one poet described as “springing eternally in the human breast”, seems much more apparent at this uplifting time of the year.

I believe Spring gives us a very small glimpse of what will happen when the time comes to “shuffle off this mortal coil” and move to our true home in the spiritual world. The delight; the surge of love; the growth in energy and hope; all will be experienced once we have passed through the, sometimes daunting, change and left our physical body. We will become aware of brighter light and more brilliant and varied colours than we can remember seeing before and all those friends and loved ones we thought were lost will be lining up to welcome us to our new abode. Spring has come to our soul! No longer does the apparent winter of earthly life hold us in thrall; no longer do the worries about how to make ends meet, or the dread of sickness and pain drag us down and blanket our natural joy. We will finally realise that we truly are eternal beings of light with immense opportunities to realise our spiritual potential and a depth of love within our souls that we scarcely glimpsed whilst on earth.

We will become aware as time in our new home passes, that the experiences we underwent here on earth have changed us; have helped us to grow; have made us more complete as human spirits. Even the mistakes, indeed in a way, especially the mistakes, have strengthened us and taught us more about ourselves and our relationship to one another, to the world at large and to the great Creator that we mostly refer to as God. We will be able to see through the eyes of those whom we touched whilst here, exactly what effect our presence and our actions had upon their lives and their spiritual growth. Inevitably, there will be regrets that we did not do more or try harder but overall we will come to understand that in most instances we did our best and as Edward Young wrote in “Night Thoughts,” “Who does the best his circumstance allows, Does well, Acts nobly, Angels could do no more.”

So as you welcome Spring, in whatever months of the year it occurs in your part of this beautiful world, welcome and treasure it. It is the seasonal confirmation of immortality. It is God’s annual message to struggling humanity that says,

“Hope on, hope ever, you are children of the Great Spirit and can never die. Your life will go through many changes, like the seasons; your light will shine brighter with each change and you will share increasingly in the process of co-creation and the outpouring of love, unconditional love, to the whole of creation.”

There is no Death

We do not die – we cannot die;
We only change our state of life,
When these Earth temples fall and lie
Unmoving mid the world’s wild strife.

There is no death in God’s wide world;
But one eternal scene of change;
The flag of life is never furled,
In only taketh wider range.

And when the spirit leaves its frame,
Its home in which it hath long kept,
It goes, a life that’s real to claim,
As if in this it had but slept.

Then let us not speak of the “dead,”
For none are dead – all live, all love:
Our friends have only changed, have sped,
From lower homes to homes above.

J.S. Adams

Spiritualism should be the world’s happiest and most uplifting news. In a world where so much is dark and negative, coloured by the fear of death, Spiritualism is a shining light, pointing the way to eternal joy and spiritual fulfilment. This can be misleading though for it sounds as if Spiritualism only concerns itself with the eternal spiritual future of humanity. Nothing is further from the truth. The philosophy of Spiritualism gives clear guidance on the conduct of our lives here and now. Although a key factor in our philosophy is the proof, through mediumship, that life continues and communication between those departed and our selves is a reality, it is not all.

Guided by the words that have come to us through trance mediums and automatic writing over the years, our philosophy is not one just for dreamers and those with their heads in the clouds. We have been given detailed information about the physical universe that has been ignored by scientists and yet has been proved correct by subsequent scientific research years later. The most notable example is the description of Dark Matter and Dark Energy given from spirit in 1914 and only very recently proved and accepted by science. Our knowledge of healing and natural medicines is undoubtedly due to guidance through ancient psychics, called shamen or witchdoctors. I even wonder about the discovery of how to make fire and the invention of the wheel; both of which revolutionised and enriched human physical life.

In the realm of higher sensitivity and spirituality, the guidance from spiritual teachers through various mediums has always eschewed the way of power. It has cautioned us against opening ourselves to the temptations that power brings in its wake. To use Christian metaphor, it has urged upon us the “Sermon on the Mount,” rather than the vengeful philosophy of the Old Testament. Personal responsibility is a corner stone of its philosophy and it absolves none of us from the necessity to try harder to love one another. At the same time it acknowledges the distinction between loving and liking. Above all it emphasises that there are no such things as eternal damnation and a vengeful God. Instead it espouses the doctrine of eternal progress open to every human soul. In other words, not one of us is ever so bad or evil even, that we are deserted by God. There is no limit to the number of opportunities we are given to change and progress. Because of our obsession with time, it is impossible for us to imagine eternity and hence we make hasty judgements of things and people. We talk of those who are “beyond the pale” or irredeemable. No such condition exists and the fact we think this way is due to what I call, the ‘blindness of incarnation,’ that condition which insists nothing can be real that is not measurable by our five, poor, physical senses.

Spiritualism really is the world’s happiest news but unfortunately, the spread of its philosophy is in the physical hands of those who are just as weak and imperfect as the rest of humanity. We have I believe, been lured by the false gods of flattery and adulation, into focussing almost entirely upon its phenomena, its mediumship. One prays for the emergence of a greater sense of humility, particularly amongst mediums, for without it, Spiritualism will continue to be marginalised. I do not deny that the evidence of survival provided by mediums has brought and continues to bring, enormous joy and peace to those who mourn the loss of a loved one. However, the vast majority of the population is not in mourning but is seeking in vain for a teaching that makes sense out of our modern world, so filled with fear and uncertainty; is seeking in vain for a better explanation than that furnished by the leading religions, with their fascination with temporal power which has emasculated their ability to give true spiritual leadership.

I urge all seekers after spiritual truth to look beyond mediumship, without discounting its worthiness. I urge all Spiritualists to search their hearts and consciences to discover where and why we have strayed and continue to stray. Above all I urge them to listen again to the voice of the Spirit. Early Spiritualists never stopped doing this and the body of philosophy they were able to construct as a result offers the best hope for struggling humanity. We Spiritualists have been handed a torch of truth whose flame is at present flickering and spluttering. Let us resolve to turn once more to the pure light of the spiritual world and restore brilliance to our torch so that its flame becomes so bright it cannot be ignored.