The Purpose of Life

 SOME THOUGHTS ON THE PURPOSE OF LIFE ON EARTH

I hesitate to embark upon this topic. Far more penetrating and capable minds than mine have had their say over the years.  However, I do believe that the knowledge Spiritualists have gained gives us a unique understanding of this deepest of philosophical questions.

Many different theories have been advanced and include the view that we share this Earthly life with others by design and by choice.  “Not in complete ignorance, nor in utter nakedness but trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home …”  (William Wordsworth – Intimations of Immortality)

Our impact upon the lives of others and theirs upon us are significant factors in  determining the direction our journey will take. Because all life is spirit, it is not just humanity that has this impact. We should not isolate ourselves by focusing only upon our interaction with those who share similar bodies to our own. 

Few commentators, except materialists, fail to accept the view that life is no chance event.  Design and planning are all too evident in the complex and yet in many ways simple system of life in physical form. Where there is great divergence of opinion is in determining the relationship between life in all its forms and the Creator. Those who argue from the point of view of theology are constrained in their arguments by centuries of doctrine created chiefly to persuade or even frighten people into blind obedience.  Obedience to rules designed to maximise the temporal power and influence of a particular religious group.  Rules that deliberately, at some stage, ignored the evidence of the founders of those religions. Without exception, all religions before becoming sectarian, were built upon mediumship and communication with those in the spiritual world. Psychic gifts abounded among early Christians for instance but this did not suit the priests, theologians and administrators who grasped so eagerly at the opportunity to become the established religion of the Roman Empire. The latter wanted physical, temporal power and the wealth that went with it.  

Those arguing about life’s purpose from the viewpoint of materialism, miss the point entirely.  Their limited philosophy finds it impossible to conceive of any basis for life other than mere chance. Therefore, how can they possibly argue convincingly? Only by totally ignoring the evidence of Psychic Research and that of Particle Physics: Evidence that life is far more than what our five senses can perceive.  Like the theologians, their training precludes them from accepting there may be other, perfectly valid ways to examine life and its purpose.  Their arrogance blinds them to any possibility that physics might only be a partial study of life. This arrogance has unfortunately been compounded by the mystique with which science has been endowed by the general population: Those whose daily lives have been much eased by scientific and engineering ingenuity.  It is just possible that as a consequence of the stance of science on the Covid pandemic, this mystique is undergoing a radical re-examination

Where does this lead us?  Beyond doubt to a conviction that there is no substitute for seeking help from those in Spirit who are far wiser than ourselves. Also to guard against the temptation to claim absolute truth for anything.  Human beings have a genius for complicating things. I read a story once that amusingly illustrates this.  The devil was walking down Wall Street in New York City one day accompanied by an acolyte. At one point they noticed a human being ahead of them stoop down and pick something up from the ground. Having examined it closely, the human being began leaping up and down excitedly. The acolyte asked the devil what had happened. “Oh”, said the devil, “ That man has just discovered a piece of the truth”.  “Aren’t you worried?” said the acolyte.  “If he’s found the truth he’ll be able to see through your wiles”. “No,” said the devil, I’m not a bit worried.  He thinks he’s found the whole truth and he’ll just organise it”

The wonderful thing about life and the natural laws that accompany it, is its essential simplicity.  These laws are so perfect and yet so simple they need no adjustment. They apply through all time and in all circumstances. They complement our free will in order to ensure the orderly development and growth of the spirit power that is the source of all life. That spirit power, is so majestic in its breadth of influence and yet so simple in its operation because of its source: The power we call God.  It is constituted so as to ensure its continued growth.  The power of the spirit is not static but ever-changing. The ecclesiastical idea of an unchanging Deity who is the one constant in life, is totally misleading. Each of us is an indissoluble part of that Power.  Though personalising it makes perception a little easier for finite minds, it would not be possible for a personal God to be all the things the power of the Spirit clearly is. If we are part of God, we cannot avoid having a direct influence upon that power. As a consequence, we can be considered co-creators, not mere pawns.

For me, life on Earth, though gregarious, is essentially a personal journey. It is about our individual spirit adapting to the control exercised over it by our five senses. The only spiritual growth we can be sure of is our own. We may influence others but the choice is theirs. What constitutes the true purpose of life here? In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien, wrote the following:-

Frodo, the ring bearer, said to Gandalf, “I wish the Ring had never come to me, that none of this had ever happened.”

Gandalf replied, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that has been allotted to us.”

What wisdom!  Very little we can do can change what is happening in the world at large but we have complete control over changes within ourselves. In instituting basic, inner change lies our greatest influence.  

We are personally responsible for producing change in ourselves through our action or inaction. Our decisions will affect others and may persuade them to make changes by presenting them with choices.  Life is about choices.  We cannot avoid them. Sometimes we choose to avoid making a choice at all and at others we make the wrong choice.  No matter. To choose is the important thing.

By simplifying things and realising what we truly can control, we are meeting the true challenge of life on Earth. We must decide for ourselves what to do with and in our allotted time on Earth. Thus do we begin to understand it is the actions of the individual and the change brought about within each person that is the true measure of life.  Each is an individual Spirit but we are also part of the Great Spirit or God and therefore we cannot act in isolation, much as we may pretend otherwise. In the words of John Donne, “ No man is an island entire and of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

The spirit within is a diamond. Our task whilst here is to polish that diamond until it sparkles as brilliantly as possible. What do we use for polish?  Service to others - the thing Silver Birch described as the coin of the spirit.

Lionel Owen

March 2022

Chance or Guidance?

Many people are convinced that chance has played a huge role in their lives, its events and the direction it has taken. From the accident of birth through the means by which they made a living to the way in which they met their spouse, many claim to see nothing but mere chance. They explain away strange anomalies that led to big changes in their lives as just coincidence. I believe this is a misleading and totally erroneous way of looking at what happens in our lives.  In my experience, we are all subject to a far greater degree of guidance than is generally assumed. I very much doubt the role of chance in any human affairs

Explaining every unusual occurrence as chance or accident ignores a basic fact about human beings which Spiritualists understand more clearly than most. This is that each of us is a spirit being spending a limited period of time encased in a physical body in a world of matter. The spirit within us and the spirit world, which is its natural element, vibrate at much higher frequencies than our physical bodies. This coincides, I think, with open-minded scientific thinking. Albert Einstein, for instance, insisted that there is no such thing as matter for everything in the universe consists of energy. What we consider to be matter he explains, is energy moving at a particularly slow vibration. Everything is in motion and the rate at which that motion vibrates determines its apparent solidity or otherwise to those whose bodies are vibrating at that same level.  So solidity is subjective, for things only appear solid to us human beings when they vibrate at a similar or lesser vibration than our physical bodies. This principle, people who have spoken to us from the spirit world say, explains why to us spirit people often appear to our physical eyes as insubstantial ghosts or apparitions. It also explains why to the spirit people, everything in their world seems as solid to them as everything in our world appears to us.  We know that even on a physical level, our five senses are in some instances, far inferior to those possessed by animals. A dog can use its nose to detect smells completely impossible for us to smell. Elephants call to each other at sound frequencies far below the ability of our ears to detect, etc., etc.  As spirit beings, whether we acknowledge it or not, we are linked, both to friends and loved ones now passed to the spirit world as well as to every other living being on Earth. That is so whether the other being is human, animal, fish or bird. This is because all life is spirit. Life cannot exist except it be energised by the power of spirit.

Throughout her life, my dear wife Maria has been consistently guided by occurrences that many would say were chance or coincidence.  These have happened in connection with her health care, with significant changes to her life and with receipt of emotional support during particularly stressful times. Let me give some examples.  

Her brother Dirk, to whom she was very close, moved to South Africa from Germany. At one point he decided to travel back to Europe for a visit by journeying through the length of Africa, with a rucksack on his back like a globetrotter. He went through Namibia and then on to Zimbabwe and so forth.   After she moved to South Africa, years later, Maria decided to try to retrace her by then, late brother’s steps for at least part of that journey. In all she travelled some 8,000 kilometers.  When she reached the border between Namibia and South Africa, she drove into a petrol station to fill up before crossing the border.  Suddenly she saw a huge truck driving towards her with a big sign across the top of its cab, which announced in huge letters,“GLOBETROTTER”!  Written on the windscreen was the name DIRK! (clearly the driver’s name)   Coincidence?  I think not.  On her return journey, as she moved into South Africa from Botswana she drove through the beautiful Swartberg Pass. It was so strikingly beautiful it took her breath away and she cried out aloud voicing her feelings.  Suddenly she had to stop. There, lying in the road was a beautiful white ostrich feather!  Since passing to spirit, Dirk had often announced his presence by leaving white feathers for Maria. It had become a sort of personal symbol between them.  How wonderful then, that just as Maria reached the end of her trip of homage to her brother, there should be his own personal symbol. Just a single, large white feather. She has that feather to this day!

It was an enormous comfort to her at that point in her life and I completely agree with her interpretation.  

At another juncture in her life, when facing a decision to leave her native Germany, the spirit people took over again. Here, in her own words is what happened:

“For years I had lost contact with and was vainly searching for some Namibian friends who had left Germany and returned to their home country.  Unexpectedly, I received a newsletter from some tour company in Namibia, even though I was still living in Germany. The newsletter was signed ‘Jimmy and Heidi’,  the names of the friends for whom I was searching. I wrote back, “Is it you?’ Hallellujah! ‘Yes it is’ came the reply. I was so thrilled. That was around October/November 2002. At the beginning of that very year, I had been travelling in New Zealand and Indonesia for four months. On Bali, I briefly met a German who gave me a contact to someone who later became a very important art teacher in my life. This German and I had spoken twice, for about twenty minutes each time, on very formal terms (Mr & Mrs as we do with strangers in Germany). His name was Gustav and he was a friend of the Balinese artist. Months after my return to Germany from Asia, around the beginning of November, I received a phone call from Gustav. It was quite late in the evening and for a whole hour, this relative stranger tells me that he had returned just yesterday from a beautiful holiday in South Africa.  He set about trying to convince me to go to live and work there. I was indeed looking for a new direction and for work but he was unaware of this. I was completely flabbergasted. I said, “I was away travelling for four months, Why on earth are you telling me all this?” I would have thought that after just returning from a long absence he would instead be talking to close relatives or friends. His answer was, “I don’t know, I was just on my way into  the kitchen to make myself some dinner and turned around on the threshold to call you.” 

I sat in my chair totally gobsmacked following that phone call. I asked myself, “What on earth was this for?” The next day I decided to call a travel agent to check on flights to Windhoek, Namibia, where lived the old friends I had just rediscovered, and then to fly from there to Cape Town. All of it over Christmas and New Year, when flights were normally fully booked, as I discovered later. It was a curious enquiry I realised. Three hours later the phone rings. It was the travel agent saying, “ I’ve booked your flight”. I say, “Are you crazy, this was just an enquiry.” She replied, “Don’t worry, you can cancel again within three days.”  Next day when I met a travel agent in the town where I was living, who I’d been helping with translations three times a week, I asked her about this very strange experience.  She became upset that I hadn’t asked her instead, so I suggested she call the airlines to see if she could book flights for me as the other one had. She called every possible airline and not one seat was available!  Now I knew I had to go to South Africa and it ultimately led to me emigrating there.”

Another interesting episode occurred in the summer of 1997 and again, here is the story in Maria’s own words:

“It was a difficult period of my life and I felt like getting away and visiting an old friend Ulrike in Kenya, where I myself had lived for many years. I was now back in my native Germany and called Ulrike in Mombasa. She said, “Sorry, you cant come because I’m flying to Europe.” I replied, “But I want to see you, where will you be?” “At some spiritual seminar at a castle in England. Someone recommended it.” This was typical of Ulrike flying thousands of kilometers without having a clue what it was about!  “There’s apparently a beautiful park with gorgeous big trees,” she adds and gives me the address of a lady to contact in England. I decide I am going to see her and if the seminar turns out to be rubbish, I’ll read a book under those trees and will see my friend.! I call the lady in England, “Oh, we’re fully booked, but… I’ve just had ONE cancellation!” “Please book me then”, I say,  But could you maybe tell me what it’s all about?” “We are doing workshops and demonstrations,” she replies.  “Demonstrations of what?” I want to know. “Err you know, I’m just an old lady organising this from my bedroom. Just give me your address and I’ll send you a brochure.”  

Now I need to book a flight to England. The brochure arrives just a few minutes before I leave for the airport and I put it, unopened, into my handbag. The flight is from Basel to London, Stansted and the plane is completely full. There is one empty seat next to me. A young, dark haired lady takes it.  Actually she claims it from another lady who had begun to install herself there. Once we are airborne, I decide to find out where I’m going.  I take the envelope out of my handbag to read the brochure when I hear, “We’re obviously going to the same thing,” pipes the young lady next to me. Her name is Angelika Gueldenstein and she proceeds to put me in the picture. What she told me was a complete mystery to me and frankly not all that believable.  Of course now it was too late to change my mind in any case. Arriving at Stansted Hall, where the so called seminar was the Fraternal Week of the InternationalSpiritualist Federation (ISF), Angelika takes me by the hand and leads me to a big and noisy dining room, where lunch is in full swing.  We sit down at a table with eight people, one of whom will become quite important to me for a while. She, Joan Shergold, gives me the first inkling of what these people are up to.  She is a ‘psychic artist’. I did not have the slightest clue what that was.  Being German, I thought, ‘a psychological artist but that made me none the wiser. When only Joan and I remain at the table a few days after our first encounter, I ask her. Her explanation was,” If I had to draw a picture for you now, (‘Ah a painter I thought,) “I would draw a picture of a big, black dog..!” “Why on earth would you do that?” I ask because I am truly amazed. “Because,” she replies, You walked in here with a big black dog by your side… Have you ever had a big black dog?” I can hardly reply because I double up and burst into tears. My dog, Moritz, who I found as a puppy while living in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, had been my permanent companion until his passing a few years earlier. I was totally overwhelmed that he should still be around me and just could not understand what was happening.  Too late – someone invisible took me by the hand. 

 I had experienced quite a bit of tragedy involving death; three loved ones dying within a period of just two years. During the following days at Stansted they all ‘came back’ to me – an indescribably overwhelming experience that changed my life forever.  The then President of the ISF, the aforementioned organisation, was one Lionel Owen. He and I became friends there and then, neither of us knowing that later we were to become husband and wife!  Chance or guidance?  That is the question. 

The latest guidance received by Maria was quite recent. She had been feeling a lack of energy for some time. When friends, who visited her just before Christmas contracted Covid after one of them had similar symptoms to Maria, she thought she’d better double check and called her GP to arrange a Covid test immediately.  He said, “You have to come to the surgery, collect a form, take it to another town where there are medical services, take a test and if it’s negative, I will see you. All of which would defeat the object of finding out quickly if she was infected. That same afternoon, Maria unexpectedly meets a lady who runs an animal sanctuary where she lives on a nearby farm. After the usual greetings, Maria discovers that all of them on the farm had Covid over Christmas. They were the people her friends who visited her, had gone to visit AFTER they left Maria. This seemed to solve the mystery of  where her friends’ Covid had originated.  Maria was suddenly prompted to ask the same lady where she had taken her Covid test.  The lady gave her the name of a nearby doctor, who not only gives my wife an immediate (and negative) test but also, on examining her, discovers another health problem, which is probably the root cause of her lack of energy. It needs to be investigated by a specialist and would not have been discovered without this  ‘unknown’ doctor’s intervention. Maria is so grateful and also convinced those unexpected deviations which led to successful treatment, were the work of Spirit people and I totally agree with her.

Our loved ones and friends in the spirit world will always find ways of letting us know they  are there with us.  It may be hearing, quite unexpectedly, a favourite song or piece of music that was loved by a person we know who is now in spirit.  It might be a small item in our homes, such as a photograph or ornament being moved from its accustomed position or it could even be receiving information in our minds during meditation or in dreams. Our minds belong to our spirit self, they are not part of the physical body, despite what scientists would have us believe. Our minds are always on the alert and can detect the tiniest psychic emanations both from other people and from inanimate places such as rooms or buildings.  It is not uncommon for people to become  aware of some sad or violent happening in a room or building. This is usually due to events that involved strong emotions, which leave an imprint on the psychic fabric of the room.  All matter, whether animate or inanimate, has an invisible or psychic part to it and that is where such events are recorded. If we are sensitive or even just happen to be in an unusually contemplative mood when arriving at such a place, our invisible self will detect these psychic remains of past, highly emotional or violent occurrences.  

In our early days together, I took Maria to London to show her the sights. At one point during our walk she said she suddenly felt terrible and could not understand why. Neither could I until I happened to glance around and noticed we were just walking past the Tower of London!  The place which was the scene of so much misery and violent death centuries ago!  The same thing can happen when we meet someone for the first time or come across a stranger unexpectedly in unusual circumstances. Our invisible self will reach out to their invisible self and detect whether or not we are in harmony with them. I have known people who have avoided violence themselves by recognising an extreme negative reaction in such circumstances. They did so by ensuring they distanced themselves from the person concerned. This is not guidance by a spirit friend or relative but one’s own psyche protecting us.  It is so important never to forget that we are spirit beings, complete with all the psychic sensitivity with which we are born.  Many choose to ignore such factors which is most unwise.  Just because it is not visible to us does not mean the psychic or spirit self does not exist. Out of sight is not out of mind!  It certainly does exist and we should try to make ourselves more aware of the information it passes to our conscious mind regarding our surroundings, the people we meet and even about our future.  We are not complete if we choose only to pay attention to our physical self. It is sometimes claimed that one day mediums will not be needed because each of us will become our own medium. In the sense I have described above, THAT IS ALREADY THE CASE! 

The Challenge of Covid

The last two years have tested human ingenuity, patience and understanding: Thrown into sharp relief our powerlessness against forces we do not understand: Elevated scientists to the level of saviours whilst  tempting them into an arrogance far from justified by their knowledge and shown the best and the worst of human behavior. These same scientists have used statistics and often dubious computer models to cow people into obedience.

Our perilous grip on dominance in the physical world has rarely been challenged so effectively as it has by the virus we call Covid 19. It is a challenge to us to work together in harmony with a common aim but it seems instead to have demonstrated our inability to bury self interest in order to conquer a common threat. Time and again, those countries with power and money have chosen to focus almost exclusively on their own citizens, ignoring the fact that Covid is a universal enemy. To provide vaccines for their populations they have done too little to ensure the poorer nations are similarly provided for.

Conquering the pandemic needs trust, co-operation and understanding on a personal, national and international level. What have we seen?  Those in power almost everywhere ignoring the need for co-operation when it seemed expedient to grasp every possible advantage for themselves.  The use of compulsion, refusing to recognise that individuals are capable of making their own decisions when faced with great challenges. Thus have free and open societies been transformed into little more than dictatorships. On a personal level, extortion and fraud have been manifested in taking advantage of emergency regulations and shortage of supply. 

Where political power has been at odds with accepting responsibility, power has triumphed. China refused to allow a fair and open investigation into what started the pandemic because of political dogma and a basic insecurity that is unable to accept challenge and the possibility of error. In the early days, some commercial organisations did not disclose the presence of infections because it might lead to financial losses. All in all  humanity is not emerging from the viral challenge with much to commend it. The exception of course are the dedicated health care workers who have worked tirelessly to help sufferers.

Instead of this pandemic being used as an opportunity to re-examine our priorities on all levels and seriously consider radical change, it has widened the gulf between haves and have nots wherever one chooses to look. It has been seen by the most powerful as an opportunity to extend their power and influence. Furthermore, commercial interests have used the pandemic to vastly increase their profits instead of sharing their expertise more freely for the common good. 

The spirit world tells us that we come to Earth in order to learn lessons and grow in spiritual understanding.  Because our spirit selves are subjected to domination by our five senses, lessons can be learned here in a way that is much more difficult in the spirit world. The growth in materialism driven by science and consumerism has undoubtedly made our Earthly task more difficult.  Yet conversely, it also provides enormous opportunity to do better. Because our ingenuity has relieved us of many onerous and time consuming everyday tasks, modern humanity has much more time to focus on improving the comfort and living conditions of all people. Yet what we see is ever worsening living conditions in poorer communities and a burgeoning of wealth and power among a minority. This is especially the case in poorer countries where the political class has been so corrupted by power it has used it to increase its own wealth enormously at the expense of the general population. 

Pandemics, such as Covid 19 give us the opportunity to re-evaluate our role both as individuals and as nations. During the first lockdown, there was much talk of the impact it was having upon our lives. People commented on the sudden absence of noise, such as road and air traffic. Many claimed to be experiencing a healing calmness in their lives which they had never known before. The need to rush everywhere was gone and they felt much better for it. People began to question the systems that seemed to lead to an increasingly manic pace of ordinary life. It also led many, as they lost loved ones to the virus, to pose philosophical questions about the purpose of life.  Of course it also caused severe psychological problems, especially amongst the elderly, as they thought themselves abandoned by family and friends.

 

I believe it is not too late to grasp the opportunity presented by Covid to re-examine our values, to say, “Stop, there must be a better way.” For instance, it is almost certain the pandemic began as a result of a leak from a laboratory in China that was experimenting with ways to genetically alter viruses that are normally only present among animals and birds. We know also that such laboratories pursue much more sinister experiments. Experiments to give their countries a military advantage in the international power game that typifies modern power politics. Should we allow fear, which is what often drives the military mind, to have such an all powerful influence? I think it was John F Kennedy who said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

The military arguments put forward for the need to protect a country’s strategic interests with military might have been put forward in nearly all societies for millennia. The problem is that our inventiveness produces ever more sophisticated means of annihilation that we are urged to increase our military might still further and so ad infinitum. It is easy to see the futility of war as an instrument of political policy and the foolishness of ever believing in an ultimate weapon that will ensure peace. But …The problem is trust. Disarmament needs a conviction that the other person will also disarm. We are back to fear again!

I believe the root of our inability to disarm universally is the same thing that has led to the fear of death. We are looking at the problem from a purely physical standpoint! Humanity  labours under the illusion that we are merely physical beings who are victims of chance, having been created accidentally in the primordial mud in the far distant past. I say this despite official lip service paid to religion and to everlasting life, subject to believing in a particular creed or dogma.

The truth is very different. Human beings are creatures of spirit spending a few years encased in physical bodies in a physical world. We are everlasting spirits and each spirit is a part of the Great Spirit, or God. This is true no matter what creed, dogma, or none an individual professes.  The spirit is vastly superior to any form of matter however substantial that may be.

Our spirit possesses powers beyond imagination.  If only we would use our minds to tap that power, materialism and militarism would quickly disappear. To do so we need to accept who we truly are.  Our mind is part of the spirit, it does not die when our physical body dies. Science has been able to make many incredible advances in easing the physical burden of life on Earth but has made no meaningful attempts to investigate the mind. This is due to the scientific obsession that the mind is part of the physical brain. It refuses to countenance the existence of our eternal spirit. Until this attitude changes, it is difficult to see us progressing.

However there is hope. Particle physicists have discovered the theoretical existence of several dimensions beyond those we know of. It is only a matter of time before these dimensions are established as fact and in my view, they will prove to be spiritual. 

What a revolution in thought such a discovery will bring about! It will be at least comparable to the impact Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species had when it was published. That is when people will be forced to look within and to seek the help of the unseen world in order to create a new way of life and a new understanding for all humanity. Spiritualism will have the opportunity to come into its own and use our experience to give people the tools with which to fashion this new world. In the meantime Spiritualists can use the power of the spirit to shed more light on the darkness with which we have surrounded the Earth in the last two hundred years especially. Never has the power of prayer and the focus of our inner light been a greater necessity. Spiritualism must become a great deal more than the provider of evidence that we survive death and the giver of messages of comfort to the bereaved, wonderful though they are.

Lionel Owen.                                                                                                        January 2022

REMEMBRANCE

We are in the month where, each year, quite rightly we recall and give thanks for the sacrifice made by so many young men and women in wars: Sacrifices that remind us of  the philosophical dictum, “Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friends.”

When we consider the sacrifices made, particularly over the past 150 years, it is important to stress this dictum. It is all too easy to get caught up in the jingoistic claptrap that is used by rulers when they call upon young people to go out and fight, “for their country”.

Only rarely, if ever, is the call to arms much to do with serving one’s country. More likely it is serving the vested interest of certain individuals or groups in one’s country.   Even the 1939/1945 war which came closest to being a just war, that description is only apposite if one ignores what happened before.  In 1938, when the true horrors of Nazism were being realised and Britain and the free world knew its freedoms were threatened, the need to fight for the survival of our democratic principles was the result of the myopic refusal to see what was happening earlier. Had those in power and good people everywhere, really resisted the Nazis in the early days, it is doubtful Hitler would have become so powerful. One can go even further back and argue that the French insistence on draconian sanctions on Germany in 1918, was directly responsible for the rise of Nazism. Thus do we learn that a decision today may be the cause of a calamitous event only ilyears later. 

It is vital to separate the national/political reasons for remembrance ceremonies from the private, family reasons. We must take the greatest care to ensure in remembering “officially” we are not innocently furthering the justification for war. 

Many are the moving stories of true gallantry where men and women gave their lives to protect or to save their comrades. I am sure at the time of their heroic exploits, nothing was further from their minds than the benefits to their country of the sacrifice they were about to make. No, it was their friends and families they were thinking of.

It is not surprising many people feel humanity learns nothing from experience. There is ample evidence that conflict leads to yet more conflict and that even after the most bitter war both sides still have to co-exist. Despite this, war is still seen as a viable method of settling differences. The inescapable conclusion is that morally, humanity has progressed not one jot over millennia. 

Unfortunately for human happiness, we have learned in other areas.  We have developed ever more sophisticated and terrifying methods of killing one another.   The argument always put forward when a new weapon is invented is that this is such a terrible weapon it will end warfare forever. Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki?  For how long did those atrocities protect us from war? (And we believe we have more intelligence than animals!!) Albert Einstein, the one great physicist to always see the spiritual side of human nature, steadfastly refused to work on the creation of the atom bomb. This even though it was his theory that led to its development. Inevitably it seems, the possible military uses of new inventions are what receive priority. Such is the effect on us of the dark cloud of negativity with which we have surrounded our planet.

Why do wars lead to more wars? The answer is simple but clearly inconvenient for those who desire to exercise control over others for their own endsiq. The viciousness with which wars are conducted and the terror and fear they generate, creates a dark pall of negative energy that takes many years to dissipate. Imagine, if a sensitive can feel the negative energy in a building years after a tragic event, how long will it take to dissipate the energy generated by war? This energy weighs upon our atmosphere and the spirit world tell us the Earth is surrounded by such darkness, they find it painful to come too close.  Without us consciously realising it, this pall exercises a huge influence over our minds.  We cannot divorce ourselves from the spiritual awareness that is an essential part of our mental makeup. Therefore much of our thinking becomes mired in this dark cloud of negativity.  It is possible to overcome this using great effort and by consciously directing our inner light, but each descent into conflict makes that more difficult.

We must change our ways!  “Global darkening” is a greater threat than global warming, for it threatens our spiritual not just our physical future.

Aggressors cannot go to war at the drop of a hat. Only when sufficient ordinary people side with them is war inevitable. Unfortunately, those in power take steps to subjugate their citizens.  Consequently, questioning the wisdom or justification for going to war never occurs to them; they are too frightened to do so. Where subjugation is insufficient, conscription is used. Even though more enlightened forms of government exist in many countries today, the control over propaganda is so complete that those in power have little difficulty in enforcing their views.

Most people are not naturally belligerent. Like hatred, belligerence must be taught.

 

Look at what happened on Christmas Day on the Western front in 1914! Soldiers from both sides spontaneously put down their arms to celebrate that religious festival together.  Look also at how many individuals on both sides of any conflict have been executed by their own side for “cowardice in the face of the enemy”. The only crime these unfortunate individuals committed was to be true to their basic humanity and refuse to slaughter others merely because they were told to do so. Added to which, the horrors they witnessed unhinged them  psychologically.

It is often stated that war settles nothing and this is true. Indeed not only has it always been necessary to spend huge resources on rebuilding after wars but usually, the long term effects on social cohesion have been irreparable. Wars solve nothing and have always led to to more ferocious subsequent wars. 

As Spiritualists, we have long been aware that human beings are spirit and very much part of God or the Great Spirit. Whilst we are spirit, we are under the enormous influence of our five senses. Senses that focus almost exclusively on our physical selves. It is an unfortunate fact that we have so far been unable to reconcile these two sides of our nature. As a consequence, power in society has invariably been placed in the hands of those under the strongest influence from their physical senses. Those to whom might means right and who are so enslaved  by their own singular, materialistic vision, they cannot even imagine an alternative. The corrupting influence of power is irresistible it seems and yet we continue to encourage people to exercise power without proper checks and balances. Granting power, often absolute power so carelessly, whether, political, military or religious is the reason humanity is today trapped in a materialistic cul de sac.  

We are creatures of light, therefore colour has a far bigger influence upon our lives than we realise, for colour is a vital function of light. The spirit world have explained to us the significance of the different colours. We have already mentioned black, the colour of darkness. Purple, they tell us is the colour of power. Hence its use by royalty and bishops over the ages. But there is too much purple in the world! It is the colour with which spirit say, humanity in its present state of evolution, is ill equipped to deal.  We should take heed of this warning.

It is power corrupted that has led to wars down the ages and it is what has prevented humanity from properly using the light of our spirit to create a better world. By that I do not mean a world with more motor cars, more washing machines and more computers but a world that recognises the primacy of life, all life:  A world and a society that sees life as eternal, no matter what form that life takes: That recognises our life on Earth is all about using  our physical environment to further our growth spiritually not just physically.

Remembrance Day should not be overshadowed by the military but rather be a civil celebration to commemorate those who gave their lives unselfishly to save their friends and families.  It should be a stark reminder that their sacrifice has been in vain if we continue to ignore the true nature of warfare and allow conditions and systems of government to develop that make war unavoidable. We must learn to do better in order to honour the memory of those who gave so much. 

Spiritualism has a vital role to play in fostering a change in attitudes. We know that the power of the light within us, when combined with the light of those in the spirit world, is far superior to the power of darkness that is responsible for the horrors of warfare. Let us use our light to illuminate a new, spiritual pathway for humanity, one uncluttered by the detritus of our warring past.

ACCEPTANCE

                                                

GOD GRANT ME THE COURAGE TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE

THE COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN CHANGE

AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

Known as “The Wisdom Prayer,” this truly is wise advice but how very difficult it can be to put into practice.

Acceptance is often considered to be weakness in our modern, ego-centric society but in reality knowing when the time has come to accept what we cannot change, no matter how much we wish to, is a sign of great strength. If only individuals and nations put this advice into practice, how different and less belligerent would be our world. 

For some reason, many human beings find it difficult to accept that not everyone thinks or acts in the same way as themselves. It’s as though such people believe there is a stigma attached to being different; that uniformity should be the norm.  Children for instance, often react aggressively towards other children perceived as being different. These differences can range from physical deformity to colour of skin or mode of speech.  Children can be taught how wrong such attitudes are and maturity often brings understanding. In surprisingly many people however, these attitudes persist into adulthood.  We can perhaps sympathise with individuals but in nations it is a different matter entirely.  

You do not need me to enumerate those times one nation’s insistence that theirs is the only acceptable way to behave, their willingness to back this up with force of arms and the  immense suffering and loss of life that has resulted.  History is littered with examples of such action which is always promoted as being for the greatest good for all but has invariably had the opposite effect.  This is true as much for the aggressors as those invaded or co-erced into acceptance in other ways.

Today, in addition to the age old differences between individuals, groups and nations, we have immense differences being wrought by climate change and the interference by human beings into the balance of nature in many different ways. Without exception, these are rooted in selfishness and the lust for power or money. What justification can there ever be, for instance, in genetically changing viruses so that they can attack humans instead of just the animal hosts they historically attacked? Only immature human beings incapable of seeing beyond their own limited aspirations for dominance, can do this type of thing. They are grown up children whose toys are the lives and happiness of others.

Two factors combine to produce the type of madness that leads to diverting human ingenuity into such terrifying activities. One is the hunger for power and the other is fear. If only we could all remove the blindfolds and see the world and the universe of which it is a part, as it really is.  If we could cease believing that human beings are the pinnacle and therefore the dominant power in creation.  As the great eighteenth century poet, Alexander Pope puts it, “All are but parts of one stupendous whole.” 

In this “whole” referred to by Pope, no species is more important than another. Each is dependent upon the other and only by working in harmony can progress be achieved. The natural world is the perfect place to study the truth of Pope’s claim. Many species of animal for instance, are stronger and more aggressive than others but except to provide themselves with food and to protect their young, such aggression is contained. Balance is the key word in nature.  If balance is upset, action takes place to restore the balance. If one species becomes too numerous for it to be supported, its numbers are reduced because there is insufficient food to sustain too large a number. In reverse if numbers are reduced by some natural disaster, reproduction increases until numbers are restored. 

Human beings are given a unique power to reason and to visualise the effects of actions so we can plan our lives in ways not available to other species. This power also unfortunately, enables us to control the lives of other species and indeed to force the views of one group of human beings upon another. What we frequently fail to understand however is that this power comes at a price.  All actions have consequences and for all our much heralded powers of reason, we often fail to foresee the true impact of our actions. The early farmers in California failed to understand the effects of growing the same crops year after year and the great dust bowl was the result. Frequently, pharmaceutical companies fail to see the full impact a new drug or medication will have long term. In their desire to help alleviate one condition, they overlook the impact on others.  The list goes on.

To return to the large challenge of climate change being faced by us today. In addition to focusing on renewable energy we are trying to find other means to halt or reverse the change which has been exacerbated by human activity. These attempts, though admirable in many ways are really failing to face the real issue. This failure is probably because we feel once the reality of climate change is accepted, it will amount to giving in; to surrender.  

What are we doing to prepare for the possibility that climate change is irreversible?  It is more than a possibility that this is the case and whilst our contribution to it through burning fossil fuels is regrettable, we should be planning our strategy to survive as a species in the type of world we will inhabit in future. For instance food production and the ready availability of water. Both these things will be different as climate change proceeds. Also, due to the melting of ice at the Poles, sea water levels are going to rise significantly. 

In order to meet these changes, should we not move to  the stage of acceptance?  We need to plan now for the consequences and be prepared to place resources behind such plans, rather than pouring millions into trying to prevent what now looks inevitable. We need to look at ways of producing sufficient food and water for the population of Earth under the changed climatic conditions. We need to find ways of moving huge numbers of people from low-lying locations. We need to recognise the inevitable changes that will take place in various countries as the warming impact of climate change progresses. 

It seems to me that at the moment we are mainly wringing our hands in despair and trying to make changes that are far too late to have a meaningful impact. Surely now is the time to accept the inevitable. Take steps to ensure we don’t make matters worse of course but our main focus should be on changing our ways to adapt to what will soon become reality.  It is little use bemoaning our past actions and placing blame here and there for what is happening. We need to be acting, so as a species and in support of other species, we can all survive in the new reality. It will not be easy but it is a wonderful chance to work together constructively for the benefit of all life on Earth. We must bury our ideological differences for if we don’t the consequences for future generations will be dire. 

We know that humanity is supremely gifted and has the intelligence to surmount the greatest challenges; what we do not have at present is the conviction that this challenge is so unique that what has dictated human behaviour in the past can no longer work if we are to survive. Once that has been accepted, I have no doubt that human ingenuity will find ways for us to live successfully in our changed world. 

I urge those in authority to recognise the need to plan ahead rather than just trying to stem the tide: The need to pool resources, especially of brains: The need to accept our limited ability to change things. 

If these things can be achieved it will herald a new era of human co-operation and understanding. There is no other way. Narrow, national interest must be sacrificed in the interest of all life on Earth. Climate change is nature’s way of calling time on humanity’s selfish, unthinking, hedonistic race towards destruction. It can be our salvation as a species and teach us our true role in maintaining the balance essential to sentient life on Earth. Let us grasp this opportunity with both hands whilst there is still time. 

FEAR

                                             

I have just returned to the UK from South Africa and one thing that I have noticed is the level of fear in the country. The feeling is most palpable and is far worse than it is in South Africa.  I wonder why?

That Covid is the root of the fear is obvious but why should people feel so frightened? After all there have been serious epidemics in the past, I remember Asian flu for instance back in the late fifties.  People became very ill and there were many deaths but it did not engender the fear that I feel now. Yes, dying because it becomes impossible to breathe is a frightening way to go but the number of people dying measured against those who contract the disease is not enormously high.  The recovery rate is really quite substantial. Whilst I do know of people who have died from Covid, I know of more who have recovered. So why this widespread fear?
Undoubtedly, the bodies politic in nearly all countries panicked in the face of the pandemic, the like of which, no one living can recall. In their anxiety to stop the spread of the virus many resorted, with the support of the scientific community, to control and compulsion.  They could see no other, speedy, way of keeping people safe. There are two problems implicit in the use of compulsion to enforce compliance. First, many people see it as an invasion of their basic liberties:  The freedom to make up their own mind about how to respond to new and potentially deadly, challenges.  Second, many become conditioned to accept the government must know best and they slavishly follow the dictats of the politicians. After a while resentment builds up both in those who resent their freedom being curtailed and those who assume restrictions are temporary and accept them. Resentment that is fueled by perceived selfish actions by whichever group one is opposed to.  This easily turns nasty in some cases.
All this is in complete contrast to the widespread welcome of the first lockdown, which many found resulted in levels of peace and tranquility that were wonderful and most unexpected. So what changed?  First of all, the economic consequences of the lockdowns became really serious despite government efforts to alleviate the worst effects. People were unable to manage financially and the enforced restrictions on social intercourse were mentally and emotionally damaging, particularly to the young and the elderly.

In order to administer all the new restrictions, governments empowered a host of bureaucrats. Not unexpectedly, bureaucracy often failed to take the human dimension into account when fulfilling their new responsibilities. Also, governments, in their anxiety and haste to overcome the threat of the virus became overly dependent upon statistics. Statistics, which with the best will in the world, were bound to be massaged by those wishing to impress their masters or by hard pressed medical staff who saw compiling statistics as a totally unnecessary burden placed upon them. 
To the politicians, statistics seemed the ideal way to bring home to people the true seriousness of the virus. Unfortunately  it, unintentionally I’m sure, produced a mindless fear in many hearts. Speaking to people since I returned, I find they saw this fear and resentment grow, not only towards the authorities but also against individuals refusing to be vaccinated for instance, when a second lockdown was implemented. Human beings are naturally gregarious and a lengthy period of social isolation raises high levels of resentment. After all, few, apart from those  living through WW 2 had experienced such restrictions. Restrictions which were in some ways even worse than those in wartime.
Fear unfortunately feeds upon itself and spreads like a black cloud over the planet.  We have been reminded before that the greatest problem is fear itself, rather than its underlying cause. Fear is completely irrational and under its influence the actions of human beings become totally illogical and hurtful to others. We cease to act with compassion and understanding and become slaves to outlandish ideas and theories. Without compassion, humanity becomes aggressive and makes no allowance for normal human weakness. We create a world where the strong are allowed to rule the roost without !et or hindrance. 
The challenge facing us all now is not this terrible virus but how to get rid of the underlying fear:  How to return to normal social interaction once more.  Covid is undoubtedly here to stay and, like it or not, we have to learn to live with it. After all,  the terrible flu pandemic in 1919 was little different and we have learned to live with its presence in our lives. Flu is still deadly to certain people, but we don’t live in fear of it anymore. So it must become with Covid. The sooner we accept this and allow it to become one of the many risks we face in life, the better. It will need us to exercise sensible precautions but if we do, things should return to what passes for normal fairly quickly.  Let us vow to return to helping each other again and not adopt uncompromising attitudes towards our fellow beings.   Let us try to become less intolerant and more empathetic. Do that and life will resume its normal pattern quite quickly.



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POWER

                                                         

Spiritualists talk of power in relation to the power of spirit: The Power to produce physical phenomena: The power that is felt when sitting in circle and the presence of spirit is detected: The power mediums sometimes feel when the spirit people are very close.  No-one who has experienced this power would deny its reality nor the significant effect it has: An effect that is positive and uplifting: An effect which touches the soul and remains long afterwards. I have experienced it and never have I felt such reverence.  It was as though I was truly in the presence of God.

This power is clearly positive and a demonstration of the love which the enlightened ones in the spirit world have towards us all.  However, not all the power comes from the spirit world, a proportion of the power in a circle or séance comes from the sitters themselves. We are all spirit beings and spiritual love and power is within each one of us should we choose to use it. In circle or séance, we place ourselves at the service of the spirit world and the loving power generated is the result. I have often wondered why power in everyday life is often so negative when this kind of enlightened and positive power can be generated, with the help of those in the spirit world.  

Lord Acton, many years ago wrote, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.  The truth of this has been repeatedly demonstrated over the centuries.  You  will not need me to enumerate the long list of individuals to whom Lord Acton’s words apply today. As with many abuses of privilege and authority or of neglect and cruelty to others, many ask, “Why does God allow this to happen?” 

Is that a fair question?  To those who believe passionately that God is an individual who is all powerful, it seems very fair.  To those of us who accept that God is not an individual but is the motivating power of all life, animate and inanimate: That humanity creates its  own heaven or hell, it is not. To us God is encapsulated in the poem of the nineteenth century American, Lizzie Doten, entitled “God of the Granite and the Rose.” In it she describes God’s power as running in a circle throughout the whole of creation and returning to God:

“Thus round and round the circle runs,

A mighty sea without a shore,

While men and angels, stars and suns

Unite to praise Thee evermore.”

Why, therefore do human beings find it so difficult to avoid being corrupted by the exercise of power? To understand this, one has to try to understand as far as we are able, the cycle and even the purpose of life.  It may well be impossible to define this beyond doubt. However, the experience of Spiritualists and the communication received from those advanced souls in the spirit world, who speak to us from time to time, gives us some clear pointers. We are told that life is a spiritual, not merely a physical process. Physical existence is a phase through which the individual spirit passes in order to learn spiritual lessons from being imprisoned for a time in a physical body. Some claim this process is repeated more than once, though many Spiritualists dispute this, claiming re-incarnation is unproven.

All creation we are told, is part of God, the motivating power of the universe.  That being the case, it seems reasonable to suppose that God is not a static but an ever-changing power.  As spirit in its many and varied physical forms grows, so the power of God grows with it. If that is so we need to know what constitutes growth. The spirit we are  told is light and the light of each individualised spirit is brighter or duller depending upon its spiritual growth. That’s all very well but how does the light of spirit grow brighter? Silver Birch a wise and learned soul, who spoke to humanity through a trance medium, maintained that spiritual growth is earned through service to others. In relation to human beings, the value of our service is in proportion to the gifts with which we have been endowed and the privileges we have been accorded by virtue of our role in Society. The greater the privilege the greater the effort that is required from us.

Almost all examples of the abuse of power throughout history can be placed at the feet of those, who have either by force of arms or by way of gift from the general population, gained tremendous privilege.  To a lesser degree, those who have been appointed to positions of authority within commercial enterprises are also given privilege and exercise power over others. When our spirit, our true self, is encased in a physical body on birth, the influence of our five senses becomes overpowering. For many people this influence is irresistible and disconnects them from their spiritual selves throughout their adult lives. It is this disconnection which has led to the overwhelmingly materialist nature of modern society. It has influenced most scientists to dismiss any idea of a spiritual basis to life which  has led inevitably to materialism and measuring human progress purely in monetary terms. It is also responsible for consumerism, the widespread pollution of Earth and is a major contributor to climate change.

There was a time when religion and science were considered to be inseparable. That is until religion itself became a victim of the corruptive influence of power. Instead of being organisations that kept people in touch with their spiritual heritage, helping them to live better lives, they became self-serving. They used their influence to enhance their own power over people and to generate immense wealth for themselves and their leaders. Instead of the church serving the people, people became the servants of the church. Thus a dichotomy developed between science and religion.

How therefore can life on Earth lead to spiritual growth if so many fall victims to the corruptive influence of power?  Fortunately, not all individuals do fall victim. Some exercise their power benevolently. Others live lives devoted to helping others and eschew the trappings of power. We must never forget that life is eternal and throughout that life we are individually and collectively faced with choices.  This is so both here on Earth or in the spirit world. The choices we make determine the pattern our lives will take but such choices are never irrevocable. When we make poor choices, there will always be opportunities to correct them. Added to this, many in the spirit world devote themselves to guiding those of us in physical bodies. Helping us to avoid the many pitfalls of life or to benefit from mistakes we have made and cancel their negative effects. 

Earthly life is an incredible challenge and I believe no one ever completely fails.  It is also a challenge which I believe each of us undertakes willingly and knowingly. When we have passed from Earth we, with the help of our guiding friends in spirit, review our life here.  Not merely from our own perspective but also from that of the people whose lives we have touched.  Only then can we be sure exactly what spiritual growth we have achieved. Of course those in spirit will be able to tell if we have made significant spiritual progress by the light we generate. It may well be that we have failed to progress as much as we hoped we would when we chose to be born. Nevertheless, no Earthly life is wasted and the clear memory of the mistakes we made and why will help us to move forward in the spirit world. We may have to start from a lower point there than we would have liked and it will not be easy but we are able to serve there in capacities that will put us on an upward path once more. Above all, we will never be alone. Others will always be on hand to encourage and to support us no matter how hard we find the challenges we must face.

It seems to me life on Earth is beset by conflict. There seems no limit to the different areas of human endeavour where conflict and apparent unfairness reign supreme.  Being so widespread, this cannot be a matter of chance.  It must be part of God’s  design, but why?  Is the reason perhaps the vital importance for our souls of how we deal with conflict and unfairness?  Do we turn a blind eye or do we do what we can to oppose them?  Perhaps these challenges are needed if physical life is to achieve its objective of preparing our spirit for its onward journey?  Does conflict have a greater effect upon materialists than those who consciously or not, give their spiritual selves freer reign?  Perhaps you have an answer to these questions.

Lionel Owen