What is Spiritualism? What good does it do? How can we, as Spiritualists, help to promote and “grow” our religion?
Spiritualism MUST promote the belief and acceptance of life after death and that the continuation of life also embraces the fact of communication with those who have made the transition to the life after earth life, or those who have died, to put it more simply.
We know that readings, fortune telling, running tarot cards, reading a crystal ball, many of the activities that are associated with Spiritualism, are NOT acceptable in this religion because they do not promote the belief in life after death.
Okay. I will take issue with the fact that some of the activities I just mentioned do not promote Spiritualism – although it is true that they do not. However, they ARE points of concentration that assist in tuning in to what Spirit may bring. Sometimes it is difficult to tune into what Spirit is attempting to bring through. With the “assistance” of outside “devices” it is easier to tune into what the entities around the person are attempting to bring through or manifest. Sometimes the individual just is either not receptive, is skeptical, or is so tense that reaching into their vibration is nearly impossible, both for the spirit entity and for the medium. Perhaps they have issues they are so tense about that Spirit isn’t able to penetrate into their vibrations or make contact with the medium. Also, sometimes people want to hear from this person most especially and the entity cannot reach into their vibration either because of the spirits lack of knowledge of communication or because the aura around the recipient is so heavy with concern/sadness/guilt or emotion, that spirit cannot penetrate it but another person connected to the recipient is able to come through even though the recipient didn’t care about that particular entity. We always ask people to take the message and “hold” it and work with it. Many times things will fall into place later when you are on your way home or during the days that follow.
At those times, the distraction or “busyness” of shuffling the cards or what ever, may allow the person to let down their wall enough that the medium may more easily make contact with the Spirits around them. It is YOUR spirits, YOUR entities that we tune into – OUR spirits, OUR entities don’t know about YOU any more than you would know about our personal problems or issues. At any rate, those types of activities are forbidden due to the fact that they do not, really, in and of themselves, promote the fact of life after death – or the continuation of life and the ability to communicate with those who have gone before!
It would be ideal if Spirit could touch through easily and effortlessly – wouldn’t we love it if they could just stand beside the medium, materialized as they were in life and just speak out, for everyone to hear, in their own independent voices? Well, it doesn’t happen like that. Sometimes, and you know from experience, a medium doesn’t receive vibrations, or Spirit communications that simply, that easily. I have said many times, I wish we could have church just for the joy of being together and skip messages altogether. I do understand the importance of the demonstration of giving messages. I also realize people on the earth plane do not have “drastic” things happening in their lives every day of every week of every year, for which we should be thankful; occurrences that would be alleviated, eased, by a “talk with Mom or Dad or your Spirit Teacher.” If a medium brings only a hello from someone you knew and maybe loved, it may be “evidential” but somehow it just isn’t all that satisfying. Humans always want “more.” On the other hand that is quite a burden for mediums to live up to and produce. A medium has to raise their vibrations and tune into working with the Spirit plane. Sometimes that is triggered by a certain song – as it is for me with the song Higher Ground. When we sing that song, it is like an open invitation to my guides, Spirit workers to come in; it is like an appointment with me that they normally and usually keep. I did learn in Lily Dale that even the use of a “workers song” is supposed to be unnecessary and is not acceptable. I also realize that when we had All Message Nights we did not use a workers song. To me, the difference is that in a circle we have opened with a prayer and are sitting for the exact reason of an open invitation to spirit. I realize a church service has already had the invocation to the Infinite to enter into our service, we have had prayers and are also dedicated to learning and spirit communication. Perhaps because of whatever “conditioning” I have had; I still prefer the use of a song ahead of each message bearer as it does several things. It keeps the vibrations higher, it opens the minds of the congregation to be more receptive, it also even allows for a physical stretch from a seated position when the congregation stands. Sort of a “7th Inning Stretch.” We have all had the experience of sitting and just wishing we could stand and stretch, even when the speaker is WONDERFUL but our seats are getting harder by the moment. In my mind those are justifiable reasons for the use of a working song prior to each medium’s messages!
Okay. To answer the third question – what good does Spiritualism do? According to the lessons it eases the pain of the loss for those who have had the death of a loved one in their lives. It eases grief. It promotes “understanding” – whatever that is.
One of my personal concerns about this is that many times people drift into our churches, in a time of grief or need, do not stay long enough to actually learn anything except that Mom or Dad or whomever it might be, is all right and that they are alive and well in “heaven” – or whatever – and then they never return. The person has eased his grief, perhaps been able to release any guilt he may have about experiences left unfinished with the decedent, and moves on back to another church and more mainstream beliefs. I have always thought we need to expand our teachings to include more about our philosophy, Infinite Intelligence or the God Force, and to teach more about Jesus, our Master Teacher, the person who showed us the way to become more enlightened and to become better people. The Biblical parables Jesus taught all have morals just like the Aesop’s Fables, and should be used as teaching materials. The Holy writings of other religions contain useful information. When people leave our churches, they usually go back to the various other denominations of religion – and my question is “WHY?” Is it because we do not teach and emphasize anything more than communication? If that is the case, why do we not broaden our base – it is not against our religion to teach from the Bible or other religious writings, nor is Jesus someone whom we do not recognize.
Some will say, “Well, we offer the teaching of Healing.” Yes, we do. However, many mainstream churches now also embrace healing services and some even use the laying on of hands. Healing is wonderful. However, healing, as such, is not the message of love, of learning, of growing, of loving the God Force in our lives – recognizing and embracing our Creator. Healing, normally addressed, usually means the physical release of disease, pain, illness. There is nothing wrong with that. I think many can get caught up in healing and do not go beyond to the recognition that many physical illnesses are brought on by social ills, use and/or abuse of foods or other substances, tension, possibly ulcers or depression and anger caused by poor personal relationships which can affect and create physical problems. You have all heard me say that I believe healing is a 5 pointed star and that every human experience fits into one of those points. Not addressing those points of Mental, Social, Physical, Financial and Spiritual healing in an equal amount doesn’t really address healing. I think Social healing would prevent perhaps as much as 80% of the world’s problems. Social healing would address greed, hatred, the struggle for power, arguments, dishonesty, marital and family relationships, all of the negative things – both on a personal level and on a world wide level.
I personally believe Spiritualism needs to become more main stream by ministering to everyone for everyday needs, not just at a time of grief. To do that we need to include the teaching of Natural Laws, more explanation of our philosophy, more of Jesus’ teachings from our pulpits, the teachings of right and wrong, social consciousness and moral responsibility. I hope you are firm and strong enough in your beliefs and that we have done an adequate job of explaining our philosophy to enable you to share Spiritualism with others.
