As a lot of people are aware, like most people who come into spiritualism through various aspects of circumstances within our lives, an experience we may have had and so forth.
There are not a lot of people that I have come in contact with that have been brought up as Spiritualists. In saying that I was brought up an Anglican, followed the Anglican faith, was christened, confirmed and all the other usual things that go with being an Anglican, until I was in my middle 30s when circumstances in my family made me look at spiritual healing first and foremost. There was nothing else in my thoughts at that time about becoming a member of a Spiritualist church or any other such thing and so as we progressed through going to Petone for healing an opportunity arose when I was asked if I wanted to sit in a discussion group. Of course that then lead on to circle and to where I am today.
But what I have found with Spiritualism is that it helps to be able to give, for me, a wider base on which your own individual faith within a God structure is broadened. Through coming through the Anglican church and like most people, if they have come through a different path, it gives you, I have found, a good base on which to build your own spirituality. It gives you an understanding perhaps of spirituality on a different dimension and coming into the Spiritualist side of things it helps you to grow within those concepts. That is what I have found for myself. Everybody else may find things differently. But Spiritualism helps you to be able to give a broader concept of thinking, it helps you to have the freedom of choice on what you find acceptable whereas in an orthodox type of religion such as Anglican, Catholicism and the rest of them as it was when I was a child, you were told what to believe and that I think is the greatest joy of Spiritualism –being able to believe, having your own thoughts and concepts of it and then being able to share those concepts with other people of like mind.
From that I have found that you’ve been able to broaden your own awareness of what your own spirituality is. As you know and everybody else knows, spirituality has a different meaning for everyone. I think that within this day, the days we are living in now, in this particular age of time, when other faiths outside the dimension of the Christian faith are being brought more into our awareness and our horizon, we can broaden our own thinking even wider. I am a firm believer that with other philosophies and understandings, other spiritual teachings that are coming even more greatly within our own horizons today, we are able to find the beauty in other religions and faiths and mould it to what we might need or how we might feel. On reflection of how the churches are changing their attitudes and thinking, it is really not much different from perhaps how a Spiritualist might think.
I saw a very interesting documentary (which I didn’t see all of) over the Christmas period, particularly the definitions of the resurrection of Christ and what Christ’s life was after the resurrection. In this documentary the knowledge I gained from it was with the resurrection of Christ, it was not from the dead so much as perhaps he came out of a coma-like state. He was taken off the cross, put in the cave, anointed with oil and herbs and on the third day they said he rose again. However, the impression I was given was that perhaps he did not die on the cross, that he may have gone into a semi-state and with the administration of the herbs and the tenderness that was given to him after being taken from the cross he regained his strength and that was the resurrection. Going on from that, in this documentary, he went to India, to Kashmir, but he went through all the countries such as Buddhism. That made an interesting understanding as within Buddhism there are so many links within their teaching that are not unlike the Christian links such as the virgin birth and the other teachings that were given at the time of Buddhism. Now I know nothing about Buddhism. I am only going on what I saw in this documentary and this is where within Spiritualism it gives us a base to be able to look at other people’s faith with a greater open-mindedness than ridiculing or dismissing what might be taught by them.
In Spiritualism of course the greatest strength is trying to alleviate the fear of death and this is wonderful if people can just not be afraid of what is going to happen to them. If they live a life of, I am going to say, normality towards other humans, what is there to be afraid of? It is only when you might have been aggressive in some manner that perhaps you might well be afraid of what is going to happen to you but the wonderful thing with Spiritualism is we do not preach hell. I always look at this as why should someone who leads a hellish life on this land be subjected to more hell when they pass over? If God is a God of love as we teach and the spiritual values are there for all mankind, not just for certain people, but for all, then we must be able to rise from that hellish world we lived in while on earth for many people into something better.
So I feel Spiritualism gives a greater faith in spirit or the God essence, however people like to perceive it, and so in that we are able to have a stronger faith within ourselves. Now in coming to a stronger faith within ourselves, then that must give us a better feeling about ourselves, helping us to be able to progress more positively, instead of in a negative manner.
I know we all go through the phases of negativity within ourselves for that is what brings the balance but what I have found since being involved in the spiritualist church is that (a) we think what we feel is right for us and (b) there is no limit to the learning and the expression of that learning. Not everyone will agree with this, even within the movement. But then we don’t always agree with everything that everyone has to say within the movement either. However, it helps us to become more greatly aware of matters outside ourselves, to be able to question, to be able to have a greater faith and hopefully dignity within ourselves and within our own spiritual beliefs, that we are able to share them with others whose thinking may not be the same as ours. We can have a healthy discussion with other people about their religious beliefs because there is one thing I have found, perhaps from standing up in public, and that is it gives us confidence in ourselves, to be able to hold ourselves in dignity when we meet with other people of like mind, not to be intimidated by what they may say. There are always people who will try to intimidate us but we have to ask for the help that is given to us and so the strength is given to us.
It is healthy to be able to sit down with other people but unfortunately there are so many misconceptions about Spiritualism. Whether other faiths are frightened that what we teach is too close to the bone, or it might be too close to the truth and they don’t wish it, but that is their prerogative. There is one thing I do know and that is with all faiths we must learn to have a common, healthy respect for one another and what we believe. We are not evil people, we don’t believe in the devil and we don’t worship that way. We are big enough to be able to look outside ourselves, to be able to visit other religious philosophies and understandings, to be able to go into other churches if we wish to listen to what they are teaching without allowing it to affect us in any way. We can do this because we know that with what we have got, we know the truth but then again we must also respect that other churches feel they have the truth as well. So we must come to this respect for one another, whether it be a Christian or non-Christian faith, bearing in mind Spiritualists are not classed as “Christian” and yet I feel within the Spiritualist church there are probably more what should be Christian-like people than there are in a lot of other faiths.
It always amazes me of the most unexpected people whose thinkings are so very similar when you pick up books and you read. I am reading one at the moment by a Catholic nun. A lot of what she is saying in this book ties in so well with our philosophy. So is our philosophy any greater or different than anybody else’s? The difference is that we allow people to acknowledge that they are not Spiritualists, that they don’t have the same outlook perhaps totally as a Spiritualist but they acknowledge their faith in their own way. When we look at all faiths what I have found is that we are all linked together in so many different ways.
For me personally, Spiritualism has given me a greater faith in the God energy if you like or in Spirit. As far as the teachings of Jesus or the Nazarene are concerned, I can look at those teachings not on the spiritual side so greatly but as Jesus as the man and what he came to show and teach us for we can learn and build our lives on that as well. It also teaches you to have a greater faith in what you believe and that is all we can do. To be able to broaden our own thinking, awareness and understanding of what we are wanting from our own spirituality or the spirituality that surrounds us.
I know there are numerous books that we can read but there again, we must remember that a lot of those books are other people’s thinking and the awareness they have given us. It might not be what we think but we can always get value out of everything. We get value out of who we are and where we are. We get value out of the books that are written and the words we hear and above all, being able to have that communication link that is not exclusive to Spiritualists. It is there for everybody to have that communication link if you like to the higher self or the God within, the Christ consciousness, to be able to also have that inner link with our loved ones who have gone that helps to give us peace of mind and help overcome grief. Although we know they are close to us and we would like them back with us, it is not possible for they have finished their life span as we all will at some stage. But it also gives me a great deal to think about death and in this I am not afraid of dying. I am quite looking forward to it in some respects, to see what I have learnt, to see what I have expounded off the platform, what I have perhaps said to people, to find the greater depth and meaning of the teaching that is so more readily available to all of us at this time.
In this era of life that we are living, in the 21st century, we are able to think for ourselves. That is the greatest thing Spiritualism gives us, to be able to think for ourselves, to think differently if you like but to be able to find where our strengths are, to be able to ask for the help and the guidance and know that it is given to us.
For those who are embarking on their spiritual journey, I know in the early days you can’t get enough of the knowledge and understanding. However, we must always remember that not all spiritualists are broad thinking. We can get those who have a narrower view but we must remember our free will and our own responsibility to think and to do what suits us as individuals and be able to embark with that knowledge and to go forward in the love and support that is given to each and every one of us.
We are given God’s blessing and that is not just for Spiritualists, it is for everybody if they would like to avail themselves of it. We do not need to go through a third person to reach God, for we know that the God energy dwells within each of us. So all I can say is that coming into the Spiritualist movement has given me greater faith within myself, greater strength within myself and the ability to know that what I have learnt previously has been rebuilt on those foundations given to me as a young child, it has enhanced all those learnings and given me a broader spectrum in which to think and understand for myself.
I thank Spirit for all the help and the love and the support that has been given to me, and for the knowledge and understanding that is also given. For that I say thank you to Spirit for all the love, the helpers, the guides, the mentors that we have in spirit and for all who draw close to me. I can only say thank you very much for your love and support. I say God bless you all Spiritualists and hope you find your new pathway and what you are seeking in life as I have and God bless you all.
Thank you.
– Anne Duncan, Address at Spiritualist Church.