WHAT IS A PHILOSOPHER?

 A person who walks about a university, thinking hard, staring at the ground? Wearing tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows? Stuttering out great pondering words of wisdom?

No - this a philosopher does not make!

But what does?

We are all philosophers in our own way, we all have experience in the world, and that hard won experience has shaped our thoughts into a certain way of thinking, and there we have the key, a way of thinking. 

That's what a philosopher is - a person who shapes their own thinking, and we have choices in doing the shaping. It can be done deliberately of we can leave it to chance. The spiritual guidance of what to read and where to find teaching, the inner or 'higher' self speaking through our intuition will always lead us if we care to notice this. Remember, doing nothing is still making a decision - it's deciding to do nothing!

Our view of life, is gained and matured through our thoughts and this is done by experiences recorded in our character; how we allow these to influence our actions is dictated by our philosophy, we discard that which doesn't sit well with us, and what does sit well is honesty and goodness. Like attracts like, remember this when thoughts need to be rejected of the negative kind.

Speaking about the philosophy of spiritualism through the help of our guides, this is the purpose of the address, it is also mediumship, yes it is! It 's still channelling from spirit friends, helpers, or a particular guide, to the inner mind of the medium and (without any pause or interpretation at all) given directly out to the congregation. Inspirational speech is another word for this method. 

This all is a little different to the channelling of clairvoyance, because the speaker allows the guide to ‘take over' just a little. It is sometimes called ‘over-shadowing' and must not be confused with trance speaking,  where the medium is used as a ‘voice box', and the spirit person talks directly through that instrument, without the medium guiding the talk.

Of course the speaker / medium is still directly responsible for what is allowed to be said, s/he could stop the process at any time. Personal responsibility at all times is paramount to all spiritualism; this is in the basic principles, as you know.

So, how is this kind of mediumship coming about?

STEP ONE:

A guide is a personal friend that we trust implicitly, and you don't need me to tell you that any friendship is built up over time. There you have it, a worker of any kind of mediumship when channelling allow, trusts that, the spirit guides and helpers know how to do their jobs, and just like at the workplace in the earthly circumstances, when we know who we are working with this is so much easier.

Getting to know our guides and helpers is the start, this is mostly done through meditation, and with friends is good so joining a circle is also a nice way to gain the necessary confidence and build up rapport, of course what kind of circle is important (see Teaching Section articles on this subject) this takes time, so start now! 

Who can do this? Well, for a start not the ego centred person, but that applies to any form of mediumship, so the test is this:

1.     Are you allowing the spirit friends to work through you in any way at all?

2.     Have you established any of the trust needed?

If the answer is ‘yes' to these two basics, then you are well on your way to being a good speaker, and  ready for the next step.

STEP TWO:

It takes courage to be a demonstrator or a healer, and this ‘speaking' part when giving the address is no different. One could say that all mediumship is judged on results, and this is true. The old adage from ‘show biz' about putting ‘bums on seats' says it all!

We all need feedback to know if we are doing our jobs as spiritualist mediums effectively.

Healing: The healer needs feedback to know how effective they are, and this is slow, always ask for this from everyone you offer healing to, without it we cannot know if anything perhaps needs developing more.

Demonstrating: Giving communications is fairly quick with the process of feedback, as anyone who sits in the congregation will know. Asking questions is not a good sign of confidence in ones guides and self, and feedback from the booking secretary will reflect this.

Speaking: A ‘good' speaker indicates technique, and that can be applied to any person who stands up and gives a talk on anything at all.

The criteria for an effective spiritual speaker are that the listeners are moved to align their thinking into the spiritual way. This is done by the spirit people.

But having said that it is most helpful to them that a person has any training at all, but is not essential. Guides use the memory storehouse (experiences) of a  medium for every kind of service, the age of the person is not what matters, it's empathy and intuition that count. In other words, if there is no love there for our fellow mankind, how can we speak to them of it?

Love is the key, blockages to any form of mediumship are the ego and fear, and I have found that everything comes under those two headings. I'm not referring to lack of confidence, or ‘stage fright', because they are soon overcome. There are many ways of using meditation and concentration to balance these things, and a good teacher will train their pupils so that they can learn to stand on their own, it all improves with practice ('fledgling evenings are for just this). Don't forget that the wonderful feelings of upliftment gained with any form of spiritual direction more than compensate any misgivings at the start!