When we are ready the right place will arrive. I started to look for my true home church at the age of 40 plus, because over the years I had joined a number of churches that had some strange ideas. [One of which had a patriarchal system, and I'm a 'new woman'!]

If you can see that colour, race, creed, or gender have nothing to do with the way we pass into the next world, then you are in the right place in a spiritualist church! 

Reasons for starting to ask questions about philosophy and spiritualism can be many and varied – not least losing friends and family members, and so suffering the mind consequences of those experiences.

Triggers to start this process are in some basic groups. Healing, communications being needed, and like me the need for a spiritual 'home' church.

The experiences of natural death, or suicide can take many forms and I had experience of both, feelings that crept up on me, many years after the events. Through this I understand now that grief has many stages and we all have to go through it in our own way, death of a person is only one way of starting a new journey.

Another one might be the death of a part of yourself, it can be physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual.

This is not as strange as it at first seems. For example all the same emotions come after an accident taking a limb, or a deliberate operation removing an organ of the body.

Grief at losing a part of the self for any reason must eventually be passed through because this is part of the healing process, we cannot escape it.

I know I tried to do just that. This is nature's 'built in' way of staying healthy. Having very strong emotions of the distressing kind is - I’m sorry to say - often regarded as ‘something wrong’!

A bereavement counselor will explain about the pain, fear, anger, remorse etc, and the progression all these feelings.

QUESTION: WHAT PART DOES PHILOSOPHY PLAY IN EVERYDAY LIFE?

How we deal with experiences, any experiences at all, depends on our philosophy, how we think, our pattern of thought is dictated by many things, how we are trained for example.

If your job means that you use a particular method of reasoning, then this is the one you will probably also use for the working out of what seems to be ailing you.

But over-riding the patterns of thought and training is the basic philosophy of the inner being.

Why do I say ‘inner being’? Because philosophy dwells in the roots of personality, the core of the spirit, the soul, it goes into and comes out of our secret place, the part of us that makes our personality / character and that is the nub of it.

Some call the conscience the keeper of the soul, and we ignore it at our peril!

There are many ways the body will reject what it cannot 'stomach', and you know I am talking not just physical here.

QUESTION: HOW IS OUR PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY FORMED?

The oldest debate of "Nature versus Nurture" could go round and around here, but suffice it to say that we adopt through the natural osmosis of our different skins [on all the levels of existence] the ideas and thoughts of our parents and peers, accepting and rejecting as we mature and grow, throwing off unwanted ideas continuously as we go forward on our paths of progression.

When we find each small part of reason and comfort for the spirit, we have arrived at another piece in the picture puzzle towards making our philosophy, and this might take all our lives.

This is why so many people seek the answers to their problems through various ‘religions’, or this philosophy of spiritualism - which is can be regarded more as a science; the seekers are looking to fill that hole in their hearts that can only be a philosophical gap.

"That God shaped hole" !

QUESTION: WHERE IS INFORMATION COMING FROM?

Philosophical reasoning can be sought and found in many ways, but most of us arrive through learning about many different things through experience and putting them all together to make sense to our inner being, then we are home.

Comfortable in the place we arrived at - this can only be found through education, [be it self or school taught,] reading, films and stories all contribute to our education and way of thinking.

Even the tales of our childhood affect the romantic in us all, and form our thinking and so therefore our philosophy. 

QUESTION: HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE FOUND THE RIGHT PHILOSOPHY FOR ME?

TEST THEM ALL!

Holding up the philosophy against the commonsense reasoning to see if it fits, is the best and really the only way to test it. Reject what you do not want just now. Does the thing fit in all directions? If you cannot say why one form of philosophical reasoning lets your 'inner self' down, you haven’t found the right one!

It was the philosophies of spiritualism that fitted all my personal questions and when I was faced with experiences that cut me up, the philosophy mended those wounds of the past, and protected me form those same hurts in the future.

Seeing the bigger picture, forgiving the hurt, while accepting responsibility for that which I had caused others is very liberating. Spirit will remind you of these thing when you are ready, just as they did for me.

QUESTION: DOES SPIRIT WORK THROUGH EVERYONE?

Being able to pass on the information of personal knowledge and enable other people to come to peace with their inner voices is the work of the spirit. Seeing in others that same healing of the mind body and spirit is fulfilling in so many ways that it is impossible to say.

When we realize that we are all instruments of the good that is inherent in our deepest place, our spirits, both ours and other peoples, and when we see that these spirits never die it follows that we have the opportunity to go onwards into the future adjusting things as best as we can, with our own gifts developing as we progress, then the possibilities are endless into infinity.

QUESTION: ARE WE ALL PREDESTINED?

The intention - taught us by the masters, and I believe this - is for us all to go back to our Maker as we first began, pure in every way. That is the main plan, our destiny if you like that word. Personal choice is the governing factor, Spiritualism is very clear on this, our choices make us the character we are, and only through forming our OWN character can we progress, spirit can do just so much to help, the rest is up to us.

The lives we live are an opportunity to overcome our destructive egotistical natures and the way to do this is to serve others, then and only then have we got onto the foreword path of progression, then and only then will we be fulfilled as spirits.

QUESTION: WHERE DOES YOUR INFORMATION COME FROM REGARDING PHILOSOPHY?  

Spiritual Philosophy is part of the Spiritualist National Union Exams, which I have taken for all my qualifications, which are Healing, Demonstrating and Speaking, which is all part of the very thorough mediumship training.

Reading books of all types, the greatest philosophers are from many religious beliefs that can help with everybody’s understanding, for example, HH The Dalai Lama is one of my favorites. The Bible I have read since childhood when I became interested in the historical facts whilst studying R.E. at school.

But spiritualists consider the important Masters books, to be Silver Birch and White Eagle; they are the best-loved and well-known Guides that are authors through mediums here in the physical, automatic writing comes in here. [See Articles – Clairvoyance - Physical mediumship’.]

Whereas Harry Edwards who was a famous healer in the 1970's wrote many books himself, on different aspects of Spiritualism, his life story is by Ramus Branch. Edgar Cayce was known as the 'sleeping Prophet and his life story is fascinating.

They are all of great importance to spiritualists - and you will find information about them on the web sites listed on the Main Menu look for 'Web Link' - see also the BOOK LIST in this FAQ'S section for ordering or borrowing from the library.  

Happy Reading...!

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