The impact of truth

This Talk is from Jim in Australia who runs a big church outside Adelaide in Australia.

Good evening everyone I’m pleased once again to have the chance to present a talk to you. Many here know that I place the chance to present the philosophy of our movement at the same level of importance as the demonstration of mediumship.

My reason is simple, mediumship provides the proof that our spirit survives beyond the event that which we wrongly call death. However, that truth carries an impact, which is much greater than the simple fact that our loved ones can communicate with us from the sprit world.

It is the impact of that simple truth which Spiritualism alone acknowledges and looks at. If you step onto the platform deciding also to present the address then you accept an important obligation to Spirit to provide a better understanding of this. 

This is often the one chance we get to draw people’s attention away from the phenomena of mediumship to the underlying philosophy. These days we tend to see a lot of presentations on TV, psychic detectives, Medium, Crossing Over and other programs. Can you remember when, in any of these, there was any explanation for what is going on?

Remember that, even now, not one Orthodox Church or creed formally accepts that such communication is possible. So, as conventional religions either deny or, worse still, treat such communication as evil, how is it either happening or possible?

Spiritualism has always provided an answer to this.

I will use a quote from Arthur Findlay, a renowned Spiritualist who bequeathed Stanstead Hall to the Spiritualist National Union of Great Britain leading to the foundation of their famous College.

In 1936, in response to many attacks on Spiritualism by Clerics, particularly in 1935 by the Bishop of London and The Bishop of Winchester he wrote a book called The Torch Bearers.

In this the fictional Bishop of ‘Alfortruth’ allowed a Spiritualist, Mr ‘Trueman’, to give a sermon from the pulpit. To quote a section, "... Death is one of nature’s greatest illusions. It appears as if the individual ceases to be, whereas the reverse is the case. The individual at death begins to live a life of such intenseness that we are unable on earth to understand what a blessing death really is to all who have lived their allotted span on earth … "

I am raising this subject today because of recent contacts with fellow spiritualists around the globe, and from our discussions it is clear that Spiritualism is widely misunderstood in the broader world. This continues even where people should know better, too often we can be perceived as representing something we are not.

There are even Uniting Ministers who cross themselves when we say what we believe in! We also hear people associate us with witchcraft, paganism and devils.  Clearly that is not what we are about - but it does sound rather colourful!

Unfortunately this has an effect, if you disclose that you are a practising healer, psychic or medium what reaction do you get? It is not just the potential for disbelief, there are so many other reactions that people can express, including scepticism and horror.  

It is interesting to find out what people are likely to say first, if they do decide to tell people.

Do they let people know that they are a psychic or a medium as the starting point? Or do they start by giving a stranger a reading?

That is not the way,  hopefully the individual has taken charge of their own abilities in a responsible way and uses them in the right place, time and way. If you do start to discuss in this way how do you handle the obvious questions that follow on about the TV programs and the exposure of fraud that just everyone has heard about? 

In fact although I remain somewhat careful, especially in the arena I work in, I am very open about my involvement in Spiritualism.

Over 22 years ago, as a result of events I will not go into in this talk, I chose this pathway and cannot pretend I am anything other. It covers my belief in God, gives me a philosophy to live by also. In the truth I see from mediumship, it gives me the evidence to reinforce and prove what it says. So if anyone asks me directly, I tell them, because it is not just what I believe in, it is what I spend a good deal of my time working for.

It becomes impossible to deny, when asked by a business colleague or client, what did you do at the weekend, "Oh I did platform clairvoyance at a Spiritualist Church."

In reality this can be a bit of a conversation stopper in the middle of a strategic planning session but it is the truth!

However, it never starts with the phenomena, so when saying that I am a Spiritualist I take a philosophical route. take the focus off the “phenomena” and explain what Spiritualism is. As I have said, this is so rarely heard, explained or even mentioned by the many famous personality “Mediums”. People just think we talk to the dead; they have never had the underlying reality of our movement explained to them.

As they hear the reality of the philosophy then, on every occasion, a little light dawns in their mind. 

Again from that mythical sermon, "Spiritualism gives us the knowledge to unwind the drapings of myths and legends of the past from the truth beneath, which those myths and legends have hidden. Those myths and legends were just symbols to express a great truth, but the people forgot the reality beneath and worshiped only the drapings. Thus we have to day the people of all creeds and races worshipping and holding sacred that which is unessential, while neglecting the essential in their religious life, which is to develop character, acquire knowledge and wisdom, and live unselfish lives.” 

Within Spiritualism we all know it has the same basic frameworks of all the great religions of our world. However we have one major exception, we can prove that the spirit continues its existence beyond that which we call death, which is, in reality, just the cessation of the physical body.

This proof is what all the famous Mediums are trying to do but all too often either never explain properly. We must highlight that this is our major difference, that we all can learn that death is not an end, as we do not wait to be called back in the future, as one of the righteous, and some believe.  We all know that the critical element of us, our spirit, will continue on with full knowledge of the way we have lived our lives. Having to come to terms with the fact that death neither erased this awareness nor does it save us from those “sins”, or misdeeds of the past.

Unlike other religions no one came to save us, salvation is our personal responsibility. We can either do this now by changing our patterns of living in this world, or go on to deal with it after we cross over. We know that this is the same for everyone on this planet - Spiritualism is universal. 

Again, to quote that sermon,“Spiritualism unites, creeds separate. We all, irrespective of race, colour or nationality have the same destiny and will reach this future habitation just as naturally as we reached this earth at birth”.

When you construct a few well-chosen sentences, that cover this essential truth, often it is enough for people to begin to comprehend our philosophy, belief and truth. Indeed many take comfort because they are able to catalogue it as a “religion” making us seem less weird and spooky.

Once they understand that point then it becomes easier to put mediumship, healing and psychic into context and to assist them in understanding it all in a better way.

Now, if I then achieve this with someone I don’t go on to demonstrate that I am psychic because I believe strongly that there is a time and place to open up. I also believe it is important to exercise this gift with deference and respect to Spirit. Indeed it would only be a perfect proof of survival message, or miracle cure, that could prove what I say, whereas a psychic party trick would undermine it. So in a simple way I have reintroduced you to the reason I am here and why I believe so strongly in Spiritualism.

Among these ideas I have also presented a sampling of our philosophy to those who may be unaware of it. Sharing this with you and explaining may help you to reach your own understanding and awareness. 

I do believe that becoming aware of the ongoing nature of our life is important. It can help you live this life more fully while allowing you the opportunity to be prepared for the transition to the afterlife. 

On the subject of this transition let me share a story from a video, on a famous physical phenomena circle, which ran from the late 1940’s into 1950. Lis and I watched this last weekend and intend to show it here, one evening in the near future. The incident came towards the end of the circle’s time, when a member of the Plymouth Brethren attended and his cousin Edna talked to him through the speaking trumpet. Two weeks after attending the circle he passed into spirit. However, within a month, he came back to talk to the circle from the other side.

He was excited saying Edna had met him on the other side and he was very happy.

Asked whether he had met any of his old friends from the Plymouth Brethren he said yes but they were a miserable lot who, as yet, refused to acknowledge they were dead because they didn’t seem dead as they understood it, from what they had been taught!

So take this understanding and work on your awareness, it will help you at sometime in the future. It will help you directly in a personal way, especially when someone who is dear to you passes over. You know that they are still alive just in a different dimension to the one they left. Yes the grief in losing the closeness of the contact will remain but it is tempered by the knowing, that the person still remains intact and growing in a new way. 

Of course then when you receive a message it is a therapeutic event bringing healing and connection. This knowledge can also have a much stronger effect upon you.

As you begin to accept and understand the reality that life continues then it changes your perceptions of this physical existence.

This can create future opportunities, when the time is right, to allow you to deal with issues that remain unresolved from the years that have passed in this lifetime. It gives a chance to look at those events in a new light, as part of the learning process, chances for forgiveness, maybe to finally let go of issues that continuously repeat in our life, thereby allowing us to move on. 

Finally I’ll finish with the last part of Mr ‘Truemans’ sermon, concerning the universal nature of Spiritualism, ”I am looking far ahead but at least we, as intelligent people, can help forward this, my vision of the future, by giving earnest thought to those things which are beautiful and true while discarding those things which are cruel and false. By doing so we will raise ourselves mentally, thus we shall attain greater at-one-ment with the infinite. Thus we shall approach more closely to reality. This and this only is true religion. This and this only is true worship.” 

End.

Jims Website is

http://nasm.org.au/ 

What is the IMPACT OF THE TRUTH on you?

Write to me on the Email and let me know!

Stella.