All the religions in the world, regardless of their philosophy, doctrine, dogma, ritual and opinion of other religions, all offer comfort to their adherents and followers in times of personal distress.
The form that takes can be any amount of rituals and ceremonials with supplications and requests for help both from the sufferer of all those ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’ and those who would seek alleviation and melioration from them on their behalf.
The carrying out of these prescribed activities, the sometimes palatial buildings in which they take place and sumptuous apparel of celebrants, leaders, from head honcho down, can impress, inspire and comfort their adherents.
And all this does help. But our Spiritualist religion, surprising as it may seem with the words Spirit and Spiritual as its main root, even where the expression of it differs, according to the group or organisation, church or centre, if not as fancy, has a far more solid base to offer the hopeful earth-dweller.
The philosophy of Spiritualism actually springs from the physical manifestation of an eternal life in the spirit dimensions, the usually invisible world that co-exists and interpenetrates this material existence. And the demonstration of it as a fact by mediumship, the determined communication between the two states of being.
Modern Spiritualism began with loud inexplicable noises occurring all night at the Fox family’s rented cottage in Hydesville, Rochester, in the US in 1848. They had reputedly caused disturbance for the previous occupants too.
Somehow the three women in the house, Margaretta and Kate with their mother Margaret (one of the sisters, Leah, and the man of the house, John Fox, were away) curiosity overcoming their fear, were prompted to play a game with the ‘noises’ to see whether a Morse Code-like system could be employed to decipher the meaning behind them; Morse Code having been recently invented in America, coincidentally… Of course we know that nothing is ‘coincidental’ in our Spiritualistically informed understanding of life’s twists and turns.
They must have been amazed to find that there was indeed an intelligence behind the noisy reverberations that had disturbed the peace of their home for so many nights.
By this means he identified himself as a commercial traveller who’d been robbed, murdered and buried in the cellar along with his empty tin box.
This person of humble earthly life had been given the blessed task by those elevated beings in the realms of light to instigate an event that was to change, transform the earthly lives of many millions, and start a new truly spiritual movement, a new religious experience, that would gather strength through the forthcoming centuries.
The Foxes were a Methodist family, and interestingly the family home in Epworth, Lincolnshire, of founders of the Methodist denomination John and Charles Wesley, both ordained ministers of the Church of England, had also experienced similar loud noises over a century before. It’s on record that these started at Christmas 1716 and stopped in March 1717…
On an amusing note it was recorded that objects started to be thrown around too – we can imagine the frustration of the would-be communicator finding their efforts being basically ignored.
What was being demonstrated was the fact that there is a world interwoven with our current habitation that can impact it in a solid and perceivable interaction.
What this phenomena also showed, was that such contact and indeed help from the spirit side of life was not, is not, dependent on any one person’s station in life, their culture, creed, tribe affiliations, gender or sexuality.
We have, through our Spiritualist mediums who have attained the highest levels of spiritual consciousness, received modern revelation, that confirms the primary message of Jesus in the prayer he suggested, advocating a kind, caring and inclusive attitude to all life and all that live on the earth plane. And that there is another dimension of spirit wherein we all live, both incarnate and discarnate. That those discarnate in the higher realms of light may not only communicate with us but are able to manipulate matter for our benefit.
Jesus explained that after his passing he would return as the great comforter and Holy Spirit, and our Spiritualist experience and knowledge affirms that statement to be a great truth. And it is by our basic Spiritualist understanding of the truth contained in that statement, that those in the spirit dimensions are real conscious human beings and willing and able to manifestly help us in our earthly life, that we are comforted.
May God bless you, comfort you and keep you safe in times of trial.
Rev Lyn