15 March 2003
Dear All,
I am aware that some of you may have been surprised at the views I expressed on Wednesday following the video on good and evil. I thought that you all may benefit from further clarification, so that you are aware of why I hold these views, and where I am coming from. First of all however I must apologise for the length of this letter. This is necessary in order to fully explain my views.
I found Nicky Gumble's assertion that anything to do with spirituality and divination is evil somewhat puzzling, for the reasons that I shall give below. In particular he singled out astrology, tarot and channelling, stating that these are all the work of the Devil. As such, he advised us to destroy any books or other information that we have on the occult and divination. He also stated that there is no such thing as white magic, only black.
According to the dictionary, divination is the practice of foretelling the future by, or as if by, supernatural means, insight, or guessing (in other words, using intuition). The Thesaurus revealed a wealth of alternative words, including prediction and prophecy. Prophecy is further defined as the interpretation of divine will, the act of revealing such interpretations, the foretelling of the future, or a gift or aptitude for predicting the future.
I find that a lot can be discovered about the true meaning of words by looking at the way in which they are structured. Divination equates to 'divine nation'. During a discussion in one of the earlier sessions, entitled 'How does God guide us', it was stated that one of the ways in which He does this is by providing signs. Nicky Gumble gave the example of seeing messages on billboards. As the Divine is another name for God, my interpretation of divination would be that this too is just another way of enabling God to provide us with the signs that we are seeking to confirm that we are on the right path. Tarot and astrology are therefore just two of the myriad of ways that God uses to provide us with information that we are seeking. As He has also given us free will, it is up to us how we choose to use that information.
Most scholars are in agreement that the three wise men mentioned as present at the birth of Jesus were members of a school known as the Magi, whose teachings included astrology. Anyone who has read, or has any knowledge of the Bible will realise that it is full of prophecies. The Book of Revelations is essentially a book of prophecy. And what about the Biblical Prophets, such as Isiah and Ezekial? In the video Nicky Gumbel advises us to destroy anything that we own that is remotely concerned with divination, would this then include the Bible?
Gumbel also singled out the practise of channelling, which he defined as 'communicating with the dead'. This is a misperception, which I was at pains to point out during the discussion. Channelling is a means of communication, sometimes, but rarely with the dead. It is allowing the spirit of another being, human or otherwise, to communicate through you, using either the written or the spoken word. It is sometimes, but not always carried out in a trance state. There is nothing to be feared from this process, and there is nothing supernatural about it. We all do this to a certain extent, but have chosen instead to call it intuition.
Many people have moments of unexplained clarity, where they find themselves saying the most profound things, without knowing where they came from. This too is a form of channelling. Sometimes the information will be channelled through our spirit guides, at other times it is coming direct from our higher self. In order to explain this further, it is necessary for me to detail exactly what I mean by the terms spirit guides and higher self.
The higher self, or soul, is the wise part of ourselves, that knows exactly what we need. It is a source of infinite wisdom that we can tap into, as it contains all the knowledge and understanding that we have gained throughout the multitude of lifetimes that we have experienced. When we learn to tap into, and trust this wisdom, we realise that we do not need to seek answers elsewhere, for all that we need is already held within.
Our spirit guides are loving beings of light who have chosen to help us on our journey through each particular lifetime, assisting us to understand the lessons that we have chosen to experience. They will often appear to us as Angels, if that is what our mindset requires, although this is not necessarily representative of their true form. In most cases we have already spent several lifetimes in the company of these guides, and have formed a close attachment to them. In order to comprehend this, it is also necessary to understand the concept of reincarnation, and how I believe we are connected to God.
Since experience is relative, in order to experience one particular thing you must first have another opposite experience from which to draw a comparison. You cannot for example experience love without experiencing hatred, as you have to have something to compare with. As God is limitless, He realised that in order to know Himself and his limitlessness, He would also need to know what He was not, in other words to experience limitation.
He therefore divided Himself into a number of pieces so that He could then look back and experience Himself from the viewpoint of the separated piece. These separated pieces were then sent throughout the universe, in order to experience a limited frame of reference. Some became animals, others became birds, while still more became human beings. In order for God to understand the full impact of limitation it became necessary for these souls to have an infinite length of time in which to experience many different facets of life.
While this great experiment continues, we continue to gather experiences through this life, and past and future ones. When we return to God, between lives, these experiences are absorbed by Him. Our experiences are then His, and He continues to experience Himself through us. In this way, we are all aspects of God. This idea makes a mockery of religions that teach the concept of a judgmental God, for if this is true, then in judging us, He is also judging Himself. God does not judge, he merely observes. Once you begin to realise this it can be truly liberating, as you freed from the need to observe so much of the dogma and doctrine that has grown up around the various religions, and you realise that failure to observe such rules will not result in you going to hell, for as our Gnostic forefathers realised, belief in such ideas of hell and original sin are themselves hell, and are as far removed from God as they can be.
The evolution of the soul, as I have come to understand it, follows two paths spread over a series of lifetimes. These are known as the outward path and the path of return. Somewhere in the middle we meet what is known as the point of integration. The outward path is purely about discovering the physical, material world, while the path of return is about introspection, looking inwards, where we begin to understand ourselves more in a spiritual sense. The outward path is characterised by a me, me, me attitude, whereas the path of return is about learning what we can do for others, rather than for ourselves.
The choices and decisions that we make have outcomes, and so we gain in experience. In the process we experience many bumps and scrapes, sometimes incurring deep and profound emotional and spiritual wounds. However painful this may seem, these are nevertheless an essential part of the learning process, for without them we would not grow.
It is usually at the point of integration that the pain and suffering are at their most intense, for it is only by coming to a complete point of surrender that we can begin to tread the path of return. It is also at this point that we begin to feel a deep need for recognition and influence. These individuals are often extremely strong willed and dogmatic, believing that their way is the only way (politicians, entertainers and TV evangelists all spring to mind here). It is the unceasing demand for recognition that eventually brings us on to the path of return.
As we begin to walk this path, old wounds and patterns come up with ever increasing frequency to be healed. As I know from personal experience, this is no easy task, but once these patterns have been worked through, our understanding of who and what we are begins to deepen more and more. We begin to associate less with ourselves as individuals, and more with humanity as a whole, taking into account the good of all. We learn the true meaning of words such as forgiveness and compassion. This is often tempered by a desire to serve others. Many on this path become healers and counsellors, or do charitable work.
Through a series of lifetimes, we develop a finer and finer vehicle for the expression of the soul, until eventually the division completely dissolves and we reach 'at-one-ment'. We then return to our higher self, or soul, and ultimately God, and no longer need to incarnate. Jesus is one of the few individuals who have managed to achieve this aim.
According to Nicky Gumbel, the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God. God though does not have physical form, and is therefore incapable of picking up a pen and writing. He therefore had to find another means of conveying His message; through the hands and mouths of human scribes. This then must mean that the Bible itself is channelled. If channelling then is evil, then so too must be the Bible!
Until eight years ago I was as sceptical about spirituality as many of you are now. As my father was a scientist who believed that if you could not see it, touch it or feel it, it did not exist, this attitude naturally rubbed off on me. Science teaches us to look outside ourselves for the solutions to our problems, whereas spirituality does the complete opposite. This scientific viewpoint led me to spend my time trying to think of ways to circumnavigate my problems rather than face them. Eventually the pain I felt became so acute that I could no longer ignore these feelings, and that is when I stepped on to the spiritual path. One day I was flicking through the local Adult Education Prospectus and found my eyes drawn to a class called The Art of Personal Growth and Transformation. I enrolled for the class and have not looked back since.
With the teacher's help, I gradually began to awaken to many truths of which I had previously not been aware, including those detailed above. It has not been an easy process, but it has been a great awakening, that has given me an acceptance of who I am. I can honestly say, with the perspective that I have now, that there is no way I could return to being the person I once was. That person was a frightened little girl looking for love and approval from those around her, not realising that the only person who could provide her with this was not God, but herself. I used to think that other people were the ones who were creating the problems in my life, but I now know this is not the case, as other people are simply reflecting aspects of myself that I do not want to look at, like a mirror. What am I showing you about yourself that you do not want to look at?
When I joined this Alpha course I was looking for a way of helping me to understand Christianity from a Christian perspective. I believe that the best way to learn about something is to go and ask the experts, and not get a second hand viewpoint from someone who is biased. I would not for example ask a Muslim about Judaism, as I would not get an unbiased view. It is a shame that many of those who label spiritual beliefs as 'evil' do not do the same in return, notwithstanding the experiences which some of you mentioned. Christians however are automatically denied the opportunity to do this, as if Nicky Gumble is to be believed, to do so would mean that they are consorting with the Devil. This is a particularly insidious way of ensuring that people are denied the opportunity to make up their own minds as to what they should believe, and is really nothing more than a means of control.
When someone preaches, you tend to take their words and make them your own, as these are the only words that you have. It is however the preacher's perspective that you are listening to, and not necessarily the truth. They tend to stick with one example, and use one set of words, thereby limiting the range of your understanding. When you take somebody else's words without true understanding, you cannot adequately relay the meaning to somebody else, as you have not had the opportunity to do your own research, and form your own opinions on the subject.
Reading the Bible, and taking its words as infallible truth is problematic for the very reason that the words are open to interpretation. They are then no longer the words of God, but the words of the interpreter. Everyone else then has to assume that the interpreter knows what they are talking about. To assume anything makes an ASS out of U and ME.
From my perspective then, organised religion is like a club, with its own set of rules that you have to follow in order to obtain membership. These include the belief that the only way to communicate with God is through a mediator. If you choose not to adhere to these rules, then your membership is not welcomed, and sometimes cancelled. Most of these rules are fear based, promising retribution for your wicked deeds etc, etc, unless of course you repent.
According to the Church we have separated ourselves from God, due to the sins that we have committed. This supposedly began when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is interesting that many of the Gnostic Gospels, (most of which have been labelled as heretical by the Church) tell a completely different tale. The Church have obviously been studying these ancient texts for a lot longer than I have, and should therefore understand the true meaning of the words. Before they can label something as heretical, they need to understand these words. They must therefore know that their own views are heretical, as they do not adhere to the views presented in these earlier texts. I will not go into details here about exactly what these texts say, but instead leave you to read these for yourselves so that you can form your own opinion. It is interesting that the Church leaders were allowed to read these texts, when for many centuries we were not. This is only now beginning to change.
Originally the word heresy meant a sect, or school of thought that held views different from others. It was only later that it came to mean beliefs that are contrary to orthodox teachings. The word actually derives from the Greek hairesis, which means choice. This is somewhat ironic when you consider that what the Church were actually doing by banning these books was removing the people's right to make an informed choice as to whether or not to conform to Church thinking.
