~ Dec 2005~
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Report
of the Claridge House Residential Conference, November 4-6 Each of the five speakers responded to the title in their own
way, and we also spent time sharing our experiences and insights
in groups. Here are summaries of the talks: David Britton attempted to answer the questions – “Why does a painter paint, and a poet write?” - and to relate the answers to the perennial theme of the After-life. He admitted to finding both tasks difficult, in that most painters and poets, including himself, find it very hard to say, and just as hard to provide a more general rationale. But he found a useful clue about the act of painting in what the Orthodox theologian Bulgakov said about Greek sculpture and about Dancing. “Somewhere in the depths of the Soul, everyone feels themselves to be an 'Endymion', with a light, harmonious and beautiful body, of the kind that shines through in Greek sculpture or the plastic fluidity of dance...” When a painter gets one of those creative shocks that signal the strong need to paint, it is as though both the subject out there, and the painter himself or herself, are revealing aspects of that 'subtle body' which the Eastern religions and the occult traditions have discovered, and which Bulgakov is referring to. It should go without saying that not even a representational painter is doing a photographic copy of nature. What then is going on when a landscape painter senses something that is both in this world, yet, more importantly, seems to extend beyond it? It is precisely this magical extension that seems to be the source of the shock, and the thing that drives the painter to paint it would therefore seem to be a partial revelation of a part of another world. In relating it to the 'subtle body' of the great traditions, David wanted to connect it to the bodily aspect of the After-life - the bodily aspect of the human person, and also to the form of the environment of whatever heaven it belongs to. The beauty of the mathematical relations pursued by genuine abstract painters, points to another aspect of a heavenly world. Many of the earliest abstract painters in the West explained themselves by reference to Plato and Plotinus and Swedenborg, sensing an abstract realm that actually existed somewhere, not only in the subjective mind of man on earth. In emphasising the physical side of the act of painting, David had no wish to deny that the greater presence is nevertheless the Soul. Conversely, in stressing the spiritual inspiration of the very finest poetry, he did not want to deny to poetry the ability to do some of the things, though in a very different way, that painting does. However, he did want to maintain that painting is at its strongest when most cheerful and joyous in a quite earthy sense. He gave it as his opinion that it does not perform well in attempting the tragic aspects of existence. But the tragic sense, and that which points beyond tragedy, is the special province of poetry, and especially of the poetic drama of Shakespeare and others. Aristotle, as is well known, spoke of a “purging by pity and by terror”. The source of human tragedy in its many forms on earth needs little explanation, but the source of what points beyond tragedy in poetry is mysterious. One would have to say that the true poet's inspiration is in fact a deep religious experience, coming from a high level of another world, coming perhaps from that 'Communion of Saints' where a tremendous joy is the substance of life. The true poet recognises a strange powerful rhythm sounding within when a major inspiration begins to nag at him. This could be the rhythm of that heaven of Communion, as modified by the conflict of the mere earthly poet as he tries to blend it with his and the earth's troubles and hopes and dreams. The outcome, in a true poem, is a heightened language in a special rhythm. When properly read, that is to say, aloud, it can open the other world to the listener. It can make the hair rise on one's head, as Housman wrote, and it frequently moves people to tears. As Hassan says in Flecker's play of that name – “ I have seen butchers bury their great faces in their hands”, when listening to 'the epic of Antari' recited to a great crowd in Baghdad. Such is a poetic culture, and the allowing of emotions and the spiritual sense. Would that we had one here, in place of the revolting facetiousness and defence against true feeling that is the current English norm. Early Friends and the “Ministry of Dying” On Saturday morning David Britton gave a short presentation on early Friends' 'Ministry of Dying' and quoted from a Pendle Hill pamphlet.* This was both a ministry of the living to those who were dying, in the form of family and other support, and also, and just as importantly, a ministry of the dying to those left on earth. The dying were regarded as having a special access to spiritual wisdom, and actual experience of some of the conditions of the next world. There can of course be no doubt that early Friends absolutely took for granted that there was a next world. Friends recorded the dying words, and other circumstances of a death-process, and these were published in Collections called 'Piety Promoted', for general use. These then formed a part of the spiritual life of Friends. Learning to 'die to the world' was practised as a lifetime discipline, as a preparation for death, and as a channel to wisdom in the present. The simplicity and matter-of-factness of their attitude to death and the After-life is impressive, and something we should learn from. *“A Song of Death, Our Spiritual Birth – A Quaker
Way of Dying” Pendle Hill Pamphlet 340. Two quotations from the pamphlet: Springette Penn, the young son of William Penn, said when dying: “my I looks another way where the truest pleasure is …..all is mercy dear father; everything is mercy.” Richard Hubberthorne: “This night or tomorrow night I shall depart hence…….do not seek to hold me, for it is too strait for me; and out of this straitness I must go, for I am wound into largeness.” (strait in the sense of narrow. Ed.) The Life and Work of Elizabeth Kubler Ross Jennie Spence Elizabeth was born in Switzerland. Endeavouring to assert her strong individuality as one of triplets, she found her early life “awful” and felt that it gave her the grit and determination that was the hallmark of her character. She was often ill as a child and had poor health throughout her life but her indomitable spirit always shone through. When she left school in 1942, her father wanted her to start work in his company as a secretary. Elizabeth strenuously resisted. She wanted to be a doctor and, cutting herself off from him, took a job as a maid and later went on to work as a hospital laboratory technician. In 1944 she was drawn to work with refugees, wanting to go to countries which had been ravaged by war. She showed incredible bravery working in Poland and was later smuggled out, dramatically and dangerously, in a box. During this period of her life she often worked alongside Quakers. Eventually, reconciled with her father, she began to train as a doctor in the 1950s. She had an experience of working in a badly run psychiatric hospital and helped to improve things. She noticed that doctors tended to avoid any patients who were dying. They were forced to lie under bright lights and their visitors were restricted to visiting hours. Elizabeth sat on their beds and talked to them. She found that they craved honesty and that if they could talk to another human being who cared, they arrived at a point of acceptance of death. Elizabeth broke new ground when she arranged for Linda, a young girl of sixteen, who was dying, to speak about the experience to medical students. The students were appalled and asked questions about her physical condition, but Linda spoke to them about how she felt. Elizabeth identified the stages of acceptance of death, finding that they were similar to the process of bereavement. She also began to be aware of the existence of something after death, finding that even the angriest people would relax a few moments before death and have conversations with loved ones. The greatest need at these times is for love. Dr Raymond Moody’s pioneering book “Life after life” was yet to be written and Elizabeth began collecting cases of near death experiences with the help of a clergyman. She was thrilled and astonished at the results. Elizabeth worked with AIDs patients and wanted to start a children’s hospice. She bought a farm which she called “Healing Waters” for her hospice, but the local people were fearful of infection and campaigned against it with letters and petitions. Instead, Elizabeth started an adoption agency. Elizabeth pioneered work with the dying throughout her life and wrote several books. “On Death and Dying” is read by mainstream health professionals but in “The Wheel of Life”, her autobiography, Elizabeth sets out her less accepted views and findings about death and the afterlife. Elizabeth had paranormal experiences herself. Very ill as a
young child she formed a relationship with a dying child in
the hospital ward. She found that she and this child could communicate
with each other deeply without words. When she was a doctor
she was visited by one of her patients and had a long conversation
with her before suddenly realising that the patient had died
six months previously!
I was asked to expand on the account which I wrote for the Anthology “The Not Unfamiliar Country”.* In this I confined myself to an explanation of what I had “learnt” during my NDE. So in the talk I filled in the factual details and went on to indicate how the NDE (in 1979) has continued to inspire the way I live and is still influencing it. As a result of what I was “taught” during the NDE I changed my whole life as I felt I had woken up as a new person – woken up for the first time. I had a completely different outlook on life so that I set about consolidating all the values and beliefs I had received. The NDE came about because I nearly died (died for 3 minutes before being brought back to life). At the time I was a 44 year old health professional/university lecturer who was ambitious, selfish and materialistic. Perhaps this was the reason I needed a karmic jolt – a peak experience to make me change! I needed to “remember” that I have a meaning and purpose for this earthly part of my journey – a reminder of my raison d’etre. At the time I did not know anything about NDEs or OBEs (out of body experiences). It was only later, when I started reading, that I discovered what my experience was called, and, on re-reading my notes, how similar it was to other peoples. This includes the place where one finds oneself – being in the presence of Love-Divine and experiencing a Life-Review. In my case, the latter went back to my original incarnation vows which I made before my moment of conception. So during the life-review I was “shown” what I had achieved but also that I still needed to go much further in order to do my “true work” as a spiritual healer rather than merely a nurse/psychologist. I was also “given” a concept of Wholeness which I had not had before which made me realise about health in a more holistic and integrated way. To accompany the talk I had made a hand-out listing my various life changes. One list gave the immediate after-effects of the NDE, namely that I had learnt to die in order to truly live. I had gained the insight that life is a preparation for learning how to die well (i.e. for having a “good” death) by living life to the full and no longer fearing death. It also included the major changes I then made such as becoming a Quaker pacifist, a conservationist and a vegan; whilst also learning to just simply “be” in the here and now. The second list was of the changes that were the ongoing effects between 1982 and 2005. These resulted from my deepening discernment of the leadings I was receiving from the Holy Spirit. They include my ongoing “work” (now that I am retired from my career) as an Autogenic Therapist (see www.autogenic-therapy.org.uk) and a Quaker Spiritual Healer. They also include being led to do a permaculture design course so I could start applying my healing to the care of the planet. The participants asked questions about the changes and my gradual evolvement and what I now mean by “living life to the full”. There was also discussion about the “dress rehearsal” I had had about learning how to die well and finding out that there is an After-life! *”The Unfamiliar Country” (£2.00 including p.p.) is available from Angela Howard at Webb’s Cottage, Woolpits Road, Gt. Saling, Braintree, Essex., CM7 5DZ.
Since my husband, Martin, died from cancer in December 2003 I have visited Paul Lambillion, a gifted and experienced healer, channeller, and spiritual counsellor on several occasions. Paul had given Martin two sessions of spiritual healing. The second took place only two days before his death and I am sure it helped him to make the transition as quickly and smoothly as he did. Martin was one of the founder members of QFAS and had been fully convinced of the reality of the after-life for many years. A month after his death I visited Paul, and Martin communicated. Though Paul does not call himself a medium, he is aware of beings on other levels and Martin “popped through” (as Paul describes it) to give convincing proof that he still continued to be very much himself and was aware of the doings of myself and his family on Earth. His individual sense of humour was particularly in evidence! In later communications, as I grew more confident and started to ask questions, Martin explained about his transition and how he was now occupied. This was the subject of my talk. Briefly, Martin explained that his first impression after he “died” was that he was in a kind of waiting room and was met by his father and another man who he described but who I could not identify. He then received some teaching from a spiritual being and was also given a map to show him where he had come from and what were the future possibilities. The map was very significant as Martin was a planner and was always happy and relieved if given a map to find his way around! He explained that the newly arrived are received and given information in a form which feels most natural to them. Martin said that as soon as he died, though he had resisted the idea of death while still on Earth, he realised that it was absolutely the right moment for him to go. He was being given the opportunity, he said, to create something beautiful, and it was right for him to “move through” to do this. We should not look at death as in any way the end, but as a stepping through to a new level, equipped with all our recent life experience. His task now is to work with the spirit of the mineral kingdom in the changes which are taking place on the planet. (He described other things he is doing but this is his main work.) He finds his new work “enthralling”, and he says there are big changes coming which will be beneficial in the long term, and that possibly new minerals may emerge from the “heat of the planet”. In his work life, Martin was a planner, and in retirement he was a potter with a particular love of unusual glazes. As he worked with minerals to create these, his life long interest in geology was finding a new outlet. He says now that all that he learned on Earth is combining to help him in his new task. Perhaps we should not wonder too much when we feel the desire to add a new a piece of knowledge or experience into our lives. It may build towards helping us in our after-life work. If you would like to see Martin’s communications in more detail please send me a large s.a.e. or alternatively I can send them to you as an email attachment. I hope they will eventually appear on the website.
Ros said she found it very helpful to try and explain the two worlds by pointing out that the vibrational rate is different. When electronic voice phenomena occur, where recordings of words or phrases appear inexplicably on tape, they usually have to be slowed down before they can be understood. That is because the vibrational rate of other dimensions is higher than our own. Ros believes that we all have our guardian angels; and that
if we ask for further understanding of spiritual things we will
receive it. There are many dimensions of which this material
world is but one. We are interacting all the time if only we
are aware of it, and music and poetry, art and the beauties
of nature, help to raise our vibrations so that we can do so
more easily. Messages or guidance that is meant for us, find
a channel to come through. Inspiration is there if we open ourselves. * * * Comments on the weekend were favourable. Here is one from Ann Taylor, a newcomer to QFAS: “Wonderful weekend. Although I had read over time the subjects and ‘happenings’ discussed, for me it was more valuable to hear from actual people who had the experiences. “I was also reminded of various valuable spiritual practices done in the past. “Very well organised. Thank you. Very glad to renew my meditation practice (somewhat lapsed) and to remember its importance. I feel renewed spiritually and am going home with more clarity for my personal path.” Here is a suggestion for a future conference from Elizabeth Angas who was a speaker: “I feel there is an urgent need to try to overcome the
feelings of taboo in our Quaker Meetings. So could we have a
speaker (speakers) who could show us ways in which we could
do this? That is, help us to do effective outreach in this particular
area (about the after-life and psychic experiences.) The speaker(s)
would need to understand and be experienced in overcoming prejudice,
fear and disapproval in Quaker circles.” The Book of the Soul. Rational Spirituality for the Twenty-First
Century. Ian Lawton. Lawton Publishing, Southampton, 2004. 306
pp., pbk. ISBN 0-9549176-0-X, £15 (but available for £10
+ £2.40 p. & p. via author’s website - see below
- or direct from: Ian Lawton, P.O. Box 5743, Southend-on-Sea,
Essex, SS1 9AE). Immortal Remains. The Evidence for Life After Death. Stephen
E. Braude. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, Maryland,
2003. 329 pp., pbk. ISBN 0-7425-1472-2, £16 from Amazon. www.afterlife101.com This is an important website set up by someone who, for professional and personal reasons, prefers to work under the pseudonym of ŒAnchor. Probably the most useful part of the site for most QFAS members will be the comprehensive book-length description of the afterlife that has been transmitted by spirit guides through Anchor’s wife, a gifted medium. The book provides a detailed review of the cycle of spiritual evolution - death, life in the spirit world, reincarnation, life on earth and death again. www.allan-kardec.org This site has been set up by the Allan Kardec Educational Society (AKES) to publicise the life and work of the Frenchman Allan Kardec (b. 1804). He was an educator and philosopher who was probably the first person to systematically investigate the widespread mediumistic phenomena which developed in the mid-nineteenth century. The results of his studies were published in 1857 in a volume entitled “The Spirits’ Book”. Long out of print this has been re-translated into more modern language and published by AKES, and has been described independently as “... probably the most comprehensive definition of the afterlife that exists.” Kardec (a pseudonym) also wrote four other books about the general subject of survival. All his books, and others of a similar nature, are available from the AKES via their website. www.ianlawton.com As well as publicising his books (see “The Book of the Soul” above) Ian Lawton uses his website to promote his idea of rational spirituality - a rational evidence-based spiritual worldview - which is directly connected to the survival of the soul. He hopes to set up the Rational Spirituality Movement, which at first would be a discussion group, based on the web. Two other very important websites which I quoted in my book are: www.victorzammit.com Victor Zammit is a highly-qualified Australian lawyer and psychic researcher whose long-standing site provides much useful information. Its most important component consists of a 117 page book analysing the evidence for survival from a lawyer’s point of view and concluding that “... the evidence taken as a whole constitutes overwhelming and irrefutable proof for the existence of the afterlife.” www.survivalafterdeath.org The International Survivalist Society was founded to disseminate “... the scientific case for survival on a global level”. It produces an excellent website which provides a regularly changing variety of historical material on, and evidence for, survival. One of the best sites on the internet. Another Useful Resource. QFAS Autumn Conference Gildas in Oxfordshire. A regular bi-monthly group has now been established at the home of QFAS member, Maryrose Price. The overall purpose is to enable and encourage spiritual growth. Each day follows the pattern of channelled teachings from Ruth White’s discarnate guide Gildas, group discussion, group interaction with Gildas, personal exercises for spiritual growth and the raising of consciousness. For further details contact Maryrose Price, 10, Westland Way, Woodstock, Oxon, 0X20 1YF. Tel: 01933 813662.
“…………………………………You
are here to kneel
While QFAS is building well as a Fellowship in which many of us now know each other and meet regularly, there are other members who are not able to come to conferences and who are maybe feeling somewhat isolated. The committee has been considering from some time whether we could send speakers to visit Meetings and we feel in a position now to offer this, depending on distance and availability of dates. In any case we would really like to hear from you and perhaps receive a contribution for a future newsletter. Do write to me (Angela) or Cherry Simpkin who will be editing the next newsletter. Cherry has been away in New Zealand and Australia so was not able to produce this edition. The next newsletter is due in June. Please remember to renew your membership subscription using the enclosed form. I hope to send details about QFAS to Preparative Meetings in Sussex and Surrey GM and Kent GM this Spring as part of our ongoing publicity campaign. If you attend one of these Meetings I hope you will be able to give support, and encourage interested Friends to join the Fellowship. All good wishes for Christmas and the New Year,
Last Minute Squeeze In. We’ve just heard of a new book
by a Quaker |