Chapter Seventeen

Happiness is something that our friends in spirit give much stress to. They realise that it is not always easy for us to do, but urge us to always try and find joy in everything and to remain joyful even in adversity. We are urged to always do our best and to lighten the lives of other people wherever we can.

Topic: Being Joyful.

Spirit (June):  You might find it hard to believe but I’m stuck for words. [Laughter] In case you haven’t realised, it is June speaking.

I feel that if you can lighten yourselves up, (now I’m not referring just to you folk for I don’t know whether you feel light all the time or not), but if the world could lighten itself up it would be a good thing, because what have you got to worry about really?

I know the world is in a muddle. It was in my time, and it has been as long as you care to go back in history... somewhere there is unhappiness. But what makes people unhappy seems to be two things. Lack of money… well, you don’t really need much as long as you’re warm, a roof over your head, and food… that should be enough. If you’ve got more, well you are lucky, and be thankful. But it’s not good striving for gold bracelets and things, as they just don’t make, for real happiness. But if you can make other people smile, that can make you happy too, because in your giving you will receive.

So now that does away with one aspect we’ll say, and the other worry (and it makes people real gloomy), is dying. Now where it is themselves that really puts fear into them; or else they worry over someone they care for. Well yes I can understand, and you yourselves must fully realise that parting with someone you care for is tough. But not if you believed that your spirit, the part of you that makes you do all the talking for example, that puts the words together…  that part of you, can’t die!

After death that person you care for may have for them an impossible job to come and say “Hi”, or to let you see them... but they are still there! So look on it that they have gone for a holiday, or that they have gone home and you are on holiday still. You’ve got to catch up later. Or if it’s yourself that’s going to die... well for me I guess it was easy. Very dusty, very noisy and all the rest of it, [bombed during W.W. 2], but if your body’s worn out and you’re miserable with aches and pains, you’ve got something to look forward to.

Think! No aches, no pain, no agony if you have got that, you’ll get your sight back, or your leg back if something like that has happened. All your physical miseries are over! And you can still think, you can still be you. You can’t help but be happy knowing that!

So the more that you can tell other people, or drop a hint, (some people are dense - they won’t take much notice of you), but at least you have dropped a hint so that someday, (perhaps they’ve got to wait ‘till they die even), they’ll think, “Oh blimy, I remember being told that, so I guess I am alive… whew! whacko! great joy! jubilation!” - or whatever the various nations say. And if you are the one that’s left, well put a smile on your face, pick up your bag and carry on; because that one whom you care for, well they don’t want you to be depressed.  I mean they’re happy and they want you to be happy. So make the most of the occasion. We know there’ll be little weeps or little depressions, but it’s up to you to get over them and be joyful, be happy, it’s what living’s about!

Goodnight. God bless.

Topic: Making use of joy.

Spirit: Good morning, this is Elizabeth. I have spoken to you earlier about ‘Beauty’. I want to speak to you now about ‘Joy’ and if you think seriously about this subject, they are really one and the same.

When you approach a job, no matter how you dislike it, approach it with Joy. Look at it this way. You are physically and mentally capable of doing this job, so be joyful over it, because there are many that cannot do it. You know that you are capable of anything. To be serious on this subject, it may take you a hundred or a thousand years, but you are capable of anything!

Now, while you are on earth, you are not going to put into your own mind, the idea of achieving something that is impossible. The job you are tackling you think you are capable of doing. Don’t think “No!” You are capable of doing it, and approach it as I suggested before with joy. If you can do this with everything that you tackle, whether it is a pleasant occupation such as going for a walk, or playing your music, or whatever it is that gives you pleasure, approach it with great joy and get a sense of achievement out of it.

Keeping this in mind when you next approach a job that you do not like, such perhaps as cleaning out a drain, or I think it’s a sump on a car, something that you find objectionable, remember the joy you get out of your other achievements and think “I will do the same with this, I will tackle it with pleasure and I will get joy out of it, if nothing else that I’ve got the job behind me. That will be a joy for me.”

So, remember this my friends, approach everything with joy including the people you meet. Now this sometimes is a difficulty. A natural barrier appears to come. You don’t have to grin from ear to ear and put your arms round them but accept them for what they are, and try and give the enlightenment that you have, to them. Not by your words on this occasion, but by being joyful.

Of course, when it is someone that you do care for, by all means give them a cuddle and a big smile because though you may not be in the habit of doing this very often, it would be appreciated, particularly for those perhaps who are in stress, either with their job or through illness, or some trouble in their family - just to know that someone thinks of them with love and joy.

Apply this also to your surroundings. Look on them with joy, with pleasure. If you look on them with a jaundiced eye, think “Why am I not getting joy out of this?  Ah, that needs painting, or that should be a different colour, or that piece of furniture should be there, or it would be better if that path was there, or if I had different plants”… go ahead and do it, and from that you would get more joy from your surroundings.

With your pets, don’t just look on them as something to put a saucer of milk down to, or to give a bone, or the drudge of taking for a walk. Look on their funny little ways and appreciate them for what they are.

If you deal with domestic animals, that’s fine, but you may be a person who has to deal with the bigger animals on a farm. I know that you people don’t, but if you have dealings with farmers, comment if you can on the beauty of the land and their animals, so they will look on them not as a drudge, but with joy, because they have beautiful land or a fine looking cow. If their farm or their animal is perhaps not as it should be, be positive in your statement. “This farm has great potential. You must get great joy in working on it,” and that may help the farmer see his land differently. In the case of his cow it would be a little hard for you to say, “If you were kinder to this animal it would look better”, but that is what indirectly you would need to do, so that the farmer will realize he is dealing with an animal such as himself…  because basically that is what we are.

So joy can be found in everything. From looking at the moon and the stars, to even the very clever little worm that wriggles through the earth. There is joy in it all!

Make use of it my friends. Make use of  ‘Joy’.

Good morning.

Topic: Materialism.

As we know, materialism is something causing a breakdown of our society, and our spirit friends have something to say about this. They also cover related aspects like ‘selfishness’, and ‘possessions’, along with an explanation of just why we are here. Learn from materialistic things, as it is only what they have taught you, that you will take with you.

Spirit (Ling): Good morning. Your physical body, and the materialistic things round you, are just the same as a book. You wonder that I should use this simile, but they are objects, of lessons for you, as Spirits.

Your body is restricting you and teaching you things, and the materialistic things around you can really either make you, or send you backwards. They must not, either of them, be looked on as possessions as such; only that you must look after your physical body and not do anything with it that you may be ashamed of; and the materialistic things that you have around you, are lent to you really. They are borrowed; you cannot take them with you. But the things that they have taught you… you can!

For example… you may have in your possession an object of beauty that you cherish and cling to - it may be a vase. That vase can do two things for you. It can make you selfish and possessive, or it can make you appreciate beauty and form and colour, so much so that you wish to share it. And so you put this beautiful possession on display, not just for yourself but for any of your guests as well.

If through misfortune, whether natural or otherwise such as earthquake or vandal, you lose this beautiful possession, naturally you are sorry. But you still have in your spirit, the beauty that it gave to you, so don’t mourn it; and that applies also to your friends that are dear to you that join us. Don’t mourn them. Remember the beauty they brought into your life.

I hope you understand what I am trying to say. In so much that you are Spirit, you must do your best to make every day a learning day. No matter how small this is, don’t let your life slip by with nothing achieved.
In one day, you may read a great story and admire the brain of the man who wrote the story, or read of an achievement of some group of people that have overcome adversity - or you may just see the flight of a bird, or the smile of a child; but if you can absorb these things you are learning, and your life is not slipping away.

Open your arms, your hearts and your eyes, to the world around you. You don’t have to travel far. Even your own gardens, your own homes, your own families can give you great lessons - as long as you open your spirit to them.

Good morning.

This was Ling.

Topic: Sin is conscious selfishness.

Spirit (Ling): Greetings. This morning I thought, or we thought, that a short talk on a very small word that causes an awful lot of strife might be of help to you and those that you communicate with in your everyday life, and the word is ‘Sin’. This word has dominated the Christian world for two thousand years and many other religions for even longer.

What is sin? It is any form whatsoever of conscious selfishness. Note the word “conscious”. You may be walking down a road and a young mother is having difficulty with her pushchair. You say “Good morning”, and continue on your way deliberately, because you want to do something else. That is conscious selfishness. Again, you are walking down the road, the same young mother and pushchair in difficulties, and your mind is fully occupied with where you are going or possibly your health, but it is occupied. Your courtesy enables you to say “Good morning”, as you rapidly continue on your way. Selfish? Unconsciously you were selfish. For that there is no crime, there is no sin. You may have got further down the road and thought, “Oh, I should have helped that woman”, and you feel guilty. You have acknowledged the fact that you have made a mistake. Do not carry your guilt with you.

That is a very simple example that I have given, but this continues on into greater deeds of selfishness… for example, you are wanting to make money on some product that you are selling, and you sell it to an elderly person. With your personality you talk them into it. You are fully aware of what you are doing but you believe in your product. Your belief was not founded on fact. You have taken money from that old lady under unconscious beliefs that your product was good. You have made an error. You will perhaps try and recompense the lady for the trouble that your product has caused; therefore there is no sin. But...  you have done the same thing... you have sold the product. You consciously go round from door to door, or over your counter whatever manner you are selling, pushing your product, knowing perfectly well that it will not live up to the recommendations you give it... that is conscious sin and therefore it goes against you!

People have a great fear, of when they come over that they are going to go either up or down, because of the sins that they have committed. You go to a place that you have earned. You are aware of your misdemeanours - sins. If you say, “Well it paid”, you will stay where you are. But if you can say, somewhat belatedly, (because it should have happened at the time) that you were wrong, and try in some manner to overcome this fault in yourself, that is good… and what is equally important, whether it is on earth or in any plane that you have reached, you have to be able to forgive yourself.

You people, if you look back on your life are probably aware of something that you did, it may be very trivial, but you know you shouldn’t have done it and you cannot forgive yourself. My friends, acknowledge that you did it, ask forgiveness of the person in your mind if you can’t do it any other way, and if you are sincere, then that is over! Forget it! And that is what we must try and get across to people. You cannot do wrong and get away with it. It will catch up on you if not today, perhaps in a hundred years… but it will catch up with you. And you have got to be truly sorry for what you did, and to be able to forgive yourself!

If people ask you questions along those lines, if you can put it into words that are suitable for today’s young people so they can accept that what they do, that ‘what they sow, they will reap’… it will do we hope, a lot of good. But don’t preach. Forgiveness of sins, and all the dogma that has been taught for many years is not acceptable. People have to be given a logical outlook.

We hope sincerely, that this may help you in your dealings with your own life, if in no other way; but if you can spread it further we would very much appreciate your efforts on our behalf.

May the great light of God shine on you and yours, in the coming week.

Good morning.

Topic: Use of spirit philosophy to overcome materialism.

Spirit (Ling): Good morning. In your world, materialism is King. Therefore most people are looking for materialistic phenomena between earth and us. It is the sensation that appeals! But the true value of communication comes through the philosophy that we are able to communicate by mind or pen, and what the people who think on earth, say and put to paper. Do not let the material aspects override the philosophy, the tendency is very much there, though you may have noticed that physical phenomena is not as obvious, as plentiful, or as showy as it once was, because we have been asked to emphasize other aspects.

People’s minds are more receptive to Spirit now, therefore we feel that our philosophy, which we wish to be portrayed as simple and acceptable to everyone, without creeds or any fancy dressing, is the most important; and that people will take for granted that they have seen an uncle, or an animal, or have perceived some wondrous place.

Think back on your lives, most of you in all truthfulness would have had some sort of a spiritual experience. I think if you asked your neighbours, your friends, in fact anyone, they would have to admit to this. It may not have been recognised by them, and that is what is disappointing to us. So people like yourselves, talk about your experiences in general society, as something interesting that happened - a phenomena, and it may make them think “Oh I had similar”. It may open a gateway to enable you, or someone like you, to open the path to Spirit so that they may learn that it is what you do and think now, that you take with you when you die. You cannot take your Persian rug, your crystal vase, your yacht - you take what you are, and whether you are rich or poor, the more unselfish and kind that you are to other people the better. This is what people, sooner or later must be aware of, and accept.

If we were to make grand displays, and have spirit people come in mass, it would be a wonder of short duration until the next big sports, or sensation over your means of communication, because the world has become fickle-minded. They always want to go on to the next sensation!

So do your best my friends, to open the eyes of your acquaintances to the unusual phenomena that they have experienced, and then pass on our words that we have given you - as long as you can accept them yourselves; so that you may repeat them with sincerity, so that people know that you know.

I think we will leave things there for this morning. So until we meet again, may your minds be broadened and the Light of God shine upon you.

Good morning.

Topic: Recognising ‘Selfish’ Love.

Spirit (Ling): Greetings. Now there has been talk about ‘Love’. We all know that we must give love to be loved, but there is an aspect of it that you should be aware of and if it comes into your life or the life of someone you know, you may be able to direct or kindly help, a person who causes love to be a burden.
You would question this no doubt, but we will give you examples: -

There is the rare case where some person, through a brave deed has possibly saved the life of someone from drowning, or car accident, or possibly a medical mishap which they have been able to alleviate in some manner, and because of that they have begun to love that person, and that love can become possessive in-so-much as they question the very activities of that person, and when it goes to extremes they may possible say, “You’re hurting me by doing that. After all, I gave you your life, don’t you owe me something?” They have become so attached to that person that their love for that person has become a burden to the person it is given to. It has become a selfish love.

Another example would be the mother, or father, for a child. They give the child every opportunity, a good education, they want them to be a professional. The child (a very good person) is just not interested. They would much rather work with their hands, perhaps agriculture, horticulture, and the parent comes back with, “All I’ve done for you”, etc, etc. The love that they have for that child has become a burden to the child.

So in our loving, no matter what, people must realise that though they love that person dearly, they cannot control them. Each person is an individual and must be loved for what they are. A possessive greedy love not only is a burden to the person who is loved, but is undermining the character of the person who loves.

We feel sure that you people understand this without us telling you, but you must be aware at sometime in your lives when you have seen this, and it would be very difficult to direct the person. You may even have to discuss it with the person who is loved, so that they no longer feel, that the love that is given to them is a burden. This can also happen in a husband and wife relationship, where either one becomes too possessive; because each and every one of you people are a separate spirit, and that spirit must be allowed to develop, with kindly guidance, with help, with love - but love given with no obligation attached.

It is a sad thing that happens, but if you are to be all round thinkers, besides developing your scientific aspect you must also involve yourself in the thinking of humans, so that you develop ‘Balance’.

I hope you have understood what we have tried to explain?

Goodnight.

Topic: Earth experience. [Gives an answer to, “Why are we here?]

Spirit: Good afternoon.  This is Jean. Today I would like you to think of experience. Why are you here? I don’t mean in this room. Why have you got life? Do you ever think this: - “Why am I here? Why do I get up, do a job, go to bed, get up day after day, week after week, perhaps for only ten years, perhaps for eighty or ninety years. Why”?

What you are here on earth for friends… is experience. This is one of your main places of learning. Certainly we have halls of learning where we are, but this learning for you on earth, is for you in particular. Take advantage of it. You can make more progress here than you can when you come to us. You can also go backward very quickly.

You came to earth, although you can’t remember it, with an object in mind. To cure, to overcome some part of your character that was… I won’t say nasty, but it was not God-like and after all, that is what we are all aiming at - oneness with God. And your experiences here, if used correctly by you, no matter how trivial, will help you. Small things for example: If you smile at someone as you pass them in the street, you may have lifted in a small way, someone’s heart. You may be the only person to smile at that one, that person, that day… but in lightening their heart a little the next person they see, they will not perhaps be so disgruntled with. But if you are walking down the road and you ignore that person, the chip that they are carrying on their shoulder has not been moved one little bit, by your passing.

So wouldn’t it be more pleasant to know, that in your passing through life, no matter how small, you have eased the chip on someone’s shoulder and not only that, helped yourself to learn the lesson of love and humanity, for fellow man. So that when you come to look at your bankbook, you will be in the black and not in the red, for that is something we should all aim at friends - and it can be a very joyful experience. For the more you do here on earth, the happier you will be with us, and that’s what we want for you all.

God bless you.

Goodbye.