In my previous offerings, I’ve talked about my experiences in the “science, philosophy, and religion” of Spiritualism, combined with my study of other sciences, philosophies, and religions, as the basis for much of what I believe about matters related to spirituality. At this point in my spiritual development, I am more a “little ‘s’ spiritualist” than a “big ‘S’ Spiritualist.” It isn’t that I don’t value Spiritualism as much as I once did; it is that my experiences have led me to consider other possibilities besides those in the Spiritualist belief system. Some of the principles of Spiritualism still make perfect sense to me, as they derive from ancient traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judeo-Christian teachings, and I believe them whole-heartedly. Other principles don’t make as much sense to me anymore, namely some of the more metaphysical beliefs related to spiritual phenomena which are really matters of faith and, as yet, not of provable science; however, it is not the purpose of this writing to go into that discussion (although I am happy to answer any questions anyone might have through a private correspondence). As I have stated before, I don’t really know anything other than my own human experience, and that knowledge is subjective and, since I’m still presumably human, probably a bit suspect. The principles of Spiritualism may be the Definitive Truth of the Universe – I don’t know. These principles – and as importantly some of the principals I have worked with in Spiritualism – have helped me to experience things I would likely have never experienced had I not been fortunate enough to have been exposed to them. That being said, my disclaimer here is that though I am still a member of an NSAC-chartered Spiritualist church, my work here is not sanctioned in any way by the governing bodies of Spiritualism in any of the United States or any other country.
As I think I’ve said before, I am by nature a skeptic and generally have to have things proven to me before I will have any confidence in their validity. This has been true throughout the course of my spiritual unfoldment. I’ve seen and heard some fairly ridiculous things done and said in “spiritual” activities I’ve witnessed. In particular, I remember one medium bringing a message to a woman during a church service in which he told her, with great effort, I might say, that he was getting “Tupperware.” That was it – “Tupperware.” Then after summoning the source of that profundity once more, he uttered that he was seeing “peaches.” After another summoning, he summarized – “Yes, I’m getting Tupperware and peaches. And I leave you with the blessings of Spirit.” And he let out a great sigh of relief, and the woman grew a zombie smile and nodded her head like she had just been given the Holy Grail of spirit messages. I almost fell out of my chair laughing! Now, it’s possible this message had great meaning for this woman and maybe I shouldn’t have judged back then. But I did judge – or rather used my sense of discernment to assess what I had observed in order to make an evaluation of what I had witnessed. I think the reason for Spirit allowing this sort of thing to happen is to help us practice our discernment skills. I tend not to take things at face value, and I tend to place my confidence, trust, and faith in very few messages and messengers, and often test even the information I get directly in meditation or as inspiration. Now, there definitely exists the possibility that someone reading what I am offering will themselves fall out of their chairs laughing, but I am confident that the information found in the Nine Principles of Spiritual Recovery is valid, and I trust it and have faith in its source, which I believe, in the end, is Spirit Itself.
And now we move on…
This blog is about Spiritual Recovery. Near the beginning of last year (2010), I received three “messages from Spirit” – the first from an unidentified source I believed to be in Spirit, and the other two identified by respected mediums as coming from two women who were involved in Modern Spiritualism in Maine – neither of whom I ever met, and both of whom had passed to Spirit several years ago. (NOTE: Even though the “messages” that possibly identified the sources of the information I am sharing were given in public settings, I am going to refrain from using the names of the people involved in this process for the sake of their privacy. Again, I will gladly share as much as I can with anyone who asks through a private conversation.)
The first message came directly to me, while I was making the 25-mile drive from home to a Sunday service at the Augusta Spiritualist Church on February 28, 2010. On the way to church, I thought I heard a voice (no, not one of those kinds of “voices”) tell me to “get a pen” and start writing, which I did, even as I continued driving to church (I know – “distracted driving”…mea culpa). I began to write on the back of an envelope, watching the road as best I could, and as I wrote – or dictated or transcribed – I began to see what was coming to me. When the words stopped flowing, nine statements had been brought to me under the simple title “Nine Principles of Spiritual Recovery.” I think my eyebrows rose up a ways into my forehead, my head rocked back on shoulders a bit, and I felt a full-torso shudder. So I went to church and received no further messages there during the service. I then went back home and typed the statements out. I very slightly edited them to make them flow a bit better, and recorded the date. The tone of the statements sounded like something I might write, but the content wasn’t anything I had ever considered writing. I had heard about the phenomena of “automatic writing” and knew mediums who had done it, but I had never experienced it personally. However, the speed and ease in which the statements came suggested to me that they were not forming within my own mind. I suspected they were inspired, though I had no idea as to the source, though I generally ascribe all “inspired” thought to Spirit Itself.
Later that afternoon, I decided to go to the Sunday evening service at the Portland Spiritualist Church, which was about 75 miles from home (I am a true addict). I wanted to hear something about the source of the information I had received. A respected and well-known medium from the Augusta church, and someone I trust and consider a friend, was doing the message work that evening. During the service she brought me a second message which she said was coming from one of her guides, another well-known medium who had served Spiritualism from the Augusta church for many years. The medium told me that her guide wanted to work with me on something, and that her guide had never come through to say she wanted to work with anyone other than the medium herself. I figured my two “messages” that day were connected, and that this medium’s guide was probably, or at least possibly, connected to the “Nine Principles” message. Well, I talked briefly with my friend after the service about the message she had passed on to me, and I told her about what had happened earlier – the “inspired” words I received while I was driving to my first church service that day – and we laughed a little bit about it all, and then I went home, set it all aside for a while as I got busy with “real life” – that is, working on getting my substance abuse counseling certification so I could begin my practice.
The third “message” came four weeks later through another well-respected medium, again, someone who I trust and consider a friend. That message came on March 28, 2010, and again at the Portland Spiritualist Church. The medium said he was getting a message for me from yet another medium who had served many years from the Augusta church, saying she wanted to work with me as well. The medium, who had known this woman before she passed to Spirit, wished me luck because she was known for being a bit of a crank, and he sort of joked about how in her later life she had continued to constantly smoke cigarettes even though she had an oxygen tank on her wheelchair because her breathing had become so labored – due to her smoking. According to him, it seems she used to scare the hell out her son (who I did know prior to his own passing a few years ago), who thought she was going to blow them all to Kingdom Come! It occurred to me that this lady was truly an addicted person – smoking while “hooked” to a highly flammable oxygen tank! I figured that she – and the other lady brought through in the earlier message – wanted to work with me helping people recover from their addictions. For me, part of that work includes further developing the “Nine Principles of Spiritual Recovery” and sharing it with other people.
As I stated previously, I am a drug counselor working in southern Maine. I’ve been working professionally with people in various stages of “recovery” from drug and alcohol addiction for almost a year and a half now. In that relatively short time, I have probably worked with nearly 1,000 different people with addiction conditions and related mental health issues. I have my own long addiction experience and have known many people with similar experiences. I’ve also known many people who have suffered from abuse, loss, or trauma of different types. Most of my substance abuse clients have significant histories of abuse, loss, and trauma. All of these people have undergone a personal “recovery” process of their own – some have realized a high level of recovery – as I believe I have – while others have yet to recover at all. Recovery is about getting something back that has been lost. In the case of people who have suffered from abuse, loss, or trauma, what has been lost is well-being, or health – mental, emotional, physical, and social health. In terms of health, “recovery” simply means a return to a state of normal being and function. Essentially, “recovery” is the process of healing from abuse, loss, or trauma. Healing comes in many ways but, for me, its Source is always the same – Spirit.
In my life and work I have seen the pain and suffering caused by alcohol and other drug abuse, which is actually self-abuse, not drug abuse. The drug itself has no being or feelings to be abused. I have also become more aware of the spiritual needs of people who suffer from chemical addictions. Most people who are addicted to substances – or unhealthy addictive behaviors which are called process addictions – seem to suffer from a lack of spiritual awareness. One of my counseling professors in college, who is also a pastoral counselor, says that a person’s spirituality is “the first thing to go” when he or she becomes addicted. I agree, and I believe, as do others in my field, that “recovery” from addiction must begin with a true spiritual awakening.
Though we may think otherwise at times, I believe “Spirit” Itself can never be broken, or lost, or taken from us, because Spirit – sometimes referred to as the “Divine Spark” – is our essence. We can be unaware of Its presence and workings – what we know as grace – in our lives. People who are addicted to either substances or processes (acting-out behaviors such as excessive eating, sex, work, shopping, gambling, exercising, internet use or video gaming), and even those who have suffered loss or experienced trauma and crisis and have developed mental health problems as a result, often seem to lack a sense of their purpose, their place in the world, and the self-worth essential to understanding that they are material expressions of Spirit, which is eternal. Only when they can see their addictive behaviors as self-abusive – and abusive of Spirit expressed in human form – can they awaken and make the choice to change. In order for “recovery” to truly be established, any abuse or self-abuse must be stopped. “Recovery” cannot be realized in an environment in which unhealthy, harmful, or damaging emotions, such as anger, frustration, resentment, anxiety, unhappiness, discontent, hatred (or self-hatred) and disappointment are dominant. The person who has been abused, even if by himself or herself, or has experienced trauma or loss, must firmly and resolutely demand an end to the abuse and/or the suffering and begin to look ahead rather than continue to look behind. Since we can only focus our attention in one direction at any given time, we may as well focus on what’s ahead of us.
To be sure, the concept of “spiritual recovery” may sound a bit misleading. Again, I believe that the Spirit within us can never be broken, damaged, taken away, or lost because It – Love – is the essence of Life, and the only thing that is permanent, real, and eternal. However, I think that the Spirit within can be trapped under layers of physical and mental-emotional health problems, and hidden by damage from wounds to our minds and bodies. Spirit Itself does not need to be “recovered” – our awareness of It does. To consciously “recover” – or get back – our connection to that Spirit that gives us Life and Love, we sometimes have to begin to work to heal those other problem conditions that can trap our spirit, and remove them as barriers to the Spirit. As the ancient Hindu rishis taught “something cannot come from nothing.” Something like “recovery” can only come about as the result of the actions of other forces. The starting point for that healing is Spirit – the Eternal, the One Absolute Reality. Gaining an awareness of what Spirit is and of what It holds for us, and understanding that It is indeed within every one of us, is essential to starting to work to heal ourselves – to “recover.”
As I wrote previously, my own recovery from substance dependence and some of life’s other difficulties came through a long period of spiritual unfoldment – spiritual awareness and spiritual development. I had to work hard to begin to feel worth healing, to see myself as an expression of the Divine Spirit and, therefore, not a thing to be abused by anyone, including myself, and to then heal my mind and body from the effects of the damaging experiences of my life, especially those that were self-inflicted.
For me, the basic components of spiritual unfoldment are:
1. connection – wholeness, not separation; the concept of the One;
2. self-awareness – gaining an understanding of one’s individuality within the One;
3. mindfulness – appropriateness of one’s thoughts, words and deeds in the moment;
4. purposefulness – intentionality of one’s words and deeds; and
5. effort – doing the work to develop one’s spirituality.
Some of my spiritual unfoldment came through my study and practice of Spiritualism – in particular, spiritual healing, mediumship, and studying “natural law.” Understanding the truth of “continuity of Life” helped me to understand that everything except Spirit – Loving Intelligence in Its many forms – is impermanent, and as such, not real or important. I came to lose my fear of death. I now understand our passing from human form as a simple change or transformation – a “transition” from one state to another. If I am not afraid of dying, why should I be afraid of living or of anything I might experience in living a human life? The answer is obvious – I should not be afraid of anything in this life. In addition, as I have already stated, some of my “recovery” came through studying the truths of other spiritual systems such as Hinduism, Yoga, Buddhism, Reiki, and Gnostic Christianity. For me, truly, “there is nothing new under the sun” and, truly, the “New Age” is the “Old Age” recovered – or simply rediscovered.
Enlightenment, in practical terms, is the lightening of one’s burden in life, through awareness and realization of Truth and Wisdom. Again, as we may read in the Psalms, true knowledge comes only through an understanding of Wisdom – the Truth of Spirit. Theories of how to change or make one’s life better are fine, but for any set of ideas to stand the test of time, they have to be practical and effective. People have to be able to understand them and put them to use. For me, the practicality of the teaching, healing and message work of Spiritualism, and the practicality of many other sciences, philosophies, and religions, is their single most attractive feature. I have used what I’ve received in working with Spiritualism and Spiritualists – as well as other belief systems – to change and improve, or reform, my life. I have “recovered” much of what I thought I had lost over the years, thanks to the workings of Spirit in my life. For that I am truly grateful. It is in that “spirit” of gratitude that I am privileged to offer the “Nine Principles of Spiritual Recovery” for your consideration.
May we all remain open to studying and understanding the Wisdom of Spirit!
Next Entry:
Principle #1 of Nine Principles of Spiritual Recovery: RECONNECTION
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