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Extracts from the book 'Spirit Gems: Essential Guidance for Spiritual, Mediumistic and Creative Unfoldment' by Glyn Edwards and Santoshan
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Know that you are an individualised expression of the eternal Spirit and that it permeates all life in the universe.
If we accept there is a part of us that never dies, then we need to integrate this knowledge into our lives, investigate its implications and establish greater awareness of its reality in our unfoldment. As we open up to our eternal Self (the spirit that we are, which is an individual expression of the supreme Spirit) and to the Spirit that permeates all, various changes will begin to take place. We will become more aware of the invisible world of the spirit and its influence and of various responsibilities that are essential for following spiritual paths. We will then find ourselves responding to the Divine and the spirit with more receptivity.
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Realise your mind has the power to bring you closer to the Divine and to finding truth in all things.
Our minds have the power to bring about a deeper understanding of what the Divine is in relation to us and how it functions as us. It is by refining our perceptions and opening our minds that the authentic spirit Self’s presence becomes more noticeable and life takes on greater meaning. As we awaken to its influence, we open to our own innate wisdom and gain insight into the reality of the Spirit. We start to see the world and our place in it from a more positive and altruistic perspective and awaken to the true ‘I’ consciousness within.
This happens because of an increased awareness of our psychic sensitivity. We discover things such as Nature, beauty and everyday activity beginning to have a more profound effect upon us and find all life and experience drawing us to a deeper level of understanding. Through this we discover the Divine in all as well as the good in all and our view and experience of everyday life shifts to a more harmonious perspective. All life and experience become the substance for growth and reflection and a part of spiritual unfoldment. We gradually awaken and take responsibility for what is happening within and around our lives, and make changes that bring us closer to a spiritual way of life and living.
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Awaken to the infinite qualities of good within you.
As we start to open to powers and gifts of the spirit we will find ourselves awakening to spiritual understanding and manifest qualities such as love, respect, compassion and empathy. These are in fact already inherent within us all and are expressions of our true spirit Selves. We may have exhibited these before, but will notice as our unfoldment proceeds, that receptivity to our authentic nature can have a profound effect, if we allow it, upon the manifestation of these qualities.
Through manifesting and expressing these qualities more purely, the gift of wisdom starts to surface. Our wise and compassionate natures grow by responding to our true spirit Self’s influence. We become more skilfully aware, begin to see life and others from wider perspectives and empathise with others’ suffering and struggles more naturally.
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Realise that the one creative power in all life is God.
We live in an evolving universe governed by creative power and Divine intelligence. God, which is both masculine and feminine, is the inner essence and cause of all life, the ground of everything and everyone. It is infinite being, bliss and consciousness, transcendent, immanent, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.
This creative power works through us at our individual level of understanding. To open ourselves more purely to it, we have to let go of any perceptions that stop us from recognizing it within ourselves, all life and all people. Through widening our spiritual receptivity, knowledge and consciousness, we awaken to the one in all and the all in one, and to limitless life, power, creativity and potential of our authentic spirit Self. Once we are touched by these things, we must then learn to live by them.
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Investigate and welcome all lines of thought that will inspire and help you to grow and develop.
We should not limit ourselves only to one view, but realise that growth is brought about by acquiring receptivity to new knowledge and experience whereby we look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature and begin to live and understand the deeper implications of a spiritual life.
Knowledge that we possess today might be right for where we are now. But we need to guard against holding on to views that may eventually stop us from developing further and seeing life from wider perspectives. The sign of a healthy and mature mind is to be able to accept a variety of opposing views and possibilities. Truth often unfolds and changes us gradually – we would probably not be ready to accept its implications otherwise. If we are open to investigating life and new ideas and discovering what truths can be found within them, our development will unfold naturally and lead us onto higher ground. But we must be careful of chasing knowledge that only stimulates our intellect and realise that truth does not confine itself to concepts. This does not mean there is not a level of truth to be found within them. Life is the finest teacher and can help us find the greatest wisdom within.
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Develop a compassionate heart for all – a compassion which knows no boundary or prejudice.
Compassion is the highest quality we can awaken within us. True compassion is unconditional and reaches across all boundaries. It is a quality of the heart that is limitless and can have a transforming effect upon all who are touched by it. Yet we cannot force ourselves to manifest compassion; it must arise as a natural response to connect with and feel more for life and others – to wish all peace, love and contentment in their lives and do whatever is within our powers to help others when they are in need. We can however work towards uncovering compassion and finding it within. This can be done by opening to an all-embracing awareness of ourselves and others, by practising positive affirmations that help awaken finer qualities and by regularly meditating, practising prayer, contemplation or breath awareness, or by becoming involved in activities that benefit others and life on Earth. These will help us to quieten our minds, transcend any limiting perceptions and open our hearts.
The more open we are to ourselves and others, the more free- flowing compassion will function and the greater our capacity to love and receive love will be. When we can do this, we will naturally reach out and embrace others. If we persist in our search to discover the good that is in us and overcome anything that separates us from external life, other people, the natural world and our true spiritual nature, we will find our hearts opening automatically. We will discover a well of unconditional universal love from which we can draw.
Through awakening our lives to compassion, we heal any barriers that we may have created around our hearts. When the heart is firmly rooted in compassion, there are no boundaries left to limit our capacity to love – kindness and non-harm go out to all.
Be thankful for any acts of kindness shown to you and repay them by doing good for others. Let goodness flow from you naturally. Perform good deeds purely for the sake of doing them without seeking praise, recognition or reward.
If anyone has been a good friend or shows us some form of kindness, we must always be thankful and return these gifts whenever they are in need. We also need to expand the good we do by helping others whenever we can.
Some become disillusioned with human nature if people do not show appreciation for the work they have done. But seeking reward for any good we do is the wrong motive. Serving humanity is about giving oneself without personal gain or interest. It does not necessarily imply taking up a public cause, which in some cases can mean performing acts and imposing views on others for the wrong reasons.
Sometimes, it is simply a matter of being there for others when they are in need. Yet no action is without consequences as there is joy in giving and good always returns in some form or another. It may not necessarily come from the people we have helped, but from someone or somewhere else.
We could simply wake up one morning and find that something has changed for the better. Potentials may unfold that we did not know we had, or we might catch sight of a beautiful flower or hear the sweet song of a bird that opens us to the experience of universal love. This is why receiving and being open to good is as important as doing good, otherwise we are stopping it from entering our lives and denying others the opportunity to manifest any kindness. If we continuously push good away, it will eventually do as we command and our lives will be less rich because of it.
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‘Spirit Gems: Essential Guidance to Spiritual, Mediumistic and Creative Unfoldment’ is a revised and expanded edition of the authors’ second book, which provides practical steps for discovering how to live more freely, deeply and peacefully. Glyn Edwards and Santoshan write beautifully whilst covering essentials such as living in the now, facing our fears, finding unity with all and harmonising the whole of our lives ever-present life changing dimensions of the spirit. (See www.ghf-web.com for more details.)
‘… brimming over with beneficial practices that will wondrously inspire, stimulate and enhance your inner powers …’
– Mark Stone, Mind-Body-Spirit, Westbourne.
‘Gems, pearls, rubies and sapphires are waiting for anyone taking the time to read this book.’
– Ian Mowll, Interfaith Foundation minister.
GLYN EDWARDS has worked internationally as a medium for over 40 years, is considered as one of the greatest mediums and teachers of Psychic and Spiritual Science in the UK and has worked as a senior course tutor at the esteemed Arthur Findlay College for over three decades. He has coauthored two books with the Santoshan and was featured in a third book by him ('Realms of Wondrous Gifts') on Psychic and Mediumistic powers in the great wisdom taditions. He has run workshops, recorded various CDs and cassettes and been interviewed on TV and radio throughout the world.
Stephen Wollaston was given the name Santoshan (contement) by Swami Dharmananda. He studied world religions at King’s College London, is the designer of GreenSpirit magazine, an author of several books on spiritual matters, including 'Spirituality Unveiled: Awakening to Creative Life' (O BOOKs 2011) and 'The House of Wisdom: Yoga Spiriuality of the East and West' (O Books 2008: coauthored with Swami Dharmananda) and was the principle bass guitarist of the punk rock and new wave band The Wasps.
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