Sunday 27 May 2012

KIlmarnock Church SNU Open Day... Meditation - start at the begining... Angela's Awareness... Dali Lama's Award....


A two week break from church services did not mean I was idle, well not for the first week.  That was busy with voluntary work, seeing those who had contacted our churches and some psychic investigation.  The second week we had a few days break in Eastbourne.

Hours after returning home I took part in Kilmarnock Spiritualist Church’s (SNU) Open Day.  This year it was a Charity tea in aid of Parkinson’s Research .and an amazing £1216was raised.

A lot of praise has to go to President, Morag Deverell and the wonderful committee and members who worked hard to make this day such a successful.

Mediums: taking part were Mary Reynolds: Chris Bachelor Elizabeth Halliday Margaret Beattie June Harrison Ann Armstrong: Steven Scott: Robert Cairnie: Ricky Arthur: and myself.  

Churches of all denominations hold tea or coffee days in aid of charity, but few spiritualist churches do this, our churches are more in favour of psychic demonstrations.  But I think we should go more along the road of the charity tea because it brings in those in the local community who would not go to a psychic night.  It gives the local community an insight into their local spiritualist church but not needing to take part in anything on the psychic side.  Many turned up at the Kilmarnock church for the first time and were impressed.  I am sure that this was a perfect introduction for them and they may return for a service. 





...Meditation...



I constantly hear.... “I cannot meditate”....”It is just impossible for me to meditate”.   Since I opened up this site I have lost count of the number of times I have received emails saying “Can you recommend a book that will help me to meditate?”

Like everything, else we have to learn to walk before we can run, meditation being no different.  Before one can meditate one has to learn how to relax, something not so easy in this day and age.  One cannot just sit down after a busy day and expect to go into a meditation after reading a few pages of a book.  .

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or mode of consciousness or self-induce to obtain some benefit.   During meditation, one detaches their thoughts, keeping relaxed, and focuses only on one thing such as a sound, music or an object, or pay attention to breathing.  Through meditation, one can achieve tranquility and peace of mind which is difficult to attain in today’s  busy urban life

Before meditation is ever thought off or attempted one should try just to slow one’s mind down for a few minutes.  I know of many who started out on this trail by taking a few minutes during the lunch break at work and even sitting on a bus or train.  To meditate or even relax one has to find the key that helps one’s mind to relax. That key to this is personal to you and no book can tell you what the key is for you.

Over the past few years when being asked to take meditation groups I have always insisted that I start of right at the beginning with the basics. Forgetting about actual meditation in its true sense and getting each person to find ‘their own key to relaxation.  This ‘key’ as I have mentioned earlier can come in the form of a sound, music, an object, or pay attention to breathing. 
Let’s take each of these in turn…

Sound - waves and birds singing are the favourite way of many to relax and there are many CDs on the market to choose from.

Music is probably the favourite ‘key’ of many but we all have different tastes in music and what is a perfect piece of music for one to relax too, will stress out another.  Even with music written for relaxation I have seldom found at all in the group who are happy with it.

It was in this area I started to experiment in and found out that some music, even from the top-10 could be just perfect to set me off on that few minutes of relaxation.

Three tunes I found just right for me were Wonderful Land and Atlantis by the Shadows and theme from the Carl Sagan TV series Cosmos.  Later I found a more relaxing version of Wonderful Land by Mike Oldfield. 
As time went on I found that TV themes turned out to be the ‘key’ that could help many to relax. Themes from programmes they watched when they were much younger and when life for them at that time was not so stressful.   Themes from programmes such as All Creatures Great and Small, Howard’s Way, Dallas…

So experiment with music and find if a particular song or piece of music is your key.

An Object…  This can be anything but usually something which holds a special memory for you.  I have been told by thoses who have found their key in this category to be an item handed down or a present from a loved one.   

Colour I feel comes into this category. The colour of an ornament, cushion or flower etc. 

Paying attention to breathing…  This can be difficult for many at the beginning but give it a try.

There is also sitting in silence but not easy in this day and age to get a place where there is complete silence…

So experiment and find the key that will help you to relax.






In an earlier blog after the following words of wisdom we gave four people the task of being ‘aware’ of all things around them for three weeks and to comment if it had made them look at life from a different angle....

                    “All A Learning Process”

 There will always be what you call problems…
They are what we call lessons to learn
If you lived in a walled garden where the sun was always shining… There was always plenty to eat and drink… and good shelter… Would you want to venture far?
No… most people would not…
So how could they learn what life was all about?
They would leave this life knowing little more than when they entered it…
The more you learn… … The more equipped you will be for the next part of your existence…
For the next week… Look on everything… and I mean everything… as a learning process…
Think what you have to learn from this… and what you have to learn from that…
It will amaze you by the end of the week… how you will see so much… in a different light…
A whole new world…
A whole new dimension will open up to you…
You will see things like you have never seen them before…
Never give up… Never give in to the negative side… of what unfolds in front of you
Tom/Alan…

First to get back was Angela – a lady in her 40’s who spends many hours helping out her local church – one of the orthodox religions
 “The three weeks happened to coincide with a very busy period in our own little church’s life.  Several activities had been arranged  where we all had too muck in to make them a success.  Standing back and looking at all that was going on suddenly dawned on me for the first time that there were those who made all the decisions and those who done the hard work.  Those who made all the decisions would never get their hands dirty and those who were allays washing dishes and moving chairs were never listened too.  But I suppose all this reflects society and probable those who do the actual hard graft would not want to be in a position of power anyway.  They would have the ability but would feel they were not capable or want the responsibility.
Of our religion, it suddenly dawned on me that we have to accept and to question even in debate is frowned upon.
As far as my own life is concerned, I have missed out on doing so much only because I have told myself that “I cannot do this and I cannot do that.
Family – they are drifting apart and this is something I am going to try to change.
Work; - only part-time and I moan and groan about it all the time.  But when I sit down and think about it I have just got into the habit of moaning and given the chance of another job, I don’t think I would move.
I know that part of this experiment I was to think on spiritualism and maybe even go to a spiritualist service, but I could not attend the service or even read a book on the subject..  I just cannot seem to take that what you call spirit I have always been brought up to think of as ghost, is for me.   I know Tom well, a nice and genuine person who takes time for others, is a spiritualist and does a lot for his religion but I just cannot accept spiritualism as a religion.
The exercise will hopefully make me change my outlook in life.”


 
The Dalai Lama is best known for his commitment to Tibetan autonomy from China and his message of spirituality, nonviolence and peace that has made him a best-selling author and a speaker who can pack entire arenas.
The Tibetan Buddhist leader and Nobel Prize laureate has also had an abiding interest in the intersection of science and religion. That interest won Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, the 2012 Templeton Prize on Thursday (March 29), a $1.7 million award that is often described as the most prestigious award in religion.
The Dalai Lama is the highest-profile winner of an award that in recent years,  physicists and theologians not well known to the general public, but earlier had been given to the likes of evangelist Billy Graham and the late Mother Teresa







 












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