Long Service Presentation to Jim and May Brown... “Awareness" by Jim Brown

The last day of January saw me at Coatbridge Spiritualist Church where there was a big turnout.  Coatbridge is not on the tourist map but it has a great museum with lots on display and is well worth a visit. 

 February 1st I had only a few miles to travel to Paisley Spiritualist Church (SNU)

 2nd... This time only a few miles further to the Pyramid Spiritualist Church in Pollock.

5^th Mrs Primrose’s Christian Spiritualist Church in Glasgow.  More about this church in my next blog

8^th I was at the new Arthur Conan Doyle Centre in Edinburgh

9^th... It was my pleasure to serve the Lighthouse Spiritualist Church in Gourock.  Everyone on entering the building receives a warm welcome from President Jenny Lafferty.  This church has been going for just over a year and has great support from the local community.

Thursday the 9^th was a very special day for Jim and May Brown who have worked tirelessly for spirit for many years.  Even May and Jim will have lost count of the services they have taken at our churches, Jim giving the address and May with her Clairvoyance.  I was sorry I could not attend this evening as I had another engagement.  I asked Jim if he would like to comment on the evening and here is his reply

“ I should like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who sent congratulations to May and myself on our receiving a 25 years long service award for our service and work in Spiritualism.

We have been involved in the Spiritualist Movement for approximately 35 years and have in our time served churches all over Scotland, from Dumfries to Arbroath and We have made many friends in our journeys.

As with all things time catches up with us, so we are now retired from this rewarding work, although we are still very much involved with A.S.K. (The Association for Spiritual Knowledge) in Dreghorn.

Our other interests lie in being member of the National trust visiting castles, gardens ECT. When the weather allows us also I am a philatelist collecting stamps from USA, Channel Islands an Isle of Man.

In closing I would once again thank all who sent their good wishes to us”.

Jim and May Brown

 I am sure we all wish Jim and May a happy retirement but as they said they are still heavily involved with ASK, Dreghorn and I am sure they would be delighted to see their old friends drop in and see them.  The address…….

 ASK,  Townend Community Centre, Main Street, Dreghorn, KA11 4EQ. (Thursday 7.30pm)

Jim has kindly sent me copies of some of his addresses/talks and I will put them on this blog at regular intervals.

The first one I have selected is

“Awareness”

There are three main areas of awareness that you need to develop if you wish to make any progress and these are awareness of yourself, awareness of other people and awareness of your spirit friends.

In attendance at development workshops and seminars there are various types of exercises that will be carried out to help you become more aware in each of these areas of your development.

Most of you who attend development workshops are already spiritually minded, and by making the effort to develop an awareness of your own self, you would be trying to awaken an awareness of your inner feelings.

And by asking the question ' Who am I?' which we all do at some time or another, shows that you have a desire to know who you really are.

By the amount of evidence we have received over the years we already know that we were a spirit being first before we became a physical being.

Perhaps now it is your wish to become more aware of the spirit that lies within your physical body.

And it may also be your wish to become aware of the World of Spirit, where you’re loved ones and your spirit friends now live and also to be aware of the love, healing and words of encouragement you receive from them.

Although the development of your spiritual self is a personal matter it is greatly helped by the presence of like minds. Minds, which think beyond material possessions and personal gratification and give thought and help to others who are also trying to, develop their own spirit.

 In the process of developing this awareness of yourself you will become aware of other people and their need also to develop and this will create a bond of love where you will, perhaps find yourself sitting in circle with them and where all of you will benefit.

Some people ask if it is possible to develop on their own. Yes it is, but it is not wise for you must remember that although the aura is an energy field it is also a protective field. And by sitting with a group you are sitting in a blended aura that serves to create a protective power around all the sitters.

Also if you sit alone the progress of your awareness and development will be very slow, as you have no one to communicate with during the time that you are sitting.

It is largely through the aura that the spirit helpers and guides are able to contact each of us

The aura as you know is an energy field that surrounds each of us like a shell that encloses an egg.

During the time of sitting in your circle you should learn to expand your aura to enfold those who are sitting on either side of you. This way the whole circle becomes enclosed in a field of energy and with the help of the more experienced sitters auric field you will in time come to be more aware and sense the power of spirit close to you.

As you develop this field of energy around you,

You should be very careful for you will become sensitive to other people's thoughts and moods and may find yourself becoming influenced by them.

Therefore, you should learn to master your own thoughts and feelings so that you can control your aura and learn to reject bad feelings and to accept only good feelings.

The colours that are within the aura are of course are another source of inspiration and learning and when you are able to read them they can tell a lot about the recipient.
If you are a developing clairvoyant you may while sitting in circle become aware of the other sitter's auras and the colours they contain.

Another helpful exercise I referred to earlier is meditation is one which you can do on your own.

It’s the key to awareness.

If you desire spiritual unfoldment then you should try to get into the habit of meditation.

I should say that meditation and development are two different paths to spiritual Unfoldment.

By the practice of meditation you will become more aware of your own self and of your own spirit and in due time through sitting in a circle and daily meditation you will become more aware of those unseen people who are around you and of who you are not yet conscious of.

The more you practice sitting in the silence the more proficient you will become so that you can meditate in almost any surroundings.

As you become more proficient at your meditation you will become more aware of your own spirit and when you come to sit down to meditate you will almost immediately be in contact with your higher self

There are three ways if attaining these goals: first by becoming a member of a good development circle, secondly by learning to expand your aura so that it blends with the others in the circle, and thirdly by learning through daily meditation how to control and direct your thoughts.

As you know a one-night workshop or a weekend seminar on awareness isn’t going to make you instantly aware of your own inner self, of other people or of spirit.

But if you are a member of a good development circle of dedicated sitters and it is conducted by an experienced medium then your development will progress.

Jim Brown