Choose Peace Before Fear

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Author Richard F Holmes

Photo by Ku00e9vin Dorg on Pexels.com

Here we are folks, as promised I’m back again with a very simple exercise to help you connect with the ever peaceful, inner you. Of course, I would love to be able to say that this exercise is my own, but it isn’t. To my knowledge, it originates from that most wonderful Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh.

First of all, get all ideas of “doing;” of having to achieve something, out of your mind. Do not start off from the standpoint that you are engaged in the act of doing. Do not even think to yourself, “I must clear my mind of all thoughts.” This is all about “allowing;” there is nothing to “do.” Thoughts will inevitably start flying through your head; this is fine, try not to judge this as being good or bad. Just accept that thoughts are there and let them pass through; even the thoughts that follow the thoughts etc, etc.

To begin with, find your comfortable space; it doesn’t necessarily have to be indoors, it could be out in nature. Breathing through your nose, just take a few breaths, as many as you need, just to centre yourself and to get yourself starting to relax. Next, say these words silently in your mind as you breath in, “breathing in, I know I am breathing in.” As you breath out, also say these words silently in your mind, “breathing out, I know I am breathing out.” You do this for three breaths.

Next, on the in-breath you say the word “in” silently in your mind, and on the out-breath, you say the word “out” silently in your mind. You can also do this for three breaths, but equally you can carry this stage on as long as you want. At some stage, when you relax sufficiently, the words will disappear of their own accord anyway. The idea of the exercise is simply to become aware of your breath. The longer the exercise goes on, the more you become aware of simply being aware. This awareness is your true nature; “the peace that passes all understanding.”

I hope you get something from this; stay safe, stay peaceful.

For Better Or For Worse

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Author Richard F Holmes

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

The world truly does seem to be in chaos, but here is something to consider; another slant on things. Without wishing to bring politics into my blog, I think it is only the most naive of people who do not see by now that the role of the media is to cause fear and mayhem amongst the masses; thus, fanning the flames of division.

But, the truth is that negativity is very loud (“hate screeches”, as Sri Sathya Sai Baba used to say), and peace is very soft and subtle. The egoic mind is easily led, and television news bulletins and sensationalist newspaper headlines effortlessly draw in the masses, like sheep, for their daily dose of brainwashing.

But, take the fragrance of a rose, for instance. There are no words to describe its beauty; it remains silent, yet says so much. What I’m trying to say here is that there is so much positivity to be taken from the amazing world in which we live. There is so much that the beauty of Mother Nature can teach us, if we are prepared to look. The thing is, beauty doesn’t screech; it simply exists as it is, in subtle splendour.

We can also look for our own subtle splendour, that is our essential Being; who we really are. This is the peace that passes all understanding that can only be found within ourselves. Things always seem to be descending into chaos, because hate and fear are always shouting. But, in reality, we are only a witness to that chaos; the eternal witness, to be more precise. The world may sometimes appear to be getting better AND worse at the same time, but remember, for better or worse, the world is in a constant state of flux because it is ultimately an illusion; it is consciousness in motion. The underlying, changeless, absolute truth ( who we really are) is always simply as it is, and is always accessible to us if we will just look beyond the madness.

In my next post I’m going to share with you a very simple exercise that will help you to focus on your inner subtle splendour, and shut out the screeching that wants to spin you a yarn and cause you to lose yourself in the world. Hang in there people, I’ll be back in a few days!

Living The Dream – Slight Return

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Author Richard F Holmes

Well, lovely people, the plot thickens. You may remember that in my last blog post I said that since sharing in my book, Eyesight To The Blind, that my out-of-body experiences were virtually a thing of the past, that I then embarked on a flurry of astral adventures, only for them to dry up again. Well, I eventually had another one that is actually worth writing about, because it seems to be a new experience. I say, “seems”, because I don’t remember having had this experience before.

During the early hours of Christmas morning I felt the all-too-familiar feeling of being out-of-body as another soul carried me off on a journey to who knows where. This was actually a very short event, but like some of my other very short out-of-body experiences, it held some significance. I decided to keep my eyes closed as I travelled, and after a brief journey felt myself come to a halt. Now here’s the significance. I had a sense of oneness, but not with what I like to call, “the inner wilderness of silence”; the “peace that passes all understanding”, which is our true nature, our very essence. No, it was a sense of oneness with the astral world. I was completely without form and one with the astral energy in which I was enfolded; incidentally, it was pale blue in colour but a pale blue that was not of this earth. It is extremely difficult to describe the experience accurately, but I’m doing my best. In that Nano-moment, nothing existed except that pale blueness, of which I was a part. The energy had quite a hard power to it that was in no way subtle.

In no time at all, that experience was over but I was still out-of-body. I then noticed that I had a lovely female spirit for a companion. We were side-on to each other and she had her arm around me; she then kissed me on the cheek, which was a lovely feeling. Then as quick as a flash I was back in my body and laying in my bed. The whole experience seemed to take nothing more than a matter of seconds. It was around 04:20 in the morning.

It just goes to show that you can never predict these out-of-body shenanigans…

The Silent Garden Of The Soul

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

You cannot force peace on yourself. Once we start making an effort to be peaceful we are facing an uphill battle. “Battle”, being the appropriate word; because effort creates strain (a battle). The best result we can hope for will be agitation disguised as peace. In other words it will be temporary. Trying to force the mind to be still in meditation is a non-starter. Peace can only be experienced through understanding. By devoting more time to sitting in the silence and simply allowing ourselves to be, we become more attuned with our authentic Self. Thoughts are bound to arise when we sit in the silence, but don’t try to force them to go away; just allow them to flow by.

With a bit of practice we can all find that silent garden of the soul. This helps to increase our understanding of who we are; our true nature. Once we find that “peace that passes all understanding”, we realise that there was no need to go looking for it; it was there all the time. It was just a case of not being able to see it because we have been conditioned to be the “agitated self”, and not who we really are.

Trance Mediumship – What’s The Point?

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Author Richard F Holmes

I suppose the title sounds a bit cynical, probably because there is a hint of cynicism cunningly inserted into it, but there is a reason for my cynicism. For the uninitiated trance mediumship is when a medium allows a dis-carnate soul to overshadow/enter their physical body, take over their voice box and then speak through them. Theoretically, the spirit guide, or whomever the communicating soul may be, then proceeds to speak words of wisdom and enlightenment. That all sounds pretty good, however, we live in changing times and to me, this is just one of many examples of how UK Spiritualism remains firmly rooted in the past. I will now endeavour to qualify this statement by offering my reasons for holding this view.

We need to understand that the human race, and indeed our wonderful planet, is going through a shift at this moment in time. It should also be said that it is only the spiritually un-aware who are not able to feel these changes that are taking place as I type. I mention this because we are fast heading towards a new Golden Age; and people all over the planet are going through an awakening that is very tangible in its process. People all over the planet are waking up to who they really are and coming to the realisation that what we are all seeking has all the time been closer than our very finger tips, and has indeed been nestling within our own hearts. We also need to understand that ALL form, without exception, both in this realm and the astral realms, is an illusion.

Now, this “thing” that we have all been searching for, i.e. “the bliss that passes all understanding” or God, if you like, which is our true nature, is also an infinite ocean of love, wisdom and truth. To be more precise, this God-ness is actually all these things rolled into one. Having established this it is now apparent that there is no reason whatsoever for anyone anywhere to want to allow the likes of “Auntie Doris” or “Big Chief Tomahawk” the spirit guide (who isn’t even a real Red Indian anyway) to take over their voice box and speak in a funny voice and maybe do a bit of hand waving in the process. What I mean is, that what is contained within the illusion of our physical form is all-knowing and wisdom personified, therefore if we are now awakening to this truth is it not the most logical, practical and simple thing in the world to just tap into this source of inner joy and take from it what we need to enhance our own lives and the lives of others? Illusion will always dissolve and fade away when faced with truth, so if we are now waking up to our truth what further purpose could trance mediumship possibly serve?

What purpose does it serve to have another soul, who may or may not be as evolved as we are, take over our physical body and use our voice box to speak, when we have something within us that is far more profound? We also need to understand that everything we see is just an opinion, meaning that we all view the world from our own perspective and vision; and we have already established that all form is an illusion. This would suggest that not only is Big Chief Tomahawk not a real Red Indian, but the Uncle Charlies and Auntie Mabels of the astral planes didn’t actually exist here on Earth in the way that we remember; what we saw of them was just our opinion at the time.

I don’t write with cynicism in order to be insulting or disrespectful in any way, but I find that it enables me to simplify my writing and put things over in ways that people can understand, and I’m afraid that I find the whole Spiritualism thing so outdated. It seems to imply that we will find what we are looking for externally, yet nothing could be further from the truth. I have always accepted that we all need to start somewhere, but once you have established a platform from which to work you need to evolve, and Spiritualism just doesn’t do this; It’s the same old same old. It seeks to prove survival after physical death, and I believe it does this admirably, but it doesn’t do anything else; for heaven’s sake, just how many times do we need to be told that Auntie Doris baked cakes and liked her garden????

Never in a million years will we find the peace that passes all understanding when we look outside of ourselves. A medium cannot tell us anything that is going to take away our worries, fears and troubles; only mind control via inner enquiry can do that, and the whole concept of trance mediumship implies that we have to rely on another party separate from ourselves to provide guidance. You the reader, you yourself are God and all the knowledge you will ever need, you have already. Anyone that we look to for guidance can, at the most, only point us in the direction of ourselves.

Do not be content with the empty shells washed up on the shore, instead dive deep into the ocean and collect the pearls of wisdom – Sri Sathya Sai Baba

In summary I would like to say that I accept wholeheartedly that there is a need for people who have no spiritual understanding to come to the realisation that there is no death, and that those they love have in fact simply stepped out of the body into another dimension. My biggest gripe with Spiritualism is that it doesn’t seem to move beyond this point, although I also accept that many people still believe that death actually exists and need the comfort that Spiritualism provides. However, it should also be understood that the mind, ego and senses will always trick us into looking at the world from the perspective of duality. When we are awake we transcend the mind, ego and senses and therefore view the world from the perspective of “Oneness”, which is truth. Bearing this in mind and going back to the title of this article “Trance Mediumship – What’s The Point”; who can actually speak through us? From the perspective of Oneness, no one but ourselves.