I have my own religion, which is a composite of all those things I feel to be true in my heart, that I have received from exposure to various religious beliefs. I was brought up as a Protestant and have attended nearly every denomination of the Protestant religion. I have attended the Catholic church because it meant so much to my mother-in-law at the time. I have had exposure through books and acquaintances with the Jewish and Eastern religions as well. I am always seeking the truth and have an open mind.

If I have to put a name to my beliefs, I would call it "Ageless Wisdom". The church that I am most comfortable with, which comes the closest to what I believe in my heart, is the Spiritualist church. One thing that impressed me with the Spiritualists I have come in contact with, is that they live their lives according to what they say they believe. In other words, they practice what they preach. I abhor hypocrisy. I will respect whatever anyone believes as long as they walk the walk and not just talk the talk! I believe that who you are and what you believe should be apparent through your words and actions every moment of your life.

Another thing that impressed me with the Spiritualist church is that one of their precepts is the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"...Confucious. I have always held the belief that if one followed this one rule, there would be no need for any other rules or commandments, as this one rule would encompass them all. At one of the Spiritualist churches I attended, I was always moved to tears at the end of the service when everybody formed a complete circle around the room, held hands, and sang, "Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let It Begin With Me"(website) (midi file). It was just so loving and so poignant. I thought to myself that this is how all church services should end... this is what it is all about. We all should be messengers for God and spread love, light, knowledge, and peace to all humanity. We should each live our own life in a manner that reflects our individual values and sets an example for others to follow. Peace on earth truly begins within the heart of each individual.

As a Spiritualist, I believe in the continuity of life, after the transition we call death. This has been proven, is still being proven, and will continue to be proven through communication with those who have so-called died, through the services of mediums. For more information on communicating with spirit and channeling, read my article describing some Spirit Circles I have attended using Direct Voice Phenomena, The Trumpet Seance. I believe that we are all spirits, having a human experience in a physical body. But, basically, we were spirits before we incarnated and we will return to spirit after the change we call death. The essence of us is spirit (in God's image) and we do not die. We may discard our physical bodies, but the real part of us (our soul/essence/personality) lives eternally, but on a different level of awareness.

I believe in God, but I do not picture him as an old man with a white beard, sitting on a throne in heaven, judging, condemning, and punishing people. I believe that God is love and we should not fear him because fear is the opposite of love. One cannot love if one embraces fear. Christ came to give us God's message of love. He told us we should love everyone unconditionally, forgive our enemies, and that we should not judge anyone. God would not expect behavior in us for which he would not set an example. That is why I do not believe the "fire and brimstone" preaching of some of our religious leaders. I believe that all souls can be redeemed and eventually become one with God, once again (although it may take eons).

I believe that a part of God's energy is in everything there is and that everything is a part of God. Each of us represents a different aspect of God's personality. We are all unique, yet we are all connected... we all are one. A flower has many petals, and yet is but one flower. Our arms and legs move separately, yet are connected to one body.

The Earth is a classroom in the school of life. We are here to experience what this physical life has to offer and to feel all the emotions that our experiences cause, whether they be laughter or sorrow. At times, we will attempt something and fail. If we always succeeded, and never experienced failure, how much could we learn? We learn by the very reason of our failures. It is by learning the lessons of them, that we progress in a spiritual sense. The mistakes that we make and the so-called bad things that happen to us end up being the best things that happen to us, when the lessons we learn from them strengthen our souls. If some people seem to have more hardships and greater obstacles to overcome than others seem to, they can rejoice because it means that they are strong enough to face these challenges and to learn some of the more difficult lessons that can best be learned in this manner. Their souls are advancing toward the goal of perfection. We are never given more than we can handle.

I believe that before we came into this earthly existence, we chose the circumstances we would be born into and the experiences we would encounter in this lifetime, according to the lessons we felt we needed to learn and decided the best ways for us to learn them. Being in a physical body imposes many limitations to us, but when we become free from our bodies, with no limitations, we will bring with us the lessons we have learned here. The good deeds and the love we gave while we were in the flesh, are what we will get to keep when we leave the physical world and enter another phase of existence.