A mature perspective of one's spirituality.

I was very surprised and indeed delighted when Margaret McElroy recalled some past lives that I have experienced and suggested that I should put my thoughts down on paper in the form of an article with the intriguing title, “For Men Only” - what does that mean, perhaps the title alone will entice the opposite sex to read my little story viewed from a male perspective?

The narrative will take the form of a series to be presented in the Cosmic Lighthouse Ezine on a monthly basis.

For Men only - Well that is a challenge, but I do consider that spirituality is perceived by many as a female pursuit, as from my own experience woman were usually seen as more spiritual and sensitive than their male counterparts. Rubbish of course – but the male ego, the expectations that maleness is about being aggressive and macho, makes spirituality appear to be perhaps something that “it is better” that we do not admit to being too interested. Our friends, work colleagues, and families might have some concern. We might be putting them in a position where they are seeing their own perceptions of normality, and they are being presented with their own mirror of the inhibitions and perceptions that they received through their own internal belief systems. We likely would not fit in. This is an aspect of my own awareness, and even today when talking with ex work colleagues or acquaintances I have known for many years, I feel a need to be discrete and follow my internal advice (intuition) and approach the subject only if asked about it and pressed for information as to what I am doing now. This of course might not be a total “male” problem, as all of us have beliefs that we grew up with and which have affected us to varying degrees. The guy though is likely to feel that it is necessary to present themselves more in keeping with the expectations of others.

My first “spiritual” experience was witnessed by forty plus people in a hospital ward

Looking back - I am truly blessed to be enjoying a great life, I have been very fortunate to have experienced many wonderful times, I have been able to travel a great deal to many parts of the world, which I will recount in detail in later articles. But for starters I arrived in this incarnation in 1942, I do not recall it as such. I was born in Wallasey in the UK, on the other side of the River Mersey from Liverpool which was the object of many air raids at that time. My first night on the planet brought about one of the most intense bombings that was experienced during the second world war. I guess I was very concerned, and wondered what I had done to be welcomed in such a manner. But I survived, and only have memories of tins of baked beans horded in the cellar and really no awareness of fears or terror associated with WW2.

My first “spiritual” experience was witnessed by forty plus people in a hospital ward, where I was having some minor surgery to correct a tummy problem, I was twelve years old. My Grandmother (I called her Nanny) had been seriously ill with cancer for a number of years, and had to undergo awful radiation therapy which was quite frightening. I recall the huge room surrounded by lead and steel, with the bed in the centre and these huge electrodes attached to the ceiling pointing at the patients’ bed. I can recall her telling me how awful this thing was as she was totally alone in this area for quite long periods of time. She had been quite sick for many years and her condition was “normal” to me.