Mediumship 1.17: Divine Love casts out fear

Welcome to the written version of my latest YouTube video looking at life in spirit through the automatic writings of the early twentieth century medium, James Padgett.

The link to the YouTube video is here: https://youtu.be/463iG6kVujg

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Hi, David here, and welcome back to the channel, looking at mediumship and life in spirit through the automatic writings of the early twentieth-century medium James Padgett.

In the last video, we looked at a message Padgett received from his grandmother, Ann Rollins, giving a description of some of the different places within the spirit world. That was the second of two videos (1.16 Part 1 and 1.16 Part 2) that looked at some of the spiritual spheres that await us — some of the environments that await us in the life to come.

For this video, we come back to life on the earth plane but from the perspective of one who is now in spirit, having lived here and subsequently advanced through some of the different spheres of spirit that we looked at in the last two videos.

One of the reasons it’s worthwhile exploring spirit is to understand how we can make the most of our time in this world, so we’re going to look at another message from Ann Rollins, in which she points out various spiritual lessons that she learned during her own earth life, which enabled her to enjoy life despite the challenges she faced, and which stood her in good stead when she passed to spirit.

More specifically, this message explains a little more about what Divine Love actually is, how it can be obtained or shared in by each of us, and the difference it makes even during our mortal life upon the earth.

This is because we share in Divine Love, if we choose to and make the effort to seek it, at the soul level. This means that Divine Love is something we can share in regardless of whether or not we have a physical form. The soul I am is the soul I will be when I pass to spirit.

I mean, hopefully I’ll be here for a bit longer and manage to make a bit of progress in the meantime but being or not being in a physical form does not of itself make the difference in terms of who and what we are.

This message was given by Ann Rollins to James Padgett on January 9, 1917, so just over a year after the message that we looked at in the previous video. Ann did write in the meantime but, as you will see, it has still been some time since she last wrote to him.

The message begins:

“I am here, your Grandmother.

Well my dear son, it has been some time since I wrote you, and I feel that I must say a few words to you, as you are in a condition that needs some encouragement and sympathy.

I love you as you know and while I have not written you lately, yet I have been with you a great deal watching over you and trying to influence you with my love and powers by bringing to you spiritual thoughts and soul longings.”

That’s a valuable comment by Ann Rollins because it gives us an insight into how people in spirit try to help us in our daily lives in this world.

Because people in spirit are no longer embodied, they can be with us when they want to be and can help by thought, and by strengthening in us those thoughts and inclinations of our own that are consistent with their own perceptions of what has spiritual or practical value.

Ann continues:

“Now, I want to tell you a few things that may help you in your moments of worry. When on earth, as you know, I was nearly blind and deaf, and in such condition that would naturally cause me to worry and be unhappy, but I did not worry and was not unhappy; and the secret was that I had in my soul the Love of God.

It was so real to me that no doubt of its existence in my soul ever came to cause me unhappiness, and I assure you, that this Love is the same kind of love that now floods my whole being and gives me the happiness that I now possess.”

So, Ann is being very clear that sharing in Divine Love was something she commenced to do when she was still living her mortal earth life, that it made a huge difference to her enjoyment of that phase of her life, despite her physical limitations, and that it continues to make a difference to who and what she is, and therefore to where she is in spirit.

Recalling more about her earth life, Ann tells James that:

“I remember that I did not have many material things to trouble me, for you looked after my material welfare and was always kind to me and loving; nevertheless, if it had not been for the Love that I speak of, I can readily see that I should have been very worried and unhappy a great deal, for my natural inclination was to worry when things did not go right, as we said.

And so I tell you from actual experience, that all your worries, and by this I mean your causes of worry, may be taken from your conscious self if you will only seek for and obtain, which you certainly can do, this Love of God.

It is astonishing how efficacious it is to cause the worries and troubles to disappear.”

So is Ann telling James that the challenges he faces in this earth life, the material causes of his worries, will disappear? Not quite:

“They, as you know, are very largely a matter of the mind and while in a certain sense they are real, yet the mind or its condition is the real cause of the realization of the worries.

Now consider for a moment the fact, and I know that you will agree with me that it is a fact, that the indulging in these worries does not in one particular remove the material causes of the worry, and does not in any manner bring relief from the troubles, no matter how much you may allow your mind to dwell on these things, and how intensely you may worry, the cause, the material cause, remains.”

Essentially what Ann is reminding James of is that allowing yourself to worry unduly, or to be preoccupied with worry, fear of what is ahead, does nothing to help with the causes of those worries.

Giving in to fear doesn’t help, and it may block our ability to perceive a way forward; nevertheless, it can be extremely difficult to avoid worrying unduly.

Ann recognizes this, saying:

“You may say, and it is natural to do so, that it is easy enough to advise that you should not let these inconvenient things cause you to worry, but when you come to the practical experience and are suffering from these conditions, it is not so easy to throw aside the effect of these troubles on the mind.

Well, there is much truth in that; [but] notwithstanding that, this Love that I tell you of, when living in the soul, will make even that effort easy to accomplish.

The philosophy of the phenomenon, if you may call it such, is that this Love is of such real substantial Essence that it takes control of the mind and eliminates the consciousness of the reality of the causes of the worry.”

As she has said before, Ann tells James that Divine Love is not just some reassuring metaphor but is in fact a real thing, an actual Essence, as she calls it, a real energy that can be explored and experienced.

‘Philosophy’ just means love of knowledge, or of wisdom, and in using that word here, Ann is not just sharing a theory or a speculation; what Ann shares here is knowledge born of her experience.

Not only is Divine Love a real thing, existing in our universe, but it has the effect of changing the way our mind looks at things. It puts the mind in the service of the heart, as I often say, or in the service of the soul, might be a more accurate way of putting it.

When we share in Divine Love, our mind naturally does its best for our spiritual nature. We might say that fears born of a material perspective on life get squeezed out.

The things that cause us to fear remain but, when we share in Divine Love, they cease to prompt that response in us.

As Ann says:

“Now I do not want to be understood as intending to convey the idea that these material causes are not real, for I am not a Christian Scientist to that extent, what I mean is, that notwithstanding the real existence of these causes, the effects of this Love, and the faith that accompanies it, upon the mind which is the real cause of the worry is such that forgetfulness of these causes of worry takes the place of constant indulging in the thoughts of their existence, and the unhappy consequence that must flow from them.

The cause itself [i.e. the challenges we face during our earthly life] is not removed but the consciousness of their existence, for the time being, is dissipated, and to the mind that is thus influenced by the Love, these causes are as if they were not.”

Ann mentions Christian Science because one of its tenets is that anything can be overcome with the mind, even the physical challenges we face upon the earth can be dispersed.

Ann is clear this is not what she is saying; earthly problems are real and it is Divine Love, not the human mind alone, that changes their effect upon us.

As she says:

“Of course, they are existing and facing you to some extent, but it will come to you that they are not so overwhelming and insurmountable as they would appear were this Love absent from the soul and its influence [absent] from the mind.

In addition to this, love and faith create a confidence in the power of God and His willingness to help, that engenders courage, which enables the possessor of this confidence to overcome these causes of worry that he would not otherwise be able to do.

What I have said may be called the philosophy of the workings of this Love in its effective destruction of worry.

Now the great fact in this is that God does, as a truth, help the one who is in the condition of being possessed with this Love.

His Love is real and His help is real, and the effect is to make the causes named things of unreality, so far as the happiness of the [one who is the] object of this help is concerned.

And as a truth, shown by the experience of mortals, a very large proportion of the worries and troubles that harass and cause so much unhappiness to mortals is a thing of the imagination and never realized.

So my dear son, try to understand what I have written and apply it to your own condition, and you will find that your worries are not near so great as you now think.

I know just what is facing you, and as you have been told by others who have written you, in a short time you will be relieved and the sun will again shine in your consciousness of existence, and you will become in a much better condition to do your work, both that of your business and that of the Master.”

This is interesting; Ann is coming forward to show James how to obtain relief from his worries, which were mainly money worries, not only so he can enjoy life more but also so he can get himself into a condition, a state of mind, that makes it possible for people in spirit to connect with him more fully.

The more fully people in spirit can connect with us, the more they can help us. That’s not to say there is some magic wand that can be waved, that will make all our troubles disappear, but the better the connection, the more able people in spirit are to give us ideas, or to help us spot possible solutions to the challenges we face.

Particularly in the case of someone like James Padgett, who was actively working with spirit to bring much needed knowledge into this world, that closer connection is needed both for the automatic writing itself, and to ensure that James has the means to devote his time to that work.

So, Ann reassures her grandson, saying:

“You must not for a moment think that you will not be looked after so that you can do and complete the task that you have been selected to do.

This is as certain as that the sun shines, and while for a time yet some disagreeable and disheartening things may confront you, but it will not be a great while before they will become things of the past, and you will be in condition to do this work without hindrance or interference.

So think of all that I have said and try to believe and make a practical application of my philosophy; and above all pray to God for an inflowing of this Love, and have faith to realize that it will become yours, limited only by your longings and sincerity of aspirations.

Well, I will come soon and write you a long letter on some spiritual truth, that will be of interest to you.

I must stop now, and so with all my love and all God’s blessings,

I will say, good night,

Your loving, Grandmother”

A fascinating message, showing us the extent to which people in spirit will go to help us if we are willing to work with them. Ann Rollins is attentive to both James’s practical concerns and his inner well-being.

In reminding James of the importance of Divine Love, and the difference it makes, or one of the differences it makes, Ann reminds James that he has a practical plan of action available to him.

She does this partly for his benefit but partly also for the benefit of those in spirit who seek to communicate with and through James because those particular communicators need James to be in the soul condition that Divine Love creates in us.

Now, it is perfectly possible for someone who does not share in Divine Love to do automatic writing, especially where the people in spirit communicating also do not share in it. They may well be able to express themselves fully through such a medium.

But where the people in spirit who wish to communicate share in Divine Love, are at one with God through His Love, they cannot express or show that through a medium who does not themselves share that Essence. There can be only a partial connection.

You can broadcast a signal but if it’s beyond the range that a receiver or detector is made for, nothing will come through the speaker. This is why they need James to be someone who also shares in Divine Love as fully as possible, as well as wanting for him the more highly spiritualized nature this will bring him.

And James certainly faces his challenges in this life, including some that threaten to shake his trust in spirit.

In the next video, we’re going to look at a message Padgett received in June 1918 from his wife, Helen, after their daughter, Nita, died unexpectedly after an operation.

In any family, of course, this would be an absolute tragedy, so it’s interesting to see how Helen deals with it, trying to comfort James by explaining what happened from her perspective.

So, I hope you’ll join me for that. In the meantime, if you’ve enjoyed this video, please do click ‘like’, and subscribe if you haven’t already, as it does help to introduce the channel to others.

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In the meantime, thank you for watching, and I’ll see you soon. Until then, take care.