Understanding Our Spiritual World: Could this be the Key to Mental Well-Being?
“I asked these spirit figures if I was seeing them or if I was seeing what was in my own brain. They answered, ‘both.’ ”
–Eileen Garret
Constituted today as being one of the most progressive and liberal religious movements of its time, Spiritualism opened the doors to the spirit world and internal energy connections to a large population of individuals. Perhaps due to its intermediate state and the potential for thrilling experiences, Spiritualism quickly spread and took with it the ability to impact the lives of those immersed within its practices in ways that continued to generate attention and popularity. Coming from a world where structured religion appeared to be interwoven into every aspect of life, my own interest within the movement seemed to shift towards the potential benefits of holding such beliefs, both psychologically and emotionally, as most people were attracted to its teachings for a reason. True not only within Spiritualism but also within religion in general, these practices seemed to provide potential answers to things that may otherwise not have concrete explanations. With this in mind, my own personal interest was piqued as much of my childhood was spent analyzing and rationalizing through the paranormal phenomena occurring in my own home. In an attempt to understand these events as well as the religious movement that appeared to address all aspects of my experiences, immersion into the realm of Spiritualism seemed the only appropriate response. In doing so, entering into my own deficits of understanding regarding the vast unknown of spirits, long-standing religious beliefs, and unexplainable events, proved to yield interesting results. Regardless of these shortcomings, what appeared to unfold throughout my involvement was an awareness and sensitivity to other aspects of the world around me, resulting in the very thing that I may have needed most at this point in my life—true understanding of the liminal nature and energy that encompasses each and every one of us.
Spiritualism: Early Beginnings
In order to begin my journey, I needed to create a foundation of understanding for all of my future endeavors within the world of Spiritualism. Dating back to the 1840’s, Modern Spiritualism was viewed as a way of providing evidence to support religious beliefs in both life after death and the existence of the soul (Religions- Spiritualism: History of Modern Spiritualism). However, during this time, this type of belief was something that was just beginning to generate attention and often these ideas and experiences were not ones that were very common, catalyzing the interest of others. Adding fuel to this, the story of the Fox sister’s and their experiences of communicating with the spirit of their home aided in this sensationalizing effect of the religion. However, while many consider that story to be the foundation for this belief system, the origins of Spiritualism remain more complex and deep seated within the experiences of Andrew Jackson Davis.
Known as both “the Poughkeepsie seer” and “the John the Baptist of the Spiritualist Movement”, Davis’s life seemed filled of spiritual impoverishment, as he was unable to find a religion that truly matched up with his beliefs and could answer all of his burning questions regarding spiritual life. Despite his disappointments, he soon found the answer to his internal void. While Mesmerists passed through his home town one day, Davis volunteered to participate in the act. Unbeknownst to him, this performance would allow for the discovery of his natural aptitude “…for attaining the deepest levels of mesmeric trance” (Fuller 39). Preceding such an enthralling experience, he decided to take his abilities to New England to demonstrate his mental powers and spirit communication to a larger audience. After several months of repeated journeys into the inner recessions of his mind, Davis abruptly declared that “…mesmerism had activated some of the many powers which we know to rest in the soul’s deep bosom” (Fuller 40). Through Davis’s experiences and his developed understanding of the world of Spiritualism, original foundations and languages regarding other religious movements began to shift.
Acting as the nucleus of the system of spiritualist philosophy, Andrew Jackson Davis’s statements and experiences began to lead other spiritualist writers. Now, these individuals were developing a new language for describing God as an impersonal energy or intelligence, allowing for the application of both masculine and feminine qualities to the divine spirit while also emphasizing that energies could flow from higher spheres to lower ones (Fuller 41). With this in mind, it became more clear that with this newfound idea of an inner connection with the spiritual realms, everyone may have the ability to develop their own mediumistic talents. Also tying into the idea of developing older ideas within the religious realm, many notions within Spiritualism had developed concepts apart from other religious ideas before its time. For example, one such aspect that developed from this belief system was that women deserved equal authority, opportunities, and access to leadership in a religious sphere (Lewis and Melton 62). Beginning to act as a catalyst in creating change within this scope, Spiritualism also made headway in the realm of science and religion, emphasizing that the idea that the two could exist in harmony as spiritual experiences had the potential to be empirically studied. This was most noted with séances of this time, as researchers were able to participate and study the abilities of the mediums within these sessions. Regardless of the headway Spiritualism made, one cannot deny that fraud and deception soon followed. It even went so far as to appear that for every medium that experts could not debunk, there were two more incidents of fraud. However, while it is essential to keep these aspects in mind, it cannot be dismissed that the involvements in not only Spiritualism, but religion in general, seem to bring about emotional and psychological effects in those immersed within the beliefs.
Spiritualism and Psychological Well-being
Returning again to the impact religious ties have on an individual’s psychological and emotional well-being, I found that what was essential to understanding the ways in which people are affected by their beliefs was by first analyzing the effectiveness of current workings of psychotherapy. Researchers Mitchell and Romans, decided to conduct a study on this very idea and discovered that the issue with modern day therapy may lie within its foundations. They noted throughout their findings that “U.S. psychology in particular is largely a psychology of control…all the major paradigms of psychotherapy share an interest in helping people maximize the control they have in their lives” (Mayo 90). However as most people have grown to see, there is a limit as to how much humans can control their lives, which may even be a reasoning for the increased spikes in psychological disorders along with the increased use of this belief in clinical practice. Taking this into consideration, leading researchers are drawing closer to supporting the idea that spirituality and religion may be the key in allowing people to come to terms with human limitations.
In their quest for understanding the exact role religion may play in the psychological and emotional effects of individuals, researchers have found a great deal of data suggesting that religious affiliation and regular practices may provide benefits beyond what we ever thought possible. A large epidemiological study conducted by the University of California at Berkeley in 1971 found that “the religiously committed had much less psychological distress than the uncommitted” (Fagan). In addition to this, Rodney Stark, now of the University of Washington, found the same in a 1970 study: “The higher the level of religious attendance, the less stress suffered when adversity had to be endured” (Fagan). Tying this back to Spiritualism, these examples may provide some sort of explanation as to why individuals that practice this religion seem to become completely enthralled and immersed within the beliefs—that the commitment may be providing some sort of relief from everyday stressors and can also be providing ways to cope with aspects out of one’s control. Regardless of what might be binding these individuals to their beliefs, it seems as though the evidence that supports the positive impact religion can play in an individual’s life is interspersed throughout the history of psychological observations. This connection was even observed by Carl Jung, one of the most influential pioneers of modern psychology and psychotherapy:
Among all my patients in the second half of my life… there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. It is safe to say that every one of them fell ill because he had lost that which the living religions of every age have given their followers and none of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook (Fagan)
Again, noted by one of the most notorious individuals in the history of psychology, there appears to be some sort of connection between those that practice religious beliefs and those that choose to refrain from it, even throughout the course of history. Also emphasizing that the benefits for involvement seem to outweigh other potential aids in the quest for psychological and emotional stability. With all of this information and data in mind, I felt it was helpful to return to the question of whether or not psychotherapy may provide benefits that outweigh that of religious affiliation benefits. After more analysis, what appears to be lacking in the psychotherapy approach in comparison to religious approaches is this idea of a holistic outlook. Meaning that with all of the information at hand, the key to prosperous health may lie within the unity of soul, mind, body, and family—something that spiritual practices seem to encompass. Keeping this in mind, I felt it was helpful to grasp a deeper understanding as to how some of these practices within Spiritualism may be combining these aspects in a way that is beneficial for not only those that have been involved heavily in the past, but also how they may have been beneficial in my own quest.
Circling back to previous mentions of the uniqueness and eccentric nature of Spiritualism in relation to other religions, it should come as no surprise that what was true then and now in Modern Spiritualism is the idea that death does not exist (Weisberg 5). With this central concept, spiritualist practices aim to interact with those souls that have already experienced this phase of eternal life. While this idea may still appear faulty in the minds of those involved with the various belief systems of today, this “… was originally popularized in an era when anything seemed possible, when speaking to the dead may have seemed no less strange than communicating across cables or capturing the living on film” (McGarry 27). What is also noteworthy to address is that this was also a time when religion
“The ghosts of the past speak to all who will listen.”.
—unknown
My Experiences
Originally beginning my quest into this realm, I was nervous, as my experiences with the paranormal when I was younger always seemed to invoke fear within me. Everything from voices, watching objects move in front of you, to seeing ghostly apparitions was a reality for myself at home and the rest of my family. Talk of unusual experiences and these sightings was a topic of regular conversation at the dinner table as well as at family gatherings, as many of us seemed to have similar run ins. However, while my family always found the events that occurred in our home as something that one should not fear, I could never shake the feeling that a lot of what would occur seemed to center around me. As I got older, I was continuously encouraged by both my parents and grandparents to be open to such experiences, seeing as they believed that these occurrences only meant that I possibly had more of a connection with the spiritual side. Taking their advice, my mom and I decided to attend a workshop for developing one’s psychic and medium intuitions. After a few hours of engaging in these activities and appearing to have readings that validated other’s lives, the psychic running the event informed me that she believed I had the ability to tap into the spiritual world in a way many cannot. Still slightly horrified by the accuracy of many of my statements but also feeling a little proud that I was able to predict such things, I returned home with this idea that I needed to continue being open to these experiences.
Despite this encouragement from the psychic, I fell back into my fear of the paranormal and again distanced myself as much as possible from the events occurring in my home. It was not until taking a college course called Topics of Psychology: The Paranormal that I again tried to tap back into this side, but this time with newfound knowledge and understanding as to what I wanted to get out of the experience. To do this, I first decided to try to tap into this spiritual side through the readings of Psychic Development for Beginners: An Easy Guide to Releasing and Developing Your Psychic Abilities by learning how to develop this mediumistic side once more. However, what I found here was that while some of the exercises within the book were fun and engaging, it did not yield the results that I was hoping for in the end. As a result, I decided to make a trip home return again to the original location where I had all of my first experiences. Once back, I noticed much had not changed in relation to the odd things that used to occur around my home. In fact, it appeared as though most of the experiences I had when I was younger were still very much alive. Through confirmation by my parents, I decided to go back into my room and return to my old habits of just asking the spirits to manifest themselves in a way that would allow me to know their energy was present. Shortly after, the closet door to my full-length mirror opened up, almost like a metaphor for allowing me to open myself again to these experiences. This time though, I noticed the fear was no longer present, which may potentially have been due to the fact that I now had more of a grounded belief system and my own understanding of paranormal phenomena. Unfortunately, while I was not recording the session, and therefore was unable to capture the evidence, what I gained from the experience seemed to be exactly what others involved within the realism of spiritualism found attractive—a calming sense that there was more to life than the
Feeling as though I had allowed myself to tap into the energy once more, I moved on to purchasing the tarot cards in an effort to see whether or not I could pick up on other unseen energies. As mentioned within my slideshow, I definitely began to feel more at ease with myself both psychologically and emotionally. Even my every day anxieties that sometimes become a little to unbearable, appeared to have a drastic reduction in the severity of the symptoms. Now, was this actually due to my involvement with the Tarot and my home experiences? I perhaps may never truly know the answer. However with that in mind, I felt as though my journey had lead me to the exact place I wanted to venture.
Throughout my research and own personal immersion, I began to see that while it is important to have a general idea and foundation of the topic in which one is studying, what may be the most crucial aspect of understanding the world of the paranormal is having a first-hand account of experiencing these unexplainable things. Because while stories of this nature may pique the interest of those that come in contact with them, at the end of the day one cannot make someone else feel the connection to this belief in a way that would allow them to comprehend the power of these unseen energy forces. Now, while my own personal experiences definitely allowed me to have the change in psychological and emotional effects I was searching for, it is undeniable that I still am at a loss of words for what exactly these spirits and paranormal phenomena are. However, this unexplainable energy and the inability to place it into words may hold the key to its extraordinary nature.
