Daniel’s Blog

Please note that the below is my understanding of the spirituality. I do not want to promote/enforce this way of thinking, nor do I want to “convert” anyone. Also, the below is not necessarily a typical Anglican or Christian perspective - nor do I speak for any religious or spiritual organisation.

Here are my Religious/Spiritual Initiation/Membership Details:

Anglican Christianity:

• Baptised by Affusion and Confirmed by Bishop John Pritchard, on Sunday 14th October 2007 in Saint Giles Church, Oxford - although I was a member of the Saint Margaret’s Church, Oxford (in the same “united benefice” at the time). I am now (reasonably) regular attender of the All Saints Church, Long Ashton (near Bristol). I am therefore a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and my Anglicanism is more or less in line with the Affirming Catholicism movement.

Spiritual healing / Energy Medicine:

• I was attuned to Level 1 of Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki during a weekend in September 2007 in Oxford by a Reiki Master of the Reiki Network. I have full valid lineages to Mikao Usui. I practice a form of contact (hands-on) reiki, either localised or chackra-based. I hope to attain my Level 2 at some point in the future.

Here are the various perspectives I take on various issues:

• On Salvation and the Path(s) to the Divine: Universalism: I accept that everybody will go through the same process after death, no matter which religious paths we take during our lives. We are all spiritual beings.
• On the Divine (God(ess)): Trinitarian Panentheist: I understand God to be everything that we can perceive and everything that we cannot perceive. The divine is also split into three united yet distinct parts: The Father/Mother (aka the Architect and Maintainer), the Christ (aka the Son/Daughter) and the Holy Spirit (aka the Sophia and the Ghost). Combined with my Universalism this makes me a kind of “Trinitarian Universalist”.
• On Faith: Gnosticism: I don’t feel that I have a faith, or a belief. My understanding of the universe is based on perception, reason and most importantly strong intuition.
• On Worship/Celebrating: Catholic-Ritualism and Contemplation: I consider ritual to play a key part to my worship (but I respect that it doesn’t work for everyone), when done correctly ritual can act as a form of meditation and when a group are performing a ritual it can act as a societal bond. Also when I “pray”, I don’t ask for things, I listen (like meditation) or I focus on positive outcomes (like Affirmative prayer. Also, I feel that there is a lot of benefit to worshiping/celebrating the Divine using the methods of a different religion.
• On the Sacraments: Mysticism and Ritualism: There is a great deal of mystery behind what we call the sacraments. I consider there to be at least 7 sacraments (namely: baptism, confirmation, matrimony, orders, the eucharist, reconciliation and healing) - there are more that we can consider sacraments, many of which aren’t necessarily in the Christian religion as such.
• On the Bible: Allegorical and Open Canon: I consider the standard/canonical Bible to be incomplete and occasionally erroneous, it has references to non-Canonical texts and therefore we should look to other texts for further clarification if desired. Anything that I do read from the Bible it will be from an Allegorical and Symbolic perspective, rather than a literalist one. I am in favour of the inclusion of Deuterocanonical/Apocryphal books.
• On Clergy: Inclusive/Progressive and Apostolic: I am comfortable with men, women or LGBT clergy (at any level of hierarchy, including Bishops). Although I feel that someone can be ordained without Apostolic Succession - I feel that it adds that extra confirmation if there is some kind of lineage.
• On theology: Liberal and Mystic/Esoteric: I feel that there is a lot more to religion that what is written, and it is up to us to uncover it for ourselves. Spirituality is beyond describable by human language, and when grasped can help us understand the physical (particularly from a holistic point of view).

Interfaith Dialogue and Ecumenism

Here are some of the services/celebrations I have experienced in the past:

• Christianity: Methodist, Pentecostalism, Quaker, The New Church(Swedenborgianism), Taizé Community (at Greenbelt 2008), The Iona Community (at Greenbelt 2008), Emerging.
• Buddhism: New Kadampa
• Paganism: Oxford Pagan Circle.

Here are some of the services/celebrations I hope to experience in the future:

• Christianity: Moravian, The Christian Community (Rittelmeyer-Steiner), Liberal Catholic Church, Apostolic Johannite Church, Unity Church, Unitarian and more.
• Bahá’í Faith
• …and probably many more, providing that they would be open to me and don’t want to enforce their beliefs on me.

Please note that the above is my understanding of the spirituality. I do not want to promote/enforce this way of thinking, nor do I want to “convert” anyone. Also, the above is not necessarily a typical Anglican or Christian perspective - nor do I speak for any religious or spiritual organisation.

All I ask for you is to explore your spiritual side and come to your own conclusions, don’t just follow the crowd!

Updated: 26th May 2009