Spiritual Development
Spiritual Development is one of the main activities taught at the Healing Spirit. This is achieved in one of the Devlopment Groups; Flaxley Spiritual Development Group, Coleford Spiritual Development Circle and The Essence. In addition to these groups individual Developmental Counselling takes place. With the exception of The Essence, all Spiritual Developent follows a set curriculum established for Healing Spirit by Reverend Greig McNeish.
Our Groups are similar to Opus Dei, in that in involves a certain level of commitment through attendance, practice and of course way of life. We realise that you will not remain with us for ever - for your spiritual development will lead you forward to fulfil your own journey - however, we will ensure that you are well equiped to move forward on your own.
All of our Spiritual Development Classes, Groups and Workshops are Open Groups, however, it is important to talk to Greig prior to turning up. This is to ensure that our groups are suitable for you. In addition to this it ensures that you are directed to the right group for you.
Whilst there is an established curriculum, there is also the hidden curriculum, nobody can be certain on what is really being taught!
Teaching methodology is both formal and informal, and for some individuals may involve the intervention of one of our other services, this is delivered free of charge as we see this as part of our commitment to our members. There is a balance between active and passive learning, based upon the individual's learning styles.
Each individual has established goals and targets as part of an Individualised Learning Plan.
As far as we are aware, no other Spiritual Development Group formally approaches an individual's development in this way - however very few would be fortunate enough to have such qualified and experienced teachers and mentors.
The curriculum is ongoing, which is one of the reasons we request the members of The Essence continue to attend one of the other groups since the teaching style forms a spiral to enable people to revisit a subject with a more in depth view. In reality this means we can never tick the boxes with a belief that we have done that! There is always something more to learn on any topic, for people of all stages of development. This is a difficult concept for many people to either accept or understand. Many people come to us and will state "Yes, I've done that!" They may genuinely believe that there is nothing else to learn on that subject, or that if they have developed they will look at a topic with a different level of understanding. So for many people our Spiritual Development may be innappropriate, since before you can look to Spiritual Development you have to have a reasonable understanding of Personal insight. We do address aspects of this, but only at advanced level and in collaboration with Spiritual Development, as part of our hidden curriculum. That being said it may be that an individual may require the input of one of of our other services prior to joining a group, especially if there are issues of self esteem.
All members have a psychological assessment conducted to ensure that the spiritual development groups are appropriate for them.
Classes for Spiritual Development take place on a Monday, Thursday & Friday evenings at two man sites; The Sanctuary in Berry Hill and the Flaxley School rooms.
As mentioned before Healing Spirit has established a Curriculum for Spiritul Develpment; this falls into four categories:
- Beginers
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- Elders
The beginers are for people who are completely new to Spirituality and to Spiritualism.
The Intermediate are for people with some experience, but who may not fully understand some of the concepts,
Advanced are for people who are aware of both the etiquette and the practice of Spiritualism and/or Healing.
The Elders are for people who are ready to begin to teach their subject and spread the Light - since it is one thing to know a subject - but can you teach it? It is for this reason that Teaching and Learning is taught as part of this curriculum to ensure that learning is taking place for other students! Some of our people may go off to do platform work or to establish healing practices and this is actively encouraged when it is the correct time for the individual.
