About the Author
I was born in Glasgow, Scotland. I attended Glasgow University, majoring in English Language and Literature.
After graduation, I worked in hospital administration and in book and magazine publishing but a trick of fate led me to develop a career as a teacher in Glasgow.
Fate stepped in again. I set off for Paris. Where else There I worked for a private languge schoool while obtaining a Maitrise es Lettres from Sorbonne University. Exciting times. From there, I returned to Edinburgh to obtain an M.Sc in Applied Linguistics.
After working in Oman and Dubai for several years, I returned to Edinburgh to work in Further Education as a Senior Lecturer in EFL.
Over the past twenty five years, I have developed a parallel career as a spiritual healer and therapist. I trained as a spiritual healer with the Healing Trust UK, later becoming Area Co-ordinator in Scotland and a Trustee. I went on to co-found the online healing organisation, Omnes Healing.
'Spiritual Insights' is intended to to provide understanding and awareness of our spiritual nature. It should also provide enlightenment, guidance and hope for all who need a better explanation of the apparent chaos which currently surrounds our existence.
Humankind is ready to grow spiritually. This is a book for all who seek to understand who we are and why we are.
About Spiritual Insights
Many years ago, I started to write 'A Guide to Eternity', which is the first part of my three-part work entitled 'Spiritual Insights'.
I was very reluctant to write since I had no personal desire or ambition to write. Rather it was a compulsion to write: the words I was expressing seemed to be coming from a source beyond my conscious will. I wrote down, without conscious thought, the words that I was inspired to write. I wrote each of the pieces in a single session without pause for reflection. The words came into my mind and I recorded them. Simple! Not so. I found the experience of producing these pieces of spiritual wisdom and guidance to be both unnerving and highly charged.
I procrastinated over the ensuing writing sessions for as long as I could – sometimes for weeks or months and even years. Unusually, such homely pursuits as gardening, shopping and cooking became desirable displacement activities. In time, I bowed to the inevitable and began this unusual communication process once again. What exactly I would write would come to me without conscious thought. This was one certainty at least.
Even the very title of the first collection, 'A Guide to Eternity', was provided by simply going within and asking what I should call the spiritual pieces. The answer was instantaneous. I completed 32 of these pieces and stopped. I felt that I had completed my task.
After a gap of several months, I began writing again under the same bizarre circumstances. I would sit down at my desk – very reluctantly – and the words would stream forth. This second series of 30 pieces was to be called 'States of Being'.
More months passed and I felt once again impelled to write. This time, the third series would be called 'Knowing'. On this occasion, it was written in a standard prose format of sentences and paragraphs, as opposed to the less standard format of the first two series of discontinuous prose in a stream of consciousness, not exactly poetry, rather, prose with strong lyrical overtones.
The differences between these separate collections of spiritual writings would seem to be in their individual focus. In the first series, 'A Guide to Eternity', the focus appeared to be that of divine guidance, a situation which prompted me to ask constantly: 'Why me?' 'Why now?' Sadly, I never received an answer to these questions. I was left to speculate.
The focus of the second series, 'States of Being', (title once again gratefully supplied), would appear to be an exploration of certain common, emotional and mental states which affect the thinking and behaviour of all humanity. It is more practical yet clearly spiritual in approach. In dealing with many of our common concerns, 'States of Being' illuminates, explains, advises, supports and guides.
The final part of the of this work, 'Knowing', written in standard continuous prose reflects my personal views and spiritual understanding on a range of topics. It delves into concepts which we often take for granted but rarely reflect upon. Its is intended to broaden our understanding in these designated areas. It is more didactic in tone in its desire to analyse, explain, and recommend. It is also an attempt to understand such concepts as knowledge, understanding, belief, pain and suffering,courage, happiness and empathy within a spiritual context. This collection, too, is meant to offer both insight and spiritual guidance.
In publishing 'Spiritual Insights', I hope that you, the reader, will be inspired, uplifted, consoled and guided and that the path of your individual spiritual journey through life will be lit with insights, understanding and love.
Patricia M. Bateman