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Creating a Spiritual Will

by Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur

If you died tomorrow, would your family and dearest friends know what values you held most dear and what wisdom you wanted to impart to them? Are there people whom you would like to ask for forgiveness, or do you have a personal history that you would like to share? A spiritual, or ethical will, can provide an outlet for these revelations and can be a wonderful gift to those nearest to you. Ethical wills are a Jewish tradition going back to Biblical times. In Genesis Ch. 49 Jacob on his deathbed gathers his sons around him and offers wisdom and insight to each of them. In John 15 - 18, Jesus provides an ethical will within the context of the Last Supper, offering as his great commandment, "Love one another as I have loved you." In these early days, an ethical will was an oral document. However, in time they began to be written down, providing a more lasting legacy.

Today a spiritual will can be created at any point in one's life, and, if desired, the contents shared while the creator is still living. It is even possible to create more than one as life changes and teaches new lessons. Barry K. Baines, M.D., author of Ethical Wills: Putting Your Values on Paper, offers some suggestions for beginning to create an ethical will on his website, www.ethicalwill.com. Dr. Baines encourages the writer to reflect on their beliefs and opinions, things that they learned from their own parents and grandparents, regrets from one's own life, and hopes for the future. If one has kept a journal, this can provide a wonderful starting point for finding themes and wisdom from one's life. Dr. Baines suggests that the writer create a preliminary draft and set it aside to revisit and revise at a later date to allow further time for reflection. For those who desire a framework to work from, www.ethicalwill.com offers writing guide software and a workbook.

Joe and Louise Colletti of East Granby, CT offer workshops on creating a spiritual will. They encourage participants to create a life map in which they draw a horizontal line divided into three or four segments for significant portions of one's life with important people listed above the line and life-changing events listed below. Such a map allows one to take stock of one's life and reflect on what life has taught them and what wisdom and values that they would like to pass on. The Collettis will be offering a workshop on creating a spiritual will at The Spiritual Life Center in Bloomfield, CT on October 28, 2004. For more information, visit their website at www.spiritualwill.com or contact them at (860) 653-5698.

Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur is editor of The Spiritual Woman Newsletter




© Spiritual Woman Press, 2005. All rights reserved.