Inna Segal Talks About Understanding Modern Spirituality

Welcome to Seek Reality. I’m Roberta Grimes, and I’m delighted to welcome Ena Segal from Australia. Her new book, Understanding Modern Spirituality, asks us to be brave thinkers rather than passive believers. Ena, how did devastating loss open these invisible realms?

I became pregnant unexpectedly at nineteen and chose to continue the pregnancy. Around eight months, I felt deeply that something was wrong with my baby’s heart, but the nurse dismissed me as anxious. In labour weeks later, a nurse asked when the baby had last moved; after a silent birth, I heard, “I’m sorry.” I went into shock, thinking there must be something wrong with me, because nobody talked about this.

Lying there, trying not to think, I saw a feminine angel. She was gentle and loving, like warmth pouring through my body, and I knew I would use this to help others. Hours later I was back in grief, asking why, but I needed to understand what happens when we die.

My health worsened, and during healing I felt that being again. It was as if a light switched on: I could perceive within bodies and sense where things came from. But I didn’t accept every message. I attended workshops, interviewed teachers as a writer and journalist, and kept asking what was logical, intuitive, and verifiable.

Yes, darling, skepticism matters. If you’re open to everything, you can wind up believing nonsense. Your experiences gave you something solid to test.

Even with intuitive sight, I felt limited until I encountered Rudolf Steiner through eurythmy. His work upset me at first; it challenged ideas I’d built my life around. But I stayed teachable. Difficult as it was, it gave me structure: refine perception, ask where impressions come from, and approach spiritual development with rigor.

The spiritual world is real, and we can meet profound understanding here. Curiosity must travel with open-mindedness and discernment. I wrote Understanding Modern Spirituality to ask: am I here merely to survive, or to grow, learn, and evolve?

That’s much to take in, but Ena’s book is beautiful and well organized. Remember: you are a powerful eternal being. You never began, you will never end, and you are forever loved.