THE
EXPERIENCES OF A NEW
ARRIVAL
:: BEYOND THE VEIL ::
Communicated
by W. T. STEAD
Recorded by PARDOE
WOODMAN &
ESTELLE
STEAD
With
Letter from SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
----------------------------------------------------------------
EIGHTH IMPRESSION.
HUTCHINSON & CO.
(Publishers), LTD.
PATERNOSTER ROW,
1922
PRINTED IN
AT THE ANCHOR PRESS, TlPTREE, ESSEX
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
Letter from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle xi
Preface xv
Foreword by W. T. Stead xxvii
I
. The Arrival
33
II. The Blue Island 43
III. Interesting Buildings 53
IV. Life on the
V. Intimate Life 69
VI. Intimate Life (continued) 77
VII. First Attempts 83
VIII. The Reality of Thought Communication 91
IX. Points 101
X. The State of
XI. Premonitions 119
XII. Residence 125
XIII. General Results 135
XIV. The Great Ultimate 143
XV. Christ and Spiritualism 151
ix
A
Letter from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Dear Miss Stead,
I found
the narrative most interesting and helpful. I have no means of judging the
exact conditions under which it was produced, or now far subconscious
influences may nave been at work, but on the surface of it, speaking as a
literary critic, I should say that the clear expression and the happy knack of
smiles were very characteristic of your father. We have to face the difficulty
that the details of these numerous descriptions of next spheres differ in
various manuscripts, but, on the other hand, no one can deny that the resemblances
far exceed the differences. We have to remember that the next world is
infinitely complex and subdivided—“My Father’s house has many mansions”—and
that, even in this small world, the accounts of two witnesses would never be
the same. If a description were given by an
xi
xii Letter from Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle
their respective stories of life in this world
would vary much more than any two accounts that I have ever read of the world
to come. I have specialized in that direction—the physical phenomena never
interested me much—and I can hardly think that anyone has read more accounts,
printed, typed and written, than I have done, many of them from people who had
no idea what the ordinary Spiritualist scheme of things might be. In some cases
the mediums were children. Always there emerges the same idea of a world like
ours, a world were all our latent capabilities and all
our hidden ambitions have free and untrammelled
opportunities. In all there is the same talk of solid ground, of familiar
flowers and animals, of congenial occupations—all very different to the vague
and uncomfortable heaven of the churches. I confess that I cannot trace in any
of these any allusion to a place exactly corresponding to the Blue Island,
though the color blue is, of course, that of healing, and an island may be only
an isolated sphere—the ante-chamber to others. I believe that such material
details as sleep, nourishment, etc., depend upon the exact position of the soul
in its evolution, the lower the soul the more material the conditions. It is
Letter from Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle xiii
of
enormous importance that the human race should know these things, for it not
only takes away all fears of death, but it must, as in the case of your father,
be of the very greatest help when one is suddenly called to the other side, and
finds oneself at once in known surroundings, sure of one's future, instead of
that most unpleasant period of readjustment during which souls have to unlearn
what their teachers here have taught and adapt themselves to unfamiliar facts.
Good luck to your little book.
A. Conan Doyle.
September 1922.
Preface
When in April 1912 the Titanic
sank in mid-ocean and my father passed on to the next world, I was on tour with
my own Shakespearean Company. Amongst the members of that Company was a young
man named Pardoe Woodman, who on the very Sunday of
the disaster foretold it as we sat talking after tea. He did not name the boat
or my father, but he got so much that pointed to disaster at sea and the
passing on of an elderly man intimately connected with me, that when the sad
news came through we realized he must have been closely in touch with what was
about to happen. I mention this incident because it formed the first link
between my father and Mr. Woodman, and as it is largely due to Mr. Woodman's
psychic powers that my father has been able to get through the messages which
are contained in this book, I think, therefore, it will be of interest to
readers and should be put on record.
xv
xvi Preface
A fortnight after the disaster I saw my
father's face and heard his voice just as distinctly as I heard I it when he
bade me good-bye before embarking on the Titanic. This was at a sitting with
Etta Wriedt, the well-known American direct voice
medium. At this sitting, I talked with my father for over twenty minutes. This
may seem an amazing assertion to many, but it is a fact vouched for by all
those who were present at the sitting. I put it on record at the time in an
article published in Nash's Magazine,
which included the signed testimonies of all those present.
From that day to this I have been in
constant touch with my father. I have had many talks with him and
communications from him containing very definite proof of his continued
presence amongst us. I can truly say that the link between us is even stronger
to-day than in 1912, when he threw off his physical body and passed on the to
spirit world. There has never been a feeling of parting, although at first the
absence of his physical presence was naturally a source of very great sadness.
In 1917, Mr. Woodman was invalided out of
the Army and came to stay with us at our country cottage at Cobham.
Whilst with us, the news came to him that his great friend
Preface xvii
had
been killed at the front, and his interest in the possibility of communication
with the next world, which had been indifferent till then, became intense, and
he set out to find out for himself. It is ever the passing of a loved one that
gives the necessary stimulus for eager inquiry.
It was not long before his friend was
able to give him definite proofs of his continued existence and of his ability
to communicate. His first proofs were given through Vout
Peters, and were given through Vout Peters, and were
followed by others through Gladys Osborne Leonard's mediumship
and through the mediumship of friends gifted with
psychic powers. I was present at that first sitting with Mr. Peters; father was
there also, and his friend said it was due to my father's presence and help
that he was able to succeed so well in these first attempts at communication.
Shortly after this, Mr. Woodman found that he himself had the power of
automatic writing, and father and others were soon able to write through him.
Father always prefers me to be present, as if I am not he seems to have more
difficulty, and very rarely will attempt writing. He explains the necessity of
my presence in this way: he and I are so much en rapport, and so closely in touch with each other,
xviii Preface
that he is able to draw much power from me; I act as the
connecting link and form a sort of battery between him and Mr. Woodman. I
merely sit passively by whilst Mr. Woodman Writes. Certainly I see a light
around us, and a strong ray of light concentrating on Mr. Woodman's arm.
Sometimes I am able to see father himself, and always, when he is writing, I
feel his presence very distinctly.
We have received many messages in this
way. For a while in 1918 we sat regularly every week, and were kept in touch
with much that was going on at the Front and about what was about to happen,
and were advised of occurrences often days before the news came through in the
ordinary way. In one case father gave us the actual headlines which would (and
did) appear in the papers the following week.
It is interesting also of importance to
note that Mr. Woodman and my father met only once before the passing of latter.
I introduced Mr. Woodman to him not long before he left
Preface xix
and the phrasing of the messages are my father's, and even the
manner of writing is typical of him.
Mr. Woodman also writes with his eyes
closed, and often holds a handkerchief over them. Some of the best messages
were given in the twilight when it was impossible for me to follow what was
being written, and yet the words are were never
overwritten. The writing will stop sometimes whilst father evidently reads over
what has been written, and alterations will be made, i's
dotted and t's crossed correctly. It was a habit of
my father's, whilst here, to go back over his copy and cross his t's and dot his i's; this habit
was only known to a few, and was certainly absolutely unknown to Mr. Woodman.
Two of the messages obtained in this way have already been
published. They were given by my father for Armistice Day, 1920, and Armistice
Day, 1921. For the first, we had no idea he contemplated giving a message. A
few friends, including Mr. Woodman, were taking tea with my mother and myself on the Sunday before the 11th of November. We had
been chatting on various subjects, when I suddenly felt my father come into the
room and could
xx Preface
tell by the feeling he gave me that he wished
us to give him an opportunity to write, and that it was urgent. It was
impossible to arrange for that evening, so we made an appointment for the
evening following. Mr. Woodman came about
Preface xxi
form, were distributed on Armistice Day,
1921.
It was soon after giving this last message that father
expressed the wish that we should sit for the messages given in this book. We
had felt for some time that he was wanting us to sit for a series of messages,
but asked that if this were so he would give us definite instructions to this
effect from an outside source. This he did by asking Mrs. Kelway-Bamber,
the author of "Claude's Books," at a sitting which she was having
with Mrs. Leonard, to tell us that it was quite true he did wish us to sit for
a series of messages which, he said, would tell of his arrival and some of his
experiences on the Other Side.
Both Mr. Woodman and I are busy people, and can only give
what spare time we have from our ordinary work to psychic matters, so that it
was difficult to fit in times; therefore it was a few months before we had
finished taking the messages. These were all given in the manner already
described. They were consecutively, but definite instructions were not given as
to how the whole series was to be arranged.
Father's foreword explains his object in
writing this book, so there is no need to dwell
xxii Preface
on that here. When he started, he had a rather longer book in
view, but decided in favor of a short book, as it is more likely to be read,
can be published at a reasonable price, and so stand the chance of reaching
more people. All who worked with my father here will know that such reasoning
was characteristic of him.
The photograph given as frontispiece to
this volume was taken by the
I bought a box of plates in
Preface xxiii
hands. We had our first sitting on the
Saturday, when I obtained two extras, neither resembling my father. One was of
interest because it was the picture of a lady who had appeared on a plate with
my father when he was experimenting with Mr. Boursnell
in the 'nineties. I took my box containing the rest of the plates away with me
after the sitting; bought another box of plates in
xxiv Preface
deploring father's inability to write; one from
Mr. Walker, the father of my host, and in one corner of the plate a faint
outline of my father's face. When I got back to my friends that evening, we had
a sitting at which father expressed his keen disappointment at his failure to
give his picture. "It is all my fault", he
said. "I am so excited at the idea of getting my picture beside yours
after I have been so-called 'dead' for so many years that I break the
conditions; however, many have promised to help me tomorrow, and if I fail
again we have something else prepared to slip on so that you will not be quite
so disappointed." On the following morning I went for my last sitting. Two
of my own plates were used. On both of these are pictures of my father; one is
reproduced in this book, the other is a large face of father which completely
covers me.
Now, having, I hope, given a little idea
as to how these messages were obtained, and our reasons for feeling that they
do indeed come from my father, I am content to let The Blue Island do the rest. I am sure it will interest many, and
if it awakens some to a truer realization of what is to come, and makes them
seek for further definite proofs
Preface xxv
themselves, then the three chiefly concerned in
giving these messages to the public—my father, Mr. Woodman and myself—will be
amply satisfied.
Estelle W. Stead
September 1922
A FOREWORD FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD
By William T. Stead
There
is great trepidation on the part of all the uninitiated when first coming into
contact with the occult, psychic or unknown forces. In many of life's mysteries
there is much pleasure to be had in probing the secret, and the mystery is in
itself an incentive to search and to inquire, to overcome the unknown and to
gain knowledge on subjects not previously known or proven. This, however, does
not seem to apply when dealing with the mysteries surrounding the after-life.
There is always a fear of something. Frequently personal, but sometimes fear of
harming the individual known and loved on earth. In itself that is a good sign;
it argues unselfishness, and consequently the individual who holds off for that
reason deserves enlightenment. If he is sufficiently advanced to seek, he will
get enlightenment together with great help. Again, there are those who, imbued
with theosophical ideas, fear to come in contact with what is to their
xxvi
xxvii Foreward by W.T. Stead
minds the shell of a former loved one, and
those who fear through ignorance due to an undeveloped and somewhat uneducated
mentality. By that I do not necessarily mean an unschooled mentality. I speak
of "uneducated" in the sense of lacking understanding and
appreciation of the higher things of life.
To all these people I am, and I always
was, most sympathetic. In earth life I did my best to help and enlighten, but I
was very restricted owing to material calls upon my time. Since my arrival in
this land I have tried to carry on and greatly to increase the amount and the
sphere of this same work. I have succeeded up to a point, though many have not
yet reached the half-way step on that stair-case of knowledge leading to
understanding. I was on the point of saying 'leading to happiness', but that
would not be quite correct, for happiness is most amply contained in
'understanding', and happiness in the sense that it is used and understood on
earth is not the raison d'etre of life. We were not made
only to be happy. Happiness is part of our reward for work done, for progress
and for help given to others—which is itself the outcome of understanding.
As I have said, in my work on this side
of the Borderland I have achieved a certain success,
Foreward by W.T. Stead xxix
and
I am confident that if I can pass on the knowledge I have gained, together with
my own personal experiences, to you who are still on earth, I shall have gone a
little farther in the work to which I have set my hand for the good of
humanity.
What I have to tell will be of interest
to many, and will be useless to many more, but I am going to tell of things
which each one of my readers can, up to a point, test for himself. You can each
one of you test it by soul knowledge, and by that you will know that I am
giving you words of value, words which God in His infinite love has permitted
me to be the means of passing to you. It is not my idea of the mysteries of life, it is a
discourse on those mysteries.
There is the teaching of Christianity
running all through, but the application is different to that ordinarily
accepted. It is quite erroneous to suppose that because a man was a man on
earth, he will become a spirit angle the moment he dies. Death is only the
doorway from one room to another, and both rooms are very similarly furnished
and arranged. That's what I want you to appreciate thoroughly; it is under the
same guiding hand. The same Personality rules all spheres.
xxx Foreward by W.T. Stead
Beginning at the beginning, I have to
tell you how a man finds himself here on arrival. As I have said, this whole
book will interest many and help a few. It is for that few that all concerned
are making the necessary effort to bring it to them. It does not attempt or
pretend to be on scientific lines. All through, you can apply sound common
sense, and you cannot break down what is.
I have dealt with the subject very
briefly, only for the reason that many will read a short, concise account who
would not study a detailed one.
I must impress upon you all—the
interested and the disinterested, the believer in this great subject,
Spiritualism, and the skeptic—to remember you are still on earth and you have
still to perform earth's duties. You have your daily lives to lead and you must
always do well the work in hand. Never neglect the present because the future
appears more brightly colored. Carry on with today, but with a corner of your
mind on to-morrow, and remember also that phenomenal Spiritualism is not for all. Many minds could not absorb
the greatness of the subject together with the facts of the phenomena and still
continue in their routine in normal manner—these are the
Foreward by W.T. Stead xxxi
people for whom phenomena Spiritualism is not.
They will be wise to go no further into the subject than knowledge gained from
books and from the experiences of others. In this sense, Spiritualism is not
for all.
William T. Stead.
CHAPTER I
THE ARRIVAL
Communicated By
W.T. Stead, through the hand of Estelle Stead
CHAPTER I
Many
years ago I was attracted by an article on the subject of spirit communication,
and, after reading it carefully several times, I was forced to admit its
soundness. I was struck by the plain and practical ideas of the writer. This
was the first cause of my becoming actively interested in this big and amazing
work. From that time onward I did all in my power to prove and then forward the
movement. Many people know this; and those who do not, can become acquainted
with the details if they wish. Therefore I am going to pass at once from my
first earth interest in
The
the occult to my first interest in the earth.
Just as I was overcome with astonishment
and satisfaction on first reaching conviction on earth, so I was astonished
almost equally on my coming to this land and finding that my knowledge of this
subject gained on earth was strikingly correct in nearly all the chief points.
There was a great satisfaction in proving this. I was at once amazed and
delighted to find so much truth in all I had learned; for although I had
believed implicitly, I was not entirely without grave misgivings upon many
minor details. Hence my general satisfaction when I recognized things and
features which, though I had accepted whilst on earth, I had scarcely
anticipated would be as I now found them. This must sound somewhat
contradictory, but I want you to understand that my earthly misgivings were
based on fear that perhaps the spirit world had a formula of its own which was
quite different from our earthly mentality, and that, therefore, the many
points were transmitted to us in such a form and in such expression as we on
earth would be able to grasp and appreciate, and were not in themselves the
precise descriptions, owing to the limitations of earth word-expression.
The
Of my actual passing from earth to spirit
life, I do not wish to write more than a few lines. I have already spoken of it
several times and in several places. The first part of it was naturally an
extremely discordant one, but from the time my physical life was ended there
was no longer that sense of struggling with overwhelming odds; but I do not wish
to speak of that.
My first surprise came when—I now
understand that to your way of thinking I was dead—I found I was in a position
to help people. From being in dire straights myself,
to being able to lend a hand to others, was such a sudden transition that I was
frankly and blankly surprised. I was so taken aback that I did not consider the
why and the wherefore at all. I was suddenly able to help. I knew not how or
why and did not attempt to inquire. There was no analysis then; that came a
little later.
I was also surprised to find a number of
friends with me, people I knew had passed over years
before. That was the first cause of my realizing the change had taken place. I
knew it suddenly and was a trifle alarmed. Practically instantaneously I found
myself looking for myself. Just a moment of agitation, momentary only, and then
the full and glorious
The
realization that all I had learned was true. Oh, how
badly I needed a telephone at that moment I felt I could give the papers some
headlines for the evening. That was my first realization; then came a
helplessness—a reaction—a thought of all my own at
home—they didn't know yet. What would they think of me? Here was I, with my
telephone out of working order for the present. I was still so near to the
earth that I could see everything going on there. Where I was I could see the
wrecked ship, the people, the whole scene; and that seemed to pull me into
action—I could help….And so in a few seconds—though I am now taking a long time
to tell you, it was only a few seconds really—I found myself changed from the
helpless state to one of action; helpful
not helpless—was helpful, too, I think.
I pass a little now. The end came and it
was all finished with. It was like waiting for a liner to sail; we waited until
all were aboard. I mean we waited until the disaster was complete. The
saved—saved; the dead—alive. Then in one whole we moved our scene. It was a
strange method of travelling for us all, and we were
a strange crew, bound for we knew not where. The whole scene was indescribably
The
pathetic. Many, knowing what had occurred, were
in agony of doubt as to their people left behind and as to their own future
state. What would it hold for them? Would they be taken to see Him? What would
their sentence be? Others were almost mental wrecks. They knew nothing, they
seemed to be uninterested in everything, their minds
were paralyzed. A strange crew indeed, of human souls waiting their ratings in
the new land.
A matter of a few minutes in time only,
and here were hundreds of bodies floating in the water—dead—hundreds of souls
carried through the air, alive; very much alive, some were. Many, realizing
their death had come, were enraged at their own powerlessness to save their
valuables. They fought to save what they had on earth prized so much.
The scene on the boat at the time of the
striking was not so pleasant, but it was as nothing to the scene among the poor
souls newly thrust out of their bodies, all unwillingly. It was both
heartbreaking and repellant. And thus we waited—waited until all were
collected, until all were ready, and then we moved our scene to a different
land.
It was a curious journey that. Far more
The
strange than anything I had anticipated. We
seemed to rise vertically into the air at terrific speed. As a whole we moved,
as if we were on a very large platform, and this was hurled into the air with
gigantic strength and speed, yet there was no feeling of insecurity…. We were
quite steady. I cannot tell how long our journey lasted, nor how far from the
earth we were when we arrived, but it was a gloriously beautiful arrival. It
was like walking from your own Indian Sky. There, all was brightness and
beauty. We saw this land far off when we were approaching, and those of us who
could understand realized that we were being taken to the place destined for
all those people who pass over suddenly—on account of its general appeal. It
helps the nerve-racked newcomer to fall into line and regain mental balance
very quickly. We arrived feeling, in a sense, proud of
ourselves. It was all lightness, brightness. Everything as physical and quite
as material in every way as the world we had just finished with.
Our arrival was greeted with welcomes
from many old friends and relations who had been dear to each one of us in our
earth life. And having arrived, we people who had come over
The
from that ill-fated ship parted company. We were free agents
again, though each one of us was in the company of some personal friends who
had been over here a long while.
CHAPTER II
THE
CHAPTER II
I
have told you a little about the
journey and arrival, and I want now to tell you my first impression and a few
experiences. I must begin by saying I do not know how long after the collision
these experiences took place. It seemed to be a continuation without any break,
but I cannot be certain that this was so.
I found myself in company with two old
friends, one of them my father. He came to be with me, to help and generally
show me round. It was like nothing else so much as merely arriving in a foreign
country and having a chum to go around with. That was the principal sensation.
The scene from which we had so lately come was already well relegated to the
past. Having accepted the change of death, all the horror of our late
experience had gone. It might have been fifty years ago instead of, perhaps,
only last night. Consequently our pleasure in the new land was
45
The
not marred by grief at being parted from earth friends. I will
not say that none were unhappy, many were; but that was because they did not
understand the nearness of the two worlds; they did not know what was possible,
but to those who understood the possibilities, it was in a sense the feeling,
"Let us enjoy a little of this new land before mailing our news home";
therefore there was little grief in our arrival.
In writing my first experiences I am
going to give a certain amount of detail. My old sense of humor is still with
me, I am glad to say, and I know that what I have to say now will cause a
certain amount of amusement to those who treat this subject lightly, but that I
do not mind. I am glad they will find something to smile at—it will make an
impression on them that way, and then when their own time comes for the change
they will recognize themselves amongst the conditions of which I am going to
write. Therefore to that kind of skeptic I just say, "It's all right,
friend," and, "You give no offense."
My father and I, with my friend also, set
out immediately. A curious thing struck me. I was clothed exactly as I had
been, and it seemed a little strange to me to think I had
The
brought my clothing with me! There's number one,
Mr. Skeptic!
My father was also dressed as I had
always known him. Everything and everybody appeared to be quite normal—quite as
on earth. We went out together and had refreshment at once, and naturally, that
was followed by much discussion about our mutual friends on both sides. I was
able to give them news and they gave me information about our friends and also
about the conditions ruling in this new country.
Another thing which struck me was the
general coloring of the place; of
I commented upon this to my father—who,
by the way, was considerably more active and younger than he was at time of
death; we looked more like brothers. I spoke of this impression of blue, and he
explained that it was so in a sense. There was a great predominance of blue
The
rays in the light, and that was why it was so wonderful a place
for mental recovery. Now some say, "How completely foolish!" Well,
have you not on earth certain places considered especially good for this or
that ailment?….Then bring common sense to bear, and
realize that the next step after death is only a very little one. You do not go
from indifferent manhood to perfect godliness! It is not like that; it is all
progress and evolution, and as with people, so with lands. The next world is
only a complement of your present one.
We were a quaint population in that
country. There were People of all conditions, of all colors, all races and all
sizes: all went about freely together, but there was a great sense of caring
only for oneself—self absorption. A bad thing on earth, but a
necessary thing here, both for the general and individual good. There
would be no progress or recovery in this land without it. As a result of this
absorption there was a general peace amongst these many people, and this peace
would not have been attained without this self centeredness. No one took notice
of any other. Each stood for himself, and was almost unaware of all the others.
There were not many people whom I knew.
The
Most
of those who came to meet me had disappeared again, and I saw scarcely any I
knew, except my two companions. I was not sorry for this. It gave me more
chance of appreciating all this new scene before me.
There was the sea where we were, and I and my companions went for a long walk
together along the shore. It was not like one of your seaside resorts, with
promenade and band; it was a peaceful and lovely spot. There were some very big
buildings on our right, and on our left was the sea. All was light and bright,
and again this blue atmosphere was very marked. I do not know how far we went,
but we talked incessantly of our new conditions and of my own folk at home and
of the possibility of letting them know how it fared
with me, and I think we must have gone a long way. If you can imagine what your
world would look like if it were compressed into a place, say, the size of
England—with some of all people, all climates, all scenery, all buildings, all
animals—then you can, perhaps, form an idea of this place I was in. It must all
sound very unreal and dreamlike, but, believe me, it
was only like being in a foreign country and nothing else, except that it was
absorbingly interesting.
I want to give you a picture of this new
land
The
without going too deeply into the minute
details. We arrived at length at a huge building, circular and with a great
dome. Its general appearance was of a dome only—on legs—I mean a great dome
supported on vast columns, circular and very big. This again, in the interior,
was an amazingly lovely blue. It was not a fantastic structure in any way. It
was just a beautiful building, as you have on earth—do not imagine anything
fairylike; it was not. This blue was again very predominant, and it gave me a
feeling of energy. I wanted immediately to write. I would like to have been a
poet at that moment, but as it was I just wanted to express myself with pen and
ink.
We stayed there some time and had
refreshment very similar, it seemed to me, to what I
had always known, only there was no fresh food. Everything appeared quite
normal there, too, and the absence of some things which would on earth have
been present was not noticed. The curious thing was that the meal did not seem
at all a necessity—it was there, and we all partook of it lightly, but it was
more from habit than need—I seemed to draw much more strength and energy out of
the atmosphere itself. This I attributed to the color and air.
The
It
was while we were in this place that my father explained the reason and work of
the different buildings I had noted on our walk together.
CHAPTER III
Interesting
Buildings
CHAPTER III
Looked upon as a meal—a lunch out—it was
the longest one I have ever known and without question the most interesting. I
learnt a great deal in those first few hours with my father. It was all
conversational, but it was of great use to me and of vast interest. He
explained to me that the place we were then in was a temporary rest-house, one
of many, but the one most used by newly-arrived spirit people. It was nearest
to earth conditions and was used because it resembled an earth place in
appearance. There were other buildings used for the same purpose as well as for
other purposes; by that I mean there is more than one of each.
These houses were not all alike, they
varied considerably in outward appearance, but there is no need to describe
each. To call it a big building is sufficient, and by that you must understand
a place like your museum or your portrait gallery, or your large hotels…
55
The
anything you like, and it is near enough. But it
was not fantastic in any way and had no peculiarities,
therefore by "building" I mean a building only.
There were a great number of these places
in different parts—not grouped together, but variously placed about this land.
It seems that all the senses are provided
for here. The chief work on this island is to get rid of unhappiness at parting
from earth ties, and therefore, for the time being, the individual is allowed
to indulge in most of earth's pleasures. There are attractions of all kinds to
stimulate and generally to tone up strength. Whatever the person's particular
interest on earth has been, he can follow it up and indulge in it here also for
the present. All mental interests and almost all physical interests can be
continued here, for that one reason of coaxing the newcomer to a level mental
outlook.
There are houses given over to book
study, music, to athleticism of all kinds. Every kind of physical game be
practiced—you can ride on horseback, you can swim in
the sea. You can have all and any kind of sport which does not involve the
taking of life. In a minor degree that can be had too, but not in reality; that
is only make-believe.
The
From this you will understand that
particular buildings are given over to their own kind of work. The man who has
spent his life in games, heart and soul, would be disconsolate without them
here…he can have them and enjoy them to the full; but he will find that after a
time the desire is not so keen and he will turn to other interests
automatically, though gradually, and it may be that he will never entirely
abandon his games, but the desire will be less absorbing. On the other hand,
the man who used his life for, say, music, for instance, will find his desire,
his interest, and his ability increasing by leaps and bounds—because music
belongs to this land. He will find that by spending much time in one of the
music houses, as he will if his life
is music, his knowledge and ability are amazingly increased. Then there is the
bookworm. He, too, finds intense satisfaction in his new-found facilities.
Knowledge is unlimited—works of priceless value, lost upon earth, are in
existence here. He is provided for.
The keen business man on earth whose only
interest is in making his business successful will also find scope for ability.
He will come in contact with the house of organization, and he will find
himself linked up with work
The
transcending in interest anything that he could have
imagined for himself whilst upon earth.
Now all this is done for a reason.
Everyone is provided for. On arriving here there is often much grief; grief
that is sometimes incapacitating, and no movement
forward can be made until the individual wishes it himself. Progress cannot be
forced upon him. Thus in the scheme of creation the blessed Creator has devised
this wonderful means of appealing to the main interest on earth of each one.
Everyone comes in touch with the chief longing of earth life, and is given
opportunity to indulge in it, thus progress ms assured.
In all things that are purely and solely
of the earth, the interest flags after a little time; a gradual process—nothing
is dramatic here—and the person passes from this to another interest which on
earth would be called a mental one. Those whose interests have been in this
mind-category will continue and enlarge the scope of their work, and will progress
along the same lines—the others change.
Whilst in this Blue Island each one is
very much in touch with the conditions left behind. At first there is nothing
done but what is both helpful and comforting—later there is a refining
The Blue Island
process to be gone through. At first it is
possible to be closely in touch with the home left behind, but after a little
time, there is a reaction from this desire to be so close to earth, and when
that sets in the process of eliminating earth, and flesh instincts begins. In
each case this takes a different course, a different length of time.
In trying thus to explain the use of this
land and its buildings, I have not numbered them "Building A" for
so-and-so, "Building B" for this, that and the other, but, in a
conversational way, I hope I have helped you to understand and form a general
idea of this country and some of its conditions. I hope I have made it clear
now, after a time, the desire for earth things leaves
us all. It may be a short or long time, according to the disposition of the
person concerned. Take the athlete. He loves his games, his running, his
physical strength and his muscular exercise. Well, he will love it here as
much. He will love it here more, because he will find an added pleasure in
feeling no fatigue, a sharpened enjoyment altogether, but after a time his
appreciation of all this will change. He will not dislike this hitherto loved
sport, but he will pass to a different form of it. A form which is full of
The
movement and satisfaction but not a physical
affair at all; his mind will become more awake, and he will get enormous mental
satisfaction from the studies which will come before him concerning the ways
and means of travel here. Locomotion of all kinds here is very different to
that which obtains in earth conditions, and this former athlete of earth will
drop into line in his new surroundings and will presently realize that life
here is a different thing for him, for, though still on the same lines, it
holds an increased mental interest. Is that clear?….
Well, apply it in the same fashion to every other type of individual.
CHAPTER IV
Life on the
CHAPTER IV
Having
given you a little idea of this land and its appearance, I want to tell you
about the life of the people here, so that you can form a mental picture in
completeness. It is only natural that many should say, "What are they all
doing?" Now, this is a very broad question to answer, and to help you to
see how big a thing I am dealing with in thus attempting to give my story of
the next life I must put a simple question to you.
I want you to try to imagine you have not
been living on earth and that, knowing nothing of earth life, you have suddenly
been landed by an airship in the busiest part of the city of London—with all
its traffic and its people. You have arrived from some other world and have not
seen this sight before. You will exclaim, "How strange…. What are they all
doing?" Well, could you answer that question easily? It would not mean
much to you to
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The
be told they are going about their own individual business—one
man bakes bread, another sweeps the streets, another drives a cart, and another
sits in an office and runs a business—all that would leave you none the wiser.
These are facts, and yet you would not understand them. You could not
comprehend them. That is my difficulty in trying to make you understand in a
satisfactory way the life of this Blue Isle. I have to consider how to explain
it. It is no use my telling you that one person sits by the sea all the time,
weeping because of her parting from her lover, and another is in a mental
stupor for drink, and another still thinks he is ringing the bells of his local
chapel on Sunday, etc., etc.—that is not the life, those are only bits of it. Atoms of the whole. I do not want to particularize,
I want to generalize, with some detail. Therefore I must say that if you were
to pay this land a visit in your earth bodies, as you are at present, you would
be struck by the lack of excitement. You would think it all so like earth. That
is what you would say to people on your return. "Oh, it's so much like our
life here, only there are a lot of different races of mankind there."
Everyday life for the individual is
strikingly
The
like the everyday life he's always been used to. At first he
takes a great deal of rest, having the earth habit of sleep—and it is a
necessity—he needs sleep here, too, for the present. We have no night as you
have, but he sleeps and rests just the same. He has his interests in visiting
different parts, in exploring the land and its building and in studying its
animal and vegetable life. He has friends to seek out and to see. He has his
pastimes to indulge. He has his new-found desire for knowledge to feed.
The routine of a day here is similar to
the routine of a day on earth; the difference being that earth's routine is
often made by force of circumstance, whereas, here it is made according to
desire for knowledge on this or that subject.
In clothing, we are all practically as on
earth, and as there are so many races here you can well understand the general
appearance of this land is most unusual, and in an odd way particularly
interesting and amusing, also instructive. I think I have said that in general
appearance we all are as we all were. We are only a very little way from earth,
and consequently up to this time we have not thrown off earth ideas. We have
gained some new
The
ones, but have as yet discarded few or none.
The process of discarding is a gradual
one. As we live here we gain knowledge of many kinds, and come to find so many
things, hitherto thought essential, not only of no importance but something of
a bore, a nuisance, and that is how we grow to a state of dropping all earth
habits. We get to the state of not desiring a smoke, not because we can't have
it, or think it not right, but because the desire for it is not there. As with
a smoke, so with food, so with many a dozen things; we are just as satisfied
without them. We do not miss them; if we did we should have them, and we do have
them until the desire is no longer there.
At first there is practical freedom of
thought and action, and there are only certain limitations imposed—not by rule
but by conditions. Beyond these limitations there is absolute freedom. After a
time, when the spirit has advanced to the point of desiring knowledge and
enlightenment, he will be drawn like a piece of steel to a magnet, into contact
with this or that house of organization dealing with the subject on which he
desires knowledge. From the time of coming into touch with this house the
spirit
The
will be, as it were, "at school." He will perforce
have to attend this house of instruction. He will spend a good deal of his time
there learning, and, when finished with one house, will pass to another, but it
is not compulsory information, it is craved-for information, and nothing is
given until asked for. You are not forced to acquire anything. You are more than ever free agents. That is why on earth
it is so essential to control your bodies by your minds, and not the reverse.
When you come here your mind is all powerful, and everything depends, for your
own degree of happiness here, upon the kind of mind you bring with you.
The presence or absence of contentment is
entirely due to the earth life you have led, the character formed,
opportunities taken and lost, the motive of and for your actions, the help
given, the manner of help received, your mental outlook and your use and abuse
of flesh power. To sum all these up it is the quality of mind control over body
versus body over mind. Mind matters
and body matters; it is in your keeping entirely and is in whatever state you
have made it by your life. On your arrival here the degree of your happiness
will
The
be determined automatically by the demands of your mind.
When you are inclined to ask, "What
are they all doing there?" turn your mind to some dear one on earth who
has taken up an out-of-the-way kind of life somewhere abroad, where you are not
in constant and intimate touch, and say of him, "I wonder what he's doing
now?"…. Then answer it yourself by saying "I suppose he's carrying
on." So are we, we people in the
CHAPTER V
Intimate Life
CHAPTER
V
There
is a good deal of reasoning and argument as to why in earth life we should do
this or that. Why we should refrain from many of the delights of everyday life
and why we should "go straight."
People say it is handicapping in their
business or their profession to have to observe these "nice points."
They may not confess this thought openly, but to themselves they do—they do not
see why such-and-such should not be done. True, they think it may injure
so-and-so's business a little, but that is his affair.
All in ignorance.
There is a reason, and that reason can be
very easily found by the rule of common sense. I almost might call this a
discourse upon cause and effect.
Earth life has deteriorated. The whole
scheme of creation is planned with great precision, with the object of allowing
free
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The
individual development and progress. Its rules are
laid down clearly. Every man knows by instinct when he is obeying and when
disobeying these rules. It needs no police officer to tell him. He may deceive
himself that such an act is all that it should be, but at the same time he
knows in his own consciousness that, that act or
thought is not only not all that it
should be but that it is all that it ought not
to be. I say that all mankind knows—but most of mankind prefers to think it
does not know.
Not one person on earth can stand up and
say I am not speaking a profound truth here!
Mostly these things are not considered
from the point of right or wrong, but from the view, "Shall I benefit by
this?"—but I say that all people
on earth can discriminate,
I do not say that they do, between good and not good motive in their lives.
Instinct does this for them. They cannot help themselves. They are bound to
know. The trouble is that the vast majority by force of habit, the desire for
business gain, or social gain, or any kind of gain, but always a gain for
itself, has ceased to consider the quality of its actions and thinks only of
the first result. It is a pity. It is more than that, Looked upon from the next
The
stage in evolution it is pitiful. Poor
undeveloped egos, preparing their own discomfort and suffering—not a hell fire
but a mental torture.
The self or spirit of a man is encased in
his mind, and, examined in a purely physical way, the
brain is the most baffling organ of the body scientific man ever had to deal
with. Much can be understood; all never will be. Judged as being the casing and
instrument of the soul it becomes an even more delicate and intricate and
baffling piece of work. You all know that mind is the generating-house for all
your acts and deeds, but you do not fully appreciate the fact that every act
and every thought is "booked"—is recorded.
You do not see the elaborate scheme of
work which goes on in any of your large business houses, when you buy something
and do not pay at once. It is booked and passes through many hands before the
bill is sent to you a little later, and having paid the bill you forget it all,
but the record of that business house has it still. So with the brain; an act
or a thought, no matter what the quality, is recorded for all time. Settling
will come after life, and when paid the "book" is finished with and
troubles no more, though the record is
The
still there. Now follow me. Mind and its
work—thought—is the force that drives and creates everything on earth. It has
all to be mental before physical or material. That you all know. Every building
was conceived mentally before being built.
Thought is divided in itself into
different types. There is the thought of your next meal which is of no
particular interest, and there are the thoughts constructive and destructive.
These are important. There are the purely personal thoughts. Sometimes
advantageous and sometimes the reverse. Now, the all-important forms of
thought are the constructive and destructive. The others referring to your
meals, your clothes, your appearance, your anything you like, these are not of
importance until they are allowed to hinder the flow of constructive thought;
when they do this the character of these same thoughts changes and becomes destructive.
It is the material embodiment of
destructive thought which causes most of the distress and misery in the world.
The sum total goes on increasing, and will continue to increase, until mankind
as a whole, and individually, will listen and try to understand a little more
about himself beyond what is necessary for him
The
to know for the selling of his goods, and thus give fuller
play to the beneficent action of constructive thought which alone can redeem
and save the world.
CHAPTER VI
More About Intimate Life
CHAPTER VI
To a great extent the individual
hardships of earth life are directly due to wrong thinking. I am fully aware
that people are placed in many different positions right from birth. Some
inherit unhappiness and difficulty from their parents,
and their lot in life is harder and their pleasures are less than in the lives
of those who are born in better conditions.
Accepting these differences of position
and condition—one man a life of much hard work, another a comfortable and
perhaps rather idle life—the same rule of thought applies. The man who has
grown up under hard conditions is by circumstances forced into a groove of
thought—a regular rut. He cannot help himself because there are no real
attempts made by any to change his outlook; he may meet with material help from
time to time, but he meets with little practical
mental assistance. He is under the disadvantage of his lifelong earth
conditions, and is in ignorance because
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The
he does not understand and has little opportunity for learning
about these things; by his thought he adds to his difficulties instead of
easing and finally removing many of them. The other man, who is comfortably
settled and has no particular worries, does precisely the same thing. He
trudges along in the same mental rut—stagnation, "Mental Stagnation,"
and the same results will fall to them both hereafter. They are both building
up their future states.
Then there are people of keen
intelligence, clever people, who use their brains to achieve material gain no
matter the cost to others. These people are indulging in the most positive form
of destructive thought. They are not like the other two—negative. They are very
alive, alert and positive. They are at once using destructive and constructive
thought. The latter is entirely misapplied, and when they come here the account
against them will be much heavier, because they will have built up a wall of
greedy thought which themselves have originally sent out and which they must
settle in this next condition.
A thought—no matter the heading it comes
under—that has come into your mind and which you have sent out, is an
accomplished
The
thing so far as your mind goes. Your physical act may or may not keep swift
accompaniment with the thought; that does not matter from the point of view of
what you are building up for yourself here.
Once having had his thought it is done,
so far as your mind is concerned, and, whether you follow it up actively or
not, you have to make repayment for it when you come here. I am not speaking
about the thousand trivial thoughts of every hour, but about those which I
might describe as having personality.
You will say it is impossible to control
every thought of the day, and I agree that it is, but if once you accepted for
fact what I have said you would keep a sharp eye on your mental actions. They
matter. You will find this very difficult to accept because it is indeed an
intimate thing for each one; you do not know each other's thoughts whilst upon
earth, therefore I have headed this chapter "Intimate Life."
Each of you will live to thank the person
who is responsible for giving you this information if you act upon it, and
those of you who hear and know but do not act upon the knowledge, will have one
day to cast reproaches upon yourselves for this failure.
To realize oneself that one has failed is
far
The
more bitter than the consciousness that others know it.
Think upon this and reason a little with
your own inner self.
CHAPTER VII
First Attempts
CHAPTER VII
Leaving
the question of time out of it entirely, as I must, I want to write of my first
attempt to communicate with the earth world. I know there is much
dissatisfaction with the spirit world on account of the practical impossibility
to give correct ideas of time-spacing. I would like to say a little about that
before going into the main interest of today's writing. You must not be
over-hasty in condemning us for this failure. On earth you all space your time
by days and hours, etc., but those spacings are also based, or perhaps more definitely marked in your mental
reckoning, on the habits of the day. You have always taken certain things at
certain hours. You have a light sky and a dark sky; without a watch you know
fairly accurately the time of day by your inclinations—fatigue or freshness,
the need for food or rest, etc., etc.
Now, on this side of the grave we have no
real necessity for rest or for food. We have
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The
no dark sky—only a light one, and we have, for the sake of the
present illustration, an unlimited supply of energy. Consequently we are not
able to break up time into spaces which correspond with earth-spacings. We do break up our time, but it is not your breaking, therefore we can seldom
be accurate in telling when a thing did, or when a thing will, happen. For that
reason I am not able to tell how long I had been in this country before I made
my first attempt to link up with earth again. To me I seemed to have lived in
this land always. It appeared incredible to me that it could be only a few days
since I arrived. I had not forgotten my family or my friends, but I felt
peculiarly happy about them. I cannot think why, except that finding my earth
knowledge so very correct I gathered strength in feeling that they too would
understand everything was quite well with me, and that this little delay in writing
was natural considering the new country I had come to.
The house which is given over to this
work in the
The
in charge. They were all very sympathetic, but entirely
business-like. It was not merely a house of tears and sympathy,
it was an amazingly well organized and business-like place. There were many
hundreds of people there. Those who had on earth believed and those who had
not, came to try to wire a message home.
The heart call was the one which received
the most serious attention. Many were there only as lookers-on, incredulous and
facetious. They got nothing more than the satisfaction of their own amazement.
After a little time my turn came.
For a building given over to this kind of
work it appeared to be inadequately equipped. I had rather expected to see many
implements and instruments, many wires and machines, and the presence of
electric forces, but there was nothing of that kind at all. It was all and only
the human element.
I had a long conversation with a man
there—a man obviously of some importance, though I cannot say he looked like an
angel; he appeared quite as mundane as myself. I had a
long talk with him, and from him heard how a great deal of this work was
carried on. He told me they had a system of travelers, whose
The
work was very close to physical earth. They had the power of
sensing people who could and would be used for this work at the other end. These
men could locate and then tabulate the earth people, marking each
individual ability, and when the newly-arrived spirit came in search of
help, these sensitives on earth were used as each
could be used. This is a sketchy outline of the work done in that building….
There I came frequently and tried to get my messages through to home by more
than one means; I succeeded in some ways, I failed in others. The spirit has
much to do himself with the success or failure
attained; a great deal depends upon him. Every time I succeeded I helped
another. Every time I failed I went for help, and got it. Having given much
time and study to the subject on earth, I was given unlimited assistance at
this end of the line now that I needed it.
I want to explain how I got some of my
first messages through and how I knew I had succeeded. We had been taught by
this time how to come in close contact with the earth, although it was not possible
for me to do this alone. I had a helper with me. I must call him an official.
He came with me to my first trial.
The
We came into a room, which seemed to have
walls made of muslin—something and yet nothing. I know it was a house, and was
conscious of the walls of the room, and yet they seemed such poor things
because we could see through them and move through them. I could not have done
this by myself at that time, but with my official we did.
Then came the
attempt. There were two or three people in this room, and they were all talking
together about the horror of this great disaster and about the probability of
people coming back. They were holding a seance, and
my official showed we how to make my presence known. The
controlling force, he told me, was thought. I had to visualize myself among
these people in the flesh. Imagine I was standing there in the flesh, in the
center of them, and then imagine myself still there with a strong light thrown
upon me…. Create the picture. Hold the visualization very deliberately and in
detail, and keep it fixed upon my mind, that at that moment I was there and that they were conscious
of it. I failed, of course, at first, but I know that after a few attempts I
succeeded and those people did actually see me. My face only, but that was
because in my picture I had seen myself only
The
as a face. I imagined the part they would recognize me by. I
was also able to get a message in the same way. Precisely the
same way. I stood by the most sensitive present, and spoke and concentrated
my mind on a short sentence, and repeated it with much emphasis and
deliberation until I could hear part of it spoken by this person. I knew that
at last I had succeeded, and I succeeded reasonably easily because I knew so
intimately what the conditions of those people and that earth room were. Many
who had not my earth knowledge made little impression at all.
There was none of my own family present
that time. Had there been it would have made it impossible for me, as I was
then feeling their sorrow acutely, and I would not have been able to give my
mind so full a power as I did—I became almost impersonal. It was a good thing
that my first attempt was purely a test one—to see if I could break through to
home.
CHAPTER VIII
Reality of
Though Communication
CHAPTER VIII
In trying to establish a definite form
of communication between the earth sphere and the
In concentrating the mind on any one
spirit person, you are sending out real, live, active forces. These forces pass
through the air in precisely the same way as electric waves do,
93
The
and they never miss their mark. You concentrate on Mr. A in the
spirit world, and immediately Mr. A is conscious of a force coming to him. In
this land we are much more sensitive than whilst on earth, and when thoughts
are directed to us by people on your side, we have a direct call from those
currents of thought thus generated, and we are practically always able to come
in close contact with the person who is thinking of us; when near and
acclimatized to his conditions we can impress thoughts and ideas upon his mind.
He will seldom accept them for what they are, but will think they are his own
normal thoughts or something of an hallucination. Nevertheless,
if frequent opportunity is given he will be startled at the amount of
information he can record. This applies to everyone, not merely to the believer
in these subjects. Anyone who sits for a moment and allows his mind to dwell on
some dear one who had "died" will actually draw the spirit of that persons to himself. He may be conscious or unconscious
of the presence, but the presence is there.
If people on earth realized the result of
their thoughts upon those to whom they refer, they would be very much more
careful in giving their mind free play. There are so many thoughts
The
possible, and all of them are registered here;
many of them affect the people they concern, but all of them affect the people
from whom they emanate.
Perhaps in telling you all thoughts are
recorded I am making it more difficult for you to accept and understand. It
will be better, therefore, to explain that by "all thoughts" I refer
only to all "direct" thoughts. In reality every thought is
registered; the personal ones are, as I have previously said, of no importance
so long as they are not allowed to grow into destructive thoughts.
In speaking of direct thought I mean you
to understand positive thoughts,
about other people, pleasant or unpleasant, and not the thoughts of every-day
trivialities.
Many people find it impossible to believe
that every direct thought they have is registered, or that it can in any way
influence or affect the person concerned, or return to influence themselves,
but this is so.
You are fully aware of the influence
given out by any one person who is deeply depressed or more than usually
excited and happy. Each of you has felt this influence. This is, of course,
caused by the lowered or raised mental vibrations, giving out particularly
strong
The
currents of either depression or happiness.
They are equally strong currents in
themselves although they act differently upon the people with whom they come
into contact. It is in this way that all direct thoughts act. Frequently the
subject is not conscious of these thoughts upon himself, but influence is there
in a subtle and greater or lesser degree of strength, and all these thoughts
are very definitely registered in the mind of the thinker long after the
incident itself has passed.
When coming to this land, that whole
record has to be dealt with. Not by a judge in wig and gown, but by our own
spirit selves. In spirit life we have a full and clear remembrance of all these
things and, according to quality of these individual thoughts, so we are
brought into a state of regret, happiness or unhappiness, despair or
satisfaction. It is here that we meet with the desire to make return, to put
right all the discomfort and distress, minor or major, as it may be, caused by
thoughtless mind action whilst on earth.
This is why I say that whilst on earth it
is not only advisable, but essential to keep your minds under control and in
order. It is only wisdom so to do. The difficulty is that people
The
will not realize this whilst upon earth, although they know from
their own inner consciousness that I am stating a truth.
I want you all to try to realize the
results you are making, the unhappiness you are causing others, and the regret
and sorrow you are laying up for yourselves in the next world when you have to
face the conditions you have made. Remember that your minds are the
generating-houses. You are building up whatever is to be your next condition,
precisely and exactly by the lives you are leading on earth, by your thoughts
and by the degree to which your body controls your mind instead of your mind
ruling supreme. So long as you are upon earth you are Body (Physical) and Soul
(Mind) and Spirit (Self). When you come here you are Mind (Soul) and Self (Spirit) only. Therefore for your own future happiness
it is essential that your Mind should rule during earth life. It is for you to
say whether it shall do so. If you are willing to pay your bill when you come
over, carry on as you are, but there is no further credit given; you have to
settle it here. If you are a quarter as practical as you each and all think you
are, you will see to it that the mind leads. It can lead very delightfully,
although you may think it leads only to
The
religious
restriction—it does not only lead there; it leads to all earth's pleasures, all
earth's enjoyments, but it always holds the ruling hand, and can stop at the
right time, whereas the body cannot, and so it runs up debts which have to be
paid, and paid sometimes very dearly and bitterly.
Earth was made beautiful for Man to
enjoy—not merely to tantalize him—lead him on and then say, "No" That
is not the way of our blessed Creator. He has given beauty and the faculty for
enjoying beauty to all mankind, and so long as the mind rules it will continue
to be beauty, but when only the body rules, influencing and degrading the mind
as it will, then trouble lies ahead; much trouble and much acute regret.
When we are here our minds work in the
same manner, they obey the same rules, and the presence or absence of body does
not hinder our thinking powers, and consequently there is no difficulty in
coming into touch with some of our people left behind and being in close touch
with them, influencing them greatly; although many of them are unconscious of
it. I want you to think of this and to realize that your own people can come to
you, that thought is all-powerful and that you can build up or
The
destroy, help or hinder, draw near you, or drive
away from you, the people incarnate and discarnate, who were and who are so
dear to each of you by this power of thought.
Thought communication is the closest link
between the two worlds, but it must be well-ordered and well-trained brain
action. You must not imagine that every idea which enters your mind is put
there by a spirit person; it is not so at all, but at the same time, if you
train your mind in the way an athlete trains his body, you can then ask for and
receive great knowledge and much help, both spiritual and material.
CHAPTER IX
Important Points
CHAPTER IX
A
subject of this importance and
interest is full of queries. Each one has his own questions to put, and each
brings what he considers a hitherto unnoticed point. I want, if possible, to
answer a few of these constantly recurring queries now. I had many put to me
during my investigations whilst on earth, and some of them I can answer at
last. I want you first to realize that by the change of death you do not become part of the Godhead immediately. The mysteries of life of
life are not revealed to you as a kind of welcoming gift on your arrival here.
You must not think that I, or any, have full
knowledge on all subjects, profound and trivial, the moment we come to spirit
life…. I cannot tell you when your grandson will next require new shoes…nor can
I tell you the settlement of the Irish question. I can only see a little
farther than you, and I do not by any means possess the key to the door of All
Knowledge and All Truth. That, we have
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each to work for…and as we pass through one door we find another
in front of us to be unlocked…and another and another.
But, on the other hand, remember that I
do know considerably more than you do, because I am in more intimate touch with
the Main Source of knowledge, and I have passed through an experience which is
still ahead of you all.
I should like first to speak about the
word "conditions" and its true meaning. It is a word which is grossly
misapplied in all forms of psychic work. It is given as a reason for this or
that failure—for a success—for any peculiarity in result, and it is looked upon
as necessary in any apartment in which a meeting is to be held. Rightly and wrongly—usually wrongly. The main factor or
essential in obtaining good results lies in the condition of the sitter's mind
more than in the room he is in. The mental attitude and the physical state of the sitter is of very
much more importance than of the presence of draped windows, thick carpets,
exotic perfumes, etc., etc. It is the method of mental approach which matters
chiefly. That is a feature often overlooked by even first-grade sensitives…. Certain "extras" if rightly used and
properly directed round
The
the apartment, such as a cheerful face, pleasant flowers,
laughter and brightness, these are all quite useful assets, but they are not
the essentials.
Some people always try to reduce to
ridicule communication with the next world, one of the greatest of God's
blessings to mankind, and complain of what they consider to be the senseless
conditions ruling at a seance. Many of these
conditions, as I have said, are meaningless and sometimes a hindrance, but at
the same time others are necessary according to the kind of communication
sought after.
To make my point, I must recall to you
how conditions govern everything, and so much does everything depend upon given
suitable conditions that people do not even notice that this is so. The
simplest and perhaps the most useful example of this is
in making a pot of tea. You must have the tea in a certain condition, you must
have the water in a certain condition—if you do not, you get poor results. Your
flowers—you have your seeds in a certain condition of dryness and you put them
to earth when the climate is in a certain condition, according to time of year,
and, once planted, you tend your plants, flowers, trees, everything according
to the conditions they demand.
The
We demand conditions. Why should you think
that this great scientific work can be governed, mastered by inexperienced
hands at any take-it-or-leave-it moment? You cannot reasonably expect it, and
if you do, you won't get it! Conditions govern earth and all forms of life on
it, from an earlier state than that when consciousness begins—but I tell you
many of the conditions demanded by intelligent workers in this subject are
futile and—worse—harmful. You cannot achieve success in anything, or along any
line, by directing your force in opposition to your intelligence. A vast number
do, in this subject, and that is why
there is so much failure. You may as well try to take a photograph without
putting any film into the camera, and, because you get no result, say the whole
thing is impossible and fraudulent. You must have conditions in order to secure
success in any and everything. It is due to lack of these necessary conditions
that we fail sometimes to influence a person to do or not to do a certain act. A
father, in spirit life, may be fully conscious of is son contemplating a
certain deed, say, suicide or murder, or anything of that kind. Such knowledge
will cause great sorrow to the father, and he will work his utmost to influence
the son, to direct his
The
thoughts,
and destroy the idea of whatever is contemplated; but at such time the son is
in an abnormal state of excitement, which nearly always prevents our influence
from getting to him and working upon him. It is not at all a state of
happiness, for the father, because he is fully aware of his sons
acts, and he is powerless to prevent him.
In action we are free. Absolutely
free. We have graduated in the
As we are able to travel among these
other lands, so we are able to be in constant touch with earth. Thoughts of us
sent out by people on earth reach us, and we sense from whom
they come, and can follow up the person, if so desired. We would not get every
thought from anyone who happened to see our names and make a casual remark, but
from
The
anyone with whom we were intimate whilst on
earth a thought of us will come straight, as along a telephone wire from one
house to another, and if we wish we can come. In this way we are able to help
people left behind. We can follow their actions and their minds, and influence
them one way or the other, according to our idea of what is for their good; but
we cannot do impossible things even for those dearest to us.
Whilst on earth one can give advice, but
one cannot force it into practice—so here we can influence but not create.
Having attained this state there is no parting, there is no sting to death, we
can be with our own beyond us, with us, below us, and with those still on
earth. Separation and partings are not known except by the law of attraction
and affection. We leave people behind on the earth who
dutifully mourn for us, who are genuinely upset at their loss; but after a while—short or long—their remembrance of us
grows thin. They cease to think of us, to recall us, and to remember our
companionship. They are the only partings. In some cases even those people come
back to our lives when they themselves come to this land. Gradually, as they
throw off the influences which dimmed their remembrance of
The
us, they find the foundation of the old affection. Sometimes
it is untouched; sometimes spoilt; but these are the only partings.
A spirit who comes here, and is anxious
to get in touch with earth ties, may be made more unhappy by being with the
earth people, for if they do not understand that he is still alive, they are
all sadness, and they think of him as dead—as something finished. Although the
spirit will go to them a great deal at first, the earth people will not know he
is there, and seeing them but being unable to make his presence know causes him
much disappointment and sorrow, and they are ignorant of his presence and think
only of him as dead, he will finally stay away altogether, content to wait
until they join him. This accounts for many people who are not apparently
making any attempt to communicate, and for earth people to say that this cannot
be true because their dearest so-and-so never made any sign to them.
When you are over in this life you will
not be continually associated with people who are not of interest to you. On
earth you eliminate,
The
as far as practicable, the people who tire and try you—but
here that can be done effectively because those feelings and instincts are
entirely mutual. The governing force is love. Affections bind people together,
and if the love between any two, or any group, is a strong and real thing, then
those people are in close unison and happiness together. But
wherever the love is not on both or all sides, there is automatically a falling
away of the affected party. Nothing uneven or unequal holds. When you
come, through death, you are attracted by the ties of love into the set of
people who vibrate the same affection, and if you have had an affection for
another which is not equally shared although you will at first be together, you
will gradually and yet quietly cease to attract each other, and cease to be in
each other's company.
CHAPTER X
The State Of
CHAPTER X
Everything
is ordered. I have touched lightly upon my first arrival and my impression of
the new surroundings, and of my first return to earth and the manner of it.
Without giving technical and scientific formula at all, I thing I have given
you a fair picture and a rough idea of the next step after earth life. What I
have said applies to all the human race. Whites,
blacks and yellows—there is no differentiation; one rule holds for all races of
mankind.
I shall pass for the present to a further
stage.
I may return to say more about the Blue
Island, but now I will leave all life there to continue on its way, and will
deal with a further point of development—the state of being rid of most earth
instincts. Once rid of these we are able to pass with comparative ease, and
almost at will, from one sphere to another, and from this or another sphere
back to earth; keeping thereby in close association with our own people—or
those of them who desire it.
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We help by influencing them in their
daily lives and actions, and we do this without
in any way retarding our own work, development and construction of character.
Character is the main thing to be studied.
Whilst on the
I had learnt of the existence of other
lands besides this island, and at one time it seemed as incredible as the
possible existence of this land does to many now on
earth; but eventually the time came when I was taken to these other spheres. I
cannot tell where they are, but it was like traveling amongst the stars. It
seems as if we left our world and traveled through space until we reached
another star, another land.
There are several of these other lands,
and they are inhabited by former earth people who
The
have progressed sufficiently to qualify for entry into this or
that land. These other lands are nearly all inhabited by a higher form of life,
a happier form and, individually, a more powerful form, but there are one or
two other lands of not so high an order, where happiness is less or not at all,
according to whether life on earth was a well or lightly ordered thing. In
these lands the people who are there fail and fail again to find the spirit in
themselves to desire to rise, to improve an control
themselves, although the necessary strength is offered and offered and even
thrust at them.
All races have the gift of free will. All
are free agents in determining their own destinies. At all
times, not only after the body's death. Just as a father and a mother of
a family order the day's routine for their children, and allow the children
then to amuse themselves in their own way, so the races of mankind are free to
develop and model their lives upon their own individual pattern—being given
certain rules to conform to. All life is originally free, but whilst on earth,
through poor comprehension and mismanagement, the individual often thinks he is
not a free personage with free will—but he is. As the same father and mother
will influence and guide their children, the cause
The
being love, so when we are here and find
ourselves able, we do our utmost to help and influence those we love who are
still on earth. Always it is the driving force of love which causes us to do
our work.
We can be in close touch with our people
on earth, and by suggestion and by close association we can influence them.
Through our influence often much material good will come to them. We spirit
people cannot give material riches to any
on earth, but we can frequently advise as to the best step to take in a
business matter which, if taken, will bring in considerable material wealth. Just as we can influence in a spiritual sense, so we can influence
in a business way. We people over here can see both sides of the
argument. When a thing is to be decided between two people we can see both
points and can therefore see which is right, and if we play straight we throw
our influence in with that, whether it is to the benefit of our earth friend,
in a material sense, or not. If we do this, and our earth friend loses or
suffers from it, we invariably make it up later in a different way. If we throw
our influence against our own conviction, only in order to help our earth
friend, we pay for it here ourselves,
and our earth friend, who thereby
The
gains unjustifiably, pays for it later, either
whilst on earth or when in spirit life. He will have to make return sooner or
later; there is no escape, it is automatic.
In saying we can and do influence people
on earth, I do not propose to go into the precise process of how we work. It is
near enough to say that you know how you influence each other on earth; here
the result is the same, although the process is quite different—but that is a
matter which each one of you will deal with individually later on, when your
own change comes, therefore it is not of necessity nor of interest to you to
know now.
You have on earth a saying that
"coming events cast their shadows before." This is a truth. They do
cast their influences, and sensitive people can always register them and can
often make a guess at their origin.
CHAPTER XI
Premonitions
CHAPTER XI
There
are many superstitions and many reasons given to explain what is called
"premonition," but in almost every instance it can be traced to
telepathy; there are so many forms of mental sympathy.
The chief form of premonition is that
concerning the death of another, friend or relation. Now always that can be traced to telepathy. You will argue that perhaps
the person about to pass on was not anticipating his death. It may have been
through a sudden accident, and yet so-and-so had a certain sign—a
premonition—so many days, or such and such a time, beforehand.
To explain: Mr. A has a premonition about
the death of Mr. B. It is followed up later by an accident in which Mr. B is
killed. The spirit friends who are interested in Mr. B have been in continual
attendance upon him, and are watching him in order to be of use whenever possible;
but they cannot make him do
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The
this or do that with any certainty, they can only influence him
one way or another. Now, all the actions of Mr. B's life are producing certain
effects, some of which Mr. B himself is not at once conscious of…. His spirit
friends are, and they can see, a certain distance ahead, what the results of
these actions—the general routine of his life—may be. In this way they can see
ahead what is going to occur to Mr. B, and although they will do their utmost
to guide him they cannot act for him.
He sets his own destiny in motion and he alone can alter it. At such a time,
the spirit friends, realizing that Mr. B is in physical danger, will do their
utmost to divert his actions and movements: sometimes they are successful, but
in this particular instance they are not, and Mr. B meets his death. The
influences being used by the spirit people have created a disturbance of
thought-force around him and, although he was not conscious of it himself, his
friend Mr. A has registered it upon his mind and it has reproduced itself in
sleep, as a dream, or as a vision built up by thought-power and materialized
through and from the physical strength of Mr. B. Distance between A and B makes
no difference.
Premonitions concerning an arrangement
The
made which is afterwards not fulfilled are caused by the
influence of spirit friends trying always to guide their charges to the benefit
of themselves. In this way you can figure out the cause of all so-called
premonitions. In every case it is spirit friends trying to communicate with the
person chiefly concerned—he often fails to register what another will pick up.
CHAPTER XII
Residence
CHAPTER XII
I
come now to the last days on the
Travel here is a very different thing to
the methods you all know, and we all set out in a large party for the Real
World. Not our whole party, as on first arrival; many weren't ready to leave,
but with us were many other spirit people besides those with whom we had
originally arrived. There was the same sensation
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The
of flying, moving rapidly through the air; then we came to our
new home. After the color and generally striking appearance of the
It is in this land that I and most of our
people are, and certainly all will be, in due course. We continue our studies
and our work of developing spiritually, whilst at the same time controlling and
dispersing the few still-clinging earth habits and thoughts. We are all very
much more conscious of each other in this land, and life resumes a much greater
similarity to the life we have known on earth. We have our homes in the same
way and our interests in other people, and according to taste so we are
The
habited together in houses or on the open
hillside country. Some people live in very elaborate palaces, and it is very
curious to note that many of these people are those who have led very rough and
hard lives upon earth. Their idea of Heaven is a palace and a life of ease. After
a period of time, during which they must make specified progress in general
development, these people are given their palaces in order to allow them full
advantage of environment to make forward steps in their evolution. If they
don't progress, they lose their palace and must requalify
for it. This applies to everyone; each has to qualify in order to obtain his
desired object; and in order to keep it he must continue his progress and his
help to others.
When we come to this land, we have ceased
to desire food, drink and sleep; we are now pure spirit in the rough state;
there is still more refining to be done in the next phase. Here, also there are
Rest Houses—Houses for Music—Houses for Scientific Research—Houses for all, and
every kind of information and knowledge; and the entrance fee to each and all
of these is Desire. We do not lead a life of continual cramming of
information—we lead ordinary earth lives, but with a much keener
The
social interest and much more freedom and
exchange of thought. There is no distinction of the classes. Our earth life may
be forgotten, in so far as our individual task on earth is concerned, when that
task was a matter of little or no interest to us. It is only the spiritual and
mental knowledge and development which hinders and advances the individual
here; and spirit knowledge is not hindered by whatever one's job on earth may
have been. In this respect there is a great and sudden broadening of the point
of view of all comers to this land.
It is a land of freedom. A land of happiness and smiles. A land of happiness brought
about through the real love of man for man. A land to work for—a land in which
your place is made according to the knowledge you have had whilst upon earth
and the way you have used that knowledge.
It is impossible to over-emphasize the
degree of freedom in this new world, or the joy each and all has in it.
In saying that your happiness is gauged
by the knowledge acquired on earth and the application of that knowledge, I am
saying what is accurate to the smallest detail, but I would like to explain
precisely.
The
On being established here, in the Real
World, each one is interviewed by one of the Advanced Spirit Instructors and
the whole record of earth is discussed and analyzed. Reason,
motive and result. The full and detailed record contains everything,
there is nothing overlooked, and this is the time for paying the bill. Each is
interviewed alone, and there is a minute analysis of all events, acts and
thoughts. Then there is the making good to be gone through, the sum total to be
paid…for all our thoughtlessness and our unkind acts and words—all that have
had direct results must be paid for.
We have then to spend time in close touch
with earth, in order, by influence, to make good for our past misdoings; make
good as far as possible. Also we have the knowledge and full sight of the
results of these earlier acts, and they do not bring happiness; but after that
state is passed and we can bring all these things into proper perspective and
form a table of work, which will gradually and continually be working out
results and troubles we have caused, then we can each one settle down to live
here in freedom.
The form of life differs here enormously
according to temperament, personality, and the
The
influence of earth life. People vary in strange
contrast to one another. Many of us carry on with our same work as on earth.
Here we have no need to work in order to obtain daily livelihood, we work here
solely for spiritual refinement and progress; at the same time we keep in touch
with our earth interests as a form of recreation.
We are not always, without any break, in
one house or another studying this, that and the other; we have a certain
program to go through but it has many breaks, and in this "off duty"
time we come back to our dear people on earth, and either out of interest and
love, or from the desire to be useful, we try our utmost to help them in their
material and mental difficulties.
We have every form of recreation here, as
I have already told you when dealing with the
From this you can understand that life
after death is a very normal and natural affair. We have still our affections,
and those which last are still strongly binding links. Between families and
friends we have the same affections—and yet not the same, because sometimes on
The
earth
there are differences which cause a silence between members of a family, and
perhaps over here that family will once more be very united—the earth
differences being based solely upon material things—once remove the material
and physical and underneath the love often remains.
One great change which death brings is a
much broader point of view and a much larger mind. A deeper understanding, a
keener intuition, clears away immediately many former difficulties and
misunderstandings. Once on this Real World, and once past the first initiation
and payment of debts, we are free to do as we wish, but we have to progress or
we ourselves curtail our liberties. It is not an enforced progress, we can take
our own time about everything, but we must not allow any of earth's instincts
to increase in their power over us. We have to learn the new conditions and
live for them entirely.
Once free, we can travel at will over our
own world and over yours. So great is our speed and method of travel that we can be in two places almost simultaneously.
Everywhere we go we are conscious of the
general love for one another. It is much more evident than on earth, and that
great affection is the direct cause of the general brightness
The
and radiance of this world. I do mean that it gives off rays of
light, but rather that the general atmosphere is light in quality and very
invigorating and strength-giving.
Life here is a grander thing—a bolder
thing, and a happier thing for all those who have led reasonable lives on
earth, but for the unreasonable there are many troubles and difficulties and
sorrows to be encountered. There is a great truth in the saying that "as
ye sow, so shall ye reap."
CHAPTER XIII
General Results
CHAPTER XIII
I
have been away from my earth life
now a number of years, and although I have been in constant and unbroken touch
with my old conditions and affections, I have never, since leaving the
There have been many occasions when I
have very badly wanted a tongue for a few hours. With my extra sight I have
known the right treatment when seeing certain situations being mishandled. At
such times I have very badly wanted to return to earth for an hour, in order to
be the means of bringing about great improvements—beyond these passing desires
I have had no wish ever to take up residence on earth; my travels and my works
and studies on this side of the grave have been of such vital interest. Since
being here I have acquired greater knowledge, and have been able to pass to
earth people some of that knowledge,
at different times.
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Ever since my leaving the world, your
world, I have been keenly interested in its development, and very live to all
its internal and external difficulties. Patriotism still holds with me, as with
most of us, and will continue to hold so long as I have personal ties upon
earth. When there are no longer any of these personal ties remaining my
interests will gradually and naturally turn more exclusively to this side among my own people, and my
place will be filled by another—and so the race goes on—always moving forward,
progressing and evolving.
Looking back on it all since I first came
to the Blue Isle I have great satisfaction in seeing the advance I have made.
Coming here was quite a shock to me. I had no idea that my death was so near
when that particular year began, and I certainly had no desire that it should
be soon. I had an overwhelming number of important things on my hands. Some of
these have been able to finish since, and I have followed the progress of many
others. Soon after arrival, I had grown acclimatized to the new conditions, the
new appearance of everything, the new power of locomotion and communication. We
do not talk to each other very much here, we have a more expressive and
intimate way than that. Here, thoughts are
The
communicated from one mind to another without the
need of vocal expression, although we can
talk in earth manner at will.
There are, of course, many and vast
differences between my world and yours, but I always find one of the most
blessed and merciful differences between the two to be the manner in which the
mental is unhindered by the physical. You on earth have mental desires and
ambitions of various kinds, for money, success in business, pleasure, power, knowledge,
etc.; but always these desires are limited, cramped, often made impossible
owing to your physical condition—here, when the mental desire is good, the
field is unlimited. Any mental desire for truth, knowledge, be it what it may,
can be gratified in a most astonishing manner in this world. Be it good or bad, it will bring its results, and if
the desire is bad it will grow in power and must be paid for; if good, it will
grow in power also, and will bring strength and happiness with it.
I cannot emphasize to you too much that
as you are, so you will be.
You are now, whilst on earth, making your
bodies for your next conditions. These are built up by your present lives on
the quality of your thoughts. This world, which I have
The
been in a long time now, is the closest thing imaginable to your
earth. It is full of mineral, vegetable, animal, and all forms of life. All the animals you have loved on earth and
educated to understanding, will be with you here.
Those other animals who belong to no one in particular
are here too, but they are in their own places. You will say, "Oh, then it
is only a reflection of our word." It is not that way—the earth is only a
reflection of this world. Earth is not the lasting world. It is the training
school. You are not only on earth to amass riches and enjoy life, just for what
it is; you are there to learn the truth about your own character, and how to
control and develop it, to make full use of all earth's beauties and pleasures,
but you must be master, and not allow them to master you.
As I have said, looking back on my life
here, I am satisfied with what has been done both in the personal and
individual way and the bigger way. We
spirit people have made great advances in our communications with earth. We
have been greatly and enormously helped by the physical strength of the spirits
of all the young men and women who passed over during the recent fighting all over
the world; not only English, but all. They brought with them
The
great physical power and determination, and we
have been able, through this power, to break down many of the barriers which
keep the two worlds apart.
These truths do not conform with the ideas of many people, but that is no reason for
saying they are not true. Truth is sometimes unexpected and none too pleasant,
but it is always the most powerful, and will
make itself known—no matter whether it brings pleasure or pain.
Go, each one of you, in reality or
imagination, to the edge of a high cliff overlooking the sea. Let it be a
bright, starry, frosty night, and go alone. Stand there and meditate. Look down
upon the lights of any harbored, anchored boats, and think; then look up to the
stars. You know where you are, and you are fully conscious of the flickering
and movement of the lights on the boats.
You can see them. You are only a little
way off…and perhaps you could make them hear if you called, but it would be
easier to wait till the darkness breaks when they can see you without any
effort on your part. That is how we spirit people are; conscious of those left
behind, some willing to wait, others fighting and struggling to make themselves
heard. It is only a little way from earth, and between this,
The
our spirit state and the Great Universe, there is as much
distance as between you on the cliff and the farthest star.
We are only a little way on our
journey—nothing yet forgotten. Love still remaining.
CHAPTER XIV
The Great Ultimate
CHAPTER
XIV
My life here has been a very normal,
healthy and interesting affair, just as my life on earth was. I have been
invested with no powers generally attributed to spirits and fairies, I am still
just an ordinary man with an ordinary plain, blunt outlook on life; the change
has in no way altered me. The only change there is in me is my greater ability
to move speedily and to act quickly. I am rejuvenated, and this is a condition
which becomes more marked as time goes on.
Many people who give thought to these
subjects no matter what their particular point of view may be, ask the
question, "To where is it all leading? What is to be our ultimate
state?" This is a question of extreme difficulty to deal with on account
of the limitations of the mind; both yours and ours.
I have explained to you that, as you are,
so you will be when you come here. When here you will qualify for a further
state, which will
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The
be your lot in due time, and there you will be exactly as you
have made yourself by your life here.
Better or worse, happier or more unhappy. From that you will go to a further
state, another sphere if you like, and there again you will have made your own
conditions.
In this further state you will be more
self-contained; a word I use to express a state of being less dependent upon
other people and things for development and progress. In this sphere you will
again come in contact with your whole
record. A record in full, of all former states: and from this sphere, if
your record has qualified to the point of allowing it, you will be given the
choice of returning to earth again. Reincarnating. If
your record does not qualify for choice
in this matter, you will be directed
either to return or to continue according to what the Teachers—the
Purified—consider will afford you most opportunity for recreating yourself and
cleansing yourself in the necessary way. It is from this sphere that spirits
return to earth, but by the time the most progressed spirit has reached this
state he has forgotten in detail his association with earth. I cannot give the
shortest period of time which would be necessary to reach this
The
sphere, but the sojourn in the Real World after
the
The spirits who have reached this
"Return or Stay Sphere," and are purified and qualified in
themselves, those who stand the tests and pass out as Grade I, pass to another
and altogether different and lighter land—and each becomes impersonal. Impersonal
in the sense that they are no longer Jack Brown or Madge Black; they are now
pure spirit people, and their former love, which had been a personal and
individual thing, is no longer for one but equally for all. All are alike to
all. The purest tissue of God's love binds one and all.
I have given a brief outline, sufficient
for you to form your own ideas, your own mental pictures of Creation and its
process. There would be no point in my going further into details, because if I
were to give the facts you could not understand the conditions ruling in those
advanced states. I am not able fully to understand them myself, for, as I have
said, I am only a little way on my journey, but just far enough to grasp the
intense beauty of life, and in life.
The
As one standing on a higher point than
yourselves, and able to see a little more than you see, I can best explain to
you that in these further states you receive not merely fifty, or sixty, or
even a hundred per cent out of your lives in happiness and joy but you receive
comparatively six hundred per cent. This is simply a graphic way of indicating
the degree of happiness that obtains here.
Were I able to describe all the processes
of our evolution many would say, "Oh, but I don't want that!" But
when progress has been made and intelligence brightened and Reality seen as
Reality, not as Imagination, they will want it. If I said to an old man in an
invalid chair that he could have a motor-bicycle, he'd say he preferred his
invalid-chair, but if he were to be a young, robust boy of nineteen again,
which do you suppose he'd choose? This is the underlying principle.
Do you think that this scheme of the
World is hateful and unkind and full of continual partings from all other
spirits who are dear to each individually. I have said
that there are "no} partings. It is always possible and customary for
spirits to keep in close touch with each other on this side. When the highest
states of the impersonal are reached there are no partings
The
from
dear ones; only a wider opening of that same door of love—a higher, purer love,
a Golden or God love—to admit not one or two or twenty but to embrace all.
CHAPTER XV
Christ and
Spiritualism
CHAPTER XV
Unfortunately
the word "spiritualism" has been associated with so many
misconceptions that it affords scope for misinterpretation, and for this reason
thousands of people misunderstand the word and suppose that it deals only with
forms of fortune-telling and chicanery of all kinds, and must necessarily be
wrong and dangerous—therefore the work of anti-Christ.
For this reason it is a barred subject.
Not only do these people know nothing about it, but they are so horrified at
the travesty they themselves have created that they would refuse to hear, see,
or read a word upon the subject.
To all people who have knowledge of
Spiritualism, this attitude is tiresome an
regrettable; nevertheless it exists today, and in great force.
In my concluding chapter I want to say a
few simple words on this point.
Spiritualism is not the work of
anti-Christ.
153
The
All
the teachings of Christ are to be found in the teachings of Spiritualism.
Christ taught love amongst mankind, generous thought and generous help for one
another. "Love thy neighbor as thyself," and so on. Spiritualism
teaches these same doctrines. Christ was imbued with the Divine Spirit, and He
laid down laws upon which His disciples were to model their lives and their
work, and in those laws you will find the laws which govern Spiritualism.
Because one of the disciples was a
dishonest, weak man, and because some of the workers since then, workers in the
churches of various and many creeds have been, and are to this day, weak and
sinful in their lives, you do not, any of you, think for one moment that the
whole is bad and evil. You realize that the teachings of Christ were of the
highest. Always He spoke of Love as the binding link and the force of all good.
I want you to understand, perhaps for the first time, that Spiritualism is
based upon the same foundations. All its rules are rules given by Christ
Himself. All the creeds existing upon earth are based upon these same rules.
They vary in minor points considerably. What one will allow, another will
condemn, and it is for the individual to decide which particular one of all is
most fitting to
The
himself. By his choice he will show his ability
to grasp the meaning of God's laws, and according to
his development so will he select.
The teachings of all alike are limited
but some go farther, see farther, and understand more. Just as all roads may
converge to a given point, so many creeds follow in the main the teachings of Christ.
Some by narrow little roads and byways, some by wide roads,
and some by main highways. Spiritualism is God's
THE
END