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This is from a book called the Blue Island published shortly after
the Titanic sank. It is in the public domain, and claims to be channeled
from one of the victims of that event.
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 Oxford don, and also by an Indian
peasant, 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 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. A. Conan Doyle. Crowborough, Sussex, England.
September 1922.
Preface
When in April 1912 the {Titanic} sank in mid-ocean and my father passed
on to the next world, l 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.
A fortnight after the disaster I saw my father's face and heard his
voice just as distinctly as l 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 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, 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.
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.
Father's foreword explains his object in writing this book, so there is
no need to dwell 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
Crewe Circle at Crewe in the autumn of 1915. ln the spring of that year, I
had met Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton at the house of a mutual friend in
Glasgow, and they very kindly invited me to call and see them in Crewe if
I should ever have an opportunity to do so.
Soon after my return to London father asked me to arrange to go to
Crewe, as he said he wanted to try to give us his picture on the same
plate with mine. Accordingly I arranged to spend a week-end with some
friends at Crewe and have some sittings with Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton.
I bought a box of plates in London and took them with me, and I can
truthfully say that, that box of plates never left my sight or my
possession all the time I was there. I even slept with the box clasped
tightly in my 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 Crewe, and took both boxes with
me to the sitting on the Sunday. We did not use my first box at all at
this sitting, and I kept it all the while just inside my dress.
We sat around the table, putting our hands over and under the second
box for a few minutes; I then held the box for a minute against Mrs.
Buxton's forehead.
After this I was instructed by Mr. Hope,s guide to take the box myself
into the dark room (note the box had not been unsealed or the plates
exposed to the light). When in the dark room, I was to unseal the box and
take out the two bottom plates, taking particular care to note which was
the bottom plate, and then to develop both plates. Mr. Hope was to come in
with me, but not to touch box or plates.
I carried out instructions. I found the bottom plate not even fogged,
and on the other plate two messages, one from Archdeacon Colley, 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 intrest many, and if it awakens some to a truer realization of what
is to come, and makes them seek for further definite proofs to themselves,
then the three chiefly concerned in giving these messages to the public -
my father, Mr. Woodman and myself - will be amply satisied.
Estelle W. Stead
September 1922
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 of 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 England in the {Titanic}, and they
only exchanged two or three words.
Therefore, Mr. Woodman never knew my father personally nor has he come
into touch with his writings or with his work in any way, and yet the
wording and the phrasing of the messages are my father's, and even the
manner of writing is typical of him.
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 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, 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.
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 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.
THE BLUE ISLAND
Communicated By W.T. Stead,
through the hand of Estell Stead
Experience of a New Arrival Beyond the Veil
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 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.
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
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
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 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 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.
The Blue Island
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
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 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
England it would be difficult to say what the impression of coloring is,
but I suppose it would be considered grey-green. Here there was no
uncertainty about the impression; it is undoubtedly a blue which
predominated. A light shade of blue. I do not mean the people, trees,
houses, etc., were all {Blue}; but the general impression was that of a
{blue land.}
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 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. 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 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. 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. --- ? RNet
1.07R:ILink:After Five BBS * Elkhart,IN * (219) 262-1370
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 . . . 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 seemed 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.
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 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 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 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.
(everything in TILDES was originally in ITALICS)
Life on the Island 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 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 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 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 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 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 {blue Island.}
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 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 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 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 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.
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 amy
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
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 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 more bitter than the
consciousness that others know it.
Think upon this and reason a little with your own inner self.
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 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 {Blue Island} had
been a regular haunting-place of mine ever since my father had told me of
it, together with the works of the other buildings. I went to this house a
great deal, and received much help from the various people 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 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. Ever time I failed 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.
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
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.
Reality of Though Communication CHAPTER VIII
In trying to establish a definite form of communication between the
earth sphere and the Blue Island, people are always looking for the return
of the physical part of the individual. They find it exceedingly difficult
to accept even the most pressing mental tests as being proof of
communication; and in giving so much attention to this physical form, they
nearly overlook the form of thought communication, which is much more
personal and very much less tainted by outside influence, such as the
medium's mind, or other sitters . . . antagonism, or bias either way.
This thought communication is a much more real form than is accepted by
the majority of believers in the possibility of it.
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, 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 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 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 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
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
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.
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
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 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.}
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 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 Blue
School. We are free to go amongst the other spheres. The hands where many
or several - or none - of our own people are. We can go to them, and we
can take help from those more developed, and give help to those less
fortunate. Help by advice, help by demonstration, and help by association.
We are still living on the Blue Island; not yet do we pass to the next
sphere for domicile.
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 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 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, 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.
The State Of Freedom 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. 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 Blue Island I studied, as all do, the secrets of self and
of life, and I came to realize the vastness of Creation. It is not life on
earth and then life on this island only. As progress is made and earth's
inclinations and habits are put aside, so other interests take their
place, and then comes the desire for true knowledge. As other do and will
do, so did I. I fell into line also, and as I learned so I progressed.
Capacity for wisdom grew with the wisdom acquired.
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 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 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 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.
(again, words in brackets were italicized)
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 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 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.
Residence CHAPTER XII
I come now to the last days on the Blue Island and the taking up of our
residence on the next and far more permanent world. The Blue Island is a
transient life; a land for acclimatizing the newcomer, and as soon as he's
fit he passes from it to what I might term the Real World, inasmuch as
each one will be much longer on it than any has yet been on earth.
We can at will return to the Blue Island, and many do so frequently,
both to meet newly arrived friends and associates, and to help any person
or group with whom we are in sympathy. These are only visits, and we do
not ever again return there to live.
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 of flying, moving rapidly through the air;
then we came to our new home.
After the color and generally striking appearance of the {Blue Island},
this new land appeared less attractive at the outset. It was more toneless
in color, the people more engrossed in their regular routine. It seemed as
if we had returned to earth life again, it was so like. I thing, on
arrival here, we must all have been attracted to different parts of this
land, for my own seemed strikingly like parts I had known on earth, and
there were also buildings I knew. Other people have told me the same, so
I am confident that according to our race and degree of development so we
are automatically attracted to different parts of this new world.
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 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
re-qualify 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 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.
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 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 Blue Island. Any habit or hobby formed on earth can be
indulged in here, always providing it is progressive.
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 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 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.}
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 Blue Island, had any desire to
return to the earth for habitation.
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.
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 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 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 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, 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.}
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 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 re-creating 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 sphere, but the sojourn in the
Real World after the Blue Island is a much longer period than that of
mortal life; and in each sphere as progress is made the sojourn is
{longer}.
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.
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. l 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 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.
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. 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 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 Main Highway.}
THE END