WHEN we first began to set down the joint experiences of Edwin, Ruth, and myself of our life in the spirit world, I was told that there would be some who would take exception to what I had to say upon one particular incident or another. Indeed, that was almost bound to happen among thinking people whose eye I should be fortunate enough to catch.The thoughts of many persons still upon earth have come to us here in the spirit world as a consequence of the narration of those experiences.
Some there are who have thought to themselves, and, indeed, voiced the opinion to their friends, that the descriptions I have given of the spirit world, or rather, of that part of it with which I am acquainted, are almost too good to be true. An ideal state, they would say, that is too wonderful to exist in actual fact. The picture I have painted, they would continue, is an imaginative one, and has no existence outside the imagination.
Now, that attitude of mind is not confined to the earth. People who are newly arrived in the spirit world express exactly the same opinion upon thousands of occasions. They simply cannot realize the concrete existence of all the wonders and beauties and marvels that they see around them. At least, they cannot do so at first. When they do realize it, their joy is supreme. So that, if seeing these entrancing things brings with it an initial and temporary disbelief, then it is not surprising that mere descriptions of them should engender something of a similar disbelief among people still upon earth.
But the validity of my descriptions still remains, whatever adverse opinion or disagreement may be expressed upon them. I cannot alter the truth. What Edwin, Ruth, and I have seen, millions of other folk also have seen, and are still seeing—and enjoying. We would not have one tiny fragment of these conditions altered. They are our life, and they afford us the greatest satisfaction and happiness. When the time comes for anyone of us to depart for realms higher above us in spiritual progression, we shall never for a single instant regret the period we have passed in these realms. They will always remain a fragrant and happy memory; and it will always be permissible for us to return to these realms whenever we so wish.
There is an enormous number of people throughout the entire earth that prefers to leave the whole subject of an ‘after life' alone. These people regard it as an unhealthy subject, and treat the very thought of 'death' as morbid. If such people were truly honest with themselves they would admit that such a state of mind merely increases their fear of 'death' and the 'hereafter', instead of reducing it. They believe that by sweeping the question completely from their minds they will also have dismissed the real fear that so many people have—an instinct, they would say, of self-preservation. Others who are more fortunate and who have no such fears, will divide the unseen world into two principal departments, namely a place where the wicked will go when they leave the earth, and a place where the not-so-wicked—in which category they would, perhaps, place themselves—will eventually find themselves.
The average earth-dweller has no notion what kind of place 'the next world' can possibly be, usually because he has not given much thought to the matter. How those very same people regret their indifference when they eventually arrive here in the spirit world! 'Why,' they cry, 'were we not told about this before we came here?'
Now, all this arises from the fact that the average person does not know of what he himself is composed. He knows he has a physical body, of course. There are not many who can easily forget it! But leaving the earth in the common act of 'dying' is a perfectly natural and normal process, which has been going on continuously, without intermission, for thousands upon thousands of earthly years.
Man will proudly point to the vast achievements that these passing centuries have seen. He will tell you of the world-shaking discoveries he has made, and remind you of the countless inventions for the greater happiness and well-being of man on earth. He will tell you how 'civilised' he has become by comparison with his ancestors of medieval times. He will tell you that he has exact knowledge of this or that, and that many years and vast sums of money have been spent in acquiring that knowledge. But officially, man has neglected the most important study of all—the study of himself, and, arising from it, the study of his ultimate destination when, after his very, very brief span of life on earth, the time comes for him to leave it at 'death' and to journey forth—where?
It is commonly understood that man is composed of body, soul, and spirit. The physical body he is fairly conversant with, but what of the soul and spirit? Of these two man knows little indeed. What he does not realize is that he is a spirit, first, last, and always. The physical body is merely a vehicle for his spirit body upon his journey through his earthly life.
The mind belongs to the spirit body. Every human experience, every thought, word, and deed, that go to make up the sum of earthly human experience is infallibly and ineradicably recorded upon what is called the subconscious mind through the agency of the physical brain, and when the time comes for man to leave the earth, he discards the physical body for ever, leaves it behind him upon the earth, and passes into the realms of the spirit world. His spirit body he will find is a counterpart of the earthly body he has just left behind him. He will then find that what he called the subconscious mind when he was incarnate has now assumed its rightful place in his new scheme of existence. And it is not long before it begins to show its particular attributes to its owner. By its principal ability of ineffaceable and infallible recording, this mind reveals itself as a complete and perfect chronicle of its owner's life upon earth. The revelations, therefore, that are attendant upon the person newly arrived in the spirit world can be sufficiently startling.
It is customary among certain minds of the earth to regard the spirit world and its inhabitants as vague and shadowy, extremely unsubstantial and speculative. These same minds regard the dwellers in spirit lands as a class of sub-human beings who are immeasurably worse off than themselves simply because they are 'dead'. To be upon earth is normal, sound, and healthy, and infinitely to be preferred. To be 'dead' is unfortunate—but, of course, inevitable—very unhealthy, and anything but normal. The 'dead' are much to be pitied because they are not alive on earth. This line of thought tends to place an undue importance upon the earthly life and upon the physical body of man. It is as though it were only at the point of 'death' that man takes upon himself any spiritual nature, whereas, in truth, that spiritual nature has been present within him since the moment of his drawing his first breath upon earth.
The whole process of leaving the earth—of dying—is a perfectly natural one. It is merely the operation of a natural law. But for thousands of years the generality of people have lived in entire ignorance of the truth of 'dying' and of the 'hereafter'. And in this, as in so many cases, ignorance, or lack of knowledge, means fear. It is fear of the future following upon 'death' that has surrounded the act of transition with so many mournful and morbid solemnities and doleful trappings.
Sorrow is but natural in human hearts at the parting of loved ones and in their removal from physical sight, but sorrow is aggravated and increased by the lack of knowledge of what precisely has taken place. Orthodox religion is largely responsible for this state of affairs. The one who is mourned has gone to an unknown land where, presumably, an omnipotent God reigns supreme, ready to mete out judgment to all who enter that world. It behoves us, therefore, orthodoxy would urge in effect, that we should do all that we can to placate this Great Judge, that He may deal mercifully with our departed brother. Such a situation, it would be further urged, is no time for anything but the gravest demeanour, the most solemn behaviour.
And how does the departed soul view all these adjuncts of ‘death?’ Sometimes with disgust, sometimes with amazement at their stupidity, sometimes, and especially with those whose sense of humour is well-developed, with undisguised mirth!
And what of all the paraphernalia of ‘death’? Has it availed the departed soul anything? No, nothing. Black garments, drawn blinds, ponderous solemnity, hushed voices, and countenances of exaggerated gloom are utterly worthless to help the soul upon its way. Indeed, the reverse can, in many cases, be the result. But of that I will speak to you later. For the moment I wish to show you that ‘dying’ is the operation of a simple and natural law; that it is healthy and normal to consider the subject, and discuss it, and find out all about it.
Surely the greatest stimulus to enquiry should be occasioned by the thought that every single soul born upon earth must, at some time or another, face the death of his physical body. Let us begin, then, by briefly sketching the operation of physical death.
The spirit body exactly coincides with the physical body, and during waking hours the two are inseparable. When sleep takes place the spirit body withdraws from the physical body, but the former is attached to the latter by a magnetic cord. I call it a magnetic cord for want of a better name. It is a veritable life line. Its elasticity is enormous, since the spirit body can travel either throughout the earth during sleeping hours, or throughout the spirit world subject to special conditions and limitations. However vast the distance between the sleeping physical body and the temporarily released spirit body, the magnetic cord can span the distance easily and perfectly and without any diminution of its active agency, which is to sustain life in the earthly body. The life line will, as its length increases, become exceedingly fine and almost hair-like in appearance.
Just so long as the magnetic cord is joined to the earthly body, just so long will earthly life remain in the physical body. But the moment that dissolution takes place the life-line is severed, the spirit is free to live in its own element, while the physical body will decay in the manner which is perfectly familiar to you upon earth.
The death of the physical body, then, is simply the severance of the magnetic cord, and as far as the physical body is concerned it is closely akin to ordinary sleep. There does not seem anything very dreadful about this straightforward process if a little thought is given to it.
I have already spoken to you concerning my own passage to this world of the spirit. It was easy and comfortable, and I was certainly not aware of any distress when the actual moment arrived for the magnetic cord to break from my physical body. As far as I was concerned there was no shock or struggle, no unpleasant circumstances of any description.
Since my own advent into spirit lands, I have talked with many friends upon this matter, and not one of them was aware by any internal or external incident that their magnetic cord had parted from their physical bodies. In this respect the actual process of dissolution is painless. Whatever suffering is endured by the person whose transition is imminent, is purely physical. That is to say, it is the cause of physical death, from disease, for example, or accident, that may bring pain and not the actual death itself. If doctors can relieve the pain, and there is no reason why in all cases they should not, then the whole course of dissolution would be entirely painless. Why should the severance of the magnetic cord be a painful operation? If it were, it would surely suggest that there were some fault in the heavenly scheme of things. But there is no fault, and 'death' is painless.
And now, what happens next? Just this: the person who has just passed into spirit lands goes to his own self-appointed place.
At the very outset, this would seem to suggest that I have overlooked what is known as ‘judgment’, where every man shall be judged according to his merits and rewarded or condemned— received into heaven, or sent to hell.
No, I have not overlooked it, because there is no such thing as being judged at any time, either by the Father of the Universe or by any single soul that lives in the spirit world. There is no Judgment Day.
Man, himself, is his own judge. His thoughts, his words, and his deeds, registered upon his mind, are his only judge, and according to how his earthly life has been lived, so will his place be in these lands of the spirit world. This is another natural law, and like all the laws of the spirit world, perfect in its operation. It requires no interpreters of it, no exponents of it. It is self-acting and incorruptible, and, what is most important, it is impartial and infallible.
The old idea of a Recording Angel, whose especial function is to inscribe in a great book all our good deeds and all our bad deeds, is poetic enough, but completely wrong. We do our own recording for ourselves, and this is one instance at least when we speak truly! We cannot hide our bad deeds, but, also, we cannot conceal our good deeds. I am using the word deeds in a general sense.
What really counts in our earthly lives is the motive behind our deeds. Our motives may be of the highest, but the actual deed may have a poor external appearance. And the reverse is equally true. For example, a man may give vast sums of money for some charitable purpose with the sole thought of personal publicity and self-aggrandizement. While the gift itself may do great good to those upon whom it is bestowed, the motive behind the gift will not be to the giver's spiritual advantage. But if this same donor were to perform a small service to another person in difficulty or similar circumstances, all unwitnessed by a third party, and with the sole intention of helping a fellow mortal in distress, such unobtrusive and stealthy service brings a rich reward to him who performs it. It is motive, always, that counts.
The richest services are most often those that are performed without a fanfare of trumpets. So many of us here in the spirit world are surprised when we discover that some small service that we have done—and immediately afterwards forgotten—has helped us in our spiritual progression to an extent that we should scarcely have thought possible. But here we see things in their proper light, that is, in their true light, because they are registered within ourselves in their true light.
So you see, we need no one to condemn us. No one could condemn us more strictly, more exactly, more truly and efficiently than we do ourselves. When we come to the spirit world at our dissolution we thus find ourselves in the precise environment for which we have fitted ourselves. That environment may be one of darkness or of light, or it may be one of gloomy greyness. But wherever it may be, we have ourselves to thank, or blame for it.
But, you will naturally ask, having in mind certain orthodox religious teachings on the subject, are those who dwell in greyness or darkness confined to those regions for all eternity? No, no! Never for all eternity. They will remain there for just so long as they wish. Indeed, some of them have lived in the dark realms for thousands of years, but thousands of years is not eternity, although it may seem like it sometimes to some of the inhabitants of those regions. But every soul so situated in darkness is free to terminate his sojourn there whenever he sees fit. The choice rests with himself.
If the denizens of the darker regions show no aptitude towards spiritual progression and so lifting themselves out of the darkness, then they will remain where they are. No one forces them to stay there. They themselves elect to do so.
The instant that one of the unhappy inhabitants shows the most minute tendency to lift himself out of the sad conditions of those dark realms, such tendency becomes a wish that others higher up can see, and every help is given to that soul to place his feet firmly and strongly upon the upward path of progression. That pathway may be steep and difficult, but neither so steep nor difficult but that someone cannot help him to surmount all the obstacles upon the way. This is spiritual progression in the fullest sense of the word. It is open to all.
We in this beautiful realm of light are all working for our spiritual advancement. It is not restricted to those who live in the dark regions. The people who inhabit the magnificent spheres above this wherein I dwell, are all moving forward and upward in their triumphant progressional march. It never ceases, and spiritual progress is the birthright of every single soul.
The whole crude conception of being damned for all eternity arises from a totally wrong conception of the Father of the Universe, a grotesque conception that has found its supporters throughout the centuries, and that has, in consequence, put fear into the hearts of mankind. It is a man-made belief without the slightest foundation in fact. And it is not long before a newcomer to the spirit world finds out that the whole idea of eternal damnation is an utterly impossible one.
And now, here is something that Edwin, Ruth, and I discovered early in our joint endeavours. When newly-arrived persons, who obviously could never qualify for eternal damnation, are told that such a thing does not, never did, or ever will exist, they exhibit an immensely strong sense of relief. They usually explain that this feeling of relief is not, as it were, on their own behalf, but partly on behalf of all those others less fortunate than themselves, and partly from the far-reaching possibilities and prospects that this absence of eternal damnation suggests to their minds.
They see at once that the whole spirit world lies before them in equal right with their fellow human beings, and that the God of whom they were always rather frightened when on earth is a Father of unlimited and illimitable benevolence, and One, moreover, who could never breathe vengeance upon any one of His children. That in itself is an illuminating discovery which is of great service to the newcomer to spirit lands, since it at once opens his mind to the truth.
A moment ago I told you that the person who has just passed into the spirit world goes to his own self-appointed place, but you hear of individuals, who are new arrivals, wandering about aimlessly, apparently lost, and who do not seem to know what has befallen them. Can it be that they do not know that they have passed on?
Such is the state of spiritual enlightenment of the earth that in many cases these folk are completely unaware that they have ‘died’. That means simply that they have never ceased to live; there has been an unbroken continuity of life for them, as indeed there is for all of us. This situation frequently arises among people who pass into the spirit world suddenly and perhaps without warning. Their lack of knowledge of conditions existing in the spirit world produces this state of bewilderment, and if there is added to that ignorance also the fact that, during their earthly life, they never gave any heed to a future life in the spirit world, then their situation becomes a doubly unhappy one. But there is in the spirit world a vast organization of all its immense resources, and it must not be thought that these bewildered souls are left to shift for themselves. They are soon taken in hand by others long resident in spirit lands—as you judge time—who devote their spirit lives to such work. Edwin, Ruth and I have for years been engaged upon this identical work, so that I can speak from particular experience.
Our task is often a difficult one because it is not always easy for the soul to grasp what has happened. The mental equipment of the individual may cause a reluctance to accept the truth. On the other hand, those who are mentally alert will soon see for themselves the exact situation.
If only knowledge of the laws and conditions of spirit life were universally diffused throughout the earth world, what a wealth of difference it would make to each soul as he came to reside in these lands.
Was anyone ever so ill-equipped for a journey as is the average person for the journey into these spirit lands?
It is a journey that all must take, and how many even bother to think about it during their earthly life?
This voyage is inevitable, without failure, but so many thousands of people are perfectly content to dismiss from their minds all thought of it until the times comes to take it. Many have no chance even at the last moment to think about it, so sudden is their transition.
How many people living on earth would be foolish enough to undertake a journey with their eyes blindfolded, not knowing how far they were travelling, or whence, or to what conditions of living? Yet so many are willing to embark upon the first great voyage of their lives in absolute ignorance of all these factors. We in the spirit world are constantly seeing these bewildered souls arriving, and we do our best for them. We have then no need to chide them, for they are the first to blame themselves. And as often as not, they do so in good round terms!
I think if one were asked what was the most common mental state in which the majority of people arrive in the spirit world, I should be disposed to reply from a fairly extensive experience, that they arrive in a state of bewilderment and complete ignorance of the fact that they have passed from the earth world.
Speaking for myself, I was more fortunate than a great many, for I did know what was happening from my slight acquaintance with psychic matters. Even slender knowledge is of help in such cases, and I was glad of it then.
Relatives and friends, who have passed on before us, can help in such extremities, and they frequently do so. But some mutual interest must exist first, even if it does not reach to the state of affectionate regard. Affection is the great linking force in the spirit world. Without it a gulf comes between people. If you have never given a thought while you are on earth to those who have passed into the spirit world before you, or otherwise shown any friendly interest in your ‘deceased’ family and friends, there is not much incentive or encouragement for such relatives and friends to display any concern on your behalf. Mutual interest, affection, or regard provide the active living link between individuals. Without them a gulf develops, and each and all of the parties will become detached and wander away to other interests and attachments.
The circumstances in which a person can pass into the spirit world vary so enormously with individual cases that it would be next to impossible to describe all of them to you. It would take volumes to do so. I can only, therefore, speak to you in general terms. These circumstances vary not only from the personal point of view, but the very state of life upon earth will help to diversify the actual transitions.
In ancient days great plagues would send thousands of souls into spirit lands in most distressing conditions. In modern times one has no need to point to the devastating wars that cast people loose into the spirit world with shocking suddenness. In many cases such sudden dissolution is a great shock to the spirit body undergoing it. But here again the spirit world has risen to every contingency. Homes of rest exist here especially for the treatment of people who have undergone a sudden transition.
The shock which is sustained is not exactly the same as would be the case of a shock merely to the physical body, though it is nearly enough like it for your understanding. But the results can be entirely dissimilar. In the rest homes of the spirit world a cure is certain to be brought about without any possibility of doubt, and upon full recovery the victim of the shock is not one whit the worse for the experience. The memory of it remains, though only perhaps dimly, without any recurring reactions upon the mind of an unpleasant nature. And there are no resulting fears implanted in the mind such as would be the case with the physical body.
Many people have passed into the spirit world in what the earth would call a dreadful manner—and dreadful it might be in earthly eyes—yet when they have come to tell me about their rapid transition, their 'sudden death', they have treated the whole episode with a light heart, and often are perfectly ready to joke about the matter. Indeed, I have heard friends remark that they entered the spirit world in a most undignified manner! And that, I think, demonstrates the precise difference in the way in which 'death' is regarded by us here in the spirit world and by you still upon earth. Here we view things in their proper perspective, while ignorance has distorted things so much upon earth. The 'death' of the physical body is a tragedy to the earth world. To the spirit world it is the operation of a natural law unattended by any mournful solemnities. While the physical body is being consigned to its earthly abode accompanied by all the ceremonial trappings and dismal black habiliments of minister and mourners, the spirit body containing the real and everlasting substance of personality has gone to its proper abode in the spirit world.
In these realms we receive our friends amid great rejoicings. Another friend has come to join us. We wear no black, we do not recite long gloomy prayers or perform harrowing ceremonies. Nor do we have a reception committee of 'angels', as many people are disposed to imagine is, or ought to be, the case. We merely behave in a normal rational human manner as one would expect from normal rational human beings. We are not pontifically welcomed among the 'elect'. We are not made free citizens of these realms because we have been 'saved' through believing in some strange, obscure theological creed. We are not here because we have been ‘redeemed' through the offices of another. We are here solely because we have, by our lives on earth or by our progress in the spirit world, earned the right to call ourselves citizens of these realms. We are here because no one can keep us out! Once we have the right to be here, no one can gainsay that right, no one can dispute it, no one would dispute it even if he could.
Many people here regard their advent into spirit lands as their second birth, and they keep up the celebration of the second birthday with a deal more vigour than they ever did their birthday on earth.
In speaking of the magnetic cord, I mentioned that during sleep the spirit body sometimes visits other places either on earth or in the spirit world. It is not everyone, however, that travels during sleeping hours. It depends entirely upon individual circumstances. When no visiting takes place the spirit body is content merely to linger in the vicinity of the sleeping physical body until such time as the resting period is ended. With some people a desire to visit other parts of the earth is 'uppermost’ in the mind of the sleeper. The reason for doing so will vary according to his tastes or circumstances.
Visits to the spirit world are frequently made for some more important purpose, because there is so much useful work that can be done upon such visits.
These visits are usually made by people who are conversant with spirit truths, and who are eager to add to their knowledge. While these visitations are in progress they can meet and converse with such of their relatives and friends who have passed into spirit lands before them. Old relationships are renewed; indeed, it would be more accurate to say that they are continued since they have not been interrupted. The visitor can gain useful help and guidance upon his earthly affairs from people who, from their superior position in the spirit world, are able to offer assistance.
How often have you heard people on earth remark that they will 'sleep on it' when they are confronted with some problem that needs solution? Invariably the morning brings to their problem the answer that they have sought. And in the great majority of cases the solution has been afforded them after they have held a consultation with their friends in the spirit world during their sleeping hours. Most people have some problem or another that is upon their minds, but not all of them come here during sleep for guidance in material matters.
Hundreds of individuals, who are in active communication with the spirit world, come to us here when they retire to rest upon earth, and with their knowledge of the laws of the spirit world they can give us material help of no small consideration in a variety of ways. They become temporarily one of our community of friends, enjoy the delights of these realms, enter into our affairs as one of us— as they will be permanently one day—work with us, indulge in our recreations, and so forward their own spiritual progression in a score of different ways.
Imagine the rejoicing when regular visitors to our realms at length come to take up their permanent abode with us. The information and knowledge that they have been accumulating during the years, but which, during their waking hours on earth, they will scarcely recollect, will now take their place in their minds and memories as useful experiences. These experiences will establish the continuity of their existence since their birth on earth, instead of transplanting them into the spirit world with the feeling that they must start life anew.
Many souls who are mourning those who have passed into the spirit world, leaving sad hearts behind them, can bring comfort and consolation to themselves even if only in a limited degree, by nightly visitations and meetings in the spirit world with those whom they mourn. Many a soul so afflicted has arisen from his bed in the morning with an unaccountable feeling that comfort has come to him in some mysterious fashion. This means of lessening the distress of separation is but another instance of the perfection of the dispensation that is the very foundation upon which the whole spirit world is built and upheld.
But such means of consolation is only a by-product, if one can so term it, of that larger knowledge of spirit truths. It is only a very limited means to an end, since it merely provides a rather unsubstantial antidote to acute sorrow and sadness. While it will reduce both the sorrow and the sadness it does not provide the certain knowledge that all is well with the one who is being mourned. Active communication will alone provide that, and it is infinitely to be preferred to any presentiments in the matter.
The spirit world disapproves of mourning in every shape and form. Genuine, heartfelt sorrow is a human emotion that none of us is secure from, but so much mourning is spurious. Here we can see just what is taking place in the minds of the mourners. Mourning as a rule is utterly selfish, because people are not sorry for the soul who has passed on except in so far as it is thought that he is now infinitely worse off 'dead'. The great majority of people are sorry for themselves at the physical separation, not happy and glad that their friend has gone to a greater, grander, more beautiful life. Of course, I am now speaking of those who are destined for the realms of light. With those whose destination here is in the realms of darkness we are not treating at the moment.
Even where the sorrow is perfectly genuine and inspired by true affection, every effort should be made to curb it. The soul newly arrived in spirit lands will feel the determined drag of the thoughts of those who are left behind, unless those thoughts are constructive thoughts for the present and future well-being of the friend who has gone.
Thoughts of the wrong kind will draw the soul back like a magnet and prevent it from making a steady and natural transition into its proper sphere. It is no exaggeration to say that it would be immeasurably better, things being what they are upon earth, if mourners on earth were to pass into a complete state of physical insensibility for some days after the passing of a friend into the spirit world. There would then be no danger of the thoughts of others circumscribing the actions of the newly-departed soul.
The strong attachment to the physical body that exists in the minds of so many people would be largely broken down if those same people were to become fully acquainted with spirit truths.
Our friends who are in communication with us and who have knowledge of the facts of life in the spirit world, have given to the physical body its proper position in relation to their life on earth and their life after in the spirit world. They know that their physical body is a vehicle for their spirit body while upon earth. When the time comes for them to leave the earth world, and with it their earthly body, the latter is treated as something that is for ever done with. It has become utterly useless to them. It has been cast off, and our friends are never sorry to cast it off! What then becomes of it they are not the least bit concerned. They have no reverence for it. But so many people enshroud this cast-off body with a holy solemnity to which it is not entitled. The 'dead', it would be asserted, should have a proper respect paid to them; the ‘dead' body should be similarly respected.
Let us put the matter in another light. Who is there upon earth who has any deep respect and reverence for some old, useless, worn-out, shabby garment? It is finished and done with. Away with it, and let us see no more of it. In the spirit world we have a new garment, fresh and lovely; it fits us perfectly, and it seems to our eyes faultless in form, color and mode. It suits us now as no other garment possibly could. We have fashioned it ourselves from imperishable material and by comparison with it our earthly garment was dull, drab, and dreary in color, coarse in texture, ill-fitting, perhaps, in places, and although it served its purpose among surroundings that comported with it, we have now something infinitely better. In some such words would we describe our spirit attitude to the physical body that is 'dead'.
Old customs and old traditions, though they may be themselves worthless, take a deal of killing. It has become the custom to surround the disposal of the physical body after 'death' with melancholy rites, begotten of the general disposition of regarding transition, from the earthly point of view, as a major disaster. But there are other and greater reasons for wishing that 'funeral rites' were either considerably modified or entirely abolished in their present form upon earth.
From the moment of passing until the physical body is finally committed to the earth, and frequently for some time afterwards, the thoughts of the mourners are concentrated in sorrow upon the departed one. The various performances that comprise the 'last rites' add force to this sorrow, enhance it, and give it greater directive power. Where this feeling of sorrow is genuine it will unfailingly reach the recently departed soul.
The spirit body may take some days of your time before it becomes completely separated from the earthly body, and it may be hindered very much by the combined thoughts of the sorrowers who are participants in the dismal rites. Instead of departing from the earthly sphere, the discarnate one will be attracted to the scene of obsequial activities, and more than likely will be saddened himself by what he is witnessing and by the sorrow of those he has left behind. He will feel a heavy weight within him of the separation that has come about, and perhaps being ignorant of what has befallen him, he will be doubly distressed, and even trebly distressed by the fact that he speaks to his friends but they cannot hear him. And how great a difference a little knowledge would make!
What we in the spirit world, who are actively associated with newly-arrived people, would like to see, is the complete abolition of all attendance at burial grounds and similar places of all relatives and friends, leaving the physical body to be disposed of in a hygienic manner by those who are properly constituted to do so, and entirely unattended by anyone else. If it is felt that a religious service is right and becoming, by all means let there be one, but wholly purged of all erroneous doctrines and beliefs concerning the afterlife. No gloomy dwelling upon inappropriate themes from the minds of writers of hundreds of years ago. Dies irae, dies illa has most emphatically no place in the spirit world, and still less has the outrageous idea, embodied in the customary prayers, of asking for 'eternal rest' to be granted to the departed soul. We shudder at the very thought of what our state in the spirit world would be in if the prayers of others had been granted! The very thought of doing positively nothing but 'rest' for all eternity fills us all with horror at such a 'soul-destroying' prospect. If it were possible to destroy the soul, one would be disposed to imagine that this would be the quickest and easiest way of doing it!
Let there be prayers for the departed one, by all means, but let them be free from all suggestion of gloom and doom. The minds of those present want to be elevated, not depressed, and nothing could be more depressing than the calamitous forebodings that are voiced in so many of the prayers on these occasions.
The departed one has not gone to another world to be marched in front of a stern Judge, a Judge, moreover, not so stern and unrelenting but that our lamentations will not bring some mitigation in the sentence to be pronounced. Indeed, the prayers should be brief and very much to the point. And here I can again speak from particular personal experience.
Let the prayers be addressed to the Father of us all, that help may be sent to the soul who has passed on, and that the Father will also aid those who are offering their ministrations to the newly-arrived one. We need divine assistance in our work just as do you upon earth, and often are our powers taxed to their utmost when we come to aid those who are making their advent into spirit lands as permanent residents. Long recitations from the psalmists, however beautiful may be their theme, are perfectly useless to us and to the newcomer we are helping. They produce no effect whatever upon the endeavors we are making.
A short prayer, efficiently directed, asking for help, will bring an instantaneous answer. That response will be invisible to you on earth, but to us here it means a downpouring of light and power that we most need for the case in hand. Pray that the soul may soon receive the light of understanding of the new situation in which he finds himself, if he is entirely ignorant of spirit truths, and that he may be happy and contented in the life upon which he has just embarked.
We have found by experience that where prayers are offered such as I have suggested in bare outline to you, we are enabled to carry on our work in the easiest, most effective, and most straightforward fashion.
It may be objected that on such occasions it is next to impossible to be anything but utterly downcast, and that prayers, to a certain extent, must be in the same minor key; that anything approaching lightness of heart is out of the question, not only from the situation itself, but in respect for the feelings of others. There is a very simple remedy for this: a knowledge of spirit truths.
Consider the matter thus. In most cases the mourners are lamenting the departure of someone for a destination that is unknown to them—and, they would say, that is unknowable. They are a little frightened, not necessarily for their departed friend, but for themselves when their own time should come, because, by what they are witnessing, they are forcibly reminded of what inevitably lies before them and before all men. Unfortunately their knowledge is limited strictly to the fact of the death of the physical body. After that has taken place, what happens? They know not—and it scarcely bears thinking about, because that sort of thing is unhealthy and morbid. But the fear remains just the same, so that in the very presence of 'death' they are apprehensive. And being apprehensive, they have no time for being anything else. The mournful obsequies are therefore completely in tune with their present emotion. They feel solemn, and diffident, and somewhat cowed, but they have the great consolation of knowing that they are alive while their friend is 'dead'.