XII
PHILOSOPHERS' FOLLY
‘WOULD you, Roger, describe these realms of the spirit world as a dreary imitation of the earth?” I asked our young friend
‘Good gracious, no. Whoever said they were?’
‘The particular gentleman I have in mind, though not the only one of his kind, lives on earth, and is regarded by his friends, and one or two people who make money out of him, as a philosopher. The truth is that he knows a little about something and never hesitates to say a great deal about everything. His friends and admirers naturally consider him a perfect oracle, and pause upon his every word—I believe that is the expression. He is always ready with pontifical declarations upon every subject on earth. Sooner or later a subject not on earth is bound to crop up. Somebody will ask him if he believes in a “hereafter”, and if so, what manner of place does he think it to be. That is the moment when the trouble begins.
‘The great philosopher—and there are many whose title is accorded them upon the flimsiest grounds—knows nothing about the matter whatever, but that is no hindrance, and so he refers to literature dealing with the subject which he has never read, but has only heard about very sketchily. One of his most fatuous utterances is embodied in the question I put to you a moment ago: that the spirit world is a dreary imitation of the earth, which in his estimation, is a vastly superior place in which to live.
‘Another objection which he raises concerns the quality and substance of the spiritual teachings that are sent to the earth from time to time.
‘Do you remember that scriptural text, Roger, about loving one another? Good sound stuff that, eh?’
‘Oh, yes. I heard sermons on the text, sometimes, when went to church.’
‘Which, I believe, was not very often. I’m referring to the church-going, not to the sermons on the text.’
Roger and Ruth both laughed. Our wit and humor may not be of a high, scintillating order, but then, it is not meant to be. Among ourselves we utter the same kind of pleasantries such as would be, and are, customary among friends in their own domestic circles on earth. And, I would have you know, we like to have our domestic circles here in these lands of the spirit world. We prefer to retain our mild jokes, however small they may be judged to be. Humour is the essence of this life. We take pleasure in making our friends and companions smile, as we ourselves are pleasured at their sallies. In other words we are human, despite earthly ideas to the contrary. Doubtless much of what I am here setting down for you will be regarded as trivial rubbish. At least there is this to be said for it: it is not nearly as trivial or such rubbish as most of the grandiose utterances of earthly philosophers when they give their opinions of the spirit world and of us who live in it. What those same gentry think about affairs when they themselves come to live here, is another thing altogether.
‘Now, Roger; when you heard those sermons on brotherly love, you thought it was good sound teaching, and beyond dispute, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, certainly.’
‘And you were right. The original precept came from a man who knew what he was talking about. And our great philosopher would have been in complete agreement with the preacher in this case, that brotherly love is essential, and so on. It is essential, and spirit teachers have “harped upon that theme” time out of mind, and they will continue to do so, as long as there is an earth world to speak to. But what do you suppose is the comment upon such spirit world teachings when considered by at least one of these renowned philosophic gentlemen?’
‘I’ve no notion.’
‘It’s this: “frowzy religious uplift”. Elegant, isn’t it? Can’t you observe the stupendous mind at work? The parson preaches brotherly love to him from his pulpit, and he is suitably impressed and in full agreement. The spirit teacher tells him about it, and it becomes frowzy uplift.’
‘Monsignor feels rather keenly on the subject, Roger,’ observed Ruth, ‘as we all do here, because sooner or later one of these gentlemen is bound to come our way, and that means hard work, and very tedious work for whoever is deputed to look after him.’
‘You see, Roger, the trouble is not alone with these gentry themselves. Their pernicious views are read and absorbed by their rather tattered following, and treated as profound truths, so that if nothing intervenes in the meantime to make them alter their opinions, there will be others arriving here in a similar state of ignorance.
‘In other words,’ said Roger, ‘the mistakes of the earth have to be put right here.’
‘That’s exactly it. In your own case, it was an absolute holiday for Ruth and me. What so complicates individual instances is where the new arrival knows nothing about this life, but has wrong ideas about it. You knew nothing, and fortunately had no ideas at all. I don’t say that in derogation—you know that, my dear fellow. What you did have was a dear mind, free of all silly notions—even to the extent of harps and wings.
‘One of the most senseless charges brought by these learned gentry is that all the communicators from the spirit world are English, so that, in effect, the spirit world is wholly English, to the total exclusion of all other nations.’
‘People of other countries might say the same.’
‘Exactly. The Frenchman, for instance, might say that the whole spirit world seems to be French because in France all the spirit communicators are French. The very same thing could be said throughout the whole earth world. Can you imagine what would happen if a company of these highly intelligent and skeptical philosophers were to meet, one from every nation? They would each be in somewhat of a difficulty, for each would wish to establish his country’s claims upon patriotic grounds, so to speak, but at the same time would lodge the complaint that the spirit world seemed to belong to his country alone. The proceedings would possibly have that familiar appearance to be observed in international conferences for the preservation of peace.’
‘I suppose people of other nations die in the same way that we’ve done.’
‘You suppose very rightly, my boy. A statement of the obvious, but not so obvious that our philosophic sages are able to perceive it.’
‘Is this part of the spirit world English, then?’
‘What would you think purely from appearances?’
‘I should say, subject to the differences between this world and the earth, that there is a most decided leaning towards the old home landscape.’
‘There is; and the houses bear a resemblance as well. We’ve not traveled very far afield as yet. So far you’ve not seen hills of any great height, nor have you seen mountains. But they are here. As to the people, whom have you met so far?’
‘Well, there’s Ruth and yourself, and you have spoken of Edwin.’
‘All three of us English like yourself.’
‘Then there is Radiant Wing, and Omar and his friend.’
‘Exactly. The first, an American Indian; the second, Chaldean; and the third, Egyptian. That’s almost international in itself. You left out our cottage friend. He’s another Englishman.
‘The question is: among what nation did you—or would you—expect to find yourself after leaving the earth?’
‘Why, it has never occurred to me. Among English people, I suppose.’
‘Do you speak any other languages than your own?’
‘Not one. A smattering of school Latin, perhaps.’
‘It would have been decidedly awkward for you if you had awakened to find yourself among the Chinese, for instance.’
‘Probably scared the life out of me.’
‘Dear me, why? The Chinese are delightful people, kind and thoughtful, and always ready to help. You see, my dear fellow, that what you say points the stupidity of these philosopher gentlemen in their false notions that the spirit world must be an exclusively English one. There isn’t one of them who would not feel much the same about it as you have this minute described.
‘Ruth and I have met some of them, and they were profoundly glad to hear their own tongue, the English tongue, spoken in the same way as we spoke to you. And the same thing applies to the Frenchman, and the Chinaman, and all the rest.
‘As you know, personal communication by the thought process obviates any difficulty in the language question. That process is without nationality. But when folks are awakening in these lands they use their vocal organs, and so do we. That’s natural.
‘What were your own impressions when you opened your eyes in our room beside the open window?’
‘Well, I certainly had an at-home sort of feeling. The room was the kind I was familiar with, and the view through the window was most certainly familiar too.’
‘Precisely. That’s as it should be. So you see, there’s law and reason behind all this, and nothing that the “wise” folk of the earth can say or think will alter it.’
‘Then the other nations must be living somewhere else—that’s a foolish thing to say. Of course they must.’
‘They are, Roger. Every nation on earth has some position and location in the spirit world. People like to be among their own kind, and there’s no reason why they should not be. Would it be right, do you think, or good policy, to force people of one particular nation or national temperament upon that of another? Not at first, at any rate.
‘Then, as to the country itself. Nations prefer their own type of country however delightful that of others’ may be. Here, they can find it. And that’s right and natural too.’
‘What about Omar and his friend?’
‘Ah, they come into another category. Where they live nations have no significance, for the people themselves are above or beyond nationality. Radiant Wing is just such another. In the realm proper to him, he loses his precise nationality though not his racial individuality, if you understand what I mean.’
‘I’m afraid I don’t.
‘That’s not your fault. It’s mine! What I mean is that Radiant Wing will retain his particular cast of features, in the same way as Omar will, but that the nation of which he was a former member will have no significance for him, to the extent that Radiant Wing and Omar regard themselves as of no nation and of all nations, as it were.
‘There’s no end to the objections which these philosophic geniuses raise upon one matter or another.
‘I noticed that Omar and his friend both spoke English, and without a trace of accent too.’
‘That is one of the objections I referred to. Can you think of any reason at all why Omar shouldn’t speak English, or any other language?’
‘None whatever, if he wishes to.’
‘If he wishes to. There you have it, Roger. If his particular work would be made easier, or indeed, made possible, by his doing so, then do it he will.
‘As it happens, Omar has friends on earth, mutual friends, as a matter of fact. It became necessary for him to speak with those friends. At first he spoke no English, and they certainly knew no word of Chaldean. What was to be done? It was obvious from the outset that they couldn’t learn Chaldean, but it was equally obvious that he could, with the greatest facility, learn the English language. He did so without the slightest inconvenience to himself.
‘You know what the memory can do here, Roger. Once something goes into the mind, there it stays. Why, Omar could learn any language well, so as to speak it fluently, while the earth folk were thinking about it. You will recall that Radiant Wing knows sufficient of our native tongue to make himself comfortably understood for the purpose of his work on earth. Omar also wanted to make himself understood, but in a different way, and more extensively. He wished to cover a wide range of matters as lucidly as possible, and so he went deeply into the task of learning English. The very same thing applies to us all here. If you, my boy, wish to learn any language, whether to use it actively—I mean, conversationally—as well as to read literature in that language, there is no power that can stop you. You are at liberty to begin this moment. Thousands of us don’t, though, because there is no reason for us to do so.
‘You know, Roger, the higher you go up the spiritual ladder, the less you think about nationality—and language, as such, unless there is work to be done on earth that involves the use of another tongue than your own.’
‘How does one get to another country here?’
‘In several ways. Shanks’s mare is one of them.’
‘Monsignor; what’s this? How can you reprove Roger for using slang, when you use almost as bad yourself?’ exclaimed Ruth laughing.
‘You see, Roger, what a thoroughly bad influence you are. Here have I been carefully picking my way through the language so as not to use a single word or term that would be frowned upon by those folk on earth who think we should speak as though we were addressing an ecumenical council or something equally boring. Ah, well. “Evil communications corrupt good manners”, I suppose.
‘There is no difficulty in getting to other countries in these realms, or to be more exact, to those parts where folk from other earth lands have their dwellings.
‘You were thinking of frontiers mostly, weren’t you? There are no frontiers. You may come and go as you please, and what’s more, you’ll be as welcome there as the inhabitants of those parts are welcome here. In fact, if you wander along you would hardly perceive you were “there”, except for some slight difference in the landscape perhaps, and in the dwelling houses.
‘There is only one kind of barrier you’ll come across in this world, and that is the barrier between one realm and another, and that’s invisible, or practically so. An increase or diminution of the light, as the case may be. If there were not that, certain unpleasant, extremely unpleasant, elements would be tempted to overrun the regions next above them. And perhaps some of us would be tempted to develop ideas above our station, as the phrase used to be. It is a natural law that works in this way, and like all such laws it works without any breakdown, fuss, or trouble. That’s the beauty of it. No question of difference of opinion, or insistence upon rights. There’s no arguing with a natural law. I’ve yet to hear of anyone arguing with the law of gravity on earth. It would be a one-sided argument in any case, and probably end in disaster.
‘As far as at least these particular realms are concerned, you might call them Cosmopolis with every justification, for you’ll meet people of every nationality under the sun here, some of them coming and going, and some staying.’
‘I can understand the coming and going, but how staying?’ Roger asked.
‘The best way to answer that is to give you a practical demonstration, though you’ve had one already, without knowing it.’
Have I?’
‘Yes; our old friend Radiant Wing.’
‘Doesn’t he belong here, then?’
‘Not by any means.’
‘This is rather puzzling.’
‘Shocking.’
‘Monsignor is a terrible torment to you, Roger. Don’t take any notice of him. I know what he means. Come along and we’ll take you on another visit.
‘That’s right. A visit that would be worth a fortune if it could be made on earth.’
With which cryptic utterance we took our young companion upon a social call at some distance from our home.