things do not matter. They were religious problems raised by the minds of men,and they have no significance whatever in the great scheme of life. But at thetime, like so many others, I believed in a wholesale fashion, without aglimmering of understanding, or very little. I taught and preached according tothe orthodox text-books, and so I established a reputation for myself. When Icontemplated a future state of existence I thought - and that vaguely - of whatthe Church had taught me on the subject, which was infinitesimally small andmost incorrect. I did not realize the closeness of the two worlds - ours andyours - although I had ample demonstration of it. What occult experiences I hadwere brought about, so I thought, by some extension of natural laws, and theywere rather to be considered as incidental than of regular occurrence, given tothe few rather than to the many.The fact that I was a priest did not preclude me from visitations of what theChurch preferred to look upon as devils, although I never once, I must confess,saw anything remotely resembling what I could consider as such. I did notgrasp the fact that I was what is called, on the Earth-plane, a sensitive, a psychic - one gifted with the power of 'seeing', though in limited degree.This incursion of a psychic faculty into my priestly life I found to beconsiderably disturbing since it conflicted with my orthodoxy. I sought advicein the matter from my colleagues, but they knew less than I knew, and theycould only think of praying for me that these 'devils' might be removed fromme. Their prayers availed me nothing - that was to be expected as I now see.Had my experiences been upon a high Spiritual plane there is the chance that Ishould have been regarded in the light of a very holy man. But they were notso; they were just such experiences as occur to the ordinary Earthly sensitive.As happening to a priest of the Holy Church they were looked upon as
temptations
of 'the Devil'. As happenings to one of the laity they would have been regarded as
dealings
with 'the Devil', or as some form of mentalaberration. What my colleagues did not understand was that this power was a
gift
—a precious gift, is I understand now—and that it was personal to myself,as it is to all those who possess it, and to pray to have it removed is as senselessas to pray that one's ability to play the piano or paint a picture might beremoved. It was not only senseless, it was unquestionably wrong, since such agift of being able to see beyond the veil was given to be exercised for the goodof mankind. I can at least rejoice that I never prayed for release from these powers. Pray I did, but for more light on the matter.The great barrier to any further investigation of these faculties was the Church'sattitude towards them, which was - and is - relenting, unequivocal, narrow, and
Leave a Comment