TheDeadHaveNeverDied 10075291 PDF

T HE
NEW EST
By
Ez ra Pound
By
B lau
'
BO R$ O I BO O $ S
$ Mil es
A CHASTE MAN
By Loni: W ilkinso n
MARTIN RI VAS
By
Alberto
leet Gan a
-
LL
S
GOD AND MR W E
By W illia m Arch er
.
BEATI NG EM TO I T
Ch ester Co rn isl:
By
OF PREFACE S
H L M e n cke n
A B OO$
By
TH E THREE
By Josep l
B LA C$
PENNY S
Hergeslz eirn e r
I NTERPRETERS
T I ONS
AND
I NTERPRETA
By Carl Van Vecl ue n
MR
GEO RG E JEAN NATHAN

S ENTS
By Georg e Jean Natlzan
N H OLO G Y
OTHERS : AN A T
NEW VERSE
1 9 17
I ssue
FO REWO RD
I have had st range experiences in my Psychic in

Refus
ve stig t io s during the last twenty years
in g to be limit d by accepted laws I have devoted
m y thought to conditions prevailing beyond what is
generally termed the material and by combining
an d blending the mental and vit al wi th the tan
l
i
b
e
h
or
physical
forces
I
v
been
able
h
ve
e
o
a
t
g
speech with those long tho ught dead As a resul t
I have found an u known count ry about and be
yond this Earth and I would n ot go from this
world of men without leaving a record of what
I have learned We are but custodians of kn owl
edge as o f wealth and it is the duty o f every
one to give to others that whi ch he has acquired
whenever it will add to hum an happin ess
There are certain people born with what is
known as psychic force who when sc ienti

cally developed become instruments by the aid of
which communication is established between the
t wo worlds
Such was Emily S French She was
a woman over 80 y ears of age at the time of her
death Ab ove the average in intelligence she de
a
vii
viii
FO REWO RD
voted her life to helping others and as a result her

character was spirit uali ed and rened o that only
good could come within her environment I was
indeed fortunate in my association with her Even
with such help however it requ ired many years
of work an d experiment to obtain the exact condi
tions whereby satisfactory speech could be had
with i habitants of this unknown country an d from
them to secure direct information of the conditions
prevailing there This in a measure I have ac
complished
That life continues beyond the grave Lombroso
Richet Sir William Crookes T W Stanford Wil
liam T Stead Sir Oliver Lodge all Psychic Sci
entists and of late Sir Conan D oyle have proved

beyond question My efforts have bee n to dis
cover by what lawsurvival becomes possible ; to
learn something of the death change the character
of individual life as it continues and the conditions
prevailing beyond the earth plane If the info r
mation that I have obtained is reliable and if my
deduct ions are correct a discovery has been made
that takes from the human heart the awful fear of
death No subject in the world is so impo rtant as
this and none is l ess un de rstood
In this world beyond there are men an d women
e
u
s
t
as
h
re
Their
bodies
E
heric
in
charac
er
t
t
j
,
FOREWO RD
ix
are co mpo sed of matter ; therefore they have form

featu re an d expression neither less n o r more in
dividual than when they lived the ea rth life They
have homes as tangible to them as o ur homes are to
us composed of Etheric material j u st as o ur homes
are made of physical substances and in those
homes the family relation is ultimately continue d
They labour to increase their knowledge and
un der the great preva iling law in fo rce the re en
rich themselves by helping others
These propositions far beyond human ex p e ri
en ce s are not only hard to explain but are diicult
to grasp In the chapters that follow I have trie d
to make the facts so plain that all may comprehen d
them
I have faithfully described some of my ex
e
r
i
n
e
ces
and given in substance the data as pre
p
sented to me Are my deductions warranted
This research has been a source o f great pleas
ure and prot to me In the beginning I looke d
upon the death change with horror I recall the
casket containing the mo rtal remains o f mymother
lowered into a grave on a bleak Ap ril day the piti
less rain the biting winds the lowering clouds
After the frozen earth had fallen into the Open
grave I a boy walked alone and then an d there
resolved that I would never rest content unti l I had
solved the problem there presented an d come to
,
FO REWO RD
kn ow,
it was given man to learn something

o f that great ch ange
Wh ether I have su cceeded or
not you must judge I have I think demonstrated
that nothi ng in Nat ure is hidden from man ; there
is no problem that cannot be solved ; there is no
condition that cannot be understood provided that
we labour long and earnestly for the goal desired
Again one word to those who mourn There is
no death ; there are no dead Those whom we love
and who loved us in obedience to the great law of
evolution have simply progressed to a new plane
of existence O ur eyes no longer behold them
our hands and lips no longer touch them but their
eyes behold and their hands touch us though we
feel them not They walk with us kn ow our trials
help us by their mental suggestions and comfort us
by tender loving thoughts Those who live in the
Etheric or Mental Plane are no less real to me than
those with whom I walk from day to day
I have submitt ed this manuscript to a large
number of advanced thinkers both in Am erica and
in Europe and the general criticism has been that
it is so in advance of experience so different from
the old teachin gs an d beliefs that few will grasp
or understand the new propositions presented
This is without doubt true but the facts as I have
gathered them cannot be changed ; truth is innite
if
'
FO REWO RD
Volumes have been writt en by the world s fo re

most writers to p rove the possibility of co mm un ica
tion between this plane and the next though few
have been p rivileged to enjoy direct an d in dep e d
ent speech to the ex tent that I have Those who
rea d the page s that I have writt en m u st assu me
that Speech is possible an d that I have had the ex
r
i
e
n
e
ce
s
narra
ed
I
do
not
at
e
pt
to
enter
the
t
t
m
p
elementary eld ; others have covered that branch
I have trie d to transmit facts as they have been
given me and I ex pect many to accept them be
cause they are in accordance with nature s law an d
appeal to reason
It is a great p rivilege to be evolved o ut of the
mass of life to obtain individuality with all its
possibilities n o t by a miracle bu t through positive
But that privilege brings respons ibilities
law
among them the necessity of living a clean life
of developing character to the utmost of doing
something to make others happy and of m aking th e
world a little bett er bec ause we have lived a day
within its conn es These things a re n ot di cult
to accomplish if we are un selsh To the new
thought to the progress of the world each may
give someth ing G reat truths come from the oh
som e The night brings forth the stars
EDWARD C RANDALL
CONTENTS
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Livin g Dead
Voices
Con scious Dissolution 2 3

Sp eech with th e Dead 34
To ld in th e Aft er Life 44
Th e Life Mass
Th e
A U n iverse
Th e R ecord of
A tomic
th e
53
Con tin uity of Life

M
a
t
r
t
e
f
Life
63
76
Nigh t
86
97
10
E th er ic En viron men t 105
11
So
12
Man
13
Th e U n kn own
14
Personal I den tity 140
15
Sp h
16
Th eir Daily
Little Ch an ge
'
116
Eth eric B ody 12 6
eres
Lan d
in th e
W ell
Life
to $
1 59
F acts
18
F rom Death
19
Th e I maginatio n 194
133
r
t
Af e Life 149
17
'
15
n ow
17 0
S leep 181
C ONTENTS
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
Chap ter
S u ggestion 2 06
20
Pow er
21
Never
22
Men tal A ctivity
23
Pic tu re
S ecret in th e
A ctualities
2 33
th e After
25
Rationa l Dedu c tion s 2 51
26
A Tribute 2 58
2 15
2 23
Child
W orld
Life
2 45
THE DEAD HAV E NEV ER
DIED
CHAPTER I
VOIC E S
OF
THE LIVING DEAD
HE suggestion that
dead have never

died when so little is known of that great
change is beyond the comprehension of
the average mind
The fact that under scienti c
conditions those in the after life have had speech
with us in the earth life tax es credu li ty but such
is the fact Sir William Crookes has had the ex
e
r
i
n
of
communicating
with
the
dead
has
e
c
e
d
an
p
written concern ing it Stead s bureau in London
working with Mrs We idt an American psychic
has done so with great freedom For many years
Daniel Bailey of Buffalo was able with the aid
of Mrs Swaine to get the direct or independent
voice ; he did a great work an d has published the
results
the
15
THE DEAD H AVE NEVE R D IED
I mention these instances to show that I am n o t

the rst who has been able to obtain direct speech
with those in the next life Thou sands in other
ways have obtained messages from the great be
yond but only on rare occasions have conditions
been such that the dead could speak audibly The
independent voice is un usu al but when heard it
leaves nothing to conjecture
H ow is it possible one asks to talk with
dead people ?
I confess that such a proposition is beyond the
comprehension of many and that a mere state
ment on the subject means nothing to the aver
age individual for o e can appreciate only those
things whi ch he has experienced or of which he has
knowledge It is only by understanding that the
spirit world is a part of this world that it is here
and about us that it is material that all life force
nds expression only in the physical and that peo
ple beyond the grave still inhabit their etheric
bodies that one can appreciate the fact that speech
with the living dead is possible Even with such
an un derstanding it is necessa ry to create certain
scientic co nditions if one would actually converse
wi th those of the spirit world
The conditions
permitting speech are very delicate The atmos
h
r
e
e
at
times
interferes
with
results
For
e
am
x
p
.
THE DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED
18
even people all expert in the handling of the

electric and magnetic forces an d when you and the
psychic Mrs French meet the vital force that
emanates from her p ersonality is gathe ed u p We
also take physical emanation s substances from

you and the others with you while we contribute to
the mass a certain spirit force Now that force
which we gather and distribute is just as materi al
as any substance that you would gather for any pur
pose ; it is simply higher in vibration We clothe
the organs of respiration o f the spirit who is to
speak so that hi s voice will sound in your atmos
h
e
r
e
and
when
this
condition
is
brought
about
it
p
is just as natural for a spirit as it is for you
You then have what is known as the direct or inde
pendent voice that is the voice o f a spirit speaking
as in earth life
Since mankind came up o u t of savagery the
great problem has been and ever will be : What
is the ultimate end ? What if anything waits on
the other side of death s mysteriou s door ? What
happens when the hour strikes that clo ses man s
earth career when leaving all the gathered wealth
of lands and goods he goes out into the dark alone ?
Is death the end ann ihilation and repose ? O r

does he awake in some other sphere or condition
retaining individuality and identity ?
'
19
VO ICES OF THE LIVI NG DEAD
E ach mu st solve this great qu estion for himse lf
D issolution an d change have come to every form
of life and will come to all that live With o p
o
i
t
r
t
un
h
k
i
knoc
ng
door
manki
n
d
has
but
a
t
t
e
p
y
little more appreciation o f it now than it had when
Phallic worship swaye d the dest inies o f empires
It may be that as a people our development has
been such that we could heretofore grasp and com
prehend only length bread th an d thickness the
three accepted dimensions of matter ; that in o ur
progression we have b ut now become able to ap
r
i
t
t
t
n
e
understand
life
forces
ha
d
heir
a
d
ec
an
t
p
expression beyond the physical plane
Time was when all knowledge was handed down
from one generation to another by story song and
tradition
When the Persian civiliz ation was
growing old and ambition towered above the lofty
walls of Babylon ; when Egypt was bu ilding her
temples on the banks of the N ile ; when G re ece was
the centre of art and cul ture and Rome with its
wealth an d lux uries held sway over the civil iz e d
world people did not dream o f type and the print
in g press applied electricity or nav
igation of the
air and the many inventions that were to come
They were not ready for such progression
The world cannot stand still The great law of
Two or three genera
the unive rse is progres s
.
20
tions since the idea that a cable would one day be

laid un der the sea and that messages would be
transmitted un der the waters and over the waters
from continent to continent was laughed at as a
chimera O l y a little while ago the world could
not un derstand how words and sentences could be
ashed across the trackless ocean from ship to ship
and from land to land without wires in space
And who shall now say that it is not possible to send
thoughts words sentences voices even and mes
sages out into the ether of the spirit world there
to be heard recorded and answered ? H as man
reached the end of his possibilities ; will all pro
e
s
i
o
s
t
op
with
Marconi
s
a
hievements
and
c
g
telephoning without wires ? Th is is the age of
man ; we have passed the age of gods If our de
ve lo p m e t is such that we can comprehend the life
it must be
an d conditions following dissolution
within our grasp as surely as progress has been
possible at all times an d among all people since the
world began
O ur age is one of sudden and rapid changes
What was true yest erday assumes a different one
could ahn o st say a diametrically opposite aspect
tod ay Our people are in a state of transition
New views come with changing times and condi
tions Most minds are sensitive alert and versa
,
VO ICES OF THE LIVING DEAD

21
tile an d the present is fraught with u nrest and a
thirst for knowledge
This is a period that will
be fruitful in scienti c di scoveries and in the
adaptation of the universal law of vib ratory ac tion
We need not be afraid of investigation All truth
is safe ; nothing else will sufce and he who holds
back the tru th through expediency or fear fails
in hi s duty to man kind
Some have come to know what awaits over the
great divide have solved the great problem of dis
solution an d with the condence born of knowl
edge based o u facts proved and demonstrated are
ready to sp eak with authority As one among the
many I again give the world the result of my co n
tinn e d research in the new eld of psychic sc ience
We have looked u pon the discarded physical
body habitation o r housing occu pied by one while
developing on the earth plane an d have said : H e
is dead ; never again will his voice speak words of
t enderness his hands touch or eyes look upon us
nevermore will we know his tender loving care ; he
is no more
Su ch is the most erroneous conclu
sion ever reached by the human mind When at
night we lay aside our clothing we are the same
Wh en at the end of a short span we separate from
the esh garment we have worn we are not dead
We are identically the same pe rson mentally mor
,
22
ally and spirit ually as before with the same

etheric bo dy with power to think and function as
in earth life I say with all the strength and force
at my comman d that there is continuity of all life ;
that nothing is ever lost ; that communication is
possible an d has been had with those in the after
life in many ways My effort has been to create a
condition in which it became possible for spirit
people to clothe with physical substance their o
gans of respiration so they could talk to u s as when
in earth life It has been my privilege to hear
their voices best of all methods hundreds of times
Thousands o f individuals have spoken using their
o wn vocal organs
and I have answered From
this sou rce has come great knowledge facts beyond
the learning of men not found in any books an d it
is my privilege to give them to you
Lay aside preconceive d notions discard p rej u
dice b e fair an d unafraid while in simple lan
guage I e late what has come to me from this won
If you are not impressed with its
de rful source
truth discard it If it appeals to reason it wi ll
be a help not only here but hereafter
,
'
CHAPTER II
DISSO LU TIO N
A CON SCIO U S
ES
I kn ow that I am no longer an in
habitant of the earth sphere that I am
numbered among the dead ; so bec ause
I thoroughly understand the great change through
which I have passed the group of spirit people
working with you and controlling conditions o n thi s
side have asked me to speak to you an d through
you to all those who sorrow for their dead Y ou
kn ow of course that in speaking I am now u sing
my o wn voice
Out of the Silence out of the darkness in a room
devote d solely to psychic investigation came those
words ; one whom the world calls dead w as speak
ing I have never ceased to be sta rtled when a
voice rst speaks from the invisible world so un

usual o marvellous so wonderful and yet to me
so natural I know of b t tw o psychics who are
able to contribute to conditions that make the di
rect or independent voice possible Emily S
French who devoted to my work the best years of
her life w as one of them and on this occasion She
,
23
THE DEAD H AVE NEVER DIED
24
was alone with me in the room in my o wn home de

voted solely to such work At this time the condi
tions were such that it was possible for those out of
the earth body to so talk that thei r voices were audi
ble
The public wants to know and I had always
wanted to know the sensation involved in the death
change in the awakening ; what it is that the eyes
behold or the ears hear when rst consciousness
continu es or retu rns So when this man spoke so
clearly and strongly I determined to get from one
who had made the change a comprehensive state
ment of the mental state not only before but after
the transition
So much I said of the information that we
get from the plane where you now live is general
in character won t you be specially sp ecic and
tell us rst something of your occupation and of
the conditions immediately preceding your dissolu
tion ?
I came he replied from a long line of SOI

diers My ancestors fought in the Am erican Revo
l tio n an d were among those who aided in est ab
lishin g your Republic ; possibly I inh erited a mar
tial spirit When the rst shot was red by the
Confederates and Lincoln issued his call for vol
untee rs I w as possessed with a desire to enter th e
.
26
the battle
roared Shot and shell lled th e air and fell near
us
muskets belched forth their re the earth
seemed to tremble ; woun ded in g eat numbers were
carried to the rear and we knew that countless dead
lay where they had fallen We waited knowing
it was only a matter of hours possibly minutes b e
fore the order would come to advance I looked
down the line at blanched faces we all knew that
many would not answer the roll call at night Still
we waited Sudde ly out of the smoke galloped an
ofcer from the general s staff Forward came
the co mmand
There was no faltering now that the hour had
come The colum n moved Soon shot and shell
fell am ong us on we went All was excitement
fear was gone ; we had but one desire and that to
kill ; such is the lust of battle I recall but little
more We reached the front and saw the grey
l ine charging up the hill toward us ; then oblivion
I now know that I was Shot
Tell me of returning consciousness and what
you saw I said
You must remember the spirit answered

that these tragic events occurred nearly half a
centu ry ago and that at that time it had not been
di scovered that there is another life a plane as ma
a
regiment in reserve ; in front
o f us
C ONSCI O US DISSOLUTI ON
27
te ris l as the o n e yo u n o w inh abit where life co n
I had n o conception o f a he reafter fo r
tinues
with all my religious teaching I had n o idea Of what
o r where the future life might be ; n o r was I at a ll
sure there was o n e ; so yo u can ima gine ho w sta rtle d
I was to awake as from a deep sleep ; be lde red I
k
w
n
sa
w
my
fee
and
loo
ing
do
my
body
o
o
t
t
t
g
Thi s was
among m any others upon the groun d
startling I made a great e o rt to collect my
thoughts and recall events Then I remembe red
the awful battle ; still I did not then realize I had
been shot I was apart from still I seemed in
some way held to the body I had so lately worn
My mental condition was o n e of terrible u nrest
H ow was it I was alive had a body an d yet sepa
rate an d apart from the covering I had tho ught
constituted the body
I tried to think and realize my situation I
looked about ; others of the seeming dead moved
seemed to stir Then many Of them st ood up and
like me seemed to emerge from their physical
bodies fo r their Old forms still lay upon the eld
I looked at other prostrate bodies ex amine d many ;
from each something was gone Going among them
again I found other bodies inhabited still living
as yo u would say though woun ded and un con
sciou s
A
'

Soon I found myself among thou sands in a
similar mental state No t o n e among them knew
just what had happened I did n o t know then as
I do n o w that I always possessed a spirit body com
posed Of a material called Ether an d that the phys
ical body was only the garment it wore while in
earth life
Wh at brought you to the full realization o f
what had happened ? I asked
I am coming to that he said ; While the pass
ing o ut Of the old body was without pain it is a
terrible thing to drive a st rong spirit from a healthy
body tear it from its coverings It is unn atural
and the sensation following readjustment is awful
In a short time I became easier but I was still b e
wildered It was neither ni ght nor day ; about us
all was gloom no t a ray Of light nor a star
Something like an atmosphere dark an d red envel
oped u s all and we waited in fear an d silence ; we
seemed to feel one another s thoughts o to be more
correct hear o n e another think No words were
spoken H ow long we remained in this state I
cannot n o w t ell fo r we do n ot measure time as yo u
Soon there was a ray Of light that grew
do
bri ghter each moment and then a great concourse
Of men and women with kindly faces came and
with comforting words told us n o t to fear ; that we
28
C ONSCI O US D ISSOLUTION
29
had made the great change ; that death so called
only advanced o ur sphere o f li fe ; that we were
still living beings in habitants now o f the rst
plane beyond the earth ; that we would live on fo r
ever an d by labou r reach a hi gher mental de
ve lo p m e n t ; that fo r us the war was over we had
passed through the valley o f death
I will n o t attempt to tell yo u o f the so rrow that
came with such realization n o t for myself for I
soon learned that only through death could we
progress an d that the personal advantages beyond
the physical were greater than those in the phys
ical ; it was sorrow fo r the wife an d the babies ;
their great grief when they learned what had hap
pened bound me to thei r condition an d we sor
rowed together I could n o t progress o r n d hap
i
n
e
s
s
until
ime
had
healed
their
sorrow
If
only
t
p
those in earth life knew that thei r sadness binds an d
holds us stays o u r progress and development $
After coming with the aid Of many friends to full
consciousness an d being able to move at wi ll I
followed at rst the movements of both armies I
saw the route Of Lee s army the nal surrender at
Appomattox and I want to tell you o f the great
e o rt the inh abitants o f this land in which I live
put forth n ot only to prevent war b ut to bring
peace when nations o r people are at war for war
A
'
30
has never been right NO tak ing of hum an life

is ever justiable
This is the rst time it has been my personal
privilege to get a message through to the world
I on ce inh abited It has been a great pleasure to
t ell yo u something Of th e sensations during and
after the change There is one experience that I
want to relate for it made a profound impression
On e day I saw many people passing into a build
ing having the appearance of a great Temple Of
Music I was told I could go in if I desired I

did There were assembled I should judge ve
They sat with bowed heads in a
thousand people
silence so absolute that I marvelled ; turning I
asked one beside me the object of the meeting and
I was told they were concentrating their thoughts
sending out peace vibrations to nations at war I
did not comprehend but curious I waited Soon
above that great company arose a golden cloud that
formed and moved as if directed H aving learned
that I could go at will I followed and found the
cloudy substance enveloping another battle eld
Again a dark condition with ashes of red imme
diately surrounding and above two great armies
for the thoughts of those in battle give out emana
It had substan tially
t ions producing such e e ct
the same appearanc e that prevailed o n my awaken
.
CONSCIO US D ISS OLUTION

31
in g
As I watched the dark condition seemed to
change to dissolve before the peaceful conditions
of the light that I had followed just as mist dis
solves before the sun With the change a bette r
thou ght lled the minds o f those engaged an in
c li at io n to treat more hu manly the wo u nded an d
the prisoners This is o e of the ways those ex
i
en
e
ce
d
among
us
help
the
mental
as
those
mon
a
p
g
you aid the physical ; both are eq ually real
Among u s are the great who counsel together
and work to inuence those in authori ty against
war while others among us by thought suggestions
help an d sustain those poor soldiers forced into
battle either to satisfy the greed selshness and
ambition o f those in authority o to defend a na
tion o the integrity Of their country We know
neither the one side nor the other We see on ly
the su e n g Of hu manity a mother s mourning a
wife s heart breaking a child s sobbing They
are all hum an and without distinction o r class we
labour to comfort and help them by mental sug
gestion In such work we enter their homes a
great invisible host and many a hea rt has been
cheered through o u r ministrations Other wars
will come unless the thought of those now in au
th o rity changes ; then a great work will be re
quired of u for which w e are ready

A
s,
THE DEAD HAVE NEVER D IED

This has been exceedingly interesting but just
H ow does you r e a rth life appear
o n e word more
after so many years ? I asked

H ow much do yo u rem ember of those rst
years when as an infant you gazed upon your
world ? the man replied
I
SO it is with me
have but an indistinct recollection Of the events
that made up my earth life only a memory re
mains still enough to make me regret many lost
opportunities I was not then a thinker only a
drifter ; I accepted what was told me without ques
tion ; the result was that I did not develop my men
tal faculties This life o e s such splendid ad
vantages my joy of living in the present is so
intense that I seldom think of the earth life at all
All the trials sorrows and s e n gs incident to
birth and the few years in your physical world
were necessary and from my present vantage
ground the matter of living a few years more or
less the manner of my going were unimportant ; it
is all forgotten now in the wonderful reality about
me As so on as I came to understand what death
was and to what it led I immediately commenced to
complete my education and build a home for the
wife and children and I am happy to tell you that
again we dwell together for they are all here in this
land of happiness and opportunity

32
CHAPTER III
SPEE CH WITH
THE DEAD
T was in the year 1892 that I met Emily S

French She was a woman then over 60 years
in delicate health and very deaf
o f age
Wh ile she was conscious that she possessed powers
out Of the ordinary she had little more compre
he nsio n than I Of that into which the force would
develop At the suggestion of a number Of
prominent citiz ens I was asked to meet Mrs
French and exp lain if I could the un usual phe
n o m en a obtainable
In o n e Of our early investigations we sat in a dark
room three f us forming a half circle she facing
us After a time seeming whispers were faintly
heard and the gentleman sitting with me insisted
that he recogni ed his wife s voice It was un satis
factory to me but I was interested an d immediately
made an investigation of the character of the p y
chic Finding her o f good family and of more than
ordinary education I determined to kn ow how the
phenomenon was produced O f course at that
.
34
SPEECH WITH THE DEAD

35
time I could not comprehend the direct voice n o r
the possibili ty of speech with the so called dead I
was then agnostic As I look over the situation
I see that I had neither the experience n o r
ow
the abili ty to appreciate the facts any more than
the average reader of this book can comprehend
some Of the statements made in it I had to learn
rst that the after life is etheric a d that people
take into the after life the same spirit body whi ch
they had in this life divested Of the outer esh gar
ment In those days I did not know that we have
etheric bodies
I foun d in the beginning that Mrs French stood
very much in awe Of the play o f this p yschic force
One always fears things which he doe s not under
stand and n o t un derst an ding the un u sual phenom
ena present she was often very much afraid I in
ve sti gat d far enough to n d that she was posses sed
of a vital force unknown to me She was just as
much in the dark regarding it as I and just as much
interested Accordingly she undertook to join me
in an investigation to devote her time without
money and without price to the mastery o f that
force in the hope that good might come Ou t of
that compact came over twenty years Of continued
work and ex periences which to me seem worthy
of record
,

It has been said that we have but ve senses
That is to say the average individual has but ve
senses developed ; some persons however have
seven TO the ve accepted senses I add psychic
sight and psychic hearing Mrs French pos

sessed both Of those At times she could see peo
ple moving in the after life not with her physical
eye Of course but by means of psychic sight She
could perceive them so acutely that they were just
as real to her as if an impression came upon the
retina This is true because she could see and
describe these people in the dark just as well as in
the light
Again she had psychic hearing for I
have been able o n many occasions in the broad
daylight to carry on conversations with persons out
of the body ( she repeating their words ) as satis
factorily as if they were still in their physical
bodies and in such talks I have gone frequently far
beyond the kn owledge of the psychic
In the beginn ing spirit speech was faint from the
sphere beyond I was able to get in touch with
only a very ordinary class of spirit people and I
often became impatient that those I most desired
did ot come I did not then un derstand as I now
do my o wn limitations for now I know that in
stm ct io n was being given me as fast as I coul d
grasp it When a new fact was stated the law
36

37
and the conditions making such fac t possible were
exp lained The rst propositions were very
simple but as the years rolled by we made great
progress We learned how to form the required
environment ; there was a whi spe r and then a
voice ; then the voice took tone and individuality
In cou rse Of time those of the group with whom I
was accu st omed to have speech were easily recog
nized
There was one person in particular with whom
from the very rst time I worked with Mrs French
I was desirous of talking This was my mother
who left this life in 187 3
Time went on and she
did not come Finally she requested me to meet
with Mrs French under the necessary conditions on
May 2 6 1896 saying that she would come and go
over many things in whi ch we were mutu ally inter
.
e ste d
About ten o clock on the appointed morning the

Brown Building in Bu alo then being repaired
collapsed The street was full of rumo rs that
many people had been killed The number was
put I think at six or seven O f course there was
no way of ascertaining the t ruth un til the debris
could be removed and this would require many
days
Mrs French and I were scarcely seated that
38
when my mother greeted me in her o wn di

rect voice and said with great regret that owing to
the accident that mo rning she must forego the pleas
u e of o u r visit un til a later time we coul d be of
great help to those whose lives had been crushed
O f course I readily
o u t ; they needed assistance
acquiesced in the suggestion There was perhaps
ten minutes of silence ; then a voice choking and
coughing broke the stillness and cried
My God the building is falling the bu ilding is
falling This way this way The situation was
tense and startling I half rose to my feet An
other voice answered i a strange t ongu e The
words were not distingu ishable but it seemed to me
as if some one was responding to the rst call
which was followed in a moment by a woman s
voice crying o ut in great fear We wi ll all be
killed $ H elp me help me

This was the beginning of what we term o u r mis
sion work that is helping to restore consciousness
to those who in leaving the old body are not readily
able to regain that condition There was then aid
ing in this work as I have since learned a group
of seven spirit co workers who had brought to us
these un fortunate people whose spirit bodies had
been crushed out in the fall of this building We
were to restore them to a normal mental condition
evem n g

39
an d actin g upon the su ggestion Of the spirit co
wo rkers I quietly talked with them Af ter a time
I told them what had occu rred and brought them to
a realization Of thei r situation Eventually they
came to understand that in the fall of that building
their spirits had been forced from thei r physical
bodies an d when they came to realize that in the
catastrophe they had gone o u t Of earth life their
so row was beyo nd words
One told me o n that
evening that four peo ple namely : William P
Straub George Metz Michael Schurz ke a Pole a d
Jennie M G rifn a woman had lost their lives in
the fall o f the building This was veried som e
days later
After talking with me voi ce to voice they
reali ed that they had gone through the change
called death Then their friends in the after life
came were recogni ed and took them an d gave
them such consolation as was possible un der the
unfo tunate circumstances
I asked the leader Of the spirit group how it was
that the voices when rst heard seemed so strained
and speech so broken why there was so mu ch
choking He replied that a person crushed o ut Of
the physical body suddenly nishes as soon as con
sc io
e s and the mental condition are restored
sentences l eft unuttered when dissolution came ;
.
u sn
40
that in the awakemn g he takes on the identical state

in which he passed o u t
After they had gone Mrs French said
I see behin d you a man probably fty ve o
more years Old strong character I should judge
who has been listening to this conversation H e
is look ing at you with amaz ement H e does not
seem to un de rstand
I said to her D oe s he kn ow me ?
She replied H e answers
D oes he give his name ?
NO n o t yet
O f cou rse being in absolute darkness and not
possessing psychic sight or psychic hearing I could
neither see nor hear him but I asked
Did he reside in Bu alo ?

She answered No
I then inquired concerning other localities and
named residents Of a city where I had lived fo
some years ask ing
Was he a resident Of that city ? an d Mrs

French repli ed saying :
H e says that he lived there

Then I repeated the names of many of my ac
i
n
t
a
n
s
u
r
a
ying
o
identify
the
individual
who
t
ce
t
q
w as then present with an idea that I might have
speech with him Finally Mrs French said :
.

taken place but he had abso lutely no conception
o f what it w as although e yea rs had elapsed
since it occurred He told me that his wife and
chi ldren no longer recogniz ed him in his own home
that he spoke to them that he called to them that
he got on his knees and shrieked their names but
he could not apparently touch them he could not
make them realiz e his presence ; they passed him
apathetically H is i ab ility to make himself
known in the home where he had always been the
dominant personality the i difference with which
he was treated not only by his own family but by
others with whom he came in contact had driven
him nearly to desperation He could not under
stand the situation at all and he was fearful that
he was verging on insanity if n ot completely in
sane All was darkness about hi m all things were
unnatural and he had become frantic It was a
delicate task to bring this man to a realization of
the great change that had taken place because his
presen t condition was so intensely real H e was the
same man he had the same intellect the same per
o n ality apparently the same body
Wh y sho l d
he be ignored and overlooked by all whom he had
known ?
It was only after many explanations that he came
to a realizing sense that he had left the physical
42
43
SPEE CH WITH THE DEAD
world of men H aving in mind the exemplary life
whi ch he had led I told him that I coul d not under
stand why he shoul d nd himself in such a mental
state and he replied that he had n o t lived the life
for which he had been given credit
A member of the spirit group present said :
The wrong done in earth life binds him to the
earth condition Wh ile he has left his physical
body he has no t left the earth and its environment
and having no knowledge of the great beyond to
which he has journeyed he has never progressed be
yond the earth plane where he forme rly lived and
he cannot comprehend while in that mental state
the change that has come to him
It appeared that he had never left his home and
the narrow environment about it but in a half
awakened half conscious state had wandered from
one to another u ntil by good fortune he had been
told that if he would attend upon o u r work he
woul d understand the change that had come into
his life With thi s unusual experience we said
G oo d Night to ou r group of co workers and I

walked homeward in deep thought
What shall be said of our civili ation that teaches
nothing of the conditions prevailing in the after
life ?
.
CHAPTER IV
TO LD
FTER LIFE
IN THE
F there is o n e thing this world ought to know

does n o t know and wan ts to kn ow it is the
process in which an d by whi ch an in habitant
of this plane of consciousness leaves the physical
body to become an inhabitant of the next or etheric
plane I speak of the earth and the etheric plane
of a here and a hereafter that I may be un der
stood but techn ically this the next and all planes
o f existence are one di e rm g only in vibratory
activity or modes Of motion The Universe is all
a part of one stupendous whole
Only one who has made the great change can
adequately describe conditions under which people
l ive in the sphere beyond For many years I have
been exchanging with other psychic scientists re
ports o f conditions and lectures from this source
T W Stanford of Au stralia sent me a commu ni
cation from the after life received by him which
my group say is a statement of fact and therefore
with his permission I quote it as follows :
,
'
44
TOLD IN THE AFTER LIFE

45
In my weakness I became unconscious of all
around ; but soo n I became consciou s of se veral
things I realiz ed that something that had held
me down and fatally gripped me was gone I
was free and in the place of weakness an d pain
and sic kness I had a virility an d a vigour which
I had never known upon the earth plane I was
also aware that I was in new surroundings most
beautif l Then I became consciou s that I w as
in the midst o f a compan y of fellow souls whose
voices were lled with happiness all welcoming
me and o thers whom I had temporarily lost while
upon the ea rth plane I then kn ew that some
great change had occurred which had taken from
me everything that I had desired to get rid of o
some power had given to me a delightful ex p e ri
ence whi ch I had Often in a measure imagined
but dared scarcely believe that it could be possible
Surrounded by an innumerable company I was
quite dazz led with the appearance o f some who
it was explained to me were exalted personages
Then there approached one who seemed to be the
chief speaker H e said before me was the un i
verse that t ime was for me no more that I was
henceforth an inhabitant of a new country You
will ask m e was it all pleasant ? Extremely so

H ow can I illustrate it so that you will understand ?
H ave you ever after taking a long journey b e
c ome ext remely tired and weary and
at last at
the end of much striving and traveling come
to a house of rest ? H ow you sank down upon
-
,
.
,
.
46
the dow y couch Oh the delight o f it $ With

no dreams to disturb your rest you awoke like a
giant refreshed $ To me it was something like
that ; although even that is a weak illustration
But that whi ch brought me greatest happiness was
the knowledge that I had gained what I had once
believed I had lost I had health strength vital
ity friends and relatives restored to me for ever
more
I have always been fond of the beautiful I
have Spent days weeks and months in the picture
galleries of Europe looking at the work of the
old masters Many of them lived hundreds o f
years before I came upon the earth plane and yet
I seemed to have known them all the days of my
life I have dreamed about them Da Vinci had
always been my companion Murillo a choice com
rade ; for G iotto I had a deep lasting friendship
I loved the beautiful in all its forms I loved
Nature the beautiful lakes of Italy and Swit er

land the glorious mountains the everlasting hills
My friends in spirit life said to me come and see
the H ouse Beautiful Try and understand if
you can that not only are the landscapes spiritual
but so is the beauty of all that there is on the other
side of life The physical is only the gross imi
There is no tongue which
tatio n of the spiritual
can describe the beauty of the spiritual realms
wherein are the souls of those who have just e
souls who
te d on their progressive existenc e
have striven to do their best according to their
n
re
47
light I say th at there is no tongue that can de
sc rib e the beauties o f that land Take the be st
that you have an d it is poor in comparison Then
I cam e next to the spiritual houses and the e I
met with more friends; more relatives and
greater grander still with those royal sou ls who
had been my afn ities on earth been co mpan ions

comrades of the brush and palette and others
whom I had deeply reverenced in my soul
But I foun d them much greater gran der nobler
than they ever were in their earth life an d I was
privileged to be one of their compan ions Still I
pressed onward I came next to a Rest H ouse
That will sound peculiar You will say how can
you have rest houses if you don t know what it is
to be weary ? No there is no weariness like that
you have experienced on ea rth ; but there are rest
houses where in the spiritual life we may rest and
have delightful intercourse with our friends In
the spiritual rest houses therefore we entered
and foun d there relatives and friends Some were
not upon the same plane of existence as I was b t
they had been permitted to come down to my sphere
to meet me so that in effect I co l d say H e that
was dead is alive again he that w as lost for a
time is found An d then memory think of the

joy of memory $ I had carried personality and
memory into the spirit world and I compared the
existence in Rome with that which I was then e
joyin g I tell you th t it w s the expectancy of
what was still to be which gave me the greatest
-

pleasure and the greatest joy There is no joy on
earth like that which is in H eaven for it is un
alloyed
I became conscious that I had to do something
and that I should have to work and it was a joy
Could I be a messenger ? I thought of some on
the earth plane I had loved so dearly and remem
bered that they were in spiritual darkness I in
quired
Where is the H eaven of o thodoxy ?
It does not exist was the answer Wh ere is the
purgatory of which I have been told so often ?
It does not exist But my friends were in dark
ness and a yearning came that I might go to them
and tell them what I knew I wanted to say D o
not be mistaken ; there is something better brighter
grander nobler for human souls than has been
taught you I was told that I could return and b e
came conscious that I could commun icate with those
still on earth if I found a certain channel an
avenue an instrument How could I n d it ?
All things are yours
is the promise There
fore I must n d the way and the instrument
This I did and you have helped me That is the
work which I am doing and it gives me increased
happiness
I was told that there were greater beauties of
the spiritual landscape which I had not yet seen
and which I could not yet un derstand because the
universe is illimitable There is something over
grand
in
the
thought
that
are
not
i
l
o
e
w
o
y
gy
p
cramped or shut up in a small space of a few
48
,
.
r n
THE DEAD H AVE NEVER D I ED
50
exqu isite forms as I progressed and every day

to u se lang age which you will understan d I met
with some that I had previously known upon the
earth plane and what words can tell the joy of
it ? To some of them I had done little acts of
kindness An d let me im press upon you th at of
all the pleasure I have received on the spirit side
of life the most came from those to whom I had
previously done so me act of kindness If I had
my earth life again I woul d spend every hour in
doing good I would spend my life in doing acts

o f kindness
In our spiritual rest house s we frequently meet
n o t only wi th loved ones but with those whom we
revere nced and adored We make also new ac
s
i
n
t
c
e
get
a
knowledge
of
great
and
a
a
e
W
q
grand so l s and come in contact with them After
a time I was appointed by an Intelligence to do a
certain work I was to help others to see the light
and I had permission to come back to the earth
again Then my instructor said That which will
you the greatest pleasure do
Then I came
lg
ive
ack
I have m et with many great and noble charac
I am f e
te rs who lived upon the earth plane
quently in the companionship of those whom I
loved and I have never yet found cause for o f
fence and never will NO one has entered into
my surroun dings who has caused me a moment of
sadness On the earth plane even your best mo
ments are clouded because some one in your midst
was objectionable to you ; but each o n e on the
,

51
spirit side has gravitated to a certain spiritu al
level If he be good then hi s Spiritual status
is good his afn ities will be goo d an d those who
come in immediate contact with him will be good
also There will be no one to O ffend
So vast are the realm s or dominions of Natu re
that in the few years I have been on the spirit side
of life I have been able to explore b ut little
Wh en I have been upon the etheric plan e for some
billions of years I shall perhaps have seen a little
of it But throughout the countless ages of eter
n ity I shall be evolving developing gettin g knowl
edge and light and wisdom I shall become in
um e with the Innite
What there is beyond I do not yet know Even
o n our side of life we are not given more knowl
edge than we can make use of for the time being
It is all a matter of progression I have told you
that we all have to work There are no drones
Bu t it is work that is congenial and satisfactory ;
it is a labour of love It is appointed by a H igher
Intelligence ; it is given to you to do ; and if you
do it your progress and happiness are assured
Realize that there is no coercion on the spirit S ide
of life but the spiritual eyes are opened to their
responsibility They see everything at a glance
In the spirit side of life you are not left in any
doubt You have full knowledge that to obey
is better than to sacrice and to do the will of God
is to bring happiness in your progressive existence
throughout eternity
Mothers have had their chil
dren taken away by death and the bereaved ones
-

say We have lost our children You have not
lost them They may have been lost from vision
for a while Perhaps there are some here to
night who laid to rest in cold ea rth a little fo m a
sweet child I do not seek to stir up your feelings
but you remember how the burning tears came to
your eyes ; you rebelled in your so l when a child
was taken away There was an aching void in
you r heart an d you murmured That life was o ly
taken and planted in another garden and when you
get on the other side you will kn ow your child
But not as a babe for all grow to full spiritual
stature radiant glorious in immortality with soul
lled with love for you nevermore to part
Is it not wo rth striving for ? There is no con
demn at io to those who are good those who are
living the life those who are seeking to do that
whi ch is right Let me tell you that the time is
coming when all earth problems religions and
theology will pass away Men are tired of such
discussions They are sick in their soul of b e
ing told to trust in another ; they cannot fathom
the scheme or plan of salvation but they do know
that arou nd about them is a world of mise ry of un
happiness Of sho rtcomings It is only the true
spiritual philosophy which teaches man to rely
upon himself and become his own saviour by b e
ing true to himse lf There is no religion higher
than truth To serve God he must serve man
That pleases the Father and continues eternally
We must become servants of each other
52
CHAPTER V
THE
HAVE
LI F E
MASS
hought a little and laboured long to

comprehend the economy of Nature I have
found life everywhere in trees and owers
and growing grains in rapid brooks and la y
streams in the wind sweeping over the hills and at
rest in lonely places in the majesty and glory of the
dawn as the sun climbs the eastern sky in the glow
o f evening and in th e purple solitude of night
I
see life seeking better expression and individual
growth in every birth and rocked in every cradle
I see Nature working out its destiny reproducing
increasing and developing ; and in such a presence
I know that nothing not even death itself can
diminish o r stop the eternal progress of a single
life all a part of one stu pendous whole
We speak of inert matt er but there is no such
thing in the Universe Matter the ex pression and
language of whi ch we do ot un derstand we term
inert an error caused by our lack of kn owledge

N othin g dead ex ists We have little knowledge Of
t
53

the very small an d know nothing of the world o f
life forms invisib le to the human eye how they

live what they do o r how they commun icate with
one another
There is a query in science as to whether every
living thing is capable o f thi nking an d I am free
to say that in my judgment wherever there is life
there must be thinking I care not whether science
accept or reject the theory ; there is the power of
i telli gent action in every seed that has a living
germ The acorn has se nse enough to send its
rootlets into the ea rth an d its trunk and foliage
branch up into the air and se lect just such ele
ments as will make the oak tree an d reject such as
wo l d be proper only for the beech tree An d the
grass has the same kind of intelligence in choo sing
proper nourishment for itself ; an d the power o f
choice must involve the power of thought Science
is on the material and rudim m tal plan e yet and
has much to ascertain
Speaking of the life mass one in the next life
has said :
The basis of all matter is elec tricity ; the basis
of all electricity for there are many kinds is ether
not that ether which is found in the atm osphere
but a subtle ether of which men know little o r noth
The basis of this subtle ether is spi rit ; there
i g
54
THE LIFE MASS

55
fore all that there is of whi rling planets of b ril
lian t constell ations suns moons and satellites all
that there is in the physical Universe is ether
clothed in reali ty but an expression of spirit It
is the physical in and through whi ch Spirit func
tions and in that way makes itself manifest to the
external se nse Wh en we once realize how in
n itely great is the un iverse how wondrou s how
terrible yet how beautiful in its simplicity a feel
ing not exactly of awe but Of benign thankfulness
must rise in our hearts at the kn owledge that we
are part of that stupendous system
Until the discovery of lenses an d magnifying
glasses man had no idea of the world around hi m
H e could not scan the heavens by night nor did he
know anything of the world in a drop of water or
in the ice gem H e knew nothing of atoms nor of
micro organisms
If one is interested in geology in the various
rocks in the strata of the earth let him take the
hardest of these rocks basalt and in the basaltic

rocks he will nd a world o f life If he gets far
away in the polar seas at the extremes of the earth
h e will there nd life al so
Thousands Of fatho m s
down in the bed of the ocean there is l ife In
everything throughout the Universe life is found
and the germs of life are no less in the re mists $
,

Think o f the specks of protoplasm oating in the
water Look at them examine them with a

microscope Then reali e that at last a long way
o ff it is tru e those specks of protoplasm develop
into a Shake peare or a Dante Thomas Paine or an
Ingersoll Nature is very wonderful $
The atmosphere that you are breathing to night
contains organisms You cannot see them with the
naked eye and even the most powerful lenses would
fail to disclo e some of them to you There are
microbes oating in the atmosphere some of which
produce disease Most of them are unimportant
But apa rt from the ge ms there are oating
throughout this atmo phere life forms which man
may never be able to di cover with any instrument
that he may invent in the fut re Near to Moun t
Ve uvius there are a few pools or small lakes which
the internal res round about make very hot If
to night I could take one drop from those pools and
subject it to a close rigid sc rutiny by means of a
more powerful glass than exists we should d that
in one drop of this hot water there is a world We
should d life there evolving and progressing to
ward p erfection Again we should d in that
drop of w ter or it might be in a speck of earth
if we had the knowledge and power and also the
sight of an advanced spirit to disintegrate it we

56
takes physical form

gross matter is then impreg
n ate d with life
That life never ceases becau se as
I have said it progresses and develops throu gh the
physical and is re absorbed into the Great Spirit
the Source of all life light and power and wis

dom
Another from the great beyond has said
In the whole universe right down to the micro
sc opic and beyond
life is foun d There is no
part of the universe where there is no life nor
where creatures do not live in companies It is not
good for man or anythin g to be alone ; con sequ ently
all are set in companies and there has been given
to each individu al a method and a way of under
standing every other one so that all may b e happy
in one another s comp any Some will say that it
i s ridiculou s to speak of inanimate things in that
manner but it is only ignorance which so a sserts ;
it is inability to realiz e that the D ivine Spirit of
Go d is permeating everything
Walk upon the
sands of the sea shore examine the tiniest grain ; it
is impregnated with that D ivine Spirit which keeps
the whole universe sw ee t
I cannot say much concerning the manner of
commun ication that plants have b ut I know from
my side of life that they have this power and do
communi cate And the va rieties of perfumes how
58
MASS
59
are they produced and ho m e upon the breeze ?
The present hypothesis is that it is throu gh some
chemical atoms Fi rst the sun impregnated the
plant In the ower are foun d chemical sub
stances electrons which are given o ff an d oat

on the sub tle ether H ow do they oat ? Through
vibrations We have been a long time getting a
little kn owledge about vibrations b ut the processes
of Nature are carried on through vibrations We
have thou ght it most wonderful to se t in motion elec
trical vibrations and convey to our friends a me s
sage hu ndreds of miles away That is b ut a child
ish effort a childish accomplishment in comparison
with what goes on daily aroun d us but of which we
are ignorant Realiz e rst that there is the life
of the plant and there is the life of the animalcule
the life of the insect the life of the animal the life
o f m an and the life of creatures in the uttermost
parts of Nature of which most men have no co n cep
Then we come to the Sources of all Life
tion
God Cannot we understand that from H im ows
When we die as
the entire life of the Universe ?
the expression is though such a thing does n o t hap
pen when a dissolution of the materi al body and

the spirit occurs what takes place is thi s : there
is a breaking up of a community you and your

body are a community interdependent on each
THE
LI FE
60
other and at death or dissolution a colony a
company breaks u p I mu st for the time being use
terms which will be u nderstood the etheric tenant

vacates and goe s on to a more glorious sub lime
plane Paul said to the Corinthi ans There is a
natural body an d there is a spiritual body
It
is the ea rthly hou se of the tabernacle here which
dissolves
The companies of insects and of animals
though they make war on each other and may exist
on each other have a language They know how
to commun icate and in a measure they are depend
e n t one upon the other
Is it not amusing to hear
some people say that man alone has speech that is
soun d formed into certain words and syllables and
sentences through the vocal organs ? Let us for
instance consider the birds We see them and
hear them warble and sing That is their way of
expressing joyousness ; but that is not their la
guage They have a way in which they commun i
cate with each other just as we have H as the
reader ever visited India ? In the Burning Ghaut
where the H indoos and others burn their dead they
carry th bodies up a ight of stairs to a high plat
form The wood is already prepared and the
body is placed upon the wood Look up into the
heavens calm an d bright the sun glaring down
61
THE LIFE MASS
n o t a speck in the sky
I two or three minutes
the place will be black with carrion birds Can we
explain it ? Yes away perched on some high emi
n n ce or t ree is the sentinel bird ; perhaps m iles
away are his fellows H e speaks to them the senti
nel soun ds the signal and instantly they reply to
him and ll the air Most people think that the
world in which they live is a jumble I grant that
there are things that are abhorrent which we can
not understand the mystery of pain an d suffering

of evil for ex ample but I reali e now that o ut of
all that is evil will nally come good There is
no confusion or jumble in the D ivine O rder
Eve rything is in its place and ultimately it will be
seen that in Nature God has set the solita y in
families that H is wondrous power is always rec e
ating matter and that there is never annihilation
There may however be change of form Take
for instance the coral rocks on the seashore
Little creatures once swam in the ocean in tiny
shells ; they died in myriads and the shells in time
formed certain rocks Old forests fall in decay
and the wisest man of the 2 0th century might
have said : Show me the wisdom of God in this ?

But to day the coal formed from these forests is
used to give warmth and light and all the proc
esses of commerce are carried on through it
n

There is no death $ Everything gives place to new
forms of life
And this is the fact that we must gather from
o u r teaching : that out of the life contained in the
mass individuality has come ; out of the mass of
life through N ature s process of constant change
and renement eve y living creature that will in
habit this globe in the ages yet to come must be
evolved The highest form of life that is evolved
from the mass is man and to the highest all lesser

forms contribute Mankind is the nal result of
evolutionary action
62
CHAPTER VI
THE
CO
NTINU ITY
OF
LIF E
the so called dead actually live b e

yond the grave ? If so where ? Can
they commun icate with us after they
have left their physical bodies ? H ave conditions
been perfected by which they can talk to those
living here using their o wn voice ? D o their
words soun d the same in our atmosphere as they
did when they inh abited their physical bodies ?
These questions and many more have often bee
asked me I answer Yes but the abstract af

rm ative reply means so little that I propose to
give a detailed explanation of the facts If I can
explain the principle involved the result will be
understood for the former i s a condition depend
ing upon the latter
W were conducting our investigation as usu al
The room devoted to the purpose was in intense
darkness as it always was and the atmospheric
movement was slow Mrs French my assistant
the most perfect psychic then living was with me
0
63
,
.

In the darkness appeared points of non luminou s
light constantly i motion cloudy etheric sub
stance half form which moved with an eff ect o f a
cool wind blowing across one s face and hands as
it passed and repassed A strong inuence seemed
to take some vital force from me
From yea rs of similar experience I kn ew that
aiding us was a group of workers in the after life
who were creating conditions by which it would be
possible for them and those whom they would
bring to converse with us ; that etheric and physical
matter were being transformed into a state in which
they could be u sed to clothe the v ocal organs of
spirit people
D o spirit people have bodies ? is a question

frequently asked My answer is that they have
and when in this world it is clothed with a esh
garment In the change the etheric body discards
the esh covering but that act does not destroy the
individual or his etheric body o r his organs of
speech or change them in any way The esh co v
ering of man s etheric body makes possible exist
ence in the physical world Similarly the absence
o f the esh garment makes possible his ex istence
It is only by again clothing
in the spirit world
organs of speech with matter slow in vibration
that the words of inh abitants of the etheric world
64
THE DEA D HAVE NEVER DIED
66
asked to tell yo u something of the conditions that

make spee ch possible
First o f all he continu ed I know that to
you r physical eyes all is in intense darkness
With u s however who n o longer live sub ject to
h
i
i
l
s
a
vibra
t
ions
here
is
lig
t
u
not
t
h
light
c
t
b
t
e
h
p y
of your day To u s in the etheric world who are
not boun d by earth conditions all is light a state

far di fferent from the light you know In our light
the physical is v isible and through it we pass as
easily as atoms pass through your solids and here
let me say as we have often said before our
etheric bodies are j ust as perfect as when we in
habited physical garments in the ea rth plane or as
your bodies are to night When compared to
you rs our bodies appear transparent and all things
in this life appear more transparent than did things
in the earth plane but they are more real to us than
things physical are to you because more intense
It is diicul t I kn ow with all you have been told
to comprehend matter except it be tangible but to

continue my accoun t of the work being done here
From Mrs French s brain projec t magnetic
lines of force to me perfectly visible extending to
a point j u st over the table between you while over
you r head appears a bar of light from which other
lines of force reach o ut meeting those rst de
.
67
CONTI NUITY O F LIFE
sc ribed un der which there appears to be a c up int o
which the magnetic an d electric forces so taken are
gathered These sub stances etheric in character
are by chemists skilled in su ch work m anip ul ated
to clothe my organs of speech ; otherwise the soun d
of my voice woul d n o t fall upon your ears All
psychics possess a peculiar vital force that is u sed
by us ; otherwise they would not be psychics and
when I speak to yo u I am for the moment really an
inhabitant of your world just as for th e moment
you are in touch with the after life In the con
ditio n s prevailing at this moment there is no line
of demarcation betwee n the so called two worlds ;
we are both in the same room act ually within a
few feet of each other ; both have bodies ; for the
moment you it in a chair while I stand and each
hea rs the other s words If I could gather j ust a
little more strength I could tou ch yo u

Ju st a moment I interrupted won t you take
my hand in order that I may feel the tangibility of
an etheric body re clothed for the moment ?
I will try was the answer Wait

Then in the darkness I held one hand to my
right while across the table at right angles my left
held rmly both hands of my assistant This was
in a room in my o wn residence ; all light was ex
clu ded and we were alone Soon a hand took
THE
EAD H
68 THE D
AVE NEVER DIED
mine ; there was no groping I took the hand meet
ing my o wn rmly feeling the form and outline
It was warm and perfectly natural in all respects
with one exception ; although it rested easily yet it
seemed to move and to vibrate beyond any de sc rip
As my hand closed the other hand
t ion I can give
see med to dissolve N o word was uttered during
that pa rticular time Then the gentleman speak
ing from a point very near his former p osition
said :
We do not like to use the material that we have
gathered with such great effort for physical demon
stratio n s for so much can be accompli shed in other
ways D o you kn ow there is no plac e in the world
to d ay where such work can be done as in your
home to night ? I mean that working with Mrs
French and you so long we have overcome many
crude conditions and have reached such a state of
perfection that many of those in an advanced plane
can enter can teach laws and explain conditions
unknown among men touchi ng the very foun dation
of the physical Then again working in co nj un c
t ion with you we bring many persons into that
quasi physical quasi etheric condition which is
necessa ry to restore them to a conscious state
We do a work that is being accompli shed in
n o other place ; here the physical an d the etheri c
.
THE CONTI NUITY O F LIFE
69
force blend as one and here many of the dead

so called are awakened in th e conditions created
We shall always feel the obligations we owe yo u
for with you r aid we have helped very very many
in the years gone by the ex tent of which you have
l ittle idea
From this it woul d seem that physical vibra
tions working in conjun ction with the etheric are
necessary to create a conditio where some in the
after life may be rou sed from an u nconscious state
If this be so
,
E arth needs H eaven but H eaven
O f E arth has just as great a need
indeed
help you and you can help us in so

many ways he said
H ow do our physical bodies appear to yo u to
night ? I inquired
Your bodies I now speak o f the esh cover
ing he said may be likened to a lighted pump
kin on Hallowe en night Some give out more
light than others depending on the development and
renement of the life force Generally speaking
a physical covering appears dark some darker than
others The life force in many is n e in others
un developed ; there is as much di ff erence as in the
a c li ght and the can dle
We
c an
70
Your brain he continued appears to me like

a ne machin e in constant motion As suggestions
both spirit an d physical through movement of mat
ter reach you they pass into the brain machine are
fashioned and changed then ow o ut in new form
and we of this world not only see them enter b ut
we see them emerge All in the world is sub stance
and all is life ; they are one and the same thing for
life has never existed and never can ex ist without
sub stance ; form cann ot be without matter ; so in
this way we illustrate how important it is to keep
the thought the output of the brain clean and men
and women will keep it clean when they come to
kn ow that it is visible But I am transgressing ;
there are others who would speak good night
I have waited the voice of a woman then said

so long for just the conditions to prevail that
would enable me to speak To night while the
gentleman was addressing you I was told by those
having the work in charge that I might try I was
asked to stand to the right of the table that sepa
rates the psychic from you This I did when the
chemist of the spirit group took from the cup in
which it had been gathered a sub stance slow in vi
bration and precipitated the material around and
about my organs of speech I touched my mouth
and moved my tongue both seemed in a way dif
71
C ONTINUITY O F LIFE
fe re t but their use was not modied an d when I
spoke to you I realiz ed th at my voice soun ded the
same as it did before I left your world
My passing out of the old body was so delight
ful so different from what I had expected and the
plane in which I now live is so wonderful that I
have long been anxious to give to your world a de
I
sc ription of my going and of what awaited me
now se e that I lived a fairly goo d life As occa
sion presented I did what little I could to make
those about me happier helped those less fortun ate
as opportunity offered an d tried to do right I
had no kn owledge of what followed the ea rth life
but I always had an abiding faith that if people
invariably did the best they could all would be
well and I was not disappointed
In my last illness as the hour of dissolution
approached I felt no fear It seemed to me that
I was about to make a natural change and that in
some place I should live on in the companionship
of those who had preceded me There came over
me a weakness th at I cannot describe ; I seemed to
sleep With great effort I aroused my faculties
and plainly saw members of my household some
kneeling about the bed sobbing I wanted to speak
to them but found I was unable to a rticulate
Looking again I was for a moment startled for I
THE
72
many faces of spirit people smi ling Lo ok

ing once more I saw beside my bed my dear hus
band whose face was full of tenderness and who
took my hand speaking words of welcome Others
whom I now kn ow help on such occasions gathered
about me their hands under my poor physical
body encouraging me and telling me all was well
Soon without any effort on my pa rt for I was far
too weak to make an effo rt I seemed to be lifted
above and out of my old body and stood among the
others referred to sta tled at the reality
I t u rned and saw the old esh body white and
still and heard the cry of anguish as the physician
said She is dead I wanted to speak to the loved
ones who mourned and tell them as I do now that
I was not dead but conscious and living I was
informed however that my words would fall upon
deaf ears and that in my present dist urbed mental
state the wisest course would be for me to go with
my husband to a rest house for a little time until
I should grow accu stomed to the change Later I
was told I should be shown the beauty of the after
life and in good season shoul d come again into
the house of mourning I was not for one mo
ment unconscious in passing from one world to the
other
Many of those who had preceded me into the
saw
74
answered ; I looked over a valley and saw running

brooks an d lakes trees grass and owers f many
kinds I took long deep breaths of wo n de rq y
vitaliz ing air and as the new conditions dawned
u p o n me I turned to those about me questioningly
I do not un derstand I said
No they answ ered as you have never been
taught anything concern ing thi s life how could you
u nderstand ?
But let us tell you one fact : the life
you have now entered is just as material as the
one you have left Stop for a moment an d realiz e
that truth Moreover everyt hin g in the earth
plane is only a poor imitation of a pa rt of what ex
ists in this plane
D id it never strike you as absurd a spirit
said that houses trees owers and all animal life
shoul d be limited to the physical plane ; such a
proposition must assume that the universe is limited
to the earth planet ?
I could not grasp the suggestion I said and
I asked that I might rest for a while Tu rnin g my
head I saw the smiling face of my husband beck
oning and I went with him with condence as in
the days of youth
I am weary now she said the material
seems to be falling from my lips and throat ; there
is so much that I want to say ; I will come again

,
THE CONTI NUITY O F LIFE

H er
75
strength was exhausted with the ex pe rience

half told
You have said that in the world of spirit you
have lands an d waters lakes an d rivers trees and
shrubs vines and owers ; tell us of them in lan
guage we may comprehend I said to another
spirit who greeted us
In the rst place he answered yo u must

disabuse your mind of the idea that nothing ex
iste d before your poor earth planet came into b e
ing or that nothing exists beyond the physical
The truth is that all things which in the ages have
found expression on the ea rth plane have existed
in the etheric world since the beginning There
were rivers owing down from mountains and
lakes in the valleys among the hills and lands and
trees and embracing vines and owers long before
this planet was fertile and now only a few of the
wonderful things of our plan e are able to n d
Then again there is much
expression in yours
vegetation developing in our etheric material that
the earth in its crude state cannot clothe an d your
inability to comprehend vegetation beyond or out
side the earth lies in the fact that you have hereto
fore had an erroneous idea that all life originated
in the physical
,
CHAPTER
A U NIV E RS E O
JUST
VII
MATTER
full appreciation of the fact

that the Universe is composed of Mat
ter in varying degrees of activi ty is a
c ondition precedent to a tru e comprehension of
the great problem of life Through it we can un
de tan d dissolution and learn something of the
conditions prevailing beyond the physical
The suggestion that the whole Universe is Ma
te i l and the di e e t spheres are in fact sub
stance with varying vibration and intensity and
that individual life continues in those di ff erent
planes similar to life in our plane is sta rtling b ut
no more so than the advancement of the Coper
nican theory or the discovery of the law of grav
It took hun dreds of years for the ac
itatio
and upon the
ce p tan c e of th e rst proposition
enun ciation of the second the jealous ones said that
the grand laws of un iversal gravitation deduced by
Newton were false Much time will nec essarily
elap se before the following propositions a re ao
an d
rs
r a
r n
76
A UNIVERSE OF MATTER
77
c ep te d that the whole Universe is material an d
that all space is lled and peopled The reaso n
for this delay is that man s mental process is
slow and a new discovery is only acc epted nally
after repeated demon stration
It is an axiom in physics that matter only acts
on matter so if mind acts on matter mind itself
must be matter One experiences great difculty
in approaching a fact so new there is difculty

in nding words with which to express the proposi
tion in sim ple language Words are as limited as
kn owledge on the subject ; so when we go beyond
the beaten path we must give new meaning to old
words or invent new ones Matter as that term
has been heretofore understood is conned sub
This is
stan ti lly to things tangible and physical
to o limited a use for if the un iverse is material
matter does not cease to be when it ceases to b e
tangible
I would put the facts in this way :
a
Ma
ter
slow
in
a
tion
is
subjec
t
t
o
the
law
t
c
( )
of gravitation and therefore physical
b
Ma
ter
so
rapid
in
vibration
as
not
to
be
t
( )
sub ject to the law of gravitation is ethe ric
Matter when it ceases to be physical is only
changed in density Certain forms of matter may
be changed by chemical action and advance d to
,
THE DEAD H AVE NEVER D IED
78
the spiritual state ; then by the reduction of atomi c

motion the same matter may be restored again to
its former condition to hold once more physical
expression Mind is matter raised to its highest
degree of atomic activity when it holds within itself
inherent power of intelligent direction Every
atom every electron and molecule has form and
when those atoms electrons and molecules by
attraction are so closely drawn together as to be
come tangible they still have individual form
Wh en by N at ure s process they are advanced step
by step until they become etheric they still have
form ; the mind which is etheric has form is sub
stance ; it is real and its creations take denite
shape Mind acts on matter as we use the
homely phrase ; that is to say matter raised to its
highest degree of activity utili es the tangible sub
stances necessary to give physical expression
This is demonstrated in each individual for the
mind directs the body and the physical body obeys
the will of the spirit
When the statement is made that life continues
beyond the grave the average thinking man doubts
it When the suggestion is put forth that we have
now and here a spirit body which in dissolution
only separates from the physical the assertion is
no t un derstood
When the statement is p ut fo rth
,
A UNIVERSE O F MATTER
79
that there is continuity of this life and that spirit
people have bodies live in a material universe and
have homes similar to our own the words mean
nothing to the average person for such conditions
are beyond comprehension
In order that these propositions may be under
stood it is necessary to explain the conditions
which make such a state possible ; we must kn ow
the law through which life holds continuity
Therefore a just and true comprehension of the
following facts is essential there is a material uni
verse beyond the physical ; there is an etheric uni
verse within and outside the physical ; and the en
tire un iverse is composed Of matter in di fferent
states of vibration or modes of motion These
truths must be understood before a single indi
vidual can comprehend the cont inuity of life
that the so called dead have bodies form feature
and expression and that they live on in telligently
in a world as material as this continuing their
progression Everyt hing that possesses the prop
e rty of g a it at io n or att act io n is classed as mat
te
That is the most scientic den ition of m at
ter given by people in the world beyond this
Matter is either solid liquid or gaseous If so lid
it is strongly cohesive If liquid less so If
gaseous the atoms may be said to bump against
,
r v
r.
THE DEAD H AVE NEVER D IED
80
each other and reboun d Molecul es are made u p

of several atoms For instance a molecule of
water is composed of three atoms two of hydrogen
and one of oxygen Atoms are smaller pa rticles
of matter possessed of forces so wonderful that
it is utterly impossible to trace them down and
examine them for the reason that they are con
lly changing so rapid is their passage through
ti
the atmosphere
There is much the scientists do not know about
atoms About two hundred miles above this earth
plane extends what we call atmosphere at which
distance it becomes very rare What then extends
throughout the universe throughout the solar sys
There exists
te m
throughout all solar systems ?
something which is not like the earth s atmosphere
which is called Ether through which with vib at
ing undulating motion come waves of light ulti
mately reaching the ea rth plane giving not only
light but life These countless atoms are in con
stant motion passing through the Ether with wave
like undulatory motion having perfect form with
individual likes and dislikes They have i
te llige c e are drawn together or there is no f
Co
n ity for through ain ity there is cohesion
hesio n among the atoms when slow becomes phys
ical and visible That cohesion may be among
.
nu a
82
Changing the vibrato y condition or density of

water by heat illustrates in a simple way the prop
o sitio n herein stated
You take a basin of water
and p ut a e under it ; it commences to bubble
its motion increases its vibration is raised ; it
changes to steam By conning that steam and
applying more heat super heated steam which in
itself is invisible results This passes from our
vision but is not lost or destroyed for by another
process we can restore it to its original state
Again the sun causes evaporation of the waters ;
they pass and become etheric and a pa rt of the
world invisible but through Nature s process of

condensation they fall again as rain By that
process the water did not cease to be but by that
change it ceased to be visible While invisible
its densi ty was changed its vibration slowed and
it became once more subject to the laws of gravi
r
tatio n
Again every atom that forms the mass has not

only form but energy and forc e which is life
Life may be so low as to be beyond our ap p e c ia
tion or its development may be so high as to be
equally beyond our comprehension In the co
he sio n of the atoms through their ain ity and their
development we n d the varied expressions of
life Evolution is a constant force an inherent
,
A U NIVERSE O F MATTER
83
desire for development and that great law inu
e c es every form of life
It is not conned to the
physical but acts upon the grosser substances and
through it they develop an d increase
The Universe did not commence with the bi rth
of this plan et ; its bi rth was not the commencement
of creation Our dissolution will n o t end our in
dividu ality
There is around and about us a great
universal force that we characteri e as Good That
force is a reali ty a substance composed of mat
ter developed beyond the physical and in every
instance where an atom of that force is clothed
with grosser material Nature increases its sum
total
We do not have to go beyond the physical
un iverse to see spirit activity
We never see an y
thing else
At the instant o f man s conception an etheric
atom becomes clothed It takes on through N a
a esh garment The sensitive
tu re s process
spirit body like the seed sown in the soil com
mencos its development in the dark where it grows
and increases in form and stat ure The esh gar
ment is correspondingly increased and at su ch
t imes as it becomes able to withstand the light there
is a nat ural bi rth The process of growt h that
commenced at the moment of conception is con
tin u o us it attracts other atoms slow in vibrat ion
,

it organi es the physical body so that the esh gar
ment may increase for its uses and purposes
Further the outer garment wastes from hour to
hour day to day and week to week completely
changing once in every few years But the in
dividual having form feat u re and expression does
not change except to increase mentally and physi
cally
If the whole Universe is composed of matter
man both spiritual and physical is not an ex ep
tion to the un iversal law The physical eye can
not see the etheric spirit in the body nor can it
see the spirit out of the body If the spirit in the
earth life is not composed of matter how would
it be possible to hold form feature and expres
sion ? This is the keyn ote to un derstanding for
with a comprehension of that proposition we can
appreciate what dissolution is and we may nally
understand that every plane in which we live is a
reality and composed of matter
Within ce rtain vibratory action matter is phys
ical tangible and visible and subject to the law
of gravitation When vibration is increased be
yond that point we are in the domain of spi rit
where one is not subject to the laws of gravitation
The line of demarcation therefore between the
spiritual and the physical is that point where the
84
A UN IVERSE O F MATTER
85
law of gravitation ceases to have inuence The
whole spirit world as well as the life force that
fun ctions in the tangible in this world is made up
of etheric matter as distinguished from physical
matter When the gross matter is rened to a
certain point it becomes and ever remain s Ether
but all is matter techn ically in different modes of
motion or in di fferent states of vibration
This proposition is so new in physics so beyond
the experience of men that it is difcult to grasp
bu t it can and will be understood through the e
search o f the physicist who without fear of the
criticisms of our world calls to his aid those few
psychics who have developed the sixth and seventh
senses and are able to see and hear what is said
and done in the world beyond this o who as I

have done have created a condition where the in
habitants of the place beyond can speak to us voice
to voice
.
CHAPTER VIII
THE
R COR
OF A
NIGHT
GAIN
a night of experimental work As

I closed the shutters the stars shone with
unusual brilliancy The atmospheric
conditions were perfect c lear cold dry and

still As I shut out the light seating myself o p
posito Mrs French clouds within the room for a
moment seemed to form and ro ll like smoke from
a great e Soon they passed away; and non
luminous points of light became apparent and
slowly oated Then there appeared above my
head the ribbon or bar of magnetic substance that
is always present when the conditions are right for
speech with those beyond Mrs French through
her psychic sight saw a great number of people
passing and repassing while chemists manipulated
the etheric and physical material into the exact
condition for use in speech
Wh ile waiting for the work to begin I recall
t rying to x the line of demarcation bet ween the
In a moment I shoul d hear the voices
two worlds
.
86
THE REC ORD O F A N IGHT
87
Of those actu a
lly livin g in another plane and they
would hear mine I should speak to them and they
They would see me perfectly though I
to me
,
could not see them Sight is about the o ly quality

possessed by spirit people in the conditions pre
vailing which is denied me After a moment s
reection I reali ed the limitation Of o u r sight at
all ti mes
Such situations make o n e thi k deeply
Good eve ing Mr Randall
A deep m asc u
line voice broke the stillness It was n o t the voice
o f Mrs
French n o r were her vo cal organs o f
speech used by another She bein g deaf o ften
failed to hear the voices o f spirit people and spoke
while others were speaking such interruption
sometimes causing confusion We have the voice
of o n e o f the directo s O f o r group contin ued a
great work to do to n ight and as atmospheric c o
ditio n s are unusual we have gathered a great
throng in substantially the same mental attitude
and have brought them here for help You have
done this work so long that you o f course under
stand that these people do not as yet know that
they have separated from their Old physical bodies
and are no longer inhabitants o f E arth Won t
you talk to them ? They are livin g so much in
your plane as yet that yo u can secure and hold
their attention more closely than we can

n
88
This was n o t a new experience My records

show upwards of 700 nights when thi s particular
character of work had been done
As requested
I commenced to talk easily an d natu rally I
could not see but M s French could always se e
spirit people gather about li stenin g and so me
would come close watching me intently while
others would discuss among themselves softly so
as n ot to interrupt my talk ; they were evidently
trying to comprehend the situation I had long
ago learned that those whom we were endeavour
ing to help must not be startled o frightened as
such shock would break the conditions that enabled
them to speak ; and therefore on this night I dis
cussed generally the unusual situations presented
at this particular meetin g leadin g slowly up to the
great change that had taken place H ad I bluntly
told those assembled that they were all dead the
shock would probably have ended the work for the
night I have Often kn own this to occur
It had been my Observation that some m an
among those asse mbled could take o n material that
would enable him to talk and in that manner rivet
the attention o f all those who listened and this
night w as no exception to the rule
I have a strong voice remarked been deeply

impressed with what you have said but I do no t
.

are like yet unlike Those who seem to control
the situation have bodies from which radiates
light while my o wn and those of all who are
gathered listening seem enveloped in somethin g
like a mantle Of darkness ; not that exactly fo r we
are surrounded by what I should describe as a
dark intangible substance carried by the individual
as he moves If as you say all those whom I see
except this lady and yourself are living in the
world o f spirit why do we di ffer so much ?
The appearance I replied is the result o f
a process o f renement I don t mean in manner
In
o r speech but in soul or spirit development
the life yo u n o w live the law o f attraction holds
full dominion and all those who enter are irre sist
ibly drawn into that mental state o r condition that
will accord with their o wn That is what I am
told You will n d the intellectual the high
minded the spiritual the selsh the wicked and
the immoral all Of them in different groups and
in conditions as varying as character There is
n o progress from o n e to ano ther except by a purify
ing process through labour and suffering until the
individual is qualied for advancement This is
a very natural and a very ju st process is it n o t ?

The suggestion is very new b remarked
I
can not say that it is not just but I do say it is novel
90
91
I never thought of things in that way If what you
say is true why has it never been taught be fore ?
I could answer your question in many ways

$ n owledge is the o e thing in the world
I said
we have to work for You can t steal buy in
herit o beg it ; it must be acquired by e ffo rt
Now as the world generally speaking has never
made any genuin e e ff rt to obtain knowledge of the
conditions prevailing beyond it is not surprisin g
that men and women don t kn ow
Again I
added the average mentality would n o t could
n o t and will not understand even if I should re
late what is being done and accomplished this mm
ute ; but there are some thinkers and their num
h
is fast increasing who can and will accept a
plain statement of fact when it appeals to their
reason
I am thinking he said as I never did be
fore and I don t believe I could have compre
hended that the death change could be so natural
and so simple What is beyond I don t o f course
kn ow I seem to be just waking I reali e that I
am a living entity in no way changed I now
see I am no longer like you While yo u have been
talki ng those whom I kn ew in ea rth life have come
and told me I have made a great change That is
about all I kn ow now

.
er

At this moment another spirit speaking said ;
You my friend have much to learn Come with
me fo r a little time fo r reection ; I want you to
appreciate that with all your wealth yo u were a
selsh man The world was no t enriched by your
journey through it and this accounts for the gloom
that envelops you and all those who come with yo u
The rst task that yo u must learn to do is to live
for and help others a pro cess which humaniz es and
broadens the soul and develops the man

Again the silence as the voice ceased I had
an easy disc ussion with Mrs French for a time
Then there was a whisper ; involuntarily I leaned
forward listening intently that no word from out
o f the u nkn own l and should be lost
and with a
slow and measured voice scarcely above a whisper
a woman said
I cannot understand the wisdom o f creation
It seems with my limited experience so unnecessary
that there should be so much sorrow and suffering
in my world as well as in yours I am told by
teachers greatly advanced that humanity in work
ing o ut its destiny having become selsh has lost
sight Of the great Object of earth life Dominated
t o o much by greed mankind has wandered away
from the path of purpose Y o u come in contact
with so much unhappiness in your work fo r o ly

92
93
the unfortunate need the help that you working

with the wonderful groups can give that I am per
m itte d to come an d speak to yo u and to others
through yo u o f the beauty Of this land in which
we live to enable you an d others to avoid erro
n eo us impressions of a ll
conditions prevailing
among us I came here as an infant before mem
o ry recorded events
Like all who live among us
I came up from the mass o f life and Obtained my
individuality through conception and bi rth My
rst recollection is o f a home similar to yours ex
cept more beautiful ; I was mothered by those de
nied motherhood while living among yo u It was
all ve ry sweet and tender without disc ord or in
harmony o f any character but I was taken while
yet a baby to the ea rth mother and in her arms
while she slept I absorbed the real mother love
If mothe s could o ly know how children though
gone cling to them ho w happy they would be and
how glad we are when an earth mother feels our
presence an d responds in word or thought $ As I
grew to girlh ood I was given teachers who helped
my mental growth similar to what I see in your
life except that we are n o t taught by rule The
cap abilities Of each are ascertained and each is
helped and directed along the lines o f his adapta
b ility and so life as it is unfolded grows more
,
94
wonderful and beautiful each day But I must

visit you from tim e to tim e and by coming in touch
with physical conditions obtain that experience
which was lost in leaving your world so young
Let me impress upon you the charm of o ur land
by sayin g that I have never yet found a single o ne
who had emerged and come up o t o f the earth
conditions who wanted to go back inhabit a esh
garment again and live among yo u and thi s t e

r
dl
a
e
ss
of
ea
r
th
ties
g
Tell me more o f the actualities of your daily
life I asked
You think she answered that yo u have vis
ion but your eyes have never looked upon life it
self You thin k you have hearing but your dull
ears have never heard o ne strain of o u r divine
music You have taste but your tongues have
never touched the essence Y o have smell and
the aroma o f roses carried by etheric ato ms lls the
nostrils but yo u can not appreciate the perfumes
Y o u feel the touch Of the
o f this land o f ours
coarse covering of living form without having any
conception Of the delight o f touching life itself
In this sphere we have opportunities fo r education
joys and happiness unthought of by you in the
earth land but these are o ly for those who have
come out o f the gross material condition in whic h
.
THE RECORD O F A N IGHT

95
they were born
We live in homes l argely in
groups where harmony of thought and action is
perfect but we too have as many grades o f people
as do you and in o ur earth condition is found deg
radatio
as great as that which yo u know H ere
are found the ignorant the wicked the immoral
and the vile Dissolution does n ot improve o r u p
lift character ; that must come from the germ o f
good in the heart of eve ry living c reature
Tell those who fear the end the voice said
that what they call death is very wonderful and
beautiful ; that with us as with you though you
k ow it not love is the o n e great force in the uni
verse ; it is the motor that drives the world and
causes action All things are done in and through
it and because of it Affinity so called is the proc
ess through which the love force nds expres
sion B t in this conn ection let me suggest that
love is good and o f Go d an d walks in the path
of honour never into dishonour It never brought
unhappiness ; it is never born of lust ?
It has been a joy and a privilege to speak to
you to night for if any words of min e can help or
make happier a sin gle soul that jo y is reected
about me and I am happier for havin g made
others happy Such is the law of Go d and the se
cret of the world Good night

.

What am I to do with such teachings ? Shall
I coward like fearing the censure of this little
world hide from men what has been given me ?
Such actu al experienc es have convinced me that
th is individual life c ontinues on and on through
the ages If this be so n o tongue should be tied
voice hushed or hand fail to write Of facts so im
portant to the peace and happiness o f the human
race
96
98
division These pangens are p robably units c o n

tain in g mind and if so his Opinion gives a min d
cast to the Unive rse and all that it includes
I cite these t wo scientists to show the tendency
o f the modern investigator and to illustrate how
far beyond the comprehension o f man is the life
pangen Those learned investigators living an d
working beyond the physical plane having had
greater opportunity to carry on research go far
be yond earthly experiences because they have had
a greater opportunity to acquire knowledge o f the
fundamental principles of Nature and it is from
this source that I have gathered the information that
forms the basis of this work
It is very difcult at the coming o f dawn to say
just when the night ends and the day begins It is
impossible to say where o n e color ends and another
be gins in the rainbow It is likewise very dif
cult to draw the line Of demarcation between the
physical or tangible and the eth eric o r the spirit
ual The one is tangible and the other intangible ;
the o n e is measured by three dimensions and com
prehended by the ve senses ; the other is demon
strate d by clai rvoyancy and c l irau die n c y the six th
and seventh senses
I deal now with the pa rt the physical atom plays
in the economy of Nature leavin g the etheric no
,
ATOMIC LI FE
99
less material b ut higher in its vibratory action and
functions to the discu ssion of etheric form
We n o w kn ow that what appears to be solid mat
te r tangible and dense which we can see an d fee l
is b u t an aggregation of physical atoms and mole
cules slow in vibration and that within and back of
all material is a directive force One can not con
co ivo a directive force that does not possess intelli
gence Within every atom going to make up the
tangible mass is that somethin g called inherent en
e rgy o r force which science readi ly admits becau se
it is possibl e to feel and to see the expression
o f that force
We now go o n e step further and
say that force o r energy wherever found
or however expressed is life so that we cannot
if we would disasso ciate energy from life or force
from life o r life from force or energy simply b e
cause they are one and the same thing
Nature abhors stagnation Life cannot fo r one
moment be absolutely still ; its vibration is so high
that there is no inactive substance in the world
That is eve y substan ce has more or less move
ment which causes continual change o f form and
expression The great law that we call Evolution
inuences every atom in the physical world It is
the parent of progress ; it is that something ink er
ent in eve rything from which springs th e desire to
.
100
increase reproduce and reach a higher state o f

development and that inuence is as strong in the
atoms and molecules making up what we erro e
o u sly ca ll the inanimate mass
as in the animate
mass o r the individual We have no conception
o f the max imum o r min imum o f motion o r move
ment The higher the development of the mass
the more rapid its vibration The lower the mass
development the lower its vibration the more dark
the substance as shown by the spectrum
It is most difcult to treat a subject so beyond
o u r experience
It is very difcu lt to explain a
condition so far beyond o u r comprehension but if
we had never interested ourselves in these great
u nkn own forces of N ature we should not hav e made
the wonderful progress already attained
It is easy to demonstrate that there is this some
thing called force in all substance going to make up
the tangible mass We take coal liberate the
energy and force therein contained and utiliz e it in
our industries We go down into the ea rth and
liberate the gas bring it to the surface let it come
in contact with re that is a substance higher in vi
bration than the gas itself and through chemical
action we have what we know as combustion ; we
have released the life force or the energy ; we have
dissociated the life force from the tangible gar
,

Every living creature o n the face of this glob e was
originally an atom or aggregation of atoms
Wh en it was rst clothed it was so small that n o
physic al eye could discern it and no magnifying
glass could discover it Its inception was in the
dark where the rapid light vibrations could not im
pede its development Through the process of
growth it was evolved Vegetables plants grains
animals sh and many of the birds of the air
through digestive action were utiliz ed to clothe and
furnish the physical garment which the in dividual
required in its growth and development That
physical garment is entirely constructed from those
tangib le sub stances furnished by the mass which
is necessary for that special purpose so that we
say that the physical form is being const ru cted out
of the mass of matter
Let us go a step l ower and we n d that the
physical garment that clothes the vegetable king
dom is taken from the ea rth sub st ance still lower
All animal life is con stantly taking from the mass
the sub stance which will aid its physical growth
It is all one splendid process of change and growth
and progression all tending toward the apex where
stands m an the most perfect physical being that
Nature seeks to produce in this world
in the mirror we see reected n o t the
102
ATOMIC LIFE
103
individual but the outer garment of the individual
constructed of animal and vegetable matter In
dissolution we simply give back to the elds and to
the common ea rth that which we have temporarily
borrowed The gross material composing o ur
bodies has served its purpose and it goes back to
mother earth back in to the reto rt to continue its
progression until at some time the sub stance which
covered our etheric form shall reach individuality
and then continuity
Through the labyrinth of creation there is no
rest Vibration is the pulse of Nature Super
c ial observation teaches that matter never moves
unless acted upon The sailing ship is propelled
by the winds the engine by steam ; there are in
Natu re endless manifestations of force in moving
planets and constellations in growing vegetation
and in man him self Motion belongs to the atom
The Universe is b u t an aggregation of atoms and
its motion s are just what those of a single atom
placed in its orbit would be E ach atom must be
its own motor and the combined inuence of all is
the inuence of the earth Mathematical demon
t atio n and deductive reasoning justify this sup
position The agency of an Alm ighty constantly
propelling them does n o t meet the demands of
reason Life is born of motion It is rst trace
,
s r
THE DEA D HAVE NEVER D IED

ab le in the mutual attraction bet ween atoms in solu
tion arranging themselves in denite forms ; in af
n ity and the repulsion of particles
It may ap
pear sta rtling that the forces whi ch create the crys
tal are living forces ; bu t the data available by
kn own and accepted laws justify the statement
I would direct attention to the energy contained
in the atom I would impress on the pub lic mind
that energy is l ife and that all life is mate rial ; that
is it is made up of that substance we know as Ether
which is so high in vibration and so rened that it
is no t evidential unless clothed with heavier sub
stance which we term physical ; moreover from
the life contained in the atom by evolutionary law
man has evolved We cannot understand life as
ex pressed in the individual without kn owing at
least something of its origin and the law through
which it nds ex pression in man
104

system or the earth upon which you reside They
have latitude and longitude and an atmosphere o f
peculiarly vitaliz ed air The undul ating currents
so ft and balmy are in vigorating and pleasurable
H ow does the landscape appear to you ? I
asked
H e answere d : The surface of the z one is di

There is a great variety of landscape
ve sie d
some of it most picturesque We like you have
lofty mountain ranges valleys rivers lakes fo r
ests and the internal correspondenc e o f all the
vegetable life that exists upon your earth Trees
and shrubbery covered with most beautiful foliage
and owers of every color and character known to
you and many that you know not give forth their
perfume The physical economy of each z one dif
fers from every other New and striking scenes of
grandeur are presented to us increasing in beauty
and sublimity as we progress
Do the seven concentric rings or spheres move
with the earth as the earth moves ? I asked
Although the spheres revolve he said with
the earth on a common axis forming the same
angle with the plane of the ecliptic and move with
it about your sun they are not dependent upon
that sun for either light or heat ; they receive n ot a
perceptible ray from that ponderable source

106
ETHERIC ENVI RONMENT
107
From what source do you receive your light ?

I then asked
We receive o ur light emanations he said
wholly from an etheric sun concentric with your
sun from which cent ral lu minary th ere comes u n
interrupted splendour haming description We
have therefore no division of time into days
weeks months or years nor alterations of seaso n
caused by the earth s an nual revolution for the
reason that we have n o changing seaso n as you
have caused by the action of the sun of your solar
system We lik e you are const antly progressing
from day to day but our ideas of time and se aso ns
di ffer widely from yours With you it is time
With us it is eternity In your sphere your
thoughts necessarily bounded by time and space
are limited but with us thoughts are ex tended in
proportion as we get rid of those restriction s and
o u r perception of tr uth becomes more accura te
H ow do you use matter change its form and
condition ? I asked
Matter he said with us is only tangible as
the mind conc entrates upon the object
Then the
force of the mind or thought sends its vibration
around the object holding it in a measure tangible
O f course this is something very di fferent from
what you call tangibility Without this mental
THE DEA D HAVE NEVER D I ED
108
concentration the vibration p ul ses in di e ently

That is the natural condition of matter in our z one
It requires th e thought to change its form and con
dition The vibratin g action of matter is measured
by the space necessary for the volume
H ow can this material condition in which you
live he demonstrated ? I asked
One cannot prove he said to a child that
steam that pretty fascinating sub stanc e is harm
ful until the nger is burned ; neither can one in
still the truth into an older mind until it is not only
opened b u t has the capacity to comprehend That
all is material in di e rent states of vibration is
easily grasped by the think er It is impossible to
prove by your laws to actually demonstrate the
existenc e of matter in the higher vibrations in which
we live so that men may comprehend When you
deal with matter in the physical you apply physical
laws Wh en you deal in matter spiritual you ap
ply spiritual laws practically un known among
men The best possible evidenc e is the vision of
the clairvoyant together with deductive reasoning
which as we have said is really the highest order
of proof
H ave you ever thought he said that the

resul t of every physical demonstration reaches the
consciousness through the avenue of reason ? The
'
'

tended to all that pertains to the phenomena of un i
versal truth ; to all the wonders of the heavens and
of the earth and to whatever the mi nd of m an is
capable of conceiving All of these researches ex
c roise our facul ties an d form a cons iderable pa rt
of our enjoyments The noble and sub lime
sciences of astronomy chemistry and mathe
mafi cs engage a considerable portion of our at
tention and affo rd us an inexhaustib le sub ject for
study and reection
Nevertheless there are milli ons of spirits who
are n ot yet sufciently advanced to take any inter
The mind being untram
e st in such p u rsuits
melled by the gross material body and having its
mental and intellectual energies and perceptions
improved c an by intuition as it were more cor
ectly and rapidly perceive an d u nderstand the
principles and truths on which the sciences are
based In addition to our studies we have many
other sources of intellectual moral and heartfelt
enjoyment from which we derive the most i e lfable
pleasures some of which are social reunions
among children and parents where the liveliest emo
tion and tenderest affections of our nature are ex
cited and the fondest and most endearing em i is
cences are awakened ; where spirit meets in union
with spirit and heart beats responsive to heart
110
ETHERI C ENVI RONMENT
111
have no sectarian or ecclesiastical feuds

no metaphysical dogmas ; our religiou s teachers be
long to that class of persons who were noted during
their probation on earth for their philanthropy and
deeds of moral bravery ; who regardless of the
scoffs and sneers of the time serving mul titude
dared to promulgate and defend the doctrines o f
civil and religious liberty They urge upon us
too the necessity of co operation in the reforma
tion and advancement of our more degraded breth
ren by in struct ing them in the divine principles of
love wisdom and benevolence They instruct
them in the soul inspiring and elevating doctrin es
of universal and eternal progression and in the
sublime truth that evil is not an indestructible and
positive principle bu t a negative condition a mere
t emporary circumstance of existence ; and further
more that su lfe rin g for sin is o t a revengeful and
malevolent iniction of God but a necessary and
invariable sequence of violated law
They teach also that according to th e divine

moral economy there is no such th ing as pardon for
sins committed no imm ediate mercy no possible

escape from the natural resul ts f crime no matter
where or by whom committed ; no healing Of a dis
eased moral constitution by any outward ap p li
an c e s or ceremonial absurdities ; and nally that
We

the only way to escape sin and its consequences is
by progressing above and beyond it
What is spirit as that term is used ? I asked
Spirit he said is the one great power in the
Universe The combination of spirit forces is the
great power for good and through the absence o f
that force many u ndesirable conditions develop in
your world all in the Universe is b u t an expres

sion of this great force and if this spiri t force
were n o t material were n ot a substance how could
it take form and have grow th in the physical plane ?
Those still in your w orld make a great mistake
when they for one moment imagine that o ur world
is not a materi al one ; it is foolish to think of an
existence without substance H ow can there be a
world beyond the physical unless it is material ?
Without it there coul d be no after life Strong
in visible bands of force hold the great system of
spheres in proper place It is all mind force and
all force is life mighty unchanging unyielding
and this mind power is increased by every in di
vidual life that is developed in your creative
sphere It has become a part of the individual life
force of the Universe and each day it adds some
This addition is
thin g to that force called Good
made not at dissolution bu t from hour to hour as
the mentali ty increase s

112

individual selves in about the same proportion
But we have really no conception of space or of the
thousands of su ns and solar systems con nected with
ours or of the medium between them Science has
no conception of the nature and origin of the elec
tric force and kn ows abso lutely nothi g of the
magnetic force the pa rt that it plays in N ature or
the inuence it has in this world of ours The
world has little conception Of matter exc ept in its
grossest exp ression It kn ows nothing o f solar
space It has no t developed sufciently to com
prehend that the Universe is material and that the
di e ren t planes are similar except in density
The race has o t yet developed sufciently to
de rsta d what life is or the source from whence
th is atom that develops self has come Nor do we
yet appreciate or understand the duties and re
sp o sib ilitie s that rest upon the individual and his
relation to society and to himself Certain ele
mentary propositions have been enu nciated and
demonstrated and many so called great minds say
Life force is as
that beyond th em we cannot go
much of a mystery to science to day as it was b e
fore the Christian era
The primary propositions which must be under
stood are these : the earth is one of many creative
planets ; progress has only commenced ; nothing in
114
'
ETHERIC ENVI RONMENT
115
this physical world has or will reach perfection ; all

present knowledge is elementary ; there are no
limitations ; l ife is eternal and will continue to de
ve lo p ex pand and increase through the untold ages
yet to come beyond man s comprehension of time
O ur beginning we can ot know with our present
development ; knowledge of our end is equ ally im
possible but the present is ours
,
CHAPTER
XI
50 L I TTLE CHAN GE
OW can
people be dead and n o t kn ow it ?

Thi s was the most difcul t proposition
that was ever presented to me All o r
tho do x teachin g has been su ch that it is difcul t
for any o ne to comprehend th e natu ral conditi ons
abou t them
In my rst years of this most inter
esting research I talked with many who did o t
know that they had left the earth life at all Why
did they n o t know that they had left the physical
body ?
Let me give a stenographic account of our work
on the evening of May 10 189 7 illustrative of the
point referred to and reported by Miss Gertrude
Spauld in g now secreta ry to one o f the United
States senators from Minnesota
The spirit controlling o ur work said : To
night we must brin g into you r p resence a neces
sity bring one who needs help more than yo u need
words o f instruction In this regular work do n ot
.
116

H
ow
did
you
get
it
?
Q
A Never mind that I have it and want to
sell it
?
H
ow
long
have
you
had
that
stock
for
sale
Q
A I have had it for about e years H ave
not sold it because eve ybody seems afraid of it
N
ow
hasn
t
it
occurred
to
you
hat
if
you
t
Q
have not sold it there is something about that
stock that isn t right ?
A I know all about that stock Are you
afraid of it ?
f
N
o
I
am
not
afraid
of
it
You
have
o
Q
fe e d it ve y cheap I suppose ?
A Not so ve y I don t believe in cheap
118
You
have
traveled
?
Q
A Traveled ? Traveled from one end of the
earth to the other I have even been to Europe
N
ow
does
it
not
seem
st
ange
to
you
that
r
Q
you have traveled so far and not sold your stock ?
A I ll tell you It is strange to me because
everybody that I have offered it to has t urned away
after looking at it People think I am a little
.
Q
A
Now
where is your family ?

You want my wife to sign the papers ?
,
S O LITTLE CHANGE
119
ill
she
sign
?
W
Q
A It is not necessary
here
is
she
W
?
Q
A Home
here
is
home
W
?
Q
A I will tell you if yo u want to know She
is at San Jose California
You
have
traveled
a
good
way
D
id
you
Q
e e h ea of the city of Bu ff alo ?
A Yes who has t ?
It
is
a
good
city
isn
t
it
?
Q
A Very good ve y good
f
f
N
ow
I
live
in
Bu
alo
am
in
my
1
w
n
o
Q
home now
A You don t mean to say that I am in Buf
fl ?
Y
e
s
Q
A Your home ?
Yes
You
have
been
brought
here
for
Q
some purpose other tha selling mining stock
You have traveled a long way Now my friend
where did you get those papers ? Be honest with
me H ave they not been a burden to you for
years ?
A Th t will do gentlemen
D
id
you
get
that
stock
honest
l
y
?
Q
.
v r
a o

The voice of the control interrupted speaking
with great force ; The man you stole the papers
from shot you
h
is
hat
H
ow
do
s
he
know
H
ow
?
?
o
W
t
e
Q
does he know ?
The control speakin g to us said :
H e was shot while stealing those papers

When we cann ot reach spirits of his kind we nd
it nec essary to bring them into the conditions pre
vailing here now ; we want your help In this con
dition their me tal activities are quickened and
they are brought out of mental darkness

I said to the spirit : If yo u will come and touch
me possibly you will gather more strength
A You will put handcuffs on me
m
You
are
a
ong
friends
Q
A I don t tru st in friends or strangers
I
want
you
to
listen
to
what
I
have
to
say
Q
You are nearly three thousand miles from San
When you were stealing that
Jose California
stock from that other man you heard the click of a
revolver didn t you ?
Yes
D id you hear the explosion ?
12 0
N0
There was one

I Shoul d have heard it if there had been
.

change that has come and teach you ho w to co m
pensate for the wro g that you did If you will
listen you will be told
A I believe none of that
i
s
u
D
o
you
understand
tha
t
ere
act
ally
no
h
t
Q
death ?
A No I do ot
The
majori
t
y
of
p
op
l
e
in
the
physical
world
e
Q
do not understand that ch nge at all One leaves
the Old physical body as one leaves an old coat
Bu t the etheric body the individual self with its
tendencies and desires goes on and on Now
don t you think there has been a chan ge with you in
some way ? D o you want me to demonstrate that
to you ?
A I am just like you
Tha
cannot
be
for
your
body
is
composed
t
Q
of ether only I lift my hand to my face Can
you se e my face through my hand ?
A NO
N
ow
l
ift
up
your
hand
D
on
t
you
see
Q
there is a difference ?
A Yes I can see through my hand
h
a
do
you
think
of
that
t
?
W
Q
A If you think I am cra y I had better go
are
not
trying
to
do
you
harm
W
e
Q
A Talk then in reason
12 2
S O LITTLE CHANGE
12 3
The control interrupted again saying :
We will bring a spirit that shall teach you what
is reasonab le and he shall prove to you that yo u
too are a spirit
lk
u
D
o
you
know
that
the
man
ta
ing
to
o
Q
y
now is 8
once a citi e of much prominence ?
A He is dead
n
I
b
H
e
is
talking
to
you
e
dead
if
he
ca
Q
talk ?
A Y o u are a queer lot of people
l
Possibly
but
if
you
wil
listen
to
what
he
Q
says if you will earnestly seek the tru th you will
n d it
Things are not satisfactory with you are
they ?
A Not ve y
r
N
ow
you
wo
ld
like
to
e
t
out
of
you
pres
u
g
Q
ent condition would you not ?
A I don t like to be called dead
e
ll
help
you
all
we
can
want
W
l
W
e
W
Q
you to listen I tell you again there is no death
A But you said I was a spirit
Yes
I
say
that
you
are
now
in
the
after
Q
life and that you have an etheric body almost
identical with the old physical
A D on t you know that the spirit is nothing
but dust ?
I
do
not
on
the
contra
y
it
is
as
materia
l
;
Q
as before dissolution ?
,

A Where are your ministers ? Why don t they
so teach if it is a fact
d
t
Because
the
great
majori
y
don
t
know
an
;
Q
the few who do know have not the courage
A I will go and ask Father Spencer if this be
124
121116
Do
h
want
to
Father
Spencer
rig
t
se
e
Q
here ? Is it possible at this time to bring Father
Spencer here to night ? I asked the control
A I am sending messengers for Father Sp en
cer who has also passed on since his going he re
plied
d
i
f
N
ow
Father
Spencer
can
come
here
an
Q
talk to you as a spirit
A Then I will believe every word you said
E
ither
to
night
or
at
some
other
time
u
o
Q
y
shall talk with Father Spencer as you are talking
now with us
A I will wait
Some years elapsed before this strange spi rit
came again and then only to say that he had
found Father Spencer an d had co me to u nder
stand the terrible co dition which by a life ill
spent he had made for himself H e then ap
n
a
c
t
i
that
he
m
u
st
meet
again
eve
y
wro
g
e
ec
a
t
d
p
of his ea rth l ife live it again and live it right
and by labour make retribu tion for all the wrong
.
o
u
y
CHAPTER
XII
ETHE RI C
MAN S
B ODY
ancients thought that Ether lled the

sky and was the home of the Gods It
was contended by Aristotle that it ex
t ended from the xed stars down to the moon
Modern science has heretofore conte ded that all
space is lled with a substance having rigidity and
elasticity with a density equal to our atmosphere at
a height of about 2 10 miles e asily displaced by
any moving mass compared to an all prevailing

uid or derivative of gases th rough which heat
and light are constantly throbbing
In Modern views
Electricity Sir Oliver
Lodge speaking the last word concerning Ether
says :
It is one contin uous substance lling all space ;
which can vibrate as light which under certa in
unkn own conditions can be modied or analy ed
into positive and negative electricity ; which can
constit ute matter ; and can transmit by continuity
and not by impact every action and reaction of
HE
on
12 6
MAN S ETHERIC B ODY

12 7
which matter is capable This is the modern view
of the Ether and it f nctions The most solid
substance i the world is not iron i not lead is not
gold is not any of the things that impress our
sense as extremely dense The most solid thing
in existence is the very thing which for genera
tions has been universally regarded as the lightest
the most imperceptible the most utterly tenuous and
evanescent beyond denition or c omputation ; it is
the Ether The Ether is supposed to permeate
everything to be everywhere to penetrate all h
h
s
h
ec
t
to
extend
t
roughout
all
space
E
a
th
T
e
j
r
moves through it ; the s and all the stars have
their being and their motion in and through the
Ether ; it carries light and electricity and all forms
of radiation Nobody has ever seen it or rend
ered it evident to touch O to any other sense It
escapes all efforts to feel it to weigh it to subj ect
it to any kind Of scienti c experiment It plays
no part in mechanics It neither adds to nor takes
away from the width or ubstance of any known
substance We are assured by some of the highest
authorities that the ether is millions of times more
dense than platinum one of the most solid metals
known
Surrounding us and lling what we know as
space and permeating all things is that substance
un

termed Ether It is a subtile essence hard to den e
that is in the atmosphere we breathe highly sensi
tive through which the light of the sun travels in
undulating waves but just as much a substance as
There is a gross Ether
th e ve y rocks and stones
Thr ough the
an d there is also a rened E ther
medium of the grosser Ether we send our ether
grams but of the n er more sensitive ether we
know but little
The suggestion that all life has ethe ric fo rm is
entirely new Whether we are advanced enough to
appreciate a proposition so beyond our experience
is a qu estion b ut a moment s reection an d we do
comprehend that all life comes from the invisible
and ultimately goes back to the invisible The un
seen then is the real an d the seen the result of in
visible causes There i a world within a world
all contained in this wondrous universe
We see
and touch only the outer garment of the etheric uni
verse which temporarily clothed with gross ma
te rial is working out its devel opment
A directive
intelligence has made all Nature s laws through
which each inhabited planet moves and has its b e
ing has its domain in the invisible The invisible
then becomes a legitimate eld of inqui y
I am assu red by those versed in the physics of the
after life with whom I have speech that all life
12 8

with its complicated chambe r an d auditory nerves
really hears through the etheric brain Sever the
nerves destroy the tympanum and you destroy the
comm nication ; put any of the very n e mechani sm
of the auditory chamber o u t of commission and
you either cannot hear at all or at best very
perfectly Every concu ssion causes an ever widen
ing circle in the atmosphere that is in the ether of
the atmosphere whi ch at last reaches th e audito ry
chamb er communicates wi th those n e nerves and
with the brain By that wonderful process we
un derstand th e di ff erence bet ween harmony and in
harmony between sweet sounds and discords
Similarly through a disturbance set up in the
o the we u nderstand lan guage
Horses cattle an d sheep will exist and wax fat
on grass and water Put them all together in an
enclosed eld in a tropical country and keep them
there i den itly what happens ? They feed on
identically the same food and multiply ; the esh
covering wastes and is from day to day replaced a
complete change being ultimately brought about
Wh y do they not inter breed why does each hold
individual form ? It is solely because each has an
invisible form that is a form composed of matter
in a ve y high state of vibration which holds con
t i u it y having reached the state te rmed etheric at
130
MAN S ETHERIC B ODY

131
which point the life form neither disintegrates nor
enters into new combinations Man di e s from
the animal only in developme t At the mome t
of conception he possesses an etheric body minute
and perfect beyond comprehension and if per
m itte d to inhab it the physical body for the usual
period of time attains a ormal growth
When by heat we break down the outer garment
of a lump of coal when the physical will no longer
hold the energy the life or the etheric form the
t wo are dissociated ; in other words the energy or
life form escapes to pass into some other state ;
the outer garment the cinder or ash on the other
hand returns from whence it came ultimately to
be taken up by another form of life until in time
it shall have been so rened that it will hold co n
t in ity because it has become etheric
An d all this
to demonstrate that man is a p a t Of one st upendous
whole evolved from the etheric life in the mass e
ed to the point where he holds individuality
D eath so called is the passing out of the individual
spirit or etheric body from the esh covering Re
leased from that outer garment it becomes an i
habitant of a plane where all is etheric but to the
etheric sense and touch all things are just as tang
ible real and nat ural as when in earth life
It is utterly impossible for a human being to nu

de rstan d the chan ge in which death so called occu rs
unl ess he realiz es that every individu al possesses
a spirit form composed of etheric atoms just as
much matter as the esh garment that is visible
and tangible $ nowing that fact he can then un
de rstan d that dissolution is simply the separation
of the physical from the etheric body when the
former by accident disease or age can no longer
obey the will of the o ccupant When the physical
body can no longer do its part the spirit or etheric
body by a natural law abandons the esh garment
and by that act ceases to be an inhabitant of the
ea rth plane This is all that occu rs at the time of
dissolution
132

who will in the ages yet to come inhabit for a little
This being a
t ime this physical world will go
self evident truth what more important eld of in
ve st igat io n ca
there be ? Compared with it the
discovery of the Poles or the opening of the Dark
Continent is insignicant
If there is a tangible and material yet unknown
lan d beyond the physical inhabited by people why
has it not already been discovered ? The answer
is simple
Ignorance and superstition have been
barriers more difficult to climb over than mountains
of ice and snow and notwithstanding the millions
who have gone into that unknown land little effort
has been made to asce rtain anything concerning it
An illustration may help to explain the reason for
Before lan guage was written
such indi fference
an d largely before the advent of the printing press
knowledge was transmitted by word of mouth and
legends and tradition s were handed down from
one generation to another Some of these were i
c o p o ate d in books
and on account of being in
print they found acceptance as fact s Chief
among them were the stories of the creation and of
the conditions following dissolution and men with
o u t thinking for themselves or requiring proof have
b lindly accepted legends and traditions in place of
facts ba ed on laws that appeal to reason Herein
134
THE UN$ NOWN LAND

135
lies in part an explanation o f the in di fference
Wh en man becomes satised that beyond the
physical there is another world inhabited by all
the countless so called dead where those whom he
has loved and lost live and work the purse strings
will be loosened means will be provided the spirit
of exploration will be revived and others as brave
as Colum bus as reckless as Cortez as heroic as
Livingston as fearless as Perry w ill become
pioneers in the unmapped wilderness of the U n
known Land By their di scoveries the world will
b e enriched a thousand times more than by the ex
h
l
i
n
s
of
ages
past
into
the
waste
places
of
o
a
t
o
t
e
p
the Poles But until the public intellect is startled
u ntil the thought of the world is aroused a few of
us unaided must work alone
In the after life I have father mother brother
and so n Others similarly situ ated may be satis
e d w ith the orthodox teaching as to where they are
and their condition but I have not been and I
have laboured to know something of their daily life
and how an d where in the vast Universe they live
and work Much has been written about spirits
and spirit life of a Heaven an d 3 Hell where the
so called dead exist b t it is so ha z y
indenite
and theoretical that it has not appealed to my reason
o r satised my desire for facts
,

D o the dead live in houses ? Why not ? The
plane where they live being material why shoul d
they not build homes furnish and beautify them ?
All the material in the u niverse is not conned to
the e arthlan d Are they clothed ? Why n o t ?
Their bodies being no less visible than when in the
earth life they having suitable material adapted to
their necessities make and clothe their nakedness
for modesty does not cease with dissolution Do
they require food ? Why not ? Their digestive
organs were not destroyed in making the change
True the process is in a great measure rened so
that they take the essence instead of the su bstance
as mo rtals do
In dissolution do those addicted to
opiates liquors or tobacco lose the desire is a
other question No ; in earth life it was not the
esh tissu e that craved opiates but the ne vou s sys
tem the etheric body and there being no change
in the etheric body the craving continues and must
ultim ately be overcome The physical cannot en
ter the etheric kingdom of God Are the so called
dead homeless in going into the nex t life ? A very
natural qu ery Some people I am told have lived
such degenerate lives that they n d nothing wait
ing in the great beyond A home may have been
constructed by those who have preceded them but
they may be unable to reach it for years to come
136

Wh en I was rst told that those in the after life
w ere real people and lived in a world as tangible
as this the sub ject was beyond my mental grasp
for I had been taught that the world of spirit was
intangib le and existed in space with no suggestion
that what we call matter existed beyond the visible ;
and I never could grasp its reality until I was
taught that in this our present plane of existence
we realiz e matter only in a certain mode of motion
when it may be said to have three dimensions
length breadth and thickness If others must
undergo the process which I have needed they
shoul d adopt the same method and not attempt to
grasp conditions prevailing in the after life until
by research and deductive reasoning they have come
to comprehend matter in its higher and more re
n ed forms and in its di fferent modes of motion
After reaching that point they will not n d it dil
cul t to app reciate a condition beyond thi s crude
plane in which people once inhabitants of this
world live similar lives with similar environment
H aving cast Off the slow vibrating esh garment
called the body they nd eve ythin g as material
as before I am t ying to explain this subject in a
simple manner so that any mind capable of reason
ing and th inking may understand I nd it even
then diicu lt for the prop o sition is entirely new in
138
THE UN$ NOWN LAND

139
physics Wh en this fact is nally accepted think
ing minds will work it o t in detail and present it
in a thousand provable ways of which I have not
thought and then people will wonder that the facts
were never worked out before In time all will
come to know that this like all other natu ral
cha ges is ext remely simple
$ nowledge of the environm ent of the next plane
and of the condit ions there prevailing can o ly
come from those who are there and it is from such
that I have obtained my information Let those
wh o challenge the statement that I have had speech
with the inhabitants of the after life remember thi s
fact that on an average of once a week for 2 0

years under scientic conditions I have done
that identical thing and have had speech with thou
sands of different individuals who have proved their
identity An y one who wo uld deny that fact should
have had equ al experience in order to be qualied
to speak on the subject So far as I kn ow no man
has ever had the opportu nity or received the in
formation as to the actu al conditions prevailing in
the after life to a greater extent than I have
It is a fact to be noted that the information as
to the conditions prevailing in the after life o h
tai e d by all careful psychic researches s b tan
tially agrees
.
CHAPTER
L
PE RSONA
XIV
IDE NTITY
ERSONAL
identity has been the stumb ling

block of psychic investigators In my
work on account of the darkness re
quired I have to depend upon the voice and the i
formation given for proof of identity of the indi
vidual I have had in thi s regard some very re
markable proofs
It is onl y by showing that people in the after
life have material bodies and live under material
conditions that we can appreciate how they may
speak with direct voice and prove their identity
Assuming that they have bodies that they retain the
same etheric form that was clothed with the esh
garment and that they live in a material world
w e do not d th e fact that they speak to us and
communicate w ith us in various ways startl ing ;
o n the contra ry it is reasonable and natu ral not
only th at they should do so but that they shoul d
be just as anxious to communicate w ith us as w e are
to communicate w ith them
.
140

the judgment on record and I want you to collect
it There are many things that you don t know
about a d this is one of them
I was much surpri sed at the information thus
received an d naturally sent for a transcript of that
judgment I found it entered October 2 1 1896
an d with that evidence of the indebtedness I col
lec te d from the judgment debtor $ 7 0 with interest
I question if an y one knew of that transaction b e
sides the makers o f the note and the prothonotary
at Erie Certainly I did n o t know about it I had
no reason to suspect it The psychic present at
that interview could n o t have known about the
matter and I certainly collected the mong y My
father s voice was clearly recogniz able on that occa
sion as it has been on hundreds of others and I
cite thi s instance for the benet of those who meas
ure eve ything from a monetary standpoint
Dr Isaac J Funk a man of much learning spent
forty years in psychic research He published the
result of his investigation and many of his con
elusions but he always lived in awe of the criticism
of science I spent many hours with Dr Funk go
ing over the details of my own work and I discussed
with him many of the problems with which we had
to deal H e was mu h interested in the investiga
tions that I w as making with Mrs French and fo r
142
PERS ONAL IDENTITY

143
that reason I arranged for her to go to New York
where she spent eleven days with him and his as
sociates There under conditions that he desired
she demonstrated the work she was doing with me
The result he pu blished in his Psychic Riddle

H e was always anxious for proof that the voices
which he heard were in dep endent an d he wanted
evidence of the identity o f those with whom I had
speech These points be regarded as impo rtant to
prove the continuity of life and in his work he was
unable to satisfy himself concerning them H is
method was to attempt to prove a fact by the proc
ess of elimination that is to p rove truths by dem
H e like all other sc ie n
o n strat i g their opposite
t ic men attempted to rear a structure by tearing
This process has impeded
the structure down
the progress of nearly all psychic investigators and
I often said to him that one should seek what he
wa ted to n d with open and receptive mind al
ways having in his thought that conditions cann ot be
changed to satisfy any one s p articular notion ; that
we must accept conditions as we n d them and
make them better to enable us to gain the en d de
sired In all Of D r F k p u blished works he
left a loophole in his conclusions that he might
avoid criticism should he be found in error
Some time ago the doc tor left his physical body
.
un
144
and one night soon after during one of the last

sessions I had with Mrs French a man s voice
spoke my name The tone was familiar but I
coul d not associate the voice with any one whom I
had known in the earth life although I knew a spi rit
was speaking
I replied Your voice is familiar but I do not
recogniz e it
H e replied I am D r Isaac Funk I have been
o u t of the body but a short time a d being interested
in your work I have been permitted to come
I then said : You may be Dr Fu nk as you
claim bu t w e cannot permit you to consume o ur
time unless you establish your identity This is
one of the ru les that we adopted some time since
for the reason that knowing the person we can
form some judgment as to the value of what he
may say If you are D r Funk and desire to con
ti
you must establish that
e thi s c o nversation
fact
H e quickly responded : Y o u are entirely right
about that ; what yo u ask is fair I ought to be able
to establish my identity
I said : Certainly if yo u are Dr Funk you
can give us some proof of your identity During
your ea rth life you always made a great point
of establishing identity
,
nu
146
time and p lace I now recogniz e your voice

an d your pro of is satisfact ory
I then p u t my hand on the table Mrs French
at my suggestion put her mouth upon the back of
my hand I p ut my free hand over the back of her
head holding it rmly and then I said :
Is thi s what you asked me to do ?
D r Funk replied : Yes

I imm ediately said : D r Funk you do the
ta lking and we will demonstrate that y ou r voice is
independent
Af terward there was a general ta lk between D r
Funk certain of my group of cO workers upon his
side o f l ife and me and some plain things we re
said I told D r Funk that because o f his promi
n en ce and as o n e who had in vestigate d this im
portant subject fo r many yea rs he coul d have been
a great force for good; that man y people in this
world of men w ere interested in him and his writ
ings and w ere guided by his conclusions but that
he never pu blished them in full for which reason
hi s readers coul d n o t reach a better conclu sion
than he did I told him that he had failed at the
crucial moment an d had nul lied the good he
coul d have done I added th at I regarded thi s as
a great misfortune n o t only to him bu t to the world
at the
PERSONAL IDENTITY
147
H e replied : I realiz e that n ow more than
ever It is a fact that I was afraid o f the criticism
o f men o f science
I n o w regret very mu ch tha t
I did n o t fully publish my conclus ions In my
o wn mind there was no doub t
A spirit answered and said to him
You were the custodian o f much knowledge
Through your investigations you learned many
thin gs By reason of your position you cou ld
have done much good That was your stumb ling
block and before you can progress yo u must be
come strong where you were weak
In my investigations covering many years in
the room in my own home devoted to such work
thousands of men whom I have known personally
have talked with me using their o wn tongues I
have recogniz ed their voices ; they have recalled
and related countless facts and incidents o f their
daily life and have proved beyond question thei r
identity no less convincing than in the tw o cases
to which I ha v e referred
Again I have talked with many whose personal
acquaintance I did ot enjoy when they were in
this life but through this intercourse I have come
I have
to know them well and admi re them much
heard o n many occasions the speech of Robert G
Ingersoll which no m an cou ld imitate speech as

eloqu ent as when in his lectu res he held great au
die n ces spellb ou nd
H enry Ward Beecher has
honoured me with his friendship and delivered
many lectures on conditions prevaili ng beyond the
physical DeWitt Talmage has talked o n various
occasions of the duties o f the minis try an d of the
c onditions
resu lting to the individual though
H e found
t ea ching things that were u nknown
that there was n o progress possible in the after
life fo r o ne occupying the position of spiritual
leader when here u ntil he had searched o ut in
his plane all those who had followed his teaching
and had brought them to the truth ; moreover he
found that he must stand and wait u ntil the com
ing o f those still in the earth life in order that
his error shou ld be corrected at the earliest possi
ble moment
To promulgate u nknown or impracticable teach
ings while o n this earth plane is a serious matter
and results in punishment in the after life
148
THE
150
3
DEAD HAVE NEVER D IED
Instruction
Trial and Temptation
Truth
H armony
Exaltation
.
have written of the conditions in the rst

sphere as I kn ow them from wo rk done there and
general information given m e by spirit people ;
but in taking up the spheres beyond the rst I am
now able to give the language of those who live in
them and who describe them One said :
I kn ow what we all k now that there are

seven spheres
I have just reached th e third
Sometimes a spirit can speak from his sphere to
the next higher as you do while in the body but
only in the same way I mean that there is no
mingling together Wh en a spirit goes from one
sphere to another it is quite unlike dissolution
in ea rth life H e is warned that the change is near
and has time to put his mind into a higher plane
of thought so that he will be prepared to meet
the new life H e says farewell to all his friends
They join in a general thanksgiving an d celebra
tion all congratulating an d helping him on his
way by strong u plifting thou ghts. Wh en the
time comes he is put quietly to sleep with the
I
SPHERE S IN THE AFTER LIFE
151
thou ght dominant in his mind that he is to make

the change When he awakes he is in his new
home in the next higher sphere H e has disap
r
e
u
h
a
from
old
There
is
no
ol
d
bod
y
to
b
r
y
e
d
t
e
p
and decay E ach change is for a higher and b et
ter life and the home awaiting is more beautiful
as he builds with a surer wiser hand or rather
spirit H is home ceases to be among his former
friends when this change comes Thought ha s
tted him to progress and when that thought which
held him to the lower plane has ceased the emb o di
ment of the spirit which is held together by his
thought is visible no longer
Each new change is more difcult to explain

to you than the one preceding It is simply a
higher life and a busy one in which to develop our
selves along all lines especially the ones suitable
to the individual s taste In this way each spi rit
becomes better tted to be a teacher and helper
It is a very active pleas ant life and so metim es
seems like a big university town or country with
busy students hurrying from lecture to lec tu re
and class to class All are congeni al and light
hearted there
In the lower sphere one sees mu ch su e rin g

among those still earth bound They too are
busy working out past faults and they are often
.
'
'
THE

he avy hearted Generally speaking the rst
152
sphere is the one where restitution must be made

and where the nal wrenching away from earth
conditi ons takes place The second is one of in
st ruction a perio d of st udy during which the
spirit gains k nowledge of self and natural law
The third is one of teaching those in the lower
spheres as I have said The fou rth sphere is one
of trial and temptation The fth is truth where
error and falsehood are unknown In the sixth
all is harmony In the seventh the spirits reach
the plane of exaltation and become one with the
great spirit that rules the universe
There are others more advanced th an I who

I have
can better tell you o f the spheres beyond
not been to the fourth and on ly kn ow of it as you
do by the teaching of those who are there We
are told that the spirits in the sphere of exaltation
do not e ven there los e individuality They are em
bodied in all the beauty and good of the uni verse
I do not kn ow that I can make my meaning clear
Although they keep individuality they permeate
the universe They have become so great and
universal we sometimes think they go beyond and
must lose their personality ; but we have no denite
k nowledge and it i s generally accepted they do
not It is di cult to understand or appreciate
,
THE

pursued in the higher life Not much can be
told I assum e but possibly all that a n ite mind
154
can grasp I believe what I have written not on ly

because I know the one who talked but because it
appeals to reason and is in ha rmony with natural
law as I understand it
Tru e it is hard to understand where these
spheres are but there are m any thin gs quite as
di cu lt of comprehen sion
Astronomical in stru
ments have shown that it i s ninety three mill ions
of miles to the sun but this really conveys noth
ing to the mind because one cann ot comprehend
su ch a distance We know that light travels at
the rate of on e hundred and eighty six thousand
miles a second but what that rate of speed is we
cann ot underst and for there is nothin g tangible
with which to compare it Our actual k nowledge
of electricity of magnetism or even of gravitation
is limited as are all of Nature s laws Then is it
strange that one nds difculty in appreciating
what space is and how it is peopled ? This thought
of ou rs i s even now free and can pass through space
bu t it goe s with closed eyes hears no so unds and
feels no tou ch At dissolution each sense is qui ck
ened and all life that lls space is visible to the
Spiritual senses and tangible to spiritual touch and
brain Space mu st then take form substance and
,
SPHERE S IN THE AFTER LIFE
155
reality
a world of thought boun dless and
in
endless
One in the afte r life gave m e a description o f
the spirit hom e o f a great splendi d mother built
by the labour of love and ceaseless charity in the

physical as well as in the spirit plane in which she
now resides one who worked long and earnestly

to make women understand th e truth so that they
might live nearer to the best in natu re H ere is
the d escription as it w as gi ven me :
Before me is the interior of a splend id home

the home mad e by a spirit created and builded by
the thoughts acts an d works of one who thi rty
two years ago lived on the material plane The
room opening be fore me seems like pure white
marble with lofty ceilings ; a rou nd the four sides
runs a broad balcony supported by columns grace
fully turned ; from a point beyond the centre is a
broad stairway curving out ward ; at its foot on
each side are niches ll ed with b eautiful statuary
Going up the stairs now I nd each step a different
colour yet all blend ing into one ; on all sides of
this upper gallery are windows through which come
soft rays of light Opening o the sides are
rooms ; and a s I look a door opens an d a beauti
ful spirit comes out taking on as she enters the
old material c ondition that she may be recogniz ed
.
THE
156
She has reached maturity in years and has a face
of rare gentleness the beauty of purity she

smiles as we describe her and her home to you
With her is a daughter just reaching womanhood ;
one that never lived the ea rth life but was prema
These two drawn by the invisible
tu re ly born
bond of a e ctio n have builded this home and made
it rich with love
Passing down the corridor now the mother s

arm about the daughter they approach the other
end of the building and descend a stairway similar
to the rst and go out u pon a broad terrace along
walks bordered with owers into the garden of
happiness Turning now and looking toward a
valley I see many trees heavy with foliage and
through them I beho ld the waters of a lake rich as
an emerald in colour
About the vaulted room which I have de

scribed are many others of like material lled
with all that this mother loves Books that she
u ses in her work are seen ; pi c tu res created by acts
of tenderness adorn the walls Musical in stru
ments u nlike those of ea rth await spirit touch
This is a home where girls ju st budding into
womanhood are taught purity this is a mother s

home and suggests to you the possibility of spirit
It was not builded in a day
u al surroundings
,
THE
158
homes b ut as the soul grows in beauty of
thought and d eed the home grows to perfect ion
Are these homes as real to you as ours are to
us ?
I asked
They are the abiding places of spirits who

gather into them the objects of beauty they love
and there harmonious spirits come and go as in
ea rth life They are a s real to them as yours are
to yo u But we look at things di e ren tly ; we
think them and the thought is expresse d in waves
that are visible and real as long as we hold the
thou ght
these
'
CHAPTER
T HEIR DAI L Y
XVI
L IFE
N my investigation I was always anxiou s to

obtain a description of the occupation and
d aily life of those who live in the plane be
yond an d asked many practi cal questions
What is this death change that seems so hor

,
rible to the average mind ? I inquired
Death change
one answered is simply the

liberation of the spirit form from the physi cal
body composing the outer esh garment perfectly
natural and painless Every change in Nature is
beautiful and d issolution i s no exception to the
rule One simply ce ases to be an inhabitant of
your world and in an instant one becomes an in
habitant of th e world in which we now live The
second world or plane is just as n atural to us
as the rst but of co urse we live under different
conditions We pass our daily life a s before
O ur spirit is just as perfec t a human form as it
ever was For your clear understanding of the
mo dus o p e rand i of the death change to this plane
,
159
THE
160
we may say one parts with the physical body only

We lose none of our intelligence ; neither is any
thing added to o ur understanding
What of your daily life ? I asked
There is
Our days are very busy he said
no stagnation but on th e contrary intense activity
among every one that is when we have emerged
from the earth conditions There a re countless
millions of children unborn physically who are
plunged into this world of ours an d there are mil
lions of women here who have never k nown
motherhood in ea rth life who take and care for
them watch an d aid their growth mentally and
physically and in that manner satisfy the craving
of motherhood
The insane pass from the ea rth life insane

still and countless numbers of our people are re
quired to care for them and give them proper
treatment so that their mentality may be restored
to the normal Murderers at war with humanity
hanged or electrocuted on the ea rth plane are lib
e rate d in this communi ty and we are obliged to do
what the world of men failed to do control and

educate them Then again we have the ignorant
and vicious The atom of Good that has found
expression in them must be developed and directed
Few people come into this li fe with any conception
.
162
THE
DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED
The only happiness that the inhabitants of earth

really get is through being charitable doing good
and
The only wealth
the world happier
that any man carries beyond the grave is what he
gives away before he reaches the grave
Tell us something of your foods Do you re
quire n o urishm m t ? I asked
Yes he answered but not in the manner or

in the way that you do O ur digestive organs con
tinn e their functions and we require food but we
take the essence while you take the sub stance
You tak e foo d day by day in earth life The sub
st ance is ab sorbed in the physical garment but it is
the essence of the food that nourishe s the spirit
body from day to day The sub stance is no longer
necessary but the essence is necessary just as it
was before So you see there is very little change
in physical necessities
Tell me of your political economy I asked
There is D r Ho ssock answered no aristoc

racy in this land of ours but mind and merit The
law of Nature which i s the Supreme Force call ed
Universal Law has to be obeyed in order that each
sp here may be reached Every indivi dual re
mains upon the plane for which he is tted un til
he subjects his will to the Universal Law As he
,
THEI R
DAILY LIFE
163
p rogresses he learns new laws but they are funda

mentally the same only they grow more intense
and vital un til he becomes a part of that law him
self
The political economy o f the spheres has refe r

ence only to wealth whi ch being unb o un de d and
free as a ir and light can of course be appropri
ated by ea ch an d every member of society accord
ing to his or her capacity of reception the supply
being equ al to the demand H ence it will be seen
that we have no o ccasion for gold and silver which
perish with the using ; but the currency of moral
and intellectu al worth coined in the mint of divine
Love and assayed by the standards of purity and
truth is n ce ssary for each one
Tell me something of your social life I said
With regard to the social constitution of the
Spheres he answered each i s divi ded into six

circles or soc ieties in which congenial people live
together agreeably according to the law of attrae
tion Although the individuals composing su ch
society unite as near as may be in thought agreeing
in the most important moral and intellectual fea
t ure s yet upon care ful analysi s we nd that the
varieties of character in each society are alm ost
without number They are perfectly analogous to
the numerous members of the di fferent societi es o n
,
THE

the ea rth plane E ach group has teachers more
164
advance d than the members of the group an d

teache rs often come from higher spheres The y
impart to us the knowledge that they have acqu i re d
in their progression in the di fferent departm ents of
science which we in t urn transmit to those below
us j u st in the same mann er as we are transmit
ting kn owledge to you now Thus by rece iving
and tea ching our intellectual facu lties are ex
an
n
d
e
to
hi
g
her
c
onceptions
more
exalte
d
d
a
d
p
views of Nature s laws Our sci enti c researches
are extended to all that pertains to N atu re to the
wonders of the heavens and of ea rth and to what
ever the mentality is capable o f conce iving an d
comprehending In this mann er we get our pro
r
m
n
t
e
i
an
d
o
The
sc
ien
ce
s
o
f
as
ron
s
n
n
t
o
s
e
e
j y
g
and mathematics e ngage our attention
o my
These sub jects are in exhau stible Chemistry is
the most interesting of any of o u r st udies as it
would be to yo u i f you only appreciated the fact
that all change in N atu re i s the result of chemical
action
Y o u do n o t mean to say that all of you r ia

habitants are suicien tly advanced to do that
work ?
N he answered there are millions of in

habitants of thi s li fe who are not suic iently ad
,
THE

scious of the fa ct
H ere the dogmas of orthodoxy
166
are dominant and the old religious teachin gs are

promulgated and the priesthoo d still holds po wer
One woul d think that an individual having passed
through the portal called death an d nding nothing
as he had been taught or as he ha d believed would
give up the old notions and try to comprehend the
economy of the natural law un der whi ch he co n
tinn ed to live ; but strange as it may seem
many even then cling to the old beliefs as if in
fear as i f to doub t were sacrilege and in many
ways excu se their failure to nd what they ex
ec
e
d
The
y
go
i
nt
yo
ur
churches
and
mingle
t
o
p
with other p eople a great invisible host hear the
same old teachin gs say the same creeds and con
tinn e in the sam e mental att itude until some condi
tion is brought about them that guides them into
the avenue of knowledge and as time goes on o n e
by o n e they break the shackles about their men
talities an d by progression through indivi dual e f
fort become inhabitants of the rst spirit sphere
Everyday matters are no di fferent in our sphere

than in your sphere You do not p rogress and o h
ta in knowledge an d advance ment un til you break
away from the old beliefs and creeds Neither
do those out of the body in that earth bound condi
tion You se e there is but o n e law for you and
,
THE IR
one law for
us.
DAILY LIFE
16 7
All of nat ure s laws are
un i
Our la ws are meted out on a scale of exact
justice All N at ure s law s are ex act laws an d

from their award there is no appeal Pun ish
ments are but the natu ral consequences of violated
laws and are invariably commensu rate with the
offence and have reference to the reformation of
the offender as well as to the prevention of futu re
crimes
Wh at are the best results that will come to

mank ind throu gh comm unication with your peo
ple ?
I asked an inhabitant of the after life ; H e
answered
I will briey call your attention to a few of the

most prominent of the benecial resul ts which will
ow from spiritu al intercommunion It will settle
the important question If a man die shall b e live
again ? It will reduce the doctrine of the im
mortality of the human spirit to ce rtainty so that
the world s knowle dge of the fact will not be th e
result of a blind fai th but a positive philosophy
It will show the relation existing bet ween mind and
matter ; it will make men thinking an d rational b e
ings It will establish a holy and most delightful
intercourse between the inhabitants of the ter
re strial world an d the de parted spi rit fri ends
It
THE
168
will ex pand and liberaliz e the mind far beyond

your present conce ptions It will fratern iz e and
un ite all the members o f the human family in
everlasting bond of spiritual un ion and harmonious
brotherhood It will establish the principle of
Love to God and your fellows It will do away
with sectarian bigotry It will show that many of
the so called religious teachings are but imposi
tions on the creduli ty of manki nd
I am always anx ious for a fu rther description

of yourselves you r pleasu res your in tercourse
with each other and it is diicu lt for us who have
only had experience with matter in its physical
state in any way to comprehend life in another
st ate I sai d
We derive much pleasure was the reply
from the exercise of our talents in vocal and in

strum e n tal musi c which far excels the noble st e f
forts o f musical genius on earth When we con
vene to worship God in our temples whose halls
and colum ns beam with inherent light our voices
are blended together in songs of prai se an d adora
ti on to the Al mighty author of o ur existence
We are moral intell ectual an d sensitive crea

t ure s
Instead of being as many of you imagine
mere shadowy and unsubstantial entities we are
po ssessed of denite tangible and exquisitely
.
CHAPTER
F ACTS
XVII
WE LL TO $ NO W
RE you ever told by those in the after
li fe anything you did not previously
know ? I am often asked

Yes but futu re events have never been fore
told for the simple reason that the future is no
more known to them than to us I have been told
many things I did not know and some beyond my
comprehension now
One speaking of the hum an heart sai d it is the

chief organ of the body It pumps blood every
second to the extremities to the feet as well as to
the brain Every thought breaks down tissues
every movement produces waste Let it stop for
one moment and dissolution takes place It is
sending life to every part of the body
We all know I replied that it takes energy

to keep anyt hi ng in motion and whenever there
is motion there is waste Wh at then supplies
energy that keeps the heart in motion ?

Michael Faraday co ming in said :
.
170
FACTS WELL TO $ N OW
17 1
Y ou
have been told that by the process of d e

composition of water you obtain electri city This
proposition yo u can demonstrate to be a fact
Now oxygen is one form of electri city ; hydrogen is
another form of electricity called negative elec
tric ity ; ma gnetism is in fact ne gati ve electri city
The tremendou s p ower in Nature s compo u nds
called chemical affinity i s due to the union or at
tempt at un ion of positive an d negative electricity
concentrated in the atoms composing the di fferent
ao calle d elements o f the compou nd
Chemi cal af
n ity is the affinity of electricity an d ma gnetism
for each other E lectricity and magnetism a re
both matter in its simplest yet highest or greatest
degree of atomic activity But beyond the electro
magneti c is yet a greater degree of eliminated t e
ned atomic act ivity whi ch is the realm o f spirit
Electro magnetism in true equilibrium is etheric
the dwelling place o f spirit and th e conn ecting link
between spi rit and the material compounds in vari
ous states of atomic activity Electricity and mag
neti sm are the male and the female elements in the
universe From the ox ygen of the air by pulm onic
process the blood gets electricity From the hy
drogen of the water by the digestive process the
blood gets magnetism The oxygen of the water
is absorbed by the i ron of the blood By the nitro
.
THE
172
gen of the air partly mixed with the blood at the

lungs and pa rtly by the nitrogen of the food taken
into the stomach the esh compoun d is formed
Hydrogen and carbo n form fatty co mpoun ds
One set of blood di scs are electric the other mag
neti c The electric di scs have an afnity for the
magnetic d iscs when out of equilibrium But at
the lungs they are in equilibrium an d hence repel
each other to the left auricle then into the left
ventricle the valves preventing back o w ; thi s t e
pulsion of the discs to each other must carry the
whole crimson mass forward while the equilibrium
is mainta ined to the capillaries
The electro m agnetic equilibrium of the two
sets of di scs is lost in the capillaries and becomes
less an d less to the right auricle O f these di scs
the set nearer the heart because of the in equi li
briu m attr acts the ones next behin d all the way
from the capillaries to the right auricle where by
electric action from the brain in moving the heart
to contract ion the equilibrium is again partially
established
Now the two sets of di scs repel each other to the
lungs and through the pulmonary capillaries where
the equilibrium is more perfected so that the re
pul sion of the d i scs carries the bloo d into the left
auricle ; thence by muscular acti on into the left
,
THE
174
dead But you have probably obse rved that when

ever and wherever a person is put to death un
der se ntence of the law a post mortem follows
Death was and is produced by the post mortem and
not by the electri c shock In the be ginning sur
geons were anxious to note the e ffect of the force
and undoubtedly made very careful post m o rtem s
You woul d be astounded to know as we know that
post m o rtem s have lost interest and that frequently
they now consist of jabbing a knife into the ap
r
l
a
e
n
t
dead
body
and
passin
g
it
on
f
or
burial
p
y
When a person receives an exce ssive charge of
electricity either by accident or design and the
bodily func tions are thereby temporarily para
lyz e d if the body were immediately stripped lai d
upon the fresh earth and sprayed with water the
electricity would be drawn therefrom and would
pass into the earth If then articial movement
of the arms and stimulants were resorted to the
heart action woul d be resumed and one apparently
dead woul d get up and walk away Persons die
from elect ri c shock because they are not properly
treated Wh en the bodily funct ions are paralyzed
and the electricity is not immediately drawn from
the body and the action of the heart is not started
by articial means death will of course ensue
in a short tim e If the treatment described is ad
.
FACTS WELL TO $ N OW
17 5
minist ered in time there is no occasion for dissolu

tion from elec tric sho ck Electricity is life and
life will not destroy li fe In this day where elec
tric ity i s in su ch common use c ountl ess lives c ou ld
be saved i f the facts that I am now giving you
were known an d the treatment applied

I received this information some years ago and
thereafter arranged with one of the wardens of a
prison in New J ersey to un dertake to resuscitate a
convict who was to be electrocuted but the plan
came to the attention of the authorities and was fo r
hidde n upon the ground that it wa s interferin g with
the due execution of the law
Society must of course have protection from the
acts of the vicious an d laws are properly made to
imprison those who can not be controlled b ut the
represen tative s of the people assemb led in the vari
ous legislatures have not the right to prescribe the
penalty of death There is a limit to the ir so ve r
e ign ty
What ri ght have we as a people to electro
cute one who has committed murder ? The life o f
every indivi du al comes from God an d though it
may have strayed far from the path of rectitude
yet the people have no more right to take that life
than the murderer has to take the life of th e mur
dered Wh at ri ght have we as a p eople to electro
cute a depraved criminal and by so doing liberate
,
THE
176
him in another sphere where he may continue

wrong doing ? If the public un derstood what dis
solution leads to they would stand aghast and
horrie d at the mere suggestion of e lectrocu
tion
Again I am asked Do you get teachings from
Le t
the invisible world that are worth while ?
me answer by giving j u st a few among thousands
received :
Immortality is the rst promise of which man

is conscious ; but as he acquires that which he con
siders worldly knowledge he tries to rid himself
of this promise It stays with him however and
no matter how often he may deny the fact his
everyday life keeps before him the claims of im
mortality The elds the reside the love and
companionship of his fell ow beings all suggest Im
mortality The very thought that death ends all
causes him to shudder Life woul d indeed be a
hollow mockery if the earth life with its joys and
sorrows its lights and shadows were the end
Every heart throb is a protest against such thought
Nature not only promises eternal life but fulls
that promise else we would not be here ton ight
encouraging you to better effo rts
Ages were required to develop men so they

could discu ss rather than ght over the mat
-
THE

Friends there is one God the God of Natu re ;
or rather the God Natu re This Go d permeates
178
everyt hing and has ab solute dominion over all

that exists You are all children of this one Go d
un der whose dominion you are here ; and you are
here b ecause you could not help yourselves You
had no say as to that part of your destiny ; and you
will leave the earth life under the same dominion
N atu re and you cannot change the d estiny Na
ture has marked out for you N ature s mode of
reform is development
Wh at is the use o f pictu res to a person who

cannot see or of descriptions to those who cannot
understand ? The description o f the higher spirit
ual spheres even if it were given by one of the
hi ghest spirits woul d be unintelligible to mortal
mind
It affords me pleasure and joy un speakable to

know that I am still a man and can disclose in my
weak w ay to some on earth the great fact that life
continues and that mere theories cannot stand out
successful ly against eternal fact I was ignorant
and weak when I came into this u nknown country
and was not prepared to advance until I had
learned here what I should have known before
What you have gained what you need will be

yours in the spirit spheres There is the closest
.
FACTS WELL TO
KNOW
179
love and quickest sympathy between the earth

plane and the spirit world but we cannot make you
understand what our lives really are without be
coming exact counterparts o f each other You will
each nd a di fferent home suited to you and your
work Your sphere now lies upon the earth plane
and it is for you to perform the duties allotted to
you You may not be able to give the ignorant
learning or the hungry food but you can inspire
their spirits to nobler and better deeds while some
one else who is able provides food and shelter
Let them feel that they have your love and sym
pathy and let them see that even if the clouds of
adversity hang low your soul is able to ascend to
higher spheres It is good to know that you do
not travel the stony path of life alone ; to feel that
no matt er how rough or dark the way may grow
you can if you will stretch forth your hand and
feel an answering clasp a clasp that makes your

heart grow braver The Creator seems so far away
to most that unle ss they can have the love and
help of each other they feel dese rted It will al
ways be impossible for the nite to grasp the in
nite There are thousands who walk secure in
the consciousness of leaning on the strong arm of
the Lord when in reality they are cheered and
h
i
d
ed
by
some
unseen
friend
It
is
t
is
s
irit
u
g
p
,
180
THE
that gives to them the feeling of sympathy and

strength that so ably assists them through life
The inh abitants of the spirit world are not bound
by dogma s or creeds that is those who have

been there long enough to get rid of their earth
ideas ; and they go forth to do go od wherever they
n d opportun ity
The main thing is to be honest
with yourse lf and just to others Your ideas of
good to day may not be the same to morrow
There fore do not attempt to lay down a rul e for
your friends to follow Let each be a law unto
hi mself ; for each must a nswer for his own act ions
and not for the actions of others
It is not what a man does that makes him great

but what he is Action is merely thought dre ssed
in visible garb Being must ever prec ede doing

In this manner I answer the t wo questions so
often propounded
.
THE
182
condition Suddenly I was awake in your p res

ence and immediately concluded that in some man
ner you co ntrolled my conduct That I cann ot
permit
You are mistaken there but does it not occur

to you that some great good may com e of this
meeting ? I inquired
I cannot in any way understand your sti g
gestion the stranger said or se e h o w any good

can come of an enforced conference If you did
not bring me who did ? I had no desire to come
nor do I wish to remain This house and its sur
roundings are un familiar to me With y our per
mi ssion I will retire
Before you go I said I should like to have

you know something of the work we are doing
which may account for your coming
Well sir nding myself in this un familiar sit
he said
n ati on I will not be lacking in courtesy
For many years I replied I have been e n

gaged in psychical research with this psychic who
sits opposite me trying to obtain a practical solu
tion of that great physical change called death
What has that to do with me ? I am not dead
nor am I interested in the sub ject he an swered
Wait a moment please You will be inter

e ste d when I tell you that I have discovered some
.
FROM
DEATH S SLEEP
183
thing of the daily life and environment of the in

dividual after he has cease d to be an inh abitant
of the earth plane
You are entirely mistaken in your statements ;
there is no survival no continu ity of life D eath
is the end
Are you sure ?
Ab solutely he replied
Suppose I answered I could prove to you

here and now that death so called is but a phys
ical change the separation of the life force from
the esh garment that substance with whi ch it is
clothed during its journey on this plane suppose

I coul d demonstrate here and now that the indi
vidual has a spirit body composed of matter with
form features an d expression during his entire
earth life and at dissolution sim ply becomes an
inhabitant of the next plane of consciousness with
the same spirit body is in short the same identical
man
There is no such thing as li fe after death he

sai d
I am going to t ry to explain what life is before I

give you the absolute proof of what I state Now
follow me At the moment of conception an Atom
of the Universal Force called Good is clothed
with su b st ance v ib ratin g m o re slowly than the life
-
THE
184
force clothed The individual is as perfect at

that moment as the giant oak in the heart of the
acorn We cannot see the individual or the oak
tree before or after birth and growth Life force
vibrates so fast that it is not visible to the phys
ical eye but ultimately we see the outer covering
that substance which makes both possible This
outer garment of the individual is composed largely
of water The physical body of ours changes once
in seven years at least but with such change we t e
tain individuality form and feature H ow is this
done ? I asked
I don t kn ow and I don t care he an swered
Follow me a little farther please This e u

tity this life force this individuality this soul
this us if you like is composed o f matt er di ffer
ing only from the esh substance in its v ibrato ry
condition This accounts for its permanency of
form but no physical eye ever saw or ever will see
this self this spirit form this soul so called unless
possessed of the psychic sight with which speaking
generally few are endowed Without it one in
dividual can never see the spirit form of another
while an inhabitant of this earth We are con
scious only of physical expression and sound
Now in dissolution from accident or physical weak
ness the body covering that is visible to us is no
.
THE
186
journey in the world But he then appreciates

that his body is lighter and more transparent than
the esh substance he has bee n accu stomed to look
upon an d he does not resist muscul ar e o rt as he
did in the old covering ; then but for the assurance
of friends and relatives who assist in the change
as at earth birth and explain to the quickening
consciou sness many woul d be afraid There is
this great di e ren ce in the two bi rths Wh en this
atom of life force rst becomes individual an in
habitan t of the earth plane it possesses instinct but
no intelligence ; it continues to develop with no
knowledge of its previous existence It could have
none for it came from the mass of un iversal life
forces The next great change is similar except
that the indiv idual retains all previou s develop
ment ; he knows little more of the laws govern ing
and the me ans available to aid hi s progression than
an infant
On the other hand those who have led unclean
earth lives who have been sels h immoral and
have committed crimes against man and N ature
may not soon awaken ; i f they do they nd them
selves in mental darkness in a pri son of their own
building an d there they remain until a desi re
comes from within for better things Then the
way wi ll be shown by spirit p eop le engaged in such
.
FROM
DEATH S SLEEP
187
charitable work At the beginning each awaken

ing spirit is told that each wrong act done in earth
life mu st be lived over that as he works he will
encoun ter like conditions under which the wro ng
was done and in the new life he mu st correct the
error in the old in order to advance I recall that
an in habitant of the next plane once said
The justice that meets a naked soul on the
threshold of the after life is te rrible in its com
.
l
n
e
t
e
e
ss
p
I cannot accept a word you say about a life
after death There is no other life there can be
none a man dies like a dog said the visitor
That is true in a sense I said for the li fe

forc e and individuality both go on You can
not destroy an atom o f matter you will admit ;
so if life force is m atte r th at cannot be destroy
This is all very strange talk but why speak

on such a subject to me ? I am not dead ; i f I were
and there is life beyond the grave I should not be
here talking to you
I have talked just as I am talking to you with
many who have made that change I said
Do you mean to tell me you have talk ed to
dea d people ?
I did not say that ; I sai d that I had talked to

tho se who have ma de the change called d eath
.
THE
188
There is in reality no death ; there are no dead
Talk sense he retorted we have all seen

d ead people have se en their bodies buri ed and
y ou tell me there are no dead
Again I said You fail to understand what I

have been telling you We bury the physical
bodies but not the spirit bodies ; one is j u st as ma
te rial as the other
I don t comprehend yo u and I don t care to

I think I will say good
c ontinue the discussion
night
J u st a moment and I will demonstrate the fact

Did I not tell you a moment ago that I had talked
with many so called dead ?
Yes he answered but I did not take what

you said seriously ; I made up my mind on that
sub ject long ago
Now to begin the proof do you know where
y ou are at this moment ? Tell me if you know
I don t seem to know This is not my home ;

the room is strange to me ; you are strange too
It is all unreal Can you explain the situation in
which I n d myself ?
Listen to me Th is frail little woman over

eighty years old who sits opposite me is the most
gifted psychic in the world More than twenty
y ears ago it was discovered that under favourable
,
THE
190
ness and cannot see you although we hear your
voice distinctly ?
I know he answered that it is not dark for

I can see you and if I can see you you can see me ;
but never mind that ; what is the matter with my
body ? I think now I have been ve ry ill and one
always looks as I do after long sickness he re

plied
Speaking o f illn ess what do you recall about
your last illn ess ?
My memory seems hazy but it is coming back

to me I recall lying on a bed the physician wait
ing my wife and children sobbing The doctor
said he is passing now
That did give me a
sta rt ; there were some who would like to see me
dead but I fooled them for I did not die If
I had died how coul d I be here ?
Wh at do you kn ow about death ? I said
I don t know anyth ing about it and I don t
want to
But when that time comes to you you will be
obliged to kn ow whether you desire to or not I

replied
Well I am willing to wait and I don t want to
talk about it I never did
Suppose I tell you that you have already made
that change
,
FRO M
DEATH S SLEEP
19 1
It woul d be foolish to tell me such a thing
when I am here talking to you
Suppose I now prove it to you Those in spirit

life c o operate with me in this work and are often
able to bring to the stranger those whom he has
known in earth life and fa ce to face and voi ce to
voice the proposition proves itse lf
I tell you he said there are no dead p eople
and if there were I don t want to see them
Y o u are not afraid ?
No he answered but I don t want to see

them I have enough trouble with the living with
out bothering with the dead
Is there no one in the next life with whom you

woul d like to talk if you could ? Remember that
your sickn ess may have ended in dissolution ; your
body is di fferent and you know you nd your
self in a strange city
Things have changed but I don t want to see
o r talk to dead people
You nd li fe so material so like the earth li fe

that I believe no method but actu al experience will
convince you that you have left the mortal state
and that le sson must be learned You have been
so intent on our conversation I think that you have
not looked around look what do you see ?
My God $ People people people $ All

.
THE
192
strangers and all looking at me all with bodi es

like my own ; what st range hallucination is this
Wh ere am I ? Wh at am I ?
You are no longer an in habitant of this world

b u t are actually living in the after li fe
Are there
none you know among those you see who to your
knowledge are counted among the dead so
called ? I asked
No t one b u t wait there comes J ohn my old

partner Wh y does he of all men come ? H e is
dead I helped b u ry him I was his executor
Take him and that woman and the b o y away I
won t se e them I tell you They are dead all
dead They are coming to arrest me H ow can
they when they are all dead ? Tell me tell me
tell me qu ick
Wh at wrong did you do ? I asked
Wrong ? Wh o said I did them any wrong ?
I was faithful to the trust
In answer another spirit spoke

No you were
not faithful You stole the money entrusted to
you for my wife and child and left them to suf
fer There never was and never can b e a secret
in the world When you kept from my loved ones
that whi ch I left for their suppo rt and let them die
in want I saw and all your friends in spirit life
saw your act and the working of your mind

,
CHAPTER
XI X
THE IMAGINATI ON
B OUT me is the Canadian wilderness vast

and impenetrable I have come across
the Am erican border into the forest as I
always do when the days grow long I am far
from the trodden ways of men in a place where
one can feel the hea rt beat of the Universe In
the splendid silence I am able to think deeply and
c
The house of logs surrounded by broad ver
andas is built upon a point of land extending some
little way into the lake ; about the cabin p ines
and silver birch trees give grateful shade when the
sun is hi gh To the left are islands covered with
hemlock and embracing vines ; to the south and
across the neck of the deep bay is the rock bound
shore of the mainl and ; and to the northwest there
are wood s and ragged ro cks lakes and rivers and
beyond prairies just as Natu re left them before
men came out o f savagery The winds enriched
among the trees with those prope rties that give
,
19 4
THE IMAGINATI O N
19 5
health sweep across the point on which the cabin

stands on their way down the great valley of the
St Lawrence Long deep breaths of such pure
air ll one s blood with ox ygen purifying it till
it grows red and the nerve uid ceases to b e agi
,
tated
There are voi ces in these silent places One

may not understand them but knowing that life
whenever foun d has intelligence the fact of lan
u
r
age
must
stand
admit
ed
The
f
folk
ar
e
t
u
t
i
ve
g
no less dumb than the deaf mute ; yet who can say
that they denied a speaking tongue do not com
m u n icate by motion with as much freedom as our
own deaf mutes ? The abili ty to communicate
each with the other is not denied the insect life or
the fu rtive folk The wild owers upon the river
bank the reeds in the ma rshes the young trees
chi ldren of the parent pine and the oak and maple
rearing their heads into the concave sky must have
lan guage or means of co mmunicating with each
other ; otherwise the scheme of the Universe is a
failure Why should life be created allowed to
develop and progress an d be denied spe ec h ? I
cannot comprehend li fe in any form without lan
h
n
age
ith
my
conception
o
f
life
f
orce
e
u
e
W
t
g
viro n m e n t is wonderful
In the stilln ess of the night the forest awakes
.
THE
196
The laz y sound of bees those workers of the day

is no longer heard
The gulls that have sa iled
through the blue sk y from e arly morn searching
for food have gone back into the little lakes far
from the presence of man and rest on the bosom
o f the waters with their young But the workers of
the night are awaking ; there is a splash a mink
is swimming a round the point playing ; there is a
breaking of branches as the deer come down to
drink I hear a soft foot fall as the den iz ens of
Now comes the night
the forest range for food
song of t he whip poor will and I feel in my face
The frogs
the win d madeby the black bat s wings
croak and call to one another from pool and marsh
and from the river bank and then comes the stir
among the trees and growin g shrubs and embracing
v ines
No I don t understand their speech nor could I
understand the speech o f the ancient Chaldeans
but if they talked in my presence I should know
it I know that as the winds sough through trees
and v ines swaying the bran ches and needles of
the majesti c pines the sounds produced are as
varying as the speech of man
H ow beautiful is the morning near to Na
t ure s hea rt $ E very blade of grass that grows in
in the
the clea ring as well as the undergrt
,
198
THE
was weary and musing on the marvellous ex

rie n ces that had been min e my thoughts went
e
p
out to my own in the after life and to the many
new friends and acqu aintances I have made among
such peo ple There was harmony between the
eye and brain the tints between earth and sky be
come neutral I looked laz ily upon the waters
at the islands and down the long bay and as I
mused there fell upon my senses music so di stan t
as hardly to be perceptible Was it music at all ?
I listened again ; it seemed to be in a vall ey among
the hill s I could not beli eve my senses ; it was
di stin ct yet not distinct ; it sounded like a great
orchestra of string and reed instrum ents played by
master hands and with it the gentle wind among
the trees and all the voices of Nature seemed to
blend in one great whole ; it approached with soft
cadence and then receded passing back into the
silence where it was lost
Looking again I saw that the harvest moon
whi ch had just risen over the trees made a bright
an d shining path across the lake and as I watche d
the waters play and sparkle in that light I was
ast onished to se e a bridge from the farther shore
across the narrow bay leading straight to the point
on which my cabin stood ; it was as perfect in out
line as the one suspended across N iagara s Gorge
I
THE IMAGINATI ON
199
the exception that while denite in outline it

was light and almost transparent ; the entire struc
tu re seemed made of so ft lm y radiant material
denite yet indenite As I watched I saw some
one approaching over the bridge Soon I beheld
the outline of a woman s form and beside her a
young boy holding her hand Was thi s a dream ?
Startled I aroused myself and beads of p ersp ira
tion came out up on my forehead I felt the chair
and tightened my hold I looked up an d dimly
saw the stars and constellations in the sky and
the islands in the lake I saw again the bridge
of light and those who were coming nearer I
shut my eyes and all the moonlight the waters
and the islan ds in the waters were blott ed out
all gone b ut the bridge of light and those who
with
I was alo ne in this great forest Afraid ? one
asks yes at rst until I appreciated that I saw

not with the physical eye but through my senses
I was looking into the invisible I had come to
kn ow long ago that the dead so call ed were my
friends ; so there was naught to fear and I waited
for th eir coming So distinct was the woman that
I saw her dress o f white o win g garments like
then her
the Greeks wore in the days o f Pe ricles
face an d as it became vi sible I half starta l to my
.
THE
2 00
feet for it was the smiling face of my mother I
observed her feat ures and how her hair fell in

folds about her ears ; her face was just as in the
old days except that age and the lines of care
had disappeared and as I look she seemed to
know that I had recogniz ed her and had noticed
the child
As the two came nearer a light dif
fe re n t from anything I had ever seen shone in the
child s face and through his hair ; he waved his
hand laughing and still the two came toward me
in the path of the moonlight
I realized that I was having an experience en
t irely new and that it was important to make my
observations with great care I took long deep
breaths and waited My mother and the child
reached the point on which the bridge rested and
stepped upon the shore and up the sandy path
toward the cabin so near now that every detail of
face and form was visible and I knew the child
was my son who went out into the after life in
inf ancy but who had now grown to about the age
of ve years My pulse was beating fast as my
heart poun ded under the excitement I was no
longer composed for all my love and longing for
my mother and my son swept over me ; I started
to my feet and down the steps to meet those who
c ame with laughin g eyes and smiling lips my
.
ne ss and saw the etheric bridge and two of the

in habitants of the after life but the impression
the memory will never be dimme d in the ye ars

to $ me To day it is more distinct than any in
e ident of my life and now you ask as I have asked
Wh at was it ?
At a sub sequ ent time when occasion w as pre
se nted
I asked a membe r of our spirit group to
give an explanation of what had occurred In
answer he said :
I am familiar with the oc cu rrence b ecause I

was present It was an obj e ct lesson We
wanted you to see somethin g of the actual condi
tions prevailing in this after life as you call it
so that you could more clearly de scribe it and
through you others could obtain some little ap
preciation of what waits beyond the physical
Before I answer your quest ion in detail I want to
say again and it cannot be repeated to o often
that the body that you see and touch is but the
housing or garment worn by another body the
etheric or spirit body whi ch is just as much sub
stance as the e sh but so rened intense and so
high in vibration that the physical eye cannot see
it or the hand feel it N ow in death ao called
the etheric body leaves the p hysical housing
ceases to live on the physical plane and becomes
-
,
,
THE IMAGINATI O N
2 03
an inh abitant of this plane where everything is

etheric matter simply vibratin g more rapidly than
such sub stance as is seen ordinarily by men We
repeat this proposition to you and you shoul d t e
peat it to others as often as occasion is presen ted
because it is entirely new in physics and so be
yond the world s teaching that even with oft t e
t
telling
it
will
be
found
di
ult
of
com
pre
a
e
d
f
fi
c
e
p
hen sio n
It was with this end in view that great
e ffo rt was made to give you the demonstration
which we did
In further answer to your que stion said the
member of the spi rit group you must know that

there is no such thing as imagination as that word
is generally used Your dictionaries dene it as
the image making po wer of the mind ; the po wer
to create or reproduce ideally an object previously
perceived ; the power to call up mental images
There must exist the sun before there can be the
shadow the real must precede the imitation there
must be the original before the copy the subj ect
before the photograph One cannot imagine
so mething that has no existence in Natu re The
imagination must have something basic
The
etheric mental lines or waves of the mind ordi
n arily move at will in and about the unknown land
an d through the sub conscious brain get impres
,
'
THE
2 04
sions and suggestions usually intangible and in

denite Such wandering of the mind not being
understood an entirely false conception is o h
tain e d of the mental operation
Everything in
the Universe is real is material and the groping
o f the mind in the mental plane is called im
agin atio n
the word itself being derived from
image reection the likeness of something else
All this leads up to your personal experience
Wh at you saw actually existed the bridge was
real and the mother and the little son actually
crossed and came to you as you relate
But you di d not see with your physical eye ;
you were alone in the great forest and around
you all was natu ral ; there was perfect harmony
between you and your environment ; y our thought
was passive and we coming in close contact with
your brain touched and quickened or rather sen
sitiz e d your psychic sense
and by that process
you saw more surely than woul d have been possi
ble with the physical eye It is only on rare oc
casions that it is given to o ne without psychic
sight fully developed to look into the invisible
and it may never come to yo u again The bridge
you saw was composed of etheric substance ao
t ual and real constructed by mental operations
rather than by the hands The mind can only
,
CHAPTER XX
PO WE
OF SU GGE STI O N
E inhabitants of this invisible world
in
and in some measure control the

thought and conduct of every individual
They are more progressive than we and havin g no
incentive to accumulate money devote them selves
to the acquisition of knowledge They delve
deeply into the forces o f Nat ure and dealin g with
matter in greate r renement make from time to
time discoveries so me of whi ch are utiliz ed on
the physical plane
Faraday who rst made practical the force
known as electricity did not cease his investiga
tion s with dissolution but has been a potent fac
tor in its development through su ggestion to those
who devote their time to the utilization of that
force Raphael did not ce ase to portray up o n
canvas his wonderful creation s nor did Michael
Angelo lo se his ability to chi sel marble into forms
o f beauty when he ce ased to inhabit this plane
uen ce
206
POWER O F SUGGE STI O N
2 07
The years that have elapsed since they went o n

have been y ears of opportunity and progress
Mozart Beethoven and all the other mu sicians
who gave u s our great compositions have they
gone down into the silent and relentless d arkness
or have they continued their work impressing on
others from day to d ay new musi c that enriches
the world
Milton D ryden Pope Goldsmi th
Moore Wordsworth Bu rns Browning of modern
times Se neca Plin y the Elder Plutarch Ep icte
t us Tacitus and Cervantes of an earlier period
were all their wonderful writings and philosophi es
pro duce d without suggestion from the master
minds in the more advanced spheres ? I know thi s
one fact that people in the after life are so close
so in touch with o ur thoughts that it is diicult for
an y one to say that this or that i s the product of
his o wn intellect Progress owes much to the in
visible
Robert G Ingersoll well known to me in the
after life sp eaking on this sub ject said :
Let me give the most remarkable illustration
of spirit su ggest ion the immortal Shakespeare

Neither of hi s parents coul d read or write H e
grew up in a small village among ignorant people
on the banks of the Avon There was nothing in
the peaceful qu iet landscape on which he looked
,
THE
2 08
nothing in the low hills the undulating elds

nothing in the lazy owing stream to excite the
imagination Nothing in his early life calcula ted
to sow the seeds of the subtlest and sublimest
thought There was nothing in his education or
lack of education to account for what he did It
is supposed that he attended school in his home
village but of that there is no proof H e went
to London when young and within a few years
became interested in Black Friars Theatre where
he was actor dramatist and manager H e was
never engaged in a business counted reputable in
that day Socially b e occupied a position below
servants The law described him as a sturdy
vagabond
H e died at 52
H ow such a m an could p ro du ce the works which
he did has been the wonder of all time N ot sat
ised that one with such limited advantages could
possibly have written the master pieces of litera
ture it has been by some contended that Bacon
was the author of all Shakespeare s comedies and
tragedies
It is a fact to be noted that in none of this
man s plays is there any mention of his contem

r
i
r
s
H
e
made
reference
to
no
king
een
a
e
u
o
p
q
poet author sailor soldier statesman or priest
of his own period H e lived in an age of great
,
'
THE

their rewards H e kn ew the unspoken thoughts
desires and ways of beasts H e lived all lives
H is brain was a sea on which the waves touch all
the shores of expe rience H e was the wonder of
2 10
his time and of ours

Was it possible for any m an of his education
and experience to conceive the things whi ch he
d id ? All the Shakespearean works were beyond
a doub t the product of his pen but the co ncep
tions the plays the traged ies were the work of
many brains given Shakespeare by spirit su gges
tion H e was but the sensitive instrument through
which a group of learned and distinguished schol
ars inhabitants of many lands when in earth life
gave to posterity the sublime masterp ieces of the
Bard of Avon
The writings of Swedenb org were produced in
Sardeau wrote by spirit su gge s
the same way
ti on and as a fact many of the b est works of so
called great men have b een in part the action of
the minds of those beyond o ur earthly plane who
working in conjunct ion with m an do some thing
for the u plift of the human race
Knowing as I do the potent inuence of spirit
people upon the world s thought and how in every
way they seek to enlighten us as to the change
.
POWER O F SUGGE STIO N
2 11
called death I have wondered what spirit

pressed thi s poem o n a mortal mind
,
im
As the faint dawn crept upwards grey and d im

H e saw her move across the p ast to him
,
H er eyes as they had looked in long gone years

-
Tender with love and soft with thoughts of tears
H er hands outstretched as if in wonderment
Nestled in his and rested there content
Dear wife he whispered what glad dream
is
thi s ?
I feel your clasp your long remembered kiss

Touches my lips as when you used to creep
Into my hea rt ; and yet this is not sleep
-
Is it some vision that with night will y ?
Nay dear she answered ; it is really
Dear heart it is you I know $

,
But I knew not the dead coul d meet us so
se e
Bodied as we are
Like she replied
hand
,
how like we stand $
in form and face and

,
Silent awhile he held her to his breast

As if afraid to try the further test
,
THE
2 12
Then speaking qu ickly Must y ou go away ?
Husb and she murmured neither n ight nor
day $
,
Close to he r then she drew his hea d
Trembling I do no t understand he said

,
I thought the spirit world was far ap art
Nay she rep lied it is not now dear heart $

,
ick
hold
f
as
m
y
h
and
l
ean
t
Q
u
80
on
me
Cling to me d ear $
tis
but a step to go $
The white fa ced watchers rose beside the bed ;

-
Shut out the day
dead
they
sighed
o ur
fri end is
This is a sub stantial de scripti on of what is

actually occurring from hour to hour In the
change as the individual catches his breath in the
etheric atmosphere and his vision is clari ed as
a result of throwing o the esh tissu e he sees
spirit people like in form and face and hand

so nat ural so unlike what one has b een led to be
lieve that it is hard to underst and But let u s re
member that the change is a nat ural one that all
Nature s changes are for our good plann ed by
the Master Intelligence in order that our o p p o r
tun ity for development may be increased and we
may grow more God like Knowing this we can
.
'
THE
2 14
maxim D o unto others as you would have them
Th ese sa cred words uttered in dif

d o unto you
ferent form six hundred years before the alleged
b irth of Christ fell from the lips of the great Con
fu c ius and are tod ay found in nearly every sa
cred volume o f the world
CHAPTE R
XXI
NE V E R A SE CRET I N THE WO RLD
HERE never has been and never can be a

secret in this world Thi s is an entirely
new proposition which if understood
would prevent much crime and unh appiness and
would enrich all mankind There has always
been an idea that many things can be done se
c re tly ; that for instance one can lie and it will
never b e known ; that one can cheat and defraud
another and not be found out ; that a thief can
enter a home wi thout detection ; that immorality
can be carried on without society being the wiser
All these wrongs are being done under the b elief
that they can be accomplished secretly and most
of them are done in this manner so far as our
world is concerned Mankind has been taught
that God sees all and kn ows all but men and
women do not believe it ; otherwise crimes would
not be committed and the moral code wo uld not
b e violated
Pride and the speech o f people have a great in
.
2 15
THE
2 16
uen c e

on conduct N ow suppose the thief knew
.
that if he took the property of another his act

woul d be yond peradvent ure b e exposed in the
morning paper and he would be un der immediate
arrest With conviction absolutely ce rtain would
he co mmit the crime ?
Suppose the business man or captain of nance
kn ew that if he formed unlawful combinations
and defrauded the publi c he would ce rtainly be
imprisoned ; suppose men and women knew that
violations of the moral cod e would be known and
ce nsured within the hour would wrong and

crime go rampant through the land ? Men and
women do these acts in the belief that they are
discreet enou gh to so cover them that they will
never b e kn own Such people have little idea
I will go further e verything is

that every act
kn own by those in the after li fe who are inter
But they are far away one
e st e d in our welfare
says N o they touch elbows and walk beside us
day by day On e cann ot comprehend G od as a
personality witnessing each act and knowing the
individual thought of over
of pe ople
but one can comprehend the fact that the after
life is inh abited by those who have passed through
the earth life that they improve their co ndition by
helping those in need of assistance that by their
,
THE
2 18
Again the churches teach in substance that

though o ur sins be scarlet yet we can b eco me
as whi te as snow and that there is forgiveness
for all sin O ne sect goes so far as to vest that
power in the church The practical result of
such teaching has been an d is to license wrong

and crime
Men d o wrong under the impression that in
some way they will escape the just consequences
of their wrongful act I have said before and
I will say again that the world is not a jumble
but controlled by law ; for every e ffect there is a
cause and that cause is governed by law Every
act produces a result Every thought being ma
te ris l creates a condition about u s
and is
retained in one of the sixteen or more milli on
cells o f the brain When therefore any one
goes out of this life and enters the etheric where
everything the good and bad is intensied b e
yond mind measure the storehouse of the brain
is opened and he or she is con fronted with
the record which has been made Nothing is for
gotten ; the good get reward otherwise courage
would be lost ; punishment for wrong doing is
terrible beyond words Every one must he ar his
own burden must meet again every wrongful act
and make in ways that are provided complete
,
NEVER A S E CRET IN THE WO RLD
2 19
restitution This is very difcult and the way is

very long
One who believes that the world of men marks
the beginning or the end has no more com
prehension of the true situation than the mole fol
lowing the path which it has made under the dead
n
rass
in
the
meadow
lands
k
ows
of
the
physi
ca
l
g
world
I have been told two most important truths by
th ose who have honoured me by their teaching :
that there never has been and never can be a se
cret in the world : that man has no saviou r but
himself and that the wrong which he does he
must undo Whatever obligations he contracts he
must meet I have had other teachings that have
appealed most strongly to reason One of these
is do no worry but t yourself to meet situa

The obstacles which we
t ions from day to d ay
meet are of our own creation the troubles we
have are of our own making If we possessed all
wisdom we would then be Gods and n ot make
mistakes No one is perfect in this world or has
reached full development and until such time
every one as a result of lack of wisdom and judg
ment will continue to m ake mistakes and create
obstacles over which he will stumble But that
is not misfortun e ; mistakes are necessa ry and it
.
22 0
THE
is only by creating and overcoming them that we

gain wisdom and know how to avoid the same
conditions again They are the stepping stones to
the heights of understanding and are good for u s
Let us meet them che e rq y and appreciate the
lesson each teaches O rdinary errors ought not to
cause us anxi ety for it i s only through them that
we make progress A just an d ful l appreciation
of this fact woul d take from the mind the use
le ss burden o f worry Calamity is Nature s spur ;
trials are not only essential but are disciplinary ;
misfortune is opportunity
Other desirable things which I have learned
from this unusual source are : We have no ri ght
to burden othe rs with our sorrows ; all Nature is

Optimisti c all tending toward good ; as one thinks
so he is There are some men so pessimisti c
that given the choice o f two evils they insist upon
takin g both ; they see no good in anything and
are ever looking upon the dark side antic ip at
ing misfortune The mind is a wonderful force
its in uence extending much further than we have
any idea of and one can d o very much to make
O n the other hand one can d o
th e wo rld happier
much to make others unh appy by throwing upon
them on e s own mental condition and many people
by force of habit do th is unmindful of the result
,
THE
22 2
H ave I made that impression on you ? he
asked
Yes I answered
I would not like to create that impression
was the reply

I have never thought that my
mental attitude a ected those with whom I came
in c ontact That is a new idea to me
H ave you observed the morning ? I asked
N he answered I have been so engrosse d
in thought that I have not observed the day
I then said : I want you to forget the things

you are worrying about Look up and see how
beauti ful the world is an d feel what a privilege is
ours to be a part of it Listen to the songs of the
robins watch the blue birds respond to the owers
get in harmony with it all and as we meet those
we know greet them cordially and watch the ef
fect on them and on yourself

H e walked for a little way in silence ; the sug
gestion was workin g his jaws were relaxed the
frown had le ft his face ; his eyes had kindled his
lips smiled With his expression wholly changed
he walk ed a di e re nt man and as he met his
friends and acqu aintances with a cheery good
mornin g his joy and happiness radiated Others

caught the charm of his personality the world was
happier and so was he
.
CH APTER
XXII
ME NTAL A CTIV ITY
HOU GHTS a re things
If not things th ey
are nothings which is tantamount to say
ing that thought does not exist If you
design a house your drawing is an image of the
thought house which was in your mind before you
made the draft You see a certain vessel which is
used for holding water and you name the vessel a
bucket The image of that bucket is in your mind
and when you hear the word b u c ket your mind
recognizes the vessel either because you have seen
it or heard it described You use the word b uc ket
in the hearing of a thousand people who have seen
or known of the same bucket and every person of
that thousand will perceive in his mind the exact
image of th at bucket The word bucket is not in
the image of the object but when spoken refers
th e mind of the b e are r who has seen it to the image
of the bucket as it is indelibly printe d on or in his
psychic ether D rawings are things images are
emblems of other things From the se

things
.
2 23
THE
22 4
drawings images and emblems of things the mind

constructs the particular thing in p sychic ether
an d this psychic hou se bucket or other thing is
the thought and wrought in material form is the
shape and counterp art of the spiritual thought
It is absolutely impossible fo r the mind to be
inactive for one single moment whether in sleep or
awake The matter c omposing the mind is in a
state of constant activity so intense in its vibratory
act ion that it is impossible for that substance to be
inactive for one instant The bra in in which ideas
are fashioned is a perfect machine in constant
motion The creation s or pro duct emanating from
such instrument are never visible unl ess physically
clothed and only a very few mental c onceptions
ever nd expression in this world of ours The
mental products from mi llions of minds in active
operation vary as do the products that come from
the machines in the countless factories The men
tal emanations owing from a brain hi ghly deve l
Oped appear to spirit people as lines of force ex
tending and undulating from the soul center the
longer those lines of force the more active the sub
stance composing them and the lighter their ap
,
r
n
a
ea
ce
p
The elec tric or gas light as we use that term is

simply burning sub stan ce in a high degree o f a ct
,
226
THE
the individual We in the physical world not hav

ing eyes developed to catch those emanations be
cause of their very hi gh potency know very little
concerning them If we knew our knowledge
would revolution ize the conduct of men But we
feel the e ffect of those lines of force when we
come in contact with them ; instinctively we feel
th e personality of others
Thought emanations
from othe rs both in an d out of the physical b ody
make an impression upon our sub con scious brain
and these with our o wn sugge stions are continually
entering our brain machine are weighed are either
rejected or accepted and are expressed so that
there is a continual taking in and throwing o ff in
our mental operations It is a process as natural
as the hea rt action and as little understood Few
people are able to tell the process through which
and by which they reach their conclusions but
mental lines of force strike our mentality come in
contact with our o wn eman ations so that un co n
sc io usly we receive an impression and arrive at a
conclusion as to th e personality of another The
rst impression that we unconsciously get is always
the one which should gu ide us
These thought lines as I have said have colour
depending upon their length and as there is no
stagn ation in N atu re their general condition is con
.
MENTAL ACTIVITY
stan tly c
22 7
hanging ; that is to say they are p ro gre s

sing toward the light or becoming darker As the
individual self reaches a high state of spirituality
with good thoughts and aspirations the gracefu l
lines of force reach far the personality is li ghted
up and we feel the presence of a good man or a
go od woman The ignorant who live for se lf with
uncontrolled temper and unlicensed passion have
little spiritual development live in darkness day
by day and their surroundings are exactly
cord with their mental state for every man o ccu
pies just that position in society which he is quali
e d to occupy
That must be so or th e law of
cause and e ffect would be a failure
So we see that in our daily life we are creating a
condition about us and around us spiritually as
well as physically We are making a physical
condition in which we live from day to day and a
spiritual one as well and into the latter we pass
at the moment of dissolution When divested of
the esh garment we continue in just that mental
state which we have created and from which there
is no esc ape until we by great individual effort
change our mental state and acqu ire new and
hi gher aspiration s and thereby create a better en
,
viro nm ent
There are some individuals who bring into a
THE
22 8
home peace happiness and joy There are other

pess imi c individuals who cast a gloom wherever
they go In the presence of the last named the
laughter of children stops There are individuals
whose personality is so o ensive that we avoid
them whenever possible The physical outlines
clothing the personality are indicative also of the
true character of the individual Men li ving on
the earth plane are with our present understand
ing of these things very apt to be judged according
to their outward or physical appe arance In the
after life divested of the esh garment character
is apparent to all those with whom intercourse is
held and many will stand be fore the mi rror of
Nature in their nakedness ; in truth our perso n
ality has always been visible to the i nhabitants of
the after life because they too are living a ma
te ris l existence and being etheric all etheric or
mental action is visible to them when they come
within the z one of our thought action
The very proper desire of mankind is to enrich
itse lf but the diicu lty is that we have yet to learn
of what true riches consist True money is n ece s
sary during this little journey on earth but true
wealth consists of happiness and that is found in
leading a chaste upright just life in doing some
thing for others and being true to oneself Lives
,
THE
2 30
happiness are found in doing the b est we can under

all circumstan ces and that wealth righteously gath
ered is not only enjoyed here but is taken into the
after life the ambition and desire of humanity
would be chan ged in an instant It is a misfortun e
to have been wrongly educated an d especiall y to
have been taught that money can purchase happi
ness or that money is the one goal that all should
seek
A spirit speak ing on this general subject has
said :
You all give o ff an aura and if you knew the

c onditions emanating from some people y ou would
very quickly eject them from your home In those
whose lives are not strictly upri ght we nd the aura
very had mixed cloudy confused The emana
tions of people of go od health vary in shade from
white pale pink to rose colour When the auras
approach the dark colours browns greys and
blacks we know that the person is wrong in some
way Now this aura is inuenced by passions such
as hate envy malice evil speaking anger and
when one sets out to do an injury to another let
me assure you that he injures himself far more
than the other person
The power of thought for good or ill is demon
,
MENTAL ACTIVITY
d
2 31
in various ways Let a number of persons

concentrate an evil thought upon another and the
e ffect will be found most disastrous Again when
a band of people concentrate their thought upon
one who is ill they thereby send him vital force
and strength and power The result is restoration
to health This is the basis of the health that
comes through Christian Science practice It is
all the result of concentrating the lines of force at
a spec i ed point The result is good or bad de
pending upon the character of the force that is
projected and concentrated at a given point
I have been told that a clean highly de
ve lo p e d thought goes out into the ether with the ap
ran c e of a search light starting from a central
e
a
p
point and radiating through space Mind is mat
ter and thoughts are things and so w o n de rq y
active is the operation that we are continually
forming o ur mental creations in such rened sub
stance
With all our development and it has been great
we are able to hear only a few of the sounds that
vibrate in our atmosphere With all our achieve
ments we are unable to see motion except it be slow
in movement and in physical garment
On this sub jec t one said
strate
THE
2 32
We can also read the thoughts of

con
ditio ns being favo u rab le as readily as you can

gain a knowledge of the characters of sym bo ls of
a language not your o wn Thoughts being m o
tions of the mind assume spec ic and denite
forms and when distinct in the mind can be clearly
pe rceived and understood by any spirit who is
in sympathy with the mind in which they are gen
ers ted
another
THE
2 34
they know us ? Is there any one to comfort and

care for them and teach them ? D o they miss and
seek the mother love ?

The se and a thous and
more questions have been asked in the countless
ages that have gone and are being asked in every
desolate home in the world to day
Let me tell what I have learned of those condi
ti on s through many y ears o f speec h with those in
th e after life
I repeat what I have sai d before and shall say
again for it is the key to comprehension that the
infant at conception possesses an etheric form at
that moment clothed in a physical garment or esh
body This etheric form is material composed of
matter and as matter cannot be destroyed ; it fo l
lows that etheric child body can not by an y possi
b ility be annihilated
The infant etheric form by the process of disso
lu tio n p asses out of the physical garment which it
took on at the moment of conception the same gar
ment that it wore at bi rth and becomes an in
habitant of the next plane of consciousness where
all is etheric where nothing physical can enter
This change may be likened to an earth birth
There are thousands of childless women who never
in ea rth life found expre ssion for th e mother love
These with countless others who nd their greatest
,
PICTURE O F A CH ILD
2 35
happiness in doing good together with those of

blood relation att end at such a time and take and
care for the little stranger in the new environment
Let me give an instance that came under my per
sonal investigation It is a well known fact that
children up to about three yea rs of age are able
to and do see spirit people ; some have spirit play
mates The instance I am about to relate was the
passing of a little boy only one week old who
had a sister a little under three years of age with
whom I was privileged to make an experiment
This little girl ni ght after night saw the baby boy
and described him ; he was in the same room with
two spirit nurses in attendance while another
woman was from time to time described as being
present Again this three year old sister often
saw the spirit baby when she was away from her
home On various occasions I veried these state
ments by inquiry from those in the after life dur
ing our investigation and found that what the little
sister related had actually taken place The
woman who appeared from time to time was the
grandmother ; she assisted by t wo nurses cared for
the little stranger and on several occasions b e
fore he could articul ate plainly prior to his fourth
bi rthday I heard him speak to me This was a
most valuable experience
,
THE
2 36
Children in the after life are cared for very

mu ch as they are here There are those who n d
their greatest delight in mothering the motherless
and teaching them words of speech and wisdom ; so
under such unse lsh care the children reach mental
and bodily maturity just the sam e as they would i f
they had remained in this world
The etheric process of development is interest
ing ; children need mother love no less in spirit
than in ea rth life and as the mother sleeps
those in charge place the etheric baby form close
to her hea rt where it rests absorbing the love so
necessa ry to its existence We little kn ow how
close the after life is how close its inhabitants come
to us the inuence they exert on us or the result
of our thought vibrations upon them Then aga in
as the children grow they keep in touch with us
from day to day and when we go out into the after
life they know and greet us as we enter the life that
has no ni ght
There are in the next life kindergarten s schools
colleges and universities of learn ing just as we
have here and what is more th e inh abitants do not
cease to stu dy and increase their store of knowl
edge when th ey reach a certain age but there are
great lecture hall s where the advanced ones teach
the supreme laws of Nature where all are welcome
-
THE
2 38
life who have been recognized by mothers and

fathers ; they perhaps years after have been some
what astonished to hear of the child looking much
older and they have not been able to accou nt for
it You will understand that the presentation of
the spiritu al form is in order that those in the esh
may be able to see them through the physical
senses and to note that they appear to be grow
ing toward manhood and womanhood I am
afraid that many people upon your earth plane to
day are neglectful of their responsibilities to their
children If God has given you such a ower as
a child it is incumbent upon you by example and
precept to train that child in spiritu al things so
that u ltimately b e will be with y ou in the kingdom
of H eaven and will rejoice in the knowledge that
you guided him spiritu ally when an infantt But
how careless are many people with their children $
They forget that the child is all the time tak ing
note not of what they are saying but of what they
are doing I assure you that if you are unmind
fu l o f your responsibilities toward your children
you will undoubtedly have to pay the penalty when
you reach the spirit side of life

,
Too little attention has been paid to the going

out of children ; the world has little kn owledge on
that subject No greater blessing can come to the
fathers and mothers of eve ry nation and tribe than
to know that children with bodies too frail to carry
them through the ea rth life are not lost in going
.
2 39
from among us but in the other life go right on

with their growth and development under the care
and guidance of good men and women who for love
of humanity do the necessary work and so enrich
themselves
I am impressed not to leave this s ubject without
a word of warning to do no murder Know that
at the moment of conception out of the mass of the
universal good out of the life mass an etheric
atom a body innitesimal in siz e and perfect in
form is clothed and no matt er whether the phys
ical birth is natural or premature that life force so
individualized has commenced its journey back to
God and all the power in all the Universe cannot
change its ultimate destiny
I am told that into the after life cou ntless mil
lions of children have come and are coming who
have never had the advantage of a natu ral phys
ical birth and earth experience so necessary to their
development but that hea rtless mothers by abortive
acts and with the aid of dastard physicians have
done and are doing countless murders more te r
rible in result than the taking o f the life of a
man because the un born infant is so weak and
helpless If this knowledge shall cause any
mother to spare the life of her un born child blood
of her blood and bone of her bone or the physi
,
240
THE
to pause in his crimin al act sorrow un told

will pass both by
Ella Wheeler Wilcox described pe rhaps better
Ballade of the Unborn

than she knew in her
Dead the natural and logi cal result of child mu r

der
ician
walked the valley of the dead

Lit by a weird half light
N0 soun d they made no word they said
And they were pale with fright
Then suddenly from unseen places came
Loud laughter that was like a whip of ame
They lo oked and saw beyond above
A land where wronged soul s wait
Those spirits called to earth by love
And driven back by hate
And each one stood in an guish dumb and wild
As she beheld the phantom of her child
Yea saw the soul her wish had hurled
O ut into night and death
Before it reached the Mother world
O r drew its natal breath
And terri ed each hid her face and ed
Beyond the presence of her u nborn dead
And God s Great Angel who provides
Soul s for our mortal land
Laughed with the laughter that derides
At that fast eeing band
O f self made barren women o f the ea rth
H ell has no cu rse that withers like such mi rth
They
THE
2 42
could not understand how pe ople could exist in

such dark crude elements But as I led her along
from one condition to another over the road she
woul d have gone had she remained on ea rth for
H ad
the ordinary allott ed period I said to her :
you lived your time in the body y ou would have
been in the condition in which you see these peo
ple
I also told her that they woul d look gro ss
to her when they rea che d the spirit state but
that in cours e of time they would improve enough
to assume the st ate of purity and peace that she
enjoyed An d a s we journeyed on we met one
whose earthly experience had unfolded and the
An d
little lady sai d
That one looks di fferent
I told her that this one had received a higher tra in
ing And we passed along to another place in the
ea rth life where there were children of the poor
and ignorant as well as of the rich and learned
An d we tarried until my little ch arge thoroughly
learned the different environments of children on
earth and the great contrast betw een their homes
daily life and schooling and those in spirit life
This child had never known anything but inn ocence
and purity an d she was far removed from the
ordinary conditions of the childhood of earth It
was long before she coul d in any degree recog
niz e it as a reality
.
2 43
And having learned of the methods of train

ing in the institutions of earth w e pursued our in
vestigati o n s farther along ; and
nally we came
to where there was a great orthodox church ; and
there unseen we mingled with the congregation
She said : This chu rchho u se is not like ours at
all What i s taught here ? Presently the se rv
ices began I told her to listen attentively to the
minister for here she would get the average ex p e
rie n ce of the church meth ods and b e able to see
wherein a great work in brave hand s is greatly
needed on the spirit side Then the minister pro
c ee de d with his d iscourse in his regul ar methodi cal
manner telling the people all he thought essential
to prepare them to enter higher reahn s o f the
spirit But the girl now grown to nearly woman
hood could not accept the dicta of the minister for
sh e had up to now been raised in the spirit world
and had learned nothing that was in harmony with
methods attempted by the church to enli ghten the
people and prepare th em for future realities
Therefore the teachings of the minister seemed to
her s o gross so false so out of line with all she
had ever seen heard or read of in the land which
had always been her home that she hesitated to re
main but I told her that her future work and wel
fare requi re d that she learned as much as p ossible
,
2 44
THE
o f the ea rth conditions in which your people live

and the kind of preparation such earth conditions
make for their inheritance in o ur life But the
m ore the young lady heard of the sermon the more
she disbelieved it In fact it was so much Op posed
to what she knew of the conditions on this side
and so di fferent from what preparation while on
ea rth for entrance to and enjoyment of spirit life
shoul d consist that at my suggestion she resolved to
vi sit those who had just left the ea rth plane
sch oo led under its teaching and witn ess the effect
of it ; we therefore journeyed on
,
THE
2 46
Such is the true resurrection and the possi

b ility of that pe rfect life unattain able to an in
habitant of ea rth After leaving the earth plane
the immo rtal has b een divested of the physi ca l an d
progress is unlimited
Again it was my privilege to have speech with
The room in my
those living beyond my vision
house in which I carried on my experimental work
was intensely dark ; as usual on ly Mrs French and
I were present The thought before so tense had
for a moment become passive ; then from out of the
silence came the deep tone d voice of him who spoke
the above qu oted words
Ever alert to obtain the personal observations of
th ose who have gone on I said :
I have been told that the after life is intensely

real and that with you everything is just as tangible
as it was when you lived among us Tell me some
thin g of matter surroun ding and composing the
plane in which you live
The most learned scientist he replied among

the inhabitants o f earth has pract ically no con
ce p tio n of the properties of matt er the sub stance
that makes up the Universe visible and invisible

I did not when I lived among you though I
made a special study of the subject That which
you see and touch making up the physical or tang
ness
ACTU AL ITIES O F THE AFTER LIFE
2 47
ible having three dimensions i s the lowest o r

crudest expression of life force and n o twithstan d
ing my long study of the subject the i dea that the
physical had permanent etheric or li fe form that
that which you call space was composed of mat
ter lled with intelligent and comprehensive life
in higher vibration never occurred to me ; so when
I became an inhabitant of th e plane where I now
reside I was wholly unprepared to grasp or com
prehend the material conditions of the environmen t
in which I foun d myself
Tell me I asked of your awakening an d

how things appeared to you as consciousness w as
restored
O f course he replied there was the meet

ing and greeting o f my own who came to welcome
me as naturally as one retu rning after a long
journey in the earth life would b e welcomed
Their bodies were not so dense as when they were
inhabitants o f ea rth but they were like my o wn
Then I was told that my body and the bo d ies of all
those in that life were actu ally the identical bodies
which we had in earth life divested of the esh
covering I was also told that that condition is a
nec essary precedent to entering the higher life
and that such bodies during ea rth life had con
t in u ity and further that in leaving the old I had
,
THE
2 48
come into a plan e where all was etheric that is

matter vibrating in perfect accord with my spirit
or technically speaking etheric self To me
everything seemed perfectly natu ral to se n se sight
and touch
Again let me tell yo u he said that the o uter

esh garment is not sufficiently sensitive to feel ;
This I have
the etheric body alone ha s sensation
said as leading up to a clear un derstanding of what
I experienced in meeting the new conditions here
I found little body change I had sensation and
vision and my personal appea rance was in no way

changed except that my body was less dense more
transparent as it were but the outl ine of my form
was denite my mind clear the appearance of age
gone and I stood a man in the fullness of my men
tality nothing lost or gained mentally

What impressed me most after the meeting with
my o wn was the reality and tangibility of every
thing and every one All those with whom I came
in contact had bodies like my o wn and I recog
Now I
n iz e d friends an d acqua intances readily
will tell you of the one thing that impressed me
that was that matter in its
m ost on coming here
intense renement in its higher vibration was
capable of intelligent thinking and direction
Shape and grasp this proposition if you can ; I
,
THE
250
projecti on You regard the phonograph

as a m arvellou s instrument but it is c rude be side
the instruments in use among us Wh en you ap
i
t
r
a
t
h
e
tr
u
th
t
h
a
t
we
live
in
a
s
t
te
no
les
s
ma
e
ec
a
p
teris l than your o wn you will un d erstand that with
o u r greater age an d expe rien ce we are much in ad
vanc e o f you an d make and use appliances and in
strumenta that coul d ha rdl y be explaine d to mo rtal
mind At some other time I may be permitted to
discu ss this subj ect more fully

thought
CHAPTER
XXV
RATIONAL DEDU CTIONS
HERE is not in the universe a single great

problem that man can tru thq y say he has
mastered that nothing remains to be fou nd
out concerning it The laws that control this
world are universal and in force in other spheres
as well as in this ; they control all solar systems
and worlds in space ; therefore a complete com
prehension of those laws and their application re
quires more than mo rtal life If this were not so
pe rfection woul d be practically immediate and
without process and men woul d become gods here
and now The most brilliant men who ever lived
knew but little of natu ral laws and of the origin
and destiny of man Until now little e ffort has
been made to n d them out
The earth is yet so crude our senses are so dull
and our vision so limited that we fail to realize
those emanations and movements of rened matter
about us or the sub tle and incessant play of forces
around us From a single ray of light shoot mil
lions of electrons and corpuscles the basic c o nstit
,
2 51
THE
2 52
of matter smaller than th e atom of hydro

gen ; these striking blow upon blow pass by and
through us in their in cessant warfare with the
night but we feel them not
We do not realiz e the quivering an d bending of
the ea rth s crust under our feet cause d by changes
of temperature or the pressure of atmospheri c
waves nor do we hear the fe rmentation s and oxi da
tions of the soil in the changing seas on s
We do
not even yet know the ex act natu re of that e ther
whi ch a recent investigator consi ders omnipresent
and omn ipotent We see the action of gravitation
but know nothing of the medium through which it
operates We hear the wind soughing amon g the
trees ; but we do not hear the roar of sap up trunk
and branch the bursting of the buds as they bom
bard the air o r the speech of growing trees and
ow ers and grass among themselves ; yet li fe wher
ever foun d has language
The vibrations from out the abyss of space would
reach our ears i f they had more and higher octaves
or if our capacity for catchi ng sound were imm eas
u rab ly intensi ed ; we do not hear the clang o f the
planets as they ring down through their orbits the
explosive detonations of the sun the wild dance
and chant of the Nebulae the comets note of wam
ing or the ru sh of wandering matter of which
u ents
THE
2 54
the world of spirits has been proven beyond doub t ;

and it now remains for men of genius to discover
new methods and to bring into this new eld of re
sea rch the same intelligent action that is applied
to the lower sciences thereby increasing our knowl
edge of the spirit as they have of the materi al
,
Those who through i gnorance or prejudice de

cry a new discovery an d so prevent fair considera
tion are enemies of civiliz ation The time has
come for man to be free and to think alone
Neither the teachings of the so called dead nor the
conclusions of the living can change facts or nul
lify a single natural law
Truth has neither youth
nor age ; it is and ever has been a brother to
reaso n ; it does not need the assistance of fame or
science ; it has never been in the keep ing of any
particular class of men ; it is the heritage of all
who live
Let th is fact sink deep into eve ry human heart :
the individual thought must at all times be kept
clean and pure for this wondrous and ever active
mind of ours is from day to day throwing the
shuttle through the web of life incessantly weaving
the fabric of the condition that will clothe the naked
soul on the thre shold of the after life and those in
the great beyond watch beside the loom
,
RATIONAL DEDUCTION S
2 55
From this great source I have learned and know

that the bridge of death no longer rests upon the
clouds of hope but upon great piers of knowl
edge and the heart applauds the brain when one
works to increase the force of universal good
Matter is eternal only form is new and one who
but ye sterday in the ush of health faced the
storms of life with splendid courage and whose
body lies to night in the embrace of mother earth
is no exception to the rul e All that was matter
as we use the term the outer garment all that gave
him physical expression will mingle with the sub
stance from which it was formed ; but his spirit is
eternal his progression will be unbroken and his
horizon will widen as he reaches the Sphere b e
yond I know that to the limits of that plane in
which he lives at rst the human voice will carry
the thought will reach The so called dead live
here about us kn ow our sorrows and grieve with
us They share our happiness they kn ow our
hopes and ambitions and by suggestion through
our sub consc ious brain they inuence our daily
conduct I know that eve ry hope ambition and
desire of earth is continued beyond this life as is
also the burden of wrong I know that we are as
much spirit now as we ever shall be ; that in death
so called we S imply vacate an d di scard the gro ss
,
THE
2 56
material that gives us expression in this physi cal

plane All about this material world of ours an d
in it there exists in fact the psychi c or spiritu al
u nive rse more active and real than this peopled
with all the so call ed countless dead who have
never died who no longer burdened with a phys
i cal b ody move at will within the boundaries of
their sphere an d ours in what appears as space to
mo rtal m an
Their life is an active one All th e new con
ditio ns all the great laws by which they are to be
governed mu st be learned and only by individu al
effort can they live intelligently an d well I kn ow
that a wrong a ct in earth life must be lived over
again in the next and lived right before advance
ment is possible ; that the labour is often long but
that familie s and friends are in time reunited an d
I have
t ake up the th rea d where it was broken
heard them talk among th emselves and to me ;
many emine nt men an d women upon my invita
tion have heard the same that I have heard in the
material conditions that we have made I know
something of the democ racy of death and that all
mankind is beginning to hear and march to the
Silent music of reason I know too th at the high
est duty of every one is to contribute what he can to
the prosperity of the many ; one ri ch in worldly
.
CHAPTER XXVI
A TRIB U TE
N June 2 4 19 12 at her home in Roches

ter New York Emily S French the
most perfect psychi c of modern time s
left thi s world o f ours She had passe d on life s
highway th e stone that marked four score an d
more and weary with the bu rd en Of go o d deeds
she crossed the go lden bri dge
an d m any y ears
from li fe to li fe
On that J une d ay as I stood where all that was
mortal Of my friend was being put away memory
ashed back to a previous time I saw the Open
grave Of my mother I felt again the biting winds
and the chill o f another death a sensation born
Of ignorance
and I recalled my early resolution
to solve the problem Of dissolution Again I stoo d
apart about me hills and valleys crown ed and car
e
with
green
winding
roads
lakes
an
d
streams
e
t
d
p
trees an d Shrubs and owers and when the casket
was lowered the sun s rays rich and warm fell
upon it an d bi rds sang merrily in the trees With
,
2 58
A TRIBUTE
2 59
joy in our hearts we among the many who came to

bid Mrs French God speed turned homeward for
this good woman o n e among millions had gone

to the next life with absolute kn owledge of what
conditions were to come She kn ew that death wa s
not the end but the open door
Glad one asks that she has gone ? Yes

for it is the most glorious privilege possessed by
mankind after a long and eventful career when
the shadows lengthen to pass to more intense an d
comprehensive life
Mrs French was born possessed of what Crookes
has termed Psychi c Force ; from infancy she

had unusual abilities She could not remember a
time when she was unable to see people and hear
voices whi ch were neither seen nor heard by others ;
for this reason She was in childhood thought p e
There came a period in her young woman
c u liar
hood when with a pencil in each hand she would
write on different subjects simultaneously easily
conversing at the same time Automati c writing
was not then known or understood and the sug
gestion that the beyond was inhabited by people
just as this world is had not dawned upon our men
tality Afterward there came in her presen ce
under certain conditions independent voices that
is a way was found by which the vocal organs of
,
THE
2 60
the dead so called could be an d were clothed

so that they spoke audibly in our atm osphere an d
in this mann er came the di scovery Of another plane
inhabited by all the countless dead where indi
vidu ality is actu ally co ntinued

a world as real
and tangible as this
It was my good fortu ne to meet Mrs French
early and the compact then formed was faith
fully kept to the end She was as anxiou s as
I was to understand the play of forces in her pres
ence and without payment she freely gave her time
an d strength that through her instrumentali ty goo d
might come not only to those living here but also
to those in the great beyond The idea of accept
ing money for such service was abhorrent to her
an d She devoted her life to the liberation of the
mind that the mental bonds of superstition might
be broken and that mankind might become better
by living more intelligently
H er work gave the world a new di scovery and
her labour opened the door to the Unknown Land
H er love went out to those in sorrow to the un

fortu nate the rich the poor and the ignorant and
yet with her great power she was a child sincere
and frank and full o f hope as spring and she ever
borrowed sunshine of to morrow to make the pres
ent glad She saw into th e great beyond where
-
THE
2 62
an d
smiles and at thi s second birth it doe s the

She made me her friend by being honest ;
same
I made her my fri end by being fair and so we
w orked for twenty y ears an d m ore to learn how to
ex pe l the fear of death from the hu man heart
She grew old as we count time feeble in body an d
blind ; yet her courage an d devotion never waned
an d at the en d Sh e smil ed an d m et the dawn o f
everlasting life
She was an instrument through whi ch a great
group worked In her prese nce with the n eces
sary condition s the people in the next plane spoke
and never again can it be said The dead know
not anything
I cannot give out the knowledge gained through
Mrs French s instrumentality without paying this
tribute to her She was the noblest wom an I have
known ; She was both honest an d brave ; She en
riched herself by aiding others She helped to
stay the tears th at fell from fu rro w e d cheeks and
looked with pity on ignorance an d superstition
She c ame to know that all wretc hedness an d pomp
lose d istinction in the democracy of d eath an d that
only character su rvives To her in the great be
yond where she now resid es I send my love We

Shall meet again
,
THE END
If The
e ste
Dead H ave Never D ied has inter
you you Shoul d ask your bookseller

,
show you the following :
Four D imensional Vistas

By Claude Bragdon
Creative Involution
By Cora L Williams
.
Go d and Mr Wells
By William Archer
The Book of Self

By J ames Oppenheim
are Borzoi Books pub lished
Alfred A
Knopf who will be glad to see that

,
you receive his catalogs regularly i f you will

send him your name and address
THE B OR$ O I at
Street
New York
220
Write to
West Forty Second

-

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T HE

By Carl Van Vecl ue n

GEO RG E JEAN NATHAN

I have had st range experiences in my Psychic in

known as psychic force who when sc ienti

voted her life to helping others and as a result her

entists and of late Sir Conan D oyle have proved

are co mpo sed of matter ; therefore they have form

it was given man to learn something

Volumes have been writt en by the world s fo re

Con scious Dissolution 2 3

Con tin uity of Life

E th er ic En viron men t 105

Personal I den tity 140

Eth eric B ody 12 6

Men tal A ctivity

Rationa l Dedu c tion s 2 51

THE DEAD HAV E NEV ER

THE LIVING DEAD

dead have never

THE DEAD H AVE NEVE R D IED

I mention these instances to show that I am n o t

THE DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED

even people all expert in the handling of the

also take physical emanation s substances from

Is death the end ann ihilation and repose ? O r

THE DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED

tions since the idea that a cable would one day be

VO ICES OF THE LIVING DEAD

THE DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED

ally and spirit ually as before with the same

voice rst speaks from the invisible world so un

THE DEAD H AVE NEVER DIED

was alone with me in the room in my o wn home de

I came he replied from a long line of SOI

THE DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED

You must remember the spirit answered

regiment in reserve ; in front

THE DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED

THE DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED

has never been right NO tak ing of hum an life

Music I was told I could go in if I desired I

CONSCIO US D ISS OLUTION

quired of u for which w e are ready

THE DEAD HAVE NEVER D IED

after so many years ? I asked

land of happiness and opportunity

T was in the year 1892 that I met Emily S

SPEECH WITH THE DEAD

THE DEAD HAVE NEVER D IED

sight and psychic hearing Mrs French pos

SPEECH WITH THE DEAD

About ten o clock on the appointed morning the

THE DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED

when my mother greeted me in her o wn di

killed $ H elp me help me

SPEECH WITH THE DEAD

THE DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED

that in the awakemn g he takes on the identical state

D oes he give his name ?

Did he reside in Bu alo ?

Was he a resident Of that city ? an d Mrs

H e says that he lived there