DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS

 

'We have our different personalities here as we did there, and we do not all look at things in the same way here any more than we did there. If you can receive the ideas of many from here it will aid you in forming a more correct understanding. If you only have one person's messages you only get their viewpoint and their way of expressing it. I have been here many years as earth time goes, and I have myself seen fit to change my ideas about some things more than once, as I obtained a fuller understanding of them.

 

"We know that there are certain fundamental truths, just as you know there are certain fundamental laws. But in the various things which surround these truths there are matters which we can interpret according to the impressions they make upon us. We might use as an example the attitude that most of us take here in regard to the union of the two sexes. When I first came over I was thoroughly convinced that there was no marriage in heaven, and for a long time I could not see that there was anything to indicate it. I saw men and women associating freely and independently, and although I saw apparent friendships of more than usual intensity, I did not think of them as inseparable. If I had been communicating with earth at that time I would have conscientiously said that there was no mating here that was lasting. But now I know that the two sexes are drawn together here some time by indissoluble ties. And of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

"I might also tell of the first ideas I had regarding the way children grow and reach maturity. I saw children occasionally, and I saw teachers instructing them at times. But I did not understand that they grew up here just as they do there, only more rapidly. I thought they always remained children; and I associated some of them with the ideas I had on earth of 'cherubs.' It was really quite an astonishment when I did learn the truth. I could hardly believe it, so firmly fixed were my first ideas.

 

"In matters of a more abstract nature I see I am even now not in entire agreement with many fine advanced spirits. We have minds to reason with, and when certain facts are given us we use them according to our own personality, just as two carpenters will build different houses out of the same materials.

 

"I could give you many examples. In caring for the newcomers, I have different views from many. But I have succeeded and they have succeeded, so who is right?

 

"You may think that I am something of a freak, perhaps, but I can assure you that I am not unique. We find much pleasure here in the fact that we do have different personalities and different ideas. It makes life more enjoyable in every way. If we all thought alike we should necessarily all be alike, and we most of us think we prefer variety."