CHAPTER X Questions and Answers

Question: You often say that we are just the same after passing over. Does this mean that there are cross, jealous, stupid and greedy people on your side?

Answer: It would be dull indeed if everybody were made on the same pattern. We all have our own characteristics, otherwise we should not be individuals, but merely animated dummies out of the same mould. As you grow older on the earth, you usually become more level-headed and less apt to lose your temper. In a similar way we progress over here. Let us take some of the common causes of quarrels on your side. Political views are often the source of bitter disputes. They do not exist in the same sense in the Summerland, though I occasionally hear people grumbling at the regulation, though they soon realise that these rules are for the public good.

Money is a great cause of quarrels between the earth folk. It does not exist here. Jealousy may persist for a very short time, but we soon see things in a clearer perspective and understand that we have no cause to be jealous. As to the grosser crimes of violence, they too, persist, but the souls that you call criminal are not sufficiently evolved to be here at all. They must reincarnate. When you take away money and lust, you do away with the main causes of ill-temper, greed and jealousy. There is no need to be greedy when you can have all you want be exercising a little thought. Remove finance from your world, and all war would cease.

I have know people dispute when they first arrive, usually about religious matters. Those who were ardent Roman Catholics on your side still seek to convert others to their creed, and are annoyed when they are unsuccessful. They do not always fail, however. Some people are attracted by the religious ceremonial and become Roman or Anglican Catholics. In time, of course, these outward trappings lose their charm, and I do not know of any advanced soul who belongs to any religious sect.

Mental disease does not of course exist, but there is still a great variation in intellectual power. Some cannot take in new teaching as readily as others, and the pig-headed may for some considerable time adhere to their former views. I know one man who had been here longer than I have, and who still insists that he has not died. He did not believe in Survival, and he refuses to give up his error.

Here, again, as in so many wide-spread doctrines, there is a substratum of truth regarding the beneficent effect of a “ belief in the hereafter,” although the word “ belief” or “ faith” has been misused. Faith does not imply blind credulity, but most be based on reliable evidence obtained by persistent search. But the man I mentioned works hard for others and is happy with his family, and in time he will probable realise the truth. Otherwise he will have to reincarnate.

Q. Do they dread reincarnation?

A. No, because those who must reincarnate are like fish out of water over here, and it is for their happiness that they should return to earth.

Q. You say you are happy. Do those in the Summerland ever feel miserable when they watch their friends on earth in great trouble?

A. The most difficult thing to make you understand is the exhilaration we feel when we have passed over. Our bodies can never feel tired, but we sometimes need rest mentally when we have been working hard. We can feel sorry when we have failed to help less developed souls, but we know that in the end they will evolve, and as there is all eternity before them, what is the hurry? There is a man here who is paying a visit to his friend, who was allowed to have him on trial. He is not really happy because the earth pull is too strong, and when he gives way to it, he finds himself among your fogs and cannot even make himself understood. He was a betting man, and that is one of the few things we cannot do here.

What could we bet with, since we have no money? What could he do with the money even if he had its counterpart? It is usually money that pulls such people towards the earth. It has become a confirmed habit to heap up more and more money, and without this interest, his life is tasteless. When he returns in a new incarnation, he will have to live in poverty so as to eradicate the money passion. As for alcoholics, it is the same in a minor degree, though there are cases where it is more an illness, and where the craving disappears after a long sleep.

That is how the earth lives purify the soul; one by one the failings are eradicated, and as was have all passed through the undeveloped stage, there is nothing to boast about when we have reached higher levels. As to our ultimate destiny, I know no more than you do, and I need not repeat that I am only a very short step ahead of you.

Q. Can you work miracles, as described in the New Testament?

A. No, we are not supernatural beings, able to perform miracles such as giving sight to the blind, or enabling a paralysed man to walk. We are, as I have very often told you, only a short way ahead of you, and it is silly to pray to us for material benefits, as some do. I can no more work a miracle just because I am discarnate, than you can. Occasionally, I can foresee the future, and this is perhaps what has given rise to the idea that we can change the course of nature. We use natural laws in coming to you, and that does not mean that we can solve all your problems and cure all your diseases. The only way our spirit doctors can help the sick on your side is by using new remedies, and by studying the case from a wider angle.

The miraculous cures in the Bible were brought about by a high spirit who gave up his high estate in order to help the world. There is a great change in the appearance of the individual as he progresses, and it is a fact that if a spirit from a high sphere were to show himself without first assuming a cloak, you and I might be temporarily blinded by his radiance. We ordinary folk are quite incapable of procuring money for you, or healing your wounds either mental or physical. It is sad sometimes to hear men and women praying earnestly to us to find them money, employment or what not.

Q. What is the “double”?

A. The double is a different thing from the spirit. It is a kind of astral replica of the individual, but the real person is not there. It is a kind of shell that can be seen, but cannot speak, or see, or hear. It arises in several ways, e.g. it can be produced by intense thought or dramatic action. When a man is dying, he may strongly wish to see some person. In some cases he may be able to appear himself, but sometimes he cannot accomplish this, although the power of his desire sends a double that can be recognised. It is not necessary to be clairvoyant in order to see the double. Anybody can do so, and it is what is popularly known as a ghost. It is a rare phenomenon.

When I was on your side, I once saw a form of a friend who had been killed. I woke and saw him standing beside my bed. He tried to speak, but could not hold the form, and he went away, leaving the double behind for a moment or two. The double is the cause of hauntings. It is not the dead man who haunts the house, but merely his double, generally when some fearful thing has happened such as murder or suicide. It gradually fades as time goes on and may disappear when the cause has gone. That is why, sometimes, when a will is found, or a body buried, the haunting ceases. It is not the victim himself, but a thought-form held together by the power of desire. It is not easy to explain, but I think you have grasped the idea. It is only on rare occasions that all the necessary factors are present, and that is why haunting is so rare, otherwise there would be ghosts everywhere, since there are many crimes and disasters. It, for instance, every hospital patient were to haunt the room in which he died, nobody could go on living there.

There are occasions when we can appear for a moment, in times of great stress. It is not a case of mere shell or thought-form; the actual individual, by a tremendous effort, bridges the gulf for a short time, usually at the moment of death. There are many such stories told on your side, and if collected, they would fill a volume of strong evidence for Survival. I will tell you one that struck me as interesting.

It was one of those people who make pledges with their friends that whichever dies first will appear to the other to prove that he has survived. The man who passed on – whom we will call Andrew – was killed during a flight from Italy to Africa. The plane fell into the sea and was never found, but Andrew recalled his promise during the interval when a drowning man reviews his past, and he succeeded in visiting he friend Joan. It was a kind of spectre that met the horrified woman, as she was getting out of bed in the early morning. Andrew was dripping wet, and where he stood, a pool of sea water stained the carpet, and the mark is still to be seen. He tried to kiss her, but she was so horrified at the sight of this white, haggard, dripping form, that she screamed and so broke up the conditions that had enabled Andrew to show himself. Joan was found half-fainting on the floor, and she insisted that Andrew was dead, although at that time no news of any disaster had come through. It was a case of an intense effort enabling a twin soul to reach the one left behind, and it was successful. More often the one who is dying appears in a dream so vivid that the dreamer recalls on waking. Such pledges are rather rash, for in the vast majority of cases they cannot be fulfilled, and the one left behind is convinced that the friend has perished.

Q. Is there any truth in the story of the bone taken from an Egyptian tomb that is said to bring disaster to the owner?

A. The explanation is quite simple. The bone forms a link with its former owner, and Egyptian, who by this means is sometimes able to show himself and make physical contact with those who are in possession of the relic. The spectre, as the newspapers call him, manifests his presence by breaking things and by other poltergeist phenomena, and will continue to do so until the bone is restored to the tomb from which it was stolen. In olden days the Egyptians laid great store by their physical bodies, and even supplied their mummies with food and other things, imagining that by so doing they provided the spirit with the necessities of life. To prevent thieves from pillaging the tombs, as they would doubtless have done, the priests laid very powerful magical spells on the contents of the tombs, especially those of royal personages, and the power that has been shut up all these years in the sealed tombs is often still effective when outsiders of any nationality rob the tombs.

The spirit who shows himself is not necessarily the person to whom the bone belonged. In the case you have in mind, it is a man who was greatly devoted to the king whose bone is was, and he is determined to obtain its restoration to the royal tomb. People are apt to laugh at magic, but it is a very real thing, whether black or white, and many disasters, including sudden death, have come to those who have systematically plundered the tombs. Every psychic manifestation however, by its cumulative effect, helps to spiritualise the earth, but I should certainly now advise you to become the owner of any such dangerous object. Now do you understand it better? The guardian of the tomb is merely carrying out his self­appointed duty of guarding his master’s property.

The Egyptians, as you know, laid great stress on the preservation of the physical body, and although this belief is based on ignorance of the fact that the worn-out body is of no further use to the spirit, it makes no difference to the powerful forces, some very destructive, that were deliberately shut up in the tombs. Many of the tombs are, of course, harmless, and many of the scarabs and little stone figures have no power to harm their present owners, especially where the Egyptian owner was an enlightened person, and no hoodoo was put on his tomb. The fact that these manifestations have taken place will make people think and ask questions, as you have done, and so gain knowledge of spiritual facts. I am glad you asked me about it, as it has provided a theme for my discourse.

Q. What happens to criminals on your side? Is there any truth in the theory of a final judgment day?

A. I will try to explain how we deal with criminals over here. Those whom we regard as the worst criminals are those who have had an opportunity of knowing the truth, but have refused to listen. They have not necessarily broken the lows of the world, but they have committed what Christ called “ the sin against the Holy Ghost.” You, for instance, have learned that the spirit is not the physical body, and if you refuse to do your best to spread the truth and lived a life of selfishness, you would be punished far more severely than those who know nothing about it. As I have often told you, we meet everyone who comes over, and sooner or later, the soul makes a kind of balance-sheet showing his credits and debits, the former being the sum total of his good deeds and the latter the knowledge that was his. The new arrival is then judged as to whether he must reincarnate, and those whom you might regard as evil are sometimes more advanced over here, because they have eventually found the truth and have tried to live up to it.

Judgment is not quite the right word, since it implies the existence of a judge, whereas the decision is purely automatic, the result of the working of the natural law. Just as you get a blister on your hand if you burn it, so if you have done or left undone certain things, you automatically find yourself in a certain sphere. There is a fair assessment of your credits, and I cannot hope to make you realise the bitter regrets of those who look back and see how they have misused their opportunities.

All must progress, and nobody can grasp the conditions that lie ahead. I cannot yet appreciate the conditions of the sphere beyond the Summerland, but nobody ever wishes to return to any lower existence, just as you would not care to revert to the life of an amoeba. The amoeba is happy in its life because it cannot know of anything better, and even if you could make it understand what a much better time a frog has, it would doubtless prefer its own state, and might fear the transition just as you fear death. It is a difficult thing to explain, but some of those who seem to be least fitted for eternal life when judged by earthly standards, are the better able to adjust themselves to that life. By eternal life I mean the stage where reincarnation is not longer necessary.

Q. Is there any truth in the teaching of Christian Science?

A. The Christian Scientists have got hold of a partial truth when they emphasis the power of thought, for over here anything can be achieved by this means. I have known people recently arrived who remained lame or blind for a time, because they could not realise that their physical disabilities no longer existed. It takes time and patience to remedy the results of wrong-thinking on your side, and that is whey we have hospitals and doctors. There is often the argument between doctor and patient, because some are so self­opinionated that they will not believe that they have lost their physical ailments. There is a man here now who is blind, seeing nothing of his surroundings, merely because he does not believe what the doctors tell him. He was born blind, and he merely replies that he has tried the faith healing stunt before, and found it useless. In time he will recover his sight, because when on your side, he came over here during sleep, and was then able to see. The memory of these visits will gradually return to him and he will see as well an anybody.

Q. Will you tell me more about fairies?

A. On your side you regard fairies as imaginary creatures, invented for the amusement of children, but they are real sub-human beings, living an animal existence. They do not propagate as you do; there are no baby fairies, but they appear in a mature state, being a kind of solidification of thought. From time immemorial fairies have existed in the folk-lore of every race, and such is the power of thought that the idea has taken a concrete form. That is why they wear the conventional dress of fairy tales, though they do not possess the supernatural powers attributed to them. They are nature spirits, assuming for a time the form that has always been associated with them.

There are many creatures of which you know nothing, and I have found then a very interesting study. There are flowers that play music, and other things resulting from centuries of myth and legend. Many a fairy does not get the opportunity of coming in contact with humans, but they are vain little things who dearly love an audience, and once they have been associated with a human, either on our side or on yours, they are desperately anxious to remain in touch with man. That is how the idea has arisen that they are like irresponsible children, playing with things that they do not understand, and sometimes causing unintentional damage.

I sometimes watch the fairies on your side, and it is obvious that their leading characteristic is an insatiable curiosity. I saw two of them examining the china figures in one of your friend’s cabinets, and they were so anxious to know whether they were alive that they kept on pushing them. If the door had been open, they would have pushed one figure overboard, and the owner would not have been puzzled at this example of spontaneous fracture. They get the power to make physical contact only when somebody possessing mediumistic power is present. Often young people in adolescence become mediumistic for the time being, and so are associated with poltergeist manifestations. The poltergeists are seldom human, and are often mischievous fairies or other sub-human types that take a childish pleasure in making use of a power they have suddenly acquired. It is a game to them, and, like children, they soon tire of it, and so the phenomena cease until some other naughty imps come along, or the power of the human medium disappears as suddenly as it came. Someday I will try to get you a fairy and let it do some tricks, but not with your antiquities!

As for the other sub-human types, they are seldom visible to man, but they exist all the same. There is a kind of dog and a form of ape that do not seem to be recognised by naturalists. They are not dangerous, because they cannot make use of what you call ectoplasm. Under rare conditions, dangerous creatures have been evoked at séances, and might do great damage. A kind of unicorn was once seen at a séance, but this is rare.

Q. Will you explain obsession?

A. Let us discuss the possibilities of dealing with those on your side who are in the grip of an evil spirit. There are a certain number of these cases in every mental hospital, and the only thing to do is to get rid of the entity through a medium, as was done by the American, Dr. Wickland. (Thirty years Among the Dead) I admit there are difficulties; few relatives would approve such treatment, and it is not easy to find a suitable medium, as was done, butit is the only remedy and it is all part of the patient’s earth experience.

Then the victim dies, the obsessing spirit is of course obliged to seek another subject. It is a form of disease, and it is a fact that from this side we can do little to help. You may improve matters by building up the patient’s physical condition, but unless you can provide psychic treatment, it is almost impossible to evict the intruder.