APPENDIX

Confirmation from sources other than “ The Soldier”

From a relative.

We find it hard to make you grasp even a small fraction of the beauties and happiness of your life here. The details you cannot grasp, but it should suffice when I tell you that we are happy, and would never willingly return to earth. When I leave you, we shall go together to the temple where we worship God. You see, we still feel that divine worship helps us, and so do many others over here. The music is wonderful, and here again, we cannot explain to you the difference between your earth music and that of the heavenly hosts. Then we shall rest awhile in our garden, where the flowers are a constant delight. We have other occupations, such as teaching some of the people who have just arrived H. is specially interested in these poor creatures coming over in large numbers from Spain. We have learned the language so that we can speak fluently to them, for when they arrive, naturally they do not understand our methods of communication by thought-transference.

The higher spheres are just as mysterious to us as ours is to you, and the Masters who come to help us tell us that the glories to come will make this life seem pale and dead by comparison. When I came over, H. met me and explained that our previous religious ideas were erroneous, that life in the Summerland is for better than on earth, that there is no sudden change into either saint or a devil, and that we have a long way to progress before we see God. He also explained that we had been too narrow in our views, and that it is wrong to suppose that those who hold views different from ours will not be “ saved,” and that even sin is merely part of evolution. You know, we used to look askance at the very word “ evolution,” regarding is as something anti-Christian. B., too, came and talked, and at first it was a great shock to me to learn that all I had been taught was incorrect. I have seen Zulu (a collie); he spends much time with B.

One of the important differences between your world and ours is that here, nobody can be ill or injured, and that fear us unknown. On your side, fear is an important factor in your life, and even the most courageous feel fear; fear of illness, fear of being of losing the beloved by death, fear of losing one’s money as so forth. Over here, there is nothing to fear. Death no longer exists as a dread angel lying in wait for all, and even when we see our earth friends in trouble, we have no fear or sorrow, because we realise that the earth life is very short, and that soon you will all be over here.

That is what I want to emphasise; the joy of being here with no fear, or sorrow, or ill health. Newcomers are often perplexed because they do not understand that they have cast off their bodies. When we look forward, we know that there is nothing to fear in passing to a yet higher sphere, though that may not be for a very long time, as you count years. As far as I know, none that were on the earth with us have yet passed on to the next sphere. We sometimes see visitors from the next plane, who come to help their friends, and who sometimes lecture on the life beyond. The hour of your coming is known to us, but we are not allowed to tell you, as it might make you frightened. But remember that death is not a thing to dread, and that when you have arrived over here, all your troubles will be ended, and you will be able to help your friends the better for having known something about the life to come.

We were ignorant, and you are fortunate in having come in contact with spiritual things. Spiritualism never came our way, and as for your writing, we should have thought you were out of your mind! As we grow in spiritual experience, so we discard our earthly desires, and as we no longer need certain organs, so they slowly atrophy. I have all my teeth, and as to digestive organs, as far as I know, they are still there. But we neither perspire nor excrete in the same way, our food being different, and less material as we progress. We eat fruits and salad, but no meat or anything that would involve slaughter. In time, I am told, all nourishment comes from the atmosphere, and when we feel tired, we rest and inhale.

At first we have the earth habit of going to bed, but here again, as we use our new powers, so we need less rest. There is always plenty to do. You ask whether we need to wash. We certainly need no soap, as there is nothing here to produce dust of dirt, but we often bathe, because some streams possess certain powers, and we derive fresh energy in this way. Then, too, we often bathe in certain light rays, something like your U.V.R., but for more powerful. At first we wear clothes like those on earth, but gradually, as be become used to the new life, we prefer something simpler.

You say that “ robes” sound clumsy. That is only because you do not understand, and I find it hard to explain. They might seem clumsy to you, but here one’s clothing seems to be a part of oneself, and the colour varies according to one’s progress. You ask why nakedness should be indecent. The mere fact of being without clothing is not wrong, and with you, the idea has arisen merely because it might rouse certain evil passions. At first these passions may continue in the case of some people, but there is no sin over here, because we realise that for every infringement of the laws of nature, a penalty will have to be paid. As to eternity, we know very little more than you do, and there are some here who say that eventually we all return to the melting-pot and lose our individuality. Others deny this, and I do not know what I shall become, but I am content to wait for further knowledge.

From another relative (H. mentioned above).

You always want to know about conditions here, and I have thought out a short discourse on this subject much as I used to prepare the ignorant sermons I preached! Soon after arriving here, I began to take an interest in communicating with the earth. B. had made no effort to do this, as none of us were able to receive her messages, but I made up my mind to try to remedy some of the wrong doctrines I had taught. What might I not have accomplished as a clergyman, if only I had had your knowledge!

I met a clergyman who is an expert in these matters, and for a long time I worked with him until I had learned to control trance mediums. I found, however, that our audiences were so limited that we made very little progress in enlightening the world. If only the Church would open its doors to this knowledge, what a wonderful opportunity to spread the truth, instead of which, the clergy go on preaching uninspired sermons, and are a definite hindrance to spiritual progress. It was useless for me to try to get in touch with any members of my family, as at that time none of them took the slightest interest in these matters.

Then I met “ the soldier” and found that he was in touch with you, and, as you know, he helped us to write. But we still feel a strong aversion to discussing family matters in public, and so we never attend séances. That is why you never receive a message from us at such gatherings. We know that you are satisfied as to our continued existence and well-being, and it is therefore unnecessary for us to overcome our distaste and demonstrate our presence in this somewhat theatrical way. When I was on earth, I was very ignorant, but I was always convinced that death was not the end, and I believed that the details of our future life were intentionally hidden behind the veil. If only I had known, I could have helped many. When I look back, I am sorry I was so benighted, but I could not reach what I did not know myself. The Messenger is preparing to bring more light to your earth, and then, if the Church refuses to accept his teaching, it will perish, and another religion will take its place.

Sometimes we can turn over the film of the future. Science and religion will join hands, and all these new rays will help scientists to realise the reasonableness of the theory of the etheric body. In time, there will be easy communication between the two worlds, and men will look back on the present state of affairs as an age of spiritual darkness, much as you look back at the Middle Ages. You are fortunate in having learned so much that is a sealed book to most of the earth folk, and you will not be bewildered when you come over, knowing as you do something of our life. You have a mind singularly suited to receive revolutionary truths. Your scientific training helped you to discard the errors of your early life, and to examine all theories before accepting them. I, on the other hand, accepted what I was taught without challenging its truth, and I considered it wrong to question the accuracy of the Church teaching.

We do not have the same bodily functions as you do, and our health is never out of gear, so that doctors over here deal only with the mind, and all our hospitals are for rest cures, or for the treatment of mental disorders among the newcomers, due to remorse or ignorance. There is not need for medication, although, if a patient is convinced that the needs physic, the doctors may sometimes administer is as a placebo. That is of course for newcomers only. As for injuries, broken limbs and the like, they do not exist over here, and any apparent injury is repaired at once by the power of thought. Dentists and veterinary surgeons are not needed on this side, and they do other work.

There are many newcomers here who are so bewildered that if they did not sleep for some considerable time, they would be unhappy. Yes, it is possible to unhappy here, and it does not necessarily follow that they are unfit for this plane and should and should be in a lower one. There are many well-intentioned earth people who have lived for others, e.g. some of the missionaries who honestly believe that they are doing God’s will in converting the heathen. It is the wrong teaching of the Church that is responsible for much bewilderment over here. They are blind leaders of the blind, and when their followers arrive here, everything is so different from what they were led to expect that they cannot understand. No judgement day, no harps, no angel’s wings; merely, so far as they can see, a continuation of their earth life. If we had our earth lives over again, we should be so different, but then, that was the teaching in our time.

The most important matter for our consideration is work. I must make it clear that we enjoy our work, in spite of the fact that we often put our whole energy into doing something that we regard as important, only to fail in the end. But we are not depressed or unhappy, as you might be, because we knew when we started that the issued was in doubt. We cannot force man to take the higher course; he has free will always, and in the matter of this war, we were unsuccessful. I find it easier to write of the life over here than to give tests concerning earth matters. I am neither a politician nor a prophet. Your world is going mad for what they think will bring freedom, whereas the chains will be heavier than ever. They are fools, chasing a will-o’-the-wisp, for nobody is truly free until he has cast off his physical body. The only wisdom is to seek knowledge and truth.

From Red Cloud.

Pay attention to what I say, for it is a difficult matter to explain in a few words, and to do so properly would take several hours. Life is in everything – in stone, in water, in plants; life but not soul. Life in the raw coming into matter vibrates on a slower basis than the purified vibrations of eternal life. The lower plane slowly evolves until it touches that of eternal life; each stage dies out, and the next takes on finer vibrations until the apex of matter is reached in man. All life must evolve to a higher plane, and the lowly animals have not touched the lower strata of spirituality.

The dog is on a higher basis, and often knows the difference between right and wrong. He imbibes man’s vibrations through living with man, for the vibrations intermingle, and those of man are bound to influence those of the dog. Matter is the stage through which all life travels after consciousness has been awakened. You who are in matter see so little of what is actually under your noses. The body is not the life; it does not count, and if you were in an animal body, your yourself would be just as you are now, except that your means of expressing yourself would be limited.

This planet will go on for a considerable time yet but when man has become capable of using his vibrations to bring out a higher state of existence, matter will automatically drop away. Then there will be no matter, only spirituality. There is only one Lord and one God: perfection, and what you call the devil is undeveloped matter.

Man has absolute free will, you have lived before, and you will go on living. Let us be logical: you are eternal, and so there is no beginning and no ending. Some men and women live self-sacrificing lives, while others are brutal, hard, selfish. You cannot explain these differences by the constitution of your physical bodies, for if a man chooses to return to a “ bad” body, he does so of his own free will, so that he may work through it in order to gain experience. Those who have to fight their environment are given credit in so far as they have tried. It is the law that man reaps what he has sown. If you do not eat and drink, your physical body will die; that is the law of matter. The spiritual laws are even more perfect, and man is reaping to-day what he has sown in the past. Remember always this law when you hear men blaming the Deity for the suffering that exists on your earth.

All suffering is caused by the disorganisation of the natural laws of God, and it automatically brought about by wrong thinking, and by lopping off from the human tree the branches of spirituality. When man has readjusted himself to the laws, there will be no more war and no more suffering, and this will take place when his vibrations have reached to apex of evolution. The master helps the pupil when his sums, but it is the pupil who must do the actual addition, otherwise he would not progress. There are so many who are in the lowest standard, and they would not believe though one rose from the dead. We are here mainly to help those in the higher standards, though we are willing to do what we can for the babes. We cannot force them; they must work out their own salvation.

Matter is only illusion, and man has sought the illusion so long that he has become spiritually bankrupt. A while ago I was sent to the astral to meet a very wealthy man who had passed on. He had neglected to help his poorer brethren, and he came over with a great love of luxury. He said: “ Where are you taking me?” I replied that I was conducting him to his spiritual home. As last we reached a little shanty with no windows, and only the bare walls. “ where is my mansion, and were are my servants?” he asked. “ This is all the material you have sent over, my son,” I replied.