HOW TO ESCAPE OBSESSION.

 

There is an eager desire to become mediums; to receive at first hands messages from the departed. To receive such influence means obsession in some degree. The lesson has been interwoven in all these pages, of the danger of becoming a passive instrument in the hands of spirits. It is the mediumship gained by culture, the constant effort by which the will is strengthened to hold the recipient against all influences, except those to which he desires to yield.

 

But if owing to neglect or ignorance of the necessity of such training, an undesirable spirit has gained control, the will should be aroused to react against such influence. The same laws bold good here as in mesmeric influence. As no subject can be mesmerically controlled against his will, and guarded against it, no sensitive can be obsessed against his will, and when conscious of such control can throw it off unless the suggestions of that influence find response in his own inclinations. A strong mesmeric operator may give temporary relief, or permanent, by gaining control of the subject and thus excluding any other.

 

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.

 

Why do some spirits communicate and others not? Sometimes there is no difficulty in receiving communications from those who were comparative strangers, while from those who are near not a word comes in response to our most earnest desire. The cause of this seemingly inexplicable fact is lucidly given in the following communication.

 

To understand its application I shall be obliged to explain briefly that the writer, Capt. D. B. Edwards, was a distant relative, living on one of the eastern extremities of Long Island, and near the premises purchased from the Indians by my ancestors, John Tuthill, in 1640. He was a sea captain from early manhood until nearly 70 years of age, and one of the most unselfish, sympathetic and spiritual men I ever met. On his retirement from the sea he became an ardent Spiritualist, and the last time we met, pledged himself to come to me and give a test that none could gainsay. Nearly six months passed after I heard of his death and still no tidings. The night after Christmas I sat at my table writing until past midnight, and overcome with weariness, arose to retire. Then suddenly I was conscious of his presence, and he wrote a lengthy message, the beginning of as touching as the present question, I reproduce:

 

"My dear brother, I at last am able to come to you and express my thoughts and wishes. How ardently I have longed for this moment! How anxiously I awaited for this opportunity! I thought I knew all about spirit communion, and while I was ill and suffering I thought when I was free at last from my old, suffering body, my first effort would be to come to you and tell you that I had found my new life. You were perplexed that I did not. You could not understand why I did not keep my promise and let you know, as a test, before anyone else could give you the news. You did have a dim intimation which you referred to fancy.

 

"Well, I was myself surprised. I did not for a long time awake to the reality. After so much pain I felt at once at peaceful rest—such blessed, peaceful rest. I did not wish to awake from it, nor make the least exertion for fear the reality would come again. I knew enough to realize that dear spirits were with me, caring for me, and I felt my angel mother's touch, and the presence of my beloved daughter, and son Thaddeus.

 

"They would not let me take the journey alone. I was so glad it was all over, and I confess I did not sympathize with my dear wife in her grief, for I could not think how it were possible for her to grieve over an event which released me from the pain I had so long borne and the coming of that which I had so longed for.

 

"Now I have awakened. I am again myself, though not myself. I came to you and again I was surprised and disappointed. I expected to come at once into your sphere, and I thought, 'Why, yes, there will be no trouble or difficulty in making you understand just as I did when we were on the beach, or rocking in my sail-boat.' How strange it was that while others came I could not. I did not know how. I had to wait and learn. Those near would have aided me, but I could not allow them to come between me and you. Time after time I came and always I was at a distance. I did not know how to approach. By this you will understand why it is that others you desire to hear from do not come in answer to your prayers."

 

OUR MOTIVE.

 

The advancement of the spirit, in that which goes to make up its happiness, completeness and progress, does not depend on age, and only in part on earthly experiences. The latter may be valueless or even highly detrimental. The aged mother who has been a "pioneer," suffering deprivations, laboring hard, and sacrificing herself, may have been all the time dwarfing her spiritual faculties, and becoming more and more material. In such a case it is not injustice that one youthful in years, with highly developed spirituality should surpass the aged mother. The inference that it is best to die young, is not, however, to be drawn from this statement. The just conclusion is that life should be devoted not only to the cares earthly existence brings, but also with due regard for the completeness of spiritual being. Whatever we do should have reference to our future as well as present. If we live entirely for this life, and become absorbed in it, when everything pertaining thereto falls from us at death, we cannot expect spiritual excellence. We shall have to gain that by effort in the new life, and with earthward tendencies it may prove no easy task to turn to the things that in all our past held no interest for us.