Meslom. L.

Meslom tells me that all are ultimately permitted to see and progress, for no one was ever entirely bad. Some time in every life there are moments of aspiration for good, and this divine spark of life, even if suffocated by evil deeds on earth, is eternal and inextinguishable.

 

There are many classes or conditions of life on this plane. Those whose lives on earth have been sincerely and consistently devoted to their development spiritually, and therefore to doing good to their fellows, are received in the light. They go on intellectually just where they left off on earth, and their progress towards ultimate perfection is rapid. But here, as on earth, the individual is endowed with free will, and can choose the particular sphere in which he will work. It is among these that are found the searchers for truth and light who Wish to remain in communication with the earth and bring some of the certainty they now possess of immortality to others still groping in the dark.

 

To reach this state of immediate activity and continuation of individual existence, without loss of memory, it is essential to cultivate calm and tranquillity so as to support the shock of translation without attendant loss of identity or conscious memory.

 

Many never think. The live superficially and in a state of reflected morality which is without force or character either for good or evil. They remain long in the shadows or mist and are slow to progress, but until one recognizes his own shortcomings and ignorance it is not possible to give them help. Ultimately they gather strength from the force of love about them and so begin to question and to grow. They are like bulbs buried in the earth—they have glorious possibilities but remain impervious to them until exposed to the sun of truth which must penetrate the cloud of their ignorance.

 

There is a vast crowd of mortals who have moments of exalted virtue and sincere desire to do right, who through weakness fall victims to the varied temptations of life. These suffer periods of purification which are bitter and full of remorse and horror, for they realize that it is entirely through their own weakness they have failed to follow the good they frequently glimpsed, and in this pure and radiant light they see their own lives. They are permitted periods of repose and joy which refresh and comfort them because they know the truth, and they themselves will to return to the expiation work which they consciously undertake, as they see that this is their only purification. The periods of exaltation which they enjoy make them realize that all that is best and noblest is to be within their grasp, and they gladly devote themselves to whatever work is given them so as to be the sooner ready to undertake the glorious work of fulfilment they have been given glimpses of. They are the messengers and helpers of the higher spirits or guides, and the bearers of comfort and love to those not yet strong enough to support the vision of

 

I am going to explain to you the various classes or grades of beings on earth and how when they come into this life they are naturally placed where they themselves have prepared. Of course there are numberless variations, and I shall come to them, but there are several general groups.

 

In the last mentioned group are the majority of the intellectual workers of earth, and in their work of expiation here they are given tasks for which their earth development best fitted them.

 

I want to try to make a little clearer this expiation I mentioned. In spite of great suffering and anguish there can never be despair among them, for the periods of light when they see the glory of the radiant day casts an effulgence over their days of suffering. Their suffering is real, but it is voluntarily undertaken to expiate their past sins.

 

As we go on you will be given positive proofs of the truth of all this, and I shall be freer to explain. My work of expiation is partly this. It is a great joy and a glorious privilege, but it entails suffering beyond your power to conceive, mingled with visions so transcendently beautiful that no words can ever convey to you my gratitude to you for the opportunity. It is for this, and in the realization of all this, that I begged you not to permit anything to interfere with this work. Nothing earth can offer can be compared with this, and the joy it will bring you when you come here, and just now let me ask you both to promise to continue till the end and also to call the one from earth who leaves it first. We need you and you need us. Mother will come first but not for some years. This will show her the true meaning of life, and she will help countless thousands through you. She must be happy.

 

May 12, 1917.

 

When you call me, darling mother, it brings me, even if I am in the depths of darkness. I seem to hear the call—the way seems to open—a vista of light leads me into the glory of the effulgent day—comes love with you. The com­munion is becoming closer and my work is not so difficult.

 

I wonder what L. means by darkness?

 

I mean that while doing this work I am in the radiance I tried to paint for you, and in it I know by a knowledge which comes to me through senses developed since coming here, that immortality is a glorious fact—that we are still alive and will have full opportunities of perfect fulfilment.

 

We are conscious of the sweetness of the love of God and the perfect reflection of it in our fellow-beings. We do not believe as on earth, we really know. The atmosphere which surrounds us is like a tonic, giving us strength, and at the same time joy and knowledge.

 

The further we go the more are we able to stand of this radiance, but in its light we realize more fully our own unworthiness. Then we ask by our sincere regret of our past that we be permitted to do something to atone. We gladly and consciously leave the glory of this radiant day and return to the gloom where we face our worst selves and others in the same sad condition. We bring to them a glimpse of the light, and try in all ways to atone for our sins of earth.

 

Those who, while on earth, have been willingly and consciously bad in spite of their better selves, have the greatest sufferings here. Ignorance is not considered a crime here, but ignorance on earth may be so combined with spiritual wisdom that it falls away from the spirit like a garment. Such are admitted to the light, but are as little children and their education must be made. They are committed to the care of guardian spirits and led gently to higher spheres.

 

Those who are intellectually developed on earth, but spiritually atrophied, who have allowed their impulses of love and charity to become dried up and useless and lived selfishly, though intellectually, suffer greatly. They are enclosed in a shell formed by their own selfishness. They see outside this shell but it is extremely difficult for them to break through, and it could never be done alone. Their very attitude of mind has made it almost impossible for them to ask for help, and love is more like a wave breaking against a rocky cliff than like a soft spring rain being absorbed by the rich earth.

 

If you wish you may come again before dinner. I must be careful not to exhaust Mary.

 

I shall develop this work slowly, but my desire is to have it clear and convincing.

 

May 13,1917.

 

I have learned that heaven means perfect knowledge and infinite love which generates eternal life.

 

Mortal mind cannot grasp the meaning of infinity.

 

This voluntary return I make to darkness is not in the nature of a punishment. It is the inevitable result of clarified vision. Seeing more and more clearly what is essential to spiritual progress we long to share this knowledge with others still in the darkness of ignorance. Feeling more and more each day the vitalizing effect of the love of God we long to express our love, for real love is selfless and beneficent, as I have already told you.

 

It is a blessed dispensation of God that we are permitted to reflect the infinite love which He gives so freely, and its realization makes it inevitable that we should search a way of expressing it in our turn. Therefore, while the shadows are deep and filled with suffering, there is never despair.

 

At present I am in the light. I am trying like you to understand the meaning of good. Even here it is difficult.

 

Infinity fills all space, all time, is all-knowing, all­present, all-powerful. The essence of God is life and love. This love is to us here clear and vivifying to an extent undreamed on earth, not because it has become more powerful but because we see with clearer vision the more we become harmonious with this.

 

Words are such a poor medium for thought!

 

To say we are pure and perfect reflections of good is incomplete. To say we do no wrong on earth is misleading.

 

We are the images of God—we have in us a spark of the Divinity—but through ignorance or faulty education or weakness engendered by habit and association, we oftentimes not only fail to act according to our best lights but we cause actual and active harm. This evil so created is not real in the sense of being eternal and unforgivable, but it forms vibrations which go on indefinitely and influence others. It is for this reason that those who have reached a superior degree of wisdom, or who have had moments of light, suffer so greatly in this life when they see the effect of their past weaknesses.

 

For all there is ultimate salvation, or, in other words, ultimate realization of the transcendent love of God, but the way is long and the trials are not limited to life on earth.

 

The mere ignoring or denying of wrong does not annihilate its effects. The constant effort to conquer human weaknesses and tendencies to evil is good. The law of cause and effect is a fundamental principle, but the effects are tempered by the degree of knowledge possessed by each individual.

 

If only we could know definitely and clearly while on earth what is really and eternally right and wrong, it would be easier. Here Ave do know, and this knowledge helps us to understand the possibility of a God of infinite love and goodness Who is equally a God of justice. Perfect knowledge sees the innermost reasons of every act and takes account of the limitations, in an earthly sense, of the individual.

 

May 14, 1917.

 

My heart sings a glad song of praise and thanks that I am able to see and understand more and more of the glory of life, but I am still my own self as on earth, except with earth's limitations removed. I still live intellectually in the same way. I have an inquiring mind. I love beauty of form, of colour, of expression, but I am not a poet, a painter, or a musician. I seem to absorb all the joys these things add to life, but my greatest interest is not in accepting these wonderful aspects and singing their praises, but asking the meaning of them and trying always to find the source.

 

I have not yet seen the Divinity. I get glimpses of glorious beings in the distance among flowers and fountains and trees but I have no desire to join them. I am content to seek the quiet paths with Meslom, and sometimes others who are like minds but whom I do not know as yet. Here I find answered all my questions—not answers as we give them to children who are still unable to understand reason, but answers that convey absolute knowledge and conviction. We see clearly the logic of the explanations and the eternal underlying causes.

 

After I have finished giving you a general understanding of our conditions you may ask, in your turn, any questions you wish. I shall answer them in the light of my present understanding.

 

Here there is no fatigue. One occupation gives place to another as one theme in music melts into another.

 

I ask why man is subjected to the trials of earth, why is he exposed to its inevitable results when his mind is incapable of comprehending the reason?

 

What is the universal essential of life on earth, applicable to all, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, education, nationality, degree of so-called civilization?

 

How can there be one reward for such different individuals as, for instance, a poor South Sea islander and a don of Oxford?

 

What is the fundamental essential for all, and why is there no way of having this essential understood by all?

 

There is an underlying and universal law governing the life of the universe. God is an infinite spirit, or intelligence, emanating life and love. Intelligence includes, as it is infinite, all that ever was or will be. Each emanation of that infinite intelligence is necessarily a part of the divine centre and partakes of its essence. One of the attributes of intelligence is liberty. Each emanation of that infinite intelligence, when expressed, is endowed then with liberty of development and with godlike possibilities.

 

There are many spheres and all eternity in which to perfect this tiny ray of the great Creator. The degree of understanding of each life is superior to the preceding one. Mind becomes more and more the paramount expression of the individual and more and more able to grasp the meaning and reason of life, and the absolute necessity of its free development. As far as eternity is concerned, and nothing else matters, the one sole, absolutely necessary quality is truth. Truth includes all the essentials.

 

May 15, 1917.

 

Truth is one of the eternal attributes of God and may be used synonymously with reality. The ray of light, as St. John called it, which proceeds from the Word, or infinite intelligence, gives life eternal, and without it nothing could exist. Therefore, when I tell you that truth is the one fundamental essential for all humanity I mean the acknowledgment, either instinctive or conscious, of this divine sustaining light, and the consequent harmonizing of externals to that internal verity.

 

When I ask why there is no way in which all may know and be guided by this, I see that there is a way divinely implanted with the spark of life itself, and called by us on earth the instinct of immortality. It is a fact acknowledged by all that this instinct exists even among the most primitive peoples. Its expression has varied with the ages but the underlying truth has always guided its manifestation, and humanity is judged by it. According to the light that is given ye, so shall ye be judged, said Christ.

 

In its application to us in our daily life, we often lose sight of this. Education should be intensified but simplified. A child instinctively recognizes this quality of truth in those about. So in fact does an intelligent animal like a horse or a dog. Some way should be found to develop this, instead of nullifying it by contact with unessentials. Every life should be permitted to develop in its own way; guided always by truth and fidelity to one's own highest instincts, which would then choose from models presented by history its ideal and grow to it.

 

May 16, 1917.

 

You wonder why I appear so indifferent to life's sufferings and all the trials the earth is now passing through.

 

Life is a long progression of which earth's experiences are only one episode. Life is not affected by earth's limitations. A life on earth, though short, may be glorified by the sacrifice war entails so that it has a more real and eternal weight than a whole span of ordinary existence.

 

Society had become congested. Research had been deep in some directions, but the vast body of men had lost sight of the real meaning of life. Materialism had covered as with a mantle of lava the carefully constructed edifices erected by man to keep in evidence the desire for something beyond. Too much earthly wisdom unenlightened with aspiration for the spiritual had brought man to a condition of stagnation. Exceptional were those who still really thought of a life beyond earth.

 

Eternity is such a tremendous truth and the universe such a vast assembly of words that the incidents which to an individual or a nation seem stupendous when seen in the light of eternal wisdom are important only in so far as they affect the real, or eternal, lives of the individuals interested.

 

Under the conditions of life on earth spiritual progress for the multitudes had become very difficult. Too much prosperity and too much superficial education combined with error to prevent development.

 

Life on earth is given us as a period of preparation, not as our ultimate end.

 

The war was the effect of the accumulated errors of the preceding years and was the logical outcome of materialization and the personification of its ideals as opposed to spiritual development and its essential expression of individual liberty. It was a physical necessity as inevitable as the bursting of a thunderstorm when powerfully charged clouds of opposite polarity are brought together. The earth will be a better and purer abode for future life, and the individuals who have suffered have only been brought a little sooner to their new life here.

 

Try to realize that we do not live in time but for eternity. This will open the gate to a wider vision. Even on earth the inspiring and uplifting wave of patriotism carries men out of their old standards and makes them capable of sublime acts of heroism and absolute unselfishness. What does it matter that it carries them beyond our earthly vision since it lays them gently and peacefully on the shore of their heavenly home, purified by that one act of sacrifice and made partakers of eternal life? What difference does it make whether man gives his life and youth in one sublime sacrifice for his fellows or lives it to its full span? The advantage is all in favour of the one who gives up his life for his home and country.

 

Patriotism is a divinely implanted quality capable of ennobling all who come in contact with it. Liberty and individual development are more important than worldly prosperity. Try to realize that God knows best. He is eternal and infinite wisdom and love, and He sees that the pains and sufferings of His children are nothing in comparison with their eternal happiness. If it seems to Him best that they be removed from earth it is for a good purpose.

 

May 17,1917.

 

Truth is one and its essence is infinite and unchangeable. Only its expression varies with the varying power of the age and the individual to give it form. Everything that has in it the spirit of truth is necessarily harmonious with all other forms of truth. It is the experience of this harmony which is one of the reasons you are happier and in more perfect health mentally and physically when doing this work. When freed from mental disturbance and external dissonance you vibrate in perfect harmony with the eternal—not in unison, for each has his own individual quality, but in harmony.

 

Jesus brought into the earth's teachings a far fuller measure of truth than had hitherto been given to man. His teachings revolutionized society by love. He was understood by few because of their unwillingness and inability to leave their old standards. The measure of truth was too great for immediate comprehension by the masses, but served as a vehicle for the intelligent comprehension of the love of God. That comprehension, while we remain on earth, is purely intellectual, or real by faith, but here we are conscious that it is that love alone which gives us life. We understand that love and life are attributes of divine intelligence; that God, the great creative Spirit, is intelligence, and every outpouring of that mind forms an individual, partaking of His essence and sustained by the love this divine life has generated. The expression of this life, which on earth was enclosed in a body, has now become clearer here. The earthly body has given place to a spiritual one, which remains in its personal characteristics the same, but has progressed mentally and spiritually. Earth senses have given place to spirit senses, among which is a faculty of imparting and of receiving knowledge without other effort than desire by a conscious absorption of the vivifying and enlightening love all about. Limitations of earth are removed. Language has become unnecessary. Cause and effect are clearly understood. Here we are conscious of all the past and present and as much of the future as our development permits. We are freed from the weaknesses from which we suffered on earth, and in this clear and radiant light we have no errors to combat.

 

May 17, 1917 (Afternoon).

 

"Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul. Let us, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labour and to wait."

 

Rare moments of inspiration come to the poet. He catches glimpses of the truth, and perhaps his song carries it further than any other effort of man.

 

Truth is in itself inextinguishable. Every word and every earnest desire for truth sets in motion vibrations which go on for ever in widening circles.

May 18, 1917.

 

Happiness and health even on earth must follow understanding of even a tiny measure of truth. Try to understand truth as an abstract quality and part of the infinite essence of God. Imagine a sounding-board struck by a tuning fork. Every vibration put in motion by the striking of the two is truth and therefore harmony. God is truth, and if we would vibrate in harmony with Him we must search far and deep. We must learn to put away the enveloping covering of error, custom, self-interest, worldly considerations, and be willing to sacrifice everything that prevents or obstructs the perfect unison which would exist between us and truth or harmony with God.

 

The more we abstract ourselves from distractions, the more we will be able to discern in ourselves this divine rhythm. Leave aside more each day of the thoughts you waste on unessentials. The habit of earnest seeking for truth serves as a channel through which you will receive it.

"Ask, and ye shall receive," is true. The difficulty is to understand ourselves. What do we really ask? If we confine our requests to things external, even though very important in a worldly way, we may not receive them, for in the clearer light of eternity they may be undesirable, but if we ask sincerely to know the truth and understand it we will surely receive it, and in the happiness which this brings will be able honestly to say "Thy will be done." Many words and much protesting do not make prayer, but a sincere desire to do right, even though we do not know how to voice it, helps.

 

Before trying to take an active part in the bettering of the world, let us try to know ourselves. Let us see if we are in harmony, not only superficially through the beauty of the rhythm we discern and the glory we catch glimpses of, but also in the action which must necessarily follow. We must know that nothing earth could offer could compensate, even temporarily, for the misery which would follow a severing of the bonds we now are conscious of binding us to the work undertaken. I say bonds, but it is a poor word, for only by our own will are we, or can we be bound, but our will must bind us if we have once seen and felt the meaning of truth.

 

May 18, 1917 (Afternoon)

 

Remember that God is infinite. Try to understand this. If He is infinite, nothing can exist except in and of Him. The use of the pronoun "Him" is misleading. God is not a person, and much of our misapprehension comes from this faulty conception. God is a spirit, all-pervading, all­intelligence, all-goodness, and love.

 

I shall try to explain to you some of the attributes of this infinite God. The first, or underlying principle, of truth is the foundation on which I hope to build the edifice. It is impossible to avoid the use of images because no words exist to explain the infinite qualities of God. Try to understand the meaning through the images—never accept the image as an exact statement.

 

Nothing exists or could exist except in God or spirit, and everything that exists in reality or eternity has a particle of that infinite spirit, which ultimately must purify itself of all error and vibrate in perfect harmony with that great central creative force. I said particle; I should have been clearer if I had said radiant emanation.

 

God, the creative force, radiates endlessly but without diminishing His power. Each radiation finds expression somewhere in the universe and becomes in its turn a centre of radiation, capable of infinite development and endowed with individuality, which is eternally independent of the creator and yet never separated. It must ultimately be reunited or rather accorded.

 

Nothing can add to the glory or radiance of God, yet in their perfection each separate created being is capable of development and perfection.

All the unhappiness of earth is caused by the fact that that eternal ray which must ultimately be reaccorded with the Creator finds impediments in its development.

 

It was to clear away the clouds of ignorance that Christ became man in Jesus. The clear, simple rules that He gave are all that are needed. "Love God above all things and thy neighbour as thyself," include everything, and it is to a clearer comprehension of the attributes of God I am now devoting myself.

 

Love, as we understand it, is an instinct rather than a quality of the intelligence, but love in its spiritual sense must understand and have a reason. Love God above all things implies so much; we must know why God, the radiant Creator of the universe, gives life eternally and endows it with free will and understanding, but to develop this understanding it is necessary to overcome obstacles. Love, united to perfect knowledge, knows and sustains the life so generated. The quality of love dimly discerned on earth in the rare examples of sublime sacrifice offered for the sake of others is here seen and felt all about us as the fragrance of flowers is perceived by you. It is this, but more. It is life itself. It gives us joy and courage and light. We are conscious of it both intellectually and spiritually. We have no more fear, for we know that that divine love is carrying us ever forward—that we are understood and loved and supported and purified and enlightened by it, and in the perfect peace and security it inspires we shall reach our ultimate destiny.

 

May 19, 1917.

 

Love includes truth and is included in truth. Love is an active principle of life. It radiates force and strength, joy and happiness, confidence and peace, yet is activity itself. Divine love, being all-knowing, supplies the wants of those who are in harmony with it more easily than those still discordant. It is not more active or greater for one than for another, but when we ourselves are accorded with it, we perceive a fuller measure of love. When we vibrate in conscious unison with the love of God we expand and enlarge our possibilities to receive more of the divine elixir, and with this comes the realization of our marvellous privilege and acknowledgment of the duty it brings with it to share this love with all our fellowmen. The way to purify ourselves and fit ourselves to receive a fuller measure of the love of God which is all about us and is the sustaining and life-giving force of the universe, is to search deeply within ourselves every day, find the seeds of selfishness and uproot them; be honest with our inmost selves; find out the naked truth of our own hearts; examine carefully to see if there be even a ray of faith in God and a future life, and if there be try to uproot the weeds which prevent the growth of this seed holding the ray of divinity. The ray, which is our soul—a part of radiation of divinity—can never die. It will one day be reunited to God in its perfection. It has never been and never could be entirely separated, nor could it in its essence be impure or need perfecting, but, being endowed by the Creator with free will and understanding, it has been given this human mind and body as instruments with which it must work out its growth and fullest development.

 

Love if real is unselfish. Even the earthly love which is true thinks always of how it can help and bring happiness to the loved one. Try to imagine with this as a model how great and beneficent is the divine, all-sustaining, all­comprehending love of God. God, who is love itself, can never be unhappy or other than perfect. It is true He sees and pities the sufferings of His children, but in His perfect knowledge He sees that these sufferings, which are only real for time and not for eternity, serve to develop and strengthen the growth of the individual. A broken doll seems a sad and tragic thing to a sensitive child, but the mother knows that another day will bring forgetfulness and need of another toy. In the light of eternity our greatest sufferings can be as easily consoled.

 

Any teaching which helps humanity to believe that there is another life and that the soul is strengthened by trials bravely met and weaknesses conquered is good, for it has that much fundamental truth. When, in addition, it reveals a God of love, it is better; and if humanity could comprehend this divine love, all suffering, even on earth, would cease.

 

May 22, 1917.

 

Heaven means perfect happiness. Where there is absolute knowledge and infinite love there can be no doubt, no fear, no pain, but heaven is not a locality. It is as vast as the universe and rises ever in circles or planes till it culminates in the perfect summit whereon is found the temple of the most high and mighty God.

 

I have used this simile, but it gives hardly a shadow of the reality. It is only an image. Since here all is spirit there can be neither plane nor summit. I am trying to explain that there are many lives in one eternal individual.

 

Let us imagine one human being. The soul or spirit of that individual existed from all eternity in the divine intelligence of God. In the fullness of time and in harmony with His divine plan, that thought found expression in the individual which then became endowed with free will and understanding. In this case the individual is a human being inhabiting the earth. Divinely implanted in that individual is the souvenir of its Creator and its immortal destiny, called instinct of immortality, which persists and guides it through the devious paths of life. Errors of education and environment make its voice weak; it has all earth's accumulated faults and habits to combat. The result on earth is more or less good, but since that individual, in common with all creation, must abide by the law of cause and effect, and its place here (in the next plane of its existence) depends upon its earth development, it is self evident that the nearer that individual has come to perfection on earth, the higher has been its development— not alone intellectually but spiritually—the clearer will be its perception when arriving here of the truth, and the greater will be its strength to meet the new conditions and the new duties. It sees clearly here the inevitable results of its past life and realizes that the waves set in motion by every thought and act of its earth life go on for ever. One of its tasks here is to undo the harm of earth, to put again in harmony the discordant waves. In the plan of the universe there is this merciful possibility.

 

The more clearly we see all this the more determined should we be to do what is necessary to atone, but here as on earth we have kept our free will and understanding. We must consciously will to learn and to fulfil our high destiny at no matter what cost. Here the individual is helped greatly if his earth education made him see and understand what earth could teach and if his spiritual development has made him prize the truth as he was able to discern it. If the will exist to know and see and do the duty pointed out, that individual progresses rapidly, for he is able to absorb each day with his increased possibility, not only more of the light but more of the sustaining and life-giving love. If gladly he undertake his task of redemption he catches glimpses of the illimitable and glorious possibilities beyond, wherein with his ever widening vision and his ever increasing capacity for absorbing and reflecting the divine love, he will be permitted to soar ever higher and ever nearer, through the coming evolutions of his immortality, to the divine centre, the infinite God, the generator of life, of love, and of light.