CITADEL OF CREEDALISM CRUMBLES
CHAPTER X
CITADEL OF CREEDALISM CRUMBLES
AREMINDER of the great task still to be accomplished was the theme touched on by Silver Birch when he addressed us after an interval of some weeks. He said:
"We continue the great work of demolishing falsity and of enabling truth to be placed in its proud eminence. Let us re-member always the sacredness of the mission on which we are engaged. Let us recall the fundamental truths we are trying to establish.
"Do not forget that you are dwelling in a world filled with distress, that the number of those who desire to be assuaged, the number of those who yearn for consolation is growing and the old shibboleths do not satisfy their modern minds. They discard that which was accepted in days gone by because the authority of the priest has dwindled.
"In the midst of their perplexities, when sorrow has stolen into their hearts and their homes, when life seems empty and mean-ingless, all hope sped and every promise dissipated, they cry out, sending their cry across the vast void of space, hoping that there will be some answer, not knowing whether their cries can be heard. In many homes there is the desire for knowledge, the desire for truth, the desire to have some message which will cause the weary heaviness to be removed.
"Our task does not grow lighter; it becomes charged with great import. As the citadel of creedalism crumbles, as the authority of the churches begins to evaporate, so does the re-sponsibility increase, the responsibility that those who are charged with being instruments of the Great Spirit shall not falter in the mission to which they have been called.
"You are the sentinels guarding the new knowledge, and it is by your co-operation that the voice of the spirit will be heard in the land and that the power of the spirit will be made manifest everywhere. It is by your co-operation that those who are re-garded as dead and gone for ever shall reveal themselves in the fullness of their individual consciousness and demonstrate that they survive in a larger life where there is recompense and another chance for all mankind.
"It is by your co-operation that the might of the power of the spirit will flow through human channels and reveal in all its pristine beauty the truths that have been known to a privileged few throughout all the centuries, the truths that are now destined to be acquired by all. We desire to reveal the inexhaustible treasury of the spirit. We desire to teach man to find those riches which will endure for all time, the gold and silver of his own divinity, the precious jewels that are part of his innate spiritual equipment.
"There are other treasures beyond all earthly value, lying with-in his nature, unknown to millions whose eyes are clouded, which will teach them how to find themselves, how to know them-selves. Thus will they realise that they are not mortals of clay, but children of a Great Spirit, spiritual in their heritage, spiritual in their destiny, part of the Great Spirit which created the whole universe and gave life to man.
"Once you know this precious truth, once you see yourselves, not as bodies of matter, but as eternal spirits, your whole outlook becomes completely changed. Life's purpose is revealed to you in one grand panorama; you see the mighty universe as part of a cosmic pattern and you know that you yourselves are an in-tegral part of the infinite scheme.
"None is so low, none so poor, none so humble, none so neglected so as to be outside the eternal pattern. Every human being is part of that vast majestic scheme. You are not blind creatures of chance, the sport of a cruel despot. You are the children of the living Great Spirit, placed on earth to fit your-selves, to equip yourselves, to shed your lustre wherever you walk, to serve, to teach the law of co-operation, to live as you were intended to live, to extract from life all the joys, all the riches that come with the knowledge that you are an eternal spirit.
"Thus armed you can face all that comes your way; you can go forth in the battle of life determined to conquer because you know you are divine and that within you is a power which will enable you to surmount every obstacle and to emerge greater and richer in spirit. Thus will you know that death is part of the scheme of life, and you will cross its threshold ready to serve in the larger life of opportunity that awaits each one of you."
Asked what was the use of official days of prayer, Silver Birch replied: "Prayer is not official or unofficial. It is not fixed by days or nights. True prayer cannot be commanded by any source that is outside the individual.
"There is no value in mechanical prayer, in prayers said by rote. Those who meet from time to time because they have been commanded to do so, or because it is their habit, and read, or have read to them, words that sometimes are so familiar that they make no imprint on their minds—these do not place themselves any nearer the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit is aware of all your needs. He knows the unspoken desires of your heart; there is no need to petition Him in large numbers.
"True prayer does not consist in the words that are expressed in public assembly; true prayer does not consist in words at all. True prayer is the aspiration of the soul which recognises that it is a fragment of a much larger whole and it seeks to unite itself; it seeks to draw nearer and nearer to that power which fashioned it and of which it is a part.
"True prayer is accomplished by the individual when he is by himself, when his soul yearns and desires to attune and har-monise itself with the rhythm of life, with the creative forces which are around and about it, so that in doing so the individual may fit himself for larger service. True prayer is a means of introspection where the individual, conscious of his divinity, is also conscious of all his shortcomings and seeks so to utilise his latent gifts that he may truly be an instrument of the power
which gave him life and birth.
"These things cannot be accomplished by official methods, by displays or ceremonies. They can only be accomplished in the silence of the soul, in that silence which is pregnant with meaning and possibility to all who are sincere in their desire to seek nothing for self, but to serve others.”
A sitter asked: “As you say, true prayer is the aspiration of the soul towards its Creator. In such circumstances is it wrong to ask the Great Spirit for anything?"
"Yes," replied the guide, unless that asking is part of the soul's yearning to serve its fellows. The Great Spirit knows all that you require, but some are so unconscious of the spiritual law that they cannot clarify their thoughts until they express them in words. That is where speech has its value, because it forces you to crystallise thought. If you were well disciplined and your thoughts did not wander, all your needs would be vocalised in your own imagination."
"And verbal prayer," said the sitter, "makes the thoughts of the mind articulate?"
"Yes," replied Silver Birch, “that is all. But for real prayer, there is no necessity for one word to pass your lips. For true com-munion there is no necessity for words, which are but clumsy counterfeits for thought and imagination. But, alas, so many are undisciplined that they have to use the crude substitute of speech.
"And now," said the much-loved spirit, as the seance ended, "let us remember the divinity of which we all are parts; let us strive to draw closer to that power, mighty in its nature, majestic in its purpose, divine in its nature, filled with love, compassion and mercy; the power that desires to use each one of us, the power that can uplift and heal and comfort, the power that can make all things clear, the power which is wrapped around each one of you and bids you know that you are part of the Great Spirit of all life.”
Speaking on the pitfalls of prejudice and orthodoxy, Silver Birch told his sitters at one seance: "What we have to offer your world is a truth that is very simple, but is vast and profound in all its implication, for it is a truth which demonstrates that man is a spiritual being expressing himself through a physical body. All who are honest and earnest and who truly desire to know can establish for themselves that truth which cuts clean across many misconceptions. When completely understood, it will compel thousands, nay millions, to reshape and reorientate the whole basis of life in your world.
"That truth is the foundation on which you can build systems that will endure, that will withstand all your earthly difficulties. Before that great truth, majesticinits content, vital in its import, all error, in time, must flee, for truth, being truth, will reign supreme.
"Whether the errors have been hallowed by antiquity or not does not matter. Age cannot add one iota to eternal truth, and all error, all superstition, all ignorance, all prejudice must give way to the supreme truth of man's spiritual nature.
"Thus, in time, will you have a world in which science and religion, politics and art will be truly the handmaidens of humanity and their purpose will be devoted to the task of teach-ing all the children of the Great Spirit how they can extract from life the richness which should be theirs. All you can do is to stand by that truth, knowing that, despite all opposition, the goal
is certain, victory is assured and its enemies must be vanquished.”
To a visitor who had been to the circle before, Silver Birch said: “Last time you came here I tried to help you and you did not then completely understand all that I said to you. But now, since some interval has elapsed, I believe your eyes have been opened. There has been a clarification in your own mind, and you see more clearly than you did before.
"Tell me how best I can be of service
you. Do not be afraid of me. If I can help you I will; if I cannot, then I will say so. We have love to offer you, a desire to serve you so that you can be used as a means of helping others who may be in difficulties.
"You know, I marvel at your world sometimes because it is so purblind. It has too often the stony heart that will not allow the love we offer to penetrate. And yet our motive is but to serve you to the utmost of our power. Behind us, the immediate ones who are so close to your world, there are grades of beings rang-ing from the immediate doorkeepers to the radiant ones of the highest spheres that are known to us.
"The amount of love, of power, of guidance that we can offer you is dependent solely upon yourselves. Our power the power of the spirit, being part of the infinite spirit, is infinite, too, and as far as you can ascend, so there is still one rung higher, when you can reach it.
"There is much love surrounding you from several who realise the many difficulties that you have had to encounter of which you do not often speak. I am familiar with all the heart-burnings and heart-breakings that have accompanied you when you decided that your life would follow a certain light which was revealed to you.
"You have never turned backwards, neither have you sought to veer to the left or to the right, but to go straight ahead because you have known that there is a service you can render and a contribution that you can make. I wish I had the power to de-scribe to you how you have been upheld in times when it all looked very difficult, but I think that is known to you, at least in part.”
Silver Birch was asked if he could explain how this visitor was helped by W. T. Parish, who had given her absent healing.
"It is all very simple," said the guide. “It is but the power of the spirit which radiates from one centre. Parish is like a broad-casting station. Through his efforts, many healing rays are transformed into waves.
"To those who can attune themselves to the vibrations used there, it is as if there are threads or spokes of colour, spokes of power of varying hues that radiate through the atmosphere, each one finding its home in the being of the man or woman or child who has called upon the healer.
"That is why it is essential to have fixed hours so that the power can be controlled and regulated. And to give some idea of the organisation necessary to maintain that, you must appreciate that each spoke or thread, each wave of power is in the charge of one being.”
Answering another question, Silver Birch said: “It must be stressed that the growth of knowledge, the growth of under-standing, the growth of enlightenment is very important to us. We cannot always choose the means by which knowledge is spread. We have to work with imperfect, wayward instruments. If all those who returned from my world to help humanity could have the perfect mediums, it certainly would be easier than it is today. But as long as we are in association with human beings, we realise that there must be imperfection in all our channels of communication. Put into very simple language, it is your duty to spread knowledge wherever you can.
"I tell you thisーI have said it beforeーthere is no power on earth that is capable now of arresting the force from the world of spirit which is in your world today. Those who scorn, scoff and deride are in a dwindling minority, so you have nothing to fear.
"It is many years since I returned to your world. I have spoken many times to many people; if my earthly mission were to end tomorrow and the sum of it all was that I had only helped one person, I could not then say that I had failed."
This is the answer given by Silver Birch to the assertion made by Dr. Garbett, then Archbishop of York, who said the Church should combat "crude and materialistic forms of Spiritualism”:
"You should rejoice, for these are the signs of your success, thiis the measure of the extent to which you are winning through. 'Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you...for my sake,' said the Nazarene. You are breaking down barriers, you are exposing false shibboleths and you must expect to incur wrath, anger and displeasure.
"But have no fear. You are teaching man to find himself, to see within his own being the mirror of that divinity which fashioned him, to taste the fruits of the freedom of the spirit, to become aware of his godly potentialities, to realise his divine attributes, to know that he is not only a body which corrupts and decays and falls away, but an eternal spirit who will live for ever.
"You are teaching man to know that, in cultivating the gifts of the spirit, he can live the life of liberty that is part of the plan of the Great Spirit and help to make your world what it could be, a world in which there is no hatred, no disease, no war, no chaos and where all dwell a life of peace and plenty, serving one an-other, helping one another in all that lies before them.
"We come to your world with love in our hearts and a desire to serve any who can be helped by the ministry of the spirit. We would refuse none, we would deny none. We are doing that task which has been neglected for too long by those who should be able to comfort the mourner, to heal the sick, to visit the widow in her affliction.
"'Greater things than these shall he do,' said the one who walked the earth many, many years ago. That was one of his cardinal precepts. For the rest he said, 'Love one another.'
"Why is it that the Church, which claims to be in direct succession to the Nazarene and to fulfil the tasks which he began, has so little love in its heart for those who are striving to bring the gifts of the spirit into greater prominence?
"Why is it that the power of the spirit is not to be found in cathedrals and churches where all is barren, desolate, bleak and empty? Why is it that there are none there who can heal the sick or comfort the mourner or allow themselves to be inspired by that power which comes from the fountain of all knowledge?
"Why is it that the Church, which should minister to the suffering and the lonely, to the despairing and the broken-hearted, sets itself up as a barrier between the two states of life and seeks to forbid the descent of the power of the spirit?
"Religion is not accomplished because you have cathedrals or altars, because you are dressed in lawn or linen, because you have cope or mitre or hold a crook in your hand; these are but trappings and vestments which have naught to do with religion.
"The chief aim of religion is to give service and those who say they are the leaders of religion should be able to lead and not to defend antiquated and decrepit creeds. For too long we have seen that the churches have failed in their task because the power of the spirit could not descend amongst them; and that power, as it has done so many times, has to flow outside the orbit of those who call themselves the established religion. It seeks channels amongst the humble and the lowly, those who are simple in mind and heart and thus do not provide needless obstacles.
"Once again, as of old, the signs and the wonders of a divine truth are in your midst. And the mourners whose tears of sorrow could not be stopped, whose grief could not be assuaged by the recital of texts or by the utterance of doctrines, turn once again to those places where the power of the spirit is made manifest and to that ground which has become hallowed and sacred to them because love has found its own again.
"They discard their weeping and their sorrow as they are united to the ones whom they thought were lost and gone for ever. The power of love that seeks its own is greater than all the dogmas created from warped minds. It is too late in the day for any to think that they can arrest or halt or stop the Great Spirit's power from finding rich expression in a world filled with trouble, darkness and difficulty."