WHO IS SILVER BIRCH?

           CHAPTER XI

　　　WHO IS SILVER BIRCH?

　SILVER BIRCH does not often talk about himself. But questioned by a visitor to our circle about his mission to this world, the guide replied:

　"I asked to do some work because I thought I could be of some service. I agreed to relinquish whatever I was entitled to, by virtue of my life, and come back to your world to start right at the very beginning, find an instrument, develop that instrument and then gradually, one by one, bring within the orbit of my influence those who could be of use to help your world.

　"That was not an easy task, for I had nothing to offer them except love, simple reason and the wisdom of the spirit. I could not say that I was a great spirit who belonged to the hierarchy of angels. All I could tell them was that I was a simple Red Indian and that, if they would listen to me, I would teach them some of the things I had learnt in a larger life.

　"That was more than a score of years ago, and slowly, pain-fully and laboriously, through many labyrinths and twisting avenues, I have gradually found those who would listen to the voice of the spirit, those whose hearts were not hardened, whose ears would hear and whose eyes would see.

　"Here and there, there were waiting minds ready to receive knowledge, and now, as a result, I have been able to make this knowledge known among many throughout your whole world. I claim no credit for myself. I am but the instrument of those who sent me, and I rejoice only because I see souls delivered from bondage. Even so, I look around and I see those who are not yet free, and I call to my aid all those who will help me to spread truth wherever they can. Difficulties can be conquered, the barriers can be broken down. Knowledge does disseminate."

　Then, another time, when a member of the circle asked about a certain person's earthly problems the guide said, in explanation of his statement, that he never worried:

　"I have learnt to respect the perfection of the natural laws. I rest my implicit, unshakable confidence in the power which fashioned the whole universe, which ordered its course, which designed its evolution and regulated every phase of its activity. I have never known the law to fail, to be unjust, to be inexact. I have never known divine judgment to err. Because of what I have seen, I know there is nothing to worry about and that no soul is ever given more than he is capable of achieving."

　On yet another occasion Silver Birch returned to this theme when he said to an old friend:

　"I strive to expound the simple truths of the spirit, knowing that where you are armed with them you can face all life's difficulties and that when you are truly armed, that is when your mind has been tempered, then you can face whatever comes with complete equanimity, knowing that there is nothing that can daunt you, nothing that you cannot overcome.

　"But so many people in your world struggle and struggle and struggle, whereas, if they would but relax and allow the mighty power of the spirit to flood and suffuse their being, to allow the springs from their own innate reservoir to well up, they have all that is necessary to provide them with the armoury that they require.

　"How little we all know in comparison with the sum of all knowledge, but how much we do know in comparison with the sum of the world's ignorance. But this much all should know. Where there is complete confidence, perfect faith, unswerving trust, immovable resolution; where you can say, 'I rest myself on my own spirit; my knowledge tells me that the world is ruled by love and wisdom, there is no storm that can buffet you, and there is nothing that can move you or compel you to change that calm composure of mind and spirit.

　"In all the years I have been at work in your world, I know of none who can say to me, 'Yes, these are fine words that you use, but I have tried it and I have been hungry and I have been thirsty and I have been shelterless.'

　"I know of none, but I do know that where there is perfect trust and faith, not blind faith, but the faith founded on know-ledge, there the power of the spirit can move and work, for our best work is done where there is quiescence, receptivity, stillness and the atmosphere is not charged and disturbed by wavering, conflicting emotions. It is a great lesson to learn, but it is a lesson that can be learned, for some have learned it in your world.

　"I can say this to all of you. I can guide you. I can see that no real harm will befall if you you will let me. Without any attempt at vain boasting, I can say that I have guided you, I can say that some measure of protection has been afforded you, but you can help us by the atmosphere with which you surround yourselves.

　"We can work only in the conditions that you provide. You are our hands; we cannot use our own in the physical world. We can only express ourselves through what you provide. We will co-operate; we will not dictate; neither will we supplant; neither will we be dictated to. None can demand from us, we do not demand from you.

　"All we say is, try to come half-way; we will always commore than half-way to you. Co-operation is the law. If you will help us, we will help you, and always we discharge our duties. There is not one who has any claims against us that have never been honoured. I say that in all sincerity, for it is indeed a great truth.

　"It is the same old wisdom dressed up and garnished and re-clothed and re-presented in one form after another. But always it is the same fundamental truth, for truth is unchanging, because it is truth.

　"Do not look back. Regrets of what might have been are vain. The lesson of the past is that it provides the seeds of today, and it should help you to plant seeds of today so that they flower properly tomorrow. Live in the present and extract from life the fullness and the ripeness that could be yours if you will allow yourself to be influenced by the power which is round and about you and the power which is resident within your own beings.  

　"We are not concerned solely with teaching you how to die. We will teach you how to live, for when you live properly, then you will die properly, too, but first you must live."

　Another time the guide was asked if he was still accumulating knowledge. The answer was “Yes."

　"Does your coming here stop you having contacts with higher beings?" was the next question.  

　"Yes, it does, but all is compensation. I am learning from you. I am seeing the world through your eyes and through your minds. I am perhaps better equipped than I was at the start. I have, to a large extent, divorced myself from my own sources of stimulation, but these I touch once again when I leave your world for a short while. What else do you want to ask me?”

　Somebody said: “You have told us about subjects with which you are very conversant. Can you tell us of any subjects of which you know nothing? Have you any problems and what kind are they?

　"I have access to knowledge," was his response. “I am not an all-wise being; I am supplied and helped by loving, loyal co-operation. I am a mouthpiece. I am not the Great Spirit, not even a very high spirit. I am an individual somewhat like your-selves. There are still, within my nature, flaws and imperfections and weaknesses. I am not all pure gold. I am still a man with human feelings.

　"I am not infallible, I am not all-knowing, but to a large extent I can succeed in transmitting the knowledge of the ages, the wisdom of the spheres, the simple, pristine truths that nothing can tarnish. I can hold aloft in front of you shining ideals of the spirit, the glittering prizes that are beyond earthly valuation, the eternal possessions that will endure for all time.

　"My problems are how to reach the largest number that I can. Time is short. I have a mission to perform, and I want, very naturally, to see that mission crowned with success before I say farewell to your world of matter when my task is done.”

　"Does the mission look promising," asked a member of the circle, "or can't you tell?”

　"I can only say,” Silver Birch replied, "that when last time I was in the spheres they did not seem to be displeased. Perhaps I shall learn a little more next time."

　"Who are 'they?"

　"They are the wise counsellors who are responsible for direct-ing this knowledge through all earthly channels," was the reply. "They are the council to whom we all have to report so that we can see the co-ordination of all our efforts, learning from one another, helping one another, seeing where there has been failure and success, so that with this knowledge the task can be resumed with greater understanding. I cannot tell you their names, nor would it matter if I did.”

　"They are probably not great names to us or men that we know," said one of the circle.

　"Oh, no," said Silver Birch, “many of those considered great in your world have discovered, with a shock, that their lustre was ended when death came."

　"Would you say that the reverse is not true," he was asked, "that a person who is so good in this world that he is bound to be recognised, that a really good person and, therefore, a great person, cannot possibly hide himself?"

　"In your world?" asked the guide.

　"Would not he be recognised and in one way or another be considered great?"

　"You mean," he replied, "if an individual incarnates into your world with a spiritual destiny to achieve on earth and possesses the qualities of greatness of soul, will this be recognised? Un-questionably.”

　"Probably by a small minority," said the questioner.

　"That depends on the task that has to be performed, whether it is one concerning a minority or a majority," answered Silver Birch

　A young American soldier came to our circle one day. He is the son of a man whose name is very prominent in the United States. The visitor, who wanted to learn more about our subject, was told to ask Silver Birch about anything that puzzled him.

　"The first is a very simple question," began the young soldier, Then he referred to the early days of Silver Birch's control of his medium by saying:

　"Swaffer tells me that long ago you had difficulty in speaking English. What language did you speak?"

　Silver Birch: “Where, here or in my own world?”

　American: "If you had difficulty, you must have had some way of expressing yourself. We call it language. I suppose it was the language of your life here on this earth."

　Silver Birch: "You see here a physical body—this that you call a medium, for the word means an intermediary, someone who is the instrument through whom something is sent. Now, there are various strata of life in our world. It is a world which is regulated by the spiritual growth of those who dwell in it. It is a graded life and in each grade—they all merge into one anotherーthere are those who have attained that spiritual growth which enables them to dwell in that sphere or state of being.

　"The longer you have lived in our world the further you are divorced from your world and the ties have become more or less sundered. I had attained some degree of spiritual growth in that time, and a call was made for many of us to return to help your world to teach some of the eternal verities, simple truths, prin-ciples, which had been forgotten, overlaid, which lay buried beneath a debris of falsity, superstition, ignorance, misconception and prejudice.

　"In order to teach your world, I had to reduce my normal rate of vibrationーthat is the easiest way of explaining it to you—and in doing so sacrificed some of my individuality, for the nearer you come to earth, the less of the real you, the spiritual you, can be made manifest. And in order to achieve communication with your world I had to use a medium between my state of existence and yours.

　"Now the language I speak in my own state, to which I occasionally return, is not the language of earth at all. We do not require your symbols in the world where I belong, but, to make myself understood in your world, I had to master your language. I was helped by those whom I regard as specialists."

　American: "Where did you come from originally when you were on earth?”

　Silver Birch: "That does not matter. You will have to accept what I say if it appeals to your reason. If anything I say to you seems to outrage your common sense, reject it. If anything which comes to you through the lips of any medium sounds to you as being unworthy of the source of its origin, do not accept it.

　"I have been at work for many years in your world and I had to start with the handicap that I could only make my way by the reasonableness of the principles which I taught. These I am prepared to enunciate and to reason with anybody. I cannot claim to have any authority other than that which is contained in the truth of what I teach. I claim that all these teachings bear the hall-mark of their own spiritual authenticity, that if they are subjected to the analysis of reason, wisdom, common sense, they will pass all those tests and that what is there is a philosophy, a truth, which will enable your world to find abiding peace, to banish the hatred, chaos, misery, iniquity, selfishness and all the evils which, alas, are far too prevalent.

　"If I say to you I am Julius Cæsar, that would not make what I say any more or less acceptable. The truth must be tested and established by the fact that it is true, not because it was uttered by one who has been invested with an aura of glory.”

　American: “Another question. You say that you speak a different language from where you come..."

　Swaffer: "It is a language of thought. It is not a word-language. Any spirit can understand it. Is that not so?”

　Silver Birch: "You are putting questions to me, and what you are doing is first of all to have a thought in your mind. That thought is quite clear to your consciousness. You know what you are thinking, but to convey that thought to me you have to use a symbol, a symbol which has a meaning to others who understand that symbol. That symbol you call language, and the words you use consist of attempts to clothe your thought in manner that will make the thought understandable.

　"Your mastery over the language will determine whether you have suitably or unsuitably expressed the thought which is in your mind. But even if you had the mastery of a Shakespeare it would still be insufficient to express the totality of your thought, for your thought is immaterial and your language is material. The one who hears these symbols, has, in turn, to translate them back into their original thought-form before he appreciates them, so that there is a long and cumbersome process at work. And often, because you have to materialise your thoughts, there is much friction, misunderstanding, simply because the words do not always convey what you have thought.”

　"That is very true,"' commented the soldier, and Silver Birch continued: “Now if it were possible for you, without an inter-mediary of language, to convey the totality of your thought to another person, most of the problems, or rather many of the problems, which worry your world would disappear, for there would be no misunderstanding, no misconception; you would all know what you meant and there would be an end to all the vast diplomacy, all the needless equivocation.

　"In my world our language is the language of thought; that is, we communicate with one another, once we have outgrown earthly habits, by mental communication, so that the barrier of language is no complication. A Frenchman can communicate with a Swede and an Eskimo with an Italian. It is the thoughts they are sending to one another, not the words, which are the symbol of the thoughts. That is quite clear, I hope.”

　"Yes, I understand," said the visitor. "Now there are people who have passed away from this earth. Suppose we take musicians; could a person who passed away recently communi-cate with someone who passed away years and years ago?"

　"Not necessarily," answered the guide. “It depends on several factors. You must not think of yourself as a body with a spirit, but as a spirit with a body. You are living in a material world and are apt to think of the whole of life in material terms, but life is not material in essence, for the foundation and basis of life is immaterial. Its origin is not to be found in any of the properties of matter. You yourself are not material; your body is, but the real you is at present impalpable, unseen, intangible, unheard; the real you is a spirit.

　"The quality of your spirit at any moment is determined by the way that you have lived your life. Thus the law applies to all and none has the power to thwart it. When I say the law, I mean the natural law, for the law is simply one of cause and effect. If you live a life of complete selfishness, you yourself are the one who bears the result of it, for a selfish life means a stunted spirit. If you have lived a kindly, tolerant, altruistic life, you yourself are the better for it, for your spirit has grown in stature. This law applies to all.

　"You are what you make yourself to be by your own conduct, by your own actions, by your own thoughts, by the whole of your life. And although that reality may not be visible in your world, the moment you pass the threshold of death, severing yourself from your physical body, you manifest as you spiritually areーno higher, no lower. You take with you just that character which you have moulded by your life. Your eternal possessions are the spiritual qualities that you have evolved by your daily life. That is why the law is so fair and so just, for it provides a standard of judgment about which no reasonable man could quarrel.

　"Now see what happens. You go to that sphere for which you are spiritually fitted. You have no desire to go lower, unless it be temporarily, on some mission to help those less fortunate than yourself. You cannot go to higher spheres because it is impossible for you to express yourself in any higher vibration than that which you can register. And your associates are those of like spiritual growth and like spiritual mentality."

　American: "In other words, someone of another age but of the same spiritual mentality would be in the same spirit sphere.”

　Silver Birch: "Yes, that is so. It is not governed by years, it is not governed by physical age, it is governed wholly and solely by spiritual growth. And that is the tremendous difference between your world and our world. Here you are apparently on the same physical plane, meeting and mingling with people who are on different mental planes to yourself. In our world you are with those who are on the same spiritual altitude to yourself. That does not mean to say that you cannot hear famous musi-cians, but your life is lived amongst your spiritual equals, and that is determined by the law of spiritual gravitation which is infallible.”

　After some discussion on the problems of spirit communica-tion, Silver Birch said: "Try to realise that your world for centuries has become coarsened through its materialism. Ori-ginally mankind was able to function on many planes of activity. Man was aware of the gifts of the spirit which are merely the expressions of the faculties that belong to his inner, eternal reality. If you examine the records of the past, if you turn to your Bible, for exampleーalthough I do not confine myself to that bookーyou will find that the more you go back to primitive times, the more natural was the exercise of these psychic faculties. But, like all other faculties, they have atrophied through long disuse and the number of those today who can register the vibrations of the spirit is very, very small.

　"You, all of you, are living in prisons. You have five tiny windows to your prison, and these five apertures are your physical senses. You are unaware of the millions of happenings around you unless they can be seen, smelt, touched, tasted or felt. But because you do not see the busy, teeming, active world around you, that does not mean to say it has no existence. It means only one thing, that you are unable to register its vibration.

　"What you call death is the stilling of the physical body. It drops away, unfortunately, too often before the spirit is pre-pared. But once death takes place you are liberated, for your spirit leaves the prison of the physical body and expresses itself through that finer body, the body of the spirit, your etheric body, as it is sometimes called, which has been preparing itself for this dissolution. Once you are deadーas your world calls itーyou have access to a far greater range, a range of life's activity, than you had before, because the whole realm of psychic faculty begins to work."

　American: “You speak of your world and the Church says there is another world. Do spirits stay in the same place as when they lived here, or have they an entirely new existence?"

　Silver Birch: "It is all one universe with many worlds in it. All life is one life, but it has many gradations. I am confronted with the difficulty of language to explain spiritual realities and so when I have recourse to these crude, clumsy and inadequate symbols, I am unable to convey all that I intend. Life is one; the universe is one; there is no boundary; there is no frontier. Those who have passed from your ken are in the same universe as you are, but they are registering different vibrations, they are func-tioning on a different plane or aspect of consciousness. But they are here, even though you cannot see them, just as much as you are in our world, even though you cannot know it.

　"All aspects of life blend into one another. There is no boundaryーon one side of which there is the material and on the other side the spiritual world. It is an intermingling. It is like the vibrations of the wireless which fill all space, there are different wave-lengths, different vibrations, but they are all occupying the same space at the same time. And the ability to tune in to differ-ent vibrations depends upon the sensitiveness of the instrument. You are restricted to the vibrations of matter; that is all you can register. The medium who is clairvoyant is able to register finer vibrations of light; the medium who hears registers finer and more subtle vibrations of sound. It depends upon the range of the instrument.

　"At first, you must remember, those who come to our world, to our state of life, to the realm of spirit, are bewildered. They are unprepared, and, naturally, the gravitational pull of earth attracts them because all their love, all their life, all their con-sciousness, all their memories, all their associations are on earth. For a long time they hover around those scenes where they have spent many years, bewildered because they have not realised that they are what you call dead, confused because they can make no impression on material objects or attract the attention of people in their old home or business or factory. But, gradually, aware-ness comes and they realise that they are manifesting but another aspect of consciousness.''

　Speaking of his brother who had recently passed on, the American said: “Lots of times I wish that my brother were there; that he could see the things that I see.”

　"Yes, he can," said the guide.

　"I have no way of knowing that he is there."

　"No, unfortunately,” said Silver Birch, “unless you develop your psychic powers so that you can see him and receive com-munications from him yourself. He is aware of you all the time because he has added faculties which you do not possess. But you are not aware of him because you have not developed the faculties that would give you this awareness."

　American: "You say develop my psychic gifts as if I had psychic gifts."

　Silver Birch: “Yes, you have. Everyone has psychic faculties. I realise that this is very revolutionary. I know that when you allow your mind to dwell on it you will see that this is the fundamental truth which was taught by all those whose names are identified with religion in your world. This is the funda-mental truth enshrined in the teachings of all the great religious teachers, for each of them was subject to this same common in-spiration. It all comes from the same divine reservoir. All of them taught these self-same spiritual truths—that man is a spiritual being with a spiritual destiny to achieve, that he is placed on earth to equip himself for the greater life that awaits him and that he takes with him the love that he has earned, the character that he has built, the spiritual gifts he has cultivated.

　"Is that not the central teaching of all religions, and is it not true that this central teaching has been forgotten in all religions, with-out exception? It has been replaced by a mass of doctrine, of theology, of creedalism, of man-made ideas which have no con-nection with religion and which have no value as a religion at all.'

　Answering another question the guide said: "I say to you as I say to all those who know me, and you, of course, do not know me very well; always do that which you think is right. Never mind what the world says, never mind what those around you say; do that which you think is right, not that which is con-venient or expedient, but that which you think within yourself when you know, when the inner conviction forces it on you that it is right to adopt a certain course.

　"It is very simple, but unfortunately your world will not listen to simplicity; it prefers complexity and intricacy. It is suspicious of the simple which has become almost platitudinous. I urge upon all to follow their conscience, for I know that the conscience is the divine monitor within man—the means of assessing right from wrong, the means of establishing the paths which should be followed.

　"Once the voice of conscience dictates its action you should follow it unerringly, without question, no matter what difficul-ties may loom up, for in the end it will lead you right. That is very simple. I cannot put it simpler than that.

　"You are not very old as your world considers age. You have certain advantages and certain handicaps, but, like everybody else, you have certain talents. I can only say to you, use those talents to help others. You are living in a world which is full of tears and misery and sorrow and sadness. Try to help those less fortunate than yourself.

　"Look around and see the millions who yearn for some com-fort, some guidance, some light in their weary perplexity. You may be able to help some of them. There are too many who are victims of circumstances over which they have no control; too many who are underfed, who live in squalor, who are subject to dirt, disease, who have not had a fair chance, whose spirits are compelled to try to express themselves through cramped, restricted, thwarted bodies.

　"You may be able to help some of them, who knows? For those are the things which are important. It is what you do that matters and, believe meーbelieve this if you believe nothing elseーif you have helped one soul to find the light; if you have given food to one who was hungry or drink to one who was thirsty; if you have helped to ease the burden on someone's shoulders and to smooth the stones in front of their path, that is more important than all the wealth in your world.

　"Try to acquire knowledge of spiritual realities. Too many, alas, go through your life living in the shadows of darkness, a darkness which some of us are trying to pierce with a little illumination of spiritual truth. The darkness need not be, for your world could be a veritable kingdom of heaven on earth. It only needs the service of those who understand to minister to the ones who have fallen or who are too weak.

　"I try to encourage all to serve, for to me service is the only religion in the world. I care not for hymns, for bibles, for churches, for chapels; these are unimportant unless they en-courage people to make your world better than it is. True religion is to serve your fellow-men wherever you can.

　"Never mind who I am; that does not matter. I may be some-one who was important. I may be someone who was insignifi-cant in your world. Titles and names do not count. If I can express any truth which helps you, then I rejoice, for I am ful-filling the purpose of my being, which is to try to serve your world.

　"But whether I have succeeded or not, may I try to leave one thought with you. Remember there are around and about you many unseen presences whose one desire is to guide you, to guard you and to influence you along the lines of the greatest good. You are never lonely; you are never neglected. Always there are those whose mantle of love is wrapped around you. And the power which they wield is the power of the spirit, that power which is the genesis of all life, the power that fashioned the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the oceans, the whole of life, the whole universe and all that it contains."