REPRESSING SPIRITUAL GIFTS
Three important aspects of Spiritualism are explained by Silver Birch in the pages that follow. They are the suppression of psychic faculties, the need for service and spirit guidance.
The development of mediumship has two facets. There is the increased sensitivity, not only to things associated with the spirit world but also to those in this world. There is also the responsibility of mediums to use their gifts for others.
Silver Birch told a sitter who had the gift of psychometry:
YOU have accepted the service of the Great White Spirit by coming into this circle. You have been given the gift of mediumship. Use it.
The power that the Great White Spirit permits in His children must be used for all His other children, and if you do not use it, it works against you. You choke something that belongs to the Great White Spirit, and it always upsets you. You cannot keep it bottled up; it will burst.
You must use the powers you have. I did not make the Law, and I cannot alter it. I am only trying to help you. The laws of the Great White Spirit are there for the use of all His children. The troubles come in your world when the children think they are greater than the Parent and try to upset His laws.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
To another medium, very discouraged because of the unkindness of other people, which she felt more than most people would, Silver Birch said:
YOU are in the hands of a very great and mighty spirit guide If you have complete trust and faith, all will be well. You are an instrument of the Great Spirit, but you have free will. You all have free will. But I ask you to remember the many who can be rendered service through you. There is a mighty power to be used through you. Trust it to operate. It will sweep away all things that stand in its way.
You are very sensitive. You suffer from all the troubles of a medium. It is the Law. I wish I could take on my shoulders all the pains and sufferings of your world. Listen ...
Do you think we are happy when we see the children of matter denied bread, when we see hunger and want? Do you think we are happy when we see disease? Do you think we are happy when we see spirits sent out of their bodies by weapons of destruction? Do you think we are blind to the sorrows and suffering in your world? But we know there is only one way to put them right.
It is no use for us to take away the wrongs of your world. Out of your own strength must be born a new world of matter. Those who are sensitive to the world of spirit must pay the price of being sensitive to the sorrows of the world of matter. You cannot have it any other way.
I ask you to turn away from the things of matter and cast your eyes to the sun of the Great Spirit, so that its rays may envelop and enfold you and you may know that nothing can touch the undying spirit that is within the frail body. Cir-cumstances may affect your body here and there, but they cannot touch the gold of the Great Spirit that is within you.
If you are not more sensitive to the things of matter, how can you be sensitive to the far more delicate things of the spirit? Put not your faith in the things you can see, but in the things which are unseen, the things of the Great Spirit, the eternal things.
When I have seen my own medium suffer, and when I have been shown, before, that he is about to suffer, can you not imagine how the tears have flowed from my eyes? I have wished I could take all his burdens on my shoulders. But I know the Law, that only through suffering can the spirit be purified.
Because you are sensitive you must pay the price. But remember always the greatest force in the world, the perfect love of the Great Spirit, is yours and can flow through you. I ask you to trust the counsel of the wisest of the wise, those whose hands direct you, whose power sustains you, who will guide you always out of the storms and difficulties of the world of matter into the haven of peace.
Remember, it is better for your sake if you sit. The power must be used. I say that because I understand the power of the spirit. It must not be bottled up.
You live in a world of light and shade. It is not like that in my world. When you are in the shadow you forget the light, and when you are in the light you forget the shadow. When the snow falls you say it is too cold. When the sun shines you say it is so hot. You want it to snow when the sun shines and you want the sun when the snow falls. Do not let your eyes look down towards the earth, but up towards the sun always.
You cannot be a medium in the highest sense until you have tasted the sorrows and the sweets of your earthly world. You must try to remember that when it looks black it is only the shadow, which passes away. The rays of the sun will enable the gold of your own self to shine once more.
THE LAW OF SERVICE
Spirit guides always stress the importance of service, which they regard as the leading factor not only in individual evolu-tion but in the dawning of the New World. And they practice service as well as preach it!
WE are here to serve. If we can raise up one, if we can mend a broken body, if we can put new courage into a dejected soul, if we can bring new hope, new faith, if we can cause a smile to appear where only tears flowed before, then we render service to the Great Spirit, and we thank Him because we have the instruments of matter through whom we can reach His broken children.
You cannot be weary of service. There is no joy like the erving of one another. You cannot be spent in service. We ask for no praise for ourselves. We seek but to serve the Great Spirit through the operation of His laws, and to show your world of matter that harmony, health, and happiness can be brought through their use.
I strive to serve all I can, to bring what little illumination I can, to help you to learn the real lessons of life, so that, fortified by the knowledge of the spirit, you may fit your-selves for the tasks which are given into your hands to perform.
We render service for service.
Any call to us, any appeal, never goes unanswered. We are here to serve. These are not idle words. They convey an intense reality. We strive to serve because only through service can we express the Great Spirit and only through service can you express the Great Spirit.
Theologians have made out of religion a great mystery, a superstructure of words and doctrines that bring doubt and perplexity and confusion, and yet the essence of all religion and the desire of all life is expressed in the one word "Ser-vice.”
He who strives to forget self and to serve is expressing the Great Spirit. Serviceーthat is what your world needs today. That is why we strive to teach it and, more, to give it. Try to remember that behind all the mists and darkness, behind all doubts and fears, behind all sorrow and strife, behind all bitterness and pain, there is an eternal purpose. Strive to get an understanding of the greater purposes of life:
You are never alone, you are never left to fight difficulty by yourself. Unseen, unheard, unfelt, the influence of the spirit is always round and about you. Your world of matter could be transformed if it did but understand the realities of the spirit.
We are not angels of darkness, seeking to lead you into paths of confusion. We strive to teach you the simple truths of the spirit that will give you understanding, confidence, peace and happiness. We strive to reveal the knowledge of those laws which can bring you closer to the Great Spirit. That is our mission.
You are servants of the Great Spirit, seeking to make His will done on earth through your labours. In that work there is much happiness, because you are bringing into the lives of many a new hope that was not there before. You are helping the power of the spirit to descend in greater force and therefore you are helping the Great Spirit's laws to operate. You are helping to drive away all the sadness and misery of your world of matter.
The power that is behind you is the power of the Great Spirit of all life, the greatest force in the universe. That power must manifest and you can help it to bring its force into your world. It does not matter what you do-whether you raise one up, whether you give a word of encouragement, whether you serve in the things of spirit or the things of matterーas long as you serve and you are not weary of service, you are instruments of the Great Spirit.
While there is so much misery, strife and discord, while there are tears where there should be happy laughter, while there is starvation, lack of work, poverty in the midst of plenty, how necessary it is for us to continue to express the same truthsーthe only truths which can free the children of the Great Spirit.
How can you serve the Great Spirit except by serving His children? Your world is afraid of words, of names, of labels. I can it servics. You call it politics, economics, sociology. But these are only words. Wherever you give service, that is your religion.
It matters not whether it is among those who are exalted in your world or among those who are lowly. If you can raise up one soul, if you can bring light to one who is in dark-ness, if you can free one from the prison-house of ignorance, if you can give food to those who are hungry and water to those who are thirsty, if you can bring peace instead of war, you are serving the Great Spirit.
GUIDANCE FROM BEYOND
Though Silver Birch dislikes speaking of himself, because he considers the message to be all-important, he has some-times hinted at the great sacrifice made by himself and other guides in sacrificing the reward of their centuries of evolution in order to assist humanity on earth. He discourages questions about himself, but has answer d queries regarding guides generally, from which the following are selected:
ARE there groups of guides working at various levels in all countries?
Yes, there are, but it is always a work that persists by experiment and by effort, because it is not possible to deter-mine beforehand the response that we will get from the instruments which are selected. Sometimes years of work have to be cast aside because the instrument fails to pass all the tests. But in every part of your world of matter, people from my world are at work seeking to exert their influence when-ever they find people who can respond.
Do guides work in movements that deal with the advancement of humanity?
There is never one effort for good put out in your world of matter that does not immediately attract from our side those who 'spur you on. No effort for good is ever lost. for it always brings a response from our world which always stands behind the one who seeks to uplift humanity, who desires to serve humanity and who strives to make the lot of the Great Spirit's children easier.
What would be the relation between guides working in connection with different political movements, such as democratic in one country and dictatorial in another?
Words make you their slaves when they should be your slaves. All that we do is to try to teach the laws of the Great Spirit to all His children, wherever they are and whoever they may be, so that the Great Spirit may be expressed through them. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is hard, for all His children are not at the same level of growth. We have to use the material that is at our disposal and do the best we can. We do not think in terms of labels. We only think in terms
of service.
Can one have a guide working actively with one, and yet be unaware of his existence?
Yes, there are millions like that, but it is better that people should know, so that they can co-operate with knowledge and not remain in ignorance.
Would knowledge of the guides give them more power?
It enables contact to be made more closely, for knowledge is always to be preterred to ignorance. Who would want to be in the dark when he could have the light? Why be thirsty if you can drink?
Why should a guide confine himself to one particular medium?
How little they know of our methods and the way we work! I have told you of the years I have spent in getting ready for my work through this medium. Must I, in order to satisfy someone in your world, spend the same number of years finding another instrument and starting all over again from the beginning？
Why are mediums who, through force of circumstances, are unable to make use of their psychic gifts, sometimes afflicted with mental depression and nerve trouble?
That is because their psychic gifts are not functioning and their bodies are not in harmony as a result.