THE ETERNAL LINK
What is the soul? Science does not recognize its existence and Orthodoxy does not know what it is. Silver Birch de-clares it to be a fragment of the Great Spirit, that which links us with God for all time. He also replies to questions on the aura, hauntings, time, lies, lunacy, obsession, plant con-sciousness, Theosophy and astrology.
WITH what do we control our physical bodies, and where is situated?
I do not know where it is. I cannot find it. Your men of science think that they can cut up the body and find the soul hidden in one of the corners. Or perhaps it flows through one of the veins, or perhaps it is secreted in one of the organs. There is no part of the body where the soul dwells.
Is the soul within the body?
You cannot speak in terms of within or without when you speak of the soul, for the soul has no within and no without. The soul fills all space. It is consciousness. It is not subjected to the limitations of a body, but can range through all infinity, reaching to its height of evolution. It can span your world of matter in a flash. When you travel in your spirit body to a far-off country, where is your soul? You think in terms of your world's measurements. We have no such difficulties to overcome. There is no space to be bounded by the soul. Our consciousness can function in any part of your world as our will dictates.
What is the difference between soul and spirit?
I do not care what names you give to things. I did not make your dictionaries. The soul, to me, is the Great Spirit within. The spirit is the body through which it expresses itself. But other people use words in other ways.
What is the spirit, apart from its vehicles of expression?
The spirit is that part of the Great Spirit—that which you call Godーwhich expresses itself through successive vehicles as it unfolds higher and higher. We have no knowledge of the spirit apart from its expression, for until the spirit expresses itself we do not know it.
What is our conscience?
It is that part of your soul which discerns between the right and the wrong. It is the balance which enables you to understand that the scale is weighed down on either side. It is the pointer of your soul.
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What is the aura?
The aura consists of the vibrations set up by the body. There are many auras, but the ones that are known to your world are the auras that surround the physical body and the spirit body. All things have auras, even things which do not have consciousness within them. The aura consists of the vibrations that emanate from the body, and according to the state of the body, so there are different vibrations. Those who can see the auras and can interpret them know all the secrets of the individual.
They can diagnose the health of the individual. They know the state of his soul and his mind's unfoldment. They can tell the evolution of that soul, for it is the aura that enables you all to be read as an open book. Your aura registers all that you have said, all that you have thought and all that you have done. Your aura is your eternal judgment, for there you are showing to those who can see exactly what you are within and not as you show yourselves without.
Do you refer to the aura of the spirit body?
Yes. The aura of the physical body has more to do with physical things, such as the health, the temper or habits. All these things register in different colours.
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What causes hauntings in the cases where there is a mechanical repetition of events, such as monks walking the passages of monasteries?
Some hauntings are caused by spirits, but in the cases you mention they are caused by intense concentration on earth, leaving an etheric picture which can still be registered. Usually, however, that which your world calls a ghost is one we recognize as an earthbound spirit.
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Is time real or artificial?
Time is not artificial, but it has many dimensions. What is artificial is your measurement of it. Time itself is a reality. It exists. Space exists. But your measurements are not accur-ate because you view time and space from a limited focus. When you have the knowledge of other factors, then the focus becomes more in line with the truth.
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Can a lie, told for a good motive, be justified in the sight of God?
I do not understand what is meant by “in the sight of God." You register on your own souls every dedd, every thought, every word, so that you are the result of your own evolution, known to all those who can see with the eyes of the spirit. If you have not done that which is right, in deed or word of thought, then your own evolution suffers as a result.
Does the telling of a lie, for good motives, adversely affect one's evolution?
I do not believe in telling lies. There is a time for silence, but it is always better that the truth shall be known.
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Is it possible, through physical disability, for the physical self to act in an entirely contrary manner to the desire of the spiritual self?
Yes, as in the case of lunatics, but that does not affect the evolution of the soul. It only affects its expression in the world of matter. You must always allow for a difference between a soul's evolution and its limited expression in your world.
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Is it possible for a man who lived a wicked life on earth to remain unrepentant in the spirit world?
Yes, it is quite possible. There are many who do for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years.
Could such a person influence one on this earth to his detriment?
If there is an attraction between them. Your world must learn that obsessions are not caused by our world but by yours, for you provide the conditions. If your lives were lived in conditions of harmony and right thinking, in service and not for self, for greed and only for personal desire, then it would be impossible for obsessions to happen.
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Have flowers and plants consciousness?
Not as you understand it, but they have response to vibra-tions which your world does not yet understand. There are many who can use these vibrations and succeed with flowers and vegetables and plants because they have sometimes by accident found the secret of those vibrations.
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What is your reply to the Theosophist teaching that at death the "divine principle” of a man leaves his astral and mental bodies, as well as his physical body, and these remain as empty shells to roam in the earth's atmosphere? The Theosophist teaching is that it is from these shells that communications are received through niediums, the shells being animated by elementals and nature spirits that imitate the characteristics of the dead people.
When a portion of the Great Spirit withdraws from the body of matter, the work of that body is finished and it goes back into the earth. When, in the next stage of life, the Great Spirit withdraws from the astral body, then the work of that body is finished and it resolves itself once more into the elements of which it was composed; for when the Great Spirit withdraws, the life is withdrawn also.
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Is astrology a reliable science and useful to man?
Everything in the universe vibrates, and vibrations from all things are constantly being radiated into the universe. All vibrations send out rays and all these rays carry influence. A knowledge of vibrations will always help, for there is a law behind them all.
Is there any relation between similar messages given through spirit guidance and astrological forecasts?
There are millions of ways of expressing truth, because truth is of the Great Spirit and it can only be expressed according to the evolution of the individual through whom it has to be expressed. It is through simplicity that you learn truth. Using long words and finding new names does not make for truth. Often, they serve as masks for ignorance.