"HATE BEGETS HATE"
AT a time when many people were clamouring for retaliation against German civilians—the Nazi airmen had just started their indiscriminate bombing of London and towns in the provinces—Silver Birch stressed the spirit principles he has always taught.
"Do not let those desires of hatred find a lodgment within your being," he urged. “It is wrong; it is contrary to all that we teach. Hate begets hate. It thwarts your judgment and warps your soul. I know how difficult it is. Confronted by callous brutality, you cry for revenge. But that is not the way of the spirit. You cannot and will not fashion an enduring world with hatred as its foundation. That is true of inter-national systems and is true of your own individual lives. If you hate, it is but a reflection of your lack of development. It means you are less evolved than you ought to be. Your spirit is still stunted; it has not yet grown to its proper If you allow all those dark qualitiesーhatred, malice, envy, jealousy, selfishness—to find expression through you, then you have neglected the road that leads to higher things and you yourself must pay the price.
"I have always taught that reason is the only standard to which we appeal, that the law that controls all life is founded on justice and on reason. It must be obvious that hatred and love cannot grow side by side, for one is contrary to the other. You must strive to subdue those remnants of your animal ancestry that find expression in terms of a desire for revenge, 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' and to remember the golden rule that has been laid down by the evolved ones of the past.
"People say they would like to pay the Germans out in their own coin, to kill them. But that is no solution. Destroying physical bodies does not solve mankind's problems. The spirit is still there, the individual remains. He has to be taught and educated. The light must reach his soul, for until it does, whether in your world or in mine, the influence that he can exercise is potent and very real. You are still thinking in terms of bodies of matter. You are not thinking in terms of spirits expressing themselves through bodies of matter. The body is incidental; the spirit is eternal. You must concentrate your efforts on the spirit, for when you educate and equip the spirit it will express automatically through the body that which is right, proper and necessary.
"I know all this is very elementary, but it has to be said again and again. When revenge is at the helm, passions usurp men's reason and wisdom dies away. You live in a world of matter and you become engrossed in material things. But, however bitter and difficult, however arduous and trouble-some, however weary and dark, it is a world of shadows. Eternal reality is in the spirit.
"I want you all to maintain the note of quiet confidence and uphold the knowledge you possess. Be assured that through the darkness the light gleams. Its beams will en-velop your world. You have much over which to rejoice, even in these days. Do not allow your steadfastness to be deflected for a single moment. Be good soldiers; stand at your posts of knowledge. May the power of the Great Spirit be made manifest in all your lives, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute and second by second, so that you are radiating His love, His wisdom, His truth; that you are indeed His instruments, striving to serve, striving to help, striving to teach those less fortunate than yourselves."
When Silver Birch expressed similar sentiments on another occasion, a sitter objected that spiritual thoughts seemed to have been useless—the position at that time looked very blackーand many thousands of people had been killed.
"Do not shed tears for those who leave you," said the guide. "Except for the shock of parting, the temporary difficulties, they are better off. I do not minimize the sorrow and the horrors and agony of war, but for those who are freed from your world shed no tears.''
"Do not soldiers suffer a lot when they die in that way?" he was asked.
"Yes and no," said Silver Birch. "It is comparative. They suffer for a time because they go on fighting. They suffer because they do not know what has happened. That does not last for long when your feet are on the road to eternity. Better that they should have come to our world when the time was ripe, when they were more fully equipped. Even so, shed no tears for those who say farewell to the prison-house of the body. Save your tears for those who remain in your world of matter. Though it sounds callous, death is no misfortune."
"Except to those they leave behind," said a sitter.
"Not to those who pass through its gates of liberation," said the guide. “I cannot be false to that which I know. How you all judge things from your material standpoint! How I wish you could familiarize yourselves with life as it really is in all its aspects. I do not ask you to ignore the world in which you live. It is important whilst you are here, but it is such a small fraction of the life which you have yet to experience. You are not material bodies with spirits; you are spirits with material bodies. This is but a temporary manifestation."
Answering a question on how to deal with after-war con-ditions, the guide said, "When will your world learn its lessons? You must have love in your hearts, goodwill, tolerance, charity and sympathy for all mankind, however far they have strayed from the path, however they have been misled or misdirected.'
"What good would any of those virtues be to us now?”' asked another sitter.
"I speak of principles that endure,” replied Silver Birch. “What do you want me to say? Do you want me to fill your mind with hatred?"
"But if Germany is allowed, she will do the same thing all over again," objected the sitter.
"There are two schools of thought as to how to deal with criminals in your world,” said the guide. “There are some who say that the punishment should be such that they cannot wreak any more crimes—kill them. The more modern school says those who are criminals have something wrong with them. It is a disease of the mind that affects the body. The better way is to treat the disease, so that they may take their places as citizens in your world. Does that answer you?"
"I mean, we should take away their arms until they learn to behave as civilized people," was the reply.
"I have not said that justice should not be done,” said the guide. ''I remember how the 'war to end war' sowed the seeds of war. I am trying to tell you not to sow more seeds for another war. If I did not stress the spiritual principles which ultimately control life in all worlds throughout the whole universe, I would be failing. Now you are confronted with what seems to be the great testing time of all. You know me well. I have not, I think, departed from the standards which I set up for all of you. To reason I have appealed. Reason I have enthroned as the supreme arbiter of all that we hold. I have always said to you, 'If there be aught that we teach which strikes a note of discord in your mind, which seems foolish or which makes your conscience revolt, discard it.' We have never tried to win false loyalty by threats, by talk of punishment, but have only tried again and again to win your confidence by love and service.
"I beg of you, these are times for the quietness and the strength of the spirit. These are days when you must stand firmly, realizing that the foundations of your knowledge must not be shaken. All those who waver are, in effect, damaging the very cause they seek to espouse. We have striven to teach you to be of good cheer in the face of ad-versity, to learn to draw from the inner strength which will not fail you if you know how to tap its great resources. We have taught you to banish fear, that one vibration which is so inimical to our operations. We have taught you to be con-fident, calm and resolute, not to be blown hither and thither by the winds of adversity. The power of the spirit is a reality. It is restricted by the instruments at its disposal. If there were thousands more instruments, much greater work could be done. But within the limits of the instruments you give that power, it does exert its influence.”