CHAPTER I
WARTIME PROBLEMS OF COMMUNICATION
SILVER BIRCH has explained why he and other spirit teachers have greater difficulty in manifesting during war than in peace. A member of the circle, remembering that there was apparently no such difficulty during the troubles in Spain, Abyssinia or China, asked why it seemed more difficult during the present conflict.
"Whilst people keep on dying, and cannot reach the ones they love," said the guide, "the whole atmosphere is filled-with con-flicting emotions, and all these act as barriers to the communi-cation between the two states of life. We are manifesting in your country, and the increasing number of those who die associated with the people of your country creates our problems. The problem arises when we manifest here. You must recognise that there are thousands in the world of spirit who yearn to return, and there are thousands in your land who are unable to receive them. This, apart from all the variety of vital emotions called forth by war, creates jangling discords in the atmosphereーand success is best attained in spirit communication where there is peace and harmony, where there are receptive, passive minds.
"Unfortunately, there are so few, and so we are dependent on the power which is generated by those who have a knowledge of spiritual reality and who have assembled at gatherings such as this, and who do not disturb the atmosphere with their inter-fering thoughts and desires and emotions. That is why I have always counselled you to be confident, fearless, unafraid, to face with'inflexible calmness and fortitude the problems that come to you, knowing that only in such an atmosphere could you provide the conditions that help us and yourselves.
"We are not material beings; we are spiritual beings, striving to register in a physical world, and we have to bridge the gap between spirit and matter with some medium. And it is in bridging that gap that all our difficulties are encountered. You make our task casier or harder by the state of your own minds. The links become more attenuated and contact more and more difficult. It is only by a few strands that I manage to hold on. Then, when the instrument is out of tune, it becomes almost impossible and I have to give up even the attempt. That is why I am very proud of your patience and your sustained loyalty.
"I knew from the first time, when we resumed our mission soon after the outbreak of war, that problems would arise. At one time I debated whether it would be better not to make the effort to maintain my contact with your world. But I decided that whatever little weight or power I had should be thrown into the scale to help, so that my little wisdom, my simple teaching, might be used to give strength and hope and courage to those who needed them most. I am glad that we have been enabled to comfort and aid some souls who, perhaps, without our service, might still be floundering in difficulty and despair. But it has not been easy for us and, whilst we seek no credit for anything we have done, we want you to recognise the many difficulties that have beset us in this task.
"Sometimes it has seemed that we could not register anything like the fullness of our inspiration. Then you must be patient, you must be tolerant, you must apply all those lessons we have striven to teach you, knowing that in time, with clearer vision, greater understanding will come. It has been a great respon-sibility, but I have hung on as best I could, striving to be as useful and as helpful as I could with the means at my disposal. You will not know whilst you are on earth the extent to which our labours have succeeded. You will not know the hearts which are touched or the work which jointly has been done, but accept my assur-ance that ignorance in many places has been driven away and a new light, a new hope, a new confidence have come to many."
And when asked what arrangements were made in the spirit world for those who pass over as a result of war, the guide replied:
"The world of spirit is highly organised. In our life, natural talents, often unexpressed on earth, are matured along natural lines of development, and those who are best fitted for certain tasks perform the labours which come naturally to them. In times when the horrors of war do not shake your world, there is a vast range of men and women whose task it is to receive the constant throng that make the inevitable journey through what is called the gate of death. This is accomplished in varying stages —some with knowledge, some with degrees of knowledge and others with ignorance or misconception. For all these shades there are helpers equipped and ready to deal with the entrants into the new life. Their task it is to help them until they are acclimatised to surroundings which at first are strange.
"The infinite law, as part of its divine wisdom, has made preparation, for to every being who dwells on earth there have come constant experiences in the realm of spirit. During sleep, when the physical body is quiescent and the activities of your world stilled, the spirit steals away to experience part of the joys which are its natural heritage. These are forgotten by the major-ity, who are completely unaware of the many occasions which they have spent with ones they love, and who love them, in a higher and more wondrous life. But when the great change of death takes place and they are translated into the new realm, once they have accustomed themselves, by that law of association, they begin, gradually at first, to remember the experiences that belonged to their spiritual natures. This period of interregnum is long or short, varying with every individual. It depends upon the spiritual consciousness; it depends on whether the soul has knowledge or not.
"To those who are fully armed and equipped with true under-standing, and to whom the new life has become familiar, they enter into it almost as naturally as the hand into a well-fitted glove. It is for the others, who do not know what awaits them, who have fixed ideas and a bewildering array of strange mis-conceptions, it is for these that many helpers must be provided. According to the individual requirements, so there is placed at their disposal the one best fitted to help. It may be an unknown, unseen guardian or guide who has watched their footsteps through many a long year; it may be one who is attracted by a tie of blood relationship; it may be a stranger aroused by a com-munity of interest
"Now all that deals with what we may regard as normal happenings in time of peace. War brings an acceleration of all the problems, for sometimes it causes to be ushered into our world thousands of unprepared souls, not equipped, unready, not knowing that they have crossed life's supreme threshold. Un-fortunately, the majority of these for some time must be left to their own devices. They are, by virtue of their lives, much closer to earth than they are to our world. It is sad, very distressing, to stand on one side, knowing that you cannot help them, but until they are ready for help it is useless, for there are blinkers over their eyes and they cannot see. And all those who do not know of their changed state continue the selfsame activity; whether it be fighting in battle on earth or on the seas or in the skies, they continue their combat until—and there are varying degrees of time that it takes—the bewildering realisation comes over them.
"They begin to see that, though all is familiar, yet there are jarring, discordant, curious and almost bizarre things happening. They kill and no one is killed; they shoot and no bullet travels; they move but they stand still; they touch but they do not feel; they speak but they cannot be heard. There is a fog, a mist, a vapour which seems to make the whole of their reality obscure and clouded. They cannot tell whether something is wrong with them or with the other people in your world. Sometimes they think you are the victims of delusion; sometimes they think they are the victims themselves. But graduallyーthis may take, according to the degree of awareness, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years or centuriesーrealisation dawns. Then they can be helped.
"Each case demands individual approach and attention. For those who refuse to believe that they are indeed dead, there are varying methods. They can be brought to your world, into those circles which deal with the wanderers in the shadows of our life. They can have brought to them ones they know are dead, as they believe, and whose veracity they cannot question.
Different methods are pursued to achieve the same result.
"Then there are those who have to be treated because their method of passing has temporarily affected their etheric or spiritual bodies. They are like the shell-shocked cases of your world. They are dazed; they have to receive treatment. There are hospitals equipped for such cases, where they are given certain adjustments, so that the spirit can awaken and recuperate from the blow that has been dealt. I stress that this is temporary, because I do not want anyone to think that it is possible for an event of your world to cause permanent injury to the spirit. That is impossible. The dislocations that are caused are due to shocks and, when the adjustment has been made, there is not even a scar or a trace upon the mentality or consciousness of the in-dividual. Complete restoration is made.
"I, too, would like to stress that none is left, in the end, to his own devices, unless it is his wish. The people of your world need have no fear that there will be none to greet the ones who are parted from them. Apart from the many to whom they are related, there are others whom love compels to serve and help them. None escapes, none can be missed, none can be over-looked, none can be forgotten. The wondrous law takes account of them all and, no matter where they may be, the world of spirit knows and is ready to deal with them. Geography is not an obstacle to the dwellers in our world; we are not confronted with such problems of measurement. Our world of conscious-ness knows. The natural attraction between you and us makes us aware of the necessity of being there to receive those who are
making the great journey."
Asked what was the position of children who passed on as a result of bombing, Silver Birch said: “The period of recuperation and recovery is much longer in the case of children, but they learn much more quickly once the adjustment is made. This interregnum period, which is a kind of twilight of the soul, is not painful—I do not want to give that impression—it is a process of recovery. The spirit has to learn to express itself in its new body and that expression is dependent on the experience it has. Ob-viously, in the case of children the experience is more limited. That is why the period of recuperation is longer. And in their case, too, to show how the law provides, I would like to say that if they come alone and their mothers are still on earth, then the ones who take charge of them are those who had strong maternal instincts which were never expressed in your world, which now can be devoted to the care of the new life which is gradually awakening and unfolding in our realm.”
A member of the circle remarked: “In our world, children adapt themselves very quickly to new conditions."
"That is purely physical,” said Silver Birch. “We are dealing with the spirit now, with the spirit conditioning itself into the world of spirit, which is vastly different from the physical world in many respects and very similar in others. You must under-stand it is a question of awareness, that is all. Awareness supplies the key. You hear me always speak about knowledge as the priceless gift of the spirit. It is a world of the mind where we live and little minds have to be prepared for it. There is another aspect which is not really germane, and that is a law of compen-sation, which outworks itself in the case of children who, while deprived of earthly experience, are not stained by earthly faults."
"They are not improved by earthly virtues, either," someone commented.
"That is the compensation," said the guide, “that souls who are deprived of earthly experience do not have to pay the price for earthly faults which would have developed."
"Does that equally balance?” he was asked.
"That is not a question that can be generally answered,” he replied. “It depends on each individual soul. I am only point-ing to the law of compensation."
"If the earthly wrong were inherent in the individual, would it not develop on the Other Side?” Silver Birch was asked.
"I do not agree with your question,” he replied. "Earthly wrong is not inherent in the individual. Give an example of what you mean."
"Suppose a child, had he lived on earth, would have been greedy," said the sitter, “would he not develop greediness just as easily in the spirit world as if he were still here?"
"You must try to get the whole subject in its proper perspec-tive," said the guide. “Once realisation comes in our world, the feet are placed on the paths of advancement. Until then, there is scope for the exercise of all undeveloped qualities. Until then, you dwell in those grey spheres where there is a simulacrum of the desire you wish to have gratified. But once you awaken, the mere fact that you have awakened means that you have said farewell to all the wish to gratify what belongs to the undeveloped side of your nature. That is why I say, 'Put the quest in its proper perspective. If you are still greedy, it means you have not yet awakened, so you can satisfy that greed.”
"But little children would be undeveloped," said the questioner.
"The point I was trying to establish," said the guide, "was that they would arrive in our world immature because they had lacked the earthly experience to equip the soul, but also they would not be stained by the faults which had developed, unfor-tunately, in adult life, and to that extent the law of compensation would work and they would not have to remove those blemishes from their characters.”
"Didn't they come here to do wrong, so that they would learn to do right?" he was asked.
"No, you do not come here to do wrong in order to learn to do right," said the guide.
"But we were not sent here to be plaster saints from the moment of birth, were we?" the sitter persisted.
"No,” said Silver Birch, “but there is a difference between coming here to wreak malice and to be extremely selfish, and coming here as raw material and becoming a finished product."
"Isn't the difference explained in terms of doing wrong?” he was asked
"Yes, but I do not like very much the terms you use," said the guide. “I do not visualise the supreme and sublime develop-ment of the human soul as being towards a plaster saint, as you call it, neither do I conceive that the purpose of earthly life is to breed a race of criminals who will commit crimes until they learn that crime is wrong. No, the number of those who do wrong callously, deliberately, with premeditated forethought, is comparatively small compared with the vast numbers of those who inhabit your world. The really evil person is fortunately in the minority. Most of the crimes, if crimes they can be called, are caused by ignorance, by wrong training, faulty education, belief in superstition.”
"If a child were greedy on earth," said a member of the circle, "would he not still be greedy for a little time in the spirit world, and from that point of view would have earthly experience?".
"Do you mean, if the child were naturally greedy, it would still pass with desire ingrained in its consciousness?” asked the guide. "Yes, that is quite possible. But then the life it had lived, if it were a young life in your world, would not have given it much opportunity for that greed to grow, and it could easily be corrected. There is all the difference between an incipient greed which has hardly been expressed and a selfish greed that has lasted for so or 70 years and has constantly been satisfied and has grown upon its own appetite."
Someone else wanted to know whether families killed together remained together in the spirit world.
"It all depends,” said Silver Birch, “and I answer very care-fully because I do not wish to hurt anyone's feelings. It depends on whether they want to be together or not. You must realise that in the world of spirit the tie that binds is the tie that wishes to bind, and that there are many families held together in your world by a bond which is soon dissolved by death. If the family possesses a community of interest, if there is a natural attraction of love, or even of affection, or even of friendship, this bond will not dissolve. It is just like marriage. There are many in your world who are tied only by a physical bond. Their spirits are divergent. There is no unity between them. Death provides an unbridgeable chasm. But where there are those whose spirits are married, too, then death will bring them even closer together. It is a qualified answer."
"But what happens to the families before they know they have passed on?" he was asked.
"When they do not know they have passed on, they go on exactly as before," said Silver Birch “But you must realise that in many of these questions I cannot give a 'Yes' or a 'No.' They are dependent upon other factors.”
Another time Silver Birch returned to the difficulties of com-munication with the spirit world in wartime. Explaining that war brings barriers to the power of the spirit which flows into this world, he said: “And yet it is in times like these, when so much is at stake, it is important for these truths of the spirit to be made known. It is when so many beliefs are flung on one side and confusion abounds that we can be of some service by enunciating these simple truths which cannot change because they are founded upon the operation of natural immutable law. You have witnessed scenes of great havoc and destruction; in other lands these have been repeated on a much larger and more hideous scale. There is chaos and cruelty, and treachery and tyranny walk hand in hand. There is domination by brute force. In many places it seems as if the light of freedom has been extinguished and all is darkness.
"It is at such a time that we who are familiar with the workings of spiritual law emphasise that the power of the spirit will move men to greater heights than they have ever imagined, that it will kindle within them a flame which truly can never be extinguished and that the light of spirit will in the end triumph and freedom and liberty come into their own. These are properties of the spirit, the spirit which cannot be crushed out of existence. It may be cowed and subdued, but it cannot be for ever subjugated. The great truth that we have to teach your world is that you are spiritual beings now. All the things of matter may be destroyed, bodies may be killed, men may be tortured, but the things of the spirit must endure because they belong to eternity, to the Great Spirit, Who is infinite, indestructible, divine. That which you call Spiritualism, which is part of the operation of natural law, reveals the existence of man's spirit. Its evidence is directed at proving beyond all doubt to those who are not blind, to those. who use their reason and who are able to think clearly and freely, that here, if never before, is the indisputable proof that man is a spiritual being. From that fundamental principle emerge many implications, each urging the recipient of this knowledge to greater tasks of service.
"Once you realise that man is a spirit, then you know that man must live in a world where that spirit can have full expression. All the abuses and iniquities, all the pestilential blots, all the vested intérests, all the selfishness, all the avarice, all the cruelties, must be swept on one side, because they hinder the growth of man's spirit, which comes to earth to express itself fully, to become ready, prepared, equipped for that more wondrous life which one day becomes its natural habitat. That is the great, ringing message we have to give—to show that, starting with the simple trivial message given by a medium, there follows in its train a vast number of implications which will transform the world. When mankind battles for its destiny, when spiritual issues are so clearly at stake, all our force and power is thrown into the scale so that those who truly fight for freedom may realise that they are supported by hosts of the unseenーreformers, martyrs, leaders of those who laboured in your world in days gone by and who continue to struggle with renewed power and effort from the world of spirit."
"I understand there must be a lot of disturbance," commented a member of the circle.
"It is not only the mentality of people in this land, living under great stress, a stress which perhaps they do not even realise, " explained the guide, “but the many clamant cries that fill the air, bringing discord in their train. You must remember, too, that thousands come into our world unprepared. Each of these, though he may not know it, brings an added difficulty to our task, for each is a silent petition calling for help all the time. So many come here ignorant, or filled with wrong ideas. Ignorance and prejudice are the twin antagonists with whom we constantly have to combat. All you can do whilst you are in your world is to spread truth, spread knowledge, spread wisdom, spread light, spread understanding, touching souls wherever you can, often not seeing the results of your labours. That does not matter; you must just go on. Even if men abuse and vilify you, you must continue to be true to the light that is within you. We do not ask you to do any more, or any less. In the end you must triumph, no matter how great the opposition ranged against you. Free-dom does triumph—freedom of mind, spirit and body.
"What is true of individuals is true of nations. Just as each individual has a divine destiny to achieve, so, too, have nations. You have often heard me say that your land was destined to lead the world, to play a great part in bringing light where there was dark-ness, and being in the forefront, holding aloft the torch of spiritual truth. Now you see that great task gradually being fulfilled.”
Once, in a very dark period of the war, when it appeared that there was no light of hope beyond a long struggle, Silver Birch said: "The time to have faith is not when all goes well. It is easy then. The time to have confidence is in the hour of darkness. It is easy to say you believe in the Great Spirit and the power of the spirit when life is filled with sunshine and there are no troubles and no difficulties looming on the horizon. There is no merit in expressing your faith then.
"There is virtue in faith, undismayed by any difficulty, un-moved by any storm or stress that comes upon the individual, in the one who can say: 'Though the winds blow and the storms rage, though the lightning flash and the thunder roar, though all the world be filled with discord and all seems black and hopeless, I know that the power which fashioned and created all life and imbued it with its own divinity cannot fail. I stand unmoved, resting with complete confidence upon the unshakable founda-tion of knowledge and experience.'
"The power of the Great Spirit flows through human beings just like you. Unless you preserve a determined, steadfast equilibrium, resolutely dauntless, fearing none no matter how strong he may seem, then the Great Spirit cannot express itself through you. You are the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit is not something cut off from you. The Great Spirit is not some nebulous, formless power, vaguely floating in the interstellar spaces of the universe. The more you express qualities which are divine in their nature, the more you are allowing the Great Spirit to be made manifest. That is the great lesson to be learned. That is how the spirit evolves. That is how character is moulded. That is how you truly grow.
"Your world does not understand the function of pain and suffering and difficulty, and hardship, but all these play an im-portant part in the evolution of the human spirit. Look back in your own lives and see that often the greatest crises, the most difficult problems, the darkest hours, were the stepping stones that led to greater understanding. You would not evolve if for-ever you dwelt in the sunshine, lived free from care, anxiety and worry, where every approaching difficulty was automatically smoothed out so that it never touched you, where there were no rough stones in your pathway, where there was nothing for you to conquer. It is in the facing of, and rising supreme over, trouble that you grow. You have to spread knowledge so that there can be less darkness, so that needless cruelty can be abolished, so that unnecessary suffering can be swept to one side. You have to spread knowledge so that man will not disobey the natural law and as a result have to face the consequences.
"There is suffering that need not be, there are difficulties that need not be, but they are all part of your growth, your evolution, your struggling towards the light. Mistakes, mishaps, these are good for you. They enable you to learn a lessonーand you are all children in the great school of life. Perfection will never be achieved, for the higher the soul rises the more it will find there is to be developed and perfected."
Then Silver Birch returned to a theme he constantly stresses: "Never allow fear to find a lodgment within your being. It is a
negative quality which destroys, vitiates, and saps. It impairs your judgment; it clouds your reason; it prevents you from seeing issues clearly. There is no problem that comes to any soul which you are incapable of solving. There is no difficulty that you cannot conquer—if you would but allow the latent divinity to rise to the surface. The people in your world have, with very few exceptions, not yet begun to live. They are expressing only infinitesimal portions of the power which is resident within them. In supreme moments of crisis or emergency they call on that power and it gives them added strength, added courage, added wisdom. But that power can be tapped all the time. It can give you health to master disease, direction in times of uncertainty, guidance when you are perplexed, strength when you are weary and vision when you are blind. It is there for you to express it."
Replying to a question the guide said: “Despite all that has happened, the light still burns in this little island; it has never gone out. That light will spread and spread until its rays embrace all the corners of the world. Millions will revere and bless you. Be proud of your contribution; hold your heads high. You have a great destiny still to achieve."
And these words were spoken when all seemed dark.
Yet again Silver Birch spoke words of encouragement when he declared:
"We have a message to give, a message which your world wants more than ever today. This is the soil in which we labour. Here are hearts that want to be comforted; here are grief-stricken ones crying out for knowledge and help. Where are there in your world those teachers and leaders who can help them? What have they to offerーshibboleths of the past, the worn-out creeds and discredited teachings, the false dogmas of yesterday? Can they comfort with the stories of what happened hundreds of years ago, when they themselves are chary of accepting their veracity?
"All around your land, and indeed all over the world, there is a cry for light in the darkness. Prayers, spoken and unspoken, are reaching usーthe cry of anxious souls who ask for guidance in the hour of great and urgent difficulty. It is those with whom we are concernedーthose who have lost their way, many through no fault of their own. Surrounded by darkness, stricken with grief, with tears flowing from their eyes, they want to know about the meaning of death. They ask why loved ones have been removed from their sight, and their churches cannot answer them. Those who are compelled to drink the cup of sorrow and eat the bread of bitterness are not interested in the Virgin Birth or the Garden of Eden or in articles of faith. They want know-ledge; they want facts; they want proof.
"They ask that, if there be in this world anything that can help them, it should be able to help them now, in the hour of diffi-culty. And that is why from our world we strive so hard, in spite of all the handicaps, all the obstacles, to comfort souls who are in the depths of despair. I have often told you that you know not what you do when you gather here for a short while and supply us with a little power, and we are enabled to send the truths of the spirit far and wide. Those few words, which represent eternal wisdom because they are founded on eternal reality, find a lodgment within the minds of those who are ready, ripe for these truths. That is a great work. It is only by giving service; it is only by insisting that we dangle no threats, no terrors, no fears, but express the desire to help those less fortunate than yourselves, that we can prove we are indeed the ministers of the Great Spirit."
Next the spirit mentioned someone who had issued a "chal-lenge" to several guides and wanted to meet Silver Birch. He said he would not invite him to come, “not because I am afraid, for I think I can claim that I have met many challenges in your world.” Then he went on: “But I do not see why, in the midst of sorrow, sadness and misery, when all our help is needed for those in trouble, we should waste any precious moments in arguing with those who do not wish to believe other than that which they already believe. Let us be content to be 'exposed.' We have faced, for nearly a century, the combined opposition of all the forces that are antagonistic to our work. We have faced the challenges of the Church, science and materialism. They have 'exposed' our instruments again and again. They have proved conclusively' that we are all evil, or that we do not exist. And yet, in spite of all hostility, ridicule and misrepresentation, our work has not been stayed. The fruits of the spirit have been increasingly gathered all over your world, and all the forces which opposed us have been compelled to retreat or to change their vantage points.
"The Church, which denounced us, no longer teaches the doctrines it espoused when this truth was first propounded in your world. Science no longer teaches the scientific doctrines which were enunciated almost a hundred years ago. And even the materialist has been compelled to give ground, to change his standpoint, to acknowledge new factors which were unknown before. Have we altered or deviated by one hair's breadth in all
the truths which we have poured into your world during all that time? Can you point to any change in spirit teachings? Can you say where we have been compelled to adjust our teachings because of circumstances in your world? Can you say where we have been compelled to revise the fundamental truths to which we have given allegiance because of some new discovery in the world of matter?
"No; natural law does not have to be repealed or altered. It has already taken cognisance of all life's circumstances. There is no event in life or death, as you call it, which calls for the re-shaping of any natural law or its operation. Our truths cannot die, because they are truths. Spiritual realities are realities, and so they must endure. These are the precious gems of wisdom which will abide for ever. These are the eternal facts which will guide all those who are ready to receive them.”
When someone known to a member of the circle passed on, Silver Birch was asked why even experienced Spiritualists often felt grief. Another member said it was caused not by sorrow for the one who had "died,” but selfish grief, and the guide said: "For what is there to grieve? For grief to be felt, it shows that there is a lack of evolution, particularly in a case where staying in the world of matter means pain, and transition means freedom from pain, out of darkness into light, out of storm into peace. I find it hard to understand why those of you who have know-ledge should be touched by the grief which contradicts the know-ledge you possess.
"Let me go one step further. When first knowledge comesーthe knowledge of spiritual truths—it is like a blinding flash of revelation. It seems to light up what before was dark, con-ficting and puzzling. But no matter how great the new under-standing, it soon takes its place and becomes part of the familiar stock-in-trade of the individual. But knowledge should be used. It should enlarge the whole outlook. It should increase the capacity to understand. It should extend the boundaries of vision, of sympathy, of toleration and of good will. None who has knowledge must reserve that knowledge for set occasions. That knowledge should be used to transform the whole outlook on every phase of life. If there be any truth in what you have learned, seen and experienced; if these things which you have learned are indeed spiritual verities, then their value is in your using them and adjusting your life so that you can express as much of them as possible.
"You should not grieve when death comes, unless you are grieving for yourself, that you will miss a familiar face or figure, an accustomed word, an habitual smile. Your knowledge should not be reserved for one hour a week at a seance; it is meant to be used in your everyday life. The spiritual verities should be the foundation of your existence, to be applied in your factory, workshop, office, business, profession, vocation, calling and in your home. They should shine through your lives as radiant indexes to everything you do. That is the purpose of knowledge. By that I mean that you who call yourselves Spiritualists should not think that Spiritualismーthe name given to certain aspects of spiritual truth—is something which applies only when bereavement is felt by one who mourns and does not come into play on any other occasion. What we try to teach, to show you with every force at our command, is that here is a vast realm of spiritual law which cannot be ignored unless you prefer blindness to vision, deafness to hearing, dumbness to speech, stupidity to common sense and wilful ignorance to knowledge.
"It is one thing to know, and another to apply knowledge. Knowledge must be applied. You are seeing very painfully in your world the failure to apply knowledge. There must be eliminated from all minds the idea that you can regulate your lives in watertight compartments, that there are certain things which come only within the compass of matter and that there is another complete, entirely separate compartment which deals with the matters of the spirit. You are spiritual beings now, as much as ever you will be, no more, no less, different perhaps in degree but not in essence. You have all the gifts and the that powers that are the property of the spirit. They are yours today. They are not conferred on you because you say farewell to a physical body and begin fully to express yourself in the body of the spirit. All the properties of the spirit are yours now, today, dormant if you like, unexpressed except in fleeting glimpses, but they are here now. And you who have knowledge must learn to face every problem of life in the light of that knowledge, so that the properties of the spirit, all its gifts, may have the chance to be expressed.
"It is much worse for those who have knowledge to sin—if I may use a word I dislike very muchーthan it is for those who in ignorance transgress. If it be wrong to steal, it is a thousand times more wrong to steal when you have knowledge of spiritual laws. If it be wrong to spread malice, it is a thousand times more wrong to spread malice when you have knowledge of spiritual laws. Knowledge intensifies all things. That is what I mean when I always say knowledge brings responsibility. I see far too many who know these things but, alas, no trace of that know-ledge is to be seen in their actions. Try to realise, even though it is hard for you, that every individual in the whole wide world of matter is living in the world of spirit now and he will be no more living in the world of spirit on the day that he dies. Try to
realise that it is only a question of vibration, a question of changing your rate of vibrations. It is a question of registration. There are invisible realities, just as real—and perhaps more realーthan things which you accept as being so solid and tangible to your daily gaze.
When asked how death was regarded in the spirit world, Silver Birch replied:
"We desire that all people should see life in its true perspective, that they should understand the part which death plays in it, For too long men have surrounded death with weeping and sorrowing, with mourning and lamentation, regarding it with finality, as an end to life. We desire to remove that ignorance which sees in death the frustration of life, the end of love, a separation between those who have been bound together by mutual ties. We desire your world to realise that death is but a second birth, a natural sequence in life, that death is the servant of the Great Spirit fulfilling an essential, natural task in the evolution of the human race. To die is to gain, not to lose. It is wrong to shed tears over one who finds liberty and freedom, who is re-leased from the tenement of the flesh with all its cramping restrictions and limitations, who passes to a higher, richer life, there to receive the reward for all wise labour and the compensa-tion for all that it has failed to achieve on earth.
"The one who passes through the gates of death is like a bird, released from the cage, who wings its way to enjoy an un-fettered freedom such as it has never known before. Those who are released from the prison-house of earth by the jailer that men call death go to a larger life where they usually no longer endure all the inequalities and injustices, all the trials and troubles caused by being confined to a physical body. They begin to enjoy the boundless liberty of the spirit and to taste the lofty, noble joys that a spiritual life can offer.
"Should you be sad because they are freed from pain, from old age, from tiredness and weariness? Should you be sad because they have escaped from darkness into the light? Should you be sad because they can now unfold the talents with which they have been endowed? Should you be sad because they are now free to enjoy the pursuits that are natural to them? No, your sorrow is selfish. You are mourning your own loss, you are thinking in terms of what you are missing and what you will have to endureーa life of loneliness, bereft of love that has enriched it. But you are wrong. There need be no loneliness if you would but make yourself familiar with the truth and allow the scales of ignorance to drop away from your eyes so that you could behold the radiant form of the one you love. Death cannot part you from the one you love, for love will always claim its own. Your sorrow is based on ignorance. With knowledge you could be sure that the one you love is closer than ever he or she has been before. You could taste some of the joy that comes with the appreciation of an understanding of spiritual reality:
"You will know that in the fullness of time you will say fare-well to the body through which you have expressed yourself. You will discard the garment that has grown old in your service.It will fall away from you as your spirit in the ripeness of its maturity will claim the next step in its progress, its liberation from the thraldom of earth, so that it can rejoin those who await your coming in the land beyond death. Away with all the sorrow and sadness, the black garb and all the sombre hues that surround the second birth. Rejoice that another soul has gone to the land of light and liberty."