,,letters ,,from ,a ,,living ,,dead ,,man ,,by ,,elsa ,,barker ,,war ,,letters ,,from ,,the ,,living ,,dead ,,man ,,last ,,letters ,,from ,,the ,,living ,,dead ,,man ,,songs ,,of ,a ,,vagrom ,,angel ,,letters ,,from ,a ,,living ,,dead ,,man ,,written ,,down ,,by ,,elsa ,,barker ,,with ,,an ,,introduction ,,new ,,york ,e4 ,p4 ,,dutton ,,company #fha ,,fifth ,,avenue ,,copyright1 #aiad1 ,,by ,,mitchell ,,kennerley ,,copyright1 #aibj1 ,,by ,e4 ,p4 ,,dutton ,,company ,all ,rights ,reserved ,printed in the ,united ,states of ,america ,,contents ,,letter ,,page ,,introduction #e ,i4 ,,the ,,return #ae ,,ii4 ,,tell ,,no ,,man #af ,,iii4 ,,guarding ,,the ,,door #ah ,,iv4 ,a ,,cloud ,,on ,,the ,,mirror #ai ,v4 ,,the ,,promise ,,of ,,things ,,untold #ba ,,vi4 ,,the ,,wand ,,of ,,will #bb ,,vii4 ,a ,,light ,,behind ,,the ,,veil #bd ,,viii4 ,,the ,,iron ,,grip ,,of ,,matter #bf ,,ix4 ,,where ,,souls ,,go ,,up ,,and ,,down #bh ,x4 ,a ,,rendezvous ,,in ,,the ,,fourth ,,dimension #cj ,,xi4 ,,the ,,boy--,,lionel #ce ,,xii4 ,,the ,,pattern ,,world #dj ,,xiii4 ,,forms ,,real ,,and ,,unreal #dd ,,xiv4 ,a ,,folio ,,of ,,paracelsus #dg ,,xv4 ,a ,,roman ,,toga #ea ,,xvi4 ,a ,,thing ,,to ,,be ,,forgotten #ef ,,xvii4 ,,the ,,second ,,wife ,,over ,,there #fd ,,xviii4 ,,individual ,,hells #gj ,,xix4 ,a ,,little ,,home ,,in ,,heaven #ga ,,xx4 ,,the ,,man ,,who ,,found ,,god #gh ,,xxi4 ,,the ,,leisure ,,of ,,the ,,soul #hd ,,xxii4 ,,the ,,serpent ,,of ,,eternity #ij ,,xxiii4 ,a ,,brief ,,for ,,the ,,defendant #ig ,,xxiv4 ,,forbidden ,,knowledge #aja ,,xxv4 ,a ,,shadowless ,,world #ajd ,,xxvi4 ,,circles ,,in ,,the ,,sand #aji ,,xxvii4 ,,the ,,magic ,,ring #aae ,,xxviii4 ,,except ,,ye ,,be ,,as ,,little ,,children #aba ,,xxix4 ,,an ,,unexpected ,,warning #abf ,,xxx4 ,,the ,,sylph ,,and ,,the ,,magician #aca ,,xxxi4 ,a ,,problem ,,in ,,celestial ,,mathematics #aci ,,xxxii4 ,a ,,change ,,of ,,focus #adg ,,xxxiii4 ,,five ,,resolutions #aec ,,xxxiv4 ,,the ,,passing ,,of ,,lionel #aeh ,,xxxv4 ,,the ,,beautiful ,,being #afg ,,xxxvi4 ,,the ,,hollow ,,sphere #agc ,,xxxvii4 ,,an ,,empty ,,china ,,cup #agi ,,xxxviii4 ,,where ,,time ,,is ,,not #ahg ,,xxxix4 ,,the ,,doctrine ,,of ,,death #aie ,,xl4 ,,the ,,celestial ,,hierarchy #bje ,,xli4 ,,the ,,darling ,,of ,,the ,,unseen #baj ,,xlii4 ,a ,,victim ,,of ,,the ,,non-,,existent #bai ,,xliii4 ,a ,,cloud ,,of ,,witnesses #bbh ,,xliv4 ,,the ,,kingdom ,,within #bce ,,xlv4 ,,the ,,game ,,of ,,make-,,believe #bcg ,,xlvi4 ,,heirs ,,of ,,hermes #bda ,,xlvii4 ,,only ,a ,,song #bdg ,,xlviii4 ,,invisible ,,gifts ,,at ,,yuletide #bej ,,xlix4 ,,the ,,greater ,,dreamland #beh ,l4 ,a ,,sermon ,,and ,a ,,promise #bfe ,,li4 ,,the ,,april ,,of ,,the ,,world #bgc ,,lii4 ,a ,,happy ,,widower #bgf ,,liii4 ,,the ,,archives ,,of ,,the ,,soul #bhd ,,liv4 ,a ,,formula ,,for ,,mastership #bhh ,,introduction ,,one night last year in ,paris ,i was strongly impelled to take up a pencil and write1 though what ,i was to write about ,i had no idea4 ,yielding to the impulse1 my hand was seized as if from the outside1 and a remarkable message of a personal nature came1 followed by the signature 8,x40 ,the purport of the message was clear1 but the signature puzzled me4 ,the following day ,i showed this writing to a friend1 asking her if she had any idea who 8,x0 was4 8,why10 she replied1 8don't you know that that is what we always call ,mr4 ----80 ,i did not know4 ,now1 ,mr4 ---- was six thousand miles from ,paris1 and1 as we supposed1 in the land of the living4 ,but a day or two later a letter came to me from ,america1 stating that ,mr4 ---- had died in the western part of the ,united ,states1 a few days before ,i received in ,paris the automatic message signed 8,x40 ,so far as ,i know1 ,i was the first person in ,europe to be informed of his death1 and ,i immediately called on my friend to tell her that 8,x0 had passed out4 ,she did not seem surprised1 and told me that she had felt certain of it some days before1 when ,i had shown her the 8,x0 letter1 though she had not said so at the time4 ,naturally ,i was impressed by this extraordinary incident4 8,x0 was not a spiritualist4 ,i am not myself1 and never have been1 a spiritualist1 and1 so far as ,i can remember1 only two other supposedly disembodied entities had ever before written automatically through my hand4 ,this had happened when ,i was in the presence of a mediumistic person2 but the messages were brief1 and ,i had not attached any great importance to the phenomena4 ,in childhood ,i had several times put my hand upon a planchette with the hand of another person1 and the planchette had written the usual trivialities4 ,on one occasion1 some months before the first 8,x0 letter1 ,i had put my hand upon a planchette with the hand of a non-professional medium1 and the prophecy of a fire in my house during a certain month in the following year was written1 supposedly by a dead friend1 which prophecy was literally verified1 though the fire was not caused by my hand1 nor was it in my own apartment4 ,a few times1 years before1 ,i had been persuaded by friends to go with them to professional sances1 and had seen so-called materialisations4 ,i had also seen independently a few appearances which ,i could not account for on any other hypothesis than that of apparitions of the dead4 ,but to the whole subject of communication between the two worlds ,i felt an unusual degree of indifference4 ,spiritualism had always left me quite cold1 and ,i had not even read the ordinary standard works on the subject4 ,nevertheless1 ,i had for a number of years almost daily seen 8hypnagogic visions10 often of a startlingly prophetic character2 and the explanation of them later given by 8,x0 may be the true explanation4 ,soon after my receipt of the letter from ,america stating that ,mr4 ---- was dead1 ,i was sitting in the evening with the friend who had told me who 8,x0 was1 and she asked me if ,i would not let him write again--if he could4 ,i consented1 more to please my friend than from any personal interest1 and the message beginning1 8,i am here1 make no mistake10 came through my hand4 ,it came with breaks and pauses between the sentences1 with large and badly formed letters1 but quite automatically1 as in the first instance4 ,the force used on this occasion was such that my right hand and arm were lame the following day4 ,several letters signed 8,x0 were automatically written during the next few weeks2 but1 instead of becoming enthusiastic1 ,i developed a strong disinclination for this manner of writing1 and was only persuaded to continue it through the arguments of my friend that if 8,x0 really wished to communicate with the world1 ,i was highly privileged in being able to help him4 8,x0 was not an ordinary person4 ,he was a well-known lawyer nearly seventy years of age1 a profound student of philosophy1 a writer of books1 a man whose pure ideals and enthusiasms were an inspiration to everyone who knew him4 ,his home was far from mine1 and ,i had seen him only at long intervals4 ,so far as ,i remember1 we had never discussed the question of postmortem consciousness4 ,gradually1 as ,i conquered my strong prejudice against automatic writing1 ,i became interested in the things which 8,x0 told me about the life beyond the grave4 ,i had read practically nothing on the subject1 not even the popular ,letters from ,julia1 so ,i had no preconceived ideas4 ,the messages continued to come4 ,after a while there was no more lameness of the hand and arm1 and the form of the writing became less irregular1 though it was never very legible4 ,for a time the letters were written in the presence of my friend2 then 8,x0 began to come always when ,i was alone4 ,he wrote either in ,paris or in ,london1 as ,i went back and forth between those two cities4 ,sometimes he would come several times a week2 again1 nearly a month would elapse without my feeling his presence4 ,i never called him1 nor did ,i think much about him between his visits4 ,during most of the time my pen and my thoughts were occupied with other matters4 ,only in one instance before the writing began had ,i any idea as to what the letter would contain4 ,one night as ,i took up the pencil ,i knew what 8,x0 was going to write about2 but1 though ,i remember the incident1 ,i have forgotten to which message it referred4 ,while writing these letters ,i was generally in a state of semi-consciousness1 so that1 until ,i read the message over afterwards1 ,i had only a vague idea of what it contained4 ,in a few instances ,i was so near unconsciousness that as ,i laid down the pencil ,i had not the remotest idea of what ,i had written2 but this did not often happen4 ,when it was first suggested that these letters should be published with an introduction by me1 ,i did not take very enthusiastically to the idea4 ,being the author of several books1 more or less well known1 ,i had my little vanity as to the stability of my literary reputation4 ,i did not wish to be known as an eccentric1 a 8freak40 ,but ,i consented to write an introduction stating that the letters were automatically written in my presence1 which would have been the truth1 though not all the truth4 ,this satisfied my friend2 but as time went on1 it did not satisfy me4 ,it seemed not quite sincere4 ,i argued the matter out with myself4 ,if1 ,i said1 ,i publish these letters without a personal introduction1 they will be taken for a work of fiction1 of imagination1 and the remarkable statements they contain will thus lose all their force as convincing arguments for the truth of a hereafter4 ,if ,i write an introduction stating that they came by supposedly automatic writing in my presence1 the question will naturally arise as to whose hand they came through1 and ,i shall be forced to evasion4 ,but if ,i frankly acknowledge that they came through my own hand1 and state the facts exactly as they are only two hypotheses will be open3 first1 that they are genuine communications from the disembodied entity2 second1 that they are lucubrations of my own subconscious mind4 ,but this latter hypothesis does not explain the first letter signed 8,x10 which came before ,i knew that my friend was dead2 does not explain it unless it be assumed that the subconscious mind of each person knows everything4 ,in which case1 why should my subconscious mind set out upon a long and laborious deception of me1 on a premise which had not been suggested to it by my own objective mind1 or that of any other person8 ,that anyone would accuse me of deliberate deceit and romancing in so serious a matter did not then and does not now seem likely1 my fancy having other and legitimate outlets in poetry and fiction4 ,the letters were probably two-thirds written before this question was finally settled2 and ,i decided that if ,i published the letters at all1 ,i should publish them with a frank introduction1 stating the exact circumstances of their reception by me4 ,the actual writing covered a period of more than eleven months4 ,then came the question of editing4 ,what should ,i leave out8 ,what should ,i include8 ,i determined to leave out nothing except personal references to 8,x's0 private affairs1 to mine1 and to those of his friends4 ,i have not added anything4 ,occasionally1 when 8,x's0 literary style was clumsy1 ,i have reconstructed a sentence or cut out a repetition2 but ,i have taken far less liberty than ,i used1 as an editor1 to take with ordinary manuscripts submitted to me for correction4 ,sometimes 8,x0 is very colloquial1 sometimes he uses legal phraseology1 or ,american slang4 ,often he jumps from one subject to another1 as one does in friendly correspondence1 going back to his original subject without a connecting phrase4 ,he has made a few statements relative to the future life which are directly contrary to the opinions which ,i have always held4 ,these statements remain as they were written4 ,many of his philosophical propositions were quite new to me4 ,sometimes ,i did not see their profundity until months afterwards4 ,i have no apology to offer for the publication of these letters4 ,they are probably an interesting document1 whatever their source may be1 and ,i give them to the world with no more fear than when ,i gave my hand to 8,x0 in the writing of them4 ,if anyone asks the question1 what do ,i myself think as to whether these letters are genuine communications from the invisible world1 ,i should answer that ,i believe they are4 ,in the personal and suppressed portions reference was often made to past events and to possessions of which ,i had no knowledge1 and these references were verified4 ,this leaves untouched the favourite telepathic theory of the psychologists4 ,but if these letters were telepathed to me1 by whom were they telepathed8 ,not by my friend who was present at the writing of many of them1 for their contents were as much a surprise to her as to me4 ,i wish1 however1 to state that ,i make no scientific claims about this book1 for science demands tests and proofs4 ,save for the first letter signed 8,x0 before ,i knew that ,mr4 ---- was dead1 or knew who 8,x0 was1 the book was not written under 8test conditions10 as the psychologists understand the term4 ,as evidence of a soul's survival after bodily death1 it must be accepted or rejected by each individual according to his or her temperament1 experience1 and inner conviction as to the truth of its contents4 ,in the absence of 8,x0 and without some other entity on the invisible side of ,nature in whom ,i had a like degree of confidence1 ,i could not produce another document of this kind4 ,against indiscriminate mediumship ,i have still a strong and ineradicable prejudice1 for ,i recognise its dangers both of obsession and deception4 ,but for my faith in 8,x0 and the faith of my ,paris friend in me1 this book could never have been4 ,doubt of the invisible author or of the visible medium would probably have paralysed both1 for the purposes of this writing4 ,the effect of these letters on me personally has been to remove entirely any fear of death which ,i may ever have had1 to strengthen my belief in immortality1 to make the life beyond the grave as real and vital as the life here in the sunshine4 ,if they can give even to one other person the sense of exultant immortality which they have given to me1 ,i shall feel repaid for my labour4 ,to those who may feel inclined to blame me for publishing such a book ,i can only say that ,i have always tried to give my best to the world1 and perhaps these letters are one of the best things that ,i have to give4 ,,elsa ,,barker4 ,,london1 #aiac4 ,,letters ,,from ,a ,,living ,,dead ,,man ,,letter ,i ,,the ,,return ,i ,,am here1 make no mistake4 ,it was ,i who spoke before1 and ,i now speak again4 ,i have had a wonderful experience4 ,much that ,i had forgotten ,i can now remember4 ,what has happened was for the best2 it was inevitable4 ,i can see you1 though not very distinctly4 ,i found almost no darkness4 ,the light here is wonderful1 far more wonderful than the sunlight of the ,south4 ,no1 ,i cannot yet see my way very well around ,paris2 everything is different4 ,it is probably by reason of your own vitality that ,i am able to see you at this moment4 ,,letter ,,ii ,,tell ,,no ,,man ,i ,,am opposite to you now in actual space2 that is1 ,i am directly in front of you1 resting on something which is probably a couch or divan4 ,it is easier to come to you after dark4 ,i remembered on going out that you might be able to let me speak through your hand4 ,i am already stronger4 ,it is nothing to fear--this change of condition4 ,i cannot tell you yet how long ,i was silent4 ,it did not seem long4 ,it was ,i who signed 8,x40 ,the ,teacher helped me to make the connexion4 ,you had better tell no one for a while1 except ----1 that ,i have come1 as ,i do not want any obstructions to my coming when and where ,i will4 ,lend me your hand sometimes2 ,i will not misuse it4 ,i am going to stay out here until ,i am ready to come back with power4 ,watch for me1 but not yet4 ,things seem easier to me now than they have seemed for a long time4 ,i carry less weight4 ,i could have held on longer in the body1 but it did not seem worth the effort4 ,i have seen the ,teacher4 ,he is near4 ,his attitude to me is very comforting4 ,but ,i would like to go now4 ,good night4 ,,letter ,,iii ,,guarding ,,the ,,door ,,you need to take certain precautions to protect yourself against those who press round me4 ,you have only to lay a spell upon yourself night and morning4 ,nothing can get through that wall--nothing which you forbid your soul to entertain4 ,do not let any of your energy be sucked out of you by these larv of the astral world4 ,no1 they cannot annoy me1 for ,i am now used to the idea of them4 ,you have absolutely nothing to fear1 if you protect yourself4 ,,letter ,,iv ,a ,,cloud ,,on ,,the ,,mirror 7,after a sentence had been half written1 the writing suddenly stopped1 and was continued later47 ,,when you respond to my call1 wipe clean your mind as a child wipes its slate when ready for a new maxim or example by its teacher4 ,your lightest personal thought or fancy may be as a cloud upon a mirror1 blurring the reflection4 ,you can receive letters by this means1 provided your mind does not begin to work independently1 to question in the midst of the writing4 ,i was not stopped this time1 as before1 by beings gathering round2 but by your own curiosity as to the end of an unusual sentence4 ,you suddenly became positive instead of negative1 as if the receiving instrument in a telegraph office should begin to send a message of its own4 ,i have learned here the reason for many psychic things which formerly puzzled me1 and ,i am determined if possible to protect you from the danger of cross-currents in this work4 ,there was one night when ,i called and you would not let me in4 ,was that kind8 ,but ,i am not reproaching you4 ,i shall come again and again1 until my work is done4 ,i will come to you in a dream before long1 and will show you many things4 ,,letter ,v ,,the ,,promise ,,of ,,things ,,untold ,,after a time ,i will share with you certain knowledge that ,i have gained since coming out4 ,i see the past now as through an open window4 ,i see the road by which ,i have come1 and can map out the road by which ,i mean to go4 ,everything seems easy now4 ,i could do twice as much work as ,i do--,i feel so strong4 ,as yet ,i have not settled down anywhere1 but am moving about as the fancy takes me2 that is what ,i always dreamed of doing while in the body1 and never could make possible4 ,do not fear death2 but stay on earth as long as you can4 ,notwithstanding the companionship ,i have here1 ,i sometimes regret my failure in holding on to the world4 ,but regrets have less weight on this side--like our bodies4 ,everything is well with me4 ,i will tell you things that have never been told4 ,,letter ,,vi ,,the ,,wand ,,of ,,will ,,not yet do you grasp the full mystery of will4 ,it can make of you anything you choose1 within the limit of your unit energy1 for everything is either active or potential in the unit of force which is man4 ,the difference between a painter and a musician1 or between a poet and a novelist1 is not a difference of qualities in the entity itself2 for each unit contains everything except quantity1 and thus has the possibilities of development along any line chosen by its will4 ,the choice may have been made ages ago4 ,it takes a long time1 often many lives1 to evolve an art or a faculty for one particular kind of work in preference to all others4 ,concentration is the secret of power1 here as elsewhere4 ,as to the use of will-power in your present everyday problems1 there are two ways of using the will4 ,one may concentrate upon a definite plan1 and bring it into effect or not according to the amount of force at one's disposal2 or one may will that the best and highest and wisest plan possible shall be demonstrated by the subconscious forces in the self and in other selves4 ,the latter is a commanding of all environment for a special purpose1 instead of commanding1 or attempting to command1 a fragment of it4 ,in this communion between the outer and inner worlds1 you in the outer world are apt to think that we in ours know everything4 ,you expect us to prophesy like fortune-tellers1 and to keep you informed of what is passing on the other side of the globe4 ,sometimes we can2 generally we cannot4 ,after a while ,i may be able to enter your mind as a ,master does1 and to know all the antecedent thoughts and plans in it2 but now ,i cannot always do so4 ,for instance1 one night ,i looked everywhere for ---- and could not find him4 ,perhaps it is necessary for you to think strongly of us1 to make the way easiest4 ,i am learning all the time4 ,the ,teacher is very active in helping me4 ,when ,i am absolutely certain of my hold upon your hand1 ,i shall have much to say about the life out here4 ,,letter ,,vii ,a ,,light ,,behind ,,the ,,veil ,,make an opening for me sometimes in the veil of dense matter that shuts you from my eyes4 ,i see you often as a spot of vivid light1 and that is probably when your soul is active with feeling or your mind keen with thought4 ,i can read your thoughts occasionally1 but not always4 ,often ,i try to draw near1 and cannot find you4 ,you could not always find me1 perhaps1 should you come out here4 ,sometimes ,i am all alone3 sometimes ,i am with others4 ,strange1 but ,i seem to myself to have quite a substantial body now1 though at first my arms and legs seemed sprawling in all directions4 ,as a rule1 ,i do not walk about as formerly1 nor do ,i fly exactly1 for ,i have never had wings2 but ,i manage to get over space with incredible rapidity4 ,sometimes1 though1 ,i walk4 ,now1 ,i want you to do me a favour4 ,you know what a difficult job ,i often had to keep things going1 yet ,i kept them going4 ,don't you get discouraged about the material wherewithal for your work4 ,work right ahead1 as if the supply were there1 and it will be there4 ,you can demonstrate it in one way or another4 ,do not feel weak or uncertain1 for when you do you drag me back to earth by force of sympathy4 ,it is as bad as grieving for the dead4 ,,letter ,,viii ,,the ,,iron ,,grip ,,of ,,matter ,,to a man dwelling in the 8invisible0 there comes a sudden memory of earth4 8,oh60 he says4 8,the world is going on without me4 ,what am ,i missing80 ,it seems almost an impertinence on the part of the world to go on without him4 ,he becomes agitated4 ,he is sure that he is behind the times1 left out1 left over4 ,he looks about him1 and sees only the tranquil fields of the fourth dimension4 ,oh1 for the iron grip of matter once more6 ,to hold something in taut hands6 ,perhaps the mood passes1 but one day it returns with redoubled force4 ,he must get out of the tenuous environment into the forcibly resistant world of dense matter4 ,but how8 ,ah1 he remembers6 ,all action comes from memory4 ,it would be a reckless experiment had he not done it before4 ,he closes his eyes1 reversing himself in the invisible4 ,he is drawn to human life1 to human beings in the intense vibration of union4 ,there is sympathy here--perhaps the sympathy of past experience with the souls of those whom he now contacts1 perhaps only sympathy of mood or imagination4 ,be that as it may1 he lets go his hold upon freedom and triumphantly loses himself in the lives of human beings4 ,after a time he awakes1 to look with bewildered eyes upon green fields and the round1 solid faces of men and women4 ,sometimes he weeps1 and wishes himself back4 ,if he becomes discouraged1 he may return--only to begin the weary quest of matter all over again4 ,if he is strong and stubborn1 he remains and grows into a man4 ,he may even persuade himself that the former life in tenuous substance was only a dream1 for in dream he returns to it1 and the dream haunts him and spoils his enjoyment of matter4 ,after years enough he grows weary of the material struggle3 his energy is exhausted4 ,he sinks back into the arms of the unseen1 and men say again with bated breath that he is dead4 ,but he is not dead4 ,he has only returned whence he came4 ,,letter ,,ix ,,where ,,souls ,,go ,,up ,,and ,,down ,,my friend1 there is nothing to fear in death4 ,it is no harder than a trip to a foreign country--the first trip--to one who has grown oldish and settled in the habits of his own more or less narrow corner of the world4 ,when a man comes out here1 the strangers whom he meets seem no more strange than the foreign peoples seem to one who first goes among them4 ,he does not always understand them2 there1 again1 his experience is like a sojourn in a foreign country4 ,then1 after a while1 he begins to make friendly advances and to smile with the eyes4 ,the question1 8,where are you from80 meets with a similar response to that on earth4 ,one is from ,california1 another is from ,boston1 another is from ,london4 ,this is when we meet on the highroads of travel2 for there are lanes of travel over here1 where the souls go up and down as on the earth4 ,such a road is generally the most direct line between two great centres2 but it is never on the line of a railway4 ,there would be too much noise4 ,we can hear sounds made on the earth4 ,there is a certain shock to the etheric ear which carries the vibration of sound to us4 ,sometimes one settles down for a long time in one place4 ,i visited an old home in the ,state of ,maine1 where a man on this side of life had been stopping for ,i do not know how many years2 he told me that the children had grown to be men and women1 and that a colt to which he became attached when he first came out had grown into a horse and had died of old age4 ,there are sluggards and dull people here1 as with you4 ,there are also brilliant and magnetic people1 whose very presence is rejuvenating4 ,it seems almost absurd to say that we wear clothes1 the same as you do2 but we do not seem to need so many4 ,i have not seen any trunks2 but then ,i have been here only a short time4 ,heat and cold do not matter much to me now1 though ,i remember at first being rather uncomfortable by reason of the cold4 ,but that is past4 ,,letter ,x ,a ,,rendezvous ,,in ,,the ,,fourth ,,dimension ,,you can do so much for me by lending me your hand occasionally1 that ,i wonder why you shrink from it4 ,this philosophy will go on being taught in the world and all over the world4 ,only a few1 perhaps1 will reach the deeps of it in this life2 but a seed sown to-day may bear fruit long hence4 ,somewhere ,i have read that grains of wheat which had been buried with mummies for two or three thousand years had sprouted when placed in good soil in our own day4 ,it is so with a philosophic seed4 ,it has been said that he is a fool who works for philosophy instead of making philosophy work for him2 but a man cannot give to the world even a little of a true philosophy without reaping sevenfold himself1 and you know the ,biblical quotation which ends1 8and in the world to come eternal life40 ,to get1 one must give4 ,that is the ,law4 ,i can tell you many things about the life out here which may be of use to others when they make the great change4 ,almost everyone brings memory over with him4 ,the men and women ,i have met and communed with have had more or less vivid recollection of their earth life--that is1 most of them4 ,i met one man who refused to speak of the earth1 and was always talking about 8going on40 ,i reminded him that if he went on far enough he would come back to the place from which he started4 ,you have been curious1 perhaps1 as to what we eat and drink1 if anything4 ,we certainly are nourished1 and we seem to absorb much water4 ,you also should drink plenty of water4 ,it feeds the astral body4 ,i do not think that a very dry body would ever have enough astral vitality to lend a hand to a soul on this plane of life1 as you are doing now4 ,there is much moisture in our bodies over here4 ,perhaps that is one reason why contact with a so-called spirit sometimes gives warm-blooded persons a sense of cold1 and they shiver4 ,it is something of an effort on my part also to write like this1 but it seems to be worth while4 ,i come to the place where ,i feel that you are4 ,i can see you better than most others4 ,then ,i reverse2 that is1 instead of going in1 as ,i used to do1 ,i go out with great force and in your direction4 ,i take possession of you by a strong propulsive effort4 ,sometimes the writing has stopped suddenly in the midst of a sentence4 ,that was when ,i was not properly focussed4 ,you may have noticed when reversing and shutting away the outside world1 that a sudden noise1 or maybe a wandering thought1 would bring you right out again4 ,it is so here4 ,now1 about this element in which we live4 ,it undoubtedly has a place in space1 for it is all around the earth4 ,yes1 every tree visible has its invisible counterpart4 ,when you1 before sleep1 come out consciously into this world1#a you see things that exist1 or have existed1 in the material world also4 ,you cannot see anything in this world which has not a physical counterpart in the other4 ,there are1 of course1 thought-pictures1 imaginary pictures2 but to see imaginatively is not to see on the astral plane--not by any means4 ,the things you see before going to sleep have real existence1 and by changing your rate of vibration you come out into this world--or rather you go back into it1 for you have to go in1 in order to come out4 ,imagination has great power4 ,if you make a picture in the mind1 the vibrations of the body may adjust to it if the will is directed that way1 as in thoughts of health or sickness4 ,it might be well as an experiment1 when you want to come out here1 to choose a certain symbol and hold it before your eyes4 ,i do not say that it would help to change the vibration1 but it might4 ,i wonder if you could see me if just before falling asleep you should come out here with that thought and that desire dominant in your mind8 ,i am strong to-day1 because ,i have been long with one who is stronger2 and if you want to make the experiment of trying to find me this night1 ,i may be able to help you better than at another time4 ,there is so much to say1 and ,i can seldom talk with you4 ,if you were differently situated and quite free from other things1 ,i could perhaps come often4 ,i am learning much that ,i should like to give you4 ,for instance1 ,i think ,i can show you how to come out here at will1 as the ,masters do constantly4 ,at first ,i took only your arm to write with1 but now ,i get a better hold of the psychic organisation4 ,i saw that ,i was not working in the best way1 that there was a waste somewhere1 so ,i asked the ,teacher for instruction in the matter4 ,by this new method you will not feel so tired afterwards1 nor shall ,i4 ,i am going now1 and will try to meet you in a few minutes4 ,if the experiment should fail1 do not be discouraged2 but try again some other time4 ,you will know me all right1 if you do see me4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #a3 ,this undoubtedly refers to my 8hypnagogic0 visions4--,,ed4 ,,letter ,,xi ,,the ,,boy--,,lionel ,,you will be interested to know that there are people out here1 as on the earth1 who devote themselves to the welfare of others4 ,there is even a large organisation of souls who call themselves a ,league4 ,their special work is to take hold of those who have just come out1 helping them to find themselves and to adjust to the new conditions4 ,there are both men and women in this ,league4 ,they have done good service4 ,they work on a little--,i do not want to say higher plane than the ,salvation ,army1 but rather a more intellectual plane4 ,they help both children and adults4 ,it is interesting about the children4 ,i have not had time yet to observe all these things for myself2 but one of the ,league workers tells me that it is easier for children to adjust themselves to the changed life than it is for grown persons4 ,very old people are inclined to sleep a good deal1 while children come out with great energy1 and bring with them the same curiosity that they had in earth life4 ,there are no violent changes4 ,the little ones grow up1 it is said1 about as gradually and imperceptibly as they would have grown on earth4 ,the tendency is to fulfil the normal rhythm1 though there are instances where the soul goes back very soon1 with little rest4 ,that would be a soul with great curiosity and strong desires4 ,there are horrors out here--far worse than the horrors on earth4 ,the decay from vice and intemperance is much worse here than there4 ,i have seen faces and forms that were really frightful1 faces that seemed to be half-decayed and falling in pieces4 ,these are the hopeless cases1 which even the ,league of workers ,i spoke about leave to their fate4 ,it is uncertain what the fate of such people will be2 whether they will reincarnate or not in this cycle1 ,i do not know4 ,the children are so charming6 ,one young boy is with me often2 he calls me ,father1 and seems to enjoy my society4 ,he would be1 ,i should think1 about thirteen years old1 and he has been out here some time4 ,he could not tell me just how long2 but ,i will ask him if he remembers the year1 the calendar year1 in which he came out4 ,it is not true that we cannot keep our thoughts to ourselves if we are careful to do so4 ,we can guard our secrets1 if we know how4 ,that is done by suggestion1 or laying a spell4 ,it is1 though1 much easier here than on earth to read the minds of others4 ,we seem to communicate with one another in about the same way that you do2 but ,i find1 as time goes by1 that ,i converse more and more by powerful and projected thought than by the moving of the lips4 ,at first ,i always opened my mouth when ,i had anything to say2 it is easier now not to do so1 though ,i sometimes do it still by force of habit4 ,when a man has recently come out he does not understand another unless he really speaks2 that is1 ,i suppose1 before he has learned that he also can talk without using much breath4 ,but ,i was telling you about the boy4 ,he is all interest in regard to certain things ,i have told him about the earth1--especially aeroplanes1 which were not yet very practicable when he came out4 ,he wants to go back and fly in an aeroplane4 ,i tell him that he can fly here without one1 but that does not seem to be the same thing to him4 ,he wants to get his fingers on machinery4 ,i advise him not to be in any hurry about going back4 ,the curious thing about it is that he can remember other and former lives of his on earth4 ,many out here have no more memory of their former lives1 before the last one1 than they had while in the body4 ,this is not a place where everyone knows everything--far from it4 ,most souls are nearly as blind as they were in life4 ,the boy was an inventor in a prior incarnation1 and he came out this time by an accident1 he says4 ,he should stay here a little longer1 ,i think1 to get a stronger rhythm for a return4 ,that is only my idea4 ,i am so interested in the boy that ,i should like to keep him1 and perhaps that influences my judgment somewhat4 ,you see1 we are still human4 ,you asked me some questions1 did you not8 ,will you speak them aloud8 ,i can hear4 ,yes1 ,i feel considerably younger than ,i have felt for a long time1 and ,i am well4 ,at first ,i felt about as ,i did in my illness1 with times of depression and times of freedom from depression2 but now ,i am all right4 ,my body does not give me much trouble4 ,i believe that old people grow younger here until they reach their prime again1 and that then they may hold that for a long time4 ,you see1 ,i have not become all-wise4 ,i have been able to pick up a good deal of knowledge which ,i had forgotten2 but about all the details of this life ,i still have much to learn4 ,your curiosity will help me to study conditions and to make inquiries1 which otherwise ,i might not have made for a long time1 if ever4 ,most people do not seem to learn much out here1 except that naturally they learn the best and easiest way of getting on1 as in earth life4 ,yes1 there are schools here where any who wish for instruction can receive it--if they are fit4 ,but there are only a few great teachers4 ,the average college professor is not a being of supreme wisdom1 whether here or there4 ,,letter ,,xii ,,the ,,pattern ,,world ,,there is something ,i want to qualify in what ,i said the other day1 that there is nothing out here which has not existed on the earth4 ,since then ,i have learned that that statement is not exactly true4 ,there are strata here4 ,this ,i have learned recently4 ,i still believe that in the lowest stratum next the earth all or nearly all that exists has existed on earth in dense matter4 ,go a little farther up1 a little farther away--how far ,i cannot say by actual measurement2 but the other night in exploring ,i got into the world of patterns1 the paradigms--if that is the word--of things which are to be on earth4 ,i saw forms of things which1 so far as ,i know1 have not existed on your planet--inventions1 for example4 ,i saw wings that man could adjust to himself4 ,i saw also new forms of flying-machines4 ,i saw model cities1 and towers with strange wing-like projections on them1 of which ,i could not imagine the use4 ,the progress of mechanical invention is evidently only begun4 ,another time ,i will go on1 farther up in that world of pattern forms1 and see if ,i can learn what lies beyond it4 ,bear this in mind3 ,i merely tell you stories1 as an earthly traveller would tell1 of the things ,i see4 ,sometimes my interpretation of them may be wrong4 ,when ,i was in the place which we will call the pattern world1 ,i saw almost nobody there--only an occasional lone voyager like myself4 ,i naturally infer from this that but few of those who leave the earth go up there at all4 ,i think from what ,i have seen1 and from conversations ,i have had with men and women souls1 that most of them do not get very far from the earth1 even out here4 ,it is strange1 but many persons seem to be in the regular orthodox heaven1 singing in white robes1 with crowns on their heads and with harps in their hands4 ,there is a region which outsiders call 8the heaven country40 ,there is also1 they tell me1 a fiery hell1 with at least the smell of brimstone2 but so far ,i have not been there4 ,some day when ,i feel strong ,i will look in1 and if it is not too depressing ,i will go farther--if they will let me4 ,for the present ,i am looking about here and there1 and ,i have not studied carefully any place as yet4 ,i took the boy1 whose name by the way is ,lionel1 out with me yesterday4 ,perhaps we ought to say last night1 for your day is our night when we are on your side of this great hollow sphere4 ,you and the solid earth are in the centre of our sphere4 ,i took the boy out with me for what you would call a walk4 ,first we went to the old quarter of ,paris1 where ,i used to live in a former life2 but ,lionel could not see anything1 and when ,i pointed out certain buildings to him he asked me quite sincerely if ,i were dreaming4 ,i must have some faculty which is not generally developed among my fellow citizens in the astral country4 ,so when the boy found that ,paris was only a figment of my imagination--he used to live in ,boston--,i took him to see heaven4 ,he remarked3 8,why1 this must be the place my grandmother used to tell me about4 ,but where is ,god80 ,that ,i could not tell him2 but1 on looking again1 we saw that nearly everybody was gazing in one direction4 ,we also gazed with the others1 and saw a great light1 like a sun1 only it was softer and less dazzling than the material sun4 8,that10 ,i said to the boy1 8is what they see who see ,god40 ,and now ,i have something strange to tell you2 for1 as we gazed at that light1 slowly there took form between us and it the figure which we are accustomed to see represented as that of the ,christ4 ,he smiled at the people and stretched out ,his hands to them4 ,then the scene changed1 and ,he had on ,his left arm a lamb2 and then again ,he stood as if transfigured upon a mountain2 then ,he spoke and taught them4 ,we could hear ,his voice4 ,and then ,he vanished from our sight4 ,,letter ,,xiii ,,forms ,,real ,,and ,,unreal ,,when ,i first came out here ,i was so interested in what ,i saw that ,i did not question much as to the manner of the seeing4 ,but lately--especially since writing the last letter or two--,i have begun to notice a difference between objects that at a superficial glance seem to be of much the same substance4 ,for example1 ,i can sometimes see a difference between those things which have existed on earth unquestionably1 such as the forms of men and women1 and other things which1 while visualised and seemingly palpable1 may be1 and probably are1 but thought-creations4 ,this idea came to me while looking on at the dramas of the heaven country1 and it was forced upon me with greater power while making other and recent explorations in that which ,i have called the pattern world4 ,later ,i may be able to distinguish at a glance between these two classes of seeming objects4 ,for example1 if ,i encounter here a being1 or what seems a being1 and if ,i am told that it is some famous character in fiction1 such as ,jean ,valjean in ,hugo's ,les ,misrables1 ,i shall have reason to believe that ,i have seen a thought-form of sufficient vitality to stand alone1 as a quasi-entity in this world of tenuous matter4 ,so far ,i have not encountered any such characters4 ,of course1 unless ,i were able to hold converse with a being1 a form1 or saw others do so1 ,i could not positively state that it had an essential existence4 ,hereafter ,i shall often put things to the test in this way4 ,if ,i can talk to a seeming entity1 and if it can answer me1 ,i am justified in considering it as a reality4 ,a character in fiction1 or any other mental creation1 however vivid as a picture1 would have no soul1 no unit of force1 no real self4 ,whatever comes to me merely as a picture ,i shall try to submit to this test4 ,if ,i see a peculiar form of tree or animal1 and can touch and feel it1--for the senses here are quite as acute as those of earth1--,i know that it exists in the subtle matter of this plane4 ,i believe that all the beings whom ,i have seen here are real2 but if ,i can find one that is not1--a being which ,i cannot feel when ,i touch it and which cannot respond to my questions1--,i shall have a datum for my hypothesis that thought-forms of beings1 as well as things1 may have sufficient cohesion to seem real4 ,it is undoubtedly true that there is no spirit without substance1 no substance without spirit1 latent or expressed2 but a painting of a man may seem at a distance to be a man4 ,can there exist deliberate thought-creations here1 deliberate and purposive creations8 ,i believe so4 ,such a thought-form would probably have to be very intense in order to persist4 ,it seems to me that ,i had better settle this question to my own satisfaction before talking any more about it4 ,,letter ,,xiv ,a ,,folio ,,of ,,paracelsus ,,the other day ,i asked my ,teacher to show me the archives in which those who had lived out here had recorded their observations1 if such existed4 ,he said3 8,you were a great reader of books when you were on the earth4 ,come40 ,we entered a vast building like a library1 and ,i caught my breath in wonder4 ,it was not the architecture of the building which struck me1 but the quantities of books and records4 ,there must have been millions of them4 ,i asked the ,teacher if all the books were here4 ,he smiled and said3 8,are there not enough8 ,you can make your choice40 ,i asked if the volumes were arranged by subjects4 8,there is an arrangement10 he answered4 8,what do you want80 ,i said that ,i should like to see the books in which were written the accounts of explorations which other men had made in this 7to me7 still slightly known country4 ,he smiled again1 and took from a shelf a thick volume4 ,it was printed in large black type4#b 8,who wrote this book80 ,i asked4 8,there is a signature10 he replied4 ,i looked at the end and saw the signature3 it was that used by ,paracelsus4 8,when did he write this80 8,soon after he came out4 ,it was written between his ,paracelsus life and his next one on earth40 ,the book which ,i had opened was a treatise on spirits1 human1 angelic1 and elemental4 ,it began with the definition of a human spirit as a spirit which had had the experience of life in human form2 and it defined an elemental spirit as a spirit of more or less developed self-consciousness which had not yet had that experience4 ,then the author defined an angel as a spirit of a high order which had not had1 and probably would not have in future1 such experience in matter4 ,he went on to state that angelic spirits were divided into two sharply defined groups1 the celestial and the infernal1 the former being those angels who worked towards harmony with the laws of ,god1 the latter being those angels who worked against that harmony4 ,but he said that both these orders of angels were necessary1 each to the other's existence2 that if all were good the universe would cease to be2 that good itself would cease to be through the failure of its opposite--evil4 ,he said that in the archives of the angelic regions there were cases on record where a good angel had become bad or a bad angel had become good1 but that such cases were of rare occurrence4 ,he then went on to warn his fellow souls who should be sojourning in that realm in which he then wrote1 and in which ,i knew myself also to be1 against holding communion with evil spirits4 ,he declared that in the subtler forms of life there were more temptations than in the earth life2 that he himself had often been assailed by malignant angels who had urged him to join forces with them1 and that their arguments were sometimes extremely plausible4 ,he said that while living on earth he had often had conversations with spirits both good and bad2 but that while on earth he had never1 so far as he knew1 held converse with an angel of a malignant nature4 ,he advised his readers that there was one way to determine whether a being of the subtler world was an angel or merely a human or an elemental spirit1 and that was by the greater brilliancy of the light which surrounded an angel4 ,he said that both good and bad angels were extremely brilliant2 but that there was a difference between them1 perceptible at the first glance at their faces2 that the eyes of the celestial angels were aflame with love and intellect1 while the eyes of the infernal angels were very unpleasant to encounter4 ,he said that it would be possible for an infernal angel to disguise himself to a mortal1 so that he might be mistaken for an angel of light2 but that it was practically impossible for an angel to disguise his real nature from those souls who were living in their subtle bodies4 ,i will perhaps say more on this subject another night4 ,i must rest now4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #b3 ,i hope no one will expect me to answer the question why should such a book appear to be printed in large black type4 ,i have no more idea than has the reader4--,,ed4 ,,letter ,,xv ,a ,,roman ,,toga ,,one thing which makes this country so interesting to me is its lack of conventionality4 ,no two persons are dressed in the same way--or no1 ,i do not mean that exactly1 but many are so eccentrically dressed that their appearance gives variety to the whole4 ,my own clothes are1 as a rule1 similar to those ,i wore on earth1 though ,i have as an experiment1 when dwelling in thought on one of my long-past lives1 put on the garments of the period4 ,it is easy to get the clothes one wants here4 ,i do not know how ,i became possessed of the garments which ,i wore on coming out2 but when ,i began to take notice of such things1 ,i found myself dressed about as usual4 ,i am not yet sure whether ,i brought my clothes with me4 ,there are many people here in costumes of the ancient days4 ,i do not infer from this fact that they have been here all those ages4 ,i think they wear such clothes because they like them4 ,as a rule1 most persons stay near the place where they lived on earth2 but ,i have been a wanderer from the first4 ,i go rapidly from one country to another4 ,one night 7or day with you7 ,i may take my rest in ,america2 the next night ,i may rest in ,paris4 ,i have spent hours of repose on the divan in your sitting-room1 and you did not know that ,i was there4 ,i doubt1 though1 if ,i could stay for hours in your house when ,i was myself awake without your sensing my presence4 ,do not think1 however1 from what ,i have just said1 that it is necessary for me to rest on the solid matter of your world4 ,not at all4 ,we can rest on the tenuous substance of our own world4 ,one day1 when ,i had been here only a short time1 ,i saw a woman dressed in a ,greek costume1 and asked her where she got her clothes4 ,she replied that she had made them4 ,i asked her how1 and she said3 8,why1 first ,i made a pattern in my mind1 and then the thing became a garment40 8,did you take every stitch80 8,not as ,i should have done on earth40 ,i looked closer and saw that the whole garment seemed to be in one piece1 and that it was caught on the shoulders by jewelled pins4 ,i asked where she got the jewelled pins1 and she said that a friend had given them to her4 ,then ,i asked where the friend had got them4 ,she told me that she did not know1 but that she would ask him4 ,soon after that she left me1 and ,i have not seen her since1 so the question is still unanswered4 ,i began to experiment to see if ,i also could make things4 ,it was then that ,i conceived the idea of wearing a ,roman toga1 but for the life of me ,i could not remember what a ,roman toga looked like4 ,when next ,i met the ,teacher ,i told him of my wish to wear a toga of my own making1 and he carefully showed me how to create garments such as ,i desired3 ,to fix the pattern and shape clearly in my mind1 to visualise it1 and then by power to desire to draw the subtle matter of the thought-world round the pattern1 so as actually to form the garment4 8,then10 ,i said1 8the matter of the thought-world1 as you call it1 is not the same kind of matter as that of my body1 for instance80 8,in the last analysis10 he answered1 8there is only one kind of matter in both worlds2 but there is a great difference in vibration and tenuity40 ,now the thought-substance of which our garments are formed seems to be an extremely tenuous form of matter1 while our bodies seem to be pretty solid4 ,we do not feel at all like transparent angels sitting on damp clouds4 ,were it not for the quickness with which ,i get over space1 ,i should think sometimes that my body was as solid as ever4 ,i can often see you1 and to me you seem tenuous4 ,it is all1 ,i suppose1 the old question of adjusting to environment4 ,at first ,i could not do it1 and had some trouble in learning to adjust the amount of energy necessary for each particular action4 ,so little energy is required here to move myself about that at first when ,i started to go a short distance--say1 a few yards--,i would find myself a mile away4 ,but ,i am now pretty well adjusted4 ,i must be storing up energy here for a good hard life when ,i return to the earth again4 ,the hardest work ,i do now is to come and write through your hand1 but you offer less and less resistance as time goes on4 ,in the beginning it took all my strength2 now it takes only a comparatively small effort4 ,yet ,i could not do it long at a time without using your own vitality1 and that ,i will not do4 ,you may have noticed that you are no longer fatigued after the writing1 though you used to be at first4 ,but ,i was speaking of the lack of conventionality out here4 ,souls hail each other when they want to1 without much ceremony4 ,i have seen a few old women who were afraid to talk to a stranger1 but probably they had not been here long and the earth habits still clung to them4 ,do not think1 however1 that society here is too free and easy4 ,it is not that1 but men and women do not seem to be so afraid of each other as they were on earth4 ,,letter ,,xvi ,a ,,thing ,,to ,,be ,,forgotten ,i ,,want to say a word to those who are about to die4 ,i want to beg them to forget their bodies as soon as possible after the change which they call death4 ,oh1 the terrible curiosity to go back and look upon that thing which we once believed to be ourselves6 ,the thought comes to us now and then so powerfully that it acts in a way against our will and draws us back to it4 ,with some it is a morbid obsession1 and many cannot get free from it while there remains a shred of flesh on the bones which they once leaned upon4 ,tell them to forget it altogether1 to force the thought away1 to go out into the other life free4 ,looking back upon the past is sometimes good1 but not upon this relic of the past4 ,it is so easy to look into the coffin1 because the body which we wear now is itself a light in a dark place1 and it can penetrate grosser matter4 ,i have been back myself a few times1 but am determined to go back no more4 ,yet some day the thought may come to me again with compelling insistence to see how it is getting on4 ,i do not want to shock or pain you--only to warn you4 ,it is sad to see the sight which inevitably meets one in the grave4 ,that may be the reason why many souls who have not been here long are so melancholy4 ,they return again and again to the place which they should not visit4 ,you know that out here if we think intently of a place we are apt to find ourselves there4 ,the body which we use is so light that it can follow thought almost without effort4 ,tell them not to do it4 ,one day while walking down an avenue of trees--for we have trees here--,i met a tall woman in a long black garment4 ,she was weeping--for we have tears here also4 ,i asked her why she wept1 and she turned to me eyes of unutterable sadness4 8,i have been back to it10 she said4 ,my heart ached for her1 because ,i knew how she felt4 ,the shock of the first visit is repeated each time1 as the thing one sees is less and less what we like to think of ourselves as being4 ,often ,i remember that tall woman in black1 walking down the avenue of trees and weeping4 ,it is partly curiosity that draws one back1 partly magnetic attraction2 but it can do no good4 ,it is better to forget it4 ,i have sometimes longed1 from sheer scientific interest1 to ask my boy ,lionel if he had been back to his body2 but ,i have not asked him for fear of putting the idea into his mind4 ,he has such a restless curiosity4 ,perhaps those who go out as children have less of that morbid instinct than we have4 ,if we could only remember in life that the form which we call ourselves is not our real immortal self at all1 we would not give it such an exaggerated importance1 though we would nevertheless take needful care of it4 ,as a rule1 those who say that they have been long here do not seem old4 ,i asked the ,teacher why1 and he said that after a time an old person forgets that he is old1 that the tendency is to grow young in thought and therefore young in appearance1 that the body tends to take the form which we hold of it in our minds1 that the law of rhythm works here as elsewhere4 ,children grow up out here1 and they may even go on to a sort of old age if that is the expectation of the mind2 but the tendency is to keep the prime1 to go forward or back towards the best period1 and then to hold that until the irresistible attraction of the earth asserts itself again4 ,most of the men and women here do not know that they have lived many times in flesh4 ,they remember their latest life more or less vividly1 but all before that seems like a dream4 ,one should always keep the memory of the past as clear as possible4 ,it helps one to construct the future4 ,those people who think of their departed friends as being all-wise1 how disappointed they would be if they could know that the life on this side is only an extension of the life on earth6 ,if the thoughts and desires there have been only for material pleasures1 the thoughts and desires here are likely to be the same4 ,i have met veritable saints since coming out2 but they have been men and women who held in earth life the saintly ideal1 and who now are free to live it4 ,life can be so free here6 ,there is none of that machinery of living which makes people on earth such slaves4 ,in our world a man is held only by his thoughts4 ,if they are free1 he is free4 ,few1 though1 are of my philosophic spirit4 ,there are more saints here than philosophers1 as the highest ideal of most persons1 when intensely active1 has been towards the religious rather than the philosophic life4 ,i think the happiest people ,i have met on this side have been the painters4 ,our matter is so light and subtle1 and so easily handled1 that it falls readily into the forms of the imagination4 ,there are beautiful pictures here4 ,some of our artists try to impress their pictures upon the mental eyes of the artists of earth1 and they often succeed in doing so4 ,there is joy in the heart of one of our real artists when a fellow craftsman on your side catches an idea from him and puts it into execution4 ,he may not always be able to see clearly how well the second man works out the idea1 for it requires a special gift or a special training to see from one form of matter into the other2 but the inspiring spirit catches the thought in the inspired one's mind1 and knows that a conception of his own is being executed upon the earth4 ,with poets it is the same4 ,there are lovely lyrics composed out here and impressed upon the receptive minds of earthly poets4 ,a poet told me that it was easier to do that with a short lyric than with an epic or a drama1 where a long-continued effort was necessary4 ,it is much the same with musicians4 ,whenever you go to a concert where beautiful music is being played1 there is probably all round you a crowd of music-loving spirits1 drinking in the harmonies4 ,music on earth is much enjoyed on this side4 ,it can be heard4 ,but no sensitive spirit likes to go near a place where bad strumming is going on4 ,we prefer the music of stringed instruments4 ,of all earthly things1 sound reaches most directly into this plane of life4 ,tell that to the musicians4 ,if they could only hear our music6 ,i did not understand music on earth1 but now my ears are becoming adjusted4 ,it seems sometimes as if you must hear our music over there1 as we hear yours4 ,you may have wondered how ,i spend my time and where ,i go4 ,there is a lovely spot in the country which ,i never tire of visiting4 ,it is on the side of a mountain1 not far from my own city4 ,there is a little road winding round a hill1 and just above the road is a hut1 a roofed enclosure with the lower side open4 ,sometimes ,i stay there for hours and listen to the rippling of the brook which runs beside the road4 ,the tall slender trees have become like brothers to me4 ,at first ,i cannot see the material trees very clearly2 but ,i go into the little hut which is made of fresh clean boards with a sweet smell1 and ,i lie down on the shelf or bunk along the wall2 then ,i close my eyes and by an effort--or no1 it is not what ,i would call an effort1 but by a sort of drifting--,i can see the beautiful place4 ,but you must know that this is in the night time there1 and ,i see it by the light of myself4 ,that is why we travel in the dark part of the twenty-four hours1 for in the bright sunlight we cannot see at all4 ,our light is put out by the cruder light of the sun4 ,one night ,i took the boy ,lionel there with me1 leaving him in the hut while ,i went a little distance away4 ,looking back1 ,i saw the whole hut illuminated by a lovely radiance--the radiance of ,lionel himself4 ,the little building1 which has a peaked roof1 looked like a pearl lighted from within4 ,it was a beautiful experience4 ,i then went to ,lionel and told him to go in his turn a little distance away1 while ,i took his place in the hut4 ,i was curious to know if he would see the same phenomenon when ,i lay there1 if ,i could shed such a light through dense matter--the boards of the building4 ,when ,i called him to me afterwards and asked if he had seen anything strange1 he said3 8,what a wonderful man you are1 ,father6 ,how did you make that hut seem to be on fire80 ,then ,i knew that he had seen the same thing ,i had seen4 ,but ,i am tired now and can write no more4 ,good night1 and may you have pleasant dreams4 ,,letter ,,xvii ,,the ,,second ,,wife ,,over ,,there ,i ,,am often called upon here to decide matters for others4 ,many people call me simply 8the ,judge02 but we bear1 as a rule1 the name that we last bore on earth4 ,men and women come to me to settle all sorts of questions for them1 questions of ethics1 questions of expediency1 even quarrels4 ,did you suppose that no one quarrelled here8 ,many do4 ,there are even long-standing feuds among them4 ,the holders of different opinions on religion are often hot in their arguments4 ,coming here with the same beliefs they had on earth1 and being able to visualise their ideals and actually to experience the things they are expecting1 two men who hold opposite creeds forcibly are each more intolerant than ever before4 ,each is certain that he is right and that the other is wrong4 ,this stubbornness of belief is strongest with those who have been here only a short time4 ,after a while they fall into a larger tolerance1 living their own lives more and more1 and enjoying the world of proofs and realisations which each soul builds for itself4 ,but ,i want to give you an illustration of the sort of questions on which ,i am asked to pass judgment4 ,there are two women here who in life were both married to one man1 though not at the same time4 ,the first woman died1 then the man married again1 and soon--not more than a year or two after--the man and his second wife both came out4 ,the first wife considers herself the man's only wife1 and she follows him about everywhere4 ,she says that he promised to meet her in heaven4 ,he is more inclined to the second wife1 though he still feels affection for ,wife ,no4 #a4 ,he is rather impatient at what he calls her unreasonableness4 ,he told me one day that he would gladly give them both up1 if he could be left in peace to carry out certain studies in which he is interested4 ,these were among the people ,i met soon after ,i began to be strong myself here--it was not so very long ago2 and the man has sought my society so much that the women1 in order to be near him1 have come along too4 ,one day they all three came to me and propounded their question--or1 rather1 ,wife ,no4 #a propounded it4 ,she said3 8,this man is my husband4 ,should not1 therefore1 this other woman go far away and leave him altogether to me80 ,i asked ,wife ,no4 #b what she had to say4 ,her answer was that she would be all alone here but for her husband1 and that as she had had him last1 he now belonged more to her than to the other4 ,in a flash the memory came to me of those ,sadducees who propounded a similar question to ,christ1 and ,i quoted ,his answer as nearly as ,i could remember it3 that 8when they shall rise from the dead1 they neither marry1 nor are given in marriage2 but are as the angels which are in heaven40 ,my answer was as much a staggerer for them as their question had been for me1 and they went away to think about it4 ,when they were gone ,i began myself to ponder the question4 ,i had already observed that1 whether or not all here are as the angels in heaven1 there does seem to be a good deal of mating and rejoining of former mates4 ,the sex distinction is as real here as on the earth1 though1 of course1 its expression is not exactly the same4 ,i asked myself a good many questions which perhaps would never have occurred to me but for the troubles of this interesting triad1 and ,i thought of the man ,i had somewhere read about1 who said that he never knew his own opinion of anything until he tried to express it to somebody4 ,after a while the three came to me again and said that they had been talking things over1 perhaps after the manner of angels in heaven2 for ,wife ,no4 #a told me that she had decided to 8let0 her husband spend a part of his time with the other woman1 if he wanted to4 ,now1 the man had a sweetheart1 a girl sweetheart1 before he had either of his wives4 ,the girl is out here somewhere1 and the man often has a strong desire to try to find her4 ,what opportunity he will now have to do so1 ,i cannot say4 ,the situation is rather depressing for the poor fellow4 ,it is bad enough to have one person who insists on every minute of your society1 without having two4 ,and ,i think his case is not unusual4 ,perhaps the only way in which he can get free from his two insistent companions is by going back to the earth4 ,there is a way1 however1 by which he could secure solitude2 but he does not know of it4 ,a man who knows how can isolate himself here as well as he could on earth2 he can build round himself a wall which only the eyes of a great initiate can pierce4 ,i have not told this secret to my friend2 but perhaps ,i shall some day1 if it seems necessary for his development that he have a little solitude4 ,at present it seems to me that he will learn more from adjusting to this double claim and trying to find the truth that lies in it4 ,perhaps he may learn that really1 essentially1 fundamentally1 he does not 8belong0 to either of these women4 ,the souls out here seem to belong to themselves1 and after the first few years they get to love liberty so much that they are ready to yield a little of their claim upon others4 ,this is a great place in which to grow1 if one really wants to grow2 though few persons take advantage of its possibilities4 ,most are content to assimilate the experiences they had on earth4 ,it would be depressing to one who did not realise that will is free1 to see how souls let slip their opportunities here1 even as they did on the moon-guarded planet4 ,there are teachers here who stand ready to help anyone who wishes their help in making real and deep studies in the mysteries of life--the life here1 the life there1 and in the remote past4 ,if a man understands that his recent sojourn on earth was merely the latest of a long series of lives1 and if he concentrates his mind towards recovering the memories of the distant past1 he can recover them4 ,some persons may think that the mere dropping of the veil of matter should free the soul from all obscuration2 but1 as on earth so out here1 8things are not thus and so because they ought to be1 but because they are40 ,we draw to ourselves the experiences which we are ready for and which we demand1 and most souls do not demand enough here1 any more than they did in life4 ,tell them to demand more1 and the demand will be answered4 ,,letter ,,xviii ,,individual ,,hells ,,some time ago ,i told you of my intention to visit hell2 but when ,i began investigations on that line there proved to be many hells4 ,each man who is not content with the orthodox hell of fire and brimstone builds one out of mind-stuff suited to his imaginative need4 ,i believe that men place themselves in hell1 that no ,god puts them there4 ,i began looking for a hell of fire and brimstone1 and found it4 ,dante must have seen the same things ,i saw4 ,but there are other and individual hells---- 7,the writing suddenly stopped1 for no apparent reason1 and was not continued that night47 ,,letter ,,xix ,a ,,little ,,home ,,in ,,heaven ,i ,,have met a very interesting man since last ,i wrote to you4 ,he is a lover who for ten years waited here for his love to come to him4 ,they said on earth that he was dead1 and they urged her to love another2 but she could not forget him1 for every night he met her soul in dreams1 every night she came out to him here1 and sometimes she could recall on waking all that he had said to her in sleep4 ,she had told him that she would not delay long in the sunshine world1 but would come out to him in the self-lighted world4 ,only a little while ago she came4 ,he had been long getting ready for her coming1 and had built in the substance of this world the little home he had planned to build for her in the outer world4 ,he told me how one night when she came to him in dream1 she said that she would rejoin him on the morrow1 never to leave him again4 ,he was startled1 and would almost have stayed her2 because he had died a sudden and painful death1 and he dreaded pain for her4 ,always he had watched over her1 warning her of danger2 but this time he felt1 after the first shock of the message was over1 that she was really coming4 ,and he was very happy4 ,he had found no other love out here2 for when one leaves the earth full of a great affection1 and when the earthly loved one does not forget1 the tie can hold for many years unweakened4 ,you on the earth have forgotten so much of what you learned here that you do not realise how your thought of us can make us happy1 do not realise how your forgetfulness of us can throw us back entirely upon ourselves4 ,often those who go farthest here1 who really grow in spirituality1 are those whose loves have forgotten them on earth2 but it is sad to be forgotten1 nevertheless4 ,it is a bitter power you make possible to us when you thus throw us back upon ourselves2 and not all souls are strong enough or aspiring enough to make use of the lonely impetus that might help them to scale the ladder of spiritual knowledge4 ,but to return to my lovers4 ,all that day he remained near her4 ,he would not rest2 for1 as ,i have told you1 we generally rest a little when the sun shines on the earth4 ,all that day he remained near her4 ,he could not see her body1 for the rays of sunlight were too strong for him4 ,but1 after hours of waiting1 suddenly he felt a hand in his1 and though she was invisible to him1 yet he knew that she was here4 ,and he spoke to her1 using such words as he would have used on earth4 ,she did not seem to understand4 ,he spoke again1 and still she did not answer2 but he knew from the pressure of her hand that she realised his presence4 ,so hand in hand they stood there in the darkness of the sunlight1 the man able to speak because of his long experience in this world of subtle sounds1 the woman speechless and bewildered1 but still clinging to his hand4 ,when the sunshine went away he was able to see her face1 and her eyes were wide and frightened2 but still she seemed held to the room in which lay the body which had been she4 ,it was summer1 and the windows were open4 ,he sought to draw her away into the perfumed night which to them was day2 but she held his hand and would not let him go4 ,at last he drew her away a short distance and spoke to her again4 ,now she heard and answered him4 8,beloved10 she said1 8which is ,i8 ,for ,i see myself--,i feel myself--back there also4 ,i seem to be in two places4 ,which ,i is really ,i80 ,he comforted her with loving words4 ,he was still afraid to caress her1 for the touch of souls is very keen1 and he feared lest she should go back into the form which seemed to be so near them1 and thus be lost to him again4 ,but though she had often come to him in dreams1 it had not been so vividly as this time1 and he felt that she had really passed through the great change4 ,she still clung to his hand1 yet seemed afraid to go out with him--out and away from it4 ,he stayed there with her all that night and all the next day1 when the darkening sun came again1 and again he could not see her4 ,once the well-meaning friends of his beloved disturbed her body1 doing those sacred offices which seem so necessary to the living1 but which may sorely disturb the dead4 ,he stayed with her the second night and all the second day4 ,he could hear the sobs of her grieving parents1 though they could not see either him or their daughter2 but on the second night the little dog of his love came into the room where it lay1 the room in which their two souls still stood1 and the little dog saw them and whined piteously4 ,the man could hear it1 and she also could hear it4 ,and now she could hear him more plainly when he spoke to her4 8,where will they take it80 she asked him4 ,he recalled the time when he had been held spellbound near his own lifeless form1 over which his loved one had shed bitter tears4 ,and he asked her if it would not be better to come away altogether2 but she could not1 or thought she could not4 ,on the third day he knew from the agitation of his love that they were placing her body in the coffin4 ,after a while he felt1 though he could not see1 that many other persons were in the room1 and he heard mournful music4 ,music can reach from one world to another1 can be heard far more plainly than human voices1 which generally cannot be heard at all except by the trained listener4 ,by and by his love was sorely agitated1 and he also1 through sympathy with her2 and they felt themselves going slowly--oh1 so slowly6--along4 ,and he said to her3 8,do not be grieved4 ,they are taking it to the burial2 but you are safe with me40 ,he knew that she was much troubled4 ,it is not for nothing that over the house of death there always hangs a strange hush1 not to be explained by the mere losing of the loved one4 ,those who remain behind feel1 though they cannot see1 the soul of the one who has gone out4 ,their souls are full of sympathy for him in his bewilderment4 ,the change need not be painful if one would only remember that it has been passed through before2 but one so easily forgets4 ,we sometimes call the earth the ,valley of ,forgetfulness4 ,during the days and weeks that followed this lover remained with his loved one1 ever trying to draw her away from the earth and from it1 which had for her1 as for so many1 a fearsome fascination4 ,it is said that the souls of those who have lived long on earth more easily detach themselves2 but this woman was still young1 only about thirty2 and even with the help of her lover it was a little time before she could get free4 ,but one day 7or night1 as you would say7 he showed her the home which he had built for her1 and it was literally a mansion in the sky4 ,she entered with him1 and it became their home4 ,sometimes he leaves her for a little while1 or she leaves him2 for the joy of being together is heightened here1 as on the earth1 by an occasional separation2 but not until she was content and accustomed to the new life did he leave her at all4 ,during the first days the habit of earthly hunger often held her1 and he tried to appease it by giving her the softer substance which we know here4 ,gradually she became weaned altogether from the earth and the habits of the earth1 only going back occasionally in a dream to her father and mother4 ,do not disregard your dreams about the dead4 ,they always mean something4 ,they do not always mean what the dream would seem to signify2 for the door between the two worlds is very narrow1 and thoughts are often shaken out of place in passing through4 ,but dreams about the dead mean something4 ,we can reach you in that way4 ,i came to you in a dream the other night1 standing behind and outside the gate of a walled garden in which you were enclosed4 ,i smiled and beckoned you to come out to me2 but ,i did not wish you to come out to stay4 ,i only meant that you should come out in spirit2 for if you come out occasionally it is easier for me to go into your world4 ,good night4 ,,letter ,,xx ,,the ,,man ,,who ,,found ,,god ,,there seems to be no way in which ,i can better teach you about this life1 so strange to you1 than by telling my experiences and conversations with men and women here4 ,i said one night not long ago that ,i had met more saints than philosophers1 and ,i want to tell you now about a man who seems to be a genuine saint4 ,yes1 there are little saints and great saints1 as there are little and great sinners4 ,one day ,i was walking on a mountain top4 ,i say 8walking10 for it seemed about the same1 though it takes but little energy to walk here4 ,on the mountain top ,i saw a man standing alone4 ,he was looking out and far away1 but ,i could not see what he was looking at4 ,he was abstracted and communing with himself1 or with some presence of which ,i was unaware4 ,i waited for some time4 ,at last1 drawing a long breath--for we breathe here--he turned his eyes to me and said1 with a kind smile3 8,can ,i do anything for you1 brother80 ,i was embarrassed for a moment1 feeling that ,i might have intruded upon some sweet communion4 8,if ,i am not too bold in asking10 ,i said1 8would you tell me what you were thinking as you stood there looking into space80 ,i was conscious of my presumption2 but being so determined to learn what can be known1 if sometimes ,i am too bold in making inquiries1 ,i feel that my very earnestness may win for me the forgiveness of those ,i question4 ,this man had a beautiful beardless face and young-looking eyes2 but his garments were the ordinary garments of one who thinks little or nothing of his appearance4 ,that very unconsciousness of the outer form may sometimes give it a peculiar majesty4 ,he looked at me in silence for a moment2 then he said3 8,i was trying to draw near to ,god40 8,and what is ,god80 ,i asked2 8and where is ,god80 ,he smiled4 ,i never saw a smile like his1 as he answered3 8,god is everywhere4 ,god is40 8,what is ,he80 ,i persisted2 and again he repeated1 but with a different emphasis3 8,god is40 8,what do you mean80 ,i asked4 8,god is1 ,god is10 he said4 ,i do not know how his meaning was conveyed to me1 perhaps by sympathy2 but it suddenly flashed into my mind that when he said1 8,god is10 he expressed the completest realisation of ,god which is possible to the spirit2 and when he said1 8,god is10 he meant me to understand that there was no being1 nothing that is1 except ,god4 ,there must have been in my face a reflection of what ,i felt1 for the saint then said to me3 8,do you not also know that ,he is1 and that all that is1 is ,he80 8,i am beginning to feel what you mean10 ,i answered1 8though ,i doubtless feel but a little of it40 ,he smiled1 and made no reply2 but my mind was full of questions4 8,when you were on earth10 ,i said1 8did you think much about ,god80 8,always4 ,i thought of little else4 ,i sought ,him everywhere1 but seemed only at times to get flashes of consciousness as to what ,he really was4 ,sometimes when praying1 for ,i prayed much1 there would come to me suddenly the question1 #8,to what are you praying8' ,and ,i would answer aloud1 #8,to ,god1 to ,god6' ,but though ,i prayed to ,him every day for years1 only occasionally did ,i get a flash of that true consciousness of ,god4 ,finally1 one day when ,i was alone in the woods1 there came the great revelation4 ,it came not in any form of words1 but rather in a wordless and formless wonder1 too vast for the limitation of thought4 ,i fell upon the ground and must have lost consciousness1 for after a while--how long a time ,i do not know--,i awoke1 and got up and looked about me4 ,then gradually ,i remembered the experience which had been too big for me while ,i was feeling it4 8,i could put into the form of words the realisation which had been too much for my mortality to bear1 and the words ,i used to myself were1 #8,all that is1 is ,god4' ,it seemed very simple1 yet it was far from simple4 #8,all that is1 is ,god4' ,that must include me and all my fellow beings1 human and animal2 even the trees and the birds and the rivers must be a part of ,god1 if ,god were all that is4 8,from that moment life assumed a new meaning for me4 ,i could not see a human face without remembering the revelation--that that human being ,i saw was a part of ,god4 ,when my dog looked at me1 ,i said to him aloud1 #8,you are a part of ,god4' ,when ,i stood beside a river and listened to the sound of its waters1 ,i said to myself1 #8,i am listening to the voice of ,god4' ,when a fellow being was angry with me1 ,i asked myself1 #8,in what way have ,i offended ,god8' ,when one spoke lovingly to me1 ,i said1 #8,god is loving me now1' and the realisation nearly took my breath away4 ,life became unbelievably beautiful4 8,therefore ,i had been so absorbed in ,god1 in trying to find ,god1 that ,i had not given much thought to my fellow beings1 and had even neglected those nearest me2 but from that day ,i began to mingle with my human brethren4 ,i found that as more and more ,i sought ,god in them1 more and more ,god responded to me through them4 ,and life became still more wonderful4 8,sometimes ,i tried to tell others what ,i felt1 but they did not always understand me4 ,it was thus ,i began to realise that ,god had purposely1 for some reason of ,his own1 covered ,himself with veils4 ,was it that ,he might have the pleasure of tearing them away8 ,if so1 ,i would help ,him all ,i could4 ,so ,i tried to make other men grasp the knowledge of ,god which ,i myself had attained4 ,for years ,i taught men4 ,at first ,i wanted to teach everybody2 but ,i soon came to see that that was impossible1 and so ,i selected a few who called themselves my disciples4 ,they did not always tell the world that they were my disciples1 because ,i asked them not to do so4 ,but ,i urged each of them to give to someone as much as possible of the knowledge that ,i had given to him4 ,and so ,i think that many have come to feel a little of the wonder which was revealed to me that day alone in the woods1 when ,i awoke to the knowledge that ,god is1 ,god is40 ,then the saint turned and left me1 with all my questions unanswered4 ,i wanted to ask him when and how he had left the earth1 and what work he was doing out here--but he was gone6 ,perhaps ,i shall see him again some day4 ,but whether ,i do or not1 he has given me something which ,i in turn give to you1 as he himself desired to give it to the world4 ,that is all for to-night4 ,,letter ,,xxi ,,the ,,leisure ,,of ,,the ,,soul ,,one of the joys of being here is the leisure for dreaming and for getting acquainted with oneself4 ,of course there is plenty to do2 but though ,i intend to go back to the world in a few years1 ,i feel that there is time to get acquainted with myself4 ,i tried to do that on earth1 more or less2 but here there are fewer demands on me4 ,the mere labour of dressing and undressing is lighter1 and ,i do not have to earn my living now1 nor anybody else's4 ,you1 too1 could take time to loaf1 if you thought you could4 ,you can do practically anything you think you can do4 ,i purpose1 for instance1 in a few years not only to pick up a general knowledge of the conditions of this four-dimensional world1 but to go back over my other lives and assimilate what ,i learned in them4 ,i want to make a synthesis of the complete experiences of my ego up to this date1 and to judge from that synthesis what ,i can do in the future with least resistance4 ,i believe1 but am not quite sure1 that ,i can bring back much of this knowledge with me when ,i am born again4 ,i shall try to tell you--or some of you--when and about where to look for me again4 ,oh1 don't be startled6 ,it will not be for some time yet4 ,an early date would necessitate hurry1 and ,i do not wish to hurry4 ,i could probably force the coming back1 but that would be unwise1 for ,i should then come back with less power than ,i want4 ,action and reaction being opposite and equal1 and the unit1 or ego1 being able to generate only so much energy in a given time1 it is better for me to rest in this condition of light matter until ,i have accumulated energy enough to come back with power4 ,i shall not do1 however1 as many souls do2 they stay out here until they are as tired of this world as they formerly were tired of the earth1 and then are driven back half unconsciously by the irresistible force of the tide of rhythm4 ,i want to guide that rhythm4 ,since ,i have been here one man whom ,i know has gone back to the earth4 ,he was about ready to go when ,i first found him4 ,the strange part of it was that he himself did not understand his condition4 ,he complained of being tired of things and of wanting to rest much4 ,that was probably a natural instinct for rest1 in preparation for the supreme effort of opening the doors of matter again4 ,it is easy to come out here1 but it requires some effort to go from this world into yours4 ,i know where that soul is now1 for the ,teacher told me4 ,i had spoken to the ,teacher about him1 but he already knew of his existence4 ,it was rather strange1 for the man was one in whom ,i should have fancied that the ,teacher would have taken little interest4 ,but one never knows4 ,perhaps in his next life he may really begin to study the philosophy which they teach4 ,but ,i was speaking of the larger leisure out here4 ,i wish you could arrange your life so as to have a little more leisure4 ,i do not want you to be lazy1 but the passive conditions of the mind are quite as valuable as the active conditions4 ,it is when you are passive that we can reach you4 ,when your mind and body are always occupied1 it is difficult to impress you with any message of the soul4 ,find a little more time each day for doing nothing at all4 ,it is good to do nothing sometimes2 then the semi-conscious parts of your mind can work4 ,they can remind you that there is an inner life2 for the inner life that is 8capable0 to you on earth is really the point of contact with the world in which we live4 ,i have said that the two worlds touch1 and they touch through the inner4 ,you go in to come out4 ,it is a paradox1 and paradoxes conceal great truths4 ,contradictions are not truths1 but a paradox is not a contradiction4 ,there is a great difference in the length of time that people stay out here4 ,you talk of being homesick4 ,there are souls here who are homesick for the earth4 ,they sometimes go back almost at once1 which is generally a mistake4 ,unless one is young and still has a store of unused energy saved over from the last life1 in going back to the earth too soon one lacks the force of a strong rebound4 ,it is strange to see a man here as homesick for the earth as certain poets and dreamers on earth are homesick for the inner life4 ,this use of the terms 8outer0 and 8inner0 may seem confusing2 but you must remember that while you go in to come to us1 we go out to come to you4 ,in our normal state here we are living almost a subjective life4 ,we become more and more objective as we touch your world4 ,you become more and more subjective as you touch our world4 ,if you only knew it1 you could come to us at almost any time for a brief visit--,i mean1 by going deep enough into yourself4 ,if you want to try the experiment and will not be afraid1 ,i can take you out here without your quite losing consciousness in your body--,i mean without your being in deep sleep4 ,you can call me when you want to make a trial4 ,if ,i do not come at once1 do not be discouraged4 ,of course at the moment ,i might be doing something else2 but in that case ,i will come at another time4 ,there is no hurry4 ,that is what ,i want to impress upon you4 ,what you do not do this year you can perhaps do next year2 but if you are always rushing after things1 you can accomplish little in this particular work4 ,eternity is long enough for the full development of the ego of man4 ,eternity seems to have been designed for that end4 ,that was a sound statement which was given at one time3 8,the object of life is life40 ,i have realised that more fully since ,i had an opportunity to study eternity from a new angle4 ,this is a very good angle from which to view both time and eternity4 ,i see now what ,i did not see before1 that ,i myself have never wasted any time4 ,even my failures were a valuable part of my experience4 ,we lose to gain again4 ,we go in and out of power sometimes as we go in and out of life1 to learn what is there and outside4 ,in this1 as in all things1 the object of life is life4 ,do not hurry4 ,a man may grow gradually into power and knowledge1 or he may take them by force4 ,will is free4 ,but the gradual growth has a less powerful reaction4 ,,letter ,,xxii ,,the ,,serpent ,,of ,,eternity ,i ,,want to talk to you to-night about eternity4 ,until ,i came out1 ,i never had a grasp on that problem4 ,i thought only in terms of months and years and centuries2 now ,i see the full sweep of the circle4 ,the comings out and the goings into matter are no more than the systole and the diastole of the ego-heart2 and1 speaking from the standpoint of eternity1 they are relatively as brief4 ,to you a lifetime is a long time4 ,it used to seem so to me1 but it does not seem so now4 ,people are always saying1 8,if ,i had my life to live over1 ,i would do so and so40 ,now1 no man has any particular life to live over1 any more than the heart can go back and beat over again the beat of the second previous2 but every man has his next life to prepare for4 ,suppose you have made a botch of your existence4 ,most men have1 viewed from the standpoint of their highest ideal2 but every man who can think must have assimilated some experience which he can carry over with him4 ,he may not1 on coming out into the sunlight of another life on earth1 be able to remember the details of his former experience1 though some men can recall them by a sufficient training and a fixed will2 but the tendencies of any given life1 the unexplained impulses and desires1 are in nearly all cases brought over4 ,you should get away from the mental habit of regarding your present life as the only one1 get rid of the idea that the life you expect to lead on this side1 after your death1 is to be an endless existence in one state4 ,you could no more endure such an endless existence in the subtle matter of the inner world than you could endure to live forever in the gross matter in which you are now encased4 ,you would weary of it4 ,you could not support it4 ,do get this idea of rhythm into your brain4 ,all beings are subject to the law of rhythm1 even the gods1--though in a greater way than ourselves1 with longer periods of flux and reflux4 ,i did not want to leave the earth1 ,i fought against it until the last2 but now ,i see that my coming out was inevitable because of the conditions4 ,had ,i begun earlier ,i might have provisioned my craft for a longer cruise2 but when the coal and water had run out ,i had to make port4 ,it is possible to provision even a small life-craft for a longer voyage than the allotted threescore years and ten2 but one must economise the coal and not waste the water4 ,there are some who will understand that water is the fluid of life4 ,many persons resent the idea that the life after death is not eternal1 a never-ending progression in spiritual realms2 though few who so object have much of an idea what they mean when they talk of spiritual realms4 ,life everlasting is possible to all souls--yes2 but it is not possible to go on forever in one direction4 ,evolution is a curve4 ,eternity is a circle1 a serpent that swallows its own tail4 ,until you are willing to go in and out of dense matter1 you will never learn to transcend matter4 ,there are those who can stay in or out at will1 and1 relatively speaking1 as long as they choose2 but they are never those who shrink from either form of life4 ,i used to shrink from what ,i called death4 ,there are those on this side who shrink from what they call death4 ,do you know what they call death8 ,it is rebirth into the world4 ,yes1 even so4 ,there are many here who are as ignorant of rhythm as most people are on your side4 ,i have met men and women who did not even know that they would go back to the earth again1 who talked of the 8great change0 as the men of earth talk of dying1 and of all that lay beyond as 8unproved and unprovable40 ,it would be tragic if it were not so absurd4 ,when ,i knew that ,i had to die ,i determined to carry with me memory1 philosophy1 and reason4 ,now ,i want to say something which will perhaps surprise you4 ,there is a man who wrote a book called ,the ,law of ,psychic ,phenomena and in that book he said certain things of those two parts of the mind which he called the subjective and the objective4 ,he said that the subjective mind was incapable of inductive reasoning1 that the subjective mind would accept any premise given it by the objective mind1 and would reason from that premise with matchless logic2 but that it could not go behind the premise1 that it could not reason backwards4 ,now1 remember that in this form of matter where ,i am men are living principally a subjective life1 as men on earth live principally an objective life4 ,these people here1 being in the subjective1 reason from the premises already given them during their objective or earth existence4 ,that is why most of those who last lived in the so-called ,western lands1 where the idea of rhythm or rebirth is unpopular1 came out here with the fixed idea that they would not go back into earth life4 ,hence most of them still reason from that premise4 ,do you not understand that what you believe you are going to be out here is largely determinative of what you will be4 ,those who do not believe in rebirth cannot forever escape the rhythm of rebirth2 but they hold to their belief until the tide of rhythm sweeps them along with it and forces them into gross matter again1 into which they go quite unprepared1 carrying with them almost no memory of their life out here4 ,they carried out here the memory of the earth life because they expected so to carry it4 ,many ,orientals who have always believed in rebirth remember their former lives1 because they expected to remember them4 ,yes1 when ,i realised that ,i had to leave the earth ,i laid a spell upon myself4 ,i determined to remember through both the going out and the subsequent coming in4 ,of course ,i cannot swear now to remember everything when ,i come into heavy matter again2 but ,i am determined to do so if possible2 and ,i shall succeed to some extent if ,i do not get the wrong mother4 ,i intend to take great care on that point1 and to choose a mother who is familiar with the idea of rebirth4 ,if possible1 ,i want to choose a mother who actually knew me in my last life as ----1 and who1 if ,i shall announce in childhood that ,i am that same ---- whom she knew when a young girl1 will not chide me and drive me back into myself with her doubts4 ,i believe that many children carry over into earth life memories of their lives out here1 but that those memories are afterwards lost by reason of the suggestion constantly given to children that they are newly created1 8fresh from the hand of ,god10 etc41 etc4 ,eternity is indeed long1 and there are more things on earth and heaven than are dreamed of in the philosophy of the average teacher of children4 ,if you could only get hold of the idea of immortal life and cling to it6 ,if you could realise yourself as being without beginning and without end1 then you might commence to do things worth while4 ,it is a wonderful consciousness that consciousness of eternity4 ,small troubles seem indeed small to him who thinks of himself in the terms of a million years4 ,you may make the figure a billion1 or whatever you like1 but the idea is the same4 ,no man can grasp the idea of a million years1 or a million dollars1 or a million of anything2 the figure is merely a symbol for a great quantity1 whether it be years or gold pieces4 ,the idea cannot be fixed2 there will always be something that escapes4 ,no millionaire knows exactly what he is worth at any given time2 for there is always interest to be counted1 and the value is a shifting one4 ,it is so with immortality4 ,do not think of yourself as having lived a million years1 or a trillion years1 but as truly immortal1 without beginning or end4 ,the man who knows himself to be rich is richer than the man who says that he has a certain amount of money1 be the amount large or small4 ,so rest in the consciousness of eternity and work in the consciousness of eternity4 ,that is all for to-night4 ,,letter ,,xxiii ,a ,,brief ,,for ,,the ,,defendant ,,tell the friend who is so anxious lest ,i do you harm by writing with your hand that that matter was thoroughly threshed out on this side between the ,teacher and me before it began to take form on your side4 ,ordinary mediumship1 where the organism of a more or less unhealthy person on earth is opened indiscriminately for the entrance and obsession of any passing spirit1 good or evil1 is a very different proposition from this4 ,here ,i1 who was your friend in the world1 having passed beyond1 reach back to instruct you from my greater knowledge on this side4 ,i am not making any opening in your nervous system through which irresponsible and evil forces can enter and take possession of you4 ,in fact1 if any spirit1 good or bad1 should make such an attempt1 he would have to reckon with me1 and ,i am not powerless4 ,i know now1 have both remembered and been taught1 secrets by which ,i can protect you from what is generally known as mediumship4 ,furthermore1 ,i advise you never1 even at the urgent prayer of those whose loved ones have gone out--never to lend yourself to them4 ,the wanderers in the so-called invisible world have no right to come and demand entrance through your organism1 merely because it is so constituted that they could enter1 any more than a street crowd would have the right to force its way into your home1 merely because its members were curious1 hungry1 or cold4 ,do not allow it4 ,permission was once given1 yes2 but the case was exceptional and was not based on the personal desire or curiosity of anybody--not even yourself4 ,i doubt if permission will ever be granted again4 ,many things have changed since ,i began to write with you4 ,at first ,i used your hand and arm from the outside--sometimes1 as you remember1 with such force as to make them lame the next day4 ,then1 grown more familiar with the means at my disposal1 ,i tried another method1 and you noticed a change in the character of the writing4 ,it began clumsily1 with large and badly formed characters1 gradually becoming clearer as my control of the instrument ,i was using was better established4 ,now1 for the last few times ,i have used still another and a third method4 ,i enter your mind1 putting myself in absolute telepathic rapport with your mind1 impressing upon your mind itself the things ,i wish to say4 ,in order to write in this way1 you have to make yourself utterly passive1 stilling all individual thought and yielding yourself to my thought2 but that is no more than you do every day in reading a fascinating book4 ,you give your mind to the author who leads you along1 rapt and passive1 by means of the printed page4 ,these experiments in perfecting a way of communication have been very interesting to me4 ,tell your friend that ,i am not a child1 nor a reckless experimentalist4 ,not only in my last life on earth but in many former lives ,i have been a student of the higher science1 giving myself absolutely to truth and to the quest of truth4 ,i have never wantonly used any human being to his or her detriment1 and ,i certainly shall not begin with you1 my true friend and student4 ,nor shall ,i interfere in any way with your life1 or with your studies and work4 ,the idea is nonsensical4 ,while ,i walked the world on two feet ,i was never considered a dangerous man4 ,i have not changed my character merely by changing my clothes and putting on a lighter suit4 ,i have certain things to say to the world4 ,at present you are the only person who can act as amanuensis for me4 ,this is neither my fault nor yours4 ,the question before us is not whether ,i want the letters written1 or even whether you want to write them1 but whether they will be beneficial to the world4 ,i think they will4 ,you think they may be4 ,b---- thinks that they are not only immensely valuable1 but unique4 ,so-and-so and ,so-and-so have doubts and fears4 ,i cannot help that1 nor can you4 ,bless their hearts6 ,why should they be so anxious to bolt the doors behind me8 ,i shall certainly not try to run their affairs for them from this side4 ,they are equal to their job1 or they would not be able to hold it4 ,but this is quite a different job which ,i have given myself1 and you have kindly consented to help me4 ,you may not get much reward for your labour1 save the shake of the wiseacres' heads and their superior smiles1 and the suggestion of the more scientifically inclined that ,i am your own 8subconscious mind40 ,i shall not be offended by that hypothesis1 nor need you4 ,of course you are not worried1 for if you were ,i could not write4 ,your mind has to be placid as a lake on a windless night in order for me to write at all4 ,give my love to them4 ,,letter ,,xxiv ,,forbidden ,,knowledge ,i ,,have been doing many things of late4 ,you could never imagine where ,i went the other day--to the great funeral of the ,emperor of ,japan4 ,you could not go from ,paris to ,japan and return in so short a time1 could you8 ,but ,i did4 ,an hour before starting ,i did not even know that the ,emperor of ,japan was dead4 ,the ,teacher sought me out and invited me to go with him4 ,he said that something would occur there which ,i ought to see4 ,his prophecy was verified4 ,i saw a soul1 a great soul1 go out as a suicide4 ,it was sad and terrible4 ,but as ,i write this the ,teacher comes and stands beside me2 he advises me to say no more on that subject4 ,one sees horrible things out here1 as well as beautiful things4 ,i can only say with regard to suicide1 that if men knew what awaits those who go out by their own hand1 they would remain with the evil that they know4 ,i am sorry ,i cannot tell you more about this1 for it would interest you4 ,the testimony of an eye-witness is always more convincing than the mere repetition of theories4 ,the appearance of the ,teacher with his advice has put out of my mind for the moment the desire to write4 ,but ,i will come again4 ,later4 ,i have been able to do what you so much desired--to find the boy who came out accidentally by drowning4 ,as you looked at his photograph1 ,i saw it through your eyes1 and carried away the memory of the face4 ,i found him wandering about1 quite bewildered4 ,when ,i spoke to him of you and said that you had asked me to help him1 he seemed surprised4 ,i was able to give him a little aid1 though he has a friend here--an old man who is nearer to him than ,i could ever be4 ,he will gradually adjust himself to the new conditions4 ,you had better not try to speak with him4 ,he is on a different path1 and is being looked after1 for he has friends4 ,the little help ,i was able to give was in the nature of information4 ,he needed diversion from a too-pressing thought1 and ,i suggested one or two ways of passing time which are both agreeable and instructive4 ,you wonder at the expression 8passing time08 ,but time exists out here4 ,wherever there is sequence1 there is time4 ,there may come a 8time0 when all things will exist simultaneously1 past1 present and--shall we say future8 ,but so long as past1 present and future are more or less distinct1 so long time is4 ,it is nothing but the principle of sequence4 ,did you fancy it was anything else8 ,interiorly1 that is1 deep within the self1 one may find a silent place where all things seem to exist in unison2 but as soon as the soul even there attempts to examine things separately1 then sequence begins4 ,the union with the ,all is another matter4 ,that is1 or seems to be1 timeless2 but as soon as one attempts to unite with or to be conscious of things1 time is manifest4 ,,letter ,,xxv ,a ,,shadowless ,,world ,i ,,had been here some time before ,i noticed one of the most marked peculiarities of this world4 ,one night as ,i was passing slowly along1 ,i saw a group of persons approaching me4 ,it was very light where they were1 because there were so many of them4 ,suddenly1 as ,i saw this light1 a thought came to my mind1 a saying from one of the ,hermetic books3 8,where the light is strongest1 there are the shadows deepest40 ,but on looking at these men and women1 ,i saw that they cast no shadows4 ,i hailed the nearest man--you must remember that this was soon after ,i came out1 and when ,i was still more ignorant than ,i am now--and ,i called his attention to this peculiar phenomenon of a shadowless yet brilliantly lighted world4 ,he smiled at my surprise1 and said3 8,you have not been here long1 have you80 8,no40 8,then you are not aware that we light our own place8 ,the substance of which our bodies are composed is radiant4 ,how could our forms cast shadows1 when light radiates from them in all directions80 8,and in the sunlight80 ,i asked4 8,oh10 he answered1 8you know that in the sunlight we cannot be seen at all6 ,the light of the sun is coarse and crude1 and it puts out the light of the spirits40 ,does it seem strange to you that at this moment ,i can feel the warmth of that wood fire by which you sit8 ,there is a magic in burning wood4 ,the combustion of coal has quite a different effect upon the psychic atmosphere4 ,if one who had always been blind to visions and insensible to the finer feelings and premonitions of the invisible world would try meditating before a blazing wood fire for an hour or two every day or night1 his eyes and other subtler senses might be opened to things of which he had theretofore never even dreamed4 ,those ,orientals who worship their ,god with fire are wise and full of visions4 ,the light of burning wax has also a magical effect1 though different from that of a wood fire4 ,sit sometimes in the evening with no light but that of a solitary candle1 and see what visions will come from the 8,void40 ,i have not told you anything for a long time about the boy ,lionel4 ,he is now much interested in the idea of choosing a family of engineers in which to be born again4 ,the thought is one to which he is always returning4 8,why are you in such a hurry to leave me80 ,i asked him1 the first time he mentioned the subject4 8,but ,i do not feel as if ,i should be leaving you altogether10 he replied4 8,i could come out to you in dreams40 8,not at first10 ,i told him4 8,you would be prisoned and blind and deaf for a long time1 and you might not be able to come out to me here until after ,i had also gone back again to the earth40 8,then why not come along with me80 he asked4 8,say1 ,father1 why shouldn't we be born as twins80 ,the idea was so absurd that ,i laughed heartily2 but ,lionel could not see where the joke came in4 8,there are such things as twins10 he said1 seriously4 8,i knew a pair of twin brothers when ,i lived in ,boston40 ,but1 when ,i return to earth1 it is no part of my plan to be anybody's twin2 so ,i tell ,lionel that if he wants to enjoy my society for a time he will have to stay quietly where he is4 8,but why can't we go back together80 he still asks1 8and be cousins or neighbours1 at least80 8,perhaps we can10 ,i tell him1 8if you do not spoil everything by an unseemly haste40 ,it is strange about this boy4 ,out in this world there is boundless opportunity to work in subtle matter1 opportunity to invent and experiment2 yet he wants to get his hands on iron and steel4 ,strange6 ,some night ,i will try to bring the boy to pay you a visit1 so that you can see him--,i mean just before you fall asleep4 ,those are the true visions4 ,the ones which come in sleep are apt to be confused by the jarring of the matter through which you pass in waking4 ,do not forget the boy4 ,i have already told him how ,i come and write with your hand1 and he is much interested4 8,why couldn't ,i operate a telegraph in that way80 he asked me2 but ,i advised him not to try it4 ,he might interrupt some terrestrial message which had been sent and paid for4 ,occasionally ,i take him with me up to the pattern world4 ,he has a little model of his own there with which he amuses himself while ,i am examining other things4 ,it is the model of a wheel1 and he sets it going by the electricity of his fingers4 ,no1 it is not made of steel--not as you know steel4 ,why1 what you call steel is too heavy6 ,it would fall through this world so fast that it would not even leave a rent behind it4 ,you must understand that the two worlds are composed of matter not only moving at a different rate of vibration1 but charged with a different magnetism4 ,it is said that two solid objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time2 but that law does not apply to two objects--one of them belonging to your world and the other to ours4 ,as water can be hot and wet at the same time1 so a square foot of space can contain a square foot of earthly matter and a square foot of etheric matter4 ,no1 do not quibble about terms4 ,you have no terms for the kind of matter that we use here1 because you do not know anything about it4 ,lionel and his electric wheel would both be invisible to you if they were set down on the hearthrug before you at this moment4 ,even the magic of that wood fire would not make them visible--at least1 not in the daylight4 ,some evening--but we will speak of that at another time4 ,i must go now4 ,,letter ,,xxvi ,,circles ,,in ,,the ,,sand ,i ,,am just beginning to enjoy the romance of life out here4 ,i must always have had the romantic temperament2 but only since changing my place have ,i had time and opportunity to give rein to it4 ,on earth there was always too much to be done1 too many duties1 too many demands on me4 ,here ,i am free4 ,you have no idea of the meaning of freedom unless you can remember when you were out here last1 and ,i doubt if you can remember that yet4 ,when ,i say 8romance0 ,i mean the charm of existence1 the magic touch which turns the grey face of life to rose colour4 ,you know what ,i mean4 ,it is wonderful to have leisure to dream and to realise one's dream1 for here the realisation goes with the dream4 ,everything is so real1 imagination is so potent1 and the power to link things is so great--so almost unlimited6 ,the dreamers here are really not idle1 for our dreaming is a kind of building2 and even if it were not1 we have a right to do about as we please4 ,we have earned our vacation4 ,the labour will come again4 ,we shall reclothe ourselves in gross matter and take on its burdens4 ,why1 it takes more energy on earth to put one heavy foot before another heavy foot1 and to propel the hundred or two-hundred pound body a mile1 than it takes here to go around the world6 ,that will give you an idea of the quantity of surplus energy that we have for enjoying ourselves and for dream-building4 ,perhaps on earth you work too much--more than is really necessary4 ,the mass of needless things that you accumulate round you1 the artificial wants that you create1 the break-neck pace of your lives to provide all these things1 seem to us absurd and rather pitiful4 ,your political economy is mere child's play1 your governments are cumbrous machines for doing the unnecessary1 most of your work is useless1 and your lives would be nearly futile if you did not suffer so much that your souls learn1 though unwillingly1 that most of their strivings are vain4 ,how ,i used to sweat and groan in the early days to make my little circle in the sand6 ,and now ,i see that if ,i had taken more time to think1 ,i might have recovered something of my past knowledge1 gained in other lives2 and though ,i still had felt obliged to draw my circle in the sand1 ,i might have done it with less difficulty and in half the time4 ,here1 if ,i choose1 ,i can spend hours in watching the changing colours of a cloud4 ,or1 better still1 ,i can lie on my back and remember4 ,it is wonderful to remember1 to let the mind go back year after year1 life after life1 century after century1 back and back till one finds oneself--a turtle6 ,but one can also look ahead1 forward and forward1 life after life1 century after century1 on after on1 till one finds oneself an archangel4 ,the looking back is memory2 the looking forward is creation4 ,of course we create our own future4 ,who else could do it8 ,we are influenced and moved and shifted and helped or retarded by others2 but it is we ourselves who forge the chains every time4 ,we tie knots that we shall have to untie1 often with labour and perplexity4 ,in going back over my past lives ,i realise the why and the wherefore of my last one4 ,it was1 in a way1 the least satisfactory of many lives--save one2 but now ,i see its purpose1 and that ,i laid the plans for it when ,i was last out here4 ,i even arranged to go back to earth at a definite time1 in order to be with certain friends who met me there4 ,but ,i have turned the corner now1 and have begun the upward march again4 ,already ,i am laying the lines for my next coming1 though there is no hurry4 ,bless you6 ,i am not going back until ,i have had my fill of the freedom and enjoyment of this existence here4 ,also ,i have much studying to do4 ,i want to review what ,i learned in those hitherto forgotten but now remembered lives4 ,do you recall how1 when you went to school1 you had occasionally to review the lessons of the preceding weeks or months8 ,that custom is based on a sound principle4 ,i am now having my review lessons4 ,by and by1 before ,i return to the world1 ,i shall review these reviews1 fixing by will the memories which ,i specially wish to carry over with me4 ,it would be practically impossible to carry over intact the great panorama of experience which now unrolls itself before the eyes of my memory2 but there are several fundamental things1 philosophical principles and illustrations1 which ,i must not forget4 ,also ,i want to take with me the knowledge of certain formul and the habit of certain practices which you would probably call occult2 by means of which1 when ,i am mature again in my new body1 ,i can call into memory this very pageant of experience which now rolls before me whenever ,i will it4 ,no1 ,i am not going to tell you about your own past4 ,you must1 and can1 recover it for yourself4 ,so can anyone who knows the difference between memory and imagination4 ,yes1 the difference is subtle1 but as real as the difference between yesterday and to-morrow4 ,i do not want you to be in any hurry about coming out here to stay4 ,remain where you are just as long as possible4 ,much that we do on this side you can do almost as well while still in the body4 ,of course you have to use more energy1 but that is what energy is for--to use4 ,even when we store it1 we store it for future use4 ,do not forget that4 ,one reason why ,i rest much now and dream and amuse myself is because ,i want to store as much energy as possible1 to come back with power4 ,it is well that you have taken my advice to idle a little and to get acquainted with your own soul4 ,there are surprises in store for the person who will deliberately set out on the quest of his soul4 ,the soul is not a will-o'-the-wisp2 it is a beacon light to steer by and avoid the rocks of materialism and forgetfulness4 ,i have had much joy in going back over my ,greek incarnations4 ,what concentration they had--those ,greeks6 ,they knew much4 ,the waters of ,lethe1 for instance1--what a conception6--brought from this side by masterly memory4 ,if man would even try to remember1 if he would only take time to consider all that he has been1 there would be more hope of what he may become6 ,why1 do you know that man may become a god--or that which1 compared with ordinary humanity1 has all the magnitude and grandeur of a god8 8,ye are gods10 was not said in a merely figurative sense4 ,i have met the ,master from ,galilee1 and have held communion with ,him4 ,there was a man--and a god6 ,the world has need of ,him now4 ,,letter ,,xxvii ,,the ,,magic ,,ring ,,it would be hard for you to understand1 merely by my telling you1 the difference between your life and ours4 ,begin with the difference in substance1 not only the substance of our bodies1 but the substance of natural objects which surround us4 ,do you start at the term 8natural objects0 as applied to the things of this world8 ,you did not fancy1 did you1 that we had escaped ,nature8 ,no one escapes ,nature--not even ,god4 ,nature is4 ,imagine that you had spent sixty or seventy years in a heavy earthly body1 a body which insisted on growing fat1 and would get stiff-jointed and rheumatic1 even going on strike occasionally to the extent of laying you up in bed for repairs of a more or less clumsy sort4 ,then fancy yourself suddenly exchanging this heavy body for a light and elastic form4 ,can you imagine it8 ,i confess that it would have been difficult for me1 even a year or two ago4 ,clothed in this form1 which is sufficiently radiant to light its own place when its light is not put out by the cruder light of the sun1 fancy yourself moving from place to place1 from person to person1 from idea to idea4 ,as time goes on even the habit of demanding nourishment gradually wears off4 ,we are no longer bothered by hunger and thirst2 though ,i1 for instance1 still stay myself occasionally with a little nourishment1 an infinitesimal amount compared with the beefsteak dinners which ,i used to eat4 ,and we are no longer harassed by the thousand-and-one petty duties of the earth4 ,out here we have more confidence in moods4 ,engagements are seldom made--that is1 binding engagements4 ,as a rule1 though there are exceptions1 desire is mutual4 ,i want to see and commune with a friend at the same time when he feels a desire for my society1 and we naturally drift together4 ,the companionships here are very beautiful2 but the solitudes are also full of charm4 ,since the first two or three months ,i have not been lonesome4 ,at first ,i felt like a fish out of water1 of course4 ,nearly everyone does2 though there are exceptions in the case of very spiritual people who have no earthly ties or ambitions4 ,i had so fought the idea of 8dying10 that my new state seemed at first to be the proof of my failure1 and ,i used to wander about under the impression that ,i was going to waste much valuable time which could have been used to better advantage in the storm and stress of earthly living4 ,of course the ,teacher came to me2 but he was too wise to carry me on his back even from the first4 ,he reminded me of a few principles1 which he left me to apply2 and gradually1 as ,i got hold of the applications1 ,i got hold of myself4 ,then also gradually the beauty and wonder of the new condition began to dawn on me1 and ,i saw that instead of wasting time ,i was really gaining tremendous experience which could be utilised later4 ,i have talked with many people here1 people of all stages of intellectual and moral growth1 and ,i am sorry to say that the person who has a clear idea of the significance of life and its possibilities for development is about as rare here as on the earth4 ,as ,i have said before1 a man does not suddenly become all-wise by changing the texture of his body4 ,the vain man of earth is likely to be vain here1 though in his next life the very law of reaction--if he has overdone vanity--may send him back as a modest or even bashful person1 for a while at least1 until the reaction has spent itself4 ,in coming out a man brings his character and characteristics with him4 ,i have often been sorry for men who in life had been slaves of the business routine4 ,many of them cannot get away from it for a long time2 and instead of enjoying themselves here1 they go back and forth to and from the scenes of their old labours1 working over and over some problem in tactics or finance until they are almost as weary as when they 8died40 ,as you know1 there are teachers here4 ,few of them are of the stature of my own ,teacher2 but there are many who make it their pleasure to help the souls of the newly arrived4 ,they never leave a newcomer entirely to his own resources4 ,help is always offered1 though it is not always accepted4 ,in that case it will be offered again and again1 for those who give themselves to others do so without hope of reward or even acknowledgment4 ,if ,i had set out to write a scientific treatise of the life on this side1 ,i should have begun in quite a different way from this4 ,in the first place1 ,i should have postponed the labour about ten years1 until all my facts were pigeon-holed and docketed2 then ,i should have begun at the beginning and dictated a book so dull that you would have fallen asleep over it1 and ,i should have had to nudge you from time to time to pick up the pencil fallen from your somnolent hand4 ,instead1 ,i began to write soon after coming out1 and these letters are really the letters of a traveller in a strange country4 ,they record his impressions1 often his mistakes1 sometimes perhaps his provincial prejudices2 but at least they are not a rehash of what somebody else has said4 ,i like your keeping my photograph on your mantel as you do2 it helps me to come4 ,there is a great power in a photograph4 ,i have been drawing pictures for you lately on the canvas of dreams1 to show you the futility and vanity of certain things4 ,did you not know that we could do that8 ,the power of the so-called dead to influence the living is immense1 provided that the tie of sympathy has been made4 ,i have taught you how to protect yourself against influences which you do not want1 so do not be afraid4 ,i will always stand guard to the extent of warning you if there is any danger of attack from this side4 ,already ,i have drawn a magic ring around you which only the most advanced and powerful spirits could pass1 even if they desired--that is1 the ,teachers and ,i drew it together4 ,you are doing our work just now1 and have a right to our protection4 ,that the labourer is worthy of his hire is an axiom of both worlds4 ,only you yourself could now let down the bars for the inrush of evil and irresponsible spiritual intelligences1 and if you should inadvertently let down the bars we should rush to put them up again4 ,we have some authority out here4 ,yes1 even so soon ,i can say that4 ,are you surprised8 ,,letter ,,xxviii ,,except ,,ye ,,be ,,as ,,little ,,children ,i ,,once heard a man refer to this world as the play world1 8for10 said he1 8we are all children here1 and we create the environment that we desire40 ,as a child at play can turn a chair into a tower or a prancing steed1 so we in this world can make real for the moment whatever we imagine4 ,has it never filled you with amazement1 that absolute vividness of the imagination of children8 ,a child says unblushingly and with conviction1 8,that rug is a garden1 that plank in the floor is a river1 that chair is a castle1 and ,i am a king40 ,why does he say these things8 ,how can he say these things8 ,because--and here is the point--he still subconsciously remembers the life out here which he so lately left4 ,he has carried over with him into the life of earth something of his lost freedom and power of imagination4 ,that does not mean that all things in this world are imaginary--far from it4 ,objects here1 objects existing in tenuous matter1 are as real and comparatively substantial as with you2 but there is the possibility of creation here1 creation in a form of matter even more subtle still--thought-substance4 ,if you create something on earth in solid matter1 you create it first in thought-substance2 but there is this difference between your creation and ours3 until you have moulded solid matter around your thought-pattern you do not believe that the thought-pattern really exists save in your own fancy4 ,we out here can see the thought-creations of others if we and they will it so4 ,we can also--and ,i tell you this for your comfort--we can also see your thought-creations1 and by adding the strength of our will to yours we can help you to realise them in substantial form4 ,sometimes we build here bit by bit1 in the four-dimensional world1 especially when we wish to leave a thing for others to see and enjoy1 when we wish a thing to survive for a long time4 ,but a thought-form is visible to all highly developed spirits4 ,of course you understand that not all spirits are highly developed4 ,in fact very few are far progressed2 but the dullest man out here has something which most of you have lost--the faith in his own thought-creations4 ,now1 the power which makes creation possible is not lost to a soul when it takes on solid matter again4 ,but the power is gradually overcome and the imagination is discouraged by the incredulity of mature men and women1 who say constantly to the child3 8,that is only play2 that is not really so2 that is only imagination40 ,if you print these letters1 ,i wish you would insert here fragments from that wonderful poem of ,wordsworth1 8,intimations of ,immortality from ,recollections of ,early ,childhood40 8,our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting2 ,the ,soul that rises with us1 our life's ,star1 ,hath had elsewhere its setting1 ,and cometh from afar3 ,not in entire forgetfulness1 ,and not in utter nakedness1 ,but trailing clouds of glory do we come ,from ,god1 who is our home3 ,heaven lies about us in our infancy6 ,shades of the prison-house begin to close ,upon the growing ,boy1 ,but ,he beholds the light1 and whence it flows1 ,he sees it in his joy2 ,the ,youth1 who daily farther from the east ,must travel1 still is ,nature's ,priest1 ,and by the vision splendid ,is on his way attended2 ,at length the ,man perceives it die away1 ,and fade into the light of common day40 ,there is almost no limit to the possibilities of the imagination2 but to get the full power of it1 one must trust one's imagination4 ,if you say to yourself constantly1 as the mother says to the child1 8,but this is only play2 this is not real10 you never can make real the things you have created in thought4 ,the imagination itself is like a child and must be encouraged and believed in1 or it cannot develop and do its perfect work4 ,it is really fortunate for some of you that ,i am out here4 ,i can do more for you here than there1 because ,i have even greater faith in my imagination than ,i had before4 ,the man who called this the play world has been trying all sorts of experiments with the power in himself4 ,i have not his permission to tell the stories he tells me1 but they would surprise you4 ,for one thing1 he helped his wife1 after his so-called death1 to carry out a joint plan of theirs which had seemed impossible to them before because of their lack of real faith4 ,it was for the erection of a certain kind of house4 ,but do not fancy that most people here are trying to build houses on earth4 ,far from it4 ,most of my fellow-citizens are willing to work where they are1 and to let the earth alone4 ,of course there are 8dreamers0 like me1 who are not satisfied with one world1 and who like to have their fingers in both2 but they are rather rare1 as poets are rare on earth4 ,to most men the world they happen to be in is sufficient for the time being4 ,there is a certain fancy of mine1 however1 which it will amuse me to help realise on earth4 ,you may not know that ,i am doing it1 but ,i shall know4 ,i would not1 8for the world10 as you say1 disturb anybody by even the thought that ,i am fussing around in affairs which now are theirs4 ,but if1 unseen and unfelt1 ,i can help with the power of my self-confident imagination1 there will be no harm done1 and ,i shall have demonstrated something4 ,,letter ,,xxix ,,an ,,unexpected ,,warning ,i ,,should be very sorry if the reading of these letters of mine should cause foolish and unthinking people to go spirit-hunting1 inviting into their human sphere the irresponsible and often lying elemental spirits4 ,tell them not to do it4 ,my coming in this way through your hand is quite another matter4 ,i could not do it if ,i had not been instructed in the scientific method of procedure1 and ,i also could not do it if you should constantly interrupt me by side-thoughts of your own1 and by questions relevant or irrelevant4 ,it is because you are perfectly passive and not even curious1 letting me use your hand as on earth ,i would have used the hand of my stenographer1 that ,i am able to write long and connected sentences4 ,most spirit communications1 even when genuine1 have little value1 for the reason that they are nearly always coloured by the mind of the person through whom they pass4 ,you are right in reading nothing on the subject while these messages are coming1 and in thinking nothing about this plane of life where ,i am4 ,thus you avoid preconceived ideas1 which would interrupt the flow of my ideas4 ,you know1 perhaps1 that while on earth ,i investigated spiritualism1 as ,i investigated many things of an occult nature1 looking always for the truth that was behind them2 but ,i was convinced then1 and ,i am now more than ever convinced1 that1 except for the scientific demonstration that such things can be--which1 of course1 has value as a demonstration only1--most spirit-hunting is not only a waste of time1 but an absolute detriment to those who engage in it4 ,this may sound strange coming from a so-called 8spirit10 one who is actually at this time in communication with the world4 ,if that is so1 ,i cannot help it4 ,if ,i seem inconsistent1 then ,i seem so2 that is all4 ,but ,i wish to go on record as discouraging irresponsible mediumship4 ,if a person sitting for mediumship could be sure that at the other end of the psychic line there was an entity who had something sincere and important to say1 and who really could use him or her to say it through1 it would be another matter2 but this world out here is full of vagrants1 even as the earth4 ,as this world is peopled largely from your world1 it is inevitable that we have the same kind of beings that you have4 ,they have not changed much in passing through the doors of death4 ,would you advise any delicate and sensitive woman to sit down in the centre of ,hyde ,park1 and invite the passing crowds to come and speak through her1 or touch her1 or mingle their magnetism with hers8 ,you shudder4 ,you would shudder more had you seen some of the things which ,i have seen4 ,then1 too1 there is another class of beings here1 the kind which we used to hear the ,theosophists call elementals4 ,now1 there has been a lot of nonsense written about elementals2 but take this for a fact3 there are units of energy1 units of consciousness1 which correspond pretty closely to what the ,theosophists understand by elementals4 ,these entities are not1 as a rule1 very highly developed2 but as the stage of earth life is the stage to which they aspire1 and as it is the next inevitable stage in their evolution1 they are drawn to it powerfully4 ,so do not be too sure that the entity which raps on your table or your cupboard is the spirit of your deceased grandfather4 ,it may be merely a blind and very desirous entity1 an eager consciousness1 trying to use you to hasten its own evolution1 trying to get into you or through you1 so as to enjoy the earth and the coarser vibrations of the earth4 ,it may not be able to harm you1 but1 on the other hand1 it may do you a great deal of harm4 ,you had better discourage such attempts to break through the veil which separates you from them2 for the veil is thinner than you think1 and though you cannot see through it1 you can feel through it4 ,having said this1 my duty in the matter is discharged2 and the next time ,i come ,i can tell you a story1 maybe1 instead of giving you a lecture4 ,i really feel like an astral ,scheherazade2 but ,i fear you would tire of me before a thousand-and-one nights were past4 ,a thousand-and-one nights6 ,before that time ,i shall have gone on4 ,no1 ,i do not mean 8died0 again into another world beyond2 but when ,i get through telling you what ,i desire you to know about my life here1 ,i want to investigate other stars1 if it shall be permitted4 ,i am like a young man who has lately inherited a fortune and has at last unlimited means and opportunity for travel4 ,though he might stay around home a few months1 getting matters in shape and becoming adjusted to his new freedom of movement1 yet the time would come when he would want to try his wings4 ,i hope that is not a mixed metaphor2 if so1 you can edit me4 ,i shall not feel hurt4 ,,letter ,,xxx ,,the ,,sylph ,,and ,,the ,,magician ,,if your eyes could pierce the veil of matter1 and you could see what goes on in the tenuous world around and above that city of ,paris1 you would gasp with wonder4 ,i have spent much time in ,paris lately4 ,shall ,i tell you some of the strange things ,i have seen8 ,in a street on the left bank of the river1 called the rue de ,vaugirard1 there lives a man of middle age and sedentary habits who is a sort of magician4 ,he is constantly attended and served by one of the elemental spirits known as sylphs4 ,this sylph he calls ,meriline4 ,i do not know from what language he got the name1 for he seems to speak several1 and to know ,hebrew4 ,i have seen this ,meriline coming and going to and from his apartment4 ,no1 it would not be right for me to tell you where it is4 ,the man could be identified1 though the sylph would elude the census-taker4 ,meriline does not make his bed or cook his broth1 for which humble service he has a char-woman2 but the sylph runs errands and discovers things for him4 ,he is a collector of old books and manuscripts1 and many of his treasures have been located by ,meriline in the stalls which lie along the banks of the ,seine1 and also in more pretentious bookshops4 ,this man is not a devil-worshipper4 ,he is only a harmless enthusiast1 fond of occult things1 and striving to pierce the veil which shuts the elemental world from his eyes4 ,a little less brandy and wine1 and he might be able to see clearly1 for he is a true student4 ,but he is fond of the flesh1 and it preys upon the spirit4 ,one day ,i encountered ,meriline going upon one of his errands1 and ,i introduced myself by signalling with my hands and calling my name4 ,this attracted the attention of the sprite1 who came and stood beside me4 8,where are you going80 ,i asked2 and she nodded towards the other side of the river4 ,the thought came to me that perhaps ,i ought not to question this servant of the good magician as to her master's business1 so ,i hesitated4 ,she also hesitated2 then she said3 8,but he is interested in the spirits of men40 ,this made the matter simpler1 and ,i asked3 8,you do his errands80 8,yes1 always40 8,why do you do his errands80 8,because ,i love to serve him40 8,and why do you love to serve him80 8,because ,i belong to him40 8,i thought every soul belonged to itself40 8,but ,i am not a soul60 8,then what are you80 8,a sylph40 8,do you ever expect to be a soul80 8,oh1 yes6 ,he has promised that ,i shall be1 if ,i serve him faithfully40 8,but how can he make you to be a soul80 8,i don't know2 but he will40 8,how do you know that he will80 8,because ,i trust him40 8,what makes you trust him80 8,because he trusts me40 8,and you always tell him the truth80 8,always40 8,who taught you what truth is80 8,he did40 8,how80 ,this seemed to puzzle the being before me1 and ,i feared she would go away2 so ,i detained her by saying1 quickly3 8,i do not want to worry you with questions which you cannot answer4 ,tell me how you first came into his service40 8,ought ,i80 8,so you have a conscience80 8,yes1 he taught me to have40 8,but you say that he is interested in the spirits of men40 8,yes1 and ,i also know good spirits from bad ones40 8,did he teach you that80 8,no40 8,how did you learn80 8,i always knew40 8,then you have lived a long time80 8,oh1 yes60 8,and when do you expect to have1 or to become a soul80 8,when he comes out here1 into this world where we are40 ,this staggered me by its daring4 ,had the good magician been deceiving his sylph1 or did he really believe what he promised8 8,what did he say about it80 ,i asked4 8,that if ,i would serve him now1 he would serve me later40 8,and how is he going to do it80 8,i don't know40 8,suppose you ask him80 8,i never ask questions4 ,i answer them40 8,for instance1 what sort of questions80 8,i tell him where such and such a person is1 and what he or she is doing40 8,can you tell him what these people are thinking80 8,not often--or not always4 ,sometimes ,i can40 8,how can you tell80 8,by the feel of them4 ,if ,i am warm in their presence1 ,i know they are friendly to him2 if ,i am cold1 ,i know they are his enemies4 ,if ,i feel nothing at all1 then ,i know that they are not thinking of him1 or are indifferent40 8,and your errand this evening80 8,to see a lady40 8,and you are not jealous80 8,what is #8jealous'80 8,you are not displeased that he should interest himself in ladies80 8,why should ,i be80 ,this was a question ,i could not answer1 not knowing the nature of sylphs4 ,she surprised me a little1 for ,i had supposed that all female things were jealous4 ,but1 fearing again that she might leave me1 ,i hurried to question her further4 8,how did you make his acquaintance80 ,i asked4 8,he called me40 8,how80 8,by the incantation40 8,what incantation80 8,the call of the sylphs40 8,oh10 ,i said1 8he called the sylphs and you came60 8,yes1 of course4 ,i liked him for his kindness1 and ,i made him see me40 8,how did you manage it80 8,i dazzled his eyes until he closed them1 and then he could see me40 8,can he always see you now80 8,no1 but he knows ,i am there40 8,he can see you sometimes still80 8,yes1 often40 8,and when he saw you first80 8,he was delighted1 and called me loving names1 and made me promises40 8,the promise of a soul--that first time80 8,yes40 8,then you had wanted to have a soul80 8,oh1 yes60 8,but why80 8,many of us want to be men4 ,we love men--that is1 most of us do40 8,why do you love men80 8,it is our nature40 8,but not the nature of all of you80 8,there are malignant spirits of the air40 8,and what will you do when you have a soul80 8,i will take a body1 and live on earth40 8,and leave your friend whom you now serve80 8,oh1 no6 ,it is to be with him that ,i specially want a body40 8,then will he come back to the earth with you80 8,he says so40 ,this again staggered me4 ,i was becoming interested in this magician2 he had a daring imagination4 ,could a spirit of the air develop into a human soul8 ,i asked myself4 ,was the man self-deceived8 ,or1 again1 was he deceiving his lovely messenger8 ,i thought a little too long this time1 for when ,i turned again to speak to my strange companion1 she had left me4 ,i tried to follow1 but could not find her2 and if she returned soon1 it must have been by some other road4 ,though ,i looked in all directions1 she was invisible to me4 ,now1 the question will arise in your mind3 ,in what language did ,i talk with this aerial servant of a ,french magician8 ,i seemed to speak in my own tongue1 and she seemed to respond in the same4 ,how is that8 ,i cannot say1 unless we really used the subtle language of thought itself4 ,you may often1 on meeting with a person whose language you do not speak1 feel an interchange of ideas1 by the look of the eyes1 by the expression of the face1 by gestures4 ,now imagine that1 intensified a hundredfold4 ,might it not extend to the simple questions and answers which ,i exchanged with the sylph8 ,i do not say that it would1 but ,i think it might2 for1 as ,i said before1 ,i seemed to speak and she seemed to reply in my own language4 ,what strange experiences one has out here6 ,i rather dread to go back into the world1 where it will be so dull for me for a long time4 ,can ,i exchange this freedom and vivid life for a long period of somnolence1 afterwards to suck a bottle and learn the multiplication table and ,greek and ,latin verbs8 ,i suppose ,i must--but not yet4 ,good night4 ,,letter ,,xxxi ,a ,,problem ,,in ,,celestial ,,mathematics ,,by the vividness with which you feel my presence at times1 you can judge of the intensity of the life that ,i am living4 ,i am no pallid spook1 dripping with grave-dew4 ,i am real1 and quite as wholesome--or so it seems to me--as when ,i walked the earth in a more or less unhealthy body4 ,the ghastly spectres1 when they return1 do not talk as ,i talk4 ,ask those who have seen and heard them4 ,it is well that you have kept yourself comparatively free of communications 8from the other world40 ,it would have been amazing had you been afraid of me4 ,but there are those who would be1 if they should sense my presence as you sense it4 ,one night ,i knocked at the door of a friend's chamber1 half expecting a welcome4 ,he jumped out of bed in alarm1 then jumped back again1 and pulled the blanket over his head4 ,he was really afraid that it might be ,i6 ,so1 as ,i did not wish to be responsible for a case of heart failure1 or for a shock of hair which1 like that in the old song1 8turned white in a single night10 ,i went quietly away4 ,doubtless he persuaded himself next day that there were mice in the wainscoting4 ,had you been afraid of me1 though1 ,i should have been ashamed of you2 for you know better4 ,most persons do not4 ,it is a real pleasure for me to come back and talk with you sometimes4 8,there are no friends like the old friends10 and the society of sylphs and spirits would never quite satisfy me if all those whom ,i had known and loved should turn their backs on me4 ,speaking of sylphs1 ,i met the ,teacher last night1 and asked him if that ,french magician ,i told you about could really make good his promise to his aerial companion1 and help her to acquire the kind of soul essential to incarnation on earth as a woman4 ,his answer was1 8,no40 ,of course ,i asked him why1 and he answered that the elemental creatures1 or units of force inhabiting the elements1 as we use that term1 could not1 during this life cycle1 step out of their element into the human4 8,can they ever do so80 ,i asked4 8,i do not know10 he replied2 8but ,i believe that all the less evolved units around the earth are working in the direction of man2 that the human is a stage of development which they will all reach some day1 but not in this life cycle40 ,i asked the ,teacher if he knew the magician in question1 and he answered that he had known him for a thousand years1 that long ago1 in a former life1 the ,paris magician had placed his feet upon the path which leads to power2 but that he had been side-tracked by the desire for selfish pleasures1 and that he might wander a long time before he found his way back to real and philosophical truth4 8,is he to be blamed or pitied80 ,i asked4 8,pity cuts no figure in the problem10 the ,teacher replied4 8,a man seeks what he desires40 ,after the ,teacher went away ,i began asking myself questions4 ,what was ,i seeking1 and what did ,i desire8 ,the answer came quickly3 8,knowledge40 ,a year ago ,i might have answered 8,power10 but knowledge is the forerunner of power4 ,if ,i get true knowledge1 ,i shall have power enough4 ,it is because ,i want to give to you1 and possibly to others1 a few scraps of knowledge which might be inaccessible to you by any other means1 that ,i am coming back1 and coming back1 time after time1 to talk with you4 ,the greatest bit of knowledge that ,i have to offer you is this3 that by the exercise of will a man can retain his objective consciousness after death4 ,many persons out here sink into a sort of subjective bliss which makes them indifferent as to what is going on upon the earth or in the heavens4 ,i could do so myself1 easily4 ,as ,i believe ,i have said before1 while man on earth has both subjective and objective consciousness1 but functions mostly in the objective1 out here he has still subjective and objective consciousness1 but the tendency is towards the subjective4 ,at almost any time1 on composing yourself and looking in1 you can fall into a state of subjective bliss which is similar to that enjoyed by souls on this side of the dividing line called death4 ,in fact1 it is by such subconscious experience that man has learned nearly all he knows regarding the etheric world4 ,when the storms and passions of the body are stilled1 man can catch a glimpse of his own interior life1 and that interior life is the life of this fourth-dimensional plane4 ,please do not accuse me of contradicting myself or of being obscure2 ,i have said that the objective consciousness is as possible with us as the subjective is with you1 but that the tendency is merely the other way4 ,you may remember a pair of lovers about whom ,i wrote you a few weeks ago4 ,he had been out here some time1 and had waited for her1 and helped her over the uncertain marsh-lands which lie between the two states of existence4 ,i saw these lovers again the other day1 but they were not at all excited by my appearance4 ,on the contrary1 ,i fancy that ,i put them out somewhat by awakening them1 by calling them back from the state of subjective bliss into which they have sunk since being together at last4 ,while he waited for her all those years1 he kept himself awake by expectation2 while still on earth she was always thinking of him out here1 and so the polarity was sustained4 ,now they have each other2 they are in 8the little home0 which he built for her with so much pleasure out of the tenuous materials of this tenuous world2 they see each other's faces whether they look out or in2 they are content2 they have nothing more to attain 7or so they tell each other71 and they consequently sink back into the arms of subjective bliss4 ,now this state of bliss1 of rumination1 they have a right to enjoy4 ,no one can take it from them4 ,they have earned it by activity in the world and elsewhere1 it is theirs by rhythmic justice4 ,they will enjoy it1 ,i fancy1 for a long time1 living over the past experiences which they have had together and apart4 ,then some day one or the other of them will become surfeited with too much sweetness2 the muscles of his 7or her7 soul will stretch for want of exercise2 he 7or she7 will give a spiritual yawn1 and by the law of reaction1 pass out--not to return4 ,where will he 7or she7 go1 you ask8 ,why1 back to the earth1 of course6 ,let us imagine him 7or her7 awaking from that subjective state of bliss which is known to them as attainment1 and going for a short promenade in blessed and wholesome solitude4 ,then1 with a sort of morning alertness in the heart and the eye1 he 7or she7 draws near to a pair of earthly lovers4 ,suddenly the call of matter1 the eager1 terrible call of blood and warmth1 of activity raised to the nth power1 catches the half-awakened soul on the ethereal side of matter1 and---- ,he has again entered the world of material formation4 ,he is sunk and hidden in the flesh of earth4 ,he awaits birth4 ,he will come out with great force1 by reason of his former rest4 ,he might even become a 8captain of industry10 if he is a strong unit4 ,but ,i began by saying 8he or she40 ,let me change the figure4 ,the man would be almost certain to awake first1 by reason of his positive polarity4 ,now1 in drawing this imaginary picture of my lovers1 ,i am not making a dogma of the way in which all souls return to earth4 ,i am merely guessing how these two will return 7for she would probably follow him speedily when she awoke and found herself alone74 ,and the reason why ,i fancy they will return in that way is because they are indulging themselves in too much subjective bliss4 ,when will they go back8 ,i cannot say4 ,perhaps next year1 perhaps in a hundred years4 ,not knowing the numerical value of their unit of force1 ,i cannot guess how much subjective bliss they can endure without a violent reaction4 ,i am sure that you are wondering if some day ,i shall myself sink into that state of bliss which ,i have described4 ,perhaps4 ,i should enjoy it--but not for long1 and not yet4 ,however1 ,i have no sweetheart out here to enjoy it with me4 ,,letter ,,xxxii ,a ,,change ,,of ,,focus ,,with the guidance of the ,teacher1 during the last few weeks ,i have been going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it4 ,you smile at the veiled reference4 ,but have not certain friends of yours actually feared me1 as if ,i were the devil of the ,book of ,job8 ,now1 to be serious1 ,i have been visiting those lands and cities where in former lives ,i lived and worked among men4 ,one of the many advantages of travel is that it helps a man to remember his former existences4 ,there is certainly a magic in places4 ,i have been in ,egypt1 in ,india1 in ,persia1 in ,spain1 in ,italy2 ,i have been in ,germany1 ,switzerland1 ,austria1 ,greece1 ,turkey1 and many other lands4 ,the ,dardanelles were not closed to me recently1 when by reason of the war you could not have passed through4 ,there are advantages to almost every condition1 even my present one2 for the law of compensation holds good4 ,in certain lives of the past ,i was a wide traveller4 ,now you may wonder how it is that ,i pass easily from this world to yours1 seeing into both4 ,but you must remember that your world and mine occupy about the same space2 that the plane of the earth's surface is one of the lower and more material planes of our world1 using the word 8plane0 as you would use the word 8layer40 ,as ,i have said before1 there are also places accessible to us which lie at some distance above the earth's surface4 8,mansions in the skies0 are more than figurative4 ,i have only slightly to change my focus at any time1 to find myself in your world4 ,that ,i cannot be seen there with the naked eye is no proof that ,i am not there4 ,without that change of focus1 which is done through an action of will and by knowing the method1 ,i might even be occupying the same space as something in your world and not know it4 ,note well this point1 for it is only half of something which ,i have to say4 ,the other half is1 that you also may at any time be--so far as space is concerned--in the immediate neighbourhood of interesting things in our world1 and not know that you are there4 ,but if you focus to this world you are more or less conscious of it4 ,so when ,i1 knowing how1 focus to your world1 ,i am there in consciousness and can enjoy the varied sights of many cities1 the changing aspects of many lands4 ,when ,i first came out ,i could not see my way about the earth very well1 but now ,i can see better4 ,no1 ,i am not going to give you a formula to give to other people by which you or they could change focus at will and enter into relation with this world1 because such knowledge at the present stage of human progress would do more harm than good4 ,i merely state the fact1 and leave the application for those who have the curiosity and the ability to demonstrate it4 ,my object in writing these letters is primarily to convince a few persons--to strengthen their certainty in the fact of immortality1 or the survival of the soul after the bodily change which is called death4 ,many think they believe who are not certain whether they believe or not4 ,if ,i can make my presence as a living and vital entity felt in these letters1 it will have the effect of strengthening the belief of certain persons in the doctrine of immortality4 ,this is a materialistic age4 ,a large percentage of men and women have no real interest in the life beyond the grave4 ,but they will all have to come out here sooner or later1 and perhaps a few will find the change easier1 the journey less formidable1 by reason of what ,i shall have taught them4 ,is it not worth while8 ,is it not worth a little effort on your part as well as on mine8 ,any person approaching the great change who shall seriously study these letters and lay their principles to heart1 and who shall will to remember them after passing out1 need not fear anything4 ,we all fail in much that we undertake1 but ,i hope ,i shall not fail in this4 ,do not you fail on your side4 ,i could not do this work without you1 nor could you do it without me4 ,that is in answer to the supposition that ,i am your subconscious mind4 ,i have been in ,constantinople and have stood in the very room where ,i once had a remarkable experience1 hundreds of years ago4 ,i have seen the walls1 ,i have touched them1 ,i have read the etheric records of their history1 and my own history in connection therewith4 ,i have walked the rose-gardens of ,persia and have smelled the flowers--the grandchildren1 hundreds of times removed1 of those roses whose fragrance was an ecstasy to me when1 watching with the bulbul1 ,i paced there in another form and with intentions different to mine now4 ,it was the perfume of the roses which made me remember4 ,in ,greece also ,i have lived over the old days4 ,before their degeneration began1 what a race they were6 ,i think that concentration was the secret of their power4 ,the ether around that peninsula is written over with their exploits1 in daring thought as well as daring action4 ,the old etheric records are so vivid that they shine through the later writings2 for you must know that what are called astral records lie layer against layer everywhere4 ,we read one layer instead of another1 either by affinity or by will4 ,it is no more strange than that a man may go among the millions of volumes in the ,british ,museum and select the one he wants4 ,the most marvellous things are always simple of explanation if one has the key to unlock their secret4 ,there has been much nonsense written about vibration1 but nevertheless truth lies thereabouts4 ,where there is so much smoke there must be fire4 ,in ,india ,i have met with yogis in meditation4 ,do you know why their peculiar way of breathing produces psychic results8 ,no1 you do not4 ,now let me tell you3 ,by holding the breath long a certain--shall ,i say poison8--is produced in the body1 which poison1 acting on the psychic nature1 changes the vibration4 ,that is all4 ,volumes have been written about yoga1 but have any of them said that8 ,the untrained healthy lungs1 in the ordinary operation1 get rid of this poison by processes well known to physiologists1--that is1 in the natural man1 adjusted to and working contentedly on the material plane4 ,but in order for a man still living on the material plane to become adjusted to the psychic world1 a change of vibration is necessary4 ,this change of vibration may be produced by a slight overdose of the above-mentioned poison4 ,is it dangerous8 ,yes1 to the ignorant4 ,to those who are learned in its use it is no more dangerous than most of the drugs in the pharmacopia4 ,another time ,i will tell you about other secrets which ,i have discovered going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it4 ,,letter ,,xxxiii ,,five ,,resolutions ,i ,,have stood at night on the roof of an ,oriental palace and watched the stars4 ,you who can see into the invisible world by changing your focus1 can easily understand how ,i1 by a reverse process1 can see into the world of dense matter4 ,yes1 it is the same thing1 only turned the other way4 ,i stood on the roof of an ,oriental palace and watched the stars4 ,no mortal was near me4 ,looking down upon the sleeping city1 ,i have seen the cloud of souls which kept watch above it1 have seen the messengers coming and going4 ,once or twice a wan1 half-frightened face appeared among the cloud of spirits1 and ,i knew that down below in the city someone had died4 ,but ,i had seen so many spirits since coming out here that ,i was more interested in watching the stars4 ,i used to love them1 and ,i love them still4 ,some day1 if it is permitted1 ,i hope to know more about them4 ,but ,i shall not leave the neighbourhood of the earth until these letters are finished4 ,from the distance of the planet ,jupiter ,i might not be able to write at all4 ,it is true that one can come and go1 almost with the quickness of thought2 but something tells me that it is better to postpone for a time my more extensive travelling4 ,perhaps when ,i get out there ,i shall not want to come back for a long time4 ,it means much to me this correspondence with earth4 ,during my illness ,i used to wonder if ,i could come back sometimes1 but ,i never imagined anything like this4 ,i would not have supposed it possible to find any well-balanced and responsible person with daring enough to join me in the experiment4 ,i could not have written through the hand of a person of untrained mind unless he or she had been fully hypnotised4 ,i could not have written through the hand of the average intellectual person1 because such persons cannot make themselves sufficiently passive4 ,be at peace4 ,you are not a spirit medium1 using the word as it is commonly used1 signifying a passive instrument1 an olian harp1 set in an aperture between the two worlds and played upon by any wind that blows4 ,except as illustrating the fact that it can be done1 there is no great object in my telling you of the things ,i have seen in your world since coming to this other one4 ,the next time you look out into this plane of life and see the wonderful landscapes and the people1 remember that it is in a similar way that ,i look back into your plane of existence4 ,it is interesting to live in two worlds1 going back and forth at will4 ,but when ,i go into yours it is only as a visitor1 and ,i shall never attempt to take a hand in its government4 ,there is such a rigorous custom-house on the frontier between the two worlds that the traveller back and forth cannot afford to carry anything with him--not even a prejudice4 ,if you should come out here with a determination to see only certain things1 you might give a wrong value to what you would see4 ,many have come out here at death with that mental attitude1 and so have learned little or nothing4 ,it is the traveller with the open mind who makes discoveries4 ,i brought over with me only a few resolutions3 ,to preserve my identity2 ,to hold my memory of earth life1 and to carry back the memory of this life when ,i should return to the world2 ,to see the great ,teachers2 ,to recover the memories of my past incarnations2 ,to lay the necessary foundations for a great earth life when ,i should go back next time4 ,that sounds simple1 does it not8 ,already ,i have done much besides2 but if ,i had not borne these points in mind ,i might have accomplished little4 ,the only really sad thing about death is that the average man learns so little from it4 ,only my realisation of the fact that the chain of earth lives is relatively endless could keep me from regret that most persons make so little progress in each life4 ,but ,i comfort myself with the assurance that there is no hurry2 that the pearls in the chain of existence1 though small1 are all in their inevitable places1 and that the chain is a circle1 the symbol of eternity4 ,and it seems to me1 with my still finite view1 that most men on this side waste their lives even as they do on your side4 ,that shows how far ,i am yet from the ideal knowledge4 ,viewed from the stars1 whence ,i hope some day to view them1 all these flat stretches in the landscape of life may be softened by distance1 and the whole picture may take on a perspective of beauty which ,i had not dreamed of while ,i myself was but a speck upon the canvas4 ,,letter ,,xxxiv ,,the ,,passing ,,of ,,lionel ,i ,,have lost my boy ,lionel4 ,he has gone--,i started to say the way of all flesh2 but ,i must revise the figure and say the way of all spirits1 sooner or later1 and that way is back to the earth4 ,one day not long ago ,i found him absorbed in thought in our favourite resting-place1 the little hut beside a stream at the foot of a wooded hill1 which ,i told you about in one of my former letters4 ,i waited for a time until the boy opened his eyes and looked at me4 8,father10 he said1 8my favourite teacher is going to be married to-morrow40 8,how do you know80 ,i asked4 8,why1 ,i have been listening60 he answered4 8,every little while ,i go back and pay her a visit1 though she does not know ,i am there4 ,i have been aware that there was something in the wind40 8,why80 8,because she has been so shining2 there is a light around her which was not there before40 8,what caused the light1 ,lionel80 8,well1 ,i suppose she is what they call in love40 8,you are a phenomenally wise child10 ,i said4 ,he looked at me with his large1 honest eyes4 8,i am not really a child at all10 he answered4 8,i am as old as the hills1 as you1 or as anybody4 ,have you not told me that we are all immortal1 without end or beginning80 8,yes1 but go on1 tell me about your teacher40 8,she is in love with the big brother of one of my playfellows4 ,i used to know him when ,i was a little boy4 ,he let me use his magnet1 and taught me kite-flying1 and showed me how machinery went4 ,he is an engineer40 8,oh60 ,i said4 8,in this case1 of course1 you are glad that your favourite teacher is going to marry him40 ,lionel's eyes were larger than ever as he said3 8,i shall be sorry to leave you1 ,father2 but it is a chance ,i cannot afford to miss40 8,what60 8,it is my opportunity to go back4 ,i've been watching for it a long time40 8,but are you ready80 8,what is it to be ready8 ,i want to go40 8,and leave me80 8,i shall find you again4 ,and--,oh1 ,father6--when you come back ,i shall be older than you40 ,this idea seemed to delight him4 ,i was still human enough to be sorry that the boy was going of his own free will2 but as will is free1 ,i would not make any effort to detain him4 ,though young in that form1 which had not yet had time to grow up in the tenuous world since he came out as a child1 yet he was old in thought4 8,yes10 ,i said1 8perhaps you can help me along when ,i also shall be a child again40 8,you see10 he went on1 8with a father like ,victor ,i shall learn all ,i want to know about machinery--that is1 all that he can teach me2 but when ,i am grown ,i shall find out for myself many things which he does not know4 ,you remember the little machine ,i have been working with1 up in the pattern world80 8,yes40 8,when ,i am back on the earth ,i shall make it a reality4 ,why1 it actually runs now with the electricity from my fingers60 8,but will it1 when you have fixed it in material form1 in steel1 or whatever it is to be made of80 8,yes1 of course it will4 ,it is my invention4 ,i shall be a famous man40 8,but supposing that somebody else finds it first80 8,i don't think anybody will40 8,shall ,i help you to lay a spell around the pattern1 so that no one can touch it80 8,could you do that1 ,father80 8,i think so40 8,then let us go up there at once10 he said1 8and do it immediately4 ,i may have to leave this world in a day or two40 ,i could not help smiling at the boy's desire to hurry4 ,doubtless he would be present at that wedding1 and ,i should see little or nothing of him afterwards4 ,we went up to the pattern world1 and with his assistance ,i drew a circle around the little machine--a spell which1 ,i think1 will protect it until he is ready to make his claim4 ,oh inspiration6 ,oh invention6 ,genius6 ,little do the men of earth know the meaning of those words4 ,perhaps the poet's famous poem was sung before his birth2 perhaps the engineer's invention lay in the pattern world1 protected by his spell1 while he grew to manhood and advanced in science and made ready to claim it for his own1 his prior and spiritual creation4 ,perhaps1 when two men discover or invent the same thing at about the same time1 one has succeeded in appropriating the design which the other left behind him when he came back to earth4 ,sometimes1 perhaps1 both have taken from the invisible the creation of a third man1 who still awaits rebirth4 ,lionel babbled on to me about the life to come1 and of what a charming mother ,miss ---- would be4 ,she had always been good to him4 8,perhaps10 ,i said1 8many of us who return almost immediately1 as you hope to do1 seek out those who have been good to us in a former life40 8,there is another point10 ,lionel said4 8,miss ---- is a friend of my own mother1 the one ,i left a few years ago4 ,it will be so good to have her hold my hand again40 8,do you think she will recognise you80 ,i asked4 8,who knows8 ,she believes in rebirth40 8,how can you say that8 ,you were so little when you came out60 8,i was seven years old1 and already she had told me that we live many lives on earth40 8,bless the souls who first brought that belief to the ,western world60 ,i exclaimed4 8,and now1 my boy1 is there anything that ,i can do for you after you leave me80 8,yes1 of course2 you can watch over my new mother1 and warn her if any danger threatens her or me40 8,then make me acquainted with her now40 ,we went out into the material world1 the boy and ,i4 ,already ,i have told you how we go4 ,he took me to a little house in one of the suburbs of ,boston4 ,we entered a room--it was then about eleven o'clock at night upon that part of the earth1--and ,i saw a fair young woman kneeling beside her bed1 praying to ,god that ,he would bless the union of the morrow which was to give her to the man she loved4 ,lionel went close to her and threw his arms about her neck4 ,she started1 as if she actually felt the contact1 and sprang to her feet4 8,miss ----1 ,miss ----1 don't you know me80 he cried2 but while ,i could hear him1 she evidently could not1 though she looked about her in a half-frightened way4 ,then1 supposing that the touch and the presence she had felt were imaginary1 she again fell upon her knees and went on with her interrupted prayer4 8,come away10 ,i said to the boy2 and we left her there with her dreams and her devotions4 ,that was the last ,i saw of ,lionel4 ,he bade me good-bye1 saying3 8,i shall stay near her for a few days4 ,perhaps ,i shall go back and forth1 from her to you2 but if ,i do not return1 ,i will meet you again in a few years40 8,yes10 ,i said1 8it is affinity and desire which draw souls together1 either on earth or in the other world40 ,when next ,i met the ,teacher ,i told him about ,lionel1 and asked him if he thought the boy could come out to me now and then1 after his life on earth had begun1 as an unborn entity in the shelter of his mother's form4 8,probably not10 he replied4 8,if he were an adept soul1 he might do that2 but with a soul of even high development1 lacking real adeptship1 it would be impossible40 8,yet10 ,i said1 8men living on earth do come out here in dreams40 8,yes1 but when the soul enters matter1 preparing for rebirth1 it enters potentiality1 if we may use the term1 and all its strength is needed in the herculean effort to form the new body and adjust to it4 ,after birth1 when the eyes are opened1 and the lungs are expanded to the air1 the task is easier1 and there may be left enough unused energy to bridge the gulf4 8,but10 he went on1 8those who are soon to be mothers are often vaguely conscious of the souls they harbour4 ,even when they do not grasp the full significance of the miracle that is being performed through them1 they have strange dreams and visions1 which are mostly glimpses into the past incarnations of the unborn child4 ,they see dream countries where the entity within has dwelt in the past2 they feel desires which they cannot explain--reflected desires which are merely the latent yearnings of the unborn one2 they experience groundless fears which are its former dreads and terrors4 ,the mother who nourishes a truly great soul1 during this period of formation may herself grow spiritually beyond her own unaided possibility2 while the mother of an unborn criminal often develops strange perversities1 quite unlike her normal state of mind4 8,if a woman were sufficiently intelligent and informed1 she could judge from her own feelings and ideas what sort of soul was to be her child some day1 and prepare to guide it accordingly4 ,more knowledge is needed1 here as elsewhere40 ,so1 as in all my experiences1 ,i learned something through the passing out of ,lionel4 ,,letter ,,xxxv ,,the ,,beautiful ,,being ,,yes1 ,i have seen angels1 if by angels you mean spiritual beings who have never dwelt as men upon the earth4 ,as a man is to a rock1 so is an angel to a man in vividness of life4 ,if we ever experienced that state of etheric joy1 we have lost it through long association with matter4 ,can we ever regain it8 ,perhaps4 ,the event is in our hand4 ,shall ,i tell you of one whom ,i call the ,beautiful ,being8 ,if it has a name in heaven1 ,i have not heard it4 ,is the ,beautiful ,being man or woman8 ,sometimes it seems to be one1 sometimes the other4 ,there is a mystery here which ,i cannot fathom4 ,one night ,i seemed to be reclining upon a moonbeam1 which means that the poet which dwells in all men was awake in me4 ,i seemed to be reclining upon a moonbeam1 and ecstasy filled my heart4 ,for the moment ,i had escaped the clutches of ,time1 and was living in that etheric quietude which is merely the activity of rapture raised to the last degree4 ,i must have been enjoying a foretaste of that paradoxical state which the wise ones of the ,east call ,nirvana4 ,i was vividly conscious of the moonbeam and of myself1 and in myself seemed to be everything else in the universe4 ,it was the nearest ,i ever came to a realisation of that supreme declaration1 8,i am40 ,the past and the future seemed equally present in the moment4 ,had a voice whispered that it was yesterday1 ,i should have acquiesced in the assertion2 had ,i been told that it was a million years hence1 ,i should have been also assentive4 ,but whether it was really yesterday or a million years hence mattered not in the least4 ,perhaps the ,beautiful ,being only comes to those for whom the moment and eternity are one4 ,i heard a voice say3 8,brother1 it is ,i40 ,there was no question in my mind as to who had spoken4 8,it is ,i0 can only be uttered in such a voice by one whose individuality is so vast as to be almost universal1 one who has dipped in the ocean of the ,all1 yet who knows the minute by reason of its own inclusiveness4 ,standing before me was the ,beautiful ,being1 radiant in its own light4 ,had it been less lovely ,i might have gasped with wonder2 but the very perfection of its form and presence diffused an atmosphere of calm4 ,i marvelled not1 because the state of my consciousness was marvel4 ,i was lifted so far above the commonplace that ,i had no standard by which to measure the experience of that moment4 ,imagine youth immortalised1 the fleeting made eternal4 ,imagine the bloom of a child's face and the eyes of the ages of knowledge4 ,imagine the brilliancy of a thousand lives concentrated in those eyes1 and the smile upon the lips of a love so pure that it asks no answering love from those it smiles upon4 ,but the language of earth cannot describe the unearthly1 nor could the understanding of man grasp in a moment those joys which the ,beautiful ,being revealed to me in that hour of supreme life4 ,for the possibilities of existence have been widened for me1 the meanings of the soul have deepened4 ,those who behold the ,beautiful ,being are never the same again as they were before4 ,they may forget for a time1 and lose in the business of living the magic of that presence2 but whenever they do remember1 they are caught up again on the wings of the former rapture4 ,it may happen to one who is living upon the earth2 it may happen to one in the spaces between the stars2 but the experience must be the same when it comes to all2 for only to one in the state in which it dwells could the ,beautiful ,being reveal itself at all4 ,a ,,song ,,of ,,the ,,beautiful ,,being ,when you hear a rustling in the air1 listen again3 there may be something there4 ,when you feel a warmth mysterious and lovely in the heart1 there may be something there1 something sent to you from a warm and lovely source4 ,when a joy unknown fills your being1 and your soul goes out1 out 444 toward some loved mystery1 you know not where1 know that the mystery itself is reaching toward you with warm and loving1 though invisible1 arms4 ,we who live in the invisible are not invisible to each other4 ,there are tender colours here and exquisite forms1 and the eye gloats on beauty never seen upon the earth4 ,oh1 the joy of simple life to be1 and to sing in your soul all day as the bird sings to its mate6 ,for you are singing to your mate whenever your soul sings4 ,did you fancy it was only the spring-time that thrilled you and moved you to listen to the rustling of wings8 ,the spring-time of the heart is all time1 and the autumn may never come4 ,listen6 ,when the lark sings1 he sings to you4 ,when the waters sing1 they sing to you4 ,and as your heart rejoices1 there is always another heart somewhere that responds2 and the soul of the listening heavens grows glad with the mother joy4 ,i am glad to be here1 ,i am glad to be there4 ,there is beauty wherever ,i go4 ,can you guess the reason1 children of earth8 ,come out and play with me in the daisy fields of space4 ,i will wait for you at the corner where the four winds meet4 ,you will not lose your way1 if you follow the gleam at the end of the garden of hope4 ,there is music also beyond the roar of the earth as it swishes through space3 ,there is music in keys unknown to the duller ears of the earth1 and harmonies whose chords are souls attuned to each other4 ,listen4444 ,do you hear them8 ,oh1 the ears are made for hearing1 and the eyes are made for seeing1 and the heart is made for loving6 ,the hours go by and leave no mark1 and the years are as sylphs that dance on the air and leave no footprints1 and the centuries march solemn and slow4 ,but we smile1 for joy is also in the solemn tread of the centuries4 ,joy1 joy everywhere4 ,it is for you and for me1 and for you as much as for me4 ,will you meet me out where the four winds meet8 ,,letter ,,xxxvi ,,the ,,hollow ,,sphere ,,some time ago ,i started to write to you about certain visits which ,i had made to the infernal regions2 but ,i was called away1 and the letter was not finished4 ,to-night ,i will take up the story again4 ,you must know that there are many hells1 and they are mostly of our own making4 ,that is one of those platitudes which are based upon fact4 ,desiring one day to see the particular kind of hell to which a drunkard would be likely to go1 ,i sought that part of the hollow sphere around the world which corresponds to one of those countries where drunkenness is most common4 ,souls1 when they come out1 usually remain in the neighbourhood where they have lived1 unless there is some strong reason to the contrary4 ,i had no difficulty in finding a hell full of drunkards4 ,what do you fancy they were doing8 ,repenting their sins8 ,not at all4 ,they were hovering around those places on earth where the fumes of alcohol1 and the heavier fumes of those who over-indulge in alcohol1 made sickening the atmosphere4 ,it is no wonder that sensitive people dislike the neighbourhood of drinking saloons4 ,you would draw back with disgust and refuse to write for me should ,i tell you all that ,i saw4 ,one or two instances will suffice4 ,i placed myself in a sympathetic and neutral state1 so that ,i could see into both worlds4 ,a young man with restless eyes and a troubled face entered one of those 8gin palaces0 in which gilding and highly polished imitation mahogany tend to impress the miserable wayfarer with the idea that he is enjoying the luxury of the 8kingdoms of this world40 ,the young man's clothes were threadbare1 and his shoes had seen much wear4 ,a stubble of beard was on his chin1 for the price of a shave is the price of a drink1 and a man takes that which he desires most--when he can get it4 ,he was leaning on the bar1 drinking a glass of some soul-destroying compound4 ,and close to him1 taller than he and bending over him1 with its repulsive1 bloated1 ghastly face pressed close to his1 as if to smell his whisky-tainted breath1 was one of the most horrible astral beings which ,i have seen in this world since ,i came out4 ,the hands of the creature 7and ,i use that word to suggest its vitality7--the hands of the creature were clutching the young man's form1 one long and naked arm was around his shoulders1 the other around his hips4 ,it was literally sucking the liquor-soaked life of its victim1 absorbing him1 using him1 in the successful attempt to enjoy vicariously the passion which death had intensified4 ,but was that a creature in hell8 you ask4 ,yes1 for ,i could look into its mind and see its sufferings4 ,for ever 7the words 8for ever0 may be used of that which seems endless7 this entity was doomed to crave and crave and never to be satisfied4 ,there was in it just enough left of the mind which had made it man--just enough to catch a fitful glimpse now and then of the horror of its own state4 ,it had no desire to escape1 but the very consciousness of the impossibility of escape was an added torment4 ,and dread was in the eyes of the thing--dread of the future into which it could not look1 but which it felt waiting to drag it into that state of even greater suffering than its present1 when the astral particles of its form1 unable longer to hold together because of the absence of the unifying soul1 would begin to rend and tear what was left of the mind and astral nerves--rending and tearing asunder1 in terror and pain1 that shape whose end was at hand4 ,for only the soul endures1 and that which the soul deserts must perish and disintegrate4 ,and the young man who leaned on the bar in that gilded palace of gin was filled with a nameless horror and sought to leave the place2 but the arms of the thing that was now his master clutched him tighter and tighter1 the sodden1 vaporous cheek was pressed closer to his1 the desire of the vampire creature aroused an answering desire in its victim1 and the young man demanded another glass4 ,verily1 earth and hell are neighbouring states1 and the frontier has never been charted4 ,i have seen hells of lust and hells of hatred2 hells of untruthfulness1 where every object which the wretched dweller tried to grasp turned into something else which was a denial of the thing desired1 where truth was mocked eternally and nothing was real1 but everything--changing and uncertain as untruthfulness--became its own antithesis4 ,i have seen the anguished faces of those not yet resigned to lies1 have seen their frantic efforts to clutch reality1 which melted in their grasp4 ,for the habit of untruthfulness1 when carried into this world of shifting shapes1 surrounds the untruthful person with ever-changing images which mock him and elude4 ,would he see the faces of his loved ones8 ,the promise is given1 and as the faces appear they turn into grinning furies4 ,would he grasp in memory the prizes of ambition8 ,they are shown to be but disgrace in another form1 and pride becomes weak shame4 ,would he clasp the hand of friendship8 ,the hand is extended--but in its clutch is a knife which pierces the vitals of the liar without destroying him1 and the futile attempt begins again1 over and over1 until the uneasy conscience is exhausted4 ,beware of deathbed repentance and its after-harvest of morbid memories4 ,it is better to go into eternity with one's karmic burdens bravely carried upon the back1 rather than to slink through the back door of hell in the stockinged-feet of a sorry cowardice4 ,if you have sinned1 accept the fact with courage and resolve to sin no more2 but he who dwells upon his sins in his last hour will live them over and over again in the state beyond the tomb4 ,every act is followed by its inevitable reaction2 every cause is accompanied by its own effect1 which nothing--save the powerful dynamics of ,will itself--can modify2 and when ,will modifies the effect of an antecedent cause1 it is always by setting up a counteracting and more powerful cause than the first--a cause so strong that the other is irresistibly carried along with it1 as a great flood can sweep a trickling stream of water from an open hose-pipe1 carrying the hose-pipe cause and its trickling effect along with the rushing torrent of its own flood4 ,if you recognise the fact that you have sinned1 set up good actions more powerful than your sins1 and reap the reward for those4 ,there is much more to be said about hells1 but this is enough for to-night4 ,at another time ,i may return to the subject4 ,,letter ,,xxxvii ,,an ,,empty ,,china ,,cup ,,it is no wonder that children1 no matter how old and experienced their souls1 have to be retaught in each life the relative values of all things according to the artificial standards of the world2 for out here those values lose their meaning4 ,that a soul had houses1 lands1 and honours among men does not increase his value in our eyes4 ,we cannot hope to profit by his discarded riches4 ,the soul in the 8hereafter0 builds its own house1 and the materials thereof are free as air4 ,if ,i use the house which another has built1 ,i miss the enjoyment of creating my own4 ,there is nothing worth stealing out here1 so no one trembles for fear of burglars in the night4 ,even bores can be escaped by retiring to the very centre of oneself1 for a bore is himself too self-centred ever to pierce to the centre of anyone else4 ,on earth you value titles1 inherited or acquired2 here a man's name is not of much importance even to himself1 and a visiting-card would be lost through the cracks in the floor of heaven4 ,no footman angel would ever deliver it to his ,lord and ,master4 ,one day ,i met a lady recently arrived4 ,she had not been here long enough to have lost her assurance of superiority over ordinary men and angels4 ,that morning ,i had on my best ,roman toga1 for ,i had been reliving the past2 and the lady1 mistaking me for ,csar or some other ancient aristocrat1 asked me to direct her to a place where gentlewomen congregated4 ,i was forced to admit that ,i did not know of any such resort2 but as the visitor seemed lonely and bewildered1 ,i invited her to rest beside me for a time and to question me if she wished4 8,i have been here several months10 ,i said1 8and have gained considerable experience40 ,it was plain to see that she was puzzled by my remark4 ,she glanced at my classical garment1 and ,i could feel her thinking that there was something incongruous between it and my assertion that ,i had been here only a few months4 8,perhaps you are an actor10 she said4 8,we are all actors here10 ,i replied4 ,this seemed to puzzle her more than ever1 and she said that she did not understand4 ,poor lady6 ,i felt sorry for her1 and ,i tried my best to explain to her the conditions under which we live4 8,you must know in the first place10 ,i said1 8that this is the land of realised ideals4 ,now a man who has always desired to be a king can play the part up here if he wishes to1 and no one will laugh at him2 for each spirit has some favourite dream which he acts out to his own satisfaction4 8,we have1 madam10 ,i continued1 8reacquired the tolerance and the courtesy of children who never ridicule one another's play40 8,is heaven merely a play-room80 she asked1 in a shocked tone4 8,not at all10 ,i answered2 8but you are not in heaven40 ,her look of apprehension caused me immediately to add3 8,nor are you in hell1 either4 ,what was your religion upon the earth80 8,why1 ,i professed the usual religion of my country and station2 but ,i never gave it much thought40 8,perhaps the idea of purgatory is not unfamiliar to you40 8,i am not a papist10 she said1 with some warmth4 8,nevertheless1 a papist in your position would conceive himself to be in purgatory40 8,i am certainly not happy10 she admitted1 8because everything is so strange40 8,have you no friends here80 ,i inquired4 8,i must have many acquaintances10 she said2 8but ,i never cared for intimate friendships4 ,i used to entertain a good deal2 my husband's political position demanded it40 8,perhaps there is someone on this side to whom you were specially kind at some time or other1 someone whose grief you helped to bear1 whose poverty you eased40 8,i patronised our organised charities40 8,i fear that sort of help is too impersonal to be remembered here4 ,have you no children80 8,no40 8,no brothers or sisters on this side80 8,i quarrelled with my only brother for marrying beneath him40 8,but surely10 ,i said1 8you must have had a mother4 ,was she not waiting for you when you came over80 8,no40 ,this surprised me1 for ,i had been told that all mother spirits who have not gone back to the world know by a peculiar thrill when a child to which they have given birth is about to be reborn into the spiritual world--a sort of sympathetic after-pain1 the final and sweetest reward of motherhood4 8,then she must have reincarnated10 ,i said4 8,do you hold to that pagan belief80 the lady inquired1 with just a touch of superiority4 8,i thought that only queer people1 ,theosophists and such1 believed in reincarnation40 8,i was always queer10 ,i admitted4 8,but you know1 of course1 dear madam1 that about three-quarters of the earth's inhabitants are familiar with that theory in some form or other40 ,we continued our talk for a little time1 and meanwhile ,i was puzzling my heart as to what ,i could do to help this poor lonely woman1 for whom no one was waiting4 ,i passed in mental review this and that ministering angel of my acquaintance1 and wondered which of them would be considered most correct from the conventional earthly point of view4 ,the noblest of them was usually at the side of some newly arrived unfortunate woman--to use a euphemism of that polite society which my latest protge had frequented4 ,the others were here1 there1 and everywhere1 but generally with those souls who needed them most2 while the need of my present companion was more real than urgent4 ,if ,lionel had been here1 he might have entertained her for a while4 ,i wished that ,i had cultivated the acquaintance of some of those ladies who crochet and gossip in this world as they crocheted and gossiped in yours4 ,do not be shocked4 ,did you fancy that a lifelong habit could be laid aside in a moment8 ,as women on earth dream often of their knitting1 so they do here4 ,it is as easy to knit in this world as it is to dream in yours4 ,understand that the world in which ,i now live is no more essentially sacred than is the world in which you live1 nor is it any more mysterious to those who dwell in it4 ,to the serious soul all conditions are sacred--except those that are profane1 and both are found out here as well as on the earth4 ,but to return to the lonely woman4 ,i was still wondering what ,i should do with her when1 looking up1 ,i saw the ,teacher approaching4 ,he had with him another woman1 as like the first as one empty china cup is like another empty china cup4 ,then he and ,i went away and left the two together4 8,i did not know10 ,i said to the ,teacher1 8that you troubled yourself with any souls but those of considerable development40 ,he smiled3 8,it was your perplexity which ,i came to relieve1 not that of those poor ladies40 ,then he began to talk to me about relative values4 8,in a sense10 he said1 8one soul is as much worth helping as another2 in a deeper sense1 perhaps it is not4 ,do not think that ,i am indifferent to the sufferings of the weakest ones because ,i give my time and attention to the strong4 ,like the ministering angels1 ,i go where ,i am most needed4 ,only the strong ones can learn what ,i have to teach4 ,the weak ones are the charges of the ,messiahs and their followers4 ,but1 nevertheless1 between us and the ,messiahs there is brotherhood and there is mutual understanding4 ,each works in his own field4 ,the ,messiahs help the many2 we help the few4 ,their reward in love is greater than ours2 but we do not work for reward any more than they do4 ,each follows the law of his being4 8,to be loved by all men a teacher must be known to all men1 and we reveal ourselves only to a few chosen ones4 ,why do we not go the way of the ,messiahs8 ,because the balance must be maintained4 ,for every great worker in the sight of men there is another worker out of sight4 ,which kind of teacher is of greater value8 ,the question is out of order4 ,the ,north and the ,south are interdependent1 and there are two poles to every magnet40 ,,letter ,,xxxviii ,,where ,,time ,,is ,,not ,i ,,think you now understand from what ,i have said that not all the souls who have passed the airy frontier are either in heaven or hell4 ,few reach an extreme1 and most live out their allotted period here as they lived out their allotted period on earth1 without realising either the possibilities or the significance of their condition4 ,wisdom is a tree of slow growth2 the rings around its trunk are earthly lives1 and the grooves between are the periods between the lives4 ,who grieves that an acorn is slow in becoming an oak8 ,it is equally unphilosophical to feel that the truth which ,i have endeavoured to make you understand--the truth of the soul's great leisure--is necessarily sad4 ,if a man were to become an archangel in a few years' time1 he would suffer terribly from growing-pains4 ,the ,law is implacable1 but it often seems to be kind4 ,nevertheless there are many souls in heaven1 and there are many heavens1 of which ,i have seen a few4 ,but do not fancy that most people go from place to place and from state to state as ,i do4 ,the things which ,i describe to you are not exceptional2 but that one man should be able to see and describe so many things is exceptional indeed4 ,i owe it largely to the ,teacher4 ,without his guidance ,i could not have acquired so rich an experience4 ,yes1 there are many heavens4 ,last night ,i felt the yearning for beauty which sometimes came to me on earth4 ,one of the strangest phenomena of this ethereal world is the tremendous attraction by sympathy--the attraction of events1 ,i mean4 ,desire a thing intensely enough1 and you are on the way to it4 ,a body of a feather's weight moves swiftly when propelled by a free will4 ,i felt a yearning for beauty1 which is a synonym for heaven4 ,did ,i really move from my place1 or did heaven come to me8 ,i cannot say1 space means so little here4 ,for every vale without there is a vale within4 ,we desire a place1 and we are there4 ,perhaps the ,teacher could give you a scientific explanation of this1 but ,i cannot at the moment4 ,and then1 ,i want to tell you about that heaven where ,i was last night4 ,it was so beautiful that the charm of it is over me still4 ,i saw a double row of dark-topped trees1 like cypresses1 and at the end of this long avenue down which ,i passed was a softly diffused light4 ,somewhere ,i have read of a heaven lighted by a thousand suns1 but my heaven was not like that4 ,the light as ,i approached it was softer than moonlight1 though clearer4 ,perhaps the light of the sun would shine as softly if seen through many veils of alabaster4 ,yet this light seemed to come from nowhere4 ,it simply was4 ,as ,i approached ,i saw two beings walking towards me1 hand in hand4 ,there was such a look of happiness on their faces as one never sees on the faces of earth4 ,only a spirit unconscious of time could look like that4 ,i should say that these two were man and woman1 save that they seemed so different from what you understand by man and woman4 ,they did not even look at each other as they walked2 the touch of the hand seemed to make them so much one1 that the realisation of the eye could have added nothing to their content4 ,like the light which came from nowhere1 they simply were4 ,a little farther on ,i saw a group of bright-robed children dancing among flowers4 ,hand in hand in a ring they danced1 and their garments1 which were like the petals of flowers1 moved with the rhythm of their dancing limbs4 ,a great joy filled my heart4 ,they1 too1 were unconscious of time1 and might have been dancing there from eternity1 for all ,i knew4 ,but whether their gladness was of the moment or of the ages had no significance for me or for them4 ,like the light1 and like the lovers who had passed me hand in hand1 they were1 and that was enough4 ,i had left the avenue of cypresses and stood in a wide plain1 encircled by a forest of blossoming trees4 ,the odours of spring were on the air1 and birds sang4 ,in the centre of the plain a great circular fountain played with the waters1 tossing them in the air1 whence they descended in feathery spray4 ,an atmosphere of inexpressible charm was over everything4 ,here and there in this circular flower-scented heaven walked angelic beings1 many or most of whom must some time have been human4 ,two by two they walked1 or in groups1 smiling to themselves or at one another4 ,on earth you often use the word 8peace02 but compared with the peace of that place the greatest peace of earth is only turmoil4 ,i realised that ,i was in one of the fairest heavens1 but that ,i was alone there4 ,no sooner had this thought of solitude found lodgment in my heart than ,i saw standing before me the ,beautiful ,being about whom ,i wrote you a little time ago4 ,it smiled1 and said to me3 8,he who is sadly conscious of his solitude is no longer in heaven4 ,so ,i have come to hold you here yet a little while40 8,is this the particular heaven where you dwell80 ,i asked4 8,oh1 ,i dwell nowhere and everywhere10 the ,beautiful ,being answered4 8,i am one of the voluntary wanderers1 who find the charm of home in every heavenly or earthly place40 8,so you sometimes visit earth80 8,yes1 even the remotest hells ,i go to1 but ,i never stay there long4 ,my purpose is to know all things1 and yet to remain unattached40 8,and do you love the earth80 8,the earth is one of my playgrounds4 ,i sing to the children of earth sometimes2 and when ,i sing to the poets1 they believe that their muse is with them4 ,here is a song which ,i sang one night to a soul which dwells among men3 8,my sister1 ,i am often with you when you realise it not4 ,for me a poet soul is a well of water in whose deeps ,i can see myself reflected4 ,i live in a glamour of light and colour1 which you mortal poets vainly try to express in magic words4 ,i am in the sunset and in the star2 ,i watched the moon grow old and you grow young4 ,in childhood you sought for me in the swiftly moving cloud2 in maturity you fancied you had caught me in the gleam of a lover's eye2 but ,i am the eluder of men4 ,i beckon and ,i fly1 and the touch of my feet does not press down the heads of the blossoming daisies4 ,you can find me and lose me again1 for mortal cannot hold me4 ,i am nearest to those who seek beauty--whether in thought or in form2 ,i fly from those who seek to imprison me4 ,you can come each day to the region where ,i dwell4 ,sometimes you will meet me1 sometimes not2 for my will is the wind's will1 and ,i answer no beckoning finger3 ,but when ,i beckon1 the souls come flying from the four corners of heaven4 ,your soul comes flying1 too2 for you are one of those ,i have called by the spell of my magic4 ,i have use for you1 and you have meaning for me2 ,i like to see your soul in its hours of dream and ecstasy4 ,whenever one of my own dreams a dream of ,paradise1 the light grows brighter for me1 to whom all things are bright4 ,oh1 forget not the charm of the moment1 forget not the lure of the mood6 ,for the mood is wiser than all the magi of earth1 and the treasures of the moment are richer and rarer than the hoarded wealth of the ages4 ,the moment is real1 while the age is only a delusion1 a memory1 and a shadow4 ,be sure that each moment is all1 and the moment is more than time4 ,time carries an hour-glass1 and his step is slow2 his hair is white with the rime of years1 and his scythe is dull with unwearied mowing2 ,but he never yet has caught the moment in its flight4 ,he has grown old in casting nets for it4 ,ah1 the magic of life and of the endless combination of living things6 ,i was young when the sun was formed1 and ,i shall be young when the moon falls dead in the arms of her daughter the earth4 ,will you not be young with me8 ,the dust is as nothing3 the soul is all4 ,like a crescent moon on the surface of a lake of water is the moment of love's awakening2 ,like a faded flower in the lap of the tired world is the moment of love's death4 ,but there is love and ,love1 and the love of the light for its radiance is the love of souls for each other4 ,there is no death where the inner light shines1 irradiating the fields of the within--the beyond--the unattainable attainment4 ,you know where to find me40 ,,letter ,,xxxix ,,the ,,doctrine ,,of ,,death ,,many times during the months in which ,i have been here have ,i seen men and women lying in a state of unconsciousness more profound than the deepest sleep1 their faces expressionless and uninteresting4 ,at first1 before ,i understood the nature of their sleep1 ,i tried as an experiment to awaken one or two of them1 and was not successful4 ,in certain cases where my curiosity was aroused1 ,i have returned later1 day after day1 and found them still lying in the same lethargy4 8,why10 ,i asked myself1 8should any man sleep like that--a sleep so deep that neither the spoken word nor the physical touch could arouse him80 ,one day when the ,teacher was with me we passed one of those unconscious men whom ,i had seen before1 had watched1 and had striven unsuccessfully to arouse4 8,who are these people who sleep like that80 ,i asked the ,teacher2 and he replied3 8,they are those who in their earth life denied the immortality of the soul after death40 8,how terrible60 ,i said4 8,and will they never awaken80 8,yes1 perhaps centuries1 perhaps ages hence1 when the irresistible law of rhythm shall draw them out of their sleep into incarnation4 ,for the law of rebirth is one with the law of rhythm40 8,would it not be possible to awaken one of them1 this man1 for instance80 8,you have attempted it1 have you not80 the ,teacher inquired1 with a keen look into my face4 8,yes10 ,i admitted4 8,and you failed80 8,yes40 ,we looked at each other for a moment1 then ,i said3 8,perhaps you1 with your greater power and knowledge1 could succeed where ,i have failed40 ,he made no answer4 ,his silence fired my interest still farther1 and ,i said eagerly3 8,will you not try8 ,will you not awaken this man80 8,you know not what you ask10 he replied4 8,but tell me this10 ,i demanded3 8could you awaken him80 8,perhaps4 ,but in order to counteract the law which holds him in sleep1 the law of the spell he laid upon his own soul when he went out of life demanding unconsciousness and annihilation--in order to counteract that law1 ,i should have to put in operation a law still stronger40 8,and that is80 ,i asked4 8,will10 he answered1 8the potency of will40 8,could you80 8,as ,i said before--perhaps40 8,and will you80 8,again ,i say that you know not what you ask40 8,will you please explain80 ,i persisted1 8for indeed this seems to me to be one of the most marvellous things which ,i have seen40 ,the face of the ,teacher was very grave1 as he answered3 8,what good has this man done in the past that ,i should place myself between him and the law of cause and effect which he has wilfully set in operation80 8,i do not know his past10 ,i said4 8,then10 the ,teacher demanded1 8will you tell me your reason for asking me to do this thing80 8,my reason80 8,yes4 ,is it pity for this man's unfortunate condition1 or is it scientific curiosity on your part80 ,i should gladly have been able to say that it was pity for the man's sad state which moved me so2 but one does not juggle with truth or with motives when speaking to such a ,teacher1 so ,i admitted that it was scientific curiosity4 8,in that case10 he said1 8,i am justified in using him as a demonstration of the power of the trained will40 8,it will not harm him1 will it80 8,on the contrary4 ,and though he may suffer shock1 it will probably be the means of so impressing his mind that never again1 even in future lives on earth1 can he believe himself1 or teach others to believe1 that death ends everything4 ,as far as he is concerned1 he does not deserve that ,i should waste upon him so great an amount of energy as will be necessary to arouse him from this sleep1 this spell which he laid upon himself ages ago4 ,but if ,i awaken him1 it will be for your sake1 #8that you may believe4'0 ,i wish ,i could describe the scene which took place1 so that you could see it with the eyes of your imagination4 ,there lay the man at our feet1 his face colourless and expressionless1 and above him towered the splendid form of the ,teacher1 his face beautiful with power1 his eyes brilliant with thought4 8,can you not see10 asked the ,teacher1 8a faint light surrounding this seemingly lifeless figure80 8,yes1 but the light is very faint indeed40 8,nevertheless10 said the ,teacher1 8that light is far less faint than is this weak soul's hold upon the eternal truth4 ,but where you see only a pale light around the recumbent form1 ,i see in that light many pictures of the soul's past4 ,i see that he not only denied the immortality of the soul's consciousness1 but that he taught his doctrine of death to other men and made them even as himself4 ,truly he does not deserve that ,i should try to awaken him60 8,yet you will do it80 8,yes1 ,i will do it40 ,i regret that ,i am not permitted to tell you by what form of words and by what acts my ,teacher succeeded1 after a mighty effort1 in arousing that man from his self-imposed imitation of annihilation4 ,i realised as never before--not only the personal power of the ,teacher1 but the irresistible power of a trained and directed will4 ,i thought of that scene recorded in the ,new ,testament1 where ,jesus said to the dead man in the tomb1 8,lazarus1 come forth60 8,the soul of man is immortal10 declared the ,teacher1 looking fixedly into the shrinking eyes of the awakened man and holding them by his will4 8,the soul of man is immortal10 he repeated4 ,then in a tone of command3 8,stand up60 ,the man struggled to his feet4 ,though his body was light as a feather1 as are all our bodies here1 ,i could see that his slumbering energy was still almost too dormant to permit of that really slight exertion4 8,you live10 declared the ,teacher4 8,you have passed through death1 and you live4 ,do not dare to deny that you live4 ,you cannot deny it40 8,but ,i do not believe----0 began the man1 his stubborn materialism still challenging the truth of his own existence1 his memory surviving the ordeal through which he had passed4 ,this last surprised me more than anything else4 ,but after a moment's stupefaction ,i understood that it was the power of the ,teacher's mental picture of the astral records round this soul which had forced those memories to awaken4 8,sit down between us two10 said the ,teacher to the newly aroused man1 8and let us reason together4 ,you thought yourself a great reasoner1 did you not1 when you walked the earth as ,so-and-so80 8,i did40 8,you see that you were mistaken in your reasoning10 the ,teacher went on1 8for you certainly passed through death1 and you are now alive40 8,but where am ,i80 ,he looked about him in a bewildered way4 8,where am ,i1 and who are you80 8,you are in eternity10 replied the ,teacher1 8where you always have been and always will be40 8,and you80 8,i am one who knows the workings of the ,law40 8,what law80 8,the law of rhythm1 which drives the soul into and out of gross matter1 as it drives the tides of the ocean into flood and ebb1 and the consciousness of man into sleeping and waking40 8,and it was you who awakened me8 ,are you1 then1 this law of rhythm80 ,the ,teacher smiled4 8,i am not the law10 he said1 8but ,i am bound by it1 even as you1 save as ,i am temporarily able to transcend it by my will--again1 even as you40 ,i caught my breath at the profundity of this simple answer1 but the man seemed not to observe its significance4 ,even as he6 ,why1 this man by his misdirected will had been able temporarily to transcend the law of immortality1 even as the ,teacher by his wisely directed will transcended the mortal in himself6 ,my soul sang within me at this glimpse of the godlike possibilities of the human mind4 8,how long have ,i been asleep80 demanded the man4 8,in what year did you die80 the ,teacher asked4 8,in the year #ahag40 8,and the present year is known1 according to the ,christian calendar1 as the year #aiab4 ,you have lain in a death-like sleep for ninety-five years40 8,and was it really you who awakened me80 8,yes40 8,why did you do it80 8,because it suited my good pleasure10 was the ,teacher's rather stern reply4 8,it was not because you deserved to be awakened40 8,and how long would ,i have slept if you had not aroused me80 8,i cannot say4 ,probably until those who had started even with you had left you far behind on the road of evolving life4 ,perhaps for centuries1 perhaps for ages40 8,you have taken a responsibility upon yourself10 said the man4 8,you do not need to remind me of that10 replied the ,teacher4 8,i weighed in my own mind the full responsibility and decided to assume it for a purpose of my own4 ,for will is free40 8,yet you overpowered my will40 8,i did2 but by my own more potent will1 more potent because wisely directed and backed by a greater energy40 8,and what are you going to do with me80 8,i am going to assume the responsibility of your training40 8,my training80 8,yes40 8,and you will make things easy for me80 8,on the contrary1 ,i shall make things very hard for you2 but you cannot escape my teaching40 8,shall you instruct me personally80 8,personally in the sense that ,i shall place you under the instruction of an advanced pupil of my own40 8,who8 ,this man here80 ,he pointed to me4 8,no4 ,he is better occupied4 ,i will take you to your teacher presently40 8,and what will he show me80 8,the panorama of immortality4 ,and when you have learned the lesson so that you can never forget nor escape it1 you will have to go back to the earth and teach it to others2 you will have to convert as many men to the truth of immortality as you have in the past deluded and misled by your false doctrines of materialism and death40 8,and what if ,i refuse8 ,you have said that will is free40 8,do you refuse80 8,no1 but what if ,i had80 8,then1 instead of growing and developing under the law of action and reaction1 which in the ,east they call karma1 you would have been its victim40 8,i do not understand you40 8,he is indeed a wise man10 said the ,teacher1 8who understands the law of karma1 which is also the law of cause and effect4 ,but come4 ,i will now take you to your new instructor40 ,then1 leaving me alone1 the ,teacher and his charge disappeared in the grey distance4 ,i remained there a long time1 pondering what ,i had seen and heard4 ,,letter ,,xl ,,the ,,celestial ,,hierarchy ,i ,,am about to say something which may shock certain persons2 but those who are too fond of their own ideas1 without being willing to grant others their ideas in turn1 should not seek to open the jealously guarded doors which separate the land of the so-called living from the land of the certainly not dead4 ,this is the statement which ,i have to make3 that there are many gods1 and that the ,one ,god is the sum-total of all of them4 ,all gods exist in ,god4 ,do what you like with that statement1 dear world1 for truth is more vital than anybody's dream1 even yours or mine4 ,have ,i seen ,god8 ,i have seen ,him who has been called the ,son of ,god1 and you may remember that ,he said that whoever had seen the ,son had seen the ,father4 ,but what of the other gods8 you ask2 for there are many in the world's pantheons4 ,well1 the realities exist out here4 ,what6 you say again1 can man create the gods of his imagination and give them a place in the invisible8 ,no4 ,they existed here first1 and man became aware of them long ago through his own psychic and spiritual perception of them4 ,man did not create them1 and the materialists who say that he did know little of the laws of being4 ,man1 primitive man1 perceived them through his own spiritual affinities with and nearness to them4 ,when you have read folk-tales of this god and that1 you have perhaps spoken patronisingly of the old myth-makers and thanked your lucky stars that you lived in a more enlightened age4 ,but those old story-tellers were the really enlightened ones1 for they saw into the other world and recorded what they saw4 ,many of the world's favourite gods are said to have lived upon the earth as men4 ,they have so lived4 ,does that idea startle you8 ,how does a man become a god1 and how does a god become a man8 ,have you ever wondered8 ,a man becomes a god by developing god-consciousness1 which is not the same as developing his own thought about ,god4 ,during recent years you have heard and read much of so-called ,masters1 men of superhuman attainments1 who have forgone the small pleasures and recognitions of the world in order to achieve something greater4 ,man's ideas of the gods change as the gods themselves change1 for 8everything is becoming10 as ,heraclitus said about twenty-four centuries ago4 ,did you fancy that the gods stood still1 and that only you progressed8 ,in that case you might some day outstrip your god1 and fall to worshipping yourself1 having nothing to look up to as superior4 ,accompanied by the ,teacher1 ,i have stood face to face with some of the older gods4 ,had ,i come out here with a superior contempt for all gods save my own1 ,i should hardly have been granted that privilege2 for the gods are as exclusive as they are inclusive1 and they only reveal themselves to those who can see them as they are4 ,does this open the door to polytheism1 pantheism1 or other dreaded isms8 ,an ism is only a word4 ,facts are4 ,the day is past when men were burned at the stake for having had a vision of the wrong god4 ,but even now ,i would hesitate to tell all that ,i have learned about the gods1 though ,i can tell you much4 ,take1 for instance1 the god whom the ,romans called ,neptune4 ,did you fancy that he was only a poetic creation of the old myth-makers8 ,he was something more than that4 ,he was supposed to rule the ocean4 ,now1 what could be more orderly and inevitable than that the work of controlling the elements and the floods should be assumed by1 and the work parcelled out among those able to perform it8 ,we hear much of the laws of ,nature4 ,who enforces them8 ,the term 8natural law0 is in every man's mouth1 but the ,law has executors in heaven as on earth4 ,i have been told that there are also planetary beings1 planetary gods1 though ,i have never had the honour of conscious communion with one of them4 ,if a planetary being is so far beyond the daring of my approach1 how should ,i comport myself in approaching the ,god of gods8 ,o paradoxical mind of man1 which stands in awe and trembling before the servant1 yet approaches the master without fear6 ,i have been told that the guardian spirit of this planet ,earth evolved himself into a god of tremendous power and responsibility in bygone cycles of existence4 ,to him who has ever used a microscope the idea need not be appalling4 ,the infinitely small and the infinitely great are the tail and the head of the ,eternal ,serpent4 ,who do you fancy will be the gods of the future cycles of existence8 ,will they not be those who in this cycle of planetary life have raised themselves above the mortal8 ,will they not be the strongest and most sublime among the present spirits of men8 ,even the gods must have their resting period1 and those in office now would doubtless wish to be supplanted4 ,to those men who are ambitious for growth1 the doors of development are always open4 ,,letter ,,xli ,,the ,,darling ,,of ,,the ,,unseen ,i ,,have written you before of one whom ,i call the ,beautiful ,being1 one whose province seems to be the universe1 whose chosen companions are all men and angelkind1 whose play-things are days and ages4 ,for some reason1 the ,beautiful ,being has lately been so gracious as to take an interest in my efforts to acquire knowledge1 and has shown me many things which otherwise ,i should never have seen4 ,when a tour of the planet is personally conducted by an angel1 the traveller is specially favoured4 ,letters of introduction to the great and powerful of earth are nothing compared with this introduction1 for by its means ,i see into the souls of all beings1 and my visits to their houses are not limited to the drawing-rooms4 ,the ,beautiful ,being has access everywhere4 ,did you ever fancy when you had had a lovely dream that maybe an angel had kissed you in your sleep8 ,i have seen such things4 ,oh1 do not be afraid of giving rein to your imagination6 ,it is the wonderful things which are really true2 the commonplace things are nearly all false4 ,when a great thought lifts you by the hair1 do not cling hold of the solid earth4 ,let go4 ,he whom an inspiration seizes might even--if he dared to trust his vision--behold the ,beautiful ,being face to face1 as ,i have4 ,when flying through the air one's sight is keen4 ,if one goes fast and high enough1 one may behold the inconceivable4 ,the other night ,i was meditating on a flower-seed1 for there is nothing so small that it may not contain a world4 ,i was meditating on a flower-seed1 and amusing myself by tracing its history1 generation by generation1 back to the dawn of time4 ,i smile as ,i use that figure1 8the dawn of time10 for time has had so many dawns and so many sunsets1 and still it is unwearied4 ,i had traced the genealogy of the seed back to the time when the cave-man forgot his fighting in the strangely disturbing pleasure of smelling the fragrance of its parent flower1 when ,i heard a low musical laugh in my left ear1 and something as light as a butterfly's wing brushed my cheek on that side4 ,i turned to look1 and1 quick as a flash1 ,i heard the laughter in the other ear1 while another butterfly touch came on my right cheek4 ,then something like a veil was blown across my eyes1 and a clear voice said3 8,guess who it is60 ,i was all a-thrill with the pleasure of this divine play1 and ,i answered3 8,perhaps you are the fairy that makes blind children dream of daisy fields40 8,however did you know me80 laughed the ,beautiful ,being1 unwinding the veil from my eyes4 8,i am indeed that fairy4 ,but you must have been peeping through cracks in the door when ,i touched the eyes of the blind babies40 8,i am always peeping through cracks in the door of the earth people's chamber10 ,i replied4 ,the ,beautiful ,being laughed again3 8,will you come and have another peep with me this evening80 8,with pleasure40 8,you could not do it with pain if ,i were by10 was the response4 ,and we started then and there upon the strangest evening's round which ,i have ever made4 ,we began by going to the house of a friend of mine and standing quietly in the room where he and his family were at supper4 ,no one saw us but the cat1 which began a loud purring and stretched itself with joy at our presence4 ,had ,i gone there alone1 the cat might have been afraid of me2 but who--even a cat--could fear the ,beautiful ,being8 ,suddenly one of the children--the youngest one--looked up from his supper of bread and milk1 and said3 8,father1 why does milk taste good80 8,i really do not know10 admitted the author of his being1 8perhaps because the cow enjoyed giving it40 8,that father might have been a poet10 the ,beautiful ,being said to me2 but no one overheard the remark4 ,one of the other children complained of feeling sleepy1 and put his head down on the edge of the table4 ,the mother started to arouse him1 but the ,beautiful ,being fluttered a mystifying veil before her eyes1 and she could not do it4 8,let him sleep if he wants to10 she said4 8,i will put him to bed by and by40 ,i could see in the brain of the child that he was dreaming already1 and ,i knew that the ,beautiful ,being was weaving a fairy-tale on the web of his mind4 ,after only a moment he started up1 wide awake4 8,i dreamed10 he said1 8that----the writer of these letters was standing over there and smiling at me as he used to smile1 and with him was an angel4 ,i never saw an angel before40 8,come away10 whispered the ,beautiful ,being to me4 8,from dreaming children nothing can be hidden40 ,we then paid a visit to the future mother of my boy ,lionel4 ,oh1 mystery of maternity6 ,the eyes of the ,beautiful ,being were like stars as we gazed upon this other flower-seed1 whose genealogy goes even beyond the days of the cave-man--aye1 back to the time of the fire-mist and the sons of the morning stars4 8,come away60 said the ,beautiful ,being again4 8,to brides who dream of motherhood much also is revealed1 and for this evening we remain unknown40 ,we passed along the margin of a river which divides a busy town4 ,suddenly from a house by the river-bank we heard the tinkle of a guitar and a woman's sweet voice singing3 8,when other lips and other hearts ,their tale of love shall tell1 444 ,then you'll remember--you'll remember me40 ,the ,beautiful ,being touched my hand and whispered3 8,the life that is so sweet to these mortals is a book of enchantment for me40 8,yet you have never tasted human life yourself80 8,on the contrary1 ,i taste it every day2 but ,i only taste it--and pass on4 ,should ,i consume it1 ,i might not be able to pass on40 8,but do you never long so to consume it80 8,oh1 but the thrill is in the taste6 ,digestion is a more or less tiresome process40 8,i fear you are a divine wanton10 ,i said1 affectionately4 8,be careful10 answered the ,beautiful ,being4 8,he who fears anything will lose me in the fog of his own fears40 8,you irresistible one60 ,i cried4 8,who are you8 ,what are you80 8,did you not say yourself a little while ago that ,i was the fairy who made blind babies dream of daisy fields80 8,i love you10 ,i said1 8with an incomprehensible love40 8,all love is incomprehensible10 the ,beautiful ,being answered4 8,but come1 brother1 let us climb the hill of vision4 ,when you are out of breath1 if you catch at my flying veil ,i will wait till you are rested40 ,strange things we saw that night4 ,i should weary you if ,i told you all of them4 ,we stood on the crater of an active volcano and watched the dance of the fire-spirits4 ,did you fancy that salamanders were only seen by unabstemious poets8 ,they are as real--to themselves and to those who see them--as are the omnibus-drivers in the streets of ,london4 ,the real and the unreal6 ,if ,i were writing an essay now1 instead of the narrative of a traveller in a strange country1 ,i should have much to say on the subject of the real and the unreal4 ,the ,beautiful ,being has changed my ideas about the whole universe4 ,i wonder if1 when ,i come back to the earth again1 ,i shall remember all the marvels ,i have seen4 ,perhaps1 like most people1 ,i shall have forgotten the details of my life before birth1 and shall bring with me only vague yearnings after the inexpressible1 and the deep unalterable conviction that there are more things in earth and heaven than are dreamed of in the philosophy of the world's people4 ,perhaps if ,i almost remember1 but not quite1 ,i shall be a poet in my next life4 ,worse things might happen to me4 ,what an adventure it is1 this launching of one's barque upon the sea of rebirth6 ,but by my digressions one would say that ,i was in my second childhood4 ,so ,i am--my second childhood in the so-called invisible4 ,when1 on my voyage that night with the ,beautiful ,being1 ,i had feasted my eyes upon beauty until they were weary1 my companion led me to scenes on the earth which1 had ,i beheld them alone1 would have made me very sad4 ,but no one can be sad when the ,beautiful ,being is near4 ,that is the charm of that marvellous entity3 to be in its presence is to taste the joys of immortal life4 ,we looked on at a midnight revel in what you on earth would call 8a haunt of vice40 ,was ,i shocked and horrified8 ,not at all4 ,i watched the antics of those human animalcul as a scientist might watch the motions of the smaller living creatures in a drop of water4 ,it seemed to me that ,i saw it all from the viewpoint of the stars4 ,i started to say from the viewpoint of ,god1 to whom small and great are the same2 but perhaps the stellar simile is the truer one1 for how can we judge of what ,god sees--unless we mean the god in us8 ,you who read what ,i have written1 perhaps when you come out here you will have many surprises4 ,the small things may seem larger and the large things smaller1 and everything may take its proper place in the infinite plan1 of which even your troubles and perplexities are parts1 inevitable and beautiful4 ,that idea came to me as ,i wandered from heaven to earth1 from beauty to ugliness1 with my angelic companion4 ,i wish ,i could explain the influence of the ,beautiful ,being4 ,it is unlike anything else in the universe4 ,it is elusive as a moonbeam1 yet more sympathetic than a mother4 ,it is daintier than a rose1 yet it looks upon ugly things with a smile4 ,it is purer than the breath of the sea1 yet it seems to have no horror of impurity4 ,it is artless as a child1 yet wiser than the ancient gods1 a marvel of paradoxes1 a celestial vagabond1 the darling of the unseen4 ,,letter ,,xlii ,a ,,victim ,,of ,,the ,,non-,,existent ,,the other day ,i met an acquaintance1 a woman whom ,i had known for a number of years1 and who came out about the time ,i did4 ,old acquaintances when they meet here greet each other about as they did on earth4 ,though we are1 as a rule1 less conventional than you1 still we cling more or less to our former habits4 ,i asked ,mrs4 ---- how she was enjoying herself1 and she said that she was not having a very pleasant time4 ,she found that everybody was interested in something else1 and did not want to talk with her4 ,this was the first time ,i had met with such a complaint1 and ,i was struck by its peculiarity4 ,i asked her to what cause she attributed this unsociability1 and she replied that she did not know the cause1 that it had puzzled her4 8,what do you talk to them about80 ,i asked4 8,why1 ,i tell them my troubles1 as one friend tells another2 but they do not seem to be interested4 ,how selfish people are60 ,poor soul6 ,she did not realise here1 any more than she had on earth1 that our troubles are not interesting to anybody but ourselves4 8,suppose10 ,i said1 8that you unburden yourself to me4 ,tell me your troubles4 ,i will promise not to run away40 8,why1 ,i hardly know where to begin60 she answered4 8,i have found so many unpleasant things40 8,what1 for instance80 8,why1 horrid people4 ,i remember that when ,i lived in ---- ,i sometimes told myself that in the other world ,i would not be bothered with boarding-house landladies and their careless hired girls2 but they are just as bad here--even worse40 8,do you mean to tell me that you live in a boarding-house here80 8,where should ,i live8 ,you know that ,i am not rich40 ,of all the astonishing things ,i had heard in this land of changes1 this was the most astonishing4 ,a boarding-house in the 8invisible0 world6 ,surely1 ,i told myself1 my observations had been limited4 ,here was a new discovery4 8,is the table good in your boarding-house80 ,i asked4 8,no1 it is worse than at the last one40 8,are the meals scanty80 8,yes1 scanty and bad1 especially the coffee40 8,will you tell me10 ,i said1 my wonder growing1 8if you really eat three meals a day here1 as you used to do on earth80 8,how strangely you talk60 she answered1 in a sharp tone4 8,i don't find very much difference between this place and the earth1 as you call it1 except that ,i am more uncomfortable here1 because everything is so flighty and uncertain40 8,yes1 go on40 8,i never know in the morning who will be sitting next me in the evening4 ,they come and go40 8,and what do you eat80 8,the same old things--meat and potatoes1 and pies and puddings40 8,and you still eat these things80 8,why1 yes2 don't you80 ,i hardly knew how to reply4 ,had ,i told her what my life here really was1 she would no more have understood than she would have understood two years ago1 when we lived in the same city on earth1 had ,i told her then what my real mental life was4 ,so ,i said3 8,i have not much appetite40 ,she looked at me as if she distrusted me in some way1 though why ,i could not say4 8,are you still interested in philosophy80 she asked4 8,yes4 ,perhaps that is why ,i don't get hungry very often40 8,you were always a strange man40 8,i suppose so4 ,but tell me1 ,mrs4 ----1 do you never feel a desire to leave all this behind80 8,to leave all what behind80 8,why1 boarding-houses and uncongenial people1 and meat and potatoes1 and pies and puddings1 and the shadows of material things in general40 8,what do you mean by #8the shadows of material things'80 8,i mean that these viands and pastries1 which you eat and do not enjoy1 are not real4 ,they have no real existence40 8,why60 she exclaimed1 8have you become a ,christian ,scientist80 ,at this ,i laughed heartily4 ,was one who denied the reality of astral food in the astral world a ,christian ,scientist1 because the ,christian ,scientists denied the reality of material food in the material world8 ,the analogy tickled my fancy4 8,let me convert you to ,christian ,science1 then10 ,i said4 8,no1 sir60 was her sharp response4 8,you never succeeded in convincing me that there was any truth in your various fads and philosophies4 ,and now you tell me that the food ,i eat is not real40 ,i puzzled for a moment1 trying to find a way by which the actual facts of her condition could be brought home to the mind of this poor woman4 ,finally ,i hit upon the right track4 8,do you realise10 ,i said1 8that you are only dreaming80 8,what60 she snapped at me4 8,yes1 you are dreaming4 ,all this is a dream--these boarding-houses1 et cetera40 8,if that is so1 perhaps you would like to wake me up40 8,i certainly should4 ,but you will have to awaken yourself1 ,i fancy4 ,tell me1 what were your ideas about the future life1 before you came out here80 8,what do you mean by out here80 8,why1 before you died60 8,but1 man1 ,i am not dead60 8,of course you are not dead4 ,nobody is dead4 ,but you certainly understand that you have changed your condition40 8,yes1 ,i have noticed a change1 and a change for the worse40 8,don't you remember your last illness80 8,yes40 8,and that you passed out80 8,yes1 if you call it that40 8,you know that you have left your body80 ,she looked down at her form1 which appeared as usual1 even to its rusty black dress rather out of date4 8,but ,i still have my body10 she said4 8,then you have not missed the other one80 8,no40 8,and you don't know where it is80 ,my amazement was growing deeper and deeper4 ,here was a phenomenon ,i had not met before4 8,i suppose10 she said1 8that they must have buried my body1 if you say ,i left it2 but this one is just the same to me40 8,has it always seemed the same80 ,i asked1 remembering my own experiences when ,i first came out1 my difficulty in adjusting the amount of energy ,i used to the lightness of my new body4 8,now you mention it10 she said1 8,i do recall having some trouble a year or two ago4 ,i was quite confused for a long time4 ,i think ,i must have been delirious40 8,yes1 doubtless you were10 ,i answered4 8,but tell me1 ,mrs4 ----1 have you no desire to visit heaven80 8,why1 ,i always supposed that ,i should visit heaven when ,i died2 but1 as you see1 ,i am not dead40 8,still10 ,i said1 8,i can take you to heaven now1 perhaps1 if you would like to go40 8,are you joking80 8,not at all4 ,will you come80 8,are you certain that ,i can go there without dying80 8,but ,i assure you there are no dead40 ,as we went slowly along1 for ,i thought it best not to hurry her too swiftly from one condition to another1 ,i drew a word-picture of the place we were about to visit--the orthodox ,christian heaven4 ,i described the happy and loving people who stood in the presence of their ,saviour1 in the soft radiance from the central ,light4 8,perhaps10 ,i said1 8some dwellers in that country see the face of ,god ,himself1 as they expected to see it when they were on earth2 as for myself1 ,i saw only the ,light1 and afterwards the figure of the ,christ40 8,i have often wished to see ,christ10 said my companion in an awe-struck voice4 8,do you think that ,i can really see ,him80 8,i think so1 if you believe strongly that you will40 8,and what were they doing in heaven when you were there80 she asked4 8,they were worshipping ,god1 and they were happy40 8,i want to be happy10 she said2 8,i have never been very happy40 8,the great thing in heaven10 ,i advised1 8is to love all the others4 ,that is what makes them happy4 ,if they loved the face of ,god only1 it would not be quite heaven2 for the joy of ,god is the joy of union40 ,thus1 by subtle stages1 ,i led her mind away from astral boarding-houses to the ideas of the orthodox spiritual world1 which was probably the only spiritual world which she could understand4 ,i spoke of the music--yes1 church music1 if you like to call it that4 ,i created in her wandering and chaotic mind a fixed desire for sabbath joys and sabbath peace1 and the communion of friends in heaven4 ,but for this gradual preparation she could not have adjusted herself to the conditions of that world4 ,when we stood in the presence of those who worship ,god with song and praise1 she seemed caught up on a wave of enthusiasm1 to feel that at last she had come home4 ,i wanted to take leave of her in such a way that she would not come out again to look for me2 so ,i held out my hand in the old way and said good-bye1 promising to come again and visit her there1 and advising her to stay where she was4 ,i think she will4 ,heaven has a strong hold on those who yield themselves to its beauty4 ,,letter ,,xliii ,a ,,cloud ,,of ,,witnesses ,,are you surprised to learn that there is even a greater difference between the beings in this world than between the people of earth8 ,that is inevitable1 for this is a freer world than yours4 ,i should fail in my duty if ,i did not tell you something of the evil beings out here2 perhaps no one else will ever tell you1 and the knowledge is necessary to self-protection4 ,first ,i want to say that there is a strong sympathy between the spirits in this world and the spirits in your world4 ,yes1 they are both spirits1 the difference being mainly a difference in garments1 one wearing flesh and the other wearing a subtler but none the less real body4 ,now the good spirits1 which may be 8the spirits of just men made perfect10 or those who merely aspire to perfection1 are powerfully drawn to those fellow-spirits on earth whose ideals are in harmony with their own4 ,the magnetic attraction which exists between human beings is weak compared with that which is possible between beings embodied and beings disembodied4 ,as opposites attract1 the very difference in matter is a drawing force4 ,the female is not more attractive to the male than the being of flesh is attractive to the being in the astral4 ,the two do not usually understand each other1 neither do man and woman4 ,but the influence is felt1 and beings out here understand its source better than you do1 because they generally carry with them the memory of your world1 while you have lost the memory of theirs4 ,at no time is the sympathetic power between men and spirits so strong as when men are labouring under some intense emotion1 be it love or hate1 or anger1 or any other excitement4 ,for then the fiery element in man is most active1 and spirits are attracted by fire4 7,here the writing suddenly stopped1 the influence passed1 to return after a few minutes47 ,you wonder why ,i went away8 ,it was in order to draw a wide protective circle around us both1 for what ,i have to say to you is something which certain spirits would wish me to leave unsaid4 ,to continue4 ,when man is excited1 exalted1 or in any way intensified in his emotional life1 the spirits draw near to him4 ,that is how conception is possible2 that is the secret of inspiration2 that is why anger grows with what it feeds upon4 ,and this last is the point which ,i want to drive home to your consciousness4 ,when you lose your temper you lose a great deal1 among other things the control of yourself1 and it is barely possible that another entity may momentarily assume control of you4 ,this subjective world1 as ,i have called it1 is full of hateful spirits4 ,they love to stir up strife1 both here and on earth4 ,they enjoy the excitement of anger in others1 they are thrilled by the poison of hatred2 as certain men revel in morphine1 so they revel in all inharmonious passion4 ,do you see the point and the danger8 ,a small seed of anger in your heart they feed and inflame by the hatred in their own4 ,it is not necessarily hatred of you as an individual1 often they have no personal interest in you2 but for the purpose of gratifying their evil passion they will attach themselves to you temporarily4 ,other illustrations are not far to seek4 ,a man who has the habit of anger1 even of fault-finding1 is certain to be surrounded by evil spirits4 ,i have seen a score of them around a man1 thrilling him with their own malignant magnetism1 stirring him up again when by reaction he would have cooled down4 ,sometimes the impersonal interest in mere strife becomes personal2 an angry spirit here may find that by attaching himself to a certain man he is sure to get every day a thrill or thrills of angry excitement1 as his victim continually loses his temper and storms and rages4 ,this is one of the most terrible misfortunes which can happen to anybody4 ,carried to its ultimate1 it may become obsession1 and end in insanity4 ,the same law applies to other unlovely passions1 those of lust and avarice4 ,beware of lust1 beware of all sex attraction into which no spiritual or heart element enters4 ,i have seen things that ,i would not wish to record1 either through your hand or any other4 ,let us take instead a case of avarice4 ,i have seen a miser counting over his gold1 have seen the terrible eyes of the spirits which enjoyed the gold through him4 ,for gold has a peculiar influence as a metal1 apart from its purchasing power or the associations attached to it4 ,certain spirits love gold1 even as the miser loves it1 and with the same acquisitive1 astringent passion4 ,as it is one of the heaviest of metals1 so its power is a condensed and condensing power4 ,i do not mean by this that you should beware of gold4 ,get all you can use1 for it is useful2 but do not gloat over it4 ,one does not attract the avaricious spirits merely by owning the symbols of wealth--houses and lands and stocks and bonds1 or even a moderate amount of coin2 but ,i advise you not to hoard coins to gloat over4 ,there are certain jewels1 however1 whose possession will aid you1 for they attract the spirits of power4 ,but you will probably choose your jewels by reason of your affinity with them1 and may choose wisely4 ,now that ,i have done my duty by warning you against the passions and the passionate spirits of which you should beware1 ,i can go on to speak of other feelings and of other spiritual associates of man4 ,you have met persons who seemed to radiate sunshine1 whose very presence in a room made you happier4 ,have you asked yourself why8 ,the true answer would be that by their lovely disposition they attracted round them a 8cloud of witnesses0 as to the joy and the beauty of life4 ,i have myself often basked in the warm rays of a certain loving heart ,i know upon the earth4 ,i have heard spirits say to one another as they crowded round that person1 8,it is good to be here40 ,do you think that any evil thing could happen to him8 ,a score of loving and sympathetic spirits would strive to give him warning should any evil threaten4 ,then1 too1 a joyous heart attracts joyous events4 ,simplicity1 also1 and sweet humility1 are very attractive to gentle disembodied souls4 8,except ye be as little children1 ye cannot enter in40 ,have you not often seen a child enjoying himself with unseen playfellows8 ,you would call them imaginary playfellows4 ,perhaps they were1 perhaps they were not imaginary4 ,to imagine may be to create1 or it may be to attract things already created4 ,i have seen the ,beautiful ,being itself1 more than once1 hovering in ecstasy above an earthly creature who was happy4 ,a song of joy1 when it comes from a thrilling heart1 may attract a host of invisible beings who enjoy it with the singer2 for1 as ,i have told you1 sound carries from one world to another4 ,never weep--unless you must1 to restore lost equilibrium4 ,the weeping spirits1 however1 are rather harmless because they are weak4 ,sometimes a storm of tears1 when it is past1 clears the soul's atmosphere2 but while the weeping is in progress1 the atmosphere is thick with weeping spirits4 ,one could almost hear the drip of their tears through the veil of ether--if the sobbing earthly one did not make so much noise with his grief4 8,laugh and the world laughs with you10 may be true enough2 but when you weep1 you do not weep alone4 ,,letter ,,xliv ,,the ,,kingdom ,,within ,,there is one obscure point which ,i want to make clear1 even though ,i may be accused of 8mysticism0 by those to whom mysticism means only obscurity4 ,i have said that the life of man is both subjective and objective1 but principally objective2 and that the life of 8spirits0 dwelling in subtle matter is both subjective and objective1 but principally subjective4 ,yet ,i have spoken of going alone or with others to heaven1 as a place4 ,i want to explain this4 ,you remember the saying1 8,the kingdom of heaven is within you10 that is1 subjective4 ,also1 8,where two or three are gathered together in ,my name1 there will ,i be in the midst of them40 ,now1 those places in this subtle realm which ,i have called the ,christian heavens are places where two or three1 or two or three thousand1 as the case may be1 are gathered together in ,his name1 to enjoy the kingdom of heaven within them4 ,the aggregation of souls is objective--that is1 the souls exist in time and space2 the heaven which they enjoy is subjective1 though they may all see the same thing at the same time1 as1 for instance1 the vision of ,him whom they adore as ,redeemer4 ,that is as clear as ,i can make it4 ,,letter ,,xlv ,,the ,,game ,,of ,,make-,,believe ,,one day ,i met a man in doublet and hose1 who announced to me that he was ,shakespeare4 ,now ,i have become accustomed to such announcements1 and they do not surprise me as they did six or eight months ago4 7,yes1 ,i still keep account of your months1 for a purpose of my own47 ,i asked this man what proof he could adduce of his extraordinary claim1 and he answered that it needed no proof4 8,that will not go down with me10 ,i said1 8for ,i am an old lawyer40 ,thereupon he laughed1 and asked3 8,why did you not join in the game80 ,i am telling you this rather senseless story1 because it illustrates an interesting point in regard to our life here4 ,in a former letter ,i wrote about my meeting with a newly arrived lady1 who1 finding me dressed in a ,roman toga1 thought that ,i might be ,csar2 and that ,i told her we were all actors here4 ,i meant that1 like children1 we 8dress up0 when we want to impress our own imagination1 or to relive some scene in the past4 ,this playing of a part is usually quite innocent1 though sometimes the very ease with which it is done brings with it the temptation to deception1 especially in dealings with the earth people4 ,you see the point ,i wish to make4 ,the 8lying spirits10 of which the frequenters of sance rooms so often make complaint1 are these astral actors1 who may even come to take a certain pride in the cleverness of their art4 ,be not too sure that the spirit who claims to be your deceased grandfather is that estimable old man himself4 ,he may be merely an actor playing a part1 for his own entertainment and yours4 ,how is one to tell1 you ask8 ,one cannot always tell4 ,i should say1 however1 that the surest test of all would be the deep and unemotional conviction that the veritable entity was in one's presence4 ,there is an instinct in the human heart which will never deceive us1 if we without fear or bias will yield ourselves to its decision4 ,how often in worldly matters have we all acted against this inner monitor1 and been deceived and led astray6 ,if you have an instinctive feeling that a certain invisible--or even visible--entity is not what it claims to be1 it is better to discontinue the conference4 ,if it is the real person1 and if he has anything vital to say1 he will come again and again2 for the so-called dead are often very desirous to communicate with the living4 ,as a rule1 though1 the play-acting over here is innocent of intent to deceive4 ,most men desire occasionally to be something which they are not4 ,the poor man who1 for one evening1 dresses himself in his best clothes and squanders a week's salary in playing the millionaire is moved by the same impulse which inspired the man in my story to assert that he was ,shakespeare4 ,the woman who always dresses beyond her means is playing the same little game with herself and with the world4 ,all children know the game4 ,they will tell you in a convinced tone that they are ,napoleon ,bonaparte1 or ,george ,washington1 and they feel hurt if you scoff4 ,perhaps my friend with the ,shakespearean aspiration was an amateur dramatist when he was on earth4 ,had he been a professional dramatist1 he would probably have stated his real name1 more or less unknown1 and followed it by the declaration that he was the well-known ,so-and-so4 ,there is much pride out here in the accomplishments of the earth-life1 especially among those who have recently come out4 ,this lessens with time1 and after one has been long here one's interests are likely to be more general4 ,men and women do not cease to be human merely by crossing the frontier of what you call the invisible world4 ,in fact1 the human characteristics are often exaggerated1 because the restraints are fewer4 ,there are no penalties inflicted by the community for the personating of one man by another4 ,it is not taken seriously1 for to the clearer sight of this world the disguise is too transparent4 ,,letter ,,xlvi ,,heirs ,,of ,,hermes ,,there is much sound sense and not a little nonsense talked about ,adepts and ,masters1 who live and work on the astral plane4 ,now ,i am myself living1 and sometimes working1 on the so-called astral plane1 and what ,i say about the plane is the result of experience and not of theory4 ,i have met ,adepts--yes1 ,masters here4 ,one of them especially has taught me much1 and has guided my footsteps from the first4 ,do not fear to believe in ,masters4 ,masters are men raised to the highest power2 and whether they are embodied or disembodied1 they work on this plane of life4 ,a ,master can go in and out at will4 ,no1 ,i am not going to tell the world how they do it4 ,some who are not ,masters might try the experiment1 and not be able to go back again4 ,knowledge is power2 but there are certain powers which may be dangerous if put in practice without a corresponding degree of wisdom4 ,all human beings have in them the potentiality of mastership4 ,that ought to be an encouragement to men and women who aspire to an intensity of life beyond that of the ordinary4 ,but the attainment of mastership is a steady and generally a slow growth4 ,my ,teacher here is a ,master4 ,there are teachers here who are not ,masters1 as there are teachers on earth who have not the rank of professor2 but he who is willing to teach what he knows is on the right road4 ,i do not mind saying that my ,teacher approves of my trying to tell the world something about the life which follows the change that is called death4 ,if he disapproved1 ,i should bow to his superior wisdom4 ,no1 it does not matter what his name is4 ,i have referred to him simply as my ,teacher1 and have told you many things which he has said and done4 ,many other things ,i have not told you1 for ,i can only come occasionally now4 ,after a time ,i shall probably cease to come altogether4 ,not that ,i shall have lost interest in you2 but it seems to be the plan that ,i shall get farther away from the world1 to learn things which necessitate for their comprehension a certain loosening of the earthly tie4 ,later ,i may return again1 for the second time2 but ,i make no promises4 ,i will come if ,i can1 and if it seems wise to come1 and if you are in a mood to let me4 ,i do not believe that ,i shall come through anybody else--at least1 not to write letters like this4 ,i should probably have to put such another person through the same training process that ,i put you through1 and few--even of those who were my friends and associates--would trust me to that extent4 ,so1 even after ,i am gone1 do not shut the door too tight1 in case ,i should want to come again1 for ,i might have something immensely important to say4 ,but on the other hand1 please refrain from calling me2 because if you should call me you might draw me away from important work or study somewhere else4 ,i do not say for certain that you could1 but it is possible2 and when ,i leave the neighbourhood of the earth of my own accord1 ,i do not wish to be drawn back until ,i am ready to return4 ,a person still upon the earth may call so intensely to a friend who has passed far away from the earth's atmosphere1 that that soul will come back too soon in response to the eager cry4 ,do not forget the dead1 unless they are strong enough to be happy without your remembrance2 but do not lean too heavily upon them4 ,the ,masters1 of whom ,i spoke a little while ago1 can remain near or far away1 as they will2 they can respond or not respond3 but the ordinary soul is very sensitive to the call of those it loved on earth4 ,i have seen a mother respond eagerly to the tearful prayer of a child1 and yet unable to make the lonely one realise her presence4 ,sometimes the mothers are very sad because they cannot make their presence felt4 ,one time ,i saw my ,teacher by his power help a mother to make herself seen and heard by a daughter who was in great trouble4 ,the heart of my ,teacher is very soft to the sufferings of the world2 and though he says that he is not one of the ,christs1 yet he often seems to work as ,christ works4 ,at other times he is all mind4 ,he illustrates the saying about the thrice-greatest ,hermes ,trismegistus--great in body1 great in mind1 great in heart4 ,i wish ,i could tell you more about my ,teacher1 but he does not wish to be too well known on earth4 ,he works for the work's sake1 and not for reward or praise4 ,he is very fond of children1 and one day when ,i was sitting unseen in the house of a friend of mine on earth1 and the little son of the house fell down and hurt himself and wept bitterly1 my great ,teacher1 whom ,i have seen command literally 8legions of angels10 bent down in his tenuous form1 which he was then wearing1 and soothed and comforted the child4 ,when ,i asked him about it afterwards1 he said that he remembered many childhoods of his own1 in other lands1 and that he could still feel in memory the sting of physical pain and the shock of a physical fall4 ,he told me that children suffer more than their elders realise1 that the bewilderment felt in gradually adjusting to a new and frail and growing body is often the cause of intense suffering4 ,he said that the constant crying of some small babies is caused by their half-discouragement at the herculean task before them--the task of moulding a body through which their spirit can work4 ,he told me a story of one of his former incarnations1 before he became a ,master1 and what a hard struggle he had to build a body4 ,he could remember even the smallest details of that far-away life4 ,one day his mother punished him for something which he had not really done1 and when he denied the supposed wrongful act1 she chided him for untruthfulness1 not realising--good woman though she was--the essential truth of the soul to whom she had given form4 ,he told me that from that childish impression1 centuries ago1 he could date his real battle against injustice1 which had helped to develop him as a friend and teacher of mankind4 ,then he went on to speak of the importance of our recovering the memory of other lives1 in order that we may see the roads by which our souls have come4 ,as a rule1 the great teachers are reticent about their own past1 and they only refer to it when some point in their experience can be used to illustrate a principle1 and thus help another to grasp the principle4 ,it encourages a groping soul to know that one who has attained a great height has been through the same trials that now perplex him4 ,,letter ,,xlvii ,,only ,a ,,song ,,will you listen to another song1 or chant1 or whatever you choose to call it1 of that amazing angel whom we know as the ,beautiful ,being8 ,why do you fear to question me8 ,i am the great answerer of questions2 ,though my answers are often symbols1 yet words themselves are only symbols4 ,i have not visited you for a season1 for when ,i am around1 you can think of nothing else1 and it is well that you should think of those who have trodden the path you are treading4 ,you can pattern your ways on those of others1 you can hardly pattern your ways on mine4 ,i am a light in the darkness--my name you do not need to know2 ,a name is a limitation1 and ,i refuse to be limited4 ,in the ancient days of the angels1 ,i refused to enter the forms of my own creation1 except to play with them4 ,there is a hint for you1 if you like hints4 ,he who is held by his own creations becomes a slave4 ,that is one of the differences between me and men4 ,what earthly father can escape his children8 ,what earthly mother wishes to8 ,but ,i6 ,i can make a rose to bloom--then leave it for another to enjoy4 ,my joy was in the making4 ,it would be dull for me to stay with a rose until its petals fell4 ,the artist who can forget his past creations may create greater and greater things4 ,the joy is in the doing1 not in the holding fast to that which is done4 ,oh1 the magic of letting go6 ,it is the magic of the gods4 ,there are races of men to whom ,i have revealed myself4 ,they worship me4 ,you need not worship me1 for ,i do not require worship4 ,that would be to limit myself to my own creations1 if ,i needed anything from the souls ,i have touched with my beauty4 ,oh1 the magic of letting go6 ,the magic of holding on8 ,yes1 there is a magic in holding on to a thing until it is finished and perfect2 ,but when a thing is finished1 whether it be a poem1 a love1 or a child1 let it go4 ,in that way you are free again and may begin another4 ,it is the secret of eternal youth4 ,never look back with regret2 look back only to learn what is behind you4 ,look forward always2 it is only when a man ceases to look forward to things that he begins to grow old4 ,he settles down4 ,i have said to live in the moment2 that is the same thing seen from another side4 ,the present and the future are playfellows2 we do not play when we study the past4 ,i am the great playfellow of men4 ,,letter ,,xlviii ,,invisible ,,gifts ,,at ,,yuletide ,,it is not yet too late to wish you a merry ,christmas4 ,how do ,i know that it is ,christmas ,day8 ,because ,i have been looking in at houses which ,i used to frequent1 and have seen trees laden with tinsel and gifts4 ,do you wonder that ,i could see them8 ,if so1 you forget that we light our own place4 ,when we know how to look1 we can see behind the veil4 ,this is my first ,christmas ,day on this side4 ,i cannot send you a material gift which you could wear or hang up in your room2 but ,i can send you the good wishes of the season4 ,the mothers who have left young children behind them in the world know well when ,christmas is approaching4 ,sometimes they bring invisible gifts1 which they have fashioned by their power of imagination and love out of the tenuous matter of this world4 ,a certain grandmother all last evening1 ,christmas ,eve1 was scattering flowers around her dear ones4 ,their fragrance must have penetrated the atmosphere of the earth4 ,did you ever smell suddenly a sweet perfume which you could not account for8 ,if so1 perhaps some one who loved you was scattering invisible flowers4 ,love is stronger than death4 ,another whom you know will go out before long4 ,strengthen her with your faith4 ,the practice of keeping ,christmas is a good one1 if you do not forget the real meaning of the day4 ,to some it means the birth into the world of the spirit of humility and love2 but while love and humility had visited the world before the appearance of ,jesus of ,nazareth1 yet never before nor since have they come with greater power than they came to ,juda4 ,whether the stable in ,bethlehem was a physical reality or a symbol1 makes no difference4 ,i have been to the heavens of ,christ1 and know their beauty4 8,in ,my ,father's house are many mansions40 ,a traveller like me who wishes to go to some particular heaven must first feel in himself what those souls feel who enjoy that heaven2 then he can enter and commune with them4 ,he could never go as a mere sight-seer4 ,that is why1 as a rule1 ,i have avoided the hells2 but the heavens ,i often visit4 ,and ,i have been in purgatory1 the purgatory of the ,roman ,catholics4 ,do not scoff at those who have masses said for the repose of the souls of the departed4 ,the souls are often conscious of such thoughtfulness4 ,they hear the music1 and they may smell the incense2 most of all1 they feel the power of the thought directed to them4 ,purgatory is real1 in the sense of being a real experience4 ,if you want to call it a dream1 you may2 but dreams are sometimes terribly real4 ,even those who do not believe in purgatory sometimes wander awhile in sadness1 until they have adjusted themselves to the new conditions under which they live4 ,should one tell them that they were in purgatory1 they might deny the existence of such a state2 but they would readily admit their discomfort4 ,the surest way to escape that painful period of transition is to go into the hereafter with a full faith in immortality1 a full faith in the power of the soul to create its own conditions4 ,last night1 after visiting various places upon the earth1 ,i went to one of the highest ,christian heavens4 ,perhaps ,i could not have gone so easily at any other time2 for my heart was full of love for all men and my mind was full of the ,christ idea4 ,often have ,i seen ,him who is called the ,saviour of men1 and last night ,i saw ,him in all ,his beauty4 ,he1 too1 came down to the world for a time4 ,i wonder if ,i can make you understand8 ,the love of ,christ is always present in the world1 because there are always hearts that keep it alight4 ,if the idea of ,christ as a redeemer should ever grow faint in the world1 ,he would probably go back there and relight the flame in human hearts2 but whatever the writers of statistics may say1 that idea was never more real than at present4 ,it may have been more talked about4 ,the world is not in so bad a way as some people think4 ,be not surprised if there should be a strong renaissance of the spiritual idea4 ,all things have their rhythms4 ,last night ,i stood in a great church where hundreds of ,christians knelt in adoration of ,jesus4 ,i have stood in churches on ,christmas ,eve when on earth as a man among men2 but ,i saw things last night which ,i had never seen before4 ,surely where two or three are gathered together in the name of any prophet1 there he is in the midst of them1 if not always in his spiritual body1 at least in the fragrance of his sympathy4 ,the angels in the ,christian heavens know when ,christmas is being celebrated on earth4 ,jesus of ,nazareth is a reality4 ,as a spiritual body1 as ,jesus who dwelt in ,galilee1 ,he exists in space and time2 as the ,christ1 the paradigm of the spiritual man1 ,he exists in the hearts of all men and women who awaken that idea in themselves4 ,he is a light which is reflected in many pools4 ,i wrote the other day about ,adepts and ,masters4 ,jesus is a type of the greatest ,master4 ,he is revered in all the heavens4 ,he grasped the ,law and dared to live it1 to exemplify it4 ,and when ,he said1 8,the ,father and ,i are one10 ,he pointed the way by which other men may realise mastership in themselves4 ,humanity on its long road has evolved many ,masters4 ,who then shall dare to question that humanity has justified itself8 ,if one demands to know what purpose there is in life1 tell him that it is this very evolution of the ,master out of the man4 ,eternity is long4 ,the goal is ahead for each unit of sufficient strength1 and those who cannot lead can serve4 ,this thought came home to me with special force last night4 ,i am not so bold as to say that every unit in the great mass is strong enough1 has energy enough1 to evolve individual mastership2 but there is no unit so weak that it may not have some part1 however small1 in the great work of evolving ,masters out of men4 ,it is sweet to serve4 ,they too have their reward4 ,the great mistake made by most minds in wrestling with the problem of evolution is in not grasping the fact that eternity is eternity1 that to be immortal is to have no beginning or end4 ,there is time enough in which to develop1 if not in this life cycle1 then in another which will follow2 for rhythm is sure4 ,if ,i could only make you grasp the idea of immortality as ,i see it6 ,i did not fully understand it until ,i came out here and began to pick up the threads of my own past4 ,my reason told me that ,i was immortal1 but ,i did not know what immortality meant4 ,i wonder if you do8 ,i know an angel who has done more1 perhaps1 than many prophets have done to keep that idea alight in the world4 ,until ,i met the one whom we know as the ,beautiful ,being ,i had not revelled in the triumph of immortality4 ,there is one who plays with immortality as a child plays with marbles4 ,when the ,beautiful ,being says1 8,i am10 you know that you are1 too4 ,when the ,beautiful ,being says1 8,i pluck the centuries as a child pulls the petals of a daisy1 and ,i throw away the seed-bearing heart to grow more century-bearing daisies10 you feel--but words are weak to express what the ,beautiful ,being's joy in endless life can make one feel4 ,you forget the thing of flesh and bones which you used to call yourself when this sliver of conscious immortality exults in its own existence4 ,when the ,beautiful ,being takes you for a walk in what it calls the 8clover meadows of the sky10 you are quite sure that you are one of the co-heirs of the whole eternal estate4 ,the ,beautiful ,being knows well the ,christ of the ,christians4 ,i think the ,beautiful ,being knows all the great ,masters1 embodied or disembodied4 ,they all taught immortality in some form or other1 if only in essence4 ,the ,beautiful ,being went with me last night to the highest heaven of the ,christians4 ,should ,i tell you all that ,i saw1 you might be in too great a hurry to go out there and view it for yourself1 and you must not leave the earth for a long time yet4 ,you must realise immortality while still in the flesh1 and make others realise it4 ,i have told you about the minor heavens1 where merely good people go2 but the passionately devout lovers of ,god reach heights of contemplation and ecstasy which the words of the world's languages were not designed to describe4 ,with the ,beautiful ,being at my side ,i felt those ecstasies last night1 while you were locked in sleep4 ,where shall ,i be next ,christmas ,eve8 ,i shall be somewhere in the universe2 for we could not get out of the universe if we should try4 ,the universe could not get on without us2 it would be incomplete4 ,take that thought with you into the happy ,new ,year4 ,,letter ,,xlix ,,the ,,greater ,,dreamland ,i ,,have not been to see you for some time1 for ,i have been trying an experiment4 ,since coming to this country ,i have so often seen men and women lying in a state of subjective enjoyment1 of dream1 if ,i may use the word1 that ,i have long wanted to spend a few days alone with my interior self1 in that same state4 ,my reason for hesitating was that ,i feared to dream too long1 and thus to lose valuable time--both yours and mine4 ,but when ,i expressed to the ,teacher one day my desire to visit the greater dreamland lying within my own brain1 also my fear that ,i might be slow in waking1 he promised that he would come and wake me in exactly seven days of earthly time if ,i had not already aroused myself4 8,for10 he said1 8you can set an alarm-clock in your own brain1 which can always be relied upon40 ,this ,i knew from old experience2 but ,i had feared that the psychic sleep might be deeper than the ordinary earthly sleep1 and that the alarm-clock might not go off at the appointed time4 ,i have heard much comment1 so doubtless have you1 on the fact that spirits1 when they return to communicate with their friends1 say1 as a rule1 so little about their celestial life4 ,the reason is1 ,i fancy1 that they despair of making themselves understood should they attempt to describe their existence1 which is so different from that of earth4 ,now1 most souls1 when they have been out some time1 fall into that state of reverie1 or dream1 which ,i had so long desired to experience for myself4 ,some souls awake at intervals1 and show an occasional interest in the things and people of the earth2 but if the sleep is deep1 and if the soul is willing or desirous to leave the things of the earth behind1 the subconscious state may last uninterruptedly for years1 or even centuries4 ,but a soul that could stay asleep for centuries would probably be one that was living according to long rhythm1 the normal rhythm of humanity4 ,so1 when ,i went into the deep sleep1 ,i went into it with a spell upon myself not to remain too long4 ,oh1 it was wonderful1 that dream-country in my own self6 ,the ,theosophists would perhaps say that ,i had taken a rest in the bliss of devachan4 ,no matter what one calls it4 ,it was an experience worth remembering4 ,i closed my eyes and went in--in--deeper than thought1 where the restless waves of life are still1 and the soul is face to face with itself and with all the wonders of its own past4 ,there is nothing but loveliness in that sleep4 ,if one can bring back the dreams1 as ,i did1 the sojourn there is an adventure beyond comparison4 ,i went in to enjoy1 and ,i enjoyed4 ,i found there the simulacrum of everyone whom ,i had ever loved4 ,they smiled at me1 and ,i understood the mystery of them1 and why we had been drawn together4 ,i refound1 too1 my old dreams of ambition1 and enjoyed the fruit of all my labour on earth4 ,it is a rosy world1 that inner world of the soul1 and the heart's desire is always found there4 ,no wonder that the strenuous life of earth is oftener than not a pain and a travail1 for the dream-life which follows is so beautiful that the balance must be preserved4 ,rest6 ,on earth you know not the meaning of the word4 ,i rested only seven days2 but so refreshed was ,i that1 had ,i not other worlds to conquer1 ,i should almost have had the courage to return to earth4 ,do not neglect rest--you who still live the toilsome life in the sunshine4 ,for every added hour of true rest your working capacity is increased4 ,have no fear4 ,you are not wasting time when you lie down and dream4 ,as ,i have said before1 eternity is long4 ,there is room for rest in the wayside inns which dot the path which the cycles tread4 ,if you want to take a long and devachanic rest--why1 take it4 ,take it even on earth1 if it seems desirable4 ,do not be always grubbing1 even at literature4 ,go out and play with the squirrels1 or lie by the fire and dream with the household cat4 ,the cat that enjoys the drowsy fireside also enjoys catching mice when the mood is on her4 ,she cannot be always hunting1 neither can you4 ,just take a dip in devachan some day1 and see how refreshed you will be when you come out4 ,perhaps ,i am misusing that word 8devachan10 for ,i was never very deeply learned in the lore of ,theosophy4 ,i have even heard nirvana described as a state of intense motion1 so rapid that it seems motionless1 like a spinning-top1 or the wing of a humming-bird4 ,but nirvana is not for all men--not yet4 ,i have hinted at the wonders of my seven days of blissful rest1 but ,i have not described them4 ,how can ,i8 ,a great poet once declared that there was no thought or feeling which could not be expressed in words4 ,perhaps he has changed his mind by this time1 after being out here some sixty years4 ,as ,i went to rest1 ,i commanded my soul to bring back every dream4 ,of course ,i cannot say whether some may not have escaped1 any more than you can say on waking that you have or have not forgotten the deeper experiences of the night4 ,but when ,i came back into the normal life of this plane that is called astral1 ,i felt like an explorer who returns from a strange journey with wonder-tales to tell4 ,only ,i did not tell them4 ,to whom should ,i relate those dreams and visions8 ,i would not be a bore1 even to 8disembodied0 associates4 ,had ,lionel been here1 ,i might have entertained him many an hour with my stories2 but he is lost to me for the present4 ,and1 by the way1 he seems to have taken little or no devachanic rest4 ,is that because he was so young on coming out that he had not exhausted the normal rhythm8 ,probably4 ,had he remained out here and grown up1 perhaps he also would have sought the deeper interior world4 ,but ,i will not speculate1 for this is a record of experiences1 not of speculations4 ,you can speculate as well as ,i1 if you think it worth while4 ,i found in my own dreamland a fair1 fair face4 ,no1 ,i am not going to tell you about that2 it is my little secret4 ,of course ,i found many faces1 but one was lovelier than all the others1 and it was not the face of the ,beautiful ,being1 either4 ,the ,beautiful ,being ,i meet when ,i am wide awake4 ,i did not encounter her as an actual presence in sleep1 only the simulacrum of her4 ,in the deeper dreamland we see only what is in our brains4 ,things do not exist there1 only the memories of things and the imagination of them4 ,imagination creates in this world1 as in yours3 it actually moulds the tenuous substance2 but in the greater dreamland ,i do not think that we mould in substance4 ,it is a world of light and shadow pictures1 too subtle to be described4 ,even before this experience ,i had gone into the memories of my own past2 but ,i had not revelled in them1 had not indulged myself to the extent of conjuring with light and shade4 ,but1 oh6 what's the use8 ,there are no words to describe it4 ,can you describe the perfume of a rose1 as you once said yourself8 ,can you tell how a kiss feels8 ,could you even describe the emotion of fear so that one who had not felt it1 by former experience in this life or some other1 would know what you meant8 ,no more can ,i describe the process of spiritual dreaming4 ,revel to your heart's content in fancy1 in memory1 while you are still in the body1 and yet ,i think that you will have only the shadow of a shadow of what ,i experienced in those seven days1 the reflection of a reflection of the real dream4 ,the reflection of a reflection6 ,i like that phrase4 ,it suggests a clear picture1 though not a direct impression4 ,try dreaming1 then1 even on earth1 and maybe you will get a reflection of a reflection of the pictured joys of the spiritual dreamland4 ,,letter ,l ,a ,,sermon ,,and ,a ,,promise ,,as ,i have been coming to you every few days for several months1 and have told stories for your amusement1 may ,i come now and preach a sermon8 ,i promise it shall not be long4 ,you live in a land where church spires pierce the blue of heaven1 looking from the viewpoint of the clouds like the uplifted spears of an invading army--which in intent they are2 so surely you have the habit of listening to sermons4 ,the average sermon is made up mostly of advice1 and mine will not differ from others in that particular4 ,i wish to advise you1 and as many other persons as you can make listen to my advice4 ,you will grant that1 for one who offers counsel1 ,i have had unusual opportunities for fitting myself to give it4 ,in order to help you to live1 ,i would show you the point of view of a serious and thoughtful--however imperfect--observer of the after effects of causes set in motion by dwellers upon the earth4 ,it has been said that cause and effect are opposite and equal4 ,very good4 ,now ,i want to draw your attention to certain illustrations of that axiom which have come to my mind during the last few months4 ,if ,i repeat one or two things which ,i have already said1 that is no serious matter4 ,you may have forgotten them1 or missed their application to the business of preparing for the future life on this side of the gulf of death4 ,that is a moss-grown figure of speech1 8the gulf of death02 but ,i am writing a sermon1 not a poem1 and well-worn tropes are expected from the pulpit4 ,the preachers remind you every few ,sundays that you have got to die some day4 ,do you realise it8 ,does your consciousness take in the fact that at any moment--to-morrow or fifty years hence--you may suddenly find yourself outside that body whose cohesive force you have become accustomed to2 that you may find yourself1 either alone or accompanied1 in a very tenuous and light and at first not easily manageable body1 with no certain power of communicating with those friends and relations whom you may see in the very room with you8 ,you have not realised it8 ,then get it through your consciousness4 ,grasp it with both hemispheres of your brain4 ,clutch it with the talons of your mind4 ,you are going to die4 ,oh1 do not be alarmed6 ,i do not mean you personally1 nor that you1 or any particular person1 will die to-morrow1 or next year2 but die you must some day2 and if you remind yourself of it occasionally1 it will lessen the shock of the actual happening when it comes4 ,do not brood over the thought of death4 ,god forbid that you should read such a morbid meaning into my blunt words6 ,but be prepared4 ,you insure your life for so much money that your family may be provided for2 but you do nothing to insure your own future peace of mind regarding your own self4 ,remember this always3 however minute are the instructions you leave for the management of your affairs after death1 should you be able to look back to the earth you will find that someone has mismanaged them4 ,so expect just that1 take it as a matter of course1 and learn to say1 8,what difference does it make80 ,learn to feel that the past is past1 that the future alone has possibilities for you1 and that the sooner you leave other persons to manage your discarded earthly affairs the better it will be for your own tranquillity4 ,be prepared to let go4 ,that is the first point ,i wish to make4 ,do not go out into the new life with only one eye open to the celestial planes1 and the other inverted towards the images of earth4 ,you will not get far if you do4 ,let go4 ,get away from the world just as soon as you can4 ,this may sound to some people like heartless advice1 for there is no doubt that a wise spirit1 looking down from the higher sphere1 can1 by his subtly instilled telepathic suggestions1 influence for good the men and women of the earth4 ,but there are always thousands of those who are eager to do that4 ,the heavens above your head now are literally swarming with souls who long to take a hand in the business of earth1 souls who cannot let go1 who find the habit of managing other people's affairs a fascinating habit1 as enthralling as that of tobacco1 or opium4 ,again1 do not call me heartless4 ,i am blunt of speech1 but ,i love you1 men of earth4 ,if ,i hurt you1 it is for your good4 ,now comes another and a most interesting point4 ,forget1 if you can1 the sins you have committed in the flesh4 ,you cannot escape the effects of those causes2 but you can avoid strengthening the tie with sin1 you can avoid going back to earth self-hypnotised with the idea that you are a sinner4 ,do not brood over sin4 ,it is true that you can exhaust the impulse to sin by dwelling on it until your soul is disgusted2 but that is a slow and an unpleasant process4 ,the short-cut of forgetfulness is better4 ,now ,i want to express an idea very difficult to express1 for the reason that it will be quite new to most of you4 ,it is this3 ,the power of the creative imagination is stronger in men wearing their earthly bodies than it is in men 7spirits7 who have laid off their bodies4 ,not that most persons know how to use that power3 they do not2 the point ,i wish to make is that they can use it4 ,a solid body is a resistive base1 a powerful lever1 from which the will can project those things conjured by the imagination4 ,that is1 ,i believe1 the real reason why ,masters retain their physical bodies4 ,the trained mind1 robed in the tenuous matter of our world1 is stronger than the untrained mind robed in dense matter2 but the ,masters still robed in flesh can command a legion of angels4#c ,this is by way of preface to the assertion that as you on earth picture your future life to be1 so it will be1 limited always by the power with which you back your will1 and by the possibility of subtle matter to take the mould you give it1 and that possibility is almost unlimited4 ,will to progress after death1 and you will progress2 will to learn1 and you will learn2 will to return to the earth after a time to take up a special work1 and you will return and take up that work4 ,karma is an iron law1 yes2 but you are the creator of karma4 ,above all things1 do not expect--which is to demand--unconsciousness and annihilation4 ,you cannot annihilate the unit of force which you are1 but you can by self-suggestion put it to sleep for ages4 ,go out of life with the determination to retain consciousness1 and you will retain it4 ,when the time comes for you to enter that rest which a certain school of thought has called devachan1 you will enter it2 but that time will not be immediately after you go out4 ,on finally reaching that state you will1 as a matter of course1 relive in dream your former earthly life and assimilate its experiences2 but by that time you will have got rid of the desire personally to take part1 as a spirit1 in the lives of those you have left behind4 ,do not1 while still on earth1 invoke the spirits of the dead4 ,they may be busy elsewhere1 and you may be strong enough to call them away from their own business to attend to yours unwillingly4 ,you who write for me1 ,i want to thank you for never calling me4 ,you let me come always at my own time1 and let me say what ,i wish to say without confusing my thought by either questions or comments4 ,you of the earth who are still upon the earth may find your departed friends when you come out here1 if they have not already put on another body4 ,meantime1 let them perform the work of the state in which they are4 ,you who write for me will remember that the first time ,i came you did not even know that ,i had left the earth4 ,i found you in a passive mood1 and wrote a message signed by a symbol whose special meaning was unknown to you1 but which ,i knew would be immediately recognised by those in whom you were likely to confide4 ,that was a most fortunate beginning1 for it gave you confidence in the genuineness of my communications4 ,but ,i said that ,i would write only a sermon to-night1 so ,i will now pronounce the blessing and depart4 ,i shall return1 however4 ,this is not the last meeting of the season4 ,later4 ,one word more before ,i go to my other work4 ,if you had urgently called me during that week which ,i spent in rest1 you might have had the power to cut short a most interesting and valuable experience4 ,so the final word1 after the benediction of this sermon1 is3 ,do not be too egotistically insistent1 even with the so-called dead4 ,if your need is great1 the souls who love you may feel it and come to you of their own accord4 ,this is often illustrated in the earth life1 among those whose psychic pores are open4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #c3 ,he has said that they build freely in that world through the creative imagination2 but we must remember how tenuous and easily handled is the matter which they use4--,,ed4 ,,letter ,,li ,,the ,,april ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,having told you last week that you must die1 according to the jargon of the earth1 ,i now want to assure you that you can never really die at all2 that you are as immortal as the angels1 as immortal as ,god ,himself4 ,no1 that is not a contradiction4 ,i have spoken before of immortality3 it was always a favourite theme of mine2 but since my association with the ,beautiful ,being it has become for me an exultant consciousness4 ,the ,beautiful ,being lives in eternity1 as we fancy that we live in time4 ,will you write down here another of that angel's chants8 ,when you see me in the green trees and in the green light under trees1 know that you are near to me3 ,when you hear my voice in the silence1 know that ,i speak for you4 ,the immortal loves to speak to the immortal in the mortal1 and there is joy in calling to the joy which dozes in the heart of a soul of earth4 ,when joy is awake1 the soul is awake4 ,you look for ,god in the forms of men and women1 and sometimes you find ,him there2 ,but you look for me in your own soul2 the deeper the gaze1 the fairer the vision4 ,yes1 ,i am in ,nature1 and ,i am in you1 when you look for me there2 ,for ,nature is dual1 and the half you carry within you4 ,all things are one and dual--even ,i1 and that is why you may find me4 ,oh1 the charm of being free1 to wander at will round the earth and heaven1 and through the souls of men6 ,i am lighter than the thistle-down1 but more enduring than the stars3 ,the permanent is impalpable1 and only the impalpable endures4 ,the road is not long which leads to the castle of dreams2 the far-away is nearer than next-door1 but only the dreamer finds it4 ,when labour is light1 the pay is sure2 when the days are hard1 their reward is tardy4 ,be glad1 and ,i will repay you4 ,i would write my name on the leaves of your heart1 but only the angels can read the writing4 ,who bears my unknown name on the petals of his heart is accepted among the angels for the flower he is2 his perfume reaches heaven4 ,there is pollen in the heart1 child of earth1 and it fructifies the flowers of faith2 ,there is faith in the soul1 child of time1 and it bears the seeds of all things4 ,the seasons come and the seasons go1 but the spring-time is eternal4 ,i can find that in you which was lost in the ,april of the world4 ,,letter ,,lii ,a ,,happy ,,widower ,i ,,met a charming woman the other night1 quite different from anyone else ,i have met heretofore4 ,she was no less a woman because she weighed perhaps a milligramme instead of one hundred and thirty pounds4 ,i was passing along a quiet road1 and saw her standing by a fountain4 ,who had created the fountain8 ,i cannot say4 ,there are sculptors in this world who mould for the love of the work more beautiful fountains than your sculptors mould for money4 ,the joy of the workman in his work6 ,why1 that is heaven1 is it not8 ,i saw a beautiful woman standing by a fountain2 and as ,i love beauty1 whether in fountains or in women1 ,i paused to regard both4 ,the lovelier of the two looked up and laughed4 8,i was wishing for someone to talk to10 she said4 8,what a wonderful world this is60 8,i am glad you find it so10 ,i answered4 8,i also do not agree with the old woman who declared that heaven was a much overrated place40 8,you don't remember me1 do you80 she asked4 8,no4 ,have we met before80 8,we have4 ,and1 of course1 you could remember me1 if you should try40 ,then ,i recalled who she was4 ,we had met some years before on one of my journeys to ,new ,york1 and ,i had talked with her about the mysteries of life and death1 of will and destiny4 8,i have tested many of the things you told me10 she went on1 8and ,i have found them true40 8,what things1 for instance80 8,first and most important1 that man may create his own environment40 8,you can easily demonstrate that here10 ,i said4 8,but how long have you been in this world80 8,only a few months40 8,and how did you come out80 8,i died of too much joy40 8,that was a pleasant death and an unusual one10 ,i said1 smiling4 8,how did it happen80 8,the doctor said that ,i died of heart-failure4 ,for years ,i had wanted a certain thing1 and when it came to me suddenly1 the realisation was too much for me40 8,and then80 8,why1 ,i suddenly realised that ,i had let slip the body through which ,i might have enjoyed this thing ,i had attained40 8,and then80 8,i remembered that ,i was not my body1 that ,i was my consciousness2 and as long as that was intact1 ,i was intact4 ,so ,i went right on enjoying the attainment40 8,without a regret80 8,yes40 8,you are indeed a philosopher10 ,i said4 8,and though ,i do not want to force your confidence1 yet ,i would be much interested to know your story40 8,it would seem absurd to some people10 she answered1 8and even to me it seems strange sometimes4 ,but ,i had always wanted money1 a great deal of money4 ,one day a certain person died1 leaving me a fortune4 ,it was that joy which was too strong for me40 8,and how do you enjoy the fortune here80 8,in several ways4 ,my husband and ,i had planned a beautiful house--if we should ever have the money4 ,we had planned to travel1 too1 and to see the interesting places of the world4 ,we also had two or three friends who loved to create beauty in the arts1 and who were hampered in their work by lack of means4 ,now1 my husband1 being my sole heir1 came into the fortune immediately ,i passed out4 ,so ,i enjoy everything with him and through him just the same as if ,i were actually in the flesh40 8,and he knows that you are present80 8,yes4 ,we had each promised not to desert the other in life or death4 ,i have kept my word1 and he knows that ,i have kept it40 8,and where is he now80 8,travelling40 8,alone80 8,except for me40 8,in what place is he80 8,in ,egypt at this time40 ,i drew nearer4 8,can you show him to me80 ,i asked4 8,yes1 ,i think so4 ,come along40 ,it is needless to say that ,i did not require a second invitation4 ,we found the man--a handsome fellow about thirty years of age--sitting alone in a luxurious bedroom in ,cairo4 ,it seems to be my destiny to have strange experiences in ,cairo6 ,the young man was reading as we entered the room2 but he looked up at once1 for he felt that she was there4 ,i do not think he perceived me4 8,my darling10 he said1 aloud1 8,i have seen the ,pyramids60 ,she placed her hand upon his forehead1 and he closed his eyes1 the better to see her4 ,then his hand moved to the table1 he opened his eyes again1 and took up paper and pencil4 ,i saw her guide his hand1 which wrote3 8,i have brought a friend with me4 ,can you see him80 8,no40 ,the man spoke aloud1 she communicating through the pencil in his hand and by his interior perception of her4 8,then never mind10 she wrote2 8he is not an egotist4 ,i only wanted him to see you4 ,i have told him how happy ,i am--and now he sees why40 8,this journey of mine is an unalloyed delight10 the man said4 8,that is because ,i am with you10 she replied4 8,were you with me at the ,pyramids to-day80 8,yes1 though ,i cannot see very well in the sunshine4 ,i have been there1 however1 and have seen them by moonlight4 ,but where are you going from here80 8,where do you want me to go80 8,up the ,nile1 to ,assouan40 8,i will go4 ,when shall ,i start80 8,the day after to-morrow4 ,and now au revoir1 my love4 ,i will return by and by40 ,a moment later we were outside--she and ,i--in the soft starlight of an ,egyptian evening4 8,did ,i not tell you the truth80 she demanded1 with a little laugh of triumph4 8,but have you no desire to go on in the spiritual world80 ,i asked4 8,is there anything more spiritual than love80 she asked in return4 8,is not love the fulfilling of the ,law80 8,but10 ,i said1 8,i recently wrote a letter to the men and women of the earth1 advising those who should come out here to get away from the earth as soon as possible40 8,lovers like me will not take your advice10 she answered1 with a smile4 8,and tell me now3 ,is it not better for ,henry to enjoy my society in the long evenings--is it not better for him to be happy than to grieve for me80 8,but at first8 ,was he not inconsolable at your going out80 8,yes1 until ,i came to him4 ,he was sitting one night in deep dejection1 and ,i reached for his hand1 and wrote with it3 #8,i am here1 speak to me4' #8,my ,love6' he cried1 his face alight1 #8are you really there8' #8,yes1 ,i am here1 and ,i shall come to you every day until you come out to me1' ,i answered1 through the pencil4 8,he had never known that he was what you call a #8writing medium4' ,he would never have been but for my presence in a form of matter different from his own4 8,come now1 my friend10 she added1 8would you really advise me not to visit ,harry any more80 8,there are said to be exceptions to all rules10 ,i answered4 8,at this moment you seem to me to be one of those exceptions40 8,and will you add a postscript to your recent letter to the world80 8,if ,i can10 ,i said1 8,i will tell your story4 ,my readers can draw their own conclusions40 8,thank you10 was her answer4 8,but10 ,i added1 8when ,henry comes out here in his turn1 you two together should go away from the world40 8,have you been away from the world then80 8,to some extent4 ,i am only stopping here now until a certain work is finished40 8,and then where are you going80 8,to visit other planets40 8,henry and ,i will do that1 too1 when he comes out40 ,now1 my friend1 ,i tell you this story for whatever it is worth4 ,there are cases like hers1 where an earthly tie is all-compelling4 ,but in the case of most persons ,i stand by my original assertion and my original advice4 ,,letter ,,liii ,,the ,,archives ,,of ,,the ,,soul ,i ,,have spoken of a determination to visit other planets when my work of writing these letters is ended2 but ,i must not neglect to say that ,i consider such journeys to and fro in the universe of far less spiritual value than those other journeys which ,i have made and shall make into the deep places of my own self4 ,travelling in actual space and time is important to a man1 that he may gain knowledge of other lands and peoples1 see the differences between these peoples and himself1 and learn the causes thereof2 yet quiet meditation is even a greater factor in growth4 ,if a man whose spiritual perceptions are open can do but one of these two things1 it would be better for him to sit in a cabin in the backwoods and seek in his own soul for the secrets which it guards1 than to travel without such self-examination to the ends of the earth4 ,get acquainted with your own soul4 ,know why you do this or that1 why you feel this or that4 ,sit quietly when in doubt about any matter1 and let the truth rise from the deeps of yourself4 ,examine your motives always4 ,do not say1 8,i ought to do this act for such and such a reason2 therefore ,i do it for that reason40 ,such argument is self-deception4 ,if you do a kind act1 ask yourself why4 ,perhaps you can find even in a kind action a hidden motive of self-seeking4 ,if you should find such a motive1 do not deny it to yourself4 ,acknowledge it to yourself1 though you need not advertise it on the walls of your dwelling4 ,such a secret understanding will give you a greater sympathy and comprehension in judging the motives of others4 ,strive always for the ideal2 but do not label every emotion as an ideal emotion if it is not really that4 ,speak the truth to yourself4 ,until you can dare to do that you will make little progress in the quest of your own soul4 ,between earth lives is a good time to meditate1 but one should form the habit of meditation while in the flesh4 ,habits formed in the flesh have a tendency to continue after the flesh is laid aside4 ,that is a reason why one should keep as free as possible from physical habits4 ,if my charming acquaintance who comes every night to her husband to write love messages through his hand would spend the greater part of her time in acquiring knowledge of this new world1 so that she could enlighten him1 then might their communion be an unmixed good2 but ,i fear it is not so4 ,therefore ,i shall look for her again1 and give her some fatherly advice4 ,she has a quick and receptive mind1 and ,i think she will listen to me4 ,he would be interested in her experiences1 if for no other reason than because they are hers4 ,yes1 ,i shall have to find her again4 ,i have made wonderful discoveries in the archives of my own soul4 ,there ,i have found the memories of all my past1 back to a time almost unbelievably distant4 ,in seeing how the causes set up in one life have produced their effects in another life1 ,i have learned more than ,i shall learn on my coming tour of the planets4 ,everything exists in the soul2 all knowledge is there4 ,grasp that idea if you can4 ,the infallible part of us is the hidden part1 and it is for us to bring it to light4 ,do you understand now why ,i advise the disembodied to break away from the distractions and the dazzling mirages of the earthly life8 ,only in the stillness of detachment can the soul yield up her secrets4 ,it is not that ,i am indifferent to earthly loves2 on the contrary1 ,i love more deeply than ever all those whom ,i loved on earth2 but ,i realise that if ,i can love them wisely instead of unwisely1 it will be better both for them and for me4 ,yet the call of the earth is loud sometimes1 and my heart answers from this side of the veil4 ,,letter ,,liv ,a ,,formula ,,for ,,mastership ,,my friend1 ,i am going to leave you for a while--perhaps for a long time4 ,it seems to me that my immediate work with the earth is done4 ,i want still further to lighten my load1 to soar out upon the waves of ether--far--far--and to forget1 in the thrill of exploration1 that ,i shall some day have to make my way painfully back to the world through the narrow straits of birth4 ,i am going out with the ,beautiful ,being on a voyage of discovery4 ,my companion has taken this journey before1 and can show me the way to many wonders4 ,there is a sadness in bidding you good-bye4 ,do you remember the last time you saw me in my old body8 ,we neither of us thought that afternoon that we should next meet in a foreign country1 and under conditions so strange that half the world will doubt that we have ever met again at all1 and the other half will wonder if indeed we have really met4 ,tell me1 was ,i ever more real to you than ,i am this evening8 ,while sitting with me in the days of the past1 did you ever know less of what ,i should say a moment afterwards than you know now8 ,rack your brain as you will1 you cannot tell what ,i am going to talk about4 ,that will prove to you1 at least1 that ,i am as real as ever4 ,i want to leave a few messages4 ,tell4444 ,and tell4444 ,and some day tell my boy to live a brave and clean life4 ,he will be watched over4 ,tell him that if sometimes he feels the interior guidance1 not to be afraid to trust it4 ,tell him to look within for light4 ,for the present1 ,i have not much more to say to the world at large4 ,but ,i want you to publish these letters1 leaving out only the very personal paragraphs4 ,yes1 ,i may not see you again for a long time4 ,do not be sad4 ,when ,i am gone1 perhaps another will come4 ,do not close the door too tight2 but guard well the door1 and let no one enter who has not the signs and passwords4 ,you will not be deceived2 ,i have trained you to that end4 ,i cannot write much to-night1 for there is a sadness in leaving the earth4 ,but ,i am--or shall be--all a-thrill with the interest of the coming voyage4 ,think of it6 ,i shall see far-away planets and meet their inhabitants4 ,shall ,i find the 8square-faced men08 ,perhaps so4 ,in ,jupiter1 they say1 there is a race of beings wonderful to behold4 ,i shall see them4 ,will they be fairer than our own ,beautiful ,being1 who loves the little earth and usually stays near it1 because there are such struggles here8 ,the joy of the struggle6 ,that is the keynote of immortality1 the keynote of power4 ,let this be my final message to the world4 ,tell them to enjoy their struggles1 to thrill at the endless possibilities of combination and creation1 to live in the moment while preparing for long hence1 and not to exaggerate the importance of momentary failures and disappointments4 ,when they come out here and get their lives in perspective1 they will see that most of their causes of anxiety were trivial1 and that all the lights and shadows were necessary to the picture4 ,i had my lights and shadows1 too1 but ,i regret nothing4 ,the ,master enjoys difficulties as a swimmer enjoys the resistance of the water4 ,if ,i could make you realise the power that comes from facing the struggle--not only bravely1 as all the platitudinous bores will tell you1 but facing it with enjoyment4 ,why1 any healthy boy enjoys a fight4 ,his blood beats fast1 his nerves tingle2 but he who keeps his head cool is likely to come out on top4 ,life is a fight4 ,you are in matter to conquer it--lest it conquer you4 ,there is nothing in this universe stronger than the will of man when it is directed by a powerful unit of force4 ,whatever your strength1 make the most of it in the battle of life4 ,remember that your opponents are not other men1 but conditions4 ,if you fight men1 they will fight you back2 but if you fight conditions1 they1 being unintelligent1 will yield to you with just enough resistance to keep your muscles in good order4 ,and do not forget the law of rhythm--that is at the back of everything4 ,count on rhythm2 it never has failed yet1 and it never will4 ,watch for the high tides of yourself and flow up with them2 when the inevitable low tides come1 either rest or meditate4 ,you cannot escape rhythm4 ,you transcend it by working with it4 ,you can even turn and grow young1 for time also has its tides2 and there are many ripples in the long sea-swell of life4 ,i feel that ,i am leaving much unsaid4 ,but ,i shall meet you again some day4 ,,transcriber',s ,,notes ,simple typographical errors have been silently corrected2 unbalanced quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious1 and otherwise left unbalanced4 ,punctuation1 hyphenation1 and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book2 otherwise they were not changed4