This is audiobook of,
HERE And Hereafter, by ANTHONY BORGIA. 

PREFACE.

 Since the first of our scripts was published there has been a steady stream of 
letters from readers all over the world, each of them showing an immense 
interest in psychic science and, in particular, in the subject matter of the 
scripts themselves. So much so, indeed, that our readers have constantly 
asked for still more information upon this important subject.

 In compiling the scripts, our communicator's chief problem, he has always 
said, is not so much what to say, but what to omit, since, he says regretfully, 
with the limitations of space it is impossible, in describing the life and 
people 
of so vast a place as the spirit world: 'to get a quart into a pint pot' . 

 It is inevitable, therefore, that much interesting matter should be omitted 
altogether or have but fugitive reference to it. With this in mind, but chiefly 
in 
view of the great number of requests for additional information, our 
communicator has dictated this present volume, which was completed in 
1957, and I use the word dictated in its literal sense. As with the previous 
scripts, I received the dictation by means of clairaudience. Should this fail, 
as 
at times it is almost inevitable that it should, then direct inspiration was 
resorted to, it mattered not which, for both were equally effective.

 For my part, every care was exercised to ensure absolute accuracy and 
authenticity, and to this end I was anxious that the scripts should have some 
sort of independent verification, at least my share of them. This I was able to 
do through the services of a nonprofessional trance medium of the highest 
integrity, during the course of twice weekly circle sittings. I was thus able to 
talk directly to the communicator, who gave me his verbal assurance 
independently that I had taken down correctly all he had to say.

 Interested readers may be wishful to know, perhaps, how the communicator 
views the results of his achievement regarding the previous books and their 
penetration into many lands. He says with warm appreciation: 'I am delighted 
with the results that have far exceeded my expectation.' 







A voluminous, world wide correspondence has itself been a 'revelation', our 
readers being folk of all ages, from a youthful 20 to an equally youthful 80 
years of age. Throughout all the letters, I have been almost overwhelmed by 
the writers' many expressions of appreciation and gratitude, of cordiality and 
warmth. 'Life in the World Unseen', writes one minister of the Church, 'has 
given me much inspiration. Thank you most sincerely.' And the wife of a 
clergyman wrote to say: 'I have read your indescribably lovely book through 
twice already, and hope to read it many times more.' It is not surprising, 
therefore, that our communicator should have feelings of justifiable 
gratification.

 Here and Hereafter is, in fact, complete in itself, and while it is not a 
sequel 
to the two previous books, it bears a thematic relationship to them by 
responding to our readers' oft repeated entreaties (in the words of Goethe) for 
'light, more light' .

 A.B. 






INTRODUCTION.

It seems incredible that the organized body known, collectively, as 'the 
Church', while speaking repeatedly and familiarly of heaven, confesses to 
knowing nothing whatever about that future state. (A clergyman once wrote to 
me that nine  tenths of his congregation did not believe in a hereafter at all.)

 On the other hand, one Church in particular claims to know a good deal 
about hell, one of its most important features being that once a person has got 
into it, there is no getting out of it. One's residence there is for all 
eternity. A 
priest of this Church was once asked if he really believed in hell. 'Oh, yes,' 
he 
replied, .but I don't believe anyone ever goes there.!

 The Church has made the hereafter into a place of mystery, and the whole 
subject of a future state has been wrapped round with a mantle of religiosity, 
until people have come to look upon it with fear, with awe, with skepticism, 
with ridicule. With horror, and with a variety of other emotions according to 
their several temperaments of upbringings.

 Death can come to a person slowly or rapidly, but it must inevitably come 
sooner or later. There is no dodging it. It has been going on since life began. 
Would it not be a relief to many minds, then, if they knew something, even if 
only a little, about the possible or probable state of their being after they 
have 
made the change from this life to the next? In other words, what sort of place 
is the next world? The only way to find out is to ask someone who lives there, 
and to record what is said. And the latter is precisely what has been done in 
this present volume as in the two that have preceded it. 

 It is again necessary to say that I first came to know the communicator of 
this book, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, many years ago. A son of Edward 
White Benson, former Archbishop of Canterbury, he was then at the summit 
of his fame both as author and preacher. 

 By telling others, who are still on earth, of his experiences in the spirit 
world, he will have attained more than his purpose if he is able to cast out of 
people's minds the fear of death and the hereafter. 

ANTHONY BORGIA.





The Threshold.


 WHEN we first began to set down the joint experiences of Edwin, Ruth, 
and myself of our life in the spirit world, I was told that there would be some 
who would take exception to what I had to say upon one particular incident 
or another. Indeed, that was almost bound to happen among thinking people 
whose eye I should be fortunate enough to catch.

 The thoughts of many persons still upon earth have come to us here in the 
spirit world as a consequence of the narration of those experiences. 

 Some there are who have thought to themselves, and, indeed, voiced the 
opinion to their friends, that the descriptions I have given of the spirit 
world, 
or rather, of that part of it with which I am acquainted, are almost too good to 
be true. An ideal state, they would say, that is too wonderful to exist in 
actual 
fact. The picture I have painted, they would continue, is an imaginative one, 
and has no existence outside the imagination.

 Now, that attitude of mind is not confined to the earth. People who are 
newly arrived in the spirit world express exactly the same opinion upon 
thousands of occasions. They simply cannot realize the concrete existence of 
all the wonders and beauties and marvels that they see around them. At least, 
they cannot do so at first. When they do realize it, their joy is supreme. So 
that, if seeing these entrancing things brings with it an initial and temporary 
disbelief, then it is not surprising .In Life in the World Unseen. and .More 
About Life in the World Unseen. that mere descriptions of them should 
engender something of a similar disbelief among people still upon earth.

 But the validity of my descriptions still remains, whatever adverse opinion 
or disagreement may be expressed upon them. I cannot alter the truth. What 
Edwin, Ruth, and I have seen, millions of other folk also have seen, and are 
still seeing and enjoying. We would not have one tiny fragment of these 
conditions altered. They are our life, and they afford us the greatest 
satisfaction and happiness. When the time comes for anyone of us to depart 
for realms higher above us in spiritual progression, we shall never for a single 
instant regret the period we have passed in these realms. They will always 
remain a fragrant and happy memory; and it will always be permissible for us 
to return to these realms whenever we so wish. 







There is an enormous number of people throughout the entire earth that 
prefers to leave the whole subject of an .afterlife' alone. These people regard 
it as an unhealthy subject, and treat the very thought of 'death' as morbid. If 
such people were truly honest with themselves they would admit that such a 
state of mind merely increases their fear of 'death' and the 'hereafter', 
instead 
of reducing it. They believe that by sweeping the question completely from 
their minds they will also have dismissed the real fear that so many people 
have, an instinct, they would say, of self preservation. Others who are more 
fortunate and who have no such fears, will divide the unseen world into two 
principal departments, namely a place where the wicked will go when they 
leave the earth, and a place where the not so wicked, in which category they 
would, perhaps, place themselves, will eventually find themselves.

 The average earth dweller has no notion what kind of place 'the next world' 
can possibly be, usually because he has not given much thought to the matter. 
How those very same people regret their indifference when they eventually 
arrive here in the spirit world! 'Why,' they cry, 'were we not told about this 
before we came here?'

 Now, all this arises from the fact that the average person does not know of 
what he himself is composed. He knows he has a physical body, of course. 
There are not many who can easily forget it. But leaving the earth in the 
common act of 'dying' is a perfectly natural and normal process, which has 
been going on continuously, without intermission, for thousands upon 
thousands of earthly years. 

 Man will proudly point to the vast achievements that these passing centuries 
have seen. He will tell you of the world shaking discoveries he has made, and 
remind you of the countless inventions for the greater happiness and wellbeing 
of man on earth. He will tell you how 'civilized' he has become by 
comparison with his ancestors of medieval times. He will tell you that he has 
exact knowledge of this or that, and that many years and vast sums of money 
have been spent in acquiring that knowledge. But officially, man has neglected 
the most important study of all, the study of himself, and, arising from it, the 
study of his ultimate destination when, after his very, very brief span of life 
on 
earth, the time comes for him to leave it at 'death' and to journey forth, 
where?

 It is commonly understood that man is composed of body, soul, and spirit. 
The physical body he is fairly conversant with, but what of the soul and spirit? 
Of these two man knows little indeed. What he does not realize is that he is a 
spirit, first, last, and always. The physical body is merely a vehicle for his 
spirit body upon his journey through his earthly life. 







The mind belongs to the spirit body. Every human experience, every 
thought, word, and deed, that go to make up the sum of earthly human 
experience is infallibly and ineradicably recorded upon what is called the 
subconscious mind through the agency of the physical brain, and when the 
time comes for man to leave the earth, he discards the physical body for ever, 
leaves it behind him upon the earth, and passes into the realms of the spirit 
world. His spirit body he will find, is a counterpart of the earthly body he has 
just left behind him. He will then find that what he called the subconscious 
mind when he was incarnate has now assumed its rightful place in his new 
scheme of existence. And it is not long before it begins to show its particular 
attributes to its owner. By its principal ability of ineffaceable and infallible 
recording, this mind reveals itself as a complete and perfect chronicle of its 
owner's life upon earth. The revelations, therefore, that are attendant upon the 
person newly arrived in the spirit world can be sufficiently startling.

 It is customary among certain minds of the earth to regard the spirit world 
and its inhabitants as vague and shadowy, extremely unsubstantial and 
speculative. These same minds regard the dwellers in spirit lands as a class of 
sub human beings who are immeasurably worse off than themselves simply 
because they are 'dead'. To be upon earth is normal, sound, and healthy, and 
infinitely to be preferred. To be 'dead' is unfortunate but, of course, 
inevitable, very unhealthy, and anything but normal. The 'dead' are much to 
be pitied because they are not alive on earth. This line of thought tends to 
place an undue importance upon the earthly life and upon the physical body of 
man. It is as though it were only at the point of 'death' that man takes upon 
himself any spiritual nature, whereas, in truth, that spiritual nature has been 
present within him since the moment of his drawing his first breath upon earth. 

 The whole process of leaving the earth, of dying, is a perfectly natural one. 
It is merely the operation of a natural law. But for thousands of years the 
generality of people have lived in entire ignorance of the truth of 'dying' and 
of 
the 'hereafter'. And in this, as in so many cases, ignorance, or, lack of 
knowledge, means fear. It is fear of the future following upon 'death' that has 
surrounded the act of transition with so many mournful and morbid 
solemnities and doleful trappings.

 Sorrow is but natural in human hearts at the parting of loved ones and in 
their removal from physical sight, but sorrow is aggravated and increased by 
the lack of knowledge of what precisely has taken place. Orthodox religion is 
largely responsible for this state of affairs. The one who is mourned has gone 
to an unknown land where, presumably, an omnipotent God reigns supreme, 
ready to mete out judgment to all who enter that world. It behoves us, 
therefore, orthodoxy would urge in effect, that we should do all that we can to 







placate this Great Judge, that He may deal mercifully with our departed 
brother. Such a situation, it would be further urged, is no time for anything 
but 
the gravest demeanour, the most solemn behaviour.

 And how does the departed soul view all these adjuncts of .death?. 
Sometimes with disgust, sometimes with amazement at their stupidity, 
sometimes, and especially with those whose sense of humour is well 
developed, with undisguised mirth!

 And what of all the paraphernalia of .death.? Has it availed the departed 
soul anything? No, nothing. Black garments, drawn blinds, ponderous 
solemnity, hushed voices, and countenances of exaggerated gloom are utterly 
worthless to help the soul upon its way. Indeed, the reverse can, in many 
cases, be the result. But of that I will speak to you later. For the moment I 
wish to show you that .dying. is the operation of a simple and natural law; 
that it is healthy and normal to consider the subject, and discuss it, and find 
out all about it.

 Surely the greatest stimulus to inquiry should be occasioned by the thought 
that every single soul born upon earth must, at some time or another, face the 
death of his physical body. Let us begin, then, by briefly sketching the 
operation of physical death.

 The spirit body exactly coincides with the physical body, and during waking 
hours the two are inseparable. When sleep takes place the spirit body 
withdraws from the physical body, but the former is attached to the latter by a 
magnetic cord. I call it a magnetic cord for want of a better name. It is a 
veritable life line. Its elasticity is enormous, since the spirit body can 
travel 
either throughout the earth during sleeping hours, or throughout the spirit 
world subject to special conditions and limitations. However vast the distance 
between the sleeping physical body and the temporarily released spirit body, 
the magnetic cord can span the distance easily and perfectly and without any 
diminution of its active agency, which is to sustain life in the earthly body. 
The life line will, as its length increases, become exceedingly fine and almost 
hair like in appearance. 

 Just so long as the magnetic cord is joined to the earthly body, just so long 
will earthly life remain in the physical body. But the moment that dissolution 
takes place the life line is severed, the spirit is free to live in its own 
element, 
while the physical body will decay in the manner which is perfectly familiar to 
you upon earth.

 And as far as the physical body is concerned, it is closely akin to ordinary 
sleep. There does not seem anything very dreadful about this straightforward 
process if a little thought is given to it. 







I have already spoken to you concerning my own passage to this world of 
the spirit. It was easy and comfortable, and I was certainly not aware of any 
distress when the actual moment arrived for the magnetic cord to break from 
my physical body. As far as I was concerned there was no shock or struggle, 
no unpleasant circumstances of any description.

 Since my own advent into spirit lands, I have talked with many friends upon 
this matter, and not one of them was aware by any internal or external incident 
that their magnetic cord had parted from their physical bodies. In this respect 
the actual process of dissolution is painless. Whatever suffering is endured by 
the person whose transition is imminent, is purely physical. That is to say, it 
is 
the cause of physical death: from disease, for example, or accident, that may 
bring pain and not the actual death itself. If doctors can relieve the pain, and 
there is no reason why in all cases they should not, then the whole course of 
dissolution would be entirely painless. Why should the severance of the 
magnetic cord be a painful operation? If it were, it would surely suggest that 
there were some fault in the heavenly scheme of things. But there is no fault, 
and 'death' is painless.

 And now, what happens next? Just this: 

 the person who has just passed into spirit lands goes to his own 
self appointed place .

 At the very outset, this would seem to suggest that I have overlooked what 
is known as .judgment., where every man shall be judged according to his 
merits and rewarded or condemned, received into heaven, or sent to hell.

 No, I have not overlooked it, because there is no such thing as being 
judged at any time, either by the Father of the Universe or by any single soul 
that lives in the spirit world.

 There is no Judgment Day.

 Man, himself, is his own judge. His thoughts, his words, and his deeds, 
registered upon his mind, are his only judge, and according to how his earthly 
life has been lived, so will his place be in these lands of the spirit world. 
This 
is another natural law, and like all the laws of the spirit world, perfect in 
its 
operation. It requires no interpreters of it, no exponents of it. It is self 
acting 
and incorruptible, and, what is most important, it is impartial and infallible. 

The old idea of a Recording Angel, whose especial function is to inscribe 







in a great book all our good deeds and all our bad deeds, is poetic enough, 
but completely wrong. We do our own recording for ourselves, and this is one 
instance at least when we speak truly! We cannot hide our bad deeds, but, 
also, we cannot conceal our good deeds. I am using the word deeds in a 
general sense.

 What really counts in our earthly lives is the motive behind our deeds. Our 
motives may be of the highest, but the actual deed may have a poor external 
appearance. And the reverse is equally true. For example, a man may give 
vast sums of money for some charitable purpose with the sole thought of 
personal publicity and self aggrandizement. While the gift itself may do great 
good to those upon whom it is bestowed, the motive behind the gift will not 
be to the giver's spiritual advantage. But if this same donor were to perform a 
small service to another person in difficulty or similar circumstances, all not 
witnessed by a third party, and with the sole intention of helping a fellow 
mortal in distress, such unobtrusive and stealthy service brings a rich reward 
to him who performs it. It is motive, always, that counts. 

 The richest services are most often those that are performed without a 
fanfare of trumpets. So many of us here in the spirit world are surprised when 
we discover that some small service that we have done, and immediately 
afterwards forgotten, has helped us in our spiritual progression to an extent 
that we should scarcely have thought possible. But here we see things in their 
proper light, that is, in their true light, because they are registered within 
ourselves in their true light.

 So you see, we need no one to condemn us. No one could condemn us 
more strictly, more exactly, more truly and efficiently than we do ourselves. 
When we come to the spirit world at our dissolution we thus find ourselves in 
the precise environment for which we have fitted ourselves. That environment 
may be one of darkness or of light, or it may be one of gloomy grayness. But 
wherever it may be, we have ourselves to thank, or blame for it. 

 But, you will naturally ask, having in mind certain orthodox religious 
teachings on the subject, are those who dwell in greyness or darkness 
confined to those regions for all eternity? No, no! Never for all eternity. They 
will remain there for just so long as they wish. Indeed, some of them have 
lived in the dark realms for thousands of years, but thousands of years 

is not eternity, although it may seem like it sometimes to some of the 
inhabitants of those regions. But every soul so situated in darkness is free to 
terminate his sojourn there whenever he sees fit. The choice rests with 
himself. 







If the denizens of the darker regions show no aptitude towards spiritual 

progression and so lifting themselves out of the darkness, then they will 
remain where they are. No one forces them to stay there. They themselves 
elect to do so. 

 The instant that one of the unhappy inhabitants shows the most minute 
tendency to lift himself out of the sad conditions of those dark realms, such 
tendency becomes a wish that others higher up can see, and every help is 
given to that soul to place his feet firmly and strongly upon the upward path of 
progression. That pathway may be steep and difficult, but neither so steep nor 
difficult but that someone cannot help him to surmount all the obstacles upon 
the way. This is spiritual progression in the fullest sense of the word. It is 
open to all.

 We in this beautiful realm of light are all working for our spiritual 
advancement. It is not restricted to those who live in the dark regions. The 
people who inhabit the magnificent spheres above this wherein I dwell, are all 
moving forward and upward in their triumphant progress ional march. It never 
ceases, and spiritual progress is the birthright of every single soul. 

 The whole crude conception of being damned for all eternity arises 
from a totally wrong conception of the Father of the Universe, a grotesque 
conception that has found its supporters throughout the centuries, and that has, 
in consequence, put fear into the hearts of mankind. It is a man made belief 
without the slightest foundation in fact. And it is not long before a newcomer 
to the spirit world finds out that the whole idea of eternal damnation is an 
utterly impossible one.

 And now, here is something that Edwin, Ruth, and I discovered early 
in our joint endeavours. When newly arrived persons, who obviously could 
never qualify for eternal damnation, are told that such a thing does not, never 
did, or ever will exist, they exhibit an immensely strong sense of relief. They 
usually explain that this feeling of relief is not, as it were, on their own 
behalf, 
but partly on behalf of all those others less fortunate than themselves, and 
partly from the far reaching possibilities and prospects that this absence of 
eternal damnation suggests to their minds.

 They see at once that the whole spirit world lies before them in equal 
right with their fellow human beings, and that the God of whom they were 
always rather frightened when on earth is a Father of unlimited and illimitable 
benevolence, and One moreover, who could never breathe vengeance upon 
any one of His children. That in itself is an illuminating discovery which is of 
great service to the newcomer to spirit lands, since it at once opens his mind 
to the truth. 







A moment ago I told you that the person who has just passed into the spirit 
world goes to his own self appointed place, but you hear of individuals, who 
are new arrivals, wandering about aimlessly, apparently lost, and who do not 
seem to know what has befallen them. Can it be that they do not know that 
they have passed on?

 Such is the state of spiritual enlightenment of the earth that in many cases 
these folk are completely unaware that they have .died.. That means simply 
that they have never ceased to live; there has been an unbroken continuity of 
life for them, as indeed there is for all of us. This situation frequently 
arises 
among people who pass into the spirit world suddenly and perhaps without 
warning. Their lack of knowledge of conditions existing in the spirit world 
produces this state of bewilderment, and if there is added to that ignorance 
also the fact that, during their earthly life, they never gave any heed to a 
future 
life in the spirit world, then their situation becomes a doubly unhappy one. 
But there is in the spirit world a vast organization of all its immense 
resources, 
and it must not be thought that these bewildered souls are left to shift for 
themselves. They are soon taken in hand by others long resident in spirit 
lands, as you judge time, who devote their spirit lives to such work. Edwin, 
Ruth and I have for years been engaged upon this identical work, so that I can 
speak from particular experience. 

 Our task is often a difficult one because it is not always easy for the soul to 
grasp what has happened. The mental equipment of the individual may cause a 
reluctance to accept the truth. On the other hand, those who are mentally alert 
will soon see for themselves the exact situation.

 If only knowledge of the laws and conditions of spirit life were universally 
diffused throughout the earth world, what a wealth of difference it would 
make to each soul as he came to reside in these lands. 

 Was anyone ever so ill equipped for a journey as is the average person for 
the journey into these spirit lands?

 It is a journey that all must take, and how many even bother to think about it 
during their earthly life?

 This voyage is inevitable, without failure, but so many thousands of people 
are perfectly content to dismiss from their minds all thought of it until the 
times comes to take it. Many have no chance even at the last moment to think 
about it, so sudden is their transition.

 How many people living on earth would be foolish enough to undertake a 
journey with their eyes blindfolded, not knowing how far they were travelling, 







or whence, or to what conditions of living? Yet so many are willing to embark 
upon the first great voyage of their lives in absolute ignorance of all these 
factors. We in the spirit world are constantly seeing these bewildered souls 
arriving, and we do our best for them.

 We have then no need to chide them, for they are the first to blame 
themselves. And as often as not, they do so in good round terms!

 I think if one were asked what was the most common mental state in which 
the majority of people arrive in the spirit world, I should be disposed to reply 
from a fairly extensive experience, that they arrive in a state of bewilderment 
and complete ignorance of the fact that they have passed from the earth world. 

 Speaking for myself, I was more fortunate than a great many, for I did know 
what was happening from my slight acquaintance with psychic matters. Even 
slender knowledge is of help in such cases, and I was glad of it then. 

 Relatives and friends, who have passed on before us, can help in such 
extremities, and they frequently do so. But some mutual interest must exist 
first, even if it does not reach to the state of affectionate regard. Affection 
is 
the great linking force in the spirit world. Without it a gulf comes between 
people. If you have never given a thought while you are on earth to those who 
have passed into the spirit world before you, or otherwise shown any friendly 
interest in your .deceased. family and friends, there is not much incentive or 
encouragement for such relatives and friends to display any concern on your 
behalf. Mutual interest, affection, or regard provide the active living link 
between individuals. Without them a gulf develops, and each and all of the 
parties will become detached and wander away to other interests and 
attachments. 

 The circumstances in which a person can pass into the spirit world vary so 
enormously with individual cases that it would be next to impossible to 
describe all of them to you. It would take volumes to do so. I can only, 
therefore, speak to you in general terms. These circumstances vary not only 
from the personal point of view, but the very state of life upon earth will help 
to diversify the actual transitions.

 In ancient days great plagues would send thousands of souls into spirit lands 
in most distressing conditions. In modern times one has no need to point to the 
devastating wars that cast people loose into the spirit world with shocking 
suddenness. In many cases such sudden dissolution is a great shock to the 
spirit body undergoing it. But here again the spirit world has risen to every 
contingency. Homes of rest exist here especially for the treatment of people 
who have undergone a sudden transition. 







The shock which is sustained is not exactly the same as would be the case 
of a shock merely to the physical body, the results can be entirely dissimilar. 
In the rest homes of the spirit world a cure is certain to be brought about 
without any possibility of doubt, and upon full recovery the victim of the 
shock is not one whit the worse for the experience. The memory of it remains, 
though only perhaps dimly, without any recurring reactions upon the mind of 
an unpleasant nature. 

 And there are no resulting fears implanted in the mind such as would be the 
case with the physical body.

 Many people have passed into the spirit world in what the earth would call a 
dreadful manner, and dreadful it might be in earthly eyes, yet when they have 
come to tell me about their rapid transition, their 'sudden death', they have 
treated the whole episode with a light heart, and often are perfectly ready to 
joke about the matter. Indeed, I have heard friends remark that they entered 
the spirit world in a most undignified manner! And that, I think, demonstrates 
the precise difference in the way in which 'death' is regarded by us here in the 
spirit world and by you still upon earth. Here we view things in their proper 
perspective, while ignorance has distorted things so much upon earth. The 
'death' of the physical body is a tragedy to the earth world.. To the spirit 
world 
it is the operation of a natural law unattended by any mournful solemnities. 
While the physical body is being consigned to its earthly abode accompanied 
by all the ceremonial trappings and dismal black habiliments of minister and 
mourners, the spirit body containing the real and everlasting substance of 
personality has gone to its proper abode in the spirit world.

 In these realms we receive our friends amid great rejoicings. Another friend 
has come to join us. We wear no black, we do not recite long gloomy prayers 
or perform harrowing ceremonies. Nor do we have a reception committee of 
'angels', as many people are disposed to imagine is, or ought to be, the case. 
We merely behave in a normal rational human manner as one would expect 
from normal rational human beings. We are not pontifically welcomed among 
the 'elect'.

 We are not made free citizens of these realms because we have been 'saved' 
through believing in some strange, obscure theological creed. We are not here 
because we have been .redeemed' through the offices of another. We are here 
solely because we have, by our lives on earth or by our progress in the spirit 
world, earned the right to call ourselves citizens of these realms. We are here 
because no one can keep us out!

 Once we have the right to be here, no one can gainsay that right, no one can 
dispute it, no one would dispute it even if he could. Many people here regard 







their advent into spirit lands as their second birth, and they keep up the 
celebration of the second birthday with a deal more vigour than they ever did 
their birthday on earth. 

 In speaking of the magnetic cord, I mentioned that during sleep the spirit 
body sometimes visits other places either on earth or in the spirit world. It is 
not everyone, however, that travels during sleeping hours. It depends entirely 
upon individual circumstances. When no visiting takes place the spirit body is 
content merely to linger in the vicinity of the sleeping physical body until 
such 
time as the resting period is ended. With some people a desire to visit other 
parts of the earth is 'uppermost. in the mind of the sleeper. The reason for 
doing so will vary according to his tastes or circumstances. 

 Visits to the spirit world are frequently made for some more important 
purpose, because there is so much useful work that can be done upon such 
visits.

 These visits are usually made by people who are conversant with spirit 
truths, and who are eager to add to their knowledge. While these visitations 
are in progress they can meet and converse with such of their relatives and 
friends who have passed into spirit lands before them. Old relationships are 
renewed; indeed, it would be more accurate to say that they are continued 
since they have not been interrupted. The visitor can gain useful help and 
guidance upon his earthly affairs from people who, from their superior 
position in the spirit world, are able to offer assistance. 

 How often have you heard people on earth remark that they will 'sleep on it' 
when they are confronted with some problem that needs solution? Invariably 
the morning brings to their problem the answer that they have sought. And in 
the great majority of cases the solution has been afforded them after they have 
had a consultation with their friends in the spirit world during their sleeping 
hours. Most people have some problem or another that is upon their minds, 
but not all of them come here during sleep for guidance in material matters. 

 Hundreds of individuals, who are in active communication with the spirit 
world, come to us here when they retire to rest upon earth, and with their 
knowledge of the laws of the spirit world they can give us material help of no 
small consideration in a variety of ways. They become temporarily one of our 
community of friends, enjoy the delights of these realms, enter into our affairs 
as one of us, as they will be permanently one day, work with us, indulge in 
our recreations, and so forward their own spiritual progression in a score of 
different ways.

 Imagine the rejoicing when regular visitors to our realms at length come to 
take up their permanent abode with us. The information and knowledge that 







they have been accumulating during the years, but which, during their waking 
hours on earth, they will scarcely recollect, will now take their place in their 
minds and memories as useful experiences. These experiences will establish 
the continuity of their existence since their birth on earth, instead of 
transplanting them into the spirit world with the feeling that they must start 
life anew. 

 Many souls who are mourning those who have passed into the spirit world, 
leaving sad hearts behind them, can bring comfort and consolation to 
themselves even if only in a limited degree, by nightly visitations and meetings 
in the spirit world with those whom they mourn. Many a soul so afflicted has 
arisen from his bed in the morning with an unaccountable feeling that comfort 
has come to him in some mysterious fashion. This means of lessening the 
distress of separation is but another instance of the perfection of the 
dispensation that is the very foundation upon which the whole spirit world is 
built and upheld.

 But such means of consolation is only a by product, if one can so term it, of 
that larger knowledge of spirit truths. It is only a very limited means to an 
end, 
since it merely provides a rather unsubstantial antidote to acute sorrow and 
sadness. While it will reduce both the sorrow and the sadness it does not 
provide the certain knowledge that all is well with the one who is being 
mourned. Active communication will alone provide that, and it is infinitely to 
be preferred to any presentiments in the matter.

 The spirit world disapproves of mourning in every shape and form. Genuine, 
heartfelt sorrow is a human emotion that none of us is secure from, but so 
much mourning is spurious. Here we can see just what is taking place in the 
minds of the mourners. Mourning as a rule is utterly selfish, because people 
are not sorry for the soul who has passed on except in so far as it is thought 
that he is now infinitely worse off 'dead'. The great majority of people are 
sorry for themselves at the physical separation, not happy and glad that their 
friend has gone to a greater, grander, more beautiful life. Of course, I am now 
speaking of those who are destined for the realms of light. With those whose 
destination here is in the realms of darkness we are not treating at the 
moment.

 Even where the sorrow is perfectly genuine and inspired by true affection, 
every effort should be made to curb it. The soul newly arrived in spirit lands 

will feel the determined drag of the thoughts of those who are left behind, 
unless those thoughts are constructive thoughts for the present and future 
well being of the friend who has gone. 






Thoughts of the wrong kind will draw the soul back like a magnet and 
prevent it from making a steady and natural transition into its proper sphere. 
It is no exaggeration to say that it would be immeasurably better, things being 
what they are upon earth, if mourners on earth were to pass into a complete 
state of physical insensibility for some days after the passing of a friend into 
the spirit world. There would then be no danger of the thoughts of others 
circumscribing the actions of the newly departed soul.

 The strong attachment to the physical body that exists in the minds of so 
many people would be largely broken down if those same people were to 
become fully acquainted with spirit truths.

 Our friends who are in communication with us and who have knowledge of 
the facts of life in the spirit world, have given to the physical body its 
proper 
position in relation to their life on earth and their life after in the spirit 
world. 
They know that their physical body is a vehicle for their spirit body while 
upon earth. When the time comes for them to leave the earth world, and with 
it their earthly body, the latter is treated as something that is for ever done 
with. It has become utterly useless to them. It has been cast off, and our 
friends are never sorry to cast it off! What then becomes of it they are not the 
least bit concerned. They have no reverence for it. But so many people 
enshroud this cast off body with a holy solemnity to which it is not entitled. 
The 'dead', it would be asserted, should have a proper respect paid to them; 
the .dead' body should be similarly respected.

 Let us put the matter in another light. Who is there upon earth who has any 
deep respect and reverence for some old, useless, worn out, shabby garment? 
It is finished and done with. Away with it, and let us see no more of it. In the 
spirit world we have a new garment, fresh and lovely; it fits us perfectly, and 
it seems to our eyes faultless in form, color and mode. It suits us now as no 
other garment possibly could. We have fashioned it ourselves from 
imperishable material and by comparison with it our earthly garment was dull, 
drab, and dreary in color, coarse in texture, ill fitting, perhaps, in places, 
and 
although it served its purpose among surroundings that comported with it, we 
have now something infinitely better.

 In some such words would we describe our spirit attitude to the physical 
body that is 'dead'.

 Old customs and old traditions, though they may be themselves worthless, 
take a deal of killing. It has become the custom to surround the disposal of 
the physical body after 'death' with melancholy rites, begotten of the general 
disposition of regarding transition, from the earthly point of view, as a major 







disaster. But there are other and greater reasons for wishing that 'funeral 
rites' 
were either considerably modified or entirely abolished in their present form 
upon earth.

 From the moment of passing until the physical body is finally committed to 
the earth, and frequently for some time afterwards, the thoughts of the 
mourners are concentrated in sorrow upon the departed one. The various 
performances that comprise the 'last rites' add force to this sorrow, enhance 
it, 
and give it greater directive power. Where this feeling of sorrow is genuine it 
will unfailingly reach the recently departed soul. 

 The spirit body may take some days of your time before it becomes 
completely separated from the earthly body, and it may be hindered very 
much by the combined thoughts of those that grieve who are participants in 
the dismal rites. Instead of departing from the earthly sphere, the discarnate 
one will be attracted to the scene of obsequies activities, and more than likely 
will be saddened himself by what he is witnessing and by the sorrow of those 
he has left behind. He will feel a heavy weight within him of the separation 
that has come about, and perhaps being ignorant of what has befallen him, he 
will be doubly distressed, and even trebly distressed by the fact that he speaks 
to his friends but they cannot hear him. And how great a difference a little 
knowledge would make!

 What we in the spirit world, who are actively associated with newly arrived 
people, would like to see, is the complete abolition of all attendance at burial 
grounds and similar places of all relatives and friends, leaving the physical 
body to be disposed of in a hygienic manner by those who are properly 
constituted to do so, and entirely unattended by anyone else.

 If it is felt that a religious service is right and becoming, by all means let 
there be one, but wholly purged of all erroneous doctrines and beliefs 
concerning the afterlife. No gloomy dwelling upon inappropriate themes from 
the minds of writers of hundreds of years ago. Dies irae, dies illa has most 
emphatically no place in the spirit world, and still less has the outrageous 
idea, 
embodied in the customary prayers, of asking for 'eternal rest' to be granted to 
the departed soul.

 We shudder at the very thought of what our state in the spirit world would 
be in if the prayers of others had been granted!

 The very thought of doing positively nothing but 'rest' for all eternity fills 
us 
all with horror at such a 'soul destroying' prospect. If it were possible to 
destroy the soul, one would be disposed to imagine that this would be the 
quickest and easiest way of doing it! 







Let there be prayers for the departed one, by all means, but let them be free 
from all suggestion of gloom and doom.

 The minds of those present want to be elevated, not depressed, and nothing 
could be more depressing than the calamitous forebodings that are voiced in 
so many of the prayers on these occasions. 

 The departed one has not gone to another world to be marched in front of a 
stern Judge, a Judge, moreover, not so stern and unrelenting but that our 
lamentations will not bring some mitigation in the sentence to be pronounced. 
Indeed, the prayers should be brief and very much to the point. And here I can 
again speak from particular personal experience. 

 Let the prayers be addressed to the Father of us all, that help may be sent to 
the soul who has passed on, and that the Father will also aid those who are 
offering their ministrations to the newly arrived one. We need divine 
assistance in our work just as do you upon earth, and often are our powers 
taxed to their utmost when we come to aid those who are making their advent 
into spirit lands as permanent residents.

 Long recitations from the psalmists, however beautiful may be their theme, 
are perfectly useless to us and to the newcomer we are helping. They produce 
no effect whatever upon the endeavors we are making.

 A short prayer, efficiently directed, asking for help, will bring an 
instantaneous answer. That response will be invisible to you on earth, but to 
us here it means a downpouring of light and power that we most need for the 
case in hand. Pray that the soul may soon receive the light of understanding of 
the new situation in which he finds himself, if he is entirely ignorant of 
spirit 
truths, and that he may be happy and contented in the life upon which he has 
just embarked. 

 We have found by experience that where prayers are offered such as I have 
suggested in bare outline to you, we are enabled to carry on our work in the 
easiest, most effective, and most straightforward fashion.

 It may be objected that on such occasions it is next to impossible to be 
anything but utterly downcast, and that prayers, to a certain extent, must be in 
the same minor key; that anything approaching lightness of heart is out of the 
question, not only from the situation itself, but in respect for the feelings of 
others. There is a very simple remedy for this: a knowledge of spirit truths.

 Consider the matter thus. In most cases the mourners are lamenting the 
departure of someone for a destination that is unknown to them and, they 
would say, that is unknowable. 







They are a little frightened, not necessarily for their departed friend, but for 
themselves when their own time should come, because, by what they are 
witnessing, they are forcibly reminded of what inevitably lies before them and 
before all men.

 Unfortunately their knowledge is limited strictly to the fact of the death of 
the physical body. After that has taken place, what happens? They know not 
and it scarcely bears thinking about, because that sort of thing is unhealthy 
and morbid. But the fear remains just the same, so that in the very presence of 
'death' they are apprehensive. And being apprehensive, they have no time for 
being anything else. The mournful obsequies are therefore completely in tune 
with their present emotion. They feel solemn, and diffident, and somewhat 
cowed, but they have the great consolation of knowing that they are alive 
while their friend is 'dead'.

 Now transitions have been taking place since the world began thousand of 
centuries ago, but mankind in general is content to remain in ignorance of 
what is to happen to him when he leaves the earth for the spirit world. He 
either asserts that it is impossible to know, or else he prefers to abide in his 
ignorance. And yet if he had but the knowledge of even the simple facts such 
as I have detailed to you, what a wealth of difference it would make to his 
mind. It would drive out that dreadful fear of the unknown 'hereafter' which 
can be, and is, such a crushing nightmare to sensitive minds.

 I am disposed to believe that not only is it fear of the unknown that 
distresses people, but also the thought that physical dissolution is a painful 
process. A study of the facts and truths of life in the spirit world is the best 
antidote indeed, it is the only antidote for fears such as I have mentioned. 
Great faith may go a long way, but faith can never take the place of facts. And 
then instead of giving the departing soul a harrowing, sorrowful send off, with 
a knowledge of the truth the same soul could be given all the help he needs in 
a powerful, bright and happy godspeed.

 It is unquestionably a bad practice, too, to frequent burial grounds for the 
purpose of attending to the upkeep of graves and tombs. It is not difficult to 
see why this should be so in the light of what I have told you upon the subject 
in general. Such places will start a train of depressing thoughts concentrated 
upon the one whose grave is being visited. The latter will be the recipient of 
such sorrowful thoughts as both the place and the circumstances are bound to 

engender, and these thoughts will exert a drawing influence upon certain types 
of mental ties that is extremely difficult to resist. The soul will be unable to 
combat the seemingly irresistible urge to visit the place whence the thoughts 






are coming, which in this case is the worst of all places, the tomb of the 
castoff 
physical body.

 We do our best to ward off such thoughts, as it were, but we cannot go 
beyond certain limits, and where the person insists upon exercising his free 
will and wishes to be left to decide for himself in the matter, then we are 
bound to withdraw and allow the soul free passage. 

 Many people will, however, listen to our reasoning, and so save themselves 
an infinity of distress and unhappiness. If for no other reason than this, it 
would be the best thing upon the earth if cemeteries, graveyards, and all the 
visible and outward appurtenances of burial were entirely abolished.

 Large numbers of people would then be forced to relinquish what is a 
thoroughly bad practice from every point of view. It is unhealthy for mundane 
as well as spiritual reasons, and can be the unconscious means of bringing 
distress to the newly departed individual.

 From the fact that a mourner is spending time at the grave, indulging in 
melancholy thoughts of the soul who has passed on, and contemplating that a 
few feet of earth are now separating them, and so on, you will infer, in such a 
case, that the mourner has no acquaintance with spirit truths, or else he would 
never think that the departed one really lies there himself. We in the spirit 
world know that a soul who gradually yields to such melancholy importunities 
of thought as are being send out from the earth, knows very little of the spirit 
truth.

 And being in such case, when a soul returns to the earth and stands in the 
presence of the mourner and tries to talk to and comfort the one who is left 
behind, he becomes acutely disturbed in mind when he discovers that his 
voice cannot be heard on the earth. His words are falling unheeded upon the 
air. The thoughts of sorrow and despair pass and re pass in a constant stream 
until at last both persons become exhausted with the emotional strain. The 
mourner will eventually leave the graveside, the newly arrived spirit will 
return whence he came, and both are filled with inconsolable sadness. The 
whole performance has done no good whatever; on the contrary, it has had a 
very bad effect upon both parties. And what is still worse, the episode will be 
repeated and repeated until we on our side can instil some reason into our 
distracted friend, and show him the futility of the proceedings. Better counsels 
will eventually prevail, and the visitations to the resting place of the 
physical 
body 

will cease. In the meantime, the soul has passed through a period of untold 
misery that could have been avoided if only those who were left behind upon 
earth had possessed themselves of the necessary knowledge of spirit truths. 







You can understand that we are not pleased with the willful stupidity of 
some earth folk who persist in closing their eyes and ears to the truth, and so 
causing an enormous amount of misery to friends and relatives who have 
passed into the spirit world before them. Their blind ignorance in refusing to 
look at the facts of spiritual truths, their blatant assumption of mental 
superiority over the whole subject of spirit life, their self satisfied 
attachment 
to their own erroneous views, all these, taken together or individually, have 
the effect of giving us work to do in the spirit world which a knowledge of the 
truth would render totally unnecessary. We should then be enabled to carry on 
with other work than correcting the mistakes of the earth. The earth has, in 
fact, a completely exaggerated idea of its own cleverness. You need to be 
resident in the spirit world to see just how foolish mankind upon earth can 
really be! Here the mistakes are plain for all to see, and we are sometimes 
amazed at the ignorance displayed. 

 It must not be supposed that I am claiming infallibility for the people of the 
spirit world. Far from it. But man, when he is incarnate, has so many 
opportunities of learning about the life in the spirit world that lies before 
him. 
He willfully passes the chances by with an airy wave of the hand, because he 
knows better. When he comes to the spirit plane of existence he knows better 
still, and bitterly laments the wasted opportunities of his earthly life. And 
there 
are few worse things than remorse. But we can come to the rescue in this as in 
so many other things, and help the soul to overcome the remorse for his 
earthly mistakes. 

 We are certainly not infallible here in the spirit world, but by virtue of our 
altered state we can see just a little farther ahead than can you who are still 
incarnate. When we perceive that our friends on earth are about to make some 
mistake or other that will eventually be to their disadvantage, we are naturally 
anxious to offer a word of caution or advice, and so save them from the 
consequences. Alas, man is so often deaf to our promptings, and the false 
move is made. Eventually, when our friend arrives in the spirit world, he sees 
the mistakes he has made and how he could have prevented them had he but 
listened.

 Death always seems to the beholder of it to be such a solitary business, as 
perforce, it must be to some extent. But our help is always at hand, though 
help comes usually after the severance of the magnetic cord when the spirit 

body is free from the earthly body. The severance will take place in a 
perfectly natural manner, just as the leaf will fall from the tree. It is then 
that 
the moment comes for us to step in and offer our assistance. I say offer 






assistance because we do not force our services upon anyone. However, in all 
our experience so far, our offers of help have never been scorned. On the 
contrary, people are only too glad to leave themselves entirely in our hands. 

 Incidentally, we three, Edwin, Ruth, and I, have made literally countless 
friends through the instrumentality of our work. So many of them regard us as 
the first face upon which they cast their spirit eyes when death had closed 
their physical eyes. They regarded us then as friends in need, who had come 
to save them from heaven knows what nameless ordeals, and, if for no other 
reason than this, our work is repaid a hundred fold by the look of heartfelt 
relief upon their countenances and by the exuberance of their gratitude as we 
explain some of the pleasant things that are awaiting them. And never was 
gratitude more genuine!

 The actual process of physical death must be undertaken alone, and in this 
sense it is a solitary business. But as soon as the spirit body is free then we 
can begin.. 

 So far I have been speaking of people who are destined for the bright realms 
of the spirit world. Equally, assistance is offered to those whose lives on 
earth 
have brought them to the dark realms. It is a safe rule to say that no person 
passing into the spirit world at dissolution does so unattended. There is 
always someone there. But in so many cases we are prevented from giving 
any help by the spiritual state of the soul we are approaching. In fact, 
approach becomes impossible, and so we can do nothing but watch the soul 
depart upon its way into darkness. Naturally, if we can perceive the tiniest 
glimmer of light issuing from such a soul, we do our best to fan it into 
something more resembling a flame.

 You must know that spirituality means light, literally, with us here in the 
spirit world. And absence of spirituality means darkness. The soul in the latter 
case will be just a dark image, the darker it is the more repulsive and hideous, 
like the life it led upon earth and which is the cause of the blackness. But a 
dark life may have been relieved in some minute instance by a good action, 
some kind action, and that will provide the small glimmer of light to which I 
referred. We can work upon that, as it were, recall it to the mind, and try to 
show to its owner the difference between this tiny gleam and the rest of its 
dingy, dark habiliments.

 If the soul will listen to reason, then we can make some headway, and so 

increase the fight by the owner's willingness to cleanse the rest of himself. If 
our words fail to affect the soul in any way, then, perforce, we must let it go 
upon its way until better thoughts and ideas and wishes come upon the soul in 
its darkness. 






You can understand that this is exacting work for us, in spite of the fact that 
we do not suffer from physical fatigue. Nevertheless, we cannot continue in 
such enervating conditions without feeling mentally rather jaded, and so we 
emerge once more into the light of our own realms. In the meantime, others 
will take our places, so that no transition is left attended, no matter where it 
may be, or in what circumstances, or howsoever caused; whether it be upon 
land, beneath the land; on the sea or under it, or in the air above the earth. 
We 
cannot always achieve our purpose in being present; that is not our fault, but 
that of the person who has just left his physical body behind him.

 A person who is uninstructed in spirit truths can be remarkably obstinate in 
clinging to his old earthly ideas of what exactly should have taken place when 
he 'died'. Some may have no views upon the matter whatever, and so may be 
more amenable to reason and logic. Others may be good folk, but are 
completely dominated by orthodox religious views, and this type, if anything, 
is perhaps among the worst of them all to deal with!

 There is, over and above these, a certain type of religious mind that causes 
us a great deal of trouble, and it is associated with those people upon earth 
whose religion is of a very crude, elementary description, rounded upon a 
literal interpretation of the scriptures according to their own primitive ideas. 

 They consider themselves among the 'elect' who are going to be 'gathered 
up' in some mysterious fashion into the celestial realms, there to be suitably 
rewarded for their great 'faith'. Their whole religious concept is just as vague 
in its content and meaning as is this my description of it. The basis is 'faith' 
in 
particular scriptural admonitions and precepts and prophecies. They verily 
believe that their 'creed' will see them through their earthly life into the 
next 
world.

 They believe they will be met by a heavenly host and escorted to their home 
among the 'elect'.

 It never occurs to these people that a life such as they imagine for 
themselves in heaven would, if realized in all its completeness, become a 
veritable nightmare to them. They picture themselves spending all eternity in 
some form of simple worship, which incorporates a vast deal of hymn singing 
and conversational quotation from the scriptural books.

 You can imagine for yourself something of the shock that awaits such souls 
when they arrive here in the spirit world, to find that they are totally 
mistaken 
in the true state of things. 

 At first they will gravitate to others of their own kind, if we find it 
impossible, for the moment, to convince them of their errors. At length, their 







home made 'heaven' will begin to bore them, until they become thoroughly 
dissatisfied with their life and surroundings. Then we can step in and 
introduce them to a normal, natural way of living in the spirit world.

 It is strange, is it not, my good friend?, that we should have to expend so 
much labor, undertaken by so many of us here, in explaining to people, 
ordinary, normal, pleasant, amiable people, the very truth of their being alive 
in every sense of the word!

 We have to explain ourselves first of all, which may sound stranger still. We 
have to convince the newly arrived one that we are not 'ghosts', unsubstantial 
beings whose sole function in the world is to frighten people. We have 
become accustomed to being asked the question, 'Who are you?' when we first 
approach some soul just arrived and in difficulties. And we are obliged to 
explain that we are very much creatures of 'flesh and blood', and that we have 
come to help them if they will allow us to do so.

 Sometimes the homeliness of our attire and its familiar appearance bring 
some measure of confidence and assurance to their minds. Our voices, too, 
seem to be perfectly ordinary and recognizable. For you must know that any 
suggestion of our appearing as 'celestial beings' would most likely terrify the 
newcomer and defeat our purpose before we had even commenced to work. 

 Indeed, we are so very matter of fact, displaying no suggestion of religious 
tendencies in our conversation, and speaking to them and treating them as 
though their present situation were a perfectly commonplace state of affairs, 
which it is to us, but not to them, that it is not long before an intelligent, 
receptive mind will grasp the situation in its fullness, and be glad to resign 
himself to our care. 

 You will, no doubt, have heard or read of cases of people being 'earthbound' 
and wondered how this comes about and what 'binds' them to the earth. 

 In such cases where I have accosted earthbound people, I have always 
ascertained that the soul so circumstanced was totally unaware of any other 
state of existence to which he could depart from his present surroundings. He 
was ignorant of other realms higher or lower than that which he was 
occupying. Usually, these unfortunate people are tied to their earthly 

environment whatever it may be. That attachment may be one of sentiment, 
where a great affection was entertained for the earthly home, or place of 
residence, or work. The attraction may be a morbid one, where some misdeed 
has been committed which draws back the guilty one to the scene of its 
perpetration. Perhaps this latter is the most familiar to earth people under the 
designation of 'haunted' places, and many people are puzzled by the fact that 







in a large number of cases the subject of the 'haunting' has remained in 
operation for hundreds of years.

 What makes the matter still more puzzling is when the individual who is 
responsible for the 'haunting' has all the appearance of being a goodly soul, 
without any intention of harming or alarming a single person.

 What is it that causes him to stay in this spot for these hundreds of years 
when, presumably, he could be much better employed elsewhere in the spirit 
world? The answer is that in many instances he is so employed. But you will 
remember that upon earth there is a familiar saying that it takes all kinds to 
make a world. Similarly, it takes all kinds to make a spirit world.

 Bear that in mind, and remember, too, that a person is exactly the same the 
moment after he has 'died' as he was the moment before. No magical, 
instantaneous change takes place either of mind or body, we pass into the 
spirit world with all our earthly likes and dislikes, all our fancies and 
foibles, 
all our idiosyncrasies, and with all our religious errors fast upon us. We are 
just as we were on earth, though it does not follow in every instance that we 
will behave just as we did on earth. In the spirit world we have more freedom 
of expression, and gravitating, as we do, to our own temperamental and 
spiritual kind, we are not diffident of giving open expression to our thoughts 
and feelings, and thus presenting, at last, a true picture of ourselves as we 
really are. Some minds are quick to grasp new ideas and new truths. Some are 
quick to grasp truth in place of falsehood or untruth. People of this mental 
calibre soon readjust their views, and so become in harmony with their new 
life and surroundings. They will 'settle down' for the time being, at least, in 
their environment.

 A great number show no further interest in their old earthly life and mode of 
living, but will concentrate all their energies upon the larger world that is 
opening out before them. But there are people who had, while on earth, and 
still possess now that they are in the spirit world, a sentimental attachment to 
some place or building. For some reason with which, strictly speaking, they 
alone are concerned, they show no particular wish to sever that attachment; 
their interest remains as strong as when they were dwelling therein on earth. 

They are keenly sensitive of its welfare and vicissitudes, and they take their 
leisure hours in constantly visiting and revisiting the scene of their former 
pleasures or activities. 

 At length a time will come when they will grow tired of these visits back 
and forth, with very little actual purpose behind them beyond satisfying a 
certain curiosity. Then the visits will cease altogether, and the soul will be 
really free at last. For such ties have no value in them spiritually when the 







visitor, who is sometimes seen, sometimes only 'felt' , and at other times both 
seen and 'felt', merely returns to satisfy his own interest and curiosity.

 To return to the earth with the specific purpose of helping former colleagues 
or friends is another matter altogether. Many such people as I have mentioned 
to you are simpleminded folk who display a certain stubbornness on occasion, 
and are consequently deaf to our suggestions of terminating their 'haunting' of 
some particular dwelling on earth. But, in common with us all, if they choose 
to exercise their free will to its full extent, we are powerless to intervene, 
and 
they must pursue their own course. Individuals of this sort are only partially 
earthbound. They live in their own proper realm in the spirit world, making 
frequent and solitary, but regular, visits to the place that draws them so 
powerfully.

 The 'haunting' of an unpleasant nature where some crime of violence has 
been committed, or where some wrong has remained un redressed, falls into a 
different category altogether. In most instances, individuals remain rooted to 
the locality. They may still be in the same frame of mind as upon the original 
occasion of their misdeed. They may be consumed with the desire for 
vengeance or retribution, or for some form of violence. So strong will be the 
concentration of mind and so powerful the emotion, that the whole incident or 
series of incidents will be projected from this harassed mind in the shape of 
thought forms, and these will assume the precise details, with exact precision, 
of the original occurrence. The memory will have recorded the details 
faithfully, and the mind will have released them, and it can go on releasing 
them with unfailing exactitude. Any person whose psychic powers are 
developed, and sometimes those that are not, will see what is taking place 
before them and thereby causing the 'haunting'. 

 Occasionally, so powerful is the thought concentration of the earthbound 
soul that the whole phenomenon will, as it were, be forced into the earth 
world for anyone to see or hear who should come within range of the 
manifestation. That such haunting should go on for hundreds of years in the 
same place with similar exactness in each repetition, is not very remarkable 
when one 

considers the wide diversity of human minds. The harmless sentimentality of 
the visitant to old scenes of earthly endeavor can possess a degree of 
emotional feeling just as strong and binding upon the mind as that of the 
perpetrator of some crime whose thirst for revenge, shall we say, caused the 
crime which is now holding him so tenaciously to the earth.

 In cases of the latter kind, people on earth could afford the spirit world very 
valuable assistance in relieving of their burden the minds of these tortured 







souls, or, at least, in giving them some amelioration of their unhappy 
condition. But so great a number of these occurrences are treated as 
something to 'investigate', firstly, to see if the alleged haunting is really 
true, 
and then, after establishing the fact that something 'queer' does take place, to 
study the thing with the view, if possible, to seeing what it is all about. 
After 
that, long reports are made from eye witnesses' accounts, the veridical nature 
of the phenomena is proved, and there the matter rests. 

 In the meanwhile, the soul who has been the cause of this learned 
investigation still languishes in his misery. If at the very outset the 
investigators would interrogate the object of the disturbances, and would pray 
for aid to be sent from the higher realms of the spirit world, not only would 
unpleasant disturbances be thus terminated, but what is more important, the 
unhappy cause of them would be helped in his misery and his foot set upon 
the path of progression.

 It is always so much easier, and produces much better results, for people 
still on earth to tackle these cases in the first instance. The person who is 
responsible for the haunting is so much nearer the earth, and is consequently 
more easily approached by you than by us here in the spirit world. When he 
has fully grasped what has happened and what he is doing, then we can take 
charge of him and lead him away from the environment that is causing the 
distress. 

 The mode of one's entry into the spirit world as a permanent resident is the 
same in every case, through the severance of the magnetic cord, although the 
physical cause may vary in such ways as are perfectly familiar to you: 
accident, illness, or old age. But what may happen to us immediately after the 
cord is severed may vary infinitely according to the multiplicity of human 
temperaments which go to make up the populations of the earth, and 
according to the wide divergence in degrees of spirituality possessed by the 
new arrivals.

 Circumstances diversify individual cases to such an extent that it would 
require many volumes to recount even a part of the experiences of others in 

the matter of arrival in the spirit world alone. We can only treat the matter in 
a 
broad sense.

 Among the physical causes of dissolution it would seem that illness would 
account for the largest number in normal times. What happens to the 
individual in such cases depends upon several factors.

 For example, the length of the illness, and its painfulness or otherwise, and 
the mental make up of the individual. Long illness has a tiring effect upon the 







spirit body, it would be more accurate to say an inhibiting effect upon the 
spirit body and when, at last, the physical body is cast off, the spirit body 
usually goes to one of the numerous halls of rest with which the spirit world is 
plentifully supplied. There the new resident will pass into a state of pleasant 
sleep, ultimately to awake fully refreshed and reinvigorated. 

 The time, as you regard it, taken to achieve this course of treatment varies, 
of course, to meet individual requirements. 

 With some, a comparatively short space of time will serve; with others it 
might take months of your earthly time.

 In my own case, I was ill for only a brief while upon earth. When I passed 
into the spirit world I did so without losing consciousness. I was able to gaze 
upon my physical body which I had just vacated, and a friend and colleague of 
my earthly days, who had passed on before me, came to me at the instant of 
my departure from earth, and took me to my new home in the spirit world. 
After a brief survey of my new abode, my friend recommended that I should 
take a rest in view of the fact that I had just quitted a final bed of sickness. 
I 
did so in my own house. I allowed myself to lapse into a most delightful state 
of slumber, feeling that I had not a care in the world. When I awoke I felt in a 
vigorous and perfect state of health such as I had never experienced before. I 
do not know precisely how long I lay sleeping, but I was told it was very 
brief; indeed, of much less duration than the illness that had caused my 
passing into the spirit world.

 In considering the painfulness or otherwise of the illness that causes death, I 
think that the length of the illness and its painfulness could be linked 
together, 
for they both give a form of fatigue to the spirit body, though this fatigue 
must 
not be thought of in terms of earthly physical fatigue. The two are not really 
comparable. With us there is no heaviness of the limbs, no aching joints, no 
leaden weariness that makes the very movement of ourselves a misery to us; 
nor yet must it be thought that our fatigue is comparable with your earthly 
mental tiredness, where you have the inability to focus the mind upon anything 
except for the briefest possible time. Nor, again, do we lack interest in our 
affairs, or feel restless and ill at ease. The word fatigue is the best that I 
can 
find. There really is no word that adequately describes the condition.

 With you, who are incarnate, physical energy will be expended during the 
course of your daily life until such time as it is necessary for you to rest. 
Rest 
is essential to you if you are to continue to function upon the material plane 
of 
the earth. When you retire to rest and to sleep, and while your spirit body is 
absent, your physical body is replenished with the energy that keeps you alive 
and active. Your body is, as it were, charged with force enough to carry you 







through your day and beyond it, if necessary. It constitutes a reservoir of 
force. 

 With us it is different. Force is continuously flowing through us from the 
Source of all life. We are a channel for this inexhaustible energy which flows 
to us according to our needs of the moment. We have only to ask for a greater 
supply of force for some special purpose or for the accomplishment of some 
particular task upon which we are engaged, and it is immediately forthcoming. 
We have no need to recharge ourselves through the medium of sleep as do 
you. Our fatigue, for want of that better word, is more in the nature of a 
desire for a change from what we are doing, whether it be pleasure or work 
which is occupying our energies. 

 A desire for a change from what we are doing is a natural one common to 
both our worlds, yours and ours, but with us prolonged activities never lead 
to literal tiredness of the limbs or of the mind. We could pursue the course of 
our work far, far beyond the limits that are imposed upon you on earth without 
any loss of efficiency in our task. We could, and we do, work for a number of 
hours that would seem incredibly long to you, without the slightest ill effect 
either to ourselves or to our work. 

 There seems to be an idea among certain schools of thought upon earth that 
in the spirit world we are employed upon the same work for all eternity. 
Possibly this strange notion is but a variation of the absurd idea of a spirit 
life 
of eternal .rest', upon which I have already spoken to you. The spirit world is 
not static, neither are all its inhabitants forever occupied upon the same 
tasks, 
unremittingly and never changing. The work may never cease, but there are 
regular occasions when we cease to work. Among the glories of the life in the 
spirit world are the opportunities for as constant change as taste demands. We 
do not stagnate, or travel in a groove from which we cannot extricate 
ourselves. The desire for change of some sort comes upon us, and we change 
forthwith. That is our fatigue as near as it is possible to describe it to you.

 The rest of the newly arrived person is frequently advisable, or necessary, to 
allow of adjustment of the spirit body to its new conditions of life. It has 
been 
accustomed to being very securely fastened to the physical body where it can 
receive whatever unpleasantness the physical body may be submitted to 
during the course of its earthly term. An alert mind can quickly throw off these 
physical repercussions and adjust itself to the new life. Other types of mind 
will be slower and more leisurely. The long and painful illness will be one of 
the pleasantness to which I have just referred, and although an alert mind can 
soon clear itself of recent experiences, still it may take a little time, and so 
a period of rest is undergone. 







In no sense is the spirit body impaired by any earthly illness that caused its 
permanent transference to the spirit world. But earthly illness reacts upon the 
mind, which in turn bedims whatever natural brightness the spirit body may 
possess. It is purely a matter of thought and has no reference at all to the 
personal brightness of spiritual progression. No ill health or illness can take 
that away. A period of rest will therefore restore the spirit body to its proper 
and natural tone, both of colour and harmony with its life and surroundings.

 With us rest is a very elastic term. One may take rest through so many 
varieties of ways. Indeed, it is perfectly commonplace to see someone busily 
at work here displaying all the industry in the world, to discover that in 
reality 
he is resting! So that anyone may be resting for all there is to show to the 
contrary.

 How is a person affected whose death is sudden and perhaps violent as 
well, which would include the person who is precipitated into the spirit world 
without warning, or that knowing the end of earthly life is imminent yet 
undergoes a violent transition? How would such a person fare?

 It calls to mind the phrase that was once such a favourite with certain types 
of minds launched into eternity. What dreadful images this stupid phrase must 
have conjured up in the minds of so many people. The awful tragedy of 'death' 
which all men must face. The terrible uncertainty of what was to happen after 
they had 'departed this life'. The fearful prospect of being marched before the 
Great Dread Judge. Most of them having been told that they were 'miserable 
sinners', the best that could be hoped for would be 'mercy', provided that they 
'believed on' something or other that was so obscure in its meaning that they 
could not make head or tail of it, but which nevertheless possessed some 
magic means of 'saving' them. Which was it to be, Heaven or Hell? Most 
probably the latter, from their obvious failure to reach the impossible standard 
set by their religious 'teachers'. Of what is there to be frightened in 
eternity? 
To us one of the greatest and most glorious truths is the very fact of this same 
eternity. But of that I will speak in due course. For the moment our question is 
waiting to be answered. 

 In speaking of people passing into the spirit world suddenly, you no doubt 
will recall where, for example, failure of the heart's action is the cause, and 
where an accident or some deliberate action causes an instantaneous 
transition. In the latter instance you would be forcibly reminded of what takes 
place during the evil times of war upon the earth. Such transitions as these are 
not what could be considered in any way normal had other conditions 
prevailed. Normal transition, from the point of view of the spirit world, is 
that 







wherein the spirit body becomes gradually and easily detached from the 
earthly body in a slow and steady process of separation.

 The magnetic cord, in such cases, will become detached from the earthly 
body gently, it will fall away naturally, just as the leaf falls from the tree 
in the 
autumn. When the leaf is in full life and vigor it requires a strong action to 
dislodge it from the tree. And so it is with the spirit body. In the young the 
cohesion is firm, but it gradually lessens as age increases. 

 When people on earth reach the autumn of their lives, like the leaf of the 
tree, the spirit body is less firmly attached to the physical body.

 One reads of people reaching a great age upon earth, and then one day, in 
apparently good health, they are found to have 'died' in the chair in which they 
were sitting. They have, in fact, gone quietly to sleep in a normal healthy 
fashion, and the magnetic cord has separated itself also in a normal healthy 
fashion. That is an ideal transition. When, therefore, the earthly body suddenly 
collapses and the organs cease functioning, as in the case of some illnesses, 
there is not a great deal of shock transmitted to the spirit body.

 A person so situated will be in a state of great bewilderment which will be 
increased by lack of knowledge of the ways of the spirit world. Orthodox 
religious views will also add their considerable weight to the general 
confusion of mind. And even in cases where a good sound knowledge of spirit 
life is possessed there is bound to be some little momentary confusion in the 
mind. That is impossible to avoid. The mind may have been focused 
exclusively upon material affairs, and it would require a second or two to 
apprehend what has happened to collect the faculties, to use the earthly term. 
How easy our work in the spirit world would be if all transitions were in the 
latter category.

 It is when we come to transitions where the physical body is literally 
disintegrated, blown into fragments in a second of time, that the greatest 

distress and discomfort are caused to the spirit body. The magnetic cord is 
snapped off, or wrenched away, almost as though a limb of the physical body 
were torn from its socket. The spirit body finds itself suddenly dispossessed of 
its earthly tenement, but not before the physical shock of disintegration has 
been transmitted to the spirit body. Not only is there extreme bewilderment, 
but the shock has something of a paralysing effect. The person so situated 
may be incapable of movement for the time being. In many instances sleep 
will intervene. He will remain in the place of his dissolution, but we come to 
his rescue, and carry him away to one of the rest homes specially provided for 
such cases. Here he will receive treatment from experts, and ultimately the 
patient will recover his full health beyond any shadow of doubt. The cure is 







certain and complete. There's no such thing as a relapse or a recurrence of the 
indisposition. Perhaps the most difficult part of the treatment comes when a 
full consciousness is restored and the patient begins to ask questions!

 What effect, you might ask, does maiming of the physical body have upon 
the spirit body? None whatever, as far as the full complement of limbs and 
organs is concerned. Disintegration may be sudden, or it may take a number 
of earthly years through the normal processes of decomposition. Whichever 
way it may take place, the result is the same, a complete, or almost complete, 
disappearance of that physical body. The physical body is corruptible, but the 
spirit body is incorruptible. And what applies to the whole in the latter also 
applies to the limbs and organs; in fact to every part of the spirit body. The 
loss of one or more limbs of the earthly body, the possession of diseased 
organs, physical malformations, any subnormal or supernormal conditions of 
the physical body, any or all of these states leave the spirit body entirely 
unaffected. Whatever has happened to the physical body, the spirit body will 
always maintain its complete anatomy.

 But the spirit body can assume very hideous spiritual malformations. 
These have nothing whatever to do with the formation of the physical body, 
but are due solely to the kind of life that its owner has led upon earth. The 
malformations are various expressions of the hideousness that is resident 
within the mind, on many occasions that have found their outward expression 
in evil deeds of every description. These, however, do not come within the 
purview of our question.

 People who believe that after their 'death' there will be a bodily 
'resurrection' 
are oftentimes puzzled in mind as to what will happen if they are not 
possessed of their full number of limbs, or, what is worse but more common, 
if their earthly body completely vanished in the course of time, or is 
instantaneously disintegrated. The trouble comes from the use of the word 
resurrection. Such people imagine that the normal procedure is for the 
physical body to rise up from its grave if it should possess one, at some future 
and unspecified date, whereupon it would find itself in the spirit world. It is 
fondly supposed that missing limbs would be restored and impaired faculties 
renewed, or if necessary, the physical body would be reintegrated after the 
fragments, in some inconceivable manner, have been collected and 
reassembled after their total disappearance. 

 The whole conception is, of course, fantastic. Once dissolution has taken 
place, the physical body is finished with as far as its former owner is 
concerned. It has no place whatever in the spirit world. It cannot enter there. 
And there is no magical process in existence that can so alter its constituents 







or form or mode of being as to be able to penetrate into spirit realms of any 
degree of weight or lowness, of light or darkness, whatsoever. A profession of 
faith that such a thing is possible is of no avail; it simply cannot happen 
because it is against the laws of the spirit world. And these are natural laws, 
not laws that have been enacted by someone and can therefore be suspended 
or annulled at will.

 To carry the matter still further, there is no such thing as resurrection of 
either the physical body or of the spirit body. As far as the spirit body is 
concerned, there is no 'rising'. 

 There is simply a continuity of existence. From the moment that life is given 
to the physical body, the spirit body is also in existence. The earthly body 
comes to the end of its life; it ceases to function and so to provide an earthly 
vehicle for the spirit body, and the spirit body is released and continues its 
life 
in the spirit world, in its proper element and its true home. No resurrection 
has 
taken place. Nothing of the sort is needed. It has nothing to wait for, no Day 
of Judgment or other unpleasant prospect. The spirit body is free at last, 
unencumbered by its heavy earthly body; free to move and breathe, and enjoy 
the beauties of the realms of light. 

 And now, I think we have lingered long enough upon the threshold of the 
spirit world and it is time that we passed through the great portal into the 
realms of light, where we can discuss other matters not so closely connected 
perhaps with the actual dissolution of the physical body. 

Let us consider the spirit body and discuss some questions of its life in the 
spirit world, and perhaps in the process we may be able to smooth away a 
difficulty or two. 







THE SPIRIT WORLD.

 I MENTIONED the word eternity to you just now. It is a word that implies 
so much but that in reality conveys so little to the average earthly mind. 

 The earth dweller would say, in effect, that eternity is like immortality, you 
cannot prove it. How can it possibly be proved that a certain state of 
existence, namely, that of the spirit world, will continue for ever, without 
end, 
to employ perhaps a more emphatic term. Just so. It is a difficulty that we all 
appreciate in the spirit world. And I would hasten to say that I am not going to 
attempt to prove it!

 But I can do this. I can set before you one or two considerations that will 
serve to draw your mind towards the major differences between your 
incarnate state of existence upon earth and our discarnate state of existence in 
the spirit world. And in doing so there may emerge just a faint glimmering of 
what the word eternity can suggest.

 If you will give the subject a brief moment's thought you will be forcibly 
reminded of the impermanence of life on earth. 

 Living, as you do, with reality, for so you would term it manifested to you 
so very obviously in life itself and all that goes to constitute living upon 
earth, 
with, for example, the buildings that surround you, the ground upon which you 
walk, the food you eat, the clothing wherewith you cover yourself, your daily 
occupations and recreations, your comings and goings over short distances 
and long; confronted as you are with all these evidences of being, and many 
others besides, yet you know that upon one day in your life the moment will 
come when you must leave all these 'realities' behind you to undergo the 
natural process of the dissolution of the physical body, in a word, when you 
will 'die'.

 But before that event occurs, and during the whole of your life on earth, you 
will observe the process of disintegration going on all around you. Firstly, 
yourself. You will become older, the signs of which are sufficiently familiar to 
you to need no mention of them. Your clothes are constantly wearing out and 
need replacement. The furnishings within your home undergo the same 
process and require the same remedy. Your very house is in a constant state of 
decay, though not always visible to the eye, until one day repairs of one sort 
or another will be demanded. Call to mind, also, the many articles of daily use 
that by accident you can break, even your own bones are not immune from 
that! So that there is constantly going on around you this action of decay. 







Everything about you on earth is corruptible. There is, then, a palpable state 
of 
impermanence. However much the decay may be arrested, you still have the 
certain fact of the eventual termination of your earthly life, which in itself 
sets 
the seal upon mundane impermanence. 

 Now let us contrast all this with life in the spirit world and with the 
dwellers 
therein. Perhaps one of the most heartening reassuring of feelings that we in 
the spirit world can harbor is the feeling of permanence. 

Firstly, as to ourselves. We are incorruptible. We have shed our earthly and 
corruptible bodies as we entered the spirit world, and we stand as we truly 
are, incorruptible. We do not age. On the contrary, we grow younger if we 
should happen to have passed our prime of life when we left the earth. That in 
itself is something in which to make one rejoice, but most of all, to make one 
feel secure and permanent. Our clothes do not wear out, or deteriorate in any 
way. Our homes are governed by the same law of incorruptibility. In my own 
home, for instance, I have never been obliged to make replacements or 
renovations in any single detail, whether of interior furnishings or 
structurally, 
since I first came to take up my residence here upon leaving the earth. 

 And it is the same with all other folk in these realms. I have made 
alterations, certainly; we all do that, but not because of decay or breakage, or 
wear and tear. What alterations we make are carried out for the pleasure they 
may bring to us and our friends.

 The imposing buildings which are such an outstanding feature of these 
realms, among so many outstanding features, are as clean and fresh and 
sparkling as upon the day when they were first erected. And when I tell you 
that no spot of decay or deterioration or dirt or dinginess can ever be detected 
upon anyone of them, and when I also tell you that a great many of them have 
been standing there for thousands of years, I think you will agree with me that 
we are fully justified in considering ourselves and all that is about us and 
surrounding us in the agreeable light of permanence. 

 These few details I have given you are not one tithe of the numberless signs 
of permanence which are for ever presenting themselves before our minds. So 
that, if we cannot prove that our life here in the spirit world will continue 
for 
ever, we have abundant evidence for entertaining the strong probability that it 
will do so. And I assure you that nothing can give us cause for greater 
satisfaction than that. For us the words, 'for all eternity' , would form a 
fitting 
clause in our charter of spiritual freedom. 

 I have often spoken of the magnificent buildings in the spirit world, but I 







have not so far made any reference to the particular form of architecture they 
favour. In fact, we have all types, from the earliest forms known to you on 
earth down to those of the present day. A type that is a great favourite among 
us here is that which is commonly known to you as Gothic. But all ages are 
represented. It would not be accurate to say they are reproduced, because here 
we can call upon people of a former age to erect buildings in the exact pattern 
of those of their own times. Beautiful though the various styles of architecture 
may be, and they are beautiful, yet to my mind the materials, of which the 
buildings are composed, with their exquisite colourings, are still lovelier. 
Even 
the plainest structure, one that is perhaps almost devoid of external 
embellishment, is none the less a delight to see. All buildings, from the 
unpretentious cottage to anyone of the stately halls of learning, look clean and 
fresh. But in addition, the materials of which they are constructed have a 
semi translucence, an alabaster like appearance with a superb variety of 
delicate colourings that seem to change their tones as the beholder changes his 
viewpoint. Some of them give the impression of being composed of motherof 
pearl in the most pleasing and restful shades of colours and tints. These 
colours are, of course, neither too vivid nor too brilliant where buildings are 
in 
fairly close proximity to one another. When more widely separated they can 
take on a more brilliant hue without disturbing the harmony of, or conflicting 
with, an immediate neighbour.

 Whatever form of spirit world architecture you may care to consider, you 
must always remember the two extra factors of the materials of which they are 
made, and their wide range of gentle colourings.

 There is one class of building that we do not favour, and that is the great 
gaunt barrack like structure, rectangular or of any other shape, with rows 
upon rows of cheerless windows. Such buildings would not comport with the 
warmth and geniality of these realms, and would seem altogether too cold and 
forbidding, in spite of the lustre of our building materials and their 
diversified 
colours, to find any response from the dwellers here. And without the cordial 
response of the inhabitants of these realms nothing would remain in evidence 
very long. It is because we like what we have here that we have it, and that it 
survives. 

 If I were to say that we have in the spirit world that type of domicile known 
to you on earth as 'family mansions' it would no doubt conjure up in your mind 
the private ownership that is entailed in possessing a large mansion on earth. 

 Of course, there is ownership in the spirit world. Indeed, why should there 
not be? Ownership, however, is gained in a different way from that of the 





earth. There is only one right of ownership in the spirit world, and that is the 
spiritual right. None other will suffice; none other even exists. According to 
our spiritual right, gained by the kind of life we have lived upon earth, and 
afterwards according to our progression in the spirit world, so can we possess. 

 Many people arrive here to find themselves richly and abundantly provided 
with spirit world possessions that are far in excess of those which they owned 
upon earth. And the contrary is often the case. Possessors of great earthly 
effects can find themselves spiritually poor when they come here.

 But they can gain the right to possess more, far more than they ever could 
own on earth, and of far greater value and beauty. 

But to return to the large mansion houses of which I spoke. These are not 
erected through a wish to indulge a mere desire of possession, though 
naturally there is nothing discordant with the harmony and laws of these 
realms to take a delight in whatever we may possess, from the smallest trifle 
to the largest building. These mansions are usually built up from smaller 
houses by making structural additions from time to time. But the latter are 
made with a very distinct purpose, a purpose that has for its intent not the 
enlargement of the building for its own sake, but to carry out some useful, 
interesting, or helpful intention that will be of service to many others in 
these 
realms. 

 One particular house I have in mind first began its existence as a moderate 
sized dwelling somewhat similar to my own home. The owner of it is an artist 
and musician, and when he first started his new life here, he had a great 
ambition to make his house a small center for other artists and musicians, a 
meeting place where kindred souls could forgather, the artists to discuss their 
art as it exists in the spirit world, and the musicians to perform such works as 
their fancy chose. 

 Gradually this little scheme took upon itself larger dimensions, far larger 
than were originally contemplated, until the house became much too small and 
insignificant for the worthy purpose to which it was being devoted. Additional 
rooms were built, and the whole house was extended in one direction and 
another. Finally, an apartment was added that resembled the 'great hall' 
customary in large mansion houses on the earth. Since that time it has 
extended its hospitality to scores of friends, and there is never a period when 
the house is devoid of visitors. It is a beautiful residence to look upon; a 
delightful one to reside in, and we have often joined one or other of the 
numerous assemblages there when we have taken a holiday from our work.

 Instances could be multiplied where such great mansions have their 
existence here, each of them devoted to some serviceable purpose for the 







entertainment of us all. They are not halls of instruction, the latter being of 
an 
entirely different nature both architecturally and in the purpose for which they 
are used. 

 The mansion houses are the homes of individuals in precisely the sense that 
my house is my own home, but their great size is due solely to the design for 
which they were erected, namely, hospitality and entertainment, recreation 
and pleasure. 

 As to the ownership of the ground upon which these houses stand, the 
ownership, such as I have explained to you, resides with the occupier of the 
house. As the house is extended in size, so also is the area of the grounds 
which are attached to it. The larger the mansion, the larger the tract of ground 
which surrounds it. Anything in the nature of cramping would materially 
detract from the grandeur of the edifice. 

 All these mansions are set in the most beautiful park land where it is 
possible and permissible to wander to one's hearts content. There are no petty 
restrictions, no exerting of 'rights', no prohibiting notices, for there is 
nothing 
and no one to prohibit! The inhabitants of the mansions know that there will 
be no unwarrantable intrusion simply because we observe all the courtesies 
that it is common to expect among those who respect each other for their 
spiritual worth.

 The woods and parklands are a dream of enchantment to wander in, and 
many are the occasions when we have strolled through them, or rested 
beneath the trees, while the deer, friendly and unafraid, have come to us and 
made themselves acquainted. They are beautiful creatures, enjoying such 
freedom as only the spirit world can give them, and they form an integral part 
of the superb landscape. 

'Do we have churches in the spirit world?' is a question, I am persuaded, that 
will form itself in many minds, because what you call the 'afterlife' is 
associated, in some form or another, with religion. An 'afterlife' is a 
concomitant of religion, and while the state known vaguely as 'heaven' may be 
a tenuous reward for the 'good' , there is always 'hell' with which to threaten 
the 'wicked'.

 If an ecclesiastical edifice is an indispensable adjunct to religion upon 
earth, 
then the establishment of churches would benefit the peculiar state of the 
'afterlife', whatever it may be. That is what many people think, and this 
attitude of mind finds outward expression in the spirit world. Yes, there are 
churches here, and very beautiful they are. 







They are, of course, in keeping with all other buildings, being constructed of 
the same kind of materials, and having the same degree of care lavished upon 
them. Some people are considerably surprised to find such places here when 
they make their advent into spirit lands. I can number myself among them. 
Others, as I have hinted, more or less expected to find churches fully 
established in whatever 'heaven' to which their earthly religion had safely 
conducted them. The discovery helped to make them feel more 'at home' in 
their new surroundings, and they very soon become active members of the 
community attached to the church. 

 In these realms one will find churches of most of the denominations with 
which you are familiar. My own former religion is fully represented, and what 
is known as the Established Church also. But there are others besides, each 
with its own buildings. I have been into many of them. They all possess a 
calm, restful atmosphere in which it is very pleasant to spend a few thoughtful 
moments. When there is stained glass in the windows beautiful effects are 
created by the external light as it pours in from all quarters, while the rays 
meet and blend into colorful rainbow shafts. 

 Some of the churches are exact replicas of buildings that are in existence 
now upon earth. Others are what the earth would call restorations of once 
famous abbey churches, and so forth, that have fallen into ruins on earth. Here 
they have risen in all their architectural glory to grace the countryside with 
their presence. 

 The church buildings vary in size from what would be considered a small 
chapel to great cathedral churches, all of them erected and upheld by their 
devoted congregations.

 How such things come to exist in the spirit world may cause you some 
wonder, since one would have thought there was no place for further religious 
differences and creedal distinctions. Most people do so think, but there 
remains a large residue who are still firmly wedded to their old earthly 
religious persuasion. Religious beliefs can take a very secure hold upon the 
minds of some persons. When they arrive in these realms they are fully 
convinced that their particular beliefs are alone responsible for their being 
where they are, which they regard as 'heaven', their just reward for their true 
faith. The fact that they led good lives in the service of others on earth they 
would sweep aside as of very little account in the great reckoning which has 
taken place. It is their faith, and their faith alone, they aver, which has 
brought 
them to these realms of heaven. They cannot be made to see that their great 
faith has availed them nothing; that they are where they are, not because of 
their faith, not in spite of it, but utterly regardless of it, and that it is 
their life 







of service to their neighbour, just that and that alone, which has brought its 
reward. The faith persists, sometimes elaborated with ritual and ceremonial, 
sometimes left plain and unadorned, simple and rather crude. And while it so 
persists their spiritual progression and evolution are at a standstill. They 
remain where they are in an environment of their creation.

 The laws that allow of their religious practices are strict and must be 
obeyed. Adherents to each form of religion must confine their practices solely 
to themselves. There must be no endeavoring to convert others to their beliefs. 
Their outlook, as you can imagine, is foreshortened. They can and they do 
enjoy their 'heaven', home made though it be, until one day spiritual 
enlightenment will come to them. Then they will emerge from their restricted, 
circumscribed life into the greater world that has been round about them all 
the time, had they but realized it. They will leave their useless creeds and 
dogmas behind them, and march forward upon the road of spiritual 
progression and evolution. They will then regard their churches as beautiful 
structures put to an entirely wrong use. They now see that as they regularly 
stepped out of their churches at the conclusion of a service, they stepped out 
into a world of truth, of truth which was not resident within the church's four 
walls.

 Now a word as to the ministers who conduct the services in these churches. 
They are men who were clergymen on earth. There is no lack of ministers for 
different churches. In fact, the supply is largely in excess of the actual 
demand. But that makes no real difference, since a number of ministers can 
work together in the same church, and so provide a fuller and more elaborate 
ceremonial in such establishments where it is performed. 

 After their earthly labours, their work here seems very light to them. Indeed, 
they have precious little to do beyond conducting their services. But then, you 
must remember that they consider themselves in 'heaven', and to take a few 
services and spend the remainder of the time in comparative idleness is simply 
the 'eternal rest' of which they spoke so glibly when they were upon earth. The 
members of their congregation are eternally resting, too. So that they are 
happy enough in their own limited way. They have arrived where they are 
through the kind of life they led when on earth, and here they have stayed 
while a sort of spiritual somnolence has descended upon them. They live that 
life of 'piety' which they thought so much about, and they are thankful for the 
church's help in getting them where they are. 

 The clergy are of all ranks in ecclesiastical orders, from learned prelates to 
simple parish clergymen. We have attended several of the services in these 







churches and listened to the sermons. It was an interesting experience. 

 Orthodox religion upon earth has much, very much to answer for. It forges 
many spiritual fetters which bind up the minds of countless souls upon earth, 
so that when they come here, we in the spirit world have to find means to 
strike off the irons that shackle them, so to release them to that freedom of 
spirit which is the natural, right, and proper mode of living in these lands.

 When the earth becomes truly and completely enlightened in the knowledge 
of life in the spirit world, all these churches will be put to a different use. 
They 
will cease to be repositories of creeds and dogmas, and become true temples 
of the spirit world. And in the true temples of the spirit world something very 
different from what you call 'communal worship' takes place. 

 In the centre of the city in these realms there is a great temple, a 
magnificent 
structure. It forms the very hub of the city from which everything radiates in 
every direction. It is a huge edifice, capable of seating thousands of us 
without 
any fear of crowding or other unpleasant conditions. It is encompassed by the 
most beautiful gardens, and as soon as one comes within the precincts one 
feels the most astonishing flow of power that emanates not only from the great 
wealth of flowers, but from the very building itself. This outpouring of force 
never diminishes.

 Now, this is a temple of thanksgiving, not of worship as the earth 
understands it and professes to practice it. We do not congregate here to offer 
up so called 'sacrifices'; nor do we perform elaborate ritual and ceremonial. 
Indeed, we do not perform either the one or the other at any time. We are not 
wearied by long and mostly unintelligible readings from ancient writers of a 
date so remote that they have no application to our present purposes and 
needs. We do not recite gloomy extracts from psalms which the majority of 
people do not understand. We do not sing hymns with whose sentiment we 
are either entirely out of tune or disbelieve in altogether. And lastly, we are 
not treated to the recitation of long, wordy, fulsome prayers that mostly 
breathe blatant flattery in their every sentence, and propound the most 
abstruse theological doctrines, as to the meaning of which one is utterly at 
fault. We perform none of these useless exercises. Instead, we meet here on 
special occasions, not by rule, not by habit, not because it is a duty, not 
because it is the 'right thing to do'; we meet here not because God 'demands' 
corporate worship as His right, not because some spurious authority proclaims 
that we must do so, or take the consequences. 

 We meet, because on the special occasions to which I have just referred, 
most illustrious beings from the higher realms come to visit us in this temple, 
beings who are close to the Great Source of all life and light. They bring with 







them some of the transcendental fragrance of those higher states of existence, 
and we are permitted to bask, as it were, in the radiance of the power and 
light they bring. Such power and light are partly of themselves and partly from 
the exalted realms, but chiefly from the Great Source of all.

 The principal visitant on these occasions gathers together our heartfelt 
thanks for all that is given to us, for all that we possess, and he transmits 
them to the Giver.

 Such a 'service' is simple and unpretentious, and above all things it is short. 
Most of these gatherings last not much longer than fifteen minutes or so of 
earthly time. But into that brief space of time is concentrated an act of 
inspiring beauty such as the longest, most elaborate, and most spectacular 
church ceremonial upon earth could never achieve in hours of pontifical 
pageantry with little or nothing underlying it.

 We can please ourselves whether we shall be present or not, and we are not 
thought any the worse for being absent. Sometimes many of us are absent 
upon important work at the time of these visits, but we enjoy the benefit of 
them on another occasion, and in the meantime our thoughts go out to the 
visitants. But it is the same in this as in all things here. Once you have 
experienced some of the delights of these realms you never wish to forgo 
further such experiences, if it can possibly be helped. 

 We have other and smaller temples distributed throughout the realms, where 
there is carried on upon a smaller scale the same description of visitation that 
takes place in the great central temple. Some of the smaller temples are 
fashioned exactly like the churches with whose form you are familiar upon 
earth. This is an ideal realized, a church as you know it, devoted to its true 
purpose, and not merely a stage upon which is enacted a great deal of 
worthless ceremonial which has no spiritual significance and certainly no 
spiritual effect.

 Upon earth an act of religious 'worship' implies in the minds of most folk an 
act of propitiation to a God who constantly demands it as His right. The Great 
Father of the Universe then ceases to be a Father and becomes an omnipotent 
being of uncertain temperament and most uncertain temper. Self abasement, 
conciliation, worship, adoration, and a multiplicity of other emotions are what 
orthodox religions tell you must be your attitude towards the Great Creator. 
And to crown this gross and libellous conception of the Father of the 
Universe, you are told that you should, indeed, you must love Him.

 Orthodoxy, in one form or another, has claimed a monopoly of the 'life 
hereafter', and therefore all that appertains to it has been regarded in a 
strictly 
religious sense. The spirit world has thus become a world of piety, of sanctity, 







or righteousness; how the latter word is relished by some types or churchmen! 
Heaven, these same churchmen would say, is a holy place, a place sanctified 
by the presence of angels and saints, where a continuous stream of worship 
ascends to the Great Throne above. And so on earth you must have Divine 
Worship, and it is the duty of every citizen, according to his religious 
persuasion to attend once a week at some place of worship. A great many do 
so without the remotest notion or what they are doing or the reason for doing 
it. They have only the crudest ideas concerning a Supreme Being, such ideas 
as they have are derived from their religious teachers. 

 At last, when they pass into the spirit world, they bring all their crude 
notions with them. But as there are no laws here against thinking what you 
like, they continue so to think along the same old lines. Perhaps it would be 
more accurate to say that they do not think at all. But we who have our 
spiritual freedom know just what the term worship is worth.

 We do not worship, as the earth understands the term. We pour out our 
eternal thanks for the happiness that is ours, a happiness that is itself 
magnified by the thought and the knowledge that still greater happiness lies 
ahead of us all. We are consumed with the deepest and truest affection for the 
Great Being who so lavishly bestows so many good things upon us.

 After this slight digression, let us return to our discussion of architecture. 
Of 
all the types of buildings to be found in the spirit world, and those which will 
interest my friends on earth, the most numerous, by far, are the dwelling 
houses, the 'private' houses and cottages in which we live. They are of all 
kinds known to you on earth. But the appearance of our houses is very 
different from the appearance of earthly houses. The principal distinction is, 
of 
course, in the building materials, as I have indicated to you in the case of the 
churches here. 

 Although we have houses constructed of brick or of stone, as well as the 
half timbered variety which is so popular here, your mind will inevitably be 
drawn to your own acquaintance with such buildings upon earth. But bear in 
mind what I have told you about the quality of the materials with their 
particular and colourful external appearance, and you will see wherein lies the 
very great difference between your houses and ours. But there are other and 
important distinctions.

 You must know, then, that we are never crowded for space here. You will 
never see rows upon rows of dwellings, each contiguous with its neighbour 







upon both sides, each built upon precisely the same plan and design, and 
altogether presenting to the eye a dreary, unimposing, unimaginative line of 
depressing uniformity. In these realms each house stands completely detached 
in its own grounds or garden. There is adequate space in which to move freely 
around and about the house without the constant feeling of being hemmed in.

 Of the gardens surrounding our houses I will speak to you in a moment or 
so. 

 In the spirit world we are not governed, or hampered by certain conditions 
of the first importance which must be considered when building an earthly 
house. Firstly, upon the outside of our houses we have no unsightly pipes to 
carry off rainwater or the water that is used for domestic purposes; nor do we 
have guttering.s upon the edges of the roof. We have no rain here or snow. So 
that feature will be absent in our houses, and they look all the better for it, 
as 
you can imagine. 

 Now as regards the aspect of our houses. We have no need to think about 
which point of the compass our residence shall face. With you upon earth, it is 
the desire of most folk to obtain as much of the sun's light and warmth as 
possible, hence the desire that the home shall face towards the sun, with the 
principal rooms situated on the sunny side of the house. But here, the sun 
shines perpetually, a great central sun, and it shines with equal intensity from 
all directions. Its light penetrates with the same constant luminosity into 
every 
room in the house, irrespective of the room's position. The front of the house 
will be as bright during every moment of its existence, I cannot say during 
every moment of the day, because we have no day, and therefore the phrase in 
its earthly sense becomes meaningless from our point of view,the front of the 
house will always be as bright as the back.

 And in speaking of the back of the house, here again I can show you a 
notable difference between our houses and yours. Strictly speaking, our 
houses have no backs to them as do yours. With you, the chief entrance is 
usually situated in the front, and architectural features are more pronounced in 
front than they are at the rear of the house. With our dwellings we make no 
such distinction, chiefly because the interior disposition of our homes omits 
certain features that are superfluous in the domestic life of the spirit world. 
As 
you know, we have no need for food and drink, so that we do not require the 
indispensable earthly kitchen. The space, therefore, that would upon earth be 
occupied by this culinary necessity, is devoted to other purposes in the spirit 
world homes. We have no lack of uses to which we can put such rooms. 

 I am giving you this description of our homes in a somewhat detailed form. 
Although many of you may be cognizant of the fact that we have houses in the 







spirit world, yet many important considerations are apt to be overlooked 
touching these houses of ours. Such details may seem trivial to some minds, 
unworthy of a moment's thought, yet, to others the import of what I am telling 
you, and of what I am going to tell you, will present itself in all its 
fullness.

 These very details help to make up our life in the spirit world because they 
concern our homes, and our homes concern our lives, just as they do with you. 
And that is my very point. You who are upon earth do not know what it is to 
live, really to live. And you will never know until you come here for all time. 
So that it is only by comparing some of the 'trivial' details of our respective 
modes of living that you can gather any kind of idea of this perfect land in 
which I live. Merely to give a broad sketch of our life in the spirit world 
might 
be satisfactory as far as it goes, but it would leave a great deal unsaid. Much 
detail would be missing, and it would thus be left to your imagination and 
speculation to supply the missing information necessary to make a fuller and 
more comprehensive picture. 

 To wave aside such particulars as I am giving you because they seem trivial 
and very earthly and unworthy of consideration when 'heaven' is under 
discussion, is to hold a totally wrong conception of spirit lands. We are live 
people living in a beautiful land, a land far more solid than the earth. We love 
the countryside and the city; we love our houses and gardens, we are blessed 
with delightful friends. But the country and the city; the houses and the 
gardens, and, lastly, our friends have more substance about them than can be 
found upon earth, and this substance is made up of such details as I am 
describing to you.

 It is of no use assuming a lofty attitude, as do so many people of earth, and 
say, in effect, that if 'heaven' is like that, why then, it is no better than 
the 
world in which we are living now. Or, at least, it is not much better, with its 
houses and churches, and rivers, and so forth. I would ask such people to be 
honest with themselves, to be truthful with themselves, and consider, if they 
do not like the things I am sketching to you, to formulate clearly and 
distinctly 
in their minds exactly what they would like. In other words, to specify, exactly 
and in detail, just what they want and just what they expect in their mode and 
form of life after they have 'died'. 

 At least I can give them this hint: from long experience I can positively 
assert that these particular people of whom I am speaking would be 
thoroughly miserable in the 'heaven' fashioned from their ideas of what 
'heaven' ought to be. Many such people have told me that they were 
profoundly thankful to find things as they are and not as they stupidly thought 
things ought to be. 







Once again, I am afraid, I have digressed. But I have been urged that it is 
necessary to stress the fact that the spirit world is more real and its 
inhabitants 
more alive than the earth and its inhabitants can ever be. And, moreover, I 
must stress the fact that the world and the life I am trying to describe to you 
are not the impossible imaginings of pure Utopianism. The spirit world is a 
real world, peopled with real individuals.

 Life upon earth is composed of many items, and they are familiar to you as 
part of everyday life. So it is with us here. 

 Now think for yourself just how many such items will constitute one day in 
your earthly life. Begin with the moment of your rising in the morning, and 
continue until you return to your bed at night. You will be surprised at the sum 
total of details consisting of various actions and experiences. It is the same 
with us here, but with us all those harassing and troubled minutes of daily life 
are absent. 

 And now let us return to the house which I was describing for you.

 As you have seen, by the omission of certain features necessary in your 
earthly houses, we are enabled to have greater space in our houses and to 
devote it to much pleasanter occupations and purposes.

 It might be queried: what do you actually do with the extra rooms now that 
you have them? The answer is a simple one: we use them! They are not 
merely 'spare' rooms, useful when a visitor comes to stay with us, or 
convenient to use as a lumber room. We have no lumber!

 Let us examine the matter more closely. From whichever quarter of the 
house one may look, there is a magnificent view to be seen. Here, then upon 
the ground floor are the possibilities of a number of distinct and separate 
viewpoints from which to see the beautiful countryside. The number of rooms 
upon the ground floor is amply justified by the different views that are to be 
obtained from them, apart altogether from the variety in the planning and 
arrangement in the rooms themselves and the several uses to which they may 
be put.

 Now let us mount the stairs and investigate the upper regions. The first thing 
we shall want to do is to gaze out of the window from our new and higher 
point of vantage at the same glorious countryside that surrounds us.

 Apartments which, on earth, would be bedrooms are, in the spirit world 
houses, used as sitting rooms or living rooms, or utilized for whatever purpose 
takes your fancy, a study, perhaps, or for some form of recreation and 
amusement. Our friends will like to come and see us in these or in any other 
of our rooms, and we often find that our friends have a strong predilection for 







one or other of the apartments, which affords them pleasure in some way. And 
that alone is sufficient justification for our having that particular room. They 
may like our individual style of decoration in any or all of the rooms, and 
that, 
too, will add to their joy.

 As far as the rooms themselves are concerned, they will vary just as much 
as do those in earthly houses, both in their size and their appointments. The 
beauty of the building materials is not confined merely to externals. Every 
fitting, every fixture (to use familiar terms), every thread of upholstery, the 
carpets on the floors, all are alike beautiful. The chairs in which we sit, in 
fact, 
the furniture in general, are in keeping.

 You who have only seen earth world furniture can have no possible 
conception of the richness of spirit world furniture. 

 We have no mass production methods; each piece of furniture, from the 
simplest article to the most elaborate, is the work of a master craftsman whose 
pride in his work is only exceeded by our pride in the great dispensation that 
can provide such treasures for our greater joy and happiness. Much of the 
furniture which I have since added to my home contains some of the most 
exquisite carving it is possible to imagine; such carving, indeed, one could 
never have believed to exist. Even the simplest piece of furniture can be so 
treated as to make it fit for a king, to use the old expression. 

 There is absolute freedom of choice as to what type of house one shall 
inhabit. Once you have earned the right to own a house which is to be your 
home, you are at liberty to choose just the style of domicile that pleases you 
most. It may be one that you have longed for all your life upon earth, but thus 
far you have been unable to gratify your long cherished desire. Here in the 
spirit world your wishes are at length fulfilled. Or you may wish to have your 
spirit home in the same style as your earthly home, if by chance the latter 
suited you and brought you contentment and satisfaction. That is what I did, 
not because my old earthly home was particularly beautiful. It was quaint, it 
still is, and it suited my temperament and desires, and I grew attached to it. 
When I came to the spirit world I found my new home to be the exact 
counterpart of my ancient earthly home, but with all the various alterations 
made to it which I had been unable to carry out upon earth, and which I had 
been desirous of doing, and no doubt would have done eventually had I not 
left the earth. 

 Houses, again, vary in size, from the small but picturesque cottage to the 
larger mansion houses that I have already touched upon. One must not be 
misled by appearances in regard to the size of dwellings here. That is a rule I 
learned very early in my life in the spirit world. Frequently, what on earth 







would be termed a 'humble' cottage, is here the home of a celebrity in some 
particular branch of human endeavour, a name that perhaps was a household 
word on earth. In the spirit world it is most unsafe to judge of the inmate by 
the size or shape or style of his dwelling. It is not that the owner of the 
cottage 
or small house is glad to live thus after living on earth in some rather 
palatial 
residence. It is rather that the charm of the cottage type of dwelling appeals 
to 
him, and no one will dispute his right to do as he pleases, and he will exercise 
that right still further when it comes to the matter of internal arrangements of 
whatever nature. 

 For example, we have no use for fire places in our houses as a means of 
warming the room. We have no winter or autumn or spring in these realms. 
We have only the glories of perpetual summer. Wintertime on earth can have 
its beauties and grandeur in the countryside, with its leafless trees and dark 
earth, with the mist upon the landscape and the feeling of quietness while all 
nature seems to sleep. But winter can also have its miseries and 
unpleasantness. The bitter cold, the storms of wind and rain, the fog that 
descends and narrows the earth till distance is lost. Certain it is that you 
have 
the spring and summer to help to compensate for these trials, but who is there 
who would not wish to prolong the earthly summer far and beyond its allotted 
period, if it were possible? Now if you were to take the most perfect summer's 
day upon earth that you can recall to your mind, in so far as the weather itself 
were concerned, you would still be far, far below the splendour of the 
heavenly summer of these realms. And with us every day is summertime. 

 Incidentally, we never become tired of it. I have not found one single, 
solitary individual in these regions who has at any time expressed the wish for 
a change of weather. When you come here and sample it for yourself, you will 
feel the same about it, I am certain. If not, then you will be the one 
interesting 
exception that will prove the rule!

 You can see how this will affect not only our lives but our homes as well. 
Our windows and doors can always remain wide open; there is a genial 
warmth penetrating into every nook and corner of our houses, just as the light 
diffuses its rays throughout. There is therefore no need to consider what 
means of heating we shall employ when ordering the disposition of our home. 
But a fireplace can itself be ornamental and pleasing to the eye, and for this 
reason you will find them in many a house. But other people prefer to 
dispense with them altogether. Their absence in no way spoils the general 
appearance of the apartment.

 In their early days in the spirit world people will often have fireplaces in 
their homes, but as time goes on and they realize the permanence of the 







glorious summer, they abolish them. It is purely a matter of choice, and we 
can all suit ourselves in the matter. But whatever we do, we shall not be 
considered eccentric if we wish to indulge some fancy. Our friends will recall 
their early days in the spirit world when they were similarly situated, and, 
accordingly, we shall have their sympathetic support and co operation in the 
fulfilment of our desires, whatever they may be. 

 And now an important matter arises. How do we arrange for the 
maintenance of our houses? By which I mean: who does the cleaning for us, 
and generally looks after things? that is, those of us who need such help.

 This is another point which irritates some minds. The incarnate person, upon 
the mention of spirit world houses, immediately thinks of them in terms of 
cleaning and upkeep, and the idea of houses in the spirit world then becomes 
distasteful.

 Here again arises a confusion between your world and ours. Recollect what 
I have said about our world being incorruptible, and you will see at once that 
the two words dust and dirt, which are such a nightmare to those of my friends 
on earth who have the care of their own homes in their hands, simply cannot 
have any meaning in the spirit world. Dust and dirt are merely disintegration 
in progress, and so, where you have no disintegration, as in the spirit world, 
so you will have no dust and dirt.

 Every house, here in these realms, is of a cleanliness where immaculate is 
the only term with which to describe it. Without the means to cause the dirt, 
you cannot have the dirt. With you on earth the gradual but persistent process 
of decay will always show itself in dust and dirt. You cannot avoid it. The 
most you can do is to invent and provide mechanical means with which to 
clear it away. But it will return and continue to return. I am, I know, stating 
what is a painfully obvious fact to so many good people, but I must do so to 
emphasise one of the outstanding qualities of our homes in this spirit world, 
namely, their superlative and everlasting cleanliness. In this respect, 
therefore, 
our homes will require no attention throughout the whole period of their 
existence, and that may be hundreds of years of your time. A house wholly 
unoccupied for such a protracted period would be, at the end of that time, as 
immaculate as on the first day of its erection. And that entirely without the 
least attention having been paid to it.

 The fabric of the house comes under the same conditions, and these 
conditions are a law. We have no winds in the spirit world that will wear 
away the stones or bricks of which a house is built, nor do we have a smoke 
laden atmosphere which will eat into the surface of our buildings or cause 
them to crumble away into dust. We have no rains to cause rot and rust to set 






in, and so to require various replacements. All our possessions within doors, 
our furniture and our hangings, our personal belongings, such as our books, all 
alike are subject to the same splendid law. They cannot deteriorate, receive 
damage, become soiled; the colours in our hangings and upholsteries cannot 
fade or become shabby. Things cannot get broken or cracked with age. We 
cannot lose our small possessions by mislaying them. The floor coverings on 
which we walk can never become worn out with constant tread of feet.

 And there are people who will say: why, the spirit world has houses with 
furniture, and so on. It is scarcely better than life on earth! Scarcely better 
than life on earth, indeed! Very well. Such people are at liberty to spend their 
spirit life in a field, if they so wish, but for me, and for millions like me, I 
find 
immense contentment and pleasure in owning a house to be occupied under 
perfect conditions, some of which I have recounted to you.

 We have spent some little time considering the house itself. Let us now 
wander out and inspect the gardens or grounds round about our homes. But 
before doing so I would like to revert to a subject which is not unconnected 
with the gardens themselves. 

 I have already remarked that we are never hungry, from which it might be 
inferred that our social gatherings are entirely without refreshment. Such is 
not 
the case. We have the most delicious fruit in abundance. Our host or hostess, 
whoever it may be, will always see to that. But it is fruit that is very unlike 
yours on earth, we eat it for a very different reason, and it produces a totally 
different effect upon us. To take the fruit itself first. We have a much greater 
variety than do you, even taking into account the diversity to be found in the 
different parts of the world. All the fruits that you have we also have here, 
but 
with the quality there is no comparison. And the size, too, is remarkable. That 
you must see to believe!

 The fruit contains a great quantity of nectar like juice, at the same time 
leaving the flesh of the fruit firm to the hold. It is perfectly formed, without 
blemish, a picture to behold, and its appearance does not belie it, for it 
tastes 
even more lovely than it looks. In eating the fruit we are not conscious of an 
internal satisfaction such as are you on earth with your fruit. We feel at once 
a 
powerful force running through our whole system, a feeling of exhilaration 
both mental and physical. We have no physical hunger that calls for 
satisfaction; whatever fruit we eat acts as a life force, and, as it were, stirs 
us 
up mentally and charges us with vigour.

 It is difficult for you on earth to imagine yourself without hunger and the 
need for food. To be hungry and thirsty is instinct with human nature on earth. 
When you come to reside permanently in these realms of the spirit world, you 







leave your hunger and thirst for ever behind you. You will never, therefore, 
miss the food and drink for which you no longer have any need. And that state 
in turn becomes instinct with human nature in the spirit world. You would 
even find that you could manage very nicely if you were never to partake of 
any fruit here, but once you have tried it and sampled its rich benefits, you 
have discovered a pleasure that you will never want to deny yourself. And 
there is no need to deny yourself upon any grounds whatsoever. There is 
plenty of it to be had simply for the gathering of it, and you may tuck in' 
without fear of being dubbed a glutton!

 Where does the fruit grow? Most people have a garden attached to their 
houses, and they are bound to have a favourite fruit tree tucked away in some 
corner that will amply supply them both for the requirements of hospitality 
and for their own personal needs. But there are large tracts of land here that 
are entirely applied to the growing of fruit of various sorts and for various 
purposes.

 One of my earliest experiences after I had arrived in the spirit world was 
the discovery of a splendid orchard of fruit trees. The owner of it was quick to 
perceive that the illness that had caused my transition to these realms had 
been a short one, and he presented me with some fruit of a particular kind 
which, he said, would supply me with just that reinvigoration that I needed. 
Edwin was with me at the time (indeed, it was he who disclosed this orchard 
to me in the first instance), and although he had been many years here, he also 
partook of some fruit, greatly to his benefit likewise.

 The whole of this orchard is a plantation of special fruit trees for the use of 
people who are newcomers to the spirit world. The owner of these trees, 
though I think he would prefer the appellation of 'custodian', is highly skilled 
in selecting just the right kind of fruit for newcomers. Once you have called 
upon him, he expects you to call again as often as you please. If he should be 
away from home at the moment of your visit, he explains, you are to walk in 
and help yourself, and the fruit trees will themselves act the part of host, and 
a 
much better one, he would say, than himself, and do what is necessary. The 
fruit is always there because it is always in season, and it is always in 
capital 
condition for consumption.

 The genial soul who conducts this fruit farm, if one can so term it, is 
performing a very great service to all of us here, and you can readily imagine 
that he possesses a great knowledge of the technicalities of his work. He is, in 
fact, an institution in these realms, and is known far and wide not only for the 
services he performs but for himself, for one could not find a more amiable 
companion. He is the owner of the orchard and the dwelling house that is 







close by. He, himself, will tell you that he holds the orchard in trust for the 
whole of this realm, and by virtue of his services thereto, he enjoys the 
privilege and pleasure of 'owning' it until such time as he will pass on to a 
higher state. And there is no one in these realms who would dispute not only 
his fitness for the services he renders, but his right to call the land, the 
orchard, and his dwelling house strictly his own for just so long as he wishes 
to extend his tenure of them. We shall be very sorry for ourselves when he 
transfers his noble activities to a higher realm, while we shall be happy on his 
account that he has reaped a rich and well earned reward. 

 I have spoken to you of food in the limited extent of fruit, but what of 
drink? Do we never feel the need for liquid of some sort? Never. But you must 
know that there is an enormous quantity of juice to be found in the fruit which 
would be sufficient to quench any thirst of reasonable dimensions!

 However, the spirit world is not an arid waste, as you will by this time have 
gathered. There is water in abundance in the rivers and streams and brooks, 
and every drop of it not only fit to drink, but, indeed, like no water to be 
found 
upon earth. It glistens and sparkles; it is crystal clear; it is buoyant; one 
can 
slip beneath its surface and enjoy its warm embrace as it folds its living arms 
about you. It soothes, it invigorates, it inspires. It will produce the most 
beautiful sounds when it is disturbed on its surface. The ripples of the 
wavelets will reflect back a multitude of rainbow tints and will emit the purest 
of musical tones. Have you any water like that upon earth? I cannot remember 
ever seeing any such when I was there. 

 There is no such thing as stagnant water here; every drop of it is 
everlastingly living water of jewel like purity. We can bathe within it, we can 
ride upon its surface in many a splendid vessel, or we can descend beneath it 
without harm to ourselves, because it is our nature that no harm can come to 
us.

 And now, after this slight digression, let us return to our consideration of 
the 
gardens.

 Our gardens are as much like the earth gardens as our spirit world houses 
are like yours. The first difference that you will notice is the absence of 
fences, or hedges, or walls, or any other means of indicating the boundaries 
of our 'property'. So that, when you look out of the windows of your home in 
these realms, the whole wonderful prospect will seem like a gigantic park, 
beautifully wooded, with streams and rivers to be seen sparkling in the light of 
the central sun, and flashing back countless rays like veritable diamonds. 
Apart altogether from their beauty, our gardens have an eternal freshness and 
orderliness about them that would be impossible of attainment in any earthly 







garden. My use of the word orderliness must not be misconstrued into 
anything approaching the somewhat rigid regularity to be observed in the 
public gardens of the earth. Beautiful as the latter may be, there is something 
of a cold orderliness about them; a lack of the sense of friendliness; a severe 
ordering of the flowers in their precise arrangement. They seem to be so very 
much on view, and one may have the feeling of being warned off. Even the 
simplest of our spirit gardens is immensely superior to the most assiduously 
preserved garden to be found upon earth.

 The differences between our gardens and yours are numerous, so numerous 
and wide, in fact, that the only real point of resemblance is in the name. I am 
inclined to think, though this is only my personal opinion, that the absence of 
fences and hedges to which I have just alluded; indeed, the absence of all 
marks of our own 'territorial frontiers', is one of the chief contributing 
factors 
to the great divergence between our gardens and yours. 

 In spirit world gardens one feels at once the sense and the reality of 
spaciousness which abounds everywhere. It is another instance of the freedom 
which we all know, feel, and enjoy. Freedom, you see, manifests itself in so 
many ways here, even in what might be deemed the comparatively 
unimportant matter of our gardens. It may seem unimportant to you who are 
still on earth, but to us here it is vital.

 All our gardens, then, merge the one into the other, forming an unrestricted 
whole which constitutes the great countryside of these realms, The land is not 
entirely flat, of course. There are gentle hills and slopes, delightful valleys 
with streams and rivers running through them. There are pathways winding 
their pleasant course beneath verdant trees of every kind. And every inch of 
ground is under cultivation of one sort or another. There is no barren land 
here, no neglected land. We each of us keep our gardens alive, in every sense 
of the term, by the affection which we shower upon them. There is no 
constant battle with weeds and wild growths; nor are we at the mercy of the 
elements, whether of wind or rain, or lack of rain; of cold or frost; or of too 
great heat. 

 In the perfectly tempered warmth of these realms every form of spirit nature 
has its full chance to grow, to flourish to its fullest extent, unhampered by 
such conditions as your earthly nature has to endure. If that is the case, it 
may 
be remarked, then there is no wonder that spirit world gardens are a perfect 
picture of heavenly delight. That is so, but it is a point that is so frequently 
overlooked, because people are apt to think too much in terms of the earth 
when considering life in the spirit world. 







There is another feature marking the difference between our gardens and 
yours, and which will be of some interest to those of my friends on earth who 
are fond of gardening. With you in the earth world, once given the requisite 
ground, it will not be long before you will produce some sort of result by 
virtue of your possessing some general, though perhaps limited, knowledge of 
horticultural practice, and for the rest trusting to the plants to look after 
themselves, with occasional assistance from a more knowing friend. But a 
garden of the spirit world demands expert knowledge in its creation, not to 
prevent us from going wrong, but to produce any results at all. Without our 
knowing exactly how to produce flowers or other growing things, we should 
fail to create any garden whatever. 

 Most of us here have consulted the expert gardeners at one time and 
another, either in the first formation of our gardens or afterwards to make 
alterations and improvements. If we should lack ideas in the matter, these 
important functionaries will soon provide us with something of their own 
fashioning that will be sure to please us far more than we ever anticipated.

 From time to time I have consulted with these good folk upon my own 
gardening arrangements, and it is astonishing how they have the faculty of 
knowing just what we most desire without our having expressed it openly. In 
any case, a hint is all that they require to evolve a dream of a garden, from 
the 
tiniest rustic nook to the great swelling banks of flowers with their 
innumerable colour schemes which are to be found in the neighbourhood of all 
the 'public' buildings in these realms. But more recently a sprightly young lad, 
named Roger, has taken up his residence with us, who is himself an expert 
horticulturist.

 Shortly after his arrival here, and at whose transition Ruth and I assisted, he 
became greatly attracted to horticultural work, and he has since become 
highly proficient in the art. So that now the gardens of our small domain are 
under his 

constant supervision and we have no need to venture farther than our own 
home in all matters appertaining to their arrangement or re arrangement with 
such an expert living on the premises. Roger here carries out all manner of 
experiments in floral disposition and display which is as great an interest to 
the rest of us as to himself. We are never quite sure what new form our 
'grounds' are likely to take at any given moment, and our numerous friends are 
oftentimes treated, as we are ourselves, to many and varied horticultural 
surprises! A great many of these expert horticulturists were either gardeners or 
lovers of gardens when they were upon earth. Being at liberty, as we all are 
here, to choose their occupation when they came here to live, it is but natural 






that they should put their previously gained knowledge to some further use, or 
that they should become fully occupied in what was on earth a diversion to be 
indulged in when time and opportunity permitted. It is true that a great deal of 
their earthly knowledge would be of little use to them as gardeners in the 
spirit 
world in any practical application, but it does not take them long to discard 
their old knowledge for the new, to exchange the earthly methods for the spirit 
world methods.

 Not all of our gardening experts are practical gardeners. Some of them are 
designers of gardens only, leaving the actual creation of the garden to others. 
And others are creators of gardens only, leaving the designing to others. And 
again, some combine the two, designing and creating.

 The horticultural architects are never at a loss for an idea, and you must 
know that designing a garden does not only mean arranging for the disposition 
of some small plot of ground such as one finds adjoining so many of the 
dwellings on earth. In the spirit world a whole countryside can be altered and 
rearranged down to the smallest detail, and the plans have to be made from 
which the actual creators are to work. 

 In the spirit world, planning and building a garden involves certain 
considerations which would not be heeded on earth. For example, the types of 
flowers and trees, with especial attention to their colouring, will largely be 
ordered or influenced by the kind of dwelling or other edifice which stands or 
is to stand in the particular ground. You will recall how the stones and so on 
in these realms are all glowing with beautiful shades of colour. The flowers in 
the gardens, therefore, will all accord with the colours of the masonry of the 
nearest building, broadly speaking, so that the two shall form together a blend 
of perfect harmony. Colour, you see, produces sound, and sound produces 
colour, so that it is essential that consonance and not dissonance should be the 
resulting effect of all horticultural efforts in these realms. Discord of an 
unpleasant nature would not be permitted. So here is one point, at least, where 
our gardening methods differ from yours.

 Again, we are not restricted, as you are, to seasons of a year. Our flowers 
and shrubs and trees are always in bloom and in leaf. We have combinations 
of flowers in our gardens that would normally be impossible upon earth 
through the passage of time, or because of the order of nature upon earth that 
causes flowers to come to maturity, flourish for a brief period, and then fade 
and die.

 You, who love the flowers and the gardens that grow them, can you not 
imagine our joy, here in these realms, where we have our favourite flowers 
always with us in our gardens, never at the mercy of the elements or the 
	






seasons, never withering with age, but ever presenting themselves to the 
world in all their beauty, in all their simplicity or their grandeur, in all 
their 
wide range of colourings, from the most delicate tint to the most vigorous and 
compelling of bright colours, and, lastly, always shedding their delicate 
perfumes upon the sweet pure air to delight us not only in the exquisiteness of 
their aroma, but to charge us with spiritual force, can you not imagine our joy 
at all this?

 This is all very well, I can hear you say; but do you never become tired of 
all this perfection? With all this absolute perfection about you, how can you 
have any contrast, any light and shade? You surely need something that is not 
so perfect, if one may so express it, to show off, to emphasize, what is 
perfect. 

 Certainly that is a point which might worry some people. The latter are 
dreadfully afraid that there may be a flaw somewhere in these details of spirit 
life which I am giving you; some important matter, some qualification which I 
have overlooked, that would tend to show that these realms are really, after 
all, not quite so perfect as one would be led to imagine. 

 Or, in other words, there is bound to be something, somewhere, that we 
should dislike, or upon which we might frown in displeasure.

 Well, now, the details I am giving you are drawn from my own 
experiences, firsthand experiences. I give you facts as I and millions of others 
see them in these realms; facts which we know to be the truth. There is no 
disputing the colours of the flowers, for example, just as there is no disputing 
thousands of other facts patent for all to see and observe and realize their 
truth.

 Or, again, you feel, shall we say, that what I am telling you seems too good 
to be true. Perfection, you would rightly say, is unattainable on earth, but 
that 
is not to say that perfection does not exist somewhere else. Perfection, it will 
be objected, admits of no qualification. Either a thing is perfect, or it is not 
perfect. There can be no half measures about it. One thing cannot be more 
perfect or less perfect than another. That is the truth in its strictest sense. 
But 
perfection can be largely a matter of personal experience. We may imagine 
that a thing is perfect because we have never experienced or encountered 
anything better. We are therefore entitled to regard this particular thing as 
perfect, and we shall do no harm to ourselves or to any other person by so 
thinking.

 These realms wherein I live, are, to all of us who inhabit them, a state of 
perfection so far as our present experience takes us. The great majority of us 
can scarcely contemplate a state of greater beauty and happiness, that is, a 







state of greater perfection than this sphere where we have our homes and our 
life. We love every inch of these realms, we love every moment of our lives; 
we are supremely happy, we could not be more so; that is to say, we do not 
think we could be more so. But when we come to regard the strict truth we 
know that when we pass into a higher realm we shall be happier still. We have 
not yet enjoyed that experience, but those of our friends who have already 
mounted to a more exalted realm are continually returning to visit us and to 
tell us of the greater happiness which they are now enjoying, happiness which 
they did not think possible, and to speak of the greater perfection in their new 
realms of things which already seemed perfect to them. So that, perfection, 
after all, is a matter of degree, of comparison, of experience, and it is not 
possible to set any limitation upon perfection, because we do not know as yet 
how far it is possible for perfection to extend. So that when I say that 
everything here in these realms is perfect, I mean, of course, everything is 
perfect in so far as our present experience takes us. 

 And that applies to us all here. Even when we have visited higher realms for 
a period, however long or short, we have only glimpsed the greater perfection 
of those realms. We can see that things are immensely purer in all ways, the 
colours, the musical sounds, the flowers and forests and woods; the rivers and 
streams; and, lastly, the people themselves, all are more rarefied. But those of 
us who have been so fortunate as to have visited a higher state never on any 
account feel dissatisfied with our own estate upon returning to our own 
realms. Dissatisfaction does not come by visual comparison of our present 
realms with higher realms. There are other causes for that which, for the time 
being, we will not consider. As far as my description of these realms is 
concerned, you need not be afraid that it is all too good to be true. To you 
who are still incarnate it may seem that it is impossible of attainment. To us, 
it 
is our everyday life. 

 Why should I depreciate the true condition of things here? Why should I 
pretend that the conditions are less wonderful and less beautiful than they are 
simply because some folk, still living on earth, cannot imagine anything being 
better than the state of existence upon earth? What is there against the 
particular beauty and grandeur of these realms to which such exception is 
taken? Because the same people have not experienced either or both, it does 
not follow that they do not exist in these realms. And if, by a deliberate 
perversion of the truth, I were to describe this state as being but a fourth 
rate 
imitation of the earth, people would still be displeased. What they would say 
in effect, is the next world is no better than this world?

 There are many parts in the spirit world that are a thousand times worse 
than anything that can be found in the earth world. There are many regions in 







the spirit world that are immeasurably more beautiful and more glorious than 
could ever be found upon earth. Yet there are minds who are thoroughly 
dissatisfied to learn of either! They need not perturb themselves unduly. When 
they pass into the spirit world they will go to that place for which, by their 
earthly lives, they have fitted themselves, and to no other. And in addition, 
they will go only to that place, or that description of a place, which they 
think 
'heaven' ought to be. How long they will remain in their home made 'heaven' 
rests with themselves, but my observations tell me that it is usually not very 
long before such people emerge from their restricted 'paradise', and join their 
fellows in the real 'heaven' that has been waiting for them all the while. It so 
happens that their ideas of what perfection is, or ought to be, do not coincide 
with what perfection really is, even in the qualified sense we have just 
discussed. In the end they are bound to admit their error of judgment!

 It is strange, is it not? this strong disinclination upon the part of some 
minds 
to accept the fact that some sections of the spirit world, at least, should bear 
any resemblance to the earth, albeit a resemblance that involves considerable 
modifications. After spending their lives in an earth world where such objects 
as houses and buildings of every kind are to be found, where the countryside 
with its fields and meadows, its rivers and lakes, its trees and flowers are but 
commonplace facts of earthly existence, some people feel resentful that they 
should be asked to live on in a future state where so many of the familiar 
landmarks of the earth are again in evidence. 

 Of course, they are not asked, strictly speaking, to live amid these 
surroundings, but we have already considered that point. It is more the fact 
that a spirit world civilization exists at all that so annoys some of our 
friends 
on earth. Again I would ask, what would they have in place of these natural 
surroundings? 

 The aversion, I am persuaded, arises from the notion that these realms of 
which I am speaking bear some limited or modified resemblance to the earth. 
Now that in itself is wrong. It is to imply that certain regions of the spirit 
world have been constructed upon earthly lines; that the earth has been taken 
as a model and the spirit realms built upon that model, and that they therefore 
constitute something of a replica of the earth. Exactly the opposite is the 
truth. 
The earth bears a limited or modified resemblance to these realms, which is a 
different matter altogether. Spirit lands, in the realms of light, are a 
thousand 
times more beautiful than any part of the earth it is possible to mention.

 It will doubtless be pointed out to me that in spirit lands there are houses 
that are a counterpart of earthly houses, and my own dwelling will be adduced 
as an example. That is true. My own house came into existence in the spirit 






world after I had earned the right to have it there as my home, to be set apart 
for me until I should arrive in spirit lands to live. But domiciles in 
incalculable 
numbers, having no counterpart on earth, had been in existence hundreds and 
hundreds of years before ever I was born upon earth. The inspiration that 
came to man to cover himself and his family with a roof of however rude a 
description came from the spirit world. You may say: nothing of the sort; it is 
no more than a natural instinct exerting itself, an instinct of self 
preservation, 
to protect one's self from the rigors of wind and storm, of cold and heat. If 
you 
feel that you must act here to your contention, then, so be it. I cannot provide 
proof of my assertion yet. You must wait until you come to spirit lands 
yourself, and I shall be pleased to show you where you can ascertain the truth 
for yourself. In the meantime, I will adhere to my contention, and I will 
venture further to assert that the whole range of earthly architectural design 
throughout the ages has been inspired and influenced, promoted and 
encouraged by great minds resident in the spirit world. 

 Inspiration is not a 'matter of physical brain cells selffunctioning in such a 
manner as to produce a clever or brilliant idea in the mind of a person. 
Inspiration can come from any quarter of the spirit world, from the highest 
realms, from the lowest realms, and from the grey lands as well. It remains 
with the incarnate as to which quarter of the spirit world he will lend an ear. 
If 
to the highest, there will come only that which is good; if to the lowest, only 
that which is evil and bad. In the former, among many other good things, you 
will have all the beauties of art and music, but they will be beauties and not 
hideous distortions masquerading under the cloak of pure art; you will have 
scientific discoveries for the benefit of mankind, as well as schemes for his 
well being. You will have great works of dramatic and literary genius that will 
live through the years and never show signs of wear. From the dark realms 
you 

will have wars and strife, unrest and discontent; you will have literature that 
is 
a disgrace to so called civilization, and music, even, that is an abomination of 
impure sounds, such sounds as would never exist for an instant of time in 
these realms. 

 No, the spirit world is not a copy of the earth. The spirit world was in being 
aeons of time before the earth came into existence. Does man think that he has 
formed and fashioned all that is man made upon earth entirely of his own 
mind and genius, then man is woefully mistaken.

 Without the spirit world, the earth and mankind, who is barely living as 
judged by the greater life of the spirit world, would soon get into 
inconceivable difficulties. The beauties of the earth are but a foretaste of the 







beauties of the spirit world and the life that lies before all mankind. We do 
not 
copy you who are on earth, we have no need to do so. We give you glimpses 
of the spirit world so that you may have some slight acquaintance with the 
spirit world before you come to take up your life and residence here.

 We seem to have marched a long step from our discussion of spirit world 
houses and their gardens, have we not? But these other matters that we have 
looked into are all relative to our one subject, which is the consideration of 
the 
spirit world and the life we lead here. 

 And now, how are the residents of the houses composed? Are they family 
groups or single occupants?

 Doubtless, you will call to mind such concentrations as you have on earth, 
but you must also remember that even on earth family groups are continually 
altering their composition. The children in an earthly family grow up, and for 
various reasons they leave their parental homestead upon marriage, for 
example, or for reasons connected with their business or occupation. People 
on earth live alone for equally varied reasons. And so the changing of family 
groups is constantly going on. In normal times on earth, families live their 
lives with these changes taking place in their family ties, and eventually they 
come into the spirit world.

 Upon earth the number of generations of a family is fairly limited, but in the 
spirit world all previous generations of a family are co existing. So that it 
might reasonably be asked: who will live with whom? That, as you can see, 
will raise a very considerable problem if viewed from the strictly limited 
viewpoint of the earth. But it presents no problem to the organization of the 
spirit world. Family ties, as such, have little significance in the spirit 
world. 
Here the one deciding factor in this matter of human relationships and family 
ties, is the bond of affection and mutual interest that prevails between any two 
or more people. The rule applies in all circumstances. It applies to husband 
and wife, to brother and sister, to father and mother, and to all the remaining 
degrees of family relationship. And it applies to ordinary friendships between 
individuals of different families and between both sexes.

 In the spirit world we are at liberty to live as we wish. If we desire to join 
forces with one or more companions, we shall soon be able to find others, 
similarly inclined, to unite with us and share the one domicile. Many of us 
here do that. Apart from mutual regard and respect and interest, we may all be 
occupied in the same type of work, and so, sharing our knowledge and 
experience, we live our lives together under the one roof, and in complete 
accord. If at any time we should wish to occupy a separate establishment we 
can do so without fear of hurting the feelings of our companions. 







When I first came to the spirit world I found myself the possessor of a 
replica of my old home on earth. There it stood, fully equipped and ready for 
my instant habitation. Edwin, my old friend and colleague, undertook to show 
me a little of the new world I had just entered, and during our tour of 
inspection I met a very charming young person whose name is Ruth. She 
joined our small expedition, since there were many things that she, too, had 
not yet seen, and finally, after spending so much time together in our 
peregrinations, the three of us felt that we should like to work together if 
that 
were possible. It was possible, and we have so worked ever since. Ruth and 
Edwin are each the possessors of very charming houses, of which they are 
'sole occupants', but we are so much together, the three of us, that Edwin and 
Ruth spend far more time in my house than they do in their own. Their homes 
are filled with their possessions and the things they value, but the prolonged 
absence of the owners makes no difference. They will always find their 
houses to be in the same state of good order whenever they wish to retire to 
them, as they do occasionally. 

 The same situation also applies to an old friend who has also taken up his 
residence with us. Gordon by name, he has but recently arrived in these lands. 
He had been in active communion and communication with us for a great 
many years of his earth life, and he was himself a powerful psychic 
instrument. It was a great pleasure to Ruth and me to assist at his passing, and 
to bring him to our home. He awoke to his new life to find himself reclining 
comfortably upon the couch in our main room, through the windows of which 
he had the first glimpse, as a permanent resident, of the land of his new life. 
Ourselves apart, there were other friends to welcome and greet him, friends of 
his earthly days: two small sparrows, his dog, and two handsome pumas. So 
that altogether our household is an animated and lively one. We are living a 
happy life working together, taking our amusements together, receiving our 
friends together, and visiting together.

 It is no uncommon sight to see such arrangements; indeed, I think they 
preponderate in these realms. The bonds that unite us are firm and undeniable, 
otherwise the joint establishment would soon collapse. The plan fits in with 
our particular temperaments and tastes and desires, whether the latter be of 
work or of play. It is the wish of all five of us that our present system and 
arrangement of living shall always continue. And it will so continue, until the 
time comes for one or all of us to proceed to another realm in the natural 
course of our spiritual progression.

 There are many couples to be found living in charming houses here; for 
example, a husband and wife who were happily married when upon the earth, 
admirably suited to each other, and with a real bond of affection between 







them. Or there may be other family groupings such as I outlined to you a 
moment ago. If you remember that all these small communities are formed not 
because of blood relationship, but because of mutual esteem and affection, 
you will always find the answer to the question: who will live with whom? in 
the residential relationships of the spirit world.

 Other reasons apart, if spiritual progression brings about the departure of 
some member of a household in the spirit world, it might be thought that it 
would cause some measure of unhappiness or sadness to the remainder of the 
household. In such a case we should greatly miss the customary presence of 
our former companion upon his proceeding to a higher realm, but we should 
not feel the same rather blank despair as do you upon earth in other 
circumstances of departure. We have a keen appreciation of the greater 
happiness which will be the good fortune of our departed friend, and that will 
spur us on to attain our own progression, and so join him who has preceded 
us. But it is not by any means certain that we shall take our next step in 
progression when it comes, if I may so express it. 

 There are many people to be found in these and other realms, both higher 
and lower, who have earned for themselves their undoubted removal into a 
higher sphere of spiritual life, but who prefer to remain where they are for a 
variety of sufficiently good reasons. For example, some of the great teachers 
in these realms are fully entitled to live in a higher realm, and actually 
possess 
houses in those higher states, but they have chosen to remain where they are 
and carry on their present form of work. This act of self denial is itself a 
means of still further progression, though it is to be doubted if any such 
thought ever enters the head of the individual who elects to adopt this course 
of action.

 When I say teachers, I do not mean only teachers of spiritual truths and so 
forth, but instructors of all kinds in the various arts and crafts of these 
particular realms. There are thousands of people here who are learning some 
form of work that is new to them, details of which I have already recounted to 
you. In this case it is the work itself and the joy it brings in the service to 
their 
fellow beings that prompts such folk to postpone their advancement of 
spiritual estate. One day, however, the time will come when they will be 
obliged to betake themselves into their rightful sphere since to remain longer 
in a lower realm might cause them some discomfort. But they can return 
whenever they wish and make prolonged visits to their old friends, and even 
resume for a limited period their former tutorial occupation, needless to say, 
to 
the extreme delight of their colleagues and pupils. 







It is not only teachers who postpone their permanent elevation and remain 
where they are, although entitled to reside in a higher realm. It is open to 
anyone, without exception, to do the same whenever the circumstances arise. 
The circumstances, in fact, are many in which this can happen. To instance 
one case: two people are mutually attracted while upon earth, a husband and 
wife, shall we say? The wife passes into the spirit world and attains to a 
certain sphere. Later on the husband in turn passes into spirit life, but goes 
to 
occupy a realm lower than that of his wife. But the mutual attraction still 
exists, and so the wife takes up her life in the lower sphere in order to be 
with 
her husband and to help in his progression. Thus they will be enabled to 
advance together and remain together for all time, or until such other 
circumstances arise as will cause a natural severance of their present ties.

 There are many selfless souls here who have done and are doing the very 
same thing. They are perfectly free to make their own choice in the matter. 
The greater happiness, generally speaking, that would be theirs in the higher 
state, receives some measure of compensation in their being re united with 
some much loved relation or friend.

 So you will see, there are no sad partings, no dispersals of pleasantly 
situated little communities of relations or friends by the natural procedure of 
spiritual progression. We do not experience that crushing, almost 
overwhelming depression that you can experience upon the earth at the 
departure of one who is greatly loved.

 Even if a cherished friend has departed into higher regions, and we should 
feel ourselves becoming saddened by the event, it must be remembered that 
we are in instantaneous touch with each other here. A thought sent out will 
bring back the absent one in a twinkling to our side, if that should be the only 
remedy for our desolation. But that would be an extreme case, a highly 
improbable eventuality, and scarcely ever to be encountered. Then again, we 
are unerringly in touch with each other here by thought in ways that I will 
explain to you later.

 As I have had occasion to remark previously, the spirit world is not a static 
world. There is always movement, especially among its people. How, 
otherwise, could we eventually pass to the higher states if it were not so? At 
some time or another certain small communities of a few friends or kindred 
souls, who are occupying the same domicile together and working in concert, 
must come under the influence of the universal law of change that is one of the 
great elements of spirit life. But these re groupings, with their consequent 
severance of earlier ties, are not terrible tragedies. They are the natural 
outcome of the march of progression. We must move onwards as the will to 







move exerts itself within us. None would hold us back, although we might 
elect to stay until other circumstances prevail. But you can be sure of this: we 
are all completely satisfied under this scheme of things, we know that no other 
plan would be feasible, and, what is most important from the point of view of 
our feelings in the matter, we are supremely happy under it. 

 In my references to the countryside, I have mentioned rivers. How do they 
flow? They flow in exactly the same manner as do earthly rivers. They begin 
their life as a small stream, perhaps as a little trickling brook, and they flow 
on 
and on becoming deeper and broader in their passage, and finally they flow 
into the sea. There is nothing very remarkable in that, but the rivers 
themselves are very remarkable when they are compared with earthly rivers. 

 The rivers of the spirit world are never fast flowing streams, muddy looking, 
or heavy in appearance. Nor are unsightly buildings to be found upon their 
banks, with merchant vessels of all shapes and sizes and degrees of disrepair 
alongside dingy wharves. However picturesque the ships may be, we have no 
need for them here, and so they do not exist. Boats of all sorts we do have, 
but not of the description that I have just mentioned. And we do not have 
unpleasant factory buildings spoiling the beautiful riverside scenery. Instead, 
we have magnificent edifices built of spirit world materials such as you are 
already familiar with, reposing along the waterside, with spacious 
embankments and splendidly laid out gardens through which the river threads 
its placid way, slowly, very slowly, and calmly. When I first saw one of the 
spirit world rivers, so slowly was it moving that to my unaccustomed eyes I 
felt sure that it was not moving at all! But it is possible to see the movement 
and to feel it. 

 You can have no conception how glorious it is to glide along such a river in 
some graceful boat, passing through the rolling banks of flowers upon either 
hand, or through some peaceful meadow where the trees reflect their shapely 
forms in the tranquil waters; or again, to draw alongside some beautiful broad 
marble steps, to go ashore, mount to a greater height and view the ribbon of 
scintillating colour that the river reveals itself to be from this higher 
elevation; 
or, yet again, to proceed up some sequestered backwater to find one's self in 
the midst of a friend's garden. 

 Nothing can possibly convey to you the brilliance of the colour, always the 
colour, that seems to abound in such full measure in the neighbourhood of the 
rivers. Perhaps it is that the streams themselves reflect back so much colourful 
light from the flowers that this effect of seeming preponderance of colour is 
produced. Whatever it may be, we all feel the same about it, and for that 







reason the rivers always have a very great attraction to the folk in their 
leisure moments.

 The water is of the purest, as you know, but its most remarkable feature, in 
the opinion of so many of us here, is the ability it has of changing its colours 
and shades of colours. At times, I have seen the river which runs near my 
home to be nothing less in appearance than a ribbon of molten gold. All the 
different hues that are usually reflected in a thousand different ways, appeared 
to have vanished and in their place was liquid gold. At other times I have seen 
it shining as though of burnished silver. This rather unusual phenomenon 
puzzled me considerably in my early days here, but my invaluable friend, 
Edwin, soon instructed me in such matters as these. The explanation was 
simple enough. It was just that some visitant from higher realms was, or had 
been, in the neighbourhood, and the influence which he brought with him was 
being reflected in the mirror surface of the water. As the influence became 
absorbed into the immediate surroundings, the river gradually resumed its 
customary appearance. 

 I only mention this small incident to show you how these realms of the 
spirit world are ever affording us some delight or another, unasked, which 
makes the enjoyment of it still more precious to us.

 Akin to the rivers of the spirit world are, of course, the seas. They are like 
the seas of the earth merely as a body of water, but in no other respect. The 
waters of the rivers here, and the seas into which they flow, are of the same 
elements; that is to say, the water is what is known on earth as fresh water. As 
far as I was able to observe I could not trace the presence of any salt in the 
sea. 

 In general appearance there is not a great deal of difference between the 
rivers and the ocean. Each has the same brilliance of colour, but the rivers by 
virtue of the fairly close proximity of their banks, with the large masses of 
flowers and the elegant buildings which adorn them, will have more colours to 
reflect in their surfaces, and so they will appear to be more colourful. But it 
must not be presumed that the sea lacks a full measure of colour. Very far 
from it. No water, wherever situated here, lacks colour. And the sea is never 
empty of the signs of Life. There are always vessels of one sort or another to 
be seen sailing upon it or riding at anchor. In addition, however far one may 
travel one is scarcely ever out of sight of an enchantingly lovely island, upon 
which one is at liberty to wander to one's heart's content, and enjoy the 
special 
features which all these islands possess. 

 One of the islands, of which I have spoken to you before, contains a 
veritable paradise of bird life, where some of the most beautiful specimens of 




birds in all the glory of their gorgeous plumage are to be seen at close hand. 
They are not segregated and confined in cages, of course, but they are free to 
pursue their life in their natural element, the air, or to remain upon the 
ground 
in the absolute certainty of their complete security from harm. Consequently, 
they are the friends of any of us who may visit their special domain.

 This particular island is another favourite pleasure spot with us, and often 
do we go there to sit on the soft grass while birds of every description of 
vivid 
plumage and of every size come gathering round us, not for food, as one 
would imagine on earth, but just to demonstrate their knowledge that no harm 
can come to them, and to express their friendliness with all mankind in these 
realms. We are such regular visitors there that we know a great many of the 
birds by sight and by name, for someone is bound to give them names!

 Of course bird life is not confined solely to this one island; indeed, the 
birds 
are flying about throughout these and other realms. Just as with you on earth, 
so are they here with us 'abroad and everywhere'.

 I have not visited all the seas of the spirit world, but there is plenty of 
time 
yet. My visitations to the seaside have been chiefly to that ocean which is 
nearest to our particular quarter of these realms. 

 When viewed from an elevation that is fairly high above sea level, the water 
presents a scintillating expanse of colour. There are no storms to agitate the 
surface violently, at the same time the sea is not always of a glassy 
smoothness. The gentlest of breezes will play lightly upon the waters, rippling 
the surface and forming little waves which take on a hundred tints in the 
smallest space, so that these rays of reflected light are for all the world like 
the flashes of colour that are to be seen issuing from the purest of diamonds. 

 It is a thrilling experience to behold for the first time this glittering 
effect 
that is natural to all water in the spirit world. When I first beheld it I could 
hardly believe my eyes, so unbelievably inspiring was the spectacle. And even 
now, although I have become to some extent a seasoned resident of these 
realms, I can still be thrilled by the interplay of colour whenever I come 
within 
sight of river or lake or sea. And that applies to all of us here. Familiarity 
has 
not made us indifferent. There would be something radically wrong with 
ourselves if it did.

 There are many fine vessels to be seen upon all the waters of these regions, 
many of them the homes of residents. Ownership of such boats, in fact, of any 
boat, is governed by the same law that applies to all ownership in spirit lands, 
the law that makes it a sine quo non that all our possessions must be earned 
before we can own them. As far as the smaller craft are concerned, the type 
which would be known as private river craft on earth, many people have such 







boats and spend their leisure moments upon the water, just as you do on earth, 
but without any of the restrictions or dangers, even, that are to be encountered 
on earth. It is perfectly safe here for a small child to sail out in a boat 
entirely 
alone. 

 What is the difference, you might wish to ask, between country life and 
town life in the spirit world? In the form in which that question is framed 
there 
is doubtless the impression that life in the spirit world consists of a 
regularly 
recurring series of episodes, or functions, dividing life into a number of 
compartments, as it were, though the compartments themselves might be 
contiguous. That is how life is composed, more or less, upon earth. So to 
answer that question, I must place one or two considerations before you.

 Your life upon earth is dominated by two factors at least, both of which are 
unavoidable. They are the need for rest through sleep, and the need for food. 
To maintain your life at all upon earth, you must provide for these two 
requirements. As you know, in the spirit world we need neither physical rest 
nor food. Your life is therefore punctuated by recurring periods of sleeping 
and eating. A certain part of your life is spent with darkness upon earth, and 
although you may illuminate the darkness with artificial light, the darkness 
still remains elsewhere.

 In these realms, as you know, too, we have no darkness at all, at any time. 
Our life, then, is one of absolute continuity in perpetual natural light. We 
have 
no blank period in our physical life such as you have during your sleep. We 
are for ever awake. We carry on with our work until such time as we wish to 
stop, and then we stop. We can follow on with other work of a different 
nature, or we can betake ourselves to some form of amusement or 
entertainment, or we can indulge in our own particular pastime. At the 
conclusion of the latter, or at such time as we see fit, we will resume our 
work. Further, we live in a state of perpetual summer; we have no long 
summer or long winter evenings alternating.

 You have no possible means of experiencing these various factors upon 
earth because they do not and cannot exist there. You must therefore call your 
imagination into play and try to picture to yourself the particular conditions 
which I have just outlined to you. You should then be able to see that there is 
really no difference between town and country life in the spirit world. 

 The cities of the earth are mere concentrations for reasons of commercial 
convenience. There being no commerce in the spirit world, we have no need 
for such concentrations. But what has been done is to place all the great halls 
of learning of these particular realms in one locality. There is no pressing 
need 
that they should be so disposed, with equal facility they could have been 







distributed throughout a wide area of these regions. But it was felt that a 
number of magnificent buildings, such as are the halls of learning, would 
present a much more imposing appearance if they were arranged in an orderly 
plan, each within a moderately close distance of the other. We can think of no 
better arrangement. And so the buildings were erected ,many eons ago. They 
occupy an immense area of ground, and each is standing in gardens and 
grounds of peerless beauty. Exactly in the centre of this group of buildings is 
a temple of unsurpassed grandeur. It forms the hub of the city, and from it 
radiate all other buildings of whatever nature. 

 We have no streets as you know them, for we do not require them, but we 
have broad, spacious thoroughfares of the softest grass upon which to walk. 
There is no traffic of vehicles here so that there is no necessity for special 
pavements upon each side of the roadway, as you have for your own security. 
Sometimes these broad walks are paved with some of the wonderful stone 
creations of these realms, but more often they are covered with grass. 

 When you come to view the countryside here you find that without hedges 
and walls and other boundary marks, the whole landscape becomes one vast 
expanse of parklands interspersed with rivers and streams and wooded land.

 Standing amid all these beauties are the dwellings of the inhabitants of these 
regions of the spirit world, and in a part of the countryside there stands what 
we call the city. Where one ends and the other begins, it would be difficult to 
say. There are no municipal or civic rights to be considered, no parochial 
boundaries to be thought of, no suburban or rural privileges to intervene in any 
way. The city is part of the countryside; the countryside is part of the city. 
The 
life of one is the life of the other, simply because of the continuity of 
existence 
in the spirit world, and because of the perpetual daytime and perpetual 
summertime. There is no hot and stuffy city to make a visit into the country air 
so pressing. There is no great commercial attraction of the city to draw folk 
towards that centre. So that, in effect, the country and the city are one. 

 I promised, a little while since, that I would speak to you upon the subject 
of thought. Now, I think, would be a favourable opportunity to do so, leaving 
for the time such other matters of spirit life that are worthy of discussion. 







SPIRIT PERSONALITY.

 WHEN the spirit world is described as being a world of thought, where 
thought is the great creative power, and where thought is concrete and 
perceivable by all men, the conclusion is very often erroneously drawn that 
the spirit world is an unsubstantial place, and that we, its inhabitants, are 
vague shadowy people, lacking any real substance, and answering for all 
purposes to that very earthly designation of 'ghosts'! Pursuing this mistaken 
deduction, the life of the spirit world people must inevitably be somewhat 
dreamlike and illusive.

 The incarnate think along these lines because to them thought is something 
that can be practised unseen and heard. On earth thought is secret to the 







thinker until such time as he wishes to give verbal or other expression to his 
thoughts. It is customary to say on earth: our thoughts are our own; we can 
think what we like; thoughts can never harm anyone, and so on. So that when 
we of the spirit world assert that our world is a world of thought, the 
incarnate 
immediately revert to their own thoughts and their unsubstantial nature, and 
thereupon place the spirit world in the same category of tenuous things. 

 Generally speaking, upon earth thought must have some form of concrete 
expression for it to be effective. The architect must first think of his 
cathedral, 
or whatever it may commit his thoughts to paper in regular order and with 
exactitude before the builder can make any commencement upon the outward 
and visible expression of his original thoughts. And so it is with a multitude 
of 
other things, from the simplest article to the most complicated instrument or 
ornate building. On earth thought must have a medium of some sort before it 
can find the slightest trace of outward expression. For this reason, among 
others, the incarnate are prone to regard the earth as being the one certain and 
substantial world in which it is possible to exist. The spirit world becomes the 
very opposite.

 The incarnate do not realize the force and power of thought or else they 
would never think along such lines as I have indicated. Every thought that 
passes with force and purpose through the mind of an earth dweller is 
projected from his mind as a thought form. To speak unscientifically, it is 
registered, at least for a time, upon the surrounding ether. It depends, of 
course, upon the thought itself, and of what it consists. If it is merely one of 
those passing thoughts that all folk upon earth have in their minds at various 
moments during the day, then such thoughts will be registered in the manner I 
have just indicated. If the thought is directed towards some friend who is now 
resident in the spirit world, that thought, if it is properly directed with 
purpose 
and intent, will inevitably reach that friend. It will reach him or her just as 
it is 
sent, no more and no less good or bad or indifferent.

 Thought may be invisible to the majority of earth dwellers but it is very 
much visible to spirit folk. People who are still on earth, and whose psychic 
powers have been developed, are often capable of seeing these thought forms. 
That ability raises problems which sometimes lead to mistakes and 
misunderstandings.

 Thought is upon a different plane, a higher plane of existence from that 
organ of the earthly body, the brain, through which thought functions on 
earth. Thought is upon the same plane of existence as the mind, and the mind 
belongs truly to the spirit world. And by higher plane I do not mean a higher 
spiritual plane, but one that cannot be observed by the ordinary physical 







organs of perception. In the spirit world thought has direct and instantaneous 
action upon whatsoever it is directed, whether it be upon a human being or 
upon what on earth is called 'an inanimate object'. I cannot use the latter term 
appositely in connection with spirit world objects, because all objects, all 
things, have life, certain and unmistakable. There is no such state as that of 
being lifeless in the spirit world. It is not until you come into the spirit 
world 
that you really know just what thought can do. And I do assure you, my good 
friend, that some of us are positively horrified when we find out for the first 
time!

 In the spirit world thoughts do not become visible immediately upon their 
passing through a person's mind. They are not flying about in a loose fashion. 
The idle thoughts of which I spoke travel no further than your immediate 
earthly surroundings. Thoughts directed to some friend in the spirit world will 
reach that friend, and they cannot be classed as loose thoughts.

 Imagine to yourself the state of confusion, of congestion almost, and of 
embarrassment if all our thoughts in the spirit world were visible. But because 
they are not immediately visible, that is not to say that they are not potent, 
for 
assuredly they are very potent. No, they are not visible as you regard it, but 
they will unfailingly reach their destination wherever it may be. If directed 
towards some friend upon earth, in many cases it is problematical whether the 
friend will perceive them: or, perceiving them, whether he will know whence 
they have come. But if our thoughts be directed towards some friend in the 
spirit world, there will be no such doubt or uncertainty.

 How do we receive thoughts in the spirit world? One of the first and most 
interesting experiments that Ruth and I carried out under the friendly eye of 
Edwin during our early explorations of these realms, was that of hearing 

Edwin speak to us from a distance. Without recounting the full circumstances, 
it is sufficient to say that although Edwin was in sight of us both, yet he was 
too far away for us to hear his voice even if he had used it above his normal 
tones. But we both distinctly heard his voice sounding close to our ears. At 
first, of course, we could not believe our ears, and we were rather inclined to 
regard the whole thing as some trick or other that Edwin was performing for 
amusement and general merriment. But he repeated his message to us, it was 
merely bidding us to rejoin him, and it was so unmistakable that we forthwith 
did as directed. As a prelude to hearing Edwin's voice, we had both perceived 
a bright flash to appear before the eyes. It was in no sense blinding or 
startling; indeed, the flash was too beautiful for that. 

 And that, I think, describes briefly but precisely what happens to all of us 
when a thought is passed between one and another of us. The thought is 







invisible in transit, it arrives at its destination instantaneously, when it 
manifests itself before us as a pleasant but compelling flash of clear light, 
and 
we can then hear the voice of our communicator speaking close to the ear, as 
it seems. I say as it seems, because here I am not attempting to give a 
scientific explanation of how it happens, but confining myself solely to what 
does happen. The voice always sounds to me to be close to the ear, and most 
people here say that the same thing occurs in their own case. It may be some 
sort of inner perception of the voice, though to me it always sounds far too 
like the owner's actual voice for that. My own view is that the sound of the 
voice actually travels through the air, and that we receive it upon the natural 
apparatus of our minds.

 I confess that I have not looked into the matter in that deep manner that 
some people, perhaps, will think that I ought to have done, if only for the 
purpose of supplying them with a long and deep, accurate and scientific 
explanation of the whole process. But I am persuaded that the majority of my 
good friends will much rather have this frankly and obviously unscientific 
description of what takes place here during every second of time, just as a 
matter of course, than that I should lead them into some deep morass of 
scientific disquisition from which we should all have some difficulty in 
extricating ourselves! I do not profess to a knowledge of science, and I always 
feel that while we are peering deeply into causes and detailed explanations we 
are missing all the beauties of the very thing we are examining.

 There is so much here that we take for granted, that is to say, we take 
things as they present themselves, without demanding learned explications of 
them. And it is the same with you who are still upon earth. Suppose, for 
example, I 

were to ask you (supposing, also, that I did not already know) how you 
managed to move yourself upon your two legs in the common feat of walking. 
I think it would much more suit your taste for you to tell me briefly just what 
you did with your legs and how tired they can become after prolonged 
activity, than to treat me to an erudite essay upon the various muscles of the 
leg, their names, their shape and size, their exact mode of action, their 
particular function, and so on. In the meantime, while the legs were being thus 
dilated upon, the friend, whom the two legs were supporting, was passing 
through some charming country, a description of which would be so much 
more entertaining!

 And so it is with a great many other matters here, here in my world and in 
your world too. While science has its important place in both our worlds, yet 







we do not ponder every minute of our lives upon the inner working of the 
numberless functions of men and things that constitute life in either world. 
Science must have its proper position, but life would be rather dull and dreary, 
and certainly rather complicated, if we paused to inquire into the various 
modes of operation of so many common actions. We must just take things as 
they are. That is your general attitude upon earth; that is our general attitude 
here in the spirit world.

 My chief purpose is to give you as many details as possible or practicable 
of our life in spirit lands. To state a fact as plainly as possible, to provide 
explanations only where necessary to an intelligent understanding of my 
account, and to leave it to others to probe more deeply into causes, must be 
my aim.

 When thought is directed to us from the earth it takes the same form of a 
flash before the eyes. There is no difference whatever in the actual process. It 
matters not whence the thought has been directed, whether from your world of 
the earth or as an intercommunication in the spirit world. The process is 
universal, and there are no variations in it. 

 When I spoke to you, a moment ago, of the thought forms you create in the 
ether immediately surrounding you on earth by your having idle thoughts in 
your mind, that must not be taken as also applying to us in the spirit world. If 
it did the spirit world would be a strange place, and the people in it would 
appear stranger still, for they would continually seem to be enveloped either in 
a kind of haze of thought, forms or something even more substantial.

 The case is different with people on earth. That part of the spirit world 
which is immediately interpenetrating your world that is to say, the invisible 
world in 

the immediate vicinity of the particular spot, for example, where you are 
reading these words, this spot is not part of the realms of light. It is dark. 
It 
may have its minute patches of light in certain well defined places, but the 
greater part of it is dark. Thought, of the kind that contains no evil within 
it, 
will be bright, and therefore it will show up in the surrounding gloom, just as 
the light of a tiny flame will illumine the gloom of a chamber from which all 
other I light is excluded. Even a limited diffusion of light will be the case. 
But 
take the tiny flame into the bright light of the sun and the diffusion seems to 
end, the feeble light having become absorbed by the greater light of the sun. 
The flame will still be visible, but its light will be strictly limited to its 
source. 







This somewhat elementary analogy will serve, I hope, to illustrate the 
difference between thought in the invisible regions closely adjacent to your 
world, and thought as it is in these bright realms where I live. Even this 
simple 
analogy must be qualified by saying that however wandering may be our 
thoughts they are not visible like the flame of light in the sunshine. Things 
are 
far better ordered than that in the spirit world! We do have mental privacy 
here. Without it social intercourse would be trying, to say the least. We are 
living in a land of truth, that is certain; but we do not carry things to such 
an 
extreme that we must voice the truth openly upon all occasions. As with you, 
so with us; there are moments and occasions when silence is golden!

 But it is essential that one should learn to think properly as an inhabitant of 
the spirit world. One of the first things one has to do here, as a new arrival, 
is 
to think properly. It is not a difficult achievement, and not nearly so 
formidable a task as it may sound. It concerns one's thought about people 
rather than thoughts of a general nature upon things. When thought is 
concerned with a person, the thought, if it has sufficient force behind it, will 
travel to that person. If it happens to be of a pleasant or complimentary 
description, or of a jovial and genial nature, then the percipient will be happy 
to receive it. But all thoughts are not of this innocuous sort, and our mental 
secrets may have passed out of our minds only to have found their destination 
in the very last place we wanted them to be, namely, in the mind of the person 
of whom we were so freely thinking.

 The thought, however, must have a sufficient measure of directive power 
behind it to send it upon its journey, and this factor is the saving of many of 
us, because so many thoughts are mere birds of passage in our minds, and 
while they are there they have little really deep concentration upon the 
individual concerned. But the very prospect of what can happen is enough to 
make us keep a strict watch upon our minds, and in a brief period it becomes 
as second nature to us.

 There are many things that we have to unlearn and relearn when we first 
come to dwell in spirit lands, but our minds, being then free of a heavy 
physical brain, are at liberty to exercise their powers to the full. We are 
enabled, therefore, to acquire rapidly the methods of living under different 
conditions of existence. Our memories behave as memories should; that is to 
say, they are not erratic in their retentive performance, but can be relied upon 
to act perfectly. You can see how invaluable such an attribute will be when it 
becomes necessary to learn afresh how to do things according to spirit laws. It 
is in this rapid way that so many common actions quickly become as second 
nature. 







Although, in the spirit world, thought has such dire action and is generally 
so powerful, that does not mean the thought makes physical effort practically 
unnecessary, even undesirable. There are a great many things for our hands to 
do in the spirit world, and I would add that our feet also are constantly in 
use! 
We like to walk, just as we used to upon earth. What could be more natural? 
We are human beings after all, though some folk would deny us this 
characteristic. We are human, and we behave in a manner that is human. Our 
feet were given to us to use, and we walk upon them.

 Because we can create so much with our minds, because we can fabricate 
things by the close application of though then, it might be imagined, there is 
precious little left for our hands to do, except to make up our full complement 
of limbs and so obviate our presenting ourselves as something of 
monstrosities. The truth is that we use our hands in a thousand different 
actions during what you would call a day's work, or during a day in our life.

 Think for a moment. Recall the scores of instances in which one may use 
the hands. For example, in our spirit homes we pick up a book, we open or 
close a door, we shake hands with some friend who calls; we arrange some 
flowers upon the table; we paint a picture, or play upon a musical instrument; 
or we may operate scientific apparatus of some sort. Such instances could be 
multiplied a thousand fold, and would become too tedious for words in their 
enumeration. We like to employ our hands in conjunction with our minds as 
well as exercising our minds alone, just as do you on earth. People take a 
natural delight in fashioning objects by hand and so allowing the mind to work 
through their hands. There are plenty of things that could be created in these 
realms purely by thought and without the least interposition of the hands, but 
we like to go the long way round sometimes and find some employment for 
our hands, and we relish the enjoyment that comes from it. 

 But occasions do arise when we act quickly, in fact, instantaneously. We 

wish to go to a particular place in the realms which is, say, hundreds of miles 
distant, as distances are reckoned on earth. We could walk the entire distance 
without a trace of fatigue, but in such cases we prefer a speedier form of 
transportation. We therefore abandon the slow walking method of locomotion, 
and we bring our minds to bear upon the matter. By direct action of the mind 
we find ourselves instantaneously in the very place in which we wished to be. 

 As to how we think ourselves in a certain place, here again I would not offer 
you a scientific explanation for reasons which I have given you, so I will 
confine myself to this: in the spirit world our bodies are under complete 
control by our minds. The former do just that which the latter wishes or 







commands. A wish becomes a command in this case. Now with you, your 
mind may wish to be in a certain place, and no matter how hard you may wish 
it, you are entirely at the mercy of your physical body. You may even sit in 
your chair and imagine yourself, in every detail of circumstances, in the 
precise place. You can 'see' yourself there, but the physical body must go too 
if you desire to be there physically. And that may raise all sorts of problems 
which will come readily enough to your mind, opportunity, for example; or the 
requisite time and means for getting to the desired destination. These are all 
considerations affecting the physical body, because you must take that with 
you, for in the physical body is the brain, and it is through the brain that the 
mind works. This is the natural and normal order of things on earth.

 In the spirit world it is very different. We have no heavy physical body. The 
body which we possess is in every respect equal to our minds. Our minds 
have no heavy vehicle by or through which they have to function. Thinking is 
at once translated into action, but without the inter medium of a physical brain 
such as you know it. The brain which is resident within our heads is not as 
your physical brain; our bodies are not as your physical bodies. With us our 
whole being, our limbs, our muscles and so forth, are completely subservient 
to the mind in so far as their acting according to our will is concerned. For 
the 
rest, our bodies are subservient to the natural laws of the spirit world.

 We also perform certain actions subconsciously in exactly the same way as 
do you. For example, we breathe in precisely the same way as you breathe. 
Our hearts beat in a fashion exactly similar to yours, and they are subject to 
the same subconscious maintenance in their beating. But we have that which 
you do not have, namely, complete and absolute mastery of the muscles of our 
limbs. When we come to learn some new art or endeavour to become 
proficient in some task that requires the mastery by the brain over the 
muscles, then you can see just how perfect is the attunement of our minds 
with our 

muscles. It is not really a mastery of the one over the other, although I have 
expressed it in that way. To be more accurate, it is an absolute attunement, the 
one with the other.

 Now with you on earth, the effort of walking makes imperative the use of 
various muscles. First, you have a heavy body to move along the ground on 
which you are standing, and you have certain laws of gravity which are 
pulling you towards that ground. The gravity is so adjusted that your feet will 
fall to the ground easily without requiring any effort to push them down. The 
matter is nicely balanced. When your legs are tired after prolonged use they 
will fall the more readily to the ground than when you are fresh. Who upon 







earth has not experienced at some time or another that great heaviness of the 
limbs consequent upon fatigue? It is one of our constant joys that we never 
suffer from such disabilities. There is a law of gravity here in the spirit 
world, 
but we are not subservient to it. All else is, but we human beings are not so. 
Or to put it another way, our minds can and do at all times rise above it. That 
again is second nature to us. If we should tumble down, we cannot hurt 
ourselves because our spirit bodies are impervious to all injury in whatever 
shape or form. 

 Incidentally, we do not often fall because we have not the heavy and rather 
clumsy bodies that are essential upon earth. It is mostly newly arrived folk 
who do the tumbling! When we have become fully acquainted with the power 
and force of our minds we never do such awkward things!

 I am afraid this must seem rather a long way towards answering the question 
as to how we move ourselves instantaneously from one place to another, but 
you know how simple questions demand the consideration of other factors not 
unconnected with the original question in order to make the answer to the 
latter intelligible! Hence, therefore, my seeming deviation and protracted ness.

 The laws of gravity will keep all the 'inanimate objects' of the spirit world 
in 
the place where they properly belong; the buildings, the rivers, the sea, and 
the rest. It will keep us there, too, but only in the qualified sense that I 
have 
just mentioned to you. Remember that on earth your mind is limited in certain 
directions by the abilities, or disabilities of the physical body. If, say, you 
wish to write something down, your hand and you arm must be in a fit 
condition to do so. The same rule applies to the rest of your body. To walk, 
your legs and feet, and indeed, many other parts of the body, must be in a 
moderately sound state to do so. The speed at which your limbs can move is 
not limited by the wishes of the mind, but by the ability of the limbs to move. 
The performer upon a musical instrument knows how true this is from the 
unremitting 

practice which he has perforce to do before his hands can move at the speed 
which the music makes necessary. 

 In the spirit world our bodies are always in a state of absolute perfection of 
condition. The muscles and the various parts of our bodies will respond as 
instantly and as rapidly as we wish the moment we set the thought in motion. 
We set the thought in motion, the thought sets the limbs and its parts in 
motion. There is no lagging, no perceptible fraction of a moment between our 
thought and its action. It will recall to your mind the familiar phrase: to 
think 
is to act. That is literally what takes place in the spirit world. Some of our 







actions are subconscious, as I have indicated to you; breathing, for example. 
We do not have to learn how to do that.

 My mention of breathing has brought me to a point in our discussion where 
I think it would be acceptable if I were to speak to you upon the subject of 
what we both know as the spirit body. There are particular aspects about it 
upon which one of my friends upon earth has expressed the wish for further 
information. I am happy to give it to the best of my ability, but I would limit 
myself, as I have done throughout the whole of these writings, to knowledge 
which has been gained by my own experience. My reason for the latter is 
simply that it could be reasonably inferred that I might have recourse to the 
many books of learning upon all subjects that are to be found within the 
library of the great hall of learning. In effect, I should merely have to 'look 
things up' in any work devoted to the subject under consideration. I have 
recounted to you how we have the truth here reposing between the covers of 
thousands of volumes. One has only to consult these, it might be said, to 
become possessed of an immensity of knowledge upon all subjects under the 
sun, thus one could soon ascertain the literal truth upon so many of the 
questions that have puzzled generations of students and inquirers. The truth is 
there in those books, certainly, but information of a highly technical nature is 
not to be gleaned merely for the reading. We must understand something, in 
many cases a good deal of our subject, before we can plunge into 
technicalities which a full exposition of the truth will disclose. I must, 
therefore, know and understand my subject before I can pass on the 
information and knowledge with any hope of your understanding it. How, 
otherwise, am I to know that I have given you the correct answer to a 
question? It is the only satisfactory course to you, who have followed me so 
patiently thus far, and to me, that I should know what I am talking about, and 
so give you only those things of which I have specific knowledge or 
experience. 

 I have hitherto always tried to make it clear when I am only expressing a 

personal opinion, and when I am quoting from the knowledge and experience 
of my friends in the spirit world. And now let us proceed with our friend's 
question.

 My friend of the earth recalls my account of the orchestral concert which I 
attended here, and he says that 'if people play wind instruments in the spirit 
world, they must have lungs that are capable of breathing air'. And so he asks: 
'Do people breathe in the spirit world?' If so, are the lungs used for 
oxygenating the blood?' 







Such reasoning is perfectly accurate. The spirit world has air just as you 
have on earth, and we have lungs in our bodies with which to breathe it. And 
it does 'oxygenate' the blood in what would be the spirit world equivalent of 
that process. Upon earth the air you breathe will help to purify the blood. In 
the spirit world we have good rich blood running through our veins, and we 
breathe the beautiful clean fresh fragrant air, but while your blood undergoes 
the process of oxygenating, our blood is reinvigorated by the spiritual force 
and energy that is one of the principal constituents of the air we breathe here. 

 Could one exist without it? Hardly. It gives us a measure of life force just as 
it does you on earth. But you could not exist upon air alone. You must have 
food and drink. We do not need these two latter commodities, as you know, 
but we derive another part of our sustenance from the light of these realms, 
from the abundance of colour, from the water, from the fruit when we wish to 
eat of it, from the flowers, and from all that is beautiful itself. As these 
realms 
positively abound in beauty you will see why we enjoy such perfect health.

 But we also take in strength from the great spiritual force that is being 
constantly poured down upon us all from the Father of Heaven Himself. It is, 
as it were, an eternal magnetic current that is for ever charging us with force 
and power, and giving us life.

 It really comes to this, that we derive our life force from a score of 
different 
sources; sources, moreover, that we do not have to seek as do you with your 
food and drink, but which literally envelope us wherever we go, whatever we 
do. We cannot shut ourselves off from the means of life, nor can the means of 
life be denied us or ever fail us here. The air we breathe cannot become 
polluted, nor can the water become in a similar state of impurity. 

 The earthly body is so constituted that through various processes and natural 
functions a firm resistance is made to the onslaught of germs that cause 
disease. When it is behaving normally and properly such disease will be 
successfully repelled. But even though the earthly body should successfully 

resist disease, the potential causes of it, the germs, still remain in the earth 
world. In the spirit world there are no such things as germs of any description, 
therefore there can be no disease of any sort whatever. Moreover, the spirit 
body is completely impervious to any kind of injury. It cannot be damaged by 
accident, and it is imperishable and incorruptible. So that whatever organs we 
possess they can never become disordered in the slightest degree. We are 
constantly enjoying a state of perfect health, upon which there are no two 
opinions among all of us here in these realms. The slightest trace of ache or 







pain is something not only unheard of, but from our point of view, 
fantastically impossible. 

 It is obvious from what I have told you that one or two organs of the earthly 
body would be manifestly superfluous in the spirit body. We do not eat food 
because we are never hungry. There is therefore no waste that has to be 
eliminated from our bodies as is essential with your physical bodies. The food 
that you eat goes through its processes, after you have consumed it, to provide 
what is necessary for the physical body, until it finally becomes waste matter. 
And to perform this series of actions various organs are vital.

 We possess an interior mechanism which follows much upon the same lines 
as does yours, but there is this supreme difference, namely, that we have no 
waste matter that must be eliminated from the body. There is no such thing as 
waste matter in these realms. That which is not wanted either ceases to exist 
altogether, or is returned to the source whence it came. By ceasing to exist, I 
do not mean that which is not wanted is annihilated, but that it ceases to exist 
in the form it held before it became unwanted. Perhaps you will recall an 
amusing experience which I had shortly after my arrival here. I told you how 
astonished I was to find that the juice which had poured from some fruit that I 
was eating, and had, so I thought, run down my clothing, had, in fact, done 
nothing of the sort. It had completely disappeared. All that had happened in 
this case was simply that the juice of the fruit had returned to the tree whence 
the fruit had come. That is the explanation I was given, and that is what we all 
know to occur in any other circumstances of a similar nature. If you ask me 
how it happens, then, perforce, I will say honestly that I do no know. Lest my 
ignorance should appear too great that I should ever set myself to inform 
others, let me hasten to add that there is no one in these realms who could 
provide an explanation upon this point. There is no esoteric secret about it 
that 
such information should be withheld from us. It is just that our spiritual 
evolutions has not proceeded sufficiently far for us to understand if we were 
told. What we cannot yet understand ourselves, it is impossible for us to 
expound for your understanding.

 The organs that we possess, therefore, have their very definite purpose for 
their existence. We do not carry about with us organs, that are redundant. 
Their purpose is to act as a channel for the life force, the etheric power, if 
you 
wish to call it so, that emanates from a multiplicity of sources. There is no 
fear 
that some organs, or all of them, will become atrophied because they do not 
seem to be employed in the same manner as their counterparts in the earthly 
body. The organs of assimilation of the earthly body will become seriously 
affected if a sufficient quantity of food is not passed through them. No such 
situation could arise in our spirit bodies, because the life force here amply 







sustains them, and keeps them in proper working order, and thus they fulfil 
their objects. 

 The spirit body, then, possesses only such organs as are vital to it, and they 
can be regarded as a modification of their earthly counterparts. The further 
significance of this will be plainer to you when I tell you that, with the 
exception of the higher and highest realms, the spirit world, in which millions 
upon millions of us are living, is populated entirely from the earth, and from 
no other source. Procreation belongs to the earth, and has no place in the 
spirit 
world.

 It has become a habit to begin the counting of time by some supposed date 
of the creation of the world. Time, in its measured sense, can be said to have 
commenced with the formation of the earth, but human life was already in 
existence long before then. The spirit world was long in existence before the 
earth, but the spirit world was not empty. It was inhabited by great souls 
whose knowledge and wisdom and spiritual progression and evolution have 
been proceeding steadily, throughout the whole of this colossal period of time. 
All these beings possess a body which in its parts and its functions are exactly 
similar to the body of anyone of us here, regardless of our position upon the 
ladder of spiritual progression, though, under certain conditions, that body 
would appear outwardly to us infinitely lesser beings as a blaze of light. 

 The spirit body which we all possess is the normal body. The earthly body, 
which temporarily covers the spirit body during its earthly passage, is a 
modification of the spirit body, an accommodation to earthly laws and 
conditions and modes of life. The life of the individual begins upon earth, it 
spends a limited period in that sphere, and then comes to us in the spirit 
world. The personality and individuality and attributes of the person are in 
their initial stages of formation upon earth, and the process is continued after 
his arrival in the spirit world. The physical distinctions of race will be 
preserved, borne upon his face, in the very colour of his skin, and in other 
ways that will readily occur to you, and these he will retain in the spirit 
world.

 The true sphere of life is the spirit world because it is permanent. The spirit 
world is therefore the standard of life as it is ultimately to be for us all, 
and so 
the spirit body, not the earthly body, is the standard of the human form.

 In company with many others I have seen and spoken to at least one 
illustrious being whose period of life, in years, reaches astronomical figures. 
He possesses, just as do you or I, the ordinary normal complement of limbs; 
he has hair upon his head. His hands, anatomically like yours and mine, have 
their full number of fingernails. And so we might go on, through the complete 
catalogue of the parts of the human anatomy as it exists in the spirit world. 







The exalted nature of his being and the elevated realm in which he resides 
make no difference, anatomically, from the rest of us. His spirituality and 
wisdom and knowledge are, of course, in their high degree incomparable with 
us here. But we are not considering that for the moment. What we are 
considering is that when man, who has lived upon earth, comes to the spirit 
world to continue his life here, he sheds with his earthly body all such organs 
of that body as will be superfluous in his new mode of living. The organs with 
which he now finds himself are forever beyond harm of every description. No 
germ can attack the body; no destructive force can exert the slightest influence 
upon it. It is incorruptible. Its various organs, such as the heart and lungs, 
act 
perfectly. For example, the beating of the heart remains constant and normal 
under all conditions. We cannot literally become breathless. (I have 
sometimes said that some particular experience has left me breathless almost, 
but this is a figure of speech only). Our respiration, like the action of the 
heart, 
remains always at its normal rate. And so it is throughout the rest of our 
bodies.

 I do not pretend to the knowledge of a physician or a surgeon, but I do 
know that my body functions perfectly, that I enjoy, as we all enjoy, a state of 
perfect health such as I never for one moment enjoyed during my life on earth. 
Indeed, it is impossible to know what absolute, perfect health can be until one 
comes to live here in the spirit world. The body I possess is not a hollow 
drum, a mere empty vessel in the ownership of which I am able, in some 
mysterious fashion, to carry on my life. There is good rich blood flowing 
through my veins. There is no doubt about that, for I can observe the flesh 
pink tinge it gives to my skin, as it does to us all. We have the complexions of 
healthy individuals, though the former may vary in the depth of their color by 
virtue of the various racial characteristics which you can easily call to mind. 
Whatever may be the precise shade of our complexions or of our skin in 
general, we none of us have the pallor that is usually associated either with a 
poor state of health or with some particular form of earthly occupation.

 The circulation of the blood within our bodies is the means of diffusing the 
vital force that keeps us alive. If you should ask me why it should be 
necessary to have these organs to do this work, then I can only say that it is 
impossible for me to explain the fact of human creation itself. We might ask in 
turn, why does the incarnate person have his organs to do such work as is 
required of them? We should have to go to the very beginning and ask why 
has man come to be in the form that is familiar to us, and not in some other 
form. We must take things as they are in this instance at least. To do 
otherwise is rather to suggest that we could make several improvements upon 
the anatomy of our bodies were we given the opportunity. As far as we, in the 







spirit world, are concerned no improvement could possibly be made upon the 
structure and operation of our spirit bodies.

 And I think that in these very bodies we have at least one assured example 
of perfection in our midst, and which we enjoy now. The greater perfection, I 
use this phrase in accordance with the terms of our previous discussion upon 
perfection, the greater perfection that awaits us when we proceed to a higher 
realm is a spiritual perfection, and will not apply to the state of health of 
our 
bodies. We may feel so much lighter, more etherealised, more ratified, but as 
far as I have been able to ascertain, we shall feel in a precisely similar state 
of 
buoyant, brilliant health as we do now in these realms.

 It is manifestly impossible for me to take every organ of the body and deal 
with its particular functions in due order. What we can do, to sum up the 
matter briefly, is to reflect upon this: the spirit body is possessed of organs 
that are proper to it and to the world in which it carries out its functions. 
The 
earthly body will answer to the same description in its own sphere of action. 
The spirit body, coming first in the order of 'creation', is the standard of 
human 
form and figure. The earthly body resembles it, but it has certain other organs 
added by which it carries out certain processes that are essential to its 
continued survival upon earth. The two principals of these processes are the 
means of assimilating food and the means of perpetuating human life upon 
earth. 

 Food we do not need in the spirit world, and the population of spirit lands is 
derived, with the exception of those beings in the higher and highest realms to 
which I have referred, entirely from the earth in so far as this spirit universe 
is 
concerned. In discarding my earthly body at my physical dissolution, I found 
that my spirit body was without certain organs, the possession of which would 
be entirely redundant. Such organs have no counterpart in or upon the spirit 
body.

 A question may naturally be asked as to how we can live with some of our 
organs missing. The answer is that they are not missing; they were never 
there! The spirit body performs perfectly because it is perfectly constructed, 
complete in all its parts, and only possesses such organs as it requires, in 
number slightly less than those required by the earthly body.

 Now we come to another question from our same good friend, which is 
away altogether from the contemplation of our bodies, and concerns the 
intellectual side of life here. He asks in effect: 'How is it that a person who 
was a clergyman during his earthly life and who was a firm upholder of his 
church's teachings and of what is orthodox in religious manners, how is it that 
such a person can, in communicating with the earth, give every sign 







imaginable of having quickly thrown off his religious beliefs and his 
orthodoxy?'

 The same question could apply to a large number of people to a greater or 
less degree according to the views which they held upon earth. Orthodoxy is 
not the only thing that can mentally and intellectually shackle a being on 
earth. 

 Religious beliefs, both orthodox and unorthodox, can exert a most powerful 
hold upon the minds of human beings. The former, in general, are too widely 
known to need amplification, but of the latter, the unorthodox, there are many 
forms. A great many people hold that a firm belief in a book of ancient 
chronicles, without even remotely understanding a tithe of its contents, is 
fully 
sufficient to assure them of a safe journey to 'the next world' , and the 
certainty of a residence in some salubrious spot among the 'elect'.

 Some people hold that a staunch belief in the merits of another will achieve 
the same results. Whatever form these beliefs take, they are most of them of 
the crudest description, and upon arrival in the spirit world, the ardent 
upholders of the childish creeds discover their true worth, which is precisely 
nothing. Now it is exactly according to the mental and intellectual make up of 
an individual when he arrives in the spirit world as to how long it will take 
him to shake off the erroneous beliefs and mistaken ideas which he has 
accumulated during his life on earth. The person with an 'open mind', provided 
that mind is not too 'open' and therefore too easily swayed in one direction 
after another without perceiving the truth, such a person will the more quickly 
see what his new life involves in the matter of altered outlook. If he is ready 
to 
throw off the old life at once and takes up the new life with equal clarity, 
then 
so much the better and happier will that person be.

 It is possible of achievement. Many, many times have Edwin, Ruth, and I 
witnessed this very thing happening. You can appreciate how we rejoice and 
our new friend with us, at this quick awakening to the truth. It is good for us 
all, and especially it reduces hard work to a minimum. But some people are 
very stubborn. They will scarcely credit the evidence of their own senses, and 
are therefore not very disposed to place much reliance upon our assurances 
and observations when we try to explain just what the new life means to them. 
Time will work its usual wonders, and so we are not in any great hurry when 
we find that an individual appears likely to require some convincing.

 To come more specifically to the terms of our friend's question, it depends 
upon what is meant by quickly as regards the time taken by an inhabitant of 
the spirit world to abandon orthodox religious views. Here we are measuring 
time in earthly terms. A few hours taken to achieve this end would doubtless 
seem the extreme of rapidity in which to relinquish beliefs that have been held 







for a lifetime. But with the right type of mind it could be done; indeed, it has 
been done on many occasions to which I can bear witness of personal 
experience. 

 The age of the new arrival must also be taken into consideration, whether he 
(or she) be young, middle aged, or elderly. So you see, there are a number of 
factors to be taken into account, either singly or in conjunction with each 
other. There is, for instance, another element which will weigh in the matter: 
how firmly were the beliefs held? Were they deep rooted, or merely 
superficial? People will sometimes make a demonstration of holding certain 
religious beliefs because they have been brought up in those beliefs from 
childhood. They may not have bothered to think very much for themselves, 
and so they have proceeded through their earthly life in an easy fashion 
religiously, not really caring, but content to follow the rest of the family in 
their practices. So much for general terms. I can, however, speak from my 
own personal experience. 

 During my earthly life I was a clergyman of the orthodox church, but I was 
not entirely ignorant of the presence around me of an invisible world over 
which, so it appeared to me, my church had no jurisdiction whatever. My own 
psychic faculties were not very powerful, but at least they were strong enough 
for me to disbelieve what my church most emphatically taught in this 
connexion, namely, that such manifestations as I was permitted to see were all 
the work of 'the devil'. Now here I could perceive no evidence at all of 
diabolic intervention. What I did see was decidedly harmless in every way. I 
therefore frankly disbelieved what the church taught me and told me to teach 
others upon the subject. But I did not voice this disbelief. That was a secret 
which I carried with me into the spirit world. I should have done no good had 
I expressed what I thought openly.

 And so I kept these discoveries to myself. Naturally, I believed in a future 
state of life, and what I saw for myself, psychically, confirmed that belief. 
Secretly, I differed from the church in its attitude towards such experiences as 
I had had, but at the same time I chose to consider my own position in the 
world. The church's hold upon me was a powerful one, and this hold was 
made the stronger by the absence of greater and wider experiences of a 
psychic nature such as so many of my friends upon earth are enjoying at this 
present moment. 

 I was prepared in my own mind for surprises of considerable magnitude, 
ready, more or less, to reconstruct my whole outlook, ready, if need be, to 
jettison my orthodox views in the light of the truth whatever it might be. 
While I was still upon earth I tried to steer an even course between the little 

 





knowledge I had managed to glean of psychic matters concerning the 'after 
life' and the church's teachings. In my mind the church's teachings weighed 
more heavily in the scale than did my scanty knowledge of psychic things, but 
I was fully prepared to find conditions totally different from the 'hereafter' 
as 
sketchily touched upon by the church. 

 I had the great authority, at least, I thought it to be great, of the church 
behind me in whatever religious matters I spoke upon publicly in my 
preaching; I had no authority behind me in my psychic experiences. Indeed, 
those to whom I related these experiences to, at once pronounced me as being 
tempted by 'the devil' !

 Some there are, I dare say, who will say that I should have braved all, 
pursued my investigations farther and deeper, an abided by the result. The 
result, they would say, would have been inevitable. I should have discovered 
that the church's teachings were fundamentally wrong, and then it would have 
been the right and proper thing for me to renounce the church in favour of the 
truth as revealed to me through communication with the great spirit world. I 
wish that I had done so. However, as events have transpired, I have nothing to 
regret now. Through the kind offices of devoted friends and companions I 
have been enabled to attain to a state of happiness such as I never believed 
could be possible.

 When I had reached the end of my journey upon earth and I found myself at 
last in the great world upon which I had contemplated so often and so deeply, 
there to find myself in the very presence of an old friend and colleague who 
had 'predeceased' me by some years, I think it is true to say that I was 
prepared for anything, although I had no notion just what it might be. What 
happened after this meeting I have already set down. It required but 'half an 
eye' to see that the church was wrong in so much that it had taught me, and 
which in turn I had taught others. So overwhelmed was I by the beauty of 
these realms, by the immensity of the splendid prospect that was opening out 
before me under the able guidance of my friend, Edwin, that I had no 
difficulty at all in forgetting what the church taught.

 An earnest conversation with Edwin was ultimately sufficient to sweep 
away from my mind all the cobwebs of dogma and creed which had hung 
about me, and by a simple exposition of the truth to show me that I had not a 
care in the world if, should I so choose to regard the conditions of my new 
life. The one regret which I felt has since led me back to the earth thus to 
communicate, and in so doing I have achieved a hundredfold more than I ever 
dreamed would be possible. 







There are many cases parallel to mine. That I know from experience in our 
work. It is nothing really remarkable, then, that I should so quickly throw off 
my orthodoxy and become as one with the inhabitants of these sunny realms.

 It has been remarked, also, that some of us who come to the earth to speak 
to our friends, seem to have altered, some of us only slightly, others almost 
beyond recognition except by such certain evidence as we give of our identity. 
How is it that we have so changed, for the better, it might be observed?

 This apparent transformation of character is explainable by the fact that 
upon earth there are few people who really show themselves to the world as 
they truly are. 

 In ancient days upon earth, folk were in general much simpler in their tastes 
and their habits and behaviour than they are now. Then they were not afraid to 
speak their inmost thoughts more openly to one another, provided those 
thoughts were not of too violent a religious or political nature. People were in 
many respects more neighbourly in those days when life was simpler. But in 
these times of greater 'civilization', when the world has become more 
sophisticated, when people seem less reliant upon each other, dwellers upon 
earth have withdrawn within themselves until it is difficult to form any very 
reliable opinion upon the true character of anyone. People are more shy of 
expressing themselves openly.

 The earth, too, has advanced in many directions, making life vastly more 
complicated. Life is more harassing, it proceeds at a much swifter pace, and a 
great concentration of energy is crammed into a few hours that would scarcely 
be spread over the same number of days in olden times.

 Now all these conditions bring with them a consequent infirmity of temper. 
Under stress of such a life we do not always appear at our best. We can 
become irritable, or cynical; we think we are possessed of all truth, and 
inclined to regard as fools others who do not think as we do. We become 
thoroughly intolerant. We may sneer just to give vent to our feelings, and 
those same feelings may have been induced by something which has gone 
wrong or not pleased us. We may suffer from poor health of the physical 
body. We may be overworked or under worked. We may have too much 
pleasure or not enough. And so one could go on multiplying causes for our 
giving exhibitions of character and temperament which are not really our own, 
which do not come from our 'better selves', to use the old term.

 That, broadly speaking, is life on earth as it affects a large number of 
people. Now let us contemplate the altered state of life upon our coming to the 
spirit world. 







You know by now some few facts concerning life in these lands. As we step 
into these realms we leave all the worrying cares of the earth behind us. Gone 
is the poor health we may have had there. Gone, too, are the rush and bustle 
of earthly life in every department of its complex activities. We do not even 
need to worry about the state of the weather in these perpetually sunny lands, 
and that alone, almost, is enough to cheer the heart immeasurably!

 Here in the spirit world we stand revealed as we truly are. 

 There is no longer any question as to what description of person we are. 
We can give voice to our thoughts without the fear of being considered 
foolish, simple, eccentric or childish. We cease to be intolerant here because 
we find that others are tolerant to us, and there is precious little, indeed, 
nothing at all, to be intolerant about in these realms. We are a happy 
community of numberless millions of people, with each one of whom we can 
be upon the most friendly, genial, and affable of terms, giving and receiving 
respect to and from everyone of our fellows. No single person has ever to 
endure that which is distasteful to him because there is no one here to cause 
that which is distasteful to others. The beauties and charms of these realms act 
like an intellectual tonic; they bring out only that which is and always was the 
very best in one. Whatever was not the very best in one upon earth will be 
swamped by the good nature and kindness which the very air here will bring 
out, like some choice bloom beneath the warm summer sun.

 There is no room for the unpleasant phases of human character that are so 
often exhibited upon earth. They cannot enter these realms. And in so far as 
such elements of character and temperament as we show upon earth are not 
the reflection of our real selves, we shall at once cast them aside for ever as 
we enter the spirit world upon the moment of our transition.

 I have previously said that a human being is exactly the same one minute 
after his dissolution as he was one minute before it. That is borne out by what 
I have just said. It is the great difference between our real selves and the 
personality which we present for outward view. We are just the same our true 
selves, but we may not be recognizably so. It is not so much that we have 
altered but that we are no longer subject to the stresses that produce the 
unpleasant qualities that were observable in us when we were on the earth. 
Remove the causes of the distempers and the latter will disappear also.

 Here in spirit lands we have nothing to disturb us. On the contrary, we have 
everything that will bring us contentment Our true natures thrive and expand 
upon such glories and splendours as the spirit world alone has to offer. We 
work, not for an earthly subsistence, but for the joy that comes with doing 
work that is both useful and congenial, and above all things, work that is of 







service to our fellow beings. The reward which the work brings with it is not a 
transient reward as is the case with so much mundane labour, but a reward 
that will bring us eventually to a higher state of living.

 To us here in the spirit world, life is pleasure, always pleasure. We work 
hard, and sometimes long, but that work is pleasure to us. We have not the 
tiresome wearying toil that you have upon earth. We are not solitary beings 
fighting for our existence amid a world that can be, and so often is somewhat 
indifferent to our struggles. Here in these realms wherein I live, there is not 
one solitary individual of whatever nationality under the sun who would not 
come immediately to the assistance of anyone of us upon the merest 
glimmering of our needing help. And such help it is! There is no false pride 
that precludes our accepting help from a fellow creature anxious to give it. 

 Millions of us though there be, yet there is not one sign, not one atom of 
discord to be seen throughout the immense extent of these realms. Unity and 
concord are two of the plainest characteristics to be observed and understood 
and appreciated to the full.

 And so you see, my good friend, there are firm grounds for not returning to 
visit you upon earth with exactly those characteristics by which we were so 
well known to you when we lived on earth. Our tempers were very often 
sorely tried in those days upon earth. Those times are gone now, and you 
know us as we really are. You did not know us for our true selves when we 
were with you in the flesh. That was no one's fault but our own. Certainly it 
was not yours. We are sometimes sorry we were not outwardly of a more 
genial nature, but we were, and still are but human after all, and it is upon 
this 
factor that we will all base our defence, if defence be needed. Had conditions 
been different with us, perhaps we should have been different, too.

 When we come to the spirit world and look back upon that part of our life 
that we have spent on earth, we are oft times rather shocked by the quite 
ridiculous importance which we placed upon some trivial incident in our daily 
life, an incident which caused us to appear intolerant, shall we say? or hasty 
or quick tempered.

 When we return to you, who are still upon earth, we do our utmost to 
present ourselves as we now truly are, shorn of those earthly disfigurations in 
our characters and temperaments by which we were perhaps too easily 
recognized. Such apparent change in our personality should not be so 
mysterious to you now, after this brief exposition. The change may seem 
amazing upon first acquaintance; it may even lead some of our friends to 
doubt our identity! It is rather pleasant to be doubted upon such a basis. At 






least it demonstrates to us that we have cleared ourselves of the trammels of 
earthly inhibitions in the full expression of our real natures.

 It must not be thought, however, that we lose our individuality in this 
process. We retain that always. It is something which we have built up during 
our lives on earth, something that will characterize us and distinguish us, each 
from the other. We are not all reduced to an insipid uniformity. We retain our 
tastes and predilections; but our virtues never become as vices in their 
outward expression. We are healthy in body and mind, but our outlook has in 
so many things undergone a fundamental change.

 The joy of living is a phrase of which you cannot have even the barest 
understanding while you are yet upon the earth plane. It is not surprising, 
therefore, that we should exhibit a little of that joy when we visit you on 
earth. 
Some of us, even, dare not show ourselves to you as we really are, because 
some folk might be shocked! There are so many people on earth who regard 
us from a restricted self conscious point of view. There would seem to be a 
feeling of piety in the air sometimes which we are not pleased to see when we 
visit you. To receive us with bated breath is not a reception according to our 
liking. It savours too much of the suggestion that as we have now become 
celestial beings (to use a favourite term), therefore we must be treated as 
such, 
that is, with gravity, with decorum, and in a manner redolent of the church 
sanctuary. That is not a natural environment to us. It is, in fact, thoroughly 
artificial, both to us and to you. We like to be just ourselves as we are, and 
we 
like you to be yourselves just as we really know you.

 It is strange to us that people should look upon us as a different race of 
beings merely because we have gone through the process known as dying. 
We have simply discarded our physical body forever, left it upon the earth, 
and taken up our life in another and vastly superior world. The whole process 
of transition which is so much feared by the folk on earth, is a natural, 
normal, 
and painless process. It is as natural and painless as removing your outer 
garment when you have no further use for it. The world into which we have 
made our entrance is a real world, solid and perpetually enduring. The people 
who inhabit this spirit world are real people of flesh and blood, people who 
once walked upon earth as you do now. 

 All that is great in man survives and is taken with him into this very spirit 
world where new avenues, far greater, finer, and broader, are for ever opening 
before him. There is no limit to what immense heights he can reach, whether 
he be scientist, or artist, or musician, or a follower of any other of the 
myriad 
worthy occupations that are to be found upon earth. 







Some of us here, in these and other realms, have made many brief visits to 
the earth to tell our friends there something of what transpires in this great 
spirit world. And in doing so we have seen the shadow that hangs over so 
many people's lives, the shadow of 'death' and the 'grave', those two ogres that 
frighten so many good souls, filling them with a dread that is utterly and 
completely unwarranted. Man was never intended to go through his earthly 
life with this monstrous dark shadow forever hanging over him. It is unnatural 
and thoroughly bad. It has been raised by men upon earth in remote periods of 
the earth's history, and it has so continued for the generality of earth's 
dwellers 
for generation after generation of the incarnate.

 It is but natural that, with the opportunity presenting itself, we should visit 
the earth, and be bringing with us a little of the light of knowledge, we should 
be able to dispel the fears of death of the physical body that haunts so many 
people, and in place of those fears to give some knowledge and information of 
the superb lands of the spirit world wherein we now live, and wherein you 
yourself will one day come to join us.

 In place of fears of a speculative 'hereafter' we try to show you something of 
the brilliant prospect that lies before you when that happy moment arrives for 
you to take up you true and undoubted heritage in the spirit world.

 It has been my very pleasant occupation to give you some details of this 
land, and I am very conscious of the many thoughts and feelings of kindness 
and goodwill that are constantly coming to me from my friends upon earth. 
Your thoughts always unfailingly reach me, and each is answered though, 
alas, you may be unaware of it. It is because of the inability to hear my 
personal and direct reciprocation of your good thoughts that I here thank you 
for them with all my heart.

 We have travelled some distance together in our discussions of life in the 
spirit world, although we have touched but briefly upon so vast a theme. 

And so, in taking a brief leave of our subject, I will take also a brief leave 
of you, and in doing so I would say to you: 

Benedicat te omnipotens Deus. 

The end of this book.