SPIRIT TEACHING FOR YOUTH

　　SPIRIT TEACHING FOR YOUTH

　HERE are Silver Birch's views on the important subject of children's religious education:

　"Let us begin with the very obvious truism that the child of today is the man or woman of tomorrow. Thus we realise quite simply that all the education it receives should be an ade-quate preparation for the life which lies ahead beyond schooling, so that it is equipped, ready to face the tasks that citizenship imposes upon all adult lives.

　"True education should consist in the dissemination of that knowledge which will enable children to be citizens of the world in which they live. It should instruct them in all the natural laws of the universe. It should make them aware of all the faculties with which they have been endowed, so that an un-folding of them will be of the greatest service to their own lives and to the world in which they live.

　"The child is malleable; its mind is as yet unformed in judg-ment; it has no instinctive means of reflection and judgment, of weighing up whether statements which are taught are true, are false, or contain but a portion of truth. The mind of the child is very plastic, and, being trustworthy, it accepts as truth that which is inculcated into its mind at an age when it is too early to question the instructions which are given.

　"Thus you are dealing with very precious and very delicate material, for you are helping to form impressions that will be-come part of the warp and the woof of the child's own being. You are reaching the subconscious mind of the child, and every-thing which is being taught to it will colour its thinking in later life. Those who, for whatever reason, deliberately inculcate doctrines which are false, are guilty of a very grave disservice to the future of the race and of civilisation.

　"If you are ignorant of the child's many potentialities, if you are unfamiliar with spiritual realities, and, as a consequence, are unable to teach it the truths about its own being, its own nature, its relationship to the Great Spirit, its relationship to the vast cosmic plan of life, then the child will be handicapped. It will go through life not as fully equipped and armed with knowledge as it should. 

　"It does not fall within my province to deal with the essential requirements for the physical life. These are well known, for it is obvious that there should be tuition in all the sciences and the natural phenomena of life, in all that would help to cultivate the mind to appreciate the riches of literature and all the arts and refinements of your world.

　"And so I come to the question of religion, which, seeking to give guidance to the soul so that it can be prepared to face and to conquer in all life's battles, obviously plays a paramount part in education. Because every child is part of the Great Spirit, because it is in essence a spiritual being, it is intended to live with all the benefits that freedom brings. If you cramp, if you restrict the soul of the child at an early age, you are denying it its elementary rights of freedom; you are condemning it to serfdom; you are making it a spiritual slave. 

　"Freedom is the essence of all education. As I see it, the child will grow in freedom if it is taught the truths about religion. If those who are teachers give instructions based upon a desire, not to give the child freedom, but to teach it loyalty to ancient myth and fable, then they are poisoning the springs of the child's mind. No service is rendered to religion, to education or to the child by teaching it discarded creeds which, if it is intelligent, it will reject at the earliest possible age.

　"Then there will come the inevitable reaction. It will turn its back on all those whom it considers misled it at a time when it had no means of resisting them. The young sapling is intended to grow stalwart and straight as a tree, but if you give it nurture which is false, then you are helping to tamper with the very roots of its being and the growth will become stunted.

　"We oppose all those whose desire is not to teach the truths about the spirit, not to teach about the relationship between all spiritual beings and the Great Spirit of life, but whose desire is to strengthen their tottering churches and to fill their emptying pews. The truth about religion is that no religion possesses the whole of truth. Each has seen but a glimpse and that, alas, has become distorted with the centuries or falsified by the creedalists.

　"The child must be taught that true religion is to give service, to ignore all the elaborate phrase-making of priestcraft, and to live an honest, unselfish life, desiring to help the world in which it dwells and so be true to the Great Spirit of whom it is an integral part."

　Ruth and Paul, children of Paul Miller, a journalist and author, have been brought up by their parents to accept, quite naturally, the facts of proved survival. The young people are now in their adolescence, but ever since Ruth was eight, and the boy six years of age, they have had the privilege of a special sitting with Silver Birch at least once every yearーusually at Christmas time. From their very first sitting they have talked quite unaffectedly with the guide, for whom they have a deep love. From the beginning, too, they have come to Silver Birch with all the problems that perplex the youthful mind. They usually prepare beforehand a list of the questions they wish to ask this other-world friend. No help or suggestions regarding these questions are accepted from any adults, for the sittings are the young people's own, although the “grown-ups" are allowed to be present!

　An example of the kind of questions they put to the guide is best given by presenting Paul Miller's own account of one of their sittings when he took notes of what transpired. Here is his account:

　Two children stood beside Silver Birch, the wise old spirit guide of Hannen Swaffer's Home Circle, and as they in turn said goodbye because he was about to depart for his sojourn in the spheres, he said, first to Ruth, "Grow in grace and strength, love and wisdom.” And to the boy, Paul, he said: "Be strong and confident and know that the power of the spirit is behind you. Always with the strength of my being, with the love of my heart and the wealth of my spirit I will strive to serve you."

　Those are the words, but they do not convey anything of the warmth of the affection between these three who have met every year for six years, the children to ask questions about the spirit world, and the guide to answer them. For an hour and twenty minutes the children, who take it very seriously, had asked questions and discussed the answers. They are young people now, and they have grown to regard Spiritualism as part of their lives.

　For days they had discussed the questions to be asked and refused all adult suggestions. The questions began.

　Ruth: “I would like to know whether the way you die has any effect when you reach the spirit world; whether, if you die just naturally, it is easier to get to the spirit world or not.''

　Silver Birch: "Oh, yes, it makes a very big difference. If everyone in your world had knowledge and lived natural livesーI said 'if'ーthen the process of what is called dying would be simple and free from any pain. Also, it would be unnecessary to have any adjustments to the body of the spirit after the physical body has died. But unfortunately that does not take place.

　"The vast majority of those who leave your world for ours are profoundly ignorant of their destiny, of their own con-stitution and of the nature of spiritual realities. In addition, there are far, far too many who come to us before their time is ripe, and as I so often say, they are like the fruit which drops from the tree before it is readyーas you know, then the fruit is not very good.  

　"When fruit is ripe it naturally drops, and when your spirit is ripe, the physical body should naturally drop away from you. And so we have today sour and green fruit coming to us. Because of that they have to be tended, watched over, cared for, nursed, until the adjustments are made. If all had knowledge, then the work of those who like myself are striving to help would be far easier. Certainly it makes a tremendous difference to the way you die. Does that answer it?"

　Ruth: "Yes, I think you have answered it very well and very clearly.”

　Paul: "I know the Indian races very often had people who were able to bring rain by performing some ceremony, or doing something. What has the spirit world got to do with this? Has it got anything to do with it?"

　Silver Birch: “No. There is a difference between knowledge of psychic laws and knowledge of spiritual laws. They are not entirely the same. People speak of astral and spiritual as if the two words could be exchanged, but they do not mean the same thing at all.

　"Now, the Indian races were instructed in many of the psychic laws which are concerned with the physical phenomena of your world. I mean the purely physical phenomena, and the ability to induce the elements to come within the local range of their ceremonies was something that was well known to the skilled and practised medicine man.

　"You know, it is a very difficult question to answer simply, but it had nothing really to do with the spirit world; it had more to do with the psychic laws that are concerned with the physical phenomena of your earth. I do not think I have made that clear, have I?”

　Paul: “Yes, except what sort of laws do you mean?

　Silver Birch: "oh, you want to go and do it?"

　A member of the circle, breaking the rule that grown-ups should not speak until near the end, asked, "Would it be some-thing the same as psychometry, not necessarily proving spiri tual laws?”

　Silver Birch: "I can give plenty of illustrations, but I am bear-ing in mind that they should be well understood. Take, for example, the clairvoyant. Now, there are many people in your world who are clairvoyant, but who have no contact with the spirit world. Their clairvoyance is part of their psychic make-up, and because of that they can touch psychic laws and see with their psychic eyes; but there is no one from the spirit world connected with that demonstration. They do not even see the dead. They see scenes; they have premonitions; they can see sometimes into the future and into the past. Now all that can happen, but there is no touch with the spirit world at all. It is purely the natural psychic faculty of the clairvoyant. Is that quite clear?"

　"That is something I should not have thought happened," said the children's mother. “I should not have thought that a clair-voyant giving evidence or seeing psychic things could do it without being in actual touch with the spirit world."

　Silver Birch: “Nevertheless, it is so, that many of you can exercise psychic faculty now and have exercised the psychic faculty on the physical plane. It is an extension of the five senses. It does not touch the world of spirit at all. It does touch the psychic laws or the psychic factors which surround the physical laws. In much the same way as the fortune-teller, the genuine fortune-teller, or the genuine crystal-gazer can see and hear without any spirit intervention, so the medicine man, skilled in the use of his own psychic faculties, could harmonise those faculties by means of certain ceremonies and rituals with the power behind the physical law and produce rain. That is the clearest I can put it.

　"That is very clear," said a sitter. "It is rather a fascinating subject to have touched on, because I find myself just wondering how far one could go.

　Silver Birch: "Quite a long way. In India there are many yogis who are very skilled, but they have no contact with the world of spirit. Many of them would be terrified if they saw a spirit.”

　"If they saw a spirit, they would describe a spirit,” said another sitter.

　Silver Birch: "Then you are touching quite a different vibration. All mediumship is a co-operation of the spiritual and the psychic, and it is in the blending of the power that you have spirit communication. The ability to communicate with our world does not depend wholly on the psychic faculty of the instrument, but in the co-operation of a spirit guide or control with an instrument.

　Paul: "I am sorry to be so dense, but I am not quite sure what is the difference between psychic and spiritual. I thought they were the same."

　Silver Birch: “Almost the same, but not quite. You can have all the psychic faculties, but they do not become spiritual faculties until they are used for a spiritual purpose in association with spiritual people in our world. You are naturally psychic, as well as physical, and you all have the faculties of the psychic body, but it is not until these faculties are developed and blended with the power of the spirit that they become spiritual gifts.”

　Paul: "Could you tell us the difference in the levels of the astral plane? You are always talking about different levels. What are the actual differences in these levels?”

　Silver Birch: "They are differences in growth, but they cannot be measured in any physical sense. If I say to you what is the difference, in measurement, between a fool and a wise man, or what is the difference between a miser and a saint, there is no answer, is there?

　"But there is a tremendous difference in the growth of their spirits. In our life you occupy just that sphere to which you have grown, that is, the sphere with which you harmonise because your mental, moral and spiritual growth determine it. The difference is purely the difference of the people who live there. The higher you are spiritually, the better you are, the kinder you are, the more charitable you are; the more unselfish you are, the higher is the level on which you live in your world.

　"But because you are all on the same physical level, it does not mean that you are on the same mental level or on the same spiritual level. 'Your bodies are on the same level, but once the body, the physical body, has gone, you live at the level of your spiritual growth.”

　Paul: "Yes, I see. I would just like to ask you something more. Is this earth just one of these levels, or something apart from the usual?"

　Silver Birch: "No, the world is part of the astral world be-cause all worlds are interpenetrating. All stages of life through-out the whole of the universe mingle and merge into one another and spiritual, astral, physical are varying aspects of one universal life. At this very moment you are registering in the physical world, in the astral world and in the spiritual world all at the same time.”

　Ruth: “I thought instead of Paul and I asking you questions that you would tell us something because you know so much more than we, and some things we would not dream of think-ing you might tell us.''

　Silver Birch: “Yes, I will, but does that finish all your ques-tions?"

　Ruth: “No. I would like to know whether being brought up as a Spiritualist has made any difference to me or to Paul?”

　Silver Birch: "What do you think?".

　Ruth: "Well, I can't tell, can I? I cannot tell what difference it has made to me because I am not in the spirit world, am I?”

　Silver Birch: "No, and yes."

　Ruth's mother put in: "She does not know what it is to be brought up without Spiritualism and she cannot compare. You can see both sides.

　Silver Birch: "I can see it even with the eyes closed. I only say, 'What do you think?' because you know so many other children who do not have this knowledge. Do you think they are worse or better?"

　Ruth: "Well, they are worse in the sense that they won't be prepared when they are going to the spirit world. They are lacking that knowledge and experience, but apart from that I really don't know. I am sorry,

　Paul: "I agree with Ruth in the first thing. I don't think there is any difference. When you die you know what is going to happen, but apart from that I don't see what difference it is going to make."

　Silver Birch: "The answer is very simple; that all knowledge should make a difference. Unfortunately it does not always do so. Knowledge brings joy, happiness, serenity, but it also brings responsibility as to what you do with that knowledge. 

　"Knowledge will drive away many of the foolish fears that come with ignorance; knowledge will make you aware of your-self and what you should do now that you know, and you know that others are less fortunate. He who sins in ignorance pays the price, but he who sins with knowledge pays a greater price, for his knowledge has increased his sin.

　"So you are better off, but it depends on yourself as to what you do."

　"You can't argue with that, can you?" said a member of the circle.

　Silver Birch: “You know, I cannot change the law. I can only expound it. So many times I have wished I could stand in your places and receive on my own frame the blows of fate and shield you from all adversity, to be a barrier between the snows and the colds and the rains. But I cannot, for they are part of that same universal force which provides the light, the heat and the sun-shine. You cannot have one without the other, for thus it is your spirits grow, through testing and by experience."

　Ruth: "I really think it is very good that you can't do that, because with you to shield everybody from their troubles they would always rely on somebody else."

　Paul: "There would not be any point in life.”

　Silver Birch: "I know, but one day you will know what it is to love with the whole of your being, and to see the one you love hurt and be unable to do anything about it.

　"Now I want to add something to what I said before, and this is to you, Ruth. The overwhelming difference is the knowledge that you are never alone, that you know love and friendship and comradeship and all the warmth of the spirit accompany you wherever you may be; the knowledge that there is a guiding power that will help you whenever you put forth your best effort, the sense of presences friendly, helpful, kindly, who desire that you shall extract the best from your own being and the best from your own life. That is what this knowledge gives you, and those who do not possess it are less fortunate than you."

　Paul: "Why is it that men always seem to have overruled women throughout the ages? What is the reason for this?"

　Silver Birch: "Because the women have been very foolish."

　Paul: “Do you think they could alter it?"  

　Silver Birch: "There is no necessity to alter it, for it is the women who have been ruling the men all the time."

　"You did not think of it that way," said a member of the circle.

　Silver Birch: "No, but there is some basis for it. It is the survival of the old days when the man was the hunter, the provider, when it was the man who built the home and had to bring food; the man who was the dominant influence, and the wife who attended him when he was tired and fed him when he was hungry. Because the male was active and the female passive, gradually all laws gave a bias in favour of the man. But this is slowly changing as more and more your world realises that neither is superior to the other, but that each is complementary."

　Paul: "I see. Thank you very much.”

　Silver Birch: "You know I have been with you a long time, and I have watched with interest the growth of your own minds and souls, and have seen two small trees growing straight and upright, and I rejoice that you live in an atmosphere of growing knowledge and understanding.

　"There is still much to be learned, but at least you are facing the world armed with some truth, realising some of its purposes, and you know that whatever you are doing, where there is sincerity, there you will not fail. I am very close to you and help you as much as I can.

　"I am very glad to have had you here today, Ruth and Paul, for I like to talk with you and to try to show you how near I am all the time. I am not far away. I am in your home, in your school, in your play. I see many things that make me laugh, but I learn the ways of your world and it helps me. I never finish learning because I am fascinated by the manners and customs of your western world."

　"We often think of you," said the mother, "when we have got a nice fire and are burning some logs. We sit around and think how you like a fire and the flames.

　Silver Birch: "I always warm myself in the love of those who are close to me. Love is the atmosphere which I can imbibe. Love is the great consolation I have for the joys that I miss. If you had tasted the beauties of spirit life as they exist in spheres supernal, if you had had the riches of the spheres at your disposal, you would not welcome this cold, grey world filled with rancour and bitterness, strife, hatred, bloodshed and misery.  

　"The compensation is the love kindled in hearts that welcome you. It is not easy to work amongst you. There are so many whose hearts are filled with stone, whose minds are distorted and who are inaccessible to wisdom, to guidance and to the love of even their own. Do you not realise how much it helps to feel kinship and sympathy, comradeship and good fellowship from those who offer you their love? You help me more than you know. You provide the means by which I can reach many others.

　"Let us then constantly dwell on the poor, wayward ones of your world, misdirected, having lost their way, yearning for some touch of sympathy, for some direction, for some word of comfort and hope, for all seems bereft in their pathetic despair. These are the ones we must strive to bring within the radiance of

spirit power, so that we can transform all their weary sadness and bring the light of hope and the touch of knowledge into their beings.

　"As you know, I am going to leave you for a while. I go with regrets, but yet it is always necessary to return as far as possible to be recharged with that power which cometh from on high, to take counsel with others, to learn of failures and successes, to hear whether we have acquitted ourselves well or badly. I shall take with me your love and I shall leave my love in your care, I shall look forward with great anticipation to the time when I can return.

　"And now let us pause to attune ourselves to the highest force in the universe, the force of which we are ourselves an integral part. Let us be conscious of the inflow, the divine power, the benediction of the breath of the spirit; let us be worthy of the highest; let us never fail in the trust reposed in us; let us so live and think and speak that we are indeed the instruments of the higher purpose; and let nothing sully in any way that sacred mission.

　"Let us discharge with honour all that is laid lupon our shoulders and let us face with unflinching resolve all that the future may bring, knowing that those who desire to serve are at one with the Great Spirit of life whose protection is immeasurable as is His love."

　Ruth, in a letter to her host and hostess, said: "Thank you for a very nice seance which all of us enjoyed very much. I find that I feel a much better person after having a talk with Silver Birch."

　Paul wrote: “I thought the sitting was nicer than any other I have had with Silver Birch. I only thank you, not him, because the guide, though he never accepts thanks from grown-ups, does not deter children from expressing their gratitude."

　Although it was to the children Silver Birch addressed him-self on another occasion, the subject matter was equally absorb-ing to the adults who were present. Again, I use Paul Miller's own account of the seance: 

　If you had the chance to talk to Silver Birch, what would you ask him?

　That opportunity is given at least once a year to two children, Ruth and Paul, who owe to him practically all they know of Spiritualism and its teachings. Since they were very young they have known him as a guide and teacher. Now Ruth and Paul have reached adolescence.

　Theirs is a natural approach to him and to Spiritualism, and they begin to realise how fortunate they are to have lived their most formative years in an atmosphere in which spirit com-munion is treated as a matter of fact. To them Christmas and Silver Birch are inseparable. In the past he has explained why he leaves his medium twice a year to return to the spirit spheres, there to take counsel and gather power for the continuance of his mission.

　His talks with these two young people are, he says, part of that task, for through them he reaches others, and through them he gathers some of the love without which no spiritual mission can succeed. He began, as always, with a comment on the pleasure he finds in a family circle and with the hospitality of a fireside. Then he asked his young questioners how they were progressing, whether they still wanted to hear him.

　"Perhaps the time will come when they will outgrow these childish things," he said, remarking on their love of Christmas and their talk with him.

　"I would say it is very far from childish," volunteered Ruth, and Silver Birch answered jestingly, "They are old enough to convey the flattery of subtlety."

　Paul had told his parents he wanted “to get this God business straightened out," for there had been a discussion on it at his school.

　"Let me see how I can help you first," said the guide, “be- cause we have to settle some trifling problems that have worried the world for centuries. What is worrying you about God?"

　"There seem to be lots of ways in which men have expressed God," said the boy, "all different, but none very satisfactory."

　"That is true," answered the guide without a moment's pause. "What you have to remember is that men are subject to growth, that they are always enlarging the horizon of their minds. Boundaries are constantly being removed. All the advances of knowledge bring a greater understanding of the universe and that which it contains.

　"In the early times, when men knew little about their sur-roundings, when they had no understanding of the natural phenomena of life and thought them all due to the activities of gods, they could think of these gods only in terms of magnified human beings. And so you had the original idea of sacrifice. They thought that when the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed that the gods were angry and that the way to subdue that wrath was to make offerings to them.

　"Gradually these crude conceptions gave way to larger ideas, and man, as he struggled, groping towards the light, emerging from the darkness of ignorance through the mists of super-stition towards the dawn of knowledge, realised that the cause, the great cause, was something far beyond his imagination. But ancient ideas die hard, and this picture of a magnified man, a person who created the universe, has persisted for centuries.

　"Now we come along and we say that the divine architect, the supreme ruler of the universe, is not a man, not a woman, not a being at all. It is not a person. The universe is ruled by laws, and these laws are infinite in their scope and application. They are the result of divine love and wisdom, perfect, unfailing, never subject to error or to mistake.

　"We say that life is spirit, spirit is life; spirit is infinite, without beginning, without end; spirit cannot be compressed into matter; matter is but a poor reflection of spirit. People who live in a material world, compelled to think of everything that happens in terms of the five senses—sight, touch, smell, feeling and hearingーcannot possibly comprehend the essence of all life which is beyond these five senses.

　"You cannot in any way, whilst you are subject to this limitation, understand that which is beyond limitation. So it comes to this: we say there is a universe ruled by natural laws, that the intelligence behind the laws is perfect, but that man cannot comprehend that perfection because he is imperfect. Man, being personal, cannot understand the impersonal. I hope that helps you because it is not an easy subject.

　"Each one of you, all the human beings, not only on your planet but on millions of other planets, helps to constitute what I call the Great Spirit, others call God, for the Great Spirit is the sum total of all spirit that is in the universe. That is not hard to understand?"

　"Don't you think," said Ruth, “that as man progresses he gets more complicated ideas of God, and the more complicated his mind gets, the further he grows away from the truth?"

　"Not if he is really progressing," said the guide. "What does happen is that sometimes there is a development of the brain, but not a development of the mind or the spirit, and then you have people who are intellectual, but it does not follow that because they are intellectual they are great souls or that they have great minds.

　"It is a progress that is limited strictly to the physical thing, the brain, and sometimes it is true that amongst those people there are those who reject anything but the complicated. But where there is true progress, the progress of the mind and the soul, then that progress brings a greater awareness of spiritual realities, for it is a mental and spiritual development. In those cases you get a discarding of the former erroneous conceptions and a closer approximation to the truth.

　"You must always remember that it is impossible for the whole of the Great Spirit, which is infinite, to be explained in language which is finite and therefore limited. You cannot put the larger into the smaller; that must be clear. Has that helped you, Paul? Now, what are the other problems?”

　"What do you think is the greatest discovery man has made?” asked Ruth, who had thought much about her question, trying to see if she could guess the answer.

　"Of course, that is a difficult question to answer because of the word greatest," said Silver Birch, "and you have to ask your-self about greatness from which point of viewーphysical, mental or spiritual

　"In my view, the greatest discovery is the discovery by man that he was man, his discovery of his own consciousness, his awareness of himself, the realisation that he had the power, puny though he was, to know what was going on around him, for that has led him to all other discoveries. Once he knew he had a mind and had stumbled on the truth of his own potentiality, that led to all the other discoveries that have since been made.

　"Man's awareness of himself means that man had realised that he was something more than a body, something more than matter, something more than a physical vessel which was subject to decay, that would crumble and be resolved into the material elements out of which he was formed. That, I think, must constitute the greatest discovery."

　This answer was a surprise to the young questioners, who had thought the guide would refer to some invention.

　"If you asked me what is my greatest discovery, that is another question," said Silver Birch.

　"May we ask you that?" said Paul eagerly. "Please tell us."

　"My greatest discovery," began Silver Birch, "has been to find that there is so much good will, affection, comradeship and even love within so many human beings; that if you can make the right appeal you can call this love from their natures; that they respond to the highest; that they are capable of noble deeds, noble thoughts; that they can be touched by something greater than that of self-interest; that ideas of idealism, altruism and service will call forth a response.

　"I think of the many years that I have worked in this cold, grey, unattractive, sombre world of yours, and then see how warmth has come into it because of love that has been kindled in many hearts by people who do not know me, but who love me because they say I have helped them. I never expected to win so much love, and it is a source of gratification to me, one that inspires me and makes me feel unworthy, for I realise that I have never done that which would justify it."

　That was something which they did not expect, and it en-couraged them to put more questions. Paul asked, "What changes have occurred in the world since you were here, and what changes have happened in the spirit world in the same time?"

　Again without pausing, the guide replied: "Very largely, in the world of matter, the change that has come over the scene is what is known as the process of civilisation. Man has made tremendous strides in material things. He has learned how to harness so many of the elements of nature; he has scaled peaks and plumbed depths; he has travelled continents and oceans; he has come to the heights of physical attainments. It has been a remarkable material development. But mentally and spiritually, there has not been a similar evolution. Man has physically out-stripped the growth of his mind and his soul. They have not kept pace with his material development. And there you have the dreadful results in selfishness, which is the great besetting sin of your world.

　"Now, the lesson that has to be learned from that is that man cannot live in peace and enjoy all the fruits of his own being, of his own creation, unless there is a development on spiritual and mental lines that is at least some reflection of the development that has taken place on physical lines. Until that is done you must have chaos, disorder, disharmony. It is development of the mind and the spirit that will dictate the motive and inspire all the other activities into fields of co-operation and service.

　"The development of the mind and the spirit will destroy selfishness; it will teach the lessons of the spirit. And when man has unfolded the talents of his mind and his spirit, and used all the physical developments, not for his own sake, but for the service of all, then, indeed, you will have achieved the kingdom of heaven on earth. For each throughout the world of matter has some talent to give which could help others less fortunate.

　"As to the changes in the world of spirit that is a far, far more difficult story to try to tell. Very briefly, the great development has been the way in which the organisation responsible for building the bridges of communication has become more and more elaborate, and the plans that have been devised and carried out for ensuring that never again will the world of matter be cut off from the world of spirit without there being a sufficient number of channels through whom the power of the spirit can be made manifest. I do not think I can say any more than that."

　"We are very glad to know one of the biggest tasks has been　accomplished in the spirit world and that the lines of communi-cation are well laid and plans going satisfactorily," was a com-ment. "That must mean a lot of good mediums are wanted in this world, and they are sadly lacking."

　"The instruments will come," said Silver Birch, "the power of the spirit will continue to pour out its benefactions through many channels and in increasing number. Do not let anyone tell you that what has been achieved in the past represents the peak of attainment. It is not so. More is being achieved today than was yesterday, and more will be achieved tomorrow than is being achieved today. That is the lesson of progress, and we progress, too.

　"There are always those who say, 'Who is to come after us?' When your tasks are done others will fill your shoes and the power of the spirit will continue to flow in a greater measure than it is flowing today. None can stop it."

　"Has there ever been as good communication between the spirit world and this earth as there has been through Spiritual-ism?” asked Ruth.

　"It has been in bursts of inspiration which have been occasional but not sustained, was the answer. “Now it is organised, harnessed, controlled, regulated. It is all part of one vast plan, a plan that is far more co-ordinated than you can ever realise, The organisation that is behind communication is massive and worked out in masterly detail. It has all been arranged. When it was decided to open the doors of the spirit world it was done deliberately, so that once the doors were opened they could never be closed again."

　"Could you tell us some things we do when we sleep?" asked Ruth.

　"Every night you leave your physical bodies behind," began the guide. "Your experiences are divided into two kinds. One is instructional, and the other is purely entertainment. On the instructional side, you are taught about the equipment of your spiritual body which will come in very handy in the years that are yet to unfold. On the entertainment side, you visit many of the halls of activity to see what is going on.

　"Now, last night, Ruth, you were taken to see some of the gardens in our world, and Paul was taken to the hall of music."

　"Isn't it a shame we cannot remember?" commented Paul. 

　"Yes, I know," said Silver Birch, “but that is the same trouble as in the first question. You are trying to put an out-of-the-body experience into a bodily understanding. The glass cannot hold all that is in the jug, but if you watch your dreams you will get very valuable clues."

　"How must we account for dreams without sense and reason?” was another question.

　"Do you mean distortions?" said Silver Birch. "They are the result of the attempt of the brain to remember. The brain is like a little bag. When your spirit returns, and the bag tries to capture the whole of the experience, it cannot get into the bag, and in the process of trying to cram it all in it gets all out of shape. Your dream is not a transcription of what occurred, but a memory of what occurred.”

　"We would like to know what we can do to help you in your work,” said the boy.

　"Give me your love always," was the reply. "Trust me, send me thoughts of good will. Those are my food and drink. I only want love, good will. If I can earn those I am happy. But don't you worry about my work, I can take care of it.

　Then followed a digression begun by a sitter, who said that children seemed to follow spirit teaching more easily than their parents. Silver Birch answered, “I cannot help that, but I will be a good influence on those who have their whole manhood and womanhood in front of them.

　"I cannot say to you," he said to his young friends, "that life will be all sunshine. There will be shadows; rain will some-times beat down upon you. You will have difficulties; you will meet with trials. Life is not one long monotone; it is full of colour, variety. You will meet with obstacles. You will have good moments when all seems well and other times when all seems hopeless. That is how character grows, in the variety of experiences of which life is composed.

　"If the whole of life were easy, if there were no difficulties to conquer, no trials to master, no obstacles to overcome, then there would be no development. The race is worth running because it is a race. The prize is worth receiving because it is received, not with ease, but after you have deserved it. Deserve it! There is no worry that you cannot defeat; therefore do not worry. There is no difficulty which you cannot conquer; there is nothing that can happen to you that is beyond your power to overcome. 

　"Learn the lesson from every experience. If it seems hard, do not flinch but steel yourself, and you will be stronger as a result. Remember always that you are spirits manifesting through bodies, and that nothing which happens, nothing, can harm or hurt your eternal spirit. You must say to your-self, 'I am part of the Great Spirit, part of His divinity is within me and part of His divine strength is at my disposal when I want it.' In hours of weakness call on that strength and it will help you.

　"It does not matter if you become what the world calls suc-cessful—the prizes of physical success are so easily tarnished. What does matter is that you should be loyal to the highest of your own spiritual natures, never to deny that which you know to be true, to be faithful to yourselves, to obey your conscience. Then, whatever the world may think, you will know that you have done the best you can. And when the time comes to say farewell to earth, you will do so knowing that you are ready for what awaits you. That is my advice."

　"With that you have taken away our last question," said Ruth, who, with her brother, was then addressed by the guide:

　"I have watched your growth during the long years, and I am proud to be your friend. I am always ready to help you and perhaps sometimes I help you even more than you know. Think of me as one who stands beside you all the time, and who tries very hard to enfold you with the warmth of love from a higher life. I place my mantle round you to see that no real harm will ever befall you.

　"I have a large family. It keeps on growing and growing all the time, but it has never grown so large that I have lost touch with any member of it. I am your friend and will always be your friend as long as you want me. I am glad that it is to you, the two whom I love so much, that my last talk with your world is given, because I like to take with me the love you freely offer."

　And then he said au revoir to them and to this world as he prepared to return to his spirit home:

　"Now I will have to go. You know I never like to go because it means severing the links for a while and I have grown to like all the associations I have in your world. And yet I know that unless I sever them for a while I shall be of little value, for it is only in those inner spheres that you can obtain the power that is necessary for the labour that has to be done.

　"When I am there I have little desire to come back. That is where I belong. There is a world of shining beauty where the radiant joys are supernal in their qualities. But there is still much to be done. I want to learn whether or not there is com-plete agreement over what has been achieved in some directions, and I want to meet again those who are so close to me in the bond of the spirit.

　"Think of me when I have gone, and know that my influence still lingers. I will come back to you to continue the task which I have voluntarily accepted—to be a constant guardian, an invisible attendant in your homes. It is a pleasure to share your lives; it is a privilege to give you service.

　"Let us say farewell until we meet again. With love I have always come, with love I go. May the Great Spirit bless you all.''