THE NEW WORLD

　"I URGE again and again and again that we have to reach the largest number that we can," said Silver Birch when he talked to a visitor to the circle who acknowledged the spirit protection he had received in battles throughout the war.

　"Look what we have to offer them," said the guide, who was outlining again the plan of the spirit world to reach millions, "dazzling riches that will never tarnish, whose lustre will always be bright. More and more are turning to us. The plan takes us all into its vast scope, and the tasks that we are to perform are allotted to us. There will be difficulties to overcome, there will be obstacles that we shall conquer, but we are marching forward, a great, victorious army.

　"It is too late for us to be vanquished by forces that have held dominion for too long. All who opposed us through-out the yearsーlet me speak franklyーthe materialists and the religious people, wedded to their concepts of theology, they are all in retreat; confusion exists in their ranks, their num-bers diminish as time goes by; but our army grows stronger and more powerful because truth, divine truth, eternal truth, is on our side, and with that weapon in our armoury there is no fight that we shall lose.

　"We may give ground here and there, but only tem-porarily. We shall regain it and advance all the time. That is why I counsel those engaged in this task never to despair, never to doubt, never to fear. The power of the spirit that is behind is mightier, more majestic than ever you can realise. Whatever stands in the way, whatever the difficulties may be, I know they will be overcome and all that will be necessary for the advancement of this truth will be forth-coming as the plan comes into operation."

　The ex-soldier had tried to give thanks for his escapes in action. He was told before he went overseas, and even before D-Day, that he would return unharmed to take part in the spreading of spirit truths.

　"I want to try and explain if I can why it is I am interested in you and others like you who have been brought to me," said the guide. "There is no chance in all that happens. Par-ticularly is this true in regard to the work in which we are engaged. A mighty task is laid upon our shoulders, and each of us has a part to play in the regeneration of your world.

　"There is a tremendous plan which is being worked out in all its detail to ensure that the truths of the spirit shall abide in your world for all time. The foundations of this plan have been securely laid. Despite all the vehement opposition, despite the scurrility and abuse, the misrepresentation, the hostility of those who dislike the permeation of a new truth on earth, the power of the spirit is going to stay."

　"Surely this is not a new truth," commented the ex-soldier.

　"It is like all truth, old and new," the guide said. "There is no new truth in the sense that there is anything original to be added to the amount of truth that is known as truth, but it is new in the sense of its presentation, that is, it is accompanied by a demonstration which places its truth beyond all shadow of a doubt.

　"What is new is the allying of spiritual truth with factual demonstration. Before it was taught that spiritual truth could be comprehended only through spiritual means. Now, in your own time, the challenge of those who dwell in the world of matter has been met on their own level, and spiritual truth has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of material senses. That is new."

　"Yes," said the visitor, "but Jesus, two thousand years ago demonstrated much of the factual evidence which is demon-strated today by mediums."

　"That," replied Silver Birch, "was two thousand years ago and you are living today in a world containing many people highly sceptical about those events. Included in the sceptics are some very eminent members of the churches who, par-ticularly in private and occasionally in public, will admit that they are not entirely satisfied with the events depicted in the Bible."

　"Don't you think they are right to be sceptical?" put in a member of the circle.

　"I think so," went on Silver Birch. "I am not blaming any-one who has honest scepticism. After all, the Great Spirit has endowed man with the power of reasoning. That is a divine gift intended to be exercised in daily life. Those who suppress the clamour of reason to believe that which is unreasonable are living contrary to the light. Those who follow reason, however painful and difficult the process may be, and find themselves compelled to discard even that recorded in books regarded as sacred and venerable, at least they are honest with themselves.

　"The plan was to give your world a demonstration of spiritual truth, so that all who had eyes to see and ears to hear and hands with which to feel could satisfy themselves beyond any question of doubt that here indeed is the reality of spiritual truth the manifestation of man's spiritual nature. As it is, this demonstration confirms many of the incidents described in the Bible. It cannot confirm them all because the Bible as well know has been subject to mutilation and manipulation at the hands of those who had interests other than truth to serve.

　"The plan was that religion should be rehabilitated and no longer left in the realm of arid, dry, disputable, theological controversy. The plan was to remove religion out of the sphere of creedal warfare, beyond doctrinal controversy and to place real religion on the basis of ascertainable fact, to allow the inspiration of the spirit to permeate your world through an ever-creasing number of human instruments, so that mankind everywhere could know that the Great Spirit was still at work and that infinite qualities were not restricted for their expression to bygone ages, but that today, wherever he might be, whoever he might be, man had access to the fountain of all revelation. That is the plan."

　"When this knowledge, this truth, is spread throughout the world," asked the ex-soldier, "will the link remain?"

　"Yes," said Silver Birch, "when the floodgates are opened the waters pour in. The floodgates must continue to be open. The living waters of spirit truth will flood in as more and more channels are available to it. There is no limit to the power of the spirit because it is infinite in its capacity. As more and more aspire and make themselves accessible to it, so the power of the spirit will stream in greater measure, and knowledge and wisdom still not available to man will come within his ken.

　"And, as man adapts his life to this knowledge, some of it very new and very revolutionary, so the world becomes gradually transformed. Excrescences and blots are expunged and there comes into fulfilment that new world of greater freedom for mind, spirit and body. There will be greater equality, greater richness of life, and human existence will be uplifted with grandeur, dignity and nobility because man will be aware of his spiritual power.

　"That is the picture. There are exalted minds in the world of spirit who have much to offer your world that will help in the solution of many problems, that will help to rid it of so many of the evils which affect it today." 

　Answering another question the guide said: "There will be received, in due course, information revolutionary in its nature concerning so many of man's prime necessities, which will greatly help in the abolition of such problems as want, starvation, and enable greater bounty to be shared by larger numbers.

　"What we have to offer is twofold in its purpose. Primarily it is spiritual in its content because that is all-important. What happens to man's spirit transcends all else in his life. Spirit is his eternal reality. But what happens in your world has a profound effect upon man's spirit also.

　"Therefore, our efforts must be directed towards improv-ing, reforming, bettering, ameliorating, towards levelling all inequalities, removing injustice, driving out disease and helping to eliminate pestilential blots. We cannot go on for ever receiving the misfits of your world, the unequipped, the unready, untrained beings who come here. The process of equipping the soul should be done in your world and not in ours. Your world is where the spirit is sent to be schooled, not ours. Too many people arrive here who are not fit for our world. It is much more difficult to teach them here; the lesson is more easily learned in your world."

　Finally the guide said: "Let all those who are dedicated to the great task of improving the lot of man, spiritually, men-tally or physically, take heart and know that their labours will not be in vain. The old order is changing, giving place to the new. Those ideas, kindled in days gone by, have now been fanned into a flame. That flame will not be extinguished."

　Many times have members of the circle heard Silver Birch affirm that a new world was about to be born out of the old world of travail. He has told us that some of the miseries we were experiencing were but the birth pangs of the new era of knowledge and understanding of things spiritual.

　But not very long ago, the guide announced: "The light is breaking. It is breaking more rapidly than you would have cause to believe judging purely from material standpoints. Your world has stood at the cross-roads of destiny and the great thing that I would like to say to you, with all heart and with all the emphasis of which I am capable, the new world is here. It is not a question of being born; it has been born. Now, in all the tremendous groans and pains of birth it is beginning to make its way everywhere. Not in each country at the same rate of expression; that is not possible, but it is here and it is here to stay. It is not a question of its having to be built, of having to be createdーit is here. However much disorder, darkness, confusion may reign, however much there may be the din and the worrying of ideas based purely on honest differences of opinionーand also on the desire not to surrender power and privilege and pomp that comes with the possession of vested interestsーthe main interest is decided, the new world is in your midst."