AFTER SUDDEN DEATH

　TRAGEDY came into the life of Merle Oberon when the aero-plane carrying her fiancé crashed in flames a few seconds after he had bidden her good-bye. Naturally, for a time, she was stunned by the blow. She wondered whether Spiritualism could help her. Then she came across Hannen Swaffer's book on Spiritualism, My Greatest Story, and was moved when she read a quotation from the teachings of Silver Birch. One extract of the guide's teachings made a great appeal to her.

　She was brought to the seance room by Swaffer, who said to Silver Birch: "As you know, I expect, she has been through a great tragedy. Although she is bearing up with extraordinary courage, she seeks guidance."

　Silver Birch said to the film star: "You are very brave, but knowledge will help you. Try to appreciate that it is only through sorrow and suffering, which are the testing times of the soul, that you can acquire the greatest knowledge and the greatest understanding. Life, both here and what you call hereafter, can-not be pursued on one plane alone, a plane of unsullied joy.

There must come the light and the shade. It is only because of darkness that know light. If there were no darkness, there would be no light, for all would be darkness or light and it would be the same thing. It is only through difficulty and sorrow that the soul comes into its own. This is not easy, it is hard, but it is part of your eternal equipment, because the whole of vour purpose on earth is to acquire that character and that spiritual growth and attainment which will enable you to face the next stage of life that awaits you.

　"Your path has not been an easy one in life. You have had ups and downs. And when it seemed that the cup of happiness was offered to you, it was bitterly dashed away. Now you will not be satisfied until you are assured beyond any doubt that life and love continue or whether they come to an end. You have garnered sufficient to realise that they do not come to an end, but you are not yet in the possession of all the facts which will give you the assurance that you require. Am I correct?"

　"Yes," was the film star's reply. 

　"Try to realiseーand this is how best I can help youーthat all of us in life are spiritual beings first and foremost. That is why we live, for the spirit is the mainspring of existence. All that lives,

breathes, moves and has consciousness does so because it is spirit. Spirit is what you call God and I call the Great Spirit. This spirit, which is that portion of God, the Great Spirit, is incarnated into matter so that it can obtain the experiences to fit it for its next stage of evolution, just like the child going to school to learn the lessons to fit it for the world beyond school. Now you, like everybody else, are a spiritual being. The things of matter will tarnish and fade away, the things of the spirit are eternal; they will persist for all time. That which is founded on matter cannot endure, for matter is but the shell, the husk, it is not the reality. Most people in your world are worshipping illusion: they are pursuing will-o'-the-wisps; they have not found reality: it has eluded them; they have not found themselves. 

　"If you can see life as part of a cosmic purpose, a plan, a scheme by a Great Spirit actuated by love and beneficence, and under-stand that you are part, an irrefragable part, of that scheme, then even when you cannot understand the experiences that befall you, you will realise they are still part of the eternal scheme Anything which is part of the spirit cannot die. Death is not extinction; death is merely the means by which the spirit is released to carry on elsewhere. It is the antithesis of birthーbirth. the means by which the spirit makes its entrance and death, the means by which it makes its exit. But you, you are not your body, you are not your head, eyes, nose, limbs, muscles or your chemical assembly; that is not you. All these are merely the means by which you, the spirit, express yourself in a physical world. But apart from the physical world you continue to exist.

　"When death occurs, the spirit takes with it everything that belongs to the individual, everything which makes that individual different from every other individual. The consciousness, mind, traits, habits, idiosyncrasies, the power to love, to inspire and give affection, friendship, fellowshipーall these are spiritual qualities and because of that they persist. All that is the real you cannot die, and all that which belongs to the real you cannot die either. Whether you can realise this or not, and it is difficult to grasp in its fullness, all that you love and that loves you is still

alive. Does that help you?"

　"Yes," came the answer.

　"Try to forget the picture of material things because they are not the reality," added the guide. "The reality does not lie in physical things."

　"Is my fiancé there now?" asked Merle Oberon.

　"Yes," said the guide. "He tried to speak through the medium to you at your last meeting, but, of course, it is not an easy task. It takes quite a good deal of work to make it perfect, but if you persist he will succeed. You realise, of course, that he is very emotional, and it is not an easy task because this passing was not an expected oneーfar from it."

　"What is he doing now?" asked Merle Oberon. "Where is he? Is he all right?"

　Turning to Swaffer, the guide said: "This is a big shock for two people, one in your world and one in mine. Adjustment has not yet taken place. It cannot be expected that it should be other wise."

　Then speaking to Merle Oberon the guide said: "I will help you best if I try to explain that this young man is close to you. He is not doing anything. He is standing with you. He has to learn all the processes of communication, not only in the sense of the control of a medium, but also in the other aspect of making his thoughts and his desires and wishes known to you, which is the equivalent to a great engineering feat. He will not go away from you until he has completely mastered this.

　"Once you can achieve inner tranquillity, you will find un-mistakably that you are getting from him the help and guidance that he desires to give and you desire to receive. Try to appre-ciate that you are dealing with very sensitive and delicate vibra-tions which are easily disturbed by your thoughts. If you radiate an atmosphere of anxiety and shock and sorrow, you surround yourself with heaviness, a denseness that forms a handicap to communication. If you can achieveーand this is not easyーserenity, if you can radiate tranquillity, if you can have inner peace, these provide the best conditions for results from our world. We cannot work when the atmosphere is charged with conflicting emotions. We can work best when there is a recep-tivity, a passiveness, so that we can reach you."

　After some personal messages, the guide said: "What you may find difficult to understand is that he is closer to you than he is to me, even although he is in my world and not in yours. Do you understand that? It is the earth which attracts him, not the spirit. One of the difficulties is that he knew nothing about this subject. It did not come within his purview. He is very glad because you have helped him more than you know by coming to meet him in this fashion. Too many people regard death as a finality and those who have gone from their side linger only in memories and not in actualities. But you have helped him by presenting him with an opportunity to get closer to you and not by creating a wall around yourself. For that he is very grateful."

　"Was his passing painful?" asked Merle Oberon.

　"No, he did not feel anything," said the guide. "It was too quick. Have you not been told that?"

　"Yes."

　"It was over in a flash," the guide stated.

　"That is what she was told," Swaffer interposed.

　"Yes, it was very quick and there was a long period of rest for that reason," Silver Birch told her.

　"How long?" she asked.

　The guide replied: "It is very difficult to answer such a questio because we have no measurement of time like have. But it is longer than the usual period for those who have to adjust them-selves. All violent passings produce a shock. It is not a per-manent shock, but it is a shock, because the spirit should not leave its body precipitated in this fashion, and this requires ad-justments to be made."

　After receiving some further personal messages, Merle Oberon asked: "Is he happy now? Is he all right?"

　Silver Birch said: "He is not happy because he does not want to be here. He wants to be with you in your world. You will have to help him and he will have to help himself. That is a temporary condition, but he is quite all right. There is nothing that can harm hi spirit, and soon he will adjust himself.

　"The Great Spirit, who made the universe, is filled with love. You must trust that power which fashioned each one of us and know that all will be explained. All that you cannot understand now will become clearer on another occasion. I do not this to fob you off, but it is so. You are looking at life through the eyes of matter and eternity cannot be appreciated only with earthly scales. True perspective will come later on, but the things that matter, life, love, identity, all these continue. Death has no power over life or love."

　Pointing to a member of the circle, Silver Birch said: "Her father is in our world. He has been here for many months now. He has become accustomed to it. Now it is so natural to him that he sits in his old chair by the family table, refusing to allow his transition from one sphere to another to make any difference to his love or his life. He is calm, not troubled. He has adjusted himself; he is closer than he has ever been before. Those who remain behind feel him, know he is there, for they have unfolded a faculty of the soul which gives them the perception that hither-to was lacking. The Great Spirit is guided by love, and there is compensation in all things." 

　Finally, Silver Birch told Merle Oberon of the spirit presence of her mother, saying that she had made way for the fiancé be-cause she felt that all the time should be given to him. "Your mother is a very sweet and radiant soul who has helped you far more than you know," he said. "Have I helped you at all?"

　"Yes, thank you," was her reply.

　"Do not thank me, thank the Great Spirit," said Silver Birch. "We are all His ministers striving to do His will. Go on seeking for knowledge. It is true; those who seek do find; to those who knock the door is opened; and those who ask do receive."