WHEN SEANCES FAIL

　"THIS evening, as there are no visitors here, I take the oppor-tunity to invite you to ask me the most difficult questions that you canーI do not want easy ones, I want hard nuts to crack " This invitation from Silver Birch brought a ready response from members of his circle. One asked the guide to explain the failure of a recent sitting with a medium.

　"Lack of development," was his reply, "a too speedy attempt to sit with strangers when the power has not had the opportunity of settling down to a stage where it can be easily moulded, and the subconsciousness of the instrument is not stilled sufficiently. All the time the impressions of the medium keep rising and they cannot be thrown away.

　"The guide is there but cannot take complete control. In all phases of control, where there is not mastery by the guide, these impressions must be registered, otherwise nothing at all can come through."

　"Is there any mediumship which is free from the subconscious mind?" asked another sitter.

　"No," was the categorical response.

　"It is all tinged," the questioner commented. 

　"It must be so, because every form of communication depends on the use of a human instrument. Wherever you have the human instrument that communication must be tinged by the channel through which it operates, because being a human channel it cannot be devoid of its own nature."

　The questioner, a former Methodist minister, then asked, "If the Great Spirit is perfect, why was not some better form of communication devised rather than one necessarily incom-plete?"

　"I invited difficult questions and I am glad that you responded so freely," was the guide's comment. "You must realise that all the words we use are subject to definition. The Great Spirit is perfect, but not in all the expressions of its manifestation at the same time. Of itself the Great Spirit is perfection, in embryo, that portion of the Great Spirit which is within you is perfect, but not in its manifestation through physical form. That is why you have the processes of evolution going on ceaselessly through-out all centuries, for evolution consists in the refining, in the purging away of the dross to allow the gold to become exhibited, in cleaning the imperfections away from the innate perfection. 

　"In any stage of evolution you can have only that communica-tion which is commensurate with the stage that you have reached. If you had something which was too much in excess of your evolution, it would be so much out of your reach that it would mean nothing to you."

　"When we are more evolved might we get some mechanical form of communication?" the guide was asked.

　"You know my view on the subject," he answered. "I do not see the mechanical processes becoming perfected without the use of a human instrument. You must appreciate, first of all, the reason for communication, and primarily, it is love. Love governs all communication, whether it be the love founded on the relationship between people who knew one another on earth, or the love of service and the desire to help mankind that attracts unknowns to one another.

　"Love is the key. It is more important to have communica-tion, however faulty, than to have no communication, because it enables love to find itself. In all the attempts at mechanical communication you eliminate the factor of love. You are attempting, instead of the warm, vibrant, loving communica-tion, to have what is equivalent to your telephone."

　"Cannot you get warmth and love through a telephone?" the sitter persisted.

　"Through it, but not of it," said Silver Birch.

　"Is not that which comes through the important thing?" the guide was asked.

　"Not in this case," he answered. "What is important is the result on the 'telephone', which is the human instrument, and those who receive the communication. It is intended to stimu-late the spiritual nature of all who are involved."

　"Including the medium?" asked the sitter.

　"Yes, because ultimately, you will have people in your world whose spirit is so developed that they will be able to achieve communication with our world naturally, spirit responding to spirit. Trying to thwart that by the introduction of a machine is not helping the plan of spiritual evolution. It is through man's spirit that evolution will come; it is through raising the spirit so that the divine comes to the top."

　"So if we want the best evidence we will have to develop highly evolved mediums," commented the sitter.  

　"I was not thinking so much in the terms of evidence," said the guide, "but in terms of human development, remembering that the plan of life always is a cycle in which, at one stage, the Great Spirit is implanted so as to find fuller expression, and that fuller expression is constantly being developed and extended in processes of time. Do I make myself clear?"

　"Yes, we understand," he was assured.

　"To obtain the best results there must be an attraction between two worlds and the highest attracting force is the power of love. Love calling to love is the reason why all the barriers between the two worlds get broken down."

　"That is why mediumship suffers when it gets too much on a monetary basis."

　"Yes, because implanted in the breast of the medium must be an overwhelming desire to serve, which, by virtue of its desire, raises the stature of the instrument. That is the most important of all, for without increasing spiritual development of the human race, the alternative is a very dreadful one. Strive to realise that the whole purpose of spirit return is to stimulate the divine in man, to help man to unfold the gifts of the spirit that he possesses in latent form, so that he may fulfil the purpose of his being."

　"If somebody returns, say a father to his son, is that what he has in mind, or does he want to talk to his son?" Silver Birch was asked.

　"The father desires to return to his son. But why does he desire? His desire is based on love. He loves his son; his son loves him. That love is the incentive for the father to break through all the barriers, to overcome all the obstacles. Having demonstrated the power of his love, triumphing over all diffi-culties, and shown his son that love lives on beyond what is called death, the effect of that should be to stimulate the spirit of the son which, through suffering caused by bereavement, should have found itself. And thus, what starts with a demon-stration intended to be of comfort should end with the beginning of spiritual development. Does that answer you?"

　"Yes, it does. In other words, the Great Spirit uses all these experiences in His plan of development."

　"The whole purpose of life, here and hereafter, is the develop-ment of the spiritual nature. That is why you incarnate into matter. If you live your life aright, you will so develop the spirit that it is ready, and death will come just at that moment when the spirit is ripe for the next stage of its existence. That is the plan of ife. In our world the processes continue with the spiritual nature untolding, each time casting away another sheath, so that the body becomes purer and purer, approximating, more and more, to the latent perfection which is manifesting itself."

　You can often see that in the physical body where certain people who live a bad life have evidence in their body of that life."

　"It must be so," said Silver Birch. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so he must be. What a man does must reflect itself in his being. It is true in all planes of life, for is not the body the servant of the mind? Was not the body created by mind in the first place?"

　Another sitter asked, "In the eyes of the spirit world, if a person sins in thought, is it as bad as sinning in deed?"

　"The question can be answered in several ways. When you say in the eyes of the spirit world, you mean, of course, from the standpoint of an evolved spiritual being?"

　"Yes," he was told and another member of the circle asked, "If you think a certain thing, has it the same bad effect as if you do it?"

　"These are difficult questions," said the guide, "because unless one had a particular case cited it is hard to answer in a general strain."

　"Supposing you wanted somebody killed?" he was told.

　"It depends on the motive," was the guide's answer. "The first thing to do always in considering any problem is to say, 'What effect does it have on the spirit?' Thus, you say to yourself, 'What is the motive or the desire of the person who has the thought?" Now, that depends on the temperament of the in-dividual. There are some who are willing to wound but afraid to strike. They are not prepared to go the whole way; they are cowardly. They would like to hurt as much as they can without being too actively concerned in the performance of the deed itself.

　"Is it as bad to think of killing an individual as to kill an in-dividual? No! Because there is no power of thought which will have the effect, so far as your western world is concerned, of forcing that individual spirit out of the body, which the violent act of killing will do. Thus, in such a case, the thought, from a spiritual standpoint is not as bad as the deed.

　"On the mental plane, jealousy, greed, envy, hatred, these can do more harm to the spirit of the person who allows himself to be influenced by them than many physical actions that he would perform, because the intensity of the thought power sent into operation might be more injurious to the spirit and mind of the person to whom they are attracted, than if the thinker were to strike a person a heavy blow. It is, of necessity, a question which requires qualification."

　The answer produced this comment from a sitter: "You said that if a person wished somebody dead, it would not be so bad because by thinking they could not actually kill. Could it not be more harmful to the person who had the thought?"

　"Yes," said the guide. "Again these questions and answers are subject to qualification, because it depends on the degree of the intensity of the desire. Try to realise that what controls it is cause and effect, the natural law in operation which is immutable and is so designed on the mental and spiritual planes to bring results as a physical action in your world brings results. What you cannot see is the effect on the mind or the spirit of the person who thinks these things."

　"Is it ever right to hate anybody or anything?" the same questioner asked.

"Do you ever hate anybody or any-thing?"

　"it is easy for me to answer the last part of the question first. I do not hate anybody; I cannot hate anybody, because I see in every child of the Great Spirit a portion of divinity, and I am always filled with compassion when I find that the expression is either practically non-existent or very small. But I can hate systems and desire that they shall be abolished. I can become angry when I see cruelty, when I see the results of greed and malice and the lust for power. Then I can be filled with thoughts that are far from kind, but you must remember I am very human. I have evolved sufficiently not to feel like that towards any human being."

　"Even although they are responsible?"

　"Yes, my son," was the guide's answer.

　"Even I can understand that," said another member. "It is a terrible thing to hate."

　"I know wicked men who have been responsible for misery and I am afraid I do hate them," declared the first member.

　"I cannot," asserted the guide, "because I know the law, I know that the Great Spirit is not mocked, and whatever any man does he will pay the price in your world or in mine. None escapes the  consequences of any action, word or thought. And so I cannot find it in myself to hate those who wear, how-ever shabbily, the divine garment that has been given to them. But I can hate iniquity."

　"In business today there are some very wicked men," per-sisted the first questioner.

　"Then, feel sorry for them," said the guide.

　"I don't think I can be very evolved, I feel hate," confessed the member, while another declared, "I have not come across that, but I do feel passion at the ill-treating of animals."

　Silver Birch's comment was, "You must remember that these people are victims of their own lack of evolution, blind creatures who have lost their way. It is very sad."

　Still the original questioner persisted with: "A lot of them are men of intelligence and brain. They exploit people who have not their gifts and I hate it."

　"They are punished, they punish themselves," was the spirit rejoinder. "The difference between us is that you view your world through eyes of matter and I see it through the eyes of spirit. I know the suffering they will bring on themselves for centuries that lie in front of them. The soul will writhe in the agony of darkness, lost in the mists where remorse will bring its own condign punishment."

　"In the meantime they bring so much suffering to other people's lives."

　"How else would you have it?" asked the guide. "Would you have free will withdrawn and man reduced to a puppet? If you give the blessed opportunity of free will being exercised so that it can rise to the heights of superb divinity, you must allow for that free will to take the wrong turning and to descend to the utter depths."

　Another member asked, "What is the effect on the mind of the man who has the bad thoughtーnot the result of the thought."

　 "If it is done cold-bloodedly, as distinct from inflamed passion, I would still abide by my answer because that would indicate the stage of development, or lack of development, reached by the individual. If he had attained the stage that, not only does he think of killing, he is prepared to translate it into action, then I would say that he has sinned far more than if he stopped short at the thought."

　"He might stop because he is a coward."

　"I exempted the coward. I was taking the case of the person who cold-bloodedly goes through with the whole thing. I said this is the kind of question that would require many definitions. If it resolves itself into two individuals, one who not only thinks seriously and constantly of killing, and then decides to translate the thought into deed, and the other who says, 'I wish I could kill someone because I dislike or hate him so much,' then I would say the first is the worst so far as spiritual law is concerned."

　Then Silver Birch was asked, "What is your own personal, most important, unanswered question?"

　I do not know if I have any important ones that are unan-Swered, except that I find it sometimes very hard to understand why the plan should have been formulated to achieve a per-fection that in the very nature of the plan could not be achieved. It is a point on which I have spent much time and consulta-tion, but I must say I am never satisfied with the answers I have got."

　"We are getting into deeper waters, much deeper than we have ventured hitherto," said the guide. "I am forced to use the terminology of the earthly word, and so we get to a Great Spirit that becomes a He, a male, and that is not the Great Spirit that I know. The Great Spirit that I know is the infinite intelli-gence behind the perfect, natural laws. That intelligence is dis-played in a multitude of manifestations. I would not claim that I have seen the highest, for as far as I have reached I realise that there are summits beyond.

　"I know, in outline, the plan of the universe as I have seen it. I cannot claim to fill in every detailーI have said to you that you, like I, must let faith take you in those regions where knowledge cannot go. Perfection, like the Great Spirit, is something that cannot be completely understood while you yourselves are im-perfect. As far as I have gone, I fail to understand why it should be part of the plan for mankind to achieve perfection which in the very nature of the plan it cannot achieve, because its achieve-ment would mean a cessation, and a cessation would be a con-tradiction of evolution."

　"Just as we come to you with our problems, have you some higher court you can reach?" Silver Birch was asked.

　"When I report to the inner spheres, there are individuals who are far wiser than I."

　"Do you have the same sort of sitting?"

　"We have our counsellors and our teachers."

　"Do they go into trance?"

　"The process is not quite analogous, but it does consist of a bringing down of vibration, of transmuting the higher to the lower to reach us, a shading of some light to enable the in-dividuals to be at home on our level. That is akin to medium-ship. If you get into your minds this picture of graded life in the universe and know that, no matter what rung of the ladder you reach, there is one above it and that this ladder of Jacob is infinite in its rungsーnone can see the highest or the lowest."

　The next question was: "Are our spirit friends really as close to us as they seem to be, or must we take into consideration the subconscious mind of the medium? Is it really quite as easy as it sounds? My feeling is that they do not get quite so close as we think they do. It seems too easy."

　"What is too easy?" asked Silver Birch.

　"I do not see how you can get so close as you seem to do. The more you have sittings with mediums, the more you realise that it is not the spirit to whom you are supposed to be talking. Sometimes I feel that you are not talking to them at allーthey have just put an impression through."

　"As to our reality, let there be no doubt," answered the guide. "As to our individuality, there can be no doubt. As to who we are, there are differences of opinion, because of different ap-proaches to the understanding of what is meant by identity. I am not concerned with the physical name that was chosen for you by your parents. To me, there is a difference between the name and the individual who bears the name.

　"When it comes to what we are, the answer is dependent on what you mean by identity. I am not an Indian, as you know, although I constantly use the form of an Indian, because I find it is the easiest way of expressing myself through this instrument. The reality of guides cannot be disputed, but the question of the impact of spirit on matter is full of complications and is subject to a variety of happenings which can affect communication and alter its character.

　"The degrees that can be manifested are varying in quality and quantity dependent on a host of factors operating at the time. The question of guidance is one that bristles with difficulty because you think of guidance in terms of what you want at a particular time, but that need not be guidance at all. It often is true that the best guidance for you to receive is not that for which you ask and, indeed, the refusal to give you that for which you ask is the best for your soul.

　"It is not an easy question to deal with summarily because in the problem of guidance is bound up the whole problem of the consciousness; the progress and the awareness of the individual who is concerned. You realise you are not touching on simple matters. I have heard prayers from your world maoy times. I get requests, but I stand aside sometimes when I would like to help. I have sometimes rushed to help and a superior power has said, 'Hold on!' I cannot always exercise my free will, hav-ing promised to work within the prescribed law.

　"I am not going to say that it is always easy, or that it is always difficult. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is difficult. But remember that often your shadow is our light and your light is our shadow. Your sunshine is our storm and your quietness is our noise, and your noise is our quietness.

　"Your reality is not ours. We are not living in the same world even though we exist in the same universe. The whole of your philosophy and outlook are conditioned and controlled by your purely physical approach. You cannot see with the of the spirit and often, unwittingly, you condemn or criticise, and, I do not speak harshly, because your vision is short. You cannot see all the way.

　"That we are far from perfect, I am the first to admit. That we cannot do all we would like, I would not deny. But that is far different from the realisation that we are as close to you as the beating of your own heart, that we are closer than the shadow you cause when you walk in the path of the sun, that all you who come within the orbit of my love are as close as one spirit can be to another. I cannot always demonstrate that closeness in physical measurement. I could demonstrate it in spiritual understanding, but alas, and again I say this is no criticism, the times when your spirits can rise to that height are unfortunately too few. I do not blame you. That is the measure of the progress you have yet to obtain.

　"Your criticism may seem just, but it is short-sighted and does not cover all the facts. Nevertheless our shoulders must be broad, for the teacher must be willing to take all that comes from the pupil, realising that the mere act of expressing these thoughts is an indication that the soul is marching on the road to progress. Do not fear that I will resent an honest question, I welcome it. Anything that you would say or do, any of you, could not diminish, by one iota, the great, tender love that I have for all of you."

　"We have it for you. These are purely questions of a searching mind."

　"I do not say any of this in any spirit of criticism. We are all divine and human, full of complexities, simple yet profound. As the soul unfolds, it moves to simplicity, but also nearer to profundity. These are opposite ends of the same pole. There is a scientific law that action and reaction are both opposite and equal. It is not easy, neither was it intended that it should be easy. We are fellow-pilgrims on the road of life and the staff of knowledge that we carry will help our feet when the going is hard. Hold on to the staff; it is your knowledge. Without it you cannot travel the road."

　"I suppose we are too close to our own development to see it," commented a sitter.

　"I always tell you two things which are important. One is when you enter the realm where knowledge cannot help you, then rely on that faith which in the first place was founded on knowledge. The other is, use your reason. It is the Great Spirit's gift to you. Never fail to reject that which does not measure up to the standard of your reasonableness, for your reason will develop and grow, and thus your standards will increase. Like all statements which seem contradictory it is but a paradox and paradoxes are the emblems of truth.

　"When your reason asks questions I do not condemn it: I rejoice because the fact that it is asking questions means that the soul is stirring and that always gives me cause for rejoicing.

　"I hope I have acquitted myself fairly well," said the guide. And then, with a smile he said to the former Methodist minister. "When the examination paper comes round, mark mine with charity and kindness."