WHY WE LIVE

　"I AM in the position of seeing certain aspects of truth becanse li look through spiritual eyes. You, unfortunately by virtue of being encased in the flesh, cannot have the same viewpoint" These words from Silver Birch were the prelude to an analysis by him on the relationship of spirit to matter. The occasion was the first visit by a man and his wife who were keen on inquiring into Spiritualism. The guide continued:

　"You are material beings; you are in a material world. You have certain obligations to discharge. Your body has to be clothed, housed, fed and cared for. It has to receive all that which is necessary for the work that it is called upon to do. The reason for your body's existence primarily is to be the vehicle of the spirit; apart from that your body has no existence. There are very few people in your world who know that. The body exists in the first place because of the spirit, and when the spirit with-draws the body collapses, disintegrates, dies.

　"I say this to you because, like many people, you have not yet what I call the correct perspective. You do not view yourself as a spiritual being with a temporary earth life. You are inclined to allow the obligations of your body and your world to weigh more heavily upon you than they need do. Tell me if I am wrong; I do not mind being corrected."

　"No, I think you are right," said the wife. "It is very difficult for us to realise and remember that."

　"I know that. If you can change your perspective and realisc that not only your bodies, but the world in which you live, and everything which it contains, all owe their existence to spirit, and that you are spirit and possess by virtue of being spirit all that the Great Spirit possesses, then you will understand that you have at your disposala power which can enable you to triumphover every difficulty that comes your way. The source of life, the source of being the source of eternity is within the spirit. If you can learn how to adjust yourself you can draw on that infinite reservoir to which I have referred.

　"Spirit is not subjected to the limitations of matter. Spirit, which provides the dynamic of all life, the mainspring of all existence, will provide you with all that you require in your earthly life. The purpose of your being here is a very simple one. It is to fortify, to equip, to unfold that spiritual nature which is yours, so that you are prepared for the next stage beyond death. Thus, every experience, good or bad, sunshine and shadow, strength and weakness, love and hate, health and sickness, adds its quota to your spiritual growth. 

　"Each has its place in the divine scheme. None of the darker experiencesーdark to you that is because you do not like themーis so strong that you cannot overcome it. You will not be called upon in your earth life to face any test or crisis for which you do not possess the strength to overcome it. If I can make every soul I reach not only know that but feel it and live it, then they would be in harmony with the Great Spirit, and the laws of the Great Spirit and would be supplying themselves with all that they  require from day to day, from hour to hour, from minute to minute, if you like. But there are the great enemies, fear, worry, anxiety. These are the foes because they set up conditions which disturb and prevent the very help that you want to receive. Calmness, confidence, receptivity, with these the spirit can flourish; with these you will find all you want from day to day; they will provide all that is necessary for the physical well-being."

　The husband asked, "I would like to know what attention one must pay to this vehicle of the spirit, where is the culminating point?"

　"Is not that person neglecting his spirit?" asked the husband. "Does it mean that he must take less care of his body, or should he increase his efforts altogether?"

　"It depends on the individual, but, generally speaking, people do not neglect their bodies, they over-indulge them; they pro-vide the body with far more than it requires. The conditions of what you call civilisation impose a lot of unnecessary obliga-tions, and to meet the demands of convention you incur fresh obligations. The essential things of the body are light, air, food, exercise, shelter. I hesitate about clothing, but conventionally there is a need.

　"I never preach the gospel that the body and its requirements should be neglected. Is not the body the instrument of the spirit? I am not asking that the requirements of the physical nature should be overlooked. All I am trying to do is to give to as many as will listen the right perspective, so that they will see themselves as they truly are. There are too many who think of themselves either as bodies only, or as bodies with spirits, where-as they are spirits with bodies. It is a tremendous difference. I see too many people in your world needlessly concerned with fears. It is the needless anxiety that I would strive to banish, because the Great Spirit is infinite in wisdom and in love. Tne

wisdom and love of the Great Spirit transcend all our compre-hension of these qualities.

　"We see the results of this handiwork in universal activity. This universe, wondrous in design, is controlled and regulated and sustained by natural laws which have never failed. No mis-take has ever been made in the execution of these laws; they have never been changed; they have never been repealed or supple-mented. The natural laws that are in existence now were always in existence and will always be in existence because they were designed by perfection, created by omnipotence. Look round the universe where you like and see that every aspect, whether it be majestically large or microscopically small, lives, moves, be-haves, and is regulated by natural law.

　"Whether you turn to the vast galaxies or examine the most minute speck of life; whether you turn to the ever-changing panorama of nature's handiwork, whether you fix your gaze on bird, tree, flower, sea, ocean, river, lake, all is regulated by law which has provided for every aspect, as the earth spins on its axis for the season's variety to follow one another. Does growth not follow that which has been sown? Is not always this un-changing standard the divine pattern? The Great Spirit has not failed. The Great Spirit will not fail you if you allow the Great Spirit not to fail you.

　"That is the perspective which I desire all children of the Great Spirit to possess. Then they would have no fear and no tremb-ling. They would know that each experience, whatever it was, could only help in the growth of their soul. They would face it with that knowledge and thus they would pass every test. This is true although you may not see it at the time. When you come to our world, as come you will, it is the dark experiences for Which you will express gratitude. It is the storm and the shadow for which you will be thankful, for you will realise, in your changed viewpoint, that these experiences, so unwelcome at the time, were the means by which the spirit grew. I cannot prove that to you, but you will prove it for yourself one day.

　"This truth is of comparative newness to you. It is a large ruth and has many aspects. There is much to learn; go on seek-ing. Do not accept all that which comes to you through the lips of the instruments who are used. Discard that which makes your reason revolt, or insults your intelligence. Accept that which seems reasonable and worth while. You are not asked to be credulous. You are asked only to accept that which is in con-sonance with your own judgment.

　"We use fallible instruments. Sometimes the conditions of communication are not good; mistakes are made, and the entirety of what we desire to say does not succeed in being transmitted. Sometimes there are other difficulties, the health conditions of the instrument, the thoughts that are in the subconscious mind. dominant thoughts, perhaps, interfering with the processes of transmission. Then above all, never forget that we ourselves are fallible beings. Death has not given us the acquisition of the entirety of infinite knowledge. We see a little farther along the road of truth. Because we have gained a little more knowledge than you have we desire to share it with you. There is much that we do not know, but we strive to learn.

　"What we have discovered in this larger life which has helped us we offer you so that it may help you, in the hope that having been helped yourself you will help others less fortunate than you are. That is the whole scheme. It is very simple. For ourselves we desire nothing, no thanks, no adulation, no worship. We are but ministers, ambassadors of the Great Spirit, unworthy per-haps to perform this task. But we have been called upon to it, have agreed to do so and will strive to perform it to the best of our ability."

　A twice-widowed woman came to the circle and in the course of the evening Silver Birch said to her: "There are certain ex-periences in your earthly world which compel you to face reality. There are certain events that compel you to find the Great Spirit and yourself, to look within and without, to seek the pattern of the universe, to find if it is a mystery or a plan, to ask, 'Wny? why? why?' and to see if you can find the answers. In these times of great crises you cannot always find the answers, though you may find some of them. The mere fact that you ask question is an indication that the soul is coming into its own.

　"Your earthly world is the place where the soul comes to learn. It is the world where you make your mistakes and comes to learn. It is the world where you make your mistakes and I hope profit from them. This is where you can put right the things which you did wrong, learn your lessons, try to do better, succeed where you have failed. At some stage you will realise that it is not the attainment which is so important as the mould-ing of the character in striving to reach the attainment. Such experiences enable the scales to fall from the physical eyes and for a true assessment to be made of values, and in such an assess-ment the things of matter are not greatly important, although obviously they have their place. If as a result of living in the shadows, the soul comes into its own, finds itself, strengthens the links in the chain that unite it to the Great Spirit, then it has been worth while. At some time yet to come, you will look back in retrospect and expréss gratitude for those experiences which seemed so difficult, but proved to be milestones on the road of spiritual understanding."

　The visitor was told of the presence of a much-loved animal, an Irish setter: “Your beautiful dog comes. The one who loved you as much as loved him. I wish you could see him. No sign of age or infirmity, but beautiful in grace, in outline, a lovely gentle, affectionate creature whom you helped in his evolution. You are richly blessed. You have love from a human, and you have love fromーI cannot call a dog an unhumanーfrom this beautiful creature. you are surrounded by love from other creatures in your earthly life. Where others do not feel and respond to the affection, you do."

　Silver Birch said there was present one whom he called "the great saint"ーFrancis of Assisi.

　"Does that surprise you?" he asked. "This man has love for all. He strives to serve the cause of the dumb animals whom the Great Spirit sent into the world to be the companions of man in his evolution, but who are too often ill-treated and made beasts of burden and misused and outraged for so-called knowledge that is of no value to the human race."

　Later, the guide reverted to the theme of the needless fear he found in the minds of many people. One sitter said: "I do not live the life that you preach and therefore I have fears. If we do not do our job we cannot expect you to do your and so one has fears. It is all wrong, I know."

　"You think you are much worse than you are," said Silver Birch.

　"No, I have not got any illusions. I do know when I am wrong and therefore I know if you do not live the right life you cannot go through life without fear."

　"Permit me to disagree with you, not for the first time, and say that you are not so bad as you think you are, but not so good as you could be. But always those who have seen the light are more conscious of the darkness."

　"We have to pay for it," said this sitter.

　"You will have to pay; all will have to pay, the law does not permit any escapes."

　"I am hoping we will be judged differently in the next world."

　"There is no judgment. The soul comes into its ownーcause and effectーyou reap what you have sown: you are the result of what you have done, that is all. You cannot be better, you cannot be worse, you cannot be higher, you cannot be lower; you are what you are because of what you have done. That is all there is to it."