PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

　

　THERE is still a great task in front of Spiritualists, for the object of spirit communion is not merely to give comfort, important though this is. An indication of the fields in which we must labour was given by Silver Birch when he said, “It is part of our mission to instruct your world in a fuller understanding of the laws of life in all their aspects, mental, moral, physical and spiritual, so that there shall be fewer broken bodies and unevolved souls.”

　Elaborating this on another occasion, the guide said, “We strive to sweep away the selfishness, the materialism, the ignorance, the darkness, all the forces that rob your life of its sweetness, its brightness, its peace. Our only desire is to serve. Why do men oppose us, when we have nothing but good to offer, when there is no evil in us, no attempt to appeal to anything that is base or degrading?

　"We strive to point to higher truth, to greater understand-ing. We strive to make your world realize the spiritual prin-ciples on which all life is based. We strive to make man aware of his own innate possibilities that he may find himself and the power of God within his own being. We appeal to his reason, to the highest that is within him. We try to teach him the laws that belong to a higher range of life, so that he may understand not only the physical aspect of the universe but that even greater portion, the spiritual, which endures for ever.

　"Our labours are directed towards teaching humanity the fundamentals of life, that it should not chase after illusions, will-of-the-wisps, and worship shadows. We strive to bring home the realities of spiritual truth, that man may build on certainty and not on falseness, that he may have a real religion based on Nature's laws, so that when the wind of adversity blows and circumstances seem hard and he knows not where to turn, his religion, founded on spiritual facts, will stand every trial and every test. Ours is a spiritual mission that attempts to teach man of the Great Spirit, of life within himself, so that he may realize he is not animal, but divine, and know that he shares his divinity with every other life in the universe.

　"In that recognition your world will be transformed, for a new light comes to it as understanding spreads and man knows his place in the great eternal scheme. Our appeal is not to any complicated theology, not to any antiquated teaching, but to simple reason, the means by which you can test all truth, all knowledge, all wisdom. We do not ask that you accept what we say if in any way it insults your intelligence or offends your reason. Our appeal is directed to the highest, not to the lowest, so that man shall find himself and, in find-ing himself, find his God.

　"Truth can never be hurt. Truth can never be damaged. It can recede, it can be held back, but it cannot for ever be buried. What is true cannot be damaged, for Truth will always emerge no matter how thick and fast the lies may be piled above it. You cannot hold Truth in subjection for ever. The truths for which we stand have an important part to play in your world. Always in days of mental anxiety people examine the teachings to which they have clung for many years, wondering whether they will be able to comfort and help them in times of stress and difficulty.

　"The truths of spiritual realities cannot be set on one side. The demonstration that you are all children of the Great Spirit, with spiritual destinies to achieve, is essential, so that you may find your true place in the universe and help the great scheme of infinite and eternal creation. There are some who doubt our existence. There are some who doubt our powers. Omnipotence we have never claimed. That we are confronted with limitations, with restrictions, we have always taught. But that we can aid you cannot be doubted.

　"We have a power—it is the power of the spirit. It is the substance out of which all life is fashioned and moulded. And where you provide us with the right circumstances and con-ditions, this power can be used to guide you, to protect you, to help you, not with any selfish design but so that in its flowing through you it will touch others and enable them to become responsive to our influence. The days that lie in front of you are not easy ones, but with co-operation and the desire for peaceful issues, for justice tempered with mercy, with the abolition of all ideas of hatred and revenge, there can be a future of great brightness brought very near to you."

　The latter remark referred to the war, for the occasion was one of the first séances we held since war was declared in September, 1939.

　In answer to a question the guide said, “You who live in a world of matter are divorced from reality. I know it is hard for you to understand that, because all you see seems so tangible, so solid, so permanent. The body through which you manifest, the world in which you live, the houses in which you dwell, the food you eat—these seem to you the only forms of reality. And yet I must insist that they are the shadows, they are not the eternal light. You cannot conceive of a world which does not conform with your senses, and so you cannot understand spheres of activity and living in ranges beyond your comprehension.”

　The importance of propaganda was impressed on us one night when, reversing the usual procedure, Silver Birch asked us questions instead of replying to our queries. He inquired of each sitter in turn, "What difference has this knowledge made to you?" After listening to our replies, he said:

　"Now you see what a few years of contact with the power of the spirit has established to just a handful of people. This could be multiplied a million times as, all over your world, knowledge could dispel ignorance and those who at present are blind, lost in the darkness, could have their eyes opened and realize the Plan that exists behind the whole universe.

　"Do you not see that, for many, many long years, man has lost his way? And, unfortunately, those who should guide and lead him, those who should be his spiritual teachers, have been themselves as blind as their flock. They have wallowed in all kinds of credal beliefs; they have fashioned a theological system; they have built a superstructure of doctrines and dog-mas; they have invented ritual and ceremony; they have built churches and temples and synagogues and mosques; they have sought to make a partition between the children and the Great Spirit. They have written their sacred records, each claiming that their own book is superior and contains the sole revela-tion of divine truth; they have wrangled and disputed, alas with rancour and bitterness, forgetful of that spirit of love which should truly dwell in all those who are religious.

　"They have driven out the prophet and the seer, the sage and the mystic; they have crucified the teachers; they have condemned the ones they called the heretics; they have refused to allow the Great Spirit to be heard through His instruments. There was no place in their sterile systems for the living voice of the Great Spirit to manifest; they refused to have the open vision in their midst; they taught that all power was vested in them, and that none except the priest had the power to approach the Great Spirit. Yet, all the time, even though there were many saintly men amongst them, they were impervious to that power of the spirit which alone can create true religion and enable mankind to find its feet.

　"Always, throughout history, it was the power of the spirit that produced the greatest revolutions; simple men and simple women with simple messages who, inspired from on high, spoke with authority and the common people heard them gladly. And so, once again, the power of the spirit descends in your midst, accompanied by those self-same hap-penings that always manifested when it descended in ancient times. The blind are made to see, the deaf to hear; health is given to those who were in sickness; ‘evil spirits' are driven out, the obsessed are freed; the tears of mourners are dried.

　"The eyes of the spirit are opened and the angelic hosts are able to reveal themselves in their glory. They drive away the fear of death, they show that love continues, knows and claims its own. They show that inspiration can still descend, that men's hearts can be changed, their minds freed and an im-petus given to reform, an incentive to greater service; that without thought of reward or desire for worldly enrichment souls touched by this power are prepared once again to go out into the high-ways and byways and spread the good tidings.

　"Why is it that there are so many who reject all this beauty, all this simplicity, the key to understanding of life itself? Why do so many prefer the darkness when they could have the light? Why do they prefer bondage when they could have freedom?

　"But we are making more progress than you know. The old walls that men thought were so strong, behind which were entrenched their superstitions, their vested interests, their highly-prized creeds, their so-called important ceremoniesーthose walls are crumbling, and they are crumbling very fast. Souls are being touched, the light is breaking in on their minds, hearts are becoming more receptive and they are lending a willing ear to our truths. So much progress has been made in the last few years that the time has arrived when we can say we are part of a victorious army and the goal of victory is in sight. We stress now the note of confidence. No longer are we fighting battles of despair. We speak of what we know when we say your old world, founded on selfish materialism, is dying and your new world has been born in your midst.

　"Those who made labours and sacrifices in the past, who gave their all to defend the truth which was despised by the mighty and the privileged—they look down and see the goal as the army draws closer and closer. I use symbols. We have no soldiers with guns, for our ammunition is the power of the spirit and our arms are the weapons of reason and com-monsense. We appeal always to the intelligence which is resident within human beings, although sometimes it seems that it is so buried beneath the debris of ignorance and super-stition and self-willed obstinacy that you wonder whether it exists at all. Look around and see the signs for yourselves, you who have the eyes of discernment and are blessed with the powers of the open vision, and note the brightness which pierces the gloom.

　"We do not belong to the despised handful of yesterday. We do not belong to the shame-faced few who hid in corners. Ours is the proud array of those who know that truth is with them because they have proved it to be true, and unashamed they take their places in life, proudly proclaiming the gospel of spiritual realities. No longer are you derided because you espouse spiritual truths. That belongs to the ignorant yester-day. To-day you are respected.”