　　　CHAPTER VI

　　　"LOVE IS DEATHLESS”

　AHUSBAND and wife, mourning the passing of their son in the R.A.F., visited the Hannen Swaffer Home Circle during the war. The husband was then editor of a national weekly paper. For some time these parents had tried to com-municate with their son. The father presented his problem, in these words, to Silver Birch:

　"Could you tell me whether it is worth persisting when one has tried time and time again through mediums to get in touch with somebody who has passed over? If somebody has succeeded in getting through, is it possible to give them a message to get into touch with the person who has failed to get through?”

　"I see hearts and souls," answered Silver Birch. “I do not gaze at exteriors. I know your troubled heart that has been stirred to its depths, and so do not think that I am ignorant of what is going on inside your soul, for indeed you have touched the very depths of sorrow and you want the healing hand to assuage you. And yet, do not think I am unkind if I say that, all unwittingly, you have been one of the obstacles to the achievement of what you desire.

　"There is a great power in the universe which has never been subject to the analytical scrutiny of scientific laboratories, which cannot be resolved by chemicals or by scalpels, yet it is so real that it transcends all other forces which have been measured and weighed and dissected.

　"I refer to the power of love. That love is deathless because it is part of the Great Spirit, the creative spirit of all life, part of the power which has fashioned life; it is indeed the very breath and the very essence of life. And wherever love exists, sooner or later those who are united by its willing bonds will find one another again despite all the handicaps and obstacles and impedi-ments that may be in the way.

　"I know about your son, that bright, radiant young man, and your heart is troubled about him. Yet he is there, always by your side, not dead, but radiant with life. He will succeed in proving himself to you, and he himself will heal the scars that have come. Accept my assurance—that he is not harmed, that he is in full possession of all his mental and spiritual faculties, and that he will succeed in driving away all the mists which still surround you and which require to be penetrated.

　"But it is all very difficult, very difficult indeed. May I give you one example? I have spent more than a score of your years in acquiring experience in manipulating all the necessary threads which make communion with your world possible. Yet, so chaotic are the conditions surrounding your world today, so full of confusion and distress, that I am reduced to one or two slender threads in order to maintain a hold over my instrument.

　"It is not the fault of the boy that he has not succeeded in satisfying you. The fault is due to the chaos in the astral world and partly to the cold, analytical brain which you possess, which demands, quite rightly, a full standard of irrefutable evidence before it will be satisfied. I will help you, and believe me when I say that before long you will find that dreaded dull ache will almost have completely disappeared.

　"Only those who have loved and lost can know the anguish that overwhelms the heart. I mean you, too,” he said to the boy's mother. "That is why we have come back to your world, so that the knowledge we strive to give can dispel the ignorance which is a foul blot on so many lives.

　"If your world understood the natural laws, and life were lived so that natural powers found natural expression, then the veil between the two worlds would be rent, and all the barriers would be destroyed. These barriers have been created by man's ignorance, superstition and prejudice. They belong to all the darkness and they must be torn asunder so that the fullness of love, power, guidance and light can be made manifest in your world.

　"That is why I always urge the spreading of knowledge, the great force that liberates souls and releases them from their self-imposed prisons. There are too many living in dark jails when they could live in the sunlight of liberation.

　"And you can help in that task," he said to the visitor, "for you, too, have the means of enabling knowledge to be spread. For, when the balance is struck, when each soul declares itself on the day of its transition, when it says farewell to earth, it judges itself, not by what it has thought, not by what it has believed, but by the service it has rendered to the world.

　"I preach the gospel of service; give service unstintingly wherever you can, and thus you will enrich the world because you have dwelt in it. It is so simple it is almost platitudinous, but yet it is true. Your world has wandered away from simplicity and followed the intricate paths of perplexity, and some have become so entangled that simple truth cannot find lodgment within their beings. But, in the end, simple truth will win because it is simple truth."

　Speaking of her son, Silver Birch said to the mother:

　"He will give you so much direction that you will find your-self being enthralled by his description of what he has discovered in the new world where he has gone.

　"But do, please, try to understand this. I say it in all humility and in all sincerity. Death is not a tragedy to those who die; it is only a tragedy to those who are left behind. To go from dark-ness to light is not something over which you should grieve.

　"If you grieve, you are in reality grieving over your loss and not for one who has in truth become enfranchised. He is better off. He will no longer suffer all the ills of the human body. He will not be subjected ever to the ravages of wasting diseases. He will unfold all the gifts with which he has been endowed, and will express them free from any thwartings and will be able to give a larger service to those who require it.

　"You miss the accustomed presence, you sigh for the physical body that you no longer see, but the reality is always there, although it is not palpable to you. Look beyond the world of sense, beyond the five crude, clumsy windows of the soul, and try to gather some of the wisdom that comes with the knowledge of spiritual reality.

　"Death has no power over life. Life is always triumphant, and the one you love has never left you. It is true to say that death has brought him closer to you in spirit. That, I know, is hard for you to understand, because you live in a physical world and you see with physical eyes, and all the glories of the spirit are not revealed to you.

　"But, one day, when the veil has been lifted and your eyes are opened, you, too, will behold the dazzling radiance of a new life, and you will see that there has been full and complete compensa-tion, and that divine justice rules wisely over all. I am trying to help you, but you must remember that we look at life from two different aspects."

　Later the guide said: “It is all very simple to me, and I cannot understand why your world finds it difficult. You, like every-body else, came into the physical world to do a task. If you will, in moments of self-examination, ask yourself whether you are fulfilling that task, whether you are enlightening the world, whether you are adding grains of knowledge, whether you are disseminating truth, whether you are, in all sincerity, trying to do your best, you yourself will know the answers.

　"That is all that is expected of you, that you should be honest and do your best. It requires no articles of religion or creeds, but just the simple recognition of what it is you have to do. If that principle covers your daily conduct, then you cannot go wrong, and you are fulfilling that for which you entered your physical world.

　"We who live here see millions and millions of children of the Great Spirit living in a darkness which should not exist, hungry and thirsty, living in squalid, miserable homes, denied the free-dom which is their birthright and heritage.

　"We see all those whose desire is to maintain millions in subjection, merely to satisfy their own grasping, selfish, avari-cious greed. We say to all who desire to give service, go in and fight, fight all iniquity, fight all darkness, fight all tyranny, fight all injustice, and all the host of liberated beings in our world will stand behind you, to uphold and sustain you, and they will never fail you.

　"That is all that we ask of those who have the means of spread-ing knowledge. You understand me, I know. There is so much to be done. Those, like yourself, who yearn for that evidench which can be given, must realise that there are hundreds of thousands more who have not yet put their feet on the path which will lead to knowledge.

　"Look, as we do, upon your world, in which all those hun-dreds of thousands walk the earth perplexed, bewildered, weary pilgrims, filled with doubt and dismay and uncertainty, not knowing where to go. They have lost their path. They no longer believe in any authority and that which has been regarded as established for many years. They grope and they stumble, and we realise that, had we but the instruments, we could flood your world with a light of a knowledge that would bring certainty and assurance and confidence to all those people. They could live as the Great Spirit intended them to liveーin peace, harmony and love, and in the pursuit of all those things which their spiritual nature demands as part of their link with the Great Spirit of all life.”

　Another husband and wife, two Spiritualists, who proved the survival of their daughter, asked Silver Birch about their own efforts to develop mediumship, and this is the advice he gave them:

　"It is not easy to accomplish what you two are trying to do now. You must recognise that the conditions that effect the communication between our world and yours are very much dislocated by the events of the war. That is why so little success attends your efforts to establish this communication in your own home.

　"Even where there are well-trained and developed instru-ments, mediums and guides who have had many years of experience in communication with your world, we find it is difficult; so you must not be surprised that there should be problems in your case.

　"Firstly, the psychic power has not yet had sufficient time to become stabilised; it is untutored and undisciplined. It is still in the process of being properly formed, where it is subject to the manipulation of those who are attracted to you. There are not enough of you to ensure that the power is properly regulated.”

　"I presume we should have patience," said the wife.

　"Yes," answered the guide, “you require more than two people because there is not sufficient interplay of the forces between two, and so whilst there is enough power to open the door, there is not enough to control who comes in when the door is opened. Naturally, having an open door with no control over the visitors, you get a lot of mixture, and I do not think you will obtain much success until these conditions are eased."

　A member of the circle asked, "Is it not the function of the guide to see that undesirables do not come in?"

　"Yes, but the guide must be able to have control,” said Silver Birch.

　"About the doorkeeper," asked the husband, "is he in any way responsible?"

　"The function of the doorkeeper," was the answer, "is to be the doorkeeper, but he cannot exercise that function until he has sufficient power from you to be able to erect the necessary barriers to keep out those whom he wants to keep out. Do not you understand that the power has to come from you, and that power is a collective power? It is a power which is drawn from

each of the sitters and moulded by the guide in charge. Thus it can be used for the purpose of the gathering once those on our side have mixed it and added their own powers to what you have already given them.

　"If you open a door and say that anyone who is passing can come in, then they come in, because what you do is to show a light. That light attracts many in our world, and, seeing it, they come to you in such large numbers that the doorkeeper is swamped because he has not sufficient of the power which you

　"Here, in this circle, such things do not happen because after many years if has become organised, and only on very rare occasions have I had to stop for a moment because there has been some interrupter. But do not think that these are, of necessity, ill-disposed entities. They are of all kinds—those who hope to reach your world, those who are attracted out of curiosity, and those who are frivolous."

　Counselling patience, Silver Birch said: “You have much for which to rejoice. You have been led by love out of the tortuous paths into the avenue of knowledge and understanding. Love has directed your footsteps, love has guided you, and that love will never forsake you. That which you now possess, that price-less jewel of knowledge, is an eternal possession, undimmed and untarnished, yours for all time, and none can remove it from you.

　"Whilst other feel that they are being swept along by currents over which they have no control, and others feel yet again that they are in the midst of eddies and whirlpools and they know not what their fate can be, you stand still, confident that you have found love that is undying and that your future will be guided by one who is closer to you even than your own heart."

　Then he commented, "You have been helped far more than you will ever understand.”

　"I think we have had considerable help for which we are extremely grateful,” said the husband.

　"And in turn," said Silver Birch, "you have tried to express your gratitude by handing the light on to others. You are not asked to do more than that. Our task is to pass on knowledge. We see a world filled with greyness, darkness and coldness, with so many who have lost their way, with so many who know not where to turn, with so many who are perplexed and weary, with so many who are lost in confusion and tortured and assailed by doubts and questions to which they can find no answers.

　"You are among the fortunate ones, truth has come to you and you have recognised it. Hold on to that truth, for it will enable you to face every problem and in the end to triumph over every difficulty."

　The wife asked, “And what we are handing on to our little boy, is that going to be adequate for him?"

　At least truth is being planted,” said the guide, "and the sapling will grow straight and tall, with no decaying branches, and it will withstand all the storms and stresses."

　Her husband, keenly interested in philosophy, asked: “What is your view as to the reason for the creation of a universe? Why is there so much pain and evil and struggle associated with it? It is difficult for mankind to appreciate the purpose of the whole thing.''

　"There is a purpose," said the guide, “a purpose which has infinity in which to accomplish itself. Life always was, life always will be. But life is one long evolutionary climb with peaks to be scaled and other peaks discovered when you have scaled them, and so on, throughout eternity. As you scale each peak, so you rise higher in the scale of your own spiritual values.

　"Man improves, and gradually the divinity within him unfolds and finds fuller and richer expression. The dross of earth is purged away and the pure gold of the spirit begins to emerge. All this is not necessarily a painless process. But this is part of one universal scheme, a scheme in which contrasts enable you to see the truth.

　"Without pain you would not appreciate health, without the struggle you would not appreciate the accomplishment, without the shadow you would not appreciate the sunshine. All play their parts in one vast panorama of creation in which all move in rhythm and concert as part of the majestic scheme.

　"Man is not an aimless piece of cork tossed on an ocean of eternity; he is an integral part of eternal creation. His own efforts, his own actions, his own life, add something to the splendour of these eternal processes as he helps to establish, to mould, and even to direct them. He is part of the divine breath, part of the infinite spirit, part of the eternal cosmos which works through him and he adds his lustre to the splendour of the whole scheme."

　The husband said: "We can see, perhaps, the effect ourselves of these gradual processes, and we can measure the effect on ourselves of pleasure and pain and see that pain has a salutary effect. But it is difficult to see why there are so many parts of life that seem to go only through tortuous processes and do not themselves seem to have any benefits conferred upon them."

　"You mean human lives?" asked the guide.

　"Some human lives,” was the answer, “but particularly animal life, such as bird life and insect life. That seems to have nothing to reward it. It is difficult to see the scheme of things unless one can look at it entirely from one's own point of view.

　"Will you forgive me," asked Silver Birch, "if I say you are looking through a glass very darkly and that you are attempting, albeit honestly, to judge the whole of eternity through a very finite lens? You cannot weigh or judge with the scales of eter-nity, for yours is but a very small span, a speck in the vast tremendous universe. But we offer you a little more knowledge.

　"We cannot claim to give you all knowledge; we do not possess it. We have a little more than you have, only because we have lived a little longer than you have, and because we have seen some of the processes and operations of the natural law in the sphere to which you are going and which is our natural habitat.

　"Because of what we have seen and what we are taught by those who are far wiser than we are, we gain a clearer glimpse of the plan and purpose of universal life. And so we see this perfect law in operation, the natural law, the law that is unfailing, the law that never errs, the law that has taken cognisance of every aspect of universal being, majestic or microscopic, the law which neglects none, the law which is all-embracing, the law which is responsible for every activity.

　"We marvel at the perfection of that law and we know that it cannot err. And because of those aspects which have been revealed to us, we see a perfect plan conceived obviously by love, wisdom and beneficence, we assume, as we have every right to assume, that those parts which we do not understand or have not seen, are subject to the same inexorable law.

　"That law being perfect in its conception and its operation has made allowances for all apparent injustices, for it provides compensation and retribution. In other spheres of being there is redress for wrong, there is punishment, self-earned, for mistakes and deliberate action, and there is for all justice based upon what they have done with their own lives.

　"That is the best that I can say. I know of no soul in my life who, after years of experience, can honestly say, 'The law has dealt with me unfairly and unjustly.' All admit that eternal justice is comprehensive and perfect in its scope and its applica-tion."

　Then the husband asked: “Is there such a thing as time, and is there such a thing as a spirit form suffering through an event not taking place, say a circle not being held for a long time?"

　The reply was: “Once you get beyond the astral belt, which is that part of spirit life contiguous to the earth, there is no time as you understand it.

　"Our spheres are not in any way dependent upon the rotation of the earth. There is no day and night, there is no succession of seasons, there is no time in the sense that you understand it in your world.

　"There is no rising, no apparent rising, and setting of a sun. That answers the first question. The second question I do not follow; you will have to make it clearer."

　So the wife put it this way: "Is our little girl disappointed when we do not hold our circle regularly?"

　"I have to answer 'yes, but I have to point out that I have some experience of your world and understand your difficulties,' said the guide. "It helps those who love you if you set aside any portion of your time for the sole purpose of reaching them, and, even as I have so often said, if nothing seems to happen in the physical sense, yet something is happening all the time in the spiritual sense.

　"It is worth while, for example, for you two, without using the table or anything else, just to sit together for a few minutes, without saying any words if needs be, although sometimes that helps, too. But it is sufficient if you sit there in the silence of your own beings, passive, attuned, in harmony.

　"That silence is filled with the power of the spirit; that silence is the sign that you have called a halt to the turbulence of your own material affairs, that you have devoted that short time to the cultivation of the fruits of the sp and to the recognition of a spiritual presence in your own home.

　"Your world does not understand sufficient about the value of silence. I often say that your inactivity is our activity and that we can get closest to you when you are still, quiescent, passive. You would be surprised if you saw your little girl now. She is growing up. She is not the little girl you knew.

　"We think of her as growing up," said the mother, who has had abundant testimony through other mediums of her daugh-ter's nearness.

　"Of course she loves you very much and that is all that matters," said Silver Birch.

　When the husband and wife tried to thank the guide, he said: "Do not accept anything I say because I say it. I may be wrong. Only accept that which seems to you to be reasonable and true. That is all that I ever ask, and together we can explore the uni-verse, you helping us and we trying to help you. We can learn a lot from one another, for none of us is infallible or omnipotent. We are all human beings; we are still pilgrims on an eternal road.

　"I am your friend who will always try to help you whenever I can, and if at any time you think I can be of service, then call on me and I shall do what I can. I strive to help all those who are filled with the love of their fellow men and who see in their earthly lives a means of rendering service to those less fortunate than themselves.

　"Meanwhile, let us all remember that we are instruments of a great and mighty purpose. Let us strive by our lives to become vessels of the greatest power of the spirit that can be poured through us, that power which can teach so many how to re-generate themselves, how to discipline their own activities, how to unfold their own gifts, how to develop the Great Spirit within them.

　"Always we strike the keynote of service, for you are placed in a world of matter to give service wherever you can and, as you serve, so others serve you and the chain of ministration is held by the links that you forge with your daily life.

　"Remember that there is a power which strives always to express itself through you, the power which is part of creation, the power which ordered the course of the earth, the power which ordained all seasons, the power which charted the progress of the planets, the power which covers the ebb and flow of the oceans, the power which regulates the unceasing activity of universal life.

　"That power is draped around you with its mantle of pro-tecting love."

　When, at another seance, this question was put to Silver Birch:

　"Is the development of psychic faculties the next step in man's evolutionary progress?” the guide replied:

　"Without question, those who are termed psychic, or mediumistic, are the precursors of evolution. They are the advance guard of the next rung in the ladder of evolution. In time to come, psychic faculties will be part of the normal equipment of human beings. Your world is going through a stage of mental unfoldment, and that is why the unfolding psychic faculty will follow in its trail.”

　A visitor, an American, asked the guide what he meant by the words "psychic faculties.” He answered:

　"The ability to receive impressions, vibrations, which are beyond those normally received through the channels of your five perceptions of sense. You must appreciate that man is not an animal confined to five avenues for his sole contacts with the universe. These five windows allow him to know only a small part of universal activity. They limit him to that which can be registered in terms of matter.

　"Man is more than matter, man is mind and spirit, and there are vibrations that belong to the mental and spiritual life. In addition, there are vibrations which belong to the superphysical life, the life that is beyond the earthly world. Man can register the vibrations of this life in which he lives, and the vibrations of that larger life which one day will be his eternal habitat.”

　"Is it possible for you to locate any particular individual in your world?” was the next question.

　"It can be done by those who are skilled in the performance of these tasks," was the spirit reply. “You must appreciate that the individuals in our world fall into two categories, those who desire to return and those who do not desire to return. Amongst those who desire to return, it is quite easy to establish contact with your world, provided there is a suitable instrument. Those who do not desire to return can be easily located, but there is nothing that we can do to compel them to return."

　Replying to another question, Silver Birch said: "What you must realise is this. There are many intelligences in our world who feel very naturally the attraction of love, affection, friend-ship and sympathy.

　"Wherever there is this bond of the mind or spirit, it is based upon reality, because mental and spiritual forces are stronger than earthly ones. An artist in your world whose whole heart goes out to another artist, perhaps a greater one, who has already passed through the door of death, attracts him, and the artist in my world returns to become an influence because of this bond of attraction.

　"What you must appreciate, also, is that whatever qualities of the mind or spirit you possess whilst you are on earth, when you die, as the world calls it, and slough off the physical body, you begin to develop those qualities and become far greater than ever you were on earth. The clamping, restrictive influence of the body has been removed. Where you can find an instru-ment, a medium, a channel, you do so so that you can share your extended gifts.

　"Sometimes this is an unconscious influence. Artists in your world realise that they are the subject of inspiration which is non-physical, but they do not realise that it comes from the world of spirit. In other cases, there is awareness that it is direct inspiration from someone who is regarded as dead.

　"In the same way as I, who have learnt just a little more about the laws of life, about spiritual realities, return to share this know-ledge with those who are receptive, so greater souls than I desire to do so, because greatness consists in the desire to be of service. You are great, not for what you receive, but for what you give.

　"Try to understand that you are all instruments, or could be, of higher beings who strive to use you for the greatest possible good. If you will but say to yourself, 'Whatever gift or talent I have, I place it at the disposal of mankind, to be used to help to alleviate distress, to uplift, to redress wrong, in short, to give service'—if that is your paramount outlook, then you have nothing to fear.

　"There is no circumstance that can cross your path and bring any harm to you. With a high purpose to guide you, with an inflexible determination not to turn aside, following, all the time, every precept that urges the greatest good to the greatest number, you cannot go wrong."

　The visitor, who was anxious to receive a spirit communica-tion from one individual, was given this advice by Silver Birch on how to sit with a trance medium:

　"Wherever you go with a dominant idea, that is an obstacle to communication. Your task at the earthly end of the line is to be receptive, not to bombard the atmosphere with dominant thoughts. The more you throw out the one idea that you want only this and nothing else, the more you have blocked the channel. It is a channel through which many can come, but they can only do so when it is open, and not when it is closed.

　"We can reach you when you are in a sympathetic and recep-tive frame of mind, when you open the door of your mind and soul and say, 'Now I am ready to receive. If you say, 'I am not ready to receive, I want only this one,' that is restricting the channel and making it difficult even for the one you want."

　"Why is it that mediums do not always receive surnames in giving clairvoyance?" was another question addressed to the guide.

　"Because, usually, they are more difficult to receive than the other kind," he answered. “It is all a question of the registration of vibration of sounds. Sounds with which they are already acquainted are easier to be transmitted and received. The more unusual and uncommon the name, the harder it is for it to be transmitted and to be received.

　"Then again, so much of that which comes from our world is received by mediums in pictorial or symbolic form, and often surnames are almost impossible to transmit in terms of pictures or symbols. But where you have instruments who can see very clearly or hear very clearly, they can succeed in registering surnames. It must be remembered that the acid test of medium-ship is not the ability to receive surnames, but the ability to give evidence of discarnate presence."

　"Do you think that churches, chapels and synagogues perform any useful purpose?” he was then asked.

　"That is not exactly an easy question,” Silver Birch replied.

　"Some of them do and some of them do not. Where those who are in church are amenable to the influence of the spirit, albeit, unconsciously, and they are vessels of inspiration, then they are able to be of great service because they are used to spread light, knowledge, wisdom, truth.

　"Where in these houses of worship there is no inspiration, where sole reliance is placed on ancient formularies, on dead rituals and decayed creeds, where nothing is said except that which conforms to the strict letter of theology, then no service, no real service, is being rendered. It is impossible to make generalisations, to indulge in sweeping condemnation or to give whole-hearted approval. Each must be examined on its merits, by virtue of the service it renders, or fails to render.”

　Finally, Silver Birch said to the American newcomer: "Accept the assurance that in a universe conceived by a divine beneficence those appointed to help you will not fail, if you are faithful to the highest that you know. That is all that is asked, to be true to yourself, to your convictions. Do not allow temporal ambitions to overcome the higher principles which should govern all human conduct. If you follow that course, then service can be rendered.

　"Your heart is good, your motive is sound, there is nothing for you to fear. With greater understanding, problems that per-plex you will lose their thorny character and knowledge will smooth away many wrinkles of difficulty."

　To the members of the circle the guide said: "I rejoice in all that has been accomplished, in the souls who have been touched by the power of the spirit, the light that has caused the shadows of ignorance to recede and the knowledge that has compelled prejudice to withdraw. The work we have done has comforted some souls, enabled them to feel that life after all is worth living. Their load is a little lighter, they do not feel lonely, neglected or uncared for.

　"They realise that love possesses infinite strength, the strength which death is powerless to touch. The ache which has dulled their hearts has gradually ceased, tears do not flow, an occasional smile lights up their faces and they feel that they are not left to battle all alone.

　"If all this knowledge were vouchsafed only to one, it would have been worth while, but it has been given to many. Let us rejoice, therefore, that opportunities have been given to us to serve, and let us pray that we may be given greater opportunities in the days that lie before us.

　"A tired, bruised, aching, bewildered mankind needs light, guidance, comfort and direction. Let us strive within our power to give whatever help we can, thus fulfilling the responsibility that knowledge has brought to us."

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