　　CHAPTER ELEVEN

　　　POWER OF THE SPIRIT

　Ｔwo visitors from New Zealand, a husband and a wife who has practised her mediumship for many years, were invited to the circle. They were great admirers of Silver Birch, having read his teachings for many years. With his unfailing courtesy, the guide greeted them by saying:

　"I am very happy to welcome into our midst the two friends who, I trust, will find the warmth of our welcome is such that they will not feel they are strangers and that they are truly at one with us in all that transpires tonight.

　"It is always a source of joy to me to welcome those who have the knowledge of spiritual realities, especially when those who possess this knowledge strive to transmit it to others. You are a very good example in your own lives of how the power of the spirit has been at work and how, through its guidance, you have been enabled to do much together. It is because of the power of the spirit that you have been brought together.

　"There is a task for you to perform in your own land. I do not say that it will be spectacular or that it will be accompanied by the blaze of great publicity. That does not matter. To us, who view your world through eyes different from those through which you see, the important thing is the spreading of know-ledge. We see a world in which too many have lost their way, in which too many have been deceived, misled and cheated, with the result that they are not able to derive from their lives the fullness and beauty which should be theirs. Thus they spend the whole of their earthly span chasing after shadows, and they wear around their hearts a heavy, dull load. Their minds are not open to receive truth; their eyes alas, have blinkers in front of them.

　"They do not know who they are, what they are, or where they are. They are victims of much false teaching, sometimes given deliberately, sometimes because those who should have been their teachers were blinder than the pupils. They are the victims of ignorance, bigotry, prejudice and superstition. Instead of being children walking in the light, bathed in the radiance of truth, with their hearts full of the joy of existence, with their minds receptive to new ideas, they are creatures who know not where to turn, or alas, in many cases, believe neither in a God nor in a hereafter.

　"This is the soil where we seek to labour. These are the children of the Great Spirit who must be shown the way, who must be taught the plan, the great plan, which is part of the in-finite purpose that was conceived and is directed by eternal love. What you can do in your own land is to help some of them. It matters not how many. It would be preferable if you could reach them all, but that you cannot do. If you can reach one, then rejoice; that is important.

　"In so far as your own powers develop and unfold and enable your gifts to be used in their service, so you are fulfilling the purpose of your being. The rest will follow; it must follow. There are many that do not understand that when the Nazarene said, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added unto you.’ he was indeed expressing a literal truth－not a parable, a literal truth. Those who seek the kingdom of heaven, have the ´other things' added to them; but those who follow all the time after earthly treasures will not find the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is not to be found among the jewels and gems and riches of the earth. The kingdom of heaven is within. It is that portion which the Great Spirit placed there, that portion of His own divinity, so that you are spirit of His spirit, and the bond which joins you is for ever indestructible.

　"These are the great simple truths, the truths which your world has forgotten, but which it will have to remember and prize and make them the principles on which to build their systems of life. All other methods bring chaos, disharmony, disruption and war in their train. The simple truths of the spirit can provide the foundation for enduring systems of co-operation, harmony and peace between all the children of the Great Spirit. That is the task, part of the task which you assigned to yourselves.

　"Your coming here tonight is no accident; it is a means that enables me as spokesman, if you like, to tell you what you should know instinctively, if it has not been already said to you. So face the future unafraid, do not worry, do not allow fear to come within your lives. Go forward and know that as you play your part, all that is necessary will be provided."

　On another occasion a medium from Australia was invited and to him the guide said: "You have seen me before and I have been present on several occasions when friends of mine have come to visit you. You have often succeeded in giving some evidence of my presence to these friends of mine. I am very happy to be one of the first from this world to welcome you to this country which in many ways has the leadership in all things appertaining to the spirit.

　"You will find, I am sure, that in this land where freedom is exalted, prized and loved, and where the power of the spirit has been made manifest in an extraordinary degree, that there has been a tremendous progress in the acceptance of this knowledge. This is not to be seen in its more organised aspects because no organisa on by virtue of the fact that it is an organisation can be fluid enough to contain the whole of the spirit. The power of the spirit cannot conform to any material restrictions and being vital, dynamic and energising in nature, it bursts the physical bonds and seeks the outlet which is most natural to it. The spirit bloweth where it listeth.

　"You will find throughout the whole of this land there are many people, far more than elsewhere, who have had the truths of the life beyond physical death proved to them and who have held communication with the ones who have preceded them into the next stage of activity. You will find too, I think, that this truth is accepted naturally even by a large number who have received no evidence for it; that they accept the fact that there is a world beyond the physical and that it is peopled by beings who no longer possess earthly bodies. It may be that they have had no desire to inquire because they have no attraction of love calling to love, or no sorrow has come into their lives suffi-ciently to quicken their interest and make knowledge a personal quest.

　"In this atmosphere, where there is less opposition than in your own land, because there the fight for religious freedom has not yet been truly won, you will find an acceptance of spiritual things by a large number of people. As a medium, once you have become completely acclimatised, you will find that your powers work even more easily than they do in your land across the seas. So, go happily on your way, knowing that you are in no sense wasting your time but that you are adding to the rich-ness of knowledge and experience which will stand you in very good stead. For so long your life has been directed by the power of the spirit, after an initial struggle, that you now feel com-petent to accept its guidance. You will make many friendships and will discover that so far as your own powers are con-cerned you will not regret having come here to exercise them."

　Addressing the Australian medium's sister, the guide said: "They also serve who do not work in the light of the public eye, and there are many here who are very grateful to you for your long, self-sacrificing and self-effacing labours. Your brother would not have got very far without you."

　When Silver Birch asked how he could help the Australian medium, he was told, "It has been of very great encouragement to me to be here."

　"It is not for me to use idle words," said the guide. "It is for me to tell you what I see. You have given your life in service. Although there have been difficulties, the way has always opened as it always does and as it always will, for those who give service to us must receive service in return. We cannot always control events that bring darkness, shadow and unhappiness into your lives; that is part of the lesson of earthly life. Your world is the place where you must have light and shadow, happiness and sorrow, joy and pain. These are part of the essential ingredients of which experience is born. But we can help you to display fortitude when things are difficult and rejoice with you when they are easy.

　The visitor told the guide, "Your work is loved in Australia."

　This was Silver Birch's answer: "If I have helped one soul to find the light, if I have helped one soul to remove a tear of sorrow, if I have helped one soul to feel that the ache is less, then I re-joice. It is not because of what I am, it is because of what we teachーthe eternal principles upon which all life is founded. It is very easy sometimes to appreciate these principles. It is easy to rejoice when the sun is shining. It is easy to have a song in the heart when all goes well. It is easy to be full of gratitude to the Great Spirit when you feel healthy and life presents no burdens. That is not difficult, but it is only part of the story. All life lived must be comparative to be understood."

　On another occasion there were present a woman medium, a non-professional who has developed the faculty of direct voice, her husband and daughter. Silver Birch greeted them by saying he was happy to welcome "those who may be regarded as strangers physically but who in reality are friends spiritually."

　"It is a privilege we never thought we would have," said the voice medium.

　To this the guide replied: "If you regard it as a privilege to be hereーwhy it should be I do not knowーthen I must equally regard it as a privilege to have present those who are imbued with the ideal of service and who strive to help their fellow-

creatures to the best of their abilities. I hope you will not be dis-appointed, because so much has been said about me that is exaggerated that you might obtain a picture that is divorced from reality. I am only as you are, a servant of the Great Spirit, except that I have lived for some time in the spheres which you have yet to inhabit and, having gleaned some truths as a result of this experience, I desire to share them with those who are ready to receive them and willing to accept them.

　"I would like to tell the three of you, father, mother and daughter, that I am sure you know how richly you are blessed by the love which sustains you and which guides your footsteps. You have rejoiced for many years because of the power which has led you away from the perplexity into the sureness of truth. Your hearts are full of gratitude because of the measure of under-standing that has been given to you throughout the years. As a result, you have striven, since you have unfolded your own powers, to spread that light so that souls still in darkness may receive the welcome of its illumination.

　"Do not underrate what has been achieved. To have attained the pinnacle which is yours is not an easy task seeing that you came to it when you did. Earnestness of desire, sincerity of purpose, coupled with the power of prayer, have combined to produce results that have been a great blessing to you. Rejoice, too, that this knowledge has come to you not in some strange building which men call the house of God because they have so designated it and think that as a result the Great Spirit must always be there. Rejoice that this knowledge has come to you in the sanctity of your own home, where the altar has been your own hearth and guidance has come from the ones you love. Rejoice because all the obstacles and foolish prejudices that men have made and created as a result of ignorance have been swept

away and that you are able to receive, from time to time, the knowledge, guidance and wisdom that emanate from higher spheres.

　"I wish that there were many, many more who were in a similar position. I wish that what takes place in your own home could be duplicated in thousands or even millions of other homes. so that the power of the spirit might confer its sweet, ennobling, uplifting influence and inspire others in turn with the ideal of service. Love has guided you for many years, not only the love of your own son who, because of the great tie of blood is close to you; love, too, has come from others related not by birth but by the desire to use you as instruments of a great purpose. I would like to pay my tribute to these who have become en-

deared to you, strangers at first, but who, by their continued manifestation and presence, have shown that their desire, like yours, is to spread truth far and wide. You are indeed richly blessed."

　Addressing the daughter, who is a nurse, the guide said: "You are fortunate in that you are able to follow a career that enables you to minister to those who suffer. There are, alas, not many who are able to follow the dictates of their hearts and to devote their time and energy to the pursuit of a profession which gives them inner content. And if you have not already been told so, and you should have been, I would like you to know that many from my side, who have a similar interest, have attached themselves to you. Many of the actions that you have per-formed spontaneously because you have felt that they are the

right thing to do are the resalts of direct promptings from our world. Are you aware of this?"

　"Yes I think I am, more so lately," was the answer.

　The guide continued: "There are over here those who, like you ministered to the sick when they were on earth. They say that they have found in you a suitable instrument to continue the task to which they dedicated their lives on earth, a dedication which continues from the world which they now inhabit."

　The voice medium's husband asked this question: "In your prayer you referred to the fact that God can be found within each one. When we pray, we are addressing Godーpresumably we are talking to our own inner spirit. There is nobody away up yonder who is listening and receiving our prayers except through ourselves."

　Silver Birch answered: "It is partially so, but like many truths it is paradoxical. There is someone listening, but as you know it is not the anthropomorphic God; there is no being endowed with personal attributes. There is a law, a natural law, which takes cognisance of every circumstance. The Great Spirit is within you, you are within the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit is you, you are the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit is composed of the totality of your consciousness in all its infinite manifestations. The Great Spirit is expressed in each one of these manifestations. The Great Spirit is omniscient and omnipotent. Thus you are for ever united with the Great Spirit, as I have often said, by a tie that is indissoluble.

　"If you live your lives rightly, if you allow that portion of divinity to have a greater expression, then obviously more of the Great Spirit is being made manifest. You plant a seed; before that seed can flower and display its rich profusion of beauty, it must have warmth, cold, air, sunshineーit must have the atten-tion which is necessary for its growth. The seed of the Great Spirit implanted within you must have all that is necessary for its growth. It grows with charity, honesty, idealism, altruism, selflessness, the desire to serveーthose are the conditions in which the seed will and blossom into maturity.

　"What is the object of prayer? Not to address requests that are already known to Omnipotence; not to acquaint the Grcat Spirit with facts already known, even before they are expressed; not to ask for mere petitions which you may not, when they are answered, deserve, for, after all, are you capable of deciding what is best for your own development? No! The object of true prayer is to obtain a closer unity with the Great Spirit and all the powers of that spirit, so that they may flood and suffuse your being in a far richer manner than ever they have done before.

　"True prayer is a spiritual exercise which compels intro-Spection, so that looking within you become conscious of your own weaknesses and imperfections, but also conscious of your innate strength. Thus, prayer draws you nearer to the source of all being and stimulates and inspires you to strive to reach higher stages of attainment."

　This led the questioner to ask, “Who then, hears your prayer apart from your own larger consciousness?"

　"Why those who love you," answered the guide, "those who are drawn to you by unity of purpose, those beings whom the Great Spirit has charged with the task of guarding and guiding you. They hear your prayer and, according to the sincerity of the requests, so they are answered. I hope that helps."

　"It helps a great deal," said the questioner. "Even when we are eating our food we feel thankful to the Great Spirit who has already provided it, but we do not ask him for it. The fact that we feel thankful will have an effect, presumably, on our physical health. The food will do us more good if we appreciate what has been given to us."

　"That is a very good point," said Silver Birch. "The mind in-fluences the body. The mind, correctly attuned to higher realities, eternal truths and greater understanding, will perform its tasks much more capably than a mind which is unregulated. So that whenever you consciously set your mind at work it cements the union of body and soul more closely. In that harmony you drive out, or help to drive out, sickness and disease, because in a large number of cases these have their origin in the mind or the spirit of the person. Do not forget the potency of the mind, for despite its invisibility it is far more real than the physical body. One day the physical body having served its pupose will disintegrate; it will change its constituent form. The mind will not disintegrate: it will continue to function throughout all eternity. The body is your temporary possession: the mind is yours throughout all eternity.

　"The Great Spirit is no respecter of earthly institutions and the divine truths are propagated wherever the appropriate soil can be found. The attempt to surround all this with mystery is not helpful. Truth need have no mysteries. Truth is not a series of shrouds that have to be unwound; truth is not a mummy that has to be unwrapped. Truth is infinite and the evolving aspirant will appreciate more and more as he or she is ready for it."

　To another visitor who came to the circle Silver Birch said: "You have sought through varying paths to find the knowledge which will help you best. You have not, by any means, come to the end of the road, and what you have achieved is but infinite-simal compared with what remains to be achieved. Truth, like the Great Spirit, is infinite and finite minds, by virtue of their being finite, could not contain the whole of infinite truth. Neither could its dazzling glory be absorbed through eyes limited in the range of their vision.

　"There are, here and there, a few facets of the great jewel of truth made available to all who seek it. In different lands and through different nationalities, at different ages and in different conditions, these facets have been presented in accordance with the environment and evolution of the day in which they were received. Each has been changed to some extent by the men-tality and spiritual growth of the one who acted as its messenger.

　"No aspect of divine truth was received in all its pristine clarity, for it could not be so. The mere attempt to register it on earth perforce means some adulteration, some whittling down of the infinite. That is not to disparage any of the teachers of yesterday and today, but only to place them in their proper setting. Now once again the flood-gates of heaven are open and there bursts through many channels a stream of divine truth. Once again it is adapted by sheer force of circumstance to the needs and con-ditions and temperament of those who are to receive it.

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