　　　　　　Chapter Two

THE RESULT OF HIS MISSION

The printed word has great potency. The speech is forgotten, the picture that flickers on your little screen is very ephemeral and the words that come with it do not make an indelible impression. But the printed word endures. It is there for reference. It can be seen and its implications considered again and again. It can be passed round from one to another, across oceans to reach perhaps those living alone in isolation. These teachings which I express because I am fortunate enough to have access to this wisdom, become, through the medium of the stenographer, the printed word. Thus here and there a soul is touched, the seed does bear fruit.

SILVER BIRCH

　There, in Silver Birch's own words, is the answer to why he chose the mission of teacher and picked Barbanell as his medium. He was addressing a fellow-craftsman, who uses his penーor rather, typewriterーto spread spiritual truths. Brother John, Psychic News' well-loved and prolific columnist, was paying his first visit to the Hannen Swaffer home circle.

　For twenty years, without missing an issue, John has accomplished the phenomenal feat of a regular weekly article for Psychic News, propounding his sound ideas, always having something fresh to say.

　His contributions number over a thousand. As an added labour of love he personally answers his huge postbag. During 1967 he received, and replied to, over 1,400 letters asking for help and advice and commenting on his column.

　In his own gentle, modest way, like Silver Birch he never wearies of disseminating the proven fact of personal survival after death and its far-reaching implications. His medium is also the printed word.

　Two previous editors of Silver Birch books have said that cold print cannot do justice to the guide's warm humanity and the love that emanates from him. Of course they are right. Those who share the privilege of meeting Silver Birch have indeed experienced a unique and moving two-worlds relationship.

　Though my personal meetings with Silver Birch have been infrequent, I disagree that his personal manifestation is the most important facet of his character and the main purpose of his chosen task. Impressive at source, when I read the transcripts of the sittings I attended, the written word had a two-fold impact.

　Researching for this book, I was amazed at the potency of his message, the alchemy with which he constructs every telling phrase and sentenceーwith no thought or preparation. I have read all the Silver Birch books. One of my tasks is proof-reading his monthly Two Worlds contribution.

　Yet when I came to edit extracts for this latest book, I had no sense of repetition or boredom. Though it is "the same old guide with the same old message," re-reading his counsel, the innate truth and simplicity are fresh and ever-green. You cannot question its durability.

　Swaffer, after fifteen years, was able to write, "I have listened for an hour or more at a time to his teachings, his guidance and his counsel and learned to love and respect him more than I love and respect any earthly being."

　Through the wonderful electronic device of tape-recordings, it is now possible for his followers in many lands to listen to his voice. But surely the written transcrip-tions of his consistently compassionate communications are the very essence of his self-appointed task.

　The true value of his philosophy is measured by its world-wide influence on people who can never hope to meet him in personーon this plane.

　As he says, he had to find a mouthpiece who could convey the fundamental spirit truths to as many people as possible. It explains his choice of Barbanell, who, as editor of two Spiritualist publications, has the means at his disposal of circulating Silver Birch's teachings far and wide.

　　　★ ★ ★

　"My Silver Birch sitting was the most wonderful ex-perience for many a day," wrote Brother John. "What he said to me brought tears to my eyes. I felt a great sense of attunement with him which affected me emotionally... It was an unforgettable evening."

　Here are extracts from that sitting.

(I am very glad to have you here, son. I have to warn you that a very exaggerated picture is painted of me, and I do not possess all this great wisdom that seems to be attributed to me. I am only a human being like yourself, subject to weakness and imperfections and mistakes. But I have a little knowledge about spiritual things, and I will share them with any who will accept them.

　They are not mine, I am only the mouthpiece. I was asked to perform this service and I will continue until the time comes for me to withdraw because the task is accomplished. That is not yet, there is still some time to go. Much has been accomplished and there is still more to be done.

　The power of the spirit can sometimes perform wonders when the conditions are right, when there is no fear, when there is faith founded on knowledge, confidence born of experience.

　Son, you are where you are because of the power of the spirit. I do not have to tell you that. But do not underrate your own contribution or your own service. You cannot measure the help that you render to others. You are touch-ing souls, and this is among the most important work that can be done in your world.

　The purpose of earthly incarnation is for the soul to find itself, for the divine spark to be ignited, to kindle it until it becomes a lambent flame. Alas, it does not always happen. Too many individuals live in the darkness of superstition and ignorance, and in a morass of doubts and fears and per-plexities all the time. So if you can help one soul to find itself, you have justified your existence. Only one! That is enough. And you have done that for many.
　How privileged we are to be in any degree the am-bassadors of the divine. This is something the churches cannot be. They mouth ancient formulas which in their hearts they do not themselves believe any more. They repeat the stereotyped phrases and the worn-out ritual and ceremony that have long lost their meaning.
　These churches, cathedrals and temples are sterile, barren and dead because the power of the spirit cannot function within them. It is the spirit which giveth life, and they deny the spirit, the Holy Ghost, time and time again.

And so this divine power has to use those who wear no strange vestments, who stand in no pulpit, but who merely offer ourselves as channels for divine power to stream through us so that we can serve, and show that no one is neglected or overlooked in the divine plan.

　When life was drear and dark, and you did not know where to turn, when it seemed as if a blank wall of despair had come to stay, the way was shown. I need not say more than that. Love, affection, friendship, sympathy, compas-sion, pity, tolerance, these are the undying qualities. Love cannot die. Death has no power over life or love, and the other qualities I mention are in truth aspects of love. I am not speaking in riddles.

　[Silver Birch mentioned the spirit presence of Fred Jones, a great healer, and his guide, with whom Brother John once worked.]

　What a band is here to greet you! They helped to show you the way, they are still showing you the way. The healer is a great soul. The time came when his spirit was too big for his physical body, but he made his mark. He did his work to blaze the trail, and his pioneering efforts were not in vain.

　Whereas in his earthly day there were but a handful to heal the sick, now their number is legion, and very necessary they are, too, in your ill world where there is sickness of body, mind and soul everywhere. Alas, the disease of materialism is very contagious, it is an infection which spreads and spreads. But just as light will drive out darkness, so healing will drive out disease by showing the individual how to live aright.

　It is not doses of medicine, drugs and poisons that will promote health. It is not pouring filth into human bodies that will make them well; this is a form of medical lunacy. When you live aright, when your thinking is right, when the spirit, mind and body are harmonious, you will be healthy. The stresses and strains of your earthly life, its tensions created by selfishness, wrong thinking, greedーthese are the poisons that choke the whole physical existence.

If I can urge you to go on, then it will have been worth your while coming. It is not easy, I know, but he who desires the prizes of the spirit cannot have the easiest of paths to follow.

The Great Spirit is perfect, the natural laws are perfect, they cannot and will not fail. But within the frame-work there is an element of free will in which man has the chance to make his contribution. He cannot destroy the whole world, he can create much havoc in it, but there are limits to what he can do.
　The divine plan cannot go wrong. If it did, or could, then the Great Spirit would cease to be great. Perfection cannot err. If it could then it would not be perfection. The divine ordinances of natural laws have always been in existence, they have never failed. Has the earth ceased to rotate on its axis? Have the tides ever failed to flow? Has not night always followed day? Does not the fruit grow according to the seed that is planted?
　No, life must pursue its divinely appointed path and plan but man in his foolishness, ignorance and selfishness can sow weeds. He can choke parts of the garden. He must learn to live aright, that is man's contribution. He has within him the tremendous divine poten-tial, but he has to learn to exercise it.

　Brother John commented, after the circle, on how im-pressed he was with its simplicity and humility: "The simplicity with which the two worlds had become as one. The simplicity with which a great soul had taken over the body and mind of another, to expound simple but profound truths.

　"And humility? There are many passages in Silver Birch's words which, to me, express this great quality. But even more salutary were three separate occasions during his con-versation with me, when I spontaneously thanked him. Each time the guide, quietly and so gently, uttered those words with which he ended, 'Do not thank me, I never accept thanks.' Humility? I think so."

　　　　　★ ★ ★

　The manipulation of all this material, the placing of the right people in the right place at the right time, was quite a feat which required intricate, complicated systems of co-operation. Now, not my teaching, it is the teaching of the Great Spirit, reaches many. With others we are able to pour some light and power into your troubled world. When you come to me after all these years and tell me that something that was written in a book or a journal was of help, I feel all our labours have not been in vain.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　SILVER BIRCH

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