Spiritualism III. What Saith the Spirit?
Spiritualism III. What Saith the Spirit? is an article written by E. J. D. published in The Freethinker on 15 february 1920.
Spiritualism III.
What Saith the Spirit?
In my preceding articles I put before the readers of the Freethinker some specimens of the weighty evidence in favour o f what Sir A . C. Doyle calls "the vast new revelation which has been so clearly stated and so abundantly proved." (Vital Message, p. 17.) This week we will take a brief survey of some of the information which the spirits have vouchsafed to us concerning the land beyond the grave, and try and get some sort of an idea as to the fate which awaits us on the other side. To be quite frank, the task at first seems a hopeless one. The material is so copious, the inconsistencies so flagrant, that any success in attaining even a tolerably clear conception seems quite out of the question. For the serious inquirer the best course is to work through the early scripts first, noting down the main points as they occur, and then pass on to the more modern matter, which will be found to a large extent similar in content to the older scripts, but brought up-to-date, as it were, in order to fit in to modern events. After having read a dozen or so of these books, it will probably be borne in upon the student that the writings reflect the mind of the scribe up to a certain point, the philosophical and mystical material emanating from more or less educated people, and the more extravagant descriptions coming through the hands of persons of little intelligence or education.
The world beyond the grave is usually called by Spiritualists, Summerland, which is the name given to that sphere where human beings dwell who have not been immediately sent off to hell the moment they pass out of the physical body. I say hell, for it must not be imagined that the new revelation lacks some convenient locality into which may be cast those persons who are deemed particularly objectionable to Spiritualists. Thus we are told that Dante's great work "is a real revelation seen in trance state," moulded and slightly coloured, but true as far as it goes in giving us a picture of punishment beyond the veil (Gone West (Lond. 1917), p. 104). The spirits in hell are black, it appears, and as we are informed that "blacks go direct to hell and are met with rejoicing," it is not certain whether hell's inhabitants are black in skin or in soul or in both, the script in question not supplying us with this knowledge. (The Great Beyond and its inhabitants (Lond., 1919), pp. 46 seq.)
As to Summerland itself the first question which naturally presents itself is as to its location in space. Most wise Spiritualists keep a discreet silence as to this thorny question, but others claim exact know ledge as to its whereabouts. Thus Mr. A . J. Davis, who is sometimes considered the greatest seer of modern days, discusses learnedly as to the spiritual aspect of our star-lit universe. He mentions the Milky Way and then declares that Summerland lies "directly across this great physical belt of stars." (Two Worlds, Dec. 29, 1916, vol. 29, nr. 1520, p. 511). Other observers, however, differ as to the precise position o f the spirit world. Some say that it is "the sphere next above the earth plane," whereas another script, which Sir A . C. Doyle thinks will make a great sensation when it is published, rather leads us to suppose that Summerland is the sixth sphere. In the theosophical scheme, Summerland is supposed, according to a great authority, Mr. C. W. Leadbeater, to occupy the first, second, and third subdivisions of the astral plane, a spirit world which is comparatively near, and to a certain extent interpenetrates the earth plane. Raymond, however, through Mrs. Leonard's control, during a sitting on Feb. 4, 1916, apparently does not remember being on the astral himself, but thinks that Summerland, or Homeland, as some call it, is about the third sphere, which might well correspond with Mr. Leadbeater's third subdivision of the astral plane. At any rate it is supposed to be sufficiently near the physical world for those upon it to be able to visit earth-dwellers with comparative case, and rather puts out of court the theory of the world's greatest seer that this region is on the other side of the Milky Way.
The question of time in spiritual spheres has always been a difficult one, but it is surmounted by Spiritualists by saying that it varies in the different planes. Thus in Letters from a living dead man the view is expressed that time exists in the spirit world, whereas in a book by H. A. and F. H. Curtiss, entitled Realms of the Living Dead (Philadelphia, 1917, p. 153), we are told that in a sphere bordering on Summerland there is no division of time.
God lives in the seventh heaven, the spirits tell us, where the Holy Ghost is also busy "preparing thrones," and where the inhabitants "are robed in white, with halos, and are known by their facial expression." Sometimes the Deity descends to earth as on the occasion of the appearance of the Angels of Mons, which we are told were led by God Himself, mounted on the back of the Holy Ghost, who had conveniently transformed himself into a white charger for that momentous occasion! (The Great Beyond, etc.)
A great deal of difficulty seems to be found in deciding whether the scenery of Summerland, its towns, colleges, model farms, rivers, etc., are "real" or are merely the creations of thought. In one book I read that such conditions are the results of thought (Speaking across the Border Line), but Hudson Tuttle declares that it is "more real than is earth" (Arcana of Spiritualism, Lond., 1876, p. 389), and similarly Raymond declares that "people who think everything is created by thought are wrong," and ventures the theory that certain gaseous matter which arises from the earth plane solidifies in spirit land. A simple example of the supposed power of thought can be seen if we consider the question of clothes. Just after death, when the spirit is clear from the physical shell, it is naked, but "when the thought of nakedness crosses the spirit there comes the clothing which you need" (Letters from Julia). What exactly the spirit does need we do not know, but in one work we learn that "in the spirit world the dress symbolizes the state of advancement of the spirit" (A Wanderer in Spirit-Lands), an observation which I confess I find it difficult to follow. That the garments are quite becoming can be seen from a description recently published of a young spirit called Vi, who wears an apple-coloured dress, draped up at the right thigh and caught with a golden ornament with dangling beads. "I've got a prettier dress than Janet," declares this young spirit, and continues, "I wish you could see my smart gown. It's chic." (I Heard a Voice. By a King's Counsel. Lond., 1918, p. 115.)
From dress let us pass to food. The spirits apparently do not actually require food as a necessity of life, but can have it if they wish to do so. Raymond, my readers will remember, did not want to eat, but saw some people who did, and food was provided for them accordingly. Thus we are told in Life Beyond the Grave that the spirit "requires no food," and similarly in the script published in King's Counsel's I Heard a Voice, we read that "those who desire it can eat and drink, but they have not the same need for refreshment as in the earth-life." Sir A. C. Doyle, in his book The New Revelation also says, with reference to the after-life that preoccupations of food, money, lust, pain, etc., are of the body and are gone, whereas Mr. Wales, who says that his scripts coincide with Sir A . C. Doyle's material "almost to the smallest detail," says that the spirits "wear clothes and take nourishment."
Prohibition is, therefore, not legally enforced in Summerland, and those who desire the satisfaction of strong drink may indulge such propensities at leisure. Why Christians consider that wine cannot be procured in heaven is a puzzle to Spiritualists, and it has been left to their champion, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to clinch the matter by pointing out how Jesus himself said that he would drink new wine in the Kingdom of Heaven. (Vital Message, p. 129.)
Beer, or something very much like it, can also be obtained in the Spiritualistic Summerland, if we can trust one script, a portion of which has recently appeared in the Weekly Dispatch, and the use of tobacco is not absolutely forbidden, the leaf being manufactured upon the second spirit plane. Life in Summerland appears to be very varied, every earthly thing having its equivalent. "Love of country does not fade at death," the spirits tell us, "nor is the spirit of Patriotism replaced by
Internationalism." This is exemplified in the case of Queen Boadicea, who took a prominent part in the European War, for, as a very high spirit expresses it, "not all the long and peaceful years in Paradise have dimmed the fires of patriotism burning in her soul" (So Saith the Spirit, p. 21). Domestic difficulties are easily solved in spirit land, for although as Sir A. C. Doyle puts it "there are no poor and no rich," yet household duties have to be performed, so these are allotted to a race of "nature spirits," who, we are informed, attend to the conservatories and dogs, whilst for amusement they sometimes accompany airmen on their flight! (So Saith the Spirit, pp. 15 seq). The government of Summerland appears to be autocratic, and divided up into various provinces ruled by different governors. Far from undermining the principles of religion, one prominent writer assures us that Spiritualism "firmly supports the essential doctrines of religion, and in particular those of the Christian faith." Unfortunately for the harassed inquirer, a serious difficulty arises at this point. For if he has been a careful and industrious student he will remember that in 1892 was published a book entitled Antiquity Unveiled. This work comprises a long series of spirit communications purporting to come from the great characters of the past, especially persons of ecclesiastical leanings such as Ulphilas, St. Chrysostom, etc. The aim of the scripts is to prove that Christianity is of heathen origin, and that Jesus of Nazareth never existed. The spirit operators show how the Christian religion was created by man, that Christ was a mythical character who never lived upon the earth at all, and that the book of Daniel relates solely to Zarathustra of the Persians. We have here, then, two definite statements, both made in accordance with "spirit" teaching, and both flatly contradicting one another, a state of affairs which runs through spiritualistic literature from one end to the other. Nor need we be surprised. The ideal world for which man yearns necessarily varies with each individual temperament, and thus, assuming that the scripts are the result of the workings of the medium's own unconscious faculties, the pictures presented would naturally differ just so far as each medium was capable of reproducing them. In the East the spirits tell us of an after-life framed according to their own national and racial conceptions, just as here the world beyond the grave is but an idealized reproduction of Western civilization, the more apparent crudities being softened down to meet the popular taste. As to the credibility of the new revelation that I will leave to the judgment of my readers, merely adding that next week, if space permits, I propose returning to the physical phenomena, and shall deal with the difficult questions associated with the mediumship of Eva C., Stanislawa P., and Linda Gazerra.
E. J. D.
