A Message from the First Unity Sphere

A mother to her daughter on earth—

Beloved—

I am going to try and let you see what my life is like here and now, that you may be able to hold communion with me, as I can with you, and may understand better what your destiny is. For time is short, and the longest life on earth or in Hades will seem but as a dream when you look back.

I am not merely your mother physically; no, there was entrusted to me, as to all mothers, though I was unconscious of it, a power, an influence, a stream of tendencies to hand on to you which should shape your whole being and your life. Had I been more faithful to the highest that I knew of, it would have been happier for me and easier for you. But it is not of that earthly life that I would speak now, nor must I dwell on my second life—it was quietly, tranquilly happy, but I did not develop through suffering and conflict some sides of my nature which are now feeble.

But to pass at once to my entrance here.

There came to me just before I left that former state a sudden call, a summons to gather all my powers and see in what I was deficient. It was a voice within me that seemed to say—“Art thou ready to depart?” I looked round and examined myself to see how it was with me. The calm peace that had filled my soul for so long was broken up, and I was troubled as I looked in vain for many virtues which I thought I had truly possessed for a long time.

No one accused me; I was my own judge and my own examiner. I found that love was too narrow, pity too self-centred, truth but partial. Then the inner voice said, “Go forward; the weak shall be strengthened and the evil cut away and cast into outer darkness; go forward into the light of a new day.”

My soul then seemed to expand, to rise; or rather my spirit to break through my soul body like a conscious birth, and then instead of light I found myself in utter darkness—darkness such as I had never known before. This darkness seemed to be empty (if I may so express it), there was no sound, nothing, no being. I tried to speak but could not; to reach out after something, no matter what; all was empty space. But this was only for a moment. I had been trying to hear and see with the old psychic powers which I no longer possessed, and my newborn (not new created) spirit had not learned to use its new ones.

Then what a glorious change; light, life, music, beauty everywhere, a constant overflowing stream. I had been seeking outside what was within me; it was in my own breast that this new universe was lying, not away and apart from me.

You may think from what I say about looking within that we have no bodies here, but are pure spirit. That is not so; we have spirit bodies which are as much superior to our psychic bodies as they were to the physical. I cannot describe them to you at all clearly, but they are a real manifestation, a part of our being, and not mere clothing. We used to speak on earth of the three kingdoms of nature, and if you can, imagine our forms as embodying the strength and durability of the mineral, the beauty of the petals of a rose, and the conscious life of the animal, all combined. Or if you could unite the lily and the rainbow with the soul looking forth as from the eye of a man, you may get some idea.

Then next I would say that our life is not a mingling of joy and grief, of work and rest, as the last was. I have known no sorrow, no weariness, no inactivity of spirit since I have been here, nor have I been conscious of any such state of feeling in those around me.

When we were in the psychic world we were conscious of being separated both from your world and from this; seeing only in vision or broken fragments; now the universe is always open and undivided to us. We see all. (Not, of course, material things). By all I mean, that the soul-life back to its manifestation in earthly bodies and forward to the “ now” in which we live is open to us.

My children, for instance, are here with me from their birth to the moment in which you read this; they are fully revealed and ever living before me. Your past and your present are all one, so that I know no difference between your childhood and your youth, for the life is seen by us as a perfect circle, and who shall say where it begins or ends. The only difference is where the pure gold of the circle is sometimes bright and sometimes dull and tarnished with the clouds of passing failure or sin.

In the other life we first willed and then acted; we desired and then accomplished; the inner preceded the outer. Here there are not two but one—we seem neither to think nor act—we are. I do not wish and then perform—I am; there is no need to desire anything and then to obtain it; it is all within me and I have only to breathe it out; I have only just to be and all things are included.

I do not know if this will be at all clear to you, or seem only words without meaning. Perhaps if you will try to imagine me as more like in nature what you believe God to be, then you will get an impression which is as close to the reality as is possible.

I believe, beloved, that in this sphere no sadness, no unsatisfied desire is possible, but I also believe that there will come a time when we shall pass on, or when life will be different, and conflict may begin again in new forms.

One thing which I lacked when I passed over was love for others who were not near to me on earth. So I still am somewhat shut in with regard to many here, but I live in the life of my dear ones, making myself one with them, and seeking ever to draw their spirits towards the great fount of life, towards their Father and my Father.

We have but little sense of time here, nor do we realise the difference between far and near; there are no stops to our life in any way, but a great sense of infinite power, joy and blessedness which we are, rather than which we experience.

I have said that I did not have the outgoing love to others not connected with my earthly life that I should have had. For this reason my union with those here is not complete, and they seem outside of myself, apart, rather than within. This restriction will last while I am in this sphere.

I would gladly tell you, if I could, how it is with my relationship with God and Christ. I know you have had some deep teaching from your friends as to the being of God, but I must speak as my own experience has taught me. In the psychic world Christ was to me a teacher, a friend, a God, all united, and from Him my life and happiness seemed to spring. Here I see Him as still in the psychic world, with a body such as we all had there, and yet I am conscious that He is also here, and that from Him there goes out to me a constant stream of life, without which I feel I could not exist. I know that He is truly Man, only much further on in the great stream of existence than I; but yet he is to me as I have said, all that I need to raise me from that lowness of nature which is death to the highest life. It may be that God is to Christ what Christ is to me; I do not know.

There is but little more that it would be possible for me to explain to you. We see all soul-forms, and that continuously—there is no darkness or emptiness.

We hear all soul-thoughts united in one grand harmony.

We know all soul-realities without forgetfulness and without mistake. Do not then imagine that I could ever be separated from you; your true being lies open before me, as mine will do to you when you have passed into this sphere.

Finally, beloved, remember that though your mother in some ways, I am your child, your sister in others—all relationships are included in one, so that you are mine and I am yours forever.

I cannot sign this, for my new name is unspeakable.

— I AWOKE! Conditions of Life on the other Side, Author Unknown, David Stott, London, 1895

Unity in Spirit

“There is one God,

I and my Father are one.”

Hail to thee, my brother!

Friend of heart and soul—

Father, sister, mother,

Part and yet the whole.

In the past I knew thee,

When thou wast a flower

On my stem I bore thee,

Blossom of an hour.

In the “Now” behold me

Hidden in thy breast;

In the life around thee,

Both as host and guest.

I and thou transfigured,

Thou and I become;

Unity prefigured,

For we two are one.

We have already explained why the unity spheres are so-called. The unity consists in the reconcilement of man with himself and in the first unfoldings of the true oneness of his nature.

Man in his earthly stage is often if not always conscious of warring elements in himself, of opposing forces which are sometimes so evenly balanced that he cannot control one by the other but is torn by the conflicting powers. Paul has stated this experience so fully and clearly that his words must always be the textbook on this subject. It is not the power of thinking of ourselves as of a separate entity that now passes away but it is the discord that is merged in harmony and the sense of impotency that vanishes, being replaced by the strength that comes from this true unity. The consciousness that we cannot do the good we wish, nor refrain from the weakness that we despise—this it is that saddens our earthly life and makes us at times think we are only mortal and human, instead of immortal and divine. All such discords pass away in the unity spheres—the spirit was being prepared for it in the Hades state, for there it found the “will ” could do much, now it can do all things. “United to me ye can do all things, severed from me ye can do nothing.” Be at one with true manhood and all things are possible but severed from the true and living vine ye can do nothing.

It is true that the man, though at peace with himself, is not yet perfect—there are still many traits to be developed and perchance some evil yet to be burned away—how, then, can there be this concord; does light have any agreement with darkness? The imperfect and undeveloped parts of his being are in abeyance and remain so for awhile until he passes into the next sphere; while those parts that are “ripe ” are strengthened and brought into play. So the words of John or rather of Jesus to John may be understood. “He that is holy, he that is righteous and he that is filthy, let him be so still.” That is if I am not yet thoroughly clean or true or again, if I am holy but not yet truly loving I do not become so here, in this sphere, but other qualities are being tested and strengthened and the fire of deep experience will burn away the dross in good time. All that is evil is left without the gates of the city and the man, perhaps bereft of his right hand or his right eye (for a time) enters into the city where nothing can defile and where all tears are wiped away.

This is the time or rather this is the point in the soul’s history spoken of in John’s revelation when evil is bound for a thousand years and when the redeemed part of the man enters the perfect state (typified by the 144,000 who wear white robes)—while that part, which is yet imperfect remains in abeyance and is spoken of as cast into the fire or left without the gates of the city. The perfection, you will understand, is partial, though complete as far as it goes. There comes a pause in the conflict with the evil and discordant elements and in the calm and sunlight of this peace he grows and is strengthened rapidly.

Though he is no longer out of harmony with his surroundings, this is not to imply that there is no conflict or growth—his powers may be taxed to their utmost but not beyond; the strength is always sufficient to the day and he grows as a plant might, the surroundings of which were perfectly suited to its needs. All his powers are living, in motion, not intermittently but constantly—this is a very high development of life.

In the “spheres” action as outward or in the least degree differentiated from the being has no place. The spirit does not need to help his brother; he is help. He does not love his neighbour, he is love. He does not show mercy; he is mercy. No sun of benevolence shines in the city of his spirit; he himself, the Lamb, the Man is the light thereof. No sea of cleansing pity breaks on the shore of his being, for he himself is pity. From his spirit’s centre, all rays go forth; yet they are not cut off from him—the rays are himself and he is the rays. One does not say to his brother I and thou; for thou and I are one and there is no difference.

Yet there is nothing vague, hazy, passionless in this state; the man as he grows more and more into the God is not less alive but more—the infinite contains in itself the finite and the God has the man in his bosom.

This new being is well typified by the Seer who, when he wants to illustrate the vision speaks of the spirit as all eyes within and without and when he speaks of motion and activity speaks of him as all wheels within wheels; that perfect circle of life whose centre is absolute rest.

Further, the pneuma does not make his environment, he and it are one. He does not make anything, he creates and he is at once the creature and the creator—“I and my Father are one.”

Spirit Ears

Hearing is vision looked at from a slightly different point of view. When any faculty is in motion, is being exercised, the spirit hears it and it is to him the highest and truest form of music when the faculty is at rest, then the eye sees it and it is to him the highest form of Art; true painting and true sculpture.

Hearing is also not confined to the present—the past, back to the soul’s first dwelling in flesh is ‘audible’ to the spirit ear. Further back than that in the soul’s history remains to be unfolded in the higher spheres; the seventh chiefly.

Spirit Eyes

The Spirit Body is unlike the physical or the psychical. It is not an etherealised earthly body, yet it resembles it in one point—it manifests the real man in various ways. We manifest ourselves by speech and look and perceive others by the touch and the ear. So the spirit has its spirit vision, hearing, speech, etc.

Spirit vision is that true, deep, spirit intuition into the realities of things—that piercing eye of the soul which lays bare the roots, the deep foundations of things.

Spirit vision always looks to the roots of things; below the righteous action, it looks for truth; below the generous, for justice and below all for love, which is life in its highest manifestation.

The physical sees the sun and stars and perceives that the sun gives heat and life, day and night, etc.

The psychic sees the laws, which govern these suns and knows that they are good.

Spirit vision sees the life, which produces the laws and causes them all to be and to be perfect.

Again—the physical sees the rich man pulling down his barns and building larger ones and perceives that it is that he may have room where to bestow his goods.

The psychic sees why he does this; that he may say to his soul—Eat, drink and be satisfied.

The pneuma perceives that the spring of these actions is injustice—the man not being perfectly just (or rather justice not being perfectly manifested in him), fears to trust himself to nature—fears that he will suffer real loss in the stress of life or in the pangs of death and hopes that he may by his own lower powers get to himself more than others a shelter from the forces he fears instead of trusts. He does not know that he is endowed with a birthright, as son of God, of which nothing can possibly deprive him.

Spirit vision, like a circle, holds all things within itself and its gaze pierces equally to the distant or the near, to the past or the present. We remember the past and memory and imagination can reproduce it in a more or less broken manner but the spirit sees the past as we do the present, as really and as truly. All things are within its range, that is, the whole of the psychic life of the ego. The future is still a sealed book, though greater powers of intuition enable it to read even that more clearly than before. 

Elisha must have had the psychic vision when he saw Gehazi on his deceitful errand but Christ had the spirit vision when from his intimate knowledge of the character of Judas he said—“This is he who shall betray me.”

The physical sees the besieged city with the prophet within its walls; the psychic sees the chariots and horses of the Lord encircling it in the hour of danger, to leave it when that special need is past—the spirit sees the love and pity, the just and abiding care that is forever around—not only that city but the army of the besiegers and the whole world.

The spirit eyes, then, see the spirit forms and the world in which they dwell but it sees far more than this—it sees Reality under Appearance and Truth beneath any veil.

Nor is there any confusion arising from this vast field of vision, for the harmony of the spheres is so great that the eye takes in all or a part, as easily as our eyes take in an extended landscape or a minute object.

The Transition into the Third Life

We do not really enter our third life until we leave the psychic world behind us forever. When we have “gone” (as we say), it has been that our spirits might be strengthened or enlightened in ways that were not possible in the psychic world or that we might get insight into some duty not intelligible otherwise. We see “in a glass darkly” and not “face-to-face.”

Now, what happens when our time comes to depart? It is this—our psychic form dissolves, fades away, is folded up, is dissipated into the sphere from which it was taken, leaving our spirit free to pass beyond into purer and rarer air more fitted for it. There is no pain or struggle in such a dissolution, nor any break in consciousness. Our friends bid us farewell for a time but we need not say farewell to them, for we shall see and know them more intimately even than before. Their eyes may not perceive us but our clearer vision will embrace the past as well as the present, the old as well as the new.

We are now pneuma or spirit; not that pure, invisible, immortal essence but approaching it more closely. The true, the real man remains hidden from comprehension; the final, the deepest mystery of all.

It is not simply that he has taken off two coverings, the physical and the psychical, and is now himself, unclothed upon. Rather he manifests himself in three ways at different times and in different degrees—in body, in soul, and in spirit. The physical and the psychical bodies have been cast off and left in the spheres to which they belonged; he has now a spiritual body, while yet the true man has been complete through all. The body of the body and the body of the soul are gone forever and he is now clothed upon with the body of the spirit.

On the earth the broken arcs,

In the heaven a perfect round.

Before we try to describe the spirit body and its functions, it will be well to speak of the new sphere in which the Man is now manifesting. This sphere is not one and single as the intermediate is but is seven spheres closely connected together.

Perhaps a diagram will make this clearer.

The three central are the Unity Spheres; the side ones are the Duality Spheres.

The first Unity Sphere (I)—Introductory, for strengthening and improving the character and the new powers.

The second Unity Sphere (III)—For action and exercise of powers.

Third Unity Sphere (V)—Peace; rest; the equipoise of the perfectly manifested being.

The first Duality Spheres (2)—Discipline—the growth, guidance and strengthening of such parts of the being as were still weak and imperfect.

Second Duality Spheres (4)—Discipline on a higher plane—the completion of the work. The man now passes into the last Unity Sphere, the sphere of perfection, and beyond that who shall say! Certainly, we know nothing.

The Duality Spheres are so-called, chiefly because the old double consciousness (which is almost dormant in the Unity Spheres) is again in force. In force, that is, in the sense of conflict of one part of our nature with another; not merely in the ability to think of ourselves as if we were two beings. This double consciousness is revived in the dual spheres because it is then easier for the ego to see its own weaknesses; to condemn and struggle against them.

Thus, these spheres are dual as being in pairs; dual in the divided experience and, above all, dual as to the double consciousness.

The unity spheres are so-called, not only or chiefly because they are the one sphere for all but because there this unity of consciousness is existent.

The unity of the whole seven in one is shown in the oneness of the man’s manifestation; through all he dwells in his spirit body; through all, he is a man of seven dimensions until he comes to the perfection of his being, as far as can be judged of perfection.

No spirit ever passes through more than one of each of the two spheres marked 2 and 4—that is, he goes to the right or to the left but not to both. (The words right and left, of course, are used only in reference to the diagram).

What, then, causes him to enter one of these spheres rather than the other? It is the bent of his deep soul-character. There is no uniformity in mankind, rather there is infinite diversity. Yet it divides, broadly speaking, into two classes—call them by what name you please, say—

The religious and the scientific—

The imaginative and the practical—

The introspective and the out looking.

Now, the soul that has the one bent passes into the opposite sphere that his nature may be so cultivated and disciplined that he shall be a perfect and not a one-sided being.

When we speak of perfect and imperfect, we understand that sin is a wilful failure to do the thing that is known to be right or the equally wilful doing of the wrong; sin is left behind finally in the psychic. By perfect is meant the essential being fully manifested and by imperfect, not fully manifested. Man, then, is not perfect until he reaches the Seventh Sphere; the Unity in Peace.

Man thus passes through only five of the seven spheres but the seven are so closely connected by a constant stream of life circling through all that he may be said to inhabit them all.

Finally, the three unity spheres are specialised thus—

I—Is that state where all the qualities developed in the physical life reach their highest stage.

III—The same, only psychical.

V—The perfection of the pneumatic.

—I AWOKE! Conditions of Life on the other Side, Author Unknown, David Stott, London, 1895

John's Revelation

And I was caught up into the third heaven and heard things impossible to utter.

Put from you the idea that John’s revelation is one of mere future events; a prophecy in the sense of foretelling things to come. It is rather the inner history of the human ego in his second and third states, that is, soul and spirit.

It is a wonderful picture of life either in one state or another. It begins after the introductory part of the messages to the churches and to understand it we must have two leading ideas in our mind—

The two threads are these—we have here the perfect man and we have the imperfect and the history of these two runs side-by-side. The perfect man is represented in many ways and under many titles, all of which titles have their deep meaning and show different sides of a perfect character. Although all these are supposed to refer to the Christ whom John knew—and indeed are true of him—yet they must not be limited in that way, for they refer to the type; to that perfect being which was from eternity and shall be to eternity. We are as yet only a little way on that road which leads to perfect manifestation but we came from the Complete One and we shall return to Him—if He has all wisdom—the seven spirits of God—it is only as head of the race; such wisdom is the birthright of all and shall be theirs when the set time is at hand.

The Bible begins with the history of physical man, while as yet his higher nature (eternal in its true essence) lay dormant and unmanifested within him. It is here we see those powers which man shares with the animal at their highest—courage, patience, and a certain fierce battling for himself and his family; while the longer years he lived were partly owing to the physical being supreme. Here, too, we see the rise of the intellectual powers (as distinct from the moral) in the works and inventions of that old race.

In the last book, we have the true history of the psyche. 

We have, then, in our Bible the human soul in all stages of development compared and contrasted with one who has gone through such discipline and has come forth—perfect Man and perfect Son of God.

The soul begins his conscious history, generally, in this way—If he believes in God it is as a being of infinite power, who lives apart from his creation—on a throne—and whose attributes are represented by thunder and lightning, while all nature bows down before him in passive awe. This is the time when courage, power and all physical qualities are his ideal.

And, behold, a throne was set in Heaven, and one sat on the throne. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And four-and-twenty elders and four living creatures were round about the throne, and they rest not day nor night, saying, Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power—for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

—Rev. iv., 2—11

The next stage in his life may be this—He begins to feel pressing on him the awful mysteries of his being; life is a closed book to him, the eternal “Why” begins to rise within him and at the same time he feels himself unable and unworthy to open the book.

Then he is happy if he learns to believe that there is one who has both the power and the will to reveal these mysteries to him. One, not a being apart from himself but who is only a little further on in the way of experience—one, who is both the Lion and the Lamb; who unites all the strength of the divine with the beauty of self-sacrifice.

And I saw a book sealed with seven seals. And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as it had been slain. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

—Chap. v, 1—7

This true, perfect man breaks the first seal and the soul becomes conscious of new powers. Strong in faith, in the greatness of humanity, he goes forth conquering and to conquer.

When the Lamb opened one of the seals, I saw, and behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown, and he went forth conquering and to conquer.

—Chap. v., 1—2

Another seal is broken—his experience widens but, this time, it is not the triumphant march of the conqueror but the cry of defeat; while he learns through loss and through conflict, through the wounds of sin and the loss of self-esteem how to conquer in a truer way.

When he had opened the third seal, I beheld a black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

—Chap, vi., 5 and 6

The fourth seal shows us how, through the loss of whatever may have been as dear to him as life itself, he is led on to a higher plane, the plane of self-sacrifice.

When he had opened the fourth seal, I looked, and behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

—Chap, vi., 7 and 8

The fifth seal shows him in that phase of experience when there presses on him a sense of injustice because the righteous seem to suffer and the wicked to prosper. How long, O Lord, before thou wilt avenge thy saints?

When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God—and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, 0 Lord, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood? And it was said unto them that they should rest for a little season.

—Chap, vi., 9—11

The sixth seal shows the soul’s dread of death and of what lies beyond it.

When he had opened the sixth seal there was a great earthquake; the sun became black, and the moon became as blood; the stars of heaven fell and the heaven departed, and every mountain and islands were moved out of their places. And all men hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains and said, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb—for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?

—Chap. vi., 12—17

And so he is led on until—at the seventh seal, there is silence in heaven—that is, his mind is calmly poised on the great foundation truths and he can wait for joy or sorrow, conflict or peace, with sure and steadfast faith that all is well and well forever and for all.

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

—Chap. viii., i

The seven trumpets carry on this history of the man on a more spiritual plane; like an artist who becomes a sculptor, he has learnt much that will help him but he must apply it in different ways, for soul-battles are not fought once and for all but have to be refought on a different battleground and with new weapons. For is it not true in our life that the old doubts and difficulties, which we thought dead rise again in greater strength and must be met and conquered in the new spirit that has been born within us?

The seven phials show the history of those who have more struggle, more apparent discord to overcome; such as are led through fire, rather than through green valleys. Yet all will finally sing the same triumphant song of victory over what has been out of harmony with their divine nature—the victory of life over death, of holiness over sin, the dissolving of all that is not truly spiritual and the manifestation of the new man with the new name.

The vision of the throne is now of the throne of God and the Lamb; that is God and Man made one forever.

Such is our history—it may be lived out on our plane or in the next but somewhat after this is the experience of the soul before it enters the third life.

I AWOKE! Conditions of Life on the other Side, Author Unknown, David Stott, London, 1895

I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem

Life in the spirit is a strange mixture of natural and spiritual; spirits speak of houses, lands, clothes, food, books and, on the other hand, speak of will power as the great creative agency, of soul impressions, rather than bodily senses.

Spiritual life is a mingling of the old and the new; the past and the present not yet wholly spirit, nor wholly of earth; spirits partake of both natures. Like a girl who is just between childhood and womanhood may be a child one day and a woman the next or like a dragonfly just emerging from its case comes out with wings, it is true, but they are folded ones and for a time that bears some proportion to its short life it seems rather to crawl on these folded wings, as if it were a grub, than to open them and fly away.

Spirit pleasures and duties are in spirit life as they sometimes are with us. There is no such thing as a pleasure disconnected from work or growth or duty; neither is there any beauty disconnected from true life, nor any idle sorrow or grief that is not distinctly healing in its effect, cleansing or raising the soul. There is no weariness, such as comes from mere ennui or from a vacant mind—real honest fatigue of the body comes only from the imperfection of the growing soul, not yet strong enough to bear all the strain put on it by its spirit lord.

In our world we have the visible, physical life in all stages of development and in all forms; the rock, the flower, the animal and the man. We have also mental life in all stages, from the simplest animal instinct to the most complex brain of man. So in the Spirit world they have the psychic life in all stages—that life which may be said to be outward and visible to their psychic senses. They have also the spirit life; unseen except in its outcome, as it manifests itself through the psychic.

Thus they have trees and stones, animals and man; all with the same kind of life running through them but not to the same degree. How would this world appear to us, if we could enter it in our present body? The old simile of the fish and the bird would be true. The fish that sees, breathes and flies through the water could not change with the bird; the air would be too strong for him and his powers, so perfect in themselves, could not adjust themselves to their new surroundings. We are the fish and they are the bird. We would find their air too strong for us and they should find ours too heavy for them. They enter into our world only through its reflected but true soul-form; they see the pictures of earthly things reflected in us as we see things reflected by and on the eye.

Imagine yourself, however, over in the Spirit World and try to “see” the new world. The first sensation would be of surprise that it is so much like our own—what would first strike you would be the resemblance—town and country, sea and grass; flowers and fruit; men and women and children; life and motion. But the differences would soon begin to press upon your notice. The absence of all dirt, sordid misery, haggard and overburdened faces and savage and sin-sodden countenances. Sorrowful ones you might see; grave faces as well as bright, shining, outgoing looks; you would see people at work of various kinds but anything resembling the whip of the taskmaster would be absent. Weariness might occasionally be noticed but not impatience or despair.

Perhaps the next thing you would notice would be the close fellowship you would have with all forms of nature around you and your power over the lower—power for your good but not for the injury of anything. The air you breathe out, for instance, is no longer poisoned for your brother’s use; the grass you walk on is not trodden down and spoiled for other feet; the flowers you gather do not leave bleeding stalks behind them to wither and become unpleasing to the eye.

The sea will no longer divide or be an instrument of death but rather a friend if only you trust yourself to it. The mountain will no longer be a barrier for toilsome and dangerous climbing but a friend from whose surface you may see a wider stretch of the new country. All things will be “very good” to you if you let your nature have full play and live according to its simple laws.

Should you hear music, you would find an answering strain rise up within your being. You might look in vain for any instrument from which the strains could have proceeded but instead of an organ, the player would play upon the strings of your inner being and they would respond fully and perfectly to his touch.

Then again there is a great difference in the way you converse with those you meet. At first you would naturally use your own language or seem to do so as in a dream (let us say). As you were understood and answered, it would seem as if they also spoke the same language but in a little while you would see that it was not the outward language which they comprehended and replied to but that you made them feel your meaning and they, in return, impressed their thoughts upon you.

Thus you would find in a hundred ways that the old was passing away and that all things were becoming new.

And so the soul—

When it is freed at last from earthly bonds,

Flies from its prison house to its true home.

On earth it was encumbered, incomplete,

Dumb and half blind, struggling with earth and sin;

Striving and groping on its darkened way;

With the eternal question on its lips

Eternally unanswered—Why?

Until the angel comes with outstretched wings,

Dark underneath to him but light above ;

That angel which like two-faced Janus stands,

One face for ever turned towards the past,

The other forward to the life to come;

That dreaded messenger from the Unseen

Who is called Death by you, but Life by us.

Marriage in Spirit Life

Some in spirit life do not care for the counterpart of our home life. That may be because the habits of mind and the character with which they come over are opposed to it but still with all there must be some choice of companionship, some affinity with one more than another and to most the special companionship of one is almost a necessity for the happy development of their being. This is specially a characteristic of modern and western nations. Such companionship is a blessed thing and is the true marriage of which the earthly is only a broken shadow. But there is one great point of difference. This marriage is not necessarily between those who, on earth, were of an opposite sex; the body is cast off and the psyche knows nothing of male or female. All are one in their great Head, the Head of the whole human family, the most perfect Man. It is the two types of character which on earth are generally masculine and feminine that are best suited to become one in spirit; therefore, it is not strange that real union on earth should often be continued in the Spiritual World, though it is not necessarily nor always so. Here the great power of insight that spirits have into each other’s true being prevents mistakes and the affections and the reason being united, all discord and disappointment are prevented. Yet occasionally some grow in such different ways that they fall apart but without any bitterness. These unions are unions of perfect responsiveness and sympathy—a greater power both of giving and receiving constitutes the bond.