Great Known (1928) [Harmonic Series, 1928 Editions]

NOWN

%e Pkilosopkj of IijdMual Lije

Addressed to
The Progressive Intelligence of the Age

The Great Work

By J. E. RICHARDSON, TK.

Vol. Ill

HARMONIC SERIES

This book carries a hope, a message, a suggestion
and a warning to all who are honestly, patiently
and persistently seeking to prove that Death does
not end all.

It shows that there is a great difference between
Belief and Real Knowledge, and proves that mere
beliefs are not of any value to the one who would
prove that there is a life beyond the grave. He
must Know and Do, and this book points the way.

It is unique in that its statements are verified
facts which every reader may prove for himself
under right guidance, if he but have the "Intelli-
gence to know, the Courage to dare, and the Per-
severance to do."

The philosophy taught in this book appeals to
both Reason and Conscience, and is an inspiration
to "Live the Life and Know the Law."

The science and philosophy it presents agree in
all essentials with the demonstrated facts of mod-
ern physicial science, but go beyond them into the
realm of the Spiritual World. There it presents
an entirely new field of personally demonstrated
facts, which enlarges the scope of hitherto accepted
science, and points the way to new discoveries.

In this, as in any other science, the investigator
is confronted with certain definite propositions and
is given a working formula for their solution. In
this, as in any other science, successful solution
depends chiefly upon the individual ability, capac-
ity and character of the student.

$3.«)

T

HE/-

pREAT

NOWN

The Great Known

Volume IV

HARMONIC SERIES

Revised Edition

By
J. E. RICHARDSON

Author of

Volumes II, III, and V,

HARMONIC SERIES,

and

Editor of Volume I

THE GREAT SCHOOL
OF NATURAL SCIENCE

Copyright, 1928

by

J. E. RICHARDSON

Published May, 1928

ADDRESSED TO
THE PROGRESSIVE INTELLIGENCE OF THE AGE

THE GREAT KNOWN

PACK

WHAT SCIENCE KNOWS _

I

9

FACTS OF NATURE

II

11

FACTS DEMONSTRATED

III

25

THIRTEEN PLANES

IV

41

GRAVITY -

V

49

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES -

VI

67

SPIRITUAL TRANSITIONS

VII

75

SPIRITUAL LIGHT AND COLOR

....... VIII

85

SPIRITUAL PENALTIES

IX

93

SPIRITUAL SOCIOLOGY

X

103

SPIRITUAL EDUCATION _

XI

111

SPIRITUAL OCCUPATION —

XII

125

SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION

XIII

137

SPIRITUAL GOVERNMENT

XIV

149

SPIRITUAL WARS .-

XV

159

SPIRITUAL ANIMALS . .

XVI

171

SLEEP __

XVII

177

DREAMS _ -

XVIII

187

PROPHECY _

XIX

199

GUARDIAN ANGELS _ „.

XX

207

THE BREATH OF LIFE _

XXI

217

CHILDREN

XXII

223

SOUL AND SEX - _

XXIII

239

WHEN DEATH BEGINS

XXIV

247

SUSPENDED ANIMATION

XXV

261

WHEN DEATH ENDS -

XXVI

267

PSYCHIC EFFECTS OF SUICIDE

XXVII

273

CREMATION

JiXVIII

281

MOURNING

XXIX

295

REINCARNATION

XXX

309

HELL _

XXXI

325

DIVINITY

XXXII

333

GOD OR NATURE

XXXIII

345

THEORIES OF THE WISE MEN

Genesis of Dogma

Unsolved Problems ~ _

357
373

THE GREAT KNOWN

'Fools Deride, Philosophers Investigate'

CHAPTER I

WHAT SCIENCE KNOWS

1. Physical Science knows that Man has
a physical body.

2. Spiritual Science knows that Man has
a physical body and a spiritual body.

3. Natural Science knows that the phys-
ical body and the spiritual body are the in-
struments through which the Soul of Man
expresses itself on the physical and the spir-
itual planes of life.

CHAPTER II

FACTS OF NATURE

Human Intelligence has identified, veri-
fied and acknowledged certain ''Facts of
Nature" concerning the "Spiritual World."

Since all Knowledge is based upon the
''Facts of Nature/' and our theme has to do
with Knowledge of the Spiritual World, it is
clear that the Spiritual World is a world
which exists within the realm of "Nature."
Hence, whatever Knowledge Science has ac-
cumulated concerning the Spiritual World,
has to do with the "Facts of Nature" related
to that Spiritual World.

This means that the Spiritual World is as
much a part of Nature as the physical world
which is so familiar to us all.

Hence the Spiritual World is not an UN-
natural world. Neither is it a SUPER-natural
world. It is strictly and literally a "Nat-
ural" world, and all the "Facts" concerning
it are ''Facts of Nature!'

THE GREAT KNOWN

Let it be remembered, therefore, that Sci-
ence is not presuming when it extends its
scientific inquiries into the realm of Nature
called "Spiritual." Neither is it transcending
the scope of its legitimate activities and en-
deavors when it seeks to identify and verify
the Facts of Nature in this broader field of
scientific inquiry.

It is but extending the lines of its scientific
inquiry one single step beyond the limits of
that department of Nature called Physical.

Physical Science is seeking knowledge of
the facts of physical Nature. It knows noth-
ing of any other facts of Nature. It does not
care to know, because it assumes that all the
facts of Nature are physical facts. Its
methods, therefore, are strictly and exclu-
sively physical. It deals only with physical
matter, physical forces, physical activities
and physical processes. The instruments it
employs in the accumulation of its scientific
data are physical instruments. The knowl-
edge it acquires is limited to the facts of
physical Nature. Its researches are limited
to the plane of the Physical World. Its
findings are acknowledged as having author-

12

FACTS OF NATURE

ity and value only in the realm of Physical
Nature. It refuses to admit, as of scientific
value, any evidence other than that which it
can measure and determine by the physical
instruments at its command. Hence, it fully
justifies its name as the "School of Physical
Science."

Spiritual Science is seeking knowledge of
the facts of spiritual Nature. While it rec-
ognizes the existence of a physical world,
also a science which concerns itself with the
facts of Nature in that physical world, it
assumes that the physical world is so remote
from the spiritual that the facts of Nature
in the one are in no wise related to those in
the other. It recognizes that the instruments
and methods of physical science do not an-
swer the requirements of spiritual demon-
stration. Hence, it finds no possible basis
of co-operative endeavor between the two
schools.

Spiritual Science makes its appeal to in-
dividual human consciousness through the
channels of the five spiritual senses. It con-
cerns itself, scientifically, with the facts of
Nature in the realm of spiritual things. Its

IS

THE GREAT KNOWN

methods, therefore, are strictly and exclu-
sively spiritual. The knowledge it acquires
has to do with the facts of Spiritual Nature.
Its findings have no value or authority with
the school of physical science. Its researches
are limited to the plane of Spiritual Nature.
It deals only with spiritual matter, spiritual
forces, spiritual activities and spiritual proc-
esses. Hence, it justifies its name as a
"School of Spiritual Science."

Natural Science is seeking knowledge of
the facts of Nature in all the departments
and phases of Nature, physical, spiritual and
psychical. It recognizes the existence of a
physical world whose substance, forces, ac-
tivities and processes constitute a natural and
legitimate basis for the development of exact
physical science. It recognizes also the ex-
istence of a finer world of spiritual material
which constitutes the natural and legitimate
basis for the development of an exact spir-
itual science. But it has demonstrated an-
other great Fact of Nature which is so related
to these two worlds of Nature as to constitute
a natural bridge between them.

It has discovered that the physical world

14

FACTS OF NATURE

and the spiritual world are not so remote
from each other as to be scientifically unre-
lated. It has discovered that, in point of
their degree of refinement and activity, there
Is a harmonic relation betv^een the world of
physical material and the world of spiritual
material which makes them interdependent
and co-existent. It has discovered that the
instruments and methods employed in the
world of physical material, to determine exact
scientific physical results, are not sufficiently
refined to serve the same purpose in the world
of spiritual material. It has discovered that
the instruments and methods employed in the
world of spiritual material, to determine ex-
act scientific spiritual results, are too refined
to serve the same purpose in the world of
physical material.

Its methods, therefore, include those of
physical science, insofar as they have to do
with the facts of physical nature, and they
likewise include those of spiritual science in-
sofar as they have to do with the facts of spir-
itual nature. It recognizes the existence of
physical matter, physical forces, physical ac-
tivities and physical processes. It admits also

THE GREAT KNOWN

the necessity of physical instruments in the
department of physical science. It recog-
nizes also the existence of spiritual matter,
spiritual forces, spiritual activities and spir-
itual processes.

Natural Science, which seeks knowledge of
all the departments of Nature, is the friendly
ally of both physical science on the one hand
and spiritual science on the other. It de-
sires to co-operate with both these schools
and bring them into a friendly attitude of
tolerance and mutual endeavor in the greater
interests of humanity. It realizes that each
of these two schools of science has set for it-
self certain arbitrary limitations which mark
the boundaries of its legitimate field of in-
quiry. These boundaries, in each instance,
are so definite and distinct that whatever
oversteps them is immediately ruled out as
unscientific and, hence, unworthy of consid-
eration. This attitude leaves virtually no
room for voluntary mutual approach by and
between them. It leaves little or no hope of
bridging the chasm which divides the two
schools at the present time.

With all the knowledge of the Masters

u

FACTS OF NATURE

upon the subject, they have never, so far, been
able to reduce the scientific solution to a
purely physical basis. They are willing to
concede that, so far as they are concerned,
such a purely physical solution is impossible
to one yet in the physical body.

The Masters, during their study of the
Great Problems, and their continued search
for a definite method of solution, discovered
the fact that, through a rigorous course of
self-discipline and contemplation of a higher
and finer life, they were able to develop a
higher and a finer set of senses, through
which they were able to come into conscious
relation with a finer world of material than
that of the purely physical. They designated
these finer senses "Spiritual Senses," to dis-
tinguish them from the ''physical senses." The
world into which they were able to penetrate
consciously through these finer senses, they
called a ''spiritual world." Thus began the
scientific solution of the great problem of
another life in a finer world of matter. And
thus began the accumulation of definite
knowledge concerning that finer life and
vTorld.

17

THE GREAT KNOWN

By their continued work and experiment,
which all scientific research involves, the
Masters learned that there is an exact and
definite method and process of Nature, by
and through which anyone who has the in-
telligence to receive the Instruction, the cour-
age to apply it to the living of his own life
in a right way, and the perseverance to con-
tinue his endeavors far enough to comply
with Nature's demands, can develop his own
spiritual senses until he is able to sense and
experience the Spiritual World as perfectly
and independently as he can sense and ex-
perience this physical world.

Through their continued accumulation and
expansion of their knowledge through per-
sonal experience, they finally made the great
discovery that there is a Moral Order of
Nature; and that it is directly related to the
method and process by which an individual
may develop his own Spiritual senses and
discover the spiritual world for himself.

If he keeps faith with Nature, and lives
his life in harmony with her Constructive
Principle, her reward is inevitable, which is
his Spiritual Unfoldment and Soul Growth.

18

FACTS OF NATURE

If he fails to keep faith with Nature, and
refuses to live his life in harmony with the
Moral Law, he reverses the process of spir-
itual unfoldment and bars the way to his
own Mastership. He will thus never be able
to make the scientific demonstration of the
Great Problem this side the grave.

The methods of the Great School of Nat-
ural Science adapt themselves to the normal
development of the individual human being
in such manner as to enable him to retain
full and complete control of all of his sense
channels, both physical and spiritual,
throughout his entire physical life, however
long he may live. And, if he has lost con-
trol of his spiritual senses during child-
hood— as many do — it enables him to regain
them without harm of any kind to himself
or to others.

A part of the Work of The Great School
of Natural Science, at this time, is to give to
the world the benefits of such scientific
knowledge as it has accumulated bearing
upon these subjects, and open the way for
the co-operation of physical science and spir-
itual science in the work of liberating hu-

19

THE GREAT KNOWN

manity from the bondage of Ignorance,
Superstition and Fear.

Furthermore, it is entirely within the abil-
ity of every individual who possesses the
necessary Intelligence, Courage and Per-
severance to prove the truth of every state-
ment herein contained, provided he also
has the necessary time, place and environ-
ment for study under proper and efficient
instruction.

When Human Intelligence has assembled
its knowledge of any given department of
Nature and then classified it and system-
atized it until all the identified, verified and
acknowledged Facts of Nature have been set
in their correct order, an exact "Science" has
been born, or evolved.

Science is exact. It must be exact to be
Science. In just so far as the scientist fails in
this element of exactness, he becomes the
sciolist, and his findings become sciolism, in-
stead of science. It is the method of the
Great School to eliminate every possible ele-
ment of uncertainty, and thus reduce its work
to the only absolute basis of exact science.
If it should fail m this it would no longer

20

FACTS OF NATURE

be entitled to the confidence of those who
rely upon its findings. But it invites to its
work the rigid application of every possible
test, and is ever ready to abide by the results.

Knowledge: Facts of Nature identified,
verified and acknowledged by Human Intelli-
gence.

The first vital point to be noted in this defi-
nition is that Knowledge has to do with the
"Facts of Nature:'

The second is that it does not include all
the Facts of Nature.

The third is that there is a limitation
which is as fixed and definite as are the limi-
tations of "Human Intelligence."

Only such of the Facts of Nature as Hu-
man Intelligence has been able to identify,
as such, are covered by the definition.

Only such of these identified Facts of Na-
ture as Human Intelligence has been able to
verify, are to be included in the definition.

And finally, only such of the Facts of Na-
ture as have been identified, as such, then
verified as having been correctly identified,
and finally acknowledged by Human Intelli-
gence to exist as identified and verified, must

THE GREAT KNOWN

be incorporated in the great body of human
Knowledge.

From this analysis it will be observed that
the sum of human knowledge is a fixed and
definite thing only at any given instant of
time.

In other words, it is an ever-evolving and
growing body. For, while at any given in-
stant of time its limits are definite, the next
instant some new Fact of Nature may be
identified, verified and acknowledged by Hu-
man Intelligence, and the sum of Human
Knowledge thus increased by one new Fact.

To what extent the possibilities of Human
Intelligence may carry this evolution of its
Knowledge, doth not yet appear. Who shall
fix the evolutionary limits of Human Intel-
ligence, or the growth of its Knowledge?
Who shall dare to say: "Thus far shalt thou
go, and no farther"? Who shall dare to say
that the growth of Human Knowledge shall
stop short of ALL THE Facts of Nature?
Let him who can, answer.

An important point, however, must be
kept forever in mind, namely, that if Human
Intelligence should be at fault in any phase

22

FACTS OF NATURE

of its endeavors, in either its identification,
its verification, or its acknowledgment of any
Fact of Nature, the immediate and inevit-
able result is to destroy, or cripple, the
scientific value of its findings.

And herein is where our modern so-called
"Exact Science" so often fails to justify its
designation, or name. Men of science have
not always differentiated between their so-
called "Facts" and their "Assumptions."
Wherever this discrepancy has crept in, the
scientist has fallen short in the vital element
of "exactness." He has misled those who
have trusted him and oftentimes has confused
himself and become utterly lost in the fog of
his own uncertainty.

In our search for Knowledge we are seek-
ing to identify the Facts of Nature as they
exist.

In our search for Truth we are seeking to
know the established relation which these
identified Facts of Nature sustain to each
other and to Individual Human Intelligence.

This differentiation between Knowledge
and Truth is important and should not be
ignored nor lost sight of by the student who

23

THE GREAT KNOWN

seeks to become a demonstrator of the Law.

Knowledge has to do with Facts.

Truth has to do with the Relation these
Facts sustain to each other and to ourselves as
Individual Intelligences.

CHAPTER III

FACTS DEMONSTRATED

It is an accepted rule of logic that if a
premise be false, any conclusion based upon
the assumption of its truth must be regarded
as unreliable. It should, to say the least, be
regarded as unscientific.

All physical matter, both inorganic and
organic, integrates conjointly with a finer
ethereal or spiritual pattern, in such manner
as to constitute what may properly be termed
a double material entity.

No attempt will be made here to account
for this phenomenon of Nature. It simply
exists as one of the established facts with
which Natural Science is compelled to deal.
As such it forms an important link in the
chain which connects the two correlated
worlds of matter, motion, number, life and
intelligence.

In the kingdom of inorganic matter these
two bodies appear to be more equally de-

35

THE GREAT KNOWN

pendent, one upon the other, than are the
duplicate bodies of organic matter. This is
more fully explained by the facts which
follow.

The integration of a physical stone con-
jointly with its finer ethereal pattern is of
such a character that upon the sudden and
forced disintegration and dissolution of the
physical stone its finer ethereal body, or du-
plicate, remains intact for a comparatively
brief period of time.

In due course of time, however, the ether-
eal body of the stone also disintegrates, dis-
solves, and to every appearance returns to its
original elements.

During the time it remains intact this
ethereal body of the stone is visible with per-
fect distinctness to one whose sense of sight
is keen enough to observe it.

In the vegetable kingdom the two material
bodies do not manifest the same degree of
mutual dependence, one upon the other, as
in the mineral kingdom.

Upon the sudden disintegration and dis-
solution of the physical body of an oak tree
its ethereal duplicate persists intact for a

26

FACTS DEMONSTRATED

much longer period than does the ethereal
body of the stone.

But in due course of time the ethereal tree
also disintegrates, dissolves, disappears from
the magnetic plane of the vegetable kingdom,
and to every appearance is resolved back into
its original elements.

In the animal kingdom the independence
of the spiritual body from the physical, in
its power of continuity, is very markedly
increased.

At the period of physical dissolution of an
animal it is clear (to one v^ho is able to ob-
serve the transition) that the spiritual body
carries with it (or accompanies) the animat-
ing principle of the animal entity. This is
evidenced by the fact that during its exist-
ence as a spiritual organism it appears to
possess all the natural faculties and intelli-
gent capacities and powers which belong to
the animal entity.

The animal, however, in due course of
time, disappears from the spiritual plane of
the animal kingdom.

It does not reappear (at least in identical
or distinguishable form) upon any of the

27

THE GREAT KNOWN

spiritual planes of life which are distinctively
related to this particular planet.

In the kingdom of man the transition we
call physical death is even more clearly a
mere incident in the life of the soul.

At the moment of physical dissolution of
a man, woman or child, the spiritual body
separates from the physical in a manner
which appears to be identical with the sepa-
ration of the two bodies of the animal at its
physical death.

The animating principle of the double or-
ganic entity accompanies (or is accom-
panied by) the spiritual organism only,
when physical death occurs, and in this re-
spect the process of dissolution corresponds,
in all appearance, with that of the animal.

The spiritual man, woman or child per-
sists intact upon the spiritual planes of life
for an indefinite period of time after physical
dissolution, as does the animal (with the ex-
ceptions hereinafter noted).

Men, women and children upon the spir-
itual planes of life appear to possess all the
natural faculties and intelligent capacities
and powers with which they were invested at

FACTS DEMONSTRATED

and prior to the time of physical dissolution.
In this respect also they appear to acknowl-
edge the same law which governs the animal.

But men, women and children, in the
course of the ages, disappear from the lowest
plane of the kingdom of spiritual man, and
yet not always in a manner which is identi-
cal with the disappearance of the animal
from the spiritual plane of animal life.

In other words, man disappears from the
lowest plane of his spiritual life in either of
two different manners and by two distinctly
opposite methods or processes.

That is to say, under the constructive prin-
ciple and process of evolution, growth, de-
velopment and progress, he disappears from
the lowest plane of spiritual life, only to
appear upon the next higher, inhabiting a
finer spiritual organism, clothed in richer
splendor, and in possession of all the nat-
ural faculties and intelligent capacities and
powers with which he was invested at the
time of the transition, and with the same in-
dividuality. He is fully conscious of the
transition and is able at will to reappear
upon the lower plane through which he has

THE GREAT KNOWN

passed, and manifest himself to those who
have known him there. In an analogous
manner he is able to pass on to higher planes
of spirituality and life.

But under the operation of the opposite
principle and process of destruction, or devo-
lution, man also disappears from the lowest
plane of his spiritual life in a manner which
corresponds, in every essential particular,
with the disappearance of the animal.

In this latter instance he does not reappear
(at least in identical or distinguishable
form) upon any of the higher planes of spir-
itual life which are distinctively related to
this particular planet.

In the spiritual life man's ability to persist
and advance from lower to higher planes of
existence is commensurate with his own in-
dependent control of all his individual fac-
ulties, capacities and powers, and in response
to his independent, self-conscious and ra-
tional volition and desire to so persist and
advance.

He obtains this control of his individual
faculties, capacities and powers only in ac-
cordance with his own independent, self-

30

FACTS DEMONSTRATED

conscious and rational desire and will, and
through honest, intelligent, courageous and
persistent personal effort, in conformity with
Nature's Constructive Principle.

But in the spiritual life, as in the physical,
man may fail, neglect or refuse to make the
effort necessary to obtain or exercise control
of his individual faculties, capacities and
powers. Or, once having acquired such con-
trol, he may deliberately surrender it to other
intelligences, provided he can find those who
are willing to assume the responsibility. Or
he may knowingly and intentionally prosti-
tute his powers to dishonest and vicious
purposes.

In every such instance he is proceeding in
conformity with Nature's Destructive Prin-
ciple, and must pay the penalty which Na-
ture exacts therefor. The inevitable result is
retrogression, involving a corresponding for-
feiture of the power of self-control.

This retrograde movement of spiritual
life, if persisted in, ultimately leads to man's
disappearance from the lowest plane of his
spiritual life.

In the light of this analysis it would ap-

THE GREAT KNOWN

pear that Paul knew what he was talking
about when he declared to the Corinthians
in such exact and unqualified terms that:
"There is a natural body, and there is a spir-
itual body." (I Cor., 15, 44.) It is also evi-
dent that Christ fully understood the relation
of these two bodies to the third and highest
element in the triune nature of man when he
asked the searching and vital question: "For
what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
(Mark, 8, 36.)

It will be understood that the physical
body is but a coarser duplicate of the spir-
itual, and that each and every physical organ
has its spiritual duplicate. There is a spir-
itual brain as well as a physical brain. There
is a spiritual organ of sight as well as a phys-
ical one. There are spiritual organs of touch,
taste, smell and hearing, just as there are
physical organs of these several senses. In
other words, for each separate physical or-
gan of the brain there is a corresponding
spiritual one. This being a scientific fact,
it will not be difficult to understand its nat-
ural corollary, which is, that under given

S2

FACTS DEMONSTRATED

conditions the intelligent soul which owns
and operates these separate organisms may
receive impressions through either set of its
sensory organs.

Natural Science has demonstrated that
man, upon the physical plane, has a physical
body with five physical channels of sense and
a spiritual body with five spiritual channels
of sense; that through its five physical sense
channels the individual consciousness is aware
of the existence of the world of physical na-
ture, and through its five spiritual sense
channels it may become aware of the existence
of the world of spiritual nature.

It has demonstrated that the five physical
senses are not fine enough to sense the exist-
ence of the finer world of Spiritual Matter
and Spiritual Things.

It has demonstrated that the five spiritual
senses are too fine to sense the existence of the
coarser world of Physical Matter and Phys-
ical Things.

It has proven that the normally developed
human being, or Soul, has the power — by the
exercise of its Will — to open or close any or
all of its sense channels, both physical and

33

THE GREAT KNOWN

Spiritual. By the exercise of its Will Power
it can open the channels of physical sense,
and by the exercise of that same power it
can close them again. By the exercise of the
same Will Power it can open the channels of
spiritual sense, and by the exercise of the
same power it can close them again. By the
exercise of that same Will Power it can open
the physical and spiritual channels of sense
simultaneously, and thus sense both worlds —
physical and spiritual — at the same time.

It has learned that every normal human
infant is born into this physical life with all
its channels of sense, both physical and spir-
itual, awake and active. It has also proven
that, under normal conditions, the individual
may even grow to manhood, or womanhood,
or even to old age, without losing the Power
of Will to control all its sense channels, both
physical and spiritual. At the same time, it
has learned that a very large percentage of
human individuals lose conscious and volun-
tary control of their spiritual senses and
powers during childhood; that some of them
regain control of them in their later physical

34

FACTS DEMONSTRATED

life, and that many never regain them during
their entire physical life.

But man in the physical body is generally
so conditioned that his intelligence operates
far more consciously through the physical
organism than it does through the spiritual.
This is one of the provisions of nature with
which science must deal in its solution of the
question here under consideration.

It is also a fact that wherever this condi-
tion obtains the individual is concerned with
and absorbed in the impressions which reach
his consciousness from the physical world
only. The action of the spiritual organism,
however, is not entirely suspended, as might
be inferred. It is merely obscured or cov-
ered up, as it were, by that condition of na-
ture which fixes the attention upon the phys-
ical plane.

The following illustration may serve to
present the facts and the principle more
clearly to mind:

Go into one of the large, steel manufac-
turing establishments of the country while
the machinery is in full operation and there
attempt to carry on a conversation with a

35

THE GREAT KNOWN

person twenty feet distant from you. How-
ever much you may both exert yourselves
you will be unable to hear a word he says.
The noise of the machinery and the general
confusion of the factory will make it impos-
sible. His voice is drowned in the general
uproar and fails to make a sufficiently strong
impression upon your consciousness to be rec-
ognized with distinctness. You are too busily
engaged with the various and conflicting im-
pressions made upon your consciousness by
the thunder, clang and turmoil of the factory.

But the sound of the voice is there, just the
same. More than this, it even makes an im-
pression upon your sensory organism. Why
then, do you not recognize the fact? It is
only because your consciousness is so pre-
occupied with the more intense impressions
of the louder noises of the factory, for the
time being, that you fail to distinguish the
sound of the voice.

In a somewhat analogous manner the
average man seems to be shut out and away
from all conscious touch with the spiritual
world. But this is only a seeming condition,
for it is not true in fact. He is merely so

FACTS DEMONSTRATED

absorbed, for the time being, in the more
intense impressions which reach his con-
sciousness through the physical senses that
the spiritual do not impress themselves upon
him with sufficient relative force to be so
identified or distinguished by him.

Carrying the illustration still further, it is
an interesting fact that a worker in the steel
factory, in course of time, trains his sense of
hearing to distinguish the sound of the
human voice even in the midst of the din
and blast of the factory which at first made
such a thing impossible. The question nat-
urally arises as to how he acquires this re-
markable power. The answer is simple.

It is necessary for him to communicate
with his fellow workmen in some manner.
The only adequate means of communication
with which he is familiar is the sound of the
human voice. In the midst of the noise of
the factory, therefore, he must still depend
upon his sense of hearing and upon its ability
to distinguish the sound of a human voice.
He unconsciously begins a course of system-
atic training to accomplish the desired result.
He may be, and generally is, wholly ignor-

37

THE GREAT KNOWN

ant of the law involved. But, "Necessity is
the mother of invention," and without know-
ing it he begins to train his ear to the new
condition of things.

His attention is constantly fixed upon the
thing to be accomplished. His consciousness
gradually responds. By the continued exer-
cise of his conscious faculties and powers he
slowly but surely learns to differentiate be-
tween the impressions which the various
noises make upon his consciousness. In
course of time and constant training his
power of perception is intensified until the
human voice once more distinctly registers
its impressions, and to his trained conscious-
ness stands out fully distinguishable from the
general turmoil of his environment. He has
simply developed his power of attention to
the thing desired until his consciousness re-
sponds to the new demands thus made
upon it.

By a method which is somewhat analogous
to this it is possible for anyone who possesses
the necessary Intelligence, Courage and Per-
severance and the right desire, together with
the time, opportunity and proper instruction,

38

FACTS DEMONSTRATED

to accustom his consciousness to take note of
the Impressions which are being constantly
registered upon it through the spiritual sen-
sory organs.

But while man is in touch with his fellow
man upon the physical plane and with the
plane of physical nature generally, his atten-
tion is absorbed upon that plane. He does
not feel the necessity for employing other
means or using other channels of communi-
cation. In most instances he does not even
know that they exist. And so long as there
is no absolute necessity for the development
of the finer senses he continues to be absorbed
with those more familiar to him. Just so
long as his attention is thus confined to a
plane of existence entirely below that of the
spiritual his consciousness distinguishes noth-
ing higher than the plane of his attention.

These facts have been demonstrated with
as much scientific exactness and certainty as
has the physical fact that by the action of
electricity, light may be produced, power
generated and messages transmitted.

Let it be also distinctly understood that
the process by and through which these dem-

39

THE GREAT KNOWN

onstrations may be accomplished with per-
fect safety and the most intense satisfaction
to the individual is neither hypnotic nor
mediumistic, nor in any other manner of a
subjective nature.

It will doubtless be observed that the
writer speaks with unqualified assurance as
to the facts stated. The question naturally
arises, "How does he know these things?"

For the partial satisfaction of those to
whom a definite answer would be deemed of
special interest or value, the author wishes
to state that they are the results of his own
personal experiences, studies and demonstra-
tions, together with the results of his instruc-
tion during the many years he has been
engaged in acquiring the knowledge which
enables him to speak with unconditional
assurance.

CHAPTER IV

THIRTEEN PLANES

There are known to be thirteen distinct
planes of life and matter — including the
physical — ^which invest this physical planet,
and through which the individual man and
woman must pass in their evolutionary flight
from the lowest, which is the one we are now
on, to the highest which is the thirteenth.

Each of these is finer than its predecessor,
and its activities are correspondingly more
intense. It is impossible, however, for any-
one to understand or appreciate just what
this means, in all its various phases, until he
has had the personal experience of passing
from one spiritual plane to another. As an
example, one has very little idea of what the
transition from the physical plane into the
first spiritual plane would mean, until after
it had been accomplished.

Here is a fact of Nature which has not
been explained before: The spiritual plan&s

41

THE GREAT KNOWN

of life are not identical in location. True,
they are identical in space insofar as each
lower plane extends out beyond the surface
of the earth.

The first spiritual plane interpenetrates the
earth to its center, but it extends out far be-
yond the surface of the physical earth. There-
fore, it is identical with the physical earth
plane as far as the earth plane extends. But
the outer surface of the first spiritual plane —
upon which the inhabitants of that plane nor-
mally dwell — is many leagues out in space
beyond the surface of the earth.

In the same way, the second spiritual
plane is identical with the earth — as far as
the earth plane extends — and also identical
with the first spiritual plane — as far as the
first spiritual plane extends — but the surface
(upon which its inhabitants normally live,
move and abide) is far out in space not only
beyond the surface of the earth, but beyond
the surface of the first spiritual plane, and
correspondingly farther away from the earth
plane. In like manner, the surface of the
third spiritual plane is far out in space be-
yond the surface of the second, and it com-

42

THIRTEEN PLANES

pletely surrounds the earth. The surfaces of
the fourth, fifth, and so on, to and including
the thirteenth plane, are correspondingly
farther and farther out in space from the
surface of the physical earth. And each
spiritual plane completely surrounds and
penetrates all those below it, including the
physical earth as the nucleus, or core, of the
planet called "earth."

Because of this natural phenomenon the
Wise Teachers have named the first seven
planes (including the physical and the first
six spiritual) the ''Terrestrial Planes" of life.
The remaining six spiritual planes they des-
ignate as ''Celestial Planes" of life.

It would seem that, in the spread of spir-
itual education upon the earth plane, there is
either no knowledge of the existence of any
but the seven terrestrial planes of life; or,
it has not been deemed necessary or wise to
mention the celestial planes which lie above
and beyond the terrestrial.

Intervening between the purely physical
plane and the first pure spiritual plane is the
magnetic field, which partakes very strongly

43

THE GREAT KNOWN

of the material, or magnetic conditions, of
both planes which bound it. It combines,
in certain definite relations and proportions,
the magnetism of the earth plane with the
magnetic conditions of the lowest and coarsest
stratum of the first spiritual plane.

Each of the spiritual planes, as well as the
Magnetic Field, is composed of certain
variations of condition which may, in a
technical sense, be designated as "Strata."

There are three basic, primary and posi-
tive strata. Then there are four secondary,
composite strata. Finally, there are six defi-
nitely distinguishable strata which seem to
be mathematical combinations of those which
lie below them in point of condition.

These definite strata are not separated
from each other by any space demarkations.

They are differentiated from each other
by varying degrees of refinement of the ma-
terial conditions of which the entire plane or
Field is composed.

They are significant of the thirteen definite
and distinct evolutionary steps to which an
individual must ascend in his progressive

THIRTEEN PLANES

unfoldment through any given spiritual
plane of life.

These strata are not marked off from each
other by anything of the nature of space de-
markations. In truth, they are not distin-
guishable at all to the individual v^ho is in
the process of evolvement through any given
plane, except that as he passes upw^ard he is
able to look back over the pathway he has
traveled and distinguish those strata over
which he has passed in his upward progress.

The only index by which these varying
strata may be distinguished, by one who has
passed through them, is by the phenomenon
of color. The reason the individual is not
able to distinguish these varying colors while
he is passing through them is, that he is with-
out the means of contrasting them with each
other. This ability, however, he acquires as
he passes upward through any given plane.
He cannot see ahead of him into evolutionary
conditions of refinement and activity which
are yet above and beyond him; but he can see
into those through which he has evolved.
This is why the evolving individual can see
and distinguish the colors through which

45

THE GREAT KNOWN

he has passed, but cannot see those which
lie yet beyond his state and condition of
development.

But, let us suppose he has evolved through
the first spiritual plane, and is now in the
second. From his higher spiritual condition
of evolution, he is able to look back at the
first spiritual plane and, looking into it, he
is able to see distinctly each and all of the
thirteen distinguishing colors, as well as
many intermediate shades of color which
bridge the evolutionary spaces between the
different strata colors.

The three which stand out most clearly
and distinctly to his vision are the three pri-
mary colors — red, yellow and blue. He is
able to distinguish the spiritual conditions
of refinement and activity which are indi-
cated by those three primary colors, and the
order in which they are named is the order
in which the individual approaches them in
his evolutionary journey upward and On-
ward through any given spiritual plane.

Then follow in the order of their distinct-
ness the four secondary colors — orange,
green, indigo and violet. These seem to be

46

THIRTEEN PLANES

indeterminate strata, which in point of their
degrees of refinement and material condition,
bridge the conditions which lie between
those expressed by the three primary colors.
Consequently, although clearly enough dif-
ferentiated to be equally distinguishable,
they do not stand out with the same positive
and obtrusive distinctness which character-
izes the three primary colors.

Then follow the six still less positively
marked strata which represent the interme-
diate degrees of refinement lying between
the secondary colors and conditions. These
are distinctly harmonic colors, forming
mathematical nodes which stand out with
sufficient distinctness to be distinguished by
one who has passed beyond them in his
evolutionary journey toward LIGHT.

But there arc yet innumerable tints and
shades of condition and corresponding color
which run between the thirteen distinct con-
ditions which have been indicated, called
strata. These, however, do not stand out
with sufficient distinctness and individuality
to give them the importance of distinct
strata. They are, rather, the intermediate

47

THE GREAT KNOWN

tintings with which the Great Eternal Paint-
er fills in the delicate effects upon his great
Canvas of Nature.

4t

CHAPTER V

GRAVITY

The Universal Law of Gravity is Nature's
gravimeter by v^hich Nature determines the
evolutionary status of the souls of men and
women in this life as well as in the life to
come.

Under and by virtue of this Universal Law
of Gravity each one of us at physical death
either rises or sinks — as the case may be — to
a level of spiritual life and evolution exactly
commensurate with his life and development
immediately prior thereto.

That is to say, in our essential being the
transition called death does not affect us. We
are neither essentially wiser nor essentially
better upon our entry into that life than we
are upon our exit from this, save and except
in just so far as the experience of making the
transit itself is concerned.

In just so far as we have been subjects of or
slaves to our evil appetites, passions, desires

49

THE GREAT KNOWN

and propensities here, we remain so there un-
til by the power of self-control we lift our-
selves above them to higher levels of spiritual
life. In so far as we have been subjects of
the Destructive Principle of Nature here, we
remain so there until we are liberated
through the development of the latent power
of self-control.

Thus, under the operation of the Universal
Law of Gravity this physical life is fraught
with momentous significance and unlimited
possibilities. It is, in fact, the training ground
from which we pass to a higher conflict. The
life we live here determines the level to which
we gravitate there.

We may, if we will, so avail ourselves of
the opportunities of this life as to lift the soul
at physical death above the Line of Victory
into the realms of light and life and Individ-
ual Immortality. Or, we may by our indif-
ference to the possibilities of another life
develop a Spiritual Gravity which at phys-
ical death will carry us into that great middle
psychological state which lies below the Line
of Victory and above the Line of Despair,

50

GRAVITY

but still within the midst of the great battle
of life.

In like manner, by complete surrender
to the destructive power of our evil appe-
tites, passions, desires, impulses, emotions
and propensities, or by the deliberate and in-
tentional abuse of the knowledge we possess
and the forces we command we may destroy
the powers by which it is possible for us to
ascend the scale of evolutionary development.
By the intentional abuse of knowledge and the
deliberate misuse of power we may establish
a Spiritual Gravity which at physical death
will carry us at once below the level of the
Line of Despair into the realm of spiritual
darkness and spiritual death.

These are not the poetic imaginings of a
Dante nor a Milton. They are not the charm-
ing mysticism of a Balzac nor a Corelli. They
are not the metaphysical misconceptions of
any creed or religion. On the other hand,
they are the determined results of a definite
science.

Under the Universal Law of Gravity in its
relation to the evolution of individual intel-
ligence, Individual Immortality is an achieve-

THE GREAT KNOWN

ment of the Soul and not an arbitrary impo-
sition of God or Nature upon all mankind
without regard to individual choice. It is a
reward guaranteed by Nature to each indi-
vidual man and woman for the right applica-
tion of acquired knowledge and the right
use of developed powers.

In its evolutionary ascent under the pater-
nal dominion and guidance of God, or Na-
ture, or Universal Intelligence (whichever
term may best express the intelligence which
manifests itself in all the forces, activities
and processes of Nature), the individual-
ized, intelligent entity reaches its "majority,"
so to speak, when it arrives at the estate of
man.

At this evolutionary point the Great Intel-
ligence invests the individual entity with the
soul attributes of Self-Consciousness, Reason,
Independent Choice, and an independent,
self-conscious and rational Volition necessary
to its self-preservation and independent ac-
tion; then severs the tie which makes it a
"Child of Nature" and emancipates it from
all paternal dominion and control.

The individual, by virtue of the Soul at-

S3

GRAVITY

tributes with which he is thus invested, comes
to his "majority" with a full and complete
understanding and recognition of his eman-
cipation from paternal authority, and volun-
tarily assumes the duties, obligations and re-
sponsibilities which his freedom imposes.
This is why he calls himself a "free moral
agent" and a "responsible individual intelli-
gence." He attains this status by the simple
process of Nature over which he has no con-
trol whatever. And yet, he knows that from
the moment or the instant he reaches this
point in the process of his individual unfold-
ment he occupies a wholly different position
before Nature's law.

So it appears that under the evolutionary
process the individual entity, without further
act, process or formality, reaches its majority
at the estate of man. From the instant he
emerges from the infancy of animal nature
into the estate of man he can no longer hold
Nature or the Great Intelligence responsible
for his own individual life or conduct. He
can no longer demand or claim paternal pro-
tection as an inalienable right, save and ex-
cept as he earns it. He is no longer bound by

S3

THE GREAT KNOWN

filial duties, obligations or responsibilities,
save such as he voluntarily assumes.

By obedience to Nature's law we discharge
lour individual responsibility and thereby
earn Nature's reward therefor, which is In-
dividual Immortality. And this, to us, is
Compensatory Justice.

By our violation of this same great law we
incur the penalty which Nature prescribes
therefor, which, according to the terminology
of Natural Science, is Spiritual Death, the
Second Death, or total Individual Extinction.
And this, to us, is Retributive Justice.

Thus, in its final analysis the Law of Jus-
tice, as it is known and exemplified in the
realm of the soul's citizenship, is the law of
individual Life and Death. Under the oper-
ation of this law the right of individual and
independent choice is an inalienable and in-
violable right of every individual man and
woman.

In accordance therewith man is, in the most
exact and literal sense, the arbiter of his own
destiny. He goes to that destiny, whether it
be in the realm of light and life and Immor-
tality, or in that of darkness, disintegration

54

GRAVITY

and Death, because he and he alone has so
elected. And this is the scientific "Doctrine
of Election."

A more comprehensive understanding of
the Universal Law of Gravity may be ob-
tained by noting the interesting manner in
which it exemplifies itself in the daily lives
of men and women upon the plane of this
present physical life.

Humanity everywhere, in a large and gen-
eral sense, groups itself in accordance with
this law.

For illustration, men whose lives are dom-
inated by political ambitions, political mo-
tives or political interests, in general, are
drawn together by this same Law of Gravity
and they form themselves into political clubs.
They naturally gravitate to the common level
of "politics."

Men and women who are attracted by the
same ethical or religious creeds, principles
and purposes gravitate together by virtue of
the same law and form themselves into
churches or societies. They meet upon the
common level of the creed or ethical standard

55

THE GREAT KNOWN

they adopt and the work in which they
engage.

Men and women whose lives are dominated
by the glitter and license of wealth are drawn
together by the common bonds of estheticism,
vanity and licentiousness and form themselves
into exclusive social sets. Under the opera-
tion of the same law they gravitate to the so-
called fashionable sections of all the great
cities of the world. Here they build them-
selves mansions and castles and surround
themselves with all the beauty, luxury and
license that wealth can buy.

Men and women who are ruled by the lusts
of the flesh, but without the wealth to pur-
chase social and legal amenities, gravitate to-
gether upon the common level of the brothel
and the house of prostitution. By the same
law they are found grouped together in the
slums of all the great cities. In recognition
of the moral and spiritual level to which they
naturally gravitate the women of this class
have come to be known with singular signifi-
cance as the ''demi-monde," or the under-
world of society.

Si

GRAVITY

And so it is with those who are moved to
action by the nobler inspirations of life.

In the progress of evolution from the lower
to higher planes of life, the individual is
aware of the fact that upon the earth plane,
and also upon the first six spiritual planes of
life, he is under the influence, or "pull," of
gravity. That is to say, he realizes that there
is always and everjrwhere a constant pull
upon him toward the center of the earth,
growing less and less as he advances. But
when he passes from the sixth spiritual plane
to the seventh, he senses the fact at once that
he has reached a point of development and
refinement wherein he has entirely overcome
this so-called "pull of gravity" toward the
earth's center. From that point forward in
his evolutionary unfoldment he knows that
he has not only overcome the material gravity
of earth, but that he has passed into a realm
and a state of being wherein that impulse
seems to be reversed, and the natural tendency
would seem rather to carry him away from
the earth's center than hold him to it.

The higher the individual goes in his evo-
lution upon the spiritual side of life, the far-

57

THE GREAT KNOWN

ther he grows away from the coarse and
primitive conditions of the physical plane of
life. But, in another sense, he is acquiring
new and added knowledge and power which
compensate for and overcome this seeming
loss of touch with the earth plane.

Let me explain: The individual whose
evolutionary development and consequent
spiritual gravity fix him upon the first spirit-
ual plane of life is, in point of material con-
ditions, more closely in touch with the earth
plane than one whose life is normally on the
second spiritual plane. He is many times
more closely in touch with the conditions of
the physical plane than the individual who
has evolved to, let us say, the seventh spiritual
plane.

It is equally true that, in point of location,
the individual upon the first spiritual plane is
closer to earth than is the individual upon
the seventh plane. In other words, the level
to which an individual may rise upon the
spiritual planes of life, immediately after
physical death, depends upon the degree of
spiritual evolution he has attained when death
occurs. If the individual has so lived his life

GRAVITY

upon earth as to overcome the downward pull
of the Universal Law of Gravity and earned
the spiritual right to dwell upon the first,
second, third, fourth, or fifth spiritual plane,
or even higher, the Law of Gravity will carry
him at once to the exact level of spiritual life
to which he is justly entitled under the evo-
lutionary Law of his Being. Thus he will
see that the Law of Evolution is at work
while the individual is yet upon the phys-
ical plane, just as actively and potently as
it acts after he has passed through the por-
tal of physical death and entered into the
''Spiritual Mansion." It is not a very un-
usual thing for one of the children of earth
to pass, immediately after physical death, to
the seventh, or the eighth, or the ninth, or
even the tenth spiritual plane of life. And it
is possible for one of the Great Souls to pass
on into the thirteenth plane at once and with-
out hindrance. This, however, is one of the
great achievements of individual life and
evolution.

The limitations of the Universal Law of
Gravity, at any given time, are those fixed
and determined by the evolutionary status

59

THE GREAT KNOWN

of the individual at that time. The evolution-
ary possibilities of Individual Intelligence,
or the Soul of Man, are limitless, so far as
we know. Hence, the Universal Law of
Gravity seems to be a fact of Nature with
infinite progressive possibilities. It is in-
fluenced by whatever affects the evolutionary
status of the Individual Soul, or Entity.

Thus the Universal Law of Gravity obtains
upon all the planes and in all the conditions of
life both here and hereafter, as far as it has
been possible to follow its operations. It ex-
emplifies itself in all the departments of Na-
ture and upon all the levels of individual life,
so far as we know them.

Under the Compensatory side of this law
every unselfish act done in behalf of one's fel-
low man brings to the benefactor a definite
soul reward. It lightens the Gravity of the
Spirit and permits the Soul to rise in obedi-
ence to the law of its essential being to realms
of greater light and fuller life.

Under the Retributive side of this same law
every act of this life or the life to come, so far
as we know, which purposely deprives a fel-
low man of that which of right is his brings to

60

GRAVITY

the wrongdoer a definite soul retribution. It
increases and intensifies his Spiritual Gravity
and in obedience to the law of his essential
being he sinks toward the realm of darkness
and spiritual death.

Under its Compensatory side every unself-
ish act which brings comfort, aid, joy, happi-
ness or good to another carries with it the
obligation upon the one so receiving to give in
equal measure to those who need.

Under its Retributive side every act of this
life or of the life to come, so far as known,
which purposely deprives a fellow man of
that which of right is his thereby fixes upon
the wrongdoer the individual responsibility
of righting the wrong himself if it be within
his power, otherwise of rendering an equiva-
lent service to those who need that which he
can give.

Under the twofold aspect and operation of
this great law the individual who knowingly
and intentionally surrenders an inalienable
right of the soul can never entirely recover it
by his own individual effort alone. He must
seek for and obtain the help of those who are
able to give that which by such a surrender

61

THE GREAT KNOWN

he has permitted to pass beyond the limits of
his own individual powers.

When the hypnotist, therefore, emerges
from the valley of the shadow of death freed
from the encumbrance of a physical body he
realizes that the demands of his subjects have
long since matured. He finds those whose
inalienable rights he has sequestered (and
who have not yet been able by the help of
others to regain them) awaiting his coming.

A leading hypnotist of this country is re-
ported to have fixed the number of his sub-
jects at something like two thousand. He
thus confesses judgment in advance in favor
of each and every one of these individuals
when he shall stand with them upon the com-
mon level of spiritual life. To whatever ex-
tent he has deprived each one of these two
thousand subjects of the inalienable right and
power of self-control, to that extent he has
irrevocably fixed upon himself the burden of
retribution. In the same measure he has in-
voked upon himself the operation of the Law
of Gravity. Under its immutable provisions
he must sink to the level of the law's demands.

Thus it is that under the Law of Retributive

62

GRAVITY

Justice the man who enslaves the souls of his
fellow men, by the same act forges about his
own neck the iron collar of servitude. In the
realm of the soul the tyrant master becomes
the slave of his own tyranny. Nor can he
escape from this self-imposed bondage save
by the narrow and steep pathway of servitude.
He cannot claim emancipation for himself
until the Law of Retributive Justice is fully
satisfied.

Their demands, being duly presented and
verified in accordance with the "Statutes of
Nature," are scheduled in the inventory of his
fixed liabilities. Not only this, every such
demand is a "preferred claim" under the law
of its creation. It is therefore not subject to
"discount." It cannot be compromised nor
"prorated." It must be paid "in full."

The hypnotist, therefore, finds himself a
spiritual mendicant, a pauper, a defaulting
debtor. He is an insolvent, a bankrupt, with-
out the benefit or advantage of an insolvency
or bankrupt law or proceeding under which
to relieve himself by scaling his liabilities.
What, then, can he do?

There is but one alternative. He must

63

THE GREAT KNOWN

cither repudiate his liabilities and suffer the
penalties which the law prescribes, or he must
throw himself upon the mercy of the court
and ask for time and opportunity to "work
them out."

Precisely the same law governs the relation
of the spiritual control to its medium. The
spiritual intelligence who deprives a medium
of the power of self-control thereby, to the
same extent, forges the chains of servitude
upon himself. In obedience to the same law
he must repair the injury thus wrought, if it
be within his power, and if not, then he must
render an equivalent service to those who need
the help which he can give. There is abso-
lutely no escape if he would rise from this
earthbound condition to higher levels of life
and achievement upon the spiritual planes.

Fortunately, Nature is never impatient with
those who honestly and humbly seek to dis-
charge their just liabilities under her laws.
She never demands more from her citizens
than they are able to perform. To the hyp-
notist, therefore, she would seem to say:
"These are your obligations. You alone are
responsible for their creation. You, therefore,

GRAVITY

must liquidate them. While it may not be
possible for you to meet them all at once, you
can at least begin now. If you in good faith
honor the law's demands you shall have what-
ever time the full limit of your abilities may
require to make restitution. Go, therefore,
and in the order of their maturity repay the
debts you owe. By your individual service
you may work them out, rendering to each
and every creditor in rightful turn the full
measure of his just demands."

65

CHAPTER VI

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

In another sense, this is but an expression
of the Great Eternal Law of Gravity which
holds the planets of the physical Universe in
their spiritual orbits, always loyal to the one
center about which they revolve. It is the
Law of Harmony expressing itself in natural
attraction, and, with this concept clearly in
mind, you may understand that the "Music
of the Spheres" is something more than a mere
figure of speech. Indeed, when we have
evolved to a point where our "Cosmic Con-
sciousness" opens to the play of universal
forces, it seems consistent with the logic of
science that we shall be able to hear, under-
stand and enjoy that wondrous Symphony of
Nature — the "Music of the Spheres" — as defi-
nitely as, and with infinitely greater joy than,
we now can hear and enjoy such music as we
are able to produce under present conditions.
Then only shall we be able to understand and

67

THE GREAT KNOWN

appreciate to what sublime heights and depths
the grand Orchestration of Nature transcends
all that we understand as music today.

The fundamental activities and processes of
Nature express her Law of Harmony, in all
the departments of the universe, both phys-
ical and spiritual. In other words, ''The
Music of the Spheres" expresses a scientific
fact. You have no doubt enjoyed the privi-
lege of hearing a great Symphony Orchestra
in its rendition of some of the wonderful
compositions of the great Masters of Music.
It may be that you have sat in Symphony
Hall, in the City of Los Angeles, and listened
to one of the great orchestras. If so, you
know that it is possible to take a great en-
closed space such as that and literally fill it to
its remotest recesses with harmony so intense
as to set in motion every atom of your being
in harmonic sympathy with your environ-
ment. By giving your attention to the indi-
vidual members of the great orchestra, you
can distinguish each individual instrument
as it contributes its relatively small bit to the
sum total of orchestral harmony. But this
requires considerable effort on your part be-

68

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

cause the voice of each individual instrument
blends so perfectly into the harmony of the
orchestral environment that its individual
tones are merged with those of its fellows and
are lost in one great soul-inspiring HAR-
MONY.

Now, go out to the Hollywood Bowl where
the mountains and the starry heavens alone
combine to fix the limits of your environment.
Find a seat well back beyond the boxes and
loges, and there listen to another great or-
chestra. You know that it is made up of
more than 100 individual players, each play-
ing an individual instrument. But now you
cannot identify the voices of the individual
instruments as they lend their individual con-
tributions to the harmony of this greater en-
vironment. You realize the interesting fact
that, as the voices of the individual instru-
ments are merged and lost in the sublime har-
mony of their environment, nothing but the
realization of a complete and perfect Har-
mony pervades your Soul.

When the orchestra swings into the move-
ment of one of the great classics, you shut
your eyes and forget the individual players

69

THE GREAT KNOWN

and instruments, and you follow the whole
orchestration through all the shades, colors
and combinations of harmony, until you sense
but one great, harmonious individuality — •
that of the orchestra alone. There it is, a
great, living, breathing, vibrating, harmoni-
ous Entity, calling to you and lifting your
Soul up above all the petty things of life, into
a realm where only HARMONY reigns.

Now go back with me to the moments when
the members of the orchestra are all in their
places but the conductor has not yet appeared.
Listen now to the individual instruments, as
the player of each is either tuning it up, or is
playing over and over some difficult musical
phrase in one of the numbers that make up
the evening program. Each individual mem-
ber is doing something of the same nature,
but it is a case of "every fellow for himself."
There is no concert of action, and each indi-
vidual instrument is just talking to, playing
for and communing with its master, without
regard to any of its neighbors and fellows.
As a result you hear only a concatenation of
discordant sounds which gives you an impres-
sion of some great, harmonious, musical en-

70

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

tity that has been broken into a thousand in-
dividual pieces, and each individual piece is
screeching its protest against all the rest.

But now sit quietly listening, not to the in-
dividual noises that make up the great dis-
sonant commotion, but to the great ''noise/'
Think of it as just one great, noisy individual,
until you are able to sense it as such. Now,
if you will fix your mind upon it, you will
discover the strange fact that all these inde-
pendent, disjointed sounds merge themselves
into a definite musical tone. It is an individ-
ual sound. And if you will slowly let your
own voice softly run the musical scale, you
will find that there is some one tone of the
scale that is in perfect unison with the great,
multiple dissonant tone of the '^shattered"
orchestra.

That tone represents the disjointed individ-
uality of the orchestra. Nevertheless, it is a
distinct musical tone.

Again: During the recess, when each indi-
vidual of the audience is at liberty to talk and
chat with his friends and neighbors, listen to
them. At first you hear only so many indi-
vidual vocal sounds, just chattering. There

71

THE GREAT KNOWN

is no unity, there is no harmony. But listen,
as you did to the orchestra, and slowly it will
come to your consciousness that the sum total
of all those thousands of individual voices
merges into one single tone. It is a musical
tone, because if you begin and slowly run the
scale with your own voice, you will find that
there is just one tone that is in consonance
with the great "undertone" of the audience.
This one tone stands for the total individuality
of the assembly as a whole.

Now, suppose you had three such audiences
near enough to each other so that a very
sensitive individual could hear the undertone
of each. Suppose also that one of them re-
sponded to C of the musical scale, another to
E, and the third to G, so that you could hear
them all at once. The result would be that
you would hear a perfect musical chord — a
perfect harmony of the first, third and fifth
of the musical scale.

Listen: Can you now realize the fact that
all the individual noises of any given planet
— if they could be heard by an ear sensitive
enough — would merge themselves into just
one single "noise"? This is not only true, but

73

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

that single noise, when its undertone is distin-
guished, will be found to be a distinct musical
tone.

Now let us call upon your creative con-
sciousness a little further. Suppose you had
three great planets out in space, each of which
gave off its undertone, or overtone, so that it
could be heard by the same ear at the same
time. Suppose also that one of these tones
had the musical value of C, one E, and one
G, of the musical scale. What would be the
result? You would he?.r a perfect musical
chord. The harmony would be absolutely
perfect. This would be the "Music of the
Spheres" to which you were listening.

It is a literal and scientific fact of Nature
that every individual planetary system is
made up of individual planets so related to
each other as to represent the most perfect
Harmony. As the individual planets go
spinning in space, each is singing its own cos-
mic tone, if you please, and it is so related to
its fellows that their combined tones consti-
tute absolute HARMONY. Can you not now
conceive of the fact that the great Universal
Intelligence, back of all the manifestations of

73

THE GREAT KNOWN

Nature, has so created and fixed in their
places the millions and billions of planets of
His Universe to make up one great Cosmic
Orchestra which expresses the infinite concept
of universal Harmony?

It is not intended to convey the idea that
this is a subject which lies within the limita-
tions of exact science. The concept, how-
ever, is one which comes directly from the
Great School. The explanation was given
to the writer by one of the Masters of Natural
Science who, for many years, held the official
position of Instructor of the School. Since
then the subject has been under consideration
many times, and the known facts of science
have been applied to it, as far as human intel-
ligence could go. It seems to meet the logic
of science at every point and appeals to reason
as consistent with the known facts of Nature.

CHAPTER VII

SPIRITUAL TRANSITIONS

Individuals pass from physical death di-
rectly into any or all of the various spiritual
planes or conditions of life, from the mag-
netic field, to the thirteenth plane. The de-
termining factor — under the Universal Law
of Gravity — is the evolutionary status at
which the individual has arrived when phys-
ical death overtakes him. Whatever devel-
opment he has attained, under the great
Law of Evolution, fixes with scientific cer-
tainty, the spiritual plane — as well as the
stratum within that plane — to which he will
rise the moment physical death liberates him
from the plane of earth.

It is not true, therefore, that all pass from
death into the magnetic field. It would be
fair, though not an absolutely correct state-
ment, to say that a very large percentage of
humanity pass directly from physical death
into the magnetic field. This, however,

75

THE GREAT KNOWN

might convey a wrong impression, if left
without further explanation. For instance,
many of those who pass directly into the
magnetic field remain there but a very short
time — often but a day, a week, or a month —
long enough to awaken to a full realization
that they are no longer upon a physical plane
in the physical body, and long enough to di-
vest themselves of the physical, magnetic
bond which binds them to their former phys-
ical life. Thence they pass into the first spir-
itual plane, and from there they evolve in
accordance with their several conditions.

It would seem that possibly one-half of all
humanity stops in the magnetic field, for
some period, from a few hours to many years
of time — depending upon their evolutionary
status at the time of physical death, together
with their desire (or lack of it), their earnest
eflFort (or lack of it), to rise above that plane
and condition of life.

Leaving this magnetic field out of our
count, because of the fact that it is so inti-
mately connected with the physical plane be-
low and the first spiritual plane above it, we
will say that the Soul passes through this half-

76

SPIRITUAL TRANSITIONS

way plane in its flight to the first spiritual
plane. But when it arrives upon the first spir-
itual plane it is able to realize the fact that it
is in a vastly more refined and intense material
body, and that it is moving in the midst of a
world of material things that seem especially
consistent with and fitted to its refined body.
In due time the individual learns that he has
passed out of the coarse, slow-moving, phys-
ical world, and has entered a world of much
greater refinement and intensity" of activity.
In passing from the first spiritual plane to
the second, one does not "die" in exactly the
same way he does when he passes from this
earth plane into the first spiritual plane. It
is true that one passes out of the material
body he inhabits on the first spiritual plane,
and finds himself inhabiting another and a
finer material body upon the second spiritual
plane. But there is no complete lapse of con-
sciousness in making the transition. Before-
hand he is prepared for the change, and
knows almost to the hour when it will occur.
When the time comes he realizes that he is
withdrawing, or being withdrawn, from the
material body on the first spiritual plane. He

77

THE GREAT KNOWN

knows also that he is being received into the
second spiritual plane.

There is another respect in which the tran-
sition from the first spiritual plane to the sec-
ond differs from physical death. That is,
it is accompanied by no previous suffering of
any kind. It seems to be more like a "grad-
uation" from one school to another.

In passing from the second spiritual plane
to the third, the conditions attending the tran-
sition are entirely conscious. The same rela-
tive conditions follow each transition but with
the fuller consciousness of a progressive un-
foldment.

Those who claim to know from actual ex-
perience, tell us that in passing to the sixth
spiritual plane of life the last material body
is left behind. Beyond that point, the proc-
ess of passing from one plane to the next
above it involves merely the refining of the
same material body, and thereafter it is truly
a "graduation" rather than a dissolution.

There comes a time in the spiritual evolu-
tion of every Soul that has been "born of
woman" upon the plane of earth, when the
evolving Soul ceases to manifest itself person-

78

SPIRITUAL TRANSITIONS

ally upon the earth plane, or even upon any
of the lower planes of spiritual life upon this
planet.

This is suggested by what the Great Friends
tell us of the "Interplanetary Life and Con-
ditions" which obtain after the individual has
completed his evolution upon the thirteenth
plane of life upon this planet. Nothing but
the personal experience ever can give to any-
one more than a very imperfect intellectual
concept of exactly what each transition means,
and just what changes attend it. But the same
general principle of ''motion and number," or
refinement and activity, prevails.

In point of actual distance, the inhabitants
of the thirteenth plane, when they are living
and moving normally upon the surface of that
plane, are vastly farther away from the inhab-
itants of the earth than are the inhabitants of
the first spiritual plane, or of the magnetic
field.

But one must remember that the individual
who has evolved to the thirteenth plane also
has acquired the knowledge and the added
power which together enable him to retrace
his steps back through all the spiritual condi-

79

THE GREAT KNOWN

tians intervening, and to stand upon the plane
of the physical earth. In order to do this,
however, he must take on, or invest himself
with, the conditions of all the several inter-
vening planes of life and materiality. While,
in one sense, the actual doing of this involves
a corresponding effort on the part of the indi-
vidual who thus desires to descend from the
thirteenth plane and personally visit the sur-
face of the material earth plane of life, at the
same time, one must keep in mind the fact
that in evolving to the thirteenth plane he has
acquired the added knowledge and power
which enable him to make this descent into
the coarser conditions of materiality. And in
the possession of this added knowledge and
power, one can understand that it is, in es-
sence, no more difficult for him to return from
the surface of the thirteenth plane than it is
for him to descend from the surface of the
tenth, when he had only evolved to that plane
and condition of life and had acquired the
knowledge and added power which go with
that degree of evolution.

Hence, in this sense, it could hardly be said
with scientific exactness, that he is "less in

80

SPIRITUAL TRANSITIONS

touch" with the plane of earth than he was
when he had evolved only to the first spiritual
plane of life and conditions.

But here is another phase of the subject
which must be taken into account: As the
individual evolves to higher planes, his nor-
mal life, activities and labors are upon the
surface of his own plane of life. Whatever
he may desire to accomplish for the benefit of
those in the plane or planes below him, is
normally accomplished by the aid and co-
operation of those in the planes below him.
That is to say, if one in the thirteenth plane
desired to accomplish a definite work for the
inhabitants of the earth plane, he would em-
ploy the services and the aid of the inhabitants
of the next lower plane (the twelfth), who
would hand it down to the next, and so on,
until when it had reached the first spiritual
plane there would be those upon that plane
fully equipped and ready to do the thing de-
sired. This is the general method employed
in such events. But it does not mean that the
individual could not himself descend to the
plane of earth and accomplish the thing de-
sired, or superintend its accomplishment.

SI

THE GREAT KNOWN

One of the things which every individual
must learn, when he passes through one spir-
itual plane to the next higher, is how to take
upon himself the material conditions of the
lower plane from which he has passed. To
make this entirely clear, when one makes the
transition from the first spiritual plane to the
second, it is necessary to learn how to clothe
oneself in the material conditions of the first
spiritual plane. In other words, every indi-
vidual on the spiritual side of life must be
able to manifest himself and his presence
upon each and all of the spiritual planes be-
low him. This is one of his important duties.
It is by the right use of his knowledge that he
is able to clothe himself in the material condi-
tions of any of the lower spiritual planes.

The various "planes" represent the differ-
ent states and conditions of materiality
through which the individual Soul must pass
on its way to its individual goal — whatever
and wherever that may be. The only things
that remain fixed and permanent, in this re-
gard, are the "planes" themselves and the con-
ditions of individual life they represent. The
individual himself is never in a state or condi-

82

SPIRITUAL TRANSITIONS

tion of '^fixedness." He is forever mov-
ing. He is ''passing through" these various
"planes," on his vs^ay to Individual Comple-
tion. As he passes from one plane to another,
he makes v^ay for another to follow him.
Hence, in a sense, the great stream of human
life upon the spiritual planes, just as it is on
the physical, is moving on and on in an end-
less procession — coming in at the "bottom"
and going out at the "top." Thus, as rapidly
as one generation passes out of any plane of
life, another comes in. Nature herself takes
care of the problem of "congestion" in her
ov^n w^ay — and in the only way that could
possibly solve it.

83

CHAPTER VIII

SPIRITUAL LIGHT AND COLOR

To those whose spiritual evolution is such
as to leave them in the lov^est round of the
magnetic field, the condition is that of al-
most, but not quite, complete darkness. From
that deep shade of darkness there is a gradual
ascending of the scale tov^ard Light. At the
point just before it emerges into the pure
spiritual plane, it represents a fair analogy to
the bright moonlight of the earth plane.

Running through the entire magnetic field
there is also a phenomenon of the color
scheme of Nature that is perfectly clear and
distinct to one who is able to look at it from
the higher spiritual view. But the individual
who spiritually belongs in the magnetic field,
is unable to see these colors, except as he has
passed through them from the earth side.

In the process of individual evolution and
unfoldment from lower to higher planes of
spiritual life, there is always a corresponding

85

THE GREAT KNOWN

increase in the intensity of the vibratory state
and condition of the material organism, or
body, of the individual. This increase in the
vibratory activity of the body manifests itself
by a corresponding increase of light.

In passing from the lower to the higher
planes of spiritual life, the individual de-
velops within himself the dynamic powers
and elements of Light exactly corresponding
with his degree of evolutionary unfoldment.
The material body, as it evolves upon the
spiritual planes of life, becomes a dynamo of
ever-increasing power and light.

The Great Friends who are far above and
beyond us in their evolutionary unfoldment,
come from their several abodes in the higher
realms of spiritual life and clothe themselves
in the material conditions of all the interven-
ing planes of life between them and the first
spiritual. The light which radiates from them
is so intense, and the power of its active radia-
tion so irresistible, that the spiritual eyes of
a physical individual would be blinded for a
time, at least, until they would be able to ad-
just themselves to the dynamic force and
condition of their presence and environment.

86

SPIRITUAL LIGHT AND COLOR

Since this condition obtains, one can readily
understand and appreciate to what added de-
gree of intensity and dynamic power it would
obtain in the case of psychics who have been
developed through the subjective process of
mediumship. In truth, it would be impossi-
ble for the Great Friends to manifest their
presence to a medium (unprotected) without
destroying his or her spiritual sight entirely,
for the time being.

The evidence of personal unfoldment and
spiritual progress translate themselves to the
senses as added LiGHT. While it is true that
one takes on the material conditions of the
spiritual planes when he comes to the physical
plane, it is also true that back of these mate-
rial conditions, and shining through them,
are the higher and more intense vibratory
conditions of the finer spiritual bodies within.
In other words, each spiritual plane reflects
some of its intensity, in the form of light, upon
each and all of the planes that lie below it.

This will explain why it is that the presence
of one of the Great Souls upon any spiritual
plane is always accompanied by a marvelous
halo of light. And that is why so many upon

THE GREAT KNOWN

the earth plane, whose spiritual senses have
been temporarily opened, have been so vividly
impressed with the conviction that they have
seen the Master Jesus. The various physical
representations of that Great Master have al-
most universally been made to show a halo of
light either about his head, or enveloping his
entire body — as in the artistic representations
of the supposed "Ascension" of the Master.
These artistic representations have educated
the majority of mankind, upon the physical
plane, into the idea and the conviction that
wherever the Master goes he walks in the
midst of a "Great Light." This, in turn, has
been followed by the idea that, if He should
ever appear to anyone upon the earth plane,
it would be in the midst of a great, miraculous
illumination. And it is but one more step for
them to assume that this luminosity of pres-
ence is the special and exclusive sign, index,
or badge of the Master Jesus. Hence, when-
ever any spiritual individual has manifested
itself in the midst of a great radiance of light,
this fact alone has been accepted as positive
evidence that the individual could be none
other than the Master Jesus.

88

SPIRITUAL LIGHT AND COLOR

The writings since the great war mention
the fact that the Master Jesus was seen upon
the battlefields of Europe, by many of the
soldiers; and that the evidence of His iden-
tity was definitely established by the fact that
he appeared in the midst of a wonderful halo
of Light.

Now, whilst I believe in the perfect hon-
esty and sincerity of those who have been so
profoundly impressed; nevertheless, I am
convinced, in my own mind, that they are
mistaken as to the identity of the Great Mas-
ter. In the first place, any Great Soul from
a higher spiritual plane, manifesting to indi-
viduals upon the earth plane — as in this in-
stance— would appear in the midst of a great
and wonderful light. Hence, the presence of
light is not the distinctive sign, index or badge
of the Master Jesus, but belongs to any and
all Advanced Souls upon the higher planes of
spiritual life who manifest themselves under
similar conditions.

I have never ceased to reverence the Mar-
tyred Master Jesus, yet it has never been my
great privilege to see Him, nor in any manner
whatsoever to sense His immediate presence.

89

THE GREAT KNOWN

I have been present on occasions when in-
dividuals in the physical body have obtained
spiritual glimpses of spiritual presences ac-
companied by light. In every such instance
the individual believed he or she was in the
presence of the Master Jesus. But I, who
was present, and personally knew the Lumi-
nous One, knew that the individual was mis-
taken in his assumption as to the personality
of the Master.

The various states of consciousness, which
are in reality states of the Soul, express them-
selves so definitely and so accurately through
the color scheme of Nature, the spiritual aura
of an individual upon the spiritual planes,
through its various gradations and shadings
of color, the psychic spectrum becomes a pow-
erful aid in determining the real experience,
emotions, impulses, desires, anticipations and
purposes of the individual at any given time.
Hence, hypocrisy and deliberate deception
are much more easily discovered upon the
spiritual side of life than upon the physical.
The more advanced the individual is, the
more perfectly does the Soul express itself.
The higher he develops, the less is there either

SPIRITUAL LIGHT AND COLOR

desire or occasion for hypocrisy or deception.

Upon the first spiritual plane it would be
much more possible to conceal hypocrisy than
upon the fourth or fifth — until it becomes
virtually impossible in the Celestial Realms.
Evolution is always TOWARD the Light. Ev-
olution of the individual involves constantly
increasing Knowledge. But, Knowledge —
upon the spiritual planes — expresses itself in
Light. Light is definitely related to the abil-
ity to See. The greater the Light, the more
clearly we see (within the power of the organ-
ism to react to Light) .

And now we come to the significance of
these various colors. They are the objective
phenomena by which Nature indicates the
various degrees and steps by which the indi-
vidual evolves through any given spiritual
plane in his evolutionary progress toward the
Infinite LiGHT which marks the goal of in-
dividual endeavor — at least theoretically.

Since each individual takes on the condi-
tion of each and every stratum, as well as of
each and every intermediate shade and tint,
he therefore expresses in his personality the
exact evolutionary status at which he has ar-

THE GREAT KNOWN

rived at any given time. To those who have
traveled the evolutionary pathway ahead of
him his life is thus an open book. To all who
are ahead of him, upon the path of individual
evolution, his exact status is known by the
color of his spiritual body; or, by the emana-
tions of spiritual vitality which constitute his
spiritual aura.

CHAPTER IX

SPIRITUAL PENALTIES

It is true that those in this physical life who
defy the Laws of Nature, and of Nature's
God, must inevitably suffer the penalties for
all such violations and transgressions. This is
as true of the material bodies of spiritual men
and women as it is of the minds and souls of
those who inhabit the spiritual realm.

In this world of physical material and
earthly conditions the individual who puts his
hand into the fire sufifers Nature's inevitable
penalty for his violation of Natural Law. He
is burned. He thereby suffers pain. The
same Law carries over into the spiritual
world. It is just as true of that world as it is
of this physical world. In the spiritual world
there is the analogous process called spiritual
fire. If spiritual men and women violate
that law, they know full well that they must
suffer its inevitable penalties. Virtually the
only difference is in the nature of the penalty.

93

THE GREAT KNOWN

If we, in this physical life, violate the
moral Law and thereby offend our conscience,
we inevitably suffer mental and psychical tor-
ture. The same is literally true in the spirit-
ual life. In other words, the five spiritual
senses which register the impressions of the
spiritual world upon the Soul, are just as sen-
sitive as are the five physical senses which
register the impressions of this physical world
upon the Soul. Nay, they are even more sen-
sitive, because they are more active and in-
tense. When they are impressed with the
constructive and beneficent conditions and
processes of Nature they convey to the Soul
the sensation of pleasure. When they are im-
pressed by the destructive and disintegrating
conditions and processes of Nature they con-
vey painful conditions and experiences, just
as they do in this physical world.

As we come to the full maturity of our
intelligence and wisdom, we come to know
more and more definitely just what Mother
Nature has in store for us at every step of the
way. When we defy or violate one of her
established organic Laws, we know beyond
the peradventure of a doubt that we are go-

94

SPIRITUAL PENALTIES

ing to suffer for that same defiance and vio-
lation. And, in proportion to our knowledge
of the Law, is our knowledge of exactly just
what her penalty will be. In like manner,
when we comply with the righteous demand
of one of Nature's Laws we know, in exact
proportion to the degree of our knowledge of
the Law itself, not only that we will receive
our just reward, but exactly what that re-
ward will be.

Even the infant, after it has learned by ex-
perience, knows the fire is hot and that if he
defies it he will suffer. He also knows that
the suffering will be in the nature of pain
resulting from the burn. There is no uncer-
tainty about it; and the little individual
learns from experience that he can always
depend upon the same resultant penalty.

On the other hand, the same infant, after
sufficient experience, knows that by comply-
ing with the benign effects of the Law, he
will enjoy the life-giving warmth and com-
fort of that same fire which, under wrong or
destructive conditions, has caused him great
suffering. There is no uncertainty about

95

THE GREAT KNOWN

it. The result is as fixed and definite as the
Law itself is immutable.

This is why the Great Friends and Masters
of Natural Science have said throughout the
ages: "Know Thyself"; for man is an epi-
tome of Nature. He is its microcosm.
Hence, insofar as we know ourselves, we
know Nature and the ultimate goal of man-
kind is to know himself thoroughly; and in
so knowing himself he learns to know Nature
and her Laws, her rewards and her penalties,
that he may walk ever in the sunlight of
Eternal Truth and enjoy the beauties and
beneficences of Nature. Thus he may com-
mand the approval of the Great Universal
Intelligence of which Nature is but a mani-
festation and an objective expression.

The individual who passes from the phys-
ical life into the spiritual is neither better nor
worse, neither wiser nor more ignorant, when
he arrives in the spiritual life than he was
when he departed from the physical. He
takes up the new life exactly where he leaves
off the old. He brings into the spiritual life
all the hopes, ambitions, desires and purposes
which stimulated him to personal eflFort upon

96

SPIRITUAL PENALTIES

the earth plane. If he is profoundly reli-
gious when he leaves the physical life, he
will be profoundly religious when he arrives
upon the spiritual side of life. If he has
been surcharged with all manner of super-
stition during his physical life, he will carry
these superstitions with him over into the
spiritual life. He will be just as deeply im-
pressed with them, and just as profoundly in-
fluenced by them in the spiritual life as he
was in the physical — until he has had time
and opportunity to learn that he has been in
error. This takes time, and often it requires
patient educational effort as well as Faith in
the eternal verities of Nature, and in the
Great Architect of the Universe.

Hence it is, that there are religious fanatics
in the magnetic field, and even in the first
spiritual plane, just as there are in the phys-
ical world. They are equally earnest in their
efforts to impress their beliefs and their su-
perstitions upon their spiritual fellows as they
were upon their physical companions; and
when they learn that it is possible for them to
join with those of the physical life in these
religious revivals and other religious works,

97

THE GREAT KNOWN

many of them do so with all the energy and
enthusiasm they possess. This is the class of
spiritual individuals who attend the revival
meetings assisting the evangelists, the minis-
ters and co-workers in their labor of "Con-
verting" the irreligious, the ignorant and the
superstitious.

The Law of Individual Unfoldmcnt and
Growth is just as inevitable and as true in the
spiritual life as in the physical. The indi-
vidual who expects to find the spiritual life
one of eternal inertia, inaction and "rest," has
in store a great and beneficent surprise. He
finds that physical death is not the end of all
his possibilities of progress. He finds that
the same Law of Individual Unfoldment and
Progress obtains there as here, namely, the
Law of Individual Effort. He learns that the
spiritual life is as truly a life of action as the
physical, but with manifold intensity. He
observes that evolution proceeds in that life
from the exact point to which he attained
in this.

In short, he learns that the spiritual life is
but a continuation of the physical, except
upon a higher and finer plane of intensified

98

SPIRITUAL PENALTIES

activity, and that the Laws of Spiritual Life
are but a natural extension of the Laws of
the physical ; that there is nowhere a break in
the perfect continuity of Nature; that no-
where does this Law of Continuity appear
more wonderful than it does in the evolution
and development of Individual Life, on both
planes of existence.

He learns to know and appreciate the fact
that God, or Nature, bestows upon us our
powers and senses, so that we may use them
in conformity with the Law of Individual
Being; that the fundamental purpose of our
life, both here and there, is based upon the
Law of Service.

If men and women abuse their powers,
their capacities and their just privileges,
they only miss that much of the joyous pos-
sibilities of life; and that is equally as true
upon the spiritual planes as it is upon the
plane of earth. Obedience to Law always
means organic and right development,
growth, unfoldment and the highest meas-
ure of personal enjoyment. Disobedience
and defiance of the Law just as inevitably
bring to the individual penalties which the

99

THE GREAT KNOWN

Law prescribes. And there is no such thing
as evading or avoiding the Law or its con-
sequences.

But, it takes some individuals many years
to learn all these things in a manner to apply
them to their own lives in the spiritual life,
just as many of them never learn the Law of
Individual Unfoldment while they remain
upon the physical.

The individual comes to realize that he
can progress in the spiritual life just as in
the life of earth, only by his patient and per-
sistent Personal Effort along the Pathway of
Evolution. And the progressive intelligence
inevitably comes to appreciate the fact that
the corollary of this is just as true and just as
vitally important, namely, that the sooner he
sets out upon his path of Personal Achieve-
ment, the earlier will he arrive at the natural
goal of his endeavors; that the more intensely
he strives and the more closely he conforms
to Nature's Laws, rules, principles and regu-
lations, the more rapid will be his progress
and the greater the rewards of his labor.

It is of the utmost importance for men and
women yet in the physical body, to under-

100

SPIRITUAL PENALTIES

Stand, as early as possible, that they need not
wait until they arrive upon the spiritual side
of life to begin their study of the noble lesson
nor the application of its principles to their
daily lives and conduct.

For, by their own Personal Effort, in con-
formity with Nature's plan, it is possible for
them to earn her reward, by being permitted
to pass at once through the darkness of the
magnetic field, and to find their natural
spiritual habitat and home far up the heights
of evolutionary unfoldment, in the midst of
the Radiant Splendor beyond all their pres-
ent ideals and concepts. In this, again, we see
the beneficent consistency of Nature in all
her wondrous works. She has so provided
that no effort, even of her humble children,
is ever lost, forgotten or omitted from the
balance-sheet of Individual Life.

Even the lowliest child of earth may enter
upon his journey toward the Light at any
moment he so elects. And he may rest con-
tent in the absolute assurance that every hon-
est effort he exerts in the right direction will
advance him a step nearer the goal toward
which he travels. The rewards of the Law

101

THE GREAT KNOWN

are as inevitable and as sure as the Law itself.

Men may establish their social and civil
laws and customs, and they may evade or
avoid them at will — so long as their fellows
permit them to. Thus they may, and do,
evade and avoid the penalties of their own
self-made laws, in many ways and in many
instances. Not so with the Laws of Nature,
These are inexorable. They need no man or
set of men to enforce them. They are as
automatic in their penalties as they are self-
acting in their rewards. No man can evade
or avoid them. Obedience is the only safe
road, as well as the only just and happy
pathway of life. Hence, obey them to the full
measure of your knowledge and abilities.
This is the Way of Life. It is likewise the
Way of Health. Moreover, it is the Way
of Happiness.

The earlier the individual sets his way-
ward feet in the Evolutionary Pathway and
pushes forward along The Right Way, the
farther he will find himself on his journey
when he crosses the Great Divide.

102

CHAPTER X

SPIRITUAL SOCIOLOGY

It seems difficult for us to learn that the in-
habitants of the spiritual world are only ex-
human beings, in feeling as well as in fact.
We take for granted that all spiritual people
— who are old enough — find serious work to
occupy all their time and efforts. It does not
occur to us that there is a purely social side
to mature spiritual life. Most of us seem to
think the spiritual life is too serious for that.
But, if one w^ill bear in mind the fact that
the spiritual world is but a world of finer
material substance than the physical, but pos-
sessing the same properties, it will help him
to understand the perfect naturalness of the
spiritual life in all its varied manifestations.

It may seem to those in the physical life
that those in the spiritual life have no room
for anything apparently "so frivolous" as so-
cial gatherings, or mere entertainment and

THE GREAT KNOWN

enjoyment — especially among those who are
no longer children.

It will help us if we will remember always
the fact that Nature is consistent. She never
creates anything without a definite purpose.
Having bestowed on us our five channels of
sense, she is careful to furnish us the means
upon which to exercise them in a manner to
derive from them the highest measure of
wholesome enjoyment possible.

Bear this one important fact in mind: The
conditions of the spiritual life are, in every
sense, but a finer replica of the physical.
Science has accomplished many things in the
spiritual life that have not yet been accom-
plished on the physical plane. Especially in
the matter of eating, and of renewing the
spiritual body, they have gone far ahead of
us upon the physical plane. It is not at all
necessary for people upon the spiritual side of
life to go through the process of eating and
drinking to nourish and sustain their spir-
itual bodies. They have learned how to ac-
complish that result by taking, directly from
the elements of spiritual nature about them,
whatever is necessary and proper to sustain

104

SPIRITUAL SOCIOLOGY

the spiritual body. Hence, eating and drink-
ing, in the spiritual life, constitute nothing
more than one of the methods the spiritually
embodied individuals make use of in the en-
joyment of their sensuous epicurean desires.

Through the process of eating and drinking
spiritual people are able to enjoy their senses
of taste and smell far more intensely than it
is possible for us to do through our physical
senses. This is because all the processes and
experiences of Nature and Life are more in-
tense in the spiritual world than they are in
the physical. Hence, there are those in the
spiritual life, as there are in the physical, who
employ much of their time and energies in
catering to the senses of their fellows. The
methods of deriving enjoyment have been re-
duced to a much more exact science upon the
spiritual side of life than they have been
upon the physical.

Sometimes they play games. Sometimes
they have music. Sometimes they dance.
Sometimes they have someone give them an
address on some subject in which they are
mutually interested. Sometimes they just
visit and talk concerning all manner of sub-

105

THE GREAT KNOWN

jects. And sometimes they have a feast of
good things to eat and drink.

Their social enjoyments are correspond-
ingly more intense and their gratifications
correspondingly more perfect.

When spiritual people, on the various spir-
itual planes, meet together for the purpose of
enjoying a feast of the senses, they confine
themselves entirely to the mineral and the
vegetable kingdoms of the spiritual world.
For instance: They have an abundance of
the most delicious fruits of all kinds — many,
in truth, very unlike anything we see upon
the physical plane. It would seem that Na-
ture has stored up in these wonderful fruits
and vegetables every possible shade of enjoy-
able appeal to the senses of taste and smell.
The spiritual people eat these fruits and
vegetables, not because that process is really
necessary to their bodily life — as it is here —
but because they derive from their juices and
essences, the most intense sensuous enjoyment.

Then, again, these harmless and innocent
indulgences of the senses during their social
functions, only add to their social enjoyment
and increase the sense of mutual fellowship.

106

SPIRITUAL SOCIOLOGY

One should be able to understand and appre-
ciate this from the analogous experience upon
this earth plane. No doubt, if he will go back
over his past life, he will agree that some of
the most enjoyable experiences of himself
and his friends have come from the spirit
of fellowship and good cheer, as they have
gathered about the festal board and there
have partaken of the food and drink offered.
Through it all runs the golden thread of mu-
tual companionship, intellectual enjoyment,
real fellowship, and the desire to add to the
happiness of the occasion.

One should bear in mind also, in this con-
nection, that the senses become keener and
more actively responsive in proportion as the
individual evolves from lower to higher
planes of life. Since it is possible for us
upon the physical plane of life to derive
pleasure and satisfaction from the innocent
and proper gratification of our senses, re-
member that upon the higher and finer
planes, those of the spiritual life have a great
advantage over us in that respect. Their en-
joyment of the senses is beyond the ability of

107

THE GREAT KNOWN

the people of this physical plane to under-
stand or appreciate.

They build themselves spiritual houses be-
cause there is in them — as there is in us —
that which craves an abiding place. It may
be that a time will come in our development
when we shall outgrow this "homing" de-
sire. I do not know how this may be; but sO
far as I have traveled the evolutionary path-
way, the concept of "home" seems to be vital
and fundamental in every Soul.

In this they are but following the same
impulse and the sarrie desire which impel us
upon the earth plane to build our homes that
we may have a place wherein to provide
whatever may seem to us necessary and desir-
able in making that particular place attrac-
tive to those we love to have near us. It fur-
nishes us a center of influence toward which
we seek to attract those whose inmost lives
seem to be in harmony with our own. In
these we have our greatest pleasure. Our
"home" constitutes the radiating center from
which our vital influence reaches out and
impresses itself, for good or for evil, upon
the rest of the world.

108

SPIRITUAL SOCIOLOGY

The people of the spiritual world build
their homes from the spiritual materials at
their command. In this they are permitted
far greater facilities for gratifying their
aesthetic tastes and ideals than is possible
upon the earth plane. They all have their
individual concepts of what their own par-
ticular home ought to be in order to make
it conform to their highest and most perfect
ideal. Therefore, they think out their plan
something as we do upon the earth plane.
They then select the kinds of material that
appear to them best adapted to the execution
of that plan. In their homes they employ
all the science and art which they possess, to
make the combination one harmonious whole
which shall express, in the highest measure
possible, their best concept of utility and
beauty combined. The impelling motive is to
make this the central depot of all their in-
dividual enjoyments. Into this home they
invite those whom they love and admire.
There they do what they can to add to their
enjoyment and happiness. With them, far
more than with us upon the earth plane,
home is the center from which they radiate

109

THE GREAT KNOWN

the vital energy of both their personality and
their individuality, for good or for evil, upon
all who come within the radius of their
influence.

In their spiritual homes they are not
bound, as you and I so often are, to harbor
discordant elements; for they obey the nat-
ural Law of Attraction which impels them
all to seek only those who are in harmony
with their own ideals and purposes.

The same general principle, but upon a
broader application thereof, applies in the
development and upbuilding of their spirit-
ual cities and villages.

110

CHAPTER XI

SPIRITUAL EDUCATION

On each spiritual plane there are great
universities, colleges and schools of learning,
covering every department of educational en-
deavor. As soon as the individual conditions
make it possible, those who pass from the
earth plane to the first spiritual plane m.ake
their w^ay to some one of these great educa-
tional institutions. Therein they are taught
all the various branches of learning neces-
sary to their complete education, to qualify
them as loyal and intelligent citizens of their
new environment and state.

The very first thing after arriving on the
spiritual side of life, to attain the largest and
most rapid spiritual growth and develop-
ment is for the individual to adjust himself
to the new environment and conditions of his
life. This involves a careful study of his new
environment, of each and every condition of
life and nature involved in it, a clear and

111

THE GREAT KNOWN

accurate understanding of the meaning and
purpose of each individual phase of that en-
vironment and a definite knowledge of its
effects upon himself. Having done this, he
is in position to know just how to adjust him-
self to the new conditions so that he may
take up his life with the least possible delay,
push forward along constructive lines and
take the next regular step in his own evolu-
tionary unfoldment and growth.

The individual must possess the quality
and degree of Intelligence to enable him to
understand the instructions he is to receive
and how to make an intelligent application
of that knowledge to the Work in which he
is engaged. He must possess natural Desire
for Knowledge which complies with the de-
mands of the Constructive Principle of Na-
ture. It must be a wholesome and construc-
tive desire. He must have the necessary
power of individual Attention, the Moral
Courage, the Determination, the Persever-
ance, the Unselfishness, the Cheerfulness, the
Humility, the Tolerance and all the other
characteristics and qualities of a "Good
Student."

lis

SPIRITUAL EDUCATION

Nature has her own methods of working
out the evolution of humanity. An important
link in the chain of her method is this physi-
cal life. No other link can take its place.
Those who make the most of this life of earth
have traveled far more rapidly toward the
goal of individual life than if they had spent
the same time upon the spiritual plane.
This is because during physical life Nature
is giving the individual a special schooling
fitted exactly to his then existing state and
condition. If he puts forth the same effort
during this earthly schooling he will make
more evolutionary progress than he could
have done had he been on the spiritual plane
making the same effort. Why is this? It is
because the physical life has its own definite
and specific part to perform in the evolution
of the individual. He may overcome the
handicap of not being permitted to take the
physical schooling all the way through, but
it will take him longer just the same.

It is also equally true that, after one has
had the advantage of the physical schooling,
he will progress more rapidly upon the spir-
itual planes. This is simply because Nature

us

THE GREAT KNOWN

knows her own business. She fits the physical
life to the needs of the Soul during the al-
lotted span of physical life. Those who are en-
abled to live out this life through a reasonable
span, have had the very best schooling pos-
sible for them during that part of the journey.
If the individual dies young he is denied the
opportunity — in this one incarnation — to get
the benefit of what physical life can give
him. But, if what the Great Friends tell us
about Reincarnation be true. Nature will
give him his chance some time, and he will
make up anything he may have lost by rea-
son of the misfortune of an early death.

We are taught to look upon the physical
life as equally important with the spiritual,
but not more so. Each, in its proper se-
quence and turn, has its rightful place in the
development of the Individual Intelligence,
or Soul. And the individual, who desires to
hurry on out of this physical life, just because
he finds it hard, or because he has come to
believe the spiritual life will prove more
pleasant, is making one of the greatest mis-
takes possible. If he will just bear in mind
that both lives have their definite and specific

114

SPIRITUAL EDUCATION

parts to conserve in his Unfoldment and Soul
Growth, and then set himself the task of tak-
ing each in its proper turn and making the
most of it, he will find himself much farther
along the Evolutionary Road than if he had
neglected any of the opportunities which
each life affords him, in its turn. Hence, in
the final results, the individual grows most
rapidly in whatever life he is at the time —
provided he avails himself of the oppor-
tunities therein afforded him for develop-
ment and growth. He cannot improve his
condition by trying to hurry over any part
of it, however hard it may be.

The "Border-Land Workers" constitute one
of the most important Schools of Spiritual
Endeavor. Let it be supposed that the indi-
vidual desires to enter upon that specific oc-
cupation. He must pass a rigid examination
before he is permitted to assume the respon-
sibility that every individual Border-Land
Worker must be prepared to discharge in
full. His examination must show — to the
satisfaction of those whose business it is to
pass upon the qualifications of those who en-
ter that service — that he possesses a sufficient

115

THE GREAT KNOWN

degree and quality of each individual char-
acteristic to enable him to develop, under
the necessary instruction and help, all the
qualities and characteristics of a Good Help-
er in the Work. If his Intelligence is de-
ficient, if his earnest Desire is wanting, if
his Moral Courage is lacking, these things
would disqualify him for immediate service.
But if he proved that he possessed all the
necessary qualities in sufficient degree and
quality to develop into a Good Helper,
with time and instruction, he is so classified
and given the right to enter the School of
Preparation.

The earth-bound condition is one which
must be overcome, in some manner, before
it is possible for the liberated Soul to evolve
from the magnetic field of spiritual life.
This is an educational labor which devolves
upon the Border-Land Workers on the spir-
itual side of life. If it could be accom-
plished, the destruction of the physical body
would destroy this earth-bound condition at
once. But, inasmuch as the spiritual workers
have no definite means of accomplishing that
end, they are forced to rely exclusively upon

116

SPIRITUAL EDUCATION

their efforts to educate the individual in the
problem of his own evolutionary develop-
ment until he is able, by the exercise of his
own evolved powers, to break the tie, or
overcome its effects, and thus liberate him-
self from the earth-bound condition.

Those who have attained to a high degree
of spiritual evolution and unfoldment before
physical death overtakes them, are corre-.
spondingly free from the earth-bound con-
dition, from the moment the separation of
the two bodies is complete. Or, if the mag-
netic bond is sufficiently strong to hinder
them in their freedom of spiritual action,
they soon overcome it by their own inherent
power.

In truth, many of the most highly evolved
Souls upon earth have learned to overcome
this magnetic attraction of the physical body,
even before physical death occurs. Such as
these pass directly through the magnetic field
and ascend at once into the pure spiritual
realms.

The entire problem of spiritual evolution
has its foundation in the living of a life in

117

THE GREAT KNOWN

conformity with the individual's highest con-
cept of Equity, Justice and Right.

Such a life results in a constant refine-
ment of the material body in which the indi-
vidual Soul clothes itself upon any given
plane of life. Accompanying this active ex-
emplification of moral principles goes hand
in hand the educational work of the individ-
ual by which he must acquire such knowl-
edge through experience as enables him to
master all those forces and powers which
make it possible for him to prove that he is
ready to pass on to a higher plane of life and
endeavor.

When he has acquired the knowledge nec-
essary upon any given spiritual plane, and
has attained to the degree of refinement
necessary through the exemplification of a
moral life, his preparation for the next
higher round of life and experience is com-
plete and, by the natural law of his Being —
the Law of Spiritual Gravity — he passes on,
leaving behind him the spiritual conditions
which have bound him to the lower plane
of life.

Remember, however, that this process of

lit

SPIRITUAL EDUCATION

refinement through the living of a life may
be accomplished while the individual is yet
in the physical body and upon the earth plane
of life. When he has acquired sufficient
knowledge, together with sufficient refine-
ment of his spiritual body, he may pass out
of the physical plane of life directly into any
plane of spiritual life for which he may thus
have fitted himself to ascend. And that, in-
deed, is one of the most inspiring rewards
which every individual has upon the earth
plane to make his life a living expression of
the Moral Law, and to acquire knowledge
through experience in conformity with the
Evolutionary Principle of Life.

Remember also that no individual effort to
acquire knowledge and experience for benefi-
cent purposes is ever lost. In the great Book
of Nature is recorded every act of true and
unselfish service in the Cause of Humanity.
And every such effort has its specific and ade-
quate reward in the preparation of the in-
dividual Soul for advancement to higher
planes of life, to greater accomplishment and
happiness.

The Man of Nazareth was not deceiving

119

THE GREAT KNOWN

his disciples when He assured them, in ef-
fect, that if they would do the things which
He indicated, and exemplify in their lives
the Law of Evolutionary Unfoldment, the
time would come when they would not only
be able to do the things which they had
marveled at — when they saw Him do them —
but they would be able to accomplish even
"greater things than these".

He was but outlining to them the inevit-
able operation of the great Law of Com-
pensation.

This great Law which is "the same yes-
terday, today and forever" is the key to all
individual unfoldment and development. It
works today exactly as it did two thousand
years ago; yea, even two hundred thousand
years ago, or from the beginning of Time —
if Time ever had a beginning. And it will
continue to work the same inevitable results
to the individual who applies it to his life,
tomorrow, two thousand years hence, or two
hundred million years hence, or until the end
of Time — if Time ever has an ending.

The great fact which I desire to impress
indelibly is this: The Laws of Nature arc

120

SPIRITUAL EDUCATION

fixed and immutable. Her processes are un-
varying and inexorable. Her rewards are
changeless and inevitable. We may rely
upon them today with the same assurance and
the same guaranties as did the Great Friends
— the Wise Men of the East — who followed
the "Star" that led them to their infant Mas-
ter in Bethlehem of Judea. Knowing the
Law, they followed its leading, knowing with
absolute certainty that it would guide them
aright.

The Great Friends of today also know the
Law and they travel the pathway of life with
the same unwavering Faith in the beneficence
of Nature and of Nature's God.

One of the most common errors com-
mitted by those who pass into the spiritual
life, is to take for granted that their earthly
philosophic and religious views are correct.
They seek only to justify their earthly views,
rather than to learn wherein they have been
at fault. The natural result is individual
stultification and a cessation of all spiritual
growth. Such individuals often remain years
upon the magnetic field, before making suf-

121

THE GREAT KNOWN

ficient advance to gravitate to the first spir-
itual plane.

Some years ago a devout minister of the
Baptist Church became interested in the Sci-
ence and Philosophy of the Great School of
Natural Science. It so appealed to his sense
of logic and good sense that, in spite of all
his internal religious protests, he could not
put the philosophy out of his mind or con-
sciousness. He frankly admitted that he was
profoundly disturbed lest he might find,
upon arriving in spiritual life, that his reli-
gious views and doctrines were all wrong.
His friend, during the course of a long and
interesting discussion, asked him what he
would do, if, on arriving in the spiritual life,
he should find things very unlike he had been
preaching them to his congregation:

"I've been thinking about that for some
time, and I've made up my mind, in that
case, to ask the first man I meet on the spir-
itual side of life to tell me where I can go
to find somebody who can teach me the truth
about life. I'm not going to preach baptism,
predestination, foreordination, eternal pun-
ishment, nor infant damnation over there un-

122

SPIRITUAL EDUCATION

til I know more about that life than I do
about this. In fact, I think I'll take a vaca-
tion the first thing, and then organize an ex-
ploration commission to find out the Truth
about life, before I accept another call to
preach."

His attitude of Soul is one that might well
be recommended to a very large number of
those who carry their dogmatism, full blown,
with them into the spiritual life, only to find
their mistakes by the slow process of humil-
iations and defeats.

The open mind is the Highway to Knowl-
edge. Whoso travels that Way will earliest
reach the goal of his desires.

I3S

CHAPTER XII

SPIRITUAL OCCUPATION

One cannot accumulate vast treasures in
money and estates in spiritual life.

^'Service" is the only medium of exchange,
and the individual must therefore earn every-
thing he possesses, and he must earn it in
personal service.

Remember, that a human Soul in a physi-
cal body is the same identical Soul after it
passes on into the spiritual world. The only
difference is in the fact that it has left its
physical body behind. It is just as much a
spiritual being while it yet occupies its physi-
cal body as it is after it has withdrawn from
that body and emerges upon the spiritual
plane clothed in its spiritual body.

The Soul — which is the intelligent essence
of individual life back of all its material
bodies — is the same essential individual at
all times. The real individuality, in fact, is
in the Soul and not in any of its bodies. It

125

THE GREAT KNOWN

is the Soul that sees and hears and feels and
hates and loves and enjoys and suffers. When
it discards its physical body and enters into
the life of spiritual material and spiritual
conditions, it is the same Soul, possessing all
the attributes, the feelings and the desires it
possessed while it yet walked the earth
clothed in its physical body. In other words,
it enters the life of the spiritual at exactly
the point where it leaves off the life of earth.
It is in nowise changed in its essential nature.
In truth, it is just a human being who has
moved into a new neighborhood and a new
environment.

A man who is a "devil" in physical form
will continue to be a "devil" in spiritual form
— until he has learned the great lesson that it
Joes not pay to be a "devil" upon any plane
of life. If he has been a good man on earth
he will continue a good man after he arrives
in the spiritual life, because he will soon
learn that goodness is the only thing that
really pays — in any life. If he has found his
place in music upon the earth plane, he will
continue to find it in music upon the spiritual
plane. If he enjoys social life and entertain-

126

i

SPIRITUAL OCCUPATION

ment upon the physical plane, he will seek
the same upon the spiritual. If his ambition
upon earth has been to become a great artist,
the same ambition will govern him in the
spiritual life, and he will try just as hard
there to gratify that ambition as he did here.

His own natural desire and preference
determine the individual's occupation in the
spiritual life. For instance: If his natural
desire and preference are to become a great
spiritual musician, he is first instructed in
what are the duties and responsibilities of a
"Great Musician" in the world of spiritual
liie. He is made to know just what are the
opportunities which that profession opens to
the individual to serve his fellows. He is
schooled until he knows the Motives that
must govern the musician in the service he is
to render.

Those of the spiritual life have musi-
cal instruments and organizations which
transcend beyond all comparison, anything
we have upon the earth plane. In some of
their great symphony orchestras there are
many thousands of players, using hundreds
of different kinds of musical instruments un-

127

THE GREAT KNOWN

like anything we have in our greatest earthly
orchestras. They also have vocal associations
containing hundreds of thousands of the
greatest vocal artists. To hear one of their
grand operas or concerts is a musical treat to
those who hear it beyond anything that we
of earth are permitted to enjoy. It is in such
instances as these that those of the spiritual
life employ their records for the benefit of
the masses and the public. These records
can be transmitted and reproduced in such
manner that many millions of their people
may thus enjoy their benefits.

At this point arises a suggestion which
should be of especial interest to artists of all
kinds upon the earth plane, including musi-
cians, painters, artistic designers, and so on.
It is this: We upon the earth plane have a
musical scale of only seven distinct tones.
But running between these seven tones of our
musical scale are infinite shades of tone which
are not expressed by any of our arbitrary in-
struments upon the earth plane. Even the hu-
man voice and such instruments as the violin
and the cello conform themselves to the strict
seven-tone skeleton, or conventional scale, in

i2i

SPIRITUAL OCCUPATION

all forms of musical expression excepting
what we term the "slur." In this expression,
the voice slides from one tone to another and
in its course touches all the intermediate
tones possible.

But in the spiritual life their musical in-
struments, as well as their methods of vocal-
ization, are constructed upon an infinite
scale, instead of a scale limited to seven
tones. Thus they are able to express every
conceivable shade of musical tone the Soul
is able to conceive. The work of artists,
therefore, becomes infinitely more complex
but at the same time infinitely more perfect
and beautiful. When compared with the
musical instruments of the spiritual planes
our physical instruments appear clumsy and
imperfect, as well as inadequate.

The spiritual painter makes use of every con-
ceivable shade of color running between the
recognized primary colors of the physical
universe. They give expression to sense ex-
perience which is unknown upon the physical
plane. Our physical painters, in their en-
deavors to "mix" colors, are able to obtain
certain intermediate colors which only serve

129

THE GREAT KNOWN

to suggest the infinite possibilities of art upon
the spiritual planes, where every conceivable
shade of every color is utilized in bringing
out the finer effects of their artistic ideals.

This differentiation in the power of ex-
pression is observable in every department of
artistic lines of endeavor upon the spiritual
planes. The intensified refinement of spir-
itual material adapts itself to the unfoldment
of the higher and finer designs of the Soul
in every department of Nature.

After the individual has been educated
sufficiently in the basic principles of spiritual
life to have a clear understanding and ap-
preciation of just what is involved in any
particular occupation, he is informed in
the same way concerning other lines of en-
deavor; and, when he is able to do so intelli-
gently, he is permitted to select his vocation
and proceed to qualify in it, with every fa-
cility to that end. If he should learn, how-
ever, that some other department of endeavor
will afford him greater opportunity for
Service, he may abandon his "Chosen Ca-
reer"— as one may in this life — and substitute
some other vocation. But every inducement

130

SPIRITUAL OCCUPATION

which may influence his decision in this
physical life may exert its influence in that
life. After all, he is left free to determine
the field and the lines of his occupation there,
as here. And this is entirely consistent with
the Law of Life which makes each individual
the sole arbiter of his own destiny. If this
were not true, what would become of the
Law of Personal Responsibility and Moral
Accountability? Remember that Nature is
Consistent.

There are special times and conditions
when and wherein an individual in the spir-
itual body may be of special service to one
or more in the physical life — provided he
knows definitely the conditions existing.
Under other conditions, however, he may be
of far greater service to his fellows of spir-
itual life, because of the fact that they are
upon the same plane of life with him, and
the facilities at his command for service are
better adapted to his uses and needs. Here,
again, it is a case of "each in its proper turn."

If the individual does everything in his
power to live a constructive Life upon the
earth plane, that fact of itself cannot fail to

131

THE GREAT KNO^VN

carry great and beneficent help to all within
his environment on all the planes of life
within the range of his influence. After all,
the greatest problem is to be found in the
Living of the Life in such manner as to
Exemplify the Law — and this whether one is
in the physical or in the spiritual life.

There is not a scientist or inventor upon
the earth plane of life but has a strong spir-
itual support consisting of a group of spir-
itual intelligences who are interested in
the particular lines of their scientific discov-
eries and inventions. These form themselves
into a strong force, surround the physical
scientist or inventor, make a spiritual environ-
ment of strong magnetic conditions which
are most favorable for clear and concentrated
thinking on the part of the earthly scientist
or inventor. At the same time, they estab-
lish conditions which enable them to carry
on a method of mental suggestion, so delicate
and so unobtrusive as not to disturb the sci-
entist or inventor, nor suggest to him that he
is being influenced or helped by spiritual
intelligences.

Thus, the spiritual intelligences are able to

132

SPIRITUAL OCCUPATION

make an environment for each and ever^'
physical scientist or inventor, in which he
is not only able to do his own best indepen-
dent thinking and mental work, but in which
they may also drop a mental suggestion now
and then, which will set him thinking along
new channels, and often in the very line
which enables him to make a new discovery
of great value.

Doubtless there are many instances where
spiritual intelligences exercise hypnotic con-
trol over inventors upon the earth plane. All
such cases result in great harm to the indi-
vidual under hypnotic control.

It is possible to make spiritual conditions
which will constitute a wonderful environ-
ment and atmosphere in which a physically
embodied man or woman may be able to
work out results which otherwise would be
virtually impossible, and do it without in the
least exercising control of any kind or de-
gree over the mind or powers of the indi-
vidual. It simply results in removing from
the individual every spiritual condition and
obstruction which would divert or hinder the
absolutely free and normal activities of the

1S3

THE GREAT KNOWN

physically embodied mind and intelligence.

It is even possible, as in the instances I
have already mentioned, for spiritual scien-
tists and helpers to make conditions through
which independent telepathic suggestions
may be transmitted from them to the phys-
ically embodied cooperator, v^ithout in the
smallest degree invoking the destructive
power of subjective psychic control.

To understand this it is necessary to keep
in mind the fact that any sort of mental as-
sociation which leaves each mind free and
independent to act according to its own ra-
tional volition, does not involve subjection or
control to any extent or in any form. When
you and your neighbor meet upon the street
and hail each other, or stop and pass the time
of day, or discuss the weather, or the news of
the day, or even engage in political contro-
versy, there is no subjective psychic control
of either over the other. You are simply ex-
changing independent thoughts voluntarily.

Now, it is possible for spiritual intelli-
gences to establish such conditions and rela-
tions between them and an individual in phys-
ical life, that the same sort of independent

134

SPIRITUAL OCCUPATION

exchange of thought can occur without harm
to either.

These thoughts and suggestions thus trans-
mitted are free and independent mental sug-
gestions, transmitted over spiritual wires, as
it were. They reach the individual through
his spiritual channels of sense, even while he
is using his physical channels to their full ca-
pacity. You may call this telepathy, spiritual
suggestion, mental suggestion, or anything
you like — except hypnotic or subjective
control.

Thus, it will be observed, the occupations
are as many and varied upon the spiritual
planes of life as upon the physical.

135

CHAPTER XIII

SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION

The method of communication among
those on the spiritual planes is entirely a mat-
ter of individual choice. Those who are best
learned in the English tongue speak the Eng-
lish language; those who are accustomed to
speaking the French language make use of
that language; others use German, Italian,
Greek, Hebrew, etc. In truth, every lan-
guage of earth is spoken upon the spiritual
planes of life. But, as soon as the spiritual
individual learns the forceful language of
impulse, these various forms of speech are of
no special advantage to the individual. This
is because, no matter what language an indi-
vidual may employ upon the spiritual planes
in which to clothe his thought, the thought
itself, is the thing which is transmitted, and
not the words in which it is clothed.

Thought is a force; or, at least, it involves
the exercise of a force. This means that

137

THE GREAT KNOWN

each and every thought the mind formulates,
sets in motion the etheric substance of the
universe.

This thought-force, v^rhen not definitely
directed by the thinker, radiates in all direc-
tions from the center of thought, just as do
the etheric and atmospheric waves radiate in
all directions from one of our modern radio
stations. But the direction of their travel is
absolutely within the control of the thinker,
so that he may direct them into definite cur-
rents, as he wills. When I call the Master,
I fix him definitely in my own mind. That
act alone, on my part, establishes a fixed and
definite line of sympathy (or communica-
tion) between my mind and his. This cre-
ates the definite channel (or wire) over and
upon which my thought then travels directly
to him along that fixed and definite line.

The nearest approach to this process which
we have on our side of life is in our use of
wireless telegraphy and wireless telephony.
This is but a much coarser physical means
of transmitting thought than the one I use to
call the Master.

By the wireless telephone, the sound of

138

SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION

the voice travels upon the etheric waves of
the earth plane. One can direct them in
straight lines, by the establishment of wire-
less stations, or "nodes" — as our spiritual
scientists call them.

I make use of the same method in calling
and talking with the Master, only I am on
the earth plane, while he is on the spiritual.
It is all a matter of the degree of fineness of
the force employed.

Thought is not only a mere force; it is a
force that is set in motion by the Soul of the
thinker. The Soul impulse — or psychic force
— carries through all the planes of matter,
and can be caught and understood by all who
are sensitive enough to respond to it. The
physical words, which are but a crude cloth-
ing of the soul impulse, carry solely upon the
physical plane — and often but a very short
distance even there. They can be heard only
by those who are equipped with a physical
ear and a physical brain; for these are the
physical instruments for the transmission and
the reception of purely physical sounds from
one individual to another on the earth plane.

Thought is simply an impulse, propelled

139

THE GREAT KNOWN

from the individual mind through the power
of his own Will and, when it reaches the
thought receiver of another Soul, that other
Soul registers the exact impulse of the mind,
or Soul, of the sender. In this case it is not
expressed in words at all, but is merely an
impulse of the Soul. It is something more
than what we generally term "Thought
Transference" or "Mental Telepathy," as we
know of these methods upon the earth plane
at the present time. The important distinc-
tion lies in this: In the process of mental
telepathy, as we employ it upon the earth
plane, the sender endeavors to transmit some
definite statement expressed mentally or
otherwise in definite words. This is not
always true, but it is the more frequent
method employed.

In the Language of Impulse, however,
there is no effort to transmit any message
expressed in words. On the other hand, it
consists of an impulse of the Soul which the
sender desires to transmit to another individ-
ual Soul. It may be, and often is, but a very
definite desire or a very definite sense experi-
ence. The sender realizes in himself the ex-

140

SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION

act impulse that would express the meaning
he desires to transmit. Then by the power
of his Will, fixed upon the receiver, he gives
the propelling power which transmits that
impulse as a definite experience. The re-
ceiver gets it, not as a spoken message, but as
an exact experience which is being realized
in the Soul of the sender at the time.

Every thought expressed in physical words
is an impulse of the Soul and, as such, is also
expressed at the same time, and by the same
impulse, in spiritual words. You will bet-
ter understand just what this means, if you
will bear in mind the scientific fact that the
impulse of speech is an impulse of the Soul.
It expresses itself through both the physical
channels and the spiritual at the same time —
provided both sense channels are open and
active.

This is equally true of those upon the
physical plane, even as they go about their
daily tasks and occupations. It is for this
reason that those upon the spiritual plane
can hear what we, upon the physical side,
say to each other when we converse without
any thought or intention of conveying our

141

THE GREAT KNOWN

thoughts to any but those upon the physical
plane with whom we are directly talking.
Even though we are conscious of using only
our physical organs of speech, those upon the
spiritual plane who desire to do so can get
our thoughts which are conveyed to them
through their spiritual channels of communi-
cation entirely. The Soul, which is back of
both our material bodies, and expresses itself
through them, sends its impulse of speech
through the sense channels of both bodies.
Therefore, when both channels of sense are
open and clear, each receives and registers
every Soul impulse at the same time.

Those upon the spiritual side who hear us
get the spiritual impulse only — but it is just
as clear and distinct to them as it is to the
individual who hears it upon the physical
plane with his physical ears only.

The power of thought is so potent and so
refined in its action that a physically em-
bodied Soul, through the channels of its spir-
itual body, may transmit its thoughts, its de-
sires and its purposes to those upon the spir-
itual plane with definite certainty. In truth,
whether the individual so intends or othcr-

142

SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION

wise, whether he knows it or not, virtually
all his spiritualized thoughts and desires
communicate themselves, through its spirit-
ual channels to the spiritual planes of life,
somewhat as the Radio operates — where they
may be "picked up" by anyone who comes
within the radius and plane of their activ-
ities. The individual, however, who know-
ingly and intentionally makes a definite effort
to communicate with one upon the spiritual
plane, and transmit a message of love or of
sympathy and helpfulness, accomplishes his
purpose with a definite certainty far beyond
his powers to transmit thought upon the
earth plane.

He does this by first fixing his attention
upon the individual to whom he desires to
send his message. The instant his attention is
so fixed in loving attitude, the magnetic bond
of communication is definitely established be-
tween those two specific individuals. Then
if he will formulate his mental message, as
clearly and definitely as possible even in
spoken or unspoken words, his message will
travel over the magnetic bond thus estab-
lished in a scientific way analogous to that

143

THE GREAT KNOWN

which accompanies the transmission of a
telegraphic message over the telegraph wire.

This, however, does not mean that there
are no other methods of communication on
the spiritual planes of life. Indeed, they can
employ any one, or all, of the channels of
sense for the purpose of communicating their
definite thoughts from one to another. But
aside from the Language of Impulse, the
channel of sound is the one most frequently
employed. By this is meant the spoken
words; for, spiritual intelligences are able to
express their thoughts in any language of
words with which they are familiar, as well
as we upon the earth can do. And, for al-
most all purely social purposes, this is the
method employed.

Those of the spiritual life also have vari-
ous methods of transmitting their thoughts in
written form. These methods are employed
where it may be important to refer promptly
to an exact record of what has been said con-
cerning some definite subject by some par-
ticular individual. Those of the spiritual
life not only keep certain written records for
reference, but they employ a more perfect

144

SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION

record which is clearly analogous to our
physical phonograph. By this method they
are able to make a record which, when re-
produced, gives back an exact expression in
vocal words, with every shade of vocal em-
phasis and inflection of the voice so recorded.
They can transmit these records to almost
any distance instantaneously. This method is
employed whenever and wherever it is in-
tended or desired that the records shall be
reproduced in the presence and for the bene-
fit of a number of individuals at a distance.
It is employed when any of the Great Spir-
itual Friends are speaking for the benefit of
the general public, or for the benefit of the
students in the various spiritual institutions
of learning. The record of a public address
may thus be duplicated and sent wherever
desired and there reproduced in the presence
of all those who desire to hear the address.

Suppose an audience consisted of an
Englishman, a Frenchman, a German, a
Bulgarian, a Persian, a Turk, a Hindu, a
Japanese, a Chinaman, a Swede, and a rep-
resentative of each additional language on
earth. Suppose also they were able to receive

145

THE GREAT KNOWN

a message conveyed by the language of im-
pulse. If they were each to attempt to con-
vey the same message in words, each of them
would employ the language in which he is
accustomed to express his thoughts. The
Englishman would clothe his thought in
English, the Frenchman in French, the Ger-
man in German, and so on throughout the
entire list. This fact is here explained in or-
der that the reader may understand what oc-
curs upon the spiritual planes when a speaker
is delivering to an immense audience a mes-
sage in the language of impulse. His audi-
ence may be composed of those who naturally
speak the various languages of earth. Each
one of them will formulate his impulse re-
ceived in the language with which he is
familiar; and if he attempts to pass it on to
another who is not able to receive the lan-
guage of impulse, he will clothe it in the
words with which he is familiar.

The "Language of Impulse," is the lan-
guage most commonly employed.

There are a few on the earth plane who are
able to transmit and to receive Soul impulses
of thought. They do this, however, inde-

146

SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION

pendently of their physical bodies or phys-
ical organs of sense.

It is possible to receive a telepathic mes-
sage from one beyond the magnetic field, by
an individual who is fully awake upon the
physical plane.

This does not mean, however, that all in-
dividuals upon the earth plane are suffi-
ciently developed to receive such messages.
It refers only to those who are.

147

CHAPTER XIV

SPIRITUAL GOVERNrvlENT

Each and every spiritual plane, from the
lowest to the highest, has its own distinct
form of government. In most particulars
these various forms of government, on the
different spiritual planes, find their analogies
upon the earth plane. Perhaps the more exact
expression would be that each and every
form of government existing upon the phys-
ical plane of life has its analogy upon some
one or more of the spiritual planes.

But there is one essential particular in
which the analogy does not hold — as yet.
This is in the fact that the earth plane of life
has no centralized, general government for
the entire physical plane. Up to the present
time, each nation upon earth has its own form
of government, and that government is su-
preme. Its citizens recognize no other gov-
ernment as having any authority whatsoever
over them.

149

THE GREAT KNOWN

I think it would not be unfair to say that
we have virtually every known form of gov-
ernment existing anywhere on the spiritual
planes — on the earth plane. We have every-
thing, from the absolute autocracy to the
broadest and most liberal democracy.

But we have no centralized government —
as yet — to which all the nations of earth
acknowledge allegiance, and to which they
all submit as the one supreme governmental
authority for the entire earth.

The one difference between the govern-
ments of the various planes is in the fact that
each spiritual plane has its central govern-
ment which extends through, and has juris-
diction over, the entire plane. There are no
nations, or states, with their separate and dis-
tinct jurisdictions and supreme authorities to
contend with. There is but one government,
to which every individual upon any given
spiritual plane acknowledges supreme and
unqualified allegiance, so long as he remains
upon that spiritual plane. When he evolves
beyond that plane and enters upon the next
higher, he becomes a citizen of that next
higher plane and acknowledges its authority

ISO

SPIRITUAL GOVERNMENT

without reservations, until he has evolved to
a yet higher plane of spiritual life — and
so on.

No two spiritual planes of life have exactly
the same form of government. And, taken
together, the governments of the several spir-
itual planes of life represent virtually all the
various forms of government existing in the
various nations upon the earth plane.

For illustration: The government of the
first spiritual plane of life is a pure democ-
racy. It is, indeed and in truth, a govern-
ment of the people, for the people and by
the people. It has its president, its senate, its
house of representatives and its departmental
heads. These are all chosen by the people by
direct vote. Their duties, responsibilities,
prerogatives and powers are all defined by
the people. They are chosen in such manner
as to establish the absolute loyalty of each
individual to the cause he represents. In this
plane the machinery of government involves
the combined energies, intelligence and con-
science of a vast number of men and women.

The machinery of government is so much
cleaner, so much more easily understood, so

151

THE GREAT KNOWN

much more wisely administered, that polit-
ical intrigue and treachery are virtually un-
known, even upon the first spiritual plane.

Upon the second spiritual plane the form
of government is still democratic, but the
machinery is simpler. The number of indi-
viduals chosen by the people as the represen-
tatives is much smaller. This is because, with
added intelligence and increasing loyalty on
the part of the people, the task of govern-
ment becomes less and less difficult and bur-
densome. There is a natural tendency toward
self-government in all the evolutionary
rounds of spiritual life.

It will not be necessary for me to follow
the development of government through all
the planes of spiritual life; for I will be able
to state the principle which governs the evo-
lution of governments, or of government, so
you will be able to understand it. All I need
to say in this connection is that, with each
higher spiritual plane of life, the form of
government becomes more and more central-
ized, until in the highest spiritual plane of
this planet the entire governmental authority
is vested in one single Individual.

152

SPIRITUAL GOVERNMENT

This Individual, however, is still chosen
by the people. His position is not heredi-
tary, as in the monarchies upon the earth
plane. He is still the representative of the
people. But He is vested with absolute
power and authority to administer the laws
of His plane. This is because He possesses
the intelligence, the conscience and the Soul
Evolution and Unfoldment necessary to dis-
charge the Responsibilities which His posi-
tion fixes upon Him.

Furthermore, inasmuch as He represents
the highest development of intelligence pos-
sible to the evolutionary status of the earth,
as an individual planet in the solar system,
He has general jurisdiction over all the vari-
ous governments of all the planes of life be-
low Him. He stands alone as the authorized
and chosen "Ruler of the Planet."

By adoption He is recognized as the Great
Father of all the children of earth. If you
will consider Him in this sense, you will
have a clear and definite answer to many of
the perplexing questions which grow out of
the various religious concepts of earth con-
cerning "God," or the "Planetary Ruler."

153

THE CREAT KNOWN

Women are recognized as the equal of
men in importance — in all that pertains to
the well-being of all political interests and
the maintenance of social and political insti-
tutions, and in upbuilding the power and au-
thority of governments. There seems to be as
natural a cleavage in the political relations
of men and women — upon the spiritual
planes — as there is in the sex relation upon
the physical plane.

Women, as they advance upon the spiritual
planes of life, more and more markedly
gravitate toward the sphere of educational
activities and responsibilities. They become
the great moral force back of all govern-
mental activities. They find their natural
sphere of activity and effort in all the great
educational institutions. They also represent
the aesthetic and artistic background of so-
ciety. In music and art, they become the
natural leaders and teachers, especially of the
young upon the lower planes, and of the less
developed upon the higher planes.

Men as naturally gravitate toward the
legal, administrative and executive phases of

154

k

SPIRITUAL GOVERNMENT

both society and government. It is for this
reason that the active responsibilities of the
government machinery are more especially
laid upon the shoulders of men, while the
educational and aesthetic responsibilities arc
laid upon women. It is still the same prin-
ciple which impels men upon the earth plane
to assume the positive, aggressive, forceful
roles of life, while women seek the more
passive, domestic, aesthetic, artistic and moral
activities.

Upon the spiritual planes of life more and
more clearly the Soul of woman is attuned
to the aesthetic, the social, the altruistic, the
moral and the Love Principle of Nature;
while that of man is drawn with equal force
and intensity to the more positive and aggres-
sive activities of governmental and adminis-
trative problems of Nature.

This natural cleavage, which seems to run
parallel with the cleavage of sex, appears to
contain within it the one element which nat-
urally and automatically avoids what might
be termed "sex competition." By this I
mean that it leads men and women to select
naturally those lines of activity which no-

155

THE GREAT KNOWN

where bring them into personal competition
for either place, power, influence or position.

It is for this reason that, upon the lower
spiritual planes, where this principle has not
yet found expression in the sexes, we find,
here and there, women in positions of gov-
ernmental and political importance. For the
same reason, the sphere of men upon the
lower planes of spiritual life is not so defi-
nitely marked nor perfectly defined as it is
in the higher planes.

But, as they evolve to higher planes, and
the Law of Sex operates with less and less
obstructions, both men and women find their
natural places as harmonic concomitants in
the economy of Nature. Upon the higher
planes of spiritual life, the active responsi-
bilities of government are laid upon men ex-
clusively, and women are not found in posi-
tions of political power or administrative
responsibility. But they do stand as the
great Moral, Altruistic and Love Force back
of government, which all men honor, and to
which all men acknowledge allegiance.

In this exemplification of sex evolution we
note the fact that Nature never loses sight of

156

SPIRITUAL GOVERNMENT

the great fundamental principle of Harmony
which finds expression in every phase of life
and activity.

Thus, it will be observed, that "govern-
menf is one of Nature's established institu-
tions; that it exists on all the planes of life;
and that it adapts itself to the progressive
development of all conditions of Individual
Life, Intelligence and Society, corresponding
to their development at any given time.

157

CHAPTER XV

SPIRITUAL WARS

There is not a principle of life or of rela-
tionships which impels men to go to war
upon the physical plane but has its sup-
porters upon the spiritual planes of life. To
make this entirely clear, even before the great
World War, there were those upon the spir-
itual plane of life who were deeply interested
in the controversy. Some of these were on
one side of the question and some on the
other. There were millions on the spiritual
side of life who were in sympathy with the
Germans, and there were millions more who
were in sympathy with the Allies.

The ablest scientists of the spiritual world
were at work constantly, endeavoring to as-
sist our earthly scientists and inventors in the
discovery of new and improved methods of
warfare. It is equally true that, in m.any
ways, their efforts were successful.

When the actual clash of arms came, these

159

THE GREAT KNOWN

opposing spiritual legions aligned themselves
upon either side of the great controversy, ac-
cording to their sympathies. While they
could not actually bear physical arms and
fight in the same sense that the contending
armies of earth fought; nevertheless, they
could and did align themselves as closely as
possible with the contending forces of earth,
and they exerted all the influence and force
in their power, through psychic methods, to
sustain the courage and fighting spirit of the
contending earthly armies, navies and air
forces.

Those who desired the Germans to win
gathered their spiritual forces into great
armies, and entered into the magnetic field,
where they could approach as closely as
possible to the German armies upon earth.
They went with the Germans and their allies
into every battle, accompanied their forces in
every charge, exerted all their powers to
make their presence known to their earthly
comrades, cheered them as far as they could
do so, through psychic means, sustained their
courage, took away from them all dread of
physical death, added the strength of their

160

SPIRITUAL WARS

magnetic force to every blow that was struck
by their earthly allies, and did everything in
their power to help win the war for the side
they had espoused.

The same thing was equally true of the
spiritual forces that aligned themselves with
the cause of the Allies. They not only did all
they could to sustain the soldiers of the Allies
upon the physical plane, but they exercised
all their savage powers to overcome the in-
fluence of the spiritual hosts arrayed against
them.

But this was not a hand-to-hand struggle
of the spiritual forces with each other, nor
with the purpose or intent of "killing" each
other; for this would have been impossible.
Nevertheless, it was possible for one of the
spiritual armies to exercise its powers against
the other in such manner as to destroy its
support of the physical armies of its choice.

There were some very definite instances
also where it was possible for the spiritual
forces to exercise so powerful a magnetic
impulse upon the physical plane as to turn
aside, or push back, the clouds of poisonous
gases that covered the earth. In a number

THE GREAT KNOWN

of instances the Germans were completely
dumbfounded by the fact that their poisonous
gases were turned back upon their own
armies, notwithstanding the fact that the
wind and other physical conditions were such
that, by all the known laws and conditions
upon the physical plane, they should have
been carried straight forward upon the
armies of the Allies and should have over-
whelmed them.

These apparent "miracles" were due en-
tirely to the fact that the spiritual forces
opposing the Germans were able, at those
points, to center their spiritual magnetic
forces upon the physical magnetic conditions
of the earth and reverse the currents which
carried the poisonous gases.

In many other instances the spiritual forces
were so numerous and the magnetic condi-
tions they made were so strong and intense,
that there must have been a semi-materiali-
zation of the spiritual armies upon the earth
plane. It was not an uncommon thing for
the physical soldiers to see their spiritual
comrades. In some instances they were able
to get well-defined glimpses of great armies

162

SPIRITUAL WARS

of spiritual soldiers marching with them into
the very heart of the most terrific battles of
the war.

Reports of these conditions were sent from
the battle-front, from time to time, and were
published in some of the leading newspapers
of the world. Little credence, however, was
given to these reports. They were considered
mere fairy tales, or gross exaggerations of
natural conditions, and of no value from a
scientific or psychic viewpoint.

It has been stated by reputable correspond-
ents of the leading newspapers of England,
France, Germany and our own country, at
various times, that it was not an uncommon
experience among the soldiers, especially just
before some very important advance, charge
or battle — and more especially in the midst of
the most terrific battles — to see great hosts
of spiritual soldiers accompanying the move-
ments of the physically embodied army, and
often leading the advance with charging cav-
alry and waving banners.

Such experiences are entirely within the
range of scientific possibility. Of course, due
allowance should be made for such literary

163

THE GREAT KNOWN

and dramatic ornamentation as would fall
under the head of "reportorial license," in
the labor of putting such narratives into ac-
ceptable verbal expression. Those who have
been present with the spiritual forces on such
occasions, or who have accompanied them for
the purpose of observation, are in position to
view the entire subject with more calmness
than have been most of those who have given
iheir written reports to our physical world.
This does not mean that they question the
integrity or good faith of any writer who has
had the rare courage to give to the world
such information as has come within the range
of his investigations. Neither does it mean
that they are assuming any more exalted
standard of morality for themselves than that
which has actuated our best writers. It means
only that their point of observation has been
such that they could view the activities upon
both planes of life at the same time and could,
perhaps, differentiate more clearly and accu-
rately between them.

When great bodies of men meet upon the
earth plane, they generate and give off a vast
amount of physical magnetism, until the sur-

144

SPIRITUAL WARS

rounding environment is surcharged with it.
Assuming that such a vast body of men upon
the earth plane v^ill attract to it an equally
large body of men upon the spiritual plane;
and assuming that it is a common Interest in
some great movement that thus attracts them
together — all of which is true In many in-
stances— you can readily understand that
these conditions bring the two bodies of men
very closely together, in fact as well as in
sympathy. This vast spiritual throng also is
generating and giving off into the common
environment, a constant flood of spiritual
magnetism which mingles with the physical
magnetism of the physically embodied hosts.
The quality of this magnetic energy, in
every instance, is governed very largely by
the grade and quality of the emotions and
passions of the men constituting these two co-
ordinating throngs of men so brought to-
gether into sympathetic association. And the
grosser the emotions and passions which im-
pel them to action, the coarser and more
tangible to physical men is the magnetism
they generate and contribute to their mutual
environment.

165

THE GREAT KNOWN

These two vast armies of men, meeting in
one coordinate body from the two planes of
life, are actuated by the emotions and passions
which take men into battle to face death and
destruction. Following the principle just ex-
plained, it is but natural that the magnetic
conditions of the common environment are
not only of the coarsest, but also of the most
intense. Hence, we have here all the condi-
tions most favorable for the production of
phenomena that would enable the spiritual
forces to manifest themselves to the sense
channels of the hosts of men upon the phys-
ical plane. The spiritual forces have been
drawn down as nearly to the plane of earth
as possible. That is, they have been drawn
into the magnetic field and thus are in such
close contact with their physically embodied
comrades that almost nothing separates them
from each other.

On such tragic occasions, and under such
intense magnetic conditions, it is possible for
the magnetic forces so to combine as to bring
the entire spiritual army clearly within the
physical view of an entire earthly army of
men. On some of the most intense occasions,

SPIRITUAL WARS

during the great war, it is more than likely
that just this thing occurred. It is virtually
impossible to get together a dozen men and
women upon the physical plane without find-
ing that one or more of them possess a con-
siderable degree of spiritual development.
Some of them, however, appear to have
virtually no spiritual development whatever.
Others have but little. Others, still, possess a
greater degree; and so on, running the entire
gamut between virtually no spiritual develop-
ment at all, and a very high degree of spir-
itual unfoldment.

Bearing this simple fact of Nature in mind,
you can readily understand that, in a vast
army of men such as made up the hundreds
of miles of battle-front, on either side, there
would be a considerable number, all along
the battle-front, who possessed sufficient spir-
itual development and unfoldment to enable
them to get many very clear visions of what
was transpiring upon the spiritual plane,
within the range of their immediate environ-
ment. Naturally, there would be a very large
percentage of such an army who would be
entirely oblivious to all but the things that

THE GREAT KNOWN

appealed to their physical senses alone. Then
there would be many who would obtain but a
fleeting vision, now and then, governed by
their natural state of being and the intensity
of the magnetic environment.

The type and character of spiritual people
who would thus be impelled to participate
in wars upon the earth plane are only those
who naturally inhabit the magnetic field
and the lower strata of the first spiritual
plane. This includes the fanatical types, and
those whose spiritual development is least ad-
vanced. There are many upon the first spir-
itual plane who have not outgrown the im-
pulses, desires, prejudices, superstitions and
evil propensities of their earthly development.

The religious fanatic of earth remains a
fanatic upon the spiritual planes of life un-
til education, environment and the evolution-
ary impulse have lifted him above that level
of development. The political fanatic and
partisan on earth is a political partisan and
fanatic when he passes into the spiritual life,
and remains so until he evolves above that
level of development. The criminal and the
degenerate of earth are impelled by the same

168

SPIRITUAL WARS

desires and impulses in this higher life until
time and the evolutionary process of Nature
have lifted them into higher rounds of spirit-
ual life. Many of these various classes are
natural leaders of men and pow^erful organ-
izers of concerted movements. In such great
impulsive crises as that of the great World
War they find inspiration for the unlimited
indulgence of all their fanatical zeal and in-
telligence. It is these vv^ho organize and
direct the spiritual armies in their activities
during such crises ; and it is the less intelligent
masses who follow where they lead.

In many instances the results upon them
are devolutionary and destructive, and they
retrogress until they come to recognize their
fundamental error, or by superior educational
influences they are made aware of the de-
structive nature of the process they thus
invoke. Others who follow are often able to
recognize the destructive effects of their activ-
ities, and they voluntarily abandon the de-
structive attitude and seek to participate in
good endeavors. As the masses of humanity
upon the earth plane evolve to higher and
more constructive attitudes of soul, the effect

169

THE GREAT KNOWN

will be to diminish the number of those upon
the spiritual side who will participate in such
wars and destructive movements of earth life.

m

CHAPTER XVI

SPIRITUAL ANIMALS

Animals of all kinds, from the lowest forms
to the highest, have spiritual bodies. They
pass out of their physical bodies at death as
do men and women. They find themselves
inhabiting a finer material body upon a
higher material plane. But all animals pass
directly at death into the magnetic field.

All the lower forms of the animal kingdom,
such as the insects, reptiles, fish and many
others, never rise above the magnetic field.
There they live their little round of spiritual
life, die, or disappear, and are seen no more
— as such.

But the higher orders of the animal kind-
dom, such as the dog, the cat, the horse, the
birds — especially those we designate as "do-
mestic," and which, upon the earth plane,
become the helpers and the pets of mankind
— possess the inherent capacity, under the in-
telligent fostering care and scientific training

171

THE GREAT KNOWN

of their masters, and those who love them as
pets, of rising above the magnetic field and
condition of life into the first spiritual plane.
By those who understand the natural Law of
Refinement, this may be accomplished in a
very short time. If left to themselves en-
tirely, comparatively few of them would
reach the first pure spiritual plane.

We can obtain some suggestion of this ap-
plication of scientific knowledge to the lives
of animals, in all the various improved forms
of animal and bird life upon our own plane,
wholly due to the scientific knowledge of men.
By their knowledge of the Law they have
improved the various species, such as the dog,
the cat, the horse, the hog, the cow, the
chicken, the pigeon, so far above the wild
animals and birds from which they originally
sprang, that it would tax the credulity of most
men if they could but compare the wild an-
cestors with their domestic progeny. And all
this breeding and improving, through the
application of the scientific knowledge of
mankind, has been along the line of material
refinement.

If left to themselves, however, these domes-

172

SPIRITUAL ANIMALS

tic improvements would, in a very fev^ gen-
erations of miscellaneous breeding, revert to
Nature's original types. The domestic dog
would revert to the wild coyote or wolf; the
beautiful angora, or Persian cat, would revert
to the savage wildcat; the splendid race horse
and the mighty draft horse would revert to
the wild mustang; the wonderful types of the
domestic pigeon would revert to the common
wild pigeon; the Plymouth Rock chicken,
and all other fine breeds, would revert to the
sagehen or the prairie chicken; and so on.

I call attention to these facts (which you
can readily verify) only that you may obtain
some slight suggestion of the power which
human intelligence has to supplement Nature
in all her evolutionary methods. Through
this line of inquiry you may learn how it is
possible for man to lift certain animals far
above their normal spiritual level and thus
keep them as their pets almost indefinitely.

And this is important, because there seems
to be great diversity of doctrin-es, beliefs, and
so-called scientific pronouncements, among
the best intelligences of our physical world,
concerning the subject.

173

THE GREAT KNOWN

From the foregoing, it will be observed
that the subject of animal life upon the spir-
itual side is one of profound importance and
well worth our serious consideration, as it
gives us a better understanding of Nature's
Evolutionary Plan.

Among some, if not all, of our tribes of
American Indians, there is a custom which
has its interest in this connection. At the
physical death of an Indian brave, his friends
and fellow warriors upon the physical side
kill his favorite horse and, in some instances,
bury the bodies of the two together.

This custom grows out of the fact that
the Indians, through their psychics, come
to know that both animals and men persist
after physical death. They also know that
the Indian finds his greatest pleasure in his
horse. Assuming that he carries with him
into the spiritual life the same desires, ambi-
tions, loves and longings, they conclude that
when he arrives upon the spiritual plane the
one thing he will most keenly miss is the horse
that has afforded him so much enjoyment on
the physical plane of life. Therefore, they
send him his horse at once, so that he may

174

SPIRITUAL ANIMALS

have with him the means of finding greater
happiness in his new life.

In this they have reasoned correctly, for
it is true that the first thing an Indian brave
inquires after when he arrives upon the spir-
itual side of life, is his horse. And often
the horse is quite as much gratified to be with
his master again as is the master to have him.

This knowledge among the Indians is the
result of their exact knowledge of the spirit-
ual world. There are many among them who
are natural psychics and who are far more
definitely conscious of the spiritual environ-
ment than are the majority of the older races
of humanity.

175

I

CHAPTER XVII

SLEEP

Sleep is a state and ccndition of the indi-
vidual Intelligence.

But what is that particular ''state and con-
dition" of the Intelligence we designate as
Sleep?

The Great School has made a special study
of the subject for more than 100 centuries.
During that time it has learned some things;
but it does not profess to have learned all
there is to be known on that subject.

Among the things definitely known are:

The physically embodied individual, in the
sleeping state or condition, is for the time be-
ing unconscious of the physical channels of
sense.

But he is not entirely unconscious. This is
proven by the fact that he is still intensely
susceptible to the power of intelligent sug-
gestion.

He is, for the time being, conscious of im-

177

THE GREAT KNOWN

pressions that reach him through the channels
of the spiritual senses.

In perfect physical sleep the physical body
is generating magnetic energy rapidly, but ex-
pends none whatever.

In physical sleep the Soul withdraws, as it
were, away from its direct and immediate
touch with and relation to the exclusively
physical elements of its organism. This does
not mean that the Soul gets outside the phys-
ical body, nor entirely independent of it, dur-
ing physical sleep. The withdrawing is
rather a drawing within, until the conscious-
ness is out of touch with the purely physical
texture of the body. For the time being it has
taken refuge in the purely spiritual texture
and elements of the composite body. Its chan-
nels of communication with the physical
world are, for the time being, closed, or sus-
pended.

During this condition the Soul is in im-
mediate touch with and relation to the purely
spiritual elements of the composite body. In
its receding from and letting go, as it were, of
the physical elements of the composite body,
it has merely laid down temporarily its phys-

17t

SLEEP

ical instrument and for the time is identified
with and operating through the spiritual only.
This letting go of the physical has reference
not only to the physical brain but equally to
all parts and particles of the physical organ-
ism. But bear in mind that it does not mean
the separation of the two bodies. These sus-
tain virtually the same relation to each other
as they do when the individual is physically
awake. They still interpenetrate and inter-
blend.

Sleep is also a normal condition on the
spiritual planes, in that (within certain con-
ditions and limitations) it is one of the estab-
lished provisions of Nature for the renewing
and rejuvenation of the spiritual organism,
very analogous to that of the physical
organism.

But you will please note the parenthetical
phrase, — "within certain conditions and limi-
tations." This has reference to the fact that
in the refining process of the spiritual body,
as it evolves from lower to higher spiritual
planes, sleep becomes less and less a vital
necessity — in direct proportion to the degree
of evolutionary refinement and intensified

179

THE GREAT KNOWN

activity — until the seventh plane is attained.
From this point forward sleep is not necessary
to the renewing and rejuvenating process of
the spiritual organism.

Up to this evolutionary point, however,
sleep is a necessity — but its amount is invari-
ably proportionate to the degree of refinement
and evolutionary unfoldment of the individ-
ual organism.

Sleep is a state and condition of Soul
wherein it has withdrawn, temporarily, from
the plane of physical consciousness and closed
the physical channels of sense. In deep,
dreamless sleep the physical channels of sense
are entirely closed to all sense impressions;
and the Soul is functioning only through the
spiritual senses.

The Soul is in the spiritual body always;
but the spiritual body may be locked in the
physical body, or it may be out of the phys-
ical body — depending upon the conditions
which obtain during physical sleep.

In the very largest number of instances the
spiritual body, during physical sleep, is
locked within the physical. In this case the
Soul is actively functioning through the spir-

ito

SLEEP

itual body and is completely awake on the
spiritual plane; because, as previously ex-
plained, the physical senses are entirely closed
during deep sleep, and the spiritual experi-
ences make no impression upon them at all.
It is only during partial sleep that the indi-
vidual is able to carry the spiritual experi-
ences over into physical consciousness; and
this is because the physical channels are par-
tially open and capable of receiving impres-
sions to that extent.

In a few cases, comparatively speaking, the
spiritual body leaves the physical during
deep sleep. In such cases, there is no phys-
ical remembrance after physical awakening.
This, however, does not occur often. In
truth, very rarely does it occur.

The last three sentences are especially im-
portant in that they directly contradict the
idea that in ordinary physical sleep the two
bodies (physical and spiritual) separate, and
that the Soul during that time inhabits the
spiritual body and travels at will throughout
the spiritual realms, independently of the
physical body. This is not true, in natural
sleep. It is seldom true even in hypnotic

281

THE GREAT KNOWN

sleep. It is only under the most extreme con-
ditions of subjectivity that it is possible to
force a separation of the two organisms, and
whenever it does occur through the subjective
process it is accompanied with the greatest
danger.

In natural and complete physical sleep the
Soul recedes into the spiritual body, relin-
quishing for the time its hold upon and use of
both the physical body and physical mag-
netism, and retaining its direct touch with,
hold upon, and use of the spiritual body and
spiritual magnetism in its conscious opera-
tions.

Upon the physical plane of life, sleep may
be either voluntary or involuntary. For illus-
tration : With the infant, before it has arrived
at an age where it has any understanding of
the process involved, there is no question as
to the fact that sleep comes and goes without
the control of the individual Will. In other
words, during infancy sleep is entirely invol-
untary.

And, indeed, the same is literally true of
most men and women. With them sleep seems
to be quite beyond their individual control.

182

SLEEP

But, now and then, we find an individual
who has made the subject a matter of deep
and profound consideration. He finds that,
when he is not disturbed, or when he is in a
state of nervous relaxation and rest, he is able
to banish from his consciousness all the condi-
tions that interfere with sleep; and he will
tell you that he is able, consciously and inten-
tionally, to put himself to sleep. What he
does, however, is merely to remove from his
consciousness, for the time being, all recog-
nition of the things and conditions that keep
his attention awake and fixed upon the phys-
ical plane of consciousness. When he has
done this. Nature closes the channels of
physical consciousness, and he is asleep —
without really knowing how and why he
became so.

But there is yet another degree of Self-
Control, attained after long-continued study
and personal effort, in which the individual
attains what is known as "Mastership". This
is a development and growth, the direct re-
sult of individual effort in alignment with his
individual attention. From this condition of
Mastery, he is able, of his own volition, to

1S3

THE GREAT KNOWN

withdraw his consciousness from the plane
of physical nature, as truly and voluntarily
as the average man is able to remove his
clothing, turn down the cover of his bed,
cover himself and do everything else neces-
sary to induce the relaxation of nerves out of
which sleep comes to his physical con-
sciousness.

One who has attained to the development
of complete Mastership is personally able to
control the channels of physical sense to a
point, or degree, where it is not only possible
but very easy for him to withdraw his con-
sciousness from the plane of physical sensi-
bility, and voluntarily close the channels of
physical sense perception. In this state of de-
velopment the individual is master of phys-
ical sleep.

But it must be understood that this volun-
tary closing of the physical sense channels
produces nothing more than what we call
''physical sleep". In other words, it pro-
duces only a state of individual unconscious-
ness upon the purely physical plane. During
complete sleep on the physical plane there is
no consciousness of anything whatsoever that

184

SLEEP

is occurring on the purely physical plane of
life.

But this must not be understood to mean
that the individual Soul is also asleep upon
all the spiritual planes of life at the same
time.

In truth, so far as Science knows, the in-
dividual Soul never sleeps. If this be true,
then what we call "sleep" is nothing more
than a state and condition of individual con-
sciousness wherein the channels of sense are
closed to one or more of the planes of life
upon which the individual consciousness
functions.

It would seem that throughout the evolu-
tionary development of individual conscious-
ness, what we call "sleep" is a "universal
need of life processes", until the Soul has
evolved to the state and condition of the
seventh plane. From the time, however, that
the Soul arrives at the plane of individual
unfoldment corresponding to the seventh, that
need — which has been "universal" up to that
point of evolution — is entirely overcome.

185

CHAPTER XVIII

DREAMS

Dreams are of two distinct classes and
arise from two distinct psychological condi-
tions of the dreamer, namely:

1. The ordinary, illogical, disjointed, un-
sequential jumble of impressions from which
the dreamer is unable to bring back to wak-
ing memory anything of intelligent meaning
or significance. These seem to be nothing
more than a kaleidoscopic series of unrelated
impressions, without intelligent significance.
One will see a horse with a silk hat on one
ear and a grin on his face resembling some
individual he knows. The horse speaks to
him, but while he is talking the horse be-
comes a negro mammy with a pickaninny un-
der one arm. She honks like a Ford machine,
falls over a precipice, turns into a negro
camp-meeting, and a crow sits on a treetop
and sings the Toreador song in a bass voice.

In the process of going to sleep the chan-

187

THE GREAT KNOWN

nels of physical sense become closed, if the
sleep reaches the depth of complete uncon-
sciousness. But on the way to that state of
deep unconscious sleep, or on the way back
to physical consciousness from that same
state of deep sleep, the consciousness passes
through the process of letting go of, or grasp-
ing again, the physical channels of sense. In
many instances the individual does not reach
the state of profound unconscious, or dream-
less sleep.

In either of these cases, the physical chan-
nels of sense, which are but partially closed,
register upon the physical consciousness the
fleeting scraps of memory, without sequence,
neither clear nor complete, but in a sort of
fleeting jumble of unrelated impressions.
Doubtless you have had many such experi-
ences and have been amused by them. They
arise from the fact that the physical chan-
nels of sense are not completely closed, but
are just sufficiently open to catch the fleeting
impressions that flit through the semi-con-
scious mind on its way to or from the land of
deep and dreamless sleep.

188

DREAMS

These, in truth, are the only real "dreams"
we experience.

2. As the consciousness of the individual
is on its way to or from the land of dreamless
sleep — before the physical channels of sense
are entirely closed — consciousness begins to
register through the spiritual channels of
sense impressions which it is receiving di-
rectly from its spiritual environment on the
other side of life. These are real spiritual
experiences, but they are brought back to
waking physical consciousness only because
the channels of physical sense are not entirely
closed. Sometimes the fleeting physical im-
pression of real dreams becomes confused in
the consciousness with these purely spiritual
experiences, and the sequence of spiritual
experiences is lost.

But in most of these experiences, where the
spiritual channels of sense are registering
vivid impressions, definite personalities im-
press themselves upon the senses with suffi-
cient vividness to carry the spiritual experi-
ence to the threshold of physical sense per-
ception, and the waking consciousness carries

189

THE GliEAT KNOWN

the complete spiritual experience back to
physical consciousness.

Before the physical senses are entirely
closed, or suspended, the attention of the in-
dividual becomes definitely fixed upon the
spiritual plane and its environment. The
result is that the partially opened phys-
ical sense channels pick up the spiritual im-
pressions and carry them back to physical
consciousness.

In such so-called "dreams" there is alvs^ays
a definite and sequential chain of experiences
which carry the unmistakable impression of
actual experiences. Many times these expe-
riences take the form of a clear and distinct
"vision." The individual actually sees the
spiritual environment, the spiritual people,
and hears with distinctness what the spiritual
individuals are saying. In most of these spir-
itual experiences (for that is what they are)
there is a definite purpose which seems to
run through all the "vision," This is be-
cause oftentimes, in such experiences, the
spiritual Friends are endeavoring to convey
to the "dreamer" some definite suggestion,
message, vision or experience which they de-

190

DREAMS

sire him to carry back to physical memory.

Sometimes one is distinctly conscious, after
awaking to physical consciousness, that he
has been with somebody of importance,
or in the midst of some definite situation and
experience that has an important meaning
for him — and yet, he is unable to bring
back the consciousness of any definite person-
ality, or any distinct situation or scene. He
brings back with him only the impression
of something important and significant. He
gets no intimation or suggestion of just what
it is, or what it is like; but nothing can erad-
icate the fixed impression of the experience
as a fact, and that it was of importance either
to himself or to others.

In such an experience one may see, with
great distinctness, a group of people, men
and women, sitting about a table, or moving
among one another in a reception room, or
listening to one who is addressing them from
a rostrum. Every phase of the picture, or
vision, is suggestive of some definite purpose.
The events observed are natural and sequen-
tial, and are definitely related to each other
as a part of the whole experience. The peo-

191

THE GREAT KNOWN

pie may be, some of them, relatives or
friends of earth who have passed into spiritual
life. In any event, the dreamer brings back
to physical consciousness enough of the ex-
perience to identify it as something definite
and distinct, having a purposeful meaning of
some sort; but often he is not able to carry it
back to physical consciousness. He may have
the distinct impression that this is an experi-
ence he must remember after he is physically
awake. He knows that it has some definite
meaning for Him, and he determines to
remember it all after he is physically awake.
In many instances the very effort he makes to
carry back the message or the vision or the
experience to physical consciousness is the
thing that closes the physical channels an in-
stant before his consciousness is physically
awake. In such instances he comes back to
physical consciousness with the distinct real-
ization that he was making an intense effort
to remember, but that '^something slipped'*
just at the wrong time, and the meaning of
the experience is not brought back to phys-
ical consciousness. He can even see the per-
sonalities with vivid distinctness, and hear

192

DREAMS

their voices. He can hear the central figure
in the vision say to him: "Now, remember
this that I am telling you, and do not let it
get away from you." He tries to obey, and
is sure of his success; but just at the crucial
instant when he is on the very threshold of
physical awakening, that "something slips,"
and he comes back to physical consciousness
with a gasp, but with the disappointing sense
that "the thing got away" from him.

There are infinite variations upon these
real spiritual experiences; but they generally
differentiate themselves from the jumble of
real dreams by the fact that there is some-
thing in them that impresses one with the
fact that there is a purpose back of them,
and that he was on the verge of learning
some lesson of great importance — // he only
could carry it back to physical memory.

Again, one awakes to physical conscious-
ness with the definite and distinct impression
that he has been out of his physical body and
has traveled to some great distance and re-
turned again. He may have the distinct im-
pression that someone accompanied him on
his journey into the unknown country; but

193

THE GREAT KNOWN

he could not see the individual clearly, or the
individual kept himself concealed purposely,
for some unknown reason.

In some of the experiences of traveling "in
foreign countries" one is able to bring back
to physical consciousness the fact of leaving
the physical body. He even turns, after he is
out and free, and looks at his own physical
body lying upon the bed. He starts to leave
it, turns and looks back at it, and indulges
himself in rational speculations concerning it.
Then he goes away, and is conscious of trav-
eling, of sailing through space at great speed,
of seeing many wonderful things; then he re-
turns. He realizes with definite certainty,
that he is coming back to his physical body.
Finally, after moving on and on through
seemingly endless space, he at last arrives at
his starting point. Sure enough, there is his
physical body, lying just as he left it. He
watches it for a time. It lies there breathing
as if it were sleeping naturally. He wonders
if it is really necessary for him to enter it and
take up the physical life again. The ex-
perience through which he has just passed
is one of such a delightful sense of liberty

194

DREAMS

and freedom from all limitations, that he is
reluctant to leave it and come back to earth.
He is tempted to say "goodbye" to the phys-
ical body and sail back into space again.
Perhaps he would do so, if it were not for the
fact that he feels the urge of the mysterious
companion who keeps himself concealed from
his view, silently but positively impressing
him with the fact that he must go back into
the physical body again, and that he must
not delay the matter longer.

Then there comes the acquiescing impulse
to get back. He wakens and knows that he is
back again in the physical body. But still
there persists the unmistakable realization of
the fact that he has literally and truly been
out of his physical body, has traveled swiftly
through great distances, seen many unusual
things, experienced many inexpressible emo-
tions, and is back at his starting point to take
up his physical life where he left it.

These are not ''dreams."

True, they are generally treated as dreams,
and are so classified by some of those who
are recognized as professional psychologists.
Nevertheless, these are actual experiences

195

THE GREAT KNOWN

upon the spiritual plane of life. One is
able to carry them back into physical con-
sciousness because, in that particular state
of consciousness, the spiritual senses are wide
open and functioning clearly and normally;
and, at the same time, the physical channels
of sense are partly open, and just sufficiently
active to permit the spiritual experiences to
carry over and consciously register upon the
physical consciousness.

In the course of the perfect development
of the independent psychic, the time comes
when the consciousness will register clearly
upon both planes of life at the same time.
This only means that the individual is fully
awake both physically and spiritually at the
same time. Both channels of sense are func-
tioning normally. In this case the individual
knows perfectly what is occurring upon both
sides of life.

It sometimes occurs that this same condi-
tion exists in what we call "sleep." Both
channels of sense are open and functioning
normally, but, at the same time, neither is
sufficiently active to lift the consciousness to
the plane of complete wakefulness. In such

19(

DREAMS

case, when the individual returns to full
physical consciousness, he is under the im-
pression that he has been dreaming. In one
sense he has; but, in another, the thing he
called a dream was, in reality, a spiritual
experience.

197

CHAPTER XIX

PROPHECY

Now and then, we learn of psychological
experiences which are called dreams, but
which seem to possess the element of Proph-
ecy. One will "dream" that a friend or rela-
tive is coming from a distance, is on the
way and will arrive on a certain day, at a
definite hour. When that day and hour ar-
rive, the individual arrives. Or, the "dream"
may be to the effect that someone whom we
love devotedly is going to die at a certain
time, and even in a certain definite manner.
When the time comes the death occurs, and
in the exact manner indicated.

You may call them dreams if you like, but
in just so far as the element of prophecy en-
ters, the experience is not properly classified
as a "dream." So far as the individual him-
self is concerned, it is a genuine "prophecy"
or "prophetic experience."

199

THE GREAT KNOWN

The prophetic element works itself out in
the following manner:

The condition or state of the Soul is that
of partial sleep. The physical sense chan-
nels are but partially closed. In truth, they
are sufficiently open and active to carry over
into wakeful consciousness the real experi-
ences that have occurred spiritually. In the
spiritual experience, some spiritual friend or
associate who is able to see certain actual
conditions as they exist, having a much
clearer perception of the principle, or Law
of Cause and Effect, perceives that, in the
nature of things, a certain event is going to
occur; and according to the speed with which
events are moving, it should occur at a cer-
tain time. This individual, by the language
of impulse, conveys the suggestion to the
semi-sleeper. It is done so subtly that the
sleeper fails to realize that the suggestion
comes to him from any other individual. He
simply seems to realize that the event is go-
ing to occur, and at a certain time, etc. To
him, it is as if the cosmic universe has opened
to him for an instant and this prophetic sug-
gestion comes to him out of its deepest

200

PROPHECY

depths. The partially open channels of phys-
ical sense carry the prophetic suggestion and
impression over to the physical waking con-
sciousness, and the thing is accomplished.
For illustration:

A railroad and a country automobile road
both run upon the level of the ground over
which they pass. They cross each other at a
point where corn, at its full height, is grow-
ing on both sides of both these roads. In
these conditions neither the engineer of the
railroad train nor the chauffeur of the auto-
mobile approaching the crossing, can see
the other. This is because they are both
down on the level of the two roads, and the
corn obstructs their view.

But at a distance of a hundred yards from
the crossing, in the midst of the corn, a great
rock rises to the height of 200 feet above the
level of the two roads. A man is standing on
the top of it. Neither the engineer nor the
chauffeur can see that the other is approach-
ing the crossing. Both the train and the
automobile arc making so much noise that
neither party can hear the approach of the
other. Hence, neither is aware of the dan-

201

THE GREAT KNOWN

ger that is approaching him. But the man
on top of the rock can see them both with
perfect distinctness. He can see that they
are both traveling at a terrific speed. He cal-
culates quickly the distance each is from the
crossing. He then estimates the speed at
which each is traveling. He finds that dis-
tance and speed will bring them to the cross-
ing at the same instant of Time. He is in
position to see who is driving the automobile,
and he knows him well. He foresees, as an
inevitable fact of Nature, that there is going
to be a wreck, and his reason tells him that
his friend is going to be killed.

Now, solely because he is at a greater alti-
tude than the others, he is able to foresee the
inevitable fact of an approaching wreck. He
also sees the death of his friend "in a wreck
at a crossing."

Now, he is not a "prophet." He is sim-
ply up where he can see what is happening
on all sides of him. Just ordinary, good,
common sense tells him, in advance, that a
wreck will occur at a certain time and place,
and that his friend is going to be killed.

Down on the other side of the rock, how-

202

PROPHECY

ever, away from the crossing is another man.
He happens to be what is called a "sensitive."
When the man on the rock first realizes the
fact of the impending wreck, his whole being
is centered in an impulse that goes out from
him with intense force. The sensitive man on
the other side of the rock gets the shock of
that impulse. He "senses," for an instant,
what is in the mind of the man on the rock.
He, also, "senses" the impending wreck, His
impression is that a wreck will occur "at a
crossing of a railway and an automobile road,
at a certain time." He doesn't know a thing
about the train and the automobile, nor the
engineer nor the chauffeur; but he knows the
chauffeur, and that he is a friend of the man
on the rock.

He rushes home and relates his vision. His
neighbors and friends call it a "prophetic
vision" — and he becomes a ^^ prophet" — to
them.

Now, let us apply this to the conditions
v^hich often obtain in so-called "dreams,"
or in semi-sleep : The individual in semi-
sleep is in a state of consciousness wherein
he becomes an excellent

203

THE GREAT KNOWN

the place of the man down on the side of the
rock, away from the crossing. He can sec
nothing himself; but some spiritual friend is
up in the clear atmosphere of a spiritual al-
titude, where he can see all that is occurring
on every hand. With his clearer vision, his
greater facilities for determining the results
of cause and effect, he sees that a certain in-
dividual is traveling in a certain direction
along a certain road. Through his greater
spiritual facilities he learns who the individ-
ual is. He sees also that if he travels at the
same speed along the same road he will
reach a certain point just as a tornado travel-
ing across his trail will reach the same point.
He foresees the result instantly, that the man
will be killed in the tornado. That impulse
is so strong that it communicates itself to the
"sensitive" who is in semi-sleep. The sleeper
awakes and carries the spiritual vision into
his waking, physical consciousness. He re-
lates it to his wife, who is the sister of the
traveler. Next day she receives word that
her brother was killed in a tornado — "just as
her husband had dreamed he was."
This was a "prophetic dream." And this

204

PROPHECY

is the exact method whereby many such so-
called prophetic dreams occur. But would
You call it "prophecy"? Is it not merely a
case of clear vision on the part of one who
is in position to see and estimate the results
of the Law of Cause and Effect more defi-
nitely than others who are about him? If
you ask Him, he would tell you there was no
element of prophecy in it at all. He would
tell you exactly how he figured it all out.

But not so with the sensitive who telepath-
ically receives the picture that came to him
over the invisible wires of spiritual sense. He
would call it a "prophetic dream." And, so
far as he is concerned, that is not so far from
the truth. The only trouble about the whole
thing is that we have taken all the mystery
out of it — and by so doing we have reduced
the incident itself to a mere matter of mathe-
matics— and ijoho cares for mere mathematics,
or exact science, in a matter of this nature,
where all the enchantment lies concealed in
the "mystery" of it?

It is true that there are many instances of
so-called "prophetic dreams" very much more
complex than the illustration here given.

205

THE GREAT KNOWN

Some of them contain elements which do not
lend themselves to definite comparison nor
exact figures. But it is the wisdom of the
Great Friends that so-called "prophecy" is
as much a matter of exact science as any
other experience of life. It is a mere ques-
tion of discovering the process by which re-
sults are accomplished. When that is done
"prophecy" becomes as much a matter of
fact as anything else in Nature.

Portraits of dying individuals are flashed
to the consciousness of distant relatives and
friends on earth in the same manner.

Some spiritual intelligence is present who
is mutually interested in the dying individual
and the living relative or friend. He finds
that the relative or friend is sufliciently sensi-
tive to spiritual impressions to receive the
picture from him. He gives out the impulse
with intensity, and the sensitive picks it up
as the radio picks up any message that comes
over a wave length of ether to which the
radio will respond. It is all a matter of
science.

CHAPTER XX

GUARDIAN ANGELS

There is a basis of truth in the religious
concept of earth, that each individual —
especially those who belong to the various
churches — has upon the spiritual side of life
one or more "Guardian Angels" whose chief
duty, responsibility, pleasure and occupation
are concentered in the one business of look-
ing after the individual, guarding him from
harm, ministering to his needs and satisfying
his wants, while he yet remains upon the
earth plane.

But here again may be observed the in-
dustrious activities of human imagination, as
well as of religious idealism. It is true that
while every human infant has a physical
mother, father, or other friends to receive it
and care for it when it arrives upon the phys-
ical plane, until it has grown to a develop-
ment that enables it to assume the burden
and the responsibility of its own individual

Tfa

THE GREAT KNOWN

care, yet that is not all. At the same time,
some definite spiritual individual either vol-
untarily assumes, or is definitely assigned to,
the responsibility of becoming a helper and
more or less a guardian to each individual
born into the physical world. It is the duty
and responsibility of every such spiritual
guardian to do whatever can be done to im-
prove the spiritual environment of the child,
and thus render it such help as will enable
it to grow into a wholesome mental, moral
and spiritual development.

While there is always at least one such spir-
itual individual for each human infant, there
may be a number of others who volunteer
their services also to the same child — always,
however, subordinate to the one who assumes
the chief responsibility. These spiritual guar-
dians usually become deeply attached to their
human wards and derive great pleasure and
satisfaction, not only in the association but
also in the services they are able to render.
But these spiritual guardians have their own
limitations, and it is not always possible for
them to control the spiritual environment of
an individual. They merely do what they

m

GUARDIAN ANGELS

can to render unselfish service and give a
wholesome spiritual impulse to the life of the
individual entrusted to their spiritual guar-
dianship. The spiritual guardian is but a
complementary addition to the family circle
in each and every earthly home, thus often
bringing into very close association a con-
siderable number of spiritual individuals, all
interested in the welfare and development of
a single earthly family.

Based upon my own personal observation,
I have never seen anything, so far as I can
recall, to suggest that there is a class of ex-
alted individuals who inhabit the spiritual
world and who are called ''Angels" — having
wings as a distinguishing mark or badge of
their angelhood.

As a distinctive class of exalted beings,
there are no such things as Angels. It is
true, however, that it is not an unusual thing
upon the spiritual planes of life to see indi-
viduals dressed in flowing white robes and
wearing upon their shoulders artificial wings
merely as ornaments of dress. It is more
than likely that the angelic concept had its
origin in the fact that some earthly psychics

209

THE GREAT KNOWN

may have glimpsed some of these ministering
spiritual people going about their work upon
the spiritual planes. However this may be,
they are, nevertheless, but men and women
who, at some time, have lived upon the earth
plane, and who have passed from that life
into the spiritual life and have found their
places among the spiritual workers whose
special mission is to serve those who are in
need of such help as they can give. From this
it can be readily seen that there is some slight
basis of truth in the concept of angels, even
though it has been distorted by superstitious
minds and given a meaning to suit the fancy
of the religious idealists.

The statement is often made by mediums
that two "Guardian Angels" always come to
one on the physical plane, three days before
his death, remain with him to prepare him
for the transition and, at death, lead him to
his appropriate plane in the spiritual life.

The statement is not true, in its essential
details. There is, however, a sufficient ele-
ment of truth in it to furnish some founda-
tion for the statement. As an illustration, it
is true that there are always those on the

210

GUARDIAN ANGELS

spiritual side of life whose work, either vol-
untary or selected, is to care for all who, by
death, pass from earth life into the spiritual
realm.

In all cases, where death is the result of any
character of illness which enables those upon
the spiritual planes to anticipate approxi-
mately when death will occur, certain indi-
viduals on the spiritual planes, from among
the specific workers referred to, are assigned
to the case. Sometimes one such spiritual
worker alone is either assigned or volunteers.
Sometimes two or more are so assigned, or
they volunteer, in certain of these cases.
These assignments, or volunteers, are se-
lected many days ahead of the anticipated
transition. Other times they are selected but
a few days in advance — depending on the na-
ture of the case and what, if anything, they
might be able to do to be of service to the
individual in their charge.

From the time such assignments are made
the individuals selected for that duty devote
themselves, as far as they can, to the service
of the patient, in every way possible. Often-
times they are able to allay the physical suf-

211

THE GREAT KNOWN

fering of the patient. Sometimes they are
even able, by the aid of the physician and
nurse in charge, to restore the individual to
a measure of health and thus prolong his life
upon the physical plane. This is a part of
their work, wherever the experience would
seem to be of value to the patient.

But when the hour of death comes the spir-
itual workers who have been so selected are
at hand to render every assistance possible to
their charge in making the transition. And
when the patient emerges from the physical
body they receive him, care for him and min-
ister to him in every way within their power.
It is their specific duty to clothe him spir-
itually, to minister to his comfort, and espe-
cially to educate him in a proper knowledge
of the fact that he is no longer an inhabitant
of the earth plane of life, but has actually
passed into the spiritual life and must pre-
pare himself to take up his duties and respon-
sibilities in accordance with the law of his
individual evolution.

That those of earth may better understand
and appreciate what these "Guardian An-
gels" are able to accomplish, and the diffi-

212

GUARDIAN ANGELS

culties with which they have to contend,
they should know that almost every individ-
ual who passes out of the physical life has
some definite views and convictions as to the
spiritual life into which he is going — pro-
vided he is old enough at that time to have
acquired views. In a large percentage of
these cases the individual is a member of
some church, religious school or cult which
teaches its members all about what they may
expect to see, hear, feel, experience and find
when they have passed from earth and have
arrived in the realm of spiritual life and
experience.

It is not saying too much to state that, al-
most invariably, their concepts, ideas and
convictions are radically at variance with
what they actually find upon their entrance
into the spiritual realms of life. As a result,
they are mystified, uncertain, incredulous,
and sometimes bitterly resentful against those
who are assigned to aid them in the process
of adjustment to the new life and conditions.
So at variance are their beliefs and convic-
tions from the facts of spiritual life, as they
find them, that they refuse absolutely to ac-

213

THE GREAT KNOWN

cept the fact of their own death. The only
alternative that will satisfy them is to accept
the entire experience as a dream. It then
becomes the business of their spiritual aides
to "awaken" them from their assumed
"dream," and bring them to full realization
of the fact that they have actually passed
through the experience of physical death,
have arrived upon the spiritual side of life,
and that they are in the midst of the actual
experience of the new life.

This awakening process, to a full realiza-
tion of the new life, and of the meaning of
the process called death, oftentimes involves
much time and labor on the part of the spir-
itual workers and their associates. This calls
for the utmost patience, loving kindness and
consideration on the part of these "guardian
angels."

An authoritative statement as to the time
this awakening and adjusting process re-
quires cannot be given. Perhaps an average
of all such cases would be from one to two
days. In some instances the awakening and
full realization and acceptance of the impor-
tant facts come very swiftly, even where the

214

GUARDIAN ANGELS

individual has entertained radically errone-
ous ideas and views as to the meaning of
physical death and the conditions awaiting
him in the spiritual world. This depends
upon the degree of spiritual evolution the
individual has attained at the time of his
death. But there are many instances where
weeks, and even months, are necessary to the
adjustment of the individual to the new life
and conditions, and to a full realization of
the truth.

A large percentage of deaths occur very
suddenly. Many of them, the result of so-
called accidents, cannot be anticipated, either
by the individual himself, or the spiritual
workers whose responsibility it is to receive
him and care for him in the spiritual life and
help him over the educational process of
spiritual adjustment.

In all such cases as these it will be readily
understood that there is no way of making
assignments of ''guardian angels" two days
ahead of death. But, even though no specific
assignments have been made among the spir-
itual workers, in such cases, they are pro-
vided for with just as much certainty as any

215

THE GREAT KNOWN

other. Among the spiritual workers in this
field — called Border-Land Workers — is a
very large number of "Emergency Work-
ers." It is the special responsibility of this
"Emergency Corps" to be fully and constantly
prepared and on guard, so that no so-called
accidental death shall ever occur without the
immediate presence of one or more of these
emergency helpers. The perfection of the
spiritual organization of workers in this field,
together with the facilities for transmitting
information instantaneously, and the ability
of the spiritual helpers to travel with the
swiftness of thought, make it impossible for
the most unexpected and sudden death to
occur without some of the emergency help-
ers arriving fully equipped and prepared
for instant service to meet every possible
contingency.

M

CHAPTER XXI

THE BREATH OF LIFE

From the instant that physical conception
occurs, there begins the development of a
physical body which the Soul is to inhabit
when the first "breath of life" is taken into
its lungs at, or soon after, birth. But, at the
same time, and synchronously with the devel-
opment of that physical body, is a spiritual
body which interpenetrates the physical and
is interpenetrated by the physical, in such
manner that when the Soul is incarnated it is
the possessor of two bodies, a physical and a
spiritual body. These two bodies are not only
interrelated but interdependent in their rela-
tion to their Soul inhabitant.

The Soul of the incarnating individual
does not enter the physical body at concep-
tion. It does not enter at any time during
the prenatal period of nine months between
conception and physical birth. It does not
necessarily enter at the instant of physical

217

THE GREAT KNOWN

birth. The Soul of the incarnating individ-
ual enters the bodies of the infant synchron-
ously with the first physical breath which the
infant breathes into its lungs. Normally, this
occurs almost instantly with physical birth.
But this is not always true, for the reason
that, in many instances, the first physical
breath is not taken into the lungs of the in-
fant until several minutes after actual phys-
ical birth. In some cases the attending phy-
sician finds it necessary to use mechanical
means to induce the first physical breath.
Whenever the process of suscitation requires
the assistance of mechanical means, it may
require several minutes to accomplish it.
Even so, the incarnating — or reincarnating —
Soul, as the case may be, does not enter the
bodies of the infant until the first physical
breath enters its lungs.

And this is the "breath" referred to as the
"Breath of Life." "And the Lord God formed
man of the dust of the ground, and breathed
into his nostrils the Breath of Life; and man
became a living Soul." (Genesis II, 7.)

If it should die, even before the next
breath is taken into its physical body, the

218

THE BREATH OF LIFE

Soul has en*:ered the spiritual body of the in-
fant, and passes with it into the spiritual life,
as a spiritual infant, and follows the natural
course of spiritual growth and development
thenceforward, as do other spiritual infants.

But suppose the physical body of the infant
is born, and the first physical breath is never
taken, what then? In that event there has
been no Soul-incarnation. The Soul has not
entered the spiritual body of the infant.
Hence, the spiritual body disintegrates with
the physical and is resolved back into the ele-
ments from which it was integrated.

The presence of the awaiting Soul is the
"Fact of Nature" which makes the first
breath of the infant possible, and that is the
only instant when the entry of the Soul is pos-
sible. If the Soul did not enter with the first
"Breath of Life," that breath would be its last,
and would become the "Breath of Death."

Let us suppose we have a chemical explo-
sive. It consists of a number of different
chemical ingredients. They are so propor-
tioned and combined that the addition of a
single drop of nitric acid will cause the explo-
sion. Now, suppose the drop of acid is never

219

THE GREAT KNOWN

added, the explosion will never occur. It is
the presence of that one drop which completes
Nature's process. After that one drop has
been added and the explosion has occurred,
there can be no other, or later, explosion from
that combination.

If the Soul were not present and entered
with the first "Breath of Life," then "Man"
would never become "A Living Soul." There
would be nothing remaining but a dead body.

Seme individuals may be inclined to be-
lieve it would almost lead to the extinction of
the human race upon earth, if humanity gen-
erally knew that the Soul does not enter the
bodies of the new-born infant until the first
"breath of life" is breathed into the lungs of
the physical body. In other words, if pros-
pective mothers generally knew that they
could destroy the physical body of an unborn
child without destroying a living Soul, would
not the number of criminal abortions be mul-
tiplied many times — until it would become
the rule, rather than the exception?

This is not true. Prospective mothers do
not consider that question at all, when they
are contemplating an abortion. They are im-
am

THE BREATH OF LIFE

pelled to such an act by selfish and personal
motives which would override any such con-
sideration, even if they knew the Law. So
long as man-made laws treat voluntary, de-
liberate and unnecessary abortions as "mur-
ders," it is safe to assume that no prospective
mother is going to commit such an act unless
she has made up her mind to defy the law and
take her chance of evading its penalty.

When the mothers of the future are taught
to know that in the process of motherhood
they are helping Mother Nature to prepare
the way for human Souls to come to earth and
work out the evolution of their Individual
Completion and Happiness, they will enter
into cooperation with Nature in the most
glorious undertaking it is possible for the hu-
man mind and Soul to conceive. This knowl-
edge will stimulate the development of the
Mother-Love nature of womankind.

Furthermore, with this higher education
of mothers they will be taught, and will come
to realize the fact that the future welfare, the
Individual Completion of their own Souls,
and their consequent Perfect Happiness, are
all involved in the Soul attitude of Cheerful-

221

THE GREAT KNOWN

ness demanded by Nature of every prospect-
ive mother in her glorious labor of mother-
hood. The most profound responsibility that
Nature lays upon her children is that of par-
enthood; and more especially of motherhood;
because this involves the intimate personal
relation of the mother to her child during the
preparation of its bodies for occupancy and
use. Any failure on her part to discharge the
profound personal responsibility which Na-
ture fixes upon her in the process of mother-
hood, also fixes upon her, at the same time,
the most terrible penalty of devolutionary
failure and unhappiness from which it is im-
possible for her to escape.

When the future mothers of the race come
to understand these things, the personal re-
sponsibility of motherhood, the rewards of
compliance with the Law, and the penalties of
failure or refusal — the personal happiness in
store for the real mother on the one hand, and
the personal degradation and suffering upon
the other — no further stimulus will be needed
to enlist all the constructive energies of her
body and Soul in her glorious work for
humanity and herself.

CHAPTER XXII

CHILDREN

Children are not born of spiritual parents
upon any of the spiritual planes, insofar as we
know the facts of life upon this planet. Upon
the planet of earth it would seem that the indi-
vidualizing of all intelligent life has its
inception, its beginning, on the physical plane
alone. It is true, however, that many infants
are, in one sense, "born" into the spiritual life;
but these are "born" only through the process
of physical death. They arrive upon the spir-
itual plane as infants, but they are the children
of physical parents, and their infancy had its
real beginning upon the physical plane.

Children and infants appear upon all the
planes of spiritual life. And, they appear
there immediately after they have been liber-
ated from the physical body by physical
death. I have heard positive statements made
several times, by mediums, that there are no
children in the spiritual life above the first

223

THE GREAT KNOWN

spiritual plane. Then, again, there are those
who assure us that there are no children be-
yond the fourth spiritual plane. There are
others who fix the limit at the seventh spirit-
ual plane.

As explained, the spiritual evolution of an
individual at physical death determines the
exact level to which he will immediately rise
when liberated from the physical body
through the process of physical death. If his
spiritual development is low when he reaches
physical death he will rise to a corresponding
low plane of spiritual life. If his spirituality
is high at the time of his death he will rise to
correspondingly high levels of spiritual life as
soon as he is liberated from the physical body
through the process of death.

But the same Universal Law of Gravity ap-
plies to those who die in infancy or in child-
hood, as well as it does to those who die after
they have reached physical maturity.

We find that there are many physical in-
fants and children who, at physical death,
stop in the magnetic field of life. There are
many others who pass at once through the
magnetic field and find their natural level

224

CHILDREN

and home upon the first spiritual plane.
There are yet many others who pass directly
through both the magnetic field and the
first spiritual plane, and stop upon the second
spiritual plane. There are yet many more
who rise at once, when liberated from the
physical body by death, into the third, fourth,
fifth, and all the other planes of spiritual life,
even to the highest.

This means, when translated into scientific
analysis, that there is as much difference in
the spiritual evolutionary status of infants and
children, at physical death, as there is in the
spiritual status of those who have arrived at
physical maturity before death overtakes
them.

We have learned that spiritual unfoldment
and development are the results of Spiritual
Evolution.

This means that an infant who stops in the
magnetic field, after physical death, has not
attained as high a degree of Spiritual Evolu-
tion as the infant or child who passes at once
through the magnetic field and stops in the
first spiritual plane. It means also that the
infant or child who passes directly into the

225

THE GREAT KNOWN

seventh, the ninth, or the thirteenth spiritual
plane, at physical death, has attained a vastly
higher degree of Spiritual Evolution than the
infant or child who stops in the first, third, or
fifth spiritual plane.

But, Spiritual Evolution is the result of
Individual Experience. And, Individual Ex-
perience comes only through the process of
time, personal effort, actual living and doing
and accomplishing.

Other things being equal, we know that a
stock of corn which is seven feet tall, fully
tasseled out and having two large ears of corn
upon it, is older than the stock that is just
peeping through the soil. In this we see
plainly that the element of time is an impor-
tant factor in the evolutionary process.

In like manner, when we see a spiritual in-
fant whose spirituality enables it to reach up
through the magnetic field, the first, and all
the intermediate planes of spiritual life, into
the seventh, eighth or ninth — we know that
this is due to the elements of time, experience
and personal effort. When we compare this
with the infant whose spiritual head is just
peeping through the magnetic field and ap-

226

I

CHILDREN

pearing upon the first spiritual plane, we
know that the elements of time, experience
and personal effort are the determining fac-
tors which differentiate the one from the
other.

From the moment an infant emerges from
its tiny infant body and enters the spiritual
world, it goes on growing in size, as well as in
mentality. This growth and development of
its spiritual body go on very much as it would
have proceeded had it remained upon the
earth plane. This means that it goes on grow-
ing and developing until it passes through all
the phases of infancy, childhood, youth and
maturity.

But there are three essential particulars
wherein the spiritual development differs
from the physical :

(a) Its bodily growth upon the spiritual
plane is not so rapid as it is upon the physical
plane. To make this entirely clear, while a
child upon the earth plane grows to its full
physical height and weight in 18 to 21 years,
it requires an average of almost twice the
same period upon the spiritual side to develop
the spiritual body alone to its full size and

227

THE GREAT KNOWN

proportions. Why this is so I am unable to
tell you, except it would seem that the phys-
ical element adds an impulse to the develop-
ment and growth of the material bodies, and
when this element is eliminated — as in the
event of physical death — Nature finds herself
unable to complete the process with the same
facility as she could have done had the infant
remained upon the earth plane until its phys-
ical body had been developed to maturity.

(b) No matter how old a spiritual being
may be, its spiritual body never becomes
withered with the marks of age or decrepi-
tude. When the spiritual infant reaches its
full bodily maturity it ceases to grow in both
size and the appearance of age. It always
remains what we upon the earth plane would
call "youthful" in its appearance; although
those upon the spiritual planes have no diffi-
culty in determining the relative age of any
spiritual individual.

(c) The third particular in which there is
a marked difference between the physical and
the spiritual developments of individuals, in
point of growth, is this: One who reaches old
age upon earth before death overtakes him,

228

CHILDREN

appears upon the spiritual plane as an old
man, bearing all the bodily evidences of age
and decrepitude that were manifest in the
physical body at the immediate time of death.
But instead of going on from that point
growing older in appearance, he begins at
once to grow younger in bodily appearance.
This rejuvenation continues until the individ-
ual has reached that state and condition of
bodily development just referred to as youth-
ful.

This will explain the experiences of many
earthly psychics in their endeavors to identify
to their earthly associates the relatives and
friends who have passed on into the spiritual
life many years before. If the individual
passed out of the physical body in infancy, the
psychic will see him as a youthful form, ap-
parently many years older than the little babe
that died. On the other hand, if the individ-
ual died in old age, the psychic will see him
in his rejuvenated appearance of youth.

It is only where the spiritual individual
himself understands these facts and voluntar-
ily and intentionally takes on the appearance
of infancy — in the one case, and of old age in

229

THE GREAT KNOWN

the other — that the psychic is able to identify
the individual at all to those who are seeking
for the evidences of identity that will satisfy
them.

These facts will explain certain difficulties
of some of the most honest and genuine psy-
chics who often find themselves unable to
identify those on the spiritual side of life, to
the satisfaction of their relatives and friends
on the earth plane of life. These natural dis-
crepancies in the bodily appearance upon the
spiritual planes — when compared with the
appearance of the individual in the physical
body at the time of death — will account for all
these apparent failures on the part of honest
psychics.

There is always a strong magnetic bond be-
tween a spiritual infant and the physical fam-
ily into which it is born. This is usually
strongest between it and its physical mother;
although, where the family relations, environ-
ment and conditions are harmonious and
happy, the same bond may exist toward other
members of the family. In this case, espe-
cially, the spiritual child is permitted to grow

2S0

CHILDREN

up in very close association with those it has
left behind upon the physical plane.

But where the mother-love is not strong,
and dissension and hostility exist in the family,
the spiritual child does not desire to remain
in close association, and those who have its
spiritual guardianship and care, soon develop
other and better conditions for its spiritual
development and welfare. In this case it does
not remain a member of the physical family.
It follows the natural law of individual at-
traction and harmony.

The men and women on the spiritual
planes in whom the love of and desire for
children in the home are still strong, voluntar-
ily seek and take these little ones into their
home, care for them, educate them and help
them in every way possible in their evolu-
tionary growth and development, until they
have grown to that age of discretion which
stands for "spiritual majority." From that
point forward the parental adoption becomes
null, and the child is released from all the
ties that bound it thereunder.

There are many subsidiary questions which
arise out of the reciprocal relations between

231

THE GREAT KNOWN

members of the same family on both sides of
life. But they are mainly worked out consist-
ently with the Law of Individual Evolution.
Of course, there are many cases where the evil
and degrading influences of the physical life
are magnetically very strong and hold the
spiritual child until the Border-Land Work-
ers are able to help him break the destructive
bond that holds him to earth.

Where the family tie is strong and con-
structive, those who pass into the spiritual life
are joined together into the family relations
upon the spiritual planes. In this case those
who die in infancy are taken immediately into
the care and guardianship of the family group
upon the spiritual side. But this is a matter
which is governed by the Law of Natural At-
traction. The "tie of blood" alone is not
strong upon the spiritual side. There it is far
more a question of spiritual magnetism and
psychic harmony.

Those who are specially appointed, or who
volunteer for that purpose, prepare for the
coming of the spiritual infant. They make
every possible arrangement and preparation
for its care and its comfort, and they receive

232

CHILDREN

it upon its arrival, and assume entire respon-
sibility for its care, comfort, education and
welfare, as rapidly as it develops. It takes up
its spiritual life exactly where it left off its
physical. It has to be cared for — although
children do not die of starvation in the Spir-
itual world — until it has evolved to a point
where it is able intelligently and consciously
to cooperate with Nature and become an ac-
tive participant in its own evolutionary
unfoldment and growth. After it has de-
veloped to the point where it becomes an in-
telligent and voluntary party to its own evo-
lutionary development, the process is greatly
intensified by the combined efforts of both
Nature and the individual working together
in harmony.

It often occurs that spiritual members of
the family are appointed, or volunteer, for
this service.

All this, however, is within the jurisdic-
tion of the duties and responsibilities of the
Border-Land Workers who have general di-
rection and supervision of the work of re-
ceiving and caring for all who pass from
physical life into the spiritual. And these

233

THE GREAT KNOWN

Border-Land Workers use their best judg-
ment in making their selections of guardians,
in all cases. In this they are largely gov-
erned by the character and condition of the
spiritual individual when he arrives upon
the spiritual side of life.

Each infant is clothed immediately upon
its arrival; and its clothing is provided by
its selected spiritual guardians, and those
who volunteer their services. The quality and
style of dress are likewise determined by
those who have been selected and charged
with the responsibility of receiving and car-
ing for the individual infant. The same,
however, is equally true of all others who
pass into the spiritual life. It does not mat-
ter whether they are infants, children, youths,
or those of mature life, or those decrepit with
age. They all must be cared for until they
can be taught and helped to care for them-
selves. But as soon as they become self-re-
liant and able to care for themselves, their
guardians are no longer necessary nor of real
service to them. Hence, they pass on to
others who need them.

From this explanation it will be seen that

234

CHILDREN

every possible contingency is provided for
upon the spiritual side of life — and that none
are neglected or overlooked.

We know that all normal, human infants
are born natural psychics. We also know that
very few of them retain their psychic powers
beyond the period of childhood.

One of the fundamental principles of indi-
vidual development is that all human un-
foldment is in line with the attention and
personal effort of the individual. This means
that in whatever line the attention of a child
is fixed, and his effort awakened, in that line
will he develop most rapidly.

Applying this principle to the average
child, it will be found that, almost from the
day of his birth the conditions of his life are
such as to fix his attention upon his physical
environment and hold it there during his
waking moments. The mother, from the day
of her child's birth, seeks to attract its atten-
tion to her. The father does the same thing.
He seeks to fix its attention upon him. If
there be other children in the family, or
other relatives near, they all take their turn.
The infant child has little or no time or op-

235

THE GREAT KNOWN

portunity to give any attention to its spir-
itual environment. Naturally, it develops
the physical senses more and more; and, in
exact proportion, it neglects the spiritual.
By the Law of use and non-use, the physical
senses grow more and more dominant and
the spiritual less and less so. It requires but
a very few years of this manner of life en-
tirely to obscure the spiritual senses and
powers. In due time, the child ceases to use
them entirely, and then forgets that it ever
possessed them.

If parents understood that their children
are all natural psychics at birth, and would
then observe the natural Law of develop-
ment, the Law of UsE, there would be no
difficulty in so rearing their children as to
develop the spiritual senses and powers
equally with the physical. And, in this case,
the child would grow to maturity, and even
to old age, without loss, or even obscuration,
of its spiritual senses and powers.

The records of Atlantean civilization dis-
close the fact that, in those ancient days, par-
ents understood the law of natural develop-
ment and so trained and instructed their

236 ,

CHILDREN

children that most of them grew to maturity
as natural psychics, and retained their natural
development throughout their entire lifetime.
We are informed that it was the exception,
rather than the rule, that the child lost con-
scious and voluntary touch with its spiritual
environment. The same condition might ob-
tain in this modern age and civilization, if
men and women understood the Law of Life
and Individual Development and applied it
to their own children. Indeed, it is one of
the hopes and aims of the Great School of
Natural Science to bring this knowledge
back to humanity again, and inspire men and
women once more to become the spiritual
Teachers and Educators of their children
and aid them in the work of normal unfold-
ment in all the departments of life and its
activities.

All development is in the line of attention
and personal effort.

One of the simplest things for the mother
to do would be to provide her baby a room
where it could spend two or three hours
every day alone, where it would have no
physical objects about to attract its attention.

237

THE GREAT KNOWN

The room should be absolutely quiet so that
even physical sounds would not obtrude them-
selves upon its attention. Being thus left
alone where its physical environment could
not attract its attention, it would naturally
turn its attention to its spiritual environment.
Thus it would soon have a number of spir-
itual friends who would keep its attention
fixed upon them and their spiritual environ-
ment. This would normally develop the
infant's spiritual senses and powers, and if
this were continued through its childhood,
with proper instruction, it would retain those
spiritual powers even to maturity.

The development of the infant is a nat-
ural development. It is in no sense negative.
The child's attitude of Soul is never negative,
and only the negative attitude could possibly
be taken advantage of by those who would
control it subjectively.

Furthermore, under such conditions an in-
fant is always under the protection of one or
more of its so-called guardians, on the spir-
itual side, whose responsibility it is to guard
it against such conditions.

2St

CHAPTER XXIII

SOUL AND SEX

The impulse of sex attraction obtains on
the spiritual planes of life, as it does in this
life of earth, but with the exception that it is
upon a higher and more exalted plane.

Upon the physical plane of life the impulse
of reproduction is a very strong element in
the attraction which draws men and women
together in marriage, as well as into the home
and family relation. However much the in-
dividual may endeavor to disguise the fact —
from himself or herself, as well as from
others — there is, in the attraction which
brings them together in the marriage relation
upon the earth plane, a fundamental desire
for and anticipation of children. The rear-
ing of children constitutes the basis upon
which Nature perpetuates the human race
upon earth, as well as populates the spiritual
realms that belong to this planet. Hence,
it is but natural that she has implanted io

239

THE GREAT KNOWN

the Souls of men and women the impulse and
desire for children, which impel them to
meet Nature's demand for reproduction.

But when the physical life is done and the
physical body is put away, the impulse for
reproduction ceases to attract men and wo-
men. The sex attraction is still there in the
Soul; but, as soon as they learn the meaning
of the transition and understand the condi-
tions of life upon the new plane, the attrac-
tion shifts to the higher plane of the spiritual.
It is, however, none the less potent, nor is
the relation any the less exclusive in its de-
mands upon the two individuals.

There are many, however, who carry over
into the spiritual life the Soul's fundamental
desire for children in the home life. Nature
has provided for all such cases by the fact that
infants are constantly passing from the phys-
ical life into the spiritual.

The spiritual body is an exact replica of
the physical body with which it was asso-
ciated upon the earth plane. It has spiritual
organs corresponding to the physical organs.
In other words, it has a heart, a liver, a stom-
ach and all the other organs corresponding to

340

k

SOUL AND SEX

those of the physical body, including the sex
organs and the organs of generation. Each
of these spiritual organs has its definite and
specific use and function. Reasoning entirely
from the physical viewpoint, one would be
very apt to conclude that such spiritual or-
gans perform functions, analogous to those
of their physical replicas. In this, however,
one would not be entirely correct.

Nevertheless, these several spiritual or-
gans still have their practical uses. They are
all the seat of various sensations of the body.
And on the spiritual side they employ them
chiefly for the purpose of the sense enjoy-
ment of the highest measure of harmony of
which they are capable. The stomach is still
the seat of sensation which tells when the
spiritual body is in need of nourishment, and
when that need has been supplied. It still
gives that sense of satisfaction when the store
of nourishment is sufficient for all the pur-
poses of the body.

In the same sense, the generative organs
of the spiritual body have their use as cen-
ters of sensation. And, since Spiritual Beings
have learned how to conform their lives, in all

241

THE GREAT KNOWN

their many aspects, to the Law of Unfold-
ment, they have learned how to employ the
sex organs in processes that afford the most
intense gratification of the individual love
nature. Their function in life is to afford the
individual a spiritualized expression of the
love relation. An illustration from the plane
of our own life may help you to understand
the meaning of this explanation more fully:

In the warm climate of our physical world
men often wear coats. In these coats are
pockets. They use these pockets as con-
venient receptacles in which to carry various
of their personal possessions. In the northern
countries, where the winters are cold, they
use these same pockets for the purpose of
keeping their hands warm; and in this latter
case they are quite as useful as in the former,
and convey to the individual consciousness
even greater sensation of pleasure.

This illustration only brings out the fact
that environment may have much to do with
the uses to which we put things, quite re-
gardless of what may have been their pri-
mary purpose and function.

It is not difficult to understand the fact

242

SOUL AND SEX

that, whilst the original and primary func-
tion of the generative organs was and is re-
production, upon the physical plane, these
same organs, in another and different environ-
ment and condition, may be put to other uses
and other purposes quite as important to the
comfort, well-being and happiness of the
individual.

Sex is not a thing of the body alone. It is
fundamentally a thing of the Soul.

The material body gives but an objective
manifestation of it. But this outward manifes-
tation is merely a manifestation of that which
is back of the material body, namely, the Soul.
It marks a cleavage which runs throughout
ail Nature — the masculine and the feminine
— and these are immutable. A man is always,
under all circumstances and conditions of
life, a Man; and in like manner, a woman
is always, under all conditions and circum-
stances of life, a Woman. The sex of an in-
dividual never changes, any more than does
the individuality itself change.

In the spiritual life — except in the cases
mentioned where men and women assume the
responsibility of rearing spiritual infants from

243

THE GREAT KNOWN

infancy to spiritual majority — the home is
founded upon the exclusive love relation of
one man and one woman. There is no obliga-
tion to children which binds them together in
the marriage relation. It has now become an
exclusive and personal relation which consti-
tutes the unbreakable bond between them.

Marriage ceremonies no longer exist. They
have been discarded along with the respon-
sibility which provided for the rearing of
children upon the earth. But men and wo-
men still continue, upon the spiritual planes,
to find their exclusive happiness in each
other. Because of this provision of Nature,
they come together in a voluntary association
for their own personal happiness and for the
greater accomplishment which such a rela-
tion makes possible. They are drawn to-
gether by the natural Law of Attraction and
they remain together under the same Law.

But if, for any reason, a man and a woman
(who have lived together upon the spiritual
side of life in that exclusive personal rela-
tion upon which spiritual homes are founded)
should find that the bond of attraction be-
tween them is not sufficiently strong and har-

244

SOUL AND SEX

monious to bring them the personal happiness
in each other which their Souls crave, they
at once know that they are not perfectly
mated. When this fact becomes conclusive
to them they separate as naturally as they
came together and without bitterness or un-
happiness in any sense.

Spiritual life and conditions are such that
men and women are able to obtain a much
clearer idea as to this natural attraction be-
tween the sexes. While they still make occa-
sional mistakes, especially upon the lower
planes of spiritual life, these are exceedingly
rare. Consequently, separations are very few,
even upon the lower planes.

There is no formal or legal institution of
"divorce" upon the spiritual side of life. As
in the case of voluntary union between men
and women, there is no formal ceremony of
marriage, but a mutual recognition of the sex
attraction which draws them together; so,
when the attraction ceases to bring the hap-
piness which the two Souls desire and crave,
they simply separate as voluntarily and as
naturally as they came together, and the per-
sonal relationship ceases to exist.

245

THE GREAT KNOWN

There is neither legal marriage nor divorce
upon the spiritual side of life. When the one
man and the one woman come together upon
the spiritual planes of life, by the natural Law
of Sex Attraction, into the perfect love rela-
tion, they find themselves bound together by
a bond which neither desires to break, and
which neither could break. Indeed, when the
relation of perfect sex harmony and union is
once established, it is the strongest bond that
exists in human nature, and it abides through-
out all the planes of life, even to eternity —
so far as we know. It is the one great, beau-
tiful, wonderful and mystical tie upon which
all true, personal happiness is based.

Until that relation is discovered and estab-
lished between a man and a woman, they
both are forever seeking and searching for it.
And this ever-active search for perfect com-
panionship, and for the happiness which it
brings with it, is the central inspiration
which moves them in all their Soul activities.

Truly, "Love is the Greatest Thing in the
World." Indeed, it is the greatest thing in
any world, so far as Science knows.

24tf

CHAPTER XXIV

WHEN DEATH BEGINS

In cases of death resulting from long-con-
tinued sickness which depletes the physical
organism and its stock of vitality, slowly and
steadily — until death comes as a result of the
worn-out body and the depletion of its vi-
tality— the separation of the two bodies
almost always begins before the heart has
entirely ceased to function. But it is never
complete until the heart has entirely ceased
its action. In truth, there are comparatively
few instances where the separation of the two
bodies is complete until at least a little time
has elapsed after the last heart-beat.

In cases of heart disease — where the indi-
vidual is full of vital energy until the instant
when the heart action stops — the separation
of the two bodies does not begin until after
the heart entirely ceases to function. It is the
actual stopping of the heart, in such cases,
that stops the normal flow of the vital cur-

247

THE GREAT KNOWN

rents and thereby dissipates the vital elements
upon which the association of the two bodies
depends. In such cases the actual separation
of the two bodies seldom, if ever, is complete
until from one to three minutes after the last
heart-beat.

The same is equally true in all cases of in-
stantaneous death from violent causes, such
as gunshot, or the sudden and complete
crushing of the physical body — as from the
falling of a stone or other heavy body upon
it — or from hanging. In the latter case, al-
though consciousness ceases almost immedi-
ately, the heart often continues to beat for
five to ten minutes, and in exceptional cases,
even longer. Even so, the separation of the
two bodies is not complete until after the
heart ceases to act.

In cases of sudden explosions, where the
physical body is torn into bits, the separation
of the two bodies is as instantaneous as the
stopping of the heart action. In such cases,
no appreciable time elapses between the last
heart-beat and the complete separation of the
two bodies. This is because the physical body
is virtually disintegrated, leaving no center

WHEN DEATH BEGINS

of connection with the spiritual body. In
this case the separation of the two bodies and
the stopping of the heart's action are vir-
tually synchronous and instantaneous.

If the physical body is surcharged with
vital energy and health at the instant the
heart ceases to act, the bond between the two
bodies is correspondingly strong, and will
persist until the entire store of accumulated
vital energy has run out. This is why it is
that, when sudden death comes, in the midst
of health and vigor, the actual separation of
the two bodies is not completed instantly, but
requires from one to three minutes and, in
some instances, longer.

For the same reason, when death follows
from long illness which slowly depletes the
normal store of vitality, the store of mag-
netic and vital energy is extremely low when
the heart ceases to beat. The separation of
the two bodies is virtually complete when
the heart stops.

In cases of lingering illness, where vitality
gradually runs very low before death occurs,
often the separation of the two bodies ac-
tually begins, the heart almost ceases to act

249

THE GREAT KNOWN

and physical dissolution really sets in; but,
before the separation is complete the attend-
ing physician administers a strong heart
stimulant. Instantly the heart responds and
the life current is set in motion once more.
The spiritual body — already partly with-
drawn from the physical — is drawn back
again, and life is renewed for the time. Then
the heart stimulant loses its effect, the vital
forces and energies wane, and the process of
physical death sets in again. Once more the
two bodies begin to separate. This time the
separation is almost complete when the at-
tending physician administers another strong
heart stimulant. The heart responds and in-
stantly the spiritual body is drawn back
again into union with the physical. This
process may be repeated many times, and
each time physical death actually begins;
but there comes a time when the vital forces
and energies run too low and the heart no
longer can be made to respond to temporary
stimulants. Then the separation becomes
complete and physical death results.

There have been many interesting cases of
resuscitation from drowning, in which the

250

k

WHEN DEATH BEGINS

separation of the two bodies has been com-
plete. The individual is conscious of the fact
that he is entirely out of the physical body.
He even floats above it and is able to see its
etheric counterpart lying there upon the bed.
He sees the spiritual forms of the doctor and
his attendants, as they w^ork over the physical
body. Suddenly the heart begins to beat. The
vital current is again set in motion and, with-
out knowing how it is done, the individual
feels himself drawn back once more into the
physical body, as it were. With a gasp, he
awakens to physical consciousness, and finds
himself once more inhabiting his physical
body, as physically sound and well as ever.
In this case physical death actually began
and was virtually complete when the process
of dissolution was arrested and the vital ac-
tivities restored. Such an individual may
live many years after such an experience,
during which time he may enjoy perfect
physical health.

Such experiences as these, and many others,
show that death may begin long before the
heart actually ceases to beat; or, it may not
begin until after the heart has entirely ceased

251

THE GREAT KNOWN

to function — depending entirely upon the
physical condition of the individual at the
time.

From the moment dissolution and the sep-
aration of the two bodies begins, there is
neither pain nor suffering of any kind, except
where the element of fear enters. Many ap-
proach the transition of physical death with
a profound sense of dread. If the mind and
Soul of the individual have been deeply im-
pressed with the suggestion that death is an
event of horror to be dreaded and feared,
the last conscious impression of the individ-
ual is that of fear and dread.

So long as the individual is conscious upon
the physical plane he may, and often does,
suffer the most intense pain and agony, as
from a fatal wound, or from certain forms
of disease — such as rheumatism, blood poi-
son, gangrene, and especially from burns.

But, from the instant the transition called
death really begins, and the spiritual body
proceeds to emerge from the physical, all
pain and suffering cease, and whatever sen-
sations there are — of which the individual is
conscious — are those of peace, quiet and en-

252

WHEN DEATH BEGINS

joyment. The exception, however, occurs in
cases where fear and dread have been irre-
vocably implanted in the Soul in advance.

This is meant to convey the information
that the transition itself from the physical life
to the spiritual does not involve pain or suf-
fering of any kind whatever. All pain and
suffering, in other words, occur while the in-
dividual is intelligently conscious upon the
physical plane of life. This is because the
instant the two bodies begin to separate, the
channels of physical sense are broken and it
is impossible for sensations of any kind,
either painful or pleasant, to pass from the
physical body to the Soul which inhabits the
spiritual body.

Sometimes it occurs that one who is ap-
proaching physical dissolution loses physical
consciousness for hours, sometimes for days,
and in extreme cases, for weeks, before the
actual transition begins. Our earthly physi-
cians call this a state of ''coma!' From the
instant the individual loses physical con-
sciousness and enters upon the state and con-
dition of coma, his pain and suffering end.
From that time until the separation of the

253

THE GREAT KNOWN

two bodies is complete, he remains in a state
of complete unconsciousness. This means
that he has no knowledge of what is occurring
upon either plane of life.

In such cases this period of coma seems to
be a complete blank in his life, for he has no
knowledge of it at the time, and afterwards
no remembrance of it. But this state of
complete unconsciousness does not always
occur. In truth, it is rather the exception
than the rule; for, in very many instances,
the individual loses consciousness only upon
the plane of the purely physical. In this
case he has no knowledge of what is occur-
ring upon the physical plane — except as it
may be reflected to him through the spiritual
sense channels. All physical sensation, how-
ever, has ceased. This is for the reason al-
ready explained.

But the Soul is intensely awake and entirely
conscious upon the spiritual plane. The in-
dividual sees and hears and otherwise senses
the presence about him of those upon the
spiritual plane who are only waiting to re-
ceive him as he, in his spiritual body,
emerges from the physical. In such cases,

254

WHEN DEATH BEGINS

the individual also sees and otherwise senses
the spiritual forms of those who are yet in
the physical body and near him. He is even
able to hear what they say — not with his
physical ears, to be sure, but with his spir-
itual sense of hearing.

It often occurs that an individual who is
approaching physical death falls into the
state of coma. He may remain in that state
for hours before death occurs. Then he will
return to physical consciousness for ten, fif-
teen or twenty minutes, just before death
occurs. During this interval of physical
consciousness he will betray the fact that he
was spiritually awake and intensely con-
scious during every moment of his physical
comatose condition. Many such cases have
occurred where the dying individual has nar-
rated, with singular vividness and accuracy,
most of the things which were said and done
by those about him on the physical plane, in-
cluding the physician, the nurse and the mem-
bers of the family who were present during
that time.

This is possible only because the dying in-
dividual receives the Soul impulse upon the

255

THE GREAT KNOWN

spiritual plane; and, since those upon the
earth plane have both a spiritual and a phys-
ical body, their thoughts express themselves
spiritually as well as physically. Those on
the spiritual side receive the spiritual impulse
and thought.

There are many cases where the individual
who has awakened from his comatose con-
dition will narrate many interesting experi-
ences he has had — during that period — with
relatives and friends who have preceded him
in the spiritual life. By many who are not
acquainted with the scientific facts, but who
are strongly religious, these experiences are
taken and accepted as positive assurance of
the correctness of religious faith. There are
many, however, whose religious faith satisfies
them as to the existence of another life, but
they do not believe that it is possible for those
who have passed into the spiritual life to re-
turn and make their presence known to those
upon the physical plane. Such experiences as
those above referred to naturally have the
effect to modify ihcir religious convictions in
this one particular.

The foregoing facts will suggest something

256

WHEN DEATH BEGINS

of the care and discretion that should always
be exercised by those upon the physical plane
in the presence of those who are in the coma-
tose condition. Not a word or thought
should be expressed, in the presence of the
dying, nor in the presence of those in the
comatose state, which might not rightly and
properly be expressed to the individual if he
were consciously awake upon the physical
plane of life.

If this suggestion were always followed
and enforced by physicians and nurses, it
would save many a dying individual the
most intense agony during the last moments
of his physical life — which ought to be made
as perfectly peaceful and harmonious as pos-
sible. It is hoped that this suggestion may
be made of practical value by our future edu-
cators in teaching humanity the right At-
titude of Soul to be maintained by those in
the physical body who are present in the
environment of those in the comatose condi-
tion. They should be made to realize that
their own attitude of soul may become a
great and beneficent factor in making the

257

THE GREAT KNOWN

transition one of peace and joy, and even of
happiness.

For illustration: Those who are present
upon the physical plane and surround the
death-bed, should fix their thoughts upon the
dying individual, with the earnest desire to
convey to him a message of love and hope
and faith and confidence and assurance that
all is well. They should hold in mind the
conscious and earnest desire to help make the
last earthly moments, and the transition itself
into spiritual life, as peaceful and happy as
possible. The time will come when every such
individual will know that he has rendered to
his fellow, in the Hour of Need, the help
most needed.

The analogous suggestion holds equally
good with those who are physically present
with one who is in the comatose state and con-
dition. Every thought and every impulse of
the Soul should be constructive and charged
with the earnest desire and purpose to Serve
in the Hour of Need.

This is "Practical Psychology." Do not
forget it. Study this subject with the utmost

25S

WHEN DEATH BEGINS

care until the meaning of physical death is, to
you, clear and definite. Do not stop until you
have analyzed correctly the meaning and
significance of the comatose state and condi-
tion of those who may be restored to physical
life and health again. Then, whenever you
have the opportunity, put into active prac-
tice the knowledge you have gained. Not
now, perhaps, but some time, you will come
to know that you have been a real benefactor,
and that you have rendered to another the
greatest possible service in the hour of his
Greatest Need.

259

CHAPTER XXV

SUSPENDED ANIMATION

This subject is one concerning which our
physical scientists know but little. It is
one, however, which means much to the
Masters of Natural Science — especially when
they are physically separated by distance and
conditions which prevent them from meet-
ing together physically when such meetings
are vitally important to the welfare of
humanity.

Suspended animation is a condition which
any Master of Natural Science has the power
to create at will. The vital currents and ac-
tivities are simply stopped, or suspended, in
their onward flow, without the operation of
any destructive, disintegrating process or
condition. The vital machinery of the phys-
ical organism merely stops at the point where
the Master Mind wills that it shall stop.

In this condition, however, the individual
who controls the process is able to withdraw

2«1

THE GREAT KNOWN

the spiritual body from the physical, and vol
untarily ^'travel in foreign countries" without
the physical body. He may also return to the
physical body, re-enter it, resume the activ-
ities of the physical functions at will, and
voluntarily restore himself to a normal, phys-
ical condition.

But while he is out of the physical body
entirely, and traveling in the spiritual body
alone, there is always a vital, magnetic cord,
running between the two bodies. It is the
existence of this vital cord which makes it
possible for him to return to, and re-enter
the physical body at will. If, perchance,
during the time he is out of the physical body,
anything should occur to break that vital
magnetic cord, physical death would occur
instantly. In this event, he would not be able
to re-enter the physical body, nor cause it to
resume its normal functions.

The Soul may travel in the spiritual body
alone to any distance upon the plane of earth.
It may also travel in the magnetic field, and
most usually does during that experience. It
may, however, reach the plane of the first
spiritual. But so long as the magnetic cord

262

SUSPENDED ANIMATION

remains intact with the physical body, the
Soul cannot travel above or beyond the first
spiritual plane. This is due to the gravitative
pull of the physical body.

But there is yet another condition of sus-
pended animation. This is, however, the re-
sult of the condition which physicians call
"catalepsy."

The cataleptic state of suspended anima-
tion has been known to continue uninterrupt-
edly for more than one year, without the
slightest perceptible change in the physical
condition of the individual. It seldom oc-
curs, however, that the individual passes
through actual death directly from the cata-
leptic state. Whilst this does occur, at very
rare intervals; nevertheless, in most instances,
a few moments before death actually occurs
the physical functions — including the action
of the heart — are resumed. In such cases the
process of separation of the two bodies is
governed by the general conditions already
explained.

In those few cases, however, where death
results without restoration or resumption of
the physical functionings, the actual separa-

THE GREAT KNOWN

tion of the two bodies may not even begin
until long after the heart has ceased to act.

As to the length of time one may be out
of the physical body, under such conditions,
it depends very much upon the development
and condition of the individual. If low in
spirituality, he may not remain out of the
physical more than a few hours; but if the
spiritual development is of a high order and
degree, he may remain much longer, even
two or three days. In this case, however, ref-
erence is made only to the normal condition of
profound sleep.

It is important to know that, in cases of
suspended animation resulting from cata-
lepsy, the two bodies are thereby inseparably
bound together and the Soul is locked within
them so long as the cataleptic condition con-
tinues. In such cases consciousness also is
suspended.

But between Catalepsy and the voluntary
Suspended Animation, there are two impor-
tant distinctions which should be noted:

1. Ordinary catalepsy is not a voluntary
process, while the suspended animation of a
Master is entirely voluntary.

264

SUSPENDED ANIMATION

2. In catalepsy the two bodies are bound
together, and the Soul is locked within them;
while in voluntary Suspended Animation, the
union of the two bodies is under the con-
trol of the Master-Mind that caused the sus-
pended animation. By the power of his Will
he may cause the two bodies to separate ; and
clothed in his spiritual body alone, his Soul
may travel at will in the spiritual realms of
life. In this state and condition the Master
may remain out of the physical body and in
the spiritual body almost indefinitely, with-
out harmful results, until he is ready to return
and take up his physical body again.

265

CHAPTER XXVI

WHEN DEATH ENDS

It has been said that there are exceptions to
all rules. Perhaps this is true. Judging
from the results as seen from the spiritual
side of life, it would seem that, in the very
large majority of cases, the individual does
not at once realize that physical death has
transpired. It often occurs that, for some time
he labors under the impression and convic-
tion that he Is dreaming and that, in due
time, he will awake and find himself back in
the midst of the conditions which existed at
the beginning of his "dream," namely, the
instant when death overtook him. Usually
he sees his physical body — or, rather, its mag-
netic or etheric counterpart; for the physical
body itself is not visible to the eyes of the
spiritual — and recognizes it as his own. He
also recognizes and feels the pull of the mag-
netic bond that still attracts him to it. All
this serves to convince him that he is simply

267

THE GREAT KNOWN

dreaming and that when he awakes he will
find himself back in his physical body in the
midst of the conditions he left when the shock
came and carried him out of his physical
body.

There are many instances, however, where
the individual is dazed and confused and be-
wildered for hours, sometimes days, or even
weeks. In either of these cases it often re-
quires time and personal eflfort to bring the
individual to a fuller realization of the fact
that he is really and truly "dead."

Slowly and surely, however, he comes to
realize that he is no longer in the old physical
body, in the midst of the old familiar phys-
ical conditions and environment. Then he
turns to his spiritual companions and helpers
in the hope that they will be able to show
him how to make his presence known to
those of his loved ones he has left behind him
upon the earth plane. From this point it is
never difficult to convince the individual that
he is, indeed, "dead" to all those he has left
upon the physical plane of life.

But these conditions obtain chiefly with
those who have never contemplated the sub-

268

WHEN DEATH ENDS

ject of physical death nor in any manner pre-
pared themselves for the transition which it
involves.

The same conditions, though by no means
to the same extent, exist even with those who
have thought much upon the problem of
death — especially where the individual has
entertained strong convictions concerning the
spiritual life which are radically different
from those he finds when he awakens upon
the spiritual plane — or the magnetic field
— as the case may be. Indeed, it often occurs
that such as these find the conditions of the
spiritual life quite as different from their pre-
conceived notions as do those who have taken
the entire subject for granted. This is espe-
cially true of the most ardent and devout
religionists whose ministers, priests and teach-
ers have mapped, charted, designated and
located all the streets, crossings, temples and
points of interest in "The New Jerusalem."

These also find the new life and country so
utterly at variance with the landmarks of the
map and chart they have been taught to fol-
low as their guide, that they cannot bring
themselves to accept the fact that they are

269

THE GREAT KNOWN

really "dead" in the conventional sense. They
therefore assume, as in the other case de-
scribed, that they are dreaming and that, in
due time, they will awake and find themselves
back in the midst of the old familiar scenes
and conditions of their former physical life,
once more inhabiting the familiar physical
body.

With such as these, also, it often requires
much time, thought and effort, on the part of
those whose mission it is, upon the spiritual
plane, to help those who go over from the
plane of earth unprepared to assume at once
the duties and responsibilities of the new life,
to educate them into a full and complete un-
derstanding and acceptance of the spiritual
life just as they find it. With these, also, it is
a matter of education.

But there are those who approach the new
life fully prepared to enter upon its duties,
activities and responsibilities. These are they
who have arrived at a point in their evolu-
tionary unfoldment where they have over-
come the superstitions, the religious errors,
the doctrinal fallacies and the philosophical
prejudices of earth life, and are prepared to

270

WHEN DEATH ENDS

accept whatever conditions they find, whether
consistent with their own philosophical de-
ductions, or not. These, while yet upon the
earth plane, may not be able to open their
spiritual eyes and look ahead of them into the
spiritual life and see the conditions of that
life as they are, but they have grown to that
splendid stature of intelligence of Soul de-
velopment from which they can view the
world as they find it, freed from either scien-
tific, philosophic or religious preconceptions
and prejudices. Often these are classed upon
earth as "Agnostics" — which simply means
those who are willing to admit that they 'Vo
not know" what lies beyond this life of earth,
but whatever it may prove to be, they hold
themselves in readiness to accept it as they
find it, and proceed at once to adjust them-
selves to the new conditions and make the
most of the situation.

Then there are those who, by virtue of their
psychic development upon earth, are permit-
ted to look beyond the limitations of physical
nature and physical life, and see for them-
selves the true conditions of the life beyond.
These do not find it necessary to depend upon

271

THE GREAT KNOWN

the teachings of any church, sect, cult or
school. They have personally solved the great
problem of "another life" for themselves, in
a manner that answers every demand of the
most exact and exacting science. They un-
derstand both the meaning and the purpose
of the change called "death"; and they know,
through a definite and personal experience,
the conditions of the new life, as well as the
duties and responsibilities it involves.

And, with such as these, whether the transi-
tion comes with the swiftness of the assassin's
bullet, or through long and painful illness, or
through the peaceful process of sleep, the re-
sult is the same insofar as their entry into the
spiritual life is concerned, as well as its effects
upon them.

Such as these may well exclaim:
"O gravel Where is thy victory?
O death 1 Where is thy sting?"

272

CHAPTER XXVII

PSYCHIC EFFECT OF SUICIDE

The specific manner in which the individ-
ual comes to his death often has a direct and
potent effect upon his psychic conditions
afterwards.

This leads naturally to a study of suicide
and its psychic effects upon the individual
after he has passed into the spiritual life.
This study develops some rather startling
phases of the subject which, it would seem,
should be of vital interest and importance to
all who are earnestly striving for happiness
and progress.

This is a subject that ought to be better un-
derstood by people upon the physical plane of
life. It involves certain scientific problems
which have a powerful influence upon the
evolutionary condition of the Soul after
death.

There is something in the very Soul im-
pulse of self-destruction which, when once

273

THE GREAT KNOWN

set in motion by the physical act of suicide,
continues psychically as a destructive force
in the life of the individual, until it is over-
come or counteracted, cither by the voluntary
or intelligent Will of the individual himself,
or until it is reversed through the aid of those
who are wise enough to understand the sci-
entific process involved.

In some respects it is analogous, in its ac-
tion upon the Soul, to the action of certain
destructive acids upon the physical body.
Once it is applied — and the process thus set in
motion — it goes on and on until the cause is
removed. No permanent restoration of con-
structive conditions within the Soul can be
established until the Intelligence, the Will
and the Determination of the individual him-
self can be set in motion to counteract the de-
structive processes invoked by the original
psychic impulse of self-destruction which led
to the death of the physical body.

Doubtless a very large percentage of sui-
cides are committed under the impulse and
desire to get away from painful or unhappy
conditions upon the earth plane. The act is
committed under the impression that physical

274

PSYCHIC EFFECT OF SUICIDE

death will accomplish the desired result. In
this the individual is profoundly and vitally
mistaken: for it is not true.

If humanity could be educated to a definite
and scientific knov^ledge of the important fact
that suicide never evades nor avoids either
painful or unhappy earthly conditions, but
serves only to plunge the individual into the
midst of conditions upon the spiritual side of
life even more painful, unhappy and de-
structive than he seeks to evade or avoid, sui-
cide w^ould soon become a thing of the past.

In the case of murder there is no impulse
of self-destruction set in motion in the mind
and Soul of the victim. The psychic impulse
and desire to live are at no time, nor in the
slightest degree, interfered w^ith nor dimin-
ished. The destructive impulse is wholly and
entirely in the mind and soul of the murderer,
and not in those of the victim. The latter
takes up his life on the spiritual side with all
the constructive forces of self-preservation
fully alive and active. He begins the new
life exactly at the point where he leaves off
the old. In no degree nor manner is he han-
dicapped by destructive Soul impulses or

275

THE GREAT KNOWN

desires. He is still as full of the impulse and
desire to live as he was before his transition.
All this is different with the suicide, who
must reverse all the currents of his being be-
fore he can overcome the destructive impulse
of his own Soul, which led to suicide.

Suppose an individual is under hypnotic
control, and commits the act of self-destruc-
tion as the direct result of the Will of the
hypnotist who controlled him at the time. It
will not be difficult for one to realize the
fact that the impulse of suicide was not
present at all. It was solely and entirely the
impulse of the hypnotist in obedience to
whose hypnotic command he performed the
act. In this case, whom would you hold per-
sonally responsible for the death? Naturally
you will say the hypnotist, and you are right.
In essence the act was that of the hypnotist,
although it may have been the hand of the
subject that executed the deed. Under those
conditions the hand that performed the act
was simply an instrument which acted in
response to the free and independent Will of
the hypnotist. The intent and purpose which
resulted in the death were those of the hyp-

27<

PSYCHIC EFFECT OF SUICIDE

notist alone. For these reasons he alone is re-
sponsible. There has been no conscious pur-
pose nor intent on the part of the subject to
destroy himself. In truth, he is not aware of
what he has done, nor of what has been done
to him, until he awakes from the hypnotic
trance upon the spiritual plane.

So far as the psychic effects are concerned,
they are precisely what they would have been
if some stronger person physically had placed
a dagger in the hand of his victim, then closed
his hand over it and, by the greater power of
his own hand, had caused the hand of the
victim to plunge the dagger into his own
heart. In this case, as in the other, the intent
and purpose to kill were in the mind of the
stronger man physically. In truth, you will
agree that there was no suicidal impulse or
purpose at all. It was the impulse of murder
in the mind of the stronger man. You can
see at once that the psychic results would be
those of murder, and not those of suicide;
and they would be the same as those upon
one who has been murdered.

This explains exactly what would be the
psychic results of death under such condi-

277

THE GREAT KNOWN

tions. The individual would pass into the
spiritual life as free from suicidal impulses
as he was at the moment of his physical death.

It is merely a question of determining
whether death occurred as a result of the con-
^ious, intelligent, independent purpose and
intent of self-destruction in the mind of the
individual who thus died.

There can be no responsibility where there
is no intelligence, deliberate purpose and in-
tent, independence of Will, and the concur-
rent impulse of the Soul. Hence, in the case
of self-destruction by one who is insane, the
elements of responsibility are entirely lack-
ing, and the psychic and spiritual results are
exactly the same as if the individual had died
a natural death.

One phase of the question, however, must
not be overlooked. The very condition of in-
sanity itself is one which, under certain con-
ditions, leaves the individual weakened both
spiritually and psychically, for a time. This,
however, is entirely due to the insane condi-
tion, and immediately upon passing into the
spiritual life, such an individual turns to his

278

PSYCHIC EFFECT OF SUICIDE

task of self-development, and soon overcomes
his weakened condition.

In the case of one who dies insane solely
because of physical conditions — as, for in-
stance, because of a fractured skull — physical
death results in almost instant recovery. In
some instances there may possibly result a
short period of confusion, but this is due to
other conditions, and not to the physical
causes of the insanity.

In the separation of the two bodies, the
spiritual body sometimes experiences a
greater attraction away from earth conditions,
requiring a strong effort of the Will, or even
outside help, to bring it back into its earthly
environment again. This is something which
depends upon the degree of evolutionary de-
velopment the individual has attained, or the
Attitude of Soul that inspires him while out
of the physical body.

There are many instances where even tem-
porary liberation from the physical body
would mean death, because the individual
would refuse to return and take up the phys-
ical burden again. In such cases it is fortu-
nate for the race that Nature has protected it

279

THE GREAT KNOWN

against voluntary extinction in that way. It
is fortunate that the power of voluntary with-
drawal from the physical body is withheld
from the individual until he has arrived at
an evolutionary development where his sense
of Personal Responsibility protects him from
that sort of suicide.

280

CHAPTER XXVIII

CREMATION

The subject of how best to dispose of the
physical bodies of our dead is one which has
commanded the thoughtful consideration of
our advanced thinkers throughout the past
ages. It is still a subject of profound interest
to humanity. It has never been determined
with sufficient authority to develop a method
that is acceptable to all classes of society.
The methods employed are:

(a) Interment, or burial of the body in the
earth, where, in due course of time, through
the slow processes of Nature, it is gradually
disintegrated, dissolved and returned back
into the elements from which it was originally
integrated.

(b) A method of burial in vacuum vaults,
so cemented in stone caskets as to exclude all
possibility of air, or moisture in any form,
from entering the casket. The idea seems to
be that this method will prevent disintegra-

281

THE GREAT KNOWN

tion and keep the body in a state of preserva-
tion indefinitely.

(c) Cremation, which means any method
of reducing the body to ashes through the
action of heat.

(d) The method of embalming which re-
sults in preserving the physical body, in some
degree of perfection, during many thousands
of years. This method is based upon certain
religious concepts, which need not be ex-
plained at this time.

(e) Chemical dissolution, which employs
the action of chemicals that cause very rapid
disintegration. This method has not become
general, as yet, upon the physical plane. The
process of disintegration by a spiritual chem-
ical known to the Wise Men of Science upon
the first spiritual plane. Is far more rapid and
perfect than that of cremation upon the phys-
ical plane; but the purpose is the same,
namely, to resolve a discarded and useless
body back into the elements from which it
came, and thus give it back to Nature for her
use in other ways and for other purposes.

But it is not always that the spiritual body
is thus disintegrated. Like the problem of

282

CREMATION

disposing of the physical body after death, it
is held to be, more or less, under the control
or direction or disposition of its former
owner. However, it would be for the best
good if immediate dissolution and disintegra-
tion were required in all cases.

There are those on the first spiritual plane
who are inclined to take possession of these
undissolved bodies, and they often use them in
ways which do not appear to be altogether
honest or good. For instance, a number of
those who are engaged in controlling a me-
dium on the physical plane, can make use of
one of these discarded spiritual bodies in such
manner as to make it luminous, and bring it
within the spiritual vision of the medium.
Sometimes they can even clothe it with suffi-
cient magnetism from the magnetic field
to bring it within the vision of those upon the
earth plane who are attending the seance.
Those upon the physical plane, however, can-
not tell whether it is alive or not. Naturally,
they take it for granted that it is a living indi-
vidual upon the spiritual plane. For this
reason, it may be used by unscrupulous spir-
itual people to deceive those who constitute

283

THE GREAT KNOWN

the more credulous physical sitters in any
seance of that nature. Thus, they may be
made to believe they have actually seen the
ex-carnate individual who formerly inhabited
the body, when as a matter of fact, the indi-
vidual may be upon a higher plane of life far
away at the time. From this you will ob-
serve that there are those on the spiritual
plane who do not hesitate to practice legerde-
main and deceptions upon those on the lower
planes of life.

Taking all things into account, Cremation
is the method approved by the Great Masters
and Spiritual Wise Men. The chemical
method, however, is even more rapid in its
disintegrating results than is the action of
fire; but this method is not understood by our
physical scientists, as yet, and it involves the
action of elements which would put into the
hands of the unscrupulous both the power
and temptation to do great harm. Hence,
this particular chemical formulary has been
withheld from scientists of the earth plane,
and will not be divulged to them until all
doubt as to the wisdom of so doing has been
overcome.

314

CREMATION

At present, therefore, Cremation is the
quickest and safest method of disintegrating
the physical bodies of the dead, and resolving
them back into the natural elements from
which they come.

One of the express purposes accomplished
by cremation is to destroy entirely all mag-
netic conditions which might, under any cir-
cumstances, constitute sufficient attraction for
the spiritual body to hold the Soul in an
earth-bound condition. The action of fire dis-
solves and dissipates all magnetism of the
physical body.

One point may not be entirely clear con-
cerning the magnetic efifect of the physical
body, after death, upon the spiritual. So long
as the physical body remains intact it holds
within itself sufficient magnetism to constitute
some degree of attraction for the spiritual.
The degree and power of this attraction de-
pend upon a number of conditions, but more
especially upon the degree of evolutionary
unfoldment to which the individual had at-
tained at the time of his death. If the indi-
vidual is of the "earth earthy," low in point
of intelligence, on the lower rounds of evolu-

285

THE GREAT KNOWN

tionary development, devoid of spirituality
and morality, the attraction of the physical
body will be correspondingly strong. The
converse of this is equally true. If the indi-
vidual has attained to a high degree of spirit-
uality, intelligence, morality and evolutionary
refinement, the attraction of the physical
body will be correspondingly weak.

The particular point it is desired to make
clear in this connection is this: No matter
what may be the evolutionary status of the
individual at death, whether low or high, the
magnetic attraction of the physical body does
not, in any manner, make the liberated indi-
vidual sensitive to anything that may occur
to the physical body. In other words, the
sense channels are closed between the phys-
ical body and the intelligent Soul of the indi-
vidual at the instant the separation called
"death" is complete. Beyond that point the
physical body may be subjected to any treat-
ment whatsoever without pain or suffering to
the liberated Soul, even though the magnetic
bond of attraction may exist until the dissolu-
tion of the physical body is complete and its
particles resolved back into their original ele-

286

CREMATION

ments. This may serve to make more clear
why it is that Cremation, however soon after
physical death, does not involve pain or suf-
fering of any kind whatsoever to the liberated
Soul of the deceased.

Conforming strictly to the science of the
subject, the moment death occurs and the sep-
aration of the two bodies is complete, the
liberated individual is not in any manner or
degree sensitive to any processes which afifect
the physical body. The instant the physical
channels of sense are closed — which is true
almost the instant physical death occurs, and
oftentimes equally true before actual separa-
tion is complete — the liberated soul in its
spiritual body is completely out of touch, as
it were, with the physical body, and com-
pletely liberated from all sensations through
its sense channels.

Cremation may take place at any time after
complete separation of the physical and the
spiritual bodies of the individual has oc-
curred; and this separation occurs within one
minute, under ordinary circumstances, after
the last physical breath and physical heart-

287

THE GREAT KNOWN

beat — except where cataleptic coma exists, as
previously explained.

Through the teachings of certain occult
societies of earth, there has come to be a well-
defined notion that where Cremation is em-
ployed it should never be used until at least
three days {72 hours) have elapsed after ac-
tual death has occurred. By the representa-
tives of such societies, it is asserted that Cre-
mation before that time has elapsed results in
the most intense pain and suffering to the
"dead." The writer is aware of the fact that
such ideas exist on the part of certain occult
teachers upon the physical plane. He is glad,
however, to be in position to state, with abso-
lute certainty, that there is no foundation in
fact whatsoever to sustain such teachings. It
has been the privilege of the writer, through
the channels of his spiritual senses, to witness
a number of cremations. He has been with
the liberated "dead" during the process of
cremation. Therefore, the earlier Cremation
occurs after physical death, the better it is for
all interests involved on both planes of life.

Naturally this is a subject concerning which
human sentiment exerts a very strong influ-

288

CREMATION

ence. The mere thought of placing the body
of a loved one into the fire and reducing it to
ashes seems to be exceedingly repulsive to
many intelligent and good people. They
know the destructive nature of fire, and al-
most inevitably they associate it with the most
intense pain and suffering. For this reason it
is impossible, as yet, to obtain the sanction of
many who would approve without an instant's
hesitation, but for the sentiment which rebels
at the use of fire in disposing of the physical
body of one they have loved. The human
mind refuses to grasp the fact that the intelli-
gent Soul which occupied the body before
physical death is no longer associated with it
in any sense. And with these sentiments we
must be charitable, for they have their root
and foundation in the love-nature of man-
kind.

On the other hand, can there be anything
more repulsive than the thought that the body
of a loved one is lying in the ground, slowly
disintegrating, and is being eaten by the
worms of the earth? It would seem that the
sentiment which would reject Cremation
would even more strongly and emphatically

289

THE GREAT KNOWN

reject this method of burial. But there is no
accounting for the vagaries of the human
Soul. It does not seem to be bound by any
law of consistency.

Disinterments of physical bodies of the
dead have proven, beyond all question, that
a startling percentage of the supposedly dead
have only been buried alive. This is due to
the fact that there are certain psychic condi-
tions, such as catalepsy, and certain forms of
trance (through the process of hypnosis and
mediumistic control) which so closely re-
semble physical death that none but the most
expert scientist would be able to differentiate
between them and actual physical death.

This condition not infrequently occurs in
cases of slow, lingering illness, whereby the
vitality of the individual is gradually de-
pleted. The individual falls into a state of
profound coma and is believed to be dead.

It is not a pleasant thing to contemplate
the experiences of such of these as may regain
consciousness after burial, only to die of suf-
focation.

The problem, as a whole, is both complex
and subtle. It reaches in so many directions

290

CREMATION

and touches so many conflicting interests that
its complete solution should be entrusted to
those only whose intelligence, judgment and
moral concepts are of the most exalted
character.

Cremation prevents burial alive.

It is by far the most sanitary method.

It involves least risk of spreading disease
among the living.

It is clean and wholesome in every respect.

Wherever magnetic conditions might have
any tendency to bind the liberated Soul to
earthly conditions more closely — which is
true in a very large percentage of those who
die — Cremation destroys that magnetic bond
from the physical side and liberates the Soul
at once from all physical attraction of earth.
This enables the Soul to proceed at once out
of the magnetic field, into the first spiritual
plane, and there to enter immediately upon
its evolutionary pathway and take up the lines
of its constructive work among those who are
ready to be of service in every way possible.

As to the best method of disposing of the
ashes of a cremated body, this is wholly a
matter of individual choice. If the deceased

291

THE GREAT KNOWN

has expressed any wish in the matter before
his death, it would seem that such request
would be held binding — unless there are con-
ditions which make it either impossible or
gravely inexpedient. But if no such request
has been made by the deceased, and sentimen-
tal reasons do not intervene, the ashes may be
scattered either upon the earth or on the
water. There can be no objection to either
disposition, insofar as science and the welfare
of humanity are concerned.

The embalming process does not dissipate
the animal magnetism of the physical body.
In truth, it arrests, to some extent, the disinte-
gration and dissipation of the magnetic forces
and conditions of the physical body and thus
preserves, in some measure, the chain of at-
traction between the two bodies so long as this
condition continues. But it does not bind the
spiritual and the physical bodies together in
that bond of association which obtains during
the continuance of physical life.

In the very largest number of instances it
serves to establish, or preserve, the magnetic
attraction between the two bodies, to such an
extent as to constitute — while the attraction

292

CREMATION

lasts — a real and definite hindrance to the per-
fect freedom of the spiritual body in its action
upon the spiritual planes. Wherever the in-
dividual may go — after physical death, in
such cases — he is always conscious — while the
magnetic condition lasts — that there is a defi-
nite bond of attraction which, to some extent,
hampers his spiritual freedom of action.

In many cases — especially where th-e indi-
vidual is of the undeveloped type, or one
whose life upon the physical plane has been
destructive, or has intensified the bond of his
physical gravity — this magnetic bond be-
tween the embalmed physical body and the
liberated spiritual body is sufficiently strong
to bind him very definitely within a certain
radius of action from his physical body. Such
individuals, while thus bound, are known as
"Earth-bound Souls." This means that they
are definitely bound to the earth plane by the
magnetic bond of attraction between the two
bodies, until the magnetic tie has been worn
out, dissipated, or broken and overcome by
the individual himself.

293

CHAPTER XXIX

MOURNING

Out of the experience back of the scientific
knowledge covered by this volume, supple-
mented by many added experiences that have
followed them, one vital lesson stands out
upon the trestle-board of individual con-
sciousness in letters of living fire. This refers
to that which, from habit, has become a sort
of "social custom" in so-called civilized
countries and communities, namely, the cus-
tom of publicly mourning for our dead.

Unless the signs of the times, as well as the
motives of mankind, have been entirely mis-
interpreted, it would seem there is no single
phase of this earthly life wherein we and our
fellows, generally speaking, display such
glaring and puerile inconsistencies, as in the
attitude we have been accustomed to assume
concerning our dead. This is more especially
true in the lives of those of us who have either
definite personal knowledge of, or an abiding

295

THE GREAT KNOWN

faith in, the continuity of individual life be-
yond the incidental event we call physical
death. And, though it is said with reluctance
and humility, all this seems to be more espe-
cially true with reference to those of us who
presume to call ourselves "Christians," and
who thereby accept the benefits of the sacri-
ficial oflfering, made for our especial benefit
upon the Cross of Calvary, in the ancient days
of Herod, the King.

The Master Jesus, it was, who taught us
the great scientific fact of life beyond the
grave. He it was who held up to our mental
vision the beauties, the glories and the splen-
dors of that life — to those who follow His
teachings and example. He it was who volun-
tarily promised that He would go to prepare
a place for us in the house of the Father —
that "House Not Made with Hands, Eternal
in the Heavens." It was He, therefore, who
taught us that death is but an incident in Life
— that it means but a liberation from physical
suffering and bondage, and a share with Him
in the greater glory of a more perfect life.

To one who has a personal and definite
knowledge of the great fact of Nature, that

296

MOURNING

physical death is but a beneficent evolution-
ary transition — a mere passing event in the
continuity of individual life — there can be
nothing whatsoever in the incident for which
to mourn — any more than there should be in
the departure of our loved ones to enjoy them-
selves in the more delectable climate and
social conditions of some foreign country
whence we know they may never return to us
in this life. We all will agree that in such
cases there is not the least occasion for putting
on the black vestments of unconsolable grief,
or the sombre habiliments of hopeless mourn-
ing and sorrow. Neither is there the slightest
occasion for real grief or mourning in the
simple and altogether natural fact that some
of our loved ones have gone forward a little
ahead of us to the "Celestial City of Sarras"
— the City of the Soul — there to enjoy its
beauties and its glories and to await our
coming.

In truth, when the real meaning and pur-
pose of physical death are known and under-
stood, and its beneficent mission is accepted as
a part of Nature's unalterable plan, consist-
ency demands that there should be nothing

297

THE GREAT KNOWN

but sincere and unselfish joy in our hearts
when we say "Godspeed" to one who is leav-
ing us, only for a time, to enter upon the pro-
gressive journey through a more exalted and
perfect state of being upon the spiritual planes
of life. This, in truth, is the view of every
individual who knows from personal experi-
ence that our passage through the "Valley of
the Shadow" is but the beginning of a more
glorious journey which leads onward and up-
ward into the Light of a more exalted spirit-
ual Life Beyond. And it is but the logic of
''Consistency/'

It would also appear, in all humility, that
this same logic should apply, with equal
force, to the consistent followers of the Naza-
rene, whatever doctrinal creed they may ac-
cept, or to whatever denominational church
they may belong — provided they, in truth and
sincerity, accept His teaching and conform
their lives thereto. For, there is nothing in
true Christianity — when intelligently under-
stood— to justify its disciples and devotees in
making any public display of their sorrow
over the death of even their most loved and
trusted companions of earth, nor to warrant

MOURNING

them in publicly, or even privately, indulging
themselves in grief or sorrow at all over such
an event. While it is true that, to those whose
spiritual senses and powers are dormant, there
is at least an apparent separation, for the time,
and the natural loneliness which such a sepa-
ration necessarily involves; nevertheless, any
definite and satisfying Faith or belief in a life
after physical death, should sustain those who
possess it, against all purely selfish grief or
sorrow which would advertise such a tempo-
rary separation to the world at large as a
tragic ''loss/'

To be able personally to witness just one
transition of a loved one who is ready to go,
it would seem, should inspire only the most
profound joy and gratitude in the hearts of
those who remain behind. At any rate, this is
just what it has meant to the author; and not
for one single moment has he ever wished
any loved one of earth back in this physical
life again to take his or her place with him
once more, as of old. Indeed, it would grieve
him far more to see them back among us on
this physical side of life, knowing they must
endure the suflFering incident thereto, than it

299

THE GREAT KNOWN

did to see them pass through the gateway of
death and enter triumphantly into the life of
the spiritual World Beyond.

Then, again, virtually every genuine mes-
sage that has ever come back to earth from
beyond the dark valley, concerning this sub-
ject, has emphasized the fact that all selfish
grief and sorrow of the inhabitants of earth,
over the death of their loved ones, only dis-
tresses those who have passed on into the spir-
itual life, and constitutes a real burden which
holds them upon the lower planes of spiritual
life — so long as it exists.

The grief of an earthly husband for a spir-
itual wife, or that of an earthly mother for
her spiritual child, binds the one in spiritual
life to the plane of earth by a magnetic bond
which few in that life are able to overcome.
The bond of sympathy for sorrow is one of
the strongest ties of the Soul. The efforts of
those upon the plane of earth to communicate
with those upon the planes of spiritual life
fixes and holds the attention of those in the
spiritual life upon the plane and conditions of
physical life and physical things. This has
the inevitable eflPect of retarding the growth

300

MOURNING

of the Soul and interfering with the other-
wise normal progress in spiritual life and in
the spiritual realms. Therefore, from the
viewpoint of spiritual life, evolution and
progress, this problem raises and involves a
vital question of Morality and Personal Re-
sponsibility— especially with all who under-
stand the Law.

To be sure, if we have neglected or abused
those whom the Infinite Father has given into
our keeping and care in this life of earth — or
if we have failed in our responsibility to them,
and they have passed on — then the agony of
remorse and repentance should gnaw at our
vitals until we are permitted to follow them
and make due recompense. In that case it
seems not only proper, but eminently just,
that we should grieve and mourn — in sack-
cloth and ashes, if necessary — so long as we
continue to live upon earth; but not other-
wise. Even so, our grief should be a thing
too sacred to parade before the gaping and
curious public.

If the historic narrative of the personal life
and experiences of the author would serve to
inspire his readers with a better understand-

301

THE GREAT KNOWN

ing and a more wholesome appreciation of
the real meaning and purpose of physical
death, and lift from their souls the burden of
selfish sorrow and agony over the supposed
"loss" of their loved ones, he would deem it
a duty and a privilege to take the public into
the Sanctum Sanctorum of his own Soul and
there uncover the most intimate and "tragic"
experiences of his earthly life.

He is thoroughly convinced that the time
will come when the great fact of the contin-
uity of individual life, and the knowledge
that death is but an incident in the evolution-
ary life of the Soul, will be so universal upon
the earth plane that sorrowing for the "dead"
will become a thing of the past and that phys-
ical death, for the most part, will be accepted
only as a consistent liberation from the bond-
age of earth life — to all who make an honest
and earnest effort to know the Law of Life
and to Live it.

Just what this can mean to those who pass
into the other life from normally wholesome
conditions may well be suggested by the ex-
perience of a dear friend who passed on into
the spiritual life only a few years ago. She

302

MOURNING

was a natural psychic, of splendid intellectual
attainments, a fine education and a heart of
gold. The spiritual life was almost as fa-
miliar to her — even before her death — as this
physical life. The association between her
and the author in this physical life has contin-
ued without interruption since she passed on
into the spiritual life.

From the day she entered through the Val-
ley of the Shadow of Death, into the spiritual
life, her experience was one of unalloyed
peace, contentment and happiness. And this
was chiefly because she knew that those who
remained behind understood that she was not
"lost" to them in any sense, but simply wait-
ing until she should be able to receive them
into that life after their liberation from this.

She was not grieved because of her inability
to reach her friends and make them know she
was as truly with them and of them as she
was when she was still in the physical body.
She knew that they understood. She also
knew that she was at perfect liberty to de-
vote herself to whatever might contribute to
her own spiritual development, or increase
her power to serve those who might be in

303

THE GREAT KNOWN

need of the help that she could give. And
that is exactly what she did.

Almost immediately upon her entrance into
the higher life she was admitted into the fel-
lowship of the Border-Land Workers who
devote themselves to helping those who pass
out of this life under conditions which render
them comparatively helpless, for a time, in
that life. She was very happy in her work,
and often she came to her friend to tell him
of her interesting experiences, of the wonder-
ful work her companions and fellows were
doing, and of the joy they all derived from
the mutual results of their labors.

She was continually reminded, by the ex-
perience of those in the spiritual life, that the
deepest sorrow and distress which can come
to the vast majority of those in that life arise
out of the fact that they cannot make their
presence known to those upon the earth plane
who love them and grieve over their death.

A part of her time and effort, therefore,
was devoted to those about her who needed
comforting and helping until they could ad-
just themselves to the new conditions of life
in which they found themselves. Among

S04

MOURNING

these she became a powerful educator, teach-
ing them the meaning and the purpose of
physical death, and helping them to under-
stand the responsibilities resting upon them
to take up the new life in a right attitude of
soul and fit themselves for some beneficent
service.

Through this experience, as one of the Spir-
itual Teachers and Helpers, she came to real-
ize what a blessing had been bestowed upon
her in the fact that her relatives and friends
upon the earth plane had never grieved nor
mourned over her death. Thus they had lib-
erated her from every unhappy tie which
bound her to earth's conditions. But for this
fact, she also might have been one of the
'^earth-bound," until time and properly
directed effort alone had lifted the burden
from her and had liberated her from a cruel
bondage of grief into which so many pass
from earth life.

One who has lived the life of an independ-
ent psychic on earth for many years is often
oppressed by the realization of his inability
to impress the vital nature of this problem
upon those who are unable to penetrate

305

THE GREAT KNOWN

through the veil of earth and see for them-
selves how real and how intense is the suffer-
ing of those upon the spiritual side of life
who cannot console those upon the earth who
grieve for them in ignorance of their presence
and of the conditions of their life upon the
spiritual plane. It is one of those things
which cannot be understood nor appreciated,
except through the personal experience. Alas,
how few there are who have that!

It may be, however, that what has been said
will be sufficient to set in motion a wholesome
impulse to reason the problem out. If so,
this effort will not have been in vain; for no
man can use his intelligence upon the subject
without arriving at an approximate knowl-
edge of the truth. Once the matter becomes
clear to the intelligent thinker, the problem
of "death" assumes an entirely different as-
pect, and becomes one of Nature's beneficent
provisions by and through which the Soul of
man moves forward to its individual evolu-
tionary destiny.

This does not mean that we should court
death, nor seek to shorten the span of this
earthly life. On the contrary, there can be

S06

\

MOURNING

no doubt that Nature charges each of us with
the duty and the responsibility of rounding
out this physical life as fully and as com-
pletely as possible, so that we may enter upon
the spiritual life as free as may be from the
drag of unfulfilled duties and undischarged
responsibilities. The great Law of Continuity
throws the arms of its protecting care over
us all — both here and hereafter. Let us ac-
cept cheerfully its responsibilities and cheer-
fully discharge our duties thereunder; for
then only may we enjoy, in fullest measure,
its inevitable and beneficent reward. Let us
put away forever the somber habiliments of
mourning — which only serve to advertise our
ignorance, our selfishness and our incon-
sistency.

307

CHAPTER XXX

REINCARNATION

Reincarnation is one of the mooted ques-
tions, even upon the spiritual planes of life.
It is doubtful if this is a question that can
be answered definitely, and with scientific
certainty, by any individual who has not yet
attained to the Celestial Planes of life, in the
course of his Evolutionary Unfoldment and
Growth. The writer has asked the same ques-
tion of his own Great Teacher, and even of
some of the Great Masters upon the Celestial
Planes of life. Those in the terrestrial planes
universally respond that they do not know,
of their own definite and personal experience,
whether Reincarnation is a fact of Nature or
not. Some of them say very frankly they be-
lieve it is true, in that it is only one method
of accounting for the many apparent inequal-
ities of Individual Life and Development.

Those who have passed into the Celestial
Realms, however, respond with assurance

309

THE GREAT KNOWN

upon the subject. They declare, without
reservation, that Reincarnation is one of the
great facts of Nature, and that in due course
of his development, each and every individ-
ual will arrive at a point in his spiritual un-
foldment when and where he will come into
a definite and personal knowledge of the
facts.

While the writer does not absolutely know,
from conscious personal experience, that Re-
incarnation is a fact of Nature, he has the
definite and unqualified assurance of the
Great Spiritual Teachers who are vastly
wiser than he, that it is not only true, but
that it is one of the greatest of the Great
Truths of Nature, and that the time will
come when all shall be able to speak from
personal experience.

In the meantime, permit the writer to say,
with all seriousness, that he believes in the
truth of Reincarnation; because it seems te
him to be in perfect harmony with all we
know of individual human evolution upon
this physical plane of earth. In addition to
this, it seems to him to explain much that
otherwise would appear to suggest that Na-

310

REINCARNATION

ture is unjust in her dealings with her chil-
dren. This latter, to him, is the grossest
libel or slander that any human being could
utter against the Mother of his own being —
Mother Nature.

Insofar as he has progressed in his evolu-
tionary journey, he has found that Nature is
not only consistent, but just in all her deal-
ings with mankind, as well as with individual
life in every form.

When we come face to face with the in-
finite shades and degrees of "inequality"
which exist in the individuals of each and all
of the several races of mankind upon the
earth, we realize that the only means by
which Nature herself could possibly avoid
the charge of ''injustice/' is in the fact that
these infinite variations and apparent inequal-
ities but express the different evolutionary
rounds to which the individuals have attained
through the process of Reincarnation.

Indeed, there is no other solution of this
apparently infinite inequality of Nature that
will satisfy the demands of eternal Justice.
And Reincarnation does account for every

311

THE GREAT KNOWN

degree and shade of seeming inequality, not
only among the several races of the human
family, but also among the individuals con-
stituting the several races.

The Great Friends never cease to remind
us of the profound fundamental fact that
Nature is always, and under all conditions
and circumstances, JUST.

While this is a fundamental key, they tell
us that whenever and wherever we discover
in Nature that which appears to express in-
equity, inequality or injustice, the very fact
that it so appears to us must be taken as evi-
dence positive and conclusive, that we have
seen but a superficial view of the Great Eter-
nal Plan. It is our business, then, to go back
over the course we have traveled until we
find the point at which we diverged from the
main road and took to the by-path of fallacy.
When we have searched long enough and
with sufficient diligence and perseverance,
we will surely find the door of knowledge
into which our key will fit perfectly. And
when we have inserted the key, turned the
knob and opened the door, we inevitably will
find the reward of all our labors in the scien-

S12

REINCARNATION

tific proofs we demand to establish the con-
sistency and the justice of Nature in all her
works.

They tell us that, except for this grand,
equalizing process of Nature, the statement
that ''all men are created equal" would have
no possible basis in fact. They point to the
further fact that there is an inequality, patent
to all mankind, in the several races of the
human family, as they appear upon the earth
plane of life. The very fact that we have a
black race, a brown race, a red race, a yellow
race and a white race proves, by the Law of
Color alone, that we have at least four dis-
tinct races of humanity as unequal as are the
several colors by which Nature has seen fit
to distinguish their status. By the broadest
concept of which the mind is capable it is
utterly impossible to make the infant of the
black race equal to the infant of the brown
race; more impossible is it to make him equal
to the infant of the red race at the time of his
birth into the physical life; still more im-
possible is it to conceive an equality between
the infant of the black race and the infant of
the yellow race at the time of their birth

313

THE GREAT KNOWN

upon the earth's plane; and this inequality
reaches its maximum when we compare the
infant of the black race with the infant of
the white race at the time they make their
appearance upon the earth. This is absolutely
proven by the Law of Spiritual Evolution,
by which the various shades of color, run-
ning all the way from black (the lowest) to
white (the highest), mark the degree of evo-
lutionary unfoldment to which the individual
has attained at any given time.

But, when they also assure us, with all the
emphasis of absolute personal knowledge,
that each and every human individual first
enters the earth plane as an infant of the
black race; that this is the lowest point of
his individual human evolution; that from
this point forward he enters upon the process
of human Reincarnation; that with each Re-
incarnation in higher human form his color
grows lighter, until he has reached the white
race; whereupon he proceeds to work out his
evolution in that race until he has received
all the knowledge, through personal experi-
ence, which this earthly plane of life can
give him — then we realize that the seeming

314

REINCARNATION

inequality at physical birth is accounted for.
In fact, it no longer represents to our minds
inequality at all, but merely different steps in
a great Evolutionary Plan by which all man-
kind must travel literally the same evolution-
ary road, in order to arrive at the goal v/hich
Nature has fixed as the limit of his evolution-
ary possibilities upon this planet of earth.

During all the lower rounds of individual
life upon all the planes of life, up to the sixth
spiritual plane, the incarnating and the re-
incarnating process is a purely involuntary
process on the part of the individual Soul.
This means that during all these lower
rounds of evolution the process of incarna-
tion and reincarnation is entirely under the
control of Nature, and proceeds apparently
without regard to the likes or dislikes, the
desires or preferences, or other considerations
on the part of the individual Soul. But
when the evolving Soul reaches the sixth spir-
itual plane (the seventh plane, including the
physical), it is emancipated from this domi-
nance of Nature, and becomes a free agent.
That is to say, from that time forward he has
the power to reincarnate, or not, as he chooses.

815

THE GREAT KNOWN

Therefore, if he should reincarnate thereaf-
ter, it would be solely because he, of his own
free will and accord, elected to do so, and
not because it was absolutely necessary.

In other words, he has arrived at a point
where Nature chooses to entrust him entirely
to work out his own individual destiny. This
is what is meant by his "Spiritual Majority"
— or, his "Spiritual Emancipation." This is
where he becomes "his own man," as we say
upon the physical plane when a boy reaches
the age of twenty-one years.

Whenever any individual reincarnates af-
ter he has reached his Spiritual Majority, it
is because he is convinced that by so doing
he will be able to render some great benefit
to humanity upon the earth plane. It may be
he realizes that a time has arrived upon the
earth plane when its inhabitants greatly need
to know some fundamental Truth that will
enable them to take an important evolution-
ary step at once. He believes, that by rein-
carnating under right conditions, he would
be able to give to the world a message that
would carry them over and beyond some im-
pending crisis they are facing.

S16

REINCARNATION

He decides to accept another reincarna-
tion as a part of his Personal Responsibility,
and proceeds at once to prepare for that
event.

It is now within his own power to deter-
mine the conditions and choose the environ-
ment in which to reincarnate. In determin-
ing these important points, he seeks out a
family upon the physical plane which repre-
sents the highest type of physical, mental,
moral and spiritual development; and he de-
cides to reincarnate as a member of that fam-
ily. Then he proceeds to equip himself with
the added knowledge that will best serve him
in getting over the message he has to give
humanity.

When the time comes, he is fully prepared.
He reincarnates in the new-born infant of
that family. He knows whether it will be a
boy or a girl, and before the hour of its birth
arrives he knows whether its physical body
is perfectly developed. He has done all he
could rightfully do to impel the mother, dur-
ing the prenatal period, to preserve the right
attitude of Soul and obey the laws of health,
physical, spiritual, mental, moral and psych-

317

THE GREAT KNOWN

ical. He even invokes the aid of other Great
Friends in this work of preparation, so that
when the hour comes for his reincarnation
everything has been done that could be done
rightfully from the spiritual side of life to
make the conditions that would best enable
him to develop a physical body, a spiritual
body, a moral character and a condition and
attitude of Soul that are necessary to enable
him successfully to deliver the message to
humanity for which he "came to earth."

In a general way, he knows in advance the
conditions he is to meet; and, in the same
general way, he is able to anticipate and fore-
cast much of the experience ahead of him.
But I am not led to believe that he is able to
know in advance each and every personal ex-
perience through which he must pass in his
development from infancy, through child-
hood, youth and maturity; nor does it seem
possible for him to know with certainty what
will be the ultimate results of his ministry
during his reincarnation.

If this be true of one who has attained a
degree of evolutionary development where
his reincarnation becomes a matter of his

318

REINCARNATION

own voluntary and individual choice, it
would appear that one who reincarnates long
before he has reached that degree of evolu-
tionary development, and comes back to earth
without either his own knowledge or con-
sent, would have virtually no knowledge as
to the conditions, the family, or the environ-
ment into which he is coming.

In this case the individual himself has no
voluntary part whatever in determining any
of the conditions. Nature fixes the environ-
ment in which his Reincarnation is to occur,
in exact accord with the evolutionary devel-
opment he has attained at the time. Nature
determines also the locality, the nationality
and the parentage of the infant body in which
he is to reincarnate.

But in both instances there is a great un-
derlying purpose of Nature, which is being
worked out and accomplished — on the one
hand with the intelligent and voluntary co-
operation of the individual, and on the other
without that conscious and voluntary co-
operation of the individual.

In this we also have an explanation of an-
other interesting phenomenon which has been

319

THE GREAT KNOWN

the subject of much serious and scientific
study and inquiry upon the lower spiritual
planes.

There are many who are constantly disap-
pearing from the various lower spiritual
planes of life, who do not reappear upon the
next higher plane. They simply disappear
from the spiritual side of life and we do not
know where they go. The Great Teachers
of the Celestial Planes of life tell us that these
disappearing individuals have only reincar-
nated upon the earth plane, that they may
acquire added knowledge, through experi-
ence; and that this process of reappearing
upon earth will continue until each individ-
ual has attained to that degree of evolution-
ary development where he is invested by
Nature with the power to control his own
destiny beyond that point, insofar as his fur-
ther Reincarnations may occur.

There are many other facts of Nature
which seem to be in harmony with this ex-
position of the Law of Individual Evolution.

Her great Plan seems to contemplate that
a time will come in the evolution of each
human Soul when it will have attained the

320

REINCARNATION

highest degree of evolutionary unfoldment
possible to it upon this planet of earth. The
information comes down to us from those
far beyond, that there are myriads of other
planets, some below the earth in evolutionary
conditions, and many above it — and that
when an individual has reached the highest
point of evolution possible to him upon this
planet, he passes from earth and all its spir-
itual realms and finds his way to some other
planet which contains evolutionary condi-
tions adapted to his further experiences and
development.

How far this continues, the wisest of the
Great Spiritual Intelligences say to us, ''We
Do Not Know"

According to the information received from
the Great Friends, a Soul incarnating upon
the physical plane, or reincarnating from the
spiritual planes, always enters the physical
body of an infant.

In truth, the only conditions upon the earth
plane which make incarnation, or Reincar-
nation, possible, are those which exist at the
instant when a new-born infant body invol-
untarily takes its first physical breath. It is

321

THE GREAT KNOWN

the presence of the incarnating, or reincarnat-
ing Soul, which makes that first "Breath of
Life" possible. And the Soul of the infant
enters the body with it. If the Soul were not
present, the first breath would never be
taken.

The number of Reincarnations for an
evolving Soul to attain a sufficiently high or-
der of intelligence to align itself with Na-
ture's Constructive Principle depends very
largely upon the individual himself. You
will grasp the significance of this more fully
if you will follow carefully this illustration:

Two boys of the same age enter the same
school at the same time. They are in the
same classes and have the same facilities and
advantages to progress in their work. But
one of them graduates at the end of four
years, while the other requires six years to
accomplish the same result. Why is this?
Merely because one makes better use of his
time and energy than the other. Two men
enter a musical college at the same time.
One becomes a finished artist in four years,
while the other works a lifetime without
reaping the same degree of efficiency. Why?

322

REINCARNATION

Because of the difference in their individ-
uality»

Does not this suggest to you why it is that
one individual may accomplish in a single
incarnation what it may require another
many incarnations to accomplish?

The fundamental principle of "Individ-
uality" is the thing that accounts for this
variation of time and personal effort in the
accomplishment of individual results. If the
individuality were the same, the results would
be the same.

There is no definitely fixed time that can
be defined or determined, when one may con-
sciously recall former incarnations and their
lessons. This is a purely individual achieve-
ment. It must be worked out by the individ-
ual himself in every instance. It represents
a certain degree of spiritual unfoldment.
The power to recall past lives and their re-
sults and purposes comes to each individual
whenever he reaches that certain degree of
spiritual evolution and unfoldment which
evolves the degree and quality of memory
necessary to that end. Hence, it cannot be dc-

323

THE GREAT KNOWN

termined in any given number of days, weeks,
months, years or lives.

If you were to ask — When will a child
learn to walk and talk? — the answer could
not be given in days, weeks, months, or even
years. This is because it depends upon the
individuality of the child. Whenever the
child has evolved to a point where its powers
of locomotion and speech fall under its power
of individual Will, or Volition, it will walk
and talk, but not until then. The answer
depends upon the working out of the Law of
Evolution in the individual.

But we have the assurance of those who
claim to know, that such a time does come in
each individual life; and, since that time
comes to each individual only when he has
earned it under the Great Law of Compensa-
tion, it follows that each individual must an-
swer the question himself. He must earn
that reward before it will come to him; and
whenever he has earned the reward, Nature
will not withhold it from him one single in-
stant of time.' // ij his the instant he has
earned it.

CHAPTER XXXI

HELL

There is "Hell" enough — for all who
need it.

But you need not be shocked ; this has ref-
erence only to those who devote themselves
to frightening innocent, ignorant, supersti-
tious men, women and children into a verit-
able "Hell" of mental and psychical tor-
ment, in their efforts to avoid the inevitable
penalties of the great Law of Compensation.
For such as these, there is "Hell" enough to
satisfy all their most ambitious designs and
requirements. But, it is a "Hell" of their
own design and manufacture. It is therefore
especially adapted to their own needs; and it
is especially devoted to the process of cleans-
ing their own souls from the natural conse-
quences of so great a libel and slander upon
the Great Father of all Good, as well as upon
the wisdom and justice of His great Natural
Law of Compensation.

325

THE GREAT KNOWN

Do not forget that in neither world is
there such a thing as an arbitrary penalty or
reward of Nature. The "Hell" that is
preached by our evangelistic and ministerial
friends, represents but an arbitrary exhibition
of anger on the part of the GREAT CREATOR
OF THE Universe. It is therefore not true. It
is neither just nor natural.

The term "arbitrary" is here used in its
usually accepted significance. Any arbi-
trary reward or penalty is one which is not
fixed and governed by Law. It is subject to
the individual Will, caprice, impulse or
fancy, and may be modified or entirely
changed at any time, and in response to any
whim.

Neither rewards nor penalties, under the
organic Law of Compensation, are subject to
the Will, caprice or whim of any intelligence
or individual. Being the result of Natural
Law, they are as fixed and immutable, as in-
evitable and inexorable, as the Law itself.

Our evangelistic friends would tell us that
such are the rewards and penalties to be
doled out to us by a God whose Will is sub-
ject to change at any time.

S26

i

HELL

They tell us, with all the authority of the
most rigid dogmatism and fanaticism, that
we will pass from physical life directly into
a place and condition called "Purgatory" — a
sort of half-way place between "Heaven" and
"Hell." It is supposed to be a place and con-
dition from which the individual can rise
into "Heaven" only through being "purged"
of his sins. And if he fails to obtain "purga-
tion" he not only fails to rise into "Heaven,"
but he inevitably sinks under the weight of
his sins, into "Hell" — the antithesis of
"Heaven."

Almost all of these dogmatic religionists
pass, at physical death, into the magnetic
field, for a time, and (solely because it so
nearly corresponds to what they have been
taught concerning "Purgatory") they accept
it as such and adopt it as their "home" until
they can have time to obtain the "purgatory"
aid of their priesthood, and ascend into
"Heaven."

The very fact that they find themselves, on
arriving in the spiritual life, in a place and
condition so nearly answering their own con-
ception of what a "Purgatory" ought to be,

337

THE GREAT KNOWN

they assume that they are really and truly in
the Purgatory of which they have been told
by their religious, earthly teachers and
priests. Immediately they set about adjusting
themselves to the conditions of this new life
and environment, with that conviction defi-
nitely fixed in their minds and souls. And,
not understanding the meaning or the appli-
cation of the Law of Individual Evolution,
the meaning or value of Individual Effort,
they accept the situation as they find it and
make no effort to rise above the conditions,
until the Border-Land Workers, through the
educational help they can give, are able to
lead them into the Light of Truth, and point
them to the way which leads upwards and
out of their miserable condition of darkness,
into Spiritual Light. Some of the most fanat-
ical religionists resume the lines of their for-
mer religious work upon earth, and join the
organized bands of religious fanatics on the
spiritual side of life who spend their time
and efforts in trying to influence those of
earth whom they have left behind.

So forcibly and emphatically have they
been impressed, during physical life, with the

S2t

HELL

necessity for this place of "Purgation;" and
so vividly is it fixed in their consciousness,
that often it requires long and patient effort
on the part of the Border-Land Workers to
free them from their superstition, obtain
their intelligent cooperation in the work of
their own liberation, and help them out of
the magnetic field into the first spiritual
plane.

From this explanation you will be able to
appreciate something of the evil conse-
quences of such a religious doctrine and
dogma. It handicaps the individual from the
moment he emerges from the physical body
until, through the patient process of educa-
tion, his religious superstition is finally over-
come and removed.

Again bear in mind the fact that there is a
great and fundamental LAW OF Life which
governs this entire problem. It is the en-
nobling and inspiring Law of Individual
Evolution; and when the Law is understood
by humanity upon earth, that fact will go a
long way toward depopulating both "Pur-
gatory" and "Hell," as well as disposing of

339

THE GREAT KNOWN

the superstitions of all dogmatic religions of
earth.

The people of earth carry all their religious
beliefs, convictions and superstitions over
with them. Not only this, they are just as
eager to find justification of their religious
beliefs as they were in the physical life. A
Methodist on the physical plane remains a
Methodist on the spiritual side of life — until,
through education and personal effort, he has
outgrown the narrow limits of his church
creed. A Presbyterian, in like manner re-
mains a Presbyterian, and a Catholic remains
a Catholic — until, by the same process of edu-
cation and growth, he rises above his super-
stitions and his destructive fear of punish-
ment.

In due course of time, all come to real-
ize that they have been imposed upon by
those of earth who have filled their minds
and Souls with all manner of unnatural and
superstitious fears and fallacies. It is only
when they have learned their mistakes and
have put away their superstitions and un-
worthy fears that they begin the upward and

sso

HELL

onward evolutionary climb from darkness to
Light.

Nature's rewards to her children, for
obedience to her Laws, are far greater than
it is possible for those of this physical life to
understand or appreciate. Indeed, they reach
the acme of all our hopes and desires; but
they are bounded not by the "New Jerusa-
lem" with its streets of gold, nor by the little,
inadequate man-made "Heaven" wherein the
Souls of men and women find nothing better
to do than sit around the "Throne of Grace"
and sing God's praises, and plunk a harp,
through endless eternity — while their former
comrades and fellow sinners languish in a
Hell of everlasting fire.

The individual comes to know that the only
"Heaven," or the only "Hell" there is for
him, or for his fellows — of both that life and
this — is the Heaven or the Hell he makes for
himself by his own individual obedience to,
or violation of, the Law of Individual Life
and Evolution.

331

CHAPTER XXXII

DIVINITY

It is but natural that the devotees of Chris-
tianity should be interested in the problem of
"Divinity." For almost 2000 years the ques-
tion of the "Divinity" of Christ has been a
subject of consideration, discussion, disputa-
tion and debate among the best intelligences
of every age and every people. It is still a
mooted question, and we find that in this, the
modern age of "Science and Religion," of
Physical Materialism and the most exalted
Spiritualism, of coldest Rationalism and the
hottest Emotionalism, the best intelligences
of earth are arrayed against each other. The
question is still "before the house," as it v^^ere,
and the discussion is quite as torrid as at any
time since the Master v^as born in Bethlehem
of Judea, and the Wise Men came from the
East "to v^orship Him."

May v^e not, therefore, w^ithout offense to
the tender sensibilities of anyone — but "with

333

THE GREAT KNOWN

malice toward none and charity for all" — add
our humble contribution in behalf of the
Great School of Natural Science, whose ex-
alted researches and scientific findings are
impelled alone by this search for Truth?

More especially, may we not do our hum-
ble best to answer that age-old, but ever-new,
question: "Was Christ Divine?"

If the answer should prove to be at vari-
ance from the views and convictions of any-
one who holds himself to be a "Christian,"
let him not forget that it is given in the spirit
of honest conviction, but with profound re-
spect for the views and convictions of any
and all who differ from the views herein
expressed.

The answer depends somewhat upon the
exact meaning attached to the word "Divine"
or "Divinity."

Assuming, however, that the term means
"Possessing the attributes of God, the Father
of Mankind" — Christ Jesus was Divine. For,
unless all our concepts are at fault, nothing
seems clearer than that the great Martyred
Master Jesus, possessed, and still possesses,
every individual attribute possessed by the

334

DIVINITY

Divine Creator — without raising the question
of degree.

This does not mean that the Master Jesus
was, in any essential, different from his fel-
low-men in point of essential attributes. The
most exalted concept of the human mind
which has ever been expressed as to the Di-
vinity of Christ is contained in the assertion
that he was the ''Son of God." This would
surely establish his "Divinity" — granting that
the Sonship is established.

But again, this does not necessarily lift him
above the status of his fellows of earth; for
it was none other than He himself who de-
clared and taught the doctrine that all men
are "Sons of the same Father."

In other words, Jesus maintained his
Brotherhood with all mankind, as well as his
Sonship with God. This means that all men
are Sons of God. Hence, if Jesus is "Divine,"
then all men are equally Divine; for they
are all "Sons of the same Father," and they
are all His Brothers. If Jesus possesses the
attributes of Deity, then also do all his
Brothers. Is there any flaw in this logic?

In truth, the Master Jesus was a man

335

THE GREAT KNOWN

like other men, born of woman, as other men.
He traveled the pathway of evolution, as
other men have traveled it and are still travel-
ing that way. It is true that he traveled
much farther along the road "toward God"
than the large majority of his fellow-men.
But this does not mean that He has traveled
beyond the relationship of "Brother to all
men." He is our Brother today just as truly
as He was on the day of his Crucifixion. He
made no claim to an "Immaculate Concep-
tion," nor to any "Divinity" in which all
mankind do not share with Him.

When He spoke of ''The Father," He was
not speaking of the Great Creative Intelli-
gence who rules the UNIVERSE and whose
creative Intelligence is back of all the mani-
festations of Nature. He was speaking of the
Exalted Ruler of this planet, the One Indi-
vidual whose spiritual authority extends to all
the planes of life upon the earth, both phys-
ical and spiritual. For the great wisdom,
sympathy, love and power of this Exalted
Ruler are such that He is looked up to, re-
vered and loved as a real "Father" to all the
children of earth. Again and again He has.

3S(

DIVINITY

been referred to by the Wise Men of all times
as "God the Father," as "The Father of Hu-
manity," as "The Great Father"; and by
various designations, each and all of which
betray the fact that there is truly a Spiritual
Father to whom all mankind, upon all the
planes of life, look as the highest concept of a
personal Ruler and Loving Father combined.
One of the greatest comforts and inspira-
tions those of the spiritual life enjoy is in the
fact that the Exalted Spiritual Teachers and
Masters who are, as yet, above and beyond
them in point of individual development and
spiritual unfoldment, are constantly assuring
them that they have passed over the same
road all men are traveling, experiencing all
the joys and sorrows, all the failures and tri-
umphs, which have come to them in their
,own struggles toward spiritual illumination;
and that they are thus able to understand and
appreciate every phase of human experience.
It is because of this assurance that we of
earth may gather inspiration, from day to
day, to go on traveling the upward path
which they have traveled before us. In this
realization that our own feet are pressing the

337

THE GREAT KNOWN

soil in which theirs have left their sacred
imprint, we find the inspiration and the assur-
ance that we also shall be able, one glorious
day, to stand where they stand today; and
that we, too, shall be able to give to those be-
low us the uplifting inspiration that shall
carry them up through every trial and make
them triumphant over every obstacle in the
pathway of their development and final
illumination.

If we could, deep within our inmost Souls,
believe that one whose essential nature made
Him perfect in the sight of God, the Father,
was sent as an example to men whose essen-
tial natures are most imperfect — and that sal-
vation depended upon the ability of the im-
perfect individual to emulate that supreme
example and thus exemplify perfection —
there is not one among mankind who would
have the courage, or the rashness, to make
the effort.

But when you know that one who, like
yourself, has been human in every sense, has
lived his life amidst the same hard condi-
tions with you, and has triumphed over every
obstacle you sec ahead of you, as well as be-
ast

DIVINITY

hind, you have an abiding conviction that the
task is not too big for you, difficult as it may
appear. By this assurance that another of
your kind has traveled the road, you are in-
spired to put forth every effort which lies
within you to follow in his footsteps.

It is in this general misconception as to the
true and essential nature of the Nazarene,
that the religions of earth today erect the
most stupendous barriers to the progress of
humanity toward the true goal of life.

But the time is coming, and it would seem
to be approaching with unusual swiftness,
when the doctrines of "The Fatherhood of
God" and "The Brotherhood of Man"— in-
cluding the glorious and glorified Master,
Jesus Christ — will be acknowledged as the
fundamentals of all true religions.

The "Divinity of Christ" and the "Divin-
ity of Humanity" are synonymous in the
Wisdom Religion of the spiritual realms.

Experience assures us that there is a "Right
Way" and a "Wrong Way" to travel the
path of Life, on this side of life as well as on
the other. We know, by the same token, that
for every Truth there is a corresponding Un-

339

THE GREAT KNOWN

truth. We know that for every obverse thing
in Nature there is its corresponding reverse
side. We know that for everything in Nature
we call "good," there is a corresponding
"evil." We know that for everything in Na-
ture, or Life, that we recognize as "construc-
tive" there is its reverse side, which we rec-
ognize as "destructive."

The greatest of the Great Friends tell us
they do not know enough, as yet, to declare
with the certainty of Truth that there is a
"personal" God. By the same token, we do
not know, as yet, that there is a "personal"
Devil. But, by the logic of analogy, it would
seem safe to assume that if there is a personal
God which exemplifies the Principle of Good
in Nature, then there must be a personal
Devil which exemplifies the Principle of
Evil in Nature — unless the personal God
created a "Devil" without personality.

The Great Friends tell us that they know
nothing about "devils" — in a personal sense.
Much less do we. We personally know noth-
ing of either a personal God — the Creator of
the Universe — or a personal Devil. But, IF
these do exist, it would seem that they must

S40

i

DIVINITY

stand for absolutely fixed and immutable
Principles of Nature; and, being fixed and
immutable, they are not subject to The Law
of Individual Evolution.

Hence, it would seem that IF there is such
a being in Nature as a personal Devil, his
character is fixed and immutable, and thus
not within the scope and purpose of the Law
of Evolution.

There can be not the least doubt that Man
— who is distinctly a personality, and who is
subject to the Evolutionary Principle of Life
— can "go to the Devil" over there, with just
as much facility as he can go there on our
side of life. This seems to be one of the pri-
mary elections which Nature has given to
mankind as an individual. He may either
obey the Law of Life, in which event he goes
forward and upward along the Evolutionary
Pathway of Life until he has reached its goal
of individual harmony and adjustment to Na-
ture's Law of Evolution; or, he may elect to
defy the Law of Life, in which case he en-
ters upon the devolutionary pathway of
Death, the ultimate goal of which seems to
be individual disintegration and final death.

34-1

THE GREAT KNOWN

And, no matter to what height of individ-
ual evolution he may have attained, it is
within his power to turn about and retrace
his steps at any time. It is this divine right
of individual election that makes him "Cap-
tain of his own Soul" and "Master of his
own Destiny."

Any religion or philosophy of life which
takes from individual man this fundamental
right and power of election, makes of him
but an automatic instrument under the domi-
nation and control of a Destiny that has been
fixed "from the foundation of the world."
And such a religion and philosophy of life
would establish the doctrines of Predestina-
tion and Fate in all their seeming injustice
and tyranny; and, at the same time, would
destroy the power of individual human Will
as a determining factor in Evolution and in
the destiny of the Individual Soul of Man.

The Wise Ones have indicated, in many
ways, their unqualified acceptance of the Evo-
lutionary Law and Principle of Life for all
mankind. They acknowledge the freedom of
individual Choice, as well as the power of
individual Will of Man. For, upon these

342

I

DIVINITY

principles alone is it possible to predicate that
Man is either personally responsible or mor-
ally accountable, in any sense whatever.

Take from him his Personal Responsibility
and Moral Accountability, and you have, by
one and the same act, divested him of every
uplifting Hope, Aspiration and Inspiration
which give to Individual Life either meaning
or value.

Banish the thought! It is enough for us
to know that the Master Jesus is Divine, and
that we are his Brothers in the Universal
Human Family.

And we honor and glorify the Great Cre-
ator of All — even though we are too "young,"
as yet, to be able to identify Him as a Per-
sonality. There are many of the truly Great
Things we do not know — as yet — but we are
traveling the Road to Knowledge and we are
glad its end is yet beyond our view — if it has
an end.

343

J

CHAPTER XXXIII

GOD OR NATURE

With reference to an explanation of the
terms God or Nature, I will confine myself
as closely as may be possible to the things
which are within the range of my own per-
sonal experience (knowledge), the demon-
strated facts of Science, and the established
truths of Nature.

Now, under this pledge, if I claimed, or
professed, to know anything definitely about
God (in the sense of the Great Universal In-
telligence back of all manifestations of Na-
ture), I would be false to my promise and
unworthy of confidence ; for it is a fact that I
do not definitely know anything, whatsoever,
about the great First Cause of Things, nor do
I know anyone who does know.

Even the greatest and the wisest of the
Great Friends, with whom I have come into
personal acquaintance and fellowship on the
spiritual planes of life, when asked for defi-

345

THE GREAT KNOWN

nite knowledge on the subject, say with the
utmost frankness, simplicity and humility,
"We do not know,"

In order that I may not justly be accused
of assuming knowledge which I do not pos-
sess, I have used again and again, the terms
"God or Nature," to indicate to the reader
that I do not assume to know which is scien-
tifically the correct term.

A careful search of the Bible will disclose
the fact that the term "God" is not always
used to designate the Great Creative Intelli-
gence, or First Cause. But in some instances,
it seems to have been employed to designate a
Great Spiritual Intelligence whom the Jews
seem to regard as their particular "God," or
"Ruler" — thus, by inference, rather suggest-
ing the idea that there may be other "Gods"
than the "God of the Jews."

In my writings I am brought face to face
with the fact that among religionists gener-
ally, and more especially among the ministry,
the term "God" is used quite generally to
designate the Great Universal Intelligence,
the Great Creative Intelligence, responsible
for all things whatsoever, in Heaven and

346

GOD OR NATURE

upon earth, or elsewhere in the universe;
while the physical scientist employs the term
"Nature" to express his concept of all that
he knows of a "Cosmic Intelligence."

In order that both classes may read my
statements understandingly, and without prej-
udice, and free from the feeling that I am
dogmatizing upon the subject, I employ both
terms interchangeably, or in such manner
that the contending disputants as to the great
First Cause, may not be able to accuse me of
assuming a knowledge I do not possess.

I do not hesitate to say that I do not know
whether there is a great Intelligent Person-
ality back of Nature, or not. I see every-
where evidences in Nature of intelligent de-
sign, and I know that Nature represents In-
telligence. But what, or who or where that
Intelligence is, I do not know. Neither do I
know anyone who seriously claims to know,
when called upon to answer the question from
the basis of his own personal knowledge.

I do not know whether the Great Intelli-
gence that is responsible for Nature is back
of or in, or throughout, or above Nature;
or whether the Great Creative Intelligence

347

THE GREAT KNOWN

and Nature (taken together) constitute God.
I have some ideas and convictions on the sub-
ject; but since I do not know, these ideas and
convictions would be of little or no value to
anybody who demands definite knowledge on
the subject.

As to whether God is a conscious, or a
self-conscious Spirit, Creator of All, and Na-
ture as the manifestation or expression of
himself, / do not know,

I have studiously avoided giving any ex-
pression of my own "beliefs" on this subject,
because I recognize the fact that concerning
ultimates, and other things we do not know,
my own beliefs are of no greater value than
those of my most obscure and humble reader.

If I should tell the reader what I believe,
he would be not a whit wiser as to the realities
than he is today; for my beliefs are not neces-
sarily true. His may be more nearly the truth
than mine. Therefore, it seems to me that I
would be assuming a heavy responsibility in
putting forth my mere "opinions and beliefs"
on so profound a subject, lest he or someone
else might not always differentiate carefully

348

GOD OR NATURE

and accurately between my beliefs and what
Science actually knows.

I have endeavored to confine myself as
closely as possible to the findings of Natural
Science, quite independently of either my
own beliefs or those of others.

The facts of Nature on all the planes of
life, so far as the Wise Men have been able
to observe them, everywhere suggest to the
student of Natural Science the operation of
what appears to be a Universal Intelligence.
The forces, activities and processes of Nature,
as far as they are able to follow their work-
ings, appear to indicate a conformity to uni-
versal principles. Back of these seemingly
universal principles the human intelligence
searches in vain for the motive power or
intelligence which formulates and operates
them.

Notwithstanding their confessed inability to
locate, circumscribe, define or identify the
great Universal Intelligence which inspires
and guides the forces, activities and processes
of Nature, their individual intelligence intu-
itively recognizes its existence as a funda-
mental fact.

349

THE GREAT KNOWN

In so far as they have been able to trace the
history of man there never has been a time
wrhen human intelligence has failed to sense
that which to man has meant a Universal In-
telligence. Even the professed disbeliever
betrays his intuitive recognition of this Uni-
versal Intelligence in the very profanity he
employs to emphasize his disbelief.

Although we are unable to locate, circum-
scribe, define or identify it, we all, neverthe-
less, have a name for it. Some call it "God."
Others designate it as the "Father." Some
name it "Law." Others term it "Nature."
Some there are who give it other names.
Others of us express our conception of it more
fully in the term "Universal Intelligence."

It does not seem to be a vital matter
whether "God and Nature are one" or
whether "God is Creative Intelligence and
Nature his manifestation/' Neither does it
seem vital to the problem of "Life Here and
Hereafter/' whether "God is an Individual
Intelligence/' or is simply "Universal Intel-
ligence without Personality/'

And why do I say this?

Because these are problems which, as yet,

sso

i

GOD OR NATURE

are beyond the range of human intelligence,
so far as we know; and the problem with
which The Great School and its Work are
concerned most vitally, is that of "Individual
Life Here and Hereafter," and the evolu-
tionary possibilities of man, insofar as we are
able to ascertain them through the means and
methods of Natural Science.

I do not think at this stage of our evolution
we can comprehend "God." Furthermore, I
am convinced that we have several "rounds"
of evolution ahead of us before we will be
able to comprehend Him, Her, It, or Them.
And because of this fact, it seems to me that
there are many vitally important things a
long way 'Uhis side of God," or our knowl-
edge of "God," with which we might occupy
our time, thought and personal effort, to
much more practical value.

Recognizing Man as an individual intelli-
gence, possessing Consciousness and Will, and
assuming that he is a result of creation, it is
but logical to assume that his Creator also
possesses the same or equivalent attributes.
But, you see, it seems to be impossible for us
to approach "God," or the great Creative In-

351

THE GREAT KNOWN

telligence, from any angle, without having to
assume so many things that our conclusions
are of little or no scientific value.

So far as I know, God, the Great Univer-
sal Intelligence that is responsible for the ex-
istence of this little earth and its inhabitants
both physical and spiritual, is beyond the
knowledge of the wisest of the Wise Men.

We are told by those who are our Great
Instructors — far above and beyond us in
point of knowledge and unfoldment — that
there are other planets than earth which are
inhabited ; that the earth is but one very small
planet among myriads; that the great plan of
Nature fits each and every planet into its own
distinct and individual place in the great evo-
lutionary scheme of Nature; that when indi-
viduals have evolved to the highest point pos-
sible upon this planet of earth they have but
finished their earthly pilgrimage in the path-
way of their individual evolution and are
then able to pass on, either into interplan-
etary realms, or to some other planet whose
state and condition are such that the individ-
ual can there take up the line of his own

352

GOD OR NATURE

evolutionary unfoldment and go on and on —
how much farther we have no concept.

It is not believed possible for the Finite — •
as yet — to understand the Infinite. Hence, it
would seem presumptuous for us to follow
the subject further. The wisest of the Wise
Masters do not claim to know anything of
scientific value concerning the Great, Su-
preme, Exalted, Universal Intelligence who
created the Universe, the earth, the moon, the
sun, the stars, the myriads of planets that con-
stitute the Infinite Universe of Space, and
people the planets with individual beings, all
moving, automatically or consciously and
voluntarily, onward and upward along the
great evolutionary pathway toward INFINITY.

They make no claims to definite acquaint-
ance with, nor knowledge of, the Great Uni-
versal Creator of all things, save and except
as they recognize His presence in each and
every manifestation of Nature, in the moun-
tains, the valleys, the rivers, the lakes, the
oceans, the planets, in the springing of vege-
tation into life, in the unfolding of the rose,
in the love song of the bird, the smile of the
infant, the sweep of the comet, the roar of the

353

THE GREAT KNOWN

elements, the sublime Symphony of Nature.
In all these manifestations of life, intelli-
gence and power, they read the Story of
Creation. To them, each of these is but a
manifestation of the Exalted, Universal Cre-
ative Intelligence and Power above, beyond,
back of, in and through all that means Life
to us. They can go no further. With greater
awe than we — because of their greater intel-
ligence and knowledge — they stand, with un-
covered heads, in the presence of the Sublime
Unknown — and marvel.

SSf

THEORIES

OF

"THE WISE MEN"

THE GENESIS OF DOGMA

If our modern scientific thinkers, investi-
gators and writers could be prevailed upon
carefully to tabulate under separate heads
their "facts" and their "theories" and specu-
lations concerning those facts, it would mate-
rially simplify the work of their students and
readers and avoid the most prolific source of
confusion which prevails in almost every de-
partment of scientific investigation and
thought.

It is not in the spirit of hostility nor un-
friendly criticism that this suggestion is of-
fered, but rather as a friendly observation
from one who has often encountered the per-
plexing difficulty referred to.

We all love to theorize and speculate upon
the things that are out beyond the range of
our definite personal knowledge. It is a part
of our natures to do so. To many of us it
takes the place of intellectual recreation and
entertainment. This is more especially true
among scientists and philosophers.

357

THE GREAT KNOWN

The scientist discovers what he recognizes
as a "fact." His mind at once demands to
know its meaning and value. If, perchance,
it should lie outside the sequential line of
those facts with which he is already familiar,
he studies it, reasons upon it, speculates about
it and theorizes over it until he reaches a con-
clusion. No matter how remote that conclu-
sion may chance to be from the truth, if he
is for the time being satisfied with it, he is
strongly impelled to give it to the wcrM along
with the fact.

We all possess, to some extent, either con-
sciously or otherwise, a feeling of admiration
for the man who discovers a fact in Nature
and gives it to the world. For this reason we
are much inclined to entertain favorably
whatever theories he may be impelled to pre-
sent along with it.

Therefore, unless he is exceedingly explicit
and thoughtful of the manner in which he
distinguishes his fact from his theories and
speculations concerning it, we who follow
him fail to differentiate between them.

As a natural result of these conditions, the
vast body of what we have been pleased to

358

THE GENESIS OF DOGMA

designate as "Science" is made up of a com-
paratively few demonstrated facts, mixed
with an enormous quantity of theories, both
wise and otherwise.

It is the purpose of this work, as far as
may be possible, carefully to differentiate be-
tween the facts of science and the theories of
men concerning those facts. The definite
statements and declarations therein contained
may, therefore, be accepted and classified
under the head of "Facts Demonstrated."

The specific intent is to outline as accu-
rately and as carefully as possible a few of
the most important theories which the Wise
Men of the ages on both planes of life have
formulated relative to some of the facts
statwd in the preceding volumes.

The only reason or excuse for presenting
these theories at all in connection with this
work is that they will doubtless give to the
intelligent student a valuable suggestion as
to the specific lines of inquiry along which
the most enlightened scientific intelligence
throughout the ages has been and still is
moving.

It is stated as an unqualified fact of science

359

THE GREAT KNOWN

that animals, in the course of the years, dis-
appear from the spiritual plane of the ani-
mal kingdom, and that they do not reappear
(at least in identical or distinguishable form)
upon any of the planes of spiritual life which
are distinctively related to this particular
planet.

The natural inquiry of every intelligent
mind is, "What becomes of them?'' The in-
quiry thus far remains unanswered so far as
science is concerned. The Wise Men of both
the physical and spiritual planes of life have
brought to bear upon the problem all the
knowledge and intelligence they possess. Thus
far, however, the scientific demonstration lies
beyond the limits of their understanding.

With a view to its possible solution, how-
ever, the following widely different hypoth-
eses have been made the bases of their study
and investigation:

FIRST HYPOTHESIS

It is assumed that the disappearance is but
a transition in the upward movement of the
individual ego, or entity, in its evolutionary
progress toward a higher state of individual-
ized intelligence and being.

360

THE GENESIS OF DOGMA

This theory involves the process of me-
tempsychosis or transmigration, through the
operation of which the animal ego is sup-
posed to be transferred from the spiritual
plane to the physical organism of a higher or-
der of life and intelligence upon the physical
plane. Here again it undergoes the progres-
sive processes of physical grov^th, develop-
ment, maturity, decline, old age and death,
at v^hich last named point it returns again to
the spiritual plane one round higher in the
evolutionary process.

Again, it is supposed to disappear from the
spiritual plane and reappear in a higher order
of physical life, only to go through the same
process of physical grovv^th, development,
maturity, decline, old age, decay and death
and reappearance upon the spiritual plane of
animal life, each time representing a higher
order of individualized intelligence and
being.

This evolutionary process is supposed to
continue until the highest form of individ-
ualized animal intelligence disappears from
the spiritual plane of animal life, only to
make its appearance upon the physical plane

361

THE GREAT KNOWN

in the lowest form of human life and in-
telligence.

To the foregoing general theory, or work-
ing hypothesis, the reader will be able to
trace a number of the most conspicuous and
interesting tenets of both theology and science
as well as of ancient philosophies.

For illustration:

1. We have the doctrine of the transmi-
gration of souls. This doctrine, as it has ap-
peared from time to time upon the physical
plane, is evidently referable to the foregoing
theory, or working hypothesis of the Wise
Men, concerning the disappearance of the
animal from the spiritual plane of animal
life. But it has also undoubtedly become con-
fused with, or modified by, that other general
theory of the Wise Men concerning the dis-
appearance of man from the lowest plane of
his spiritual life, to which theory reference
will be made further on.

This is suggested as a most natural conclu-
sion for the reason that the doctrine of trans-
migration, as it is generally expounded upon
the earth plane, does not stop with the ani-
mal, but also includes man. That is to say,

362

I

THE GENESIS OF DOGMA

under this particular form of that doctrine
it is generally held that the soul of man also
may, at physical death, enter the physical or-
ganism of an animal, and that such an act is
not necessarily a retrograde movement on
the part of the intelligent entity.

A still further corruption of the original
theory is found in the doctrine, or assump-
tion, that transmigration always occurs at the
instant of physical dissolution, and at no
other time.

2. The doctrine of Transubstantiation is
doubtless also referable to the same general
source. Under this doctrine the Catholic
Church has formulated the dogma that, in
their celebration of the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper, the literal substance of the
body and the blood of Christ enters into the
bread and wine used in the sacramental
service.

3. On the purely physical plane the doc-
trine of the physical evolution of man from
the plane of animal nature would seem to
be but another expression of the same gen-
eral hypothesis. The search for the "Missing
Link" in the upward movement of organic,

363

THE GREAT KNOWN

physical evolution has been a search made
upon the theory that man is but an ape
evolved.

Upon the structural side of organic, phys-
ical life, more especially, this theory is
strongly supported by an array of scientific
data which no student of Nature can afford
to ignore. But up to this time even the evolu-
tion of man's physical structure from that of
the animal is held, by able exponents of phys-
ical science, to be nothing more than a *Vork-
ing hypothesis."

SECOND HYPOTHESIS

The second general hypothesis of the Wise
Men and of Natural Science holds that the
disappearance of the animal from the spir-
itual plane is, indeed, all that it appears to
be, namely, total disintegration, dissolution
and a resolution of the animal entity back into
Nature's elements, from which it came. This,
of course, means total extinction of the animal
as a separate, distinct and individualized
entity.

At first view this hypothesis would appear
to be in direct conflict with the very essence
of the evolutionary principle. But a further

364

THE GENESIS OF DOGMA

study and analysis of the subject show that
such is not the case.

Under this second general hypothesis, in all
this upward movement of Nature wc name
"evolution," Universal Intelligence is en-
gaged in the process of individualizing intel-
ligence. The one object or purpose of this in-
dividualizing process, as it appears, is ulti-
mately to evolve an order of intelligence
which shall possess the knowledge and the
power of indefinite self-perpetuation which
is known to science as Individual Immor-
tality.

In the animal organism Nature has not
yet reached a point in the evolutionary pro-
cess where the entity possesses that power.
As a natural result the animal disappears
from the spiritual plane of animal life in re-
sponse to the law of its being, and, if the
hypothesis be true, is resolved back into Na-
ture's elements from which it came.

If this be true, the student is ready to ask,
What, then, is the purpose of all the grada-
tions of animal life, running from the amoeba
to the anthropoid ape?

The answer in brief is, that in all this

365

THE GREAT KNOWN

multiplicity of animal life, running through
all its varied gradations, from the lowest to
the highest, we see only the mechanics of a
stupendous plan by and through which Uni-
versal Intelligence refines and raises the vi-
bratory activity of matter on both planes of
life, until it is capable of co-ordination with
the Soul Element of Nature, which is indi-
vidualized in man alone.

THIRD HYPOTHESIS

In "Facts Demonstrated," it is stated that
man disappears from the lowest plane of his
spiritual life by either one of two diflferent
processes, and in response to the operation of
two different and opposite principles:

1. Under the constructive principle and
process of evolution, growth, development
and progress, he disappears only to appear
upon a higher plane, etc.

2. Under the opposite principle and pro-
cess of destruction or devolution he also dis-
appears in a manner which corresponds, in
every essential particular, with the disappear-
ance of the animal.

It is also stated that in this second case he
does not reappear (at least in identical or

366

THE GENESIS OF DOGMA

distinguishable form) , upon any of the higher
planes of spiritual life which are distinctively
related to this particular planet.

The question of his destiny as an individual
intelligence in this case is a matter of even
more absorbing and vital interest to those
who have undertaken its solution, than is the
destiny of the animal.

But here again Nature seems to hold a
secret.

Nevertheless, two working hypotheses or
theories have been formulated.

The first of these holds that man may, of
his own volition, pursue a deliberate course
of retrogression in conformity with the De-
structive Principle of Nature in Individual
Life, until he reaches the point in the down-
ward path toward spiritual darkness, where
he disappears as does the animal. But, ac-
cording to the theory here under considera-
tion, this fact does not necessarily involve his
individual extinction or dissolution as an indi-
vidual intelligence or entity. On the other
hand, it is held that he simply falls below the
point of co-ordination with the Soul Element
of Nature, thereby loses his independent, self-

367

THE GREAT KNOWN

conscious and rational volition, and reverts to
the plane of animal life.

Here he begins the evolutionary struggle
under the guiding wisdom and power of
Universal Intelligence, until once again he
reaches the plane of human life. Here he
co-ordinates with the Soul Element of Na-
ture, is reinvested with an independent, self-
conscious and rational volition and given an-
other opportunity to choose between the two
alternatives of evolutionary progress on the
one hand or devolutionary retrogression on
the other. It is still within his power to
choose the downward path. If so, and he
persists in that choice, he must again descend
to the plane of animal life and begin anew
the evolutionary struggle under the guiding
direction of Universal Intelligence.

This process is supposed to be repeated as
often as may be necessary to develop in him
the natural desire for the higher life, after
which he proceeds of his own voluntary
choice on the upward course of individual
self-development to that celestial destiny of
individual attainment and power which lie

THE GENESIS OF DOGMA

beyond the limits of our present understand-
ing.

The opposite hypothesis holds that no mat-
ter from what heights man may descend, if
he persist in his downward flight until he
loses his independent, self-conscious and ra-
tional volition, under the law of his being he
thereby forever forfeits the power of self-
perpetuation and Individual Immortality.

In this case his disappearance from the
spiritual plane means to him precisely what
it means to the animal under the Second Hy-
pothesis, namely, disintegration, dissolution,
individual extinction and a resolution back
into Nature's elements from which he came.

FOURTH HYPOTHESIS
, It is well known that theologians widely
differ in their views concerning the ultimate
destiny of the persistent sinner. Their dif-
ferences hinge, in a general way, upon their
various understandings and conceptions of
man's immortality.

Without taking into account the intermedi-
ate shadings, there are two general, theologi-
cal dogmas concerning the immortality of
the Soul, which, briefly stated, are as follows:

369

THE GREAT KNOWN

1. That man is inherently, intrinsically and
essentially immortal. That he is so created.
That immortality is a primary and essential
property or characteristic of his individual
being. That whether saved or lost, in a re-
ligious sense, he is in either event immortal
and therefore can never die nor lose his indi-
viduality.

From this particular conception of the
soul's immortality naturally follows the doc-
trine of eternal happiness for the saved, and
never-ending torture for the damned.

2. On the other hand, it is held that the
soul is not inherently and essentially im-
mortal, but that it may become so by con-
forming to the law of God — or Nature — upon
which individual immortality depends.

In other words, under this theological con-
ception man's immortality comes to him as
the gift of God. It is the reward of his obedi-
ence to God's commands. Or, from the philo-
sophic standpoint, it comes to him as the nat-
ural result of his own personal effort. It is
the logical and necessary result of his obedi-
ence to the constructive principle of Nature
which is the law of individual life.

370

THE GENESIS OF DOGMA

From this conception of the soul's immor-
tality it follows that the man who does not
earn it, or who does not receive it as a gift
from God, is necessarily a mere mortal and
nothing more. In this case when death over-
takes him he goes down to the grave, is eaten
by the worms of the earth, his spiritual as
well as his physical body is resolved back into
Nature's elements, and he perishes forever.

In this view of the subject, "The Wages of
Sin is Death," and death in this case means
total, individual extinction.

The reader is reminded that this is a state-
ment of ''theories" only. In it general hypoth-
eses have been briefly but carefully stated.
They are presented without comment for
what they may be worth. No attempt has
been made to prejudice the mind in favor of
or against any of them. On the contrary, it is
suggested that even those who have at com-
mand all the facts and all the data thus far
accumulated bearing upon the subject are
still withholding judgment.

These four theories are here presented
merely as a suggestion concerning the partic-
ular lines of thought and inquiry which have

371

THE GREAT KNOWN

engaged the attention of those students of
Natural Science who have endeavored to
solve the great and absorbing problem of the
ultimate destiny of animal and degenerate
human life and intelligence.

About these four theories cluster an al-
most endless number of religious and philo-
sophic speculations, opinions and beliefs
which have occupied the minds of theologians
and laymen, physical scientists and their stu-
dents, philosophers and thinkers all down the
ages, so far as we are able to follow the au-
thentic history of civilization.

A few of the more conspicuous of these in-
numerable opinions and beliefs have been
stated, and their relation to the fundamental
hypotheses of Natural Science suggested.
These, it is hoped, will be of value, in that
they may, in some measure, lead to a clearer
understanding and appreciation of the man-
ner in which a perfectly legitimate scientific
hypothesis may be made the basis of innum-
erable religious dogmas and philosophic
speculations which only serve to confuse the
minds and warp the lives of the unscientific
and the ignorant.

S72

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

The following problems reach out into a
realm of inquiry beyond the limits of definite
human knowledge. For this reason they do
not fall within the limitations of "What Sci-
ence Knows of the Spiritual World."

Although the following statements may
not entirely satisfy the demands of the critical,
scientific inquirer, nevertheless, they betray a
degree and quality of intelligence which can-
not fail to awaken profound respect in the
mind of any honest searcher for Truth.
Hence, they are given only for what they may
be worth to the individual reader, and are not
to be taken as anything more than an eflfort
to enlighten the inquirer as to the process of
reason employed by the Great Friends on
some of the most abstruse problems of Nature,
too deep for scientific solution — as yet.
FIRST PROBLEM

Does the human Soul always inhabit a
material body through which to manifest
itself? In other words, is it possible for the

373

THE GREAT KNOWN

human Soul to manifest itself, its presence,
its activities, or its powers, in any other way
than through the agency of a material body?

So far as we know, it cannot. What we do
know is that the only authentic knowledge we
have concerning the individual Soul of man
is that which we obtain through its manifesta-
tions. And, the only manifestations of which
we are definitely and positively conscious are
those which express themselves through the
material body, or bodies, it occupies at the
time.

Upon the physical plane of life, the only
positive knowledge we have of our fellow
human beings is that which we obtain
through the fact that they inhabit physical
bodies by means of which they manifest their
existence and activities to us. Through these
physical bodies alone, and the organs they
furnish the Soul for its use in expressing it-
self, we have learned all that we now know
concerning the individual Soul within, or
connected with, each of such physical bodies.

The same is just as true upon the spiritual
planes of life. All we know of the individual
Souls of men and women on the spiritual side

S74

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

of life is what we learn of them through their
material manifestations; and they manifest
themselves to us on the spiritual side only
through their spiritual bodies.

And, so far as we know upon the spiritual
planes of life, it is impossible for the Soul to
manifest itself in any other way than through
the agency of a material body fitted for ex-
pression on the plane upon which it mani-
fests itself. A Soul without a material body
is a phenomenon of which we have no
knowledge. And yet, we do not assert, with
dogmatic certainty, that such a phenomenon
is impossible. The most we can say is that
we have no knowledge which would sustain
such an assertion, or suggestion, and no evi-
dence that would sustain or justify such a
conclusion.

Moreover, the wisest of our Great Teach-
ers upon the spiritual planes of life, have no
knowledge or information that would even
seem to justify any other conclusion than that
which I have indicated.

SECOND PROBLEM
In the King James version of the Bible
there are found a number of references to the

375

THE GREAT KNOWN

"second death." This would seem to indicate
that the Ancient Wise Men looked upon what
we now term "physical death" as a first death.
This of itself would seem to infer that they
knew something of another death than that
of the physical body. Indeed, the matter is
not left in doubt or uncertainty, for they had
in mind some very grave and important event
which they named "The Second Death." This
so-called "Second Death" has been inter-
preted by some of our modern religionists to
mean "Spiritual Death."

There are instances in which the individ-
ual does not seem to be ready to proceed
at once to climb the ladder of spiritual evolu-
tion. Where this is true, when physical death
occurs the individual stops in the magnetic
field. If he continues in that attitude of
Soul he remains there, gradually but surely
growing weaker, until the Soul finally with-
draws and disappears from view entirely.

In these cases the spiritual body speedily
disintegrates and is resolved back into its orig-
inal elements, analogous to the dissolution of
the physical body. We do not know what

S7(

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

becomes of the Soul in these instances. This
is one of the many unsolved problems.

I have a very definite conviction, however,
that somewhere locked within the innermost
recesses of this great problem, is contained
one of those profound secrets of Nature which
it is not in the interests of the race to disclose
to any of us — until we shall have attained to
an exalted degree of wisdom, such that it will
enable us to make use of that knowledge only
for the best good of humanity.

While this last described process — or seem-
ing spiritual death — would appear, upon its
face, to represent a distinctly retrograde
movement of the individual Soul, I do not
hesitate to say that I cannot bring myself to
believe it means the ''death" or ''extinction"
of the Soul itself. I say this only because,
according to my own way of interpreting the
Law and the Processes of Nature, there is,
and there can be, no such thing in Nature as
the total extinction of any intelligent Individ-
uality. Let me explain myself more fully:

Our physical scientists have found that, in
the sublime economy of physical Nature, no
provision has been made whereby it is possi-

377

THE GREAT KNOWN

ble for even the smallest individual particle
of matter to be totally annihilated and de-
stroyed. They base their conclusion upon
their know^ledge of the fundamental Law of
the Conservation of Energy.

If their conclusion is correct as to physical
matter, how much more vital it is, in the
economy of higher Nature, that the same Law
should apply to the spiritual universe.

While I do not even claim to know, yet I
am firmly convinced that the disappearance
of the Individuality, or Soul, in the case re-
ferred to, means only that we are unable to
follow it in its evolutionary migration; but
that it still persists as an individualized In-
telligence, and will continue to exist, as such,
throughout eternity.

Accept this, however, as my personal con-
clusion— drawn from such facts of Nature, as
I have been able to verify — and not as the
authorized instruction of Natural Science.
THIRD PROBLEM

Can a spiritual being commit suicide?

There is a process by which a spiritually
embodied individual on the spiritual side of
life may accomplish the dissolution of his

378

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

Spiritual body on any given spiritual plane to
which he has attained. In a sense, this might
be called "suicide," on that particular plane,
but it does not mean the death of the Soul. The
result here suggested can be accomplished
simply by reversing the course of his life from
that of spiritual evolution to the destructive
process of spiritual devolution. If he should
adopt a destructive and devolutionary course
of life and persist in it long enough he would,
in course of time, reach a point when and
where he no longer could maintain himself
upon that particular plane of spiritual life.
In that event, his spiritual body for that par-
ticular plane dies and the individual himself
disappears from the view of his fellows.

Moreover, he does not reappear upon any
higher spiritual plane, because he has not
built himself a spiritual body finer than the
one which he has dissolved and disinte-
grated. Neither can he fall back upon the
next lower spiritual plane, for the reason that
he has cast off the spiritual body which be-
longs to that plane and to all planes below
him.

What becomes of him? We do not know

379

THE GREAT KNOWN

positively, for it is not possible to follow the
individual Soul of man, except as it mani-
fests itself through a material body on some
definite plane of life. But we have a theory
concerning the matter. We believe that in
such cases the individual drops entirely out
of the spiritual planes of life and, by the in-
voluntary process of Nature, is reincarnated
in human form upon the physical plane of
earth. Indeed, this is one of the incidents of
life which seems to us to have no other ade-
quate explanation than that of Reincarnation.

Hence, we assume that, while it is pos-
sible for an individual upon the spiritual
side of life to cause the dissolution of its
spiritual body through the destructive process
of devolution, at the same time, we are wont
to account for the disappearance of the in-
dividual Soul through the process of Rein-
carnation upon a lower plane of life — par-
ticularly the earth plane.

There are those upon the physical plane
of life who die under conditions which cause
the entire disappearance of the individual
from all our knowledge. He does not appear
upon the first spiritual plane, nor even in the

380

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

magnetic field. He simply disappears and
we are unable to follow either his course or
his condition. While we do not know posi-
tively what becomes of the individual Soul,
or the essential Spark of Individuality, we
feel justified in assuming that it follows the
same general course suggested by the disap-
pearance from the spiritual planes through
the devolutionary process. If our conclusion
is correct, then there is but one answer as to
where the individual has gone. He must
have reincarnated in some lower level of life
upon the human plane of earth. He may have
fallen even below the plane of human life
entirely, and found his natural level in the
plane of animal life below that of the human.
At least, this is the theory of many scien-
tists upon the spiritual side of life, as well as
upon the physical plane. Doubtless a time
will come when this mystery will be solved
through definite scientific knowledge, as
have so many others concerning the evolu-
tionary march of the human Soul toward its
ultimate goal of Self-Completion, Individual
Completion and Perfect Happiness.

381

THE GREAT KNOWN

FOURTH PROBLEM

Can a spiritual individual on this planet
travel in interplanetary space?

Now and then we come in contact with in-
dividuals upon the various spiritual planes
who tell us they were never born upon the
physical plane of this planet. We are told
that they had their physical birth upon some
other planet than this. And there is that in
their appearance which would seem to indi-
cate that they do not naturally belong to this
earth, as do those of us who pass into the spir-
itual life through the plane of earth by the
process of physical death. They seem to rep-
resent a distinct type which does not conform
to any of the well-defined types of earth.

These are called "Interplanetary-Spiritual
Beings," which would seem to indicate that
they may have had their physical birth upon
some other less developed planet than the
earth, and, after having made the spiritual
rounds of their own native planet, have
evolved to a point where they have been able
to overcome the gravitative influence of their
own planet, and have come to this earth as the

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

next regular step in the pathway of their evo-
lutionary development.

But this is a subject concerning which the
Wise Spiritual Intelligences seldom speak, be-
cause they do not feel that they are, as yet,
sufficiently learned to speak with certainty.

When an individual has evolved until he
normally belongs on the sixth spiritual plane,
he has overcome the gravitative influence of
the earth, and is no longer absolutely bound
by the Law of Gravity to the earth's center.
Having thus overcome the pull of gravity to-
ward the center of the earth, it is possible for
him to get away from the planet and travel
in interplanetary spaces.

Such as these are said to gather much
knowledge of Nature out in the infinite
spaces beyond the limits of this one little
planet we call "earth."

If this be true, then it is quite possible that
individuals from either the seventh, eighth.
ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, or thirteenth
planes, could travel in interplanetary space.

This, however, is not given as any definite
part of "What Science Knows of the Spir-
itual World." It is only passed along, for

383

THE GREAT KNOWN

what it may be worth to the individual
reader, as a part of the reports that are
handed from the higher planes of spiritual
life beyond our present limitations.

384

TKe following pages contain a

t statement of the publications of j
The Great School of Natural Science. I

Harmonics of Evolution

By FLORENCE HUNTLEY
Edited by TK.

Vol. I
HARMONIC SERIES

The Chicago Tribune says of this book: "A woman
has entered the lists against the most profound thinkers
of the age. She has written a book which tjeats of
things which have puzzled the greatest minds since the
days of Pythagoras to Herbert Spencer. That it should
be done by a woman is remarkable; that it should be
done so well is extraordinary."

This book is a statement of the philosophy of Indi-
vidual Life, as taught by the modern Masters of the
Law.

Natural Science, which is the basis of this philosophy,
is an exact science and not a theory.

It explains Nature's selective principle.

It covers that universal principle in Nature of individ-
ual Evolution which operates throughout the mineral,
vegetable, animal and human kingdoms.

It is a complete exposition of Nature's Evolution,
throiigh the Principle of Polarity, and Man's Struggle
for Happiness.

"There is no death."

"Life after physical death is a fact scientifically demon-
strable"

"Life here and hereafter has a common development
and a common purpose."

Cloth, $3.00 Leather, $5.00

The Great Psychological
Crime

By J. E. RICHARDSON, TK.

Vol. II

HARMONIC SERIES

The book is a masterpiece of consistent statement and
logical development.

The subject of Insanity is daily assuming greater im-
portance. At least 58 per cent of the so-called Insane
can be absolutely cured. This book tells how and why
this is true. It makes clear many of the greatest puz-
zles of medical science.

This is the book which shows how and why those who
seek, by means of experiments with Hypnotism, Spirit-
ualism and Mediumship, to prove that there is another
life after death, fail to accomplish it scientifically, fail
to get the satisfaction they seek, and end in insane
asylums.

The author's analysis of Hypnotism and Mediumship
is masterly and complete. For fifteen chapters by the
most relentless logic and unanswerable facts, which no
one has challenged, he proves that Subjective Spiritual
"Mediumship" and Hypnotism is vitally destructive to
the physical body and the Human Soul.

No orthodox Christian, Spiritualist, Agnostic, Profes-
sional Alienist, Professor of Psychology, nor Judge on
the bench should pass this book unread.

Every practicing physician owes it to himself and the
community in which he lives, to study and weigh the
statements in this book ; for he can no longer stultify his
conscience by opposing the demonstrable facts of science;
because it may not come through the "regular" diannelt,
or the particular school he may happen to represent.

If you will Read, you will know and understand.

Cloth, $3.00

LeatlMT, I5UM

The Great Work

By J. E. RICHARDSON, TK.

Vcl. Ill

HARMONIC SERIES

This book carries a hope, a message, a suggestion and
a warning to all who are honestly, patiently and persis-
tently seeking to prove that Death does not end all.

It shows that there is a great difference between Belief
and Real Knowledge, and proves that mere beliefs are
not of any value to the one who would prove that there is
a life beyond the grave. He must Know and Do, and
this book points the way.

It is unique in that its statements are verified facts
which every reader may prove for himself under right
guidance, if he but have the "Intelligence to know, the
Courage to dare, and the Perseverance to do."

The philosophy taught in this book appeals to both
Reason and Conscience, and is an inspiration to "Live
the Life and Know the Law."

The science and philosophy it presents agree in all es-
sentials with the demonstrated facts of modern physical
science, but go beyond them into the realm of the Spir-
itual World. There it presents an entirely new field of
personally demonstrated facts, which enlarges the scope
of hitherto accepted science, and points the way to new
discoveries.

In this, as in any other science, the investigator is
confronted with certain definite propositions and is given
a working formula for their solution. In this, as in any
other science, successful solution depends chiefly upon the
individual ability, capacity and character of the student.

Cloth, $3.00 Leather, $5.00

The Great Message

By J. E. RICHARDSON, TK

Vol. V

HARMONIC SERIES

Romance, History, Science, Philosophy are all com-
bined in this great book. It traces with unerring logic
why all the Great Masters of the Past — Christna, Mel-
chizedek, Buddha, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Jesus,
Shakespeare, Lytton — all taught the same great Princi-
ples of Life.

The pathway of the Great School of the Mas-
ters is again opened to Uue seekers after Truth, and
only the duly and truly prepared, worthy and well qual-
ified may find the way to its "Temple of Light" and
without money and without price receive such knowl-
edge as they may merit.

The Great School of Natural Science is not selling
instruction, nor endeavoring to secure converts, nor does
it solicit students and followers.

Those who find in The Great Message an inspiration
to seek further will have a new and broader outlook on
life, and a renewed inspiration to make the most of it.

"Truth is stranger than fiction," and the revelation
of fact contained in the Harmonic Series is stranger,
more impressive and more fascinating than the call of
the poets and the fictionists.

Qoth, I3.Q0 LMthw, |5U)0

Harmonic Booklet
Series

Self-Unfoldment

By J. E. RICHARDSON, TK.

In these two volumes the Great School of Natural
Science gives a practical view of twelve vital problems
and principles of Individual Life.

Each principle defined is definite and tangible — one
which the individual can make practical use of, as a
powerful leverage back of his efforts to reach the goal
of his own Spiritual Development and Self-Completion.

Vol. I — Tolerance, Law of Compensation, Self-Con-
trol the Key to Mastership, Poise, Cheerfulness, Cura-
tive Faith.

Vol. II — Faith and Works, A Saving Sense of
Humor, Refinement, Altruism, Life, Wisdom.

$2.00 Each

Harmonic Complemental
Series

Who Answers Prayer?

by PO, RA, TK

What Is Prayer?

For UTiat Should We Pray?

To Whom Should We Pray?

11.00

i

Harmonic Magazine

The Great Work In
America

A monthly magazine which co-ordinate* the known
facts and principles of physical Nature with the demon-
strated facts and principles of spiritual Nature.

$3.25 per year

PIONEER PRESS

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.

The Great Message

By J. E. RICHARDSON, TK.

Vol. V

HARMONIC SERIES

Romance, -History, Science, Philosophy are all
combined in this great book. It traces with unerr-
ing logic why all the Great Masters of the Past —
Christna, Melchizedek, Buddha, Aristotle, Socrates,
Plato, Jesus, Shakespeare, Lytton— all taught the
same great Principles of Life.

The pathway of the Great School of the
Masters is again opened to true seekers after
Truth, and only the duly and truly prepared,
worthy and well qualified may find the wa\- to its
"Temple of Light" and without money and with-
out price receive such knowledge as they may
merit.

The Great School of Natural Science is not sell-
ing instruction, nor endeavoring to secure converts,
nor does it solicit students and followers.

Those who find in The Great Message an in-
spiration to seek further will have a new and
broader outlook on life, and a renewed inspiration
to make the most of it.

"Truth is stranger than fiction," and the revela-
tion of fact contained in the Harmonic Series is
stranger, more impressive and more fascinating
than the call of the poets and the fictionists.

$3j60

"The Boston Herald"* says editorially that these are

''Books that Change the Course of Human Lives '

Harmonic Literature

Harmonic Series

Vol. I. Harmonics of Evolution, Florence Huntley..$3.00

Vol. II. The Great Psychological Crime. \ ^ $3.0t)

Vol. III. The Great Work Richardson,^^-^

Vol. IV. The Great Known I JK. ^^'^

Vol. V. The Great Message ) $3.00

Harmonic Booklet Series

v"!- t}- ^^!r[^"!°l^"^^":i J. E.Richardson, TK. f,f, '
Vol. II. Self-Unfoldment. ) •' ^^M)

Harmonic Complemental Series

Who Answers Prayer? PO. RA, TK ^I 50

Harmonic Magazine

The Great Work In America 1 year $3^

PIONEER PRESS

HOLLYWOOD. CALIF.

se,S66 Spanish Kpncb Road, Los Gates, Calif oral*