Spiritualism versus Suicide — Robert Bayer — Editor

Spiritualism vs. Suicide Robert Bayer [Editor] (2017)

Table of Contents

The Cause of Haunted Houses — Andrew Jackson Davis [p. 4] Accidental Death and Suicide — Andrew Jackson Davis [p. 10] Questions about Suicide — Mrs. J. H. Conant [p. 12] Hallucination and Suicide — Anna Danforth Loucks [p. 15] Suicide — William W. Aber [p. 17] Suicide and its Results — William W. Aber [p. 21] The Way Out of Undesirable Conditions — James Allen [p. 32] Understanding Suicide — Fear Not the Crossing [p. 53] Obsession — Annette Leevier [p. 56] Spirits and Suicide — Dr. Carl Wickland Do Not Kill Yourself — Dr. Carl Wickland

[p. 61] [p. 64]

Why Did I Do It? — Dr. Carl Wickland [p. 69] 2

Suicidal Obsession — Dr. Carl Wickland

[p. 74]

Advising the Dead Who Killed Themselves — Dr. Carl Wickland [p. 82] Suicides and Others in Hell — Caroline Larsen [p. 96] After-Suicide Experiences

—

Geoffrey Hodson [p.

102] Hatred and Suicide

— Spirit André Luiz - Francisco

Cândido Xavi [p. 105] Is Suicide a Disgrace? — Frank L. Hammer [p. 113] Suicide Averted by His 'Dead' Wife' — John Henry Remmers [p. 114] A Word about Suicides — Max Heindel [p. 124] Suicide

— The Silver Birch Book of Questions and

Answers [p. 126] Euthanasia and Suicide

— George Nicol [p. 128]

The Cause of Haunted Houses Andrew Jackson Davis Answers to Ever-Recurring Questions From The People (1868)

LIII. Question: “There is a report in town that a particular house in the vicinity is haunted. Sometimes there are startling sounds — as of cannon halls being thrown and rolled about the floor. Occasionally voices are heard, as of people in a merry mood &c. ....

Now, sir, can any reliance be placed in such reports? Is there something besides fancy in tales of haunted houses?”

Answer: Of course there are stories of haunted houses that have no foundation in truth. Perhaps the report referred to by our correspondent is one of them. But we have positive knowledge of houses that have been “haunted,” and so absolutely that no family could be Induced to dwell within their walls.

Not far from the banks of the Hudson, fifteen years ago, we entered a dwelling which was said to be under this mystic spell. We took some pains to ascertain its history. It was originally built by a Southerner, an arbitrary man, with a large property. His riches had been filched 4

from the labor of enslaved men and women. They had cultivated his plantations, and had dragged out miserable years of toil in his factory. His beautiful wife, exceedingly sensitive and sympathetic, and a beloved friend to all around her, was made wretched by his miserly habits and unjust requirements.

An only son, highly endowed by Nature, and thoroughly educated, became dissipated. One cold night, in the depths of winter, he committed suicide in that house. In that house, also, two sweet little children were destroyed by fire. By some unexplained accident their garments were enveloped by the fearful flame, in the absence of the customary attendant.

Oh, the intense agony, the exquisite suffering

of that poor desolate mother-heart! Her fine spirit, not finding its delight in worldly pleasures, was utterly broken. In unutterable sorrow she lifted up her voice â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but she could not be comforted. In the midst of anguish, her mind lost its balance. She became frantic with a bitter, desolate agony, which no medical treatment could reach. In a fit of wild frenzy she opened the chamber window and threw herself to the stony earth, so far below! She soon died from the physical injuries thus received.

The wealthy man very soon disposed of all his property save this one house, and embarked for the tour of Europe. Bodily disease and terrific disasters by water followed him. Fatigued in body and worn 5

with anxiety, he returned to America. He reached this lonely house on the morning of his death. He died in the chamber where his wife’s heart was broken, where the son committed suicide, where the two children were burned to death, and where the frantic mother threw herself from the window.

Years afterward, when these events had nearly vanished from the people’s memory, the dwelling was occupied by a new proprietor. One winter night, when the husband was gone from home, the family were awakened and frightened by the sound of footsteps in the fatal chamber. It was now used only as a store-room and general wardrobe.

The thoughts of robbers naturally occurred to the

frightened listeners. While they listened a light female form glided across the room, before their very eyes, although the apartment was dark as midnight. They screamed for help.

Presently a neighborly farmer lighted his lantern and came over to ascertain the cause of the cries lie had heard. They explained what had occurred as well as they could, which only excited his mirthfulness.

Yet he carefully examined the premises.

Nothing had been

disturbed. The doors were all locked and bolted, and the supposition of human “footsteps “was pronounced absurd. 6

Nothing further

occurred until some six months subsequently, when, in the night time, as before, sounds of voices were heard in the same chamber. Again, too, a clearly defined human figure glided across the room in which the husband and wife and a child were, or had been sleeping.

Upon investigation, nothing satisfactory was developed. From that time, with intervals of a few nights of silence, the strange sounds, and voices, and moving figure, continued. These interruptions during the night at last became frequent and alarming beyond endurance. Clothes were pulled from the beds by invisible hands, logs of wood seemed to be rolling over the floor, tin pans were thumped and jets of wind would suddenly extinguish the lighted tapers.

The people in the neighborhood gave no credence to these reports, but so real and fearful were the facts to the occupants themselves, that they soon moved far away.

They could not be happy anywhere

near such a dreadful habitation.

At length the old house was shut

up, and was deserted by everything human. It was in a state of dilapidation when we first visited it. The doors were nearly rusted from their hinges, the windows were broken, and every foundation stone was covered with the mildew of decomposition. But there was, however, a purpose in our visit, which may be hereafter disclosed. The cause of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;haunted chamberâ&#x20AC;? was made quite intelligible. Our extremely sensitive temperament was the means of the discovery. 7

There was instantly upon us a feeling that there was something human in the very plaster and woodwork of the haunted apartments.

This mysterious feelings in a dwelling so long uninhabited, led to clairvoyant perceptions. We found the electrical particles of the former souls of the son and mother still lingering in the mildew and atmosphere of the chamber. We seemed to breathe the very life of the wretched suicides.

Since that day we have discovered and established, at least to our own satisfaction, that particular rooms in a house may become mediumized. The bodily emanations of a person while in extreme distress of cither mind or body, ill, under certain states of the atmosphere, completely impregnate and saturate the particles of a room; so that, for years afterward, it is possible for spirits to manifest themselves, in various ways, in the discharge of some particular uses or duties. In such cases we say that the house is “haunted.” In reality, the room is a “physical medium,” and the manifestations are attributable to the presence or influence of persons no longer in the terrestrial body.

Precisely what combination of mental forces and electrical emanations is requisite to mediumize an apartment, we cannot say; but that the human mind is adequate, under peculiar trials, or by the 8

magnetic use of the will-power, to the production of â&#x20AC;&#x153;haunted rooms,â&#x20AC;? is too well-known to be denied.

It is well to remember that the

human world and the spirit world are interblended and inseparable.

Accidental Death and Suicide Andrew Jackson Davis Answers to Ever-Recurring Questions From The People (1868)

XLIX. — Question: “Do not persons whose earthly lives have been terminated suddenly, as by a steamboat disaster or the falling of factories, suffer as much as those who terminate their earthly existence by means of suicide?”

Answer: Persons who die by sudden accident do not suffer intellectually and morally, because their misfortune is purely physiological and physical, (the same in this respect as that of the suicide); while the deliberate or desperate taking of one’s own life is attended, in the other world, with the super-addition of all the intellectual disqualifications and moral darknesses which were antecedent to, and consequent upon the state that led to the ignoble act No individual can go self-sent and abruptly into the Spirit Land, without ultimately discovering the secret cause of the deed to have existed within his own mental constitution.

This is certain, no matter how great the earthly provocation which primarily induced the person to consummate the act. It is the vivid 10

consciousness of this individual unworthiness, that, for a lengthened period in the other life, causes the regrets and sufferings of the suicide.

Questions about Suicide Mrs. J. H. Conant Flashes of Light (1872)

Question. Does the fact of one's having committed suicide impede his progress in the spirit-world more than if another had killed him, or render him more unhappy?

Answer. Yes, because the soul that has committed suicide, as you term it, is very apt to learn that that is not the better way; very apt to learn that it must, through severe experience, learn of the better way, and very apt to learn that it would have been far easier to have gained the experience that was necessary for the soul in and through its own body, than in any other way; therefore it must, of necessity, drink more or less deeply of the cup of remorse.

But, like all other mistakes in life, it always carries its own antidote. When a sufficient quantity has been ministered unto the spirit, it comes forth washed clean, regenerated and rejuvenated, and ready for the march of life.

Question: Suppose an individual has inherited or is possessed of a 12

strong inclination to steal, commit suicide, or murder; is it possible to outgrow such inclinations without actual commission of the deeds, either in earth or spirit-life? If so, please point out the principles and means by which such result is reached.

Answer. We may have certain germs of evil implanted in us, but they may never come to maturity, or find an exhibition in the external world, unless circumstances shall be thrown around them to favor their coming forth, to foster their development.

"To be forewarned is to be forearmed," said a certain writer; and I believe that is a truthful utterance. It is our duty, as immortal spirits, to make ourselves acquainted with ourselves, externally and internally, at as early a period as possible. Just as soon as we are able to receive instruction, it is our duty to seek for it. And if we find that any of these germs of evil are implanted in our natures, it is our duty to use all possible means to destroy them; and we can do it only in one way, and that is, by denying those conditions under which they can be unfolded.

When you have certain organs that are poorly developed, what do you do? Why, you seek to develop themâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you cultivate them. If you do right, you do this. You throw around them those conditions that are most favorable to development. If you have others overactive, 13

you seek to take away those conditions which foster their development. If you can do this in your phrenological unfolding, you certainly can do it throughout all the different departments of your physical life. If those germs of evil are unmistakably implanted in your nature, if you are only wise enough to know of their being, you can do something towards restraining them from coming into actual life. The wise husbandman would not allow his garden to be overrun with weeds, but when he sees one coming into being he plucks it out.

Hallucination and Suicide Anna Danforth Loucks Visions of The Beyond (1877)

Our subject of to-night was a suicide. Almost a hermit’s life had he led, constantly poring over books, his mind bent steadily upon this one point of inquiry, “If a man die, shall he live again?”

At length, the present life becoming worthless in his selfish isolation, and his mind imbalanced by his intense seeking upon the one point, he stabs himself to the heart, that his inquiry may be answered.

But,

instead of light, darkness and doubt still followed him in his unnatural and imperfect transition; and thus he was found when allowed to take the control of the medium.

And now his first thought is, that he is still in the earthly body; but, when directed to examine his condition more closely, he finds not the dagger and the blood, nor yet his own features to the body now occupied. Gradually he is made to understand the true relation of things, and that the great problem of his earthly life is at length solved, — that, when a man dies, he does live again.

But he begins

also to see the penalty of his mistake in thus rushing unbidden into 15

the life of the Beyond. He still seems to think, however, that even with the penalty, the step he has taken is gain when compared with his former condition. But much to learn has he, and much to do, before the true brightness of the spirit-life can be his. But with firm resolve, and some special spirit aid, he goes earnestly to work with a zeal naturally belonging to him. But, as our higher spirit wisdom informed us, he will, in the end, be made to see that every suicidal act is in reality a mistake involving personal loss and retributary suffering to an extent not yet understood by him.

Suicide William W. Aber Rending the Vail (1899)

Spirit Reed stood forth with trumpet in hand, and, speaking through it, said:

1617. "Friends, have you noticed the awful record of suicide as chronicled by your daily press? And how that it seems to be greatly on the increase? "I believe that, with your permission, I will try to write as touching that subject." The circle answer: "We certainly would be pleased to have you do so." Spirit: "I will try." He then set down the trumpet, and, taking a tablet, began to write, talking all the while, saying orally:

1618. "I am writing of the consequences as well as causes of suicide. I hope the whole world may read what I here write. I believe it would save many a one from an awful doom. No one comes to this side of life with greater and more bitter disappointment than the one who takes his own physical life.

1619. "In committing this rash act he generally does so hoping to be 17

relieved from some great mental, physical, or other trouble, real or imaginary; but awakens here to find that, by his own hand, he is plunged into greater darkness, having committed the greatest crime to Nature and himself possible for him to have committed: for, of all crimes against Nature, self-murder is the greatest and most difficult of atonement. "Could the laws of the relations of the earth life to the spirit world be inculcated into the minds of earth's children, the awful record of crime would, most certainly, very rapidly grow less and less until at last reduced to a very small minimum." (250 words) During this speech, not through the trumpet, but in low, oral, audible speech, at

the

rate

time for common

conversation,

this

spirit

simultaneously produced this writing, and all the while standing in the plain sight of all the members of the circle:

1620. "Year by year the list of suicides grows larger on your earth, and many frequently ask: 'Why is this'?' And, friends, tonight I will tell you what I know in regard to this subject; and it may help you to answer the oft-repeated question.

1621. "In the first place, man cannot commit a greater crime than the one of taking his own life. In doing this he overthrows one of the laws of Nature, and his suffering, when he fully realizes his awful mistake, is necessarily very great. He has not escaped any pain or disgrace; but has added thereto many fold. 18

1622. "You may kill the body, but the real man—the mind, or real self—is not dead, and is the only part of man that can suffer, and when you cut short your earthly career, you add to the list of your wrong-doings—murder!

1623. "The planets exert a great influence over the lives of men, which many times brings to their minds thoughts of self-murder. But these can be overcome by will-power and banishing such thoughts from the mind.

1624. "Again these thoughts are brought by someone who has passed out in that manner. They come, not maliciously, to cause the subject to commit the act, but they are trying to tell or impress the subject as to the fact that they have passed to spirit life. And often their impressions are so discolored that you reach the idea of self-destruction as applied to the subject.

1625. "When mortals begin to know that by death they cannot escape from any of the trials of earth, and have more difficulty in correcting their mistakes, they will then begin to see that it is better for each and all to live out the time allotted to them by wise old Mother Nature.

1626. "Friends, there may be times in your life that you feel that all is a blank before you, and you long for the courage to end it all. Do not say, 'Long for this courage,' but the opposite: for you should not become cowardly enough to take away that which you had no part in fashioning.

1627. "You may think 'cowardice' is too rough a term to use here, but, friends, it is not: for many have not the courage to face the awful trials that lay before them, never seeming to know that there is a bright as well as dark side to everything: for anything that has the power to cast a dark shadow has the opposite power also.

1628. "No matter what may come into your lives. I say to you tonight, my friends, have the courage to bear your burdens, and when the time comes for the spirit to separate from your body, you can feel that you have indeed fitted yourselves for a higher, purer life. But if you have been guilty of suicide, you may have to spend years in atonement: for, as you sow, so shall you reap. If you sow tares, you will surely reap them.

1629. "Scatter the broad fields of your earth life with clean seed and reap a pure harvest.

(Signed) "Reed" 20

Suicide and its Results William W. Aber Beyond The Vail (1901)

The awful lesson of a clandestine marriage and a wonderful romance, though the picture of a real life as related in her own handwriting by a spirit using the nom de blame of Grace, and this is the writing, to-wit: I have been requested by Dr. Reed to relate my experience in earth life and in spirit life, in order for you to draw comparison between the two. I wish to keep my full name a secret, as my mother is still living, and the recital to her of my sufferings would grieve her sorely.

Therefore I shall give my Christian name, Grace.”

Here this spirit, talking in a whisper, said: ‘When you are done with the earth life, you will find me and who I am, for I shall meet you as you come over here, reveal to you, and then you will know.’

Then the writing continued of her childhood and youth to the age of twenty years: I was born and reared in a New England village. My father married quite late in life a woman many years younger than himself, and I was the only child of the union. Early in life he had 21

secured a finished education, and when his once ample fortune had disappeared, he turned his education to account by teaching, and for some years was the village school-master.

I was always very studious and he encouraged me in every way in my studies, so that at the age of eighteen I had acquired an excellent education. My greatest fault was the love of fine dress, and, although father had a very limited income, he managed to indulge me in many ways. Every summer our little village was crowded with city people of moderate incomes, as a usual thing, who could not afford to spend their summers at a fashionable resort. But occasionally we would have wealthy people, tired of the crowded resorts and in search of novelty or attracted by the wonderful curative power of our pure mountain air. I had a good musical education, and always took part in the village concerts and sang in the church choir. I possessed the peculiar combination of light hair and dark eyes, in fact my mirror reflected a very pleasing image, and instead of my parents trying to control my vanity, they encouraged it.

Time went on until I was in my twentieth year. That summer brought to our village a handsome young man in the person of a young lawyer in search of a quiet place to spend the season. After a successful winter at the bar, he found he had overworked himself, and his physicians prescribed rest in some quiet, out-of-the-way 22

place. R. was very sociable and, being fond of music and a fine singer, we soon drifted together. At first we only exchanged a few words in regard to music and the cultivation of the voice. These little formalities grew into longer conversations.

At last he asked permission to call on me at home. I granted his request with pleasure, and many happy hours we spent together in the old home.

The Motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Warning Unheeded R. was a polished flatterer and I was eager for praise, and my mother noticed my infatuation for him before I realized it myself. She remonstrated with me and tried to show the utter folly of my love for one in his station. Dear mother, with a foresight that is given to few, seemed to see that my love for him only meant sorrow for me. But, foolish, rebellious girl that I was, I would not listen to her warning and rushed headlong to my doom!

In order to appear fair in the eyes of R., I forced my father to go far beyond his means to furnish me with the finery I would have. Treachery Unobserved by the Confiding Victim R. asked me to be his wife, and I was very happy although he told me we would have to be married secretly on account of his father. He said his father was in ill health and could not stand the shock of his marrying below his station. In a few years, he said, we could tell his father, and all would 23

be well; and, poor fool that I was, I consented to the bane of civilization, a clandestine marriage!

But then how beautiful the future seemed to me! In that glorious future I would have every wish granted. I would live in a beautiful home and have servants to do my bidding. The Last Night at Home In my selfishness I had no thought for the dear ones at home who had toiled and sacrificed for years in order that I might be happy; but during all eternity I shall not be able to efface from my memory my last night at home.

It was late in the autumn, and the leaves were beginning to fall, covering the ground with as many colors as Jacobâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coat. Everything around me seemed sad but myself. As usual, after our simple tea was over, my father opened his worn Bible to read a chapter and offered a prayer before bedtime. For some (to me then) unaccountable reason, he asked heavenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blessing on my future welfare. Oh, how I longed to throw myself in his arms and tell him all, for I dearly loved my father! But the impulse was banished as quickly as it came, and I whispered to my conscience that I would care for my parents well when I became rich. And, bidding them good-night, I retired to my room to wait with patience until all should grow quiet, and I could slip away unnoticed.

Leaving the Dear Old Home Forever At last all was still, and, throwing a loose cloak over my dress, I slipped out at the back door. Though the ‘still, small voice’ whispered to me to return. I would not heed it, but finding R. waiting for me at the corner of the street with a light buggy, we drove to a nearby town, where I wanted that we be married, but he persuaded me to wait until we had reached the city, for, he said, we were ‘already married in the eyes of God.’ So we took the train for New York. When we reached the city I insisted on a marriage ceremony, and we were married, as I supposed, in a dingy little office that bore a justice of the peace sign on the door. But long afterward I learned that the quondam justice was the lowest kind of scoundrel and a friend to R.

R. was very kind to me at first, and I was very happy. But after awhile he began staying away from home, and when I questioned him about his absence, his ready excuse was his ‘business.’ And I knew that a lawyer’s time is not his own, therefore I accepted his excuse without question. One morning he told me that he was going away on a business trip and might be away several weeks, and I entreated him to allow me to accompany him, as it would be so lonesome to me there, with only the company of the servants. But he refused to take me. “R. had been gone for perhaps an hour when a messenger boy came with a letter for me. I recognized R.’s handwriting on the envelope, and tore it open with trembling finger and the words in that 25

letter seared my soul as with a red-hot iron. I had never known real misery until that moment. His letter told me that he was going away to return no more, that I should never look upon his face again. He said that our marriage was a sham one and, more bitter than all, he advised me to return to my father.

Traitor that he was, to advise me to return to a home that I had left for him. I resolved, then and there, that I would never return to my home until I had hunted him the ends of the earth, if need be, and made him acknowledge me as his wife. And, after a short time growing calmer, I changed my morning dress for one more suitable for street wear, and left the house in the search, and first sought the office of the man who performed the marriage ceremony, but could get no trace of him or R., though searching for days, but all without avail. My stock of money was small and after I had paid and dismissed the servants, it soon dwindled away. I then saw that I must seek work and a cheaper boarding-place and went to the minister of the church that I was in the habit of attending, and laid my case before him, and asked his assistance, but he told me that he could do nothing for me unless I had good reference, and that was impossible for me to give. And, although I advertised in one of the leading dailies and tried the intelligence office for work, it was all unsuccessful because I could give no reference. And, worse still, I was frequently insulted on account of my pretty face. And I prayed to God to open the way for 26

me for honest work, but my Prayers were unanswered.

And I parted with all my jewels to satisfy the greed of my landlady. And when all had been sacrificed but my wedding-ring, and my landlady was threatening me with expulsion, I resolved to make one more effort for work, and, that failing, to then take my life. Friends, I could not lead a life of shame, and that was the only means of escape open to me. I walked all day seeking work, but could not find any. It was growing dark when I returned to my lodging-house. Oh, what an alternative! I went to my room and meditated for a long time.

Finally I decided to sell my ring for enough money to purchase some drug to end my life. And I went and did sell my ring for enough chloroform to end my miserable existence. Friends, I trust you will never know what it is to be in a strange city without friends. But with the chloroform clutched tight in my hand I crept back to my room. I did not take it at once. I could not. Oh, how I longed to see the dear ones at home! But I felt that I had caused them sorrow enough and I dared not let them know I had ended my own life, so I destroyed everything that I had left that would serve to identify my body, and inhaled the drug that would bring me the forgetfulness I so longed for.

No matter what may happen to you, friends, do not be guilty of 27

self-murder. I know that the sufferings of one who has murdered another are fearful when they awake to the full knowledge of their deed, but I do not think their anguish can exceed that of suicides when the awakening comes to them.

However, my death was very peaceful. I felt a sinking sensation, and then everything was a blank. How long this condition lasted I do not know.

When my spirit awoke, I was standing in the room. On the bed lay an emaciated form of myself. Oh the lines of suffering on that cold face. For a time I stood looking at my body. How free from care I felt! Then came a revulsion of feeling. I thought of what might have been, and wept bitter tears. Friends, doesn’t it seem singular that a spirit should weep over its earthly life. Yet many of us do. With proper training I would have been a useful member of society. Now I was helpless, as I thought the rain was, as it come down in torrents and beat the easement with a weird sound. Yet nothing could have been more weird than the scene within, a spirit weeping over its dead body! I wept until I felt relieved and gradually the room faded from my view and I seemed in a dim light, my conscience kept saying: ‘Oh, why did you take your own life?’ until I was almost mad. My thoughts continually traveled back to my past life. How many things I found to condemn and so few to praise! Oh, where was I? I had so often 28

longed for solitude in some peaceful place when I was experiencing so much trouble.

Now my solitude was complete. Yet it was distasteful to me. I could see now that it would have been best for me to have humbled my pride and returned home. Friends, I shall not try to tell you of my sufferings (mental) during the first year of my life in the spirit world. You can have no conception of their depths.

A Lady Spirit, Not the Son of God, Leads to Redemption

At last a spirit from a higher sphere came to me and offered me assistance. Oh, how gladly I accepted it! She taught me to help myself by helping others. And my self-imposed duty is to impress homeless, friendless creatures as I once was. That self-murder is not the end of their sufferings, but the real beginning. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think that my progress has been rapid, for it has not. I have had many things to learn and many more to unlearn, since I began to progress.

But What Became of R.? I had been in spirit life only a short time when I began seeking for R. At last I reached him, and found him but a wreck of his former self. He was so changed by disease and suffering that I scarcely knew him and I rejoiced to think that he was indeed suffering. For weeks and months I dogged his footsteps and 29

tormented him all I could. I was not able to show myself to him, but I could impress him very strongly, and I did.

His life was going out with consumption, and, after I grew to realize my position and his, I pitied him; but it was a long time before I could forgive him.

Friends, your likes and dislikes do not leave you the instant you enter the spirit spheres, and it requires continued effort to banish a hatred you have nourished for months. And I felt that he had deprived me of all that was beautiful in life, and had even caused my death.

Of Her Father, Her Home Now, Her Work, and Advice of Warning

My father came to spirit life a short time after I did, and he has helped me in many ways. We often go to meet mother, although she does not realize that we are with her. My home in spirit life is very beautiful. I have been able to keep more than one young girl from leaving her home to go among strangers without the consent of father or mother, and I have kept many more from suicide. It is best, friends, to live out the allotted years of earth life. It would have been best for me, and I think it would be best for everyone. I have gradually outgrown the dark conditions that surrounded me at first, but the struggle has been long and bitter. Thanking you for your patience, I bid you good-night. 30

(Signed) â&#x20AC;&#x153;Graceâ&#x20AC;? And the white-robed spirit vanished from our sight.

The Way Out of Undesirable Conditions James Allen From Poverty to Power: The Realization of Prosperity and Peace (1901)

Having seen and realized that evil is but a passing shadow thrown, by the intercepting self, across the transcendent Form of the Eternal Good, and that the world is a mirror in which each sees a reflection of himself, we now ascend, by firm and easy steps, to that plane of perception whereon is seen and realized the Vision of the Law.

With this realization comes the knowledge that everything is included in a ceaseless interaction of cause and effect, and that nothing can possibly be divorced from law.

From the most trivial thought, word, or act of man, up to the groupings of the celestial bodies, law reigns supreme. No arbitrary condition can, even for one moment, exist, for such a condition would be a denial and an annihilation of law.

Every condition of life is, therefore, bound up in an orderly and 32

harmonious sequence, and the secret and cause of every condition is contained within itself, The law, “Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap,” is inscribed in flaming letters upon the portal of Eternity, and none can deny it, none can cheat it, none can escape it.

He who puts his hand in the fire must suffer the burning until such time as it has worked itself out, and neither curses nor prayers can avail to alter it.

And precisely the same law governs the realm of mind. Hatred, anger, jealousy, envy, lust, covetousness, all these are fires which bum, and whoever even so much as touches them must suffer the torments of burning.

All these conditions of mind are rightly called “evil,” for they are the efforts of the soul to subvert, in its ignorance, the law, an they, therefore, lead to chaos and confusion within, and are sooner or later actualized in the outward circumstances as disease, failure, and misfortune, coupled with grief, pain, and despair.

Whereas love, gentleness, good-will, purity, are cooling airs which breathe peace upon the soul that woes them, and, being in harmony with the Eternal Law, they become actualized in the form of health, peaceful surroundings, and undeviating success and good fortune. 33

A thorough understanding of this Great Law which permeates the universe leads to the acquirement of that state of mind known as obedience.

To know that justice, harmony, and love are supreme in the universe is likewise to know that all adverse and painful conditions are the result of our own disobedience to that Law.

Such knowledge leads

to strength and power, and it is upon such knowledge alone that a true life and an enduring success and happiness can be built.

To be patient under all circumstances, and to accept all conditions as necessary factors in your training, is to rise superior to all painful conditions, and to overcome them with an overcoming which is sure, and which leaves no fear of their return, for by the power of obedience to law they are utterly slain.

Such an obedient one is working in harmony with the law, has in fact, identified himself with the law, and whatsoever he conquers he conquers for ever, whatsoever he builds can never be destroyed.

The cause of all power, as of all weakness, is within; the secret of all happiness as of all misery is likewise within.

There is no progress apart from unfoldment within, and no sure foothold of prosperity or peace except by orderly advancement in knowledge.

You say you are chained by circumstances; you cry out for better opportunities, for a wider scope, for improved physical conditions, and perhaps you inwardly curse the fate that binds you hand and foot.

It is for you that I write; it is to you that I speak. Listen, and let my words burn themselves into your heart, for that which I say to you is truth:

You may bring about that improved condition in your outward life which you desire, if you will unswervingly resolve to improve your inner life.

I know this pathway looks barren at its commencement (truth always does, it is only error and delusion which are at first inviting and fascinating,) but if you undertake to walk it; if you perseveringly discipline your mind, eradicating your weaknesses, and allowing your soul-forces and spiritual powers to unfold themselves, you will be astonished at the magical changes which will be brought about in your outward life.

As you proceed, golden opportunities will be strewn across your path, and the power and judgment to properly utilize them will spring up within you. Genial friends will come unbidden to you; sympathetic souls will be drawn to you as the needle is to the magnet; and books and all outward aids that you require will come to you unsought.

Perhaps the chains of poverty hang heavily upon you, and you are friendless and alone, and you long with an intense longing that your load may be lightened; but the load continues, and you seem to be enveloped in an ever-increasing darkness.

Perhaps you complain, you bewail your lot; you blame your birth, your parents, your employer, or the unjust Powers who have bestowed upon you so undeservedly poverty and hardship, and upon another affluence and ease.

Cease your complaining and fretting; none of these things which you blame are the cause of your poverty; the cause is within yourself, and where the cause is, there is the remedy.

The very fact that you are a complainer, shows that you deserve your lot; shows that you lack that faith which is the ground of all effort and progress.

There is no room for a complainer in a universe of law, and worry is soul-suicide. By your very attitude of mind you are strengthening the chains which bind you, and are drawing about you the darkness by which you are enveloped, Alter your outlook upon life, and your outward life will alter.

Build yourself up in the faith and knowledge, and make yourself worthy of better surroundings and wider opportunities. Be sure, first of all, that you are making the best of what you have.

Do not delude yourself into supposing that you can step into greater advantages whilst overlooking smaller ones, for if you could, the advantage would be impermanent and you would quickly fall back again in order to learn the lesson which you had neglected.

As the

child at school must master one standard before passing onto the next, so, before you can have that greater good which you so desire, must you faithfully employ that which you already possess.

The parable of the talents is a beautiful story illustrative of this truth, for does it not plainly show that if we misuse, neglect, or degrade that which we possess, be it ever so mean and insignificant, even that little will be taken from us, for, by our conduct we show that we are unworthy of it.

Perhaps you are living in a small cottage, and are surrounded by unhealthy and vicious influences.

You desire a larger and more sanitary residence. Then you must fit yourself for such a residence by first of all making your cottage as far as possible a little paradise. Keep it spotlessly clean. Make it look as pretty and sweet as your limited means will allow. Cook your plain food with all care, and arrange your humble table as tastefully as you possibly can.

If you cannot afford a carpet, let your rooms be carpeted with smiles and welcomes, fastened down with the nails of kind words driven in with the hammer of patience. Such a carpet will not fade in the sun, and constant use will never wear it away.

By so ennobling your present surroundings you will rise above them, and above the need of them, and at the right time you will pass on into the better house and surroundings which have all along been waiting for you, and which you have fitted yourself to occupy.

Perhaps you desire more time for thought and effort, and feel that your hours of labor are too hard and long. Then see to it that you are utilizing to the fullest possible extent what little spare time you have.

It is useless to desire more time, if you are already wasting what little you have; for you would only grow more indolent and indifferent.

Even poverty and lack of time and leisure are not the evils that you imagine they are, and if they hinder you in your progress, it is because you have clothed them in your own weaknesses, and the evil that you see in them is really in yourself. Endeavor to fully and completely realize that in so far as you shape and mould your mind, you are the maker of your destiny, and as, by the transmuting power of self-discipline you realize this more and more, you will come to see that these so-called evils may be converted into blessings.

You will then utilize your poverty for the cultivation of patience, hope and courage; and your lack of time in the gaining of promptness of action and decision of mind, by seizing the precious moments as they present themselves for your acceptance.

As in the rankest soil the most beautiful flowers are grown, so in the dark soil of poverty the choicest flowers of humanity have developed and bloomed.

Where there are difficulties to cope with, and unsatisfactory conditions to overcome, there virtue most flourishes and manifests its glory. 39

It may be that you are in the employ of a tyrannous master or mistress, and you feel that you are harshly treated. Look upon this also as necessary to your training. Return your employerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unkindness with gentleness and forgiveness.

Practice

unceasingly

patience

and

self-control.

Turn

the

disadvantage to account by utilizing it for the gaining of mental and spiritual strength, and by your silent example and influence you will thus be teaching your employer, will be helping him to grow ashamed of his conduct, and will, at the same time, be lifting yourself up to that height of spiritual attainment by which you will be enabled to step into new and more congenial surroundings at the time when they are presented to you.

Do not complain that you are a slave, but lift yourself up, by noble conduct, above the plane of slavery. Before complaining that you are a slave to another, be sure that you are not a slave to self.

Look within; look searchingly, and have no mercy upon yourself. You will find there, perchance, slavish thoughts, slavish desires, and in your daily life and conduct slavish habits.

Conquer these; cease to be a slave to self, and no man will have the 40

power to enslave you. As you overcome self, you will overcome all adverse conditions, and every difficulty will fall before you.

Do not complain that you are oppressed by the rich. Are you sure that if you gained riches you would not be an oppressor yourself?

Remember that there is the Eternal Law which is absolutely just, and that he who oppresses today must himself be oppressed tomorrow; and from this there is no way of escape.

And perhaps you, yesterday (in some former existence) were rich and an oppressor, and that you are now merely paying off the debt which you owe to the Great Law. Practice, therefore, fortitude and faith.

Dwell constantly in mind upon the Eternal justice, the Eternal Good. Endeavor to lift yourself above the personal and the transitory into the impersonal and permanent.

Shake off the delusion that you are being injured or oppressed by another, and try to realize, by a profounder comprehension of your inner life, and the laws which govern that life, that you are only really injured by what is within you. There is no practice more degrading, debasing, and soul-destroying than that of self-pity. 41

Cast it out from you. While such a canker is feeding upon your heart you can never expect to grow into a fuller life.

Cease from the condemnation of others, and begin to condemn yourself. Condone none of your acts, desires or thoughts that will not bear comparison with spotless purity, or endure the light of sinless good.

By so doing you will be building your house upon the rock of the Eternal, and all that is required for your happiness and well-being will come to you in its own time.

There is positively no way of permanently rising above poverty, or any undesirable condition, except by eradicating those selfish and negative conditions within, of which these are the reflection, and by virtue of which they continue.

The way to true riches is to enrich the soul by the acquisition of virtue. Outside of real heart-virtue there is neither prosperity nor power, but only the appearances of these. I am aware that men make money who have acquired no measure of virtue, and have little desire to do so; but such money does not constitute true riches, and its possession is transitory and feverish. 42

Here is Davidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s testimony:- For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked...... Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish. -Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence... When I thought to know this it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end.â&#x20AC;?

The prosperity of the wicked was a great trial to David until he went into the sanctuary of God, and then he knew their end.

You likewise may go into that sanctuary. It is within you. It is that state of consciousness which remains when all that is sordid, and personal, and impermanent is risen above, and universal and eternal principles are realized.

That is the God state of consciousness; it is the sanctuary of the Most High. When by long strife and self-discipline, you have succeeded in entering the door of that holy Temple, you will perceive, with unobstructed vision, the end and fruit of all human thought and endeavor, both good and evil.

You will then no longer relax your faith when you see the immoral man accumulating outward riches, for you will know, that he must 43

come again to poverty and degradation.

The rich man who is barren of virtue is, in reality, poor, and as surely, as the waters of the river are drifting to the ocean, so surely is he, in the midst of all his riches, drifting towards poverty and misfortune; and though he die rich, yet must he return to reap the bitter fruit of all of his immorality.

And though he become rich many times, yet as many times must he be thrown back into poverty, until, by long experience and suffering he conquers the poverty within.

But the man who is outwardly poor, yet rich in virtue, is truly rich, and, in the midst of all his poverty he is surely traveling towards prosperity; and abounding joy and bliss await his coming. If you would become truly and permanently prosperous, you must first become virtuous.

It is therefore unwise to aim directly at prosperity, to make it the one object of life, to reach out greedily for it. To do this is to ultimately defeat yourself.

But rather aim at self-perfection, make useful and unselfish service the object of your life, and ever reach out hands of faith towards the 44

supreme and unalterable Good.

You say you desire wealth, not for your own sake, but in order to do good with it, and to bless others. If this is your real motive in desiring wealth, then wealth will come to you; for you are strong and unselfish indeed if, in the midst of riches, you are willing to look upon yourself as steward and not as owner.

But examine well your motive, for in the majority of instances where money is desired for the admitted object of blessing others, the real underlying motive is a love of popularity, and a desire to pose as a philanthropist or reformer.

If you are not doing good with what little you have, depend upon it the more money you got the more selfish you would become, and all the good you appeared to do with your money, if you attempted to do any, would be so much insinuating self-laudation.

If your real desire is to do good, there is no need to wait for money before you do it; you can do it now, this very moment, and just where you are. If you are really so unselfish as you believe yourself to be, you will show it by sacrificing yourself for others now.

No matter how poor you are, there is room for self-sacrifice, for did 45

not the widow put her all into the treasury?

The heart that truly desires to do good does not wait for money before doing it, but comes to the altar of sacrifice and, leaving there the unworthy elements of self, goes out and breathes upon neighbor and stranger, friend and enemy alike the breath of blessedness.

As the effect is related to the cause, so is prosperity and power related to the inward good and poverty and weakness to the inward evil.

Money does not constitute true wealth, nor position, nor power, and to rely upon it alone is to stand upon a slippery place.

Your true wealth is your stock of virtue, and your true power the uses to which you put it. Rectify your heart, and you will rectify your life. Lust, hatred, anger, vanity, pride, covetousness, self-indulgence, self-seeking, obstinacy, â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all these are poverty and weakness; whereas love, purity, gentleness, meekness, compassion, generosity, self-forgetfulness, and self-renunciation,- all these are wealth and power.

As the elements of poverty and weakness are overcome, an irresistible and all-conquering power is evolved from within, and he 46

who succeeds in establishing himself in the highest virtue, brings the whole world to his feet.

But the rich, as well as the poor, have their undesirable conditions, and are frequently farther removed from happiness than the poor. And here we see how happiness depends, not upon outward aids or possessions, but upon the inward life.

Perhaps you are an employer, and you have endless trouble with those whom you employ, and when you do get good and faithful servants they quickly leave you. As a result you are beginning to lose, or have completely lost, your faith in human nature.

You try to remedy matters by giving better wages, and by allowing certain liberties, yet matters remain unaltered. Let me advise you.

The secret of all your trouble is not in your servants, it is in yourself; and if you look within, with a humble and sincere desire to discover and eradicate your error, you will, sooner or later, find the origin of all your unhappiness.

It may be some selfish desire, or lurking suspicion, or unkind attitude of mind which sends out its poison upon those about you, and reacts upon yourself, even though you may not show it in your manner or 47

speech.

Think of your servants with kindness, consider of them that extremity of service which you yourself would not care to perform were you in their place.

Rare and beautiful is that humility of soul by which a servant entirely forgets himself in his master’s good; but far rarer, and beautiful with a divine beauty, is that nobility of soul by which a man, forgetting his own happiness, seeks the happiness of those who are under his authority, and who depend upon him for their bodily sustenance.

And such a man’s happiness is increased tenfold, nor does he need to complain of those whom he employs. Said a well known and extensive employer of labor, who never needs to dismiss an employee: “I have always had the happiest relations with my workpeople.

If you ask me how it is to be accounted for, I can only say that it has been my aim from the first to do to them as I would wish to be done by.” Herein lies the secret by which all desirable conditions are secured, and all that are undesirable are overcome.

Do you say that you are lonely and unloved, and have “not a friend in 48

the worldâ&#x20AC;?? Then, I pray you, for the sake of your own happiness, blame nobody but yourself.

Be friendly towards others, and friends will soon flock round you. Make yourself pure and lovable, and you will be loved by all.

Whatever conditions are rendering your life burdensome, you may pass out of and beyond them by developing and utilizing within you the transforming power of self-purification and self-conquest.

Be it the poverty which galls (and remember that the poverty upon which I have been dilating is that poverty which is a source of misery, and not that voluntary poverty which is the glory of emancipated souls), or the riches which burden, or the many misfortunes, griefs, and annoyances which form the dark background in the web of life, you may overcome them by overcoming the selfish elements within which give them life.

It matters not that by the unfailing Law, there are past thoughts and acts to work out and to atone for, as, by the same law, we are setting in motion, during every moment of our life, fresh thoughts and acts, and we have the power to make them good or ill.

Nor does it follow that if a man (reaping what he has sown) must lose 49

money or forfeit position, that he must also lose his fortitude or forfeit his uprightness, and it is in these that his wealth and power and happiness are to be found. He who clings to self is his own enemy and is surrounded by enemies.

He who relinquishes self is his own savior, and is surrounded by friends like a protecting belt. Before the divine radiance of a pure heart all darkness vanishes and all clouds melt away, and he who has conquered self has conquered the universe.

Come, then, out of your poverty; come out of your pain; come out of your troubles, and sighings, and complainings, and heartaches, and loneliness by coming out of yourself.

Let the old tattered garment of your petty selfishness fall from you, and put on the new garment of universal Love. You will then realize the inward heaven, and it will be reflected in all your outward life.

He who sets his foot firmly upon the path of self-conquest, who walks, aided by the staff of Faith, the highway of self-sacrifice, will assuredly achieve the highest prosperity, and will reap abounding and enduring joy and bliss.

To them that seek the highest good All things subserve the wisest ends; Nought comes as ill, and wisdom lends Wings to all shapes of evil brood. The dark’ning sorrow veils a Star That waits to shine with gladsome light; Hell waits on heaven; and after night Comes golden glory from afar. Defeats are steps by which we climb With purer aim to nobler ends; Loss leads to gain, and joy attends True footsteps up the hills of time. Pain leads to paths of holy bliss, To thoughts and words and deeds divine-, And clouds that gloom and rays that shine, Along life’s upward highway kiss. Misfortune does but cloud the way Whose end and summit in the sky Of bright success, sunkiss’d and high, Awaits our seeking and our stay. The heavy pall of doubts and fears That clouds the Valley of our hopes, The shades with which the spirit copes, The bitter harvesting of tears, 51

The heartaches, miseries, and griefs, The bruisings born of broken ties, All these are steps by which we rise To living ways of sound beliefs. Love, pitying, watchful, runs to meet The Pilgrim from the Land of Fate; All glory and all good await The coming of obedient feet.

Understanding Suicide Fear Not the Crossing Gail Williams (1920)

Yes, I have come to go on with our book. It is nothing but a continuation of what I said about communication. Be sure that it is the result of an understanding of the nature of death. Be sure not to incur risk by shocking people suddenly into a new point of view before they have ability to grasp it. Because a man potentially can swim, he should not be tossed in over his depth as an initiation in swimming; he must begin in the shallows and reach the depths himself.

So in communication go very slowly, always taking the utmost care to open no doors to those who should not enter.

There is tragedy in

suicide. I have found out its terrible side.

If it is understood suicide will unquestionably cease. It is not in the least a remedy, as people sometimes think. It is a tragic, farcical proceeding as a means of ending trouble, and I hardly can wait to describe the torture self-inflicted by attempting that so called avenue 53

of escape. It is rather an entrance to an increased state of horror. Nothing can ever be alleviated thereby. I have a great presentiment that there is need for an understanding of this subject because there has been all too prevalent a curious attitude begotten by cowardice.

The tales from prison camps are nothing compared to the experience of those who choose the possibility of suicide rather than the continuation of the proved discomfort and anguish of their days interned.

Pain and horror must be faced, though with terrific suffering. Pain must pass eventually. Each minute that goes by, goes by forever, and with it the horror and pain of it, but the courage engendered by each hour one carries on, is a sublime creation of permanent beauty. The creation of valor, the splendid achievement of long sustained fortitude is the significant result of days passed through with torment; and the personal distaste for carrying on must be dispelled by thoughts of God and Christ and eternity.

Suicide is spiritually

degrading. What centuries have accomplished can thereby be lost and anguish is intensified rather than diminished.

Always remember that God can be reached, and reaching Him will mean alleviation. No matter what the pain and horror may be, endure heroically and think of God. As I have said, if God you cannot 54

conceive, think of whatever influence has been the highest in your life, and that will establish the telepathic connection â&#x20AC;&#x201D; if I may call it that â&#x20AC;&#x201D; between you and the Source of all power. It may seem inconceivable, but always that brings help. It may act slowly, but always it acts, and you must have patience and faith.

Sometimes to get results change of events have first to be impelled by long planning, and sometimes obstacles require overcoming. But know beyond doubt that help asked for by those who ask in the name of Christ or with love of what is fine in their hearts, know beyond doubt that help in some form will be at once directed to them.

March 9th. Last night I described in a measure the horrible result of suicide. It is a gloomy subject at best, but with my new knowledge its aspect assumes still darker color. Remember always that prayer is indeed a means of alleviating every unbearable condition, whereas suicide only disintegrates completely the possibility of aid reaching you. It cannot be too strongly reiterated that suicide must never be contemplated.

Obsession Annette Leevier Psychic experiences of an Indian princess (1920)

Obsession has given me unlimited food for thought. The subject is so large, so expansive and engrossing that volumes upon it could be written. But in the short space allotted in this work, it is hoped that the statements and references will cause the reader to desire more knowledge of same.

No one who is obsessed by a good spirit can go into bad company or commit evil; it won't allow you to. It's easy to attract a good spirit if we understand spirit return and obey the laws set forth by those who are capable of doing so. Unless the gateway the inclination to resist with the indomitable strength of higher thoughts and aspirations the influences of a lower nature is open, such influences of a lower nature cannot enter as obsessing forces.

That's why I wish everyone would concentrate; we are all psychic; not only the mediums but everyone. Thoughts are things living things therefore give out your best thoughts toward everyone and nothing but good comes back to you. By doing so we cannot attract an evil 56

spirit wandering around on earth commonly called the devil who may have left the body under peculiar circumstances, and who may induce others to do likewise.

Have you ever stopped to think that through obsession a cause can be found for innumerable crimes committed, for the hosts of suicides and maniacs? The organization of the obsessing force must be similar to that of the obedient obsessed being. Realizing this and knowing that a spirit enters the spirit world just as it left this, there must be an innumerable host of low, uneducated, and evil spirits about. Hence if the obsessed party offers a deficiency of will power weakness in control of their individuality the gateway is open for an evil spirit of a harmonious organization with that of the obsessed to enter. The ensuing result is a heartbreaking chapter of evil for which inevitable retribution must be received.

Think of those who give themselves to drink. One drinking man came to me while I was in Sandusky, Ohio, to ask me to help him. I said to him, "You have the spirit control of a man who passed out while intoxicated."

"Yes, I know it," he replied. "We were both out fishing some twelve years ago in Sandusky Bay and became drunk. The result was that the boat capsized and he drowned. In going down the last time he 57

yelled, 'I hope you drownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Since that time I've been a drunkard. Whenever the thought of that drowning man comes to me I have to go in and drink. Furthermore, I neglect my family and their suffering makes me feel wretched when I'm sober."

I told him how to "brace up" how it was possible to throw off his spirit condition. I had him come often; I prayed for him and gave him a prayer that he had at hand and repeated at any time the desire for his former debauchery seized him. I impressed on his mind the necessity of concentration on keeping straight the fact that he still possessed will power and that he had to trust in it. In following up this man's case, I found that in obeying instructions, his home life had as a result been revolutionized from a heart-broken to a happy state of existence.

Many spirits in similar instances of souls transient have obsessed the living person to live out the time they should have lived in their own house of flesh. In the above example, the spirit of the drinking partner had been back here on earth using this man's body just the same as if the body had been its own.

Spirit enlightenment of "earthbound" spirits can be accomplished by 58

having them enter a circle. The spirit of Stanford White was in this terrible plight until I brought it to light. This spirit followed me for a long time, but didn't try to obsess me because he was too busy guarding Harry K. Thaw his murderer and keeping him in prison. I was holding a seance in Columbus, Ohio, when the spirit took hold of me. I was under control and tried to fight; I was so angry that I had to be held tight by those earnest sitters until the strife was over, and the spirit of his mother had joined him.

Then came calm. Then he said, "Now that I'm with mother I cling no more to this earth. My desire is to get away if I can and Harry K. Thaw can go free."

This was before Thaw's freedom for the sitters made note of the message and watched the newspapers. Within a short time less than a year Thaw's escape was announced and at this writing he is still a free man. The spirit of White has returned many times to thank me for uniting his spirit with his mother's. Had this spirit not been enlightened, it may have wandered on earth until it had attracted some weaker person and had made them die as he did.

Those gunmen of New York who paid the penalty with their lives in the electric chair also came in spirit, asking prayers, so that they, too, might get away from this earth having passed out before their time 59

had arrived. But such is in our life. The spirit missionaries, the spirit friends, and loved ones are incessantly helping those terribly hypnotized "earthbound" spirits from their lowly cycles on the upward path to the love that is ultimately awaiting them. No wonder enmity and war never cease whether individual, family, commercial, state, or international once a start is made. There are more spirits fighting than human beings in any strife. As an instance, while conducting a circle in Cleveland a short time after Senor Huerta's the former Mexican President demise from earth life, the spirit of my guide Pontiac came and told me that Huerta was busy at the time lighting for and aiding that faction that had been his while he was Dictator.

If people knew what they were made for they wouldn't cause so many heartaches of others. But they don't understand the life they, live and pass out to the Great Divide without knowing why and where they are going.

Honor those whose words or deeds. Thus help us in our daily needs;. And by their loving overflow Raise us from whate'er is low.

Spirits and Suicide Dr. Carl Wickland Thirty Years Among the Dead (1924)

A great number of unaccountable suicides are due to the obsessing or possessing influence of earthbound spirits. Some of these spirits are actuated by a desire to torment their victims; others, who have ended their physical existence as suicides, find themselves still alive, and, having no knowledge of a spirit world, labor under the delusion that their self- destructive attempts have failed and-continue their suicidal efforts.

When these intelligences come in contact with mortal sensitives, they mistake the physical bodies for their own, and impress the sensitives with morbid thoughts and instigate them to deeds of self -destruction.

The fate of a suicide is invariably one of deepest misery, his rash-act holding him in the earth sphere until such time as his physical life would have had a natural ending.

One suicide case which we contacted was the spirit of a woman, Mrs. 61

X., who had been my Sunday School teacher when I was a boy in Europe, but of whom Mrs. Wickland had never heard.

This lady had been intelligent and spiritual, an earnest church member, happily married and the mother of several children. Without any warning, while apparently happy and contented, she had suddenly hung herself, and the horrified husband and children could in no way account for the tragedy.

One winter day ten years later, when Mrs. Wickland and I were alone in our home in Chicago, Mrs. Wickland was unexpectedly controlled by a spirit who gasped for breath and seemed to be strangling. This spirit, like so many others, was unconscious of controlling a body not its own, and upon contacting matter, again experienced its last death struggle.

After much questioning I learned, to my great surprise, that this was the spirit of my former friend, who had ended her physical life by hanging herself. She was still bound to the earth sphere and related the indescribable mental hell she had been in during all those years.

"As soon as I found myself out of my body, I saw at once the cause for my rash act. Evil spirits, who had been attracted to me by the jealous thoughts of other persons, were standing near, grinning with 62

devilish satisfaction at their work.

"They had influenced me to end my life; I had no occasion to even think of such folly. An irresistible impulse had suddenly come over me. I fastened the rope around my neck, and only realized what I had done when it was too late.

"I would have given the world to have been able to regain possession of my body. Oh, what horrors of despair and remorse I have gone through! My home shattered, my husband brokenhearted and discouraged, and my little ones needing my care!

"They do not know that I come to them and try to comfort them, and I have seen nothing but gloom and darkness until now."

Comforted and reassured by an explanation of the true spiritual realms, this spirit was eager to go with the higher intelligences and learn how she might be of service to her loved ones on earth.

Many years later, when we had with us a patient of strong suicidal tendencies, this spirit returned to warn her against carrying out her intentions.

Do Not Kill Yourself Dr. Carl Wickland Thirty Years Among the Dead (1924)

It is a long time since I have been here. I should like to say a few words to this young lady who is contemplating suicide.

Many years ago I was a happy wife, with two dear children and a very kind husband. We lived together happily, since we were both of a cheerful disposition, and because of this there were many jealous thoughts centered upon us.

I did not know at that time that I was a psychic, because I belonged to the Baptist Church. I did the very best I could around the home, but somebody started to upset us. One day, when my husband went to work, I kissed him goodbye and was very happy, but after he was gone, all in a moment something got hold of me.

I did not know what I was doing. I didn't know a thing. I remember feeling very strange, as if somebody had taken complete hold of me, and I did not realize what was taking place. 64

After awhile everything changed. I saw my husband in terrible mental agony, and he was crying very bitterly. When things became a little clearer to me, I saw my body hanging there!

Oh, if you could only realize what a condition I was in! My husband stood there in the shed, looking at my hanging body; he was crying heart- brokenly, but I could do nothing to, help him.

There I stood at his side, wishing with all my power that I could have that body again, but I could not. There were my two little children weeping for me, and I could not help them.

I did not know what was the matter until I saw some evil spirits standing near, laughing at us. They had gotten hold of me and made me kill myself, because they wanted to break up our happy home.

My husband could never forget the sight of my body hanging in the shed. My children were small and needed my help, but the responsibility of raising them was thrown on my husband. It should have been my duty to have shared that responsibility,

Although I had been influenced to do what I did, for ten long years I could see nothing before me but what I had done. I could see how 65

much the children needed me, but I could do nothing for them, and oh, how I suffered! My poor, poor children!

One day, a very cold day, I felt that I had come to life again; I felt a new warmth. I did not know where I was, but I felt that I had come to life. I found myself talking to Dr. Wickland. He told me what had happened, and explained that I was only temporarily controlling Mrs. Wickland, and that friends would take me to the spirit world.

After this I felt somewhat better, and I thank you for having helped me to the beautiful condition I have now.

But oh, how I suffered during those ten, long years! All I could see was my body hanging before me, and the children's need of me. My husband and children! How they needed my care â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but I was powerless to help them.

I want to warn anybody who is thinking of trying to get out of the physical body.

Do not do it under any circumstances.

You do not know, you cannot realize, what a hell you will find yourself in. You cannot step into your body again after you once leave it, and 66

you cannot do your duty to others.

Think of my children always having the thought that their mother committed suicide! Neither my husband nor children can ever really forgive me. Even though I was controlled when I did what I did, I have had to suffer.

If you had an understanding of the laws of the spirit side of life, you would not commit suicide, knowing the results. Overcome any thoughts of taking your life. Be happy on this earth plane until the time comes for you to go to the spirit world.

The ten years that I suffered was the time I should have remained on earth before passing to the spirit side of life. After my ten years had expired I should have left my body, for my life would have been lived out, but during that time I could have given help to my husband and children.

I should not have reached the spirit side of life before my allotted time , and my punishment was to constantly see my body hanging before me for ten years. All that time I could realize that my husband and children were in great need of my help.

Now I am as happy as I can be until my family is reunited, and I am 67

doing all I can to help my children.

I want you to send my love to my dear husband. He feels that he is all alone. I am with him but I can do nothing to comfort him in his loneliness.

Goodbye!

Why Did I Do It? Dr. Carl Wickland Thirty Years Among the Dead (1924)

On November 20, 1904, while Mrs. Wickland and I were visiting with friends in Chicago, a circle had been formed for a psychic demonstration when Mrs. Wickland heard some one say: "I am in the dark."

She inquired who had made the remark, but no one in the room had uttered a word; however, the gentleman sitting beside Mrs. Wickland declared that he too had heard the voice.

A moment later Mrs. Wickland became entranced and fell to the floor, the spirit clutching at the throat and crying: "Take the rope away! Take the rope away! I am in the dark. Why did I do it? Oh, why did I do it?"

When the excited spirit had been somewhat quieted, she told us that her name was Minnie Harmening, that she was a young girl and had lived on a farm near Palatine. As she was speaking brokenly, between sobs, it was difficult to distinguish her words, and I 69

understood her to say that she came from "Palestine," which seemed rather strange.

The spirit was in great grief because she had hung herself, and thought the body of the psychic was her own, and that the rope was still about her neck.

She said that on October 5th, without any cause or premeditation, she had been overpowered by a desire to take her life, and when alone had gone to the barn and hung herself.

"A big man with a black beard made me do it." (Spirit.) "He met me in the barnyard and hypnotized me, and made me hang myself to a rafter, but I don't know why I did it.

"My brother John found me and cut me down, and my parents were almost beside themselves. But I am not dead. I am at home all the time and I talk to my mother and father. I try to comfort them and make them know that I am not dead, but they do not notice me and do not answer me. My folks all sit around the table crying, and there is my empty chair, but no one answers me. Why don't they answer me?"

We could not at first convince her that she was expressing herself 70

through the body of another, but after a lengthy conversation, she was somewhat enlightened and comforted, and left with spirit friends.

Previous to this incident neither Mrs. Wickland nor I had heard of the Harmening suicide mystery and we did not know that such a girl had ever existed.

Several days later, a reporter-from one of the Chicago dailies came to interview us regarding our research work, and I related our recent experience with the Harmening girl.

In great surprise he said that he himself had been the reporter on the Harmening case and that the girl had lived in Palatine, Cook County, Illinois. The dead body of the girl had been found hanging in her father's barn, but no one knew of any cause for suicide, although the girl had always been peculiar.

There was a suspicion of murder because the clothes about the chest had been torn, and the neck badly scratched, leading the authorities to believe that a crime had been committed and the body hung up to avert suspicion.

On Thanksgiving Day, November 24th, the spirit of Minnie Harmening came to us again, still grieving because of the suffering of 71

her parents, and the intolerant attitude assumed toward her family by the villagers and church members, who considered the family disgraced.

The girl had been a devout member of a German Lutheran Church, but because she had died a suicide the pastor had refused to allow the funeral service to be held in the church, nor would the congregation permit the body to be buried in the consecrated ground of the churchyard.

Minnie said that the funeral service had been held at the home of her parents, but the minister had considered the viewing of the body such a sacrilege that he had stepped outside the house while others paid their last tribute, and this had added still more to the grief of her already distracted parents. (These statements I found corroborated in the papers afterward.)

I asked the spirit why her clothes had been torn, and she answered: "I did that myself. The big man (spirit) with the beard told me to hang myself, but as soon as I had kicked the box away from my feet, I felt the rope tightening around my neck and came to my senses. I clawed at the rope and tried to loosen it, but I only tightened it and scratched myself.

Fourteen years later the spirit of Minnie Harmening spoke to us again.

Suicidal Obsession Dr. Carl Wickland Thirty Years Among the Dead (1924)

I want to thank you for all the help you have given me.

When I committed the act which took my life I was only a young girl of sixteen. I had so much suffering afterwards and was very, very miserable. I could see my father and mother sitting at the table, crying, and I could not help them.

When the time came for my body to be buried the minister would not take it into the church, and would not bury it, because, he said, I had committed a sin in taking my own life. He also said that I could not be buried in the graveyard because of my act, and he would not even look at the funeral as it passed by.

I did not do the deed myself. I was obsessed. It was very hard for my father and mother and sisters. The minister would not even come into the room where my body lay, but spoke from another room; he was too holy to be where the body was. This made it much harder for my parents. 74

Do not think that by taking your own life you can bury yourself in the hereafter. I was obsessed when I took my life and did not know what I was doing, but I am suffering because my father and mother are still mourning for me. Very often I go to see my poor old mother, and she is very old now.

I am the girl who lived at Palatine. You remember me, don't you ?

The neighbors made it still harder for my folks because they told mother what a disgrace it was for the family. I feel very badly about the matter.

I want to thank you for the help I received here. It was through you that I received light and understanding. I am happy in a way, but not real happy, because I feel the grief my father and mother have.

When I lived I did not understand obsession. After I had hung myself I saw a man beside me, staring at me. Just when the rope was around my neck I came to; I tried my best to get it off my neck, but I had kicked the box from under myself and my whole weight was in the rope and I could do nothing. I scratched my body in an effort to free myself, but it was no use.

If one takes his own life he goes through a bitter experience, and suffers greatly-yes, suffers greatly.

I thank you very much for the light and understanding I have received, for it has been a great help to me.

Another experience, illustrating the power exercised over sensitive mortals by malignant, earthbound spirits, occurred in Chicago.

Mrs. Wickland and I were resting on a bench in Lincoln Park, on July 12th, 1906, when an elderly gentleman seated himself beside us. Mrs. Wickland at first saw two men on the bench, but upon looking again, noticed only one.

A conversation ensued which drifted into occultism, and when the stranger, Mr. F., expressed an interest in psychic phenomena, we invited him to call at our home.

On the following evening Mr. F. called upon us, and later Mrs. Wickland became entranced by the spirit of a man who was greatly agitated. He called Mr. F. by name, saying he was his friend, Mr. B., of Cleveland, who had been with him in Lincoln Park the previous week, and had had an appointment to meet him there again on that very day. 76

Mr. F. was greatly startled by this communication, for his friend had committed suicide in his club at Cleveland the preceding Sunday.

Mr. B. had lived in Cleveland and had come to Chicago the week before to close a real estate deal, but before final negotiations were completed, had returned for a week-end visit to Cleveland.

He was in a cheerful frame of mind when he left his home on Sunday morning, but after conversing with a group of friends at his club, he had gone into an adjoining room, placed carbolic acid in his glass of wine and drinking it, had fallen dead.

Mr. B. had been a man of wealth and position, to all appearances singularly fortunate and happy, and there seemed no reason for his suicide.

The spirit of Mr. B. was greatly troubled and bewildered, and asked his friend what was the matter with him.

"I go home to my wife and children, but they do not seem. to see me or hear me. I have been with you for several days, but you will not talk to me.

What is the matter?"

Calming the spirit, we finally made him realize that to the world he was "dead," and after explaining the suicide to him, we asked why he had taken his life.

"I did not take my life. I went to the club and was talking to my friends, then I went into another room, but I do not know what happened after that. The next thing that I remember is that I saw my body lying on the floor and a man (spirit) watching me and laughing."

After learning more of his condition the spirit urged his friend to write to his wife and tell her that in reality he was not dead at all.

On the evening of the 16th, Mr. F. called again, when the spirit of Mr. B. came a second time, still greatly disturbed, and asked his friend why he had not written to his wife, and urgently begged him to do so.

"I know now that I was influenced to commit suicide by evil spirits who were opposed to my carrying out that real estate deal. Rather than see my purpose accomplished they determined to kill me. Please tell my wife the truth and warn all the world to be wiser."

While the trial of a young man, who was accused of killing a college 78

girl, Marion Lambert, was in progress in Waukegan, Illinois, the spirit of the murdered girl was brought to us, on June 17th, 1916, entrancing Mrs. Wickland.

She was weeping uncontrollably and in such distress that she was at first unable to speak, then suddenly cried out: "I did it! I did it! Nobody can help me now. If I only could tell them and make them understand-but they will not listen. I am in the dark and can see only the past and everything foolish I have done. Oh, what a foolish girl I was!"

"What is your name?"

"Marion Lambert."

"Where do you think you are?"

"I do not know. I am not acquainted with any one here. (Crying.) They talk of hell, but that could not be as bad as what I have gone through, just because of my foolishness. I would like very much to get out of all this trouble.

"I took my own life. I didn't mean to kill myself-I only meant to take enough cyanide of potassium to scare him. 79

"And now they blame him for my death! I would so like to do something to make them understand he is not guilty. Oh, but they will not believe me! I talk to the different people at the court house but they take no notice of me, and will not listen to me. Everything is so strange, I don't know what to do.

"I was such a foolish girl. Oh, my poor father and mother! I'm half crazy with trouble and worry. If I could only go to the court house and show them that I am not dead, but that I am alive"

"Why don't they listen to me? I go to the court house but nobody will speak to me, and I have spoken to so many people. I am in such agony, I don't know what to do.

"If I had had more sense I would never have done what I did, but it's no use saying that nowâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it is too late. I wish I could be in my body again. I studied a great deal, but I was so foolish it did me no good, and now I am suffering. Everything is so dark and I am in such trouble."

The spirit was so hysterical that it was exceedingly difficult to make her understand that she could best help by keeping away from the court house, go with kindly intelligences to the spirit world and learn 80

the higher purposes of life.

In July, 1919, the interest of the American public was centered in a "murder" case in Los Angeles, in which Harry New was accused of killing his sweetheart, Freda Lesser.

The tragedy had taken place on July 4th in Topanga Canyon, where Harry and Freda had driven late in the day. Near the crest a shot was fired which ended the girl's life, and Harry New was arrested on a charge of murder. The girl had been expecting motherhood, and this fact was used in the trial as a motive for the crime. Harry New was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to San Quentin for ten years.

During the trial we had an interesting experience which would have thrown new light on the case, could it have been accepted as evidence in court.

Advising the Dead Who Killed Themselves Dr. Carl Wickland Thirty Years Among the Dead (1924)

The controlling spirit was crying pathetically, and seemed bewildered.

Doctor What is the matter with you?

Spirit Oh, I feel so bad!

Dr. What seems to be the trouble?

Sp. Lots of trouble.

Dr. Possibly we may be able to help you.

Sp. That's impossible. Oh, I feel so bad! (Weeping.)

Dr. How long have you been dead?

SP. I am not dead. I am sick and downhearted.

Dr. Why should you be downhearted?

Sp. Because of my own foolishness.

Dr. What have you been doing?

Sp. Lots of things.

Dr. What in particular? Have you been happy?

Sp. Oh, no! I have not been happy. (Wringing hands in anguish.) I wish, I wish, I wish I had not been so foolish!

Dr. Did something happen to you?

Sp. Yes, everything happened.

Dr. What is your name? Is it John?

Sp. I'm not a man. Oh, all those people! And that big crowd! And they will not listen when I tell them about it.

Dr. What is your name?

Sp. I feel so bad I can't think. Oh, Harry, Harry! It was not your fault. What are those people doing with him? He hasn't done anything; it was my foolishness.

Dr. What did you do?

Sp. I fought with him. I got hold of the revolver and was going to fool him. He tried to take the revolver away from me, and we both fought for it. I was only trying to fool him. I go to see him but I don't know what to do.

Dr. Why did you take the revolver?

Sp. I was only trying to scare him.

Dr. Did you fire the revolver?

Sp. He tried to take the revolver away from me and it exploded. I feel so bad, and he will not talk to me, and there are all those people bothering him. He did not do anything. It was all my foolishness. He was a good fellow, but I fooled him. Where am I now?

Dr. You are in Highland Park, Los Angeles.

Sp. Why did I come here?

Dr. Some good friend brought you here.

Sp. Why, I went to Harry.

Dr. Do you refer to Harry New'?

Sp. Yes, of course I do.

Dr. Did you care for him?

Sp. I care for him more than ever because I cannot get to him. He did not do itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;he did not shoot me. I told him that I would kill myself and I went and got the revolver. He didn't get it. I got it from his auto and I had it. I didn't mean to do anything. I was just going to frighten him. It was just foolishness, foolishness, foolishness!

Dr. What is your name?

Sp. Freda-Freda Lesser.

Dr. Do you realize that you have lost your body?

Sp. I don't know anything, except that I go to mother and Harry, and all over, and no one pays any attention to me. I want to tell them how things happened, but no one will listen to me, not any one. I am so distressed, and I don't know why I cannot be heard when I talk. I am so unhappy.

Dr. The people you refer to do not know that you are there. You are invisible to them.

Sp. Oh, that poor fellow is suffering for my foolishness! You don't know what my condition is. No one will listen to what I say, not one.

Dr. They do not know you are there. You are invisible to us; we cannot see you.

Sp. Why can't you see me? (Crying again and wringing her hands.) Foolish girl, foolish girl!

Dr. You must try to control yourself. You have been brought here by kind spirits and allowed to control my wife's body and brain for a short time. You can only use this body temporarily.

Sp. Why can't you tell those people that it was all my foolishness?

Dr. They would not believe me if I did tell them.

Sp. Tell them what?

Dr. That a spirit came and talked to us. Do you not realize that at the time the revolver went off, you lost your body?

Sp. I thought I had only hurt myself. Oh, how I suffered! I do not see how I could be dead, because when you die you never suffer any more, and I have suffered.

Dr. No one actually dies; only the physical body is lost. Your suffering was mental.

Sp. But my head hurts so much.

Dr. That is a mental condition also.

Sp. Why can't Harry talk to me?

Dr. He does not know you are there. He cannot see you.

Sp. I go where he is and try to tell them that the whole thing was caused by my foolishness. Oh, if I could only change things! 87

I took that revolver and said I was going to kill myself, but I thought I would only scare him. When he saw I had the revolver I he fought with me to get it away. I didn't mean anything-I was only fooling. I love him and he loves me. He did not know how the revolver came in his hands. He had it in his auto. I picked it up and hid it in my clothes for a

while and then I told him I was going to kill myself.

Dr. Had you any idea of marrying him?

Sp. Yes, some idea.

Dr. Did you really care for him enough to marry him?

Sp. Yes. We had no quarrel. I was just going to scare him but you know girls do foolish things sometimes. I wanted to test him, to see if he cared for me. (Crying.)

Dr. Remember you are using my wife's brain and body, and must try to calm yourself. Look around and you will find kind spirit friends who will help you.

Sp. I can never be helped any more, I'm so unhappy.

Dr. When you leave here you will be taken to the spirit world. You have not yet found it, because you have been so disturbed with your trouble. Spirit friends are around you, waiting to help you.

Sp. I want to tell those men bow things happened, but they will not listen to me. They don't seem to hear me, or see me. I go to Harry, and because he feels me around him sometimes, they think that he is crazy.

Dr. You are a free spirit now, and you must listen to the spirit friends who are here. They will teach you how to obtain understanding and overcome your troubles.

Sp. Will they kill Harry for my foolishness?

Dr. I hardly think so.

Sp. Poor fellow, poor fellow! I feel so sorry for him and his mother. They both cry, and my mother cries. Why did I do such a foolish thing? It was a piece of folly.

Dr. Now, look around and see if you can see friends who will help you.

Sp. There's a young lady standing there (spirit) and she says that she was helped here, and she says she brought me here. She says she was in the same trouble I was, and that she was helped, and is so happy now, and that she can help me. She says she was just as foolish as I was; she took poison to scare her fellow, and killed herself.

Dr. Does she tell you her name?

Sp. She says she has been around me, because she does missionary work, helping to take care of girls in the same trouble as myself.

Dr. Does she look sorrowful?

Sp. No, she looks happy. She says she goes around and finds unfortunate girls who are in the same condition she was in when she went to spirit life. (Crying.)

Dr. Don't allow yourself to become excited. You do not realize what a privilege you have in being allowed to control a mortal body and obtain understanding. Many remain in a bewildered condition for years and years.

Sp. The lady standing there says you helped her when she was in the same trouble I am.

Dr. What washer name?

Sp. She says her name is Marion Lambert. She says she works hard to help unfortunate girls who are in trouble and do foolish things, and that she tries to help them to happiness. She says that is her mission and that is why she brought me here. (Crying.)

Dr. Try to understand that you are using the body of this psychic only temporarily, and must not misuse it by becoming excited. This girl you see, came to us some years ago in the same distressed condition that you are in. Now she tells you that she is happy and doing missionary work.

Sp. Can I ever be happy?

Dr. Of course you can. This is only a temporary trouble you are in. No one ever "dies"; it is only the physical body which is lost. The spirit cannot die.

Sp. But I never understood that. I never heard anything about spirits before. 91

Dr. If any one had spoken to you about spirits while you were in earth life, you would probably have laughed at the idea.

Sp. The lady says she will take care of me; she wants me to rest. I am so tired. She says that I must go with her, and also that I must thank you for the opportunity of coming here. Will I have any more of that awful crying?

Dr. No. You will be taught the real lesson of life. Physical life is only temporary. Every one has troubles of one kind or another, but through trouble we become wiser.

Sp. (Gazing intently at some spirit, her face brightened; then she shook her head.) No, no, that cannot be! (Crying.)

Dr. What do you see?

Sp. I was expecting a baby, and a girl has come holding a baby, which she says belongs to me. Can I have it?

Dr. Certainly you can.

Sp. But I am not worthy. They will look down on me. 92

Dr. You are not going to remain on earth.

Sp. I feel much happier than I did when I came. When did the baby come?

Dr. The baby was freed when you lost your body.

Sp. I don't see how that could happen.

Dr. Many things happen with which you are not familiar You do not understand the wonderful mystery of life.

Sp. Did I kill the baby, too, when the revolver went off?

Dr. When your body was killed the spirit of the little on was also liberated. While you are talking through this body we cannot see you. The real things of life are invisible. Did you ever see music?

Sp. I have heard it. I hear beautiful music now.

Dr. You are beginning to realize the real things of life.

Sp. Another beautiful lady with white hair is here, and she says she 93

will be my mother for the present, and she will take care of me. She says she belongs to the Mercy Band.

Dr. The Mercy Band of spirits is trying to bring before the world the fact that there is no death, and for many years we have been cooperating with them, helping spirits who are in trouble and darkness.

Sp. This lady is very beautiful. She is not the one who was here first, nor the one with the baby. This one says her name is Mrs. Case.*

Dr. When she was on earth she was greatly interested in this work.

Sp. The other lady says she will take care of my baby, because that is her work. She says her name is Abbie Judson, and she takes care of the waif children. She says she was a Spiritualist when on earth, and that she wrote. Oh, I feel so sorry for poor Harry! Will he ever forgive me?

Dr. He knows the circumstances and he will forgive you.

Sp. Please, can I go with these people? Will I cry any more? I have been crying so much that my eyes hurt me.

Dr. The spirit friends will enlighten you and will teach you life's lessons, and you will be happy.

A sudden death, undoubtedly attributable to spirit influence, was that of Olive T.,** well known motion picture actress.

The newspapers reported that Olive T. had committed suicide

Suicides and Others in Hell Caroline Larsen My Travels in the Spirit World (1927)

A large proportion of the spirits dwelling on the first plane are those who are struggling by hard and sincere effort to raise themselves to a higher level, to master the ideas that prevail in more advanced spiritual states, and to conform to newly-formed ideals.

But there are also many who have no desire so to improve and indeed no comprehension of what improvement means. On earth these spirits had no vision of spiritual things and they were wholly absorbed in material pleasures, worldly success or base desires. Those aspects of life which were at best of only passing value had absorbed their efforts. With the eyes of the soul still blind, they now try only to live again their earthly interests and joys. And those whose desires were evil strive to attract others, both spirits and those still in our world, to their own false standards. With them life does not advance, but only futilely repeats itself.

Among these earthbound souls are the suicides. These, by nature of their crime, must have been those for whom hard conditions of 96

existence on earth swallowed up all else till black despair cut off every ray of spiritual light. They bring hither the same state of mind, and, deaf and blind to higher consolation, they struggle back to earth to undergo again the horror of self-murder at the very spot where the extremity of despair formerly overtook them. The same retribution overtakes those who have committed murder or other crimes of atrocious violence. For the earth-bound souls bring with them their world as they have made it.

Such is the permanent population of this realm. Anxious to see for myself the details of life in this sphere, I sought the dwelling places of the earthbound souls. The contrast between their existence and that of the progressive spirits was startling. In the faces of the earthbound spirits is expressed all their evil passions and desires, all their low or earthly aims. Their aura is very dark in color, contrasting strongly with that of progressing spirits, amongst whom light colors prevailâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;white, cream, pink, pale blue and many others.

For as the spirit becomes brighter, the aura expresses the change by its increasing brightness. But among the earth-bound spirits one sees only dark auras and dark clothing, and always of the fashion worn on earth, just as their faces carry still the plain stamp of earthly lusts and weaknesses. The dark cloud that rests on their faces seems heavily charged with the despair and malice of their evil 97

deeds.

I entered a house and found that room led on to room in a straight and seemingly endless line. Every room was the home of a spirit when not seeking the old haunts on earth. Many of the dwellers were strange and terrible.

In one room sat the squat and ugly form of a woman who on earth had kept a house of ill fame. She had been the ruin of the body and soul of many an unfortunate girl. Now, though in the Spirit World, her one horrible desire was to continue her former infamous career. She could still influence young girls to go astray and lead them to a gutter life, or she could take possession of them and compel them to ruin.

As I passed, she appeared to be sitting before a mirror painting her face. She was wearing the style and form of dress and finery of her profession on earth, and her face was dark with vulgar malice. She gave me a vicious look, as if to say, "Who are you and what do you want here?"

Then she turned insolently away to continue painting her face. I shuddered as I hurried from her presence to another room, where I found tenants of many types, pathetic, or repulsive, or horrible.

In one room a lady was pacing the floor with slow deliberation. Her stately figure, her aristocratic and refined manner caught and held my attention. She was dressed as a fashionable lady of the middle of last century, and was tall. Her face bore evidence of having been very beautiful on earth. Her personality aroused in me a sympathy so strong and immediate that I exclaimed, "Why is she here?"

"You may ask her," said my guide.

Approaching her, I asked, "Why are you here?" With a graceful gesture she replied with regret, yet with apparent resignation, "How could I leave these?"

I looked down at the point she designated and saw with surprise a wonderful collection of sparkling jewels on which she fixed her eyes. I understood: the jewels which she had owned on earth still possessed her soul. They held her now as then, and linked her to earth with a chain that only she could break. Hence her residence among the earth-bound souls.

I looked at her sympathetically and went on my way.

Such spirits can look forward only to an existence of despondency or misery. They have made their own conditions, and only a realization 99

of the worthlessness of their ideals, and a sincere desire to free themselves from them can release them to a brighter existence. Too often among the earth-bound souls no such desire exists, for many are wholly dominated by the desire of evil.

I came across many such. One of them particularly attracted my attention because he was such an unusually horrible specimen of this type of spirits. Evil seemed to have actually deformed him. His face was ill-proportionedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;far too wide for its height. There was hardly anything one could call a nose, and the mouth stretched from ear to ear. The ears, abnormally large, hung below the chin. Beneath an extremely flat forehead nearer the temples than the nose, was set a large pair of eyes that shone with a diabolical malice which froze the very spirit within me. His face expressed only evil, low lust and ruthless hatred. I clung to my guide for protection.

The arms of this misshapen spirit dangled loosely from the grotesque frame. His fingers, gnarled and rough, resembled the claws of an eagle. The color of this spirit was dark brown, the most undesirable color in the Spirit World, for it indicates the lowest state of existence. His robe of the same color was caught at the wrist in such a manner that, when he lifted his arms, he resembled a huge flying bat.

My guide explained to me that such a spirit spent most of his time on 100

the earth, endeavoring to win over mortals to a life of sin and evil such as he had himself indulged in.

Such are the army of evil spirits whose only work is to sway mortals to low desires or to possess their minds for purposes of malefactions.

They are the army of wrong, in whom love of good has atrophied until they recoil from the high things of the spirit as from an element deadly to their nature. Change from this state is hard indeed, but not impossible, for there, as here, everyone is left to carve out his own destiny.

In himself repose the seeds of change. He alone can make them grow. But the farther such a soul has departed from good, the harder it is to return. Every evil deed demands its compensation, and the balance must be struck in the soul. In this sense only is there Heaven and Hell.

"What we are is what becomes of us!" Yet the slightest sigh for change is heard and guidance given.

101

After-Suicide Experiences Geoffrey Hodson Clairvoyant Research and The Life After Death (1935)

Such are the general conditions which we shall all indubitably find when our time comes to go there or when we gain the power to see clairvoyantly into that world from this. One might round out such a description of the normal conditions by adding to it information about the abnormal.

For suicides, for example, there would seem to be at least three varieties of after-death experience. The nobly and unselfishly motivated suicide, after the shock which generally accompanies sudden death, settles down to the new life under the normal conditions previously described. Often there is, in these cases, no coma, and no time in which the person can readjust his consciousness in the ordinary way to the altered conditions of his life, but the very purity of his consciousness will assist him to make that readjustment, to see the facts of the new life in correct perspective directly his eyes open to it.

Suicides of the second class, less worthy because more selfishly 102

motivated, sink into blank unconsciousness immediately on leaving the physical body, and remain in that condition until the time at which their ordinary death would have come upon them. Then, by the operation of some law of rhythm, they awaken, and take up their position in the new life. It is this fact of awakening when the natural term of physical life would have ended which has led me to believe that the time of death is fixed by our own conduct, of course that, apart from abnormal happenings, such as suicide, there is a time of natural death fixed for each one of us.

The third class of suicide is less enviable still. This comprises those men, rather gross and sensual, who have committed suicide in the full flush of life, often driven to it by passion or fear. In the new life they are still chained to the things of earth; their gross desires keep them earthbound; they can see the replica in subtle matter of the physical plane, and, unable to free themselves from that, they live in the half-world between this world and the next.

Driven by desires and passions which they cannot fully satisfy, they seek gratification by entering places of sensual indulgence on the physical plane, uniting their consciousness with that of the drunkard or the sensualist indulging there. In such circumstances the physical plane people experience intensification of their desires, so that the relationship, even though they are ignorant of it, is as harmful for 103

them as for the earthbound souls obtaining gratification through them.

To the theosophist, possessed of this knowledge, suicide is always a mistake. Suicide solves no existing problems, and undoubtedly raises new ones, thereby complicating the situation from which it is used as a means of escape. For, eventually, every obligation must be met, every debt paid, every pain lived through. "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." It is far better, therefore, to endure a situation, no matter how painful it may be, than by attempted evasion to perpetuate and intensify its difficulties.

Suicide does intensify difficulties, because it brings the additional complication of self-murder, the karmic reaction from which almost always adversely affect the stage of spiritual life.

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Hatred and Suicide Spirit AndrĂŠ Luiz - Francisco CĂ˘ndido Xavier The Astral City (1944)

Suicidal criminal! Infamous wretch! I heard insults from all directions. But where were they coming from?

At times I caught glimpses of them as they slipped in and out of the darkness. Through my despair, mustering all my strength, I threw myself against them. In vain I beat the air in my show of rage. I heard laughter as they vanished again into the shadows. Whom could I turn to for help? I was tortured by hunger and parched with thirst. The demands of my physical existence on Earth continued here: my beard kept growing, my garments were beginning to show the signs of my struggles.

Yet the most painful part of my trial was not the pitiful abandon in which I found myself, but the incessant attacks of the evil forces which surrounded me in the darkness. I was unnerved and utterly unable to coordinate my situation, to weigh its causes and establish new currents of thought. But those accusing voices bewildered me beyond my imagination. 105

"What are you seeking, you miserable fool? Where are you going, suicidal wretch?"

Such accusations, ceaselessly repeated, threw my mind into absolute confusion. I might well be miserable, but suicidal? Never! Those charges were wrong, as far as I could see. I had left my body most unwillingly, after a desperate struggle with death. I could still hear the last medical diagnosis at the hospital. I remembered clearly the efficient care and the painful dressings during those weary days that followed my intestinal operation. The recollection of the closing scenes of my earthly days was so vivid that I could even feel the touch of the thermometer and the disagreeable prick of the hypodermic needle.

Finally, my last recollection before my great sleep: my wife, still young, and my three children gazing at me in anguish at the prospect of eternal separation. Then, afterwards, my awakening to dreary and damp surroundings, to a never-ending nightmare flight.

Why was I being accused of suicide when I had been forced to give up my hope, my family and all that I held dear? Even the strongest man must come to the end of his emotional powers of resistance. So it was with me. Firm and resolute at the start, I gradually began to fall 106

into long lapses of depression, and in my total ignorance of the fate in store for me, my usual fortitude yielded to despondency. More and more frequently tears welled in my eyes, long pent-up in heavy heart.

To whom could I appeal? With all of the sophisticated intellectual culture I had brought from the world, I could do nothing to alter my present situation. Before the Infinite, my knowledge was like a tiny soap bubble, blown about by the impetuous winds of the transformation.

Surely I was not out of my senses! I did not feel different. I felt that my conscience was alert and that I was essentially the same man with the same feelings and culture as before.

My physiological needs continued unchanged. A gnawing hunger preyed on my every fiber; yet in my ever-increasing weakness I never reached the point of complete exhaustion. Now and then I came across some wild herbs growing along mere trickles of water. I devoured the unfamiliar leaves and drank the water avidly. I could stop only a few seconds at a time, for those irresistible forces were ever spurring me on.

Oftentimes I tasted the mud by the roadside, recalling with burning tears the daily bread of olden days. Frequently I was obliged to hide 107

from enormous herds of monstrous beings which trampled past me like a band of insatiable beasts. Those were blood-curdling sights! When my despair had almost reached its climax, it began to dawn on me that somewhere a Creator of Life must exist. The thought seemed to comfort me. I, who in the world had hated all religious creeds, was now feeling the need for spiritual consolation.

As a physician who prided himself on his ultra-modern principles of skepticism, so much in vogue in my time, I had to admit I was a perfect failure. Gone was all the self-importance which had seemed so real to my eyes. I saw now that I had to change my mental attitude. When at last I came to the end of my strength and lay helpless in the mire, unable to rise, I implored that Creator of All Things to take pity on me and come to my aid in my desperate plight.

How long did my pleading last? How may hours did I spend praying like a frightened child? It was impossible to say. I only knew that copious tears ran down my cheeks and my whole being seemed to merge into one anguished plea. Had I been utterly abandoned? Was I not also a child of God, although in the whirl of earthly vanities I had never given a thought to His divine works?

I knew the Eternal Father would surely forgive me. Did He not extend His loving care to the birds of the air and flowers of the field? Ah, 108

one must suffer a great deal in order to understand the mysterious beauty of prayer. One must know remorse, humiliation and utter misery to fully appreciate the sublime sweetness of Hope! It was at that moment that the dense mist all around cleared away, and a person came forward. An envoy from Heaven! He was a fatherly old man, who bent over me and gazed intently into my face with his large, clear eyes.

With a benevolent smile he said to me:

"Courage, my son! The

Lord has not forsaken you."

Heart-felt tears seemed to flood my very soul. I tried to express my grateful relief, to thank him for the consolation he had brought, yet I only had the strength to ask: "Who are you, generous messenger of God ?"

My unexpected benefactor smiled kindly and replied: "My name is Clarence. I am only a brother." And, noticing my exhaustion, he added: "You must keep quiet and calm. It is necessary for you to rest to restore your strength."

Then we called two persons who were waiting attentively, and ordered: "Let us provide our friend with first aid."

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Immortality and Our Employments Hereafter

JM Peebles

The

Spirit Stewart’s Exploration of the Hells, through the Mediumship of Thomas Walker.

“The spirit-world, almost measureless in extent, has actual localities, as well as conditions, where sympathizing spirits meet. A higher spirit may visit the lower spheres, but the reverse is impossible.

“Leaving our beautiful spirit home, crossing Angel Lake, and descending a deep decline, we come to a sluggish rolling river at the foot of the hills of Eternal Sorrow. Then ascending a mountain, and standing upon one of its loftiest peaks, we look behind, observing Angel Lake nearly a hundred miles in the distance, appearing a bright and luminous star-point upon the horizon, with broad intervening valleys.

“Turning our attention to what is before us, we see in the widened distance a misty darkness, and as we descend in an opposite direction from which we came, the darkness becomes more and more intensified. There is no vegetation, no sparkling rivers nor smiling lakes. As we pass on, coming to the base of a range of hills, rising and crossing them, the harsh cries, and the hoarse agonies that appall the soul, reveal the fact that we are in the neighborhood of dark and undeveloped spirits. 110

“We stand for a moment — for there are twelve in our party — to mature plans for the thorough investigation of these cities of strife. We each take a separate path, leading to different portions, I having the most direct route assigned to me. I walk steadily, thoughtfully along, the darkness fading into a lurid, dusky, phosphorescent light, until I come to a huge cavern, around which are fierce reptiles, crawling lizards, and slimy serpents, winding around each other as though in fond embraces. In the atmosphere are vultures, black and dismal — everything is terribly repulsive!

“Reflecting for a few moments before entering the cavern for investigation, we come to the conclusion that these fierce, loathsome, and horrid creatures are the natural out births of just such dismal localities as this.

Descending beneath the overarching ceiling, we discover a capacious, vault-like room, where reside two women and one man. Inquiring, we are informed that the two women, in a quarrel about the man, and their social relations with him, had, while on earth, murdered each other, the one dying immediately, the other living a few days to rave in anger.

The vile man soon after committed suicide! In malice, hate, and strife 111

they lived on earth, and dying in strife they were borne into the spirit world; hence their home is in the City of Strife! And as if to remind them of their past deeds, pictured streams of blood seemingly roll down the sides of the deep black walls of their dismal abode!

“In relating the sad story to us they occasionally quarrel, accusing each other, and moaning in spirit; and as they do this, the reptiles and animals, so demon-like without, mock them, and ghastly, bat-like creatures screech in dismal discords that echo through the cave-chambers. Here these persons are doomed to remain till by punishment, by penance, by repentance and active deeds of reparation, they shall make amends for the past.

“Leaving the cavern by its only entrance, we find ourselves once more in the more free but impure atmosphere. We have no great distance to go before we come upon a cluster of wretched huts. Their exteriors are coarse and painful to behold, and their interiors are in perfect correspondence. Insects and lizards are also here, and the denizens of the air are pouring out their jarring discords. The occupants of these squalid homes are of the same quarrelsome nature as the one we have just left. named.

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“The City of Strife” is justly

Is Suicide a Disgrace? Frank L. Hammer Life and its Mysteries (1945)

Suicide or self-destruction is a sin. No man has the right to take his own life or that of another. Furthermore, suicide accomplishes naught, but is in reality a jump from the frying pan into the fire. The individual does not run out on life as he supposes but finds himself more alive than before. He is bound to earth with his obligations still to meet, his problems to solve, his duties to perform, but no longer having his physical body it takes him longer. Instead of liberation he has found slavery. Those who are mentally ill when committing suicide are not held accountable for the act, but they are responsible for the conditions which prompted it. Such misguided individuals need help, and above all knowledge of immortality which would deter them from making such a dreadful mistake.

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Suicide Averted by His 'Dead' Wife' John Henry Remmers The Great Reality (1967)

No candid student of the evidence, so carefully sifted in recent years, can (in my opinion) resist the conclusion that there exists an unseen world of intelligent beings, some of whom have striven to prove, with more or less success, that they once lived on earth.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Sir William Barrett.

To write of my psychic experiences I have had to refer so much to myself and therefore I hesitated to publish this book. However, is it not the experiences that happen to us directly which leave the deepest impressions and actually make us what we are?

So, after all, what better evidence can I offer for Survival than that which I myself have experienced without the aid of a medium? Nevertheless, I shall ever be grateful to those direct-voice mediums, Mrs. Presnall and Mrs. Bartlett, through whose wonderful powers I gained unshakable conviction in the early days of my investigation. I could write a volume on the excellent mediumship of these God-gifted women. 114

I was brought in contact with Mrs. Presnall by a friend, John Lipps, to whom I owe a debt of everlasting gratitude. I heard of Mrs. Bartlett through a teacher of New Thought philosophy. This woman spoke so highly of Mrs. Bartlett that Emily and I decided to attend one of her sĂŠances.

However, we had difficulty in locating her from the address which was given us. We were about to give up our attempt when we suddenly came upon a short lane, more like a small alley. At the very end we finally found the address we were seeking. Here was a modest little house, rather shabby in appearance, the home of a widow, Mrs. Susan Bartlett. It was springtime and the front door of the house was wide open.

Looking in, we saw ten or twelve plain wooden chairs placed in a sort of half-circle with a rocker at the open end. Otherwise the room was almost bare of furniture. Frankly, it was not too inviting, but if you were dying of thirst would you refuse a drink from a shabby cup?

God, so it seems, has a wondrous way of teaching us humility before He bestows His most precious gifts. We entered the room and became seated. Presently a robust, cheerful woman, seemingly of Irish descent, entered from another part of the house and greeted us 115

pleasantly. "Have you folks come for a sitting?" she questioned.

"Yes," I answered, "may we remain?" "Certainly," she replied, "just be comfortable; the others will be here in a little while." And with this she left the room. No other conversation passed between us. No names or any information of any sort were given. Soon others came, strangers to us. When all chairs were filled the medium locked the door through which she came in, and also the front door where we entered, then switched off the lights. All present said the Lord's Prayer aloud. Several songs were sung. Then a resonant voice, that of the spirit control, Dr. Highlander, greeted the group and all responded with a joyous welcome.

For a time we listened to natural conversations between incarnate and discarnate personalities. Then to my utter amazement one after another of our own relatives spoke to us, giving their names without hesitation, revealing mannerisms of character and speech, all offering indisputable proof of their identity. Many sittings with Mrs. Bartlett followed.

Through the powerful mediumship of this kindly woman I had the great privilege of witnessing manifestations of a most marvelous nature, miracles to the uninitiated. I know, however, those who have had like experiences will understand. Here, in the midst of humble 116

surroundings, I found the most brilliant gems of truth.

During 1925, Emily and I began experimenting in our own home. After three months, mediumship began to unfold with the result that for almost fifteen years after, hardly a week elapsed when I did not speak to our son, John, my mother or other members of our family through the remarkable mediumship of my wife. I acknowledge this blessing with the deepest gratitude and humility. But we made many sacrifices, both socially and materially. It was not an easy way to live in a world of rank materialism. However, it is the price one must be willing to pay for a treasure money cannot buy.

Recalling my own critical attitude to all mediumship, in the early days of my investigations, and keeping in mind that such is the attitude of most careful investigators of physical mediumship, I choose in this treatise (with the purpose of bringing conviction) to speak much of my own clairvoyant and clairaudient experiences. And I hope I have brought true consolation to those in sorrow. It is mainly for this reason that I record these experiences.

Research in this field is of more importance than any other facet of human endeavor.

Medical science strives to prolong man's span and to save children's 117

lives. While on the other hand automotive engineers design speedier and speedier cars for more and more carnage, causing the murder of old people and little children on our streets and highways.

Man has learned how to split the atom and detonate hydrogen bombs to destroy at one blow millions of innocent humans. But man knows less about his spiritual self today than he did twenty centuries ago. For the past forty years I have devoted most of my spare time to reading, to thought and experimentation of this subject.

It is a field of research so vast that I now feel like a child in the "kindergarten" of life. However, I have, through the development of my own mediumship, contacted many personalities of the fourth dimension-people of recent passing and others who left the earth centuries ago. I shall relate two experiences as examples. On one occasion, some years ago, I was waiting in a garage for repairs to my car.

We were returning to Cincinnati early the following morning after vacationing in California. I suddenly became aware of the spirit figure of a woman standing before a man who, in a dejected manner, was sitting on the rear bumper of a nearby car. The woman looked appealingly into my eyes. The thought I received from her: "I am his wife Margaret. Please tell him not to do what he is contemplating." 118

I hesitated, the man was a perfect stranger. Then an influence stronger than I could resist seemed to overcome my hesitancy and reluctantly I sat down by his side. Hardly knowing how to begin, I finally said: "Sir, I do not know how you are going to take this, but standing here before us is the spirit form of a woman (describing her) who tells me she is Margaret, your wife."

For a brief space the man continued to gaze upon the ground as though he had not heard. Then suddenly he raised his face, and with an expression of complete bewilderment exclaimed, "What did you say?" I repeated what I had said, then asked: "Does the description fit your wife, and is Margaret her name?"

"Yes," he answered hesitatingly.

Then he asked, "Did you know her?"

"No, I did not, and to the best of my knowledge I have never seen you before. It seems she is most anxious that I tell you not to do what you are contemplating."

He gazed upon me with an expression of utter astonishment. "But my wifeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;she is dead. We just buried her a few days ago." 119

"That is what you think," I answered, "but it is not so! All you buried was her material body. No one ever actually dies. Your wife is standing here very much alive in her ethereal body. She pleads with me to tell you not to do the terrible thing you are contemplating. Is it suicide?"

"Yes. I was planning to do so tonight. I feel I cannot live without her."

"You must not do that," I told him in a most emphatic manner.

"If you do you will only be destroying your physical body; your personality cannot be destroyed. You will go on in a fourth dimension, earthbound, confused, bewildered, not realizing your condition and unable to see the wife you love so dearly. You must not go through with it! If you do it will keep you and your wife separated for a long time."

After a lengthy discussion, there followed a tender story of love and devotion over many years. He told me he had just recently retired, and that they had planned to spend many happy days together traveling in the very car on which we were sitting. I gave him a list of books to read and warned him that he might encounter much fraud before finding a genuine medium through whose power his wife 120

could speak with him. This experience with a personality who had just passed into the new life was as gratifying to me as it was to the recipient. In contrast let me relate an experience with a personality who had passed on hundreds of years ago.

One evening, while in a most peaceful and relaxed mood, I distinctly heard a voice, "Christo Colombo." (It did not say Christopher Columbus.)

Surprised, I questioned: "Christo Columbo! What brings you into my humble presence?"

Without hesitation, the answer came in rather an amused tone: "I tried to tell men of another continent and the wise ones laughed me to scorn. You have been trying to convince them of another world, a spiritual world. Do not be discouraged. Time will prove you right, just as it did in my case."

At that moment the person of Christopher Columbus was farthest from my mind. Many personalities have come to me out of the long ago past, many of whom I have never read about nor heard of, but at all times the names and other information they gave, upon investigation, proved correct.

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These have been experiences of a most fascinating nature. Hamlin Garland, in his remarkable book, The Mystery of the Buried Crosses, tells of his experiences talking voice to voice, through the mediumship of Sophia Williams, with padres and early explorers of New Mexico, Arizona and California. To mention just a few: Padre Prospero 1525, Coronado 1540, Espejo 1583, Onate 1604 and Garces 1771.

The evidence for Survival presented in this book is of such startling nature that no reasonable mind can reject it. Our critics would like to set all this aside under the heading of "Hallucination." But the fact that I have often seen and heard, with strangers, their relatives and friends who had passed into the next dimension and they are recognized, leaves our critic with but one alternative, "mind-reading."

But this also fails him in cases like the Indian woman and the Ollah, or our colored friends, the spirit parents of David Armstrong. Both these cases definitely set aside the argument that I read the minds of those present when the manifestations occurred.

Neither of the recipients had any knowledge of the facts presented. I am certain the unbiased, unprejudiced mind will accept this indisputable proof of spirit manifestation. After all, do we not base all of our knowledge on personal or recorded experiences, biblical or 122

otherwise? Experiences are continually changing, widening our knowledge as we progress mentally. Do we still believe the earth is the centre of the universe?

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A Word about Suicides Max Heindel The Passing â&#x20AC;&#x201D; And Life Afterward (1971)

A word must be said here about the suicide, who tries to get away from life only to find that he is as much alive as ever. His is the most pitiable plight. He is able to watch those whom he has, perhaps, disgraced by his act, and worst of all, he has an unspeakable feeling of being "hollowed out." The part in the ovoid aura where the dense body used to be is empty, and although the desire body has taken the form of the discarded dense body, it feels like an empty shell, because the creative archetype of the body in the Region of Concrete Thought persists as an empty mold, so to speak, as long as the dense

body should properly have lived. The archetype--the

"model" of each Ego's dense body, around which the body takes shape--is made of mind-stuff and set

to vibrating for a previously

determined period of time.

When a person meets a natural death, even in the prime of life, the activity of the archetype ceases, and the desire body adjusts itself so as to occupy the whole of the form. In the case of the suicide, however, that awful feeling of "emptiness" remains until the time 124

comes when, in the natural course of events, his death would have occurred. The impression of this particularly unpleasant experience remains with the Ego, and is instrumental in inspiring this person to prevent others from falling prey to the temptation of suicide.

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Suicide The Silver Birch Book of Questions and Answers Silver Birch (1998)

Question: Is it ever permissible for a person to pass on by his own act, such as the one who is left of a devoted companionship?

NO, you must live your lives according to the Law, for the Law is always perfect in its operation. It is controlled by perfect love and by the Great Spirit who is in all things and who works through all things. You have no right to interfere with the operation of the Law, and if you do you must pay the price for cutting yourself off.

If you force the apple to drop from the tree before it is ripe, then the apple has no sweetness. If you force yourself to go into the next stage of life before your spirit is ready, then you will have to pay the price in the long adjustment that you will have to make. It will also have the effect of causing you to be separate from the ones you love, for you will have made a gulf.

Question:

What is the status of suicide in the spirit world?

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You cannot answer that right away. It depends on the earthly life that has been lived; it depends upon the qualities that have been developed; it depends upon the soulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s progress; and, above all these things, it depends on the motive. The churches are wrong when they say that all suicide comes in the same category; it does not.

While you have no right to terminate your earthly existence, there are undoubtedly in many cases, ameliorating factors, mitigating circumstances, to be considered. No soul is better off because it has terminated its earthly existence. But it does not automatically follow that every suicide is consigned for aeons of time into the darkest of the dark spheres.

Question:

Does the suicide suffer any great setback when he takes

his own life?

Of course. Although there are always exceptions, but they form the minority. As you know, in all cases I always say the motive is the dominating interest. But your soul is judged on its own conduct. You write with your own hand your own book of life. The entries are indelible; you cannot cheat. You judge yourselves. The law is fixed and unalterable. We say face up to your responsibility. No situation is as dark as you think it is.

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Euthanasia and Suicide George Nicol About Spirit (2008)

From the spiritual point of view are euthanasia and suicide right or wrong? What all advocates of euthanasia and suicide do not know and what they should understand – indeed what all people, even non-advocates of euthanasia and suicide should know and understand as their opinions can easily change as circumstances and conditions change – is that the physical world and all aspects of existence in the physical world have been created by spirit solely for the purpose of spiritual development and evolution.

Spirit created and maintains the physical world, the physical existence and the physical experience solely for spiritual reasons and for spiritual purposes. This is the only reason for the creation and for the continual existence of the physical world.

The physical and the things of the physical world are provided by spirit only for the sake of the spiritual — not for the sake of the physical. The positive and negative experiences that occur and are experienced in the physical world are intended by spirit solely to 128

prompt and promote the spiritual nature of individuals and the spiritual lessons that such experiences provide can only be provided in the physical world and through the physical experience.

When the spiritual, therefore, does not occur because of the physical existence and experience, the physical has not fulfilled its primary purpose and the reason for its existence â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and when the spiritual does not occur very well then the physical has not fulfilled its primary purpose very well.

Spirit concerns itself primarily with spirit and the things of the spirit. Matter and the things and experiences of matter are created and provided by spirit for spiritual purposes and for spiritual ends. Materialism is intended not for its own sake but for the sake of spirit. Therefore, from the perspective and opinion of the spirit, true success occurs not when an individual has an abundance of material things but when an individual has made great spiritual progress as a result of material things and the material existence.

Therefore, whenever it is the case that the thoughts and subsequent actions of an individual or individuals in any way prevent essential spiritual lessons being learned from physical experiences, the thoughts and actions of those individuals directly oppose the intentions and purposes of the spirit. In other words their thoughts and 129

actions directly oppose the will of spirit and contravene spirit law. Their thoughts and actions are unspiritual â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and because spirit is nature their thoughts and actions are also unnatural. An example of how an individual prevents essential spiritual lessons being learned from the physical experience is when an individual practises euthanasia or commits suicide. Unfortunately, because such practices are unspiritual and unnatural, and because they contravene natural law they must automatically create negative karmic consequences which require atonement for all parties involved in the euthanasia or suicide.

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Spiritualism versus Suicide — Robert Bayer — Editor — [2017]