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LETTER XXIX
AN
UNEXPECTED WARNING
I
should be very sorry if the reading of these letters of mine should cause
foolish and unthinking people to go spirit-hunting, inviting into the human
sphere the irresponsible and often lying elemental spirits. Tell them not to do
it.
My coming in this way through your hand is quite another matter. I could not
do it if I had not been instructed in the scientific method of procedure, and I
also could not do it if you should constantly interrupt me by side-thoughts of
your own, and by questions relevant or irrelevant. It is because you are
perfectly passive and not even curious, letting me use your hand as on earth I
would have used the hand of my stenographer, that I am able to write long and
connected sentences.
Most spirit communications, even when genuine, have
little value, for the reason that they are nearly always coloured by the mind of
the person through whom they pass.
You are right in reading nothing on the subject while these
messages are coming, and in thinking nothing about this plane of life where I
am. Thus you avoid preconceived ideas, which would interrupt the flow of my
ideas.
You know, perhaps, that while on earth I investigated
spiritualism, as I investigated many things of an occult nature, looking always
for the truth that was behind them; but I was convinced then, and I am now more
than ever convinced, that, except for the scientific demonstration that such
things can be—which, of course, has value as a demonstration only, –most spirit
hunting is not only a waste of time, but an absolute detriment to those who
engage in it.
This may sound strange coming from a so-called “spirit,” one
who is actually at this time in communication with the world. If that is so, I
cannot help it. If I seem inconsistent, then I seem so; that is all. But I wish
to go on record as discouraging irresponsible mediumship.
If a person sitting for mediumship could be
sure that at the other end of the psychic line there was an entity who had
something sincere and important to say, and who really could use him or her to
say it through, it would be another matter; but this world out here is full of
vagrants, even as the earth. As this world is peopled largely from your world,
it is inevitable that we have the same kind of beings that you have. They have
not changed much in passing through the doors of death.
Would you advise any delicate and sensitive woman to sit down
in the center of Hyde Park, and invite the passing crowds to come and speak
through her, or touch her, or mingle their magnetism with hers? You shudder. You
would shudder more had you seen some of the things which I have seen.
Then, too, there is another class of beings here, the kind
which we used to hear the Theosophists call elementals. Now, there has been a
lot of nonsense written about elementals; but take this for a fact: there are
units of energy, units of consciousness, which correspond pretty closely to what
the Theosophists understand by elementals. These entities are not, as a rule,
very highly developed; but as the stage of earth life is the stage to which they
aspire, and as it is the next inevitable stage in their evolution, they are
drawn to it powerfully.
So do not be too sure that the entity
which raps on your table or your cupboard is the spirit of your deceased
grandfather. It may be merely a blind and very desirous entity, an eager
consciousness, trying to use you to hasten its own evolution, trying to get into
you or through you, so as to enjoy the earth and the coarser vibrations of the
earth.
It may not be able to harm you, but, on the other hand, it
may do you a great deal of harm. You had better discourage such attempts to
break through the veil which separates you from them; for the veil is thinner
than you think, and though you cannot see through it, you can feel through it.
Having said this, my duty in the matter is discharged; and
the next time I come I can tell you a story, maybe, instead of giving you a
lecture.
I really feel like an astral Scheherazade; but I fear you
would tire of me before a thousand-and-one nights were past. A thousand-and-one
nights! Before that time I shall have gone on. No, I do not mean “died” again
into another world beyond; but when I get through telling you what I desire you
to know about my life here, I want to investigate other stars, if it shall be
permitted.
I am like a young man who has lately inherited
a fortune and has at last unlimited means and opportunity for travel. Though he
might stay around home a few months, getting matters in shape and becoming
adjusted to his new freedom of movement, yet the time would come when he would
want to try his wings. I hope that is not a mixed metaphor; if so, you can edit
me. I shall not feel hurt.
LETTER XXX
LETTER
XXVIII |
