Class fhf^ Q Book. -C I (bpyrigM CDPXRIGHT DEPOSm INSIGHT tsJU^W; %? • ^>V^ ^ A RECORD OF PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES A SERIES OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS DEALING WITH THE WORLD OF FACTS, THE WORLD OF IDEALS AND THE WORLD OF REALITIES BEYOND DEATH "So from me world of Spirit mere descends A bridge of light connecting it -wim mis." TfRISTOPjf^ PUBLISHING HOUSE BOSTON Copyright igi8 By The Christopher Publishing House MAY 17 !S!8 >>• 'GL A 49 7 3 11 1 ■ * I FOREWORD. These communications were received by a small group of persons belonging to the same family, under the conditions more or less clearly indicated in the writings themselves. They purported to come from a very lofty spiritual influence who desired to be known by the name of Insight. He stated in our first inter- view in reply to urgent entreaty, that he had lived on this earth in the fifteenth century. He was a poor monk but he is now in one of the heavenly spheres and his mission is to teach those who are seeking spiritual knowledge. He preferred to call the members of the group by names symbolic of certain qualities — such as Aspiration, Courage and Endurance. His teachings contain great truths and since the beautiful personali- ties who bore these names have all passed into that higher sphere, so graphically described by Insight — this record is now published by one who discerns its great value. PREFACE The two or three interviews with Insight, which preceded the one with which this volume begins, were not preserved for the reason that it was not known the writings would have any definite sequence. When we became impressed with the value of the teachings we were careful to copy them accurately. I cannot be sure some slight errors may not have occurred m the copying for at the first we did not always keep a record of the questions asked, and it was necessary sometimes to supply these from memory. This, together with in<- experience on the part of the questioners will account for most of the repetitions and slight contradictions which appear. INSIGHT COMMUNICATION I. Insight, are you present in this room or do you in- fluence the writer from where you are? "From where I always am — and you are with me, not I with you." Then there is no spiritual presence here? "The spiritual presence of what you are is always with you." What kind of a body have you? "I have a heavenly body ; there are bodies terrestrial, and there are bodies celestial." How do you happen to come to us? "I am one of the links, in the chain that connects heaven and earth. Per- haps you will understand better by my saying I am a part of a channel through which the Divine flows. I am really in the Celestial, but I can communicate through other links." What does that mean? "The many that form the chain of which I told you." How can we improve in spiritual things? "By the teachings of Christ." Will you always come to us? "I have many other duties which you could not understand. Very soon I go to another part of the universe, not your world." Are you going to another city? "No, to another 10 INSIGHT order of creation altogether; it is quite beyond any- earthly knowledge." Are there any more worlds like ours? "None just like this earth." Are there not seven including ours? "Yes, and many more ; they are the bodies of the real worlds which are their souls." How many worlds do you visit? "I go to all of which you are a part." Will you not tell us how many, and what they are? "You know what your system consists of, do you not? There are more than your scientists have dis- covered, for each world has its spiritual counterpart. The spiritual worlds are the real worlds, and your earth is but a shadow of its heaven. There are really twenty- one worlds in your system; that means the planets which are visible to your eyes, and others of which you can know nothing with your present senses." How did you develop your spiritual condition when you were on earth? "I was kept in a spiritual condi- tion by nursing the sick." Were you a physician on earth? "No, I was a poor monk, sunk in superstition and ignorance." How could nursing the sick keep you in a spiritual condition? "As you are in sympathy with your brother, you are in sympathy with the Father of all." How do you come to us, and why ? "You are brought to me, by your great desire for spiritual growth. It is my mission to help all who are cultivating their in- sight into higher things." Are you in heaven, and are you perfectly happy? INSIGHT 11 "Yes, but not in the highest heaven ; and though I am full to my present capacity, I shall expand more and more." Do you remember the events of your human life? "I do not, unless I am brought into a state for that purpose, where I can realize them." Is Christ God? "He is as much of God as the finite mind can understand." Is not the spiritual part of mankind, part of God? "We shall all, in the end, form part of the Perfect Man." Is the life of Christ as told in the New Testament, true? "In its spiritual sense, it is." Was Christ not simply man? "No; he was God re- vealed to man." Is the account of his conception and birth correct? "That idea is as near as sensuous man can understand it." Do you ever see Christ? "It depends upon my spir- itual condition." Does your condition change or vary? "Yes; every- thing but the Infinite is liable to change." Is not Christ where you can always see him? "Christ is like the sun; he is always in the highest heavens, for our light, but we cannot always see him." What is the allotted time for man to live? "Nearly a hundred years is the allotted time, if you live as you should. A man should live the first three sevens of his life in gaining strength ; the next four sevens he attains to his full maturity, and now he only lives about another three sevens, and this should not be. The life of man now is but seventy years, which is not his full time." 12 INSIGHT How should we live, to attain the normal age ? "Live more naturally, not eating or drinking or dressing to make yourselves uncomfortable or unhealthy, simple food and only to satisfy hunger, not to gratify appe- tite." Will you tell us something about the manner of your coming to us ? "I really do not reach you for you obtain all knowledge from one source and that is within you. I am called "INSIGHT" for convenience. I reach your outer understanding, but it is not I but God who is in you and forms a part of you." What is our first condition in the world where we go after death? "One must learn to live in the spiritual world, as the infant in the physical world. At first all is received as by little children but afterward it is different ; you assert your individuality and seek what you desire. If good, you seek good, but if not, you seek evil. Death does not change you ; you always bring with you, your- self or character." Has Christ ever returned to earth since his resur- rection and ascension? "Christ comes to the earth con- tinually but is only visible to pure spirit." Has he ever come in a material form since his life here? "Never." Are Christ and God the same? "Christ is the highest manifestation of the great Unseen One possible to man. No man has ever seen God but as Christ has revealed Him. To man in his present condition, God is above all that he can possibly conceive." It is right to worship Christ ? "Man is right to wor- ship his highest conception of the Divine or else he could not worship at all. Through Christ or through INSIGHT 13 the love of God brought within man's comprehension, God made the world. If you worship God at all you must worship some intelligent conception of Him and you can have none without giving Him a personality." Are God and Christ identical? "You are taught in the book that 'My Father is greater than I.' You have also learned that 'In the end all things shall be delivered up, that God may be all in all.' " What is the meaning of "All in all?" "That God may be in all creation, and all creation in Him. It is the surrender of matter to spirit." Why is M 's guardian angel called Courage? "The meaning of courage I must explain, in order that you may understand me when I say that in spiritual things it is the great power to overcome that courage is in the physical world. You know the distinction between brute courage and moral courage. You also wish to know about Endurance. Endurance and cour- age are attributes of a high order of spiritual attain- ment and are near akin, courage being more active and endurance more passive. Endurance in the natural world gives strength to resist ; in the spiritual it also resists, but courage does more, it not only resists but it creates. The combination of aspiration, courage and endurance is rare and has made this communication possible. If they were in the same spirit, in one per- sonality, they would produce wonderful results. Often aspiration is only a sentiment, but united with the others it is more ; it is an active element ; together, the union is worthy of entering my sphere." What is faith? "Faith is the highest reach of the earth-bound soul." 14 INSIGHT Should we not pray believing that our prayers will be answered? "Yes; faith in spiritual chemistry is what some acids are in material. You know how some acids make new combinations. That explains how, without changing laws, prayer can be answered." Can this apply to material things as far as faith is concerned ? "Yes ; prayer for material things is an- swered. Prayer is always good, if not selfish, for it is bringing oneself into union with God." Can you tell us something more of the world where one goes immediately after death? "The spiritual world which lies within your present abode is of great interest to you and it is legitimate for you to inquire about. The spiritual world next to your own is a world analogous to your present one, and when you reach it you will enjoy yourselves in many ways as you do in your present one. It will also be a world in which you will learn to know yourself as you really are for you will then be unclothed." Do you come to many as you do to us? "All who desire insight into real truth come to me or to one of my company." How could we communicate with you if we had no one who could write? "The conditions are unusual, which is the cause of the freedom of our intercourse." How do you write through Endurance? "I use her physical strength in the same manner that all thought uses the brain force." COMMUNICATION II. What is spiritual force? "Spiritual force is the love INSIGHT 15 of the Divine put into action on a material plane. Spiritual force first projected itself into matter, and humanity must bring it back to its source. Creation was devised for this purpose. Endurance, think of what I said about first material and then spiritual and that is one of the answers to that thought. To your material senses first what is natural, then what is spir- itual. God first projected Himself into the lowest forms of matter and is gradually bringing matter back to Himself." How long has this process been going on? "There is no way by which you could be made to understand the immense number of ages." Was matter at first more spiritual than it is now? "No, matter was never spiritual in itself, but when man became fit for the divine spark, matter began to be capable of rising." Is God an intelligent individuality? "God is all in- telligence, there is no intelligence which is not God." Why did God project Himself into matter? "That is a question which I, with all my insight could not under- stand. Can man find out God or understand Him? Only God can understand God. The first intentions of such a being must forever remain undiscovered." Would you tell us what you think about it? "What I think is, that as God is love His desire is to be loved in return." Do we manifest our love to God by loving humanity? "That is the only way back to God, each man has his divine spark; the only way in which it is possible to kindle a great fire is in the unity of all these separate sparks. As man loves his brother he unites his spark 16 INSIGHT of the Divine with his brothers' and helps to bring all back again to the original source." Can that part of God in man called Soul or Spirit be contaminated by sin? "Sin drives it out of a man but it cannot contaminate it or destroy it for it is eternal." Then those who sin are in danger of having that part of God driven out of them? If so what becomes of it? "If they drive out the spirit it returns to Him who gave it." Why does not the Divine overcome the brute instinct? "Man is still developing and God has all eternity in which to complete His plans." Will the time come when all creation will revert back to God ? "Yes : that is the purpose of creation." When a man by sin drives God out of him what be- comes of his personality? "His body as it is material is not lost ; as you know, nothing that constitutes man in his complete form can be lost." What part is yours and what part is the writer's in these communications? "My part is to open her spiritual perceptions, her part is to give them form. She must be more trustful, the intelligence is already dormant in her spirit. I give the insight, she puts it into words. You get insight into truth which always existed. Truth is eternal." Will you explain the doctrine of the Trinity as taught in Churches? "The Trinity is the three aspects of God which human souls can assimilate and is not God, for God cannot be apprehended by humanity. The Father is "Wisdom." The Son is Love. The Spirit is the taking of that love into the soul. The result is that the soul becomes God. Christ said 'I am the way' for INSIGHT 17 it is the only way to understand the wisdom of God which is the Father. I wish to tell you of Christ. What the spirit of God is to each soul Christ is to united humanity. Christ came to show what is pos- sible for humanity to attain. The spirit of God that was in him had never before occupied any body, nor was ever made manifest. Your own perceptions must try to appropriate this mystery. Christ was direct from the Father." Do you ever see Christ? "Christ is always visible if my spiritual state is receptive. All that humanity can ever attain was manifested in Christ; man can form no image of God, he can only think of Him." Is it right to worship Christ? "You must worship what you understand and if you love you will gradually know something of the Father, that is wisdom." Are you in the spiritual world? "No: I am in heaven, the spiritual world is where all earthly things are left, where the soul is unclothed and prepared for heaven. There are many spheres in that world." What is the process of passing from that world to heaven? "The soul in that world follows its own affinities, as the body does on earth, and when it is prepared it comes into the state we call heaven." Will you describe the process, and tell us how long the soul remains in the spiritual world? "You leave there all your appetities, all your natural soul, and the time you are there depends on the use you have made of your opportunities in your world." Do you ever visit the spiritual world? "In a spiritual way as I seem to come to you." What is the process of arriving at such a spiritual 18 INSIGHT condition that we could go to that world? "You can find the right process for it has been revealed to you in the life of the Perfect Man. You do not understand but if you will investigate you will learn. You are not far advanced for you are learning by imperfect light, not by the sun." How can I learn by a perfect light? "By the life of Christ as you well know. Have you ever studied that life with a desire to see what help you could get from it for your improvement." How about all the ages before Christ was revealed? "There have always been spirits who were filled with the Holy fire but when the race of man was fit for Christ who was the fire itself, he came." What was man's spiritual condition before Christ? "Before Christ his forerunners were keeping men in spiritual connection with the Divine wisdom." Can the blood of Christ wash away human sin? "That is the intellectual lie, blood as a symbol is love, for blood, is the life of the body, as love is the life of the soul." Where are we to look for the truth? "In your spir- itual perceptions which receive their education through living a life of love and so bringing the soul into unity with God." Are the gospels as we have them true? "The gospels are true in their spiritual meaning. The gospels were written for all men and they must be apprehended, first literally then spiritually. The gospels are worth your most serious study for in them you find the clear- est statement in regard to spiritual things." Were they directly inspired by God? "They were all INSIGHT 19 written by men, that is the words that compose them were of men but the spirit or soul is of God." Are you in the same place with Paul? "The holy spirit whom you mean is above and beyond my state. In heaven there are many mansions." Have you music in heaven? "There is music, for music was not an invention of man it was a discovery." What are your occupations in heaven? "I have many duties and many pleasures which in your present state you could not comprehend but they are analogous to those which make up your life." Have you time there? "Time is measured only as sensation and it is recorded by your state toward God, when in perfect accord it is sunlight, when out of ac- cord it is twilight." What form have you, and are you visible? "The form' of a man and I am visible to all who are in per- fect harmony with me." Have you names ? "Yes : we have names which signify to ourselves and others our spiritual state." Did you remain long in the spiritual world? "I had to be taught many things for I had not your oppor- tunities of learning the perfect way of holiness." Was the world more material in your day? "The world was not as material, perhaps, as it is now, but intellectually it was more ignorant, therefore your dan- ger is all the greater; man must keep his spiritual nature in advance of his intelligence or great evils will befall humanity." Is this not a period of time when greater light is to be given? "No greater light can ever be given, but man can open the windows of his soul and receive it if 20 INSIGHT he will and the day of such opening is approaching." Do you think that I could ever have any power to communicate with your world? "You have great power for your earnest nature makes you very receptive." How have I power? "You are thinking of some vis- ible power and I of some spiritual power, and I do not think the former is necessary in your case for your spiritual eyes can behold the truth. Your spiritual eyes already see much that is true and when your life and endeavors are in perfect accord you will be con- scious of what, now, is only dim and vague to your vision." Do you see those you knew on earth? "In this world we are with those of our day and generation who are in our spiritual state." Do we keep the same friends? "No: for sometimes on earth our affinities are not our real ones." After the spirit is once born does it ever leave us? "The growth of the spirit in the soul is very slow but it goes on when there is sincere desire though you may not perceive it." Do many seek this kind of communion? "Many seek, but the conditions are not often so favorable. There is the union of Aspiration which seeks, Endur- ance which can bear the strain, and Courage which achieves. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst, said the Master." How can we get more light? "You do not need any illumination, what you need is to lead a life in unison with what you already know." Are there men who have supernatural power? INSIGHT £1 "There is no supernatural power for all is done by law, and there are no living men who can do anything against the laws of nature. There are men who have subjugated to themselves the elementary powers and use them, but it is not well for men must come to such knowledge in the way appointed which is by the use of their intelligence and intellectual powers ; for example ; man has conquered nature through study and can send his thought around the world which is the appointed way, not the way you are thinking of." Is not the guardian angel always the opposite in sex? "Yes : that is one of the most beautiful of God's laws in the education of the soul." COMMUNICATION III. INSIGHT: "I wish to speak with Investigation. Through his intellect man studies the natural world; the result is called science. With his spiritual percep- tions he studies the spiritual world; the result is Revel- ation. I wish to direct you in your search after the truth ; if you wish to know the laws of science, you take advantage of the knowledge that has been accumulated by men ; do the same if you would learn spiritual things. Christ is the way. You can only find him by your own development but you can be helped by what others have said and known of him. You can only be satisfied in your search by him. It is but in it you can be perfect, if you go to the fountain head." Are we not looking in the right direction? "You are in the right direction for man must first subdue 28 INSIGHT himself, and possess himself if he would be free, and freedom is the first essential." Are you ever with Endurance except at these times when she is writing? "Yes, I am often with her, always when she seeks insight into truth of any kind." Are you ever with others of us? "You all belong to my society and you can always have my assistance not by writing but as spirit speaks to spirit, I respond when- ever you gain a clear insight into any subject connected with your development." What do you mean by your society? How can we be advanced enough for that? "In the spiritual worlds there are social circles as there are with you, and you are members of the one to which I belong and which I represent." That is curious? "No it is not curious because you are all in sympathy, and advancement has nothing to do with it. Is an infant as advanced as its parents? Shall we remember the events of this life when we go to the spiritual world? "You will." Can you remember the events of your earth life? "I can be brought into that state but it is not well." Shall we be able to remember the incidents of this writing? "As a part of your spiritual growth you will remember. You remember what you appropriate of what I give you." What name shall we know you by when we meet in heaven? "There are new names here which you cannot now understand, but you will know me and I shall be a real personality to you all. I do not think you could know me now as you will here for matter shuts out spirit and you must wait, but a few years are not much." INSIGHT 23 A friend thinks this communication is not wise, for he says some bad influence might come into it without our knowledge? "The thought is a good one for such things often occur but never with such as you are, and I shall see that you are not troubled with the multitude who are watching and waiting to say their word." What do you mean by the multitude? "There are many spirits near your earth, some disembodied souls, some who belong to another sphere of existence." Does it cost you anything of your spirituality when we come to you in this way? "No: it is my highest pleasure and my duty." We are asked whether your present standpoint on the subject of Christ comes from your education and opinions while in your earth life? "From my standpoint there is nothing to take but Christ, but I see the thought in your mind brought from the mind of your friend. He referred to my standpoint on earth. I am far be- yond that now. That was not even the standpoint from which you regard Christ, for I knew nothing then but what I Was taught by a narrow creed." How do you cause the mechanical part of this writ- ing? "By my will power." Is this your hand writing? "I never learned to write on earth." What becomes of those who never heard of Christ? "Every one goes where his works and his character entitle him to go. God judges no man, man judges himself." What is the best way to understand Christ? "The way is to accept Christ historically and spiritually, to live his life and be one with him in spirit ; accept his 24 INSIGHT teachings by following his commands and you must do this as you would learn or acquire a science, little by little, do not think you can accept Christ as you would a belief in an ordinary person, you must come to him gradually." Were the gospels not written for political purposes ? "No: Christ gave his spirit to those who wrote of him and the story of his life on earth, as Jesus the man and his teachings as Christ the manifested are all that are needful for your study." What do we take with us to heaven? "One carries nothing but Truth into heaven. Into the first state after death, that is, into the spiritual world, man carries all of himself, but his outer or fleshly body. There all your false thoughts are taken from you ; as I told you, the soul is unclothed." Do we have any temptations after leaving earth? "Yes: for many temptations come from the reason and the will power and you take them both with you into your first state, and even in heaven man is free and could sin if he would. There is no cannot in our lan- guage." Then the sooner we get rid of sin, the better? The less sin you bring with you into the spiritual world the shorter time is necessary for your unclothing." Can we pass from heaven to other spheres ? "Yes ; man goes where he will here even more than he possibly can on your earth." Is one unconscious at first after death? "Yes: for some days, usually not longer, but when you first come into the world of spirits you are received as a child is INSIGHT 85 on your earth, with loving hands to minister to your new wants, and loving hearts to care for you as long as you will allow them." Do little children go straight to heaven when they die? "Little children whose angels are always in the Father's presence are taken at once into a nursery for such tender plants, and are supremely happy." Do you believe in the doctrine of Reincarnation? "Yes, it is a fundamental truth." Can you give us some further information about Reincarnation? "Do you think seventy years of life on earth is to be repaid with an eternity of happiness. Do you not see that matter has its limitations? Mil- lions and millions are born into the world but they are not always, indeed, they are never in this epoch of time, new creations, as there is no new creation of matter to receive them." Are they not given new bodies? "They are, but matter is not re-created for them at each incarnation. Christ taught this truth." When he said John the Baptist was Elias ? "He said that, and he also said in another place that a certain man was not born blind to expiate sin." What is the unpardonable sin? "Do not confuse your mind on the subject of sin, to live your natural life if you only give it its true place is not sin. Sin is to deny the spirit within you and Christ said all sin would be forgiven but this." Can sin be forgiven? "There is no such thing as forgiveness. If you break a natural law disease fol- lows ; if you break a spiritual law the same result occurs 26 INSIGHT and in the nature of things the consequences must fol- low." What did Christ mean by denying the spirit ? "How can you live if you have no food or fire to keep your natural life; how then can your spiritual life exist if you cover up and put out the fire of the Holy Ghost." Is the process of passing from the spiritual world anything like death? "Nothing of the sort, it is more as if you went of your own accord to a better country and a sunnier clime." Is heaven a state or a place? "It is both a state and a place, the state makes the place as it often does in your natural life." Can you return from heaven after you go there? "Yes ; you can return if you are sent." How can we help those we love who do not believe as we do? " First of all by your life." Is it right to pray for those who have passed away? "Yes; it is always right. Are they not in the Father's hands." Is there such a place as purgatory? "The spiritual world is a heaven to some, a purgatory to others, but this same is true of your earthly state." Is there any suffering there? "Yes; there is suffer- ing in judging oneself, and sometimes great pain is felt in seeing oneself as one is, in the sight of purer spirits." Is there envy or jealousy there? "At first you take all the emotions of your intellect with you." Do we have guides there? "Yes; many whose busi- ness is to prepare you for this self -judgment." Does judgment come immediately? "No; you are INSIGHT 27 happy whatever your life may have been, and you seem to yourself like a visitor in a wonderful and strange land." Do we have to suffer for our evil deeds in our next incarnation? "Those are things that do not much con- cern you, now, sufficient to the day is the evil thereof." I do not feel satisfied to think I must be just the same there that I am here. "Yes ; you will be satisfied for you will improve while on your earth, and much more here, until your present ideal of virtue will seem to you almost like sin." I wish I could influence others more! "The wish is the parent of what you will gradually attain, even in your present life." Will you explain something about Reincarnation? "I will use an analogy from the natural world to ex- plain. In a small apple seed there lies the harvest of many summers, and in the human soul there lies all the possibilities of hundreds of lives." Is the objective part of life much shorter than the subjective? "The objective life is much the shorter of the two but it varies in the most infinite manner to suit all the varieties of human souls." About what is the proportion? "I should say about forty to one, this refers to the great majority." Do you communicate with others on this earth and how ? "Yes ; many, some through writing others through their mental vision, and some few through their spiritual perceptions, that is, without words and with- out thought as you understand it." The last is the highest ? "Yes ; for it is as we com- municate here." 28 INSIGHT How is this last communication possible? "The spiritual condition of the one receiving from me, makes it possible." Can we cultivate this faculty? "Yes ; perception will grow if you will give it suitable conditions." What are the conditions? "The bringing your will into union with God's will and living a pure and blame- less life." Can you say anything to help "Courage?" "Courage needs little help from outside, she has the inner light by which she leads her good life." And Endurance? "She needs much help but she also obtains it for she receives the good from all and has the power of enduring the evil without its entering into her life." ("Courage") I feel as though I needed some help? "You are helped whenever you find you have something to give to another. It has come direct to you from your spiritual connection with our society." I feel as though some persons retarded our growth? "Every one who is growing must find a congenial soil, and like a plant must have its right conditions and sur- roundings." In leaving "INSIGHT" said "I am always glad to see you, that is, to eat with you the same spiritual food that comes from our Father's hand." COMMUNICATION IV. At death does the soul pass beyond the currents of this earth? "Sometimes but it must always be carried by the spiritual soul." INSIGHT 29 We are speaking of the soul we are born with. After death does it ever leave the earth's currents? "You mean during life. After the new birth, do not say death, the human soul goes into its first state. What is that state? "It depends upon the condition of the person who is reborn. As I explained before, in the spiritual world the soul or rather the spirit, loses its coverings and what you mean by the soul is one of these coverings or garments." Is the soul too, dropped later on? "Before you be- come a pure spirit, but that takes long probations and many experiences to accomplish. You carry your spir- itual soul which is not pure spirit till the very end." What is the end? "The end cannot be understood even by us." Do you object to our telling what you say to us? "No: for I desire to teach truth. But be careful, do not give meat to babes. Truth becomes falsehood if it gets into the wrong light." At what moment does the soul incarnate? "Which soul do you mean? The human soul is the germ of life and around that grows the physical body before birth." At what time is the spiritual soul incarnated? "At different times. The time the soul becomes an active agent is when the man becomes the master of himself and his actions." If a child dies before it is born, does it live on? "No; the human soul as I have just said must be carried by the spiritual soul." When does this soul that we have through life, first incarnate? "When the first breath of life is breathed as has been written, God breathes into man and he be- 30 INSIGHT comes a living soul, but that soul like the infant's body does not act for itself, till later. Man gets his human soul from his father, thus like produces like ; an animal gives an animal soul, a vegetable a vegetable soul of its kind likewise." Investigation spoke of being unable to comprehend the meaning of Paul? "That will come, for he, Paul, had wonderful insight into what was really meant by the Divine manifestation. I want to tell you something more about the churches and I have obtained permission to give you a light into a great mystery. I think you misunderstood me once when I said, "The Churches were a diseased body. It is true but a diseased body may be cured, and may contain a wonderful soul and so with the churches. Inside of the outer body is a spirit- ual body made up of the true church and as all bodies owe their life to constant disintegration, so the church is apparently falling to pieces, but is constantly built up again as is the natural body and the true church remains always intact. You are part of the true church and the mystery is that its form is that of Christ, and consequently, that of humanity. The part you are of is the 'Understanding' to which we, that is our society, belongs ; hence to the other parts we must be the teachers." Are there other societies? "Yes; there are as many as there are parts and you must get this idea clear in your minds. As in any part of your body there are many living particles, so in the spiritual body of which it is only the shadow there are many 1 small parts. Do you understand?" Are Christians one part, Buddhists another, and so INSIGHT 31 on? "No; I mean that those with certain qualities, be- long to the understanding; those with others belong to the hands, some to the feet and some to the head of this body which is made up as is your physical body of many in one." What is our best way to teach and help others? "First to learn the true way, then to walk in it and last of all to bring others by the hand." Why did you come to us ? "When I first came to you it was because I knew, or rather was instructed for I know nothing of myself, that you six would be together and receive these communications." We six; do you not count M ? "Onward is very dear to you and to us all but she does not belong to our society. Onward belongs to the hands of the great body and her work is just as important as yours but I cannot hold direct communication with her, because it is not given to me." Could you not tell us -the name of Onward' s society? "Yes ; I know the name of her society in the heavens, but I only hold occasional communications with them. The name is "Energy," as with your body, the under- standing gives the work to the hands." What is the true meaning of the communion service? "The true meaning is that in a spiritual way you receive with the bread the wisdom of God, with the wine the Divine love. I mean that the bread and wine are sym- bols of these things and if you are truly receptive in your soul you receive these great attributes of God, as in your body you receive the bread and wine. To many this is only a ceremony and thus it was written that men could eat and drink damnation instead of life." 3£ INSIGHT What is the best form of religion? "Form is body, body is form and that can be of no importance. The true church includes all who, having accepted the way, walk therein ; and religion cannot be a form ; whatever you find most conducive to general use as a plant takes from earth what it needs, so take from life what you find will make you blossom and beautify, as your desires grow more heavenly ; the outer form is necessary as body is always necessary to spirit on your earth, so try to find the body that suits you best and cling to it." Will you tell us of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ? "You are asking a great deal for one time but we will begin. The death of Christ and his mode of death were inevitable for men would not allow such a pure life to exist in their atmosphere; it was not as some suppose, an expiation, his death was a part of his plan for it was necessary for him to die in order that he might prove that he governed death, as he did life, he said you know: No man taketh my life, but I lay it down of myself. His resurrection was exactly as it was recorded and is the great truth of your religion." Why did the disciples not recognize Jesus when he appeared to them after his death? "Because after his resurrection his body was a spiritual body and their natural eyes could not behold him ; when they really saw him it was with their spiritual eyes." What became of Christ's material body? "His phy- sical body returned immediately to the elements as he was amply able to have it do." That explains his ascension ? "It does ; and I am glad you are able to accept it." That is a new idea? "Why should I tell you things INSIGHT 3«5 you already know. If I only did that I should not be a teacher." If Christ's body was a spiritual body how could Thomas see the wounds in his side? "Those wounds had sunk deeply into his spirit and the disciples saw him as he appeared at the time and as he willed they should see him. The passion of the God in humanity is a great mystery which we all desire to look into, but which requires the deepest and most spiritual insight." We do not understand what you mean by the passion of the God in humanity? "The sufferings of the God in Christ. I do not understand it myself and I could not convey to you even what I think I comprehend. Christ represents to the wisdom of God, humanity as a whole, and his sufferings, I think, represent all the pains and agony that the human race must undergo in becom- ing Christlike." Why is there no historical record of Christ? "His mission was not to the material world and he did not will that they should have any part in bringing him to the knowledge of mankind. His mission was spiritual and the spirit of each man must perceive him for himself. Is it not wonderful that a man historically unknown should have made the most lasting and permanent mark of any that ever existed." Where does the compensation for physical suffering come in? "Such sufferings are almost always expia- tory in their character and if accepted build up what you most need." What is the condition of persons who die of old age? "At first they are as they leave the earth but almost at once if worthy they bloom into eternal youth, for 34 INSIGHT the garment only is old, the soul is still in its earliest infancy." What is the relation between moral and spiritual development? "There is a distinction in degree not in kind ; what the moral is to the material life, the spiritual is to the inner life." Can one be morally bad and spiritually good? "No; that is in a manner impossible for you must possess your lower nature before you can hope to possess your higher. As the greater must contain the less. First: that which is natural after that which is spiritual." Is there any such thing as chance or accident? "There is nothing but law in all the universe," What becomes of the personality when one, by sin, drives the spirit out of him? "The personality of man is spirit and spirit returns to its source. There is matter and there is spirit, that is, there are two gen- eral and great divisions and as matter returns to matter, spirit returns to spirit." What is the meaning of "Whereas in Adam all men died so in Christ shall he, etc."? "It means just what is written. In Christ was introduced a new element into humanity — spiritual life — and by partaking of it all men may become part of him and through him of God. Adam was the representative of human life ; Christ is the representative of spiritual life, and human- ity embraces all who have ever lived or ever will live on your earth." Were not people saved before Christ came into the world? "They were saved because Christ represented them as part of humanity." How did those who lived before he came, know any- INSIGHT 35 thing of him? "Christ was always, and you are thinking of his manifestation. They accepted the light that was given them. You must not forget that this Divine love always existed. He came in a natural form but he said himself, Blessed are those who not having seen, yet have accepted him." How can we cultivate will power? "It is always well to cultivate will power but that can only govern things material and you must have yourself in subjection be- fore your spiritual vision is opened. A spirit at my side says : 'One of the sayings of Buddha was that to feed a poor and worthy man was better than to have visions and thoughts of heaven,' and Christ said, 'Not every one who saith Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of the Father.' " Could we ever succeed in getting a sight of you by any power? "I do not think it possible nor do I see that it would be of any spiritual importance but only to gratify curiosity." We all have a grateful regard for you. "You can show that in another and better way by coming nearer to me in your life. I am helping you through your perceptions, why should you wish to hear music through your eyes when your ears are the appointed channel. You think you are not curious but that is the state of your mind that makes you wish to go beyond what you are ready for, as a child wishes to know the secrets of his father." Will you ever come to us when we are separated? "Yes ; if any three of you are together I think you will be strong enough." Is it better for our spiritual development to give up W INSIGHT amusements? "Keep everything in its proper place, all things are good but all things are not of equal im- portance. The great thing is your spiritual growth, if you find anything however pleasant makes you less spiritual, that is not good for you. I have given you some great truths and you must use them with discre- tion." COMMUNICATION V. INSIGHT: "Let not yourselves be troubled; you come for comfort today as well as for improvement." What society does F belong to? "He is part of the will power of the Perfect Man and there is also another of your family who is with him, the name is Energy." Does one ever change his society? "Sometimes but not often. You change your position in your own society more frequently. Understanding is sometimes engrossed with lower things, sometimes with higher. Do you not see how the whole society must grow or how all may improve by the improvement of a part, as in natural things." Did you hear my conversation with Courage, yes^ terday? "I did not; I only hear as I have explained through Endurance." I hoped you could impress me? "I can impress you particularly but it is not through your natural senses, as I am not in any connection with them ; perhaps it is through your angel who is always with you. I have not been with you since we last met together." How will it be when Endurance is not with us? INSIGHT 37 "You will then be impressed by me entirely through your inner consciousness and I think then you will know that it is 'INSIGHT' who is giving the light." We have been requested to ask you the following questions. Will you explain the laws by which this communication is possible? "I have given you much on this subject, the law. I cannot explain any more than 'Discretion' could explain the law of gravitation. He knows certain things happen in accordance with that law but he knows nothing of its origin or place in the sequence of events, and the condition of spirit- ual law is as obscure to me as the laws of physical life to the closest observers who only see effects." Why is it that all who are devout and sincere in the pursuit of the truth have not the same opportunities for getting it? "You cannot always judge of oppor- tunities and there is another thing to be said on that subject; Truth must come to each soul in a natural order and those who seem not to have your chances to obtain the truth are really in as good a situation to get what they need and can digest." Christ says that he gave to man the power to do all that he did. How can man get this power and what is it? "The power comes in proportion as the Christ life is developed in the human soul; it will take many ages before the whole of humanity is worthy of what they will attain in the end. The power to which I think you refer is that which Christ exercised over the laws of the physical world. What becomes of each individuality between the close of one objective life and the beginning of another? "A good man goes as I have explained into 88 INSIGHT the world nearest yours to be unclothed of what still remains of his earthly garments ; then, after full prep- aration into heaven or a state of repose at first and afterwards of active improvement and advancement. There is between each of these births a state of rest or unconsciousness as there must be preceding all births." Do the deeds done in one's life determine in any way the state or condition in which the individual is reborn or reincarnated in this world? "The deeds of your present life are in a measure eternal and determine almost entirely your state in your next subjective life." Do they also affect our next objective life? "Yes; very much, they affect and influence your life both on earth and in heaven." Is it possible for one in heaven to know what is trans- piring on earth? "Unless it is given for some special purpose it is not possible where I am, but in a higher heaven every thing is known, there is no here, no there, no past, no future, and as Christ said, 'In that state there is joy over every return of the soul heaven- ward.' " Is one conscious in heaven of previous incarnations? "In the spiritual world after the new birth from your sphere the soul is often given an insight into all prev- ious lives, in order that it may understand how much it has grown since its last incarnation, but this knowl- edge is not carried by it into its happy state for nothing evil enters there even in thought or memory." Is there a world of desires or passions of unsatisfied earthly cravings? "There is and in that world many souls linger and refuse to be unclothed, for freedom is INSIGHT 39 never taken from the soul and in every state she does what seems to her good." Is there a world of shadows having form and objec- tivity? "This is the world of which I have just spoken and it is with this world that communication is most easily obtained, but I have taken care that its evils do not come near you." Does evil finally become extinct or are there persons so evil that they survive? "In the end all things are good, for evil is only contrary to good, which is God, and He will in the end bring all creation back to him- self." Do souls, if evil, descend into brutes? "A human soul never becomes anything lower for that would be contrary to God's law which is : To bring things up through infinite gradations to Himself." Does Christ come into the human soul at some one moment, or by degrees? "In the human soul at birth is implanted the seed of the spiritual soul which must be cultivated by man's will power ; therefore the Christ life is a growth like all growth. Nature and the spirit follow similar laws. In some souls the growth is sud- den, in some it is very gradual for each soul is a law unto itself." Can intensely evil souls die and perish? "God is patience in its highest form' and there never yet (in the worlds to which we belong) has been an instance of this annihilation, but in older parts of the universe I am taught this has been the case." What do you mean by older parts of the universe? "Do you not see by looking in the heavens what a speck our little system is. It is also a comparatively new 4*0 INSIGHT one and there are other systems which have existed millions of ages before we began." Did you come to us because we asked for a teacher? "I have already told you that when I first came it was given me to foresee these meetings and I was sent, I did not ask the why." Were you sent to us by any one who is living, an adept for instance? "I received my orders from a higher source than myself and I do not catch your meaning by the words you use." Could it be one yet living on this earth who influenced these communications ? "I think it might be but in this case it was not. It was from the desire of one you have known. The order I received was not from your friend but was in accordance with her desire." Will you tell us her name? "I do not know earth names." Her heavenly name then? "I am told not to say." Does she belong to our society? "Your friend belongs to a higher society than we do though she is still be- low me, she belongs to the force that lies behind and above the understanding and which presents the truth to the understanding; we call it Representation. She desires you should know the real truth and not learn it after you come into the spiritual world." Tell us something of Discernment? "Discernment is on the way to great things ; do you not see her name implies the application of common sense to spiritual things. Aspiration is also from her own inner life and from the pressure of her outer life being moulded into a beautiful form." What will Courage develop into later on? "Courage INSIGHT 41 will soon be Victory. Endurance which implies patience and self-control must still bear her name. Discernment may ripen into Revelation, Investigation may become spiritual insight, or it may become the reverse. It depends on the path he seeks." Are the guardian angels informing spirits? "They do not inform in the sense of constraining but they present the truth and leave it to your free will to take it or not. As soon as you are found worthy truth is brought to you, you remember, even Christ himself could not perform his works because of their unbelief." Have you a message for F ? "He is always thought of by you, and I through you feel his power. He is a great and good spirit and many in all three worlds know him." Have you anything especial to say to> us? "Your questions have brought to you great truths and such things as come in answer to desires and seekings are always the strongest and best." What is the meaning of the words damnation and hell fire as used by Jesus? "Those are figurative and were addressed to the habit of thought of the people to whom he spoke." Where did Christ spend his life between his boyhood and the time he began to teach? "He was in his mother's home all his boyhood and early manhood fol- lowing the occupation and life, outwardly, of a Jewish peasant, but his soul, or his real self was in perfect union and communion with the Eternal Wisdom whose manifestation he was." Then he was not educated by the Essene brothers? "He was outwardly a man of no education, all that he 42 INSIGHT gave to humanity he brought direct from the Father and the sect of whom you think knew nothing of him until long after." Many think that Christ as a man never existed? Many think it better to worship him as a principle? "It is well to believe truth, even historic truth, and Jesus the man did live but worship must never be given to the man only to the God that he showed to man- kind." (Mental) Cannot spiritual and physical advance- ment be obtained through study of Occult laws? "There are undeveloped powers, both spiritual and physical in humanity, of which mankind has never dreamed, and all, work into the mystery of God's uni- verse and are considered good and I am told to say to Investigation : Go and seek truth your own way." Will you also answer a mental question for Discern- ment? "Her angel does not speak to me and I do not see. Discernment can work out answers to her own questions if she will give herself to it, and that is one reason I am not to answer. I shall now be obliged to dismiss you. I go again on a mission as I did when you first came to me, and I shall not be within your sphere for some days." To what sphere do you go? "I go where I am to learn great things ; into the Spiritual world of a much older and higher form of life than we have experi- enced." How do you go to this place? "Perhaps I should have told you to say state instead of place, I go as you come to me." INSIGHT 43 Will you not say some last words to us? "Keep that you already have and let your ten talents grow." Will you not let us come to you again before we all separate? "Perhaps before you go I may return; try me at your last moment. You will see me often here for you will come to me and as I have said, I shall always be ready and anxious to assist you." COMMUNICATION VI. What is magnetism? "It is will force which can be communicated under certain conditions. Spiritual will force; you Discernment, can help any who are in need of your peculiar force or strength. I think you can often be of great service and it is always worthy the effort." How could one increase his will power? "Spiritual force can only be increased by keeping the connection always open with the great fountain of spiritual force. It depends on the state of your mind, or rather, on the state of your spiritual soul and you must watch and see that you yourself grow." Is it entirely independent of the body? "Not inde- pendent for the body is the medium through and into which it flows. Health always seems to be of the body, but many kinds of disease originate in spiritual weak- nesses." Is doubt one form? "Doubt is one form but there are many, the most usual is perfect indifference." How can one conquer doubt? "I have pointed out the only true way and if you will follow it with under- 44 INSIGHT standing, doubt will vanish in the true light, for doubt is darkness." We thought you might still be absent at the place to which you said you were going? "No; you must remember always that what you call place with us is state and my new wisdom has not put me out of accord with your desires, for they differ not in kind only in degree." Do evil thoughts that we do not encourage injure us? "Not if you resist them, and you will find that each time the thought will have less and less power if you will resist with all your force." Is there any way by which we can resist evil success- fully? "Yes; by keeping in the Christ way. Evil is like darkness, perfectly negative, and goodness and light can always dissipate both the one and the other. Evil is the absence of good and nothing of itself." Are there many in the world who are so evil that they would injure us if they could? "There are many, many such, but if you carry only a lighted taper into an immense cathedral darkness disappears." One has so few chances of doing good; are oppor- tunities given us as a reward? "The first proposition is not just the truth; there are always opportunities. You remember, 'Only a drink of cold water,' in the right spirit, was spoken of and if you can make the simple acts of life means to your growth, you will find no lack of opportunities. You can give a kind word, or even a sympathetic look is sometimes more than a meal to the hungry. Your condition in life is the result of much good in your character, and you must not abuse, but use your gifts." INSIGHT 45 Have Investigation's late studies been in the right direction? "Don't let them be onesided, your next step and next name, should be Reflection and from that you will go on to Enlightenment if you really are investi- gating all sides." The Christ side as well as the phenomena of occultism? "You have not put the case strong- ly enough ; as in the physical life, an insight into the in- sect world would not help you to good, so your present pursuit will not really help your spiritual growth." But did you not tell Investigation to go on and seek truth in his own way? "Yes ; you must be free and as you then strongly desired that insight, I thought it best, but can you not see that you must not neglect entirely the other." Do they have seasons of rest in heaven correspond- ing with our night ? "Yes ; there are nights without darkness in which souls and spirits take their rest, for none but the All Powerful can live always in the same state." What is the best time for prayer? "There is no time in such communion, in those things you get rid of time as we do and the state is all." Is it better to pray alone? "Not if you are in per- fect sympathy with companions for there is strength in such companionship." Do you pray in heaven? "All acts in heaven are prayers, as all your acts may be on earth if done from the right motive." It is difficult always to do right on account of the way others act and react upon us? "Yes; but if you are strong no other act can affect you. Everything 46 INSIGHT the most simple can be a prayer and nothing that your bodily desires prompt is sin if done in the right spirit." Do our guardian angels know our thoughts ? "They know what is thought unless it is very sinful; you can drive them far from you, if you refuse their compan- ionship, if you rise above them as you can do when you reach God, they stand outside in humble adoration of the same Father." Are they not in advance of us? "No; you are as capable as they and may rise above them by some act of devotion or usefulness." Have they ever been human beings ? "On this earth or some other, that is, they have passed into their present state from some other, but they have all been tempted and understand your temptations." May we appeal to them for help? "Yes; but there is no occasion to go to them, you can get help from the same fountain from which they bring their supply; no one can come between the soul, which is God, and God." Would it be possible for us to arrive at a state when we could see your form? "If it were necessary to your development you would be given the power to see into the highest heaven and find yourself face to face with Christ the Lord thereof." You said we were not worthy to have your knowl- edge. Will we ever attain that state on earth? "It is possible, but not probable, for it will require great progress. Wisdom is not of any place. God gives it forth always in abundance and each soul takes its fill and as it grows gets a larger measure." In the midst of business cares is one not apt to re- INSIGHT 47 trograde? "No; perhaps you are progressing, for a child does not know when it grows, and so in spiritual things, duties are the soul's food and business if right, will not prevent your progress." Should we carry spiritual thoughts into the world with us? "It is well to think of the best always and thus carry around you a preventive to evil. Do not be in a hurry; growth is always slow. You feel that you must get it all at once but that is not God's way and you must wait for the seed to take root before you can expect fruit. Examine yourselves, see what is your greatest weakness, try to conquer it, then begin on something else and little by little before you know it you will find yourselves new beings." Is it a weakness to love one's home and belongings? "Not at all, it is a virtue. Earth has its duties as heaven has and you must act well in each place in order to get what was intended for you. There is much nonsense upon some subjects among those who are seeking to win heaven by their own devices. The family is the highest thing on earth and the relations of husband and wife, father and child, are the nearest approach possible to God and His creative love. I had all these beautiful truths to learn for I had been taught, the only way to win God's approval was to deny myself all the instincts He had implanted in my nature and by which I was to grow in His appointed way." Is it a sin to mourn for those who are taken from us? "What is so natural cannot be wrong. Love, or any development of its power is never wrong. Is it not written, if you do not love your fellow whom you 48 INSIGHT have seen, how can you love what you have not seen." Is it wrong to try to keep our friends from dying by will power ? "No ; it is not wrong to wish to keep those you love but you must submit to God's will for that is or should be your highest aim, to bring your will into accord with His. Try to realize, there is no here, no there, and you will not feel there is any loss when those you love are called higher. Do not think you must submit to all the evil of life to be in accord with God. He does not will evil, but always good, therefore mankind is always right to fight disease and suffering of all kinds for these things are not in ac- cordance with God's will." Then asceticism is not a virtue to be cultivated? "Self control is necessary but not the useless denying oneself what has been provided to make life beautiful. What you can do without that your brother may have from your abundance is the very highest self-denial. The proper use of the blessings of life is a duty and do not think you can grow by selfishly denying yourself for your own good and not for the good of another." What is the principle of the mind cure? "It is a spiritual force or truth acting against disease or false- hood. I think you only need to keep yourself free from' what would interfere with your perfect faith. I have taught these friends always that truth that flows continuously from the divine, is the only force on your earth that can conquer its evils. About the cure as I have said health flows continuously from Ged and it is only that humanity has cut itself off from this fountain, that disease exists. The power to cure cuV ease exists in all who are open continually to this INSIGHT 49 source and they can give of their superabundance to those who lack." Can all disease be cured in this way? "All disease can be overcome if there is health tissue in the sick person enough to build upon. Sometimes this does not exist and then the body must die." Are there not incurable diseases, consumption for example? "It is not in accordance with God's law that diseases should be incurable. Sin has brought this curse upon the earth and by sin I mean breaking of law. The disease you speak of is caused some- times by inheritance but almost always on the earth now by not living in accordance with law. Old age might be a peaceful going into another birth, you call it death, but it must and would be painless." What interferes with perfect faith? "All things that pertain only to self; material things are not wrong in themselves if they are not made use of en- tirely for your own pleasure, but selfishness is the one evil hardest to eradicate. This to you all; if you can love your brother as yourself, you can heal." Has N — a special name because he is further advanced than other young persons of his age? "His nature is very spiritual though it is quite undeveloped." How can one help it if he is born with a nature less spiritual than another? "Every man according to his measure, to one, one talent, to another ten, but each must render an account for what has been given him." How can lack of spiritual gifts be made up to us? "Each will be full to his capacity. Your present state is the result of good or ill doing." 56 INSIGHT In this world or before? "Both with Expectancy and Searcher the result of a former life." Can you give us any information about the former life of S 's grandchild born today? "Such things are not best, but the child you mean comes with good instincts, this I learn from your angel who knows. Her former life was in quite a different form of civil- ization. I have told Resolution this because mother love is so holy with us as always to bring response ; she comes from a high form of happiness, but she returns to earth of her own volition, because she sees it best for her in the end." Does a soul ever incarnate in a different sex? "Sex is eternal." What are your occupations in heaven? "I have told you my life is almost constant activity. I am always: doing the will of the Father." Will you tell us of the knowledge you have gained in a higher sphere? "I cannot teach you what you cannot understand. I am trying now to convey to you what I learned but you cannot receive it yet. I went as I said into another part of the universe where the light of the truth was dazzling even to the eyes of those who were admitted to receive it, and I would gladly give it to you if I could." Can you give us any idea of it? "Will each of you put into words your idea of God? It is only through God's manifestation of Himself that any idea can be formed of Him for it is impossible for human thought to conceive of what has never been seen and as man can only worship his idea of God, it is of the utmost importance that the idea should be correct. Christ INSIGHT 51 said), 'I am the way, the truth and the life,' and he is the idea of God that has been given for you. Do not confound this idea which is the nearest you can have of God with God himself, but follow it and you will gradually approach nearer and 1 nearer to the great and only Father. Christ was either the greatest im- poster, or what he claimed to be, the Divine Son of God, and his spirit, which he promised to his disciples, is the present manifestation of God in your world. To every believer in Christ comes the spirit of Christ which teaches him of the heavenly things and makes all that Christ taught plain, but it can only come through Christ and is what he called the new birth. The Holy Ghost is what it has been named but we in heaven call the divine spirit within us the spirit of Christ." As time and space are self -limiting are they therefore not eternal and infinite? "Time and space as you under- stand them do not really exist. They are both sensa- tion and without sensation could not exist either in your world or in ours. Space depends on the relation of things and things depend on your sensation regarding them. In the finite mind there will always be space but we are taught that the eternal mind 1 has no idea of space because there is no here, no there, with God 1 , to whom all things are present." Is the influence behind these communications a human one? "It is a living human influence, for the inhabi- tants of heaven do not cease to be human, but add to their humanity another and higher nature, so in one sense it is a human influence. I see the thought in your mind but it is not a true one. The influences that 52 INSIGHT brought about these writing's proceeded altogether from spiritual spheres." F. . . wishes to send his regards to "INSIGHT." "I am happy to receive them for his spirit is a very advanced one and his life shows how pure unselfishness can make the spirit even in material life to grow and expand as if it were in heaven. This is intended for Investigation who is concerned about his material duties and his spiritual growth." Will you explain to Investigation your last message to him? "As I said, he was specially anxious to keep himself free from material things but that would not help him. The life he is now leading is the one best fitted for his growth if he lives it well and he must accept it with all its duties. I mean his present life in all its various relations of husband, father, neigh- bor, and the duties of those relations are what will perfect him. Those who touch life at the most points are the most blessed." Does not growth in spiritual things bring occult knowledge? The things are on entirely different planes, one is essential the other is an intellectual amusement. It will not in your case for the world you wish to enter is composed 1 of beings who can teach you nothing and all they tell you is derived and useless." How were the miracles of Christ performed? "That question was raised even in Christ's day and he was accused of casting out devils by the help of devils, but he denied the charge and because of their want of faith did not reply to their questions concerning his power. His acts were all in accordance with law and were not supernatural, and the power proceeded from himself by INSIGHT 53 whom the worlds were made. Study them by all means but do not suppose you can learn them through your intelligence. All power must come to you in the ap- pointed way and you have been told the way. I do not see exactly how you expect to obtain spiritual power through your present effort." Have not the adepts such power? For example, they project their astral bodies to a distance. "Do you call that spiritual power? It is purely material. It does not come from growth in spiritual things, but there are certain physical conditions that may cause such manifestations. They are of no spiritual value and are after all only curious." Was it by the purity of Christ's spirit that he per- formed his miracles? "He performed them because the same manifestation of the Godhead that was visible in Christ was the power that made the universe, and as the greater contains the less he who had made all could make the fragments." Did Christ give his disciples occult power to perform miracles? "He gave them unusual power which they used on various occasions. When the necessity for con- vincing men through their senses was removed, this power was no longer given to the followers of Christ." Can one attain to the power of Christ and his disciples in this world? "Not in this life for humanity is not ready to have such power given to it." Does spiritual advancement through Christ help us to avoid further incarnations? "Yes: that is the only way to perfect your humanity. He was given as the pattern man and the nearer you approach his standard the sooner will your probation end; man returns to 54 INSIGHT earth because he sees that to be the shortest road; to attain perfection!. Then we return to earth again and again? "Yes, to this earth you now inhabit or some other material ob- jective life." Why is re-incarnation necessary? "There is a great deal of rest given to those who are worthy of it and the soul lives its real life in many, many years of this rest, but then, feeling that some other experiences are necessary, the soul returns of its own accord and per- fects itself further. You pass into the heaven you have made yourself worthy of while on earth, but it is impossible that the short life given to man on earth could fit him for the highest heaven where God will finally unite Himself with a redeemed humanity of which each human soul is a part." By what process do souls come to desire re-incarna- tion? "I do not know, I have not arrived at that state myself and the recollection of former incarnations is not permitted to enter heaven. We leave all such things in the spiritual world." Many ob j ect to the idea of re-incarnation ? "It is not at first a pleasant thought, but God's will is the right will, and the nearer you can bring yourself in accord with him the happier you will be. Faith will come to you in the right time. Christ said to his disciples, 'I will send my spirit and it will teach you all truth, you are not ready for it now but it will come to you.' I give the spirit of many of his sayings, not his exact words for words are of no importance, the spirit is all. Christ's effort was to teach men one good life and until INSIGHT 55 that was accomplished he did not wish to burden them with too much." In a future existence shall we be with those we have loved on earth ? "You are together on earth for seventy or one hundred years, here where you will be after death, you will be together if you are in accord many hundred years and you will feel all is as it should be." Is it selfish for each to struggle for his own perfec- tion? "Not if you follow Christ, for then each one is struggling for the good of the many and all that ele- vates humanity as a whole, elevates each soul that com- poses it." Will you not come to us again soon ? "I am always ready to receive you but you must come for informa- tion," Can you tell us if we are advancing in the study of spiritual knowledge? "There is no standing still, there is either progress or the reverse. The law that governs such things is the same that pertains to physical things ; progress means life." Do we necessarily progress, after once beginning to grow? "There is an ebb and flood in all things." Can a man be born again in this life? "Yes, the perfect giving up of man's will to God's will is what Christ meant by being born again." Is it possible to retrograde after the new birth? "Does not a child after being born have seasons of illness?" Does being born again denote any one specific act? "More a state than an act and there must be a moment when all things have a beginning." Is rebirth the same as regeneration? "All birth is 56 INSIGHT the beginning of regeneration. It begins the life that is to grow to all eternity ; you cannot expect the greater, and more important part of you to> attain manhood in a shorter time than that which is merely temporal and soon to pass away." Is the outward form of baptism necessary? "No form or intervention of any kind is essential between any soul and God; form is only necessary when the human mind cannot perceive spiritual things without some clothing or expression." Is there any foundation for the Church's claim to apostolic succession? "The church of Christ has an unbroken connection with its great founder, but it is a purely spiritual one, not a historical one." Then there is nothing in the laying on of hands? "It depends on the condition of the one who receives the hands of the good men who preceded him in the faith. Forms have always been essential to most minds, but blessed are those who can receive without the evi- dence of their senses." Was the virgin Mary without sin as she was chosen to be the mother of Christ? "No: that is a belief of these late days and we have no warrant for any such thing, but she was born into her place in history for that purpose and had passed through many experiences fitting her for that holy place." Why do we not hear more of her historically all through Christ's life? "Christ, as I have said, does not desire to be known and received of men in that way and he has taken pains that nothing should endure of him or his family." Then it is not true that Christ will grant prayers INSIGHT 57 through her intercession? "Do you think Christ has changed since he was on earth ; even then he denied his mother and his brethren, and said, the least who ac- cepted him was nearer to him than they. He wished only to be revered for his spiritual power and after he was a public benefactor and Saviour, he did not wish to be trammelled with mere earthly relations." Is it not right to love one's family? "Without doubt that is one's first physical duty, but spiritual duties must always be the first consideration." Who informed the wise men of the place where Jesus should be born? "Spirits of the lower heaven who were instructed to spread this great news." What is the lower heaven? "The first heavenly state into which souls go after leaving the spiritual world." How many heavens are there? "There are many states or what you would call places, as many as there are conditions of mind, which are infinite." Why did the spirits of the lower heaven carry this news? "The only reason is that all things come in a channel, and these spirits were nearest to these good men on earth who were worthy to know of the birth of this manifestation of the God whom they worshipped without understanding." Are there many members of the heavenly societies? "More than you could number and every spirit that is born into any member of humanity belongs to some soci- ety, but it may take many ages to make them worthy to enter into it. You were all born into this society, but I have not said that you were all recognized members of it." Does N. belong to the understanding? 58 INSIGHT "Searcher does not ; his place is yet undefined to my vision but he has his place and I am only permitted to see the possible members of the society of which I am a member." If spiritual improvement goes on indefinitely in heaven why is re-incarnation necessary? "Because there are some kinds of improvement that can only go on in the earthly state and then each soul has its expia- tion to accomplish which can only be done in a physical body when on your earth or some other." If all the evil in us can be eliminated in the state which follows death is that which is subsequently incarnated absolutely pure ; and if so, why should it seek re-incar- nation? "No entirely pure spirit is ever re-incarnated, and those who may appear nearly pure are to them- selves, and above all to God in need of their new birth into material things." If you are unclothed of evil are you not pure in heaven? "By unclothing is meant that you leave be- hind the desires and passions which make up your earth- ly form, but you take with you much ignorance and many false ideas of things." Will families be together in heaven? "If they are spiritually related they will. Families are not always desirous of being together on earth ; many things, pride, public opinion, etc. keep persons in families!, but these things are the falsities which are left behind when you are unclothed and see yourselves and are seen by others as you really are." How is it in the case of parents and children ? "The same law governs them and though you may rebel against this thought when the separation takes place it INSIGHT 59 will be by your own volition and because you could not do otherwise." What did Christ mean when he said "Let the dead bury the dead?" "He was speaking to the Jews who represented a dead religion, one from which all spiritual life had departed and he meant, let those to whom such a faith was sufficient remain where they were but let those who thirsted for better things follow him." Will you explain the temptations' of Christ? "He was also man and as he represented redeemed humanity it was necessary he should reach that redemption through the same means by which man was to reach it. The first represented that which comes to mankind in its infancy, when it has only physical wants, you remember he was tempted to change a stone into bread to satisfy his hunger ; the second appealed to a higher part of the nature of man, his desire for dominion ; he was prom- ised all the kingdoms of the earth; and the last to his spiritual nature, that isi, he was tempted to worship a god of his own creation." Did Christ suffer physical pain when on the cross like an ordinary mortal? "Christ was, during his life on earth, a man in the highest sense, and as the more delicate the organization, the keener the pain, he suf- fered even more than an ordinary man." How could Christ suppose he was forsaken? "He represented humanity, as in some cases man feels for- saken, it was necessary that Christ should experience every emotion of which humanity is capable to make the parallel perfect." Who was Satan? "Satan is the embodiment of evil. 60 INSIGHT He is not a personality of himself but he has many in the universe who personify what he signifies." What was the rebellion in heaven? "That is a figure of speech used to represent the sin that was to come into the form of Christ's church; there can be no rebellion in the state we call heaven and when Christ said, he saw Satan fall from heaven, he meant in that state, sin, and the tendency to sin were overcome." Are the stars that we see inhabited? Many of what you call stars are inhabited but perhaps the bright ones you refer to are suns and are not ready yet for habi tation. Those that are inhabited are inhabited by beings like yourselves for God has made all that he has given part of Himself to, in your form and with your faculties." Is there any way by which I (Discernment), can reach you in thought when Endurance has left us ? "I think there may be if you keep yourself in sympathy with what I have taught you, you will have the con- sciousness given you, if I find it necessary; but I do not see that you need much more instruction for a time." Will you tell me what society C — C be- longs to and something of her? "As we shall not all be together again soon it is permitted me to give you such tidings but they are not of a spiritual nature. The one of whom you think is not of our society, but is, as I have told you, of another which lies behind the understand- ing. She has known of these communications and is willing to wait for the good she knows will result from them." Courage says she will have to leave us as she has a duty to perform so we must close this interview. "Duty INSIGHT 61 is the best reason and the sweetest farewell. We shall all meet again so this is only until you are worthy of higher knowledge." COMMUNICATION VII. Can we not see "Insight?" "I am here." Can you tell us anything of father? (Between the last writing and this one the "father" referred to had gone from his place among us.) "Succor, your grand- mother, who sent for me has seen him, he is in the spirit world; she is with him to welcome him; she was sent from her place in heaven for that purpose, for she has always been from his earliest boyhood an inspiration to him." Have you known of all the sorrow we have been pass- ing through in this parting? "Yes; through her I have been kept in personal contact with you all. I have been anxious to be with you in some way and sought some help and she was appointed, "Mary," as you call her; her name is Succor. She says she has a word for Onward; the dear one whom we both love, is so happy and so well in his new home and is anxious only about you and says you must be happy with your children as he is with those he finds on this side. This is only permitted under unusual pressure from many forces and our dear one does not know of it and it would not be well for him to be disturbed at present. I am so happy to be allowed to be the medium between you, for I am always thinking of you in your sorrow, with a mother's sympathy." Was this message from our grandmother or from 62 INSIGHT Insight? "From your father's mother, and it has been given her as a great privilege. She has gone now to her happy work with her own, in the spirit world, where I do not wish you to be taken for you are not yet strong enough to resist the evils that are there. Endurance could not stand it in her present condition, and you know I have promised to guard her." Will you not try to tell us something about C C . "I will send and see if I can. Succor is here again and says she is in their circle in the spiritual world and she will carry any message for you." How can she be in the spiritual world. We were told she was in the heaven beneath the one "Insight" was in? "She is there my child as I am to meet your father and others to whom she has been sent. She is in the heaven which I also inhabit and as you, even with your limited means of communication go to those you love, much more is our desire gratified to be of use and comfort to those who come as little children into a strange and unknown land." Can you tell C C for us how grateful we are for these communications? "She knows it and says, you must follow more and more closely, the in- sight that has been given you. She sends her dearest love to Devotion and her children and thinks of you always and has been so happy to hear through the com- munication she has established with you that you have progressed in the only things that seem to her import- ant. It is not given to her at present to come to you herself, although we are in the same heaven, we are not in the same state of advancement ; I having had so much more time to improve." INSIGHT 63 Did father see his children when he first became con- scious after going to the spiritual world? "It was given him in his first hours of consciousness in the spiritual world to see all his children just as they had left him, and his mother, that is myself, came with them, and to- gether we welcomed him to our land; his children are very different in many ways but that pleasure so ardent- ly longed for is always accorded to good spirits by the dear Lord who understands all earthly longings." Was father conscious at the last moment of those about him? "He was, just at the last moment, conscious of friends of both worlds, he saw you all and also those on the other side." Were his spiritual eyes opened before he passed from earth? "They sometimes are. I have not heard in his case, but I have been told that when he met his friends here, he spoke to those he had left as if they had come with him and expressed surprise that they were no longer visible. He said, 'W , your mother is just here at my side and will be pleased to see you." Did he not know he had died? "He was conscious that he had come here but he could not divest himself of the thought that you were all still with him." Did he pass through a state of unconsciousness after death? "Not unconsciousness, for he had gone through that and it was to be spared him for he was worthy of such a boon." Does father believe in the possibility of these com- munications now? "He does believe for he asked the question when he found he had really left you and he was told that "Insight" whom he had known of, would keep you all, indeed, I always knew he believed in our 64 INSIGHT intercourse but he thought he had no strength to give to me and I did not wish him in his last days to leave his duties for what so soon would be made clear to his mind." Did you then know he was about to die? "After he was ill I could see your thought of him and I knew he was to come to us through the good spirits who were waiting so eagerly to welcome him. The guardian angel always tells of the physical condition if it is necessary for any preparation to be made." Insight, do you know anything of the form you will occupy when re-incarnated? "I do not know, that will depend somewhat on the earth I am appointed to in- habit. I hope to go to another order of things and am striving for it but as God wills, I will." What do you mean by another order of things? "There are much older and more advanced objective and human states than in this system and sometimes souls escape returning to your earth." Do you wish to avoid Reincarnation? "No: I wish another incarnation but under different conditions. Do not, however, misunderstand me and think I am not willing to do the very, very best." Are guardian angels individuals ? "Yes ; to each new-born mortal such a guardian is appointed; without them there could be no connection at first with the spir- itual world and, after you no longer need them, they perform the same office for some other soul." Do they not lead a very negative and colorless exis- tence ? "You do not understand how pure spirits, such as they are, may be capable of living their own beauti- ful lives quite apart from the soul committed to their INSIGHT 65 charge, as a mother can give care to her child and yet lead quite a personal existence independent of it." Do the guardian angels help us in any positive way? "They do you great good in many ways and help you by their spiritual influence, and it is exerted in the same way that good air will bring life to a sick body." Now we have to stop, will you come to us again? "Do not say 'will I come to you.' Get the situation clear in your mind of our relations to each other. I shall always be happy to instruct you, but you must come with high motives." COMMUNICATION VIII. INSIGHT: "I am expecting you. I have been with you since you last came to me, that is, I have kept up the communication. Through your very intimate rela- tion with the spiritual world it is very easy to do so. Your father being in both worlds equally, is the added link. He is still so much interested in the life he has left," Have you seen him? "I have not seen him, but I have seen those who are with him and through him they see you." Is father still resting? "He is resting as much as he will, but he is so curious to know the meanings of all the strange new things that surround him, and he still is so anxious about those he has left." Did he know what we did about his funeral, etc.? "No; he could not see that, nor has he cared for those things. What he cares for, is to tell you what he learns from time to time; but it will not be given him now to 66 INSIGHT do so, for he must rest, and later he will not wish to do anything with his earth life." Would it be possible for grandmother to answer some of our questions? "Yes; she is here, ask what you wish to know ; she is not to give of her own accord." How could father meet his children as he remembered them? Had they not changed in all the years? "They were quite unlike what he conceived them to be, but it is a law of these worlds that we see what we desire and have the power given us to return to any former state that we may wish. Your father would not have known his children and they would have been nothing to him if this had not occurred." What is father's present form? "He is at present to his own consciousness, just as last he was in perfect health on earth. But in time he will return to the activity and vigor of a young man." Does he speak of us ? "Yes ; more than I wish he did, and therefore he does not know of your coming to me ; and he must not at present, for he must become as a little child here before he can commence his growth." Is he happy? "As happy as possible under this drawback, but you who know him must understand how the giving up will be difficult for him. It is not a clinging to any wrongdoing, but merely the clinging to the habits of many years." When father first came to you did he ask if this communication were possible? "Yes, when he saw it was not heaven which he expected he asked if it were possible his children had had communication with 'IN- SIGHT' in heaven. He was given to see that such INSIGHT 67 things were possible and he said he also had had a word with 'INSIGHT.' " Have you been able to look back over any past in- carnations ? "No ; I know nothing of that from my own experience but your father has spoken to me of it and 'INSIGHT' says it is true." What did 'INSIGHT' tell you of it? "He told me it was not a matter for my present consideration." To what society do you belong? "I am of the hands and am always carrying out the will of the perfect man." Is C. C. with father? "Not now; she was with us at first because he desired it, but she has also her work and we do not often meet. This state has many more divisions than you have on earth and it is only when the same desire animates two spirits that they come into intercourse with each other. I first knew her when your brother came, for he desired us both and now I have met her again with your father." How does father live? "He lives in his own house, the house he has built for himself by his life on earth; and to our spiritual senses the things that surround us are as objective as anything you have around you and much more suitable, and they always accord with the emotions and desires of the moment." Is the passing from the spiritual world to heaven analogous to death? "Not to death; there is no such state here, but the soul is not conscious of a journey or a change of place, it goes without knowing it and that may be what you call death." To what society does Devotion belong? "To the heart, which in the perfect man sends all the rest of 68 INSIGHT the parts to their work and keeps the whole man in good and perfect readiness to do the part assigned to him." In what state are you, yourself? "I am with 'IN- SIGHT' who has allowed me to come where you now are ; my interior state is a heavenly one, but I am mostly in the spiritual world." Has father anyone in his house to minister to him? "He is surrounded by a band of spirits who are there to serve him, and his children come when he asks for them, and there are many new souls like himself who are seeking counsel of him and he is busy all the time and will not rest as he must and should." Does he never ask about those he has left? "He is told he must trust them to the good Father and he has not since the very first seemed to think they needed him." Will you tell us more of the house he occupies? "The spiritual senses and wants, are after the same order as the physical, but on another plane, and the houses are as real to those wants as your houses are to you. I cannot describe them so that you can understand, there are what you would call rooms, but which are really states, and furniture and all that you can con- ceive of for comfort and convenience. In the higher states everything is much handsomer than in the first state after death; all depends upon the interior con- dition of the spirit. For example: when a spirit goes from a higher into a lower condition it carries its sur- roundings with it ; of which those who are not in the same condition are not conscious." May we now ask Insight a few questions? "Your mother is gone and she is so happy to enjoy this com- INSIGHT 69 munion. She tells me she suffered much at leaving her children and her reward is to be with them. She is a perfectly beautiful spirit." At what stage of the soul's progress is it informed of the spirit and does that necessarily make it immortal? "When the soul gets possession of itself the spirit enters in, and if the soul consciously and willingly receives it, it is rendered immortal." What is the meaning of the soul getting possession of itself? "When the soul comes into its freedom and forms its own conclusions then it is said to be worthy of this new birth. It depends on the individual and there is no fixed time; to some souls the growth is so perceptible that they know the very moment of its beginning but to the majority the growth is slow and imperceptible." After the birth of the spirit is the soul free from all sin? "The soul is always free to sin, but the spirit is not stained by such sin ; by the soul, I mean the human soul each child gets from its father. Some souls com- mence far onward as a reward for good lives ; others far backward and have a weary path to travel over and over again." Why did Jesus weep at the death of Lazarus when he knew he should see him so soon? "His tears were all out of sympathy for Lazarus when he was recalled from a spiritual world to an earthly state, and whose life was to be full of suffering and pain." Was the soul of Lazarus in the spiritual world while his body was in the grave? "He was there and was received as the beloved and intimate friend of Christ." When he returned to this life did he remember where 70 INSIGHT he had been? "When he heard the voice of Christ he followed it, as the servant follows the voice of his lord, and one look into his compassionate eyes made all things possible to him. Remember always the difference be- tween us and you is one of state and you will see how it was possible for him to forget his stay in that state. I am permitted to know that his spiritual eyes were often opened while he was in human life and he suffered all the horrors of martyrdom with heaven visible to him." Did he suffer martyrdom? "He was martyred for his belief in Christ. There is no record, but it is a subject in which I was always interested, as you seem to be, and it was given me to know of his second life on earth. This reincarnation was not difficult and was done in accordance with the law that governs such things and he was, for the purpose our Lord had at the time, re- incarnated into the same body." What does Paul mean in his epistle to the Romans VIII chapter, where he speaks of predestination and the Lord's elect? "He used the terms that could be understood by those to whom he was writing. There are, in fact, no elect as they or he understood it; but truth comes only as the soul of humanity is ready to receive it and he wrote for his time; he understood many things, but as he himself said, he saw through a glass, darkly, and that was one of his most indistinct visions." Does the growth of the spirit continue without our being conscious of it? "The spirit never rests, for spirit is God, and God is constant activity. You grow as the flowers do, without knowing when or how." INSIGHT 71 Will you not say some last word to us before we part today? "Let your lives be in accord with your knowledge. Look after little things and do not forget that time is only a piece of eternity in which you are living now and that with you, as with us, time is sensation and it rests with the will of each of you to make every sensation a part of a happy eternity." COMMUNICATION IX. Present: Endurance and Discernment. INSIGHT: "I am glad you are trustful enough to come, for the promise to two or three only needs faith for its fulfillment." Did you know of our conversation yesterday? "I know now what it was. I did not hear it then. Endur- ance doubts because it is her mental and spiritual con- stitution now to do so. The blessing that is promised to those who believe, not having seen, is not to be hers till farther on." Will I ever be able to believe? "It will come to you suddenly as all things have done to you — as a flower bursts into bloom when its hour has come, you will only spoil it by forcing the petals apart before all things are ready. Do not fear, for you are one of the Father's children to whom all things are possible." Can you tell me why these writings sometimes de- press me? "You have from them a keener insight into your own spiritual condition and the spirit suffers many things from hidden causes as the body does ; but the feeling with you is partly physical and results from 72 INSIGHT the antagonism you unconsciously feel towards some who form your circle. I mean the circle which furnishes your power to write, but you must endure that for the one you feel most is the one who needs you most." Can you not tell who it is? "Do you think it best to know?" I hope it is not I? "No; there is the greatest attrac- tion between us three. We are, though on different planes, of the same order of spirit and Discernment will know me some time as seemingly objective as she now knows Endurance." May we see grandmother today? "She is here." How did you come so soon when "INSIGHT" sent for you? "I can best make you understand by saying that I came as thought flies through space with you. You do not find it difficult to send your thoughts to the ends of your earth and with us going is some such process. Not exactly, of course, but as nearly as I can explain, I am not a wise spirit, only a loving one." Is it bad for you to come into our atmosphere? "It is not, for the dear Lord makes my special atmosphere to consist of that of all my children and a heavenly atmosphere has no here, no there, and if there is evil it appears to me only as summer clouds that make my sky dim for a moment, but which I willingly endure to be of use, being a loving spirit the sun is always shining for me, and I can endure many clouds for it is given me always to see the light of my Lord beyond." Have you made other friends than the ones you had on earth? "I have many friends, all the mother hearts are in perfect unison with mine. This plane of my soul development I am told is soon to end for those INSIGHT TS whom I bore on earth are all here now and after your father needs me no longer, I am to learn other things." Will you tell us of father? "He is in the innermost and most peaceful part of his house taking the rest he needs. He cares nothing now at this moment for anything but the heavenly quiet that fills his soul with perfect peace and delight. He has passed through years of sensations and new feelings since he came and is becoming now as a little one only anxious to do the Father's will. What seems to you but a few short weeks seeims to him more than all his earth life and shuts it out entirely from his remembrance." Does he not think of us? "Not now; that is the rest of which I speak. It is necessary to put these earthly garments out of sight as you would soiled ones after a bath; at present he sees no one but the angel of the resurrection who is helping him to unclothe himself and I am not needed now that that supreme moment of rebirth has come." Can the new birth ever take place on this earth? "Not the kind of which I speak. The new birth in your world 'INSIGHT' will tell you of. The new birth in the spirit world is that of the soul out of the womb of its earthly appetites and longings and is not the one you are thinking of." Will father finally remember his earth life? "Yes; he will remember all, but the connecting cord, as in a natural birth, will be sundered and he will not be drawn toward his old longings and desires but will love them in an independent way, as a child loves a mother, of whom till his birth, he formed a part." Are you and C. C. friends? "We are more than 74 INSIGHT friends, but we do not often meet, as our chosen work lies apart, but I have sent now for word of her, she is in her heavenly house which is most beautiful; on its walls are pictures of her good deeds in brilliant and naming color and she has a large household of spirits who have not made for themselves homes and is the beautiful and beloved centre of a large and growing city which is being built up by her and by others of her kind, for the poorer ones who know not where to go when they first enter her sphere." Can you tell us of your home? "My home in full of the joy and laughter of little children and my rest is to hear their merry voices and receive their caresses ; I am to leave it soon but the good Father will send some other mother to them and I go as willingly as you ever did on a new and longed for journey for there are many new countries in our world and we are to see them all." Shall we be able to come to you when you have gone on? "I cannot tell if you can come. I lose nothing I am sure by acquiring more, and I shall always be glad to see my childrens' children. The Father's love keep us united in his great family, is my wish for each of you and for me, and for all whom we love both in the flesh and in the spirit." Will Insight tell us what doubt is? "Doubt is to faith as darkness to light. It is nothing in itself only the absence of something, as the sunniest landscape can be obscured by a dirty rag, so the light of faith, always in the spirit can be shut off by a mood of the mind or an infirmity of the flesh. Things and conditions have not changed since our Lord's parable and nothing, INSIGHT 75 even though one came from the dead and stood beside you visible to your outer vision, would convince the mind, it must come from an interior perception of truth." Has my mind any influence over this' writing? (En- durance.) "Your mind colors it for it is the medium through which it is made material but that is all, the thought is not born in your brain and is not a part of it any more than truth is a part of any finite and created being except it be given by God. I and you are both channels for the divine that is in every re- generate soul, and as such we must believe in ourselves ; that belief will come to you suddenly as an inspiration, do not fear, you shall not suffer for the use the tender Father makes of you, for you are one of the little ones of his household." Had we better show this writing? "Use your own insight. Anything that can help another is not ours. You and Discernment are to be trusted with what has been given. I see how Discernment feels, she knows her own world and is wise in many ways and as I have said she can be trusted." Will it do to bring in other minds to our circle? "Bring not ! but ] et all come who will, all shall be wel- come." We thank you and love you for all your goodness to us. "Yes, you know not yet how much we are all to be to each." COMMUNICATION X. INSIGHT: I am 1 glad you come now, for I go soon where you could not reach me. 76 INSIGHT Will you be there long? "It will depend on my re- ceptive state." Are you going to the same place you told us of once before? "Yes, to the same state where I meet one who will be 'INSIGHT' to me." Shall we not be able to see you again? "You will see me if you wish after my return to my present con- dition." How do you acquire knowledge and how do you pass your time? "I acquire knowledge, when I am in my best condition, from the spirits to whom I go soon. My time as you call it is made up of sensations of labor, of rest, of pleasant social enjoyment and of praise to the source of all these blessings." Then it is not wrong to seek knowledge from withr out? "It is not; knowledge comes from the great Father as light from the sun, but there are channels of which we all form part and although I am nearer the Source than you, I am still far away and many are able to be my teachers. The assimilation must be per- sonal; food does not become part of you as food until after it has been transmuted into your blood and tissues by your own appropriation of it. Your desire is from within and you reach after the divine, but as a plant must have the assistance of the air and moisture, so your divine spark must be helped to reach the central fire by others nearer its great light." What is the law by which you are enabled to see into our minds? "I only see through Endurance. It is by the spiritual connection I have formed with you under the favorable conditions of which I have told you. I only know myself that certain conditions will INSIGHT 77 produce certain phenomena, but I do not know the laws which govern these conditions ; men with you who give all their thought to the study of natural law only know the results of certain combinations and cannot tell why they occur." Do you understand the laws that will govern your next incarnation? "I do in part; it will depend on certain attractions that are latent in my soul and of which I am not now conscious but of which both my former lives, spiritual and physical, have been the creators." Do you not carry with you the growth of your pres- ent life ? "Yes ; real growth must always have its effect but there is much in my life here as in your life on earth which belongs merely to what we may call the present and passing moment." Is the knowledge you acquire in your present ex- istence purely spiritual or is it also intellectual? "Both: but the spiritual knowledge will not be used actively in my objective lives for I shall not need it any more than a man would need his eyes were he living always in the dark." What becomes of the intellectual knowledge you are now acquiring? "That goes with me and determines my position in my next incarnation and I am endeavor- ing to acquire enough to enable me to go into another world than the one of my last incarnation." What becomes of the spiritual knowledge you ac- cumulate? "That is latent in the soul but the new body that is assumed shuts it out from its source and the soul must each time struggle out of its prison 78 INSIGHT house: each time, however, the struggle is easier and easier and the light is less difficult to reach." Is there only a certain amount of spirit to each soul? "The spirit as part of the Divine is without limit, but it must reach of its own accord for each part of God is as free as God himself." Is it possible in this life to behold one's spirit? "When the spirit becomes free from matter it is con- scious of itself and there are moments when this free- dom becomes apparent even in its prison house; when the soul seeks for its source it is often as free for the moment as if there were no such thing as matter; for spirit has suffused it and it is no longer gross." How will matter finally return to its source and become spirit? "Matter will always exist if by matter you mean something objective to the Divine, for what God has created to love Him, and to be loved in return will always remain outside of the Divine or Beginning. The perfect man being outside of God will to Him be matter, that is, not being God it cannot be pure spirit and the name matter might be applied to it." Is God ceaseless activity? "God is all you can con- ceive and much more that you cannot understand. He is activity and rest, heaven with its peace, earth and all the worlds with their endless activities and unrest." Why did God being perfect need our love? "That is the question that the greatest of the archangels asks in his humility. What can God need of us? We can- not understand but we know that it must be for the good and happiness of the creations He has brought into existence by His will." INSIGHT 79 May we see grandmother today? Yes: — she has come." Have you not something you can tell us? "I can tell you of those in the spiritual world for I am just from my children there. Your father takes the rest now that he needs and in a secret chamber of his own house is being unclothed and thinks no longer of his old life, but only of the joys that are slowly dawning on his spiritual eyes, even I am not with him. The angel of the resurrection is there and assists him as his soul is not strong enough of itself till it has left the last of its earthly garments behind." Has he not made rapid progress? "Progress does not begin with the new birth. The soul must be borr out of its earthly state first and then growth begins Do not think I speak of his earthly body, that is a part of your world, but the soul has many garments and like a newborn infant must come into its new life." Have you see the mother of Acceptance? "I have seen her at your aunt's home which is filled continually with crowds who come to her for shelter and encourage- ment and I was told that she was dear to her and cared for by her in some ways, while the other received knowledge that she had not gained." Had not the mother of Acceptance gone to heaven? "She had, for your aunt's house, built and decorated with pictures of her good deeds, is in one of the heav- enly spheres." Do you see M. P. ? "I do not know her by that name for names with us depend on one's spiritual state and our adaptability to come within their sphere; when in the spiritual world I only see those to whom I am sent 80 INSIGHT for that is one of the differences between us and you, when you do not wish to see it requires a conscious effort on your part but with us what we do not desire is for us impossible." Do our friends ever come to us here and help us? "Yes ; not necessarily those you have known but those who are more truly your friends than any earthly ties can make them." Resolution thinks it strange that those who have never known us should come to us? "They are not strangers but your very own. I have often come and with me has been your guardian angel, who> is beautiful in his manly strength and there are others who are known to me by their spirit names ; one is called Peace and she is always striving to have you rest in the knowledge of the eternal truths which are worth so much more than the fleeting and changing things of your earth. I have been allowed to keep with my own, for in my first ignorance of real ties, I demanded this as my greatest boon, but I am gladly waiting the hour when I go to other things. I tell you this to help you to know these truths." Do those who have gone before us need our prayers ? "Yes ; we all need the thought of each one in our Father's house. When there is perfect union between earth and heaven all wants will cease and we shall all be in one body. Do not think that always begging for yourself, even spiritual blessings is true prayer. True prayer is the putting of your will into abso- lute harmony with the Divine will and we are taught that even the most imperfect approach to this state is received by the good Father." INSIGHT 81 Insight, may we come to you again soon? "Come to me, if I am not here some one will receive you in my place. I do not wish you to be imposed on by any other who might take my name, so I will leave you in good spiritual hands." How can we thank you? "You can follow me and go before me even, if your spirit continually seeks the Divine, so thank the true giver who gives to us both according to our capacity to be filled. COMMUNICATION XI. INSIGHT: "You did not come during my absence. Tranquility was ready at any time to have received you. Tranquility is one of us, and the wise friend who was to keep you from any ill effects of your coming, for there are many dangers to the unprotected soul who strives to rise to higher things." Why cannot Discernment come into this communion with you as Endurance does? "She cannot bring her- self pure and alone. Her life is bound up with too many other lives, both physically and mentally. Her mother life is too strong for her to divest herself of the lives so nearly her own. It is better for her to be in their earth sphere. Her highest development lies there." Is the spiritual world about us here in this world? "The spiritual world encircles you as the greater circle encloses the less. If your spiritual eyes were opened you would see those who belong to your state as you now see those who belong to your family circle." Do wicked persons go to heaven? "Never as wicked 82 INSIGHT spirits. To the pure only is the sight of God 1 possible. By God 1 I mean the highest conception purity gives to each soul, of the All Good." Out of what prison had Liberation let his spirit? "The prison of denial; if you shut yourself in a dun- geon and say there is no sun another man's eyes can- not prove to you you are wrong; you must open your own door and look for yourself; your angel now often bears upon her radiant face the calmness of Reflection, but she longs for her name to be Action. You must come into personal relations on a spiritual plane with other souls by taking on yourself their daily needs as Discernment and Endurance do. The pattern man went about doing good; go and follow in his foot- steps and do not wait for duties to come to you." Solicitude wishes to know whether his guardian angel ever leaves him? "She never departs. You may shut her out as a cloud does the sun ; fear not, the cloud will disperse and all will be bright in the end for she is well pleased with your efforts, weak and fluctuating as they are." Is Searcher's guardian angel near you? "Yes, but she stands without." Does he interfere with this writing? "Not in any way. Let him touch Endurance and I can feel his plane of spiritual development. He is wholly undeveloped but is on a high plane, a very delicate and lovely one and his angel is coming gently towards me and is now by my side. Searcher is to be developed later on in another way, but we all welcome her and bid her God- speed in her beautiful and lovely task. She says there are wonderful latent capabilities in her charge and as INSIGHT 88 soon as he is more his own master physically and men- tally her work is to begin." Why does the writing change and become so small? "She is so gentle and refined in her influence that it is showing itself even in the lowest form necessary to our communications." Searcher asks : Does my guardian angel ever speak to me? "She is always speaking to you in a still small voice, but she wishes me to tell you not to let the golden state we call growth, and you call hours, go by without filling them with your best aspirations. She is so happy to come through us to you all and says the states are not many to her vision, though to you they may seem long epochs of time before he begins to develop on his own plane." Is his plane different from ours? "In some re- spects, but planes intersect and run into each other and you all belong to the one great circle that has its ap- pointed work." What is that work? "Now to elevate and spiritualize yourselves, later to draw many other circles into your orbit and finally to become an independent world circling round the great and only Sun, Each soul is a world. A circle of souls is a system like your planetary one, and in the end they will be drawn together into a sun to lighten other planets." Does Searcher belong to our society? "Yes; to one portion of it, one that lies beyond ours, for when per- fectly developed he will present to us what we will grasp through other powers than those that have given them to him. It is the force that takes the thought 84 INSIGHT and gives it form. Do you not see that intellectually there is such a process?" Have you advanced us spiritually by your teach- ings? "There is great improvement in the spiritual condition of you all and when Reflection goes on all will follow. The best work is always organized work, so put your hand to any good work and you will see great results in your own growth. We look upon you as our master and will try to follow your teaching? "Do not call any man master. I am as you only a little nearer the great Source, but I thank you and I love you. We are one and nothing shall any more separate us but your own wills. Read often what I have given you, seek together from all good sources to kindle the great fire that united humanity will make and you will advance and grow even though you may know it not." We read and study daily what you have given us? "Yes, and Discernment follows what I have given but Reflection has not yet accepted things from their high- est standpoint and he must not be hurried. Tear not the petals, as you were told before, he has made great progress and there is joy among us who rejoice in his coming." What is the meaning of the spiritual name "Search- er?" "It means that the human soul is putting out its hands for some outlet from its prison house and strives to let in the light that it knows exists somewhere." Have you a regular organization in heaven? Have you made up your minds to help the world? "Yes ; there is nothing done without what you call organiza- tion which is only an idea or spirit put in motion with INSIGHT 85 forms and parts which perform their different func- tions — but we have not 'made up our minds.' We are the willing channels for the divine and it is what you must be in order to become perfect even in your present stage of work and development." Do we ever change our guardian angels ? "You keep the same but they change as you do." Do we keep the same one through other incarnations ? "Sometimes ; it depends on their state and your needs." What becomes of them while we are in the subjective state? "They also have their periods of rest and re- pose." Do you call the place where you are heaven? "I mean by that idea the state of happiness, that is given to humanity as a reward; words are nothing, other's may have other names for the same idea. Do all souls speak the same language in the spirit world? "Yes; there is a universal language which is understood by all, but do not suppose I mean by that a language of arbitrary signs as those with you ; ours is another kind and speaks directly to the soul." Is the world worse or better than when you lived? "The world is better in many ways, but things are to grow quickly now for the plant so long germinating is reaching to the light and soon all men with their quick- ened intellectual perceptions will see it and become suddenly wiser and better." Have not the churches done a good work in spite of their narrowness? "The churches are now doing a great work, for they are keeping alive the moral sense and their organizations are to be respected and sup- ported and when this light is perceived by them they 86 INSIGHT will be ready like a well-equipped army to fight dark- ness and error." May we see grandmother ? "Yes ; she is here !" Will she tell us of those we love? "The new born one is still where we cannot see him; the others are about their appointed work, some being led, some lead- ing." Can we ever converse with our guardian angels while we are on earth? "Do you not hold arguments with yours every day? She prompts you to good deeds, helps you to overcome evil thoughts and fights many a battle for you with bad and wicked spirits." Shall we ever see them face to face? "Yes; when you first go into a spiritual state your eyes will be opened and you can see them." Do they also retrograde if we become wicked? "Their faces in a spiritual way present to me the state you are in; they are too high to become wicked; the thought must not be permitted for a moment." Can you tell us nothing of father? "Not yet; be patient, all is well ; a purified soul is not born in a day." Will you tell us of C. C? "She is in her own home now. Our paths lie apart, but my messenger says she can perhaps bring you an answer to any question you may wish to ask." We wish to ask whether she instituted these com- munications? "She replies she was one of the forces; of herself she is not yet strong enough, she knows of them and is permitted to know the results and is so happy that your knowledge of these great truths is beginning now in the very dawn of the brighter day INSIGHT 87 that is arriving. She always wished for her children the very best and nothing less contents her now." Is the mother of Reflection with her? "Yes ; she says they are often together as they were on earth, not con- tinually, but when they desire it. There are many of those she loves with her, but more of those who love and need her, and she wishes you to know that all the events of her earth life (some of which seemed hard to her and you) she now sees in their true relation to the whole and knows that nothing could have been other- wise. She is sure of your love; she says that it was given her even while on earth to read your heart aright, and what was then so much will seem when you meet again, only a poor beginning; and to the others she sends these words : keep in the straight path and your lives will be again united in one household. Devotion is cared for here as she was there, and will not be left out when we are all together, but we will all serve her as she has served us." We wish to ask "INSIGHT" if he learned great truths while he was away? "Yes; I saw into the spir- itual workings of the universe and was blinded with the immensity of the Father's power and love." How long a time does the soul spend in a subjective state? "There are many hundred years sometimes of your time given to the worn and weary soul but how long depends upon its condition and strength." Does reincarnation sometimes take place immedi- ately? "The soul is sometimes unwilling to take its rest and as you must always remember the soul is always free. It is given to some advanced spirits to see into the future and they elect of their own accord 88 INSIGHT to do their appointed work without rest or refreshment. They do not often return to your earth, it is only one of unnumbered worlds and there are many others where they can better carry on their preparations and with unerring certainty the soul seeks its best place." Then an adept cannot live hundreds of years in the same body? "Matter does not perpetuate itself in that way ; it is against the law that governs its being." Can we not carry such knowledge as we get from you with us into the spiritual world? "Yes ; but it must be transmuted by the fire of a new birth and become true spirit knowledge, before it can really enter into your spiritual growth, collecting the knowledge of other souls is of no use. True knowledge must become part of yourselves to be of use here." Will we ever be able to penetrate into all the mys- teries in this life? "Do not disturb yourselves about the things of the future; 'sufficient to the day,' as I have said before, now is the time you are to improve and when the time comes for your future lives, the good Father will not send you into a void for there is none where his loving arms cannot enfold you. I do not wish to check you in any pursuit of knowledge, but you must learn the alphabet of things before you can pene- trate into the mysteries." Will we ultimately be able to penetrate into all the mysteries ? "Never ; all the lives forever, and forever, will still leave things unknown." Now we must leave you and say Good-Night ! "I will always say good-night in your words for to me, still, they mean 'Rest.' " INSIGHT 89 COMMUNICATION XII. Can you explain what John meant in Revelation by the seven seals? "He was a great seer and he saw far into the divine purposes. I, myself, do not yet under- stand them." Do you still study the Bible? "Not the letter, the spirit of which it is the form, is studied by us. Love which that great spirit, John, fully developed is the only road to such knowledge for love is higher than knowledge and is the key to all things. Love on your own plane is feeling your brothers' needs. You must first love those you see before you love God whom you have not seen. With you, Reflection, it can best be cultivated by relieving the physical needs of those in your daily path." Can we ever really love an enemy as one's self? "The quality can be the same, to love your enemy means to be willing to serve him, not to take him into your life for that is impossible." Are there others in this world who know you as we do? "There are none who know me by the name of 'INSIGHT' because to you alone do I come in the exact way the word signifies in its spiritual sense ; I communicate in many ways with many souls but to each I mean what they need most." Is it right to tell others what you have given us? "If they can receive it ; give it to them in your life, that can be understood by the most unspiritual." Is it possible for beings to live on this earth in their Astral bodies? "Thousands of spirits live on what you 90 INSIGHT call your earth, but it does not seem the same earth to them." Can they do evil? "They can do great evil but it is overcome and generally becomes negation; as long as you keep your consciousness alive they can do you no harm, it is only by following them from curious motives that you come within their evil sphere." Are there not persons who evoke these spirits ? "The powers they evoke are not the highest and they are obliged to turn from the path that has been appointed and by so doing miss their opportunity to progress, and in the end will find themselves obliged to return with bleeding feet." Can you tell me of a person who has been a teacher to a friend, and who I fear is unworthy? "I cannot tell you of the evil way for the perception of it cannot come into my sphere, but the one sure proof of right teaching can be found in the life it produces, not in the intellectual growth. Your angel says she thinks there is much time wasted in looking afar instead of in your immediate circle for information and for work." Are we not to seek sympathy outside our circle? "In your sphere unfortunately one whom you think most sympathetic is often thinking of things from quite another standpoint. I understand the trouble that is clouding Reflection's mind. Your perceptions are sufficiently clear to make you a teacher to many and you can be trusted to use your own judgment. The more you live out of yourself and for others, the greater will be the growth we all long for. 'Do not despise the day of small things' has been written, and you must learn that to give even a cup of water in the right spirit is INSIGHT 91 sometimes the highest act of worship. You are, if you will to be, a great power for good on your earth, but you must work first with others in some organized way, for the alphabet of things must be learned from with- out. The poor in body and in spirit are looking vainly for help and as all humanity must be redeemed to- gether, you can see how it is meant to love the brother as one's self. Each one of us is his brother's keeper, but it is not by giving each one such strong meat as you are able to receive that help can come. Give milk to babes. You are answered in regard to these communi- cations ; some can receive them and accept their source, others can receive them to whom a knowledge whence they came would be a stumbling block. Use discretion. You have taught us much and we are grateful to you? "You do me no wrong. I understand, and if Reflection becomes as I trust he will one of the world's workers all I have been to you will be as nothing to what he will accomplish. His power will be in the fact that like a stone thrown into water he will set in motion forces of which he little dreams. Discernment's work will be to help the workers of her family and she also is destined to be a light to many who will come to her for comfort and help in many worlds." COMMUNICATION XIII. INSIGHT: "We are together again, what are your wishes? You must bring your questionings with you. I can only answer what arises in your wills." Shall we always retain the same form in the future 92 INSIGHT we have now? "You will be to those who see you a perfect representation of your spiritual state." We mean in future objective worlds? "No; your form, even now in your world depends on your spirit form, but there is always for humanity the form of man for that represents in a spiritual way the form of God." Where did the old masters get the idea of wings in their heavenly forms? "That was the material ex- pression of a spiritual truth, which is that in our world we overcome space as a bird does." I sometimes see beings with wings pass my vision, is it imagination? "It is not imagination. They repre- sent to you your new freedom and mean that you may like them if you will to do so, rise above earth into 1 a purer air. They are what we call symbolic beings which in all ages have communed with man." Where do they dwell? "They are in the spiritual world, but are employed by your angel who takes this means to arrest your attention." Does it show a higher order of organization to be able to perceive these manifestations? "Not always; the life for each to live is on the plane of his duties and this power depends on other conditions than advance- ment in spiritual things. &ome bring with them from their last subjective state, an atmosphere which enables them to see into the spiritual world for a moment." Have some of us gone through more incarnations than others? "Yes ; but I do not wish you to press that ques- tion for of all subjects the past or the future experiences of a soul are of the least importance to its advancement. INSIGHT 93 The master meant that when he said, 'Sufficient to the day,' etc." Have the Indians of North America had fewer in- carnations than we? "Yes; that is true of all people who are not on your plane of advancement." Are all the spirits with whom you are now associated to be reincarnated? "They are not all to be reincar- nated on your earth, from' whence they have just come, but they will all, I think, but am not sure, put on a garment of matter. You must not overvalue your little earth, for though it is a most favored one, it is only one of countless millions." Why are some souls sent back to be incarnated and some seek it of their own accord? "As with you we do not always put the proper value on our acquirements but law works in place of all such mistakes and nothing that comes to any soul could have been otherwise." Do animals go to the spiritual world ? "Yes ; they have their rest and repose, what there is of them, as well as the highest and most developed spirit forms, they bear the same relation to humanity here that they do there." May we see grandmother today? "She is here. She is so happy to come that I have only to send my thought weighted with your desires and she is with us." Has grandmother seen father? "I have seen him with his children since he has left his earth garments in the hidden chamber and no words can describe to you the splendor of the house or the beauty of the en- tertainment in which we were called to take part to celebrate his new birth." Has he passed into heaven? "Not into heaven; he 94 INSIGHT remains still in the spiritual world with those he com- forts and cares for." Has he no drawings to those he left on earth? "He has and that keeps him from going onward, but it is his own election to remain where he is, and his work takes all his time and thought." What kind of work? "The help he gives to those on earth and those who are still bound in the spiritual world." How does he help those on earth? "He helps them through the channel of which I have told you and he prefers to remain where he can do so. It is purely spiritual help and he gives it with others of his family to those he loves, whom he can take into the beautiful home his character has built for him and in which he lives." What is this channel? "Love and knowledge come from God and they flow through an appointed channel from the highest heaven through the lower ones into the good and pure in the world of spirit which is nearest to your material plane. The good who form this channel in the world of unclothing are always spirits who volunteer for that office, and your father, though he has many things to learn, is by his attainments, fitted for this unselfish office and has willed to be one of these." Is he perfectly happy? "He is very happy but not perfectly happy for he has still the unrest of unsatis- fied desires and they can only be changed when he leaves his present work." Does he know of these communications? "He does not know of them in the sense you mean; he feels only INSIGHT 95 that he is doing a work for his own whom he finds without a house in the spiritual world and it would not be well for him to be disturbed." What is the spiritual name of C. C? "Her name is Builder. It means that her work is to make a place for those who come into her sphere. I shall go to be her guest in a state that is approaching me and will tell her anything you may desire." Will you take her my faithful love? "I shall take her what I see in your loving heart and better still I shall tell her what I see in your growing spirit." Will you not bring us a message from her? "If she sends you one. There are to be many guests and I shall not force myself on her notice. It will depend on the atmosphere I bear with me and on her ability to perceive in me of your love and devotion." Will you now say good-bye to us ? "Yes ; for that means God be with you." COMMUNICATION XIV. Will you give us a definition of unselfishness? "Un- selfishness in our sphere means conforming to the divine will from the highest motives, which is the desire to do well in the spirit of obedient subjects. There is no higher motive for any action than the desire to follow the Divine commands ; and the first of all those com- mands is to love others in place of self. The wisdom of an action depends always on its motive, for the most perfect life if lived for self, is no use in making char- acter. Motive determines all things." Are mistakes punished as well as wrongdoing? "Yes ; 96 INSIGHT even involuntary wrongdoing must have its effects, but it does not make the inner life, which is the real one, suffer. The suffering is generally felt in your world where the mistakes occur and does not follow you into the spiritual world." Can we control motives? "That comes from con- tinued and repeated effort ; every time you act out a good motive you put a brick as it were in the wall of defense you are trying to build against wrongdoing." Is it wrong to enjoy the pleasures of life? "It is not wrong to enjoy the beauty that surrounds you. Nature, friends, the family ties and even the pleasure the young feel in the mere sense of living are all in ac- cordance with the Father's will concerning your life on earth. If there were no wrongdoing, that is, if every creature lived in accordance with law, earth would become one of the heavens and there would be nothing but joy and happiness where now almost nothing but suffering and sorrow reign." Is it bad for one's spiritual development to eat meat? "Eating has no spiritual influence unless it disturbs the physical health and animal food is as harmless as any other. Each must judge for himself; the most perfect life ever lived on earth was kept in its true physical state without the things so many of his fol- lowers have taught were necessary. The teaching of Christ contains all that is essential for the most perfect life and it is not well to be wise above that which is written." Did you have to learn this art of communicating with this world? "It is a law, and my spirit had to per- INSIGHT 97 ceive it ; a process analogous to the study by which your intellect arrives at knowledge." Do other spirits communicate with this earth as you do ? "The communication is more general between mem- bers of our society than others, for, as you perceive, understanding is the faculty most used in these com- munications." Can we see Tranquility, with whom you have put us in communication? "She is here and is happy to be spoken to." (Tranquility!) "Yes; I am of the same household with 'INSIGHT' and help to give to our beautiful home the peace that passeth even understand- ing." Can you tell us of your home ? "Imagine all you have ever conceived of beauty and comfort and build a house adorned with those fancies, then fill it with guests who without speaking, know each others 1 ' thoughts and who live in the most perfect sympathy, and you can perhaps have an idea of our home." What decides who shall dwell together? "There is the law of attraction where like seeks like. Here we could not be together for a moment if the perfect accord were broken." Suppose some whom you loved were not able to come into your heaven? "They would come when their at- tainments warranted their admittance. The door stands always open and none can be denied, but none desire to come who are not fitted, for none but the pure and worthy could breathe our atmosphere of love and peace." Suppose one desired to be with you whom you did not desire? "That could not happen with us, for even 98 INSIGHT with you it does not really occur. If one desires your love and sympathy he cannot obtain it unless you are in accord with the wish. With us, there are no appear- ances as with you. We each live to ourselves and to others our real life. Who with you sees your real self? They see what is illusory and changing, not what is substantial and eternal. Each spirit with us sees what it is prepared to see, not our entire self; that is only given to those in the same state of advancement." Are there children in your heaven? "No; for little children grow into maidenhood and manhood in the heaven beneath us and come to us in their prime. Do you not understand, it is as with you. The souls on earth meet on a common plane of understanding and spirits must do the same. An uneducated savage could not understand a seer, neither can a half-developed spirit understand one more highly cultivated and nearer the source of light." Do you ever see Christ? "We see him as you see the sun in your heavens ; when no cloud of our own making interferes we can always bask in his sublime presence and feel the rays of his divine love." Do you not see him visibly? "We feel a greater de- gree of what you may feel on earth, but sometimes he takes form and comes to us as a visible guest." Can we then see Christ as you do? "Yes; if you live the life he lived, you will feel him in your spirit and delight in his presence and it will be joy and peace and contentment which nothing earthly can give you." Are we three who are here advancing in spiritual things? "I can see your angels and can learn from their faces for their lips are sealed concerning their INSIGHT 99 charges ; and 1 I understand something of the struggle you are making to reach higher and nobler things." We wish we could help others as you help us ? "The union between us is, that we are all members of the same part of the perfect man, and I am near you as part of this great whole. You are to us as the hand to the head, and we think of you as part of ourselves. You are doing your work, not as well perhaps as you might, but every little helps and our first lesson is that there is no small or great but all is to be counted at the same value." Will you tell Endurance what you find among her greatest defects? "I see that you are especially im- patient of the brother who does not meet your expec- tations, but that is not the love of which you have been told. The love that thinketh no evil is what you must cultivate and this is for you all. It is the error that comes oftenest to you all in doing the work you have to do." What is Discernment's greatest defect? "I think but am not sure, Insight would know best, that it is the need of patient continuing in well doing without any apparent result. You want to force the growth and have not patience to wait with faith for the slow un- folding." What is Aspiration's great defect? "It is somewhat similar, you do not have as high an ideal for those you would benefit as you should, not as high as your own best aspirations give you; you are inclined to be con- tented with small things." What is Discernment's greatest desire? "It is the desire for the very best for yourself and those you 100 INSIGHT love, and when that love is elevated to its spiritual plane it will be of the highest and purest kind ; now it is mixed with much that defiles it, but in the years that are to come for you, you will refine it into something better. Since I have known Discernment this love has lost some of its dross and its pure gold is often visible." Will Insight tell us something of Tranquility? "She is the beloved and honored mother of our home, to whom we owe more than I could make plain to you of the de- lights of that home, for with my eager seeking after knowledge she gives me the peaceful content that a mother gives to her weary son on earth. Always re- member every emotion you feel is but a shadow of the real one, its counterpart in the spiritual heaven." Are souls ever reincarnated from the spiritual world? "They are reincarnated from every world, sometimes from the spiritual world, sometimes from the first, some- times from 1 our heaven." Do not all go to heaven? "Some are not worthy. They have their repose in one of the many spheres of the spiritual world. Those who attain to the Celestial Heaven above us never return to your earth." May we see grandmother? "She is here." To what society does grandmother belong? "I be- long to part of the heart." Will you tell us of father? "You could not under- stand exactly the state he is in now, for you could not bring it into any accord with him as you have known him ; he is happy and is the most willing and industrious spirit and only anxious to conform in all ways to the law that governs his new life. He is leading those whom he finds needing help into his own happiness. The one INSIGHT 101 who has cared for them is now with me in my own home." Should we think constantly of those who have gone? "Do not put us out of your thoughts but let those thoughts be unselfish ones and give us the joy of your love though we are separated from you. Do not grieve for those who are born into our beautiful world, for those whom you love are so happy here and your dear ones are together." Can you not tell us something of C C today? "I have been in her beautiful city and have seen her and she desired a message to be given to you in return for all the loving thoughts I bore her from you. She is happy and she says no eye has seen the beauty that it is given her to discern in her beloved home, and that you must all continue in your longings for the things of the spirit, and conform your lives to the knowledge that has been given you." Does she help me in my anxieties here? "She gave me to understand that she was to do her work now in her own city and did not speak of having any given her on your plane." Does she use her talent for acting in any way? "It is much used and the power is so developed that she is capable of creating real scenes, to represent her ideas that seem like pictures on your earth. Something out- side of herself entirely, as a sculptor can make his ideas, something that can be touched and handled, so her representations are real to those she wishes to teach or entertain." Can you only see us when this circle is formed? "I cannot see you at any other time unless there is 102 INSIGHT some similar one established as there has been. 'IN- SIGHT' says if it is necessary there will be a way found and that you must not think he will cease to care for you, for he shall see your angels and know of your state and will establish some means of helping you, al- though you may not know it in the same way you do now." How can we always know exactly what is right to do ? "The only way to decide between the right and wrong is to analyze the motive; if that is good the deed can- not be wrong." Is there ever danger of our losing our place in the society to which we belong? "There is no danger of your belonging to another society, but there is danger of your not reaching your place in the one to which you belong ; each soul can do as it will and not even the Lord of all, could force you into a place to which you did not wish to go." Do you see Courage? "Yes; he is here happy and beautiful. He is the most lovely spirit that comes with your circle and is always within our sight when you come to me. Your angel and he are seldom separated for one desires the other." We are very grateful for all you have told us today? "You are all so dear to us that we wish to tell you that you also help us. Through you I have known the dear mother, and it is to be given me to be her guide and teacher, in the new things that are to be unfolded to her loving vision." How have we been the means of this? "All things come to us as to you ; the cause becomes the effect, and the channel of which all form a part is an unbroken INSIGHT 103 circle and you brought with you this beautiful spirit, for you form her atmosphere and it is her love which binds you all together and makes you the power which you are. Good-bye ! We shall not be really apart for if our lives are the same we shall be on the same plane and will be together though you and I may know it not." COMMUNICATION XV. Do we change our society sometimes ? "We do not ; we change our places in the same society sometimes as a preparation; or for some information, one forms for a time a part of a society, but it is only as a visitor." Why did grandmother tell us first that she belonged to the hands and in the last writing that she belonged to the heart? "She had left her real place at her own desire to be with her children, and as the hands, she was able to come nearer to them because the work she did is symbolic of the hands — she has been the leader. The mother did not know she was not in her rightful place because she had shut herself voluntarily into your state. She now knows her true position and is to learn many things her work has prevented her from acquiring. With us everything is seen in accordance with our state, and doing the work of the hands, she saw no further. She has always belonged to the heart, but she herself did not perceive it till her work that she had set herself to do was accomplished. Some spirits never know their true position." Do both souls and spirits go to heaven? "Yes; the soul comes to my heaven ; in the heaven above there is nothing but pure spirit." 104 INSIGHT Are you a soul? "Yes ; I am a soul but when in my best state it is laid aside as your bodies are at death, only I can resume it again." Are these occasions when you seek communion with God? "Yes ; there are hours with us of inspiration and exaltation, as with you, and then I am out of my body." Then the soul is substantial? "Yes; and in my heaven it is needed for the protection of the spirit." How do you protect your body when you leave it? "The Lord gives us the power to protect all that is necessary to us and our coverings are in safe keepings." Can we ever succeed in leaving our bodies in the same way? "That is not possible for you, except in your degree ; the way is to bring your mind, your desires and your will into accord with the Divine will by prayer and good deeds." One cannot always succeed in praying? "One can- not always ; the desire as you have it is accepted and you have already had moments of great peace and con- tent. There are some of the Father's children to whom this joy never comes ; so be willing to work, and wait with faith and patience." Do forms change in other objective worlds? "In the material of which they are composed. The soul having once become in the form of a man has nothing higher to attain, and can never be degraded to anything lower. (Answer to mental question) The mother might have known all had she so desired. Knowledge only comes with desire and she is so single-minded that she did not even ask what her ultimate place was to be." I was afraid to have doubts and to question this? "It was not wrong; all earnest craving for truth is INSIGHT 105 right and you must always ask for explanations, for there may come misunderstandings in these writings as they depend on so many conditions. Perfect love casteth out fear. There should be no fear between you and me. Trust me as I do you, in all things." What are the duties of Tranquility in your home? "To give rest and peace to spirits who, like 'INSIGHT,' are ever longing and striving to acquire knowledge and understanding of the laws that govern the universe." I thought we were to cease striving, after this life? "Progress means striving; nothing comes without de- sire, but with us as with you, there are hours of work and hours of repose." What is your work? "My work is to receive those who come for rest and I also am seeking to advance as well as they, but I only wish to know the Father's will and do it. They desire to penetrate into the mystery of the work of creation and find out the wisdom of God." Did you know "INSIGHT" before you met in Heav- en ? "I knew him only as an inmate of this Heaven ; we came here at the same state of development and find- ing ourselves in perfect accord, live in the same house with others who are also like ourselves." How many are there in your house? "There are six of us." Can you make us understand about your houses? "As your bodies are the lowest manifestation of spirit so your houses are the lowest manifestation of ours. Ours bear the same relation to our spiritual wants that yours do to your material wants." Is it wrong to desire that our spiritual eyes shall be 106 INSIGHT opened here so we may see you? "That is not your ap- pointed work, so that it is not the highest ambition; many things are not wrong of themselves which are not desirable." But we wish to know how to use those faculties when we arrive in the spiritual world? "Then your eyes will be opened in proportion as you have done well or ill in your life of probation. It is not well in the ways you mean. Each one should desire the spiritual sight that will enable him to see his own spirit and the needs of his own growth and to recognize the Father's will. The sight into the world nearest your own which might be acquired would not assist you in this work. You do not accept and study the way, therefore, you be- wilder yourself. The way is the life and teachings of Christ, as 'INSIGHT' says he told you in the very beginning of these communications. Christ has shown the right path and there is no' more light needed than he has given. His words are very simple and a child can understand them ; come to them as a little child and you will see their meaning. Reflection's mind is more understood by 'INSIGHT' than by me for they both have the minds of the seeker." "Insight wishes to say to Reflection that Tranquility has spoken words of wisdom. Take one of the com- mands you find in Christ's teachings each day and make it the guide of that day and you will soon understand, but do not expect to learn the whole science in one trying. Look each for yourself into the words of the great teacher and you cannot go wrong. Do not take what some one else says about his teachings but the very words as they fell from his lips." INSIGHT 107 How can we know that the words as we have them fell from his lips? " Do you suppose that if the All Wise revealed Himself to man He did not take care that that revelation should be preserved?" How? "In the gospels as you have been taught. All other systems of truth, though humanity has had many, are inferior to this. You are only required to do what each race of mankind has been required to do, — to accept and put into their lives the manifestation of God given them." Is grandmother present and will she tell us of father? "I am here ! There is no change in the condition of which I spoke to you. W is with him." Why has W remained so long in the spiritual world? Why has he not made more rapid progress? "He has not been able to accept the situation ; his long- ings and desires have all been towards those he left on your earth. Your father's mind is more mature and he comes to us as an apple perfectly ripe falls from a tree ; he is willing to be here and is able to see that his prog- ress toward the highest could not have gone on in his infirm body." Can you tell me of A and has she been with father? " She is a beautiful spirit and is in this Heaven ; she was in the spirit world to welcome him and sometimes now at his strong desire she goes to him. But when he learned she had her own beautiful home and her own duties, he has not called for her again. He is very happy with his own work and his own lessons which those of his household study together and is intent in doing what his hands find to do." What is his work? "His work now is to learn the 108 INSIGHT laws that govern the growth of the soul in the world he has just entered and to teach them to those who are about him." Have you seen C. C. again? "I have not seen her again since her great feast but then she was so grand and so beautiful that I have had her in my thoughts, and that with us brings us always near each other." How did she look? "She was as if she had just passed her prime; she has not attained her full youth yet, that will come later, but she was beautiful and so loving to me because I seemed to bring you with me. :When we met, she could see my thought and your mes- sage, as we see the face of a friend, and with one look we conveyed to each other more than you could tell by many pages of writing." When you meet her again will you convey a mes- sage? "I shall not leave my own place soon for I feel so ignorant since I have seen 'INSIGHT' that I must give myself up to acquire knowledge that will make me worthy to fill my place well." Will you then be able to come to us? "I shall do then as 'INSIGHT' thinks best. When I accept him as my teacher, I only shall do> his bidding." We wish to ask Insight why this writing tires us all? "Because I take of your material strength in establish- ing the channel. It is obliged to come through your plane. As it is so remote from me you do most of the work there." Do you use certain qualities in one and certain others in another ? "No ; it is what you would call brain force from you all. The more your spirits are in accord the clearer the communication." INSIGHT 109 Is there any truth in the theory of automatic writ- ing and unconscious cerebration? "As I see it, it seems to me like smoke or clouds obscuring the sky. There is no truth in it as far as these writings are concerned, for although you all furnish the power the ideas are entirely beyond you, and there is real tangible communication between us, of one intelligence with another." Can my angel bear you a message from me? "Yes; he is able but not always willing to show the spiritual condition of your soul, but you may tell him to do so and if you are sufficiently determined he will obey." How can we cultivate will power? "In a good direc- tion by each day little by little overcoming faults." Is it right for me to will that my angel should carry you a message? "It is if the motive is right; that is one true test; if the wish is for information or a desire to rise to my plane the motive will be good!." We thank you and will try to follow all the advice you have given us. "One must learn to step before one can run and you must be willing to begin at the begin- ning." Will you not remember us in your prayers? "You are always in them and I shall not forget the guidance you will need in your first efforts." COMMUNICATION XVI. INSIGHT: "What are your desires? I stand for you inside an open door." What is the kingdom of God? "The kingdom of God is in every true, devout and faithful heart. Where- 110 INSIGHT ever God's will is supreme there is his kingdom, and when all represent that kingdom the real reign that Christ spoke of, will begin and all things will be brought back to God. Do you not remember the Master said 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.' " What is the meaning of "May thy Kingdom come"? "It means that every will may be brought into subjec- tion, or rather into willing obedience to God's will. The prayer adds, 'As in Heaven.' Here, there is no will but God's and this is not subjection but ready and active correspondence with all that is good and right." Are there other guardian angels with you than ours? "Yes ; for all desire to understand these things here as you do from your side." Are they anxious to listen to your teachings? "No; it is not that, but we are as anxious to reach you as you are to come to us and when your presence here is per- ceived many who are in our state are attracted and listen to your desires." How can our crude thought have any interest for them? "We do not think of our own good but of the good of others, but even if we did, it would be an incen- tive, for the progress of each individual depends in a measure on the progress of the whole." Is it far in actual space from here to heaven? "Can it be far, if the kingdom is within you? Space as you understand it does not exist for us and there is no space between you and me ; that belongs only to the material world. You perhaps do not get a clear idea of it, but think of space for a moment and you will see that it changes itself into time and so you might, if INSIGHT 111 you could think from your spirit, see that time was only sensation." You said in a former writing that we were so remote from you? "I meant that the material form in which it reaches you is remote from our mode of communica- tion here. To think is to know; with you many words only obscure your meaning." Will you tell us of your own age? "I am in the very prime of my youth, not perfected yet, for I have many things to learn, but I am young and as capable of all the enjoyments of my celestial home as a man of twenty is of his material life. There is no growing old with us ; we are always in perfect health, in perfect receptive condition for all the blessings the Father sends." Are you ever weary? "We are not weary as you understand that word, but we have moments in which we need and seek repose ; and if we say we are weary there is no sense of discomfort only a desire for another form of happiness. There are times when I seek my home to tell its beloved ones of what I have discovered of the Father's wisdom and I go to it as a son to his mother for sympathy." Will you tell us of marriage in heaven? "That is the last blessing perfected spirit receives and we have not yet attained to that." Are not those who have been married here, together there? "If they really and truly are in perfect sym- pathy they are instructed that after they are prepared for it that relation will be resumed, if they are not in spiritual sympathy they are nothing to one another: as you outgrow your earthly loves during your short life there, so in heaven you care nothing for the mis- 112 INSIGHT takes of your previous existence. No real love, how- ever, can be without its effect on character, andl love makes you more fit to enter into the highest joys of this life, which is made up of love and of acts that pro- ceed from love." How can we love Christ more? "The desire will bring the fulfillment. First love the brother for Christ's sake and the other will follow." How shall we recognize you in heaven? "How do you know a friend after many years of separation? Not by his outer appearance, for that is not the same, but by his soul looking through his eyes ; with us one word, one look, will make us acquainted." Is grandmother now with you? "She is with me part of the time ; when she desires she comes to us but she still clings to her work in her own heaven and is even at times in the spirit world." May we see her today? "She has been with us since you came and is eager to speak with you." Have you seen father again ? "Yes ; for a stay with him in response to his desire. All is beautiful, and he spoke to me of his children, those on your earth and those here and they are all dear to his heart and often in his thoughts." Does it keep him back to think of us? "Thinking of others as he thinks, is a means of growth. He thinks of you now as spirit and he has given up all desire for material things. He is content now with his condition and all its surroundings and is as interested in them as he ever was in his cares on earth. He thinks of you now as he did then of those who had preceded him into INSIGHT 113 the spiritual world, and he knows he shall see you again when the Father wills." Can you tell us what "INSIGHT" is teaching you? "No, dear, I could not make your baby mind understand the things that pertain to my womanhood. There is no joy on earth no matter how perfect, no happiness no matter how unalloyed, which could give you the least conception of what comes to me each moment of my life here. Live your earthly lives, my dear ones, with your heart and your strength in your work and look forward with happy hearts to something brighter and better awaiting you when its duties have all been performed and its blessings all enjoyed." Have you seen C. C. again ? "I have not. I am now with many new duties and interests and my old ones are leaving me and 'INSIGHT' says that very soon I may remain with him and my work will then be en- tirely with those who can come to me." Can we not communicate directly with C. C. ? "It is not possible with a spirit in her sphere to come into direct communication with you, it is 'INSIGHT' who speaks. There are more differences in state in our world than in yours and with you it is not always pos- sible to come into the company of all who inhabit your earth ; with us one must be in accord even to be seen or perceived." Will Insight tell us which heaven he is in? "In the very first sphere above the spiritual heaven. The celestial heaven in its highest state is still very far above me. I am and have been since you first came to me in this sphere of the celestial heavens. Did you think otherwise? I have told you many times that the 114< INSIGHT spheres or states here are without number. You ask the same thing over and over again, but that is right ; come to me always with the thought and wish of your heart, for a teacher must expect to repeat himself many times, but learn patience with those who come to you in the same way, forgetting what you have given them." Who is the angel of the resurrection? "The Lord is the resurrection and the life ; it is his spirit alone that has power to bid those who are to be born into our world, 'awake to life.' " Shall I be able to reach you in any way after Endur- ance goes ? "By practice you will learn to write and I shall see that no evil comes near you. Write whatever comes no matter from whom and you will at last develop your latent power. You shall be protected but do not allow yourself to fear; that ignoble feeling brings what you would most dread. Nothing comes but as an effect from a cause and many things through many years have contributed to Endurance having her pres- ent power." I thought you said you could not see physical things? "The power is not physical; the physique is only used as an instrument." Are you now in your own house? "No; I am. as it were just inside the gate of a greater city and your angels stand without and form a link in the chain which binds us together." Is there country near and is it beautiful? "More beautiful than any experience of earth or any dream of heaven has ever given you." Have we progressed much spiritually since we have known you? "You forget what a short time has INSIGHT 115 elapsed since we first knew each other even as you measure things ; with us who measure time by states it is even shorter." Is not your house very beautiful? "I have what I am worthy to receive." This is our last interview, as Endurance goes away tomorrow! "It has been arranged that you shall have all you need. Do not regret that these communications are to end, for you now need time to digest what I have given you and make it part of your life. You will always have, if you seek it, the inner light." I hope we shall never be entirely separated from you; no other teacher could take your place to us! "The bond between us is not for a day, and we shall always need each other." Is there such a thing with you as mirth or a sense of the ridiculous ? "Yes ; every sense you have that contributes to your enjoyment is real and a part of this life ; the sense is, however, never used, as it is so often with you, at the expense of the brother." How do we know how much of the suffering and misery in the world is God's will and how much man's mistake? "None of it is God's will. Suffering is the result of broken laws and is it natural that a loving Father should inflict it, as many suppose, on His child- ren ? Fight all suffering, all disease ; that is your high- est mission, as it is ours, and the more you conquer it the nearer the blessed end will come for which we all so long." Ought not we to endeavor to "kill out desire"? "Do not believe that ; desire, if for someting good, is found even in the heart of the highest heaven." 116 INSIGHT Is self-satisfaction a thing we should struggle against? "It is not a thing you will encounter often if you keep your ideal high, but having done your best approve of it, for God Himself will say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' Do not undervalue your- self either; justice is the highest of all attributes." Will you explain more clearly why some souls seek reincarnation and some come back against their will? "There is a law for this, as for all things. Some spirits rebel against it, as some with you rebel against their birth out of the flesh; but all must succumb to this law. When the spirit refuses to think of its new birth into matter the law takes its course under diffi- culties. As with you, the good citizen feels no law, only those who wish to rebel." We have been asked if you have taught us any new truths? "I have given you truths which were new to you, but not to all men for truth is always to be had for the asking or seeking, and many have gleaned be- fore you in these fields." We are writing what you have given us into a book ! "I have been told that you gave what I have taught you much thought and I am careful that the truths shall appear clear to your minds. Do not think too much of your own growth. Do your work and the progress will follow and in the end you will see what you have accomplished with wondering vision that so much has sprung from such seemingly small things ; you are as jewels in my crown, for blessed is the man who brings even one little one into the Father's Kingdom." But every one would be thankful to be taught by you! "They all have their opportunities if not in INSIGHT 117 what you call the now, the time will come for them for God's time is without limit, and every soul is being brought, some through darkness, into the everlasting light. See that you give freely what you have received, give it in your life and also seek out the ignorant and teach them the words that fell from the lips of the Perfect Man. It is not given to many to receive knowl- edge, as you have done, from our sphere, and it would not be well for the many. Give it them without telling of me for you will find elsewhere all that is necessary for those I mean." I feel unworthy to teach others. "The worthiness will come with the doing; would you expect to learn anything without practice? And you, Discernment, are particularly fitted for such work for you have what draws all hearts to you if you so> will. The nature that has been given you through many ages of progression and your ten talents will be required of you. Each of you whose angel is with me, is well fitted for such work and Devotion must not think that nothing is expected of her ; she can help the weak and sorrowing for she can come very near them and they will confide in her more than in many." Do you feel an interest in the progress of science in this world? "We feel the very greatest in all spiritual growth ; what you call science has been of little interest to me since I came here where I have the key to those mysteries that the intellect of man is still searching for." Can Reflection have some news of his mother? "I will send your angel to take you to the door of the 118 INSIGHT heaven where she is. Reflection is welcome; what are his desires?" To whom are we speaking? "To Forbearance." Can you tell me of my mother? "She is in a new city in our beautiful home andJ with those she most loves and is happy." Do you know all the spirits where you are? "It is given me to know all in my heaven, and I know from your angel the spirit of whom you ask." In which heaven are you? "In the heaven between the world of new-born souls and the heaven of the great one who sent you to me." Is "INSIGHT" universally known as being great? "Throughout our heaven, for he comes to us some- times as a great teacher does to you." Will you tell Reflection of his mother? "She is with the other of whom we spoke, and their work is to build the city for the reception of those who every hour join their ranks from the spirit world." Can you bring a message from her? "She comes to speak without, with your angel, and she wishes you to know that in the beginning of these teachings it was given her to know they were to be, and her message is that you carefully heed them and live in accordance with the spirit of love and unselfishness they embody. She is in perfect accord with your beautiful angel, who holds her hand and allows her to see into her calm and lovely face which reflects the improvement that has come into your life since your thoughts have been turned heavenward." Can you not make us understand better about your INSIGHT 119 present work? "You could not understand! now. Do well jour part in the work and wait for the clear vision ; it cannot come to you in your prison house of flesh, but the time is not long, occupy it and it will seem all the shorter." Forbearance, can you tell us anything of your former life on this earth? "What I now am is more useful for you to know than the road by which I reached my place and here I am the one who bears the burden of all the spirits who come in countless numbers to our heaven. All come to me and the burden is pleasant and I re- joice in my work. Your great teacher once filled my place and my reward is to go where he is now, when the appointed hour arrives." Will you tell us something about "INSIGHT"? "When I came, a little naked one, into this blessed place he received me and for many long years, as you count time, he taught me and to him I owe what I am. You are favored ones indeed, that have been found worthy in your state to hear his words of wisdom. When a teacher was asked for, for you, he volunteered because he knew that the cord which binds souls and spirits to- gether, could be stretched to you." I did not know we should depend on others after go- ing to heaven? "The moment that dependence is broken, hell begins." Do you have times of sleep with you? "Not like your natural sleep, but we rest in perfect assurance that God is behind the darkness, and when we wake it is light because our thoughts turn to the source of light. Night does not come to all at once as it does 120 INSIGHT to you, each spirit has what it desires. Light and work or repose and twilight. In some cities where all the dwellers are in perfect harmony it is night to all at once, but in others as with you some repose while others make their own light and work." Are we detaining you from other duties ? "There are no more important duties than to give to those who ask. God Himself, we are taught, has no higher work." Do you think of God as a personality? "We have no means of knowing God in our present state, except as Christ has revealed Him and we pray as he has taught both us and you to the Father, in his name." Do you ever see Christ? "He comes to us in our hours of deepest spirituality, at other times he is our light and we look at him from afar as you do at your natural sun." Can we ever behold him as a spiritual sun? "Yes ; you can feel and you have felt both his light and heat and the nearer you live his life, the stronger that light and heat will glow in your heart." Now we must say good-bye. "INSIGHT," will you not come to us again soon ? "Yes ; if you need me. I shall be found by you, but now you must cease asking and begin doing, and I shall rejoice at the results of your labor. I must not come to you as you call it, unless there is need of my doing so. There will be joy among us all from the highest heaven to your friends in the spiritual world, if you will live as well as you know." AMEN! INSIGHT 121 COMMUNICATION XVII. AFTER AN INTERVAL OF A YEAR. INSIGHT: "You are welcome and expected. I have felt our united desires and have known ever since I returned that you longed to do so. What shall I give you?" From whence have you returned? "From where you have known of my going into another state." Then it was not you, "INSIGHT," who came to us the other day? "No; I was then where you could not come. I see now you were unable to reach me and were intercepted by spirits who belong to our society, but who are not using their power for good. You could not have been long deceived by them. Have I not promised that those evils should not harm you. Do not fear." Does it seem as long to you as it does to us since we were together before? "It has not been long. I am often with you." Must the process of Regeneration take place on this earth? "Yes; it must begin on your earth; man must come to it in an objective life." Then even after what is called being "born again" one must return to earth? "He must usually come back to an objective life, for man may be only born, and growth must follow." What can a man do to prepare the conditions of this new birth? "The human soul is the field in which the germ is planted and God alone can give the increase. As Paul has written, the spirit is always there, but 122 INSIGHT unless the soul is ready you do not perceive his pres- ence." Are the greater proportion of humanity living today, regenerate? "That is not true in your present state of development for evil is very powerful yet in your world." Is it possible to be mistaken about having attained regeneration ? "Yes ; most possible and it is often done. Man puts his own ideas in place of the true law and is a self deceiver." Is is still possible to perceive the star in the East? "That phase of life has passed, for it was only a symbol of the Sun of Righteousness." Can one behold the Sun of Righteousness here on earth? "Yes; all those in whom the Christ-life has become a part of their nature." How can one be sure to attain eternal life ? "A man may be sure of that life if the tendency of his thoughts is Heavenward. The guide to it is the Christ life." Is the present manifestation of God in our world what "Jesus Christ" spoke of as the Comforter? "It is, and it is hid as he said it should be with Christ in God. That is, in the God that is within each regene- rate soul." Does one always know the exact moment at which spiritual rebirth has taken place? "Not always, but the first mark is the going out from self to the brother." Not first of all to God? "No; that is a common error; many who think themselves born again are mis- taken because they first attempt to scale heaven before they have reached the mountain tops of earth." Are the souls in heaven who must return to earth INSIGHT 123 to seek regeneration not disappointed that they can- not obtain it there? "We have no disappointments in heaven, how can we have when we keep ourselves ready to fulfil all law." Is that part of Christ which is in the human soul the same as the Holy Ghost? "The part of God that was on earth in the purified human soul of Jesus is still in each soul who follows his teaching and keeps his commandments ; even in the souls of those who never heard his name." What I meant to ask was whether Christ and the Holy Ghost are identical? "They are the same. As you speak of the character of a friend. The writers of the word meant the same. 'The spirit of Christ is the God manifested to humanity.' " Was Jesus Christ not born just as any other mortal must be? "He was as far as his earthly body was concerned. He broke no law but said himself that he had come to fulfill all law." Had his human soul not gone through many previous incarnations? "His human soul was the first begotten for it was the first perfectly spiritualized human soul. 'Discernment' sees the great truth that has been so misunderstood." Did you know this when you were on earth? "I had no glimpse of it." That want of knowledge then does not now prevent your comprehending these truths ? "No ; it does not for I keep my soul open to the good and true according to my light." Do you use your intellect in your present condition or only your intuitive faculties ? "My intellect is used 1M INSIGHT to its utmost capacity and grows as I approach new truth." Will you use your present knowledge in another in- carnation? "Most certainly all that I leam now will be latent in my next incarnation and I shall begin to perceive truth where I leave off here." You once asked us to tell you our idea of God. My idea of the great 'First Cause' is that He is a condition, may that be so? "God must be unconditioned, it is only the limited that can be governed by condition." Perhaps if I had said "State" it would have better expressed my idea? "God is more than your idea of Him. A state expresses one thought of Him but He em- braces all things and all human thought will forever fail to reach Him or to explain Him." My thought was that what nature is to physical man, God is to spiritual man. Are there not correspondences between things above and things below? "Yes ; created things : I see what your thought is and as far as it goes it is a correct one. He is you and He is the highest archangel, and you and He are part of this Infinite which you are trying vainly to put into words. It would be impossible for the human mind in its present state to conceive of God as pure spirit, which He really is. We use words but they mean nothing to us." Have you no other means of knowing God than we have? "I may have a clearer vision, but it is still human and as Christ taught us, I call him still Father for that means Creator, protector, lover." Does the vision of Christ in the soul seem the same to all who behold it? "No; to each soul he is different, INSIGHT 125 for as no two faces are alike so each soul bears its in- dividual image of God." Is it true that the kingdom of heaven must be taken by violence and how? "The violence that conquers the evil within man and guards the threshold of the en- trance to the soul. That is what I feel sure must have been meant. Your questions, some of them, have never presented themselves to me before." What is the 'Word' as used in the New Testament? "The Word is God in his character of Creator and Manif ester. Nature and the spirit are its great sym- bols to our race. God spake and all things were made ; hence, to those who first received the idea, came the term. The idea had to come to man's intelligence but any other term might have been used, for words signify nothing in themselves." Has each soul a word that expresses it? "Yes; that is so, for each soul bears a separate and individual re- lation to the great Source." Could we not discover that word? "It is not of great importance at present, for now you and I must be making ourselves worthy of that new name which it is written is to be found in the book of life." Is this the name that shall be written on a white stone ? "Yes ; all those things are used as symbols ; I know of a better one which I have just learned; do you perceive it? I mean a new symbol. I am trying to give it to you. 'Write it, Endurance' 1 see it cannot be ; wait with patience until you are wiser." Where did you learn this symbol? "In the universe to which I have just been." M. wishes to know whether it is well to think of God 126 INSIGHT as having form? "Yes ; if that is the way you can come nearest to Him. Does Onward wish to know of those she has with us? Succor is here and has been waiting for Onward to ask." Will she tell us of Aspiration? (Aspiration had left us since our last interview.) "I have been with my dear child until she no longer needed me and I can tell you all about her coming into the spirit world, and of her present state. She is now at rest ; at first she came with great reluctance from you all and refused for many days to be reconciled. This was greatly caused by the suddenness of her coming, but she was here as there, willing to be led and after seeing those she loved on this side she became happier. She is now at rest before her new birth in your father's world, but she is not with him for the new birth cannot take place but in obscurity and darkness. I mean the preparation for it." Was it not a great happiness to father to see her? "He was very happy and their meeting was most beau- tiful." Is father still doing a "work for his own" in the spiritual world? "Not only for his own but for all helpless souls who at their first coming need a strong arm to lean upon." Will you tell us something more of Aspiration? "My dear child asked for me and wished to be brought where she had often come with you and she came with your assistance which you rendered unconsciously. You are still bound as you were, and what you call death has not sundered the tie. Courage and Endurance came INSIGHT 127 to help Aspiration and enabled her to reach this blessed height." Did she see "INSIGHT"? "Yes; she saw him for a moment as she so desired, but she wished to return where she belonged, and I was allowed to go with her." Has she wished to communicate directly with us? "Yes, very often and she has made efforts to do so. She wished to comfort him to whom she had been a great opportunity and she wants him to know that as soon as she is permitted she will help him as she has always done. At first, she was so desirous of knowing all about those she had loved and left but it would not have been well for her, and she was guarded from mak- ing the effort she desired and from putting herself into the power of those who guard the lower portals." Do you mean she wished to return to earth? "Yes; she wished to do so, but it was not best for she could not distinguish between good and evil in her new sur- roundings." Did she know we should be able to come to Insight again? "She asked, if you came while she was in her present condition, that I should tell you that all with her was for the very best, and that she is not lost to you in any sense but is still your own Isabel." Did you know that when we tried to get to Insight the other day, we received a communication from some one pretending to be you? "Insight explains. I know there are many powers who can deceive even the very angels and I am not surprised for they are always striving to injure those who are seeking the truth." Grandmother, are you now always with "INSIGHT" ? "Not always for I still have many calls into my old 128 INSIGHT work, and as I go where I desire, I spend much time in the spiritual world, but I have the added power of carrying with me my own heaven and it still seems that Insight is with me, but in a way I cannot make clear to you." Is father very happy now? "Very happy, but you know he has not yet reached the heavenly state and he will be kept back from even desiring to go there by his wish to be with his children." Do you mean his children there or here? "Both!" Did Aspiration wish no special message given to her husband? "She left the message I have given. She desired to return and comfort him and was only deterred from doing so by my presence and advice and she will wait for him to fulfill his life and work and will help him all she is permitted." Will she be able later on to communicate personally? "You love her too unselfishly to desire anything but her good, and you yourselves are saddened by what you know of the grief of him whom she would most desire to serve." Can you tell us anything today of C. C. ? "She also came to my child who was so eager to see all those she had known in the earth life. She, Representation, is still building her city of beautiful souls and is a most advanced spirit for her sphere." Is this writing as easy without Aspiration? "It is not so easy, but it will become so, for you now have help in Onward and Solicitude who stand in our midst and make one with us." We now have to stop. Will you all continue to think INSIGHT 129 of us? "We never lose sight of you, for with us to think and desire is to perceive." Shall we be able to come to Insight again? "You will reach me now ; fear not, for all good shall attend you. You must act more and think and desire less. That is the word I have for you all. You are more in my thoughts than those of my own household for you are the little ones of the Master's Kingdom. God be with us all and keep us in perfect union." COMMUNICATION XVIII. INSIGHT: "Many are eager for your coming for the spirits in accord with you are curious about your doubts and questionings." Who are they and why do they feel an interest in our questions ? "These spirits are more developed spir- itually than yourselves, but not so intellectually." Is it well for us to seek these communications which after all are only from without, instead of seeking knowledge from within? "I shall guard you from go- ing beyond the right point. Our meetings in this way are not to be many." Why is this so? "It is given me just now, to know that my great desire is to be fulfilled and I go soon into a new universe and a new order of things." How does your going coincide with the length of time you told us had to be spent in subjective life? "All unworthy as I am, such is the will of Him who governs always by law and we must always be sure He is right." What will be your condition from now until the moment of your reincarnation? "My condition now is 130 INSIGHT as you have known it, later I go into repose and obscur- ity." Shall we never be with you again? "Perhaps our bond may be strong enough to overcome the differences of state which may not be greater then than now." It seems hard to have you slip out of our lives? "All real friendships are eternal. Nothing slips out of our lives which is really in any state a part of them." When you are gone will there not be someone who might be our teacher? "There are countless others but it will not then be necessary for you. You must cease to learn from outside sources and teach to others what you know. You will learn all that you really desire. Do not depend on me but on the true insight which is latent in your own souls." How can we develop this insight ? "By never keeping truth from the brother." Did you not warn us to be discreet and to "give milk to babes" ? "Yes ; but babes are plentiful and see that they go not hungry. You wish to know how best to grow in the inner life. Grow as a tree does which for every root sends forth branches and leaves and fruit, for all that are sheltered and fed by it." Is not the subjective life wholly a life of effects? "That is true in a certain way, for what you call causes are here in truth effects though they assume such im- portance as to seem as if they came of their own voli- tion. You think perhaps that my desire for immediate reincarnation is a cause ; it is only an effect from many lives that lie behind it." Why were you so opposed in the beginning of these writings to discuss the subject of reincarnation? "It INSIGHT 131 was not necessary and you would do well not to let it occupy too much of your thoughts, for by so doing you live in the future and the present is the important day with you." Yes, but it is an intellectual pleasure to know about it? "And I am only interested in your spiritual growth." Why are the spirits you spoke of as being present interested in us? "They have attained your spiritual standpoint without any development of the reasoning powers and they are interested in seeing the truth from that point." Do all souls in heaven have the same idea of God and the same name for Him? "They have the same name but each soul mirrors God according to its in- dividual purity." Is not that what we do here? "You do not change, the same laws are everywhere." Do the souls in your heaven know of the spiritual awakening which seems to be taking place on our earth? "Yes, and hence their interest." What is causing this spiritual movement ? "It is the fulness of time. In the development of humanity there comes a time to the whole, as there does to each indi- vidual, and the race has come to its birth. We here watch and wait as you do for we all are one, and we must grow with you into the fulness of the Perfect Man. This is what makes it possible for my own new birth." Has Jesus Christ anything to do with this spiritual awakening which is taking place? "Everything; his spirit, the Christ, is moving all these souls who are look- 132 INSIGHT ing to him. Do not confound the man with the spirit for you are beyond that. To some the man is still necessary." How does Christ manifest himself to the individual soul? "By permeating the soul with his divinity as the perfume of a flower permeates the atmosphere in which it lives ; when the human soul has extricated it- self sufficiently from the bonds in which it must grow it lifts its head like a plant above the earth and inhales the airs of heaven." Courage wishes to know if you will not leave us a teacher? "Courage will need no other teacher. She must teach instead of being taught. You must all draw from the inexhaustible source each has within and which is only waiting for your soul's permission to flow into a broad river which will overflow and fructify all within its reach. I see that you, Discernment, know yourself and that you already feel you should not de- pend on me for your growth." For what things is it permissible to pray? "As the Master taught, for all material and all spiritual gifts, for all come from the one divine source and there is nothing beneath his notice and his knowledge. The act of prayer is in accordance with His will and it is proper and right for your own growth that you should thus recognize the God within and around you. The heart's desire is always a prayer; man prays even when he sins, for he only does not recognize the God and imagines he is acting from himself." Is it well to pray for material things, since we do not know what we really need? "The desires you call mate- rial are only natural and therefore right and it is the INSIGHT 133 motive that makes them sins. If always done with a recognition of God all things that are not against the brother are right." We wish to know if Succor is with us today? "She has come to ask what you desire. (Succor) I see you wish to know of I . There are many things I might tell you of our long talks together in which her heart lay before me as an open book. She is still in the secret chamber, but before she entered, she said many things of those she loved in all worlds and her great desire for you whom she had left was that you should know more than she felt she did, of the true knowledge. She realized that all her life was only those hours when she had desired to do the best she could for those around her, and she was particularly anxious that her example should not have been a drawback to him who had been especially given into her keeping. She re- gretted that she had not influenced him more in the right direction and hoped more than once that no grief for her would retard him in the path he understands well how to tread." Will you tell us something about father? "He is growing and always straight toward the light, with his present knowledge there will never again be any turn- ing aside for him." Could you not tell him of these communications be- tween us? "He is still too surrounded by your atmos- phere. It might be misused by those who must also know that we hold this intercourse." Who are they? "Such as intercepted you when you strove to reach INSIGHT." Are they good or bad? "They are both; some most 134 INSIGHT spiritually developed, stay with those souls, and some- times lower themselves to their state." Can you not tell us something of C C- today? "I have not seen her but I can put myself into communication with her from this state, by a desire. She is always, as you have been told, busy with her chosen work and she feels my presence and through me yours and is radiant with what she sees of your growth toward her. She says you, my child must bring to her here all those whom she claimed through you when on earth. She says, 'Reflection must become as a little child for it is only as such he can enter into the King- dom.' " How can one become as a little child? "By accept- ing the Christ who has come into the world and has laid down certain rules of life and conduct by which all things become new." Have I not tried? "Yes, but do not grow weary. The way is long and often dreary, but that is caused by past influences, and attainment must come through pain and suffering." What do you mean by past influences? "What you call inherited tendencies and which must be overcome. Reflection has known in his existences great truths and willfully taught great errors and now his eyes are holden from the true light. INSIGHT has been asked to make this known to him." Can you tell me anything of my last incarnations? "You were once the chosen recipient of God's truths, but for your own ends you kept them to yourself and that error must work out its own bitterness. I see you would know where and I am permitted to see that it INSIGHT 135 was in Egypt and as a priest, you had then all the knowledge revealed to man, but ambition was your great enemy and you did not fulfil your trust." What can I do now to repair the past? "You are well placed in many things but you must accept now from others what was then given to> you, and you must become, to do this as a little child, not knowing any- thing of yourself." Is the suffering I am to undergo mental or physical? "Mental suffering in your case ; you experience it now. You are working it out at present. Accept the truth although you apparently do it at the expense of what you call your reason and all will grow peaceful and well with you. Your punishment is, that you cannot perceive the truth readily ; but 'take it by violence' and you will possess its healing powers, before you really know it is working in you, for a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Take Christ and his teachings into your life without understanding and determine with all your strength and might to obey his commandments and one year will make of you a new being. It will be difficult but do it." Would it be possible for you to tell the others of us, of our past incarnations? "You do not need to know and I have only by great effort obtained this glimpse into the great picture gallery of the past." Can you tell us the name of Mrs. C ? "Her name is Penetration. She has the capacity to see all the possible good in every soul and reach it through her knowledge. She is beautiful and her angel has come and stands in our midst. She is far advanced and is doing her work on a lower plane than the one to which 136 INSIGHT she belongs, as the mother chose to do in the spiritual world. Her spiritual name signifies charity, sympathy, protection and love." When we think of one we love, do the respective guardian angels approach each other? "Yes; I only see your thought through Endurance who is able to stand all this pressure. I mean the guardian angel of Endurance who draws all the others into her atmos- phere." I have often tried to make my guardian angel bear you a message. Have you ever received any impression from me? "I have had many impressions of you which brought me always the thought of green leaves and beautiful flowers looking and seeking for the sunlight; I have known all your heavenward thoughts, all your kind intentions to the brother, and these to us are as fruits and flowers in your world." Is there anything I can do to help N 1 ? "There is but one way. You must walk openly in it yourself and he may be induced to follow. You must draw truth from the fountain and not from streams that are farther from the great source. He who said 'I am the way, the truth and the life' must enter more fully into your life. You are in the right direction but you are newly born into the Kingdom and cannot always distinguish with your unaccustomed eyes the exact way." What happens if through ignorance one fails to dis- tinguish the true way? "You wander as a child might out of the path and must return sometimes through sorrow and mortification." But I cannot, I must not lose my way ! Tell me how INSIGHT 137 I can be sure to keep in it? "There must be a begin- ning to all things. Growth must be slow, for it takes place in the cold climate of a soul prone to evil and has many drawbacks and I can only repeat what I have al- ready said in many ways, do the right and trouble not about the doctrine. That is only the top of the house of which you are now laying the corner stone. This stone must be laid in obscurity and makes no show in the building which shall yet rise a stately and beauti- ful mansion filled with all whom you love and all the beauties you most desire. This is to you all, those of you who long for the beautiful things of the Father's Kingdom must remember this, as in earthly houses, all depends on the strength and honesty of this first work. So toil and faint not, and you shall come and bring your loved ones with you." May we come to you again soon? "Yes ; we will meet again, perhaps what you call many times, but to me who can see the end that end seems near. We will not now be separated long, however, for one will wish to come to me whom you will bring." COMMUNICATION XIX. INSIGHT: "You have come with his spirit who de- sired your presence. I mean Pursuit. A spirit who is with us and wishes to see things from your plane, he is one of us and is interested in the phase of growth in which you, as a part of humanity are entering. He asks if you perceive things with your intellect, as in his time they could only come from the spirit. He means 138 INSIGHT when he lived on your earth such knowledge only came from within." What causes this difference? "The fulness of time has come for the human soul (which is the seat of the reasoning powers), to be informed of the spirit; it is this that Pursuit desires to look into. He has come to the outer door, where your angels stand to listen and to learn." Is not this a very critical time in the world's history? "No more so than have preceded all great changes." What will happen to those who come into this knowl- edge through their intellect and who fail to live up to it ? "Those who will not alter their lives in accordance with their light must begin over and over again as man did in an earlier stage of development. They will go on according to the great law but instead of beginning as they might much higher, they will begin where they leave off." Do you mean they must go back to the very begin- ning? "Man never goes back but do you not see the opportunity for advancement has been lost and the next incarnation begins where this one ends. For those who work for righteousness, higher; for those who do not, on their present plane." Do infants who die lose their chance to progress? "Not always ; it is sometimes a reward." Do they again enter upon a long period of subjective life? "No; they often return soon according to your ideas of time, to your plane." What happens to them after they die? "They go into the lower heaven and are met and cared for by the beautiful spirits whose sphere is maternal and they INSIGHT 1S9 are perfectly happy, for they have no recollection of an objective existence." Is it well for the author of "Light on the Hidden Way" to carry out her work of teaching earth bound souls? " I see of whom you think. Her work is a good one. It is one you all unconsciously perform. She has the added sympathy which enables her to do it with the knowledge that it is being done. Do you not see that the tie embraces even such spirits as Pursuit? Not in the same way but you are the means of his being with us." Did you not once warn us against having anything to do with the lower order of spirits? "But they come to her for help and the command is to give to those who ask. The danger is when you on your plane go to them as learners." Is the time not coming when the intercourse between the two worlds will become much easier? "Yes ; that is to be the effect of informing the human reason with spiritual strength." Why did you consent to inform Reflection of his previous incarnation? "Because his improvement is one of the chief reasons of these communications." Does one's failure to improve opportunities in the past make it impossible to attain truth in this life? "No ; but it makes it more difficult, for you do not read- ily become a pupil, having before been a master." How long before the Christian era did Reflection live? "I am not well informed, but from what I feel it must have been as long before as your present life is after." Will you tell me what you can about my past incar- nation? "You had great power as a ruler and you let 140 INSIGHT the material side of your nature develop to the injury of your real self, but what is more important, to the injury of others. If a man lived for himself he could soon expiate that mistake by a good life, but the injury done to others can only be rectified by good in the same proportion done to the brother. No spiritual knowl- edge in your present life will avail you ; you must work for others and give them what you once withheld and only by so doing can you perceive it yourself. You are coming gradually to perceive the true light. You must make your way through all the lesser lights which have enlightened mankind, as I have told you again and again. There is but one way — you must come to see that and your road will be straight before you." Why are you able to tell Reflection so much more than the rest of us? "Reflection is specially interest- ing to me for I understand his state, having gone through some of it myself. Just now I am allowed to see many of my past lives for I am soon to assume another. This knowledge is permitted if it will be use- ful or beneficial to the human soul. Then there is hope of my regaining my past knowl- edge? "There is more hope for you than there was for me, for you live in the dawn of a better era; when I was overcoming your state it was in an order of exist- ence to which the knowledge of the Christ-life had not come." Was it in your last incarnation? "No; before that, in an almost savage state when nothing really seemed developed but my animal nature. I had lived before that in a very high state of civilization and lost it all by not making use of my opportunities. You, Reflec- INSIGHT 141 tion, have lost by not giving of your former riches. Now that the God of humanity is in your world you have only to become part of it to regain all." Are the same souls ever together in more than one objective life? "Yes; it is often the case that the same souls are together from first to last. Therefore what you call the ties of kinship are more than your minds can conceive or understand. Reflection and Endurance have been together for many incarnations and you have all lived under the same spiritual conditions at the same time whether you ever met in the body or not. The body that seems so much to you is not really you and does not influence these sympathies which lie deeper and mean more than any merely physical point of con- tact." Will you tell us something of Tranquility? "She is within the door at which I stand but your desire has brought her to you. She is happy to come to you and thanks you for the privilege." Does she know that you are soon going away? "Yes ; and she has been my help and inspiration towards that much desired end." Could you tell us anything of the world to which you are going? "Yes; I am permitted to go to a younger and newer universe where I am to see the creative powers of God at work and learn of their won- ders." Is it a planet which we can see? "No; it is not yet in a visible condition. I am to see its growth. There are many conditions of human life other than the one we have known and although the world is to be new the oc- 142 INSIGHT cupants are to be well advanced in their stage of growth." How can a soul belonging to this system go outside of it ? Would that not conflict with the law of gravita- tion? "What do we know of the laws you speak of? It is to get some understanding of them that I am granted this new experience." Are we not to occupy the planet Mercury after this earth? "I only know of the spiritual state of the next world that will succeed yours, but your name for it may be right. You, that is the whole of humanity, will go into a less material phase of growth and I am to join you there again. You are so near my secret that I may as well tell you. I go with many to prepare the place for you." Is it a new world? "It is new in the sense of not be- ing fitted for humanity. The future is full of many changes. I am so filled now myself with the great work I am allowed to take part in, that my thoughts and desires do not travel beyond your next abiding place." May we not hope to come where you are going? "It is not probable, but I cannot say. All things are pos- sible to you where you now are and you may be found worthy to go even deeper into the mystery of the great cause of all we are or can be." Can you not tell us today of the symbol of which you spoke? "I can tell you if you can perceive it. The nearest thing is the face of man. Do you not see how the name is written there?" Is it a matter of great importance to us to be able to perceive that name ? "No ; for if so you would know it. All things come to you in the Christ life, and as INSIGHT 143 you are able to perceive its heights and depths all things are made clear and easy to you ; although spirit- ual knowledge for the first time in the history of hu- manity is allowed to come through the exercise of the human reason, all things that present themselves to that reason are not spiritual, and you must learn to dis- tinguish between the two." Has Pursuit been interested in our conversation? "Very much in what he sees of the way these truths reach you through the understanding. You were brought for others' uses today and are more blessed than usual, all are happier and holier for your coming and you will take with you a greater help and incentive to do your very best than you have ever done before. We all wish to give you, our God be with you, and Tranquil- ity leaves you her sweet and peaceful influences which are more than I can give you." COMMUNICATION XX. Present: Endurance and Discernment. "May I be allowed to aid you ? I was to do so if you came ; I am Tranquility — Insight is engaged in medita- tion just now and the spiritual state that I represent always guards his threshold." Did Insight ask you to receive us? "Yes; he wishes you always to find what you seek, for, he says these times are not to be for long." Did you hear our argument with Reflection this morning? "I now see your thought. Do not argue, nothing is gained that way ; live the life ; that is what 144 INSIGHT he can best understand. You can effect all things and your feminine natures are necessary to him as I am even to one so wise and great as our good teacher." (Something about the relation of sex; exact question lost). "God who contains in Himself all that is woman and all that is man wishes each man and each woman to become one whole after the fashion of His own nature. That is the basis and the cause of the great attraction between the sexes. It is two parts desiring to become as they once were, one." Do the two parts that belong together always meet on this earth? "If they do not they will surely in the great hereafter and the two that are joined on your plane are often a preparation for that final union. One of the greatest mysteries in humanity is prefigured in the marriage tie and hence its great importance even on your plane. In the adjustment that each true soul tries to make between herself and the other one brought into such close connection is laid the groundwork for the final marriage of that soul with the great Source to which we are all going. I see that you understand." Do you know that INSIGHT is going to change his present condition ? "Yes ; I know that in the near future he leaves us, but it is only in accordance with his stage of growth and we and he could be no longer necessary to each other." It seems hard that those who love each other must always be separated? "Do not misunderstand for I see you do acquiesce as I do in God's law, and that neither of us consider it unimportant. Do you not still possess those who are on this side of your material world; so with me, I shall still possess the good Insight and shall INSIGHT 145 hope to meet him again and again ; we only occupy dif- ferent rooms in the Father's house when we go to do His work or take the rest He gives us, and we are not sep- arated in His thought and that is the true union." Will you tell us what the music of the spheres is? "The perfect union of creation with God's will." Can one hear it ? "Music is harmony and the melody is only audible to those who are also in that union or harmony. What you, Discernment, hear is the music that comes from the harmony you have attained with the perfect union and might be called the music of the spheres for you too are a sphere and contain within yourself all creation." Please explain this ? "As in the material world plan- ets are thrown off from a great centre so in the spirit- ual, souls are thrown off from the One Soul and each takes the shape of its first Great Cause and in its turn will itself become the centre of a great system as you each are now." Do you mean all humanity? I mean you two. You are- further progressed than you know, every soul is not ready to give light to others." But we are very ignorant and unprogressed? "You are right and you are wrong. In regard to humanity at large you are as I have said, a Sun ; in regard to the real Sun, you are not even formed. Knowing is not the only condition, opening the windows of desire is neces- sary and without knowledge, without volition on your part the real Sun illumines your soul, I who see from a spiritual plane can see that you have that desire and I also understand that you both need this encourage- ment," 146 INSIGHT How can we be sure of beholding this spiritual light in the soul? "Do not send up clouds of self to obscure it, once clearly understand that the Sun is still there and is eternal and that the clouds are transitory and you will strive more and more intelligently to keep your atmosphere clear and clean to receive the divine rays. Desire is one of the surest signs of the new birth and I see you are struggling to be born out of the womb of self and live in the true world which lies without as your world lies without to an unborn child. This new life is born as a child is, in its mother's womb; before it comes into your world it has life; only a woman knows of herself the movement of this unborn man, so the Christ causes the movements in the human soul; each soul goes through that quickening for itself." Can you hear what we say to each other as we discuss your words? "Not hear as you understand it but I perceive through your angels." Are they with you ? "Yes ; I have met them on the threshold which I am guarding for INlSIGHT." May we not sometimes come to you when INSIGHT has gone? "If it is considered well. Insight will leave his commands and we, you as well as I, will obey." Did Insight expect to leave his present state so soon? "It was unexpected for in his humility he did not sup- pose himself worthy for many many years as you count time to attain his desire." Will the form he assumes be just like ours? "I should not think like yours, but he can tell you of that better than I for I think he has been informed. My spiritual condition is not a curious one and I rest calmly in what is given me without desiring more knowledge." INSIGHT 147 Is grandmother with you ? "Yes ; she is within and she needs to be with me for she is not restful in her ac- tive desire to do for others, and I bring to her the at- mosphere in which she rests." Can we see her? "She has come to us." Are you very happy to be with Tranquility? "So restful and so happy, my child, that I begin to compre- hend the peacefulness beyond understanding." Will you tell us of those we love? "All is as it should be. The divine law is working there in its perfectness on that plane which is above yours, but much below what I find in this beautiful home." What is the cause of the difference? "The Divine will is always the same, but the power to receive it dif- fers, and it can only work in conjunction with the human will." Ought we not to struggle to utterly give up our own will to God? "It is the pearl of great price spoken of by the Master and all other things are but as dross in comparison with its attainments." How can we be sure that all things are God's will, we bring many on ourselves ? "That is true. It is not God's will that evil should exist and that is the meaning of the prayer to be delivered from evil. When you pray not to be led into temptation you are recognizing the perfect freedom of the God within you, to live if it chooses in real and entire disloyalty to the only true God. All things are in God and what you call evil is only good misunderstood and misapplied. Insight has lately taught me this. Even here we are free to sin if we choose, and our capacity to sin is as much greater 148 INSIGHT than yours as our spiritual attainment is higher. This is Tranquility who speaks." The free choice is the really important thing, is it not? "The choice is the foundation of all growth. Discernment sees — the motive is all, the act counts for nothing." Can you make mistakes in your present condition? "Many, as many as you do, to those who are more wise than we." Can those mistakes injure others? "In this state it is provided that they only act on ourselves. Our per- sonality is more in subjection and we cannot intrude on others unless they are like minded, and in our own con- dition. It is our likemindedness, that makes this inter- course possible." You once spoke of your "family life in one house- hold" will you tell us something about it ? "Yes ; we have our hours of social intercourse, our meals together and our times of conversation, and when the Lord is visible to one, he is to all of us, which is the cause and source of our union." How is the Lord visible to you? "In our best hours Christ assumes to our spiritual eyes a real presence as if a spirit stood in your midst and you saw him, and then all our souls are conscious of being one soul and our bliss is inexpressible. There are no words by which I can express it to you. Have you not with one whom you most loved been moved by a great thought or a beautiful scene, till words were needless? So with us, when the Lord comes to us we have no need of words for we are one in him and he in us. It is more than I can explain. Think about it, it will bring you very INSIGHT 149 near him and some glimpse of it will penetrate your soul for you are both near enough to him to come into his visible presence." Can we indeed see Christ in this life? "Spiritually you can ; do not expect to do so with your material senses, but you may reach to us if you choose, for the time has come for you where you now are and to some souls this has been given and it will be to others." You spoke of your meals together, will you explain this? "In a spiritual sense we have our food given to us and it is after these meals well digested that we have the vision of the Christ. All things with you are shad- ows, and as the appropriation of food is necessary to your physical growth, so the appropriation of truth is necessary to our spiritual growth, and truth always turns to love which is Christ as food turns to blood with you which is life." Does the vision of Christ appear to you as Jesus? "In his spiritual body, for as Christ represented hu- manity on earth he still comes to us in bodies like our own in heaven." Will our spiritual bodies resemble those we now have? "Yes ; so much so that you will know your own when you see them ; even we are told in the highest heaven at the very steps of the throne which shall be inaccessible to mankind." We shall now have to leave you. We thank you for all you have given us. "I also thank you. Your questions are so interesting to me and I understand you so well that we seem to come into perfect accord and you too must feel it or I should not perceive your pres- ence. I see you must go. God be with you." 150 INSIGHT COMMUNICATION XXI. INSIGHT: "You are welcome. I do not wish you to think I am ever out of sympathy with your question- ings or your desires, but they must reach a certain spiritual plane before I can perceive them, hence they seem to you not to be answered at once. I am answer- ing a thought I see in the mind of Endurance. Endur- ance thinks I have failed sometimes at first to answer and then later have changed my mind. This is not so, for as soon as the inquiry is not mere intellectual curi- osity the answer comes to you." Would it be possible for you to tell us a thing of which Endurance was entirely ignorant? "Yes; but not a thing she was incapable of understanding for her mind is the instrument used. I can see what she per- ceives spiritually." But suppose she misapprehends a truth? "Then I do not perceive the error, but the other side of which the error is the shadow." Then you can only teach us what Endurance knows? "That is not the idea I wish to convey to you. An in- strument is not the music of which it is capable, but only the means by which the performer expresses what he feels." Are we wrong in thinking you have sometimes been a little evasive with us? "Not in the sense you mean. When I could not perceive a glimmer of the spiritual or real meaning of the subject on which you were curi- ous, I waited until you developed that meaning and then gave it form for your instruction." In the beginning of these writings you did not wish INSIGHT 151 to discuss the subject of reincarnation with us? "I did not for at first none of you had risen in the least degree to its real use in the human development and it was only interesting to you as a scientific fact. Now you see that all things rest upon it as on a sure foundation. It was better for your growth that you should develop this yourselves instead of receiving it from me." Does suffering one has to endure injure those who are associated with him? "Not if you receive it in the right spirit and bear it in the secret chamber of your soul as you must do to reap the intended benefit. That suffering is to be principally your great desire for truth and light and your inability to perceive them. As your mistakes were not on a physical plane so* your sufferings, as a consequence will not be. You kept spiritual light away from others, but at the same time you gave with great generosity of your material riches. He who giveth plentifully in any field shall also reap plentifully. That is what is meant by the word, 'As a man soweth so shall he reap.' " Then I do not make others suffer for my shortcom- ings? "They can only suffer, as they do, by your poverty in spiritual things ; if you could give to those you love what you once withheld, they would be rich in- deed with the truest of all riches." I am then very wanting in spirituality? "Not in any way wanting, what was once there is there still, but you do not let in on it the true Light that has come into the world." Why do you think so? "I do not perceive that you are in the right attitude. You can never with your nature be indifferent to spiritual things, but you can- 152 INSIGHT not, as I have said, accept anyone as a teacher. I have been allowed to stand toward you in that capacity, but you do not as yet see things as the others do from my standpoint." How did I get those truths formerly? "Your other life was so different from the life you lead now, in all its conditions that you can hardly understand that in those days the command of the physical forces of nature stood to man as spiritual insight does now." How has humanity become fitted to receive the spirit of Christ? "The preparation to receive it has come through long ages of development. \~Now in your pres- ent life man is ready for the Christ life." Is conscience a development? "Conscience as it stands is the result of these many lives I have referred to. A man's conscience is the result of his education which has been going on through all these different stages of his growth. Hence one man's virtues come to be another more developed man's sins." Then conscience depends on the amount of experi- ence one has had ? "Not on the amount, but on the use that has been made of it. Quantity goes for nothing in spiritual mathematics. At this time more than ever before man is coming into possession of his reasoning powers, for the spirit has informed them and he is no longer walking blindly ; before the spirit entered the human soul, man used his reason for the investigation of material things, but now, he is beginning to see that under all these physical manifestations lie the spirits of creation and as he perceives, he understands that true knowledge does not consist of what he sees but of something that will come to him later." INSIGHT 153 I wish to know something of these spirits of crea- tion? "And you will know as your reason becomes more spiritualized. This is one of the things I cannot tell you of, until you are ready to receive it. Man has an idea that all force comes from one source and he gives this force many names, the true name is still hid from him." Is it not all God ? "You have the idea I mean, and it is the true one that all visible force is only a division of one great and central force. You call it in one school of thought, fire, heat, electricity, but these are only different manifestations of the same thing. God is the only source, but these spirits that underlie all manifestations are like heat, light, and others, differ- ent parts of God." Are these forces conscious individualities? "They are, for the difference between God's parts and nature's parts is that every atom of spirit has a distinct and individual consciousness." What are the Elohim? "They are what have from the very first been given man to know of the Great First Cause." Shall you have a material form when you go into the new world of which you told us? "There are many degrees of what you call matter. It is necessary in coming in contact with anything like matter that the spirit should have a covering and that covering is al- ways after the same form or material as the world in which it works." Is the world you are going to like ours? "I do not myself know, but it is more spiritual than your earth, for I am told I am not to make the descent that I 154 INSIGHT should be obliged to do from my present place if I came to your earth." Will time exist there? "I am sure time in some form will always exist for creation, for where there is sensa- tion there must be time." Will you forget all the knowledge you now possess? "I shall retain all that is necessary for my business in that world as is the case in all rebirths." Do you go through a process analogous to death before you enter that life? "No; but I shall pass through a period of rest and obscurity for that is es- sential to all such changes, why, I do not know, but the law on your earth in regard to birth is the same we are taught to the very end." Will you be in full possession of all your present powers? "With my full faculties, but not as latent as they are with you, more ready for immediate use." You must have acquired all your present knowledge in heaven, as you were only an ignorant monk in your last life on earth? "No; not at all, my position as a poor monk was as necessary for my fitness for my present plane as any other of my many lives for I was then touching life at a point with which I had never before been brought in contact." Can you now remember other of your past lives? "Yes ; I am allowed to know of many of them and I am possessed of all the powers developed in them all." How were you instructed of your approaching change of state? "My instructions were from an Insight who is to my mind what I am to you, but intuition enables me to perceive and appropriate these instructions as your perceptions do you. Can you not remember a INSIGHT 155 time when what I now communicate to you so easily would have been like speaking to you all in an unknown tongue? Now I perceive it comes to you without let or hindrance, hence my delight in the intercourse. This is as much a part of our growth as it is of yours and the pleasure we take in being together is equally shared by me." Does this intercourse seem as phenomenal to you as it does to us? "It is unusual to me as it is to you, and I am allowed it as a preparation for the teaching I shall soon both give and receive." Has Pursuit been benefited by these teachings? "Pursuit was willing to be taught from your standpoint for he was deterred from making progress until he could educate the faculties of his reason. You are giving him great help. He is with us today, and is desirous of knowing all we speak of. He is one of many who share in these teachings and each one is dear to me as a part of the great whole which goes on its way to- wards God." Do you know whether the Theosophical Society will help the spread of spiritual truth? "All light helps and there are some mind's that can only reflect the light you speak of. Others more fortunate are able to reflect the greater light. All light is the one spark which God struck off from Himself in the beginning of what we call creation. The light exists always but age after age man wakes to the consciousness of it, it is not that the light is greater now, but the consciousness of it is clearer and, as the age of which you form part goes on, this consciousness will grow brighter and brighter." Do you get a better idea of God where you are than 156 INSIGHT is possible here? "I get perhaps a clearer idea, as you see the sun better on a cloudless day. but God must be forever unmanifested. His works are the things that must be God's manifestation for us, and not till many ages will we be able to see even what we now perceive ex- cept through a glass darkly." Could you tell us how you think of God when you pray to Him? "I pray to the Father, that is as far toward the infinite as my mind can penetrate, but I do it with the thought that behind that idea lies the un- thinkable idea of God that cannot be understood. Father to our minds includes all that we can think of as Cre- ator and Protector and it is only in those relations that we stand toward Him." Did you hear of our interview with Tranquility? "She has spoken to me of your coming and you could not be with her without finding it beautiful; without her I should have no lock to my door, for that door can never be shut in the face of any questioning soul." Onward desires to know if Succor is here? "Yes; she is here and her love and her thoughts were with Onward, for she has promised him who was Onward' s succor all through her life to comfort and love her." Will she tell us of father? "There is nothing to tell except in the words I have used before; he goes on in his work, those who are with him grow in the good soil ; he provides for them good intentions and he is, as you have ever known him, the embodiment of law and order." Have you anything new to tell us of I ? "Noth- ing. Her birth will not be as quickly made as if she had come with pure desires into our world, but it also follows the wise course laid down for every case, no INSIGHT 157 matter how diverse, and we cannot force the growth." Is her state one of .unconsciousness? "No, of intense consciousness, for she is now growing out of the shell in which her soul had lain so long and there can be no growth without feeling. You do not perceive it, but all things have a knowledge of their being each after its kind, the flowers after theirs ; animals after theirs ; humanity on its plane and the human soul in the spir- itual world after its higher and more intense capacity. It is Tranquility to whom Succor has appealed for this. Succor does not think on these levels of thought, but all thought with us is visible and she saw that I could make it clear to you." Shall we not find Insight still in heaven when we reach the spiritual world, and if so, can we go to him? Insight: "That I do not know, but when you do, these communications will be resumed between us, for we shall still be one and there and here will not matter so much to us then as they do now." Shall we not be able to go to Tranquility even if you are not there? "When you are in a state to desire her she will be visible to you, but perhaps when you first come into the spiritual world, you will be too much occupied with your new surroundings to desire her, all will be depend on state." Can one go through the spiritual world without stopping? "Yes; if you leave all your earthly cover- ings behind you it is quite possible, but that is not often the case, but it is merely a dressing room and ante-room to the real house that is prepared for you." Why has father lingered there so long? "He has not been there long and in his case he has stopped, as 158 INSIGHT you would to help another to put on the necessary gar- ment or rather to put off the soiled one of earth." Do some souls remain always in that world? "Yes; because the earthly attractions are stronger than the heavenly and each soul gravitates to its loves and de- sires." Does a miser continue to prize money? "Yes; and to his eyes money is the one object there, as it has been on earth, and it seems as real to him as it ever did there. You must remember that each soul makes a state or place for itself and only souls of like loves are visible to it. So in the spiritual world there are many circles, more than in yours where so many things are not real but only seeming." Is there any danger in communicating high spiritual truths to those who can only understand them intellec- tually? "There is sometimes, but not often for truth undiscerned is as if it did not exist and does neither harm nor good. Do not force the growth, to some souls truth comes in a purely subjective form, all do not belong to the understanding. I mean it reaches them in a purely spiritual way. Those persons for in- stance believe as you do in an endless life but they do not see it understandingly divided into many lives, sometimes material, sometimes spiritual, and it is not necessary they should see it if their growth could go on under such difficulties." We wish to send our love to all who form this chain and to thank you, for we must now say good-bye for today. "Yes ; for my instrument is getting out of tune and it is difficult for Endurance to perceive what I wish to say. Love is the bond that holds and en- INSIGHT 159 circles us all and we accept your acknowledgment of it with grateful hearts." COMMUNICATION 1 XXII. INSIGHT: "Your coming completes the circle of souls from every sphere below mine; some have come from all the worlds to listen and to learn. As you are the youngest the questions must come from you, for all will understand you but you could not understand from their point of view." Have you other instruments in this world whom you could use as you do Endurance ? "I have none to whom I communicate in just this way, but I have many whom I teach," How? "Some have their spiritual eyes open, others their spiritual senses of many kinds." Do the wicked cease from troubling others when they go to the spiritual world? "They trouble all who are in their spiritual state and many of the dis- turbances in both worlds come from their evil influence. In your world the innocent suffer apparently with the guilty and the bad influences of which I speak often affect those who are not in spiritual sympathy with them, because in your world the tares are to grow with the wheat until the harvest." When is the harvest to be? "Not for many, many generations, humanity must be ripened as a whole be- fore it can be gathered in ; you do not harvest one sheaf of wheat." Did the Holy Spirit come into the world for the first time when Jesus gave it to his disciples? "If it had 160 INSIGHT not been in the world before nothing could have ex- isted, all things have life in proportion as they have this spirit. Till then, however, it had not informed the reasoning faculties of humanity and Christ spoke of it as coming anew because mankind for the first time was then to have a conscious knowledge of possessing it." Did not Abraham, Moses and the prophets have it? "They represented a certain order of men who had this knowledge but now it was to be an open secret. Spiritual things grow slowly and the germ only was planted in the days that Jesus spoke. Now it is growing, you know how slowly ; mankind had had this knowledge many times, but has lost it, many of the great names stand for one of those ages, but with this last revelation there has come a new force into your world; before it was an idea, — Jesus made it a life." Is Jesus Christ a type of a life and has any other human being attained to it? "Yes; he is a possibility for every human life, none have attained to his per- fection, but some great souls have come very near him." Has the soul to be perfected in objective life? "It grows more rapidly in the spiritual life than it can in your denser atmosphere, but the body is the soil of the soul as the soul is of the spirit." What is the immaculate conception as applied to the individual soul? "The birth of this spirit, and it is called immaculate because the body cannot assist in its conception. The Father must be God; in all other things in your sphere the body bears its part but in this it must stand aside. I have learned that in the harvest INSIGHT 161 the body even will partake of this spirit and then there will be no more death. I mean the body that humanity will then have grown worthy to receive; many rounds of life and death and rebirth must occur before that day is ushered in." We were told of a communication from a soul who said he had been a hundred years in the spiritual world. Are there many who remain there so long? "Yes; there are many such, as I have explained, the soul never loses its freedom and the state you speak of is what you mean by hell." Are souls forced to stay there? "No; they stay because they are happiest there." Is that the only hell there is? "Is not that enough, to stay in willful and happy indifference to law." What will come to such a soul in the future? "I cannot speak of an individual, for at any time he may leave his state and begin to improve, but if a soul does not do so when its time of rebirth arrives, it gravitates into a state of matter that corresponds to its spiritual ignorance and disobedience." When does the impulse ever come to that soul to turn towards good? "Perhaps in that very new birth it may find the impulse because we are taught they are always on the ascending round, no soul that has at- tained the human is ever without the spark of divine life, and that grows in the poorest soil." Are there not few who are lost? "There are none of our generation because we cannot be lost, till we are finally gathered in." What did Jesus mean by saying, "Lest they hear with their ears and be saved," etc. "He meant that 162 INSIGHT they were not yet ready for his great truths and as he taught it was not well to cast pearls before swine. He could not have meant that they should not be saved for his mission was to seek and to save that which was lost, and by lost he meant the Divine spark which was lost in the material life of each man. How is it possible that the Father does not know where each child is and that He does not go out to bring him in to the heavenly rest?" What is the meaning of many being called and few chosen? "It means that the possibility lies within each man to come to the knowledge of the truth each time he descends into your life, but as he does not, he is spoken of as not being chosen, which does not mean that God makes an arbitrary choice, but that the life is not sufficiently developed to make the choice per- ceptible. There is what you call forever, before them, for with God a day is as a thousand years and nothing seems long or short in His eyes." Is it wrong to pray for material things? "Do you think that anything that exists through God's per- mission is beneath His notice? He has given His angels charge lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone and as the foot is the lowest part of your phy- sical body by that is included all and everything you may desire." Then we may pray for everything? "Do not pray to the detriment of the brother, but all outside of that is right for man was told to possess the earth and it is his title and right so to do. You are taught by the Master however to pray first for the Spirit of God and then all things shall be added unto you." INSIGHT 163 Is all prayer answered? "Do you not possess a thing if you are no longer conscious of needing it? Some prayers are answered in this way. You no longer desire things that seemed to you good after the spirit has informed the human soul and showed you their proper relations and value. Prayer is the breath of the spirit and living in a good atmosphere is the first necessity to any kind of life." Is it possible to pass through the spiritual world without stopping? "Yes, if the desire is more than a sentiment, you will rise to your spiritual level when you are freed from the body and you would find here that you could only be happy where you belonged." Who gives you the power to give us this knowledge and is it right? "The power is given me by a greater than I, and I shall do nothing that was not in con- formity with what I am told is right and best for you and me. To teach is my great pleasure and my highest reward and I am repaid by the faces of your angels which show me the growth of your souls under my in- struction." How can I get the power to heal sickness and pain? "By bringing yourself into closer relations with the Source of life and health and by keep- ing your own body in a perfect state of well being, for health, both physical and spiritual, is as contagious as disease and a good life is more important than all the dogma that has been taught since the beginning of man's moral consciousness. The cure you are think- ing of contains a great truth and is the beginning of a better understanding of the condition into which man has brought his body, by the fall. Do you not see that 164 INSIGHT matter cannot improve spirit, but spirit can improve matter, the soul is free and can bring itself into false relations to its source and the body it has evolved takes its disease and malformation." Can both evil and good spirituality exist in the same individual? "Yes; you can receive both sunshine and shadow on the same surface. A soul informed of the spirit may not turn entirely away from the true source of all good but it may be half in the shadow if it so wills and the body suffers in consequence." Does anything of value ever come to us in dreams? "Yes ; often, for it is only necessary for some souls to hold the body in subjection in order to see things in their true light." How can one be sure to keep the body in subjection? "I do not know how one can always bring that about, it depends on so many conditions that stretch all the way from earth to heaven." Are we ever with you in our sleeping moments ? "Yes ; both in your sleeping and your waking moments. We are never separated when any one of us is thinking of a good deed or is filled with love to God or man. As I have explained I am honored by forming a part of the channel that flows to you." How is it that we are found worthy to have this knowledge given us? "No one is worthy unless he so wills it and to him who so wills all things belong. All things in heaven and earth are yours and you have but to walk in and take possession." The will seems to be a divine quality? "The will is the God within you and you are the emanation of His INSIGHT 165 will and in returning to Him you must ascend through all He has created in His entire universe." How can we will effectually? "By following the life of Christ. He has been given as an example. God provides for all He has created and this spirit which has been in the world since man was worthy to receive it is the medium or atmosphere in which the immortal part must grow and become perfected." Would it be possible for us to receive a message from C. C. today? "The one of whom you speak is with us. She has come from her world to see what you de- sire of me for here we guage the spiritual condition by the desires." Is she satisfied with what she sees of our condition? "Yes ; she is satisfied but she is not a soul to be satis- fied except with the utmost she sees possible." Can she hear what we say? "She cannot hear you, but she has been speaking with your angel and has been told of all your aspirations and of your desire to hold this communion with her." Is the heaven in which you are very full of souls? "Yes ; because we occupy the first stepping stone to the mansion we are trying to enter and all souls come to us as soon as they are thoroughly unclothed and then all infants come without waiting to rid themselves of earth stains, and so our world is always filled with new arrivals." How do you accomplish this writing? "I am not writing directly. I am writing as Succor does through Insight, who stands near and sees my thoughts as they are formed as readily as you hear each other's spoken words. I have come through his permission to this 166 INSIGHT meeting of many souls and many spirits who are indeed blessed in such a teacher and it is through you that I am here, as it is partly through me that you have attained this blessing." Are there both souls and spirits present and what is the difference? "You are souls, we are all souls in a certain way for our human soul is still with us in my heaven though in the higher one it is dropped." Then you, Insight, have no soul? "I have laid it aside as you would a garment for here I do not need it. My human soul I can take or leave as I will ; in my best estate I do not need it; as you require no warm garments when near the fire on your earth, so I need no human covering when basking in the sunlight of this land." It is your spiritual soul you possess, is it not? "Yes ; in my best moments such as now when I am in accord with the many links that make up this meeting, it is the Christ soul; when I come into a lower state, even here, I put on my human soul. Do you not understand how you become outside of your earthly body even on your earth? Often some great emotion carries you out of it and then in sleep and in dreams you leave your body and go into states where that material form could not pass." Could not the human soul pass ? "Yes ; the human soul takes you ; by you I mean your spirit." Insight, we hope you will not go away finally, without telling us and bidding us good-bye. "It shall be as you desire. There shall be no real parting for we must try and put ourselves into the condition to understand there is no parting between souls in accord and though INSIGHT 167 you are working on one part of the building and I on another, we are all doing the will of the Master Builder." Will we be able to reach you in your new state? "If it is well, do not desire to know of the then; when it comes it will be the now." Are you an Adept, INSIGHT? "I see the thought in your mind. I do understand many things that you are not yet ready to receive, but it is not because I am more worthy, only because I am farther on and we are all coming to that point — I mean all humanity." Will you give our love and our thanks to all who make up our circle? "They are in perfect accord in receiving your message. I wish it were possible for you to know all that has been asked and answered in this class of which you are the little ones, and conse- quently the best beloved." May we come to you again soon? "Whenever some new difficulty stands in the way of your growth come to me, and I will try and let in the light. The light is always there. Take this for a last comforting word, that it never changes or grows less and all things will with that thought seem possible to you. God be with you." COMMUNICATION XXIII. PRESENT I ENDURANCE, DISCERNMENT. INSIGHT : "You have come without your circle, but it is well, for the promise is to two or three, and I am always glad to teach or help, or sympathize with you, as you may desire." 168 INSIGHT Does there not come a time in spiritual development when it is not only well, but necessary to "force the growth"? "Not in your present condition, or rather I mean your present stage of progression. There is something you cannot perceive, and you must patiently wait." Ought one not to strive continually, lest in waiting the golden opportunity be lost ? "Yes ; you must never cease striving, but that is not what I mean, you can- not see results : when you give water to a plant, you know it is necessary, but you cannot see how it affects the growth. As in natural things, so in spiritual." I have read that at a certain time in the soul's de- velopment it is important one should pursue a certain system, which will unite the soul with its higher prin- ciple. "I do not think that is true as you understand it. Some have reached the point where heaven and Christ break on them, as if by violence, that is, suddenly, but it is all according to a great law. 'First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear;' it cannot come but in accordance with previous prepara- tion, of which the soul was unconscious, as you now are, of your growth." Must everything come by the slow and gradual process of growth? "Everything but the desire, which is the Divine Will in action. All else must come of this law, but the desire must come from within, that is your part of the work. You cannot check the growth if the conditions are right, and wherever this divine desire leads you, you must follow." Is there no danger of mistaking one's own will for this desire? "Not if you first have kept the commands ; INSIGHT 169 you are then in a state to distinguish the real from the false, and you have now reached that condition. Do not understand that therefore you are not tempted, for alas that never leaves us till the very end." What is the "Dweller on the Threshold"? "He who has passed to the open door, finds himself confronted with a new enemy, who being spiritual, is more powerful than any material temptation, and therefore many stop and go no farther." Do you mean, they go no farther during that par- ticular incarnation ? "Yes ; and to some poor timid souls, many lives are necessary, before the strength comes." Shall we have to meet this "Dweller on the Threshold" ? "You are already face to face with him: both of you are at the door which stands open for you. If you were within you could enter with me where tranquility reigns, and be at peace." It seems to us now, we have never been so peaceful. "There is always a calm before the storm. You have both fought well to reach your present place, and are enjoying the rest which the Father is ever ready to give to His tired children." We do not feel that we have struggled as we ought. "Do not be unjust to yourselves. You are conscious of your past growth, for the things of your spiritual childhood no longer allure or satisfy you." Do some meet and vanquish the "Dweller on the Threshold" in this life? "Yes: many. You have just been told to strive, but you are now gathering strength for the battle: and when that evil one sees you come, with the strength of the Christ Life, which is now 170 INSIGHT growing in obscurity and darkness, within your soul, he is already vanquished, and you enter in without the knowledge that he has stood in your way. Those who have found evil so visible on their way have come, hav- ing vanquished their material wrong-doing, but having no knowledge of the Christ who is the true and only way: many aspire to enter in, but have not found the way, and these are the ones who are trying, as the Master said, to 'climb up by some other way.' Many desire to enter, who will not believe, that the path lies through the teaching of Jesus and these encounter the enemy in all his strength." You seldom use the term Jesus. Was it accidental in this instance? "There are no accidents with you and me. I speak of Jesus, because it was through his human life that the Christ spoke." What is the "Divine Sophia"? It is the wisdom that made the world and which is drawing it back through love to its divine Source. Do you not see that in the case of those of whom we have just spoken they needed to accept the knowledge before they could pass the threshold?" How does this wisdom manifest itself to the indi- vidual soul? "Its lowest manifestation is seen in the lowest orders of creation. It is higher in the animal, and first comes in its fullness to the human soul. It is latent in all humanity, but some souls are not ready for its appearance above the soil, and I do not know how it is first manifested. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth.' Read what the Master said." Is it our part to prepare the soil for this Divine Life? "The soil has already been prepared; when man at- INSIGHT 171 tains his human soul and even more, the germ of the Divine Life is planted, but there are many, many lives necessary for this seed to appear. The germination of the seed takes place often in one life, and is visible, when the soul again takes on a body on your earth." Is it not right for us to try any and all processes to develop the soul, if we keep Christ in view? "Yes; all things that hold Christ always in view, and take him as an example, are not only right, but necessary." Is it right to meditate on the letters of the word "Je- hovah"? "Each soul is as distinct from any other soul, as God himself, and must find out its own way: and if that process is a help to you, do not despise it. I write this for Endurance. Live the best life, but add to it all means that may have been helpful to any of God's children, and that seem to you good." Then all things are permitted if we keep Christ in view? "Yes: in Christ only are all men free." We are only beginning to realize lately what a great teacher you are, Insight, and how wise and good you are! "I am happy for your own sake that you are really seeing more clearly. Do not prize the cup, how- ever, more than its contents." We could not get at the contents if there was no cup. "But from the golden cup the water is no purer." Did you know how much Mrs. C was touched by your message to her? "Yes: her spiritual state would give her power to see how dear she is to us, her work is much needed, and she does it from the highest motives. I see she is striving to bring a great soul into the light of the only way, and she will succeed." Shall I tell her this ? "Yes : whenever a word can 172 INSIGHT help, do not fail to send it, and both Penetration, and he whom she strives to save, are ready for what you can give them. His angel is named 'Waiting.' I am glad you have conveyed to me a knowledge of this soul for what he most needs is insight. He has seen the truth, but it has been through so dark a glass, that it has always come to him distorted, and so, far from the beauty and symmetry of the blessed original." Shall we tell him this? "Yes: send him this message from me. Let him return from his long journey, and come again to the sunny path he trod in his first youth, before the clouds of doubt came which shut out Christ from his eyes. He has only to come with the old trust, and all will be well. His soul is one that is precious in the eyes of the Master and is represented in the beauti- ful story of the shepherd leaving the ninety and nine and going after the one that had gone astray from the fold." Will it do any good to send him this? "It will: send him this ; tell him no longer to vex himself with the why." To what society does "Waiting" belong? "He be- longs to us, and hence his doubts." Does Penetration also belong to the understanding? "No. To the heart. But we are all one in Christ : for whom we are building a body. Paul has taught you that when the end comes, Christ the spirit will bring humanity back to God, and present it a perfected man in His own image. It is a great mystery, but God projected man, one and pure, as his creation necessarily would be, but this one divided itself in many parts, and Christ's mission is to unite these parts again and bring it, as it left the hands of the Father." INSIGHT 173 Will you tell us of the stars. Have they souls? "The stars are great suns, and behind every sun is a spiritual light, from which it draws its power. How were they formed? "By the spirit behind them, as all creation is formed. Creation is an endless work, and never to finite minds will it have an end, although there are periods of rest, even in this, but it will go on to all eternity and when it is perfected, Humanity will be a sun which will create a system of worlds. Every sun has behind it a Perfected Man, and this spirit has come to its creative place in God's plan by a way sim- ilar to ours." What an idea this gives one of eternity ! "Yes : eternity has no beginning, which is harder to under- stand than no end. You see through a glass darkly, how incomprehensible is God." (Something was said about scientists.) "Even they are beginning to have a material comprehension of the immensity of the universe. Now, you have the idea that lies behind science, and only look with this thought in your mind, into space and see the visible creation and you will understand how the stars sang together !" Is that the music of the spheres ? "Yes : it is : do you not wonder that such music has only come to you in disjointed fragments, and only to a few prepared souls? Does it not seem that all creation should join in the strain?" Do you hear this music where you are? "Sometimes : it depends on our state. In our best hours when the Christ is visible, the music comes as a soft accompani- ment to his divine presence." Would it be possible for us to see Tranquility today? 174 INSIGHT "Yes ; she has come without at your bidding. I will leave you with her." When a mother dies, just before her child is born, what becomes of the infant? "The soul that had not drawn the breath of your physical life returns to our lower heaven if it has gone from there, and will be again incarnated." Does the child not have to pass through the spiritual world? "No: that is not the law. The child's body is left with the mother's physical body and the human soul comes naked and unclothed without hindrance to its place here. You have a clouded idea in your mind, but the body of the mother does not enter the spiritual world, it is left with you, and all the covering the new human soul has received is still a part of her physical body and remains with it on your earth." Is the child not with the mother then in the spiritual world if she dies? "That depends on her own state, sometimes she retains a conscious possession of the new soul, because such is her strong desire, but most mothers are willing their little ones should go into the heavenly state, for which they find themselves unfitted as yet." How is it we are permitted to speak so freely with Insight? "As with you, you allow the prattle of a child to learn what is passing in its mind, and because a child must prattle to learn to formulate its thoughts, so your growth must be in the same way." In all our difficulties will we not be guided aright if we trust in Christ? "Yes; you are being led every step of the way. Trust him entirely and all will open INSIGHT 175 to you. He is the way and no enemy can darken it, for he conquered them all in his own human life." This sounds like vicarious atonement! "This is the true idea of that dogma : not that you are saved by his conquering, but that He has opened the way that all may find it, and has given you an example how to walk therein. None, not even the Father himself, can do your work for you. The idea of which you speak was necessary for the age in which humanity accepted it, and has been a stepping stone for many humble souls, but never for those who belong to the understanding." Should we pray for even material things for those we love? "Always. Jesus himself in his most Christ- like moments set us that example, and you can never improve on his teachings." Could you pray for material things for us ? "No : that is not my province, but I can and will pray that all light and truth may come to you and with that prayer fulfilled, all things will seem yours. What are the things that perish with the using, in comparison with the power that truth and light, which are love, will be to you in treading the way that is leading you to your source?" We shall now have to leave you, we hope what you have given us may prove a blessing upon you. "Yes : for we are the channel, as all you receive from us leaves the empty place, for more of Christ to enter, and we will be more blessed and more strong than if we gave not. This is what is meant by: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' Give yourselves therefore, as it comes to you, and the more you give the more you will have." 176 INSIGHT May we now say good-bye to Insight and thank him for this interview? "He has left you to me, but I know his full heart is ever overflowing, and I can say for him, and with him, take of our best, and make us love you more, for thus adding to our riches." COMMUNICATION XXIV. INSIGHT: "We should have been sorry had you not come, for we are together waiting for you. Our circle here are not willing to miss you. Have you nothing to ask of me?" Do you perceive that we are all saddened by having heard of the death of Dr. E.? "Let it not seem death, but a new life, as it does to those good spirits who are now receiving that soul." Are you able to see him? "No: only through you, but I know the law that attends all births, as you know that all come into your world in accordance with the Divine Will. I mean that the manner of their coming is always the same." Will you not explain to us more clearly about the guardian angels? "I have said much on this subject. The chief point is that they are a necessary link con- necting a new-born soul with the spiritual. This link becomes necessary when mankind attains to his human development, and before he has any spiritual strength of his own. Without this connection man would revert to the animal, for it is often long before he develops any spiritual knowledge of his own growth, and the soul must never be alone." After the new birth into the spiritual world, is the INSIGHT 177 angel still in attendance ? "Yes : for there must always be this unbroken chain, and not till the spiritual soul, dominates the lower nature, has this guardian done his work. As you guard your children even after they think they can go alone, even so, does our Father guard us." Do the guardian angels show the exact condition of their charge, and are they never unhappy? "They reflect as a mirror, it does not reach their real nature. They are above the momentary unhappiness which comes always of not seeing the end." Are they a part of the soul they guard? "No: they are entirely independent organizations. When you are perfected it may be your mission to keep some soul, in the state you are now occupying from returning to the earth from which it has risen." Do you mean we may become guardian angels? "Yes : they are higher than any of our race, and are part of the Great Spirit which lies behind the physical manifestation we call the universe. Do you not know I told you, that behind your sun was a spirit, a per- fected race of men ? These angels are part of that great spirit. How wonderful this is ? "Not so wonderful when you reflect that these are in a measure your creators, and are responsible to the Father of all races and all ages, for what they have been allowed to create." Did not God create us ? "There is only one Source, but there are many aids." Were the Elohim these aids ? "Yes. I see you under- stand that Forces which are intelligent beings, created what is visible to your eyes. The mystery that lies 178 INSIGHT behind the works of the Great Being whom we can only call Father, can never be explained from the beginning, but our system of worlds was not the beginning, noth- ing that can be understood is God Himself. We are taught that God gave of Himself, that is of His essence, to many in the very beginning, and from them all has proceeded according to law, and always under the gov- ernance of willing obedience to that law: many names have been given to these forces, but it is best for us who have been allowed to know of the one First Cause, to think always of God as the Creator, and of these spirits as the channel by which He keeps us all in con- nection with Himself." I suppose it would not have been possible for God Himself to create anything imperfect? "We cannot tell what He is, or what He could do. Imperfection certainly cannot belong to Him or His works, and un- less we call freedom sin, there is no sin that can be traced back to Him or His first agents. There is a history of sin, that has reached us in fragments in connection with very high powers. So you see all are free. I do not speak from authority, but I have thought that perhaps our worlds belonged to powers that were not all good, or in accord with law. This would explain so many things." It does not seem to me we can be free till we know what we are ! "No : and it is that state of bondage that led to my thought. I have been allowed to see into another universe, where sin has never entered, and I can understand what a power disobedience is for evil." Is this the universe to which you are going? "No: I should have no work to do there." INSIGHT 179 Will you tell us what you can of the one to which you are going? "I am not allowed to say much, but I go where all my brothers shall one day come, and I am to do this not as a reward, but because something, I know not what, in my growth permits it. It is a world that is to be gradually prepared for us all to enter, and I am to assist in some way in that prepara- tion." Do others in your heaven go? "There are many to go, I am told, but there are none from my immediate place. One is taken from each stage of preparation, for there are many states, or places, as you would call them, and there will be work for every gradation of in- telligence ; if united we are finally to make worlds. Do you not see that ages of preparation are necessary for each soul, that will finally make up the perfect and glorious body of which Christ is the spirit? It was to prepare your minds to receive some knowledge of my future work, that I told you the final place, of your race, in God's great and never ending plan of creation." Who is the spirit behind our sun : is it Christ? "No : the spirit that is behind our sun is not the same emana- tion of the Divine that will be the spirit of perfected humanity." Why is the sun so much greater than other planets? "The sun is not great compared with many others." Can you not tell us something of the moon? "The orb you speak of is only one of the many worlds, thrown off from the great centre, and is not to be the habitation of our race. It was thrown off from the earth, and as it has grown so far from the centre, its influence does 180 INSIGHT not partake of the heat, light or breath of its centre, which in the physical world represents what God is in the spiritual." Does the moon influence the tides? "Yes: as a mass of matter, it has great influence, and it represents spir- tually what evil does, for it attempts to draw the earth to itself, and away from its true centre." Why is evil more rife at night? "The soul shrinks from darkness, because it feels without knowing why that light is truth and its absence falsehood." Have evil spirits more power at night? "Yes: and they love what represents themselves." Can they approach us while we sleep? "Yes: evil is always going round and about you, but the good within, and the guardian without, keep you from their power. They fly from your presence, for nothing brings them more suffering than an attempt to breathe in a pure spiritual atmosphere." Does the spirit which is man's higher part abide above him? "Yes: until man is ready to receive his higher part, the guardian angel keeps it, and it is through that part of you that I hold these communi- cations." Is Pursuit present at this lesson? "He has passed on, but there are many who might bear his name, for all are eager to learn of you and see through your eyes, the truths that are not yet clear to them." Could you not teach them without us? "They de- sire to see things from your level, and seeing things from every side helps even those who know infinitely more than you do. Many of these are to become teachers as I am, and it is necessary they should know INSIGHT 181 the mind of humanity and learn the difficulties that beset them." We do not understand about "the divine Sophia" : will you explain further? "You are troubled about mere terms. The wisdom of God has come to men in as many ways as there are minds capable of receiving it, and one calls it the Divine Spouse, another the Christ life, another the Holy Ghost. We, as I have explained, call it the Spirit of Christ, and it is all one and the same, however it may manifest itself. There are many ways, as the sunlight that comes through colored glass takes into its purity the stain of its passage." Have you anything to say to Reflection? "Yes: read what I have given you: you will find many things directed specially to your doubts, and after reading show your love to me as your teacher by accepting what I have said." I have accepted it! "Then all is well with you, for accepting the way, all that man can do by walking therein is made very easy after he has once set out on the path. Do not feel discouraged if the knowledge of your growth is withheld from you: you have been told that suffering must come to you and none can help or bear it for you." Onward asks if Succor may come to us? "Yes: the mother is here." Has she anything to tell us ? "I can give you noth- ing you do not know of those we love in the spiritual world. All is well with them for none have desired my presence, and if succor is needed, they come to me. Our beloved little one is still in the secret chamber, where none intrude." 182 INSIGHT Will you tell us something of the house father lives in? "It is so beautiful that you cannot conceive of it now, for the good works that are done in its rooms have beautified them beyond any earthly words to describe." Has father many friends about him? "Yes: many come to him, those who have been here much longer than he, gather about him, and those who come from your earth are happy if they know to ask for this help and sympathy." Has father yet met his friend Dr. E.? "I will see. He has not yet been brought to the knowledge of his coming, for the soul of which you speak is still in your world, not having left its earthly body." Do you mean to say that he is not dead? "No: but I am told that he has not yet passed the watchers on the threshold. If with you there are those who watch sometimes for hours, for the new born, so with us. There are those appointed to receive the souls who come into our state." Is the soul unconscious, meantime? "Generally the case is as you state it, but there are many exceptions." Will you tell us what you have learned since you have been with Insight? "I think Insight can teach you heavenly truths better than I. I give you tidings of those we both love, but he is our teacher, yours as well as mine." Can you tell us of Representation? "Yes: she is here, and she is so happy to be with us, and it was for her sake, with that of others, that you were brought today; she will answer your questions herself through Insight." What would I do if I should find myself separated INSIGHT 183 from you when I leave this world? "My child, your desire will bring me to your side the moment you are born into a spiritual state, where I shall be visible to you." Why were you not allowed in the beginning of these writings to communicate with us ? "It was not well for me then, but now I am more sure of myself and my own strength, and no desire to return to you would be possible to me, for I have such a clear view of the eternal fitness of all things, that earth has left me, as if it had never been my beloved home." Shall we be able to come to you in your "city"? "If you so desire, and I feel that you will, for I can imagine no change, even in the highest heaven, which could separate us from each other." Why are you the only one spoken of as "building a city" ? "It is only because no one in whom you are in- terested has as yet reached my state. All who desire it are given a place of their own, and to it gravitate those spirits who are in accord and need to receive or give help, and they call my home a city, because so many have come to me, some of their own desire, but many whom I myself demand and therefore brought." Will you say something to Reflection? "I wish him to be happy in what he has received and not to disquiet himself except for the true riches, which lie both here and on your earth, hidden in the spiritual nature of man." Now we shall have to say good-bye to Insight and we thank him. "We shall come together again soon, and what I have is yours, for we are all one in Christ." 184 INSIGHT COMMUNICATION XXV. "What does jour welcome circle desire from Insight ?" Can you tell us anything of the polestar? "That is a great sun and its place in the .physical universe contains and conceals a great mystery which I cannot explain, for I am not at liberty to do so." Was the mystery not understood by the ancients? "Yes : it has been always understood to have some effect on your universe, and its place in your sky shows that it has an important meaning in the plan of creation." Can you not tell us what spiritual truth it covers? "No : I do not understand it sufficiently myself. When I said I was not at liberty to explain, I meant that I was not to tell anything I could not make perfectly clear." Has it anything to do 1 with magnetism? "That is the medium through which all the great forces of na- ture act, and it has much to do with it. As you know, what you call the magnet always recognizes it as its source." Do you know why the passage in the pyramid always points to the polestar? "The builders of that monu- ment understood much that you think the result of modern investigation, and they worshipped that orb because they saw for some reason it was a guide and a friend to man. The ways by which man has reached knowledge are not known to me, and I should require to be put into a state to remember past lives, in order to answer these questions which would not be well for either you or me ; now my knowledge of spiritual things INSIGHT 185 comes to me by a more direct and consequently interior method, and it is by far the best way." Does a child bring back any knowledge of its spir- itual state when it is born into our world? "Sometimes it retains its recollections of heavenly joys, and is in that way, you might say, in possession of its spiritual knowledge, but this is in no way intellectual, for it is of the inner vision. This makes the beauty and in- nocence of little children so lovable." What happens to a personality which has "abso- lutely no trace of spirituality in the human soul, either of the good or bad sort." Is there an eighth sphere into which it is drawn? "That is never the case in the present state of development. If there were such a soul in the universe, there would be a place provided for it, but the Father does not send his children who are too young to be conscious of their own ignorance, where they cannot improve. Evil is not sufficiently spiritualised, I mean that the race has not yet reached the state where it can become so. Man is yet too young to be treated as a responsible being. After he reaches a higher condition, he is yet free, as I have always explained, and even his spiritual growth might help him to rebel against law." Is there any chance in our future lives of our for- getting the knowledge you have given us? "You will not forget, if you incorporate it as spiritual food, and if it becomes part of your true being." I cannot imagine forgetting it, for it has come as water to the thirsty ! "Yes : and you are all growing. I must tell you not to give up the strong desire, for 186 INSIGHT with jour present state you can go on to very high levels." Is Succor present and can she tell us anything of Dr. E. ? "Yes : the mother was called to be made known to him by Perseverance, who wished his friend to feel the succor which she knows so well how to give to the new born." Is Succor still in the spiritual world? "She is withir with Tranquility, and was sent for when your frienc first came." When did he come? "It is not long, I should think two days of your time. — Succor is waiting." Grandmother, will you tell us of Dr. E.? "Yes: he is a great spirit, and the love he felt for the wants of those he helped on your earth is returned to him a thousand fold in his new home." Is he in the Spiritual world ? "Yes : and he is your father's guest, for a short time, while his own children and others arrange the house that stands ready to re- ceive him." Did you see the meeting between him and father? "No: it was afterwards that your father sent for me, but I felt when I saw them, how sweet and ready was the love between them, and what a power they will be, to help those who will come to them hereafter." Did father ask him for tidings of us? "No: for that was not in your father's thoughts, and he knew, from his own experience, that it was not well to allow his friend to return in thought to those he had left. Your father has reached the point when he can trust everything to the Father of us all, and his chief desire INSIGHT 187 now is to help his friend to reach his spiritual state, so that there may be perfect accord between them." Has Dr. E. seen his daughter Mary? "Yes: his beautiful children are all in his house, and they are in the most perfect state of rest and peace, and their household will be a most fitting place for the unclothing of this great spirit to take place." Can you tell me anything of M E ? "Yes: she is in this heaven, but I had not seen her till I met her at your father's door, where they all stood to greet the new one who came, not knowing where." Did he not expect to find things as they were? "No: he had been so busy with the work of his life, that he had given little thought to what should come to him here. He was willing to leave it to the Father, and says he was not even curious about the details, knowing all would be well." Did his soul visit his friends in this world after he died, before he went to you? "I do not know, but I think it possible, for he did not come as directly as he might have done." Where was he meanwhile? "He lingered on your earth. This is frequently the case, for many do not know they can if they choose come to the Spirit world as soon as they are rid of the flesh." Are there none to meet and guide such souls ? "Yes : but as the spiritual eyes are still blinded by earthly desires and longings, these good spirits are unseen and unfelt." Is the soul then all alone? "No: you seem to your- self to be just as you were, only freer and happier than you have ever been before. You see those you 188 INSIGHT have left, but you feel so free from your suffering body that you can often think of nothing else, and you do not understand for the moment that any one can consider you dead." Does not the grief of those who are left behind affect one? "That depends on the soul, sometimes it does, as in the case of my dear little one who could see and feel nothing else." What is Dr. E.'s spiritual name? "Persistency — and this spirit will only persist in the right way and after the unclothing has taken place, the beauty of the soul only will be visible, all that made it in any way un- lovely will drop off and he will be a worthy friend to my great son." M. wishes to know if you will pray for her? "Yes, my child : I am praying for you, did I not tell you that he who cared for you on earth, had committed you to my keeping? Do not fear, all will be as he desires." Does it take children as long to grow up in your heaven as it does on earth? "No: it does not. They grow quickly, as a plant grows with you under the concentrated rays of the sun, and then they leave us and later return to learn new things on your earth." Grandmother is getting much more learned about reincarnation ! "Since I have been permitted to live with our teacher, I see his knowledge, as you see the look of affection in the eyes of him who loves you." Will you not tell us something of our great teacher, Insight? "He says you know him well, and trust him as he desires, and that is all that is necessary." Will Insight tell us if it would be well for Mrs. C to form a circle? "It may be well, for Penetra- INSIGHT 189 tion can distinguish between the evil and the good and some teacher may be assigned them, but I cannot tell, for I am not to teach them myself." Could they not reach you ? "Yes : for Waiting be- longs to us, but he would need other and great help, and I do not know if he can attain it. You had help from all the intermediate spheres, and then you had in the six, who first came, every attribute." How did this happen ? "Nothing happens." Will you explain the conditions? "You had the mother in the spiritual world, Representation in the lower heaven, Tranquility in this world, and in your own world, Courage, Endurance, Aspiration, Discern- ment, and all the others for whom the teaching was meant. Penetration has every safeguard and if it has been thought best, she will obtain a teacher for her charge, who will help him, but from what I have learned of him my impression is that the help must come from within. It is not knowledge that is needed, but an ap- plication of what he possesses to his spiritual needs." I hope you do not think us indiscreet in the questions we ask you! "Ask whatever you desire, for I do not see the wrong side of your desires. There is nothing you can demand that will not be given you if the knowledge is not ahead of your spiritual growth." Is it wrong to> worry over business cares ? "Yes : because too much worry is an assumption for man : his part is to do the best he can. God's part is to prosper his undertakings as he thinks best. Man cannot always see in what his true riches consist, but the Father's hand must be held and then the child will be sure the 190 INSIGHT way is right, even though it may seem rough and un- pleasant." But it is the effect on others? "Do not fear, those, whom you would care for are also in the Father's hand, and what is for their true good will come to them." Courage says she must leave us, but she thinks you will not miss her from the circle ! "You are always wanted Courage, but we are strong, though your strength helps even without your bodily presence, as Aspiration is still of us, though you and she know it not." Will you continue to pray for our special spiritual needs ? "Yes : I always do, and I wish our prayers to blossom into good deeds. It is not by much speaking, but by doing, that the real growth must come. You are trying, and I am always made happy by each deed which vibrates even to our blest abode. Acts are the music of the spheres, and the humblest soul has its part in the great symphony which will never be com- plete until all join in the sacred song. When the stars sang together at your creation, it was because they knew that such creatures would complete this unwritten music and they wait to hear your feeblest notes with joy. This is the harmony of the universe, that all good spirits rejoice in the work of each." Do the spirits behind the suns see and know what we do? "Do you not know there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth?" Which heaven is that? "It is the great heaven which lies outside your visible universe and which con- sists of myriads of perfected races." INSIGHT 191 Is that the last and highest Heaven? "Not the highest, for in the end all things shall be delivered to the Father, that all may be in God, and God in all." Is that the kingdom spoken of in the Lord's Prayer? "Yes: but there are many kingdoms to come before creation attains to this last. It has never entered into the mind of any finite being yet, to more than know of the existence of this last great kingdom of all." Then none have yet gone there ? "None of our race : by that I mean all of the perfected men who light the universe visible to your science." Will you tell us anything of your teacher? "Yes: he belongs to the perfected man who is our sun. I mean the sun of our system. Your guardian angels are also from that high place." Do you go to your teacher as we come to you ? "Yes : but I have the power to lay aside my spiritual body and to go to him more visibly than you can come to me, for we are both spirit then, and can discern each other." Has he a form? "Yes: a form as I have, and as you have, the form of man." Does he give you the same kind of knowledge that you give us? "He opens my eyes to behold the majesty of the Great Cause who created such wonders, and teaches me what I am to do when I go with him to prepare a place for our brothers." Is he a planetary spirit? "He is one of the race that make up the perfected man, and is a creative spirit, as I am to be allowed in a very simple way to become. 192 INSIGHT This spirit is to put into effect the causes prepared by those greater than he." By what name do you call your teacher? "I call him also Insight. It is his name translated into words that can reach your understanding." Why do we pray "Lead us not into temptation"? Would the Father lead us into evil? "No: but the God within you is capable of leading you into evil as well as into goon. The spirit of God which has come now into the human soul waits to see what that soul will do with it, and if it rejects its coming, will have led it into temptation. Man has attained now the state when he can discern good from evil, and this is because the spirit of Christ is in humanity : before it came, man could not sin knowingly, because he was not capable, but now the Light has come into the world, man through that very Light is capable of being led into the temptation to reject it. I think this is what Christ meant. He saw that with the perfect freedom that man must always have, the very God within, must be prayed not to lead him astray." Then we really pray to our own highest principle? "You pray to the highest within you, that sends the prayer upward. You pray to God through the God that is within you." Then we do have to employ a medium? "Do not misunderstand : you cannot be called a medium to your- self. Think of it, and it will become clear. The God within will explain." Is the God within, and God of all the same? "Yes: as God is manifested in His creatures : there is but one INSIGHT 193 God, but there are many manifestations and Jesus showed how perfectly man can become God." We shall now have to say good night. We are going into the darkness, but you will still be in the light! "Yes : it is not night with us when we are giving, and as long as you receive, we shall be in bright sunshine : you shall not go into the darkness, for the light of tran- quility shall be above you, and God the Father will keep you in his holy care. You did not ask why Tran- quility was part of the chain that brought you to me." Will you tell us? "The ties that bind us all are so many, and so firm, that it is no figure of speech to say, we are each his brother's keeper, and that all men are brothers. These ties will be seen and recognized when- ever in these spiritual worlds it is necessary, and so you see, you find friends all the way, from the ones who sit by your side on earth, to the beautiful spirit who could make a heaven for us by her very presence. Take this thought with you, that as you are one with Christ, you are one with all the Great Spirits who make your suns, and even with those greater than these, the ones who are found worthy to stand before the Great First Cause, and speak the name that we all hope one day to be worthy to utter. That is the symbol of the unseeable God, who lies above and behind all these that we are learning to apprehend. In His care I leave you. Fare- well." COMMUNICATION XXVI. "Insight will be glad to add to your spiritual knowl- edge. There are many here who will be interested in your presence." 194 INSIGHT Is it true that there are seven planetary chains of which our sun is the centre? "Yes : there are." You never told us of them before ! "No : I most like to tell you of what will assist you in making your own circuit in safety and happiness." Is the world to which you are going in our chain? "Yes : and I go to assist in making it fit for our occu- pancy." You said it was not visible, did you not? "I said where I was going was not visible, for I go into the spiritual world connected with that planet, and that world is not what you understand as part of your sys- tem." How are the spiritual worlds formed? "From your point of view, nature makes herself visible on your planet as if from something inherent in itself. This, however, is not the case: all the real things in the uni- verse are spiritual things, and the things you call substantial are only shadows of the realities." Will you explain the difference between God and nature? "Nature is the manifestation of God which is seen by your eyes. God is nature, but is as much more, as man the artist is more than his creation." Are all the planets in the solar system visible to men? "No: for there are many that cannot be seen from your earth." Can you see them all? "No: I am not wise or spir- itual enough for that." Are the spirits of the sun rulers of the whole sys- tem? "Yes : of all the many worlds, and the myriads of races that come and go, and return at their command." Is the perfected spirit behind the sun, the Christ? INSIGHT 195 "It is not the same manifestation of the Christ that comes into your spirit and builds it up. This mani- festation has to do with what you would call physical things, but the work is done in the spiritual worlds, on the spiritual planes. All the worlds exist for your natural eyes, because there are spiritual worlds behind them. When I go to assist in preparing the next physical world for our race, I shall not work with temporal things, but prepare spiritual things, and from them the physical will spring into existence." Will you have to be incarnated there? "No. I shall return to our own spiritual worlds here and will be in- carnated again on your earth, but not for many, many years." Will you return to your present heaven while we are there? "Not when you next come. I am to return to your earth just before our race is about to leave it for its new home." That must be about two millions of years from now ? "Solicitude has a just idea of the time, but I shall be with you during all the last race of mankind on your earth," Will you be on this earth continuously? "I shall follow the law that will govern all humanity." Can you tell us how Mr. S got all his informa- tion about these things? "If he has it, it must be in some such way as this. Whenever souls in any ages are in a state to receive it, it has been given." He claims to get the knowledge from living men? "That may be. Are you not alive, and could you not give men ideas through these sources, which they have never received? Do you not understand that your spir- 196 INSIGHT itual perceptions are opened? They may get their in- formation by some such process, perhaps through an open vision, perhaps through their spiritual hearing, perhaps as you in these writings, but it must come from some one who is willing as I am and who has been ap- pointed to communicate these truths to all who are de- sirous and longing to receive them." Is the union of the soul with God accompanied by any visible manifestation? "Not always by what you, with your sensuous perceptions would call a visible knowledge: but God cannot come into any man's soul without his being conscious of that presence, for the consciousness is the coming." Can we attain that by prayer? "Yes: a strong de- sire is the action of that will made manifest, as in physi- cal life the desire for food which preserves that life cannot come unless the life has already begun, so in the spiritual, the desire for God can only come from the God life having begun in the soul. The life is already there and longing to manifest itself to man's consciousness. This is the time that man's will comes into action, and conforms itself to God's will." I desire most strongly, but I do not see the life in myself. "You cannot see for you look for it from your physical standpoint, but I see the seed germinat- ing and it will soon bear fruit which you will perceive even with your material eyes. The desire is a strong evidence of the good growth. Insight, where is heaven? "Within your soul as much as any place." Oh, Insight, can you not make us understand? "Yes : I will endeavor. Heaven pervades the earth as atmos- INSIGHT 197 phere, not your material atmosphere: to me there is nothing but heaven. Your world is not in existence for spiritual intelligence, only for humanity in its limitations." When souls are earthbound where are they? "That only means that they willingly keep their desires within the limitations that shut out the spiritual from their view." Are there spiritual entities all about us ? "Yes ; all is spiritual, about, above, below, and around you." Are not those who have gone from us still here ? "As much here as anywhere, for there is no here, no there in reality, but to themselves they seem to have passed far from you, and to have gone into quite another and very different place, because their state has so changed, but to higher spiritual intelligence, they are with you still." When one dies, what becomes of his lower principles? "Sometimes you cling to them, and then they keep you near your earthly state, sometimes you leave them and then bereft of the life you gave them, they return, as all things temporary and changing must, to their original elements." Do any other teachers in your sphere give the name of "Insight"? "It depends on the state of those desiring their help. What you wanted was 'insight. 9 What some come for is sympathy and knowledge, not of what they already perceive and desire to see more clearly, as with you, but of the first glimmer of the truth which cannot be called 'insight.' " Insight, you do not seem to become impatient of our oft repeated questions. "I should not be worthy to 198 INSIGHT be your teacher if I did, for some of your circle repre- sent great patience." Have you always been taught by your guardian angel? "My guardian angel was always my teacher but I only came to know her here in a different way." When you reach the higher heaven, what will your angel do then? "She will enjoy the same kind of beatitude that I do, in her own sphere, and when I need her again, she will be with me." If we were sufficiently spiritual, could we see you? "Yes : for that is the only thing that shuts me out. The veil between us is your fleshly bodies, and if your eyes which cannot see but the temporal things of your earth could be opened, all heaven would dawn for your souls." Is it possible any of us may see you? "I cannot see into the future, but as it is revealed to me for my own uses and improvement, but I do not know why it should not be possible. You are spirit, as I am, only enclosed in your prison of flesh, and if that were dropped, you would be visible to me, and I to you." Will you tell us what kind of food is eaten in the spiritual world? "Food suited to the wants, just as yours is to your wants. I might call it fruit, or bread, or wine, or by any other name, but they would be sym- bols only, and I do not wish to use those with you. Every want will be gratified, when you first come into the spiritual world, for you will be received as treas- ured and expected children, 'so commit your way unto the Lord, and He will bring it to pass.' Does Reflection feel satisfied about the germ, that his desire proves is growing in his soul?" No; I wish it could be explained. "I do not see INSIGHT 199 how it could be made plainer to you. The child's wish to pull up the plant, to see its growth, is not wise, and you must accept my assurance, without waiting for proof. Act as if you were possessed of all the spiritual graces, and they will come to you. Love the brother actively, and the love of God will be manifest to you. Nothing is small. You must keep up the effort, and that constancy will last forever and forever without end, as God's activity acts without ceasing." Is there sin, in the other chains of worlds ? "Yes : and the Christ who has come to save us from its influ- ence has also saved them, or will do so before the end." Might the evil that entered this world have been what was left over from other purified worlds ? "Yes : the evil I am taught comes from a higher place than any we can know of, and I have been told that in the future we shall have all made clear to us, but the time is not yet. We are yet unable to reach the spiritual heights necessary to understand the high spirits who originated evil. The worlds all exist, from these high influences, and we partake of them all, evil as well as good. The mission of Christ is to eradicate these evil influences, and in the end make them serve in willing and glad submission the Source from which all has come." Could you tell us anything about numbers? "Num- bers mean many things, and would only add to the difficulty in making things clear to you, which is our chief object. I do not think it would add to your useful knowledge even if I could convey to you the little I know myself on this great subject. The human mind cannot take in the idea even of a million years, and I 200 INSIGHT am told I shall be more than that before I return to your earth." Can } r ou remember your life on any other planet than this ? "Yes : I have been given to see my life on another planet many, many centuries ago, longer than you or I even can comprehend." Were you more material then? "I was less material than I was on your earth and my spiritual nature was freer, and more open to knowledge than it has been in any of my later lives." Was there no evil then ? "Not evil for which we were responsible, for our human souls were not enough de- veloped. We were in a more innocent state, as a little child is more innocent and more ignorant. The knowl- edge you ask for must be given to your race for many, many years, and I perceive that you are conscious of it, which I was not until I came here: I mean, I was not in my last life." Now we shall have to say good-bye. Will you give our love to all who form this chain ? "Yes : the chain is one of love and every brother here holds you each in his heart." I wish I knew how we could love more? "That will come. Do you not see you only know now that you do not love enough? That is the first step. You must love those to whom you can be insight. All things come from love and it is the only vehicle which can carry the good onward. Now your eyes are dimmed, not only by your own flesh, but by that of the brother whose beauty you often fail to see." Will you tell us how we can be better tomorrow than we have been today? "Pray for the spirit to quicken INSIGHT 201 your spirit, and ask that some one may come in your way to receive of your riches. Give of those riches and tomorrow will be better than the day just passed, though that has not been without its blessing. We are one, and the one spirit will keep us and help us to glorify it in our lives till we meet again." COMMUNICATION; XXVII. INSIGHT: "Do you come hungry for spiritual food? What is your special want?" This is Sunday with us. Do you also have Sabbaths in heaven? "Yes: our time is divided for us in a spir- itual way as yours is in a physical way." Is this Sunday with you? "No: this is one of my working days." What do you do on your Sabbath? "My spirit com- munes with the Great Spirit and is still." On the planet to which you are going are the lower kingdoms already beginning to evolve? "Not till the work begins on a spiritual plane can anything that you would call nature begin. The work has already com- menced, in the higher sphere of that planet, and when I go it will begin in the spiritual world, connected with that physical one." Is that world already inhabited? "No: but the mas- ter workman, who will lead and direct our band, is already there, and with his advent there was a first be- ginning out of the chaos of nothing on the physical plane. The work must begin in the highest heaven connected with that world, and is being gradually brought into the lower." 202 INSIGHT Is there any vegetable or mineral kingdom there? "In the very depths of the lowest organizations the first glimmer of life is beginning, but they are not yet in form." Then it is in the heaven of that unformed world that you go to do your work? "No : it is in the spiritual world." How is it possible for that planet to be visible if it is so unformed? "It is visible because the spiritual light of the sun illumines it, otherwise it would pass entirely from existence. It is only visible to you be- cause it is lighted by your physical sun, but its real life is owing to the Spiritual Sun." When humanity has left this planet, will the earth become less material? "No : it will grow more material." Will it then be more material the next time humanity returns to it? "No: it will then be more spiritual, for it will have undergone a change, making it worthy of the more advanced state of humanity, but when the spiritual that accompanies man has entirely left your plane, it will then be simply matter, as your next home has become since you left it." Is it true that each race is devoted to the cultiva- tion of a sense? "You might perhaps put it in that way. Mankind grows slowly for it has a long journey to travel, and the point you have now reached is the period of quickening of all the spiritual life that is latent in your race." Will we not have seven senses when we arrive at the next planet? "Not all humanity: some souls will have arrived at that point." What will be the next sense .we possess? "When INSIGHT 203 the soul of man has been quickened by the spiritual, the next step is the conscious recognition of his new- life. As you perceive great differences in your present development, so will it be for many ages, but in the end, man will join hand to hand and heart to heart, and then the great term of his real life will begin." Are all guardian angels on the same plane? "Not at all, but most of our circle, because they belong to the same society." Did the Apostle Peter belong to the understanding? For Christ commended him when he first came to the comprehension of his mission, and said "On this rock (the understanding) do I build my church." "Thank you for your question. It has come to me for the first time that he does. As with you I only receive what I ask; knowing what he had been represented to me to mean, when last in the flesh to have been an error, I have never asked what relation he really held to the Truth, but I see it all and we are part of him, as he is of us." If Peter really understood Christ to have been the Saviour, how could he deny him? "There is always the reverse side, and having understood the right, it was necessary that he should also see the error, that is, the conflict we call the struggle between Good and Evil which must go on, until the last sin shall be de- stroyed and man becomes God, because God has then become man. Is it necessary that one should practice evil in order to know good? "The error must be perceived by the soul and rejected, and it can be rejected only when one has felt its full power by possessing it or becoming 204 INSIGHT it; each soul lives many lives and must thus come into possession of all truth." I hope we may not have to go through much more sin? "You will not need now unless you will, to come under the dominion of your lower nature, but you have been through every sin that now seems so low and wicked to you. Therefore love the brother, who is working through the same pathway you have trod. The power to do all that you hate, is still latent in your nature." Is there any state in which we can be conscious of our guardian angels? "Even in your present condi- tion, consciousness is possible, but there will come a time when all humanity will walk your earth in perfect accord with that higher principle which is now in their keeping." Do you mean when on earth for the last time or round? "Yes: that is what is meant when it was said 'there will be a new Heaven and a new earth,' for the spirit in man is capable of glorifying and spiritualiz- ing his earth, so that it will be what this heaven is now." Is not humanity divisible into seven divisions or "rays"?\"I do not know just your idea: to spiritual eyes humanity seems a whole, some in advance of others individually, but all treading the same upward path which might be called perhaps a ray from the Divine. None can look at His many rays. We are taught here that the highest created forces who to us are as Gods, veil their eyes before the great and blinding light which is not God but only the glory that emanates from Him. Do not let this put you in your thoughts far from this INSIGHT 205 Father of us all, but think of Him in that loving and tender relation, and He will always seem near to you. Yes, even in your very soul." Is it well for one to withdraw from the world to study truth? "It is not necessary to withdraw physi- cally. Spiritual withdrawal is what is needed, and to the perfectly trained soul, by that I mean the soul that has learned by long practice to make himself one with his brother, there is no cloister needed, for there is but One in the universe, and that One can always be alone with God, for he takes every brother with him." "Light on the path" says you must attain to knowl- edge before you attain to speech, and there are many who maintain it is well to retire to solitude to seek this knowledge? "Do you put a child whom you wish to learn a language by himself or with those who will re- spond to what he wishes to utter? No man gets speech but by practice. He who would utter what is within comes to it best, by his many efforts, even though they may seem to him failures. Here in our heaven, in all the heavens, even we are told, in the first emanations from the very Highest, organization is necessary, and on your earth, it is even more so than anyhere else. No man liveth to himself: when he does he is in hell, for he has cut himself off from the 'ray' as you have called it in which he is appointed to walk. Do not understand that the soul is never to retire into its stronghold, and meet its own portion of the Divine, and light its lamp afresh ; but never can the light which each soul carries burn but in the walk appointed where other lamps also help to light the pathway common to all. Work with the organizations already formed, there 206 INSIGHT is good in them, and your lamps will help dissipate whatever error may darken them. Do not try to do your life work by yourself, that will retard your growth. I send this particularly for Reflection. Solicitude must also join in the work the brothers have already organized, and if he will do this, many of his own per- plexities will work out their own answers." Can my thoughts and good wishes help Alfred who is so ill? "None are beyond your kind thoughts and loving prayers, and the soul of whom you are thinking is as dear to the Father, and to those appointed to min- ister to the ones the Father loves, as the greatest and wisest in his creation. Commit it, therefore, with per- fect trust to His love and care, and be sure all will be done in all worlds, for its growth." Has grandmother been with us today? "Succor has come from the spiritual world at your desire." Will she tell us anything about Aspiration? "I have been to welcome our little one into the circle in her father's house, for she is born to us now, and she de- sired that I should come to her in her new and beautiful body and see all that had been done for her in the cham- ber of peace." Is there now no danger of her trying to return to earth? "There is none, but her loving heart is still a part of her nature and she holds you in it as near and as dear as she ever did in her earth life, but there are other loves that glorify her thoughts of you and though she does not love you the less, you are not now the first in her heart." 'Did she speak of us when she saw you? "Yes: she asked if you had come to Insight, and was told that INSIGHT 207 she still formed part of your circle. She wished you to be told of her new birth, and that her husband should know that her heavenly body is what she now desires him to think of and in all her work in her new life, she desires him to know she will not forget his spiritual interests, and that he must do his part to grow in what he has a perfect knowledge and understanding of." If it is well for her, will you tell her we are all con- tented to know she is happy? "If it is best; she her- self will ask for that knowledge." Is she able to see Insight? "Not now, except as you come to him. In her world there are circles which com- mune with the heavenly sphere, as you do, through their angels, and Aspiration will never be satisfied with- out the best possible." If she, and we, both go to "Insight" does that not bring us together? "Yes: you are together and 'Op- portunity' is with us, and their angels are now holding each other by the hand." How does Aspiration now occupy herself? "Her delight and her life now consist in learning the laws of her new home, in communing with those she loves, her sisters and brothers, her father, and those who make up the circle which forms itself around the home of my son. She is but newly born and as with you, all as yet minister to her comfort and she is passively taking in all the joys and the delights of which no words you can use can convey the meaning or extent to your mind, and if this is true of the first days of the new born soul, what do you think the joys of heaven must be ! I speak of this that your work on earth may not seem long or hard to you, when such great reward awaits its fulfilment." 208 INSIGHT How is the disappointment of having no children made up to Aspiration? "The maternal love is a love of the soul and is not left with the body to perish and every love that comes here and belongs to our higher part is recognized and satisfied. She will find awaiting her in the heaven to which she will attain the soul that was to belong to her on earth, and which will be to her as though it had come into her arms in her lower life. The relation of a soul 'Insight' has taught me is not only physical but spiritual, and the soul which might have occupied and animated a body formed of her body also bears a relation to her soul, and if that relation is a spiritual one as it is in her case, it will be recognized by both in the heavenly state." Are not mothers and children always truly related? "Not always, for some mothers do not hold that spir- itual relation to their children." What is the reason of this difference? "It is owing to the physical life lived, and the relative growth of the souls. Do you not see that the soul of the mother must be worthy to ascend into the heavenly state, and the souls that have left the heavenly state, and returned to it without any contamination of the physical world always go back into the state they have left." What has the father to do with the child's soul? "The father bears the same relation. We were speak- ing now of the little child that was to have come to Aspiration on earth. It is not the mother alone, both the soul and body is attracted by the union of father and mother, and the father will bear the same relation to the child that the mother does, and his meeting it INSIGHT 209 here will depend on his condition to enter the heavenly state." Will a mother who has lost her child see it in the same form? "Yes: her desire to see her child will bring it to her just as she remembers it, and she will even in the spiritual world hold it to her heart as she has yearned to do." Does a soul's desire to re-incarnate influence the length of its sta} r in heaven? "The mother desires me, 'Insight,' to answer, — Yes, it does : some souls after they have fully opened to their true needs desire to return to your earth, and if it is best that wish is gratified." It seems to me according to your teaching that we sooner or later outgrow everything? "No: the loves that are of the soul are never outgrown ; some which seem to us the most important on our earth are not real ones, and they would be of no more use to us in our true moments than the worn out toys of our baby- hood would be to the mature man." But even our children have to leave us when they are reincarnated? "Yes: but the love impulse which made that soul your child is fully gratified, and in the end who can tell how all these tangled threads may appear perhaps, woven by God's hand into a beautiful and per- fect picture, of which angels even have now no concep- tion!" Is it true that our higher principles are not in us, but above us? "They are always waiting to be a part of you and your angel keeps them, lest at any time they may be lost in the distance which you sometimes put between them and your lower nature." 210 INSIGHT I am still perplexed about the real use of the guardian angel? "Do not let it be so; as a mother is a part of the child she holds to her breast and nourishes, so is your angel part of you. Do not confound the body with spirit. I wish it were possible for me to convey to you how your bodies seem to me, but the shadows of your real selves, but that cannot be ; your true self is about and around your physical self as the air is about and around you, and nourishes you, and you live because of it as your physical life is dependent on the atmosphere." Do you not see our bodies? "I see only your spirit as it is connected with this world through your higher self, and through your angel. Your human soul is the life giving power on your physical plane, and I see only its movements through the spirit that is here with the guardian angel who keeps it." To us it seems as though we held this intercourse through our minds? "Yes: from your standpoint, be- cause your human soul is your intelligence, and it gets its life from the spirit that informs it." Then the spirit is born to us? "Yes: to you all, the spirit is born, and you each have conscious moments of its influence, but they seem to you to come from your intelligence, because that is the medium through which it must flow on to your plane." You told me there was something I could not yet perceive and that I must wait ; when shall I be able, to see? "You do perceive, since then, that the spirit is growing into more and more conscious relations to your human soul. We are taught there is in all things a season of rest and of growth, and do not be dismayed INSIGHT £11 if there are times with you, when the relation is not per- ceived with clearness. As night follows day, so in all spiritual things of which they are only symbols must the hours of darkness, rest, and repose, come." Can we not shorten those hours of darkness? "If the effort is not relaxed: but do not dread the hours of darkness for they are as necessary as rest to the physi- cal body ; if you always make use of your best moments in giving what you have received, the rest comes as a well earned repose. Merit your repose and all will be well with you, but remember, it can only come by giv- ing. Give as I have told you to the brother, and in conjunction with the brother, for many lamps are needed to light up the dark places on your earth. Fare- well! and God speed you in all such work." COMMUNICATION XXVIII. Present : Endurance, Discernment. INSIGHT: "What shall be the subject of our com- munion?" I hope you will not think we come to you too often? "I shall never think a real desire for spiritual truth 'too often.' " Will you tell us which heaven you are in? "I am in the celestial sphere of my heaven." Is the heaven beneath you the spiritual heaven? "There are also celestial states in that heaven, and even in the spiritual world, and sometimes on your earth, for the celestial is not a thing of place." Would it be possible for us to even enter it here? 212 INSIGHT "All can enter it who are in the true relation to the Source of Light." Is every one fitted in this age of the world to come into this relation? "But few are fitted, for there are many who have not come into a consciousness that they are anything but what their natural eyes behold." Shall we personally come into this true relation dur- ing our present life? "I cannot tell; your insight is becoming clearer, but I cannot see how it may be with you in the future, for as I have told you, there is an ebb in all things. You will never fall back into a state of indifference, but there must be this rest of which I speak, and it is according to the divine law ; so fear not." Oh, Insight, it would be dreadful to fall back into worldliness and sin? "That is not what I mean for you, but in many cases, even that temporary indifference is not of the importance it seems ; for all that has been provided for. As long as you feel as you do, it will be impossible; but if you should appear to fall back, do not fail to take heart and to begin again, for one of God's chosen has said, that he 'fell forty times a day,' and the Lord said you were to forgive your brother seventy times seven, and is not the Father more merci- ful and loving than we, his children, can be?" Someone has written, that if a soul through ignor- ance fail to seize the right moment for developing the spirit within, the opportunity passes, and is lost? "That is not true, and the soul you speak of cannot be willing to patiently live the life and accept the way for all along that way there come assurances to cheer and assist the doubting soul." INSIGHT 213 This thought has troubled me, but I shall accept your authority in this matter. "You are right to ac- cept my authority on this point; some souls reach heaven through sore tribulation, but it is because they do not come in the appointed way, and I who have come by many deviations know of what I speak." I hope the blessing of all you have taught us may fall on you. "There can be no blessing to any soul that does not reach all souls who are in accord, and I feel that our blessings will affect and assist each other." Will you not tell us something about the condition of a soul about to re-incarnate? "I cannot tell you much for such knowledge is sacred to each individual soul." Does the spiritual soul come into existence at the same time with the human soul? "No; that I can ex- plain. The human soul is in your sphere, before the less material part, and is the first germ, as I have explained of the new form. The spiritual soul comes into this organization when God breathes into it the first breath of life, in the first conscious moment of the new being's existence." Until the child begins to live independently of the mother is its life only animal life? "It is more than animal life now in your period of development, and it returns of its own spiritual tendencies to the spiritual life it has left here." When the spirit has entered man is he always con- scious of it? "No; man can have this spiritual life and be unconscious of it, as the human life was unconscious- ly possessed in the mother's womb. Man's work is to find the God within him as the work of the unborn 214* INSIGHT child was to develop the material life around the human germ. Only by keeping closely in connection with the Father's life, as the child can only grow by its constant and close connection with its mother's life, can this development take place. God is to the spiritual germ what the mother is to the human." You must forgive us for asking the same questions over and over. It is because I do not understand clear- ly my own interior experiences. "No; you do not nor is it necessary. Do not analyze your spiritual growth. You do not try to trace your natural food through all its processes to blood and life, so do not think too much of your spiritual growth, only be sure to keep yourself supplied with food from the Life and the Way, and live in an atmosphere made good by love to all who are around and about you. Do not think about your- self, but look for the Light that has been lighted by the one perfect life, and all will be well." Why do some souls take so much longer for their unclothing in the Spiritual woidd than others ? "With- out invading the privacy of any soul, which I have not the power even if I had the will to do, I can say that those things depend on many contingencies, age, prep- aration, willingness, and others." Do old people more easily give up this life? "Not always, for to some souls, even in their youth on your earth, the rebirth is hailed as the most desirable thing." Do not the principles separate more easily in age? "That should be the law, but even old age comes some- times reluctantly into better things, for the spiritual sense is not a thing of time. The thoughts you have INSIGHT 215 in your mind concern the outer and more material part of the human soul." Do not the spirits who come back to earth, to com- municate through mediums, sometimes seem very spirit- ual and teach high truths? "Many who come to your earth are in possession of truths, and these are given out in proportion as the person in your sphere is cap- able of drawing or compelling them, sometimes without the consent of these earthbound spirits. It may not always be the spirit supposed, but some other, and as I have told you; high spiritual knowledge is latent in all spirits, and the good on your earth, whose spiritual eyes are opened, see the good in them, because spirit can only meet on the same plane and if the spirit in the man is stronger than that in the one on our side, it draws the good ; if weaker, the evil. That is only with the class of spirits who linger about your earth atmos- phere; with higher spirits it is different. The most sinful man on your earth could not draw evil from the heavenly sphere, even if he had good enough within to be allowed to perceive it." Will you tell Tranquility how often we think and speak of her ? "And we often have you in our thoughts and in our prayers ; and she, the peaceful and beauti- ful spirit, will come more and more into your lives. This is the legacy I shall leave you in this sphere, that your circle will still be complete, for your insight will be within you, and here Succor and Tranquility always await you." Reflection has just joined us; did you perceive that he had come? "His angel has been with us from the first, for he seldom leaves yours. Do not misunder- 216 INSIGHT stand what I said. I do not mean that this means of communication is to be kept up after I go away, but the communion will be none the less perfect, and even more spiritual, for the insight will then be with each one of you. All will then have been given you that is necessary, and you will be ready as you are now willing to do your part. God be with you." COMMUNICATION XXIX. INSIGHT: "I am glad you have come for my time now is very short. I am soon to go to be fitted for my new work, and we shall not meet often, except as spirit meets spirit." Will you tell us how the correspondences between the lives of Jesus and Buddha can be accounted for? "Those correspondences have been often repeated since our race began, for it was revealed at the first by the great spirit of which I have told you, and whenever a saviour has come to your earth, he has fulfilled without understanding what was to be shown forth when the real Christ should come." Is the history of Christ's life not typical of what must come to the individual soul? "The events really occurred, but even in the life of the most ordinary soul, spiritual meaning exists, and in Christ's life lay the deepest of all meanings and the story of man's redemption. I shall tell you what is yet known but to very few of your earth. The Saviours who came be- fore Christ were sent from the spiritual sun. Christ came from a higher and holier and more spiritual man- ifestation of the Divine, and began a new era in the INSIGHT 217 history of our race. This I am taught has been the law in all races who have progressed out of matter into spirit. When the race comes into a position in which the human soul is ready to receive the Divine, a new order of that Divine is manifested, and another round is made in the circle of creation, not in our little uni- verse, but in the larger one of which we form but a part." Is this process now going on? "It began with Christ manifested in the flesh. Before this manifestation can take place, some human soul must become perfectly spiritualised so as to be worthy of this new order of divinity, and the soul that was in Jesus had so grown. If all the good spirits that preceded him had endeav- ored to go through the process he was to accomplish, it was only in accordance with the law that there must be first the ear, then the full corn in the ear." Have you ever seen the perfected soul of Jesus Christ? "The spirit so overshadows the human soul that I have not been conscious of its presence, though we are taught that it is the heavenly places where this spiritual sun of our firmament appears. I mean that this perfectly spiritualised human soul is a part of our sun, which is Christ. That is the bringing back of the human to the Divine. As Christ is, so shall all hu- manity be in the blessed end. The spirit that lies behind your physical sun had not the power to go be- yond the making of the human soul in its creative en- ergy, the rest of the work is done by the higher spirit that came to earth in the soul that had been perfected to receive it ; therefore most of the spirits that came to teach and to save our race before Christ taught men 218 INSIGHT of their own works, that is, of the physical universe, and thus laid the foundation for the spiritual knowledge which is to come to man, as he begins his ascent round the circle to the divine. I feel that you are worthy to receive this great knowledge, and it fills my soul and that of all my companions with a deep joy, that the night is almost ending and the morning of man's re- demption drawing near." In the world to which you are going, you spoke of the "Master builder." Did you mean Christ? "No; but it is a spirit of the creative world that forms the spirit that lies behind the sun, and that lightens all the worlds of which we form a part. Do you not see that the next home of man belongs yet to his physical nature?" Has this spirit ever been known to humanity? "No; it has not. There are spirits belonging to the perfected man, behind our sun who do spiritual work and it is they who have come, in many disguises, and in many ages to keep alive the spiritual fire which was latent, and unconsciously possessed by man from the begin- ning." Will not this spiritual impulse now in the world ac- quire great momentum? "Yes; that is the law; in the spiritual as in the material world." What can I do to hold my thoughts on one subject, and go down into my own "centre" ? "That is a matter of growth, and each effort you make to subdue your own nature or to help some other soul is a step towards the consciousness you seek. To some souls this knowl- edge never comes on your physical plane, and you can imagine the joy of the soul who suddenly finds himself INSIGHT 219 in possession of the Christ when his spiritual eyes open in the spiritual world." Does not the second advent mean the spiritual com- ing of Christ to the individual soul? "Yes; it means that, but its highest meaning is his coming into hu- manity as a united and redeemed whole." Is it true that a diseased body is always caused by a diseased soul? "Not always of that particular soul, but all disease as well as all sin is the result of spiritual wants in the universe in which each member suffers for the other." How can we accept it as God's will when we see those we love suffering physical pain? "You must accept it not as God's will but as the result of a broken law. Man is one, as the members of your body are one, and you know that pain even in the least of your members is enough, to disturb the peace of the whole system." Will you be able to be in communication with Tran- quility and your other friends when you have gone to your new work? "I may be, though I am not yet in- formed of what my state will be, but I feel that my work could not be well done anywhere, were I cut off from what makes so much of my life here." That is just what we feel at being cut off from you? "Therefore there may be communion between us, for shall we not still be one in Christ? That will form, I am sure, my bond of connection between those I leave here, and I do not see why it may not reach to you, if you grow constantly in that life. I do not think you will need to see with your outer eyes the words which it will be my happiness to send you, for as your spirit grows it will not need this manifestation which now is 220 INSIGHT necessary to convince you. If many perfected spirits are to work for millions of years to prepare a home for our physical bodies, do you not see that as the spirit is greater than matter, so its growth must be slower? Therefore, be patient and faithful, and trust, even if you can see no result in your present life; the seed is there, and heaven itself with all its powers cannot up- root it." What are the legitimate means we may use to allevi- ate the suffering of one we love? "Every means that the spiritualized reason of man can conceive of, God does not will suffering, and as his agents you must do all you can to help the coming of the time when there will be perfect accord between God's will and man's life on earth." Is not prayer a means we should use? "First that which is physical, obey the laws of your earthly bodies, and then prayer will mean something. There is not power in prayer until all commands are obeyed." Are there not some cases in which the individual has ignorantly broken laws? "Yes; but the breaker of law must pay the penalty. The sum of suffering is being diminished however, and more and more, as the night disappears, will peace and health and physical gladness be found among the sons of men, prayer always helps, but it cannot change the law if it has been broken so that it has brought organic changes in the human body." If Christ could cure organic disease eighteen hun- dred years ago, why can he not do so now? "He can, if the conditions are the same. Do you not read that in all cases where disease was cured, he was met by INSIGHT 221 the faith, which is lacking now in those who come sick and suffering to call out your sympathy and prayers. Find that faith, and you too can work the same changes." Must we pass through all the sequence of races be- fore we can attain spiritual enlightenment? "Not nec- essarily, for there have been souls out of all races who have received the Christ life." Have the more ignorant races, the Negroes for in- stance, attained this enlightenment through other faculties than those we use? "There are individual souls who have been sent into that phase of life purposely to teach that race, and prepare it for the coming into the enlightenment that only the Christ life can give." Were these souls themselves already possessed of the Christ life, and did they come back of their own accord? "Yes; often, and in some cases they became altogether possessed of the knowledge that forms part of that life then. Growth in the spirit would progress better on that plane than on another more favored." Then why have we had to pass through the progres- sion of races before coming to spiritual enlightenment? "Races like individuals have their life and progress, and it has been necessary that some should precede others. Why, I do not know, but that seems to be the law in all things." Do you still love some persons better than others? "Some are nearer to my soul, but I wish for all alike the good things that have been promised to those who do the Father's will. I am sure that in the very end there will be some nearer and dearer to each soul for everywhere in God's universe, where I have been per- 222 INSIGHT mitted to go, I see that such a law is working its beauti- ful fulfilment." Can you give us any idea in our time how long it will be before you go? "It will be but a very few days, and I want you to come to me when you will, for I wish to leave no desire of our dear circle ungratifled." We cannot help feeling badly at your leaving us. "But I shall take you with me, and perhaps the work I am to do may have some meaning for us all when we meet in that new world which is to grow worthy of our coming. We shall all be together again in your present abode, and God is so good to those who love Him with understanding, that it may be given us to be together." Do our friends in the spiritual world know of your going away ? "Yes ; their angels know of it, and the mother has conveyed the knowledge to those she loves to succor and instruct, and many are here now from the lower heaven to wish me Godspeed in my new work." Has father ever come to you in your heaven? "No; but he can come to me if he so wills for his state is really a heavenly one, and his true home is in one of the spheres of the heaven that can hold communion with this." Is grandmother present with us tonight ? "Yes ; she is here." Is all well with Isabel? "All is most beautiful, she has already made her own circle, and many are at- tracted by her sympathy and kindliness, and she too is growing toward the higher state which will bring her again into her father's sphere." Is she not always with father? "No; he has left the sphere where he was doing his work, for another in the INSIGHT 223 spiritual world. There are more divisions than with you, and he has gone where his growth led him." We shall never forget your teachings when "Insight" has left us, and these communications have ceased. "Do not, for we shall not be separated in any way ; the faces that are turned heavenward, as yours are, cannot be far from us, and you must feel that the cord is un- broken between us. Love is the only material of which that cord can be formed, which is lasting and secure. It is the band which surrounds the universe and both ends are in our Father's hands." Now it is late, and we must say good-night. "Yes ; you must not make yourselves weary even to be with us, for though it is not the body that comes, yet the spirit and the body on your plane are so closely connected that the higher must give place sometimes to the lower, and so, with the blessing of our beloved teacher which 1 give you from his lips, we will part." COMMUNICATION XXX. INSIGHT: "I was hoping you would come, for I go from you very soon." How soon do you go? "I cannot be reached by you much longer, not more than two of your days." Would it be possible for you to give us any idea of how you go to your new abode? "I go by means of a spiritual force, which is a motive power in our sphere, as you have many on your plane. I cannot describe it to you better than to say I shall make a conscious journey through what you would call space, but which to me will seem like difference of state." %M INSIGHT Does not the thought of this journey make you feel very solemn? "No; I feel very joyous and happy. I am much favored, and it is in answer to a great desire." Do not those about you feel sad? "Here we share each others happiness without any thought of self and my dear ones are as pleased at my success in obtaining this opportunity for knowledge as if their own desires were being gratified." Is it very far in space where you are going? "It is, for I am taught I am to prepare for many changes." Will you tell me once more before we part something about your first coming to us? "My guardian and guide first advised me that you were in a state of prep- aration to receive what I had to give, but she had her instructions from a higher power, and as I told you before, there were many influences at work which made these communications possible. I think my first teach- ings have been communicated to you, and I am sure there is nothing now I can add to the many truths I have given to help you nearer to> the Christ, for I can only water the seed, you must do your part of the work, and the greatest of all must be done by Christ himself, who is only waiting for you to open the door at which he stands and knocks. As I find your minds ready to receive, I have given you knowledge regarding God's creative work, but that was not the most important ; His redemptive work is the real thing I came to teach, and that is what I hope you have begun to understand." We have lately been reading a book which contains many of the same ideas we have received from you ; did you teach the author? "I have taught him, or he has obtained knowledge in a similar way from some one of INSIGHT 225 our society; those who come to seek knowledge, even with you now, do not know me by the name you use, but by some that answers to their particular need and state. I mean that those who are now with us at this moment do not know me as you do. I teach many without the intervention of written words, but each who comes must be taught by some form, for on your plane, form is necessary, with some it is imagery, with others it is open vision, with others the ear is spiritualised, and they hear in their inner sense the meaning that comes to you by your sight." Will there be no possible means of our holding this communion after you are gone? "Yes; you shall each have what you desire, for I have so arranged that not one shall be left without a guide. Wait and see what will come to you and in the end each will find if he is faithful that he has not been forgotten." Would it be well for us ever again to sit together in this circle? "I should not advise it, for there are, as you have experienced, many who would attempt to mis- lead and deceive you, but you shall each be satisfied. Live the life, follow the way, and whatever comes to you, the end will be filled with joy and satisfaction." Was I not conscious of being with you last night? "Your angels are constantly with me for they repre- sent your best aspirations, and you may have had a con- sciousness of being with me." Are all guardian angels, even those of the wicked, in your heaven? "No; they are always in the heaven which represents the highest possibilities of their charge. You could so govern the spiritual life, that 226 INSIGHT your angel would ascend far above where he now stands." Does your present place now represent our highest possibilities? "Yes." Does your guardian angel accompany you in your present undertaking? "Yes; she will accompany me, as my influence, and the connecting link between me and the Divine." The more one progresses, the higher the angel goes : is this so? "No, the angel has his own place. I am speaking of him as a representative. All the Angels of our race are beings of the spiritual sun, where their real home is, but as our representative and link, they are in the heaven to which each soul belongs." What relation do they hold to the Christ? "The same that we do, for that is the manifestation which has come to all the redeemed sons of God." Did you give us to understand that the guardian angel was relieved from his charge when the soul left this world? "No; that is not the case, until the soul reaches its highest heaven. At the end of each round of growth, there is a long period of rest and reward in which both the soul and the angel share. It may have been of that I spoke. I could not have given you to understand what is not true about so important a sub- ject, and upon which you have asked so much." Does knowledge of Divine truth possess the power to cure disease in the body? "It will in the end, but now there is too much sin in your world, for that power to act, as it is the will of the Father it shall, when man has reached a higher plane. Each time the race accepts a new truth, it builds with that acceptance a more beau- INSIGHT 227 tiful house for itself, and when truth is more diffused, all sickness and suffering will disappear from your earth." Even now in individual cases where truth is accepted will it not tend to eradicate disease? "Yes ; in many in- stances, but as I have explained, the laws of physical life must first be learned, accepted and lived, before man can raise himself even in individual cases into per- fect health." How is man to learn these laws? "Man knows now more than he lives up to, and learns it by experience which is only another word for living ; all truth must be lived before it can be called known." Can you tell us whether our spiritual growth has kept pace with our intellectual growth? "You have made great advancement, not yet however to accord with your intellectual understanding of what has been given you; most of these teachings have been recalled, for you have all known them, and if you live them, the recollection will grow clearer and brighter. I have every hope you will do so for I see that all are in earnest." Are all souls the same age? "All on your plane of development, not all on your earth, for the age of souls is measured by their growth." Can you command the forces of the spiritual world? "Not command them individually, but I can call to my assistance for any good purpose, many aids." Would it not be possible to enable us to see you be- fore you go away? "If that would lead to any good, it might be accomplished, for there are many ways by which I might come to you, but the one I prefer is to 228 INSIGHT come to your inner vision, and you shall yet have a con- scious recognition of what I am 1 to you." Can you not come by some of the processes known to modern spiritualists? "I should be sorry to come to you on your plane, I wish to be apparent to you on my own. Think of this' desire often when in your quiet moments and your wish may be realized." May we all hope for this ? "Yes ; all may see me if they choose to give themselves to that desire." I hope there is nothing wrong in our wish to see you? "The wish is natural, even here we long for a vision of those who have been instrumental in our rising to higher things. Do not fear in these, our last moments, to ask or make known any wish of your hearts." Oh, Insight, I wish to attain the power of healing, how can I do so? "Grow in the Christ life, in it is the germ of all health, find faith in the soul that occupies some sick body and those two elements meeting can con- quer all disease." Onward's desire is that you should make yourself visible to Reflection ? "That vision I have promised, if the desire is earnest and protracted." Courage will not express a wish, her desire is to be able to do her duty to the end. "As thy day, so shall thy strength be, dear Courage." Solicitude wants to know how to attain true courage? "By beginning with little things ; no great results come all at once. Do you not see the change which I can perceive since you first came as Expectancy, with no formed ideas of what you wanted?" Insight, have you nothing to say to Endurance? "What shall I say to the one who has so helped me in INSIGHT 229 my loving task, except that I find her worthy for her high work, and that with her own eyes, both in your world and in all worlds, she shall rejoice in the success of my labors." What Reflection desires is to have that door you spoke of opened? "That is your work; do you not feel in your best moments that the Christ is knocking at that door? Open it to the divine influence, and he will come in and dwell with you forever, and to do this is no great or difficult task — keep the commandments, love the brother, and all is done." How can we increase the capacity for loving? "In the sacred and close relations of life which have been ordained for the very purpose of showing what love is. Begin by little, and little, as in all things, and you will find it less and less of a task as you grow in the good way." Are souls in the spiritual world more conscious of their relation to their guardian angels than we can be? "Yes ; they are ; for in their best moments they can be sensible of their immediate and personal presence. There are many, many spheres or states in the spiritual world from the lowest man, who comes into it reeking with sin, to the angelic soul, who remains there to help and to teach those whom she desires to assist." Will you tell us where souls get their garments they wear? "The garments are representations of their spiritual condition, and are given them by the Christ. They represent their state toward him and are changed with that state, being sometimes less, sometimes more beautiful, but always fitting the occasion they repre- sent." INSIGHT What is the form of your garments? "They bear the same relation to our spiritual bodies that yours do to your physical ones, and as you in honor of some friend or some superior clothe yourself in garments of state, so do we appear in clothes of many shapes, and many textures, and which are as varying and as infinite as our states are many." What kind of clothes do the wicked wear? "Their clothes appear as soiled and filthy rags." Are the colors of the garments worn by the good var- ious ? "Yes ; color here is a symbol of state, and no earthly eye could bear the radiance of the clothes of those who are in close communion with our spiritual Sun, for they reflect his rays and therefore partake of his ineffable beauty." Will not the wicked ultimately come out of their state? "They will, but we have never spoken of the wicked ; their state is quite unlike any I have told you of, they go into it of their own accord and are looked after by high and holy spirits, who can enter even the hells without leaving the heavenly atmosphere they carry with them." Is not every one obliged to be sinful ; is it not the circle of necessity? "As I have taught you, good, to be worth anything, must be chosen, and that cannot be till you have tried both, and seen which way is most in accord with your nature. Even the very wicked on your earth have in them the small seed of good, and it is so cared for and tended in the spiritual world, that many who would seem to you hopeless in their earth life leave much that occasions their wickedness with their bodies and here grow into good and holy souls." INSIGHT 231 Is it true there can be such a thing as hell? "There can be, but it is always of the soul's own making. You can find hell in your own nature, and it is everywhere, in your world and in these worlds ; there are places where none but the wicked congregate, as there are with you." Is it desirable that souls should return here after death and seek help from 1 those who are able to com- municate with them? "No; it is not in accordance with God's will that any should seek help from your sphere, but some do it, and to some good souls with you, the power is given, as I told you, to assist such to go to their right place, where a more efficient help is always waiting to lead them back to light and truth. The proper place for such souls is in the spiritual world, but God never leaves his children without guides, and they are allowed to be cared for on your earth, but the greater number of such souls are only seeking sensual delights, by entering and using the bodies of those to whom they profess to come for health and comfort." Is there any special meaning in color? "Yes; colors have their spiritual meanings, but this varies according to the position they occupy, and I cannot now go into such a subject with you." Has every soul its own Aura? "To spiritual eyes there is an atmosphere around each spirit in which it lives, and through which it seems to reflect its state. This atmosphere is capable of many and beautiful changes, and all the colors are visible, sometimes in these seeming clouds of light." Does the same thing exist about the body? "Yes; there is also an emanation from each human body which INSIGHT is as distinct as his person, and the lower orders of creation perceive this, and know you by what appeals to their instincts." Has Penetration been with us this evening? "No; I cannot see her at present. She has been with us often, but now I do not perceive the beautiful angel who rep- resents her earnest soul." As this is our last meeting, will you not give me a message for her? "She is not in need of any word from me, for she has a light of her own by which she keeps in the straight way, and that light is also a guide and a help to many an eager longing soul, and all I can say to her is, God speed you in your good work, and make many like you to bear the blessing of His love to those who have few to comfort them." Shall we continue to pray for you after these lessons have closed? "Yes ; have me always in your hearts, and let my name be on your lips when you come into the presence of our Father, for He is to me, as to you, the source and end of all that I am or can be to all eternity." May we come to you again before you go? "Not again." May we not still consider you our teacher? "I have given you many things, but there is nothing I have taught you so important as the old truth which you knew before you knew me, that there are but two com- mandments, the one to love God and the second to love the brother. Were I to hold these communications for- ever, there is nothing more I can add to these, for they hold the essence and soul of all that can be said." Will you give our loving and grateful thanks to all INSIGHT 233 those who form this chain? "Your advance towards them is the true meaning to them of what you say, and they are all as happy as you can be, for what has come has flowed through us from the one Source, and has blessed us, as it is blessing you. Do not let anything you have received remain with you, give in your turn, and the channel will be kept open, and we shall still be one, as we have been for so long." Will you not still continue to protect us from evil? "Our part will still be done, yours must not relax ; keep your interest fresh in what has been said between us, and no evil can come near you. You are now to seek within, for your guide, and in time you will find an in- sight which will be more to you than I have been, for your souls will be more open to the great and never ending knowledge that will flow into them." Have numbers any special significance? "Yes; they have, for what you call numbers are the base of the universe, numbers represent harmony, and the great spirit to whom was given the power to call our physical world into being used them as the hand of the Most High who holds forever within His grasp the real mean- ing of things." Are there any special numbers that have greater significance than others ? "They are not of use, for like many of the hidden things of God, their significance has been guessed at, but even in our heaven their real meaning is not known." Is Sanscrit a tongue more adapted to express spirit- ual truth than any other? "No; for the meaning of words is given by the spirit, and the form is not of so much significance." 234 INSIGHT It has been said that a knowledge of Hebrew was a key to the Scriptures? "The Scriptures were written first in that language, and in order to arrive at the lower meaning, a knowledge of it is necessary, but the spirit of a good man can see more than any root or word can say to him, for the conveyance of spiritual truth a look is sometimes more efficacious than the words of any language." Is not the channel between us more open than usual tonight, the writing is so easy and fluent? "It seems so to me, and I see it does also to you, but I always feel that you understand me, for Endurance has the gift of putting my thoughts into pure and simple words." Are there many gathered together to listen to you tonight? "There are many here, for as with you they are not to come again. I give my last thoughts to those of my own household." Will you describe to us the place or state you are in at this moment? "I stand at the open door of my beau- tiful home, around me are your angels and all the good spirits who have come from many states to hear from your plane." Are we held responsible for evil acts committed in dreams? "All that man is held responsible for are those acts which are the result of an intelligent choos- ing of the wrong in place of the right." Can we control dreams? "Yes ; man can possess him- self at all times, but in sleep sometimes bad influences are brought to you by those in your neighborhood, and you suffer for the brother's sin." We shall now have to say Good-bye. We shall pray INSIGHT 235 for you always, "Insight," and shall try to teach others what you have taught us. "That is the right spirit in which to part. I go to do my work, you go to do yours. We are alike in the Father's hands, and being His children nothing can readily separate us, for He is everywhere and we are as one family with the same interests, and the same loves. Let us each do well his part, and the blessed end will come all the sooner, and our partings will be over, forever and forever." The End of Part First. INSIGHT 237 PART SECOND. After Insight had taken leave of us, and his teaching ceased, it seemed as if a great Light had gone out. Endurance and Discernment mere separated by oceans and continents, the one in California, and the other in Europe; but a year later they were together again, and the following communications were received. COMMUNICATION' XXXI. Present: Endurance and Discernment. "Come without fear. I am the minister of Tran- quility. I am called for this service, 'Trust,' and I am to take you where you would be." Is it possible for us to see Tranquility? "You are here at the door of her house, and I, 'Tranquility,' hold you by the hand, and bid you welcome ; I received notice that you would come, and I am to answer what you desire to know ; at this time you need me, and that need, makes me your willing and happy servant ; ask, and it shall be given, to the fullest extent of my powers." Do you ever hold any communication with Insight now? "In a spiritual way as you are with me." 238 INSIGHT Do you not sometimes long to have him back with you? "The Father's will is my will." Does not the human heart always instinctively long for those it loves ? "Not when you learn the lesson that is learned here, that there is no 'there.' " Is it probable that Insight still thinks of us? "Yes, or he would not be 'Insight.' The band of love, of which he told us, holds you all still, and we of the Un- derstanding should never doubt." I do not doubt as I used before Insight taught us so many things ! "I see you do not, formerly, I could not have sent Trust to bring you, as I now can. The reason the light is not always present, is owing to many things ; with you, Discernment, it is because your lot is, to live, not in your own darkness, but in the darkness of those whom you are bringing with you, and whom the Father has committed to your keeping." I would stay there forever for their sakes ! "Yes, but that is not necessary, only a little while will be enough; without this you could come into a most per- fect light, but wait with patience, and we shall all re- joice together. You, and your loved ones, and more, than even we, who see with a clearer vision, can have any idea of ; never fear. Trust, and Trust will always bring you to Tranquility." How does Endurance get into the place she des- cribes, and where is it? "She goes into her own spirit- ual light, where what she desires, becomes visible to her, and she sees you, because you are more really there, than you are to her natural eyes." Why am I not conscious of being there with Endur- ance? "You have the consciousness, but cannot see it, INSIGHT 239 as you might wear the purest white garment, which would be invisible to you in material darkness." There must be two of me ! "Two of you ? There is a countless multitude of you — you are each of your brothers, you are in yourself all humanity but God Himself did not choose to make all things in one day, can we not wait in humble reverent obedience, and fol- low His example." But we are so ignorant, and we do not want to make irremediable mistakes ! "You will be kept from all such — even the lowest and least advanced of our brothers, cannot make mistakes for which there is not a sure and certain remedy; with them it is still the evening, the day has not yet begun, but our Father's own hand has separated the darkness from the light, and all are sure to come into the perfect day." You do not know what Insight's teachings have been to us ! "I do know, for am I not one of his disciples also." I have founded my church on his teaching! "Found not on any other man's foundation, get down to your own, you have one as sure and steadfast as any of your Father's children." This is the teaching of the old mystics ! "It is more, it is the teaching of the divine in man." Do you see Courage? "All the time; there is no sad- ness on that grand face, for her angel is a son of the most high, and is one who will make valiant fight in many worlds, in the great battle that is to be waged for that kingdom, to which our band belongs. I see what will be accomplished in the near future, not as you count days, but in the future of our race, and that 240 INSIGHT soldier will be a leader, who will bring many into the King's house." Is the angel of "Aspiration" also with us? "Yes; he is often with us, but he has not yet arrived at the state I represent for his charge is still striving, and the soul of such as she, must touch life at every point, but she is very happy, and for her, work is better than tranquility. To make up the perfect whole, we each represent some attribute of the great Creator, and she, and I, though on the same plane of the understanding, are working toward the same centre, from different starting points." Will you explain what you mean by a starting point? "Think of a vast circle, from every point of which, God sends a soul, travelling towards the centre which is Himself, and you will see how some are nearer than others." Why did God send his children out to the circum- ference of this circle? "God thought, and the centre widened into the circle, — why, no soul shall know, till it again reaches its starting point, and is one with God. Love, love, love must be the why — " Is humanity now going to, or from this centre? "Most of our race is on its return, though there are still some souls who hover on the edge, and all the dark- ness comes from the outer worlds, but we must wait for the brother, as we would leave the light of home and go out into the darkness, for a little child, who cried for our help and the comfort and warmth of our human love ; so do not want always to be in the light, love better thy brother's darkness, than thine own light, and thy light will shine all the brighter when the INSIGHT 241 brother's lamp which he illumines from yours, is added to it. Do you not see that even in the earthly lights which are a shadow of the spiritual, you cannot take from a lamp what you give to another, therefore do the Master's work and let your light shine." When you speak of the Master and Christ, do you mean Jesus ? "I mean the Christ that came to our race, and was incarnated in the body of Jesus, and what I see with my spiritual vision is the spiritual body with which he comes to all eager waiting souls." Then you see no higher manifestation of God than Christ ? "None ; we know not what shall be, but this is too dazzling for mortal vision. He represents only what is possible for our race to attain where it now is — " Can you see much more clearly than we, what hu- manity all means? "Not much. I can see more than I could when on your plane, but only Christ can see it all ; having attained all, he contains all ; and therefore knows all ; our duty now is to look to him as our model, and when the higher things are possible, more light will come; even his exaltation, was only possible by his willingness to go again to the outer circle, and we must be willing to do the same, for every brother must come with us, salvation was not offered to the individual, but to the race. Would a man be happy to live in a palace, without the members of his body, even the feet and the hands must go with him, or he prefers to live in a hovel, and have his body entire." Will you answer my mental question? "Yes, part of humanity represent the imagination of the natural man, but your day dreams, in which you see unutterable things must be followed by a return to the common 242 INSIGHT things of life and so with us, we go for a moment into a great city of life and love, but we return again, for many that we love we left behind, and we cannot live without them." Do you ever think of returning to live in a body again ? "I think of it, as a young person with you, does of death. I know it must come, but I do not think of it, as a personal thing, because it is not my nature to trouble myself about what is God's law, I leave it all in His hands." Would it be possible for you to send Insight our grateful love? "You can send it yourselves, he is not out of the spiritual atmosphere, by which good souls send their thoughts and their love and their prayers ; each soul makes its own atmosphere, and yours is of the same substance, as those much nearer the centre, for you love, and that is all." Is Succor with you ? "Yes ; she is with us always now, for her work which she elected to do, on the lower planes of the spiritual world is finished. She is here with us, and she says to your angels, who bow before the great love that shines in her face, all shall be well with those whom we all love." Succor, do you still see those whom we love, in the spiritual world? "I know of all my children, not as I once did, by personal contact, but in a better and surer way, by the pressure of the band that is in our Father's hand, and which I feel is drawing us closer together." Do you see the angel of Devotion? "Yes ; she is also with us ; and her angel's face is full of what her name signifies ; and there is nothing higher in all our band than this signification denotes, for willing service, prompted by love, is as near the divine as we can come." INSIGHT 243 Devotion has grown more than any of us under In- sight's teaching! "She did' not have as far to go, my child, to become as a little one, willing to learn — this is from Succor." May we soon come to you again, Tranquility? "If any of your circle has a real difficulty I shall always be ready and willing to do what I can, but each must work out his own salvation ; and do not learn to depend on me, or any one. You needed me now, and so you found me, but it will not be often so, and if you come without a great need, Trust will not be ready to take you by the hand, and you may stumble by the way." Now we must say, Good-bye, and God bless you. "That is the best you can say ; and I am told, that it is the salutation of those nearest the centre, and so, God bless you and keep you, and give his Angels charge concerning you. COMMUNICATION XXXII. "We, Tranquility and Succor, welcome you with glad- ness, you have come on the wave of love, that sweeps over your earth and reaches to our shore. I mean the feeling of universal good fellowship which comes, from the idea of the Christ born into our race." Do you keep Christmas day as an anniversary ? "Not as you think; we keep all days, as you keep this, for with us, the Christ life is uppermost; I see what you have in your thought, it is sl different day with us, but it is made so by you, for we feel the wave of love, and it is always known and recognized by us." Does Christ ever appear to you, in the form? "Yes ; 244 INSIGHT what would seem form to you, and which is so, also to our spiritual vision." Since many good people have not believed in Jesus Christ, why is it said to be absolutely necessary to do so? "Because it is in the flesh, that the divine seed must grow ; and belief means that growth ; many believe not having seen; and on such the Master pronounced a special blessing." How is it about the Jews? "They do accept him in a spiritual way, and it is not necessary for them to believe in the man Jesus, if they have the growth of the divine Christ in their souls. The letter deceives, so al- ways strive to reach the spirit, that will never allow you to suppose any man is outside of the Father's love and blessing." When we leave this world do we take our evil ten- dencies with us? "You leave in each world, what be- longs to it; in the world of matter, you leave matter, in the next world, you leave your evil tendencies, and all that the flesh has generated in your earth life. * * * * Each world has form, according to its kind, and your thoughts and desires, build homes as lasting as your hands, and they remain to show what manner of man you were. Discernment sees what I mean, and you no more take the identical bodies you leave, in the spiritual world, than you do the identical particles of matter you leave, in the material world, when the time comes for you to take on an objective existence again." Does growth take place, as well in the spiritual world, as in objective life? "All goes to make up the whole being, but it is in the objective life, that most of the work is done." INSIGHT 245 Is not the spirituality acquired during subjective life added to the soul, when it comes to earth again? "It is not added, it has become a part of her ; the soul in descending onto your earth, takes the same road, by which it ascended, this is the law, for there is but one way, and that is the only pathway from where we now are, to your earth." Does the true ego, after it goes into the higher heaven, ever come in contact with its lower principles again? "No more than it does with the matter that forms your earthly bodies." Where have those lower tendencies been all that time? "They have been used over and over again, as matter has been on your plane, and the soul to re-incarnate takes what belongs to it, by the same law that it finds its true place when it reaches your earth; 4 no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself,' all be- long to humanity, and thus the necessity for leaving in that world as clean a record as possible, for you will be obliged to take of the general fund, and you can help to make it good, or evil as you choose." Do we not take on a new body immediately after leav- ing this world? "You are sometimes a long time, in the process of unclothing, and the new body is the one that underlies all, of which we have been speaking; and which to the one newly born, seems like a new body for it has been concealed from his earthly vision. Do you not see that the child just born into your world comes with a body that till that moment was concealed by other bodies?" Do you know what we mean when we speak of the 'Akasa'? "I do not see clearly, unless you mean the 246 INSIGHT ocean of love, in which we all move and have our being." Does this "ocean of love," correspond to the atmos- phere in which we breathe? "Your thought seems too material, it is the love of God Himself and we cannot know of what it is formed, until we ourselves are nearer the divine source, it is the atmosphere in which all crea- tion exists, and here, we breathe it without the exhala- tions of earth, and untainted by any effort to make an atmosphere for ourselves. It is the medium in which everything, from the lowest form of matter to the prayer of the highest archangel reaches God." Is it not possible for us also to breathe that atmos- phere? "You breathe it if you so will, but on earth each soul prefers his will to God's will, and tries to live in an atmosphere of his own making, and as in a crowded room each one pollutes the air, so on your plane, you breathe your brother's atmosphere, and not till all men are in accord can your atmosphere be pure as we have it here." Is it true that everything acts through this medium by means of vibration? "Yes, all the activities which you call nature's laws, and which we call God's love, find their means of action in this ocean of love ; you may call it by any name you choose, but always remember it is the pulsation of the great heart of God." Is the angel of Seeker with us? "Yes; she always comes into your circle for she never leaves yow *Dis- cernment,' and as long as she keeps by you, all is well with her charge, who is yet too much absorbed with his earthly life to come alone into our sphere." To what society does he belong? "Seeker* s place in the Perfect Man, is one that directs the understand- INSIGHT 247 ing — Intuition would be the name you would give the quality." Seeker wishes to know whether his angel is satisfied with him? "Sometimes; your best self should be always happy, but a diamond cannot shine in the dark, and you on your plane have the power to shut out the light from this high spirit, for he lives in your atmosphere. Renunciation is what Seeker must learn." Must we not all learn that? "Yes, but the renuncia- tion of which I speak is different for each one of you ; what is a temptation for one, is none for another." When we die, can we not demand to be taken to you, as we do on these occasions? "You can make that demand as a beggar might ask to be taken to a King, but here, where all things are seen in their true pro- portions, you will not make such a demand, for you will seek what you really want. And then too, you must come alone, as you must be born alone into your world — no one can help you — " I thought you told us we were met by loving souls who cared for us ? "At first you are, but you must re- member the process of being born is not instantaneous, but many states must be gone through, and if in the end you desire to be where we are, you will come without a guide, for you will enter into your own kingdom, and not come as a visitor, as you do now. If any one of you represents in himself what you do collectively, you will come to us at once, as soon as the new birth takes place." Can you tell us anything of the race behind our sun ? "It is one perfected race grown and perfected in an- other system than ours — they made this sun, from 248 INSIGHT which we have all come, as we shall make another, when the last brother is brought into the light, and all can unite in hymning one song of praise to the God in whose love we live, and shall live countless ages, after our perfection takes place." Is our material sun the counterpart of the spiritual Sun behind it? "Yes, it is the body of which the soul or spirit is the perfected race. It has no more power of itself, than any other mere matter, but the love that is reflected through it, by its soul, makes it the material fountain of all light and life for many planets. All the universe is formed in the same way; and thought loses itself in trying to grasp the idea of the great cen- tral sun, from which all these others take their life and light. We are told that even behind the great central sun lies the Spirit from which its light proceeds, and the highest creations only behold and know of this body, for the real essence can never be known till all shall be fulfilled." Can you tell us anything of "Insight?" "Only that he tells me he is working to further this great plan, and he holds himself most blessed in this work, and that his nature is not changed, he loves us, and cares for us as he has always done, and that he, and we, and you, are still one." COMMUNICATION XXXIII. Present: Endurance and Discernment. "Be calm, I am Trust, and I will take you to Tran- quility." INSIGHT 249 "I, Tranquility, have been waiting and expecting you, do you not begin to feel my atmosphere?" If we could go into your sphere, should we be able to see you in the form ? "Yes ; there is nothing that shuts us out from each other but state, for place does not exist in the sense you give it, between spirits on the same plane." The reason we desire to see you, is for the sake of the inspiration it would be to us ? "It would not act in that way; as looking at your physical sun obscures your earthly vision, so, seeing into a spiritual light, would blind you to your duties on earth." Why is it not legitimate for us to seek to gain knowledge about the spiritual world? "That knowl- edge is not of the value you suppose for each soul must grow by itself, and in the soil of its proper place ; some of the things that have been seen and heard in the spir- itual worlds, have been falsely reported, and there is much ignorance among men regarding them." Do you suppose that "Insight" ever thinks of us personally? "He does without doubt." Can we attract him to us by thinking intensely of him? "An intense thought towards the highest would best create that union ; when you are doing your work from the highest motives, you come nearest to him, your work is just as important as his, and that will add dignity to it in your mind, if you will always think of it as a part of God's plan." Is it always right for us to try to heal physical suf- fering through spiritual law? "Yes; that is always well, for you must know that physical suffering is against God's law, and that if your powers can heal you 250 INSIGHT are working in accordance with His divine purpose." Why should God wait for us to ask, before he heals? "God works by law, and you do not put yourself in his place. You only lessen the evil on your earth, by your love and sympathy for the brother, and by so doing lift the cloud that man's ignorance has thrown up be- tween himself, and the sun that is always shining, and always ready to illumine. Your desire to heal is a prayer, but you must not be discouraged if you do not always see the results of your well doing. You can let in the sun-light, and though it may not fall just where you expect and desire, it falls somewhere, and some brother feels its benign influence." Are there many persons living today who have been re-born ? "Yes ; many, but do not confuse growth with rebirth. You call a child born when it comes into your world, but you know it will be many days before he is conscious of it, and many years before he can begin to make use of that consciousness ; for growth must take place before manhood is attained." How can we hasten illumination? "How can you hasten the consciousness of your infant? You cannot; according to the law of its being, it must grow little by little, day by day, and so with spiritual growth, it must follow the same law, and to try to hasten, is only to retard. As with your little child, you follow what you know regarding food, and the surroundings you have learned are necessary for its wellbeing, so in your spiritual growth, follow what you know of the Christ life and day by day take of that exhaustless fountain of love, and you will grow as the child grows, without thought, and without knowledge of how it is done. Go INSIGHT 251 down into the depths of your brothers' life, there you will find your best nourishment ; it is as good air to the physical life; try it more and more and all will be as you desire. I see a good thought in the mind of En- durance about the community of life — as you have been told, no man liveth to himself, so do not shut yourself out from those about you, true progress was never made in that way." Do you know what an impulse seems to be drawing people together at this time? "Yes ; because till that took place on your plane, you could not have reached me as you do now; the first impulse came from God, through the spiritual worlds to man, and now it is be- ginning to return; as you can form currents of mate- rial things on your earth as of water and electricity, which make their circuit by the same great law." And the greater the number of souls the stronger the current I suppose? "Without doubt, the size of the channel with you determines the quantity ; with spirit- ual things, coming from God the fountain is inex- haustible, and the large number of souls makes the flow the more apparent. You are the receptacle into which the divine flows, the will of man is the channel." "I have a word for Acceptance ; he must accept the least of God's children with all their ignorances, and all they bring with them. This is necessary before he can see into the higher things. See the light in the brother's eyes before you can hope to see the light in the Father's face; doing this will help him more than anything else. When we cannot discover the God that lies hidden in our brother's soul, the God within ourselves is hidden under our own misdoing. What we see in 252 INSIGHT others, we must see through the very attributes we ascribe to them, weakness sees weakness, strength sees strength, virtue and love see their own image, and when the God within us can look out with unclouded vision, he sees the God within the brother." Can you tell us what argument we could use, to prove the immortality of the soul to one who doubts it? "What can you say to a blind man of color; can you not perceive that it is a thing each one must see for himself! From my point of view I see only soul, and spirit, and I cannot tell you how to convince any man of this evident vision ; though one came from the dead, the unprepared could not be convinced." Does it prove an injury to any one not to have be- lieved in the immortality of the soul if he does the best he can in this life? "No one can live beyond his ca- pabilities, and nothing can really hurt our Father's children who do the best according to their development. Live your life before all men, and let them see that you live it from the motive of bringing it into accord with the Christ life ; that is your highest work and your mission. And now God be with you, as He will, for it is God living in you, and not yourself. Your doubts and your troubles brought you to me at this time, and I hope I have given you some of the great peace that fills my own soul." COMMUNICATION XXXIV. Present : Endurance and Discernment. "You are with me, for some time I have felt your desires. What can Tranquility give you?" INSIGHT 253 Is is wrong for us to continue to come to you for knowledge? "Not wrong, but not strong." It is because we are weak that we feel the need of your help? "You have often been told that as a man thinketh, so he is ; think, you are strong and you shall be able to remove all the mountains of your doubts as if they were nothing; the help which I can give you is little, for every man standeth or falleth to himself, as to his own inner growth I mean ; we on our side can make the conditions better, but it is only by our good influences, and though I am willing and happy to have you come to me, I can after all only give you a purer atmosphere in which to breathe. I cannot breathe for you." Would it better for our growth if we gave up coming to you? "I think perhaps it might." Shall we stop now and not try to write any more? "No, because as a little child learning to walk wishes to see and feel the mother's hand, so you, at this moment wish to lean on me, and how can I let you go?" Does not the love we feel for you make it right for us to seek you? "It helps me, and all of God's crea- tures — no love is lost, so love me, dear sisters and with my love meeting yours, we will try and surround some poor ones in need of love, and make them more equal to the path before them." We have a few questions to ask you today ? "Would I were 'Insight,' then I might really help you, but I will do the best I can." Does all prayer reach God directly, that is, does he hear it or does it have to be transmitted to Him through other channels ? "It reaches Him directly, if it is purely 254 INSIGHT spiritual, if mixed with material wants, there are those appointed to care for such needs, but in the end all things are given by Him no matter how they reach us," Is all earnest prayer answered? "Always in the spirit, though perhaps not in the letter." When one prays for light to see one's duty, in in- dividual cases, does one always receive it consciously? "If the prayer is really for light, light comes, but to the consciousness unprepared to receive it, it may seem as darkness, from being too dazzling for mortal vision, but you may always as really trust our Father as you would trust your dearest earthly friend." Can prayer help the spiritual condition of another soul? "Yes; that prayer is always answered, perhaps not immediately, for the soul is sometimes not ready; but it will always help, and that is the highest form of prayer, for it is most in accordance with the will of God, who desires the life and health of all his creatures." If a person dies full of bitterness and hatred towards one who has wronged him, what is his condition in the Spiritual world? "Sometimes all that hatred is left behind, if not, the soul must outgrow it, before it can make any progress, for hatred is a disease that always obstructs growth." Can we help such a soul, by praying for it, after it has left the earth? "Yes; prayer is not a thing of time or space, it is as pervasive as the love of God ; for it is part of that love; live in it yourselves, and if, by your sympathy and attraction you can draw your brother to your side, he also> can receive of its curative power." When Jesus told his disciples to go and heal the sick, INSIGHT 255 what means did he intend them to use? "He meant lit- erally what he said, all material and all spiritual dis- ease, and they received from him the power to put his words into action, but this power only came to them in proportion as they lived the Christ life, and in propor- tion as they were able to inspire others with their own faith." What system of thought did they use in their heal- ing? "They applied a system of life, but life includes thought, and thought was the immediate agency." Since they seem to have been specially fitted for their work we can never hope to do what they did? "Do not say that, for all that has been done is possible to you, and you must use your present attainment for what it is worth, for it is only by doing the little, well, that you become worthy to be stewards of the greater." Should we go out of our way to help others, or wait for our work to come to us ? "Do you know where your way begins or ends? In whatever path you find an- other wandering, there is your way ; never be inactive, that is death; work, and seek work, even if you have to descend as Jesus did into the 'hells' to find it; all ways are ours, for we are part of all." Is all disease caused by sin? "What you call dis- ease, is caused by the breaking of law, but it is not al- ways sin, because sin is the willingly and intelligently choosing evil, instead of good, and our race is not yet ready to do that." Have some persons power to cure all kinds of disease through the mind? "This will come, man must learn to use this power which has always existed and is now visible to a few advanced souls." 256 INSIGHT Already some individuals have performed wonderful cures ? "Yes ; but you were speaking of disease at large, and of humanity as a whole. There are always two elements necessary in this process, one in the healer and the other in the one diseased, and where these meet the disease vanishes." The gift of healing given to the disciples, was a special gift suddenly bestowed, was it not? "Yes, but why were they chosen from out all that were in Judea? Was it not because they too like Jesus, were ready, by their growth in former lives for this new and divine life — Jesus by the power the Christ life gave him, per- ceived in them, and they in a lesser degree saw in him, what had until then been unknown in its fulness to our race though others had often caught the same divine spark, and lit from it a fresh fire that still burns in the hearts of millions of men." We are all interested in studying the theory of heal- ing. "Yes ; and like everything else, it can only be learned in the doing; all the study and theory in the world is worth less than one act of real giving. Un- selfish sympathy is the great power that is now neces- sary to open up a new era in the history of our race, and Penetration and Renunciation and you, my sisters, are all aware of this great truth, and with a great band of workers of whom you know not, you are daily draw- ing closer and closer the bond that is to bring all men toward a recognition of the universal brotherhood. Some whom you least suspect are doing this great work, so take heed not to despise even the least of our Father's children, however useless or childish his work may seem in your eyes." INSIGHT %0 i Are there other teachers like "Insight" among you? "Yes ; there are more than you can conceive of, for each has his helper and all the myriads of mankind on this side, have also their guides and teachers ; we have those who come to us from the higher heaven and better than all we have the power to see the faces of the guardian angels in many spheres, and even to look into their faces, is an inspiration and a help to higher life. These are the great multitude who have come up out of the same sorrows and tribulations as those of our own race, and can teach us just what we need to know; listen to the counsel which speaks to you from your inner self, and the true heavenly wisdom will be given to your knowledge." We are always listening but we are not sure we hear. "Yes ; you hear and you obey ; do not be discouraged, each discouragement is but an indication that you have made a step upward, and you must not expect to be satisfied for every step forward enlarges your prospect, and gives you a higher conception and a greater desire for good." We long to hear the voice of the Master when he stands at the door and knocks ! "The door is already open in your soul, and your very discontent is caused by the feeling of your own unworthiness to receive Him; one's self can do nothing, open the door and the Christ will do the rest ; be humble, and do not want to be hostess to so great a guest. If a king came to your home and brought his own attendants, should you want to force on him your own incomplete service? One must be empty, before one can be filled anew with the divine life, this is the hardest lesson to be learned ; go and do 258 INSIGHT the works of the Christ life and when your day is done, and you return to yourself, for rest and comfort, you will find that home made beautiful without your help and you can sit for a little space perhaps and enter into the joy of your Lord." Will you not pray for all those we love, and are try- ing to help ? "Yes ; I will with my whole heart, for while all are dear to me, those whom you love are especially so, through your love for them and for us, who have been given the privilege of sharing in your teaching and watching your growth. You will I am sure all grow in the true knowledge, and that will be my greatest reward for the little I have been able to help you. Your own feet must tread the path, but if my hand can guide you, it is always willing and anxious to be of service." Now good-bye and peace be with you? "It is the atmosphere in which I live and the only one where Tranquility can be found. I am one of you, if that is your password, and I repeat peace be with you, and all whom you love or desire to serve." COMMUNICATION XXXV. Present : Endurance and Discernment. "You are welcome. I was expecting you for your need reached my consciousness — I am Tranquility." We have some questions to ask you today. "The most direct path, by which higher things may be reached, is always in work for the brother. I feel there is a place in your souls for new light, and that place must have been made by giving." INSIGHT 259 How can it be wise for us to teach others, when we do not know what truth is ? "You can only know what you have embodied in your life, and that teaches even when you know it not, but give to him who asks, is the com- mand of the Master; and what he said must be our guide." Will you not tell us of the Master? "He is the great central sun of our spiritual world, and from him we obtain all our life and light. Open your heart to him. He must be perceived through that, not through your intellect. You must know Christ, as you must know you have had sufficiency of earthly food, by the feeling of possession, but do not think you can acquire him once for all. Like food, he must be continuously re- ceived, and as we appropriate him, we hunger for more." I am always hungry. "No ; you are not always hungry, you have your moments of appropriation, and you must learn to recognize them, perhaps you confuse this, or what you suppose to be this spiritual hunger, with bodily sensation, it requires practice to distin- guish between them while on your plane, and remember, dear little sister, you are yet a 'babe in Christ.' You are both very dear to me, for I can see since I first knew you, how you have approached my state, which signi- fies how to suffer and be still." How can we thank you for all you are to us ? "Look through me to the one Source, and there we all can meet in loving adoration." How far do you think it is well for us to conform to the usages of society in our world? "A great teacher has said, 'be all things to all men,' and thereby bring 260 INSIGHT all men to Christ. All men are brothers, and there is no up, no down with those you would help on their own plane, and you will by doing so, bring them to yours." But how is it possible to teach worldly flippant people spiritual things ? "I see your thought ; are not the things such people are interested in like the playthings of a little child? Use them, if you can thereby gain their love and sympathy, and attract them to you, for as I have said before you are the eyes by which they must see." But suppose we should be drawn in to care for such things again? "You will not, you are too wise now for those things to attract you as they once did, and you need not fear; your angels are willing for they see you can no longer be tempted by mere shadows, having once tasted the substance. Always do each action for the love of the brother, put self aside, and you will be led. I cannot give you food for next week, it is our daily bread we are taught to pray for; be sure that even in your endeavors to live the highest life, you are not liv- ing for yourself, that must always be the test by which to measure your actions." Do you know how many people there are today com- ing into these same truths that you teach us? "The work of our society is for that purpose; and much of this very thing is the result of what the understanding has done to tear away the veil and let in the light." Is the secret society of which you said we form a part under the control of high spiritual beings? "It is not under the control, it is part of the highest spiritual power, and it works harmoniously with the highest at- tribute of God Himself." INSIGHT &61 Is this writing by Endurance inspirational? "Yes; it is — all she writes is latent in herself, and she is able to give it form by the help of us all, you, and many others who work with her, and help her. You must always bear in mind that Endurance is not alone, she is part of a whole, (as we all are,) and she only gives words to our ideas. Articulate speech is part of your bodily expression, but it is not all, though without it you could not convey your thoughts, nor put them into words, so in the society of the Understanding there are many to whom it has committed this part of its work, for each society of the perfect man, is a perfect man in itself." Do you mean to convey the idea that there are many who write as we do? "Not apparently in the same way, but wherever spiritual ideas are put into words, it is done by the part of the perfect man to which you be- long." Will you tell us something of the secret society you once alluded to? "It is secret, but the time has now come when the truth must be proclaimed on the house- tops ; and to us it is given to make all men aware of this hitherto great secret, that all may become Christs, and that all must become so, before the great end is ac- complished." Can you tell us any thing about language, and how it originated. Did mankind invent it? "All God's gifts are latent in his works ; man has only to evolve toward them. When man grew out of his animal soul, language was waiting for him and he has taken of the divine seed, and from it has grown many flowers, some beautiful, some destined to decay, for, as he grows, he will drop those that only relate to his lower nature, and 262 INSIGHT learn forever new words, by which to voice his clearer perception of the divine." Is this all you can tell us of the origin of language? "Yes, as I have just told you, the seed was in the human soul, and was God-given, and man had only to use what he found, as he has used all the seeds of the more mate- rial world, and by the using learned their powers and properties, and what they were meant to express." When we die, shall we have to learn to use the lan- guage of your world? "You already know it, for your soul has a language, as well as your body, and you often use it, in music or in poetry where the deepest things are conveyed by analogy. With us, we do not need many forms of expression that are necessary with you, for our thoughts are always harmonious. If you could hear our articulate speech, it would seem to you like the most beautiful and perfect music." May we ask to see Succor today? "She stands by my side, and is happy to be of use to those she holds so dear." Can she tell us whether she continues to see father and Aspiration? "They hold this same kind of com- munion with me, but I no longer go to them. I can bring their angels here and we will hold converse with them as I see you desire — they are here." Will you ask father if he is satisfied that I have car- ried out the wishes he expressed? "Yes; he knows and is happy that you are still willing to be led by him, for he believes that during his life with you on earth, his desire was always for your highest good, and he has not changed, and is glad you are willing to rec- ognize this love and care, which still binds him and his INSIGHT 2b3 children together. He is wiser my child 1 than you and you did well to be governed by him in this instance." Was Aspiration not disappointed that we could not see her again? "Not when she fully understood the danger it was, both to her, and to you ; she is growing every day in the wisdom of obedience and cannot suf- fer except when she does not conform to the laws that govern her new state." Can you tell us anything of the daughter of Mrs. C. ? "I will see. She is very happy in her present state, and is being led and cared for by those best suited to her needs. 'Penetration' should not grieve for what she could not prevent, even with her great love and knowl- edge — the soul of her child had finished its work for the time in the place she left on your earth, and her growth demanded a new sphere." Then it is not intended that everyone should live, as "Insight" said, a hundred years? "Not under the present conditions ; it will be different in the future, when mankind comes into knowledge, but now, to some souls, life, on your plane, is not needed, except for a very short interval, for they have the power of living through all the necessary emotions in a very few of your years. In regard to the soul of whom you speak, she died, as you call it, according to law, but how, or why, I cannot say. I have not the insight into these deep things our great teacher had." How do the sins one commits affect the higher self? "They drive it away. The higher self is the spiritual soul which you both are developing, and when you sin, that self is not affected by it, because before the sin can reach her, she has left the human soul. Whenever 264* INSIGHT you feel dissatisfied with your own acts, it is your high- er self that makes you so, and then you are most con- scious of her; no birth can take place without pangs, and in her effort to be born into your human soul, you feel the grossness of your own nature; but be happy when you thus suffer, for you shall some day have joy, that a man is born into the world." Do you know anything of "Insight"? "I know that he is supremely happy in his work, and I have com- munications from him, telling me of the great wonders in which he is permitted to take part. I should like to make you a sharer in these beautiful messages, but I do not know how to' convey them to you ; they deal with such great and secret things, I do not always under- stand them myself; but this I can tell you, he has spoken of you, as lov^d members of our society and says the work you are doing is as much a part of the great plan as any he is permitted to perform." Did not "Insight" tell us he had to pass through a period of infancy and childhood ? "Yes ; but in his stage of progression, one day is as a thousand years, and from what he tells us, he is already in full posses- sion of the faculties necessary for his work." What should we all have been without "Insight"? "Yes ; without insight we are nothing, what he repre- sents to you and me, is all we have to be thankful for; do not however give the thanks to the instrument but to the great Source, this you remember, is what he al- ways taught us." How does the angel of "Acceptance" look today? "She is radiant, for in the soul of her charge, the new birth is struggling, and though the human soul may INSIGHT 265 feel and suffer the necessary pangs, the growth is there, and his angel wears a face that tells of many conquests, and much enlightenment." How can one explain Paul's words ; about the sub- ordination of women, did he not know, all souls must be equal? "He did, and I cannot believe so clear a vis- ion could have been thus obscured — but with the gold must come ever the alloy ; Understanding must see be- hind words, and be able to separate the true from the false, though Paul uttered words that could not be true, that need not make the truths he did perceive, un- acceptable to us ; appropriate truth wherever you find it, it is many sided, and no mind can see it all, but to one, is given one side, and to another the opposite, and not till the thoughts of mankind are brought into har- monious unity, will all the truth be known." Now we shall have to leave you, but may we come again? "When you come empty, from having given, you will always find me ; to both of you was I necessary at this time, for you have been giving of your spiritual gifts freely, and needed to be filled. Succor who is still here knows of your progress, for she is very wise, as wise as good, and when you grow in knowledge you will be able to hold again the familiar converse with her, that her children held when on earth. She says with me, God bless you." COMMUNICATION XXXVI. Present: Endurance and Discernment. Tranquility : "Peace be with you. Did we not agree that this should be our password?" 266 INSIGHT This will be our last interview for Endurance and I are soon to part? "Do not think we shall be separated, we shall be together in the future, as we have been since you first gave form to our intercourse." We would like to ask you whether it is true, that matter is only an illusion? "It is not an illusion, except when wrong thinking makes it so. If man can bring himself to see what you call matter, from God's stand- point, it will become to him a reality. You are apt to think creation is an enemy, because you are not in ac- cord with your best selves. As soon as you are, all things become good — and all good is friendly and is beautiful to the eyes opened to perceive it, Creation, that is, the visible universe, is good and perfect in God's thought, and as you grow in accord with that thought, you will become able to perceive this beauty." Can man claim his relation to God, and by so doing come into the consciousness of it? "Yes, he can, but not by merely claiming it, he must adjust his spiritual perceptions to their perfect focus, by doing God's will; then he will attain to that Mount of Transfiguration where everything will become bright and shining, in the beams of the spiritual Sun." There are some who claim to be able to cure disease, by coming into this relation, with the Divine? "They may have arrived at the point when they can see things in the light of this Sun ; and each soul can come to this mount, but not through others, for each must be led by the Christ, within, as John and James were, in the gos- pel story, which is given you, as showing these divine possibilities." I suppose everything is God, except sin? "Yes; all is God, but man's will, being part of God, has in it, the INSIGHT 267 power to deviate from the All, and become in itself, an- tagonistic to God." How can we keep from deviating? "The way has been given you in the perfect pattern. Jesus did not become the Christ, but through many sorrows and temptations, and your way can only be through fol- lowing him." Did not God intend man to have entire dominion over his own body? "Yes, and as soon as you have obtained that dominion, you will be able to do what you wish to do. The power comes from the desire, because the de- sire is born of the power. It is only the circle, looked at in one way, and from one side, desire is the cause; from the other side, power is the cause and desire, the effect." Then our bodies are not merely an illusion? "From my state, I cannot perceive your bodies, as you cannot perceive my spiritual form, but that does not make them an illusion, for all things are real, as consciousness perceives them, and all things are of God. Your work lies with what you perceive, therefore it is your business to raise your plane and by so doing you can eliminate disease and sin from among you. Every effort to ele- vate your own consciousness, and that of the brother, is right, for by so doing you put yourself in a position to see more of God, and to rise above the absence of God, which is error, and disease, and sin. As on a mountain top, you see the valley beneath you, in all its beauty, and with its imperfections shut out, so by rising above the lower nature, you see only good and all the error disappears." Cannot disease sometimes be healed by bidding it de- 268 INSIGHT part? "If the spirit speaks the word, the lips have no such power. Some persons may do this, and when they use the word in this way, they have all power ; with you as yet, it is too external, but persevere, and the power will manifest itself on the lower plane of your material senses. Do not forget what the wise Insight taught us about growth." Why does one sometimes seem to come to an impass- able barrier in spiritual progress? "You do not; those very obstructions prove that your perceptions are open- ing, for in your natural and material state you were not sensible of those closed doors. Are you not con- scious after one of these experiences, of great light and peace? If so, you have passed that barrier, and it is only when you reach another, that the feeling returns." What definition can you give us of sin? "The love of self is the only sin; it is by rising above self that we become conscious of sin ; and that consciousness can only come to us by perceiving the light; as darkness is made visible to your material eyes, by contrast with the light. Sin is the deviation the soul has made from the straight line back to its centre, from its source." Then sin is not altogether an evil? "In one sense you are right, for each soul must be free to gain its own experience." I have sometimes thought this earth may be one of the hells. Is this correct? "As much as any other. Hell as you think of it, is only the deviation I speak of, and hell is not a place, it is a state." Is it impossible for you to know anything about sin where you are? "The capacity to sin is in my nature, INSIGHT 269 but here the conditions are not favorable to its appear- ance." Do those personalities who fail to unite their human soul with God, during this earth life, return to the con- dition of the formless; and lose their individuality? "No ; all who have evolved the human soul, of which the human body is a symbol, have an eternal existence, there is no place outside of His universe, and where consciousness is, there is existence. God does not re- pent and take back His thought, and after once having given it expression, it becomes immortal." Is the subjective existence of less developed beings, longer or shorter than that of more advanced ones? "It depends, we are taught, on the desire of the spirit itself; in each case, the spirit is free, and according as it chooses it exists in one room or another of the Father's house, as best suits its growth and progress. I see by the thought in your mind that you think there are different degrees of progress in the states you call heaven and earth life, but the growth goes on all the time, and there is no such thing as absolute rest, for rest and inaction mean decay. To each soul there is a state in which it is filled to its utmost capacity, and the state is heaven or hell to that soul, as its con- sciousness makes it." Was man a subsequent creation to the animals? "God brought to the part of Himself, that He made objective to His own consciousness, and which we call the spirit of humanity, all the visible universe, and his mind, that is to say, the mind of humanity, differentiated the matter and made some animal, some vegetable, some mineral, as he infused it, more or less, with the life he 270 INSIGHT obtained from God. By this, you must not understand man as he is in his fallen state, but the divine spirit that originally went out from God, pure as its source. This spirit afterwards fell so much under the dominion of its own creation, that it became to its own conscious- ness, part of that creation, and countless ages were necessary before spirit was able again to know of its relation to its source ; but with that knowledge, came the desire to return to God, and mankind is now on its upward path back to the God and the good from which it set out. Falling from God it knew nothing of Him. I see the thought in your mind, but I cannot say that all creation was ever purely matter, for I have not been so instructed. In what you call organic matter there is the possibility of the highest archangel, for one spark, however minute, of the Divine essence can so develop." What is the distinction between the organic and in- organic kingdoms? "The distinction is not in essence, only in degree. There must always have been different orders of these degrees, for that organic life exists at all, shows that the channel is unbroken between the great First Cause and the smallest atom." Where does the missing link between the physical kingdoms exist? "In the spiritual world; man's eyes are being gradually opened on your physical plane to the working of God's laws and this missing link will be- come visible to him by the gradual unfoldment of his spiritual perceptions. Man supposes a physical step is always necessary, from one state to another, but spiritual growth will enable him to overcome these bar- riers, as in the cure of disease, of which you have been thinking. The building up of new tissue, step by step, INSIGHT 271 is not necessary, but can take place instantaneously, if the spiritual perception and power are present." Do you have any communication with Insight? "Yes ; and he sends you a message, that, as little chil- dren just learning to walk alone, you must be willing to walk without his help, for had he been necessary to your well being he would have been left as your guide." Is Insight a planetary spirit? "I do not know what you mean by that, unless it is that his work lies just now in the spiritual world, of one of the planets com- posing our system. The planetary spirits I think you mean, are all from the great spiritual sun, and there are none yet from our race. I mean that none of our race can become creators alone ; only the united race can become a sun, and make planets, and rule worlds." Are Acceptance, and Solicitude and Courage with us today ? "Yes ; they are all here, all who first gave you the power to reach to Insight — and to come into the state which he has blessed with his presence and his knowledge, is a privilege of itself, and makes all the small and passing discouragements of your earthly life seem of trivial and transitory importance. The an^el of Acceptance looks happy, and above the desires that make the feeling of pity that I see in your heart." We shall now have to leave you, will you not pray for us all? "How can I pray for part of myself? If I pray for myself, you, and all who make up the whole of which I am only a part, must share in my prayer. I will crive to all your circle what I have to give, of the peace that fills my soul. If they will receive, tran- quilitv shall abide with them. If you know this peace of which I speak your bodies will become transparent 272 INSIGHT temples of the Holy Spirit and all that is dark will dis- appear in the light that you will carry with you wherever you are, and now you must go but do not say 'Good-bye.' Say, in God's keeping, for that will mean eternal union." COMMUNICATION XXXVII. Why should you seek an outward Sign? Contempla- tion and looking inward brings us into the true union, Who writes this? "Insight, through Tranquility." Why do you say Insight, through Tranquility? "Insight has many interviews with us, he also seeks you in your hours of quiet communion, and has told me that was your surest way." We have all been separated so long, now we have come together again, we need a few words from you to help us. (This interview took place after an interval of six months.) "No; never separated, do not allow yourself that thought, or think that bodily presence constitutes the real 'being together.' " You always seem to intimate that we ought not to seek this communion? "You can exercise your own will, and if you prefer this, I shall do all I can for you." Is it well for us all to sit together for concentration ? "Yes, it helps you always to reach my plane." Do you have the same relation to Insight, and see him in the same way you used to dp ? "Not quite in the same way, but our intercourse is all we desire." Some of us think we have seen Insight ? "Nothing is more likely." Do you see him constantly? "Often, but always in INSIGHT £73 what you call a vision, which to us, means with our most spiritualised sight." Visions seem so unsatisfactory and illusive? "They seem less so to us, because we are more able to hold them, the vision itself may always be seen, but our per- ception depends upon our state." Do you sometimes see Jesus Christ ? "Yes ; he comes to us in his spiritual body, or I should say, in our mo- ments of spiritual exaltation, we go to him as you to Insight. You too might see the Christ if the spirit was within you, for only like can recognise like." Is not the spirit growing more rapidly in the world now? "Yes ; the spirit is making itself a place, though the light is still but a spark in an ocean of darkness. In some souls it burns as a steady flame, and there are some Christs, now alive among you. The perfect man will be made up of all these perfected spirits, and will not be complete while one brother remains in darkness." To whom do we pray when we say, "Our Father who art in Heaven?" "You pray to the Ideal you form in your own mind, and the truth of that ideal depends upon your advancement in the Christ life, for only the Son can know the Father." To whom did Jesus understand he prayed? "He prayed as all men pray, to his highest conception of good; when a human soul of its own volition can call that conception Father, he is not far away from that Father." When we pray, does our Father always know we are striving to reach him? "Yes; does not the father al- ways know the most inarticulate words of his child, 274 INSIGHT and does he not understand and give more than your ignorance would know how to demand." Is it right for us to cultivate our psychic powers? "Yes, if by that you mean the faculties by which you perceive the true from the false, the real from the fictitious." Has our circle advanced spiritually? "Very much, when you last came, you were stopped on the way, and only Trust enabled you to reach me, now Love and Hope and Gentleness and Faith, bring you where you would be." Are our names the same? "I do not see but that they represent your condition. 'Discernment' and Courage, Acceptance and Endurance, Onward and Sol- icitude, are words that represent with us, high spiritual conditions, and that you do not always live up to your fullest possibilities must not make you feel discouraged, for there is an ebb and flood always, and in all things, material and spiritual." Why is this so? "We do not know the why. In all stages of existence we must accept what we see is law, but we may hope to know the why, if we only persevere, for to the Christs is given knowledge." What did Insight mean when he said, "Our guardian angels keep our higher principles until we are ready for them? "All that, was in a measure symbolic. Your guardian angels do keep your higher selves, but not in the sense of reserving them from you, they only guard them until your will is in accord with the truth, and then they will be your only self, for you are many, and cover and embrace the universe." Does not our will emanate from our higher selves? INSIGHT 275 "Not always ; the will can become part of your lower selves, else there would be no freedom and no choice. The will must have its perfect way, and after trying all things must make its own choice." Then the Divine in us is subject to growth? "The Divine element cannot grow, but it can be servant as well as master. The very highest is always, and must always be the servant of all beneath it ; I mean, in order to win anything, you must descend to its level, and God himself has come down into matter, in order to bring it back to Himself." Is matter evil? "No; there is no evil in matter, ex- cept as the perverted will of humanity makes it evil. The sin is not in the hand that takes its neighbor's good, but in the thought that lies behind in the will." Is not matter another form of spirit? "I would not call it so, but you can discern that better than I, who do not come in contact with what you call matter." In point of fact, is there anything in all the universe but God? "Nothing but God, and the freedom He has given his creatures, and that, is God turned aside from truth. God is the Real, the only truth, a gift of God must be part of Himself, but He has for his own wise purpose given freedom to man, and man has the power to turn from the giver, and claim the gift as his own." Is there any such thing as evil? "Evil is not in mat- ter, not in what you call the natural forces of the uni- verse, but only in this plane that man makes, in his ignorance, and calls his own, but as soon as his eyes are opened he will turn of himself to the light, and the God within him will proclaim his true origin." Can God cognize evil on this earth? "We are told He 276 INSIGHT cannot. You must not forget the much that has been taught you, about His Infinite being, and the many degrees of beings between Him and us." If we were in a state of sin, could you perceive it? "Not at all, nor could you come into this communica- tion, for as I have often said, like must perceive like." What did Paul mean when he spoke of the Christ being formed in him? "He meant the growth of the spirit life ; the Christ life was perfectly grown in Jesus ; and he is the example that has been given you, to show how the same spirit may be perfected in every man." We shall now have to leave you, may we come to you again soon? "Come, and always feel it is as to a father's house." COMMUNICATION XXXVIII. "There is a new sense developing in mankind, and like all his other senses, it must be the result of growth ; it is the power to see into the world of reality. Did you not ask why some of you had this power and others had not? This is 'Tranquility,' to you there has ap- peared to be a period of absence, but to me this and your former interview seem one, for I had you in my thoughts, and your higher selves have continued with me." On leaving this body, and taking on a spiritual one, is it at once full grown and with active senses? "Not always ; although in your stage of development, your bodies are full grown, your spiritual senses are not al- ways active, for the thoughts and desires of the mate- rial life often clog them." INSIGHT 277 In this case do they sometimes remain near this earth? "Yes; many linger of their own accord very near their highest loves, which are the desires of the flesh ; the purer the earth lif e, the shorter the time one stays in that state; the interest, and even curiosity you have about things disconnected with your material life, helps you in reaching a purely spiritual state. The differences and varieties apparent to your earthly senses seem endless, but they are as nothing compared with those you will find the instant you lay aside the masks of your material bodies." Shall we be cognisant of all planes in that world? "You can only see in our worlds, what you are a part of." Are we not a part of the All? "You will be in the great final, but now these parts are only potential, you can only see what you have known and experienced." What is the meaning of the symbol of the two thieves? "There is a spiritual meaning in all that his- tory, and I cannot make intelligible to you, what it means to me. This only illustrates what I have just said, that I cannot give you what I possess ; you must get it for yourself. Can you tell us whether our race once occupied some other earth and fe£L to this through sin? "Your planet was not the first occupied nor did you fall to this, the fall had been before." Is ours the most material of all the planets? "Each planet represents the spiritual condition of the race at the time of its occupancy. Some day your earth will be so spiritualised by the men who dwell upon it that it will be literally a new earth." 278 INSIGHT Is this not the age of the spirit? "The age of the spirit began before the race came to your earth. It seems of slow growth but it is not, and the progress it is making is in accordance with the highest possibil- ities in the present condition of humanity." Are we not at the beginning of a new cycle? "I do not see that you are, except that to you individually it may be so, for a cycle is new to each man as the knowledge of it reaches his consciousness." Can you tell us where "Insight" is? "He is in the spiritual world of a planet that is being prepared for our race." Is there anything to prevent our coming into com- munion with him? "If you were spiritual enough there would be no space, for that is a material limitation." How does "Insight" appear to you? "Like his old self, but in my ordinary condition, I cannot see him, for although it is not a difference of kind, the degree of his spirituality, is so much greater than mine, that I have to bring myself into an unusual state to perceive him." By what process do you bring yourself into this state? "By a process of absorption of the Christ life, I go out in thought, in works and in deeds to all my Father's children. I love them with more ardor; I serve them with more devotion, and I strive to do this, with no thought of self, and then 'Insight' comes to me, when I am most busy and expecting him least. He stands at the door which was once his own, and which I now call mine, through his generous giving, and I take his hand and look into his face, and although it may be but for a moment, all I have longed to know, INSIGHT 279 comes to me in that silent greeting. You come to me in the same way, and I am sure you feel the better for the coming." Is Succor with you, and can we see her? "Yes, she is with us always now, she is here to do your bidding." Can you tell us of father and Aspiration? "I know all is well with them, but I am no longer needed by them, for they are learning to walk alone, and even a mother cannot help them in that. I was a much longer time in the spiritual world than was necessary for my own unclothing, and I have so much to learn here, that I must now devote all my energies to my new duties." Could you tell us what you are learning? "I am learning first that my earthly loves are only a part of what my nature is capable of, though I clung to them for many, many years as you count time." Was it wrong to do so? "No, not wrong, no love is wrong, but even love may be self." It seems to me, there is as much separation between friends in the spiritual worlds, as there is here? "There is no real separation, we are always with our own, wherever we are, only on your plane, is the soul condemned to associate with those not of its kind; for the mask of flesh hides the real man and you are con- tinually being disappointed." Will you not tell me something about my friend Mrs. S.? "Succor says she does not know, but your thought has been felt by her mother heart and she per- ceives the spiritual state of your friend. She too is destined to be a succor to many, and her angel is beau- tiful and radiant." Can you not tell us something about her babies who 280 INSIGHT have died? "Her babies I am sure are safe and happy; many Succors wait for and tend such souls, and pre- pare them for their new life." Will their mother see them, just as they left her? "She will see what she desires, and although they may not be infants, as she held them in her arms, they will come as little children and make her heart glad, by their recognition of her, as the mother they had known on earth." Why are children taken out of this life before they have begun to live? "They rush sometimes into the material world before they are ready, and return to learn how to wait till they are fitted for the place they are to fill." Have the parents not something to do with attract- ing the child's soul? "Yes, the forces on both planes, work together. Those who do not live to fulfil their life work in the body prove that the forces are ex- hausted, that brought them to earth." Then we ought never to try to prevent children from dying? "That is not true; do your part always; often your force is the necessary addition; all things work together, and what you can do is as much a part of God's plan, as that of the highest in the highest heav- ens." Do you think it would be better for us to seek knowl- edge by inward contemplation rather than by this means? "Yes, for the aim of all outer manifestations, is to materialise spiritual things. What I am giving you is nothing until you appropriate it, and make it a matter of your own experience, to know the truth, you must live it." INSIGHT 2S1 Would it be possible for us to see "Tranquility" in such a way that we should be sure it was not our im- aginations? "It is not necessary you should see me to learn all that you need to know ; the power of seeing is the new sense that humanity is evolving, and it will come to you, when your growth is ready to receive it." How can we cultivate this sense? "Do not cultivate it, cultivate a pure life, the love of doing good, of all that is true and high, all that the best of your race have experienced, and one day you will find yourself with the new sense, without Jknowing whence it came." Is not the best way, to surrender our will to God's will? "Yes; and do not spend too much time in think- ing even of that, follow the path that Jesus trod and you shall be able to say, 'I am one with the Father.' He went about doing good, go ye and do likewise, heal if you can. He has given you the form, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and love, love, love the brother." What is the law that sends the infant back to wait? "There are forces that may be called forces of equi- librium, that govern these changes ; nothing can remain long out of its place in God's universe. Do you not see men on your plane rushing into places, for which they are unfitted; it is the same everywhere, for the nature of man, is always governed by the same laws. These half developed souls long for material things, and that longing reacts with the greatest force upon your planet, and together they carry the unready soul into its fleshly house, sometimes the soul discovers its error, before it is really born into the visible world, sometimes not till a few months of actual earth life and sometimes these months grow into years." 282 INSIGHT Can you see any other order of beings than human souls? "There is no other order of beings, for all have been human souls, that is, there are none in any of the worlds devoted to our race. We are taught that the highest beings in the universe, were once human, like ourselves and made their choice, through knowledge and experience and temptation." How about the Elohim? "They are beyond my knowledge, but I think what you mean must be the Father we worship as our source and our Creator. I do not know if we are thinking of the same idea, we are told here, as we were with you, that the Word was the Creator." But who created? "The great unthinkable Being be- fore whom our finite faculties must bow in silent devo- tion, and with no hope at present of understanding. His Word was his agent, God spoke and it was." Do you still speculate upon these great truths? "We do sometimes, but our great effort here, is to bring ourselves into accord with the highest we can under- stand, not to trouble ourselves with what is so far be- yond us." Does Isabel not remember her former communication with "Insight" and desire to be with him? "She is per- fectly content now to learn the lesson of her state and place. You think a sight of our heaven would be a help to you, not more so than for a man to gaze on a palace, with the hope that his action would make him a king." Did you not tell us that simple inquiry was helpful? t