BF 1272 .T6 Copy 1 - o»o»»«oo mmmMMC »«»» o ooopooooo MMM Ooiooi» THE HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM, (^apefully seleGbed, Gopdepsed, arranged subjectively, apd brouglpb doCvp bo labesb dabesj for bjpe publisher's. <*-3*S&&§%*&*s&-* " Alas for him who never sees The stars a-shining through his cypress trees! Who, hopeless lays his dead away, Nor looks to see the breaking day! Who hath not learned in hours of faith, That life is ever lord of death, And love can never loSe its own." *-^&>|g£®^#tf-«- V- " The Coming Age" Publishing Office, and Eaton & Lyon, Publishers and Booksellers, Grand Rapids, Mich. THE OIF 1 w ^Vv \ ^ VAav; As given by Rev. Theodore Parker, Rev. William E. Channing, Rev. Thomas Starr King, Rabbi Joseph Lowenthal, Cardinal Cheverus, Sir Humphrey Davy, Thomas Paine, Prof. Robert Hare, and other eminent Spirits, mostly at the "Banner of Light" Circle Rooms, Boston, in answer to a thousand questions from all over the country, upon Death and Spirit Life, Spiritual Philosophy, Spirit Communications, Mediu ui ship, Clairvoyance, Mind Cure, Mag- netism, Medical and Scientific Subjects, &c, &c. Carefully selected, compiled, arranged subjectively, and brought down to latest dates; for the publishers. " The Coming Age" Publishing Office, Grand Eapids, Mich. Copy right, 1887, by "The Coming Age Publishing Company", Grand Eapids, Mich. To our readers and especially to clergymen. What the new philosophy of spiritualism teaches Is it of the Devil ? Within the past thirty years several prominent clergymen (one of them quite recently) have seen fit to denounce spi- ritualism from their pulpits. They have also concluded by attributing the phenomena and teachings to the evil one. Now above all things Spiritualists seek for the truth, and if this charge be true they want to know it. A few extracts from our best writers and speakers are appended. The clergymen of Orthodox Churches are invited to point out the evil in them. Having done so they are asked to tell who and what kind of a being the devil is, to give utter- ance to such teachings? And Spiritualists offer any of them the use of our platforms for that purpose! "If we believe the Bible record implicitly there should not be the shadow of a doubt about spirit communion. The appearance of the dead is an unanswerable argument; and according to that record five persons returned to earth — Samuel, Moses, Elias, Peter and John." "It is not sensible to say that wicked spirits are allow- ed to traverse space at will and lure us into sin, while our friends and relatives are banished from us. There is no law in nature allowing friends to assail us and at the same time forbidding our darlings to come nigh and bless us." "The good and wise can travel where the impure and foolish cannot." "Your spirit friends crave your co-operation; they peti- tion for your assistance. You. can help them as well as be helped by them; they are largely dependent upon you for success in their endeavors to enlighten humanity." "Frequently when we are crying out to our unseen 4 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. friends and asking them to manifest themselves, they are the very cause of these desires. The fact that it is hard to realize spirit presence, is a blessing, because the effort to unfold the powers of the inner man, refines and beau- tifies our lives." "Every one does for himself what he wishes to do for another; all the good we wish our neighbors we at- tract, and whether it reaches them or not it blesses us. All the harm we wish them is drawn into our surround- ings, and forms part of the obstacles impeding our own progession." "The animality of the human race is its great curse at this hour. To direct animal forces into proper channels so that they become healing instead of destructive powers should be the great aim of every one who desires to ex- cel in the greatest work of all — self culture." "The healthy person need not be an orator or writer to effect society. His influence will go with him where- ever he goes, and many will be blessed, never to find out in this life, perchance, who their benefactor has been; but in a future state one of the intensest joys of your life will be to realize the good you did by faithfully obeying the laws of nature, even when you saw no outward re- sults of your labors and mourned over the limits to your circle of usefulness." "We must be ministering spirits. If we wish to be ministered unto from the higher realms we must minister to others." "Every life is a picture; every soul the artist." " The garments we wear, the food we prepare for others to eat, the books and papers we handle, the rooms we inhabit, the very air we breathe, all are charged in a degree with our life. * * We may be fountains of health or miasmatic pools to those around us. * * Even our thoughts photograph them- selves on the astral atmosphere. Our states of mind and body will either bless or taint everything we touch and every place we visit." INTRODUCTION. 5 "Spiritualism will teach that man has not only a soul to save after death, but he has a spirit to purify, to consecrate to holi- ness of life and purpose while in the human form. Teach him to know something of the spirits that walk by his side and speak words of counsel and cheer. Teach him that man need not die to go to heaven, but that he may live continually in heaven and have that heaven on earth." "The church never yet offered hospitality to new and larger ideas and we fear it never will. It spends its strength in de- fining, restricting, warning and threatening — these form the buttresses of its organization. It was so in Christ's time. The new faith will be founded on the most conclusize evidence, and it will be a faith which shall be ever receiving the addition of knowledge." In conclusion, we beg our readers to remember that truth is of more value than everything else; that it is best for all, and that it should be accepted without regard to consequences. Indeed, truth casts out all fear, and truth, indeed, shall make us free! Editor. OF CHILDEEN IN SPIEIT LIFE. Each Message in this compilation, we claim was spoken by a spirit through the instrumentality of some medium while in an abnormal condition called the trance. The different questions, or sets of ques- tions, are usually answered by different controlling spirits, and hence sometimes differ in conclusions, but rarely ever in stating facts, within the ken of the speaker. We ask the reader to receive no doctrine put forth by spirits in these columns that does not comport with his or her reason. All ex- press as much of truth as they perceive — no more. Of Children in Spirit Life. Ques. — Does an embryotic babe, one day old, have an existence in spirit-life? Ans. — More than that; the soul becomes clearly, definite- ly individualized at conception, and goes on from that period, throughout all future eternities, an individualized soul. Here, then, is a study, grand and beautiful, for fath- ers and mothers to take up. Q. — (From a correspondent.) Will the controlling spirit describe the beginning of the spirit-life of a babe? A. — The babe enters the spirit-life upon the same plane of dependence that it enters this life, and has need ot care, and of all that loving kindness that would have a tendency to bring out the buds and blossoms of the soul. Babes always find a welcome with us. Indeed, heaven would be no heaven at all without them, and when you shed them from the parent stalk here, and they are transplanted there, you know not how much joy you give to the angel-world. While your tears are falling fast, a welcome is being chant- ed there. These little waifs, sent out upon the great ocean of spirit-life, are tenderly cared for by spiritual fathers and mothers, in that beautiful fatherland of the soul. They are taken to pleasant homes, and educated, taught concerning their earthly homes, are never allowed to forget their earth- ly parents, but are instructed in all that makes up a perfect O HIGHER TEACHINGS OE SPIRITUALISM. spirit; so, seemingly, they lose nothing by the change; and yet, in reality, they lose that experience with matter which is sometimes of the utmost importance and necessity to the growing spirit, and therefore it is that there is a ne- cessity, an absolute necessity for the coming in ot the doc- trine of reincarnation. They who fail to get their proper amount of experience through matter, at one round through matter, must try it again. And so nearly all these little waifs that go from you and come to us, are destined to return again and take up the thread of a broken material existence, and carry it on to a perfect life. Q. — [By Mrs. K. L. V.] Is the spirit-body built up from and through the physical? — and, if so, how is it pos- sible for a child born without hands, arms, or deficient in any other part, to have the spirit-member supplied? A. — The spiritual body proper is never maimed. If the physical body loses a limb, the spiritual body does not. Ques. — [From a correspondent.] Messages are quite of- ten given here from children, who speak of their present home, mentioning only that it is pleasant, and generally telling us that they live with some relation, known to the person to whom the message is sent. Will you describe a spiritual home, its surroundings, amusements, employments, and give us some idea of its location? Ans. — No; you might as well ask us to describe God. The things of the spirit are to be spiritually understood. Now it is expected that if I give a description I will give an accurate one, or none at all. I cannot do it. I can only go so far as others have gone, in declaring these homes to be beautiful, in saying that they are tangible realities, that they are dwellings surrounded by the beautiful in nature — perhaps by trees, water, shrub- bery, flowers. All that goes to make up a beautiful rural home here, generally constitutes the beauty of a spiritual home, and yet these spirit-homes are so far beyond your earthly homes in beauty, that it would be im- OF CHILDREN IN SPIRIT LIFE. 9 possible to give jou an accurate description of them. No spirit ever has done it; no spirit can do it. Q. — Are young children who die and leave dear and loving parents, brothers and sisters, and everything bright and pleasing to them, happy? A. — Yes; it is the nature of childhood to be happy under most circumstances. Q. Is there not something wrong about the death of the young? Are not those who live to the age o£, manhood, and pass through the trials of life here, better prepared for the next? A. — I would hardly want to say that there was something wrong in the death of the young; but I would say it is bet- ter to stay here and receive your full complement of physi- cal discipline. Q. — [From a correspondent.] Does a family congregate together in the spirit-land, and have they the same love and respect for each other there that they have in the earth- life? A. — Yes, they do; but it should not be forgotten that there are more families that have no respect for each other, no love for each other here, than there are those who do. Those who are bound together in family ties here by the stern necessities of this life, and nothing more, are separat- ed there. Those who are bound together by the ties of love, the ties of natural soul-affinity here, are together there; and they form beautiful groups in the soul-world, such as you seldom find in this life. Q. — [From G. R. Robinson.] If spirits are in den tilled by face, age, shape, size, etc., and our ideas of beauty con- tinue the same, would it not be wise to die young? A. — Hardly; since the conditions of the spirit-world are so well adapted to the renewing of youth. It should be un- derstood that it is the physical body that grows old, not the spiritual body. That advances to maturity, but does not 10 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. grow old. Now, when you lay off the physical body, you lay off the infirmaries of age. It matters not, then, whether you die old or young; it is all the same. Q. — Supposing a child, after an earthly existence of a few months, passes to spirit-life, and is reared, educated and cared for by one to whom it bears no earthly relation, and an interval of fifty years or more elapses before the parents close their earthly careers, do those parents and that child meet as such? And does the spirit who has sus- stained those many years the position of a true father or mother feel called upon to relinquish all claims which that position might naturally be supposed to have created? A. — A child who dwells in an earthly form for a few months and then passes to the spirit-spheres takes with it the love and affection of its earthly parents. This affection causes the hearts of those parents to cry out and long for the presence of that dead one who has departed from the body, and this continual yearning attracts the spirit back; this condition of their minds, this sympathy and sensitive love for it throws out, so to speak, a magnetic aura upon which it returns to its earthly home. Under these conditi- ons a responsive love is awakened in the heart of the little one who is continually fed by the emanations of affection which go forth from the hearts of its earthly progenitors. As time rolls on, year succeeding year, and the parents still remain upon the earth, the child continues to revisit its mortal home and to come into contact with its parents in the body, continues to receive from the fount of affection, and impart from its own in return; therefore, when the earthly parents of the child are taken to the spiritual world they meet their offspring in the bonds of sympathy and af- fection, they recognize it as their child, it recognizes them, undoubtedly, as its parents, and extends to them the amount of love, honor and respect which is due them by right and which they return as fully as they understand the laws of spiritual life, for, in the spirit-world, the parent re- OF CHILDREN IN SPIRIT LIFE. 11 spects and honors his offspring just as fully as the child does the parent. Having been taken to the spirit-world at an early age, and provided with parents or guardians in that sphere, calculated to attend to its wants, to awaken within it the highest and noblest attributes of being, to in- culcate the highest principels of honor and truth within its mind, and to surround it with all the holiest and purest con- ditions of life in order to make of that individual a soul fitted to adorn the highest sphere of existence, that child has, in time, a certain amount of love, of real spiritual af- fection awakened within its heart for its spiritual -guardians which is reciprocated by those guardians; no change, sepa- ration or any experience in life can interfere to sever that magnetic connection between the spirit-child and its loved guardians, and none can take its place in their hearts, for it is a spiritual love, and as such cannot perish. The earthly parents will hold their true position in the heart of their child, the spiritual guardians will retain theirs, for there is room enough for all. Spiritual love, spiritual sympathy, knows no decay, but as time rolls on and the spirit advances in knowledge and wisdom, its capability for loving expands within it until like a beautiful river it over- flows to enrich the hearts of all with whom it comes in contact. Q. — [By D. B. Burnham.] Thomas Paine, in his "Phis- olophy of Creation," says: "When an infant dies and enters the spirit-world it always remains an infant in stat- ure or spirit-body; it develops in intelligence, but has no growth of the body." He also says, u Man is possessed of an immortal principle, or principle of intelligence, called spirit." He further says, "Spirit is simply a substance, but so sublimated and refined as to be imperceptible and intangible to human senses." Please explain these state- ments? A. — Thomas Paine, standing before you to-day, would undoubtedly modify the statements which your correspond- 12 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. ent affirms he has made. Keturning spirits almost univer- sally teach that an infant, passing to the spirit-world, is not dwarfed in growth, but that it attains to the stature of man- hood, that in passing through the periods of infancy, child- hood and youth, until it reaches maturity, the spirit of the child grows in correspondence to the spiritual body; it gains knowledge, acquires a comprehension of truth, reaps ex- perience becomes rounded out in wisdom. We have never seen an instance of an infant passing to the spirit-world and remaining in the stature of the stage of infancy; it is contrary to all precedent; and, indeed, we think you will find no intelligent spirit returning to you teaching any such idea. Nature of the Spirit, or Spirit-body. Spirit may be confounded with the spirit-body. The spiritual body is, to us, substance; highly sublimated, no doubt, but still substance; it can, under proper conditions, even here for a moment be perceived, seen and handled. We do not mean now in a materialized form, but we mean in its own spiritual form; to spirits around it it is plainly perceptible, can be touched, and is, to all intents and pur- poses, substance. Spirit, we look upon as the inner prin- ciple. Many returning spirits call the spiritual body spirit, and define the inner principle as soul. You may do that, if you choose. The inner principle, the intelligence, is dis- tinct from the outer substantial covering, and we always define them in this way: Intelligence, to us, is that moving power whichs acts upon the spiritual body and causes it to operate in any of its functions. Intelligence, soul, vital force of being, may be classified as one principle, but they are distinct from substance, which your correspondent affirms Thomas Paine has called spirit. NATURE OF THE SPIRIT, OR SPIRIT-BODY. 13 Q. — [From a correspondent] Have not spirits facilities for analyzing, or, as it were, dissecting and comprehending that wondrous, complex enigma termed a human spirit? A. — Certainly they have. By spirit we understand you to mean the body with which the soul is clothed — the inner machinery that is playing between this outer body and the soul. It is just as capable of analysis as is the human body. It is composed of particles that may be divided and subdivided ad infinitum, almost. The chemistry of the spirit-world stretches out into infinitude. It takes in the all of life, and, as the soul advances in wisdom, becomes more and more acquainted with life in the past, in the pre- sent, and it learns something of life as it will be in the future. Q. — (From the audience.) You speak of the soul and the spirit in apparent distinction. Is there a spiritual body that the soul inhabits, or are the spirit and soul one? A. — Spirit and soul are two, one being the clothing of the other — one being the machine through which the other acts. I speak of the soul as the inner life; the spirit as the clothing of that soul — as the power which plays or acts be- tween that soul and the physical condition here in this life, and which the soul carries with it to the spirit-world. It is a spiritual body inhabiting a physical body during physical life, that is taken with the soul to the spirit-world at the hour of death. Q. — By W. A. Loveland, of New York: Is the spirit principle of a human being a complex organization of simple or mere elemental principles, which in some past time existed separately, corresponding to the simple mate- rial elements of a chemical or organic compound? A. — I believe the scientific men of the spirit-world under- stand the spirit to be composed of all that exists in nature, there being nothing outside of nature. Q. — [By H. H. Kenyon.] It has been said that spirits cannot pass through solid substances; if so, what becomes 14 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. of those buried while in a trance? (Casket fastened tight, of course.) A. — The statement is erroneous. Matter presents no barrier to the spirit. Spirit can readily pass through all substances that appear solid and substantial to your senses; therefore those individuals who are unfortunate enough to be be buried alive have no difficulty, after the spirit sepa- rates itself from the body, in passing out through all the confines which may seem to restrain them, and entering in- to the atmosphere, ay, even gravitating to the spiritual world itself, or taking their appointed place in the spheres. Matter, though presenting a solid appearance to you, is in reality porous, and to the spirit it appears intangible, im- material. The strong positive will can overcome any bar- rier of a material nature, and pass outward beyond all confines; therefore your correspondent need have no fear nor entertain the erroneous thought that it is possible to confine the spirit within dungeons, or by bolts and bars, for the spirit defies all material limitations, and triumphantly soars to its proper domain. The only class who are con- fined to earthly conditions are those whose desires, tenden- cies and aspirations are of a low order, who are really allied to physical life through a psychological law; all those who are on a high plane and aspire toward a spiritual life can pass onward and upward forever. Q. — Does not experience teach us that the spirit is but an outgrowth of the physical form? A. — It never taught me that. It may so teach you. Life has taught me quite the contrary. It has taugtht me that all form is the outgrowth of spirit; that spirit is the underlying basis of all things — the power, the principle from which all things are evolved. I see you take the op- posite view. Q. — Why then does the mind decay as the body grows old? A. — The mind does not decay. Its manifestations be- NATURE OF THE SPIRIT, OR SPIRIT-BODY. 15 come imperfect, because here in mortal life it is called upon to manifest through a mortal machine; and if that is out of order, if that has become diseased, the manifestation will be correspondingly diseased and out of order. The most perfect musician cannot give a perfect manifestation in music unless you supply a perfect instrument. Q. — Does spirit ever lose its individuality? A. — No. I do not believe that it ever does. Q. — Is there not a time, at death, when it does? A.* — Xo; certainly not. Death has no more power upon the spirit than it has power upon the sun. It has no effect upon it whatever. Death is a chemical change that takes place in the physical body, but it does not affect the spirit, only that it separates it from the physical body. The spirit goes forth precisely the same that it was while in the body. It has lost nothing; it has gained nothing. Q. — Do we have the celestial body that is spoken of in the Bible as soon as we die? A. — You have it before you die. It is with you now. It forms an ethereal, mystic covering for the nervous system, and it passes out or is expelled from the physical body by the electrical forces. When the magnetic force has departed it is the business of the electric force to expel this spirit body; then you are born again. Q.— [By Major Carpenter, Delphi, N, Y.] If the spirit- ual body is afac simile of the earthly, with what age of the earthly body does it correspond* A. — The spiritual body corresponds to the earthly body at the time of the transition of the spirit trom the mortal form: indeed, we have seen the spiritual body presenting the appearance of infirmity, wearing the expression of weariness and age; the spirit bearing such a body, however, having only just arrived in the eternal world. As the spi- rit advances, throws aside the conditions of material life, and rises above them, the spiritual body sloughs off all ap- pearance of age, weariness or infirmity; it gains strength 16 THE HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. and power, and when it has become thoroughly matured, presents the appearance of an individual in his prime. Age, in the spirit-world, does not express itself in lines npon the brow, or in whitened hair, but it does manifest it- self by an appearance of experience, of wisdom, stamped upon the features of the spirit. Mortals who pass to the spiritual life aged, after having thrown aside the conditions of the material, seem to take upon themselves that appear- ance which they would have presented in the prime of life upon the earth, provided their material bodies were sound and healthy. Infants who pass to the spirit-world have bodies corresponding to what their mortal forms were when they passed away. These bodies pass through the processes of growth and change, growing and expanding until they arrive at maturity, when they present the same appearance as one who is in the prime of life, possessing a sound and healthy physique. Q. — Do malformations of the earthly body extend to or in any degree affect the spiritual body? A. — The malformations of the physical body affect the spiritual form but little, although the latter is largely made up of emanations from the former, yet it receives elements and magnetic particles from the atmosphere, and from the conditions of spiritual life, which counter- act whatever malformation may exist in the outward form, and tend to complete and round out a symmetrical spiritual body. Malformations and deformities, belonging to physical life alone, have no part or place in the spiritual universe, therefore are not seen and recognized in the higher life. Q. — Will not the duality of man forever exist? That is, however far advanced he may be in spirit-life, will not there be an inner self, or individualized consciousness, and an outer one, each distinct from the other in a degree corre- sponding to that of his dual being on earth? A. — We are taught that throughout the various advance- NATUKE OF THE SPIRIT, OR SPIRIT-BODY. 17 ments of man's career, throughout the different spheres which he is called upon to fill, he ever continues to remain a dual being. We may call it spirit and and body, or soul and spirit, as we choose; but we always find an interior self, as your correspondent expresses it; the soul, as we term it in the spiritual life, which is intelligence and will; which, however, expresses it self through an outer covering. All that we have learned of man in the various stages of spirit- ual life, teaches us that he ever remains a dual being; that he is never apart from the outer man. We speak of the terms form and body, which convey to your minds an idea of materiality; and yet we look upon matter as nothing less than materialized spirit, or spirit as nothing more than sublimated matter; and therefore we would say that the soul ever hath its corresponding body, although it may be very finely attenuated in the spiritual world. Q. — [By J. M. B.] Please draw the dividing line between soul and spirit? A. — Soul, we understand to be the life-principle of all being; it is that vital spark which animates conscious intel- ligent life. Spirit is the instrumentality of soul, through which the life-principle manifests itself and comes out to conscious sensibility. Spirit may be likened to a cover- ing of the soul, a tabernacle in which and through which the vital principle expresses itself. Spirit is the intermediary link between matter and the soul, binding the eternal spark of being to the external manifestation; in short, it is that which you are wont to call the spiritual body or being, and it is made to move and think, to express intelligence and power, by the indwelling, conscious, vital principle which is itself a part of the divine Source of all Being. Q. — Can spirits injure each other by striking and wounding? A. — Oh yes, but not with physical force, for the physical body it parts with at death. But there is a force far more potent than that which belongs exclusively to this earth. 18 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. Q. — Are spirits subject to bodily accidents ? A. — Yes, they are, but not in the same degree that they are when here inhabiting these physical forms. There are no phys- ical accidents, no physical pain, but whatever tends to render the spirit unhappy mars its spirit body, and produces a stain upon its external garments. Q. — Does the spiritual body live by laws requiring food, rest, sleep and clothing? A. — Yes, because the spiritual body lives a natural life. That which is subject to waste, to decay, is also subject to demand and supply. The same laws that have an existence with refer- ence to the natural body here upon earth, have also an exist- ence in the spirit-life, only spiritualized; and they pertain to and act upon the spirit-body. Q. — Does any change of temperature occur in the spirit- world? A. — Yes, there is an infinite number of degrees of change — all the various gradations that are necessary to spirit-life. Q. — Extreme cold and extreme heat, with all its grada- tions? A. — Not such cold or heat as you experience here, but that which is equivalent to it. Q. — Are those living there made uncomfortable by these changes? A. — No, not necessarily, because the spirit has the power more perfectly than here to adapt itself to conditions. The law of adaptation is better understood there than here. If you understood it here, the fire would not burn you, the water would not drown you; when the air was at a very low temperature it would not freeze you. Q. — Do you mean to say that if we understood the law we could resist these changes with our physical bodies? A. — Yes, I do mean that you shall understand me pre- cisely thus. CLOTHING IN SPIRIT LAND. 19 Q. — Will that knowledge ever be possessed by men on earth? A. — I think not. At all events, it is so far in the future, if it ever comes, that it would be folly to hope for it. Note. Spirit, soul, and body, we are taught, go to make up mortal man. Soul, the interior, intelligent, life giving principle; a spark of the Vital Being. Body, of the earth — earthy. The external palpable, visible substance, corpor, which is actuated and guided by the soul within. Spirit, the invisible, refined, etherial substance through which the soul acts upon the body. It is interwoven or in- terblended with the material body and of like shape and form, but does not grow old nor decay with it. Clairvoyants often see its counterpart- the spirit, slowly rise from the dying body and re-form, in youth and beauty, over the mortal death bed. — Editor. Clothing in Spirit Land. Q. — By what means does the new-born spirit become cloth- ed upon immediately after entering the spirit-world? By the aid of friends, or ? A. — It goes to the spirit-world beautifully and perfectly clothed. It attracts to itself during the chemical change ealled death all that peculiar clothing that it requires. Its adornments are simple, but they are truthful to life. Q, — Are spirit garments merely bodily emanations? A. — No, they are not bodily emanations; they are spirit- ual emanations — thed are emanations from the internal, and they take shape or form in the external. These bodies are fashioned according to the internal natural germ, and in consonance with the law of Nature by which they are surrounded. So it is with regard to the spirit-body. A reply to a question given through the mediumship of Mrs. Cora L. V. Richmond and published in The Banner of Light gives some interesting information respecting the fashions in spirit-land: U Q. — By whom and in what man- ner is a spirit clothed upon his first entrance into the spirit- world from earth?" A. — The spirit has already raiment; the spirit is not clothed in external garments, fashioned as 20 HIGHEK TEACHINGS OF SPIEITUALISM. earthly garments are; but affectionate friends, spirits who are in sympathy, are seen by clairvoyants to gather around and array the spirit. This process of arraying the spirit is really a process of revealing what the spirit has already. Garments are woven of atmospheric conditions and spirit- ual substances surrounding the individual; and your spirits are arrayed in light or darkness, in draperies according to your state and condition. Thi^ arraying may be assisted by ministering spirits, who, bringing their love and charity, enfold you with them as with a mantle, or bringing flowers, cause these flowers to adorn your raiment, as a friend might bring you an offering from an earthly garden. The sub- stance of these flowers, however, will be found to be of your own creation, the result of your own earthly lives and conditions; and if the garments are insufficient or shadowy, filled with holes or imperfections, it is because your earth- lives have been such as to inweave in your spiritual atmos- phere robes insufficient to clothe you with light. Of Spirit Food. Q. — Is food required in the spirit-world?" A. — We certainly do not require that kind of food which you require; but we need to be sustained. We have bodies material, and they demand material sustenance. We ob- tain that material sustenance from the earth and what the earth provides — those of us who had our dwelling place on the earth prior to the change called death. If we were al- ways giving out and never receiving we should soon be ex- hausted. Q. — Do we drift there without an aim, or follow an avo- cation, a business, and eat, drink, sleep, &c, &c? A. — We certainly do not lead an aimless life in the spi- rit-world, but one altogether active — full of business. We eat; we drink; we sleep; we get weary; we get again OF SPIRIT FOOD. 21 refreshed; we have business avocations. The artist finds ample means to unfold his talent there; so does the mechanic; and all through the various branches of business life you will find there is an active principle running in the spirit- world, tor there are no drones there. Q. — How do spirits obtain the food they use? What equivalent do they give for it? Do they work for it as we do here? and, if so, are they subject to the terrible reverses humanity experiences upon this earth on that account? A. — It is said that it is the order of Nature, in physical life, to obtain bread by the sweat of the brow, by toil, by exertion; and we may add further that to obtain anything that ministers either to our pleasures or our needs, we must exert ourselves, we must toil, we must labor. There is a kind of labor that belongs especially to the physical body, the physical, organic life, and there is another kind of labor which belongs to spiritual life. This kind is desire — ardent, earnest desire. You know very well what the kind that belongs to physical life is. You are not unacquainted with the toil of the hands, of the feet, the exerting of the members of the body to obtain what is necessary to sustain the body. But you are not so well acquainted with that which belongs more especially to the spirit; although you have sat, many, perhaps all of you, in the primary school of that spirit-labor, yet you have hardly crossed the thres- hold. Yes, spirits do labor here to obtain what is neces- sary for them to have. They labor by earnest desire, but they do not meet with those terrible reverses that are met with here. The soul's needs in the soul-world stand out prominent and clear, and they demand a supply. And as the great Father Spirit has furnished an adequate supply for every want, no desire can have a fruitless birth. It must draw to itself that which the soul has need of. A very large class or group of spirits, who are as yet magnetically attached to the earth and earthly con- ditions, obtain much of their sustenance through the 22 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. action oi human life, through the magnetic conditions that belong partly to human life, or stand as agents be- tween this world and the world of souls. This subtle ele- ment called magnetism is the agent in the hands of who so can understand it; and a very powerful agent it is, too. Poverty is known to the spirit after death, but not that kind of poverty that is experienced here. The soul can possess itself at will of all that is necessary for its good, for its ad- vancement, for its unfoldment. The law of mine and thine is done away with in the spirit-world. Let us thank the Great Father for that. No soul can hug to its bosom any more of God's gifts than it has need of. No one can have more of the beauty of the spirit-world than it can well ap- propriate. Therefore you see there is enough for all. Of Spirit Language. Q. — Do spirits use vocal language in the spirit-world as they did on earth? If not, by what means do they con- verse with each other? A. — Yes, they do use vocal language, but it would not be vocal to human senses — to those senses that belong to the spirit body. There is sound — all the different varieties of sound — in the spirit world proper, as here. Q. Do spirits hold intercourse by means of an articulate language? A. — Certainly they do. The spirit-world is by no means a land of silence. If it were, it would hardly be heaven to most people. Q. What is the language of spirit-life? Surely if spirits have vocal organs they must have language. A. The language corresponds to the needs of the spirit. In the spirit-world sight is changed to perception. Lan- OF SPIKIT LANGUAGE. 23 guage, to a very great extent, is bound to the law of per- ception. And yet it is a distinctive feature. There is sound in the spirit-world. It is not all silence, by no means. There is form. Forms change. There is a great variety ot sounds. All the different languages of earth, as of all the inhabited planets, are represented in the spirit-world. Language has a spirit, as the flower has'a spirit. The spirit of the flower is the fragrance or peculiar exhalations of the flower. Language has its exhalations, its atmosphere, its spirit, and it is that that exists after the spirit passes out of the body. It is that that goes with the spirit. It is that that the spirit employs in communion with its fellows after death. Q. — You say there are sounds in the spirit-world. Are they echoes from the earth, or are they caused by spirits in the spirit-world? A. — They are not echoes from the earth, by no means. Sound also has its spirit, its pure, its more glorified part, and it is that that the spirits make use of. We have ours there. Ours are the more ethereal, the more glorious, the more beautiful, the more perfect. Every peculiar sound on earth sheds its own peculiar atmosphere, or light, or spirit, and it is that that spirits make use of in the spirit-world proper, or in that condition of life which follows the change called death. Q. — [From a correspondent.] Can spirits hear our or- dinary conversation without the aid of a human medium? A. — No; for those vibrations of sound can only make their appeal to the spiritual ear, first, through the material ear. Q. — Can any or all the spirits present at a sitting with a medium, hear or see all or any of the questions and answers passing between a person and a spirit communicating? A.— No. Q. — Many of the spirits communicating at your Free Cir- cle speak as if they had heard or read all that the spirit 24 HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. preceding them had said. Are these within the aura or at- mosphere of the medium? A. — Yes, always. Q. — Can a person not a medium make known by wish or prayer, to a spirit-friend at any time, when alone, his desire or hope? A. ISTo; but all can do this, for all are mediums. Of Spirit Publications. Q. — Are we to understand that you have volumes there by which you can enlighten yourselves on the history of the past? A.— Certainly. Everything that ever had an existence. All written works, all that bear the true impress of mind, remain throughout all eternity in the spirit-world. The volume that is destroyed here is by no means suffered to find the same fate there. You lose it, so far as the earth is concerned, but the spirit does not lose it. Do you un- derstand? [I do.] Q. — In case of destroyed MSS. or of typed works of liter- ature, or of records important to us here on earth, have you, in the spirit-world, those ideas in record un obliterated? If so, are they where you can consult them and impart their purport to us, when of importance to the development of science? A. — An accurate record of all written or unwritten thoughts that have found expression upon this planet is kept in the spirit-world proper, that belongs to this planet. Not a single thought is lost. All the old ideas are careful- ly kept in the spirit world. Nothing is lost, because every- thing has an internal or immortal life. All those valuable records that the past had but the present has not, so far as human life is concerned, are all kept in the spirit-world, and every soul that desires to inform itself concerning those OF SPIKIT PUBLICATIONS. 25 records is at liberty so to do. They are free to all. The spirit-world is one vast public library. Q. — [From the audience.] Is there anything in the spirit-world corresponding to our daily and weekly press? A. — We must answer the question, Mr. Chairman, in the affirmative. This world is simply a miniature of the spirit- world, and probably before newspapers or books were ever printed upon your earth that invention was brought forth in the great spiritual realm. We should not be happy un- less we could have all that we had on earth. Those who have in earth-life been interested in the newspaper business will most assuredly be thus interested when they come to our homes. We find that whenever one has a real liking for any mechanical work, he is always glad to enter the work-shops of our spiritual homes. If he is a preacher and loves to preach, he is very glad to go to our wisdom-circles and learn there, until he can come back and influence some individual here. If he is a lecturer, very likely he loves to look over the old massive volumes which we have in our libraries, and he will come back and impress some lecturer here. If a physician, loving his profession, he comes on the wings of love to earth, after having gained all the knowledge that he can, and impresses it on some fellow- man, that he in turn may do good to humanity. There is not a single part of earth but what has its spiritual. The tiniest flower that blooms upon your world has its spiritual in the Summer-Land; the little leaf has its counterpart with us; there is nothing lost. Our world is a natural world. We live, move, and have our affections the same as in earth- life. Of Spirit Presence. Q. — [By E. J. S.] What are the means usually employ- ed by spirits to indicate their presence to an individual on earth? Do they produce any sensation, electrical or other- 26 BTGHEK TEACHINGS OF SPIKITUALISM. wise, for that purpose, recognizable by their earth-friends? A. — Spirits have various ways of indicating their pres- ence to their mortal friends. A spirit very much in sym- pathy with an individual on earth, may not have the power of producing any effect upon the mortal friend, simply for want of susceptibility on the part of that mortal. Other spirits may come to their friends and indicate their presence in different ways. A spirit may be able to impress on the mind of his mortal friend a knowledge of his presence, and that friend may become fully assured that his dear spirit-com- panion is by his side, attending him in his earthly way. Another spirit may be able to produce an electric shock throughout the system of an earthly friend, and thus indi- cate his presence. Another may come with strong mag- netic power and send a great wave of warm air over the system of a mortal friend; or it may be he will come with a chilling influence. Other spirits have other ways of man- ifesting their presence to their earthly friends. Those who inspire with gentle thought and loving action the minds of their friends on earth, may perhaps affect the most utilita- rian work in the atmosphere of mortality, for they are daily influencing the lives and operating upon the minds of those they love, drawing them heavenward. Q. — [By an investigator.] Can spirits answer mental questions? If so, will you explain how? A. — Spirits can answer mental questions that are pro- pounded by mortals, provided a certain degree of unity or sympathy exists between the mortal questioner and the spirit. Any one in spirit-life who is naturally in sympathy with you, who can come into close association and contact with your spirit, can very readily read your thought; so if a question arises in your mind, although you do not give it verbal utterance, such a spirit may take note of it and reply as he sees fit. Q. — [By E. M. B.] A person with mediumistic powers has the following experience: An emanation passes to or OF SPIRIT PRESENCE. 27 from the brain in rays of light. Will you give the meaning and purpose of this phenomenon? A. — Emanations passing from the brain of the individual are composed of the magnetic aura or nerve-force of his own being. These emanations are exhaled from the phys- ical organism, and are given forth in rays of light, at times, and at other times have the appearance of vaporous sub- stance. Emanations passing to the brain of a mediumistic person are composed of the magnetic aura of some attend- ant spirit, who directs them, by the force of his will-power, to the brain of his sensitive subject and concentrates them around the mental qualities of that subject, in order to bring him under the spirit's control. Q. — [By the same.] Many years ago, a spirit promised to communicate with me through the Banner of Light. The promise was given through prominent mediums of Boston, Brooklyn, and lastly of Minneapolis. I have watched the Banner for fourteen years, yet the message has never come. Will the controlling intelligeuce please explain, and greatly oblige an old subscriber? A. — It very often happens that a spirit, either before or after passing from the body, determines in its own mind that it will control a special medium and manifest to earthly friends, not realizing that its magnetism may not be adapt- ed to that of the medium selected, or assimilate with it, so as to enable it to manipulate the instrument and give intel- ligent communications to friends. Hence the failure, though it may have promised to do so through two or more mediums. It is very probable that the spirit under con- sideration has endeavored, time and again, to manifest through the different mediums who have occupied a position on this platform, but through the failure of understanding the psychological law of control has been unable to step into this special line of communication and make its wishes known. Evidently the same spirit might very readily con- trol some other medium and give an intelligent communi- 28 HIGHEE TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. cation. It is not wise for a spirit to become positive on the subject of controlling one medium, for as we have before stated, conditions and circumstances may be such that it will be unable to fulfill the purpose which it had in mind. Q. — Are there beings who know all our thoughts and ac- tions, and who approve or condemn us for them? A. — We reply in the affirmative; but of course can do so only through inferential deduction. We have not the same evidence of the Infinite Mind that we have evidence of your presence, because your presence is something we can thoroughly comprehend; your spirits are spirits with whom we can meet as equals; whereas, the Infinite Spirit must neces- sarily be beyond us. * * That there are spirits who know everything we do, we are absolutely certain; that there are beings in the universe who can read us through and through, who know our every motive, we have no more doubt than we have doubt that we live. Q. — How can we call for spiritual help? A. — When any soul has a constant and earnest enquiry for truth, so soon as it becomes a fixed and immovable de- sire, it is like a battery set up within the soul, out of which proceed electric lines of light, that touch and question every soul that possesses the knowledge that would answer such desire, and calls them by an imperative summons to answer to their kindred brother. In this way a knowledge of the truth may be brought home to every soul. Of Clairvoyance or Spiritual Vision. Q. — Will you please explain the difference, if any, be- tween clairvoyance, vision and dreams that foreshadow or present occurrences that afterwards actually take place? A. — They are different phases of one and the same power. NATUKE OF THE SPIRIT, OR SPIRIT-BODY. 29 Q. — Does a person in the clairvoyant state see exter- nally? A. — The clairvoyant sees by perceiving, and not with the natural organ of sight. It is the inner sight which takes cognizance of external things. Q. — [From a correspondent.] Can a mesmerist, by the aid of a medium, put himself in communication with a per- son at a distance, read his every thought, and describe his surroundings? A. — Yes; with the exception of reading every thought. We cannot say as that, in the case, would be done, or could be. Q. — Can a mesmerist entrance a person at a distance, even though the person to be entranced has no knowledge of the person, or whereabouts of the mesmerist? A. — Yes; thousands of cases will attest to the fact. Q. — Can the person thus entranced hear not alone the mesmerist but those in connection with him? A.— Yes. Q. — Can all persons become clairvoyants, in the common acceptation of the term? A. — They are all clairvoyants, whether they will or not. Every soul is gifted with clairvoyance. The gift may not be exercised so that you are conscious of it, but you have it, nevertheless. Q. — When the spirit of a clairvoyant leaves the body and goes to the spirit-realm, may it not see the actual spirit bodies as they exist? A. — Certainly; it is seen under spiritual conditions, but not under physical conditions. Clairvoyance may be call- ed the telescope of mind. It reveals to your human senses what physical senses under ordinary conditions could not see. By the use of the telescope you behold distant plan- ets. You do not know that they exist without the use of 30 THE HIGHER TEACHINGS OF SPIRITUALISM. the telescope. By and through clairvoyance, the soul be holds disembodied spirits and communes with them. Q. — Do clairvoyants and mediums retain and exercise the same or a corresponding power in the spirit-world as they have here? A. — They do, only the power is largely increased by the change. Q. — [By E. D. B.] When a medium is so developed as to be able to see, while the natural eyes are tightly closed, many beautiful and greatly refined colors, tints, and a great variety of beautiful symmetrical figures, landscapes, flowers, spirits, etc., in a soft clear light — the scenes constantly changing — is kaleidoscopic vision the most proper name for the same, and do attending guardian spirits conduct said changes? A. — Such a condition of clear sight denotes the posses- sion of clairvoyant powers of a high order. We should not generally call it kaleidoscopic vision, although there is no objection to the possessor doing so; we should call it inde- pendent clairvoyance; that is, the spiritual perceptions are so developed as to take cognizance of what is passing around and usually invisible to mortals. Sights, sounds, colors and vibrations in the atmosphere exist all around you, but they are imperceptible to the external senses. One whose spiritual perceptions are highly developed, or are very keen, may be able to take cognizance of such surround- ings, and thus to have his brain impressed by them, as must be the brain of the one referred to in the question. Such clairvoyant powers may be under the watchful guid- ance and guardianship of attendant spirits, or they may be exercised independently of any particular spiritual intelli- gence. Probably they are developed, operated upon and strengthened by attending spirit-guides; but it may be a matter of choice with those guides, whether, after these powers and senses have been unfolded, they will remain in contact with the sensitive and take charge of his organism, OF CLAIKVOYANCE OK SPIRITUAL VISION. 31 or whether these clairvoyant perceptions, spiritual sensa- tions, will arise and exist in the individual alone, independ- eut of watchful spiritual guardianship. We affirm that every individual possesses a sixth sense, one not recognized in physical life — it is that of spiritual perception — and not only does this sense apply itself to the spiritual vision or eyesight, but it is a part of every sense in the individual: perception meaning, to our minds, something more keen and far-reaching than simply the word sight or clairvoyance; the spiritual perception being able not only to take cogni- zance of objects in the spiritual atmosphere, but to perceive the presence of objects, persons or conditions independent of the use of the spiritual eye, to hear sounds and retain im- pressions that are not usually retained or comprehended by the mortal senses. (