The Future of Man 
 
 M eta-Psychic 
 EDWARD C. RANDALL 
 

 
 

 
THE FUTURE OF MAN 
 
 Meta-Psychic 
 
 By EDWARD C. RANDALL 
 
 Author of "Life's Progression' 1 '' 
 
 "Force is the breath of 
 nature, and that is life" 
 
 OTTO ULBRICH COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
 BUFFALO, N. Y. 
 
 MCMVIII 
 

 LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 DEC !2 1908 
 
 CUSS 6L XXc. No, 
 
 ? *■* 
 
 Copyrighted, 1908, 
 
 By Edward C. Randall,. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
TO THOSE WHOSE HEARTS ARE 
 IJKAW WITH DULL GRIEF, TO 
 THOSE WHO SEEK THE TRUTH 
 AND WOULD KNOW THE LAW OF 
 LIFE, I DEDICATE THIS BOOK. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 T. THE GREAT QUESTION , , ,17 
 
 IT. THE MENTAL GRASP . . . 25 
 
 in. TRUTH AND APPEAR AXrK , , . :;7 
 
 IV. PROGRESS 
 
 V. HOWDOIKNOW1 51 
 
 VI. SPIRTT IDENTITY . >. . W 
 
 VII. OF MANY MINDS 75 
 
 VIII. SPEECH WITH SPIRTT PEOPLE , 83 
 
 IX. THOUGHT AND MTND .... 80 
 
 X. NATURE'S LABORATORY ... 00 
 
 XI. VIBRATION 107 
 
 XII. MATTER 110 
 
 Xin LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE . . .131 
 
 XIV. THE ATTITTDE OF SCIENCE . . 141 
 
 XV. EVOLUTION 155 
 
 XVI. BEYOND THE ATOM . . . . 169 
 XVII. THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND . .181 
 
 XVITI. SPIRTT SUGGESTION . . . L91 
 
 XIX. THE WORLD'S DESIRE . . . 20ft 
 
 XX. HOMES IN THE AFTER LIFE . . 211 
 
 XXL TRUE CHARTTY 210 
 
 XXII. TO THAT MORTAL WOITJ) [ SPEAK 227 
 
 XXIII. TRUTH AT LAST 233 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 IN the presence of dissolution v faith, be- 
 lief and creeds wither and decay, and 
 doubt goes hand in hand with grief. 
 In such a presence we feel what speech can- 
 not tell, and hope that what seems night 
 here is somewhere else a dawn. In the 
 majesty of this silence, how acts and deeds 
 bust into perfect form. When loving 
 hearts are breaking, and heads are bowed 
 above an open grave, how dare any priest 
 presume to tell what he does not know? 
 
 Little at best can be known of the after- 
 life, so boundless is its scope; yet enough 
 can be learned while in the body, to dispel 
 the awful fear and to lighten the sorrows 
 that fill the human heart, as well as to make 
 men lead better lives because they can live 
 more intelligently, and so enrich the world. 
 That I may increase this knowledge, I have 
 investigated every natural law that I have 
 had the opportunity and ability to study, 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAK. 
 
 and now, owing to present freedom of 
 speech, I publish the results of my investiga- 
 tion without fear. In many ways I have 
 sought the thought of men, both in and out 
 of the body, ever drawing my own con- 
 clusions, and making my own deductions. 
 I have felt the thrill of success in the dis- 
 covery of new laws and in the proving of 
 new facts. 
 
 The bridge of death no longer rests upon 
 the clouds of hope, but upon great piers of 
 knowledge. Every act is but the product 
 of conditions, and the heart applauds the 
 brain when one works to increase the force 
 of universal good. I know that matter is 
 eternal and that only form is new, and 
 that one who but yesterday in the flush of 
 health faced the storms of life with splendid 
 courage, and whose body lies to-night in 
 the embrace of mother earth, is no excep- 
 tion to the rule. All that was matter, as 
 we use the term, the outer garment, all that 
 gave him physical expression, will mingle 
 with the substance from which it was 
 formed: but his spirit is eternal, his pro- 
 gression will be unbroken, and his horizon 
 will widen, as he reaches the sphere of 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 psychic discovery. I know that to the lim- 
 its of that plane in which he lives at first, 
 the human voice will carry, the thought will 
 reach. The so-called dead live here about 
 us, know our sorrows and grieve with us. 
 They share our happiness, they know our 
 hopes and ambitions, and, by suggestion, 
 through our sub-conscious brain, they in- 
 fluence our daily conduct. I know that 
 there in the after-life they have feature, 
 form and expression, and, therefore, bodies 
 composed of matter, for there cannot be 
 form without substance. The substance 
 that forms the bodies of spirit-people, vi- 
 brating more than five octaves higher than 
 the violet ray, few in earth-life ever see, 
 though spirit people see and talk with each 
 other, and with mortals when the necessary 
 conditions are secured. I know that every 
 hope, ambition and desire of earth are con- 
 tinued beyond this life, as is also the bur- 
 den of wrong. I know that we are as much 
 spirit now as we ever shall be ; that in death, 
 so-called, we simply vacate and discard the 
 gross material that gives us expression in 
 this physical plane. All about this mater- 
 ial world of ours, there exists, in fact, the 
 
 9 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 psychic or spiritual universe, more active 
 and real than this, peopled with all the 
 countless dead, who, no longer burdened 
 with a physical body, move at will within 
 the boundaries of their sphere, in what ap- 
 pears as space to mortal man. 
 
 Their life is an active one. All the new 
 conditions, all the great laws by which 
 they are to be governed, must be learned, 
 and only by individual effort can 
 they live intelligently and well. I know 
 that a wrong act in earth-life must be lived 
 over again in the next sphere, and lived 
 right, before advancement is possible; that 
 the labor is often long, but that families 
 and friends are, in time, reunited and take 
 up the thread where it was broken. I have 
 heard them talk among themselves, and to 
 me, and many eminent men and women, 
 upon my invitation, have heard the same 
 that I have heard in the material conditions 
 that we have made. I know something of 
 the democracy of death, and that all man- 
 kind is beginning to hear and march to the 
 silent music of reason. I know, too, that 
 the highest duty of every one is to contribute 
 what he can to the prosperity of the many, 
 10 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 who though rich in worldly goods, are men- 
 tally poor in a land of opportunity, and that 
 this individual life of ours, whether 
 it has had birth within the palace 
 or the hut, no matter how it turns 
 and curves and falls among the hills 
 as it courses from the mountain-tops, 
 through valley-lands, or, lies at times in 
 stagnant pools of ignorance and vice, fester- 
 ing in the sun, must some day reach the 
 great ocean of eternal life, from whence it 
 came, clean and pure. 
 
 I am told that : "Beyond the life men call 
 material, is another so much more real, so 
 much more vital and interesting, that, when 
 you enter into its fullest harmony, the lit- 
 tle lives you led on earth will fade into the 
 dim unreality of a dream-like past." 
 
 We cannot in the nature of things know 
 much of the every-day life of spirits who 
 people what to us is infinite space, because 
 we are unable to grasp, to any great extent, 
 the realities of their conditions. All can 
 learn a little of matter and laws that con- 
 trol it beyond the physical plane, and to 
 that extent can reason from cause to ef- 
 11 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 feet, without which there cannot be any 
 rational conclusion. 
 
 I know that the tendency of all people is 
 to do right, and that an invisible world, 
 peopled by the so-called dead of all ages 
 past, is interested in and is aiding our pro- 
 gression, that it speaks to our dull ears, 
 with silent voices heard only through the 
 subconscious brain; and I know that the 
 great desire and hope of those beyond is to 
 bring the world to an understanding of 
 what dissolution means and of what follows 
 so-called death, so that, knowing these two 
 things, they may learn how to live the earth- 
 life well. 
 
 The age of faith is past. The teaching of 
 the church no longer satisfies the hunger 
 of heart and brain. This is an age of fact. 
 The present calls upon all men to think, 
 not to believe; the torch of reason has been 
 lighted, and its day is here. Some of the 
 churches are now teaching mental therapeu- 
 tics and utilizing psychic force to heal the 
 sick, and, in time, all must follow the ex- 
 ample of the few. The education and de- 
 velopment of this generation have made it 
 possible for spirit-intelligence to direct, in 
 
 12 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 some measure, the thought and conduct of 
 mankind; and so I thoroughly believe the 
 churches that shall teach the truth are al- 
 ready built. 
 
 For many years, I have been associated 
 with two distinguished gentlemen and, with 
 the aid of a psychic, talked voice to voice 
 with spirit-people. Possessing no unusual 
 ability or powers, we have been obliged to 
 develop one who possesses psychic force. 
 Having observed the conditions required by 
 spirit-people, we have found another and a 
 busy active world here and about us, in 
 which people live and move in such intense 
 vibration, that they are not visible to the 
 physical eye. They inhabit what we know 
 as space and have, under certain conditions, 
 power to speak to mortal man. Many of 
 the so-called dead have honored us with 
 their friendship and have given us much in- 
 struction. When I have used their own 
 words, the fact is indicated by quotation 
 marks. 
 
 I have written these pages with the 
 hope that some heart, heavy with sorrow, 
 may come to comprehend the truth about 
 dissolution, and to know that those called 
 
 13 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 dead are alive, and that all is well with 
 them. We should ever look with eager eyes 
 for gems of truth, and what we find, we 
 should have the courage to express. I know 
 better than anyone can tell me, how incom- 
 plete is this effort to give the world a Meta- 
 psychic Philosophy, but bear with me: I 
 have gone, in my research, beyond physical 
 laws and the books of men, out into the 
 wilderness of fact; beyond the beaten path 
 into another world, more active and more 
 real than the one in which we live, and what 
 I have written, incomplete though it may 
 be, are facts and they are true. Without 
 arrogance, prejudice or preconceived and 
 fixed notions, I have sat at the feet of learn- 
 ing, and, with eager and receptive brain, 
 have listened to the teachings of splendid 
 minds beyond the physical sphere and have 
 weighed carefully each word in the light of 
 reason and of experience. I know "there is 
 no death; there are no dead;" that this life 
 is but the creative plane, a preparatory 
 stage of development for the reality that 
 comes with dissolution, which is merely an 
 increasing of our vibratory action. This is 
 the greatest discovery of the present age, 
 
 14 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 and, when appreciated, will revolutionize 
 the thought and conduct of the generation 
 that shall accept it. 
 
 Some mortal lives are so lived that they 
 stand out like trees aflame along the green 
 and wooded shore where waters beat with 
 endless wave; others, like undergrowth 
 within the endless forest, remain unknown, 
 but each must, according to the immutable 
 laws of progression, at some time, obtain 
 perfect development, which is the heritage 
 of all : this is the law of life. 
 
 I know that in the kingdom of the mind 
 there can be no personal dictation; that 
 there is no God but universal good; no 
 Savior but one's self; no trinity but mat- 
 ter, force and mind. 
 
 The twilight of fear has become to n*, 
 who know this phase of life, a sacred hour, 
 when, as the shadows fall, and rest follows 
 a day of labor, Ave call to those beyond and 
 hear voices of those so-called dead tell us 
 of the future life of man. 
 
 Dated Buffalo, N. Y., Oct. 10th, 1908. 
 
 Edward C. Randall. 
 
 15 
 
In the beginning, one of nay co-workers, in the 
 life beyond, said: 
 
 "I find about you, Mr. Randall, a crowd of earnest 
 spirit-people who are bending all their thought upon 
 this which you are about to undertake. They will help 
 you, when writing, by their suggestions, and, as the 
 little book begins its journey to find the hearts of men, 
 they will open many doors, and guide it to many dark- 
 ened homes. The light illuminating every page will be 
 the beacon for many in distress, and we in spirit do 
 most sincerely thank you for your efforts to bring 
 these great truths to all people. 
 
 "We see so many entering spirit-life who have 
 lived and died ignorant of this natural law, and we 
 know so well the importance of knowing and living 
 according to that law, that we rejoice over this book 
 of knowledge and we will speed it on its helpful jour- 
 ney with eagerness and with pleasure.' ' 
 
 16 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE GREAT QUESTION. 
 
 SINCE mankind came up out of .sav- 
 agery, the great problem has been 
 and ever shall be : What is the ulti- 
 mate end of man? What, if anything, waits 
 on the other side of death's mysterious 
 door? What happens when the hour strikes 
 that closes man's career, when, leaving all 
 the gathered wealth of lands and goods, he 
 goes out into the dark alone? Is death the 
 end — annihilation and repose? Or, does 
 he wake in some other sphere or condition, 
 retaining individuality and identity? 
 
 Each must solve this great question, 
 whether he like it or not. Dissolution and 
 change have come to every form of life, and 
 will come to all that live. With opportun- 
 ity knocking at the door, mankind has but 
 little more appreciation of it now than it 
 had when Phallic-worship swayed the des- 
 tinies of empires. It may be that, as a 
 
 17 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 people, our development has been such that 
 we could heretofore grasp and comprehend 
 only length, breadth and thickness, the 
 three accepted dimensions of matter; that 
 in our progression we have but now become 
 able to appreciate and understand life forces 
 that find their only expression beyond the 
 physical plane. 
 
 This was when all knowledge was handed 
 down from one generation to another by 
 story, song and tradition. When the Per- 
 sian civilization was groAving old and am- 
 bition towered above the lofty walls 
 of Babylon; when Egypt was building her 
 temples on the banks of the Nile; when 
 Greece was the center of art and culture, 
 and Rome with its wealth and luxuries held 
 sway over the civilized world, they did not 
 dream of type and printing press or applied 
 electricity, and the many inventions in con- 
 nection therewith that were yet to come. 
 Those people were not ready for such pro- 
 gression. 
 
 The world cannot stand still. The great 
 law of the universe is progress. Two or 
 three generations since, the idea that a cable 
 would one day be laid under the sea and 
 
 18 
 
THE GREAT QUESTION. 
 
 that messages would be transmitted under 
 the waters from continent to continent, was 
 laughed at as a chimera. Only a little 
 while ago, the world could not understand 
 how words and sentences could be flashed 
 across the trackless ocean from ship to ship, 
 and from land to land, without wires, in 
 space. And who shall now say that it is 
 not possible to send thoughts, words, sen- 
 tences, voices even, and messages, out into 
 the ether of the spirit world, there to be 
 heard, recorded and answered? Has man 
 reached the end of his possibilities; will all 
 progression stop with Marconi's achieve- 
 ments? 
 
 This is the age of man; we have passed 
 the age of the gods. If our development is 
 such that we can comprehend the life and 
 the conditions following dissolution, it 
 must be within our grasp as surely as prog- 
 ress has been possible at all times and 
 among all people since the world began. 
 
 Great changes are at hand. There are 
 to-day, political, financial and religious rev- 
 olutions. Honest men are demanded for 
 public office; the day of the corruptionist 
 is passing. Captains of finance, who ma- 
 
 19 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 nipulate trust funds for personal gain in 
 violation of law, fear imprisonment. Priests 
 are realizing that they are no longer re- 
 garded as infallible; congregations have 
 ceased to accept their conclusions or in- 
 terpretations of one great natural law ; the 
 pulpit is losing attraction, and church at- 
 tendance is slowly, but surely, diminish- 
 ing. People are doing their own thinking, 
 and with thought comes doubt, the dawn 
 of reason, the stepping stone to the temple 
 of knowledge. 
 
 Assuming, then, that we have come to 
 that period, when we can look upon all 
 subjects and propositions impartially and 
 intelligently, no longer bound by fear, past 
 or present, and can open the book of life, 
 we now appreciate that it is of the greatest 
 importance to know what follows this life. 
 
 We are swinging away from the old 
 moorings; new views come with changing 
 times and conditions. Knowledge is the 
 torch that fires our enthusiasm and makes 
 advancement possible. It is not the past 
 but the future that commands our atten- 
 tion. We may learn much of nature as she 
 
 speaks, in all dialects, her various tongues. 
 20 
 
THE GREAT QUESTION. 
 
 All truth is safe, nothing else will suffice, 
 and he who holds back the truth, through 
 expediency or fear, fails in his duty to man- 
 kind. 
 
 Our age is one of sudden and rapid 
 changes ; the people are in a state of transi- 
 tion. Most minds are sensitive and each 
 must be alert and versatile. It is a period 
 fraught with unrest and thirst for knowl- 
 edge. What was true yesterday, assumes 
 a different, one could almost say a dia- 
 meterically opposite aspect, to-day. This 
 is a period that will be fruitful in 
 great wonders in scientific discoveries, and 
 in the adaptation of the universal law of 
 vibratory action. Much that is said now 
 could not have been explained a year ago. 
 
 Some have come to know what awaits 
 over the great divide, have solved the great 
 problem of dissolution, and with the con- 
 fidence born of knowledge, based on facts 
 proved and demonstrated, are ready to 
 speak with authority. As one among the 
 many, I again give the world the result of 
 my continued research in the new science 
 of Metapsychics. 
 
 The thought that there need be no more 
 
 21 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 groping in the dark, makes the pulse 
 quicken. The realization that fear can 
 now be eliminated from the human brain, 
 fills every heart with joy. The fact that we 
 may come into touch with those in spheres 
 beyond and know that they live, and how 
 and where they live, will lift the burden 
 of sorrow from every heart that mourns 
 its dead. 
 
 The child learns readily for two reasons, 
 viz: (a) It has no preconceived notions or 
 fixed ideas; (b) it has nothing to unlearn: 
 its mind is free and receptive. We, of older 
 growth, are but children in the wilderness 
 of these new and subtle laws. Before we 
 can grasp and comprehend this philosophy, 
 we must free our minds and eliminate false 
 conceptions and erroneous ideas. That this 
 is a difficult task I well know, for minds 
 filled with traditions and false conceptions 
 of the after-life, simply cannot comprehend 
 the truth when it is given to them. There 
 can be no individual progression until one 
 becomes free, mentally poised, open to rea- 
 son and willing to hear facts and to weigh 
 them honestly. The blind are entitled to 
 
 our sympathy; we look upon those who 
 22 
 
THE GREAT QUESTION. 
 
 cannot grasp a truth, because it is not as 
 they have been taught, with sorrow; but we 
 grasp the open hands of the free and walk 
 with them in nature's highway and reason 
 with them. 
 
 Humanity is awakening. For two thou- 
 sand years it has listened to the song and 
 drone of priest and preacher, and, lulled 
 into a sense of security, has lived indiffer- 
 ent to the end which each one fast ap- 
 proaches. The mind has, at last, become 
 active, and now demands to know what fate 
 awaits us beyond the grave. Man has 
 learned something about himself and the 
 universe, and this knowledge has made him 
 free. He is no longer in spiritual bondage. 
 This is an age of intellectual emancipation. 
 Those who walk with open eyes will find 
 the truth, for it lights the way across the 
 continent of every human life. 
 
 23 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MENTAL GRASP. 
 
 MANY will read the facts that are 
 stated in this work and utterly 
 fail to comprehend them or to 
 grasp the laws that make such conditions 
 possible. This I know from my own ex- 
 perience, for it took many years of research, 
 study and deductive reasoning for me to 
 comprehend, in a limited way, life in the 
 physical apart from gross matter. The 
 trouble was in the imperfect mental grasp. 
 When Copernicus said that the earth 
 moved around the sun, and not the sun 
 around the earth, as had been held since 
 the end of Egyptian astronomy, the voice 
 of all Europe was raised in protest against 
 such a proposition; people could not com- 
 prehend such a fact, for it appeared to them 
 that, if the earth moved from one side of a 
 vast orbit to the other, the stars would be 
 displaced. Tycho Brahe, the great math- 
 
 25 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 ematician, gave up the Copernican theory 
 because he said, if true, his brain could not 
 comprehend the magnitude of the universe. 
 Bruno was put to death for defending the 
 proposition, and it took a century for this 
 truth to be realized, so contrary was it to 
 the former teaching and belief. 
 
 After Cassini upset the observations of 
 Hooke and Flam stead, Molyneaux, an ama- 
 teur, constructed the "zenithsector," and 
 measured the distances of stars, but many 
 years elapsed before this fact was accepted, 
 for the human brain could not realize such 
 tremendous distances. And Roemer, when 
 he measured the speed of light, met the 
 same reception and died before his discov- 
 ery was accepted. The age could not grasp 
 the stupendous conception; such inconceiv- 
 able velocities were too terrific, and the 
 minds of able men were overwhelmed and 
 confounded in the majestic and awful pres- 
 ence of nature. 
 
 We are told that on a clear night, 6874 
 stars, from the brightest to the sixth mag- 
 nitude, are visible without optical aid, half 
 of them being above the horizon at the same 
 time. Down to the present time, more than 
 
 26 
 
THE MENTAL GRASP. 
 
 one million others have, with the aid of the 
 telescope, been counted with more or less 
 accuracy. Sirius, the brightest of all, is 
 seven hundred thousand times farther from 
 our earth than the sun, and it would taka 
 ten thousand stars of the eleventh magni- 
 tude and one million of the sixteenth, to 
 emit the quantity of light poured 
 forth by the mighty Aldebaran. Every star 
 is really a colossal sun at terrific heat, and 
 the center of a solar system like our own. 
 Who shall say how many more shall be 
 found in the depth of infinite space? To 
 the average mind these facts and figures 
 mean nothing; such distances are incom- 
 prehensible; such numbers stagger us; we 
 have heretofore had nothing with which to 
 compare them. No mortal has journeyed to 
 other planets or suns, or gone such dis- 
 tances; therefore, these facts are practical- 
 ly beyond the mental grasp, like many here 
 presented. Any subject outside one's 
 knowledge and experience is beyond his 
 comprehension. 
 
 It is a law that knowledge, which pre- 
 cedes appreciation, must be acquired by in- 
 dividual effort, by study, by labor, deduc- 
 
 27 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 tion, reason ; and, as the world has devoted 
 its research almost entirely to matter, 
 meaning thereby matter in its lowest form, 
 it is, therefore, densely ignorant of anything 
 beyond the physical plane. 
 
 When anyone fails to understand the sim- 
 ple facts here presented, it is because he has 
 not carried his observation beyond the phy- 
 sical, for I have discovered only what any- 
 one can by making well-directed and per- 
 sistent effort. The situation as to these 
 propositions is not very different now from 
 what it was when Copernicus discovered the 
 earth's movement, except that they do not 
 now burn men for proclaiming a new dis- 
 covery. It is as difficult for the mass of 
 people to realize today that there is an in- 
 visible world about us, filled with actual 
 people, as it was when Bruno lived, to com- 
 prehend the movements of this earth. 
 
 When I say that there is life after so- 
 called death, and that spirit people have 
 form, feature, individuality, identity and 
 occupation; that this world invisible to 
 our physical eye is here, on and about this 
 earth, and in what we know as space ; when 
 I say that those thought to be dead walk 
 
 2S 
 
THE MENTAL GRASP. 
 
 our streets, enter our homes, and are with 
 us much as before, the great majority can 
 no more comprehend such a condition of 
 things than they can the number of stars 
 in the sky or the distance of Sirius, the 
 brightest of our constellations, or what the 
 parallax of Canopus is. I knoAV of the 
 after-life by reason of having talked with 
 thousands of persons now there, who have 
 proved identity in a most emphatic man- 
 ner; but, after many years of conversation 
 with spirit-people, I frankly admit that I 
 can comprehend only in a limited way their 
 life and environment, so different is it from 
 the physical. If I do fail to comprehend 
 their daily life fully, what will one do who 
 has never devoted an hour to the study of 
 matter and life-forces in their higher vibra- 
 tory conditions? 
 
 We should not expect to understand and 
 appreciate individual progression beyond 
 the physical, or where and how people live 
 in the next sphere, from an abstract state- 
 ment of the fact. To gain knowledge of 
 this condition, we must approach this vast 
 problem as we would any other great sub- 
 ject we desire to master. First, we must 
 
 29 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 know something of the origin of physical 
 life, how it is started, how it develops and 
 grows; the object of material existence; 
 how soul and body are nourished and held 
 together; something of the theory of heart- 
 action, blood circulation and the vibratory 
 conditions of matter ; what dissolution real- 
 ly means; what life-force is and where it 
 comes from; the effect of conduct here on 
 conditions in the after-life, and how to live 
 so as to enrich ourselves when we cast aside 
 that physical substance that gives us ex- 
 pression. These propositions, stupendous 
 as they seem, are in fact only elementary, 
 and their mastery is a condition precedent 
 to appreciation of life and environment in 
 spirit-spheres. Knowledge on this subject, 
 as in any other field of research, must be 
 acquired by study. You would not expect 
 to know the history of the earth's evolution 
 and movements without studying geology 
 and gravity, or the difference in the flora 
 without knowing something of botany, or 
 the chemical constituents of matter with- 
 out the study of chemistry. The same law 
 applies to psychic force and to life beyond 
 the earth-plane, as on the earth-plane. It 
 
 30 
 
THE MENTAL GRASP. 
 
 is a great science — a wholly new philoso- 
 phy. Few intelligent minds have ever en- 
 tered this great field of knowledge; little 
 effort has been systematically expended on 
 it, and the results are, at best, only com- 
 mensurate with the effort. No one man, or 
 class of men, can bring these laws compre- 
 hensively to the human mind. All who 
 stud}- the subject can help, but the knowl- 
 edge and appreciation that will reach the 
 inner chamber of thought must be acquired 
 by individual effort born of the desire to 
 know. Those who cannot comprehend new 
 propositions, must remember there are 
 problems in trigonometry that many do not 
 understand; but if we commence with sim- 
 ple mathematics, and work along step by 
 step, they will become as simple to us as 
 the multiplication table. The same process 
 must be used if we would grasp the prin- 
 ciples and laws of Metapsychics. Abstract 
 statements are of little value except to 
 stimulate interest. Effort and well-directed 
 study are of great importance. There are 
 no schools or universities where this phil- 
 osophy is taught, and few are qualified to 
 teach it. Few books have been written that 
 
 31 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAX. 
 
 one can accept. But, for all that, one has 
 nature all about him, at all times, calling 
 in all tongues, and in all languages. The 
 fact that life is everywhere, that nothing 
 can die or be destroyed, speaks to our dull 
 senses in a thousand ways ; sings of joy and 
 peace through the forest-trees and woos us 
 with bud, flower and growing grain. But 
 so blind is the world that but few can read 
 intelligently the book of nature, ever open 
 to view. It is the great misfortune of the 
 human race that these laws, more important 
 than others that have been mastered, are 
 practically unknown, though the peace and 
 happiness of everyone depend upon an un- 
 derstanding of them. 
 
 Let me make a more simple statement. 
 Before all form is mind. The desk I write 
 on, the pen I use, the chair upon which I 
 sit, the books on the shelves, the rugs on 
 the floor, the lamp on the table, and the 
 telephone on the wall, every machine that 
 moves; each was conceived and fashioned 
 in the mind before it was physically con- 
 structed. All matter, as we use that term, 
 is the expression of thought; every planet 
 in our solar system and all the countless 
 
 32 
 
THE MENTAL GRASP. 
 
 suns tbat light the night, are but the ex- 
 pressions of thought. 
 
 All the great discoveries of modern times 
 are simple when understood; the difficulty 
 is with the understanding. When once we 
 know the why and the wherefore, all nat- 
 ural laws become so plain that "he who 
 runs may read." What we cannot grasp, 
 we regard as mysterious. When we dis- 
 cover one of nature's laws, we marvel at its 
 simplicity. There is nothing in nature that 
 is supernatural; there is no supernormal, 
 these are but names given to conditions 
 not understood. 
 
 The working and development of a hu- 
 man mind is intensely interesting. Mr. K., 
 who spent one year with me in this re- 
 search, was a man of much learning and a 
 great thinker along material lines, and 
 when I endeavored to explain life, apart 
 from the physical, it was so different from 
 his experience that he was at first utterly 
 unable to grasp it. As we progressed, step 
 by step, confining our discussion to cause 
 and effect, he came to appreciate the force 
 of simple facts, and when he heard and 
 talked, voice to voice, with spirit-people, 
 
 33 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 his progress was wonderful, lie could ap- 
 preciate the fact and the reason for it. On 
 the other hand, I tried for weeks, with as 
 simple words as I could use, to explain this 
 philosophy to another who was anxious to 
 know, but who had an untrained mind, 
 practically without making any impres- 
 sion. The one was a thinker and a worker ; 
 the other was indolent and undeveloped 
 mentally, and consequently had a limited 
 grasp of such facts. 
 
 From these experiences, and many others, 
 I conclude that the vast majority of man- 
 kind, having but little knowledge of this 
 subject, cannot appreciate much beyond the 
 visible and tangible, though they may be 
 learned in other ways. Individual life, 
 beyond the physical and similar to it, will 
 be hard for many to grasp, because they 
 have not investigated the elementary laws 
 that form the groundwork of Metapsychics. 
 
 If I can arouse human beings from their 
 indifference to this great question, more 
 vital to them than money, and get them 
 interested in this new philosophy, they will 
 find the truth in their own way. For a 
 thousand years the individual has lived 
 
 34 
 
THE MENTAL GRASP. 
 
 in fear, bound by creeds and dogmas, and 
 has been told what he should and should 
 not do, how he must think, what he must 
 think, — a slave to superstition and preju- 
 dice. But fear no longer sways the 
 mind, superstitions have been outgrown, 
 creeds have lost their meaning, and preju- 
 dice, the child of ignorance, no longer dom- 
 inates the way on the crowded avenue of 
 knowledge. 
 
 35 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 TRUTH AND APPEARANCE. 
 
 TRUTH is always an achievement; 
 it becomes such by reversing ap- 
 pearances, turning rest into motion, 
 solids into fluids, centers into orbits, and by 
 breaking up inclosing firmaments into in- 
 finite space. The sun, the moon, the stars 
 seem to revolve, but they do not. We 
 feel that the earth is motionless; that idea 
 is erroneous too. We see the sun ritse 
 above the horizon; it is beneath us. We 
 touch what we think is a solid body; there 
 is no such thing. We think we hear 
 harmonious sounds; but the air has only 
 brought us silent undulations. We ad- 
 mire the effects of light, and the 
 colors that bring vividly before our 
 eyes the splendid scenes of nature; but in 
 fact there is no light, there are no colors. 
 It is the movement of colorless ether strik- 
 ing on our optic nerve which gives us the 
 
 37 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 impression of light and color. We speak 
 of heat and cold; there is neither heat nor 
 cold in the universe, only motion. 
 
 Once it was said "This is as it appears." 
 Now we say "The reality is not according 
 to first appearance, but usually the re- 
 verse." Knowledge has reversed these be- 
 liefs, and the contrary is now proved to be 
 the fact. The energy of an active agent 
 seems to end with disorganization, but it 
 really passes into another form. The ap- 
 pearance of nature is almost always 
 elusive; and our first interpreta- 
 tion of natural conditions is us- 
 ually the reverse of the reality. Of course 
 this must be so ; it is the wisdom of crea- 
 tion and the secret of the world; else knowl- 
 edge would he immediate and icithout pro- 
 cess. Nature has put reality at a distance, 
 and a natural law compels each to travel 
 that distance, and, by labor and study, to 
 distinguish reality from appearance. 
 
 Dissolution is no exception to the uni- 
 versal law. It is not as it appears, but the 
 contrary. Death is only another birth 
 into a more active condition. Those whom 
 we call dead simply move into a new com- 
 
 38 
 
TRUTH AND APPEARANCE. 
 
 munity, leaving mankind, because of their 
 unenlightened condition, appalled at the 
 change. There is nothing in the great 
 scheme of nature that, when understood, is 
 not simple, harmonious and beautiful. 
 Many look at dissolution with horror be- 
 cause they do not understand what it is 
 and to what it leads. Fear is the lowest of 
 human emotions, and the child of ignorance. 
 When we all come to such a stage of men- 
 tal progress that we can understand, we 
 shall appreciate the wisdom and necessity 
 of dissolution. Were it not for death, as 
 we call it, this world would be crowded to 
 starvation. Were it not for pain, we 
 should not be warned against dan- 
 ger nor should we know how to 
 avert it. Sickness is a necessity; and all 
 punishment that results from violation of 
 nature's laws, is disciplinary. Dissolution 
 only shifts the scenes, and transfers the 
 individual from a material to a spiritual 
 stage of action, without taking from or add- 
 ing to his moral or intellectual capacity. 
 In the next sphere of action, he no longer 
 sees with half a vision, but is brought face 
 to face with himself, which gives a higher, 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 broader and more comprehensive view 
 and understanding of the economy of exist- 
 ence, which is evolution — a law as unalter- 
 able and indestructible as the mind itself. 
 
 If a man never becomes more than he is 
 now, the whole process of evolution, by 
 which he has come to be what he is, turns 
 on itself. The benevolent purpose, seen at 
 every stage as it yields to the next, stops 
 its progression, dies out, and goes no fur- 
 ther; the little bubble of existence that has 
 grown and distended till it reflects reality 
 in all its glorious tints, bursts in a moment 
 into nothingness. Life has been given 
 to us forever; it is the only one of 
 all the gifts that nature will never take 
 from us. This body of ours may decay 
 on some desert or plain, it may mould 
 and go back to dust from which it came; 
 but the life will never be extinguished. The 
 breath is not the life of man; it only keeps 
 in motion the wonderful mechanism that 
 holds spirit in the physical plane. The 
 soul, the spirit, the self, never dies. 
 
 Life beyond the grave is the promise that 
 hope has ever whispered to all who have 
 lived; but it has taken 
 
 40 
 
TRUTH AXD APPEARANCE. 
 
 than those of which we have a 
 record for evolution to develop the 
 mental faculties so that they can 
 grasp these more advanced conditions 
 where evidence is obtainable, and to dem- 
 onstrate the fact. Time was when every 
 cradle asked us whence, and every coffin 
 asked whither, and this generation, for the 
 first time in history, answers these 
 questions intelligently. Unfortunately, 
 the average individual has formed er- 
 roneous conceptions concerning the 
 after-life, and these must be cor- 
 rected before he can appreciate the 
 sublime standard of natural law, and stand 
 erect beside the column of knowledge, from 
 which flares the inextinguishable torch of 
 reason. 
 
 The sovereignty of the individual must be 
 gained by effort in the manner nature has 
 decreed. The mind is so constructed that 
 truth and error cannot occupy the same 
 place at the same time; and when one at- 
 tempts to understand a new condition, the 
 one must be ejected before the other can 
 enter. It has ever required greater effort 
 to get rid of the false than to acquire the 
 
 41 
 
THE FUTURE 0¥ "MAN. 
 
 true. The weak must be taught. The 
 strongest at some time must bend and obey. 
 Should anyone who reads this new philo- 
 sophy fail to grasp these laws, let him ask 
 himself the reason, and see whether there 
 are not two causes: (a) preconceived no- 
 tions based on what one has been told, of 
 which there is no proof; and (b) unfamil- 
 iarity with the conditions and laws in force 
 beyond the physical. 
 
 No man, however well he may have 
 mastered the laws of the mater- 
 ial universe, should consider himself quali- 
 fied to pass judgment on the conditions fol- 
 lowing dissolution, until he knows some- 
 thing of matter in its higher vibratory con- 
 ditions; for in this domain only is intense 
 life found. These laws, like those pertain- 
 ing wholly to gross matter, cannot be com- 
 prehended until the mind is free and open 
 to conviction, and has evidence from which 
 deductions may be drawn. The eternal 
 dome of thought is high and broad, and 
 each should do what he can to change the 
 night of intellectual darkness into perfect 
 day. Every man who discovers a fact adds 
 something to the knowledge of the world. 
 
 42 
 
TRUTH AND APPEARANCE. 
 
 "Why," I asked a spirit, "is knowledge 
 not immediate and without process?" 
 
 "Because," was the reply, "knowledge is 
 worth more when it is gained by self-effort. 
 To every mortal who thinks rightly, Na- 
 ture's laws become natural laws. It is 
 only the ignorant who are blind to all that 
 is going on around them. Each change in 
 spirit-existence is partly hidden from the 
 plane below, because the conditions of each 
 change make it best for the soul to fit itself 
 for the next, without absolute knowledge 
 of the next step. All that is necessary is 
 given to the soul when it is ready. As you, 
 in earth-life, reach out for knowledge, 
 much can be given to aid you to govern 
 your earth-lives rightly, but not so much 
 as to make you impractical in your daily 
 work. Life in each sphere must be lived 
 according to the laws of vibration that gov- 
 ern that sphere. 
 
 "When the right moment comes for the 
 unfolding, the light breaks into the dark 
 recesses of the mind, and the sudden radi- 
 ance is dazzling. I keep telling you to live 
 rightly and to teach others so to live. That 
 is what earth-people must learn, but they 
 
 43 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 are doing it very slowly. I tell you that the 
 majority of souls on earth are sometimes 
 centuries coming out of the deep shade of 
 ignorance and sin. Learn to think good, 
 pure, charitable thoughts. You cannot 
 know the reward the future will bring." 
 
 44 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PROGRESS. 
 
 TO the average mind that has given 
 no thought to the problem of life 
 after this existence, and to its great 
 possibilities, the suggestion that those out 
 of -the body can communicate with us at 
 all, is startling. The fact that any condi- 
 tions have been made where they can speak 
 in their own voice so as to be heard dis- 
 tinctly in our atmosphere, is beyond their 
 comprehension. That spirit-people control 
 the physical brain and hand to write, is 
 beyond all understanding. The fact that 
 millions of human beings have not heard 
 or spoken to spirit-people, or seen them use 
 the hand of a sensitive to write, does not 
 even tend to prove that I have not had such 
 experiences or that these are not facts. 
 Knowledge is positive; ignorance is 
 negative. I have seen the one and 
 have heard the other again and again, 
 
 45 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 and I know both to be facts; I have 
 had taken down in writing many discus- 
 sions and lectures on problems that are of 
 vital interest. Let me give the words of a 
 spirit on the subject of progress : 
 
 "In the great theatre of the universe all 
 is harmony that pertains to the manage- 
 ment of the play. The one touch of dis- 
 cord exists with players only. Gradually, 
 but steadily, the players acquire a perfect 
 knowledge of their various parts, and, as 
 they learn to conduct themselves so as to 
 allow the play to go on smoothly, the en- 
 tertainment becomes more agreeable. But 
 much rehearsing is required before a satis- 
 factory exhibition can be given. 
 
 "That all who wish may enjoy that to 
 which they are entitled is nature's full in- 
 tent, and gradually mortals are coming to 
 realize that such is the case. An apprecia- 
 tion of universal good for the benefit of 
 mankind at large, can come only when the 
 single and separate individual can clearly 
 understand that he is entitled to those 
 gifts of nature which his senses tell 
 him may be had for the demanding. Un- 
 til recently it was an almost universal be- 
 
 46 
 
PROGRESS, 
 
 lief that there were special privileges for a 
 certain number of the supposed elect of 
 God; but when a few who were barred out 
 of those privileges, fearlessly raised their 
 eyes and studied nature as it is presented 
 on the stage of the universe, and learned 
 that the only true supremacy and greatness 
 lies in the difference of intelligence, and 
 not in any distinction that can be marked 
 by heredity, there came an awakening ; and 
 since that day, the scenes on the stage of 
 your world have changed rapidly, and each 
 succeeding one has shown an improvement 
 over its predecessor. And when this ap- 
 preciation of the only true mark of great- 
 ness among mortals has been realized, then 
 and then only, will the cord of harmony be 
 struck, and the play shall be so thrilling 
 that the doors shall be open to the uni- 
 verse at large, and all the different con- 
 stellations will ring with applause as they 
 see one more evidence of the splendid work 
 of the master mind. 
 
 "Knowledge is the key that shall open 
 the door for this great production. Kuowl- 
 edge is the magic key to progress. With 
 knowledge comes confidence; with confi- 
 
 47 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 dence comes a strengthened desire for more 
 knowledge. When the creeping babe first 
 pulls its body to an erect position by its 
 hands and arms, and finds that it can stand 
 erect on its little feet, confidence in the 
 power of its being is established, and the 
 first forward movement of its feet gives 
 it further knowledge of its power, and, as 
 step by step, its feet carry forward its little 
 body, knowledge of its power begets con- 
 fidence, and confidence begets the possi- 
 bility of acquiring further knowledge; and, 
 until something occurs to weaken that con- 
 dition, the forward and onward movement 
 to acquire more knowledge is continued. 
 As it is with the creeping, toddling child, 
 so it is with the adult; until something 
 occurs to stop that onward movement of 
 gathering knowledge, progress is constant. 
 What, then, is more terrible to contemplate 
 than any system of teaching that can be- 
 get, or has begotten, fear, the great de- 
 stroyer of confidence? Like one who sits 
 upon a great height and has an unobstruct- 
 ed view of what is happening on the plains, 
 we, of the spirit-world, can look with un- 
 obstructed vision down the long vista of 
 
 48 
 
PROGRESS. 
 
 the past, and see the terrible crimes that 
 have been committed against our fellow- 
 spirits and earth mortals by those bands 
 of men who dared to intimidate their fel- 
 low creatures, and to hold them in subjec- 
 tion by writing and preaching about things 
 of which they were utterly ignorant. Some 
 were mere fanatics; but in the main, they 
 were mean, low, and unscrupulous men 
 whose only thoughts were of personal gain 
 and personal advantage. Awful will 
 be the punishment of such men. 
 Some are now undergoing their pun- 
 ishment in the spirit- world, and others are 
 clinging tightly to those whom they have de- 
 ceived, and, by suggestion, are still doing 
 their harmful work/' 
 
 When the intellect ceases to be en- 
 slaved, then is the body free. When 
 knowledge holds full sway, then the 
 intellect is free. Knowledge gives one the 
 power of self-control, and when one has 
 learned self-control, knowledge increases 
 rapidly. And as one acquires knowledge, 
 he gains self-control in like degree. 
 
 "Let fear and suj)erstitution and dread 
 of the future be banished from the minds 
 
 49 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 of men, so that they may see clearly and 
 understand nature perfectly; then will 
 knowledge come to them, imparted by those 
 who have journeyed into the next stage 
 of progress, the spiritual or stage of acute 
 intelligence." 
 
 50 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW DO I KNOW? 
 
 HOW do I know that individual- 
 ity, personality, identity, and life 
 itself, continue beyond the grave, 
 and that the psychic world is about this 
 world in what we know as space? If it is 
 a fact, what method have I used to dem- 
 onstrate it? Whether man lives after 
 death is to science of more importance than 
 how and where he lives. If the facts are 
 finally accepted as I shall state them, then 
 "what fools we poor mortals be" not to 
 understand such a simple proposition ! Let 
 me ask these questions: (a) Do you know 
 whether death is, or is not, the end? 
 (b) Have you ever made any personal ef- 
 fort to find out? and (c) Do seventeen 
 years of careful, earnest, intelligent work 
 qualify one to speak? 
 
 I have only reached the noon of life; 
 but, many years ago, not content that 
 
 51 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 others should do my thinking, and unwill- 
 ing to accept hearsay evidence, tradition 
 and blind belief, I determined to discover 
 the facts about the future life, if they were 
 obtainable, and from those facts, draw my 
 own conclusions. 
 
 The progress of the world has been so 
 great that even the masses are coming to 
 demand facts, — and facts that appeal to 
 reason; less will not do. Have the great 
 truths of nature been placed in the keeping 
 of any class or set of men who alone are 
 competent to explain? Or is the task left 
 to any who seek truth in any guise? I 
 long ago determined, having no precon- 
 ceived notions, faiths or prejudices, and 
 having at least nothing to unlearn, to de- 
 vote such time to study and research on 
 this subject as was possible. Furthermore, 
 let me say that over twenty years in the 
 active practice of law, largely in the trial 
 of cases, coming in contact with many great 
 minds, has qualified me to do certain 
 things: ie, to estimate the weight and 
 value of evidence fairly; to detect fraud 
 in any guise; to know when a fact is 
 proved. 
 
HOW DO I KNOW ? 
 
 In conducting my experiments, I have 
 always insisted that they should be done 
 in my own home under such conditions only 
 as I should provide. I use a room 10x14 
 feet, with windows opening to the west so 
 that the evening sun will enter it daily, 
 with shutters to break the rays of light and 
 make it dark, when experimenting and 
 working with psychic forces. Why work 
 in the dark, do you ask? Because spirit- 
 people, when they speak, must take on gross 
 matter, must clothe their organs of respira- 
 tion, or the voice would not vibrate in the 
 material atmosphere. Light is motion; 
 and so sensitive are they to light-waves 
 that break down the material atoms with 
 which they clothe themselves, that abso- 
 lute darkness is a condition precedent, at 
 least in my work, for them to speak. The 
 room is remote from, and has no connec- 
 tion with any others; is so ventilated that 
 the atmosphere is always pure; its only 
 furnishings a carpet, chairs and a small 
 table ; its decorations are red — the warmest 
 of colors — and here, with the aid of a 
 psychic, I have year after year talked with 
 those called dead. 
 
 53 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 Possessing no psychic powers myself, and 
 such force being necessary to spirit speech, 
 seventeen years ago I obtained the assist- 
 ance of Mrs. Emily S. French, the finest 
 psychic in the world to-day, and she has 
 been a co-worker with me ever since. This 
 splendid woman of culture and refinement, 
 now 76 years of age, has, without compen- 
 sation, devoted the evening of her life to 
 aid me in solving the great problem of dis- 
 solution. 
 
 She contributes to the experiments such 
 psychic force as is required, while I give 
 the physical force that makes speech pos- 
 sible. Space will not allow me to go into 
 the process used by spirit-people in taking 
 on the material so that they can speak in 
 our atmosphere; it is sufficient that they 
 do. Kemember, they have bodies of the 
 same size, shape and contour as before; 
 and, if clothed with gross matter, they can 
 formulate and utter words just as well as 
 when in this life. The question now is, do 
 they speak, not how do they speak. 
 
 Mrs. French and I simply go into this 
 room, already described, and sit in dark- 
 ness, with the small table only between us. 
 
 54 
 
HOW DO I KNOW ? 
 
 The occasion is not solemn; nor are the 
 surroundings gruesome; rather it is a 
 school-room and the lecture hour devoted 
 to the unfolding of nature's simple laws. 
 Since I possess no psychic sight or hearing; 
 what I hear must be material. Any can 
 hear as I do. If, in this dark room, I see 
 or feel anything, it is because the spirits 
 have so reduced their vibration, so retard- 
 ed, for the time, their atomic and molecu- 
 lar action, that they are, in fact, phys- 
 ical. 
 
 One morning, when Mrs. French and I 
 were in this room talking to a physician 
 who lived in the time of Alexander Hamil- 
 ton and was one of his friends, a member 
 of my family raised a window-shade in the 
 attic, allowing sunlight to flash over the 
 room. The rays were reflected through the 
 ventilator in the ceiling, partially lighting 
 the room directly over where a spirit-being 
 stood talking. I saw his form perfectly; 
 and, without a break in his discourse, he 
 stepped to one side toward the corner 
 where it was darker, continuing his discus- 
 sion, simply saying as the place where he 
 stood became partially lighted: "We have 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 promised the time should come when you 
 should see us, but we scarcely expected it 
 would be this morning. " He stood there in 
 full materialized form, else how could 
 I have seen him? He was a spir- 
 it, for Mrs. French and I were in 
 the room alone, and no other man 
 could have come in without opening the 
 door and letting in the full light of day. 
 I not only saw him, but I heard his spirit- 
 voice, as I have heard it may times since. 
 This is a fact : I saw, I heard, I know. 
 
 Physical demonstrations have never in- 
 terested me. I have always wanted knowl- 
 edge; and moving matter without applica- 
 tion of physical force, granting it to be 
 possible, has never appealed to me. I have 
 had but few physical demonstrations. 
 When Mrs. French and I were in this room 
 some years ago, conversing with those in 
 the planes beyond, I was told by one of my 
 co-workers in spirit that they wanted to 
 give me a test of their reality and power. 
 Remember, Mrs. French and I were alone; 
 the shutters were closed and the room was 
 darkened; but outside the sun was shining. 
 A spirit whose voice I recognized, said: 
 
 56 
 
HOW DO I KNOW ? 
 
 "When I say 'now,' let Mrs. French stand, 
 reach both her hands across the table, and 
 you take hold of them firmly, regardless of 
 what happens." The voice soon said, 
 "Now." Mrs. French arose; I took both of 
 her hands in mine, determined to hold them 
 with great firmness, which I did, with 
 senses keen in anticipation, but with no in- 
 timation of what Avas to happen. So firm 
 was my hold on those hands that I knew, 
 whatever happened, her hands could not 
 aid in the demonstration. Soon the room 
 was filled with the perfume of fresh flowers ; 
 one swished in the atmosphere and fell at 
 my feet; my grip tightened on those frail 
 hands; there was no movement of Mrs. 
 French's body, but flowers came apparently 
 from every direction, even from the ceiling, 
 striking me on the head, face, chest, back 
 and side, falling on the table and around 
 us in great profusion. I immediately 
 opened the door and hurriedly called others 
 of my household to see the display. We 
 found upon the table, chairs, and carpet, 
 upwards of one hundred pure white sweet- 
 peas, fresh, with dew sparkling in the 
 petals. The stems had been twisted off. 
 
 57 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 At a later time, I asked how such a demon- 
 stration, so at variance with physical laws, 
 was possible. I also asked whence came the 
 flowers? I was told that no law had been 
 violated, but that physical laws which man- 
 kind has not yet discovered, had been used; 
 that spirit-people took sweet-peas from a 
 garden where they grew in too great abun- 
 dance, changed their vibratory condition, 
 as we change water into steam, conveyed 
 them in this state into the room, altered 
 the vibration back again into its primary 
 stage which restored the flowers to their 
 original condition and color; then they 
 threw them on and about me as I held Mrs. 
 French's hands. This they did to show me 
 their strength and to demonstrate a vibra- 
 tory law. To this day I have kept some of 
 those sweet-peas given by those spirit- 
 people. 
 
 At other times when alone with Mrs. 
 French, I have been told to take both her 
 hands and to hold them firmly, during which 
 time spirit-people have come in full physi- 
 cal form, stood beside me, and put their 
 hands on my head. Their hands are warm 
 and firm, but the touch is strange because 
 
 58 
 
HOW DO I KNOW? 
 
 they are in a state of intense vibration; 
 they do not tremble or shake, but they seem 
 to pulsate with a rapidity that I have not 
 words to describe. 
 
 I can sit in this room with no one pres- 
 ent but Mrs. French, one hand upon the 
 table, her mouth on the back of that hand, 
 my other hand on top of her head, holding- 
 it firmly so as to prevent the possibility of 
 her speaking or moving her lips, and hear 
 the spirit-people telling of life as they find 
 it in the land of silence, as it is called. 
 
 At the demand of science, at one time, I 
 permitted Mrs. French to go under test- 
 conditions. They wanted to apply what is 
 known as the "water-test;'- that is, filling 
 Mrs. French's mouth with water, to see if 
 spirit-people could speak while she so held 
 the liquid. At my request she consented. 
 A man of science was chosen to make the 
 experiment. He came and I gave him the 
 key to the room in the afternoon, so that he 
 might prepare his own conditions. In the 
 evening, this learned professor, Mrs. 
 French, and I, without lighting the room, 
 and without any knowledge on our part of 
 what condition it was in, entered. Mrs. 
 
 59 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 French was given a certain quantity of liq- 
 uid which this man put into her month. I 
 could hear her breathe with difficulty. A 
 moment's silence, and then a voice came 
 in the darkness, unusually loud and strong, 
 saying: "You see we can speak under the 
 conditions you have made." I turned to 
 the professor, asking: "Are you satisfied?" 
 And he said: "I am." Then I said: "Ke- 
 move the liquid; please measure it, and see 
 if the amount expectorated is equal to the 
 amount put in, and of the same color." I 
 did not know the color or the amount. Upon 
 examination, both were found intact. The 
 test was evidential. 
 
 This man declined to publish this 
 fact, saying it was in advance of 
 the times. He was afraid that science, 
 so-called, would not accept his statement. 
 In view of such conditions I made arrange- 
 ments some four years ago, for Mrs. French 
 to go to New York at the request of Dr. 
 Isaac Funk and his associates. She sat 
 with him for eleven nights, the record of 
 which is published in "The Psychic Kid- 
 dle." Kesults similar to my own were ob- 
 tained, and at a later time, Dr. Funk, at 
 
 60 
 
HOW DO I KNOW ? 
 
 Rochester, applied the water- test again, and 
 spirit-voices spoke to him while Mrs. 
 French's mouth was filled with liquid. 
 Such conditions demonstrate: (a) that 
 Mrs. French does not do the talking, for 
 her organs of speech are not used; (b) 
 that the voices are independent. By that I 
 mean that spirits use their own vocal or- 
 gans. 
 
 Such facts convince me that people I 
 have known in the body continue to live 
 when the physical has gone back to dust, 
 that they have the same individuality, the 
 same continunity of thought, and the same 
 characteristic speech in the after-life as in 
 this. 
 
 By such experiments it is proved to be a 
 fact that life continues after dissolution; 
 that death is only a change of vibratory 
 conditions; that the soul, mind, thought, 
 by whatever name you chose to call this 
 ego that thinks, reasons, and is, is in no 
 way changed, only its action is governed 
 by new laws controlling in the higher vi- 
 bration of which they are a part. They 
 are the same persons as before; and, given 
 the required conditions, can talk just as 
 
 61 
 
THE FUTURE OP MAN. 
 
 well as ever. This requires no deductive 
 reasoning; it is a fact proved and by many 
 accepted. 
 
 One in spirit-life said to me, in discuss- 
 ing this subject this day; 
 
 "You know because you ask, and fact 
 and reason answer. It is so even now, that 
 few truths reach the intelligence of men 
 which are not brought in wrappers of super- 
 stitution, tied with baffling unreality. All 
 creeds, founded on the little ambitions of 
 a sect of men seeking their own renown, 
 are being swept aside, and the truth, naked 
 and unafraid, founded on nature's laws, is 
 coming to be understood. 
 
 "Nature does not hide her laws, but holds 
 them subject to the call of men, asking only 
 that man shall qualify himself and know 
 how to use and apply them intelligently, 
 when they are unfolded to him. Nature is 
 no miser, but is ever ready to give of her 
 abundance." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SPIRIT IDENTITY. 
 
 £C W W OW do I know," must be told 
 I I on every page in different 
 JL JL ways, but let us con- 
 tinue with the independent voice, for, 
 in the history of the world as written, 
 and as spirit-people tell me, never before 
 has such freedom of speech been known; 
 never before have spirit-people of a high 
 order of intelligence found an avenue of 
 communication with the physical world so 
 effectual. How could it be more convinc- 
 ing than by voice to voice? My work has 
 ever been conducted with great care and 
 caution; every known safeguard has been 
 adopted. I have never sought fraud, and 
 have never found fraud; have ever sought 
 truth, and have always found truth. A 
 man's mind is like a magnet and the 
 thought-waves emanating into the ether, at- 
 tract waves of like character. 
 
 63 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 The key to the after-life is passivity, not 
 concentration. By centering the mind on 
 some particular thing much desired, the 
 thought waves are contracted, brought to a 
 slower vibration. Spirit-people in higher 
 atomic activity, cannot come into a mental 
 condition pulsating at a slow rate; but 
 into the passive mind where the waves are 
 more active, more nearly in harmony with 
 a spirit's vibratory condition. So we talk 
 for a few moments preceding spirit-speech 
 on general matters, filling the room with 
 vocal vibrations which are taken up and 
 used by spirit-people, — our thoughts intent 
 on no particular subject or person. When 
 we meet to continue our investigations, a 
 period of ten to twenty minutes elapses be- 
 fore spirit-people speak, during which time 
 I feel as though some great power was in 
 some indefinite way drawing upon my phy- 
 sical strength, at times almost to the point 
 of pain ; then the hush of expectancy ; then 
 the greeting, as in any drawing room, and 
 quite as natural, as they come in one by 
 one. 
 
 Working on the spirit-side of life, aiding 
 this work, was originally a group of seven 
 
 64 
 
SPIRIT IDENTITY. 
 
 persons, who built up conditions every time 
 we conducted experiments, the most im- 
 portant of which is the chemist, for he must 
 know at once what conditions will har- 
 monize, and what elements can be used 
 and applied to different spirits to enable 
 them to use their organs of speech so that 
 their voice will reach our ears. We con- 
 tribute, as I have said, physical vibrations, 
 while spirit-people bring spiritual, that is 
 a higher vibratory state, which the group 
 manipulates. The condition under which 
 we get these voices, is a utilization of 
 both. 
 
 Certain of the spirit-group arrange these 
 requisite conditions, while others direct the 
 work. In the beginning of my investiga- 
 tions, the voices came usually in whispers, 
 the people speaking were generally persons 
 of less than the average intellect, those in 
 the lower walks of life; such characters 
 predominated, and the most we could get 
 from them was the conditions in which they 
 found themselves, — interesting, but not 
 particularly instructive, as they had little 
 knowledge of life beyond the earth plane. 
 It was all, I see now, that we were able to 
 
 65 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 comprehend; but our progression was to 
 be commensurate with our capacity. Year 
 by year, as we grew more accustomed to 
 the work, and more able to understand 
 these higher laws, there was improvement, 
 until now the finest minds of modern times 
 devote their time to our instruction. From 
 the ungrammatical speech of ordinary men 
 and women, step by step, it has changed to 
 the finest diction, the most splendid English 
 to which I have ever listened ; and it is our 
 privilege to enjoy, night after night, oratory 
 finer than was ever delivered from any plat- 
 form. Is it any wonder that I find such 
 work intensely interesting, and have the 
 courage born of knowledge to give the world 
 what I have learned? 
 
 So mighty is the force of human thought, 
 and so delicate are the conditions of a spir- 
 it's body when it has taken on material in 
 preparation for speech, that, by word of com- 
 mand, or even by thought-projection, I can 
 break down its conditions and prevent 
 speech. This is why those who oppose this 
 philosophy so often get negative results 
 when they seek demonstration; by their 
 mental attitude or thought-conditions, they 
 
 66 
 
SPIRIT IDENTITY. 
 
 make impossible the very thing they seek; 
 they so intensify their thought-substance 
 that spirit-people are not able to break into 
 the conditions they make for the occa- 
 sion. 
 
 Here is another piece of evidence which 
 proves that the voices are not those of mor- 
 tals : Spirit-people in speech with me, while 
 using their organs of respiration, do not 
 breathe as we do. I have often heard a lec- 
 ture twenty minutes in length, without a 
 break, the voice rising and falling in inflec- 
 tion, speaking Avith great force and clear- 
 ness, but not drawing one breath in all that 
 time. This is a physical impossibility for 
 any mortal man. 
 
 Each voice has individuality. When a 
 new spirit comes for the first time and 
 takes on the condition of vocalization, there 
 is often a similarity in tone quality, but 
 this soon passes away, as they grow accus- 
 tomed to using their voices in this way. 
 The voices of those accustomed to speak, 
 never change, and are easily recognized. 
 Of such we never ask their names, for we 
 know. There is no similaritv of thought 
 
 67 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 or words; these differ in different people 
 in that world as in this. 
 
 The strength of the voices varies greatly ; 
 one of our group speaks with sufficient vol- 
 ume to fill easily a great auditorium, and 
 his lectures ring through the whole house. 
 Another whom I have in mind, always 
 comes with great dignity and courtesy, i» 
 careful in speech and considerate; but his 
 voice, while very distinct, has not great 
 volume. The voice of another, who was 
 very near to me in earth-life, is as clear, 
 strong, and natural as in the days when 
 we discussed this philosophy, or Avalked in 
 the forest trying to understand and come 
 in touch with the law of life; and we have 
 since his going talked as much, and with 
 as great freedom, as in the latter years be- 
 fore his going. There has been no subject 
 of knowledge common to us both, that he 
 ever hesitated to discuss in all its minutest 
 details. This friendship of many years is 
 continued without a break, and I enjoy his 
 presence and our talks as I never did be- 
 fore. 
 
 One night, a voice of great volume and 
 strength came out of the darkness, clothing 
 
 68 
 
SPmiT IDENTITY. 
 
 thoughts with such speech as only one man 
 has ever used, telling of life as he, who was 
 one of the world's great agnostics, found 
 it after dissolution; of his life- work 
 and duties there, and something of the en- 
 vironment of a spirit and the possibilities 
 of progression, closing by saying, "I am 
 Mr. G.," as we will call him. 
 
 I said to Mr. G. : "It is one of the rules, 
 long in practice in our work, that when 
 one conies as you have, teaching philosophy, 
 identity shall be proved. Can you do this?" 
 He said : "I think that can be done without 
 difficulty." I replied: "Did you ever meet 
 me?" He said: "Yes." "Where?" I asked. 
 "At the Niagara Hotel in your City.* 
 "When was that?" He said: "I don't re- 
 call the year, but it was when I gave a lec- 
 ture on Progress at the request of the Real 
 Estate Men's Association." "What was the 
 date of that lecture?" He replied: "I don't 
 now recall, but it was in the early nine- 
 ties." "Where was the meeting?" "At 
 Music Hall, as I now recall." "Do you re- 
 member who sat in the box at your left that 
 evening?" "My recollection is," he replied, 
 "that my wife and daughter did, with 
 
 69 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 others.-' This was proof; it was all true. 
 This is one of the ways adopted to prove 
 identity; and this man stood the test to 
 my entire satisfaction. 
 
 Another instance: In my early work, in 
 fact one of the first times I attempted to 
 have speech with spirit, Mr. K., we will call 
 him, was with me. He was one of those 
 men who are always looking for tests, it 
 was his ruling passion. He wanted tests 
 more than he did knowledge, and as we 
 were not seeking the same thing, we soon 
 went different ways; but, whenever he met 
 me, not having the courage of his desire, 
 he would whisper: "Have you had any 
 tests lately?" Whenever I saw him com- 
 ing I knew what his question would be. 
 So he lived, and so he died; and with- 
 in a week, out of the darkness came a voice 
 in greeting. I said: "Who is it, please? 
 Can you tell us who you are? Give us some- 
 thing that will establish your identity. Can 
 you?" "Yes," he replied, "I am through 
 looking for tests." 
 
 One evening one spoke who said he was a 
 physician of Philadelphia, and was brought 
 in that help might be given to complete the 
 
 70 
 
SPIRIT IDENTITY. 
 
 separation from his physical body. When 
 he finally became fully conscious, he told 
 his name, the number of his residence, and 
 much about himself. The papers the next 
 morning had a full account of his death 
 early the evening before. 
 
 Mr. N., we will call him, Avas one of the 
 most prominent members of our bar. He 
 was supposed to be in perfect health, but 
 late one evening he was found dead. I 
 had no knowledge of the circumstances. 
 He told me his name and proved his iden- 
 tity without the slightest difficulty, for I 
 had known him intimately. He asked me 
 to send word to his brother, of New York, 
 who, he said, was then in Europe — a fact 
 I did not know — and told me where he him- 
 self was and what he was doing when dis- 
 solution came. The circumstances were 
 verified by his son at a later time. Space 
 forbids detail. I have mentioned only a 
 few out of thousands of similar cases. 
 
 In the beginning, much time was wasted 
 to prove the identity of strange spirits who 
 were allowed to talk, to find if what they 
 said concerning themselves, was true; and 
 while I know that spirit-people, as a rule, 
 
 71 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 are as prone to deceit as mortals, I recall 
 no instance of it. At one time, few men of 
 my acquaintance passed on who did not 
 come and speak with me; but now the 
 strength is so limited, owing to the great 
 age of our psychic, that personal interviews 
 are not frequent, the time being used in 
 giving information concerning this great 
 problem and teaching this new philosophy, 
 that the greatest good may come to the 
 greatest number. 
 
 Hundreds, yea thousands, have come and 
 talked to me, and to many whom I have 
 invited to participate in the work, — thou- 
 sands of different voices with different 
 tones, different thoughts, different person- 
 alities, no two alike; and at times in dif- 
 ferent languages. 
 
 Spirit identity is a subject I have always 
 considered important for many reasons: 
 (a) It may be said, if a spirit can prove 
 identity, that it is evidence that life con- 
 tinues; (b) by knowing who he is, his ed- 
 ucation, experience and opportunity for ob- 
 servation, one can tell what weight to give 
 his teachings, for, as I have pointed out 
 elsewhere, spirit-people differ concerning 
 
 72 
 
SPIRIT IDENTITY. 
 
 many great questions just as people do in 
 this life, and we must ever exercise our 
 reason and draw our own conclusions. 
 That is the way character is developed. 
 Every statement made and every alleged 
 fact that comes to us from either world, 
 must be tested in the crucible of reason 
 and must appeal to our common sense, be- 
 fore it can be accepted ; and unless it comes 
 from the retort pure, we discard it. 
 
 No spirit ever feels at liberty to come 
 into our sessions without the invitation of 
 the spirit-group or of myself any more than 
 a stranger would come into my house for so- 
 cial purposes without an invitation. The 
 same laws of privilege and hospitality 
 which operate in the earth-life, prevail in 
 the spirit-world. 
 
 There is opposition to this work in spirit- 
 spheres just as in this. The Catholic 
 Church exists as an institution in the after- 
 life, and is just as jealous of its domination 
 as it is here. In our earliest work these op- 
 ponents often tried to prevent speech by 
 interrupting and disorganizing the condi- 
 tions we sought to maintain, fearing that 
 the truth might cause loss of temporal as 
 
 73 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 well as spiritual power; and great efforts 
 were made by the spirit-group, comprising 
 our co-workers, to control and maintain the 
 conditions, and to keep them out. I recall 
 one evening when my stenographer was tak- 
 ing a lecture in shorthand, that a Catholic 
 spirit gained admittance; and such was his 
 material strength that he suddenly wrench- 
 ed the stenographic book from the hands of 
 the stenographer, and threw it with great 
 violence against the wall of the room. Our 
 group finally forced him out and, as he 
 was leaving, I heard him say, "What can 
 one man do among so many millions ?" 
 
 74 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OF MANY MINDS. 
 
 THE greatest fallacy of the human 
 race is the belief that people, after 
 dissolution, know everything, or 
 that they agree, upon great propositions, 
 any more than in this life. There is absol- 
 utely nothing in metapsychics to warrant 
 such a foolish assumption. Nothing in the 
 world is acquired without effort, and there 
 is no evidence that the scheme of nature is 
 changed by what is known as death. Those 
 who hold that through the change from the 
 physical to the spiritual men become gods, 
 know very little about evolution, and wrong- 
 ly assume that there is one law for the phy- 
 sical and another for spirit-life. The fact 
 is, all nature's laws are universal, and ap- 
 ply alike to both planes, for, to some ex- 
 tent, both occupy the same space. This 
 being so, we can appreciate the wisdom of 
 creation and that it is worth while, if one 
 
 75 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 continues his life and work beyond the phy- 
 sical, to acquire all possible knowledge and 
 development while living in the physical 
 plane, to the end that he may be better 
 equipped when going beyond it. 
 
 Dissolution is a step in evolution, and in- 
 volves no mental change, adding nothing, 
 subtracting nothing, but simply increasing 
 the opportunities for observation and learn- 
 ing. As men regard this subject with so 
 much indifference, it is easy to conceive how 
 overpowering will be the situation present- 
 ed when separated from the physical body : 
 no going away ; no flight to the sky ; no sud- 
 den acquisition of knowledge; no personal 
 God ; but self in a new light, in a true light ; 
 many of the so-called dead rushing to meet 
 the newcomer as he takes the little step out 
 of this life, into spirit-existence, while, as 
 his eyes open, and the truth flashes upon his 
 dull senses, he discovers that God is Uni- 
 versal Good, which has been, and is, the 
 dominant factor both in the physical and 
 spirit-plane; that this force for good has 
 held kingship since the world began; that 
 man has been, and ever will be, a part of 
 that force, increasing the sum total of that 
 
 76 
 
OF MANY MIXDS. 
 
 power of which he is a part, according to 
 the measure of his progression ! This he 
 does by developing the atom of good that 
 he became at the moment of his conception. 
 It came from that great force of Universal 
 Good; and, let him go to and fro as he will, 
 yet, drawn by an irresi stable force, he will 
 return to the goal from which he came or- 
 iginally; and, inasmuch as there is some 
 good in everyone, the sum-total of that force 
 for good will be enriched to some extent by 
 his return. But this will not come at the 
 moment of dissolution, for that is only one 
 step along the way, and no matter though 
 he live in the body beyond his allotted time, 
 his life is practically only just beginning. 
 
 When dissolution is past, and one has 
 paid all his obligations to the physical 
 world, (no progression being possible un- 
 til this is done, for nature's laws are terri- 
 ble in their exactness), and realizes his con- 
 dition, the necessary thing is to take an in- 
 ventory of his equipment, and to determine 
 how far he is qualified to assume the duties 
 and responsibilities awaiting him. He may 
 be a great lawyer, an eloquent divine, a 
 great financier, a learned professor, a good 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 merchant, or an honest farmer; but how 
 will that help him when he is spirit dealing 
 with matter in so high a state of vibration 
 that it no longer resists muscular effort, the 
 existence of which he has never before 
 known? How will such a man deal with 
 conditions of which he is so densely ignor- 
 ant and which control his every thought 
 and movement? There is but one answer: 
 he must form new conceptions based on 
 known facts and necessities, and, aided by 
 the limited knowledge that he has acquired, 
 he must commence again, commence, at 
 best, where dissolution overtook him; the 
 better equipped here, the more advanced 
 there. When I say equipped, I do not mean 
 with material knowledge, but with a broad 
 comprehension of natural laws; this alone 
 will aid one in adapting himself to the en- 
 vironment in the new community of which 
 he has become an inhabitant. 
 
 In this material world of ours there are 
 many opinions on every great subject; each 
 works to a conclusion from known facts, 
 but the conclusions arrived at are not al- 
 ways correct. Spirit-people hold to their 
 opinions after dissolution until they are 
 
 78 
 
OF MANY MIXDS. 
 
 changed by the new facts presented. They 
 do not agree on many great questions any 
 more than we do. They fail to understand 
 many of nature's laws as mortals do, and 
 are continually laboring to come to a better 
 knowledge of them just as we do here; and 
 there, as here, are "many minds," but as to 
 what immediately follows dissolution all 
 agree. 
 
 The fact that spirit-people, though ad- 
 vanced and learned in many ways, greatly 
 differ on many subjects, was impressed on 
 my mind by one in the after-life while dis- 
 cussing the subject of "sound", when he 
 said : 
 
 "One of the facts that has been repeated- 
 ly proved by experiment, is that the stress- 
 condition, which I have heretofore re- 
 ferred to, is an existing condition, 
 that when a blow is struck upon 
 various kinds of substance, a very widely 
 differing sound is produced, and that the 
 distinctive notes are, of course, the result- 
 ing vibration of the particular mass struck. 
 
 "It is not, to me, a satisfactory explana- 
 tion that the sound that reaches our ear is 
 only the result of the elasticity of the par- 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 tides of the mass acting strictly among 
 themselves, the vibration of the mass itself 
 and, also, the vibration of the particles of 
 the mass ; but, the true solution of the prob- 
 lem is, I think, and many agree with me, 
 that the blow upon the mass may bring the 
 particles of the mass momentarily to a state 
 of rest, and so the mass itself may be tem- 
 porarily reduced to a similiar state, or both 
 the particles and the mass composed of the 
 particles may be, for and during the period 
 of the concussion, rendered, so to speak, 
 physically dead, — this phenomena being 
 based on the fact that all matter is in con- 
 stant vibratory motion. And now, grant- 
 ing my hypothesis that all matter produces 
 in the surrounding ether a state of stress, 
 the mirrored condition of its actual self, I 
 think it necessarily follows that if the act- 
 ual substances were brought to a momen- 
 tary state of rest, the lines of existing stress 
 reaching out from the object struck, would, 
 on the instant, feel the effect, and the some- 
 thing called sound would be the result of 
 their sudden interference, and the prolonga- 
 tion of the apparent sound would depend 
 
 upon the length of the period of the suspen- 
 se) 
 
OF MANY MINDS. 
 
 sion of the actual vibration of the object 
 struck. 
 
 "This and many other facts lead others 
 on this side of life to advocate the stress- 
 theory. And again, there are many very 
 well informed men on this side of life who 
 argue against such a theory." 
 
 "When this matter was brought to the 
 attention of such on this side of life as are 
 interested along these lines, much discus- 
 sion occurred, and it is, and has been, ar- 
 gued from two viewpoints: first, as simply 
 impossible; and second, as reasonable, if 
 the theory of existing stress, in the ether 
 surrounding known substances, be logical. 
 All of those trying to assist you, hold the 
 latter." 
 
 Such discussions impress one with the 
 reality and earnestness of the people be- 
 yond, and show how they labor to compre- 
 hend all natural law. 
 
 si 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SPEECH WITH SPIRIT-PEOPLE. 
 
 TO the end that all may better com- 
 prehend the character of the teach- 
 ing that has been given me from 
 time to time, I quote from the speech of 
 many spirit-people on different subjects, as 
 it was recorded at the time:- 
 
 "A new branch of literature, relating 
 wholly to the laws of psychic phenomena, is 
 just entering the cycle of progressive 
 thought. Let no experiment be unrecord- 
 ed; your material is valuable. Every idea 
 promulgated will be of universal interest." 
 
 "The supreme need for each man is to 
 reason, and to remain, ever after, true to his 
 convictions. Where reason leads, you must 
 follow publicly and openly. This is the 
 highest conception of duty." 
 
 "Men who deny to others the right of pub- 
 lic speech are not qualified for speech them- 
 
 83 
 
THE FIjTUKE OF MAK 
 
 selves. Men criticize things they have not 
 mastered, and do not understand.'' 
 
 "Why are old experiences repeated? you 
 ask. Because the tangle of life must be 
 made right, and it must be made right by 
 the individual soul. This is the truth I 
 taught. Only a few are ready for it, and 
 even today only a few enter into my sphere. 
 There are those in earth-life with whom I 
 daily and hourly commune; there are those 
 here who still seek expression through some 
 form of earthly religious belief; few are 
 willing to stand alone and think" 
 
 "Nature is an open book, with language 
 simple and easy to comprehend; yet man, 
 with all his boasted knowledge, has read 
 but few pages and mastered less. Its les- 
 sons are written in rocks, in earth, in min- 
 erals and grasses, in grains, in flora, in 
 trees, in bursting bud and growing things, 
 in mountains, in snows and glaciers, in sun 
 and stars, and in all movement and evolu- 
 tion of matter, gross and refined." 
 
 "I believe a man's conscience is his judg- 
 ment-seat; and that reparation for wrong 
 cannot begin too soon. I believe that love 
 for humanity is the basis upon which man- 
 
 84 
 
SPEECH WITH SPIRIT-PEOPLE. 
 
 kind must stand to gain ultimate good ; that 
 to help a sprawling beetle to gain its feet is 
 an act the result of which will follow one 
 through eternity." 
 
 "Beyond the great divide, await all those 
 for whom you mourn; all unsatisfied am- 
 bitions, providing they are tending toward 
 progression, you will have the power to 
 gratify, by work and application*" 
 
 "We belong to a vast army of workers; 
 whose work consists in developing the best 
 that is in us, both as individuals and col- 
 lectively. Our souls must be developed on 
 a large scale, so as to include all humanity, 
 and, until we have this largeness in our 
 souls, our work for ourselves progresses but 
 slowly. It is the feeling of universal one- 
 ness that makes us great individually." 
 
 "Brood well upon that with which you 
 store your mind. Each grain of knowledge 
 will grow and bear its fruit." 
 
 "Literature, art, all the great work of mas- 
 ters, all the products of the genius of the 
 present and the past, will come to the as- 
 sistance of those who call. We are here to 
 aid, to comfort, to uplift and to support all 
 who ask for help. Only a few here have a 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 faint glimpse of a life beyond the satisfac- 
 tion of earth-desires. Like tendrills cling- 
 ing to a wall or to a decaying tree, through 
 disappointed loves and blasted hopes, they 
 keep tenaciously struggling with the prob- 
 lem of mortal life." 
 
 "Open your eyes and you shall see the 
 new heaven and the new earth, all invisible 
 to the physical eye, which sees only that 
 which it wants to see, but it sees nothing of 
 the eternal harmony, of which mortals ex- 
 press only a counterpart. Awake to the 
 truth of the joy of being ! Awake to the in- 
 finite cause of all happiness ! Awake to the 
 omni-active energy that surrounds you !" 
 
 "All beauty is expression in a varied lan- 
 guage — not of words, but of pure ideas, 
 hopes and joys. Emotions have a language 
 not yet comprehended, and yet to be given 
 to a listening, waiting, longing world. Be 
 filled with joy! That is the expression of 
 God. If you would impress your thought 
 on others, and spread the truth, make that 
 thought the highest expression of truth! 
 Make your life a continual song of thanks- 
 giving for the good you find, and the good 
 you give to others. Be consistent, looking 
 
 86 
 
SPEECH WITH SPIRIT PEOPLE. 
 
 to the harmony of natural law to guide 
 you, and build your life on the same sim- 
 ple principle. This life means to the true 
 thinkers a wondrous unfolding, beginning 
 with a child's first conscious look, going on 
 and on until the individual is taken into the 
 one great scheme of indivisible good. This 
 is the ultimate end of all." 
 
 "The universe is teeming with life, — 
 beautiful, abundant life. Open your soul 
 and stretch out as it were with eager hands, 
 and let the spirit of Good enter, and abide. 
 Like dew upon a thirsty, famished flower, it 
 will make a sick soul well. It is the same 
 force that is in the dew; only to the flower 
 it must come in the form of dew, rain or 
 shine; while to mankind it comes as a sug- 
 gestion, enters into the mind, makes it 
 strong and courageous; for a mind filled 
 with the uplifting principle, which is Good, 
 must be a pure one, one able to lead others 
 to the great book of nature, there to learn 
 to obey its laws — laws steadily, insis- 
 tently, working for each blade of grass, each 
 soul of man." 
 
 "Beware of criticism. It kills natural- 
 ness in yourself and others, and the best 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 impulses are suppressed by the frost of self- 
 criticism. Attune yourself to the most 
 harmonious vibrations, so that your im- 
 pulses will be good, and then obey them. 
 They are apt to be the suggestions of a fel- 
 low-soul working out his salvation ; and, by 
 letting the impulse hold sway over you, you 
 not only do a good act, but help that 
 struggling soul one step farther on his 
 way." 
 
 "When the end drew near and I knew my 
 judgment was at hand, my spirit shuddered 
 with horror. I kneAV I had not lived ac- 
 cording to divine good. I had deceived, 
 and, more than that, I had lied and abused 
 the confidence of many who looked up to 
 me. Will I ever be able to complete the res- 
 titution necessary? Sometimes my soul 
 sickens under the burden of sorrow and suf- 
 fering I have caused, and I am afraid. I 
 want, by these teachings which I am priv- 
 ileged to give you, to gain much for my 
 own advancement. Perhaps you and I to- 
 gether may grow in greater harmony each 
 day so that much good may come of it. Call 
 me when you will, I will be watching, eager 
 to take up the work." 
 
 88 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THOUGHT AND MIND. 
 
 THERE are certan expressions 
 and sentences in our language which 
 are, at present, substantially mean- 
 ingless, because the mind is unable to grasp 
 what it cannot analyze. That "thought is 
 substance 1 ' and "mind is matter," mean 
 but little to mortal man, notwithstanding 
 his wonderful progress, because so little 
 is known of matter outside of and beyond 
 that which resists muscular effort, or which 
 he cannot observe with his physical eyes. 
 
 Those that are educated along material 
 lines see only in earth, water and air, cer- 
 tain atoms, molecules and chemical combin- 
 ations. All must admit that matter is gov- 
 erned by force, and that the force that gov- 
 erns and directs matter in its association, 
 composition and change, possesses intelli- 
 gence; but, being unable to follow matter 
 through its evolution and refinement, they 
 
 89 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN". 
 
 deny what they cannot comprehend. Back 
 of the atom, back of all substance, back of 
 all people, is a mightly force, called mind, — - 
 the Master Mind we may term it, that di- 
 rects and controls all substances visible 
 and invisible by fixed and definite rules, 
 which are termed "natural law". 
 
 To attempt to bring to the comprehen- 
 sion of mankind a definite conception of 
 that mind, that force, is difficult beyond 
 anything I have undertaken, because 
 of my limited knowledge of the subject; for 
 those in the sphere beyond the physical are 
 able to give me but little information, 
 for they have only limited knowledge. 
 Simply because they are out of the body 
 they do not know all, nor are they infal- 
 lible ; so they, acting as instructors, can give 
 me only that which they know. Perhaps I 
 can deal with this difficult proposition in 
 no better way than to quote what spirit- 
 people have told me concerning the ques- 
 tion. 
 
 "Back in the past centuries, when the 
 world of spirit had not its present develop- 
 ment, there was little original inventive 
 thought, Man built a shelter, killed his 
 
 90 
 
THOUGHT AND MIND. 
 
 food, and fought his enemies, as any animal 
 does. As the spirit- world progressed, and be- 
 came more intelligent ; as it obtained greater 
 understanding, and grasped, with greater 
 power, the life-forces, or, in other words, 
 more power of thought and more ability to 
 help mortal development, then, by reason 
 of spirit-suggestion, acting through man's 
 sub-conscious mind, he began to feel an 
 awakening for something better and the 
 progress of civilization began,' ' 
 
 This statement emphasizes the fact that 
 all life in every sphere ever has been, now 
 is, and ever shall be, progressive; that there 
 was a time in spirit-planes, as well as on 
 this, when they did not possess 
 the intelligence, comprehension and power 
 that they do to-day, nor nearly as much as 
 they will in time to come. 
 
 Of what lies beyond the next, or first 
 spirit-sphere, those who live there know but 
 little. Knowledge is acquired only by ef- 
 fort, there, as here; and only as we compre- 
 hend the economy of natural law and mind- 
 power, do we progress. We know that 
 those in the next spirit-sphere, like people 
 in the earth-sphere, develop their mental 
 
 91 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 powers through acquired knowledge, and 
 therefore, increase the sum-total of the 
 Master-Mind of which they and we are 
 parts; so that not only is the individual 
 spirit gaining advancement, but being Spir- 
 it, and a component part of the great Mind, 
 this force increases in the ratio of individ- 
 ual development; each day they and we 
 are contributing something to the great in- 
 telligent force which directs and controls 
 the Universe; and its increase is measured 
 by their and our progression. 
 
 What the Master-Mind is, beyond the fact 
 that it includes the individual minds of all 
 who have lived, and now live, in any plane 
 or any planet in the universe, we cannot 
 know; we could not grasp the Infinite, if 
 any spirit knew and tried to explain. That 
 there is an intelligence controlling all mat- 
 ters and all people to some extent, we do 
 know. 
 
 Again this spirit said: 
 
 "Beyond and before everything is mind; 
 that is, understanding. Mind is matter, as 
 you use that term, with this difference; it 
 is carried beyond the physical into a high- 
 er vibration. Let me illustrate in this way : 
 
 92 
 
THOUGHT AND MIND. 
 
 good thoughts have a higher and more 
 rapid vibration than bad thoughts, and 
 bring us into closer harmony with spirit-in- 
 telligences. There is no barrier to thought ; 
 it carries us to the uttermost parts of the 
 earth; to the heights of perfect joy and to 
 the depths of woe. The people of earth are 
 just beginning to gain some knowledge of 
 this force for good within themselves. Once 
 let that fact be understood, and mortals 
 will come nearer to understanding their 
 destiny." 
 
 Another said: 
 
 "Mind is the aggregate of all thoughts. 
 Mind is the universal thought. As a drop 
 of water signifies but one infinitesimal part 
 of the great ocean, so a thought is but one 
 infinitesimal part of the great ocean of 
 mind. Thought is creative energy, the es- 
 sence of all things, and expresses itself in 
 form. The vibratory energy of thought-waves 
 produce form, sound and color, though they 
 are never perfectly expressed in the phy- 
 sical plane. Not until men have arisen out 
 of the physical condition can they come to 
 an appreciation and comprehension of mat- 
 ter so refined as to be known as mind. 
 
 93 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 Thought belongs to the individual man; 
 mind to the race universal" 
 
 Words are but symbols used to express 
 thoughts. There is nothing in a word ex- 
 cept that it conveys an impression or ideas 
 to the mind. They are coined as new con- 
 ditions arise. When Newton discovered the 
 law of gravitation, he had difficulty in find- 
 ing words to describe the fact, so new was 
 the proposition. So it is with metapsy- 
 chies, that is the philosophy of life beyond 
 the physical; this science is so new and so 
 little is known on the subject, that words 
 have not as yet been adopted that will allow 
 of exact detail or comprehensive report. 
 
 There is no such thing as space; what 
 seems so to us, in fact, contains all the ele- 
 ments that produce objects, but it is so fine 
 in its particles and in so high a state of vi- 
 bration as not ordinarily to be visible. All 
 in the earth and sky is substance and holds 
 within itself life force. The wind is mat- 
 ter, for we feel it in our faces, and is a 
 force for it drives great ships upon the seas. 
 Water is slower in vibration than atmos- 
 phere, so we feel and see it, while 
 ether, which is atmosphere higher in vibra- 
 
 94 
 
THOUGHT AND MIND. 
 
 tion, we neither see nor feel, yet it perme- 
 ates all things and all space and is likewise 
 a substance. 
 
 I said to a spirit who in earth-life, was 
 the foremost scientist of his time, "What is 
 ether?" and what is mind?" and he answer- 
 ed: 
 
 "Ether is simply atmosphere in more in- 
 tense vibration than that which surrounds 
 the earth. Ether surrounds spirits unless 
 they go into the earth-plane. Mind, I mean 
 the thought, not the habitation of thought, 
 when the earth-life is over, becomes the en- 
 tire being. It is the only part in man that 
 is of such vibration that it can enter in and 
 progress to spirit-life. The brain is so con- 
 structed that there is an opening for spirit- 
 force or suggestion ; consequently, it proves 
 that the entire mind is of such vibration 
 that the spirit-force can reach it; otherwise 
 suggestion would be impossible. 
 
 Mind is the essence of being, — the ego. 
 It is material, but differing in vibration 
 from the body. Spirit-force surrounds the 
 flowers, teaching them how to grow and 
 bloom, but they have no .conscious original 
 thought. 
 
 95 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN". 
 
 And so we find matter rising higher and 
 higher in vibratory action. First the earth, 
 then water, then atmosphere, then ether, 
 and finally, mind, which is matter as much 
 as the earth is matter, yet it directs and 
 controls all substance in a lower vibratory 
 condition. 
 
 Let me illustrate: Over the land that a 
 man owns, and the waters under the land, 
 he has some control. He can dig into the 
 earth; he can draw the water from it; he 
 can use the air and, to some slight degree, 
 deflect its currents, by the mind directing 
 hands and other agencies that he can em- 
 ploy. He holds limited dominion over gross 
 matter under certain conditions. Now, 
 spirit-minds, that make up the Master-Mind, 
 higher in vibration than ether itself, hold 
 absolute dominion over all matter in the 
 physical universe. But, to attempt to ana- 
 lyze that Master-Mind, or one's own mind 
 even, to give the component parts of mind- 
 matter or its chemical composition, is be- 
 yond my power. 
 
 One of my spirit co-workers said : 
 
 "Be tempted to one extravagance only in 
 this book of ours. Use every argument and 
 
 96 
 
THOUGHT AND MIND, 
 
 all the forcefulness you can, to show what a 
 little thing, what a tiny span, the earth-life 
 is. Real life begins when the heavy, ma- 
 terial body is left behind, and the 
 soul springs upward into the unlimited reg- 
 ions of thought-life. There all grows, 
 learns, expands into perfect fullness of 
 being until one becomes a perfectly develop- 
 ed spirit, able to blend with other spirits 
 similarly developed and perfected. There 
 is no beginning and no end, then, to the 
 heights he can ascend; no joy that is un- 
 known or untasted; no wonder of the uni- 
 verse of which he does not become a part. 
 It is being, then, that state which cannot be 
 defined to unthinking and uncomprehensive 
 minds. But try to grasp this idea, for it 
 gives such an interest and zest to every-day 
 life. Some day each shall be a part of the 
 great force that makes all things work in 
 unity. Before the force was so strong, 
 there was not so much good work- 
 ing among men. They were cruel, 
 barbarous and uncontrolled. Much has 
 that mind-force, working silently but 
 constantly, achieved in the past ages, 
 and much more will it achieve, now that 
 
 97 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAK. 
 
 mankind has become more receptive to our 
 suggestion." 
 
 "Thought is the expression of mind; it is 
 partly caused by spirit-suggestion through 
 the sub-conscious mind, and partly an ex- 
 pression of oneself. Deeds are thoughts 
 grown to maturity, and yet a thought un- 
 spoken or unlived, will exist through all the 
 ages, as though expressed." 
 
 98 
 
A 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 nature's laboratory. 
 
 LL the universe is the result of 
 chemical action; this entire earth, 
 
 and all upon it, is one great labor- 
 atory wherein nature's forces are ever ac- 
 tive, controlled by laws made and kept in 
 operation by the Master Intelligence. 
 
 Nature abhores inaction and stagnation; 
 life-force permeates every atom that goes 
 to make up the mass which we call earth. 
 We call the activity and expression of that 
 force, energy. The ceaseless effort of this 
 force to obtain development, coming into 
 touch with other chemical conditions in 
 nature's wonderful retort, is a refining pro- 
 cess, working for the advancement of man- 
 kind. An interesting discussion on this 
 subject by a spirit is as follows : 
 
 "It should appeal to you that each atom, 
 or each element, and each molecular ag- 
 gregation of sub-atoms, must possess dis- 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 tinct individuality. The scheme of nature, 
 so far as so-called inanimate matter is con- 
 cerned, is to allow a perfect expression of the 
 individual characteristics of each separate 
 species. The individual expression of those 
 separate kinds of matter, be it in the atom 
 or in that expression of associate atoms that 
 produce separate effects, is to allow the 
 steady and ever -occurring change that mat- 
 ter is constantly undergoing to bring about 
 progressive conditions. As matter is ever 
 undergoing a process of refinement in the 
 great laboratory, it follows that, inasmuch 
 as the rule must be an all-including one (for 
 no exception is allowed by nature) a period 
 of time must come when the material of 
 which the human brain is fashioned will 
 also be effected by the refining process. 
 
 "The time has arrived when this effect on 
 the mortal brain is being observed by men, 
 for the brain of the present day has reached 
 the most sensitive stage in the world's his- 
 tory. Being thus attuned, by the gradual 
 and ever-active process of refinement of 
 matter, it is quickened in vibratory power, 
 and thus is in more perfect accord with the 
 
 vibratory activity of the people of the next 
 100 
 
NATURE 'S LABORATORY. 
 
 step in progression, those who live without 
 the clothing of the flesh. It is possible, al- 
 so, for some few physical beings to be held 
 in mental accord by certain spirit-people. 
 The refined physical brain can adjust itself 
 to the spirit-brain, so that the latter can 
 dictate to the former comprehensive sug- 
 gestions as to the proper method of proce- 
 dure to grasp, harness, and control those 
 subtle, magnetic forces of fixed, ever-exist- 
 ing, steady, but pulsating, conditions of 
 stress that are the perfect reflex of the ever- 
 active particles of matter. 
 
 "It is a well established fact, that sub- 
 stances of the same kind attract each other 
 and are cohesive in a given mass in so-called 
 solid form, by a reduction of temperature. 
 This kind of attraction has no relation to 
 chemical attraction, but is mainly based on 
 the physical characteristics of the sub- 
 stance, made possible by the similarity of 
 the crystalization of the substance. Much 
 has been told and explained to you about 
 this subject of crystalization of substance. 
 It is the true demonstration of the acute in- 
 dividuality of distinct elements and positive 
 (actual) substance. As vegetablisin and 
 101 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 animalism assert their different species by 
 the process just referred to, so all things 
 in the world of matter likewise assert them- 
 selves. 
 
 "Different species of the vegetable and 
 animal kingdom, by the fact of distinct cry- 
 stalization (form), possess the power to 
 give expression to all the fixed and distinct 
 pecularities that they possess, and to effect 
 others of their kind, or of similar species, 
 and mix and become assimilated with each 
 other in their progressive action, and thus 
 assert that subtle influence which you know 
 as perpetuating life; the one nutrifying the 
 other. Thus they give expression to that 
 power, which is the deep-seated principle of 
 nature, that you explain as life, and that we 
 know is the Spirit. So also is it with mat- 
 ter. It is permeated with Spirit Life, and, 
 because of that fact, it is ever-active. If it 
 were not for this fact, that it possesses 
 Spirit or Life, matter could not undergo 
 the ever-occurring changes, all of a pro- 
 gressive character, that it does ; it could not 
 change to unite and form substances and, 
 after these new combinations have perform- 
 ed their duties, to break down and form 
 
 102 
 
NATURE'S LABORATORY. 
 
 some other substances which also fulfill 
 their functions in the progression of na- 
 ture's great scheme. Were the atoms 
 dead, spiritless, they would of necessity be 
 non-active, and hence useless for the work 
 of the Master's hand. 
 
 "Matter, gross or fine, is but a vehicle for 
 the use of the Spirit, and be it the invisible, 
 theoretical atom of oxygen or of any other 
 so-called element, or be it a perfect physical 
 man, this atom of matter, or these aggrega- 
 tions of atoms used to form man, are but 
 the Master's vehicles to work for, and act 
 as the carrier of, the Spirit. The Spirit of 
 man is the intelligence of man, and nothing 
 more. This Spirit is the highest type 
 that the Master has desired to create on 
 your earth. It is the consummation of the 
 workmanship of that great workshop, your 
 earth; and it is the final result of the ac- 
 tivity of all other spirit-forces that matter 
 has for countless ages, as man records time, 
 been manifesting. 
 
 "The final product of all of that ceaseless 
 activity of matter is the one result that 
 goes out from your earth as Eternal Life. 
 Every other form of spirit-life is returned 
 
 103 
 
THE FUTUEE OF MAN, 
 
 to the refinery for the further processes of 
 refinement, until it is fitted for the last act 
 of earth-life, — the creating of a sublime hu- 
 man intelligence, — and then it goes forth 
 into the domain of Spirit, to be further re- 
 fined and fitted for that purpose of the 
 Master that is not clear to us of the Spirit- 
 World, but, according to reasoning, based on 
 such knowledge as is possessed by some of 
 our most advanced intelligences, to be ul- 
 timately a power added to the great In- 
 telligence that rules the universe. But be 
 the further following out of the scheme 
 what it may, of this truth you may be cer- 
 tain : God's use of this earth is to create hu- 
 man intelligence ; and further, it is nature's 
 constant effort to produce the best ; and, so 
 true is this, that, if you will but "read" as 
 you "run," you may note that people of 
 your earth possess this knowledge as if by 
 instinct (in reality by spirit-suggestion) 
 and they are constantly endeavoring, in 
 their blind, groping way, to perfect them- 
 selves. Thus likewise it is with spirit-peo- 
 ple. 
 
 "Clearly we see, clearly we feel, all that 
 you see and all that you feel. As your sen- 
 
 104 
 
NATURE'S LABORATORY. 
 
 sations are the half-blind groping of a low- 
 er organism, sluggish, and dull as to the 
 true facts that underlie real progress; so 
 ours are the quick, clear, and fully-developed 
 faculties for appreciating great truths. 
 This refers only to those spirit-intelligences 
 among us who have been awakened to a 
 complete appreciation of our actual indi- 
 vidual spirit intelligence, or, plainly, to 
 those among us who have come to realize 
 our complete separation from the physical 
 body after dissolution has occurred. We 
 are as much John Smith or Wilhelm 
 Schneider in the spirit-life as when in the 
 flesh, and we have the same distinct person- 
 alities. 
 
 "Thus, knowing by quick perception, as 
 we do, that only right is right, and that de- 
 ception cannot succeed ; that honesty only is 
 a fact, and that dishonesty is a condition 
 that brings about endless trouble that must 
 be disentangled and made straight and ab- 
 solutely honest by the causer; and, knowing 
 that nature has established laws which are 
 good, and, if adhered to, beneficial in their 
 results; and which, if broken, must be mend- 
 ed by the breaker, — knowing all these things 
 
 103 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 made possible by our power of rapid percep- 
 tion, (because those tantalizing desires of 
 the flesh have no longer a hold upon us) we 
 are ever and always anxious when we can 
 come in touch with intelligence in the flesh, 
 to give to such persons what we can of the 
 truths that are clear to us." 
 
 108 
 
CHAPTEK XI. 
 
 VIRBATION. 
 
 SCIENCE can measure the velocity of 
 the wind, of the stars and constella- 
 tions, and of rays of light; but who 
 shall attempt to measure the velocity of hu- 
 man thought? We cannot demonstrate 
 spirit-forces and the conditions governing 
 them, by the same rules that are applied to 
 physical science. This is simply because 
 there is a difference in the rate of vibration 
 between things material and things spirit- 
 ual. As long as matter is sensible to touch, 
 science can measure it, analyze its sub- 
 stance, and learn its component parts; but 
 when it reaches a certain vibration, where 
 activity increases beyond their knowledge, 
 the "scientists" are lost in the wilderness 
 which they call "the unknown. " This is 
 where the philosophy that we term "meta- 
 psychics" commences. We, of this new 
 school of thought, are no more quali- 
 
 107 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 fied to enter into the domain of physical 
 science than the physical scientists are to 
 come into our domain, and it would be most 
 profitable for each school to confine itself 
 to its own field of usefulness. 
 
 Sir William Thompson, led by a hint of 
 Faraday's, advances the theory that "all 
 properties of matter, probably, are attri- 
 butes of motion." I am told there are but 
 two elements in the universe. This must be 
 so : the positive and the negative, male and 
 female ; else how could we have the harmony 
 of the universe, and the tendency to final 
 equilibrium of inharmonious conditions and 
 things. All other conceivable elements are 
 not elements, but compounds. Vibrations 
 are slowest in the basic or generic rocks; 
 the atoms and molecules composing them ly- 
 ing close, of necessity, movement is slow. 
 The basic rock, where it has not been 
 changed in its position by upheavals, is 
 most removed from the earth's surface. It 
 has changed but little from the condition it 
 assumed when this planet cooled and sub- 
 stance came together in so-called solids; 
 but, starting from this generic rock as our 
 basis of comparison, as we come up through 
 
 108 
 
VIBRATION. 
 
 the different strata in which are recorded 
 the earth's ages, we observe the vibration 
 gradually quickening as matter changes in 
 its formation, resulting in greater motion ; 
 the vibrations intensify as we reach the soil 
 and growing grains and trees, the plants 
 and shrubs, and, finally, the flowers, bring- 
 ing motion up to the highest pitch in the 
 vegetable kingdom. But vibrations do not 
 cease there ; as we reach man they increase. 
 After the physical comes the spirit- 
 body, still matter, still vibrating, 
 which progresses on and on among 
 spirit-spheres with ever increasing ac- 
 tion, in spirit-planes, its refining pro- 
 cess never ceases increasing, any more than 
 man ceases progressing. 
 
 Vegetation has life, the same character or 
 kind of life as human beings, but, its vibra- 
 tion being slower, it cannot move of its own 
 volition. The only thing that makes it pos- 
 sible for man to move at will, is because he 
 is in a higher or more rapid state of vibra- 
 tion, but with movement limited, — for all 
 things have their limitations. We cannot 
 pass through solids ; but spirit-people, living 
 in a higher state of vibration, can. The 
 
 109 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 spirit, while in the body, whose vibrations 
 are slower and heavier, is impeded in its 
 movement by the material; but at dissolu- 
 tion it escapes physical impediments, its 
 molecular or atomic action increases, and it 
 can do more at will. There is quite as much 
 difference between the vibration in and out 
 of the body as between the physical body 
 and vegetable kingdom. Dissolution, then, 
 is only the changing of vibratory conditions. 
 It has been illustrated to me in this way : 
 
 "When the body, from disease or long in- 
 habitation, becomes a broken shell, the in- 
 tense vibration of the spirit breaks through 
 the limiting space to which it has become ac- 
 customed, and reaches a plane of higher 
 vibration. The soul-sense dominates all our 
 thoughts and actions; and, consequently, it 
 is held in check only by the physical limita- 
 tions of the body. When, as I say, the body 
 becomes unfit to hold the spirit, the spirit 
 breaks away at the first opportunity, and 
 seeks the sphere best adapted for its expan- 
 sion. The heavy vibrations of the body, un- 
 less quickened by the presence of the keener 
 soul-vibrations, fall back into the still heav- 
 ier vibrations of matter, which is earth and 
 no 
 
VIBRATION. 
 
 vegetation. Nothing remains stationary, 
 and if one part goes onward, the other goes 
 backward. These are the elementary laws 
 that govern change and evolution, and they 
 are the A B C of spirit-knowledge. As this 
 is becoming more known among those in 
 earth-life, it tends toward their ultimate 
 benefit." 
 
 "There are always vibrations depending 
 upon the subjection of molecules that are 
 not so free in expression. I mean they are 
 taken into the life-principle, and given their 
 proper position ; they change only to go into 
 the vibration that is gradually made for 
 them. They do not have the sudden re- 
 lease that comes to the soul, but slowly glide 
 from one form into another, all in the same 
 series of vibratory action. The souFs 
 change is usually so sudden as to be a shock ; 
 for it is hard for a spirit to accustom itself 
 to the intenser vibration. This is the reason 
 why at a death-bed there is always a gasp- 
 ing for breath. It is not the physical body 
 that is striving to breathe ; it is the soul, em- 
 erging into that higher atmosphere of spirit, 
 unconsciously trying to adjust itself." 
 
 "Spirit-material is only earthly matter 
 111 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 raised to a higher degree of atomic activity. 
 Chemistry shows that when two elements, 
 having a different degree of atomic motion, 
 come together, there is an attempt at equili- 
 brium, which, being accomplished, produces 
 a new form of matter, and in the spirit- 
 world there is no change of law." 
 
 In the progress of matter from the sim- 
 plest elemental state to the most complex 
 organic compound, there is constantly (a) 
 increase in the mass, (b) decrease in the 
 stability of the molecules. This is well 
 known in physical science, but a new con- 
 dition is discovered: (c) with all these 
 changes there is an increase in the activity 
 of the properties which continues, not only 
 as long as matter is sensible to touch, but 
 through all the planes of life beyond the 
 physical. There is not one law for the phy- 
 sical and another for the spirit, but one law 
 for both. 
 
 Vibrations increase in geometrical pro- 
 gression, and it is a well known fact that 
 there are long skips in the scale where mor- 
 tal ear hears and eye perceives, for motion 
 becomes so rapid that it is lost to sight and 
 
 sound. Watch the spokes of a locomotive 
 112 
 
VIBRATION". 
 
 wheel as the speed increases, they appear 
 first blurred, then continuous. As the speed 
 still increases they pass from our vision, as 
 completely as spirit-form does. Both are 
 governed by the same law. We do not see the 
 spirit-forms of men or animals simply be- 
 cause of their vibratory condition; that is 
 to say, the average mortal does not; but 
 there are some men and women who can 
 catch sounds from the spirit world and 
 others who can see spirit-forms; that is, 
 they are psychic; they can see things and 
 hear sounds that the average mortal cannot. 
 This is termed "clairvoyance," and "clair- 
 audience." Then again there are two forms 
 of each one, the outward and the inward : 
 (a) The outward form is where the psychic 
 sees the form of a person, thing or object, or 
 hears sound produced in the ear; this is a 
 question of being attuned to higher than or- 
 dinary vibrations; (b) the inward form is 
 where a spirit is able to impress or to make 
 the image directly upon the spirit-brain of 
 the person, or to impress thoughts on the 
 subconscious mind. This latter form is gen- 
 erally called impression or inspiration, but 
 this too, is only a question of vibration. A 
 
 113 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 psychic is also known as, and in fact is, a 
 "sensitive," who is able, to an extraordinary 
 degree, to catch sights and sounds that the 
 average individual cannot. 
 
 There are birds whose homes are among 
 the crags and high altitudes of the Andes, 
 whose song mortal ear has never heard ; yet 
 many men have seen their bills open and 
 close with lightning rapidity and their 
 throats pulsate, but the song is pitched so 
 high that it fails to vibrate on mortal ear. 
 
 Again one said: 
 
 "All life is the expression of the overmas- 
 tering energy of atoms. Vibratory action 
 in the physical world is the ceaseless action 
 and reaction of one force upon another — one 
 undulating wave on another undulating 
 wave. There is never an instant when this 
 action ceases. It is at once the process of 
 elimination, rejection, propulsion, discord 
 and harmony. Nature is apparently relent- 
 less. The sweeping storm, the force of the 
 fire and tornado, destroy alike the gnarled 
 oak and the perfectly formed landscape. 
 Mortals with limited physical vision look 
 with horror upon the devastation wrought, 
 but we who have clearer vision see that this 
 
 114 
 
VIBRATION. 
 
 is only nature's mode of house cleaning. 
 Out of the chaos, the great law of vibration 
 produces harmony. A universal peace and 
 calmness follow the ravages of the destruc- 
 tive elements. Why should this be so? Be- 
 cause all atoms have been brought together, 
 governed by this law, then as quickly sep- 
 arated; and, after having been hurled apart 
 and crashing here and there, the similar par- 
 ticles fall into harmony once more. 1 ' 
 
 "I am fully conscious that any other state- 
 ment of this law of vibration must, of neces- 
 sity, be closely related to the theories of 
 creation. It must fulfill a triple purpose; 
 it must be not only cause and effect but the 
 strange, indefinable, intermediate step that 
 is the growth, as it were, of the real into 
 the unreal. This triple purpose is revealed 
 in the ceaseless action of the positive and 
 negative qualities of every atom. In its 
 power of repulsion and attraction, in its 
 differences and similarities, this law gov- 
 erns the slowly-dissolving elements of every 
 period of the earth's formation from noth- 
 ingness, nameless ether, into harmony of 
 activity ; from this activity into form ; from 
 form to organized being; from organized 
 
 115 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 being into other forms of being which again 
 dissolve, and again form, completing a cir- 
 cle back again into nameless nothingness, 
 ether, and the essence of force. When the 
 vibrations grow gradually less, the form 
 begins to be manifested and we have the 
 atom, the molecule, the electric spark, the 
 physical expression of life. 
 
 "The freed spirit comprehends the laws 
 of vibratory physical action. To know is to 
 be outside of: hence, not until we have be- 
 come disembodied, do we truly know. As 
 disembodied spirits Ave cannot experience. 
 That belongs to earth-life alone; it is an 
 illusive teacher. Not until we cease experi- 
 encing, can we grasp the law that governs. 
 The subconscious mind, governed by this 
 law, grasps it, adds to it, repels and at- 
 tracts, and moulds itself over and over un- 
 til, finally, you of earth-life, get a little ap- 
 preciation of it." 
 
 This is a new theory in the philosophy of 
 man. But towards its proper comprehen- 
 sion the thought of the twentieth century 
 will be directed; and, with the mastery of 
 the elementary principles will come greater 
 
 116 
 
VIBRATION, 
 
 appreciation of the future condition of man, 
 in the life beyond the physical. 
 
 117 
 
CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 MATTER. 
 
 ALL matter is composed of mole- 
 cules, atoms and electrons. A 
 molecule is made up of several 
 atoms. For instance, a molecule of water 
 is composed of three atoms, two of hydro- 
 gen and one of oxygen. The atoms are very 
 small, about one hundred thousandth of an 
 inch in size, and yet sufficient in number to 
 make up the mass of all the planets com- 
 posing the solar systems of the universe. 
 These small particles possess a force so won- 
 derful that it is utterly impossible for man 
 to follow and examine them, for the reason 
 that they are constantly changing in their 
 rapid passage. They pass through the ether 
 with wave-like undulatory motion, and, like 
 human beings, have their likes and dislikes. 
 When they find their affinity, we have what 
 is known as cohesion, for every particle of 
 matter has an attraction for other parti- 
 
 119 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 cles. These atoms have a force and a heat 
 that all the furnaces of earth could not 
 produce. Under certain conditions, how- 
 ever, there may be a loss of heat, and, if 
 it were possible, in the laboratories of earth 
 to expel heat entirely from the atoms com- 
 posing matter, it would become practically 
 lifeless and inert. This, however, is impos- 
 sible; therefore, while they possess heat 
 and force, they may be solid, liquid and 
 gaseous, in which latter condition they may 
 be said to bump against each other, rebound 
 and move freely through ether which not 
 only joins with the atmosphere surrounding 
 this planet, but connects far distant worlds ; 
 and this ether, this subtle air, around and 
 about us, permeates all substances. 
 
 In the wondrous atoms, with their likes 
 and dislikes, attracting other atoms through 
 the ether and in continual action, we have 
 force, motion and electrified heat. 
 
 Atoms are split up and again subdivided, 
 and those smaller particles are called elec- 
 trons ; that is, they are electrified. In other 
 words, they carry electrified points, not the 
 electricity that we behold in the lightning 
 
 flash or in magnet and coil, but a small sub- 
 120 
 
MATTER. 
 
 tie electricity which mortal man does not 
 yet comprehend. Electrons, then, are really 
 the electrified points of the sub-divided 
 atom, the polarized particles, not one of 
 which could be spared out of the universe. 
 A single atom cannot be lost, it has its 
 place, its power and its task to do. 
 
 The world of matter is a world of change. 
 Molecules changing, atoms changing, elec- 
 trons changing, but the subtle spirit which 
 permeates them is never lost. Each pos- 
 sesses a spark of life-force from the great 
 ocean of Infinity which is immortal. 
 
 When we speak, ordinarily, of matter, we 
 refer to sensible substances which offer re- 
 sistance to the touch and to muscular effort, 
 and which is indestructible an(d eternal, 
 which reacts against external force, is per- 
 manent and preserves its identity under 
 all changes. Again, matter is everything 
 that possesses the properties of gravity and 
 attraction. 
 
 While I am not able to state it as a fact, 
 
 I am of the opinion, reasoning by deduction, 
 
 that the laws of gravitation act only upon 
 
 matter the vibration of which is so slow 
 
 that it is physical ; that when the vibration 
 121 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 is increased to what we know as spirit or 
 mind, the law of gravitation no longer acts 
 upon it; then the law of attraction is 
 the dominating force. The force of gravita- 
 tion is in direct lines only; the lines of at- 
 traction reach in all directions. Gravita- 
 tion then, acts upon the physical body only ; 
 attraction, upon the mental state. And after 
 separation from the body, the spirit, freed 
 from physical substance, is free from the 
 control and influence of the laws of gravita- 
 tion, for which reason spirit people move 
 freely and at will within the boundaries 
 of their sphere. 
 
 There is not in the physical universe, as 
 far as known, a substance that is actually 
 solid. A cubic inch of the hardest steel 
 differs from a cubic inch of air only in 
 the arrangement and position of its 
 atoms and molecules. It is all a 
 question of density and vibration. 
 Could a magnifying glass be made powerful 
 enough, what is known as solid matter 
 would appear like dust floating in the sun's 
 rays, for nothing is ever actually still. Na- 
 ture abhors stagnation as it does a vacuum. 
 All in the universe is matter, whether phy- 
 
 122 
 
MATTER. 
 
 sical or spiritual, composed of atoms and 
 molecules attracted and associated in vary- 
 ing and different degrees of density and 
 therefore of vibration. xVU substance is, in 
 fact, matter, whether it be visible or invis- 
 ible, whether it be sensible to touch or elu- 
 sive. In accordance with this theory of ad- 
 vanced science, all matter is progressing in- 
 to modes of motion, dissolving into activ- 
 ity, and so shading off into that great reality 
 that is all energy and life. 
 
 Can there be energy without substance; 
 does not everything that has expression 
 necessitate substance? The idea that spirit- 
 people exist but are unsubstantial is illog- 
 ical and preposterous. The gases which 
 compose water, taken separately, are as 
 much substance as when united. The spirit- 
 body is as much substance as a physical 
 body. Why should it be considered impos- 
 sible for mother nature to clothe spirits with 
 substance so that, when separated from 
 flesh, both should continue to exist as abso- 
 lutely as when joined together? When we 
 pass into the spirit-life, we have the same 
 features, the same general contour, the same 
 proportions, and we carry that normal con- 
 
 123 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 dition wherever we go. Our shape, size, fea- 
 tures and contour are determined by the 
 spiritual atoms forming our spiritual per- 
 sonality, and this continues through all 
 spheres. Thus our identity, once estab- 
 lished, exists in continuity with life, — re- 
 maining always the same, being always com- 
 posed of the same personal atoms. 
 
 All that exists in positive condition is 
 matter; intelligent forces permeate all ma- 
 terial things, and are made manifest in mo- 
 tion. Motion is moving matter. Matter, in 
 a very high state of vibratory action, may 
 be, and frequently is, classed as immaterial ; 
 but, in reality, there is no immaterial thing ; 
 an absolutely immaterial thing would be 
 absolutely nothing — so-called immaterial 
 things are conditions of matter in a very 
 great degree of sublimation. We cannot 
 conceive of anything made out of nothing. 
 
 Electricity and magnetism are highly sub- 
 limated conditions of matter; one step fur- 
 ther finds us in the world of Spirit, which 
 is a still greater degree of material sublima- 
 tion. The electro-magnetic may be so near- 
 ly related to the condition of spiritual sub- 
 limation as to be the connecting link be- 
 
 124 
 
MATTER. 
 
 tween mind, or spirit, and matter; but we 
 are not, as yet, able to grasp the condition 
 of magnetic, electric, and spiritual vibration 
 to any extent. Investigation causes growth 
 step by step, until, by and by, we may un- 
 derstand the force of electro-magnetism. 
 
 Matter disappears from our vision, but re- 
 appears to our senses. This thing called 
 matter, which, in one state or another, is 
 perfectly opaque, and will not permit a ray 
 of light to pass through it, will in another 
 form, which is spirit, become perfectly 
 transparent. The cause of this wonderful 
 change is beyond our comprehension. Sci- 
 ence may say it is due to some attraction in 
 the position or arrangement of atoms or 
 molecules; but atoms or molecules, how- 
 ever confident the "scientists" may be of 
 their existence and of the laws that govern 
 their attraction and repulsion, are beyond 
 the reach of our physical senses. 
 
 Substances dissolved in water or burned 
 in the air, are not annihilated, for, by certain 
 well known means, they can be recalled and 
 restored to sight, some in exactly the same 
 state as before they became invisible, others 
 in some other state or condition. Matter is 
 
 125 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAST. 
 
 indestructible; if there is matter, there 
 must be spirit, for matter is only the sub- 
 stance that spirit uses for physical expres- 
 sion. Spirit, whether it finds physical ex- 
 pression or whether it exists apart from 
 gross matter, as we use that term, is of 
 primary importance and is the first subject 
 for consideration, while the garment which 
 makes life visible is only of secondary im- 
 portance. One law, as we have shown, gov- 
 erns all conditions in the physical as well 
 as in the spirit planes; and whenever we 
 find life-forces, they are clothed with either 
 physical or spiritual material, which is mat- 
 ter in different states of vibrations. So that 
 the individual life, at dissolution, undergoes 
 a change of vibration, like water changed 
 into vapor; it is the same life still having 
 form, feature, and expression, just as be- 
 fore, but changed in its vibratory action, the 
 atoms pulsate at a higher rate so 
 that they are no longer visible to us. 
 Though matter still, they pass from our 
 sight like steam dissolved in air. 
 
 Mind is matter, and day by day, and min- 
 ute by minute, as it crystalizes, it takes defi- 
 nite form and shape; and its cre- 
 
 126 
 
MATTER. 
 
 ations are clothed with substance. 
 Some are given physical expression 
 in works of art, inventions, books, and build- 
 ings; but the great majority find expression 
 in what we term spirit-matter, of which man 
 comes to a full appreciation only as he 
 passes into that sphere of usefulness. Mat- 
 ter, in this physical world, is changed and 
 fashioned by hands or by machinery made 
 by hands, so low is its vibratory condition; 
 but, as we ascend in the scale of life, thought 
 becomes such a wonderful force that it can 
 fashion, model and mould substances that 
 vibrate in similar waves into actual forms 
 of its own creations. In this way, the en- 
 vironment that a spirit finds after disso- 
 lution is found to be one that he has, per- 
 haps unknown to himself, been creating by 
 his acts and by his thought from day to 
 day. 
 
 Thought is the one great thing in the uni- 
 verse. Formed and fashioned in the human 
 brain, it is projected into the ether, that per- 
 meates all things and all space, by laws we 
 are not yet able to comprehend. It takes 
 form and shape and awaits there 
 our coming. The homes which spirit- 
 
 127 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 people have, and the condition in and about 
 them, their very location, depend on the 
 life-work and thought action of the individ- 
 ual. Everything is governed by law; noth- 
 ing happens by chance ; cause and effect are 
 as potent in the spirit plane as in the earth 
 plane. These facts must be borne in mind : 
 All is matter, here and hereafter; spirit- 
 people have bodies; their identity never 
 changes; they have homes; they are real; 
 they are people; and they live after what 
 we call death. 
 
 On this subject, I am told: 
 
 "Spirit is etherial matter — matter whose 
 home is in ether, which is higher in vibra- 
 tion than the atmosphere in which it for- 
 merly existed. Each change into another 
 sphere is a higher, more vitalizing vibration, 
 until the emancipated spirit reaches a 
 sphere of most intense vibration, which 
 holds the power of life. Then it can impreg- 
 nate matter in a lower material condition, 
 and give it an atom of spirit to develop. 
 The reason that man is continually growing 
 in spiritual thought, is because as this force, 
 this life-giving force, increases, it becomes 
 
 128 
 
MATTER. 
 
 stronger, and man is being equipped for the 
 development of his spiritual being. 
 
 "Matter includes all things that have con- 
 tinued life, — and we know that nothing can 
 die. Ether is the atmosphere of spirit-peo- 
 ple. From each man in his natural condi- 
 tion emanates spiritual ether. It is because 
 of this atmosphere that we are able to come 
 close to him, and thereby reach his sub- 
 conscious mind." 
 
 Spirit-material is nothing more than 
 earthly matter raised to a higher degree of 
 activity; while spirit-force is pure force. 
 The physical world is a counterpart of the 
 spirit world, but the latter is the reality. 
 
 There are more than five avenues of 
 knowledge. There is much about matter 
 that we do not know. It is possible to pass 
 matter through matter. Kecall the flowers 
 heretofore mentioned, brought from a dis- 
 tance, passed through the walls of the room 
 in which we were, and reconstructed. How 
 was it done? Spirit chemists know how to 
 use this subtle electric power to reduce the 
 atoms that are solid, to a gaseous state. 
 Oxygen at low temperature and under pres- 
 sure, can be transformed into a solid; it 
 
 129 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 can also be reduced to a liquid and changed 
 into ether. Physical substance, under such 
 treatment, becomes gaseous and etheric, and 
 may, by a similar process, be restored to its 
 normal conditions. In this manner the 
 flowers were de-materialized and again ma- 
 terialized. The process was simply a chem- 
 ical change. 
 
 Savages rubbing sticks to produce fire, 
 looked upon the traveler with suspicion and 
 fear; but when they saw him produce fire 
 with a match, their souls were filled with 
 wonder. Spirit-people look with sorrow up- 
 on the people of this generation, for the 
 great majority, in their simplicity, are still 
 rubbing sticks to obtain light, though the 
 sun shines in the heavens. 
 
 130 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE. 
 
 THERE are many things that science 
 does not know, and will never dis- 
 cover, unless it abandons methods 
 which limit and narrow its field of opera- 
 tion. It has confined itself to the prescribed 
 task of investigating gross matter, until 
 even that has eluded its grasp in the form 
 of simple force, and left it empty-handed. 
 It has peered into the heavens with its tele- 
 scopes and looked a little farther into mat- 
 ter with its microscopes ; but it has come no 
 nearer to the nature of things than it was in 
 the beginning. 
 
 When chemistry put the key of the physi- 
 cal universe into its hands, it was enough to 
 devote a century to the dazzling picture it 
 revealed, — a century of concentrated and 
 universal gaze at the world, out of whose 
 dust our material bodies are made, and in 
 which life-forces find visible expression; 
 
 131 
 
THE FUTUKE OF MAN. 
 
 but, having sat so long before the elemen- 
 tary flames and having seen matter reduced 
 to gas and force, and there stop, the world 
 has become impatient at its inability to an- 
 swer further questions. While we have been 
 shown the component parts of our physical 
 bodies, and how our actions are linked to 
 the invariable energy of the universe, sci- 
 ence has not explained us ourselves, nor 
 analyzed us in its retort, nor measured us 
 by the law of continuity. 
 
 Chemistry has led to biology, this in turn 
 to psychology, and this to sociology, history 
 and religion ; and the patient world has, at 
 last, growing dissatisfied, asked science to 
 analyze consciousness, mind, thought and 
 love; but science cannot meet those de- 
 mands ; it has pushed its researches until it 
 has reached confines beyond which it can- 
 not go, though it does see forces which it 
 cannot explain. Science starts with matter 
 in its homogeneous state of diffusion, that 
 is, at so-called rest and without action, 
 either externally so, or as the result of ex- 
 hausted force. Now, we ask whence comes 
 this force? Science has no answer except 
 that which is involved in the vague phrase 
 
 132 
 
LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE. 
 
 "unknowable cause," which is a contradic- 
 tion of terms, since a cause with a visible 
 result is, to that extent, known. The law 
 of gravitation goes before its action. What 
 of the origin of the law that acts on matter? 
 Why does it begin to act on matter while 
 at rest? Again, how do we pass from the 
 functional action of the brain to conscious- 
 ness? The scientists claim that the chasm 
 is impassible. What, then, will they do 
 with the fact and phenomena of conscious- 
 ness? Again, what right has science, know- 
 ing nothing of the origin of force, and, 
 therefore, understanding nothing of its na- 
 ture, to limit its action and potentiality to 
 the "functional" play of organism? Again, 
 they test and measure matter by mind, but 
 if matter be tested and measured by mind, 
 it is, as it were, one clod or crystal analyz- 
 ing another. It is like getting into the 
 scales with the thing to be weighed. 
 
 Metapsychics is an entirely new philo- 
 sophy, dealing with energy and life-forces, 
 separate and apart from that material 
 which the physical world terms matter, 
 governed by entirely different laws and 
 using new methods in its demonstrations. 
 
 133 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN*. 
 
 It is greatly to be regretted that 
 scientists, who have made such wonder- 
 ful progress in knowledge of the ma- 
 terial world, stand so much in awe of each 
 other that yery few of them have had the 
 courage to depart from their antiquated sys- 
 tem of investigation. In the few instances 
 where great minds have dared to investigate 
 questions transcending physical science, 
 they have been subjected to the ridicule and 
 derision of the great majority of their fel- 
 lows, who have not had the courage to ven- 
 ture beyond old, accepted theories. To 
 those who have had the courage of their 
 convictions, and the breadth of mind to as- 
 sociate this new philosophy with their own 
 personalities, men like Sir Oliver Lodge, for 
 example, great credit is due ; but physicists, 
 as a class, have no right to come into this 
 new field, for which they are so unqualified. 
 Neither have they any right to criticize 
 methods and means which they do not un- 
 derstand; nor have they any right to say: 
 "If there are laws that govern life-force 
 apart from gross material, they must be dis- 
 covered by us." Let them confine their ef- 
 forts to their own field of matter and its de- 
 
 134 
 
LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE. 
 
 velopinent, and leave the study of life-forces 
 to others who labor in new ways and who 
 have to grapple with higher problems than 
 those of physics. 
 
 We, of the newer philosophy, demonstrate 
 the limitations of science when we ask of it : 
 "What is the relation of mind to the 
 senses?" The observing senses are before 
 the thinking mind. We might also ask: 
 < k What is the nature of this thing that you 
 call matter, which you think you can feel 
 and see? But Jwiv do you see it, and how 
 do you feel it? You do not know." 
 
 We of the newer school, having, at least, 
 nothing to unlearn, stand in no fear of the 
 criticism of any man or class of men. Hav- 
 ing discovered new and original methods by 
 which we comprehend something of the 
 economy of natural laws and coming, as we 
 have, into direct communication with peo- 
 ple in the after-life with whom we discuss 
 such problems ; having been told something 
 of these heretofore unanswerable questions 
 — something of force, energy, mind, soul, 
 spirit and its relation to matter, by men 
 who have become truly great, we labor to 
 increase the knowledge of mankind, and to 
 
 135 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 gain a better appreciation of our place in 
 nature and of our relation to her. 
 
 The field is so vast, the questions are so 
 great, the opportunities so limited, and the 
 subject is so new, that we can at most ob- 
 tain only a little knowledge, and enunciate 
 only a few of the primary laws that govern 
 all things animate and inanimate. 
 
 There are sounds that our ears have never 
 heard; there is light that our physical eyes 
 can never see; there is an invisible world 
 filled with people that few here ever imag- 
 ined. And yet, discoveries are made from 
 year to year of these invisible people and 
 inaudible things, through the patient labors 
 of earnest workers. Step by step, we grasp 
 and comprehend these laws, each one based 
 on those that go before. Crooke's tubes have 
 been in use since 1878, and Roentgen's rays 
 were in existence for nearly twenty years 
 before their presence was even suspected. 
 Just as the great invisible world was 
 unknown, and just as those rays 
 remained so long undiscovered, so 
 even now there exist in the uni- 
 verse spirit-people, and other rays, other vi- 
 brations, of which, as yet, we have little 
 
 136 
 
LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE. 
 
 cognizance. The seemingly trivial observa- 
 tions made by one worker, lead to useful ob- 
 servations by another, and so progress 
 makes its way, creeping from point to point ; 
 and so, year by year, the sum-total of our 
 knowledge increases, and our ignorance is 
 rolled further and further back. Where 
 there is darkness, there will be light; 
 and where there was ignorance, there must 
 come knowledge. Such is the law of mental 
 evolution. 
 
 Science, as such, deals only with gases, 
 fluids and solids ; with length, breadth, and 
 thickness. In such a domain, and amongst 
 such phenomena, no hint, even, of future 
 existence can be found; and science only 
 says : "I find no report of it." 
 
 In accounting for all things, shall we be 
 limited to matter and force? Science says : 
 "Yes, because matter and force are all we 
 know or can know." Another school says: 
 "Matter and force account for all things; 
 thought, will and consciousness." Another 
 admits the existence of something else, but 
 claims it to be "unknowable." 
 
 All that physical science is able to discern 
 is matter in its lower conditions. The spirit 
 
 137 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN". 
 
 world, as well as the physical, is a field of 
 legitimate inquiry. The barriers that craft 
 and superstition have erected are being 
 swept away; the laws that govern the pro- 
 cess of death are as well defined as those 
 that govern the process of life. They are 
 purely chemical and equally absolute and 
 irrevocable. 
 
 To the masses, spirit-life is a mystery; 
 death a hopeless problem; while the world 
 of the invisible, just another community all 
 around us, cannot be comprehended by the 
 average mortal mind. 
 
 We have our limitations. Our work, 
 Avhile not of, must center largely about, the 
 physical, as the mind of mortal man cannot 
 get far beyond the evidence that pertains to 
 the physical senses. The revelations from 
 the other world are only just begun, yet the 
 effect upon the human mind is already mar- 
 velous. The power of the new school to ac- 
 complish great results is limited only by the 
 perceptive capacity of the brain. The best 
 way for each one is to pursue his own in- 
 vestigations, to make his own demonstra- 
 tions, until the force of the facts breaks up- 
 on the inner consciousness. We are enter- 
 
 138 
 
LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE. 
 
 ing a great region of undiscovered knowl- 
 edge which yet remains to be explored by 
 those who search for truth. He who en- 
 ters this field of intellectual labor, needs no 
 preconceived beliefs, but a mind, like a sen- 
 sitive plate, on which facts may be im- 
 pressed. 
 
 Through the avenue of metapsy chics we 
 have seen that we may climb to many higher 
 planes of thought. Physical science cannot 
 accept that which it cannot define. The 
 physicist must have a label on everything, 
 and assumes that what is incomprehensible 
 to him, must, necessarily, be false ! He says 
 that he admits the existence of a soul, and 
 then proceeds to tear the idea into shreds, 
 leaving the mind of a man of average edu- 
 cation in a state of complete chaos. Op- 
 posed to this narrow and unsatisfactory 
 method, which physical science has adopted 
 in dealing with spiritual entities, the view- 
 point of metapsychics is distinctly vital ; in 
 other words, it maintains that the physicist, 
 or the chemist, is unable to explain the prin- 
 ciple of life without the aid of higher knowl- 
 edge. And this fact alone shows the neces- 
 sity for a philosophy of metapsychics. 
 
 139 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE ATTITUDE OF SCIENCE. 
 
 WE are apt, with our physical en- 
 vironment, to stand in awe of 
 so-called "Men of Science," and 
 expect that all progress, spiritual as well as 
 material, will come through them. 
 
 I have never agreed with the methods 
 adopted by them to prove the continuity of 
 life. Many attempt to build their structures 
 by tearing down; to establish a fact by a 
 process of elimination; they try to prove a 
 thing is so, by proving it is not so. This 
 method, I am led to believe, is erroneous in 
 dealing with forces beyond the physical 
 plane. 
 
 The judgment of spirit-people, with their 
 greater knowledge and experience, is inter- 
 esting. One now in spirit-life, who has ad- 
 vanced far, made this startling statement 
 which I have hesitated to publish : 
 
 "All proper respect is due and payable to 
 
 141 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 the man of learning. But when learning, be 
 it the result of book-study, of experimental 
 investigation, or of knowledge imparted 
 from one to another, has the effect of mak- 
 ing men self-important, so that they adopt 
 such an attitude towards others as to imply 
 that all wisdom and knowledge repose sole- 
 ly and entirely in themselves, then I say that 
 the so-called men of learning only make 
 themselves ridiculous, and that the institu- 
 tions which produce savants of this type are 
 defective, and antagonistic to real intel- 
 lectual progress. 
 
 "No one has a greater feeling of respect 
 and admiration than I have for men who 
 have, by constant and patient effort, sought 
 to unravel and explain those great laws of 
 the universe, the proper understanding of 
 which tends to help and to advance their fel- 
 low-men. We all salute the man who does 
 things; but we also feel contempt for that 
 egotistic group of socialists, to be found in 
 every country, who are always seeking to 
 surround the laws of the universe with a 
 hidden meaning, and to throw a halo around 
 themselves and the cult they seek to organ- 
 ize, by erecting an artificial superstructure 
 
 142 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF SCIENCE. 
 
 of baseless theory upon the facts already ex- 
 plained by the earnest worker, who has by 
 toil and study revealed some hitherto un- 
 known law. The genuine scholar is a plain 
 man of simple ways, somewhat reserved in 
 his expressions and criticisms, because what 
 he knows makes him diffident about speak- 
 ing in an adverse manner of new proposi- 
 tions which he has not investigated. But 
 the self-satisfied man, who, because of the 
 fact that he, by some chance, has become en- 
 rolled among the members of a cult, pre- 
 tends to know everything and dares to doubt 
 everything, while in reality too shallow for 
 thorough knowledge, is often found among 
 so-called scientists. 
 
 "Are there not notes in the scale too high 
 in their vibration for mortal ear? Are there 
 not colors belonging to the rays of the spec- 
 trum, too rapid in their vibration to be de- 
 tected by the mortal eye? Yes, of course. 
 Why 'of course?' Because science has 
 proved it ! Nonsense ! Let us ask ourselves, 
 What is science? I will tell you what sci- 
 ence is. It is the result of the determining 
 of the why, and the wherefore, of a few of 
 nature's laws that existed for ages before 
 
 143 
 
THE FUTUKE OF MAN. 
 
 this word science was invented. Poor mor- 
 tal man! His opportunities for advance- 
 ment have been one long succession of trials. 
 First he was obliged to overcome his visible 
 enemies and the fear of the wilderness; 
 then, when he had gained a little confidence, 
 a combination of men arose and ensnared 
 him by fear of the so-called supernatural; 
 and then, when he dared to tell that set of 
 men, 'Begone' so that he might think alone ; 
 behold! another set of men arose, who told 
 him that he could think only as they should 
 decide. 
 
 "Pray, tell me, what has any man of sci- 
 ence, no matter how arrogant his claims 
 may be, accomplished to entitle him to say 
 that he holds the key to all knowledge? For 
 each discoverer of a new scientific principle 
 by which the world is benefited, there are a 
 hundred, who, if they had been guided by 
 'science' only, would have remained all their 
 lives in intellectual stagnation, but who 
 have, with spirit-assistance, been able to en- 
 large the boundaries of human knowledge 
 by a proper application of nature's laws. 
 If the word 'science' be confined to knowl- 
 edge of the laws of the physical world mere- 
 
 144 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF SCIENCE. 
 
 ly, it covers only a small field. The laws of 
 spirit are far more important than the laws 
 of our bodily structure. Man's spiritual fu- 
 ture is a grander field of inquiry than the 
 principles of mechanics." 
 
 Another said : 
 
 "To treat the subject of psychic phenom- 
 ena by analysis, as you would treat matter, 
 is not within the province of mortals. The 
 soul is the spirit, and can be apprehended 
 by mortals only by the operation of a think- 
 ing mind. 'Whence comest thou?' 'Whith- 
 er goest thou?' These are the two great 
 questions for all, and all must some day 
 have the power to answer them. Would not 
 a comprehensive knowledge of these ques- 
 tions be of inestimable benefit to you in your 
 earth-life? Many a great and grievous error 
 might have been avoided, and many who suf- 
 fer might have been made happy, had it been 
 universally realized that the earth-life is but 
 a. preparatory school for a future condition, 
 where progress or retardment of progress is 
 the result of one's own actions. 
 
 "It is well that mortals should live the 
 earth-life in accordance with the laws of na- 
 ture, and not spend too much time in specu- 
 
 145 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 lative thought as to the why and wherefore 
 of his being; but good being the desire of 
 all, or the necessary condition of all for ad- 
 vancement, a true knowledge of the future 
 state of the spirit is necessary that errors 
 of life may not occur, through your own un- 
 guided actions. 
 
 "A knowledge of the continued life after 
 passing from earth, cannot be determined 
 by weighing, measuring, or comparing, as 
 is done with material things; but by an ac- 
 ceptance of truth, manifested by the power 
 of mind. There having been no beginning, 
 there will be no ending of nature or of nat- 
 ural laws. Is it then to be said that mortal 
 man is to be the sole exception in this eter- 
 nal order of things? As you are, so shall 
 you be. Your path lies onward; death, as 
 you term it, being but a single step, an un- 
 important change in the journey. Every- 
 thing moves forward, nothing backward. 
 The ending of mortal existence is but the 
 first change to usefulness. You must not 
 consider that the law that applies to con- 
 stant improvement, does not apply to the 
 lowest as well as to the highest in life. 
 
 "The principle that leads some men of 
 
 146 
 
1HE ATTITUDE OF SCIENCE. 
 
 science to hold that the only trne laws are 
 those provable by his deepest investigation 
 and research, is a great error. After the 
 limit of investigation has been reached, 
 there are many more questions to be an- 
 swered that are as yet unanswerable; this 
 being so, you must seek for the answers by 
 a process of philosophic reasoning. 
 
 "Great minds require proof of small 
 things, and this is right; but it does not 
 require that great truths should be placed 
 before great minds. Many minds of more 
 simple attainment, grasp great truths much 
 more easily than do minds which possess the 
 quality of greatness." 
 
 Another, who while in this life was a well 
 known preacher, says: 
 
 "I should like to add my mite to your 
 epistle to the 'scientists' and to tell them 
 that the life for which they try to find a 
 scientific, materialistic reason, is as wonder- 
 ful and as eternal as the universe ; they can- 
 not end it by death, any more than they can 
 produce it by artificial means. Life comes 
 from the great force of a mighty blending of 
 souls which permeates all things and all 
 space; life enters in, and is taken up by the 
 
 147 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 material atoms, when nature's law, which 
 governs all things, deem the conditions in a 
 productive state. The amount of this great 
 force, which is retained by the being as it 
 develops, depends largely upon the condi- 
 tion of the soil in which it is planted. 
 
 "All the talking, thinking and surmising, 
 of all the minds in the world, cannot bring 
 about the birth of a soul; and the great 
 power that can generate a soul may be 
 trusted to look after it justly and carefully 
 after death. That death is the end, is a be- 
 lief that a well balanced mind cannot ac- 
 cept. Life would be but a futile thing, and 
 all effort useless, if the future did not 
 stretch before us endless and unlimited in 
 its possibilities. Believe me, the justice that 
 meets the naked soul, on the threshold of 
 its spirit-life, is terrible in its completeness ! 
 If the understanding of this truth could only 
 reach people during earth-life, they would 
 escape much sorrow, — sorrow intensified to 
 a degree greater than earth-dwellers can 
 conceive. " 
 
 Great was my gratification to receive the 
 following statement, from a man well known 
 on earth, which I here give word for word : 
 
 148 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF SCIENCE. 
 
 "Tell your fellow-workers for me that I 
 was working on a material plane all the 
 years of my earth-life; that since I passed 
 out, I have found that the material is but 
 a fleeting thing in the real existence of the 
 soul; that the nearer a man lets himself 
 come to the spiritual, so as to accept sug- 
 gestion and help from a higher source than 
 the material, the nearer he will come to an 
 understanding of life in its true sense. All 
 these theories about another sense are rid- 
 iculous and were begotten in the brains of 
 clever men, who were unable to give up their 
 own petty ideas. They wanted to create, to 
 make the laws that govern the universe ; but 
 I tell you that those laws have already been 
 made, — they are fixed and unalterable, and 
 the sooner the mass of mankind realizes this, 
 and comes to a true and definite conception 
 of the simplicity and justice of those laws, 
 the sooner will they live lives fitted to carry 
 them up the next step of progress. They 
 must accept life and its governing forces as 
 they are, at some period; therefore, the 
 sooner the better. I am anxious to be the 
 means of bringing light to some brilliant 
 minds. But they must learn to accept the 
 
 149 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 truth, to put themselves aside, and to realize 
 that as it was in the beginning, it is now, 
 and ever shall be. I am profoundly im- 
 pressed with this fact: either men of sci- 
 ence must grasp these higher laws, or let 
 this new thought fall into other hands." 
 
 I do not mean, by quoting from the speech 
 of spirit-people, to attempt to belittle, if 
 that were possible, the achievement of mod- 
 ern scientific men, for they have done a great 
 deal for material progress. But I do say 
 that they have not done everything; for 
 many great discoveries of nature's hidden 
 laws have come from unknown and un- 
 classed sensitive brains subject to spirit sug- 
 gestion. 
 
 The "scientists," as a class, are material- 
 istic and know little of any forces outside of 
 matter in its lower manifestations. But 
 these men have made psychics respectable, 
 and the world will ever remain indebted to 
 them, for, by their personality, they have 
 dignified research. 
 
 Men like Alfred Russell Wallace, Sir Wil- 
 liam Crooke, Sir Oliver Lodge, Camille 
 Flammarion, Dr. Charles Richet and others 
 have had sufficient greatness of mind to 
 
 150 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF SCIENCE. 
 
 break through the limited bonds of physical 
 science, and to tell the world that there are 
 laws in matter, and beyond matter, of which 
 they have evidence, and that life continues 
 beyond what is known as dissolution. 
 
 This also has been said to me : 
 
 "If men of science, with all their knowl- 
 edge and eager quest for the how and where- 
 fore of all things, would only consent to 
 learn a little of something beyond their ac- 
 tual touch! I know some do not deny the 
 existence of life after death, but they spend 
 all their time and effort in proving, to their 
 own satisfaction, whether a few insignificant 
 spirits really are whom they claim to be, 
 instead of making their investigation digni- 
 fied and useful by learning something of 
 that future life, and the best way of getting 
 ready to enter it." 
 
 The present attitude of science is of no 
 importance except as in so far as it pre- 
 sumes wholly to preempt this field of re- 
 search, which is the domain of the individ- 
 ual. We can come as near to the heart of 
 nature, and can understand the simple laws 
 of life that find no physical expression, as 
 they can who formed the hypothesis of the 
 
 151 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 molecule and measure the stars. We have 
 eyes, and we see what nature has created; 
 and ears upon whose drums fall all the 
 wealth of sound. We taste the fruits and 
 smell the perfume of all that grows, and 
 with our hands fashion and build what the 
 brain conceives. The man of science has no 
 other senses, and can do no more. 
 
 I do honor those earnest men who have 
 done so much for the material progress of 
 the world. Their mastery of the physical 
 side of nature has challenged the admira- 
 tion of all, and the future, in so far as it re- 
 lates to such matters, is largely in their 
 keeping; but, in this field of psychic re- 
 search, they are as yet trying to prove an 
 axiom. I do question the methods adopted 
 by them. The Master Mind has not reserved 
 to any class the exclusive privilege of dis- 
 covery. The University of Nature is the 
 greatest institution in the world; its doors 
 are thrown open to all who seek to know 
 her ways, to which no coterie hold the key. 
 Her vast treasure-house is full, and she gives 
 with a prodigal hand. All who would know 
 her wondrous laws, and thereby enrich 
 themselves, must, by a process of elimina- 
 
 152 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF SCIENCE. 
 
 tion, free their minds, and, like children, 
 approach the throne of knowledge. They 
 may say these facts are not accepted by sci- 
 ence, that I cannot demonstrate them by 
 their man-made rules, that they are 
 not evidential. This may all be 
 true according to their understand- 
 ing ; but I answer : many facts in 
 nature are provable by laws in common 
 use by those who have studied metapsychics, 
 and it is the great desire of individuals in 
 the great beyond that men of science adopt 
 those laws, applicable only to matter in the 
 higher conditions of vibration and discard 
 in this field of investigation those laws that 
 only apply to matter so slow in vibration 
 that it is physical. If this be done they will 
 enrich the spirit as they have enriched the 
 material world. 
 
 133 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EVOLUTION. 
 
 LITTLE is known of that constant 
 force known as evolution, or of the 
 great laws that govern the process of 
 advancement. I have eagerly sought infor- 
 mation on this subject, have discussed it 
 with many men in the next sphere beyond 
 and have been told, among other things : 
 
 "A most encouraging indication of the 
 progress of the present age is the fact that 
 a few great thinkers and demonstrators of 
 nature's laws have been able to grasp condi- 
 tions beyond the physical, and are giving 
 such information to mortals, who, because 
 of their environment and duties, have not 
 been able to solve for themselves these great 
 problems. 
 
 "You ask me to say something concern- 
 ing evolution, meaning that gradual, and yet 
 positive, change in the world's condition 
 that has finally resulted in thinking man- 
 
 155 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 kind. So be it. Then is not what I have 
 just said a most wonderful and beautiful 
 illustration of the progressive realization of 
 the Master's great purpose — the gradual, 
 yet positive, improvement of matter until 
 an observant and grateful mortal is the final 
 result? 
 
 "God, as you use the word, is the All. 
 That is apparent to every thinking brain. 
 Being, then, that All, God cannot be a per- 
 sonality; every bit of matter is a part and 
 parcel of that All ; every force in nature is 
 an expression of the presence of that All; 
 and every thinking brain is a more or less 
 perfect functional part of that All. 
 
 "To a sane and appreciative, active brain, 
 free alike from arrogance and illusion, the 
 proposition that mortal man is made in the 
 perfect image of his Master, God, is the ex- 
 treme of egotistical blasphemy. Far better 
 is the expression of your countryman, Rob- 
 ert G. Ingersoll, that "Man has made God 
 in his image. " That part of mortal man 
 that is in any degree like his Master is his 
 thinking brain; otherwise, man is but an 
 expression, in his form and physical func- 
 tions, of that process of evolution spoken of 
 
 156 
 
EVOLUTION. 
 
 as environment. All that is great in man 
 is mind, and this greatness increases as he 
 rises to the level of the ideal, the Master- 
 Mind. 
 
 "In a previous discussion, I mentioned the 
 fact that we spirit-people do not always 
 agree on many subjects of which we have no 
 actual proof or convincing evidence, and so 
 as regards the early stages of earth and the 
 subsequent changes up to the existence of 
 man, many among us differ; but I am safe 
 in saying that the best informed hold that 
 there has been a constant refining process 
 of earth-matter since the cooling of the evi- 
 dently original vaporous particles that grad- 
 ually, by loss of heat, become solidified into 
 rock and water ; and that as the chaotic con- 
 dition gradually assumed a proper separa- 
 tion upon cooling and solidifying, the pro- 
 cess of refining gross matter began, and by 
 the action of element upon element, of sub- 
 stance upon substance, the erosion of the 
 primitive rock occurred, with the result of 
 eliminating the fine from the gross ; and, by 
 the action of water in causing sedimentary 
 deposits and the raising or lowering of the 
 sedimentary or refined rock, and the conse- 
 
 157 
 
THE FUTURE OF MA1ST. 
 
 quent re-refining process, chemical action 
 was allowed to come into play, resulting in 
 a continuation of the process whereby gross 
 matter is refined. Necessarily, as the cool- 
 ing mass must have constantly given off 
 heat, and also absorbed a certain amount of 
 heat by chemical action, there came a period 
 when the earth's crust could support the 
 first life, vegetation. This vegetable life it- 
 self is but the chemical product of certain 
 parts of refined matter, resulting from the 
 gradual solidifying of the gaseous vapors 
 fixed in space by the action of some of the 
 planets undergoing a change. 
 
 "As regards the earth's actual beginning, 
 there is no authentic knowledge among spir- 
 it-people. A theory based upon sound prem- 
 ises may be regarded as a general statement 
 of the truth. From a knowledge of exist- 
 ing conditions, comparative reasoning can, 
 and does, draw correct deductions, and so 
 men of scientific attainments have, by study 
 and investigations, demonstrated much that 
 is not only evidence, but that may be said 
 to be actually demonstrated. 
 
 "Among the best informed of the spirit- 
 people the growth of a new planet results 
 
EVOLUTION. 
 
 from the fixing in space, by the existing stel- 
 lar system, — owing to that great principle 
 of nature known as the law of gravitation, 
 of some mass of matter revolving wildly 
 through the universe, and the placing of it 
 in a position of harmony with other masses 
 of matter or planets. So must the earth 
 have been caught when in its state of mo- 
 tion and vaporous matter, conditioned by 
 its flight through space, not by any friction 
 of the particles of its mass against the so- 
 called ether, but because of the unusual dis- 
 turbance of the particles of the mass among 
 themselves; and also, because of the latent 
 heat imparted to the runaway mass of mat- 
 ter that may be considered the nucleus of 
 your planet. When finally caught and held 
 in its place of rest, by that great principle 
 of gravity, as iji its mad career it came into 
 the lines of force existing from other plane- 
 tary bodies, by gradual degrees, its speed 
 was steadied and, slowly but surely, it fell 
 into that correct and dignified motion that 
 is consistent with the laws governing 
 planets, and it became one of the necessary 
 keystones in the constellations of which it 
 must have been elected a member. And so 
 
 159 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 a new planet was born. Man has since 
 called it earth. All the essentials of the 
 present conditions existed at the very be- 
 ginning of the earth's creation, have ever 
 been, and are now, stored away in the mass 
 of fugitive matter. 
 
 "Evolution is but the action of that great 
 power called by mortal man, God, but which 
 really is the process of refinement and puri- 
 fication of gross matter until the resultant 
 product is living thinking mortal man, and 
 then the intellectual man. The next step in 
 that ever-changing, ever-progressing evolu- 
 tion, is the endowment of that physical, in- 
 tellectual man, with what we call spirit. 
 
 "As each and every particle of matter de- 
 pends upon some other particle of matter 
 to allow of that progressive refinement 
 spoken of, so is it throughout the entire 
 chain, and spirit-people are as necessary to 
 physical people as the gas exhaled from the 
 lungs of living animalism is for the growth 
 of vegetation, or as the refined chemical 
 vegetable combinations are to animal life." 
 
 The origin of life has been, and ever will 
 be, a great mystery, until such time as we 
 shall, by progression out of the body, come 
 
 160 
 
EVOLUTION. 
 
 to a greater understanding of life force. We 
 all know something of the process by which 
 all planetary life, both animal and veget- 
 able, is started ; but the principal process of 
 inoculation of matter with life-forces, is 
 practically unknown, though we do know 
 that it is governed by law. In the discus- 
 sion of this great problem of the origin of 
 life, we must take matter into consideration 
 in its different vibratory conditions, from 
 the generic rock to the Universal Mind. 
 
 As I have said before, when life, in its evo- 
 lution, progresses so that it has power of 
 thought and constructive reasoning, it has 
 reached a stage of individualism that can 
 never be lost. This power of thought and 
 constructive reasoning, then, is the line of 
 demarcation which determines whether the 
 particular life force is to continue and hold 
 individuality beyond the physical, or pass 
 into some other form of gross matter. There 
 is no matter in the universe which does not 
 possess atomic energy, and, therefore, life- 
 force. When matter is brought to the prop- 
 er state of vibration by physical action, and 
 sufficiently refined; when, in other words, ac- 
 cording to a natural law, temperature is in- 
 
 161 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 creased and matter is rendered receptive be- 
 cause of its activity, an atom of Universal 
 Good, of life-force, inoculates, enters into it, 
 and it becomes clothed, and after the re- 
 quired period of gestation and growth, there 
 is a physical birth. 
 
 It is, in reality, matter acting on matter; 
 refined matter, or spirit, clothing itself with 
 grosser material, thus obtaining physical ex- 
 pression and individuality. The atom of 
 Good that finds individual expression in 
 every birth is from the great ocean of In- 
 finite Mind or Universal Good. Prior to 
 conception, it was not individual ; but from 
 that moment it commences its journey back 
 to the sphere of Exaltation, the highest men- 
 tal state of which we can have any knowl- 
 edge. 
 
 This life-force that finds expression in 
 mankind, or in the animal or vegetable king- 
 dom, is all from the same source; but just 
 what it develops into depends upon the char- 
 acter of the matter with which it is clothed, 
 and its evolution, to a large extent, depends 
 upon subsequent environment. 
 
 Species have always been, and will always 
 be, distinct in character. You cannot make 
 
 162 
 
EVOLUTION. 
 
 a radical change except to improve it. Na- 
 ture has created all species for distinct pur- 
 poses; nothing lives that has not a place 
 and a purpose. Whether man understands, 
 appreciates, and comprehends this fact or 
 not, it is true. It would be the changing of 
 a natural law to change species. 
 
 Evolution, then, starts on the earth plane 
 with an atom of Universal Good, clothed 
 and individualized in this sphere of develop- 
 ment and of preparation for the real life, 
 which only commences with physical disso- 
 lution. Evolution is forward, not backward. 
 The atom of life-force, which finds physical 
 expression here, prompted, urged, and 
 taught by spirit-intelligences as well as by 
 parental suggestion, develops; and, at 
 some time very early in life, comes to 
 use reason; wants to know; thinks; looks 
 upon the wonders of earth and sk} r and mar- 
 vels. That life, so started upon its journey, 
 growing to maturity, and passing to greater 
 opportunity, by laws as irresistible as force, 
 goes on and on, with but one opportunity 
 for physical development, while he, a mor- 
 tal being, journeys upon this globe. There 
 is no coming back to live this life over again ; 
 
 163 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 no reincarnation; but everlasting and con- 
 tinued progress and development. Evolu- 
 tion springs from the desire to know, to see, 
 to feel, to understand and to grasp all nat- 
 ural laws; and, as the individual grows, be- 
 comes more refined, and increases the ratio 
 of his thought vibration, he reaches 
 higher planes in the progress of his earth 
 development. 
 
 Evolution is not confined to life-force, but 
 matter, as we use that term, develops in a 
 corresponding degree. Of this we have ma- 
 terial evidence. 
 
 There are three perceptible stages in the 
 evolution of form: (a) Increase in the 
 mass; (b) decrease in the stability of the 
 molecules; (c) increase in the activity of 
 the substances. The evolution of each ma- 
 terial form comes by adding atom to atom 
 in their dimensions, making distinct the 
 unity of composition existing between the 
 mental states, all pulsating at a higher and 
 higher rate. This is positive evidence of 
 evolution. 
 
 "Evolution means progress, higher devel- 
 opment. Each vibratory atom must go 
 through each stage of vibration before it can 
 
 164 
 
EVOLUTION. 
 
 be fitted for the fullest perfection. The 
 story of evolution may be seen in the grain 
 of wheat. It is planted and then develops 
 through each successive stage until it be- 
 comes nourishment for man, and thence its 
 development is a part of a soul's progress; 
 and eventually it becomes a part of the life- 
 force, and generates life-force into another 
 grain of wheat, and each new grain that 
 reaches the life-force enriches it and makes 
 more powerful that force, so that, while it 
 completes a perfect circle, yet it is always 
 growing greater and more perfect. Thus 
 evolution is constantly repeating itself on a 
 larger scale each time." 
 
 Wherever there is life-force there must be 
 thought. There is intelligent action embod- 
 ied in every seed that has a living germ. 
 The acorn has sense enough to send its roots 
 into the earth, its trunk and branches into 
 the air, and to choose for food for root and 
 branch, such elements as will make the oak 
 tree, and to reject such elements as would be 
 proper only for the pine. All grass has the 
 same kind of intelligence in choosing food, 
 and the power of choice must involve the 
 power of thought. All the laws of nature, 
 
 165 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 being universal in their application, apply 
 to all life alike; what is true of the grain 
 of wheat is true of man. The evolution of 
 one is similar to that of the other, and is 
 destined to increase the life-force of the uni- 
 verse. Knowledge is a pyramid with its 
 base buried in the organic, towering higher 
 and higher as it increases; and crowning 
 the whole, embodying all of nature's handi- 
 work, is the master-builder, man. What 
 could be grander, more noble and beautiful, 
 than the human mind at work under the 
 guidance and suggestion of spirit-people, 
 who have progressed beyond the comprehen- 
 sion of earth conceptions? 
 
 Evolution began with the primeval, nebu- 
 lous mass, in which was held, potentially, all 
 future worlds. Under evolutionary laws the 
 amorphous cloud broke up, condensed, took 
 definite shape and, in time, assumed a grad- 
 ually increasing complexity. Finally, there 
 emerged the cooled and finished earth, high- 
 ly differentiated; and there was given us 
 the breeding ground for the inception of life 
 and for the organization of the elements in- 
 to the first relation of sentient^form. What 
 has passed in history many know, but what 
 
 166 
 
EVOLUTION. 
 
 evolution finally leads to in its progression, 
 mortal man will never know. That is the 
 province of spirit-people. 
 
 When they have passed out of the earth 
 conditions, because of evolutionary laws, 
 spirit-people have beautiful flowers, far 
 away hills, majestic mountains, leaping 
 brooks, blossoming orchards, musical birds, 
 the storm and lightning flash, the disturbed 
 ocean, the clearing sky and the setting sun 
 with tints of many colors. All that we have 
 is but an imitation of the reality which be- 
 longs to their sphere only. Of course, what 
 they have differs from what we have be- 
 cause of a higher and more rapid vibration, 
 but the effect is similar. 
 
 The tendency of all life, wherever 
 found or however clothed, is to perfect, 
 improve, increase, and extend its sphere of 
 usefulness. This is evolution. It is a fact, 
 a law and not a theory, and its possibilities 
 are as boundless as the imagination. The 
 work of ages begun by nature has no apex. 
 Evolution is advolution. It does not stop 
 with the organic ; its future is greater than 
 its past, and from spirit-people only can 
 
 167 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 come such facts as will make the physical 
 world comprehend its possibilities. 
 
 168 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 BEYOND THE ATOM. 
 
 WE are told that atoms, through 
 their power to change from one 
 form into another, always fol- 
 low the law of definite proportions; and 
 that, in obedience to that law, they are 
 amenable to the will of intelligent force. 
 Outside of the operation of this law, they 
 are incapable of being controlled in any 
 known way. This would place them beyond 
 the category of mortal mind, and make 
 them, to some extent, superior to it. 
 The atom holds within itself the 
 properties of all forms and material things. 
 It is the central point from which universal 
 creative energy proceeds. It is the basis of 
 all power that manifests form or force. It 
 is indestructible in its nature; its existence 
 is regulated by definite and fixed laws ; and 
 the substance into which it enters is held 
 in position, as regards form, by the inherent 
 energy of the atoms composing that form. 
 
 169 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 The atom, alone, has eternal duration of 
 form, for it alone has the power to enter 
 and dominate all other forms. It has no 
 master except force, and to force alone is it 
 amenable. Whether force precedes it, or is 
 co-existent with it, is not now known; but., 
 probably, the same force which impels the 
 atom upon its course with unerring pre- 
 cision, precedes it in the province of crea- 
 tive evolution. Beyond the atom is an in- 
 telligence which has imbued it with these 
 properties and powers. 
 
 Man, reflecting the image of wisdom, 
 boastingly asserts his authority over the 
 rest of creation; but he is ever subject to 
 the power vested in the atom, and only as 
 he reflects the activity of the elements in 
 his own structure, is he able to rise to an 
 intellectual status whereby he can compre- 
 hend the more simple laws of constructive 
 energy. 
 
 This is one of the reasons why we are 
 obliged to take into serious consideration 
 the existence of invisible intelligences, who 
 understand how to manipulate the forces 
 distinctly pertaining to the evolution of the 
 world of spirit. Numerous experiments 
 
 ISO 
 
BEYOND THE ATOM. 
 
 have demonstrated beyond question 
 that they exist. And that spirit-intel- 
 ligences understand how to affect these 
 forces in form, is neither untrue nor absurd. 
 The failure to grasp this fact is really due 
 to our own contracted minds, which are 
 prone to limit all elements to the sphere of 
 phenonemal physical conditions. We must 
 conclude, then, that the same energy which 
 controls and directs the movements of 
 atoms and molecules, which sustains in 
 position, and directs the course of stars and 
 constellations, which finds life-expression in 
 grass and in grains, in weeds and in flowers, 
 in forest trees and in all vegetable growth, 
 applies equally to man whose physical body, 
 like all vegetable matter, is composed of 
 atoms. 
 
 As we ascend in the scale of conscious 
 intelligence, the universe opens to our men- 
 tal vision and gives us a basis for a broader 
 conception of the intelligent force under- 
 lying the physical universe. When we con- 
 sider the law of life, in all its varied rela- 
 tion to visible and invisible form, we un- 
 derstand how rational is the proposition 
 that the great law of nature has its exist- 
 
 171 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 ence entirely above and beyond the physical 
 realm. Theologians of the past, having no 
 definite knowledge of creative energy, form- 
 ulated a theory of the source of life ending 
 in mere abstraction. Their logical position 
 was this: "God is the source of life. God 
 made the world and all upon it and in it, 
 by a fiat, a decree, of His own free will." 
 This is only a confession of gross ignorance 
 and manifests a childish inability to pro- 
 duce satisfactory evidence concerning the 
 subject. It shows the utter incapacity of 
 the human intellect, dominated by supersti- 
 tion, to discern any relation of force beyond 
 the range of physical senses. 
 
 Human progress may be rapid or slow, 
 according to the effort expended; but the 
 atomic forces are ever at our disposal, and 
 we can move forward as we will, regardless 
 of the craft of men or the opposition of ig- 
 norance. It must be acknowledged that the 
 human intellect is unable to discern the re- 
 lations of cause and effect in many of the 
 problems that come before it for solution; 
 and there lingers around the subject of the 
 life action of the elements an idea that they 
 are as far beyond the scope of intelligent 
 
 172 
 
BEYOND THE ATOM. 
 
 explanation, as the results themselves are 
 beyond the unorganized forms of the same 
 elements. 
 
 What, then, is this energy, this intellect- 
 ual force, which is back of the atom and 
 expressed in or through it? What or who 
 controls and directs its movement with per- 
 fect precision? Some call it energy; some 
 force; some nature; and others call it 
 God. 
 
 The word "God" is so indefinite ! I doubt 
 if those who utter the word with reverence, 
 have ever formed any definite idea of the 
 creator; and those who think He has per- 
 sonality, have little comprehension of the 
 universe. If God has personality, in the 
 accepted sense of the word, He must be a 
 person with extraordinary powers and in- 
 telligence, for, by the law of comparison, 
 ideas themselves must be formed. 
 
 God, I am told, means simply Universal 
 Good. Apart from the philosophical sig- 
 nification of the word, this is its 
 true philosophical import. Let me ex- 
 plain what I understand by the divine 
 principle. The life force in all things, — 
 the intelligence that directs matter in move- 
 
 173 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 ment and works out the laws governing all 
 things, — is but the intelligence of all those 
 who have lived in this sphere or inhabited 
 other planets, who, having progressed be- 
 yond the physical plane, have mastered all 
 knowledge and are working in perfect har- 
 mony, as one mind, in a sphere of perfectly 
 harmonious development; and in that 
 sphere the mind power is universal, per- 
 meates all space, and finds individual ex- 
 pression in all life forms. The inclination 
 within us to do right and to shrink from 
 wrong is that atom of Universal Mind 
 which, clothed with matter, becomes a man, 
 while the same law that governs an atom, 
 governs all mankind. The energy of the 
 atom is its potential life-force, and the life 
 force in it or in us, is Universal Good work- 
 ing out its destiny. 
 
 Life-force dominates all matter. The 
 whole physical world outside of planetary 
 action and natural growth and change, may 
 be largely governed, in its movement and 
 direction, by man. 
 
 Matter operates on matter, and inert sub- 
 stances in the physical world move only 
 when directed by the material mortal mind. 
 
 174 
 
BEYOND THE ATOM. 
 
 The power of even one man's thought is be- 
 yond present comprehension. Man has 
 taken iron, and fashioned it into machinery 
 with which he moves great buildings. He 
 has taken coal, converted it into steam, 
 which, confined and released, utilizes en- 
 ergy that will transport material to the 
 limit of land; then, using like energy, he 
 propels great ships over the sea, fashions 
 sails and makes the very winds do his will. 
 He has put a turbine under the waters, 
 whose fall he directs; on the shaft a dyna- 
 mo, which the waters whirl ; he gathers and 
 condenses the very ether into what we call 
 electricity. Mind is all creative. The 
 hands but fashion what the mind con- 
 ceives. 
 
 Not content with dominion over matter 
 sensible to physical touch, he reaches out 
 into the atmosphere, and utilizes the very 
 elements, — and the end is not yet. Only he 
 who consciously progresses comprehends 
 the possibilities of progress. Does the mas- 
 tery of mind end with physical dissolution? 
 Does death increase or diminish opportun- 
 ity? Life would be futile if all the strug- 
 gle for development were to end with earth- 
 
 175 
 
THE FUTURE OF MATT. 
 
 existence. While our conception of mind 
 domination has its limitations, its possibili- 
 ties are even now beyond our comprehen- 
 sion and one fails to appreciate the power 
 of even a single mind. The energy produced 
 in the electric current is as marvelous to 
 the savage as the energy of the atom is to 
 science, and as little understood. 
 
 We may follow, step by step, mind-power 
 in mortal man, witnessing his control and 
 his mastery over matter and the elements 
 of the air: but, before we reach the limits 
 of definite thought, we appreciate in a lim- 
 ited way that, if individuality and mind 
 continue beyond the physical domain, man 
 is still exercising his mental faculties, still 
 studying and applying his intelligence to ob- 
 tain greater control over matter in the con- 
 ditions of the life beyond, — and the nucleus 
 of all this action is the energy of the atom. 
 
 Whether we can appreciate this fact or 
 not, it is true that, as men grow in knowl- 
 edge in the after-life, they work in greater 
 harmony with each other; many minds, in 
 many ways, work as one, much more there 
 than here, and accomplish greater results in 
 a thorough, practical way. Science attrib- 
 
 176 
 
BEYOND THE ATOM. 
 
 utes these results to the unknowable; those 
 of less understanding, to God. The individ- 
 ual mind when released from its physical 
 environment acquires greater mastery and 
 power. Considering what men can do here 
 and their control of the electric force alone ; 
 knowing that they live on in a constant 
 state of progression, it requires no stretch 
 of imagination to perceive that the same 
 persons are ever exercising their reason and 
 obtaining greater knowledge, increased ef- 
 ficiency and usefulness, and, as this is being 
 accomplished, their dominion over matter 
 increases. Man creates nothing; the en- 
 ergy that he uses was dominant in the atom 
 at the beginning; he, by combination or de- 
 composition, only gets another and greater 
 expression. 
 
 Beyond the atom we find minds, that have 
 at some time lived in a physical body, work- 
 ing in unison and combining substances 
 that will endow matter with energy which 
 will give expression to life force in the ma- 
 terial. In fact, all there is, is mind, 
 matter is the substance used in its 
 physical expression only; mind alone is 
 creative energy. Men, who have lived in 
 
 177 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 this or sortie other planet or constellation 
 of the universe, who have passed out of the 
 physical world that they inhabited, have, 
 after countless ages of progression, reached 
 the sphere of knowledge, and work as one, 
 finding expression in every form of life and 
 force. Thus, beyond the atom we find, not 
 God, but mind. 
 
 I once asked a spirit : "What is the force 
 that finds expression in the atom?" He 
 replied : 
 
 "It is the individual man, purified and 
 developed to his highest capacity, and 
 blended with other minds in a similar con- 
 dition. Guided by the knowledge gained 
 through vast intervals of time, and working 
 in perfect harmony with each other, these 
 minds are the controlling power of the uni- 
 verse. I say 'controlling' for they, in turn, 
 are but instruments of the dominating laws 
 of the universe. They make these laws, to 
 be sure, but, these laws must be of one kind 
 for nature aspires to good. They progress 
 through a condition of intellect bounded by 
 mortality, into a new development until the 
 circle is completed, and a harmonious whole 
 is formed. It is a vast subject to compre- 
 
 178 
 
BEYOND THE ATOM. 
 
 hend, and yet, once grasped, it is perfectly 
 clear. What other theory calculated to sat- 
 isfy rational minds, has ever been put for- 
 ward, than that the intelligence should ulti- 
 mately become so effective that, combined 
 with all the rest, it should be the highest 
 force for good? Everyone must feel, and 
 appreciate, that thus only can the inferior 
 order of minds be guided toward their ulti- 
 mate goal. This is the only philosophy of 
 existence which, when once fully under- 
 stood, seems true, reasonable and convinc- 
 ing." 
 
 179 
 
CHAPTEK XVII. 
 
 THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND. 
 
 THE physical and the spiritual uni- 
 verse are closely interrelated. There 
 is a physical brain and there is a 
 spiritual brain, and they have relations to 
 each other which cannot be ignored. All 
 that is physical has its duplicate in spirit, 
 but all that is in spirit does not have its 
 duplicate in the physical. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that the earth- 
 sphere is a natural world; and that the 
 spirit-world is also a natural world. The 
 relation of the one to the other is, therefore, 
 natural. In a physical sense, mind is mem- 
 ory, thought is that which feels, 
 which wills, — the conscious subject. Again 
 it is the ego, the soul, the spir- 
 it; it is all these and some- 
 thing more; it is something that catches 
 suggestion from the intelligence of other 
 spheres and ex-presses it in this sphere. 
 
 181 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 Let us now deal with the world of mind, 
 with special reference to the subconscious 
 mind, which immeasurably transcends in 
 importance the physical domain. Science 
 has tried hard to explain many things on 
 the hypothesis of "mental telepathy," 
 "secondary personality" and "subliminal 
 consciousness" in its efforts to understand 
 spirit-phenomena; when, as a matter of 
 fact, it knows but little about the subject. 
 Suppose one mortal should try to send a 
 thought message to another at a distance. 
 What natural law is used? No wire; no 
 wireless instruments; merely a sentence 
 sent out through space, encountering in its 
 passage countless millions of other 
 thoughts of different kinds. What is the 
 motive power? What directs its course? 
 And, if it should, by chance, reach the ear 
 of the person intended, by what process will 
 he hear something that comes in the silence, 
 but not out of it? Why advance a theory 
 that is not based on a single known law? 
 The Marconi system has instruments per- 
 fectly adjusted and in tune with each other, 
 and, by laws that are understood, are able 
 to receive a signal sent by the sending to 
 
 182 
 
THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND. 
 
 the receiving instrument. We, too, have an 
 instrument, to wit — the human brain, far 
 more complicated and wonderful, and the 
 time may come when mental telepathy is 
 practical, though it is not now. 
 
 I know that thoughts and messages are 
 at times carried from one mortal to another, 
 but it is a rare occurrence. Ordinarily some 
 one in the spirit-world hears the message, 
 and becoming a messenger, finds the person 
 for whom the message is intended, and im- 
 presses the words on his subconscious mind. 
 This will be easily understood when human 
 beings come to appreciate this community 
 of spirit-people who dwell about, yet not 
 with, us. Mental telepathy is, in fact, sug- 
 gestion, much used by spirit-people. In 
 aiding and directing the conduct of mortals 
 such practice is common with them, and it 
 is hard for us to differentiate between self 
 and spirit-suggestion, so vague is the border 
 line. Thought-suggestion between mortals 
 is possible, but unusual. 
 
 There is but one self, but one individual 
 atom of good in any person; and though 
 that person may, at times, do and say 
 things of which he has no knowledge and 
 
 183 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 which cannot be accounted for by any 
 known physical laws, that fact does not 
 double, or change his personality. This is 
 called "secondary personality." It is pos- 
 sible for spirit-people, upon rare occasions^ 
 to take a mortal out of his body, and enter- 
 ing into his living body, use his vocal or- 
 gans. This is not uncanny, but simple and 
 natural. If one, under proper conditions, 
 tells of things of which he had no previous 
 information, which, upon investigation, are 
 found true, it was not another self but some- 
 one else talking; for by what law could 
 that second self know what the first self 
 did not know? And so with "subliminal 
 consciousness," that is, something below 
 sensation : the doing of acts without being 
 aware of it. These words, coined by men 
 seeking a material solution of problems not 
 understood, have no justification in fact, 
 they are misleading and the theory is er- 
 roneous. 
 
 When those who coined the words "men- 
 tal telepathy," tell us what law is used 
 in its operation; when they tell us how 
 it is possible to have two personalities ; and 
 where the one is and what it is doing when 
 
 184 
 
THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND. 
 
 the second self is present; and a little of 
 what is meant by "subliminal conscious- 
 ness," they will be entitled to more consid- 
 eration. 
 
 The answer to these last two propositions 
 is the spirit-hypothesis based on fact and 
 founded on natural law. The subconscious 
 mind, when understood, will eradicate those 
 senseless words from the vocabulary, and 
 solve many problems with which man is 
 struggling. 
 
 I asked one far advanced in spirit-life to 
 tell me of the subconscious mind from his 
 point of view, and he said : 
 
 "The conscious mind is one controlled by 
 yourself. In it are held all the material 
 parts of your thoughts, — I mean those con- 
 nected with and controlled by, earth- 
 things. The subconscious mind is the 
 one controlled by psychic forces en- 
 tirely. It is the spiritual brain of man. 
 I mean, that it is subject to the laws of 
 vibration, which the other part of the brain 
 is not sensitive enough to catch. It is the 
 subconscious mind that gets suggestion 
 from spirit-people, the connecting link, or 
 battery, that for an instant holds the sug- 
 
 185 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN", 
 
 gestion, and passes it on, to grow into a 
 thought or impulse. The subconscious mind 
 does not retain suggestion. It is the em- 
 bryo thought, which takes definite form 
 only as it reaches the conscious mind." 
 
 From this concise statement of fact it is 
 evident that all the strange phenomena, 
 which science has been trying to solve and 
 to which it has given many names, consist, 
 ordinarily, of spirit-people hearing the 
 spoken words or seeing the written message, 
 then finding the person desired and impress- 
 ing the words or message on the subcon- 
 scious mind or spiritual brain. When the 
 conscious mind catches the suggestion and 
 makes it a part of the material thought, we 
 have what is called mental telepathy, which, 
 in fact, is, except on rare occasions, all ac- 
 complished by spirit-people acting upon the 
 subconscious or psychic brain. 
 
 Speaking on this subject generally, one in 
 the world beyond said : 
 
 "It is well, always, to consider that a re- 
 sult is equivalent to the effort put forth. 
 The intensity and constancy of a thought 
 are a positive force. A thought, bearing 
 upon any particular subject, having been 
 
 186 
 
THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND. 
 
 thoroughly established iu the brain, grows 
 just as a plant grows from the seed, As 
 the development of that seed will be pro- 
 portionate to the conditions of the soil and 
 the amount of sunshine and moisture, so is 
 it with the growth of thought," 
 
 "Thought is planted in the human brain 
 by the next great power beyond mortal man, 
 sown in the form of suggestion, and, as with 
 the seed sown by the master hand of man, 
 so it is with the suggestion sown, largely, by 
 the master hand of spirit forces. Some are 
 given birth and grow and fully develop in 
 all their importance and beauty; but many 
 — by far the great majority — fail of birth. 
 Where the latter condition prevails, the hu- 
 man brain must, by a process of purifica- 
 tion, be made receptive until it can catch 
 and give birth to the seeds of suggestion 
 sown. 
 
 "Progress is the grand object of nature. 
 This word 'progress' is one of mighty import 
 to the material world, and true progress 
 Is possible only when those who have ad- 
 vanced to a higher plane help those who arc 
 still struggling upward. This applies to 
 all things, material, intellectual, and spirit- 
 
 187 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAK 
 
 ual. 'Nature has imposed on us spirit- 
 beings the duty of assisting those mortals 
 in the "body by such suggestion as toe can 
 impart to them through the subconscious 
 brain; and so, likewise, there are some 
 among us to whom suggestions are im- 
 parted by those in the grade immediately 
 above us. 
 
 "As on earth there are weeds, as well as 
 useful grain and beautiful flowers, so among 
 your people are there apparently worthless 
 mortals ; but who can say when or how the 
 weeds, following the great law of progress, 
 will evolve into useful or beautiful plants; 
 and yet, as simple weeds, may they not 
 serve a great, if hidden, purpose? And so 
 with those among you who, according to 
 your judgment, appear worthless. Do not 
 forget that the same Master-hand that cre- 
 ated them, created you ; and that it is bet- 
 ter not to criticize, but to endeavor to get 
 an expression of the intent of their condi- 
 tion. Always have charity. If you do not 
 possess it, secure and cultivate it. 
 
 "What I have said this beautiful Sunday 
 morning, is a sermon to you, the lesson of 
 which is: Let those thoughts that come as 
 
 188 
 
THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND. 
 
 suggestions flashed upon the sensitive plate 
 of jour brain, upon your subconscious 
 mind, grow. Cultivate them. As they 
 develop, they gain in strength, and as the} 7 
 become strong in themselves, they can, by 
 their own strength, and because of the 
 emanations they throw off, accomplish 
 deeds. Whatever comes to the subconscious 
 mind must be at once grasped and held, if 
 you would make it your own. Then the 
 thought is fashioned and developed to be- 
 come again a part of the universal stream 
 that flows into the Eternal Mind." 
 
 The average so-called man of science 
 seems determined not to accept the spirit 
 hypothesis of psychic phenomena, and of- 
 fers many other explanations while going 
 through his erroneous process of elimina- 
 tion; but truth existed before, and will be 
 after, his futile struggle is over, and he may 
 be among the last to understand this simple 
 law. 
 
 Sir Oliver Lodge, the foremost scientist 
 of the present day, who acknowledges the 
 existence of an invisible world of spirit- 
 people and has proved it to his own satis- 
 faction, says: "The object is to get, not 
 
 189 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 something dignified, but something evi- 
 dential." It seems to me that when 
 one has proved the existence of a thing, he 
 would like to know something about the 
 thing proved and not try to prove it again. 
 Having long ago proved the existence of the 
 invisible world of spirit-people, I have not 
 sought for an accumulation of evidential 
 facts, but rather for something dignified 
 from the inhabitants of that world. Wheth- 
 er or not such facts have been given me 
 these pages will answer. 
 
 100 
 
CHAPTEK XVIII. 
 
 SPIRIT-SUGGESTION. 
 
 HAVE spirit-people any influence 
 on our daily thought and action? 
 If so, to what extent and by what 
 process? 
 
 To bring ourselves intelligently to the 
 question, we must appreciate, as we have 
 never done before, that those out of the phy- 
 sical body are people, — as they were before 
 dissolution ; that their bodies are composed 
 of matter differing from ours only in vibra- 
 tion; that they live and inhabit what we 
 know as space; move over and walk upon 
 the city's busy streets; go into and out of 
 homes, as freely as before; and are silent 
 witnesses of our daily thought and action. 
 They travel at will, along the old highways, 
 stay about the homes they loved and built 
 with infinite care and ceaseless toil; see us 
 and know our daily wants, desires and am- 
 bitions; and are acquainted with the dis- 
 
 191 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 cords, as well as tlie harmonies, of our lives. 
 By law many become co-workers in our 
 struggle for development. I know the lim- 
 itations of the human mind and its inabil- 
 ity to grasp this simple proposition, more 
 important than the accumulation of wealth, 
 and wish for many tongues that I might 
 speak in all nature's dialects and languages, 
 and bring this simple fact home to all the 
 men and women who inhabit this globe, for 
 it would revolutionize the conduct of man- 
 kind and enrich the world. 
 
 There are some truths that cannot be told 
 too often; there are truths that, no matter 
 how often told, seem to make no impres- 
 sion; there are some soils which no matter 
 how perfect the seed or how thickly sown, 
 give little return; and so, in many ways, 
 we tell over and over again what follows 
 dissolution, finding now and then a fertile 
 brain. 
 
 All knowledge is the result of suggestion, 
 which may be divided into three classes — 
 physical, mental and spiritual, (a) Phy- 
 sical; that which is objective. Everything 
 we see or hear in nature makes its impres- 
 sion on our minds. Something is by that 
 
 192 
 
SPIRIT SUGGESTION. 
 
 process suggested to our senses, and, to the 
 extent that we grasp and understand, we 
 make it our own and thereby the sum-total 
 of our knowledge is increased. One in 
 spirit-life, who has given many lectures, 
 said on this subject: 
 
 "Come with me through the walks of life, 
 and see the manner of men we can help. It 
 is not the arrogant fool who says in his 
 heart: 'My way is the only way/ nor yet 
 the man who weakly fears to trust his own 
 instinct and vacillates falteringly between 
 the opinions of man; but it is the sane, 
 quiet thinker, who is willing to listen to all 
 arguments and to choose wisely those that 
 appeal alike to his heart and brain. Such 
 we can assist by spirit-suggestion. Without 
 his being conscious of it, we can often guide 
 his thought along right lines, because he is 
 fair minded. 
 
 "Suggestion is one of the strong factors 
 in the life-force. As you said this morning, 
 all things have their power of suggestion. 
 Does not a low saloon throw out its vile 
 suggestion to all men? Whether this em- 
 anation entices or repels, depends upon the 
 man, but its surounding influence is felt 
 
 193 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 strongly, and the suggestion is evil. A 
 beautiful rural scene is helpful with its sug- 
 gestion of peace and harmonious coloring. 
 And so it is through all phases of life. 
 Hence all should seek the best, and, uncon- 
 sciously all do aspire to it." 
 
 (b) Mental; that is, by deduc- 
 tion or reasoning from one known 
 cause to its effect, something more is sug- 
 gested. By this method we prove facts pre- 
 viously unknown. An illustration of de- 
 ductive reasoning is found by accepting 
 what is known as a fact that "nothing in 
 nature can be destroyed." From this 
 proved hypothesis, we find that our mind, 
 or soul, is a part of nature just as much 
 as the earth itself, and more important. 
 The Master-mind that created all things has 
 not planned the annihilation of its higher 
 forms, and preserved the lower. That 
 would be at least an injustice. Man has 
 proved that it is impossible to destroy an 
 atom. We prove by the process of deduc- 
 tive reasoning, which is really the highest 
 form of demonstration, that a human soul 
 cannot be annihilated ; and, having reached 
 that stage of mental development, it is only 
 
 194 
 
SPIRIT SUGGESTION. 
 
 a step to prove, by laws as certain as those 
 pertaining to the physical, that the spirit 
 of man, as a fact, is not destroyed. This 
 we know because, with many others un- 
 derstanding the elementary laws of vibra- 
 tion, we have talked with them. The induc- 
 tive method will help to confirm the con- 
 clusions of the deductive on the subject, for 
 if the spirit of man be indestructible, why 
 should it be impossible for earth-dwellers 
 to communicate with those who have left 
 the earth? Franklin was able to demon- 
 strate the two methods; inductively he 
 showed that lightning and electricity are 
 identical, and, deductively, that houses 
 may be protected by lightning rods. If 
 spirit be seen by induction to be identical 
 with mind, deduction will enable us to con- 
 clude that spirits, still in the flesh, can 
 have direct relations with spirits out of the 
 flesh. 
 
 (c) Spiritual; with spirit-people, 
 thought is such a positive force, and takes 
 such definite form and shape, that it is 
 visible. Their language is a thought lan- 
 guage and is as well understood among 
 them as words among us. They soon lose 
 
 195 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAK 
 
 all desire for physical touch or expression^ 
 finding the purely mental so much more in- 
 tense; and, as they move in and out among: 
 the people of earth and see when and where 
 they can do good, they, by a purely mental 
 process, often suggest to us what to do or 
 what not to do. Thus the suggestion of 
 those who have passed out of earth-life 
 comes to us as a moral guide, whose true 
 origin many ignore because so many have 
 absolutely no knowledge of what happens 
 after dissolution. This form of suggestion 
 we call intuition, impulse, inspiration. 
 
 Spirit-suggestion comes through our sub- 
 conscious mind. Mind, whether in or be- 
 yond the physical, is a positive force in na- 
 ture, more in fact than action, which is the 
 result of mind; and spirit-people, desiring 
 to influence our conduct to some desired 
 end, retard their mental vibrations, 
 and, at the same time ours in- 
 crease until our vibrations and theirs 
 pulsate more or less in harmony; 
 then it is possible for them to make their 
 thought our thought, and when we, guided 
 by their suggestion, do some good deed with 
 their co-operation, we increase in some de- 
 
 196 
 
SPIRIT SUGGESTION". 
 
 gree the sum of Universal Good. r>ut, be- 
 cause those berond the physical are not al- 
 ways spiritual, some being on the contrary, 
 of a low order of mentality, often depraved, 
 as when in the body, with low instincts and 
 base appetites, they, if our thoughts and 
 desires are of a similar character, can reach 
 our subconscious mind, and suggest that 
 which will satisfy their desires and the re- 
 sults are base actions produced by both 
 factors. Man is not a mere automaton, but a 
 personality, deriving his progression from 
 suggestions of people both in and out of the 
 body; and it is difficult, so subtle is spirit 
 suggestion, to tell with any certainty wheth- 
 er the thought that preceded the act was our 
 own conception or that of some spirit work- 
 ing through our brain to do good or to sat- 
 isfy his own selfish desires. For this reason 
 one should weigh well what he has an im- 
 pulse or desire to do. Good always precedes 
 evil. First impressions are better than 
 those which follow, because they are more 
 spiritual. 
 
 The whole process of thought is the re- 
 sult of suggestion, without which ideas 
 could neither be formulated nor expressed. 
 
 197 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 Knowledge would be unknown and evolu- 
 tion impossible, were it not for suggestion. 
 The influence of the spirit-world is far 
 greater than any mortal can comprehend 
 because we are unable, so faint is the line 
 of demarcation, to tell the origin, or source, 
 of any thought. 
 
 In formulating this philosophy, I am un- 
 able to say to what extent intelligences be- 
 yond the physical have influenced my mind. 
 My brain may have been, so to speak, a 
 conduit of thought, and my hand an instru- 
 ment to give physical expression to natural 
 laws not generally understood by man. I 
 cannot tell; I have not been conscious of 
 any suggestions; but, knowing, from my 
 conversation with spirit-people, the subtle 
 power of suggestion, I would not say that 
 they have not had a very great influence in 
 shaping this work. I have the greatest re- 
 spect and love for many who have, voice 
 to voice, proved their identity, and given 
 me their knowledge. What they have 
 taught I know; to just what ex- 
 tent they can influence our daily conduct 
 and thought depends on their mental condi- 
 tions and ours. It is, therefore, largely an 
 
 198 
 
SPIRIT SUGGESTION. 
 
 unknown influence, but an important fact, 
 which man should understand. 
 
 The life of spirits is intensely active and 
 real ; they have their work along those lines 
 for which their experience in earth-life has 
 best fitted them; they labor where there is 
 the greatest need, where most good can be 
 done. The ignorance of those in the physi- 
 cal world on this subject is very great and, 
 as a result, their condition is so inferior to 
 what it might be, that spirit-people, real- 
 izing the deplorable situation, spend much 
 time in the earth-plane striving to enlighten 
 mankind and to make them live better in- 
 dividual lives, a task which increases their 
 labors and impedes their own progress. 
 
 I recall listening, not many years ago, to 
 a boy not more than fourteen years old, 
 playing the great masterpieces on a violin 
 with marvelous technical skill. His intel- 
 lect was not above the average, nor had he 
 received any special artistic training, yet 
 he could execute the most difficult music. 
 One of our standard law-books, recognized 
 as an authority, was written by a boy while 
 at college. Fiske wrote philosophy in 
 his teens. We have always had prodigies 
 
 199 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 who were able, without much education, to 
 accomplish great things; but there is noth- 
 ing remarkable in this, after all; it means 
 only that a master in spirit is able either 
 to suggest and to work through their sub- 
 conscious brains, or, in some instances, like 
 the boy violinist and Blind Tom, to take 
 actual possession of the body and brain, 
 which, for the time being, is used as an in- 
 strument by a master-mind to give physical 
 expression to his attainments. 
 
 What is true of the boy, is true likewise 
 of the man. It is difficult, so great is the 
 power of spirit-minds, so fine is the line of 
 demarcation between self and their sug- 
 gestion, to tell, at all times, what is self 
 and what is suggestion. This mind of ours 
 is like a stream having its source among 
 the hills and flowing toward the sea. A 
 thought to the right finds its way to the 
 channel; another one comes from the left, 
 and joins the current, adding volume and 
 character; and when the stream reaches 
 the sea of expression, it is hard to say how 
 much of it came from the original source, 
 how much is our own, or how much flowed 
 in from surrounding conditions. 
 
 200 ■ 
 
SPIRIT SUGGESTION. 
 
 We hear a voice calling our name; we 
 turn and listen; it suggests that some one 
 would speak to us. We hesitate while the 
 thought finds lodgement in the brain; and 
 it, too, sets in action a line of conduct. 
 That thought may have been generated by a 
 process of reasoning, and, again, it may 
 have been the suggestion of some spirit in- 
 terested in our welfare. Spirits can call as 
 well as those in the physical body; both 
 can be heard, the first by the mind itself, 
 and the last by the physical sense of hear- 
 ing. And it is difficult for anyone to say, 
 such is the feasibility and possibility of 
 spirit-suggestion, whether one originates or 
 obeys. Inspiration is spirit-aid and sug- 
 gestion, nothing more. 
 
 201 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE WORLD'S DESIRE. 
 
 THIS is an age of greed. We, as 
 a people, have drifted out upon the 
 sea of selfishness, egotistic desire 
 and devouring ambition, and set the many 
 sails to woo the winds of fortune. This is 
 an age of money. Every nation and every 
 people have erected a throne on which 
 wealth sits in state; they have placed upon 
 its brow a crown of gold, and have decreed 
 that the possession of money, with little 
 regard to the manner of acquisition, should 
 be the only qualification for this kingship 
 of modern times. 
 
 Man, at the dawn of physical develop- 
 ment, is shown this goal, and taught that 
 money is power and the world's desire. He 
 enters the strife and bends his energies, as 
 others do, to grasp the greatest amount of 
 wealth with the least possible effort, match- 
 ing his cunning against labor, — mind 
 
 203 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN". 
 
 against muscle, — artifice against simplic- 
 ity, — and directs his thoughts towards 
 wrenching from the hands of honest toil a 
 portion of its legitimate earnings. 
 
 Does wealth ever ask what claim it has 
 on the savings of labor? Why is it add- 
 ing to its already vast store, while other 
 hands are growing feeble from want, and 
 shadows are falling on poverty stricken 
 homes? Does capital ever contemplate the 
 privation and suffering that must follow 
 close upon the heels of cupidity and decep- 
 tion? Do captains of industry realize that, 
 by directing their ability towards the con- 
 cealment of base designs under the veil of 
 enterprise, and by the misappropriation of 
 the proceeds of honest toil, they are, accord- 
 ing to a higher standard of ethics, guilty of 
 larceny; and that by a law, as fixed as 
 gravitation, the time will come when they, 
 through laboring and suffering, in the life 
 beyond the physical, must make compensa- 
 tion for every dollar acquired unjustly? 
 
 Consider what a future awaits those who 
 make ambition their goal, and who succeed 
 in seating themselves upon the throne of 
 wealth by modern methods! It is a great 
 
 204 
 
THE WORLD'S DESIRE. 
 
 misfortune to have false ideals, to worship 
 at the shrine of money; but it is a far 
 greater misfortune to succeed, and to hold 
 unlawful gains, or more of nature's store 
 than a simple life requires. That all should 
 work and save against old age is proper; 
 but that accumulations should greatly ex- 
 ceed the needs of existence, was not intend- 
 ed by the intelligence that planned all 
 things. We see men in the morning of life 
 preparing for the strife: so fast they rush, 
 so eager is the struggle, so crowded the 
 field, so elusive the object of pursuit, that 
 each one thinks only of self. Like men in 
 actual battle, they fight for mastery, never 
 hesitating to push aside those in front or 
 to trample on those under them; and what 
 is the end for which they strive? Wealth? 
 Yes, but not all, for with the advantages 
 that money brings, come arrogance, pride, 
 greed, and increased selfishness. 
 
 Of what real benefit to the world are the 
 very rich? Some few do good by gifts that 
 help the poor and needy; some endow hos- 
 pitals where suffering is reduced; some 
 give libraries; others build churches and 
 cathedrals. But the great majority hoard 
 
 205 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 their gains and count their money ; the love 
 that should encompass all mankind is given 
 to wealth. The greater portion of their 
 thought has been spent in accumulating 
 their hoard, and consequently they love it. 
 This is the old age they have been preparing 
 for, and, like the miser in his tower, they 
 sing and chuckle as they count their gains 
 and the gold coins slip through their fin- 
 gers. So intent are they on accumulation 
 that they are deaf to the call of charity. 
 Surrounded by luxury, they have not come 
 into contact with suffering ; so busy and self- 
 centered are they, that they have not had 
 time to give words of encouragement to 
 others. Nothing but self has found lodge- 
 ment in their minds as they have been pre- 
 paring for the future. What future? "Old 
 age," one answers; but I answer: The fu- 
 ture lies beyond the world of men! Will 
 this gathered wealth support you through 
 the coming ages? If another life follows 
 dissolution; if natural conditions prevail, 
 in the great beyond, and one has necessities 
 there as here, what wealth has been accum- 
 ulated for support in the community after 
 this? Money being a material substance, is 
 
 206 
 
THE WORLD'S DESIHE. 
 
 not taken, nor indeed can it be, for we see 
 its distribution here. What, then, has been 
 accumulated for support and maintenance 
 out in the after-life where money is not 
 king? All the wealth one can take with 
 him into the after-life, is that which he 
 gave away in this. 
 
 The thought that the rich man here may 
 be, and usually is, the pauper in tlie after- 
 life, is startling in its possibilities and 
 dreadful to contemplate. A man who has 
 made money his God and worshipped at the 
 shrine of gold, having no other thought, am- 
 bition or desire, in earth-life, is poor in- 
 deed if his hoard cannot be taken with him, 
 for poor he is in all else, in a world where 
 kind and thoughtful acts and deeds are the 
 standard of wealth. 
 
 When the fact can be driven deep into the 
 human heart and brain that after the ma- 
 terial life, out in the great hereafter, one 
 lives a life similar to this, and that he has 
 necessities, actual wants, and desires that 
 money will not satisfy; appreciation of what 
 true wealth is, and how to gather it for 
 one's eternal good, may dawn upon the 
 minds of men. 
 
 207 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 Contemplate the after-life, where money 
 is not used! The occupation of most peo- 
 ple will be gone, they will find themselves 
 disqualified for any other position, ignor- 
 ant and helpless in a world of activity ; then 
 will come appreciation of the lost Atlantis 
 men call opportunity. Upon the pages of 
 memory will be written : wasted energy, 
 false ideals, worthless ambitions, erroneous 
 conceptions, ignorance of the simple laws 
 of nature, — and selfishness will find itself 
 a pauper, in a world of plenty. 
 
 In the next life, I am told, the only way 
 to gain advancement is by helping others; 
 in this way only is knowledge gained, for 
 by contributing their efforts to greater good 
 the Master Intelligence has provided for the 
 individual advancement of spirit-people. 
 Each builds his own stairway to the heights 
 of knowledge, — "all for one and one for 
 all," — that is the law of their progress when 
 they have emancipated themselves from 
 earth conditions. Material wealth is only 
 for a day, as time is counted. What the 
 good man does enriches him here, and be- 
 comes a part of his oivn self for all that 
 we call eternity. 
 
 208 
 
THE WORLD'S DESIRE. 
 
 If "doing good" is the only wealth that 
 one can carry away into the after-life, how 
 shall it be with those who have thought only 
 of money, grown indifferent, cold and hard, 
 and have lived this life for self alone? A 
 picture of the condition of those in that 
 class, whom we have talked with in the life 
 beyond, is too terrible to describe. In 
 earth-life they draw about themselves a 
 mantle of arrogance and pride, closely 
 woven of selfish thoughts and greed. Such 
 is the garment that covers these naked souls 
 as they journey on. Upon many not one 
 ray of light shines; there is only darkness 
 and despair; nothing penetrates the gloom 
 but the chill of death and dissolution. The 
 selfish worshipper of wealth is not only a 
 pauper in a world of wealth, but an outcast 
 in a community of harmony. The good men 
 do "lives after them," the earth career be- 
 comes a part of them, and they a part of it. 
 Good radiates light; selfishness is dark- 
 ness — the absence of light — and so con- 
 denses the thought emanations as to encom- 
 pass and obstruct one's vision. And so, on 
 going out into the next life, the selfish enter 
 into the condition they have created, there 
 
 209 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 to remain, until, through suffering, the wish 
 shall come, from within, to make restitution 
 for a life of greed. Then will come the de- 
 sire, unknown during earthly existence, to 
 become a worker to help others — just for 
 the joy that comes of doing good — and to 
 find in this way only that "peace which 
 passeth all understanding." 
 
 The wealth that all in this physical world 
 should seek has not the ring of gold; it is 
 gathered by right living, by helping- 
 others to live right, and by doing something 
 each day that will bring joy to hearts that 
 are sad, encouragement to those who falter, 
 good cheer to those who are depressed, bread 
 to those who hunger and clothing to the 
 naked. Do something each day to make 
 some mortal happier, and with each act let 
 love go hand in hand. Thus only can mor- 
 tals be enriched here and hereafter, "beyond 
 the dreams of avarice," for one good act, 
 sent out with love as its companion, will 
 reach beyond the confines of the stars, and 
 touch eternity. 
 
 210 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 HOMES IN THE AFTER LIFE. 
 
 ONE in the after-life gave me a 
 description of the spirit home of 
 a great, splendid mother, bnilded 
 by the labor of love and ceaseless charity, — 
 in the physical as well as in the spirit plane 
 in which she now resides, — one who worked 
 long and earnestly to make women under- 
 stand the truth so that they might live near- 
 er to the best in nature. Here is the descrip- 
 tion as it was given me : 
 
 "Before me is the interior of a splendid 
 home, the home made by a spirit, created 
 and builded by the thoughts, acts and 
 works of one who, thirty-two years ago, 
 lived on the material plane. The room 
 opening before me seems like pure white 
 marble with lofty ceilings ; around the four 
 sides runs a broad balcony supported by 
 columns gracefully turned; from a point 
 
 beyond the center is a broad stairway curv- 
 211 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 ing outward; at its foot, on each side, are 
 niches filled with beautiful statuary. Go- 
 ing up the stairs now, I find each step a 
 different color, yet all blending into one; 
 on all sides of this upper gallery are win- 
 dows through which come soft rays of light. 
 Opening off the sides are rooms; and, as I 
 look, a door opens and a beautiful spirit 
 comes out, taking on, as she enters, the old 
 material condition that she may be recog- 
 nized. She has reached maturity in years, 
 and has a face of rare gentleness — the 
 beauty of purity, — she smiles as we describe 
 her and her home to you. With her is a 
 daughter just reaching womanhood; one 
 that never lived the earth-life but was pre- 
 maturely born. These two, drawn by the in- 
 visible bond of affection, have builded this 
 home and made it rich with love. 
 
 "Passing down the corridor uoav, the 
 mother's arm about the daughter, they ap- 
 proach the other end of the building and 
 descend a stairway similar to the first, and 
 go out upon a broad terrace, along walks 
 bordered with flowers, into the garden of 
 happiness. Turning now and looking to- 
 ward a valley, I see many trees heavy with 
 
 212 
 
HOMES IN THE AFTERLIFE. 
 
 foliage, and through them I behold the 
 waters of a lake, rich as an emerald in 
 color. 
 
 About the vaulted room which I have de- 
 scribed are many others of like material, 
 filled with all that this mother loves. Books 
 that she uses in her work are seen ; pictures, 
 created by acts of tenderness, adorn the 
 walls. Musical instruments unlike those of 
 earth await spirit-toueh. This is a home 
 where girls, just budding into womanhood, 
 are taught purity — this is a mother's home, 
 and suggests to you the possibility of spir- 
 itual surroundings. It was not builded in 
 a day, but is the result of labor in the earth 
 and in spheres of progression, where the 
 surroundings are in harmony Avith spirit- 
 ual development : the home of a good wo- 
 man, builded by helping others." 
 
 I said to one of my friends in the after- 
 life, at another time : "Tell me of the homes 
 of spirit people," and, in reply, he said : 
 
 "That is a most difficult thing to do, be- 
 cause earth-people expect to find everything 
 so different, while, in reality, the homes here 
 are practically the same as in earth-life, 
 except that there is in the advanced spheres 
 
 213 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 no discord, no lack of harmony, nothing but 
 light, beauty, music, laughter, blended with 
 earnest, thoughtful study. I am describing 
 the home of a spirit who has grown to know 
 the life-principle. There are many poor, 
 struggling souls wilfully, or ignorantly, 
 looking down instead of upward into the 
 great possibility of the future, who are liv- 
 ing in squalid huts which their deeds and 
 thoughts in earth-life have made for them. 
 Very few have beautiful homes ready for 
 them when they enter spirit-life, for most 
 people live in such ignorance of natural 
 laws that they find insufficient shelter await- 
 ing them, but the wise ones start to build 
 by perfecting their way of thinking 
 and by undoing wrongs on earth, 
 and also, by helping others. No 
 actual physical touch is given these homes, 
 but, as the soul grows in beauty of thought 
 and deed, the home grows to perfection/ ' 
 
 "Are these homes as real to you as ours 
 are to us?" I asked. "They are the abiding 
 places of spirits who gather into them the 
 objects of beauty they love, and there har- 
 monious spirits come and go, as in earth- 
 life. They are as real to them as yours are 
 
 214 
 
HOMES m THE AFTER LIFE. 
 
 to you. But we look at things differently; 
 we think them and the thought is expressed 
 in waves that are visible and real as long- 
 as we hold the thought." 
 
 This is no flight of imagination. Let me 
 bring home the truth by an illustration. 
 Yesterday I purchased a country-place, 
 which must be modernized and adapted to 
 our requirements. I have been thinking 
 what changes are possible and what I should 
 like. It was a mental effort to take into 
 consideration the situation and work out a 
 plan. It was all done in thought. I can, 
 by a mental process, see the change ap- 
 proach ; the graded laAvns, the enlarged ver- 
 anda, the great fire-place and the towering 
 chimneys. In thought-vibrations these 
 changes have already been made. They 
 exist in mind which is matter, and all that 
 remains is to have the mental plans put 
 upon paper and sent to the builder, who 
 will give them physical expression, con- 
 struct in gross matter what now exists in 
 refined matter. These changes are now 
 thought creations; they exist in fact; I 
 can see them. 
 
 So it is in the after-life. The home and 
 
 213 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN". 
 
 environment are made by thought, created 
 in spirit-matter, which is mind, and its 
 beauty and grandeur is only limited by the 
 purity and progression of our earth life. 
 Those in the other life have their limita- 
 tions, as we have; they must have knowl- 
 edge and development and comprehension 
 just as we do. We differ in our creations 
 only in the manner of expression. The one 
 must be suitable to physical; the other to 
 spirit-requirements; both are first mental 
 processes; one is expressed in gross mat- 
 ter, while the other consists of spirit-matter 
 and spirit expression. 
 
 The next life, in its inception, is the sum- 
 total of this life, and nothing more. And 
 the structure fashioned by our acts and 
 deeds here, is that which we must inhabit 
 when we enter the spirit-world. 
 
 The idea that all space is peopled and 
 that in the universe there are no waste 
 places, is not only startling but it must ap- 
 peal to our reason that the Master Mind, in 
 creating, so planned that all space should 
 be of use and occupied, for some purpose. 
 The thought world does not need the land 
 nor the waters, nor the physical at- 
 
 216 
 
HOMES IN THE AFTERLIFE. 
 
 mosphere, to subsist; passing beyond 
 material laws, who shall say they 
 cannot live and move in the invisi- 
 ble sphere about us — and surround them- 
 selves with thought creations? They live 
 beyond and outside the physical bodies, be- 
 yond our vision, yet with us. While their 
 presence is felt by the many, it is known by 
 the few. This is the great misfortune of 
 this so-called civilized world. 
 
 Si? 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 TRUE CHARITY. 
 
 CHARITY, in its general accepta- 
 tion, has been identified with alms- 
 giving; but why should a word so 
 potent, so beautif al, be so degraded? Spirit- 
 people, with their higher intelligence, have 
 told me that charity means giving to those 
 in need our best and purest thought; and 
 they have pointed out that on the earth - 
 plane it is rather a mechanical than a spir- 
 itual action to distribute material things 
 amongst others. How many, when they 
 help those in need, give their best thought 
 as well as material aid? True, material 
 assistance is often indispensable; but, nev- 
 ertheless, it should be only a stepping-stone 
 to something higher and nobler. A charit- 
 able thought, sent out and transmitted by 
 waves of psychic ether, will reach many 
 souls in despair, and, perhaps, lift them to 
 higher conditions in the material as well as 
 
 219 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 in the spirit spheres. There are persons in 
 earth life who are too poor to give material 
 aid, but who, out of the richness of their 
 benevolent hearts, give that which is bet- 
 ter, more precious, more Godlike: loving 
 words and kindly deeds. Such as these are 
 never too tired to offer sympathy to those 
 in need; never too weary to speak a cheery 
 word to struggling neighbors. Such per- 
 sons radiate happiness around them, and 
 are continually sending forth the purest and 
 best of which a soul is capable, and, when 
 they go out into the after-life, they find that 
 bread cast upon the waters does return. 
 
 It is my custom to ask of spirit-people to 
 give some expression of their views on sub- 
 jects under consideration, and in reply to 
 an inquiry about charity, one said : 
 
 "And the greatest of all is charity of 
 thought, without which the utmost gifts of 
 money become as pebbles in the mouths of 
 the hungry. Think of all as you would have 
 all think of you. A thought once born 
 grows to its fulness, not only by the good 
 done to the individual, but, by its strength 
 and goodness, it circles around, and after 
 encompassing many in its kind embrace, re- 
 
 220 
 
TRUE CHARITY. 
 
 bounds to enrich the originator. Cultivate 
 the desire to think kindly of your fellow- 
 men. 
 
 Since thought dominates all actions, 
 those who have evil thoughts are in danger 
 of becoming evil themselves, though they 
 may be unconscious of the fact. The mind 
 flings out a radiance which, to some extent, 
 sheds light on every avenue of life; if that 
 radiance should grow feeble and your life 
 selfish, you will ever remain in the twilight, 
 and your outlook will always be limited; 
 but if kindness and true charity dominate 
 your thoughts, the radiance will continue 
 rich and bright till its emanations reach the 
 boundaries of hope and your soul is illum- 
 ined by the crowning sun of happiness." 
 
 "The best way to judge character is to 
 watch the faces of children who turn toward 
 men. A good man loves them and has pa- 
 tience with them, and they turn to him as 
 naturally as a flower follows the warmth 
 of the sun. A bad man realizes their help- 
 lessness, and brutally vents his malignity on 
 their small, defenceless heads. Such a man 
 is not to be trusted in any walk of life. 
 
 221 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 Right rears its head majestically 
 
 And scorns disgrace; 
 Wrong seeks to hide, and turns away 
 
 To shield its face. 
 
 "Again, be generous to those to whom na- 
 ture has limited her gifts, for nature com- 
 pensates, and the time will come when all 
 shall be equal. The poorly equipped for 
 earth-life, will more easily acquire the les- 
 sons to be learned in the next, for those of 
 patience and humility are learned already. 
 Those who think differently are to be en- 
 lightened, not censured or ridiculed, for all 
 who understand this truth of life's progres- 
 sion are entrusted with the great responsi- 
 bility of teaching all who can understand; 
 and you must get as close as possible to the 
 lives of others, that your words may have 
 weight. 
 
 "Let your hearts be fallow ground ; plant 
 therein the seeds of love, charity and purity ; 
 nourish them daily with the clear water of 
 tenderness, and you will have a wonderful 
 garden filled with fragrance and white with 
 blossoms, and your life will become a part 
 of the great life principle." 
 
 A minister, well known when in earth- 
 life, said one evening to a gentleman who 
 
TRUE CHARITY. 
 
 worked with me and helped gather the in- 
 formation now given the public: 
 
 "The intense satisfaction that is the con- 
 stant result of right doing, based on honest 
 purpose, is, in itself, sufficient reward for 
 action. Of all the trite sayings of the Bible, 
 the one that reads, 'What shall it profit a 
 man, if he shall gain the whole world, and 
 yet lose his own soul?' is one with the great- 
 est meaning. 
 
 "Wealth brings many opportunities for 
 good and for evil ; in fact, more for the lat- 
 ter than the former, as the besetting sin of 
 mortal man is selfishness, and the posses- 
 sion of great richness allows of a free ex- 
 pression of that greatest of all causes of 
 trouble. The true and full meaning of the 
 word 'selfishness' is in every way opposite 
 to the most beautiful word in your language 
 'charity.' Shorn of their meaning, as ap- 
 plied to money, they are the negative and 
 positive of man's character. The fullest 
 opportunity of giving expression to these 
 two opposite words comes with the posses- 
 sion of great wealth. The understanding of 
 the full meaning of these tAvo words is the 
 truest index of a man's character. The 
 
 223 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 ability to make one's life the embodiment of 
 that wonderful word 'charity,' and to un- 
 derstand that other word 'selfishness' so as 
 to avoid it, is the true test of mortal man's 
 ability to control himself. 
 
 "Self-control is man's perfect condition. 
 To know charity and practice its meaning; 
 to know selfishness and keep it from you: 
 this is self-control. This state of existence 
 is as near perfection as the earth-tied mor- 
 tal can hope to get. You have been chosen, 
 one among many on your side of life, to 
 bring certain great truths to the people of 
 the world. In advance of the time, you are 
 to be prepared for the time of your useful- 
 ness, and this is one of the moments of lay- 
 ing before you certain truths. To teach the 
 truth, the teacher must be truthful; to in- 
 duce others to accept pure and honest prin- 
 ciples, the teacher must be pure and honest 
 himself; to set certain facts before others, 
 the teacher must be above criticism. 
 
 "You may honestly atone for those things 
 that have so far occurred in your life, by 
 making amends to those to whom you are 
 indebted. So far as the errors of your past 
 life are concerned, you have well and strong- 
 
 224 
 
TRUE CHARITY. 
 
 ly conquered their chief cause, and you need 
 no longer fear them. You have henceforth 
 no excuse to do otherwise than to follow 
 the honorable and ennobling instincts of 
 your nature. Guard well your actions, that 
 they may not be open to criticism from 
 others; and particularly from the one of 
 all others from whom you cannot escape,— 
 your own self. You have been, and you are 
 being weighed in the balance ; and so much 
 is expected of you, that you must not be 
 found wanting. 
 
 "Kemember that wealth brings the oppor- 
 tunity to give expression to what is best in 
 your nature, and that you will find the only 
 reward for doing good is that intense feel- 
 ing of satisfaction that can come only as the 
 result of a good deed, unselfishly done. It 
 is well that man should earn his daily bread. 
 It is the intention of nature that every mor- 
 tal should struggle, for by no other means 
 can he progress in the scale of being. This 
 being so, one so situated that he can live 
 without a proper exertion on his part, is un- 
 fortunate. Never forget this principle : the 
 waste of money is not charity, but foolish- 
 ness. You will find many practical ways 
 
 225 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAX. 
 
 to do good and to do it in the right way. 
 A clean tenant demands a clean habitation, 
 A pure heart and a pure mind are the re- 
 sults of your own efforts so to keep them. 
 
 "Charity is not a formula; it is thought 
 clothed with a kind act. Cultivate charity 
 in judging others; try to draw out the 
 latent good in them, rather than to discover 
 the hidden evil. We must do this, if we 
 would rise to the full glory of our privilege, 
 to the dignity of true living, to the supreme 
 charity of the world." 
 
 226 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 "TO THAT MORTAL WOULD I SPEAK." 
 
 THE gentleman who opened the dis- 
 cussion on the "Attitude of Science" 
 was himself, while in earth-life, a 
 great thinker, and has evidently made much 
 progress as a chemist in the sphere where he 
 now lives. He is fearless in speech, and has 
 courage born of knowledge. It is a priv- 
 ilege that I prize greatly to discuss phil- 
 osophy with him, and many of his dis- 
 courses have found place in this work. 
 After speaking on the subject above men- 
 tioned, I asked permission to use what he 
 had said. With his consent, I give, in his 
 answer, perhaps the most remarkable mes- 
 sage that ever came from the spirit- world : 
 "In so far as you are impressed with the 
 thought that my simple words will enable 
 you to give to the people of earth a clear 
 and honest statement of the facts with ref- 
 erence to the change from one sphere to an- 
 
 227 
 
THE FUTURE OP MAN. 
 
 other sphere of usefulness, everything which 
 is in perfect accord with, and which carries 
 out the intent of that whole, which it so per- 
 fectly controls, you are welcome to use. If 
 anything that I have said, or may say, can, 
 in any degree, hring to the people of earth 
 an appreciation of the future that awaits 
 them, I am deeply grateful." 
 
 'One, older in spirit-life, and far — oh so 
 very far beyond me, bids me say:' 
 
 "Upward and onward! Always lead the 
 way, for climb ye must, whether ye would 
 or nay! That omnipotent force that has 
 fixed the destiny of all things, has so willed, 
 and, struggle though ye do and will, to fol- 
 low your self-impulse, and journey to and 
 fro, yet shall your course lay onward and 
 upward. In all that has been, in all there 
 is, and in all you shall know as you jour- 
 ney on, that one intent is the manifest pur- 
 pose. The one supreme intent ye of earth- 
 life shall not and cannot know, and that is 
 wise and just. But this ye may know, for 
 your very peace and comfort : every change 
 that shall overtake you, is but to prepare 
 you for the next ; and further knowledge is 
 but a dream of your OAvn fancy, that springs 
 
 228 - 
 
TO THAT MORTAL WOULD I SPEAK. 
 
 from the speculative intensity of your de- 
 sire to know. 
 
 "Knowing all, would ye not be that All? 
 And knowing all, yet not having the wisdom 
 to make use of that knowledge, what blun- 
 dering fools would ye be ! Only as ye shall 
 have wisdom to exercise just and proper 
 care of such things as be, shall ye know the 
 meaning of those things. The servant must 
 ever be able to do intelligently the master's 
 bidding, that he may be worthy of trust; 
 and if he faileth, then must the master bid 
 him begone, and another shall enter into 
 his stewardship until he who hath failed 
 shall be worthy, once more, of his master's 
 trust; and, should he fail scores of times 
 without number, yet shall he be set aside 
 until he hath become his own master; and 
 then only may he be a worthy servant to 
 his master. And so I say unto you, that 
 ye may learn concerning the future, that 
 shall help you in the time that is; but be- 
 yond the simple knowledge of the fact that 
 ye shall have answered unto you the great 
 question of Job — asked by every son of wo- 
 man from all time — 'Though I die, shall I 
 yet live again?' I answer unto you, saying 
 
 229 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 to all in earth-life, Yea! You shall! Let 
 that, then, suffice for I say once more to all 
 men, through you, that no mortal can ob- 
 tain knowledge of what lies beyond save 
 through the sphere above that wherein he 
 dwells, for all must pass from earth before 
 reaching the spirit-sphere ; those in the earth 
 plane must receive all knowledge of the 
 after life from those who have progressed 
 into spirit-life. 
 
 "Upward and onward ye must go; and 
 only by such a ladder, as ye shall have built, 
 can ye mount. So it is well that ye build 
 wisely and with care. Let the rungs be of 
 good deeds, and ye shall mount quickly and 
 joyously to great and splendid heights ; but 
 if ye are careless and slothful in the build- 
 ing, and heed not nature's laws, — and they 
 are writ that all may read, — your advance- 
 ment will be delayed by your failure, for 
 each rotten rung must be replaced; and O 
 ye of earth! If ye could but know the 
 weariness of such undoing and redoing, 
 more heed would ye give as ye rush onward 
 through life. 
 
 "And so I say to you this : to know that 
 ye live again, though ye die, is all ye need 
 
 230 
 
TO THAT MORTAL WOULD I SPEAK. 
 
 to know to fit you for the future ; and if ye 
 knew too much of that future state that ye 
 shall enter into, it would unfit you for that 
 state in which ye now live. Take ye no heed 
 of the morrow, but see that ye so live, each 
 day, that the morrow may find you pre- 
 pared. True honesty, like charity, begins 
 in one's own heart. It is far better to have 
 committed an honest error and reaped no 
 profit, than to have great profit and to have 
 honesty gone from your own heart. 
 
 "This spirit gives me no name. He says 
 it has been lost so long from his memory 
 that he scarce heeded its going. As you re- 
 spect a worthy man of much learning and 
 honesty of heart, without regard to his 
 name, so I reverence this other spirit; and 
 I am indebted to you for the privilege of 
 knowing him, as he came to me saying : To 
 that mortal would I speak.' " 
 
 231 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 TRUTH AT LAST. 
 
 THERE is not in the universe a 
 single great problem that man can 
 truthfully say he has mastered, and 
 concerning which nothing remains to be 
 found out. The laws that control this 
 world and are before all energy and chem- 
 ical action, are universal and in force in 
 other spheres as well as this; they control 
 all solar systems and worlds in space, there- 
 fore, a complete comprehension of those 
 laws and their application requires more 
 than mortal life. If this were not so, per- 
 fection would be practically immediate, and 
 without process, and men would become 
 gods here and now. The most brilliant men 
 that have ever lived, knew but little of nat- 
 ural laws and of the origin and destiny of 
 man; and until now have made but little 
 effort to find them out. 
 
 The earth is yet so crude, our senses are 
 
 233 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN. 
 
 so dull and our vision so limited, that we 
 fail to realize those emanations and move- 
 ments of refined matter about us, or the 
 subtle and incessant play of forces around 
 us. From a single ray of light shoot mil- 
 lions of electrons and corpuscles, the basic 
 constituents of matter, smaller than the 
 atom of hydrogen, striking blow upon blow, 
 passing by and through us in their incessant 
 warfare with the night, but we feel them 
 not. 
 
 We do not realize the quivering and bend- 
 ing of the earth's crust under our feet, 
 caused by changes of temperature and the 
 pressure of atmospheric waves, nor do we 
 hear the fermentations and oxidations of 
 the soil in the changing seasons. We do not 
 even yet know the exact nature of that ether 
 which a recent investigator considers omni- 
 present and omnipotent. We see the action 
 of gravitation, but know nothing of the me- 
 dium through which it operates. We hear 
 the wind soughing among the trees ; but we 
 do not hear the roar of sap up trunk and 
 branch, the bursting of the buds as they 
 bombard the air, or the speech of growing 
 trees and flowers and grass among them- 
 
 234 
 
TRUTH AT LAST. 
 
 selves; yet life, wherever found, has lan- 
 guage. 
 
 The vibrations from out the abyss of 
 space would reach our ears if they had more 
 and higher octaves, or if our capacity for 
 catching sound were immeasurably intensi- 
 fied ; we do not hear the clang of the planets 
 as they ring down through their orbits, the 
 explosive detonations of the sun, the wild 
 dance and chant of the nebulae, the comets' 
 note of warning, or the rush of wandering 
 matter of which worlds are made, which 
 must send out impulses and tremblings 
 through the ether to this planet of ours. We 
 are at all times in a great sea of intensely 
 active forces and potentialities governed by 
 a law of which we have little conception. 
 
 About us, but invisible to most, a nation, 
 or rather many nations, of spirit-people, 
 "live and move and have their being, " more 
 industrious, more active, more intellectual, 
 and more energetic, then we; but, such is 
 their intense vibration, we do not or- 
 dinarily feel their touch, hear their voices, 
 or see their forms; but conditions can be 
 made, and have been made, so that, notwith- 
 standing our limitations, we may have 
 
 235 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN 
 
 speech with them, and know at least some- 
 thing of how and where they live, and what 
 they are doing. 
 
 There is so mnch in nature that we do not 
 understand, is it any wonder that, having 
 kept our eyes so close to the ground, we have 
 not discovered this spirit world before? We 
 have made conditions where it became pos- 
 sible for us to know a little of those other 
 people, and, even though many have not had 
 this evidence, that does not derogate from 
 the truth of the discovery, which must for- 
 ever stand as another fact added to the sum 
 total of human knowledge. The possibility 
 of communication between mortals and 
 those in the world of spirits, has been 
 proved beyond doubt; and it now remains 
 for men of genius to adopt new rules of 
 demonstration, and to bring into this new 
 field of research, the same intelligent action 
 that is applied to the lower sciences and to 
 increase our knowledge of the spirit as they 
 have of the material world. 
 
 Those who, through ignorance or preju- 
 dice, decry a new discovery, and so prevent 
 fair consideration, are enemies of civiliza- 
 tion. The time has come for man to be free 
 
 236 
 
TRUTH AT LAST. 
 
 and to think alone. Neither the teachings 
 of the so-called dead, nor the conclusions of 
 the living, can change the facts which I have 
 proved, or nullify a single natural law. 
 Truth has neither youth nor age ; it is, and 
 ever has been, a brother to reason; it does 
 not need the assistance of fame or science; 
 it has never been in the keeping of any par- 
 ticular class of men; it is the heritage of 
 all who live. 
 
 I look into the future and see the creeds 
 and dogmas that, for centuries, have en- 
 slaved the human race, dead and obsolete 
 laws in life's great statute book. I see 
 knowledge take the place of faith and super- 
 stition; I see the awful fear of death ban- 
 ished from every human heart and mankind 
 at peace. I see a world of thinkers, honest 
 and free, teaching the gospel of truth, the 
 religion of nature, and philosophy of meta- 
 psychics, — the new science of matter. 
 
 Let this fact sink deep into every human 
 heart : the individual thought must at all 
 times be kept clean and pure for this won- 
 derous and ever active mind of ours is from 
 day to day throwing the shuttle through 
 the web of life, incessantly weaving the 
 
 237 
 
THE FUTURE OF MAN 
 
 fabric of the condition that will clothe the 
 naked soul on the threshold of the after 
 life, and those in the great beyond watch 
 beside the loom. 
 
 238 
 
Now in its second edition 
 
 Life's Progression 
 
 (Meta -Psychic) 
 BY 
 
 Edward C. Randall 
 
 A plain and concise statement of those simple 
 laws of nature that govern the change called death, 
 and of what follows in the sphere of progression 
 where, and where only, intense life is to be found. It 
 gives the world a new philosophy. 
 
 Sir William Crookes (London) says of it: 
 
 "I have only had time to glance through it, but 
 
 from the little I have seen of its contents I shall 
 
 read it with pleasure and I am sure with much 
 
 profit/' 
 
 N. W. Richardson, President of N. Y. State 
 Spiritualists Association : 
 
 "The work is a most complete compilation of 
 the essential teachings and the important lessons 
 which higher intelligents have been pouring out upon 
 the human family during the last half century. M 
 
 Dr. Charles Richet (Paris) : 
 "It is full of fruitful ideas and inspired by a great 
 love for the future of humanity." 
 
 Boston Globe: 
 
 "A series of thoughtful essays on the great prob- 
 lems of life in which is much proof that the author 
 has thought deeply and well. ' ' 
 
 PRICE, $1.50 NET, Postage 15c extra. 
 
 OTTO ULBRICH CO. 
 
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 386 MAIN ST. BUFFALO, N. Y. 
 
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