Spirit Eyes

The Spirit Body is unlike the physical or the psychical. It is not an etherealised earthly body, yet it resembles it in one point—it manifests the real man in various ways. We manifest ourselves by speech and look and perceive others by the touch and the ear. So the spirit has its spirit vision, hearing, speech, etc.

Spirit vision is that true, deep, spirit intuition into the realities of things—that piercing eye of the soul which lays bare the roots, the deep foundations of things.

Spirit vision always looks to the roots of things; below the righteous action, it looks for truth; below the generous, for justice and below all for love, which is life in its highest manifestation.

The physical sees the sun and stars and perceives that the sun gives heat and life, day and night, etc.

The psychic sees the laws, which govern these suns and knows that they are good.

Spirit vision sees the life, which produces the laws and causes them all to be and to be perfect.

Again—the physical sees the rich man pulling down his barns and building larger ones and perceives that it is that he may have room where to bestow his goods.

The psychic sees why he does this; that he may say to his soul—Eat, drink and be satisfied.

The pneuma perceives that the spring of these actions is injustice—the man not being perfectly just (or rather justice not being perfectly manifested in him), fears to trust himself to nature—fears that he will suffer real loss in the stress of life or in the pangs of death and hopes that he may by his own lower powers get to himself more than others a shelter from the forces he fears instead of trusts. He does not know that he is endowed with a birthright, as son of God, of which nothing can possibly deprive him.

Spirit vision, like a circle, holds all things within itself and its gaze pierces equally to the distant or the near, to the past or the present. We remember the past and memory and imagination can reproduce it in a more or less broken manner but the spirit sees the past as we do the present, as really and as truly. All things are within its range, that is, the whole of the psychic life of the ego. The future is still a sealed book, though greater powers of intuition enable it to read even that more clearly than before. 

Elisha must have had the psychic vision when he saw Gehazi on his deceitful errand but Christ had the spirit vision when from his intimate knowledge of the character of Judas he said—“This is he who shall betray me.”

The physical sees the besieged city with the prophet within its walls; the psychic sees the chariots and horses of the Lord encircling it in the hour of danger, to leave it when that special need is past—the spirit sees the love and pity, the just and abiding care that is forever around—not only that city but the army of the besiegers and the whole world.

The spirit eyes, then, see the spirit forms and the world in which they dwell but it sees far more than this—it sees Reality under Appearance and Truth beneath any veil.

Nor is there any confusion arising from this vast field of vision, for the harmony of the spheres is so great that the eye takes in all or a part, as easily as our eyes take in an extended landscape or a minute object.

The Transition into the Third Life

We do not really enter our third life until we leave the psychic world behind us forever. When we have “gone” (as we say), it has been that our spirits might be strengthened or enlightened in ways that were not possible in the psychic world or that we might get insight into some duty not intelligible otherwise. We see “in a glass darkly” and not “face-to-face.”

Now, what happens when our time comes to depart? It is this—our psychic form dissolves, fades away, is folded up, is dissipated into the sphere from which it was taken, leaving our spirit free to pass beyond into purer and rarer air more fitted for it. There is no pain or struggle in such a dissolution, nor any break in consciousness. Our friends bid us farewell for a time but we need not say farewell to them, for we shall see and know them more intimately even than before. Their eyes may not perceive us but our clearer vision will embrace the past as well as the present, the old as well as the new.

We are now pneuma or spirit; not that pure, invisible, immortal essence but approaching it more closely. The true, the real man remains hidden from comprehension; the final, the deepest mystery of all.

It is not simply that he has taken off two coverings, the physical and the psychical, and is now himself, unclothed upon. Rather he manifests himself in three ways at different times and in different degrees—in body, in soul, and in spirit. The physical and the psychical bodies have been cast off and left in the spheres to which they belonged; he has now a spiritual body, while yet the true man has been complete through all. The body of the body and the body of the soul are gone forever and he is now clothed upon with the body of the spirit.

On the earth the broken arcs,

In the heaven a perfect round.

Before we try to describe the spirit body and its functions, it will be well to speak of the new sphere in which the Man is now manifesting. This sphere is not one and single as the intermediate is but is seven spheres closely connected together.

Perhaps a diagram will make this clearer.

The three central are the Unity Spheres; the side ones are the Duality Spheres.

The first Unity Sphere (I)—Introductory, for strengthening and improving the character and the new powers.

The second Unity Sphere (III)—For action and exercise of powers.

Third Unity Sphere (V)—Peace; rest; the equipoise of the perfectly manifested being.

The first Duality Spheres (2)—Discipline—the growth, guidance and strengthening of such parts of the being as were still weak and imperfect.

Second Duality Spheres (4)—Discipline on a higher plane—the completion of the work. The man now passes into the last Unity Sphere, the sphere of perfection, and beyond that who shall say! Certainly, we know nothing.

The Duality Spheres are so-called, chiefly because the old double consciousness (which is almost dormant in the Unity Spheres) is again in force. In force, that is, in the sense of conflict of one part of our nature with another; not merely in the ability to think of ourselves as if we were two beings. This double consciousness is revived in the dual spheres because it is then easier for the ego to see its own weaknesses; to condemn and struggle against them.

Thus, these spheres are dual as being in pairs; dual in the divided experience and, above all, dual as to the double consciousness.

The unity spheres are so-called, not only or chiefly because they are the one sphere for all but because there this unity of consciousness is existent.

The unity of the whole seven in one is shown in the oneness of the man’s manifestation; through all he dwells in his spirit body; through all, he is a man of seven dimensions until he comes to the perfection of his being, as far as can be judged of perfection.

No spirit ever passes through more than one of each of the two spheres marked 2 and 4—that is, he goes to the right or to the left but not to both. (The words right and left, of course, are used only in reference to the diagram).

What, then, causes him to enter one of these spheres rather than the other? It is the bent of his deep soul-character. There is no uniformity in mankind, rather there is infinite diversity. Yet it divides, broadly speaking, into two classes—call them by what name you please, say—

The religious and the scientific—

The imaginative and the practical—

The introspective and the out looking.

Now, the soul that has the one bent passes into the opposite sphere that his nature may be so cultivated and disciplined that he shall be a perfect and not a one-sided being.

When we speak of perfect and imperfect, we understand that sin is a wilful failure to do the thing that is known to be right or the equally wilful doing of the wrong; sin is left behind finally in the psychic. By perfect is meant the essential being fully manifested and by imperfect, not fully manifested. Man, then, is not perfect until he reaches the Seventh Sphere; the Unity in Peace.

Man thus passes through only five of the seven spheres but the seven are so closely connected by a constant stream of life circling through all that he may be said to inhabit them all.

Finally, the three unity spheres are specialised thus—

I—Is that state where all the qualities developed in the physical life reach their highest stage.

III—The same, only psychical.

V—The perfection of the pneumatic.

—I AWOKE! Conditions of Life on the other Side, Author Unknown, David Stott, London, 1895

John's Revelation

And I was caught up into the third heaven and heard things impossible to utter.

Put from you the idea that John’s revelation is one of mere future events; a prophecy in the sense of foretelling things to come. It is rather the inner history of the human ego in his second and third states, that is, soul and spirit.

It is a wonderful picture of life either in one state or another. It begins after the introductory part of the messages to the churches and to understand it we must have two leading ideas in our mind—

The two threads are these—we have here the perfect man and we have the imperfect and the history of these two runs side-by-side. The perfect man is represented in many ways and under many titles, all of which titles have their deep meaning and show different sides of a perfect character. Although all these are supposed to refer to the Christ whom John knew—and indeed are true of him—yet they must not be limited in that way, for they refer to the type; to that perfect being which was from eternity and shall be to eternity. We are as yet only a little way on that road which leads to perfect manifestation but we came from the Complete One and we shall return to Him—if He has all wisdom—the seven spirits of God—it is only as head of the race; such wisdom is the birthright of all and shall be theirs when the set time is at hand.

The Bible begins with the history of physical man, while as yet his higher nature (eternal in its true essence) lay dormant and unmanifested within him. It is here we see those powers which man shares with the animal at their highest—courage, patience, and a certain fierce battling for himself and his family; while the longer years he lived were partly owing to the physical being supreme. Here, too, we see the rise of the intellectual powers (as distinct from the moral) in the works and inventions of that old race.

In the last book, we have the true history of the psyche. 

We have, then, in our Bible the human soul in all stages of development compared and contrasted with one who has gone through such discipline and has come forth—perfect Man and perfect Son of God.

The soul begins his conscious history, generally, in this way—If he believes in God it is as a being of infinite power, who lives apart from his creation—on a throne—and whose attributes are represented by thunder and lightning, while all nature bows down before him in passive awe. This is the time when courage, power and all physical qualities are his ideal.

And, behold, a throne was set in Heaven, and one sat on the throne. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And four-and-twenty elders and four living creatures were round about the throne, and they rest not day nor night, saying, Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power—for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

—Rev. iv., 2—11

The next stage in his life may be this—He begins to feel pressing on him the awful mysteries of his being; life is a closed book to him, the eternal “Why” begins to rise within him and at the same time he feels himself unable and unworthy to open the book.

Then he is happy if he learns to believe that there is one who has both the power and the will to reveal these mysteries to him. One, not a being apart from himself but who is only a little further on in the way of experience—one, who is both the Lion and the Lamb; who unites all the strength of the divine with the beauty of self-sacrifice.

And I saw a book sealed with seven seals. And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as it had been slain. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

—Chap. v, 1—7

This true, perfect man breaks the first seal and the soul becomes conscious of new powers. Strong in faith, in the greatness of humanity, he goes forth conquering and to conquer.

When the Lamb opened one of the seals, I saw, and behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown, and he went forth conquering and to conquer.

—Chap. v., 1—2

Another seal is broken—his experience widens but, this time, it is not the triumphant march of the conqueror but the cry of defeat; while he learns through loss and through conflict, through the wounds of sin and the loss of self-esteem how to conquer in a truer way.

When he had opened the third seal, I beheld a black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

—Chap, vi., 5 and 6

The fourth seal shows us how, through the loss of whatever may have been as dear to him as life itself, he is led on to a higher plane, the plane of self-sacrifice.

When he had opened the fourth seal, I looked, and behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

—Chap, vi., 7 and 8

The fifth seal shows him in that phase of experience when there presses on him a sense of injustice because the righteous seem to suffer and the wicked to prosper. How long, O Lord, before thou wilt avenge thy saints?

When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God—and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, 0 Lord, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood? And it was said unto them that they should rest for a little season.

—Chap, vi., 9—11

The sixth seal shows the soul’s dread of death and of what lies beyond it.

When he had opened the sixth seal there was a great earthquake; the sun became black, and the moon became as blood; the stars of heaven fell and the heaven departed, and every mountain and islands were moved out of their places. And all men hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains and said, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb—for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?

—Chap. vi., 12—17

And so he is led on until—at the seventh seal, there is silence in heaven—that is, his mind is calmly poised on the great foundation truths and he can wait for joy or sorrow, conflict or peace, with sure and steadfast faith that all is well and well forever and for all.

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

—Chap. viii., i

The seven trumpets carry on this history of the man on a more spiritual plane; like an artist who becomes a sculptor, he has learnt much that will help him but he must apply it in different ways, for soul-battles are not fought once and for all but have to be refought on a different battleground and with new weapons. For is it not true in our life that the old doubts and difficulties, which we thought dead rise again in greater strength and must be met and conquered in the new spirit that has been born within us?

The seven phials show the history of those who have more struggle, more apparent discord to overcome; such as are led through fire, rather than through green valleys. Yet all will finally sing the same triumphant song of victory over what has been out of harmony with their divine nature—the victory of life over death, of holiness over sin, the dissolving of all that is not truly spiritual and the manifestation of the new man with the new name.

The vision of the throne is now of the throne of God and the Lamb; that is God and Man made one forever.

Such is our history—it may be lived out on our plane or in the next but somewhat after this is the experience of the soul before it enters the third life.

I AWOKE! Conditions of Life on the other Side, Author Unknown, David Stott, London, 1895

I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem

Life in the spirit is a strange mixture of natural and spiritual; spirits speak of houses, lands, clothes, food, books and, on the other hand, speak of will power as the great creative agency, of soul impressions, rather than bodily senses.

Spiritual life is a mingling of the old and the new; the past and the present not yet wholly spirit, nor wholly of earth; spirits partake of both natures. Like a girl who is just between childhood and womanhood may be a child one day and a woman the next or like a dragonfly just emerging from its case comes out with wings, it is true, but they are folded ones and for a time that bears some proportion to its short life it seems rather to crawl on these folded wings, as if it were a grub, than to open them and fly away.

Spirit pleasures and duties are in spirit life as they sometimes are with us. There is no such thing as a pleasure disconnected from work or growth or duty; neither is there any beauty disconnected from true life, nor any idle sorrow or grief that is not distinctly healing in its effect, cleansing or raising the soul. There is no weariness, such as comes from mere ennui or from a vacant mind—real honest fatigue of the body comes only from the imperfection of the growing soul, not yet strong enough to bear all the strain put on it by its spirit lord.

In our world we have the visible, physical life in all stages of development and in all forms; the rock, the flower, the animal and the man. We have also mental life in all stages, from the simplest animal instinct to the most complex brain of man. So in the Spirit world they have the psychic life in all stages—that life which may be said to be outward and visible to their psychic senses. They have also the spirit life; unseen except in its outcome, as it manifests itself through the psychic.

Thus they have trees and stones, animals and man; all with the same kind of life running through them but not to the same degree. How would this world appear to us, if we could enter it in our present body? The old simile of the fish and the bird would be true. The fish that sees, breathes and flies through the water could not change with the bird; the air would be too strong for him and his powers, so perfect in themselves, could not adjust themselves to their new surroundings. We are the fish and they are the bird. We would find their air too strong for us and they should find ours too heavy for them. They enter into our world only through its reflected but true soul-form; they see the pictures of earthly things reflected in us as we see things reflected by and on the eye.

Imagine yourself, however, over in the Spirit World and try to “see” the new world. The first sensation would be of surprise that it is so much like our own—what would first strike you would be the resemblance—town and country, sea and grass; flowers and fruit; men and women and children; life and motion. But the differences would soon begin to press upon your notice. The absence of all dirt, sordid misery, haggard and overburdened faces and savage and sin-sodden countenances. Sorrowful ones you might see; grave faces as well as bright, shining, outgoing looks; you would see people at work of various kinds but anything resembling the whip of the taskmaster would be absent. Weariness might occasionally be noticed but not impatience or despair.

Perhaps the next thing you would notice would be the close fellowship you would have with all forms of nature around you and your power over the lower—power for your good but not for the injury of anything. The air you breathe out, for instance, is no longer poisoned for your brother’s use; the grass you walk on is not trodden down and spoiled for other feet; the flowers you gather do not leave bleeding stalks behind them to wither and become unpleasing to the eye.

The sea will no longer divide or be an instrument of death but rather a friend if only you trust yourself to it. The mountain will no longer be a barrier for toilsome and dangerous climbing but a friend from whose surface you may see a wider stretch of the new country. All things will be “very good” to you if you let your nature have full play and live according to its simple laws.

Should you hear music, you would find an answering strain rise up within your being. You might look in vain for any instrument from which the strains could have proceeded but instead of an organ, the player would play upon the strings of your inner being and they would respond fully and perfectly to his touch.

Then again there is a great difference in the way you converse with those you meet. At first you would naturally use your own language or seem to do so as in a dream (let us say). As you were understood and answered, it would seem as if they also spoke the same language but in a little while you would see that it was not the outward language which they comprehended and replied to but that you made them feel your meaning and they, in return, impressed their thoughts upon you.

Thus you would find in a hundred ways that the old was passing away and that all things were becoming new.

And so the soul—

When it is freed at last from earthly bonds,

Flies from its prison house to its true home.

On earth it was encumbered, incomplete,

Dumb and half blind, struggling with earth and sin;

Striving and groping on its darkened way;

With the eternal question on its lips

Eternally unanswered—Why?

Until the angel comes with outstretched wings,

Dark underneath to him but light above ;

That angel which like two-faced Janus stands,

One face for ever turned towards the past,

The other forward to the life to come;

That dreaded messenger from the Unseen

Who is called Death by you, but Life by us.

Marriage in Spirit Life

Some in spirit life do not care for the counterpart of our home life. That may be because the habits of mind and the character with which they come over are opposed to it but still with all there must be some choice of companionship, some affinity with one more than another and to most the special companionship of one is almost a necessity for the happy development of their being. This is specially a characteristic of modern and western nations. Such companionship is a blessed thing and is the true marriage of which the earthly is only a broken shadow. But there is one great point of difference. This marriage is not necessarily between those who, on earth, were of an opposite sex; the body is cast off and the psyche knows nothing of male or female. All are one in their great Head, the Head of the whole human family, the most perfect Man. It is the two types of character which on earth are generally masculine and feminine that are best suited to become one in spirit; therefore, it is not strange that real union on earth should often be continued in the Spiritual World, though it is not necessarily nor always so. Here the great power of insight that spirits have into each other’s true being prevents mistakes and the affections and the reason being united, all discord and disappointment are prevented. Yet occasionally some grow in such different ways that they fall apart but without any bitterness. These unions are unions of perfect responsiveness and sympathy—a greater power both of giving and receiving constitutes the bond.

The True and Inner Religion of the Heart

I believe in one God.

I am the Son of God.

I know that my Redeemer liveth.

When we pass the “article of death” and go through the first stages of spiritual life and emerge from the mental confusion consequent on our change of environment, then naturally to most must come a readjustment of their religious faith. To nearly all the surroundings in which they find themselves are immensely different from what they had expected; consequently, there is a great change in their mental attitude.

Spirits have no means of proving the existence of God other than we have—they neither see nor handle the Invisible; there is no possibility of outward proof that God is! Their faith rests on the intuitions of their deepest spirit, on the needs of their being and on their reason but of any tangible proof they have none. So we must understand that everything in the Spirit World that is not purely psychic (answering to our physical) is a matter of belief and not of actual proof.

Thus religious belief in the Spirit World springs from much the same sources that it does with us, except that with them it does not depend on what they have been taught or have heard from others; religion is for each, whatever form it may take, the real and sincere outcome of the inner state. The truth with regard to God and Man becomes the faith of most, if not all, sooner or later. But, at first, there is great variety of creed. Some believe that this state—which spirits speak of as a passing and intermediate one—is final. They say—“We always knew that man had a double nature; that the physical was not all; our mistake was in thinking that his higher nature was fully developed on earth. We see that here those higher powers have full play, therefore we are now complete and this state is the final one. Let us, then, devote these powers to humanity and do all we can to help our brethren to make the best of this new and brighter world.

Such people often lead beautiful, self-sacrificing lives in the Spirit World, for they work with the energy of those who believe that the day is short and the night is at hand.

Others, again, whose natures lie somewhat open on the spiritual side but who are still bound in the old grave-clothes of injustice and selfishness believe that to those only who have faith an entrance into the heavenly spheres will be granted.

Some, looking backwards rather than forwards in their views of life and growth believe that they will be reincarnated on the earth from whence they came; such seek rather for their own perfection than for their union with the great stream of life, with each other and with the highest.

To some the worship of nature is sufficient, others seem to find all they need in the concentration of their faculties on their life and work; while others again who come over with their hearts full of faith in a personal God—a special Saviour for a favoured few—often endure great anguish of spirit and cry—“They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him!” But this anguish is the furnace in which all selfish egotism is burned away and so by various paths, they are led to true unity of thought, of life and of essential being.

James was quite right when he defined religion as personal holiness and self-sacrificing love. In spirit life the law of spiritual being is, first, that we should sorrow for failure in past or present; failure to reach our highest ideal whatever that ideal may be and then next that we should seek to live not unto ourselves but for our brethren.

The Law of Change

When the Master was living his earthly life, the spirit world, our world the next, all lay open to him much more fully than to most. 

There was so much in his nature that responded to heavenly influences, and so little to obstruct, that he may be said to have lived in all three at different periods of the same life. 

This “openness” of his is clearly shown in the story of his life, for the power was so abundant that even those around could not help sharing—they heard voices, they saw the heavenly messengers like birds descending; they saw the psychic body shine through the physical. 

The Master then knew enough of Spirit life to promise to his disciples that if they fulfilled certain conditions they should attain certain planes of being. 

If they followed and obeyed—not a person, but those inner principles, which belong to humanity, then they would be fit to lead others. 

So those who govern in the Spirit World are not the great ones of the earth, nor yet those who have been distinguished for great intellectual gifts—they are those men or women who, whatever position they may have filled, have been truest to their own nature, obeying the law within, without that parleying with the inner voice, which leads to self-deception and crooked ways. 

Such govern, and are as fathers to those who need help; while to others who do not need it, there is as much freedom as if they existed alone in the universe.

Spirits begin then generally as children and gradually grow up to independent maturity; they become as fathers; they pass on to other worlds, while others take their vacant places.

Thus, the law of change is still universal—the flowers change from one beauty to another or disappear from their view to reappear in other forms—the earth changes and beautifies under their faithful labour; their friends grow in spirit, and sometimes they too pass away; their work, their thought change and pass from one order to another. 

A simple, natural life is theirs with the sanctified will as the motive power; no machinery, no tools, no storehouse or barns; they are clothed upon as the lilies are; they gather the fruit for their healing straight from the tree of life. 

To those who are out of harmony with this divine order this earth may often seem a wilderness and the pools of living water like dreary wastes of sand—but this is only while their hour of tribulation lasts; only until they yield themselves to the law of their being and become united, one, a whole creation. 

Their joys and sorrows, their trials and triumphs lie closely together, as they do in our world, but the joys are greater and the triumphs more just and unsullied. 

Spirits put their lower nature in its proper place of subjection under their feet and thus ruling it they rise to perfect manhood and share the throne of all perfect humanity, and then they rise by-and-by to greater heights and share the throne of the Divine.

Spirit Communities

Spirits are not isolated units in the Spirit World, with merely individualistic needs and desires—rather they live under different governments, answering somewhat to our different nations. Two characteristics of earthly governments are, however, eliminated—all interference on the part of any and all wilful misconduct. Their methods resemble an ideal patriarchal government. The father in experience and wisdom advises, protects and instructs those who are related to him in pyschic bonds; that is in character and bent of the soul but who are yet young and tender in the new life. All force, all necessity, all tyranny are absent and one is guided or controlled most willingly or not at all. There is no possible place for punishment of any kind; to such as may in any way transgress the divine law there comes a sense of separation, which lasts until the faculties of the soul are readjusted. The old myth of the Tower of Babel is re-enacted, for where there is no harmony of purpose, there comes confusion of language and they do not understand each other's speech; while, on the contrary, when all goes well, all will hear in their own language, whoever the speaker may be.

Just as the eye, the ear and the palate choose and prefer some things to others, so the soul senses draw them to such things and people as can give them pure joy or cause them to grow in the healthiest way possible.

Schools in Spirit Life

One marked feature of Spiritual Life is that system of united work or study, which spirits call the “Schools.” As the spirit author* illustrates—

I speak of myself as belonging to the School of Giotto and there are the Schools of Paul, of Zoroaster, of Howard, etc. At least these names would best represent our idea to you. They come about in this way—when the man begins to look round him and ask himself to what use he had best put his new powers, he begins to think of those things of which he was most ignorant when on earth; he is then drawn by a law of natural attraction to some who are pursuing the same course and he finds among them those who have acquired knowledge that has been handed down from the long past or who are learning by practical life to make such knowledge their own.

Our School, for instance, was in past ages begun by a few who had been drawn to Giotto when he came over. Led and taught by him, they laid up a store of knowledge which should be for others like the stream of health pouring into the veins when one goes from impure to purer air. As there are always some who are studying the beautiful, so there are always students in our university. Of course, I have never seen Giotto, he has long ago passed over but it is the spirit and power of Giotto which, like the prophet’s mantle rests upon this place.

Again, there are some who, for many reasons, do not find a home, a domestic life congenial to them; yet such need not live solitary; that would be in most cases hurtful. In place of a home, they seek the companionship of those who are walking in a similar path and for months or years they live and work together.

I, myself, had given little thought on earth to beauty; had thought its study only an excuse for an idle or inexact order of mind. I had, when I passed over, a great wish to make up for this neglect. Being drawn to these friends, I said—“Teach me what beauty is; let me learn what are its lines and curves; show me how to produce its forms so as to give satisfaction to myself and pleasure to others.” There was much narrowness and self-conceit in this request. I thought “ Now I shall know the true canon of beauty and surely I shall appreciate it so well that I shall be an apt scholar.” One of our leaders impressed on me a look of divine compassion—“We will teach you,” he said, “or rather you shall teach yourself. Go out from this home away yonder in the distance; live there alone and depend on the exertions of your willpower to produce food and shelter for yourself” I went, of course, knowing there was some good reason for his command. I found what seemed a desolate barren spot. I sowed and reaped; removed obstructions; studied nature and then after a long time felt myself incited to return. “Now go,” said my guide, “to yonder city; live there.” I found in the part to which I seemed drawn a home full of suffering and deformity—or at least incompleteness of nature—but love was there and in the midst of their anguish each tried to give a cup of cold water to the other. When I returned again, my friend said—“Beauty is not a matter of angles and curves; it is not an abstract idea. It comes only through the struggle of the lower with the higher or rather it is in the higher and can best be seen when that is breaking through the lower. You brought beauty out of the earth and you saw love bringing beauty out of pain; you have learnt much; now abide here for a time and help others; then you shall go to fresh fields later on.”

Like ourselves, spirits cannot be in two places at the same time. When spirits speak of “going and coming,” their power of passing to and fro is greatly increased, as is also the amount of thought and work which can be compressed into a short space of time.

The spirit author continues her narrative—

My next change was to what I have called the School of Howard, for I felt drawn to take some active share in the work of helping and healing. I was received with expressions of pleasure and one said to me—We are just in need of help from one in your state of advancement. There is a home near here where the life lived seems a beautiful one to some of us and repulsive to others. You know what true beauty is; tell us if the repulsiveness is in the home we speak of or in ourselves.”

Then they made me see, as in a vision, this home; I followed in spirit the lives of its inhabitants and I saw that the ugliness was caused by want of true insight in the observer. Yes; we dare not here endeavour to help another until we are sure that he needs that help; often we find that there is a beam in our own eye, rather than a mote in his. I now began to see more clearly that knowledge was not a thing of the intellect at all and I returned home humbler and wiser. There is no need to go here and there to seek for work, it lies at one’s right hand, ready whenever there is sufficient daylight in our spirit to enable us to work aright. Truly it is often night with us when no man can work.

You will see by what I have said about “Schools” that, though they resemble in a few points your universities, art schools and unions of men for kindred purposes, yet we learn and work in other ways from yours; ways that may seem less direct but are really the truest. We do not separate art from life, beauty from the soul, nor do we separate work from beauty or life from art. The outer and inner correspond and we only know any art really when we have translated it into action.

There are also many communities for other purposes; for cultivating the earth—for though always beautiful because unstained yet it is barren in some directions and needs culture that it may yield delight to the psychic senses. We are not obliged to go to all such centres, for if need be, we can be taught much by others who cause true pictures to arise before our vision so that we can see all the processes and then put them into action. Nor are we confined to those with whom we live for fellowship and intercourse. It is true we have both more fully with them but if need arises I can be made to hear and see what goes on in any sphere and can communicate and be communicated with. Then again, we listen with delight to the talks and ripe experience of some whose nature it is to give out to his fellows; someone who on earth, probably, was a poet or a preacher. He, in speaking to us can see exactly the effect produced upon us by his words and he directs and modifies his speech accordingly—we answer him, as it were, without interrupting him and he need therefore never be out of harmony with his audience.

* I AWOKE! Conditions of Life on the other Side, Author Unknown, David Stott, London, 1895