The Thought Body

A Series of Letters from the Spirit of a Well-known Lady — 

Letter Number Twelve

In my last letter I wrote of the sublimated material spiritual body, of the thought body, of the astral body, and the ego or soul; and fearing that I may be misunderstood, let me here say that on earth a man has a body of bones, a body of flesh, a body of nerves, a body of veins and arteries, and a body of skin, or the epidermis, and these various bodies go to make up his material form; but within that material form is a sensational or spiritual body, a thought body, an astral body, and the ego, or soul, yet all these are apparently within one body, for only one form is visible to the sight. So in spirit life, there is but one form apparent, yet this form is composed of spiritualised material substance—or like the epidermis—a fine spirit body, a thought body, and an astral body, together with the soul.

Therefore one can see that as Lady — and I grew wiser in spiritual knowledge we began to take on the more dense, sublimated material, spiritual body; consequently, each time we visited the spheres, it became more and more difficult for us to return to earth in our sublimated material forms, and at last we left the house in Russia altogether, for the spirit realm was so entrancingly beautiful, its homes so exquisite and refined, that earth and its scenes became more and more distasteful to us, almost disgustingly coarse, and really much of it quite so, and at last if we returned at all it must be in our attenuated spirit bodies, leaving our more dense bodies at rest in the spiritual realm. Besides, it now must be for a purpose, or some strong magnetic attraction must draw us, such as a powerful love of some kind, or that we have some especial mission or duty to perform, or we could join a band of spirits or angels for the same purpose, in that way becoming stronger and more powerful for the performance of good works. Our sensitive says we flit back and forth like birds. But when we are engaged in writing a message we remain for an hour or more as the occasion requires.

Now I am here at this moment because I have a mission and duty to perform for those who are still in the material body, being one of the spirits or angels commissioned to give truth to the world below our own.

There is one idea that is at present being given forth to the world as a great scientific fact, while in reality it is scientific nonsense; and that is, that the minutest atom of matter is possessed of a certain amount of intelligent spirit.

0, what balderdash! Matter is matter, and spirit is spirit, and soul is soul. Spirit and soul clothe themselves with matter, and only the spirit and soul are intelligent. Matter possesses no intelligence of any kind, and speaking closer to the point, nothing possesses intelligence but the soul. The spirit is simply the soul's vehicle and matter its clothing. Does clothing or a dress possess intelligence? Bah! Can learned nonsense go farther into ridiculousness? One would think that there existed no air, no ether, nothing but matter—matter! and that all life first existed within matter, and spirit, intelligence, and soul was evolved from matter, whereas it is exactly the contrary.

Life—intelligence—soul—exists first within the air—the ether. It picks up matter as a rag to cover it, that it may dwell within materiality for a season until it is grown or developed. And this applies to the smallest thing that has life. It is life itself, and it is surprising that Spiritualists, of all others, should accept such nonsense. When the air and earth, or matter, kiss each other, then there is a marriage, and then life and intelligence enter earth, or matter, and only then. Take away the germs of life that exist within the air or the ether and matter would remain forever sterile. Take some earth, for instance, destroy all the germs that it might possibly contain—but here I wish to add, they are not destroyed, merely driven out or back into the ether—then seal up this matter so that not a particle of air or ether can touch it, and it would remain forever without life or intelligence.

Spiritualists, I, Madam, caution you – Do not drift into such materialistic nonsense. Return, my beloved, into true spiritual Spiritualism. It would be far better and even nearer the truth, if you were to believe as you formerly did, that God in person breathed the breath of life into man. But Professor Petersilea has already informed you—as I read in the mind of the medium—that all spiritual, or soul germs, are inhaled, or enter matter through the breathing process; or by the flower attracting and holding the germs of its own kind or species, which afterward bear seed, and seed is merely a living germ embedded deeply in matter, and the germs are all and wholly within the air or ether; it is simply the process by which germ life and matter meet and blend, or the spiritual intelligence buries or clothes itself, and in my last letter I told you of the emanations arising from the earth, which is merely the developed life and intelligence arising again into the air or ether. It really seems to me now, that such a great truth cannot but strike home to every reasoning mind. Besides, no earth whatever has life upon it of any kind that has not an atmosphere. You say the moon has no life upon it because it has no atmosphere; and you are right. Life does not reside within the bulk of its matter, or material substance, but if it had an atmosphere life would soon find lodgment there; be sure of that.

Now, someone says – But it is surrounded by ether. Very true; but ether must convey life to matter through the atmospheric principle, through that principle by which life must be sustained and exist within matter. Even in the spiritual realm we have a refined and rare atmosphere entirely distinct from ether.

If you, as Spiritualists, drift back into materiality our fifty years of labour will be lost to you. Science never yet gave you the great truths of Spiritualism. Science might delve a thousand years—aye, even more—and not be any nearer the truth. Fact is, it is just as likely to burrow downward—even more likely—than to rise upward into the heavens of spirituality. It is like a blind mole digging away at matter without a ray of light to illumine its pathway, with the mind forever looking downward instead of upward, and it is folly to say that life commences and originates within a cell of matter, and the two cells meeting, and so forth. It does not. I, Madam , a spirit, tell you so and I tell you the truth, whether you accept it or not.

Sperm is formed in the blood, or takes on its first material clothing in the blood, and the invisible spermatozoas or germs are in the air and ether, and are taken in with the breath, clothed with matter in the blood, are then injected into an egg or ovum, which is simply food and clothing for it to develop in. Now when science begins here it will come out all right and very little burrowing will have to be done, for it will be working in the light of a great spiritual truth, and a truth that science never did nor never will give you without this light. They tell you that fish can be produced without milt, by certain chemicals, but they cannot keep fish alive, or the eggs of fish, without water; and as milt is invisible in the water, or we may call it spermatozoa, can any one say that it may not be in the water instead of in the chemicals? Whatever they may try to prove to the contrary, old Mother Nature will work her mill—the mill of life—just as she does at present, ten thousand years from now, the great new discovery of creating life to the contrary.

Most people are afraid to write against a great, scientific discovery, as they term it, but I, a spirit, am not afraid to write against it, for it is not true, and it is one of my duties as a spirit messenger to write against that which is not true and to write that which I know to be true.

Then one hears so much about differentiation, whatever that may mean, but the way it is put it is perfectly meaningless. A million or more, or many millions of entirely different forms of life all being produced from the word differentiation. Can unmeaningness go any farther? Or two cells starting exactly alike differentiating into a number of millions of different forms. 0, consistency, what a jewel thou art! But here is the truth; accept it or not, as you please.

The germs of all things that exist in nature, exist in the atmosphere, each distinct as to its kind and species, and they have existed from all eternity and were different, from the beginning. Yet we as spirits cannot conceive of a beginning. Germinal life is co-existent with spirit and matter. 

Yours truly, MADAM