A Visit to a Spirit City

Spirit communicator, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, continues his narration —

No one seems to be in a hurry, observed Roger.

That’s because no one is in a hurry.

Oh, of course; that never occurred to me!

Just so.

If there’s any need to hurry, one can be “there” as quick as thought. If there’s no need, there’s no hurry.

We had reached the environs of the city, and we were on ground sufficiently elevated to give the boy a capital introduction to the ‘metropolis’ in one comprehensive view. From where we stood he could see the many stately buildings, each with its surrounding gardens and miniature lakes, radiating, as with the spokes of a wheel, from a grand central building. He remarked that there were no roads as such, but instead were broad thoroughfares paved with superb grass.

Upon the dome of the central building he perceived a brilliant shaft of pure light descending, and inquired what it was.

That domed building, Roger, we told him, is where we meet upon the more formal occasions to welcome the great personages from the higher realms. It is not precisely a temple, though one might call it that for want of a better name. Nor is it specifically a place of worship, as it would be regarded on earth. We hold no services there. When we forgather there to meet these great visitants, the whole assembly is never very long. Their visits are brief as a rule, though naturally we are seated comfortably a little while before they arrive, and remain a little while after their departure. But brief as the whole proceedings are, all that is necessary is accomplished within that short space. No time is wasted upon “non-essentials” or upon useless formularies! The bright beam you see descending upon the dome is permanently there.

It must be an immensely strong light to be able to see it in this broad daylight.

It is a strong light, have no doubt about it, and considering the source whence it comes, that’s not surprising. It comes from the greatest Source of all, my Roger. Yet the light itself is not blinding, is it?

When we first talked to you about a city, you hardly expected anything like this, did you, Roger?asked Ruth, though that’s rather a silly question, she added, because you didn’t expect anything in particular—like so many people.

I don’t know what I really expected. I suppose I had something in mind comparable with an earth city.

The secret is that we are much simpler here than the earth can ever be—unless the earth radically alters its general mode of life. Bethink you, Roger, of the myriads of things we don’t need here. In an idle moment you could compile such a list of commodities that are not required for life in the spirit world as would reach the dimensions of a stores’ catalogue!

Think, now. Start with the domestic arrangements of a house. Food, for instance. We don’t need food, so that means the elimination of a huge industry comprising all the various departments of eating and drinking, and all the vessels and utensils for manufacturing it, cooking it, and serving it.

Our clothes are provided for us by the operation of a natural law—another vast industry dispensed with.

The transport system you have already seen here!

Conspicuous by its absence.

Very much so.

Then think of all the trades and professions that have no counterpart or equivalent in these lands.

Undertakers, for instance, suggested Roger with a laugh.

Or politicians, added Ruth.

Don’t forget priests and parsons—even bishops, I said. Perhaps it would be as well not to be too specific. The undertakers are more pleasantly employed here, and the politicians more usefully!

As you can see, Roger, of shops there are none, Ruth pointed out, because there is no commerce of any kind.

Then what do you do when you want something?

Such as——?

Well—— He reflected a moment. I don’t seem able to think of anything, he finished, with more surprise to himself than to Ruth and me. We laughed.

That’s rather odd, isn’t it Roger? You don’t seem to want anything. Those clothes you are wearing are the clothes you arrived with here. By the way, whenever you feel you would like to change to your spirit clothes proper, you can do so at once. As you are attired now, everyone knows you for a new arrival. If you wish to appear as a “seasoned resident,” the same as Ruth and I, you’ll have to put off the old and put on the new. So there, at least, is something you would want— spirit clothes to make the change.

If there are no shops or tailors, what’s to be done?

Nothing, or at least very little. You would like to discard the old style of attire, Roger?

I should very much.

Then do so, my dear boy.

Yes, but how?

I’m afraid we can’t tell you how it happens, but look at yourself, Roger. Your eyes have been on the 

view before you. Now glance a little nearer.

The boy did so, and was astonished to discover that his old earthly habiliments had given place to bright spirit clothing, full and free, and in absolute keeping with the surroundings. Ruth and I did the same, and for the first time Roger saw us in spirit attire.

Now you can see, Roger, how we should have appeared in your bedroom had we not returned to our former earth clothing. It might have frightened you.

I’m sure of it, he said. He raised a fold of his garments, and examined it closely, and remarked that it did not seem to have been made by human hands.

No, Roger; no hands were employed upon the creating of these garments, but Ruth and I must tell you, honestly, that we do not know what natural process comes into operation in their making. There are many things we must know first, and so we take things as we find them. Did you, when you were on earth, try to analyse every mortal thing that came your way in life, and try to discover how it was made, and a hundred other reasons or causes for its existence? I’m sure you did not; neither did Ruth nor I. There’s no reason why we should carry out minute investigations here into the existence of the many things that are part of our very life. It’s problematical if we should be any the better for knowing.

Our spirit garments are in a class by themselves, though. Do you see that large building a little to the right of us? That’s called the hall of fabrics. In there you can inspect thousands of the most wonderful materials and cloths, some of them representing the fabrics that were upon earth—all parts of the earth—during the course of hundreds of years. Others are types of material peculiar to the spirit world alone, both in design and in texture.

You saw the tapestries hanging on the walls of our home. They were made by Ruth herself in the hall of fabrics. When we were first shown over that hall, Ruth saw numbers of happy folk weaving tapestries, and was immediately taken with the same idea. Since then she has become expert in the art, as you saw at home.

It was nothing, said Ruth; you could do the same, Roger, if you had a mind that way. That’s one of the principal functions of these places, to teach you to do all manner of things expertly.

The hall of fabrics cannot supply you with spirit clothing, Roger, I said.

It makes me feel terribly ignorant to see all these halls stuffed with knowledge.

Then don’t let it, my dear boy. After all, one can experience much the same emotion standing in the presence of a couple of dozen volumes of an encyclopedia, if it comes to that. We are not born with a vast deal of knowledge all ready to hand, as it were. Ruth and I felt the same way about it when we were shown all these wonders of knowledge; and so does everyone else. We’re all in the same boat, Roger, so we can all be nicely ignorant together!

I must say the people don’t seem upset about it.

These halls of learning are mostly devoted to what on earth are called the arts, I explained; by which I mean painting, music, literature, and so on. Great stress is laid upon those. There are, of course, many others. On earth the arts are regarded more as adjuncts to life than necessities. They could be dispensed with, though the earth would then be more drab than it is already. Here they are vital and are given a wide field. To begin with, without all those industries that we tried to enumerate just now, there is a corresponding freedom for other and far pleasanter occupations.

There’s one thing, Roger, that you won’t see here among the arts, and that is musical monstrosities or art abominations masquerading as masterpieces. They have not been thrown out—they were never admitted, and never will be. No shams here, my Roger. “Abandon all pretence ye who enter.”

What does a person have to do to get taken on in one of these halls, Monsignor?

Why, walk through the front entrance, and you’ll be left in no doubt. You’ll be welcomed with the greatest warmth, and set upon the path of studying whatever it is that has taken your fancy. That’s how Ruth began, almost, with her tapestry weaving. She asked could she join the others and be taught the art, and forthwith, without any formalities whatever, she did so.

And was never so happy in my life, put in Ruth. Charming people, patient and kind, especially if you are “all fingers and thumbs,” as I was when I began. Monsignor has spent an enormous amount of time browsing among the books in the principal library. That’s a terrible place once you are interested in it. There are millions of books there upon every subject under the sun. Have you ever tried to look up something in an encyclopedia, Roger, especially one that has good illustrations?

Yes, rather; a hopeless business, there’s so much dallying on the way.

Then you can imagine what it’s like there in the library. If Monsignor were ever reported missing in these regions, that is the first place where a search party would call.

Let us go closer and inspect some of these buildings, I suggested.

Are we allowed to go in as we like?

Exactly as we like, Roger. No permits required, no opening and closing times, as they are open all day—and that’s not difficult as we have no night!

Are the same people on duty all the time, then?

Oh, dear, no; that would sound like eternal work instead of “eternal rest.” You could say truthfully that the work is eternal, but the same people are not employed upon it in an eternal succession without personal remission. We have no division of night and day, but the work is carefully divided among the staffs so that they can have their periods of change and recreation, and everybody is perfectly satisfied.

Roger remarked that the buildings were of no very great height as judged by the usual earthly standards.

Well, no; two stories of moderate height are sufficient here, as there are no problems of space limitations. We don’t have to build upwards; we have unlimited room to spread ourselves, and the result, you must confess, is excellent.

Roger expressed his unbounded delight with the beauty and charm of the whole creation with its broad thoroughfares of superb grass, the many flower beds and trees, the pools of crystal clear water that provided an exquisite setting for the many fine edifices that comprised the city itself.

Doesn’t it strike you as odd, Roger, that all this beauty, this superlative beauty, should be rather sneered at by so many of the uninstructed on earth? Doesn’t the earth recede into something like dingy insignificance beside all this splendour? Yet earth folk, a great many of them, regard their world as the world, by which all is judged, assessed, or appraised. The smoky, dirty cities and towns of the earth are made the criterion, and this lovely city is treated by them with something that seems remarkably like contempt, if not ridicule.

Ruth and I between us pointed out the purposes to which the various halls were devoted, and at length Roger expressed his desire to investigate the interior of the hall of engineering, which also included chemical research. We passed in, and were greeted by the man who is ‘in charge’ of the myriad activities that are in constant performance.

Why, Monsignor, said he, and Ruth, too. This is a pleasure; we’ve not seen you for a long time. What can I do for you?

I explained our errand, and presented Roger to him.

Of course you’ve come to the right place, my dear friend.

We smiled at this little pleasantry, as it has become almost a tradition that the man in charge of each of these great halls will, in similar circumstances, say precisely the same thing— a justifiable pride!

Perhaps of all the halls of learning, this, of engineering and chemistry, concerns the earth most closely, since it is here that so many of the earthly engineering and chemical discoveries have their origin. Many new substances are invented in the spirit world that are subsequently transmitted to people on earth for the benefit of all.

As we passed from room to room we could see chemists and their assistants experimenting with a variety of substances which in time will, when combined, form an entirely new product exactly fitted for its purpose.

We were shown how, by synthesis, exact replicas of earthly materials were compounded, since it would be of no use whatever to invent a new substance of purely spirit materials which would not—could not—have any application to earthly uses. The scientist on earth must use earthly materials, and the spirit world scientist must therefore work in a precise counterpart.

It so often happens, our guide told us, that a mere hint to an earthly scientist is enough to set him upon the track of a dozen or more other discoveries. All that the scientists here are concerned with is the initial discovery, and in most cases the rest will follow.

Here also were new substances to be used as building materials for houses or large edifices, and for many other types of building construction. New compounds were in process of being made that would eventually be converted into fabrics of all kinds, light and heavy, for personal clothing, for example, or for upholsteries in houses and homes.

In the mechanical sections old principles were being applied in new directions, to result in better and safer and more commodious means of transport, with greater comfort.

Many inventions we saw, of all kinds, from some simple device for use in the home, to the large machine to be used in one industrial process or another.

Life on earth has become far too complex, and people are spending far too much time in purely material pursuits, usually to the exclusion of the spiritual. Life on earth, therefore, must in the end become simpler, and in doing so will become more enjoyable. The spirit world has much to send to the earth to achieve this end. But the earth world has first to put itself in good order. What is of major importance, the people of earth must learn to banish war from off its face, must learn not to turn to evil purposes that which was transmitted to it for peaceful purposes. In the latter lies disaster; in the former lies happiness.

It is for man himself to choose.