Mundane Matters in Spirit Life

I am living on the third Sphere or Plane; we call it Summerland and some people Paradise.

Do you want to know how I eat?

Well, my body absorbs all the nourishment it requires from the atmosphere, like the leaves of trees do.

Even the air around the earth contains in different degrees and solutions most of the elements that form our physical bodies there.

I don't actually sleep, but I do sometimes feel tired, and then I lie down and rest, and refresh myself by bathing in the lake.

Nothing can kill the soul, not even man himself though sometimes, if before the final separation of body and soul the illness has been very severe, there has been brain disease or the end has been violent and sudden, the shock to the soul is very great, and it may remain in a state of unconsciousness for many days or weeks, until it is recovered sufficiently to awake in its new conditions. You see, therefore, a suicide, far from escaping trouble, only goes from one form of misery to another; he cannot annihilate himself and pass to nothingness.

How do I get about? 

I walk very often, at other times if necessary I generate sufficient power, which I concentrate by effort of will within my body, to take me anywhere with the speed of thought. Our bodies are so light and so strong, it is easy to jump the highest wall with the slightest effort; the atmosphere does not have the same resisting power to our bodies as it has to yours.

In the spirit world, there is a stronger affinity between the spirit and beautiful things than between any physical connection on the earth plane, perhaps because it is a more perfect expression of God.

There are beautiful birds and exquisite flowers, and many pleasures. I go boating and golfing, but one must not take life in any form, so I no longer fish.

Do you want to know about our houses?

Well, they are built by bricklayers and designed by architects as they would be on earth.

In the spirit world all work is equally honourable, and each man does that for which he is most fitted; if he is best at manual employment, he realises his limitations and has no foolish desire to appear other than he is, as all work is done under beautiful conditions. All are happy and free.

On earth certain forms of labour are looked down upon, because those who perform them are ill paid and live under distressful conditions; here all good work is recognised as valuable.

It is curious on looking at the world to see how many people there have chosen the wrong vocation.

In the spiritual socialism that will be law in my Arcadia on earth someday, both the theoretical and practical men will realise their responsibilities to each other and will live to right wrong. The master will not say, How little? But How much can I afford to pay this man, to make his life agreeable, and not merely bearable? And the man will do his best honourably to give honest and interested service in return as his right and share in the bargain.

I have told you before how certain things are made here, just as they are on earth, largely of gases. You see, vapours and gases from lifeless matter are always rising from the earth. You can smell it in decaying things, such as flowers, wood, leaves, etc. These in disintegrating disperse quite a lot of matter into the air, which is deposited in the different spheres round the earth.

The coarser on the lowest sphere, the finer rising to the higher, a sort of chemical action, or a kind of gravitation (acting in a different way to that on earth) attracts each density of gas to its suitable environment—another example of the great law of the universe which we do not yet understand.

Out of this deposit, concentrated into solids by chemical action, all substances here are made, such as bricks for the houses, material for clothes, etc.

Do you want to know about clothes?

Well, you can wear just what you like here; there are no fashions to follow or appearances to keep up. Though a very mixed array is the consequence it does not seem incongruous, for here you dress to express yourself and not to impress your neighbours.

I dress as I did with you, but some people wear white robes because they think when out of the mortal body it is the correct thing to do. If I chose to wear a tunic and sandals, or a Beefeater's get-up, no one would laugh and jeer; they would realise it made me happy, and that is reason enough.

I quite understand how difficult all I tell you about my life here is for you to realise. I am quite sure in your place I should never believe it, but it's true all the same!

The more one studies science the more possible it seems to become. After all, the difficulty is in believing in things so real, so strong, so substantial, and yet to most people invisible. Yet, when you come to think of it, on earth there are many of the most solid things made of gases and elements, which in their pure state are invisible. A large proportion of our physical bodies, rocks (and some of the earth itself), for instance, are made of oxygen, which is impalpable as well as invisible.

Will you be shocked, if I tell you what I have recently done? 

(It sounds rather like the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's)

I went down to the Astral plane, searched for and made friends with a murderer! He was a man who some years ago paid the extreme penalty for killing his wife.

I did not seek him for curiosity—that would have been unjustifiable—but because I was trying to trace the cause which led to such a tragedy, and to find the kink in the man's character which made the deed to him seem excusable. I found X. a very decent chap, fond of animals and children, a quiet, inoffensive little fellow. He tells me he was driven positively mad by his wife; contempt and loathing ended in hate of her.

She seems to have been an odious woman; he said she was coarse, unfaithful, drank to excess, and nagged without ceasing, until he absolutely became desperate. For about a year after he came over here he had a terrible time, because he was sullen and full of hate and rage; then he began to calm down and to see, however evil his plight had been, he had no right to take her life. As soon as the desire for improvement came, friends were ready to help him, and he is already much happier, and working among those who come over full of misery and bitterness as he himself did.

He never mentioned these unpleasant things about his wife at the trial, as he might have done in order to try and extenuate matters against himself. Poor devil, he was more sinned against than sinning, I think!

Claude (Spirit)

In the spirit world, people choose what is best for their own evolution.

Nice, France, at night—centre of the Ferris wheel near square Masséna, December 2008—Claude Meisch—Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported