Spirit Communion

Spirit communion is practiced in the Spirit World just the same as with us, only Spirits obtain higher and more perfect manifestations.

The will power of the spirit

The will power of the spirit is the motive power with them. It is not mechanical at all, so that if a spirit were in the same house as his earthly relations and he found it inconvenient to be constantly in their way, he would naturally wish that the room were removed or the inconvenience remedied in some other way and in proportion as he exercised his will power and to the strength of will he brought to bear on it would accomplish this object and effect the alteration required in a more or less intelligent manner. In short, will power is to the spirit what mechanical force is with us and is the force by which spiritual matter is displaced. 

Spiritual Occupation

Since occupation is a necessity for all men, it is not to be wondered at that when a man has nothing to do on his arrival in the spirit world, he gets into mischief just as is the case with us on earth. He must do something and so he amuses himself and, perhaps, if he has been a criminal, he revenges on society the injury he conceives that society did him in his earth life. Accordingly, he gets associated with a band of kindred minds who spend their time in indulging in their favourite vices, whether in the company of spirits in the flesh or spirits disembodied like themselves. They prefer, however, the society of the former because their conversation is more interesting. These are not burdened with the recollection of ill-spent lives but think and talk of the present and this is an interesting subject for those out of the flesh as well as for us. We must not suppose that spirits take no interest in what goes on in our world. They are just as much interested in the events of the day as we are. They read our newspapers, attend our meetings (those who are intellectually advanced enough to take an interest in such things. Those who are not above the enjoyment of their passions will not care to go any more than they would on earth), frequent our places of amusement and, in fact, take part in everything but money-making on their own account, though many do even that if they are desirous of helping a friend in the flesh whom they have wronged during their earth lives. Society in the spirit world is very like ours, excepting that the best men and women and all the children are weeded out.

Do good in some form

Do good in some form.

How do we attract our spirit friends?

How do we attract our spirit friends? Departed spirits live in the spheres above the earth sphere and do not come down to us excepting as visitors. As a man lives, so is he known to the inhabitants of the Spirit World. They see our real character and not the outward mask that is presented to the gaze of the world. They can all see our true disposition at a glance and in their visits to the earth they are attracted to kindred minds by a law of nature which is universal in both worlds and causes like to attract like, so that someone of intelligence and refinement will attract those of the same class, whilst a stupid man will draw round him minds of his own calibre. This is not because they love him but because they seek sympathy and it is necessary for them to have it—being the food they live on. This law determines the nature of our spirit friends. If they come from the higher spheres, they are attracted to us from ties of love or a desire to do us good or benefit others through us. If they belong to the earth plane, they are drawn to him because his life is of more interest and excitement to them than the life of the disembodied spirits who remain on the earth plane.

We lead two lives at the same time

We are awake in the spirit world nearly as long as we are awake in our world and when we are asleep on the earth side, we are awake on the spirit side of our life; the only difference between the two states being that the spirit body does not sleep while the natural body is awake but walks about intersphered with the natural body. Thus, we lead two lives at the same time and may make a name and a reputation in both worlds at once or in one only. Many a poor man is a power in the spirit world and will have a name awaiting him when he enters spirit life which kings might envy. 

You may wonder how we can be responsible, when we sleep, for what our spirit may say and do in the Spirit World but we must remember that the Spirit is the real Self and it is not what the body does that will affect our future life but what the Spirit controlling that body may do through the body, which is its instrument for communicating with and operating in our world. It is true, we are only conscious (so far as the body is concerned) of one-half of our life. The other half is hidden from us in order that we may be less influenced by the surroundings in the Spirit World and be able to take in our experience in each world separately, so far as consciousness permits. If we could see both worlds at once, it would cause some confusion in our mind and render us less practical and useful in our sphere on earth. We could not take due care of the body and build up the spirit if we were subject to such confusion as would arise from our inability to tell which was material and which was spiritual. The food on our table, for example, might be spiritual and we might have to starve for want of means to buy the material food.

Inner States of the Mind

The state of the spirit body when the person dies intoxicated is more or less in a state of coma and this condition induces a species of delirium which lasts for some time and causes the spirit to imagine himself in a strange country, though really not in any other place than that where he died. Thus, we have read of spirits fancying themselves on the borders of swampy lakes, in gloom and darkness, when all the while the spirit body may be really only in its own room where the death took place. These unfortunate creatures picture to themselves scenes that have no objective reality but are merely the working of a diseased imagination. There are, of course, swamps and morasses in the spirit world and caverns and gloomy places of all kinds but they are not necessarily the physical surroundings of those who seem to dwell in them and describe their supposed condition through clairvoyants and others. These are merely the inner states of the minds of these unfortunate beings. 

Like attracts like

Although an old man rises up a young one in the spirit world, it does not follow that he is more attractive on that account to others. In their eyes, he may look a very repulsive creature notwithstanding his youth. On the other hand, although his thoughts are his clothes, they do not alter the appearance of his body in his eyes and those on his own level. To the latter, he appears  precisely the same as he was on earth when in his prime. He sees no difference and since all men fail to see themselves as others see them, so it is also with the inhabitants of the Spirit World. As every person shows by his looks how they are regarded by others, the consequence is that the spirit who possesses undesirable characteristics soon feels that he is not liked. Hence, the man who is not liked flees from those who dislike him because their company makes him unhappy and he, therefore, seeks the companionship of those who do not see him in the same light, that is, of those who are on his own level, for in the eyes of such people his evil qualities are not so patent.

Spiritual Sight

Each spirit sees other spirits according as their thoughts are and if these are foul, the thinker appears foul in his body, that is, the garments of the thinker appear unclean if his ideas are so. Again, if he is miserly, that is, having thoughts engrossed with material instead of spiritual things, he appears as a man who is poverty-stricken in regard to spiritual advantages simply because he has never laid up treasures in heaven. Hence, a man whose thoughts have always been of the earth earthy is a pauper in the Spirit World because possessions are of no avail to the spirit. He may have been clothed in purple and fine linen when he died but he will rise up in the eyes of the Spirit World a miserable creature, clothed in rags.

Spirit Matter

There is a spiritual counterpart of the human body (as our Bible tells us of this) and of every form of matter.