Letters from a living dead manHatch, David Patterson (Spirit)
Religion
Letters from a living dead man
Hatch, David Patterson (Spirit)
Spirit writings; Spiritualism
Do you start at the term “natural objects” as applied to the things of
this world? You did not fancy, did you, that we had escaped Nature? No
one escapes Nature--not even God. Nature _is_.
Imagine that you had spent sixty or seventy years in a heavy earthly
body, a body which insisted on growing fat, and would get stiff-jointed
and rheumatic, even going on strike occasionally to the extent of
laying you up in bed for repairs of a more or less clumsy sort. Then
fancy yourself suddenly exchanging this heavy body for a light and
elastic form. Can you imagine it? I confess that it would have been
difficult for me, even a year or two ago.
Clothed in this form, which is sufficiently radiant to light its own
place when its light is not put out by the cruder light of the sun,
fancy yourself moving from place to place, from person to person, from
idea to idea. As time goes on even the habit of demanding nourishment
gradually wears off. We are no longer bothered by hunger and thirst;
though I, for instance, still stay myself occasionally with a little
nourishment, an infinitesimal amount compared with the beefsteak
dinners which I used to eat.
And we are no longer harassed by the thousand-and-one petty duties of
the earth. Out here we have more confidence in moods. Engagements are
seldom made--that is, binding engagements. As a rule, though there
are exceptions, desire is mutual. I want to see and commune with a
friend at the same time when he feels a desire for my society, and we
naturally drift together. The companionships here are very beautiful;
but the solitudes are also full of charm.
Since the first two or three months I have not been lonesome. At first
I felt like a fish out of water, of course. Nearly everyone does;
though there are exceptions in the case of very spiritual people who
have no earthly ties or ambitions. I had so fought the idea of “dying,”
that my new state seemed at first to be the proof of my failure, and
I used to wander about under the impression that I was going to waste
much valuable time which could have been used to better advantage in
the storm and stress of earthly living.
Of course the Teacher came to me; but he was too wise to carry me on
his back even from the first. He reminded me of a few principles, which
he left me to apply; and gradually, as I got hold of the applications,
I got hold of myself. Then also gradually the beauty and wonder of the
new condition began to dawn on me, and I saw that instead of wasting
time I was really gaining tremendous experience which could be utilised
later.
I have talked with many people here, people of all stages of
intellectual and moral growth, and I am sorry to say that the person
who has a clear idea of the significance of life and its possibilities
for development is about as rare here as on the earth. As I have said
before, a man does not suddenly become all-wise by changing the texture
of his body.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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