It is probable, from what we know of the material laws which govern
such matters, that a ghost could never manifest itself if it were
alone, that the substance for the manifestation is drawn from the
spectator, and that the coldness, raising of hair, and other symptoms
of which he complains are caused largely by the sudden drain upon his
own vitality. This, however, is to wander into speculation, and far
from that correlation of psychic knowledge with religion, which has
been the aim of these chapters.
By one of those strange coincidences, which seem to me sometimes to be
more than coincidences, I had reached this point in my explanation of
the difficult question of the intermediate state, and was myself
desiring further enlightenment, when an old book reached me through the
post, sent by someone whom I have never met, and in it is the following
passage, written by an automatic writer, and in existence since 1880.
It makes the matter plain, endorsing what has been said and adding new
points.
"Some cannot advance further than the borderland--such as never thought
of spirit life and have lived entirely for the earth, its cares and
pleasures--even clever men and women, who have lived simply
intellectual lives without spirituality. There are many who have
misused their opportunities, and are now longing for the time misspent
and wishing to recall the earth-life. They will learn that on this
side the time can be redeemed, though at much cost. The borderland has
many among the restless money-getters of earth, who still haunt the
places where they had their hopes and joys. These are often the
longest to remain . . . many are not unhappy. They feel the relief to
be sufficient to be without their earth bodies. All pass through the
borderland, but some hardly perceive it. It is so immediate, and there
is no resting there for them. They pass on at once to the refreshment
place of which we tell you." The anonymous author, after recording
this spirit message, mentions the interesting fact that there is a
Christian inscription in the Catacombs which runs: NICEFORUS ANIMA
DULCIS IN REFRIGERIO, "Nicephorus, a sweet soul in the refreshment
place." One more scrap of evidence that the early Christian scheme of
things was very like that of the modern psychic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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