Читать книгу Thirty Years Among - Dead Carl Wickland - Страница 14

The controlling spirit came in while we were singing “That Beautiful Shore” and laughed uproariously.

Doctor Have you found the “Beautiful Shore”? Tell us what you know about it.

Spirit It's all humbug.

Dr. Is that so?

Sp. Yes. (Laughing hilariously.) It's silly to believe in such a thing.

Dr. You are on the other side of life; tell us something about it. Have you found nothing? If you do not believe in a hereafter, tell us why. Explain yourself. If you are a skeptic, tell us your belief.

Sp. Belief? Gosh! (Laughing.)

Dr. Tell us what you are laughing about.

Sp. You might just as well laugh as cry; one is just the same as the other. You were singing “That Beautiful Shore,” and while you are singing that, you know you are lying. Dr. Do you imply that life does not mean anything at all?

Sp. It most certainly does not. There is nothing in it. It is just a lie. The whole thing is nothing but a pack of lies - both life and religion - the whole humbug, life, religion and everything connected with it.

Dr. Have you tried to understand your own life - the mystery of it?

Sp. My own life? Humbug, nothing but humbug! (Laughing.)

Dr. How do you know it is humbug? You are laughing at your own ignorance.

Sp. I might just as well laugh as cry, one is no worse or better than the other. It is all lies - damned lies. I had my troubles.

Dr. Where? Over there, or here?

Sp. Everywhere! (Laughing.)

Dr. Are you happy?

Sp. Happy? Such nonsense. There is no such thing, there never was, and there never will be.

Dr. Do you really know anything about it? Did you seek for truth when you had your own body?

Sp. I prayed to God and all that nonsense. Gosh!

Dr. And you found it all a humbug. What has that to do with the actual facts of life?

Sp. Once I tried to be some one. Then the thought came to me that everything was humbug, humbug, nothing but humbug. As a man, you know what I mean. You are talking to a man and you know all about it.

Dr. You are invisible to us. Have you ever seen intelligence?

Sp. What kind of talk is that? I don't believe in nonsense any more. You can have faith, and believe that you can walk on water, but you fall through, just the same. I said, “I have faith that I can walk on water,” but I fell through.

Dr. Because you left reason out.

Sp. Reason? You can't walk on water with reason.

Dr. It was not intended that we should walk on water. Water is for drinking and bathing.

Sp. Why are you holding my hands?

Dr. I am holding my wife's hands.

Sp. You don't know what you are talking about. Do you believe that?

Dr. I know that I am holding my wife's hands.

Sp. I used to have faith like that.

Dr. How did you happen to lose faith?

Sp. It is all humbug.

Dr. Life is the beginning of knowledge.

Sp. I haven't had any knowledge yet.

Dr. You will have before you leave here.

Sp. I had faith, and I believed, and then what?

Dr. What next?

Sp. Yes - what next? I worked like a slave for a “minister of God.” I do not work for him now; that was some time ago. I went away from there. He cursed me, and I had my cares and troubles. I swore to God that there is no such thing as God if he could be so mean as to call such a man his “minister.” And I lost faith.

Dr. What has that to do with the facts of life and the hereafter?

Sp. When you die you are dead.

Dr. Then why didn't you stay dead when you died?

Sp. Stay dead? I haven't died yet.

Dr. You “died” as far as your body is concerned.

Sp. I have been running away from those hypocrites. In the first place, they took all the money I made. If there is a God, then, for God's sake, why does he always want money? They always say you must have faith; have faith and pay your money to the church, and you should work for God. My work was hard. I worked from six o'clock every morning until late every night - all for God. I worked for God, and often I did not get enough so that I could get along.

Dr. Tell us where you came from.

Sp. All I want is my freedom.

Dr. Won't you tell us where you came from?

Sp. Look at all those devils down there? (Invisibles.) Hear how they curse and laugh. They say: “I know you! I know you!” Look at that one sitting over there. Look at them all. Hear them laugh. They say I should tell you that they want you to pray for them, for they are in darkness.

Dr. We want to help them to a better understanding.

Sp. Oh, listen to them cursing!

Dr. You must show them charity. You do not seem to know what charity is.

Sp. God! Look at that man! They say when you give charity they don't like it.

Dr. I do not mean money. Give them a chance to help themselves. Do you know what year it is now?

Sp. I don't care. I don't care if it is a hundred years from now. I've lost faith in God, humanity and everything and everybody. I used to have faith. Then a “servant of God” took my wife and children away from me, and yet I worked for God from six in the morning to twelve at night.

Dr. But you did not add understanding to your faith.

Sp. I had faith in the Holy Ghost and the Spirit.

Dr. Why did you not add understanding to your faith?

Sp. I had faith enough to move mountains. We were taught to just have faith in the Holy Spirit. Just look at them all, (spirits) sitting there. Look at that one! Here you, Calango! He and I have fights, once in a while, but I always get the best of him. I can talk better now than I have done for a long time. Here, you, Calango, sitting there like a fool! They told me to go in there, so I came in. I think you were afraid of me at first, but I came in just the same.

Dr. How did you come in?

Sp. In here? How did I come in? I don't know.

Dr. Where did you get that hand? (Touching Mrs. Wickland's hand.)

Sp. That hand? I suppose it is mine. It doesn't belong to any body else. Here Calango, you sit here. Now I can talk to you fellows.

Dr. Now stop talking.

Sp. Do you think you are the boss here?

Dr. Yes.

Sp. I have no faith in you, nor any one else.

Dr. I want you to understand that you have lost your physical body. You are controlling my wife's body, yet you are invisible to us. You talk about those men sitting there, - we cannot see them. We are in mortal bodies, but you have lost your physical body.

Sp. Can't you see me?

Dr. We cannot see spirits. You are controlling my wife's body. Intelligent spirits have brought you here.

Sp. You asked me to come. All those in darkness came in too. You invited us.

(During a concentration for all earthbound spirits.)

Dr. I said you should listen to intelligent spirits around you who would help you. You are all in darkness.

Sp. Yes, but you invited us in and here we are. I want to tell you, if you don't want us, I won't talk.

Dr. You were invited by intelligent spirits to come here and allowed to control my wife's body, so that we could help you understand that you no longer have a mortal body. The church has not the right understanding of God. You found humbug in the church, so you think everything is humbug. You lost your body probably a long time ago. My wife is a psychic sensitive and you are temporarily controlling her body. Look about; perhaps you can see some one you know.

Sp. I can see Calango.

Dr. You must realize that life means something.

Sp. I have had faith, and enough of it too. I sacrificed my money and my wife, and you see where I am.

Dr. What has that to do with the facts of life? Did you ever study the wonders of Nature?

Sp. I do not believe in God, there is no such thing.

Dr. God has nothing to do with humbug. Did you understand the Bible at all? The Bible says: “God is Love.” Humbuggery has nothing to do with universal life. We want to help you understand better things.

Sp. No one ever helps me.

Dr. Do you know you are in Los Angeles, California?

Sp. No.

Dr. Try to understand what the real life means; it means something you do not know of. Did you ever make a flower? Can you make grass grow, or suspend life? Did you ever study vegetation?

Sp. That's God's Nature.

Dr. Can ignorance produce intelligence? Did you ever study the marvelous things of God? Break an egg, and you do not find life in it. Take another egg, keep it warm for twenty-one days and a chicken comes out of it.

Sp. That's natural.

Dr. What produces the chicken? We must add knowledge to our faith. The Bible says:

“God is spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” You do not find that in the churches. They only have blind faith.

Sp. I sure had faith.

Dr. The Bible says: “Know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Although the Bible is not a “Holy Book” it contains some wonderful truths.

Sp. I don't believe it. (Laughing.)

Dr. You're laughing at your own ignorance. My wife allows ignorant spirits to control her body so that we can bring them to an understanding of their condition. She wants you to know that life exists on the other side. We do not know where you came from, but we allow you to control my wife's body. Where was your home?

Sp. My home? That was in Canada, near Montreal.

Dr. I was there in 1881. Are you a French-Canadian?

Sp. My great grandfather was.

Dr. Do you remember your name?

Sp. I can't remember things.

Dr. Now we want you to understand things.

Sp. I was a slave.

Dr. That is all in the past.

Sp. I only see the past and it makes me crazy. Instead of crying as many do, I thought I would laugh at everything. Whenever I got so mad I did not know what to do with myself, I started to laugh. I guess I felt a little better for laughing instead of crying.

I had my heart sorrows; they took my wife, my home went, my children went. My wife was a very pretty girl. One day I came home from my work, and I had worked very hard. My wife and children were gone.

But after a while that “minister of God” did not want my wife any more; then she commenced to go back on him, but by that time I had gone down. I said, no church for mine; that if one of “God's ministers” can break up my home and take my wife and children, then there is no God. I went clear down to hell for that fellow. I went down and down, but even down there in the gutter you find friendship and love for each other. If you are down, they, too, are down with you. All the other people look down on you, but, believe me, these others are true friends. They will help you and divide whatever they have with you. No matter how down you are, if you haven't a cent, you will find they will help you.

One day - I will never forget what I saw, never forget! God! - if there is a God - why in the name of the devil does he allow such things? One day I met my wife. Where was she? She had gone down to the gutter. I found her in one of those fine houses you hear about, where that filthy devil had put her when he was through with her. I looked at her, and she looked at me.

“You here!” I said.

And she said: “You here!”

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“What are you here for?” she asked.

I said: “I came here, probably of my own free will.”

She said she had been put there by that glorious “minister of God” to hide his own shame. To hide his own dirty work and not have people ask her questions, he put her in a fast house and let her stay there and she did not care for anything. We were both down, all because of that devil.

I have never gone to church since. I cursed that man and all religious cranks. My wife wouldn't have anything to do with me, and I wouldn't have her. She was lying there, full of disease. There is not an animal living that goes so low as a woman when she goes to the dogs. Can any one believe in a God that would let a woman like my wife suffer as she did through no fault of her own? Why should such things exist?

Dr. Why didn't you use the reason God gave you?

Sp. There are hundreds of people living low down, and they don't care where they go. Dr. Now you are going to care. Let me talk now. You went to church and adopted a blind faith, that you admit.

Sp. I wanted to be a good man.

Dr. Didn't you feel a desire for something higher? You merely had faith and did not add understanding. God gave you sense, he gave you intelligent reasoning faculties, but you adopted a blind faith and clung to it. That was not God's fault. To our faith we must add knowledge and that will make us free. God did not write the Bible.

Sp. It is a Holy Book. That is what they say.

Dr. It was written by man. Did you ever analyze the marvels of the human mind? I am talking of facts now. Did you ever realize how wonderful the human body is, or how the invisible mind is able to control the material body? Did you ever see the wonders of Nature?

Sp. All that has nothing to do with my misery.

Dr. If you had used your own faculties you would understand that love and mind are invisible.

Sp. Didn't that devil love my wife?

Dr. That was not love. You did not use your faculties. You joined the church in blind faith, without using your reason. We do not see you; you are invisible to us and are using my wife's body temporarily. We are interested in the condition of the so-called dead and many of them are brought here to be enlightened. You have been brought here by intelligent spirits so that you can learn to understand your true condition. You have an opportunity to progress in the spirit world, but you must forget your hatred. You lost your physical body. Do you know what year it is? It is 1921, and you are in California.

Sp. How did I get here? I never was in California.

Dr. How does spirit travel? You spoke of other people here, we do not see them. We do not see you. You are using my wife's organism. Can't you see how wonderful life is? Sp. Why aren't we taught those things?

Dr. Because “the truth is not in the people.” You will have to judge for yourself between the facts of life and the creed of the church. Churches are man-made things; God is Spirit, and you must worship him in spirit and in truth - in spirit and in truth. We have aspirations for a higher life, but that does not give us knowledge. God is Spirit, invisible Intelligence. He manifests himself in all the wonders of the Universe.

Sp. All these people here (invisibles) have had disappointments as I have, but all have different stories. We sit and talk to each other from time to time, all telling of the past. All have their troubles.

Dr. God has nothing whatever to do with that. The Universe is God's Temple and our souls are His Manifestations. Think of the marvelous things in the Universe. You speak of your friends being here, yet we cannot see them.

Sp. They want to know if you can help them all from their troubles.

Dr. Yes, we can. Tell them that life means something. Look around and you may see intelligent spirits who will help you.

Sp. There are six of us and we have all had the same trouble and disappointment, but each has a different story.

Dr. Tell them that none of you need be in the condition you are in.

Sp. There's one group called “The Laughing Fools”; there's another called “The Cursing Fools”; there's another called “The Swearing Fools”; there's another called “The Singing Fools.” They sing and pray from morning until night. You get sick and tired of hearing them.

Dr. The Bible says: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Religious fanatics are the worst. They have not added understanding to their blind faith. We all have faculties but do not use them. Is that God's fault?

Sp. I have not worked for a long time. Sometimes none of us have any food. We have done without it so long that now we do not seem to need it.

Dr. The spirit does not need food.

Sp. We are starving, starving.

Dr. Spiritually starving.

Sp. We are all starving for something, but we don't know what it is. We are all anxious to know. We all say that our souls cry out for something, but we don't know what it is. None of us want to pray. For my part I cannot. I had faith and prayed, but here I am, in all this trouble.

Dr. God has given each one of you reasoning faculties.

Sp. Would you help us all? They all say they are hungry for happiness. All we can see is our past, and we all want something higher. All I can see is my wife as I saw her last -down, down.

Dr. So far as your wife is concerned, it was only her body that was diseased, not her spirit.

Sp. When we saw each other we both cried.

Dr. After you have understanding, you can all do a great work in helping others. Listen to the invisible friends who are around you. All be quiet a moment, and your eyes will open to undreamed of things.

Sp. Do you think my wife can get help? She was as pure as a lily. I loved her.

Dr. You can love her still. We must all try to find ourselves.

As we grow out of our ignorance we see the higher things of existence, both here and in the spirit life. If we were born into a perfect condition, we would not appreciate it. You have seen “hell,” and when you progress you will see “heaven' “ You will find a beautiful condition and you will appreciate it. You will then be enthusiastic helpers, eager to serve others. You must all open your hearts for higher things.

Sp. I love my wife. (To the invisibles.) No, boys, don't go yet; wait a little while longer.

Dr. The Bible says: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

Sp. (With heartfelt solemnity.) If there is a God, help me! Help my poor wife! We loved each other. Oh, God! Help us all! We are starving for something.

Dr. His messengers will help you. You will see many who will gladly help you all.

Sp. God help us all!

Dr. If you will look around, you will see spirits who will help you.

Sp. There's my boy - my own little boy, Charlie! You are my boy! You died many years ago, but you are my boy Charlie. Have you come to help your old Dad, my boy? Your poor Dad has suffered hell, my boy. Help your mother, boy, help your mother, poor mother! (Suddenly amazed.) Why - that's my little boy, Charlie, but he's a man now! Charlie, my little boy, can you forgive your old Dad? I tried so hard to have faith and I tried to be good.

If there is a God, open my eyes to see! God help me! (Gazing at some vision, then speaking in a hushed voice.) Now we can all see the glory of God, and we will all go with Charlie. (Astonished.) You! Are you here also? Clara! Come to me, oh, Clara! I forgive you. I forgive you, Clara. I know it was not your fault. It was that devil; he took you away from me. I love you and always have loved you. Come, Clara, come with us, and let us go with Charlie. He will probably forgive you.

Dr. What does he say?

Sp. He says: “Come with me to my spirit home, where all is lovely, where you will be happy. It was because of sorrow and suffering that you looked at life as you did.”

Dr. Don't you realize there is something beautiful ahead of you ?

Sp. Is it Heaven? Why, look there! There's my mother and sister Emma. Are you both here too? Can you forgive Clara and me? I thought you were in Heaven, mother, you were so good. You always loved me.

Dr. Do you realize now that there is something higher than your past?

Sp. Yes. Now I know there is a God. I do believe in God now, for I know His glory.

I see and feel His glory.

Dr. After you have understanding you must help the others you were talking about.

Sp. They are all coming with me. I want them all to come, for I cannot leave them.

You have helped all of us. Now, we will go; come on, boys. We had names for each other, but they were not our own. In our hatred, and because we laughed, we were called “The Laughing Fools.” Most of our time was spent in talking over our past. Now we have all found God; we have found Him in His glory, in His happiness, in the spirit world. We do not need to believe, for we know. He will help us all. Mother, father and sister, all are here.

Come on now, boys. We all listened to what this man said, and you see where it brought us. Today I call you our savior, because you have saved us from darkness, and brought us to glory. You saved us all. Not only myself, but the others have opened their eyes to see the glory of God, and not a God of hatred and envy.

Dr. You can thank my wife, who allows her body to be used so that spirits may be helped.

Sp. I will never forget you. You have given me happiness that I have not known for years and years. You say it is 1921. Is that true? I thought it was 1882.

Dr. Can you tell us your name, friend?

Sp. My name? Yes, it's Mallory. They called me a Laughing Fool. We thank you all for your patience. I was full of hatred when I came, but that has all gone now. God bless you all. I have to call you my savior, because you have saved us from that dark condition and brought us to a beautiful place. Clara, you come too, for I love you dearly. You are well now.

Dr. You will now become useful spirits. Find God and forget the past.

Sp. The last time I saw Clara, she was very sick and was taking morphine all the time. Come to me, Clara, I forgive you. See, Charlie is with us. Can't we help Clara? She seems dazed.

Dr. She is probably still under the effects of the opiate. Your love will bring her to you. Sp. I never could hate her, she was so pure. Clara, wake up! You are not dead.

Forget the past, and live in the new life. Thank you all for bringing me happiness, and also for bringing God to me in my heart. I never properly understood Him before. I found Him in the glory of Nature too. Look at all those beautiful flowers! Is this Heaven?

Dr. It is the spirit world.

Sp. Now I'm always going to be with my loved ones in the spirit world. We will go. Goodbye.

A communication of a different type was received from the spirit of a young man, son of one of the members of our circle. The young man had passed over two months before, but having been unbiased and open-minded was readily enlightened by his spirit friends.

In his short visit to our circle, he gave an interesting description of conditions as he observed them in both the earth sphere and the spirit world.