Is There Spirit Communication? ~ Ernest Holmes
"It would be interesting to know whether the spirits of the supposed dead, cause certain physical manifestations experienced by many people. One thing is certain, these manifestations are either caused by those who are supposed to be dead, or they are produced b those now in the flesh. This is self-evident. since they occur, something must make them happen. Whether the manifestations are caused by the so-called dead or by the living, the agency used is either a mental body or the direct power of thought operating upon objects.
More than forty years ago (and but little new has been discovered since in this field) Hudson, in his "Law of Psychic Phenomena," carefully goes through an elaborate process of reasoning - the result of years of painstaking investigation - and completely proves that all of the manifestations do take place. He then goes through and extensive, and to his conclusive, argument to show that the ARE NOT CAUSED BY SPIRITS, declaring that we have no reason to supposed the presence of an UNKNOWN agency when we know there is one present who could be producing the phenomena.
Scientific research in the realm of the psyche, the subjective soul life, has taught us many valuable lessons; and has demonstrated beyond question of doubt that there are people who, while in a certain state of consciousness, are able to see without the agency of the physical eye, hear without the agency of the physical ear, and communicate without the tongue. Indeed, every faculty of the sense has been duplicated in the mind alone. It would take volumes to enumerate the data compiled by able and scientific minds in furnishing evidence for these facts, and they may be accepted as authentic. This evidence leads us to suppose that the soul can operate independently of the physical instrument. A careful examination of these facts, together with years of personal and immediate experience, will remove all doubts. Those who have carefully investigated do no question this evidence.
Why has Nature provided us with such subtle powers unless She foreknew our need of them sometime, somewhere? Nature is not foolish; She does nothing without an ample reason, leaves no gaps and provides for all emergencies. In everyday living, the etheric and subtle qualities of the soul are not needed. It seems logical to infer that in providing for the continuity of life and the triumphant progression of the soul, Nature has endowed us with duplicate senses that we may be able to reproduce our entire life, with all its action and reaction, on another plane.
Now, if our reasoning power is correct, and it is provided that physical manifestations take place through some power which is mental, and if it is provided that those who have passed on might still be near us, then we cannot see where the argument against spirit agencies could be considered perfect. We are inclined to feel that the very facts in the case prove that at least come of these manifestations could be produced by either the living or the so-called dead; and such we believe to be the case.
There are thousands of cases on record where people have penetrated the veil of flesh and seen into the beyond. If we cannot believe the experiences of so many, how can we believe in any experience at all? Of course, there is a large field for deception, and it is not probable that all alleged communications are real, but to state positively that they are all illusions is to throw the lie in the face of human thought and say that it never sees clearly. There is certainly more argument and evidence in favor of the theory of the possibility of spirit communication than against it, and so far as we are concerned, we are entirely convinced of the reality of this evidence.
If spirits really exist, and if we all live in one Mind; and if mentality can communicate with mentality without the aid of the physical instrument, then spirit communication must be possible! Since we know that the above stated facts are true, we have no alternative other than to accept the conclusive evidence and to realize that, while it may be difficult to communicate with the departed, yet it has been done.
It is evident that any such communication MUST BE MENTAL. It would be thought-transference, or mental telepathy, at best. Now, if the supposed entity knows that we wish to communicate with it, and if it is consciously present trying to communicate with us, then it must - by the power of its thought - cause its message to come up through our subjectivity to an objective state of recognition. Consequently, how very difficult to receive a coherent message! For instance, suppose one tries to think a lecture to an audience, how much would that audience be likely to receive? Yet this is exactly what would happen, UNDER THE VERY BEST CONDITIONS, if the departed were trying to impress our thought, and we knew that they might do so and we were trying to receive it! I believe that they do seek to communicate with us and that they often succeed - perhaps more often than we realize - but I repeat, "How difficult it must be!"
Whether or not th espirits are present is uncertain. Just because a psychic sees the picture of a certain person around or near us, does not mean the person is actually there; for the pictures of all our friends are always in our mental atmospheres. It is imperative that we make this distinction, as people sometimes become unbalanced, fromaccepting as real and actual that which is only a picture...only a mental impression. It is quite absured to suppose that at any time we wish, we can call anyone whom we ever knew and have him talk with us. We are unable to doso here, and the psychological and metaphysical laws are the same on every plane. TO SUPPOSE THAT WE CAN COMPEL THE ATTENTION OF ANYONE OUT OF THE FLESH, ANY MORE THAN ONE IN IT, IS AN ABSURDITY, and if we could, what would we hope to gain? People out of the flesh know no more than athey did when in the body.
However, I believe that we often do communciate with the subjectivity of those who are departed, whether they know we are doing so or not; but the messages that come in our present state of evolution are very incoherent. I believe that an unconscious communication goes on, more or less, all the time and that those people whom we have greatly loved are still conscious of us. We might feel only a vagues sense of their presence, much as did the niece in "The Return of Peter Grimm." She felt, you will recall a vague sense of her uncle; that he was trying to impress her with his tought and desire; she felt a blind groping and that is probably as clearly as we should be able to receive most messages.
We all have psychic capacities but they should never be forced, for it is only when the subjective comes to the surface while we are in a perfectly normal state, that a normal psychic power is produced. To lose the self-consciousness, in order to let the subjective come through, is never good or right and furthermore is likely to be destructive. The psychic capacity is normal oonly to the extent that it can be used while in a self-conscious state. Many people are annoyed by their psychic powers - constatntly seeing things the average person does not see, continually getting impressions. These people are very near to the subjectivity and it bothers them. They can easily be healed and should be.
There is, however, a normal psychic capacity, and some are able to discern mental causes with perfect ease. Jesus was such a one. He was able to tell the woman she had been married five times, aand that the man with whom she was then living was not her husband. He read that out of her thought, but he didi it while in an objective state, for he was able to consciously and objectively exercise his subjective faculties. This is perfectly normal, but to let go of the volitional and choosing faculties - which alone constitute individuality - and become immersed in subjectivity, is very dangerous.
It is a crime against individuality to allow the conscious faculties to bcome submerged. We should control the subjective and not let it control us. The teaching of the illusion of mind sprang up because men ofwisdom perceived that people might mistake the shadow for the reality; the form for real substance; the hollow voice for revelation, and thereby be misled. This is why they warned against these things, and against having familiar spirits, and they were right. Never let any voices speak to you unless you are in control of th esituaiton. NEVER ADMIT ANY MENTAL IMPRESSIONS ORIMAGES THAT YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE, OR THAT YOU CANNOT RECEIVE CONSCIOUSLY. Say: "There is no power, in the flesh or out of it, but the One, which can enter my consciousness. Anything that obes the One, confirms to the One, believes only in the One, and comes only through the consciousness of the One, is perfectly welcome but ANYTHING OTHER THAN THAT CANNOT COME."
The only value that an understanding of psychic phenomena can have - and the only reason for introducing any discussion of it in this book - is that without a comprehension of it, we do not understand the complete workings of the mind. We do not understand the experiences which people often have, and in a consistent philosophy which deals with Mind, the lack ofan understanding of psychic phenomena would be inexcusable! For anyone in this day to say that power of clairvoyance, telepathy, etc. are not exercised is to admit his own ignorance.
Thesse things do happen, and are continually happening in more and more instances. The thing to do is not to deny what happens, but to find a logical and scientific explanation of it. It is our business to explain all mental action -- in so far as at present it is explainable - and so we must find an answer which will cover the law of psychic phenomena. MIND, wiht th elaws governing It, is the whole answer, foreach plane repreduces the one next to it; and psychic phenomena are but reproductions of man's physical capacities on the mental plane. "what is true on one plane, is true on all.""
