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WITH THE exception of the Gaelic script which Mrs. Marshall's hand wrote automatically when she was alone in her own home, all the scripts I have presented so far appeared as deep trance products at regular
séances of the Hamilton group. The scripts quoted in this chapter came under somewhat different circumstances; but, like all the other writings, appeared to be part of a plan drawn up and put into action by our unseen scientists, and effected in this fashion:
Early in 1943 my mother had had an impromptu sitting with a psychic friend through whom, to her surprise and pleasure, she received a direct communication from my father, a message intended not for her but for Mrs. Marshall. In this message, my father asked my mother to relay to Dawn a request that she allow him to use her psychic talent for some writings he wished to put through.
Instead of assembling a group of sitters for this purpose, my mother was to ask Dawn to sit quietly by herself in the privacy of her home, to choose a time of day when she could be sure of being undisturbed for a short period (of about half an hour), to have paper and pencil ready, then let my father control her hand try to make it write in his own words what he wished to say. My mother telephoned Mrs. Marshall the next day, told her of my father's request, and added that she would provide the paper, and stamped, addressed envelopes.
Dawn readily agreed to try this new type of experiment. The procedure was very simple. She told us she sat down at her dining-room table, prepared to write, felt herself becoming "hazy" (as she put it) and her hand writing, although she had no idea of the words. When the writing ended, without reading it she folded the script, placed it in one of the stamped addressed envelopes, which she sealed at once and posted immediately, so that my mother received it by the next mail delivery.
Phenomenal as were all the other automatic scripts,
these letters," all beginning with the salutation, "Hello, Lillian," and ending with the initials "T.G." or "T.G.H.," astonished us the most, and for a number of reasons. First, the salutation had a very particular meaning to us as a family. During his lifetime my father used my mother's name "Lillian" so very often that it became a family joke. We teased them both constantly about it!
Second, the initials "T.G." or "T.G.H.," had an equally deep personal significance. Within our home and beyond its walls my father was always known as "T.G." My mother, his brothers, relatives and many close friends always called him by these initials. To his many patients he was always "Dr. T.G.", to his nieces and nephews always "Uncle T.G." I cannot recall a single instance, in any letters he wrote from other cities in his extensive travelling on medical matters, where he signed himself other than
"T.G."
As we read and reread the T.G. scripts simply as letters, we agreed that nothing could have been more like him. Through Dawn he wrote to us in the same straightforward fashion as he had so often done in the past. The style and the many small turns of expression were those he had used in life; the outlook, wondering and cautious, was his.
Even Dawn's handwriting took on certain of the characteristics that had been his in life. It became firm, neat, precise and always legible. The initials of the signature were always written in an unbroken line, as my father had always done. So we felt, with complete justification, that the repeated use through Dawn's hand of both my mother's given name and my father's initials were a deliberate choice on his part to identify himself unmistakably.
Nor was this all. During his experimental work with various mediums functioning more or less simultaneously, my father came to regard cross-evidence as a highly satisfactory way of establishing the identity of the trance communicator as being independent of that of the medium. In this connection we received confirmation from a most unexpected quarter.
After my father's death in 1935, my mother, in 1936 and 1937, had as a companion a young woman called Isobel Farquhar. She was an excellent psychic. Through her clairvoyance and trance we received considerable evidential material, not only from my father but from other of our communicators. In 1940 she went to Vancouver, a large city on Canada's west coast, where she married and raised a small family, which meant laying aside completely her psychic gifts. Only very occasionally did we exchange family news with Isobel. She had never been told of the T.G. writings through Dawn.
In 1944 my mother received from Isobel a short note. Under its signature she was astonished to see these words: "Hello Lillian How are you TGH," with the initials written in the same unbroken line as were the initials which ended all the T.G. Dawn writings. Here again we regarded this as a deliberate act on T.G.'s part to provide one more small but valid bit of crossevidence from a point so far from Winnipeg and through a young sensitive who had no way of knowing about his writings through our older medium.
Returning for a moment to the trance statement of April, 1940, when an unknown control through Dawn said, "Three new writers will join your group," with the advent of the T.G. letters we now recognised the fact that T.G. was indeed the third
new writer, following Henry Gratton and Peter Campbell.
And where Stead had rewritten, paraphrased, or quoted material from
Letters From Julia; where Lodge through Dawn had restated some of his philosophical concepts and had requoted his favourite fines from Tennyson; where R.L.S. had rewritten not only some of his own poems but had requoted Pease's poem, so too with T.G. In his "letters" he too had worked in ideas, concepts, word-phrases which we later traced to a book published years earlier, and long out of print when the Dawn-T.G. scripts were being given. So T.G. too had done his part in helping to fulfil the statement, "What is written is written again."
The book which we discovered to have been utilised by T.G. was,
Letters From a Living Dead Man(1) which had been added to our library in 1922, and read by my parents once at that time. I wish to emphasise that Mrs. Marshall had no knowledge of the existence of such a book. She was never told of the inner phenomenon of rewriting which we found to be so prominent a feature of the T.G. letters. We accepted the material as it came; and Dawn lent her hand for T.G.'s purpose, not ours.
(1) Written down by Elsa Barker.
In preparing this essay I have studied the T.G. writings side by side with the book,
Letters From a Living Dead Man. From this intensive consideration several points have emerged:
One, I believe T.G. deliberately chose to write his scripts in the form of letters to my mother so that his communications could properly be called letters from a living dead man, thus drawing attention and giving added significance to the title of the earlier book.
Two, I find very impressive the way T.G., like Stead and the other writers, adapted and altered portions of the earlier book to underline certain truths he found and experiences he underwent.
Three, I recognise the consummate skill with which he wove into his narrative specific references to some of his own researches, and a specific reference to one particular psychic experience of my mother and myself in which he was involved.
He has thus accomplished a multi-purpose task. He has incorporated incontrovertible internal evidence which establishes his identity beyond question. He has contributed his share to the plan of rewriting. And he has established the fact that these writings are what they claim to
be - genuine manifestations from a personality existing in another state.
Several months after the series had ended the matter was finally cleared up from his point of view. In November, 1944, Dawn called on my mother one evening. They had held an impromptu sitting, with "Walter" speaking through Dawn in trance. Here is the pertinent excerpt from my mother's notes:
"Walter": "Ham is here.(2) Question him."
(2) Early in 1928 "Walter" gave my father the nickname "Ham" and always referred to him in this way.
L.H.:
"T.G., why did you use that book in the way you did?"
T.G.H.: "We used that book because it tells the truth, especially the first one hundred and fifty pages. It is out of print now and we wish to draw attention to it."(3)
(3) This is true.
"Letters From a Living Dead Man" (L.F.L.D.M.) has been out of print for many years
L.H.: "That is fine as far as you go. Perhaps you have more to tell me."
T.G.H. (eagerly): "Yes, yes! The man who wrote that book is my teacher!(4) We have had similar experiences. He has been a great help to me in producing this writing."
(4) The unseen writer of
"Letters From a Living Dead Man" was said to be Judge Edmonds of New York. He died in the U.S.A. in 1912. The automatist was Miss Elsa Barker, who began to receive the scripts in Paris, before she knew that Judge Edmonds had died.
L.H.: "But how do you see this book? Do you see a copy of it on our side, or do you have it over there?"
T.G.H.: "It is difficult for me to explain this to you, Lillian. You will understand when you come over. It is more as if we have the leaves of the book here. Nothing is lost; all is registered on the ether.(5) I must go now. The power is failing. Good-bye for a little while."
(5) This thought is in line with the theory advanced by F. W. H. Myers in his
"Autobiographical Fragment" where he says: "I hold that all things thought and felt, as well as all things done, are somehow photographed imperishably upon the universe." His theory arises from his prolonged study of many types of mental phenomena which he reported in his book,
"Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death".
As the T.G. letters appear to have been planned to furnish a running commentary or progress report on his experiences and spiritual growth in his new state of being, they are presented as far as possible in the order in which they appeared, although occasionally scripts bearing on the same subject, but written at different times, are brought together to maintain continuity. We inserted punctuation. Again my mother devised the captions at the beginning of each section.
The
T.G. letters can be read for what they are on the surface, descriptions of his experiences. Or they can be read in depth for what they also are, a reworking of parts of the earlier book. For this reason I give precise and detailed footnotes so that any reader who has access to the book, Letters From a Living Dead Man, may read it side by side with the T.G. scripts and see how
skillfully the reworking has been accomplished.
Before we pass on to the letters one more thing remains to be said. That T.G. loved Christ deeply and through service to humanity sought to serve his Master, those of us who knew him so well realised completely. Deep within him ran that mystic urge seeking for higher things, for truth, and thus for God. That he found intimations of high and holy things in the New Life need not then surprise us. Yet he does not write in the exalted phraseology of Stead, or in the literary style of R.L.S., or show the lofty outlook of Lodge. He writes simply as a loving friend, anxious to share his adventures with us.
The
T.G.H. Scripts of August, 1943 - April 1944
August
1943
"Hello, Lillian! 'Things seem easier to me now than they have been for a long time."(6) 'Everything is well with me."(7) I have my teacher with me 'and his attitude is very comforting.'(8) I want you to instruct Dawn to 'take certain precautions to protect herself against those who press around us;'(9) tell her to say a little prayer before she sits down to write, and let her sit quietly. The teacher will come and nothing can get through; they cannot annoy me and Dawn has' absolutely nothing to fear.'(10) The stiffness in her arm will soon disappear. I see it as 'a blur on a mirror."(11)
(6) Compare with page 17
(7) with page 21,
(8) with page 17
(9) with page 18
(10) with page 18
(11) with page 19 of L.F.L.D.M.
"'I see the past as an open window.'(12) 'Not yet do I grasp the full mystery Of will.'(13) 'When I am absolutely sure of my hold on Dawn's hand I shall have much to say about the life out here.'(14)
(12) with page 21
(13) with page 22;
(14) with page 23 of L.F.L.D.M.
"'Strange, but to myself I seem to have quite a substantial body.'(15) 'I do not walk as formerly, but neither do I fly; but I manage to get over space with incredible rapidity.'(16)
"'I see you,' Lillian, 'as a spot of vivid light'(17) 'but to me you seem tenuous.'(18) 'It is the old question of adjusting to one's environment. At first I could not do it; at first I had trouble in learning to adjust the amount of energy necessary to each action; so little energy is required here.'(19)
"You may wonder if we wear clothes. As you are, so are we clothed, only we do not need to wear the same kind of clothing as you on earth. 'There are people here who wear the costume of ancient days.'(20) I asked my teacher the reason for this, and he replied that they felt nearer the Master when they dressed in this fashion.
"'You asked me some questions but I did not quite get them. Speak them out loud and I may be able to get them.'(21) This is something else we learn after a time: to hear what you may say to us; and' your enquiring will help me to study conditions and to make enquiries which otherwise I might not have made for a long time, if ever. There are places here like a kind of school where those who wish instruction can receive it if they are fit.'"(22)
"T.G."
Compare 15, 16, 17 with page 24; 18 with page 54; 19 with page 54; 20 with page 51; 21 with page 38; 22 with page 39 of
"Letters From a Living Dead Man".
September
1943
"I wish to tell you, Lillian, about the awakening of our dear friend Mercedes.(23) She awoke amid a garden of flowers. She is happy and free from suffering. Lucy(24) bends over her and she arises strong and feeling perfectly well. A misty substance that enveloped her becomes evolved into a fleecy robe, and her features are shining and beautiful. Life is the law of nature, and the going out of the individual is under the operation of this vast, beneficent law, and wholly natural."
(23) Mercedes, a gentle kindly woman was one of four very great auxiliary mediums during the teleplasmic experiments after May, 1929. She died in February, 1943, of a stroke.
(24) "Lucy" was the name of Mercedes' chief control, whose teleplasmic likeness was secured by photography on March 10, 1930, under exceptionally stringent contra-fraudulent conditions, scrutinised by the late Mr. Isaac Pitblado, former president of the Law Society of Canada. For a discussion of the "Lucy" phenomenon, see
"Intention and Survival", Chapter 9; and also April, 1931, issue of
"Psychic Science Quarterly".
Note: This T.G. script shows no trace of influence of
"Letters From a Living Dead Man".
"Hello, Lillian. You will be interested in knowing about some of the friends I am working with. Some of them I know, and some of them I have just met in the course of my work. I have met John King,(25) R.L.S., W.T.S. I have been with Schrenk-Notzing; he helped us with the teleplasms when I was with you. I have met Oliver Lodge, Mary Lodge, John Buchan. I have seen Myers and Flammarion. I have seen J. A. Balfour, A. Doyle.(26) Williarn Barrett, Kipling, William. Crookes, and many others who have forgotten their names."
(25) The trance director called "John King" claimed to be the same John King known to earlier investigators. It will be recalled he was associated with the appearance of various types of visible objective phenomena later called materialisations. John King first appeared to the Hamilton group in 1930 through the trance of the secondary medium "Ewan," and purported to be aiding in the production of the "Lucy" and "Katie" materialisations which were photographed in 1930, 1931 and 1932 by Dr. Hamilton under unusually secure test conditions. Dr. Hamilton regarded John King's great driving energy to be one of the major factors in the success of these experiments, where
will and matter blended to bring to light the fully objective but short-lived creations. Hence Dr. Hamilton's interest in the mystery of will, an inner phenomenon to which the T.G. communicator has already referred. For T.G. to place John King at the head of the list of those he has met, we regard as evidential of T.G. as known by those who worked intimately with him.
(26) Sir Arthur and Lady Conan Doyle visited Winnipeg and were present at several of the Hamilton
séances in the late 1920s. After Sir Arthur's death, an excellent miniature likeness was secured with Dawn in May, 1932. See
"Intention and Survival".
The Teachers
"'I want to tell you of a large organisation of souls who call themselves the Teachers. Most of the people
I named in my last writing are in this organisation. Their special work is to take hold of those who have just come over, helping them to find themselves and adjust to the new conditions. There are many women in this organisation and they do good work.'(27)
"'It is very interesting about little children. I have not had much time to observe their little ways, but one of the League workers told me that it is easier for children to adjust themselves to the change in their lives. Very old people sleep a great deal, the young come over with a good deal of energy and a great deal of curiosity. There is no violent change; the children grow up and the old ones come back gradually.'"(28)
(27) Compare with page 47;
(28) compare with page 48 of L.F.L.D.M
Objective Realities of the New Life
October
1943
"Hello, Lillian. Here I am again with more writing. I am pleased to have Dawn help me to get this to you. Help her all you can.
"'The other day I asked my teacher to show me the archives of those who lived out here and who had recorded their observations, if such existed. He took me to a large library. I caught my breath at the vast amount of booksthere were millions of them,'(29) and the strangest thing was that they were all arranged so that you could see any volume you wanted to see. 'I said I should like to see the books in which were written the accounts of explorations which men had made in this, to me, still strange and beautiful country.'(30) But as
I Iooked them over I (found) that I did not know the writers, nor did I understand anything of what was written. Many have been written by those who have come here in our century."
"T.G."
(29) compare with page 47;
(30) compare with page 48, L.F.L.D.M.
A Glimpse of Darkness
"I am writing again and I have a strange story to tell you of the 'horrors I have seen. I have seen far worse things than anything I saw on earth. The decay and vice and intemperance are far worse here. There are hopeless cases which even the missionaries often have to leave to their fate. Whether they will ever progress 1 do not know.'(31)
"I also want to tell you of other strange things I have seen lately. I saw a group of people looking in the graves which contained the remains of their bodies. 'With some it is an obsession which they cannot get free from while a bit of flesh remains on the bones,'(32) and that is why Walter and Spurgeon and R.L.S. and the others wish it to be known that we do not die-only in the flesh. The soul lives on and takes a new form."
The New Freedom and Joy
November
1943
"But the horrors are not as numerous as the lovely things which we see. 'Life can be so free here! There is no machinery here as you have on your side, driving, driving, and making slaves of people! In this place one is held only by thoughts and desires.'(33) If the thoughts and desires are (for) material pleasures then the thoughts and desires here are the same. But 'I have met many good and saintly people who were held on earth by their godly and saintly ideas, and are now free to live them.'(34) These people are of great help to those coming over quickly.
"And I have met so many interesting people! I think the happiest people I have met here perhaps are painters, artists, and musicians. How they love to play and paint! Poets also are very happy souls here.'(35)
"T.G."
(31) Compare with page 36, L.F.L.D.M.
(32) Compare with page 56;
(33) and (34) with page 59;
(35) with pages 60 and 61 of L.F.L.D.M.
Development
"I am glad to have this opportunity to write again. It is a real pleasure to me to come back. I have been wondering a good deal lately not knowing what it was I was really seeking. I had a long talk with the teacher. After he left me I began asking myself what I was seeking. The answer came quickly: knowledge. I want to give it to the world. Many persons here sink into a sort of subjective bliss which makes them indifferent to what is going on upon the earth. 'This is a great place in which to grow, if one really wishes to grow, though few persons take advantage of its possibilities. There are teachers here who are more than glad to help in making a real study into the mysteries of the life here, and in the remote past.'(36) 'We draw to ourselves the experiences which we are ready for and which we demand.'(37) At present it seems to me that we learn more by adjusting ourselves and trying to find the truth. Souls here belong to themselves."
"T.G."
A Vision of The Christ
December
1943
"Oh, Lillian, I must tell you of a wonderful experience I had! I had wandered off by myself and in the distance P saw a great dazzling light like the sun, only softer, and as I gazed at the light it slowly took form between me and the crowd who stood watching, and the lovely form of Jesus Christ stood in all His loveliness. He smiled and stretched out His hands in blessing.
"' Then the scene changed and He had in His arms a snow-white lamb. He stood transfigured. Then He spoke to the large company of people who stood about, and taught them. I could hear His voice from where I stood.'(38) After I returned to my friends I told them of my experiences and I was told that these people would go to a higher plane now."
"T.G."
(36) Compare with page 68;
(37) with page 69;
(38) with page 43, L.F.L.D.M.
The Permanent and the Illusory
January
1944
"'When I first came here I was so interested in what I saw that I did not question much as to the manner of seeing,'(39) but since being with the teacher, and helping in these writings, 'I have begun to notice a difference between the objects that at superficial glance seem to have much the same substance'(40) (at this point the writing became illegible and broke off).
"Hello, Lillian, here I am to continue. As I said, I can see a difference between those things which have existed on earth unquestionably, such as the forms of men and women, and those things which while visible and seemingly palpable, may be, and probably are thought creations.'(41) 'This thought came to me while looking'(42) at the changing light I told you of, of the Heavenly country; and it has been 'forced upon me with greater power while making new explorations'(43) that 'I may be able to distinguish at a glance between these classes of seeming objects.(44) For instance, if I met the famous characters in
Treasure Island I should have reason to believe that I had seen a thought-form of sufficient vitality to stand as quasi-entities in this world of tenuous matter. So far I have not encountered any such characters. 'A character of fiction, or any other mental creation, however vivid as a picture, would have no soul, no unit of force, no real self whatever, but would come to me merely as a picture. I shall try to put this to the test.'"(45)
"T.G."
(39) to (44) Compare with page 44,
L.F.L.D.M.
(45) Compare with paragraphs 1 and 2, page (45),
L.F.L.D.M.
Note: T.G.'s reference to characters from Stevenson's
Treasure Island is strikingly evidential, for it was through his prolonged and painstaking study of the Poole trance visions, in which she saw "John Silver" and other characters from that book, as apparently living beings, that Dr. Hamilton came to hold the opinion that suggestion by the communicator probably accounted for the great bulk of visions, symbolical settings, and so on, that crowd the pages of psychical and occult literature. He believed that the imagination of the living "dead," backed by strong will, produced many of the puzzling phenomena in this area of mental activity. As has been suggested by the poet Blake, and later Walt Whitman, imagination may indeed actually be a powerful creative force, and probably evidenced more directly in the New State than here on earth.
It may interest the reader to know that the writer of
L.F.L.D.M. takes his examples from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and makes no mention of
Treasure Island. In other words, T.G. agrees with the teachings in the earlier book, but carefully uses examples from his own experiences and findings as a psychical researcher.
Joy and Beauty
"'I want to tell you, Lillian, of a 'lovely spot in the country I have visited often. Sometimes I stay there for hours as I would were I with you. There is a lovely stream of crystal water and many beautiful trees. At first I did not see the trees clearly, but after a little, as I sat in meditation, they became large and grand.'(46)
"'Music played on earth reaches us and we enjoy it very much.'(47) 'Tell Margaret to play Franz Schubert for me in the evening and I shall be listening.'(48) 'If only you could hear our music! I did not know much about music when on earth but now my ears are becoming adjusted.'(49)
(46), (47) Compare with paragraphs 3 and 1, page 61,
L.F.L.D.M.
(48) About a month before this script came, I had written to my mother from a city in Eastern Canada to tell her that when playing one of Schubert's piano pieces I had strongly felt my father's presence, and that I wished her to verify this, if possible. She later told me that she had told no one of my request, but several times when alone in her room had spoken aloud: "T.G., did you hear Margaret playing Schubert? If you did, answer through Dawn by writing. Nearly four weeks later the answer came as given in the script.
(49) Compare with paragraph 2, page 61,
L.F.L.D.M.
"One day I took Arthur(50) and John(51) to hear the choir of musicians sing, and I left them for a while and walked away. Turning around, I was amazed to see the whole place illuminated in a lovely light, and as I looked at the spot where the boys were standing, I was astonished to see them illuminated in the same soft glow of blue fight. Then I called to the boys and asked them if they saw anything, and they said they saw all the woods lighted with a beautiful light. Arthur thought I was going to be taken away from them as he had seen the light before, when many friends stood around talking to Jesus; but I was not near them."
"T.G."
(50) My brother Arthur, who died as a very young child in 1919.
(51) John, the son of Dr. and Mrs. William Creighton, of Winnipeg, was killed in an airplane crash during training, prior to overseas duty in World War II.
The Saint
"'There seems no better way in which to teach you than by telling you about a man who seemed to be a genuine saint. One day as I was walking through some beautiful woods I saw him walking ahead of me. After a moment he turned and said, "Could I do anything for you, friend?" I was embarrassed for a moment, feeling that I might have intruded upon some sweet communion, but being anxious to learn, I was bold in making enquiries. He looked at me in silence and then said, "You are trying to draw near God?" Where is God?" I asked. He smiled - and never have I seen such a
smile - as he answered: "God is. God is everywhere."
"'Then I asked what he meant by "God
is." God is?'
"'I do not know how the meaning was conveyed to me, perhaps by sympathy, but it suddenly flashed into my mind that when he said "God is," he impressed the realisation of God, which is Spirit. I understood then that there is nothing that is, except God. The knowledge must have been reflected in my face, for he said, "You know God is." Life took on a new meaning for me.
"'As he left me his face shone with light and beauty, and I wondered if I had seen the face of God. I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I did not hear the music of the river that flowed past as I walked. I said, "I am listening for the voice of God."
"'Perhaps I shall see him again, but whether I do or not, he has given me something which I have given to you - as he himself desired to give it to the world.'(52)
"T.G."
(52) Compare with "Letter 20" - The Man Who Found
God pages 78-83, L.F.L.D.M. The T.G. script gives a paraphrased and condensed version.
Words of Caution
"'I should be sorry if the writings I have made should cause foolish and unthinking people to go spirit-hunting, inviting into their human sphere irresponsible and often lying elemental spirits. Tell them not to do it.
"Most spirit communications, even when genuine, have little value for the reason that they are nearly always coloured by the mind of the person through whom they pass.
"I wish to go on record as discouraging irresponsible mediumship. As this world is peopled largely from your world it is inevitable that we have the kind of people you have; they have not changed in passing through the door of death.
"You know how while I was on earth I investigated spiritualism as I investigated many other things, always looking for the truth which was behind them; and I am now more (convinced) than ever that only by scientific investigation can we find the truth.
"I may not write again for a little while as I am going into the war zone. I will tell you something of this later. But as long as I can get Dawn to write with me I shall write as often as I can; I have so many things to tell you so that you can tell others. 'But the language of the earth cannot describe the unearthly, and even with the help of Dawn I am not able to describe the real beauty that is here. When we behold these beautiful things we are never the same again.'(53)
"Dawn is tired. She is asleep. It will do her good. Goodbye for a little while.
"T.G."
For several weeks no more "letters" from T.G. were received. Late in February they began again.
(53) Compare with page 69,
L.F.L.D.M.
February
1944
"Hello, Lillian. As I said before, 'This is a great place in which to grow, though few persons take advantage of its possibilities. Most are content to assimilate the experiences which they had on earth. It would be depressing, if one did not realise that will is free, to see souls let slip opportunities here even as they did on earth. There are always teachers standing ready to help anyone who shows the least sign that they desire to make a real study of the mysteries of this life(54) 'Some persons may think that the mere dropping of the veil of matter should free the soul from all obscurities; but as on earth, so here; things are not thus and so because they ought to be, but because they are. We draw to ourselves the experiences for which we are ready, and which are demanded by us; most souls here do not demand enough, any more than they did in life.'(55)
"T.G."
(54) Compare with page 68, L.F.L.D.M.
(55) Compare with page 69, L.F.L.D.M.
The War
March
1944
"My teacher and many others have paid a long visit to your world. We travelled a long way from you to places which, owing to the war, are forbidden to the public. Wherever we went destruction seemed to be around us. It was very sad.
"I must try to tell you of my visit to some of the lads who have come over. I have been with Oliver Lodge; he has accumulated valuable evidence of the identity of many of the boys who have arrived out here. He is doing a wonderful work among them; they look to him as boys look to their teacher and listen to him.
"What a difference it would make to countless thousands of bereaved persons if they could only realise that their heroic fathers, husbands, sons, are no more dead than when they lived at home with them! All their interests and sympathies remain, and when they are not on the battlefields performing deeds of mercy, they are in their former homes endeavouring to console the mourners and lift the veil which hides them from physical view.
"Now, you may wonder how it is that
I pass easily from this world into yours, seeing both. You must remember that your world and mine occupy about the same space, that the plane of the earth's surface is one of the lower material planes of our world, using the word 'plane' as you would use the word 'layer.' As the Master said, 'In My Father's house are many mansions.' 'Mansions in the sky are more than figurative.'"(56)
"T.G."
The Sleepers
"Lillian, I want to tell you about a different kind of people in whom I have been interested. 'They are the people who, when on the earth plane, denied the immortality of the soul. My teacher tells me that thousands upon thousands of them have been asleep for generations.'(57) I feel that this is a chance for me to try to awaken some of them. They have not been wicked. I wish I could describe these souls to you.
(56) Compare with page 148;
(57) with page 195, L.F.L.D.M.
(58) Compare with page 199, L.F.L.D.M.
"As I told you, 'I was expecting to begin a new work among a group of people who when on the earth denied the immortality of the soul. Many of them have been asleep for centuries-perhaps ages. When I rejoined my teacher I asked him if he had ever tried to awaken one of these sleepers. He made no answer for a time, and then said that he had, but that he had failed. He told me that one had to go through various stages before one had enough power for this purpose. It is hard to believe that one has to go through other stages of progression before one can accomplish much in this connection.'
" T.G."
"Lillian, 'I regret that I am not strong enough yet to
recall one of these sleeping ones. However I have seen one who has been called back by one of the higher teachers, and I realise as never before the personal power of these teachers. What he said I cannot repeat at this time, but after repeated commands the man stood up, but I could see that his efforts were almost too much for him. My teacher tells me that I must learn more about the one whom I desire to awaken, for after he is awakened I must teach him from the first. Many of them have been brought out of this sleep when they come out from under the spell which they have worked upon themselves.(59)
(59) Compare with page 198, L.F.L.D.M.
Note:
The three T.G. "letters" dealing with the Sleepers and his efforts to
awaken them appeared to be a paraphrase of "Letter 39 - The Doctrine of
Death," which we found on pages 195-199 of L.F.L.D.M. We discovered that
T.G. had used complete phrases and sentences, but had rearranged them so as to
describe in his way his own experiences.
"I will write to you of my progress, but in the meantime Stead will return to take my place with Dawn."
"T.G."
The
Stead Script of March 1944
Responsibility
"'Much has been written about the terror which prospective death inspires in the poor human being-people in love with life, sceptical and frivolous, forgetting God and what is required of them while on the earth plane. It often happens that they doubt the reality of their own decease, especially if they belong to the strong-minded class of individual. On the other hand, it can be verified that the terror to which so many unhappy dying persons are prey-horrors which follow them a long time after their decease-prevent them from freeing themselves from the tortures which they believe are imposed upon them.
"You who understand these things will be held responsible if you do not let them know the truth."
"W.T.S."
In April, 1944, T.G. returned to continue writing his letters; these were to be the last ones in this long series.
April
1944
"Lillian, I will tell you more about the spheres as I learn about them from experience; and 1 comfort myself with the assurance that I shall be able to get it through to you. They differ from one another by the difference of their astral substance. I am far from the ideal knowledge."
"T.G."
Mother Glimpse of the Heavenly Country
"'I want to tell you of a new teacher I have been given. With some others I went with him to some of the higher planes. All at once, as I looked around, I found myself alone. Everything was so peaceful that I stood still. I seemed to be in a lovely forest and the light was so bright that it seemed as if I were at the very gates of heaven. I was afraid to move, and as I stood looking along the ground whence I had come 'I saw two beings coming toward me. There was such a look of beauty and happiness on their faces 160 that I at once knew I was in the presence of angels. They held out a hand to me and said, 'Come with us.' We walked along in silence. Then the light diffused softly, and in front of me' I saw a group of children robed in palest blue, singing and dancing. A great joy filled my heart.'(61) 'Is this Heaven?' I asked, as I saw all the beautiful spirits moving about the children. 'They are quite unconscious of time; it seemed as if they might have been there from all eternity.'(62)
(60) Compare with page 189;
(61) and (62) with pages 190 and 191, L.F.L.D.M.
"'We left the avenue of trees. The odour in the air was lovely. The birds in the trees were singing as we walked. We came to a beautiful fountain, with its water being tossed up in the air and sending out a feathery spray. The peace that was around was indeed beyond all understanding. No sooner did this thought come to me than I saw the Beautiful One about whom I wrote some time ago. He smiled'(63) and
I wanted to fall on my knees before Him. Then he vanished and I seemed to feel myself being wafted back to my work again. I was so happy because of what I had seen. I know I shall go again."
Life's New Intensity
"'What strange experiences one has here! I rather dreaded my first visit to the earth plane alone.'(64) Things seemed dark., but now they are growing lighter and I find my way unaided. The body I now have is so light it can penetrate gross matter.
"'As I travel I feel more the intensity of the life I am now living. I am no wan spook liberated from the grave! I am real and quite as wholesome as when I walked the earth.'(65) 'It is a real pleasure for me to come into your presence,'(66) even although you yourself do not see me. 'It is because I want to give you, and others, the true knowledge which can- not be reached by any other means.'(67) 'The greatest bit of knowledge which I have to offer you is this; that by exercise of will you can retain objective
consciousness after death takes place. As I have said before, many sink into subjective bliss; I could have done so myself easily. At almost any time, on composing yourself, you can fall into this state.'(68) 'Please do not accuse me of contradicting myself or of being obscure. I have said that objective consciousness is as possible with us as the subjective is with you; the tendency is merely the other way.'"(69)
(63) Compare with page 191;
(64) with page 138.
(65) Compare with page 139; (66), (67), (68), (69) with pages 142, 143, L.F.L.D.M.
The Purpose of These Writings
"'My object in writing these notes is primarily to convince a few people, to strengthen their certainty in the fact of immortality, in the survival of the soul after the body-changes which are called death. Many think they believe; many are not certain whether they believe or not. If I can make my presence felt as a living entity in these writings, it will have the effect of strengthening their belief in the doctrine of immortality.'"(70)
"Lillian, 'this is a strange age, an age in which a large number of men and women have no real interest in life beyond the grave. But all will have to come out here sooner or later, and perhaps a few will find the change easier, the journey less formidable, by reason of what I have written. Many persons approaching the great change, who may seriously study these notes, may be helped.'(71)
"'Is it not worth a little effort on your part as well as on mine?"(72) I have talked with Stead and he seemed disappointed that you have done nothing with his writings. He wants my notes published before people have forgotten me as their friend.
"How long will it be before everyone realises that the world is not governed by the caprices of a demon being speculating on human anguish, but is governed by a just, patient, benevolent law of evolution on earth as well as on the higher planes of existence?"
"T.G."
Compare (70), (71), (72) with pages 149, 150, L.F.L.D.M.
Source: "Is Survival a Fact?" by Margaret Lillian
Hamilton (1969, Psychic Press).
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