seen.
Such Spiritual somnolence is no novelty in Spirit. The Earth world is to blame. Religious contentions and controversies are at the bottom of all the ignorance and lack of knowledge that so many people bring with them into the Spirit world, and if the minds of such people are stubborn and they are unable really to think for themselves, then do they remain shackled to their narrow religious views, thinking it to be all the truth, until a day of Spiritual awakening dawns for them. Then they will see that their slavish adherence to their creeds is holding them back. It is to be so much lamented for everyone who leaves, forever, these misguided congregations, another will come to fill his place - until the time comes when the whole Earth knows the truth of the world of Spirit. Of course, they do no harm as they are, here, beyond retarding their own Spiritual progression. Once they realize what they are doing to themselves, and take the first step forward, their joy knows no bounds. They will realize the 'time' they have apparently wasted.
Now it may be asked, if, with the acquisition of knowledge and truth, these extensions of Earthly religions into the Spirit world are better done away with, what will you put in their place? It sounds like a condemnation of communal worship.
By no means. We have our communal worship here, but it is purged of every trace of meaningless creeds, of doctrines and dogmas. We worship the Great and Eternal Father in truth, absolute truth. We are of one mind, and one mind only. And no one is called upon to believe blindly - or to profess to do so - something which is utterly incomprehensible to any mind. There are many, many things here which we do not understand - and it will take eons of time before we even have a faint gleam of understanding them. But we are not asked to understand them; we are asked to take them as they are. It makes no difference whatever to our soul's progression. We shall be able to progress far - and far beyond that - before we shall ever need to think about understanding such things. And so we have one mind in our worship of the All-highest.
Such are the matters we discussed - it was Edwin who expounded - as we walked along in the beautiful air of God's Heaven.
Ruth espied a rather stately building set among some well- wooded grounds, which also aroused my curiosity. On appealing to our Guide, Edwin told us that it was a home of rest for those who had come into Spirit after long illness, or who had had a violent passing, and who were, in consequence, suffering from shock. We wondered if it would be possible to peep inside, without appearing to be curiosity- seekers. He assured us that it would be quite in order to do so, as he had given his services there, and was therefore persona grata. Added to which was the fact that he knew we had that necessary sympathy which would banish any thought of inquisitiveness. As we drew near I could see that the building was in no sense a 'hospital' in outward semblance, whatever its functions might be. It was built in the classical style, two or three stories high, and it was entirely open upon all sides. That is to say, it contained no windows as we know them on Earth. It was white in color as far as the materials of its composition were concerned, but immediately above it there was to be seen a great shaft of blue light descending upon, and enveloping, the whole building with its radiance, the effect of which was to give a striking blue tinge to the whole edifice. This great ray was the downpouring of life - a healing ray - sent to those who had already passed here, but who were not yet awake. When they were fully restored to Spiritual health, there would be a splendid awakening, and they would be introduced into their new land.
I noticed that there was quite a number of people seated upon the grass in the grounds, or walking about. They were relatives of those who were undergoing treatment within the hall of rest, and whose awakening was imminent. Although, doubtless, they could have been summoned upon the instant when necessary, yet, following their old Earthly instinct, they preferred to wait close at hand for the happy moment. They were all supremely joyful, and very excited, as could be seen by the expressions on their faces, and many were the friendly smiles we received as we walked among them. Many of them, too, came forward to welcome us among them, thinking that we had come for the same reason as themselves. We told them of our true purpose, however, and they sped us on our way.
I observed that most of the people waiting in the gardens were not habited in their Earth clothes, and I assumed that most of them had been in Spirit for some considerable time. Such was not necessarily the case, Edwin told us. They had the right to wear their Spirit robes by virtue of the fact that they were inhabitants of this realm we were now in. And the robes they wore were eminently suited to both the place and the situation. It is difficult to describe the costume because so much rests in being able to give some comparison with a particular Earthly fabric. Here we have no such materials, and all outward appearances are produced, not by the texture of the material, but by the kind and degree of light that is the essence of a Spirit robe. Those that we now saw were in 'flowing' form and of full length, and the colors - blue and pink in varying degrees of intensity - seemed to interweave themselves throughout the whole substance of the robes. They looked very comfortable to wear, and like everything here, they require no attention to keep them in a state of perfect preservation, the Spirituality of the wearer alone accounting for that.
The three of us were still wearing our Earthly style of raiment, and Edwin suggested that, for our present purposes, we might change to our natural element in the matter of clothes. I was quite willing, of course, to fall in with any suggestion that he might like to make, as I turned to him for everything in my lack of knowledge. Ruth also seemed very keen to try this change, but the question that puzzled us both, was how it was to be accomplished.
Possibly there are people on the Earth-plane who are willing to believe that such a situation as this would involve the ceremony of being formally presented with a Spirit robe in the presence of a goodly gathering of celestial beings, who had come to witness the bestowing of our heavenly reward, and to be officially invited to take our 'eternal rest'!
Let me hasten to say that such was most emphatically not the case.
What did take place was very simply this: immediately I had expressed the wish to follow Edwin's suggestion of discarding my Earthly style of clothes, those very clothes faded away – dissolved - and I was attired in my own particular Spirit robe - of the same description as those I could see about me. Edwin's had changed likewise, and I noticed that his seemed to send out a greater strength of color than mine. Ruth's was the same as mine, and needless to say, she was full of joyful delight with this new manifestation of the Spirit. My old friend had experienced the change before, so his costume was not new to him. But speaking for myself - and I am sure for Ruth - I never at any moment felt the slightest embarrassment or strangeness or self-consciousness in this revolutionary - as it might seem to be - alteration in our external appearance. On the contrary, it seemed quite natural and perfectly in order, and unquestionably it was in proper keeping with our present surroundings, the more so, as I soon discovered when we walked into the home of rest. Nothing would have been more incongruous than Earthly apparel in such a building, which in its interior disposition and accommodations was totally unlike anything to be seen upon the Earth-plane.
As we entered, Edwin was greeted as an old friend by one who came forward to meet us. He briefly explained his mission and our presence there, and we were made welcome to see all that we wished.
An outer vestibule led into a lofty hall of considerable dimensions. The space that would ordinarily be devoted to windows was occupied by tall pillars set some distance apart, and this arrangement was carried out through all four walls. There was very little in the way of interior decoration, but it must not be supposed from this that the apartment had a cold, barrack-like appearance. It was anything but that. The floor was carpeted with some very soft covering in a sober design, and here and there a handsomely-wrought tapestry was hanging upon the walls. Occupying the whole of the floor space were extremely comfortable-looking couches, each of which bore a recumbent form, quite still, and obviously sleeping profoundly. Moving quietly about were a number of men and women intent upon watching the different couches and their burdens.
I noticed as soon as we entered this hall that we came under the influence of the blue ray, and its effect
