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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
Sensibility
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"Death does not change the character of a man, but simply strips off his masks and compels him to stand forth as he is, [as] he becomes after death the image of his own character." Andrew Jackson Davis
The following is channeled testimony from the other side, from a man who found himself in a dark place. Reported in “The Future Life” 1854 via the mediumship of Mrs. Elizabeth Sweet.
I come to tell my story, that you may publish it abroad as a lesson
for many. I feel how unworthy I am to stand in your
midst, to utter a word concerning myself, but it were a
pleasure to do even this small act, if by so doing I shall
benefit one soul.
I was an idle, thoughtless youth. Idleness was my
besetting sin. The years of my life which I should have
spent in pursuing some useful duty toward the world,
were squandered away by me in idleness and frivolity.
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Editor's prefatory note:
The following story about the “idler” should not cause you concern.
The average person is working and making his or her way in life. This is a story about someone who would never lift a finger to do anything positive.
The lesson here is not that you can never take a break or a vacation, this is not the lesson at all. Recreation is something good and we all need this.
The following is a story about what, today, we would say, instead of getting a job or maybe raising a family, and doing something productive, he just played video games in his mother's basement, drinking beer and eating chips.
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Seeking only my own gratification, and striving but to
obtain all my selfish desires, I wasted the best years of
my life in idleness and self-gratification. I thought
not of the obligations which I owed my Maker. I
cared not for the duties which I owed my fellow-man;
but lived only to care for self, and grasped at every
fleeting pleasure...
thick darkness, confusion, dread, loneliness, desolation, a cold and gloomy fear
When I awoke in the spirit-world, I shuddered. The
atmosphere which surrounded me was oppressive ; I
could not gaze through it, so as to see any great distance,
and my faculties all seemed confused and disturbed, as
though I had had some terrible dream —some hideous
nightmare. Yes ! I felt as though I had been passing
through some dreadful place. I still felt the icy chill of
death at my heart, and it seemed as though the spirit was
unwilling to leave its earthly temple. I had emerged into
a world, a place, I knew not what, I knew not where ; I
knew nothing about it, and my mind reverted back to
the past, and I tried to collect together every thing
with which my mind had been stored, and out of that to
form some idea of my present locality. And first, one
thought would seem to point me in the right direction,
and then another memory would drive me another way.
a measureless space spread out before me
Oh, how uncertain and vacillating I felt ! I knew not
where to turn, or where to go. I was oppressed by a
sense of loneliness and desolation. A cold and gloomy
fear seemed to have taken possession of my heart. I
could look for no sympathy there. I had asked for
none ; nor did I deserve it ; but I did wish that some
friendly hand would guide me to some place of rest, for
I stood as one distracted, with a measureless space spread
out before my view when I was able to gaze calmly
upon it. But I knew not what direction to take, so I
wandered about at random, hoping to meet with some
one who would give me the required aid. O friends,
how aimless I felt ! No object in view ; nothing to
search for ; nothing to look forward to ; nothing to expect !
And I wandered about unknowing and unknown.
I saw many people as I ascended on my journey from
earth ; but none accosted me, none seemed attracted to
seek my company ; no eager gaze was fixed upon me.
I seemed to excite no attention, or interest, I was not
even a subject of curiosity among the people when I
passed ; but, uncared for and unsought, I wended my way
alone, and traveled until I became weary and heartsick.
In my stubborn silence I had determined to speak to
none, unless they first addressed me ; but this had now
become a painful task which I had imposed upon my-
self, and I wished that some one would draw near and
speak to me, that I might ask something about the coun-
try in which I found myself. But none approached me.
So I arose, and went near a group of persons, who were
speaking together, and addressed them, and told them
I was a stranger, that I had just left my home on earth,
where my wealth and station had commanded attention
and respect, but I had been called away, and was in a
strange and new place, a place in which I was ignorant
in every particular.
finally, someone speaks to him - why didn't you prepare for this inevitable journey
One among them, who seemed to speak with author-
ity, gazed upon me sternly, and asked me why I had
not prepared for my eternal journey. He said, from
my present appearance, I had dwelt long enough on
earth to have made ample preparations for the journey
which I was now commencing ; but here I had come
naked of every thing which was most needful ; no
knowledge, no chart to tell me of the bearings or char-
acter of the country or people ; nor had I even be-
sought aid of any, neither on earth nor in the world of
spirits, but had come there proudly and presumptuously, and depending entirely upon my own merits and knowledge.
I told him I'd thought it was all bunk and foolishness, but he wasn't buying it
I told him I had always regarded such matters, merely
as the imaginings of the minds which gave them forth,
and that I had no sure guide, no positive testimony, to
assure me of the truth.
the whisperings of your own deeper person tried to inform you, but you stifled this message from God
"Weak and sinful man," said he, "was not thy heart
sufficient evidence to thee in its wondrous workings, in
its wrestlings with the baser passions ? Was not this
sufficient evidence to thee of thy immortal being? Was
not the still, small voice, which often came up in tones
of reproof and admonition from the depths of thy soul,
a warning voice, a monitor to admonish thee of thy
shortcomings? But no, these were not sufficient to
draw out thy soul from the folds of selfishness and
worldliness which had enveloped it. And thou didst
spend the precious time which thy Creator gave thee,
wherewith to develop and beautify thy spirit on earth
for its immortal destiny, in thinking only of the things
which pertained to thy fleeting existence in thy tran-
sient home.
this Guide says, you are very unwise
"O mortal! how couldst thou be so self-deceiving?
Why rob thy soul of the rich feast which
had been waiting for thee now, had thy days and hours
been improved in laboring for the benefit of thy brethren
and sisters ? Why so foolish as to cut thyself off from
all sympathy within the walls of thy material strong-
hold, by making of thyself an idol, for thy own soul to
fall down and worship; by thinking of naught beside,
nor striving to propitiate any other power than that
which lay in thy own heart. For to thyself alone has
all thy earthly worship been devoted. Thou hast sought
no other God, nor worshiped no greater heaven, than that which comprises thine own enjoyments. Oh, look
back upon thy past life, and wonder that thou hast not-
long since been cut down as an encumbrance of the
ground ! Thou didst not have to struggle with poverty
and want ; suffering was not thy companion; therefore
thy sins are greater than that of those whose necessities
would compel them to labor for a subsistence.
"There was much for thee to do, but thou didst not perform
anything, only for thyself, when thou mightst have done
so much to relieve, to raise up, to enlighten those around
thee. Even if thou hadst done it only in a material
sense, tby sin would have been less, for thou wouldst
have still been cultivating the love of kindness to thy
neighbor. Thou hast indeed come here empty-handed,
and idleness will now be thy portion, until labor would
seem the greatest boon which Heaven could bestow.
O idle man ! thou shalt have thy fill of idleness, until
the very name of self and idleness shall be a sound of
grief in thy ears. And the many precious days and
weeks which were spent by thee in doing naught upon
earth, shall now loom up before thy sight and appear as
centuries of time. Oh, each day, each hour which
has been wasted by thee, will yet call for a retribu-
tion' at thy hands.
"And thou must learn to abhor the
sin of idleness, as one of the greatest bars in the gates
which have shut out thy entrance to the bright abodes
of the blest. And with bitter tears and sorrowful heart
thou wilt have to begin to labor, the labor for eternal
life. The hours wasted by thee must all be accounted
for here, for not one moment which has been allotted
in the life of man shall be blotted out from the record,
but shall appear before him, while any thing appears thereon which leaves a shadow of darkness.
"And when by long years of repentance and labor thou hast blotted
out all thy past offenses, then shalt thou indeed begin
to travel upward. When thy heart shall have melted,
and all its coldness and hardness shall have vanished,
and when it asks for sympathy and love, and freely
gives them in return, and when humility, like a white
mantle, shall envelop thy soul and shine out upon thy
countenance, then will the past indeed have become a dream.
"Oh ! when thou thinkest of it, thou wilt kneel
down, and with upraised hands and eyes thank the
great God in all his majesty and glory, for making thee
feel how unworthy thou hast been of his loving-kind-
ness and sweet forgiveness to thy many shortcomings.
For the proud heart shall find no habitation in the
mansions of the blest, but only the meek and the lowly,
the souls who labor because labor is a work of love,
shall find an entrance prepared to receive them."
Oh, brothers and sisters who are still in thy temples
of clay, whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it heartily.
Labor while the day lasts ; let not the precious mo-
ments go to waste, for they must all be accounted for
in eternity; they must all be repaid; and every deed
done in the body shall stand forth in light or in dark
colors, to confront you there on your entrance.
And therefore I say, Watch and pray, for the night of death
cometh, and thy soul will surely misgive thee for
wasted time and opportunity ; for God is infinite in
wisdom ; his love is never ending, and his mercy endureth forever.
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