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Word Gems 

exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity

Edward Randall and Emily French

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The following is an excerpt from Edward C. Randall's Frontiers of the Afterlife (1922).

CHAPTER XIV – HELPING THE DEAD

In my early work I was told much that baffled understanding. Things which now appear simple, then seemed impossible. The statement that there were many in the after life who did not know that they had made the great change and were out of their physical bodies, was beyond my comprehension, though many whom I identified so stated.

At this period of my work I had the usual indefinite, hazy notion that Heaven, so-called, was far away, that something survived dissolution, but what it was I had never been able even to define, any more than the average Christian can define it today. I did not then know that this inner body at dissolution advanced to material spirit zones that encircle this earth, and that those whose spirituality did not carry them into the higher spheres did not for a long time get beyond the earthbound plane, and that many were able to go in and out of our homes and offices as before, though they could not make us answer them or realize their presence.

Some are in such a state that the helpers in the higher life cannot reach them, and it is only by uniting our forces and working together that these poor, souls are brought to consciousness and shown how they can develop and progress. Those earthbound ones are the spirit people who need our help.

When I state that one-half of each of the evenings –during all the years of my work was devoted, with the help of the spirit group working with me, to helping this class of spirits, one may get an idea of the great necessity for it. Bear in mind that Mrs. French, the psychist in whose presence this work was done, did not do the talking. She was not in a trance, but contributed psychic force necessary in our work. Bear in mind, again, that, when out of the physical housing, spirit people have vocal and respiratory organs as in earth life, and can speak as before, being heard by mortal ear when conditions are as I learned to make them.

Usually some learned spirit spoke on some phase or condition of the next life, which discourse, at such times as I was able to procure the services of a stenographer who could write in the dark, was taken in shorthand. Then came what we called our “Mission Work."

Thousands upon thousands of spirit people spoke in this work and never any two in the same condition or with similar ideas or experiences, for they were different as in this life. Many were awakened apparently after long periods of time; others were in darkness, and could not find the light; others did not realize that they had left the old earth body; others knew they had, but found nothing as they expected. Some had a craving for liquor and a desire to satisfy old appetites; while others came for suggestions and advancement. The procession was endless and the need beyond description.

Those who are advanced in the after life are ever ready and anxious to help any below them, and they do a wonderful work. But there are many whom they can not reach, and it is only by blending their forces with ours that a condition was created where these poor souls could be brought to a realization of their condition and started toward a higher development. Spirit people are not infinite; they are limited in their sphere, as we are in ours, and so, for twenty-two years, we worked together to help earthbound spirits. It was the most important work I ever did, beside which all my professional achievements sink into obscurity and are as nothing. This was a real pleasure and a great privilege. Let me illustrate the character of this work.

I was in my own home one evening, alone with Mrs. French. A storm had passed and there could be heard the low moaning wind in the great trees outside. It was absolutely dark in the room where we sat facing each other with only a small table between us. The discourse on the scientific aspect of the next state was finished; then came silence and expectancy.

“I have wandered, for years, searching, searching, searching,” a voice distressed and low, came out of the darkness; “and traveled, traveled, traveled; and I have found nothing but vegetation, and I am so weary.” Then this benighted spirit apparently realized that I was visible, and he seemed to turn toward me, and said: “I don’t understand. I am seeking my Savior; I was told He would meet me, but I can’t find Him, and I am lost.”

I replied: “No man is ever lost. ”

He replied: “I will be lost, if I don’t find my Savior. I have searched so long!”

”Did it ever occur to you that you have no Savior but yourself?” I asked.

“That cannot be,” he said. “All my earth life I relied on Him to save me, and I must find Him.”

“Would it not be better to try to save yourself,” I said.

“No man can be saved except he believe in Christ,” he answered.

”We have no Savior but ourselves, and until we understand that fact and help ourselves and others, we don’t find a very desirable after life. How do you account for the fact that you have traveled so far, met no people, and seen nothing but vegetation?” I asked.

“I don’t know; I don’t understand,” he answered.

”I know and I understand,” another spirit voice answered. “This man lived a narrow, selfish Christian life, simply relying on the Bible teachings, believing that the Savior would carry his burden and lead him to the great white throne, and when he realized he had passed the portal of death his first thought was to find that Savior that he had been taught to depend upon. This idea became an obsession and he started traveling with only one thought in mind. So intent was he, so centered was his thought, he saw nothing of the people or the wonders of the sphere in which he had advanced. He could not find what he sought, and he could not see or sense what he was not seeking. His journey will not end until he realizes that he is his own savior."

”That is a new idea. Who is that man?” he asked.

"A spirit like yourself,” I answered.

”Is what he said true?” he asked.

”Has it not occurred to you in all this time, that, if your teaching were true, your Savior would have met you, and has not the fact that you were not so met, caused you to question your belief?” I said in reply.

"It has not before, but let me think. Have I been wrong in my belief? When I came over and failed to find Him, I should have questioned; but I did not. I thought I must search and I have searched so long,” he said.

I had learned that when a spirit was really awakened in the condition we had created where the earth and spirit spheres blend together, friends could come and help. I asked: “Don’t you want to stop traveling, and see some of your family or friends?”

”I certainly do. –If I am wrong and have been wasting my life, I should like to know it,” he replied.

"Look,” I said: “It is growing light. How beautiful! See great throngs of people."

He said, “They are coming toward me, men and women, dead men and women, but they don’t look dead. They appear just as they did before, and so do I. There comes a friend who beckons me. May I go?”

”Yes,” I answered. “The thought that dominated you is broken and now you are free. Go with those who have come to help you, and they will show you how to help yourself." ...

These cases illustrate the condition in which some spirit people find themselves, the method employed in bringing them to a realization of the change that has taken place, and something of the results obtained in this mission work. Volumes could be written from the records obtained, which would further show the urgent need of work of this character.