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Word Gems exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
Summerland
from "Letters From The Spirit World"
all life ascends
I wrote to you in "The Discovered Country" that the
spirit existing within all things which have life, ascends to
this life, when those things appear to die or decay on
earth; and this is true; consequently, we have everything
here that you do there; we have vast forests, plains,
mountains, rivers, seas, oceans, vegetation of all kinds, an-
imal and insect life in their various forms, flowers, shrub-
bery, rivulets, ponds; nothing at all is left out, but on the
contrary much is added that you have never seen, for we
have also all that the past can give.
Now it has been said on earth, and we have heard these
sayings, that there would not be room enough within the
celestial spheres to hold all these things. We think those
who can say this must entertain very cramped notions of
eternity. Do such minds ever stop to consider that eter-
nity has no bounds or limits — that it is forever and for-
ever? ...
Eternity is filled with forms of all kinds, and eternity
has no beginning or ending bounds or limits. So, when I
tell you, Carlyle, that our home is situated near a beauti-
ful lake, it need cause you no surprise. The lake bears
the same correspondence that lakes do of earth. The
ethereal water is just as much heavier than the ethereal
air as the water on the earth is denser than the atmos-
phere, and within the waters here, glide beautiful fishes
— the spirits of those that have died on earth, and it is the
same with our animals, they arise up more and more
beautiful, one sphere above another, but nothing propa-
gates its species here. All propagation is on the mate-
rial earths and the earths cannot and do not propagate
more than the celestial worlds need — moreover, nothing-
is crowded here and there are vast areas of space — so vast,
indeed, that the mind of man cannot even conceive of
them — wherein no form yet exists.
When wild animals die on the earth, their spirits rise
into great spiritual forests which are so wild and gloomy
that human spirits seldom or never visit them; when great
sea monsters die, or smaller fish, their spirits ascend and
find homes within boundless spiritual oceans. Your
globe of earth, that seems so vast to you, is but a small
speck, or like a grain of sand, compared to eternity and its
eternal heavens. It is simply that the mind of man can-
not grasp these things.
Forms come up through the material, not that they
may perish, but that they may be conserved to fill eternity
with beauty and intelligence — not only the intelligence of
mankind, but the lesser intelligence of beasts, birds, reptiles
and fishes — these forms to nature are just as beautiful as is
that of man. Do you ever stop to think, my dear son,
that there are other earths, or planets, in space, whose in-
habitants are so much beyond the men of earth that a
man to them would appear as a reptile does to man on
earth. Such is the fact, however; but the dwellers of
those planets are too wise altogether to say: "Oh, the rep-
tile man, on that small, insignificant earth cannot be im-
mortal"— for they well know that all forms whatever are
immortal and imperishable. Why the forms of every-
thing you have on earth are contained within a small ethe-
real germ — spiritual germ — which must be held within all
earthly seed, whatever its kind, and each after its kind —
and right here is where man makes a fatal mistake, for the
spiritual germs of everything in existence or that ever did
or ever will exist are forever within the ethereal atmos-
phere, and as this ether penetrates through the material
atmosphere the flowers of all vegetation attract and hold,
each its kind; so of all animals, so of all men...
But nothing is mean — nothing is insignificant — noth-
ing can ever be [insignificant].
We are not the makers of anything that
exists, consequently we have no right to despise anything
whatever, not even the smallest insect or worm. Life
does not originate with man; he simply observes it, and
the nearer he approaches [perfection] the less he feels like
despising anything that exists within the universe, for all
is God; All is God! ...
Life is spirit and spirit is immortal in whatever form it may exist. The tiniest blade of grass is just as immortal as is man. No form, when once attained, is ever resolved back into elementary principles. Matter falls away from it but the form is retained forever-more. plains, rivers, mountains My original intention concerning the featuring of Franz Petersilia’s comment was to highlight the survival of plants. However, in this special focus, it seems that I might have blinded myself to a larger dynamic in play. Let’s look at his statement again: I wrote to you in "The Discovered Country" that the I was not ready to accept the full impact of his assertions. That which contains the life-principle is more than animals and plants. Look at how he includes, plains, rivers, mountains, ponds, oceans – no natural form of our world is left out! The reason for this, it would appear, is that the life-principle, Universal Consciousness, inhabits much more than animals and plants. See this statement by Leadbeater:
This is phenomenal, and much more than we knew things to be. It would mean that our favorite places on Earth – when they “decay” – are transferred to a Summerland nature-preserve. This means, for me, that the lake beside my father’s old farm will one day exist in another realm.
Editor’s note: I was pleased to discover the above information on Christmas morning, as I approached age 73.
postscript: my most unusual experience A very strange experience was given to me. So much so that part of me wanted to forget about it. It’s so unusual that few would believe it. I myself can hardly accept the occurrence and wanted to repress the incident; in truth, the majority of my sensibilities still deny the event. However, in the passage of time, I’ve realized that there may exist a duty to provide testimony; which now, finally, having reached agreement with myself, I will offer, but only briefly.
There was a young tree, like this one, about 12 feet in height. On the previous page I stated that I’d been walking in a wooded area and had encountered a few young trees that had been vandalized. On subsequent days, as I continued to walk by these trees, I witnessed that the purposeful injury had continued. “Why would somebody do this?” I asked myself. Initially, concerning my “favorite tree”, the narrow trunk, about two feet from the ground, had been snapped, though still partially intact. The 10 foot length of the tree was now prostrate, lying on the forest floor. My disconsolation at this atrocity prompted me to take photographs of the carnage. But, this caused me to think, could I create a splint, could it be propped up? maybe, if I could tape an artificial support securely enough, the tree might recover and grow normally. However, this seemed like a long shot, as the damage appeared to be too extensive and irreversible. A few days later, as I continued to walk by these trees, to my dismay, I discovered that someone had completely severed the 10 foot length, leaving only the upright 2 foot narrow trunk – now, a lonely baluster standing sentinel; moreover, the 10 foot length was completely gone, nowhere to be seen. I did a quick search of the immediate area, thinking that it might have been tossed nearby, but no trace of it. For many days, I would continue to pass by these trees on my walks. I should mention, too, that, because of the violence inflicted, with a certain sense of injustice weighing upon my spirit, as I passed them – four or five damaged trees -- I would briefly touch each one and, either mentally or with whisper, would offer a word of prayer or encouragement to them that they would one day, again, exude all of their verdant glory, in another world. This went on for many days. But then it happened. I was walking as usual and, indeed, looking forward to seeing my several “friends.” But, as I approached the place of residence for the 2 foot high sentinel, I exclaimed to myself – where is it??!! it’s gone!! How can this be? Maybe I’m confused. Yes, I must be confused. Maybe it's farther up the path! But, no, I know this path too well now, and, anyway, I have photographs of the very spot, and there’s no doubt that my favorite tree had been in this very place! Had someone snapped off the trunk at ground level? But the ground was smooth, no evidence of any uprooting. Further, a 2 inch layer of composting leaves covered the ground, on the very spot where the tree had been. I pushed aside this layer of leaves to see if I could find any indication of a tree’s root system. But, no, nothing, in fact, the composting leaves gave the impression of not having been disturbed for a long time. This is not possible, I thought. I’d always heard that a tree’s root system is about as extensive below ground as the growth above ground. But even if the root system were somewhat less burgeoning, it would have to be some substantialness! That “2 foot baluster” was very sturdy in the ground, you couldn't move it, and one would have a heck of time taking it out, there would be much digging to dislodge this woody edifice. None of this made sense to me. How can a 12 foot tree’s root system, which is not nothing, simply vanish? – and not only vanish, but with no trace or mark upon the ground that it had ever been there! No indentation on the earth! You can’t just take out a root system, of a 12 foot tree, without having some sort of depression in the ground! But –there's nothing! The ground was flat, and not only that but with a layer of composing leaves suggesting lack of disturbance for some time. Well, this bothered me a lot. And it’s sort of funny, as I’m the one who’s catalogued all sorts of unusual phenomena – but when it happened to me, I couldn’t really accept it! I sent photos and commentary to several close friends to see what they’d think. No one could say much, but that some sort of spiritual event had taken place. I contacted Sue Barnes for her opinion. She said it was unusual – that it was a kind of “apport” situation, but in reverse. It’s not so uncommon, in physical mediumship, for objects to appear, but this seemed to be a case of an object being removed. Many months have gone by since all this took place. I no longer get out to walk much as I don’t feel that well. But, what’s my assessment now? I still have trouble accepting that this really happened. There must be some other explanation, I’m sometimes tempted to think. But, in my studies of this area, I know that unusual things can occur in the presence of those who have physical-mediumistic abilities, even if the abilities are unknown to the agent facilitating the event.
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