The Life Beyond the Veil Volume I: The Lowlands of Heaven - George Owen, Kenroy Hunter, Geoff Cutler (best novels for beginners .TXT) 📗

A. Because in that phase of your mind’s activity you are blind. That is the first thing you have to realize. Do you believe me when I say you are, in some directions, blind?

B. I can see very well, and the things I see are fairly plain, and the country quite natural and beautiful. I am not blind in that respect. But I am beginning to think there may be other things just as real which I cannot see, but shall see some day perhaps, but——

A. Now, stop there, and leave the “but” alone. And now look, as I take your guide by the hand.

He then took the watching guide’s right hand in his own, telling B. to look intently, and tell him if he saw anything. He could not be certain, however. He thought he saw some kind of transparent form which might or might not be real, but was by no means sure.

A. Then take his hand in yours. Take it from me.

The man held out his hand and took that of his guide from the hand of A., and burst into tears.

Had he not progressed so far as to make that action, he would not have seen his guide, nor have been able to feel his touch. The fact that he put out his hand at the command of A. showed that he had progressed during their conversation, and he immediately received his reward. The other held his hand in a firm grasp for some time, and all the while B. saw him and felt him more and more clearly. Then A. left them together. Soon B. would be able to hear, as well as see, his guardian, and no doubt he will go on now from strength to strength.

This will show you what difficult cases we sometimes have to deal with. Light and gross darkness, humility and hard, obstinate pride all mixed up together, and hard to separate or to treat successfully. But such problems are interesting, and, when mastered, give great joy to the workers.

Ruby4 sends her love and this message to her parents, “Believe me, my darlings, the doing of a good and kind action, and the thinking and speaking of kind words by those we love on Earth are immediately telegraphed graphed here, and we use them to adorn our rooms, as Rene adorns her rooms with your flowers.” God bless you, dear lad. Good-night.5

1 This is a very curious experience because it proves that what one may claim to have seen as a vision may well have been manipulated and indeed even created by others. I suspect this may explain some of the very odd events that people experiencing N.D.E's claim to have seen, such as Jesus with bloodied hands.

2 Summerland is the name given in many spiritualist circles to what is in effect the lowest “real” heaven. Below this the area is called the Borderland or the Twilight zone, and below that the Hells. In the numbering system used by both the Urantia Book and the Padgett Messages, Summerland is in the First sphere. However in other systems of counting, it is the Third sphere, because the Borderlands and the Hells are counted as spheres. In Volume Four further information is provided on the numbering system used in this series. As compared to the numbering where there are seven spirit spheres (called Mansion Worlds in the Urantia Book) and then the "Christ Spheres" begin, in the system used here each of these lower seven has been subdivided, making fourteen spirit spheres. G.J.C.

3 Mental capacity increases with spiritual advancement, but it appears that the wife has not yet progressed far enough to make up the deficit. This is the first instance I have come across where the conclusion is that ones mental capacity on arrival in spirit is no greater than it was before death. G.J.C.

4 This message from Ruby seems to have reference to boxes of flowers we had been sending to our daughter, who was away at school.—G.V.O.

5 With this last message the communication from Mr. Vale Owen’s mother ceased and the messages were continued by a spirit entity named Zabdiel. These are given in a further volume

(2) of the The Life Beyond the Veil entitled The Highlands of Heaven. —H.W.E.

Chapter 6

Astriel’s Messages1

The science of prayer—“Thy prayers are come up”—A present from the spiritual spheres—A lesson on light, vibration and gravitation—The lesson resumed— Orthodoxy and the Truth—Multiform service in the universe—Suns, systems and spheres of power—He giveth to His beloved during sleep—An example—Good-bye.

Tuesday, October 7, 1913.

BY the aid of others, who are with us now for the first time, we are going to try to give you a little instruction in the verities of the Faith as they appear to us on this side

the Veil.

In regard to those truths which men have embodied in the Creeds we have little to say, for so much has been said already that, until much has been unsaid once again, men are ill-prepared to receive what we should have to say. We, therefore, prefer, for the present time, to leave you to look out for yourselves such truths as you find there, merely observing, as in passing, that all the articles are true if rightly interpreted.2

We would pass on, therefore, to speak of things of which men do not consider so much at the present time. These will engage their attention the more when they have finished their wrangling over aspects of the truth which, after all, are aspects merely, and not the fundamental truth itself. If they would endeavour to view things in a right proportion, then many of those matters which absorb so much of their time would stand to them as among the lesser things which matter little, and the,, would then be the better able to devote their attention to the deeper truths which are established here as well as with you on Earth.

One thing it may be well to notice is the efficacy of prayer and meditation. You have already received some instruction on this subject, and we would add to it.

Prayer is not merely the asking for something you wish

to attain. It is much more than that, and, because it is so, it should receive more careful consideration than it has yet received. What you have to do in order to make prayer a power is to cast aside the temporal and fix your mind and spirit on the eternal. When you do that you find that many items you would have included in your prayer drop out from the very incongruity of their presence, and the greater and wider issues become to you the focus of your creative powers. For prayer is really creative, as the exercise of the will, as seen in our Lord’s miracles, such as the Feeding of the Five Thousand. And when prayer is offered with this conviction then the object is created, and the prayer is answered. That is, the objective answers to the subjective in such a way that an actual creation has taken place.

This does not happen when the prayer is wrongly directed. Then the projection of the will glances off at a tangent, and the effect is only proportionate to the scattered rays by which the objective is touched. Also, when the prayer is mixed with motives unworthy it is proportionately weakened, and also meets with opposing or regulating wills on this side, as the case may require; and so the effect is not attained as desired.

Now, all this may sound rather vague, but it is by no means vague to us. For you must know that there are appointed guardians of prayer here whose duty it is to

analyse and sift prayers offered by those on Earth, and separate them into divisions and departments, and pass them on to be examined by others, and dealt with according to their merit and power.

In order that this may be done perfectly, it is necessary that we study the vibrations of prayer as your scientists study the vibrations of sound and light. As they are able to analyse and separate and classify the rays of light, so are we able to deal with your prayers. And as there are light-rays with which they are confessedly unable to deal, so many prayers present to us those deeper tones which are beyond the range of our study and knowledge. These we pass on to those of higher grade, to be dealt with in their greater wisdom. And do not think that these latter are always found among the prayers of the wise. They are frequently found in the prayers of children, whose petitions and sighs are as carefully considered here as those of nations.

“Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.” You will remember these words spoken by the Angel to Cornelius. They are often passed over without being understood as the literal description of those prayers and alms as they appeared to that Angel, and were passed on, probably by himself and his fellow workers, into the higher realms. It is as if he had said, “Your prayers and alms came before my own committee,

and were duly considered on their merits. We passed them as worthy, and have received notification from those Officers above us that they are of exceptional merit, and required a special treatment. Therefore I have been commissioned to come to you.” We are trying to put the case as emphatically as we can in your language of official business in order to help you to understand as much as you may be able of the conditions here obtaining.

If you will examine other instances of prayer in the Bible in the light of the above, you may get some glimpses of the reality as seen by us here in our own land. And what applies to prayer also may be applied to the exercise of the will in directions not so legitimate. Hate and impurity and greed and other sins of the spirit and mind take on here a solidity which is not seen or realized in your sphere; and these also are dealt with according to their merits. And, alas, those who say that Angels cannot grieve, know little of our love for our brethren still battling on Earth. Could they see us dealing with some of these misusings of the Father’s great gift they would probably love us more and exalt us less.

Now we will leave you to consider this matter further for yourself, if you think it worth while, and, as we see you are willing to continue somewhat, will touch on another matter which may be both of interest and of help to you.

On the top of your church tower there is a weather-vane in the form of a cock. You will call to mind that you yourself decided the form that this should take. Is not that so?

I had entirely forgotten it until you called it to mind. You are quite correct, however. The architect asked me about it, and I hesitated between a fish and a cock, and eventually decided on the latter. I am wondering, however, whatever you have to say of it.

No doubt. You see, these things are trifles to you; but there are few things which are trifles to us. Now, the fact that the likeness of a cock stands above your tower is the direct consequence of certain activities which took place in your mind five years ago. That is a case of creation. Many would smile at this, but we do not mind that, for we, too, are able to smile, and some of our smiles would perplex you, I assure you.

The meaning you had in your mind when your apparently not very important decision was made was that all might be reminded that St. Peter denied his Lord. I suppose you meant it