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January 19th, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, your old partner, Albert G Riddle.
I desire to write to you tonight upon a subject which I think will
be interesting, but it is so late now I hesitate to do so.
Well, as you think it will be all right, I will do so. I want to
write on the subject of the soul's progression as I have experienced
it.
As you know, when I first came into the spirit world, I was an
unbeliever in things pertaining to the soul, except that I thought
that the soul, which in my then opinion was the equivalent of that
part of man which survived death, would continue to exist, and progress
as the mental qualities of the man should be developed. That the
mind was the great and only thing in the future existence, and as
the mind was developed more and more on earth the condition of the
man in his progression would be determined.
I had no conception of the soul as a distinct and independent existence
from the mind, and I thought that all the qualities and attributes
of the mind were those which belong to the soul, and that I had
none others. And so, I say - I entered the spirit world and did
not change my beliefs until a long time after I became a spirit.
But, as I continued to live in the spirit world in this belief,
I found that the mental faculties and their development did not
bring to me the satisfaction which I had anticipated; and also,
met some of my friends of earth, who had preceded me by long years,
men of great mental acquirements. I found that their condition was
not as satisfactory a nature as I had led myself to believe that
they should be, for many of these friends were only in the earth
plane, and some were in darkness which was wholly contrary to what
they should be if my theory of the 'allness' of the mind was true.
All this caused me to think, and in thinking, I commenced to realize
that there might be something wrong in my theory, and that the soul
might be a distinct thing from the mind in its nature and functions.
I did not find that these intellectual friends of mine had any
very great happiness nor were they satisfied with their condition,
and yet they could not by the exercise of any mental progress get
out of their condition of darkness. Of course they were engaged
in pursuing studies of one kind or another, and such studies gave
them considerable happiness and satisfaction, yet, notwithstanding
all this, there was some restraining force that prevented them from
going to spheres higher than they were then living in.
I found that there were higher spheres where the mind was developed
to a much greater degree and where many spirits who believed in
the supremacy of the mind, lived and enjoyed the pursuits of their
studies. At times, some of these spirits would come to our plane
and tell of the wonderful development and happiness in these higher
spheres, and urge us to make the effort to progress and become inhabitants
of them, and you may be assured we were willing and anxious to make
such progress. But try as I would, and as my friends would, the
efforts produced no visible effect and we continued in darkness.
Being of an inquisitive nature, I sought for the reason of our
inability to get out of the darkness. At last I found that the mind
was not everything, but the development of the moral qualities were
necessary to enable us to progress as we desired, and that in order
to develop these qualities, something more than the mere exercise
of the mental faculties were required.
Conscience must be satisfied and our recollection of evil deeds
on earth must be gotten rid of, and our qualities of soul which
determined our position and condition in the spirit world must be
so adjusted to the demands of the laws of harmony, so that we could
be able to advance in our progress to that place which such adjustment
would entitle us to occupy.
I further found that the darkness in which we lived was not created
by any defective condition of the mind, for many spirits whose minds
were highly cultivated and possessed of unusual knowledge were in
just as much darkness as were many spirits of very meagre mentality
and information.
All this knowledge came to me and caused me to seek a way to improve
my moral nature and to get rid of the recollections of those things
which tainted and darkened such nature, and I sought very diligently,
but it was slow work and the efforts required were great.
But some progress was made, and if I had continued long enough
and used my will powers in urging the cultivation of kind thoughts,
and love for the truth and affection, etc., I would undoubtedly
have progressed from darkness.This had been the experience of many
spirits who believed as I did, that the mind was the thing, and
depended upon their own will and exertions to bring the desired
results.
But while in this condition of struggle and slow progress, I would
occasionally meet spirits who seemed to be of a higher order and
more beautiful than was I, and naturally I wondered what the cause
was, although, strange as it may seem to you, I never made the inquiry
until one day I met some of our folks who had this beautiful appearance,
and seemed to be so perfectly happy.
Naturally in our conversation, I asked them the cause of their
happiness, and when they told me I was so surprised that I gave
very little credence to what they said, because what they told me
was so similar to what I had heard on earth in the orthodox churches.
I supposed that these friends had brought with them their old orthodox
faiths and emotions, and were deceiving themselves as to the cause
of their appearances, and that the probable cause was that they
were more moral than I, when on earth, and hence, their recollections
of earthly sins were less and conscience was not so severe on them,
and therefore they had gotten out of their darkness into light with
the resultant appearance of beauty and happiness. I would not at
first accept their explanations of the cause of their conditions,
and continued for sometime longer in the effort to improve my moral
condition and advance in my mental acquirements.
But there was one other thing, I noticed, and that is that while
these beautiful friends had not the mental development, apparently,
that some other spirits who had progressed out of the darkness into
the higher spheres of light, yet the beauty, and seeming happiness
of these friends were so much greater and of a different nature
from the happiness and appearance of those more highly mentally
developed spirits.
And again, I thought and concluded that even moral and mental development
could not explain the cause of the difference between the appearances
and happiness of these friends and those of these more mentally
developed spirits; so I again determined to seek the cause and,
as a consequence, I sought these friends with the intention and
desire to listen more seriously to what they might tell me, and
to open my mind to the secret as it was to me.
Well, I listened to them and they told me that their progress and
condition was caused by the soul development which they had received
in seeking for and obtaining the Divine Love of the Father. That
the soul is the great and important part of being spirits. That
the condition of the soul development determines the position and
appearance and happiness of the spirit, - that the spirit body and
mind are both subordinate to the soul, and whenever the mind submits
to the control of the soul, and the will of the mind, as you may
say, to the will of the soul, that then the progress to the highest
sphere will commence, and the spirit who is thus progressing will
show the state of his advancement by the appearance of his beauty
and happiness.
They further explained to me the nature and power of the Divine
Love and its great developing potentialites and the absolute necessity
of its entering into and possessing the soul, in order for it to
make its greatest progress. That as this Divine Love became more
and more a part of the soul's possessions, the soul took on itself
the Divine Nature of the Father, and all these things which had
a lodgment therein, and which tended to make it dark and sinful
disappeared, and as these things disappeared, the soul mounted to
higher spheres, and became happier and more beautiful, and the spiritual
body correspondingly manifested this happiness and beauty.
All these things and many more these friends told me, and urged
me to seek for the Divine Love of the Father and offered in every
way to help me. At first I could not understand what seeking this
Divine Love meant, but they took great pains to instruct me, and
told me that only through prayer and faith would it come to me.
That while this Love was waiting to fill the soul of every spirit
and anxious to do so, yet only by earnest, sincere, seeking would
It enter the soul and fill it with Its Great Essence.
At last they persuaded me to pray to the Father and then prayed
with me, but it was hard to have faith in that which my mind did
not understand and could not grasp. But they said, the soul has
its faculties and is not dependent upon the mind for this faith,
and upon my exercising these soul faculties would depend the question
of my receiving this love and this faith, for as love came, faith
would come also, which faith was not a mere mental belief, but something
greater and different.
Well, I continued to pray for this love, and after awhile, I felt
a sensation which I had never felt before, within my soul, and as
I prayed this feeling increased, and faith in a small degree came
to me, and I realized that there was a love possessing me that was
never with me before. I continued thus to seek and pray until at
last, this Great Love came to me in great abundance, flooding as
it were, my whole soul, and happiness unspeakable came to me and,
as these friends said, light and beauty also.
Well you can imagine that my longings and desires became insatiable
- the darkness disappeared - my recollections of the evils of my
life became fainter and fainter and suddenly I found myself in the
third sphere, which then appeared to me to be the very heaven of
heavens and the very fountainhead of beauty and happiness.
Now during all this time, and it was not accomplished in a day,
I gave no attention to the development of my mind, or to the acquiring
of knowledge of the material things, as I might say, of the spirit
world, but when I found myself in the beautiful sphere that I have
mentioned, it seemed to me that my mental faculties had expanded
beyond all possibilities of belief and knowledge of things that
I had never before heard or conceived of; came to me with wonderful
clearness.
But the soul and not the mind was the thing! And Love - this Divine
Love of the Father - made happiness mine and everything beautiful
and satisfying. He who seeks only the development of the mind, and
lets the soul slumber is poor indeed; but he who seeks the development
of the soul finds that as his soul develops his mind does also,
and rich he is beyond compare.
Well, I continued in this soul development, and in the increased
happiness and the attainment of great brightness, and more than
all the possessions of this Great Love, until I passed through the
fifth sphere, where everything was much more beautiful, and Love
so more abundant than in the third sphere, and entered the seventh
sphere where I now am. I will not attempt to tell you the glories
of this sphere, for I feel that words are inadequate to do so.Then
in a faint, unsatisfying way, have I attempted to rehearse to you
the soul's development, and the wholly sufficient thing that it
is.
And my advice to all mortals, based on my own personal experience,
is to seek with all their might and earnest efforts the development
of the soul, and that of the mind will follow. This they can commence
while yet on earth, and they will find that progress after they
have crossed the border line will be much more rapid and easier.
Well, it is late and I have written long enough. But I wanted so
much to write to you tonight upon this subject of the soul development
as I see its vital importance to the future happiness of man and
to his immortality.
So with all my love and blessings, I am
Your brother in Christ,
Albert G Riddle
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