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June 4th, 1917
Received by James Padgett.
Washington D.C.
I am here, Gottfried Leibnitz.
Let me write a few lines. I am not an acquaintance of yours, yet
I am not a stranger, so far as my being in your presence and observing
the different spirits who communicate with you.
I have been in spirit life a great many years and have been through
the hells and purgatory and all kinds of suffering and am now in
the light and comparatively happy. I am in what is called the Second
Sphere, where are many bright and intellectual spirits, working
out their own plans for accomplishing certain of their ideas and
progressing to higher planes.
I was a professor on earth and gave much of my time to the study
of psychology and kindred subjects, and had many ideas of my own
on these questions, and especially was I interested in the study
or rather speculation - for I did not believe in the Bible or the
teachings of the churches - as to the future of man, and my speculations
led me to the conclusion that the physical death was not the end
of man, for it seemed to me that if such was the case the object
of the workings of the great laws of evolution would be defeated
by the ending of the existence of the greatest and highest resultant
of that evolution, namely man. I was a student of comparative biology
and believed without any doubt and with the certainty of knowledge
that man was the greatest product of this great principle of evolution
and that for centuries upon centuries it had been working to bring
or develop man from the mere molecule to the high degree of perfection
displayed in his wonderful mind and moral faculties, and that then,
in a moment, end it all by this thing known as physical death, was
unreasonable and unjustified, and, hence, I concluded, as I say,
that men must live after the death of the body.
But when I got that far in my conclusions there came the question,
what was beyond; and here my speculations were not so satisfactory
for I had very little upon which to base any theories. Of course
I thought, that as man in the past had made such wonderful progress
in his evolution, and as he would live in the future it was reasonable
to suppose that this evolution would continue and that man's progress
would be without limitation or ending - provided, he should continue
to live forever. And thus arose the question of man's immortality;
and here, I was stalled, for I had nothing with which to make a
comparison. I knew that it was accepted as a truth in natural science
that nothing could ever be destroyed or lost, and that the elements
or atoms from which those physical things, perceptible to the senses,
were composed should continue to exist forever, but this was not
satisfactory to me upon which to base the fact that man would live
forever. While these elements or atoms, themselves, could not be
destroyed, yet many of those composite things into which these elements
had entered, and given form, had been destroyed and as such composite
entity and form no longer had an existence.
I had seen the oak start from the acorn and grow to be a mighty
tree and live for years and suddenly, by a stoke of lightning, destroyed
and ceased to live, and as such tree went entirely out of existence.
And, hence, by analogy I could not say that man as the identical
individual would not go out of existence, and, in fact, I had seen
him as regards his physical existence, cease to be an existence
and his body disintegrate and go back to its elements; and I could
find nothing in all this to justify me in asserting that man, in
whatever form he might exist after his bodily death, would not at
sometime in the future cease to have the form that made him the
very individual that had lived on earth and continued his existence
in the spirit world. No, I could not, in my speculations satisfy
myself that man was immortal. And so speculation was compelled to
stop, and I was left without any assurance that my theory of persistence
of man after death was not one that might not prove to be false.
But I died, and found that I, the conscious thinking man, continued
to exist with all the faculties of mind and feelings that were mine
when a mortal. And in addition, I soon met those who had preceded
me in the spirit world, and who had since becoming spirits, advanced
in their evolution, and were more perfect mentally and morally than
they had been when on earth; and who, also, informed me that beyond
where they had evoluted (evolved) to, were spheres in which spirits
of greater intellectual development and ancient in years, lived
and worked and speculated upon the same question that I had given
so much thought to when on earth, namely: is man immortal?
And they further informed me that these ancient worthies had not
been able to solve the problem, but that many who had come to the
spirit life thousands of years before were still living, and no
spirit had ever been known to have passed out of existence or dissolve
into the elements of which it was composed.
So you see, the spirits in the highest spheres with all their intellectual
development and thousands of years of study, can no more assert
with certainty that man is immortal than I could when on earth.
To me now, as when on earth, this is the greatest question that
arises, and engages my continuous thoughts, and I see no way to
solve the problem. I remember, that when on earth the preachers
and the churches claimed and taught the doctrine of immortality,
and while I never deeply investigated the foundation of their claims,
yet I cannot conceive that they can possess any more certainty of
the supposed fact than did I. I can hardly believe that God ever
revealed to man the fact of immortality; and in my opinion, in my
present stage of development, only God knows, and all the teachings
of the churches and wise theologians are mere speculations, not
to be relied on.
Well, I have written you a long letter tonight, and you may not
be interested, but I am, and as the opportunity came, I thought
that I would like to write, for I know that there are many mortals
who are working and speculating and attempting to find some basis
for their hopes of immortality; and some believe that while they
may not satisfy their hopes on earth, yet when they come to the
spirit world, the difficulties will be removed and the problem solved;
and to these I desire to make known the fact that they will look
through just as dark glasses here as they are now looking through
on earth.
Well, you surprise me and I can scarcely believe that you are serious,
for I have never heard of such a way or of such a knowledge existing
among spirits, and if you can show me that way I will, with all
the energies of my soul pursue it. Well, you surprise me more and
more; but I am willing to do as you say, no matter how absurd it
may seem to me, or what little prospects I may see in making the
pursuit. I will do as you say.
Well, I see a beautiful spirit who says that he is Prof. Salyards,
and has heard what I said and what you said, and that he will be
pleased to show me the way to obtain both a knowledge and the actual
possession of this immortality, and I shall accept this invitation
and go with him. I thank you very much for listening to me and for
your expressions of desire to help me; and if what you promise comes
true, you may rest assured that I will return sometime and tell
you.
So my friend, I will say good night.
Your friend,
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz
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