LIFE AFTER DEATH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3983, 13 August 1929, Page 1

LIFE AFTER DEATH.

CONAN DOYLE’S BELIEF. PURPOSE OF “MANIFESTATIONS.” London, June 20. A remarkable open letter, written to “those of my own generation” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is published by the Psychic Press. In it, Sir Arthur reiterates his profound belief in personal survival •after death, and makes the interesting admission that there have been times when doubt has crept into his mind, impelling him to go over all the ground again. “’But,” he says, “always when I have finished* my judgment, which has so seldom failed me in the affairs of this world, 'tells me that there is no error and that this is indeed the greatest release of consolation and knowledge that has ever come t-o mankind.” He proceeds to say that at the very moment when religions which rested upon faith beeamie largely inoperative, there was released a fresh spjring of inspiration, destined, as many thought, to submerge all other philosophies. “For eighty 'years it has withstood all human ridicule, prejudice and misrepresentation. It grows, increases and broadens. It is a religion of knowledge and it is gained by getting in contact with intelligences which are on a higher sphere of spirituality and power than ourselves.” iSir Arthur admits that many of the manifestations of psychical phenomena apparent at seances, such as moving objects, rising tables and irrational sounds, aire, taken by themselves, vain and foolish things. “But,” he states, “they have a definite object for which they are well adapted, and which, iu fact, they have attained. That object is to attract attention and to show the existence of an invisible and apparently intelligent force.” The messages emanating from this force, taking them all together and collating them info one whole, are, in Sir Arthur’s opinion, the most important event in the history of the world. “They constitute,” he contends, “the first definite, authentic, detailed news as to the fate which has. been [reserved for. .all of us.” He concludes by relating' the story of’ an old man of 80 years whom he converted to a belief in survival from the spiritualist standpoint. “He used to come to our meetings and speak,” writes Sir Arthur. “When he was 83, he said from the platform,. ‘I am three years old, and there/ pointing to me, ‘is my father.’ (Soon he died in great peace. After he had lain rigid foil* some minutes, aud all thought that life had gone, he opened his mouth and cried in a loud voice, ‘God bless Conan Doyle.’ Then he returned into death. That cry from the grave was one of the rewards which have come to me as ample payment fok* my work.”