AFTER DEATH.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 257, 9 March 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

AFTER DEATH.

LIFE OX THE "ASTRAL PLANE.' it has always been one of the complaints brought against the practice of spiritualism that communications re. ceivetl from disembodied spirits are of a trvial, vague and inconsequential n;u ture. If it lie true, the sceptics justly argues, that spirits who have pa-ssed to another world and a different quality of life can convey coherent information and ideas to us on earth, why do thi'y .waste Jtheir oipportumity wi|th tricks of a standard of vaudeville illusion when they might he revealing the

mysteries of life and death, around winch all human speculation centres? If the whole question of truth or falsity of the messages alleged to have been received from the spirit world l>e for the moment set aside, the one deduction to be drawn is that tiie quality of intelligence displayed in phychio communications is generally below a normal human standard. Tlio present-day high priest of spiritualism is that otherwise learned and discerning scientist, Sir Oliver Lodge, who, in his lates-t book on the subject, definitely places himself among the class of psychic experimenters that hitherto have boon regarded with the suspicion and distrust of most serious thinkers. Sir Oliver Lodge has claimed to have hed communication with the spirit of Ins son Raymond killed by a t»hell n the trenches of Flanders, and, despite the personal and private nature of the matter, has published a full and detailed account of the occurrences, in tne l>elief that he iw intended to convey to the bereaved people of the world a

message of the survival after death of personality, memory and affection, and of the possibilities of spiritualistic communication Without enterng into any critical examination of the "evidence"

that Sir Oliver Lodge submits for the genuineness of the messages he has received, it is of interest to construct form the jiiges of his book the theory end description of life after death that would l>o forced upon the acceptance of tho world.

It is an extraordinary story that the spirit of Raymond Ixidge relates to his father. Death, lie says, is not an instantaneous separation of spirit from body. In natural circumstances an essence "'oozes'' out of the earth body

end goes into another body which is lining prepared "oozes like in a string. Then it seems to shape itself, or something meet:-; it and shapes round it, and forms a duplicate of the body left be-

hind.'' The body that is formed is very similar to the earth body. The internal organs, however, do not seem constituted on the same lines as before, 'lho new body has eyelashes and eyebrows exactly the same, audi a tongue

and teeth. A body that has lost a limb gets a new one. When first it enters " the astral" it seems incomplete, but after a .while it gete more and more complete. If the limb is lost just before or at tho time of dentil the lxxly arrives complete in the astral. When an earth body is blown to pieces it takes some time for the spirit Ixxly to complete itself. A certain amount of otherio substance has been dissipated, and has to lie concentrated again. If a body gets burnt by accident, and they know about it on tho astral plane, a spirit doctor "conies round'' and helps to detach the spirit first. But bodies should not be burned on .purpose. The spirits have "terrible trouble" over people who are cremated too soon. As the spirit of Raymond says, " People are po careless." The idea scents to lie—- " Hurry up and get them out of the

way now that they are dead." They shouldn't be cremated for seven days. As long as any spirit is left in the body it will not mortify. Ravniond's

spirit saw a man going to be cremated

two days after the doctor said he was dead. When the relatives on the spirit side heard of it they brought a spirit doctor, who, when he saw that the spirit had not got realiy out of the body, magnetised it, and helped it out. But there was still a cord, and it had to be severed rather quickly. This gave a shock to the spirit, as if it had had something amputated. When the spirit of Raymond "passed over" to the astral plane it. felt rather upset at first, iiie great thing that made liini reconciled to his new surroundings was that things appeared so soiid and substantial. He found houses built of brick, and trees and flowers, and if lie knelt down in the nuid he apparently got his clothes soiled. The flowers and trees and solid ground are not "created by thought." There is something always rising 'from tho earth plane—something chemical in form. As it rises it gees through various changes, and solidifies on the astral plane. It : s something given off from the earth that makes the solid trees and flowers. All the decay that goes on on the earth piano is not lost. It doesn't just form manure or dust. Certain vegetable and tiecvi > od tissue does form manure for a time, but it gives off an essence or a gas, which oil the earth Ls called a

"smell." Everything dead has a smell, and it i-i from that smell that duplicates are produced in tho spirit world. When spirits first pass on to the a-stral plane they want tho things that they enjoyed in their earth life. There aro therefore "laboratories" in the spirit world to manufacture these tilings for them. The spirit of Raymond wanted clothes. He didn't care for white, rolx-s at first. As lie, himself, describes : t, ho was "just like a fellow gone to a country where there is a hot climate — an ignorant fellow, not knowing what lie u going to. He may make up his mind to wear his own clothes, but he will soon be dressing like the natives." Hoviever, Raymond was allowed to have "earth clothes" until ho became acclimatised. The spirit factory turned lum out a suit made, he supposed, from decayed worsted on the earth side. A spirit "came over "one day who would have a. cigar. "That's linish<d them.

t}:onlclit l{:iyniond, hut no, the sj>iiit> •«(.'!(• alilo to manufacture, out of essences and ethers sjiicJ francs, something "t.'iat looked like a citrar.'' Raymond didn't try 0110 himsdi, l>ut the other chap jiTin|n»d at it-." J Jut when ho h.'iran to smoke it ho didn't think so niut-li ol it. 110 had four altogether.

and now In* wouldn't look at om

Other spirits want meat and drink. Sonic oven call for whisky soda-. The spirits c.ui manufacture oven that. I'a.yrnond's grandfathor, William, t ikes him into tho spirit library, and tin iv arc hook-, not yet puhli-Jied on the <>artli plane. Raymond is f-old that those hr;ok s "ill ho produced; that the. ni'i *ti i* in ill en i will lie imprc-sod on the lirain ol some man. 11c linds our waiting lor his father to write, lijni gives no hint of the suhiiHi. matter.

In more serious vein the spirit, of I'aynioiul attempts to explain the universe. I lie spirit spheres, he says, are ' 1 i' t round t'he earth plane and i-eom t.i roVolvo with It. The first sphere is not. revolving aj sic h a rate its the th.rd, lourili, lilt.h, sixth and seventh sphere-. (Ireater eirrninference makes it seem revolve more raipidly. That KM-nis to 11:iVi« an actual elfe t. on the afnr,spheric conditions prevailing in 'iivoui.ot tlie spheres. T'avmond is on the third sphere and has been attending ectnro.s at. "halls of learning" to

prepare himself for higher spheres. He i.s permitted, however, to visit other spheres. In on© seance he describes to Ins mother a visit to the highest sphere of all. Sir Oliver Lodge omits the description from his book with the extraordinary excuse that "until the ca.se for survival is considered established, it is thought improper and uiwisjp to relate <lll experieueo of a kind which may be imagined, in a book dealing for t'ho most p-art with evdentinl matter." A very full description is, however, printed of Raymond's acocunt of a visit to the Fifth Sphere, whore, in a wonderful temp!?, he w;is taught by Guides from the Seventh Sphere how to touch others on the lower spheres and earth pi me to come more into the spiritual life while still on tho.-e lower plane*--. Lessons were given him on concentration and on the projection of uplifting and helpful thoughts to those on the earth plane. and he tound that his work, for some timo at least, would lie in helping spirits that "came through'' to the astral plane to become more rapidly and comfortably acclimatised.