Chapter II - Imposition and Demonstration
84:1
and in proportion as we rise in the scale of being, do
and in proportion as we rise in the scale of being, do
we learn this, but because evil boasts of greater num-
bers, this hath no advantage for the sinner. To-day
sin offers a premium; let down the bars of morality,
and you are society's favorite; put them up higher than
society can leap, and you bring opprobrium on the bar-
tender.
84:8
Woman especially should hold the standard that re-
Woman especially should hold the standard that re-
bukes vice, and saith to virtue, join us, and though we
battle beneath stripes, we will fall in our armor, or lay
it down on the field of victory. To ask in prosperity,
"am I right?" is wiser than to ask this in adversity.
One in a million does this, but can we lessen the num-
ber against that one?
84:15
Right advances slowly and with bleeding footsteps,
Right advances slowly and with bleeding footsteps,
but Truth can afford to wait, for "the eternal years of
God are hers."
84:18
We have investigated the phenomenon called medium-
We have investigated the phenomenon called medium-
ship both to convince ourself of its nature and cause,
and to be able to explain it; and have succeeded in the
first instance, but may have failed in the second. It is
more frequently in company with those who believe in
mediumship that mediums narrate something of the de-
parted, describe them personally, etc., showing it to be
the effect of mind on this plane acting on theirs. Again,
all the information imparted comes from the minds of
the living instead of the dead. That some one knew
the individual deceased is evident, and it is not more
difficult to read mind far away than near. We think
of an absent individual as easily as one present; hence
the equal ease to discern the absent mind that we visit
mentally. The demand to talk of the dead proceeds
85:1
from the mind of the living, who, believing in this pro-
from the mind of the living, who, believing in this pro-
cess or yearning for this communion mentally call for it,
and this reaches the mind touched to response, and
brings on the mood called mediumship. All theories
and manifestations growing out of belief are error: and
the important era for this age is the awakening or res-
urrection of understanding through which the unreal
yields to the real, and 'isms are given up; the corrupti-
ble yields to the incorruptible, and the belief of Life in
matter or Soul in sense gives place to the understanding
of Life, that Wisdom, Love, and Truth, in which
there is no conscious matter.
85:13
It follows not that in sleep we communicate with the
It follows not that in sleep we communicate with the
dreamer at our side, because of his proximity, or that
we both are dreamers wandering through the mazes of
thought. If Life has become real to the departed, they
cannot return to the unreal; or if they are at our side,
and Life goes on to them the same as before, we are not
in their conscious existence, nor they in ours, hence, we
are debarred intercommunion; our dreams being dis-
tinct they cannot blend, though we are side by side. If
those we call departed have gained a better understand-
ing of Life than ours, they have advanced beyond us;
in which case, we would not if we could draw them
back to our ignorance in order to meet us, and we could
not if we would; neither can we advance to their plane
of understanding except through their footsteps, and
these have not yet been taken. If one man dreams he
is crossing the Atlantic, and another the Andes, they
are not in communion, though they are side by side,
and dreamers both. This therefore represents the so‑
called dead and living who are on earthly planes of