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Higher Education, Factories and Civil Engineering in the Spirit World. The eternal nature of the soul.
In Chapter VI, during a visit to a university campus, Bertha's Companion asks her to make a note of all the different ways that spirit can contact humans on earth. This is the crux of the matter in proving the afterlife and that there is no death. The evidential messages we receive from spirit through a good medium, the so-called miraculous happenings which enable us to escape from or avoid a terrible accident, the miraculous distant healings, or the medical operations of psychic surgeons [doctors from the spirit world assisting a healing medium], EVP, ITC, apparitions, poltergeist activity, materializations, psychic photography, the work of psychic artists like Coral Polge, and all the other phenomena related to the work of mediums provide the proof, again and again, every day, here and now, that thw Spirit World exists, and is the source of our own material reality.
On this journey, Bertha's guide took her to the Halls of Knowledge. He again reminded her to keep writing about all she saw on her visit, and to remember as much as she could. He explained that spirits never cease to learn and unfold their minds, since progress is infinite. The university buildings were situated on a campus set within a large park, and every branch of knowledge was represented. There were lecture halls, laboratories, libraries, concert halls, and oppportunity for every kind of discussion and debate. Some dons or professors wore traditional gowns, and others their ordinary clothing. Those who had been unable to receive an education, or complete it, while on earth, here have the opportunity to progress. Bertha writes "I was assured again and again that nothing was lost by the intervention of so-called death, for earth life is but a prologue to the greater and real life, where every Soul is civen perfect freedom to develop their minds and gifts as they so desire once they have left behind the physical limitations of earth life. This new-born freedom gives the Soul access to a greater store of knowledge and wisdom."
"My Companion escorted me through other rooms in these buildings at intervals where teachers and instructors were training and helping those who were seeking further enlightenment. The atmosphere seemed impregnated with harmony: a quiet sense of peace prevailed. I seemed to catch fragmentary glimpses of their minds which reflected into mine. Thoughts seemed to permeate mine, and to make me "think and feel." There is so much to know and learn: so much joy in discovery, such vast, unexplored territory to survey, and I have all eternity before me. That restless hurry and scurry of earth life which we all experience had disappeared. In its place here was an all-pervading atmosphere of restfulness."
Bertha's companion said: "I am aware of your thoughts. When the mind is able to register peaceful thoughts, it is indeed in tune with other minds, and it is then that we know even as we are known. Here we call it 'the language of the Soul.' I hope to be permitted to show you more of other Halls, where languages, art and music await you. But in this, your present journey, a general survey must content.......Here everyone is given equal opportunity to continue the occupations and interests he or she enjoyed in earth life. They may, if they so desire, pursue other interests, which in earth life they were denied through lack of opportunity or limitations caused by financial difficulties. Poverty is one of the greatest obstacles to overcome in your earth life: this does not exist here. The only poverty known in our world is ignorance, or if you prefer the term 'lack of knowledge,' and this only exists while the soul so desires.
I would urge you to record the many ways in which we are permitted to contact the people in earth life. Many do so in order to assist people still in physical bodies. Ours is the world of reality - yours but the shadows. It is in our world where creative thought takes shape and comes into being, your world catches or 'mirrors' the effect of thought. The error which prevails in earth life is caused by man distorting and misusing the knowledge he acquires from our world. In this he makes or creates his own punishment, for even as he breaks a law, it in turn reacts upon him in boomerang effect. Thus two worlds are blended together as one, where in each world the lesser soul in knowledge and development is helped and blessed by a greater soul."
In Chapter VII Bertha continues to record what her companion said about her nature of the soul and its acts of creation He explained that the mysteries of the universe are endless and boundless, and that as the human mind moves on in stages of progressive consciousness, so it tontinues to play a part in bringing ino being all that is and exists in this universe, for the human being is God manifest through mind-consciousness. "It is true that God ever manifests his presence through the mind and consciousness of man by and through the creative power of thought."
They visit this time a kind of factory where there is a production line manufacturing a kind of fabric. There are several workers there, and moulton liquid is poured from a huge cauldron into a machine which rolls it out into a many-coloured fabric which is then stretched onto a frame. Bertha writes "Its beauty I can not really describe: it was the embodiment of loveliness and I have never seen its like upon the earth."
Then her companion takes her to an open space where a kind of transmitting tower was about to be erected. Massive silver girders were lying on the ground. Her companion told her to watch, and to keep her mind fixed on the greater structure as the attempts to raise it were made.
"The very atmosphere became tense, as slowly but surely this gigantic heap of massive silver girders began to rise upn by some force I know not. I could see no means by which this mighty structure could be raised, but even as it did so, each section seemed to fall into its own particular place, and I watched the amazing structure as it were, uncurl itself and rise up into a gigantic tower. Higher and higher it rose like an immense Eiffel Tower, for that is the nearest thing I can liken it to on this earth, though the height of that well-known Tower would be miniature in comparison to this gigantic structure. It gleamed bright in a glorious light as a great cry rose from the throng: it was like the sound of a mighty choir saying "Hurrah," or some similar word, in acclaiming a great success. But even as the echo of the cries of triumph died away, there was, to my astonishment, another great cry. This time it sounded like a scream and I watched this amazing construction collapse and crumble, while the bewildered crowd recoiled with horror and alarm....we watched the debris slowly dwindle and dwindle until it disappeared completely and nothing remained....it left no trace, in the centre of the large open space. All around it stood the people in silence, tense and terrified. A command was given, conveying one thought, 'this is failure, go your various ways,' and so the people dispersed in silence, and my Companion took my arm and turned me away. "Record this in your book. It is right you should see these things, though none of us anticipated this tragic failure, but since you have witnessed it, it is right you should record it. Tell your people in earth life that we too have our failures here, for the Spirit World has its disappointments, for there must of necessity be failures, even as there are also achievements. One can never have progression and yet never a failure. How can there be success without effort, any more than there can be achievement without sometimes a failure, one must experience one in order that it may become the incentive for the creation of the other. Tell them, too, we need the prayers of those for whom we pray and for whom we have been appointed to serve. .......
"You cannot anticipate the ever-growing consciousness of mind to soul consciousness, for soul consciousness is not limited. You in earth life are limited as your conception of consciousness is finite. But, when you enter the Spirit World there are no limitations to infinite consciousness. Here there is that ever increasing desire to know and yet know more of worlds upon worlds and consciousness succeeding consciousness to reach out to the Infinite. It is difficult for you by reason of your limitations to grasp this eternal truth - there are no limitations to such consciousness, and as the human Soul is in part the essence of the Infinite, there is no limit to the soul's desire for knowledge. With knowledge comes Wisdom, and then follows greater soul consciousness, even to infinity, where in the eternal consciousness, all shall be known in the fulness of eternity."
In her conluding remarks, Bertha Harris writes "In these few brief chapters, I have tried to convey to my readers some implication of the vast, boundless and endless world of Spirit.
I trust that it will give comfort and consolation to those who suffer loss by bereavement. This deeper spiritual understanding derived from my visits into Spirit Life should convey to the seeker after truth the all-important knowledge of an ever-widneing enlightenment, so necessary for the development of each soul.
This small selection of my journeyings into Spirit Life will, I trust, have served this useful purpose leading the seeker into a greater understanding between himself and his immortal birthright - The Spirit World.
This is the conquest of the undying soul."
Reviewed from "Journey into Spirit World" by Bertha Harris, one of several interesting pamphlets published
by the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain in the 1940s. Though long out of print, some are still available in used or antiquarian bookstores or in libraries. Much of the material in these articles should have remained in print, been taught in schools, and become the essential background for our religious and spiritual education. The knowledge needs preserving as well as being presented again and again, as we do here, to keep it alive and readily available for all to see. Richard R.
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