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CHAPTER XII.— Work Among the Dead · Invisible Helpers

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Chapter twelve of Invisible Helpers. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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LibriVox dot org. Read by Helen K. Invisible Helpers by C. W.
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Leadbeater, Work among the Dead. It is one of the many evils
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resulting from the absurdly erroneous teaching as to conditions after death which is unfortunately current
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in our Western world, that those who have recently shaken off this mortal coil
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are usually much puzzled and often very seriously frightened at finding everything so different from
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what their religion had led them to expect. The mental attitude of a large
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number of such people was pithily voiced the other day by an inklish general who,
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three days after his death met one of the band of Helpers whom he
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had known in physical life. After expressing his great relief that he had at
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last found someone with whom he was able to communicate, his first remark was,
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but if I am dead, where am I for? If this is
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heaven, I don't think much of it. And if it is hell,
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it is better than I expected. But unfortunately a far greater number take things
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less philosophically. They have been taught that all men are destined to eternal flames,
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except a favored few who are superhumanly good, And since a very small
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amount of self examination convinces them that they do not belong to that category,
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they are but too often in a condition of panic terror, dreading every moment
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that the new world in wild which they find themselves may dissolve and drop them
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into the clutches of the devil in whom they have been sedulously taught to believe.
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In many cases, they spend long periods of acute mental suffering before they
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can free themselves from the fatal influence of this blasphemous doctrine of everlasting punishment,
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before they can realize that the world is governed not according to the caprice of
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a hideous demon who gloats over human anguish, but according to a benevolent and
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wonderfully patient law of evolution, which is absolutely just. Indeed, but yet
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again and again offers to man opportunities of progress, if he will but take
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them, at every stage of his career. It ought, in fairness to
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be mentioned that it is only among what are called Protestant communities that this terrible
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evil assumes its most aggravated form. The Great Roman Catholic Church, with its
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doctrine of purgatory, approaches much more nearly to a conception of the astral plane,
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and its devout members, at any rate, realize that the state in
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which they find themselves shortly after death is merely a temporary one, and that
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it is their business to endeavor to raise themselves out of it as soon as
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may be by intense spiritual aspiration, while they accept any suffering which may come
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to them as necessary for the wearing away of the imperfections in their character before
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they can pass to higher and brighter regions. It will thus be seen that
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there is plenty of work for the helpers to do among the newly dead,
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for in the vast majority of cases, they need to be calmed and reassured
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to become footed and instructed in the astral Just as in the physical world,
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there are many who are but little disposed to take advice from those who know
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better than there. Yet, the very strangeness of the conditions surrounding them renders
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many of the dead willing to accept the guidance of those to whom these conditions
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are obviously familiar, and many a man's stay on that plane has been considerably
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shortened by the earnest efforts of this band of energetic workers. Not be it
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understood that the calmer of the dead man can in any way be interfered with.
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He has built for himself during life an astral body of a certain degree
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of density, and until that body is sufficiently dissolved, he cannot pass into
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the heaven world beyond. But he need not lengthen the period necessary for that
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process by adopting an improper attitude. All students ought clearly to grasp the truth
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that the length of a man's astral life after he has put off his physical
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body depends mainly upon two factors, the nature of his past physical life and
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his attitude of mind after what we call death. During his earth life,
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he is constantly influencing the building of matter into his astral body. He affects
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it directly by the passions, emotions, and desires which he allows to hold
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sway over him. He affects it indirectly by the action upon it of his
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thoughts from above and of the details of his physical life, his countenance or
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his debauchery his cleanliness or his uncleanliness, his food and his drink from below.
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If by persistence in perversity along any of these lines he is so stupid
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as to build for himself a coarse and gross astral vehicle habituated to responding only
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to the lower vibrations of the plane, he will find himself after death bound
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to that plane during a long and slow process of that body's disintegration. On
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the other hand, if by decent and careful living he gives himself a vehicle
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mainly composed of finer material, he will have very much less post mortem trouble
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and discomfort, and his evolution will proceed much more rapidly and easily. This
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much is generally understood, but the second great factor, his attitude of mind
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after death, seems often to be forgotten. The desire, noble thing,
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is for him to realize his position on this particular little arc of his evolution,
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to learn that he is at this stage withdrawing steadily inward towards the plane
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of the true ego, and that consequently it is his business to disengage his
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thoughts, as far as may be, from things physical, and to fix
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his attention more and more upon those spiritual matters which will occupy him during his
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life in the heaven world. By doing this, he will greatly facilitate the
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natural astral disintegration, and will avoid the sadly common mistake of unnecessarily delaying himself
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upon the lower levels of what should be so temporary a residence. But many
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of the dead very considerably retard the process of dissolution by clinging passionately to the
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earth which they have left. They simply will not turn their thoughts and desires
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upward, but spend their time in struggling with all their might to keep in
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full touch with the physical plane, thus causing great trouble to any one who
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may be trying to help them. Earthly matters are the only ones in which
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they have ever had any living interest, and they cling to them with desperate
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tenacity even after death. Naturally, as time passes on, they find it
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increasingly difficult to keep hold of things down here. But instead of welcoming and
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encouraging this process of gradual refinement and spiritualization, they resist it vigorously by every
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means in their power. Of course, the mighty force of evolution is eventually
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too strong for them, and they are swept on in its beneficent current.
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Yet they fight every step of the way, thereby not only causing themselves a
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vast amount of entirely unnecessary pain and sorrow, but also very seriously delaying their
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upward progress and prolonging their stay in astral regions to an almost indefinite extent.
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In convincing them that this ignorant and disastrous opposition to the cosmic will is contrary
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to the laws of nature, and persuading them to adopt an attitude of mind,
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which is the exact reversal of it, lies a great part of the
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work of those who are trying to help. It happens occasionally that the dead
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are earth bound by anxiety. Anxiety sometimes about duties unperformed or debts undischarged,
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but more often on account of wife or children left unprovided for. In such
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cases as this, it has more than once been necessary before, for the
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dead man was satisfied to pursue his upward path in peace, that the helper
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should, to some extent act as his representative upon the physical plane, and
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attend on his behalf to the settlement of the business which was troubling him.
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An illustration taken from our recent experience will perhaps make this clearer. One of
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the band of pupils was trying to assist a poor man who had died in
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one of our western cities, but found it impossible to withdraw his mind from
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earthly things because of his anxiety about two young children, whom his death had
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left without means of support. He had been a working man of some sort
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and had been unable to lay by any money for them. His wife had
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died some two years previously, and his landlady, though exceedingly kind hearted and
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very willing to do anything in her power for them, was herself far too
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poor to be able to adopt them, and very reluctantly came to the conclusion
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that she would be obliged to hand them over to the parish authorities. This
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was a great grief to the dead father, though he could not blame the
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landlady, and was himself unable to suggest any other course. Our friend asked
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him whether he had no relative to whom he could entrust them, but the
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father knew of none. He had a younger brother, he said, who
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would certainly have done something for him in this extremity, but he had lost
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sight of him for fifteen years, and did not even know whether he was
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living or dead. When last heard of, he had been apprenticed to a
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carpenter in the north, and he was then described as a steady young fellow,
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who, if he lived, would surely get on. The clues at
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hand were certainly very slight, but since seemed no other prospect of help for
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the children, our friend thought it worthwhile to make a special effort to follow
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them up. Taking the dead man with him, he commenced a patient search
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after the brother in the town indicated, and after a great deal of trouble,
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they were actually successful in finding him. He was now a master carpenter
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in a fairly flourishing way of business, married but without children, though earnestly
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desiring them, and therefore apparently just the man for the emergency. The question
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now was how the information could best be conveyed to this brother. Fortunately,
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he was found to be so far impressionable that the circumstances of his brother's death
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and the destitution of his children could be put vividly before him in a dream,
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and this was repeated three times, the place and even the name of
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the landlady being indicated to him. He was immensely impressed by this recurring vision,
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and discussed it earnestly with his wife, who advised him to write to
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the address. Given this, he did not like to do, but was
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strongly inclined to travel down into the west country find out whether there was such
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a house as that which he had seen, and, if so, makes
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some excuse to call there. He was a busy man, however, and
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he finally decided that he could not afford to lose a day's work for what,
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after all, might well prove to be nothing but the baseless fabric of
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a dream. The attempt along these lines having apparently failed, it was determined
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to try another method, So one of the helpers wrote a letter to the
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man detailing the circumstances of his brother's death and the position of the children,
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exactly as he had seen them in his dream. On receipt of this confirmation,
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he no longer hesitated, but set off the very next day for the
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town indicated, and was received with open arms by the kind hearted landlady.
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It had been easy enough for the helpers to persuade her, good saw that
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she was to keep the children with her for a few days on the chance
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that something or other would turn up for them, but she has ever since
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congratulated herself that she did so. The carpenter, of course, took the
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children back with him and provided them with a happy home, and the dead
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father, now no longer anxious, passed rejoicing on his upward way. Since
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some theosophical writers have felt it their duty to insist in vigorous terms upon the
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evils so frequently attendant upon the holding of spiritualistic seances, it is only fair
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to admit that on several occasions, good work similar to that of the helper
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in the case just described, has been done through the agency of a medium
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or of someone present at a circle. Thus, thus spiritualism has too often
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detained souls who, but for it, would have attained speedio liberation. It
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must be set to the credit of its account that it has also furnished the
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means of escape to others, and thus opened up the path of advancement for
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them. There have been instances in which the defunct has been able to appear
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unassisted to his relatives or friends and explain his wishes to them, but these
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are naturally rare, and most souls who are earth bound by anxieties of the
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kind indicated can satisfy themselves only by the means of the services of the medium
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or the conscious helper. Another case, very frequently encountered on the astral plane
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is that of the man who cannot believe that he is dead at all.
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Indeed, most people consider the very fact that they are still conscious to be
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an absolute proof that they have not passed through the portals of death. Somewhat
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of a satire this, if one thinks of it, on the practical value
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of our much vaunted belief in the immortality of the soul. However they may
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have labeled themselves during life, the great majority of those who die in this
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country at any rate, show themselves, by their subsequent attitude, to have
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been, to all intents and purposes, materialists at heart, and those who
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on earth have honestly called themselves so are often no more difficult to deal with
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than others who have been shocked at the very name. A very recent instance
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was that of a scientific man who, finding himself fully conscious and yet under
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conditions differing radically from any that he had ever experienced before, had persuaded himself
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that he was still alive and merrily the victim of a prolonged and unpleasant dream.
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Fortunately for him, there happened to be among the band of those able
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to function upon the astral plane, a son of an old friend of his,
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a young man whose father had commissioned him to search for the departed scientist
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and endeavor to render him some assistance. When after some trouble, the youth
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found and accosted him, he frankly admitted that he was in a condition of
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great bewilderment and discomfort, but still clung desperately to his dream hypothesis, as
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on the whole the most probable explanation of what he saw, and even went
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so far as to suggest that his visitor was nothing but a dream figure himself.
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At last, however, he so far gave way as to propose a
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kind of test, and said, to the young man, if you are,
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as you assert, a living person, and the son of my old
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friend, bring me from him some message that shall prove to me your objective
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reality. Now, although under all ordinary conditions of the physical plane, the
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giving of any kind of phenomenal proof is strictly forbidden to the pupils of the
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masters, it seemed as though a case of this kind hardly came under the
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rules, and therefore, when it had been ascertained that there was no objection
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on the part of higher authorities, an application was made to the father,
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who at once sent a message referring to a series of events which had occurred
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before the son's birth. This convinced the dead man of the real existence of
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his young friend, and therefore of plane upon which they were both functioning,
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And as soon as he felt this established, his scientific training at once reasserted
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itself, and he became exceedingly eager to acquire all possible information about this new
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region. Of course, the message, which he saw readily accepted as evidence,
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was in reality no proof at all, since the facts to which it
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referred to might have been read from his own mind or from the records of
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the past by any creature possessed of astral senses. But his ignorance of these
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possibilities enabled this definite impression to be made upon him. And the theosophical instruction
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which his young friend is now knightly giving to him will undoubtedly have as stupendous
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effect upon his future, for it cannot but greatly modify not only the heaven
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state which lies immediately before him, but also his next incarnation upon earth.
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The main work then done for the newly dead by our helpers is that of
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soothing and comforting them, of delivering them, when possible from the terrible though
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unreasoning fear, which but too often seizes them and not only causes them much
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unnecessary suffering, but retards their progress to higher spheres, And of enabling them,
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as far as may be, to comprehend the future that lies before them.
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Others who have been longer on the astral plane may also receive much help
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if they will but accept it from explanations and advice as to their course through
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its different stages. They may, for example, be warned of the danger
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and delay caused by attempting to communicate with the living through a medium, and
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sometimes, though rarely an entity already drawn into a spirit viitualistic circle may be
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guided into higher and healthier life. Teaching thus given to persons on this plane
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is by no means lost, for though the memory of it cannot, of
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course be directly carried over to the next incarnation, there always remains the real
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inner knowledge, and therefore the strong predisposition to accept it immediately when heard again
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in the new life. A rather than remarkable instance of service rendered to the
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dead was the first achievement of a very recent recruit to the band of Helpers,
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one who is hardly as yet a fully fledged member. This young aspirant
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had not long before lost an aged relative for whom he had felt an especially
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warm affection, and his earliest request was to be taken by a more experienced
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friend to visit her in the hope that he might be of some service to
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her. This was done, and the effect of the meeting of the living
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and the dead was very beautiful and touching. The older person's astral life was
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already approaching its end, but a condition of apathy, dullness, and uncertainty
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prevented her from making any immediate progress. But when the boy who had been
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so much to her in earth life stood once more before her and dissolved by
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the sunlight of his love the gray mist of depression which had gathered around her,
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she was aroused from her stupor, and she soon understood that he had
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come in order to explain to her her situation and to tell her of the
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glories of the higher life, toward which her thoughts and aspirations ought now to
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be directed. But when this was fully realized, there was such an an
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awakening of dormant feeling in her, and such an outrush of devoted affection towards
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her earnest young helper, that the last fetters which bound her to the astral
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life were broken, and that one great outburst of love and gratitude swept her
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forthwith into the higher consciousness of the heaven world. Truly, there is no
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greater and more beneficent power in the universe than that of pure, unselfish love.
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End of Chapter twelve.