The Spiritualist Understanding of God

Of all the differences between Spiritualist and Orthodox philosophy, I guess nothing is more difficult to comprehend than the Spiritualist view that God can in no way be considered an individual, to have a personality. For generations Christian theologians have asked people to look at God as being a benign father (most of the time anyway!) to whom we can open our hearts in prayer like we do, face to face, with our earthly father. I recall that when my grandfather decided, upon the receipt of overwhelming evidence, that he should become a Spiritualist, having been a Methodist all his life, his biggest problem was his loss of a personal God. He explained it by saying, “They have taken away my Saviour!” To try, as Spiritualists are asked to do, to look upon God as a Power or The Great Spirit or Infinite Intelligence, is an emotional leap that many Spiritualists find the greatest difficulty with. Consequently, in Britain at least, mediums will often begin their prayer at a Divine Service with words like, “Great Spirit, Father God” or “Great Spirit, Heavenly Father.”

I recently read an insightful commentary on this question by the great Arthur Conan Doyle in his book “The Stark Munro Letters.” It is so good I want to share it with you and make no apology to those of you who may have read his book because I feel it is such a vital subject to those who would have a truer understanding of life, its purpose and our relationship to that Great Infinite Power we call God.

“Those who I love best are those who have the least sympathy with my struggles. They talk about having faith, as if it could be done by an act of volition. They might as well tell me to have black hair instead of red. I might simulate it perhaps by refusing to use my reason at all in religious matters. But I will never be a traitor to the highest thing that God has given me. I WILL use it. It is more moral to use it and go wrong, than to forego it and be right. It is only a little foot-rule, and I have to measure Mount Everest with it; but it is all I have and I’ll never give it up while there’s breath between my lips.

With all respect to you Bertie, it is easy to be orthodox. A man who wanted mental peace and material advancement in this world would certainly choose to be so. As Smiles says – “A dead fish can float with the stream, but it takes a man to swim against it.” What could be nobler than the start and the starter of Christianity? How beautiful the upward struggle of an idea, like some sweet flower blossoming out amongst rubble and cinders! But alas, to say that this idea was a final idea! That this scheme of thought was above the reason! That this gentle philosopher was that supreme intelligence to which we cannot even imagine a personality without irreverence! All this will come to rank with the strangest delusions of mankind. And then how clouded has become the fine daybreak of Christianity! Its representatives have risen from the manger to the palace, from the fishing smack to the House of Lords. Nor is that other old potentate in the Vatican, with his art treasures, his guards and his cellars of wine in a more logical position. They are all good and talented men, and in the market of brains are worth perhaps as much as they get. But how can they bring themselves to pose as the representatives of a creed, which, as they themselves expound it, is based upon humility, poverty and self-denial? Not one of them who would not quote with approval the parable of the Wedding Guest. But try putting one of them out of their due precedence at the next Court reception. It happened some little time ago with a Cardinal, and England rang with his protests. How blind not to see how they would spring at one leap into the real first place if they would but resolutely claim the last as the special badge of their master!

What can we know? What are we all? Poor silly half-brained things peering out at the infinite, with the aspirations of angels and the instincts of beasts. But surely all will be well with us. If not, then He who made us is evil, which is not to be thought. Surely then, all must go very well with us.”

The most telling phrase for Spiritualists is “… that supreme intelligence to which we cannot even imagine a personality without irreverence.” What clearer understanding could there be of the impossibility of the finite being able to comprehend the infinite?

Spirit and Electricity

Have the lights in a room ever switched on and off when you were alone and yet you were nowhere near the switch? Has the radio suddenly switched itself on for no apparent reason? Has the ‘phone rung, no-one was there when you answered but you found yourself thinking of a friend or relative in spirit for no particular reason? Have street lights ever behaved strangely in your presence?

All these things have happened to some people from time to time and I want to share with you the recent experience of a friend of mine, who wrote asking my opinion.

It seems to me that some people in the spirit world find it relatively easy to switch electrical apparatus on and off. When they want to let us know they are around, maybe because we are worrying about something or just to show they love us, they use whatever is the easiest form of communication for them. It all goes to show that communication does not always need words, as my friend found.

Lionel,

For quite awhile now, whenever I would go to the light pole outside my house, I would ask for spirit to come as they were doing so often before - but the light just shown bright and did not flicker or go out. They were not there.


But tonight, I went to put out the garbage as I always do twice a week at night, and went to the light pole in front of my house - I place my hands on the cold concrete open palmed and feel the energy of the structure as I always have. It is a vibration similar to when I place my open hands palm side on a tree. I can feel it's life and energy - the older the tree, the stronger the vibration. Then I said my prayers and thanked spirit for their guidance and for helping my family and to bring John through his pending surgery, etc. –AND ALL OF A SUDDEN the light went out completely and it did not come back on for quite a while - While it was dark, I said "Thank you spirit - thank you so much for coming and letting me know that I am not alone!" Then the light flickered and went on and then off right away and repeated this twice and then stayed on. That is the same signal I have had before that Spirit uses to let me know it is them and they are there. It is an illuminating feeling and always brings tears to my eyes and warmth to my heart.


Why do you think it has been so long since they have have made their presence known to me at the light pole when I have asked for spirit many other times recently with no response? Is it hard for them to affect the electric light in that pole? I have read a lot lately about the energy that we are all connected to in the universe as one. Do they use that same energy force and it's vibrations to make the light signal to me? It is a wonderful feeling to be so connected and have visual proof that I am being visited by spirit. Can you tell me any more about this particular phenomenon and what you know about how it works?


I can't ask anyone other than you about this, so thank you in advance for your insight. You might want to talk about this in your blog - you can use this without mentioning my name and then see if anyone answers that
they have had similar things happen to them. (if you want to)


Dear ----,

What a marvellous experience! You are a lucky lady to have spirit let you know their presence in this way.


As to why it hasn't happened for a long time, I think the reason is more likely to do with you than with the spirit people. I don't believe it is very difficult for them to switch lights on and off but there does have to be a clear channel between a person on earth and themselves.


Perhaps for a while, because so much has been going on in your life, you have been too uptight to really be able to 'connect'. Alternatively, because you felt the need was so urgent, you may have been 'trying too hard'. Either will create a block between yourself and spirit in my opinion.

That is how I feel about this - don't know if the explanation makes any sense to you but I hope it does.


Whatever, I am delighted that you were able to 'make contact' again and long may it continue.

Lionel,

I believe you are exactly right. I have been in a turmoil and under a lot of stress with all that is going on with my business as well as with all the personal challenges with our dog's tumor and his passing, and helping a couple of our church people with their own issues and a few more charity cases that I have taken on.


Do you remember when we were in ----- and that medium who was sitting next to you told me to be careful about taking on too much? Well she was right! I had taken on an overload in recent months due to deadlines, travel, etc. Even pushing myself harder to go to V and then to ----- in the middle of a busy schedule already. But I accomplished it and learned a lot. However I WAS uptight and stressed to fit everything in my hectic days and nights, so I think you are right - I was not providing a clear channel for Spirit to connect with me and I was "trying too hard" and "uptight" all at the same time!


But after coming back this weekend and getting my seminar behind me and seeing John at the hospital, I felt I could relax and breathe easier than I had in quite awhile. I even took some time to trim some of my plants and refresh their potting with new soil and refresh flower in my home which gives me so much pleasure and enjoyment. I had been too busy to do these relaxing things in quite awhile. So IWAS much more relaxed last night when I went to the pole and was greeted by Spirit in a miraculous way.


Thanks for your insight and explanation that, as usual, makes the utmost sense. You have such a wonderful wealth of knowledge and a great way of explaining these types of matters. That is why you are such a great author!

Cora Tappan’s Address – Finale

The ultimate of matter is to develop and perfect this individual property of soul. When the outer sheath which contains the germ yields the fruition and the germ, the sheath perishes. So that when the earth has done all that it is possible for matter to do, it will fall again into the hands of the Infinite, and be out-wrought in other forms and in other worlds. The primal thought alone remains. The intelligence hides behind the substances. But for this thought the wreck of worlds might bring the wreck of souls likewise. If the sprit were the result of the outer, when the outer had perished the spirit also had fled forever. Because the soul is self-centred and self-contained, when worlds perish the soul shall not perish. Because the soul is self-centred and self-contained, when systems and suns fade, triumphantly it shall mount upon the heights of seeming destruction, and behold all decaying forms, and yet not perish. All outward substances have their birth and decay, but the soul of man has not its decay; while matter changes it abides forever.

Souls themselves must have their ultimate. If we have stated the ultimate of worlds – to evolve the highest type of matter – and give to the human spirit the loftiest expression possible, then we must also state the ultimate of souls, which is that every soul, intent upon its loftiest attainment, becomes the possessor of the power of creation. If outward form manifests to man his power of changing matter, the ultimate spiritual form manifests to man his power of creating matter, and the soul becomes the instrument of the Infinite mind of evolving and perfecting worlds and systems where other souls may abide for ever and ever. If such transcendent themes and hopes are ill-suited to the present purposes of human life, they are not ill-suited to those who seek for some glimpses beyond matter, are striving to penetrate and probe even to the highest recesses of the human spirit. Therefore we give this as the prophecy of the coming time, the loftiest hope which can be given to man, the noblest prophecy that can be revealed to the human understanding: That no spirit is so low, and no soul so engrossed in outward substance, but that through other lives and other worlds, and other processes of change it may at last blossom into an angel of light, wearing upon its brow also the fruition of the power of Deity; that no spirit is so downtrodden upon earth, or oppressed by matter, but that the Great Infinite soul of the universe holds it within the hollow of His hand, and by such processes of uplifting and elevation it presents to it the lofty and sublime fruition of creative power. When that perfection is attained, no longer men and women, no longer spirits merely, but angels, with the two-fold attributes of Deity centred in your minds, you reach out your thoughts and behold all that are in chains and in bondage, and in the darkness of the senses uplifted and disenthralled by the one magic power of the perfection of the Infinite soul, of which man is the image.

Before withdrawing the present control, we have to express our thanks to the committee who have had in charge these lectures, and to the audiences for their uniform interest and attention to our utterances. Whatever may not be in accordance with, or may be beyond the accepted methods of human thought, we make no apology for. We are glad of the opportunity to give utterance to our ideas, and leave entirely to the minds of those who have followed us to judge, and to the future to decide, as to their adaptation to human needs.

We should also give thanks to those higher souls, who controlled the medium on this occasion and were able to give us not only an explanation for the reason for life, but also inspiration and hope that our present travails upon earth have a purpose and will not be in vain. May God’s blessing be with you always. Lionel

Cora Tappan’s Address – 7

The worlds of spirit that surround each planet partake of the nature of the minds upon those planets; but the worlds of angels that abide between and through all these partake of the nature of no planet, and belong to no class of personalities but are in themselves cosmical, and may govern a world, or a system of worlds, in the realm of thought, and abide each as a consciousness without the petty thought that occupies and is the prevailing idea of the human mind. Such great souls as these fill all those spaces that are supposed to be void, and occupy worlds which they themselves have aided to evolve, or cause to be formed, in exact proportion to their ideal of harmony. All that distant stellar and beautiful realm wherein is revealed system upon system of worlds, so remote that they seem as nebulous masses – all the stellar way whereby the space of heaven seems cleft in twain with a pathway of light, is made of systems of worlds, each one of which is governed and guided by a master mind who has, even from the nebulous mass, moved upon those planets and bade them do his bidding, each governed and directed by a soul that, having vanquished in lesser states of being material substance, outwardly guides and directs it now, to the end that all other souls may likewise become as he, possessed of the master-key of knowledge and of science, able to unlock the secret mysteries of creation, and reveal the potent spell whereby the atom and the world are made.

Strauss and the modern philosophers must have a primordial cell before organic life is made, and must have the atom before a world is formed. The soul just risen and disenthralled is not in need of any such beginnings, since it knows whereof the primordial cell is made, and sees the atoms as they are whirled into outward form, and knows that the beginnings of all life are the spirit. Science cannot go beyond the molecule, or the duad , or the monad of atomic structure. The soul that is behind nature knows whereof the monad and duad of outward structure have their beginnings, and sees that a thought from the primal centre of one of these souls is able to people a planetary world. Jupiter swaying the heavens and governing the lightnings in their course might be a fable to modern interpretation but the thought of it was born in the gigantic soul that, ruling the earth and swaying the solar system, looks forward to the perfection of every human spirit even unto angelhood crowned and glorified. Thus are worlds made, not from the outer to the spirit, but from the spirit to the outer. But the thought which is within the soul may have shape and form and expression, and so sway and govern itself that instead of slumbering in the Godhead the soul itself shall, like God, though in a finite degree, express the infinite.

To what end is all this formation of life? To the end just stated, that a veiled divinity, or a soul self-contained, possesses no expression of its power. Consciousness is that expression. Contact with matter affords that; and the spirit of man is the fragment of a soul sent into outward form for the purpose of revealing its consciousness by longing for the other fragment duos. These are the sublime truths upon which hinge all spiritual life and existence, and without which the hope and aspiration of immortality were as a bauble, and all worlds were as toys. Time was when the solar system was not. Time never was when the entire substances in all the systems in the universe were not shaped in some form of planetary life. If chaos was here, there was order elsewhere. If there was no room for a soul upon the earth because it had not yet been born, there were other worlds and other room whereby souls were still developing their contact with matter. Time will be when the world and all the solar system shall have expressed the highest purpose possible for matter to express, and will then merge again into the original chaos or cosmos; but this in turn will be again evolved, and other worlds, while the solar system is in chaos, will express the highest thought, and be peopled by races, and give forth angels and shall be borne to the worlds of spirits with added power because of this contact.

Cora Tappan’s Address – 6

The Earth itself is as a gigantic ball in the hands of an ancient soul who, moving upon the spirits of men, sways the atoms of matter to the purpose of bringing perfection of the highest possible kind to this earth, waiting patiently through long epochs of unfoldment, that matter, through the process of infinite change, may work out the ideal purpose of that soul. Other worlds, in charge of other souls advanced to a greater degree of perfection, and performing the highest functions twofold in the hands of individual spirits as a rose blossoms beneath the care of a skilled horticulturalist. Compare these productions (pointing to a choice bouquet on the table) with the wild rose of the wilderness and you will see what man may do. Compare the world in the outermost sphere of the solar system with the earth in its present state, and you will see what spirit can do, aided by knowledge, wisdom and the fulfilment of its perfected powers. The world of spirits is not a world of idleness, but of work. The unfolding cycles of human life present to the soul the fullest opportunities for the development and expression of every power; and all intermediate states of spiritual life, as well as man in his lowest state upon the earth, are swayed and governed after their kind and type even by this mind, who uses them for the intermediate labour of developing and unfolding a world.

If Franklin upon earth can, seemingly by accident, draw lightening from the heavens, which is now made your messenger, what cannot the soul do sitting in the midst of those elements and governing with the flames of thought the actual power wherewith to create and govern worlds? The spheres of spiritual life are therefore, spheres of intensest activity and thought. The individual mind that follows its grovelling aims, mindful only of the petty personality which is enveloped by the outward form, has very little in common it is true, with the spirits and angels of those spheres who, forgetting personality, are more individualised and capable of governing and controlling others. What poor and narrow limit the human thought of daily life affords, caring for the outward body and intent upon its pleasures merely! What narrow compass or sphere is embodied in the individual mind that is more intent upon the praise of men than knowledge of them, and values more the esteem of his outward consciousness than all the truths developed in the starry firmament!

Small indeed are these beginnings; but as a child must, before it can walk, many times seemingly fall, so the spirit, before it finally grapples with matter and overcomes it, must seem to be the petty thing that every human being sometimes feels him or herself to be. And before an angel can be aware of its surpassing powers it must have struggled through contact with and supremacy over matter to the extent of vanquishing every possible tie that can bind to the outer man or the mere personality by which human life is known. The man Christ, revealed in Bethlehem, unmindful of the person so that the individual soul was spared, presents the ideal type of man when, forgetting himself, he remembers only the truth, pursues it and serves it and becomes thereby an individual. Persons are not individuals; they are too much absorbed in their outward selves; they form too small and narrow a compass to be considered as such. Individuals are self-forgetful, and by their surpassing sacrifice of martyrdom, heroism, or the expression of it, reveal the individuality that lies hidden in the human spirit.

Cora Tappan’s Address – Part 5

Beyond the Earth is the planet Mars, developing higher attributes of spiritual power, and inhabited by souls that have passed through all possible advantages of development upon Earth or some other planet, and possessing a spiritual aura that is next in degree in advance of the Earth, namely an inclination to spirituality or religion, instead of an external materialism or science. The planetary system, as you will remember, has a break here, and we come to the Asteroids. It was a favourite theory among the ancients, and was perhaps, even entertained by Copernicus himself, that the Asteroids, occupying precisely the proper place of a planet, were at one time a planet which, by internal fires or some kind of revolution, volcanic or otherwise, was rent or divided, and that they constitute the various fragments of the ancient world and that this may possibly account for the world which was supposed to be lost by the ancient astrologers, and which, under the name of Lucifer, has been handed down as a favourite means of accounting for his satanic majesty. However much truth there may be in this, the Asteroids occupy a middle position, presenting a sphere of spiritual art in its varied light of music, poetry, sculpture, painting and literature. They are occupied by souls or spirits who, graduating in these various degrees of art, find their spirituality in highest expressions of outward harmony.

Belonging in the spiritual atmosphere attending these planets or small stars is the sphere, or one portion of the sphere of harmony, which typifies the link between the pure materialism and intellect of the planets that lie nearer the sun and the pure wisdom and spirituality of the planets that lie beyond the Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Herschell, all the way in direct line to the outermost planet (which has not yet been discovered) present a gradual and inclined plane of wisdom – upon the planet Jupiter, of justice; upon the planet Saturn, of hope and love; and in the outermost of wisdom and absolute truth, and the spiritual states surrounding these planets presents a gradual sliding scale of development, of which the highest height that man on earth has dreamt is the feeble expression, and of which the lowest depth of man on Earth, or any planet, presents a glimmering hope and prophecy. And we assure you that between the Earth and each of these worlds there is not a point of space un-peopled by souls or spirits intent upon the perfection and development of their own beings through t he perfection and development of others, and that the lesson which is given to man in his lowest earthly or planetary state is the lesson of vanquishing that substance over which he, after a time, shall become ruler.

It is stated by science that nature is governed by law. We state that atoms, worlds, systems, and systems of suns, are governed by mind; not only the Infinite mind, but the Infinite mind working through individual conscious beings. We will prove it. Garibaldi proposes to change the course of the Tiber. The Egyptians changed the course of a river. You have altered the meteorological conditions of the atmosphere above you many degrees by manufactures and commerce. The plains and prairies of the West have been made fruitful by the screamings of the steam engine that brings rain in unfrequented quarters. Egypt rescued from her ancient state of desolation; the deserts in Arabia made to blossom as the rose, are the prophecies of men on earth. If you could estimate the actual change made by man in the atmospheric conditions of the Earth itself, you would find that the proportion is as 99 to 100, and that within the epoch known as history by man. If a race of human beings without knowledge can cause this much change in the temperature, atmospheric conditions, magnetic and electric currents, and if by the adaptation of elements like steam, electricity and other undiscovered motor powers, you shall alter the entire purpose of the atmosphere, to the end of bringing to the deserts rain, and taking away from the morasses the superfluous moisture, what may be done by intelligent minds with knowledge?

Two particularly fascinating points are made in this excerpt: First the prediction that the planet Pluto will be discovered, which it was, and second, the reference to changes in the global atmosphere caused by industrial development. (Global warming?)

Cora Tappan’s Address – Part 4

The Planet Venus


Around every planet is a corresponding aura, both of physical and spiritual life, the spiritual life being in exact proportion to the advancement of the planet itself, so that if you have from an outward furnace an emanation of smoke, so you have from an undeveloped world an emanation of cloud and vapour and of spiritually-darkening substances. If you have from an earth developed approximately to a sphere of science and learning an atmosphere that is proportionately clear, so you have around that planet an atmosphere that is spiritually clear, and all spirits who are related to, or according to their spiritual state, are allied to any planet, must for the time-being, exhibit the prevailing aura that exists upon it, indeed are the cause of it. If, from a densely populated city, like that which you inhabit, upon a little eminence at a distance you may discover a vast cloud of smoke, which you would be unwilling to enter if it did not seemingly disappear as you approached it, so from a world like your earth, that we shall presently show is in an incipient state of development, there is a visible and cloudy emanation which forms ten times the bulk of the earth’s surface itself, and presents an atmosphere many hundreds of miles from the earth of a cloudy or smoky appearance, arising from and caused by the outward condition of the earth.

Corresponding to these is the pervading spiritual atmosphere caused by the spirits that inhabit your earth and the spirits that inhabit the immediate spheres surrounding it, and if we tell you that this sphere is also cloudy, you will not wonder when you consider the average state of the human mind, and the average condition of the human spirit upon earth. The only redeeming feature is that at intervals there is born upon earth a guiding light which represents the prophecy of a race and the hope of humanity. But that you may not be without hope, and that there may be something to look forward to even in the history of the earth, we will state that those spirits that arrive at the degree of angelic states wherein they do not anymore especially belong to earth, but occupy an intermediate interstellar sphere, have been at liberty, and are at liberty, to visit other worlds. You will understand that in the cosmic theory of science avowed by such minds as Humboldt and Strauss, it is the belief that the entire stellar system was once a mass of vapour, that this gradually became cool, and that atoms formed themselves into centres of which the present worlds in the solar and stellar systems are the result. Whether or not this be true, we shall not here discuss, but it is a fact that the spiritual firmament, after the same manner with the material firmament, presents a successive line, a graduated scale of developed and undeveloped planets, and that if you go to the outermost world in the solar system you will find the highest degree of spiritual advancement, and if you go to the innermost world in the solar system, you will find the lowest degree of spiritual advancement.

We learn by this that the outermost planet must be the oldest and the innermost must be the newest world in the solar system. Hence that the state of Mercury spiritually, is infinitely lower than that of the earth (which may be some consolation), that the state of Venus is approximately lower, in some directions only of intellect being higher, as the earth has been at a previous epoch higher in some directions than it now is, but these fluctuations after a time yield the fruition of an even or an average scale of spiritual advancement, and upon the planet Mercury there are no human beings at present able to abide, because the planet is not as yet perfected to the degree of maintaining human life, and that it corresponds in its present condition to the geological epoch of the earth in its carboniferous period. The planet Venus possesses human inhabitants, but these are in their outermost or sensuous periods of existence, and correspond to the earth under the dominion perhaps, of the first Angel or Dispensation that came to earth. (Osiris) The earth itself is third in rank, and occupies that position between the material or external life of intellectualism which is the prevailing atmosphere of the earth today, the religious atmosphere being very inconsiderable. Although the earth has been visited with prophets, seers, saviours, these prophesies and those visions and that Saviour have not yet left their prevailing atmosphere upon the earth, nor even upon any appreciable portion of human beings.

It will be interesting for future generations to see if astronauts eventually obtain confirmation of the life this spirit says exists upon Venus. Current exploration of Venus consists of probes examining the outer atmosphere. They have discovered that Venus is far more earth-like than was at first believed but the high level of volcanic activity believed to exist on the surface, convinces scientists that human life is currently impossible. One day we shall see!!