by Carl Wickland

Experiences Of The Selfish Spirit On The Other Side

THOSE whose earthly interests have been superficial, who have been dominated by pride, vanity, greed, ambition and selfishness, are held in the earth sphere after transition until these tendencies have been conquered and love and sympathy have been developed through service for others.

Frequently spirits whose earth lives were spent in pursuit of pleasure and the pastimes of wealthy society have attained realization of a higher life through our psychic circle.

Among these was one who sank with the “Titanic” in 1912.

EXPERIENCE, OCTOBER 22, 1916. Spirit: JOHN J. A. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND.

After the spirit of W. T. Stead had visited with us a few moments, another spirit came in, struggling desperately, as if swimming, and called loudly for aid.

Spirit: Help! Help! !

Doctor: Where did you come from?

Sp. That man who just left told me to come in here.

Dr. Have you been in the water?

Sp. I drowned, but I have come to life again. I cannot see that man now, but I heard him talking and he told me to step in. He said that you know the way and would teach me, and that I could go with him afterwards. But now I cannot see him.

I’m blind! I’m blind! I don’t know whether the water blinded me or not, but I am blind.

Dr. That is only spiritual blindness. When a person passes out of his physical body without a knowledge of the laws of the higher life, he finds himself in a condition of darkness. It is the darkness of ignorance.

Sp. Then I will not always be blind?

Dr. You must realize that you are in the spirit world and that spirit friends are here who will teach you how to progress out of your condition of darkness.

SP. I can see a little now. For a while I could see, but the door was shut again and I could not see through. I was with my wife and child for a time, but no one noticed me. But now the door is closed and I am out in the cold. I am all alone when I go to my home. Changes seem to have taken place. I do not know what I shall do.

Dr. You have not realized your own situation.

Sp. What is the matter anyway? What is causing this darkness? What can I do to get out of it? I never was so handicapped as I am now. I was all right for just a minute. I hear somebody talking. There, now I see him again. Was it Mr. Stead?

Dr. Mr. Stead was speaking through this instrument just before you came. Mr. Stead probably brought you here for help. It is our work to awaken earthbound spirits who are in darkness.

Sp. This darkness is terrible. I have been in this darkness for a long time.

Dr. Understand that there is no death. Life continues in the spirit world, where each one must serve others in order to progress.

Sp. I really was not what I should have been. I just lived for self. I wanted amusement and to spend money. But now all I have seen is my past, and I have been in the darkness, and it is terrible.

Every act of my past stands before me, and I want to run away from it, but I cannot. It is there all the time and accuses me, because I could have done differently. I have seen so many places where I could have done good, but now it seems too late.

Dr. When a person lives for self alone he usually finds himself in darkness when he passes over to the other side of life. You must obtain understanding of the glories of the spirit world and realize that life there is service to others. That is the true “Heaven”—it is a condition of mind.

Sp. Why are not these things taught in the world?

Dr. Would the world listen? Humanity as a whole does not look for the spiritual side of life, but looks for other things. The world is seeking for amusement and for selfish gain, not for truth.

Sp. There is such a queer feeling coming over me! Mother! Mother my loving mother! (Spirit.) I am a man, but I feel like a child in your arms again. I have been longing for you, but I have been living all by myself in the terrible darkness. Why is it that I should be in the dark? Cannot my eyes be cured? Will I be blind all the time? Isn’t it strange that I can see you, yet I seem to be blind?

Dr. You have a spiritual body now, and when your spiritual eyes are opened you will see the beautiful things of the spirit world.

Sp. I see Mr. Stead there. We were both on the same boat, but he does not seem to be in the dark.

Dr. He understood the truth of spirit return and life on the other side while he was on earth. Life is a school and we must learn all we can about the spirit side of life while we are on earth, for the only light we have when we pass to the other side is the knowledge pertaining to life’s problems which we have gathered here.

Sp. Why did no one ever tell me these things?

Dr. Would you have listened to any one who would have tried to talk to you on these subjects?

Sp. No one ever approached me with such ideas.

Dr. What year do you think this is?

Sp. 1912.

Dr. It is 1916.

Sp. Where have I been? I have been very hungry and cold. I had a very great deal of money, but lately when I have wanted some to spend I could not get hold of it. Sometimes I seemed to be shut up in a room, very dark, and I could see nothing but a procession of my past life.

I was not a bad man, but you probably know what society people are. I did not know until now what it was to be poor. It is a new experience to me. Why should humanity not be taught differently before death? Then there would not be such suffering as I am in now.

Dr. If you will go with your mother and other spirit friends and try to understand what they tell you, you will feel much happier.

Sp. I can see Mr. Stead. I met him on the boat but I had no use for his teachings. I thought he was old and that he had a hobby. You know when people get old they have hobbies of one kind or another.

I never had time for such things, because all I thought of was my money and society. We do not see the poor people and we do not care to see them.

I could do so differently now, but money is of no use to me any longer.

My mother is waiting for me and I should like to go with her, for I have not seen her for years, and it is so good to see her. She says she could not reach me, for I was like a crazy man and would not listen to her.

Bless you all for the help you have been to me, and for having opened my eyes. It is misery to be blind, yet able to see the procession of your past life, and not be able to see or hear anything else.

Dr. We should like to know your name.

Sp. I am John J. A., and I am glad I met you all. I am so grateful for what you have told me. Now I can see and hear, and understand something that I did not know existed.

My mother and friends are coming for me, and now I am going through that beautiful gate into what will be to me Heaven.

I again thank you all, and hope some day to come and see you again.

Goodbye.

A few weeks later the foregoing spirit brought a friend, another member of New York’s aristocracy, who had met his death at the sinking of the “Lusitania.”

EXPERIENCE, NOVEMBER 5, 1916 Spirit: ALFRED V. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

Spirit: Somebody told me to come in here and I would get warm.

Doctor: What is your name?

Sp. Alfred V. I was on a boat. John J. A. came and told me he would try to help me get in here. He said if I would come in here I would get help.

Say, I have never been hungry in my life before, but I am both hungry and cold, and my clothes are all wet.

Dr. That is only a condition of your mind. You have lost your physical body and should not feel the need of food.

Sp. I know I drowned and I have been in misery ever since.

Dr. If you had an understanding of the life hereafter and of progression in the spirit world you would soon find happiness through serving others.

Sp. I never was happy. I suppose I had my own way too much, yet sometimes I felt, what was the use. But I thought: “Just forget yourself and have a good time.”

You may not care for society life, but in society you can drown yourself in gaiety. I really did not care for society life.

I used to forget myself with my horses. If you have a beautiful horse he is faithful to you through life. But when you get into society, women just show you one side—smiles, and sometimes they hate you.

The love I know most is the love of a beautiful, faithful horse. Horses were my pleasure and I felt they loved me.

Women liked me only for what I could do for them; they wanted money and pleasure. Women wanted all the money they could get from me. I let go of things and tried to lose myself in pleasure, but I was not happy.

Society does not know anything about honor and respectability. If I could find people as faithful and true as my horse was to me, I tell you I would thank you for that society. But go into the kind of society I have known, and men and women are nothing.

I was a sport myself, but there were things that drove me to forget that little thing within me, conscience. I longed for something that was good, but where can you find it?

Not amongst society, but amongst horses. Society is all right if you want that kind of a life. You will probably realize that I developed a great deal of selfishness.

Dr. You must try now to forget your past life with all its sorrow and bitterness. Look for higher things; then your spiritual eyes will be opened.

Sp. Friends that took an interest in me brought me here, and my eyes have been opened since I came. I feel that probably—but I am not sure—a time may come when I can be happy. I have never been really happy, for when a child I had my own way too much.

I thank you for allowing me to come here. If I ever am truly happy I will come back and tell you so.

Excerpt from Thirty Years Among The Dead

See Part I here.