I am one of those whom your world of matter regards as dead but … the beliefs of your world are founded on fallacy. (Silver Birch, SBA, 76.)

I [am] one of those who, having completed my allotted earthly span and passed, many years ago, beyond the veil of mortal life, (1) had decided to return to illumine your darkened world and teach it the truths of the spirit which have been buried for too long. (Silver Birch, SBA, 77.)

(1) Silver Birch probably means that he has achieved a level of enlightenment that makes it no longer necessary to be born into a mortal body again.

When I was asked, many long years ago, whether I would return to the world of matter and find on earth a band who would work with me to deliver the message of the spirit, I said I would, as did many others, and my task was given me. (Silver Birch, SBOS, n.p.)

I have no vested interest…; I have no money to earn; I have no job to defend. I have nothing to gain. I come back after many, many years in a world of spirit to tell you what I know. It is for you to listen. (Silver Birch, SBA, 77.)

I am a voice crying in the wilderness. I am a servant of the Great Spirit. What does it matter who I am? Judge me by what I strive to do. If my words, earnestness, determination, my mission among you, bring comfort or light to one who is struggling in darkness, then I am happy. (Silver Birch, PSB, 25.)

I came to your world many years ago, a lone figure without a friend.

I was asked if I would return to your world under these difficult conditions, forfeiting whatever I had earned in [the] higher reaches of life, because there was a great need for spiritual realities and powers to be established. I accepted the challenge.

Here you are tonight telling me that the teachings which I am privileged to transmit -- they do not originate from me -- have helped you. I am grateful for that knowledge. It shows that I have added some more friends at whose hearths I can feel the warmth of their love, and that means a great deal to me. (Silver Birch, LSB, 63.)

What does it matter whether I am a teacher of great distinction or a lowly beggar, so long as the seal of truth stamps what I say? (Silver Birch, PSB, 25.)

We are all the servants of the Great Spirit. Some of us have evolved a little higher. Because of that, we return to give service, for service is the law of life. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I do not want too much attention paid to me, the individual, the messenger. I am only concerned with the message.

Your world has for too long concerned itself with teachers, whom it has aggrandised into exaggerated positions, and has forgotten what they came to teach. (Silver Birch, SBA, 49.)

I am but a humble servant, an interpreter for those who have sent me to expound forgotten laws that must be revived as part of the new world that is gradually dawning. Think of me always as a mouthpiece. I represent the voice of the spirit that seeks to make its presence felt in your world and which is succeeding in increasing measure. There is a vast concourse, all with wills perfectly attuned, with minds in harmony, with souls all at one. They use me, even as I use this instrument, to tell your world the truths that have been buried for too long but which are now being restored and given their rightful place in the lives of thousands of men and women. (Silver Birch, SBA, 130.

I am only the mouthpiece of those who sent me, and I seek no glory for myself and no reward. I have no desire to aggrandize myself or my personality. I rejoice to be a vehicle for expressing these truths, lost for many centuries and now restored to the world of matter, stamped with the seal of divine truth.

My part is that of the messenger who speaks the message and I have striven to be faithful and to convey that which was given to me according to the instrument that I have and the power which I have earned. I only want to be of service and, if the few teachings I express help one soul to find peace in a stormy life, to find the shelter of truth after having experienced the storms of doubt, if within the sanctuary of these simple spiritual truths one can find happiness and be inspired to serve, then perhaps we have accomplished something of the Father’s work. (Silver Birch, SBOS, n.p.)

I have come back merely to stress a few elementary spiritual truths. It seems to me - and I am quite an old man - that what your world needs is not some high-flown, theological, abstract collection of doctrines, but a few simple truths enthroned in the hearts of most religions, taught by those who were inspired by the power of the spirit in days gone by, that all mankind is part of one another, that beneath our physical differences there is a common bond of the spirit which unites us all . (Silver Birch, SBS, 56.

I make no claim to infallibility. I do not say that I have reached the limit of all knowledge and wisdom. I, like you, am human still. I, too, strive after perfection. I, too, have weaknesses to conquer. I, too, have progress to achieve. I do not say that what I tell you represents final truth. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I am a human being like yourselves. I have lived much longer than any of you who are listening to what I say. As a result of my experiences in realms far beyond your earth I have gained some knowledge of the Great Spirit you call God, and of the natural laws which have been devised to ensure that the will of the Great Spirit will and must ultimately prevail.

What I have learnt as a result of my experiences I am willing to share with those who are ready to receive / them because I think they may be of helpfulness to them.

I am not in any way a deity. I am still very human, capable of error, weakness and imperfection. I have, like every one of you, a long, long way to go on the road to perfection. It is an infinite one.

But, like others in my world, I was asked to retrace my steps so that I could offer some of the truth, the wisdom and the knowledge that we have gained, and share it with you. At the same time we would be able, with the aid of those who co-operate with us, to make available the supreme power of the spirit, which is responsible for all life despite its multitudinous forms, so that this power can stream through gifted individuals and serve its benign purpose. (Silver Birch, LSB, 66-7.)

Silver Birch gave an indication of the progress that he has had to make since leaving the earth ... nearly 3,000 years ago . …

In my days on earth I venerated many gods. I had to learn that there is only one Great Spirit, Who has provided eternal laws for the control of every phase of life throughout the boundless universe. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Remember, I am not only a teacher, seeking to teach eternal truths, and reveal the powers of the spirit; I am also the friend of each one of you, for I love you dearly and strive always to help you with all the strength and power that I possess.

Come to me always with your difficulties, no matter what they be. If I can help you, I will do so. If I cannot, I will strive to give you strength to help you through your challenges. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The realm or sphere which is my natural habitat has a radiance and a translucence that you cannot understand, clogged as you are by matter. (Silver Birch, PSB, 23.)

I come from a realm where all is light and colour, where hearts sing with the sheer joy of living, where all are busily engaged in congenial pursuits, where all the arts flourish, where each is imbued with the idea of service, with sharing what he has with those who have it not, where there is an intensity and vitality, a joy and radiance in well-doing. (Silver Birch, PSB, 27.)

I have only just returned from the higher spheres which are my natural habitat. I have sought refreshment and renewal in higher spheres than the one I usually occupy when I communicate with you according to the manner of your world. (Silver Birch, LSB, 104.)

For a short time I shall be in the spheres where I lived for many years, to feel once again that vitalizing power of the spirit, so invigorating in its strength, so beautiful in all its fullness, making you realize what life is when you are able to experience it in the higher realms of spirit. We speak with all humility and with no pride at all.

If all the beautiful paintings of the world, all the inspired visions and all the great artistry that you have ever heard of in your world of matter and all the deepest and greatest beauties of nature were all combined into one whole object it would be but a very pale reflection of life in the higher regions. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I searched our records and found my medium. I watched from the time he was conceived and from the moment the spirit began to express itself. I brought my influence to bear and started there and then this association which has lasted all these years. /

I helped to mould the spirit and the tiny little mind. Throughout every phase of his life I watched every experience, learned how to associate closely with him and accustomed myself through his boyhood days to all the mental processes and physical habits. I studied my instrument from every aspect – mind, spirit, and physical body.

Then I had to guide his footsteps towards an understanding of these spirit truths. First, I led him to make a study of the many religions in your world of matter, until his mind revolted and he became, what you call, an atheist. Now he was ready for me to begin the task of speaking through his lips.

I guided him to his first meeting. I led him to his first circle. There, in the power provided, I made my first contact – so crude, so trivial, but from my point of view, so important – and uttered my first expression in the world of matter through another’s organism.

From that day onward I learned how to obtain better control until now you see the result. We have achieved so much that I can register the totality of my ideas and eliminate for all purposes what is in the medium’s own personality. (Silver Birch, PSB, 23.)

I have had to overcome, with all the power at my command, almost insuperable obstacles to reach your world , and I am not alone in this. I am one of those who elected to return because it was seen that the calamities which man / would bring on himself were of so awesome a character that unless the power of the spirit could effect its bridgeheads everywhere, man would destroy himself physically and the world in which he lives. (Silver Birch, GSB, 20.)

To you, this is a little room. To us, it is a grand temple. These little walls have vanished. There is radiance, illumination dazzling in its brilliance. Hundreds upon hundreds are assembled here, each with a mission to perform; some to serve, some to be served.

That vast concourse belongs to all peoples and nations, to the present and to the past. There are prophets, seers, sages, wise men of the East and the West, of high and low estate, philosophers of Greece and Rome, Syria, Chaldea, Persia and Babylon, mingled with those of later generations from Italy, France and Germany. They exchange their knowledge and focus it all so that it shall be at your service. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We are part of a vast spirit organization. We are pursuing what I would like to describe as the overall master plan, which is designed to ensure that the power of the spirit will continue to express itself in your world and reach an ever increasing number of people. The object is to drive away their ignorance, error and superstition and to bring them into the radiant light of divine truth and knowledge so that they can begin to live and fulfil themselves as they should according to the purpose of their earthly incarnation.

The power of the spirit has constantly flowed into your world from time immemorial; its descent, however, was temporary and sporadic. The wonders that were worked, the signs that were given, the same truths that were pronounced were each time made available to the people of that day.

Then there was decay, tampering with the knowledge that had been revealed, for political, theological, and / sometimes state purposes. Now, however, the power of the spirit, because of the overall plan to which I have referred, is here to stay in your world.

Why? Because it is vitally necessary to do so. So many systems have failed to provide the direction which will enable the people who dwell on earth to find themselves and to live according to ideals that will enable the divinity which gave them life to express itself. The spirit has to be made prominent in the lives of all who dwell on earth. (Silver Birch, LSB, 68-9.)

The whole purpose of the return from our world to yours is to draw attention to spiritual realities. It is as simple as that. We could easily be unconcerned with your world and its activities. There is no compulsion to associate ourselves with you and you have no means of forcing our attention. Our efforts are voluntary because we love you, with the whole of humanity, and desire to help you. …

The whole purpose is … to show that every being starts the physical course with a spiritual heritage conferred by the act of birth. The life force is the divine spark, spiritual in nature, which is intended to grow equally with the physical body. The majority of mankind concerns itself only with physical growth. Some of it is concerned with mental growth and a few are concerned with spiritual growth. The only enduring reality is spirit. If we succeed by a variety of means in making man aware of [the] spiritual nature which is his reality, it transforms the whole of his life. He sees its purpose, is conscious of his origin, becomes aware of his destiny and should live his life in the implications of the knowledge which he has received. That very simply is the plan behind all our activities. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I would like to tell you something about my mission. They said to me: “You will have to go into the world of matter and, when you have found your instrument, you will have to bring to him sympathetic souls who will aid you to deliver your message.” I searched and found you all and brought you together.

But the greatest difficulty I had to face was that I had to make the choice whether I would return to provide those proofs that your world must have to satisfy itself - material proofs, I mean, not spiritual ones, for your world does not understand those - or whether I would return as a teacher and teach truth. I chose the harder.

I said that, after all those long years, with all the manifold experiences I had had in the realms of spirit, I would return and try to appeal with love to those whom I would strive to teach. I would appeal to reason. I would appeal to the judgement of mature, evolved and what you call educated minds. I would reveal the message of the spirit in all its simplicity. …

Great work has been done, but a greater work still has to be done. There is war in your world of matter, war that need not be, for if your world knew these truths and lived them, men would not kill. There is starvation, when there is plenty of the Great Spirit’s bounty. There are mean hovels where the children of the Great Spirit are compelled to live, deprived of fresh air, unable to catch the health-giving rays of the sun, forced to live below the line of sustenance. There is want and distress and misery.

There are still superstitions to be killed. There are still aching hearts. There are still diseases to be vanquished. Our task is not yet complete. We rejoice at the work that has been done and pray that strength shall be given to us so that, with your co-operation, we may be enabled to render greater service still. (Silver Birch, SBOS, n.p.)

I always see my mission as two-fold, he told another gathering of the circle. One is purely destructive and the other constructive. First, to destroy all those weeds which have choked the human soul for too long; the weeds of falsity encouraged by the churches; all the nonsensical, revolting and sometimes blasphemous doctrines offered in the name of religion. All these must be extirpated, for they prevent life being lived as it should. That is the destructive part.

The constructive part is to offer knowledge, showing how reasonable, how simple, how beautiful and how true it is to all who are ready to receive it. The two tasks go hand in hand, and I am unconcerned with those who dislike any criticism of venerable falsehood. I have seen too many of the results in your world and in mine. (Silver Birch, SBA, 131.)

I only see a world filled with sorrow that should be filled with happiness, darkness where there should be light, hunger where there should be plenty. I see that the Great Spirit has provided everything, and yet there are those who are preventing its distribution. There are obstacles which must be swept away. I cannot do it. I cannot even criticise. I can only tell you how the law can work if you, who are still encased in matter, will allow it to work through you. Those who do must point a finger of scorn to the things of earth and show the remedies of the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, TSB, 37.)

There lies always the larger task of teaching the many whose lot is not so rich as ours in mind or spirit, to bind up broken hearts to show how the sick can be healed, to emphasize those eternal spiritual truths which are the only foundations for societies to endure, to drive out and banish all the fog and mist, the error and superstition, the vested interests that are the obstacles to the full flowing of spirit power that can illumine and beautify and dignify the world in which you live.

It is not an easy task for people who are invisible, so far as you are concerned, and who are impalpable, so far as worldly sense is concerned, to make their impact on a world of matter. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

When [our spiritual truth] is applied to [your] daily life, then you will drive away all fear, worry, discord, hatred, disease, selfishness and pride, and there will truly be peace based upon a genuine spiritual brotherhood. Increasing awareness of these eternal truths makes your souls and your spiritual bodies receptive to the powers from our world. That is the magnetic link between earth and ourselves. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We offer the knowledge that leads to hope, to light, to peace and to harmony. Your world may despise us, in its ignorance. It may reject the message that we bring. It may deny the power that accompanies us. But our great truth must prevail, for it is of the Great Spirit.

Those who strive to live against the law reap for themselves the results of bitter harvest. Those who live with the law reap a harvest of happiness and plenty, in the things of matter and in the things of the spirit.

Through all the darkness that prevails, do not abandon hope, but be assured in the knowledge that those who work with you for the upliftment of humankind, who strive to bring better conditions into your world of matter, will prevail, for the power that is on their side is the mightiest power in the universe. (Silver Birch, SBA, 42.)

As our teaching grows in your world, it will mean the end of all separateness between peoples. It will mean the end of national barriers. It will mean the end of race distinctions, class distinctions, colour distinctions and all the distinctions between churches and chapels, temples, mosques and synagogues, for gradually all will learn that they have a part of the Great Spirit's truth and that the part enshrined in the heart of every other religion in no way contradicts that portion which is precious to them.

So, out of the apparent confusion, the divine pattern will take its shape and harmony and peace will come. I tell you these things, so that you can understand part of the great plan, the part that we who return from the world of spirit play in it, and the part that each one of you must play in it before your earthly course is run.

What we preach fits in with all the noble and elevated ideas that have come to the vision of all the reformers, all / the saints, all the seers and all the idealists who have striven in every age to render service. Because they were great souls, their spiritual eyes caught glimpses of the life that could be, and that vision of beauty sustained them in all their adversity and struggle. They realised the spirit plan that, one day, will be put into practice, and so they strove to raise up the children of matter, to serve.

Though they were vilified, though they were opposed and ridiculed by those they came to help, their work lived on, even as the work that is being done today in countless small temples, such as this, will live on, though many of the people will be forgotten. The mighty power to stem that mighty tide.

Your world thinks it solves its problems by the shedding of blood. But no problem was ever solved in that way, for bloodshed is needless and leads nowhere. Why cannot they use the reason which the Great Spirit has given them? Why do they think that their only solution must be to kill as many as possible, that the one who is the greatest killer is accounted the victor? It is a strange world you live in.

Your world needs our message, the message of the spirit, the realisation of spirit truths, the knowledge that there are spiritual laws and guidance both from above and from within, so that in its perplexity it may learn where to turn to find comfort and guidance and help. /

We seek nothing for ourselves. We want no glory. We have simply the desire to be of service, to reveal once again the laws which have been forgotten, so that the world of matter may rediscover those powers of the spirit which can bring it new hope and a new life. (Silver Birch, SBA, 45-7.)

These things are part of the great mission which we all have to perform so that, amidst the crumbling ruins of the discarded beliefs, mankind may not reject all because of his doubt and scepticism, but may learn to sift the wheat from the chaff, the fact from the myth, and hold on to that which is previous, which is enshrined in all religions, the great truths of the spirit, long overlaid with the imaginations of the children of matter.

The power of the spirit - which inspired those in days gone by, which gave them vision and courage, enthusiasm and desire to serve - is available today if the children of matter will learn to look for it in the operation of those laws which are at their disposal. (Silver Birch, SBA, 47.)

What a glorious message we have for your world of matter - a message that makes men free and teaches them to rejoice in their divine heritage; a message that teaches them to throw off all shackles and bonds; a message that teaches them to rejoice in the fullness of spiritual knowledge; a message that shows them how to live not only on the planes of matter, but on the planes of spirit; a message that brings them beauty, love and wisdom, understanding, truth and happiness; a message that speaks of service, service, service. (Silver Birch, SBA, 41.)

It is part of our task to reveal those qualities of the human spirit which can add their lustre to life, those gifts of the soul and the mind which are still unexplored regions, which are filled with vast potentialities and which, when exercised, can bring into human life a richness and sweetness, a grandeur and nobility, a breadth of vision and mental stature that transform the whole of human understanding.

These are the aspects of man which relate him to the eternal; these are the divine attributes which Thou hast / implanted; and these are the gifts which, when developed, make him god-like and help him to fulfil his birthright and to claim his heritage. Thus it is that we labour in the fields of spiritual attainment, for it is there that so much ignorance reigns. If that could be dispelled, the light of truth would be the guide for all humanity.

All that belongs to the darkness would no longer exist and Thy children everywhere would live as Thou dost intend, free, upright and worthy of their divine kinship. (Silver Birch, SBA, 108-9.)

The bodies of matter must be as perfect as they can be made through having all the necessities of life freely at their disposal, as the Great Spirit would have them. Then their spirits must be freed from all dogmatic and creedal trammels, so that they do not give allegiance to things / that have no real or spiritual value, so that they work only for that which is true, so that the warring and the quarrelling and the strife over creeds and dogmas, which have held your world in chains for thousands of years, can be abolished . (Silver Birch, SBA, 44-5.)

We desire to give Thy children an understanding of their place in Thy infinite scheme - that they may truly find themselves and learn to use the power that Thou hast given them in a world that is full of darkness and bitterness, anger and hatred. We desire to stress the simple truths of spirit realities, which provide always the eternal foundations for justice, for right, for goodness and for beauty. To those who have lost their way, who know not where to find Thee, our aim is to teach them that Thou art within them, that Thy infinite spirit resides within their beings, that truly the kingdom of heaven is within, a kingdom of joy and happiness, a kingdom of wisdom and understanding, a kingdom of toleration and righteousness.

We desire to reach all those who are sad and weary, sick and distressed, who mourn and who are not yet comforted, who are tired and weary, who know not where to turn for guidance and for understanding, so that they may realise Thou hast not left them alone. Our mission encompasses the whole world of matter and all people who dwell in it, making no distinction between them, /realising that Thy spirit flows through every human nature, through every facet of the mighty universe, and is expressed in every atom of consciousness.

With the recognition of that truth there will come a new peace, which will quicken the hearts and souls and minds of men and make them live for one another, serving Thee by serving Thy children everywhere. (Silver Birch, SBA, 111-2.)

The Great Spirit is within you. You have a divine heritage and are entitled to all the bounty of the Great Spirit because of your latent divinity and all obstacles and institutions that stand in the way of that fullness must be swept aside. … That is the task to which we have dedicated ourselves. That is the service we strive to perform. (Silver Birch, TSB, 45.)

Great work can be achieved if all those who are conscious of spiritual truths will band themselves together and use their power to dissipate the fog of darkness which has risen in the world of matter. Go forward with great confidence, knowing that all the forces of goodness, helpfulness and service are at your side. (Silver Birch, TSB, 46.)

We will be able to help many who do not know where to turn, who have left behind them the old shibboleths, who do not trust any more the faith of yesterday and who search for the truth which will withstand the questionings of today. We bring them the knowledge of spiritual truth and spiritual law. We seek to remind them of their own innate powers of divinity, to make them understand the Godhead that is theirs so that they may sweep away for ever the ideas of cringing self-abasement before a vengeful, wrathful deity . (Silver Birch, TSB, 46.)

We seek to make your world of matter realize the great power of spirit, waiting to co-operate with all those who strive to serve the children of the Great Spirit so that, armed with knowledge, they can fight all superstition and all that belongs to the mists of darkness, and allow the light of spiritual truth to radiate its glorious beams. That is our task. And we bring with us the power of the spirit which can inspire and guide, which can uphold and sustain, which can bring food to hungry minds, healing to bodies racked with pain, which can bring inspiration and revelation, truth and wisdom for all.

We can fill them with this power just as they provide us with the capacity to understand and receive it. We seek to co-operate with all who desire to uplift mankind, whether they be inside the Churches or outside, whether they have the labels of religion or none at all, whether they be scientists, materialists, [or] philosophers. (Silver Birch, TSB, 46-7.)

I, whom you call Silver Birch, represent only a small portion of the knowledge that belongs to the infinity of the spheres. As you grow, other teachers greater than I can use me to impart knowledge and wisdom to you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Always we begin with the individual, the unit which, when it is multiplied by millions, constitutes the world in which you live. It is a very slow and arduous process, illuminating one by one, but it could not be done otherwise. Mass conversion always fails. When the hypnotic spell is broken and the emotions recede to normal, it is all forgotten. And, indeed, perhaps those who have experienced these heightening calls to their senses are sometimes a little ashamed.

And so, despite all opposition and hostility and antagonism, we continue to labour, reiterating the simple truths which in the end must prevail, knowing that even as little drops of water will in time wear away a stone, to one by one the light comes and the truth is embraced. Where it is understood and appreciated in all the fullness of its implications, there is to be found a soul who will never look back, who will never regret saying farewell to / the bonds which held him for too long. You have moved out of darkness into light. (Silver Birch, SBA, 31-2.)

Our mission is not to exalt men and women into high places of authority, but to seek to reveal truth, knowledge and wisdom.

We preach nothing that is untrue, undignified, ignoble or [base to] mankind. We seek to reveal only that which will elevate the whole human race and give it a true conception of its position in life and the universe, its relationship to the Great Spirit and an understanding of its kinship with other members of the vast human family in your world. (Silver Birch, PSB, 25.)

We strive to make you aware of the infinite qualities that you possess, many of them so dormant that they never find expression. We want you to find yourselves, your real selves, so that you may order your lives in such a fashion that the Great Spirit is expressed through you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

And yet we are denied by those who do not understand the revelation of the Great Spirit and who deny the spirit, as the power of the spirit has been denied throughout all times. (Silver Birch, SBA, 42.)

I … say nothing that [offends] reason. I … strive to manifest love, never to reproach with anger, but to appeal always with love, and prove by precept and example and by all I did that I [am] what I [claim] to be - a messenger of the Great Spirit.

And I imposed upon myself the burden of anonymity, so that I would make no appeal of illustrious personage, title, rank, or fame , but would be judged on what I said and what I did. (Silver Birch, SBOS, n.p.)

We do not seek to terrify you with threats of punishment. We do not seek to make you craven cowards, living your lives because of fear. We strive to make you realise the latent divinity that is yours that you may express more of the Great Spirit, that you may rise to greater heights and fill your mind with greater truth and wisdom.

We urge you to be dissatisfied with what you have already received, because only through discontent and the desire to reach out can greater knowledge come. He who is satisfied stagnates; he who is discontented struggles towards greater freedom.

We never say to you, 'Do not use your reason, have faith only.' We say, 'Use that which the Great Spirit has given you. Test us. Examine us. If aught that we say is debasing, cruel or immoral, then reject us.'

If we seek always to teach you to live nobler lives, lives of greater self-sacrifice and of idealism, then surely that demonstrates that the hall-mark of the Great Spirit is stamped upon our teaching. (Silver Birch, SBA, 43.)

If you hear through the lips of the medium through whom I address you that which makes your reason revolt, that which contradicts the love of the Great Spirit, that which is foolish, that which is an insult to your intelligence, then know that my day is done and I have failed.

Though I have spoken to you many, many times, I do not think I have ever said anything which is contrary to the highest aspirations of the soul. For our appeal is always to the highest that is within you. (Silver Birch, SBA, 44.)

I only tell you what I know and, if I do not know, what I believe. If the views that I express cause disagreement, that is all to the good, for then we can reason with one another. You can add your stock of wisdom to mine and in considering these problems we can learn from one another and help one another to a greater understanding. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I only try to tell you a few of the things that I have learned, because I know that they can help you even if they make you examine again the fundamental principles of life.

Sometimes, when you are engrossed in your daily tasks and the problems of your world surround you, you are apt to forget the great eternal spiritual principles upon which all life is based. If I remind you of these things, they help you to focus your minds so that you can get the true balance and are able to render still greater service. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

All the great teachers, the instruments of the spirit who have added their lustre to the world, have taught truths that were similar in basis. Each came to reveal the spiritual nature of man, to draw attention to the eternal qualities possessed by every human being. Each taught of the infinite soul the divine spark, the portion of the Great Spirit resident within all human life. Each taught those principles which, if adopted and followed, would enable that spirit to have a greater expression. Each made it clear that living according to spiritual ideals would banish from your world all the miserable spectres that haunt it, all the fears and miseries and sadnesses which have needlessly afflicted it for too long.

Love thy neighbour as thyself, give service to those who need it, help the wary and the thirsty, heal the sick, comfort the mourner, visit those who are in affliction - these are the truths that have been taught a long time ago. If man would but practise them he could transform the whole of his world and make it impossible for war, / with all its hideous horrors, to be visited on him again. Let me make clear what is our attitude. It is that man has at his command all that which is necessary for his growth and for his spiritual equipment. There are many sacred books, there have been many teachers, many inspired men and women who have caught glimpses of the inner life and each in his own way has interpreted what he has seen. But, unfortunately, the simple truth which has been revealed from the higher aspects of life has been overlaid.

Men have built on it edifices of doctrine, of dogma, of creed, of ritual, of ceremony. A whole bulwark of theology has been placed on the foundation of simple spiritual truth until now the foundations are completely forgotten. Thus it is that we have constantly sought out instruments through whom the message of the spirit could be given in all its pristine beauty, in all the quality of its simplicity, radiant because it is unadorned.

We are not concerned with systems of belief fashioned by the minds of man; we are concerned with the truths of the spirit where we are not confronted with the illusions of your early life. It is because we have seen so many human wreckages, so many human derelicts coming to our world , it is because we have seen the transition of so many thousands completely unfitted in every way for the life that confronts them, ignorant, full of misconcep/tion, filled with prejudice, that we decided that it would be far simpler if man, whilst on earth, could have in his midst the simple truth that would prepare him for that life which one day will be his abiding reality.

And so we have declared constant war on all those systems and organisations, on all those beliefs which stand in the way, all the obstacles that have needlessly been created, all the superstitions which becloud and befuddle the mind, so that all the children of the Great Spirit can have at their command the eternal truths which will enable them to live their lives as the Great Spirit intended that they should.

Never mind what others say, forget all the condemnations and all the denunciations. These are the simple truths of the spirit that will stand forever. They will answer every test that reason demands. They will not demean your intelligence. They are simple, so simple, that they can be grasped and understood by any ordinary individual. These are the truths that will prevail long after all priestcraft has completely failed - simple, eternal truths of the spirit, founded on the eternal, natural laws.

We require no popes, no archbishops, no priests, no clergymen, no churches, no temples, no synagogues. We build no system of theology. We enunciate simple truths and we are determined that, given the instruments, these truths will continue to permeate every form of society, so that all men can be free in body, mind and / spirit, and never again shall they become bondmen living in slavery. The darkness of ignorance will have perished and the light, the effulgent light of truth, will reign in its place. (Silver Birch, SBA, 32-6.)

The truth reigns supreme. Ignorance flees before its approach. It is because our message is true that we one day will reign supreme - not we who are the instruments, but that which we represent, the love of the Great Spirit, the infinity of His bounty, the love, the wisdom, the knowledge that watches over all mankind.

Away must go every obstacle that prevents the fullness of the Great Spirit being revealed. Away must go all servitude. Away must go all barriers. That is the task upon which we are all engaged. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Ours is a great task. We do not seek to perform wonders that will enable ignorance to stare us with mouth agape and with wide-eyed astonishment. We do not seek to convert masses in one instantaneous revelation.

Ours is the constant fight against selfishness, self-interest, the powers that belong to all the darkness of life. Prejudice, superstition, error, jealous, greed, avarice, hate - against these we are at war. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Ours is an ascending ladder. Each rung is joined to the one above, so that the lowliest in your world of matter has access to the highest in the realm of spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We will not forget you. We will not leave you. We will not let you down. (Silver Birch, LSB, 130.)

Do not judge by the outer semblance. The difference between us always is that you judge from the outer manifestation while we who see with the eyes of the spirit see motive and purpose, which are more important. Strive to see the eternal realities behind the passing phases. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

In olden days, when this power flowed, it performed certain remarkable phenomena which many today regard as miracles. I want to say that in the operation of natural law they cannot be suspended or abrogated, and must fulfil themselves in an ordered sequence as effect follows cause.

Whatever has happened, however remarkable, stupefying, extraordinary or wonderful in days gone by, it was due to the operation of natural laws.

These operate not only in the physical domain but also work ceaselessly in the spiritual realms. When conditions allow, the spiritual, psychic, astral and etheric laws can be brought into operation to perform what were regarded as miracles yesterday, but today are described as psychic phenomena produced through mediumship. (Silver Birch, LSB, 67.)

Sometimes [your guides] are those who belong to the family line. Sometimes there is no tie of earthly relationship, but instead there is a spiritual kinship based upon mutual attraction because there is some task that can be per/formed. They are not restricted to the members of any race or nation, for race and nationality do not persist after the grave when the habits of earth have died away. There are no races or nations in the souls; only in the bodies. (Silver Birch, SBA, 91-2.)

Can you tell us how the guides are selected?

Some volunteer because they are aware of tasks to be performed in your world. Others who have reached a maturity of spiritual growth are approached by those who have taken upon themselves the task of helping humanity.

I was asked - I did not choose in the first place. But when I was asked whether I would volunteer to do so I readily assented and I can tell you that a very black picture was painted of the difficulties that would have to be surmounted before any progress could be made. Yet those difficulties, to a large extent, have been conquered and the obstacles that still stand in the way are very small compared with those that have been removed. …

Our world is very highly organised, it is far more organised than ever you have thought possible, and to perform this task requires a / miniature organisation. You know by name some of the members of this band, who incidentally are a most retiring assortment of people, because each time I seek to thrust them forward, they always stand back and say, ‘You go ahead.’

Now you cannot get your group, your band, unless it is attracted to you for the work’s sake and you have reached that degree of evolution which gives you the power of attraction. (Silver Birch, SBA, 92-3.)

[The tie between people and their guardians] is a tie of spiritual affinity. Sometimes that happens when there is [no] blood relationship at all. Wherever there is a mutual interest, based upon the tie of affinity between kindred spirits, then the guardian or guide - call it what name you like - is able to render service because the attraction is there. The greater the bond of spiritual affinity, the closer is the proximity between the guardian and its charge. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

There is a quality in the spirit that is known to advanced souls in our world, and the appointment of a guardian is dependent upon the affinity of spiritual interest between them.

“Do you mean that guardians are appointed by somebody else, and it is not a choice of a charge by the guardian?” Austen queried, probing further.

Yes, they are appointed always. There is law in my world, much more rigidly than in yours. The harmony between them is determined because the qualities are known at the beginning. The headmaster of a school, if he knew the latent qualities of all the children entrusted to his charge, and knew the capabilities of the teachers he had, would know which children should be under the tutors of each teacher. Unfortunately, the factors are not always known in your world - but they are in ours. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

It is always true that any sincere request for spiritual help can never fail. You open yourself to this aid the moment you make this magnetic link with the world of spirit. (Silver Birch, GSB, 22.)

[Guides] have to register in the world of matter and that is not easy, for you know the vibrations that come to us from your world are not all that they should be. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You both are the recipients of more guidance than you can appreciate. If you were clairvoyant you would be aware of the great love that surrounds you and ensures that no real harm can ever befall you. So every morning await with eager anticipation the spiritual adventures that will unfold for you. And, as I often tell my friends, look back and see how the signposts of the spirit pointed the way for you, and guidance came even when it appeared you were in the blackness of despair. (Silver Birch, LSB, 136.)

All guidance streams from the Great Spirit. Ambassadors from the hierarchy and other enlightened beings, who are kindred souls as far as you are concerned, attach themselves to you sometimes before you are born into your world.

Sometimes they make themselves known to you before you incarnate into your world; sometimes you agree with them that you will volunteer to perform certain tasks. It does not matter what names you call them. They are there. They do not leave you. Their task is as it says in your Bible, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee.

These are the angels of light who surround their charges, whose self-imposed task is to guard, to guide, to sustain them and always to point the way to the spiritual path that ultimately leads to mastery. (Silver Birch, LSB, 87.)

The nearer you get to the belt of matter, the more clumsy and difficult it is for the spirit to express itself. (Silver Birch, SBA, 70.)

When you have tasted and enjoyed with your full consciousness all that my world has to offer, you will realise that it is the love we bear for you that makes us come back to work amongst you. (Silver Birch, SBA, 69.)

It is not an easy task for people who are invisible, so far as you are concerned, and who are impalpable, so far as worldly sense is concerned, to make their impact on a world of matter. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Your world is cold, it is dreary, it is dismal, it is dark. But here and there throughout your earth we find places where there are the human hearths of love, affection and friendship where we can warm ourselves and enjoy the radiance that is offered by these lighthouses of the spirit in your world. (Silver Birch, LSB, 72.)

We have aided those who have become faint-hearted, given strength to those who were weary, guided those who had lost their way and acted as an incentive to those who strive to work for their fellows, giving them the realization that behind them there is a mighty host of spirit spurring them on in all their endeavours for the Great Spirit and His children. (Silver Birch, TSB, 44-5.)

I wish you could see the extent of our influence. We have helped to break barriers, to remove obstacles and to bring knowledge. These are the things your world needs, the simple truths that will enable spiritual, mental and material freedom to come to your world. (Silver Birch, TSB, 45.

If we raise up one soul, if we give comfort to one who mourns, if we give hope to one who is faint-hearted, if we give strength to one who is weary, then has it not been worth doing? (Silver Birch, SBA, 43.)

Think of the many whom our message disturbs, whom it puzzles, who are perplexed, who, bound to a / creed, cannot escape - yet they hear the voice of freedom calling to their imprisoned souls and their minds struggle to be free. They are the ones for whom the message is intended, those to whom it comes as an incentive to reach out to what before was unattainable. All truth is but a stepping stone. (Silver Birch, SBA, 43-4.)

I am proud that because of our efforts we have accomplished so much throughout the world of matter. … Hearts that were once sad are now a little more joyful. Light has pierced the gloom of darkness. Now, there is a little more knowledge where before there was ignorance. We have aided those who have become faint-hearted, given strength to those who were weary, guided those who had lost their way and acted as an incentive to those who strive to work for their fellows, giving them the realization that behind them there is a mighty host of spirit spurring them on in all their endeavors for the Great Spirit and His children.

And I am also happy that I have been able to bring to you some of those you love and who love you, so that you may realize more than you ever did before that you have never lost them, that ‘death’ does not divide but brings together those whom love and affection and friendship have made one in heart and soul.

I wish you could see the extent of our influence. We have helped to break barriers, to remove obstacles and to bring knowledge. These are the things your world needs, the simple truths that will enable spiritual, mental and material freedom to come to your world. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Because of the work that others have done - the same work that we do - there is more light in your world of matter, there is more happiness, there is less sorrow, less tears. We have won a partial victory over the grave.

We have inspired many to let their higher selves rise in their lives. We have driven out many of the falsehoods of the past that have blinded men’s eyes to justice and truth. We have helped to free many from the prison-house of creed and dogma which has afflicted your world for so many years, shaming reason with its foolish stupidities.

We have sought - and succeeded in some measure - to teach of a Great Spirit of love and wisdom, not of partiality, not of wrath, not vindictive and angry, not a dealer of pestilence and disease. We have sought to reveal the Nazarene as a great exemplar. And many have seen the reason that lies in our teaching. (Silver Birch, SBOS, n.p.)

I look back at the beginning of my mission with just one instrument. Then I was unable to speak your language with any degree of efficiency. I realize how fortunate we are to have reached so many people.

Others will follow. They will have the means at their disposal of reaching far more people than we have done, because of technological devises that are to come. (Silver Birch, LSB, 88.)

We are breaking through all over the world of matter. Our / message illumines minds in every part of your world, and, as the light of the spirit breaks in on your world, so its rays disperse the darkness of your materialism. (Silver Birch, SBA, 42-3.)

When I was in the spheres at the last festival they praised me and said I had accomplished much of my mission. And tears of joy fell down my face. But my mission is not yet over. There is still more to be done. (Silver Birch, SBOS, n.p.)

Your world is bankrupt and chaotic. It is filled with despair and strife and bitterness. We seek to restore reason, to replace error with truth, superstition with knowledge, darkness with light, so that those who are weak in the struggle may find strength and those who are helpless may become whole again, so that those who are tired may become refreshed, so that those who suffer injustice may have their due. (Silver Birch, TSB, 35.)

There is so much darkness where there should be light, so much ignorance where there should be knowledge, so much foolishness where there should be wisdom, so much hunger where there should be plenty, so much misery where there should be happiness, so many hovels where there should be fit habitations for all, so much cruelty where there should be kindness, so much hate where there should be love. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The work that we do becomes more and more necessary. Your world is full of bloodshed, tears of misery and bitterness. In its blindness, your world will not live according to the laws of the Great Spirit. It has chosen the path that leads to darkness and to despair. (Silver Birch, SBA, 42.)

I … elected to return because it was seen that the calamities which man would bring on himself were of so awesome a character that unless the power of the spirit could effect its bridgeheads everywhere, man would destroy himself physically and the world in which he lives. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We preach the gospel of the spiritual brotherhood of all peoples, with the Great White Spirit as the common Father. What stands in the way is the earthly conception, the churches built on error, the usurping of privilege, the pride and the power of tyrants, petty tyrants who hold the whip hand. (Silver Birch, SBA, 45-7.)

You have nearly destroyed your world by the follies of your ideas. There is war that need not be, for, if you knew these truths and lived them, men would not kill. There is starvation when there is plenty of the Great Spirit’s bounty. There are mean hovels where the children of the Great Spirit are compelled to live, deprived of fresh air, unable to catch health-giving rays of the sun, forced to live below the line of sustenance. There are want, distress and misery. (Silver Birch, PSB, 26.)

Because man is not spiritually led he is in danger of blowing himself up with forces that he is not entitled to have at his command. All our efforts are directed, wherever channels can be found, towards the single purpose of ensuring that the spiritual truths upon which the whole of life are founded should be the basis by which man everywhere builds his life.

All jealousies and bickering, all strife and fratricide, all war and chaos, all envy, greed and malice can be driven from the earth. Compassion, kindness, gentleness, amity and co-operation can be the principles by which men rule everywhere because of the recognition of their common spiritual nature. There is a bright side. It is not a picture of unrelieved gloom, because amid such obstacles and difficulties any step forward is great progress. If you can help only one soul to be comforted when all seems drear, dark and dismal, then it has all been worth while. And you can help far more than one. (Silver Birch, GSB, 21.)

Why do they prefer the darkness when they could have the light? Why do they prefer ignorance when they could have knowledge? Why do they prefer superstition when they could have wisdom? Why do they prefer the dead bones of a creed when they could have the living truth of the spirit? Why do they prefer the dust of theology when they could have the waters of spiritual wisdom? (Silver Birch, SBA, 48.)

This time, we are striving to be certain that the forces of materialism shall not prevail so that your world may learn to save itself from the evil which is ready to overtake it. Only the application of these truths in their ramifications in your daily lives can avert the fearful catastrophe that looms in front of you.

The children [of matter] have chosen. But always those who are the masters in the world of spirit have to make sure that they incarnate into matter men who are so tuned to the vibrations of the Great Spirit that, through them, His work can go on. So far have the children wandered that they are blind to the things of the spirit and only understand the things of matter. (Silver Birch, SBA, 51.)

Here I see only a world filled with sorrow that should be full of happiness, darkness where there should be light, hunger where there should be plenty. The Great Spirit has provided everything and yet there are those who prevent its distribution. There are obstacles which must be swept away.

I cannot do it. I can only tell you how the Law can work if you, who are still encased in matter, will allow it to work through you. (Silver Birch, PSB, 27.)

Why people in your world prefer the darkness of ignorance to the light of truth is something I do not understand. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We have nothing to offer but the truth, and it is the truth that will set men free. Why this should incur enmity, displeasure, hostility, opposition and misrepresentation, I do not know. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We must keep on touching souls, awakening slumbering souls, getting them to realize the greatness that could be theirs. We offer them gifts of the spirit that bring with them the full lustre of their own dignity and grandeur. If obstinate man refuses this, he is turning his back on the greatest gifts offered by the greatest power in the universe. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

All truth is wonderful. It is error that is so foolish. And yet there are so many who would rather cling to error, because they are familiar with error, even though they know it is error, rather than seek the strange landmarks of wonderful truth.

They would rather be weak when they could be strong, they would rather dwell in darkness with undisturbed faith built on error than seek the light. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Your world is at a precarious stage of its evolution. It is almost seemingly a touch-and-go situation. You will come through. Pay no heed to the Cassandras, to the prophets and criers of woe.

The Great Spirit has placed a limit on the damage and harm that can be done by man in your world. There is no power in your world that is able to destroy the whole of it. There is no power that can kill the physical bodies of all who dwell in it. There is a limit to what man can do with the most complicated, efficient technological devices that he can invent. (Silver Birch, SBA, 143.)

They are not new things that we try to teach you. They are the old, old truths that those who have seen with the eyes of spirit have taught you for many, many years. But you have neglected them and so it is necessary to teach them to you once again, to show you that you must learn the lessons of the Great Spirit. You have nearly destroyed your world by the follies of your own ideas.

Your world must get back to the Great Spirit and His laws. It is coming back. Slowly, I can see how the laws of the Great Spirit are coming into fulfillment.

What you must try to learn is that the bounty of the Great Spirit must be properly divided amongst the people. You have people who have too little to eat and you have people with too much to eat. That of course must be wrong. You have to divide the things you have among the people you have. Is not that simple?

You must break down vested interests. The laws are perfect. If you live your own life, seeking only to serve others, then because of that the Great Spirit operates through you. That applies to you and it applies to all. (Silver Birch, TSB, 43.)

Many young people today are wondering if this planet will survive for very long because of what man is doing to it.

The planet will survive.

Will man?

Yes, man will survive too. There is a limitation placed by natural law on what man can do to the planet on which he lives. He cannot destroy the whole of the planet and all that it contains. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The Great Spirit will not allow His children to destroy themselves. (Silver Birch, TSB, 44.)

No man, and no combination of men, have the power to thwart divine will. They can delay, they can harass and they can impede. Infinite wisdom and love rule the universe. These will prevail because that is the law. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

There is much to be revealed in your world, much to be discovered. You are not at the end of evolution. You are still in its early stages.

Those who are familiar with the truths of the spirit never despair. Their optimism is based on the knowledge that has been revealed to them. With that knowledge they can have complete faith in the overriding power.

In its long history your world has had many disasters. Man has survived them. Man has progressed in spite of himself. He will continue to evolve because evolution is part of the natural law. And spiritual evolution is part of that same law. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

It is only through a few instruments that the power of the spirit can express itself, but the number is constantly increasing and the tide turns in our favour. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

What we preach fits in with all the noble and elevated ideas that have come to the vision of all the reformers, all the saints, all the seers and all the idealists who have striven in every age to render service.

Because they were great souls, their spiritual eyes caught glimpses of the life that could be, and that vision of beauty sustained them in all their adversity and struggle. They realized the spirit plan that, one day, will be put into practice, and so they strove to raise up the children of matter, to serve.

Though they were vilified, though they were opposed and ridiculed by those they came to help, their work lived on, even as the work that is being done today in countless small temples, such as this, will live on, though many of the people will be forgotten.

The mighty power of the Spirit has been launched once again in your world of matter, and the children of matter do not possess the power to stem that mighty tide. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

As your world grows in wisdom and understanding, its people will learn to regulate their lives according to the laws of the Great Spirit. They will learn to have obedience to the Law.

They will learn that all the misery and the starvation, the suffering and the heartbreaks that come through your worldly conditions are all caused because the law is not obeyed.

When the fuller understanding comes, there will be swept away all the hideous growths in the garden of the Great Spirit that prevent its beauty being shown to every one of His children. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We seek to advance our cause wherever we can, wherever we find receptive hearts, receptive minds, receptive souls.

For years it was with difficulty that we laboured. The opposition seemed so gigantic, the obstacles insuperable, yet we toiled on unceasingly, knowing always that with the power of the Great Spirit behind us and with a few faithful, valiant hearts to co-operate with us, we could not fail.

You who live today can see the fruits of nearly a century of arduous toil. All this is as naught compared with what shall be achieved, for the tide has turned. Now we are marching forward to victory and nothing can stop us. …

Light triumphs over darkness, knowledge defeats ignorance, joy replaces sorrow and truth is the victor. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You are now in the midst of the crisis. As always happens before there is a birth, there is much pain. The birth of the new order means much pain. Even when the new order comes, there will be growing pains.

But there has been planted in your world a seed that will grow and the efforts of those in high places to destroy the seed will fail. It was said, a long time ago, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” That is going to happen.

There will be many big changes. There will be break-ups and there will be many upheavals. There will be what you think is darkness and difficulty. You will say, “Things are worse.” But, all the time, there is behind it all a power which is making for the progress of the world.

There are many of us who have been allowed by those who are higher and above us to see your world as it will be one day. That conception we try to transmit to those who are receptive, to inspire them to go on with their work. The pictures I have seen make your present world more ugly than it is. I see what it could be like – and what it must be like. It is only a question of time.

One day, there will arise a new race that will recognize that all politics, religion, science and knowledge are part of one [pathological] thing. Then pain, sorrow, fear, mourning and unhappiness will be banished and your world will be a place of smiles and happy laughter. …

You have tried to build a world where, when one man has something, instead of using it to help the others, he tries to keep it for himself, with the result that in time he makes a system that must collapse because its foundations are wrong.

When you have people who develop their gifts, which all come from the Great Spirit, and use them for the benefit of all the others, then there will be built a system founded on that which is eternal. (Silver Birch, TSB, 42-3.)

You are witnessing the birth of a new order and all around you are the signs that the old world, founded on selfishness, materialism, greed, avarice and cruelty, is dying. You who call yourselves Spiritualists are the custodians of a great truth, for you are the sentries guarding the outposts, helping to forge the new era. Think of yourselves as soldiers of the Great Spirit, fighting the greatest fight of all, for you are helping to vanquish all the forces that belong to the darkness of man’s ignorance and brought war, misery, chaos and bankruptcy to your world.

You are helping to shape a new world in which all the children of the Great Spirit will share to fulfil the richness of the bounty He has freely given. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I do not care by what name you call the dawn of the new world, but it is the world of the Great Spirit coming into fulfillment, accompanied by His power, and the service of all faithful hearts who seek but to bring new joy, new life, new happiness into the world of matter, so that there shall cease coming into our world the wrecks of yours. (Silver Birch, TSB, 44.)

We strive always to reveal the religious significance of spiritual truth for, when your world understands its spiritual import, there will be a revolution mightier than all the revolutions of war and blood.

It will be a revolution of the soul and, all over the world, people will claim what is their due – the right to enjoy to the full the liberties of the spirit. Away will go every restriction which has put fetters on them. (Silver Birch, TSB, 26.)

The tide of victory rolls on. The old order dies, giving place to the new. The new world is coming. But do not think that, because of this victory, there will be no more dark places. There will still be much shedding of tears. There will be many aching hearts. There is great sacrifice to be made. (Silver Birch, TSB, 38.)

But after the storms and the wind have blown through the world there always comes the new life of the spring. When the snow lies on the ground and all looks very bleak, you are not able to see the freshness of the spring. But it comes.

And gradually, as the great sun of life moves through the heavens of the Great Spirit, so the majesty of life comes to its fullest. Throughout the whole world of matter there is a great cloud of discontent. There will come the spring of dreams and the summer of fulfilment. …

It will come quickly or slowly as the children of the Great Spirit exercise their free will. (Silver Birch, SBA, 51.)

Like many others, I have come nearer to the earth vibrations to help push forward that great new world which waits just round the corner. I come to teach you the laws of the Great Spirit and to show you how, if you live according to them, the bounty of the Great Spirit can be poured into your hearts and minds. (Silver Birch, PSB, 27.)

The New World is born, born in agony of birth, with a baptism of tears and misery and sadness. But the New World is here. Its rays are beginning to pierce the fog of your world. But even in this New World all will not have been achieved. There will be plenty to remedy, to improve, to strengthen. There will still be weakness to be overcome, there will still be troubles to be eradicated. But there will be a new basis for life. Much of the needless misery, much of the needless deprivation, much of the needless starvation and sadness will have gone. The basis of life will be changed, for gradually selfishness will be overthrown and service will reign in its place.

The New World will come more quickly or more slowly, as more of you help us or hinder us in our efforts to co-operate with you. You will not get more than you deserve or less than you deserve, for so perfect is natural law in its expression that its scales are always evenly balanced. They are weighted down neither on one side nor the other. I tell you of conditions that are operating and, as they continue to operate, what will be changed. Do not forget that you will reap in your world the harvest of countless generations of labour wrought by many pioneers, idealists and reformers, who made sacrifices to advance the lot of mankind. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We are striving always to teach the children of matter how to be free and how to bask in the sunlight of spiritual truth, how to cast off the serfdom of creedal slavery. That is not an easy task, for once the trappings of religion have mastered you, it takes a long time for spiritual truth to penetrate that thick wall of superstition.

We strive always to reveal the religious significance of spiritual truth, for when your world understands its / spiritual import there will be a revolution mightier than all the revolutions of war and blood.

It will be a revolution of the soul and, all over the world, people will claim what is their due - the right to enjoy to the full the liberties of the spirit. Away will go every restriction which has put fetters on them.

Our allegiance is not to a Creed, not to a Book, not to a Church, but to the Great Spirit of life and to His eternal natural laws.

A great power of the spirit will descend into your world of matter. In all its countries a mighty force of the spirit will be felt, for there is a great work to be done to counteract the selfishness and the ignorance of your world. In time it will conquer, but, in the process, there will be much travail.

Plenty of workers have come to take their stand at your side. There are those who are known to you, those who are bound to you with ties of blood and others who are attracted to serve you out of the love that they bear for you. When you think of those whose names you know, try to realise the countless host of the unknown, who serve without any desire to be known or recognised but who give their power to be used.

The world will not be converted in a blinding flash like Saul on the road to Damascus. Gradually, the light of spiritual truths will break through, as more people become aware of the great knowledge and more instruments are available for the power of the Great White Spirit to use. You must remember that the things of the / spirit require careful nurture and progress. Sudden conversions would not be enduring, and our work is intended to be permanent. Each soul that becomes an instrument for the Great Spirit, each soul that moves out of darkness into the light, out of ignorance into knowledge, out of superstition into truth, is helping to advance the world, for each one of these is a nail that is driven into the coffin of the world's materialism. (Silver Birch, SBA, 39-41.)

The Great Spirit is infinite love and nothing happens in the whole universe without His knowledge. (Silver Birch, SBA, 23.)

Remember the mighty force that set the whole universe in motion and created every manifestation of life, both animate and inanimate; that fashioned the stars and the planets, the sun and the moon; that brought life to your world of matter; that gave your consciousness a portion of the divine spirit; that is revealed in the perfect laws that control every phase of manifestation.

That power cannot fail you if you do not fail it. Let that be your strength, your refuge and your harbour. Know that the cloak of divine love is always about you and the infinite embrace holds you in its arms. (Silver Birch, PSB, 30.)

If the power of the spirit could fail, the earth would cease to spin on its axis and the seasons no longer follow one another in orderly sequence. If the power of the spirit could fail, the sun would cease to be a fiery orb and the moon fail to reflect its illumination. If the power of the spirit could fail, no seed would flower, no fruit would grow. (Silver Birch, PSB, 38.)

Thou art to be found in the spirit which is within all Thy living creatures. In man Thou art seen as individual consciousness, for Thou hast raised him up so that he can partake with Thee in the processes of shaping infinite creation.

Thou hast bestowed on man many of Thy divine attributes, and he possesses as a consequence the gifts of the spirit, those faculties which enable him to be aware of the more subtle forces of life, the power of the spirit.

It is this power which has made life possible; it is this power which distinguishes him from the whole of creation; it is this power which gives him the ability to think and judge, to reflect and decide, to behold beauty and to understand it, to receive wisdom and to appreciate it, to acquire knowledge and to value it.

It is this power which makes him subject to the inspiration of the larger life; it is this power which makes it possible for him to come to the rescue of those who bear life's difficulties; it is this power which makes him aware of the world of spirit and all its denizens who seek to use him in the larger fields of service; it is this power which makes him aware of his own place in the vast cosmic scheme. (Silver Birch, SBA, 110.)

There is no personal God apart from the one that human beings have created; there is no personal Devil apart from the one that human beings have created. There is no golden heaven, no fiery hell. These are the imaginings of those whose views are limited. The Great Spirit is the Law. Know that, and you have learned life's greatest secret, for once you realise the world is governed by unchangeable, unbreakable, immutable, omnipotent law, you know that justice is done and none can be forgotten in the great scheme of creation. (Silver Birch, SBA, 21.)

There is a plan into which we all fit and that will operate with the consent of your free will. (Silver Birch, GSB, 19.)

The divine plan … is an overall one and encompasses everything and everybody. (Silver Birch, LSB, 36.)

There is a serious purpose which underlies the whole of our work. I am only one of many ambassadors, part of a vast plan created in a world beyond yours, directed to help those who are ready to be helped. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You try to judge eternity by temporal happenings. You see in matter apparent confusion, but you do not realise that a divine thread runs throughout all your lives. There is a divine purpose and plan for all of us. (Silver Birch, LSB, 130.)

The plan of life is very simple. You come from spirit, incarnating into matter to obtain the experiences you need to enable you to come to our world equipped for the tasks and the joys that await you. The equipment is obtained in your world. That is where you learn the lessons that prepare you for the life after school. If you do not learn the lessons, then you are not educated, not ready for what comes next. (Silver Birch, GSB, 29.)

All law is part of the one vast law. All works in harmony because all is part of the divine plan. The lesson of it is that men and women throughout the whole world of matter must seek their salvation by working it out in their daily lives, and abandon all the false theology which teaches that it is possible to cast on to others the results and responsibilities of your own actions. (Silver Birch, SBA, 20.)

The divine plan is perfect and you are part of it. You have to fulfil yourself. Opportunities of self-fulfilment are daily provided for you. (Silver Birch, PSB, 43.)

There is a plan for every child of the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Every child of the Great Spirit has a part to play in the infinite scheme. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

In the great universe where harmony is the law, each one of you contributes to the plan. (Silver Birch, SBA, 24.)

There is an overruling plan for the whole universe and for all who dwell in it.

This plan unfolds as you begin to realize you are a part of it. It takes time for realization to dawn. There has to be some crisis, some difficulty, perhaps what is called a tragedy which provides the catalyst for the spirit to become aware of itself. Once that happens, a magnetic link with our world is forged, one that can never be severed. (Silver Birch, LSB, 93-4.)

There is a plan for the whole of humanity. It was devised by evolved spiritual beings in my world. The plan is to liberate spiritually, mentally and physically all those in your world who can be reached as they are ready to be helped. It is a plan for nations and for individuals. It will gradually outwork itself and we are not in a hurry.

With an understanding of how the universe is ruled, and with a dismissal of the idea of a partisan God, there does come to the mind a picture of sequence, orderliness, rhythm, harmony and perfect balance. The individual realises that he is part of an infinite scheme, his own life playing its measured part in the divine plan. (Silver Birch, SBA, 108.)

Our numbers are small, relatively speaking. But the power behind us is the mightiest in the universe. None can gainsay it, none can overthrow it, none can prevent it from operation. There are no bodies or organizations that can in any way prevent the power of the spirit from its directed plan of bringing enlightenment to the people of your world. (Silver Birch, LSB, 104.)

As our teaching grows in your world, it will mean the end of all separateness between people. It will mean the end of national barriers. It will mean the end of race distinctions, class distinctions, colour distinctions and all the distinctions between churches and chapels, temples, mosques and synagogues, for gradually all will learn that they have a part of the Great Spirit’s truth and that the part enshrined in the heart of every other religion in no way contradicts that portion which is precious to them.

So, out of the apparent confusion, the divine pattern will take its shape and harmony and peace will come. I tell you these things, so that you can understand part of the great Plan, the part that we who return from the world of spirit play in it, and the part that each one of you must play in it before your earthly course is run. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

There is a pattern in all human life, and it repeats itself. Especially is this the case in the lives of those who have service to render. There are no chances, no coincidences, no miracles. The supreme fact about the whole of life in its infinite variations is that the law runs throughout the vast universe, and nothing and nobody is outside the operation of natural law. (Silver Birch, LSB, 138.)

Have no fear. The plan will fulfil itself. (Silver Birch, LSB, 88.)

The object of all earthly existence is that the human spirit is to be quickened. (Silver Birch, LSB, 8.)

To exercise true harmony of being … is the fundamental purpose of life on earth. (Silver Birch, GSB, 23.)

You are the Great Spirit in miniature. That power can grow, expand, unfold, enlarge, flourish, bloom, as you allow it to do so. You determine its growth, none else can do it for you; that is the purpose of earthly life. Realise that you are the Great Spirit and you realize that the kingdom of heaven is within you. It cannot fail. (Silver Birch, PSB, 39.)

I cannot change human nature. It is very malleable material. It can respond to the highest and pitifully can fall to the lowest. This is the great purpose of earthly incarnation. You have within you all the divine possibilities. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You share in the divinity that is responsible for all that exists everywhere. You are the Great Spirit in microcosm. All that the Great Spirit has of that infinity you have and you will have eternity in which to unfold it. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

There is the ancestry of the animal and the portion of the Great Spirit constantly at war within your being, and there is yourself, you, with the free will to accomplish your evolution. You have to subdue the long line of animal that is part of your evolution and you have to learn to allow the Great Spirit that is latent to unfold itself. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Omitting those who reincarnate and dealing only with those who incarnate for the first time, they had no individuality, no human consciousness before their physical expression. Human consciousness only begins with earthly expression. It is the body of matter that supplies the vital link which enables the spirit to become aware of itself as individual consciousness. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The soul has the awareness imprinted within it. If that awareness does not dawn, then it will have to reincarnate again. If the awareness does come, then it will begin to fulfill the purpose of its incarnation. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The spirit comes to earth to develop, to grow, to unfold and to prepare itself for its real home, not the transitory abode which earth provides. You will come where you began and continue to live after having left what earth has to offer so that you can play your part in the great universal scheme. (Silver Birch, LSB, 10.)

You have a task to perform. You will imbibe this knowledge and you will use it to help others. You will develop the gifts of the spirit yourself and when you have done so you will become a little lighthouse that sheds the beams of truth to weary souls still in the darkness. When you do that you will fulfill the purpose of your existence. (Silver Birch, GSB, 19.)

As you learn to fulfil yourselves you will obtain as a result a richness, radiance, steadfastness, resolution, awareness and inner peace. You will be in harmony with the laws that the Great Spirit devised, and even with the Great Spirit, a portion of whose divinity is within each one of you. (Silver Birch, LSB, 72.)

Peace will come when you put into practice the facts that appertain to your spiritual origin and destiny. (Silver Birch, LSB, 71.)

“Why was the soul imprisoned in the body at all?” asked one of the sitters.

Just as the seed is put into darkness, there to gain strength before it can burst into life, the seed of human life is put into darkness to obtain the strength of human experience before it can burst into the life of the spirit.

All the experiences of human life are part of the great scheme. Those experiences which you like least of all - the sadness, the bitterness, the tears, the disappointments, the suffering and the pain - these are very valuable for your souls.

But you cannot realize that at the time. It is only when you can look back on the whole, and not judge by the part, that you can get a clear picture of the values of life. Through all your adversities the character is tried. Through tears and sorrow the soul is strengthened.

We look at life not through physical eyes but with the knowledge of spirit life, where the true balance is struck. Those who live wisely are the ones who seek to turn all experiences into advantage to their souls, who do not try to flee from trial and temptation but seek to use the innermost strength to face difficulties, for it is in that spirit that character is evolved and strengthened. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

First comes the desire to know, in humility, in earnestness, in reverence, and with that desire the determination to use that knowledge not only for bringing certainty to yourself, but to be of service to others. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The Great Spirit is within every human being, within every facet of life, for all is the Great Spirit and the Great Spirit is all. Within some beings the Great Spirit only stirs quietly, like the gentle zephyr. In others the Great Spirit is like the mighty raging wind. It is all a question of development. The Great Spirit has stirred within your soul and, touched by sorrow, the Great Spirit within you is striving to express itself still more. That is why you are on your quest. That is why you will continue to search, because your feet are now on the road that leads to spiritual truths. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Your world is full of millions of people who do not know what they are there for, who they are, what it is that they must achieve whilst they are incarnate on earth. You can help them to realize that they are spirits with bodies, that the real individual is the deathless spirit, that the spirit is there to gain the experience to equip it for its larger life in our world. That is the most important thing that you can do. (Silver Birch, LSB, 129.)

You are spiritual beings now. You do not attain spiritual natures by coming into our world.

From the moment of conception you are spiritual beings. There is nothing that you can do to cut yourselves off from that reality which enables you to live. The whole of your world exists because of spirit. Without spirit there is no life, for life is spirit and spirit is life. (Silver Birch, PSB, 40.)

The Great Spirit rules over that which is material and that which is spiritual. There are no divisions in His universal kingdom. Do not attempt to divide the life of matter from the life of spirit. They are not distinct and separate. They are parts of one indivisible life, for the things of matter react on the things of spirit and the things of spirit react on the things of matter. (Silver Birch, SBA, 15.)

Life gives birth to life, constantly expressing itself in many forms. Spirit, unevolved because it has no earthly contact, finds expression in your world through suitable instruments fashioned by you, as you provide physical bodies commensurate with the spirit which has to use it so that it can possess that earthly education necessary for its evolution. It is new insofar as its earthly experience is concerned, but it is not new in the sense that it had no existence as spirit before it expressed itself on earth. Spirit is the stuff out of which all life is made; spirit is the primary substance of creation; spirit, as spirit, has always existed and will always exist. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

That same power which fashioned the universe is the power which is responsible for life. Life is not physical or material; life is spirit and spirit is life. Wherever there is life there is spirit and where there is spirit there is life. (Silver Birch, GSB, 19.)

I can only teach you the laws. You were told many years ago that the kingdom of heaven is within. It is not without. It is not to be found in the rush of the world of matter. It is to be found within the soul. (Silver Birch, SBA, 16.)

You have the greatest riches within yourselves. You are part of the Great Spirit. There are no riches or fortunes in your world that can be compared with that. We seek to teach you to explore your own gold mines, to reveal the diamonds of the spirit that are within the clay of your own natures. (Silver Birch, SBA, 12.)

The Great Spirit is life and life is spirit. All that is endowed with life has the quality of divinity as part of its heritage of birth. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The Great Spirit is infinite and you are parts of the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 11.)

If you children of matter would remember that not only are you human but also divine, how much easier would it be for you to live your lives.

Your troubles would melt away, your obstacles would be swept on one side. But you have little faith in the power that is within you. What you call human belongs to the world of matter. That which is divine belongs to the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 15.)

We cannot put ourselves outside that divine ambit; we are part of it. Let us remember, wherever we may be, that the cloak of infinite love is wrapped around us, the divine arms enfold us and we are always in the presence of that power that made us part of itself. (Silver Birch, GSB, 24.)

Who are you? Do you know? You know just that facet that is expressed through your body, but that is only the pin point as distinct from the larger life which is beyond it.

When you say you would like to find out which is you and which is not you, you have to begin by discovering which is you altogether. Do you think that you have in this earthly life expressed anything but a tiny segment of your whole self? And do you think that the consciousness that is registered now is anything but a tiny fraction of the greater, complete consciousness that is you?

How are you to decide then which is your thought, your imagination, and which is the impression, the guidance which comes from your larger self or from higher realms that are using you?

You must get the proper perspective. You must realize that you are spiritual beings expressing yourselves through physical bodies and that the spirit is the supreme part of you. The spirit is the higher, the body is the lower. The spirit is the master, the body is the servant. The spirit is king, the body is the subject. The spirit is that part of you which is divine.

It is the self-same spirit which has created, devised and fashioned the whole universe. You have in embryo, in miniature, in microcosm, all the vast powers that belong to / what you call God. If you would allow this innate divine strength to rise to the surface, to dominate your lives, you would banish every care, anxiety and worry, because you would know that there is nothing that could happen in your world over which you could not triumph. That is what you have to learn. It is not easy. (Silver Birch, GSB, 18-9.)

The power, which is you, is the power which is life and you have a kinship with the Great Spirit that enables you to participate in all the infinite processes of creation. You can call it up any time you so desire from the well of your own being - the tremendous power of the spirit that is resident within you, that is capable of giving you a dynamic, a vitality, and of sustaining you. (Silver Birch, GSB, 19.)

The people in your world have, with very few exceptions, not yet begun to live. They are expressing only infinitesimal portions of the power which is resident with them. In supreme moments of crisis or emergency they call on that power and it gives them added strength, added courage, added wisdom. But that power can be tapped all the time. It can give you health to master disease, direction in times of uncertainty, guidance when you are perplexed, strength when you are weary and vision when you are blind. It is there for you to express it. (Silver Birch, SBA, 94.)

How does the human soul first emerge?

It does not emerge at all. It has no beginnings.

I always thought that the human soul has gradually evolved.

No, the body has evolved. The soul is part of the Great Spirit which always was and always will be.

The soul has always been. It is individuated when it becomes incarnated into the human frame. The soul has no beginning and no end. It says in your Bible, Before / Abraham was I am. The spirit has always existed; the spirit was not created out of nothing.

Spirit is life. Life is universal. Souls, like spirits, do not have beginnings and ends. Spirit individuates when it incarnates into human form but as spirit or soul it has always existed. (Silver Birch, LSB, 32-3.)

I would like to know about the eternity of the soul. One speaks of older and younger souls. Is the soul always so, or is it created? From where do we come? Are all souls reincarnated ones, or are there some new from the Great Spirit?

Souls are not created; they have always existed. …

As spirit you have always existed. Spirit did not have to be created. There never was any stage when nothing became something.

Spirit, the dynamic, the essence, the vitality that is life, has always existed. Spirit is the energy out of which every manifestation of life is formed, whether it be a plant, a bird, a tree, an animal, a human. Spirit is the mainspring of existence.

When a child is conceived it is not a new soul or a new spirit. It is part of the eternal spirit that has always been in existence.

It becomes individualized and that individuality functions for a short time.

But the soul can have many facets. Some of these facets can reincarnate in your world and bring added lustre to the diamond of the soul. There are old and young souls. (1) You do not manufacture new souls by conception. You provide them with a physical body to express themselves. /

When birth is to be achieved and a physical body prepared for its existence, spirit becomes individualized and incarnates into your world. There is nothing new in that spirit. It is taking individual form. It is becoming a person. When he or she is developed and leaves your world, it is a facet of a larger diamond to which it adds its contributions. (Silver Birch, LSB, 33-4.)

(1) In the sense of the individual’s development, not in the sense of the soul’s “development.”

Man is an expression of consciousness, and consciousness is the all-important thing. Consciousness is individual life; individual life is consciousness. Wherever there is consciousness there is individual spirit; and wherever there is individual spirit there is consciousness. You are not aware of the fullness of your consciousness in the physical world in which you live because your consciousness is much larger - to use a term that you will understand - than the physical body through which it is trying to express itself. The smaller cannot contain the larger; the lesser cannot hold the greater.

And so throughout all your earthly life you express but a mere fraction of that larger consciousness which you will come to recognise in the days after you have passed through the gate of death. Even then you will not immediately become aware of all your consciousness, for it is only through evolution, even in our world, that more and more of the consciousness can be registered through its vehicle. (Silver Birch, SBA, 84-5.)

We will always ensure that your material neces/sities will be forthcoming. We cannot promise you so called luxuries of earth-life; many of them are far from luxurious in the effect that they have. What we can promise is that, as you serve, so will you be served. (Silver Birch, LSB, 127-8.)

If money is lacking, it will be found. No worthwhile cause is ever lost because the means have not been there. Is that not true? Have you not found the money is available when required? No servant of the spirit will lack the necessities of physical living. We will provide them. They will not go hungry. They will not starve. They will come through. (Silver Birch, LSB, 144.)

You cannot want, you cannot go hungry or thirsty once you have adjusted yourself to the laws of eternal supply. You will not receive more than is necessary, but you will receive according to your growth, no more, no less, no higher, no lower. It cannot be any other way. (Silver Birch, PSB, 39.)

There is a law which takes care of such matters, that those who serve will never want; their essential needs are always supplied. It is for them to exhibit, as best they can in their lives, the result of what they have experienced. They learn, by doing so, to strengthen the links that bind them to the Great Spirit. The more you strengthen the link, the deeper becomes the channel through which help and power can come to you. (Silver Birch, PSB, 49.)

If you have perfect faith and live your lives right, then you are able to participate in the bounty of the Great Spirit. If every person in your world had perfect faith, then he would receive. If a person were hungry and yet had perfect faith, then he would receive the answer.

That is how the Law operates. If you learn to attune yourself to the Law, the results must come. If the results do not come, that only proves that you are not in tune with the Law. (Silver Birch, SBA, 11.)

We will always give more than we receive from you. That is our duty, to support, to sustain and to ensure that all your fundamental, essential needs will be supplied. The rest is up to you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We are aware of all your difficulties, your problems and your desires. We know that you live in a material world. We have access to the sources of supply to ensure that those who serve will never go hungry or thirsty. All that is necessary will be provided. (Silver Birch, LSB, 88.)

You have the divine potential, the divine armoury on which you can call. If that is not sufficient, call on us. We will not fail you. (Silver Birch, LSB, 89.)

You can all banish from your minds the thought that anything that is unenlightened - or, as you would say, evil - can ever touch you. You live and move under the protection of the Great Spirit and His laws. /

If there is no evil in your hearts, then only good can reach you, for only good can dwell where goodness reigns. None but the servants of the Great Spirit come into your presence from my world. You need have no fears. The power which envelops you, the power which supports and seeks to guide you and inspire you, is the power that emanates from the Great Spirit of all.

That power can sustain you in all your trials and difficulties. That power can change your storms into sunshine, and bring you out of the darkness of despair into the light of knowledge. Your feet are set on pathways of progress. There is no need for fear. (Silver Birch, SBA, 13-4.)

You have yet to learn that there are no difficulties which beset those blessed with the power of the spirit that they will not surmount, as long as they in return serve the Great White Spirit wherever they go. (Silver Birch, SBA, 15.)

Look up always, not down. Realize that the mighty and majestic power which brought you into being and breathed into you the life-giving essence of its own spirit will uphold and sustain you day by day.

Incline your hearts to His, subdue your souls to His, fill your minds with the wisdom that comes from His inexhaustible reservoir and know that those who seek to give service and labour for the upliftment of the weak, the fallen and the needy are protected by the mantle of the spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You can all banish from your minds the thought that anything that is unenlightened - or, as you would say, evil - can ever touch you. (1) You live and move under the protection of the Great Spirit and His laws.

If there is no evil in your hearts, then only good can reach you, for only good can dwell where goodness reigns. None but the servants of the Great Spirit come into your presence. You need have no fears. The power which envelops you, the power which supports and seeks to guide you and inspire you is the power that emanates from the Great Spirit of all.

That power can sustain you in all your trials and difficulties. That power can change your storms into sunshine, and bring you out of the darkness of despair into the light of knowledge. Your feet are set on pathways of progress. There is no need for fear. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

(1) This was said to sitters in the Hannen Swaffer Home Circle.

Much that is regarded as important in your world is but a veneer that has only a passing value. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.

The knowledge that you all possess is more priceless than all the treasures of the world of matter. We do not bring you gold or silver, diamonds or precious jewels. Rather do we seek to bring the priceless jewels of the spirit, the greatest treasures that you can have.

Prize them. Put them in a setting of love and realize that these are the gifts that the Great Spirit bestows you with loving care and divine affection. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Yours is a strange world, and when you view it with eyes that do not belong to matter you marvel at the folly of the people who live in it. They set such store over their puny possessions, which crumble into the dust, and they neglect the priceless treasures of the Spirit which are eternal.

They have no understanding of spiritual values. They live for the moment, for the fleeting pleasures and the joys, and their souls, so covered over with material desires, seldom are able to express the divinity that is within.

And yet, in your world, they are counted as intelligent because they have accumulated temporary possessions. Who is the intelligent one - the man who strives to build that which must perish or the one who strives to build that which will endure? (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The Great Spirit has ordered the universe to be ruled and to be expressed through unchanging laws. These laws control every facet of universal activity. Nowhere in the whole universe, whether it be in those regions known to you or in that much larger portions which is beyond human reach, is there absence of natural law.

The divine will is imposed through divine ordinance. Most laws are subject to change and alteration, most laws are imperfect and do not take cognizance of every circumstance. But the laws of the Great Spirit have provided for every contingency of every circumstance that will ever arise. There is no happening left to chance or accident. All is regulated, all is controlled, all comes within the divine dispensation. (Silver Birch, PSB, 42.)

There is [a] limit which the divine power has placed because nothing can occur beyond the framework of natural law. But there are laws within laws. There are not only physical laws, there are mental and spiritual ones. Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

There are many sets of laws operating, some controlling the physical, some the mental, some the spiritual, some occasionally all interlocking. (Silver Birch, PSB, 45.)

You are all parts of the Great Spirit. He says to you: 'Here are all my laws and here, in you, is a part of me. Beside you there is all that can be used to make a perfect universe. I give you all the tools and you can choose between the things that are right and the things that are wrong. You can try to work with my laws or against them.' (Silver Birch, TSB, 35.)

What I can do is to remind you of the eternal, unfailing principles. When all else in the world of matter has been understood, explored and explained, there still remains the natural laws of the Great Spirit which no / man has ever completely explored or explained. They are infinite in their conception and in their application. (Silver Birch, SBA, 36-7.)

Break the law and pay the price. Live within the law and reap the benefit.

Motive is of paramount consideration, but breaking the law must produce the penalty. (Silver Birch, PSB, 45.)

Live with the law and you have harmony and peace within and without; live contrary to the law and you impose discord and chaos within and without. You are spiritual beings. One day you will have to face this fact. Better do so now and save yourselves years of needless difficulty. (Silver Birch, SBA, 23.)

Your history books tell you that there have been those from the lowest of the low, the poorest of the poor, who have tried the Law and it has not failed them. You must not point to those who do not try it and ask why it does not work. (Silver Birch, SBA, 11.)

Everything operates according to natural law which knows nothing of miracles or necessity for intervention. The natural law is perfect because it is conceived by a perfect mind.

There are no exceptions to the natural law, which makes provisions for all that exists, not only in the universe but even in the immeasurable cosmos.

Wherever you look, the natural law operates. Nothing is too small to be ignored, and nothing too large to be outside the framework of how the natural law operates. And it operates for you, as it does for me and for everybody.

So you know that action and reaction are equal and opposite. You know that you have to plumb the depths before you reach the heights. And you know that you have plumbed the depths, but have not reached the heights. (Silver Birch, LSB, 10.)

The Great Spirit, with infinite love and wisdom, devised the law. The law is perfect, the law must operate. (Silver Birch, PSB, 43.)

We, who have had experience of other aspects of being, point to the natural law; the law which contains and regulates all; the law which is unfailing in its constancy and inflexible in its purpose; the law which makes provision for every kind of activity in a universe filled with myriads of forms and being; the law that controls all the natural phenomena of life; the law that regulates the orbit of human activity. (Silver Birch, SBA, 108.)

So finely balanced and so perfect is the law that there can be no cheating. Not one person escapes his punishment, and not one loses his reward. Do not judge eternity with the eyes of matter. Do not judge the smaller when you have not seen the greater. (Silver Birch, SBA, 16.)

Remember this always, no man cheats the laws of the Great Spirit. At no time can you alter in any way by one hair’s breadth what you deserve. Reward and punishment are fixed and immutable, determined only by your conduct in your life. There is no favouritism, there is no evasion. Divine justice is perfect in its expression. You will find that you will receive just what you have earned - not one whit more, not one whit less. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

That is how men and women of courage should desire it, not to have rewards they have not earned or punishments they have not deserved. You should be prepared to endure the punishments that you deserve and carry upon your shoulders the responsibilities that you have created. It was all said in the Bible -- ‘Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for what a man sows that he will reap.’ And I cannot say it any better than that. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The laws that are made in your world may favour some unduly and punish others needlessly. There may be privileges that come because of rank or title or high position. But these will not obtain in the world of spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

That is why all is known. That is why nothing can be omitted. That is why every facet of life finds its place in the universal scheme. That is why nothing can be overlooked, for the law embraces every aspect of life, no matter how tiny, no matter how large, for all is law. Nothing exists except the Law which makes its existence possible. The law reigns supreme. Man's free will creates confusion and obscures the working of / the law in his mind, but the Law exists just the same and must operate. (Silver Birch, SBA, 21-2.)

You cannot opt out of the natural law. It will operate irrespective of what you think about it. You see in the unfolding processes of nature how this panorama presents itself unceasingly, irrespective of man’s desires, wishes, or even objections. (Silver Birch, LSB, 35.)

We strive to reveal these truths, not only as they are known in their relation to the laws of the spirit, but also to the laws of matter, for to us the world of matter is part of the universe of the Great Spirit, and you cannot be 'religious' if you are indifferent to the sufferings of despairing humanity. (Silver Birch, SBA, 51.)

The whole of life is regulated by natural laws. Nothing is left to freakishness, to miracles or to chance. All is cause and effect, sowing and reaping, otherwise the universe would be chaotic. You have evidence of the infinite plan of an infinite intelligence in the operation of natural laws wherever you look.

It is to be seen in the sequence of the seasons, the movement of planets and galaxies, the ebb and flow of tides, the growth of a myriad forms of floral life, where natural law reigns supreme. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Sowing and reaping are part of the natural law which I wish was accepted by more people. It is in the cultivation of the fruits of the earth that you learn how inexorable are the laws of the Great Spirit. He who lives close to the soil and sees the operation of nature's law begins to appreciate the divine handiwork and to realise something of the Mind which has planned all in its orderly sequence.

That which is gathered is that which has been sown. The seed is always true to its type. You cannot sow the seed of a potato and expect that a lettuce will grow. Always what has been sown will follow unswervingly the dictate of the natural law. And what is true in that realm of nature is equally true in the realm of human life and activity. (Silver Birch, SBA, 19.)

The law of cause and effect is basic, fundamental and unalterable because you can reap only what you have sown. Effect must follow cause with mathematical accuracy; it cannot be otherwise. In turn the effect becomes the cause by which another effect is set into motion, producing another cause. The process is a constant one. The flower will always be true to its seed.

Throughout the vast variety of the phenomena of nature, everything small or large, simple or complex, follows the law of cause and effect. None and nothing can interrupt that sequence. If effect did not follow cause, your world, the universe and the vast cosmos would be chaotic. The Great Spirit, God, the Deity, the Supreme Power would not be the summit of love, wisdom and the perfection of all that exists. (Silver Birch, LSB, 96.)

If you can find a flaw in the natural law, I will give up the whole of my mission. Show me where the natural law may fail to operate. No, it cannot do so. Effect always follows cause as an immutable sequence. You reap what you sow; you cannot have it any other way. (Silver Birch, PSB, 42.)

He who lives selfishly must reap the results of selfishness. He who sins must reap the result of his sin. He who is intolerant, bigoted or selfish will reap the results of intolerance, bigotry and selfishness. The law is inexorable; the law is immutable. There is no religious exercise, there is no hymn, no prayer, no sacred book / that can interpose and alter the sequence of cause and effect. The effect follows cause with methodical and mechanical certainty, and no one has the power, be he called priest or layman, to interfere with that natural process. He who desires the growth of the spirit must live that kind of life which alone can assure spiritual growth. (Silver Birch, SBA, 19-20.)

The law is perfect / in its operation. Effect always follows cause with mathematical precision. No individual has the power to alter by one hairbreadth the sequence of cause and effect. That which is reaped must be that which is sown and the soul of every individual registers indelibly all the results of earthly life. He who has sinned against the law bears on his own soul the results of his earthly action, and there will be no progress until reparation has been made for every sinful deed. (Silver Birch, SBA, 20-1.)

An accidental death predisposes one to accept reincarnation.

I am not happy about the use of the word “accident” because I know only of cause and effect in operation. Whatever you regard as accidental can be due only to the operation of the law of cause and effect. (Silver Birch, LSB, 32.)

I cannot change the natural law. I cannot intervene in the unalterable sequence of cause and effect. … You cannot cheat the natural law. (Silver Birch, PSB, 43.)

The Great Spirit is the greatest accountant in the universe. The books of life are always balanced, the adjustments are always made. So regulated is the divine scheme that spiritually your receive just what you merit, no more, no less. This is decided by the stage you have reached by your own efforts. In the things of the spirit there is always perfect adjustment, with no cheating or pretence.

The natural law works perfectly, guided by infinite love and wisdom. Each receives what he or she has earned. … No one can intervene between cause and effect. There are no accidents, no chances. There is only the natural law in operation.

There is never any abrogation of natural law, neither suspension, nor interference. The natural law is constant. It never varies. It cannot be changed. Live in harmony with the natural law and you reap the results. You cannot opt out of the natural law. It is supreme. The Great Spirit is the law in its sublimity, the epitome of law, not to be moved, not to be pleaded with. (Silver Birch, PSB, 46.)

The Great Spirit is perfect justice, providing through natural laws retribution and compensation. The account is always perfectly balanced. You will not be forgotten, overlooked or neglected. There is a love that will guide, sustain and cherish you. Let that be your sheet anchor. It will enable you to remain firm and steadfast all the time. (Silver Birch, PSB, 48.)

There is a law of compensation. As low as you sink materially, so correspondingly can you rise spiritually. (Silver Birch, LSB, 132.)

Somewhere the soul has to come into its own, to find itself, to become aware of itself, so that innate divinity can begin to be expressed. All this is part of the divine law of compensation. The greater the suffering, the greater the knowledge that comes as a result. (Silver Birch, PSB, 45.)

Achievement, attainment, these mean sacrifices. But there is a law of compensation. Whatever you have lost materially will be restored and replenished with far more than has been lost. (Silver Birch, LSB, 127.)

As correspondingly low as you sink, so you can rise, and the heights to which you / can aspire are infinite. (Silver Birch, LSB, 87-8.)

The law of compensation is automatic in its operation. No matter how much your soul has cried out for help and guidance when none seemed possible, you get the richness of the reward in being able to serve others as you were served and the way was shown to you. (Silver Birch, LSB, 132.)

All life is compensation, from shadow into sunshine, from storm into refuge. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I will tell you another Law. (1) There is nothing you can have in the world of matter without you paying the price. You cannot accumulate wealth without paying the price, because if you do that, and forget the duties of your own spirit, then you may be rich in the goods of your world, but you will be very poor in my world. (Silver Birch, SBA, 12.)

(1) This may be the Law of Compensation viewed from another angle.

Everyone will live after what you call death, not because of believing in a creed, a doctrine or dogma, but because it is an unalterable natural law. It has nothing to do with religion. It is a law as equal to the law of cause and effect. (Silver Birch, LSB, 167.)

In some religions they teach that there is survival for those who believe in certain doctrines and creeds. But survival has nothing to do with religion or with human beliefs, aspirations and hopes. Survival is an inflexible law, automatic in its operation. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The soul will register just that stage of attainment that it has reached by its life in your world - no higher, no lower. Just what you have made yourself to be, that you will be when death calls you to another life. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The soul is eternal and carries with it the result of every thought, of every spoken word, of every deed, and you are what you have made yourself - second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You are what you are because of what you have done and you will be what you will be because of what you are now. The law of cause and effect operates in unbroken, perfect sequence, and the law of the Great Spirit is so perfect in its operation that it never fails. Though the children of the Great Spirit may cheat the laws of state, none can evade the operations of natural law, for the soul carries with it its eternal registration of what it has accomplished and you are known for what you are, not for what you are not or what you pretend to be. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Now this is part of man’s free will, his choice as to whether he will rise to the divinity within him or whether he will fail. In that case he will not fulfill himself. He will pass to our world unequipped and unready and have to learn all over again. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You have the choice as to how you order your existence, as to whether you give priority to spirit or to matter. That is the nature of the human problem. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You are being given an opportunity to fulfill yourselves. You have free will. You may make your choice. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Nobody has perfect free will. It is free will within a restricted range. Your will is subject to circumstances which you cannot control. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I cannot solve your problems for you. If I tell you what to do, that interferes with your free will. Once I start to tell my medium what he must do and what he must not do, that is the end of his free will. Then his progress begins to suffer. (Silver Birch, SBA, 18.)

But there are times when we feel justified in interfering with your judgement. I would interfere if a very vital principle were involved. If it meant that my work through my medium / would be interrupted, then I would interfere so that the channel would still be free. But where the problems only affect my medium's own evolution, then they are his responsibility and he must work them out for himself. (Silver Birch, SBA, 18-9.)

It is not through dictatorships, through enforced commands which must be obeyed in fear and trembling lest dire punishment awaits, so that peace, harmony and happiness can come to your world. You cannot set the world right by a series of ordinances that must be immediately obeyed. The chaos caused by years and years of confusion can only gradually become clarified and even then only through goodwill, the desire to be of real helpfulness imbuing all those who are the leaders of mankind.

Neither I, nor any other who claims to be a spiritual teacher, could ever act as a dictator, for our whole mission is to awaken the slumbering conscience, to teach the dormant spirit to arise and claim the inherent gift of the Great Spirit that is on its own. Only thus will true happiness and peace and concord come to your world. No one person on earth can reach that stage of perfection where he is entitled to rule over others and his words to be obeyed as implicit commands decreed by infallible authority. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Life is not chance, accident or even coincidence. The whole of life is governed by immutable natural law. Whatever aspect of being you examine, it is due to natural law. Human beings are not outside the operation of natural law. They are integral parts of it.

The law has operated at a time when you have a choice to make. It is for you to make that choice. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You live, you breathe, you exist, you have your being because from the moment of conception spirit begins to associate with matter in individual form and gradually that individuality unfolds.

It is part of the plan that you should have an element of free will, the power and the ability to make choices in certain circumstances. Used for its best and highest, you can play your part in the spiritual unfoldment and evolution of the race, the world, the universe and the cosmos because your spirit is part of the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You can wake up tomorrow morning at an hour later or earlier, or you can stay in bed if you like. You can go for a walk or drive a car. You can lose your temper and hope to find it again. There is a variety of things you can do for which you have the free will.

But you cannot stop the sun from shining, you cannot halt the tempest; these are beyond your power. Your free will is limited because your choice is restricted. There is another limitation placed on your free will. It is the mental and spiritual stage which you have reached in your development. You are free to kill, but your character will ensure that you refrain. So even when you have choices these are limited by who and what you are at the time. Like many things in the universe you have a paradox. You have free will within limitation all the time. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Certain things are fixed, by virtue of the body at your command and by the spirit that incarnates into that body. Irrespective of rebirth, the law that determines the invasion of that body by spirit also to a large extent determines the expression. I do not want that to be construed [as] saying that everything is predestined, but, in a world of law, human life conforms to law. There are variations, but in the main much has to be fixed.

The rate of evolution depends essentially on the free will of the individual, but obviously there are limits within that earthly incarnation. That depends upon the use he makes of opportunity, but he is limited, for example, to the extent that he could not achieve perfection. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Many of those who have work to do in your world chose to do it beforehand. Though awareness may not come immediately, the choice imposes another restriction in free will. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The soul knows before it reincarnates what it has to achieve. It may take a long time for awareness to dawn. (Silver Birch, GSB, 25.)

Before you came into your world [healing] is what you chose to do. It took some time before awareness came. The whole plan was revealed to you before you incarnated. That plan, if you co-operate and are patient, will fulfil itself. (Silver Birch, LSB, 133.)

You chose your path before you came to earth. You then had the awareness. It is dimmed by the fact that you have a physical body and a brain that is incapable of probing all the recesses that are in the subconscious part of your mind.

You must have the crisis that becomes the catalyst that begins to awaken the awareness you originally had. It will be clearer to you one day. (Silver Birch, LSB, 80.)

You do not realize how unknown to yourselves you are all the recipients of inspiration from the world of spirit.

There are many in your world who are counted as great scientists, great inventors and great teachers. They are only the vehicles of intelligence from my world. It does not matter so long as the truth or the discovery is made known. Who receives the credit is of no account. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You are receiving and transmitting stations. It is very seldom that you construct your own thoughts. Your radio and television have channels, vibrations -- frequencies is the right word - to which they can be attuned. So you have your frequency. That enables you to receive thoughts, ideas, suggestions, inspiration, guidance and a variety of ideas from those on your wavelengths. As you receive them they are tinctured with your individuality and sent on their way so that others capture them.

All this is determined by your evolution. The higher spiritually you are evolved the greater is the thought that can reach you. And, because of that, the greater will its effect be as you transmit it and send it on its way. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Every soul treading the path of attainment must experience loneliness. But you have the companionship of evolved beings who will never desert you. Your strength comes not from your world but from ours. The source of all your inspirations is in our realm. (Silver Birch, LSB, 130.)

[Our] truth has made great progress. I wish you could see the extent of our influence. I am proud that because of our efforts we have accomplished so much. Hearts that were once sad are now a little more joyful. Light has pierced the gloom of darkness. There is a little more knowledge where before there was ignorance. (Silver Birch, PSB, 28.)

May you all learn to respond to vibrations of the highest planes of spirit. May you all realise that you are never alone, but always encompassed around and about by a host of those who love you, who seek to guard and guide you and to help and inspire you. And may you, as you unfold your own spirits, realise that you are being drawn closer to the greatest Spirit of all, becoming more in unison with His Law. (Silver Birch, SBA, 12.)

You who live in the world of matter are most unoriginal creatures. You do not, except very seldom, create anything. You are receiving stations and also transmitting stations. Thoughts come to you; they lodge with you; you add to their wings and send them forth where others receive them. The thought that comes to you is not the same as when it leaves you; your personality has quickened it, or slowed it down, enriched it, or impoverished it, made it more beautiful, or more ugly, given it new life, or perhaps vitiated it. But over and [above] all that, you can, when you attune yourself, receive positive inspiration from those of like mentality to yourself. (Silver Birch, SBA, 80.)

Light and love stream in abundance from the infinite source, which possesses an infinite storehouse. Fill yourself from that rich, vast treasury. It is yours for the asking. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You achieve your own growth and all actions that you perform determine the state of your evolution. No one else accomplishes that growth for you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The world must learn to perform its own salvation. There is no ready-made plan. (1) There is no prepared, cut-and-dried system. Your world has to learn that, behind what it regards as the manifestations of life, there is the eternal reality of the spirit, that the children of matter are not only worldly beings but spiritual beings expressing themselves through bodies of matter. (Silver Birch, SBA, 44.)

(1) I.e., there is an overall divine plan, but there is also allowance within it for people to work out their own salvation through their own actions.

You have the choice as to how you order your existence, as to whether you give priority to spirit or to matter. That is the nature of the human problem. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You are not responsible for what others do or say. You are responsible only for what you do or say. Do not concern yourself with the opinions or actions of others. (Silver Birch, LSB, 130.)

Every individual is personally responsible for what he does for this is the natural law. Much as you love anybody else, you cannot assume the responsibility for is life. You cannot shoulder the results of his action. This is cause and effect. If you make a mistake, you must pay for it – I am talking about the spiritual law. (Silver Birch, PSB, 50.)

Man is the gardener of his own soul. The Great Spirit has provided him with all that is necessary for it to grow in wisdom, grace and beauty. The implements are there, he has but to use them wisely and well. (Silver Birch, SBA, 20.)

Show in your own lives you know the things of the spirit because the power of the spirit is in you. (Silver Birch, TSB, 37.)

We do not seek to take away from you the responsibilities of your own lives, but only to try to inspire you to live so that men may know the Great Spirit is working through you. (Silver Birch, TSB, 37.)

I have noticed some Spiritualists get astrology and Spiritualism confused in their minds. They think their life on this world is somewhat predetermined and controlled by the stars.

What is true is that the whole of life is a series of vibrations, radiations and emanations, and that you are influenced by every part of the natural order or being. All these cause some influence on you, but none of them is so potent that it exercises a power which you cannot alter.

It is not true that your life is predestined because at the moment of physical birth some star was in the ascendant. All planets, all nature, everything in the universe, all beings have some effect on you. But you are the master of your soul; you have personal responsibility, and you fix your own destiny according to your spiritual progress. That is as I see it. (Silver Birch, SBA, 121.)

I think all of these planets have radiations which affect the physical body, and things which affect the physical body have some effect on the spirit; but the spirit is supreme; the spirit is pre-eminent, and there is no star or planet or constellation or galaxy which can prevent you from mastering all the physical influences which affect your body.

I mean that you are part of the Great Spirit, and because you are divine, because the power of creative life is within you, because you are a portion of that power which fashioned all life, you can rise triumphant over all that might hold your body in subjection. I am an influence on you; the people you meet are influences on you; the books you read are influences on you; but they are influences, not overwhelming and overriding. Surely that is quite clear. (Silver Birch, SBA, 122.)

There are tendencies, vibrations, but these are not insuperable. You are surrounded by radiations and influences, much of which can affect your destiny, but the Great Spirit has provided you with part of Himself, a part of / His spirit which, when your free will is properly used according to your evolution, can enable you to conquer all that stands in the way of the fullest expression of that part of the Great Spirit that is within you. For you are the Great Spirit and the Great Spirit is you. (Silver Birch, TSB, 60-1.)

Sometimes a man is deaf to the voice of conscience, his heart is hardened, his soul has become covered up and the life force of the Great Spirit is being choked. Men do not always realize that they are wrong. If they did, there would be no war in your world of matter, there would be no cruelty, no starvation. There would not be so much disease and there would not be an excess of plenty while others starved. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You have risen and ascended through all forms of evolution. (Silver Birch, TSB, 48.)

There is within each one of you a trace of your animal ancestry, which is part of your heredity. (Silver Birch, TSB, 48.)

The soul has the awareness imprinted within it. If that awareness does not dawn, then it will have to reincarnate again. If the awareness does come, then it will begin to fulfill the purpose of its incarnation. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

What incarnates is another aspect of the same individuality, and I do not mean personality. If you visualise man as an individual, who in his earthly life is like an iceberg in which you have one small portion manifesting and the larger portion not manifesting, then that is the end of one incarnation. In a successive incarnation, a portion of the submerged self will come into the world of matter, two different personalities, but one individual. And in spirit life, as progression takes place, it is part of the submerged self that comes to the surface all the time. (Silver Birch, SBA, 122.)

Then, just before he gave up control of the medium, [Silver Birch] gave Mary [Pickford] a final message. “Your Mother says I mustn’t go away until she reassures you that her love is undying,” he said, “that she never forgets that which you have done for her and that she is repaying what she considers to be that debt. …”

Mary: “But I owe [Mother] so much. Not in ten lives could I repay it.”

Silver Birch: “Well, you may have more then ten lives.”

Mary: “More than a cat? I shall have eighteen lives! I shall come again one day to England to live.”

Silver Birch: “Oh, it’s not the first time you have come here in life. But that’s another story.” …

Mary: “Just one little thing ... would you tell me one little thing about me - my English self?”

Silver Birch: “It goes back more than two centuries.” (Silver Birch to Mary Pickford, SB, n.p.)

I maintain reincarnation is a fact. I have not said that it is so for everybody. What I have said is that the human individuality is not always a single entity but a facet of a larger diamond.

These facets incarnate into your world for experience that will enable them to return to the diamond and add to its lustre and radiance. It is part of the law of cause and effect in operation because there are karmic debts to be paid. There are also opportunities for evolved souls to return at a time when they can perform a service to groups, and even to countries, where there is a need for their qualities and gifts to be expressed. (Silver Birch, LSB, 76.)

Another facet of the diamond can incarnate at the same time. But it is all regulated by law and order. (Silver Birch, LSB, 81.)

I know some people who genuinely do not wish to survive death. What would you say to them?

I know some people who genuinely do not wish to be born into your world. They can do nothing about it.

Are we then forced to come into this world if we do not wish to do so? I always thought it is our choice.

This is not always the case. There is a choice in our world as there is a choice in yours. When the soul knows it has work to do, it will incarnate into your world. There are some who have no desire to do so, but they come because they have work to do, or they have a karmic condition to fulfil. (Silver Birch, LSB, 35.)

You must make a difference between personality and individuality. Personality is merely the life as exhibited by the physical body on earth. Individuality is the totality of the soul. You cannot express the whole of that individuality in a psan of 70, 80, 0r 90 years in your world. (Silver Birch, LSB, 80.)

[Reincarnation] is a complex subject. It involves an understanding of the extent to which individuality can be appreciated because it is far more than the personality in one earthly incarnation.

There is a confusion between personality and individuality. An individual can reincarnate and have many personalities. These are the physical expressions, manifestations of the individuality, but the individuality is unchanged.

Personality, from persona, the mask, belongs to the physical body. It is the way that the individuality is able to express itself through the five material senses and that is the tip of the iceberg.

Personality is the mask that you wear on earth; individuality, the real self, seldom expresses itself, / through the inability to do so. At best it is only a very poor manifestation of what can be shown when it is finally divorced from the physical body.

The individuality is far greater than the personality. It is not personality that exists after physical death. Personality is only a shadow cast by the sun which is the individuality.

Individuality survives, and gradually manifests its latent potential that cannot be expressed on earth. In the case of service that is to be rendered to your world there is a large individuality, a diamond which has many facets. These facets incarnate so as to have expression that will add to the diamond’s luster. (Silver Birch, LSB, 76-7.)

You can have a soul which is the diamond of many facets. These facets, at differing eras, can incarnate into your world as personalities. But when they pass from your world and return to ours they are still facets of the one individuality. (Silver Birch, LSB, 77.)

I would prefer to use the word individuality rather than personality. I draw distinctions between the personality, which is physical, and the individuality which is the soul or spiritual make-up, the reality behind the mask, so to speak.

Persons are persons so far as your world is concerned, but you cannot separate spiritual individuality in the same way. There are, for example, affinities, two kindred halves of the one soul, and sometimes they incarnate at the same time.

There are also what I call facets of the one diamond. This is the over-soul, the greater individuality, and the facets are aspects of it which incarnate into your world for experiences that will add lustre to the diamond when they return to it.

Also there are people who, although separate persons, are aspects of the one individuality. For instance, my / medium, his wife and myself are parts of one individual. So you can have facets of the one guide. You can call these extensions if you like, but it comes to the same thing. Only an infinitesimal part of the whole individuality can be manifested in physical form on earth. (Silver Birch, LSB, 86-7.)

All paths lead to the one great divine source of creation. The Great Spirit, what you call “God,” is infinite. So there must be an infinite number of paths leading to the Great Spirit, the epitome of perfect love and wisdom. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

It does not matter what the path is as long as the pilgrim treads it with honesty of purpose, sincerely seeking to fulfill himself, acquit himself and express those gifts with which he has been endowed so that others can be enriched for his presence on earth. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You learn through the evolution of your own spirit. You learn first of all to discard all that which is false, all that which makes your reason revolt, all that which is not in consonance with the love and the wisdom of the Great Spirit.

Before you learn, you must unlearn. You must discard all that which hinders your minds from thinking as they should. Thus your soul and your spirit grow and you are ready for higher knowledge.

When you meet here, your soul is developing and you are becoming more accessible to the infinite wisdom of the Great Spirit. You are learning about the operation of laws that control spiritual phenomena.

You are being taught about the operation of natural laws in relationship to the life that you live. As you fit yourself by progress so greater knowledge comes to you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The soul who knows has equanimity, calmness, resolution. It shows no fear, it refuses to allow anxiety to stay, it banishes the darkness of ignorance, superstition, and worry. It knows that the power which gave it life, which rules the / universe, which makes provision for all that breathes and moves, cannot fail. (Silver Birch, PSB, 49-50.)

Perfect love casteth out fear. Knowledge dispels fear, for fear is born of ignorance. Where there is love and trust and knowledge, there fear cannot reign. An evolved spirit cannot be afraid at any time, because he knows there is no experience that can come to him in any phase of life that he cannot master, for he is the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 12.)

Co-operation does not only mean that we should try to help you, but that you should also try to help us. I do not want it to be assumed that at any stage, when a problem arises, you say, ‘Consult Silver Birch, consult Red Cloud, consult White Hawk, and what they say is final.’ That is not so. We will give you the knowledge at our disposal, but remember we make no claim to infallibility. If we fail to stimulate you into thinking for yourselves, then we have failed in our mission. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The laws of the Great Spirit cannot be cheated, not even by philosophical quibbles. What you call Spiritualism should make you aware of your place in the scheme of life. If it does not, you have not learned its lessons and must pay the price. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Increasing knowledge brings increasing responsibilities. Because you have this knowledge, you have a greater responsibility in the way you use it. Your standard of life must be higher because of knowledge and, if it is not, then you yourself will pay the price. You cannot cheat. You cannot pretend once knowledge is vouchsafed to you. Once you understand the Plan, and the pattern of life has been made clear to you, it should give you an increasing responsibility of your duty to your neighbour, to your world and to yourself. Life should be richer, more sacred, and the desire to serve should burn brightly within you.

If knowledge does not do that for you, then you do not possess it. It has passed you by, for if you fail to apply truth when you know truth, your spirit is impoverished and you are the sufferer. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Mental rebellion is not bad. It is a good discipline. It never harms the soul to question. The mind should be stimulated to search. If it rebels it is a stimulus to find out more. T*he Great Spirit has so equipped you potentially that you should be able to face and conquer every experience that comes your way. No circumstance is your master.

By virtue of your latent divinity, which is a repository of potential, infinite strength, you have the power to rise above all that earthly life can bring. If you allow yourself to be brought down by the storm, you have not learned the lesson that the storm has to offer. (Silver Birch, PSB, 19.)

There is nothing that appeals more to an old soul like myself than to see you testing everything at the bar of reason. We enthrone reason as the great guide. Always reject what your reason rejects, no matter through whom it comes or the source. There are truths that should appeal to reason and intelligence. If reason revolts and intelligence is insulted, then discard them. (Silver Birch, PSB, 20.)

We demand nothing that is contrary to your intelligence. We preach nothing that you can say is untrue, that is undignified, that is ignoble, that debases mankind. We seek to reveal that which will elevate the whole human race and give it a true conception of its position in life and in the universe, its relationship to the Great White Spirit and an understanding of its kinship with other members of the vast human family in your world. (Silver Birch, SBA, 49.)

No longer will we resort to books or teachers or authorities, but only to divine reason, and we appeal to her. Our truth will not be spread by the citation of a text said to be stamped with divine authority. If it violates reason, then reject what we say. But you will find that we appeal to the highest and the best instincts, that we / only seek to brush away old falsehoods and to bring the great truth that man will prize. What your world calls religion must be founded on truth, and you must seek to discard all that will not stand the onslaught of reason. (Silver Birch, SBA, 49-50.)

Never do anything which your reason rejects. Enthrone reason as your guide. We would never suggest to you that you perform tasks that are foreign to your common sense. … If you receive promptings, if you receive what seem to be messages in the silence that urge tasks upon you, do not perform them if your common sense objects. Only those who have reached a certain standard of spiritual attainment can be sure of the prompting that comes to them in the silence. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

[Intuition is] the prompting of the spirit. Intuition is the means by which the spirit becomes aware of itself; it outpaces the process of normal earthly reasoning. Intuition accomplishes at lightning speed what normally you would reach after much deliberation. Intuition is that process of attunement during which you receive that prompting which you would reach after much time and thought on the same subject. (Silver Birch, SBA, 75.)

Have control over the mind so that it can be still and be tuned in, so that instead of being a wanderer it can be placed under control by yourself, so that, held in perfect silence, it may respond to the higher vibrations. That is why intuition comes in a flash - because our vibration is quick and speedy and subtle. The thoughts from your world of matter are slow, they are sluggish, they are heavy. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The path of the truth-seeker is not an easy one, for the pioneer does not achieve truth with ease.

The things that are most valuable and most highly priced are not lightly earned, but only through perplexity and doubt, with earnestness, with reverence, with the desire to know as your motto, can you achieve those truths which mean so much.

But always remember this also. The soul must be prepared. No truth comes to you until the soul has earned that truth. Till then, your efforts are in vain, for you are not ready and equipped. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The simple truths we teach are indeed truths which are eternal. These truths of the spirit are intended to free your world by teaching man how to free himself. (Silver Birch, SBA, 31.)

When you are children you are taught according to your capacity to assimilate. You begin with the letters of your alphabet and, as the mind grows, you are taught to make words and to read. Gradually the knowledge contained in the printed word becomes accessible to you. As to the amount of knowledge that you receive, that is dependent wholly and solely upon your capacity for appreciating it. There is an infinity of wisdom, range upon range upon range, but it can only become available to you as you are mentally and spiritually equipped to receive it.

But no knowledge alters truth. There is no wisdom that in any way alters the truth of any teaching. If it was true in the past it is true today and will be true tomorrow. Truth is constant and eternal. You can add to wisdom, you can add to knowledge, but you cannot bring new truth. Your world has all the truth that it requires for its essential purpose - the fundamental truths / of kindness, service, love. It knows what it should do in order to have a better world.

All that is necessary for your growth, progress, unfoldment, evolution has been made known throughout all the generations. If man would but follow the truth which has been revealed he could achieve here and now on earth far more of the divinity within him than has ever been manifested. (Silver Birch, SBA, 32-3.)

I see so many in your world, frantic, despairing, not knowing where to turn, rushing hither and thither with no time to spare because so many 'important' things have to be done, and yet the most important of all is neglected and overlooked. Is not this the lesson of all our teaching? Is not this the purpose behind the return of every being from our world, so that you should derive from your lives the joy, the satisfaction that should be yours as children of the Great Spirit?

That is more important than / what is called religion, or churches, or creeds, or doctrines, more important than all the things which have divided mankind and caused war and chaos and confusion. It is just the simple truth about their own natures. And yet it is possessed by the few and not by the many. (Silver Birch, SBA, 37-8.)

How very simple are these great truths, so simple that they are beyond many of your intellectuals. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Truths do not change. Men’s minds change, but truth is constant because it is based upon knowledge, and knowledge comes from the Great Spirit. He is the centre and the source of all inspiration. It is all so simple and so easy to understand, but your world has made it so very difficult. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Do not blame truth if you do not understand it. Blame yourself, for truth is still true even though it has not penetrated through to you. Truth is not altered by argument. Because it is truth, it is true. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You have been led by those who love you. It is love that directs your footsteps. And that love is capable of guiding you if you will allow it to do so.

Love, like life, is indestructible. The things of matter must perish because by their very nature they are ephemeral. The things of the spirit are eternal. Love is a quality of the spirit. Love endures, love survives, love, as your Bible says, is the fulfilling of the law. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Love is deathless because it is part of the Great Spirit, the creative spirit of all life, part of the power which has fashioned life; it is indeed the very breath and the very essence of life. And wherever love exists, sooner or later those who are united by its willing bonds will find one another again despite all the handicaps and obstacles and impediments that may be in the way. (Silver Birch, SBA, 27.)

The word 'love' is one of the most misused ones in your world. I hear them sometimes say: Oh, give my love to so and so, whom they intensely loathe. And many others, perhaps carried away by infatuation, and let me be quite honest, by physical passion, think that the attraction is one of love.

First let us be clear: the real love is the love of selflessness; the love that seeks nothing for itself, and in its highest form embraces the whole of humanity. You are not an evolved soul until you can say, because you believe it, I love all mankind.

That is an ideal, and your world is a long way from it. But there is the love, the undeniable love, between man and woman who are complementary to one another; that is, they are two in form, but one in purpose - they harmonise. They are indeed, as your poet has expressed it, two hearts that beat as one. Now, where that love has found itself, there is never any separation. Those whom the natural law has joined by love can never be sundered in your world or in mine. (Silver Birch, SBA, 28.)

Real love is so magnetic, is so overwhelming in its attraction, that it must find itself and claim itself, when once you have got rid of the imperfections of the earth which were the deterrents to recognition.

Love takes many forms, ranging from friendship founded on sympathetic attraction and mutual interest, to the supreme heights where, without thought of self, it seeks to serve wherever it can. (Silver Birch, SBA, 29.)

Love is a word which is misused in your world. Very often those who use it do not mean love at all. It is mistaken for the activities of the senses when there is only the desire for gratification of certain instincts. But love as I understand it is a part of the spirit stirring within, seeking expression when it realises its kinship with its divine creator. (Silver Birch, SBA, 29.)

The greatest love is the love that has no trace of selfish/ness, that does not seek in any way to perform any action because it will bring some satisfaction to the individual. That is human love in its greatest aspect. It is the spirit that has enthused all who desire to uplift mankind, to help the needy, to sustain the weak, to fight the vested interests that prevent the unfortunate from extracting the beauty that life could offer them.

All who, in their own land and in foreign lands, have sought with altruistic motive to raise the standard of mankind, to make it aware of its infinite potentialities, are exhibiting love in its finest form. There are degrees - when the same spirit animates a man or woman to serve the object of his or her affection, that need not be selfish; it can be unselfish.

And there is the lowest kind of love, the love that is restricted, that desires to protect and help only the ones to whom it feels an attraction and feels no pity, no mercy, no sympathy and no compassion for strangers. Divine love covers the universe. It is love that has shaped its course, it is love that has regulated its evolution, it is love which is part of the divine beneficence, it is love which actuates all those advanced spiritual beings who, forfeiting all that they have gained by their attainment, return to your cold, grey, unattractive world to give service to those who need it. (Silver Birch, SBA, 29-30.)

The greed of your world must be replaced by love, because love is an expression of the spirit. Love has many aspects, compassion, service, friendship, co-operation. (Silver Birch, LSB, 70.)

There is only one peace - the peace which comes to those who are at one with the Great Spirit, whose hearts beat as one with His great heart, whose wills are at one with His great will, who are at one in soul, mind and heart with the Great Spirit. Then there is peace, because they are in harmony with His laws. There is no other peace. (Silver Birch, SBA, 16.)

Awaken to knowledge; / awaken to understanding. You need not be a prisoner, you can leave the jail of ignorance and live in the light of spiritual freedom. (Silver Birch, SBA, 78-9.)

You are never completely free, because the measure of your freedom is related to the growth of your soul. You become free when you realize there is no limitation to knowledge, truth, wisdom, growth. You become free when you discard at once that which you know in your heart is false, that which reason rejects, because your intelligence cries out in revolt. You become free when you are not afraid to discard error in the face of new light. But how many are prepared to do that? (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

There are souls blindly groping in self-imposed darkness, chained when they could be free, servile when they could easily be men of freedom. But I am afraid they have worn their chains for so long that they are afraid to discard them. A bird that is in a cage for a long time is afraid that it cannot fly when it is released.

It is good when they throw off their shackles, but they must have some path which they can tread. We do not want them to be helpless, without a sign. We want them to be free, but we want them to know where their freedom will lead.

When you have been in bondage for a long time, there is a tendency in the newly-found freedom that you will not listen to any guidance that comes to you. You say: 'I have had enough of all this. I have had years of doubt and perplexity. Now that I have discarded it I do not any longer wish to be associated with what is called religion.' /

Sometimes, with the casting off of shackles, there is a violent reaction. (Silver Birch, SBA, 48-9.)

None of us has attained the summit of perfection; to do so will require eternity. (Silver Birch, LSB, 162.)

If you were perfect you would not be on earth. You would have joined the apex of divinity which is the great spirit of life. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We are all human beings. Thus we have the flaws of imperfection within us. If we were perfect, we would not be in your world or in ours. We would have joined the Great Spirit, the only perfect power in the universe. (Silver Birch, LSB, 8.)

The world will never become perfect, because the nearer perfection it becomes, the more will it realise the perfection in front of it. (Silver Birch, SBA, 55.)

You are expected to do the best you can. You are not perfect. You will not attain perfection in your world pr in ours; it is an endless process. (Silver Birch, LSB, 27.)

What we ask you to do is to raise your standards as high as you can. We will always work to get you to advance slowly but surely towards the goal of achievement. What we say to you is very simple. Do the best you can, and together we will be able to help those who come to us. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You have heard about the angels weeping? They weep often when they see those who are not behaving in a fashion that is consistent with their knowledge and understanding. But we realize they are not perfect because they are human. You will all make mistakes. (Silver Birch, LSB, 130.)

Your world has forgotten the Nazarene, and those who profess to serve him have themselves built material possessions and set store by the things of matter. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

It has been my privilege many times with colleagues in my world to be present at conferences, congresses, meetings call them whatever you like. At these the Nazarene refers to many of the plans the hierarchy devised to ensure that the power of the spirit should remain in your world.

The Nazarene is one of the hierarchy behind all the directives we receive when we leave your world occasionally to fortify ourselves to cope with our missions and to glean more of what it is we have to achieve.

I have a great reverence for Jesus, the Nazarene, a wondrous example of what the power of the spirit could achieve when divinity assumes human form and gives to those available simple, but profound teaching, that love is a power that solves all problems when people allow themselves to be animated by it.

The Nazarene demonstrated the same spiritual phenomena that we make available today, because their operation is due to the same natural laws which always have been, which still are in existence, and will continue to be so.

Having attracted the multitudes by what were wrongly called miracles, he taught the great truths of the spirit: love thy neighbour as thyself, do good to those who hurt you; the essence of all religions.

But the difference is this, that with his passing into our world the mission of Jesus did not end. He is still at work, inspiring those who continue to see and meet him, to propound these truths, to demonstrate these phenomena so that those who are ready would play their part in helping the infinite, creative power of the Great Spirit to flow through an increasing number of channels everywhere.

We have nothing but respect and reverence for Jesus. But we do not have that respect and reverence for many of his followers who have worshipped and continue to worship Jesus, yet pay no heed to his teachings. Instead of the truth he taught unifying them, it divides them.

In your world today there are black areas where the same followers of the Nazarene persecute and kill one another. They do not understand his mission. If you believe in the Nazarene and realize that love is the greatest power in the universe, you should not kill or commit acts of violence against others who say / they believe in those same principles.

It must be very agonizing to the Nazarene to see, as indeed do so many of you in the spirit world, what has been done in his name on earth.

Yes, and he has shed many tears. After all, he is not responsible for what others do. You who call yourselves Spiritualists proclaim one of our greatest principles, that every individual is personally responsible for his or her acts.

What did Jesus look like?

The Nazarene has been described many times by people in our world. He is not as painted by artists living in varying countries and according to their cultures. He is very much like the kind of people among whom he moved during his ministry. Were he different, then he would not have fulfilled his mission.

Some mediums speak of a Cosmic Christ. Others see Christ as an individual spirit. Are they two different aspects for the same existence?

You are allowing names to bother you. There is the man Jesus, whose surname was not Christ, and there is what is called the Christ power, the power of the spirit. If you differentiate between the man and the power that animated him, you have the clearest picture of all.

Would it be possible by automatic writing or some other means to tell us exactly what Jesus said?

I don’t know. The difficulty is that no-one recorded the utterances of the Nazarene at the time and so memory would have to play its part. His main teaching was the gospel of love. Love thy neighbour as thyself. Do good to those who hurt you. Love is the fulfilling of the law. What else is required to help mankind? Love / is the highest expression of the spirit. Love is what the Great Spirit has to offer. Love is what we offer you.

The object of the Nazarene’s mission was to demonstrate spiritual reality. If the Nazarene were to reappear in your world today and to repeat what he said 2,000 years ago I doubt if anyone would listen. (Silver Birch, LSB, 164-6.)

More than all these things, I wish that you could see and hear the Nazarene and feel that great love as he encourages us in our missions, as he expresses his knowledge of all that has been done and urges us to go forward with new strength, with new hope, with new vision and with new purpose. He is not the Nazarene of the Churches - exalted into a deified place - but a great spirit who strives still to serve through many instruments. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Do not think only in terms of the power of the Spirit in the past. Remember that the power which operated through the Nazarene is operating once again.

Just as those who were the leaders of the churches in that time rejected that power of the spirit, and said it was of the Devil, so once again they reject the same power of the Spirit as it operates today.

The splendour of the Nazarene does not belong only to the past, but to the present. Where do you think he is today? Do you think the story of his life ended in Jerusalem? Where do you think his great spirit would be today, with your world of matter full of distress, trouble and bitterness?

Those who deny us and say we preach the gospel of darkness are in line with the same people who, in the days gone by, made the same accusation against the Nazarene. We come with the same power of the Great Spirit, bringing the same manifestations of the Spirit, the same message, ‘Comfort the mourner, heal the sick, bring light to those who are in darkness, health to the afflicted, strength to the weary, knowledge to the ignorant.’ (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Religion, what is it? Is it going to church, synagogue, chapel or temple? Is it the acceptance of certain theological ideas devised by man? Is it calling yourself a Roman Catholic, a Protestant, a Buddhist, a Jew?

Religion is living in a way that brings you closer to the Great Spirit. Religion is when the Great Spirit is expressed in your actions. Religion is service. (Silver Birch, LSB, 161.)

Religion is to serve the Great Spirit by serving His children. Religion has little to do with the conventional ideas of your world. Religion is that which enables the Great Spirit in you to be revealed in your life. Religion is that which increases the tie between you and the Great Spirit and between you and His other children. Religion is that which makes you go out into your world and give service wherever you can. Religion is service, and service is religion.

All else does not matter. When the physical body falls away all the creeds over which human beings have for so long fought and striven are shown to be empty and vain, meaningless and purposeless, for they have not aided the growth of the soul by one iota. The growth of the soul is only increased by service, for as you forget self in the service of others so your own soul grows in stature and in strength.

There have been for too long too many so-called religions, each with a variation of a message. The things which they hold most dear are in reality of no value. The things for which they have, in the past, caused blood to / flow, tortured, maimed and burned, do not increase the spirit of man by one inch. They have divided mankind into opposite camps; they have created barriers; they have caused needless differences in countries; and in families. They have caused disputes; they have done everything that stands for disruption and disharmony. They have failed to unite the children of the Great Spirit. That is why we care not for buildings and conventional religion. We are not concerned with what a man calls himself. It is what he does that matters. (Silver Birch, SBA, 100-1.)

We preach the religion of service, service, service, not of creeds, not of rituals, not of doctrines - unless they make you serve. Ceremony, observances, these are unimportant. What does count is that you exercise your spirit - the Great Spirit that is within you.

“What is your definition of religion?” asked another circle member.

To me, it means but one thing. To serve the Great Spirit by serving His children. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Our allegiance is not to a Creed, not to a Book, not to a / Church, but to the Great Spirit of life and to His eternal natural laws. (Silver Birch, TSB, 26-7.)

I know that theology has been a great curse to your world, but its day is practically done. (Silver Birch, SBA, 22.)

All those who speak in your churches must one day undo all the wrong they have done. They do not escape the Law. (Silver Birch, TSB, 48.)

If you find there are some people who have all the / benefits of communication with our world, but still adhere to certain conventional theological beliefs, then be sorry for them. Say a silent prayer for them because they are still only on the first rungs on the ladder or are in the half-way stage.

Recognize that it is not always easy to abandon the teaching received in childhood, when the mind was plastic and impressionable and accepted without question what was given to it. Gradually these theological ideas become part of the warp and weft of the subconscious mind, are embedded in its depths, and an individual finds it almost impossible to rid himself of them.

Be patient. There was a time when all of us had ideas which we believed, but later wisdom made us abandon them. After all, none of us has attained the summit of perfection; to do so will require eternity. Be tolerant. Help them. Do not argue with them; that gets nowhere. In such discussion, as the poet said, ‘they leave by the same door by which they came in.’

Be patient with those who cannot see further than their theological noses. Time will work its will with them, as it has with you. (Silver Birch, LSB, 161-2.)

Our work is to give (1) that which has a purpose, a significance, so that, while it demonstrates the existence of law, it also enables comfort to be given and knowledge to be spread. Our work is not only to reveal the existence of laws beyond the physical but to reveal truths of the spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 39.)

(1) I.e., to communicate.

We have a gigantic system of misrepresentation to oppose. We have to undo the work of centuries. We have to destroy the superstructure of falsity that has been built upon the foundation of creeds.

We are striving to teach the children of matter how to be free and how to bask in the sunlight of spiritual truth, how to cast off the serdom of creedal slavery. That is not an easy task, for once the trappings of religion have mastered you, it takes a long time for spiritual truth to penetrate that thick wall of superstition. (Silver Birch, TSB, 26.)

The authority of Churches, of books, of creeds, all these are waning. They are gradually being discarded. But the authority of spiritual truths abides for ever. When I return to your world I see the confusion and the / chaos, and I realise they could be dissipated if the clear light of the spirit were allowed to penetrate, if, instead of just a chink, there could be a strong illuminating ray. (Silver Birch, SBA, 47-8.)

In the case of the churches you have a great difficulty. You have men who earnestly believe that theirs is the truth and they are defending what is to them something very dear. They do not realize that their system has been built on something which originally was divine in origin but has been overlaid through the centuries by what was devised from the mind of man. They cannot isolate the original from the wrapping. They worship the wrapping as being divine. If they have become fossilized mentally and spiritually, nothing can reach them. The Great Spirit has ordered it so that through some mental or spiritual upheaval you are given the opportunity of finding truth, but it does not always happen. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Their spirits must be freed from all dogmatic and creedal trammels, so that they do not give allegiance to things that have no real or spiritual value, so that they work only for that which is true, so that the warring and the quarreling and the strife over creeds and dogmas, which have held your world in chains for thousands of years, can be abolished.

We preach the gospel of the spiritual brotherhood of all peoples, with the Great White Spirit as the common Father.

What stands in the way is the earthly conception, the churches built on error, the usurping of privilege, the pride and the power of tyrants, petty tyrants who hold the whip hand. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

In your perplexity, when all the old standards are being discarded, when all authorities are being questioned and the power waning, we seek to reveal the Great Spirit, the supreme Authority, through His laws which never fail and which [will] never err. If the world of matter will learn to order its life in accordance with those laws, peace and concord will rule once again. (Silver Birch, SBA, 47.)

That which is a part of the Great Spirit cannot be achieved without sacrifice. You cannot build up unless you tear down. In times of great material disaster, the people of your world / begin to examine the foundations of the things of the spirit. When all the things of matter have failed, they look for a reed to clutch, and they look into the systems that have been tried and found wanting.

Then the truths of the spirit begin to emerge, and they begin to build their new world - a world where the laws of the Great Spirit begin to play their proper part. Until you do that, there will always be great troubles. (Silver Birch, TSB, 38-9.)

So many are dead to the things of the spirit. The little life-force flickers in their puny bodies, but no spiritual things can find any response within them. But gradually we make progress. Gradually the force of the spirit increases in strength all / over your world of matter. Gradually darkness retreats, as it must when confronted by the light of spiritual truth. (Silver Birch, SBA, 69-70.)

A sitter mentioned an effort to revise the Bible that seemed foredoomed for failure.

Let them try. Encourage all those who are on the side of opposing vested interest. Let this new spirit of reform permeate where it can.

Not all is achieved in a blinding flash of revelation. Sometimes another method has to be employed - the little drops of water that drip away on the stone until they wear it away. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I feel sorry for those ‘men of God’ who have so much to unlearn. They have built a structure based on shifting sands and they try to defend their sandy castles against the onslaught of spirit truths.

They have built falsely. They have surrounded the Nazarene with fable. They have magnified him into the Great Spirit of Life and, because the foundation is a faulty one, they have gradually to destroy it. As they destroy, fear strikes their hearts.

They think there can be nothing left at all, whereas the truth is that, if they had built on the foundation of fact, of natural law, there would be nothing to destroy.

That is why we have come back to your world - to ask you to give no obedience to any one man, to any one book, to any one church, to any leader, to any being whether in the world of matter or in the world of spirit, but only to learn obedience to the laws of the Great Spirit, for they alone are infallible and unerringly right.

That is why we preach the natural laws, and the natural laws only. If you call that Spiritualism it does not matter, as long as what you understand embraces the natural laws of the Great Spirit and their operation throughout all the spheres of life, whether life that is visible to you or life as it is known in the planes of spirit.

Your world has set its store by leaders, and has magnified them out of their true importance, and so it has created difficulties of theology - difficulties with scientists, with philosophers and with all those honest people who want their minds to be free and who cannot accept anything which makes their reason revolt.

That is why we emphasize the laws of the Great Spirit, for the true understanding of these laws harmonizes all knowledge. They cannot in any way cause the minds of scientists, philosophers, free-thinkers or anybody to revolt, for they are founded upon eternal, unalterable, immutable operations of the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You said so many people arrive in the spirit world with false teaching. In St. John’s gospel it says believing is the important part. ...

What you have quoted is one of the interpolations in the Bible which has caused great affliction and separated people. It is not paradoxical that a book, a religious book, a holy book, a sacred book, has caused more bloodshed than an ordinary volume could have done? Yet the purpose of religion should be to unite everybody in a common brotherhood and sisterhood because of their unbreakable fundamental spiritual relationship. (Silver Birch, LSB, 167.)

When someone said “Thank you,” Silver Birch, as usual, reminded those gathered that he must not be thanked, but that it was the Great Spirit to Whom gratitude should be expressed.

“We use the earth phrase out of habit,” someone explained.

I know my son. But if I did not always correct you and always draw attention to the laws of the Great Spirit, some would begin to pay us praise and to worship us, and then the same troubles would start once more. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Do not judge anything by the apparent result. You see only with the eyes of matter. If you could see with the eyes of the spirit, you would know that with every [prayer?] there is perfect justice. Sometimes I listen to your prayers and sometimes to the prayers of others. I think that if the Great Spirit were to answer them all you would not be happy with the result. (Silver Birch, TSB, 38.)

What is the object of prayer?

Not to address requests that are already known to Omnipotence; not to acquaint the Great Spirit with facts already known, even before they are expressed; not to ask for mere petitions which you may not, when they are answered, deserve, for, after all, are you capable of deciding what is best for your own development? No!

The object of true prayer is to obtain a closer unity with the Great Spirit and all the powers of that spirit, so that they may flood and suffuse your being in a far richer manner than ever they have done before.

True prayer is a spiritual exercise which compels introspection, so that looking within you become conscious of your own weaknesses and imperfections, but also conscious of your innate strength. Thus, prayer draws you nearer to the source of all being and stimulates / and inspires you to strive to reach higher stages of attainment.

When asked how the spirit world regards prayer, the guide answered: To appreciate prayer, you must realise its purpose. The mere mouthing or words, the mere repetition of a formula achieves nothing. These well-worn tracks in the atmosphere attract nobody, neither do they create any vibrant forces. We are not interested in stereotyped phrases, for there is no sincerity behind them and the one who utters them usually does so with indifference, for he has long ceased to ponder on the meaning of the words that are repeated almost as by an automaton. There is, however, some value in real prayer. It is never suggested that whilst you live in your world any action of the mind can be a substitute for the labours that you have to perform.

Prayer is not intended to be a refuge of the coward who seeks to escape his obligations. Prayer is not a substitute for the work that you have to do. Prayer is not a means by which you can escape your responsibilities. Prayer is not a means of outwitting the laws of the Great Spirit. No prayer can do that, neither can it by one iota make any alteration in the unbreakable sequence of cause and effect. You can disregard all prayers that do not spring from a heart which is willing to serve and which is conscious of its obligations and its duties.

Having disregarded all those, there are the prayers which, because they are a psychic or spiritual exercise, set into motion certain vibrations which bring responses. Those responses / are not necessarily the ones which the man who makes the prayer expects, but they are the natural result of the vibrations he has created.

If you have faced honestly, fairly and squarely all the problems and difficulties that beset you; if you have tried within the limits of your own power to find a solution and you have failed, then you have a perfect right to ask that some higher power, some greater soul, should give you light in your hour of perplexity. And you will get that guidance, you will get that light, for those who are round and about you, those who see with the eyes of the spirit, know the conditions of your own soul. They know, for example, whether you are honest or not.

Then there is the prayer of those who desire to effect a more complete harmony with the spiritual forces of life, the prayer of the soul which yearns to overcome the barriers imposed by the physical body and seeks to claim its own. Those prayers must be answered, for their mere exercise is enabling the spirit gradually to acquire its rightful heritage. Always when you speak of prayer, you must differentiate between the kinds of prayer to which you are referring.

Now I come to what is called the Lord's Prayer, and I immediately say that no stereotyped prayer has any value for mankind, that the mere act of formality robs it of any potency that originally it may have possessed. It may serve as a useful formula, but it cannot help you in any other way. The Great Spirit is perfect law. It is / not necessary to besiege the Great Spirit with requests which you can answer. Then you must remember, too, that many years have rolled by since the days when the Nazarene is supposed to have uttered it. Man has grown and evolved and realises far more about life in many of its ramifications. Not quite in that form was it expressed by the Nazarene, but it was clothed in the language which was applicable to the people of his day.

Now you know that the Great Spirit is not in heaven - being perfect law the Great Spirit pervades all space, all life; there is no aspect of life in the mighty universe of which the perfect law is not cognisant. The Great Spirit is no more in the highest heaven than the Great Spirit is in the lowest hell. The Great Spirit is universal and is manifested through every phase of universal activity.

There is no necessity to address petitions announcing that the kingdom of the Great Spirit will come; that will happen, but as to when it will happen depends upon the labour of those who are co-operating with the power of the spirit and who seek to advance its coming. That it will come is inevitable, but whether that coming is hastened or delayed depends upon the work that people in your world are able to do.

Prayers for fine weather or for rain are common in orthodox churches. Members of the circle were discussing prayers to make the sun shine when a sitter asked: What would God have to do to make fine weather suddenly? How many tons of pressure over Iceland / would He have to move, and how would He do it.

I have been asked before about these days of prayer, and the Great Spirit is not impressed when you suddenly decide to petition Him in mass form. The Great Spirit, being the Great Spirit, is familiar with the needs of all His children before He is acquainted with the fact in places which are called cathedrals and churches.

Prayer does not consist in the fact that large numbers of people gather together and listen to set words or to specially devised compositions. Prayer cannot alter the operation of the natural law. Prayer cannot interfere with the sequence of cause and effect. Man does not possess that power to interrupt what is a mathematical certainty - that effect follows cause with unalterable prevision.

Prayer has value as an exercise of the spirit, when the individual, conscious of his own limitations and, paradoxically, his innate strength, tries to release that flow of latent energy within his own being to inspire and impel him to greater deeds. Prayer, when it is truly prayer and thus an exercise of the spirit, is a means by which man's spirit releases itself from some of earth's thraldom and finds greater manifestation. Thus man makes himself more receptive to higher forces and becomes his own vehicle for the answer of his own prayer, that is, by desiring to serve he makes himself worthy of greater inspiration.

Now that is how I understand the value of prayer. But mass supplications to alter natural law cannot have any effect. (Silver Birch, SBA, 101-6.)

Prayer is not official or unofficial. It is not fixed by days or nights. True prayer cannot be commanded by any source that is outside the individual.

There is no value in mechanical prayer, in prayers said by rote. Those who meet from time to time because they have been commanded to do so, or because it is their habit, and read, or have read to them, words that sometimes are so familiar that they make no imprint on their minds - these do not place themselves any nearer the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit is aware of all your needs. He knows the unspoken desires of your heart; there is no need to petition Him in large numbers.

True prayer does not consist in the words that are expressed in public assembly; true prayer does not consist in words at all. True prayer is the aspiration of the soul which recognises that it is a fragment of a much larger whole and it seeks to unite itself; it seeks to draw nearer and nearer to that power which fashioned it and of which it is a part.

True prayer is accomplished by the individual when he is by himself, when his soul yearns and desires to attune and harmonise itself with the rhythm of life, with the creative forces which are around and about it, so that in doing so the individual may fit himself for larger service. True prayer is a means of introspection where the indi/vidual, conscious of his divinity, is also conscious of all his shortcomings and seeks so to utilise his latent gifts that he may truly be an instrument of the power which gave life and birth.

These things cannot be accomplished by official methods, by displays or ceremonies. They can only be accomplished in the silence of the soul, in that silence which is pregnant with meaning and possibility to all who are sincere in their desire to seek nothing for self, but to serve others. (Silver Birch, SBA, 106-7.)

Have faith, founded on the priceless knowledge which is yours. That knowledge is incontrovertible. It provides the solid, enduring foundation on / which to build the whole of your life. (Silver Birch, LSB, 130-1.)

Faith, that is faith alone, sometimes fails when the winds of bitter experience blow. But the faith that is born of knowledge provides a foundation which is so strong that no wind of circumstance can disturb it. (Silver Birch, SBA, 13.)

Because of the knowledge you have, treat that as the foundation on which to order your lives, and have faith [it will] be shown what it is you have to do. (Silver Birch, LSB, 133.)

You begin by adding knowledge to faith. Then you arrive at the stage when you must add faith to knowledge. You are in the realm of what is speculation, because you cannot get the answers that would appeal to your reason.

When I say faith, I do not mean credulous, irrational faith. I mean the faith that is founded on knowledge, a faith founded on that sure base of incontrovertible evidence that cannot be gainsaid, and leaves you in no doubt about the spiritual realities which are the basis of all being. (Silver Birch, LSB, 137.)

Sometimes the spirit gets crushed and cannot rise above the surrounding circumstances, but if you had perfect faith you could rise above all the troubles of your world. You would turn your faces to the sun, which is but an emblem of the Great Spirit, and say: 'I am a part of the Great Spirit. I am indestructible. I am eternal. I am infinite. That which is finite and part / of the world of matter cannot touch me.' If you did that, you would not be touched. (Silver Birch, SBA, 11-2.)

Many people start with fear in their hearts. They are afraid they will not get results, and the element of fear disturbs the vibration. Perfect love casteth out fear. (Silver Birch, SBA, 12.)

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

That was taught to you many years ago by one who knew the Law. He showed that when he put it into operation the results were always forthcoming. If you allow the Law to function, then the results must come. (Silver Birch, SBA, 12.)

Blessed are those who believe and have not yet seen, but thrice blessed are they who know and, because they know, place their faith in that which is not yet revealed to them, because they know that the laws of the universe are operated by a power which is love and wisdom. (Silver Birch, SBA, 13.)

You should all have perfect faith, because it is a faith born of knowledge. You have had the proof of the power of the spirit. Now you should have the faith that all things work wisely and well and that, if you put yourselves in tune with the laws of the Great Spirit, then you must reap the operation of those laws. (Silver Birch, SBA, 13.)

People I have met state they are confirmed Spiritualists, yet they follow their orthodox religions. Should not they put behind these ideas when they accept Spiritualism?

I am not bothered with these labels. … What you call yourself does not matter. We are concerned with the way you live your life. (Silver Birch, LSB, 161.)

You are all privileged to be ambassadors of the Great Spirit. You are representatives of the Great Spirit wherever you labour. It becomes your charge and responsibility to see that your gifts are used in such a fashion that they produce the maximum good wherever you can.

There will be brought to you those whom you can help. They will often be pitiful derelicts, sick, ill, worried, cheerless, full of problems, feeling that life on earth has nothing more to offer them. It becomes your privilege to help them to become aware of themselves, of their true nature, of their inner spirit, the gift of divinity conferred at birth, so that they begin to get a realization of how they should order their lives and derive from them the fullness, richness, beauty, splendour and radiance that should be theirs.

That is your function, to make the power of the spirit available to all who come to you. It is the reason why you have buildings, churches, temples and societies, so that you are accessible. And accessibility is the reason for the existence of all your organizations.

I want you to appreciate that so far as we are concerned, if you help one soul to find itself, to become aware of its latent divinity and to begin to express it, then the whole of your earth life is well worth while. But you will be able to help more than one. You will be able, as a result, to perform this unique service that no others in your world can possibly give because they have made themselves inaccessible to the power of the spirit which is the life-giving essence for the whole cosmos in which we all dwell.

Do not worry if any come to you and after you have done your best you are unable to help them. They have had their chance. You must be sorry because they have not taken it. What you must realize is that until their soul is touched, until they are spiritually ready, there is nothing you can do to help them. What will produce this preparation is not always easy to understand. It may be an illness. It may be a crisis. It may be anything which brings them to the lowest depths of despair, when they feel there is nothing in the whole of the material world that can produce the answer. Then they should begin to come into their own and you should be able to kindle the divine spark so that it can begin to grow into a lambent flame. That is why you exist in your churches, societies and organizations. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I must also say this. Because of what you are, because this tremendous power, divine in origin flows through you, yours is the greater responsibility to see that you do nothing that in any way lessens the trust that is reposed in you. We are not dictators. We are not your masters. We do not regard you as marionettes who have to dance when the strings are pulled in our world. You are our co-operators. We want to work together. We will always provide whatever is spiritually necessary according to the conditions available at the time.

We will lead. We will guide. We will direct. We will help, but we will not order. We will not compel and we will not dictate. If you hear, supposedly emanating from our life, entities who command you to do this, that and the other, you can be sure that their spiritual status is not very evolved. Co-operation is the law of the spirit. We would win you with love, with common sense and with reason. We would offer you nothing that is an insult to your intelligence or would make your reason revolt. Together we can help the Great Spirit in the eternal processes of evolution and creation.

This is the task on which we are all engaged. This is the opportunity given to all of us to help the Great Spirit so that His children may live a richer, fuller life and not waste all the opportunities earth provides in obtaining the equipment that is necessary when people come to our side of being. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You must expect troubles, difficulties, problems, pitfalls and differences of opinion because you are very human. But if you have compassion, if you are prepared to co-operate, to be democratic, to sink self and let the good of the many prevail, then you will come through. And we will always help you. The trouble is that there are too many people … who are more concerned with themselves than with others. These are the stumbling blocks in the promulgation of any truth. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

If you will co-operate with us, and forgive my saying this because I mean it most kindly, not demand, but be prepared to receive, you will find that in this atmosphere we can accomplish much together. It is always desirable to have unity in diversity, but not to try to achieve uniformity. You can unite on the fundamentals on which you all agree. There must always be differences of opinion because all the individuals within the ranks of what you might loosely call the Spiritualist movement are at different stages of spiritual and mental growth and evolution. They cannot think alike. …

The great necessity is for toleration. Brotherhood does not mean that you will all agree. It means that you recognize brotherhood in spite of your diversities. That is the only way I can put it. You must try to achieve the ideal. You may not succeed in doing so 100 per cent.

Go on trying to enlist others, because co-operation is part of the law governing the universe. You should always strive to achieve it among yourselves. After all, basically you are agreed on the prime facts. There are differences of interpretation. Respect one another’s viewpoints and combine on what you can agree. This is not easy. But I always say that generals must not expect to be given easy battles to fight. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I want you who are engaged in this task to know always that the power behind you desires to serve you as you serve others.

How I wish that the blinkers were removed from your eyes, so that you could see. How I wish that you could know as I know.

You would never despair. Gloom would find not even a tarrying place in your beings, for you would realize the strength that surrounds you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

None escapes the Law; particularly, all who have heard the voice of the spirit. If they fail, it is worse for them than for those who have not heard.

When your eyes are opened and your hearts have received the love that comes with the power of the spirit, when your minds have had the revelations of spirit truths, if after that, you fail in service, the greater is the punishment that comes to you, for you have done it with knowledge and not in ignorance. There are many mediums who could be instruments who have sold their gifts for thirty pieces of silver. (Silver Birch, TSB, 48.)

You will be given many opportunities to serve others as you have been served. Take them when you can. I am not asking you or anybody to become an evangelist, a missionary seeking to make converts whenever possible. We do not wish you, or any others associated with us, to play on the emotions of the masses, to arouse them with fervour to accept things which in the cold light of day for many of them will prove unreasonable.

What we do say is that you will be provided with opportunities to help those who come into your orbit. Then do the best you can for them. There is a great work to be done in your world. (Silver Birch, LSB, 63-4.)

Those who serve others less fortunate than we are will find that the way will be shown. There will be brought to them people they can help in their time of crisis, just as you were guided when you needed it. (Silver Birch, LSB, 64.)

Wherever one man strives to uplift another, behind him there are a thousand spirits who try to make his victory a greater one. No effort for good can ever be lost. No desire to serve can ever be wasted. There must be a pioneer who hacks his way through the forest and makes the path a little easier for those who follow. Gradually this path is beaten down and worn smooth. (Silver Birch, PSB, 26.)

Wherever in the world of matter one man strives to uplift one other man, then behind him there are a thousand spirits who try to make his victory a greater one. No effort for good can ever be lost. No desire to service can ever be wasted. (Silver Birch, SBA, 51.)

Sometimes I see the many masters in our world, with tears in their eyes, looking down on the follies of those who, one day, will realize how they have thrown away their greatest opportunities of raising up the children of earth. And some/times I see their faces wreathed in smiles because some unknown man has rendered a service which lights a new torch of hope in the world. (Silver Birch, SBA, 51.)

You serve Him by serving the children of matter. When you do that, you are within reach of His infinite arms, you are surrounded by His love, which will bring you to perfect peace. (Silver Birch, SBA, 13.)

You must help those who come to you wherever you can. When you cannot, leave them. For all who are brought to you it is their opportunity to find themselves. If they succeed, express gratitude for your chance to serve. But if they fail, feel sorry for them. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You seek to find peace without. I try to show you the eternal peace within. The greatest riches are the riches of the spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 17.)

Those who serve are accounted as the great ones by us and the service they render is not confined to helping the soul to find truth, for there is other service to be rendered.

There is the service of freeing poor, racked bodies from pain, the service of fighting injustice and tyranny, the service of fighting hate, the service of preserving freedom and the service of abolishing the evils of your world and giving the spirit in man a chance to express itself as the Great Spirit desires that it should. (Silver Birch, TSB, 35.)

If, between us, we can in one case bring happiness where there was unhappiness, knowledge where there was ignorance, then at least we shall have done some service. (Silver Birch, SBA, 52.)

The whole keynote of our teaching is contained in the word - service. We have declared eternal warfare on that selfishness which is one of the cancers in your world. We are intent on destroying that materialism which leads to war, to bloodshed to chaos, to destruction.

Ours is the gospel of mutual helpfulness, co-operation, tolerance, sympathy. We desire all to learn to serve one another, that he who has much shall give some of his abundance to him who has none or little; that he who is richly endowed with gifts of the mind shall use his inheritance to enlighten those who are still in the darkness.

Your world needs service. It needs the spread of the idea that all people are parts of one another, that the divine spirit flows through all human beings, making them all equal in the sight of the Great Spirit - equal so / far as their natures are concerned. Greatness comes when those who are more advanced in character, in growth, in evolution and in understanding try to share what they possess with those who lack these possessions.

Those who work for the world of spirit, those who place their gifts at its disposal, will always find that they are served as they serve, because they are tapping the law which must fulfil itself. It is not part of a bribe, or a reward, it is merely the fulfilment of the law of cause and effect, that he who gives the most can receive the most. (Silver Birch, SBA, 112-3.)

We require instruments who will be dedicated to serve. … Service is the coin of the spirit. To serve is noble because in service you are expressing the divinity within you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We are always concerned with those who can reach and help other people. Every new channel is one more means of spreading knowledge, of spreading spiritual power and working towards the amelioration and betterment of the whole human race. This is a great truth which is part of an infinite truth. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

If you succeed in enabling one soul in darkness to find the light, one troubled, wearied individual to gain strength, if you comfort one mourner, if you heal one sick person, if you prevent exploitation of and cruelty even to one animal, then indeed your earthly life has been well worth living. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Never weary in the fight for the things that matter. This is the greatest of all fights, the eternal war against materialism, selfishness, these cancers that are festering in your world today and lead so many on to foolish paths where they perish in the darkness without a realization of the purpose for which they were born into the world. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

No effort for good is lost, no attempt to help is futile. Never be weary in your well-doing, never be disappointed if you do not see the results. Just go on and I know that every attempt to serve automatically calls to your aid beings from our world who will lend their aid to your labour. You never work alone. Always you are surrounded by the host of the shining ones whose arms will support you no matter what circumstances arise. Place your complete faith in and rely on the power which cannot fail you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Alas, there are too many who live encompassed by swirling mists of darkness, whose shoulders groan under the weight of their load and who know not where to turn, sick in body, mind and soul. These are the ones we must always try to help. (Silver Birch, GSB, 20.)

We would be failing in our purpose if we were to declare that the task of spiritual attainment is easy and that those who, in any measure, would attempt to spread light where there is darkness will meet with an easy task. It could never be so. The whole of history is against it, for truth and error have been engaged in a dreadful warfare that will not cease until infinite perfection can be achieved and that, in the very nature of the case, is unattainable. It is a long and difficult and toilsome struggle in which we are engaged. (Silver Birch, GSB, 20.)

You do not realize the prejudice, opposition, hostility, antagonism, misrepresentation, superstition and deliberate attack that will have to be faced, I do not say these things to daunt you, but to place any quest in its proper setting. I know how difficult it is. (Silver Birch, GSB, 20.)

That is the price of all knowledge. You all have the greatest privilege in the world of matter, the privilege of being able to use your knowledge for service. When all the things that are counted great in your world of matter have passed away, the service that you have rendered to one another will yield your eternal progress. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

It does not matter which way you do it, or who you help, or where you bring light into darkness, so long as you raise up those who have fallen down, give strength to those who are weak, bring light where there is darkness, give food to those who are hungry and sleep to those who have nowhere to lay their heads. (Silver Birch, TSB, 50.)

That power of the spirit ignores all earthly distinctions and cares not for rank or title, grade of society, colour, race, / nationality or class. It recognizes only those who can respond, wherever they may be, whoever they may be, and fills them with the power which cometh from the Source of all Truth, illumines their minds, stimulates their souls and makes them workers in the great vineyeard. (Silver Birch, TSB, 50-1.)

Wherever you can, drop the seed. If you meet with rebuff, take no notice. Do not argue, do not attempt to become missionaries. You cannot force the seed to grow on barren soil. In the fullness of time some of these seeds will begin to take root. Those who have scoffed and ridiculed will come to you for help because they need it. (Silver Birch, GSB, 24.)

Go forward, steady and sure in the knowledge which is yours. Use it wisely and well. Remember your responsibilities as instruments of the Great Spirit, who in our many ways we all seek to service, so as to hear His benediction, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

If all of you who sought to serve realized the great wealth of love and power that surged round you and knew how you were upheld and encouraged and enthused and sustained in all your labours, you would fight even with greater ardour and zeal and intensity. Not one effort to serve has ever been in vain. Though often misunderstood, misinterpreted and ridiculed by those who should have been your friends and occasionally betrayed by those whom you have trusted, your service will live on. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Where there is no service, there is desolation. Where there is service, there is peace and happiness. Your world must build a new system of life with service to one another. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

If you do what you know is right, then you cannot do any more. If that means that sometimes you must deny yourself, then you must do it. One day a balance is struck. (Silver Birch, SBA, 18.)

The spirit grows through kindness, toleration, sympathy, love, service and doing of good works. Character evolves only when you allow the divine spirit to be made manifest in your daily lives. If you harbour unkind thoughts, thoughts of hatred, of malice, of vengeance, of selfishness, you yourself will be the victim of and you yourself must pay the price in a warped, distorted and thwarted character. (Silver Birch, SBA, 20.)

It makes me sad, sometimes, to hear people say: 'Oh yes, we give them bread, but they must thank the Great Spirit first.' Why not give the bread and not worry whether they thank the Great Spirit or not? If a man is hungry, why not give him bread? Or they say: 'You can sleep here, but first you must say a prayer.' (Silver Birch, TSB, 37.)

The marriage service performed in your churches refers to the existence of the marriage until death parts the man and his wife. If spiritually they are not united they are parted before death comes. If there is love, there is nothing that will ever separate them. (Silver Birch, LSB, 70.)

I want you both to realize that you begin now the greatest adventure of all, for two lives that have pursued separate courses are now come together to begin a united life. Even as love has brought you to this place, even as love emanating from a world higher than yours guided your footsteps on paths of knowledge and truth, so has that same power brought you two together. Soon ‘a man of God’ will read a few words from a book and, according to your world of matter, you will be joined in the bonds of holy matrimony. But I say to you there are no bonds unless you bind one another with love and affection. There are no ties unless you wish to tie one another with love and affection.

Do not think only in terms of two sharing one life from the physical aspect. Remember that you are two spiritual beings, both portions of the Great Spirit, now coming together with pledges to cherish, to love and to serve one another even as a great love from this world strives to serve you both. Remember that you are uniting two souls to adventure together and that we look not so much upon the material aspect but the spiritual, which to us is the enduring reality.

Do not expect that you will escape occasional sadness and sorrow, difficulty, trial and test, for these are parts of your evolution. When they arise, as arise they inevitably must, face them with honesty and know that they help to quicken your character and to bring you closer together. There are many here who look forward with joy to a celebration which will duplicate the one you have in your church, but which will be sanctified in our world by ties we regard as more enduring, for the promises uttered audibly by word of mouth are as nothing compared with the unspoken pledges of the soul. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Some of you will discover that you are affinities. Although you are two people you are two halves of one individuality. When that happens in your world, it brings with it a richness that cannot be measured in terms of material wealth. Affinities are the facets of the diamond. These are difficult matters to explain. (Silver Birch, LSB, 77.)

Persons are persons so far as your world is concerned, but you cannot separate spiritual individuality in the same way. There are, for example, affinities, two kindred halves of the one soul, and sometimes they incarnate at the same time. (Silver Birch, LSB, 86.)

There are aspects of affection, devotion, the desire to service maternal instincts, which are believed to be love, but the real love, that only comes once to each man or woman, whether on earth or in the world of spirit, is always reciprocal. The problem [of unreciprocated love] does not arise, for in our world, in the fullness of time, each finds the half of its own being. (Silver Birch, SBA, 28.)

All over your world there are injustices that cry out to be remedied. There are wrongs that shriek to be righted; there are so many pestilential blots on your civilization that it is hard to know where to make a start. But the most urgent reform, as I see it, is to get rid of the needless poverty, desolation and misery which is the fate of countless thousands. When there is so much, that any should be denied the very fundamentals of material existence is very wrong.

The greatest reform that cries out for accomplishment is to redress the disparity between those who have too much and those who have not enough. How can you reach souls to find themselves when their poor, pitiable, emaciated physical bodies are not a fitting temple for the spirit of God to dwell therein? We are not blind to the prime necessities of your physical selves and our mission is to bring to your world those conditions of living which enable body, soul and mind to find the realities necessary for their existence in a state of happiness and well-being. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The land, the sea, the air - those do not belong to countries; they belong to the Great Spirit of all life. His spirit is expressed in His children, and they should receive, as part of their natural heritage, all that is necessary for their well-being, their development, their unfoldment and their experience on earth, so that when they lay down their burdens when death comes they are ready to die, equipped, prepared for the greater life in the world of spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Prejudice must be broken down, error must be fought. Truth will advance, however slowly and painfully, because it is truth. (Silver Birch, SBA, 76.)

Rank, title, profession or calling, the colour of skins - what are these in the sight of the Great Spirit? True wealth and true nobility are of the soul, the spirit, the mind, for these are the eternal realities. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

We are all parts of the Great White Spirit. Some He has painted red, some black, some yellow, and some He has not painted at all, but all these colours are part of His scheme.

Some day His laws will come into your world and harmony will come when the colours mix together and live together with love in their hearts. You do not understand what these colours mean. Each has a great purpose and contributes to the laws of life.

There will not be any peace in your world until all these colours blend together, until men learn not to look at the skins, but at the souls that are behind them. (Silver Birch, TSB, 49.)

We have learned how the people of other races can bring / into the pool that which is special to them. Out of that comes what is best for the whole. Your world does not understand yet that the man who has a yellow skin has something which can help the rest of the world and the white man also has something distinctive which would be of assistance to the others. (Silver Birch, TSB, 49-50.)

Colour, class, nationality, language, these constitute only physical differences. Spiritually you are all members of one another. You make up the vast human spiritual family because the common link of the spirit binds you all to one another with a tie that cannot be broken, just as it / binds you all to the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, LSB, 70-1.)

I am a coloured man. Need I say more? Surely your world must be in error when it thinks that superiority can be determined by pigmentation, by the colour of the skin. Superiority is attained only though service. There is no other road. You are not greater or lesser in spirit because your skin is white, brown, red or black. The colour of your skin does not reflect the development of your soul. Your world tries to judge eternal problems by physical standards, but there is only the one eternal standard - that is the standard of the spirit.

All races and colours are part of the Great Spirit of all life Who provides harmony in the perfect mixture of all hues. Look at nature's handiwork and realise that no matter how profuse or variegated are the colours of flowers in a vast garden, never is the note of disharmony / or colour discord struck anywhere. When the colours are blended among men, you will be emerging towards the perfect race. (Silver Birch, SBA, 75-6.)

You must allow the divinity within you to attain its fullest expression, so that you practice the brotherhood and sisterhood which is a natural fact of your being. The soul is not white, yellow, black or red. The soul has no colour or racial bar. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Superiority comes only when you unfold the divinity within you, and it expresses itself in love and compassion and consideration, not only for all the other humans in your world but for the animals who share this planet with you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

True education is the growth of the soul. You become educated as your soul-powers reach out and unfold their latent divinity.

The mere acquisition of knowledge is of little value and might be a very selfish pursuit unless the knowledge is acquired to be of service to others. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

True education should consist in the dissemination of that knowledge which will enable children to be citizens of the world in which they live. It should instruct them in all the natural laws of the universe. It should make them aware of all the faculties with which they have been endowed, so that an unfolding of them will be of the greatest service to their own lives and to the world in which they live.

The child is malleable; its mind is as yet unformed in / judgement; it has no instinctive means of reflection and judgement, of weighing up whether statements which are taught are true, are false, or contain but a portion of truth. The mind of the child is very plastic, and, being trustworthy, it accepts as truth that which is inculcated into its mind at an age when it is too early to question the instructions which are given.

Thus you are dealing with very precious and very delicate material, for you are helping to form impressions that will become part of the warp and the woof of the child's own being. You are reaching the subconscious mind of the child, and everything which is being taught to it will colour its thinking in later life. Those who, for whatever reason, deliberately inculcate doctrines which are false, are guilty of a very grave disservice to the future of the race and of civilisation.

If you are ignorant of the child's many potentialities, if you are unfamiliar with spiritual realities, and, as a consequence, are unable to teach it the truths about its own being, its own nature, its relationship to the Great Spirit, its relationship to the vast cosmic plan of life, then the child will be handicapped. It will go through life not as fully equipped and armed with knowledge as it should. (Silver Birch, SBA, 113-4.)

It does not fall within my province to deal with the essential requirements for the physical life. These are well known, for it is obvious that there should be tuition in all the sciences and the natural phenomena of life, in all that would help to cultivate the mind to appreciate the / riches of literature and all the arts and refinements of your world.

And so I come to the question of religion, which, seeking to give guidance to the soul so that it can be prepared to face and to conquer all life's battles, obviously plays a paramount part in education. Because every child is part of the Great Spirit, because it is in essence a spiritual being, it is intended to live with all the benefits that freedom brings. If you cramp, if you restrict the soul of the child at an early age, you are denying it its elementary rights of freedom; you are condemning it to serfdom; you are making it a spiritual slave.

Freedom is the essence of all education. As I see it, the child will grow in freedom if it is taught the truths about religion. If those who are teachers give instructions based upon a desire, not to give the child freedom, but to teach it loyalty to ancient myth and fable, then they are poisoning the springs of the child's mind. No service is rendered to religion, to education or to the child by teaching it discarded creeds which if it is intelligent, it will reject at the earliest possible age.

Then there will come the inevitable reaction. It will turn its back on all those whom it considers misled it at a time when it had no means of resisting them. The young sapling is intended to grow stalwart and straight as a tree, but if you give it nurture which is false, then you are helping to tamper with the very roots of its being and the growth will become stunted.

We oppose all those whose desire is not to teach / the truths about the spirit, not to teach about the relationship between all spiritual beings and the Great Spirit of life, but whose desire is to strengthen their tottering churches and to fill their emptying pews. The truth about religion is that no religion possesses the whole of truth. Each has seen but a glimpse and that, alas, has become distorted with the centuries or falsified by the creedalists.

The child must be taught that true religion is to give service, to ignore all the elaborate phrase-making of priestcraft, and to live an honest, unselfish life, desiring to help the world in which it dwells and so be true to the Great Spirit of Whom it is an integral part. (Silver Birch, SBA, 114-6.)

[How to teach God to children:] That is not a difficult task if the one who is to do the explaining has a clear conception of the power which is behind all life. For myself, I would point to the divine artistry of nature's handiwork. I would point to the stars, the diamonds in the sky. I would point to the glory of the sun, to the pale reflection of the moon. I would point to the whispering, murmuring breeze, to the nodding pines. I would point to the trickling stream and to the mighty ocean. I would touch every facet of nature showing how each is controlled by purpose, by law. I would add that where man has made any discovery in the field of natural life, he finds it comes within the orbit of law, that its growth is controlled and regulated, that it is part of one vast, intricate, yet harmonious pattern, that order reigns supreme throughout the vast universe, controlling planets / and insects, storms and breezes, all life no matter how variegated its expressions may be.

And then I would say, the mind behind all that, the power that sustains it all, the force that controls the whole vast panorama of the universe and many other worlds that you have not yet seen, is what we call the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 116-7.)

Many people are very depressed for no reason. What has come over the young people? Are they spiritually starved?

They have not found their way. They have come into a world where violence rules. They believe their elders have betrayed them. They feel also that they can obtain no guidance from conventional religion.

Do you think too much blame has been put on the elders? Everyone has his own path to find.

I am not agreeing with their outlook. I am only explaining it, because in time they will become elders. (Silver Birch, LSB, 162-3.)

A visitor asked about the world’s creation, citing the description in Genesis. In some quarters it was believed that creatures from outer space came to earth for this purpose, he said.

Of course you are now addressing your question to an out-of-space creature! Do not be bothered by what it says in Genesis or in any other book. If it is unacceptable to your reason, dismiss it. How did your world begin is what you want to know.

There are many theories; we really don’t know.

Let me say that I have a little more than a theory. I have a little knowledge on this subject. Your world has always existed. It had no beginning, nor will it have an end. If you want to quote from the Bible, you have statements like the one attributed to the Nazarene, Before Abraham was I am.

Spirit has always existed: it was not spontaneously created. It slumbered for millions of years until the rudimentary beginnings of life gradually manifested in your world. Life is spirit and spirit is life. It always has had the potentials of infinity.

There were no creatures from outer space to create the beginnings of life in your world. Life was always / there, and developed, unfolded and progressed according to the natural laws of evolution that infinite intelligence devised.

I understand that now a good deal of Darwin’s theory is being disputed, though at the time he was accepted. There seem to be facts which he missed.

There are always facts that are missed because all knowledge is not available at any stage of evolution. Only perfection contains all knowledge, and perfection has not yet been attained in your world or in mine. Let me say categorically that evolution, physical, mental and spiritual, is part of the operation of natural law.

I am not very keen on the thought of being descended from monkeys.

It may also be true that monkeys are not very keen on the idea! In the fight of the Great Spirit, monkeys are as precious as humans. (Silver Birch, LSB, 163-4.)

Austen asked the guide whether he would hazard an opinion on the proportion of “new” to “old” souls among those who are being born.

It is impossible to give any answer to your question that would be even approximately correct. But I would say the proportion is fairly equal. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

It is a very dark world in which you live. It is full of turbulence, violence, greed, envy. Mammon is being worshipped instead of the Great Spirit. False idols are still the ones which are the subject of adoration. (Silver Birch, LSB, 69.)

You think in terms of the earth, while I see / with the eyes of the spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 16-7.)

Reality is not to be found in matter, neither is it to be discovered within your bodily frame. The seed of existence is not to be located within any bodily organ. (Silver Birch, PSB, 40.)

There is no security in your world at all. The only security is in the unseen, the invisible, in the eternal realities which cannot be measured by any apparatus in your world.

Your security is the strength of the spirit, the majestic power which is the means by which the Great Spirit expresses itself everywhere. When all else has changed its form, either by being reduced to ashes or by crumbling into dust, the realities of the spirit will still stand, unchanging, immutable, as the unshakable base on which to build. I know it is very hard for you, living in a world of matter in which all is measured by your physical senses, to appreciate the nature of reality. It escapes you all the time. But if I can convey, in however adequate a form, the fact that spirit is the enduring substance of all eternity, and that nothing else matters, and if I can encourage you to build on truth and not on shifting sands, then at least I am helping to fulfill my mission. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Do not confuse the transient joys of earth with the enduring things of the spirit. They are tawdry and flimsy. (Silver Birch, SBA, 16.)

If you ask all those who return to you from my side, you will find that they … never want to return to the world of matter. (Silver Birch, SBA, 17.)

If all of you, confronted as you are daily by events which call on you to make decisions, could remember that you are spiritual beings and what is important is not what happens materially, although it has its place, but what happens to you spiritually, to your nature, your eternal nature.

All the things of matter will fade away and will become absorbed in the dust of which the earthly world is made. Ambitions, desires, the acquisition of wealth, all these are of no account, but you will always remain as spiritual beings, and your richness will be just what is contained within your own nature, no more and no less. That is the lesson to be learned in all earthly life. If you learn it you are wise because you have found yourself and, having found yourself, you will have found the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 37.)

Have you who possess this knowledge of Spiritualism ever tried to strike a balance? You have something that your world cannot measure. You have the priceless knowledge of the / truths of the Great Spirit. You have the realisation that your soul is linked with his great soul. You have the knowledge that you are a part of the Great Spirit. You have learned how to respond to the vibrations of the messengers that the Great Spirit sends to watch over you.

Compared with these things, the things of matter are as mere baubles. You will live for many thousands of years. You will find that the knowledge you have gained here and the wisdom you have learned are of greater value to the life of your immortal soul than the few things that the body of matter seeks in the world of matter. (Silver Birch, TSB, 37-8.)

How can one alter [the dire state of the world]?

By you and I and all of us being determined that the inequalities of selfish materialism shall be vanquished and the bounty of the Great Spirit made available to all His children, that disease and slums, and ill-health and poverty, and all those things which restrict the human soul and body shall be driven from the face of the world of matter, because we know that they are wrong. We must make the Great Spirit within each person so responsive that it will know what it has to be before it leaves your world of matter. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You must forget self, insofar as being materialistic in desire is concerned. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Material possessions can only be your temporary belongings. You are merely their custodians. Those of a spiritual nature will not rust or tarnish; they will endure. (Silver Birch, LSB, 64.)

You must recognize that in your world there are pioneers in all forms of art, in music and in painting. Sometimes they are so much in advance that the people of their time are unable to appreciate it. But with the years that pass, understanding comes, and recognition is afforded to the pioneers.

That does not apply to the vulgarisation of music that often takes place in your world. This is in line with the violence that is part of the cancerous growth infesting your world today. …

Jung says everything that happens on the inside must manifest itself on the outside. Is some of the modern, violent, tuneless music evidence of this? Is it not better out than in? Does it help to dissipate the violence?

No, it is a natural reaction, unfortunately. It is an expression of the material, part of the selfishness, the complete unconcern for the welfare of others. It is greed at work. That explains the violence afflicting itself on your world. And that violence is expressed not only in physical behaviour, but in music, art, and in every other form of life. (Silver Birch, LSB, 65.)

[In 1936:] Millions of the children of the Great Spirit have been for years betrayed by those who lead in the affairs of men.

The sacrifices have all been in vain, and the sacred reminder comes to each one of you to realize that there are only a few very simple ways by which peace, harmony and happiness can reign.

You build up systems based on greed and selfishness and, as result, you reap war and poverty, starvation, misery, distress and chaos. And then you ask us how we can help you, when, all the time, the message of the Spirit has been forgotten and neglected, even by those who should preach the word of the Great Spirit.

Temporal power is as naught beside spiritual realities and, although many sneer at the things of the Spirit, the solution of all the troubles of your world will only be found when all people, in the spirit of goodwill, apply spiritual truth to material problems.

You are nearer disaster today than you were when it was announced that war had ceased. You are nearer to grave and terrible troubles. The world is heading straight for that which spells bloodshed, great bloodshed.

I speak with gravity because of that which I know. It may be that the world will be saved from itself, but only if the efforts of all those who seek to serve, not to aggrandize self, triumph over the power of greed and selfishness. Peace will not come to your world from war. Happiness will not come from misery. Laughter cannot come from tears of sorrow.

There is plenty for all. But greed stands in the way. Those who seek to rule by the sword must perish by the sword. That same truth prevails today. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The laws must be obeyed. If the world lives with the law, it reaps the benefits. If it lives against the law, it reaps the results. One way brings peace and happiness and plenty, the other way misery and war and bloodshed and chaos.

We are despised in your world of matter by those who should be the leaders of the children of the Great Spirit. We are rejected by those who should welcome us because we come in the name of the Great Spirit and His love. Filled with the desire to serve, we seek to reveal those laws and that power which will show your world how to save itself.

And those who are steeped in the ignorance of spiritual blindness, and who surround themselves with ceremony and ritual, and at the same time deny the power of the Great Spirit to descend today, must pay the price.

We are the friends of all who seek to serve. We are the enemies only of those who seek to destroy. We come on wings of love and service ready to help wherever we can. That is the great task that we all have to perform. (Silver Birch, TSB, 60.)

[In 1938:] Another sitter wanted to know why so much was said about a spirit plan to help the world, “and yet we see such little apparent result of it?”

You do not see the results of a plan because you look at these things with the eyes of matter. You judge progress in relation to your own short span of life, but we see progress because we look at things from another plane.

We see the spread of knowledge, a greater understanding of spiritual things, a rise of tolerance, an increase of good will, a breaking down of barriers of ignorance and superstition and fear and spiritual slavery.

It is not as if there were to be a sudden revolution. That could never happen, because all spiritual growth must be slow and progressive.

Do not think that there is need for despair. There is on one hand - when you see the growing masses of / materialistic forces - but on the other hand there is growing hope as the light of spiritual truth penetrates the fog of materialistic selfishness. And, as long as knowledge spreads, truth will be victorious.

That is why our message is so important. It is not for us - it is for you. It is we who strive to serve you, to make your world realize the price it must pay for its selfishness, for its wanton ignorance, its deliberate cruelty. We strive to serve you, to help you, because we love you.

We are not evil spirits, seeking to lure you on to paths of destruction. We do not seek to make you debase yourselves, to practice cruelty or sin. Rather do we strive to make you realize the divinity that is yours, the powers of the Great Spirit that you possess, how you can practice the law of service and help the Plan of the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, TSB, 40-1.)

When you have war you release the worst forces in mankind in addition to the most noble surges of the human mind. You find there are deeds of heroism which show the apex of human attainment, but at the same time there are deeds of foul brutality. …

Violence is encouraged as a necessary part of war. When it comes to an end, you cannot quickly end all the violence and brutality that have been unleashed. You have a condition where the brutal side has become uppermost in large numbers. You ask how this is to be treated. There are two ways and they are clearly set out in a book which is reverenced in your world. There is the old way, which says, 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth', and there is the newer way, which was the law to supersede the old maxim, 'Love thy neighbour as thyself.' That is the clear choice. /

If you follow the lower road, you are not obtaining any cures. You may obtain palliatives, temporary remedies, but you have not cured the evils or the brutality. If you adopt the other standard and recognise that all this viciousness is part of the maladjustment of mind, body and spirit, and treat it accordingly so that the maladjustment can be properly adjusted, then you will make better citizens. (Silver Birch, SBA, 123.)

Your world thinks it solves its problems by the shedding of blood. But no problem was ever solved in that way, for bloodshed is needless and leads nowhere.

Why cannot they use the reason which the Great Spirit has given them? Why do they think that their only solution must be to kill as many as possible, that the one who is the greatest killer is accounted the victor? It is a strange world you live in. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

[In 1937:] Each succeeding year makes the futility of this human sacrifice more apparent. Your world will pay for just two minutes of its time and silent tribute in memory of the ‘glorious dead,’ and after that they will be forgotten for another year, until they are taken off the shelf and dusted once again.

Their sacrifices were all in vain. They have been agonized for nineteen years. The Great War! Its greatness consisted in the amount of slaughter, wasted slaughter. The Great War, that was to end all war! How hollow, how full of mockery do those words sound!

Do you not consider that those who made every sacrifice that they could make in the world of matter, even to laying down their physical lives, have not spent years in bitter disillusionment? They were cut off in the prime of earthly life. They were sent unprepared into the world of spirit. They passed on cheerfully for an ideal, that your civilization might be saved, and they have been betrayed ever since.

War has not been driven from the face of the earth, for, even as you will pay tribute to the ‘fallen dead,’ as you call them, of your last war, there will be no armistice in the East or in Spain, where the killing will continue even without a cessation of two minutes.

Does your world of matter realize that peace can only come from the application of spiritual laws to worldly matters?

It is selfishness that brings not only war, with its train of bloodshed, misery and weeping, but chaos, confusion, disaster and bankruptcy.

They must learn that only by substituting service for selfishness can peace come, that the old ideas of materialism and power and desires to aggrandize nations must be swept away and in their place there must reign the desire to live for one another, the stronger to help the weaker, the richer to give to the poorer.

Do not insult those who have been translated to spirit realms with tributes that come from the lips and not from the heart.

All other methods have been tried and they have failed you. But not yet has the application of spiritual truths been tried. Unless your world does so, it will continue with war and bloodshed that will, in the end, destroy your much vaunted civilization. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Another sitter suggested that Silver Birch was rather harsh in his declaration that the sacrifices of those “killed” in the war were all in vain. He thought it would hurt many people to be told that.

Sometimes stark truth is bitter and hurts, but, because it is true, it will do good.

But did not any good at all come out of their sacrifices?” the sitter said.

I can see none. Your world of matter is nearer chaos today, and is more filled with destruction, than it was when your ‘Great War’ began.

“Can so much heroism be spent in vain?” the sitter queried. “Is there no spiritual repercussion?”

There is on the part of the individuals who made the sacrifice, because their motive was good. But do not forget that your world has betrayed them. It has made their sacrifice pointless, because it has continued in its materialism.

“Is it of any use that these Armistice services should go on, year after year?” asked another sitter.

It is better to remember those you call dead for two minutes than not to think of them at all. But I do not see what good can come when you celebrate the Armistice with a display of military might, with rifles and bayonets, with soldiers, with the firing of [guns] and with all that comes with war. Could you not have an Armistice that was a spiritual service? (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

“Are you in favour of the continuance of Spiritualist services of remembrance on that date?” was another point put to him.

Wherever truth is expressed, good is done, if speeches are given as an incentive to service. Vain speeches that lead to nothing are valueless. It is not sufficient to have speeches, and for audiences to be smugly satisfied with the feeling that they are in favour of peace.

I want them active. I want them serving. I want them uplifting the weak. I want them healing the sick. I want them comforting the mourner. I want them sheltering the homeless. I want them to put an end to all the abuses that are a blot on your world of matter. Only through service can peace come. It will not come until all are imbued with the ideals of service, until all practices service. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

At the same circle gathering the guide was asked if he agreed with the Pacifist movement which today is probably stronger than ever before.

I belong to no party. I wear no label. I see service, motive. Do not be confused with titles. Ask what is the aim, what is the desire, because there are men of honesty and good intent even in opposing camps. The teaching that we have to give you is very simple, but it requires courage to put it into practice. …

It will not come through any party, but through the children of the Great Spirit, who, realizing these things are true, apply them in their lives, in their politics, in their factories, in their governments, in their international transactions.

We can enunciate principles that we know are founded on truth, and tell you with certainty that their application will bring results. You are in the realm of matter. Yours is the responsibility. We can only strive to guide you, with all our love and helpfulness, and co-operate with you whenever your feet are on the right paths.

So many in your world cannot get out of the groove in which they live. Sometimes the groove is religious, sometimes it is political, sometimes it is a self-made prison that has no reality beyond the imagination of its creator.

Learn to be free. Do not imprison yourself. Do not hedge yourself around and refuse to allow new inspiration to come to you. Truth is a constant search. Its boundaries are ever widening, for as the soul evolves the mind responds. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Your modern society has not yet attained the stage where it knows the appropriate remedies for the evils / which afflict it. This is a matter of evolution. You used to hang people for stealing sheep. It was argued with force that unless you hang them, what would happen to all the sheep that had to be protected? (Silver Birch, SBA, 125-6.)

No, I don't agree with [capital punishment] because it is not the lesser of two evils. In capital punishment, you are merely condoning legal murder. You say it is wrong for the individual to murder but it is right for the state to murder. That is not logical. …

If you persist in hanging it means that you are not yet an evolved society or community, because you do / not realise that you have not solved the problem. All you have done is to commit one more murder, for which you are all responsible. It is not punishment. All you have done is to precipitate a soul into another world. (Silver Birch, SBA, 126-7.)

Where there is consciousness, it is wrong to kill. You should allow the fullest freedom to all human beings to enjoy life in all its expressions, so that its richness may reach them and equip them for death, the liberator into the world of spirit. But because your world is a changing world, you are often compelled to interfere with the rights of others because you desire to help them. Your motive, sincerely, honestly and truthfully is to serve. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Where does consciousness begin? Has the germ consciousness? Has a snake consciousness? Has a flea consciousness? Has a microbe consciousness? They have not in the sense that you understand consciousness, the awareness of oneself. Consciousness is the knowledge of what you are, who you are, what you could be. That consciousness is not resident in germs. Where there is conscious life you have creation at work, and it is wrong for you to interfere with that consciousness and to prevent it from having the fullness of expression in your world to which it is entitled. …

Below individual consciousness, in the animal life there is a group consciousness. Below animals, the group consciousness ceases to function. There is no consciousness in a germ. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I say that because of vivisection. To me, that is wrong. It is often cruel and it is needless and it fails also to achieve its object. But I know that there are many who perform vivisection, not because they wish to inflict cruelty on animals, but only because their desire is to help humanity. They think that they can gain knowledge which will help them in their conquering of disease. Their motive is sincere.

But where there is needless killing, where there is slaughter of animals solely to satisfy human appetites, where beautiful birds are shot in the name of sport - then there can be no justification. Life is sacred, life is of the Great Spirit. When life becomes conscious and takes human - and even, in its lower stage, animal form - it should be entitled to be treated with sacredness. Life should not be held cheaply, for life is the Great Spirit in expression. You have no power to create life, therefore you should not seek to destroy its means of expression.

Realize this, that when we are asked questions to which there can be no answer of ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, we do try honestly to give you a point of view that will help. I have no desire to be arbitrary, I only want to be of service. It may be that you could find apparent contradictions in answers given at different times, but then we are dealing with different phases of the subject. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Give attention to your body as the house in which you live. But it is only the house, it is not you. Being the house, it must be kept in good condition, in good repair, so that the tenant can be amply looked after. But always remember it is only the house; it is not the tenant. (Silver Birch, GSB, 19.)

This is not to say that you should overlook your physical needs. You must sustain the body, which is the temple of the spirit. Equally, however, you must tend and care for all the attributes of the spirit, which is the eternal you. (Silver Birch, LSB, 71.)

I can only warn you when I see danger signs that the physical body is weak and therefore must be cherished. It is a machine and must therefore have attention. If neglected, it must stop so that with rest and recuperation it can resume its efficiency. …

You express yourself through your body. You reach the limit when you step over the boundary, that dividing line when energy is so dissipated that the battery has to be recharged. This is your responsibility because it is your body. (Silver Birch, PSB, 43.)

[Your body] is a wondrous, most complex, remarkable organism, far more intricate than anyone can construct on earth. It is a marvel of an apparatus, but must have attention.

If you live in harmony with the natural laws, you do not have illness, disease, or ailments. These are due to disharmony. (Silver Birch, PSB, 45.)

I know about transplants, and am aware that the motive is often a very good one. But I must say that I am opposed to transplanting any part of the human body to other people. …

There is a time to be born and there is a time to die. If that time to die is reached, then transplants will not succeed in maintaining you in your world. (Silver Birch, LSB, 31.)

You have made yourselves accessible to the sublime power of the spirit, which is the mightiest force in the boundless universe. It is the power of life itself. That is why, for example, in your healings you are able to obtain results where other means have failed. You enable the life force to produce its rejuvenating effect on the life force of the sufferer you are helping. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

It is not the curing of the physical body that is the most important. It is touching the soul of the sufferer to increase the divine spark, thus ensuring, as far as you can, that the result of the healing will bring awareness and understanding of eternal spiritual realities for the one who has had the illness, so that it becomes a catalyst. That is what matters.

If you heal a body and do not touch the soul, then from our viewpoint the healing is a failure. If you touch the soul, you help to fan the divine spark. You help to achieve a closer unity between the individual and the great sublime supreme power that endowed that person with life. That is important. (Silver Birch, LSB, 128.)

The laying on of hands is merely playing with the / toys. What is important is to bring awareness, realization, to touch the soul, I cannot put it clearer than that. (Silver Birch, LSB, 128-9.)

Every individual in your world is a combination of physical body, mind and spirit. These are the three aspects of the one total self. They are not divisible, but essential parts of the one whole.

If you touch the soul, then you help the other components of body and mind to achieve the wholeness that brings health. So let them play their respective parts and bring health, certainty, confidence, inner well-being, awareness, so that they are at peace with themselves and with everybody else they encounter.

We are concerned with touching souls so that the spark of the divine spirit which is embedded within every human being can be fanned and become a beauteous flame. Thus the divinity within finds a fuller, richer, more majestic expression. (Silver Birch, LSB, 129.)

You two are giving a unique service in your part of the world [to] show that the Great Spirit provides every one of His children with a second chance. When doctors, despite their skills, learning and experience, say they can do no more, the power of the spirit can often produce results which bring health where it was absent. (Silver Birch, LSB, 132.)

You will not be able to do this for everybody who comes to you. It is not possible to cure every sufferer who knocks on your door. Some are not ready; others have to endure their illness because it is a karmic / condition which has its part to play in their lives. (Silver Birch, LSB, 132-3.)

There are many excellent healers who suffer from poor health because they are transmitters; as long as they have the ability to transmit they will have the power flow through them. (Silver Birch, LSB, 135.)

You all have qualities of soul and these qualities are nearer expression in some people than they are in others. As you strive for unfoldment, that quality, the psyche, the spiritual, call it what you will, unfolds and there is a closer co-operation between the instrument and the guides who work with him.

The attunement is higher, finer and closer. The rays blend into one state of beauteous harmony and, when that stage reaches its zenith, the whole band of my world and the instrument of yours become as one in unity.

The nearer you are to that state of achievement, the higher and the greater and more powerful rays that belong to our spheres can be used through the band of guides and the instrument. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

No others in your world can perform that task except those endowed with the gifts of the spirit. In the case of a healer, you have to suffer in order to have the essential compassion for sufferers to come to you. It is only when you have plumbed the depths yourself that you have the rightful feeling for others who turn to you when there is nowhere else to go. (Silver Birch, LSB, 127.)

It cannot be easy, it must be difficult; but you will not be presented with any obstacle or hurdle for which the power will not be provided so that you will overcome it. Once you consent to serve, the way is shown. There is nothing to fear for what the morrow will bring forth.

You cannot help all who come to you, but your availability is a means by which they can find their true self. If you succeed, then express your gratitude to the Great Spirit. If you fail, the failure is not yours. The patient has had an opportunity and has not taken it. You are the recipient of a divine power. Expressing it brings a great responsibility to do the best you can. (Silver Birch, LSB, 128.)

You cannot measure what you are achieving. These are the imponderables. You heal physical bodies but, more important, you touch souls. You allow the patient’s tiny seed of divinity to be stirred into activity and begin to flower. It is a start that ultimately will enable the individual to achieve fulfilment. (Silver Birch, LSB, 89.)

The right use of leisure should be devoted to the cultivation of the gifts of the mind and of the spirit. That is important, for already most people devote sufficient time to the requirements of the physical body. They concern themselves with the food that is required to sustain them and give them energy, although they are not always cognisant of those laws of health which would enable the body to be the vital organism it should be. But few remember that the mind and spirit require development, and these are the ones who go through life spiritually deaf, dumb and blind.

The vast inexhaustible riches of the spirit are unknown to them. The beauty which could fill their mind and spirit has not yet been made known to them. They know little of the many arts, the cultivation of which would bring them inner peace and a greater appreciation of the larger side of life.

Then, above all, is the cultivation of the spirit itself which can be accomplished in the quietness of the individual, where he can learn to attune himself to all that power that is round and about him; where he can learn to harmonise his mind with the great minds of the larger life; where he can learn to become a better receptacle for the inspiration and wisdom, for the knowledge and truth, for all the learning that is awaiting him from the infinite storehouse, the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 74.)

Do not worry. Worry disturbs the conditions and makes it even more difficult. (Silver Birch, LSB, 130.)

When / you worry, you close the sluice gates and the body loses the channels of its vitality. You cut yourself off from the source of supply. Until you learn that lesson, the body acts according to the natural law of action and reaction.

Worry inhibits your aura, which is your spiritual atmosphere, and disturbs the psychic vibrations. Until you remove the blocks the power cannot flow through. To attain self-mastery means a long and arduous discipline, a rigorous training, a constant refusal to allow your fear to dominate you. (Silver Birch, PSB, 42-3.)

You say one has more money and less worry than another. You do not know how their worries compare. (Silver Birch, SBA, 16.)

Some people will always worry. Even in the world of spirit they will worry. They will worry because they will realise they could be more perfect, because they are not perfect instruments for the Great Spirit…. Only through toil and stress will they outwork the imperfections of their natures and allow the divine to shine through. (Silver Birch, SBA, 17.)

I am puzzled sometimes when I visit my friends on earth who have knowledge, and I see them worried and anxious. The knowledge is their foundation which should assure them that no harm or injury can befall their eternal spirit. Those with knowledge should be living in the light and never fear what the morrow will bring.

There is nothing in your world that you need worry about. You have within you the armoury of the spirit, the divine potential which you can utilize to help in any / emergency or crisis that comes your way. There is no problem you cannot solve by calling on the power that is within you and by appealing to the power that is without you. (Silver Birch, LSB, 12-3.)

If doubt enters your mind, as it will do, then think back to the past, to the days of darkness and difficulty when there seemed no road to tread, where none was able to offer help, when it seemed that you had come to the end of everything that life could offer.

Then in the darkness and gloom the little light of the spirit began to show its way to bring you where you are today. (Silver Birch, LSB, 131.)

Never allow fear to find a lodgement within your being. It is a negative quality which destroys, vitiates, and saps. It impairs your judgement; it clouds your reason; it prevents you from seeing issues clearly. There is no problem that comes to any soul which you are incapable of solving. There is no difficulty that you cannot conquer - if you would but allow the latent divinity to rise to the surface. (Silver Birch, SBA, 94.)

Fear creates its own prison for the soul. You must learn to rise above fear and not to allow its vibrations to hinder you, to have perfect faith and confidence and trust, to know that you can stand on your feet and say: I am the Great Spirit and the wind of circumstance cannot shake me. I will rise triumphant over every difficulty because of the infinite power which is within my soul. You have power over every circumstance. Would you limit the power of the infinite soul? (Silver Birch, SBA, 14.)

[Fear] is the relic of the days of early evolution when primitive man did not understand the processes of nature and attributed to them powers that were beyond the natural. He was afraid of the night; he was afraid of the sun; he was afraid of the storm, the lightning and the thunder; he was afraid of the tempest; he was afraid of all natural phenomena because the explanation of them did not come within his mental orbit.

But you are no longer children of a primitive era. You boast that you are highly civilised, that you have grown to man's full, proud estate. Why, then, should you have fear, knowing that you are part of the Great Spirit of all life, that you are co-sharers in the processes of evolution, that you possess the power which shaped the whole universe and give it direction and purpose, that you possess the power that is responsible for every facet of life, the power that filled the whole of the world with all that it contains? Why is fear essential when you know what you are and can be?

No, fear is wrong, for fear makes you afraid and you should not be afraid. You should live in the sunlight of knowledge based on the confidence that you are infinite spirits and nothing can hurt or damage forever the eternity which is yours. (Silver Birch, SBA, 95.)

There is nothing to fear. Have no fear in your heart. Fear disturbs vibrations. …

Fear disturbs the atmosphere. If your heart is full of unbounded, unremitting confidence, if your soul is full of indomitable resolution because your mind has knowledge of spiritual verities, that cannot fail in a world where all values are changing.

Nothing in the world of matter can touch you, the real you, the indestructible, infinite, eternal you. You can go forward with the full knowledge that the power which is behind you, guiding you, upholding you and sustaining you, is the mightiest power in the universe, the power of love that seeks to use you as a greater instrument of service for the Great Spirit of all life, to make known His love and His wisdom, His truth and His knowledge, to those who still know nothing about these things. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Handicaps and obstacles are all part of the necessary preparation for an evolving, developing spiritual nature. (Silver Birch, LSB, 11.)

Your world does not understand the function of pain and suffering and difficulty and hardship, but all these play an important part in the evolution of the human spirit. Look back in your own lives and see that often the greatest crises, the difficult problems, the darkest hours, were the stepping stones that led to greater understanding. You would not evolve if forever you dwelt in the sunshine, lived free from care, anxiety and worry, where every approaching difficulty was automatically smoothed out so that it never touched you, where there were no rough stones for your pathway, where there was nothing for you to conquer. It is in the facing of, and rising supreme over, trouble that you grow. (Silver Birch, SBA, 24.)

This is the story of every pilgrim on the road to spiritual knowledge. There has to be heartbreak, sorrow and suffering to appreciate fully the compensations that will follow. The individuals who will give service must be tried and tested, sometimes to their uttermost strength. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Wherever there are human beings there are difficulties and problems, because you are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Through the greatest sorrow you get the greatest knowledge. The soul learns its lessons in the hour of seeming darkness. It comes into its own, not when the sun is shining, the birds are singing and all is bright.

It is in the darkness, in difficulty, doubt and despair, in sorrow and sickness that the soul finds itself. When you are able to make a true assessment, you will find that [your suffering] was a necessary prelude to bring you spiritual understanding. (Silver Birch, PSB, 19.)

You will not achieve that which is worth achieving without travail, without sorrow. Your world must learn its lessons in the only way it can learn them. (Silver Birch, SBA, 42.)

All suffering automatically brings its own reward because it touches the soul and, in doing so, gives it a greater awareness of the higher, deeper and more profound aspects of the universe. (Silver Birch, SBA, 23.)

You will not find spiritual truths when the sun is shining, if you are surrounded by riches, and wealth and possessions. You will not find spiritual truths when you have no problems. The catalyst will work only when you are in trouble.

A storm can often do more to help you to unfold spiritually than the sun. It is in the fire that the steel is forged. It is in the crushing process that the gold is refined and purified to emerge in all its glistening colour. And it is similarly for the human spirit to be tried and tested again and again before it can emerge with a greater divinity being expressed then had happened before.

The gold is there, but the ore has to be crushed before the purity of the metal can be made visible. The steel has to be forged in the crucible of fire. And so it is with all of you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You would not be interested in the things of the spirit, which are your eternal possessions, the only enduring and abiding realities, until you are ready to receive them. So you have to be tried and tested, just as the steel has to be tried and tested.

You have to suffer. You have to endure privation, / perhaps ill-health, some crisis that will touch your soul, that spark of the divine, and begin to fan it into a beauteous flame. There is no other way. It is only in the darkness that you will find the light, only in ignorance that you will gain knowledge. Life must be a polarity, or if you like a duality, in which it is said action and reaction are equal and opposite.

The soul cannot come into its own until it is touched. This usually means when it seems to the individual there is no hope in this world, no light, no guidance to be found. The abyss of despair has been reached, the fear that he or she will be plunged into the depths and not recover. It is at that moment that the soul can be awakened. (Silver Birch, SBT, 11-2.)

Somewhere the soul has to come into its own, to find itself, to become aware of itself, so that innate divinity can begin to be expressed. All this is part of the divine law of compensation. The greater the suffering, the greater the knowledge that comes as a result. (Silver Birch, PSB, 45.)

It is a fundamental spiritual truth that the soul begins to come into its own only when the individual has touched the lowest possible depth and nothing material can offer even a gleam of hope. When realization dawns that there is nothing in the world … to which you can cling, it is then that the soul has its rebirth and begins to find expression. (Silver Birch, PSB, 49.)

You cannot find yourself when your existence is untroubled, when the sky is sunny and calm and all seems smooth and placid. It is only when the storm rages, the thunder roars, the lightning flashes and the rain beats down that this wondrous spiritual awakening comes.

The path has not been easy, but this is good for you. Do not complain about difficulty; it is the spur of the spirit. (Silver Birch, PSB, .)

There are no obstacles in your world we cannot remove, if it is the law that they shall be removed. If, sometimes, the cross you have seems very hard to bear, remember that, although I would give up all my progress to take it away from you, it is better for you to carry it and to learn the lesson it brings. You must consider not only this life, but the whole of eternity. (Silver Birch, SBA, 15.)

You are on earth to build your character. It is the way you face your problems that makes your character. But there is no trouble in your world of matter which is greater than the power you have within you for overcoming it, because the troubles are of the earth, material, and you are part of the Great Spirit, divine. (Silver Birch, SBA, 16.)

The hardest part of our task is when we have to stand by, sometimes, and see you suffer. We know we must not help because it is a battle of your own spirit. If you win your battle, then we have won, too. If you lose, then we have lost. It is our battle all the time, but we must not lift a finger to help.

Sometimes I have wept tears because I have seen suffering, and knew I must not help. That is the law. (Silver Birch, SBA, 18.)

The events in your lives, sometimes of bitterness and despair, of pain and misery, all play their part in preparing the soul gradually for the path that is being trodden.

The darkness and the light, the shadow and sunshine are all but reflections of one whole. Without shadow there could be no light and without light there / could be no shadow. The difficulties of life are steps which enable the soul to rise.

Difficulties, obstacles, handicaps - these are the trials of the soul. And when it conquers them all, it rises stronger, more purified, deepened in intensity and more highly evolved.

Do you think that the latent powers of the soul, infinite in their possibilities of expression, could realise themselves without difficulty and pain, without shadow, without sorrow, and without suffering and misery? Of course not. The joy and the laughter can only be enjoyed to the full when once you have drained the cup of sorrow to the dregs, for as low as you can fall in the scale of life so correspondingly you can rise. The more you have tasted and experienced that which seems the shadow of earthly life, the more you will appreciate, because of it, the greater joys of the sunshine.

Your experiences are all part of your evolution. One day, freed from the trammels of flesh, with eyes not clouded by matter, you will look back in retrospect and view the life you have lived on earth. And out of the jigsaw of all the events, you will see how every piece fits into its allotted place, how every experience was a lesson to quicken the soul and to enable it to have greater understanding of its possibilities.

There is no experience that comes to the human soul, which, rightly understood and rightly faced, does not leave you better for it. Can you contemplate a world / of matter where there were no difficulties, no trials, no troubles, no pain, no suffering? There would be no evolution. There would be nothing to surmount. You would decay. (Silver Birch, SBA, 25-6.)

That which is worth having is worth achieving. Achievement comes through struggle. The prize is to him who dares and conquers, not to those who fear and are tempted to shirk their difficulties. Life is a school. Through hardship and struggle, striving and difficulty, adverse circumstances, storms and tempests, the spirit finds itself. (Silver Birch, SBA, 76.)

Through no fault of their own, innocent babies are born into the world victims of hereditary, venereal and other diseases. This does not seem quite fair, as it is not the fault of the child that it has inherited such a disease. Can you say something about that?

Those who talk of unfairness are still thinking in terms of bodies, of a world of matter, and not of an infinite life. The spirit does not suffer from venereal disease. The spirit is not crippled or misshapen or bent. The spirit is not suffering from any hereditary traits or any of the acquired characteristics of the parents. These do not change the individual, although they do affect the body through which the spirit manifests on earth.

Whilst you can quite possibly argue that, from the earthly point of view, looking at life solely from a material standpoint, the one who is born into a diseased / body has a much worse time physically than the one born into a healthy body, those opinions do not hold in regard to the spirit which is behind the body. You will not automatically be poorer in spirit because your body is diseased, and richer in spirit because your body is healthier. Indeed, it can be argued that your spirit will be richer because you will have learned the many lessons of pain and suffering which are all part of the equipment of the spirit in its essential evolution. (Silver Birch, SBA, 120-1.)

We can never promise that your life will be free from problems, perplexity, or even pain. We can promise that within yourself you will find the means to overcome all handicaps and disabilities. As you strive to express the highest, the deepest, the greatest within yourself, so you will attract to your aid those beings from our world who love you, who desire to help you, and through you help others. (Silver Birch, GSB, 20.)

Life is shadow and sunlight, calm and storm. An even monotone is not life; life is composed of happiness and joy with occasional sadness, for it is only by having these extreme divergences that character can grow and experience come to the soul.

That is why there is a lesson to be learned from sorrow, from the storm, from the bitterness of life. Sometimes those who are in the shadows rail against the Great Spirit because they do not understand that that experience is necessary to their own unfoldment, but sunshine is only to be truly appreciated if you have been in the shadows.

Through comparison, the soul begins truly to live. If your experiences were limited only to that which you thought was good, happy and beautiful, life would be very empty, for it would possess no depth.

The wise individual is the one who faces each new day with eagerness and steady resolve, determined to learn from all the experiences that await him, the lessons that they all can teach to help him on the infinite road that leads to the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

There are three great problems in the world of matter. One is ignorance, another is sorrow, and the third is poverty. These three things you will always have until knowledge of the spirit is joined with politics and the children of earth think and live as the new knowledge shows them. (Silver Birch, SBA, 24-6.)

From the greatest sorrow comes the greatest knowledge. All life is compensation, from shadow into sunshine, from storm into refuge. Light and dark, storm and shine, wind and silence - these are all but reflections of the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit is in every facet of life. Because of shadow you appreciate sunshine. Because of struggle you appreciate peace. Life is enjoyed through comparisons. The soul finds its own in the bitter crucible of experience, trial and suffering and emerges purified, strengthened, touched, ready for an understanding of life’s greater purpose and meaning. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Then is suffering brought to one deliberately, for the purpose of enabling one to realize what it is necessary to have for one’s unfoldment?

Yes, for the soul has to have all varieties of experience before it can unfold the highest. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

In order to become ambassadors for the Great Spirit, the human channels have to be tried and tested so that their latent strength can rise to the surface. They are then ready to meet the challenges that their mission will inevitably make them encounter.

It is not possible to achieve even the first steps in spiritual mastery unless you are ready to do so by a process which means that you must suffer.

Suffering is the crucible. Those on whom the Great Spirit with infinite wisdom has bestowed the gift of healing must experience difficulty, sorrow, crisis and trial so that they can have compassion for the ones who will come to them in their suffering and ask for healing. /

But there is a law of compensation. As low as you sink materially, so correspondingly can you rise spiritually.

The story of every potential healer and medium follows a similar pattern. They reach that stage when they feel that nothing materially offers any hope. It is then that the soul becomes ready to receive the influx of power and inspiration which will enable the owner to begin to fulfil himself or herself. (Silver Birch, LSB, 131-2.)

There is no suffering so strong that you do not possess the inner strength and can call upon an outer power to enable you to overcome it. The burden is never heavier than can be borne. If you strive to live in harmony with the natural laws you will find an inner peace, tranquillity and resolve which will ensure that you always come through. (Silver Birch, LSB, 136.)

To a healer who survived the horrors of a concentration camp, the guide said:

It is not possible while you are in your world to have the answers to all the questions that arise in your minds. It is impossible for you to have the fullness of knowledge because you are circumstanced in a world of three dimensions, and occasionally the problems that beset you can be appreciated only when you are able to manifest outside these limited dimensions.

These problems involve considerations of a spiritual nature that you cannot solve because perforce you can look at them only from the viewpoint of earthly life. You cannot measure them in relationship to the infinity of living which is compulsory for every human being. (Silver Birch, LSB, 136-7.)

I cannot promise even those I love that they will be exempt from problems. By the very nature of earthly life you must endure these problems. You must grapple with them. You must call on latent, divine power within yourself to help you. If that is insufficient, go one step higher and call on the greater wisdom that streams from the infinite storehouse.

If you have had no problems, you would be akin to spineless automatons, puppets, marionettes. You have infinite possibilities that have to be developed to their / fullest extent whilst you are on earth. …

In reality your troubles are your greatest friends. They are the means by which you find yourself. Therefore, paradoxically though it may seem, you must welcome troubles when they arise, and realize that in reality they wear the mask of friendship for you.

I always say, Look back when crisis comes, and see how the signposts of the spirit have always pointed the way, even in the darkest hours when it seemed that no answer could be forthcoming. Look back in your own life, the tragedies that embroiled you, the situations that seemed impossible of relief or even escape, the difficulties that posed their greatest challenges.

Even in the worst of your earthly experiences you were led unfailingly to where you are today, and that guidance will never desert you. (Silver Birch, LSB, 137-8.)

At what time does the spirit enter the body?

As a spirit, you have always existed, he explained, because spirit is part of life and life is part of spirit. You have always existed.

Because you are part of the Great Spirit, you have never had a beginning, but you as an individual, as a separate, conscious individuality, must begin somewhere even in the stream of life. When conception takes place, the cells of the male and female meet and provide a vehicle for a particle of the life-force to begin to express itself through a physical body. The life force is unexpressed until there is a vehicle through which it can manifest. That is what the earth parents provide. From the time the cells have coalesced and formed their union, the tiny particle of spirit has naturally attached itself and begins its expression in your world of matter. And I hold that that is the dawn of consciousness. From that moment it begins its conscious individual life. Thereafter it will always be an individual entity of its own. (Silver Birch, SBA, 120.)

When a child is to be born it often happens that the doctors accelerate the birth with artificial means. A baby is born earlier than it is due. Does this have any influence astrologically?

The things that worry you! The only vital fact about entry into your world is when life first begins to show itself. That is when conception takes place, not when a baby is born. I am not interested in the astrological arguments. With conception, earth life begins. Without conception there is no earthly life. (Silver Birch, LSB, 34.)

The Pope in Brazil complained about the poorness of the people and stressed at the same time that family planning should never be allowed. How does this make sense?

The Pope is a very good man, but he is not the repository of all the knowledge that exists in the universe. Family planning will continue in your world because it / is your responsibility. But if a child is to be born, it will be born despite all family planning. (Silver Birch, LSB, 34-5.)

You must live your lives according to the law, for the law is always perfect in its operation. It is controlled by perfect love and by the Great Spirit, Who is in all things and Who works through all things. You have no right to interfere with the operation of the law and if you do you must pay the price for cutting yourself off.

If you force the apple to drop from the tree before it is ripe, then the apple has no sweetness. If you force yourself to go into the next stage of life before your spirit is ready, then you will have to pay the price in the long adjustment that you will have to make. It will also have the effect of causing you to be separated from the ones you love, for you will have made a gulf. (Silver Birch, SBA, 119.)

Are there no lessons one can learn by committing suicide?

No! The Great Spirit gives life. It is not your responsibility to shorten it. (Silver Birch, LSB, 35.)

We recognize the frailties of human nature. But you must regard every problem as a challenge not only to be met and accepted, but to be overcome so that the indwelling spirit, as a result, is more fortified, grows, develops, unfolds, and you emerge stronger. (Silver Birch, LSB, 8-9.)

Why you are placed there [is] so that you can, because of the variety of circumstance, enable your spirit, the eternal you, to be able to express latent qualities that can be manifested only when confronted with difficulty and adversity.

It is not when the sun shines that the soul finds itself. It is not in a bed of roses that the soul comes into its own. It is in the hazards and challenges, the difficulties, the hurdles and the obstacles. These provide the only means by which the soul can realize its latent divinity. (Silver Birch, LSB, 9.)

It is not our fault that inspiration is limited to brief flashes. If the laws that regulate conditions between the two states of life were perfectly understood, if the people of your world were to rid themselves of the many prejudices and superstitions which create barriers to a full and free communication, this wisdom of the infinite could be poured through human instruments into your world. It always depends on having an instrument to receive what we give and the ability of these instruments to attune themselves to receive the highest that can be given. All inspiration, all wisdom, all truth, all knowledge is dependent upon your capacity to receive. (Silver Birch, SBA, 81.)

You have closed your eyes to all the beauties of the Great Spirit's universe. You have allowed / yourselves to register only the infinitesimal fraction of an earthly world. All around you the whole atmosphere teems with a multitudinous life. Your own beloved are there, and behind them the serried ranks of the immortals, men and women from ages past, who, having served your world of matter when they were with you, are still anxious to offer you comradeship, guidance, fellowship and the wisdom of their extended experience.

If you prefer blindness, keep your eyes closed. If you prefer deafness, keep your ears closed. But if you are wise, you will open the windows of your souls, so that you can become aware of that mighty, vast power of the spirit which will strengthen and encourage you and make you know how life can be lived and enjoyed to the full. (Silver Birch, SBA, 77-8.)

You are the children of a Great Spirit, … Whose wisdom and love have fashioned the whole universe. The ties that bind you to that Great Spirit can be strengthened by your understanding. If churches stand in the way of your receiving that knowledge, then discard the churches. If men are the obstacles, then discard the men. If books are the obstacles, then discard the books.

Retire into the silence of your own being; forget the world of matter with all its harsh discord. Tune in to the subtle, delicate vibrations of the teeming spirit life around you, and you will know that you can transcend the limitations of the fleshly body. Awaken to knowledge; / awaken to understanding. You need not be a prisoner, you can leave the jail of ignorance and live in the light of spiritual freedom. (Silver Birch, SBA, 78-9.)

When you feel tired, frustrated or pessimistic, withdraw from the noisy, strident clangour of your world into the silence of your soul. Gradually attune yourself to all the rich radiance that is around you. Drink in all the beauty. Experience the calm, tranquillity, repose and steadfastness that this attunement has to offer. Then, refreshed, take up the cudgels and start again. (Silver Birch, LSB, 89.)

The activity of your world is often the silence of ours, but the silence of your world is the activity of ours. Retire into the silence and learn to be still, passive. Wait, and the manifestation of the spirit can reveal itself. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

In order to reach your world, we must have the means of doing it. We must have the channels through which this power can flow. Part of your psychic and spiritual unfoldment consists in becoming more and more receptive to our influences. As your soul natures blend with your spirit co-operators, so they can transmit through you that power which can help in times of crisis, difficulty and danger. This power is hard to define because it is impalpable and intangible from the material standpoint, but it is nonetheless real. It is part of the force of life, it is part of the Great Spirit, it is in essence the same as the power which gives consciousness and being to every facet of activity in the universe. It is the same power that enables the seed to grow and to blossom, and another seed to fruit, the tree to grow and a soul to unfold itself.

It has an infinite number of possible manifestations. It can revive, resuscitate, reinvigorate, recharge and revitalize. It can inspire, it can heal, and, when the conditions are suitable, it can produce physical results in your world. When you retire into your own sanctuary for the purpose of giving healing to others, as a corollary you are also unfolding your own channel for receiving spirit power. The two go together. Often when people sit in circles for development and nothing apparently is happening, a great work is being done in strengthening and unifying the links between matter and spirit, for the transmission of spirit power is a highly intricate and delicate process.

If people were highly developed and their lives were more spiritual than material, instead of, as at present, more material and less spiritual, then the task would be easier because the common nexus between us is spirit. Alas, with the vast majority of individuals, the spirit is so deeply embedded, so embryonic, so latent, that it is with the utmost difficulty that it can be reached at all. Some are so engrossed in matter that the spirit within them is but a tiny flicker, so small that it produces practically no light. But it is there. When they are ready, after they have been in the crucible of suffering, then they too can be awakened, then they too can be aware, then they too can understand spiritual realities, themselves and the Great Spirit, the link between them and everyone else and all creatures, and realize the fundamental bond of unity that is part of the natural law. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

When you open the door of your soul to one form of knowledge, you must not close it, but must allow the processes of unfoldment to continue. You will not attain perfection in your world, but you can strive to improve your mental and your spiritual outlook.

As long as you maintain a good heart, a willing spirit, a receptive mind and undimmed faith, then this channel is open and you automatically are the better for it in all respects, spiritually, mentally and materially. What so many people do not realize is that when they do not get the answers to the things that they want, it is because they themselves do not provide the channel by which the help can come. We have no hands apart from yours. In order for spirit to make its mark upon matter, it must have some nexus that is responsive to spirit and can express itself in matter. It is so simple when you realize it. All I would urge is to go on and know that the power which is sustaining and supporting you is the divine power and it will not fail in its task. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Your spiritual nature has come into its own. The divine has been awakened. It is an index that points to the fact that you have reached that stage in your development when you are ready to obtain from life, not that which exists only on the surface, but all the richness that belongs only to the spirit. The riches of the spirit are far greater, far more beautiful, far more lustrous than all the gems of your world. They will endure long after the others have tarnished and rusted and decayed.

Once the soul comes into its own it realizes its powers. These are part of the mightiest forces in the universe. You begin to make a channel through which help, guidance, inspiration, sustenance and wisdom can reach you from our world. This not only enables the ones who love you and who are tied by blood to come close, but others, who are in no way physically related. They have a spiritual relationship which is even more important. These draw closer and seek to bring their power to bear and help you in your lives.

As this power obtains lodgment and builds itself up, so you become the possessor of that which the world can never give or take away, a rock based on confidence, calmness, resolution. Then you know beyond all doubt that there is nothing in the whole world that can disturb the real you, and that you are at one with the power which fashioned the whole of life. (Silver Birch, GSB, 23.)

The spirit that unites you is stronger than any of the physical differences that separate you from one another. You have to allow that spirit to express itself to its fullest capacity. You must learn self-regeneration. (Silver Birch, LSB, 71.)

What is important is the unfolding of your own soul’s power, for, as you sit here week after week, … you are attuning yourselves to higher vibrations and becoming more accessible to the wisdom of the ages, which, although it has evolved and is evolving, is always waiting to pour itself down into your world of matter, to obey the law of service. …

And, as your souls unfold and you rise higher and higher in the scale of vibrations, so you come into closer touch with higher and greater spiritual forces, that are not seen or heard but which belong to the eternal realities of the Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

So much of your time is spent in chasing the shadows, in trying to capture the illusion, in trying to secure the ephemeral. In silence, in harmony and in love, your souls unfold all the time. Though it may be slow, it is sure and certain.

The Great Spirit that is within each one of you unfolds and evolves, and you are able to express more and more of its divinity, because you have all met together in one place and with one accord.

The Nazarene told you, many years ago, that, where two or three are gathered together, there is the Great Spirit to pour down His blessing. We teach the same truths, but they reject us. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

(Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

What you must all learn is that there are two forms of development. You can unfold that which is of the soul and you can unfold that which is of the spirit. One is the development of only the psychic faculty, and the other is soul-growth.

Where you get the development of the psychic without the spiritual, there you have a low plane of vibration. When you get a combination of both, then you have not only a great medium but a great man or woman. (Silver Birch, SBA, 41.)

The prizes of the spirit are not [easily] won, otherwise they would not be worth winning. If the victor makes no effort, what is his victory? If you can scale peaks without labour, what have you attained? It is the very essence of the / case that spiritual attainment must be a lonely, solitary path that gets more and more isolated the farther you reach because you have to leave familiar landmarks behind. (Silver Birch, GSB, 21-2.)

Do not be in a hurry. The things of the spirit cannot be accelerated beyond their natural growth. You can have instant coffee, but you cannot have instant spiritual / attainment. It is a slow, steady, but sure process that is achieved only one step at a time. (Silver Birch, LSB, 133-4.)

Spiritual mastery is slowly attained. The prizes of the spirit are not quickly earned. But once they are in your possession they are there for all time. They will never be lost, which is something that can never be said for your material possessions. (Silver Birch, LSB, 136.)

You demonstrate that the Great Spirit, the apex of love and wisdom and compassion, provides everyone with the opportunity to find himself or herself and begin to live, as all people in your world should live, not in superstition, ignorance or darkness, but in the full light of knowledge, with serenity and confidence as their constant companions. (Silver Birch, LSB, 129.)

Do not worry, the way will be shown. Just follow your intuition and the inspiration that comes. If there are any doubts at any time, withdraw into the silence, meditate, and you will find the answers come to you. (Silver Birch, LSB, 134.)

As you serve, so will you be served. (Silver Birch, LSB, 128.)

I cannot say to instruments of the spirit that their lives will be beds of roses. That is not the way spiritual mastery is obtained. The higher you seek to rise, the more difficult it must become. In that road you tread it becomes lonelier as gradually the familiar landmarks must be left behind. (Silver Birch, LSB, 127.)

If you are hurt, it seems that there is still some room for development. Do not allow any thoughts of any kind from any source to hinder, mar or delay the service that you can render. You have been endowed with a gift. Use it wherever you can. (Silver Birch, LSB, 130.)

Those on whom the Great Spirit with infinite wisdom has conferred the gifts of the spirit should go where they are led, to reach wherever they can, and / drop seeds in the hope that they will fall in fertile ground and souls will become enriched as a result. You cannot measure or estimate the work that instruments of the spirit are doing. (Silver Birch, LSB, 89-90.)

All mediumship is conscious co-operation between our world and yours. There are examples of unconscious / co-operation when the faculties are stimulated for a time, but where there is real work to be done between a guide and an instrument, the co-operation must be a conscious one, a willingness on the part of the medium to take part in all the machinery associated with the development of mediumship. (The medium falls asleep in Silver Birch, SBA, 83-4.)

A medium is one on whom there has been bestowed the gifts of the spirit which are ably described by the apostle Paul in your Bible. These gifts are divinely bestowed. Their recipients, as they unfold them, are able to be used as channels for the divine beneficence to flow through them.

All the phenomena of mediumship are due to the operation of spirit power. Today you are witnessing exactly the same kind of manifestations that occurred in the lands which were called holy and regarded as sacred.

The Great Spirit does not change; the natural laws to not alter. They are in operation now. Thus I, who once inhabited your world, am able to speak to you through a medium by utilizing the same power of the spirit. (Silver Birch, LSB, 68.)

As you know, we always defer to the wishes of the instrument, unless they are unimportant, and then we suggest what should be done. But of course this body does not belong to us; it belongs to the tenant who inhabits it. If he cares to surrender the lease to us for a little while, that is well and good, but to rob him of his tenancy without his permission is contrary to the law. It is a natural surrender, with a respect on both sides for the forces which will inhabit the body. (The medium falls asleep in Silver Birch, SBA, 84.)

We work in two ways. First, there is the hard part, that is when [we] have to make [our] influence felt in your world. You do not know how difficult that is - to start off without any touch with a world of matter and then, by sheer mental exercise, concentration, projection of thought and idea focused on / one person so that he or she can be influenced, unconsciously, as far as they are concerned, so that they think it is their own idea at work, to be moved into that place where the first link can be made.

That is the hard task, and it takes years and years and years. It takes so long, sometimes, that in my case I had to start even before the instrument was born. Then having done that, the next part is not so difficult, because once you have an instrument, a medium, a channel, and you can express yourself, however poorly, it has at least forged the magnetic link, and that cannot be broken.

From that beginning the amount of influence can be increased; the funnel of the spirit can become larger and larger; and the only limitation is the capacity of the instrument, for that is always the restriction placed upon the amount of co-operation with us. In all these cases wherever there be a fault, the fault does not lie with us but with the means at our command. When people say, 'Why does not the world of spirit do this or that?' surely the answer is that the instruments make it possible or impossible.

After that magnetic link has been made it is much simpler, because through our world the power of the spirit can reach you. If, of your own free will, you begin to allow your inner self to develop, you allow that part of you which is the eternal reality to begin to find expression here instead of waiting until you have passed through the gate of death.

Then the association becomes closer and richer and / more effective as time goes by. After that, it is not so difficult to bring together the varying people whose meeting is part of a plan. It is the first step that is the hardest. (Silver Birch, SBA, 81-3.)

Is it better, from your point of view, to choose a / medium whose desires and feeling are more or less the same as those of the guide? asked a sitter.

It all depends. That is one of the debatable subjects, and there is difference of opinion even in our world. You must remember that we are human beings, and we do not agree on every detail in the processes involved in communication.

There are some who say that more success is achieved by using an ignorant medium, one who knows so little that his subconsciousness can present no barrier. To that, others reply that his mere ignorance is a barrier because it creates a wall which has to be broken down. The same school argues that where you have a well-filled mind you have a better instrument on which to play, for greater music is possible from an instrument created by craftsmanship than a cheap instrument that you purchase for a few pence in your world, that the better the instrument the better the results our world can get from it. I incline to that belief.

Why should a medium with more knowledge be better than an ignorant one? asked a sitter. Is it not a question of character as well?

I am talking about trance mediumship. Character is a separate issue which involves other factors. I am referring to the actual processes, or, if you like to use the word, the mechanics of communication. I will put it in a very simple way. A violinist will obtain better results from a Stradivarius than he will from a cheap fiddle because the beauty and quality of that instrument / enable him to produce better results. The other is a limitation to him.

The character of the medium has a great effect on the quality of the communicator who can register through him, and, in physical manifestations, on the quality of the results obtained. The lower the character - and I am using these words only in terms of comparison - of the physical medium, the poorer, for example, is the ectoplasm that is used, not poorer physically but from a spiritual point of view. Character determines the quality of the power of attraction between the spirit and the medium. It would be impossible, for example, for the ones you recognise as saints, because of their high spiritual status, to manifest through a medium of very low character, because there is no point of contact.

With physical mediumship the subconscious mind also seems to have an effect, remarked a sitter. Can you explain that?

The focal point of every séance is the medium. You are not using a telephone, you are not using a telegraph pole, you are not using a Morse key. You are using a living instrument, and the qualities of his life impregnate the communications.

It is well that it is so. If it were possible, which it is not, to reduce all communication between these two states of life to a purely mechanical apparatus, I know that most of the beauty and sacredness would be lost. At every séance the medium is the focal point. You cannot eliminate him. It is all his qualities that are being used. / Even when a trumpet is raised or a materialisation is formed, the foundation comes from the medium, and whatever qualities the medium possesses, in some form or another they are conveyed in the results of the séance. (Silver Birch, SBA, 88-91.)

The power we have is dependent on our own evolution and on the ability to receive and transmit. Our state of evolution determines the amount of power at our disposal. The instruments at our disposal determine the amount that can be poured through to your world. These are the factors which govern the receiving and the distributing of the power from our realms. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

When you are accustomed to manifestations, you know that if you go beyond a certain limit then the sitters will have to pay the price in depletion and loss of nervous energy and force. We do not wish to be placed in a position where we are accused of undermining the health of those who come to us seeking manifestations of the power of the spirit.

In fact, the reverse is true and your health should improve, for power that is normally repressed is brought into circulation - and remember, too, that the power we bring from our world is the power of life-giving essence which invigorates. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Seldom, if ever, is a communicator able to impart the totality of his communication. It is possible only in exceptional circumstances. It is not as if you are making a communication on one surface of being like a telephone. Even that goes wrong many times; when lines are crossed, the machinery gets out of order and sometimes will not work at all. If you have these difficulties in communication on one surface of being, realize how much more difficult it is when you have two entirely different states of being.

You have to make vocal what begins as an image, a thought or an idea in the mind of the communicator. With a trance medium, control is never one hundred per cent effective. The instrument is a human being. Control varies according to the guide’s success, partial success, or failure in blending with the medium’s aura. The guide takes possession through the subconscious mind and all the bodily processes that are controlled by it. Whilst doing so, he must transmit, if possible, the original image, thought, picture or idea that comes from the communicator. The medium can be tired, ill, out of sorts, bad-tempered, hungry, had too much to eat, to drink, to smoke, a thousand and one things; all can effect the closeness with which guide and instrument should blend.

There may be subconscious ideas in the mind of the medium, strong, dominant, which keep on thrusting their tentacles because they are trying to find expression. Often the only way to get rid of them is to express them and make them null. That explains sometimes why you get the medium’s subconscious ideas expressed by a guide. Sometimes the guide cannot help himself and is carried away by the onrush, the force of the subconscious promptings. Fog is bad, so is humidity. A cold, clear, crisp, electrical atmosphere is the best.

It is not easy. It requires much effort to return to your world. That is why the only ones prepared to make the efforts are those who love you. Love is the impelling motive for comforting, guiding, helping those to whom it is naturally and willingly bound. As long as people die, and they love those who are left on earth, they will willingly break through every barrier and overcome every obstacle to reach the one they love. That provides part of the impetus behind the whole of communication from our world.

Be tolerant. Do not blame the medium. Do not necessarily blame the guide. We do our best with the material at our disposal. To accomplish in trance, what is being accomplished now, requires a stepping-down process, the use of a transformer. That involves a sacrifice of the true individuality to a large extent, as you can appreciate. When you have to make it material you go one stage further. You have to materialize the spirit to have almost a complete reversal of vibration from the subtle, quick and delicate to the slow, heavy and ponderous. That, of course, also means another sacrifice of the whole individuality.

Then, again, there are subtle deviations of ectoplasm, according to the mental and spiritual qualities of the human instrument. Not all ectoplasm is the same because its basic foundation is extracted from the medium. The grosser the instrument, the less refined, the less mentally and spiritually evolved is the ectoplasm. Where you have a refined soul, mentally and spiritually, those qualities are reflected in the ectoplasm.

It does not follow that every person who desires to communicate in our world is able to do so, or, given an opportunity, is able to transmit the fullness of the message. It depends on the individual. A dominant, forceful individual will break through all the barriers. A shy, diffident, retiring individual will not want to make the effort.

Then there are all the processes involved in transmitting the thought, picture or symbol -- we do not speak words in our world -- through the medium’s guides, or even direct to the medium. If it is done by means of clairvoyance, all this is a very intricate process. Do not think that because you hear me talk with facility through this instrument that it is easy. Even I have to use what I call a multitude of “threads” to maintain my hold on this instrument. At any given moment, any one of these “threads” may be severed and away goes some of my power.

We have many problems to elucidate in the understanding of communication. Do not ever let it be said that it is always easy. When you have the right conditions, it can be very easy. But there are so many factors that can interfere, and sometimes because of these factors we are blamed. It requires the operation of very delicate, subtle conditions, even for one who is experienced to act as a go-between. There are so many factors that can go awry.

You realize that in this process of transformation, this stepping down, much of the beauty, lustre and radiance must be lost. But when spirit communicates with spirit direct, when mind communicates with mind and soul with soul, when there is inspiration or imagination, it merely means that the mind is being enriched with impressions from beyond. The more you worry about it the worse it becomes, because to be successful in its transmission the essential condition is a quietude, a passivity, a confidence based on the certainty that attunement is taking place. Once you set up wavering doubts, these by their very nature clog the lines of communication.

I do not wish to suggest that every thought which reaches your mind has its origin in our world. Obviously that would not be true, but it is true to say that you must not be quick to dismiss as imagination so much that is the result of deliberate effort to enrich your mind and soul.

Always remember that it is not like a communication in your world where there is only one plane, one level of consciousness involved. You have to reduce spirit to matter, two entirely different forms of expression, and in that process of stepping down many things can go wrong. We have a long way to go in perfecting the means. In our world there is constant experimentation, research and investigation in every field of communication, in the mental, physical and in healing. Always there is activity in trying to achieve a better result.

That is why you see the improvement made as years continue. That is the purpose behind gatherings such as this, because it is only through the constant providing of conditions that we can develop your powers and bring to bear a large measure of the power at our command. They have to be harmonized, so that the results can become effective in your world. The important thing is that the lines have been laid, the channels are open, and we can transmit. There was a time when there were hardly any lines, and hardly any channels. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

There is much misconception about it. Very briefly, mind has many functions. /… Your mind, which is the director of your intelligence, the controller of all your individual life, does not function actively and consciously for every requirement of your physical body. So many of the functions which are necessary for your life in this world are automatic and mechanical. Once the consciousness has arranged the muscles or the nerves, or the cells, or the tissues, and their co-ordination necessary to perform that task, it relegates their repetition to the subconscious part of your mind.

For example, when you eat, you automatically open your mouth, which means the interplay of many nerves and forces before the jaws can move. Nervous impulses have to be sent from the brain, which is the physical / counterpart of the mind, and then your teeth have to open and similar instructions have to be given by the brain. All that is automatic. You do not, every time you pick up a morsel of food, deliberately go through all the processes necessary before you can eat. You do them automatically; the subconscious mind does them for you. When you were a baby you had to learn them all one by one; now it is done unthinkingly; purely mechanically.

You will find that most of the control, therefore, of your bodily - and, to a large extent, your mental - functions have been relegated to the subconscious mind, which is a department, the basement, of your conscious mind. You read a book and you stop and ask yourself what you think of it, and the reply automatically is flashed into your mind. It is your subconscious mind which registers the answer for you, having learned through association with your consciousness the reason that you employ. You hear a speech, and if at any time you were asked, 'What do you think of it?' even unthinkingly you provide the answer.

When, however, you are confronted with problems outside of your ordinary experience, which have not been performed or solved before by the subconscious mind, then your consciousness has to start work, because a new track is involved. But, with these exceptions, where you have to employ original thinking - if such a phrase can be used in that connection - most of your life is relegated to your subconscious mind. It acts as storekeeper; it / takes charge of all the records of your memory; it controls most of your living processes; and therefore, from many aspects, it is the most important part of you.

When it comes to mediumship, it stands to reason, does it not, that where an intelligence which is foreign to the intelligence which has expressed itself through the bodily organism has to function, it is easier for it to take control of the subconscious mind, which is already accustomed to acting on the directions from the conscious mind. It is used to taking orders; it is used to having tasks assigned to it and performing them without interruption, save if anything goes wrong.

Nearly all forms of mediumship involve the use of the subconscious mind of the medium, for that is the secret of his personality. There, embedded in its storehouse, are all the facets of his individuality. (Silver Birch, SBA, 84-7.)

The guide has to harmonise his personality with the medium's to achieve such a perfect blending that he superimposes his own thought through being in co-operation. At the same time he has to be master of that subconsciousness which, at the moment it gets the association of another directing intelligence, begins to / send up impulses, just as when you depress the keys of a typewriter letters move up. That is what the guide has to learn, to avoid that happening.

You can conceive that, as you are dealing with a living being, with an individual with ideas of his own, with prejudices, likes and dislikes, you are bound in all forms of control to get some aspects of the medium. It is impossible, as I have told you, ever entirely to eliminate the medium. The degree of elimination is dependent on the success in blending the guide's personality with that of his instrument. If it were possible to effect a perfect fusion, then there would be no … interference by the subconscious.

It is not that you eliminate the medium - you cannot do that - but you have to blend. That is what development of mediumship is. That is why you sit in circles. That is why you have séances, so that the power that is gathered from all those who assemble is used to aid the blending. That is why harmony is essential. That is why, if there is friction among sitters, it is impossible to get harmony between the guide and the medium. You are dealing with mental forces all the time and, though there is nothing visible to show, all the unseen thoughts, impulses, wills, desires, wishes of all the sitters have an effect on the communications that take place. The more proficient the guide, the more experienced, the greater the state of harmony between him and his instrument, the less will be the subconscious interference. (Silver Birch, SBA, 87-8.)

When spirits are controlling the medium, they are registering through the subconscious mind and automatically their consciousness regulates the primary functions of the body, which are the beat of the heart and the pulse, the temperature and the circulation of the blood. That is why you notice a change of breathing when control is being effected. It is the transitory stage. But what happens is that the guide is reproducing, by association with matter, his own personality as it was expressed in a body. For example, I use a Red Indian body and thus, through the medium, the pulse beat is that of the Red Indian body, because it is easier to take all that consciousness belonging to the astral body and transfer it rather than to start from the beginning. (Silver Birch, SBA, 91.)

We are at work the whole time, experimenting with new forms and ideas, particularly in healing, clairvoyance and trance so as to improve the quality. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

In your physical world you experiment to see what are the results when you try “a” with “b” and so on. We have experiments which are divorced from the physical world, because we are concerned with some of the many and varying expressions of the spirit. So we are always experimenting. Let me give a simple illustration. We have coming to our world doctors who are still concerned with helping afflicted ones on earth. They have knowledge of the mechanism, the workings of the human body and its many reactions.

In our world they have access to a different kind of power, some of the degrees of spirit, which is life, and how it can be applied, combined with earthly knowledge, to help the sick in your world. This is a constant experimentation involving the mixture of forces.

They must not be too strong, otherwise they will harm the instrument through whom they are to be poured. They can be increased in intensity as the human channel is more receptive and can bear the higher velocity, or power, whichever word you want to use. There is the difficulty again of finding words that can adequately express what is really beyond language. So we are constantly engaged in experiments, adding to our knowledge all the time. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Silver Birch then spoke, when asked which spirit friends were present, of the enormous number who regularly attended the sittings of the circle.

There are as many as 5,000 people here tonight.

There are not only those you knew on earth, and those who are interested in the circle. There are those we bring to hear you talk, because they do not think that it is possible.

Others are brought here so that they can learn how we come through to your world of matter, so that they can use other mediums in other parts of the world. There is a great missionary work, not only for your world but for our world too, for we do not sacrifice any time or power.

The great lesson that those in my world have to learn is how to use spirit power in order to impress your minds. The great value of an understanding of these laws is that your minds become accessible. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You have a physical body that comes from the earth, but its animation is derived from this vitalizing spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The body is fashioned to serve its purpose. It has a temporary existence in this form. When it has done its task, it crumbles away. But the spirit that incarnates at birth, that is important. The fact that you can receive this knowledge means that the divine has awakened within you. You have burst the bonds. The seed has begun to flower. It has forced its way up from the darkness into the light. And it will grow in beauty and richness as you allow it to do so. (Silver Birch, GSB, 22.)

Everyone will live after what you call death, not because of believing in a creed, a doctrine or dogma, but because it is an unalterable natural law. It has nothing to do with religion. It is a law as equal to the law of cause and effect. (Silver Birch, LSB, 167.)

The evidence that is available to you will, if you are reasonable, convince you that life, because it is spiritual in essence, cannot end when death comes to the physical body. (Silver Birch, LSB, 69.)

You will all live after you have ‘died,’ and you will not realize until then what it is to live or to feel the real glory of life untrammeled, free to rejoice in liberty of spirit which your imprisoned souls cannot understand today. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You have doubts about surviving. But you will survive. I do not mean permanently in your world, because immortality is not part of earthly existence. Everything material has a period placed on it when it must finish its task. It must dissolve, disintegrate and be resolved into the original constituents that made its existence possible.

Your body will follow that pattern as part of a preordained course, but you will survive because you have no alternative, because surviving is part of the natural law.

In some religions they teach that there is survival for those who believe in certain doctrines and creeds. But survival has nothing to do with religion or with human beliefs, aspirations and hopes. Survival is an inflexible law, automatic in its operation.

You will survive because the spirit comes to earth to develop, to grow, to unfold and to prepare itself for its real home, not the transitory abode which earth provides. You will come home where you began, and continue to live after having left what earth has to offer, so that you can play your part in the great universal scheme. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

When spirit, the life force, withdraws, matter crumbles into dust. But the spirit, which is the individual, does not crumble into dust. The spirit is immortal; it cannot die. Death is its second birth.

It first came when it was born into your world and began to manifest through a physical body. The second birth comes when the spirit says farewell to the physical body and continues in unbroken sequence its eternal path on the road of infinite progress. You cannot die. Life is deathless. …

You, an individual, immortal spirit, will continue after the death of your body. Everything that constitutes your individuality will persist. You will have consciousness, awareness, memory, the power to reason and to express love, for love is an aspect of the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, LSB, 69-70.)

Life cannot die. Life continues because it is part of the great, eternal, creative life-force. I would ask [my] listeners to put on one side all the misconceptions of their inherited prejudices and to approach the subject of survival with the simplicity of heart and mind, seeking only to know the truth. (Silver Birch, SBA, 76.)

I would appeal to [my listeners] to be tolerant and sympathetic, and not to worry about what others have taught, but to seek for themselves. I would cite as witnesses the many all over the world who know that there is a life that continues beyond the tomb because they themselves have spoken with what are called the dead. (Silver Birch, SBA, 77.)

When people 'die,' as you call it, they come to our world, but all the richness of soul and mind which is theirs cannot die. It is divine, infinite, and like all things divine and infinite, it cannot perish. (Silver Birch, SBA, 80.)

You should not grieve when death comes, unless you are grieving for yourself because you will miss a familiar face or figure. The spiritual verities should be the foundation of your existence. They should shine through your life as radiant indexes to everything you do. (Silver Birch, PSB, 47.)

Death strikes terror into your hearts. But you will only begin to live when you are 'dead'. Now you live, but in reality you are almost dead. (Silver Birch, SBA, 69.)

To die is not tragic. To live in your world is tragic. To see the garden of the Great Spirit choked with the weeds of selfishness and greed and avarice, that is tragedy.

To die is to enjoy freedom of the spirit, which has / been imprisoned behind the bars of the material body. Is it tragic to be released from suffering, for the soul to come into its own? Is it tragic to see wonders of colour, to hear music that does not belong to material expression? Do you call it tragic to express yourself in a body that has no pain, to be able to roam all over the world of matter in a flash and to taste the beauties of the spirit life too? (Silver Birch, SBA, 70-1.)

Death is the sloughing off of the physical body as the spirit body gradually emerges.

There is nothing to fear in death. Death is the great liberator; death brings freedom.

You rejoice when babies come into your world. There are many who cry in our world when babies are about to be born into your world.

Similarly there is weeping when people die in your world, but there is rejoicing in ours. Death means that the life has served its purpose, or should have done, and the individual is ready to enjoy all the tremendous richness and beauty that the spirit life has to offer.

You have the spirit, which is the divine essence that enables you to live. You have a physical body that exists because it is animated by the spirit. When the spirit finally withdraws -- I stress finally because temporarily it does so when you sleep, but returns when you wake -- death comes to the physical body because the animation has gone.

Those who have clairvoyance will see that the parting is finally accomplished when the cord connecting the spirit body to the physical one, after being extended as the spirit body gradually moves away, is cut. When that severance takes place, death occurs. There is nothing and nobody in your world who can by any means / enable the physical body to live again. (Silver Birch, LSB, 30-1.)

Try to remember that all of [the newly-departed] are real, human beings who are just as interested in you as ever they were before. Though they do not speak to you and you cannot hear them, they are here, each striving to do the utmost to assist you. They are closer than you know. They know your secrets, the unspoken desires of your minds, your wishes, your hopes and your fears. And all the while they bring their influence to bear on you, to guide you so that you may be able to extract from your earthly lives the experiences so necessary for the growth of your souls. They are not vague, shadowy, nebulous beings, but real men and women who love you still and who are in reality closer to you than ever they have been before. (Silver Birch, SBA, 60.)

I tell you that you are immortal, deathless, that the ones for whom you have mourned, for whom the tears of sorrow have streamed down your cheeks, stand silently by your side - silent because you cannot hear them, but their voices have cried out in anguish for a long time in their striving to reach you.

You are the dead, the dead who are unconscious of life as it really exists. (Silver Birch, SBA, 77.)

Perhaps the greatest fear known to man is that of death. There is no horror comparable to that which numbs the mind when an imaginative individual contemplates the possibility of total extinction. And there is / no grief to measure up to that which comes to an unenlightened soul when someone who was truly and tenderly loved ceases to breathe forever.

But do, please, try to understand this, death is not a tragedy to those who die; it is only a tragedy to those who are left behind. To go from darkness to light is not something over which you should grieve.

If you grieve, you are in reality grieving over your loss and not for one who has in truth become enfranchised. He is better off. He will no longer suffer all the ills of the human body. He will not be subjected to the ravages of wasting diseases. He will unfold all the gifts with which he has been endowed, and will express them free from any thwarting and will be able to give a larger service to those who require it.

You miss the accustomed presence, you sigh for the physical body that you no longer see, but the reality is always there, although it is not palpable to you. Look beyond the world of senses, beyond the five crude, clumsy windows of the soul, and try to gather some of the wisdom that comes with the knowledge of spiritual reality.

Should you be sad because they are freed from pain, from old age, from tiredness and weariness? Should you be sad because they have escaped from darkness into the light? Should you be sad because they can now unfold the talents with which they have been endowed? Should you be sad because they / are not free to enjoy the pursuits that are natural to them?

No, your sorrow is selfish. You are mourning your own loss, you are thinking in terms of what you are missing and what you will have to endure - a life of loneliness, bereft of love that has enriched it. But you are wrong. There need be no loneliness if you would but make yourself familiar with the truth and allow the scales of ignorance to drop away from your eyes so that you could behold the radiant form of the one you love.

Death cannot part you from the one you love, for love will always claim its own. Your sorrow is based on ignorance. With knowledge you could be sure that the one you love is closer than ever he or she has been before. You could taste some of the joy that comes with the appreciation of an understanding of spiritual reality.

Do not mourn because the caterpillar has become a beauteous butterfly. Do not weep because the cage has been opened and the bird has been set free. Rejoice, and know that the enfranchised soul has found liberty and that, if you would but unfold the powers that the Great Spirit has given you, you could share some of the new beauty and joy which is theirs. You could understand the plan of death and realise that death is but a stepping-stone, a door through which you enter into the larger freedom of the realms of the spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 95-7.)

Do not weep because the one you love is taken from a world of cruelty, of misunderstanding, of ignorance, into a larger life where all its innate qualities can find richer expression. Do not be bitter because the Great Spirit has transplanted a flower from your garden into His, where it can shed a greater fragrance, freed from all the limitations and restrictions of your world. Try to understand that death is part of the law of life, for life and death are both servants of the Great Spirit, and both are used to teach His laws to those who do not yet properly understand them. Dry your tears. Your sorrow should not be, for the one you love is always close to you. Death cannot destroy love; love is infinite as the Great Spirit is infinite too. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

I have spoken to many who have crossed from your world to mine. I have not yet met one who has said, when he saw with the eyes of the spirit, that he has not been served well by the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, TSB, 38.)

You come to our world now, but you do not remem/ber. You visit the spirit world every night. That is your preparation. Otherwise, it would be such a shock when you come here to start your real life in earnest. When you pass on, you will remember your visits.

You will then be freed from the limitation of the body and you will be able to express to the full all the consciousness which has been released during your sleep. In its new expression, it will bring to you all the memories that you have, the memories of all the experiences you have enjoyed. (Silver Birch, SBA, 71-2.)

We get too many misfits, too many ill-equipped, too many derelicts who are unready. It is easier for their education to begin in your world than it is in ours. So be aware of the tremendous possibilities that lie within you. Be aware of the great opportunities that you have for service. Do the best you can and then you will be fulfilling the purpose for which you came into your world. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

It could even be argued that perhaps our love [in returning to you], like a good many forms of love, is a little selfish because we have seen so many come to our world unfitted human wreckages, not ready and poorly equipped. It becomes so much easier if they learned the lessons in the place where they were intended to learn them, the schoolhouse of earth. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

You have not tasted the joys of the world of spirit. There is nothing in your world of matter with which you can compare the life of the spirit, freed from the trammels of the flesh, escaped from the prison of the body of matter, with liberty to go where you will, to see your thoughts take shape, to follow [all] the desires of your heart, to be freed from the troubles of money. No, you have not tasted the joys of the world of spirit.

You who are encased in matter do not yet comprehend beauty as it can be. You have not seen our light, colour, scenery, trees, birds, rivers, streams, mountains, flowers - and yet your world fears death. (Silver Birch, SBA, 69.)

There are no words to compare the life in your world of matter with the life in the world of spirit. We who are 'dead' know so much more of life than you do.

This is the world where the artist finds all his dreams come true, where the painter and the poet realise their ambition, where genius has full power of expression, where the repression’s of earth are swept away and all gifts and talents are used in the service of one another.

This is the world where there are no clumsy words to express inspiration, but where thought is the living language and reveals itself with lightning rapidity. This is the world where we have no money to worry us, where there is no competition, no driving of the weaker to the wall, where the strong are strong because they have something to give to those less fortunate than themselves.

We have no unemployment, we have no slums, we have no selfishness. We have no sects, we have only one religion. We have no sacred books, only the operation of the divine laws to instruct us. (Silver Birch, SBA, 70.)

There is not in your world one artist who could capture with his paints some of the glories of my world. There is not one musician who could record some of the glories of the music sphere with your notes. There is not one writer who could describe in physical words the beauty of parts of this world.

You see all around you the manifestations of the Great Spirit, as the dawn of life sweeps over your surroundings again in its cycle, and you marvel at the beauty of the blossom and the fragrance of the flowers, and you say: 'How great is the handiwork of the Great Spirit.'

And yet, that which you see is but a very, very pale reflection of the beauties that we have in our world of spirit. We have flowers such as you have never seen, we have colours such as your eye has never beheld, we have scenes and forests, we have birds and plants, we have streams and mountains. You have nothing to compare them with. And you will be able to enjoy them, for, even though you will be ghosts, you will be real ones. (Silver Birch, SBA, 71.)

It is very hard sometimes to find language that will convey the actuality of spiritual happenings because language, which is material, is not equal to the spiritual, which is immaterial. Words, at the best, are poor symbols to interpret a much greater reality. (Silver Birch, GSB, 22.)

When I speak of spheres I do not necessarily mean round worlds. I mean planes of being, each graduating into the other, not separated geographically, from the lowest to the highest. (Silver Birch, LSB, 19.)

The sphere or plane on which you exist in our world contains individuals at the same stage of spiritual development as you are. You can’t go higher spiritually until you are ready. You can go lower, as many of us do to perform missionary work among the unenlightened beings in the lower spheres. (Silver Birch, LSB, 19.)

Whether they retain [their] organs depends on their state of consciousness. If they are completely ignorant of a life after yours and they do not think that there is another world, then they have a complete replica of everything they had in the physical world, and they continue every bodily function in all its details - every function. (Silver Birch, SBA, 59.)

The astral body goes through a process of rarefication. As you appreciate that there is no need for certain organs, you gradually find they become atrophied and in the end they disappear. (Silver Birch, SBA, 59.)

When you have read of the appearance of those who come from the higher, or inner, planes, do you not find they are described as shining figures radiating light, rather than as having shape? That is because personality has gone. It is because there is less of the bodily expression about them. (Silver Birch, SBA, 58.)

You must always remember that ours is a mind world, a spirit world where consciousness is king. The mind is enthroned and mind rules. What mind dictates is reality. (Silver Birch, SBA, 58.)

Here essentially it is a world of thought, where thought is reality. And, being a thought world, thought moulds every expression of its life and its activity. (Silver Birch, SBA, 56.)

All the mental processes utilised during the dream state are engaged in to a much greater intensity in the worlds beyond death. As those mental states are the reality of the people who dwell in / those worlds, the states are as tangible to them as material things are to you in your world. (Silver Birch, SBA, 68-9.)

In our world what you are determines what you do. It is your spirit that is the dominant reality. There are no masks, no disguises, no subterfuges, no cheats; there is nothing hidden; all is known. (Silver Birch, SBA, 93.)

Whenever we try to explain our world of spirit, which is freed from the limitations of your world, with its restrictions of time and space, we always have difficulty. The lower cannot grasp the higher, the finite cannot include the infinite, the lesser cannot hold the greater, but only by striving can you increase your capacity to understand. (Silver Birch, SBA, 58.)

[My world] is very objective in its own field of expression. (Silver Birch, SBA, 57.)

When they have passed beyond [any one plane], it is a dream world. Whilst they are living in it, it is a real world to them. You call them dreams only by comparison. They are not dreams when you are dreaming them. They are dreams when you awaken and, recalling the experience, you say, 'That was a dream.' So, when the spirit has passed beyond the lower / stages of the astral, it recollects those experiences and says, 'They were dreams.' But when it endured them, they belonged to reality. (Silver Birch, SBA, 57-8.)

Life in my world is regulated by people who dwell on that particular plane of expression. (Silver Birch, SBA, 57.)

All is known by the powers that be. There is a hierarchy of evolved beings, some of whom have never incarnated in your world. They are charged with fulfilling the divine plan. It is an overall one and encompasses everything and everybody. (Silver Birch, LSB, 36.)

There is no 'parliament' in the spirit world because there is not need to make laws to regulate the lives of the people who dwell there.

The natural law takes care of people in the spirit world because they are confronted with it in a form which is inescapable. They no longer have physical bodies; the problem of physical life does not concern them. They are now expressing themselves in spiritual form and the natural law is in operation. There is no need for any intermediary. (Silver Birch, SBA, 64.)

I have taken counsel with the wise ones who are part of the hierarchy charged with the vital task on which we are all engaged. It is to demonstrate the supremacy of the spirit and all its accompanying gifts so that your world may become richer in beauty and grandeur. Gradually it will rid itself of the greed, selfishness, disruption, violence and all that prevents it from being the kingdom of heaven upon earth. (Silver Birch, LSB, 104.)

The next stage of life to earth is a replica of your world of matter. Were it not so, the shock for the many who are uninstructed and ignorant would be more than they could stand. And so it has to be accomplished by very easy stages. The next stage of life resembles your world. That is why so many do not know that they have passed beyond the physical. (Silver Birch, SBA, 56.)

Being so near to your world, and peopled by men and women who are naturally still very material in their outlook on life, the expression of the thought is very gross and so, whatever they think is in terms of physical things. They cannot think of life apart from its physical aspects. There has never filtered into their consciousness any understanding of a life apart from the purely physical. They cannot visualise spiritual activities and, because they cannot visualise them, they have no place in their scheme of things. But there are degrees of astral life, for gradually as awakening comes the grossness slowly but surely becomes more refined. And life, they begin to see, is something beyond its material aspect. (Silver Birch, SBA, 57.)

The astral world is part of the world of spirit. It is one life in many varying grades, from the lower reaches to the highest stages. It is not divided into watertight compartments. We have to give you terms that you can understand. (Silver Birch, SBA, 58.)

[The lower astral plane] is for the uninstructed and the ignorant, those who are unaware of the existence of spiritual realities, who cannot visualise anything beyond the purely physical. (Silver Birch, SBA, 58.)

When spiritual realisation dawns they are dead to the astral world and they begin to live in the world of spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 57.)

Once you have got beyond the earthly pull, once you have passed the stage of earthly association and reached the span of spiritual life to which you are thus entitled, (1) you emit a light, an aura, a radiation, which indicates who and what you are. (Silver Birch, SBA, 67.)

(1) Which, I believe, occurs on the Mental Plane.

You do not climb from one sphere into another; you grow, you evolve. The lower gives way to the higher. You 'die' and are born again and again. (Silver Birch, SBA, 58.)

As you advance beyond [one plane], you leave it behind. As the spirit qualifies itself, by growth, progress and evolution, so it naturally passes to the next stage of spirit life. (Silver Birch, SBA, 57.)

All humanity is at different stages of evolution. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Wonderful though man measures his material achievements, spiritually he is still very puny. Oh, that the achievements of the spirit could match the achievements of matter, that progress could be made in fields of the mind and spirit that are comparable with the advance that has been made in certain fields of material endeavour! (Silver Birch, GSB, 21.)

Every experience has its advantage and disadvantage. The higher your soul evolves the greater is the progress it has made -- but the more it knows there is to be evolved. That is its disadvantage, it is more dissatisfied. The more sensitive you become to beauty, the more sensitive you are to ugliness. The higher you rise, the lower you can sink. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The ladder of Jacob was not a figment of the imagination, but the symbol of an eternal reality, for up that ladder every soul can climb, rung by rung. From earth to heaven it ranges, supported always by the power of the Great Spirit. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Knowledge, like the Great Spirit, is infinite; no period can be placed on it. As you progress so you fit yourself for more knowledge. You are forever climbing a mountain, ascending one peak, only to behold another to be scaled. Knowledge, progress, development, unfoldment, advancement, all these are eternal processes. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

It Is an infinite evolution. There is no summit to be attained. As the spirit unfolds, so it is realized there is more to be achieved. It is like knowledge. The more you have, the more you realize there is further knowledge to be gained. (Silver Birch, LSB, 19.)

All the beings who inhabit your planet are engaged on an eternal pilgrimage, pursuing paths that must lead in the ultimate to the one divine goal. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

The Great Spirit is infinite, and so the process of creation is infinite, progressing always in its multitudinous expressions from imperfection to perfection, from immaturity to maturity, through all the countless grades of evolution. That process is timeless. It had no beginning, it has no end, for it belongs to infinity. It is part of the infinite Great Spirit, and that self-same spirit finds its expression in human life at varying stages of unfoldment. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Life, because it is life, cannot ever be static, for that way lies stagnation. Life is rhythm, motion, progress, unfoldment, development, the reaching out towards perfection all the time. Unless there were constant gradations of life, unless there was a constant pilgrimage on the rungs of the ladder of progress, life would not be life. It is in the variety of evolution, with its multitudinous stages of development, that life becomes life.

If all were at the same stage, if perfection were attained, if there were no necessity for further striving, no need for new attainments, no need for still greater expression, then the incentive to live, to achieve, would gradually become extinct. The motivation of life is always onward, striving to reach out to clasp that which is at present beyond its grasp. And it is always in the striving, in the attempt to conquer, seeking to triumph over difficulty, that the spirit finds itself and God is at work amongst you. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Arising from the spirit answers, Austen wanted to know whether less evolved souls would always cause trouble in the world and retard progress

Yes, but always remember this, that what you call unevolved souls are really unevolved by comparison with those who are more evolved. As your standard becomes higher, so you recognize that those you considered were evolved are not so evolved as you thought they were. All the difficulties of your world, and indeed those belonging to the lower strata of my life, are caused wholly and solely by selfishness, greed, avarice, self-interest in all its expressions.

There will be always some less evolved than others. How else would you have it? Would you have all humanity reaching the same stage of evolution at the same time? Would you have every human being moulded to the same pattern at the same point of progress at the same time? Would you reduce all life to a state of monotonous equality in regard to its development? Would you have only light and no shade? Would you have only sunshine and no storm? Would you have only virtue and no wickedness? Would you have laughter and no tears? How would you regulate your world unless it be through an infinite variety of expression? (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

Evolution is not in a straight line. It is a spiral. At the top, things look beautiful; at the bottom they don’t look so beautiful. (Silver Birch, LSB, 19.)

There are many deaths and many births. (Silver Birch, SBA, 57.)

You do not lose the astral body in quite the same way that you lose the material body. It becomes rarefied, it becomes refined, as the lower drops away. That is its death, for death really means transformation, resurrection, the rising of the higher out of the lower. (Silver Birch, SBA, 58.)

Yours is a demarcation [of time] for purposes of convenience. You have charted certain passages as minutes or hours, or seconds, or days. And all that is based upon the rotation of the earth and its relationship to the sun. We do not have night and day. Our source of light is not the same as yours. Therefore, we do not have time in the sense in which you have it. Our measurement of time depends upon our spiritual state, that is, we feel time in the sense of enjoyment. Time, to us, is a mental experience.

In the lower spheres, where life is not very enjoyable, it seems a long time to them. In higher spheres - and I am speaking relatively - where there is much more congenial activity, time seems more speedy in the sense that there is always some new phase of interesting labour. But it is not apportioned in hours, or days, or months, or years. (Silver Birch, SBA, 61.)

Even in your world you have the illusion of time. One hour is not always the same to you; and five minutes can sometimes seem as long as one hour. That is the mental aspect of it. If you appreciate that in our world mental aspect is the reality, you will see that we are divorced from the purely mechanical aspect of time as it affects you. I think that is the best way to express it. (Silver Birch, SBA, 63.)

If I wished to meet someone … then I send a thought and if it is convenient we meet. There are no letters to be written. …

If I am desired to attend some group, the request is sent to me mentally, I receive it and I go. It would not be sent to me now because it would be known that I am at this moment speaking with you. There are no diaries; it is a world of the mind and of the spirit. (Silver Birch, SBA, 62.)

Time is the eternal present. It is not past or future. It is your relationship to time that determines your past and future. If you visualize time -- this is very hard to convey -- as a circle which is constantly moving round, the point where you touch it is what you call your present. The part where you have touched it is what you call your past. The part you have yet to touch is what you call your future. But so far as time is concerned it has no past or future.

What you call “looking into the future” is only that ability through clairvoyance or attunement when you escape the three-dimensional boundaries of the physical world and see what will be your future. You behold the effect of the cause you put into motion, what your free will has created. But this does not affect time itself, only your relation to it. (Silver Birch, SBT, n.p.)

As to the way in which we work, that depends on the individual. There is plenty of activity connected with the mind and the spirit. The difficulty the questioner has is in understanding spiritual experiences in terms of physical measurement, but there are wide and boundless pursuits of the mind and the spirit, cultural, educational, purposive, actual in their effect on your physical / world, to engage us and occupy us for as long as we wish to be so occupied. (Silver Birch, SBA, 61-2.)

All the qualities of soul and mind continue to grow, to unfold, to / develop and to mature in our world. The mere fact that you possess these great qualities of the soul means that when you reach this world of ours, you soon desire to render service to those less fortunate than you. You find, or strive to find, people like yourself.

If you were a poet, you seek a poet, a musician, you seek a musician, like interests wherever possible, so that you can give freely all you have learned in your new world. The difficulty is to achieve the process of attunement. (Silver Birch, SBA, 80-1.)

Whereas you are governed by certain primary colours we have other ranges of colour beyond your comprehension. We can identify some of the higher teachers by the radiance of [their] appearance, by their light that comes with the message; because often there is no form of any kind. There is a thought, accompanied by radiance. (Silver Birch, SBA, 60.)

There are no trains unless you think you have a train to catch and then there is a train for you to catch. It is hard to understand, isn't it? But it is like a dream. If you think you have a train to catch, there is your train.

Even in your dreams you think you have to go on a ship. The ship is there because you make the ship, and it is real to you. You people it and it travels. It has the necessary attendants, hasn't it? It is very real on its own / plane of sensation. You must remember that reality is a relative term. (Silver Birch, SBA, 62-3.)

[Spirits] have houses of their own if they want them, because they desire them and they earn them. But some do not desire houses. Some prefer them built according to their own styles of architecture, some prefer to incorporate ideas of lighting which are, for example, not known to you. This is a matter of personal taste dependent upon the creative ability of the spirit concerned. …

Once you have earned it, then its style is purely a matter of taste. If you would like it open to the / sky you can have it. You must remember that these things are largely controlled for a long time by individual habit. Habit is a mental attribute and it persists after death.

People who have dwelt only in this country are accustomed to certain styles of houses and thus it is those styles in which they live because it is a habit to do so. Once they have outworn that habit they have other types of houses. This is a very wise provision which ensures continuity; it prevents shock and life is smoother and more harmonious as a result. (Silver Birch, SBA, 63-4.)

[People retain their earth names] as long as it is necessary for a person to be so identified. But what you must remember is that the name is not the individual; (1) it is only the means by which he is known.

[The person may keep the name for] hundreds or even thousands of years. But once you have passed beyond the / magnetic field of the earth, the name does not matter because you are then known for the individual that you truly are. (Silver Birch, SBA, 66-7.)

(1) Silver Birch makes a distinction between the evanescent personality and the more-enduring individuality.

Fame comes to many people in your world through sheer birth and for no other reason. They have not won it by their life, their endeavour, or their labour. There are many, many beings unknown, unrecognised in your world, to whom the lustre of fame is accorded in our world. The soul is the indelible passport. (Silver Birch, SBA, 67.)

Information is constantly being dispensed to those who should have it by the ones whose occupation it is to spread these facts. This is difficult for you to understand.

When it is necessary for me to be told something that I do not know the thought is sent to me by the one who thinks I ought to know it. There are people engaged on / the task of disseminating these thoughts. They are specially trained for it. (Silver Birch, SBA, 65-6.)

When you receive inspiration it is because consciously or unconsciously you are tuned in to some intelligence in our world and, for that time, you are able to receive his power, inspiration or message. Sometimes it is conscious, sometimes it is unconscious. It depends upon the circumstances.

But in our life we are constantly receiving and transmitting thoughts who are on our spirit wavelength, that is, of like spiritual mentality, receive thoughts that we send them and transmit thoughts to us. The wavelength is determined by spiritual attainment. (Silver Birch, SBA, 65.)

We do not have radio because communication is differently used. … Telepathy is the common method of reaching one another. But it is possible for those who know how, to address vast numbers and to reach them, even when they are not themselves present. But it does not work on the principle of your radio. (Silver Birch, SBA, 65.)

There are no newspapers in your earthly sense, because there is no necessity to chronicle happenings, as you do. (Silver Birch, SBA, 65.)

There are many, many books [in the spirit world]. There is a duplicate of every book known to your / world, and there are many other volumes of which there are no originals in your world. There are vast halls or buildings dedicated to all the arts, and literature has its place among them. It is possible to obtain knowledge of any subject in which you are interested. (Silver Birch, SBA, 67.)

Gifts, talents and faculties which people had in your world do not end with death. Death brings them greater freedom and the extended opportunities to express those talents. (Silver Birch, SBA, 65.)

[Spirit] museums were in the halls or buildings of learning where there are collections of varying kinds, of objects relating to earthly life throughout history, and also collections of interesting forms of spiritual life. For example, we have flowers that have not bloomed on earth. We have many / other phases of natural life unknown to you. There are examples of these in the halls of learning. (Silver Birch, SBA, 64-5.)

Concerts are always available because there are so many musicians, many of them masters, whose desire is that their talents should be enjoyed by the largest possible number. (Silver Birch, SBA, 65.)

Theatres - there are many of varying kinds. Some are used purely for dramatic purposes, others for cultural purposes, and others for educational purposes. (Silver Birch, SBA, 65.)