extracts from 
CHAPTERS OF EXPERIENCE,
of 
Douglas Conacher.

book from 1973.

intro.
'Chapters of Experience'
by Douglas Conacher.

Douglas Conacher was a deeply religious man and a successful London publisher, but he came to understand the truth of spirituality and reincarnation, through his experiences in the Afterlife.

In this book, are transcripts of those conversations, where he shares his interest in this truth and all he has learned in the next world. He gives accounts of his previous lives on Earth and a wealth of information on life in the Spirit World - ranging from living conditions, thought communication, the creative arts and how we progress after death.
Unusual because of it's authorship, 'Chapters of Experience' remains valuable for it's message of enlightenment, yet it puts us in touch with our own immortality...

this intro was from
https://www.beliefless.con/books



(word mistakes may be here due to scan errors.)

The numbers that are read are mainly page numbers in the original book that was found online in a relatively poorly readable edition.

"currently unavailable as paper-book,
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock." (sept.-25)
-acc.to www search. ( https://www.amazon.in/Chapters-Experience-Douglas-Conacher/dp/058410068X)

some from book found online  on this book else;

"this book was received from  the spirit world,
by direct voice through the mediumship of
Leslie Flint.

Transcribed and compiled from tape recordings by Eira Conacher.

Dedicated
to Leslie and Mickey, (the spiritual guide of the medium Lesley flint),

with our love.

We lived before,
We live now,
We live forever.




introduction.

In order to sketch in a background to this book, which consists of
communications from my husband since his ‘death’ on June 6th,
1958, a few personal notes are necessary.

My husband and I did not meet until rather late in life. Douglas
was fifty-eight, a confirmed bachelor; I was thirty-nine, and deeply
involved in my work as Art Mistress in a school in Surrey. However, on August 12th, 1937, a few months after what seemed a
chance meeting, we were married. This was during the period
of uneasy peace before the Second World War descended upon
us all. :

Douglas had served in the First World War and knew only too
well the horrors of war, and his highly sensitive nature was greatly
affected by this second conflagration. Years of illness, operations,
and frustrations followed; and it became necessary for him to give
up his publishing business in the heart of London, and try to find
rest and peace in rural surroundings.

My husband was deeply religious, and a devout member of the
Church of England. The books he published were chiefly on
orthodox religion and philosophy. He had an overwhelming love
of books and read widely, but I never remember him reading any-
thing of a psychic or occult character. Neither did we ever discuss
these things. Douglas was sensitive to beauty in all its manifestations,
but not disposed to fanciful ideas. He was forthright. Accuracy of
statement was very important to him. As this book is concerned
to a great extent with reincarnation  — one of the most controversial
of subjects — if feel it is necessary to mention these facts.

We had twenty years of devoted companionship, and although
the path we had to tread, and the lessons we had to learn, were
often very difficult, sharing these trying experiences drew us closer
together and made our love stronger.

I had read a few books on the subject of life after death before
my husband’s passing, but my quest for spiritual knowledge started
in earnest a few weeks after this crisis in my life. I set aside periods
for silent meditation, and while listening to inspiring music tried to
tune in to the higher frequencies of the realms of spirit which surround us. These contacts have brought moments when the veil has
been lifted a little, to reveal something of the intense beauty and
vivid reality of life beyond physical vibrations.

During this time, also, I was privileged to have sittings with
many of the finest mediums of today. These brought great joy.
Life took on a new radiance, and a new realisation of its purpose
and splendour dawned upon me. What I had dimly perceived
before, became clear and intelligible. I knew beyond a shadow of
doubt that death, far from being the end of life, was indeed the
gateway to life, and to ever-increasing life.

Douglas and our relatives who had ‘died’ were wonderful in
the way they worked together to bring evidence and information
about their life and work on the various strata of the spirit world.
I was classifying this material — with a view to compiling a book
from the knowledge I had received through many forms of
mediumship — when I found it necessary to put this idea on one
side.

In August 1959, I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Leslie Flint — 
a well-known medium of integrity, who has the rare gift of independent direct voice mediumship — and to be invited to his evening
circles. These were great occasions. Later, I had many private sittings
with him. Douglas soon became a very good communicator by
direct voice, and expressed a wish to concentrate on this form of
communication. He said: “This is by far the most direct method,
and the most satisfactory one, once one has become used to it.
There is much less likelihood of the medium, or the recipient of
the messages, influencing what is being given. This is as direct as
one can ever hope to get. That is why I would like my books,
preferably, to be what I have been able to give you in this
manner.’

The tape-recorded talks which comprise this book were given by
Douglas during the years 1965-1967, usually at intervals of two
or three weeks, but occasionally, when I had been called away
from home, after a gap of several months. My husband’s conversations from the spirit world during 1960-65 belong to an introductory series of communications. To avoid repetition as far as possible, I have deleted passages here and there, and in one or two instances, added a little information on the subject under discussion
from recordings not otherwise used. The editing of Douglas’s conversations has been kept to a minimum, so as not to interfere with
his speech pattern; the result is that nearly every word in this book
came from him by direct voice.

The medium, Mr. Leslie Flint, does not go into trance, but
remains normal throughout the séance, sometimes joining in the
conversation. In his presence, the so-called dead are able to speak.
Their voices do not emanate from his vocal organs. Usually, they
seem to come from somewhere between the medium and the sitter;
occasionally, I have heard them come from high up in the room.
These sittings with Mr. Flint have always been absolutely natural,
and very happy occasions.

Although Mr. Flint, and myself in this instance, are the only
earthly people in the room, there are many discarnate helpers, not
least of whom is Mickey, our master of ceremonies. He takes charge
under the varying conditions which prevail at the time of the
communication, His amusing remarks relieve any tension there
may be, making us feel relaxed and happy.

Mickey’s last earthly life was brief, for he was killed at the age
of eleven, shortly before the First World War, while crossing the
road near Camden Town tube station where he sold newspapers.
After a short time in the spirit world, he chose to help Mr. Flint
in this work. He is a great character who endears himself to us all.

May these talks help to bring a clearer realisation of the eternal
nature of life; so that while living this present life to the full, and
in the right way, there may be an inner awareness of the greater
expressions of living that will be possible for each one of us  — beyond
the school of earth.

Eira Conacher.


Author’s preface.
I suppose it is quite natural and human to assume, as it seems on
the surface, that birth is the beginning of life. But at the same
time there is no evidence that man can bring forward to support
this claim. Birth may be the dawning of a new experience, a new
awareness, a new consciousness, a new opportunity of life under
different circumstances, but it is not necessarily the beginning, In
fact we know that it is not.

Birth is merely consciousness being reawakened or reborn into
certain circumstances and conditions of life. What is is, before or
after so-called death. Death is the greatest illusion of all, So many
people assume that after death there is nothing — oblivion; and they
assume that before life begins on earth, before birth, there is oblivion.
Nothing could be more untrue. Life is constant and continuous;
it has no beginning, and no end. It is as if there were episodes in
which you were conscious.

Yet there are, to some extent without full realisation, many
aspects of life which man cannot bring to his consciousness, which
are just as real, just as vital, just as important as any earthly life.
There are conditions of life before birth just the same as there are
conditions of life after birth, and one physical material existence
is not necessarily the be-all and the end-all; indeed, it is only one
of innumerable lives. All these experiences are necessary and essential to the evolution and development of the human soul.

Once life comes into being it cannot be put out. It may be put
out in a physical sense, or in a conscious sense, or in a sense of
physical awareness — but life itself is always there. The energising
spirit that animates the form of life as you understand it in a
material body is always present. Just because the physical body
has not been born or the physical body has died, does not alter the
fact that spiritual consciousness is still waiting to have its effect
and to show itself through a form of life in a physical body.

The spirit that is born into your world in a physical body does
not suddenly become conscious and aware of new life. It has been
aware and conscious of new life, of the life that is to come in a
material world, possibly for a very long time beforehand, But it
may not be able to animate, or at least it cannot express itself, until
the physical body has reached a certain stage of development, and
the brain is able to respond and react to the thought-force of the
spirit.

The point is that the conscious spirit is always active, always
alive. It only becomes individual when it inhabits a body: when on
earth, a physical body; when on our side, a psychic or spiritual body.
But behind all these varying bodies and degrees of consciousness
there is the ever-living spirit, which has been, is, and will continue
to be.

Man must not confine his consciousness and his realisation of
self to one physical earthly existence. That is a small part of the
tremendous whole of man. It is impossible to explain fully what
one wishes to convey, because words in themselves are not adequate.
But man, with all his experience, with all his knowledge, with all
his realisation of truth has only the minutest fraction, the minutest
particle, of the realisation of himself.

When on earth, man has consciousness of many things appertaining to his own world, and sometimes he has a small grasp of the
truth and knowledge of the world of spirit. But man will separate
all these worlds; he will always separate this consciousness of life
because he cannot conceive of the fact that the earth-world is but
a fraction of the real world. 

There are dividing lines only because of man’s lack of comprehension and realisation of the power of the spirit, which is animating all life at all times on different
strata of experience and expression.

Man accepts, as he must do, his earthly existence, and will say:
‘Well, of course, we know of this existence because we are experiencing it every second, every moment of our daily lives. We know this
world, we know this life which we are conscious and aware of every
day, but we do not know of the world to come  — if there is a world
to come!’ 

And yet this so-called ‘world to come’ is here and now,
with you. You may not be able to see it; you may not be aware
of it. But there are many things of which man can see certain
results, but does not know of, in the same way as there are many
aspects of his material existence which he does not understand but
of which he can see the effect.

In other words, because you do not see before birth, you have
no consciousness of life before birth, no consciousness of lives previous to the one which you are now living; because you have no realisation or consciousness of a world that is to come after physical death, man has become inclined to assume that there is but one life. But actually there are many lives, or many expressions of the
spirit, through many physical and psychical bodies, going through
aeons and aeons of what you term time  —  way back into the past
and into the future. 

Then again, we know that the past and the
present and the future are all one. And although there appear to
be demarcation lines, there are no separating conditions except
those which man himself creates through his ignorance and lack
of understanding.

When man realises that he is an animating force under certain
circumstances and conditions prevalent at that particular moment
of time which is common and natural to him, and when he realises
that what is now could well have been in the past under different
circumstances, and will be in the so-called future in a new environment and condition, he will realise his true nature.

Man must not have this narrow concept that this moment is the
only moment, that that which has gone is not important, and that
which is to come  —  if it is to come!  — is not important either. Man
must see himself not as a body, but as a spirit which is indestructible
and indefinable, which is at all times vibrant and living with great
possibilities of tremendous change far removed from anything he
can understand or comprehend. Of course there is much that you
cannot hope to understand, and we certainly cannot tell you  —  but
man should not think that this one life in which he finds himself
is the beginning and the end. It is, as it were, but a small grain
in the sands of experience, the sands of evolution.

Life by its very nature must be continuous; it can never cease,
it can never stop. All life is motion, movement, change  —  that in
itself is life. If man ceased to think, ceased to comprehend, ceased
to energise, ceased to revitalise himself and others, he would cease
to exist.

Man must, by his very nature, graduate slowly but surely from
one level to another. Movement, motion  —  this is the essence of
life. The expressing and the learning, the gaining and the growing  — 
all this is man. Man is not a static thing. Anything that is static
has no existence; in a sense, it has no real life. It has a momentary
something  —  an expression or form or shape, perhaps  — but it is not
life. It is not something which is eternal and living; it is of no consequence.

That which is man is constantly changing. He may not always
be able to comprehend and he may not always be able to draw
experience to himself as perhaps he would wish; but because he
cannot fully understand or comprehend does not mean that that
which we strive to give is not so.

There are many things you take full advantage of in your world  — 
sometimes for man’s good and sometimes for his detriment. These
powers and these forces which are in nature and have always been
there were hidden from man for centuries. He had not realised
them; now he benefits from them. These things are not necessarily
things that he can see as such, but he can see the effects of them.
He can see the power behind them although he may not understand or fully realise them; they are forces in nature.

Man is a natural animal, but at the same time he is vitalised by
a natural spirit which by its very nature is alive and indestructible.
Man has such vague ideas about himself. Even those who profess
religious conviction are often confused; often they are in a state
of flux about the whole thing; with all their beliefs and knowledge
they are still afraid and worried, still uncertain, and quite often
childish in their outlook.

If only man could realise the immense structure of himself, which
is not just a physical structure but a spiritual one. Man by the very
nature of being a spirit is indestructible. He is, by his very nature
and his very being, a god in embryo. He is like a delicate plant
that is gradually unfolding. But there are many weeds that have a
tendency to choke it. These are the weeds of ignorance and foolishness; they must be plucked out, and gradually they shall be. Man will learn how to thrive, how to express himself, how to grow in spiritual stature, and how to overcome all the baser aspects of self.

The earth-world is a training ground. It has been a training
ground for untold centuries. Millions upon millions of centuries
have passed and man is still learning and has often to come back
and learn more, and make good, and progress. But it does not alter
the fact that the spirit is expanding all the time, even when the
physical body seems at times unable to grasp its power, and its
beauty, and its magnificence.

Nevertheless, the physical] body is important as a temporary home
through which these powers and these beliefs and these truths can
be expressed. Man must be patient, but he must realise that he is
not just a body, not just something that is born, has its being for
a time and then dies. This is but an episode in many chapters of
experience. Man must not see himself just as he sees himself in a
mirror, not just as he sees himself in one existence. This is purely,
and only, part of himself.

Douglas Conacher.



CHAPTER ONE.
The reality of reincarnation.
It was exciting to be near London again and to continue my sittings
with Mr. Leslie Flint, Mickey’s voice was soon heard, and after his
happy welcome and opening remarks  —  very personal on this occasion,  
 — I heard my husband’s voice.

Douglas (with great joy): At last! At last! It seems such a long
time since I spoke to you. Can you hear me?

Self: Yes, very well dear. What a coincidence it seems that you
should come back to speak to me  —  after your so-called death  —  so
near to where you once lived.

Douglas: Ah! You mean Bayswater. That takes us back a few
years! It was when I was very young. Is the house still there?

Self: Yes, but converted into flats now.

Douglas: This was considered a very good residential neighbourhood in those days. I suppose it has gone down. (With haste) Oh
dear! I should not say that, considering Mr. Flint lives here!
(laughter). But it was very peaceful and quiet in those days  — just
horses and carriages you know. Well, my dear, how do you like
your new home?

Self: It will be very pleasant when I get used to living in one
room.

Douglas: I have a feeling you may yet have another move.

Self: Did you get that from my mind?

Douglas: Possibly. I am constantly with you, and know what you
are thinking most of the time. I have been looking forward tremendously to this. Is there something you would particularly like me to discuss today?

Self: Some time ago you said you would like to talk about
reincarnation again.

Douglas: That is such an enormous subject that it would take
many sessions. I think the most important thing to realise in regard
to reincarnation is the fact that it is something which is not necessarily essential in every instance; in other words, not everyone
incarnates again, although many do  — in fact, the vast majority.
But, of course, we have to go back centuries upon centuries and
realise that there are many souls who have incarnated on several
occasions, and now do not feel the need to incarnate again.

One has to accept the fact that in one life on earth one can only
hope to skim the surface of experience, and it is often necessary to
re-enter the earth-world to live a new life in a new body, as a new
being. Sometimes it is essential to experience certain happenings
which can only be experienced under conditions which are quite
different to those when you were on earth before. Then again,
I think we should remember that there are individuals who choose
to return to do a special work. 

Most of the great teachers and prophets of old were very Old Souls who chose to return to do a certain work in a certain age, to set an example and show the path
for others who might follow.

Self; Many people cannot accept reincarnation.

Douglas: Although it may sound rather odd, I don’t think it
really matters. There are bound to be people with differing views
and different strata of experience; and, of course, there are many
people to whom reincarnation is repugnant, and who, in many
instances, will not have the need to reincarnate, will not want to
reincarnate, There are so many souls on earth who have experienced
a great deal in previous lives of which, more likely than not, they
remember little or nothing at all, and in a way that is a good thing.

People are always saying: ‘If one could remember this or that,
it would be very good evidence and proof of it, but since we do not
remember, how do we know?’ But the point is this, that in many
instances it would be a bad thing to have recognition or remembrance of previous lives because that would be a barrier rather than
a help. For instance, if you remembered certain aspects of life that
were, In your own case, bad from the point of view, that you did
something you should not have done which was detrimental to your
spiritual advancement, you would then — if you remembered this
too vividly  — be on your guard in your next incarnation, and you
would he artificially avoiding things.

If you want to do good, or if you want to live a life that is good,
or do things that are wise, then these things must spring from
within yourself and come naturally. If you do things because you
think you should do them — perhaps because in a previous incarnation you neglected a certain aspect of yourself — or if you do them
against your will, then that is not good in itself. It must spring
naturally from within your innermost soul.

Many people say: ‘Oh well, if I knew where I went wrong last
time, I could avoid it.’ But if you knew where you went wrong or
knew what your failings were, and in this incarnation you were on
your guard and saying to yourself, ‘Now I must not do this, or I
must not do that, and this is where I went wrong last time’ — 
you would probably, almost certainly, be doing something through
fear; you would not be doing it naturally. Man must learn to live
according to his inner conscience, his inner realisation of things that
are wise and good,

Self: Does the subconscious mind retain memories of past lives?

Douglas: Yes, it can do, but unfortunately it is invariably very
difficult to recapture past memories. One has to force oneself; one
has to endeavour very hard to jog one’s memory. I think it is at
times possible, but it is not a general thing; some individuals are
able to tap the source of knowledge of these things.

Self: Do you know about your incarnations?

Douglas: I have known about them for some time, and now I am
getting to know a little more of the details. There are some incarnations of which one has little knowledge or realisation, because
in themselves they played a very unimportant part. I suppose you
could call them formative lives, and formative experiences of earth,
which were so basic. In any case, one has to go back to the time
of incarnation and realise that one was, to some extent, the product
of an age.

It is important to realise that what is generally accepted as the
thing to do, and the outlook of life that one may have in that period
of time may not necessarily fit in with  — could not fit in with  — 
another age. There is so much that one has to take into consideration. For instance, a person may not be, according to the age in which he lived, as bad a person as perhaps we would think in retrospect, because he may have been the product of an age when cruelty was the accepted thing. This may sound like an excuse, but
the point is that there are things that do not happen in your life
today which were commonplace a hundred years ago. Today you
do not hang children, but a hundred years ago it was not an
unknown thing for a child who stole a loaf of bread to be hanged.

We are the product of our age and our time and our thinking.
The thought-force of an age’ is so powerful that it affects the whole
of life; it affects the whole of humanity. An age is predominantly
as it thinks, and the people of that age are the product of the minds
of a previous generation. We are all in an age of change and
evolution, and an individual life in a certain age is essential and
necessary. We learn, and we make terrible mistakes, and we experience failure. But the point is that it is often necessary for a
human being to incarnate in a new life and a new age to contribute something which is very necessary not only to his own
evolution and development but also to the age in which he is reborn.

There are, of course, instances of this  —  souls who stand head and
shoulders above the people of their time. They are great leaders or
great teachers, great prophets or great seers, and they are looked
upon as either geniuses or people out of their time; people who
perhaps are not always accepted in their age; people who do not
seem to fit in. These are Old Souls who have chosen to return or,
in some instances, have been sent back.

But no one really re-enters into the world unwillingly. I do not
think one can say that anyone is forced back. The majority of
people desire to enter the world again; they feel the need for
experience, or perhaps they feel the need to do a specific work.
Everything is law and order. Everything is logical. The extraordinary thing is that people always say  —  for instance about Spiritualism, or Communication, or Reincarnation, or whatever it might be to do with the psychic or the spiritual  —  that it is not logical. Actually the most logical thing of all is this spiritual realisation. People cling to the material and think that is the logical, but
it is not; it is the most illogical.

Self: Have we really been together in former lives?

Douglas (emphatically): Oh, we have had several Egyptian incarnations; one in Ancient China; one, to my knowledge, in Ancient
Rome; and also we were to some extent influential in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in bringing into being a new
realisation of the teachings of Christ, but this was very difficult because it was an age when orthodoxy was very powerful. We did have
an interpretation and a realisation of the Christian Faith which we
tried to instil and impress, and bring into being, but it was, of
course, very difficult. You know, at one time we had a link with
Holland.

Self: I believe that in that incarnation  —  to save my head  —  I
joined the Catholic Church and entered a convent! I have vivid
mental pictures of myself at that time.

Douglas: Yes, it was in that age that we had this realisation of
true Christianity but the circumstances became very difficult; and
if we were to keep our heads, as you say, if we were to keep our
lives at all, and possibly later do something of value, we had to
pretend on the surface to accept the orthodox religion. I am afraid
we were not able to do as much as we hoped.

But we have always been — and this is one thing I have discovered,
and possibly the most important thing of the lot — we have always
been interested in finding out religious Truth. And I am not a bit
surprised that I spent so much of my time and effort in my last
incarnation propagating Christianity. My only regret is that I did
not propagate, or did not accept, what I now know to be the truth.
You and I have been associated with religion in all our incarnations;
we have always been seekers.

Self: I hope you will not incarnate again before I come over.

Douglas: No, I do not think I shall ever incarnate again and I
do not think you will. Our links with earth will be finished; I am
sure of that. I do not want to come back and I am quite sure you
will not. On this side there is so much I want to learn and discover
and find out. The greatest joy here is this incessant discovery, this
constant experiencing of new things. Life never ceases to be wonderful. There is always something fresh and new to discover and
understand. I have never known such peace and calm, such placidity,
as I know now. I feel more at peace than ever before, and the fact
that you know about this is a constant joy to me, This is the greatest
blessing of all, that we have this communication.

But if you want me to, and I am sure you do, in the future I will
concentrate on incarnations and go into as much detail as I can.
It might make an interesting book, At least, it will interest you.
And obviously, it would be best for me to start with the earliest
incarnation I can remember with any clarity, which is, of course,
in Egypt. Perhaps we can talk about that next time. Anyway, I
shall try to go back in time and give you some idea of my experiences. In the meantime, all my love and don’t worry, because
I think everything is going to be all right.

Mickey (cheerily) : Goodbye. Come again soon, Auntie Geocacher !


CHAPTER TWO.
A priest in the temples of Karnak.

While the medium and I were exchanging news a clear, familiar,
boyish voice filled the room.

Mickey: Nice to see you, Auntie! Do you come to London a lot?

Self: No, only when I come to hear you.

Mickey: Oh really? That is a compliment! You don’t come up
to do shopping or anything?

Self; No, Mickey.

Mickey: I expect there are shops down where you live, ain’t
there? I don’t suppose you do much shopping. A lot of people who
live on their own eat out. Do you like fish and chips?

Self (laughing): I expect I did in my youth, but I have been a
vegetarian for a very long time.

Mickey: Gosh! Can’t you eat fish if you’re a vegetarian? Oh
dear! You don’t like a nice piece of plaice or something then?
(Giving me up) Oh well, hold on!

Douglas (joining in the fun): What is he talking about? Fish,
wasn’t it? Mickey ought to know by now that you are a vegetarian.

Self: I rarely speak of these things, dear.

Douglas: It has probably never struck him that you were, but
it is extraordinary how much he does know about those who come
here. Well dear, have you something special in mind you want me
to talk about?

Self: Yes, you promised to tell me about your earliest incarnation in Egypt.

Douglas: Of course I did.

Self: When do you learn about these incarnations?

Douglas: It comes very gradually and, there again, it rather
depends on each individual as to how anxious they are to assimilate
knowledge and experience, and how much they desire to know
regarding themselves and the past. Obviously, on first coming over
here one is so full of the excitement of this life  — 
making new friends, meeting old acquaintances and relations, and so on
 —  that one does not think too seriously about oneself in the sense of one’s past lives, even assuming that one knows anything about the possibility of
past lives.

The vast majority of people are only concerned with the life
they have just left. Very few people have any realisation that there
is such a thing as reincarnation. Therefore, most people take a
very long time before they begin to delve into the possibilities of
the present and the past. In fact the great majority of people are
quite happy and contented to be, I suppose you might say, static.

It is not until you understand this life more fully that you begin
to realise that the past is important and that one has had, invariably,
many existences. It is when you begin to meet people over here
who claim acquaintanceship with you, and recall past experiences
of their own; who start to tell you about yourself, and about how
you had known this or that person, and how this or that experience
had happened to you  —  then you realise how your lives have been
entwined.

I know now something which I never understood before and
that is that we are all part of a group-soul. Although we are individuals and we retain our individuality and personality, it is something which has evolved through centuries of experience. We don’t suddenly ‘become’. We only ‘become’ through trial and error, through experience; and we only begin to assimilate this, and
realise its full potency, and what it really is, and what it really has
achieved when we are able to see ourselves in retrospect.

The vast majority assume that from birth to the grave is our
life, whereas actually, it is only one of a whole series of lives in
which we have had different bodies  — under different conditions
and in different periods of time  —  in which we have had opportunity to experience many things which have all helped to build up the real individual personality and character.

We are all the product of experiences, not only of ourselves, but
also of others, because we can never live by ourselves. On earth we
like to think we are a self-contained unit, but we are not. We are
the product of all sorts of minds, all sorts of influences, all sorts of
experiences, and it would be impossible to assimilate everything in
one body in one life. Therefore we have had many many lives in
which we have been male and female, and in which perhaps we
have only been a child who died at an early age. It is so important
to realise that it is only when you have had innumerable experiences
that you can really begin to see yourself as a fully - fledged individual.

My earliest recollection  —  and that only came to me very gradually, because I suppose it was so far removed and so distant in
time itself  —  was in a very early Egyptian dynasty in which I was
a priest. I want to put this in proper perspective, but evidently, as
far as one can recollect and recapture memory at all, I have always
been a seeker. I have always been one who was anxious to discover
and to know the reality of life; I have always wanted to find out
the secrets of life; I have always wanted to find out what really
made one tick.

I can see now that I was always attracted to religion; I was
always linked up with religion in some shape or form. That does
not mean to say that I was necessarily a religious person, because
there is a vast difference between being a religious person in the
full sense of the term, and being religiously interested, or even inclined. This may sound paradoxical but it is true.

I was a priest in the temples of Karnak and was initiated in my
very early youth, and this must go back to 3000-4000 years before
Christ. This is what I have been told, not what I can remember
from experience, so I can only repeat it as such because so far I
have not got a clear picture of it. I don’t know if you can understand this, but I must try to put it as best I can  —  I was a legitimate
son of one of the Pharaohs. The Pharaohs had many concubines.
I suppose it was something which was accepted at the time  —  but
anyway, I was one of many children, and I was put to the temple
when I was about ten or twelve.

I was a singer, having a childish voice but evidently a good one,
and I was taught the melodic harmonies and music generally.
I became a server  — that is someone who serves at the altar  — and I
was one of many children, presumably, in processions, who contributed towards the ceremonies associated with the temples. As I got older I was initiated and taken into the priesthood. Eventually I became a priest and in this incarnation I lived to be very old. I also had great power on account of having been in the priesthood
for so long, and because the priesthood and the royal house were
very closely linked. I don’t think people fully understand that, but
it is true. This was in a reign when there were many wars.

Self: When were there not wars?

Douglas: ‘There were periods when there was comparative peace,
but this was a very warlike period. There were many wars, major
and minor ones, border ones, all sorts of things. And part of my
work was to visit armies  —  I am talking now about my middle age,taking the replicas of the gods and taking the retinue of servants
and priests and people who were connected with the rituals and
ceremonies.

The priesthood was very powerful, much more powerful than
perhaps people are given to understand, and it was necessary for
certain sections of the priesthood to be attached to the armies.
They were not necessarily fighting forces, but they were there to
give strength  —  spiritual, so-called  —  to the soldiers, especially those
who were given charge of vast numbers of men. I visited many
places; I went to Syria, Assyria, and many other places which time
has completely obliterated.

There were many races, many interwoven races, and there were
many varying sections of Egyptian races. Actually, from what I
can gather, the Egyptian race  —  in its very early infancy that is  — 
was a nomadic race. But I am going back long before my experiences of this to what I have been told.

Evidently, from what I can gather, I have always been either
very much with religion or very much opposed to religion. Now
you cannot reconcile me with opposition, but the point is that
there was always an interest in religion. I was either very much
for, or very much against. In other words, I suppose it is that ever
since time immemorial  —  since I was an individual at all  —  I was
always curious to know more about religion and what lay behind
it, and about life after death, and communication.

In the early Egyptian time of which I speak, communication was
a very important part of the temple ceremony. Not of a public
ceremony; I am talking now about a private and very personal one.
It was a kind of séance in which children  —  strangely enough young
boys  —  were used as mediums. This was probably because of their
purity of mind and lack of experience of the outer world. Also,
you do find that a lot of phenomena take place around children  — 
poltergeist phenomena and so on. Children, especially at a certain
age, give off a certain something which is very conducive to psychic
phenomena and it was a common thing for young boys to be used
as instruments, and evidently I had some experience in that
direction.

In ancient Rome, where I had another experience at a later time,
I was very much against religion. This is the constant war if you
like, and the constant fight within oneself  —  seeking. And, of course,
you can never assimilate knowledge if you are always on one side
of the fence, The extraordinary thing is that you have got to experience so
many things in so many different ways. You have all the time to
be — not exactly at war with yourself, or at war with life generally
 —  but you have always got to be seeking and searching, sometimes
putting up opposition because that opposition may draw some new
aspect of knowledge to you. That is why I think it is so stupid of
people to accept blindly something of which they do not necessarily
have any evidence or proof. They accept it literally without attempting to dissect it, or criticise it, or analyse it, or open their minds to
new thought and new ideas. Truth is always changing. I do not
mean to say that it is not still truth, But the point is that there is
always a new aspect of truth; there is always something new to
learn, to gain, some new experience to discover, and so on.

Self: As you were a priest in that early Egyptian period, I suppose
I was not with you in that incarnation.

Douglas: In that incarnation you were not with me because
priests did not marry, but that does not alter the fact that they
did have illegal affairs!

In the Roman incarnation period of which I was speaking, at
the time of Nero and the time of the early Christians, I was not
against the Christians but I was not a believer in Christianity. I
certainly resented to some extent the infiltration of this thought
into Roman affairs and particularly into politics, because it did
begin to influence politics, strange as it may seem talking about it
now.

There were a vast number of people in high places who did accept
Christianity, though they did not necessarily come out into the
open about it at that period. I lost one or two very dear friends at
that time through the Christian teachings because they changed
their way of life and their thought, and it made a rift.

I was a very martial person in that period. In fact, I was a person
of high standing in the armies of Rome. At the time of which I
speak in Rome  —  after I had retired because I was too old for
soldiering  —  I had a very beautiful villa built which became our
home, and at that time you were my wife and we had five children.


Self (laughing): And where are they now?

Douglas: Ah!  — you say where are the five children! You see
one assumes and one thinks purely on a basis of physical relation
ship. This is something which we must clarify. We talk about a
life in which we were married and in which we had children, and
for the first time, as far as I know, the close ties of family; but we
must remember that over 2,000 years there have been many changes
within ourselves, and the links that were so strong in a family sense,
or a material sense, have changed.

This does not mean, however, that there are not still the links
and the affections and the love, because love increases. But with
the increase in love and the increase in affection comes a newer
knowledge, and a newer realisation that we are all so much part
of each other that the physical relationships, or the physical aspect
of relationships, no longer have the same meaning.

Husband and wife, son and daughter, and so on have not the
same meaning after a long period of time here. They are important,
but here it is a wider vision of mind and of spirit which links us
together.

I have known people who have said ‘Oh, I had three husbands;
when I come to your side, which one shall I be with?’ It is quite
possible that the person concerned will not be with any of them,
or it may well be that they will live in a communal sense. But one
must divorce oneself from the physical aspect of relationships and
put everything on a mental and a spiritual plane, and then you
realise that the qualities of the varying individuals are the important
factor.

It is not whether you love this husband more than that one. Love
is something which is fluid, and the more one’s love is the more
it increases; the more it gives out, the more it embraces and draws
together all people concerned. We must try to understand, in this
greater conception of things, that love is the predominant factor
behind all life. Love is so all-embracing that it can only be truly
realised and understood when it ceases to be too personal from the
point of view of possessiveness.

It is important to realise that although you and I will be together
when we are here, it will be on a much higher mental and spiritual
plane. And in consequence of your coming, you will be introduced
to and come to know of many people long associated with us, and
you will begin to visualise things more clearly and appreciate things
more completely. You will- become part of this great whole, because, as I said before, all spirit is one spirit, and although we are
individuals inasmuch as we have individual personality and character  — which is an accumulation of centuries of learning and experience  —  we are nevertheless all part of the other.

My progression is, in a sense, your progression. The more I
progress the more you progress, because the love and affection that
I have for you, and the strength that I bring to you, enables you
to come closer, and to assimilate, as you will when you come here,
even more than you probably could have done if we were not together, for instance if we had never met. Sometimes people’s lives
are bound together over centuries, over many incarnations, and we
become truly one spirit in the fullest sense.

It is necessary to rid oneself of the individual ‘I am’ and to consider oneself as part of the great complete whole — part of the divine
plan, the divine spirit. Many people have false values concerning
themselves and religion, particularly. I refer to this idea that people
have when they accept religion, whatever creed or dogma it may
be, that they are individuals and they are going to be completely
saved or made whole, and that they are going to be in a form of
life in which they will play a very important part.

These people do not seem to appreciate that the only way to find
your true identity is to lose it. It is not being saved in that sense
that matters. It is that you have within yourself the capacity for
saving yourself by your desire for truth, your desire for knowledge;
by your acceptance, and yet at the same time also, by your rejection.
To appreciate white you must have black, and you must have an
intermediary condition of grey.

All our lives are bound up together inasmuch as we are all part
and parcel of each other, and where one person falls, although the
other person involved may have risen to a great height, they willingly lower themselves to help the lesser one. We cannot rise or
achieve anything until we forget ourselves in love and service and
accept the fact that we are all part of the great brotherhood of
man; we are all part of the great plan; we are all part of the God spirit. We are all the same spirit, but we manifest ourselves under
different guises: in different period of time, in different bodies, under
different circumstances.

It is the same spirit that animates all life, and it is all this one
spirit and the oneness of spirit that makes all things tangible, and
all things realisable, and all things possible; and certainly it is this
divine spirit that makes each of us realise our potential and our
possibilities.

We must never lose sight of the fact that although we are individuals we cannot rise without other people rising also, and the fact that they are helping us and we are helping them is the answer to all the problems and all the confusions. We must never consider that we have all the answers. I have learnt so much in the time
that I have been here.

Religion, properly understood and properly applied in the fullest
sense, is the answer. But not religion in a narrow creedal way; not
in the way in which so many people would have one go; that can
often bring despair and confusion. One’s mind must ever be open
and free to accept, or reject if necessary  — not to be tied, not to be
fettered. I must go, but we will talk about these things another
time.




CHAPTER THREE.
Priesthood in Parua: medicine and care
for the poor.
Mr. Flint and I had been chatting, not realising that Mickey was
waiting to open the séance, Mickey: You've been a long time nattering
 — you and old Flint can’t half talk!

Self (laughing): It all helps doesn’t it, Mickey?

Mickey: Well  — yes. I’m only teasing! I look forward to seeing
you. You’re so interesting — at least, your husband is! (laughter).
Are you going to write any more books?

Self: That depends on Douglas.

Douglas (assuming an aggrieved tone): Everything is left to me!

Self; It does seem hard doesn’t it?

Douglas (brightening); No, not at all, Although I must admit
that as far as I am concerned  — at times, anyway  — it is difficult to
do always what one would wish, The whole point is that every
human being has free will and no one has the right to interfere
with that. One can make suggestions, one can give council, one
can advise — but you can never force anyone to do anything if it
is against their nature or their desire. That is where we are
stymied.

Everyone must work out their own salvation in their own way.
I realise that more and more. A great teacher, a great prophet, Christ, for instance — comes into the world, sets an example, gives
us teachings and a way of life, and indeed gives us so much that
could be our salvation, But if we choose to ignore it and intend to
go in the opposite direction, it cannot be forced. 

We can be led,but we cannot be forced; and that is the tragedy with the world
as it is today. The vast majority of people are only concerned with
self, they are only concerned with material things; they are not
concerned with things of the mind and the spirit. As for the few
who are, their voices cry out in the wilderness.

We can only try our utmost to put this truth before people and
hope that they will accept it or enquire into it; we cannot force it.
In any case, that would not be any good. If a person did something with no will behind it, no real desire from within himself,
it would be useless and pointless. It must come from within. Anyway, what shall we talk about?

Self: I am hoping to hear more about your incarnations. Last
time you told me about an early Incarnation in Egypt when you
Were a priest.

Douglas: I remember that quite well.

Self: I thought we had two Egyptian incarnations together.

Douglas: Yes, | am sure we had two, and there is a possibility,
almost a certainty, of a third. But it is too dim; I cannot recapture
it at all. Of course, we have had so many. We had an incarnation
in Italy during what was termed the Renaissance.

Self; Can you tell me about that?

Douglas: Yes. I was a priest again. I seem always to have been
seeking and searching for religious experience. I was a priest from
about the age of eighteen and, as far as I can gather, I lived to he
a very old man, over eighty. I came of a noble family and in my
youth I was very disturbed in my mind with regard to the whole
way of life of the times,

As I was of a high family I was given every opportunity to do
all the things that I wanted to do. But I was so distressed at the
appalling poverty around and about where we lived  — which in
those days was much worse than you can possibly imagine — that
I made up my mind to use whatever wealth and power I had to
help the poor. This soon put me into disrepute with the people of
my own standing. They did not like it. And, in consequence, realising that the situation was impossible, I left my family and went
into Holy Orders. This was at Parua. Can you hear me?

Self; Very well.

Douglas:I was always concerned with the poor people and I
studied medicine. I learnt what there was to be learnt of medicine
in those times. I was very interested in herbs and their curative
properties. It was my Job to look after the brothers, and the poor
who came to us for help, the sick and the suffering, and to give
solace to the dying.

This was a very interesting period of my life, and of course I was
a celibate and not in any way involved with the opposite sex. And
although I had known you when I was a young man and it had
been planned that we should marry, I turned my back on everything of life including my love for you, which was the only thing  that was a temptation to me to hold on to my old way of life. But my religious inclinations and my desire to serve were very strong, and also I wanted to withdraw to some extent from the world. However, I did not withdraw really, because although I went into this
Order, my work lay very much with people, and I went from place
to place.

There was a period of time when I had special dispensation to
act on behalf of the Order, and to go from place to place preaching
the gospel, healing the sick and suffering, and endeavouring to
gain knowledge and also to write. I became something of a writer
and wrote quite a number of volumes which, I regret to say, were
destroyed. Some years after my death there was a great fire and
the monastery in which they were kept was burned down. I travelled
the whole length and breadth of Italy and in France and Spain.
I spent much time studying languages because I felt it was important, if I was to do this work that I had been asked to do and
that I wanted to do, to know as many languages as possible. I
spoke at least six languages apart from Latin,

Self: Wonderful!

Douglas: But you married you know. I discovered, I heard  — 
one does. In any case for the first few years I was working very
close to Padua and in Padua itself. You married a very rich man
and you had many children, and died comparatively young  —  in
your thirties. Your name was Héloise in that period, and my name
was Rodrigo.

Self: How interesting!

Douglas: The funny thing was that although I was Italian by
birth, my mother was Spanish and she married this Italian nobleman, and I] was given a Spanish Christian name among many
others, but I was referred to, and known as  — Rodrigo.

Self: Was that a fairly pleasant time to live in?

Douglas: No. If you were a person of wealth and position, it
was not exactly an uncomfortable time because you were able to
surround yourself with all the luxuries of that period. But there
was such terrible disease and poverty, and there were no known
cures for many of these things. I became tremendously interested
in medicine and made a big study of it. Indeed, I effected cures
which previously had never been known.

I used to ride by horse throughout the breadth of Europe  —  well,
certainly a lot of Europe  —  and I was killed. This may strike you
as strange, that although I lived to be an old man and by all natural
causes I should have died of old age, I was killed by an accident of
some slating falling from a roof on to my head.

Self: Oh, dear!

Douglas: You know I had great regard and respect for Francis.
I was very drawn to him.

Self: Was he contemporary?

Douglas: Yes, of course, and I was indirectly associated with
him. I met him on several occasions. He had wonderful psychic
experiences. He was definitely psychic from the point of view that
he was clairaudient and he sometimes had levitation of the body.
He had great spiritual experiences as indeed did many of the
brothers.

When one withdraws from the material world, and encloses oneself in the quietude and peace of a sanctuary and one is all the
time reflecting on things of the mind and of the spirit, one becomes
more perceptive to things of the spirit, and able to overcome many
of the bodily drawbacks. It is an extraordinary thing.

Of course there were many things that went on in those times
in the monasteries and the retreats among some of the brothers
which were not, in my opinion, of any great value. I think they
were bad things. The chastisement, the wearing of the sackcloth and
so on achieved nothing as far as I can see, although to some no
doubt it was considered a great blessing and help. I never saw eye
to eye on many things; in fact there were times when I think they
were quite glad for me to leave the Order and go on my trips.

Although by nature I was hot-tempered, I had learnt to subdue
that. Even so, I was very forthright and there were many things
which I did not like and tried as far as it was in my power to
change. But rules are rules and regulations are regulations, and it
was very difficult. Some of the older brothers  —  I am talking about
when I was a younger man — really thought that I was too hotheaded and too anxious to make change. Indeed sometimes they
thought I was not as spiritual as I might have been. Their idea
to a certain extent, but at the same time I think they went to such
limits that it struck me as being rather silly. I was not always able
to make them see my point of view and I was often in trouble
with them. But they were fond of me, and they respected me, and
they knew, too, that I was highly useful with regard to medicines.

When I look back now  —  and I remember this incarnation perhaps
more clearly than many  —  I can see that I was a person of very
strong mind and strong will, I think in the right sense. But the
brothers sometimes resented it. However, I can see the funny side
of it, too, and of course, I have met many of the brothers on this
side and they also can see the errors and the mistakes. That is
another thing which makes me realise how today, although there
have been such changes even in religious orders and in ideas in
regard to conduct and so on, there is still much room for improvement, and there is still too much stupidity.

If only you could see as we can, and I do. Often I go to some
of these Orders, these places where people are congregated together
in quietude and away from the world as such, and it seems at times,
in many respects, rather a pointless way of life. I know there are
many who do good work, and many who by doing what they do
are achieving a great deal for themselves and for others. But there
is far too much which is of no value at all, One must remember
that one is put into life to serve humanity, not to take, not to withdraw, not to live selfishly, as indeed some of these people do without realising it, simply because they are concerned too much with self.

Self: Do you see these incarnations in the form of picturisation
in the ether? You have told me a little about that.

Douglas: In most cases, yes. If I want to tune in to a certain
period of time I can do so, even if it has nothing to do with myself.
The point is that everything that has happened of any real value,
or any great event  —  I don’t necessarily mean wars because those
are best forgotten and when one ceases to think of them, they no
longer exist  —  but if one wants to enter into a different period of
time, or wishes to go back in memory, one can do so,

If one can go forward in time, there is no reason to think that one
cannot go back. What has happened is still there in a sense, but as
time marches forward and as human beings go forward in their
experience then that which is in the background, that which is in
the past, becomes less and less important, and it becomes dim.

page    39 is bad scan - not able to interpret. 



CHAPTERS OF EXPERIENCE, page 40:


Man must realise that he is many men  —  not one but many, and
yet one and the same. It is the same spirit animating through all
the various conditions of life in varying lives, bringing itself to a
higher realisation and understanding, and becoming a complete
whole.

We are all part of the one divine source of light and life; we are
all part of a great plan. We only perceive a small percentage of it,
we perceive just a small glimmer; but it is this glimmer that makes
possible the full light in due course. When we ourselves have made
it possible by our thoughts and our actions and our spiritual growth,
then we become illuminated by gradual experience.

I shall tell you more another time about other experiences, but
there is a lot I would like to be able to tell you about this particular
life which I think is of special interest. I want to tell you next time
about my coming to England  —  to Glastonbury.



CHAPTER FOUR
A thirteenth - century visit to Glastonbury.

Mickey (breaking into our conversation): I always look forward to
your visits Auntie.

Self: That is very kind of you, Mickey.

Mickey: You're a case, aren't you?

Self (laughing): So you say.

Mickey: But you really are. I like you.

Self: I am so glad somebody likes me.

Mickey: Everybody who really knows you likes you. Some people
are stupid. I could say a lot  —  but I think you’re nice !

Self: I shall treasure those kind words, Mickey.

Douglas: Hello, my dear! I was listening to our young friend.
Actually, when one says our ‘young’ friend, it rather depends on
what one means and understands by ‘young’. One refers to him
as one’s young friend because he comes hack to your side of life
as some sort of replica of himself on earth. But of course he is a
much, much older and wiser person. Indeed he is very adult.

When we return to earth, to some extent we are affected by
earth conditions and we assume, if only temporarily, our old self
as far as we can, often for recognition and evidential purposes. But
when we have been away from earth for some time we progress and
we learn a great deal; our minds become more open, and we are,
in consequence, affected by all manner of thoughts and actions,
conditions and environments; we become much more progressed
and in many ways vastly changed from our old self as we were
known on earth.

I think a lot of people are inclined to forget — even Spiritualists
who profess to understand this truth  —  that with the passing of time
and new change and experience, we must alter. For instance, when
people come back and communicate, endeavouring to give their
evidence as best they can by drawing on past memory and experience, quite often it is an effort, and indeed sometimes an unpleasant experience because there is so much in the past that once no doubt was important but which no longer has the same meaning, and certainly is not of any great value.

The only thing that really matters to us in regard to the past
and to our earthly lives is the love and the affection which we
have for individuals; and of course, for the better aspects of our
own nature which occasionally shone out of the darkness of
materialism in which we were once steeped. But there are many,
many things appertaining to the old way of life which we are
quite happy to forget, and occasionally in communication it is
necessary to revive these material things temporarily, as evidence
and proof.

Sometimes when I come to you I look back on my own life and
see it as a pattern, a sort of tapestry upon which one has made
stitches. But the full effect can only be seen when one is over here,
where one can see the whole thing with all its varying hues, all its
shadows and its brighter moments. I realise only too well that one
cannot have light without shade, and one could not appreciate
light unless one had the darker portions to show it up in relief.
If the pattern were all light it would be of little value. You would
not be able to assess it. There are certain things which happen and
must happen, and without this patterning one could not evolve.

Some people have in their make-up what is generally termed
evil. This is not a word I am fond of, but it is a word that is operative since it depicts certain aspects of the opposite to good, which
s¢cm to me to be essential. If one were living in a perfect world in
some form of life which was perfect (as far as one can understand
the meaning of the term perfect) it would be, by the very nature
of it, a useless, formless, nebulous sort of existence.

This may shock some people, particularly those of a religious
turn of mind or even those who like to consider themselves spiritually inclined. But I think if you get down to rock bottom and
analyse this you will see that it is vital to have light and shade, as
in a picture. I fa picture were flat it would be of no value; it would
have no highlights, no depth, no real shape or meaning. So it is
with human lives. Like an artist, we are given a series of colours:
the primary colours. We are given the brushes and the canvas and
then we are left to ourselves, to our own intuitions, inclinations and
abilities. Everyone has an ability within themselves to overcome,
to achieve, and to produce something from within their innermost
self — to be creative. But the thing is to be creative with one’s own
soul; to be creative with one’s own power; and to realise that within
oneself is the possibility of tremendous achievement.

Christ knew this, and I think all the great prophets and teachers
must have known this, that within oneself is the great possibility of
overcoming and achieving. I am absolutely certain that the true
meaning of the life of Christ is to be seen in the example that He
set; that the achievement that He made is what He Himself realised
was possible for all human Life. In other words, that we are the
saviours of ourselves.

Self: May I interrupt dear? Last time you promised to tell me
more about that incarnation in Italy and your visit to Glastonbury.

Douglas: Yes, that is true. | am sorry I have deviated. I came
to Glastonbury and stayed for a time  for two reasons. One was that
IT was interested in visiting other countries. I wanted to see how the
brothers were faring not only in England but elsewhere, and also
- I don’t know if I have mentioned this — I was tremendously
interested in what you would call chemistry. | was anxious to see
and to find out new ways in which one might be able to cure illness
and I had heard of certain herbs and certain products which had
been brought into being by the monks in Glastonbury.

I understood there were other natural sources that one might
draw upon for producing what in modern terminology would he
called drugs. I also wanted to meet others of a like rind who were
interested in astrology. I know this will sound strange, but I was
concerned with so many different things. I was particularly anxious
to find out more about the way of life of the people of different
countries. I came to Glastonbury for various good reasons.

Self: It must have been a difficult journey.

Douglas: Yes and no. In comparison with the methods of travel
in the world today coming to England was in those days hazardous
to say the least. But I always liked to wander and to travel. I made
my way to France and Calais on foot. Walking never worried me.

Self: Where was your horse?

Douglas: | did not say I rode a horse on this occasion. There
were times when I did. (Rather sharply) What made you mention
a horse?

Self: You said you went about on horseback a great deal.

Douglas: Yes, that is true, but it rather depended on the situation.

It is not easy to explain or easy to understand, but the point is that
no one horse, unless there was plenty of opportunity for rest, could
do such a journey and it was a common thing to change horses
now and again, But if I was travelling any very long distance
quite often I would walk. This may sound odd to you, but depending on the circumstances I would either walk or ride.

I travelled to England and eventually stayed a year or two, as
far as I can tell, in Glastonbury. This was in its early years, its formative years. I learnt a great deal from the monks in Glastonbury. Also
there was a strange form of printing there which had never been
known before. In those days as you know, manuscripts were all
done by hand, but a monk had brought into being a form of printing. Not, of course, as you understand it today. But he was a
scientifically-minded individual and he was trying to bring into
being a certain method and it was used to some extent. I don’t
know if any of these manuscripts — they could hardly be called
books, although they were bound — still exist. Of course, as everyone knows, Gaxton brought out the first printing press in England.

Self: Can you throw any light on the Holy Grail?

Douglas: These things spring from truths, but like all truths,
much is added and much is subtracted over the centuries; in fact,
of course, much more is added. It is like a story that goes around — 
by the time you receive it back again it is very much changed from
its original. There are fundamental truths in this business of the
Holy Grail, but I am afraid rather different from the story as told.

Self: So you don’t think Joseph of Arimathea brought the Cup
of the Last Supper to Glastonbury?

Douglas: No. But there is no doubt that there were many souls
in the very early formative years of the Christian religion who did
travel the whole world and who set up and created groups and
churches. But, of course, so much has been added and so much legend
has been accepted more or less as fact. However, there were some
remarkable men in those days, especially when one considers that
a man’s life span was perhaps forty to fifty years at the outside.
There were people who lived to be eighty, but they were very
exceptional.

There was so much disease, so much illness of varying degrees.
Most of it was due, of course, to the unhygienic conditions and
lack of knowledge. I was tremendously interested in medicine. I
studied and experimented and indeed I realise that in my own
way I achieved a good deal, and much that I discovered and left
behind was wed for centuries and no doubt I still used in some
instances.

‘Self: What a pity your books were lost in the fire.

Douglas: Yes. Nevertheless, a lot of these remedies were memorised by the monks and as I have told you I travelled a great deal
and many of my ideas were copied in other monasteries, Other
monks who studied medicine worked on my theories and weed some
of my products and so on.

Self: Do you remember the name of your Order?

Douglas (trying to recall this but not succeeding); Er..
(Dominican came through at a later siting).

‘Self: Were you an abbot or prior?

Douglas: I was a brother at first but became what you would
calla prior.

Self: You said you met St. Francis. Were you a Franciscan?

Douglas: No, yet I had great sympathy for the Franciscans because they had great problems and great difficulties in their early
years, and had a great deal to combat. Some of the Orders were not
too happy about them. Francis in his time, although beloved by his
own  brothers, was not altogether trusted by many of the others,

Self: He wasn't orthodox, was he?

‘Douglas: No, that is the point. I hate to say this, but there is no
getting away from the truth that between the different Orders there
was a certain amount of pettines: and jealousy. This goes back
centuries, yet human nature has not changed all that much, A
person may he very sincere in his beliefs and in his religion,
And endeavour to follow it out to the very letter — but it does not
alter the fact that the human element is there, and sometimes you
get pettiness and unpleasantness when people differ in their views.

‘Self: Did you return to Italy?

Douglas: Yes. I went to Italy, to Spain, and to Germany, as is
now called, and to many other countries

‘Self: This must have been a very interesting incarnation,

Douglas: Probably it was one of my most useful and helpful
ones. I always feel that in that period of time I achieved more
perhaps than in any other. I can see myself clearly, it is as if, i  do
not compare myself to diamond  — but it is as if I am like a diamond
with all its different angles which constitute the whole, I think all
human life is like that. Each incarnation is a facet, and we are
many faceted. it is not until we have had many Incarnations, that
we become a little more perfected; I feel we are like uncut diamonds.

I see you in such a different light now. I don’t mean by that
that you have changed — although, of course, in a sense, I have
changed — but I see you not as I remember you in this present
incarnation of yours, but in others. I see you much more as a complete soul. I don’t know how to explain this. I know one thing,
that we are obviously brought together for a very real purpose and
that we shall be together, and that we shall grow closer mentally
and spiritually and become more one, while still retaining our own
individuality, character, and personality. To some extent that will
persist. From this side, I can see a more complete picture of our
lives than ever I could before.

I always want you to feel that in spite of my growth mentally
and spiritually, in spite of the experiences that I have had, and
may yet have, in spite of all the evolution that must take place
with every human being — myself in particular in this instance — it
does not separate us, but brings us closer together. The more my
knowledge, the greater my realisation, the more it helps you and
brings us nearer to each other. Never think that I am growing
away from you.

Self: It is good to know that, dear. Which i
going to tell me about next?

Douglas: I don't know. There is so much I want to tell you,
but obviously I must tell it to you in my own way. I must think
about it, and recapture it in memory. It is not always possible to
recount something on the spur of the moment, When you say to
me so and so, it is as if it breaks the trend of my thought and I
have to try to think back. It is best to let me tell you as my feeling
is, as my impression is, and as my memory serves me.




jump to,

CHAPTER FIVE.

The spirit life.

Mickey was in a chatty mood and intrigued with my new abode.

Mickey (after the usual greeting): How are you getting on in
that house Auntie? Has the crazy woman gone?

Self: I have moved from there. I am in a bed-sitter now.

Mickey: Bed-sitter? All in one room? No cooking facilities?

Self: Oh yes, rather! I have a ‘Wee Baby Belling’.

Mickey: Gosh! Is that so? Any washing-up water in there? Do
you really like living in one room?

Self: It is a case of having to at present.

Mickey (concerned): You're not hard up are yet?

Self Laughing): I keep going!

Mickey: You should have a nice modern flat with all the conveniences.

Self: I thought these material things didn’t matter.

Mickey: They matter to a certain extent. How one lives and
the conditions under which one lives, are very important. If you’ve
got peace of mind and quietude....

Self: I have.

Mickey: In one room? (Brightly) I see the idea, you ain’t got
so much housework?

Douglas (to the rescue): What is going on?

Self: Mickey has been teasing me about my bed-sitting-room.

Douglas: That is sufficient isn’t it? You don’t really need much
more. I suppose one other room, and a kitchenette and bathroom,
would be nice.

Self: Perhaps that is in the future.

Douglas: Over here you will not need a kitchen, neither will you
need a bathroom.

Self (in fun): Not a bathroom? ;

Douglas: No, of course not. We are living in an environment where



the whole atmosphere is so pure and fresh and clean, and the very
condition of living so perfect, that we never feel dirty, never get
dirty. We don’t have the conditions which necessitate many of the
things considered vital and necessary on earth.

Everything here is a state of mind and after all’s said and done,
if you think right, then you are right. Over here you attract to
yourself all sorts of things which by their very nature make life
such a beautiful thing. There again, as I have often said, it is
extremely difficult to explain and describe accurately so much that
one wants to give. As far as I can understand the meaning of the
term perfection, the conditions of life under which I exist are
perfect.

Here, you don’t feel the need to have a bath or a shower. Of
course you can if you wish. You can bathe, you can enter into a
form of sports if you like. These things are a matter of whether
you feel they are necessary. So much depends on the individual. A
person who feels the need for certain things will, for a time over
here, indulge in those things, and they will be there for that person
to enjoy. This is only temporary until such time as one adjusts oneself and begins to think differently and see differently, and to
realise that certain things are no longer essential. Gradually you
evolve to a point where many of the things which once seemed
important and necessary are no longer so.

While you think it necessary to eat and to drink, or you have
the desire for certain kinds of food and drink, those things will
exist for you. But the vast majority of people soon begin to realise
that these things are no longer necessary because the body which
one inhabits is by its very nature so different. In other words —  and I know this may sound odd and even contradictory  —  the body
is as you think, nothing more or less.

There are all kinds of fruits here and all sorts of vegetation. Many
of the things that you consider necessary and part of life on your
side do exist here. But as you advance through varying states, so
these things gradually cease to be important to you, and they will
cease to exist for you.

Self: Yet they are real?

Douglas: Yes, but they are only real under certain conditions.
You must try to see things in this way — you are living in a world
which is a thought-world, a world created fundamentally by
thought-forces, This applies even to nature itself and many of the
things which nature supplies. Indeed one could go back, if one were
able, in time itself to the creation. Anything created — anything, that
is,  — is a state of consciousness, a state of realisation which is solidified
with man. Man has grown with the world and the world has grown
with man. Surely the whole thing is a state of mind. take away
the state of mind, and man would cease to exist.

it is only the consciousness and awareness of things that makes
it so that man is. The whole point is that it is only Because you
are living in a certain vibratory condition, or rate, if you like, that
you are solidified. The physical aspect of self is a solidified form
in harmony with the very conditions under which you exist i
the world. But fundamentally it is still a mental condition or
state, and it is only one of probably millions of such conditions in
space.

As you rise in mental stature, mental understanding, mental
appreciation, as you progress with a wider vision and a wider
realisation of things, so the limitations of each world in which you
may exist recede, and are less important. As you go ahead, your
eyes are open to newer worlds, newer conditions, newer sets of
vibrations. In other words, you are what you are because of your
consciousness of the things which man through countless ages has
brought into being.

The world in which you live today is obviously very, very
different from what it was thousands and millions of years ago. For
instance, you have seas now where once there was dry land; you
have dry land now where once there were seas; you have vast areas
which bring forth vegetation which once had no form of vegetation or life at all. There is no doubt that man himself has changed
through generations from something which was totally unlike man
is today.

Self: But the spirit was always there?

Douglas: Yes, the spirit was there because it is only the ‘spirit
that is life. Life and spirit are one inasmuch as the spirit is the
fundamental part of man and the only part of him that really continues to exist. But it exists under different conditions through
generations upon generations, and in different circumstances. The
earth-world as we know it is old, but in time itself it is young.

Self: Some people think we are coming to the end of an age.

Douglas: Well, life is always coming towards the end of an age
and starting a new one. In a sense that is true enough, but I am

not one of these people who think the earth-world is going to come
to an end.

Self: I meant this order of things.

Douglas (laughing): Well I would say this disorder of things is
going to change to some sort of order. What is going to happen — 
and I am sure I am right in this — is that beings from other worlds,
or other planets, are going to make themselves known very soon.
in other words, they are going to come tu such a way to earth,
that man will realise to the full the living reality of peoples on
other planets. When I think the earth is going to change, but not
until then.

‘The extraordinary thing is that attempts are being made by man
( enter into orbit or enter into other planets and to some extent
he must and will eventually succeed. But whit he does not know
is that people from other spheres, other planets far, far more
advanced than ours, will soon be making themselves Known to mankind on earth, and this is game to be the salvation of the earth.

Self: I think flying saucers’ are heating seriously considered, and
investigated scientifically, now.

Douglas; i don't profess to be able to explain the scientific aspect,
but ‘flying saucers’ are a reality, and these beings from other planets - 
not so far, in some senses, removed from: man -will be recognisable as human beings. But they will be of a much higher stature
and nature, of much higher experience and more highly evolved
and developed. ‘These beings will eventually nuke themselves known;
these ‘flying saucers’ are only early attempts at contact.

And this business of communication with the so-called dead such as your coming to talk to me — will become an accepted fact,
and many of the religions, net all the religious as you know
religion today, will be non-existent. in the not so distant future,
proof and the evidence of identity will come through scientific
means, in a highly scientific way in regard to
communication, not
only between our world and yours but also from other worlds of
other beings.

Man has some shocks coming and they are going to be very
interesting and illuminating. | an. sure that the world is going to
be brought to the realisation that for centuries upon centuries man
has been living in a fool's paradise. he has certainly been living in
a very narrow, limited sense, without realising that all the time
other people in other worlds have also been living and progressing
and have evolved at a greater rate. New methods will be applied
scientifically which will prove this, and this is, I think, the most
important thing. I don’t think man realises this. In fact a lot of
things are being kept quiet. Certainly in Russia certain scientists
are already tapping these sources and they know far more than
at the moment they are allowed to say. ‘the scientific evidence
of life on other planets is going to be revealed, perhaps within the
next five or ten years.

Self: Your voice is wonderful today dear — just as I remember
it when you were on earth.

Douglas: Is it? I haven’t a clue. Quite frankly things are very
variable in communication and one has to be grateful for every
opportunity. It is very difficult for me to know how well I do come
over,

Self: Very well. Don’t you think so, Leslie?

Mr. Flint: Yes, marvellous. As good as I have ever known.

Douglas: I don’t know if my voice ever sounds really like it used
to. Have you played any of these tapes to people who remember
me to see if they recognise me?

Self: I have played therm many times to many people, but not
yet to those who rememberer you very well. By the way, are you
going to continue about your incarnations?

Douglas: I am sorry. I should have done so today. It is important
and interesting to discuss past events on earth, and in a way it can
be a great help. I don’t want you to think that I am not anxious
to do so, but there are so many other things. I will vary my talks
from time  to time ; I think that would be best. I would also mention the fact that there are tines when it is more conducive on
account Of certain conditions to talk about some things than others.
Sometimes when I come it is as if the channel is clearer for discussing certain things than it is for others. Sometimes it is easier
to go back, and sometimes it is easier to go forward. This may
sound odd, but there again, as I have often said, time is an illusion.

People assume that the past has happened, the present is happening, and the future is not yet. But actually, of course, the future
is already there in embryo, it is already beginning to move, it is
already taking shape. One day I will try to explain this. What has
happened and what is happening at this moment is already forming what is to happen in the near future. If only people could realise that!


Man’s thoughts and actions of yesterday and today are forming
the things that will happen tomorrow or soon after. ‘That is where
the danger lies, particularly among politicians and the states of
mind of people in high places. These people’s thoughts and actions
are already moulding the tragedies of tomorrow. That is why it is
so important that whatever one thinks and does is for good. When
there are bad thoughts and bad actions that follow them, then
worse things follow in consequence. It is the natural sequence of
events; it cannot be avoided. Man, and no one else, is responsible
for all that happens in your world — good, bad, or indifferent.

People are always saying: ‘Why does God permit this?’ “Why
does God permit that?’ ‘If there is a God why doesn’t He stop
this?’, but there is no one to blame but themselves. Man creates
for himself all the ills that happen in life. Man creates ill-health;
man creates sickness; man creates wars; intolerance breeds all the
dreaded things that happen to man. Until man learns to think
differently and, in consequence, act differently, he will be beset by
all manner of ills. There is no doubt about that. Anyway, next time
I must try to talk about other things of importance. I am so glad
you are back again because now we can resume our talks.



CHAPTER SIX.
A female incarnation at the time of the
French Revolution.

Mickey (very brightly): And what can I do for you?

Self: Ah! Have you many visitors here today Mickey?

Mickey: Yes, quite a few. Including your husband, of course.

Self: He never disappoints me.

Mickey: he's a good man. I reckon you must miss him terribly?

Self: I have kept closely in touch with him.

Mickey: We must have been older than you, although he's young
now. (Reverting to his Cockney idiom): You was his right hand,
wasn’t you? He depended a lot on you.

Self: I depended on him, too.

Mickey: We'd certainly changed a lot of his ideas. He wouldn't
have approved of this, would he?

Self; No, although latterly he was changing his views a little.

Douglas (suddenly joining the conversation): What are you saying about me? I thought I heard my name mentioned and presumed you were talking about me.

Self; I said you had changed your ideas a little before passing.

Douglas: I think that is true, In certain respects I had changed
my views. I was not quite so narrow, shall we put it like that. Have
you anything in mind you want me to discuss today?

Self; Perhaps there is something you would like to say?

Douglas; There are many things but the difficulty is to know bow
to put them into words.

Self; Your various incarnations interest me. Can you remember
as far back as that one in Ancient China?

Douglas: That I must admit is a long time ago, The Chinese
dynasty of which we were participants is so remote in time, and
such an early one. Looking back, as far as I have been able to
gather i¢ must have been our earliest incarnation, There may have
been others earlier, but if so I Have no recollection of then. Although
I have been told that we had an incarnation on what is today
termed Atkiotis. But I have no recollection or remembrance of it
whatsoever, if at some later date I should find any details or anything I can enlighten you about concerning it, I will.

Self: how does a spirit select a body for incarnation?

Douglas: I don't think one can actually say that a spirit on this
side selects a body as such, because the body, in a sense, is not there
to select. What I suppose one should say is that one selects the
environment and the parentage. This may sound very odd but we
have to clarify a great deal when we talk about incarnations. Particularly do we have to try to clarify this business of birth and
how we are horn, and, of course, why we are reborn. In the first
instance we must understand that although we are individuals in a
sense — that is, we have built up certain characteristics and have
separate personalities —  we are all fundamentally of the same spirit.

When we feel the need, as one has done in the past, to return to
earth, we have  to decide or at least have some idea as to what
would probably be the best environment in which to be born. For
instance, if one felt that it was necessary to know poverty and
suffering and struggle then our would obviously choose parents who
were, by their very circumstances, impoverished, ‘There would be
no point in choosing parents of high birth and ability who bad
plenty of the world’s goods. “The physical body as such may not
even have been brought into being, the seed possibly not even sown,
when we decide. Sometimes it is necessary to decide where and
also, of course, of what race, Because one has had an English incarnation, one does net necessarily next time feel the need to return
through the parentage of English people. So may decide, for instance, to go into a Chinese or a Japanese connection, It may be
necessary to know what it is like under certain conditions in another
country in another period of time.

Nationalities in themselves, although important in the general
aspect of things, are not so important as we see it with our larger
viewpoint, On a material basis they are important and, too, if one
wants to experience certain things or wishes to try to achieve a
certain work of a spiritual nature which will elevate the whole
world, if possible, but particularly this nation which one has chosen.
For instance, many of the great teachers and prophets of old are
54
A FEMALE INCARNATION AT THE TIME OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Old Souls who have chosen to return at different times into different
nationalities. That is why you have the same thread running through
the teachings of many of the great prophets of different nationalities.
‘The main structure is there; the main foundation is there.

Many people say: ‘Some of the teachings of the Buddha are very
akin to the teachings of the Christ’, or ‘Many of the teachings of
the Christ are not exactly dissimilar to the teachings of Mohammed’ and so on. Well, of course, all these great teachers are quite
often of the same  spirit. By that I do not mean that they are the
same individual, which is quite different. There is such a thing — of
which, possibly, the people on earth have no realisation — as the
group spirit, as well as the universal spirit.

Many of these great teachers and prophets are of the same group
who come from a very, very high sphere, a very advanced stage of
being, and have at different periods of history chosen to return
under a different guise. In most instances they have been horn of
humble parentage in the lowest strata, so-called, of material life.
Or, if born of high parentage, early in life they have renounced
inherited wealth and worldly power.

Self: To make the test as hard as possible?

Douglas: Not only that; there are several factors. When a child
is born of so-called good parentage, sent to the best possible schools
and his mind crammed with knowledge and information — some of
which no doubt is of great service — a lot of this may be directly
opposed to spiritual teachings and spiritual consciousness, and prove
a barrier rather than a help. If a person’s mind is developed on
certain lines through certain education it produces, by its very
nature, prejudices; it builds up all sorts of things which may hinder
the channel of divine inspiration.

The minds of the great teachers of the past were open to receive,
not cluttered up with strong preconceived notions and ideas instilled into them by their parents and their teachers. They may, of
course, have had a religious background. Particularly in the ancient
times, the minds of the young men were crammed with religious
convictions and instructions; but there again, although many things
were added which were important, the basis structure of all the
teachings were very similar.

Christ was brought up in an orthodox sense, no doubt, as a Jew;
but the point is that His mind was not full of ‘isms’ and strong,
hard convictions and opinions. His mind was flexible, and He had



this divine inspiration and this wonderful contact with God. The
great prophets, by the very simplicity of their nature, opened up
the channels which made it possible for truth to infiltrate through
to the world; also, the power which they possessed of a spiritual
and psychic nature enabled them to demonstrate their beliefs.
Today in your world there is no one who really practises in the
same way and is able to show the same conviction to prove their
point, or prove their knowledge, to the extent that the great prophets
did. The Church, of course, does not do this; it makes no attempt
even to demonstrate, as Christ did, His knowledge.

Christ was able to perform what the world now terms miracles,
which were not miracles to Him. They were miracles to his disciples
and to the people who witnessed them because they did not understand them. Christ understood natural law. He understood the
power that was there which could be commanded and used; power
which is still there, which has always been there. If only people
realised the tremendous vitality and power that exists in the ether,
by means of which, when you understand Jaws natural and spiritual,
you are able to produce what appears to be a miracle. To people
like Christ these things were normal, natural things, and they were
given to Him under guidance. He was always surrounded by spirits
of a high order and He was able to draw wisdom and knowledge
and power from them.

Christ could walk on the waters, Christ could raise the so-called dead
because, as you should know, when a person is dead to all outward
appearances it is not necessarily so in the fullest sense of the term.
Sometimes  it takes several days for the spirit to sever itself from
the body and if the cord which links the two together is still intact
there is the possibility, under certain conditions, for that person — 
even if it is only temporary — to be brought back to life.

There are many instances where people on the verge of burial
have been found to be still alive. This is not a miracle. This is
something to do with natural law, that until the cord between the
spirit and the physical body is completely broken, until the spirit
is freed from the auric emanation of the body, until it has completely broken away, there is always the possibility that the individual is not fully dead in the sense of being dead to the material
body and dead to the material world. That is why it is never
a good thing for burial or cremation to take place too suddenly;
at least four or five days should elapse.



Self: Yes, of course. Returning to incarnations, dear — I understand we sometimes come back as a different sex.

Douglas: That is quite in order. It is pretty obvious that it must
be so. I mean, sex by its very nature is purely coincidental, Indeed,
in a sense — I know this may sound absurd on the face of it — there
is no such thing. There is, on a purely physical basis: one can say
this is a man, this is a woman. But it is not as easy as that. There
is so much emphasis on this business of sex and on this attitude
of mind towards the body but, in a sense, the body is the least important thing. It is important that one should take care of it and
so on, but it is what you are inside, what you are as an individual
spirit, what you have accomplished, what you have become, what
lessons you have learnt, that are important. Yes, of course, I have
been female.

Self; Can you remember a female incarnation you have had?

Douglas: | had a female incarnation in France in the eighteenth
century. Evidently on this occasion I was a person of some position
and wealth. I suppose it was important that I should learn certain
lessons because I was very much caught up in the French Revolution, although I was fortunate enough to escape the consequences
of revolution. In other words, I was not guillotined. I was able to
get away into Austria on the very verge of the catastrophe.

I had been very much attached to the French Court, and knew
the royal family intimately and well. By birth I was Austrian, but
I lived in Paris because I married a Frenchman, and I had several
children. I can see now that there was a purpose in my being in
France and learning the lessons that I Learnt there, because although
I was brought into contact with certain people of the upper classes,
I had always had great sympathy for the poor, and what I could
do to help the poor, I did. Indeed, I think I can say that I did
much more than most for that age and day, when it was. quite a
common thing to accept poverty. One thought it was something
that nothing much could be done about, but I always felt something
should have been done. In fact, I had many discussions with Marie
Antoinette on this subject, but she had little time for poverty. It
was something she did not really know anything about. I used to
try to draw her attention to this and always said that it could well
be that at some time, owing to the situation of poverty and so on,
something would happen. But I never dreamt of anything so drastic
as a revolution. I always felt that something should be done, otherwise who knew what might transpire if the people got out of hand.
Of course I was not by any means as helpful as I might have been,
but I did what I could — certainly much more than many of the
people in the position that I was in at the time.

Although I said I escaped, I did so by accident rather than
design, because it just happened that I had started on my journey
to Austria only a few days before the revolution broke out. I was
safely across the border at the time it happened and, of course,
hearing what was happening in France I did not return; it would
have been foolish to do so. I mention this because it is of interest.
Probably if you had not reminded me, or asked about female incarnations, I would not have remembered. My children died very
young, as indeed was quite a common thing in those days. There
was very little medical attention and knowledge. I had three children, one of whom lived to be sixteen; the other two died in
infancy.

Self; How remarkable to remember details like that!

Douglas: You and I have been very much associated, but the
point is this — it is so important for people to realise that although
there are many, many instances of people coming together again
and again through rebirth under different circumstances and in
different times, one must never place too much importance on the
physical or material aspects. What is important is the spiritual progression that is made by those individuals over time itself.

There are people who say: ‘Oh, I don’t like the idea of reincarnation and having to come hack and perhaps meet and marry some
other man or women, as the case may be’, but you see we do not
put any stress or attach too much importance to the purely physical
side. What is important is that we can only hope to reach any real
height of spiritual attainment or achievement when we have gone
through many, many different conditions and phases of life; when
we have become this, and when we have become that, even if it is
only temporarily on earth in a material body.

You must see the earth-body and the earth-life for what it really
is. The earth-bodies in themselves are but the caskets that hold the
soul, that hold the individual spirit that is ever advancing and
experiencing. The material world is the schoolroom in which we
must learn these Lessons. We are merely the pupils and we move
from class to class according to our evolution and development. If
we do not learn all that is necessary in one class, then we cannot
go into a higher class; we still have to stay on, or go back the next
term to the same class.

We have to rememberer that sometimes the teachers during that
particular period, whom we had thought were excellent teachers,
may in themselves not, necessarily, always be so. We may be unfortunate enough to be brought into contact with bad teachers. It is
possible that we can be misled and we realise not that the effort
that was made to return and experience a new life was wasted, but
that we still have not learnt some of the lessons that are necessary,
and we return again. Sometimes one may have to wait hundreds
of years before returning; on another occasion it may almost be
rebirth in a matter of moments or hours.

This business of time is always a problem. One must always
realise that to a great extent it is an illusion. Of course it is very
important and vital on earth, just as the physical body is important
and one must care for it, just as many of the things that may happen
are vital and important even though they sometimes seem trivial.
Indeed one might almost say that some of the things that happen
to one on earth which seem to be on the surface the most trivial
are sometimes the most important, and those things which sometimes seem most important are the most trivial.

We must remember that if we are to achieve anything, or we
are to advance as spiritual beings, we must experience all manner
of things. We cannot live and experience and progress by only
knowing good; we must also know bad. We must almost certainly
make mistakes. We must sometimes even do things which are
wrong. It is only when we have remorse, and we look back and
see the chaos that has been created by our foolishness or our waywardness that we learn, and we desire again to return to make
good, and to know what it is to do the right thing.

These things that happen to us are neither by design nor by
accident. I am not suggesting by that that everything is preordained, otherwise it would be pointless; what I am trying to say
is that though we are given free will, we cannot by our own nature
or desiring necessarily always do the right thing. Sometimes the
very circumstances of life, the people that we meet and the people
that we know, and even our parentage and our teachers and so
on create circumstances where we are forced into a situation where
we cannot see clearly, and we make mistakes and perhaps we do
wrong. I am not excusing the mistakes that not only I but every


human being must make, but I am trying to clarify the position
that we are all travellers on the road of eternal progression, and
each one of us must, by our very nature, make mistakes.

People are always saying: “This is wrong’ or “That is wrong’;
of course these things, in a sense, are wrong, but if it were not for
the wrong, we would never recognise the right. If it were not for
the black, we would not understand the purity of whiteness. In
other words, we have to accept the fact that we are all the time
dealing with complexities and situations created by man himself.
God does not interfere with His handiwork. In the beginning God
created all things that are good, but if man by his foolishness and
his waywardness creates adverse conditions, then he must learn
gradually, through suffering and tribulation, the right path and
the right way. He must build, and rebuild, and build again if
necessary. I now realise more and more the wisdom of life but it is
always difficult to explain this in words. I hope that over the years
that are still left to you I will be able to discuss many facets of
these tremendous problems, this tremendous truth — but always
remember that I can only tell you as much as I can, as best I can,
under the prevailing circumstances.




CHAPTER SEVEN,
The danger of dogma.

Mickey: Your husband is here!

Douglas: It would be very strange if I were not; after all these
years of constant communication it would be very strange if I suddenly disappeared and did not come to talk to you. You would
wonder what had happened,

Self: I certainly would, dear.

Douglas: I should never do that. While there is an opportunity
to have communication, I shall take all the advantage I can of it.
It means so much to me, and I am certain it does to you; apart
from the fact that one hopes eventually to interest others. Have
you anything particular in mind you want me to talk about today?

Self: Talk about anything you like.

Douglas: I like to feel that what we discuss is of value and of
interest to many, rather than to talk about mundane things as so
many do. Of course it is very natural and very necessary in early
communications to talk about ordinary things; but there comes a
point when one feels this is the moment to branch out and discuss
things appertaining not only to oneself, but to all humanity. The
whole of life is so vast and so tremendous that every individual
soul is caught up in it in some shape or form, one way or other,
and we are all so much part of each other. The vast majority of
people on earth have no real conception of this.

People like to assume, and to some degree of course it is true,
that they are separate individuals. It is true that we have separate
bodies, and that we have individual spirits, but we are also part
of the universal spirit; we are all caught up one with the other in
every sense really, not only in your world but in this world too.
Although we like to feel that we are individuals, we are really a
product of other people’s thoughts and ideas over centuries, Each
of the varying lives that we may have had when we have returned


to earth, though in its own way separate, is part of the complete
whole.

The tragedy of life is that people go through an existence on
earth looking upon themselves completely and absolutely is something apart, as separate individuals with a selfish attitude of mind,
and very seldom forgetting self in service and giving oneself to
others. All the great teachers realised that the only way to find
one's true self was to to see  oneself’. ‘The one idea of so many  people
on earth is to get out of life all they possibly can, rather than to
put what they can into it, to give themselves in love and service
and to share their fives with others. ‘The vast majority of people,
as far as is humanly possible, they to avoid issues or try to avoid
expressing themselves where others are concerned,

The fundamental cause of all the untold tragedies of life the
wars, the disputes, and the unhappiness that eusues that man is
self-centred, not only individually, but nationally. This is another
great mistake. There should not be this national spirit, this competitive element; there should not be this feeling that our action
is the nation and all others are inferior, We know that there are
certain races who have uot progressed in some respects as much
as others, but quite often it is because they have been suppressed
and held hack: they have not been given the opportunity and
education or, if they have, it has been very limited.

this dreadful fear, also, is the curse of the world. We have lived
through two great wars which, fundamentally, were brought into
being through fear and intolerance. Nations and people should
realise that they have an elegance and a duty not just to themselves or their own particular nation, but that they are citizens of
the world, and they are all involwed in this business of living. They
must learn, eventually, to live as one peoples not as separate
peoples because their colour or their language is different.

Language is obviously one of the greatest barriers ta civilised
progress. Indeed there are so many things that cause us concern
and we want to try if we can to reify and to help, Phat is one of
the reasons why we return; net for any individual reasons
although, of course, we Like to talk to these we love but te bring
all peoples together as one family and to break down all the barriers
that have been built up through tolerance, through religious intolerance and through national intolerance. ‘These are the greatest
evils of the world.


Self: They are gradually passing away, dear. By the way, I do
want to ask you if the whole personality returns to earth when we
reincarnate, or only a facet of the individual consciousness, You
talked recently of a group-soul; did you mean that individually or
collectively?

Douglas: This is very difficult to explain. When one is asked
such a question one realises the almost hopeless position one is placed
im in trying to answer it, because by its very nature it is complex;
what may apply in one instance would not necessarily apply in
another. There is no answer that fits all the varying conditions of
incarnations.

Although there is a theme — I wish I could explain this better — 
there is a thread that runs through all lives, it is not necessarily
easy to explain the pattern. It is like, I suppose, a great tapestry
which is so vast in its conception that in a sense it is probably never
finished. There are so many different threads and hues, so much
light and so much shade, that one can only perceive fractions of
it as one progresses. To some extent one must assume what the
completed whole will appear like. It is only when you stand hack
in the distance that you can see it in all its beauty and you realise
the necessity for the light and the shade.

The pattern that has been woven over time can only be appreciated when you yourself relax away from it, and look at it, analyse
it, or if necessary criticise it, because one learns through criticism
as well. We must realise that we are so very complex: I do not mean
im just one sense, that is, in a material world; we are also to some
extent complex in the spiritual sense. We do not know all the
answers; we do not know the complete picture.

People often say: ‘Have you seen God?’, ‘What is God like?’,
‘What are the heavenly spheres like?’ and so on. All sorts of questions. But we can only perceive, according to our evolution and
development and according to our experience, some aspects of these
things. It is impossible for any soul on this side — particularly I
should imagine the more highly evolved souls — to he able to come
back in a material sense and describe, in an earthly language, many
things which they have experienced. We can give you little bits
here and there. It is like this tapestry of which I was speaking, we
can give you a little illumination; we can, as it were, help you to
pick up the thread so that you can do your share, or help to bring
a little light, or shade if necessary, into the picture. But the point
is that it is all tremendously exciting, tremendously complex, and
that is, of course, what really constitutes living.

Nothing could be more erroneous than this idea some people
have that we on this side live (if we live at all that is!) in a perfect
state of being, because as far as one can imagine — certainly so far
as all of us know — there is no such state. There are states of being
which have a form of perfection in which you may exist, and you
may be so perfectly happy that you may assume that it is a perfect
state. But if we ever reached such a condition as a perfect state
of being, which would imply that we have the key to all questions,
it would become an intolerable condition of life. There would be
nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing fresh to discover; there
would be no more advancement in any shape or form and we would
become bored and disinterested, and after a time lose the faculty
of being able to appreciate life.

The beauty and the joy of life is that it is continuous; it is continuous adventure, continuous experience on new strata of knowledge, and illumination of mind and of spirit. It is constant change,
although this is not always obvious. Perhaps, in a sense, it is subtle.
It takes, if one must use the expression of time where we are concerned, aeons and aeons of time, And although one may come back
to earth at various times for various reasons — either to gain certain
knowledge that can only be gained by earthly experience, or perhaps
to do some specific work to encourage and enlighten others who are
less informed — even assuming that one returns perhaps a dozen times
or more, that in time itself is infinitesimal. One is progressing and
experiencing all manner of things on different planes of existence
or consciousness and, in consequence, life is always varied. That
is the joy of life!

This idea of being in a perfect state and knowing all things,
especially, if I may say so, of the very narrow religious aspect which
so many apply to life after death, would be so utterly boring, so
utterly distressing, that no one could possibly want to have that
existence. It may be very nice, for instance, and very comforting,
to have certain fixed ideas in regard to religion and to find pleasure
and joy in going to church and listening to different sermons and
singing the same hymns. All that may be very pleasant once or twice
a week, but if people were to go on for eternity with these religious
convictions one would long for death.

jump to chapter 8.
mickey: Can you hear me Auntie?
Self: Very well thank you, Mickey.
Mickey: Good. Are you getting ready for Christmas?
Self: Not yet, it is too soon.
Mickey (assuming a tone of surprise): Haven’t you got all your
presents and things? Are you going to your sister’s place?
Self: Not this time, Mickey.
Mickey: You won't be on your own, will you?
Self: I don’t think so.
Douglas (at the right moment): He 1s a nosey young man! (gales
of laughter). Actually, of course, he is really very kind. He thinks
that probably you will be on your own and rather lonely. How are
you today?
Self: Very fit, thank you, dear.
Douglas: I must say it has turned out a very nice day for you.
It means you can get about comfortably. What shall we talk about?
Self: You said some time ago that you would like to concentrate
on incarnations.
Douglas: What worries me is the fact that no matter what I
_ may tell you in regard to incarnations, I think it would be extremely
doubtful if people would be able to accept it, because how can one
prove it? That is the only snag.
Self: The fact of your telling me is proof enough for me.
Douglas: Yes, it is proof to you, but I doubt if a vast number of
people would be inclined to consider it proof from their point of
view. I can tell you all sorts of things about previous existences
which are of great interest and which you would accept, but I
cannot help wondering if other people would.

Self: Had you more than one incarnation in England?
Douglas: Not to my knowledge; I may have had, but, of course,
one is not necessarily able to recapture memories of all one’s incar-
nations. Some incarnations stand out prominently, others do not.
The Egyptian incarnation when I was a priest attached to the
religious organisation of the time at Karnak is one that is now
very prominent in my memory. I was always seeking truth, trying
to find out more if I could about philosophy and religion, and trying
to understand the purpose of life. It surprises me, even now, that
with all my incarnations and all the experience and knowledge — 
particularly that gained over here in the various periods between
incarnations — I became so narrow in my views in my last incarna-
tion. I have a very strong feeling on looking back that I closed my
mind to some extent to truth from the point of view of seeking it
in other ways.
Self: Perhaps you had not even heard of Spiritualism.
Douglas: I had heard of it, naturally, and I knew something of
Lodge’s experiments and all that. But although I thought there
might be some truth in it, I was never drawn to it because I felt
that 1t was fundamentally wrong. I thought one had no right to
probe in that sense, and that if one did make a contact at all with
the so-called dead, it would probably be of a low order.
I know there are many very sincere and genuine mediums, but
in a number of instances, and it may not necessarily be their fault,
they seem to be quite content to work on what I would call a
low vibration instead of aspiring to contact higher and more evolved
souls. These astral communications may be of interest and value
to a point, but I do not think they have any real spiritual sig-
nificance.
Self: For evidence in the beginning they are most valuable.
Douglas: I appreciate that one must have the evidential side,
one must have the proof of identity, and that the communication
in the first instance must be with personal contacts — one’s friends
and relatives, people one has known who are able to supply sufficient
evidence of a kind that would give conviction — but it does seem
to me that communications are more concerned with the mundane
and the material than ever they are with the spiritual.
We realise that the fundamental truth of Spiritualism is univer-
sal, and applies to all human life and affects all people. It is the
basic truth of all religions, but whether it should become a religion

in itself as such, that I am rather inclined to doubt. We would like
to feel that there could come a universal knowledge, a universal
realisation of Truth, where all people would have a common under-
standing which would break down all these stupid barriers of
ignorance and prejudice that have been built up over centuries.
The great barrier, surely, in human life as far as religion is con-
cerned is the intolerance which has been the basis of terrible hap-
penings between people because they thought they were right and
others were wrong.
Christ came into the world to show by His own life how one
could find the Kingdom of God, to show how one could enter into
it while yet on earth, mentally and spiritually, and to overcome
death as he did, and prove his identity as he did, to his disciples in
the Upper Room and to others. In other words it seems to me that
Christ came to show a way of life and to become an example, but
Christianity seems to have travelled a long way in the opposite
direction.
Self: Returning to incarnations, dear, do we ever incarnate on
other planets?
Douglas: There are certain planets which are really worlds of spirit;
these are inhabited by people who once lived on earth who have
been released from their physical bodies, released from their physical
condition of earth, and have entered into a new life in what you
term the planets. People on your side assume that there could not
be any life as you know it on the planets, but, of course, that is
quite wrong; many of the planets are inhabited.
Self: Where are you in relation to the planets?
Douglas: Well if you want me to give a geographical area, that
is impossible. ‘The point is that all our worlds, all the spirit worlds,
are planets. I do not know quite what some people assume. about
our world, but of course we are in worlds such as yours, but of a
higher order. And since, apart from anything else, they are far
removed from earth and earthly thought and earthly conditions,
and not subject to the same laws of nature, there are great differences. These planets of which I speak are our worlds, and they are
real worlds in which we live and have our being, in which we live
a more rarified and a more purified life.
Self: You said on one occasion that Russia is nearly in contact
with your worlds — scientifically.
Douglas: Yes, I think Russia is nearer to achieving communica-

tion with us than they are, for instance, to landing on any of the
planets. I only hope that when this comes they will realise the
immensity of it and make it something from which the whole world
can benefit. But we must not confuse issues here. I think there is
a vast difference between Russia sending up a space craft and
landing on one of the planets, and having a scientific form of communication
with our world, because one is the world of the spirit,
and the other is a form of life which has no spiritual significance
as such.
Self: Yet I understood you to say that people on those planets
are highly evolved.
Douglas: Of course they are, but those particular planets are
far removed; in fact they are not even visible to people on earth
through the most highly specialised apparatus. They are planets of
which you have no knowledge, these spiritual planets of which we
speak. ‘The ones nearer to you which are visible at least some of
are of a different order altogether.
them
What I am trying to say is that it is feasible that there may be a
scientific approach to certain planets which will not necessarily be
of any great benefit to man. We are concerned, obviously, with
scientific development and communication with higher planets which
will be of real benefit. One must remember that the earth in itself
is but a speck in the firmament; it is not what it seems. You may
say the world is vast, but as a world as such it is infinitesimally
small. You hear people say: ‘Well if there is this business of life
after death, where do all these untold millions of people who have
lived and died over the centuries on earth exist?’; one’s mind cannot grasp that there could be a world or worlds which could make
it possible for all these people to exist in another sphere.
The point is, as I said, that the earth world itself is very small,
but there are so many, many worlds — spiritual worlds. This is why
people, when they come from different worlds and different planets,
will tell you perhaps something rather different. ‘Though there
may be a basic realisation of things and the fundamental truths are
there, there are so many different avenues of thought and experience that one person may tell you one thing appertaining to
themselves and their realm or life of spirit, and another person will
tell you so much that is different. Each one will tell you his own
experience of things. They may have never met; they may be on
quite different spheres,

Self: At a séance like this, I suppose there are souls from many
different spheres?
Douglas: Yes, there are many people who gather on an occasion
like this, from different spheres and planets, and naturally they
would like to speak; but since it is easier for one person to come
who has become accustomed as I have to speaking:
Self (interrupting): Well, this is your second book, dear.
Douglas: J hope it will be one of several, which is rather a tall
order for you. I often wonder how much we shall be able to accomplish in the time that is left. You have a few years to go yet. I am
still hoping the first book will be published. In a sense, that is an
introduction to a second, and perhaps a third book. There is so
much one wants to say; so much one wants to tell.
Self: Sometime, I would like to hear more about the technique
of voice communication.
Douglas: The whole point is that it is the transmission of thought
into sound and is purely, in a sense, an artificial communication.
I would not like people to assume from that, however, that it is
not me speaking. Of course it is me speaking, but not under normal,
natural conditions as I would do when on earth in my own physical
body.
Even on earth speech is the transmission of one’s thoughts,
utilising the vehicle of expression, which after all is merely the
larynx and so on. We do exactly the same. The only difference
here is that we have to use an artificial larynx which is formed
from ectoplasm — a substance drawn chiefly from the medium and
moulded into a shape similar to the vocal organs. This will reproduce our thoughts, but whether it produces our particular personality and characteristics of speech, I do not know. It may well
do so at some times, but not at others.
Communication depends on so many condition, of the medium,
things — the and also what atmospheric power the
communicator has within himself. If his personality is a strong one,
it will impose itself in such a way that it will reproduce itself even
though it is done artificially. The whole thing depends on so many
conditions being right at that moment.
Self: Are you enclosed in the voice box?
Douglas: No, I would not say we are enclosed in a voice box,
but it is as if one inhabits, temporarily, not exactly a body as such,
but something that has the reproducing organs of sound — that 1s,

it has a larynx, it has vocal organs which means that when one concentrates oneself into this, it responds.
Our problem is to manipulate this voice box by concentration,
and at the same time recapture memories appertaining to one’s
past to bring through as proof and evidence when necessary; and
also to give the message that we have, particularly if it is a message
appertaining to our life over here on an entirely different vibration. It is sometimes like trying to do three or four things at the
same time. It can be very difficult and very confusing; and even
with old hands at it like myself there are times when it is extremely
difficult, and we have to avoid confusion. Confusion is one of our
main problems.

Often there are many other souls around whose thoughts are
very strong. Many of them are very anxious, of course, to communicate themselves. Although we have order and some organisation when communication takes place, we must always remember
that thoughts are living things and very powerful, and sometimes
the thoughts of the medium, or the thoughts of the sitter, such as
yourself, or the thoughts of other people hanging around — bystanders
you might say — can, if one is not careful, unconsciously interfere
with the communication.

It is very difficult to explain, but we have many things to contend
with; and really to become a very good communicator needs a
great deal of practice and trial and error, constant application of
oneself to it, and intensity of thought and concentration. Of course,
the more opportunity one has the better it is.
Self: We think you are a wonderful communicator, dear.
Douglas: Well I have been doing it for a good many years, and
now that you have really set up the link by constant sittings, it
makes it easier for me. Anyway I am very happy about what we
have been able to achieve; and I am hoping we shall be able to
have many more talks on all sorts of subjects.



CHAPTER
NINE
Spiritual progression.
Mickey: Where are you going for Christmas, Auntie?
Self: I hope to be with friends, Mickey.
Mickey: You will? I don’t like to think of you being on your
own. This is a time when people get together, ain’t it?
Self: Yes, what are you going to do?
Mickey: What am I going to do? Oh, I’m going away for a rest
to get out of it all.
Mr. Flint (amused): Oh dear!
Mickey: I shall be very glad to get away from earth vibrations
for a while. (Sadly) I get just a bit weary sometimes.
Self: Do you, Mickey? But think of all the good you are doing
by your life of service.
Mickey: That’s the only thing that keeps me going.
Self: We all love you.
Mickey (brightening up): Thank you! Happy Christmas !
Douglas: Hello! I have been looking forward tremendously to
today. What shall we talk about?
Self: Perhaps celebrations and festivals on your side.
Douglas (after a pause): I am trying to think how one would
begin to describe a celebration or a festival, in words. And, of. course,
what would be a festival for one group of people would not be the
same for another, depending on their evolution or lack of it. The
different spheres, according to the individuals and according to
their outlook and their knowledge, will express themselves accordingly. Some would have what you would call quite an hilarious
party with all the things that you associate with it, even food. But
that would apply to a lower sphere where the people themselves
have not yet progressed sufficiently to realise that many of these
things are no longer essential or important.
Those living on the more advanced planes would have a very

highly advanced form of expression, and in consequence would
create for themselves functions where the conversation would be
highly intelligent and highly spiritual; the whole atmosphere would
be of extreme beauty, far removed from anything that one could
hope to describe. The point is that it would be for those people a
joyous and happy time without the banalities one would associate
with celebration on a lower plane. It is a matter of progress.
Of course, you would have many congregations of people on this
side — particularly those who were thinking very much in the same
kind of way as they did when on earth — who would have what you
would term a Christian celebration. They would have religious services similar in concept to what you know as a religious service on
your side. So much depends on how far the individuals concerned
have evolved. An evolved state of beings whose minds were unfettered and: free, and without any strong views or ideas brought
over from earth, would be able to experience to a fuller extent the
joys and beauties of this life, and create a condition which by its
very nature would bring celebrations of a kind very dissimilar to
Christian festivals.
One of the first things we have to realise on this side is that so
much of what we have been taught and have accepted is not strictly
accurate. This in no way deprecates Christ and His teachings. What
one must divorce oneself from are the man-made ideas and the
rituals, and all the aspects and trappings which have made Christ,
to a great extent, unacceptable to many people.
We must always remember that Christ was, by His very nature,
a spiritual being, and that although He lived and worked in a
material world, He was always striving for spiritual realisation. But
the Church over the centuries has so built up this mythological
aspect (I use the term mythological because although the Church
has always assumed that it preached a living Christ, it has really
created a mythical figure) that Christ is now far removed from
His original personality. Christ was a man the same as any other
human being, but He had the power of the spirit so strongly within
Himself that it was able to manifest itself in every conceivable way
 — unknown of before or since His time. But the Church has built
up this peculiar figure which, in many instances, has driven people
away rather than drawn them to Christ.
So, of course, the obvious thing is that on many of the spheres
where Christ is still very much misinterpreted and misunderstood,
74SPIRITUAL
PROGRESSION
you have what you term Christian festivals — religious festivals very
. similar to those you know on earth — with great congregations of
people worshipping and idolising, bowing the knee, praying, singing
and so on.
There are many religious denominations or groups — I think I
have mentioned this before — in which the people still assume that
their particular way is the right way and that their particular conception of Christ is the right conception. There are many people
who by their very nature, and their thoughts, still continue to carry
this atmosphere around themselves;
and after all, what is atmosphere but thought-forces at work.
People, by their thoughts, create the environment in which they
exist and if a person has very strong religious convictions — not
necessarily Christian, for he could well be a Buddhist, or a Mohammedan — he will find himself in such a community of people, where
he will naturally feel most at home, where he will be most comfortable; and for him, of course, it will be a form of paradise. That
is the glory, I suppose, of this world, the spiritual world of which
we speak: that for every human being there is a niche, there is a
form of paradise.
There is no doubt about it that one may go through a whole
period of time where one is perfectly happy and yet living, in a
sense, in a condition of illusion. And then gradually, very gradually,
one begins to think more deeply and to question. The whole point
is that there can be no real progress until man starts to question
and probe, until he starts to wonder if there is a possibility that
his particular faith could be wrong.
So much has been added, as you well know, over the centuries
to the Christian teaching; so much has been added to the figure of
Christ. I am quite sure Christ wanted to be accepted as a man,
but a man who was driven by the power of the Holy Spirit; a man
who came to show the path and the way and the light, so that
others might follow and emulate Him.
Christ did not come to be revered as a God, or even to create a
religion in the sense that a religion has been built up around Him.
As a matter of fact, He was one who broke away from orthodox
religion; in His early youth He began to see the frailties of human
nature and the faults in his own particular religious faith in which
he had been brought up. He realised that God was truly speaking
to Him and through Him and that He was, in a sense, on a divine

75


link with the Godhead, and had a work and a purpose. He realised
also that this divine power was not in the physical or material body,
but in the mind and the spirit. It is this divine power which is by
its very nature able to overcome all things, which will outlast all
things. It was this force, this vital power, which mattered to Him,
and it was this power which He used.
Self: How would those who have outgrown orthodox ideas and
customs celebrate Christmas?
Douglas: Well, when one has begun to think seriously and begun
to see Christ in the real light, one realises that all great teachers
and prophets have the same message, coming through different
channels but fundamentally the same. So when man ceases to have
this narrow concept and opens his mind and his whole being to
Truth, then he enters into a wider and more acceptable world. He
leaves behind all the religious barriers and enters into a world
where there are festivals which are not necessarily Christian as
you understand them, and not necessarily held because, as on earth,
it is Christmas-time.
There are all manner of festivals in which music plays a very
important part. Great composers, of course, compose works which
are performed by great orchestras; great singers create harmonious
and glorious sounds. This is music that tells of the evolution of man;
music that tells of life itself, and of many lives. Sometimes illustraions are given of individuals’ lives; sometimes an individual who
has a desire to express himself will, by his own effort, create a work
which will project not only music, but also a picturisation of past
events in his or her own life and evolution. For here, when you
listen in a great auditorium to great music, you are also able to
visualise a picturisation on a vast natural screen (this is the only
way I can put this) of the great events appertaining to individuals
and groups of individuals, and to group-souls. Different incarnations can be revealed. The whole history, if you like, of human
life and endeavour is projected visually and aurally.
Self (after a pause): What will you be doing at Christmas?
Douglas: I shall hope to spend some time with you on Christmas
Day.
Self: I shall look forward to that. Is that brilliant light, like a
star, which I see so often moving about, part of you?
Douglas: It could well be, but I cannot say for certain. I make
every effort to attract attention and to give you some idea or impression of my presence, but how it may manifest itself to you in
_a physical sense, I am not always sure. But I am quite convinced
that you do quite often sense and feel my presence; although you
may not see me with the physical eyes, I am sure you see me
inwardly.
Self: Yes, I do. Will you be with your family, dear?
Douglas: We shall no doubt come together over what you call
the Christmas period, not necessarily because it is Christmas as
such, but because, I suppose, we often desire to be together, although
we may not be together a lot. And, of course, there is this sort of
realisation which we draw from earth of the getting together at
Christmas that families do, and in consequence it has some effect
on us. For instance, many, many souls from this side do troop back
to earth, even though it is only temporary, just to see friends and
loved ones. It is only natural that they should, particularly with
those who have not been over very long — those who are still very
near to earth and are very conscious of the thoughts of people on
earth. Especially at the Christmas period, when normally they would
have come together, they like to feel they are still part of the family;
part of the interest of those they have left behind. There is a great
linking-up at Christmas.
Self: If only more people would realise that; it would take so
much sorrow out of life.
Douglas: It would make a vast difference. It would take away
this fear of death, and this terrible loneliness that so many people
feel. Of course, I know there will always be a kind of physical
loneliness for people who are separated by so-called death, but when
one has the inner realisation and knowledge of this Truth, it gives
such comfort and help. The tragedy of your world is that so few
understand and know of it. And at this time, I suppose, it is worst
for people who are bereft of those whom they love; if only they
understood how near they are to them.
Self: Poor Mickey sounds a little tired.
Douglas: No doubt the boy is tired; coming back to earth constantly must be very exhausting.
Self: What effect does it have on you when you return to your
own vibrations after leaving here?
Douglas: Fortunately for us, we can soon shake off. the material
effects; we soon lose the consciousness of material things. And, after
all, what draws us back is not so much the material aspect of the

77

earth-life, but the love and affection of people who are still on
earth. We bring away from earth not earthly thoughts and earthly
things, but the realisation of love and affection of people still on
earth; and in consequence, it is not difficult for us to shake off the
earth conditions.
The only people who perhaps do find difficulty in shaking off
earth conditions are the people who by their very work and effort
from this side are constantly coming back; the guides, for instance,
those highly evolved souls who devote so much time to helping in
your world. Although you would think that because of their nature
and their high state of evolution they would easily throw off material
things, it is not necessarily so; it is difficult for them because they
become so immersed in trying to help and the more sensitive a
person becomes, the more difficult it is to throw off these vibrations.
But for the ordinary person, who just occasionally pops in to see
you and see how you are getting on, and is only conscious, really,
of the individual love and affection of the person concerned, it is
not difficult to throw off earthly vibrations.
Self: I understand that the guides withdraw at this time.
Douglas: Yes. I was going to tell you that many of the guides — 
the great ones who work near earth, and with earthly souls — do
at the Christmas period draw away from the earth; it is an opportunity to recharge themselves, you might say, with new vitality and
power; then they come back in the coming year refreshed to work
again.
Self: They are wonderful.
Douglas: Yes, and you are very much guided and helped not
only by me but by many others. I just want you to know that I
shall definitely be with you on Christmas Day, and I want you to
be happy. I expect you will be a little lonely, but I shall be there.
I shall speak to you again in the New Year.
Mickey (singing brightly to the tune of ‘Happy Birthday’):
Happy Christmas to you,
to you,
Auntie Conacher — 
to you! Goodbye!



CHAPTER TEN,
At the time of Christ.

Mickey: Happy New Year!
Self: The same to you Mickey.
Mickey: We don’t have New Years. That’s a material thing. I
mean, you go by the moon and the stars, and the calendar, and all
that — but that don’t affect us. Anyway, I wish you a happy New
Year and a very peaceful one.
Self: Thank you. Did you have a nice rest over Christmas?
Mickey: Well, yes — I did really. I certainly didn’t come down
to your side. (Laughing merrily) Ha! Ha! I had a bit of a break.
Self: Did you see your parents?
Mickey: Yes — I do see them sometimes, but we’re not sort of
very close. You see, with all due respect, they haven’t progressed
very far. One tries to help them but they’re both — I don’t mean
this unkindly — but they were both very selfish people. All my Mum
thought about was going to public houses — drinking and all that.
You don’t go to pubs do you?
Self (laughing): No, Mickey.
Mickey: Mind you, I don’t see any harm in going into a pub
and having a drink; but some people just sit there all night and
get drunk. That’s no good at all. It doesn’t do them any good
physically, mentally, or morally; and they meet the wrong people
quite often, don’t they?
Self: They do. By the way Mickey, do you remember any of
your former incarnations?
Mickey: Oh, vaguely. ’m not very interested. After all, it’s done,
ain’t it? You’ve gone through it; you’ve experienced it; you’ve
learnt a lot — or at least I hope you have — it’s played its part; it’s
had its purpose; and I can’t see much point in going back on it.
To me, it is going forward that matters.

Self: I agree with you absolutely, but at the same time I think
it is helpful to see the road one has travelled over the centuries.
Mickey: You're quite a case you are! You've changed a lot.
But you was never as narrow minded as some people, was you?
Your husband had firm views about religion, hadn’t he?
Self: Not during the years I knew him.
Douglas: Hello! What is Mickey saying about me?
Self: That you had firm fixed views.
Douglas: I think they were firm in a sense; but it is true that
I became a little more, shall we say, open-minded, during the last
years of my life. Even so, I still clung to the Christian faith.
Self: Yes, of course.
Douglas: And I think that Christian faith — Christian knowledge
I prefer to call it — when it is properly understood and applied, is
a wonderful thing; it is the thing. But I do not have a narrow conception now as so many people do. I have changed my views in
some ways, but I cling to the fundamental truth of Christianity.
Self: Have you discovered any new link in your incarnations,
dear?
Douglas: Yes. It was always there, but I could not recapture
the memory of much of it. There is no doubt about it, I had an
incarnation at the time of Christ. At that time I was just an ordinary
humble peasant. I was one of many, many thousands of people who
witnessed the crucifixion. You must remember, of course, that crucifixion and many other things were common, and one did not take
it quite in the same way that one would now. When you are born
and bred and brought up in a certain condition of life, you become
acclimatised, and accept many things as normal and natural. But
it is appalling to think about it now.
I was one of many who were puzzled, to say the least, about
Christ. Many people were interested and impressed to a certain
extent, but they were never convinced, in His day and age, that He
was God. No one accepted the fact that He was what He claimed
to be or, more correctly, what others claimed for Him. To us, Jesus
was just an ordinary but very enlightened man; in some ways rather
a man we did not understand. And when you do not understand
a person you are inclined to build up certain prejudices and fears
concerning him.
The things that Jesus was able to achieve made some people look
on him as a magician. It is extraordinary the effect he had on
80AT
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people in different ways. I was neither for, nor against; I thought
the whole business of crucifixion was appalling in His case.
Self: What nationality were you?
Douglas: I was a Jew, but only an ordinary peasant. I had no
place or position. I was a man who was as strict as any in my
religious beliefs and accepted everything without question, as we
all did more or less.
Jesus was quite different from what has often been depicted.
I know, from what I have been been told and from what I remember
myself, that He was a man
any of the pictures that one
not a weak, almost effeminate
indeed: dark and swarthy, and
of striking appearance, nothing like
sees so commonly on earth. He was
type of person, but was very rugged
very Jewish in appearance.
He was definitely, from our point of view, a man with strong
religious convictions and a strong, powerful and compelling personality. Many of us thought that He was political as well as
religious and that is why I think some Jewish people followed Him.
They thought He was going to redeern ther, not in a spiritual
sense, but in a physical sense of freeing therm from the Roman
yoke.
The people looked upon Him for a time as a leader and IJ think
it is purely on these lines that the Romans were afraid of him.
They saw him as a man who was creating a lot of disturbance
politically. I don’t think for one moment it was the religious aspect
that worried them; they could not care tuppence about that. But
people clamoured round him and the Romans thought this was
going to be a political organisation, and a powerful one at that if
it were allowed to continue, and I think they were very glad to
get rid of Hirn.
Self: Do you think that in time we may have decisive proof of
reincarnation ?
Douglas: It is feasible. Of course I think it is always going to
be a very difficult thing to prove. For instance, one may, by communication like this, prove one’s identity by references to past
events and circurnstances appertaining to oneself and one’s family.
One can prove one’s survival after so-called death, but to prove
one’s living upon earth centuries ago is much more difficult.
Self: If you can think of any way of doing so, will you let me
know?
Douglas: It is possible, but I don’t quite know how. I suppose,


81


for instance, that if one could prove that certain manuscripts that
one may have written are still in existence and had never been
discovered, and could point to their discovery — that would be proof,
wouldn’t it?
Self: I think so.
Douglas: But in my case there is no such thing. There was a very
big fire in the monastery where I was and a lot of things were
destroyed.
Self: That was a very interesting incarnation. (After a pause)
Can you tell me more about yourself, your home, and your surroundings where you are now, in the spirit world?
Douglas: It is very important for people to realise that this world
of ours is a very real world, not an ethereal world or a wishy-washy
affair. It is a solid world in which everything around and about
us is solid and real, and our bodies to all account and purpose are
as solid as the conditions under which we live. There is nothing
ethereal in the sense that we are transparent or something like
that.
We do not need, as you do, air to breathe; as I have said, our
bodies have a solidity of their own and are as real as yours; and
the ground on which we walk — and we can walk — is as real as ourselves. But, of course, we are referring to a world which by its very
nature is much more highly evolved, and far beyond the range and
the conditions of earth. It is a rarified environment without the
lesser or the distressing aspects of materialism. We have no aches
or pains. It is as if you were to take all the nicest and loveliest
things in earth-life, add to those other experiences and aspects of
life beyond your knowledge, and combine the two into a perfect
whole.
We create for ourselves the very environment in which we exist
and our bodies respond to that condition in a natural and automatic manner. I don’t think one can ever explain this, but try to
realise that thought, which is productive and creative here, makes
it possible for us to experience and enjoy life in every sense. It is
the powerful thought-force which nourishes the body; it is the food
by which we live.

We look much the same as we did on earth. In fact I think we
look identical except that we do not look old; we revert to youth.
But that again is partially something from within ourselves. It is
a consciousness and awareness of self in the higher sense. Beauty

reigns insofar as everywhere one looks there is beauty. I think the
only places where one would find ugliness would be on the lower
planes which are nearer earth and are, to a great extent, created
by the thought-forces of undeveloped souls.
Fundamentally, everything is created by the very power of thought
and the desire for things which are necessary, but these things do
not just happen by thinking. There are substances that are drawn
from the matter or condition of life in which we live and these
substances we can use for construction. We have artisans, and people
who are capable of building and designing, and there are many
styles of buildings, according to the individual’s outlook or idea of
things. That is why on some spheres you have architecture which
is very typical of the Tudors, while another will be very Grecian
in appearance. In fact, in the more highly evolved spheres of existence the buildings are possibly more of a Grecian type.
Self: What architectural style is your house, dear?
Douglas: I suppose you would call it a Georgian type of house.
It is quite small. You seem disappointed.
Self: No, not at all. Now tell me about the garden.
Douglas: That is small but pleasant and has many flowers, and
there is a man I have great regard for who cares for the garden
and whose chief delight is the garden. But there again, there is not
the same kind of work involved as there would be with a garden on
earth. There are not the seasons in the same sense as you understand it. Flowers here bloom continuously and you have all manner
of flowers, many that you never see on earth. But you must not
think that because there is not the work and the effort, as you
understand it in a material sense, there is little or nothing to do.
Things just do not grow entirely without effort. In other words,
there is effort put into it by the mentality of the individual who
loves and cares for a garden here; but it is not a physical thing.
There are gardens over here that have weeds; these are caused
by the individual concerned. For instance, one of the sure signs of
an undeveloped soul here is the fact that they may live in an
environment which is not necessarily unpleasant — to them it is
probably quite pleasant — and yet they may have a garden that is
full of weeds. These weeds, in a sense, are their thoughts which
have never evolved and developed on the right lines.
As you live and as you think, so you are and so you create. Many
flowers are the thoughts of an individual’s striving to be beautiful,


83



but because of certain lack of beauty or defects in his nature there
is a certain amount of weed and undergrowth of various kinds, and
a great deal which prevents the beauty that might exist. One of the
surest indications of a person’s character is the condition under
which he exists and, if he has a garden, by its conditional state.
At one time I lived in a community building — a vast building in
which there were many people, all living in a kind of communal
state which was very pleasant. But now I have this small but pleasant
replica of a Regency or Georgian house. It is very attractive and I
am sure you would like it. In fact I know you do because you have
been here during your sleep-state; but you don’t remember anything about it, unfortunately, in your waking moments.
Self: Are you near a city?
Douglas: Yes, but I find all this very confusing because when
we talk about cities, we naturally think of cities in England and
elsewhere. There are cities, of course, which are on planes near
earth, and they are in some senses similar. But as you progress you
enter into a different sphere, which you have created and you are
partly responsible for — though other people living there have also
played their part. The point is, you are living in a community which
can be, if you like, a city, but it is without many of the trappings
of a city life as you understand it.
For instance, there are no buses. There is no need for transport;
we can transport ourselves from one place to another by thought.
We have no inclement weather; the weather here is permanently
pleasant, and yet there is no sun as such. There is little or no
shadow here. Now you may think it very difficult to appreciate a
world in which there is no shadow, indeed some
that without shadow you cannot have any real
is no shadow in the sense that you understand
there is no sun rising and sinking.
There is a kind of twilight condition which
people would say
beauty. But there
the term because
does give us some
change, and that is the period when, if we wish, we can rest, and
we sometimes do. Although shadows as such do not exist here, that
does not mean that everything is stark and brilliant; there is a
softness and a beauty of light here which is so pleasant. We have
none of the darkness and none of the heaviness that you get, nor
do we have changes of climate and atmosphere as you understand
them. Yet we never tire of it because it is always pleasing, and we
feel the warmth although there is no heat as such. It is very difficult
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to explain how we live in a world which is, in so many ways, so
totally unlike yours and yet, according to the plane on which you
live of course, can be so very similar.
The planes nearer earth can be, and no doubt are, subject to
the influence of the atmosphere round the earth. As you are influenced by the atmosphere, so can we be if we are on certain
spheres near earth. These spheres have definite night and day because they are subject to the moon and the stars, etc. They are so
close to the earth that they can even be compared with the earth.
Indeed, in some senses they are replicas of the earth and there are
all nationalities living in communities under very ordinary conditions, not dissimilar to earthly ones. But when we move further
out and become more evolved, more spiritualised, then we find
ourselves in a changed environment. Words to depict or describe
it become impossible. Are you coming again soon?
Self: I hope so.
Douglas: I look forward to this so much.
Self: And so do I, dear. By the way, I have been wondering if
you have met any of the great naturalists on your side. You were
so fond of natural history.
Douglas: Yes, I have. You must always remember that as we
have a human life, so we have a nature life. We have birds and we
have many of the animals that you associate with life on your side.
Of course certain animals or certain forms of animal life no longer
exist here, because they were undeveloped. They cease to exist, if
I can put it like that. But animals that have been close to humans
and have taken part in human endeavours do exist here.
Horses, dogs, and so on, especially when they have been closely
associated with humans and have had love and affection showered
upon them, are very much pets over here. Most people I have
known who had pets on earth find that they have them here
too. They do not lose them through death; they gain more, in a
sense, because animals can communicate with humans much more
readily here, in a kind of mental way. We learn a lot from animals.
They are part of the scheme of life and should have respect and
regard; one should always have love and affection for them. And
it is not only domesticated animals that exist here by any means,
because there are many forms of animal life, which in their own
fashion and their own way are quite developed; they have feeling
and emotions and great understanding, even when on earth.


85


.
Self: What animals have you at present? You said you had
several dogs.
Douglas: Yes, and several cats, and parrots, and birds of many
kinds.
Self: Parrots?
Douglas: Yes, does that surprise you? Here they live in their
natural state, and it is a great joy because the plumage of birds
here is so wonderful. Of course it can be, and often is, on earth, and
I do love colour. This is a world full of colour — magnificent colour,
and many colours of which you have no knowledge. Sometimes I
must try to give you a more detailed description, but it is extremely
difficult.
Self: A description of colour?
Douglas: Of everything:
Self: I should like that very much.
Douglas: And although it may sound very mundane, may I wish
you a very Happy New Year. I am hoping it will be, to some extent,
a year of change; you may not particularly want it, but it will be
good for you. I think you will yet change your abode. Anyway, |
shall help you.
Mickey: Goodbye. Happy New Year Auntie!




CHAPTER
ELEVEN.
Spiritual environments.
Mickey (brightly): And what can I do for you?
Self: Tell me a little about your own setting in the spirit world,
Mickey.
Mickey: Oh dear! That’s a big order! I spend such a lot of time
with the medium and helping people on your side. Of course I do
spend some time, as you understand it, over here. But until the
medium packs up, until he’s finished his work on earth, like, I’m
stationary. I chose the job myself, and I’m very happy in the work
I do. But I do have my own environment in the spirit world; I’m
in a lovely place which is very countrified, and yet in a way you
could call it a town.
Self: Is it anything like a town on earth?
Mickey: Different altogether. Here they ain’t got traffic and
noise. This is a different life — vastly different. It’s so peaceful and
quiet, so tranquil; there is beauty everywhere. Plenty of time, no
rushing and tearing about; and we know we will be able to evolve
and achieve without worrying too much. Of course we have to
make an effort, otherwise life would be pointless; everything requires
concentration and effort, but there is such love and Gee behind
everything we do that it is a joy to live!
I live in a community of people who have made a certain amount
of progress. We have many interesting things, such as concerts and
theatres and places where people gather together and have discussions, and take an interest in the community. We don’t have
parliaments or organised things like you do; everything is run by
goodwill. Everyone is automatically out to be of service with love
in their hearts; their whole
desire is to do the best for all concerned, not thinking so much of self. Of course, one is concerned
with self — one must be — but one doesn’t have that uppermost in
one’s mind; everyone is serving the community with the best of

87

thought and intention, realising that these are stepping-stones to
greater experiences.
Self: You have no economic problems?
Mickey (laughing): We’ve no need for money or banks over
here; here we work for love and experience — not for what we’re
going to get out of it in a material sense. Everything here must be
done from spiritual desiring. Anyway, you don’t want to talk to me
all morning do you?
Self: I would like to hear Douglas too.
Mickey: He knew you were coming and came with you — so,
obviously, he’s present, and visible to us.
Douglas: Mickey could tell you a great deal of interest which
would probably be, not necessarily different in its content, but from
a different approach and attitude of mind. Everyone will give you
their own realisation and picturisation of life as they know it and
see it over here. Fundamentally, of course, all these things tie up,
but there are many aspects of life which may vary according to
the individual concerned. After all, not everyone coming from a
great continent on your side will give you the same picture; they
may be from an entirely different part of the continent, or their
interests and their attitude of mind toward life may be different.
You are bound to have diversity of opinion, even from this side.
Self: You were going to try to give a more detailed picture of
your own setting in spirit. Are your trees like ours ?
Douglas: Yes. From the point of view of our surroundings we
have, as near as one can say, everything that is common to earth,
but not necessarily only from one country. All manner of trees exist
ever here which normally you would not see, say, in England. ‘There
are natural settings familiar to all peoples when they come, so no
one feels out of it. Everyone feels that this can be, and is, a happy
existence and condition of life for them. It is a familiar one, too.
We have all the varying degrees of setting, not only of trees and
forests but of lakes and rivers and what you call mountainous
country. But in appearance it is not necessarily identical to that
on earth, although in some senses it appears so; we have all that
you associate with scenic grandeur and beauty on earth, but much
more that we could not begin to hope to describe.
We do not till the soil because that is not necessary. There are
all sorts of things which are necessary to us, and there are many
things we do which have a definite purpose, but not many of the

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things that one associated with earth; those things are purely
material and they are not necessary over here. We grow flowers
inasmuch as we tend them and give our love and affection to them,
and watch them grow. I have never yet known a flower that has
died here, although near earth flowers do appear seasonally because
they are subject to earth conditions. But where I am, flowering
shrubs and trees always seem to be permanently at their best; there
is no dying off.
Self: What do you do in this glorious environment?
Douglas: Appreciate it, of course! And I think it is our affection
and our love for nature — for what we term nature — that keeps it
ever flowering and ever beautiful. If a person has a beautiful garden
it is a garden which he himself has thoughtfully created. There is
no physical effort needed, only a mental and spiritual one. But you
can only create when your thoughts are right, when you yourself
have made it possible by your actions and by your thoughts, not
necessarily only on earth, but over here too. There is always growth
here, always the possibility of new thought and new aspects of truth
to assimilate.
All that exists, even though it is created by thought, is certainly
a reality in that it has texture, it has shape, it has substance. But
it may well be that when one leaves a particular sphere, to which
one has been adjusted for so long, to go forth into new vibrations
which one has earned or merited, then that which one leaves behind
may cease to exist. I don’t know for certain whether this is so or
not, but I assume it could well be. One would like to think that one
has left behind something of beauty for someone else to take up
and this may well be, but I have no proof that it is so.
Nothing here is haphazard; everyone seems to get justice and
consideration; everything one has, everything one does, everything
one becomes, must be made possible by one’s own achievement and
effort.
On earth you get all sorts of things which seer to be so unjust, and
I suppose, in a sense, they are. But there again, one often has false
values. It is true there are those who are blessed materially — that
is, in a financial sense; and they may have what seems to the
average person the best of everything — beautiful home, beautiful
garden, opportunity to move about and to travel, and freedom of
expression because they are in a position to do more or less what
they wish. This may seem a blessing, but it is not necessarily so.

89

Sometimes it can be a drawback, and block the path of progress of
an individual instead of making them more understanding, more
thoughtful, more kind, more tolerant, more patient.
Self: Have you any special friends?
Douglas: | have many, many friends. Many new friends.
Self: What do you do together?
Douglas: We have interests in what you would term hobbies and
sports. If a person wants to play tennis, he can play tennis. If a
person wants to play billiards, he can play billiards. In fact one
can do the majority of things that one did on earth in the way of
sports, games and interests, and improve upon them. And there are
other sports and games which we indulge in.
But as I have often said to you, music plays a very important
part in our lives and very few people do not take an interest in
music. Music speaks to us; it is a language. It is a vibrational sound
which gives us a consciousness and an awareness of other spheres.
Indeed, certain souls from other spheres do bring knowledge, and
expressions of thought-forces appertaining to their own lives to us
through music. Music is a very important factor.
We have what you would call great amphitheatres, and great
open air concerts. I say again, everything here has its meaning and
its purpose. Nothing seems to be done just for the mere pleasure
as such. Everything which happens to us, whether it is in concerts
or conversation, in sports or interests, always has a purpose and
a meaning, and something behind it which is helpful.
There is no wasting . . . I was going to use the term time, but
I don’t think that really applies. We have an awareness of a kind
of time, but not as you know it by the clock or the movement of
the sun or moon or stars. These things do not apply. We have the
realisation of change, but not change as you understand it. It is a
change which is ever there but is so subtle; it is a slight awareness
of the meaningfulness of everything, and the purpose behind all
we think or do.

Try to realise above all that we live in a natural world, a real
world, a purposeful world; a world of happiness and tranquillity,
and of ever-growing need for new ventures and new experiences
which are always exciting; a world in which we are helped tremendously by souls from other spheres who bring knowledge to us
through lectures, if you like, although that is a poor word.
We are often given what you would call lessons, and yet it is

90

not like going to school because it is too much of a happy event.
This is something which happens automatically and naturally. We
can be brought together in a community and shown, in the atmosphere, past events in history. In fact, one’s own personal self can
be involved in this; one can see past events in which oneself took
part. These are all things which are registered and which can be
drawn to one’s consciousness by effort, and by the help of those
who are experienced.

Everything of any consequence that has ever happened to man
is recorded in a most miraculous way, and one can learn from these
experiences, and tap these sources in our consciousness. But these
things take a lot of learning; a lot of understanding is needed to
achieve it, and learn how to do it. We need help and we receive
help, from highly advanced souls.

Of course, the more highly evolved one becomes, obviously, the
less necessary it is to draw on past experiences. One has adjusted
oneself gradually to the realisation of the life in which one finds
oneself; and the past, which has contributed in a very important way
over perhaps centuries, no longer has the same impact or pull. But
if we want to, or feel it necessary to do so, we can tune in to those
conditions.

Self: From what I have read, the higher reaches of the spirit
world alarm me a little.
Douglas: There is no reason why they should, because these things
come upon us in such a slow way, and one has become mentally
and spiritually adjusted over aeons of time. One may be thousands
of years on one plane — that is by your understanding of time.
Nothing happens suddenly; everything is gradual adjustment.
Self: As you pass from plane to plane, so to speak, do you die?
Douglas: Not in the same way that one would die on earth. It is
a losing of consciousness and then becoming aware of new conditions and surroundings. As far as I can gather, it certainly is not
like a physical death. Perhaps some time I may be able to find out
more details.

Self: I feel you are on the fourth sphere.
Douglas: That may well be. This business of numbering spheres
and calling them by names may be helpful for people on earth to
get some idea of our world, but really we don’t have any names,
or any places as such. I suppose one can only say that every plane
is a state of awareness, a state of consciousness, in which everything

91

about it is real, and you are real with it; in other words, it is one’s
own particular world, one’s own particular form of existence. We
know that it will gradually change, and as we change so our surroundings and conditions will change; all the time we are slowly
but surely progressing. But the progress is so slow that we just do
not realise it.
It is rather like on earth: when you are very young you cannot
imagine old age, and indeed while you are living on earth the
progress from childhood seems very slow. Although as you get older
time seems to go more quickly, this time business is all an illusion.
And, of course, it is impossible for us to analyse these things in that
sense because we are not subject to time.
No one need ever fear what is yet to come. It is something which
you should look forward to and welcome with open arms and be
overjoyed to realise that you will be free of all the material worries
and all the confusions of the earth. No more will there be the same
problems that beset you. You will be in a world where there is
every opportunity for progress, and a happy condition among
people near and dear to you as well as others who will be of great
help and comfort to you.
Everything here is harmonious; we live in a world of freedom
of speech and freedom of thought, in which we can progress and
find true happiness. No one need fear death; it is, indeed, the gate-
way to life.


92

CHAPTER TWELVE.
The importance of the individual.
Mickey: Hello. Are you doing all your writing?
Self: Yes, I still keep on.
Mickey: I suppose one day you will get it published ?
Self: Posthumously, perhaps — as you once said Mickey.
Mickey (hesitantly): Posthumously? What does that mean?
Self: You have used the word yourself.
Mickey: Have I really? I don’t remember using that word. I must
have heard it, remembered it, and then forgot it! But how will
you publish the book when you’re posthumous? (gales of laughter).
Are you going to make some arrangement then? You’re funny you
are !
Self (laughing): Are there many people here today?
Mickey: Yes, why? Have you someone special in mind?
Self: Douglas, of course.
Mickey: Oh, he always comes. He’s always on your tail keeping
an eye on you to see what you get up to! Have you still got your
room?
Self: Yes, I have.
Mickey: No more moving then?
Self: Not at present.
Douglas: Hello! Is he teasing you?
Self: Yes. You have arrived at the right moment.
Douglas: Mickey sometimes pretends to be rather ignorant but
he is far from that. He is quite a character. I think he makes little
jokes just to make people bright and happy and to relieve any
tension that might arise. I should not have thought it necessary
with you, but he still does it occasionally. Anyway what do you wish
me to talk about?
Self: Have you discovered another incarnation? I like hearing
about your earthly lives.

93
_
Douglas: You seem to place so much store in that. I suppose,
in a way, it is very interesting, but it is not so important as it may
seem to you. The fact that we have had previous incarnations and
have learnt a great deal from them is important, but it is not so
much in the past that we ought to dwell, as in the future.
Self: I fully realise that, yet surely it is part of the romance of
life?
Douglas (amused): Ah! Now you want to get down to the
romance of things!
Self (laughing): It intrigues me to know that we have met in
other periods of history.
Douglas (emphatically): Of course we have met in various incarnations: in Ancient Egypt, in Ancient Rome, in Italy in the Middle
Ages, and even in France. I have told you some of these things, but I
don’t want you to get too involved in reincarnation. I am not suggesting that it has not its place and importance. It has, in one’s individual
life; it must have. But I think the most important thing from our
point of view is making people aware of survival and of the
reality of life after death. To me the most important thing is that
people should have the realisation and comfort of knowing that
life continues after so-called death.
The fact that one may return to earth, and has returned in the
past, is important. As I have said before, we are the product of
previous incarnations. We are what we are now because of what
we have once been. We have gone through many stages of evolution, and achieved, to some extent, a great deal of experience which
was necessary, and which could only be gained on earth. We have
moulded our personality and our character accordingly. But there
may be a tendency among people, when once they become involved
in this subject, to become more and more curious about the past;
important though it may well be, it is not as important as that
which is to be. After all, it is in the future, in the going forward
rather than the looking backward, that we want to progress.
Self: Yes, of course. Well dear, in our talks we have not touched
on the love-life of the sexes on the various frequencies of spiritlife. Recently, I read that on spheres very near to earth, men and
women make love as on earth, and even have spirit-children.
Douglas: I don’t know where you have got this from. Quite
frankly, I am not aware that people living on spheres near earth
have a sexual relationship, and are able to bring into being children

as such. I know nothing of it, and I cannot imagine it. My experiences have always been of a life which, by its very nature, is
purely and wholly spiritual.
I have visited conditions of life near to earth vibrations where
there is a much more material conception of life, and in which
people certainly do have a life very similar, in certain respects at
least, to their material earthly life. But in regard to physical lovemaking, as far as my experience goes, this does not happen; I
cannot see any sense in it. By that, I don’t mean that people may
not be able to love each other; there may be a form of what may
seern to be a physical reaction and love — but then again I think
that this whole attitude of mind depends so much on the individual.
When a person passes from your world to this, it is very unusual
if the individual concerned does not become aware of the change.
Everything around and about him, and the people he meets, are
different, inasmuch as their thoughts are vitally different. In consequence, their reactions and their actions, and the conditions which
they create, are such that it would be very difficult for anyone to
assume that physical love as it is on earth could exist, or even be
desired. After all, the relationships between people are much deeper.
A real relationship, when it is on its highest level, is something
which is purely and solely of the mind and of the spirit. The physical
aspect of love is a material-physical thing which applies on a
material-physical level such as on earth, and I cannot conceive of
it being necessary or particularly desired over here. Personally, I
have never experienced it, and I have no desire to.
Real love, as we understand it, is something which is so tremendously powerful! It is from within one’s innermost soul. It is
marriage, if you like, of mind and spirit between two people here,
and everything about it is tremendously exciting, tremendously
powerful; but it has not a physical reaction in the sense that it
‘does on earth. The earthly aspect of marriage is something which
must, of course, have its place on earth. It is vitally important, but
it is only a minute part of the reality of love. The reality of love
is truly that where two people are so entwined, and so at one in
mind and in spirit, that as they rise in the spheres it becomes something far removed from the physical-material idea; I don’t think
there is any comparison between the two.
.
There are souls on earth who have this deep spiritual love, and
they also can have a physical love if it is necessary to them, but

95


I think that as you get older and as you progress spiritually on
earth — that is if you progress spiritually at all — your emotions and
reactions to a person are on quite a different level; you are one in
mind and spirit and the physical interest is not the same. You are
lifted to the heights by love.
Self: Do spiritual affinities eventually become one spirit ?
Douglas: There is a lot of nonsense talked about this twin-soul
idea. I think every person, because he or she is an individual, has
an individual spirit or soul. It is something that they have developed
over centuries, not only on earth but over here of course. But as they
go on to much higher thought vibrations and become more evolved,
they may become involved, if you like, with another soul of similar
type.
When two people who on earth are ideally suited in every sense
come here, they will be together. But this does not mean that they
will merge, and become one in the sense that some people assume.
They still remain individual spirits; they still retain their own outlook and thought and ideas. Although they may have great similarity with each other, they still do not lose identity; they may be,
in a way, like two halves joined together forming a perfect whole,
but that is in a wider sense, not in a sense of losing one’s individuality
and personality or one’s spiritual shape.
It is like the same wine but in different bottles — I know this
sounds silly, but it is the only way I can think of at the moment
to describe it. They both have reached a certain point of evolution
and development, and they both have become spiritualised to a
high degree, but they still retain their own shape and form. If we
were to accept the theory that some people have about this union
of souls where we become so harmonious together that we lose our
shape, then we should become something like the air which everyone must breathe to live by on earth, for instance. If we were to
lose our individuality we would cease to exist.
Self: What is “The Greater Self’?
Douglas: This is one of those questions which it is extremely difficult to answer; it is very difficult to give a clear-cut view of many
things which apply to us and cannot be found in a similar sense
on earth. I wish I knew how to answer it; I think I must try, but
it will only be a very vague picturisation.
When on earth one must try to realise that we are what we are
because of how we are, and how we think. We grow and expand

in our knowledge and experience through time, through varying
degrees and conditions of life according to our evolution. We must
not anticipate that we shall suddenly become spiritualised beings
just because we cease to exist in a physical world and have entered
what is loosely termed a spiritual world. I use the term ‘loosely’
because so many people assume that this world of ours is one world,
whereas really, I should imagine that there are millions of different
phases of existence, and different conditions and environments. And
although they are all, in a sense, of our world, they are on such
different strata that one may be on one stratum and know nothing
whatsoever about other strata of being; or perhaps only of a very
small number.
The vastness of life is such that one might say it is like a
ladder which you climb rung by rung, and there is no end. You
cannot perceive at the bottom what lies in the clouds at the top. It
is just as if you were climbing a ladder up a vast skyscraper, and
as you are passing different floors you glimpse, as it were, the in-
habitants on each floor. For a time, of course, you have to inhabit
those different floors and you get to know people, and begin to
think as they think, and experience as they experience. You go up
gradually; there is no quick lift to take you from the bottom to the
top!

So many people assume that when they die they will immediately
be transported to some heavenly state where everything will be
perfect, in which they will become perfect, and where everything
will be ruled by some Supreme Being from some, presumably,
gorgeous palace. Man’s idea of eternity, his idea of heaven, is such
that quite often he has this very materialistic notion, which springs,
of course, from early centuries, and particularly from the Middle
Ages. A tremendous amount of harm was done to Christianity in
the Middle Ages, which still clings. peculiar things have been added
by people whose one intent and purpose, it seems to me, was to
hold power. Of course, there were many genuine sincere souls, but
many of them built up this weird conception of Christ, and this
weird conception of God and of heaven. So many things were
brought into being which really do not bear analysis at all.
One must realise that all life must, by its very nature, be progressive; it must go from phase to phase. Once life is given, it must
go on. After so-called death the physical body disintegrates and is
no more, but the individual, the character, the personality one knew

97


and loved, the real person which is of the mind and of the spirit
goes on. It evolves, and develops, and becomes
more and more filled with the Holy Spirit.
This Holy Spirit is the essence of life; it is the life-giving force.
It is something which is indestructible, and because it is indestructible, because it is eternal in its very concept, it must give
life, and make it possible for life to evolve into all manner and
conditions of existence far beyond the confines of earth, far, in
fact, beyond the imaginings of man.
In a sense, I am unrecognisable to you, because you do not see
me or hear me speak except when you come here; normally, you
have not got the vision of the spirit. That does not mean you are
lacking in spirituality, but that you are not yet able to overcome
the physical difficulties of the body and material life sufficiently
to be able to lift yourself above those confines to see with the eyes
of the spirit and to hear with the ears of the spirit.
St. Paul, of course, knew all about this, and if his instructions
to the Church had been followed out from earliest times to the
present I think Christianity would have progressed much further,
and become more powerful from the point of view of the spiritual
realisation of things. All the clergy and the teachers in the Church
would have developed their spiritual faculties and powers; they
would have been able to do the things that Paul and Christ, and
all the other great teachers, had demanded and desired.
They would be able to demonstrate the gifts of the spirit — the
gift of tongues, the gift of healing, the gift of prophesy, and so on.
All these things are part of the spirit of man who is inhabiting a
physical body while upon earth, and he should be able to see, and
hear, and do these things. They are natural gifts. Just as man may
develop on earth certain faculties as an artist, or as a musician, so
he should be in a position to develop his spiritual faculties; and
certainly, the Church should be teaching and proving these truths
by the demonstration of the gifts of the spirit.
Christ came into the world to give to man the realisation of the
power of God, and to demonstrate the powers of the Holy Spirit;
and He said to His disciples: ‘Go thou and do likewise’, and so
it is that the Church should propagate all this. It is no use a parson
getting up in a pulpit and talking about what he has read or
studied; that is no use at all. He should be exhibiting the power
of the Holy Spirit. That is what the Church needs and that is what



98


it has lacked for centuries. It is here that the salvation of the
Church lies : in the realisation that within man is the power to overcome, and to demonstrate the spiritual power of faculties dormant
within him which
should, particularly in the Church,
have been
developed. That is the Church’s failing. It talks and talks, and
demonstrates nothing. Until it demonstrates the power of the Holy
Spirit, 1t cannot hope to progress.



99

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN,
The value of service.

mickey: Hello, Auntie Conacher! Do you want to talk with your
husband?

Self: Yes please, Mickey, if he is here.
Mickey: He is here. He knew you were coming.
Douglas (quickly joining in the conversation): It would have to
be something quite out of my control for me not to come. I love
coming to talk to you and I look forward to it. I would be desperately unhappy if I were unable to. After all, you are really the
only link I have, and quite frankly I would miss these talks together. I feel I want to do so much from this side to help the
world, if it is in my power to do so. The more I see of your world,
the more distressed I become, as indeed do we all, because the conditions are so appalling, and they do not improve. ‘They get worse,
don’t you think so?
Self: Yes, in some ways — as far as I can judge.
Douglas: My goodness me! Whichever way you look there is
strife and turmoil; people seem to have this terrible apathy about
life, and about things that really matter. There is no stability, no
understanding, no brotherhood.
Self: Well dear, you said you would try to think of a title and
give a preface to this little effort of ours.
Douglas: A good title, and a good jacket, are the two most important factors. Some of the worst books ever written have been sold
by a good title and a good cover.
Self: Really?
Douglas: It is perfectly true. When they are arranged out on the
shelves, an attractive cover and a clever title will be one of the most
important factors in selling a book. You may have a dozen books
there far more interesting, far better written, far better everything — 
but the title and the cover are the selling points.

100


Self: Well, perhaps you will think about a suitable title. Now
‘tell me some of the things that have delighted you most since you
entered the spirit world — nearly nine years ago.
Douglas: Coming back to speak to you. Did you hear what I
said? Coming back to speak to you is one of the most important
things.
Self: Really? I am so glad.
Douglas: You are thinking I am a little facetious this morning.
This must strike you as very odd, but in spite of all the intensity
that I feel in furthering this truth and bringing it to light so that
people may have some understanding of realities, there are moments,
when I draw nearer to earth, when I feel a little facetious. I know
only too well the complications and the difficulties of material life — 
but there are times when I come back to you and want to tease you
a bit.
Self: Oh do you? Perhaps I take things a little too seriously.
Douglas: Yes. Sometimes I want to cheer you up and brighten
things for you, and let you see that I also have a sense of humour.
One of the things that people do not realise is the fact that
a sense of humour over here is just as important as it is on your
side.
Our world is a very real, fundamentally true, world. It is one in
which we have many of the better aspects of life that you know
of. And, of course, we do have humour, we do have laughter, we do
have joy! It is not necessarily a sanctimonious sort of joy. It is not
joy in a religious sense either, not in the orthodox sense anyway,
thank goodness. One of the biggest things that has happened to
me is how I have changed in my outlook — towards life, towards
people, and particularly towards orthodox religion. You almost
cringe when I start talking about religion. I can feel it.
Self: So sorry dear, but we have had rather a lot, and some of
your views hold things back.
Douglas: Yes, and it worries you. Do you think that is the biggest
stumbling block?
Self: I think so.
Douglas: That
wrong with your
think the young
tolerant. I think
is one thing I do feel. Whatever else may be
world — and there is so much that is wrong — I do
people are more open, more frank, and more
there is more possibility with the young in the
coming years than ever there was in our generation. I don’t think

101

they have these narrow views. They are not held back as we were.
They are much more forthright.
I know there are many aspects of the young which worry one,
but I think that they would be much more likely to read and take
seriously a book such as ours than the older people. You see, you
are having to pander to some extent to older people who are prejudiced and have strong, narrow views. What you need is a young
publisher — an active mind — not one who is encased and fenced in,
as so many are, by the old thoughts and ideas.
Sometimes, unfortunately, one has to attack. One does not like
it perhaps, but sometimes to achieve anything one has to break down
before one can rebuild. The foundation is solid enough — Jesus, the
reality of Jesus, the reality of His teachings, His philosophy, His
way of life. All this is real. It is a solid foundation, but it is all the
other things which have been added on over the centuries which
have obscured truth and have made it difficult to comprehend and
understand.
Self (after a pause): You were going to tell me about things that
delight you about your world.
Douglas: Freedom to think, and to become, and to be; the realisation that love transcends all else; that love makes all things possible;
that we live together as one in spirit and in truth, as true brothers.
There is a great feeling among all whom I have met over here of
desiring for service in the highest sense.
There is joy, an ever-living reality, in life here. Every moment,
if I can use the term, is important and vital. There is so much to
experience in so many different forms and in so many different
ways; we see in each other much that is good, and we seek the good
in all. And where there are defects — as there well must be, because
no world is perfect and no human being is perfect — we strive to
assist each other. Souls from higher spheres, coming down as they
do to the spheres on which we may dwell, come with such love
and such a perfect understanding, such a desire to be of help.
Everything here seems to be in harmony. Harmony prevails.
In spite of the differences, as there well must be among many
people — differences in temperament, character, outlook, experience,
knowledge (or lack of it) — still you find there is this perfect oneness; this desire to strive ever upwards towards greater heights and
greater realisation of what that entails, but never forging ahead
without thinking of those less fortunate. Striving to help them, and


102


even sometimes, if you like, temporarily impeding one’s own progress. That is the joy of service.
I think “The Good Samaritan’ story is a case in point. It is so perfect a story. To me it is the story of us, and of our life here. This
ever striving to achieve perfection, the ever going forward on the
road of eternal progression, and yet ever being conscious of those
walking beside us; those who perhaps seem halting and faltering;
those who are stopping by the wayside temporarily; or those who
have lost heart.
Wherever we may be — and there are many spheres and many
conditions of life — we all interweave one with the other both individually and collectively. Here it seems as if there is such perfect
unison and harmony, and the desire for absolute giving. It is as if
one gives so much and yet one is never conscious of giving; as if one
does it automatically, in a natural flow. This is difficult to put into
words. The joy and the beauty of life here is because we are all
together and yet we are still separate.
Self: Sometimes you must meet people who on earth were wellknown personalities.

Douglas: Yes, of course, many souls — some who were famous on
earth and some indeed who were infamous. But we visit even those
who have progressed least and who are on very dark spheres, dark
because of the condition of their thoughts and actions, not only on
earth, but even over here. People do not suddenly become progressed, they do not suddenly become angels.
There are many souls who live in a very darkened world of their
own creation. We visit these spheres to encourage, and to help if
we can. Sometimes, it is true, we are rebuffed. Sometimes we make
little or no progress — as indeed when we come back to earth we
feel sometimes we have made little or no progress. But for those
who are in the greatest need there are always souls who will try
to reach them and help them. Even for those who have sunk very
low, there is redemption, there is the possibility for them to climb
out of the darkness into the light. No soul is ever lost. There is hope
for all.
We see life, in some senses, so differently than you do. We see
how environment, particularly, plays such an important part in
evolution. We realise that people are the products of their time and
age, of their society and the condition into which they were born.
Many are the victims of their lack of education, or even sometimes


103


they are the victims of their education; in fact, one might say that
those who are less sophisticated or less educated are in some ways
nearer to the divine plan than those who are ‘highly’ evolved
materially from the point of view of education and sophistication.
So much is brought to bear as a person is developing, particularly
in your world.
Self: Would you agree that some of our sorrows and frustrations
come from Karma?
Douglas: Yes, in a sense that is true, but a lot of loose thought
and talking has gone on about this business of Karma. It depends
on what one really means and understands by it. I would not like to
suggest, as some people seem to, that certain things are preordained
or arranged in regard to a person. If that were so it would be very
unjust, it seems to me. I do not think, for instance, that some divine
power called God ordains that a certain soul shall be created under
certain conditions and commit certain heinous crimes, etc., because
of those circumstances, or because of their lack of development.
I do not feel it would ever be right to consider that evils are
ordained. I think these are things which must arise, and do arise,
and have arisen throughout man’s history, brought to bear by his
own thought and action. I certainly do not think that everything
that is bad is planned or arranged, and that a certain soul should
have to do certain things. I do not think any human being’s life
is ordained or planned.
I think it is true to say that in some instances — particularly in
incarnations of those who are reborn — people choose to enter into
a certain set of conditions, or to be born into certain families, for
a definite purpose. Not only because of the challenge, but also because it will give them an opportunity to live in a certain way, and
bring them into contact with particular individuals or peoples whom
they can best help.
A lot of surmising goes on in regard to Karma — that things are
preordained and so on. If that were so, then it seems to me life
would be rather pointless. If everything were planned and organised
and, to some extent, one’s free will was curtailed, then we would
be merely puppets. I do not agree with that.
Self: (after a pause): Have you seen Mother lately?
Douglas: I have seen your mother and my mother, and other
members of the families and many friends. It must sound very glib
to some people when they listen to these recordings, or this subject

104

is discussed, when people ask: ‘Well, are they happy?’ and we say:
‘Oh yes, we are very happy.’ Of course, we must remember that
although what we say is perfectly true one can never really be fully
happy if one is aware of the needs and sufferings of others, often
unnecessary suffering that people bring upon themselves. In other
words, we are happy, but not selfishly happy, if you can follow
what I mean. It is difficult to explain this.
Self: I suppose you have periods of complete happiness?
Douglas: Yes. It would be true to say that when we are living
in our own environment over here, we are happy. But when we
are conscious, as we must be if we are to progress at all, of the
great needs of humanity — not necessarily only in your world but
also on the lower spheres of life on our side, where people are
certainly very undeveloped to say the least — then, of course, we
cannot be fully happy in our own happiness.
How can one be happy when one realises the needs of others, when
one feels the sadness of others, when one feels the agony of mind
of others? We have happiness, but you must not misconstrue it, as
some people might, and think that we are divinely happy. We are
happy, but we are never ceasing to think of others and their needs.
And, of course, this must to some extent mar our happiness. But
we do not let it do so in quite the same sense that you understand
this term.

We are happy, but we are happiest when we are serving, when
we are helping, when we are giving, when we are loving. This is
life; this is a form of existence that we know of. There is much
that has happened to us that makes us as we are. Indeed, I think
that we are happy when we are unhappy — but that sounds odd.
As regards the title of the book, do not let that worry you. It
will come, and there is plenty of time. Always know that I am
behind everything you do and that I am there. Although you may
at times feel frustrated, and that you are not making the headway
that you should, know that I am trying desperately to help, and
that I have tremendous faith that we shall achieve what we set out
to do. Just be patient.

105 

 CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
Creativity of the spirit.
Conditions seem to have been difficult on this occasion. About ten
minutes elapsed before I heard Mickey’s voice and his opening
chat was on a very personal note. Mr. Flint and I were relieved to
hear my husband’s voice.
Douglas: Hello! Are you being cross-examined ?
Self: Yes, very much so, dear.
Douglas: I was listening to Mickey’s conversation and going a
bit hot and cold under my psychic collar! ‘That is if one wore a
collar and tie; fortunately one does not have to. Here one can dress
according to one’s mood, according to one’s feeling, and since the
vast majority of us have long lost interest in clothes such as ties
and suits and so on, the general wearing apparel is more like a
Roman toga, or Greek dress — robes !
Self: You must look well in a robe, dear.
Douglas: Well, for one thing, I look at least forty years younger
than when you knew me. I am not an old man, you know. And I
am. still interested in books. We have magnificent libraries here.
Everything that has been written that is worth reading and worth
keeping, great classics and new works, can be read here. Although
it is possible here to
thought, nevertheless we
need to.
Many a person over
no opportunity to read,
communicate entirely by the power of
do communicate verbally when we feel the
here, who on earth perhaps had little or
or was not able to read, has access to all
the great works of all the great authors. Even those who wrote when
on earth and who still have the desire to write, can do so.
Here it is possible not only to read a book but to see it, as it were,
in a kind of vision, almost as if you were entering into the reality
of it. On earth, in a sense, you can do that — your imagination fills
in the gaps and you are able to create your idea of the character


106


and so on, depending, of course, on how well the author has written.
But over here one can do that in a more vivid sense; here it is
possible to reach out in an extraordinary way and to visualise so
much that is put across by the book. I wish I could explain what
I mean.
People must not think that over here everything is wishy-washy
or sort of biblical. I know this is not perhaps the way to describe
it, but there are many people who come here who have strange
views — if they have any at all — of what this life will be like, and
vast numbers
are, of course, disillusioned — particularly
those who
have very strong religious convictions and visualise a sort of biblical
heaven. There is nothing at all like that; absolutely the opposite,
in fact.

This life is such a real life, in which we can and do achieve
all manner of things, and no one need fear death; as I have said
so often it is like going to sleep in one world and waking up in
another more magnificent and more beautiful, with greater opportunity in every sense. Many a person who on earth has had a life
that has been difficult and hard, in which they have had to keep
their nose to the grindstone and have not been able to develop any
of their latent natural talents, can do so on this side.
Many people over here study art, study music, and contribute
to the well-being of others by giving of themselves. In this way
many great artists and musicians teach and help those who are interested. It is very important that people should realise that this is
a world which by its very nature is creative and in which we have
every opportunity to be creative.

Here we can do many things which were denied us on earth.
Obstacles, if there are any at all, are within ourselves. Of course
you do get obstinate people who come here with firm, fixed views
who expect certain standards or certain aspects of life which they
insist upon and, in consequence, they create their own community.
You have many communities of people who live in a fool’s paradise.
It is a condition which they themselves have made, and until you
can reach them, or they themselves make the attempt to grow out
of that stupidity, there is not very much you can do.
There are large communities of people who live in a very narrow
religious world of their own making. That is where the bugbear
of religion comes in and I am not only referring to Christianity,
but to other religious organisations and groups. I only wish I had

107

known all this earlier on; it would have made such a vast difference
to my life, not only on earth, but over here too. When first I came
here it was rather difficult for me to accept, but now, of course,
I can see clearly, and I am very anxious to break down all the
barriers on both sides, if I can.
The greatest obstacle to true progress is to have a closed mind
or to have a narrow outlook, whether in a religious or any other
sense. A person’s mind must be fluid, it must be open and ready
to receive new teaching, new ideas, even though many of them may
be discarded or unacceptable. The most vital thing, almost, in
human life is that a person should have an open mind and should
listen, and if necessary receive. Nothing is worse than a strong,
fixed view that your opinion is right and everybody else’s is wrong.
There is nothing that I now detest more than a closed mind; I feel
very strongly about that as you can probably imagine. I am afraid
a lot of my old friends and acquaintances will be shocked to hear
me say some of these things. When I look back on those days, J
think to myself how stupid we were; a book would come in that
had some new thought but did not fall into the main stream, and
it was thrown out at once — just like your book is!
Self (laughing): Are you still publishing?

Douglas: No, not in that sense. There is no business or financial
side, but there are people who love to bind books, for instance, love
to use substances, to manipulate and create. You must not think
that our world is a world where you just think of a book and there
it is. Everything has to be brought into being. This is a real world.
Real substances are used, and all manner of substances
at that.

But nature over here, which is in many respects like nature on
earth, only more tremendous in its scope and more magnificent,
willingly gives of itself. It is difficult to know how to explain this
without giving the wrong impression. I do not want you to think
that we run around chopping down trees and things like that,
but there are substances which we can use, and are used, and there
are scientific instruments to create and to express many things
which I cannot find words to explain.

Everything here is done for the good of humanity, and the good
of the community. Everything here is created in joy, and in beauty,
and in loveliness. Nothing here is used for an ulterior motive. There
is no evil as such. There are planes, or spheres, or countries, call
them what you like, where people exist who live on strata of being


108

which are less developed, where they live, in some senses, nearer
to earth. Here there are baser thoughts, but these are conditions.
We must get away from this old idea of a heaven and hell and
get down to the fact that there are many stages of evolution, many
conditions of life according to the development or lack of development of the individual. That is the joy and the beauty of it. That
is why it makes sense. When you are on earth you cannot grasp
the meaning of eternal life, it just does not register. But when you
realise that there are many phases of existence, and that the individual evolves from one state of being to another according to
his progress, then eternity seems a feasible reality.
Self: What is your conception of God?
Douglas; God is a force, a vital, living power that is dynamic,
and within every human soul. Indeed one might say it is the very
breath of life. We must get away from this man-made God, this
figurehead. It is a term.
Self: What is our relationship to God?

Douglas: Our relationship to God, surely, is the fact that we are
part of God, that we are the very essence of God. We are all part
of the same spirit. It is that which is animating us and creating
us; it zs life. Oh dear, shall I ever find words to explain these things
to you! Words are so difficult to find to express something which
is purely of a mental and spiritual nature. Sometimes there are
nuances which do, to some extent, depict what we mean. But I
cannot tell you about many aspects of our life because I would not
know how to start; it is too sensitive, too delicate, too complex.
This communication means so much to me, and I am so anxious
that people should read the truth, and realise the reality of this life
and how wonderful it is. It is beyond description. I can only say
that life here is a great joy. There is a tremendous wonder in it
all still to me.


109

CHAPTER FIFTEEN,
Control of thought-forces.
Mickey: Nice to see you! I suppose you have come to talk to your
husband ?
Self: Yes, please, Mickey.
Mickey: He was a case, wasn’t he?
Self: You always seem to get on very well with him.
Mickey: Oh yes, I like him. He’s got a dry sense of humour, and
he has certainly changed his tune. He’s had to. People do. He
realises many things now he didn’t understand before, and I think
he would love everyone to know this truth.
Douglas: Hello!
Self: Hello, darling. How marvellous to hear your voice again.
Douglas: I am very happy to come and to talk to you. I have
so looked forward to this. Have you settled back in your own place
again?
Self: Yes, thank you.
Douglas: That is nice. I think you have done your duty, and
now you can relax a bit. What shall we talk about?
Self: Have you had any new experiences?
Douglas: Yes. J am always having experiences of some kind or
other — meeting people and finding new interests. There is so much
to assimilate here, and most of it, of course, I would not know how
to relate. The vastness of life here is so tremendous.
Self: Have you changed your position in the ether? I mean
Douglas: Has my consciousness become more aware of new conditions of life?
Self: Yes, that is what I mean.
Douglas: Yes, I have gradually become conscious of new conditions, which means new experiences and meeting new people
who are, you might say, on my same wavelength. The more one
evolves and develops the more one graduates into these new vibrations and the more removed one must be from earth and earthly
experience.

110


Here, for instance, you can recapture, in the atmosphere, all
manner of thoughts. You can read a book without actually having
it in your hand and without actually reading it; you can read it
by the process of thought. In a more advanced state of being you
are able to tune in to the thought-forces of an author, and see the
picturisation of the whole book — almost like a moving picture on a
screen. This is a form of reading, but it is reading of the mind and
not reading of the written page.
It is possible to sit in a vast auditorium here and listen to works
by great composers, which vibrate in the atmosphere by the very
power of the thought-force of the individual composing music
without the necessity even of an orchestra. An artist can create a
picture without necessarily using the palette and the brush. Now
this may sound most strange but the more advanced souls, by the
process of thought, can transmit on to what you would call a canvas
all the colour and the line and the beauty that is within their
thought-force, for which normally, on earth, they would have to
use paints and brushes. Here, we learn how to control thoughtforces to such an extent that they can be harnessed, and brought
into form.

What I think one should remember is that nothing of any real
consequence in the field of human endeavour is ever lost. The only
things that are lost as you progress are the lesser things, the things
that are, by their very nature, unimportant and have no spiritual
significance. Anything which has been achieved by man that has
real significance, whether it is in art or literature or music, exists
in this world in a more perfected state.
Every house here has its own individuality and personality and
character, according to the individuals who live therein and the
people who have assisted them in its creation. An artist, for instance,
will decorate the home of a friend, or the home of people that they
admire or like very much.
Everything here is brought into being in a gradual sense. You
do not suddenly inhabit a new environment until such time as you
have gone through certain experiences that have made it possible
for you to partake of it. In consequence, you are yourself, some-
times, almost unconsciously preparing your new home while you
are living in one already on a different sphere.


111


Self: Have you met any very interesting people in your new
environment?
Douglas: I have met innumerable souls, some that I knew on
earth, but many whom I could never have met on earth because we
were divided by centuries. Some of the great souls who have been
over here for centuries and have progressed to a very high state
of being enter into different spheres to lecture, and to guide others
who are less fortunate, or who have not progressed as far as themselves. I have seen, and met, and listened to, many very great souls
 — gereat artists, great musicians, souls who when on earth
endeavoured to bring reformation, and new ideas that would benefit man.
The people that one meets over here who have really progressed
are particularly people who by the very sensitivity of their nature,
even when on earth, endeavoured to give themselves freely and absolutely in love and in service to humanity, in some shape or form. It
may be that in some cases it was with their musical talent or ability,
with others their artistic integrity and the reproduction of wonderful
thoughts on to canvas. Others may have worked in social ways in
their particular country to bring about a better understanding between people and provide better conditions for people who were unfortunate. I have met many souls who were, when on earth, in all
walks of life.
Self: It must be tremendously interesting. By the way, dear,
would ‘Chapters of Experience’ be a suitable title for this book?
Douglas (after some thought): Of course, yes.
Self: The idea came quite suddenly last night. I wondered if
you gave it to me.
Douglas: It is feasible. As I have said, this is a world where we
communicate entirely by thought processes. I am constantly in
touch with you, constantly in tune, as it were, and so you are at
times obviously receiving my thoughts and impressions. But there
again, we must always be aware of the fact that in this process
there are moments when some confusion can enter. Perhaps a soul
who is nearer to earth is, at the same time, endeavouring to concentrate some thought, and there is occasional confusion.
Self: Yes, I understand.
Douglas: But I think you do extremely well. Actually, I know
that you do. I know that you receive, mentally, a tremendous
amount accurately from me. Of course, you have to make allow-ances and realise that there is not always a clear channel.


112


 Even when I come to talk to you like this, there are times when it is
much more difficult than others. One must be ever conscious that
there are thousands of people on this side all anxious to communicate, and sometimes when they see the opportunity presented to
someone like myself, they are eager to do the same. Sometimes
their thoughts are very strong and they can, quite unintentionally,
get in the way. One has to try to keep the channel as clear as
possible.
Self: Are you going to tell me about another incarnation?
Douglas: Yes, I hope to be able to do so. This is where we come,
again, to the process of thought control. It is getting on to a certain wavelength or vibration which would be in association with
that particular incarnation and receiving back, as it were, past
memory and thought which could make it possible to give you
instances and experiences from it.
When you are living as I am, on a certain plane of consciousness
which has become natural, it is very difficult to suddenly break off,
even for what you would term a small amount of time, to get on
to some past material life. For instance, I think I have become
fairly good at communicating as I am doing now, but when you
say to me: ‘Now can you get on to a vibration, or can you concern
yourself with some previous incarnation’, I have to break off.
Self: I don’t mean now.
Douglas: 1 know that, dear. The only way one can successfully
do that is to prepare oneself for it in advance and to get as much
information as one can by tapping this older wavelength, which
itself has become, over time, very dim. It is not that I do not want
to. I am very happy to do it, especially if I can do it successfully.
But sometimes I feel that it is the merest, sketchiest outline, and
has little or no substance. In other words, I feel that unless I can
get the substance, it is valueless. I shall continue always to do what
I can. I shall continue to assist and to help you as best I can. You
know that. It gives me great joy to come and talk to you and I
am glad you are back home again. It means we can resume our
communications fairly regularly, I hope, during the summer.


113

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN.

Egyptian
incarnations.
ickey: Nice to see you. How are you?
Douglas (with urgency): As if I did not know! How are you in
yourself ?
Self: All right. You sound very anxious about me, dear.
Douglas:.I am not exactly anxious, and I don’t think there is
anything seriously wrong with you, but I sometimes feel that you
try to do too much and tire yourself out. You are not going away
again, are you?
Self: No, not at present.
Douglas: Good. Now you will be able to relax in your own place.
Self: Yes. Are the conditions suitable for tapping an older wavelength, as you call it, a previous incarnation you have not yet told
me about?
Douglas: I think I have mentioned certain aspects before, but
there was a period of time when we were both together in ancient
Roman times in Pompeii. Did I ever mention that?
Self: In Pompeii? No.
Douglas: Well, we were there. It was a long time ago, of course,
and the memory is rather dim. Fortunately, we were not there
during the earthquake, neither were we there during the eruption
of Vesuvius, but we had lived there some few years previously.
Self: Are you referring to the time under Nero when you were
in the Roman army?
Douglas: No, that was a different period. Actually, we had three
incarnations in Roman times. Of course we have had several
Egyptian incarnations, too. We had an Egyptian incarnation in
medieval times in Italy. Italy has always been a very close link with
us.
Self: I like to hear the recording about the time during the
Renaissance when you were a priest.
114
EGYPTIAN INCARNATIONS
Douglas: Do you? I often wonder what these things must seem
like to anyone reading this, or hearing the recordings — it must
strike them as being very far-fetched.
Self: I don’t think so.
Douglas: Well, not to you or me, of course, but to ordinary people
who have little or no knowledge of this subject. I often wonder
what they must think. And yet, there is no denying the fact that
reincarnation is the truth, and a real thing in itself; it is fundamental. To me it is the only answer. We must, obviously, go through
many phases and many conditions of life before we arrive at a
certain stage of evolution when we have, as it were, taken from
earth all that earth can give, and learnt all the various lessons that
only the earth-life can provide. And then, of course, we assimilate
everything in these different incarnations, and enter the spiritual
spheres in a more fully aware sense. We are more prepared and
more able to leave the earth behind forever. I think it is very
necessary. A lot of people don’t see this.
Self: A great many do.
Douglas: Theosophy is a tremendously interesting subject — not
that I had any interest in it, to any extent, when on earth. But it
answers so many questions. Take musicians like Mozart, who composed great works at such an early age. You have these infant
prodigies and the only answer to that is, as I see it, that they are
Old Souls; and also, of course, they are helped from this side by
eminent musicians themselves. They are very good subjects for
suggestions. After all, all communication is a mental process, and
influences are brought to bear on certain individuals who have particular gifts.
There is no doubt that Mozart was an Old Soul, though young
in body. He was obviously brought back into the world to be used
as an intrument. He developed his natural abilities, but was aided
very much by souls from this side.
So much is done of which people have little or no real knowledge:
where they are guided and advised, and where they are given the
opportunity to do great things. There is no doubt that certain
individuals choose to come back even when it is not necessary from
the point of view of their own evolution as an individual. They
choose to come back to act in a capacity for the good of others,
either in the religious sense or as psychics of some kind.
The world does not fully appreciate what it means to be a psychic.


115

I do not necessarily mean a medium, as the Spiritualists term it.
There are many, many great souls, many fine instruments — mediums
of a kind — who are not in Spiritualism; in fact they are quite often
outside it. It seems to me that the Spiritualists themselves, although
they have the truth fundamentally, often inhibit the real flow of
truth which could come, because of previously held strong feelings
and ideas. I am sometimes a little disturbed about the Spiritualists.
Self: Yet they have been giving this spiritual knowledge to the
world for a long time, and demonstrating it in so many different
ways.
Douglas: All that I fully appreciate, of course. But it seems to
me that a lot of mediums have very fixed views of their own which
preclude certain things that we want to make known; it is very
difficult for them to break down their own barriers. Mediums are
very odd creatures — I have discovered that.
Self (roused): We resent that dear, don’t we Leslie?
Mr. Flint (laughing): Yes, in a way, but he is right though.
Douglas: Mediums should be malleable, and they should allow
themselves to be used in the fullest sense. But often you get mediums
who, when they are giving séances or sittings, build up a barrier
when something is coming through which does not fit in with their
fixed ideas. Instead of allowing themselves to be used purely as
instruments, they sometimes get all keyed up, and build a sort of
wall.
You have mediums, also, who have strong views in regard to
the way in which this Truth should be presented: you have, for
example, those who approach it purely on a Christian basis. They
have such strong, narrow views that they preclude the full truth
coming over. If anything comes through from this side that fits in
with what they have preconceived, then it is all very nice and they
accept it; but if not, then they discard it. I find this very distressing.
We all accept the teaching of Christ; we all accept Christ as a
great teacher and a great soul, who came into the world to set an
example and to show a path. This we all are agreed on. But when
we try to narrow it down with dogma, it creates big barriers. Of
course, I know this all sounds very foreign to my old self, but
then, thank goodness, I have made some progress, and I have seen
things differently. I realise now that there is nothing more restricting than dogma.

116

EGYPTIAN INCARNATIONS.
Self: Can you remember anything about the incarnation in
Pompeii?
Douglas: Ah! I knew you would soon try to get me off religion.
Self (laughing): What period of history would that be?
Douglas; It was just before the turn of what we call a.p.
Self: We were together you said?
Douglas: Yes. I hardly know how to explain this, but I was a
priest again, a priest of Isis and Osiris — an Egyptian who had,
like so many other nationals, settled in Pompeii. Actually, Pompeii,
at that time, was more representative of the known world than
Rome. It is an extraordinary thing, but perfectly true; there were
probably more religious orders and denominations in Pompeii than
ever there were in Rome. And there was a sect which was Egyptian
and which brought Egyptian teachings and beliefs, and had its
own temple and worship.
It was a strange mixture, of course — a mixture of the ancient
Egyptian religion brought into the modern (for that time) idea and
entwined with Roman beliefs. I was one of two priests who were
associated with this particular temple and there were many Romans
who were very intrigued. There was at that time a very strong
psychic flow, what you would call a belief in the religion of communication. Séances, as such, were held. Actually, it was really a
throw-back to the teachings of Akhnaton.
Self: Akhnaton is a favourite of mine.
Douglas: Yes, I know. In our Egyptian incarnation, going back
some centuries before, we had been followers of Akhnaton. I was one
of the few priests then — I seem always to have been associated with
religion — who went over to Akhnaton when he set up his new
religious Order. There were many priests in Akhnaton’s time who
had, more or less, to bow to Akhnaton, accept his new régime and
new way of thought, but who resented it very strongly.
Self: But you were a follower?
Douglas: Yes. I can see the thread of my life and can see that
I was always searching for knowledge, always desiring to find truth.
And, obviously, in this incarnation I did have the good fortune to
discover different avenues of truth.
Self: Did you know me in Akhnaton’s time?
Douglas: Yes, you were one of the Court, a woman of high rank
and position very closely connected with Akhnaton. Of course, you
know the families were very much intermarried, much more then

117

than in recent years. I suppose our modern royal family has intermarried over the last hundred years, here and there, but it happened
much more in Akhnaton’s time. It would never have done for a
King to have married a commoner, or even anyone of high rank — 
they had to be closely linked by royal blood.
In this incarnation you were not exactly enamoured of me,
although I was much enamoured of you. In any case, the whole
situation was impossible. I had great affection and regard for you,
and admired you from a distance. We were never allowed to come
together, as I was in priestly orders and such a thing was out of
the question. Indeed, I am sure you would never have permitted
it even if you had realised my affection. You would not, now,
remember or understand because it is too far back.
Self: No, of course not. But a few years ago, Harold Sharp, as
instrument for a Chinese artist on spirit-side, drew a graph of my
life during that period, and afterwards interpreted it by automatic
writing.
Douglas: Yes, you definitely were a member of the royal household of Akhnaton. It would be very interesting if one could recapture much more of this particular period. But it is all bound up;
the whole of our lives have been entwined. We were destined to
come together again and again. There is no doubt about this: we
are twin-souls, but not in the commonly accepted meaning of the
term. People talk about twin-souls so loosely, and do not really understand what they are talking about. We are of the same group, the
same group-soul, and there are thousands upon thousands of these
group-souls, where individuals come together. There is no doubt
that we were very much linked over all these various periods.
Self: Where is this store of past experience and knowledge kept?
Douglas: 1 would not like to suggest that we have vast archives
as such and yet, at the same time, these things are stored — everything that has happened, particularly on earth for instance, is
recorded in the atmosphere. Just as you can turn on your wireless
or your television set, and pick up from the atmosphere (it is all
a matter of vibration), so we can do exactly the same thing. But,
of course, there are different layers — that is the only way I can
describe this — and there are millions of layers of consciousness of
different periods of history, and so on.
It is possible to tune in to a certain wavelength, or vibration,
of a certain period and find oneself and one’s associations there.


EGYPTIAN INCARNATIONS.
These are no longer living realities; they are stored memory houses.
But they are in the atrnosphere around the earth. The more evolved
one becomes, the more difficult it is to tune in to them. And of
course, there is no need for it — that is the whole point. You leave
behind certain layers in the process of evolution. And as you evolve
to a higher awareness, you become so much more advanced that
the past, though it was important, is no longer important as such.
But it is still there if anyone should want to tune in to it.
What I am trying to say here is that nothing is lost. Everything
is stored. Everything is there for a soul to pick up again, if he needs
it. But of course, one seldom ever does and, indeed, if it were not
for you asking certain questions I would not even think about it.
I am perfectly content — as indeed are most people here — with my
present situation and condition of life, and the realisation of further
advancement to come. One never really looks back; one always
looks forward.
Self: Yes, naturally.
Douglas: I look forward so much to you joining me, but
Self (interrupting): I would like a few more years on earth to
finish this work you asked me to do.
Douglas: 1 do not think for one moment that you are likely to
come yet, and I am not suggesting that there is anything seriously
wrong with you, but at the same time you seemed to me to be
extremely tired after this recent trip. You must be careful not to
overdo things.
Self: Thank you for a very interesting talk, dear.
Douglas: I will tell you more.


119

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
The group-soul.
Mickey (breaking into our conversation): What are you on about?
Self: Reincarnation, Mickey. I was saying how very opposed to
the idea some people are.
Mickey: You don’t want to let that worry you. It takes all kinds!
Douglas: Hello! You were talking about incarnations.
Self: Yes. The theory of a friend is that some people pass over
with strong feelings in favour of reincarnation, and try to ‘push’
the idea from the other side; otherwise — as she knows the medium
has an open mind in regard to this subject — she thinks perhaps the
sitters may be responsible.
Douglas: Frankly, before I came here, as you well know, such
a thing had never entered my head. I never thought about incarnations or reincarnation, as it is called; it never interested me in
the slightest. It is only since I have been here and have had the
privilege of looking back into past incarnations, that I have come
to the realisation of its truth.
In the beginning, reincarnation is not easy to assimilate on this
side any more than it is on your side; I suppose, in a sense, we have
an inner resentment against it. The fact that we have to keep
coming back again and again does not exactly produce feelings of
elation! Particularly when you have been here a short time and
you are settled and happy and you have many interests, the possibility of having to incarnate again on the earth is very repugnant.
I can assure you that in discussing incarnations one is always
hoping that one may never have to incarnate again; and after a
time, with new experience and new realisation of things, one comes
to the way of thinking that it is very unlikely. When you can look
back and see the varying incarnations and the necessity for them,
and the experiences that you had and the mistakes you made, you
can see the general outline and the progressive attitude in regard
to your personal self; and you realise eventually, that the probability of having to return to earth is remote. Then you have the
satisfaction of feeling that ‘I have done my bit’, as it were; ‘I have
experienced all that earth can offer, and I have no reason to return’.
The vast majority of people who do return to earth are individuals who have deliberately chosen to return because they wanted
to be of some particular service to humanity. When we see the conditions of your world and we see the need for enlightenment, we
seek the opportunity to serve in a material sense, but with a spiritual
basis. There are those who do, of their own free will and choice,
return to earth.
We must remember, also, that the earth has been operating as
a base for human life for millions of years, and the possibility of
having to return is very remote for the vast majority of people.
So many have been on earth many times, and in consequence they
have assimilated all that the earth can offer; they have progressed
through varying stages of evolution on earth, and have reached a
point when there is no need, and no desire, to return.
Of course, there are very unprogressed souls, and especially new
souls, who may — and do, no doubt — return. But in all these discussions we have on reincarnations, one is very well aware of the
fact that it cannot, in a sense, be proved.
Self: But you see these incarnations?
Douglas: Oh, we do! But what I mean is, it is all very well for
you because you have an open mind, and you are prepared to
accept what I say to you in good faith. The vast majority of people,
however, would say: ‘Well how can you prove this?’ I will not
say it is impossible to do so, but it is very difficult. There are exceptional instances where, for instance, a child has died in your world
say at the age of five or six, and he has been reborn again very
quickly and can remember his parents of that previous earth-life,
and the place where they lived, and perhaps his brothers and
sisters. And, indeed, this has happened. But these are remote instances, because it is not usual for a soul to be reborn immediately;
usually there is a period over here of rest and recuperation.
Whatever we may say must appear, to some, very complex and
unprovable. There again, we come up against personal prejudice.
To many people, after a number of years on earth with all its ups
and downs, its difficulties, headaches, problems and what have you,
the mere thought of having to come back to earth and go through
it all again is repugnant. They do not like the idea to start off with.
121

Self: Perhaps there is a fear of losing their own personality.
Douglas: That, if I may say so, is rather stupid. If we are going
to assume that the personality that we have built up on earth over
a period of sixty or seventy years is the complete ‘us’, as it were,
the complete ‘I’, we are ridiculous, because man is so complex a
creature.
We are all the product of other people’s thoughts and ideas.
Whatever we may have achieved, whatever we may have become
while on earth, in personality and so forth, is really a combination of
thousands of other people’s thoughts and ideas : those of our parents,
our school teachers, our friends, our associates, and the people who
went before them who impregnated ideas and thoughts into their
minds. Really, we are the product of millions of individual souls.
There is, of course, an aspect of the personal; I would not like
to say there is not. I have my own personality, it is true, but I
also have the realisation that what I am is not, in a sense, me. It is
me from the point of view that if you could see me, you would say:
‘Oh yes, that is so and so,’ and you would recognise and know me
by my way of thinking, and my way of speaking, and so on. But
I realise that I am the product, as indeed is every human soul, of
untold numbers of individuals’ thoughts and ideas. We cannot
escape this.
Even our physical bodies, which when on earth we consider our
own (we see ourselves and we say “This is me’) are not what they
seem. A body has solidarity because it happens to be in complete
vibration and harmony with the material matter in which one exists.
But when it is broken down, in a sense — you follow what I mean — 
it is not what it seems. Whatever you look at in your life, is an
illusion; people will never understand and never accept this, but
everything, to some extent, is an illusion. That which appears real
and solid, for instance the chair you sit on, has no real solidity of
its own, but only within the matter in which it is functioning.
We must lose this idea of self and realise that we are all caught
up in life; life which is so dynamic that we can only see it in degree,
and that which seems the reality, or seems the important part is,
possibly, even the least important.
I wish we could see ourselves as we really are. We are, in a
sense, individuals, but more importantly we are many people, or
many states of being. This business of narrowing it all down to the
personal is very pleasant I suppose, and very flattering. This is
122
THE GROUP-SOUL
where we get down to the basis of people’s attitudes towards life,
and towards religion in particular. This is where, of course, I have
gone a long way from the old ideas and dogma. It is presumptious
to assume that we are, in that sense, important in an individual
sense. We are important in a mass sense.
When I say a mass sense, I would not like one to think that, in
consequence, we have no real place here or that we lose our identity
completely. We do not. But we are a confusion of many thoughts;
we are the product of many minds. It is only in forgetting self that
we begin to discover our real self, which is, of course, so much a
part of all life. We must see ourselves in a wider vision.
When a mother loses (as the world terms it) her son, it is very
human and natural that she should think of him as she recognised
him in life, and as his photograph is, and so on. But these are outward resemblances. Even the closest of people who have been
together for many years and think they know each other pretty
well really only know a small part of that tremendous individual
soul. Even in the case of the dearest soul-mate you only touch the
surface. You sense, perhaps, more than you know; and you feel
deep down within yourself a rapport of souls, it is true. But the
more we delve into this the more we realise that we are part of vast
group-souls.
When we get this understanding of group-souls, when we understand what it means, we come back to reincarnation again because
vast numbers of people who have lived in previous ages are part
of the same group-souls going through certain experiences essential to them — not only individually, but also as groups. They are
part of this tremendous whole.
It is so difficult to explain this. It is like atoms — there are billions
of souls who are all in the same vibratory condition of life, on the
same spheres, if you like. We talk about spheres, but it is a loose
term. There are varying stages of development according to the
groups that gather together, and to them that is their particular
world; that is their spirit world, you might say. But we are not
unaware of the fact that there are thousands upon thousands of
other spirit worlds. This is where eternity becomes a reality.
People on earth say: ‘Oh, my God, eternity!’ They just cannot
grasp it, you see. But when you understand, as I am beginning to,
the vastness of space (as you call it) and the vastness of the worlds
of the spirit, then eternity becomes a reality.

123



When you realise that you are going to progress from one particular condition into another, you realise that as you expand your
knowledge and experience and as you become more evolved, so you
become more conscious of new forms of existence. The vastness of
it all is so exciting; there is never a dull moment. There again,
talking about dull moments — we are not even associated with time
as you know it.
But what is so marvellous is the fact that no matter how far one
may have evolved one can still tune in to earth and to the people
that one loves; one can still be in communication, given an opportunity such as this. And if necessary one can still talk about the
ordinary and the mundane, which often, as you well know, pleases
the people on earth who are left behind.
The fact that we are aware of your personal daily problems and
so on is very nice, but at the same time, as we progress we see
that the individuals we know and love, and with whom we are
communicating, are expanding their vision; they are gradually,
through our instruction and help, losing the hold in a physical and
material sense, and becoming more attuned to the mind and power
of the spirit which we are endeavouring to bring through to you.
This is the joy of it and, of course, this is how life should be. The
earth-life should be a balanced existence in which you naturally
have to carry on your material affairs in your world, but in which
you also have a spiritual awakening to an awareness of the greater
worlds which lie ahead; in other words you have a more balanced
mental approach to everything.
This is what Jesus meant when he said: ‘Render unto Caesar
the things that are Caesar’s and unto God, the things that are
God’s.’ I can see this so clearly now. Jesus knew of these truths and
understood them completely. He knew that the power of the spirit
could manifest itself while yet on earth, and that many of the
things which are of the earth could be revitalised with this spiritual
force. The things Jesus did which were looked upon as miracles
were really normal happenings, because the basis of all things, even
upon earth, is spiritual. Everything may seem terribly material;
there may be many things which seem hideously ugly and unattrac-
tive even in a material sense, but behind even these there is a
spiritual power, or spiritual faculty. Call it what you will, but it
is there.
Man often uses the power, which is his natural inheritance, in the
124
THE GROUP-SOUL
wrong direction. If it could be used in the right direction it would
-be for good — for spiritual achievement and spiritual blessing. Even
today scientists are inventing things which have a spiritual sig-
nificance and which, if used in the right way, could benefit man;
but they are used, unfortunately, in a very material way and are
therefore a curse to man.
In everything there is duality. ‘Out of evil cometh good.’ If only
man could see that everything that is in the world, everything that
is yet to be discovered, can be used for good or can be used for bad.
There is no reason why the whole of the earth-world could not be
changed in such a way that it could truly be a heaven upon earth.
There is so much that man could accomplish, so much that he could
discover, so many blessings that he could bring to humanity by his
research and scientific approach. Man is given intelligence and the
opportunity to develop. But so much that is discovered is not used
as it should be — it is brought on to a low material level and used
quite often, I regret to say, to the detriment of man. All this is a
tragedy.
But the whole point is that it is all part of this duality, this
extraordinary evolution of man, where good and evil (or what is
called evil) go hand in hand. I am not condoning evil, that is the
last thing I would do; but it does seem that man has a choice. He
has the free will to use everything that comes to hand for good,
and if he would follow his spiritual instincts and the better aspects
of himself, gradually the lesser aspects would diminish.
That is why we feel that the inspiration and message of spirit
that we bring could change the whole world; we could bring evolu-
tion of a high degree to man, so that the earth-world would truly
be a stepping-stone in the best sense. There would never be any
need, then, for incarnations, and eventually your world would
become a part of our world; whereas as it is now, it is a separated
existence which it was never intended to be.
Self: What a long, interesting talk, dear.
Douglas: It is very difficult though. I do so want to say things
of importance and help, but words are incapable of describing what
I feel. I can only say that I just want you to go on in your own
quiet little way doing what you can, and getting the tapes down,
and I am convinced our books will come out. I must go. All my
love and blessings. Goodbye, dear.


125

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN,
Hopes for the future.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Hopes for the future
Before the séance Mr. Flint had said, regretfully, that the con-
ditions did not seem to be good since nothing had come through
for the previous person. However, after waiting for a few minutes,
I was delighted to hear Mickey’s voice.
Self: 1am so glad you have got through.
Mickey: Conditions are not so good today.
Self: Why is that?
Mickey: It is one of those things; there doesn’t seem to be much
power. I don’t like disappointing people. I tried earlier today, but
it was too difficult. Anyway, I will do my best for you.
Douglas: Hello, my dear! I am not quite sure if you can hear me.
Self: Yes, very clearly, thank you.
Douglas: There seems to be some difficulty.
Self: How did you get here?
Douglas: 1 came with you; I invariably do. I come to see you
every day, and by keeping in constant touch with you I know by
your thoughts what your plans are; and if you are coming here I
make a point of coming with you. I don’t just stand about here
waiting for you to arrive! (laughter).
Self: Gan you see Leslie and me sitting here?
Douglas: Yes, of course I can, but I am more conscious of your
thoughts. Even before you enunciate a word, invariably I can pick
up the thought, it is so quick. We communicate entirely by thought
on this side, but that does not mean we cannot speak to each other,
or, for instance, that a person who had a glorious voice on your
side and still wishes to sing cannot sing. We do have sound. I would
not like you to think that this is a soundless world. But in regard
to communication, we can, and we mostly do, communicate by
process of thought. There again, its transmission can be into sound-
waves and vibration. We have vibrations and sound-waves but of
course they are much higher than yours.
126
HOPES FOR THE FUTURE
In music, for instance, there is no limit to the compass. A great
pianist on your side, who has composed great works, no doubt has
often felt frustrated because the cornpass is too srnall. Over here, of
course, that does not apply. A great musician will find that the
cornpass is so trermendous that he can bring into being sounds which,
frankly, would not even be audible to your ears.
Self (after a pause): What do you look like today, dear?
Douglas: Very much the same as I did on earth, but much, much
younger, and no aches and pains, thank goodness! I look like I
did in my thirties.
Self: You were very much older than that when I first met you,
but your psychic portrait by Frank Leah shows you as a young man.
What is the spirit body composed of ?
Douglas: Oh, now you have asked me something I really cannot
answer. To all outward appearance it looks identical to one’s
physical body in its prime, but what the actual composition is, I
have no idea.
Self: When I saw our niece Julie a few months after her so-called
death, she looked radiantly beautiful, and so translucent and
glowing.
Douglas: 1 think it is true to say that our psychic or spiritual
body — at least the body that we have here — is, in a sense, trans-
lucent in appearance. It is very vital, and very much alive. In
some ways it is the same as the earth-body; but this is one of those
things which I don’t think any of us can really explain. To us, it
feels the same; it is solid and real, and not a wishy-washy thing
at all.
We are so much more mentally alive than ever we could have
been on earth, and everything that is around us is such a reality;
there is nothing wishy-washy about that either. We are very much
en rapport and in tune with everything, but although it is physical
inasmuch as it is solid to us, I suppose it is really a mental world.
It is a world where thought in itself is so predominant that every-
thing else is brought into being through the thinking process. This
does not mean to say that because you think of something it is
automatically there; there is an effort which has to be made from
within one’s innermost self.
In some respects, of course, one has to do things with one’s hands
in a creative sense. We do have substances which are just as real
to us as things are to you. We have materials which can be woven,
127

and can be used. Some people seem to assume that we just clothe
ourselves in a thought-force, which in a sense is true; I think more
highly evolved souls on higher spheres can, and do, do that. This
seems to be a state of being that one may reach at a later stage of
evolution. In my present state of mind I would not, personally, feel
much satisfaction unless I had made an effort. But I am not suggest-
ing, of course, that these higher souls don’t make an effort.
Everything here is created and is creative; it is not something
you wish for and there it is. You have got to work for it. But we
have to realise that individual souls are on different planes of evolu-
tion. There are planes where people use their hands, for instance,
handling tools for such things as carpentry but this is a plane of
life so very close to earth that it is, in a sense, almost earth.
People have not yet accustomed themselves to thinking that there
are many worlds, and that many of the planets are also worlds in
which people have substances, and a form of life which is in some
respects similar to that on earth. A lot of people assume that the
earth is the cradle of all life — well, it is the cradle of human life
in the form in which we know it, but it is not the be-all and the
end-all, as some people like to think. Some of the worlds in outer
space are inhabited by people who once lived on earth, and are
now in a higher state of being. There are also other forms of life
that are just beginning, and that are lesser, if you like, than human.
It is very difficult to explain this.
Self: Have you been to any of the planets?
Douglas: No, I only know what I have been told, and I have no
reason to disbelieve it at all. Indeed it seems to me most logical
and sensible, and I think that man has got to accustom himself to
the idea that he is not going to have just one existence. If one
accepts, as some people do, that there is only one existence — from
birth to the grave on earth — then the whole thing, to my way of
thinking, becomes purposeless.
We must see life in the right perspective. I am sure we do have
many forms of life, and that the earth-life is a very vital and im-
portant one; and we may and we do return to it many times, and
then we may, I am told (and I have no reason to doubt), go into
another state of being which may be on one of the planets. And
then, gradually, over aeons of time, we evolve into a state of per-
fection. ’m not sure if I can use the term perfection, because if


128



one becomes really perfect then there is nothing left to exist for,
or to become,and life would be pointless.
We must see life as constant change; indeed, this seems to me the
only explanation. Possibly, in a sense, we stay the same for what
may seem a very long time, but in time itself it is as nothing. We
may stay long enough in the same condition of life, or sphere, for
the people we know and love to evolve with us. A hundred years
is nothing; and although I, for instance, may be here twenty to
thirty years before you arrive, when we are together you will evolve
with me. I can impart my knowledge and experience to you, and
help can be given from various sources, so that eventually when
we have taken upon ourselves everything that is vital and important
we shall automatically awake to new conditions and surroundings.
These will have been there all the time, but we will not have seen
them because we were not ready for them.
In a sense, it is the same in your world. There are many, many
things which are gradually being brought to light of which man has
been ignorant, but they have been there just the same, waiting to
be discovered. In other words, there is nothing new; it is new only
because you have suddenly come across it, you have suddenly dis-
covered it. I think that is exactly what happens to us when we,
so-called, die; our consciousness is no longer so restricted by our
material world, and we begin to have a wider horizon. The horizon
has always been there, but we have not seen it.
Self: I hope I am not holding you back, dear.
Douglas: No, you could not do that; no one can. People say:
‘Oh, it is wrong to call up the dead.’ You cannot call us up; we are
there in any case. We are with you, in a sense, all the time. I don’t
mean by that that we are with you every five minutes of the day,
but we are with you in a mental kind of way; in a spiritual sense,
we are conscious of people whom we know and love, and of their
needs and desires, and of the fact that time is passing for them,
and they are drawing closer to us, even though they do not realise
it.
I can be near you and, in a sense, with you, and yet I can also
be conscious of circumstances elsewhere at the same time. We are
not limited in the same way as you are; we are not in a three-
dimensional world.
Self: Some people would say you have been dead nine years!
Douglas: I am more alive now than I have been at any time,


129



to my knowledge. As I have said, I, like yourself, and untold
millions of other souls, have been through many existences; and it
is only as one develops and evolves on this side that one gradually
becomes more aware of these things. Although, at times, they
seem dim memories, we can resurrect them if it is good for us to
do so.

What we are at this present moment is due, no doubt, to the past.
But, of course, we get to a point of evolution where we look only
in the present and to the future (those expressions really are material
but, nevertheless, I have to use material words to try to convey
things). We look to the opening up and the flowering of one’s inner-
most soul into an awareness and a reality of consciousness which
previously has been denied, because, no doubt, we had not reached
a point where it could be revealed. I realise more and more that
one must not ever stand still.
 
That is the tragedy, of course, of all the great religious organisa-
tions and bodies, particularly of Christianity, which has stood still
for two thousand years. It has lost the path and the way; it has
lost the true impetus that was given to it by the early disciples and
followers. This is a great tragedy. The truth as Christ taught it, the
truth as He knew it, has long since vanished, I regret to say. It has
been overshadowed by pomp and ceremony, by creed and dogma,
by material conception — even of heaven. It is all so pathetic and
very sad.
Self: It will pass.
Douglas: Oh yes, completely. Eventually, Christianity as it is
generally understood today will be wiped out. And the true mean-
ing of Christ, as indeed of all the great prophets and teachers and
seers of the ages, will be more and more revealed by the opening up
of communication between the two worlds. We shall be able to
make a direct contact in a form perhaps very similar to your tele-
vision or radio. That is what we are anticipating, and the scientists
on this side are working towards that end. I have great faith in that
possibility.
There is no doubt that one day we shall overcome many of the
troubles and difficulties that affect communication. We shall have
what you would term on earth a scientific method of communica-
tion which will be so extraordinary that by its very nature people
will willingly accept truth; and, of course, it will change them and,
in consequence, change the world. But although it is perhaps not


130


so far off before the beginning of this, it may be a long time before
the full impact of it is felt.
I am sorry I cannot stay any longer because the power is not very
good today. All my love, dear.
Mickey: Goodbye. It has been difficult, but I made a great effort.


131



Tribute.

 the close of my last sitting with Mr. Flint, realising a long time
might elapse before I could hope to resume these talks (on account
of my impending move far away from London), I asked my husband
to say a few words in appreciation of Mickey.
Douglas: Mickey would be the last person to want anyone to
praise him.

Self: I would like to dedicate this book to him, dear.
Douglas: I know, and I agree wholeheartedly that without
Mickey all that we do would be almost impossible. Although he
himself, perhaps, may not say very much or appear to do very much,
behind everything that happens there is Mickey. He helps in so
many ways; and he is so kind, so thoughtful, so considerate and
helpful to all of us. Really, he is a remarkable personality.
Superficially, no doubt, people may think that he is not very
advanced, but if the truth were known I am sure he is much more
advanced than many of the souls who come here to speak. Although
he comes back as a child, and sometimes speaks in his Cockney
humorous way, there is a deep-thinking, wonderful soul, highly
spiritually advanced; one whom we all respect and have the deepest
affection and regard for, because we know that he does a great
work. He helps many, many people on both sides. He is, as it were,
the compére to whom we all owe a great debt. I am very happy
and very proud to know him.
Self: And Leslie, too, of course
Douglas: Yes, the medium, bless him, we are very greateful to
him for all his effort, the work he has done, and the many oppor-
tunities he has given us. I hope his health will continue for many
years, so that we can do this work and help many souls in your
world.


133


Postscript.
On May 3rd, 1972, I received the good news that my husband’s
book had been accepted. Later, an invitation to meet those closely
concerned with its publication gave me the added pleasure of visiting
Leslie again, and of having another talk with Douglas. This séance
was recorded on July 10th, 1972. A group ‘sitting’ I attended a
few days before had not been successful.
Self (on hearing a familiar voice): How lovely to hear you again
Mickey.

Mickey: Ym sorry about the other day, but we couldn’t get
through; the conditions weren’t good. There was a lot of confusion,
and several entities were there who were undeveloped to say the
least ;so we thought it best not to do anything. How are you getting
on, Eira?
Self: Very well thank you.
Mickey: I’m glad about the book, and your husband is delighted.
Oh yes, he’s thrilled because he wants to get the message out to the
world. You’ve worked so hard the pair of you. It’s very satisfying,
ain’t it? When is it coming out?
Self; Early next year. It is dedicated to you.
Mickey: Oh blimey! Not to Flinty?
Self: This time it is to you because you have been a great friend
to us both.
Mickey: I’ve certainly done my best, but it’s the book being read
that matters.
Self: Yes, it is spreading this truth that is important.
Mickey: I saw you having your photo took. I think you probably
looked better with your hat on than without it.
Leslie: Oh Mickey ! What a rude remark.
Mickey: No. I think that hat suits you. Anyway we'll see won’t
we? [ll never be surprised if your husband got in on that picture.
He was standing there all the time.
Self: Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Mickey: Yes, smashing! Hold on! I'll see if he is ready.


134


POSTSCRIPT.
Douglas: Hello! At last! It has been a long time. I have been
looking forward so much to coming to talk to you. I was very dis-
appointed the other day, although, frankly, I am not very happy
when there are a lot of people about. I much prefer just the two
of us. Can you hear me?
Self: Very well indeed, dear.
Douglas: It is very difficult sometimes for us to know for certain
how well we are getting over. Well! Well! I am so thrilled and
happy about the book.

Self: How are you getting on over there?
Douglas: Very, very well. I am extremely happy and very, very
busy. I have been doing a lot of what you would call lecturing.
I don’t think of it quite in that way, but rather as discussions with
others, and helping those who are just coming over. We have
classes, or groups of souls, on spheres where they are in need of
help and enlightenment. Our task is to go into other conditions
of life where they are less advanced, and where they are really
beginning to open up to something we can offer. Some of them are
still very apprehensive. Quite a lot of people are still more men-
tally associated with the earth than they are with the environment
over here. They are still clinging to old thoughts, old ideas, old
memories, and in their own fashion they are not exactly unhappy.
But they are certainly beginning to seek, to wonder, and to ponder
on things. This is where we come in. We talk to them and advise
them, and in some instances we are able to change their attitude of
thought.
The whole point is that a person really in this world — and, in a
sense, I think it is true to say in your world — is no more than he or
she may think. As you think, so you are, and there are many people
over here who cling to old ideas which are an obstruction. The
first thing you have to learn when you come here is to discard
these old theories.

Half the troubles, if not more, of your world, are due to people
whose attitude of mind is so narrow and confined. Many people have
such strong convictions in things that have no weight, no bearing,
no validity. We have been very distressed with the state of your
world. We go from time to time to various places trying to help.
I have recently been in Northern Ireland. That is an appalling
state of affairs which goes to show — quite apart from the political
aspect — that it is mostly, really, deeply rooted in a religious sense.


135


But I must not start talking about religion because you get rather
worried about it when I do (laughter). Nevertheless, I cannot get
away from it, because I can see only too clearly how religion in the
past has separated human beings and made for bad relationships.
It really has sown seeds which, quite frankly, distress one very
much.
Until man realises the universal brotherhood that must exist, that
must come about through the realisation that we are all part of the
same spirit, all animated by the same God-given force which is
life-giving for all humanity (indeed for all forms of life), there will
be these terrible tragedies.
Man always divorces himself — to some extent anyway — from the
animal kingdom, for instance; but it is the same force that animates
all life. It is the same vitalising force which is creative. Nothing is
lost.

Over here we have the animal kingdom, we have nature; we
have birds, trees, forests, lakes. All these things which you think
of as material — which, in a sense, of course, they are in your world — 
are also fundamentally spiritual, inasmuch as the spiritual force
behind all life exists over here in abundance, and is much more
fully expressed.
All the beauties of your world exist here without all the material
or the depressing aspects that man has brought into being through
centuries of wrong thinking and, in consequence, wrong action.
Man has created such havoc in your world. But here, because man
is beginning to open up and understand and express himself, and
realise the power and the potential of the spirit, man is changing
his whole attitude to life.
In consequence, here we have all the beauties and all the realities
of the natural world without many of the things which in your
world cause distress and unhappiness. All the worse aspects of man
are gradually lessened. Man loosens, as it were, his own self from
the shackles in which he has bound himself.
This is not being anti-religion, because true religion — the true
fundamental religion of all life — is something which applies to all
of us. But it is when man builds barriers, and creates dogma and
creeds that separate man from man — this is what causes all the
havoc and the misery. Like in Northern Ireland.
Self: Do you rest sometimes?
Douglas: What is rest? We do not get tired as you understand

the meaning of the term; we do not have a physical tiredness, but
we have a mental tiredness when we feel the need to withdraw.
We temporarily cease to become mentally concerned or active in
some particular interest or other. Then we are in a state of what
you would call unconsciousness; you would refer to it as sleep. We
do not, for instance, go to bed, and yet at the same time we can
withdraw mentally from something that we are immersed in, and
have a period of time — although time is not the same with us, it
doesn’t really exist — of unconsciousness. But this is not something
which is essential or necessary.
Here life is so full, there are so many interests, and yet you
can never exhaust them, any more than you can, in a sense,
exhaust yourself. Over here there is always something fresh
and new and exciting to experience — new faces, new people, more
advanced souls to meet; there is always a new experience to look
forward to.
Self: I heard you say as I awakened one morning recently: ‘I
have met someone I have not seen since 1625.’ Do you remember
saying that?

Douglas: Yes I do. The point is, as I have told you so often in
the past, that here one meets people one has known in a previous
incarnation. For instance, I have met Shakespeare, and I have met
Bacon, and I can solve that little problem! Bacon did not write
the plays, and Shakespeare definitely did write them. But you must
remember that Shakespeare picked out a lot of old plots and re-wrote
a tremendous amount. Actually, he was what I suppose you might
call a hack, but at the same time he brought a freshness and an
originality, and he developed characters in his plays that had been
created before, in some cases a hundred or so years previously. But
this is a long story.
Self: So you have had a chat with Shakespeare !
Douglas: Yes, but there again, of course, people will say: ‘Your
husband says he has had a chat with Shakespeare — very nice, but
how do we know, how can we prove it?’ Well I suppose in a kind
of way you cannot exactly prove it to the satisfaction of people on
your side. There is an aspect of this which I think is so fascinating;
if only one had the opportunity to come more often to discuss
things, and not only myself coming to speak but other souls. There
is no reason, as far as I can see, why Shakespeare, or Bacon — if
they wanted to that is, and if they were prepared to — could not

come through and speak and discuss on all manner of things.
People do not realise the tremendous possibilities of this subject.
Indeed one might say they have only scratched the surface.
Self: Sometimes I see what look like ribbons of light with sen-
tences written on them. Unfortunately, I am rarely quick enough
to get the message. Are you responsible dear?
Douglas: Yes, and I think you know more than you are prepared
to admit. But of course you do come here a great deal in your sleep.
I often wonder if you remember much about it.
Self: A little sometimes, and I certainly feel much fitter after I
have been over with you. I suppose I bring back a little power from
your side.

Douglas: You certainly do. You know, we are much closer even
than you realise. When are you coming to London again?
Self: I don’t know. I should love to come.
Douglas: There is still much that I could give you, but the prob-
lem now is getting to London to talk to me.
Self; Still, I love Wales, it is a beautiful environment, and I have
a wonderful view from my window. Do you like my room?
Douglas: Very much, it is so quiet and peaceful; that in itself is
a great comfort, and the atmosphere and condition is very good
there.

Self: How is my brother Arnold getting on?
Douglas: He is perfectly well now, and very happy. He would
like me to convey his love to you. Your mother and father send
their love, too. I have met so many people one way and another, and
I do occasionally see people we have known in more recent years
but, perhaps because I am so immersed in the work I am doing,
I have met primarily people associated with the past; people from
incarnations centuries ago who were very much caught up and
involved in our lives. This is a thing people do not always realise.
Sometimes we take personal relationships — I am talking now
particularly about family — as so important. They are important
materially while you are living in a material world, as indeed they
must be, but over here relationships of any real depth are not
necessarily relationships of family, but relationships of mental and
spiritual achievement and attainment. It is not so important who
gave birth to you; it is the evolution and development of the spirit
that is important. Of course, if you are very deeply involved and
attached to a member of a family, then obviously you will remain

so. This is invariably because you are Old Souls, and have been
much associated in a previous incarnation. But I feel there is so
much that is left unsaid about communication and about previous
incarnations that, quite frankly, one cannot hope to get it all over,
and I have learnt so much more. It does seem a long time since I
spoke to you.
Self; It is nearly five years, dear.
Douglas: But we have been in touch just the same. I want you
to realise that every day that passes, J am very near you, and no
doubt when you do come to London, as you almost certainly will
some time next year, we can have some more chin-wags together.
I shall have to go in a minute, but all my love, and I am thrilled
and happy about the book, and I know, I know, it is going to be
a success.
Mickey: Goodbye, bless you Auntie.
Self: Douglas did very well.
Mickey: Marvellously, especially considering he hasn’t had a
chance to come for ages.


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Leslie Flint became a famous British spirit medium, not because he stood on a platform to give messages from the deceased, but because countless thousands of spirit communicators spoke for themselves at his séances. The voices were independent of Flint - he even spoke with them himself - and many of the voices were recorded.

By the time his autobiography 'Voices in the Dark' was first published in 1971, Flint had already been a medium for over 40 years - yet he continued with his work for another 20 years. His experience and knowledge of what happens to us after death is second to none.

Flint's mediumship was tested by independent researchers time and again - and still the voices came to speak their message: that we are eternal spirits living a physical life and we live on after death.

Leslie Flint's séances and the spirit communications that he facilitated changed the lives of thousands - and his legacy lives on.

Read his bestselling book 'Voices in the Dark' (link; https://www.leslieflint.com/voices-in-the-dark ) and learn how an impoverished youngster from England rose to become the most respected spirit medium of his age.

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(Flint - svensk lydbok utdrag 
https://rune.ws/lydboker/2017uploadAudiobooks/voices_in_the_Dark_Leslie/leslyFlint_medium.mp3
og hele i lyd https://rune.ws/lydboker/2017uploadAudiobooks/voices_in_the_Dark_Leslie/ )