We spoke of the dense body in which we now live, as a
“clog” and a “fetter.” It
must not be inferred, however, that we sympathize with the attitude of certain people
who, when they have learned with what ease soul-flights are accomplished, go about
bemoaning the fact that they are now imprisoned. They are constantly thinking of, and
longing for, the day[pg 090]when they shall be able to leave this mortal coil behind and fly away in
their spiritual body. Such an attitude of mind is decidedly mistaken, the great and wise
beings who are invisible leaders of our evolution have not placed us here to no purpose.
Valuable lessons are to be learned in this visible world wherein we dwell, that cannot be
learned in any other realm of nature, and the very conditions of density and inertia whereof
such people complain, are factors which make it possible to acquire the knowledge this world
is designed to give. This fact was so amply illustrated in a recent experience of the
writer:—A friend had been studying occultism for a number of years but had not studied
astrology.
Last year she became aroused to the importance of this branch of
study as a key to self knowledge and a means of understanding the natures of others, also of
developing the compassion for their errors, so necessary in the cultivation of love of one's
neighbor. Love of our neighbor the Savior enjoined upon us as the Supreme Commandment which
is the fulfillment of all laws, and as Astrology teaches us to bear and forbear, it helps as nothing
else can in the development[pg 091]of the supreme virtue. She therefore joined one of the classes started in
Los Angeles by the writer, but a sudden illness quickly ended in death and thus terminated
her study of the subject in the physical body, ere it was well begun.
Upon one of many occasions when she visited the writer subsequent
to her release from the body, she deplored the fact that it seemed so difficult to make
headway in her study of astrology. The writer advised continued attendance at the classes,
and suggested that she could surely get someone “on the other
side” to help her study.
At this she exclaimed impatiently: “Oh
yes! of course I attend the classes, I have done so right along; I have also found a friend
who helps me here. But you cannot imagine how difficult it is to concentrate here upon
mathematical calculations and the judgment of a horoscope or in fact upon any subject here,
where every little thought-current takes you miles away from your study. I used to think it
difficult to concentrate when I had a physical body, but it is not a circumstance to the
obstacles which face the student here.” [pg 092]
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