Agnosticism and skepticism have dealt some heroic blows at lingering, decaying forms from which the Spirit had departed, lopping off and pruning away the dead wood of dogmatism to make way for fresh expressions of a vital character. Honest skepticism is like fire, consuming the dross, and leaving only the genuine substance of truth unscathed. A positive, vital faith is impervious to the thrusts of such negative weapons as doubt and unbelief. They can only prevail where faith is in decadence and the dry rot of conventionality has set in.…

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Every belief is destined at some time to be outgrown and cast aside. He who pins his faith to beliefs, ancient or modern, builds on an unstable foundation. The free man is absolved even from the desire for a permanent system of thought. Just now we need to be exceedingly careful lest, in our enthusiasm for a newly discovered ideal, we establish a dogma of healing. The final word in this matter has not yet been spoken, in fact it never can be spoken in any matter with which the…

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If we are to be free, in the truest sense, we must be released from bondage to belief. We must conquer the intellect, and make it our servant, instead of permitting it to be our master. We must assume a standpoint above the plane of understanding, so as to be able to control our thinking, and not allow it to control us. The vast majority of people, knowingly or ignorantly, merely reflect the opinions of others in intellectual matters, instead of developing original tendencies of thinking. Just at present it…

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Conceptions are at best only suggestive. They cannot comprehend the Truth, for that is infinite and transcends all possibility of perfect formulation. They can only indicate the direction in which it lies, the atmosphere in which it exists. They are its ever-changing body, which the dogmatist mistakes for the soul. They are its appearance, not its reality. The forms of our conceptions must necessarily be deduced from experience. At the surface of life is manifold expression in infinite variety, apparently without unity of source, or direction of purpose. If we…

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The process of evolution reveals growth through a succession of stages. The inner life develops each form to its utmost capacity, until, transcending its limits, it appears in the guise of a higher one. The insect larva passes through a succession of moults, discarding each outgrown form for a fresh one representing a higher stage of development. Catastrophe, or seeming destruction, is but the ushering in of a new order of existence; and that which appears to be death is only transition to higher conditions of life. Every dogma contains…

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Every age which has been distinguished by the development of any vitally important idea has appealed to the world through its leader or prophet. Moses, Confucius, Gautama, Jesus and Luther were exponents of mighty tides of human unfoldment. Their insight and spiritual power made them incarnations of the thoughts and aspirations of thousands of lives. Behind each of these representative characters were racial tendencies and purposes seeking expression in the profound life of a great soul, and calling for utterance in the comprehensive declarations of a great mind. The “word…

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The inductive method has been applied to every department of knowledge relating to the outer world, until sciences have been established, one after another, upon a basis of fact. They are now studied not only individually, but relatively, as interdependent branches —as integrant parts of one complex system, each of which throws some light upon others and gives a larger significance to all. But physical sciences take account of only one side of life —the outer. When they have been pursued to their utmost capacity, elements of experience still remain…

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Ever and anon, in the world’s history, the mind of man has been seized with an irresistible passion for investigation and exploration. The tendency to consider first the outer, and after ward the inner side of life, is characteristic of the race as well as of the individual. When the mind of civilization awoke out of its slumber during the night of medieval darkness, a new light dawned upon it. As one rising in the morning after a sound sleep, with vigor renewed and faculties alert, it began to reach…

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An inborn craving for knowledge forever impels the mind to reach out in all directions for an unknown something with which to satisfy its desires. Attention is at first attracted by the outer world of objects —appearances that appeal to the senses. But after analyzing all that the senses can perceive, and even carrying the process by inductive reasoning and aid of the imagination far beyond the boundaries of actual sense perception, it finds itself no nearer the goal of its search than at the outset. In fact, it finds…

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SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS A BRIEF RECORD OF MY OWN EXPERIENCES By Sir WM. EARNSHAW COOPER, CIE.Audiobook But my belief in the boundless possibilities of this Law extends much further than the present measure of its justification. I have said before, I am neither exalte nor emotional, nevertheless I plainly discern in the spiritual manifestations, described in these pages, premonitions of the waxing of a mighty compelling-power which, once understood by man and utilised in the way intended by the Creator, will completely revolutionise life on this planet. General belief in the…

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SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS A BRIEF RECORD OF MY OWN EXPERIENCES By Sir WM. EARNSHAW COOPER, CIE.Audiobook Had God’s purpose been to show me but one picture of the After-Life; to give me but one brief glance of what men regard as the ‘Hidden Future,’ He could have done so by simply permitting my mother, for example, to manifest herself to me. That His Purpose meant more than this is made clear by the additional evidence which it was His will to reveal to me. I believe in His Omnipotence and He…

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SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS A BRIEF RECORD OF MY OWN EXPERIENCES By Sir WM. EARNSHAW COOPER, CIE.Audiobook My mind, indeed, often dwells upon the simple beauty of the life of many of the Indian people, and my soul is therefore attuned to, and in affinity with, their souls. This being so, it would be passing strange if their spirits failed to speak with mine. ” Like attracts Like ” is the Law, and if it failed to operate here it would not be a law, but a caprice. That it is a…

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SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS A BRIEF RECORD OF MY OWN EXPERIENCES By Sir WM. EARNSHAW COOPER, CIE.Audiobook To those whose creedal belief is as broad as heaven itself, and who understand the meaning of Christ’s words: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me,” the idea of God making use of the discarnate-spirits of Eastern people is not only not repugnant but quite intelligible, fitting and just, and in accordance with Christ’s promise and God’s eternal laws. God’s way are always sound and intelligible,…

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SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS A BRIEF RECORD OF MY OWN EXPERIENCES By Sir WM. EARNSHAW COOPER, CIE.Audiobook One remarkable incident that I have failed to record is the fact that both my Guides, from what men call the ” Shadowland ” are of Eastern origin. ” Maharaj ” is unmistakably Indian, but the racial origin of ” Maira ” is not so clear. The picture of rows of kneeling women, engaged in some act of worship, would denote that some Eastern country, other than India, claims the birth of “Maira’s ” physical…

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SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS A BRIEF RECORD OF MY OWN EXPERIENCES By Sir WM. EARNSHAW COOPER, CIE.Audiobook This last proof of the ease with which communication between discarnate and incarnate-spirits may be set up now becomes vividly interesting. Not only do we find that the intermingling of spirit life on the two planes is, under certain conditions, not difficult of accomplishment, but that it may even enter into the domesticities of our daily life. If a parent, a few months after his translation to another state, can find means of again entering…

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SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS A BRIEF RECORD OF MY OWN EXPERIENCES By Sir WM. EARNSHAW COOPER, CIE.Audiobook In the circumstances I determined that my young friend should hear nothing further from me about the spiritual truths which are being revealed to mankind every day, and which are pearls of great price to those who value them at their true worth. Further, that she would, so far as I am concerned, have to work out her own redemption on those narrow, unsatisfying conditions which a world-wide theocracy has set up in all countries…

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