Page:Dealings with the dead.djvu/116

 enlightenment consists in gaining a complete mastery of the self, the purpose, and the will. The man or woman who believes what any spiritual being may rap, tip, talk out, or write about, merely because it is a Spirit, has not yet left off childish things. In the coming time, men will derive information directly from the Soul-worlds, and not by the proxy of tables and spirits, as now.

The course here recommended is the true and only one capable of effecting the redemption and liberation of the obsessed from the terrible thraldom to which, by their own unwise action, they have been subjected. The sufferings of the class alluded to ought to be prima facie evidence to themselves that their methods of dealing with the dead are not the proper ones, nor such as should be adopted by any sane or rational being. Their miseries, as a general thing, are severe enough to excite the pity and commiseration of even a fiend; yet scarce ten in a hundred of these self-immolated victims receive even the poor need of thanks, much less food and raiment, for their toil and pains. By self-abnegation and resignation of the will, they have brought their misery upon themselves, by opening their spheres for the free entrance of whatever apocryphal philosopher or saint, whose identity they can prove, may choose to accept their invitation; and after displacing their own common sense, substitute a very un-common kind in lieu thereof. It is only by an assertion of self, of will—a persistent upbuilding and reparation of the shattered fabric of their personal spheres—that the evil can be kept distant and the good be attracted and entertained. The great mass of obsessing and demonstrating spirits