SOUL DEVELOPMENT

There is nothing that will cause this Soul Development as well as earnest sincere prayer to the Father.  With such prayer will come Faith.  With Faith will come the Substance, of what you may now only believe.  So pray often, believing that the Divine Love of the Father will come to you.  You will realize your Oneness with Him.

Soul Development

January 19th, 1916
I am here, Your Old Friend, Albert Riddle.
    I desire to write to you tonight upon a subject which I think will be interesting, but it is so late now I hesitate to do so.
    Well, as you think it will be all right, I will do so.  I want to write on the subject of:  The Soul's Development, or Progression, as I have experienced it.
    As you know, when I first came into the Spirit World, I was an unbeliever in things pertaining to the soul.  Except, that I thought that the soul, which in my then opinion, was the equivalent of that part of human which survived death, would continue to exist, and progress, as the mental qualities of the human should be developed.  That the mind was the great and only thing in the Future Existence, and as the mind was developed more and more on Earth, the condition of the human in their progression would be determined.
    I had no conception of the soul as a distinct and independent existence from the mind.  I thought that all the qualities and attributes of the mind were those which belong to the soul, and that I had none others.  So I say, I entered the Spirit World and did not change my beliefs until a long time after I became a spirit.
    As I continued to live in the Spirit World in this belief, I found that the mental faculties, and their development, did not bring to me the satisfaction, which I had anticipated.  I also met some of my friends of Earth who had preceded me by long year’s.  Humans of great mental acquirements.  I found that their conditions were not as satisfactory a nature as I had led myself to believe that they should be.  For many of these friends were only in the Earth Plane.  Some were in darkness, which was wholly contrary to what they should be, if my theory of the allness of the mind was True.  All this caused me to think.  In thinking, I commenced to realize that there might be something wrong in my theory, and that the soul might be a distinct thing from the mind, in its Nature and functions.
    I did not find that these intellectual friends of mine had any very great happiness.  Nor were they satisfied with their conditions.  Yet they could not, by the exercise of any mental progress, get out of their condition of darkness.  Of course they were engaged in pursuing studies of one kind or another, and such studies gave them considerable happiness and satisfaction, yet, notwithstanding all this, there was some restraining force that prevented them from going to Spheres higher than they were then living in.
    I found that there were Higher Spheres, where the mind was developed to a much greater degree, and where many spirits who believed in the supremacy of the mind lived and enjoyed the pursuits of their studies.  At times, some of these spirits would come to our plane and tell of the wonderful development and happiness in these Higher Spheres, and urge us to make the effort to progress and become inhabitants of them.  You may be assured we were willing and anxious to make such progress.  But try as I would, and as my friends would, the efforts produced no visible effect, and we continued in darkness.
    Being of an inquisitive nature, I sought for the reason of our inability to get out of the darkness.  At last, found that the mind was not everything, but the development of the Moral Qualities were necessary to enable us to progress as we desired, and that in order to develop these qualities, something more than the mere exercise of the mental faculties were required.
    Conscience must be satisfied (the Law of Compensation).  Our recollection of evil deeds on Earth must be gotten rid of.  Our qualities of soul, which determined our position and condition in the Spirit World, must be so adjusted to the demands of the Laws of Harmony, so that we could be able to advance in our progress to that place which such adjustment would entitle us to occupy.
    I further found, that the darkness in which we lived was not created by any defective condition of the mind, for many spirits, whose minds were highly cultivated and possessed of unusual knowledge, were in just as much darkness as were many spirits of very meager mentality and information.
    All this knowledge came to me, and caused me to seek a way to improve my Moral Nature, and to get rid of the recollections of those things which tainted and darkened such Nature.  I sought very diligently, but it was slow work and the efforts required were great, but some progress was made.  If I had continued long enough, and used my will powers in urging the cultivation of kind thoughts, and Love for the True, and affection, etc., I would undoubtedly have progressed from darkness.  This had been the experience of many spirits, who believed as I did, that the mind was the thing, and depended upon their own will and exertions to bring the desired results.
    While in this condition of struggle and slow progress, I would occasionally meet spirits, who seemed to be of a higher order and more beautiful than was I.   Naturally, I wondered what the cause was.  Although, strange as it may seem to you, I never made the inquiry, until one day I met some of our folks who had this beautiful appearance, and seemed to be so perfectly happy.
    Naturally in our conversation, I asked them the cause of their happiness.  When they told me, I was so surprised that I gave very little credence to what they said.  Because, what they told me was so similar to what I had heard on Earth in the orthodox churches.  I supposed that these friends had brought with them their old orthodox faiths and emotions, and were deceiving themselves as to the cause of their appearances.  That the probable cause was that they were more Moral than I, when on Earth.  Hence, their recollections of earthly sins were less, and conscience was not so severe on them.  Therefore, they had gotten out of their darkness into Light, with the resultant appearance of beauty and happiness.  I would not, at first, accept their explanations of the cause of their conditions, and continued for sometime longer in the effort to improve my Moral condition and advance in my mental acquirements.
    There was one other thing, I noticed.  That is; that while these beautiful friends had not the mental development, apparently, that some other spirits who had progressed out of the darkness into the Higher Spheres of Light, yet the beauty, and seeming happiness of these friends were so much greater, and of a different nature, from the happiness and appearance of those more highly mentally developed spirits.
    Again, I thought, and concluded; that even moral and mental development could not explain the cause of the difference between the appearances and happiness of these friends, and those of these more mentally developed spirits.  So I again determined to seek the cause, and as a consequence, I sought these friends with the intention and desire to listen more seriously to what they might tell me.  To open my mind to the secret as it was to me.
    Well, I listened to them.  They told me that their progress and condition was caused by the Soul Development, which they had received in seeking for and obtaining the Divine Love of the Father.  That the soul is the great and important part of being spirits.  That the condition of the Soul Development determines the position, appearance, and happiness, of the spirit, and that the spirit body and mind are both subordinate to the soul.  Whenever the mind submits to the control of the soul, and the will of the mind, as you may say, to the will of the soul, that then the progress to the Highest Sphere will commence.  The spirit, who is thus progressing, will show the state of their advancement by the appearance of their beauty and happiness.
    They further explained to me the Divine Nature and Power of the Divine Love, and Its great developing potentialities.  The absolute necessity of Its entering into, and possessing the soul, in order for it to make its Greatest Progress.  That as this Divine Love became more and more a part of the soul's possessions, the soul took on itself the Divine Nature of the Father, and all these things, which had a lodgment therein, and which tended to make it dark and sinful, disappeared.  As these things disappeared, the soul mounted to Higher Spheres and became happier and more beautiful.  The spiritual body correspondingly manifested this happiness and beauty.
    All these things and many more, these friends told me, and urged me to seek for the Divine Love of the Father, and offered in every way to help me.  At first, I could not understand what seeking this Divine Love meant.  But they took great pains to instruct me, and told me that only through prayer and Faith, would it come to me.  That while this Divine Love was waiting to fill the soul of every spirit, and anxious to do so, yet only by earnest, sincere, seeking would It enter the soul and fill it with Its Great Essence.
    At last, they persuaded me to pray to the Father, and then prayed with me.  It was hard to have Faith in that which my mind did not understand and could not grasp.  But they said, the soul has its faculties, and is not dependent upon the mind for this Faith.  Upon my exercising these soul faculties, would depend the question of my receiving this Divine Love and this Faith.  For as Divine Love came, Faith would come also, which Faith was not a mere mental belief, but something greater and different.
    Well, I continued to pray for this Divine Love.  After awhile, I felt a sensation which I had never felt before within my soul, and as I prayed this feeling increased.  Faith, in a small degree, came to me.  I realized that there was a Love possessing me that was never with me before.  I continued thus, to seek and pray, until at last, this Great Love came to me in great abundance, flooding, as it were, my whole soul.  Happiness unspeakable came to me.  And, as these friends said, Light and beauty also.
    Well you can imagine that my longings and desires became insatiable.  The darkness disappeared.  My recollections of the evils of my Life became fainter and fainter.  Suddenly, I found myself in the Third Sphere, which then appeared to me to be the very heaven of Heavens, and the very fountainhead of beauty and happiness.
    Now during all this time, and it was not accomplished in a day, I gave no attention to the development of my mind, or to the acquiring of knowledge of the material things, as I might say, of the Spirit World.  But when I found myself in the beautiful sphere that I have mentioned.  It seemed to me that my mental faculties had expanded beyond all possibilities of belief, and Knowledge of things that I had never before heard or conceived of came to me with wonderful clearness.
    But the soul, and not the mind, was the thing!  And Love, this Divine Love of the Father, made happiness mine, and everything beautiful and satisfying.  They, who seeks only the development of the mind, and lets the soul slumber is poor indeed, but they who seeks the Development of the Soul, finds that as their Soul Develops, their mind does also.  Rich they are, beyond compare.
    Well, I continued in this Soul Development.  In the increased happiness, and the attainment of great brightness, and more than all, the possession of this Great Love, until I passed through the Fifth Sphere, where everything was much more beautiful.  Divine Love so more abundant than in the Third Sphere, and entered the Seventh Sphere, where I now am.  I will not attempt to tell you the glories of this Sphere, for I feel that words are inadequate to do so.  Then in a faint, unsatisfying way, have I attempted to rehearse to you the Soul Development, and the Wholly Sufficient thing that it is.
    My advice to all mortals, based on my own personal experience, is to seek, with all their might and earnest efforts, the Development of the Soul, and that of the mind will follow.  This they can commence while yet on Earth, and they will find that progress, after they have crossed the borderline, will be much more rapid and easier.
    Well, it is late, and I have written long enough.  I wanted so much to write to you tonight upon this subject of the Soul Development, as I see its vital importance to the future happiness of human and to their Immortality.
    So with all my Love and blessings, I am, your brother in Christ, Albert Riddle.

Soul Development

September 28th, 1916
I am here, Jesus.
    I come tonight to tell you that you are in a better condition to write than you have been for sometime.  I think it best that I deliver to you a message.
    Well, I will write on the subject:  The destiny of the human who has not the Divine Love in their soul, and dies with only the Natural Love and a belief in the creeds and dogmas of the churches. 
    I know that many humans believe that the creeds of the churches are what are necessary for the Salvation of Humankind.  I mean, as to baptism, observance of the sacraments, and the belief that in my name humans may be saved, are sufficient, and all that are necessary to insure them an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.  In such belief, rest, with the feeling of assurance that nothing else is required, or in any way to be sought for and acquired.
    The large majority of professing christians are in this state of belief.  Hence, the greater number of humankind will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Celestial Heavens), or become in their Natures Divine.  I have already told you what the future of those who possess this Divine Nature of the Father is.  Now I will confine my message to:  The future of this great majority.
    As you may know, no river can never run higher than its source.  Neither can this majority attain to a Perfection and Happiness, superior to that which was possessed by human, before the time of the fall from the State of their Perfect Creation.  Hence, no matter how great their progress may be in their Natural Love, or in their moral, or mental, qualities, they can never excel the First Created Humans, as they were before the fall.  The only possible future for this vast majority is the condition and development that existed in the Perfect Human of God's First Creation.
    I know it is said that human has in them, that, which is a part of the Divinity of God.  That by their own efforts they may develop that Divine Substance until they become Divine themselves, and of the Divine Nature of the Father.  This is not True.  It is not possible to develop the Divine Love, or any Essence of the Divine, out of that, which has not in itself of the Nature of the Divine.  In the Spirit World, and I mean the Spiritual Heavens, as well as Celestial Heavens, Laws prevail, and are just as certain in their operations as are the Laws of the Material World.  A fundamental Law is:  That only like produces like.  Although, in the physical World it may appear that a derivative is not like that from which it is derived.  This is in appearance only, for in substance and essence, the likeness exists and cannot be eradicated.
    So, as to the Real Condition of the Soul of Human, if they have only the Natural Love, the Created Love, the development of that Natural Love will result in that, which cannot possibly be greater, or other than, that which in its constituent parts is, only the Natural Love.  No matter what the Perfection may become, the Divine Element is absent.  All the limitations that are inherent in the Created Being still continue to form a part of, and control, that being.
    There is a limit to the development of this Natural Love, and to the state of happiness, beyond which, it is not possible for this being to go.  That limit is:  The qualities and excellence possessed by the First Humans, before they became defiled and impregnated with sin.  The mind of such being is also limited in the progress which it may make in obtaining Knowledge, for that mind being a Thing of Creation, is bound by the limitations that that Creation imposed.
    So I say, such a human can never progress higher than those attributes or qualities with which they were endowed when they were the Perfect Human, either Spiritually, or mentally, unless they seek for and obtain the Divine Love.

    When spirits come and write that Life in this Spirit World is always progressive, these spirits who write have never attained to this limit of which I speak.  Hence, to them, progression is endless.  This belief is very beneficial, because it inspires them to make an effort to progress.
    There are many spirits in this Perfect State (or condition) in the Highest Sphere of Natural Love, or mentality.  But they are spirits who have been in the Spirit World for a vast number of years, and are what you might call ancient spirits.  These spirits have realized this limitation of which I write.  While they can change the objects of their seeking, and the sources of their happiness, yet their progress has its ending.

    Often, there comes to them dissatisfaction, and a realization that over and beyond their sphere, there must be something that may be obtained, that surpasses their Perfect State and soul development.  As a result of this dissatisfaction, many of these spirits, in moments of their unrest, give heed to the suggestions of those Spirits who have become possessed of the Divine Essence, and upon whom is no limitation of progress.  For these latter Spirits are, at all times, in the Highest Sphere of these spirits of Perfected Natural Love, trying to show them The Way to the Higher Soul Development and Happiness of the Celestial Spheres.
    It may seem surprising to you, but it is a fact, that these spirits of the Natural Love, during their periods of progression, and especially as they make nearer approach to their Perfection, in the satisfaction and happiness that they experience in that progression, will not listen to the Spirits of the Divine Spheres, or believe that there can be any other methods of progress more desirable or excellent than the ones that they are pursuing.  Only when they come to realize the dissatisfaction that I speak of, will Awaken to the fact, or consent to be Awakened to the fact, that there may be a Way that leads to things beyond their limits of progress and the Perfection that they may have acquired.
    So, as I say, the higher the progress of these spirits, and the farther away they advance from the Earth Plane, the greater the difficulty in persuading them that there is a State of Perfection and Happiness surpassing that which they are seeking for.  A Way, different from the way they are pursuing.
    As these spirits progress in their Natural Love, and in the development of their created minds, much happiness and satisfaction come to them.  In each stage of progress, so much greater do these experiences become, that they readily conceive that there can be no Way superior to the one that they are travelling.  Hence, having such belief, the difficulty of convincing them to the contrary, becomes almost insurmountable.  As a consequence, the Divine Spirits of the Celestial Spheres, and those of the Spirit Spheres, who are progressing in the Divine Love, give the great part of their time and efforts, to convincing spirits of these Higher Truths while they are in the Earth Planes, before the happiness that I mention is experienced.
    The Life on Earth, and that in the Earth Planes of the Spirit World, are the states in which the souls of mortals, and of spirits, have the best opportunities for learning and believing these Divine Truths that show them The Way to the Progression that is without limitation or ending.  Hence, the importance of humans knowing these Divine Truths, and of spirits also, before they experience the satisfaction and pride, I may say, that the advancement in the development of their Natural Love, and mental and moral qualities gives them.
    Until the time comes when The Father shall withdraw from human, and spirit, the Privilege of Obtaining this Divine Love and Essence, which time will bring the Second Death, these spirits, and all spirits and mortals, will have the opportunity of seeking for and finding The Way to the Celestial Spheres and Immortality.  After that time, this Privilege will no longer exist.  Then those spirits and mortals, who have not found and followed The Way of that Privilege, will be, and become, only the Perfect Beings, as were their First Parents.  They will have no assurance of Immortality.  Or, even Continuous Life.  That dissatisfaction and longing for something unknown will be theirs.
    They will remain only the Created Beings, in spirit body, soul, and mind.  As the First Parents had all the qualities that these restored humans will have, and fell, why may it not be that they will fall?  That there may come some change in the individualized spirit that will destroy that individuality and dissolve it into its elements of pre-creation?  No spirit knows that such a change will take place, that the Perfect Spirit will not always retain the same individuality, or that the happiness of such spirit will not always exist.  Neither does any spirit know that these things will continue to be.
    Then why should they not choose that course which leads to Divinity and certainty of Immortality and progress, rather than the one, which leads to limitation of progress and happiness, and to uncertainty of Immortality?
    I have written enough for tonight.  I will come again soon.  So remember that I Love you, and am with you trying to help you Spiritually, and that I pray to the Father to Bless you.  Goodnight, your brother and friend, Jesus.

Soul Development

October 11th, 1916
I am here, St. John.
    I merely want to say, that I have been listening to your reading of my message, and heard your comments on the same.  You are correct in what you and your friend (Dr. Leslie Stone) said.
    There is scarcely a greater error, in the beliefs of humans, that retard the development of their souls, than the belief that at sometime Jesus will come in all his glory and power, and take humans into his heaven, just as they are, in body, soul, and spirit.  This belief has, for a long time, prevented many humans from seeking to develop their soul qualities, either as to the Natural Love, or as to the Divine Love.  For as a basis of their faith is that saying in the Bible, “that whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved”.  Many, thinking that they have this belief, are contented therein, and further believe that because of that belief, they will be carried into the heavens of Jesus when he comes, even though in the meantime they may have given up the Earth Life.  It is deplorable that humans should believe these things, and live and die in this belief, which, of course, is wholly intellectual.
    But such is the fact.  We spirits, who Know the Truth, have for all the long centuries, been so anxious that humans should know the Truth, and have been working among humans, by means of spirit impression, and sometimes by revelation, to help them learn not only the Truth, but also the errors of their beliefs.  As our efforts have not been very successful, we concluded to use the means that we are now using, and to reveal to humankind, in our own words and thoughts, the Divine Truths of God, as regards human and all things connected with them.  Here I want to say, with all the emphasis that I can, that you, and your friends, must believe that the communications that you receive, as to these Divine Truths are written by us, and in our own words.  That your mind does not supply a thought, or suggestion, and that you are used only as a medium to convey our thoughts, and lend your physical organs to facilitate our expressing, in our own language, the Truths that we desire to convey.  So, no matter how improbable some things may seem to you, you must accept them as True.  For nothing but the Truth will be written.  Further, we will not allow any spirit, who is not in our band, or who has not this Divine Love, to write on any of the Truths that are necessary to be revealed to the World.
    I thought this the proper place to say this, as I desire to assure your friend of the Reality of the messages, and the source from which they come.
    I will not write more now.  I will say goodnight, with my Love to you both, I am your brother in Christ, John.

Soul Development

February 11th, 1917
I am here, John.
    I come tonight to tell you that your condition of soul is very much better than it has been for some time.  You are more in Unison with the Father's Divine Love than you have been for some time.  You realize that this Divine Love is working in your soul and making you happy.
    I have been with you a great deal today, as you copied the messages, and saw that you enjoyed the Truths that they contained.  The message describing the progress of the soul is one that contains the Truth of:  How the soul finds the True Way to the Divine Love of the Father and to progress to the Celestial Spheres.  It is a very clear and convincing portrayal of the necessary course that every soul must pursue, which comes into the Spirit World devoid of the Divine Love.  There is no other Way in which that soul can find its True Soul Development.  The message is one that will appeal to the honest seeker after Salvation, and the Happiness which only a Perfect At-Onement with the Father can give.
    I also see that you have been thinking a great deal about your future on Earth, in carrying forward the work that you have been selected to do.  I am glad that the Great Work is becoming to you a matter of such importance and seriousness.  For important it is, not only to the World, but to you.  This you will realize, when you consider what was told you a few nights ago, that there is no one else in all the World, at this time, who is fitted to do the work which you are now doing, and which you must continue to do during the whole time of your stay on Earth.
    As you progress in this work, and as these Divine Truths come to you, and your soul becomes more filled with this Divine Love, you will, to a greater and greater degree, realize and understand the Wonderful Importance of the work.  You should now bend all your energies to developing your soul, and its perceptions, and to carrying forward the work.
    We understand as well as you, the disadvantages under which you are now laboring, and the necessity for getting into that position with the Harmonious surroundings that will enable you to give your whole time to the work.  We are endeavoring to bring about these necessary conditions, and will succeed in our efforts.  You must have Faith.  For Faith will help you very much to work in conjunction with us and so cause the consummation of our desires and plans much more rapidly.
    To us, the accomplishing of this work is infinitely of more importance than to you.  We realize, as you cannot, what a failure to have these Divine Truths made known to humans would mean to them, in the way of depriving them of opportunities that are so requisite to their Future Salvation, both on Earth, and in the Spirit World.
    So I say, let not yourself become discouraged, but believe.  You will find that our promises will be fulfilled, and the work will go on, and the Divine Truths be made known to Humanity.
    I am with you a great deal, trying to develop your Spiritual Nature.  By this, I mean your Soul Development, for as this develops, the better able you will be to receive our Divine Truths and properly transmit them to the waiting World, so that humans may readily see and understand the Divine Truths of God, and The Only Way to His Kingdom of Divine Love and Immortality.  Doubts as to the teachings of the churches, are now penetrating and permeating the minds of many, very many of those who are nominally christians.  The perception of God is almost blunted.  They attend worship only because of a kind of feeling of duty and impression that it is right for them to do so.  They know nothing of the Divine Love of the Father's Divine Nature, and of the Plan for their Salvation.  Their prayers and worship are only those, which come from the lips, or a kind of blind intellectual belief.  Their soul longings do not enter into their prayers.  As a consequence, their petitions for God's Love and Mercy go no higher than their heads, as has been said.  This condition of humans is very injurious to their Future welfare, and cannot possibly lead them to the Father.  So long as it exists, humans can never become in an At-Onement with Him.  Only the inflowing of this Divine Love can reconcile humans with God, in the Higher and desirable sense.  Of course, they may become in Harmony with Him by a purification of their Natural Love, but that is the Harmony, only that existed between Him and the First Parents before their fall.  Is not the Harmony, which Jesus taught, and which was the object of his Mission to teach.  When he said:  "I and my Father are one", he did not refer to the at-onement between the mere image and the substance, but to the At-Onement which gives to the souls of humans the Very Substance of Father.
    I should like to write more tonight, but you are tired, and should not further be drawn on, as it will make you feel bad physically.  So I will say goodnight and stop.  Your brother in Christ, John.

Soul Development

February 19th, 1919
I am here, John.
    Let me say just a word.  I was with you today when you were talking to your friend, and heard your conversation, and saw the utter want of comprehension on the part of your friend as to the Truths of the Spirit World.  Especially of the Laws that divide the mere Perfect Human from the Divine Human, or Divine Spirit.  He is, so engulfed in the conceptions that he has of these Loves, arising from his experience in Life, that he can only see the existence of one Love, the Natural Love.  His mind is not capable of seeing the other, the Divine Love.  Of course, his soul has not that development which would assure him of the Reality of the Divine Love.  The mind itself is capable of informing him of the existence and working of the Natural Love.  As this is the only means that he possesses of understanding what Love is.  He cannot possibly understand this Divine Love, and that Soul Developed to a degree by the Very Divine Love itself.  He may argue to the extent of the capacity of his mind and he will never be able to comprehend the Divine Love, that requires a perception of the soul.  He may remain satisfied and convince himself that the Natural Love is the only Love, and that when it becomes developed to a certain degree it becomes the Divine Love, and then find that that he is far away from the Divine Truth.
    He must know, I mean it is necessary for him to know, that only those who have the Divine Love to some degree are capable of Knowing that the Divine Love is a thing of Itself, and not the developments of the Natural Love and has in it not the qualities of that Divine Love.  The one (Divine Love) is of God, that is; partakes of His Very Nature, while the other (Natural Love) is also of God, but does not partake of His Divine Nature.  Is only a Creation, intended to make human happy and perfect in their condition of the mere human, the merely Created existence.
    I thought that I would give you these short comments on your conversation, in order to show the grave and important mistake under which your friend is laboring.  He will not easily believe these Things of Divine Truth while in the flesh.  When he comes to Spirit Life, the difficulties will be just as great.  It may be that he will always be content to remain the possessor of this Natural Love only.  I wish that it might be otherwise, and that he might let go his intellectual belief and hearken to the call of the soul, which, when not trammeled by these beliefs, is continually longing for this Greater Love.
    Believe that I am your friend and interested in you, to an extent that you cannot now comprehend, but which, some day you will understand and wonder that such a thing could have been.  Goodnight, your brother in Christ, John.

Soul Development

September 29th, 1917
I am here, John C. Carlisle.
    Well my friend, I have not written you for sometime, not because I did not desire to do so, but because I have not had the opportunity.  I have been present many times when other spirits were here writing you.  I have also been present when you and your friends have talked about Spiritual things and have listened with very close attention, and have derived much benefit from thinking of what you have declared to be the Truths of the Spiritual Kingdom.
    As a consequence, I have progressed very much.  I am now in considerable Light, and have received into my soul sufficient of this Divine Love that you talk of, to be convinced that it is a Wonderful Redeeming Influence from the darkness and suffering, that I, and spirits like me, found ourselves in when we came to the Spirit World.  I know that prayer is a thing that brings its response.  I am praying with all my soul, but it is hard to make a complete surrender of my beliefs and to forget the deeds of my Life that cling to me with such very great tenacity.  While, as you have said in your conversations, and as some of the bright spirits tell me, the True Longings of the soul will bring to my soul this Divine Love, yet I find it difficult to get these longings, so that they are not mingled with the thoughts of Earthly Things that came with me when I became a spirit.
    As you know, when on Earth, I accumulated, in my memory, a large and varied amount of evil and sin.  When I became a spirit, I found it very natural that these memories should be with me, and control my thoughts and desires as they did on Earth.  In fact, they seemed to get rid of some member of my body without injuring the body.  So you will see, it is not so easy to have these longings that I speak of.  Even if a spirit makes up their mind, and will, to have the longings, they cannot always succeed.  This has been my experience.  I have suffered so very much in consequence of this inability to direct my will to these longings.  Intellectually I understand that this is necessary and that the longings, when earnestly possessed, will bring relief and surcease from these sufferings, but this intellectual knowledge, I find is not sufficient.  The knowledge does not bring the power to will.  The will is controlled by appetites and desires.  I know that I must try to control these appetites and desires, but oh, how hard is the task!
    It is very foolish for humans to suppose that they can cultivate and exercise these desires and appetites until a time convenient to them, and then by the mere wish, control these desires, and have these longings and aspirations come to them so that the help that comes in response to prayer will be theirs.  No, they will find themselves greatly disappointed, for they will realize that these desires, and the results of their indulgences, will bind them in bands of iron, that a mere intellectual attempt to sever will not prove efficacious.  The spirits who all have this Divine Love, of which they tell me, teach me that this Divine Love is sufficient to bring happiness to me.  That it will come in response to earnest prayer.  But they do not tell me that by the sudden exercise of my will I can obtain these True Longings, and if they should so teach, I could hardly believe them.  For I have had such a will, and have attempted to pray, and, as I think, wanted to be in all earnestness, but still the longings would not come free from the memories of my sinful Life on Earth.  I find, that I have to continue to pray in order to progress the little that I have progressed.
    I have no doubt that the Divine Love is waiting for me, and that I will be enabled to obtain it by the proper condition of my longings.  But the trouble is to get the proper longings.  It is not so easy to get rid of the effects of evil deeds and evil thoughts on Earth.  The mere praying with the mind will not help except such prayers become merged into the prayers of True Longings.
    Well, I realize all this in my own experience.  I am praying and longing.  Sometimes I feel the True Longings, and then comes the response.  I progress just that much.  I mean in proportion to the strength of these True Longings.
    When humans believe, that by merely saying that they believe on Jesus Christ, or by asking forgiveness of the priests, and when absolved, believe that they have done all that is necessary, they are mistaken.  If they rest in that contentment, they will find themselves, as I was, when they come to Spirit Life.  No belief of this kind, or absolution by the priests, will put them in such condition of memory, or soul, as will enable them to have these longings of which I speak.
    You may think that I am quite a preacher, but I am very ignorant of the bulk of the Spiritual Truth.  What I have said is the result of my own experience.  Well, I will not write more now, except to thank you and your friends for the opportunities that I have enjoyed in listening to your conversation on Spiritual matters.  I will not cease to come to you, even though I may not be able to write.

    So with my Love and hope that you will pray for me, I am your friend well-wisher.  Goodnight. (John C. Carlisle)

Soul Development