The house which is given over to this work in the Blue Island had been a regular haunting-place of mine ever since my father had told me of it, together with the works of the other buildings. I went to this house a great deal, and received much help from the various people in charge. They were all very sympathetic, but entirely business-like. It was not merely a house of tears and sympathy, it was an amazingly well organized and business-like place. There were many hundreds of people there. Those who had on earth believed and those who had not, came to try to wire a message home.
The heart call was the one which received the most serious attention. Many were there only as lookers-on, incredulous and facetious. They got nothing more than the satisfaction of their own amazement.
After a little time my turn came.
For a building given over to this kind of work it appeared to be inadequately equipped. I had rather expected to see many implements and instruments, many wires and machines, and the presence of electric forces, but there was nothing of that kind at all. It was all and only the human element.
I had a long conversation with a man there—a man obviously of some importance, though I cannot say he looked like an angel; he appeared quite as mundane as myself. I had a long talk with him, and from him heard how a great deal of this work was carried on. He told me they had a system of travelers, whose work was very close to physical earth. They had the power of sensing people who could and would be used for this work at the other end. These men could locate and then tabulate the earth people, marking each individual ability, and when the newly-arrived spirit came in search of help, these sensitives on earth were used as each could be used. This is a sketchy outline of the work done in that building.... There I came frequently and tried to get my messages through to home by more than one means; I succeeded in some ways, I failed in others. The spirit has much to do himself with the success or failure attained; a great deal depends upon him. Every time I succeeded I helped another. Every time I failed I went for help, and got it. Having given much time and study to the subject on earth, I was given unlimited assistance at this end of the line now that I needed it.
I want to explain how I got some of my first messages through and how I knew I had succeeded. We had been taught by this time how to come in close contact with the earth, although it was not possible for me to do this alone. I had a helper with me. I must call him an official. He came with me to my first trial.
We came into a room, which seemed to have walls made of muslin—something and yet nothing. I know it was a house, and was conscious of the walls of the room, and yet they seemed such poor things because we could see through them and move through them. I could not have done this by myself at that time, but with my official we did.
Then came the attempt. There were two or three people in this room, and they were all talking together about the horror of this great disaster and about the probability of people coming back. They were holding a seance, and my official showed we how to make my presence known. The controlling force, he told me, was thought. I had to visualize myself among these people in the flesh. Imagine I was standing there in the flesh, in the center of them, and then imagine myself still there with a strong light thrown upon me.. Create the picture. Hold the visualization very deliberately and in detail, and keep it fixed upon my mind, that at that moment I was there and that they were conscious of it. I failed, of course, at first, but I know that after a few attempts I succeeded and those people did actually see me. My face only, but that was because in my picture I had seen myself only as a face. I imagined the part they would recognize me by. I was also able to get a message in the same way. Precisely the same way. I stood by the most sensitive present, and spoke and concentrated my mind on a short sentence, and repeated it with much emphasis and deliberation until I could hear part of it spoken by this person. I knew that at last I had succeeded, and I succeeded reasonably easily because I knew so intimately what the conditions of those people and that earth room were. Many who had not my earth knowledge made little impression at all.
There was none of my own family present that time. Had there been it would have made it impossible for me, as I was then feeling their sorrow acutely, and I would not have been able to give my mind so full a power as I did—I became almost impersonal. It was a good thing that my first attempt was purely a test one—to see if I could break through to home.
CHAPTER VIII REALITY OF THOUGH COMMUNICATION
In trying to establish a definite form of communication between the earth sphere and the Blue Island, people are always looking for the return of the physical part of the individual. They find it exceedingly difficult to accept even the most pressing mental tests as being proof of communication; and in giving so much attention to this
physical form, they nearly overlook the form of thought
communication, which is much more personal and very much less tainted by outside influence, such as the medium's mind, or other sitters.. .antagonism, or bias either way. This thought communication is a much more real form than is accepted by the majority of believers in the possibility of it.
In concentrating the mind on any one spirit person, you are sending out real, live, active forces. These forces pass through the air in precisely the same way as electric waves do,
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and they never miss their mark. You concentrate on Mr. A in the spirit world, and immediately Mr. A is conscious of a force coming to him. In this land we are much more sensitive than whilst on earth, and when thoughts are directed to us by people on your side, we have a direct call from those currents of thought thus generated, and we are practically always able to come in close contact with the person who is thinking of us; when near and acclimatized to his conditions we can impress thoughts and ideas upon his mind. He will seldom accept them for what they are, but will think they are his own normal thoughts or something of an hallucination. Nevertheless, if frequent opportunity is given he will be startled at the amount of information he can record. This applies to everyone, not merely to the believer in these subjects. Anyone who sits for a moment and allows his mind to dwell on some dear one who had "died" will actually draw the spirit of that persons to himself. He may be conscious or unconscious of the presence, but the presence is there.
If people on earth realized the result of their thoughts upon those to whom they refer, they would be very much more careful in giving their mind free play. There are so many thoughts possible, and all of them are registered here; many of them affect the people they concern, but all of them affect the people from whom they emanate.
Perhaps in telling you all thoughts are recorded I am making it more difficult for you to accept and understand. It will be better, therefore, to explain that by "all thoughts" I refer only to all "direct" thoughts. In reality every thought is registered; the personal ones are, as I have previously said, of no importance so long as they are not allowed to grow into destructive thoughts.
In speaking of direct thought I mean you to understand positive thoughts, about other people, pleasant or unpleasant, and not the thoughts of every-day trivialities.
Many people find it impossible to believe that every direct thought they have is registered, or that it can in any way influence or affect the person concerned, or return to influence themselves, but this is so.
You are fully aware of the influence given out by any one person who is deeply depressed or more than usually excited and happy. Each of you has felt this influence. This is, of course, caused by the lowered or raised mental vibrations, giving out particularly strong