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Francis Bacon on the continuity of life after death
May 26, 1919
Let me write a few lines tonight upon a subject that has recently been
discussed by a spiritualist, a preacher, a philosopher, and a scientist,
and that is the continuity of life after death of the physical body.
Each of these writers approach the subject from a different viewpoint,
although all arrive at the same conclusion based upon different means of
argument, and that is that life continues after death.
The subject is one in which mankind is vitally interested and is worthy
of consideration by the greatest minds of investigation and research. It
should be studied in the light of nature, as well as in that of actual
demonstration, by the experiences of those who have by their experiences
proved to men that the spirits of their departed friends and
acquaintances and of others of more or less distinction while in the
spirit life do actually live and communicate their existence and have
possession of their mental faculties and thoughts that were theirs when
on earth.
The proper study of man would demonstrate this fact, and, logically,
doubt would cease to exist. However, the difficulty is that men do not
understand, his creation and his relationship to things of life known as
the material. It is a common belief that matter that is now existent, or
rather that what men see and know of the material, is all that is
knowable. When what is merely physical, as commonly understood, ceases
to exist, no further or other knowledge of it can be obtained or
understood by the finite mind of man. But this accepted assumption is
not true, and if man would only think for a moment of what matter or the
material is, they would comprehend the possibilities of its workings and
functionings and also of what use may be made of the same by the minds
of the spirits operating upon it in the spiritual world, that is, in the
world beyond the comprehension of the five senses of man.
Matter is eternal and exists in all the spheres of the spirit world just
as it does on earth, although in different forms and attenuations and in
conditions that may or may not be the objects of the physical senses or
of the senses of the mind that are superior to or exclusive of these
mere physical senses. Matter is, in its essential nature, the same,
notwithstanding the fact that it assumes different forms - some visible
to the ordinary senses of men and some entirely outside of that view or
sensation, and, as to these senses, wholly nonexistent. Yet, these
spiritual senses of the mind are just as real and tractable and subject
to the influence of the workings of the mind as is physical matter to
the five senses.
The world in which men live is composed of material, and the world in
which I live is also composed of material, of the same nature but of
different consistencies and objective qualities. The material of the
universe is always material, whether or not it be cognizable by man and
subject to his thoughts and inventions and uses. As man progresses in
the study of the same - I mean the practical and experimental - he will
discover that there are things of nature that to him are being developed
and made known, and that a few years before he had no conception of
their existence. Such is the discovery and use of electricity, and the
workings of the laws of nature that enables him to make possible the
effects of wireless telegraphy.
These discoveries and workings of forces of the unseen are nothing more
or less than a certain kind of knowledge controlling the same and to his
consciousness has become apparent. In all these operations, matter is
the thing made use of and not any spiritual power as commonly
understood. So, you see, matter, whether in the grossly physical of
earth or in the more attenuated and invisible of the spirit world, is
what is used to produce effects and is operated on by the mind whether
or not it be tangible and understandable or not.
The mind is an entity indivisible and united and is not separable into
the subjective and objective as men frequently teach, except in this: in
its workings, that part of the mind that controls the brain in the
ordinary affairs of life may be called the “objective”, and the part
that is suited for and used in controlling the material after it has
been transformed into the purely invisible may be called the
“subjective”. It is all one mind and exists in man while on earth just
as it will and does when he becomes a spirit.
Man in his journey through life, and I mean when in the earth existence,
as well as in the eternal part of his existence, is always of the
material. That is, his soul has a material covering and appearance.
While this material covering changes in its appearance and quality as he
progresses in the spheres, the gross physical of his earth life and the
sublimated spiritual of the eternal part of his life are both of the
material - real, existing and tangible - and used for the purpose of
their creation, namely, the protection and individualizing of the soul
that they contain.
Now, this being so, you can readily understand that man, when he gives
up the coarser physical of the human body, does not cease to be of the
material but becomes an inhabitant of the finer and purer material of
what is called the “spirit body”. This body is subject to the laws
governing the material just as was his physical body subject to laws,
and the spirit, which in this sense is the real man clothed in the
material, controls and uses that material more effectually than it did
when on earth, bound in the physical. The material of the spirit world
is used and formulated by the spirits according to their degree of
intelligence and development as the occasions for such uses may arise,
and such use, or the effects, are or can be made known to man
accordingly as his limitations permit.
Ordinarily, man’s understanding of the effects of the spirit’s control
of the material of the invisible world is limited by the capacity of his
five senses to comprehend. These five senses were created solely for the
purpose of permitting or helping the spirit to manifest itself with
reference to those things that belong wholly to the physical of earth.
It rarely happens that men can perceive the invisible material or the
workings of the laws controlling the same.
When man dies he is thereafter the same being in
all his faculties, desires, and thoughts and in
his ability to use the material as he was before
his death, except that the physical organs are
no longer his, and as to them he is dead. Now,
strange as it may seem to you, a spirit can and
often does control the physical organs of a man
who is living in the flesh, if that man will submit
to that control. If you think for a moment, you
will realize that there is nothing remarkable in
this. The mind of the spirit remains just the
same as it was before its departure from the body,
having all its powers and thoughts and consciousness,
and if it can obtain control of what is necessary
to manifest itself to the consciousness of men
there will be no difficulty in its doing so, nothing
unusual or supernatural.
I have written enough for tonight and will come again and amplify my
message.
Thanking you, I will say, goodnight.
Your friend, Francis Bacon
The limitations that mortal man places upon his
perceptions
of the laws governing the universe
January 6, 1919
I am here, Francis Bacon.
Let me write just a few lines, as I desire to tell you of a thing that
may be of importance to you.
I see you are a little disturbed over what a man said to you tonight as
to his want of belief in the identity of the spirits who profess to
manifest themselves through mediums. This need not disturb you one
particle, for the identity of the spirit is just as real and certain as
is the fact that a man can and does identify another after an absence,
more or less long, from the latter’s appearance, voice, and so forth. In
the case of his identification he depends on the operation of certain of
his senses, such as his sight and hearing, and through them he satisfies
his mind that the man identified is the identical person that he may
claim to be. As you may say, he would be a very silly man if he would
not accept such identification as convincing and determinate.
In the case of the identifying of those who are in the spirit world, and
who come with the powers and with the presence of spirits only, he
cannot, of course, use his senses for the purpose of identification. If
he had to depend upon these organs alone, he would never be able to
conclude that the spirits who present the phenomena are those who
profess to be his friends or acquaintances. Most mortals do not have the
gift of perceiving or receiving the impression of the presence of
spirits, and in such cases are in the condition of the blind and deaf
man with reference to the things of earth. The latter has no means of
identifying his closest friends, and yet it would be just as
unreasonable to contend that these friends are not existing and present,
and the same day after day as for mortals to say that the spirits of
those who once lived on earth are not existing and present because most
mortals have not the faculties of seeing and hearing them.
There are things in the earth life, as well as in
the spirit life, that can come to the knowledge
of some men only through information given them
by others who have superior powers and faculties
for seeking and obtaining this information. Some
mortals have eyes and faculties not material for
seeing, hearing, and receiving knowledge from the
spirits, and who render what is thus seen, heard
and received just as real and certain as are the
presence of mortals and material things to those
who have their physical organs of sight and hearing.
The identity of what is seen and heard and received
is just as truly established in the former as
in the latter case. All men who are wanting as
to the non-material organs mentioned can identify
the things of the material world and are satisfied
of the fact, and they make their mode of such identification
the standard by which they can only become convinced
of the identity of the things of the spirit world.
When they insist upon such method of identification
they, of course, can never be convinced, except
perhaps by those phenomena as are manifested in
spirit materialization and in spirit photography.
When one uses merely the physical powers or means of ascertaining the
existence and identity of things or humans, then those who confine their
search for truth and the discerning of the identity of claimed
existences to the use of such physical organs will never be able to see,
hear, or receive what might convince them of the identity of the things
existing in the spirit world. This is the result of the eternal laws of
the universe in their operations, and no desires or efforts of man can
change this result. Man is unfortunate when he assumes the position that
unless these laws can be or are changed in order that he may by his
physical organs see or hear or be able to identify the things of the
spirit world, he will not believe that there is identity existing among
the spirits who come to men and in the various ways manifest their
presence.
When a man stands on compliance with this condition as necessary to
convince him of the identity of those friends of his who have passed to
spirit life and who come in psychical phenomena and manifest themselves,
it is useless to try to convince him because of the very necessities of
the laws governing such phenomena. Those who do believe and those who
know of this identity will only waste time and effort in trying to
convince men who assume the position of depending entirely on the
physical means that they may possess.
There are many men today who are truly convinced
and have sufficient grounds for their convictions
as to the identity and presence of their spirit
friends, and they are not deceived but enjoy the
happiness that comes to them from such knowledge.
In my observations of the workings of human minds
upon this question of the existence and identity
of spirits I have learned that such evidence that
would satisfy their minds under the strictest requirements
as to material things is brushed aside as wholly
inadequate, and sometimes not even worthy of consideration,
to satisfy them as to these spiritual things. It
seems that the greater knowledge they possess of
the nature of and laws controlling material things,
the less credence and consideration they will give
to the nature of and laws controlling spiritual
things. Every other explanation of psychical phenomena
is put forth and accepted rather than the simple
and natural one.
If men only knew what nature really is, and its laws, they would realize
how little they now know of it. Generally, nature is only that
consciousness of things material that comes within their limited
cognition. They do not know that the larger part of nature, if it can be
separated, is beyond the things or conditions that they have knowledge
of as being the material of the universe.
As I said, the identity of the spiritual cannot be and must not be
expected to be established by the operations of the merely physical
organs of man, except perhaps in those manifestations appearing in the
phenomena of materializations or spirit photography, and even they are
not accepted as real or true by many men who accept what are called
“scientific deductions” from supposed facts connected with the
manifestations of what these men consider to be natural.
So the proof of the presence and identity of spirits will have to depend
upon the results produced by the operations of laws controlling the
spiritual existences and the psychical powers and gifts of certain
mediums. Sometimes it may be that these gifted persons will be accepted
as honest and truthful and not self-deceived, and the manifestations
resulting from the exercise of these powers are the effects of the
efforts and intelligence of spirits who, at one time, were mortal
beings.
When men come to realize that the change called “death” does not destroy
the identity and consciousness and powers of the mind they will accept
the truth that the presence of the spirits of their departed friends is
a verity, and that the identity of these spirits is eternal.
I have written as much as I think best to write tonight, and I thank you
for your indulgence.
With kind regards, I will say goodnight.
Your friend, Francis Bacon
Comments on an article written by James Hyslop
on Christianity and Spiritualism in regards to the laws
that operated in certain miracles of Jesus
November 20, 1918
I am here, Francis Bacon.
I have been with you tonight as you read, and I was somewhat interested
in what James Hyslop had to say in his article on Christianity and
Spiritualism. Many things that he puts forth are true, and explained
very satisfactorily why many of the so-called miracles of the Bible may
be believed. As he says, they are not different in the nature of their
operations or in the exercise of the law that produced them from the
physical phenomena that are manifesting themselves at this time among
the investigators of Spiritualism.
If, today, this same law in its force that was brought into operation by
Jesus and the disciples could be called into operation, the same or
similar phenomena would be produced. Of course, a great deal depends
upon the medium and the amount of rapport that may be created by the
communicating or rather operating spirit, for it must be understood that
all the supposed miracles were the results of the work of spirits who,
by reason of the harmony existing between themselves and the mortals,
were able to call into operation the laws that were necessary to produce
the results called “miracles”.
At the present time, there may not be persons who have sufficient
development of these psychic powers, which were possessed by Jesus and
the others, to produce such phenomena as they produced. There have been
many mortals since his time sufficiently gifted with these powers to
cause manifestations very similar to those of the primitive Christian
times, especially as regards healing and alike. Today, much healing is
being performed by mortals that can be attributed to various causes,
such as mental healing and faith cures, which is really due to the
exercise of spirit powers by spirits whose duties are to perform that
kind of work.
Mortals, of themselves, cannot bring into operation any of these laws,
either of mind or soul, but are dependent upon the cooperation of
spirits who use some of the properties possessed by these mortals to
bring into exercise the laws that can produce the healing. Here, I
desire to state that it is not necessary that the mortal be of a highly
spiritual development in order that the powers of the spirit world may
effect and change the conditions of the material of earth. The laws that
control the material are sufficient, ordinarily, to bring about the
healing of the physical or mental diseases of men, and, therefore, you
will find many mediums, and others not recognized as mediums, having
this power of healing.
The healing of the body and the healing of the soul require the workings
of different laws, and while spirits not having very much soul
development may successfully cooperate with mortals in like condition in
healing bodily ills, such spirits are impotent to heal the diseased soul
or the purely spiritual condition of men. Now, spirits who have the
power to produce the latter healing may also heal the body. This you
must know, that no spirit who is not what may be called physically whole
or sound can cause the healing of a physically diseased mortal, for
power of this kind can be possessed by and proceed from only those
spirits who in their nature are perfectly healthy and sound. These
spirits, while they have cast off the gross, physical material of the
mortal, are still material so far as the form of the spirit body, and
the properties that compose the same, are concerned.
The material of the universe is not confined to or entirely composed of
what mortals may suppose to be only the material, that is, what may be
sensed by their five senses or some of them. What is of itself material
is always material no matter what form it may assume, whether visible or
invisible to mortals, and the larger portion of the material of the
universe is in the invisible world. This material is subject to
transformation into the visible and retransformation into the invisible,
and the laws governing and controlling the material are the same,
whether that material be visible and knowable to men or not.
The soul has its quality of persistence after supposed death or
destruction, although the form of its manifestation will be changed.
From this you will see that he who is known as the materialist, with his
supposed want of belief in immortality or the continuity of existence,
is in error, even as to the material world of which he assumes to have
special knowledge. Now, being in error as to this, how can he claim to
be right when he asserts that the purely spiritual soul has no
possibility of continuity of existence or, as some understand,
immortality?
I have written enough and feel that you will pardon my intrusion, but I
also feel somewhat justified in writing, as I have done.
With my best wishes,
I am your friend. Francis Bacon
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