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Padgett was once a pupil of Professor Salyards,
now the tables are reversed
February 8, 1916
I am here, your old Professor.
Well, my dear boy, I often think of the wonder of it all, this
experience of writing in this way. Sometimes my mind returns to the days
when you were my dear pupil, and I think how wholly we were in want of
any conception that such a thing as this could be. I can’t tell you how glad and
thankful I am that we came in contact with each other. I will frankly
and assuredly say that, if I had never met you, I doubt if I would have
had the privilege of meeting such spirits as your mother and grandmother
and of having received the benefits of their advice and the influence of
their love, as well as the companionship of your father and Mr. Riddle.
I often think of how a mere accident as your coming to my school should
have brought about such momentous results. So, my boy, keep up your good
work and you will find a wonderful happiness when you come over. I have
been watching the many messages that you have received and I have been
much interested in the variety of the subject matter and the number and
difference in the spirits who have written. You seem to have received
messages from spirits of all ages and from all nationalities, and I am
pleased to see that these messages were mostly of a higher order of
communication. I was interested in the messages from the prophets and
also those from the apostles and saints, and in them I saw that there
were many spiritual truths disclosed. It is wonderful that you should
get such corroboration of these truths from spirits who have had such a
wide difference in experiences in the spirit world.
So, I say, we all love you very much, and you must believe in us and
know that we are with you and have more power than you may think to help
you in your work. I have written enough, so my dear boy, I will say
goodnight.
Your brother and friend,
Prof. Salyards
Professor Salyards describes his entry into
the spirit world and his spiritual progression
December 18, 1914
I am here, Prof. Salyards.
I want to tell you of some of my experiences in spirit life and I wish
that you would let me speak first of my regeneration and birth into the
higher sphere where I am now living. Your mother is the chief cause of
my progression as she first showed me the way to God’s love. I was, as
you may know, not a very spiritual man when on earth, but thought that
man only needed a great intellect in order to enjoy the blessings of the
spirit life. I was not what might be called a “great sinner” as I lived
a tolerably good moral life, which you may know from your experiences
with me while you were at school under my instruction. I had no idea
that something more than mere intellectual acquirements were needed in
order to enjoy the happiness that God had provided for those who were
willing to receive all the blessings in store for them.
After I ascended to the spirit world, I found that my intellectual and
moral qualifications did not make me very happy, although I enjoyed
comparative happiness in the pursuit of knowledge and the investigation
of those intellectual questions that appealed to my higher desires. I
soon commenced to see that I had something more to acquire than mere
knowledge of spiritual laws and the things that appealed to the
intellect that all who are of a practical inclination deem sufficient
for self-satisfaction.
I began to study these things and have advanced very much in my
knowledge of them. I have succeeded in writing a poem that gives me
great satisfaction and makes me think that I am really a poet. Since I
have progressed to the higher spheres, where love rules and intellect is
a mere subordinate medium of true happiness, I find that while my
acquirement in the particulars mentioned is desirable and affords much
enjoyment and delight to my mind, yet my true happiness is with the
possession and knowledge that I have the love of God in my soul.
So, you see, mere intellect or moral qualities are not the important
thing for a spirit who wants to possess and enjoy the greatest
happiness. Keep this in mind in your earthly life, and when you come
over you will find that many things will appear easy to comprehend that
otherwise you may have had to search for in darkness and doubt.
I will write you sometime when we have more time and will also tell you
the results of my investigation of the spirit life, but not tonight as I
am tired and so are you.
Yes, I am really Professor Salyards who is writing and you must believe
me, or I will feel hurt.
Your old professor and friend,
Joseph Salyards
The various experiences of spirits when they arrive in the spirit world
February 25, 1915
I am here, Prof. Salyards.
I am very happy and desire to write you on some of the phases of the
spirit life that I have observed in my experience of progressing.
I have noticed that when a spirit
first comes into this life, it is very often in a
condition of darkness, not realizing where it is or
what its surroundings are. In many instances, it requires
quite a long time for the spirit to realize that it
is not still of the earth. I attribute this to the
fact that, when on earth, the mortal had no definite
belief as to what the future life might be, and in
many instances believed that the soul went into the
grave with the body to await the great resurrection
day.
Some of your religious denominations are preaching that doctrine now,
and the consequence will be that all those who believe the doctrine will
experience the condition of darkness and the want of knowledge of the
continuity of life that I have spoken of.
The other class of spirits are those
who appear to realize immediately that they have passed
from earth to the spirit life. They are those who,
while on earth, believed that when the spirit left
the body it passed immediately into heaven or into
the opposite, I mean the place of the wicked.
As soon as the spirits realize fully
that they are no longer of earth, they commence to
inquire as to where they are, and many of them ask
questions that indicate that they are disappointed
in not realizing the expectations that they had
while on earth. It is very difficult at times to
convince them that there are no such places as the
heavens and the hells as taught by the churches that
they expect to find are not here. Some, on the other
hand, do not seem to understand that they have really
left the earth, because they say, “If we had left the
earth life, we would know nothing,” quoting the Bible,
“The dead know nothing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5).
I have observed these different phases of belief and thoughts that show
me the absolute necessity of mortals understanding the truths pertaining
to life and death. This affords a very strong argument why Spiritualism
should be more extensively and earnestly taught, and why the false
doctrines of those who teach either that the dead know nothing, or that
the departed spirit goes either to heaven or to hell in the orthodox
sense, should be shown to be not only a false belief, but an injurious
one.
Let the believers and teachers of
Spiritualism make greater and stronger efforts to
refute these harmful teachings, and they will be doing
the cause of truth and happiness a great good. I am
not only interested in these phases, but in all others
that show that the spirits, even after they realize
they are still alive and must live as spirits, continue
to ignore the fact that their orthodox teachings are
false.
Some say that they may yet be able to go back into the body and await
the great resurrection day for deliverance. They say they will soon see
God, and he will take them into heaven where they will find that eternal
rest and peace they were taught to expect when on earth. Even the wicked
will dread to have some devil come and carry them to the hells
where torture of the most terrible kind awaits them, so they think.
Now, from all this you may understand
that we spirits who know the truth have a great work
to do to enable these darkened spirits to understand
and believe that their false hopes and dreadful fears
have no foundation in truth and will never be realized.
Many spirits are engaged in doing this work and these
spirits are not necessarily of the higher kind, for
many spirits who occupy the lower planes and have
no real spiritual enlightenment are also engaged in
this work.
I am not involved in causing these
dark spirits to see the truth, for I have progressed
to higher things. My mission is to teach the truths
of the higher life that I have been taught to me by
spirits who live in higher spheres. This work is one
that is not only interesting but gives me the great
happiness that comes with the realization that I have
been the means of leading a spirit to learn to love
God and to receive the happiness that the love of
God gives to spirits. I tell you that this teaching
is the grandest that I have ever engaged in in all
my life.
When on earth, as I taught and saw
the young mind develop, I found much happiness in
the knowledge that I was doing some good, but here,
in my teachings, when I see a soul develop, I realize
that I am doing a spirit the greatest of all good.
My work is not confined entirely to this teaching. I also am engaged in
trying to assist mortals to a true conception of life here; I mean the
spiritual part of this life. No human is entirely without spirit
influence, whether good or evil. Many are susceptible to the influence
of the evil spirits and for that reason the work of the good spirits is
so much more difficult. The advantage, though, with the good influences,
is that what they suggest is truth that will never die, while the
suggestions of the evil influences last only for a comparatively short
time.
When the material gives up the spirit being that it clothes, that being
will then be relieved of many of these natural tendencies to evil
thoughts and deeds. While this mere separation does not make a devil a
saint, it makes it so much easier for the spirit to get rid of many of
these evil tendencies and makes him more susceptible to the influence of
truth and goodness.
You must not think from this that as soon as they have been in the
spirit world for a little time they become good spirits, for that is not
true. Many evil spirits have been in the spirit world for a great many
years, and yet still have their evil thoughts and desires and all the
evil qualities of hatred, malice, envy, etc., as when they were on
earth. Their giving up the earth life did not deprive them of their
will, the greatest force or power that God gave to man, except that of
love. Many of these spirits refuse to exercise their will in a way that
will enable them to rid themselves of these evil thoughts and desires.
Let me stop now, as I am tired and you need to rest. So with all my love
and best wishes, I am your old professor.
Joseph H. Salyards
The laws that govern the spirit world
April 13, 1915
I am here, Prof. Salyards.
I will endeavor to write you my thoughts on what spirits know about
the laws of the spirit world after they have been in that world for a
short time.
As you know, I have been here for a comparatively short time, and while
my studies have been to a considerable extent in these laws, yet, I find
that I have limited knowledge of the same and much of my information has
been gathered from other spirits who have lived here a great many years
and have devoted their study and investigation to these laws.
I first want to say that no spirit, by the mere fact of having recently
made his advent to this world, has received any greater knowledge than
he had when on earth. My knowledge of spiritual laws when on earth was
not very extensive, and I found when I came into the spirit world that I
did not know much more than I did before I came. Such is the experience
of every spirit. As I continued to investigate these matters, I
discovered that my capacity for learning was greatly increased, and that
my mind was more plastic and received this knowledge more easily than
when I was a mortal. This is largely due to the fact that the brain, I
mean the mortal brain, is, when compared to what you might call the
“spirit mind”, a thing of much inferior quality and not so capable of
learning the cause and effect of phenomena. I am now undergoing a course
of study that will, I have no doubt, give me wonderful information of
these laws, so that ultimately I may become what you mortals might call
a “learned man”.
The first and, to me, most important law that I have learned is that man
continues to live in the spirit world without his earthly body. This
great law, while to you and to many others is well-known and an
established fact, was not known to me, as I had never had any experience
in Spiritualism and had never given any study to the subject. When I
arrived in the spirit world, I learned that this law is one of God’s
truths, and that it is fixed and will never change, for all will survive
the change of so-called “death”.
The next great law that I learned
is the law of compensation. No man can of his
own power make his condition or position in the spirit
world just what and where he would have it be. This
is another fixed truth, and one that many spirits do
not fully comprehend, for they think, or so express
themselves, that all they have to do is to exercise
a little will power they can move from certain conditions.
But this is not true, for the law controlling this
matter never has any exceptions in its operation.
A mortal or spirit can, in a way, determine what its destiny may be,
but, once he has passed over he cannot, by the exercise of that will,
change that fixed condition until the law of compensation has been
satisfied. Even then, the change is not brought about by the exercise of
his will, but by the operation of the law releasing him from the
memories and recollections that hold him to the conditions that his
earth life has placed him in. So, when men think that they, by the
exercise of their own will, can release themselves from a condition that
they have made for themselves, they are mistaken.
Of course, while a mortal or spirit cannot by the exercise of his will
change his condition, yet, in order to secure that change, the will has
to be exercised. This is because the help that comes from without is
absolutely necessary to cause the change, and that will not come unless
man exercises his will in the way of desiring and asking for this help.
So let not man think that he is his own savior, because he is not. If
the help did not come from without, he would never be saved from the
condition that he finds himself in when he enters the spirit world.
You hear in your spirit circles and read in the publications about
Spiritualism that progression is a law of the spirit world. That is
true, but it does not mean that a spirit, by the mere fact of being in
the spirit world, necessarily progresses, either mentally or
spiritually. This is not so, many spirits who have been here for years
are in no better condition than when they first became spirits. All
progress depends upon the help that comes from outside the mind or soul
of the spirit. Of course, when this help comes, he has to cooperate, but
without this help there would be nothing with which to cooperate, and no
progress could possibly be made. If a man depends upon his own powers
exclusively, he will never progress.
Another law of the spirit world is
that when a spirit once commences to progress, that
progress increases in geometrical progression, as
we used to say when teaching on earth. Just as soon
as the light breaks into a man’s soul or mind, and
he commences to see that there is a way for him to
reach higher things and to expand either his mind or
soul, he will find that his desire to progress will
increase as that progression continues. With that desire
will come help in such abundance that it will be limited
only by the desire of the spirit. His resolve will
then become a great force in his success in progressing
and work in conjunction with the help that calls it
into operation.
This progression may be illustrated by the history of the snowball that
started rolling from the top of a hill. As it continues its descent, not
only does its velocity increase, but also it continually enlarges its
form and body by the outside snow attaching itself to the ball. So it is
with the mind or soul of a spirit: as it ascends, it becomes
more rapid in its flight.
So, you see that the great problem is to make the start. This principle
will apply to mortals as well as to spirits because, if the start is
made on earth, the mere fact of becoming a spirit will not halt or in
any way interfere with the progress of the soul of that spirit. Of
course, this means that a correct start be made. If the start be a false
one or based on things other than the truth, instead of progress
continuing when the man becomes a spirit, there may have to be a
retracing of the way and the making of a new start in order to get on
the right road.
This applies to the progress of the mind as well as to the progress of
the soul. The mind of a mortal learns many things that seem to that mind
to be the truth, and which, in its opinion, must lead to progress and
greater knowledge. When the earth life gives way to the spirit life,
that mind may find that its basis of knowledge was all wrong, and that
to continue in the way that it had been moving would lead to increased
error, and, consequently, a new start must be made.
Frequently, the retracing of that mind over the course that it had
followed and the elimination of errors that it had embraced are more
difficult and take a longer time to accomplish than does the learning of
the truth after the mind makes the correct start.
Sometimes, the mind of great learning, according to earthly standards,
is more harmful, and retards the progress of the mind of man in the ways
and acquirements of truth. That is, as you might say, a blank mind, that
is, one without preconceived ideas of what the truth is on a particular
subject. This unfortunate experience exists to a greater extent in
matters pertaining to religion than to any other matters because the
ideas and convictions that are taught and possessed of these religious
matters affect innumerably more mortals than do ideas and convictions in
reference to any other matters.
A spirit who is filled with erroneous beliefs that may have been taught
from mortal childhood and fostered and fed upon until he becomes a
spirit, is, of all the inhabitants of this world, the most difficult to
teach and convince of the truths pertaining to religious matters. It is
much easier to teach the agnostic, or even the atheist, of these truths,
than the hide-bound believer in the dogmas and creeds of the church.
There is another law that enables spirits to become, by the mere
operation of their natural affections and love, pure and free from the
consequences and evils of their mortal lives. This does not mean that
the law of compensation does not operate to the fullest, and that it
does not demand to the last farthing, for such is the exactness in the
operation of this law and no spirit is released from its penalties until
it has been satisfied.
As you (Padgett) believe, and as many other mortals believe, a man’s
punishment for the sins committed on earth are inflicted by his
conscience and memories. There is no special punishment inflicted by God
on any particular man; the law of punishment operates alike on everyone.
When a spirit first enters the spirit life it does not necessarily feel
the scourging of these memories, and this is the reason why you will so
often hear the spirit who has recently left his mortal life assure his
friends or sorrowing relatives at the public séances that he is very
happy. But, after a little while, the memory commences to work, and as
the soul is awakened, it then never ceases until the penalties are paid.
I don’t mean that the spirit is, necessarily, continuously in a
condition of torment, but substantially so, and relief does not come
until these memories cease their awful lashings. Some spirits live here
a great number of years before they receive this relief, while others
more quickly obtain it.
The greatest cause that operates
to relieve these spirits of these memories is love.
I now mean the natural love, and this love embraces
many qualities, such as remorse, sorrow, and the desire
to make amends for injuries done. Until a spirit’s
own love is awakened, none of these feelings will
come to him. He cannot possibly feel remorse or regret
or the desire to atone until love, no matter how slight,
comes into his heart. He may not realize just what
the cause of these feelings are, but it is love just
the same.
As these various feelings operate, and he acts in accordance with them,
a memory here and a memory there will leave him, never to return. As
these memories in turn leave, his sufferings become less, and after
awhile, when they have all left, he becomes free from the law, and it,
as to him, becomes extinct. Now, it must be understood that this is not
a work of quick operation, for it may be years - long, weary years of
suffering - before the spirit becomes free, and, becomes a spirit
without sin or these memories. This is the way the great law of
compensation is satisfied: it cannot be avoided, all its demands must be
met until sin and error is eradicated, and the soul is returned to a
pure state.
This gradual release from these penalties does not mean that a spirit is
progressing in his journey to the higher and brighter spheres because
even without this torture and torment he may still remain stationary as
to the development of his higher nature, mental and moral. When he has
been relieved of these sufferings, he is then in a condition to start
towards the progression that I have spoken of.
As you are tired, I will stop now, and I will write to you again. With
all my love, I am your true friend and professor.
Joseph H. Salyards
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