The Inner Life

AS WE ARE making it our work to inform our readers of all phases of the Inner Life, and especially of all phases of service connected with that life, we wish to tell of a method of service so unusual that some of our readers may have difficulty in accepting it as possible.

Almost everyone has heard of what is called “obsession,” where it is supposed that another intelligence takes possession of the mind and body of an individual and cause that individual to say and do things entirely foreign to his ordinary nature. There are many cases of such obsession, and insane asylums are full of them, with seemingly no way of curing the patient out of freeing him from such condition.

Therefore, when learning of a book written by a physician who with his wife for thirty years had been treating such cases with remarkable success, we sent for the book and found in it many things of deep interest.* Because of the interest that confirms what we have stated in this magazine and the many wonderful incidents illustrating our statements, we will give our readers the benefit of this physician’s conclusions, and will then point out how Inner Workers can apply some of the truths gained from his first-hand experiences.

We believe it best to quote directly from the book, as the author very clearly states his facts and prepares the reader for them with a very helpful explanation of conditions in the after life, which follows (The italics are ours, calling the reader’s special attention to these particular statements.):

THE SPIRITUAL world and the physical world are constantly intermingling; the spiritual plane is not a vague intangibility, but is real and natural, a vast zone of refined substance, of activity and progress; and life there is a continuation of life in the physical world. On the physical plane of expression the soul obtains knowledge through experience and contact with objective things, and intelligence finds itself by manifesting through physical organs. On the spiritual plane progression and individual expression continues, the mind unfolding along lines of reason, through spontaneity of service, the attainment and appreciation of high ideals, and an ever broadening conception of life’s purpose.

Thirty Years Among the Dead, by Carl A. Wickland, M. D.