HPB-SB-1-66: Difference between revisions

We might quote the habits and manners of living of many of the ancient “mediums’” all tending to show that they developed a spiritual condition, and were thus channels for the inspiration that was suited to those times. The oracles of Zoroaster tell us that “The ungirders of the soul which give her breathing are easy to be loosed;” that is, it is easy for the soul to loose itself from the bonds which confine it to the body, and travel as a spirit, almost unrestrained. Col. Olcott has advanced a theory of “elementary spirits” to accouut for the presence of some unexplained force in spiritual manifestations that causes confusion and error. The proposition has been declared, by some writers on Spiritualism, to be unprovable. Perhaps so; we are not sufficiently read up in Col. Olcott’s views to express an opinion. But the power of an embodied spirit, to travel out and away from the body, has been proved; the power of a mesmerist to influence a subject at a distance of hundreds of miles, has been proved; and both propositions can undoubtedly be proved at any time by experiment. Col. Olcott’s “elementary spirits” may be human thoughts, traveling as entities, for aught we know to the contrary; certain it is that we are responsible for our thoughts, they reach the source for which they were intended, and they go to make up our “future mansion.” All these matters should be subjects for contemplation, argument and experiment, rather than denunciation or ridicule. “Try to Understand Yourself and Things in General,” is the motto of the Scientist; we believe that a study of the powers of our own spirit or the spirit in the body, will be productive of much information concerning our relations with the Spirit-World. That our departed friends<ref>{{Style S-HPB SB. HPB note|(That’s right.)}}</ref> can and do return, has been proved and we know it<ref>{{Style S-HPB SB. HPB note|It is not proved at all. How {{Style S-HPB SB. Lost|…}} every {{Style S-HPB SB. Lost|…}} belief is a blessing.}}</ref>.–''Let us go farther.''