by Edward C. Randall

This is an age of greed. We, as a people, have drifted out upon the sea of selfishness, egotistic desire and devouring ambition, and set the many sails to woo the winds of fortune. This is an age of money. Every nation and every people have erected a throne on which wealth sits in state; they have placed upon its brow a crown of gold, and have decreed that the possession of money, with little regard to the manner of acquisition, should be the only qualification for this kingship of modern times.

Man, at the dawn of physical development, is shown this goal, and taught that money is power and the world’s desire. He enters the strife and bends his energies, as others do, to grasp the greatest amount of wealth with the least possible effort, matching his cunning against labor,—mind against muscle,—artifice against simplicity,—and directs his thoughts towards wrenching from the hands of honest toil a portion of its legitimate earnings.

Does wealth ever ask what claim it has on the savings of labor? Why is it adding to its already vast store, while other hands are growing feeble from want, and shadows are falling on poverty stricken homes? Does capital ever contemplate the privation and suffering that must follow close upon the heels of cupidity and deception? Do captains of industry realize that, by directing their ability towards the concealment of base designs under the veil of enterprise, and by the misappropriation of the proceeds of honest toil, they are, according to a higher standard of ethics, guilty of larceny; and that by a law, as fixed as gravitation, the time will come when they, through laboring and suffering, in the life beyond the physical, must make compensation for every dollar acquired unjustly?

Consider what a future awaits those who make ambition their goal, and who succeed in seating themselves upon the throne of wealth by modern methods! It is a great misfortune to have false ideals, to worship at the shrine of money; but it is a far greater misfortune to succeed, and to hold unlawful gains, or more of nature’s store than a simple life requires. That all should work and save against old age is proper; but that accumulations should greatly exceed the needs of existence, was not intended by the intelligence that planned all things. We see men in the morning of life preparing for the strife: so fast they rush, so eager is the struggle, so crowded the field, so elusive the object of pursuit, that each one thinks only of self. Like men in actual battle, they fight for mastery, never hesitating to push aside those in front or to trample on those under them; and what is the end for which they strive? Wealth? Yes, but not all, for with the advantages that money brings, come arrogance, pride, greed, and increased selfishness.

Of what real benefit to the world are the very rich? Some few do good by gifts that help the poor and needy; some endow hospitals where suffering is reduced; some give libraries; others build churches and cathedrals. But the great majority hoard their gains and count their money; the love that should encompass all mankind is given to wealth. The greater portion of their thought has been spent in accumulating their hoard, and consequently they love it. This is the old age they have been preparing for, and, like the miser in his tower, they sing and chuckle as they count their gains and the gold coins slip through their fingers. So intent are they on accumulation that they are deaf to the call of charity. Surrounded by luxury, they have not come into contact with suffering; so busy and self-centered are they, that they have not had time to give words of encouragement to others. Nothing but self has found lodgement in their minds as they have been preparing for the future. What future? “Old age,” one answers; but I answer: The future lies beyond the world of men! Will this gathered wealth support you through the coming ages? If another life follows dissolution; if natural conditions prevail, in the great beyond, and one has necessities there as here, what wealth has been accumulated for support in the community after this? Money being a material substance, is not taken, nor indeed can it be, for we see its distribution here. What, then, has been accumulated for support and maintenance out in the after-life where money is not king? All the wealth one can take with him into the after-life, is that which he gave away in this.

The thought that the rich man here may be, and usually is, the pauper in the afterlife, is startling in its possibilities and dreadful to contemplate. A man who has made money his God and worshiped at the shrine of gold, having no other thought, ambition or desire, in earth-life, is poor indeed if his hoard cannot be taken with him, for poor he is in all else, in a world where kind and thoughtful acts and deeds are the standard of wealth.

When the fact can be driven deep into the human heart and brain that after the material life, out in the great hereafter, one lives a life similar to this, and that he has necessities, actual wants, and desires that money will not satisfy; appreciation of what true wealth is, and how to gather it for one’s eternal good, may dawn upon the minds of men.

Contemplate the after-life, where money is not used! The occupation of most people will be gone, they will find themselves disqualified for any other position, ignorant and helpless in a world of activity; then will come appreciation of the lost Atlantis men call opportunity. Upon the pages of memory will be written: wasted energy, false ideals, worthless ambitions, erroneous conceptions, ignorance of the simple laws of nature,—and selfishness will find itself a pauper, in a world of plenty.

In the next life, I am told, the only way to gain advancement is by helping others; in this way only is knowledge gained, for by contributing their efforts to greater good the Master Intelligence has provided for the individual advancement of spirit-people. Each builds his own stairway to the heights of knowledge,—”all for one and one for all,”—that is the law of their progress when they have emancipated themselves from earth conditions. Material wealth is only for a day, as time is counted. What the good man does enriches him here, and becomes a part of his own self for all that we call eternity.

If “doing good’’ is the only wealth that one can carry away into the after-life, how shall it be with those who have thought only of money, grown indifferent, cold and hard, and have lived this life for self alone? A picture of the condition of those in that class, whom we have talked with in the life beyond, is too terrible to describe. In earth-life they draw about themselves a mantle of arrogance and pride, closely woven of selfish thoughts and greed. Such is the garment that covers these naked souls as they journey on. Upon many not one ray of light shines; there is only darkness and despair; nothing penetrates the gloom but the chill of death and dissolution. The selfish worshiper of wealth is not only a pauper in a world of wealth, but an outcast in a community of harmony. What good men do “lives after them,” the earth career becomes a part of them, and they a part of it. Good radiates light; selfishness is darkness—the absence of light—and so condenses the thought emanations as to encompass and obstruct one’s vision. And so, on going out into the next life, the selfish enter into the condition they have created, there to remain, until, through suffering, the wish shall come, from within, to make restitution for a life of greed. Then will come the desire, unknown during earthly existence, to become a worker to help others—just for the joy that comes of doing good—and to find in this way only that “peace which passeth all understanding.”

The wealth that all in this physical world should seek has not the ring of gold; it is gathered by right living, by helping others to live right, and by doing something each day that will bring joy to hearts that are sad, encouragement to those who falter, good cheer to those who are depressed, bread to those who hunger and clothing to the naked. Do something each day to make some mortal happier, and with each act let love go hand in hand. Thus only can mortals be enriched here and hereafter, “beyond the dreams of avarice,” for one good act, sent out with love as its companion, will reach beyond the confines of the stars, and touch eternity.

Homes In The After Life

One in the after-life gave me a description of the spirit home of a great, splendid mother, built by the labor of love and ceaseless charity,— in the physical as well as in the spirit plane in which she now resides,—one who worked long and earnestly to make women understand the truth so that they might live nearer to the best in nature. Here is the description as it was given me:

“Before me is the interior of a splendid home, the home made by a spirit, created and built by the thoughts, acts and works of one who, thirty-two years ago, lived on the material plane. The room opening before me seems like pure white marble with lofty ceilings; around the four sides runs a broad balcony supported by columns gracefully turned; from a point beyond the center is a broad stairway curving outward; at its foot, on each side, are niches filled with beautiful statuary. Going up the stairs now, I find each step a different color, yet all blending into one; on all sides of this upper gallery are windows through which come soft rays of light. Opening off the sides are rooms; and, as I look, a door opens and a beautiful spirit comes out, taking on, as she enters, the old material condition that she may be recognized. She has reached maturity in years, and has a face of rare gentleness—the beauty of purity,—she smiles as we describe her and her home to you. With her is a daughter just reaching womanhood; one that never lived the earth-life but was prematurely born. These two, drawn by the invisible bond of affection, have built this home and made it rich with love.

“Passing down the corridor now, the mother’s arm about the daughter, they approach the other end of the building and descend a stairway similar to the first, and go out upon a broad terrace, along walks bordered with flowers, into the garden of happiness. Turning now and looking toward a valley, I see many trees heavy with foliage, and through them I behold the waters of a lake, rich as an emerald in color.

About the vaulted room which I have described, are many others of like material, filled with all that this mother loves. Books that she uses in her work are seen; pictures, created by acts of tenderness, adorn the walls. Musical instruments unlike those of earth await spirit-touch. This is a home where girls, just budding into womanhood, are taught purity—this is a mother’s home, and suggests to you the possibility of spiritual surroundings. It was not built in a day, but is the result of labor in the earth and in spheres of progression, where the surroundings are in harmony with spiritual development: the home of a good woman, built by helping others.”

I said to one of my friends in the afterlife, at another time: “Tell me of the homes of spirit people,” and, in reply, he said:

“That is a most difficult thing to do, because earth-people expect to find everything so different, while, in reality, the homes here are practically the same as in earth-life, except that there is in the advanced spheres no discord, no lack of harmony, nothing but light, beauty, music, laughter, blended with earnest, thoughtful study. I am describing the home of a spirit who has grown to know the life-principle. There are many poor, struggling souls willfully, or ignorantly, looking down instead of upward into the great possibility of the future, who are living in squalid huts which their deeds and thoughts in earth-life have made for them. Very few have beautiful homes ready for them when they enter spirit-life, for most people live in such ignorance of natural laws that they find insufficient shelter awaiting them, but the wise ones start to build by perfecting their way of thinking and by undoing wrongs on earth, and also, by helping others. No actual physical touch is given these homes, but, as the soul grows in beauty of thought and deed, the home grows to perfection.”

“Are these homes as real to you as ours are to us?” I asked. “They are the abiding places of spirits who gather into them the objects of beauty they love, and there harmonious spirits come and go, as in earth-life. They are as real to them as yours are to you. But we look at things differently; we think them and the thought is expressed in waves that are visible and real as long as we hold the thought.”

This is no flight of imagination. Let me bring home the truth by an illustration. Yesterday I acquired a country place, which must be modernized and adapted to our requirements. I have been thinking what changes are possible and what I should like. It was a mental effort to take into consideration the situation and work out a plan. It was all done in thought. I can, by a mental process, see the change approach; the graded lawns, the enlarged veranda, the great fireplace and the towering chimneys. In thought-vibrations these changes have already been made. They exist in mind, and all that remains is to have the mental plans put upon paper and sent to the builder, who will give them physical expression, construct in spirit-matter what now exists in refined matter. These changes are thought creations; they exist in fact; I can see them.

So it is in the after-life. The home and environment are made by thought, created in spirit-matter, which is mind, and its beauty and grandeur is only limited by the purity and progression of our earth life. Those in the other life have their limitations, as we have; they must have knowledge and development and comprehension just as we do. We differ in our creations only in the manner of expression. The one must be suitable to physical; the other to spirit-requirements; both are first mental processes; one is expressed in gross matter, while the other consists of spirit-matter and spirit expression.

The next life, in its inception, is the sum of this life. And the structure fashioned by our acts and deeds here, is that which we must inhabit when we enter the spirit-world.

The idea that all space is peopled and that in the universe there are no waste places, is not only startling but it must appeal to our reason that the Master Mind, in creating, so planned that all space should be of use and occupied, for some purpose. The thought world does not need the land nor the waters, nor the physical atmosphere, to subsist; passing beyond material laws, who shall say they cannot live and move in the invisible sphere about us—and surround themselves with thought creations? They live beyond and outside the physical bodies, beyond our vision, yet with us. While their presence is felt by the many, it is known by the few. This is the great misfortune of this so-called civilized world.

Excerpt from The Future Of Man