Man is not dust, man is not dust, I say!

A lightning substance through his being runs;

A flame he knows not of illumes his clay -

The cosmic fire that feeds the swarming suns.

As giant worlds, sent spinning into space,

Hold in their center still the parent flame;

So man, within that undiscovered place -

His center - stores the light from which he came.

While we were companions on the earth I promised you that if there was for me a life in the great beyond, I would, if possible, make it known to you, that you might enlighten other men. When I made that promise, I had no idea how it would be kept, nor that so much time would elapse before I could clearly convey to you the desired information. While the time has been long to you, yet the desire and determination have never left me. even though I soon learned that ahead of me lay a very difficult task. Things are so different here to what you of the earth picture them to be, so different from what I had expected to find.

I have so much to tell, and, that nothing of importance may be omitted, it will be best for me to go back and begin from the moment I left my body. The night I departed from my earthly home, it was, I believe, about the midnight hour. I ascended straight up through the building into the atmosphere above and with the eyes of my soul beheld my first surprise. I found myself among a multitude of people moving in all directions. I was not more than three hundred feet above the earth, and the town was clearly visible to me. But these people, where had they come from? Had they all died, too? Surely that could not be, for I recognized among them many of my friends and acquaintances whom I knew were alive but a short time before. So I approached one whom I knew well and questioned, "Are you dead, too?" "Why, no," he replied, "I am taking a few hours of freedom while my body lies wrapped in sleep." Then the light came to me and I understood. I remembered that I had always taken these hours of release while my body slept, for acquiring knowledge and strength. The ideas which I acquired were used as far as the limitations of the bodily functions would permit to advance my earthly progress. Those that made a deep impression were next day referred to by my physical and mental consciousness as a dream, an impression, or a new idea. So I discovered that what humanity calls dreams are the records of those impressions brought back to the body after an excursion made by the soul. I soon learned also that the imprisoned soul may travel to any part of the earth, but it cannot leave it. The reason for this I will explain later.

Sleep and death are almost identical, and one might honestly say he dies every night, if there were such a thing as death, but I have learned that there is not. After the death of sleep the soul returns to the body because that is its home and it cannot give expression on a physical plane without the organism of a physical body to act through, and as the particular body it inhabits was built to fit its wants and needs it would be inconvenienced and uncomfortable and therefore unable to give full expression in any other body, tho' I learned that there are instances where souls have exchanged bodies by mutual agreement and occasionally one has stolen a body from another only to be later ousted by the real owner. Such exchanges always cause great suffering to the body and sometimes destroy it. The wrong soul in the wrong body is the cause of so-called insanity. The soul and physical organism are not suited to each other and the expression is imperfect and you call it insanity. Temporary insanity followed by days of lucidity results from souls exchanging bodies. When the right soul is at home the body expresses correctly; when a foreign soul is in the body it is unable to express sanely.

There are cases where two small souls inhabit one body. This can be easily detected by the two natures exhibiting themselves through the one body. The pair of souls are usually male and female and generally get along very well together, having selected a single body as their home because of an intense desire to be together. Such bodies are often credited with having talent and genius.

A soul is at all times conscious of its acts, both in and out of the body, but the body or brain is only conscious of the acts of the soul, while in the body; hence, all knowledge of the soul life is lost to the body from the time the soul leaves until it returns. That is the one obstacle that has stood in the way and prevented humanity knowing to a certainty the nature of the spiritual life. That is both logical and reasonable, for the body, of itself, has no means of obtaining knowledge, and has no element in its construction that is immortal. From and of the earth it came and unto the earth it returns again.

Bear this one fact in mind, that, while in the body, the soul is a prisoner and can express itself only as the condition or construction of the body will permit. When it is out of the body it can grow and develop, but during that time there remains no spiritual connection between the soul and the body, for the body is wholly material. It would be as reasonable to take the steam out of an engine and expect it to go on working, or the fire out of a furnace and expect it to go on heating, as to expect the body to go on recording the soul life while the soul is absent. While I knew these things when I was away from my body, yet I was never able to remember them when back in the body, and all that remained of my knowledge was a faint instinct or assurance that there was another life somewhere and that I was immortal.

The night of my departure from the earth I saw and realized this so clearly that I knew I could in time communicate it to you. I also knew that before starting on my long journey I could, if I so wished, make myself visible to you, or to any one for whom I had a strong attachment, but I refrained for fear of alarming you.