Religion: After Death

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Spirit Brandon says nothing of food, which other spirits have declared to exist in the after life. Nor does he corroborate Spirit Nannie, of Mrs. Mary Longley's The Spirit World, who claimed she wove beautiful dress fabrics out of the atmosphere. According to Brandon, however, nothing exists on the Astral plane which does not also exist on Earth. The spirits live, for example, in splendid homes, hotels, farms, all created by the joint working of spiritual Mind. Many a spirit, awed by it all, asks to be put to sleep for a century or so, to awake vigorous and refreshed. One U. S. businessman—a class Brandon appears to dislike—bored everyone so with his arrogance that he was forcibly put to sleep, first for 20 months, then for five years. After his second sleep he said: "Fellows, I give in."

A stern moralist professing to be disgusted by the "jazz palaces" and "parties" he has seen in the U. S., Brandon observes of its contemporary contributions to the afterlife: "The boys . . . have no sense of responsibility nor very much courage. The girls are mostly unchaste mentally, and sexually very precocious. They are very difficult to deal with, having no respect for any but their own generation." But Spirit Brandon still thinks of himself as a U. S. citizen. In the midst of a series of pacifist observations he remarks: "But for self-defense only should we maintain our Army and Navy. Our air force could be made almost sufficient to repel attack."

Since the War, the Astral plane has been disrupted by the vast number of shattered young souls catapulted into it. Many of them are still insane and Spirit Brandon thinks it will take a century or so to restore them. Since 1920 a "White Brotherhood" of 10,000 spirits, among them Brandon, has been doing what it can. But if worldlings persist in getting involved in another war, says Wilfred Brandon in the most specific part of his message, the spirits will take steps. Declares he:

"The lowest people on this plane are like the lowest on yours. . . . These millions upon millions of Earthbound, elemental souls are lower than your dumb animals. They are capable of tormenting mortals by all sorts of tricks and stunts that are known by the name of 'hauntings.' You are not so silly as to wish to amuse yourselves by living in a 'haunted' house. Such a home is usually a place where 'spirits' amuse themselves in various ways —by opening and shutting doors ... by draughts of cold air passing over you; pictures thrown from the walls . . . sudden terrors. . . . These things are all possible and will shake strong nerves. ... If ever we decide to use this last weapon to shake you out of your war madness, we have only to relax our minds and give these hordes the word. . . ."