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In May 1854 Robert Hare the retired Chemistry professor and one of the first psychical researchers was contacted through the mediumship of Mrs. Gourlay by the spirit of his father, [who had been Speaker in the Pennsylvanian Senate and author of a travel journal describing a
trip made in 1775 through New York State to Canada and Niagara Falls].
Here is his interesting account of the spiritual plane he lives on now. This is of particular interest to those of us who are wondering what type of work and interests can be carried over, when our time comes to pass on to the
other side.
“We do not, as many persons imagine, abandon the
studies which we commenced on earth, which would
presuppose the loss of our reasoning powers, and our
consequent inferiority to yourselves; but on the
contrary, we go on progressing in knowledge and
wisdom, and shall progress throughout the boundless
ages of eternity. You being chained down to earth, by
the law of gravitation, are comparatively limited in
your resources for information; but we having arrived
at a higher sphere of thought and action, and having
a more extensive field of vision, can soar higher and
farther into the wonderful workings of that mysterious
Being, who, owing to the infinity of his perfections,
must be forever in advance of us, his finite
creatures, and to whom, of course, we can bear no
relative proportion.
Our scientific researches and investigations are
extended to all that pertains to the phenomena of
universal nature; to all the wonders of the heavens
and the earth, and to whatever the mind of man is
capable of conceiving: all of which exercise our
faculties and form a considerable part of our
enjoyments. The noble and sublime sciences of
astronomy, chemistry, and mathematics, engage a
considerable portion of our attention, and afford us
an inexhaustible subject for study and reflection.
Nevertheless, there are millions of spirits who
are not yet sufficiently advanced to take any interest
in those pursuits; for you will bear in mind that the
spheres are but so many departments of a great normal
school, for the mental discipline and development of
the race, each of which is reached only by the spiral
[gradual] stages of progression, - the earth being the
first in the series, and the seventh sphere the last;
being preparatory to an entrance into the supernal
heaven. You will perceive, then, that we have an
unlimited scope for the prosecution of our studies,
and that whatever knowledge you fail to acquire in the
rudimentary state, legitimate thereto, you will have
to obtain, in some of the degrees of the spiritual
spheres.
We do not study those practical arts, which are
so essential to the earth life, such as mechanics,
&c.; for we do not stand in need of their
applications; our studies being wholly of mental
character, we attend to the fundamental principles
only. All the more intellectual branches of the arts
and sciences are cultivated in a much more perfect
manner than that to which we have been accustomed upon
earth. The mind being untrammeled by the gross
material body, and having its intellectual energies
and perceptions improved, we can by intuition, as it
were, more clearly and rapidly perceive and understand
the principles and truths on which the sciences are
based. We can trace the various relations of each
subject, so as to understand its connective
importance; a knowledge at which mortals arrive only
by a long and tedious process.
We are not, for good and wise ends, which in due
time will be fully explained, permitted to reveal all
our knowledge to those below us, as the consequences
of such a procedure would be perilous to the happiness
of all, and subversive of order.
In addition to our studies we have many other
sources of intellectual, moral, and heartfelt
enjoyment, from which we derive the most ineffable
pleasure; one of which is social reunions and
convivial meetings; a coming together of dear friends,
brothers, sisters, children and parents; where the
liveliest emotion and tenderest affections of our
nature are excited, and the fondest and most endearing
reminiscences are awakened; where spirit meets in
unison with spirit, and heart beats responsive to
heart.
Yet individuals united by the ties of
consanguinity are not always linked together, even
here, by the golden chain of love and benevolent
affection, since it not infrequently happens that
there is much more harmony existing among those who
are not members of the same family. Notwithstanding
that persons who were intimately acquainted with each
other in the natural world, and those who are akin,
may be and often are separated, sometimes for long
periods, still they do occasionally meet together;
those in the higher degrees and spheres passing to the
lower, while those in the latter never ascend to the
former till fully prepared for such a transition,
agreeably to the fixed and unalterable laws of
progression. The periods of such separations vary
according to the relative gradations of intellectual
and moral qualities in each.
The peculiar connections and relations of parents
and children, brothers and sisters, and all the minor
ties of consanguinity, must be forever maintained,
although there may be an indefinite interruption to
the harmonious play of their affinities.
As regards the institution of marriage, I would
observe that on earth it is a civil contract, entered
into by two persons, male and female, mutually or
otherwise, as the case may be, for and during the term
of their natural lives, but which is legally annulled
on the demise of either party; so that whether or not
it be renewed in the spiritual world, is determined by
choice, not obligation.
Celestial marriage, however, is quite a different
affair: it is the blending of two minds in one,
resulting from an innate reciprocal love in each; a
conjunction of negative and positive principles,
forming a true and indissoluble bond of spiritual
union, which human legislation cannot reach: a
marriage which is born of God, and is therefore
eternal. It is often asked, “Will all be married in
heaven?” I answer, Yes, most assuredly; it never was
designed for man (a person) to be alone, either on
earth or in heaven: each will seek and find their
counterpart.
Each society has a municipal administration or
moral code, subject to the divine government;
submission to the will of God, and obedience to his
laws, whether recognized in nature or revelation,
forming the basis of its constitution. With us
philosophy and religion go hand in hand.
Evil or misdirected spirits find their affinities
in the second sphere, where the lowest and most
undeveloped are associated together, and remain for
indefinite periods, but with all the moral depravity
and darkness with which they are enveloped, through
the benign influence exerted over their perceptive and
rational faculties, by higher intelligences, each
begins to feel, sooner or later, the low and degraded
position he (or she) occupies; moreover, finding new
means of progress, and new sources of contemplation as
well as delight, and their capacity of making
perpetual advancement in knowledge, their
intellectual faculties become gradually expanded, and
their moral powers increased. Hence the groveling
propensities of their nature yielding to the dictates
of reason, their grosser passions subside, causing
them to aspire to higher associations and
circumstances, which in turn beget new wants,
thoughts, and feelings.
We have no sectarian or ecclesiastical feuds; no
metaphysical dogmas; nor are we troubled with those
insatiable craving and inordinate ambitions, so often
manifested by mortals.”
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