January 7th 1966
(Please note: the original title was "Explanation of what uncle Shak said". As I don't know the significance, I've replaced it with a title that reflects the contents)
We are always pleased to be able to answer your queries, and we listen to your conversations so many times when you are unaware of our presence. You would be surprised at the times when we are with you at your side. You would be more surprised if you could witness the way we try to prompt you to say this or that. And we try to advise you by throwing onto the picture, onto the screen of your mind the different pictures which we hope will help you to answer the different questions asked you by the various people with whom you come into contact.
We know of your desire to enlighten and to bring about in your own way, the fulfilment, purpose, the plan of God. And we heard you say:
“I wonder what was meant when the Spirit friends, the relatives that have gone before, remark that so much has fallen upon you, yourselves.”
Let us remember the words of your own great teacher, Jesus, the master who said “As the tree falls so it is”. There are they who at death, because through their Earthly life, they have not looked any further than the material. They have taken care of their physical needs. They have worked and slaved perchance to keep the things of the body - to keep a storehouse for their physical needs. But concerning the things of the Spirit and the soul, they have thought nothing. To them the end had come with the end of the physical body. They had not tried to understand the true and the real meaning of love. The words of the great teachers had meant nothing to them. Although, because of their great love for the physical, their great desire for power, and to be respected by all and sundry, albeit they have attended a place of worship week by week, and they have listened to the words of the great ones, because it was very respectable and the right thing to do. But even this pertains to the physical, to the material, to be someone and to be the right thing.
But these are they who are empty in themselves and who, when death claims the same little ones, they have nothing to be and they find that instead of a starting point, instead of finding themselves at the beginning of a really true, new and exciting life, they have to retrace their steps in so many ways and to learn what they can in very, very difficult conditions because they are minus the physical body which protected their very sensitive Spirit itself from hurt.
The dense gross cover of the physical body is a great protection to the sensitive, developing personality on the Earth. And to learn, and to search, and to study, in and on the great training ground of Earth with this physical protection, is a very, very, sensible, practical, common sense thing to do. But those who think that they are so clever are just the very ones who cannot or who could not see these very plain, these very plain facts to the one who has the eyes to see.
And so, my child, if a tree falls in the winter, it lies upon the ground without foliage and without fruit. But if a tree fell mid-season, anyone at hand could have a feast, or could decorate many palaces, with the foliage. It would be good. And so many advantages could be gained from this tree, although it was fallen.
And so my child, as the tree falls, so it is. When one has searched upon the Earth in the right way and overcome difficulties, faced up to the truth, been faithful as it were in the little things, then that one has baskets and packages containing all sorts of useful things as soon as it passes on into this, our world.
But the plight of the materially minded, no matter how rich in material things, their nakedness is profound, that ignorance is also painful. They have made commands, that have demanded this and demanded that, that could pay for this, and pay for that, find that they have nothing. There's no one to serve, no one to fetch, no one to carry. That so-called tree has fallen in wintertime, when the ground is hard and cold an there is nothing.
And so my child, this explains why those that pass on without seeking for the truth, without longing to know, longing to understand the meaning, the true meaning of the scriptures, without thinking deeply on the great personalities of the Christ or the Buddha, or the seers and sages of long ago; these are they who turn around after the realisation comes to them that they are empty, that they are in need, that they have lost something by the way. These are they who turn around when as we say the realisation comes to them of their so called nakedness, and coming back to see their shame, they are led to those who are searching upon the Earth who have found, and they realise what they have missed.
And many of them make up their mind there and then, because they are at heart, good, that after a while they will go back to us and make these very spiritual triggers their own whilst in the flesh. Many make up for their shortcomings in the darker spheres, in rescue work, in taking care of unwanted children, in going into the astral of the semi starved countries, and work in these conditions. And their suffering can be very great because as we said at the beginning of the talk, they have not the protection, in these lower vibrations, of the physical body.
And that is why, Mary, so many of their friends and relatives in the Spirit world who did not search in the same way that you have searched, or were not willing to put the material or the physical to one side, that is why they come and they stand around and they learn from you instead of being able to teach and to give you. Do you understand?
It is so simple really. And when they say that they will be able to work with and for you, this is just and proper because you are giving them now the opportunity to learn through your thoughts, through your prayers, what they could well have learned for themselves and be in a much better position now. There is no punishment. Do you see it? It is all quite fair, quite just and quite natural.
But their Earth life, their Earth lives were, shall we say, pleasanter and more easy going, because they were not making the search whilst in the body, which may have made it much more easy for them because they have not the responsibility with this knowledge brings. Do you understand?
It is a pity. It is a pity, but it is not a tragedy.
It’s only spiritual gifts that we can take with us. Wisdom from experiences, love, understanding and compassion. If we were to pass over without these things, without having remembered what we had promised to achieve, we will pass over empty handed and feel we have wasted an opportunity. Not only that, we won’t have the protection that this searching brings. It is interesting to be told that the physical body helps us keep our emotions in check. So those who try to make up by helping out in the darker levels, suffer more than they would have. It is also enlightening to hear that Mary, and therefore others of similar spiritual understand, can help those who have passed on by the example of the thoughts they emit and their way of life.