Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadQuiet Talks by Samuel Dickey: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Life After Death: 43. Three Groups
TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Life After Death (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 43. Three Groups
Other Subjects in this Topic:
Three Groups
But now, let us face fairly the question: can we have communication with the dead? There are those who assert positively that we can. Their common teaching is that the spirits of the dead do come back to us, that they try to get into communication, and that the difficulty involved is because they and we are in two quite different spheres. And so, they say, there is naturally some difficulty, like in the use of two different languages until we have become learned in their use.
These people fall into three groups. At the lowest level are those who believe in ghosts. These are usually the ignorant and superstitious. Though it is surprising how common this sort of thing is among all classes. The ghosts are supposed to be spirits of human beings who have died, and who return to their former abodes. One strange feature of this belief is the terrible sense of fear that goes with it. It is as though loved ones had changed their character through death, and now would do harm.
I recall a sensible remark made by a simple man in a backward country district. A sense of terror had seized a certain group because the ghost of a recently deceased kinsman was thought to have come back. "Well," he said, "if he's in hell he can't come back; and if he's in heaven, he doesn't want to come back." But such sensible talk is not as common as one could wish.
Then there are the professionals who make a livelihood by their art. These are commonly known today as mediums. That is the word in use now. They are supposed to supply the medium of communication between the two worlds. This is a very large class, to be found in all our cities on both sides of the water.
Sometimes they are called clairvoyants, which simply means those who can see clearly. The word is from the French, as is the other word commonly used, "seance," meaning simply a sitting or a session, used for the time spent in getting the alleged communication.
The third group is supposed to be on a higher level. These are the so-called scientific investigators. They profess to put the whole thing upon a scientific or scholarly basis. The common phrase here is psychical research. With this is associated the study of the character of hypnotism, mesmerism, magnetism, and the like.
And without any doubt there is here a wide legitimate sphere for research. Though one notes the constant tendency by some to drop to the lower levels. It is rather surprising what a degree of credulity can be shown in this re-search by some who are insistent on rigid evidence in other fields.
The British Society for Psychical Research has had on its rolls the names of many distinguished publicists and men prominent in various walks, though its activities seem controlled by a certain distinctive group with marked leanings toward the results they are eager to find. These are the three groups.