When the earliest church called Christian was presented to us by authentic history as formidably organized, it claimed a new revelation had been received from its founder, whose name it bore, and it taught primarily that life on this earth was chiefly to be regarded as a preparatory school to fit one for the life beyond the grave. Man was to suffer here, and the greater his suffering, the greater his reward might be. With the centuries came dissensions, and out of the Apostolic Church came the three branches, the Roman, the Anglican and the Greek. Out of these came the various sects - all claiming to be followers of the same founder, but differently interpreting his teachings as given in the accepted record. These various churches and sects have adapted themselves to modern thought and civilization, so that the influence of some one or more of these teachings practically covers Western Europe, North and South America. Differing as these religious bodies do in forms and beliefs, there is one point on which all agree; and, because of that, I make the classification so gen eral. Though life here may have a much wider significance than the early church originally gave it, all these branches and sects teach that life is immortal; and further, that one carries his individuality beyond, because he may again meet and mingle with those he loved here. When asked for proofs, they present their record, their interpretation of it, and their faith - proofs fully demonstrated they have never assumed to furnish. With the unfolding of man, can any be found to meet his demands in this age?

Much older than the religions of the western world, however, was the belief that man could draw power from the unseen. He in former times appealed to this or that god for aid, particularly when seeking the accomplishment of great tasks. That there was a power beyond the human on which man might draw is a belief, therefore, as old as history. The religion founded some nineteen hundred years ago modified, in a way, the ancient idea of the source of power and the methods of approach to it; but it did not create the belief in man of the existence of a power beyond on which he might draw. That belief, as the records show, seems to have been accepted on the part of the human, and to have been co-existent with the history of man.

The early teachers had unfolded to a point where a multitude of gods brought mazes of entanglement to their logic; and then, in the trend of intellectual evolution, the host of Pagan gods was finally displaced, or resolved by reason into two, and these represented two opposing forces. So much of wrong and evil was patent to their senses, that if the great Good (God) all powerful did not have an opposing factor, they saw no way to account for the wrong in the world and in the minds of men. They who did good were under the influence of the good God and he transmitted power to them to overcome evil. They who did wrong had aid from the evil god, called the Devil, and he willingly was contributing of his power to them; and so, in the universe, the battle of evil against good was continually being waged. Complete conquest of good over evil, when a millennium would appear, was certain to come, but far remote.

Modern religious teachings are amazingly contradictory and illogical at best. God is on one Sunday a God of love, on another a jealous God, on another an angry God, on another an avenging God; and all this love and jealousy and anger and revenge he feels and exercises toward what these teachers claim is the crowning masterpiece of his own creations. Such a conception of being must be that of almost primitive man with undeveloped, unfolded mental faculties.

In this day all stand free to speak their thoughts, whether they conflict or not with creeds or dogmas. Standing at the open gate between this earth life and the spirit life, I can see why from paganism, intelligence seemed to have taken a great step in advance by resolving multiplied forces into but two, one evil and the other good. Again, I recognize these old philosophers caught glimpses of truth; but when they or their followers presented it in detail, there was a mysticism about it. The logic of the human is always limited to its intellectual grasp.

From the old oracles of Delphi, one learns that those versed in that lore were sought to tell the meaning of the messages received. Following that trend, interpreters arose to explain the record of history and prophecy handed down to humanity as authentic; and these interpreters did not and do not agree, clearly proving to my mind that the environment and mental unfoldment of the writer and the interpreter are the causes of disagreement.

There is one dominant idea which pervades every modern religious belief, and that is the necessity of sacrifice to attain reward. I question if this did not arise from the simple fact that one must always pay a price for his good, whatever it may be, and the price paid represents the sacrifice. Passing over this for a moment, and freeing mind from all thoughts as to whether or not there is an accepted belief one ought labor to uphold, let me consider some experiences and some of the messages received through human instruments, or brought by shadowy spirit forms in person, telling of the life beyond; and then, it may be that a new interpretation of this record, through broader mental unfoldment, will be made manifest.

I take it primarily that no one will read this paper who has not had some experience, or made some acquaintance with the conclusions of others in their studies in occultism. I will not refer, therefore, to a long array of names of those who have made serious investigations in occult phenomena and who have presented us volumes giving the results obtained; but will assume that my reader has made himself familiar with at least several of these works, besides having had valuable experiences of his own. Presuming all this on his part; and further, that he has made himself more or less familiar with the excellent work done by the Society of Psychical Research in these lines, I feel that he must agree with these investigators that immortality has been proven, that life is continuous, and that there is no death. Further, I assume that he will agree it has been proven that one's individuality continues, and that one is no wiser the day after the immortal part passes from the body than he was the day it left it. Believing then that these are self-evident propositions to my reader; and further, that progression is continuous in the life beyond, let us, as preliminary and in way of review, pass before our minds again the conclusions of some of these investigators.