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Earthbounds, Heaven and Hell
Edward Randall with Emily French, Direct Voice medium
Charity, and Love Conquers All.
There are many different beliefs and conceptions
of what life after death is and where it takes place.
It has been described as an actual place, a Heaven or
a Hell, or a state of mind, or a continuation of this
life’s journey in a more etherealized body. Some
people, the dualists, even think that this earthly
life is hell itself, where we are learning to deal
with good versus evil forces right here in our daily
lives. Until we can master ourselves and our selfish
desires, we will continue to suffer much pain and
hardship. In all cases we would seem to take our
memory, personality and abilities with us when we die
and leave our physical body behind. But our level of
existence then depends on our previous conduct and
quality of being. Whether Hell is a state of mind or
an actual place or a process are debatable points, but
it seems from all accounts that there is the
possibility for an evil spirit to redeem himself or
herself and able to receive help once it is asked for.
No one is damned eternally by some outside authority.
Examples of this negative post mortem state are given
in Chapter XIII of Edward C. Randall’s “Glimpses of
the Afterlife” where Emily French, the Rochester
medium brought through many of these distressed
spirits. N. Riley Heagerty’s recent publication “The
French Connection” is an excellent compilation of all
Randall’s research and transcripts of sittings with
Mrs. French, but here is the complete chapter from
Randall’s book.
CHAPTER XIII EARTHBOUND
EDWARD RANDALL writes: I recall so many
earthbound that have told of the horror of their
condition, that it is with difficulty I choose
specific individuals, for I had speech with: such a
great number. It is like seeing the paintings in the
principal galleries of Europe. There are many, but
some stand out prominently. This is the story told by
one:
"I was not a good man among men. I was selfish,
cruel, took human life, and was, as I now know, killed
while committing a crime. When I awoke it was very
dark, and, not knowing what had happened, I called in
anger, but my companions did not come. My voice echoed
back to me again and again, and I began to think I was
in a cave. I arose and groped about in the darkness,
but I could not find the walls, though I walked for
hours. I did not feel hunger or thirst, and days and
months passed, while I was ever searching for the
walls that threw back the echo of my call. Can you
imagine the sensation that you would have, to be lost
in an open forest with the sun in the sky, to say
nothing of being lost in darkness? My sensations and
suffering beggar description.
After a very long time I saw a light, and as it
approached I saw that it shone or radiated from the
form of a man.
'My brother,' the man said, 'you are in spiritual
darkness; how can I help you?' He came and, putting
forth his hands, would have touched me, but I was
speechless and rushed away in fear.
Thereafter when I saw a light I would hide,
fearing I would be arrested, for at that time I did
not know I had left my physical body. I became
desperate, and the next time a light approached I
waited.
Coming to me, a man from whose body light
radiated, as before, said, 'What do you wish?'
I replied, 'I want to get out of this prison.'
'You are not in prison; you are dead.'
I cursed him for making such fool statements, and
he was gone.
Again I was alone in darkness. How long this
continued I know not, for, there being no day, I could
not count time. Again there came one to me and again I
demanded that I be released from my prison.
He calmly and kindly replied, 'You are not in
prison; you are a spirit.' That seemed to me the
height of absurdity, for I was very much alive; but I
listened and he told me 'that I had made the change'
and brought another, an artist, who drew pictures of
my youth and the faces of my boyhood friends, and, one
by one sketched those acts and deeds and wrongs that I
had done. Then the light faded and they were gone and
I was left alone to think.
When I had fully come to appreciate my condition
and to regret the wrong done and the suffering caused
by me, there came a desire to do what I could to make
reparation. Then came other spirit people to encourage
me and suggest what I must do to obtain spiritual
growth and with it, the light. Not one offered to take
my burden, or to undo the wrong that I had done; that
was for me; they only pointed out the way. I was told
there were none to forgive me, except the injured; no
savior but himself.
Step by step I went forward; hour by hour I made
reparation and lived again each wrong and lived it
right; and day by day, as you count time, I undid my
wrong and added to the right. The way was long, the
labor intense, but in it I found a happiness I had
never known before. For I was building my character;
the atom of good was striving for its spirituality.
Now that is all behind me, and I live in the
glorious and effulgent light of the spirit world,
laboring among congenial souls. I was seared by the
fire of selfishness and wrong. I paid, and paid to the
last farthing, the penalty. Now I am at peace with
all. the spirit world, as it is with me.
I send this message back to the world of men:
'There is not in the universe a method by which 'any
one can escape the penalty of wrong.' Had I known this
fact, I would have lived among you honestly and been
fair with my fellow men. I did not know it, and I have
paid in full, as all will pay in full, for ignorance
will not excuse.
It has been a privilege to tell through you of
my experience in the earthbound zone of the spirit
world. If one man will hesitate when
contemplating a single selfish or wrong act, and turn
from it because of better understanding, it will
reflect upon me and better my condition.”
The following statement as to earthbound
conditions is from another more advanced spirit:
"The belts or zones that lie close around your
earth are designed for the habitation of undeveloped
spirits when out of the body; as they outgrow the
passions of earth and become more refined, they pass
to another or higher zone. Many remain in the first or
earth zone for years. We of the higher zones try to
teach them that they must forgive and forget the
wrongs of earth and in that work advance out of the
earthbound condition, but many turn a deaf ear to our
suggestions and try to revenge the wrong done to them
when on earth; all this is intensely human, and this
zone, so. like the physical, is very real.
Those who have progressed, those who in the
beginning passed directly through this belt, because
of their spirituality, would never come back into that
atmosphere, were it not for their love for and desire
to help humanity”
In explanation of this condition another spirit
said:
"Many on leaving the mortal body are still in
earthly conditions, found on the grosser spiritual
side you call the lower sphere, where the spiritual
senses are not yet awakened to susceptibility of
spiritual discernment."
Again, one said:
"I find a great many come from earth life in a
very darkened condition; and, of course, they
gravitate or are drawn to localities of corresponding
conditions. They don't know just where they ought to
go or what to do. In fact, many are ignorant of any
other than the condition in which they find
themselves. Many, too many, are in a condition of
slumbering, some in a deep sleep which lasts a long
time, and great effort is put forth to awake such
spirit people."
This is the experience of another spirit:
"I had been in the after life a number of years
when I was taken into the lowest sphere, and what I
saw has lingered in my memory ever since. I was taken
by a guide accustomed to work in the earthbound plane.
We move, as you know, with the rapidity of thought. My
first impression was of a descent in the dark, all
about me gloom, and to add to the horror I could hear
voices though I could not see any one. After a time,
when as it seemed, I grew accustomed to the darkness,
I could see people about me, poor men and women who
did not realize they had left the physical body--some
shrieking because they could not escape their victims;
those they had wronged were not there, it was their
awakening consciousness that brought such vision. The
guide spoke gently to them. Some answered with coarse
jests, others with mirthless laughter; but a few came
close and listened while he told them of their
condition and what must be done to work out of this
darkness, which was of their own creation. We have as
much trouble in making these poor spirit people
understand conditions beyond their sight and touch, as
you have with earth people."
EDWARD RANDALL: In the beginning when I talked
with spirits who did not know they were dead, as that
word is commonly used, it staggered my thought. I
could not then conceive that one could be in that
condition and not know it. I did not then know that
the next life was so material, so tangible, and, in
the lower spheres, so like our own; neither did I know
that here and now we possess an inner body, which,
when separated from the outer flesh garment, is
identically the same as before, with the same feature,
expression and thoughts. With the first or lower
sphere actually blending with our world as it does,
how can those who have just gone understand their
condition, if they possess no knowledge concerning
this change?
In the presence of such known facts, the
question of the continuity of life no longer remains,
and we advance to the more important proposition of
what are the conditions the so-called dead meet when
they cross the border. Where is the border? Where is
the after life and what is the new environment? These
questions are vital and are being answered from day to
day, though few ask the question, and of those who do
ask, a less number understand. The world is too busy
getting money to give this subject serious thought.
Let it not be understood that all the living
dead are earthbound and held in such zone of darkness;
of all that go, only a few of the many are there held.
But let it be remembered that conditions in spirit
planes vary as the varying characters of men, and that
each reaches that environment for which his earth life
has fitted him. 'There he will live until by growth be
has earned a more advanced zone.
The experiences of these spirits were unusual,
terrible in severity, and possibly extreme, but they
are necessary to illustrate what the degenerate and
wicked must expect. Others have told of the wonders
and delights of the next conditions, as they were
enabled to feel and visualize them in the beginning.
Where spirit people are, what they see and enjoy,
depends on just what their earth. life earned. How
many know this fact? The fortunate should help the
unfortunate; the strong should defend the weak; the
intellectual should lead with gentle hands the mental
poor.
This is the highest conception of religion in
both worlds, and a necessary process if we would
enrich ourselves in either.
A spirit has said:
"You can have no idea of the nature and extent
of punishment which some spirits have to undergo.
There is no hell, nor is torture inflicted in the
spirit world. Every one that comes brings the
punishment with him in his own nature. When a spirit
passes from the earth to this world, every trait of
his natural habits, principles and passions is
delineated on his spirit features. There can be no
deceptions with us. You will be placed with those of
similar character, whose natures correspond with
yours. There is no night here, and consequently no
day, at least not as I once measured, and as you
still measure time. Time here is measured only by
emotions, events and deeds. There are dark places and
darker souls, as there are on earth."
RANDALL: THERE were few nights during the years of
scientific investigation that I did not talk with
earthbound spirit people, usually with several, and I
have learned much of their condition.
"What creates the earthbound condition?" is the
first question properly asked. I answer, as I have
been answered thousands of times:
"The lives they led, and the conditions they
created for themselves, for as a man sows so shall he
reap."
The laws of nature, the laws under which we
live, are not only fixed and definite, but eternally
just.
Thoughts are things, and every moment as they
emanate from each individual something is added to his
character. It is enriched or impoverished, and if no
light emanates from it one is held at his dissolution
within the lower planes that circle this globe. The
selfish character, like the miser in the "Chimes of
Normandy," the cruel, the immoral and wanton, the
thief, the murderer,--is it not just that they be
herded together until they have lived over each wrong
act, lived it aright and made compensation, thus
qualifying themselves for association with a finer
group? The justice that meets human souls at the
frontier is complete. They enter into a condition
which is of their own creation. They find such light
as they radiate, and no more. There is no escape in
'the after life’ from the consequences of things done
and performed in this. In my talks with earthbound
spirit people I never found two exactly alike, any
more than they can be found alike here. That change
did not alter or improve them. This is evidently Hell,
so much talked of and feared.
In this plane, so close about the earth that in
reality it is a part of it, the wicked, the malicious
and base, and all those who have acquired no spiritual
development, are held. This plane has various stages.
Some are in total darkness, some in half light; all
in all, it is at most a twilight zone between the
spiritual and physical worlds. Here old appetites,
thoughts and desires hold sway as before. In this
zone a great mass of undeveloped people of the same
general character, with a desire for spirituality no
greater than when living in the physical body, remain.
Their condition is much worse than in this world, for
there is not the opportunity for reformation that
there was before. There the great law of
attraction holds together those of a similar
character, so that these live in mental poverty until
they have a desire for better things. Then the way is
shown and they work slowly out by their own efforts,
but the labor is long and the path dim that leads to
the zones of happiness and peace. Giordano Bruno said:
"Whatever good a man has to his credit, whether
it be much or little, is the seed from which he grows
eternally."
[Love, in the fullest meaning of the word is what
makes the world go round, and here, in conclusion, in
contrast to the living hell of the earthbound spirit
is Randall’s chapter on love, which in Greek is
derived from the word “Charitas”, not “Eros,”
(romantic or sensual love). This is the complete love
that embraces all other forms of it. This is the light
which guides the earthbound out of hell, the solution
to all our earthly problems as well, and the secret
component of all our effective prayers, along with
contact and distant healing. Love, or Charity, is the
antidote to and cure for all the hellish states and
predicaments we may find ourselves in. R.R.]
CHAPTER XVII DEVELOPMENT THROUGH CHARITY
CHARITY, in its general acceptation, has been
identified with alms-giving. Spirit people, with
their higher intelligence, contend that charity means
giving to those in need our best and purest thought;
and they have pointed out that on the earth plane it
is rather a mechanical than a spiritual action to
distribute material things to others. How many, when
they help those in need, give their best thought as
well as material aid? True, material assistance is
often indispensable; but nevertheless, it should be
only a stepping stone to something higher and nobler.
A charitable thought, sent out and transmitted by
waves of psychic ether, will reach many souls in
despair; and, perhaps, lift them to higher conditions
in the material as well as in the spirit spheres.
There are persons in earth life who are too poor to
give material aid, but who, out of the richness of
their benevolent hearts, give that which is better,
more precious, more Godlike, loving words and kindly
deeds.
Such as these are never too tired to offer
sympathy, never too weary to speak a cheery word to
struggling neighbors. Such persons radiate happiness
around them, and are continually sending forth the
purest and best of which a soul is capable, and, when
they go out into the after life, they find that the
bread of thought cast upon the waters does return.
It is my custom to ask of spirit people to give
some expression of their views on subjects under
consideration, and in reply to an inquiry about
charity one said:
"And the greatest of all is charity of thought,
without which the utmost gifts of money become as
pebbles in the mouths of the hungry. Think of all as
you would have all think of you. A thought once born
grows to its fullness, not only by the good done to
the individual, but by its strength and good ness. It
circles around, and after encompassing many in its
kind embrace, rebounds to enrich the originator.
Cultivate the desire to think kindly of your fellow
men.
Some thought dominates all actions. Those who
have evil thoughts are in danger of becoming evil
themselves, though they may be unconscious of the
fact. The mind flings out a radiance which, to some
extent, sheds light on every avenue of life. If that
radiance should grow feeble and your life selfish, you
would long remain in the twilight, and your outlook
would be limited. But, if kindness and true charity
dominate your thoughts, the radiance will continue
rich and bright till its emanations reach the
boundaries of hope, and your soul is illumined by the
crowning sun of happiness.
The best way to judge character is to watch the
faces of children who turn toward men. A good man
loves them and has patience with them, and they turn
to him as naturally as a flower follows the warmth of
the sun. A bad man realizes their helplessness, and
brutally vents his malignity on their small
defenseless heads. Such a man is not to be trusted in
any walk of life.
Again be generous to those to whom nature has
limited her gifts, for nature compensates, and the
time 'will come when all shall be equal. The poorly
equipped for earth life will more easily acquire the
lessons to be learned in the next, for those of
patience and humility are learned already. Those who
think differently are to be enlightened, not censured
or ridiculed, for all who understand this truth of
life's progression are entrusted with the great
responsibility of teaching all who can understand; and
you must get as close as possible to the lives of
others, that your words may have weight.
Let your hearts be fallow ground, plant therein
the seeds of love, charity and purity; nourish them
daily with the clear water of tenderness; and you will
have a wonderful garden filled with fragrance and
white with blossoms, and your life will become a; part
of the great life principle."
A spirit, well known when in earth life, said
one evening to a gentleman who worked with me, and who
helped obtain the information now given the public:
"The intense satisfaction that is the constant
result of right doing, based on honest purpose, is, in
itself, sufficient reward for action. Of all the trite
sayings of the Bible, the one that reads, 'What shall
it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and
yet lose his own soul?' is one with the greatest
meaning.
Wealth brings many opportunities for good and
for evil; in fact, there are more for the latter than
for the former, as the besetting sin of mortal man is
selfishness and the possession of great riches allows
free expression of that greatest of all sources of
trouble. The true and full meaning of the word
'selfishness' is in every way opposite to the most
beautiful word in your language, 'charity.' Shorn of
their meaning, as applied to money, they are the
negative and positive of man's character. The fullest
opportunity of giving expression to these two opposite
words comes with the possession of great wealth. The
understanding of the full meaning of these two words
is the truest index of a man's character. The ability
to make one's life the embodiment of that wonderful
word 'charity,' and to understand that other word
'selfishness' so as to avoid it, is the true test of
mortal man's ability to. control himself.
Self-control is man's perfect condition. To know
charity and practice its meaning; to know selfishness
and keep it from you; this is self-control. This state
of existence is as near perfection as the earthtied
mortal can hope to get. You have been chosen one
among many on your side of life to bring certain
great truths to the people of the world. In advance of
time, you are to be prepared for the time of your
usefulness, and this is one of the moments of laying
before you certain truths. To teach the truth, the
teacher must be truthful; to induce others to accept
pure and honest principles, the teacher must be pure
and honest himself; to set certain facts before
others, the teacher must be above criticism.
You may honestly atone for those things that
have so far occurred in your life, by making amends to
those to whom you are indebted. So far as the errors
of your past life are concerned, you have well and
strongly conquered their chief cause, and you need no
longer fear them. You have henceforth no excuse to do
otherwise than follow the honorable and ennobling
instincts of your nature. Guard well your actions,
that they may not be open to criticism from others;
and particularly from the one of all others from whom
you cannot escape, your own self. You have been, and
you are being, weighed in the balance; and so much is
expected of you, that you must not be found wanting.
Remember that wealth brings the opportunity to
give expression to what is best in your nature, and
that you will find the only reward for doing good in
that intense feeling of satisfaction that can come
only as the result of a good deed, unselfishly done.
It is well that man should earn his daily bread. It
is the intention of nature that every mortal should
struggle, for by no other means can he progress in the
scale of being.
This being so, one so situated that he can live
without a proper exertion on his part, is unfortunate.
Never forget this principle; the waste of money is not
charity, but foolishness. You will find many practical
ways to do good and to do it in the right way. A clean
tenant demands a clean habitation. A pure heart and a
pure mind are the results of your own efforts so to
keep them.
Charity is not a formula; it is thought, clothed
with a kind act.
Cultivate charity in judging others; try to draw
out the latent good in them, rather than to discover
the hidden evil. We must do this if we would rise to
the full glory of our privilege, to the dignity of
true living, to the supreme charity of the world."
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