aterial form, shape and substance, and so passed on to the
higher planes of being.

* * * * *

In view of this explanation, does not the commonly accepted version
seem childish and crude? Can any one at all familiar with the laws and
phenomena of the land Behind the Veil, suppose that _a physical body_
could or would pass on to the planes in which the ordinary forms of
matter do not exist? Such ideas are fit only for minds which find it
necessary to think of the "resurrection of the body" of all departed
souls, in order to conceive of Immortality. To the occultist, the
physical body is merely a temporary vehicle for the soul which the
latter discards at the proper time. It has nothing to do with the real
being of the soul. It is merely the shell which is discarded by the
soul, as the chrysalis shell is discarded by the butterfly when it
spreads its wings for its aerial flight into a new world.

All these ideas about the immortality of the mortal body are the
product of materialistic minds unused to thinking of the higher planes
of life, and unable to grasp even the mental concept regarding the
same. Of the earth, earthly, are these conceptions and ideas. And the
sooner that Christianity sheds them as discarded shells the sooner
will the church experience that revival of true spirituality that
devout souls see the need of, and for which they are so earnestly
praying.

The churches are so wedded to materialistic thought that a preacher
does not even hint at the existence of phases of life above the
physical lest he be termed "a spiritualist" or accused of being
"spooky." In the name of Truth, is the teaching, that _man is a
spiritual being_, inconsistent with the teachings of Christ and the
records of the Scripture? Must one forego all such beliefs, in favor
of a heathenish creed of "physical body" resurrection of the dead--an
immortality in the worn-out mortal body long since discarded? Which is
the true spiritual teaching? Can there be any doubt regarding the same
in a mind willing to think for itself? It seems sad that the orthodox
churches do not see this, and cease forcing out of their congregations
all thinkers who dare assert the existence of a soul independent of
the physical body.

What is the use of a soul, if the physical bodies of the dead are to
be resurrected in order that their owners may enjoy immortality? And
where are the souls of these dead bodies now residing and ab