(Vol.1)・・・Guidance from Silver Birch by A. Dooley (The Spiritual Truth Press)
(Vol.3)・・・Wisdom of Silver Birch（Psychic Press）
“It is natural that you should look at the universe, at life, at yourselves, through the eyes of matter and attempt to weigh, consider, assess and judge all happenings from their physical standpoint. But that is only a very insignificant part of a large story.” (Vol. 1, p. 37)
We still lack sufficient faith and conviction, and even when we read Silver Birch’s teachings—the spiritual truths—over and over again, they fail to carve themselves deeply into our hearts and are soon forgotten. Such unused and unheeded knowledge becomes nothing more than spiritual stockpiles, quietly accumulating like unsold inventory.
Influenced by the circumstances that surround us, we tend to judge everything from a material standpoint, and thus we are constantly swept about by the events of daily life. War, illness, financial worries, economic hardship, conflicts between men and women—these dense mists of the material world envelop us completely, and we continue to wander within them.
“You cannot judge eternity by your our daily happenings. You tend to make judgements based upon the coloration of your mind, by the circumstances which surround you.” (Vol. 1, p. 48)
No matter how spiritually awakened we may imagine ourselves to be, as long as we have not known suffering or sorrow and continue to live in comfort, we are easily swept away by the flow of daily events. As a result, the spiritual laws—which may seem like fiction at first glance—gradually fade from our awareness, and our resolve to take them seriously and apply them in daily life weakens without our noticing.
In this materialistic world, as long as we live a life free from trials, sorrow, and pain, and lack for nothing, we can never truly understand the teachings or the spiritual laws. Nor will any inner longing to seek them arise. Thus, the spiritual laws remain forever unassimilated.
It is exactly like never seeking water unless one first feels thirst. Seen in this light, the trials of suffering and sorrow can be received as blessings—gifts that awaken the soul to wisdom and enlightenment.
“It is in the fire that the steel is forged. It is in the hour of difficulty that the spirit calls upon its latent, infinite divinity and allows it to find expression. These are invaluable signposts on the path of your life. Just as the darkest hour precedes the dawn, so the light of the spirit must shine. All that is required is that you should discharge your duty faithfully and well, and rest your confidence in the power which has revealed its loving beneficence towards you.
The soul that has knowledge must realise that frustration and setback are equally parts of the plan, as are advance and progress. The negative and positive, action and reaction, are opposite and equal, these are the two sides of the coin. You cannot have the one without the other. There is a law that sets in motion the means by which you can advance. There is a law responsible for frustrations and setbacks. All is part and parcel of the same complex, intricate pattern, designed to allow the human spirit to find its find its fullest expression.” (Vol. 1, p. 41)
To truly understand and make our own the spiritual truths—the teachings of Silver Birch—rather than merely accumulating spiritual knowledge like unsold inventory, we inevitably require trials such as suffering, sorrow, and a sense of urgent crisis.
Because it is precisely such suffering and sorrow that shatter the hard shell of the ego and the deep‑seated prejudice against the spirit world, which cannot be perceived by the five senses. Only when one is driven to the point where nothing can be resolved by one’s own strength does one, for the first time, turn to the power of God and the guiding spirits, awakening the desire to seek their guidance, salvation, and protection.
One concrete expression of this awakening is the simple act of returning to the teachings and reading them anew. And at that very moment, if the time is ripe, a passage perfectly suited to our present circumstances will catch our eye, and the words of the teachings will begin to shine with living light.
[summary]
“Far more important than comforting the bereaved, than drying the tears of mourners, is the application of spiritual truth to all daily life. （・・・） Ours is a practical religion, a religion for every day for 24 hours of every day, for 60 minutes of every hour and for 60 seconds of every minute. That is the standard we set, that is the ideal to be achieved, that is the true task of all those who have found knowledge.” (Vol. 3, p. 45)
(Vol.1)・・・Guidance from Silver Birch by A. Dooley (The Spiritual Truth Press)
Every soul is allotted a span of earthly life, and without exception the transition called death awaits all.
Though our life on earth may appear long, in truth it is but a brief chapter in our spiritual journey. Some may even feel that this short incarnation contains more trials than joys. And even those who call themselves spiritualists often lose sight of the purpose of this incarnation and the true meaning of earthly life, becoming entangled in the trivialities of the material world and burdened with anxieties and concerns.
To the great majority who drift through their daily existence without conscious awareness, Silver Birch, speaking from the next plane of life, offers the following teaching concerning the purpose of our present incarnation on earth.
“The Great Spirit is you and you are the Great Spirit.
In lesser degree, in embryo, in miniature, you are the microcosm and the macrocosm is the Great Spirit.
Thus there is for you access to all the infinity of the Great Spirit, as by increasing spiritual attainment, growth, progress and evolution you make yourself receptive to it.” (Vol. 1, p. 51)
Silver Birch teaches that we human beings, though still imperfect, are “miniature gods” who, through reincarnation and the working out of karma, spend eternity drawing closer to the Divine.
Reincarnation, he explains, can be understood by likening the “true self” (the soul) to a diamond.
Each facet of that diamond seeks spiritual growth, and for that purpose it repeatedly chooses to be born into the earthly world under the conditions and circumstances best suited for expressing its inherent divinity and advancing its spiritual development.
“The soul knows before it incarnates what it has to do. You do not start your physical existence aｓ a spirit without any awareness of itself. The spirit chooses the vehicle of its incarnation because it knows that that combination of circumstances will provide the best opportunities for the necessary unfold it has to undergo. Once it incarnates into matter, the denseness prevents the awareness, which is embedded deep down, from reaching your consciousness.” (Vol. 1, p. 28)
“Each individual has the opportunities for unfolding the latent divinity with which he begins his earthly pilgrimage. He determines which way he goes, whether he lives in the light, or the darkness, whether he serves or is selfish. This is the constant struggle of human existence in your world. It explains all actions and reactions, determines the growth of the soul and its unfoldment, and whether you come to our world, when the time is ready, prepared or unprepared, fit or unfit, mature or immature, according to the way you have lived. It is simple but complex.” (Vol. 1, p. 36)
From a spiritual perspective, everything that happens in this earthly world is no more than a fleeting illusion—ultimately nothing but mist. In any case, all things here are merely temporary. Yet even as we struggle within such conditions, Silver Birch tells us that it is precisely in choosing—through our free will—between the opposing poles of light and darkness, good and evil, love and hatred, selfishness and selflessness, that we are given opportunities for enlightenment and spiritual growth.
“You must have light and dark; you must have warmth and cold; you must have happiness and sorrow;
you must have the variety of experiences to enable the soul to come into its own.” (Vol. 1, p. 46)
A single human life on the earthly plane lasts, at most, about a hundred years—no more than a fleeting dream, an ephemeral illusion. Yet by taking on a physical body, this earthly world becomes the only realm where souls of differing spiritual levels can coexist. It serves as an indispensable and precious “school,” where we learn lessons and grow spiritually through various frictions, trials, hardships, and illnesses.
Within this earthly environment, as we accumulate diverse experiences, there eventually comes a time when we begin to sense, however faintly, the existence of the spirit world. Gradually, we awaken to our “true self” — the soul, the divine essence within. By learning spiritual laws and putting spiritual knowledge into practice, we begin to manifest our spirituality, our inherent divinity. In other words, this earthly world is designed so that we may forget ourselves, perform acts of love that benefit others, and thereby advance and evolve spiritually.
“The service that the soul renders determines its evolution.” (Vol. 1, p. 52)
“Renunciation is the law.” (Vol. 1, p. 53)
“In this earthly world, worries, anxieties, concerns, and fears are constant.
Silver Birch explains that“It is because, unconsciously, so many of you think that you are living in the world of matter all the time that your difficulties arise.”
(Vol. 1, p. 47)
Even if we have already awakened spiritually and acquired spiritual knowledge, it does not mean that we are no longer susceptible to being drawn into the materialistic and self‑centered tendencies that pervade the physical world. In the material realm, it is impossible to develop an unshakable faith all at once in the invisible spiritual forces and the spirit world that uphold and administer the laws of the universe. A firm conviction in the spirit world is something that is gradually cultivated over the course of a lifetime, through a wide range of experiences.
The following teachings are addressed to us—those who ought to be spiritually awakened.
“You are so engrossed in matter that it chains you down to its low vibrations. You awaken in the morning and before your consciousness is completely functioung a thousand and one material cares begin to engulf you. Before long you are so immersed in these problems, somelarge, some small, some real, some imaginary, but all of them transient, that you forget the power of the spirit is exercising its beneficent effect on you.
You almost shut it out of your thinking and build a kind of wall that makes it more difficult for it to penetrate.
It is such a familiar story with all the instruments of the spirit.” (Vol. 1, p. 45)
In another passage, he points out the following about us: When we are driven by the petty troubles of daily life and burdened with worries and anxieties, we tend to lose our spiritual focus and forget the presence of the spirit helpers who stand ready to assist us.
To fulfill the purpose of this incarnation—the one we planned before birth—to its fullest extent, we must keep spiritual truthｓ constantly in mind and discipline ourselves not to forget them. We should place greater weight on the spiritual perspective, practice spiritual laws in our daily lives, and strive never to lose awareness of the guardian spirits and guiding spirits who are always waiting to support us.
“The whole purpose is to draw attention to spiritual realities, to show that every being starts the physical course with a spiritual heritage conferred by the act of birth. The life force is the divine spark, spiritual in nature, which is intended to grow equally with the physical body. The majority of mankind concerned itself only with physical growth, and a few concerned with spiritual growth. The only enduring reality is spirit.
If we succeed by a variety pf means in making man aware of his spiritual nature which is his reality, it transforms the whole of his life. He sees its purpose, is conscious of his origin, becomes aware of his destiny and should live his life in the implications of the knowledge which he has received. That very simply is the plan behind all our activities.” (Vol. 1, p. 60)
［summarily］
The whole purpose of earthly life is to provide the indwelling spirit with a field for training, to nurture it through a variety of experiences, and to prepare it for the moment of release from the physical body at death. Only then does real life in the spirit world truly begin.
Human beings are all born with an animalistic instinctive mind. It is the survival instinct that protects life, and impulses such as sexual desire (the reproductive instinct) and the desire for domination or possession and fear arise from this instinctive nature. Whether we are aware of it or not, these impulses form the underlying backbone of our daily behavior.
For example, behind a wide range of problems—from individual cases such as the stalking-related murders of women that shock society year after year, to large-scale actions such as wars initiated by self‑centered political leaders—there lies the same underlying motive: the desire to dominate or possess.
This instinctive mind (the egoistic self) exists in every one of us without exception. The only difference is its degree of strength. What restrains it is our rational mind and our altruistic impulses. Yet, no matter how much our conscience reproaches us, or how hard we try to suppress it with reason and logic, the instinctive mind (selfish desire) continually invents excuses and seemingly plausible justifications for itself. When the moment of truth arrives, the power of reason proves surprisingly weak against instinct.
Then what about us spiritualists, who have already awakened to spiritual truth? In fact, we are no different. The only distinction—if any—lies in whether we view others through material standards or spiritual standards. In other words, do we judge people by their physical attributes in this world—age, appearance, wealth, social status—or do we see them as spiritual beings, perceiving their true essence as souls? We at least possess spiritual knowledge that provides a more accurate basis for judgment.
However, even if we believe we understand intellectually that human beings are spiritual entities, it is not easy to apply this spiritual standard immediately in daily life. For instance, when we pray in times of trouble and receive an answer from the spirit world, even if that answer leads to spiritual growth, if it is something we least desire or even wish to avoid, we struggle to accept it. Reason may understand, but emotionally we remain entangled in attachment and worldly desires, unable to let go of our frustration.
Through repeated failures and setbacks of this kind, we gradually, little by little, acquire a spiritual perspective. Such is the overwhelming influence of our animalistic instincts and the coarse vibrations of the material environment that surrounds us. Ultimately, whether we choose selfishness or altruism, material standards or spiritual standards, is entirely a matter of personal responsibility. And it is through these ordeals that we awaken spiritually and grow as souls—this is the true purpose of earthly life.
Ⅰ. What, then, does Silver Birch teach about the “spiritual standard”?
Acquiring a spiritual standard is indeed difficult. So let us turn once again to the teachings of Silver Birch and see how he speaks about this spiritual way of seeing.
(Vol.1)・・・“Guidance from Silver Birch” by A. Dooley (The Spiritual Truth Press)
(Vol.2)・・・“Silver Birch Speaks” by Sylvia Barbanell (Spiritual Press)
“You are so engrossed in matter that it chains you down to its low vibrations. You awaken in the morning and before your consciousness is completely functioung a thousand and one material cares being to engulf you. Before long you are so immersed in these problems, somelarge, some small, some real, some imaginary, but all of them transient, that you forget the power of the spirit is exercising its beneficent effect on you. You almost shut it out of your thinking and built a kind of wall that makes it more difficult for it to penetrate.
It is such a familiar story with all the instruments of the Spirit. The pattern is repeated time and time again, the enthusiasm, the despair, the Garden of Gethsemane, the mount of Transfiguration, the constant see-saw of the human soul struggling to find itself, express itself and enable the latent divinity to rise to the surface. This is nothing new. It is the history of every instrument, every seer, prophet, visionary, of every inspired man and woman. There is an ebb and flow, like the movement of the tied. But, as I tell so many instruments of the spirit, there is pattern in their lives.” (Vol. 1, p. 45)
“It is hard to appreciate all this when you live in a world of matter with all its illusions. ” (Vol. 1, p. 50)
“What I am saying is that the common fault, even with those who have knowledge, is to forget the underlying important spiritual truths on which the whole is founded. Once you have seen with the eyes of the spirit and learned the foundation on which all life rests, then you can banish fear which is the great enemy. Spiritual knowledge is the armour which will always protect you; fear corrodes and rusts.” (Vol. 1, p. 49)
“You have within you all the elements of strength and weakness, the remnants of the animal ancestry which are part of your physical evolution, and the divine potentialities that are the concomitants of your birth as a spark of the Great Spirit.” (Vol. 1, p. 36)
“You are not the best judges of what is spiritually best for you. Sometimes the worst answer to your prayer would be to give you that for which you asked.
You must try to judge, and it is very difficult for you, every situation, not from the material standpoint, but from the spiritual standpoint. Sometimes what seems disaster to you is victory to us. Sometimes what seems triumph to you is disaster to us.
If you ask for guidance you will receive it, not necessarily in the way in which you want it to come but in the way that is best for your soul at that moment of its evolution. The divine power cannot fail you, but do not attempt to measure eternity with the yardstick of earthly life.”
(Vol. 1, p. 39)
Ⅱ．Then how should we receive such a trial, and how should we act, when we find ourselves unsure whether to go to the right or to the left?
“I know the problems that confront you, but those with knowledge must learn to strike a balance and not give to matter the preponderance of their attention. The power of the spirit must dominate. If you have the right perspective, if your focus is true, if your daily outlook is balanced, you give to the requirements of matter what is their due and no more. Then you allow the spirit to work its will, to permeate and flood you and fill you with that dynamic which can transmute the whole of daily life, until you reach the stage where you know that nothing material can really touch you.
You cannot judge eternity by your daily happenings. You tend to make judgements based upon the coloration of your mind, by the circumstances which surround you. It is because, being encased in matter, and faced with the daily problems that throng about you from the moment consciousness wakes in the morning until it sleeps at night, that you are apt to forget what has been achieved. Turn back the pages of the past for your comparison and that will show how the finger of the spirit unerringly has pointed the way all the time. Those who are blessed with knowledge should be able to live from day to day with their heads upturned, never with their heads downcast. Knowledge teaches them that the power of the spirit cannot fail. Men and women in your world can fail the Great Spirit, but the Great Spirit cannot fail them. What you require for your sustenance is always available to you, if you put yourself in harmony with that law which provides infinite possibilities. These are the spiritual truths which all must remember.” (Vol. 1, p. 48)
“You will have victories and defeats always, but the soul that is aware should not let itself be troubled by either. There will come a time when the scales have fallen from your eyes and you will be able to judge by eternal standards.” (Vol. 1, p. 52)
“Your world is the world where mistakes are made. In correcting them your spirit grows.” (Vol. 1, p. 38)
What is essential at such times is to reinterpret material events through a spiritual standard, thereby deepening our understanding of spiritual truth. And then,
“All that is required is that you should discharge your duty faithfully and well, and rest your confidence in the power which has revealed its loving beneficence towards you. The soul that has knowledge must realise that frustration and setback are equally parts of the plan, as are advance and progress.” (Vol. 1, p. 41)
“All that which seems frustration is inevitably part of the plan of discipleship.” (Vol. 2, p. 166)
［Summary］
“I know of no country or nation which can produce systems of law that will compare in any way with the natural laws that rule all life.
Why then should there be any fear or lack of trust in that divine power which has been directing the universe for all time? You must put yourself in tune with it.
You must cast out all thoughts of fear and anxiety. You must learn to have inner tranquility and serenity, complete confidence, as that through you the maximum of divine power can flow to fulfil its purpose. When you are in harmony with the law of love and wisdom it works itself out. The wind bloweth where it listeth. Love finds its own. Love, divine love, of which human love is but one expression, is the fulfilling of the law.
The simple truth is that those who have knowledge of spiritual realities should face each day without a trace of fear and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Great Spirit within gives them automatically the possession of such an armoury that they can fight any battle which they are privileged to encounter. They must triumph, for the power of the spirit is mightier than any material force.
Fear is the worst enemy of mankind. Fear is corrosive, Fear saps, drains, vanquishes reason, overwhelms, keeps away the very power that would enable you to conquer every difficulty. Fear disturbs, prevents harmony, stops attunement, causes wavering and doubt. Banish fear. Those who have knowledge should be tranquil, radiant, serene, confident, impossible to be disturbed.
If what I say ware not true, matter would be superior to spirit, darkness would be greater than light, ignorance would triumph over knowledge. The power of the spirit, which is the power of God, is supreme throughout the whole universe. The spirit is not only all-powerful, it is allwisdom, it is all love. Behind all life’s manifestations is the divine wisdom.” (Vol. 1, p. 40)
