A few of my Unity students asked me about my thoughts of Dr. Hogan's talk last Wednesday night at Unity Hills. My only comment is the importance of focusing on the here and now, instead of the then and there. I realize we all want to take a peak beyond the veil and have a glimpse of the future. That is understandable. We do well always to remember that in the here and now we have all we need for our transformation into Christ consciousness. The following is how Charles Fillmore answered questions about Spiritualists and Seances back in 1928 ...

Could you not print an article in Unity magazine on the fallacy of Spiritualism, giving Scripture reference to prove that it is not of God? -- Extract from a letter received by Unity School.

The objections of Unity to Spiritualism are not based upon Bible authority, but on the practical experience. There are, however, warnings in the Scriptures against seeking guidance from the "spirits ... that chirp and that mutter."

The principle objection to Spiritualism as a cult is that it advocates communion between souls that are in the body and souls that are out of the body, assuming that souls out of the body have super-wisdom ...

Those souls that are out of the body do not know any more than they did when they were in the body; consequently they are unsafe guides. Dying does not change the mind; it simply changes the form of environment from the physical into the psychical.

There is a very serious objection to mediumship as practiced by Spiritualists, because the fundamental law of evolution is that the soul must grow through individual identity. To grow under divine law the mind of man must be strengthened and quickened from within and freed from all impositions or stultifications or limitations from without. Mediumship is a mesmeric or hypnotic influence cast by the will of one person over the will of another. There are, however, Spiritualists who do not practice mediumship, but seek to get in touch with those out of the body, by means of telepathy, automatic writing, and other means. In all these methods the mind functions in the psychical realms, which are composed of the mixed thoughts of the race, good and evil, weak and powerful, ignorant and wise, pure and impure. It is in this realm of mental duality that decarnated souls function. This realm of the race thought binds those who give themselves up to it and imprisons them in a net of discordant and inharmonious thought-stuff from which there is no escape except through Supermind, Spirit.

We need above all things the development and dominion of the Supermind or Christ mind. Jesus attained this dominion and by following Him we shall gain control of our thought forces and be able to sift the good from the error. To do this we must be on our guard against opening the subconscious realms of mind and body to the psychical activity.

Jesus understood the realm in which the disembodied souls dwell, but He did not teach His followers to commune with the dead. He said: "Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead." "He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne." This means that we must overcome all inefficient, weak, impotent, discordant, sickness-producing states of mind. These end in death, and death is an enemy to be case out. We must learn to live so perfectly, to be so filled with life and health that our bodies will not die but will be continually renewed.

At this point there is a radical departure between Spiritualism and true Christianity. Spiritualism teaches that death, instead of being an enemy, is the open door to a higher and better life. Spiritualism teaches that the dead progress in the spirit world and go on from higher to higher places, without end. In the light of Christianity rightly interpreted, we must consider that death is an enemy which came into the world through sin, the human family's falling short of the fulfillment of the divine law; that those who lose their bodies in death must reincarnate and build another body, and that this process will continue until they learn how to preserve the body, the temple of God, in its purity and perfection, and overcome all sickness, disease, and finally death.

So instead of seeking wisdom and guidance from the dead, those in spiritual understanding should be teaching, like Jesus, the Truth to the seen and unseen alike -- to those in the body and those out of the body. Jesus talked to the spirits in prison.

Unity does not deny the fundamental fact taught by Spiritualists, which is that life is continuous; but it does deny that any lasting good can come from the guidance of those who are still in sense consciousness, whether they are in the body or out of the body. Nearly all spiritualists assume that death gives super wisdom. This fallacy is disproved by the experience of those who commune with the souls that have left their bodies.

Spiritualists often quote the instance mentioned in I Samuel, the 28th chapter, where Saul sought the witch of Endor for advice. It is well to observe that this was Saul's last extremity, as he had exhausted all other avenues of information and guidance; also that his visit of the witch of Endor ended disastrously to all concerned.

Unity Magazine, April 1928, Vol 68 No 4, Page 302

Editorial Comments
By Charles Fillmore