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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
Dr. Carl Wickland
the spirit of Sarah McDonald
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Dr. Carl Wickland speaks to a disturbed spirit-girl, Sarah McDonald, who does not realize she's died. The following is an excerpt from Dr. Wickland's "Thirty Years Among The Dead":
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MARCH 28, 1923
Spirit: Sarah McDonald. The spirit who assumed control of the psychic (Mrs. Wickland) tonight was vigorously singing a religious hymn.
Doctor: Have you been here before?
Spirit: Let's sing some more.
Dr. We are going to talk now.
Sp. I think we'd better sing another song.
Dr. If we did, you might become too enthusiastic.
Sp. We are in church, and you know you have to sing. Sing!
Hallelujah! Tell the story!
Dr. We are going to be sensible.
Sp. You have to sing. You have to do that. That belongs to
church. Let us pray, in Jesus' name, for evermore!
Dr. That would be very tiresome.
Sp. Let us sing and pray to the Lord. Hallelujah! Jesus Christ!
Dr. Now stop; that is enough. What is your name?
Sp. Let's sing and pray!
Dr. You must be sensible or leave. Tell us who you are and where
you came from.
Sp. What church is this anyhow, where you talk in this way?
Dr. Be sensible, otherwise you will have to go. How long have you been
dead? You know something happened to you. You have been
hovering around the earth, probably for years, and have never gotten
anywhere. Be sensible.
Sp. I am sensible; I'm not crazy.
Dr. You are religiously insane.
Sp. We all pray to God and the Holy Ghost. (Loudly.) Hallelujah!
Dr. We do not need that shouting.
Sp. I am doing work in the name of Jesus Christ.
Dr. We have heard such talk before.
Sp. Not from me, you haven't. I am working for the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Dr. This is not the place for such talk as that.
Sp. Are you a sinner?
Dr. Listen to me. Whoever you are, you have lost your body.
Sp. What church is this?
Dr. It is no church.
Sp. I am glad of that, because I thought the church must surely
have changed. Let me talk, in Jesus' name!
Dr. You have been brought here by kind spirits so that you can
understand your condition. You are a spirit and probably have been
for a long time. You will not listen to any one who tries to enlighten you.
Sp. Go ahead then, and say what you have to say. Then I can talk, too.
Dr. Understand your condition. You are temporarily controlling
this body. Some friend brought you here for help. Do you realize that
something happened to you?
Sp. No.
Dr. You would if you were honest. You know that you are in a
strange condition. You are not honest enough to pay any attention to
it. Do you know that you are in Los Angeles, California?
Sp. How did I get there? I suppose I sang and prayed as a
missionary. A missionary must have taken me away.
Dr. You were brought here because you are an ignorant spirit.
What did your mother call you?
Sp. I don't know just now; I can't think.
Dr. You have lost your physical body. Ignorant spirits often lose
the memory of their earth lives. You do not even remember your name.
Sp. My name is Sarah, in Jesus' name!
Dr. Sarah what?
Sp. McDonald, in Jesus' name!
Dr. You know that all that shouting is useless. Do you not realize
that you have been "dead" for some time?
Sp. Hallelujah!
Dr. You do not even know that you are dead. You are only using
this body for a short time. Do you hear me? Do you know what year it is?
Sp. In Jesus' name, I do not care.
Dr. Religious fanatics never care.
Sp. I am a Christian woman, in Jesus' name. Glory to God! Hallelujah!
Dr. Do you know what Jesus said?
Sp. Yes; He said: "God forgive them, they do not know any
better." I will pray for you.
Dr. We do not need your prayers.
Sp. Glory to God!
Dr. Do you know that you are dead?
Sp. That doesn't interest me.
Dr. You are controlling the body of a mortal sensitive.
Sp. Jesus is my friend! Glory!
Dr. We carry on experimental work to learn what becomes of the
dead. We always find that the most ignorant, stubborn spirits are the
religious fanatics, shouting and singing all the time. Jesus said:
"Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Sp. God forgive them, they don't know better! I will pray for you all.
Dr. You need not trouble yourself. You do not understand your
condition at all. What you say is nothing but foolish talk. In your
heart you know you are a pretender.
Sp. God forgive! Let us pray!
Dr. We do not need your hypocritical prayers.
Sp. I never was in such a place before. I never saw anything like
this. (Crying.) I do not know what will become of me!
Dr. Try to understand what I am saying to you. Stop your foolish
religious talk. You say "Jesus" and "Lord," and you have no
understanding of true religion.
Sp. God help me! God help me! God forgive!
Dr. He does not need to. Listen to what I say.
Sp. (Drawling.) What more do you want?
Dr. Why speak with such affectation? Do you know that you are
controlling a body that does not belong to you? Aren't you ashamed
of yourself? You know that you are not sincere. Tell us how long you
have been dead. You must realize that something has happened to you.
Intelligent spirits have brought you here and allowed you to
control my wife's body, and we are trying to help you understand
your condition, but that does not seem to interest you.
Sp. I don't care! (Trying to bite.)
The spirit would not listen to any line of reasoning and was
forced to leave.
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The following is a partial transcript of a spirit-person's testimony who, years earlier, had been brought to his senses by dialogue with Dr. Wickland. Now, having found his true life in the Astral Realms, he returns to the Wicklands on a social call and with a report of his progress:
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I believed that Christ died for my sins, that belief and creed would keep me out of the higher spirit world.
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Editor's note: Why is a belief that "Jesus died for my sins" detrimental to one's spiritual health? This view speaks to a non-acceptance of personal responsibility for one's life, and it is this shirking of individual duty that retards one's growth.
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When I had passed out of my body, you told me that I should look for spirit friends who would help me, and that my first lesson would be to serve others. I have had a very hard time.
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The first thing I had to do was to conquer self, and it is very hard to
conquer selfishness when you have never thought of anything else but selfishness. We must conquer that before we can do any work at all in the spirit world.
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The best way is to be put in a dark room - we sometimes call it a dungeon - where we see nothing but ourselves and our acts of the past.
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Editor's note: It's a kind of "detention" where one is alone with one's thoughts.
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One after another these acts come crowding in. The good ones are so few that they hardly count for anything. When we do see a good act, it seems as if it belongs to some one else. We have to stay there until our hearts and eyes are opened. When we seek to overcome our bad habits and to live for others then we get out of the selfish state.
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My heart was very hardened, but finally I cried out: "Not my will any
longer, but thine."
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The first thing to be done is to help serve the very lowest we come in contact with. I felt that I did not want to assist with this or that, but I had to. I had to learn patience. When we can serve without grumbling and do it for the love of our fellow man, it does not seem so hard.
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So I have gone on and on, from one thing to another, always learning, and through learning I have stepped into a more beautiful condition. In the invisible world we advance by stages, but only through learning.
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I want to thank you tonight for the help you have given me. I have a beautiful little home in the spirit world by this time, and I am happy, but my work is not done yet.
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My work is to keep on helping those who need help, and to try to
influence the boys on earth not to do the mischief they are planning, but to try to be good, and do the very best they know how for their fellow men...
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