mind; and all of that, in nearly all cases, will be
perfectly true if we do not foolishly destroy their peace of mind with
our selfish sorrow.

Occasionally a hint on the subject comes from the astral plane people
themselves. In the recent book[I] by Sir Oliver Lodge, on his
experiments in psychic research, there is a message from his son, who
was killed in battle, agreeing to attend the family Christmas dinner and
to occupy the chair placed for him, provided they will all refrain from
gloomy thoughts about him! No one who is informed on the subject of
emotional reaction on the astral body, after the loss of the physical
body, could be surprised by the conditions named by the young man.

The advocates of cremation have a strong argument in the fact that the
preservation of the body for a time, whether in a tomb or a grave, tends
to keep grief alive. When the body is reduced to ashes the delusion that
the body is somehow the man seems to have less of a material basis.
Visits to a tomb or grave are unfortunate, not alone because they renew
grief through thinking upon it and thus cause great distress to those
for whom we mourn, but also because the environment of a cemetery is one
of the worst possible for the sorrowing. It is a dismal park of
concentrated griefs where each mourner accentuates the emotional
distress of all others. There is but one sensible attitude to take
toward those we have lost by death--to think of them as living a joyous,
busy life and at least calling on us daily even though most of us are
not sensitive enough to be conscious of the fact. We should try to
realize the truth of the matter and then readjust our habits to fit the
facts. The average person who is afflicted with the erroneous ideas
still so common, is doing an enormous amount of injury and bringing into
the lives of the very people he loves a depression of which he little
dreams, and which he can change to vivid pleasure by always thinking
cheerfully of them and sending them daily thoughts of serenity and
peace.

FOOTNOTES:

[F] 1 Samuel XXVIII--15.

[G] Ch. 3, Dreams and Premonitions.--L. W. Rogers.

[H] The Inner Life.--Leadbeater, Vol. I. p. 483.

[I] Raymond: or Life and Death.--Lodge.

CHAPTER IX.

REBIRTH: ITS REASONABLENESS

Life is the most elusive thing with which science has to deal but we
have learned much about both life and matter in recent years, and it is
a noteworthy fact that the more we learn the t