rseded by
this "perception" to which I have before referred; in fact, that the
bodily senses as well as the mental faculties--brain expression--are
but the different avenues of perceiving and conveying the intelligence
of the individual spirit while associated with material form, this
perception, or awareness, being the one supreme state of the spirit.

Still I have been shown series after series of beautiful
scenes,--gardens, landscapes, visions of art, transcendent pictures of
tint, form, and tone that no language can portray; and I am sure these
abide for all who wish for or have need of them, and are the
illustrations of the spiritual states of those with whom one comes in
spiritual contact--_rapport_. Yet the greater the degree of
perception, the less important become these illustrations of states;
we not only see "face to face," but perceive soul to soul. I became
ashamed, almost, of the state of mind requiring these illustrations or
any similar presentations. I found knowledge, however, in all the
methods employed by my teachers, for they knew my needs.

Conversation in that state is not by means of speech or even language;
sometimes before the thought is formulated the answer comes. Such is
the rare sympathy existing between teacher and pupil in this state
that the guide knows before the question is formed. Still, there must
be the conscious desire for knowledge, or no knowledge can be
received; reminding one of the "Seek, and ye shall find" of the
ancient Truth-Teller.

When in that state I readily pass to a knowledge of what intimate
friends in earth-life are doing and thinking. I even enter into such
_rapport_ as to be aware of their material surroundings, their states
of mind, and their bodily health, obtaining all this from their minds,
not from physical consciousness or sensation. Many times they have
been also conscious of my presence, and we have afterward verified
these experiences by outward correspondence, mostly to satisfy our
friends. One or two instances will suffice to illustrate this class of
experiences.

When I was yet a child, twelve years of age, my father accompanied me
on one of my pilgrimages of spiritual work to western New York, our
former home. During that visit or tour a circle for investigation and
experiment was formed in Dunkirk, N. Y. After we returned to our then
home in Wisconsin, I was one evening entranced,--as was usual,--and
while in that state was distinctly conscious o