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In view of this explanation, does not the commonly accepted version seem childish and crude?  Can any one at all familiar with the laws and phenomena of the land Behind the Veil, suppose that a physical body could or would pass on to the planes in which the ordinary forms of matter do not exist?  Such ideas are fit only for minds which find it necessary to think of the “resurrection of the body” of all departed souls, in order to conceive of Immortality.  To the occultist, the physical body is merely a temporary vehicle for the soul which the latter discards at the proper time.  It has nothing to do with the real being of the soul.  It is merely the shell which is discarded by the soul, as the chrysalis shell is discarded by the butterfly when it spreads its wings for its aerial flight into a new world.

All these ideas about the immortality of the mortal body are the product of materialistic minds unused to thinking of the higher planes of life, and unable to grasp even the mental concept regarding the same.  Of the earth, earthly, are these conceptions and ideas.  And the sooner that Christianity sheds them as discarded shells the sooner will the church experience that revival of true spirituality that devout souls see the need of, and for which they are so earnestly praying.

The churches are so wedded to materialistic thought that a preacher does not even hint at the existence of phases of life above the physical lest he be termed “a spiritualist” or accused of being “spooky.”  In the name of Truth, is the teaching, that man is a spiritual being, inconsistent with the teachings of Christ and the records of the Scripture?  Must one forego all such beliefs, in favor of a heathenish creed of “physical body” resurrection of the dead—­an immortality in the worn-out mortal body long since discarded?  Which is the true spiritual teaching?  Can there be any doubt regarding the same in a mind willing to think for itself?  It seems sad that the orthodox churches do not see this, and cease forcing out of their congregations all thinkers who dare assert the existence of a soul independent of the physical body.

What is the use of a soul, if the physical bodies of the dead are to be resurrected in order that their owners may enjoy immortality?  And where are the souls of these dead bodies now residing and abiding pending the coming of the Last Day?  Are the souls of the dead with their bodies?  If not, then they must be living a life independent of the physical body—­and if such be the case, why should they afterward be required to take on their worn-out physical bodies which they have managed so well without during their disembodied life?  What becomes of those who had diseased, deformed or frail bodies during their mortal life—­will they be compelled to inhabit these bodies through all eternity?  Will the owners of aged, worn out bodies be compelled to re-assume them at the Last Day?  If not, why