Gottfried Leibnitz, a German Philosopher, Writes About His Uncertainty as to Immortality

June 4, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Gottfried Leibnitz.

Let me write a few lines. I am not an acquaintance of yours, yet I am not a stranger so far as my being in your presence and observing the different spirits who communicate with you.

I have been in spirit life a great many years and have been through the Hells and purgatory and all kinds of suffering and am now in the light and comparatively happy. I am in what is called the Second Sphere, where are many bright and intellectual spirits working out their own plans for accomplishing certain of their ideas and progressing to higher planes.

I was a professor on earth and gave much of my time to the study of psychology and kindred subjects and had many ideas of my own on these questions, and especially was I interested in the study, or rather speculation for I did not believe in the Bible or the teachings of the churches, as to the future of man. And my speculations led me to the conclusion that the physical death was not the end of man; for it seemed to me that if such was the case, the object of the workings of the great laws of evolution would be defeated by the ending of the existence of the greatest and highest resultant of that evolution, namely man.

I was a student of comparative biology and believed without any doubt and with the certainty of knowledge that man was the greatest product of this great principle of evolution and that for centuries upon centuries, it had been working to bring or develop man from the mere molecule to the high degree of perfection displayed in his wonderful mind and moral faculties, and that then, in a moment, end it all by this thing known as physical death was unreasonable and unjustified and, hence, I concluded, as I say, that men must live after the death of the body.

But when I got that far in my conclusions, there came the question: "What was beyond?" And here my speculations were not so satisfactory, for I had very little upon which to base any theories. Of course, I thought that as man in the past had made such wonderful progress in his evolution, and as he would live in the future, it was reasonable to suppose that this evolution would continue and that man's progress would be without limitation or ending, provided he should continue to live forever. And thus arose the question of man's immortality; and here, I was stalled, for I had nothing with which to make a comparison.

I knew that it was accepted as a truth in natural science that nothing could ever be destroyed or lost, and that the elements or atoms from which those physical things, perceptible to the senses, were composed should continue to exist forever, but this was not satisfactory to me upon which to base the fact that man would live forever. While these elements or atoms, themselves, could not be destroyed, yet many of those composite things into which these elements had entered and given form had been destroyed and as such composite entity and form no longer had an existence.

I had seen the oak start from the acorn and grow to be a mighty tree and live for years and suddenly, by a stroke of lightning, destroyed and ceased to live, and as such tree went entirely out of existence. And, hence, by analogy I could not say that man as the identical individual would not go out of existence and, in fact, I had seen him as regards his physical existence cease to be an existence and his body disintegrate and go back to its elements; and I could find nothing in all this to justify me in asserting that man, in whatever form he might exist after his bodily death, would not at sometime in the future cease to have the form that made him the very individual that had lived on earth and continued his existence in the spirit world. No, I could not, in my speculations satisfy myself that man was immortal. And so speculation was compelled to stop, and I was left without any assurance that my theory of persistence of man after death was not one that might not prove to be false.

But I died and found that I, the conscious thinking man, continued to exist with all the faculties of mind and feelings that were mine when a mortal. And, in addition, I soon met those who had preceded me in the spirit world, and who had since becoming spirits advanced in their evolution and were more perfect mentally and morally than they had been when on earth; and who, also, informed me that beyond where they had evoluted (evolved) to were spheres in which spirits of greater intellectual development and ancient in years lived and worked and speculated upon the same question that I had given so much thought to when on earth, namely: "Is man immortal?"

And they further informed me that these ancient worthies had not been able to solve the problem, but that many who had come to the spirit life thousands of years before were still living, and no spirit had ever been known to have passed out of existence or dissolve into the elements of which it was composed.

So you see, the spirits in the highest spheres, with all their intellectual development and thousands of years of study, can no more assert with certainty that man is immortal than I could when on earth. To me now, as when on earth, this is the greatest question that arises and engages my continuous thoughts, and I see no way to solve the problem. I remember, that when on earth the preachers and the churches claimed and taught the doctrine of immortality, and while I never deeply investigated the foundation of their claims, yet I cannot conceive that they can possess any more certainty of the supposed fact than did I. I can hardly believe that God ever revealed to man the fact of immortality; and in my opinion, in my present stage of development, only God knows, and all the teachings of the churches and wise theologians are mere speculations, not to be relied on.

Well, I have written you a long letter tonight, and you may not be interested, but I am, and as the opportunity came, I thought that I would like to write, for I know that there are many mortals who are working and speculating and attempting to find some basis for their hopes of immortality; and some believe that while they may not satisfy their hopes on earth, yet when they come to the spirit world, the difficulties will be removed and the problem solved; and to these I desire to make known the fact that they will look through just as dark glasses here as they are now looking through on earth.

Well, you surprise me and I can scarcely believe that you are serious, for I have never heard of such a way or of such a knowledge existing among spirits, and if you can show me that way I will, with all the energies of my soul pursue it. Well, you surprise me more and more; but I am willing to do as you say, no matter how absurd it may seem to me, or what little prospects I may see in making the pursuit. I will do as you say.

Well, I see a beautiful spirit who says that he is Prof. Salyards, and has heard what I said and what you said, and that he will be pleased to show me the way to obtain both a knowledge and the actual possession of this immortality, and I shall accept this invitation and go with him. I thank you very much for listening to me and for your expressions of desire to help me; and if what you promise comes true, you may rest assured that I will return sometime and tell you.

So my friend, I will say good night.

Your friend,
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz

Samuel P. Shannon, a Spirit in the Second Sphere, Cares Nothing About Spiritual Progression or the Divine Love

January 8, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Samuel P. Shannon.

Let me tell you that you and the Doctor (Leslie R. Stone) need someone to look after you in your mental qualities, as you are the most gullible men that I have heard talk for a long time.

I have heard what you just said in reference to your experiences in connection with these writings and the efforts made by spirits to convince you that your communications were from the higher spirits, even the spirits of the Celestial Heavens, and I feel sorry that you should be so weak as to believe all these false and flattering things that have been said to you.

So as I am a spirit who knows and loves only the truth and do not desire to see anyone deceived, I feel it my duty to tell you that you have had only deceiving spirits write you, who take great delight in making you believe that you have received communications that have not been equaled by the writings that any other medium in all the wide world has received.

Of course, you have received some wonderful truths and some beautiful sayings, but they are merely the efforts of spirits who think that they know all of the truth of the spirit world. And I advise you to let these things go from your mind and listen only to spirits who are honest and who know of what they write. I am one of those who are capable to tell you the truths that exist in our spirit world and that are only necessary for mortals to know.

Much has been written you about the Divine Love and its effect upon the souls of men making them, as it were, very Gods; and I want to say that the only Divine Love is the pure love that exists in the hearts of spirits who have been purified of sin and had their intellects developed in the highest degree. So my friends, give up this belief in the Divine Love, and put all your efforts to the cultivation of your minds.

And there is another kind of love that you have been told of, and in the belief in which you have had great satisfaction and expectations created of coming into a wonderful and ecstatic happiness when you shall come into the spirit world, and that is the soulmate love. How foolish to believe in any such love. Our soulmates are our acquirements of knowledge and not female spirits. The women here are very much like they are on earth, and they love one male for a while and then get tired and seek another. I thank God that they have never been able to fool me! I see so much of the treachery of these female spirits that I shun them and, as a consequence, they call me the woman-hater, and so I am, and I do not regret it.

My companions are only spirits like myself having a friendship for one another, but no such thing as what they call love, especially soulmate love. Sometime, before many years, you will come to the spirit world, and I beg that you will let me warn you before you come to put no faith in what is told you about this soulmate love, and if you will listen to and take my advice, you will be saved much unhappiness. I write thus as a friend and well-wisher, and you must believe that I am wholly impartial and honest in what I say to you.

I live in the Second Sphere, where there are many intellectual spirits who find much happiness and satisfaction in the development of their minds, and are not troubled by the women, or the ghost of what is called the Divine Love.

Occasionally, I see some spirits who claim to have the Divine Love, and some who claim to have soulmates, but I pay no attention to them and consider them fanatics and deceived spirits. Well, they are different in appearance from us. They seem to be much brighter and, as they claim, happier; but this is due only to the fact that they are frivolous, that is, they never give any consideration to the investigation of the important things of this spirit world, and flitter about from sphere to sphere as if they had nothing else to do than find amusement and pleasure in their joy rides, as I have heard some of you mortals express it.

Yes, they don't seem to be confined to any sphere, and that is something that I don't quite understand, for we who are so much more substantial and work so hard to learn the truths cannot pass into the higher sphere. This I don't understand, and neither do my associates. But it may be that these spirits that I speak of are of such little importance that the guardians of the higher spheres do not pay any attention to them. At least, they are never stopped in their moving from our sphere to the higher ones.

Well, I will consider what you suggest, and as you say, it can do no harm, and as I can spare time enough to make the inquiry of one of these spirits, I think that I will do so, merely to learn what their idea is of the reason that they have such freedom of movement and we have not.

I see the Indian who is acting as your guide and he, to an extent, is another one of these foolish spirits. He says that I am a wonderful spirit in my own mind and that if I continue to develop in my opinion of my own importance and greatness, I will soon be sitting on the right hand of God. He seems serious, but I do not know whether to think that he is really impressed by my appearance and intellectual greatness, or whether he is saying what he does, ironically. But I suppose he is serious, for being an Indian he cannot have much intellectual development and must be impressed by my superior qualities.

Well, my friend, I am glad that I could write you tonight and do you the friendly turn that I have, for I am a lover of humanity and wish to do all the good that I can to my fellow man. I must stop now, as a spirit who says she is your soulmate comes to me and says that I have been indulged enough and, of course, wishing to get away from her, as from all other females, I must leave; but you must think of what I have written.

Your friend,
Samuel P. Shannon, a one-time scientist of England

John B. Comeys Writes About Truths Pertaining to a Spirit's Progression in the Spirit World

December 22, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I desire to write you a short time to inform you of certain truths which you should know pertaining to the spirit life, and to what mortals who lead the lives of good and pure men may expect and be assured of realizing.

I am in the Celestial Spheres, but I shall not speak of these spheres, but only of the spiritual spheres, where men after they become disembodied spirits may live and experience a happiness which they on earth have no conception of.

When a spirit first enters the spirit world, it receives a welcome from some one or more spirits whose duties are to receive such spirit and to show the place where it is suited to live or exist.

Such spirit is then permitted to meet its friends and relatives and to commune with them for a short or long time and receive whatever consolation such friends or relatives may be able to give it; and in many cases, the gladness and happiness of these spirit friends cause the spirit to believe that it is in Heaven, or at least, in a place of great happiness.

But after this first interview, the spirit must, by reason of the Law of Attraction, go to the place where its condition of soul or its condition of moral growth or intellectual development fits it for, and there remain until such condition is made better and enables it to rise to a higher place.

No spirit, after it once gets into the place that is suited for it to live in, ever retrogrades, although it may stand still for a long number of years and never make any progress. But this is a truth not known to a great many mortals and spirits also, that the condition of the mortal at the time he becomes a spirit fixes his condition and place of living when he first enters the spirit world. After he is put in such place by the Law of Attraction as I have said, and when once that place is found and occupied, the spirit never goes to a lower place; but either will stay in that place for a long time, or will progress, and ultimately will in all cases progress.

Well, the evil spirits find these places of habitation in the earth planes, which are many and of varied kinds, having many different appearances suited to the conditions of the spirits who will occupy them. A spirit who is in the lowest of these earth planes is said to be in the lowest Hells, as all spirits who are in these planes where they suffer and encounter darkness believe and say they are in Hell. But this is merely a name used for convenience, for the Hells are merely places forming a part of the one great universe of God.

These hells, as you may imagine, are very numerous, for the conditions of spirits are very varied, and each spirit has a place in which to live fitted to its condition.

As the spirit becomes freed from some of these conditions, which as to them causes the Law of Attraction to work, he progresses to a higher and better place and finds that his surroundings are not so dark and painful. And as this progression continues, such spirit will ultimately find himself in the planes of light and comparative happiness, where the evil recollections have to a large extent left him and the good deeds, which he did on earth, then come to him and cause a happiness that makes him realize that he was not all bad, and that God has been good to him in relieving him from the sins and evil thoughts which bound him to the place from which he has progressed.

But after all this, he has not gotten into any of the spheres which are above the earth planes, and he may have to remain there for a great many years before he enters the Second Sphere, which is next in gradation to the earth plane. This latter plane is the most populous of all the spheres, for it has spirits coming to it in great numbers - in greater numbers than are progressing from it to higher spheres and, hence, it has a greater variety of sub-planes than has any of the other spheres and is filled with a greater variety and kind of spirits than are any of these higher spheres.

When a spirit has remained in the earth planes a sufficient length of time to put him in condition to go to the next higher sphere, he makes his progress and is never prevented from doing so. I do not mean to say that the spirit is compelled to remain in the earth planes any particular number of years before progressing, for this is not true; on the contrary, the number of years that he remains there is determined by his condition of progress, so that some spirits may go through these planes in less than a year and others may remain there many years.

In the Second Sphere, appearances are brighter and many opportunities are afforded the spirit to seek for and obtain happiness that he did not have before, and many spirits find great happiness in pursuing their intellectual studies and things of this kind and in obtaining a knowledge of the laws of the spirit world governing what you might call the material nature of this world and also of the earth world.

This sphere is not so well suited for the growth of the soul faculties, and those spirits whose desires and aspirations are for the development of their soul qualities do not stay in this world or sphere very long, for they do not find that the necessary provisions for such development exists and, as a consequence, they progress to the Third Sphere, where they find wonderful opportunities and surroundings, which enables them to progress in these matters of the soul.

Well, I see that you are tired, and I will postpone any further writing on these matters to another time.

So good night,
John B. Comeys

Ulysses S. Grant, a former President of the United States, Writes That His Spiritual Eyes Have Been Opened to the Truths of God

October 19, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am General Grant.

I was the President of your country and also the General of the Federal armies.

Well, I want to say that I am in a condition of comparative happiness, but not entirely relieved from my darkness or sufferings. I had a great many sins to answer for and many penalties to pay and during the years since my death, I have suffered much and experienced great darkness. But thanks be to God, I am emerging from these conditions and am having my spiritual eyes opened to the truths of God and the necessity of obtaining His Love and Favor.

As you may know, when on earth I attended the Methodist Church, but my religious knowledge was merely that which comes from an assent of the mind to certain propositions, or rather doctrines, of the church. I knew nothing of the soul development or of the Divine Love, or of any of those attributes of the Father which were necessary to my becoming a redeemed spirit and an accepted child of God.

I am in the Second Sphere, where are many of my old comrades in arms, and many who were antagonistic in the great War of the Rebellion. But we are no longer enemies, for we have obtained sufficient Love to become friends and to know that war and hatred and murder are not in accord with God's Laws, or approved by Him; and we are now seeking only Love and trying to apply the Golden Rule in our lives here.

Well, I am somewhat surprised that I can communicate with you in this way, for while I have attended some séances and made my presence known in other ways and by other manifestations, I never before had the opportunity to do so by this method of writing, and I must say it is the most satisfactory of my experiences.

As this is my first appearance and coming without an invitation, though, some of your band which is here signified their assent, I do not feel that I should longer intrude.

Well, I have been interested in this great and bloody war and have visited the scenes of many battles and the headquarters of the officers of both sides, and have heard their plans discussed, and have learned what their expectations were. It is rather early in the game to form an opinion as to the outcome, but judging from the facts, as I have been able to gather them, and from the conditions of the armies and means of carrying on the war of both sides, I am rather inclined to think the Allies will win. This I say in a perfectly unbiased way, as I have no bias or prejudice for either side. But this I do know: that no human being can at all estimate the great injury that will be done to the various countries or to the progress of the human race in the things material.

But God rules and the right will prevail, as I believe.

Sometime later, if agreeable, I will write you further on this matter. I will now say goodnight.

Your friend,
U.S. Grant

William T. Stephenson, a Former Englishmen, Writes About The Love For His Soulmate

October 6, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, William T. Stephenson.

I was an Englishman and lived in Liverpool and died in 1876.

What I want to say: "Can a man live and love and then die and go into nothingness?"

And I can answer, "No, for love never dies."

It is the one eternal and never-ending quality of the soul. The love of a man for a woman is so great that only the Love of God for man excels it - I mean the real soulmate love.

I am a spirit who lived on earth and loved a woman of earth. and when I died my love did not die but continued and is with me now growing and increasing all the time. She loved me, too, but in her lonesomeness, she married another and is now on earth the wife of another, but her soul love is mine and, strange as it may seem to you, I am not jealous or dissatisfied with her condition, because I, as a spirit loving her only with a soul love and knowing that I have her soul love in return, do not want her body or the affections which are so firm, the merely natural love or rather the attractions which one physical or even mental existence may have for another.

I am only waiting and loving and hoping that the time will not be long when she will be with me. So you see love cannot die and happiness, which comes with that love, can never die.

I am in the Second Sphere and am enjoying my existence. You must pardon me for intruding, but I only wanted to let you know that love can never die. So goodnight.

William T. Stephenson

Samuel Smith, an old Friend of James Padgett, Writes That He Was a Fool and Has Since Began Receiving Instruction by the Higher Spirits

August 23, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here - the man who had the ponderous mind as you called him.

Since writing to you last I have had a great experience and the result is, I see what a damned fool I must have appeared to all of you at the time. I wrote, and because of the manner I wrote in, I now see that I was really an ignorant man, and that I was learned in only what I didn't know, that is in my egregious conceit that what I didn't know was not worth learning. But since that time I have really had my eyes opened and my mental powers awakened to the fact that I was just on the border land of learning what is here for me to learn.

I have had the benefit of association with members of your band and with many other intelligent spirits, and I have learned that there are several spheres higher than that in which I live, and that they can be obtained only by progress in knowledge and mental acquirements. Some of these spirits have shown me truths of the spirit life that I never conceived of and taught me laws governing this spirit world that I never heard of.

I must have been very stupid as well as hide bound and I don't wonder that you all, in a kind of derision, called me the man with the ponderous mind.

I am now in the Second Sphere and am studying the laws of the universe and other needful things under the supervision of competent and learned teachers, and I have studied also those things which tend to enlighten me of things spiritual. Your friends, who first took me in hand, have helped me very much, and especially your grandmother who seems not only so beautiful but to be so filled with knowledge. She is a wonderful spirit, and her teachings have helped me beyond all comprehension.

I have not yet been able to quite believe what she tells me about the New Birth and the Divine Love of the Father, although when I meet these spirits who claim to have received this New Birth, I have to think that there is something in it, for they are all so much more beautiful and bright than are we who have not believed in it. I am seeking the light, though, and that which will show me that there is some reality in this doctrine. I shall not hesitate to seek further and accept it for my own salvation.

I came tonight merely to tell you that I am no longer the man with the ponderous mind in my own conceit, and that I am a very humble student of the many things of which I had no knowledge or experience.

I will not write more tonight, and will say goodnight,

Your friend,
Samuel Smith

Hugh Latimer Writes That He is a Follower of the Master and Lives in the Celestial Heavens

August 13, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.

I am here, Latimer.

I was the martyr who was burned at the stake because of my belief in God, and in salvation by faith and works as taught in the Scriptures. My name was Latimer - Hugh.

I merely come to tell you that I am now a happy spirit and an inhabitant of the Father's Kingdom. I live in the Celestial Heavens and am a follower of the Master as I was on earth.

No, I do not now worship him as God. That false doctrine I believed when on earth, but now I know that there is only one God to be worshiped, and that Jesus is His most exalted son. I was surprised, I must confess, when I entered the spirit world and did not enter heaven and see God on His throne and Jesus sitting on His right hand. But it was not long before I understood the truth, for Jesus came to me himself and explained that he was not God and that I must not worship him as such. But we, who love God as followers of Christ, adore the Master as our great teacher and elder brother.

When I first entered the spirit world, I found myself in the Second Sphere among spirits of brightness and love and after a little while, I entered the Third Sphere where love is more abundant, and then as my soul became filled with this Love and my errors of belief left me, I progressed from sphere to sphere until I arrived where I am now living, and I thank God for His Love and Mercy.

I do not think the fact that I died a martyr to my beliefs had any effect in enabling me to reach a higher sphere than I would otherwise have entered. Not the manner of my death determined my place in the spirit world, but the development of my soul qualities did. If I had a belief in what I thought were truths, but which were not really truths, and that belief, proclaimed and persisted in, had caused my being put to death, you can readily see that the mere fact that I died for the sake of that belief would not have in any way helped my soul development in the real truth, and so the mere fact that I died a martyr for the real truth did not help me in obtaining a place in the spirit world that I would not have obtained had I died a natural death with the same beliefs.

The manner of a man's death does not determine anything, but the manner of his living and the development of his soul qualities are what determines where he shall live in the spirit world.

Of course, the death of the martyr will sometimes awaken soul qualities or conceptions that might not otherwise have been awakened, and thereby increase the martyr's love for the Father; and in this way such a death may help him in his progress to higher things. But as I say, the soul development fixes the first home of the spirit. I mean the development at the time of passing over.

My dear brother I must stop now, but will come again sometime and write you.

Yours in Love,
Hugh Latimer

Otto Von Bismarck Writes About the War's Outcome and Disagrees with Lafayette's Position

August 1, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Bismarck.

Let me say a word. I saw what Lafayette wrote and I don't agree with him on either proposition.

The German Emperor did not bring on this war as the Frenchman said, but it was forced on him. He saw that not only France but England was trying to destroy the great mercantile business which Germany had built up, and that unless he took some means to forestall the efforts of these nations, Germany would lose its commercial prestige and have to submit to the dictates of these rivals; and as a wise Emperor and statesman, he struck the first blow - sharp and quick - and had it not been for the Belgians, he would have reached Paris and accomplished his object.

But that little nation of lacemakers, as we called them, showed that when home was invaded they could fight, and fight they did; and notwithstanding the fact that I am a German, whose sympathies and desires are all with the Germans, yet, I admired the way in which these Belgians fought. Had France such fighters, the Germans would have been out of that country along time ago, and the German territory would now be invaded. But this is past and Germany is still in France and will stay there, notwithstanding the efforts that France and England may make to oust them.

The end of the war is not yet and before that end comes, Paris will fall and the terms of peace will be dictated by the victorious Germans; and France will lose some territory, and England will pay an indemnity and make such concessions to Germany that her commerce will be established and grow to such an extent that she will be second to none as a commercial nation.

Germany will not cease to be an empire - a stronger and greater one than ever. William will not live long after the war ends, but one of his sons will occupy the throne and his family will reign for years. It will not become a republic, although I know the socialists will make a great effort to bring that about; but they will fail.

So I tell you that the French spirit is mistaken and he will find out his mistake before a great many months have gone by. I don't know what causes he imagines he sees, but if he would see the true causes he would draw different conclusions as I do.

I am Bismarck and I am with the German Army trying to show its generals the way to accomplish their objects. I must not write more. I live in the Second Sphere and am trying to find happiness, but this war interferes with my happiness and my progress.

Well, I saw you writing, and I saw Washington and Lafayette engaged in writing and I stopped to listen and became interested in both the writing and the subject matter, and when Lafayette wrote as he did, I determined to give my views and, hence, I wrote.

You must excuse my intrusion, but I thought it just to express what I think about the war. I will not take up more of your time. So with my kind regards, I am

Your friend,
Bismarck