February 5th, 1917
Received by:James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, Luke.
I merely want to say that you are in better condition tonight, and that I will write a few lines upon a subject that may be of interest to you. In the spirit world there are many spirits who are in neither darkness nor light, but are in what has been called the twilight zone, and are neither very happy nor unhappy. These are spirits who have progressed from the lower spheres, where they expiated their sins and errors of the earth life, and have gotten rid of their recollections of many of their sins and have progressed somewhat in the development of their natural love, and also in the acquirement of the intellectual knowledge, and are not feeling the stings of conscience, but are realizing the happiness which the forgiveness of their sins and the improvement of their intellects causes them to have.
They are to a large extent very much in the condition of men who have paid the penalties of their sins, yet have not received such increase in their natural love as to enable them to progress to the higher intellectual spheres where the spirit becomes to a more or less degree the perfect man. And they have been a long time making their progress, for it is a fact that the development of their souls from the condition of the wholly sinful man to that where such sins have almost disappeared is a very slow development.
These spirits, though, are not to be classed with the dark spirits who so often come to you for help and relief from their darkness, for they are in that condition where it is difficult to convince them that they need any help in order that they may have a more wonderful progress and obtain greater happiness. In this zone the spirits seem to be well satisfied with their conditions, and have the belief that their advancement must necessarily be slow and that there is not a better and quicker way to obtain relief from their conditions. Among this class of spirits commences the greatest difficulty for the higher spirits to successfully convince them of the great truth of the Divine Love and the possibilities of obtaining a condition that will place them in the higher soul spheres, without the long delay in making their progress.
In the lower spheres the spirits are not satisfied and generally are very desirous of getting relief from the darkness and suffering and, as a consequence, we can do more to convince them of the truths that are so necessary for them to know. You would be surprised to know the number of spirits who are in this zone, and the great number of years they have been in making the progress that they have made. Many of them have been in the states to which I refer for centuries and yet have never known any desire to progress out of those states except in the way that they consider to be the gradual and natural way to advance. I will not write more now. So, good night, and may God bless you.
Your brother in Christ,
Luke.