December 1st, 1918.
Received by James Padgett.
Washington D.C.
I am here, Francis Bacon.
Let me write a short message in reference to our spirit world and one of the laws that obtain therein.
You were told a few nights ago that which is material in itself, always remains material although the combination into forms and appearances may change, and even the material elements may cease to be perceptive to the faculties or senses of the human, and this assertion of fact is true and without exception.
The material of the universe is one and not diverse, and the thing that you may sense as being material is a part of the same great universal material of existence, and may at different times and under certain conditions become incorporated in the invisible material and yet remain just as real as when it was the thing that you could sense as a reality. The fact of the existence of the material is not determined by the requirement that men shall be able to cognize its existence by the exercise of some one or all of the perceptions of the human organs used to comprehend what they call the material of nature; and whether or not men are able to so cognize what is the truly material does not affect the existence of the material, for as it now has reality so it would have if men had no perception at all.
To the blind man, the knowledge of the existence of that part of the material of what you may call the natural world that depends on sight for its comprehension, can be acquired only by information from those who have that sight; and so, knowledge of the existence of the material in the world not subject to comprehension by the senses of men can only be obtained through information given them by those who have cognition such existence by reason of faculties that they possess. Men sometimes claim that they have knowledge of the existence of the material in the invisible world as a resultant from the exercise of reason and an acquaintance with the law of cause and effect, and in many instances this claim is true, especially where effects are perceived, which must have had causes existing beyond the circle of the known material. To illustrate: men see and understand the effects of the workings of electricity, and to an extent can control and utilize that electricity, and yet they cannot by the exercise of their natural senses claim knowledge of the fact that it exists as a part of the material of the universe - they know it only as a cause producing an effect, and as to whether it is of the material or not they have no sensate knowledge. Electricity is of the material, and intangible and not subject to the perception of sense, and to men has an existence only because it is accepted and declared to be the cause of certain known effects.
Now, there are many material things in the invisible world that have never come to the knowledge of men by reason of effects produced and made known to their cognition; yet these things are just as real and just as much a part of the material of the universe as are those things that men call the material of the natural world. Now what I have written is merely to demonstrate the fact that the existence of the material is not confined to what men call the natural world, and that men's knowledge does not always determine whether the material exists or not.
The material has its place and existence in all the spheres of the spirit world and is used by spirits in their work and living just as really as it exists in the natural world and is used by men for their welfare and happiness; and when the inhabitants of the spirit world use it for the purpose and in such a manner as to make the invisible material perceptible to the senses of men, they should not look upon such phenomena as unreal or non acceptable because such phenomena is not produced in accord or harmony with the laws of the material as they understand them.
I will continue later.
Your friend,
Francis Bacon.