ASPR Journal, V14 - Iapsop.com

In Menwry of Dr. Hyslop. 441
ated fraud and subconscious fabrication. But it is a very different
matter to determine just what we shall believe, or how we
shall conceive the nature of the existence beyond the grave."
Herein he wisely differs from the current belief of spiritualists.
",Most of them," -he remarks, "suppose that if we can communicate
with the discarnate they can easily tell us all about the
transcendental world. But this is an illusion, and the sooner we
learn that there is a very large problem before us in that matter
the better for our intellectual sanity." These are timely and
much-needed words, and no one could speak with more authority
on this subject than Dr. Hyslop. It is true that if we accept at
their face value the descriptions that purport to come from the
discarnate, they agree in depicting a world which closely resembles
the present life, except that it is a happier and more progressive
state of existence. The bulk of these communications
are, however, mere earth memories and trivialities, necessary for
the purpose of identification, but, even so, fragmentary and unsatisfying.
As a dear friend of mine, long since passed into the
unseen (C. C. Massey) once wrote to me, after a life-long experience
of spiritualism: "We may, and I think do, discover
survival, but Spiritualism only affords a ghostly portrayal of
earthly life, and has no religious interest. We want the expansion
of life, not a continuance in its present contracted mode."
This is very true, though what we want, the cynic might say, may
not be what we shall find in a future life.
For many years I have been in frequent correspondence with
Dr. Hyslop, his letters, like his whole life, bubbling over with
energy and earnestness, making me aghast at the thought of replying
to his numerous and beautifully-typed sheets. I fear my
replies were not only very inadequate, but that they often contained
a frank expression of my opinion that his influence and
usefulness might be greater if he restricted his output, and gave
more time and thought to the presentation of his views and investigations.
Some men might naturally have been offended by
this, but he welcomed my criticism, and in extenuation urged that
the American public did not like brevity, but wanted full measure
and overflowing in the discussion of any subject. Whether this
be true. or not, I do not know, but it cannot be doubted that among
the educated classes Hyslop would have gained a wider and more
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