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Chapter IX: Primitive Soul-States2213
man—on the Astral Plane, man makes his own environment, in accordance
with the absolute and unvarying laws of Nature.
The Indian, during the short period of his sojourn on the Astral Plane,
finds himself surrounded by all that makes life pleasant and harmonious for
him. The clairvoyants among the old American Indians, who were able to
penetrate the lower planes of the Astral Plane, were thoughtful when they
reported the existence of “the happy hunting grounds” of their departed
brothers on “the other side.” True also were the reports of the shadowy forms
which communicated with their former brothers on earth, to the same effect.
The heaven-world of the Red Indian was precisely as his medicine-men had
taught him it would be. Such a soul, awakening from the soul slumber, would
find itself perfectly at home, surrounded by all that made life pleasant to it;
great forests and plains, streams and rivers, plenty of buffalo and deer to be
shot, and plenty of fish to be caught. All these things existed for such. But
they existed only mentally. Like a very intense dream these things appeared
to such a soul—but it never realized that it was merely a dream. “Dreams are
true while they last,” as the old writings inform us. And, as for that, the wisest
of the race inform us that the phenomenal universe is really in the nature of
a Dream of the Absolute—but it is none the less real to us. Even in earth-life,
we sometimes experience dreams so real that we suffer as keenly, or enjoy
as rapturously, in them, as if they were the only somewhat more substantial
realities of the waking state.
Those who have made a study of the subject, inform us that among all
races of men there are many reports of clairvoyants, seers, dreamers, and
communicators with departed souls, who assert positively the existence of
“heavens” in exact accordance with the religious teachings of their tribe or
race, no matter how crude and barbarious these conceptions may appear
to one of a more cultured faith. It is very easy to dismiss these reports either
as pure inventions, or dreams of the priests. But, closer examination Will
reveal the fact that there is a striking basic unity among them—they all
agree on the fundamental points, although they differ as to the details. The