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Chapter X: Astral Religious Experiences2219
and discards the old belief and eagerly embraces the newer one. The world
has witnessed many instances of this evolution of religious thought, and,
indeed, it is really going through an important one at this particular time.
The path of the race is strewn with broken and discarded idols, material and
mental, which were once precious to millions of worshippers. And, as the
race advances, many more idols will be overthrown and left crumbling on
the paths of time. But each idol had its own appropriate place in the general
history of the evolution of the religious thought of the race. Each served
its purpose, and its ideals served to aid man in his perpetual and eternal
journey toward Absolute Truth.
In view of the above-stated facts, would we not naturally expect to find
in a rational and equitable adjustment of conditions on “the other side”
some provision made for the sincere religious faiths and beliefs of the
race, differing from each other as these faiths and beliefs may be? Imagine
the spiritual anguish of a disembodied soul were it to see the cherished
beliefs of an earnest life, and the traditions of many generations of ancestors,
swept away as by a flood. And, this, particularly in view of the fact that
the soul would not be sufficiently advanced to understand or accept the
higher forms of religious truth, but would be merely asked to accept either
something which it could not understand, or else which was repugnant to it
by reason of its past training and experience. Such would be cruelty to the
disembodied soul as much as if the same thing were attempted during its
earth-life.
There is a native belief among many persons which would imply that
the disembodied soul is magically, and instantaneously transformed from
ignorance into absolute knowledge upon passing over to “the other
side.” This is a childlike belief, and has no basis in fact. There is really but
very little difference in the general intelligence or spiritual attainment of
the soul, before or after death. Soul progress is gradual, in or out of the
body. The disembodied soul is practically the same in general intelligence
and understanding, in and out of the body. “In” and “out” of the body are