[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.As soon as animalsare able to show themselves, they cease to fret, for the feel that they are once more incontact with the beloved.CHAPTER VIITime and the FutureYou have often asked me how we keep appointments with you or with one another, sinceout perception of time is so different from yours.It is not correct to say that we have nomeans of measuring time.What we mean when we say that we have no  time here is thatwe do not count years, months, weeks or days as you do.The sun does not rise and set, andwe have no extremes of heat or cold, but we have a measurement that is different fromyours, and this makes your time very puzzling to us.With you, it is merely a convenientmeasure recording the number of times the sun has risen or set, but for us this isunnecessary.I do not know how old I am unless I calculate your years, but since we nevergrow old, it is of little interest to keep a record of how many times your sun has risen andset since we arrived here, but if we wish to calculate your years or days, we have to do asum just as you do when you wish to convert Centigrade to Fahrenheit.We do not need dates because, when we make an appointment, it is automaticallyregistered in our minds, and as the personality develops, so the power of automaticallyregistering facts we wish to recall increases.It is not easy to explain, but when we arrangeto meet on a certain day, when the time comes, the other fellow flashes a signal andsummons us.I see your flash if I am otherwise occupied, but fro a regular appointment Icome without any summons, and often I am ready waiting for you when you are late inspite of your many clocks.A man on this side is not limited by a lifetime of a given numberof years, and that is perhaps whey you have got the nothing that time is of no importancehere.But we are punctual always.The only way we may miss an appointment is if we aresuddenly called away for something important on your side, but as our ties with the earthbecome looser, such a summons become rarer.Every earthly object has its spiritual counterpart, and I have counterparts of all yourantiques, though naturally, I have no counterpart of your umbrella or mackintosh.Expertsover here produce mechanisms that are far more wonderful than yours, but they work ondifferent lines and with different materials.I have a much better watch than yours, but itindicates our time.As your paying for it, we have our own method of exchange; we do notpay in hard cash or coin of the realm, but we exchange service of some kind, or somethingthat we can spare that is useful to the other person.We have our times of rest, and during sleep we learn to know something of the life in thesphere beyond the one in which we live, although on waking, we forget much of thisinformation, just as you do.As you know, we often get a glimpse of the future, but this is not as important to us as it isto you.At the moment I foresee a world catastrophe, not universal war, but something thatwill bring great danger to civilization.The modern way of waging war is coming near tothe extermination of the race, a kind of Kil-kenny cat business, where everybody bombseverybody else, until the last planes crash in flames and the human race perishes.That, ofcourse, is an exaggeration, but there is a sinister possibility of the great cities being wipedout and all the elaborate system of civilization destroyed.In some ways it would be anadvantage to the race, as man would have to start afresh, leading the simple life once more.This is a possibility I see in the futures: man s inhumanity to man brought to suchperfection that whole countries will be devastated with bombs and gases and death-rays.Recorder s note: the above was written in September, 1937.It is a very difficult subject, this matter of foreseeing the future.I gave you the analogy ofthe cine film because that was the only was to make you understand, but the cine roll canbe changed, and that is why I always qualify my forecasts by saying  as things are atpresent, or  as far as I can judge. Coming events cast their shadows certainly, but humanfree-will is always apt to spring a surprise.Concerning a way, for instance, all theindications may be that a war will break out, but there is always the possibility that otherinfluences may succeed in averting it.Your friend s analogy was very apt when she saidthat the incorrect forecasts about this war were partly due to the pictures we saw of anundamaged England and France and Germany.But I feared that peace would not bepreserved, and that was why I warned you that war was in the air, but might be averted.Recorder s note: On the 3rd of October, 1938, the following message was received:  itwould be fruitless to make an honourable but inconclusive peace.I am coming to theconclusion that Hitler does not truly desire the peace of Europe, and we must make everyeffort to make England safe.The truth is not always to our liking, but there it is. Weinquired whether he meant that war would break out at once.He replied:  That si unlikely,as he has what he wants for the moment, but I distrust his offers of general appeasement.Three weeks later, we received the following message:  The time approaches when theprice will have to be paid in men, money and comfort, but eventually I see a strongEngland again, holding her own in world affairs.It is so easy to be in that state where onecannot see the forest for the trees.The situation should be viewed, not as a close-up, but inproper perspective.Excessive expenditure on armaments will keep you poor, but it isinevitable.You will see many developments in the next twelve months that will give youplenty of outlets for your energy and service.To this I interposed:  But since there will be no war in England for years, cui bono? Thepencil flew over the paper, returning to underline important words:  I have never made thestatement that there will be no war ever, ever.Years? Oh, no! Rumours of war and evenwar.It is all around you, and the basis of life in England during the coming months will bewar.England will have a hard fight in 1939  1940 to maintain her possessions and keepher end up.Early in November, 1938, he wrote again as follows:  The more I see of the Europeansituation, the less I like it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]