Simple Book on Passing to Spirit.

I am looking for a basic book on information about 'passing to spirit' for my son.
A book that a new comer who knows nothing about the spirit world and the passing from this world to the next.
My son lost his son,my grandson three years ago and wishes to understand what happens after physical death.
Joan

http://www.greaterworld.com/userimages/procart21.htm
Madge Wood's 'Into Eternal Light'
60p + p&p from the GW.
Good little booklet Joan.
More titles via same link.
Woprth checking Amazon too, sometimes you can pick up teh same books on GW lists via Amazon partners for a fraction of te GW price.

KatyKing wrote:http://www.greaterworld.com/userimages/procart21.htm
Madge Wood's 'Into Eternal Light'
60p + p&p from the GW.
Good little booklet Joan.
More titles via same link.
Woprth checking Amazon too, sometimes you can pick up teh same books on GW lists via Amazon partners for a fraction of te GW price.

Thanks ever so much,KK.
I have saved the link and will try Amazon,I have an account there.
Bless you.
Joan

The Anthony Borgia books are a beautiful and interesting introduction to this topic, although they're hard to locate.

Ah, as if on cue! Scroll down on the link that Peter posted: there are two Borgia books listed!

Yes,I saw them,Jim.
Good site,Pete,will be delving in there shortly.

Left Behind wrote:Ah, as if on cue! Scroll down on the link that Peter posted: there are two Borgia books listed!

And here are some of them in PDF format to download
http://www.ghostcircle.com/_ebooks.html

I'd give Borgia a miss. Sent my copy of Life in the world beyond to Les and glad to see the back of it. Very dangerous book in fragile hands. Deeply unpleasant subtext.

Safe enough with Les of course.
Had the strongest link with a poor soul who'd taken herself over from reading Borgia. This life bad next life good so down went the pills. I intuit she wasn't the only one either.

KatyKing wrote:I'd give Borgia a miss. Sent my copy of Life in the world beyond to Les and glad to see the back of it. Very dangerous book in fragile hands. Deeply unpleasant subtext.

Thanks Peter,
Seriously though, subtext to one side, it certainly does have some strange conutations but none the less, an interesting read.

Felt like I needed a good bath after reading it so I did. Horrible little man 'Borgia'.

_Leslie_ wrote:

Left Behind wrote:Ah, as if on cue! Scroll down on the link that Peter posted: there are two Borgia books listed!

And here are some of them in PDF format to download
http://www.ghostcircle.com/_ebooks.html

Ah great Leslie.
Have heard of Borgia.
Will have a read of those first myself. What's up with Borgia,Pete?
Not sure if I have read something from him before...rather horrific is he?

Funny: I reacted just the opposite way to Borgia. His writings were a major link in my development chain. Bereavement lead me to start asking questions, questions lead me to studying near-death experiences, NDE's lead me to someone telling me about Life in The World Unseen, and that's what lead me to Spiritualism.

When I first read it, I wasn't sure whether Borgia was for real, a fraud, a lunatic, or the author of a tongue-in-cheek novel. I'm STILL not sure: but this is what lead me into Spiritualism. And Spiritualism is a subject that one shouldn't make a final decision about, on the basis of reading one book on the topic.

KatyKing wrote:Safe enough with Les of course.
Had the strongest link with a poor soul who'd taken herself over from reading Borgia. This life bad next life good so down went the pills. I intuit she wasn't the only one either.

We could make the same criticism about any Spiritualist book though, Peter. Don't they consistently say that the next world is better than this one? And isn't that everyone's hope?

Just out of curiosity: did this spirit indicate that suicide carries dire consequences into the next life?

Left Behind wrote:

KatyKing wrote:Safe enough with Les of course.
Had the strongest link with a poor soul who'd taken herself over from reading Borgia. This life bad next life good so down went the pills. I intuit she wasn't the only one either.

We could make the same criticism about any Spiritualist book though, Peter. Don't they consistently say that the next world is better than this one? And isn't that everyone's hope?

Just out of curiosity: did this spirit indicate that suicide carries dire consequences into the next life?

It shouldn't do,Jim.
I believe suicides are helped and healed in the spirit world.
I sure hope so.

KatyKing wrote:Felt like I needed a good bath after reading it so I did. Horrible little man 'Borgia'.

As usual, Peter never provides any evidence to back up his assertions.

Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson was a son of Edward White Benson, former Archbishop of Canterbury.

Anthony Borgia met him when he was at the height of his renown, both as preacher and author.

After he had passed from his life, “I many times wondered as to his welfare. Through a spirit friend I was told that he was well and prospering, and that in time I would hear from him directly.”

Such eventually proved to be the case.

Anthony Borgia stated: “It has been my privilege and pleasure to act as his amanuensis for recording the scripts” which was given through automatic writing.

He also said that through other sources of communication “we have had literally hundred of forgatherings, where he has brought with him a goodly company of spirit friends”.

As far as I can recall this was through the trance mediumship of Mollie Duncan.

Maurice Barbanell spoke to Lord Northcliffe through her mediumship and was present when Anthony Borgia spoke to Benson who “spoke fluently and characteristically.”

In 1942 the “People” newspaper serialised, in a number of instalments between April 5th and June 14th the scripts received by Anthony Borgia called “Beyond This Life”, which later became the book, “Life in the World Unseen”

The book was sold out on the day of publication.

The publishers were Odhams Press.

"Life in the World Unseen" has proved so popular that it has never been out of print and is still available today.

Aye well each to their own.

Great info there, Z., thank you!

For some reason it's hard to find much information about Anthony Borgia: which is strange, since the books are very popular.

Monsignor Benson's earthly life is of course well-documented. He was apparently an extremely popular Catholic writer in his day, but his writings don't seem to get much attention nowadays.

Have enough recommendations for books now,chaps.
Going to have a sort out which ones to recommend to him.
Thanks.
Joan

From my own reading, it seems to me that as far as suicide is concerned, as with everything else, the acid test is motive. It is often very difficult to determine our own true motives for the actions we take, let alone another's. Thankfully it is something we don't have to concern ourselves with if reports of others and writings such as Silver Birch are to be believed.

I can't recall reading anything that said suicide was ever a good idea, but the consequences seem to depend on the reason. I can think of a number of scenarios where even I can understand why a person would do it. What does seem consistent is that those who commit suicide have to face the impact their decision had on others.

I don't understand how the fact that a person took their own life after reading positive reports of the afterlife has anything to do with the author of the report (let alone the writer) unless they have recommended suicide. Did Borgia or Benson recommend suicide? I don't recall that.

I can't say I found anything at all objectionable in Borgia's writing. I am not saying I accept it as what it claims to be but it didn't strike me as any better or worse than many other written works on the same subject.

I think it would be more helpful Peter if you told us why you feel so strongly about the books unless it is based purely on the suicide you mention.

People do not take their own lives for no reason.
People who feel they cannot live in the physical life or endure the torments of that life for a reason deserve to be pitied not scorned.
No doubt they will be patted on the hand and told 'You must not do that anymore,it is naughty'.
But I am sure they will receive some kind of counselling in spirit like they would receive in this world if they felt that life did not hold anything worthwhile for them.

Left Behind wrote:Great info there, Z., thank you!

For some reason it's hard to find much information about Anthony Borgia: which is strange, since the books are very popular.

Monsignor Benson's earthly life is of course well-documented. He was apparently an extremely popular Catholic writer in his day, but his writings don't seem to get much attention nowadays.

Borgia wasn't his real name I seem to remember, not sure what he was called though. Hack writer or some such. There was an Anthony Borgia frequented the French House pub in Soho a favourite haunt for freelancers. Drank himself to death and found dead in a squalid bedsit some weeks after death. Not necessarily the same chap though, Raph Samuel always maintained it was him. Catholic media deny he ever knew Benson and there's no mention of him in the official bio although that could be expected given the Catholic biographer.. Would be interesting to follow the money with those Borgia books. As George affirms 'Borgia' was linked to Barbanell who had an abiding interest in publishing for profit. Serialisation in The People would have brought in a pretty penny. Time was when I wer a lad that PN promoted books that then did well and didn't review others which sank. It was a powerful paper in its day promoting its own and devil take the hindmost. Very London centric and that centred around Barbie and his chums. Roy Stemman who was deputy editor of PN for some that era has an insightful pen portrait of Barbie in one of his books.

KatyKing wrote:

Left Behind wrote:Great info there, Z., thank you!

For some reason it's hard to find much information about Anthony Borgia: which is strange, since the books are very popular.

Monsignor Benson's earthly life is of course well-documented. He was apparently an extremely popular Catholic writer in his day, but his writings don't seem to get much attention nowadays.

Borgia wasn't his real name I seem to remember, not sure what he was called though. Hack writer or some such. There was an Anthony Borgia frequented the French House pub in Soho a favourite haunt for freelancers. Drank himself to death and found dead in a squalid bedsit some weeks after death. Not necessarily the same chap though, Raph Samuel always maintained it was him. Catholic media deny he ever knew Benson and there's no mention of him in the official bio although that could be expected given the Catholic biographer.. Would be interesting to follow the money with those Borgia books. As George affirms 'Borgia' was linked to Barbanell who had an abiding interest in publishing for profit. Serialisation in The People would have brought in a pretty penny. Time was when I wer a lad that PN promoted books that then did well and didn't review others which sank. It was a powerful paper in its day promoting its own and devil take the hindmost. Very London centric and that centred around Barbie and his chums. Roy Stemman who was deputy editor of PN for some that era has an insightful pen portrait of Barbie in one of his books.

Anthony Borgia (real name) passed over in his nineties.


Your references to 'Barbie' as though Barbanell was a personal friend of yours is also ridiculous. In the preface to "Life in the World Unseen" Borgia writes:

"Knowledge is the best antidote for fear, especially if that fear could be of the possible or probable state of existence after we made the change from this life to the next.

"To discover what kind of place is the next world, we must inquire of someone who lives there, and record what is said. That what has been done in the present volume.

"The communicator, whom I first came to know in 1909--five years before his passing into the spirit world--was known on earth as Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, a son of Edward White Benson, former Archbishop of Canterbury.

"Until the present scripts were written he had never communicated with me directly, but I was once told (by another spirit friend) that there were certain matters he wished to set right. The difficulties of communication were explained to him by spirit friends and advisers, but he held to his purpose. And so when a suitable time was reached, he was told that he could communicate through a friend of his earthly days, and it has been my privilege to act as his recorder.

"The first script was composed under the title of Beyond this life; the second under that of The World Unseen in the former, the communicator gives, in a general survey, account of his passing and his subsequent travels through various parts of spirit lands. In the latter script he deals at much greater length with a number of important and interesting facts and facets of spirit life, upon which previously he had touched only lightly in passing.

"For example: in Beyond This Life he mentions the highest realms and the lowest. In The Life Unseen he actually visits them i describes what he saw and what took place in both regions. Although each of the two scripts is complete in itself, the second greatly extends and amplifies the first, and together they form a composite whole.

"We are old friends, and his passing hence has not severed an earthly friendship; on the contrary, it has increased it, and provided many more opportunities of meeting than would have been possible had he remained on earth. He constantly expresses his delight upon his ability to return to earth in a natural, normal, healthy, and pleasant manner, and to give some account of his adventures and experiences in the spirit world, as one who 'being .dead (as many would regard him), yet speaketh'."

On passing to the spirit world, every person, regardless of colour or creed, will find themselves the inheritors of precisely the spiritual abode to which their earthly lives have befitted them. The spirit world is the land of the great harvest, the seeds of which were sown upon the earth.

I'd heard somewhere that Borgia went blind in later life.

Not really been able to find much on him: which is something that always made me wonder about him, and about the authenticity of his writings. But still, I enjoy his works, whether they are truly true, partly true, whole cloth hoaxes, or the ravings of a lunatic!

As I say: you shouldn't make up your mind about any subject on the basis of a single book or author. And this is especially so where Spiritualism is concerned.

As ever George you are a mine of information and seem to have known everyone..
Could you verify those statements please?
Refs would be useful.