Found in The Gospel of God’s Love, The Padgett Messages, page 406. From Padgett’s old friend, G.
“When I first came to the spirit world I was an unbeliever in things pertaining to the soul, except I thought the part of a person that survived death and continues to exist, would progress as the mental qualities developed. I had no conception of the soul as a thing distinct and independent from the mind. As I continued to live in this belief, I found that the mental faculties and their development did not bring to me the satisfaction I anticipated.
“I met some of my earth friends, men of great mental acquirements, who had preceded me by long years, and I found their conditions were not as advanced as I would have expected. Many were in the earth plane and some were in darkness. They did not have any great happiness, nor were they satisfied with their conditions. They were pursuing their studies, but some restraining force prevented them from going to higher spheres.
“I found out there were higher spheres where the mind is developed to a much greater degree, where many spirits who believed in the supremacy of the mind lived and enjoyed the pursuit of their studies. At times, some of these spirits would come to our plane and tell us of the wonderful development and happiness in these higher spheres and urge us to progress and become inhabitants of them.
“You may be assured we were willing and anxious to make such progress , but try as we would our efforts produced no visible effect and we continued in darkness. Being of an inquisitive nature I sought to find the reason for our inability to get out of darkness. I at last realized that the mind was not everything, but that the development of the moral qualities was necessary to enable us to progress as we desired. Conscience must be satisfied and our recollection of evil deeds on earth must be gotten rid of. Our qualities of soul, which determine our position and condition must be adjusted to the demands of the laws of compensation in order to progress.
“But while in this condition of struggle and slow progress, I would occasionally meet spirits who seemed to be of a higher order and who were more beautiful than was I, and naturally, I wondered what the cause was.” To be continued…