- 54 - entities that are completely autonomous from any human being made of flesh and blood. The direct voice is the highest psychic phenomenon discovered up to now and at the same time the most convincing, not to mention that it deserves our highest astonishment. All other human discoveries pale into insignificance compared to this great discovery, the discovery of a direct method of contact between us and the departed, not by means of all kinds of rapping sounds, but through to most intimate form of making contact, namely the human voice. Other forms of psychic phenomena can be falsified by fraudulent mediums, but the direct voice in its correct form, cannot be interfered with. Myself and others with me have often heard two and sometimes three separate voices, of different sounds and different personal structures to those present, simultaneously talk about various themes that were only known to the one they addressed, whilst the medium talked to the one nearest to it about another subject or whilst I had my ear close to its mouth, whilst no one single sound escaped from its lips.” Findlay had this to say about the prerequisites for the creation of the “direct voice” (5, P. 13): In regards to the direct voice that I now refer to, one receives the best results in darkness, because the light’s vibrations make the formation of solid enough ectoplasm required to cause vibration in the air more difficult. Even though I have heard voices by daylight, they are certainly stronger and better developed in darkness or in red light that doesn’t have the same destructing effect as white light. Quiet and harmonious prerequisites are also essential, the condition of the atmosphere also has an effect on the results at times. The results are weak if the air is for instance heavily laden with electricity, whereas the best proclamations happen under clear, sharp moonlight, when the atmosphere is not laden with too much moisture. The prerequisites that make the voice phenomenon possible are very delicate and the best results can be achieved through experience. The proclamation are absolutely wonderful if these prerequisites are present. Voices from all levels of education and ways of speaking turn to the participants of the meetings and their personal way of expressing themselves can in turn can be allocated to an individuum that once lived on Earth. About the experiences and results gained from the method of the direct voice, Findlay published his first book titled “On the Edge of the Etheric” in 1931, 49 further editions were published between 1931 and 1951 and it was translated into 18 different languages. A German translation was titled “Gespräche mit Toten” (5). The previous and the following citations were taken from this work. Findlay gained his insights with the help of the medium Sloane, sometimes in the presence of others (mostly 10 – 15), sometimes during private session with just one witness. These cases mainly dealt with receiving general information about life in the world of the hereafter.15 Findlay reports (5, P. 178): These educational evenings were particularly valuable and impressive, because I was, apart from my stenographer, alone with the medium. I therefore had the opportunity to ask questions and receive answers without feeling that I somehow monopolised the ethereal world for myself, because they had come to meet and to talk to others as well. The more of us attended our usual meetings, the greater the expenditure on attestations, particularly when friends were present. I directed my whole attention towards verifying their identity during these opportunities and to find out that those that talked to us where actually the one’s they professed to be. But during the times when I had Sloane all to myself, I was more inclined to ask for elucidations and general information. The situation than was so that my friends from the ethereal world were indeed there, but they remained silent in order to allow others to talk, others that possessed greater knowledge than they had managed to gain up to then. I didn’t recognise some voices talk to me during these opportunities and they didn’t assert a claim on reciprocal acquaintanceship. They were very educated and their linguistic mastery was way beyond that of the medium. In this and the two following chapters I will report about three meetings, the first took place in 15 Findlay calls it “ethereal world” and he also doesn’t talk about an “astral body” but about an :ethereal body”.
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