“Is there unconsciousness at first, when you go over?” she asked.
“It depends on circumstances and persons. Sometimes there is a period of unconsciousness. I was conscious from the first moment, and so happy to be here.” When Cass interpreted this to mean that he greatly preferred being there, he corrected: “No, to be free. But for the first weeks I was dazed by the bigness of it.”
Later in the afternoon Frederick discussed with his mother various personal matters, with a good deal of humor. Afterward, more seriously, he continued: “You’ll do better work, and be more open to suggestion from me, if you don’t dull yourself by too constant harping on one chord. Play a little, you and Dad.”
She told him they had not been happy enough to play.
“You will be happier now. Tell Dad few men are as near their sons as he is to me. He and all of you have only to learn to recognize me, when I am trying to tell you I am there.”
We spoke of her desire to receive his communications through her own pencil and he said that if she would “keep on trying and believing,” he could talk directly to her before long, as he has since demonstrated.
“It is difficult for us to overcome doubt in a messenger,” he said. “Faith is a positive force. It helps us reach you. Doubt, being negative, hampers us.”
This reminded me of Mary Kendal’s first personal message to me, “Believe.”
“Are you hampered by my doubt to-day?” I asked.