“It has opened an entirely new channel to us here in this part of the world. In the Far East, we have the channel, but no hard-pan to support the stream. Here science gives us a foundation from which to work, but we have had no channel through which to reach it.... Everywhere in the civilized world the minds of intelligent people have turned to this. There is reaching and questioning and longing, and a dawning faith.”
At this time I did not know how frequently belief in the possibility of communication with those in a life beyond is accompanied by an inclination toward the Oriental philosophies, but Maynard’s allusion to the Far East was given greater significance by the replies to later questions.
To an inquiry concerning the possible influence of these teachings in Germany, he returned: “They are a philosophical and abstract-minded people, and they’ll be hunting a plausible and satisfactory explanation of themselves before long. And this is less uncomplimentary than the others will be, besides having the undeniable advantage of being true, which they will have learned, by that time, to appreciate.”
“Can’t those with eyes, ears, and understanding learn wisely to control, lead, and uplift the mass?” Cass asked. “In Russia, for example?”
“Don’t be in such a hurry. There’s all eternity, and evolution is slow. But the mills of the gods grind on, and the grist is sure. The Russians, like the Germans, must climb their own hills. America has a few to climb, too. This will help many, uplift a few, escape the mass, but leaven the whole. There is no millennium at hand. This is just a light by which the path is made more clear. It will influence many thousands, in many countries, but the inert mass must work its way on, through the old channels of evolution, made easier by knowledge and by experience of those ahead, but not to be evaded or avoided by any miracle.”
“But it will bring conscious purpose and effort to bear in helping this evolution?”
“Surely. It is a message eagerly awaited and desired.”
Later that evening, I asked Mary K. whether she could tell me anything about the book Anne Lowe had said I was to publish.
“Yes. It must be ready for publication by Fall.”
“Evidently sordid, material details of book manufacture escape your attention,” I said, laughing. “This is the thirtieth of March, and you have not yet given me all the material for your book. When you have done that, it still must be edited, assembled for publication, copied, accepted by publishers, printed, and sold. Perhaps you don’t know that salesmen for publishing-houses begin taking orders for Fall publications in June, and generally carry sample copies of the books with them?”