My Brother’s Keeper

Good evening friends.

It is with joy that we come into your little group once again to leave with you one or two words which might be of assistance to you in the days that lie ahead.

The subject that we want to speak about is bound up in the text "Am I my brothers keeper?"

How much responsibility have you got in your world for other people? How much responsibility have you for yourselves? You are Spiritualists. You know the truth of Spirit return. You know about your Helpers and your Guides. You know the power that Spirit can have upon everything you do; everything you say. Inevitably it brings with it the question: Am I my brothers keeper?

If you consider life on the earth plane is a school in which you have to learn certain lessons how much responsibility do you have for your fellow men and women? If they have got to learn lessons through their experiences on Earth is it justified for you to interfere with their lives? How much advice should you give? How much guidance? Where does your responsibility begin, and where does it end? These are questions that must come to all of you from time to time.

When you have children you try to train them and bring them up in the way that you think they should go; you try to give them ideals; you try to give them standards. Yet you know when they reach the years of discretion that they must stand on their own two feet. In the rebellion of the teenage years quite often it will seem to you that they go contrary to everything that you have taught; everything that you have given them. Youth always wants to change things; wants to alter life on Earth. Thinks that reforms can be brought about by revolutions; thinks that the end will always justify the means. It is only as they proceed into life and gain more experience that they will begin to understand that life is not all cut and dried; that you cannot bring about progress in the twinkling of an eye; that it is extremely difficult to make people change their minds and look at life from a different standpoint.

Your young people today are seeking. They feel there is a lack in their lives, and the lack has been caused so much by the breakdown of the principles by which you were brought up. By the abandoning of the standards of Christianity; by the feeling that it is no longer important to go to church. All the things which you tried to teach them seem to be thrown overboard and what is left is just a desperate seeking.

How much is your responsibility? What can you do to bring them to a better state of thinking?

All you can do is to be there ready for when they turn to you for advice, for help, for assistance. Remembering always that you must not condemn however bad you think their behaviour is; however much it is contrary to everything that you hold sacred in life. Yet you have got to be willing to just be there; to be ready to be a confident. Be ready to give help and advice where you can but at the same time trying not to force it upon anyone. People have got to come to a realisation of Spirit for themselves. All you can do is to so order your own lives that you show contentment; that you show happiness; you show serenity. The young will see that and will realise that you have found something which has enabled you to come to terms with life on the earth plane and that is what they have got to do also.

So once again our counsel to you is to stand by. To give help when it is asked for. To give an ear when it is wanted. To give comfort when there is desolation and to give hope where there is despair. You cannot live other peoples lives for them and you cannot alter things so that they see life from your standpoint.

Your world is going through so many changes at the present time and because of all the publicity that is given to all that is sensational, to all that is wrong, to every crime that is committed, these are the things that have led society, as you know it, to be so disorganised. Men have got to come to a realisation that they are Spirit. They have got to reconcile the things of the Earth with the things of Spirit. They have got to reckon that the circumstances of their lives are such as are necessary for the building of their character; for the development of their soul.

You are so fortunate in having your belief in Spiritualism. A knowledge that there is life after death. The knowledge that you have got something which is very firm to cling onto. You have your faith and your belief. That is what you must encourage in your young people. It is not a question of living their lives for them. It is not a question of making all the decisions for them. You have got to be firm in the realisation that you have done what you could and now you have to stand on one side and let them find out for themselves.

No, you are not your brother's keeper! But you are your brother's helper; your brother's advisor; your brother's comforter and your brother's pathway to God and to Spirit!

We leave you with our blessing. Praying always that in your own lives you will find comfort. That you will be able to face whatever comes your way knowing that it is for the best. And looking forward to when you leave your body behind and step forward into the Spirit World to carry on with your destiny.

Goodnight my friends and God bless you.