The Blue Island

This is a reprint of a classic book first published in 1922, with a foreword by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. W.T. Stead was a journalist and author who died on the Titanic and ostensibly communicated within a few days of this disaster. He had already written about messages from the other side, so was more familiar than most when he suddenly passed over with hundreds of bewildered fellow passengers. He is given some instructions about how to communicate, and the book consists of a series of instructive short messages about his new state and surroundings as well as activities corresponding to the interests of those who have just arrived. There is a gradual discarding of earthly habits and superficial identity. One of the interesting points about communication is the visualisation of the face as 'the part they would recognise me by' and the impressing of thoughts on the mind of the medium: 'I stood by the most sensitive present, and spoke and concentrated my mind on a short sentence, and repeated it with much emphasis and deliberation until I could hear part of its spoken by this person.' Stead tells us that through our character we are mentally building up our subsequent condition when we pass over. He discusses the life review in terms of paying a bill, emphasising the centrality of reason and motive leading to a certain result, but always underpinned by the law of love. There are some important spiritual insights to be gleaned from this short work.