It is inconceivable, which is apparent as to where the world finds itself today with Ukraine, that we find ourselves back reminiscent of 1939 Europe poised on the brink of a world war. With that thought in mind I turned to monthly editorials written by Eileen J. Garrett from 1941-1951 for her Tomorrow Magazine that had a purely literary cast rather than the psychic one presented in Tomorrow Magazine 1952-1962 that you are perhaps familiar with or will be as I seek to bring it back in some fashion. These editorials help to flesh out more of an understanding of the complexities of Garrett as she attempted to widen her lens from the study of parapsychology which she is best known for with her creation of Parapsychology Foundation in l951 after a life time of involvement in psychical research. These editorials were in part written in the crucible of World War II and the post war era which stand the test of time. I seek to share with you some of her commentary.
“There will be dark days ahead when war is fought in the hearts as well as the battlefields, but if we will remember in our enfeebled moments what happened to a too complacent world, we will not hesitate to take our stand for the security of justice and unity among nations. No honorable settlement can be made nor enduring peace cemented and maintained without courage and endurance. There may be anxious battles ahead of us in this winter of our development. But a smile on our lips and an unshaken resolve will help the impetus to victory and a new dawn…Great sorrows and joys will be our portion in the days to come. They will banish our indifference , and split the clouds of complacency apart—giving us richness in human experience. The action of these forces fortunately does not depend on our ability to understand or maintain ourselves in the face of evolution. We must live in the environment of spirit and matter, and thus grasp the reality that we are of the community of the near-divine. Life in itself is an act of faith; when we accept it, we accept immortality ( January, 1943)
Man demands action, and there is less and less sympathy with opportunists. The simple ones are disturbed in their hearts, and are saying, ‘Who is there to lead us?’ But they forget that when evolution is ready she is not enslaved by the will of man, but chooses carefully the voices of those who will carry her in fidelity over her savage but sovereign path. (June, 1942)
We have become wonderful in our own eyes by the creation of myriad listening ears, which connect us with the telephone, radio, and cable. We have created a world of vision that carries us under earth and ocean, and through time and space, we have made arms and legs beyond evolution’s dream for us; we have taken wings that carry us higher and further than plumed fancy has ever thought to span. But all this cannot endure—nor can we—unless the poet, the artist and the philosopher remind us continually that our absurd playthings will not preserve us, nor our works, nor our being, if we do not fulfill that purpose which evolution has placed upon us. But if we are to accomplish this end, it must become the duty of all serious students and thinkers—of all groups within religion, science, philosophy and art—to unify. Men should not find themselves warring with each other’s attitudes and ideals, but rather seeking to find the key to the meaning of this most significant experience through which we are passing! It is not to be found in escapism, in indolence of thinking, in laziness of effort, nor in empty paradises which held us in the past. It is to be found, instead, in the process of a new creation, which will, with infinite patience, make a perfect world; and it will make that world only if in it we permit spiritual values to have a basic and fundamental part. No material world can exist without its spiritual life being contained deep with the roots of its community. It may fall apart, but its usefulness can never be forgotten—for the spirit remains indestructible, and the design becomes part of eternity. (December, 1941)
There are those who have regretted that I have not presented more material in the field of parapsychology (within the pages of literary Tomorrow). I believe I should have created confusion and rendered a disservice to the fundamental and basic things in which I believe, if I had dealt lightly with spiritual truths or had permitted those without definite authority to make statements…It is well to remember that the road to immortality does not follow one single and well defined pathway. Without the embers of our own contained experience, there is a master light which led us out into this phase of our existence. When we so desire, it will continue to point the way to the deepest truths in our own hearts—so that the rhythm and continuity of our existence may be manifest in every event of our lives.( December, 1943)
Whatever we may choose to believe, we are children of divine promise, related one to another by the stream of consciousness that flows between us, united in blood and bone with all other men, whatever their color or belief. Nor can we escape our destiny, for we are folded within a single pattern the form of which we may change, but never obliterate. We are a symbol of infinite wisdom, redeemed from time to time by growth. The spark of the divine is ours, and if we do not know it, it is because we have not paused to look within at the wonder and miracle of our own selves…There is need for all us to remember, that we depart unknowing and unfulfilled when we cease to be, if in life we remain unaware of our responsibilities to the will that is ours to preserve. The seeds of belief are contained with us, and we must consciously occupy ourselves with responsibility so that these freedoms we crave may be cradled and preserved”. (October, 1943)
As I close with prayers for Ukraine and yes for all of us, I will leave the last cautionary words to Eileen Garrett my beloved grandmother:
“The road to greater understanding is often lonely and we find discouragement along the way, but unless we understand our own basic natures, we will fail in our duty as citizens of the world and by our weakness, confusion, and inconsistency will imperil our children again.” (November, 1943)