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Last letters from the living dead man

Chapter 18: LETTER XIII TREES AND BRICK WALLS
By David Patterson Hatch
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About This Book

A series of automatic letters and essays purportedly transmitted from a departed communicator, offering reflections on the afterlife, spiritual guidance, and social renewal. The pieces move between personal counsel and broad commentary on war, national unity, and moral responsibilities, proposing ideals such as world federation, collective spiritual labor, and an emerging age of higher consciousness. Interwoven are meditations on grief, ritual fellowship, unseen guardians, and practical exhortations for ethical living and communal reconstruction after crisis.

LETTER XIII
TREES AND BRICK WALLS

May 16, 1917.

YOU fear lest the dismal prophecies of world-disaster, of cataclysm, of the destruction of half the human race which you hear from many sources, may tend to discourage the world.

Remember that hope springs eternal in the human breast. And if the minds of men are familiar with the idea of cataclysm, they will more readily adjust themselves to lesser changes.

Read the Old Testament. The most dismal prophecies were not verified, but changes came.

Some of the “independent ministers” of America are more violent than Jeremiah. But they help indirectly—in accustoming the minds of men to the idea of change.

If panics come—and they may—refuse to be panic-stricken.

If violence comes—and it may—refuse to be violent.

If discouragements come—and they will—refuse to be discouraged.

When your brains become over-heated, look steadily at the trees. They will quiet you. If there are no trees in your neighborhood—why, look at a brick wall in moments of excitement. A brick wall is a soothing spectacle. It stands steady, unless moved from without.