People living in the afterlife tell us that they don’t have to read books. The books read themselves to the reader, with the author’s original intent. In this video, a speaker living in the afterlife, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, describes the vast libraries of books in the afterlife and the fact that the books read themselves to the readers.
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A transcript of the text from the book, Life in the World Unseen, containing Benson’s messages follows.
In particular, I have dipped into history. I was amazed when I started to read the books. I naturally expected to find that history would be treated as we are all familiar with, but with the essential difference that I would now be presented with the truth of all historical acts and events. I found that side by side with the statements of pure fact of every act by persons of historical note, by statesmen in the government of their countries, by kings who were at the head of those same countries, side by side with such statements was the blunt naked truth of each and every motive underlying their numerous acts—the truth beyond dispute. Many of their motives were elevated. Many, many of them were bitterly base. Many were misconstrued or distorted. There were true narratives of thousands upon thousands of human beings who had been active participants in the affairs of their countries. Some were victims of others’ treachery and baseness. Some caused or originated that treachery and baseness. None was omitted. It was all there for all to see—the truth, with nothing hidden or suppressed.
These records had no respect for persons, whether they were kings or commoners, churchmen or laymen. The writers had just set down the true story as it was. It required no adornment, no commentary. It spoke for itself. And I was profoundly thankful for one thing—that this truth had been kept from us until such time as we stood where we were now standing, when our minds would, in some measure, be prepared for the remarkable things we learned.
So far, I have mentioned only political history, but I also delved into church history, and what I learned was no better than what I learned in the political sphere. What I learned was, in fact, worse, considering that so many diabolical deeds were committed by people who, outwardly, said they were serving God. But actually, they were instruments of men as base as themselves. The motives given in our Earthly history books don’t truly describe the real motives of people involved in so many activities on Earth!
Although these books contained complete narratives of the perpetrators of so many dark deeds in the Earth world’s history, they also bore witness to many deeds that were great and noble. The great, noble deeds were not there to provide evidence for and against any point of view, but because literature had become part of the fabric of human life.
People in the afterlife take pleasure in reading. The pursuit of knowledge is far greater in the afterlife than upon the Earth-plane, since people don’t have to be preoccupied with the pressing needs that are imposed on us during our Earth lives.
We continued our tour by passing through many other rooms where volumes on every subject imaginable were available to anyone who wished to study them. One of the most important subjects among the books is what is called on Earth “psychic science.” I was astonished by the wealth of literature under the heading of psychic science. There were also books denying the existence of a spirit world that were produced on Earth by people who didn’t understand the truth. When the authors entered the afterlife and looked back at their books denying the existence of the spirit world, they had very different reactions to what they wrote in ignorance! They had become, in themselves, living witnesses that proved the falsehoods in the contents of their own books.
We were very much struck by the books’ beautiful bindings, the materials the pages were made of, and the style of print on the pages. The method of reproducing books here is wholly a process of the mind. As with all else, the author and printer work together in complete harmony. The books that result from this close co-operation are works of art. They are beautiful creations that are lovely to look upon. Binding the books is another expert process, carried out by more artists using wonderful materials never seen upon the Earth, since they are of spirit only. As for producing the books, we have our methods of printing in the afterlife. The resulting books are totally unlike those of the Earth. We have experts who are artists at their work, and they love doing it.
But the books thus produced are not dead things that require a concentration of the whole mind upon them. They live just as much as the paintings we saw were living. To pick up a book and begin reading from it meant also to perceive with the mind, in a way not possible on Earth, the whole story as it was being told, whether it be history or science, or the arts. The book, once taken in the hand by the reader, instantly responds, in very much the same way as flowers here respond when one approaches them closely. The purpose is different, of course. All the vast numbers of books we saw were there for all to use at their leisure and to their heart’s delight. There were no restrictions, no tiresome rules and regulations. Standing with all this enormous wealth of knowledge about us, I was staggered at my own ignorance. However, Edwin reassured me by telling us that we must not let the sight of so much knowledge frighten us, as we have the whole of eternity before us! It was a comforting reminder, and strange to say, a fact that one is inclined to overlook. It takes time to shake off, finally, that feeling of impermanence, of transience, that we felt when on Earth. On Earth, we feel that we must see everything as quickly as we can. But in the afterlife, time, as a factor in our lives, has ceased to function.
