Please read the full transcript below as you listen...

Lang:

Cosmo Lang here.

Woods:

Yes.

Greene:

Excuse me, would you say that name again?

Lang:

Cosmo Lang.

Greene:

Cosmo Lang?

Lang:

My name is Lang.

Woods:

Lang?

Lang:

Cosmo Lang.

Woods:

Cosmo Lang. Yes, Archbishop of...

Greene:

Oh is it...?

Lang:

Can you hear me?

Woods:

Yes.

Greene:

Yes, just.

Lang:

I pray you forgive me if I do not manifest very well.

Woods:

You’re doing very well.

Lang:

It's quite a complicated procedure to-to-to manage to s-s-speak in this fashion, through this apparatus.

​

Woods:

Yes.

Lang:

But I would very much like to talk you for a few moments.

Woods:

Thank you very...

Lang:

...there are many souls here...like myself, who are most anxious to make contact with the Earth and to be of some service.

Woods:

Yes.

Lang:

But we realise the manifold difficulties - difficulties on our side and, in a sense, also on yours.

Woods:

Yes.

Lang:

There are so few, unfortunately, in your Spiritualistic circles who seem to have any real aspiration in the true sense. And although I do not want to cause any alarm, I would give this warning; that in my opinion, it is very unwise for so many of these souls in your world, sitting in their circles, to sit in the fashion in which they oft-times do.

If only they would realise the dangers all around and about. There are many Earth-bound souls of a low order, who are only too anxious to take advantage and to distort and, in fact, I consider it highly dangerous to tamper with these things.

By that I mean, that when you sit in a group or circle in your own home or wherever it may be, that you approach it in the right manner, in a truly spiritual way.

Woods:

Yes.

Lang:

And you should aspire to the highest possible, that you might contact souls who can be of inspiration and help to you. I have been to many of these sessions - these séances, as you call them, and I realise only too well how dangerous they can be if they [are not] conducted in a true spiritual manner.

Woods:

Who, um, when you was on Earth, were you the Archbishop of Canterbury?

Lang:

A long time ago. But we don’t want to discuss that.

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Woods:

Mmm...

Lang:

If you do not mind?

Woods:

No.

Flint:

[Sniffing]

Greene:

Friend, may I ask you something?

Lang:

What is that?

Greene:

May I ask how you found yourself...where you found yourself when you passed over and your reactions?

If you wouldn’t mind?

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Lang:

Well...you know...[when] I became conscious of my new state of being, naturally - like so many others who have gone before and since - I was surprised. It's rather difficult to know what one really did expect.

I suppose my religious upbringing and my knowledge within the Church and the Church’s teachings and my studies in regard to the Bible and philosophies of other religions and so on, I suppose really expected some kind or form of life in which I should find...opportunity to serve...God...and I should find those around and about me of like thought and interest.

But naturally, I suppose I had, in a sense, a narrow religious conviction of these things. I realise many things, of course, which I thought were factual and truth are not necessarily so. I realise of course now, that many of the things which I believed, were really not so in fact. One is inclined to, over centuries of time, possibly obscure truth; that is, the simple truths that Jesus gave to the world.

Dogma, creed - which of course was so part of my life - I realised were non-existent and unimportant here; that a man is no more after death, than he was before, in a sense that is, as a person and a character in an individual existence...

But fundamentally, I was more concerned with spiritual things, so when I came here, to a great extent, many of the material instincts, I suppose you'd call them, or desires, soon left me. And I did not feel, as so many do, when they first come here, the need for certain physical things.

To me it did not matter, it was of no concern. In fact, in a sense, it was a relief to know that I didn’t have to bother about this, or about that any more. I was glad, in other words, to shed the body and it's desires and its needs.

And I was happy to find myself in an environment, among peoples that I had known and friends that had passed many years before me, and certain relations and friends and so on over here, all there to welcome me.

I soon realised, of course, my new state of being and I was relieved to find that it was so real and so natural. Of course, it was, in many ways, different to what one might have anticipated when one thinks back to the early teachings that I'd had, my background and so on. But then again, nearer towards the end of my life, I had changed a great deal of my stronger views and I think I was much more open, in many ways, to receive new knowledge.

But of course, where Spiritualism was concerned, I was very much afraid of it. I was afraid that it could undermine the Church and probably even destroy it. And I wasn’t sure that it had very much to offer, that was good. Of course, many of these ideas I’ve now changed, but I still think there are dangers in Spiritualism.

I-I-I-I, I do feel very strongly that it is a thing that is so vital and so important, that all peoples should be conscious and know of it. But I do feel that it is dangerous, if it is used in the wrong sense.

In other words, I feel that it is important that colleges or societies should be organised. Where instruments could be trained in the proper manner. Where they could be sheltered and fed. Where they can be released from all Earthly worries and anxieties. Where they can follow out a vocation, as it were, to make this mediumship, as you term it, a vocation.

The same as one who goes into the ministry; he gives up his whole life to it and is trained, and sets his whole self apart from the world and yet, is of the world and serves the world and yet, is on a higher spiritual vibration.

Because if you are to contact the highest forces, the good forces, those who can help the world, those who can uplift mankind, you must take instruments who are of like mind and of like thought. And as I have said it seems to me, that many of these instruments are of a very, unfortunately, low order.

​

By that I don’t want you to think I condemn. Far from it. I am anxious to help all, of course. But I do feel that only when that which you term Spiritualism, is placed in its right perspective - when it is used and applied in the right way, when it has the instruments who are of a higher mental and spiritual level, who will give up all in true service to God, looking upon themselves as mere instruments of his Divine power to serve the children of the Earth and who have that feeling of desire for self-sacrifice, to give up all in service, to tune in with the highest and the finest that can come through from our world...then it seems to me that while you are, as it were, only scratching the surface of the astral worlds, of which 90% of your instruments seem to be doing - then, it is not only bad, but it can even be dangerous.

Because like can attract like and also lower entities who are Earth-bound, who cling to the Earth, can come through and use instruments and also through instruments, speak to peoples and tell peoples of things which are not true and also be the cause of much unhappiness, much misery.

If you could see, as I have seen, various low mentalities and entities haunting various places in your world...I mean, for instance, you take some of those whom you call lunatics, some of those who are in places set apart from those whose mental condition is such, they are often controlled or used by low forces, low entities.

You see, there are many who, in your world, are unconscious mediums and if those in charge, for instance, in certain institutions where the insane are placed, understood these things, these truths of communication, many of those patients could be rid of these entities.

Even [as you know] in the time of Jesus, when he released those who were obsessed by the devil. So it is, that obsession is very much in your world, in certain instances. And that is where it seems to me the dangers of these séances can be - that you can be obsessed by entities who will distort you and distort truth, who will give to you falsehoods and mislead you.

I feel it's so important that when you sit, you should always conduct yourself in the right sense, in the right fashion.

That you should first approach God, not only when you sit in prayer, but also in your lives, which is even more important. For it is useless to sit for an hour to pray, unless you yourselves, in your daily lives, endeavour to make it a living prayer, in thought and in action.

That is why I have said so much on this, that it is so vital, as I see it, that the church if it is to - to live, if it is to do the work which it had set out to do centuries ago; when in the early days, obviously, the teachers and the prophets were used, when they were controlled by high souls to give forth teachings from the very earliest times...

When one realises the foundations of the Church and the tremendous power which it had - and I’m not talking of material power, I’m talking of spiritual power - when one compares the Early Church with the Church of today, one is very conscious of the fact that it has gone very far adrift from its original teachings and its original spiritual force for good.

I know there are sincere and good souls in all religious organisations and bodies, who strive to do their utmost, to spread the gospel and the teachings of Jesus and endeavour in their own lives to show the path that Jesus laid down for them to tread. But nevertheless, I see now the Church in a true perspective.

I realise its faults, I realise how and when and where it went wrong and strayed and erred from the simple path that Jesus prepared. I realise that out of this, what you term Spiritualism, there is much that is good that could come. In fact, it is obviously the essence of the Early Church, the Early Christians who gathered together and who were possessed of the power of the Lord and who overcame the flesh and gave up all to follow Jesus.

I know that if this great and glorious truth were proclaimed and if it were demonstrated and made manifest in the true sense the whole world would be changed and man would be reunited with God. And great souls and great forces would come to your aid, to uplift and to guide you and to make possible a path of righteousness and truth for all peoples, irrespective of class or colour or creed.

That is the reason why we return to you. That we might, in some measure, make you conscious of your great inheritance and also make you conscience...conscious of your great responsibilities, one to another.

Those of you who know of this great truth of communication and what it can mean and what it can achieve, will probably under...probab...

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Woods:

Yes?

Greene:

[Whispering] This is wonderful George.

Woods:

It’s wonderful, yes.

Greene:

[Unintelligible]...is wonderful.

Woods:

[Unintelligible]

​

Lang:

...when properly understood and applied in the lives of all.

We who come to you, you must remember, that we come from all conditions and stratas of being. And if you aspire, we can reach to you and we can unite with you and make, as it were, a bridge over which we can travel closer to you and we can commune and we can guide and uplift and inspire you.

But there are so many in your world, as I have already said, who know of this truth in part, but who are content with outward shell, who are content with the materialistic aspect of these things and are little or not concerned at all with the real spiritual ones.

That’s why, to me, when you refer to Spiritualism it seems a misnomer. How can it be spiritual, when there is so little spiritual in it? I have been to many of your meetings and churches and séances. And with all due respect, I do feel that I am right in saying, there is very little that is spiritual.

I realise the 'crying need' of peoples in your world for comfort when they are saddened by the loss, as they term it, of someone near and dear to them. It is natural that they need proof. And I know only too well that proof is given and will always be given where the need is great.

But how few there are, who, when they have received their proof, when they have received their conviction...how few there are who endeavour to put into their lives this great realisation that must come with such demonstration or experience. How content they are to go on in the same old way; living selfishly unto themselves, concerning themselves only, more or less, with material things; what they can achieve in a material sense.

How few there are who are prepared to take upon themselves the cross of Christ and sacrifice, if necessary, themselves for the good of the world. How many are they who, when it comes to it, will make any sacrifice for truth's sake?

My friends, until the Christ-spirit comes into the Spiritualist movement, there can be no advancement in a spiritual sense. And by the Christ-spirit, I mean the power and the love and the knowledge of God and his wisdom and his ways and his path for his children.

And when I talk about the Christ-spirit, believe me, I do not refer to it in a narrow sense. I do not refer to it in a sense that can be applied in a dogmatic way. I am not referring to creeds and dogmas and all the things that appertain to orthodoxy. I am referring to Christ in the sense of the spiritual consciousness and awareness.

For if we follow him - and when I refer to him, I refer to that which he demonstrated as the son of the Divine Father. Remembering that he came into the world to do his father’s business. Realising that he was human, as you are human, suffering the same degrees and more so, the things of the flesh. Realising that he was physically and humanly the same as each one of you; but possessed as you are, with the Divine spark. But realising that he was a son of God, as you are sons of God also.

He did not come that he might be proclaimed a king among men. His kingdom, as he said, was not of the Earth, but was of the spirit. He was not concerned with material things, as such. He was concerned with human beings that they might find, through love and sacrifice if necessary, the path back to the Divine Parent, back to God.

‘For I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the father, but by me.’

That has been very misinterpreted over the centuries and has been the foundation of a lot of dogma. A lot of mistakes have been brought into being because of the misinterpretation of those words.

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'No man cometh unto the father, but by me' - in other words, in me, in following me, in following in what I do and endeavouring to become like unto me - that is the way of salvation. Jesus had no concern with material things, as such. He was concerned with the spiritual aspect of man. The material aspect was of no consequence.

The reason were obvious why he was crucified, why those around and about him - who had seen him perform what the world terms 'miracles', who had seen him do great things - were yet dissatisfied, because he did not save them in a material sense. Jesus was not concerned with saving mankind in a material sense, he was concerned in saving them in a spiritual one.

And when he gave his life on the cross, it was done and was permitted because it was the only way, obviously, in which he could convince and bring into being the realisation that the Earthly things are of little consequence. It is of the spiritual that he was concerned, but to overcome the flesh and to give up all, to sacrifice all, if necessary, for the things that are of God.

And so, as you know, he reappeared after death and gave conviction and founded - although I am convinced he did not come to found - a religion, as the world now terms or understands it. But he came to show a path of righteousness and of truth. If he had not returned from the dead there would be no Christian faith.

But nevertheless, as I see it and realise it now, I understand, I feel sure, with a greater realisation and wisdom and a greater certainty, the reasons and the purpose of the life of Jesus. And I am convinced, that when we strive to follow him and become like unto him - irrespective of what religion we may or may not have - we can forget and disregard all our creeds and dogmas and make ourselves simple like unto Jesus.

And in simplicity, we shall find wisdom. And in wisdom we shall find the path. And the path shall bring us nearer to our Divine Parent, our Creator. To follow him, take upon ourself his cross and to realise that in love and in service we find our salvation...