Silent Road: In the light of personal experience by Wellesley Tudor Pole London: Neville Spearman Ltd, 1960 [DUST JACKET ITEM THAT CAME WITH "THE SILENT ROAD"] ‘Some of your experiences are almost unbelievable . A most interesting book that will do an enormous amount of good.’ Dr. Raynor Johnson In this unusual thought-provoking and, at times, controversial book the author tells the reader in his foreword that it ‘should be read with a mind free from preconceived ideas or set opinions’. The author’s personal experiences, described in these pages are varied, illuminating and always intriguing. You will read about: . The doctor who left his body in Britain while he visited Major Tudor Pole lying ill in a houseboat on the Nile. through the gift of ‘prevision’ the author was able to change a certain verdict of ‘guilty’ to one of ‘not guilty’ in a manslaughter case. There is so much of absorbing interest. Each chapter is a little gem in itself—a separate entity, dealing with some aspect of the mind, be it clairvoyance, precognition, dreams, memory or imagination. Nevertheless, all are connected for they are different facets of the whole. About the Author: Wellesley Tudor Pole, O.B.E., soldier, traveller, industrialist. Student of archaeology in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and the Sahara. Founder of the Big Ben Silent Minute Observance. Chairman: The Chalice Well Trust, Glastonbury and Governor of the Glaston Tor School for Boys. In the opinion of many, the insights revealed by Wellesley Tudor Pole in his previous books, The Silent Road and A Man Seen Afar established him as a seer possessing capacities of an order altogether different from what is ordinarily understood by clairvoyance. In this book he amplifies, again through the faculty of ‘extended memory’, some of the glimpses of Jesus already given. He believes that at certain moments of his life, Jesus, though seemingly involved in ordinary everyday events, was in reality acting as the instrument of cosmic forces. Though such events may be recorded in the Gospels, their significance was unseen at the time and has gone unrecognised for two thousand years. One such event in particular, the ‘writing on the ground’, involved a cosmic decision that will affect not only the possible future of humanity but of all life on this planet. Tudor Pole believes that the impulse of spiritual renewal is not a ‘once and for all’ event but is a continuous process, and he suggests that in the life of Bahá’u’lláh, founder of the Bahá’ís, and his son Abdu’l-Bahá, the continuity of the process can be glimpsed. Though such a noumenal process is forever beyond description in three-dimensional terms, connections between the Gospel events, the Bahá’í activity and our situation today are clearly suggested and the discerning reader may well arrive at an understanding that goes beyond what could be conveyed in words. Tudor Pole believes that a new impulse of renewal is imminent and that the energies associated with this event are already flowing into human life. Such a flow of higher energies does not automatically presage a golden age. Such energy is in a real sense ‘neutral’ and may be used by man for good or ill. We stand at a moment of opportunity or disaster. Jacket design by JUANITA GROUT W. Tudor Pole Jesus said: ‘Let not him who seeks cease until he finds, and when he finds he shall be astonished; astonished he shall reach the Kingdom, and having reached the Kingdom he shall rest.’ (From the Oxyrhyncus Papyrus Third Century A.D.) THE SILENT ROAD In the Light of Personal Experience L o n d o n NEVILLE SPEARMAN (c) W. TUDOR POLE, LONDON, 1960 THE CONTENTS FOREWORD ix INTRODUCTION xi Part I 1 PASSERS BY 3 2 AN ACCOUNT OF THREE SUPERNATURAL EXPERIENCES 6 Love’s Victory over Death 7 A Healing Mission 10 The Monk of Tintern Abbey 12 3 FURTHER UNUSUAL INCIDENTS 19 A Puzzling Time Sequence 19 Transit Most Mysterious 23 A Ring of Surprise 24 An Aftermath of Suicide 26 4 MEMORY, TIME AND PREVISION 30 5 PSYCHIC METHODS OF RECEPTION 44 The Dangers of Psychic Automatism 45 An Observer on the ‘Other Side’ 46 Building for the Future 56 Communion and Communication 57 6 THE ENIGMA OF SEX 59 7 THE ATTITUDE OF THE SCEPTIC 63 The Closed Mind 66 8 SPIRITUAL HEALING 73 Healing ‘Miracles’—Abdul Bahá 75 Padre Pio 80 9 THE GENIE AND THE LAMP 83 The Genie and the Little Horse The Genie and the Storm 88 10 CONSCIENCE—A HOUND FROM HEAVEN 90 11 SOME SPIRITUAL ISSUES UNDERLYING WORLD PROBLEMS 95 Part II 1 THE MYSTERY OF DREAMS 107 Premonitions 109 An Incident at Karnak in Egypt 111 A Foreign Legionary Meets Himself 111 A Waking Dream Experience 112 The Soul in Relation to the Spirit and the Mind 118 2 MOUSSA THE SNAKE-CHARMER 120 3 A PERSONAL NOTE 126 The Uses of Prevision 128 `Tell Her to be My Mother’ 130 The Problem of Evidence 131 The Transience of Existence 132 An Experience on the Orient Express 133 A Case of Intervention 134 The Saving Presence 134 The Origin of the Silent Minute 138 4 VOICES 141 5 THE PROBLEM OF SURVIVAL 150 Time and Timelessness 153 6 SEVEN FACETS OF THE MIND 155 7 THE LURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT 162 ‘For the King’s House in the Desert’ 162 The Desert, The Khamsin and The Sphinx 167 8 AN EXERCISE IN THE USE OF THE IMAGINATION 172 9 FOOD POR THOUGHT 177 On Meditation 177 The Gift of Giving 180 To One Bereaved 182 Affluence 187 Thinking from the Summit 189 10 LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS 194 The Illusion Called Evil 202 11 TIMES OF TRIBULATION 205 12 A COLLOQUY BETWEEN THE AUTHOR AND HIS PUBLISHER 210 13 `CHALICE WELL AND THE UPPER ROOM’ 221 Introduction By The Hon. Brinsley le Poer Trench SOME PEOPLE ARE publicists; others act unseen behind the scenes and let their deeds speak for themselves. Tudor Pole is one of the latter group. If you passed him in the street you would not realise that there was anything particularly unusual about him. But he is, I assure you, a quite exceptional man. He is utterly modest and unassuming. Although he would never admit it, I dare say that half his life has been spent in listening to people’s troubles and advising them on how to overcome their problems. In addition, I suspect that much of his sleeping life is also taken up with problems concerning the world’s affairs. And by this I mean actual spiritual work while he is ‘out of the body’ in the sleep state. Tudor Pole is the confidant of the great and the lowly, the rich and the poor. He is a kind of Albert Schweitzer for the sick in mind. And yet he is wise enough to know that nobody can solve another’s troubles or run their lives for them. One cannot permit another to take over one’s own burdens and liabilities, leaving one, as it were, free and comfortable, without responsibilities. Each one of us has to find his own way and salvation. Spiritual and material progress lies solely with the individual. Outsiders can only point the way. And this is what Tudor Pole, in his wisdom, tells each one who comes seeking solace. Although he has had many astonishing experiences of a most singular nature, some of which are described in these pages, he has his feet firmly anchored on the ground. The greater part of his life, apart from five years in the Army, has been spent in the world of industry. However, his interests are decidedly varied. He has travelled widely and has undertaken archaeological research in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and the Sahara. In 1940, at the time of Dunkirk, he founded the Big Ben Silent Minute. He asked people everywhere to enter at nine each evening into a dedicated silent prayer for Peace. Today, nearly twenty years later, there is hardly a country in the world where this practice is not known and kept. In the words of its founder: ‘There is no power on earth that can withstand the united cooperation on spiritual levels of men and women of goodwill everywhere. It is for this reason that the continued and widespread observance of the Silent Minute is of such vital importance in the interest of human welfare.’ Tudor Pole has recently been instrumental in forming the Chalice Well Trust to safeguard and preserve for ever Chalice Well, its gardens and orchards at Glastonbury. Now that it is a reality excavations will be undertaken in the hope of bringing to light many more of the hidden truths, together with historical and archaeological data which have puzzled so many for so long. It can be seen then that his work for humanity is not only on a very high level, but on a very practical one too. He is, indeed, a veritable ‘lighthouse’. Through the light that radiates from him others are drawn into the same work. A good example of what I mean is his vision in founding and carrying on the Silent Minute which has had a wonderful effect on thousands of people. The amazing experiences he describes and the subjects he discusses in this compelling and extraordinary book, whether dealing with Seers~i~, Prevision, Memory, Imagination or Dreams, all treat different aspects of the mind. They are parts of the whole and are truly facets of The Silent Road along which we all eventually travel towards an ultimate and sometimes unknown goal.