Almost 150 years ago, in 1873, a band of high spirits communicated the following warning through the medium William Stainton Moses.

“The busy world is ever averse to the things of spirit life. Men become so absorbed in the material, that which they can see and grasp, and hoard up, and they forget that there is a future and spirit life. They become so earthly that they are impervious to our influence; so material that we cannot come near them; so full of earthly interests that there is no room for that which shall endure when they have passed away.

More than this, the constant preoccupation leaves no time for contemplation, and the spirit is wasted for lack of sustenance. The spiritual state is weak; the body is worn and weary with weight of work and anxious care, and the spirit is well-nigh inaccessible. The whole air, moreover, is heavy with conflicting passions, with heart-burnings, and jealousies, and contentions, and all that is inimical to us.”

If this was the situation in 1873, how much worse must it seem to the spirit world in 2025 with the 24/7 news cycle and all the electronics and distractions that fill our lives? How many of us these days make time for "contemplation." How fortunate, then, are those people who choose (or are forced by life circumstances) to step back from the mad whirl and make use of their time to still the mind and strengthen the spirit.