0.0 – Christian Science Author ~ Baird Spalding ~ Biography and Publication Index

     Wherever there is a flare of general interest in any personality or his achievement, such as has been evinced by the readers of THE LIFE AND TEACHING OF THE MASTERS OF THE FAR EAST, you may be certain there is a flame of spiri­tual Truth accompanying it.

     Few in modern times have created such an interest as BAIRD T. SPALDING, whose name became legend in metaphysical and Truth circles during the first half of the twentieth century. Few sensed the flame of spiritual inspiration sweeping the world as did Mr. Spalding. The nature of the man, the manner in which his message has been presented, and the Mes­sage all bear living testimony to the Truth of his words and the honor  and sincerity of the man.

     The countless numbers of letters received through the years from all over the world bear testimony of the tremendous assistance from the message con­tained in his books and such letters continue to pour in, years after he passed over to a higher schoolroom. Baird T. Spalding passed beyond the veil on March 18, 1953, in Tempe, Arizona, at the age of 95. He was active in his mining interests right up to the end.

     Douglas K. DeVorss probably knew Mr. Spalding as well as anyone, due to their many years of associa­tion, and we quote from his talk given at the Spald­ing Memorial Service in Tempe, Arizona, on March 22, 1953:

     “Mr. Spalding was a very quiet, humble servant of all whom he met. He would never permit me, under any circumstances, in presenting him to audiences, to dwell on the personality or on himself as a man of great accomplishments. Since 1935 I had the unique opportunity of traveling with him to more than 200 cities in North America. And, though I lived with him 24 hours a day in a very close relationship most of those years, yet I must be frank and tell you that I do not believe any one person or group of persons really understood this great soul, for so many differ­ ent ways, on so many different planes of activity. In making these few personal remarks, I am sure you understand we are doing this in a very humble way, because not only was he our friend but a man who was like a father to many of us. 

     “There was not a town of any size anywhere in the world, that I know of, where Mr. Spalding couldn’t walk into someone’s home and sit down to dinner. He was always welcome. And during the past twenty- five years he lived very much, as we say, like a bird. He seemed to have reached a point of attainment where material things were not of great concern to him. Although his earnings as an individual, over a period of time, were unknown to me and to all of us, nevertheless, he passed on not as a rich man at all. His material possessions are few. The great heritage which he left is in the unique discoveries which he made regarding the teachings of Jesus. Mr. Spalding never wrote or lectured for financial profit or gain and he was an open channel for any funds that came to him, distributing them immediately. We have no way of knowing the extent of his philanthropic enter­prises because no one ever approached him who was in need of any material assistance that he didn’t give them everything he had and, consequently, he was always a very prosperous man. In fact, I know of no one who, in a way, as rich as Mr. Spalding and many of us envied his unique attainment which he had reached through his very exceptional under­ standing, and which undoubtedly came to him very early in life.

     “It was about 65 years ago that he first made some of these discoveries regarding Jesus and the lives of the Great Masters. He walked and talked with Great Masters in the visible world, even as did the great scientist, Mr. Steinmetz, of whom he was a great admirer. I have seen pictures of Mr, Spalding and Mr. Steinmetz together. Both Steinmetz and Edison predicted that the time would come when it would be possible for us to make recordings of the Sermon on the Mount and in the actual language and voice of Jesus at the time when He gave the Sermon on the Mount. 

     “Many other startling discoveries and disclosures, as I like to refer to them, were made by Mr. Spalding during his long life of service and activity in all parts of the world. For instance, I want to go back to the idea of how his books came to be published. I have been told by people who knew Mr. Spalding in Cal­cutta, India in the early nineties that he decided to write out in longhand some of the accounts of his experiences in India. Some friends asked him to type it and let them have copies, and for many, many years he carried these typewritten accounts (of what later became Volume I) with him. People would read them and pass them among themselves until, finally, a very prominent woman in Oakland, Cali­fornia, whose husband was the builder of the Oak­ land Municipal Railways, asked Mr. Spalding if he would have any objection to her having her printer, the California Press in San Francisco, print a thou­ sand copies of this work in an inexpensive paper binding; she wanted to give every one of her friends a copy of that book. Mr. Spalding gave his consent and soon after this he left for England. 

     “The books were printed and passed among her friends, as a gift. Within about sixty days, phe­nomenally, as it seemed, more than 20,000 orders were received for copies of that book! When Mr. Spalding returned from England, of course he was astonished at the interest in his discoveries and ex­periences, so he permitted her to have the balance of the work published, which became known as Vol­ume II. 

     “Then there was a period of about ten years that Mr. Spalding did not do any writing. But nearly every night he was a guest or visiting friends and after dinner he would have a little question and answer period and in that way he met a great many people. After his day's work was done as a research engineer , he would answer the many questions put to him at these little gatherings and the word-of-mouth publicity spread very rapidly. But that work came to a halt during the period when Cecil B. De Mille was making the moving picture, the KING OF KINGS. Mr. Spalding was engaged by Mr. De Mille as tech­nical advisor on all the Biblical work in that picture. 

     “My experience with Mr. Spalding started about twenty-five years ago. I was particularly interested in the books and their distribution throughout the world. At that time there was a great upward surge in New Thought and spiritual reading and studying and many people were very anxious to have Mr. Spalding complete another book. Finally, one of his very closest friends invited him to a country cabin where he could work without interruption and Mr. Spalding completed in longhand what is now known as Volume III. That book was published immedi­ately . 

     “A rumor started spreading across the country that Mr. Spalding had passed on, so I suggested to Mr. Spalding that, since he was not sailing for India and a trip around the world until October 4, that we go to New York together, stopping at some of the larger cities enroute, and meet the many people who had been reading his books and disprove the false rumors being generated. Mr. Spalding agreed that this would be a good idea if it would be accom­plished in about thirty days. So, the latter part of August, 1935, we selected thirty of the larger cities and decided to make that tour in thirty days. I have a reason for telling this because, as many of you know, Mr. Spalding, right up until just a few days ago, had almost unlimited energy in a physical form. He was never fatigued. He could go for maybe two or three weeks with only three or four hours sleep a night. 

     “He never claimed anything for himself. He never made any claims as to being a great healer or prac­titioner, seer, psychic, or anything of the sort. And I can assure you he did all of his writings just as you sit down and write a letter to someone. The material was never obtained through automatic writing, Clair- audience or clairvoyance, or anything of that sort. It wasn’t necessary because he knew these people whom he wrote about just as he knew these great scientists and religionists, such as Dr. Steinmetz and Dr. Norwood. The latter was the famous clergyman in New York and one of Mr. Spalding's very close friends. 

     “I think these facts may be of interest to you, although he probably wouldn’t approve some things we are doing here this afternoon because he realized that the physical form had so very little to do with the real Life of the individual. As you will recall, he said: ‘The Christ is in each one of you,’ and that is the important thing that he wanted everyone to re­alize. Sometimes when people asked him, ‘How-many Masters are there in the United States?’ he would say: ‘There must be at least 150 million Masters in this country.’ That was the vision which he had, that each individual would become aware of his Oneness with God and the Christ and not just worship creeds and dogmas and sects. 

     “Each one of you, as individuals, if you were standing here in my place, could tell a little different story. No two stories would be alike as to what Mr. Spalding meant to you as an individual, as a brother, but through the writings and his talks, an­swering your questions, he never put any limitation on time. I have known him to talk all night to a friend to help him over some mental or financial stumbling block. It was almost as if he had some great intuitive power that made him such a great scientist. He had studied in Heidelberg. He had worked in all the great scientific laboratories at one time or another, particularly in geophysical work. He was one of the early pioneers in the atomic work. He was particularly interested in helping the indi­vidual to help himself. Strange today, and the most difficult thing for people to understand, is that material possessions seemed to mean so very little to him. Because he realized, as Jesus did, the greatest thing that we can do when we are expressing on the physical plane, here on this earth, is to live the Christ Life and get our attention away from limitations. Of course, that is what we have tried to do this after­ noon because we know that Mr. Spalding is with us as always and that we have the continued opportun­ity of living the Life as he did and in the way which he tried to show us.” Show all