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Wellesley Tudor Pole is an intriguing figure crossing from the world before the World Wars to well after and played particular roles in various ways through the period as well as authoring several books detailing many aspects of what he had seen and done across the years. There is no published biography known but he is mentioned in many works. Apparently he was born about 1884 and passed away in 1968•. He authored many pamphlets and books and was a life long pursuer of religious and mystical questions and visions being particularly involved with spiritualism and the Bahá'í Faith as well as the quest for the Holy Grail and Arthurian Legend.
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Writings
Private Dowding -The personal story of a soldier killed in battle First Published August 1917, then Printed in Great Britain by Clarke, Doble and Brendon, Ltd. of Cattedown, and Plymouth, six editions and Sixth Revised Edition published by Neville Spearman in 1966. "Synopsis:... this book was in the forefront of many invaluable records, since produced, purporting to describe the conditions of life after death."•
This book has become a 'period piece' and should be read as such although in my view the Message it contains was never more valuable than it is now.
Just as our experiences on earth are entirely individual and personal to each one of us, so it would seem are the experiences we meet as we pass forward into another world. In spite of this fact it is to me both remarkable and significant that the majority of current writings on this important subject tend largely to confirm one another in their accounts of 'Borderland' conditions.
In regard to detail it should be remembered that no two people living through the same event, even here on earth, are able to describe or memorise it in the same way. It is natural, therefore that differences of perception and of outlook should colour the various accounts of what happens to us after 'death'.
This book contains a number of very optimistic predictions about the future welfare of the human race. A word of warning is necessary here. To those who live beyond the confines of time and space it is conceivable that a thousand years of human 'time' may appear to occupy the period of a single 'Day'. I have no doubt that the prophecies given by the 'Messenger' in part III of this book are destined to be fulfilled long before our planet ceases to function as a living entity. Surely it is man's mission to do all in his power to bring the 'Golden Age' of which the 'Messenger' speaks, nearer than seems credibly possible to our restricted vision. We should strive our utmost with this end in view, even if this end may seem remote and almost beyond the range of our present faith and understanding. We can take both courage and solace from the fact that a fresh spiritual Impulse is now making itself felt in our midst and that to our Creator, working through the hearts and minds of men, all things are not only possible but are certain to be harmoniously fulfilled in due course, both in time and in Eternity.
A Man Seen Afar "provides a valuable insight into the life of Jesus through personal recollection!!! There are some fine details & descriptions, therefore, that one would not encounter elsewhere. Tudor Pole was a highly secretive individual who was obviously a Great Soul, an Initiate of the Ancient Mysteries, who worked Wonders behind the scenes. However, he did not want this to detract, or divert from, the Message. •
'''Writing On The Ground''' "Synopsis - In this book the author takes us beyond the familiar Gospel narratives and suggests that many seemingly everyday events in the life of Jesus were in reality a cosmic import. He sees the spiritual impulse of 2,000 years ago as a continuing process, as potent today as ever."• From scanned in text conversion, marginally cleaned up, we find from the forward:
Is life extinguished by death or does it continue beyond
the grave? The very act of living poses this question and
the answer we arrive at--consciously or unconsciously--
influences our every thought and every action throughout
our lives.
In this book, as in other books by Tudor Pole, this
question is neither posed nor answered explicitly. The
reason, it seems to me, is that for him the question is
irrelevant because the answer to it is an ever present
reality, so obvious, so much a part of his life that it is
simply taken for granted....
D. F. O. RUSSELL
And from the introduction:
The idea began in 1917 when two British officers were
discussing the war and its probable aftermath.
The conversation took place in a billet on the hillside
at the mouth of a cave in the Palestine hills, and on the
eve of a battle. One of the two, a man of unusual character
and vision, realising intuitively that his days on earth were
to be shortened, told his friend, who was Tudor Pole:
"I shan't come through this struggle and, like millions of
others, it will be my destiny to go on. You will survive
and live to see a greater and more vital conflict fought out
in every continent and ocean and in the air. When that
times comes, remember us. We shall long to play our part.
Give us the opportunity to do so, for that war will be a
righteous war. We shall not then fight with material
weapons, but we will be able to help you if you will let
us. We shall be an unseen but mighty army. You will still
have 'time' as your servant. Lend us a mome~lt of it each day
and through your silence give us our opportunity. The
power of silence is greater than you know. When those
tragic days arrive do not forget us."
Next day the speaker was killed. W.T.P. was severely
wounded and left with the enemy, but managed to get
back to the British lines, with an inescapable sense of
miraculous deliverance.
...
In I965 in collaboration with his friend Rosamond
Lehmann he produced a book which is now a treasured
possession for many of us--A Man Seen Afar.
The material for this, though prepared for during many
years of mind training and discipline, was received, as he
says, "spontaneously and naturally" over a period of less
than three months.
It amounts to a delineation of a small historical area of
space and time concerned with Jesus, his daily circum-
stances and his mission.
It is a picture which in places amplifles and in places
contradicts the Gospel accounts. These insights produce, as
Rosamond Lehmanul said, a kind of shock, as of fuller
recognition, stilling attention without conscious effort, a
"touchstone" quality that made all question of evidence
or proof seem to her irrelevant. The "glimpses" do indeed
have this quality. Merely reading them produces a subtle
change in our spiritual outlook. They may do more. They
lead to a qualitative change in our understanding.
...
Some time ago it became apparent that he proposed to
extend the glimpses given in A Man Seen Afar and to my
alarm insisted that I should collaborate.
I have reservations alike about clairvoyance and about
mysticism. I have never talked to a departed relative, never
had a religious experience. From both the orthodox and
the heterodox aspects of the transcendental, it would be
difficult to find anyone more extensively unqualified to
work with Tudor Pole.
Yet he insists that I should introduce these new glimpses,
edit them, collate them and comment on them. More, he
assumed that it was a foregone conclusion that I would
do so.
In agrecing, I made the single condition that I would
do it according to my lights (if any) and this, so it says, is
precisely what is wanted. I can only assume that this is an
example of what Huxley called "grace in queer places".
WALTER LANG
My Dear Alexias "Perhaps the most enlightening of TP's books, in terms of providin an insight to the man himself , is 'My Dear Alexias', taken from letters between TP & his 'chosen' co-author Rosamund Lehmann. His writings are esoteric but provide Revelation to those willing to see. I would recommend his books to all Seekers of Truth out there!"•
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Moments in History
He predated the Armistice Day with a number of forms of taking note of the sacrifices in war made - the Big Ben Silent Minute and then The Lamplighter Movement• became the Remembrance Ceremony•.
He meets and interviews (and publishes the interview of) 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the fall-winter of 1910• and also the speaker for the english translation of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's first talk in the West on the evening of September 10th, 1911••.
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Mentioned in other books
Some of his contributions to history and humanity are referenced in The Story of the Divine Plan - Taking place during and immediately following World War I and is mentioned extensively as the "soldier" in The Servant, the General and Armageddon.
Wellesley Tudor Pole - Appreciation and Valuation by Oliver G Villiers, as a privately printed stapled booklet, is a "biographical memorial to the mystic and seer. With seven photographs."•
"Sir George Trevelyan: memories and observations"• mentions his close friendship with and actions on behalf of Pole (not George Otto Trevelyan, nor his son George Macaulay Trevelyan but instead George Macaulay Trevelyan's nephew - Sir George Trevelyan, 4th Baronet.
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Biographical notes
From the introduction to The Silent Road•
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 thek
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 hrmly anchored on the
ground. The greater part of his life, apart from five
years in the Army, has been spent in the world of indus-
try. However, his interests are decidedly varied. He has
travelled widely and has undertaken archaeological
research in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and the Sahara....
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Notes
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