No one will deny that the material contained in this book is of the kind that invariably makes for controversy, and therefore the writing of it has presented many difficulties. I have been blessed or cursed with an analytical mind and an aptitude for practical application acquired during the years when I held an administrative position of great responsibility. My trained powers of observation have served me well in the investigation which came about unexpectedly through my contact with Leslie Flint, to whom I had gone originally for personal reasons.

At that time I did not know a great deal about the famous film star Rudolph Valentino, and it was only gradually through various channels of communication that the soul of the real man, as opposed to, the pseudo-personality of the silent screen, was revealed. Long before there was any suggestion from him of putting our findings into print, and during the last eight years, the four people of our circle have kept a record of events which now includes 500 closely typed pages and a collection of tapes measuring approximately fifteen miles of magnetic track on which are recorded the direct voices of Valentino and of many other people who came from all walks of life. The following extract is an example of a communication from him, and I have chosen it as an introduction because it conveys by its sincerity and simplicity the true depths of the soul that shone through the much loved personality. I would like to point out that in the written record of the tapes, although the meaning has been retained, the phraseology has occasionally been slightly altered in order to eliminate certain Italian characteristics which might make the reading a little difficult.

When discussing what was meant by Self Illumination he had this to say: “One of the most important things (which I discovered very quickly when I came over to This Side of Life) was that I had to forget myself. I had to forget what I had been, and what I might have accomplished. I had to see things in their true perspective and place myself in the True Light to show up all my defects. For the first time I could see myself as I really was.

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Not as other people had seen me and not what I had assumed I was like. I had to find Truth, and the only way to do so is to place oneself in the Radiance that reveals the weaknesses which have to be eradicated before one can begin to reconstruct. I now see my life and its purpose so clearly. I see what I achieved and where I failed, but above all I see one thing that made me worth while, and that was the love of untold numbers of people who had never seen me in the flesh, and which made possible my redemption. It was this love that still gives me the incentive to return to help and inspire those of you who are seeking Truth, and who, by forgetting ‘self,’ desire to find their True Selves in service to God. It is not I who matter, it is what I may become through the love that is in the hearts of people like you, and through which I shall be helped.

“You may wonder why I come and give my time and my love to you all, but through you I hope to achieve great things for others, and in a strange way the love I give out comes back to me. Love is like that. By bestowing it, it comes back to you. Some times on Earth one does not understand love and often it is accepted as though it were one’s right! I understand so many things as I look back on my life, and I see many mistakes.” His voice trembled slightly and there was a note of sadness in the tone as he continued. “I do not say I was a vain man, but I now realise that physical attributes only matter when they spring from the Mind and from the Spirit, otherwise they are of little value. Perhaps anyone in the position I found myself, rocketed suddenly from obscurity to fame, would have found it very difficult not to have acted as I did.

“If I have left behind in your world something that gives people happiness, then I am grateful, but unless I can help them in a spiritual way, and make them want to seek God, and to understand His purpose for them, then I have not achieved very much. Here and there are people like yourselves who are anxious to find Truth, and your desire to become agents of God’s Will gives me the greatest happiness. If through our work together we achieve something that will enlighten others, then I have not failed to repay the affection that was given to me. “I want you to know that everything I do is done in love and I am but the agent of Others more highly evolved than I am but who, through the medium and me, come in love to serve Mankind. We are bound together by chains that cannot be broken, for each link is strong and secure, held together by love and faith. We are linked through Time and Space by this chain which encircles, not only your world, but ALL WORLDS. There are no limits imposed on the power of love.

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"Now I know that in my last incarnation (which seems so unreal to me) I was being used by Other Forces to express a Universal Love that would in some way touch the hearts of the people, irrespective of nationality, outlook or upbringing. This love was given through the agency of films, and I was only the vehicle of its expression; the vehicle of the Universal Spirit of Love manifesting through strange agencies in a modern world. The purpose was served, and I know now I shall not return to Earth again in the flesh. When I was on Earth I expressed love in a humble way, now I express a more noble aspect of it, yet, it is not wholly my love, for it comes from countless souls in the Realms of Spirit who, through many aeons of Time and many experiences of Life, have found through suffering and joy, Eternal Love.”

In the following chapters I endeavour to show how this influence has touched the lives of many groups of people and ‘I have dedicated myself to write only the truth as it has been presented to us.

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