Years ago, as you measure time, I was an inhabitant of Mars, your sister planet. My name is Eros Urides (the latter signifying "of Urid"). But a physical name is only an incidental in one's life.
In the Spirit world we are given a name in accordance with our spiritual qualities and gifts and the kind of work we do.
I came into material being as the fruit of the sacred union of my parents. It is not necessary to say aught concerning their social status, for on Mars all who unfold into a material expression of the Father are equal. Equal in rank, station, and in possession of the material fruits of earth.
After my education had been completed I was, in accordance with the Martian system of scientifically determining one's rightful vocation, assigned as overseer to a section of one of the main canals supplying water from the North Polar cap to an impounding reservoir near the city of Urid, the place of my birth.
I was in the 36th year (Martian reckoning) of my physical life on the planet when my transition occurred, which event was the result of my inability to observe, one night, warning signals sent out from a central station advising the eve of a tremendous drop in temperature. This occurred in the Martian autumn, and I succumbed to the intense cold. I was not married, so I left no immediate family except my parents, brothers and sisters.
I have come to your Earth to give your inhabitants some idea of the idealistic life lived by your more advanced brothers. I use the term idealistic in a relative way only, for in God's universe the degrees of material progress of His children are infinite in number.
In giving this information to the inhabitants of your world I have been assisted by the spirits of many former wise children of your Earth.
The purpose of the information which I am about to impart to your people is mainly to stimulate and hasten into material expression the reign of God's kingdom on your Earth.
Many will reject this information, but it is God's truth nevertheless. But on the other hand, many of God's children now functioning on your planet will accept the statements as true, and they will be helped and encouraged in their hard struggle for material existence. This struggle, unequal as it is, is the result of darkness engendered by the loss of faith in God.
Man's faith in his Creator, in the ages preceding your present era of darkness, was sublime. Man's attitude towards, and his confidence in the promises of God was as the faith of a child to its parents, whom it has always trusted. But selfishness has gained the upper hand, and is now man's master on your Earth. To break the chains now binding man to self is the purpose of God's holy emissaries, who have descended from high spiritual spheres to your Earth to teach and show men the way out of bondage. They will succeed, for Omniscience has commanded it. It is under their direction that I am now contributing my little part in this movement.
I am only too glad to have been able to give the information contained in this book, and I also appreciate the assistance of all those on your Earth plane who so willingly assisted; but of course we are all obeying the Father's command.
As life is an attribute of the entire universe, the material aspect of all God's creations are the same. That is, life on another planet must be thought of as being no different from what experience teaches you.
All inspiration comes from the Father. Hence, the degree of a race's advancement in point of civilization is in proportion to its spiritual enfoldment. Therefore the material aspect of life, which includes God's evolutionary and non-evolutionary creatures, is the same on every habitable globe in limitless space.
In telling the story of Mars you must be prepared to believe that, from a physical point of view, the Martians are just human beings, differing little from the people of your Earth.
The same may be said concerning the activities of life enjoyed by all of God's creatures. Martians work and have their recreations. They enjoy the fruits of their earth just as you do the fruits of yours. They have invented labor-saving machinery, and indulge in a multitude of industrial pursuits, but with this difference: their economic system is such that the life of the Martian is not the struggle for existence you have created on your Earth. On the contrary it is a pleasurable life in which work is as much enjoyed as is recreation. This condition is due to two causes. First, Mars is much farther advanced as a world in its evolutionary career. Second, the Spiritual enfoldment of its inhabitants is proportionately advanced.
As the Divine Plan is universal in its scope the physical characteristics of Mars, compared to your Earth are, in a general way, the same, with the exceptions shown later in this book.
The inhabitants of Mars enjoy a blue sky, mountains, hills, rocks and dells, clouds, beautiful sunsets, and in fact most of the physical phenomena witnessed by the dwellers of your Earth.
The Martians live and have their being just as your people do, but they are surrounded by a different spiritual and a modified physical environment. They take pleasure in music, art and the study of physical science, but with this difference: the spiritual growth and enfoldment of the individual is considered as most important, and all material advancement as only an aid to ultimate ends.
With main points in view the reader can now readily comprehend the real Martian character, although it may be a disappointment to some who have imagined the inhabitants of Mars as physically different from themselves; or perhaps, as semi-spiritual entities, who have possibly been transplanted from other worlds to undergo a sort of probationary life amid a Paradise of beautiful surroundings and things.