The Astley cabin in Burke County, North Carolina where the letters identifying his handwriting as identical to that of Thomas Henry Burgoyne were found by local historian Helen Norman. Neil Cantwell in Missouri used his forensic document analysis training to compare the Burgoyne letters to Thomas Moore Johnson recently unearthed in Osceola with those of Norman Astley in North Carolina.
The Quest of the Spirit
by a Pilgrim of the Way
Edited by Genevieve Stebbins
This public domain book was first published in London in 1913 by Henry Glaisher and Company and in New York by Edgar Werner. “A Pilgrim of the Way” (now known to be Norman Astley) was named as the author, his wife Genevieve Stebbins as the editor. This is the first reprint. Page numbers refer to the 2024 print edition. Illustrated excerpts will appear intermittently into 2027, but most scheduled posts are further charts from the BOL Lessons. Upcoming in 2025: Hugh A. Robinson, Elbert Hubbard, Vena S. Naughton, Ed Doane, Richard E. Byrd, Alben Barkley.
Editorial Note 7
Preface 9
PART ONE
Chapter One: Being an Introduction to the Object
of the Quest 13
Chapter Two: Being a Brief Survey of Some of the
Fundamental Problems 39
Chapter Three: The Lesson of Evolution 63
Chapter Four: The Soul and the Soul-World 79
Chapter Five: The Search for the Finite God 97
PART TWO
Chapter One: The Missions of the Spirit 109
Chapter Two: The Mission of Buddha the Man 117
Chapter Three: The Mission of Jesus 141
Chapter Four: Stray Leaves from the Diary of the
Quest 155
Chapter Five: The Mystery of the Kingdom and the
King’s Highway Thereto 165
Appendices 185
Epilogue 221
Sources Cited 235
Endnotes 237
EDITORIAL NOTE
The manuscript, of which this booklet is an epitome, was placed in my hands to prepare for the press, by one whose friendship I have enjoyed for many years.
What is here presented is less than a fourth part of the whole, but omits nothing that is vital to an understanding of the Author’s comprehensive philosophy of life and action. Much that has been omitted would to-day be superfluous, as the contentions and teachings on the subjects discussed have already become demonstrated facts in science, or are accepted as probable by eminent philosophical thinkers. Throughout, the style of the Author has been strictly preserved, and, as the conclusions reached are also the deepest convictions of my soul, in editing the work, I feel that it is the expression of my own thought and aspiration, though voiced by another “pilgrim of the way.”
GENEVIEVE STEBBINS