LIFE IN THE BEYOND
Silver Birch has described something of the beauties of the spirit world, which he declares we visit frequently in our sleep, although most of us cannot remember our experiences on waking:
WHEN you have tasted and enjoyed with your full consciousness all that my world has to offer, you will realize that it is the love we bear for you that makes us come back to work amongst you.
You have not tasted the joys of the world of spirit. There is nothing in your world of matter with which you can compare the life of the spirit, freed from the trammels of the flesh, escaped from the prison of the body of matter, with liberty to go where you will, to see your thoughts take shape, to follow out the desires of your heart, to be freed from the troubles of money. No, you have not tasted the joys of the world of spirit.
You who are encased in matter, do not yet comprehend beauty as it can be. You have not seen our light, colour, scenery, trees, birds, rivers, streams, mountains, flowersーand yet your world fears death.
Death strikes terror into their hearts. But you will only begin to live when you are "dead". Now you live, but in reality you are almost dead. So many are dead to the things of the spirit. The little life-force flickers in their puny bodies, but no spiritual things can find any response within them. But gradually we make progress. Gradually the force of the spirit increases in strength all over your world of matter. Gradually darkness retreats, as it must when confronted by the light of spiritual truth.
There are no words to compare the life in your world of matter with the life in the world of spirit. We who are "dead" know so much more of life than you do.
This is the world where the artist finds all his dreams come true, where the painter and the poet realize their ambition, where genius has full power of expression, where the repres-sions of earth are swept away and all gifts and talents are used in the service of one another.
This is the world where there are no clumsy words to express inspiration, but where thought is the living language and reveals itself with lightning rapidity.
This is the world where we have no money to worry us where there is no competition, no driving of the weaker to, the wall, where the strong are strong because they have some-thing to give to those less fortunate than themselves.
We have no unemployment, we have no slums, we have no selfishness. We have no sects, we have only one religion. We have no sacred books, only the operation of the divine laws to instruct us.
And the nearer you get to the belt of matter, the more clumsy and difficult it is for the spirit to express itself. I never like to come back. The only things that make me do so are the promise that I have given to serve and the love of all of you, which gives me some compensation.
To die is not tragic. To live in your world is tragic. To see the garden of the Great Spirit choked with the weeds of selfishness and greed and avarice, that is tragedy.
To die is to enjoy freedom of the spirit, which has been imprisoned behind the bars of the material body. Is it tragic to be released from suffering, for the soul to come into its own? Is it tragic to see wonders of colour, to hear music that does not belong to material expression? Do you call it tragic to express yourself in a body that has no pain, to be able to roam all over the world of matter in a fiash and to taste the beauties of the spirit life too?
There is not in your world one artist who could capture with his paints some of the glories of my world. There is not one musician who could record some of the glories of the music sphere with your notes. There is not one writer who could describe in physical words the beauty of parts of this world.
What a pleasant surprise you will all have one day, when you become conscious of our world.
And yet, that which you see is but a very, very pale reflec-tion of the beauties that we have in our world of spirit. We have flowers such as you have never seen, we have colours such as your eye has never beheld, we have scenes and forests, we have birds and plants, we have streams and mountains. You have nothing to compare them with. And you will be able to enjoy them, for, even though you will be ghosts, you will be real ones.
You come to our world now, but you do not remember. You visit the spirit world every night. That is your prepara-tion. Otherwise, it would be such a shock when you come here to start your real life in earnest. When you pass on, you will remember your visits.
You will then be freed from the limitation of the body and you will be able to express to the full all the consciousness which has been released during your sleep. In its new ex-pression, it will bring to you all the memories that you have the memories of all the experiences that you have enjoyed.
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Questions and Answers:
WHAT will be the position of those who, after passing, go to the lower planes of spirit life? Will they remember their sleep visits—presumably to the lower planes—and will that memory help them to adjust their position?
Those who would gravitate to the lower planes go to those planes during sleep, but the memory of that would not help them to realize their position after death because the planes on which they found themselves would still resemble the material world.
The lower in the world of spirit, the more earthly it is in appearance because the vibrations are more gross; the higher in the realm of spirit, the finer the vibrations.
Do we sometimes remember our sleep adventures in this life?
When your spirit is released from its body, you are freed from your brain, which is your limitation in the world of matter. The consciousness now has experiences on our vibra-tions, according to your grade of evolution, and it is conscious of its experiences while it has them. But, when you go back to your body of matter and try to capture the experiences of the spirit, you cannot do so because one is greater than the other. The smaller cannot hold the greater and you get distortion.
It is as if you had a little bag and you tried to get lots of things into it. You could only get some of the things into the bag, and the more you pushed the more out of shape they would become. That is what happens to you when you return to your bodies. But, if your soul is already evolved and you have reached an advanced stage of consciousness, then you are aware of the spirit realms. Then you can quite easily train the brain to remember.
I talk with all of you and I often say: “Remember this when you go back to your world.” But you do not. I have been with each one of you and I have taken you to many places. But, though you do not remember it now, none of it is ever wasted.
Do you mean that the memory of these experiences will help us when we pass on?
Yes. Nothing is wasted. The Law is perfect. Those of us who have lived for many years marvel at the perfection of the Law, and when we hear the puny minds of your world criticize the Great Spirit—how little they know! The less they know, the more they express themselves.
Are many people engaged in working during their sleep-state, or are the visits used solely for preparation for the larger life?
Some of you do work, because there are many that you can help in your sleep-state. But, usually, it is a preparation. You are taken to those places which will help you to be ready for your work when you leave the world of matter. If that were not done, the shock of coming from one sphere of expression to another would be so great that it would take you a long time to recover.
That is why it is easier for those who have knowledge when they come to our world. Others have to sleep and rest for a long time, until they can adjust themselves. If you have knowledge, then you pass from one state to another and you are aware of the new life. After all, it is just like opening a door and coming into the sunshine. You must get accustomed to the light.
Those without knowledge would have to have a long period of rest to recover from the period of transition. It is the same as a baby in your world. It has to feel its way. They would still remember their experiences, but more as you remember dreams.
Nothing is ever lost, in your world or in mine. Always remember that. Every thought, every action, every desire to serve that is thrown out of your hearts helps someone some-where. Always, when the desire is there, you attract those who can help you.
When people pass on lacking understanding, do they respond to our thoughts and receive our mental messages?
Awakening only comes when realization dawns. If you have knowledge, then your awakening is much quicker. We have to fight ignorance, misunderstanding, superstition, false creeds, erroneous theologies, all of which do not help to prepare the soul for its new life. Before these are conquered, the soul has gradually to accustom itself and there is a long period of rest.
As in your world you have hospitals for bruised and injured bodies, we have to treat bruised and injured souls. But where an individual has rendered great service, and love, good will, affection and prayer accompany his passing into my world, then the awakening is speeded, for all those vibrations help him.
What will happen to a person who passes on, not believing in Survival, but thinking that when he dies it is the end?
As you cannot die, because it is contrary to the natural law, that person will have to wake up and face the fact. How long it will take for the realization of spirit life to come to him will depend upon the evolution of his soulーhow far it is advanced and how it can attune itself to the new conditions.
Will the passing of such a person be difficult?
That, again, depends on the evolution of the soul. The passing from your world to mine is not difficult, as a rule, because usually the one who passes is not conscious of the change at the time. It is only advanced souls who register the passing out of the world of matter into the world of spirit.
If such a person has been good, will he suffer in any way for not believing the truth of Survival, even if he has been told of it?
Good, bad, I do not know what these words mean. It will depend only upon the life he has led, the service he has rendered, the opportunities he has taken to unfold the Great Spirit that is within him. That is all that counts. It is better to have knowledge than ignorance, but the only test is the way you have lived your life from day to day.
In the spirit life, do we join again with those we love and become younger? Jesus says there is no marriage or giving in marriage.
Wherever there has been love between a man and a woman and that love has brought them together and made them as one, and they have lived on the same spiritual plane in your world, then death" will not part them. "Death" will be a door which will give them a greater freedom for their souls to be more closely united than they were in your world of matter.
But if their coming together, their marriage as you call it, was not a marriage of souls but only of bodies, and their souls did not dwell on the same plane, then "death" will drive them further apart, for it will relegate them to their own spiritual spheres. If there is love, they will find that in the world of spirit they will get not younger, not older, but will experience growth, evolution, development. These are things of the soul, not the body.
When the Nazarene said that there is no marriage and no giving in marriage, he was referring to the marriage of bodies, not the marriage of souls. For that which you call male and that which you call female each has its contribution to make to each other. The female is necessary to the male and the male is necessary to the female. The Great Spirit embodies the two principles in perfection. As you evolve in the planes of spirit the difference becomes less and less.
Is it possible to sin on the Other Side. If so, what is the most common form of sin?
Of course it is possible to sin in our world. The sins of the spirit world are the sins of selfishness, but in our world they are speedily revealed. They are known as soon as the thought is in the mind, and the effect is seen far more quickly than it is in your world of matter. It registers on the one who com-mits the sin and makes him spiritually lower than he was before. It is difficult to define more clearly in your language what these sins are, except that they are sins of selfishness.
The heavens or spirit spheres are, relatively to this earth, real and substantial, ruled over by wise chiefs, lords or gods. Has a history of these heavenly kingdoms been made known to us earth dwellers?
There have been many to whom the organization of the world of spirit has been revealed, but we do not have spheres with chiefs. The only chiefs are natural laws. The world of spirit is not a world where spheres are marked off with boundaries such as you have. It is a progressive life from lower to higher stages, with no boundaries, because they all merge into one another. As the soul gradually unfolds, it expresses itself on higher planes of spirit.
If a person is compelled to live a life of loneliness on this earth, is he compelled to lead that life after death?
Oh, no. The Law is always perfect. The soul reaps its own reward and makes its own punishment. Those who are attracted by love and by affection will meet because their souls will throw them together on that plane.
Will it be possible to meet, in the spirit world, great geniuses for whom we might feel a strong attraction, such as Beethoven. Shakespeare and Michael Angelo?
In most cases it will, because wherever there is love by the people of your world for one who helped your world. that creates a natural bond of sympathy which will draw them together in the world of spirit.
When we pass out of the physical body, is the one we use in the spirit world as real and solid as the one we leave behind?
Far more real and far more solid than the one that you leave behind in the world of matter, for your world is not the real world at all. It is only the shadow cast by the world of spirit. Ours is the reality and you will not understand reality until you pass into the world of spirit.
Is the spirit world as natural and as material to the spiritual senses as the physical is to our present senses?
Far more, for this is reality. You are at present prisoners. You are hampered by the material body to which you are restricted on all sides. You are only expressing a very small portion of your real selves.
Do you converse mentally in the spirit world, or is language as we understand it used?
Until people learn how to commune without speech. speech is used.
If one passes suddenly, will he be able to attune himself easily to his new environment?
That depends on the evolution of the soul.
What exactly happens at death, just after the breath has left the body?
When the soul is conscious, it sees the spirit body with-drawing gradually and it opens its eyes in the world of spirit. It is conscious of those who have come to welcome it and it is ready to start its new life. When the soul is not conscious, it is helped through the passage and is taken to whatever place is necessary—it may be a hospital or a home of rest—until it is ready for it to become aware of its new life.
Shall we be with those we love in the spirit world, although separated by convention in the physical world?
It is impossible to separate love from its beloved.
When we enter the spirit world after leaving this life, do we meet our relatives who have passed on before?
If love exists between them, yes. If loves does not exist between them, no.
Is the life on the Other Side everlasting?
All life is everlasting, for life belongs to the Great Spirit, Who is eternal.
Do the spheres of the etheric country in which you live surround the earth or sun or planets?
They do not surround any of them. They are not bounded by geographical distinctions. They are not located in forms of spheres or planets. They are part of the vast universe. They blend and interblend with all phases of life experienced in all planes of life. Some of these planes you know about. Others you do not know yet, for there are planets on which there is life as yet unknown to your world.
Does the fabric of the etheric country have a material core, of which the earth is a local example?
Am I material? Is love between men and women material? Is the inspiration of an artist material? Is the appreciation of music material? The answer to these questions depends on what you call material. If you mean is it real, does it possess reality, then I say, Yes, for spirit is the greatest reality of life, and that which you call material, the world of matter—is but the shell which surrounds the reality.
Is the etheric country immersed in the electro-magnetic or in the gravitational field of the denser core of material matter so that both travel through space together, with the motion of the earth and the motion of the sun, towards the constellation of Hercules?
We are not affected in the world of spirit by the earth's rotation, for we do not have day and night. Our energy is not derived from that sun whose rays give life to your world. Gravity only applies to things of matter, not to things of spirit. It does not embrace the laws of the spirit.
What is the limit to speed of travel by spirits?
We have no limitation of time or space in our travels. To those who are experienced in spirit life there are no limitations. We can travel to any part of your world of matter with the rapidity of thought, which to us is our great reality. Those who dwell in any grade are limited in their travelling to that grade. They cannot exceed it. They cannot travel higher in the realms of spirit than the unfolding of their character has reached. That is their limitation. But that is the limitation of spirit in spirit life.
Are there separate spirit worlds connected with all inhabited planets?
That which you call the spirit world is but the spiritual expression of the universe, which embraces all life expressed in all planes,
Is there only one spirit world?
Yes, but it has an infinite number of expressions, and life on planets other than earth is embraced as well as your world of matter, because they have their spiritual expression as well as their physical expression.
Are the divisions separated in a geographical sense?
Not geographically, but in the mental scale, which is to some extent conditioned by its physical expression.
Do you mean that the divisions are made in the same way as the divisions between the spheres we know?
Yes. In the world of spirit there are differences for a time until there is the evolution beyond that which is conditioned by a physical life.
Will one be able to recognize, after death, one's child who died when very young?
Yes, because he will be shown the child as he knew it. They always forget that the child will know the parent, for the child has been watching over him all the time and will be the first to greet him when he comes to my world.
How is an inflicter of capital punishmentーsuch as a hangman or the operator of an electric chairーjudged when he reaches the spirit world?
If he knows it is wrong, he will pay the penalty for sinning with knowledge. If he does not know it is wrong, then there will be no punishment.
Shall we, after we pass on, be punished for having eaten animal food?
When you have reached that stage in your evolution when you know it is not right to eat the lesser creation of the Great Spirit, then you inflict on yourself a punishment for doing that which you know to be wrong. If you have not reached that stage of evolution, then your soul is not yet aware that it is wrong and there will be no punishment. Always there is a price to be paid for knowledge. That price is respon-sibility.