In the First Heaven, which is located in the higher regions of the Desire
World, the panorama of life again unrolls and reveals every scene where we
aimed to help or benefit others. They were not felt at the time the Spirit was
in the lower regions, for higher desires cannot express themselves in the
coarse matter composing the lower regions of the Desire World; but when the
Spirit ascends to the First Heaven it reaps from each scene all the good which
it expressed in life. It will feel the gratitude poured out by those whom it
helped; if it comes to a scene where itself received a favor from others and
was grateful, it will experience the gratitude anew. The sum of all these
feelings is there amalgamated into the Spirit to serve in a future life as
incentives to good.
Thus the Spirit is purged from evil in Purgatory and strengthened in good in
the First Heaven. In one region the extract of sufferings become conscience to
deter us from doing wrong, in the other region the quintessence of good is
transmuted to benevolence and altruism, which are the basis of all true
progress. Moreover, Purgatory is far from being a place of punishment. It is
perhaps the most beneficent realm in nature, for because of purgation we are
born innocent life after life. The tendencies to commit the same evil for
which we suffered remain with us, and temptations to commit the same wrongs
will be placed in our placed in our path until we have consciously overcome
the evil here. Temptation is not sin, however, the sin is in yielding.
Among the inhabitants of the invisible world there is one class which lives
a particularly painful life, sometimes for a great many years, namely, the
suicide who tried to play truant from the school of life. Yet it is not an
angry God or a malevolent devil who administers punishment, but an immutable
law which proportions the sufferings differently to each individual suicide.
We learned previously, when considering the World of Thought, that each form
in this visible world has its archetype there — a vibrating hollow mold which
emits a certain harmonious sound. That sound attracts and forms physical into
the shape we behold, much in the same manner as when we place a little sand
upon a glass plate and rub the edge with a violin bow; the sand is shaped into
different geometrical figures which change as the sound changes.
The little atom in the heart is the sample and the center around which the
atoms in our body gather. When that is removed at death, the center is
lacking, and although the archetype keeps on vibrating until the limit of the
life has been reached — as also previously explained — no matter can be drawn
into the hollow shape of the archetype. Therefore the suicide feels a dreadful
gnawing pain as if he were hollowed out, a torture which can only be likened
to the pangs of hunger. In his case, the intense suffering will continue for
exactly as many years as he should have lived in the body. At the expiration
of that time, the archetype collapses as it does when death comes naurally.
Then the pain of the suicide ceases, and he commences his period of purgation
as do those who die a natural death. But the memory of sufferings experienced
in consequence of the act of suicide will remain with him in future lives and
deter him from a similar mistake.
In the First Heaven there is a class who have not had any purgatorial
existence and who lead a particularly joyous life: the children. Our home may
be saddened almost beyond endurance when the little flower is broken and the
sunshine it brought has gone. But could we see the beautiful existence with
these little ones lead, and did we understand the great benefits which accrue
to a child from its limited stay there, our sorrow would be at least
ameliorated in a great measure, and the wound upon our heart would heal more
quickly. Besides, as nothing else in the world happens without a cause, so
there is also a much deeper cause for infant mortality than we are usually
aware of, and as we awake to the facts of the case, we shall be able to avoid
in future the sorrow incident to loss of our little ones.
To understand the case properly we must revert to the experiences of the
dying in the death hour. We remember that the panorama of the past life is
etched upon the desire body during a period varying from a few hours to three
and one-half days just subsequent to demise. We recall also that upon the
depth of this etching depends the clearness of the picture, and that the more
vivid this panorama of life, the more intensely will the Spirit suffer in
Purgatory and feel the joys of heaven; also, that the greater the suffering
Purgatory the stronger the conscience in the next life.
It was explained how the horrors of death upon the battle field, in an
accident, or other untoward circumstances would prevent the Spirit from giving
all its attention to the panorama of life, with the result that there would be
a light etching in the desire body, followed by a vague and insipid existence
in Purgatory and the First Heaven. It was also stated that hysterical
lamentations in the death chamber would produce the same effect.
A Spirit which had thus escaped suffering proportionate to its misdeeds, and
which had not experienced the pleasure commensurate with the good it had done,
would not in a future life have as well developed a conscience as it ought to
have, nor would it be as benevolent as it ought to be, and therefore the life,
terminated under conditions over which the Spirit had no control, would be
partly wasted. The Great Leaders of humanity therefore take steps to
counteract such a calamity and prevent an injustice. The Spirit is brought to
birth, caused to die in childhood, re-enters the Desire World and in the First
Heaven it is taught the lessons of which it was deprived previously.
As the First Heaven is located in the Desire World (which is the realm of
light and color), where matter is shaped most readily by thought, the little
ones are given wonderful toys impossible of construction here. They are taught
to play with colors, which work upon their moral character in exactly the
manner each child requires. Anyone who is at all sensitive is affected by the
color of his clothing and surroundings. Some colors have a depressing effect,
while others inspire us with energy, and others again soothe and comfort us.
In the Desire World the effect of colors is much more intense; they are much
more potent factors of good and evil there than here. In this color play, the
child imbibes unconsciously the qualites which it did not acquire on account
of accident or lamentations of relatives. Often it also falls to the lot of
such relatives to care for a child and see it die. Thus they receive just
retribution for the wrong committed. As wars cease, and man learns to be more
careful of life, also how to care for the dying, infant mortality, which now
is so appalling, will decrease.
When passing from the First to the Second Heaven, the Spirit experiences the
condition known and described previously as "The Great Silence," where it
stands utterly alone, conscious only of its divinity. When that silence is
broken there floats in upon the Spirit celestial harmonies of the world of
tone where the Second Heaven is located. It seems then to lave in an ocean of
sound and to experience a joy beyond all description and words, as it nears
its heavenly home — for this is the first of the truly spiritual realms from
which the Spirit has been exiled during its Earth life and the subsequent
post-mortem existence. In the Desire World its work was corrective, but in the
World of Thought the human Spirit becomes one with the nature forces and its
creative activity begins.
Under the Law of Causation we reap exactly what we sow, and it would be
wrong to place one Spirit in an environment where there is a scarcity of the
necessities of life, where a scorching sun burns the crop and millions die
from famine, or where the raging flood sweeps away primitive habitations not
built to withstand its ravages, and to bring another Spirit to birth in a land
of plenty, with fertile soil which yields a maximum of increase with a minimum
of labor, where the earth is rich in minerals that may be used in industry to
facilitate transportation of products of the soil from one point to another.
If we were thus placed without action or acquiescence upon our part, there
would be no justice, but as our post-mortem existence in Purgatory and the
First Heaven is based upon our moral attitude in this life, so our activities
in the Second Heaven are determined by our mental aspirations. They produce
our future physical environment, for in the Second Heaven, the Spirit becomes
part of the nature forces which work upon the earth and change its climate,
flora, fauna. A Spirit of an indolent nature, who indulges in daydreams and
metaphysical speculations here, is not transformed by death respecting its
mental attitude any more than regarding its moral propensities. It will dream
away time in heaven, glorying in its sights and sounds. Thus it will neglect
to work upon its future country and return to a barren and arid land. Spirits,
on the other hand, whose material aspirations lead them to desire so-called
solid comforts of hearth and home, who aim to promote great industries, and
whose mind is concerned in trade and commerce, will build in heaven a land
that will suit their purpose: fertile, mineralized, with navigable rivers and
sheltered harbors. They will return in time to enjoy upon Earth the fruits of
their labors in the Second Heaven, as they reap the result of their life upon
Earth in Purgatory and the First Heaven.
The Third Heaven
In the Third Heaven most people have very little consciousness, for reasons
explained in connection with the Region of Abstract Thought, for there the
Third Heaven is located. It is therefore more of a place of waiting where the
Spirit rests between the time when its labors in the Second Heaven have been
completed and the time when it again experiences the desire for rebirth. But
from this realm inventors bring down their original ideas, there the
philanthropist obtains the clearest vision of how to realize his utopian
dreams, and the spiritual aspirations of the saintly minded are given renewed
impetus.
In time the desires of the Spirit for further experiences draw it back to
rebirth, and the great celestial Beings who are known in the Christian
Religion as Recording Angels, assist the Spirit to come to birth in the place
best suited to give it the experience necessary further to unfold its powers
and possibilities.
We have all been here many times and in different families, we have had
relations of varying nature with many different people, and usually there are
several families among whom we may seek re-embodiment to work out our
self-generated destiny and reap what we have sown in former lives. If there are no
special reasons why we should take birth in any particular family among
certain friends or foes, the Spirit is allowed to choose its own place of
birth. Thus it may be said that most of us are in our present places by our
own prenatal choice.
In order to assist us in making that choice the Recording Angels call up
before the Spirit's vision a panorama in general outlines of each of the
offered lives. This panorama will show what part of our past debts we are to
pay, and what fruits we may be expected to reap in the coming life.
The Spirit is left free to choose between the several lives offered. But
once a choice has been made no evasion is possible during life. We have free
will with regard to the future, but the past mature destiny we cannot escape.
When the Spirit has made its choice, it descends into the Second Heaven where
it is instructed by the Angels and Archangels how to build an archetype of the
body which it will later inhabit upon Earth. Also here we note the operation
of the great Law of Justice which decree that we reap what we sow. If our
tastes are coarse and sensual, we shall build an archetype which will express
these qualities; if we are refined and of aesthetic taste, we shall build an
archetype correspondingly refined, but no one can obtain a better body than he
can build. Then, as the architect who builds a house in which he afterwards
lives, will suffer discomfort if he neglects to ventilate it properly, so also
the Spirit feels disease in a poorly constructed body. As the architect learns
to avoid mistakes and remedy the shortcomings of one house when building
another, so also the Spirit which suffers from defects in its body learns in
time to build better and better vehicles.
In the Region of Concrete Thought, the Spirit also draws to itself materials
for a new mind. As a magnet draws iron filings but leaves other substances
alone, so also each Spirit draws only the kind of mind-stuff which it used in
its former life, plus that which it has learned to use in its present
post-mortem state. Then it descends into the Desire World where it gathers
materials for a new desire body such as will express appropriately its moral
characteristics. Later it attracts a certain amount of ether which is built
into the mold of the archetype Constructed in the Second Heaven and acts as
cement between the solids, liquids, and gaseous material from the bodies of
parents which form the dense physical body of a child, and in due time the
latter is brought to birth.
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