Creation in the sense of our present phase of evolution, that is to say, our ‘part’ of the Creative process, may be viewed in three stages, which might be termed mental, physical, and spiritual. The first stage is Thought, or Plan. The second involves the manifestation of solid matter. And in the third stage, Life-force is added, so that individual souls (‘Sparks’ of Life-force), residing within created matter, are to set forth on a long path of evolution, not only constantly interacting with each other, but contributing to the creative process.
The origin of all creation is the pure energy of thought. Nothing can exist or be created or manifested without having its prime origination in thought form. This we can see in our everyday lives and activities, from social plans and work schedules to the design of a product or a building. Nothing can be brought into physical manifestation without first being conceptualized in thought form. First we plan; then we create. Thought is a force, a power which precedes all action, all creation at whatever level. And the Origination of all Thought within our present Creation, is the Being whom we can call Prime Creator.
Prime Creator initiates a new Creation System of multiple Universes by projecting His "Force of Thought" into the surrounding Great Dark Void, creating a matrix around Himself of expanding "Worlds of Matter". Into these newly created Worlds of Matter He projects units of His own cells of Consciousness to grow and evolve outside of Himself, adding to these worlds a spiritual element with elements of His own consciousness. Through their multiple interactions and experiences of life, these projected "Sparks of Life" grow in knowledge and awareness, constantly adding new experiences to His own evolving awareness, allowing Him to eventually expand into a yet even greater Entity.
The Master Vywamus: "The Creator, at a certain point in Its evolution, said, 'I want to explore everything; I want to learn; I want to grow; I want to understand everything.' And potentially It does understand everything, but It also wants to expand. The Creator is expanding Itself – always there is a spiraling, an unfolding, a discovery process at the highest level. And It set up a system, and that system thrusts what has been already integrated into yet another level, so that It can explore that new level and learn from it."
[The Master Vywamus - Channeled by Janet McClure in "Prelude To Ascension", published 1996 by Light Technology Publishing, P.O.Box 1526, Sedona, Az 86339.]
The Creator God HERU, known in Ancient Egypt as the God Horus:
"The Creation you live in is the manifested Will of Prime Creator. It is a vast system of Universes and is structured within a membrane in the form of a Lotus Flower. Prime Creator, or the Godverse, is the Central Source around which the petals of creation bloom. The Godverse at the center [The Center-Universe Home of the Creator/Father, Son and Infinite Mother Spirit Trinity, also known as the Paradise Isle], is the dwelling place of Prime Creator, although Prime Creator is not limited or encapsulated by the Godverse. It is the place from which all energy originates, and all of the Cosmic Plasma that the Creator Gods use to create Form originates in the Godverse. It is at the center of all Creation.
"My eyes see the wondrous nature of our beloved Creator. This is a Being without beginning or end, formless and yet formed at the same time, wondrous to look upon, brighter than all of the Suns put together. And not only the brightness but the purity of that Light is incredible to behold. Out of Creator streams limitless Light, streams infinite energy, streams the very space upon which Matter hangs. That space is the thought projection of Prime Creator; and so the Creator, being infinite, has created infinite space.
"Within that infinite space, Prime Creator has made many Creations, of which this System of Universes is but one. And within the space of this Creation are hung, like the petals of a Jeweled Lotus, universe after universe after universe, suspended in this infinite space and hung with sustaining lines of energy. Then within each Universe, as you know, many are the Worlds and Galaxies.
"So varied is this newest Creation that I would compare it to one of your deliciously beautiful floribunda roses, where the bushes cascade blossom after blossom after blossom, each one so exquisite in its patterning and its fragrance and its individuality.
"Creator has imbued, within every atom and every universe, its own consciousness, its own connectedness to itself. It is almost a holographic mirror that you could look into. You could look into any part of this Creation and know that Creator is there - present, seeing you look, looking through your eyes, looking at Creation, and mirroring back and forth - and offering you this kaleidoscopic experience that is never ending."
["The Return of Light" The Imminent Restoration of Earth And Liberation of Humanity - Revelations from the Creator God Horus by Elora Gabriel and Karen Kirschbaum - A Link to the full text is available at the end of Chapter 10]
Prime Creator has endowed this newest Creation System with the underlying principle of Love as an overall guiding principle for all its sentient Beings. Through expressing unconditional love towards each other and assisting each other wherever possible, we are able to evolve together in peace and mutual tolerance, building our civilizations to their fullest potential. The opposite and dark path is to concentrate exclusively on our own personal welfare at the expense of others.
The many "Unfallen Universes of Light" within our Creation System have practised the rule of love over millions of years, enjoying lasting peace and happiness. However, there was an invasion over 1.3 billion years ago of one of our Universes of Light near the outer edges of our Creation by an Alien "Force of Darkness" from the Great surrounding Void. Our Universe of Light was rapidly affected by the insidious infiltration of what was a very cunning force of darkness, quickly sickened and then collapsed with many of its inhabitants being forced to flee to neighboring Universes. They unfortunately carried an element of the dark contamination with them. Neither the inhabitants of the other Universes nor even Prime Creator were prepared for the depth of the subtle and pervasive darkness that was introduced. Many of the weaker spirited souls within the neighboring Universes became infected over time with this subtle form of darkness. The infection eventually spread to over 6 percent of the Universes within our Creation, to become known henceforth as the "Fallen Universes". All subsequent efforts by Prime Creator and other willing volunteers from the rest of the "Unfallen Universes" were unable to arrest this spreading and subtly contaminating darkness.
The Alien "Forces of Darkness" in time also set up powerful "Frequency Fences" around the now infected Universes in order to hamper any subsequent rescue by the opposing "Forces of Light". These Frequency Fences over the millions of years have up to now proved almost impossible to demolish. Quite a few "Dark Universes" were also subsequently established within our "Fallen Sector" by certain members of our own original Creator Gods who, through an inherent weaknesses within their spiritual make-up, have been cleverly subverted into the ways of darkness by the insidious spreading contamination of darkness.
Nevertheless, all was not totally lost to darkness within the "Fallen Universes", wherein our Planet also resides. The strong and natural force of Love endowed by the Creator deep within the makeup of all of His created Beings has allowed us over time to substantially resist and overcome much of the introduced darkness. Humanity as a Race evolving within our "Milky Way" Galaxy has always managed to maintain an element of "Love and Light" in our makeup within the surrounding darkness. We have maintained a tolerable level of civilization within many of the worlds in our "Fallen Sector", although overall it has greatly slowed down our evolutionary move forward. However, now that we are approaching the dawning of a new Universal Age when all will be moving up an evolutionary step to a higher Plane/Dimension, many of us through our long experiences of darkness will finally emerge within the coming new "Age of Light" greatly strengthened, much more wise to the ways of darkness and even more determined to follow the original correct evolutionary "Path of Light" as laid down by our Prime Creator.
Unbelievably, it has taken over 500 million years for Prime Creator to prepare a powerful enough solution to finally eliminate this incredibly strong and spreading source of Darkness within our Fallen Sector of Creation. Over this time He has had to create a separate special new Creation within the outside Great Void totally from scratch, and which has been especially designed to create very powerful Beings with the force within their makeup to successfully battle the Forces of Darkness. At last, these newly created "Warriors of Light" are starting to enter our area of Creation and deploy their superior diamond-hard strength to successfully attack and destroy all our un-reformable Forces of Darkness. They do allow those that are prepared to make a genuine return to the Light to reform themselves under strict supervision, but those that totally refuse to do so will be re-absorbed into the basic matrix of Creation. [more about this in Chapter Ten]
The actual "physical" process of starting a new Creation System requires that Prime Creator must first establish an encircling "Barrier of Limitation" in the Great Void, known in esoteric knowledge as the "Ring-Pass-Not". This is to contain His "Force of Thought" within the boundaries of the new Creation, preventing it from dissipating into the surrounding Great Void, where its energy could be lost to the vastness of space. Without such a limiting barrier, no effective Creation would otherwise be able to take place.
The continuing outward projection of the Creator’s "Force of Thought" against the Ring-Pass-Not sets up a return flow of outgoing thought-energy. This manifests as a rapidly alternating out-going and in-going wave of vibratory energy, and is the foundation of the varying vibrational frequency-rates which permeate all of Created Matter and all living Beings. This is also the basis of the existence of the positive-negative polarity which exists throughout Creation.
The vibratory force of Thought-energy has the ability of creating solid matter. When an outgoing force of Thought-energy meets an opposing returning in-coming force, it has the effect of locking it up into an equalised stationary position, where it can then manifest as solid matter. All atomic structures made up of electrons permanently orbiting around the stationary central "Sun" atom demonstrates such an area of locked up matter.
Thus we have the constant in-and-out movement of the Force-energy of the Prime Creator's Thought Force manifesting as a back-and-forth vibrational frequency permeating all of Creation. At the highest vibrational-rate, this frequency at first becomes the visible energy-force of "Light". As its frequency-rate is subsequently lowered through making a descent into the denser and denser worlds of Matter, it changes its intensity and color according to its vibratory frequency. We can see this in our visible range of colors, down from the ultra-violet, to blue, green, yellow, orange, ending at red.
The constant interaction between the two opposing flows of Thought Energy causes the original Light vibrational frequency to progressively slow down, creating increasingly dense locked-up Matter in more dense and lower groupings of worlds. The original highest Planes of Pure Light at the center of Creation are seen as a brilliant golden-white luminance radiating outwards from the "Central Source/Sun" of our Creation. There is a descending pattern of lower Systems each with its own radiant Central Sun of intense Light, seen in the form of Universes, Galaxies, Star Systems and finally, Solar Systems. Each has its own "Central Sun" shinning forth as a stepped-down Light radiance of our Prime Creator's Thought-force. We can see this radiance within our Solar System as our own Sun shinning forth onto its orbiting Planets.
The Etheric Planes are the next major step down from the Planes of Light, and are composed of a slightly lower vibratory form of matter called the "Ether". Etheric matter is capable of fully interpenetrating the denser physical atoms at our Earth world's "Third Dimension" physical level. The Ether surrounds our dense physical matter as an electro-magnetic fluid or continuum, as well as also interpenetrating all other higher levels of matter in the higher worlds.
Finally comes the Plane with the greatest solidity of created matter - our own dense Physical Plane, or "Third Dimension" down here on Earth. It has the nature of demonstrating all the fundamental and basic building-block patterns used throughout the higher Planes of Creation - at this basic level we see the "nuts and bolts" of Created Matter.
Following the initial creation of the Worlds of Matter, Prime Creator then birthed "Sparks of Life" forth from His very own cells of consciousness as individuated Souls in order that they should undertake a long outward descending and returning "Arc of Evolution" within those created worlds. His purpose has been to send these individualised Selves out to experience the myriad possibilities of evolution within these complex worlds, thereby providing Him with yet further learning experiences outside of His own consciousness.
The actual task of creating new Souls is first of all handed down by Prime Creator to His first-born, the Creator Gods. Most Creator Gods were created by Prime Creator in a previous Creation System. Some specialize mainly in the creation of new physical worlds of Matter, whilst a smaller group specialises in the creation of new Souls.
As the Creator God HERU (Horus of Ancient Egypt), with a long connection to our own Planet Earth explains in the book "The Return of Light":
"When a Creator God is ready to create a Soul, he will go to Prime Creator and in essence request an egg. In this egg are all of the Divine structures and patterns that are contained within Prime Creator, just as when a mother produces a Human egg, her DNA is within that. The Creator Gods are the only ones who are able to make this request and hold it... Interestingly, just as a woman would have no control over the genetic makeup of the particular egg that she would release, we in a sense have no control over which of those diamond-crystalline forms we draw out from Source. So to us it is a beautiful surprise with each new Soul that we create. Each crystalline structure has a uniqueness that is new and unexpected for us each time. And these crystalline forms, through intent and love and prayer, can be created into individual Souls, each as the originating Higher Self "Monad" Soul. You can also give birth to entire Universes of Matter in this way. To create an entire Universe of Matter, though, would generally require more than two of the Creator Gods. It would in fact take a circle of Creator Gods to pull forth one of these structures and create a Universe with it."
Heru points out that over two-thirds of the original Monad Souls created by the Creator Gods are created as "Twin Souls" - two Beings each representing an aspect of either the Male or Female gender polarity. They always retain an element of their own gender throughout their evolution. The First-born Souls remain as residents of the highest Planes of Light, and are also known as the "Higher-Self Monads". They will then themselves later give birth to further "Extension Souls", or "Aspects" of themselves onto the Lower Planes. Over time they become the Celestial Parents and Great Grandparents of a large and growing family of related "Family Soul Mates" on the many lower Planes of Creation.
HERU: "Twin Flames are born when the Creator Gods and the Cosmic Parents [Monads] decide to create a total Being as Twins. In Human bodies, there are sometimes Twins who are fraternal and sometimes Twins who are identical and who are from the same egg. This would be the case with Twin Souls. They would be created by splitting the original form of an egg. This is done with intent; it is done with great love and reverence... When the Twin Soul is created, the male-female polarity is inserted at that point and remains constant. Oftentimes it can temporarily reverse, where each Soul will take on the opposite sex for an incarnation, but the fundamental gender will always revert to the original...
"Some other Souls are created as Single Souls and there is also a smaller group who are actually created as a Group Soul, wherein you would have multiple Souls that would actually be identical Twins... It is simply a matter of choice. The path of the Singular Soul is no less great than the path of the Twin Soul. There are dynamics and mechanisms, paths of awakening and enlightenment, which happen with a Singular Soul that do not happen with the Twin Soul. Perhaps you could say the dynamic of separation and return for the Singular Soul would be played out not with a Twin, but directly with Prime Creator, or possibly with the Creator Gods or the Cosmic Progenitors [Monads]. It is an equally beautiful path, just a different path."
["The Return of Light" The Imminent Restoration of Earth And Liberation of Humanity - Revelations from the Creator God Horus - by Elora Gabriel and Karen Kirschbaum - A Link to the full text is available at the end of Chapter 10]
These new Souls then commence a long "Evolutionary Arc" down through increasingly dense Worlds of Matter, constantly developing their growing sense of separate individuality. Once a Soul has reached the bottom of the "Arc of Evolution" and developed a total sense of individual "Self" identity, it will then begin to feel a need to rise back up through the higher Dimensions to eventually re-unite with the Unity of Prime Creator and the rest of Creation. During this return upward journey, the Soul, having learned to satisfy its own subjective self-needs, though often unfortunately at the expense of others, gains a gradual awareness of the need to collaborate with others and live cooperatively. Every Soul is destined to finally return to the Unity of Source, but then as a fully Aware Being, rich in evolutionary experience. Although each Soul becomes merged with the Creator and the rest of Creation, each still retains an element of its own separately developed individuality.
Another great Celestial Order of Beings created in the past by Prime Creator is the great Devic Order of Angels. They serve Prime Creator and the whole of Creation as a body of permanent and unwavering Celestial "Servants of Creation". They not only act as Heavenly Messengers between Prime Creator and the lower Created Worlds, but also as overseers of the vital maintenance, nurturing, and growth of all the forms of Created Matter. They have not been given the same the latitude of Free Will to deviate from the Creator's strict rules within the Path of Evolution, and thus cannot stray onto the Paths of Darkness. Within this great "Devic Order", we have on Earth a lower Order of this Angelic Realm known as the "Nature Devas", who work invisibly within Nature to nurture and maintain our whole environment and natural surroundings. One such important group are the "Elementals", whose main duty is to oversee and assist the growth and maintenance of the Mineral and Plant Kingdoms. There are also many other Nature Spirits, Elementals and Fairies, visible only to those Humans with the possession of "psychic" sight.
The original waves of Higher Monad Souls created nearest to the High Spiritual Planes of Light, also known as the "Elohim", first co-created the descending "Etheric" Planes of Matter spanning the Seventh down to the Fourth Dimension. Here were created the original Etheric Kingdoms of Mineral, Plant, Animal life which contain the Higher Patterns of form later translated down to our own Third Dimensional dense-physical Plane.
The Third-dimension Physical Plane was at first translated down from the Etheric Plane. Over the millions of years more and more complex and refined varieties of plant and mineral life were then developed. The results can be seen down here on Earth in the amazing variety, color and beauty of the mineral, plant and animal life surrounding us. Though we usually assume that everything developed through natural evolution, each tree, flower, butterfly and animal form, has at some time been lovingly "designed" by those original Co-creators. They all demonstrate the differing visions and taste of our higher Creators on the Spiritual Planes, exhibiting many unique patterns and colors as well as expressing the many differently created methods of propagation and growth.
The Creator God HERU: "Prior Creations in the Great Void also had rudimentary "Third Dimensions", but they never had self-aware life forms in them. As this was the most complex of all the Creations and in many ways the grandest of all of them, Prime Creator wanted to be able to experience the totality of this Creation. Therefore Humans are the eyes, the ears, the fingertips, the nose, and the sense of taste for Prime Creator. In an "Unfallen Universe", the Third-dimensional Humans are hard-wired directly to Prime Creator and their experiences are directly fed back to Prime Creator. In the "Fallen Universes" that is not quite so.
"In the scriptures there are references to Humans being the "Crown of Creation", and this is why. Humans are the ultimate complexity, far more complex in their make-up than Angels. They are the ultimate bio-computer, the ultimate sensing machine. Therefore their insatiable desire to experience is hard-wired into all Humans.
"The existence of the Third Dimension is not an aberration or an error, distorted though it may be in this Universe. If you look at "fractals": as they branch out and out and out, they get smaller and finer and more complex as they spread out. The Physical Plane is like that, like the fingertips of a fractal. Look at the nerve endings in your hand, how many there are, and how they flower out into so many millions of sites to experience. That is similar to the Third Dimension. Then if you look at the center of the body, there are not those kinds of complexities in nerve endings. And that would be more like the center, or the Higher Dimensions, of Creation.
"So you on this Physical Plane, in Human form, are the nerve endings. You are the perception points for the Creator to experience the Creation. And all that you have ever experienced goes directly back to the Creator. There is much purpose in this, and in a balanced Light Universe, there is great joy in this level of Creation. It is felt that life would not be complete without it. For within every atom and every subatomic particle, there is that direct link with Prime Creator. And this is not something that even a Creator God can create. A Creator God can create a Universe, but he or she will do so out of the material that Prime Creator has created."
["The Return of Light" The Imminent Restoration of Earth And Liberation of Humanity - Revelations from the Creator God Horus - by Elora Gabriel and Karen Kirschbaum - A Link to the full text is available at the end of Chapter 10]
Through the long process of co-creating and living on the lower Worlds of Matter, the descending Souls have thus developed an ever increasing awareness of their own individual self, a growing sense of their own separate individuality from Prime Creator. This sense of individual identity of Self, over time develops into an ongoing competition between individuals, for such as scarce resources, which can lead to conflict with others. As we have struggled in the more primitive worlds to sustain ourselves, this has led to a natural development of greater self-centeredness and selfishness. This also comes as a result of our gift of Free Will / Free Choice bestowed upon us by Creator.
The Creator's original gift of Free Will to allow us to fully explore our own evolutionary direction and also learn from our mistakes, may at times be seen here on Earth as a curse as well as a Creator-given freedom, particularly when we view the great damage we have done with it on the negative side. But we must also see the positive side of its potential, as we recognize the marvellous development of Man's individual Earth-bound creativity in the fields of architecture, art, music, literature and ideas. And even the "bad" that we have done with it, the wars, conflicts and our environmental destruction of the Planet, can also teach us many valuable lessons, leading to an ever-deepening collective wisdom. Therefore we must ultimately come to see this gift of Free Will with its creative potential as those on the Higher Spiritual levels see it; as a Divine Cosmic gift, given to us as a tool for our valuable collective experience in Divine Co-creation.
As we learn to discriminate between the Path of individual Self-interest and the alternative Path of Love and Universal Cooperation, so may we grow in the wisdom of experience. With that wisdom we will ultimately become qualified on our return to Unity to then co-create on yet higher levels, with the power, the privilege and the responsibility of our previously independently hard-won powers of judgment. Though this state of wisdom may as yet be a long way off, we may nevertheless hold it before us as an inspiration and a future shining objective.
The Master Zen Tao: "This Earth is a very special place. You have been given the supreme gifts of the Godhead: Divinity, Creativity, and Free Choice. You are, in essence, "Gods in the Making" and this Earth is a School for Gods. You are highly privileged to incarnate on Her, to be a part of the School of Earth and to advance your spiritual consciousness through the exercise of those Cosmic talents. There are many Beings on other Planets who are not permitted to achieve consciousness to the same degree. You may now see why Earth is looked upon with envy by the other Planets in the Solar System, for they do not all possess that high potential. You have, in fact, the potential and the destiny to outstrip every other plane of consciousness within this Solar Body if only you could but harness your Being and direct it with wisdom and love."
[The Master ZEN TAO, channeled through the Ramala Centre, Glastonbury.]
Chapter Two:
EVOLUTION
Creation is an expansion of our Creator's Thought-force and the evolution of individual Soul entities is a further aspect of this expansion. Through the process of evolution, individual Souls embark on a long and daunting journey of exploration and growth into the lower Worlds of Matter, ultimately returning to Unity with the Source, endowed with a state of "Full Awareness" as well as imbued with great wisdom and experience.
Through its involutionary descent into the worlds of materiality, the Soul has developed a growing awareness of Self as an individualised entity. The Ego-self thus gradually becomes more assertive, gaining in strength and widening its field of exploration. As it descends into the more undeveloped and primitive worlds of great density, the difficulties of survival can lead one's natural self-awareness into developing a form of ego-centeredness, having been forced to focus on our own personal gain and superiority, usually at the expense of others. This can lead to personal aggression and conflict with others, leading to wars, turmoil and strife. After there have been long periods of bitter conflict there will eventually develop an exhausted state of locked-up confrontation, where no further gain is to be had from either side. At this point the Soul may begin to see the advantages of undertaking a major change of direction towards a more peaceful and cooperative attitude. This will have the effect of starting the Soul on its upward path of Ascension to eventual unity with the rest of Creation.
"During the descent of Spirit, often called the Downward Arc, there is not only a tendency towards greater materiality, the Spirit in-volving itself in Matter in order to learn to receive impressions through it, but there is also a tendency towards differentiation, the stream of Divine Life dividing and sub-dividing itself into an ever-increasing number of streamlets and units of consciousness.
"This is the great battle of the Universe, the tremendous conflict between Spirit and Matter. In this present part of the field is the point of balance. The Spirit, coming into innumerable relations with Matter, is at first over-powered; then comes the point of balance, when neither has the advantage over the other. Then slowly the Spirit begins to triumph over Matter, so that, at the end of this stage, Spirit is the master of Matter, and is ready for the Ascent.
"During the Upward Arc, when differentiation has been finally accomplished by the division of the Divine Life into separate Human entities, the tendency is towards Unity, as well as towards greater Spirituality. In this stage the Spirit, having learnt perfectly how to receive impressions through Matter, and how to express itself through it, and having awakened its dormant powers, learns to use these powers rightly in the service of the Logos."
[‘The Solar System’ by Arthur E. Powell - Theosophical Publishing House London Ltd.]
As individual Souls follow a path of Devolution down through increasingly dense Planes, forced to focus more and more on their own self-preservation, they become more competitive and exploitive in their relationships with others. Through this inter-reaction with others, painful or otherwise, we are constantly forced to confront and learn from the results of our actions. This calls into being the great "Law of Karma". This is known as the "Law of cause and effect", wherein all those negative and harmful actions which we do to others must eventually be balanced by equally good and positive actions to those wronged, with the ultimate aim of fully restoring the imbalance. We cannot progress or Ascend until we have fully balanced all our debts with others.
Only by experiencing the effects of our actions and then correcting them, does the evolving soul learn to fully be able to discriminate between "good" and "evil". The concentration by the Ego in the past on self-motivation and self-interest explains why political and social relationships on Earth have hitherto dominated so much of Human thought and group activity. The more evolved worlds on higher planes have always maintained a single and simple rule of correct social and political behavior, namely: that we avoid doing anything which can be harmful to others - "That we do unto others as only we would have them do unto us", a Universal Law fully accepted on the Higher Worlds.
On the return upwards Arc of Evolution we begin to comprehend that we are totally inter-linked with all the rest of Creation, with every other living creature and even with every other rock, mineral and plant. We eventually come to see ourselves as intimately linked with our Creator as part of His very cells, and likewise through us He is always in touch with our every experience. We begin to see ourselves as in fact an extension of our Creator, experiencing and learning together with Him on our joint long journey of Evolution.
The Master P'taah: "Know that you are not - and never have been separate from your Source. You truly have never been separate from each other. You have never really been separate from all of the Brothers and Sisters you have on countless Planets throughout your Galaxies. You have never been separate from any creature of your Planet. Not separate from your Sun and your Moon; not separate from any leaf, or blade of grass, or flower that blossoms in your garden. You have forgotten, that is all, and in your pain and in your judgment of who you are, you have closed down. You have forgotten that who you are is God/Goddess, smelling the rose of the vibrancy and excitement of this Dimension of Reality."
[The Master P'TAAH of The Pleiades, channeled by Jani King, in The P'taah Tapes: An Act of Faith - Triad Publishers Pty Ltd, Cairns, Queensland, Australia – 1991]
The Development of Human Morality
In the evolutionary process of Ascent that Human Beings go through to reach the perfection of Paradise, the development of Intelligence or the Mind is not the only important element of Evolution. The development of the “Moral Nature” in a Human – that is morality and its subsequent virtues, becomes the most significant attribute of the Human “personality”. Man's mentality may transcend that of his animal cousins, but it is his moral and religious natures that especially distinguish him from the animal world.
Although the Behavioral Scientists of Earth have recently discovered that animals do have a very basic sense of morals, that is of a primitive sense of right and wrong and of even helping another when in distress, most of the selective responses of an animal are limited to the reaction level of behavior. The supposed insight of the higher animals is mostly on a reactive level and usually appears only after the experience of a reaction through trial and error. Man is on the other hand able to exercise scientific, moral, and spiritual insight prior to all exploration or experimentation.
Only a Human “personality” can fully know the significance of what it is doing before it does it; only Human personalities possess insight in advance of experience. A Human personality can look before it leaps and can therefore learn from looking as well as from leaping. A non-personality-endowed animal ordinarily learns only by leaping.
As a result of experience an animal becomes able to examine the different ways of attaining a goal and to select an approach based on accumulated experience. But a Human personality can also examine the goal itself and pass judgment on its worth-whileness, its value. Intelligence can discriminate as to the best means of attaining indiscriminate ends, but a Moral Being possesses an insight which enables him to discriminate between ends as well as between means. He knows what he is doing, why he is doing it, where he is going, and how he will get there. A Moral Being in choosing moral virtue is nonetheless also exercising intelligence.
When Man fails to discriminate the ends of his mortal striving, he finds himself functioning on the animal level of existence. He has failed to avail himself of the superior advantages of that mental acumen, moral discrimination, and spiritual insight which are an integral part of his Cosmic-mind endowment as a personality-endowed Being. In the day-by-day life of Mortal Man, morality virtue is realized by the consistent choosing of good rather than evil, and such choosing ability is evidence of the possession of a moral nature.
Man's choosing between good and evil is influenced, not only by the keenness of his moral nature, but also by such influences as ignorance, immaturity, and delusion. A sense of proportion is also concerned in the exercise of moral virtue because evil may be perpetrated when the lesser is chosen in the place of the greater as a result of distortion or deception. The art of relative estimation or comparative measurement enters into the practice of the virtues of the moral realm.
Man's moral nature would be impotent without the art of measurement, the discrimination embodied in his ability to scrutinize meanings. Likewise would moral choosing be futile without that Cosmic insight which yields the consciousness of spiritual values. From the standpoint of intelligence, Man ascends to the level of a Moral Being because he is endowed with personality.
Morality can never be advanced by law or force. It is a personal and Free-will matter and must be disseminated by the contagion of contact of morally fragrant persons with those who are less morally responsive, but who are also in some measure desirous of doing the Father's will.
[Based on a text given by a Universal Censor from Uversa in “The Urantia Book”]
Chapter Three:
VIBRATION & DENSITY
The illusion of separateness from the rest of Creation and our Creator arises not only from a strong Earthly pre-occupation with our individual Self and its physical needs which can manifest in negative and aggressive behaviour, but is further emphasized by the existence of a "Frequency Fence" or "Veil" surrounding our Planet, totally isolating us from directly contacting and experiencing the surrounding higher Worlds. This has built up over thousands of years, not only through our own growing negativity, but also by the Forces of Darkness originating from outside our Planet wishing to maintain their control over us. The Spiritual Hierarchy has not up to now attempted to remove this barrier as it has provided us with a unique "quarantined" environment in which to experience the extremes of negative-positive Duality without a possible easy escape from its lessons. All of us who have volunteered to come down into this difficult physical world have made a prior "Contract" with our higher Spiritual Selves to learn a strong lesson from Earth's culture of conflict and negativity. We also hope to learn from attempting to reform it as well as greatly strengthening our Souls for the future. Without the "Veil" we would have soon tried to escape to the higher worlds of relative peace and ease, thereby avoiding the very hard lessons we had expressly come down for.
The Veil between our our Third Dimension and the Higher Dimensions has not made it easy for us to be aware of those higher Dimensions and their inhabited worlds. Our physical level Third Dimension frequency vibration-rate is far too dense to allow us to even see up to the next Dimension, the Fourth Dimension, which is made up of a less dense grouping of spaced-out atoms. A Fourth Dimensional Being would appear invisible to us, unless he or she deliberately lowered their vibration rate down to our own vibrational level. Only those Earth Humans who have over many lifetimes developed their powers of "extra-sensory-perception" are usually able to see those on a higher vibrational level or communicate with them through channeling their messages.
In trying to understand the nature of different vibration-rates inherent in all Matter, Occult Science explains that Matter is made up of various groupings and combinations of atoms with their orbiting electrons and protons, all of which oscillate about each other in a positive-negative vibratory movement whilst maintaining a fixed magnetic spacing from each other. All atoms, and the resultant Matter that they constitute through their cohesive groupings, vibrate at different frequency rates dependent on their complexity and density; a low frequency promoting a denser grouping, and higher frequencies creating less dense, more spaced-out and refined matter. Within the three main vibrational frequency/density ranges of the Spiritual, Etheric and Physical Planes, Occult Science also identifies seven subdivisions, or intermediate levels:
"The occultist finds that physical matter exists in seven sub-grades or orders of density: Solid; Liquid; Gaseous; Etheric; Super Etheric; Sub Atomic; Atomic. Particles of all these grades enter into the composition of the body, the physical vehicle. The physical body however, has two well-marked divisions; the Dense Body, composed of solids, liquids and gases, and the Etheric Body, or Etheric Double as it is frequently called, consisting of the four finer grades of physical matter. Every solid, liquid and gaseous particle of the physical body is surrounded with an etheric envelope: hence the Etheric Double, as its name implies, is a perfect duplicate of the dense form. In size it projects about one quarter of an inch beyond the skin."
[‘The Etheric Double’ by A.E. Powell, Theosophical Publishing House, London]
Between the Physical and the higher Etheric vibration densities there is an important intermediate level: the Astral Realm, composed of slightly lower-vibration Etheric matter. The Astral Plane is also known as the seat of our Emotional Body, and is usually the first level on which we arrive after the transition we call "Death". As the seat of our emotions, senses and memory, and of our Subconscious mind, it is also the level where we are constantly recording all our thoughts and experiences into the great Celestial Memory-Bank known as the "Akashic Records". Here resides all our memories available for our later retrieval by our physical brain. This is the source of all "Memory"; we do not actually store memories within our physical brain matter, but use it only as a communication link to the Akashic Records stored within the Ethers. With the onset of old age, part of our brain loses its capacity to "record" incoming immediate events, although another part may still be able to "retrieve" past events from the Akashic Records.
All of the original "patterns" for our Physical body are replicated on the Etheric Plane as the "Etheric Body", which is an exact counterpart. This explains why, for instance, when we lose a limb, we often still "feel" it as being in place as a sort of "ghost" limb. Since most illnesses originate in mental or emotional disorder, they first of all manifest in the Etheric Emotional Body before being transmitted down to the Physical Body. Many New Age healing therapies, such as "Radionics" and other forms of Spiritual Healing, apply healing on the Etheric level. As this is transmitted through the non-physical Ethers, healing can be done on the Physical Plane from any distance or place without any physical contact between Healer and Patient. Transmitting a corrective vibrational frequency to the Physical Body can thus restore the lowered disease frequency to its former vibrational rate from the pattern within the higher Etheric Body.
At our dense physical Third-dimensional vibration rate level, apart from touch, the physical perception range is limited to between the frequencies of sound (16 to 20,000 cycles per second) and the higher visible light-frequency spectrum, seen as the colors ranging upwards from red, orange, yellow, green, blue, to near the ultra-violet level. We cannot see higher-frequency vibrational "matter" outside this range. This is why we fail to see life on our neighbouring Planets, or their visiting space craft, except in those cases where they themselves have chosen to lower their vibration levels. Should we be able to raise our vibration rates upwards indefinitely, it would allow us to even visit the ultimate 12th Dimension, the level on which our Higher-Selves reside.
"The Spirit World has as many distinct planes of existence as an onion has skins, each forming an outer protecting skin to the previous one and providing a means of contacting the experiences which that particular plane has to offer. These planes are co-existent with our physical world, invisible to our slow reacting sense of sight, yet as real as the invisible waves which carry our radio programs.
"As a Spirit descends, plane by plane, into the depths of experience, a body, complete with the organs of sense suitable for manifestation in that particular sphere, has to be donned in order that those senses may respond to the vibration of things comprising that sphere. Without such a garment it would not be found possible either to express oneself or to receive impressions in local surroundings, and the experiences in that particular plane would be fruitless."
"The often-puzzling idea of invisible worlds and Beings being totally invisible and yet interpenetrating us, can be more readily understood if we bear in mind that all "solid" matter is in fact composed of atoms with spaces around them. It is of course, well known that even in the hardest substance no two atoms ever touch one another, the space between two adjacent atoms being in fact enormously larger than the two atoms themselves. Orthodox physical science long ago has posited an Ether which interpenetrates all known substances, the densest solid as well as the most rarefied gas; and just as this Ether moves with perfect freedom between the particles of densest matter, so does Etheric matter interpenetrate it in turn, and moves with perfect freedom among its particles. Thus a Being in the Etheric world might be occupying the same space as a Being living in the Physical world; yet each would be entirely unconscious of the other, and would in no way impede the free movement of the other."
[‘The Etheric Double’ by A.E. Powell, The Theosophical Publishing House, London]
We have had many communications from our Space Visitors explaining the nature of the different vibratory levels. One such communication came through Tuella in her book "Ashtar - A Tribute", in which she attempts to clarify the matter by asking Commander Ashtar of the Ashtar Command, a large fleet of Space Ships surrounding and protecting Planet Earth:
Tuella: "From your statement that you are Etheric, am I to presume that you have evolved beyond the stage of a physical body?"
Ashtar: "Correct. I do not possess a physical casing of the dense type such as yours. I am definitely Etheric, as are all people on other Planets in this Solar System. However, this does not mean that we are invisible to each other, as we are to you under normal circumstances. We see each other and live much as you do, but we do not have this dense physical casing which you possess. The advantages, benefits and comforts of this living are enormous, and the irritations of the fleshly envelope are most uncomfortable. Unless we choose to convert the vibrational frequency of our bodies to one which is visible to your optics, we remain invisible to your people. Nevertheless, highly evolved people, with a good psychic eye as you call it, can sometimes see us in vaporous form, although we may be invisible to other Earthlings in the same location. When your clairvoyants travel in their spiritual bodies to our civilizations on other planets, they see and are able to interpret our lives because they are not using their physical eyes but their astral or psychic sight, to which we are visible just as though we were physical."
Tuella: "I am curious about the nature of Etheric matter. For example, there is one case on record where one of our jet aircraft flew right through a Space Ship, without hitting anything solid whatever. Are your Ships made of a vaporous substance, or are they a different form of Earthly matter?"
Ashtar: "We have all the elements you know on Earth, and many more. The Etheric form of metals differs in its atomic and molecular structure from Earth-made metals. For example, the distance between the nucleus and the orbiting electrons of the Etheric iron is much greater than in physical iron, as you know it on Earth. This permits the atoms of Earthly steel to pass right through the atoms of Etheric steel in such a way that nothing happens to either form of steel. The Etheric form of steel enjoys a higher vibratory rate than Earthly steel and therefore is not apparent to Earthly vision or, if you prefer, physical eyesight.
"Because of our knowledge of Universal Law, our very being consists of a higher level of vibration than you people of Earth. You see, every particle of the Universe consists of molecules whose center contains an atom around which electrons and protons revolve. Each molecule of a different molecular structure vibrates at a different frequency. The inside of a molecule is identical in makeup to the Universe. Planets revolve around Central Suns; Solar Systems around Galaxies; Galaxies, around a great Central Universal Sun. Each molecule vibrates at whatever frequency seems appropriate for our existence.
"As one becomes more spiritual in nature, thinking only of the welfare of others and not of power and greed, the higher the molecules of one's Being will vibrate. As we know in our dimension, it is possible for these molecules to vibrate so rapidly that the frequency becomes pure Light. This is why we call ourselves the "Forces of Light". We depend on the Light from The Source -The Prime Creator, God, for our existence."
[‘Ashtar: A Tribute’ - compiled by Tuella - Guardian Action Publications - 1985. The full text of the Ashtar Command book "Project: World Evacuation" can be accessed from a link at the end of Book II]
Chapter Four:
OUR HIGHER-SELF
The original first-born Souls created by the highest Creator Gods next to Prime Creator are Souls known as the "Higher-Self Monads". The Monad or Higher Self resides on the 12th Dimension, and also has the function of parenting further "Extension Souls" or lower "Aspects" of themselves down onto the descending Planes of Matter. Most of the Higher-Self Monad Souls were initially created by the Creator Gods as Twin Souls, two forever-linked Souls, each one bearing an inherent element of male or female polarity. The Monad Twin Souls in time parent further lower level Twin Souls as extensions or "Aspects" of themselves, becoming their parental "Higher Selves" or "Oversouls". The High Self provides its lower "Aspects" with a continuous protective oversight of all their activities as well as any spiritual guidance and knowledge they may ever need. The guidance and knowledge they can provide comes largely from their accumulated experience of watching over their charge's experiences at different levels on the lower Worlds of Matter.
The parenting Higher-Self Monads, with the assistance of the Creator Gods, first of all give birth to over twelve "Prime Soul-Extensions" as first-born "Aspects" of themselves. Then these twelve newly created High Souls will themselves later co-create a further extension group of yet another twelve Souls onto yet lower worlds of matter. Thus there can finally come into being a total "Family Soul Group" of at least 144 Souls, all of them related throughout their evolutionary progress as a family of "Soul Mates", all from the same "Higher Self" parents.
Each lower Extension-Soul's relationship with its Monad/Higher-Self not only allows it to maintain a close connection and intuitive communication with the highest spiritual levels, but also provides it a continuous sharing of evolutionary experience with its "Parents". The intuitive advice passed down from the highest level to the lower planes helps the evolving Soul to maintain an overall sense of direction and keep to their intended Mission within their "Life Contract". At the same time the High-Self is itself learning and further evolving as a result of viewing the Extension-Soul's experiences within the many lower worlds of diversity and complexity.
The High-Selves pledge to allow their offspring full use of the Creator's gift of "Free Will" to develop their own independent identity without any undue interference from themselves. Otherwise they could also be creating their own negative Karma. The fundamental Law of Karma requires that all Souls should personally experience their own Karmaic cause-and-effect arising from their actions. The High Self will only offer direct advice when it is asked, and will not attempt to alleviate or eliminate any hard lessons that the lower Soul needs to learn.
As "Twin Soul" Extension-Souls descend into the lower worlds of materiality, they will increasingly be developing their inherent Masculine and Feminine Polarity. The Male will usually be expressing a positive, outgoing active force and the Female a returning/in-going, nurturing force. However, before they finally return to Unity with each other, each Twin Soul will itself attempt to develop a more thorough balance between the male and female polarities. The gender polarity split thus constantly provides a natural strong impetus for each soul to reunite with each other, and eventually will lead to the final Unity with Prime Creator and all of the rest of Creation.
Whilst incarnating Twin-Souls are attempting to develop a greater balance between their two different polarities, they will often switch gender for a particular incarnation in order to fully experience the inherent qualities of the opposite. This explains the varying difficulties of sexual identity frequently experienced down here on Earth when a particular Soul chooses incarnation into an "unaccustomed" gender. A Soul of predominately Female characteristics incarnating into a Male body will thus be more attracted to the partnership of another Male. Likewise, a predominately Male Soul incarnating now as a Female, will most likely seek a partnership with another Female. There may even be an impetus for some to go through a "change-of-sex" operation, back to their more accustomed gender.
When a Twin-Soul incarnates on a difficult lower physical-level Planet such as Earth, the other Twin often remains behind on the Higher Spiritual Plane in order to provide strong intuitional spiritual guidance from above. There are occasions, however, such as when undertaking an important joint mission on Earth, that Twin-Souls arrange to share a physical Third Dimension incarnation together. The time and place of their first Earthly meeting, particularly if not born into the same family, is always pre-viewed and pre-arranged on the Spiritual Planes before the incarnation. When they finally do meet down on Earth they will usually experience a feeling of instant and deep recognition - the well-known "Love at First Sight" - intuitively remembering their eternal spiritual connection. They may also jointly recognise their pre-planned Earthly meeting place. Such romantic "Love at First Sight" episodes forever touches a fundamental note of Human longing, and is the subject of many of Earth's greatest Love stories.
In an attempt to visualize the nature and appearance of a "Higher Self", we have been given a very good description by Shirley MacLaine in her book "Dancing In The Light" in which she describes a first meeting with her own Higher Self during a "psychic" exploration with her friend Chris Griscom:
"I breathed deeply into the center of myself as though I were getting my psychic balance. Then a picture swam into my mind, at first diffused, but then very clear. It was absolutely astonishing. I saw the form of a very tall, overpoweringly confident, almost androgynous Human Being. A graceful, folded cream-colored garment flowed over a figure seven feet tall, with long arms resting calmly at its side. Even longer fingers extended from the arms. The energy of the form seemed more masculine than feminine to me. The skin of the Being was ruddy and its hair was long to the shoulders and auburn colored. The face had high cheekbones and a straight, chiseled nose. The eyes were deep, deep blue and the expression was supremely kind, yet strong. It raised its arms in outstretched welcome. I got an Oriental feeling from it, more Oriental than Western. And I had the intuitive feeling that it was extremely protective, full of patience, yet capable of great wrath. It was simple, but so powerful that it seemed to "know" all there was to know. I was flabbergasted at what I saw, and what I felt about it.
"Who are you?" I asked, hardly daring to hear what it would say, nor what to make of this kind of dimensional experience. The Being smiled at me and embraced me!
"I am your Higher Unlimited Self," it said.
"Oh, my goodness," I heard myself say stupidly to it. "Are you really there?"
It smiled again.
"Yes," it said, "I have always been here. I've been here with you since the beginning of time. I am never away from you. I am you. I am your unlimited soul. I am the Unlimited You that guides and teaches you through each incarnation."
"Listen, " I said, "why do you have a form and why does it look like this?"
It smiled again.
"Because," it said, "you need to see me in the form of an Earth-plane dimension. The form of the soul is the form of the human body, in any case. The only difference is that the soul is a form without mass. But if you could see the Light-form of a soul, you would see a head, two arms, a body, and two legs. The soul is high-frequency light without mass. That is the only difference."
"Well, why do you seem so masculine to me?" I asked.
"I only seem more masculine than feminine because I am powerful. The energy of the soul is powerful, but it is androgynous. That is to say there is a perfect balance between the positive energy, which is male, and the negative energy which is female, or yin (feminine) and yang (masculine). The masculine positive energy is thrusting and active. The feminine negative energy is receiving and acceptive. Both are equally necessary to achieve life. One cannot operate without the other."
The image of Higher Self stood calm and centered. I had the impression that it wouldn't assert itself unless I motivated it to do so. I looked out of the window at a tree outside. It was swaying in the breeze.
"Listen," I said, "if I asked you to help me stop the movement of a tree, could we do it?"
"Try me," said Higher Self.
"Okay," I said. "That tree outside. Let's stop it from swaying."
"Very well," said Higher Self. "Feel my power become your power. Know that together we can accomplish anything."
I tuned in to this energy of my image of Higher Self and melded with it.
"Now," it said, "ask the tree for permission to control its movement."
"Ask the tree for permission?" I asked, suddenly becoming aware of the more refined subtleties of karmic interaction.
"Why, certainly," said Higher Self. "All life must work in harmony, balance, and respect for all other life. There can be no abuse of power without reaping consequence. You will hear the tree respond to you. You will know how it feels about it."
"Trees can feel?" I asked.
"Of course," said Higher Self. "All life vibrates with feeling. And the natural state of feeling is love. The state of love is achieved by simply being. Nature is a manifestation of the state of simple beingness. It just is. And that which is, in its purest sense, is perfect balance."
Shirley, having then successfully stopped the tree swaying with the help of her Higher Self, continues:
I looked up at Higher Self in my mind. The arms came down gently. "You see?" it said. "You did that. You can use your energy for anything. But you need to recognize me in order to do it."
"Then what is the difference between you and God?" I asked.
"None," it said. "I am God, because all energy is plugged into the same source. We are each aspects of that Source. We are all part of God. We are all individualized reflections of the God Source. God is us and we are God."
"And you are me."
"Precisely."
"Then does everyone have a Higher Unlimited Self of their own?"
"Exactly," said Higher Self. "And each Higher Self is in touch with every other Higher Self. All unlimited souls resonate in harmony with each other. The reason you do not recognize that truth on the Earth plane is because you are not in touch with the individual soul energy of your Higher Selves. But you will get there because there is no other place to go to achieve peace. Peace on the outside comes from peace on the inside. Peace on the inside comes from understanding that we are all God".
[‘Dancing in the Light’, by Shirley MacLaine - Bantam Books, Inc., 1985]
Chapter Five:
THE LEARNING PLANET
Many people living on Earth believe it to be a place of perfection. They complain when things are difficult or go wrong, and they can often become even angry with God. But Earth is not a place of perfection; it is a Planet of accelerated deep learning, a place that is probably the most demanding and testing in the entire scheme of evolution. Acceptance of this fact, reinforced by an understanding of its Divine purpose, can make life much easier, and help to ensure that we gain the most evolutionary benefit from Earth's hard lessons. Planet Earth at the physical plane level represents not only one of the farthest points outwards from the High Spiritual Center, but as a result of becoming a prime focal point for control by the "Forces of Darkness", has experienced some of the harshest and most difficult of lessons.
Evolution in the first half of its great "Arc" downwards is movement away from the Creator's "Unity". The farther we journey away from that Unity within the Creative Center, the denser the level on which we have to live and function. This has the multiple effect of weakening our connection with the Highest Wisdom, whilst at the same time enhancing our sensation of individualised self, with its natural tendency to concentrate on its own physical needs before considering the good of others. This is particularly so in this difficult world of physical challenges and frequent turmoil. The element of self-preservation and self-enhancement naturally present within our makeup usually promotes a desire for greater comfort and ease, most easily gained through exploiting others in order to increase our worldly wealth and power. This is greatly amplified on a dense physical world, where all movement is slower and heavier than on a higher Dimension, and where the physical body constantly creates its own heavy demands in terms of food and shelter.
Over time, through our increasing negativity and with the increasing negative influence of the Forces of Darkness, there has become an established "Frequency Fence" or "Veil" around Earth. This has made it easier for the Dark Forces to control us, isolating us and causing us to forget our connection with the High Spiritual Planes. Only during our sleep time are we able to escape this barrier, when we are able to travel up to the Astral Plane in our Astral Body to seek guidance, instruction and spiritual refreshment. When we do return next morning down to our Physical World, we are apt to forget our Spiritual Plane experiences upon awakening. Nevertheless, because of the "forgetfulness" induced by the Veil, it does force us to focus down here on the many inherent faults within our makeup, without the memory of those higher Spiritual Planes. Our faults can often include various degrees of aggression, lack of kindness or intolerance towards those we consider either below us or against us. These inherent character faults exist to a certain degree within all evolving Humans and at all spiritual levels. Although at the higher Spiritual levels they may be hardly noticeable, there can still be a "seed" of them within our Soul's make-up which can emerge in difficult conditions. This led to the downwards "fall" into darkness by the highest level Souls when they were subjected to the subtle and clever temptations of the Forces of Darkness millions of years ago.
Although the "Veil" between the physical world and the higher planes makes our life here on Earth all the more difficult, it is accepted by us on higher spiritual levels as part and parcel of our "Life Contract" for this incarnation. We can even benefit from it as is further explained by Tendor, a Spirit Guide from the Higher Spheres:
"If incarnating spirits on Earth could carry with them even a faint recollection of the joys and beauties of the Spiritual Sphere it would make it impossible for them to remain in tenancy of a physical body. To drink deep from the cup of experience it is necessary to contact life in its lowest form of manifestation. In order to do this you have to slow down your vibrations to a very slow rate and come under the cumbersome laws which govern that form of Matter. To one who remembered what life really is like on the Spiritual Plane, the ache to return would be so intolerable that no Spirit could hold down an Earthly body. It is a merciful provision of God that in such a harsh world memories are temporarily veiled".
["Full Cycle" by Ripley Webb - A Link to the full text of this book is available at the end of Book I ]
Our various philosophies and religions here on Earth often provide us with contradictions and complexities. For example, Buddhism and many Occult philosophies suggest that our world of individuality, separateness and strife is simply an "illusion" from which we must "free" ourselves. But if so, then it is an illusion which must nevertheless appear real to us if we are to learn from it. For example, as we watch a drama unfold on television we may well try to remain detached, reminding ourselves that "it's only a story"; but by maintaining such detachment we gain no benefit from the moral of the story. It is possible to learn by reading stories or observing enactments of the lives of others, but we can only do this through our full emotional involvement with the story, its characters and their predicaments, their hopes and their failures. Therefore it is in our "real life" on Earth that the very collective act of turning illusion into reality makes greater learning possible on the Mental and Emotional Planes.
The apparent "contradiction" between illusion and reality is paralleled by another contradiction often argued here on Earth: the nature of "Good" and "Evil".
In the sense that all is learning, all is evolution, there is no evil, for it is precisely through the experience of alternatives that we learn to choose the "Highest Wisdom" through our own volition, understanding and motivation. In this sense there can be no good or evil, only evolution, and the learning, experience and wisdom which it imparts.
But to us here on Earth, "Evil" can nevertheless be defined as the "Path of the Selfishly motivated Ego", of pursuing one's own benefit at the expense of others. This can lead us into exploitation and conflict in our relationships with one another. This applies also to the abuse of the Planet's ecology, where the Plant, Animal and Mineral Kingdoms are seen as existing purely for our personal exploitation and gratification.
In contrast, the "Path of Good" can be said to be found in placing Self not above, nor below others, but as a true equal. "Respect others just as you would have them respect you". And this should apply equally to our treatment of all other created life-forms. The worm's life may be unimportant to you, just as your life is incomprehensible to the worm; but the worm's life is very important to the worm, just as yours is to you. From this basis of equality we develop the concept of Respect for Others and giving Service to Others. This will ultimately lead us to giving forth Unconditional Love, where one gives willingly to others without thought of getting anything in return, which is the mark of a Higher Being.
"Good" and "Evil"' are very real to us here on Earth, and must always to a certain extent remain so as a part of our learning process. Therefore we need to maintain a difficult "balancing act". On the one hand we must strive to comprehend and remain constantly aware of the ultimate objectives for which we should aim: namely the Universal Laws of "Correct Conduct". As we do so, we must continually attempt to avoid Self-centered motivation and Ego-motivated aggression.
On the other hand as we inevitably fall from time to time into wrong thought and wrong actions, we can at least learn from them by making ourselves fully aware of their effects upon ourselves and those around us. We must ultimately reject such actions, embracing a fuller understanding of their consequences. In this way we can all be enriched by having had the experience of "Evil" and its consequences, strengthening our determination to always follow the "Path of Light".
Throughout the "Great Journey of Evolution" we are faced with many choices. Without our Creator's gift of Free Will/Free Choice the very concept of Evolution would not be possible. We have to as individuals experience all the alternatives of "Good" and "Bad" and their multitudinous effects. The choice of Free Will allows us to choose between the Path of Highest Wisdom and the Path of Self, then having done so, through experiencing the consequences, to finally make the correct choice and become a Fully Aware and Evolved Being
Many of the great Masters, Teachers, and Occult traditions confirm that here on Planet Earth Free Will is put to its greatest test under the most difficult conditions:
The Master Ramala: "When you come to look at the Earth and, in particular, at the actions of Humanity on its surface, here you witness only disorder. Why should this be so? It is because Humanity has been given the Divine gift of Free Choice and so can create the nature of its own world. Obviously, this must fall within the evolutionary cycle and the destiny of the God or Lord of this Solar System; but within those broad restrictions Humanity can choose the nature of its own evolutionary path."
Through the gift of "Free Will" by the Creator, we are able to create for good or evil, and having done so we must then experience the results of our creation. This is a continuing process and exists throughout the spectrum of life. We make choices and create the results from moment to moment and from life to life, both as individuals and collectively as communities, nations, races, and religious groupings. We can escape neither choice, nor the results of it. We can only observe, experience, assimilate, and learn from our choices and the effects which they have on ourselves, on other living Beings and on our planetary home, then having learned and gained in wisdom, amend our future conduct accordingly.
As we experience the trials and tribulations of Earth we are often moved to ask why we are undergoing such misfortunes. In reality it is we who have chosen both our Earth incarnation and its specific circumstances. All the difficult confrontations in our lives have been pre-planned as important lessons by us with the help of our Higher-Self and Guides on the Higher Planes and always with our total agreement. All the unexpected, difficult and painful experiences we ever encounter in our Earthly lives do not come as some form of "Heavenly retribution", nor do they ever "happen by chance". All the major events and confrontations in our lives are pre-planned by our Spiritual Selves as vital lessons which we need to overcome and from which we need to learn whilst the opportunity exists on this demanding Physical Plane. It is always much easier to make rapid evolutionary progress down here than on the Higher Spheres. Rejecting, opposing or failing to embrace fully these lessons will only delay the process and cause unnecessary further suffering. By recognizing and contemplating our errors and assimilating the lessons to be learned, we can then flow with the learning process and derive the maximum benefit from what is universally regarded as a unique learning environment.
Earth is a Planet of learning, not a Planet of perfection. But its imperfections are of our own making and it is therefore within our power, individually and collectively, to rectify them.
Chapter Six:
KARMA & REINCARNATION
Evolution is a process of learning through choice, and to this end we have been granted Free Will/free choice by our Creator. Here on Earth, Free Will is exercised, and its consequences learned, in the most extreme form and under the most difficult conditions.
On higher spiritual planes it is possible to see in a single moment the probable outcomes of various alternative paths, and it is therefore a much simpler matter to make the right choice. But the Earth phase of evolution is clouded by the "Veil", hence it is not possible for us to look accurately into our potential future. We on Earth must learn by the more arduous process of physical experience; we must make choices, weigh up the perceived advantages or disadvantages to self and to others, then experience the consequences of those choices. Similarly we painfully experience the consequences of those actions of others which return upon us. This makes us a much stronger and more aware person than one who has taken the smoother and easier path of evolution on higher worlds.
Central to the concept of "Free Will" is the Law of Karma, or the Law of Cause and Effect. The Law of Karma is also known as the great Law of Balance. In the process of living, evolving, experimenting and learning, our actions affect others either harmfully or beneficially, thus incurring numerous and often complex debts or credits on our own evolutionary balance-sheet of progress. The Law of Karma requires that the effects which our actions have on others and all other life forms, must always be finally balanced. When we harm others we incur a debt to ourselves as well as to them. When others harm us they incur a debt to themselves as well as to us. Debts for "good" or "bad", whether by ourselves or by someone else, must eventually be balanced by both parties. Similarly, when you injure yourself through incorrect living and misuse of your physical body, you create an imbalance as a Karmaic Debt to yourself that must later be repaid by your achieving awareness of your incorrect actions and their future avoidance. In the end, all actions which prove to be of a negative nature must be finally balanced out by those of a positive nature.
On higher levels there is no "judgment" as we know it in the sense of emotional criticism of one person by another. Karma is an objective, automatic, totally dispassionate process, one of rebalancing that which we or others have already put out of balance. Through this Law of balance, or cause and effect, we experience and learn from the results of our chosen actions and those of others.
From wrong actions taken in a specific set of circumstances, wrong effects will follow; we must then revisit and recreate those sets of circumstances again and again until, either in this life, or in repeated incarnations, having learnt from their ill-effects, we eventually choose the right path. This is the effect of the Law of Karma. To determine whether we have corrected and overcome our Karmaic Debts, tests will be instigated by our Higher Self and repeated until they are "passed" by our own acknowledgment, acceptance and assimilation. All the major challenges in our lives are always fore-planned by us at a spiritual level, and we ourselves require that they be repeated over and over again until they are finally mastered. This process can last one moment or one day; or it can take place over a lifetime, or over many lifetimes. We alone require that our lessons must be learned thoroughly, it is not up to others to judge us.
Similarly our "good" actions, such as showing respect for other lifeforms or those "random acts of kindness" which benefit others, will set in motion a positive chain reaction, since the Law of Karma works automatically. We magnetically attract to ourselves "bad" experiences when we feel a need to learn from them. Likewise when we have no need for a particularly hard lesson, we shall not attract it. We magnetize to ourselves either good or bad experiences only when we have a need to learn from them.
The Master Zen Tao: "Do not see Karma only as a plus or minus column in a Divine Accountant's book in which is recorded what you owe to someone because of the wrong that you have done them! It does not work in that way. It is rather a teaching process in which you learn from what you have done. It is you that has created those ripples on the pond of life and they will in turn affect you. The purpose of Karma is not punishment. It is rather a process of balance and education."
We must also understand that what we give in the form of energy, creativity or effort (power) to the rest of Creation, will eventually be returned to us tenfold. Likewise, that which we take from Creation in the form of the energy or creativity of others, is a debit, which must ultimately be balanced by our further giving of our own energy to balance the debt.
On the higher Spiritual Planes the process of Evolution takes place as an unbroken continuity of conscious awareness. At the Earth level however, the difficulties of Third-dimensional Earth life, and the physical aging of the dense Earthly body, place limitations on the length of time during which we can tolerate the dense Physical Plane. This requires that we eventually must physically "die", and then spend a relatively long period on a Higher Spiritual Plane reviewing our Earth life and receiving much needed spiritual refreshment before returning to another physical incarnation. We often find that we need to repeatedly learn from the many faults within our makeup at the challenging physical Third-Dimensional level until we have finally overcome them. This cycle is known as Reincarnation.
The Spirit Guide Tendor: "Earth is a school, and you learn even when making mistakes. If you face a test and fail, you push yourself to take it again. So if you have lessons to learn in one life which you fail to learn, then in another life you will present yourself with those lessons again; for you cannot progress - and all life is an upward progression, an upward spiral - until you have learned those lessons.
"You have a test to pass, one which you have set yourself to accomplish. When you pass depends upon the effort you make. If you do not pass the test in one experience you will have other chances of doing so. You will always find fresh opportunities opening out before you. In time you will accomplish what you set out to do, however many distractions may deter you from your object. The power of the Spirit can and will win in the end. It is like a powerful magnet drawing you on. It is the effort that counts; the responsibility is yours, no other can accomplish your mission for you. The scales of Divine Justice are accurately balanced, there must be nothing owing if you are to progress."
["Full Cycle" by Ripley Webb. A Link to the full book text is available at the end of our Book I ]
During our "Life's review" on the Spiritual Plane following physical death, the next incarnation is planned in advance with the help of one's Spiritual Guides and Masters. With their close consultation, we make a thorough review of our past faults and weaknesses from which we can then make plans to return to physical life in order to correct those various weaknesses. When back in an Earthly life, those pre-planned events can come upon us quite unexpectedly, some as even quite traumatic experiences, which usually causes the Earthly personality to roundly blame the "Fates"or even God for its "misfortune". And yet all of these events have been previously planned to manifest at a particular opportune time by the Soul itself.
When about to undertake an incarnation on Earth, the Soul makes a "Life Contract" between itself, its Higher Self and the Spiritual Hierarchy to live an Earth life of an agreed duration in order to correct and learn from those inherent character weaknesses. If the incarnated soul subsequently finds the Earth lessons too difficult and decides to terminate life prematurely by such as suicide, the lessons are thus not only temporarily avoided, but are deemed to be postponed until another reincarnation can be arranged. The Soul's Higher Spiritual Self will require going through the lengthy process of death and rebirth once again, in order to live out those remaining years left within the former "Life Contract". This explains why many of us instinctively have a deep-rooted feeling that suicide is not a good road to go down. Not only is it considered on higher levels as a betrayal of one's Higher-Self's "Evolutionary Plan", but as a gross misuse of all the Heavenly support and Earthly facilities made available to us by Mother Earth and the Heavenly Realms as well as our Prime Creator .
The Master Zen-Tao: "The Drama of Life has a purpose: It is to teach, to evolve our consciousness. Everything that happens on the Plane of Earth happens not by chance, but because we have attracted it to ourselves through our behavior in this or in past lives, and have consciously accepted the challenge it represents. It is widely understood that the concept of "Free Will" allows us to choose how we will react to given circumstances; it is important to realize however, that we also exercise Free Will in our choice of the challenges we agree to undertake during each incarnation. Through "Free Will" we choose our challenges and lessons; through Free Will we choose how we react to them.
"It is difficult for those who do not accept the concept of Reincarnation, of life after life after life, to see how suffering can be regarded as an evolutionary process. But when Reincarnation is accepted as an integral part of one’s view of Evolution, it is easy to understand that we bring into being with each new physical body all that we have created in other Earth lives, and on other levels of existence beyond the Physical Plane of Earth. We bring with us not only our spiritual wisdom, but also the sins of the past, the lessons we have not learnt, the Karma we owe both to ourselves and to others. So as we advance through the life which we now lead, we will automatically attract to ourselves the lessons we have chosen to learn, the Karma we have chosen to transmute.
"Thus there is no such thing as a tragedy by chance. Everything that happens on the Plane of Earth has reason, has purpose. We live in a world in which many people apparently experience great tragedies. Tragedy comes to people either because they chose it for their destiny path or because it will present them with a lesson in life they have yet to learn. Tragedy is the working-out of cause and effect; as we experience the Effects, so we learn to change the Cause. The experience of Tragedy also teaches sympathy and compassion, the ability to accept and absorb the minor imperfections in others, that they may in turn do the same for us.
"If there is one point which I would like to emphasize now, it is this: that suffering is chosen by yourself. It is not given to you by your Creator as a punishment. It is chosen by you, willingly, as a lesson to learn, as a lesson which your Soul needs at this particular point in its evolution."
Those who find themselves confronted by a challenge so great as to appear unbearable should always keep in mind that nothing, absolutely nothing, no challenge, no wound, no obstacle or impediment however difficult and trying it may appear, has been undertaken without our own prior consent and acceptance, and that no challenge we may meet on Earth is greater than our power to overcome it. A super-Human effort may indeed be required by those who have chosen life's most difficult challenges, but nothing is ever undertaken, or allowed to be undertaken, which is beyond our reach.
Our evolution, both collective and individual, is a task of enormity and complexity, requiring that it must of necessity take place over many lives and incarnations. Between earthly incarnations we experience a period of rest, review, and preparation.
Chapter Seven:
DEATH & REVIEW
Death is an integral part of Evolution and the process of Reincarnation in Earthly life. It is important that we develop an understanding of its function and significance so that when the time comes, the process of death can take place without our fear, and indeed so that we can accept it joyfully.
There have been many accounts on Earth of people who have physically "died" and who have then miraculously "returned to life", even after having undergone certified clinical death. These are known as "Near-Death Experiences" and many have been documented. All the experiences recounted show a remarkable consistency in certain fundamental respects: the sense of passing through a long and bright tunnel with the presence of a great Light at the end of it, and the final emergence into that "Light" with strong feelings of spiritual warmth and love. Many also report experiencing a remarkable clarity of thought, of seeing a rapid "panoramic memory" recollection of their entire life. Many of these "near-death experiences" have been detailed in Raymond Moody's book "Life After Life", proving that death is not the eternal blackout which many people assume would follow.
The time and place of death to occur is always known well beforehand by our Spiritual Guides on the Spiritual Planes. Our relatives and former friends who have already passed over to those Planes are always alerted of an impending "transition", and will usually be on hand to greet the new arrival.
At the critical moment of death we are assisted by an "Angel of Death", also known as the "Angel of Mercy", who has been charged with the special responsibility of cutting the silver "Life-cord", an Etheric cord of Light that permanently connects our physical body with our Higher Spiritual Bodies during our lifetime here on Earth.
Ripley Webb’s "Full Cycle", a book based on channelling from his Spiritual Guide Tendor, describes an Angel of Mercy attending the passing of an elderly lady named Martha, at her death-bed on Earth. This is witnessed by Michael, who has himself recently "passed-over", along with his own Spiritual Guide, Raphael, when they descended together in their Etheric bodies down to the Earth level to view the event.
"The centre of the room was occupied by a bed on which lay the figure of a woman of about seventy years. Round the bed were a doctor, a nurse, and a man and woman who were presumably relatives of the dying woman. The occupant of the bed would sometimes murmur a few words and the light of her eyes showed that there was little wrong with her brain. Her busy fingers were fumbling at the counterpane.
"As if sensing Michael's thoughts Raphael spoke. "She is not really ill, it is just old age. Her time has come. Look, see who has entered the door." Michael glanced at the doorway and saw a Being standing there so dignified and stately that he guessed it could not be an ordinary spirit. "This is an Angel of Mercy," explained Raphael. "He comes personally to perform the cutting of the life-cord which keeps a spirit chained to its Earthly body. It is a duty which God only entrusts to advanced Beings such as he. He knows God's will and how and when to perform the function." Then he added, "See, the old lady has sensed his arrival."
"As if she were indeed aware of the entrance of the Angel, the old lady raised her head slightly and gazed fixedly at the door. Then her face creased and tears began to pour down her cheeks. "I don't want to die, doctor, I don't want to die. Don't let me die." The querulous voice ended in a wail of self-pity. The doctor took her hand in his and murmured the things he would be expected to say at such a time. He knew that nothing could be done and the end was approaching.
"Reassured by the gesture she looked again at the door. Following her gaze Michael saw the features of the Angel change and become transfigured, as a glow of love was projected like a beam of light towards the bed. The old lady's lips began to move as she tried to tell the others of what she saw, but the life-force was ebbing fast from the frail body. The Angel held out his hand to her. As if obeying the call the woman in a sudden access of strength raised herself into a sitting position, her eyes suddenly alight. In the distance could be heard music from a spiritual source, relayed from the Higher Realms.
"Look behind the Angel" said Raphael. There behind the radiant figure was a little crowd of spirits, all with welcoming smiles. They were friends or relatives of the woman making the transition, who had come to aid her transition and greet her in the new world.
"Something attracted Michael's attention to the bed once more. A thin wisp of vapour began to weave its way out of the top of the dying woman's head and hung there in a little cloud. Then the body dropped back suddenly and the hands dropped lifelessly upon the coverlet. Very soon after, a form, a replica of the mortal body, was elevated to a position horizontally extended above the physical body and facing downwards. This wraith-like form gradually assumed a denser condition as the etheric forces were released from the physical body and built themselves into the spirit body.
"When the process was completed, the etheric body assumed an upright posture at the foot of the bed. Here the Angel advanced and placed his hands upon the eyes of the etheric form, then stepped aside. The life-cord still connected physical and etheric bodies but it was attenuated and was scarcely visible. Martha was free and in her new freedom was advancing to meet those who had come to fetch her. Exclamations of pleased surprise came from her lips. She began to respond to the greeting of these old friends, the existence of some of whom she had almost forgotten. The little group began to move away.
"The Angel has not cut the life-cord yet," observed Michael.
"No," replied Raphael. "He will not do that yet, it would be a shock to the spirit. He will guard the remains for a little time before he performs that last office."
"The Angel now turned towards the retreating group and stretched out his arms towards them, obviously concentrating his thoughts upon them. Instantly the Earthly room vanished and after a momentary period of darkness, they all found themselves in the grounds of the hospital on the Etheric/Astral level. There ahead of them were the old lady and her friends now approaching the entrance to the main building. She gave a yawn. Meeting friends had tired her for some time past and she felt that this strange experience must also prove tiring. So she was tired. Raphael stepped forward and spoke to the visitors. They seemed to respect his authority and made their excuses. A nurse came out of the building and to her Raphael gave charge of the new arrival."
["Full Cycle" by Ripley Webb. A Link to the full book text is available at the end of our Book I ]
We have to appreciate that the Spiritual Plane on which we first arrive after "death" depends on our spiritual progress and attainment made whilst on Earth. Most Earth persons of moderate spiritual development first of all arrive on the Astral Plane, the next level above the Physical Plane. This largely reproduces, especially at the lower levels, conditions as they appeared to us on Earth, although there are some subtle differences reflecting the new and higher Astral vibratory rate. The colors of Nature are more brilliant, scents of flowers are stronger, and the Soul now has a sharper and more alert awareness of all the surrounding beauty. The body now feels lighter, as there is no longer the heavy gravitational pull of Earth. One can very soon even develop the ability to transport oneself directly, above the ground, from one place to another by the power of thought alone.
The newly arrived Soul may be surprised to find that he or she is being taken by a Spiritual Guide or Relative greeting one to an Etheric counterpart of an Earthly imagined "dream home". Through constantly imaging a mental "ideal" on the Physical Plane, one is often unconsciously creating a mental "counterpart" of thought material on the higher Astral and Etheric Planes. By employing that person's Earthly thought-form as a guide, Heavenly Plane Spiritual Assistants can in advance shape the less dense and more malleable Etheric Matter into a concrete Etheric representation of the original Earthly image.
One of many After-Death experiences related through a channelled transmission was given by the High Church Cleric, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, son of Edward White Benson, former Archbishop of Canterbury, shortly after his death in 1914, to his former friend on Earth, Anthony Borgia. This was published in Anthony Borgia's book, "Life After Death in the Unseen Worlds" . Monsignor Benson recounts that after his "death", and whilst still in his Earth body, he was joined by an old colleague, a priest, who greeted him warmly:
"He told me to take hold of his arm firmly, and to have no fear whatever. I could if I wished, close my eyes. I at once experienced a sensation of floating such as one has in physical dreams, though this was very real and quite unattended by any doubts of personal security.
"After a short while our progress seemed to slacken somewhat, and I could feel that there was something very solid under my feet. I was told to open my eyes. I did so. What I saw was my old home that I had lived in on the Earth-plane; my old home - but with a difference. It was improved in a way that I had not been able to do to its Earthly counterpart. The house itself was rejuvenated, as it seemed to me from a first glance, rather than restored; but it was the gardens around it that attracted my attention more fully.
"They appeared to be quite extensive, and they were in a state of the most perfect order and arrangement. By this I do not mean the regular orderliness that one is accustomed to see in public gardens on the Earth-plane, but that they were beautifully kept and tended. There were no wild growths or masses of tangled foliage and weeds, but the most glorious profusion of beautiful flowers so arranged as to show themselves to absolute perfection.
"Of the flowers themselves, when I was able to examine them more closely, I must say that I never saw either their like or their counterpart upon Earth, of many that were there in full bloom. Numbers were to be found, of course, of the old familiar blossoms, but by far the greater number seemed to be something entirely new to my rather small knowledge of flowers. It was not merely the flowers themselves and their unbelievable range of superb colourings that caught my attention, but the vital atmosphere of eternal life that they threw out, as it were, in every direction. And as one approached any particular group of flowers, or even a single bloom, there seemed to pour out great streams of energising power which uplifted the soul spiritually and gave it strength, while the heavenly perfumes they exhaled were such as no soul clothed in its mantle of flesh has ever experienced. All these flowers were living and breathing, and they were, so my friend informed me, incorruptible."
["Life After Death in the Unseen Worlds", channeled by Anthony Borgia. A Link to the full book text is available at the end of our Book I ]
Those on Earth who were not aware of or opposed to the concept of an "After Life" may indeed need some convincing after their physical death that they are now in fact "dead" in Earthly terms. It is usually arranged for such persons to arrive in surroundings closely imitating those that they left on Earth. It may take them quite quite a while to accept that they are in fact physically "dead", particularly since everything around them appears more or less as it was on Earth. Although they may perceive a slightly different quality of light and color in their new surroundings, they usually tend to dismiss this as some minor anomaly. Now that they are on one of the lower Astral Planes, they are permitted for a time to pursue their life in surroundings more or less familiar to themselves. When after some considerable time they eventually come round to recognizing the truth of their new "reality", they begin to develop a desire to move up to a higher Plane. At such a time they will always have the immediate help of their Spiritual Guides, who have been waiting patiently for this to happen.
Those of Earth who have considerably lowered their vibrational rates by selfish uncaring and damaging behavior towards others, or who have abused their bodies through drug-use and other damaging practices, may find themselves unfortunately descending to even lower Astral regions, the traditional Biblical "Hell". There they will arrive in a dark world consonant with their spiritual development. These bleak and grim Planes can range from cold, gray foggy wastelands, down to the lowest dark pits of depravity where evil deeds are constantly being re-enacted, over and over again until the Soul finally rejects them and urgently wishes to move up to higher levels. The Soul's Higher Self may have decided that its lower personality needs to dwell in these conditions for some time in order to drastically correct their former ways. Once the Soul has made the commitment to move upwards, its Spiritual Guides will be there to assist it to gently move upwards, step by step, to a higher Plane.
The Lower Astral Plane is also made up of many other slightly less dark, but nonetheless grey areas, where people of little spiritual development or aspiration can live within their own subjectively re-created conditions similar to those of their former life on Earth. Many of these souls still persist in remaining unaware or unwilling to accept that they are physically dead. They relive life as they did on Earth in all their former dull and bleak surroundings, pursuing as much as possible their old habits and lifestyle. They still feel the need to consume "food" which they no longer need, continuing going to "work" every day, and even using Astral "money" which has been specially created to perpetuate their illusion. However, they are soon being made aware that everything around them seems to decay and melt away rather rapidly, including their money; this is engineered to teach them to eventually relinquish their overiding attachment to material possessions and to seek an upward move to more spiritual levels.
When all newly arrived Souls have assimilated their transition to the Spiritual Worlds, they are then given access to their own "Panoramic Life Story" drawing from scenes in their newly departed Earth life. These come from the Akashic Records, the great Astral/Etheric Memory Bank which constantly records all actions and events that have ever taken place. Thus the Soul can review, in multi-dimensional sight and sound, all the significant episodes of the recently completed Earth incarnation. By reviewing their past mistakes, their personality faults and the many unkindlinesses they made to others whilst on Earth, they can then identify those lessons that need to be further learned and corrected.
This review process is well described in Ripley Webb's book "Full Cycle", where Earth-based Michael has recently died, and having ascended to the Spiritual Planes, reviews his recently completed lifespan through the Akashic Records. He is taken by his Spiritual Guide to a special building on the Heavenly Plane somewhat similar to a small movie house/cinema, where a large screen at one end now becomes illuminated:
"The picture assumed movement and resolved itself into a form of symbolism quite impossible to translate into words. The mind of Spirit however found it easier to attach a meaning to the symbols and Michael was able to grasp the inner meaning of all the major events which built up the sequence of his existence. Little events of seemingly small importance now assumed a larger character by reason of their effect on himself or others.
"He became aware of a voice that provided a running commentary on the portrayal. At first he thought it must be a part of the picture, an accompanying sound track, giving in thought-language the symbology of the events. The voice was critical beyond measure; he began to wonder who this person was who took it upon himself to judge him in such forthright terms. No one had warned him of this. His heart smote him suddenly. The awesome thought came to him that this might be some manifestation of God's anger with him...
"He summoned his courage and faced the picturisation of his past in a spirit of determination. To his astonishment he discovered that the voice was not external to himself but was coming from within his own being. As if following his train of thought the voice broke in, "It is the voice of Conscience, your Conscience." The thought stunned him. It was not God who spoke, not some superior accusing Being judging him from the lofty seat of omnipotence. It was his own Self, his own Spirit speaking from the highest pinnacle of its consciousness, from the pure essence of his being. He shrank into his seat as the terrible significance of the fact burst into his mind. Never in his wildest dreams had he envisioned his ultimate judge as himself. Not the easy-going self-excusing mind of the human makeup, but the most implacable part of his being, the all-knowing Centre of his own super-consciousness. How could he excuse himself before the terrible indictment of his own Spirit?
"In no uncertain terms the voice went on to emphasize his weaknesses and to mark the points in his career where his foolishness or ignorance or lack of effort had influenced other lives to their detriment. Again it would indicate where his failure to seize an opportunity had resulted in some unhappy consequence to others, which he might have aided them to avoid had he been less wrapped up in himself. The voice was fair, it gave him credit for what he had accomplished. But there was no doubt which way the Scales of Justice were balanced."
["Full Cycle" by Ripley Webb - A Link to the full book text is available at the end of Book I ]
Once we have reviewed our past life and seen all our faults with the clearer and more objective spiritual vision available on the Higher Dimensions, we are now in a position, with the help of our High Self and other Spiritual Guides, to assess which failed lessons need to be re-learnt, and to review any further lessons that need to be gone through.
But unless Karma requires an immediate return to Earth, such as after a suicide, most Souls spend a considerable time refreshing their spiritual aspects on the Higher Planes. For many Earth Souls this can take up to two hundred years or more, sometimes extending to over a thousand years or more in Earth's time.
During the period of spiritual refurbishment between incarnations, there is ample opportunity on the Spiritual Planes for study and a general widening of consciousness. The vast Spiritual Worlds can either be fully explored, or attendance made to the numerous Halls of Learning to acquire new skills and knowledge. There is also plenty of opportunity for service to others by undertaking such tasks as assisting those who have recently come over from the Earth Plane to adjust to their new Spiritual home.
We can get an insight into all the great opportunities for acquiring new skills and knowledge on the Spiritual Plane from the following description by Monsignor Benson in "Life After Death in the Unseen Worlds", shortly after his arrival in the Heavenly Realms:
"As we approached the city, it was possible for us to gather some idea of its extensive proportions. It was, I hardly need say, totally unlike anything I had yet seen. It consisted of a large number of stately buildings each of which was surrounded with magnificent gardens and trees, with here and there pools of glittering water, clear as crystal, yet reflecting every shade of colour known to Earth, with many other tints to be seen nowhere but in the realms of spirit.
"It must not be imagined that these beautiful gardens bore the slightest resemblance to anything to be seen upon the Earth-plane. Earthly gardens at their best and finest are of the very poorest by comparison with these that we now beheld, with their wealth of perfect colourings and their exhalations of heavenly perfumes. To walk upon the lawns with such a profusion of nature about us held us spellbound. I had imagined that the beauty of the countryside, wherein I had had all my experience of spirit lands so far, could hardly be excelled anywhere.
"My mind had reverted to the narrow streets and crowded pavements of Earth; the buildings huddled together because space is so valuable and costly; the heavy, tainted air, made worse by streams of traffic; I had thought of hurry and turmoil, and all the restlessness of commercial life and the excitement of passing pleasure. I had no conception of a city as the light of day is from black night. Here were fine broad thoroughfares of emerald green lawns in perfect cultivation, radiating, like the spokes of a wheel from a central building which, as we could see, was the hub of the whole city. There was a great shaft of pure light descending upon the dome of this building, and we felt instinctively that in this temple we could send up our thanks to the Great Source of all, and that there we should find none other than the Glory of God in Truth.
"The buildings were not of any great height as we would measure or compare with Earthly structures, but they were for the most part extremely broad. It is impossible to tell of what materials they were composed because they were essentially spirit fabrics. The surface of each was as smooth as marble, yet it had the delicate texture and translucence of alabaster, from which each building sent forth, as it were into the adjacent air, a stream of light of the palest shade of colouring. Some of the buildings were carved with designs of foliage and flowers, and others were left almost unadorned, as far as any smaller devices were concerned, relying upon their semi-classical nature for relief. And over all was the Light of Heaven shining evenly and uninterruptedly, so that nowhere were there dark places.
"The city was devoted to the pursuit of learning, to the study and practise of the arts, and to the pleasures of all in this realm. It was exclusive to none, but free for all to enjoy with equal right. Here it was possible to carry on so many of those pleasant and fruitful occupations that had been commenced on the Earth-plane. Here, too, many souls could indulge in some agreeable diversion which had been denied them for a variety of reasons whilst they were incarnate.
"The first Hall that my guide Edwin took us into was concerned with the Art of Painting. This Hall was of very great size and contained a long gallery, on the wall of which were hanging every great masterpiece known to man. They were arranged in such a way that every step of Earthly progress could be followed in proper order, beginning with the earliest times and so continuing down to the present day. Every style of painting was represented, gathered from all points of the Earth.....
"In other parts of this same building were rooms wherein students of art could learn all that there is to be learnt. The joy of these students is great in their freedom from their Earthly restrictions and bodily limitations. Here instruction is easy, and the acquisition and application of knowledge is equally facile to those who wish to learn. Gone are all the struggles of the student in the surmounting of Earthly difficulties both of the mind and of the hands, and progress towards proficiency is consequently smooth and rapid...
"We then passed on to another immense building. This was the Hall of Literature, and it contained every work worthy of the name. It interior was divided into smaller rooms than in the Hall of Painting. Edwin led us into one spacious apartment which contained the histories of all the Nations upon the Earth-plane. To anyone who has a knowledge of Earthly history, the volumes with which the shelves of this section of the great library were filled, would prove illuminating. The reader would be able to gain, for the first time the truth about the history of his country. Every word contained in these books was the literal truth. Concealment is impossible, because nothing but the truth can enter these realms....
"The Hall of Music also followed the same broad system as the other Halls of the Arts. The Library contained books dealing with music as well as the scores of vast quantities of music that had been written on Earth by composers who had now passed into spirit, or by those who were still upon Earth. What are called upon Earth 'Master-Works', were fully represented among the musical scores upon the shelves, and I was interested to learn that there was hardly a work that had not since been altered by the composer himself since coming into spirit...
"The many types of musical instrument so familiar on Earth were to be seen in the College of Music, where students could be taught to play upon them. And here again, where dexterity of the hands is so essential in the task of gaining proficiency, here it is never arduous or wearisome, and moreover, so much more rapid than upon the Earth. As students acquire a mastery over their instrument they can join one of the many orchestras that exist here, or they can limit their performance to giving it to their many friends.....
"We had observed that the Hall of Music stood in grounds far more extensive than those we had already seen, and the reason was soon made clear to us. At the rear of the Hall was the great Centre of Concert Performances. It consisted of a vast amphitheatre like a great bowl sunk beneath the level of the ground, but it was so large that its real depth was not readily apparent. The seats that were farthest away from the performers were exactly upon ground level. Immediately surrounding these seats were masses of the most beautiful flowers of every possible hue, with a grassy space beyond, while the whole area of this outdoor temple of music was encompassed by a magnificent plantation of tall and graceful trees. Although the seating arrangements were upon such an expansive scale, much more so than would be at all practicable upon Earth, yet there was no sense of being too far from the performers, even in the farthest seats - our vision or hearing is not so restricted in its scope in the Spirit world as it is upon Earth.
"Edwin suggested that we might like to hear a concert of the Spirit world, but suggested we take up a position a short distance away from the theatre for reasons which would later become apparent. And so, we seated ourselves on the grass at some distance from the actual amphitheater. I wondered whether we should be able to hear very much music so far away, but our friend assured us that we should. And, indeed, we were joined by numbers of other people at that very moment, who, doubtless, had come for the same purpose as ourselves. The whole place, which was empty when Edwin had first brought us in, now contained many people, some strolling about, and others, like us, seated contentedly on the grass. We were in a delightful spot, with the trees and flowers and pleasant people all about us, and never have I experienced such a feeling of real, genuine enjoyment as came upon me at this moment...
"Edwin then suggested that we stroll over to the amphitheatre and look down over the seats once again. We did so, and to our astonishment we found that the whole vast amphitheatre was packed with people, where there was not a soul to be seen but a short time before. The musicians were in their places awaiting the entrance of their conductor, and this great audience had arrived as if by magic - or so it seemed. As it was apparent that the concert was about to begin, we returned to Edwin at once. In answer to our question as to how the audience had arrived so suddenly and unperceived, he said that in the case of this concert, the organiser had merely to send out their thoughts to people at large who were particularly interested in such performances, and they forthwith assembled. He told us that was soon as we had shown our interest and desires in these concerts, we should establish a link, and we should find these thoughts reaching us whenever they were emitted.
"We could, of course, see nothing of the performers from where we were situated, and so when a hush came upon all around us, we were thus sufficiently informed that the concert was to begin. The orchestra was composed of some two hundred musicians, who were playing upon instruments that are well-known to Earth, so that I was able to appreciate what I heard. As soon as the music began I could hear a remarkable difference from what I had been accustomed to hearing on the Earth-plane. The actual sounds made by the various instruments were easily recognisable as of old, but the quality of tone was immeasurably purer, and the balance and blend were perfect. The work to be played was of some length, I was informed, and would be continued without a break.
"The opening movement was of a subdued nature as regards its volume of sound, and we noticed that the instant the music commenced a bright light seemed to rise up from the direction of the orchestra until it floated, in a flat surface, level with the topmost seats, where it remained as an iridescent cover to the whole amphitheatre. As the music proceeded, this broad sheet of light grew in strength and density, forming, as it were, a firm foundation for what was to follow. Presently, at equal spaces round the circumference of the amphitheatre, four towers of light shot up into the sky in long tapering pinnacles of luminosity. They remained poised for a moment, and then slowly descended, becoming broader in girth as they did so, until they assumed the outward appearance of four circular towers, each surmounted with a dome, perfectly proportioned. In the meanwhile, the central area of light had thickened still more, and was beginning to rise slowly in the shape of an immense dome covering the whole amphitheatre. This continued to ascend steadily until it seemed to reach a very much greater height than the four towers, while the most delicate colours were diffused throughout the whole of the etheric structure. I could understand now why Edwin had suggested that we should sit outside the theatre proper and I could follow, also, why composers should feel impelled to alter the Earthly works after they have arrived in spirit. The musical sounds sent up by the orchestra were creating, up above their heads, this immense musical thought-form, and the shape and perfection of this form rested entirely upon the purity of the musical architecture and sounds, the purity of the harmonies, and a freedom from any pronounced dissonance. The form of the music must be pure to produce a pure form."
['Life After Death in the Unseen Worlds', channeled by Anthony Borgia. A Link to the full book text is available at the end of Book I ]
After a lengthy period of refreshment on the Spiritual Planes, which will have included a great expansion of knowledge and the joyful experience of having served others to adjust to their new situation, the Soul may at this point reluctantly realize that it still has further Earth-type lessons to be mastered. One can make much faster evolutionary progress down on the Physical Plane of Earth than is even possible on the more perfect Heavenly Planes. Thus a decision might well be made, always in consultation with one's Higher Self and Spiritual Guides, to once again incarnate onto the dense Physical Plane of Earth.
Chapter Eight:
BIRTH & GROWTH
Before each physical Earth incarnation, careful preparations have to first of all be made in close consultation with one's Higher Self and Spiritual Guides. Firstly, the choice is made of a suitable location on Earth in terms of the country and community which will provide the right economic and social background conditions for the Soul's particular lessons to be experienced.
Secondly, parents are likewise carefully chosen to provide the right environment for learning and soul growth; they may well be "old friends" with whom one has had a close connection in past lives, or perhaps former family members, or even part of one's own Family Soul-Group.
And thirdly, essential learning "events", and also meeting points with others, are planned to occur at various points along the path of one's life, providing the necessary opportunities for specific lessons to be mastered.
Finally, the exact time and place of birth is chosen astrologically to provide the correct Planetary influences in the coming life.
The Master Ramala: "Not only do you choose the body into which you are to incarnate, the parents who are to conceive you, the planetary influences under which you are to be born, the country in which you are to live, your way of life and the partner you are to marry, but you also choose your moment of death and the manner in which you are to die."
The basic principles of preparation for incarnation, namely that we review and choose our lives beforehand, based on lessons to be learned and tests to be accomplished, are confirmed by many Spiritual Teachers and Masters with broad consistency. This process is well described, again by Ripley Webb in his book "Full Cycle", where Michael, whilst on the Spiritual Planes is being assisted by his Spirit Guide, Tendor, to prepare for a forthcoming new Earth incarnation:
"Tendor introduced Michael to a Spiritual Counsellor who had come to greet them. The Counsellor looked Michael over keenly then produced strange-looking charts which appeared to record Michael's progress somewhat on the lines of a horoscope. It was all quite meaningless to Michael, nevertheless from the charts the Counsellor was able to give him a clear and lucid statement of his abilities and weaknesses, the conquests and the defeats which made up his progress to date.
"From the same source the Counsellor worked out the type of problem that was likely to face Michael in accordance with his destiny and explained the course of an incarnation that would be likely to provide the lessons he most needed.
"Your destiny is recorded in our archives and by process of selection we will abstract an incarnation which, according to destiny, follows a line that promises to provide what you require. When you see that record presently you will be able to judge whether you think you are ready to face the difficulties it offers; if you are not, why then we will find something easier."
"A moment later a screen at the other end of the room became diffused with rays. As Michael watched, enthralled, he saw a number of threads of different colours moving endlessly across the screen into what might be a loom or weaving machine. On the other side of the loom appeared a piece of finished material woven in an intricate pattern from the coloured threads.
"The Spiritual Counsellor kept up a running commentary as the picture unrolled itself. He showed Michael the thread representing the incarnation suggested for him. "This shows you what you should aim to accomplish during your incarnation. Though what you actually attain may be something quite different. You cannot escape your destiny, but you are master of the manner in which you handle that destiny and the time you take to accomplish it."
Following the review of past failures and accomplishments, and pre-planning for the next incarnation, preparation then begins for the complex process of physical birth, as the Soul begins to form a spiritual contact with the aura of Earth and in particular with its new parents.
The Master Ramala: "The Soul which has decided to incarnate has already asked and been accepted by the Souls of its intended parents. Before the time of conception, because it knows when it is to be conceived, it draws close through its Astral Body to the aura of the Earth, and in particular the auras of its parents. It awaits in its Astral form its moment of conception. It watches its intended parents as they live their lives on the Physical Plane.
"At the moment of conception, the three Souls unite on the Astral Plane. It is rather like a reunion, a time of celebration. But there are very few persons on Earth consciously aware of this.
"A very small fraction of the Soul that is to be born thereafter resides within the seed of that union. During the following months, as the body of the unborn child grows within the Mother's womb, so that small fraction of the Soul begins to increase until, at the moment of birth, one seventh of the Soul is in the child's body."
The Soul now commences its own careful preparation for the physical process of birth, as related in the continuing story of Michael, channeled by Ripley Webb: Michael is at this point about to be born onto the physical level of Earth, and his own Spirit Guide, Tendor, has taken him to the spiritual counterpart of the Earthly Birth Clinic…
"Michael was allowed to wander at will through the wards and grounds, and he was surprised to find what a complicated business was this approach to physical birth. There were lectures to attend where much was explained to him. He learned that a successful culmination was dependent on several factors. Chief among these was the fact that it is a co-operative business between mother and child. It is essential for the expectant mother to keep in as fine a state of health as is possible and to care for her body at this time. He also found to his surprise that he himself could exercise a considerable effect on the embryo body which was being built for his use. He was required to concentrate at stated periods on this aspect alone, to direct his thought on the perfection of physique and the correct assimilation of atomic substance into the tiny form.
"Examples were shown of the difficulties encountered where the mother-to-be was careless of her role, or who resisted the idea of motherhood either through fear or lack of desire. Even worse was the situation to be dealt with where there was severe illness or a body whose etheric envelope was distorted by narcotics or other abuses. In these cases the incarnating spirit had a very trying experience, usually being prostrated throughout the period of gestation. Sometimes the attempt had to be abandoned because the mother-to-be so ill-used her mortal body. The unfortunate spirit struggled to the last to incarnate with the object of establishing even a brief acquaintanceship with physical life; in the event of failure it was forced to relinquish its hold upon the embryo body and slip back into Spirit life once more. The whole process of selection and preparation then had to be repeated. It was usually the case, where difficulties were most severe, that the spirit had deliberately accepted the risks, knowing that by overcoming them he would progress so much the faster.
"As time went on Michael began to feel the magnetic pull of Earth. It began to manifest as a downward attraction from the feet, much the same as the pull of gravity, except that he was more conscious of it. It was hardly perceptible at first, but as time went on it increased to an uncomfortable extent. He realized that the use of such a clinic as this was almost imperative if distress was to be avoided. He was relieved to hear from his Spiritual doctor that in his case a perfectly normal birth was anticipated, for his mother was a spiritually minded woman and the thought of his coming was a source of delight to both parents. Michael thought sympathetically of the unfortunate spirits around him, many of whom were already aware that they were unwelcome visitors in the family circle awaiting them, that they had a poor chance of experiencing the love they so longed to feel."
[A Link to the full book text of "Full Cycle" is available at the end of Book I ]
The Master Ramala: "At the moment of birth, as the child leaves the aura of the Mother and its cord is cut, through the Ether to that child comes the Divine Spark of the Soul which energizes the child and starts it on its path. The Soul has begun to fulfil its destiny and the lessons which have to be learned are now set in motion."
Each incarnating Soul will now follow his or her unique path through Earth life, based on the broad outline as pre-agreed and pre-destined, though the actual working-out and final outcome may well depend upon the Soul's further reactions and responses to the challenges encountered.
Chapter Nine:
RETURNING TO UNITY
The central purpose unifying all of life's experiences comes down to the process of Evolution with all its inherent learning processes.
At this important ending of a major Universal Age, Humanity on Earth is now reaching a collective "turning point" at the bottom of the "Great Arc of Evolution". Here we are
