The purpose of eternal life is advancement.
 

It is service to mankind, love, and compassion and in some instances deep humility that brings reward to the Soul.

 
. . . we are all linked to the Divine Power.  Take heed to what I have said, especially the point of spirituality, which is achieved by following the Spiritual laws and helping others with good intent.  It will lead you to your rightful path.
 

[concerning untimely deaths]  When the cause of suffering and death is by another's hand, those responsible will be held accountable and pay the penalty when they get here.
 
Let's take for example, someone who has committed murder or some other major criminal offence.  When that person passes into spirit, he or she has already darkened the conscience, the inner self, which is the soul.  Consequently, the punishment is within the self; the crime committed will automatically darken the vision.  Time spent in prison paying the price to society is not enough, because the cost of wrongdoing must be paid within the soul.
 
This is where the devil and hell, has come into our thinking.

 
[regarding the question of people with 'multiple personalities' passing over]  It seems there are exceptions to every rule even in the spirit world.  Apparently, upon arrival here by their own evolution, these troubled souls have 'dark areas' within the psyche.  It can be quite an ordeal for these unfortunate souls to discard the personalities that have somehow been carried through previous lifetimes.
 
After my last talk with you, I consulted with several spirit doctors and also a professor on the subject.  It was agreed, many people while in the physical body have this multi-personality problem, but in a mild form.  Of course the more extreme cases draw attention to the condition.
 
Multi-personalities can be formulated in several different ways.  There can be a malfunction of the brain causing a disease, which in turn affects the mind and initiates the illusion of imaginary beings within the psyche.  The condition can also be created through fear, as a way of drawing attention away from their inability to cope with life situations.  Unfortunately they lose control of their thinking and the equilibrium goes all to hell.
 

Multiple personalities are formed through malfunctions occurring within the person's own psyche.  I know there are other possible explanations including medical ones.  However, we are primarily interested here in the soul/spirit aspect of these conditions and how they affect the human being.
 

. . . one cannot talk about religion and spirituality without first talking about love, the essence and basic principle of all religious doctrines; and the foundation for any spiritual practice.  Without this ingredient one is neither truly religious nor spiritual.
 

True spiritual practice has no need of organized religion in order to function in total harmony with the Divine Power, the Source.  On this side of the veil when one's life is summed up in its entirety, it is the quality of one's thoughts, actions, deeds and contributions to mankind that defines spiritual progress.

 

 

. . . when we pass over into the spirit world, we are here as individuals.  Our soul understanding determines our current level.  That level has nothing to do with our earthly job, position or religious belief.  It is determined purely on spiritual deeds, actions, service to others, sacrifices, love and compassion — the list goes on — understanding our spiritual nature, and living by the spiritual laws.  Yes, easier said than done in the materialistic physical world, where our attitudes are defined more by what we see, hear and touch, rather than by what we might aspire to if we allowed ourselves to rise above and see beyond the five senses.

 

Bill might be interested to hear about a seminar I attended recently; the topic was the continuation of spiritual practice here in spirit.  It appears that when the soul eventually reaches total spiritual evolvement, classified religion as we understand it disseminates and becomes integrated with the Universal Whole.  In the superior planes, the Hierarchy is constantly praying for the world.  Universal prayer and universal intelligence govern the higher Masters of spiritual knowledge.  We in the less elevated levels, can still spend time tending to community work, and continuing to grow in our awareness of spirituality, without necessarily putting it into a religious context.

 

I found the seminar interesting; participants included spirit teachers of all denominations, they are always there and ready to help.  I spoke at length with an Egyptian teacher who lived on the earth at the time of Ptolemy the second.  He listened to the debate, and provided answers with great command.

 

The question arose — Why don't we reach great heights, i.e. higher planes and levels faster than we do; since we are receiving all this wonderful information while we are resident in the spirit world?

 

Answer — You each absorb knowledge proportionate to the extent of what your spiritual understanding will allow, at this point in the development of your soul.  The information you receive also has to be put to use and practised in your next earthly existence along life's path.

 

 

One must see the importance of being in tune with the Infinite, because everything in life is based on this Power of Energy.  We seldom stop to consider the value and necessity of our inheritance.

 

 

Many people do not really understand the integral part if spirit.  Often we do not understand others.  The essential part of our existence is to help our fellow travellers, and in the process develop the soul.

 

 

I want to talk briefly for a moment about Fate.  I was having a discussion with a couple of like-minded associates, and I thought our conversation was relevant and worth sharing with you.

 

We agreed that fate is just another part of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or conversely, the right place at the right time.  Many people believe it is God's will, when thousands of men, women and children die in wars and world disasters, natural or otherwise.  It has nothing to do with God's will: we are each responsible for our own life.  The God-power, the Infinite, is not responsible for arranging our time of death.  [Note from MRB: It is intriguing that my own circumstances of 'paranormal initiations' encompassing reincarnation suggest circumstances of greater complexity than these simple statements.]

 

 

The God-Power or Force is our universal connection.  It is the source of love, wisdom and pure spirit energy.  The God-Power is our support, our source of strength in the face of disaster and trauma.  In the religious context, 'He' is called Redeemer and Saviour of the soul — not of the physical body.  Ultimately it comes back to the fact that our own thinking controls our existence and the decisions we make on both sides of the veil — again it's free will.

 

 

I had to help with a problem concerning a soul who was still blaming himself for a happening while in the physical body; he had done his wife a great injustice.  Although he paid the price when he first came here and was progressing spiritually, he often recalls this trauma about his wife, and cannot cope with it.  This soul has not really come to terms with the pain that he caused his partner. . . . The conscience within the soul needs to set itself into a higher level, come to terms with, and learn the lessons that life has taught, and move on.

 

This is the sort of work some of us do here, helping those souls to get beyond the last life, make amends and as I said, move on.  You see, when we're in spirit, we're at home, with time to contemplate our past.  We all have to deal with our own thoughts and retributions, and we do so according to our personality . . .

 

. . . the good news is [presumably the meaning in this context is for residents of that particular sphere/plane/level] — this state of affairs is temporary, or intermittent, and for the most part we bask in the light of this beautiful spirit world, create a special place for ourselves, reunite with loved ones, and start the process of renewal.

 

The levels I speak of are small steps forward (or upward).  On the other hand you can stand still equally on this side, just the same as in your world.  It comes back again to choice, free will and all that.

 

I want to make it absolutely clear, as we move through each lifetime on either side of the divide; we never fall back in spiritual progress.*  (*It is important for the reader to know that Ian corrected and qualified this statement in a later communication [see the section on 'Soul Progress' later . . .]).  It is not a game of snakes and ladders, as children play.  One can say we climb up the ladder but never revert downward to a lower level.  However, I reiterate we can certainly experience a standstill for many lifetimes and make no progress towards a higher level of awareness.  Progress depends on how much we accept the knowledge given, and whether we are able to identify with it.

 

 

[regarding 'Masters']  They do continually come down to our level to share their spiritual knowledge with us.  I am on the third plane; so far I have learnt there are three higher planes where the Hierarchy reside.  Within those three planes there are levels through which the Masters also must progress, the same law applies to all planes.

 

Planes are the major spiritual markers of our evolution.  The levels within are the small rungs on the proverbial ladder, which carry us slowly but surely towards the next plateau.  I cannot give you a clear definition of the requirements to reach another plane — that is not within my knowledge at this point in my progression.

 

Today I will tell you how I felt during my first visit into the lower levels of the spirit world.  Amazingly, I actually experienced the difference in the cosmic energies.  The landscape was dull and noticeably darker, certainly lacking in the colours we have surrounding us in our upper levels.  There is just no comparison between the two.  In more religious terminology I suppose this would be considered 'Hell'!

The team I went with was well-versed in spiritual development, and equipped to help and guide these unfortunate onto a more spiritual path.  I found it incredible that several souls I talked to and tried to help, said they seemed to have been there forever.  I don't believe they had.  I think they were just stuck in their own apathy.

 

According to the laws, every soul regardless of level can avail themselves of the help, which is always just a thought away.  These spiritually undernourished souls can also choose to reincarnate without receiving the benefit of spiritual counselling.  Free will allows this to happen; it is still a part of the soul journey.  However one imagines it, this would be a journey fraught with many challenges and all sorts of obstacles to overcome, in order to make some progress.

 

I found my excursion quite a sobering experience.  Although I was cloaked and protected from the low vibrations of that level, I must admit that the impressions of the heavy dark atmosphere stayed with me for a while until I was able to shake off the feelings.  I distracted myself with music, good company and a few 'beverages' ha!

 

Let's see if I can explain the laws of our world here a little better.  We are all striving to reach perfection.  This can be quick or slow, depending on our life's progress on both sides of the veil, for an unspecified time.  In each lifetime we keep trying to improve ourselves, re-incarnating over and over again, climbing through the levels and planes during each stay in the spirit world.  As the readers have learned, we are spirit, going into the physical body on the earth plane to make our progress and then return to spirit and continually recycling.

 

[from section Soul Progress]  Muriel, I have talked with Chung [her 'guide'] and it seems that I may have missed the salient point of your last question about soul progress.  There are different answers to the question.  As I have mentioned before, there are many planes within our spirit world and then many levels within each plane.

 

For example, a soul that reincarnated from below the fourth plane of consciousness will enter into a lower level on its return to spirit if that soul resorted to a somewhat scurrilous existence during its last lifetime.  This occurs because the soul is still learning by its mistakes, and has not learned to overcome bad patterns of behaviour.

 

. . . in the spirit world when a soul reaches a certain level of spiritual development, the soul on reincarnating would not succumb to a life of evil intent because of the level of spiritual integrity attained.

 

When I say 'plane' or 'level,' bear in mind I refer to a scale of spiritual evolvement and natural plateaus of spiritual understanding.

 

I just want to remind you, there is no set routine here, only if you wish to make one.  You can have a full spirit life without a dull moment.  You can extend your circle of friends providing they are in agreement of your company!  You can do everything here that you did in your earthly life, only it is all in the mind.  Remember if you want to go dancing even if you have two left feet, you just glide round the floor with your partner — ha! ha!  However, although you have free will remember you are here to progress spiritually also, so one must use the time to increase spiritual status.

 

There is no doubt in my mind, the Universe is beyond our human thinking; it is wonderful beyond all human comprehension.  I advise everyone to make the best of their earthly journey because life is continuous.  Use this knowledge to keep going and never give up, as I did at times.  It is great in both worlds, provided we listen to the inner self.  Always remember that life is our soul journey with spirit energy helping all the way.

I would like to indulge briefly in a little retrospection, if I may, concerning my last physical journey.  The latter part of my abbreviated life was spent almost totally immersed in paranormal study and research.  I intellectualized the subject to the maximum; in so doing I did not use the knowledge I had accumulated to the benefit or enhancement of my own life, from a spiritual perspective.  I did not internalize the information and use it to nourish and expand my consciousness.  [Blog articles for newcomer readers interested in expanding one's consciousness include "Expanded Consciousness Is Possible for Everyone" Part 1 and Part 2; and "Expanding Your Consciousness with 'The Inner Circle'".]

My research work in the metaphysical field was purely an extension of my anthropological studies, an academic exercise to seek out the truth, and prove survival of the soul after death.  In order to remain completely objective, and to view results without prejudice or bias, one must detach oneself from intimacy.  Consequently, I never became personally involved in the spiritual aspect of the work in the sense of moving towards a more spiritually fulfilling life.  Of course I left the planet rather prematurely, and I do believe that in my retirement years I would have taken the time to conceptualize my knowledge and move towards a more subjective spiritual role as indeed, having crossed over, I now truly encompass.

I wish everyone the best on the spiritual path and may you reach all understanding of the whole [or Whole], finding love and peace within yourselves.  It can be a rocky road; just do not lose sight of your spiritual goal.