13 - The Summerland
In
the spirit and power of Infinite Love we enter these conditions and
bring to those still in the mortal body a feeling of the softness,
the radiance and beauty of Infinite Love as it streams out from the
Eternal Heart, investing each one in healing, in radiance and
heavenly joy. Each one here has received wounds within the
heart from the harsh conditions of earthly life. Some have
been deeply wounded in their spirit because they wander to and fro
and lose the sense of infinite peace which comes when they know they
are in a unity with Thee; and some have become dragged down into
the conditions of fear and frustration which belong to the earthly
realm.
Each of
them needs the peace of Thy healing and the radiance of Thy love,
and they need the enfoldment of Thy Spirit. We would encircle them
all in the spirit of love and radiance of healing that for a while
they may be loosened from the sorrows of earth and brought into a
harmony with the peace and love of spirit - and through this come
back to the realisation that they belong to Thee even as Thou dost
belong to them. In this state of unity and belonging all things are
well, for this is indeed Thy law and the symbol of Thy love.
In the
power of spirit we would sign and seal the conditions of this room
by placing here the symbol of the cross which is the sign of the
human soul, encircled by the ever-flowing, ever-growing and
ever-shining circle of Eternal Life, Eternal Love, and Eternal
Light.
Beloved brothers and
sisters, I come in these somewhat disturbed and harsh conditions of
your mortal realm from planes wherein all is peace, all is harmony
and beautiful colour, for this is the law and light which pervades
the Summerland of Joy. I would say that even as the astral realm is
a reflection of the discordant conditions of the earthly life, so
the harmonious conditions of the earthly life are a reflection of
the conditions in the true spiritual plane, which is sometimes
called the Summerland, sometimes called Heavenland, and sometimes
named the Life Elysian.
In your
earthly time of experience when you are conscious of calmness and
feel aware of the great beauty surrounding you, when there is an
inner comprehension of your unity with the great Giver of all Life,
this is a dim reflection of the state which you will one day
experience when you pass from the confines of your mortal body into
the freedom and light of the Summerland of Joy. Within this realm
there is harmony – not a cessation of sound or movement, but a
harmonisation between all the component parts, between all the forms
of existence which are to be found within this beautiful place.
Because the law relating to this life is a law of construction and
harmony there is no death, no discord and no decay; instead there
is a perfect manifestation of the laws of love and life, bringing
into fruition and into being the varying changes and seasons which
are to be found.
In this
Summerland there is no season of winter, neither is there a season
of summer; but there is a season in which life-waves of varying
activity come to their fullness and die silently and quietly away.
We could bring this to your understanding by saying that for a
season there is a golden life-wave which brings into manifestation a
golden radiance in all things which are. As this dies away, it is
replaced by the green life-wave, and for a while there is a
manifestation of greenness within all things.
There are
also life-waves of other colours: varying shades and colours which
you know upon the earth come into their manifestation and die
silently away; but when they come into the fullness of their power,
they bring into being blossoms which belong to this particular
colour strata. The colour wave touches all things, either with a
golden radiance or a green or pink radiance and all is transformed,
changed and beautified. Then that life wave dies away as another
comes into its transforming activity and this too brings a changing
season into manifestation, until that also has completed its course.
I would say
that the best way in which you may understand this would be to
visualise that you are standing in some great valley filled with
peace, with gentle waters flowing through. See there a mighty
rainbow, or a lamp with rainbow colours which turns very slowly and
as it turns it floods the valley and touches the grassy hillsides
and transforms the calmness of the water with the differing shades
which are reflected as it slowly, very slowly turns within its
orbit. If you visualise this, you will have some faint and dim idea
of the beauty of the changing seasons to be found within the
Summerland of Joy.
Because
there is no season of cold and no season of heat, we do not have any
need for dwelling places which are enclosed and roofed; therefore
we erect for our use dwelling places which are similar to ancient
temples with pillars though which foliage may be trained or curtains
can be hung to create privacy if this is desired by those who use
these dwelling places. The habit and need to withdraw is found just
as much amongst those who live within the Summerland as it is found
amongst those who live upon the earthly plane. These temples may be
roofed, or left open that the light from another and higher realm
may stream into them and bring a concentrated blessing to those who
enter into the quietness of communion within these enclosed places.
In such dwelling places are to be found family groups, groups who
have loved each other very greatly and continue in love and unity
here within the Summerland.
Or they may
desire more to enter into the mighty temples. These temples are
pillared and beautiful in their structure because they are
reflections of the thought of those who desire to visualise and
create dwellings and temples which are noble and beautiful in their
shape. The temples are designed so that spirits may gather into
congregations within them, and upon the altar places there is set –
not symbols of religion as you know them on earth – but vessels of
transparent light such as you may call mirrors, which capture and
reflect the concentrated light as it falls from higher planes.
Through these pure mirrored surfaces the light may shine to bless
and illumine those who come into these temples to commune, worship
and uplift their thoughts in the desire that they may rise higher
from this beautiful plane and gain experience in other realms of
beauty, drawing forever nearer to the pure great Light. This is
beyond the comprehension of man in his present state but can be seen
by him when he is within the spiritual state, dwelling within the
purity of the Summerland of perfect joy and perfect peace.
Within this
realm there is no age and there is, in reality, no youth. There is
maturity of soul for those who enter into this realm, those who
carry their burden of the mature experiences they garnered during
many years of earthly understanding. This maturity shines within
them; but the body they use is free from age and simply stands in
the beauty of its maturity. Those who come in bodies which are as
yet untouched by the wide experiences of earthly life, those who
grow to their maturity from childhood or infancy within the spirit
realm, these too mature slowly into the adult form but they retain
within the inner spirit that radiance, purity and joy which belongs
to them by right of the joy of their childhood. Therefore I say to
you, There can be no sorrow and no sighing for all is harmony and
understanding, all takes place in a happy interchange of joyous
companionship and loving thought.
I would
say, beloved ones, as I try to lay before your consciousness the
vision of this beautiful place, Can you not think how good it would
be to order your life in such a fashion in the few seasons of your
mortal years that when you come to the end of your earthly journey
you pass swiftly into this beautiful place? Is it not worth your
while to order your lives so that you are free from greed and
possessiveness, free from hatefulness? Is it not worth planning
your lives so that your hearts are filled with love and compassion
for the weakness of your brethren, forgiving them for they know not
what they do? Is it not good for you to live in such a fashion that
you regard but lightly the possessions of the earth? When you so
live, then you rise swiftly and easily from the body into the places
of joy and of spirit.
If you come
to the closing of your earth life and your consciousness is still
held by the things of earth, filled with a bitterness towards your
brothers and sisters because of their actions or because of the
things you feel you should have and do not - then this is the burden
and weight which will hold you down. Instead of drawing you into
the Summerland, it will draw you into the near earth world wherein
is greyness and discord and often fear.
Day by day,
think not to yourself that what happens to you is of importance:
think not so. Grieve not over the actions which other people extend
to you, but think unto yourself: “The wisdom of spirit lies not in
what others do but in how I shall react to what others may do.”
Order your life so that your reaction is always one of forgiveness,
politeness, gentleness, peacefulness, lovingness. When your
reactions are so throughout all the many years of your earthly
experiences, then the spirit becomes lightened and brightened. At
the end of the journey the spirit is ready to be released from the
body and rise into the realm of light; there to enjoy in all
happiness the harmony, the peace and the beauty which I strive so
inadequately to clothe in the words of earth that you may gain some
faint understanding of the beauty which you may see.
In peace
and love, I leave you to your further questioning and your further
desires.
Question:
Can you speak about the states of ecstasy experienced by people like
St Theresa. What exactly is it?
Ramadahn:
I think it is the cleansing of the whole consciousness so that it
comes into a state of complete unity. In seeking after the things
of spirit, too often the spiritual consciousness is cleansed but the
mortal or memory consciousness is still filled with fears and
discords of the past. These of whom you are speaking may spend long
seasons in prayer and meditation, seeking to purify the deep hidden
consciousness. When the spiritual consciousness reaches a condition
of awareness in which they attain to a unity with the power of the
great Giver of all Love and all Good then the joy which comes with
such a union is translated not only to the spiritual mind but also
to the deeper subconscious mind of the individual. Thus the whole
person becomes irradiated with the joy of the great Master Creator
of All.
Often I say
to you, Think and attune yourselves: I try to uplift you into a
unity with that great Spirit of all joy and love, and bring into the
finite consciousness a momentary feeling of the tremendous joy and
love which is contained therein, that in feeling it momentarily you
may desire to prepare yourselves for a more complete reception of
that perfect power. Those of whom you speak – the saints, the seers
and yogis, have purified the consciousness – have attuned themselves
to the great Central Source and become aware of the great joy which
is moving through all the universe, and the great love which is the
essence of that joy.
Question:
Would this spiritual cleansing account for the ‘stigmata’ phenomenon
experienced by some saints?
Ramadahn:
That is true: the individuals have dwelled in deep thought upon
aspects of the crucifixion and in meditation tried to visualise what
this has meant. The subconscious becomes very deeply impressed with
these images and in times of purification the subconscious images
must be cleansed and brought to the surface and may be reflected in
just this fashion (the stigmata). Any sincere individual,
having a reverence for a particular symbol, may dwell upon it in
thought and then show a sign of this symbol upon their living flesh
in a time of complete unity within the consciousness.
Question:
Is it possible to induce that by self-hypnosis?
Ramadahn:
I would say that you do this consciously or unconsciously in your
daily life. Each of you is filled with the image of age and
weakness: this thought sinks deep into the inward consciousness and
one day it impresses the living flesh as age and the body begins to
change its form. Those who visualise health and youth and those who
visualise the influence of spirit have this image deeply
impressed within the consciousness and so the bodily form comes to
reflect the youthfulness of the spirit.
Question:
Can you give us a description of the part of the Summerland in which
you live, Ramadahn?
Ramadahn:
In the part in which I live now, there is a temple at the foot of a
mountain, and running through the centre of this temple is a stream
of pure water. Upon the sides of this stream are mossy banks and
little grottoes in which the Indian spirits come to rest and
meditate, and draw fresh power ere some new ministry is undertaken
within the earth’s atmosphere. This stream of water or power
running through the centre of the temple is directed into this room
or house because the work of preparation takes place here, and from
this place many of us radiate our influence into the outer world.
This stream
is of power, of healing, it is of purification; it is from this
stream that the spirit known as ‘Rushing River’ (who also worked
with Ursula and Ramadahn, particularly in response to specific
questions on healing), draws the influence which he endeavours
to impart through his medium, for the stream can be drawn upon by
any individual spirit who may desire to use it.
We also
keep within this temple the scrolls which relate to further work
which we desire to do, and the special scrolls or books to which I
myself refer if I am to give a teaching on a subject unfamiliar to
me but which would be good for the understanding of those upon
earth. This corresponds to a library or study; it is my place of
study and meditation. Also within this temple is the hall of rest
wherein many spirits, still joined to their earthly bodies, can come
during their time of sleep or entrancement to absorb the atmosphere
of peace, of inspiration, which may help their further progression.
At the far
end of this temple is a gateway of silver filigree. We only open
this at special times of festivals or recreation; and when we open
the gates, before us is a shining pathway by which we may go upward
upon the mountain side to attend some of the festivals of reunion in
which we commune with those who are of a more advanced nature, or
will give us a fresh baptism of power through which we may bring a
fresh and blessed power to cleanse and harmonise the conditions
wherein we work upon the earthly plane itself.
Around this
temple there is rolling grassland; trees stand, children come and
go, and weary souls come to rest. It is not a permanent structure,
it is one we have raised for our special work, and when our time of
service unto earth is completed, then the temple will dissolve
silently away.
Question:
You have mentioned others who gave you a baptism of power; were
they similar in form to yourself or to us?
Ramadahn:
As we are spirits using bodies which you will call spiritual bodies,
there are others who are in more etherealised bodies and who use a
purer form of power. When we ascend to the mountain top we hold a
time of quietness and meditation, of song and prayer, waiting in
silence for those to come to us in a spiritual séance even as you
upon earth have a séance, waiting in silence for the spirit to draw
near to bless you. This goes on and on through the near astral
realms, upward and upwards as far as the seventh sphere, but beyond
the radius of the seventh sphere there is no need for séances of
such a nature to take place.
As far as I
am able to tell you, each spirit retains an individuality which is
contained within form, although it is perhaps not form as you may
understand it. Those whom I have met in the seventh garden of the
Summerland are in auras which are spiritual in form and more
completely circular as compared to the oval aura of the human beings
whilst in the human stage.
Many thoughts have been
evoked within your minds and many thought creations lie within the
atmosphere, but most of the thought creations are of light, love and
beauty. I would say to each one, As you go forward on your various
ways, take with you the knowledge that as you think so you create
above and around yourselves thought creations which are sometimes
like glowing flowers or shining stars or glittering stardust.
As you try
to give right reactions amidst the harsh and difficult experiences
of your daily life, know that as you give forth gentleness for
harshness your gentleness can be seen by us as a gentle shower of
silvery rain which falls around you like heavenly dew. As you
deliberately try to give forth a thought of kindness for the
harshness which you have received, sometimes it goes forth like a
shining star that hovers for a while in the spiritual atmosphere and
falls to the earthly atmosphere in a glittering blueness of beauty.
It is so true that these things which emanate from the inner soul at
the direction of the will of spirit are creative and spiritual;
they spiritualise the atmosphere of your earth even as they
spiritualise your own aura and your mortal body.
Truly,
beloved ones, the spirit of man is creative, and if you cannot
create mighty and beautiful gardens in your seasons of earthly
years, if you cannot create beautiful pictures or music,
nevertheless, you are able to create quiet beauty from the deep
inward places of the spirit wherever you walk. Therefore I would
say to you, Let your life become the creative life: create beauty
wherever you go and lighten some of earth’s darkness with the golden
radiance which flows from your own soul in laughter and joy.
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