17 - Life and After-Death States
SAGB (Spiritualist
Association of Great Britain) , 2
September 1992
Oh Thou who art peace – may
Thy peace be infused into the atmosphere of this room and penetrate
deeply and inwardly into the recesses of the consciousness of these
here, that they may be responsive to the tranquillity and power
which You extend to them. We know that Your power and blessing is
forever outpoured upon Your beloveds, so may these in the earthly
body learn to be receptive to Your influence, to inbreathe the
beauty of Your power and take Your peace into the recesses of their
consciousness. In the years and days still to come may they shed
Your light into all places where there is the shadow and darkness of
despair: as they walk forward in peace and harmony, may they shed
and share into the atmosphere that peace and harmony which is needed
for the furtherance of the work of spirit.
In Your peace
and light and power, I place in the quietude of this room the sign
and seal of spirit in the form of a shining cross, forever
surrounded by a glowing, expanding, circle of perfect illumination
and perfect love. May it be a sign unto all who come and all who
go, that herein earth and spirit meet together in harmony and peace.
Beloved ones, I take control
of the being of this medium to talk with you for a while so that the
things of spirit may become a little more understandable to your
earthly minds. When you ask me to talk to you about life as it is
understood after the condition of death and dying, I would say that
before you understand this, you must have a little understanding of
the process of death, the process of that condition which you know
as dying but which we call re-birth or regeneration. There are many
differing conditions which govern the soul as it comes to the end of
the mortal experience and leaves the body through the condition of
dying: there is a difference between the death of a young child
leaving the physical body and the death of an aged or ill one who
relinquishes its hold upon the mortal, physical body.
With the babe or
young child, it is a simple process such as may take place when you
strip a glove from your hand, because the young soul, the infant or
child, has but newly gathered to itself the ethers of the ethereal
world and formed around itself this which you will call the etheric
body; and it is the etheric body which wears this physical emblem
that you call the bodily being. The spirit who has newly gathered
to itself these varying elements of the ethereal and physical
bodies, lays them aside quickly and easily because it is not yet
very firmly conjoined unto these bodies - it takes but a few moments
for the child to relinquish its hold and continue its joyous
existence in the regions of spirit life.
But with an aged
person or one who has reached the years of maturity and passed
through a long condition of illness, there is a certain amount of
effort entailed when this one comes to the time of separation from
the bodies. There has to be a shaking or loosening ere the spirit
may be freed from the ethereal body and the energies used in the
physical body itself. It may take a matter of hours or even days
before the spirit is fully able to disentangle itself from the
varied conditions which have gathered around the bodies it has
inhabited.
If there are
loved ones who do not desire this death to take place and extend
their energies toward the ethereal body in what you may call
healing, then it is harder for the spirit to relinquish its hold
because the etheric body is being strengthened by the holding
thoughts and energies of family and friends. If a beloved is coming
toward the closure of the lifetime experience, you should have the
understanding to send forth light, saying to the soul: “Go
forward into the light – we bless you – we want you to find great
peace.” It is better to send thoughts such as these than the
demanding, sorrowful thought which says: “Do not leave me – do not
go.” The dying process can be influenced by you as well as by the
desire of the departing spirit.
Then there is a
third condition which may often govern the manner of departure, and
that is fear. Within the recesses of the consciousness there may be
a deep inner fear which holds the soul bodies together: this one is
afraid to die, frightened of what may come in the after-death state
because they are haunted by guilt over what they feel has been
wrong-doing, or they will have received religious teaching that says
it will be hard in the great beyond if you do not do this or have
not done that. These varying conditions will affect the departure
of the soul or spirit.
There is also
the condition of the spirit who leaves the mortal body through the
suddenness of shock or accident, or by the untimely deeds of those
who have harmed or hurt the body. Because there has been no time of
preparation, no time for inner thought whereby the spirit may be
prepared to understand that death is taking place, then the soul
experiences a condition of great shock and confusion. Sometimes the
departed one does not realise that the physical body is dead because
he or she knows they are still alive - in the ethereal body. There
will be fear, great fear, and such a one may be held close to the
atmosphere of the earthly world because of this fear of departing
into the spirit realms.
Your thoughts
and influence are needed to aid such a one; you need to say in your
prayerful thoughts: “Go toward the light – we love you – look for
those who are waiting to welcome you, the bright spirits who will
aid you in your new condition.” Receiving your thoughts, they will
be able to move to the regions of spirit where those ministers of
light will aid them to find the places of rest and renewal.
I would say to
you, Those who come to the closure of the earthly existence through
war, through the suddenness of shock and accident, or through the
intent of those who would bring harm – there are Watchers in the
Spheres waiting for these. Groups of spirits known as the
Ministering Ones remain very close to the atmosphere of your earthly
world; from time to time they move in the near earth atmosphere
and, seeing such accidental deaths, will draw near and say to that
beloved: “Come away with us, leave this body because you no longer
need it; come with us and sleep for a while.” Such a one
will be taken to what you may describe as a hospital place – we call
it a place of rest - wherein the newly arrived soul or spirit will
be taken to a room or couch which has the gentleness of colours, and
sometimes healing blossoms will be gathered there that their perfume
may aid the restoration of that one.
There they
receive the ministry of the healers in spirit who will extend their
hands and energies to bring about sleep and rest, healing the shock
or injury which may show upon the etheric body because of the
suddenness of the death of the physical body. Such a one may rest
or sleep for quite a long season of time; or they go into sleep
with the remembrance of a child or beloved one still in the earth
and because this remembrance lingers in the consciousness they may
bring themselves swiftly out of their sleep and demand to go back to
earth’s atmosphere and see the condition of their beloved one in the
earthly life. And you will say you have had a visitation from that
departed one, some sign or symbol of reassurance, saying: ‘I still
love you’. Then the ministering ones will take that one again into
the place of rest, that renewal and preparation for life in spirit
life may begin to take place.
With a child or
infant, I would say that the child is already partly spirit even
when it is in the physical body of the earthly world, and when the
physical body dies the child will move quickly away from the region
of earth into the great regions of light and love and beauty in
spirit. But if a child comes to a sudden death through accident, or
through war or fear, then the ministering ones will gather such a
child soul and take it to the great meadowlands of healing. In the
colourations of the great open lands and the gentleness of flowers
the young child will be slowly loosened from its fear or sadness and
enter into the joy of childhood by dancing and singing in the great
meadowlands where grow a myriad of tiny blossoms.
Then again, what
of the aged ones, those who have grown old in years and lonely in
their hearts because there are few in the earthly world who still
love and remember them – what of these? I would say that very
gentle and loving preparation is created for the lonely and aged.
Firstly, we loosen the connections between the various bodies; for
a while before the death is complete the aged one may wander to see
friends still in the earthly life, or may come into the regions of
spirit to become familiar with the new conditions there. As the
loosening of the connections between the bodies is slowly
accomplished, so eventually such a one passes into the sleep,
sometimes called the state of ‘no consciousness’ in which the body
no longer responds to the soul.
These come in
great peace and are welcomed by those who have loved or known him or
her; slowly but surely the soul will be drawn away from earthly
conditions into the place where the welcome has been created. The
place of welcome will often be in the semblance of a well-loved room
or well-remembered home; there will be the semblance of a chair in
which the aged one delighted to sit, and sometimes the blossoms or
flowers sent in remembrance from earth. In such a place there will
always be one or two who were the beloveds of the aged one –
parents, or wife or husband, sometimes even children waiting there,
quietly waiting for the new-born soul to realise that it is awake.
Here amongst the familiar things which were loved and blessed long
ago by such an aged one is a tenderness of joy in the peace of
spirit.
There are also
those known to you whose bodies succumb to destructive diseases and
have been brought into a state of lack of consciousness through the
ministry of your doctors. These come slowly from the body because
your doctors do not allow the etheric body to disentangle from the
physical body, they bring it back through their own particular
skills. Often we have to wait and watch for a long time before we
can aid such a one to leave the body and come into the peace of
spirit. When they come they are invariably in a state of sleep; so
we take them as sleepers into the places of healing that they may
continue their sleep until they are ready to awaken from their
slumber and realise they have left the pain and hurt of the physical
body: they are re-born into the life of spirit!
Could I tell you
- with what words could we clothe our knowledge to describe to you
the joy of the awakening souls! The sudden recognition when they
see a beloved who died long ago waiting quietly for recognition and
reunion! How can such a scene be described in the semblance of
words? How can the simplicity of words describe the joy of a child
suddenly realising it is free from the hurt or fear or whatever
disaster destroyed the physical body - suddenly it is light as a
butterfly, able to dance in the joy and light of spirit. How indeed
can I describe in earthly words the great music and colours of the
spirit spheres and the wondrous way in which the newly-born gaze
upon these things, how they laugh with joy or sing with happiness in
their reunions with those who have awaited them so patiently,
quietly waiting for them to awaken into the ways of spirit?
In these little
words, in this effort to clothe in language things which are very
understandable to us in the regions of spirit, I set before you a
few thoughts concerning this subject and bring you to your little
times of questioning and study.
Question:
After a period of rest in the spirit world and a person returns, do
they have the power to help children and loved ones?
Ramadahn:
They may have the power to help if
they have gained knowledge in the regions of spirit and have a
sufficiency of love to make them wish to move into the earthly
region either to protect or guide a beloved one in the earth. A
parent separated from the physical body may move into the regions of
spirit yet have an awareness that a child living in the earthly
world is in difficult circumstances and without protection.
Therefore they may choose to draw near to the child and weave around
it protective light and healing colours – they cannot always alter
the pattern of earthly life, but can soften the blows.
Question:
Sleep is usually considered a condition of the body, not of spirit.
How can spiritual or mental energy sleep in the accepted sense?
Ramadahn:
It does not sleep, beloved one, it is
moving in what you will term a dreaming condition. If you have a
spirit awareness, if you know you are spirit, then you may control
the dreaming in your sleep by telling your consciousness or mind to
find an answer, or convey other information to your brain;
therefore you are conscious of yourself even in your sleeping time.
But when most of earth’s people lay the body down in slumber, they
simply slumber and renew the energies of the ethereal and physical
bodies; the consciousness simply turns this way and that in a state
of dreaming.
So we come to the closure
of this meeting and I would say that it has been good, beloved
ones. In this room has been generated a degree of golden colour and
the green colours of peace - and it is good that this is so. As
your earthly minds have blended with our spiritual minds, so you
have created what I would call a ‘canopy of power’: from time to
time turn your thoughts back and reinforce that canopy of spiritual
power so this beloved house may be charged through and through with
spiritual harmony and peace. It is for you who have knowledge and
understanding to concentrate into this room your thoughts of harmony
and peace in golden light and greenness of peace - so that we of
spirit may slowly use those energies in the harmony and unity of
your house.
Now I pray the
great Giver of all good things to bless each one. As you go forth
into your outer world take the remembrance of the canopy of power:
link yourselves with golden threads of ethereal love unto those who
love and care for you in the regions of spirit.
In the harmony
and peace of spirit, may the will of the Great One be done through
you in the fullness His time. May light be here and abide to the
days which are still to come.
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