Longtime
Edgar Cayce researcher and an
A.R.E.
Board member,
Harvey A. Green
looks at the broad spectrum of the soul's existence.
He uses the Cayce readings as well as references
from
Rudolf Steiner,
Emanuel Swedenborg,
and others to describe the realms after death
and the transcendency of the soul. As the author
presents this awesome sweep of the soul's experience
after death, he covers the movement of the soul
through death and into the higher levels of
the afterlife. Harvey Green has been involved
with the Cayce material since the early 1970s.
Harvey Green has written several books including:
(a)
Life and Death: The Pilgrimage of the Soul,
(b)
Voyage through Eternity, and (c)
Letters to His Beloved.
The following is an
excerpt of his book,
Life and Death: The Pilgrimage of the Soul.
It is his analysis of what happens after death
using the important metaphysical knowledge of
others.
1. Introduction
It
cannot be stated too often that the spiritual
perspective is inward and not outward. Once
we leave the physical realm we will view reality
inwardly and not outwardly. All that we have
placed inside ourselves will act as a lens,
a filter. All that we see will be seen through
and be distorted by these things we have stored
within ourselves. This is why it is important
to remove as much clutter as possible so as
not to obscure our reality. The dimensions which
immediately surround the Earth have been called
the mental realms by both Edgar Cayce and Rudolf
Steiner. It is here we face, we inhabit, we
experience what we have built into our minds
as a result of our activities. It is in the
mental realms where our minds embody our souls.
In this reality we do not leave behind the attitudes
we held in the Earth but we inhabit them. This
was illustrated many times in the
Cayce discourses when he said that we not
only take our attitudes with us into death,
but we inhabit them. They will, however, become
much, much larger in death, much harder to bear,
with no way to set them aside easily.
In essence, after
death, Steiner said we expand into the planetary
spheres. The moral disposition we carry over
with us allows or prevents us from moving on
in a conscious manner. After this experience,
we fall asleep and the cosmic forces act directly
upon us preparing us for the next earthly experience.
Our cosmic sleep regenerates us. There comes
a time when the desire to reincarnate starts
to work on us. When that happens, we begin the
process of going back through the planetary
spheres picking up what we will need from each
in order to fulfill our purpose in the next
Earth life. The "soul
kernel" is carried in to the embryo, forgets
the whole trip and is born again on Earth.
In the
end, our transition after death is like stepping
into our own thoughts where we have existed
all along. This is an inward step, so small,
so natural; yet from a material perspective
it is so abrupt, and so extreme. At the moment
of change some of us are completely aware of
what is happening, some of us only partly aware,
and yet others totally unaware. Ultimately we
meet and greet our own death with the same awareness
and attention to detail we gave to our experiences
in life.
Since
taking leave of the Earth realm, we have been
traveling throughout many realms of reality.
In each dimension we experienced that which
was helpful, in some we reviewed and evaluated
our experiences, but in all we were resuscitated.
The realms in which we made our temporary homes
and the order in which we experienced them were
exactly what we needed to complete our earthly
experience, to be refreshed, renewed, and prepared
for our next material adventure. Each of the
realms we visited were focal points from which
certain basic qualities of our being emanate.
We not only worked in the unique surroundings,
but we mixed with the essence of each quality
of which each realm was comprised. These qualities
are not external things to which we responded,
but they are what we are.
The
following discussion is not meant to promote
an attachment to the wonder or splendor of any
particular dimension of reality. All that will
be given is for the better understanding of
who we really are. We are the sum total of all
of our experiences from the very foundations
of our beginning up until this moment.
Each
experience is but another thread woven into
that fabric of which we are composed. No realm
is any more important than another, nor is our
habitation or incarnation into any realm more
important than any other. Our experiences in
reality are continuous and although certain
happenings may seem more momentous than others,
it is the accumulation of what we do with creation
which is our quest. For it is only in that accumulation
of experiencing the various expressions of our
God that we truly fulfill our destiny. It is
important to note that we carry all of our experiences
into each dimension because we are the focal
point of their accumulation. Further, although
each dimension operates under different sets
of basic laws, they are but variations of laws
we already know. There is one Creator, one set
of principles of life we call laws, and one
direction in which to grow. The infinite variety
in creation is largely due to the limitless
ways in which the same things may be manifest.
If we would just watch the patterns of what
we know unfold before us, we would see ever
so clearly the most important aspects of what
seems both behind and ahead of us.
2. The Material Land
When
in the Earth, we live simultaneously in all
regions of the soul and spirit lands. We are
not aware of our presence in other realms at
the same time as we are embodied in the Earth,
but our lack of cognizance does not in any way
inhibit our multi-presence. It is from the Earth
that our desires, our ambitions, and what we
do about them sends waves of life resonating
through all regions of the soul and spirit lands.
As there is no time and space outside of the
material universe, we have ample opportunity
to experience these waves of our own soulness
when we arrive in the regions where they are
manifest. From the soul and spirit regions we
draw life as well as send it; here we experience
ourselves as well as all of life.
Life
in the Earth is not only experiencing ourselves,
within the confines of universal laws, but it
is done in a much more focused fashion. As we
live in the Earth realm we are at the same time
building conditions in succeeding realms. The
building process in materiality is therefore
multidimensional. The Edgar Cayce source expressed
it best in discourse 5749-3 when the entranced
psychic stated, ".. with error entered that
as called death, which is only a transition
or through God's other door into that realm
where the entity has built, in its manifestations
as related to the knowledge and activity respecting
the law of the universal influence."
As all
of life is a gradual metamorphosis, so is that
period of transition we call dying. From a physical
perspective we might say one was alive one moment
and gone the next. We may comment that death
came without warning. Because we see only those
external happenings which are perceptible to
the physical senses, we often assume there was
no activity outside of this perspective. As
we grow in stages from infancy to maturity,
we likewise grow from life in material realms
to life in spiritual dimensions. The pattern
here is ever the same: We do not instantly arrive
at, occupy, or depart from any condition in
reality.
Dying
is a process which begins before the soul takes
leave of the body and in fact begins before
any illness, accident, or happening which may
cause physical death. In that rest we call sleep,
the soul departs and prepares for the transition
it is moving toward. How far in advance of our
departure do we begin our preparations? In a
sense, one is preparing for death through all
of life. Again, let us refer to the Cayce work
and psychic discourse 5488-1 which states, "..
in the midst of life one is in the midst of
death, for death is but the beginning of life,
as life is but the beginning of an opportunity
to manifest that as is innately built within
the soul of an individual itself.
3. Immediately After
Death
There
is a definite happening at that point we call
death, the least of which is the falling away
of the physical body. Our awareness, emotions,
memories, likes, dislikes, desires, and fears
all live on within us. We have tried to make
a case thus far to illustrate that our consciousness
more than our physical senses is what we are.
We have used materiality but we are not material.
Our
material experiences are to our soul what food
is to our bodies. The memories, the relationships,
the tastes of life are all carried over unadulterated
in the first stage of death but as the digestive
process continues they lose their prominence
and our attention turns to other things.
In the first stage
following physical death we find ourselves in
the realm which is made of and held together
by the mental activity of life in materiality.
Here, in what we will call the nearest reaches
of what Cayce termed the borderland, life is
bigger than life. It is a narrow reality bordered
on one side by a gradual density and on the
other by a likewise gradual quickening or elevation.
It is the state occupied by
Dr. George Ritchie, which he describes in
his book, My Life After Dying. Further, it is
the divide between life in the Earth and life
in the mental realms. This divide is in fact
that part of the mental realm completely overlapped
by the material realm. One can move into closer
proximity to the Earth and become so fixed by
desire, as Ritchie observed, that one is unable
to extricate oneself. One may move toward a
quickening into finer realms or one may slide
into one of the densest realms we call "outer
darkness."
4. The Earthbound Realm
Many
people who die surely do not do so willingly.
For some, their deaths, like their lives, are
rebellious and their minds are fixed on materiality.
Before gaining a cognizance of what and where
they are, they try to fly on the wings of their
misguided values back into the density of materiality.
One thing, however, is amiss; they are not material.
As they go about trying to function, the newly
discarnate entities do not understand why they
cannot communicate with others; as a result,
they are gripped by fear. The Cayce discourses
contain much material on this state of confusion.
Some think they have lost their minds, others
think those around them have gone mad, and others
adapt in the world of semi-reality. They do
encounter objects that are manifestations of
thought but they have no way of separating those
objects from denser ones with which they cannot
interact. This extreme edge of the mental realm
is so close to materiality that it intertwines
with it at every turn. The fact is that interaction
with mental counterparts of material activity
that exist in this stage of consciousness is
so like materiality, so closely conjoined to
the physical, that the lost soul cannot tell
where one stops and the other begins. This confusion,
or blurring of divisions, lends credence to
the perception that the troubled soul is in
the same physical state it held while embodied
in the Earth.
It is
natural to ask why these souls who make their
home at the edge of the borderland do not realize
they have died and passed on to another reality.
How often do dreamers realize they are dreaming
even though their activities are not what one
would consider consistent with waking reality?
Some
souls adjust to this confusion and as a consequence,
are tied to the Earth for years. They derive
their satisfaction by mingling with those forces,
those energies which are given off from life
in material realms. They live vicariously, as
Dr. Ritchie noted, in the emotions and mental
activities of those who are in the Earth realm.
Those
souls who have trapped themselves in this region
endlessly try to influence matters in the Earth
realm. Some are from time to time successful
as they mix with thought patterns emanating
from the Earth realm and some are not. Some
souls have even become self-destructive enough
as to occupy or possess the body of a material
human being who has, by its own uncoordinated
activities, separated its mental from its physical
forces.
God
and all of creation personify patience and await
those souls turning back to the road they began
to travel after awakening in the borderland.
To assist their return, there are countless
ministers of mercy all about them in their existence
in the borderland. These who would help them
need only for them to will that help, for us
to let go of their fixation on materiality;
then they will set their shaky feet on the path
they must follow.
5. Outer
Darkness
Let
us now take a detour into a yet denser reality
so we can better understand another of our options
upon awakening in the borderland. There are
some of us who have lived our lives in such
a way that we have turned completely within
ourselves. We have blocked out all love, all
warmth, and all spirit from our daily doings;
we have created a void within and around ourselves.
We chose to deny our responsibilities to others
and to ourselves; we choose ourselves at all
cost. Upon passing on, before we become conscious
that we have entered the borderland, we swiftly
move on to that realm to which our life choices
in the Earth resonate. This region is void of
love, life, and light, void of all of those
things we cast out from our lives in the Earth.
The region in which we find ourselves is approximately
our wish come true. We are truly alone, with
ourselves, within ourselves; it is pain beyond
pain for us. Edgar Cayce described this region
of void as "outer darkness." The name of this
dimension describes it very accurately, as we
find no love, hope, friendship, kindness, benevolence,
or any of what we have come to know as human
qualities. Instead there is nothing but ourselves,
and it is unbearable. In the absence of that
which we term "fruits of the spirit" truth,
love, patience, gentleness, kindness, long-suffering,
and brotherly love we fill the void with an
irrational and unbelievable amount of pain and
fear. It is so dark in the realm of outer darkness
that the dark hurts and panic grips us without
our knowing why. Like our material universe,
outer darkness seems endless and without any
meaningful boundaries. There is nowhere we can
go to escape the agony and horror which fills
almost every part of our being, and the desire
to flee consumes us. The farther and faster
we travel through this realm the greater the
feeling that it is endless. Even outer darkness
has degrees, and it is darker and denser at
the center than at its outer fringes.
Helen Greaves describes these degrees as
hells. Likewise, this is the hell described
by
Emanuel Swedenborg in
Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell From Things
Heard and Seen. The closer we are to the
outer edges, the more interaction there is with
others in the realm, while the closer to the
center we find ourselves, the darker and more
painful we find the solitude. One who finds
himself in outer darkness cannot move toward
the center by force of his own motion. The center
represents levels of reality and are not linear.
One cannot travel across this dimension; one
must grow through the levels of this realm.
Outer
darkness is not one of those realms which must
be overcome in stages, although we can choose
that method of growth. One may find himself
on a particular level after death that most
closely corresponds to his activity and the
degree of absence of those fruits of the spirit
in his life, and there is no need to experience
other levels here. No level of outer darkness
is without pain and fear, but, as we have noted,
the very center is the most agonizing. In the
reality we call outer darkness, we have very
little memory of our earthly lives. We remember
little, if anything, of our earthly relationships,
and we are so absorbed in pain and fear that
our suffering exacts every last ounce of our
attention.
This
lower region of outer darkness is not a punishment.
It is a region which operates lawfully for the
benefit of those agonized souls. This region
is not a realm which was created for any soul
to experience, but one which came about as a
consequence of the negative activity of souls
in creation. So great has been the desire for
self, so monumental across time and space has
been the selfishness of some of God's creatures,
that this realm is the creation or manifestation
of their own collective activities. Outer darkness
and the reality with which it is associated
were created and are held in place by collective
self-interest.
As noted previously,
universal law is perfect and works for the benefit
of all, all of the time. An excellent example
of the
law of grace is that no evil, no negativity,
whether single or collective in nature, exists
without a way of redemption being simultaneously
imprinted by the Creative Forces throughout
its fiber.
Nowhere
is it more obvious than in the realm of outer
darkness that no one needs to remain here beyond
one's own will to do so. We might conjecture
that no one wishes to suffer such misery but
that simply is not so. We constantly do things
on the Earth realm that cause us difficulty,
unhappiness, pain, and illness. We do not wish
to suffer the discomfort of our actions, but
this does not keep us from those activities.
In the Earth realm, as in spiritual realms,
until we turn our attention from ourselves,
we cannot in any way change our estate.
The occupants of outer
darkness are there for various lengths of Earth
time. It is peculiar to discuss length of residence
by a measure which does not exist in that dimension.
For most of us it is very difficult to relate
to a timeless condition, so the use of finite
terms helps us to better understand. Some residents
feel they have been in outer darkness for weeks
or months, others for eons. No doubt, all are
correct in their assessment of length of time
spent in this realm. In a reality of pain and
torment, even a moment can seem like an eternity
and there is no way to judge length of stay
until after one has long departed. Doubtless,
some souls have occupied outer darkness for
what we would measure as hundreds, even thousands
of years. But it is more likely that most stay
for a considerably shorter period. It is not
possible for souls to be forever confined to
outer darkness since, in such a case, there
would be no hope of redemption. Further, Swedenborg
noted in his book, Heaven and Its Wonders and
Hell from Things Heard and Seen, that
it is God who keeps the balance in the realm
of outer darkness so that all things would not
be destroyed. Again, outer darkness is not a
punishment, rather it is the ultimate manifestation
of our own undoing, and he who is Mercy would
never abandon us to such spiritual agony.
6. The Borderland
Let
us return our attention to the realm that we
call the "borderland". The borderland is the
outer edge of the mental realms overlapping
materiality. All that we experience in materiality
is manifest in its purity in the mental realms.
When one is in any of the mental realms, reality
seems so much purer, so much more real. One
arriving here would become aware that there
has definitely been a change, an awakening.
What we would perceive as our senses in this
realm would seem infinitely sharper, and we
would be much more sensitive. All that is material
is but an expression of what is manifest in
the mental realms. So here we find ourselves
with the authentic original and not the copy.
As we look around and absorb our surroundings,
we feel as though we have just emerged from
a haze. We do not see anything we did not see
on Earth and everything is quite familiar. There
are those around us that we know. Some may have
been friends or relatives who passed on before
us, and others may be souls that do not incarnate
with us but with whom we shared a genuine connection.
We do not notice all of the souls around us,
only those for whom we have sympathy or have
shared experiences.
We notice that sleeping
and waking seem to be faculties still with us,
as
Ruth Mattson Taylor noted. We feel that
we have just wakened, and we go through periods
of what appear to us to be states of awake and
asleep. Certainly, we do not need sleep outside
of the Earth realm. But we are accustomed to
periods of rest and seize the opportunity when
first entering the mental realms. Gradually
this cycle of sleep and work leaves us. But
we do find periods of refreshment akin to rest.
We have a major adjustment to make and all of
those we meet in the borderland are there to
help us. In every realm in which we find ourselves
between lives on Earth, there are those who
are resident in those dimensions, except for
those in the borderland. This state of reality
is unique in that it is a transient state for
all who inhabit it. There are those souls and
beings who choose to work for the betterment
of souls in the borderland, but they are visitors
there, not residents.
In the borderland
is where we review in detail the life just lived
in the Earth realm. We see our lives with a
clarity obscured from us when we were in the
Earth realm. We see the potential, the ultimate
possibilities of all the choices we didn't make.
Although this is an emotional experience, Steiner
notes that we are protected by those beings
around us from immersion in our own emotions
and from becoming lost. There is not one review,
but several; each exacts yet another focus.
Although we are free from the fetters of time
and space, we still take this review process
gradually so that we are not overcome and immobilized.
Part and parcel to this review, a healing takes
place. As the scars left on the mind become
evident, a healing takes place so that the soul
will be able to move on. Now we take note of
great Beings of Light for the first time, and
we are struck by how we recognize them. There
is total familiarity and the realization of
their always having been with us, whether before,
during, or after our Earth life.
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