SPIRIT AT WORK: LIFE IN THE SPIRIT WORLD

Key Extracts from Lecture 12

© The Pathwork® Foundation 1999

Not all the beings who are no longer subject to the incarnational cycle are already in the highest spiritual spheres. They have to develop further, a development which will take place in the spirit world. The highest world is what we call "the house of God" even though this is not to be understood literally. Spirits of higher development who do not yet live in the highest sphere are given occasional access to these highest splendors. These worlds consist of subtle matter of such immeasurable harmony and beauty that you, my friends, cannot possibly imagine… I lack the words to describe it, and you lack the concepts… The beings living there have to fulfill their tasks in the great plan until all beings have returned to God.

One sphere in the spirit world could be called the sphere of science. Yet it is not like your human science. All the knowledge that exists, which humankind discovers only partially and gradually, is openly displayed. There is the sphere of history, if I can call it so. It does not merely deal with the history of the earth but also with the history of creation, and here everything can be observed. You only have to imagine a movie. Everything is etched in that breath of God, and you can review it again. Spirits sufficiently advanced in their development and having a specific interest may take on a particular task. They are then guided to this sphere by expert spirit beings and, with their help, study for some time to learn what is necessary and advantageous for the chosen task. They learn the plan of salvation, the history of creation, and all that pertains to it. Here are also the roughly outlined plans for the future, always only as a framework giving each soul enough space to determine the time and the outcome with its free will.

Everything depends on the entities’ developmental stage. Receptivity for happiness, harmony, and completion depends entirely on the developmental state. There are spheres of purification, of which the earth is one. Those purification spheres exist on various levels of development... There are hospitals, my dear ones, where ailing souls are taken care of and healed. There are places of rest, also in different degrees, all corresponding to their development, for spirits who have left their bodies behind and also for spirits who have come to rest in the spiritual world after the completion of a great task. These beings need rest for a certain amount of time. Other spheres could be called reception spheres. They are also beautiful and often more so than your earth sphere. These spheres are for spirit entities who are perhaps not yet on a level to deserve continuous bliss. However, they have fulfilled their lives well, within the limits of their possibilities, and need and deserve a time of recovery before they can resume their path of development. Within an extensive sphere with different departments, there are specific places where the incarnations are prepared.

Here specifically trained higher beings know exactly the laws and the past incarnations of an individual soul, have studied the load still needed to carry the merits, the abilities, what has been completed, and what still remains. They know the entire path of the individual soul’s destiny so that they are capable of ascertaining and planning the most advantageous circumstances and conditions for the next life on earth, including the merits and hindrances which each entity is to bring to earth in order to make the most progress. The being who is about to be incarnated discusses the coming life with the higher beings, speaks his wishes, and listens to advice. Then there are the different spheres of purification of gradations, each according to developmental stages.

…there is one specific sphere where a life is viewed, sometimes even several lives. At times, the last life is connected with the one that preceded it, and only comparing the two brings about full understanding. Now the spirit who has just concluded his earthly life sees his life with such clarity that he can no longer pretend and make excuses the way humans like to do. They are prone to displace their real motives and wear a mask so that their pure currents are polluted by the unpurified qualities. But here everything is clear and open. This is not to be confused with the well-known phenomenon after dying when one sees one’s life unroll in front of one’s eyes in a very brief sequence. That is another thing. It always occurs, but in this case it happens very briefly, and the human spirit sees the picture of the past life almost indifferently, so to speak. It seems to concern the life of someone else. You are not affected, not emotionally moved. You see it objectively. In the sphere of purification, the process is much more extended and lasts as long as is necessary to understand what up to now you have refused to understand. This can be painful. You really come to feel that this is about you. You reexperience your life. And then it turns out that earthly life is evaluated quite differently than here on earth where you are still in your body. As long as the body encloses the spirit and imprisons it, the suffering about each trial and blow of fate is great. To experience something difficult seems frightening to you. But as long as everything goes well on the outside, you are happy. Already in these realms of purification – which are by no means high spheres – the experience of looking at the unfolding pictures of your last life is entirely different. It is possible that a heavy fate you suffered on earth made you very sad then, but since from the spiritual point of view you have come through it well, it gives you now, as you experience it again, looking at the film, a feeling of endless peace. It gives you a sense of happiness because you passed the test and learned what there was to learn. However, a pleasant time passed in contentment may cause you great disquietude if during it the spiritual task was not completed.

The mission spirits fulfill the task of receiving the beings who come to us so suddenly and completely unprepared. Other mission spirits are specifically trained to receive people who die in a different way, to lead them and offer them help. Another kind of mission spirits go from time to time into the depths, into the spheres of darkness to bring light and help certain beings if their attitude warrants it. If the outlook of these entities changes, the mission angels can lift them to a higher sphere. Other specialists among the mission spirits take care of those who have left their bodies in a state of complete unbelief. They offer them help and guidance which these entities can accept or reject with their free will.