From Earth To 'Heaven' And Back Again

Human personalities have four lower vehicles: the dense physical body, the etheric double (vital body), the astral vehicle (emotional or desire body) and the mental vehicle.

In the ordinary course of events, after the moment of death the etheric, astral and mental vehicles of the personality are withdrawn from the dense physical body. The physical shell, deprived of the animating forces of the vital body, appears to the physical eye as cold and lifeless. As the masses of men do not have knowledge of the existence of the invisible worlds, grief and mourning ensue.

Meanwhile, the so-called 'dead' person is alive and well on the other side of the veil. In fact, it is almost certain that the first thought the so-called dead person has will be something similar to the following:

"Am I dead?"

Here is the classic example of the question that answers itself. For if one were 'dead' as some would have us believe, consciousness would cease and we would be rendered senseless. In wonder, the so-called dead person will perceive that he still has a body (although it is the etheric double he is now utilizing) even as he can view his own abandoned shell, lying where he left it. Eventually, the realization dawns,

"Well, I'll be darned...I'm alive!"

Yes, you're alive, buddy. And welcome to proof of the continuity of life. It's too bad that this truth could not have been embraced during the physical life. It would have left the personality a little better prepared for what happens after "death". Welcome to the reflection-sphere.

The reflection-sphere is what mankind calls "heaven". It is thus named because it is basically a reflection of life here in the physical plane. Also, it is said that events first take place in the reflection-sphere before manifesting or reflecting themselves onto the physical plane.

The reflection-sphere has varying planes of activity that correspond with the remaining vehicles of the so-called 'dead' personality. There is an etheric plane, an astral plane and a mental plane. The personality will ascend these planes in succession, experiencing for a time on the etheric plane before eventually discarding its etheric double. It will then take its remaining two vehicles (astral and mental) to the astral plane, where it will experience for a time and eventually drop the astral body before moving on to the mental plane. When its time there has expired, the mental body is dissolved. At that point, nothing is left of the personality, the John or Jane Doe who lived the previous life on the physical earth. Only the emptied microcosm remains, keeping within it the karma of the most recent personality and merging it with the accumulated karma of all the previous lives that inhabited the microcosm.

From the above, we can draw several conclusions:

- the true consciousness resides with the microcosm
- it is the microcosm that seeks reincarnation
- 'eternal life' in the 'hereafter' of the churches is a lie
- we are temporary images, image-bearers

As image-bearers, we are brought into existence for One Purpose: to assist the microcosm in awakening the Seed that lies at its center so that the True Man that sleeps within may be restored to Divine Life. If we do not accomplish that mission while in the physical, we will meet the fate outlined above: a few hundred years in the reflection-sphere and then dissolution. The microcosm will begin the task of seeking another personality that will, hopefully, succeed where we have failed.

The alternative to repeated turns on the Wheel-of-Death-and-Rebirth can only be found when one effects a fundamental reversal and succeeds in turning his or her focus in a completely different direction. There is a Path that leads to true immortality, but it is as narrow as a razor's edge and must be walked with one-pointed focus and devotion. It is the fivefold gnostic Path of Rebirth and is open to all who truly desire Liberation.

~ g
.