Word
Gems
What is a
man but the sum of his thoughts?
God
& Religion:
Heaven
& Hell
-
- "... a man who at death has no great desire to
express his highest nature may find himself in the very strange and painful situation in
which the only things he can do are those he has no desire to do. It seems to me this is
the kind of difference between Heaven and Hell."
-
Leslie Weatherhead
- Aldous
Huxley: "Maybe
this world is another planet’s hell."
- Albert Einstein: "Your imagination is your preview of
life's coming attractions."
- Sir Oliver Lodge, Raymond: Sir Oliver Lodge, one of the
most famous British scientists of the early 20th century, lost his son Raymond during WWI.
Lodge devoted much of his remaining years to the study of the afterlife. The following
quote is seance-testimony from his son: "You can prepare yourself for the higher
spheres while you are living in lower ones. He's on the third, but he's told that even now
he could go on to the fourth if he chose; but he says he would rather be learning the laws
appertaining to each sphere while he's still living on the third, because it brings him
closer--at least until you two have come over. He will stay and learn,
where he is. He wouldn't like to go on there and then find it to be difficult to get back.
He will wait till we can go happily and comfortably together! Would it
interest you for him to tell you about one of the places he's been to? It's so interesting
to him, that he might seem to exaggerate; but the experience is so wonderful, it lives
with him."
- Arthur Findlay, The Way of Life: The following words,
given during seances, are from those on the Other Side: "No one is left alone on
coming over here; not one passes the border-line without some ministering one receiving
them... There is not a weary soul on our side of life. If there are weary ones when they
first come over, there are always those who help them... The
one you love best will draw you like a magnet when you come over here. She is
preparing a home for you just now... Marriage on earth can either be happy, fairly happy,
or unhappy. Marriage, as we understand it on earth, does not exist in Etheria, but those
who love each other come together again when both reach the other side. The fairly happily
married people generally remain friends, and the unhappily married see little or nothing
of each other. The happily married here have been fortunate in each finding a mate on
earth, but those less fortunate will some time find a partner in Etheria to their liking."
- Silver Birch, a discarnate Intelligence, testimony from the "Other
Side": "There is a great power in the universe... it is so real
that it transcends all other forces ... that love is deathless because it is part
of the Great Spirit, the creative spirit of all life, part of the power which has
fashioned life; it is indeed the very breath and the very essence of life. And wherever love exists, sooner or later those who are united by its
willing bonds will find one another again despite all the handicaps and obstacles and
impediments that may be in the way... there is the
love, the undeniable love, between man and woman who are complementary to one another;
that is, they are two in form, but one in purpose -- they harmonise, they are
indeed, as your poet has expressed it, 'Two hearts that beat as one.' Now, where that
love has found itself, there is never any separation. Those whom the natural law has
joined by love can never be sundered in your world or in mine. Where there is that
love -- and here I am afraid I am going to be controversial -- it is always
reciprocated... the real love, that only comes once
to each man or woman, whether on earth or in the world of spirit, is always
reciprocal... the two halves instinctively, because
they are two halves, must recognise one another. That does not
happen in your world always because your vision, regarding things of the spirit, is often
blind... Physical things [unfortunate circumstances in this world of suffering] could stop
it [temporarily] ... but real love is so magnetic, is
so overwhelming in its attraction, that it must find
itself and claim itself, when once you have got rid of the imperfections of the earth
which were the deterrents to recognition."
- Mellen-Thomas Benedict: "I
had a descent into what you might call hell ... I did not see Satan or evil. My descent
into hell was a descent into each person's customized human misery, ignorance, and
darkness of not-knowing. It seemed like a miserable eternity. But each of the millions of
souls around me had a little star of light always available. But no one seemed to pay
attention to it. They were so consumed with their own grief, trauma and misery... We are
going to link up, hold hands, and walk out of hell together."
- Sandra Rogers: "Hell is a state of being we
create by being away from God until we choose to return to him. It is a state totally
devoid of love."
- Meister Eckhart: "The
only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories,
your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you, they're freeing
your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils
tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels,
freeing you from the earth."
- Elizabeth Taylor: Interviewed by Larry King, the
actress related how she had died on the operating table and had passed through a
tunnel towards a brilliant white light. Taylor said that while she
was clinically dead, she had encountered the spirit of Michael Todd (her third husband who
was killed in a 1958 plane crash), whom she referred to as her great love. She had wanted to stay with Todd, she said, but he told her that she had
work ahead of her, and he "pushed me back to my life ... For a long time I
didn’t talk about it, and it’s still hard for me to talk about... I am not
afraid of death, because I have been there."
- Nora Spurgin: "Can we still enjoy physical and sensual pleasure in the
spirit world; for example, food, drink, and sex? All
that is good in human experience, whether it be food, drink, human affection, or sexual
intercourse can be experienced in the spirit world. Because our physical senses of
hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching are only poor reflections of our very
sensitive spiritual senses, music, art, fragrances, occasional spiritual food and the
feeling of textures are all more rich and enjoyable in the spiritual world. Swedenborg
comments that husbands and wives enjoy intercourse just as on earth,
only happier and richer, because when the love becomes spiritual, it becomes deeper
and purer and therefore more fully appreciated. Intercourse does not
conceive children, however, because the material element is missing... According to Swedenborg, people who were
married on the earth meet in the spiritual world, recognize one another and may
want to live together as they lived on earth. As the superficialities drop off, the couple
will discover what they are like inwardly, what their love and attraction were and whether
they can continue to live as one. A marriage without God's love and blessing may soon
disintegrate."
- Anthony Borgia, More About Life In The World Unseen:
"... it is sometimes the case that people dwell in certain realms ... when, by virtue
of spiritual progression, they are entitled to live in a higher one... Some may elect to
abide [on a lower level of the spirit-world] for purely private reasons, reasons of affection between two individuals.
It may transpire that two people, between whom there is a strong bond, might belong to
different planes of progression, and therefore inhabit different realms ... it is not
uncommon for the one entitled to live in the higher realm to remain
with the one who has not yet advanced, until such time as the latter has
progressed, and then, together, the two mount to their new
realm, and so continue unseparated."
- Anthony Borgia, Here and Hereafter: "...in the
spirit world all previous generations of a family are co-existing. So that it might
reasonably be asked: who will live with them? ... Family ties, as such, have
little significance in the spirit world. Here, the one deciding
factor in this matter of human relationships and family ties is the bond of affection and
mutual interest that prevails between any two or more people. The rule applies in
all circumstances [i.e., in all relationships -- because in the spirit world, only real
and special affection keeps people closely together, not past earth-life connections of
any kind]."
|