What is the soul’s awakening in the spirit world?

The poor man died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man died and was buried, and in hell, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment.

I—Dives

The sleeper now awakens, that is, he becomes truly conscious of his surroundings, he knows both what he is and what he has been and his true psychic life begins. 

He enters into that state, which may be said to be the immediate result of his earthly life―that state, which has been spoken of as one of punishment and reward―words that were true enough in their original meaning, but which have been so distorted by our low ideas that they are more misleading than true.

The man now reaps what he has sown―he enters into the possession of the treasure that he has laid up―or he finds himself naked and poor. The poor in spirit become rich while the rich unto themselves alone are so poor that they cannot even get water to quench their thirst.

In what manner do they suffer?

In the inimitable story told by the Master from which physical terms are used to describe the psychical, and this, as a matter of necessity.

How is it physically when you suffer cold or heat?

It is that your body is out of harmony with its surroundings. When you feel cold, it is because the temperature of your body is higher than the air around you, and when you suffer from the heat, it is because your temperature is lower.

When the affections of the soul are cold and almost dead, then it cannot bear the heat of the heavenly atmosphere, full of love and pity, which surrounds it―it is a hell of fire.

The rich man asked for water, and apparently, he did not obtain it, but the moment he began to care for, and remember others, at that moment, his thirst began to be quenched and the intolerable torment diminished.

Between us is a great gulf fixed. This gulf is not one of place nor of time—

It is no artificial barrier, but simply the great gulf, which separates for a time those who are not one in spirit.

Even on your earth, there may be two most closely united outwardly, but within, heaven and hell are not so far apart as their spirits.

So we do not in our state separate the evil from the good, the tares from the wheat, but both grow together until the day when the evil has died in the furnace of suffering and the wheat is ready to be gathered into the heavenly garner.

II—Lazarus

Lazarus, the poor man, is a good type of another large class.

There are many who let themselves be borne along by the force of circumstances without any struggle to make nature subservient to them.

Such people are generally poor and let themselves be oppressed by the tyrant―they simply suffer when they might find a remedy for their complaint, and their faculties being not misused, but unused lie dormant and so are feeble when they come over.

Such indeed need to be carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom where the mere absence of physical discomfort produces a sense of happiness for a time and the great gulf keeps them from all activity until they have grown a little stronger.

III—The Carnal Man

The next class includes those whose spirits are so earthbound that they seem unable to tear themselves away from their former surroundings.

Those whose passions have been strong on earth, and strong for earth alone, finding little or nothing in their new life, which is sympathetic to them return in spirit to the world they have quit and live over and over again their past.

From this class, most of the appearances, the revenants are drawn, for anxious to renew, however faintly, their old impressions, they draw to themselves a physical covering, a body, which they can use to see and hear and know the old life. 

This, however, they succeed in doing but very partially, for the link between the psychical and the physical is not truly reunited and the sensations are but dim and shadowy.

It is such as these that have been sometimes helped by counsel from those on your side.

IV—The Idolater

The next class includes those whose lives outwardly correct have yet been wanting in the true spirit of love, so that they have been really dead while they seemed to live.

With a strong sense of their own righteousness and with low thoughts of others, these Pharisees, these idolaters, of whatever sect or religion they may have been, have their nature completely engrossed with the one idea of their own goodness or sufficiency.

When they look back upon their past life, this constant habit of the mind prevents them from acknowledging any failure, any fault, and in a self-justifying spirit, they see nothing, but their own reflection in the pool of memory, and so, for a long time, they remain in the valley where the sun of life cannot warm them with its rays.

Such are helped to true repentance and hatred of their former state by seeing the noble self-sacrificing lives of those who are most truly wise, and it is by such examples and willing self-devotion that these troubled ones are comforted.

V—The Child

Again, we have very many dear, simple souls who come over after a life of loving devotion to the highest duty they know of―such souls need but little discipline and a simple life of simple duties, a home where they can shelter and help the sleepers—a life like a glorified earthly one, such is their gentle and gradual development, almost unmarked in its changes day by day, yet surely rising and expanding.

VI—The True Man

The next class includes those who have lived true, full lives upon earth—whose psychic powers while still incarnated in flesh were being highly developed―those of whom the world was not worthy―the flower of humanity and its fruit.

Not faultless, of course, nor yet by any means perfectly developed in all directions, yet having advanced so far that they are fit for other experiences than those we have already indicated.

After a short sleep, they awake strong and ready for the service of their fellows. At first, they generally use most easily those faculties, which have been strongest on earth.

The philosopher imparts wisdom to the simple―the poet sings the sad, sweet songs of love―the man of business directs and strengthens the weak.

It is from this class that the saviours of the psychic sphere are drawn, with full hearts and wise heads, they are ready to work, to suffer, to sacrifice themselves in any way if in the slightest degree, they can help their brethren to see the beauty of true, unselfish lives.

You, dear friends, know one grand type of this class and there are many like him.

VII—The Perfect Man

Lastly—the highest, the most perfect, that we have ever known or dreamed of is the Master. In other ages, and in other climes, there may have been one or two that nearly reached the height of His perfection, but to us, there is only one.

There is Only One.

Having passed through the earthly life without failure in any moral duty, and with singleness of heart from first to last, always reaching after the highest ideals, in him, the Perfect, the Ideal (hu)manhood was manifest. After a brief psychic sleep, He arose in the full possession of his new powers, and uncontrolled in the least by mere circumstance, He bends all things to the accomplishment of His high and loving purpose and sets himself to raise His brethren and sistren to the level of his own perfect life.

Literally, the the Living Son of God, Our Creator—Our Father and Mother God, and the Son of Man!

These few illustrations will be enough to give you an idea of the “soul’s awakening,” and of its new life in the earlier stages. The soul’s expansion will come later.

Do not interpret our words too literally—or think these classes are marked off too sharply―no, they blend into each other, as do the good and evil on earth.

“I AWOKE!” Conditions of Life on the Other Side