What am I allowed to pray for?

For what things is it permissible to pray? 

As the Master taught, for all material and all spiritual gifts, for all come from the One Divine Source, and there is nothing beneath His notice and His knowledge. 

The act of prayer is in accordance with His will and it is proper and right for your own growth that you should thus recognise the God within and around you. 

The heart's desire is always a prayer—man prays even when he sins, for he only does not recognise the God, and imagines he is acting from himself.

How can we be spiritually blind?

Do you forget that it is the spirit and not the body that is to live forever? 

Do you forget that you brought nothing into this world with you and that you can take nothing earthly away? 

How can you be so blind to these things? 

How can you wrap yourselves up in careless ease and indifference about a future state when you know that it will be forever and forever—that this life is only a short probation for that, and here you must make those preparations that may decide the destiny of your souls for ages? 

We do not hold to the doctrine that punishment is eternal—we know it is not. But there are punishments in a future state quite sufficiently severe to make you earnest to avoid them if you rightly understood these things.

What an awakening is yours when the portals of the grave are passed and you enter that unknown spirit world! 

There you will find a purgatory indeed from which no priest or prayer can save you—a purgatory from which you might have escaped had you only known how to act on this earthly plane. 

Had your spiritual teachers taught you to work instead of pray—to cultivate the higher nature within you, the God-principle implanted in every breast—had they taught you to control yourselves, to love and help your fellow (wo)man, irrespective of degree or station, rather seeking out the debased and vile as objects of your care, and doing to everyone as you would be done by—how different your awakening would be in your spirit home! 

But the (wo)man who has done his work while on the earth, cultivating the interior principle, while not neglecting the body—who has fed his spirit with deeds of kindness and mercy, following in the footsteps and example of Jesus, self-denying, patient, charitable, and full of love for his fellow (wo)man, not merely relieving his bodily wants, but also nourishing his soul with heavenly manna—he will find when he enters on his new state of existence what a beautiful spirit body he has prepared for himself—what crowds are waiting to welcome him and to see him clothed in it! All the poor afflicted ones that he may have relieved or soothed on their dying beds will be there—all the bright spirits who have aided and strengthened him in his daily walk will be there—these and many others that he never knew, but who have watched his course approvingly will welcome and conduct him to the bright and glorious home—the mansion he has prepared for himself in the Heavens!

No priest, no prayer can save you from your own evil deeds—in your own hands is the remedy. Cultivate your higher nature. Elevate your soul—that portion of God's nature implanted in you, and do deeds worthy of them. Let truth and love reign in your heart and universal benevolence guide your actions to your fellow creatures. If such principles obtain—if this brotherhood of feeling and acting be established, your soul and spirit will grow together in beautiful proportions, and the change called death will be looked upon as merely an opening to a better life instead of being regarded as a thing of dread and horror.

—L. D. In Spirit

Where exactly is heaven?

According to a Law of Divine Love, we cannot be happy, in knowing that life is eternal, without making every effort to awaken mortals to the truth of life beyond the earthly―heaven is a planet―or place with spheres―or belts, which are of themselves a universe to the inhabitants, each sphere being perfectly adapted to the wants of those inhabiting it.

Are flowers good for the soul?

Flowers are mirrors of the soul—the reflection to the earth of the astral faces.

How to trust God in uncertainty?

Believe and hope and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and know that whatever is wrong shall be righted if we but keep on trying, keep on praying, keep on relying upon His help and guidance.

The Teacher

How do you use afterworld in a sentence?

I believe in God. 

There is only one God. 

And I believe in the afterworld.* 

And I just want people to know that I am very sincere in my beliefs. 

And I pray every night and I do not ask for much—I just say thank you.

*The future world, especially the world after death.

—Prince Rogers Nelson

The afterworld—that state where all is renewed life and beauty—that great world where the sun never sets—where clouds no longer darken the skies, nor dense and noxious vapours pollute the atmosphere. 

That world is one far, far surpassing Earth. 

The vast splendours of that land of bliss and glory whose mountain peaks tower aloft into the ever blue sky, and the light of whose Sun never grows dim—where all is congenial to pure and happy Spirits—the only dwellers in that Summerland. 

With what delight do they walk over the flower-bespangled carpet of those lovely fields, finding new beauties at every step. 

Like dew drops sparkling in the morning sun, there—over all its fair face—you see the tiny leaves and plants hymning their songs of praise to Him who is the maker and preserver of them all. 

And then, as the happy wayfarer moves on, what heartfelt joy wells up within him as he gazes on those beautiful animals, far beyond those of earth, roaming over the green meadows of this land of beauty.