Sphere model of the afterlife

[DTR1975]

I found this model of afterlife logistics that I have never heard of before. It posits that spirit life post-earth occurs in different realms called spheres.
[https://universal-spirituality.net/spir ... d-spheres/]

Can anyone tell me where it comes from or who developed it, and how it was devised? Is this view compatible with orthodox christian theology?

[Giulia]

Hello, Derek.

I believe theology is man-made, so I won’t comment on that. The Church is usually obscure about the Afterlife.

Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2). I understand that the Greek word used for “mansions” meant “stopping place” or “temporary dwelling”.

My source of information are mediumistic accounts of the Afterlife. They often mention “spheres” and they often mention the number 7 to describe the number of spheres they are able to conceive of to start with.

As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the physician who created Sherlock Holmes, said, the revelations coming through spiraling mediumship during the late 19th and early 20th Century abolish the idea of an immediate grotesque hell or fantastic heaven. Rather, we come to understand that the “afterlife” is made up of a number of spheres, levels, dimensions, or planes, however they might be labeled, through which we gradually rise until reaching Oneness – a state, which, we are told, is beyond human comprehension. We also are told that we retain our individuality in this Oneness.

(…)

As Hare and others accepting the philosophy of Spiritualism came to understand it, the afterlife is made up of many planes, spheres, realms, states, or, as Jesus is quoted, “many mansions in my Father’s house.” The person with a low moral specific gravity will gravitate to a low plane, but can still be enlightened and gradually evolve to a higher plane with the help of more enlightened spirits or by means of prayer from those still incarnate.

(…)

In John 14:2, Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you.” Greek scholars tell us the Greek word translated to mansions originally meant a stopping place or a temporary abode. The usual orthodox Christian interpretation of that is that Jesus was referring only to Heaven. However, modern revelation suggests that Jesus was referring to the whole spectrum of the afterlife, from what is termed Hell on “up” through different realms or planes or spheres until we reach Heaven. This is somewhat consistent with the Buddhist view holding many states until reaching Nirvana or true Heaven and it is the primary lesson coming to us through Spiritualism. These states are also referred to as spheres, planes, realms, dimensions, and levels of vibration. They involve moving from darkness in the lower spheres to overwhelming brightness on the higher ones. The third sphere or plane, referred to by Spiritualists as “Summerland,” is said to be where the average decent soul finds him- or herself immediately after death. The conditions there are said to be much the same as on the earth plane.

Emanuel Swedenborg wrote that he discovered infinite diversity in “heaven” and “countless communities” during his clairvoyant explorations. Like Swedenborg, Edgar Cayce, the famous American “sleeping prophet” of the last century, also told of taking a tour of many realms during one of his out-of-body experiences. He described how he encountered a stream of light he knew he must follow. In the lower or darker realms he saw “forms” that were floundering or lost and seeking the light. As the light grew stronger and stronger, he arrived at a place where individuals appeared much as they do today. Some seemed content, while others were striving for greater knowledge and light.

As discussed in Chapter I, Dr. George T. Dexter, a New York physician, reluctantly became a medium and began receiving many profound messages from Swedenborg and Sir Francis Bacon. On May 22, 1853, Swedenborg communicated that the moral condition of the spirits of the lower spheres does not appear to differ materially from the moral condition of the unprogressive man in our world. “They may, it is true, have moments when their spirits yearn for the brighter spheres beyond their dark plane, when conscious of its birthright, the soul awakens to a sense of its own degradation, and realizes its true situation,” he wrote through Dexter’s hand, “but they live and act as unprogressive man does, daily performing their accustomed round of malicious action, and carrying out the designs of their blunted perceptions; and it is not till some event, out of the ordinary occurrences of life, arouses them completely and opens their understanding to the reception of truth, that they begin to progress. There is so little difference in the whole action of spirit-life from your life, except that one step forward has been made – I do not refer to the higher spheres, of course – that the correspondence is almost exact.”

Swedenborg went on to say that spirits in the lower spheres live as if they do not realize there is anything beyond their own misty dwelling places, and as if they are incapable of being impressed with good and true. On September 25, 1853, one of the circle sitters, a Mr. Warren, asked Bacon what impelled spirits in the lower and darker spheres to choose to go there and remain there indefinitely. “The reason is obvious,” Bacon replied. “The great law of like attracting like obtains throughout the whole of the spheres. When a departed spirit enters into the spheres, he is at once attracted where he finds congeniality of place and persons. They could not be happy in the bright spheres. They could find no enjoyment where there is either virtue or goodness. Thus their first efforts are to locate themselves where the acquired attributes of mind in all its workings may be gratified. Their bodies are gross and their minds still grosser.”

Bacon added that there is in this condition of both and mind a state which rejects magnetically all above and they are compelled to take a place appropriate for their moral advancement or lack thereof. He said that the law of affinity is manifest as much in the higher spheres as in the lower, and that no spirit can become bad all at once or good instantly, adding that the law of progression and retrogression is in full force in all spheres.

(…)

Hare began asking about their abodes, their modes of existence, their theological doctrines, and diversities of their situations. He was told that there are seven spheres, the terrestrial sphere occupied by humans being the first, while the second sphere is where depraved spirits find themselves until they can begin the process of purification that allows them to ascend to higher spheres. When spirits reach the seventh sphere, they are entitled to enter the supernal heaven. He was also informed that there are no visible boundaries between spheres, but spirits have a peculiar sense which makes them understand when they are passing from one sphere to another.

“The most favorable idea of heaven given in Scripture seems to be that which identifies it with Paradise,” Hare wrote. “In other words, a most beautiful garden. But who would conceive an eternal residence in one garden, however superlative its attractions, as desirable? The idea of the spheres assumes a succession of gardens, with every pleasure, every joy of which the human heart and intellect are capable; and beyond those gardens the whole universe is open to us, and an ultimate ministration as angels under our Heavenly Father.” Hare’s discarnate father further explained that the spirit goes to a sphere for which it is morally and intellectually adapted; thus, the first sphere above the terrestrial one, i.e., the second sphere, is the abode of “degraded” spirits, meaning not only evil spirits but “misdirected” ones as well. He pointed out that there are millions of such spirits in the second sphere, what religions call Hell, Hades, or Purgatory, who are groping and unable to free themselves from the fetters of earthly conditions. This sphere is said to be the abode of as many spirits as all the five spheres above it. Nevertheless, contrary to the teachings of many religions, the spirits on this sphere are not permanently confined there as “onward and upward” is the motto of the spirit world. Sooner or later, spirits from higher levels are able to reach them and help them see the light.

Because of the barriers spirits must overcome in communicating with the material world, the senior Hare warned his son to discern the messages and not take everything literally: “As there are no words in the human language in which spiritual ideas may be embodied so as to convey their literal and exact signification, we are obliged often to have recourse to the use of analogisms and metaphorical modes of expression. In our communion with you we have to comply with the peculiar structure and rules of your language; but the genius of our language is such that we can impart more ideas to each other in a single word than you can possibly convey in a hundred.”

Hare informed his son that the spheres revolve with the earth on a common axis around the sun, but they are not dependent on the sun for either light or heat. Rather, the spirit receives light and heat from his internal or spiritual correspondence. He said that they have no division of time. “Although we, like you, are constantly progressing toward perfection, our ideas of time and the seasons differ widely from yours; with you it is time – with us, eternity,” he continued. “In the terrestrial sphere, a man’s thoughts, being bounded by time and space, are limited; but with us they are extended in proportion as we get rid of those restrictions and our perceptions of truth become more accurate.”

Each sphere, the senior Hare said, is divided into six circles, or societies, in which congenial spirits are united and subsist together according to the law of affinity. While these spirits generally agree in moral and intellectual matters, there are individual differences and some disagreements. Spirits united by ties of consanguinity and marriage may or may not be linked together in the spheres and in the same society. It depends on the affinity between them, including the level of advancement. However, a spirit in a higher sphere can pass to a lower one to visit with loved ones. But a spirit can never ascend to the higher spheres until fully prepared for such a transition.

Each society has teachers from those above, as well as from higher spheres, whose duty it is to impart knowledge acquired from their instructions and experience. “Thus, by receiving and giving knowledge our moral and intellectual faculties are expanded to higher conceptions and more exalted views of the great Creator, whose almighty power is no less displayed in the constitution of spirit worlds, than in that of the countless resplendent orbs of space.”

But they do more than study. It was explained that they have many sources of intellectual, moral, and heartfelt enjoyment from which they derive ineffable pleasures, one of which is social reunions and convivial meetings – a coming together of friends, brothers, sisters, children, and parents, where the tenderest affections are excited and the fondest and most endearing reminiscences are awakened, where spirit meets in unison with spirit.

A spirit named Maria, the daughter of Professor Hare’s friend, communicated with her father through the mediumship of Mrs. M. B. Gourlay while Hare observed and recorded. She told her father that when she awakened in the spirit world she felt as if she were coming out of a deep sleep and that it was some time before she could collect her scattered senses. She recalled that the racking pains she had felt before giving up the ghost had all fled and she felt a newness of life. She saw indistinct and shadowy forms flitting before her and soon realized that they were her departed friends. Her first concern was for those grieving her death. As her vision became clearer, she perceived a group from which her brother William emerged to greet her. He accompanied her to the third sphere, but they had to pass through the second sphere. She described it as gloomy and uncomfortable, appearing like a vast desert without a green spot to relieve the eyes. She observed its denizens straggling here and there with no fixed objective in view. “All are seeking to minister to their perverted tastes. Some are holding forth in loud tones, and painting in false and gaudy colors the joy of their home,” Maria communicated. “Others, who occupied high stations on earth, hang their heads in confusion, and would fain hide themselves from view; but they are taunted with rude jests, and told that their ‘pride of position will avail them nothing here.’ One heart-sickening feature of this place is the absence of children. No purity can exist where such evils abound. ‘The loud laugh, which bespeaks the vacant mind’ is heard pealing forth in derision, as the teachers from the higher spheres approach the motley group.

Some, in whom the work of regeneration has commenced, are seen ascending the spiral stairway of progress which leads to the third sphere.”

On approaching the third sphere, Maria and William were met by a company of angels from the seventh sphere, among whom she recognized two brothers who had died in infancy and had since grown to the stature of men. She said that the law of affinity drew her toward them. They welcomed her and informed her that another link was added to the chain of love which bound them together. Maria informed her father that the beauty of the third sphere far transcends that of earth. She described the scenery as endlessly diversified with spiritual objects corresponding to things on the earth plane. “Mountains and valleys, hills and dales, rivers and lakes, and trees and plants lend their enchantment to the scene,” she related. “The inhabitants of this sphere are anxious for instruction. The teachers from the higher degrees are listened to with profound respect and attention.”

Maria witnessed a group enter a large temple, where a teacher was waiting to address them. She described the temple as immensely large and symmetrical in its proportions. The material appeared similar in appearance to alabaster but was transparent. The seats were semicircular forming an amphitheater. The speaker talked about the “light that is within you.”

But Maria’s new home was not in the third sphere. They were just passing through en route to her home in the fourth sphere, where she found still more beautiful landscapes, a greener green, and flowers more gorgeous in their hue. “All have an interior language which spirits alone can fully comprehend,” she continued….”Here, too, are sparkling streams, murmuring cascades and gushing fountains, and trees bending beneath their load of golden fruit; and here are temples devoted to the arts and sciences.”

Maria went on to describe a building devoted to the teachers from the seventh sphere with multitudes thronging in its portals. She observed a band of children carrying wreaths of flowers and singing after welcoming a child just escaped from the earth plane. And while she had never been to the fifth, sixth, or seventh spheres, she had been told about them. Each one was more magnificent than the sphere below it. The fifth sphere, she was informed, has lovely villas, beautiful temples, forest-crowned hills, and gently undulating plains. She said that she could not begin to describe the sixth and seventh spheres as her vocabulary was too limited to give a just conception of them. Among the residents of the seventh sphere, she had been informed, were Jesus of Nazareth, John the beloved, Confucius, Seneca, Plato, Socrates, and Solon.

Hare’s deceased sister, Martha, also communicated, telling him that the language of mortals is inadequate to convey even a tenth part of the joy that she experienced when liberated from the physical body. She recalled being dazzled by brilliant light emanated by the beings who surrounded her, as she passed from death to life, and welcomed her. Their father was the first to greet her. “Father watched my emotion with deep interest, and was delighted with the startling and happy effect produced on my mind,” she communicated. “We passed quickly through the different stages of our progress, till we arrived at the fifth spiritual sphere, which is my present home. I am often with my friends on earth, and would gladly influence them, and prove my identity to them, if they would render themselves receptive to my power…When we desire to be with our friends on earth, we have only to will it, and our desire is instantly gratified. We can visit the spheres below, but not those above us until we are prepared for admission into them by a gradual process of development.”

Martha reiterated much of what her brother had heard from their father and from Maria. She also mentioned that the second sphere, or first spiritual sphere, is the abode of those spirits whose desires are low and sensuous. They maintain interests in the things that attracted them on earth until their moral faculties become strengthened. Each individual in the spirit world, she explained, is judged and suffers according to the deeds done in the body.

But Martha was quick to inform her brother that she could not tell him everything about the spheres. “It is thought by many of our brothers in the flesh that we will impart to them all the knowledge that we possess respecting the mysteries of the spheres,” she further communicated, “but on this point let them be undeceived, for it is utterly impossible for them to comprehend all in their present rudimental state. Our chief objective is to assure them, by unmistakable signs, of the soul’s immortality, and the conditions necessary to be observed by them in order to obtain a happy future existence.”

Hare’s son, Theodore, who died in 1825, when he was only five months old, also communicated. He informed his father that he had no recollection of his earth-life, but that he had learned all about it as he developed in the spirit world. When Hare asked Theodore how he came to understand the material world, Theodore replied that he had frequently visited earth and had often accompanied his father in his daily walks and study and had continued to learn from him and his mother during his early years in spirit.

When Hare gave a talk to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, discussing his spirit research, some members of the organization called for his expulsion from the organization. However, this apparently resulted in Hare becoming even more entrenched in his belief and he went to his grave certain that there was something beyond death. “No evidence of any important truth in science” he offered, “can be shown to be more unexceptionable than that which I have received of this glorious fact that heaven is really ‘at hand,’ and that our relatives, friends, and acquaintances who are worthy of happiness while describing themselves as ineffably happy, are still progressing to higher felicity; and while hovering aloft in our midst, are taking interest in our welfare with an augmented zeal or affection, so that, by these means, they may be a solace to us, in despite of death.”

When Anglican priest William Stainton Moses, also a reluctant medium, asked the apparently advanced spirit known as Imperator about the spheres, Imperator explained that they are states, not places, as Moses understood them. The difference between spheres, he said, is based upon the moral, intellectual, and spiritual state of the inhabitants. Imperator went on to say that the progress of spirits is made through seven states, during which the spirit is laboring either to purge away the contracted impurities of earth or to gain further knowledge to prepare oneself for a life of contemplation. “The first three spheres are near about your earth,” Imperator communicated. “They are filled thus. The first with those who, from many causes, are attracted to earth. Such are they who have made little progress in the earth sphere; not the wholly bad, but the vacillating, aimless souls who have frittered away their opportunities and made no use of them. Those, again, whom the affections and affinity for pursuits of their friends restrain them from soaring, and who prefer to remain near the earth sphere, though they might progress. In addition, there are the imperfectly trained souls whose education is still young, and who are in course of elementary training; those who have been incarnated in imperfect bodies, and have to learn still what they should have learned on earth. Those, too, who have been prematurely withdrawn from earth, and from no fault of their own, have still to learn before they can progress.”

(…)

A Wesleyan minister, Charles Drayton Thomas was one of the lead investigators for the Society of Psychical Research (SPR) in the study of the mediumship of Gladys Osborne Leonard, with whom he had more than 500 sittings, beginning in 1917. He received many messages from his father, who had passed over in 1903, and from his sister. After initially focusing on the evidential, Thomas began asking his father about some aspects of the afterlife, including what he saw above him. The discarnate father described it as “atmosphere,” looking much like our sky but without clouds. To pass from one sphere to another, he said that there are channels or clearings, much like tunnels, which have been bored mentally. When Drayton asked his father about the governing forces involved in the various spheres or planes, his father answered: “When one is fitted only for a low plane, no amount of desire to be on a higher or more beautiful one would suffice to take one there. The habit of life on earth decides, and not any chance desire. If a man has qualified for a lower sphere, he will find himself there and he cannot get away from it. That is just and right, and it saves a vast amount of supervision. According as the soul moulds itself while in the body, so it decides the place to which it must go on leaving the body. Those who simply live in the physical senses find themselves exceedingly limited on leaving earth. We wish such people understood the facts, so that they might realize how fatally unwise and short-sighted is their manner of life.”

The senior Thomas, who said he was on the third sphere, explained that the lower the sphere, the more correspondence there is with places on earth. One can even find slums and other undesirable features of earth cities. As one advances to higher spheres, there is less and less resemblance to earth conditions. Although he had not been to those higher spheres, teachers from higher spheres had so informed him. Moreover, as one advances toward the seventh sphere, he will find more perfect operation of divine law or principle. He added that there are trees, grass, and flowers in his sphere as well as other forms which he could not describe because they were beyond his son’s conception and language.

Etta, Thomas’s sister, communicated that spirits on the lower spheres are unable to see or grasp the divine plan and those on earth are also unable to understand it. “If the whole plan were given to you at once, you would probably be dazzled, confused, weighed down by it,” Etta explained. “On those high spheres it is difficult for them to explain to me how they know things, because they can comprehend the whole, and although they are no longer in close touch with detail, yet detail is attended by them; for they do perfectly what they undertake.”

Etta likened it to asking an experienced pianist which notes his fingers are touching each moment. Since he sees the music more as a whole, he does not concern himself with which fingers are touching particular keys of the piano at a certain time. Thus, Etta explained, a beginning pianist might be better able to explain the elementary details and that is why most of the communication comes from the lower or intermediate spheres. “Looking very far ahead indeed, I know there is a great destiny which awaits us some day, somewhere, somehow,” the senior Thomas told his son. “We shall continue to be ourselves, but in a state higher than anything realized upon these spheres. I know that there is a world above and beyond our present one, but I do not seek to know too much until it is given to me.”

Alvin Mattson, a Lutheran minister who made his transition to the spirit world in 1970, is said to have communicated with his daughter, Ruth Mattson Taylor, through the British medium Margaret Flavell Tweddell. He, too, reported various planes of existence. “From this point we can progress to higher planes – to higher levels of consciousness,” Mattson is quoted. “By ‘higher’ planes I do not mean spatially higher but rather those planes which have a finer vibration.” Mattson went on to say that many of the religious denominations continue to practice the rites of their respective churches on the lower or intermediate planes, where he made his abode, but that he had been permitted to visit higher planes “where there is a unity of God-praise, not a segregation of the praise of God.”

A century earlier, Andrew Jackson Davis reported that many souls continue to subscribe to the same religious beliefs they held in the physical world. He referred to this sphere, or section of the sphere, as Altolissa. “Jews still believe in the doctrine of their fathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the Roman Catholics hold the same views they did before death; and there are other sects in Altolissa who think and believe in the same things and forms of faith they learned on earth,” he stated, adding that they are so far below the ‘higher planes’ that this is required in order to make them feel ‘at home.’ However, all eventually evolve toward a single understanding of spirit.

Almost without exception, we are told of progressive spheres, realms or planes by various communicators. It is often reported that there are seven basic planes, giving some credence to “Seventh Heaven” mythology, but many of the spirits communicating claim they do not know how many planes there are because they know only of the plane on which they live, those below, and perhaps, as with Mattson, those immediately above. Like Mattson and Thomas, many communicators have reported that they have been able to visit higher planes for a short period, but that the light there is too great for them and they are forced to return to their proper abode.

“These worlds above us are even richer in light and happiness,” Mike Swain communicated to his father, Jasper Swain, after Mike was killed in a head-on collision. “If I go up there, and I can, I find it too bright; the light hurts my eyes. And the vibrations are so refined that I can’t respond to them! So I reverse gear and return to this world – which suits me just fine.” Mike Swain went on to say that the planes below him are denser and dimmer. “If I go down to them, it becomes murkier and murkier until it is so creepy that I scoot back here where I belong.”

“It is like knowledge,” said Silver Birch, a spirit entity who spoke through the British trance medium Maurice Barbanell* for some 50 years, ending around 1980. “The more you have, the more you realize there is further knowledge to be gained. The sphere or plane on which you exist in our world contains individuals at the same state of spiritual development as you are. You can’t go spiritually higher until you are ready. You can go lower, as many of us do in order to perform missionary work among the unenlightened beings in the lower spheres. Progress consists of shedding imperfections and striving and growing toward perfection at all times.”

Reaching the highest sphere is sometimes referred to as “merging with the whole” or achieving “Oneness” with the Creator. This is not particularly appealing to some people as it suggests that we give up our individuality. Silver Birch said that such is not the case. “The ultimate is not the attainment of Nirvana,” he communicated. “All spiritual progress is toward increasing individuality. You do not become less of an individual. You become more of an individual. You develop latent gifts, you acquire greater knowledge, your character becomes stronger, more of the divine is exhibited through you…You do not lose yourself. What you succeed in doing is finding yourself.”

Philip Gilbert, a sailor killed during World War II, communicated extensively with his mother, Alice Gilbert, by means of automatic writing. “The more I learn and merge into my true self, the more difficult it is to express what I see and do,” he told her. “The only absolute certainty is that I, the central I, is unchanged and somewhat as you knew me, only more so. But my form dissolves and reforms itself at will now, for I can think myself into any semblance I please, to do my work.”

Frederic Myers communicated much the same message. “The merging with the Idea, with the Great Source of spirit, does not imply annihilation,” he said. “You still exist as an individual. You are as a wave in the sea; and you at last entered into Reality and cast from you all illusions of appearances. But some intangible essence has been added to your spirit through its long habitation of matter, of ether the ancestor of matter, of what the scientists call empty space, though, if they but knew it, empty space is peopled with forms of an infinite fineness and variety.”

Quoted from The Afterlife Revealed by Michael Tymn

You may have noticed that there are a few contradictions, such as the possibility of visiting higher spheres and the possibility of partners being separated. The idea of spheres comprising six parts also sounds improbable to me. A lot depends on the spirit communicator and on his/her understanding and point of view.

Based on my research, the third sphere, which is often referred to as Summerland, is the place where the average, decent soul goes upon transition and it is unspeakably beautiful. According to spiritualist literature, as well as numerous accounts of near-death experiences, Summerland is a kind of spiritualised Earth, where everything has life. Light doesn’t depend on the existence of a sun and inhabitants don’t need to sleep, except for when the arrive, if they have suffered a sudden death, or come from a long illness, etc. There, even flowers have the capacity to move us by what they communicate to us; the landscape and our surroundings are shaped into existence by the power of thought; even our earthly homes can be found there in larger, rejuvenated, more beautiful versions. Furthermore, the loved ones who have preceded us in the Afterlife prepare a ‘place’ for us in Summerland, where we can rest and acclimatise, and where they await our arrival—although it is important to remember that outside the physical plane, there is no linear sense of time.

Ernesto Bozzano’s study of 30 cases of physical death reveals that the spiritual dimension is shaped by the power of thought of ‘hordes of spirits who are specialised in this matter’. Individual discarnate entities, on the other hand, can effortlessly create anything they need with their thoughts, be it a spiritualised and rejuvenated version of their earthly home, everyday objects, their surroundings or their own ‘physical’ appearance, which usually corresponds to what they looked like in their best years. They can also recreate festivities, birthdays or anniversaries shared by inhabitants of both the physical and spiritual worlds in unexpected ways.

I find that the important thing to grasp is the concept that the physical dimension is merely an emanation of the spiritual dimension and, as such, the spiritual dimension is both the basis of the physical dimension and overlies it, since, in many respects, it is the very essence of the physical. The two continuously interact and intertwine, forming a single unit. All it takes is a little practice to be able to shift our attention from one dimension to the other.

[DTR1975]

Thank you Giulia. That is really fascinating. I had no idea that all this information was out there.

[DTR1975]

So do most people upon their deaths go to the 2nd Sphere(The bad place) or do most go to one of the higher spheres? I'm still confused as to how once in the second sphere, they get out. Is it a set time period that they have to spend there or do they have to do something to get out?

[Giulia]

So do most people upon their deaths go to the 2nd Sphere(The bad place) or do most go to one of the higher spheres? I'm still confused as to how once in the second sphere, they get out. Is it a set time period that they have to spend there or do they have to do something to get out?

Hello, Derek.

The source I quoted says that the Temporary Hellish Sphere has a great number of temporary inhabitants, but it also says that the average decent soul goes to Summerland, the third sphere.

For instance I am sure the various people I have met during my astral travels were in Summerland, which is also where I expect we will go. We have an interest in spiritual matters, we are not superficially experiencing everyday life.

As to the Temporary Hellish Sphere, based on my understanding, linear time as we know it does not exist in Spirit. For instance the hellish NDE of a former Nazi Officer described by Dr. John Lerma in his book “Into the Light” appeared to him to last hundreds of years, whereas the NDE took place during a 48-hour period of coma. The former Nazi officer, called William, is quite an extreme case, as he was a criminal who had escorted hundreds if not thousands of Jews to death. He later became a philanthropist trying to atone for his criminal deeds, but his sense of guilt was always there. During the hundreds of years he spent in hell during his NDE he received constant invitations by a light being to leave that place, but he was too ashamed to accept the invitation. Once he decided at last that he could leave that hellish place, the light being offered him a choice to either be forgiven immediately or experience all his criminal deeds through the eyes and feelings of his victims. He chose the latter. So he got out of his temporary hell eventually, but his sense of guilt appears to have played a key role in extending his hellish experience including his horrible life review.

Now, an average person would never have such a horrible experience. However, it is important to be aware that even the worst people receive spiritual guidance and constant opportunities to get out of a hellish environment, as well as a choice about how to get out.

[DTR1975]

So what determines whether the person goes to the Hell sphere vs. Summerland? Is it based on the persons own sense of guilt or on an external determination? What happens to the recently deceased sociopath who committed unspeakable evils, but has no sense of guilt over it?

[DTR1975]

I am currently reading a book called the Afterlife Unveiled by Stafford Betty. It is available on Amazon. It is purported that the accounts within were communicated by deceased spirits to mediums. These accounts paint a picture of life in the spirit realm where the deceased go to after life. It presents a model universe similar to the Sphere Model, in which the deceased may reside in anyone of seven different realms. One of these realms is a quasi-hellish realm which the wicked and evil naturally gravitate towards. These accounts address the logistics, demographic layout, geography, culture of the various realms.

[DTR1975]

This book The Afterlife Unveiled is fascinating! It even answered one of my questions about pets!
Pg 96-97
"But it’s not only the greats of the world that AD encounters in the afterlife. At the other end of the spectrum, he finds house pets: … all the dogs that we’ve had in our family I can find here – all of them. They are still individualized. However, the dogs that I knew as a boy are no longer here. When I asked why, I was told that they have gone back to the group soul and have added their quota of affection, love, and devotion, to be used again when other dogs come to earth. House pets retain their individuality as long as they are remembered and loved."

[DTR1975]

The Afterlife unveiled was an amazing book and I look forward to reading others like it.

[Giulia]

So what determines whether the person goes to the Hell sphere vs. Summerland? Is it based on the persons own sense of guilt or on an external determination? What happens to the recently deceased sociopath who committed unspeakable evils, but has no sense of guilt over it?

Hello, Derek.

I don’t honestly have a detailed answer to your question. However, I would rule out external determination. NDErs usually say that they are not judged by God, or by the Light, or by the Higher Spirit Being they meet: they are only assisted and supported while they draw their own conclusions from their life review, which they experience from the point of view of all the people involved.

I am not sure which sociopath you are referring to. However my feeling in general is that, if our deeds are the result of mental illness, they are not our responsibility.

As to the bad/hell-like sphere, I understand that its temporary inhabitants are not only evil people, but also people who deep in their hearts are thoughtless, without compassion, exclusively interested in superficial materialistic matters. Based on mediumistic reports, all of them receive guidance and eventually progress.