Spiritual plane

“ The soul evolves from that state to the next—the earth with its plant and animal life. Then follows the third stage—the human; then the fourth stage—the celestial. The word “celestial” is here held to mean life in other worlds than our own. All these graduations are combinations of matter and soul on different scales. The spiritual plane is that in which the soul is entirely freed from the bonds of matter. ”

“ As our ordinary senses and faculties proved insufficient to accomplish such ends, supernatural powers were appealed to, a transcendental sphere of spiritual activity was cultivated, capable of perceiving, through the hidden symbolism of apparent phenomena, the underlying relations of cosmic structure and final purposes. Long periods of training and devotion, seclusion from the world, contemplation of inner mysteries, were to lead the initiate through the various stages of adeptship up to the final plane of communion with the infinite and the comprehension of truth in all things. ”

“ Already, even in the present chaos of scientific and religious opinion, indications can be seen by the observant, that the Divine Spirit of order is breathing on the mass, and will evolve from it new and beautiful worlds of mental and spiritual existence. ”

“ Now He has opened to our consciousness and our enjoyment the internal or spiritual mind—that degree or faculty which can grasp and enjoy spiritual ideas. And he has also rendered clear to us the distinction between natural views of things and spiritual; that is, between life and truth as the natural mind views them and the same as seen by the spiritual mind. This is the second step. Here, in the firmament above, in the spiritual man, is where we build our heaven. Earth in itself, earthly thought and earthly love, is no heaven. ”

“ Hitherto, because of the positiveness and materialism of your religious beliefs, so dense has been the aural atmosphere about you, that light from Ento's and other Spirit Worlds has not penetrated your Spiritual consciousness. ”

“ But to enter the spiritual is not simply to provide those essentials through which we may realize the ideal in the physical and the mental; to enter the spiritual is to enter another and a greater world—the transcendent kingdom of the soul—the sublime world of cosmic consciousness. ”

“ So, the rich experiences of the religious consciousness seem to be resumed in these three outstanding types of spiritual awareness. The cosmic, ontological, or transcendent; finding God as the infinite Reality outside and beyond us. The personal, finding Him as the living and responsive object of our love, in immediate touch with us. The dynamic, finding Him as the power that dwells within or energizes us. These are not exclusive but complementary apprehensions, giving objectives to intellect feeling and will. ”

“ As a draught diffuses itself through all the members and veins of the body, so this communication of God diffuses itself substantially in the whole soul, or rather, the soul is transformed in God. In this transformation the soul drinks of God in its very substance and its spiritual powers. In the understanding it drinks wisdom and knowledge, in the will the sweetest love, in the memory refreshment and delight in the thought and sense of its bliss. ”

“ But when I go to the Spiritual world, I go with this divine consciousness, this constant, unchanging consciousness within, but not as a principle which belongs to me, which is individualized within me. ”

“ But when we shall stand, in all the nakedness of pure, unfettered spirit, within the confines of the spirit land, and gaze with all the clearness of unveiled spiritual vision upon the wonderful mechanism of the universe and of the spirit world; when we see—as we shall see—laws and principles, and even abstract truths, as plainly as we now look upon the material objects around us ”

“ Through {177} this eternal process of self-differentiation and outgoing activity, the inner spiritual universe comes into being—as an intermediate Nature or world, between the ineffable Abyss of God on the one hand, and our world of material, visible things on the other hand. ”

“ In the scale of being there is every plane of unfolding, from the unconscious to the divine consciousness; that is, there is every sphere of divine action and manifestation, from the monad to the highest angel, and consequently there are many degrees of love as the true impulse to action. It has its sphere in the plane of physical need, in the plane of intellectual and moral need, and in the plane of religious need ”

“ Is there really a spiritual world, inhabited by spirits who are not mere phantoms, but real, substantial, human beings, with spiritual bodies in human form? If so, where is it, and of what concern is it to us? ”

“ In the sacred books there is a profounder life than there is in secular literature where there is vision indeed, but in the sacred books there is the being. The mind in retrospect, meditation and aspiration needs guidance; and this spiritual architecture of Earth-world, with Mid-world, Heaven-world and God-world rising above it, made my own vision so far as it went intelligible to me, for my disconnected glimpses of supernature seemed to find a place in that architecture of the heavens. ”

“ During the first stages of spiritual illumination the mind feels the nearness of a higher world, and here is the soul's opportunity to take many steps towards the heights. Whenever these sublime moments appear, enter the stillness of the spirit, and place body, mind and thought in touch with the soul's eternal calm. Then when in the peace that passeth understanding, open the eyes of the spirit, and in faith, desire to meet Him face to face. ”

“ The real world, according to thinkers of this school, is created by the thought and will of God, and exists in His mind. It is therefore spiritual, and above space and time, which are only the forms under which reality is set out as a process. ”

“ Into his spiritual sight will come the Principles of the divine Life, and as he approaches them, their incomparable beauty and majestic symmetry will astonish his vision, and gladden his heart with a gladness hitherto unknown. ”

“ As the descending stages of reality are three, so the stages of the ascent are three. They are called in the Enneads purification, the work of reason, which marks the transference of interest from sense to soul; enlightenment—the work of spiritual intuition—which lifts life into communion with the eternal world of spirit; and ecstasy, that profound transfiguration of consciousness whereby the “spirit in love” achieves union with the One. ”

“ Humbly as fervently we join grateful issue with the science of being that forever separates Adam, error, from the record and presence of Truth, and breathes through the understanding the spiritual sense of Life, substance, and intelligence as Spirit, not matter. Through the atmosphere of Soul we discern man as the image and likeness of God, who has never lost his spiritual estate or eternal harmony. ”

“ From the analogies of nature, therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that souls also have their encompassing spheres; and that these must be spiritual, and of the same quality in every case as the souls whence they emanate. ”

“ But from this vision which the spirit had, it passed to climb to still greater heights—it was spiritual, it might attain divinity. The change from the original transcendental state of vision to that other state of being, of all-pervading consciousness, could only be accomplished by what is known as the descent into matter where spirit identifies itself with every form of life, and assimilates their essences. ”

“ And these divisions or compartments are quite distinct. By the latter, the natural mind, man looks downward and outward to the world of nature: by the former, the spiritual mind, man is able to look inward and upward to heaven and to God. ”

“ When we turn to the definition of "soul," we find it given as "the spiritual and immortal substance in man, which distinguishes him from brutes; that part of man which enables him to think and reason, and which renders him a subject of moral government." We also have it defined as "the understanding, the intellectual principle." Undoubtedly these definitions involve certain assumptions, such as the existence of a substance called spirit, and the existence of an intellectual principle, of which "soul," "spirit," and "intellect" are mere names. ”

“ All exalted lives (spiritually) moving and living in similar planes of thought—born of their spiritual states—are attracted to each other in spirit life for the interchange of perceptions of Truth and bearing forward the work of illuminating such minds on Earth as are ready to receive along the lines of human progress and unfoldment, imparting “the things they are ready to know.” ”

“ Here, then, is a universe created by the Lord as a Man; a universe that is two-fold, spiritual and natural, the spiritual within the natural and connected with it, as the soul is within and connected with the body; and it is continually sustained and conserved by Him, flowing in with His life from its first, highest and inmost beginnings through the spiritual world as a soul, into the natural world as a body. ”

“ And indeed—and this is the point which specially concerns religion—the soul cannot attain to its fullest possible spiritual development, without the vigorous specific action and differentiation of forces and functions of a not directly religious character, which will have to energize, each according to its own intrinsic nature, within the ever ampler, and ever more closely-knit, organization of the complete life of the soul. ”

“ The governments upon the earth, as well as in heaven, have their basis in man. Man is but the footings-up of all past ages; and the Spiritual worlds have their foundation in him. Therefore, when you and I wish to study the Spirit-spheres, to know what constitutes a sphere and degree, we are not obliged to go out of ourselves and look into space ten, fifteen, or a thousand miles away. That is not the way to study the Spirit-world. The way is to go within and study the spheres of Spiritual being and affection. ”

“ Such do not think more of the life to come than they do of the present life. When the breath leaves the body, your life has not become extinct; your life is still in existence. And when you are in the spirit world. everything there will appear as natural as things now do. Spirits will be familiar with spirits in the spirit world—will converse, behold, and exercise every variety of communication one with another as familiarly and naturally as while here in tabernacles. ”

“ In a word, if we were called upon to name the most important agent in the material world, our thoughts would turn at once to the sun. Now, in the spiritual world, including both the church of God and the individual spirit of man, what is that which produces the same effects as the natural sun does in the system of matter? What is the source of love and wisdom, spiritual heat and spiritual light?—What is it that produces in the mind those fruits of righteousness which are the characteristics of true religion? ”

“ Then the mind is withdrawn from the ordinary influences of the world around, and lives, as it were, in a world of its own. Hence the adaptability of the dream state to spiritual communication and inspiration, as referred to so often in the scriptures. In examining, thus, a few particulars in which the bodily organization is acted upon by its spiritual inhabitant, we find abundant proof of the independent nature of the soul, as taught in holy writ. ”

“ These spirits also “mould and shape everything bodily from one form into the other, and gradually bring all created things to the state of their highest possible perfection, and communicate their powers to all substances, beings, and things. By the movement and guidance of these spiritual beings, the different elements and natural compositions are influenced in such a way that the tenderest plant may pierce the hardest cliff. He who guides this world is called the first spirit. These gods know our most secret thoughts, and all our future is open to them. ”

“ So there are likewise certain constant and general facts which occur in what may be called the spiritual world, the world of internal consciousness. They represent the laws of spirit—that is of the human spirit—in virtue of which things are designed to take place so and not otherwise. ”

“ The spiritual idea is clad with the radiance of spiritual Truth, and matter is put under her feet. The light portrayed is really neither solar nor lunar, but spiritual Life, which is “the light of men.” ”

“ Spirits, while yet in the physical body, in a sense earn their homes, or places, they must occupy on our side of life, and also in a sense they have a choice as to the place of their abode, but the choice must be made while on the physical plane. As you have learned, spirits are entities, individualized personalities, requiring homes, associations and pursuits. According as life on the physical plane has been elevated, pure, loving, true, or the reverse, so are spirit homes and pursuits beautiful and supremely enjoyable, or lamentably wretched. ”

“ What incomprehensible principles, to move at large in quest of universal truths as seen in the seven types of Heaven's spiritual intelligences, and in the unending manifestations of God's work and love as displayed in all heaven and in all the peopled planets of space!
Not one of these blessed inhabitants ever grows old or suffers fatigue. They are capable of moving with tireless energy from one part of Heaven's vast domains to any other portion. ”

“ That is to say, our reason and understanding are advanced to that stage wherein we perceive all things of life spiritually, or see its spiritual meaning in its every phase; and our affections are advanced to that stage where they are placed upon the Lord and spiritual things. True, life in the world compels them to go forth to natural things ”

“ He finds this principle, as we have seen, in the Word of God, which is a divine reality, an eternal and self-existent activity, opening upward into all the resources of God, and at the same time forming the fundamental nature and ground-structure of the soul. ”