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I desire to write you a short time to inform you of certain truths which you should know pertaining to the spirit life, and to what mortals who lead the lives of good and pure men may expect and be assured of realizing.
I am in the Celestial Spheres, but I shall not speak of these spheres, but only of the spiritual spheres, where men after they become disembodied spirits may live and experience a happiness which they on earth have no conception of.
When a spirit first enters the spirit world it receives a welcome from some one or more spirits whose duties are to receive such spirit, and to show the place where it is suited to live or exist.
Such spirit is then permitted to meet its friends and relatives and to commune with them for a short or long time and receive whatever consolation such friends or relatives may be able to give it; and in many cases the gladness and happiness of these spirit friends cause the spirit to believe that it is in heaven, or at least, in a place of great happiness.
But after this first interview, the spirit must, by reason of the law of attraction, go to the place where its condition of soul or its condition of moral growth or intellectual development fits it for, and there remain until such condition is made better and enables it to rise to a higher place.
No spirit, after it once gets into the place that is suited for it to live in, ever retrogrades, although it may stand still for a long number of years, and never make any progress. But this is a truth not known to a great many mortals, and spirits also, that the condition of the mortal at the time he becomes a spirit fixes his condition and place of living when he first enters the spirit world, after he is put in such place by the law of attraction as I have said, and when once that place is found and occupied, the spirit never goes to a lower place; but either will stay in that place for a long time, or will progress--and ultimately will in all cases progress.
Well, the evil spirits find these places of habitation in the earth planes, which are many, and of varied kinds, having many different appearances, suited to the conditions of the spirits who will occupy them.
A spirit who is in the lowest of these earth planes is said to be in the lowest hells, as all spirits who are in these planes where they suffer and encounter darkness believe and say they are in hell. But this is merely a name used for convenience, for the hells are merely places forming a part of the one great universe of God.
These hells, as you may imagine, are very numerous, for the conditions of spirits are very varied, and each spirit has a place in which to live fitted to its condition.
As the spirit becomes freed from some of these conditions, which as to them causes the law of attraction to work, he progresses to a higher and better place, and finds that his surroundings are not so dark and painful. And as this progression continues, such spirit will ultimately find himself in the planes of light and comparative happiness, where the evil recollections have to a large extent left him, and the good deeds which he did on earth then come to him and cause a happiness that makes him realize that he was not all bad, and that God has been good to him in relieving him from the sins and evil thoughts which bound him to the place from which he has progressed.
But after all this, he has not gotten into any of the spheres which are above the earth planes, and he may have to remain therein for a great many years before he enters the second sphere which is next in gradation to the earth plane. This latter plane is the most populous of all the spheres, for it has spirits coming to it in great numbers--in greater numbers than are progressing from it to higher spheres, and hence it has a greater variety of sub-planes than has any of the higher spheres, and is filled *with a greater variety and kind of spirits than are any of these higher spheres.
When a spirit has remained in the earth planes a sufficient length of time to put him in condition to go to the next higher sphere, he makes his progress, and is never prevented from doing so. I do not mean to say that the spirit is compelled to remain in the earth planes any particular number of years before progressing, for this is not true; on the contrary the number of years that he remains there is determined by his condition of progress, so that some spirits may go through these planes in less than a year and others may remain there many years.
In the second sphere, appearances are brighter and many opportunities are afforded the spirit to seek for and obtain happiness that he did not have before, and many spirits find great happiness in pursuing their intellectual studies and things of this kind, and in obtaining a knowledge of the laws of the spirit world governing what you might call the material nature of this world and also of the earth world.
This sphere is not so well suited for the growth of the soul faculties, and those spirits whose desires and aspirations are for the development of their soul qualities do not stay in this world or sphere very long, for they do not find that the necessary provisions for such development exists, and as a consequence, they progress to the third sphere, where they find wonderful opportunities and surroundings, which enables them to progress in these matters of the soul.
Well I see that you are tired, and I will postpone any further writing on these matters to another time.
- So Good-night--JOHN B. COMEYS.
