“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had, and bought that field.” (Bible, Matthew 13:44, New International Version)

The following passages have been taken from James Van Praagh (1999) Reaching to Heaven: A spiritual Journey Through Life and Death, Harmondsworth: Dutton pp.46-65

The Spiritual Realms

“As Wordsworth so beautifully expresses, we are on an endless journey between [earth] and heaven. As with any journey on which we embark, there is always the anticipation of having an exciting adventure. Wouldn’t it be nice to look upon our life’s last journey as nothing short of the same? The truth is that we have taken the journey many times before and will take it many times again.

“When an individual leaves the physical world, she leaves behind a heavy, dense body that has inhabited an equally dense, heavy world. Such a transition can be compared to removing a winter overcoat, or a snake sloughing off its outer skin. In essence, we do the same. When we die, we are finished using our human form, and so we let it go. Nothing is lost except the physical body. The complete soul self remains intact; the astral, mental and physical bodies are still alive and well. Even our personality, with all its feelings, likes, dislikes, emotions, and desires, stays the same.

Entering a New World

“No matter how spiritually evolved a person has become, he begins a new existence in what is known as the astral world. In many ways the astral world is as solid and as real as the physical earth – a kind of etheric counterpart to the earth. This invisible (to our physical eyes) interpenetrates and extends around the earth and is made of etheric energy that vibrates at frequencies beyond the physical spectrum. The astral world is composed of a number of levels, and each level corresponds to a particular etheric frequency.

“The level of the astral world that is closest to the physical earth can be described as a type of reception area. This region is significant to newly arriving souls for two very important reasons. First, it provides an environment that duplicates the earth in every way possible. As a multi-dimensional existence it possesses houses, buildings, universities, concert halls, gardens, lakes, and everything that is recognizable to our material minds. This eases the shock of passing out of a solid, physical world. Second, it is a place that allows a spirit to become accustomed to the afterlife slowly. In the astral world, a spirit begins to live a more rarified, spiritual existence and must eventually cast off its past earthly memory patterns, behaviours, and desires.

“A newly arriving spirit will gravitate to the particular level of the astral world that corresponds to the frequency of its astral body’s vibration. It will enter encased in a very real and tangible astral body, and will be as real there as it was here.

The Astral World

“The world Molly’s mother described (in a previous section) is sometimes referred to as The Summerland. This astral world is in many ways as solid as the physical earth, although its energy is light and ethereal. When an individual soul makes the transition to the astral level of existence, it enters with its astral body. Like the etheric body that is shed at the time of death, the astral body is an exact copy of the physical body, complete with arms, legs, fingers, toes, etc. However, it does not contain any illness or infirmity. For instance, anyone who is blind or deaf, or in a wheelchair, or has a terrible illness that leaves the body in a deteriorated condition, will not bring these disabilities into the spiritual realms. No matter if an arm or leg is lost in an explosion, or a body is totally annihilated by disaster or war, a spirit arrives in perfect form. These afflictions are purely the effects of a physical body in a physical world. They are not the conditions of the spirit world or the spirit body.

The spirit body is whole and perfect and can never by destroyed or harmed!

“Although our spirit bodies arrive in perfect condition, our personalites, composed of accumulated memories, prejudices, yearnings, and sensibilities, do not change. In fact, our entire mental and emotional outlook remains completely unaltered. Everything we have ever experienced in the physical world is inscribed in our soul pattern. It is ironic, in a way. On earth we spend so much time making sure our bodies look good and spend so little time on things that matter, such as improving our relationships or being true to ourselves. After we die, all the effort we put into taking care of our bodies won’t matter because they will look great anyway. However, we will still be stuck with all the same problems and uncertainties that we thought would vanish with death.

“A newly arrived soul finds itself on a spiritual level that is made up of the accumulation of character traits and various earthly experiences that it had created before death. In other words, a soul gravitates to a state of existence that contains its interests. Souls with matching interests join together on a similar spiritual level.

Earthly Illusions

“One of the first illuminations that touches spirits upon entering the astral world is an absence of time.

There is no time in the spirit world.

“However, since a spirit has so recently passed from a world of clocks and calendars, the memory of time has a strong hold in its thought processes, and its natural inclination is to wonder what day it is. A spirit might think it has been out of the physical body for just a few moments when in actual earth time it has been gone for three days.

“Realizing this discrepancy confirms to a spirit that it is no longer bound by the limitations of the physical world. In the spirit regions time is not measured by the position of the sun and stars but by involvement in experience. A spirit literally has all the time it needs; it is more concerned with what it wants to do rather than the time it takes to do it.

“Equally confusing to arriving spirits is the fact that in the physical world physical laws and boundaries, such as gravity and sound and speed, no longer apply. Spirits find out very quickly that they are not limited by a fixed world. In the fourth [spatial] dimension and beyond, spirits are able to be in several places at the same time, and the mode of transportation is thought. Spirits have no need to speak because they can read each other’s thoughts. As I have said before, all situations are created by our thoughts even in the life beyond.

“Family members on earth assume that their deceased loved ones on the other side are privy to the entire plan of creation, and they expect all of heaven’s secrets to be revealed. Often I am asked, “Why can’t a spirit tell me the answers?” Or, “If she loves me, she would certainly help me out.” The truth is that spirits love us enough not to give us the answers. They know that for a loved one to grow and advance, he must go through experiences without any sort of psychic hints. Spirits will not hinder our spiritual growth by telling us answers that rob us of the need to understand certain situations. We must live through our experiences in order to gain wisdom and fly higher.

“While a newly arrived spirit does possess a keener awareness or an expansion of consciousness, its knowledge is limited to the spiritual level at which it finds itself. And as its consciousness expands, the most significant insight a spirit will gain is a broader realization of the harmonic oneness to everything. A spirit realizes that it is united by a common denominator to every other expression of life. The ingredient that makes all things possible is the unyielding and never-ending element of love.

A Time to Reflect

“Along with this perception of unity, a spirit becomes cognizant of its entire soul composition. It knows clearly the complete history of all of its lifetimes of experiences. There is a point when a spirit begins to judge and examine every experience, moment and instant of its recently departed life. It probes every thought, feeling and action taken, and views what has been a contribution to its soul’s growth and what has been an impairment. In other words, it does a comparison report. It measures how well it has fulfilled the original soul plan.

“In this re-evaluation process a soul might realize that in order to gain the most wisdom from a certain experience, it might need to repeat a similar situation in a future existence on earth. This initiates what is referred to as the karmic process, i.e., a carryover of an experience from one life to another in order to gain spiritual awareness. This process is not meant as punishment for doing something “wrong.” It is merely a spiritual evaluation of the experience. If a soul believes it can redo the experience in a better way, it will return to do it over. A spiritual being recognizes its immortality; it knows that it is responsible for all conditions it has caused in the past and all those it will create in the future.

The World You Create

“There is a view that heaven is filled with winged angels playing harps and floating on clouds. This is purely a myth. A spirit’s home in the spirit realms is a precise reflection of its life achievements and/or transgressions while on earth. After it has adapted to its new world, it is quite common for a newly arrived soul to be greeted by a spirit teacher and taken on a tour, so to speak, to witness the various levels and expressions of spiritual life. This excursion demonstrates how far a spirit has risen in soul consciousness as well as how it can attain a higher level of spiritual growth. There are as many levels of spiritual regions as there are mind-sets. So many times I tell people in my lectures, “You are responsible for creating your own heaven or your hell based on your thoughts, words, and deeds.” The environment is within each person. Ordinary people who attempt to live a decent life by respecting one another and demonstrating love whenever they can have no need to worry about their afterlife existence. They will gravitate to a wonderful level of unlimited peace, joy, and love. Based on the multitude of readings I have done, let’s look at what the average good-hearted person’s environment might look like after she passes into spirit.

“As you begin to look around, the first thing you would observe is incredible beauty. You would discover radiant, manicured gardens as far as the eye can see with each flower bursting forth in brilliant color. The vivid colors in the spirit world are beyond our natural, earthly spectrum. Everything in this environment is literally ‘lit up’ and crystal clear. The light of the realm does not originate from any sun or star; it is known as the Astral Light. This illumination causes the colors to change in order to complement a particular type of environment. Because all things are harmoniously connected, you might think of this glowing effervescence as a reflection of the light that shines within each spirit.

“The next thing you would notice is the scent. The rarified atmosphere together with the sweet, flowered perfume of each bloom creates an angelic aroma. So often the spirits have said that they instantly possessed a heightened sensitivity to the exquisitely sweet smell of their environment. The unyielding scent and beauty of this heavenly expanse is beyond words to describe. It is a perfect world filled with rolling emerald meadows and magnificent forests. These bountiful trees need no pruning or care; there are no falling leaves. Everything is so alive and in harmony with every other part. This bit of heaven is a place where nothing is out of order, where everything is in accord.

“Besides the beauty, there exist schools of knowledge housed in extraordinary buildings created with materials unfamiliar to our earthly minds. In fact, the buildings appear to have a translucent, opalescent quality. Perhaps that is where the term pearly gates derived.

“Every type of education and instruction can be found in these great buildings – art, music, languages, philosophy, the sciences, or theatrical arts. Each hall of learning has its own thought atmosphere. This thought ambience is created from the feelings of the people enjoying their interests, and the love of the architect who used his expertise to design the building. Everyone shares in the intent of the building and the vision of the one who created it.

The Dark Land

“Although it would be impossible to describe in detail all the levels that exist in the astral world, suffice it to say, there are some less exalted ones. In order to give you an overall view, I think it would be beneficial to describe one extreme condition of the astral level that has been called hell. This lower astral region is not a place of beauty and sweetness. Rather, it is a condition brought into existence by the thoughts, words and actions of those who have produced pain and suffering on earth. All of us will reap what we have sowed. No one is exempt. So a spirit that has lived an earthly life of injustice, cruelty and hate might find itself here.

“This lower region vibrates at a much slower rate than the upper regions. Here the light is dim and fades almost to a faint darkness. The atmosphere in this region resembles a scene right out of a Dickens novel. A pungent and unpleasant odour pervades it. Shadowy figures squirm from place to place in what seems to be an endless dance of restlessness. There is no safe refuge for a tormented soul when it is trying to flee from its own baseness. The astral body of a spirit in the lower regions is not the same as in the heavenly spheres. Sometimes it is misshapen or missing parts and appears to be destroyed or miserable. The dwellings on this level are not made of marble and stone but stacks of rotting wood.

“Spirits in such a dark realm harbor mental attitudes of hate, malice and the need for control over others; they are ruled by the lowest elements of the physical world. The inhabitants can be murders, rapists, thieves, swindlers, cheaters, assassins, or anyone who has harmed another human being. We often think of these types of people as lost souls, and in a way they are, for they wander aimlessly and prey on one another. A soul remains in this darkened hole until all of its lowest desires are lived out. Only when it comes into spiritual awareness can it move to the upper portions of the astral plane. When such a depraved soul has the slightest inkling of wrongdoing, a spirit guide immediately appears to help it. No one is ever really lost because the God Force energy is within each soul.

“There are many other caliginous places where spirits reside. They may not be as physically repellent as the one I have just describe; nevertheless they are bleak. Like hell, these dwellings are molded out of negative mental attitudes and the darkness of spiritual ignorance.

The Evolving Spirit

“The astral world is like an intermediary step in a spirit’s progression, a place where all the basic and lower emotional needs are lived out in their totality. As a spirit continues its journey, sooner or later it will become disenchanted with earthly dreams and longings and will begin to awaken to a higher aspect of its consciousness. When a soul is ready to lift higher, there will be a complete sloughing off of the old earthly memories and patterns of thinking.

The Higher Life

“This releasing of the earthly patterns and lower elements of the emotional body refines and lightens a personality. As these old remnants are left behind to disintegrate in the lower astral regions, a spirit goes through another death of a sort. Hinduism and spiritualism actually call this a second death, when the lower bodies of an individual’s spirit are cast off. This death enables a soul to advance to a higher spiritual sphere and become a more enlightened being. A spirit moves into the true Heaven world.

“This ‘Heaven’ is not a different ‘place,’ for there are no physical borders in the spiritual world. The ‘geography’ is not delineated as it is on earth. Instead, there are different vibratory rates, and more evolved spirits gravitate to higher etheric frequencies. The higher the frequency, the brighter and purer the light of the land. When I say ‘land,’ I am actually referring to a state of consciousness. When spirits reach this higher frequency, they resonate with and reflect the glory of the divine harmonic essence (God).”