28. Death, Dying and Awakening in the Beyond

The Third Testament 
VII.  The evolutionary Road to Perfection
Chapter 28 -Death, Dying and Awakening in the Beyond
The Immortality of the Spirit

1 This is the time when people awaken to the beauties of the spirit, when they are interested in the eternal and ask themselves: "What will be the life that awaits us after death?

2 Who has not already asked himself - however unbelieving he may be - whether there is not something in him that survives the body matter? Verily, I tell you, there is no one who does not suspect that mystery and who has not for a moment pondered the unfathomable.

3 Some ask questions about the mystery of the spiritual life, which seems to be far away, yet in reality is right before your eyes; others are confused by it, and still others deny it. Some speak because they think they know everything, others are silent and wait; but how few are those who really know something of the hereafter. (107, 1)

4 In the third time I rose from the grave of forgetfulness, into which mankind has expelled me, to raise them to new life; for I am life. No one can die. Even he who robs himself of existence with his own hand will hear that his conscience accuses him of his lack of faith. (52, 63)

5 My teaching is not only to give you strength and confidence during your life on earth; it is to teach you how to leave this world, cross the thresholds of the hereafter and enter the eternal home.

6 All denominations strengthen the spirit in its journey through this world; but how little they reveal to it and prepare it for the great journey into the hereafter. This is the reason why many regard death as an end, not knowing that from then on one sees the infinite horizon of true life. (261,52 - 53)

7 Death" is only a symbol; "death" exists only for those who are not yet able to recognize the truth. For them "death" continues to be a horror picture, behind which is the incomprehensible or the nothingness. To you I say: open your eyes and understand that you too will not die. You will separate from the body, but this does not mean that you will die. You have, like your Master, eternal life. (213, 5)

Preparation for the parting from this world

8 You must understand that you, endowed with spirit, are the most beloved work of the Father in creation, because He has placed in you spiritual essence, spiritual attributes, and immortality.

9 There is no death for the Spirit - a death as you understand it, that is, the cessation of existence. The death of the body cannot be death or the end for the spirit. It is precisely then that it opens its eyes to a higher life, while its body shell closes them forever in relation to the world. It is only a moment of transition on the path that leads to perfection.

10 If you have not yet understood it this way, it is because you still love this world very much and feel closely bound to it. It oppresses you to leave this home because you consider yourselves the owners of what you possess in it; and some also have an indefinite presentiment of my divine justice and fear to enter the spiritual world.

11 Mankind has loved this world all too much - all too much because its love was misguided. How many have perished on it for this reason! How much have the spiritual beings materialized for the same reason!

12 Only when you have felt the steps of death near, when you have been gravely ill, when you have suffered, only then have you remembered that you are only one step away from the hereafter, from that justice which you fear only in such critical moments; and then you make vows to the Father and swear to love Him on earth, to serve and obey Him. (146, 46 - 49)

13 Men have loved this life in such a way that they - when the hour is near to leave it - rebel against my will and do not want to hear the call which I send out to them. They spurn the peace of my kingdom and ask the Father for another period of time on earth to continue to possess their temporal goods.

14 Become sensitive, so that you divine the spiritual life and are not content with the beginning of your development - because that is this life - because higher works of creation exist above it.

15 Do not try to reject death when it approaches you according to my will, and do not ask for the scientist either, so that he performs the miracle for you, to resist my advice and prolong your existence, because both of you will bitterly regret this mistake. Prepare yourselves in this life, and you will have no reason to fear your entrance into the hereafter. (52, 55 - 57)

16 Love that which belongs to the world as long as you live on it, to a certain point, so that you may know how to fulfill its laws; but always nourish the high purpose of dwelling in the high spiritual worlds of life, so that your spirit may not be disturbed when it gets rid of its bodily shell, nor be tempted by that which it loved on this planet, for then it will remain bound and chained to a world to which it no longer belongs and which it can no longer enjoy in any way (284, 5)

17 Have mercy on yourselves. No one knows when the moment will come when his spirit will separate from matter. No one knows whether the following day his eyes will still open to the light. You all belong to the one owner of all created things and do not know when you will be called away.

18 Consider that not even the hairs of your head belong to you, nor the dust on which you tread; that you yourselves do not belong to you, that you have no need of perishable possessions, since your kingdom is not of this world either.

19 Spiritualize yourselves, and all things shall ye possess with righteousness and with moderation so long as ye need them. Then, when the moment of renunciation of this life has come, you will ascend filled with light to take possession of what is coming to you in the other world. (5, 95 - 97)

The transition to the other world

20 At every hour my voice calls you on the good way where peace is; but your deaf hearing has only a moment of sensitivity to that voice, and that moment is the last of your life when the agony announces to you the nearness of physical death. Then you would like to start life anew to make amends for your mistakes, to calm your mind in the face of the judgment of your conscience, and to offer the Lord something valuable and deserving. (64, 60)

21 If you strive for the immortality of the spirit, fear not the coming of death, which maketh an end to human life. Expect him prepared, he is under my command, and therefore he always comes at the right time and rightly, even if men often believe the opposite.

22 The seriousness is not that man dies, but that his spirit, when leaving the body, lacks light and cannot see the truth. I do not want the death of the sinner, but his repentance. But when death once becomes necessary - be it to free a spirit or to stop the fall of a man into ruin - then my divine justice cuts the thread of life of that human existence. (102, 49 - 50)

23 Know that in the book of your destiny the day and the hour are recorded, when the gates of the hereafter shall be opened to admit your spirit. From there you will see all your work on earth, all your past. Surely then you do not want to hear voices consisting of reproaches or complaints against you, or see those who call you the originators of their evils! (53, 49)

24 Because ye see a long way ahead of you, ye shall not stand still, thinking that ye shall never reach your destination. Progress, for even over a lost moment your spirit will weep later. Who told you that the goal is in this world? Who has taught you that death is the end and that you can reach my kingdom in that moment?

25 Death is like a short sleep, after which, under the caress of my light, the spirit will awaken with renewed strength, as to a new day that begins for it.

26 Death is the key that opens to you the gates of the prison in which you were while bound to the matter of the body, and it is also the key that opens to you the gates to eternity.

27 This planet, which was transformed into a valley of atonement by human imperfections, was for the spirit captivity and banishment.

28 Verily, I tell you, life on earth is another step on the ladder of life Why don't you take it that way, so that you may benefit from all its lessons? The reason why many must return to it time and time again is this: because they did not understand it and they did not benefit from their previous life. (167, 22 - 26)

29 You must know that the spirit receives a thorough preparation before its incarnation on earth, since it is about to be subjected to a long and sometimes hard test. But thanks to that preparation he is not disturbed when he enters this life. He closes his eyes to the past in order to open them to a new existence, and so he adapts to the world he has come to from the first moment.

30 How different is the way in which your spirit adjusts before the thresholds of spiritual life, once it has left your body and the world. Not having received real preparation for the return to his homeland, he is confused, still dominated by the feelings of the material body, and does not know what to do or where to turn.

31 This is because he has not learned that in the last moment one must also close one's eyes to this world, for only then will he be able to open them again in the spiritual world which he left, where his whole past awaits him to be united with his new experience, and all his former merits will be added to the new ones.

32 A dense veil envelops his mind as he recovers the light; a stubborn influence of all that he left behind prevents him from feeling the vibration of his conscience; but as his shadows dissolve to unite with his true essence - how much distraction, how much pain!

33 Is there anyone who, after hearing or reading this message, rejects it as a useless or false teaching? I tell you that only he who is on a level of extreme materialism or blind unteachability could reject this light without his mind being deeply moved by it. (257,20 - 22)

The "sleep of death"

34 Spiritual peace, as your earthly nature understands and perceives it, does not exist. The rest that the spirit expects is activity, is the multiplication in the doing of good, is the use of every moment. Then the spirit recovers, gets rid of self-reproach and suffering, recovers by doing good, recovers by loving its Creator and its brothers and sisters.

35 Verily, I tell you, if I let your spirit remain idle so that it rests, as you imagine the rest on earth, the darkness of despair and fear would take hold of it; for the life and the light of the spirit and its greatest happiness are the work, the struggle, the incessant activity.

36 The spirit that returns from the earth to the "spiritual valley," bringing with it within itself the weariness of the flesh, and seeks the hereafter as a rest camp, to rest, to forget, to erase the traces of the life struggle - this will feel itself to be the most unfortunate being and will find neither peace nor bliss; until he then awakens from his lethargy, realizes his error and rises to spiritual life, which is as I have just told you - love, activity, unceasing struggle on the path that leads to perfection. (317, 12 - 14)

The reunion in the hereafter

37 I want you to be believers, that you believe in the spiritual life. When you have seen your brethren depart for the hereafter, do not think that they are far from you, nor that you have lost them forever. If you want to reunite with them, work, earn merit, and when you then go into the hereafter, you will find them there waiting for you to teach you to live in the spiritual valley. (9,20)

38 Who has not yet felt uneasy about life in the hereafter? Who among those who have lost a loved one in this world has not felt the longing to see him again, or at least know where he is? All these things you will experience, you will see them again.

39 But now earn merits, so that when you leave this earth and ask in the Spiritual Valley where those you hope to find are, they will not tell you that you cannot see them because they are on a higher level. Do not forget that I told you long ago that there are many dwellings in the house of the Father. (61, 31)

The judgment on the spirit by one's own conscience

40 When the spirit of any great sinner separates itself from this material life to enter the spiritual valley, he is amazed to find that hell as he imagined it does not exist; and that the fire of which he was told in times past is nothing but the spiritual effect of his works when he faces the inexorable judge who is his conscience.

41 This other-worldly judgment, this brightness that dawns in the midst of the darkness that surrounds that sinner, burns stronger than the hottest fire you can imagine. But it is not a torture prepared in advance as a punishment for the one who has hurt me. No, this torment springs from the knowledge of the transgressions committed, the suffering of having hurt the one who gave him existence, of having made a bad use of the time and all the goods he received from his Lord.

42 Do you think that I should punish him who hurt Me through his sins, even though I know that sin hurts more who commits it? Do you not see that it is the sinner himself who does evil to himself, and that by his punishment I do not want to multiply the misfortune he has prepared for himself? I only allow him to see himself, to hear the inexorable voice of his conscience, to question himself and answer himself, to recover the spiritual memory which he had lost through matter, and to remember his origin, his destiny and his vows; and there, in this judgment, he must experience the action of the "fire" that eradicates his evil, that melts him anew like gold in a crucible, to remove from him the harmful, the useless, and all that is not spiritual.

43 When a spirit pauses to hear the voice and judgment of his conscience, verily I say to you, in this hour he is in my presence.

44 This moment of rest, stillness and clarity does not come to all spirit beings at the same time. Some quickly enter into that trial of their own, and in so doing spare themselves many sufferings. For as soon as they awaken to reality and realize their errors, they get ready and set about atoning for their evil works to the last.

45 Others who are blinded - whether by vice, by some resentment, or because they have led a life of sin - take a long time to come out of their blindness.

46 Still others who are discontented because they think that they were taken away from the earth too soon, when everything was still smiling, cursing, and blaspheming, thus delaying the possibility of getting out of their delusion; and like these there are a great number of cases known only to my wisdom. (36, 47 - 51)

47 For all things ye must answer for yourselves, and according to the nature of your wicked works ye shall receive most emphatic judgments through yourselves. For I do not judge you, that is wrong. It is your own spirit in its state of clarity that is your terrible accuser and terrible judge. I on the other hand defend you against the confusion, absolve you and redeem you, because I am the love that purifies and forgives. (32, 65)

48 Consider that you will very soon be in the spiritual and that you must also reap what you have sown on this earth. The step from this life into the other remains a serious and severe judgment for the spirit. No one escapes this judgment, even if he considers himself the most worthy of my servants.

49 It is my will that from the moment you enter that infinite home, you no longer experience the fears of the earth, and you begin to feel the happiness and bliss of having climbed another step. (99, 49 - 50)

50 The Last Judgment, as mankind has interpreted it, is an error. My judgment is not one of one hour or one day. It has been weighing on you for some time.

51 But verily I say to you, the dead bodies are destined and followed their destiny to merge with the kingdom of nature corresponding to them; for what is of the earth shall return to the earth, even as the spiritual shall strive for its home, which is my bosom.

52 But I tell you also this, that you will be your own judges at your judgment; for your conscience, self-knowledge, and intuition will tell you to what point you are praiseworthy, and in what spiritual home you must dwell. Clearly you will see the path you must follow, for when you receive the light of my divinity, you will recognize your deeds and judge your merits.

53 In the "spiritual valley" there are many confused and disturbed beings. Bring them my message and my light when you once enter it.

54 Already now you can exercise this form of mercy through prayer, through which you can communicate with them. Your voice will resound where they dwell and awaken them from their deep sleep. They will weep and purify themselves with their tears of repentance. In that moment they will have received a ray of light, for then they will understand their past vanities, their errors, their sins.

55 How great is the pain of the spirit when conscience awakens it! How then does he humble himself before the gaze of the highest judge! How humbly from the innermost part of his being arise the petitions for forgiveness, the vows, the blessings of my name!

56 Now the Spirit realizes that he cannot approach the Father's perfection, and so he turns his gaze to the earth, where he did not know how to make use of the time and the trials that offered opportunities to come closer to the goal, and asks for another body to atone for transgressions and to fulfill unfulfilled tasks.

57 Who then provided for justice? Was it not the Spirit Himself who held judgment upon Himself?

58 My Spirit is a mirror in which you must look at yourselves, and it will reveal to you the degree of purity you have. (240, 41 - 46)

59 When your spirit removes itself from the human shell and withdraws into its own innermost being in the sanctuary of spiritual life to subject its past and its harvest to scrutiny, many of its works, which had appeared to it here in the world perfect and worthy of being brought before the Lord and worthy of reward, will appear to be poor in the moments of that self-examination. The spirit will understand that the meaning of many deeds that seemed good to him in the world was only the expression of vanity, of false love, of charity that did not come from the heart.

60 Who do you think gave the Spirit the enlightenment of a perfect judge to judge himself? The conscience which in that hour of justice will give you the impression of shining with a clarity never seen before, and it will be that which will tell everyone what was good, just, right, true, that which he did on earth, and what was evil, wrong, and unclean, that he sowed in his way.

61 The sanctuary of which I spoke to you just now is that of conscience - that temple which no one can profane, that temple in which God dwells and from which his voice sounds and the light breaks forth.

62 In the world you have never been ready to enter that inner sanctuary because your human personality is always intent on ways and means to avoid the wise voice that speaks in every man.

63 I tell you: When your spirit is released from its covering, it will finally pause and gather before the threshold of that sanctuary to enter it and kneel before that altar of the Spirit, to hear itself, to examine its works in that light which is conscience, to hear the voice of God speaking in itself as Father, as Master, and as Judge.

64 No mortal can conceive of that moment in all its solemnity which you all must pass through in order to discern what good you have in you to preserve, and also what you must reject from yourselves because you must no longer hold it in the Spirit.

65 When the spirit then feels that it is confronted with its conscience, and that it remembers it with the clarity of truth, that being feels too weak to listen to itself, wishing it had never existed; for in an instant its whole life passes by its consciousness - that which it left behind, that which it possessed, and that which was its own, and of which it must now finally give account.

66 Disciples, men, prepare yourselves already in this life for that moment, lest you turn that temple into a tribunal when your spirit appears before the threshold of the temple of conscience; for the spiritual pain will then be so great that there will be no physical pain to compare with it.

67 I want you to think over everything I have told you in this teaching so that you may understand how your judgment is carried out in the spiritual. Thus you will make disappear from your imaginary world that image in which you imagine a court of justice, which is led by God in the form of an old man, who lets the good children pass by on his right hand to enjoy heaven, and who places the wicked on his left to condemn them to eternal punishment.

68 Now is the time for the light to reach the highest realm of your spirit and mind, so that truth may shine in every man and he may prepare himself to enter the spiritual life with dignity. (334, 5m. - 11, 14 - 15)

The regained spiritual consciousness

69 There is nothing in my creation that, like physical death, is suitable to show every spirit the height of its development that it reached during life, and nothing so helpful as my word to ascend to perfection This is the reason why my law and my teaching always and relentlessly seek to penetrate the hearts, and why pain and suffering advise men to leave those paths which, instead of lifting the spirit, lead it into the abyss.

70 How happy your spirit will feel in the hereafter when his conscience tells him that he has sown the seed of love on earth! The whole past will appear before your eyes, and every sight of what your works were will give you an infinite bliss.

71 The commandments of my laws, which your memory was not always able to keep, will likewise pass your mind full of clarity and light. Acquire merits that will allow you to penetrate into the unknown with eyes open to the truth.

72 There are many mysteries that man has tried in vain to unravel; neither human intuition nor science has been able to answer the many questions that men have asked themselves, and this is because there are realizations that are intended only for the spirit when it has entered the "spiritual valley. These surprises that await him, these miracles, these revelations will be part of his reward. But verily, I tell you, when a spirit enters the spiritual world with a bandage before his eyes, he will see nothing, but will continue to see only secrets around him - there where everything should be clarity.

73 This Heavenly Teaching I am bringing you today reveals to you many beauties and prepares you so that when you one day step in spirit before the righteousness of the Eternal, you may withstand the wonderful reality that will surround you from this moment on (85, 42 + 63 - 66)

74 Receive my light, that it may illuminate your path of life, and at the hour of death you may free yourselves from the clouding of consciousness Then in the moment when you cross the thresholds of the beyond, you will know who you are, who you have been, and who you will be. (100, 60)

75 While your bodies are lowered into the earth, in whose womb they are mixed with it to make it fruitful - for even after death they will continue to be power and life - your conscience, which is above your being, will not remain in the earth, but will go with the Spirit to show itself to it as a book whose deep and wise teachings are studied by the Spirit.

76 Then shall your spiritual eyes be opened to the truth, and in a moment you shall know how to interpret that which you have not been able to comprehend in a lifetime. There you will understand what it means to be a child of God and a brother of your neighbor. There you will comprehend the value of all that you have possessed, you will feel regret and remorse for the mistakes you have made, the lost time, and the most beautiful resolutions for correction and reparation will be born in you. (62, 5)

77 Strive already now all to the same goal, reconciling and harmonizing your spiritual life Let no one think that he is on a better path than his brother, nor think that he is on a higher level than the others. I tell you that at the hour of death it will be my voice that tells you the truth about your level of development.

78 There, in that brief moment of enlightenment before conscience, many receive their reward; but many also see their greatness disappear

79 Will you save yourselves? Then come to me on the way of brotherhood. It is the only one, there is no other, it is he who is written in my highest commandment that tells you: "Love one another" (299,40 - 42)

My peace be with you !