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Chapter VI: The Soul-Slumber2195
for the purpose of giving aid and advice in time of great catastrophes (such
as the Johnstown Flood and the ‘Titanic’ Disaster) or after a great battle,
when immediate advice and assistance were needed…. Persons dying in
the way of which we have spoken, of course gradually fall into the slumber
of the soul, just as in the cases of those dying a natural death.”
Another matter which should be mentioned in this place is that wonderful
phenomenon of the review of the past life of the soul, that great panorama
which passes before the mental vision of the soul as it sinks into the soulslumber.
This the authorities inform us really occupies but an infinitesimal
moment of time—a moment so brief that it can scarcely be spoken of as
a point in time. Yet in this brief moment, the soul witnesses the panorama
of the life it has passed on earth. Scene after scene, of infancy to old age,
passes before it in review. The most insignificant incident is reproduced with
as much fidelity to detail as is the greatest event. The subconscious planes
of memory unfold their secrets to the last—nothing is reserved or withheld.
Moreover, the soul, by its awakened spiritual discernment, is able to know
the meaning, cause, and consequence of every event in its life. It is able to
analyze and to pass judgment upon itself and its acts. Like an omniscient
and impartial judge it judges itself. The result of this process is that the acts
of one’s past life are concentrated and impressed upon the records of the
soul, there to become as seeds which will produce better fruit in the future.
These seeds serve to bear the fruits of future character, in future lives, at
least, so far as the acquired characteristics and desires will admit of.
To those who may object that it is impossible for the mind to grasp the
events of a lifetime in the space of a moment of time, we would say that
psychology will inform them that even in ordinary earth-life this is possible.
For there are many recorded cases in which a person nodding into slumber
has dreamed of events which have occupied an apparent period of many
years. In ordinary dreams time is practically reduced to a small unit, and in
the state of which we speak the process of concentration is intensified, and
the single point of time covers the period of the longest life.