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The Life Beyond Death2208
the various planes and subplanes of the Astral Plane, which we herewith
reproduce, as follows: “It is absolutely impossible for a soul to go beyond
the plane to which it belongs, although those on the upper planes may
freely revisit the lower planes, this being the rule of the Astral Plane—not an
arbitrary law, but a law of nature. If the student will pardon the commonplace
comparison, he may get an understanding of it by imagining a large screen,
or series of screens, such as are used for sorting coal into sizes. The large coal
is caught by the first screen, the next size by the second, and so on until the
tiny coal is reached. Now, the large coal cannot get into the receptacle of the
smaller sizes, but the small sizes may easily pass through the screen and join
the large sizes, if force be imparted to them. Just so on the Astral Plane, the
soul with the greatest amount of materiality, and coarsest nature, is stopped
by the screen of a certain grade or plane, and cannot pass on to the higher
ones; while one which has passed on to the higher planes, having cast off
more confining sheaths, can easily pass backward and forward among the
lower planes, if it so desires. In fact, souls often do so, for the purpose of
visiting friends on the lower planes, and giving them enjoyment and comfort,
and, in case of a highly developed soul, much spiritual help may be given
in this way, by means of advice and instruction, when the soul on the lower
plane is ready to receive it.”
In the passage alluded to above, there is the following additional words,
which also should be repeated here, for it concerns the geography of the
Astral Plane. We allude to the following: “The one exception to the rule of
free passage to the planes below that of the particular soul, is the one which
prevents the lower-plane souls from entering the ‘plane of the sleepers,’
which plane may not be entered by souls which have awakened on a low
plane, but which may be freely entered by those pure and exalted souls
who have attained a high place. The plane of soul-slumber is sacred to those
occupying it, and those higher souls just mentioned, and it is in fact rather
of the nature of a distinct and separate state than one of the great series of
planes and subplanes.”