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The Fredrick Myers
Communications |
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 Frederick
Myers (1843-1901), a brilliant scholar and
one of the founders of the Society for Psychical
Research, reportedly communicated to
spiritualist mediums all over the world shortly after his death. Myers may have decided
that the best way to prove that he still existed after death was to send a series of
messages through different mediums. The Myers communications assert that the afterlife is
divided into stages, each with its entry phase, a period of development, and
a period of
preparation for the next higher stage. One receives an impression that it is the aim of
the Creator to "take into the firm," as junior partners, as many as can
qualify. There are seven stages, which are levels of consciousness, or realms
of
existence. The following is a description of these levels and comparisons of Myers'
descriptions of them with known descriptions from more well-known sources, such as
Edgar
Cayce and the majority opinion of Spiritualists. The section on the Myers correspondences
are reprinted by permission from Dr. Victor
Zammit.
Stage
One
Stage one is, of course, the Earth realm. As soon as the
Earth experience
has been thoroughly comprehended - either through reincarnation, or
through the exchange of experience with others on other realms
- the
candidate may proceed to realms beyond the reach of the Earth
mind. After death a person enters Stage two, the Intermediate Realm.
According to Edgar Cayce, the Earth realm, being the third realm
from the sun, represents three
dimensional reality. This is the realm of "testing" according to
Cayce, or "of the flesh." He mentioned in his psychic
readings that all souls come to the Earth realm
to test their spiritual
ideals to see if they are real. He stated that only by becoming subject to
the physical influences of the flesh and the laws of the Earth realm
can a
soul know for certain if they really possess that spiritual ideal. This is
the purpose of the Earth realm.
Stage Two
Upon death, most people go through a heavenly
process before entering into heaven. Evil people, instead of experiencing
the tunnel and bright light upon death, are sent through what Sylvia calls
the "Left Door" and enter into an abyss of empty, joyless,
nothingness for a brief period of time. After they have reflected upon their
actions, they are reincarnated back to Earth. People who commit suicide are sent to a place Sylvia calls the
"Holding Place." Here they must make a choice to either proceed
through the "Left Door" or embrace God and move on to the Light.
People in the Holding Place shuffle slowly around in despair in a gray fog
with their heads down until they make their decision. According to Sylvia,
this is purgatory. It is interesting to note that many near-death
experiencers, including George Ritchie, have
seen this place.
Stage Three
After Stage two, a person enters a more stable world called "the realm
of illusion", Stage three. This is a dimension where things may
be created with the mind and shaped by the direct action of the imagination.
Though a person may linger in this stage for generations, an eventual
decision must be made. The individual either returns to Earth
or
progresses to Stage four. Before leaving, however, the more enterprising
souls may have an opportunity to experience one of the great wonders of this realm
of consciousness - a tour through some section of "The Great
Memory." Just as on Earth, one may go to a library and see newsreels of
important Earth events of history. So, in Stage three, one may witness any
event that has occurred from the beginning of human experience. Everything
that has ever happened has been recorded by the cosmic memory.
Spiritualists call this realm
"the second heaven." Most people who die initially find
themselves in the second heaven or intermediate astral realms. Viewed as a
sort of resting point on the way from Earth to the more rarified upper
dimensions, it is a thought-created universe that closely resembles an
idealized Earth. Its inhabitants seem to live in physical bodies, wear
clothes and so forth - but of an etheric kind that would be invisible on Earth. Most attempts to communicate from heaven stem from here; but because
its inhabitants are as yet unfamiliar with the afterlife, these
communications can be confusing or wrong.
This stage corresponds to the
planetary realm of Mercury, according to Cayce. Mercury is the realm of the
mind where souls go to develop their mental abilities. Cayce stated,
"Mercury gives the abilities of the entity to consider the problems as
a whole with the mental insight into the operative elements of ennobling, of
virtues, of good, of beautiful, with the mysteries of the universal forces,
given understanding, brings the development to the soul's forces."
Stage Four
Stage four, an indescribably lovely existence, is called "the realm
of
color." Here one must leave behind all rigid intellectual structures
and dogmas, be they scientific, religious, or philosophical. An
infinite variety of new sounds, colors and feelings are experienced here and
souls find a much wider freedom to function with more highly energized
intellect and spirit.
Since Myers had not progressed
beyond the fourth realm at the time of his communication, his reports of the
higher levels of consciousness beyond this are less detailed and more
speculative. He seems to have picked up enough hearsay, however, to outline
with some confidence the general nature of the further advance.
If, on the fourth realm, the
soul becomes free from the Earth pull, the soul is qualified to experience
cosmic ranges beyond Earth's confines. One of these ranges is the next
realm, "the realm
of flame."
The realm
of color corresponds
to the Spiritualist's "third heaven." The third heaven or higher
astral realm is also referred to as "Summerland", as it is the
closest thing to the Christian concept of paradise.
The most inspired and pure
souls from Earth pass directly here after death; most people, however, must
strive to reach it after a sojourn in the realm below where they assess
their life on Earth and try to understand what they did wrong. It is from
the third heaven that rebirth back on Earth supposedly occurs - although the
decision to go back and try again is allegedly an individual one, and some
may opt to forsake material life altogether and move into the higher
spiritual realms. Some of the most accurate and most inspirational messages
received via mediums are said to originate here. This may also be the place
called "Marduk" according to the messages received by some
researchers.
The fourth realm
corresponds to the planetary dimension of Venus, according to Cayce. Venus
is the afterlife realm where love is dominate. Cayce says this of Venus:
"In Venus we find the lovely becoming the expressions in activities in
which there is the beauty seen in love, in companionship, in association, in
music, in art, in all the things that bespeak of the loveliness even of
nature and material things, rather than the expression of same in the earthly
form or manner."
Stage Five
In the fifth realm, the "realm of flame," one acquires a body of
flame, enabling him to tour the stellar universe without being harmed by its
temperatures and turbulence and to return with a fuller experience of these
cosmic reaches.
This realm
corresponds to the
spiritualist's "fourth heaven." In the fourth heaven, which
some refer to as the mental and causal realms, most of the trappings of
materialism have gone. It is here that selfless individuals work together to
bring spiritual enlightenment to the lower slopes of heaven and to Earth.
Supposedly all great inventions, religious and moral progressions, spiritual
leadership and so on, come from here, inspired by beings who were once on Earth
but have had the opportunity to increase their talents in the
afterlife.
A few rebirths to Earth
do take
place from this higher realm. Great teachers are sent back
for special reasons. Spirit guides who talk through mediums are often
in this realm as well, bringing their enhanced knowledge to Earth.
This realm
corresponds to the
planetary dimension of Jupiter, as revealed by Edgar Cayce. Cayce calls this
realm the "realm of strength." Cayce stated, "We find in
Jupiter that Universal Consciousness, that longing for the knowledge of
something outside of self - the universal desire or the
desire to be of help to many irrespective of the cost to self." Also,
"In Jupiter we find abilities in a helpful, universal way and manner.
Hence the entity is given to verboseness, as well as abilities to depict
situations, to analyze people and places, things and conditions. Thus may
the entity be gifted in writing, lecturing, and in group direction."
Stage Six
The sixth realm is called by Myers, the "realm of light." Individuals
on this realm are matured spirits, having lived through, with conscious
comprehension, all the aspects of the created universe. They are capable of
living now without form, of existing as white light in the pure thought of
the Creator. They have joined the immortals, thus fulfilling their final
purpose of the evolution of consciousness.
Spiritualists call this realm
the "fifth heaven." Reaching the fifth or celestial heaven
is difficult, because it is devoid of a physical state and aspired to by
great religious figures, from Jesus to Buddha. Even those in lower heavenly
regions view it as most of us still on Earth imagine heaven - a distant,
magical, unknown place.
This realm
seems to correspond
to the planetary dimension of Neptune, described by Cayce to be the
"realm of mysticism, mystery, and spiritual insight."
Stage Seven
The seventh stage, in which the soul enters full partnership with God, is
beyond Myers' verbal reach. Myers knew that the levels of consciousness in
the upper ranges were beyond the insight of the average Earth
dweller except
for intuitive flashes. The seventh stage, which Myers called
"timelessness," is inhabited by souls with
an advanced spiritual nature that is so close to the ultimate essence of
creativity that no adequate vocabulary has yet evolved to describe them, and
hence they are difficult to describe to Earth-level beings.
This realm
is referred to by
spiritualists as the "sixth heaven." The sixth heaven is cosmic
consciousness where the unity of souls is perfected and a kind of universal
being exists. This may be close to what we think of as God, but it is even
less understood by those on the lower astral realms.
This realm
also seems
to correspond to the planetary dimension of Uranus which was described by
Cayce as the "realm of the psyche." Cayce states, "In the
Uranian influence we find the interest in the spiritual things." Also,
"The tendencies from Uranus towards the occult and the mystic forces;
as visions, hearing, seeing and knowing without having the physical contact
with experiences in the mental body." According to Cayce, all psychics
have had a sojourn within this planetary realm before incarnating to the Earth realm.
The Seventh
Heaven
This realm
was probably beyond
the reach of Myers as well because it wasn't described in his
correspondences. To reach the seventh heaven, one has to step not only
beyond material and physical reality but beyond mental and individual
reality as well. It is simply not possible to define what this ultimate
level may be, but reaching it is supposedly the goal of all individual
souls. Everything that we do, on Earth and in heaven, is directed towards
that final transformation because there is evolution of the soul just the
same as there is evolution of the body, or indeed of all life, back on Earth.
The final realm
was referred to
by Cayce as the afterlife dimension containing the star system of
Arcturus.
According to Cayce, once the soul becomes free from the influences of our
solar system, the soul is free to sojourn to other solar systems. Cayce
calls the Arcturus solar system to be "of the Developing." Also,
"Arcturus is that through which individuals pass and at which period
there comes the choice of the individual as to whether it is to return to
complete there - that is, in this planetary system, our sun, or the Earth's
sun and its planetary system, or to pass on to others." Cayce
describes this as both a usual and an unusual step in soul evolution.
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