The dead are the living
from heaven

Spiritism breaks death’s mystery and establishes a connection between the corporeal world and the spiritual world
 

“Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.  I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”-Jesus(John 8:51 and 11:25-26)

It iscommonly said that no one ever came back to tell what death is. Ironic mistake. Without mentioning the Spiritist Codification which is entirely a result of elaboration of the "dead" and includes the explicit testimonials in the second part of the book "Heaven and Hell”. This is no secret to anyone else, since the media has spread into sound and image numerous cases of creatures that returned from "death" and narrated with refinements of detail how such experiences took place...

Spiritism unraveled this enigma decades ago and the recent "discoveries" only come to ratify its postulates, that is, “to rain in the wet”. Therefore, Spiritism, whose main function is to improve the creatures, also reveals what death really is, offering the irrefutable connection of the bodily world with the spiritual world.

Spiritualism proved that death, as synonymous with cessation of life, does not exist. It is just a change of state of the Spirit; it is the destruction of a fragile way of life that no longer provides the necessary conditions for its operation and its development. Beyond the grave, a new phase of existence opens up, even more exuberant. And it could not be otherwise, because it was Jesus who said that He came to give us life, and abundant life.

Everywhere there is life. The whole of nature is showing us, in its wonderful scenery, the constant renewal of everything.  No entity may perish in its life principle, in its conscious unity.

Man's life is like the sun of the Polar Regions during the summer: it goes down slowly, gets lower, goes on weakening, seems to disappear for a moment below the horizon, it is the end, in appearance, but soon after, it starts to the rise, to again describe its vast orbit in Heaven. Death is only a momentary eclipse in the great revolution of our existences, but this moment is enough to reveal to us the deeper meaning of life. 

The separation of the soul from the somatic body  

As the vital fluid finishes, the Spirit leaves the body in a slow separation process from the fluidic ties. It could be a kind of unraveling of the "brackets" that kept the spirit attached to the body. This separation begins before the complete cessation of life of the body and does not always end at death. During shutdown, the Spirit enters a state of disorder that makes it impossible for it to discern what is going on. This process can take hours, months or even years, depending on the degree of evolvement and detachment of the Spirit. By completing the separation, the spirit is freed from material bondage and from there real life begins (again), where we re-meet our friends and loved ones, and they congratulate us if the material exile was fruitful in raising us within the spiritual hierarchy.

The Spirit sees all that we perceive:  light, sounds, smells etc. and yet, while we are incarnated, we feel these things through the organs.In the Spirit sensations affect it in a general manner, because there are no limiting bodies. In addition, the spirit has the ability to sense whenever it wants, it can suspend viewing or listening at its own convenience. This option is in direct proportion to their spiritual superiority. The sensations inherent to matter, to the body, do not arise from the spirit. Spirits do not feel hunger, pain, disease, or any sensation caused by material need.  But because of their moral inferiority, some spirits have all the passions and desires that they had in life and their penalty is not being able to satisfy them. 

Life after the demise of the body 

It would be childish to think that spiritual life is idleness. Spirits have functions that vary according to their degree of evolution; they can direct the course of events contributing to the progress of the world. When they are of a high degree of evolution, they can serve as protectors of the creatures, advising and guiding them on the path of good. These works are not restricted to the more evolved spirits. The less evolved spirits also have their work in accordance with their training. Thus we see how the teachings and ceremonies that represent death in such a grim manner which more reflects a feeling of terror in people, are far from truth. The materialistic doctrines, in turn, were not properly designed to react against this impression.

The night is just the day before dawn. When summer ends and, to the wonder of nature, is succeeded by the brooding winter, let us console ourselves with the thought of future blooms. Why is there the fear of death, the pungent anxiety with respect to an act that is not the end of anything? It's almost always because death seems to be the loss, the sudden deprivation, of all that was our joy. The spiritist knows that is not so. For spiritists, death is the entrance to a way of life rich which is richer in impressions and sensations, and which does not even deprive us of the things of this world, as we continue to see those we love.

Within the bosom of Space we will follow the progress of the earth; see the changes that occur on the its surface; we will watch new discoveries; social, political and religious development of nations and, until the hour of our return to the flesh, in all this we shall cooperate fluidly, assisting, influencing at the extent of our power and our advancement, those who work for the benefit of all.

The situation of the spirit after death is the direct consequence of their inclinations, either towards matter or towards the assets of intelligence and feeling. If sensual propensities dominated the spirit, the being is immobilized on the lower planes which are the densest, the most grotesque.  If the spirits feeds itself with pure and beautiful thoughts, it raises itself to spheres in relation to the nature of its own thoughts. Swedenborg has rightly said: "Heaven is where the man set his heart on.”

If the human eye cannot pass suddenly from the darkness to the bright light, the same happens to the soul. Death brings us into a transitory state, a sort of extension of physical life and prelude of the spiritual life. At this occasion the state of disturbance will be more or less extended depending on the thick or ethereal nature of the perispirit of the "dead".

Free from the material burden that oppressed it, the soul finds itself still involved in the network of thoughts and images – sensations, feelings, passions, and emotions generated by it during its earthly lives. It will need to familiarize itself with its new situation; to gain the knowledge of its condition, before being taken to the cosmic environment appropriate to its degree of light and density.

At first, for the great majority, all is cause for admiration in this other world where things differ essentially from the terrestrial environment. The laws of gravity are more lenient, walls are no obstacles, the soul can cross them and raised itself into the air. Nevertheless, it is still restrained by certain encumbrances that it cannot define. Everything intimidates it and fills it with hesitation, but its friends from there watch over and guide the soul on its first flights.

The more evolved spirits quickly free themselves from all earthly influences and regain their self-awareness. The material veil rips itself apart at the impulse of their thoughts and vast prospects open up for them. They understand their situation almost immediately and easily adapt to it. The souls’ spiritual body, which is volitional, an instrument and an organism of the soul from which the soul never becomes separated and which is the work of the whole of the soul’s past; floats around the earth’s atmosphere for some time, then afterwards and accordingly to the souls’ state of subtlety and power that corresponds to distant places, causes the soul to feel naturally elevated to associate with places that are similar to its evolution and vibration. That is, colonies of spirits of the same order, made up of bright or wakeful spirits, who surround the newcomer with care in order to initiate it into the conditions of its new mode of existence.

The inferior (less evolved) spirits keep impressions from material life for a long time. They think they still live physically and continue, sometimes for years, the simulacrum of their usual occupation. For spirit who was a materialist while incarnated, the phenomenon of death remains incomprehensible. For lack of prior knowledge they confuse the fluidic body with the physical body and maintain the illusions of earthly life. Their tastes and even their imagined needs tie the spirit to earth, then slowly and with the aid of beneficent spirits, their conscience awakens, their intelligence open up to understanding of their new state, but as they try to elevate themselves, their density will cause them to immediately fall back to Earth. Theplanetary attractions and the fluidic currents of space lead them back to our regions, like dry leaves blown by the wind.

The orthodox believers wander in uncertainty and seek the fulfillment of the promises of their religious leaders, the enjoyment of the promised bliss. Sometimes they have a great surprise and they need a long learning process in order to become initiated in the true laws of Space. Instead of angels or demons, the spirits find men who like them, lived on earth and preceded them. Theirdisappointment is vivid on seeing their hopes aborted, their convictions transformed by the facts for which in no way the education they had received prepared them, but if their life was good, submissive to duty, these souls cannot be unhappy because these acts have much more influence over their fate than their beliefs.

The skeptical spirits, and with them, those who refused to believe in the possibility of a life independent from the body, find themselves immersed in a dream. This dream only becomes dissipated when the mistake in which these spirits labour ends.

These impressions vary infinitely, with their importance to the souls. Those who, in earthly life, knew the truth and served its cause, reap the benefit of their investigations and work as soon as they discarnate. 

The best way to face death 

Far from chasing away the idea of death, as we do generally, let us therefore look at it face to face, for what it really is. Let us strive to untangle it from the shadows and chimeras that envelop it and let us check it is convenient as we prepare ourselves for this natural and necessary incident in the course of life.

The universe cannot fail: its end is the beauty! Its means of justice is love! Let us strengthen ourselves with this thought in the limitless future ... Trust in the afterlife will stimulate our efforts, making them more fertile. No other major work that requires patience can be carried out successfully without the certainty of the next day.  Each time that death distributes its coups round about us in its austere splendor, it becomes a sovereign lesson, an incentive to work better in order to better carry on, to constantly increase the value of our soul ...

The knowledge that we may have been able to acquire regarding the conditions of future life has great influence in our last moments; it gives us more security; shortens the separation of the soul. To prepare ourselves with advantage for the life hereafter we must not only be convinced of the reality of this life, but we must also understand the laws, see with thought the benefits and consequences of our efforts toward the ideal of good. Our psychic studies, the relationships established during life with the invisible world, our aspirations, the more evolved forms of existence develop our latent abilities, and when the definite time comes, as the separation of body is already partly accomplished, the perturbation is short. The Spirit recognises itself almost immediately.Everything it sees is familiar to it; it adapts effortlessly to conditions of the new environment and without emotion.

Some religious institutions teach that good or bad conditions of the afterlife are final, irrevocably fixed upon death and this assertion disturbs the existence of many believers, others fear the isolation, the abandonment within the bosom of the Spaces.

The Spiritist Doctrine, which is the Third Revelation, carried out by the spirits who already inhabit the world over there, has put a "halt" to all these apprehensions, as it brings us the exact directions about life beyond the grave (where materialists proclaim: "Nec plus ultra"), dispelling the cruel uncertainty, the fear of the unknown that frightens us. With Spiritism, we come to realize that death does not change our spiritual nature, our character, our virtues (and unfortunately our defects). Finally, that which constitutes our true “self” only makes us freer. It provides us with a freedom, whose length is measured by our degree of progress. Here and there, our friends, patrons, backers expect us... While in this world we mourn the departure of one of ours, as if he were lost in Nothing, above us, ethereal beings glorify their arrival at the Light, just as we rejoice at the arrival of an infant whose Soul comes again, blossoming for terrestrial life.

The Doctrine of the Spirits, among many virtues, has more than this: proving to us, so unmistakably and explicitly, that the "dead" are living in Heaven.