To answer this question, I should begin by mentioning that a large segment of society believes all souls do not go to the same place. More mod erate theology no longer stresses the idea of hellfire and brimstone for sinners. However, many religious sects indicate a spiritual coexistence of two mental states of good and evil. For the "bad" soul there are ancient philosophical pronouncements denoting a separation from the God-Essence as a means of punishment after death.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a source of religious belief thousands of years older than the Bible, describes the state of consciousness between lives (the Bardo) as a time when "the evil we have perpetrated projects us into spiritual separation." If the peoples of the East believed in a special spiritual location for evil doers, was this idea similar to the concept of purgatory in the Western world?
From its earliest beginnings, Christian doctrine defined purgatory as a transitory state of temporary banishment for sins of a minor nature against humanity. The Christian purgatory is supposed to be a place of atonement, isolation, and suffering. When all negative karma is removed, these souls are eventually allowed into heaven. On the other hand, souls committing major (deadly) sins are condemned to hell forever.
Does hell exist to permanently separate good souls from bad ones? All my case work with the spirits of my subjects has convinced me there is no residence of terrible suffering for souls, except on Earth. I am told all souls go to one spirit world after death where everyone is treated with patience and love.
However, I have learned that certain souls do undergo separation in the spirit world, and this happens at the time of their orientation with guides. They are not activated along the same travel routes as other souls. Those of my subjects who have been impeded by evil report that souls whose influence was too weak to turn aside a human impulse to harm others will go into seclusion upon reentering the spirit world. These souls don't appear to mix with other entities in the conventional manner for quite a while.
I have also noticed that those beginner souls who are habitually associated with intensely negative human conduct in their first series of lives must endure individual spiritual isolation. Ultimately, they are placed together in their own group to intensify learning under close supervision. This is not punishment, but rather a kind of purgatory for the restructuring of self-awareness with these souls.
Because wrongdoing takes so many forms on Earth, spiritual instruction and the type of isolation used is varied for each soul. The nature of these variations apparently is evaluated during orientation at the end of each life. Relative time of seclusion and reindoctrination is not consistent either. For instance, I have had reports about maladjusted spirits who have returned back to Earth directly after a period of seclusion in order to expunge themselves as soon as possible by a good incarnated performance. Here is an example, as told to me by a soul who was acquainted with one of these spirits.
Case 10
Dr. N: Do souls bear responsibility for their involvement with flawed human beings who injure others in life?
S: Yes, those who have wronged others savagely in a life-I knew one of those souls.
Dr. N: What do you know about this entity? What happened after this soul returned to the spirit world following that life?
S: He ... had hurt a girl ... terribly ... and did not rejoin our group. There was extensive private study for him because he did so poorly while in that body.
Dr. N: What was the extent of his punishment?
S: Punishment is ... a wrong interpretation ... it's regeneration. You have to recognize this is a matter for your teacher. The teachers are more strict with those who have been involved with cruelty.
Dr. N: What does "more strict" mean to you in the spirit world?
S: Well, my friend didn't go back with us ... his friends ... after this sad life where he hurt this girl.
Dr. N: Did he come through the same spiritual gateway as yourself when he died?
S: Yes, but he did not meet with anybody ... he went directly to a place where he was alone with the teacher.
Dr. N: And then what happened to him?
S: After awhile ... not long ... he returned to Earth again as a woman ... where people were cruel ... physically abusive ... it was a deliberate choice ... my friend needed to experience that ...
Dr. N: Do you think this soul blamed the human brain of his former host body for hurting the girl?
S: No, he took what he had done ... back into himself ... he blamed his own lack of skill to overcome the human failings. He asked to become an abused woman himself in the next life to gain understanding ... to appreciate the damage he had done to the girl.
Dr. N: If this friend of yours did not gain understanding and continued involving himself with humans who committed wrongful acts, could he be destroyed as a soul by someone in the spirit world?
S: (long pause) You can't destroy energy exactly ... but it can be reworked ... negativity which is unmanageable ... in many lives ... can be readjusted.
Dr. N: How?
S: (vaguely) ... Not by destruction ... remodeling ...
Case 10 did not respond further to this line of questioning, and other subjects who know something about these damaged souls are rather sparse with their information. Later, we will learn a bit more about the formation and restoration of intelligent energy.
Most errant souls are able to solve their own problems of contamination. The price we pay for our misdeeds and the rewards received for good conduct revolve around the laws of karma. Perpetrators of harm to others will do penance by setting themselves up as future victims in a karmic cycle of justice. The Bhagavad Gita, another early Eastern scripture which has stood the test of thousands of years, has a passage which says, "souls of evil influence must redeem their virtue."
No study of life after death would have any meaning without addressing how karma relates to causality and justice for all souls. Karma by itself does not denote good or bad deeds. Rather it is the result of one's positive and negative actions in life. The statement, "there are no accidents in our lives," does not mean karma by itself impels. What it does is propel us forward by teaching lessons. Our future destiny is influenced by a past from which we cannot escape, especially when we injure others.
The key to growth is understanding we are given the ability to make mid-course corrections in our life and having the courage to make necessary changes when what we are doing is not working for us. By conquering fear and taking risks, our karmic pattern adjusts to the effects of new choices. At the end of every life, rather than having a monster waiting to devour our souls, we serve as our most severe critic in front of teacher-guides. This is why karma is both just and merciful. With the help of our spiritual counselors and peers we decide on the proper mode of justice for our conduct.
Some people who believe in reincarnation also think if negative souls do not learn their lessons within a reasonable span of lives, they will be eliminated and replaced by more willing souls. My subjects deny this premise.
There is no set path of self-discovery designed for all souls. As one subject told me, "souls are assigned to Earth for the duration of the war." This means souls are given the time and opportunity to make changes for growth. Souls who continue to display negative attitudes through their human hosts must overcome these difficulties by continually making an effort to change. From what I have seen, no negative karma remains attached to a soul who is willing to work during their many lives on this planet.
It is an open question whether a soul should be held entirely at fault for humanity's irrational, unsocialized, and destructive acts. Souls must learn to cope in different ways with each new human being assigned to them. The permanent identity of a soul stamps the human mind with a distinctive character which is individual to that soul. However, I find there is a strange dual nature between the soul mind and human brain. I will discuss this concept further in later chapters, after the reader learns more about the existence of souls in the spirit world.