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witnesses share our joys and troubles. The situation of the soul after death is the direct consequence of the
tendencies, be they toward things material or intellectual. If sensual tendencies dominate, the soul is forced to
mobilize on inferior planes, planes dense and gross.
If the mind has been occupied with pure and beautiful thoughts, it will elevate the soul to spheres en
rapport with the nature of these thoughts. Swedenborg said, ‘Heaven is where man has placed his heart.’
However, the classification is not immediate, nor the transition sudden. The human eye cannot quickly pass
from obscurity to a brilliant light, and it is the same with the soul at death; we enter a transitory state, a prelude
to the life spiritual. It is more or less troubled, according to the density or lightness of the etheric body.
Delivered from the material burden which oppressed it, the soul finds itself enveloped by thoughts and images,
sensations and emotions generated during the course of earthly lives. It must make itself familiar with its new
situation and become conscious of its state before it can be carried toward the cosmic center for which it is
prepared, according to its degree of light or density. At first, for the greater number, all is a subject of
astonishment in the Beyond. Its laws of weight are less rigid, walls are no longer obstacles, and the soul can
traverse and lift itself in the air. Yet there are certain fetters which it cannot define holding it. All this fills it
with fear and hesitation at first, but the helping friends from above watch over and guide its first flights. The
advanced spirits free themselves and pass rapidly out of all earthly influences and attain consciousness of
themselves. The veil of materiality is torn by the force of their thoughts, and immense perspectives open
before them. They understand their situation almost immediately, and adapt themselves to it. The spiritual
body, the organism of the soul, floats for some time in the atmosphere. Then, according to its power and
subtlety, it responds to higher attractions, and is drawn to groups of spirits of the same order as itself - spirits
who surround it with solicitude and who initiate it into the new order of existence. Inferior spirits retain for a
long period their impressions of material life. They try to live on the physical plane and pursue their usual
occupations.
To materialists, the phenomenon of death is incomprehensible. Through faulty conceptions they
confound the etheric body with the physical. Illusions of earth life remain with them. By their tastes and
imagination they are riveted to earth. Then slowly, by the aid of good spirits, their consciousness is awakened
to the comprehension of this new state of life. But their density and planetary attractions, and the currents in
space, render high flights impossible at first. Those who have relied upon orthodox promises of immediate
beatitudes, often meet with great surprise, and find a long apprenticeship necessary before they are initiated
into the real laws of space. Instead of angels, they encounter the spirits of men who have preceded them by
death, and their disappointment is great in encountering facts and conditions of existence wholly at variance
with the education they have received. But if their lives have been good, their noble acts will have more
influence on their destiny than mistaken ideas of faith, and they will be happy. Those who have refused to
admit the possibility of a future life are plunged in a dream until their error dissipates itself.
After death, impressions are as varied as the value of souls. Those who, during earth life, have known
and served the truth, gather immediately the benefits of their actions. The following communications were
received from the spirit of Charles Fritz, editor of Life Beyond the Tomb, at Charleroi. All those who knew
this man recognized his language. He described his experience at the hour of death thus: ‘I felt the bonds of
earth little by little loosen, and my soul disengage itself. I saw bands of spirits about me, and with them I rose
from earth. Spiritual light, full of force, seemed born in me, for this light comes not from others, but from
ourselves. The more you work for truth, love, and charity, the greater will be this light. My first steps were
trembling, but I prayed to God for His assistance and forgiveness. I saw my past life written in the ether, and
knew I had not been infallible; but I had worked and suffered for the spreading of spiritual light while on earth,
and this light I found again here. I must still work to develop myself further and to see my past incarnations. I
already see a part of this past, but not all. I possess enough light to go ahead, and already I am given the work
of assisting unhappy and confused spirits.’
The law of grouping spirits in space is the law of affinities. The direction of their thoughts leads them
naturally to their proper center, for thought are the essence of the world spiritual, and the etheric body the
form, the vestment. Those who love and comprehend one another, assemble. Herbert Spencer, in a moment of
intuition, said, ‘Life is but an adaptation of exterior conditions.’
The spirits of those whose inclinations were all material remain bound to earth, and mingle with the
men who partake of their tastes and appetites. Those whose ideals were high, are quickly borne toward
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