aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

128 AROUND THE WORLD.
nearest to it. The more refined extend outward into the
ethereal regions. Coarse spiritual natures inhabit the outer
surfaces of the inner belts ; while the more refined and spiritual
of earth pass on, by virtue of their refinement and
purity, to remote and those more beautiful belts in astral
spaces. The lower spheral belts, partaking of the earthliness
of the earth, and embodying the grosser of the spiritual
elements, abound in things similar to earth-life, such as lawns
and lowlands, fields and swamps, insects and animals. The
inhabitants are likened unto these conditions. Here the
worldly and the sordid have taken up their abodes. Awakening
to consciousness, from the event termed death, they
found they had entered the new plane of existence mentally
and morally as they had left mortality. This realization was
at first exceedingly gratifying. Activity is natural to all
spheres. In this first spheral zone, the selfish find a satisfaction
in the gratification of their desires and tendencies.
Those who loved sport, and low theatrical amusements, here
find means for their enjoyment. Misers seek and clutch
money. Greedy landholders find broad acres. Speculators
traffic in spiritual estates. Gamblers engage in games of
chance ; and here, too, deceivers and tricksters ply their wily
arts during long periods of time. It is their choice. They
prefer these groveling planes, because satisfying their desires
in connection with the influences they are able to exert
over the mediumistic of earth. ... It should be remembered,
th^n, that shrewd, scheming spirits of the lower
spheres cast a powerful psychological influence upon earth's
inhabitants ; and that miserly fathers, influencing, often
intensify the selfishness of their sons by pointing out rich
mineral beds, and otherwise aiding them in earthly speculations,
which, eventually culminating in hoarded wealth, must
be followed ultimately by remorse and deepest suffering. "