Eventually, when he died, all the thoughts and feelings he had created over decades acted as a wall between him and his experience of the Afterlife. For a long time after he died, he was tied to that building and could not get away from it. He had to watch helplessly the coming and goings of the various new owners who came later and suffered as they made changes or demolished things he had built.
Eventually, the obsession ran its course, and he was by then heartily sick of the place. He started to pray for help, which he received, and he was able to move on with his life and enter into the life in the Hereafter. However, he then also had to face intense feelings of regret for the way he had treated other people and begin to look for ways in which he could make amends by helping others. He did this, after some training; by helping other Earth Bound people overcome their obsessions. He was later able to move up to the higher levels.
Possession, Obsession and the Earth Bound
“They don’t want to give up their old ways of living. They can’t satisfy their lusts here, so they try and encourage those on earth who are mentally in their own class to commit the crime they would like to commit themselves… They can watch the deed being done, and in that way, share in it.” — Travellers Return
The Earth Bound may become tied to a place, or an object they craved above all else. Yet they can also become tied to another person. This can only happen if the person invites them in one way or another. For the most part, only the obsessed can become ‘possessed’ in the sense of being haunted or controlled by a discarnate person. The discarnate person doing the possessing may not be evil; they seem to be more commonly addicted, lost, desperate or frightened. However, there are those with very definite evil tendencies who can be attracted to those with similar tendencies who are still in a physical body and may try to influence them.
If someone passed over as an addict, rather than face up to their addiction, people are sometimes tempted to hang around near the areas of Earth where they indulged themselves. They can end up clinging to someone who has the same, or similar, addictions to them. The possessing person then tries to influence their unfortunate victim to greater and greater indulgences. Their motive is often a desperate urge to indulge their addiction rather than any intention to harm, but they do cause harm and this backfires on them. Their Astral Body eventually wears out and, unless they face up to their problem and seriously call for help, they go to a low level on the Astral Plane to work out their issues there.
When someone becomes obsessed with making money, or is obsessed with sex or has a jealous obsession, it has a very bad effect on their inner development. Rather than cultivating any of the finer feelings, they are leading a narrow and restricted life and have stunted their spiritual development. There is nothing inherently wrong with making money, with sex, or whatever; it is what people sometimes turn themselves into to fulfill their obsession that’s the real problem. It is the callous way they treat others that is the core of the issue.
An obsessed person eventually begins to treat other people as objects and as ‘things’ to be manipulated. They may have little or no feelings for other people except to the extent that they can give them what they want. Therefore, part of the problem of those who become Earth Bound is their lack of development of any genuine feeling of concern for other human beings, or of anything outside themselves and their own immediate desires.
Someone with a habit of treating others like an object can leave them open to becoming treated like an object too by a similarly-minded Earth Bound spirit - as like attracts like. This is more likely to happen if their defenses are weak owing to misuse of alcohol or drugs.
Happy Funeral
It is very common for people who have passed on to come back for their own funeral. Even those who are not Earth bound will often do that as the ceremony helps build a bridge between the two worlds. This allows both parties to help each other and for those on Higher Planes to reach the earth.
Some are only Earth Bound for a short time and are freed when their funeral happens. The prayer and ceremony around a funeral can have a powerfully beneficial effect on people who have recently passed on. The focused thoughts of feelings of goodwill, and wishing the person well, combined with the upward-reaching intentions of the participants can build a bridge between the ‘recently departed’ (who are not so ‘departed’ since they are probably there at the funeral) and the higher spheres of the Afterlife and help them be free.
Sometimes, those attending the funeral who did not know the person well, and who therefore are not really in mourning, can provide the most help to the ‘deceased’ person. Their feelings are more tinged with respect than sadness or grief and if they are a caring person, their natural feelings of compassion will help much to bring in light to the proceedings and make it easier for the Spirit helpers to do their uplifting work, both for the grieving and for the one who has passed over.
How to Help the Earth Bound
“If they have some bond of genuine love or affection for someone, or some animal such as a pet dog, this can help pull them out of their morass and move on to the greater life. Also, prayers from those they left behind on Earth can be a huge help since prayer impacts on the substance of the Afterlife in very significant ways.” — Lowlands of Heaven
There are certainly some very nasty characters who become Earth Bound for a while. However, the majority of the Earth Bound are not bad people, they are just a bit confused, frightened, unaware and sometimes very self-centered and obsessed with situations of which they ought to let go.
We can reach the Earth Bound much more easily than Afterlifers can. The attention of someone Earth Bound is by definition on a similar level to those still incarnate and that is why we can reach them.
There are some groups in existence on Earth who work with Earth Bound people and help them discover that they have passed over and therefore need to move on. This is good for not only the Earth Bound, but also for the residents of Earth as it clears up the psychic atmosphere and brings in more spiritual light. As more spiritual light comes into an area on the Earth, it lightens the atmosphere and it makes it easier for beneficial discarnates (and more difficult for the not so beneficial discarnates) to operate there.
Some of those doing this work use hypnotic regression, some work with a medium, some work in prayer groups. When such a group meets, they create a ‘light’ that attracts those wandering around Earth Bound. They can also focus on a particular situation where they feel an Earth Bound person may be impacting on the lives of people still in physical bodies. A member of the group, who has the necessary gifts and expertise, can then communicate with the Earth Bound person (who is often confused about where they are) and help them go into the light. It is not necessary to be psychic to help in such a group as non-psychics can help by holding a caring and prayerful attitude.
On an individual basis, we can all help people who have just passed over, whether they might be Earth Bound or not. When we hear of someone, or know of someone who has passed over we can pray for them. Use the form of prayer that fits best in your religious tradition, or try something like the following:
“The world regards you as ‘dead’, but you are more alive than ever. Leave your body behind, you are done with it, and go into the light. There are those around you now to welcome you and help you move forward. Look for them and ask to see them if you can’t already. Go with them, go into the light. Let go of the things of the Earth. You will be able to comfort those who mourn you far better when you have claimed the powers of your new life than you can now. There is nothing here on Earth for you now and you can visit later if you so choose. There is nothing for you to do here that you cannot do better later. Go now, go into the light. Go into the love of those who await you.”
Chapter 10: Lower Spheres and Hell
“Hell is caused by people rejecting God; not the other way around. People are not cast into Hell; they cast themselves away from God, and move away from all that is good. They choose to
go to where goodness is not. The place where goodness is not, is called Hell.” – William Martin
When someone willfully and deliberately turns away from goodness, what do they have left? All they have left is what is bad or unwholesome to fall back on. The extent that someone does this will reflect their state in the Afterlife and can result in them experiencing either an unhappy state or even a Hell like state. This happens for a simple reason: what a person experiences in the Afterlife is a reflection of their state of consciousness. There is no beauty, light and peace in states of resentment, hatred and cruelty. A dark state of consciousness (lacking in spiritual light) creates a very literal place of darkness, ugliness and misery in the Afterlife, because of they way thought so strongly creates reality there.
“[Regarding the] lower spheres, there are many stages or degrees and inhabits can progress upwards, or sink further downwards, according to how stubbornly they stick to their insistence in denying the good.” – Life Beyond Death
While on Earth, we are warned not to do certain things and usually we are told it is because a vengeful God will punish us. That was a useful metaphor for infant humanity, but now we can hopefully begin to understand that there are natural laws at work. This is the Lower Spheres which are rejecting God and, to varying degrees, goodness. Yet, there they are still affected by natural laws. Natural law will cause them to be attracted to a place in the Afterlife where their mind state becomes real and causes them to experience it. The Hell states are not for eternity, as regret and remorse will eventually do their work.
[An] evil spirit immediately drifts into the company of other evil spirits of an equally evil nature. Their dominant sin grips them as in a vice, and their chief thoughts run on the lines it has marked out. Take [one] whose dominant vices were hate and ruthlessness. He thought hate, that produced an atmosphere of cruelty and hate, and his companions were likewise thinking the same ideas. The sum total of their united ideas formed that division of Hell. Those who were weaker in character, or even in cruelty, had to accept the ideas thrown off by the stronger, and, therefore, the [stronger are] able to inflict pain and wounds on [the weaker].” — Subaltern in Spirit Land
Just as there are places of beauty in happiness in the Afterlife, there are places of ugliness and misery. These places are referred to as the Lower Spheres, eventually going all the way down to what we could call Hell states. All places are shaped by the state of consciousness of the inhabitants out of the choices they made, and still make, by cultivating habits of thought and feeling. There are many gradations of these places from the very high to the very low and many in between. It is true to say that Hell is a state of mind rather than a place, but it feels very much like a place to those who inhabit it.
“You think of the ignorant, the low, and the wicked, but do not comprehend that these are lives that are in the process of evolution, and have not yet attained what many other earth lives have achieved. For evolution has not been one grand sweep of the entire human family, but has gone on by degrees and in places, some attaining much while others are almost at the beginning; some almost spiritualized, others scarcely beyond their animal ancestry. Be patient with the low and material ones, and pity rather than blame them.” — Spirit World and Spirit Life.
As there are so many gradations of Afterlife spheres, it’s difficult to draw a line and say that all spheres below a specific one are Hell states. If someone from the very low spheres moved higher to a sphere above them, it would look incredibly bright to them, but would seem dull and dingy to us.
“Many appear to consider that there is a burning hell somewhere on or beneath the boundary of our heavenly sphere, and can scarcely give up the idea of everlasting punishment. But the only hell is in the thought or soul of the sinner, and he must be cleansed of evil thought, must be taught the first essential quality of heavenly life, which is unselfish service looking away from self, and growing persistent in the effort to help others.” — Life Here and Hereafter
While living on Earth, even evil-minded people have a wide range of types of people and environments they can experience. Not so in the lower states of the Afterlife where it is much more a relentless mirror of the person’s low state of consciousness. On Earth, even a really cruel person can experience a bright sunny day or the beauty of nature, but in the Afterlife, they are faced with the outward manifestation of their harsh, cold and ugly state of mind with no escape except through remorse and making amends. On Earth, people can fool themselves and become very devious and cruel while pretending otherwise. Not so in the Afterlife. The person’s current character development shows in their Afterlife body and in their place of habitation.
“Here it is like to like; therefore, he finds himself with no other friends, and no one else near him, save those who are exactly like himself. The whole atmosphere and the very scenery of the place is tinted with the hopeless drabs and grays of their mental and spiritual outlook. How truly poets and the great writers have symbolized the darkness of evil, the grayness of misery. I have visited it and I have seen the grayness, I have seen the darkness. It surpasses that known on earth.” – Life Beyond Death
Some messages from the Hereafter say that ‘there is no Hell’. What they really mean is that there is no place of eternal punishment where an angry God consigns people. There are certainly places that feel like Hell to the people who go there, but they are not placed there by anyone but themselves. It is up to them to decide when they are ready to make progress towards the light.
“The tyrant, for instance, who gloated over the victims he cruelly tortured will experience similar sufferings in his soul. His imagination has thrilled with, and delighted in, the ugliness of pain, so that ugliness surrounds, penetrates and overwhelms, in the dark places, of his own creation. Only, of course, for a time will he experience this feverish fantasy. He comes to a point when his goaded self craves to make the leap in evolution.” — Beyond Human Personality
The important thing to know about people on the lower spheres and Hell states is that they are there as a matter of choice. Bizarre as it may seem, they are choosing to be there. As soon as they make a sincere choice to leave the lower levels, they have opportunities to move upwards. For some, it will be a long, hard road, but nevertheless, they can eventually move up to the levels of light and happiness. To do so, they need to face up to their character defects and learn to give up their cruel, malicious and spiteful ways.
“Even denizens of these low sphere are not stuck there forever. There is no ‘eternal damnation’. However, the process of these people awakening and making progress can be slow and long drawn out. Such people are used to being able to push and bully their way around, to demand what they want from others and get it by threats, violence, manipulation and coercion. First, they feel resentment at their current conditions, then they start to realize all their usual tricks no longer work as there is no one they can bully or coerce into helping them get free. Realization begins to dawn on them that their old way of doing things will no longer work and they eventually begin to look for another way.” — Life Beyond Death
Spiritual Light
Understanding Spiritual Light is one of the keys to understanding the Afterlife. Everyone goes to the level matching their current level of Spiritual Light. The higher the level, the more spiritual light is present. Spiritual Light is truth, kindness and love. Yet, it also appears as the amount of light we experience in our environment in the Afterlife. Anyone who in their Earthly life denies, or rejects qualities like truth, kindness and love is denying Spiritual Light. If they are denying Spiritual Light on Earth, to the extent that they cultivate behavior harmful to others, the chances are they will do the same thing on entering the Afterlife. They will find themselves in a dark Lower Sphere, as that is what matches the level of Spiritual Light they are accustomed too. They would find the brighter levels painful, as the light there would show up the life they had lived in all its ugliness (as it will show in their bodily appearance till they tr
ansform themselves) and they would turn away from it.
“There is no light in the lowest realms; no warmth, no vegetation, no beauty. But there is hope - hope that every soul there will progress. It is in power of each soul to do so, and nothing stands in his way but himself.” — Life in the World Unseen
If the person had actually cultivated hate, revenge and cruelty during their Earthly existence then, as those are very dark feelings lacking in Spiritual Light, they would go to a spiritually dark place; in other words, a Hell State. If such a person were suddenly moved from a Hell state to somewhere much brighter, they would find that even more painful than the Hell state and would want to escape back to Hell. The substance of our body in the Afterlife is made of the qualities we expressed on Earth. The elements of a body largely made of cruelty, or even extreme lust, would start to painfully break down on a Higher Sphere. They need to build some better qualities into themselves, as these literally shape the bodies they inhabit, before they can move upwards.
Hell
“The potentialities of progression are unlimited, and they are the right of every soul. God condemns no one. [An evil] man condemns himself, but he does not condemn himself eternally; it rests with himself as to when he shall move forward spiritually” — Life in the World Unseen
The descriptions of Hell tend to be harrowing, and I will not go much in-depth here. However, you can find much more detailed accounts in various books. There are detailed descriptions of the lower sphere and Hell in Gone West, Ministry of Heaven (Volume III of the Life Beyond the Veil series) and Life in the World Unseen . These are mostly out of copyright and can usually be found on the web. (see Appendix: Resources).
Afterlife Adventures Page 14