“The altruistic sentiment began in the lower stages, with the parental love first, then love of friend, and home, and country. Then comes the higher development, always, it is true, being more or less mixed with self-hood. But the start is made, and keeps on until the perfection is reached in the love of man and the brotherhood of nations, and that 'far-off divine event' leading upward to godliness and perfect love. This is the need of the world. It is this that should be emphasized:—the good of all rather than the advancement of the individual.” — Spirit World and Spirit Life
Love is the greatest force for breaking down the barrier between this world and the Afterlife. Do not think of those who have passed on as ’dead’, ‘gone’, ‘lost’ or ‘far away’. This adds to the barrier between the worlds. Instead, think of them as full of life and vigor. Think of them as happy and radiant. Above al,l think of them with love, kindness and affection. This will help break down the barriers between you and them and allow them to help you – and you to help them – in deep and profound ways. Cultivating this type of thinking will also help build your spiritual body so that when you pass on, you will more easily adapt to the Afterlife. By such means, as guiding your thoughts towards the good, you literally build your body and your home in the next stage of your existence.
If you have regrets in regard to people who have passed on; unkind words you had wished you had not spoken, or kind words left unsaid, speak of them in the silence of your mind, or write them out, and know they will be heard and understood by those for whom they were intended. In this way, you can serve the purpose of Love and in this way serve your own real purpose in this life and in the next.
“Our chief difficulty in framing our message is the fact that we have nothing to say that has not been anticipated, more or less, by one or other of those messengers who have taught men the way to God. But this is obvious. You have to recognize the fact that God has not left you in darkness all these ages, nor has He given you misleading light. What we have to do is not to give you what I may call a revolutionary revelation, so much as to widen the chinks through which the same light may stream through a little more clearly. The fullness of the glory of that light we cannot describe. We who dwell in it are discovering more and more of the imperfection of our vision. And so it will ever be. Progress, eternal progress, ever forgetting the things that are behind, ever reaching forward to those which are before it, is the universal law.” — After Death: Letters from Julia
Broadband Love
Our challenge is to begin to cultivate love in a broader and more inclusive way. The focus of our love may be on those who are closest to us, and those we know best, or it may go out in adoration towards rock stars, actors, sports stars or whomever we particularly admire. This is Narrowband Love as the focus is on our likes and dislikes so it is really about ‘us’.
There is another kind of love that we could call Broadband Love. This is a type of love that can arise for people we do not know, may only arise for a few seconds, and we never see the person again. Some may call this Unconditional Love, yet that can simply mean we are putting less conditions on the people we already love. Broadband Love is not personal, we are not attempting to make a personal connection. Broadband Love can arise spontaneously with someone we see passing in the street, see in the distance or wherever. It might be an old lady we see who reminds us of our mother, or if we have a thing about animals, it might be a cute dog or cat we notice. Something triggers us to have a feeling of care and appreciation for another person or another being.
We can cultivate our capacity for Broadband Love and actively send it to people. We can send it to them either by thinking of them or looking at them as we feel it. You have probably noticed that if someone is turned away from you, and you look at them long enough, they feel it and turn to look at you. We don’t always want people sensing we are looking at them, but if we keep it brief enough we can send them love, or a blessing, and they will receive it and not know where it came from. We just send it to them for a few seconds and look away before they turn towards us. It is a combination of having a good feeling about someone and looking at the person either through our physical eyes, or thinking about them using our mind’s eye; either method sends the feeling to them.
A good place to practise is in a café where you can look out towards those passing by. Wait till you see someone who you feel some kind of appreciation for, let the feeling come into your eyes, and look at them for a second or two, then look away. At first, the feeling of appreciation may be only for something they are wearing, but as you practice with different people it will grow. They may look anxious or worried, and we beam our caring at them. They may look bold, courageous or confident and we beam our appreciation at them. Some find it easier to start by focusing on the centre of their chest and breathing in and out with a feeling of warmth, love, blessing, or kindness and then sending that out on an outbreath.
Broadband Love can also be sent to people we already love or care about to broaden our relationship with them. We can use the light that Broadband Love brings into our eyes to light up the eyes of those we know. It can be an excellent way to give someone a positive boost without having to use words.
I was sitting in a restaurant talking with a friend. She was feeling low and I wanted to offer support, but did not know what to say, as it was a complicated situation with her partner that was bothering her. I let go of my frustration of not knowing what advice to give, and my impatience at hearing the same story yet again. Then I let the feeling of care, of Broadband Love, come into me and I let it come into my eyes. I knew her well enough, so I then looked into her eyes and let the Broadband Love show. Almost immediately her eyes lit up and her demeanour started to change for the better. The change was more pronounced from her response to that look than from anything I had said to her in all the times we had talked about ‘the problem’. She became more positive, hopeful and optimistic.
Broadband Love is much more fun than sitting judging people for what we dislike or disapprove of about them. It is also much more difficult to feel lonely or depressed when we are practising Broadband Love. We can use it whenever we like. We can just think of people, let that warmth come to us, let that smile come into our eyes and hold that for a short while. They will receive something and your relationship with them will start to change for the better in various ways. Instead of feeling a lack of love in our lives, we simply start to put it out and The Laws of the Universe will respond and bring it back to us. However, just the doing of it often feels like enough reward. How can there be a lack of something when we are in the midst of feeling it?
What has this to do with the Afterlife? Learning to love has everything to do with what you will experience in the Afterlife and how easily you can connect with those who inhabit those realms from this one. It also cuts through the barriers and builds a bridge between the worlds when we beam love at those who have passed over.
Broadcast Love
Broadcast Love is targeted at the physical situation we are in. We start with our own body, then whatever we are sitting or laying on and then into our surroundings, including the natural boundary to where we are. We finish by sending it to the whole Earth.
We start by getting ourselves physically comfortable and gently slowing down our breath a little. Feel a quality of warmth, kindness, or love as you breathe with your attention on wherever feels like the centre of your chest. As you breathe in, feel or imagine that quality you chose (friendliness, kindness, warmth, etc.) is coming into your body and going out as you breathe out. Breathe out this quality, first to what you are sitting or lying on for three breaths. Then, for three more breaths, breathe it out to the floor or ground in the area where you are. Then, feel or see it going into the boundary of where you are. (If you are in a room, it could be the walls and ceiling, if you are outside it can just be a natural edge to the landscape.) Then, for three more breaths, breathe the quality into the whole of planet Earth.
Practise Makes Perfect
ion
As we do these types of practise, of generating love towards others and into our environment, we set aside our personal needs and wants for a little while. Our personal needs and wants have their place, yet it is also refreshing to function outside of them. These types of practise, based on love, help us detox our Astral Body and the Astral Plane of the area around us. As well as human skills, we also have the skills to act as angels and play our part in the transformation of the Earth and the subtle realms around it. As we do so, we make it easier for higher energies to come into the Earth. This improves the energetic conditions that you live in. It also improves the conditions of the newly born incarnate into giving them a better chance to live to their potential.
The wonderful thing about this type of practise is that you can do it wherever you are, whatever your age. Whenever you have time on your hands, you can use it for the betterment of life.
Wherever the vast sweep of evolution is taking us, we are all in together. It is not our job to decide who should or should not be left behind; our job is to do what we can to bring each other along. Perhaps no one is going to be left behind and evolution will continue till everyone arrives at our destination. Those who reject the Good are choosing a rougher path, but in the end, there is no other way to go but take the path of love and accept our responsibility to each other along the way. Indeed, it is only to the extent that we accept our responsibility to each other that we are actually on the path of love. This is not only true here; it is also true when you pass over to your Afterlife Adventure.
Appendix: Resources and About the Author
Afterlife Adventures.
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2017. William Fergus Martin
Resources
You can get resources, appendices, additional information and references for this book at this short link:
http://iwp.net/aa
About the Author
William Martin is an internationally published author, workshop leader and presenter. His book, Forgiveness is Power , is published by Findhorn Press (ISBN: 9781844096282). Also published in India (Vikas Publishing, ISBN: 9789325975170) and in Traditional Chinese (Trojan Culture, ISBN: 9789863591184) and will be available in Simplified Chinese in 2018.
He is the Founder/Chairperson of the registered charity, The Global Forgiveness Initiative. http://iwp.net/gfi
He offers a free eBook, Four Steps to Forgiveness , which teaches people how to forgive quickly and easily. It has been expertly translated into over 20 languages and is available here: http://iwp.net/4s
William is the curator/license holder for TEDxFindhorn.
For more information: williamfergusmartin.com
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