To this question, William Atkinson in
his book "Life beyond death"
answered the following:
« There is a
question which ever comes to the mind of those who indulge in speculations
regarding “the other side” — that question which is voiced in the words of the
familiar old hymn: “Shall we know each other there’” This query is rooted in
the very heart of human love and affection. Heaven, even if it furnished every
other joy and satisfaction, would not be heaven to the average person if it did
not also furnish companionship and association with those loved in earth life.
The soul
instinctively craves for the society not only of those close to it by ties of
the love of man and woman, but also of those to which it is bound by the
relationship of parent and child; brother and sister; friend and friend.
Without this assurance of continued companionship and association, heaven would
seem a very bleak and cold place to the average human soul.
We are glad that the
Yogi teachers have been very explicit and plain upon this subject, and that
their students may find that this hope and desire of the human heart has a full
and rich realization in the facts of life on the Astral Plane. Not only do we
“know each other there,” but we are naturally bound by Astral bonds of
attraction to those whom we love; and to those with whom we are in sympathy,
even though we had never known them in earth life.
More than this, there
is, on the Astral Plane, the possibility of a far nearer and closer
companionship between kindred souls than earth-life
ordinarily witnesses. With the dropping and discarding of the sheaths of the
physical body, the soul becomes capable of a far closer relation to kindred
souls than it ever experienced on the physical plane.
The Astral fires
having burnt up the dross of the lower attractions, the soul is able to
function on much higher planes of association. On the Astral Plane, soul may
meet soul in close communion and comradeship and the dreams and longings of
earth-life, which were found impossible of
realization on that plane, now become the ordinary incidents of the new life of
the soul. That for which the soul has longed for in vain on earth, now is found
in its richest fruition.
To realize just what
this means, it is necessary but to think of the highest ideals entertained by
the soul, in earth-life,
regarding the relationships between human beings. Though these ideals are
seldom lived up to in earth-life,
nevertheless they abide with the soul constantly, and it is one of the
tragedies of earth-life that
these ideals always seem “too good to be true.”
The love of man and
woman, of the right kind, always has as its background this ideal affection and
desire, and yet how seldom does the ideal escape being dragged in the mud. The
relationship between parent and child, between brothers and sisters, between
friends, seldom is found to approach the ideal which dwells ever in the human
heart. So true is this ideal —so constant is its presence— that when, in earth-life,
we see a companionship which seems even partially to comply with the ideal
requirements, our deepest feelings are touched.
In fiction, in
poetry, in song, in the drama, we find that the picture of the realization of
this ideal touches springs of emotion and sympathy which lift us up to higher
planes of thought and life. What then must be the joy, the bliss, the
happiness, the satisfaction, of a life on a plane of being in which this
expression is the only natural one, and where the ideal becomes the real is
actual expression?
Yes, we do, indeed,
“know each other there.” Not only the “other” whom we may have in mind, but
also many “others” with whom we are in natural soul harmony. Those who are
bound together by the bond of earth love, relationship, and friendship —providing
that there really is a bond of attachment of any degree between them— have full
opportunity to manifest their mutual affection and harmonic attraction on the
higher Astral Plane.
The highest that the
human imagination can picture as possible in such companionship, is but as a
faint shadow to the actual reality of the experience. It is useless to attempt
to paint a picture of these scenes and relationships, for there are no words
with which to express the truth. The answer to the inquiry must necessarily be:
that each soul that asks the question turn its mental gaze inward, and find the
picture, painted in the imagination, of the highest possible bliss that would
be possible in such a state and condition, and then consider that even this
imaginary picture falls a thousand times short of the reality.
It is only in the
harmony of music, or the rhythmic cadences of the best poetry, or the lines of some
great work of art, that the earth-dwelling
soul may catch a glimpse of the truth of Love on the higher Astral Plane. These
things at times cause to rise in the soul faint hints of what the soul actually
experiences on those higher planes of being. This is one of the reasons why
music, art, and poetry are able at times to lift us above the material environment
in which we are dwelling.
In the flashes of
Cosmic Conscience which occasionally come to souls of spiritual enlightenment,
there is included a realization of this feature of the association of souls on
the higher planes. Well has the Western poet expressed the difficulty of
stating, in ordinary words, the truth of this realization of the truth—in
broken measures and stammering tongue:
“As in a swoon, one
instant,
Another sun,
ineffable, full dazzles me,
And all the orbs I knew,
and brighter, unknown orbs,
One instant of the
future land, Heaven’s land.
I cannot be awake,
for nothing looks to me as it did before,
Or else I am awake
for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep.
When I try to tell
the best I find, I cannot;
My tongue is
ineffectual, on its pivots,
My breath will not be
obedient to its organs,
I become a dumb man.”
— Whitman.
“Words from a man who
speaks from that life must sound vain to those who do not dwell in the same
thought on their own part. I dare not speak for it. My words do not carry its
august sense; they fall short and cold. Only itself can inspire whom it will,
and behold! their speech shall be lyrical, and sweet, and universal as the
rising of the wind. Yet I desire, even by profane words, if sacred I may not
use, to indicate the heaven of this deity, and to report what hints I have
collected of the transcendent simplicity and energy of the Highest Law.”
— Emerson.
The difficulty in
explaining to the earth-dweller
the nature and character of the companionship of the higher planes of the
Astral, is that his mind insists upon thinking in terms of place, whereas there
is no “place” on the Astral — merely conditions and states, as we have
explained. To dwell in the “same place” as the loved one, on the Astral Plane,
means simply to dwell in the same state or condition of being, and thus be
brought into a closer relationship, a greater degree of nearness, than nearness
in space can furnish.
There is a greater
“in touchness” by reason of this harmony of Astral condition than the earth-dweller
can imagine. Only the advanced soul can begin to comprehend this mystery of
Astral Life. It can be pictured only faintly by reference to the state of
soulful “oneness” experienced at times by lovers, when it seems as if the
limitations of the flesh have been transcended, and the two souls have blended
into one. This is far more than mere nearness in space or place — and yet even
this but faintly indicates the ideal condition of the Astral Life.
It may be questioned
by some, how souls enjoying this companionship, if they happen to dwell on
different planes of Astral being, can be in the same state or condition in
which the experience is rendered possible.
The answer is simple
to one who is familiar with the highest occult truths. It is this: the soul on
the higher planes feels the sympathetic attraction of the soul on the lower
plane, and, answering it, establishes a psychic connection (akin to a highly
exalted form of telepathy) between the two, and thus renders possible the
experience of the closest mental and spiritual relationship and companionship,
which experience far transcends the companionship of two souls in the flesh.
Moreover, as we have
explained in a previous chapter, the soul on the higher plane may actually
visit, with all of its soul-being,
another soul on a plane lower than itself. In this, and other ways,
companionship between disembodied souls of the Astral Plane is manifested.
There is no “lonesomeness,” or loneliness for souls who crave sympathy on the
Astral. There is nothing that is high, and ennobling, in earth-life,
that has not its magnified correspondence on the Astral Plane — only the dross
being left behind.
There is a natural
law which operates on the Astral Plane, as well as upon the material plane, and
this law regulates and controls everything on that plane. The disembodied soul
does not part with Nature, when it leaves the earth-life
— but, rather it rises to a plane of Nature which is fuller, richer, and
sweeter in every way than the best of which the earth-dwelling
soul dreams.
The dross of
materiality burned away by the Astral vibrations, the soul blossoms and bears
spiritual fruit in the new life. There is one word, which, above all others,
expresses the spirit-meaning,
and purpose of the higher planes —and the phenomena thereof— that word is love!
And that Love is the “Perfect Love which casteth out all Fear” —and its blossom
is Joy— and its fruit is Peace! »
(Chapter 14)
OBSERVATION
To
this question, William Atkinson answered a lot and very beautifully, but
unfortunately his answer is false, because the Masters explained that
practically all humans fall into a deep sleep after death and so they remain
for almost their entire post-mortem journey. And
therefore humans are not going to meet their loved ones directly as William
Atkinson claims (since humans are asleep), but in some cases they are going to
dream of their loved ones as I detail in this other article (see link).
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