I also have to say that even though souls may seem to exist in the Lower Astral (with regards to earthly time) for a great deal of earthly time, it is but the blink of an eye in the scheme and evolution of the Universe. So those souls, once they have been lifted into a higher vibration and into a higher current of the soul, only regard the Lower Astral as a dream that they half remember and which then disappears in the beautiful light of day – because the current of the soul or that burst of energy around the soul changes as the soul progresses in understanding and in appreciation of the transmission of God-love.
So the current of the soul that the soul takes with it upon physical death is not locked into a certain vibration forever but continues to evolve and to change in order to bring that soul new experiences. You see, the soul, at its essence, is unchanging, so experience has to change around it to enlighten it. Enlightenment is not a journey – it is a realisation. Enlightenment is the realisation that what that soul amounts to it has always had but has forgotten. So the soul does not change but its perception changes, and its perception changes by relating to the energy that it is clothed in, by taking experiences from that personal field of energy and by elevating that field of energy through personal enlightenment.
[Speaking to David and Jane] I did say that this book would be a vast undertaking and it is. There are so many aspects we have to touch upon… but we will get there and we will put everything in order. I hope that you have been entertained too by what has been said today, because the information is also for you to keep close to your hearts and say, ‘Now I understand, even if others don’t, now I understand.’
I did invite questions and I invite them now, if you would like to take advantage of this short period we have before the earth plane encroaches to such an extent that we cannot continue…
David: How should we organise questions? Should we ask questions about the first chapter today and then, when you deliver the third chapter, ask questions about the second chapter? Would that be a good idea?
Joseph: What will happen with your questions is that they may stimulate in me some aspect that I had not considered at this time and the answers to the questions should be looked upon as inserts to the chapters or pointers in bringing the whole together. Many of the topics you ask me about will be covered in greater depth in future chapters, but also you will give me and yourselves bookmarks so that eventually you will have a number of chapters we have brought through together but also a number of questions and answers that can be inserted at the appropriate points within those chapters – perhaps at the end of them as a rounding off of a topic… or certain responses from myself can be inserted as part of those chapters to expand them.
It is good to start with a question about the questions! Are there questions proper? We will restrict them to three.
Jane: Do people in the Lower Astral know where they are – do they know they have gone to the Lower Astral?
Joseph: Perception in the Lower Astral is quite cloudy because it is driven by the baser desires so, if perception were a car, then the soul in the Lower Astral would be driving from the back seat. The spiritual aspects of the soul are shrouded in the heaviness that I talked about with regard to the spiritual atoms. That heaviness surrounds the soul and the souls in the Lower Astral at basest level are aware, as in a murky dream, of their existence in this dark place. As they are elevated to higher levels of astral existence their surroundings become more realistic to them – or, rather, their perception becomes sharper until there reaches that time of their waking moment into the Light.
God is not cruel and purposely the effects of the Lower Astral are presented to the soul as a dream because there would be too much for that soul to cope with were there a heightened reality at that level. So they are aware murkily, but increasingly aware as they are drawn out of the darkest levels, and this murkiness is caused by the current of energy that surrounds the soul. Their personal field is murky, is soupy, is foggy but then that vibration changes – and it must change, has to change for every soul – and they become more aware of sharper and more clearly defined realities.
Jane: In the Lower Astral do they ever form friendships and help each other – maybe in the higher levels there?
Joseph: At the lowest levels the phrase that comes to mind is everyone for his or her self, because it is that isolated thinking that has placed them there in the first place. You use the word ‘friendship’- I would use the word ‘attraction’. You talk of a ‘den of thieves’, so you would expect someone who had been manipulative of people in a very base way to be linked, on an atomic level via the current of their soul, to other people who are like that. This is an astounding thing for souls to go through because it is like looking into a mirror. Remember that souls, at their deepest level of being, know that what they are doing is detrimental to their existence and the existence of other souls. They do it to people but they do not expect that to be reflected back to them in everyone they see. But that is a kindness too because, in seeing themselves reflected back, there comes a time when they wake up to how they have been, how they have acted, and want to change.
So ‘friendship’ is perhaps not the right term. ‘Attraction’ is the term and they will find themselves with others. Remember they are not yet at a level where they show much in the way of compassion or love for others, or consideration for others. They have to grow into that and so, as always, God uses the circumstances to teach them by allowing them to see themselves in others; by allowing them to see themselves and say, ‘This is not who I wish to be’ and then by allowing them to move on by changing their core thoughts and elevating themselves above the darkness.
They are never alone but, again, this is something we will go into in depth at a later stage and will be quite an extensive section of this book. Remember we have only just begun and I have dealt with the Lower Astral before dealing with ‘arrival’. Now arrival, I suggest, should be my next chapter, that touches on what is waiting for a soul upon death and how the transition is made from the point of death on a physical level to the vibration at which that soul has earned the right to exist – be that the lowest astral level or one of the high spiritual planes.
So, unless I change my mind… it is very difficult, you see, to become linear with you. It is very difficult to link to you at points during your time perception because, for me, the book is already here and I am drawing on certain aspects of it that I hope to present to you in a time-frame that makes sense to you. But I also have to link up with you at points in your lives that, to you, seem to follow on from the last time we have spoken. But you sit here on a number of occasions all at once, so I have to remind myself where your perception is with regards to me giving you the communication that is taking place continuously until we have finished the book. It becomes easier to speak to you of these things as Michael becomes more comfortable (and of more use to us) with the notion of trance, because I can transmit more of an image of my realm to you than I could when you started the first book. The downside of that is that you are operating more on my terms of communication than on yours, and I have to remember that to make everything fit in in the correct order for you. There is something to think about!
I will invite one more question. I could talk all day and would be happy to talk all day but I do not feel that Michael would appreciate this or be of any use to himself for several days. However, the corridor of availability is expanding as you can see and (with what I have just said to you) there are points in the future where we do sit for considerably longer than we do at present and I can see these because they are all taking place simultaneously with me – but not with you. But for today and at this point, if I have got the calculations right, which I have (I am only joking with you), I will invite one more question.
David: It seems as though most people just don’t even consider death – probably because they fear it, I suppose. Would it be possible at some point in this book to give them some meditations towards preparing themselves for death?
Joseph: The ironic thing is that daily they prepare themselves for death – they are just not aware of what they are putting into the equation.
The problem with giving a meditation on death is that you