Destiny of Souls (21 page)

S: It is a temple to Athena, goddess ofwsdom. I was a priestess with three others. Our job was to tend the flame of knowledge. The flame was on a flat, smooth rock in the center of the temple with writing etched around it.

Dr. N: What does the writing mean?

S: (pause) Ah *… essentially … to seek truth above all things. And the way to seek truth is to look for harmony and beauty in that which surrounds us in life.

Dr. N: (deliberately obtuse) Well, is that all you did just making sure the flame didn’t go out?

S: (with some exasperation) No, this was a place of learning where a woman could participate. The flame symbolized a sacred flame in our hearts for knowing truth. We held the belief in the holiness of a single god with lesser deities representing parts of that central power.

Dr. N: Are you telling me that you and the other women had monotheistic beliefs?

S: (smiling) Yes, and our sect went beyond the temple. We were seen by the authorities as being pure in heart and not as an intellectual caste. Most of them did not realize what we were about. They saw Athena in one light while we saw her in another. To us, the flame

meant that reason and feeling were not opposed to one 140 Destiny of Souls another. To us, the temple placed the mind above superstition. We also believed in equality between the sexes.

Dr. *N: This kind of radical thinking could get you into a lot of trouble with a patriarchal establishment, I suppose?

*S: It did, eventually. Their tolerance eroded and we had deceit and intrigue within our own ranks and then betrayal. Our motives were mistrusted. We were disbanded by a sexist state which was losing power and felt our sect was contributing to corruption within the state.

Dr. N: And after this series of lives in Greece, you wanted your temple with you in the spirit world?

S: That’s one way of putting it. To my friends and me, this life and a few earlier ones in Greece represented the high point of reason, wisdom and spirituality. I had to wait a long time before openly being able to express these feelings again in a female body.

Once I took *Ariani into her temple she saw a huge rectangular gallery without a ceiling, filled with approximately 1,000 souls. These souls were a large secondary group whom she saw bunched into smaller clusters, called primary groups, made up of souls numbering from three to twenty-five. Her own cluster was midway back on the right side (see figure 1, circle A). As she made her way back, Ariani was accompanied by her guide. She then described how this entrance appears to a returning soul. This scene is one I hear repeated over and over again involving large numbers of soul groups, regardless of the structural setting. In the super conscious minds of people, these gatherings could just as well be in an amphitheater, palace courtyard, or school auditorium as in a temple.

Dr. N: Ariani, give me a sense of what it feels like to make your way through this crowd of souls to your cluster.

S: (with excitement) It’s uplifting and awesome at the same time. With my guide leading, we start to weave our way left and right between the clusters, some of whom are seated in a circle and others are standing,

talking. In the early stages most people pay Soul Group Systems 141 Figure 1: The Great Hall Community Center This diagram represents the first view by many people of large numbers of primary soul cluster groups which make up one big secondary group of some 1,000 souls. Primary group A is the subject’s own cluster of souls.

142 Destiny of Souls no attention to me because we are strangers. Souls who are nearby my path might nod their heads in polite acknowledgment of my arrival. Then, about midway through, people who see me become more animated. A man who was my lover two lives ago stands up and gives me a kiss and asks how I am doing. More people in other clusters begin now to smile and wave at me. Some whom I have known in lives only slightly give me a thumbs-up greeting. Then as I get to a group next to my own cluster I see my parents. They stop what they are doing and drift over the short space between our two clusters to embrace me and whisper encouragement. Finally, I reach my own group and everyone is welcoming me back.

About half of all my clients see large groups of souls upon their return. The other half report that after their arrival they see just their own cluster. The visual images of either large or small gatherings of souls can vary with the same soul after different lives. The primary group of souls, with whom we are most closely bonded, may also appear to these same subjects as people milling about in outdoor scenes of recreation, such as a countryside field of flowers.

Regardless of an exterior or interior setting, figures 2 and 3 illustrate what a majority of subjects see when they first make contact with their groups. In these instances, no other groups are observed in the area. In figure 2, the welcoming souls are rather bunched together, each soul coming forward in turn to the front position. Figure 3 shows the customary way a group forms a semicircle around the newly arrived soul. Most of my subjects experience this circular form of greeting. A descriptive representation of this practice will be found in chapter 7 with case 47.

Those subjects who report going directly into a classroom setting upon returning from a past life have a clear picture in their minds of hallways that connect a series of spaces for study. Unerringly, they seem to know in which space they belong. In these cases, cluster groups commonly stop their activities to welcome any new arrival. Figure 4 represents the usual design layout of a learning center where numerous groups of souls work. The consistency of reporting about the

settings Soul Group Systems *< 143 Figure 2; Cluster Group Position 1 Figure 2 indicates the phalanx-diamond position of a primary cluster group greeting returning soul A with the group guide *B behind. Here many souls are concealed behind one another before their turn to greet the incoming member.

Figure 3: Cluster Group Position 2 12 oclock 3 o’clock Figure 3 indicates the more common semicircle positioning of a soul group waiting to greet returning soul A with (or without) teacher-guide in position B, On the hands of this clock diagram, souls come forward, each in their own turn, from positions within a *180-degree arc Typically, greeting souls do not come from behind A in the 6 o’clock position.

144 Destiny of Souls shown in figure 4 is astonishing. Only a very small percentage of my subjects say that their initial meeting with groups of souls involve just floating in air with nothing around. The absence of landscape scenes or physical structures does not last long, even in the minds of these people.

Classrooms Any gathering of souls outside a classroom setting, including the large assembly halls, indicates it is a time of general socializing and recreation. This doesn’t mean serious discussions are not taking place in these areas, only that soul activities are not directed as in study areas. Here is a typical description from a subject who is moving into a classroom setting (see figure 4):

My guide takes me into a star-shaped structure and I know this is my place of learning. There is a round domed central chamber which is empty now. I see corridors going off in opposite directions and we move down one of these halls where the classrooms are located. They are offset in such a way that no two classrooms face each other. This is so we will not bother another room of souls. My room is the third cubicle on the left. I never see more than six rooms to a hallway. Each room has an average of eight to fifteen souls working at desks. I know this sounds ridiculous, but that’s what I see. As I pass down the hall with my guide, I notice in some rooms souls are studying quietly by themselves while others are working in groups of two to five. A different room has the students watching an instructor lecturing at a blackboard. When I enter my room everyone stops what they were doing and gives me a big smile. Some wave and a few cheer as if they were expecting me. The ones nearest the doorway escort me to a seat and I get ready to participate in the lesson. The whole time I have been gone seems like a brief trip down to the corner grocery store to buy a carton of milk.

Most of my subjects visualize the structures of their spiritual classrooms as being single story, although there are exceptions, such as the next case, with an intermediate level soul called *Rudalph.

Soul Group Systems *. 145 Figure 4: Spiritual Learning Center This classroom design is visualized by many souls as having a central rotunda A, with primary cluster group rooms *B down adjacent corridors. Usually there are no more than six rooms per hallway. These round rooms are offset from each other. The number of reported corridors varies.

146 Destiny of Souls Case 28 Dr. *N: After your last station stop, *Rudalph, describe to me what you see as you approach your destination the place where you belong in the spirit world.

*S: As I come near my pod, there is a park-like atmosphere where the countryside is so quiet and peaceful. I see clusters of bubbles that are smooth and transparent with souls inside.

Dr. N: And do you recognize your own pod?

S: Oh
… yes
… although my… references
… take some getting used to again. I’m doing fine. I could have done this myself but my guide
Tahama (who appears as an American Indian) came to escort me on this trip because she knew I was tired after a long, hard life. (subject died at age eighty-three in 1937) She is so considerate.

Dr. N: All right, describe your pod for me.

S: I see my pod as a large bubble which is a school building divided into four floors. Inside the bubbles there are many bright, colorful points of soul energy.

Dr. N: And all this is transparent from the outside to you? S: Semitransparent… milky.

Dr. N: Okay, now go inside and describe how you see these four floors and what they mean to you.

S: The four floors are transparent and look like glass. Each level is connected by a stairway with a compartment for study at one end. On each floor there are groups undergoing instruction. I enter on the first floor where a beginning level group of eighteen souls is listening to a visiting lecturer called *Bion. I know her she is very aware of the pitfalls of young people. She is strong but tender.

Dr. N: Do you know all the teachers in this school?

S: Oh, sure. I’m one of them just starting, of course. Please don’t think I’m bragging, I’m just a student teacher, but I’m very proud.

Soul Group Systems 147 Dr. *N; As well you should be, *Rudalph. Tell me, does each floor have one primary cluster group?

*S: (hesitates) Well, the first two do there are twelve working on the second level. The upper floors have souls from other groups working on their individual specialties.

Dr. N: Rudalph, is this the same thing as an independent studies program?

S: That would be accurate.

Dr. N: All right, what happens next to you?

S: *Tahama tells me where I need to be reminding me that I belong on the third level but to take as much time as I want. Then she leaves me.

Dr. N: Why does she do that?

S: Oh, you know… our guides maintain a teacher-student relationship with us in this center. They try not to be real familiar with us … in a social way, because of their *… professional status. I don’t mean for this to sound as though they act like some pompous professors on Earth. This is different. The master teachers, such as my other guide, Rel on keep a little distance from the students when not engaged in teaching to give them space and allow for individual expression among themselves. They feel it is important for the student’s growth not to be hovering around them all the time.

Dr. N: That’s most interesting. Please continue, Rudalph.

S: Well, Tahama says she will see me later. To be honest, I’m not completely tuned into this place yet. It’s just the way I am when I come back. It always takes me awhile to acclimatize, so I’m going to relax and enjoy the children on the ground floor.

Dr. N: Children? You call these first level souls children?

S: (laughing) Well, now I’m sounding a bit pompous myself. It’s just how we describe the beginners, who can be rather childlike in their development. This group is really just starting. They acknowledge me,

because I have been active with them. I know 148
Destiny of Souls the ones who are repeating the same mistakes because of a lack of self-discipline. They are not making much effort to move up in development. I don’t stay too long because I don’t want them to be distracted from
Bion’s lesson.

Dr. *N: What is the teacher’s attitude about the slow ones?

*S: Frankly, the teachers of the first level do get tired of certain students who almost refuse to progress, so they leave them alone a lot.

Dr. N: Are you saying the teachers stop pushing those students who are difficult?

S: You have to understand that teachers have infinite patience because time is meaningless. They are content to wait until the student is disgusted with treading water and offers to work harder.

Dr. N: I see. Please continue with your tour of this school.

S: I am looking up through the glass ceiling to the second level. That’s where I’m headed next. These souls have a fleecy, gauze appearance from here. I don’t really need a stairway but it represents a means of passage in my mind. As I climb to the second floor I see the adolescents. They are like super-active teenagers
… full of restless energy
… sponges absorbing a lot of information fast and trying to act on that knowledge. They are learning to get a grip on themselves but many don’t know yet how to give back to others in effective ways.

Dr. N: As a teacher, would you say that these souls are selfabsorbed?

S: (laughs) That’s normal, along with a constant need for outer stimulation (more seriously) I am not yet qualified to teach on this level. *Enit is in charge here a disciplinarian with a big heart. Right now they are on a break. I find them fun to be around because they all pump me for information about the manner in which I have learned to accomplish things on Earth. Soon it’s time for me to go to the third level.