The Afterlife

A series of short lectures about the afterlife.

'A Beginner's Guide To What Happens Next' -
The passing of Mr. Johnson...

The Persian Gentleman Lecture

The Persian Gentleman: Good morning Michael, good morning Jane and good morning Molly! (*Jane's Spaniel once described by Silver Star as the most stubborn dog that was ever incarnated!). And it is a good morning for me to talk to you because there is a very strong link between the Earth plane and my plane today from your point of view (because it is Easter and many people's thoughts are slightly more spiritual as they are directed towards Jesus and the meaning of Easter more so than at Christmas!). I knew about this in advance, which is why I said specifically that I would come to you on this Saturday. The day has been rearranged so that I can bring this information through early in the morning when most people are asleep when they get up and their thoughts spill out into the atmosphere they can pollute the vibration of communication, which makes it more difficult for us to work.

I wish to talk about 'enrolment' into the Spirit Worlds - although that is not strictly the correct term as all souls come from that dimension and go back to that dimension. I want to consider things from the point of view of the ordinary man and woman. So let us imagine that we are with a 'Mr. Johnson' who, throughout his life, has lived what may be described as an average life. He has held down an average job and has not made any great advances in earnings. He has lived in an average home. He is married, with a couple of children, and his father is still alive. His mother, however, has gone on ahead to the Spirit Worlds or, as he thinks, has died and no longer exists.

Mr. Johnson is a worrier and has worried greatly from an early age. Over the last few months he has suffered from a tightness across his chest as a direct result of his worrying. On this particular morning he sets off to work in his average car but doesn't actually arrive there because, as he crosses the bridge that links the part of town where he lives to the part of the town where he works, he suddenly feels a severe pain in his chest and clutches it as he tries to keep his car on the road. The pain passes and he thinks to himself, 'Thank goodness for that! I thought for a moment that I was having a heart attack! It must just have been indigestion.'

He continues to drive towards work (or so he thinks) and suddenly becomes aware of someone sitting in his passenger seat. He looks across and sees a man who seems strangely familiar to him. The reason for this is not because his passenger has ever been a member of his physical family but because this spirit has been visiting Mr. Johnson in his sleep state for several months. He is one of the people who take the departed across to the higher side of life. He knows, because of the spiritual records available to him concerning Mr. Johnson, the precise time at which he will 'die'. He therefore looks familiar to Mr. Johnson and it is important that this feeling of familiarity is around him so that Mr. Johnson can feel comfortable with this unexpected visitor.

Mr. Johnson doesn't immediately think there is anything strange about there suddenly being somebody in his passenger seat and keeps on driving. He arrives at work (or so he thinks) and opens the car door and he and the gentleman get out and go into Mr. Johnson's office. Mr. Johnson thinks it must be April 1st because nobody is taking any notice of him. He has never been a very popular member of the office; he is a quiet man and the others are far more demonstrative and prankish in their actions, but today he can only assume they are playing a joke on him - that they have 'sent him to Coventry' - because he cannot make anyone talk to him.

He goes over to his computer and murmurs something because he doesn't like this type of practical joke. The passenger stands at his side. Mr. Johnson tries to switch on his computer but it won't respond, and for some reason he can't seem to grasp its controls. He can't push the keys on the keyboard and becomes increasingly frustrated, sitting there until elevensies, when tea and coffee are brought round. Nobody gives him a cup, however, or even acknowledges him. He feels this is the limit, stands up and begins to shout, saying, 'I am just not having this! This is no way to treat me!' but no one takes any notice of him except the man who is standing beside him.

At this point Mr. Johnson asks, 'Who are you, anyway?' and the man says, 'Doesn't it occur to you that something is different about today? These people are not ignoring you because they are playing a joke on you - they are ignoring you because they are not aware of you. From their point of view you are not in the room.
'What do you mean? Asks Mr. Johnson. 'I am sitting at my desk!' To which the man replies, 'Only in thought, because, in effect, when you felt the pain in your chest you passed into another dimension and died.' Mr. Johnson denies this, saying, 'That is absolute nonsense! Here I am at work.' The man then invites Mr. Johnson to try to pick something up, such as someone's cup of coffee, so Mr. Johnson goes around the room trying to pick up the cups but he can't - his hand passes straight through them. The man then invites Mr. Johnson to try to talk to somebody or to hit someone on the shoulder in order to get their attention. Mr. Johnson goes over to a young office boy and tries to hit him on the shoulder and, whilst the boy reacts as if someone has walked over his grave, it is clear that he doesn't see Mr. Johnson.

The man then tells him, 'You had better sit down, because you made a transition this morning. You had a heart attack whilst you were in your car. It was time for you to come home and you had better forget the office because it is no longer of use to you.'

'But what about my wife and my children?' asks Mr. Johnson, who suddenly finds himself, with the speed of thought, back at home where his wife is arranging flowers in a vase. He tries desperately to talk to her but she can't see him and doesn't react. He then finds he is suddenly with his eldest daughter who also works in an office. He stands in front of her and takes her by the shoulders but she can't see him. In an instant he is with his youngest daughter, who is at college in a lecture, and he stands in front of her then notices that, not only can she not see him, but no one else around him can see him either.

The passenger is still standing beside him and suddenly, in the corner of the room, a light appears and the room grows dim. The gentleman beckons to him and says,' Please follow me into the light, into the next stage of your existence.' Mr. Johnson feels drawn towards the light, as there is a warmth to it together with a love he has never felt before. It is a little like being under anesthetic because he forgets abut his wife; he forgets about his daughters and forgets about his office job, and his car, and his house and everything else that seemed so important to him this morning. He follows the man through into the light and the light surrounds him. He cannot see anything for a few minutes - only the light.

Then, as it subsides, he finds himself in a village that is just like a village on Earth with walls, trees, houses and roads (although there aren't any cars) and people going about their business. Mr. Johnson says to the man, who is still standing next to him, 'I thought you said I was dead,' and the man tells him that he is! 'Well, this is a strange Heaven' says Mr. Johnson and the man replies, 'This is an initiation point; this is somewhere that will seem familiar to you. Come, there is somewhere here where you can live for a little while.'

Mr. Johnson then follows him to a rather pleasant house. He goes in through the door and there, sitting in the living room on a settee, is his mother. He doesn't realize that it is his mother at first, instead wondering who the young lady is sitting on the settee with dark hair. His mother then explains that she needs to adjust the way that she is appearing to him. She closes her eyes and thinks for a moment and suddenly she is just as Mr. Johnson remembers her that frail old lady who was in a hospital bed for a few months before she passed over. He is shocked because this is not some apparition of his mother but his mother in the flesh, just as she was. She gets up and they embrace and there is a tearful reunion. Then he sits down and she says, 'You had better have a cup of tea and a biscuit because you don't look too well,' and Mr. Johnson agrees that he would like something to eat. Suddenly there appears on his knee a tray with a cup of tea on it and a plate with some biscuits but he doesn't question how they got there and the tea tastes better than any tea he has ever tasted before and the biscuits are just divine.

He asks what his mother is doing here and she says, 'I have come to make you feel comfortable during this transition period. You see, I was a little bit psychic when I was on Earth, if you remember, and sometimes said strange things and people were a little wary of me as a result, but it prepared me for this place so that, when I came across, I didn't see this village at all but saw the next stage, which you will also see in a little while. I knew that you would have a more difficult time because you never believed in an afterlife and only believed there was the Earth and that when you were dead you were dead. So they have constructed or, rather, your mind in conjunction with the people who care for you here - have constructed this image around you of this village. It is the type of place you would have liked to have retired to. You often talked about it and here is it. It is real for as long as you wish it to be real and until you feel comfortable with your transition. I will come back and talk to you again but now I would like you to rest for a while.'

Suddenly she disappears and he longs for her to come back but the man, who is still with him, says, 'She will come back so don't fret over her going. You cannot lose anyone on this side and you will see her again. You do need a rest so wouldn't you like to go through to the bedroom?' and he shows him through to a very pleasant little bedroom with a single bed in it. Mr. Johnson does feel very tired. He lies down on the bed and the instant his head touches the pillow he falls asleep.

When he awakens the man is still there and, standing next to him, is another man in a brightly coloured robe not dressed in an Earth-contemporary fashion at all. There is also another being present who appears to be surrounded by a gold and silver light, but Mr. Johnson has difficulty seeing him. It is as though he is only 'half there'. Mr. Johnson sits up and remembers that the man had said he had died and so asks what he is supposed to do now.

The being in the coloured robe says, 'Come with me, please, Mr. Johnson'. He takes him out of his house and down the road to what looks like the village boundary and, through this cloudy, misty boundary, Mr. Johnson can see quite a different scene. There are still houses and trees and hills and woodlands, but everything seems more vibrant and the people he can see on that side of the barrier are wearing coloured robes. They are talking and relaxing. Some are sitting on benches, some are reading, but they all seem more detached from the village he appears to be in. This other dimension seems less 'worldly'; it is far more ethereal and he can see that the sky has coloured streams of lights in it, and also various patches of colour, a little like the Aurora Borealis on Earth but far more subtle and colourful. As he looks at some of the buildings they appear to change. Sometimes they appear to be traditional; sometimes they appear to be made out of light, as though he is looking at the inner as well as the outer structure of them.

The being in the coloured robe turns to him and says, 'Mr. Johnson, this is the next stage in your journey, but you cannot actually get there yet because you have a lot of pollution around you from the Earth Plane. You bought into it so heavily that we have to first convince you that you are still alive and, second, acclimatise you to this land I am showing you, which is the next stage on your journey and somewhere you will live for some time. What we would like you to do now is to go back to your house and the man who came for you (that is his job, by the way, to come and take people over to the Spirit Worlds) will answer any questions you may have over the next few days (at least they will seem to you like days). Then, when you have realised where you are, that you are a spirit and that you cannot die, you can then go through this barrier and we can introduce you to life on the other side of it.

Mr. Johnson looks at the man in the robe and sees next to him the other being in silver and gold, the one who seems somehow much taller than the other two. Mr. Johnson thinks that the being looks like an angel but can only see part of him. Instinctively he knows that the gentleman in the coloured robe is receiving instructions from this higher spirit/angel and can see him pause before he speaks, as though he is considering his words.

So Mr. Johnson goes back to the house that has been allocated to him, accompanied by the man who came to take him across. Over the next few days they enjoy long discussions about life, death and God.

Mr. Johnson's memory of his family returns and he is quite upset, but is allowed to see them. It is as though he is able to look into a corner of his bedroom and see right through it into his old house where he can see his wife and daughters are distressed because they are grieving over him. He is allowed to visit, through this image in the corner of the room, a chapel of rest where there is an open coffin in which is himself or, rather, his physical body. As he visits this image in the corner of the room, time seems to be very different than he was used to on Earth, because very rapidly he witnesses a succession of images and also seems to be a part of them. One minute he is in the chapel of rest, the next he is at his funeral service and then, suddenly, his wife and daughters seem to be far happier, as though a lot of time has passed and they have already forgotten him. The man reassures him, saying, 'They haven't forgotten you, but the passage of time on Earth and what you perceive as time here is different. We allow many people to go back to their own funeral because they need that sense of closure and conclusion to their earthly life. Some of them move straight on without a backwards glance but those who do are mostly people who have gained some spiritual insight during their physical lives.'

He asks Mr. Johnson how he feels and he replies, 'I'm not sure but I do feel that I now want to move on; I feel as though I am no longer part of the Earth and I feel, if it is okay, that I am ready to step through that barrier into the next land.' 'Good!' says the man who brought him across and at that point the being in the robe appears, together with the angel or being of light and they take Mr. Johnson to the barrier. He steps through the mist and looks back and the village he has being living in for goodness knows how long (because you lose track of the days and nights here) disappears as though it has simply been a thought or an image and the portal or mist vanishes so that he is completely in a very different land.

One of the things he notices first of all is that there is a park with children playing in it and the children are dressed in robes and seem blissfully happy. Some of the them are with people he assumes to be their parents (although they actually look too young to be parents) and some are being cared for by beings of light - people in very luminous robes. The children are creating images between themselves in the air; they are building fairy castles in the air and these are quite real until they think of something else, at which point they disappear. Mr. Johnson notes that there are fairies around some of the children and that these seem real and not just images of the imagination. The children are quite accepting of these elemental forms of life around them, which look like little spheres of colour with a figure/fairy inside each sphere. He sits on a bench and watches the children for he doesn't know how long.

He then turns his attention to the rest of the landscape and finds that there are people sitting on another area of grass, listening to a speaker or lecturer. This person is talking to them and Mr. Johnson can hear his voice but he can also see colours as he talks to the people seated on the grass. He finds he can almost read the thoughts of the people sitting on the grass; he can read their hearts, he can read their emotions and can see that the person who is lecturing is pure and is sending out love to the people around him. He can also feel an earnestness with this person. He knows they really, earnestly desire to teach the people who are listening to them. He is fascinated because he can also see colours around the people listening to the lecture and knows what each person is thinking and what each individual is feeling.

The man in the coloured robe who took him through the barrier approaches him and says, 'Say goodbye, now, to your companion who has been with you since you passed over - the man who brings people across.' Mr. Johnson is a little upset. 'I don't understand, he is the only friend I have here, he is the only person I know.' The man promises he will come back and see him from time to time but explains that he has a very busy schedule as there are lots more people who are about to come across and explains that Mr. Johnson is now in the care and keeping of the gentleman in robes who, whilst Mr. Johnson was on Earth, was his guide. 'What do you mean, guide?' asks Mr. Johnson. 'Well, he was someone who, at intervals during your life, fed you information through your intuition so that you would hopefully make the right decisions for the progress of your soul. Do you not recognise him?' Mr. Johnson looks at the man in the coloured robe, who is not English and from different race to Mr. Johnson and there is a recognition; a feeling he gets as though he is remembering a member of his family from long ago when he was a boy. The other man disappears and, as always, he is aware of the presence of the 'higher', angelic spirit around the person who he now knows was one of his guides.

The man in the coloured robes invites Mr. Johnson to take a walk with him.

Suddenly the landscape changes again and he is strolling through a beautiful park with tree-lined avenues and feels under his feet a very soft yet supportive ground - not asphalt or tarmac, it is like nothing he has ever experienced before. He feels a great harmony from the grass and trees as though these things are alive and are sending love to him. He feels, for the first time in his life, completely at ease. He has no fear, no anxiety for the future. He is completely at one with this place and completely peaceful - it is a wondrous feeling. The robed gentleman invites him to sit on a bench and he finds that the bench supports him perfectly, as though it shapes itself to his back. He sits looking out across the park where there are beautiful flowers that change colour and sees other people walking in the distance. As they put their hands out towards the trees and flowers, the flowers respond by changing colour. He notices that the people's robes also change colour from minute to minute. Some of the shades within them become stronger for a moment then diminish, and then other colours come to the surface. It is as though their robes are alive.

There is a peace and a purpose here; there is no hurry, no stress. There is none of the stress that caused his heart attack in this place. The gentleman in the coloured robe says, 'I suppose you are wondering what happens next' and Mr. Johnson agrees that he has been. 'Well, this is a sort of way station where people come to be acclimatised. You may think that your village was such a station but that was the initial phase and only a 'construct' made from your own thoughts and beliefs. This place is as real as any other. It is created by the communal thoughts of many people. It is one of the steps of evolution you must pass through in order to go to higher planes.'
'What do you mean by higher planes?' asks Mr. Johnson. 'Well', replies the being, 'Heaven is not a static place. God's creation expresses itself though movement and change. The movement which spirits take is always 'upwards' and is always as a result of a wish to be closer to God, but for the moment you should stay here. You have no choice but to stay here, actually, because your vibrations will not allow you to go anywhere else'.
'What are these places like, what are these other Heavens like? This place is so wondrous; I could stay here forever. What are the other places like?' asks Mr. Johnson. The gentleman in the robe says, 'Well, concentrate and look ahead of you and you will see.'

Mr. Johnson then has a wondrous vision as the man takes his hand and somehow gives him some energy because, in front of him, through a sort of hole in the landscape, he can see the most wondrous places, as though he is looking at a child's pop-up book which, when you open it, shows different layers of illustration going back and upwards. It is as though he is looking at city after city or landscape after landscape, leading upwards into a brilliant light. The places are indescribably beautiful. In the first landscape he can see people defying gravity and flying. He can see them creating things with light. He can see them talking without moving their lips.

On the second level upwards he can see people who appear to be creating a landscape around themselves, who are making trees spring up and causing beautiful flowers to grow. Here there are also people who are investigating their inner selves or indulging in music that they may not have been able to play when they were on Earth. Others are creating great works of art and sculpture or writing books, but without applying pen to paper. They are thinking the words onto the page in bubbles that appear above their heads. Here there is a great sense of learning, creation and artistry.

Above this level he can see people in increasingly luminous robes indulging in activities that are beyond his comprehension. Above this there seems to be a plane entirely made of crystal and of light. Beyond this there is an ethereal plane that almost looks transparent from his point of view and, beyond that, a celestial light that bathes and feeds all these landscapes he is observing.

These places are beautiful magical and, naturally, he wants to be a part of them - to live in them - so he asks the man in the robes, 'How do I get to be there?' His companion replies, 'Well, there are many ways to reach higher. One is to incarnate again on the Earth Plane, but we are not even at that stage yet with you and we don't even know whether that will be necessary or whether you would want to do that. Alternatively, there are other physical spheres or planets you can incarnate into that have different sets of circumstances to bring to your soul. You needn't do any of that at all, however, because you can stay here for as long as you wish to and, by your own work for others and by uncovering further aspects of your soul, you can still reach those landscapes. It is entirely up to you. There will be a time a few days from now when you will review your life on Earth, but for now we would like you to rest. Ah - I think you will recognise these people who are coming to meet you.'

Mr. Johnson looks down the path that leads through the park and sees his mother coming to meet him again. Accompanying her is his brother, who died in an accident when he was only in his teens, together with another man who was a very close work friend and who died from cancer. He also meets some other people he has only seen in photographs and recognises them as his great-grandparents. The man in the robe touches him on the shoulder and says, 'I will leave you in their care for a while. Enjoy their company, enjoy this land and I will see you in a few days. Remember there is no hurry, everything has got to be in your own time'.

His mother and the group of people take him into a lovely house that has a courtyard. He asks whose house it is and his mother tells him it is a reflection of the house she lives in on a higher level. Amazed he says to her, 'Mum it's very exotic, isn't it?' and she replies, 'Well, sometimes I want it to have a bit of a Spanish flavour; sometimes I like it to look Moroccan, and at other times I like a traditional semi-detached. Basically it can look like anything I want it to be!'

And so he lives with these people for a few days, during which time they come and go, explaining that they don't really belong to this plane but that he will always have someone with him. He finds it strange sometimes, because he wants to sleep but can't do so and they explain to him that sleep here is replaced by what they call a period of inner reflection. They show him what to do: he has to become quiet, has to deny the landscape around him and then go inwards, into his mind. When he does this he finds that there is a wonderful, warm light within himself and it is as though he becomes like a statue in that he doesn't want to move or to think. He can come out of this state whenever he wants to and, whenever he does so, the landscape is there around him again and he feels refreshed. There is a need with him for a few days to eat. Nobody else does, although one or two of his kind friends sit with him and conjure up the image of something to eat for him. After a while he finds that he doesn't become hungry and it is explained to him that this is just a habit his soul has taken on board because of his incarnation on Earth and he really doesn't need to eat any longer. He lives in his mother's lovely house and finds that, to some extent, he can alter the furnishings. For example, he tries at one point to find a television and suddenly one appears and his mother bemusedly tells him that it is merely a construct and one of his own thoughts because there is no need for or use for a television here. Sometimes he thinks he hears cars but it is only his own mind creating what he had become so accustomed to.

After a period of time that, again, he cannot calculate, the man in the robe comes for him and he notices that his formerly etheric-looking colleague this time is quite vivid to him and he can see the whole angel who has come to collect him. They go into a wood (a wood, in Mr., Johnson's case, because he used to like walking through woods but the setting could be anywhere and anything, according to the individual). They walk through the wood until they reach a central area where they sit down on logs himself, the angel and the man in the coloured robes. The angel then asks him if he is ready and Mr. Johnson asks, 'Ready for what?' The angel replies, 'To review your life and see the high spots and the not-so-high spots of your recent physical existence on Earth.'

Mr. Johnson is not sure about this but feels that he had better honour these people and say yes. As he does so, a sphere of energy appears in front of him and he feels strange because he is looking at it but is also within it at the same time, thereby experiencing once again the situations that surrounded him on Earth. He sees and becomes himself as a child; he sees his first day at school again; he relives the time he went to college. He sees himself falling in love and experiences all the emotions again and seems to be lost in his own life. He is experiencing it from a distance but also from within it, and it seems to be moving forwards very rapidly.

There are certain points in his life when he has been angry with someone or has said something, which on reflection, he shouldn't have said, or when he has been cruel to someone. For a brief moment as he reaches those points (I must stress these are only instances where he has not realised at the time or since that he was less than spiritual in his words and actions) suddenly he becomes the person he has hurt and he experiences just how they felt when he took action against them. It is devastating and horrible but he can't stop it; he feels the pain of someone being rejected by him; he feels the pain of being on the receiving end of his sharp tongue. In his life Mr. Johnson hasn't done anything violent or murdered or robbed anyone but he has, on occasion, perhaps been a little more brutal verbally in his dealings with people than he should have been and he suffers now because of this. He is made to realise how it feels and he is shocked by the consequences of his own actions.

Then his life rapidly comes to its conclusion and the bubble disappears and he is sitting there in the circle in the wood again - a shocked man. The angel surrounds him with love and puts his arms around him, saying, 'There is no need to be so tough on yourself. You did what you did; you coped with the Earth-life as best you could. There were areas where you learned and areas where you didn't learn. You were very kind to some people but quite harsh to others. We are going to discuss this in the future because the areas where you didn't learn will hold up your progress as a soul and prevent you from reaching the next level. In a little while from now, you will sit with a team of advisors and it will be decided by you, not by them, as to the best course of action so that your soul can progress as it is supposed to. Please don't worry, for I have seen many lives unfold that are so much worse than the one you have just lived. You have done very little wrong, so don't look so devastated. For now we are going to take you back to your mother and your friends and I would like you to investigate and take advantage of the plane you are living in this 'between' stage - and to have a look at it and then we will come and talk with you about your future.'

And that is exactly what Mr., Johnson does - he goes back to his mother's house and doesn't know how much time passes but he spends time observing the place he is in. He finds it quite strange to see people's emotions written on their sleeves, as it were, for he knows what everyone is thinking because of the colours they give out. He sees animals here and it is as though they suddenly come through a portal. For example, a dog appears one day in the park. It dances around and plays with him, fetches a stick and then disappears again. He feels sad that it has gone but, every time he is sad, it comes back. Something within him tells him to let it go back to where it has come from and it disappears. The extraordinary thing about the little dog is that it talks to him. He says to it (not thinking that it could talk back), 'Would you like to fetch a stick?' and the dog replies, 'Yes, I would!' He finds that, over the days, he can sit on the park bench and, if he longs for the dog to come, it will come to him and they have conversations. He finds that the dog knows considerably more about this place than he does and it is so fascinating for him to be able to sit with this lovely animal and know that it is safe, that it will never be harmed and that it is such a wonderful companion.

In the park he watches fairies around the base of trees. He sees these little creatures and thinks at first that he is dreaming but goes up to them and, although he cannot hear their voices, it is as though they communicate their emotions to him so he knows what they are thinking. It is fascinating to see them weaving energy into the bases of the trees and the stems of the flowers and colouring the flowers by standing through them and allowing their energies to be transmuted into the blooms.

He looks at the water in the park and is fascinated to see people walking on it. He discovers that it can be hard or soft dependent on what he wants from it. There are beautiful fish in the lake and their colours are far more striking than any fish he has ever seen on Earth. They come to the surface and they, too, talk to him. He is delighted to be able to talk to a fish!

He studies the architecture in this place and it is quite eclectic, with so many different styles and so many different houses. The street is never the same whenever he visits it; sometimes a house has gone, sometimes a new house has been added.

There are always new visitors and he finds, as time goes by, that he can talk to them and tell them a little about this place and put them at their ease because they, like him, have come from a life in which they hadn't believed in anything and have had to be gradually acclimatised to this inter-stage on the spirit levels. He begins to love his life because it is so wonderful.

Then, one day, the angel comes back for him and he discovers that suddenly, in the middle of the street, there is a big communal building very like a town hall. He walks up the steps with the angel and through the open doors and into the lovely building and finds himself in a magnificent chamber of light inside, where he sits at a table. In the middle of the table there is a huge book and seated around the table are various angels and spirits and he can also sense the presence of a spirit he cannot see somewhere above him.

It is quite an informal atmosphere but they talk for what seems like days to him about his life and show him, in the opened book, scenes from other lives that were also his and he remembers them. He remembers being in Egypt, he remembers being a German soldier during the Second World War, he remembers a life further back in which he was a woman and he remembers other lives in different areas of the world. It all seems quite clear to him and he is told that it is time for him to move on to another sphere of existence and that he can achieve this in one of two ways. Either he can revisit the Earth Plane and experience another lifetime or he can work in the sphere he is in now in, helping people by being an intermediary when people cross over. This will also allow his vibration to lift up so that he can enter one of the spheres above the one he is currently staying in. No pressure is put upon him as it is entirely down to him. He is shown glimpses of the life that he would live on Earth he would be a doctor and help people that way and it seems very appealing to him and it is decided that that is what he will do.

So he now enters a waiting period and he seems, as he goes back to the way station he has been living in, detached somehow from the landscape around him; detached from his mother. He seems more introspective, spending more time visiting that quiet, that love within him. He spends longer periods sitting on a bench going within himself, until suddenly he doesn't want to come out of that inner feeling and doesn't want to go back out into the landscape. He is bathed with love from within and light from within and he can feel his consciousness mingling, being absorbed by the light, until he has the sense just of being and not of thinking.

And the next thought he has is as a youngster on the Earth being fed by his new mother and it all seems perfectly logical and he knows who he is as a spirit. Then, quite suddenly, those memories slip away and he tries to grasp them but they are gone. He is concentrating instead on the food he is being given by his mother and on the bright toys on the table he is sitting at and on his life that will be. His memory of the Spirit Worlds has, for the moment, gone completely.

Conclusion: I wanted to introduce your readers to one of the possibilities in the Spirit Worlds and also to bring them some information concerning the nature of a place many people go to. In a future lecture I will talk about the higher spheres and will also describe what it is like for a spirit who is more spiritually aware to pass over and to bypass some of the things that happened to Mr. Johnson. However, you must remember that many of the people who will read this are Mr. and Mrs. Everyman (at least on the surface) and have no knowledge whatsoever of the Spirit Worlds. I suppose this lecture could be called 'A Beginner's Guide To What Happens Next'. I hope you have found it entertaining but, before I go, is there anything you would like to ask that might add to the information you have received?

Jane: I am surprised that Mr. Johnson didn't go through the tunnel you hear people who have had near death experiences always describe.

Persian Gentleman: He went through the tunnel of light when we talked about the bright light - when he suddenly found himself in the upper world. I did not want to bring through a transition where someone goes on 'the Boat' remember that the Big Indian is going to talk about that, but he will also talk about the collection points that are around the Earth and their nature and how they appear - for example, some people go to the Spirit Worlds on an aeroplane! I wanted to simplify the process of transition from your side to our side so I simply said that he went through the light and found himself on our side within his thought construct

Jane: He didn't seem to recognise the Spirit Worlds for quite a while, even though he had been through that process many times before with his previous incarnations. Was that because he had become so ingrained with the earthly existence in his life as Mr. Johnson?

Persian Gentleman: The physical mind is a very powerful thing and, minute by minute, as you are on the Earth, if you don't believe in an afterlife you are constructing that disbelief around you. People can, in fact, find themselves in far worse circumstances and find themselves in a void where they remain for a long time because they have constructed 'nothing'. So 'nothing' is what they find and, eventually, they will hear voices in that void and someone will pull them out and they will then find themselves in that same way station. I didn't want to frighten people by saying that their own disbelief could cause them a great deal of discomfort when they passed over.

The mind is a powerful thing and we have to combat that belief of there being nothing and that holding onto the Earth Plane. People are frightened of letting go and of going into a void of 'not existing', but when they let go of those thoughts they suddenly find that they exist and exist more abundantly, having let go of the confines of the little physical mind and that they have a great deal more to look forward to in their new life. That is why it took some time for Mr. Johnson to come round. A more advanced spirit with a greater soul memory can throw off the earthly persona quite quickly.

Jane: When people are in their new surroundings initially, does it cause them distress when people just disappear again - such as when Mr. Johnson was reunited with his mother the first time and then she seemed to go away?

Persian Gentleman: There is always someone there to advise. There is always someone there to say, 'Don't worry, this is what has happened, your mother will come back again but has gone to her own sphere where she needs to live for a while and to rest.' So there is always advice and the moment that a soul questions, the answer is given. Their panic sometimes has to be dampened down so they can hear that answer, but the answer is always there for them and they are never left alone or ignorant. The time of ignorance was when they were on the Earth Plane and that time has passed.

Jane: When he saw other people, such as those sitting on the grass listening to the lecture, did they exist or was it part of his 'construct' or illusion?

Persian Gentleman: Yes, he was seeing other spirits; he was seeing the people that were around him. There is a great sense of community. One of the things that immediately strikes those who have passed is the sense of community and love. They may have been isolated on Earth but they will find that they are not isolated on the spirit side. They are part of a community and there is a greater sense of that than on Earth. On Earth you do not realise that you are linked to each other, but on the spirit side that instantly become apparent and there is a natural fascination with what other people are doing and what they are up to in this strange land you have entered. Yes, they are real people.

The construct or the village was a product of Mr. Johnson's mind - it is what he believed so he had to be eased out of that (eased - in a way - out of his mind) and into a true spirit realm and that often takes time. It can be quite awkward because people can cross over in quite distressing circumstances and re-live those circumstances when there is no need to do so. For example, someone can pass in a fire through burns and they may relive that experience of being burned until we can get in and calm them down and show them that it is an illusion. That may seem unfair, but it happens because of the way the mind works. It is also to do with the nature of the Earth Plane. Also, there are consequences of actions across the physical plane and this is to do with the Fall that we keep talking about.*
(* there will be a future book on this vast subject, which is in preparation now. M&J).

There are echoes of that belief that are still built into people, not by God but by what has happened in the past. It is a complex subject, but suffering comes not from God but because of a separation from God. There was a time when man separated himself from God. He could not truly do so because he is a part of God, but in consciousness he separated himself from God and, at that point, he began to suffer. Is it not true that an illness is a separation from the belief that you are whole? - And the belief that you are whole comes from the God within you. You cannot be separated from your loved ones. If you know that you are a part of God and the Spirit Worlds exist then there is not that pain because you know you are going to meet them again.

All pain comes from separation from God, so when people cross over and are in distressing circumstances, they maintain those circumstances until we can convince them that they are not separated from peace and from love, and at that point they become calm again. There is always help and always work done on behalf of souls who do not yet realise where they are, and what might seem to them like years is only seconds, is only the blink of an eye, until we can get them out of their mind-set and into one of the communal realities.