CAUSAL WORLD - about the Causal Plane of the afterlife.

Article about experiences of the Spirit World based upon the book "What to do when you are dead" by Craig Hamilton-Parker..
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The Causal World

"And if you enter the theatre as you are, you would see everything through the eyes of Harry and the old spectacles of the Steppenwolf. You are therefore requested to lay these spectacles aside and to be so kind as to leave your highly esteemed personality here in the cloak-room, where you will find it again when you wish."-Hermann Hesse (from the Steppenwolf)

The descriptions of the afterlife that we have considered all relate to a world of form. In many ways, the states described are an exalted continuation of the experiences of earth. However, is there a state of being that goes beyond all of this? Could there be a final resting-place for the soul from which we return no more? A place where incarnations are no longer necessary?

To some people, enjoying an existence in heaven is the highest aim of life. However, there is a state of being that transcends even the celestial pleasures and is eternal. It is without beginning and endless. The understanding of this can only come when you finally merge with the Absolute--into a state that may also be called God.

The cycles of birth and death help you to attain perfection gradually through experience. The positive karma accumulated during a lifetime secures for you time in the afterlife. However, our experience in life shows that whatever we consider pleasure is always accompanied by some sort of pain. Pleasure and pain could not exist without one another. If pleasure were to continue forever, it would not be pleasure at all. Without its opposite, we are unable to enjoy pleasure. Every kind of earthly pleasure is related with some form of pain or suffering. And so it is in the heavenly world.

On the earth plane, the duration of suffering is longer than the duration of pleasure. However, in the heavenly planes, the reverse is true: pleasure is long and pain is limited. However, an eternity spent in this state of being would eventually become monotonous, because the celestial pleasures are also limited by time and space. Because of this, pleasure cannot be eternal. Your good thoughts and good deeds will take you to the heavenly realms, but these by themselves are not enough to sustain indefinitely, and you are drawn back to be reborn.

Just as I spoke about how attachment to the material world and the body can stop your progressing upward, so too does attachment to the celestial worlds hold us back from our ultimate goal. A point will come when you will want to transcend even the joy of heaven. You will yearn to join a higher cosmic plane from which nobody returns, and you need never incarnate, or take physical form, again.

This higher plane of existence is often called the “causal planes;” called Brahmaloka by the Hindus. Eventually, you will even leave this blissful plane, and unite forever with the omnipresent God.

The second death

In the causal plane, everything is reduced to its essence. Nothing is lost. Everything you are and have been is retained. However, the manifestation of a body or an environment will become less important. You will truly become aware that you are a being of light. You will not necessarily have a bodily form, but become as pure light. Your consciousness will no longer need form.

These states of being are impossible for us to fully comprehend while we reside in the world of form. Perhaps the best synonym is to liken the state to love. In essence, love is surrender. Love is a submission. It is putting others before yourself. A person who is filled with love may even give up his or her life for a beloved or to a cause. What draws us to these higher planes is a divine manifestation of love. It is like a billion-watt bulb. The love is so great that we merge with our beloved. We merge with the infinite.

Some describe this ultimate entry into the final level as a second death. A point comes when you will leave the levels of the afterlife that have form and move forward into the causal planes. There is a demarcation between these two states because it requires a major impetus of the soul to move to the next plane. You surrender your self-importance and your ego once and for all. You allow your own free will to merge with God's will. The lower self dies and the higher self is set free. It is definitely like a death and a new birth.

THE SEVEN DEATHS

The spirit communications made by Myers to the members of the Society for Psychical Research tell of seven deaths before the highest level is reached. Myers communicants assert that we are housed in a sequence of bodies. The bodies in the life beyond are made of a lighter and more highly energized one than the physical body, with an increasing content of spiritual energy as we progress. Each entry into a higher level of the afterlife calls for spiritual preparation for the move to the next stage. Stage one is the earth plane and stage two is the earth-like world that we encounter immediately after death. Myers calls this simply the “life-immediately-after-death plane.” Also existing are five other planes which he called “Hades,” the “world of Eidos” (plane of color), the “world of Helios” (plane of spiritual flame), and the final two planes which he calls the “plane of light” and “timelessness.” These final two planes are akin to the causal planes.

In the causal plane, personality becomes of little importance even though your sense of self continues. You will be in a state similar to an artist lost in his inspiration, or lovers lost in a moment of joy. In fact, nothing is really lost. Everything that constitutes “you” is still there, including all of your personal memories and the history of your many lifetimes. It is a little like putting sugar into water. The sugar dissolves, but it is still there--you can taste it. Similarly, you will merge with these higher planes, and all that is you will still exist, but in a transformed state.

Spiritual beings from the causal planes can continue to manifest self and may descend to other levels in order to teach and help others up the ladder of spirituality. These beings are the higher guides, the angels, the avatars, and Bodhisattvas.

As with all levels of the afterlife, there are still different states of being created by different types of people. Many will feel the impulse to return to teach others, whereas others may be so enchanted by the glorious light of God that they spend their time in a blissful state of rapture. They say that if you listen very carefully during your meditations, you may hear the angels singing.