Introduction
Introduction – Divine Consciousness
From time immemorial, the great sages have told us there is no death. That all of life is rooted in Divine Consciousness, which is eternal and unchanging. Divine Consciousness is not an objective reality, existing “out there” in space. It’s the very essence of our being; the light which shines behind the mind, as our sense of presence, or “I”.
The reflection of Divine Consciousness in the body produces the experience of “individual consciousness”. However, this reflection is a phenomenon that has no basis in reality. In truth, there are no separate individuals and thus, no birth or death. There is only one, indivisible, eternal, Divine Consciousness, reflecting in countless bodies, like the sun reflecting in countless rivers.
Nevertheless, the experience of individual consciousness, as a phenomenon, does exist. And the experience we call “death” is the transition of individual consciousness from the physical plane to the subtle planes, and beyond. The purpose of this writing is to examine this experience and the role it plays in cosmic evolution.
Bodies and Planes of Experience
To explain the different stages of life after death, we must distinguish the various bodies and planes of experience. (see Illustrations) Beyond all planes of experience is Divine Consciousness, which is not a body or experience of any kind, but pure presence, or spirit. Out of Divine Consciousness, different planes of experience arise spontaneously. As an analogy, consider pure light, which is completely invisible and formless. But when pure light reflects off objects, different forms and colors arise spontaneously. In a similar way, the various planes of experience arise as reflections of Divine Consciousness.
Similar to the bands of visible color, the planes of experience gravitate into different vibrational frequencies. Each successive plane is denser, slower and increasingly limited by time and space. Likewise, each plane of experience corresponds to a different body, or platform of conscious experience, which is uniquely suited to experience on that particular plane. The body and its corresponding plane of experience are actually two sides of the same coin. For example, on Earth, the physical body allows conscious experience of the physical plane. For this reason, the physical body and the physical plane are really one phenomenon and cannot exist apart from one another.
The subtle body is a field of psychic activity, including the conscious and subconscious psychic impressions that have accumulated during Earth life. (There are actually several subtle bodies. But for the purpose of this writing, I’ll refer to all surviving psychic activity as the “subtle body”.) After death of the physical body, the remaining subtle body allows individual consciousness to shift its focus from the physical plane to the inner planes of experience. Although the subtle body survives death of the physical body, it is not eternal and has its own defined life span.
Beyond the inner planes of experience is the Divine realm, and the corresponding spiritual body. The spiritual body evolves gradually from the distilled essence gathered during many cycles of Earth life.
These different planes of experience are not locations but different states of consciousness within us. We will now examine each of these planes in terms of the various stages of life beyond death.
