Afterlives of the Rich and Famous (5 page)

Survival.
Yes, to a degree, we would all seem to have a Survival theme. But to those who have specified this theme, life is a relentless, ongoing struggle, something to be endured despite the fact that the odds are stacked against them. They usually excel in crisis situations, but they have trouble distinguishing between a true crisis and their grim view of common everyday challenges. They should all be given and take to heart a bumper sticker reading, “Lighten Up!”

Temperance.
The Temperance theme is typically accompanied by an addiction to deal with and overcome. Even if the actual addiction never manifests itself, people who choose this theme have to fight a constant sense of vulnerability to potential addiction, whether it is to a substance, sex, a lifestyle, or another person. They also have to avoid the opposite extreme of becoming fanatically or psychotically repelled by what they perceive as something that may be a potential addiction. The key to the progress of the Temperance theme across the board is moderation.

Tolerance.
You name it, those with a Tolerance theme feel compelled to find a way to tolerate even the intolerable. Obviously, this can become a pretty untenable burden, to the point where they will eventually focus all their energy on one area they feel they can universally tolerate most easily, while becoming either narrow-minded or oblivious to everything else around them. Their growth can be accomplished by recognizing the theme that is causing such an unrealistic and indiscriminate view of the world and learn that being magnanimous is only worthwhile when its target is worthy.

Victim.
By definition, life’s sacrificial lambs. Their purpose among us is to throw a spotlight on injustice and inspire us to take action and make changes for the better. Abused and murdered children, targets of hate crimes, and those who have been wrongly convicted of violent felonies and then subsequently proven innocent are among those whose Victim theme is devoted to the interest of the highest good.

Victimizer.
Here to achieve absolute control over as many victims as possible, for the purpose of being surrounded at all times by visible proof of their own power. The will and feelings of their victims are meaningless until and unless they are in perfect agreement with those of Victimizers, and the only compassion they are capable of is toward their own hypersensitive, insatiable ego. On a small scale, they are the controlling lover or spouse, the stalker, the pathologically overzealous parent, and so on. On a larger scale, they are Jim Jones of the People’s Temple, “Bo” and “Peep” orchestrating the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide, David Koresh of the Branch Davidians—anyone who demands such slavish devotion that even children, who were given no options, were sacrificed not in the name of God, but in the name of the Victimizer.

Warrior.
Our fearless risk takers, our soldiers, our pioneers, astronauts, firefighters, and countless other unsung heroes in countless other professions with the courage to step up to a physical, moral, or spiritual challenge. They work in every sphere, from the mundane landscape of everyday life; to the front lines of wars against crime, drugs, natural disasters, and homicidal tyrants; to the vast unconquered worlds in space. Without direction, Warriors’ aggression can be destructive. But when focused, especially with a secondary Humanitarian theme, those with a Warrior theme can make historic contributions of global significance.

Winner.
The Winner theme differs from the Infallibility theme in that Winners have an active, pervasive compulsion to achieve and triumph. They are perpetual optimists, always believing that the next business deal, the next relationship, the next roll of the dice at the crap table, the next lottery ticket or sweepstakes entry, the next job or even the next marriage or child will be the one they have been waiting for, that will make all the difference. In its finest form, Winners’ unfailing optimism and ability to pick themselves up from every failure and move on with confidence is inspiring and exhilarating. Without frequent reality checks, though, Winners can squander their money, their security, and their lives with too many impetuous, undisciplined, and uninformed decisions.

Mission Life Entities

Mission Life Entities are among the most advanced spirits among us on earth, which is why there are so few of them mentioned in this book.

Each and every one of us has our own God-devoted purpose, whether our conscious minds are aware of it or not. Every incarnation we live here and every moment we spend on the Other Side are stepping-stones toward fulfilling that purpose. It’s essential to remember that no one purpose is more important than any other—every purpose toward God’s greater good is indispensable and equally valuable. If you find yourself doubting that, try to imagine a world full of kings and presidents with no teachers, nurses, miners, charity workers, cooks, mechanics, homemakers, and all the other residents of this planet who contribute to our day-to-day lives, or an army filled with nothing but generals and not a single foot soldier. Whatever our purpose, it’s ours to commit to, excel at to the very best of our ability, and know that, in God’s eyes, the very best of our ability is all He asks.

Those who volunteer for the purpose of Mission Life Entity have essentially said, “Wherever on this earth you need me, God, I’ll willingly go.” They’ll sacrifice their own needs and their own comfort for the mission they’ve signed on for: to compassionately, selflessly rescue, affirm, inspire, ignite, and celebrate the essential genetic connection to the divine in every one of God’s children they encounter, no matter what it takes or where it takes them.

Mission Life Entities don’t try to recruit or convert others or preach any specific dogma or religion. They’re kind, generous, and tireless, never claiming superiority or some elevated closeness to God. They include and embrace humankind rather than trying to isolate or estrange anyone. And they can be found in all walks of life, with a variety of job titles and varying levels of social status. Their purpose isn’t dependent on the amount of media exposure they can attract. It’s expressed through quiet generosity, universal empathy, and their ability to enrich the spiritual well-being of humanity during their time on this earth, a profoundly satisfying, very advanced path often filled with hardship and turmoil, which is why it’s a journey only a few rare souls choose to take.

Mystical Travelers

Mystical Travelers can most easily be described as Mission Life Entities with a broader range. What they have said to God about their soul’s journey is, “Wherever in this universe you need me, I’ll willingly go.”

In other words, Mystical Travelers devote themselves to the same eternal purpose that Mission Life Entities do: strengthening the divine spiritual connection between us and God as a thriving, active force. But while Mission Life Entities limit their focus to earth, Mystical Travelers volunteer to incarnate and continue that purpose on any inhabited planet in any galaxy. Most Mystical Travelers have experienced many lifetimes on earth and are ready to “graduate” to more expansive horizons. It’s as if their learning on earth earned them their Ph.D., and they’re yearning to go elsewhere for their postgraduate work.

Mystical Travelers have all the transcendent qualities of Mission Life Entities—the peaceful acceptance of sacrifice and discomfort, the uncommon empathy, the generosity, the kindness, the unwillingness to sit idle if someone needs help. The only two I’ve met in my six-plus decades had the added bonus of seeming to have taken and excelled in every theological course ever conducted, coming away with none of the rhetoric and all of the joy of actively loving and being loved by God. Both of these Mystical Travelers made me feel like a beginner, and neither of them lived long enough to reach adulthood. They came, they gave us a glimpse of our spirits’ greatest potential, and then they quickly left for their next assignment on the other side of the universe. You’ll read about one of them in this book.

Orientation

Orientation is an essential part of our transition from life on earth to our joyful lives on the Other Side. It takes place in one of the countless satellite rooms in the Hall of Wisdom, after we’ve studied our most recent incarnation through the Scanning Machine. During Orientation we’re debriefed on the lifetime we’ve just lived, with the help of our Spirit Guide, a team of trained Orientators, and any other spirits whose input can give us perspective.

For example, let’s say there’s someone your life deeply hurt, and watching your own cruelty through the Scanning Machine has left you devastated. The Orientators and your Spirit Guide can help you see if your actions might have resulted in some long-range unimagined progress in your soul’s journey or in the journey of the person you hurt. You can even summon that person (if he or she is at Home) or that person’s Spirit Guide to join the discussion. The point is to get an overview of the impact and inevitable ripple effect of your behavior, not so you can come away patting yourself on the back for what a great idea your cruelty turned out to be, but to give yourself enough perspective to make peace with the person you hurt and with yourself.

Another function of Orientation is to ease the transition to the Other Side for those spirits who were unprepared for the trip and are too confused or annoyed to be at peace when they first arrive, but don’t need the more intensive “therapy” of cocooning. As we’ve discussed, and as you’ll discover among Francine’s celebrity comments, not everyone is instantaneously giddy about going Home, and the Orientators are impeccably trained to help. After unprepared spirits experience the Scanning Machine and the debriefing afterward, they’re counseled by their Orientators to quiet their turmoil and resentment. They’re then given as much time as they need doing activities that brought them comfort on earth—reading, hiking, golf, soccer, chess, movies and television, computer games (let’s face it, there are those who wouldn’t consider it heaven, if there weren’t computer games), whatever will allow them to “decompress” at their own pace and renew their spirit’s awareness that our
real
lives are those we live on the Other Side.

Quadrants

As we’ve established, all of the earth’s continents exist on the Other Side, including the “lost” continents of Atlantis and Lemuria. And each of the continents at Home is divided into four quadrants. The division has nothing to do with government and politics, since there’s no need for those on the Other Side. (It’s sounding more like paradise by the moment, isn’t it?) Instead, the quadrants are simply areas devoted to specific purposes corresponding to the chosen vocations of our lives there. One quadrant of each continent is dedicated to Orientation, for example, not only the “decompression” activities of those who need them, but also the training of aspiring Orientators. Another quadrant is specified to house all the sciences. Another is the center for the creative arts, and the fourth is where all the research of Home takes place.

There’s complete freedom of movement among the quadrants, and as with all other areas of the Other Side nothing exists that’s off-limits to anyone. A sentry is posted at the entrance to each quadrant, but only to keep track of the whereabouts of everyone who works there and direct their visitors or collaborators from other quadrants to their exact locations.

To make our lives there even more convenient, if you go to, let’s say, the second quadrant of Asia to say hello to a friend, and the sentry tells you your friend left there to meditate in the Gardens of the Hall of Justice, as the “locals” love to do, you’re not facing a long journey to catch up with your friend. Free of our bodies, with our skilled spirit minds sharp and clear, we enjoy the gift of astral travel, which is effortless, instantaneous, and taken for granted—we simply think ourselves from one destination to another and we’re there.

The Scanning Machine

Once we’ve completed our overwhelming reunion in the meadow with all the beloved friends and animals who gather to welcome us Home, our Spirit Guide escorts us to an immense, sacred, private chamber in the Hall of Wisdom for our visit to the Scanning Machine. The Scanning Machine is a huge convex dome of blue glass, circled by curved white marble benches. And through that domed blue glass we watch every moment of the incarnation we’ve just completed replayed before our eyes, the ultimate home movie in three-dimensional hologram form. Because there’s no time on the Other Side, the number of “years” it takes to review our lifetime in exhaustive detail is a nonissue.

Rather than simply being a nostalgic stroll down memory lane, our session at the Scanning Machine is essential to the journey of our spirit. We all slog along through our lives on earth with no conscious awareness of our charts—in fact, even if we astrally travel from earth to the Hall of Records and locate our current chart, we’ll be staring at a blank parchment scroll, since our own charts are off-limits to us until we’ve done our best to live through them. But once we’re Home again, we have total recall of our charts, and the Scanning Machine provides the means for us to literally see how our intentions stacked up against our actions.

I find it fascinating, and so logical, that it’s not God who evaluates how well or how poorly we did.
We
evaluate how well or how poorly we did, stripped of the earthly devices of defensiveness and ego-driven self-justification. We come face-to-face with the unfiltered, unedited reality of a lifetime of actions, for better or worse, and it’s ours to deal with, process, and learn from.

And by the way, next time you read about others’ near-death experiences and they mention the fact that their whole life flashed before their eyes, you’ll now know that they got as far as the Scanning Machine before they were resuscitated and came back to “life.”