We are spirits. The vast majority of our existence will be as a spirit. Our time in physical bodies are meant as periods of training or missions to help other spirits.
How Spirits are Created
We know that as a physical body we are born of a mother. But how are we created as spirits? The Spirits Book supplies us with a non-answer:
Question 81. Are spirits formed spontaneously, or do they proceed from one another?
“God created them as he creates other creatures, by His will. But we must repeat again that their origin is a mystery.”[i]
Therefore, we do not know exactly how we started. As you become a higher spirit you shall have the ability to remember more of your past lives and history, but I have never read or heard of any report coming from the spirit world concerning the first beginning of a spirit.
We are immortal, meaning that we shall watch the sun of our solar system turn into a red dwarf and eventually degrade into a lifeless body, with nothing but frozen rocks rotating around it.
Think about this for a moment. We worry what will happen tomorrow, or next week. Anxieties such as can we buy that new car, or will we be able to make the house payment. How do any of these concerns stack against the fact that no matter what happens, you can’t die.
The Spirit Form
You may lose your physical body, but the real you will never perish. So, what does the real you look like?
Question 88. Have souls a determinate, circumscribed, and unvarying form?
“Not for eyes such as yours; but, for us, they have a form though one only to be vaguely imagined by you as a flame a gleam, or an ethereal spark.”[ii]
We are energy with some matter thrown in. We can move at the speed of thought or take a leisurely walk. It all depends on our thoughts. In the spirit world, thought is action. Let me repeat again, thought is action.
This is one of the most important lessons that Spiritism supplies us. Here in our physical form, we learn that if we can just keep our mouth shut everything will be ok. Not true in the other world. Therefore, here on earth, in this chaotic location, we need to bear down and learn how to control our thoughts.
You can’t just do good works and appear to like your fellow humans, you must feel love and fraternity from the bottom of your heart. For when you live in the spirit realm, your thoughts are an open book.
Where Spirits Live
Where do you live the vast majority of your existence? The answer is everywhere. The entire universe will someday be yours to roam. The higher you ascend the larger your range.
Question 87. Do spirits occupy a determinate and circumscribed region in space?
“Spirits are everywhere; the infinitudes of space are peopled with them in infinite numbers. Unperceived by you, they are incessantly beside you, observing and acting upon you; for spirits are one of the powers of Nature, and you are the instruments employed by God for the accomplishment of His providential designs. But all spirits do not go everywhere; there are regions of which the entrance is interdicted to those who are less advanced.”[iii]
Unbeknownst to most of us, we swim in a sea of spirits. Good, bad and indifferent spirits, all able to detect our presence and know what we are thinking. This too is part of our training.
We must learn to not pick up other thoughts and let them affect our drive to perform what our conscience tells us is right. For there are many out there who love to see the daily disasters that we humans fall into every day.
Why can’t we see them? Well, there are some people who actually can see spirits. They are mediums with an ability to view the spirit form. For the rest of us, we walk through the presence of spirits blind to their existence.
The spirit world exists on a different dimension. Scientists are correct, there are planes and dimensions surrounding us that we can’t perceive. To the spirit world we are spirits locked in a case of dense matter. Our suit that protects us also severely restrains our senses.
Levels of Spirits
You now are aware that we live in the midst of spirits. That there are many different types of spirits. Upfront, I want to let you know that when we die, we don’t become intelligent caring angels of mercy. We become spirits which retain our memories, personalities and character we had during our physical life. In other words, people who were mean and petty in life are the same in death, people who were caring, kind and always willing to lend a helping hand in life are the same in death.
This is why we are here on this planet. God is not going to let uncaring, immature spirits loose on the universe. We must finish our assigned courses and graduate before we will be given the right to ascend.
Given the varieties of humans on the planet, it should be no surprise to learn about the different levels of spirits which reside amongst us.
The spirit realm tells us there are an unlimited number of levels of spirits, but for our consumption The Spirits Book has divided spirits into the following orders:
Third Order – Imperfect Spirits: Predominance of matter over spirit. These types of spirits are more influenced by material desires. They have a predilection for evil. They are ignorant, full of false pride and selfish. Within the third order, they are further divided into five class. All detail about these types of spirits are covered from questions 100 to 106.
Second Order – Good Spirits: Predominance of spirit over matter. These spirits desire to ascend. They possess many qualities for good. Although they still have imperfections to repair. Good spirits are further divided into 4 classes. Questions 107 to 111 describe each class of good spirits.
First Order – Pure Spirits: These spirits are pure energy. They possess an intellectual and moral superiority over all others. Pure spirits no longer have to suffer through reincarnations. First order spirits are described in question 113.
All of us one day will become pure spirits. We are in the middle of that process now. It all depends on our hard work and dedication for how fast we are able to attain perfection.
If you would like you would like you like to learn more about the spirit world, I suggest you read my book The Spirit Realm – Spiritism has Revealed the Reality of Our Existence.
[[i]] KARDEC, Allan, The Spirits Book, White Crow Books, Ques. 81, p.97
[[ii]] KARDEC, Allan, The Spirits Book, White Crow Books, Ques. 88, p.99
[[iii]] KARDEC, Allan, The Spirits Book, White Crow Books, Ques. 87, p.99