Levels of individual spiritual growth and realms in spirit world
- This page is part of an ERW course, section: Divine Principle - The spiritual world.
- By John Eagles, October 27, 2009.
It is generally thought that our level of individual spiritual growth relates directly to the realm where we come to live in spirit world. Although this relation does exist, there is more to be said about this.
Let me start with a comparison from the physical world. In society people have enjoyed higher or lower degrees of education and many have specialized in certain fields of science or other realms of life. There exists a group in the world that is formed of those who became professors at universities. Another group is made up by teachers at high schools. Yet another group is that of those who became masters in a guild of a certain craft, such as cabinet making.
The members of each of these groups sometimes meet and when they do, they can relate to each other well as long as they speak about topics of interests they share. But each of these people also are members of other groups. For example, they have relatives, or may belong to a certain church or religion.
Now think of the idea that when you reached a certain spiritual level of growth, you will come to live in a realm in spirit world that corresponds to that realm. The principle for this is true, but at the same time the daily reality for spirits may often look very different.
Is there for example a region in spirit world where all faithful Jews reside? Look at the situation of Jews in the physical world. Even though Jews form groups and associations among themselves, it doesn't mean that they all are united, also not when they would have reached the same spiritual level. The same can be said of Christians. On earth, they divide in thousands of smaller denominations. How would they be able to live united in one realm in spirit world?
Just like it is the case on earth, in spirit world there are many, very many groups and regions that correspond to geographical areas on earth. There are spirits who can enter many of these regions and visit many groups, and there are spirits who got stuck in a certain situation and place in the spiritual world, just like there are people in the physical world who got stuck in their interest for only one hobby or who learned much but only much about the one specialism of their profession.
So what is the meaning of the principle that there exist realms in spirit world that correspond to the levels of individual spiritual growth of individuals? The reality as I have seen in spirit world is that this can be understood similarly to saying that when you have reached a certain degree at college, you can move in the circles of those who also have done this. It doesn't mean that you are bound to a place where all the people reside who have reached the same level of education. Similarly, when you have reached a certain level of spiritual maturity, it doesn't mean that you are bound to live together with all others who also did this.
There is one beautiful exception, and that is for what we can call the Kingdom of Heaven. In the Kingdom of Heaven there are living those who are united in love for God and for one another. The Kingdom of Heaven is the place where love reigns. But does this mean that the Kingdom of Heaven is only a place where all people under God come together?
Think of it. If you are a loving person, would you not want to go out in the world and serve and love other people? Is that not the essence of being a person who found the love of God? So where will you be in spirit world most of the time? You won't be living only with your relatives in the love of God, but you will want to spread on God's love to all those who are in need of this.
Also living in the Kingdom of Heaven are all the children of the parents who love God. These children may sometimes be very young and therefore cannot yet have reached a higher spiritual level of maturity. Still, they also make part of the Kingdom of Heaven, not because of what they have learned in their lives but because of the love they inherited from God and their ancestors and parents.
The Kingdom of Heaven is the place where all people are living who really love God. It is a magical place where we can meet our first and True Parents as well as all the angels under God. We can live there in harmony with our ancestors who lived thousands of years ago and we hear their stories how they lived, across the earth in all cultures. Yet at the same time, it isn't a place where we are going to lock ourselves up. The Kingdom of Heaven could not survive if its inhabitants would do that. The Kingdom of Heaven, by the nature of God's love, will always be expanding and the residents will always be outgoing into all other parts of the spiritual and physical world. Alone for that reason, we should not imagine it to be a place where we can enjoy all imaginable blessings. We receive God's blessings when we are giving out love. Anyone would lose membership of the Kingdom of Heaen who would stop sharing God's love with those who need God's love most, who are living in some kind of dark and miserable hell.
