October 19, 2019, awakeningspark.com
https://awakeningspark.com/blog/the-spirit-or-astral-world
As a part of the weekly Meditation & Mastery classes for which I am a co-host, we have just instituted a voluntary Book of the Month Club which encourages members to read beyond the material presented during the classes and share their experiences. Our inaugural book for this club is Journey of Souls by Dr. Michael Newton (1).
As part of our discussion, one of our members, David, a bright star himself, put forward a comment/question in our WhatsApp group chat which I found to be quite rewarding in its depth. I post his comment/question below along with my response.
David: I personally found this book difficult to digest. Too much human and too little being.It felt too much like earth.Over the last several months I have been reading on the philosophy of Advaita meaning Not Two or Non-Duality and I must admit it has coloured the way I saw in this book.
Briefly advaita states that everything is Consciousness; you, me, the planet, everything. Consciousness is expressing not through us but AS us. If this so why does Consciousness or God have to go back to the spiritual realm to learn anything and for that matter to keep returning to earth to further learn? I ask these questions not to be negative but I’m genuinely seeking answers🕉🙏🏽 (2)
Narendra: Thank you David for that wonderful and honest response. I find it to be quite interesting because that was also my reaction when I read this book several years ago, early in my re-awakening.*
Like you, I also came from a background of Advaita Vedanta, or unity Consciousness. The concepts presented in this book resonated with truth for me, yet it seemed to contradict somewhat the Advaita philosophy. It took a little while of further research before I could resolve this seeming paradox.
Advaita philosophy or the perennial philosophy is correct. Everything is ONE Consciousness. In its absolute state, this Consciousness is pure potential, unmanifest, and stillness. There exists nothing but Itself. This state is often referred to as the Divine Father. The ONE Consciousness decides to experience itself through ever-grosser levels of densities, each level moving further away from the pure potential of absolute BE-ing.
As to the question of why would Consciousness go to so much trouble to ‘descend’ and then ‘ascend’; to forget and relearn; we are told from many sources that it is all about experience.** It is not enough for our Mother/Father God to know Itself as Love/Light, it wishes to experience Itself in the fullness of Itself. This is like speaking about sweet and tasting something sweet.
For a more thorough explanation I recommend you read my article “The Five Bodies” on my website. In fact, I had planned this presentation for our sessions some time ago before we were interrupted by the weather and my personal commitments for this Navratri and Divali season.
Coming back to our main point, this ONE Consciousness originates far beyond the 12 dimensions, and the transcendental realm (which begins at upper 11th and 12th dimensions) and is itself comprised of several dimensions (3).
The spirit or astral world that is referred to in the book references the upper 4th and lower 5th dimensions. It is the ‘home’ of our next immediate higher self. We all have multiple Higher Selves, many of whom ‘reside’ in dimensions that are higher than this.
Each third-dimensional planetary body has a spirit or astral world that is 4th/5th dimension. This is what is described as ‘home’ by the clients involved in the case studies presented in the book. Souls entering into a planetary incarnation cycle must first enter into this spirit world to acclimatise before taking on a planetary incarnation. This is why the spirit world looks and feels much like earth. It is the same in other planetary bodies.
The ‘soul’ energy that is present in this body is only a fraction of the energy of the Higher Self. In the sequel to this book, Destiny of Souls, a client told Dr. Michael Newton that, “If we were to bring 100 percent of our energy into one body during an incarnation we would blow the circuits of the brain.” (4)
Ascension in fact, is the process of raising, or ascending the frequency of the physical body so as to allow 100 percent of the Higher Self energy to come into the physical body. Those who have been able to access levels of their Higher Selves beyond 5D will Ascend into a higher dimension than the 5th. Earth’s final destination will be the 7th dimension.
The journey of ascension continues far, far beyond this milestone however, with complete integration back into Source Consciousness taking place much farther into the future. We still have many dimensions to rediscover and enjoy before that takes place.
* I consider my first awakening to be My Experience of Samadhi early in the millennium.
** See for example, the book series Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch.
Footnotes
(1) Newton, M. (2003). Journey of Souls (5th ed.). Llewellyn Publications, Minnesota, USA
(2) Steve: No need to not know the answer here. See The Purpose of Life is Enlightenment at https://gaog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Purpose-of-Life-is-Enlightenment.pdf
(3) Divine Mother through channel Linda Dillon (2019, May 30). Personal Reading. Available at goldenageofgaia.com/2019/06/02/personal-reading-of-narendra-mishra-with-sri-krishna-and-the-divine-mother-may-30-2019/
(4) Newton, M. (2001). Destiny of Souls. Llewellyn Publications, Minnesota, USA. Pg. 117