All dimensions have subdimensions. Let me rephrase that using the language of the afterlife rather than that of the Company of Heaven.
Every plane has its subplanes. The only plane I’m familiar with is the astral plane, from my study for New Maps of Heaven (NMH). I don’t consider that brief glimpses of the higher planes make me an “expert.”
There’s no agreement on nomenclature in the afterlife. What I’m giving here is what I used for NMH.
The differences in subplanes reflects the density of vibration. If we feel ourselves getting heavier, colder, coarser in every way, then we’re heading towards the Dark Plane. If we feel ourselves getting lighter and more loving, we’re heading towards the Higher Summerlands.
Moreover, there is no fixed line between subplanes. As Arnel says:
“Each sphere as you progress is blended into the next by a kind of borderland. So there is no shock to those who pass from one to another. Albeit, you will mark that each sphere is distinct in itself. Nor is the borderland between two spheres a neutral land. It partakes of the qualities of both. There is, therefore, no void, but a very real and continuous gradation all the way.” (1)
What we think of as hell is really a very dark, dense, and cold place, as I understand it, called the Dark Plane or the Winterlands. It’s the home of mass murderers, torturers, assassins, and other very malicious people.
Spirits from higher planes are constantly ministering to these souls to awaken the light in them, at which point they begin their movement out of darkness. (2)
The next higher plane – think of it as a different continent – is the Stony Plane, which is desolate. It’d be like living in a desert, without any amenities. But it would be warmer than the dark planes, with more light. (3)
The next higher would be the Lower Summerlands. They stretch all the way from the crudity of an Elizabethan pub to the decent family life of most people – very bearable, nice garden, delightful neighbors, plants that always bear fruit, etc. (4)
The Higher Summerlands are the launching ground for what? Yes! Ascension to the Mental Plane, our Fifth Dimension. (5)
Here the people are more than friendly. They’re enquiring. They’re contemplating. They’re gathering in the groves of academe and the operating theaters and the orchestra pits and producing deep research and inspiring works.
What the Christian Fathers of old thought of as heaven we would today call the Mental Plane or Fifth Dimension. Occasionally a member of the group confides that they feel the transition to that higher plane coming.
Why not give an example? T.E. Lawrence recorded the Ascension of Dr. G, which I can take from New Maps of Heaven.
That quote is large enough to merit a separate post tomorrow.
Remember: Our body goes with us; it’s not the same for Dr. G, who doesn’t wear a physical body.
If you’re wondering how the process of Ascension could change, consider what Sri Ramakrishna tells us: “He who has made the law can also change it.” (6) The Universal Law is a formalization, a concretization of the Mother’s Divine Will.
She’s at work changing the pattern of Ascension, blending realms, creating new ladders. As it happens, our Ascension differs from Dr. G’s (and from Jesus’s and from Buddha’s) and whether his Mental Plane will be our Fifth Dimension remains to be seen.
(Concluded tomorrow, in Part 2.)
Footnotes
(1) Arnel in G. Vale Owen, medium, The Life Beyond the Veil. Book III: The Ministry of Heaven. New York, 1921, 84-5.
(2) See “The Astral Plane – The Dark Plane” at http://goldengaiadb.com/index.php?title=The_Astral_Plane_%E2%80%93_The_Dark_Plane
(3) See “The Astral Plane – The Stony Plane” at http://goldengaiadb.com/index.php?title=The_Astral_Plane_%E2%80%93_The_Stony_Plane
(4) See “The Astral Plane – The Lower Summerlands” at http://goldengaiadb.com/index.php?title=The_Astral_Planes_%E2%80%93_The_Lower_Summerlands
(5) “The Astral Plane – The Higher Summerlands” at http://goldengaiadb.com/index.php?title=The_Astral_Plane_%E2%80%93_The_Higher_Summerlands
(6) Paramahansa Ramakrishna in Swami Nikhilananda, trans., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1978; c1942, 817.