My brother died on All Souls Day. It was sudden and very unexpected.
I had just written about Dia de Los Muertos and the Day of the Dead and how the souls of our families and ancestors come to earth on a spiritual plane on Nov. 1 and then go back to the spirit world on Nov. 2, All Souls Day. We get to celebrate their memory on those days.
It gave me some comfort to think of him parading out of this earthly realm with a contingent of fellows, full of conviviality and a party atmosphere to usher him into the afterlife. But now what?
Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis had given my editor a copy of a new, unreleased book at the time to review and do a piece on for the column some months back.
We couldn’t get together because of their busy schedules and teaching obligations at the Spiritual Arts Institute in Encinitas. No excuses. It just never seemed the right time to delve into the topic matter until now.
I picked it back up at my own soul’s urging. The title is “Heaven and Your Spiritual Evolution, A Mystic’s Guide to the Afterlife & Reaching Your Highest Potential.” Well now. Suddenly I am very interested in this topic matter. Barbara and Dimitri run the institute and are co-authors of this book.
These two are really putting the Spiritual Arts Institute on the map, and today it is considered one of the premier metaphysical schools in the nation.
I’ve often wondered what is going on over there, and I will do something about them in the future, but I want to focus on this book for now.
The thrust of the offering is that you don’t GO to heaven; you GROW to heaven. Heaven is already nestled within us, and all of your actions are either drawing you closer to or further away from the divine objective of arriving to heaven.
Life is an evolutionary path, and many spiritual dimensions lead there.
The writers believe that heaven is the destiny of every human soul on earth. They think that we are all part of the spiritual world and come from those realms before we are born, and we will return to these inner worlds when our time here on earth comes to an end.
They urge the reader to begin to grow spiritually, and if you haven’t already started the path, start it today. There is no better time than now, as many are also awakening to the idea that the spiritual life is not a theory.
As clairvoyant teachers of all things mystical and metaphysical, the co-authors inspire the reader to make your spiritual work a stronger priority in our daily lives.
Much like this column, the work introduces the reader to the possibilities of living a spiritual life that paves the way to the hereafter, call it heaven, heaven on earth, or as the title points, your spiritual evolution or ascension.
The book discusses several spiritual dimensions that exist in the hereafter. It has beautiful Illustrations and meditations to follow that increase awareness of the spiritual realms and our potential as human souls.
Heaven is the spiritual pinnacle that can be reached consciously with our work here and now.
I find comfort in the consciousness that it is the destiny of every soul to achieve this spiritual pinnacle eventually.
So save me a spot, big brother David. Rest in Paradise.
