Knowledge of Spirit Worlds and Life After Death E-Book

Bob Woodward

• Herausgeber: Clairview Books
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 319

Beschreibung

'Everyone with a curiosity for spiritual knowledge should read this excellent book.' – Peter John, psychic artist Based on direct communications with his eight spirit guides, Dr Bob Woodward confirms that we have all lived in spirit worlds before our birth – and that we will enter these same realms again after our material deaths. In a very real sense, these higher spirit worlds are actually our true home, he says, rather than our present physical existence, which is only a temporary abode. In consultation with his spirit guides – including a Tibetan Lama, a Jewish Rabbi, a Native American and his personal guardian angel – Bob Woodward gives a detailed survey of our lives in spirit worlds before birth and after death, our relationships there with friends, family and even pets, and our connections with both good and evil spiritual beings. He also gives a commentary on a range of subjects such as reincarnation and climate change. In a final extensive and moving interview, Woodward finds and speaks with the soul of his deceased father, who offers enlightening glimpses of life after death. Whilst the author's knowledge is grounded in decades of study of the work of Rudolf Steiner – with which he compares the results of his own extrasensory perceptions – Knowledge of Spirit Worlds is not intended as a dry philosophical study. Rather, it has a warm, experiential quality – based as it is on personal interaction with spirit entities – and emphasizes the love that connects all worlds and beings together.

Leseprobe

KNOWLEDGE OF SPIRIT WORLDSAND LIFE AFTER DEATH

As received through spirit guides

Dr Bob Woodward

The author encourages readers to make their own choices and decisions in relation to the contents of this book. Any advice, recommendations or teachings given herein should be subject to individual judgement.

Clairview Books Ltd., Russet, Sandy Lane, West Hoathly, W. Sussex RH19 4QQ

www.clairviewbooks.com

Published by Clairview Books 2020

© Bob Woodward 2020

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Inquiries should be addressed to the Publishers

The right of Bob Woodward to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 912992 23 2

Cover by Morgan Creative Typeset by Symbiosys Technologies, Vishakapatnam, India Printed and bound by 4Edge Ltd, Essex

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Peter John

1. Introduction

2. Analogy

3. Insights

4. Spirit Guides

5. After Death

6. Spirit Worlds

7. Where We Live There

8. Family, Friends, Pets

9. What We Do There

Addendum: Climate Changes?

10. How Long?

11. Reincarnation

12. Before Birth

Appendix: Conversations with my Father in the Afterlife

Afterword

Bibliography

About the Author

Dedication

To my good friend Carter Nelson who passed into spirit on 13 May 2018 while this book was being written. We first met, in our mid-twenties, as students at Emerson College in Sussex. Thereafter I continued my career in special needs education in the Camphill movement, whilst Carter found his place teaching in mainstream Steiner school education. From time to time we saw each other briefly. However, it was in the last years of Carter’s life, through illness, that we came together regularly and shared in lively conversations. These were always peppered with a good dose of humour, mainly directed towards our own shortcomings as fellow seekers on the anthroposophical path of knowledge. I sincerely hope Carter approves of this latest book, as he did of its predecessor also given from my spirit guides.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the encouragement to write this book given me by my good friends, Anne Lewis, Pete Newberry (‘Peter John’) and Neil Castleton. However, even with their welcome support nothing would have been forthcoming without the active cooperation of my friends in spirit, namely the eight guides with whom I conversed. I simply acted as the enquirer, and willing recipient, for the knowledge of spirit worlds that they communicated to us. Many thanks also to Hazel Townsley who, once again, transformed my untidy script into crystal clear print. For then also providing me with honest and helpful feedback on the completed manuscript, my sincere thanks to Michael Luxford, Terry Maley, Charlotte DeLotz, Erhard Keller and Graham Rickett. My gratitude also to Sevak Gulbekian and the team at Clairview Books for their willingness to publish this work.

Finally, I thank my father for his contributions as given in the Appendix. Although a late addition, the Appendix could just as well be read as a fitting Prologue for this enquiry. This quite new thought actually came to me on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death.

Foreword

I have been a Psychic Artist since 1986 and have been an enthusiast in drawing spirit guides for people ever since. I met Bob about five years ago in Chipping Sodbury in South Gloucestershire in the UK. I gave him a reading and drew him a spirit guide. We talked at length about the authenticity of communicating with spirit guides and found we had much in common on the subject.

Bob is passionate about his work. His knowledge goes back to his youth and experiences gained through the study of teachings by the Austrian spiritual researcher, Rudolf Steiner.

This book brings an in-depth look at life in the spirit world either after death or before we are born into this world.

Bob shows a confidence in his own ability to make not only a relevant connection with these ‘salient beings’ but to interpret the answers they give to his questions with honesty and clarity.

This style enables the reader to want to follow Bob’s questioning and show a thirst for more.

Everyone with a curiosity for spiritual knowledge should read this excellent book.

Peter John Andover, Hampshire, UK

1

Introduction

I began writing this Introduction in May 2018 when not yet three weeks had elapsed since the publication of my last book, Trusting in Spirit – The Challenge. This was therefore a very quick follow on, to say the least! However, at the end of that book I wrote that,

A third book, still to be written, will aim to bring through knowledge of the spirit worlds per se as given by the guides. It will hopefully answer some of the many questions which people, who are open to the idea of an afterlife, may have.

The aim and intention of this new book, as a sequel to the last one, was therefore very clear to me. Namely to do further original research together with my spirit guides, in order to throw light on the nature and characteristics of those dimensions which are hidden from our ordinary sense perceptions. What was not yet at all clear, however, was exactly how this intention would be realised, and what form and contents this current book might have. Although this was then really a complete mystery to me, I did already have the assurance from the eight spirit guides who figured in Trusting in Spirit – The Challenge that they were very willing to cooperate with me again. Indeed, without their inputs and help, the new project would simply not be possible at all. I felt that they were the ones who were best placed to help enlighten us about what life is like in spirit worlds.

After a good deal of study and thought it is my conviction that we have, in fact, all lived in these higher worlds before being born on Earth, and also that we shall pass into these same worlds after our physical deaths. In a very real sense these higher, spirit worlds, are actually our true homeland, whereas our physical, material, existence is but our temporary abode here and now. Of this belief, or assumption, the rational materialist may immediately react with scorn and scepticism, claiming that it is simply not evidence-based. This is a viewpoint that I can well understand, for we live in a time when seeing is believing and hard, scientific, so-called objective evidence must take precedence over any subjective beliefs, dogmas or superstitions. I can also understand, and agree with, those who assert that any knowledge claims should be properly tested to ascertain their credibility, reliability and validity. Of course, what exactly counts as genuine knowledge or what the process of knowing actually entails is a rather complex subject in its own epistemological right. Indeed the moment we start to delve behind the seeming realities of everyday, sense-perceptible existence, the ground on which we ordinarily stand may become very shaky! The theory and findings of quantum mechanics, for example, leads us into a very different scenario from the one we naively assume as real and solid, including our own material bodies. However, this present book is not intended to be either scientific or philosophic in any intellectually rigorous or theoretical sense. Far rather it is largely experiential, qualitative and empirical in nature, being based on my trust in my spirit guides to communicate with me telepathically. This is an ongoing process that began more than fourteen years ago and is charted in my two previous books, Spirit Communications (2007) and Trusting in Spirit – The Challenge (2018).

Now, I am not asking anyone to simply believe what will be written in these pages since I passionately believe that everyone should be left free to make up their own minds and reach their own conclusions about such matters. Nonetheless, the subject of this book surely concerns us all, provided of course that we do at least consider the real possibility that death is not the finale for us, once and for all. If you do however think that it is the unequivocal end of your existence as a distinct being, then this book is probably irrelevant to you. That is, unless you are at least open to read it, think about it, and then reassess your viewpoint in the light of it. However that may be, clearly no one can dispute the fact that we are all born into this earthly world at various points of time and that, at other points of time, we will inevitably meet our mortal deaths. Where exactly we have originally come from and where we might go to, beyond the physical boundaries of birth and death, are perennial questions which have probably occupied human beings for millennia. If we are fully satisfied with the answers which modern biology gives us, then we may perhaps rest easy in the belief that our cells, genes and chromosomes are the bedrock and legacy of our cosmic existence. Any notion of the continuation of our life essence beyond death must then be looked for only in the common genetic pool of humanity. Our mind, our thoughts, feelings, emotions, intentions and all else that is encompassed in our personality, including any sense of our own uniqueness, may be seen simply as a temporary creation of our complex brain chemistry. Or can it?

If this purely materialistic perspective does not fully satisfy us, does not somehow live up to our expectations as thinking, feeling, willing beings, then we may be open to consider alternative explanations for our rich inner life, our comings and goings and our whys and wherefores. While we can certainly admire the exact methods, intricate theories, and spectacular technical achievements of the hard-sciences, in comparison our real lives are often very messy, convoluted, stressful and inexact. They are of course also at times very joyful, exhilarating, liberating and peaceful, as well as sometimes thoroughly depressing and boring! In the kaleidoscopic vagaries of our lived-experiences the rigours of, say, theoretical physics, that inspired such an intellectual luminary as the late Professor Stephen Hawking, do not really feature as something very important or relevant to most of us. However interesting, perhaps even fascinating, they are of very limited use in terms of our daily lives. On the other hand, Professor Hawking’s obvious courage, tenacity, determination, humour and humanity do immediately resonate with us as qualities that very much matter in everyday life! We might perhaps value, together with these positive attributes, also notions of spirituality, transcendence, and meaningfulness which do not necessarily need to be rooted in any particular faiths, creeds, traditions or dogmas. Such themes as these clearly do belong in the context of this present book, which is based on the central premise that there really is an innate spirituality lying deep within us, as the very core and meaning of our being. Moreover, that this transcendent spirituality is related to, and linked with, other dimensions within our universe, which we may refer to as higher or spirit worlds. It is to begin to explore, understand and investigate these other worlds that this book has been written. Thereby we may learn to experience a greater sense of connectedness and belonging than we might otherwise have. It could of course be argued that we already have all the connectedness we need right here in our busy daily lives, without imagining any further, higher dimensions to our existence. After all, our mobile phones and the worldwide web give us ready access to global communications and information.

True though this is, how greatly we can feel the loss when death appears to dramatically sever our close links with family or friends. How painfully empty and lonely our lives may then become, compared to the companionship and love we once shared. Modern technology, for all its benefits, is of little or no avail to us in terms of recompense for our very personal loss. However, what if it is actually possible to maintain a genuine living connection with our deceased loved ones, and what if we each have spirit guides as invisible friends who want to help us, from out of their non-material dimensions? Then does it not make sense to turn towards them, both relatives and guides, in order to try to strike up a conscious rapport with them? Certainly it has become my own direct lived-experience that spirit guides in particular can help us to consider that we live within a spiritual, multi-dimensional universe as well as a physical one. To at least be open to such possibilities is the attitude of mind and heart on which the main contents of this book must stand. Those contents will take the form of conversations on interrelated themes which I have had with the guides who have cooperated in bringing this book about. However, I will also supplement each chapter with a short commentary on what the guides have said and, in doing so, refer especially to the research findings given by the Austrian philosopher and spiritual-scientist Rudolf Steiner. The reason that I base my commentaries largely on the work of Steiner is not only because of the great extent and depth of his spiritual investigations, but most importantly because of his fully-conscious clairvoyant methodology. Indeed, Steiner emphasised the need for such conscious research methods in contrast to any trance-like or somnambulant techniques for accessing psychic or spiritual information. Will the commentaries show some clear validation and agreement with what the guides have communicated to us, or will definite contrasts and divergencies emerge? At this stage in the book, neither you nor I know how this will be, but it will certainly be very interesting to find out! It is one way at least of trying to compare and assess what I have received uniquely from my guides, by reference to other independent research findings.

For students of Steiner’s anthroposophy, or spiritual science, there is no shortage of literature available. His written books and the transcripts of his 6,000 or so lectures are collected together in hundreds of volumes and cover a wide range of subjects. I will however particularly refer to some of those sources in which Steiner described ‘the journey’ which we will undergo between our death and our new birth on Earth. Such accounts usually give the big, general picture of what befalls us and, therefore, lack the more specific and individualised scenarios. To obtain the latter, it would probably be necessary to follow a particular soul on their unique pathway after death (see Appendix).

Rudolf Steiner did not regard anthroposophy as a system of philosophy but as a spiritual science per se, especially in respect of its methodology as ‘a path of knowledge’ of the human being and the cosmos. Although Steiner also produced philosophical works, these preceded his actual anthroposophical researches and findings.

As I pointed out previously in my book Trusting in Spirit – The Challenge, it seems always important to me to do all we can to check the accuracy, reliability and validity of what has been given by our guides. Spirit guides are not, I believe, either omniscient or infallible and neither is our own ability to always receive their communications correctly. In this field of spiritual research we need to be as truthful, honest and thorough as we can. This is certainly my aim and I must leave it to you as thoughtful readers to judge to what extent I have achieved this. You may of course – indeed you must – ask the question, ‘How do we know that what is contained in this book is true, or has any truth in it?’ even if there appears to be good correlation between the contents of the conversations and the commentaries. Also, of course, bearing in mind my own possible biases in composing the commentaries, say in support of my guides. My answer to that question is, ‘Probably, you don’t!’ But I would also say, ‘How do you actually know that anything, in any book, is really true?’ What indeed is truth, as opposed to faith or fiction or belief or assumption? Well, here it all rather depends, I think, on what level we are looking for the truth. If I want to know the truth about how my car is designed and how it works, then I can consult the maker’s handbook. On this, mechanical, level I can be very confident that I can find out the truths about my car. If on the other hand I want to find out the truths about the construction, design and functioning of our universe, then the situation is much more complicated. It may be well beyond my human grasp – indeed, perhaps, beyond any human’s comprehension, even including the late Professor Hawking.

Clearly the question of knowing whether something is really true or not is more or less easy to answer, depending on exactly what subject area, or domain, we’re talking about. With cars, washing machines, fridges, it is comparatively easy; with universes, different states of consciousness and possible spirit worlds, it is relatively difficult. With the latter examples, we may have to treat any descriptions or explanations we receive at first as working hypotheses or paradigms. However, as the evidence increases and our confidence grows, these hypotheses may become theories that seem increasingly credible and believable. It may then come to the point where an established theory, let us say of Darwinian Evolution, more or less assumes the status of a sure fact, or the truth – at least until some other facts are discovered, which may then necessitate a new working hypothesis or theory!

However, we also need to bear in mind that spiritual research is based on inwardly perceived phenomena, rather than on any outer sense impressions. Steiner claims that he does not formulate hypotheses, but rather reports his own direct experiences and perceptions of spiritual dimensions, beings and events.

Given the challenges for gaining true insights, what is it then that drives us forward with all our ceaseless searching and seeking for answers? In part it is our curiosity, ignorance and fears! We seek always for some greater reassurance and certainty in life through better understanding and knowledge. It is even said that, ‘The Truth shall make you free’. Free of what? Fear, uncertainty, insecurity, anxiety and ignorance. Therefore, although it is also said, ‘To err is human’, we continually try to get it right and sort out truth from fiction. The scientific way to do this is through the qualitative and quantitative methods of serious research. All research starts with at least one question and that root question may rapidly lead to many others. And so we go on the quest to discover answers, credible solutions, which we try to validate in various ways, such as by doing experiments and investigations which can be replicated and the results compared. Now, the main themes in this book are deliberately put in the form of questions – ‘research questions’, we can say. These I will put to and discuss with the spirit guides who are cooperating with me. I will also describe the methodology of exactly how I go about this form of spirit communication.

So, when the guides have given their answers to the questions will we then know something of the truth of these topics? I sincerely hope we will and that, I suggest, is the very best that we can do in this one book. Research is of course an ongoing process, and further questions and investigations, and perhaps comparisons, may shed still greater light on the themes which we will turn to from Chapter 4 onwards. If, as my guides tell me, we each have a repository of wisdom, of truth, deep in our own hearts, then perhaps if we learn to become still and feel what lives there, we might find inner confirmation of our true nature and of spirit worlds – those worlds which, I strongly believe, we are really part of here and now, as well as in the hereafter.

This book is intended to be easily accessible for all who are searching for answers to the themes which it addresses, and I hope this proves to be the case for the widest possible readership. Let us now set the stage for our cooperative inquiry.

2

Analogy

When, just the other day, I asked an old friend of mine, now in his hundredth year, whom I visit in his nursing home, ‘Why might it be important that we know something about the spiritual world before we die?’, he thought for a while. Then he replied that a certain lady he knew had said that, ‘So we might feel more at home when we pass over there’. This lady was, apparently, the wife of a priest. I think this was a pretty good answer to my question. If we consider that death is the doorway from this familiar earthly world to the ‘next world’ where, instead of our extinction, we begin to live some form of afterlife, then it makes perfect sense to try to learn something about this place before we actually go there.

Already as a youth, perhaps even as a child, I asked myself the question, ‘What happens to us when we die?’ Some of my friends thought it quite strange, perhaps even morbid, that I would wonder about such things as a young person, but nonetheless I did. In fact, I even sometimes imagined what it would be like if I could look down, so to speak, at my own funeral and see the reactions of those present! As well, and also from a young age, I sometimes wondered what was the greater reality, my own dreams or the outer physical world? Yet another recurrent question arose for me when I puzzled about my own inner life of thoughts and images. ‘Where’, I asked, ‘do my thoughts come from, and especially those that just seem to appear in my mind from out of nowhere?’ Perhaps my interest, in my later teens, in studying philosophy was inspired by my naturally reflective and introspective turn of mind. So, from these more personal observations let us now return to the central question of whether we can learn something of spirit worlds, so that we can feel more at home there when, perhaps, one day we transition to them. What is required for us to gain foreknowledge of this new land, if indeed we can? Let us explore this question via an analogy.

If we were going to set out on a journey to some remote foreign country, it would no doubt make a lot of sense to find out all that we could about it in advance. Moreover, the route we would choose to take, as well as the final destination itself, would warrant our careful preparations and considerations. Not that we could know everythingbeforehand because this would be anyway impossible and nor, in all probability, would we want to forfeit the freshness and novelty of the adventure. Even if we had heard accounts of where we were heading, or even saw images of this, say in a film or TV travel programme, we would be looking forward to having our own unique experiences; our very own ‘take’ on what was there for us to see, feel, touch, hear, taste, smell, etc. Nothing can really replace, or better, our own direct personal perceptions of the realities into which we decide to plunge or immerse ourselves. Nonetheless, due preparation is important for a whole host of reasons, including our personal safety and wellbeing. So, let us continue further with this analogy of making a journey to a foreign land, vis-à-vis our wish to learn something of spirit worlds before the day of our inevitable departure, which might perhaps be sooner than we expect!

As regards places to visit on our planet, we are surely spoilt for choice. Even seasoned world-travellers would readily admit that there are still countless destinations which they have not yet explored. In this sense we can liken our quest to that of the first pioneers who set forth on their journeys, by land or sea, not knowing what they might encounter along the way. Indeed in those early days, when they sailed east or west, they knew not whether they would simply fall off the edge of the world at the far horizon! Depending on your point of view, these bold adventurers were either extremely courageous or quite mad, to venture from their familiar comfort zones. The moment we contemplate undertaking our own modest journeys of discovery, many relevant questions spring to mind. Moreover the whole undertaking has added dimensions if we intend not simply to make a short visit to that foreign land, but wish to stay there for a longer time and perhaps even make our new home there. In that case we would probably find it even more important to gather as much practical information as we could about this new place. Such information could include what the terrain is like – say, deserts, forests, plains, mountains, lakes, etc. – what sort of climate and weather to expect, the biodiversity of the country with its flora and fauna and other inhabitants, and the culture, customs and laws of the land. The more we can learn prior to our departure from our well-known familiar setting, the better prepared we shall be to acclimatise, adapt and feel at home in our new surroundings. In particular, of course, to make friends and be happy there, for on this will largely depend our quality of life, our inner security and feelings of well-being. Clearly we hope that our move will be a great success and not turn out to be a disappointment or a disaster!

At this point then let us draw this scenario, this analogy, to a close and remind ourselves what this book is really about. It is intended to be an informative guide-book, not for any earthly destination, but to enlighten us about those spirit worlds that we may very well be passing into after our physical deaths. It is therefore not meant as an intellectual exercise or as a fantasy, but as a serious enquiry of vital interest to many of us, certainly to those who are not convinced that death marks our total annihilation and dissolution. If there really is such a thing as an afterlife, then what is it like and what can we expect from it? Many of us will already know of family members and friends who have gone before us, gone, that is, through the gate of death. If somehow they still exist as individuals, where are they now? Are they happy? What sort of world do they inhabit? Do we have any good means of knowing this, of finding out how they are faring? These are far from abstract questions, but may very well be of the greatest importance for the quality and happiness of our own lives whilst still living on Earth, particularly so, if we have lost loved ones prematurely in traumatic or tragic circumstances, rather than simply through ripe old age. Depending perhaps on our religious beliefs and assumptions, we may wonder if there really is a heaven and a hell and, if there is, what determines our personal fates after death?

In his second book, The Map of Heaven, the neurosurgeon Dr Eben Alexander explores the mysteries of the afterlife. His views are based on his own profound near-death experiences, and also those of others. In Chapter 6 he writes,

There are trees in the worlds above this one. There are fields, and there are animals and people. There is water, too – water in abundance. It flows in rivers and descends as rain. Mists arise from the pulsing surfaces of these waters, and fish glide beneath them. Not abstract, mathematical fish, either. Real ones. Every bit as real as any fish you’ve seen, and way, way more so. The waters there are like earthly water. And yet they’re not earthly water. They are, to state it in a way that I know falls short but is accurate all the same, more than simply earthly water. It’s water that is closer to the source. Closer, like the water higher up on a meandering river is closer to the springs from which it emerges. It’s water that’s deeply familiar – so that when you see it you realise that all the most beautiful waterscapes you ever saw on earth were beautiful precisely because they were reminding you of it. It’s living water, the way everything is living up there, and it pulls you in, so that your gaze wants to travel into it, deeper and deeper, on and on, forever. It was water that made all the earthly bodies of water I’ve seen, from Carolina beaches to western rivers, seem like lesser versions, little siblings of this, the thing that on some deep level I’d always known water should be.

That’s not to denigrate the oceans and rivers and lakes and thunderstorms and all the other forms of water I’ve seen and enjoyed on this earth. It is, instead, simply to say that I now see these waters in a new perspective, just as I see all of the natural beauties of the earth in a similarly new one. When we ascend, in short, everything’s still there. Only it’s more real. Less dense, yet at the same time more intense – more there. The objects and landscapes and people and animals burst with life and colour. The world above is as vast and various and populated and as different in one place than in another as this one is, and infinitely more so.

(Alexander, 2014. pp.92-93)

Well, is he correct in these almost homely descriptions? How reliable are they actually? Are NDEs sufficient, in their spontaneous methodology, to give us a full and comprehensive insight into the reality of spirit worlds? At this stage in our enquiry we clearly have many more questions than answers but, of these, the most pressing question must surely be, ‘Can we obtain reliable information, real knowledge of spirit worlds, if they do actually exist?’ We want to gain true insights into these regions so that we can form a picture, a concrete, tangible picture, not an airy-fairy one, of what we shall be stepping into ourselves, sooner or later. So what possible means, methods, resources, are available to us in this endeavour, in this knowledge-quest? This is the theme we will turn to in the next chapter.

3

Insights

When asking the question, ‘How can we gain insights and knowledge of higher, spirit worlds beyond the physical?’, we can just briefly return to our earlier analogy. Namely, our preparations to visit some foreign land. If, let’s say, we want to go to China for the first time in our lives, then we can turn to various sources of information. These can include books about the country with large-scale and more local maps; perhaps a guide to the language and to various social mores, and also the common laws of the land. We can learn something as well of the history and typical traditions of Chinese culture. Information could also include particular places of interest, where best to stay, to eat out, things to do (and not to do), means of transport, currency, and so on. However, if reading books does not much appeal to us, then perhaps we can watch relevant travel programmes on the TV or internet, or get an informative tourist DVD. We might also listen to CDs of Chinese music, speech, poetry, or visit an art gallery with examples of Chinese painting, porcelain and sculptures. All this prior knowledge will greatly serve to help us build up a colourful, multi-dimensional picture of China before we arrive there. However, another very good way of gaining insights would be to actually speak with people who are living in China now, and who are able to communicate clearly to us in our own language. One great advantage of dialogue with real people is that we could then ask various questions which arise for us in the course of our conversations. Although books, films and CDs can teach us much, the personal contact with others can feel much more alive, vibrant and to the point. Perhaps these same people can also meet and welcome us and show us around when we arrive.

The relevance of our foreign travel analogy, and especially the direct contact with real people living in China, becomes clearer when we now consider the various ways in which we can try to gain some knowledge of spirit worlds. Naturally any such knowledge-claims will need to be tested and examined carefully in order to ascertain their credibility, reliability and validity. The ways by which we may do this will be considered a little later. Sources of possible insights into spirit worlds may include the following literature: accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) and out-of-body experiences (OBEs); spiritual and religious traditions; specific esoteric literature; and books written by mediums, psychics, clairvoyants and channellers. An in-depth study and comparison of some of these published sources may enable us to come to a coherent picture and understanding of the alleged nature and characteristics of spirit worlds and of our relationship with them. However, to conduct a thorough comparative and perhaps rather academic study is beyond the remit of this current book, given that it is largely experiential in nature. Nonetheless, and as I have already stated, an important resource for me are the many books and lectures given by the spiritual researcher Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). I have been a student of Steiner’s work, known as anthroposophy, for the past fifty years and this has therefore been a major influence in my own life, my world-view and beliefs. I say ‘beliefs’ because although Steiner himself was clearly convinced about the veracity of his research, I cannot claim to have my own direct clairvoyant experiences of what he described, for example, of the various regions or levels of the soul and spirit worlds given in his book Theosophy, or of his account of the spiritual evolution of the world presented in his An Outline of Esoteric Science. Steiner wrote these seminal books during the first quarter of the twentieth century, over one hundred years ago, and it has to be said that both the contents and the style of his published works may possibly not appeal to many people nowadays. Particularly so in the light of such a current wealth of popular and accessible spirituality literature, which has its roots in the New Age movements of the 1960s and ‘70s. There are many books on angels, spirit guides, the human aura, chakra energy-centres, nature spirits, near-death experiences, psychic adventures, etc. Very importantly, however, Steiner provides us early on in his work with thorough descriptions of safe and sound methods whereby to achieve a knowledge of higher worlds. Indeed, in 1909 he published in German the book which is entitled in English, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds – How is it Achieved? This volume is still in print and has been re-translated and revised numerous times. It remains an open question whether, since its first publication, any of his pupils have sufficiently developed their own clairvoyant faculties to independently validate Steiner’s many research findings. Fortunately there are also other means available for us to ‘test out’, as it were, the results of Steiner’s spiritual investigations. For example, anthroposophy has proven to be remarkably fruitful in terms of its many practical applications in a wide range of activities which include biodynamic agriculture, anthroposophic medicine, Steiner (Waldorf) education and social renewal. If it is found that in practice Steiner’s ideas do work well, then this certainly increases the credibility for his underlying clairvoyant findings.

Now, the purpose of this present book is clearly not to make out a case for Steiner’s anthroposophy or spiritual science per se