Matthew,

Your astute reflections tie in nicely with these 3 observations:
(1) In ADCs and NDEs, we are sometimes told that we can "hold back" the progress of our recently deceased family members by grieving too long or not at all.  You may recall my post about a female doctor named Phyllis who was summoned in 2 NDEs to an encounter with her deceased mother in "a mall that was not really a mall; it was a mall of white light."  On both occasions, this Mom warned Phyllis that her unwllingness to actively grieve was inhibiting the Mom's "progress" in Paradise.  It struck me that Phyllis's inability to grieve was linked to interpersonal issues that required a level of forgiveness that was hard to achieve.  The very fact that my emotional state can affect the postmortem progress of spirits vitally connected to my life suggests that stages of forgiveness are a crucial factor in postmortem progress.

(2) Jesus expresses an afterlife principle this way: "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged and the measure you dish out to others will be dished out to you (Matthew 7:1-2)."  Judging here implies ongoing anger, comtempt, or resentment which must be released or forgiven for postmortem progress to be possible.  Refusal or reluctance to forgive activates the principle of like attracts like that traps us in realms with souls who share similar unresolved issues and the "energetic make-up" sustained by this life pattern.  Past life reviews and authentic retrievals would then depend on nurturing a process that leads a soul through enough stages of forgiveness to create real progress in PUL, progress sufficient to upgrade one's energetic make-up to a vibration suitable for a "higher" realm.  

(3) All of this underlines the importance of recognzing PUL as a way of being rather than as a cosmic ecstatic energy.  As a way of being, PUL embraces all the classic Judeo-Christian virtues such as patience, tolerance, repentance, and forgiivenss.  Progress in the PUL way of being is essential for the changes in energetic make-up that enable one to move up to higher planes.  One cannot simply be retrieved via a "jail break" or "a served sentence in Hell" simply because one chooses to leave one's current realm for a more pleasant one.  The principle of like attracts like governs the very possibility of shifting planes.  One must be "like" the spirits in the realm to which one relocates.

Don

Thanks for the comments.  I think I "get" Don's last comments, that merely wishing yourself out of a stuck focus level won't make it so.  Declarations of forgiveness or repenting are like smoke on the wind unless they are accompanied by true contrition and action. 

This concept also resonates against the concept of some in the Protestant Christian church who believe in the "faith alone" (sola fide) doctrine.  That concept (as best as I can interpret it), means that by passively accepting Christ and declaring it, one if forgiven of one's sins, without acts or deeds or contrition accompanying the declaration. 

The thing is, people can say or declare anything they wish, whether they are sincere or not.  It doesn't make it so.  This is why I don't believe in the faith alone doctrine or faith without action.  When a conscious person has felt guilt and repented, there is a deep inner need to make amends that accompanies the apology.  Deeds and acts come into play when an apology is sincere.

One can easily imagine a person stuck in a hell swearing by all that they can that they have repented, and yet not being sincere.  In that case, their "vibrational level" has not changed, and they are not truly ready to move to a heavenly plane.  When one's vibrational level is raised, the person who wishes to repent has had a fundamental change, separate from the simple wish of being out of the hell or focus level. 

Matthew