Related to what Doc wrote, if a spirit had to extend its entire self to a lower realm, it might have a problem. If it extends just a small part of itself, it probably isn't that difficult to cleanse its energy.

Consider how it is for me when it comes to lower realm retrievels and having spirits run through my energetic system so they can be cleansed.  After and while such an activity takes place spirit energy is run through me and cleanses me. Sometimes the energy level I experience while this takes place is quite intense. It is like having a powerful force move through you. I experience some of the negative energy that is cleansed. Once the energy pushes past my crown chakra the negative energy is gone, and I feel love and peace. Sometimes when the energy gets real strong, I have to focus my attention so I feel love, peace, faith in myself, faith in the light, and my connection to the light. Often this energy feels quite positive. It is a matter of how much negativity needs to be cleansed, and what I'm used to.

I figure that if I can be cleansed in such a way, then so can higher level beings.

To substantiate my previous response to Don, I found this excellent passage from E. Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell:


"Since the union of the heavens through inflow is accomplished by the Lord alone, the greatest possible precautions are taken to prevent any angel from a higher heaven from looking down into a community of a lower one and talking with anyone there. The moment this happens, the angel will lose intelligence and wisdom. The reason needs to be stated. Every angel has three levels of life, like the three levels of heaven. For the ones in the inmost heaven, the third or inmost level is opened and the second and first are closed. For people in the intermediate heaven the second level is opened and the first and third are closed; and for people in the outermost heaven the first level is opened and the second and third are closed. The moment an angel of the third heaven, then, looks down into a community of the second and talks with anyone there, the third level of that angel is closed; and when it is closed the angel is deprived of wisdom because her or his wisdom dwells on the third level, with none on the second and first.

This is the meaning of the Lord’s words in Matthew:
Let those who are on the roof not come down to take what is in the
house; and let those who are in the field not turn back to take their garments.
(Matthew 24:17–18)
And in Luke:
Let those who are on the roof on that day while their belongings are in
the house not go down to get them, and let those who are in the field
not turn back to what is behind them: remember Lot’s wife. (Luke
17:31–32)

There is no inflow from lower heavens into higher ones because this goes against the design. Rather, inflow is from the higher ones into the lower. The wisdom of angels of a higher heaven surpasses the wisdom of angels of a lower one by a ratio of thousands to one. This is also why angels of a lower heaven cannot talk with angels of a higher one. In fact, when they look in their direction they do not see them; their heaven looks like something cloudy overhead. However, angels of a higher heaven can see people who are in a lower heaven, though they are not allowed to carry on conversations with them, to prevent them from losing their wisdom, as already mentioned.  The thoughts, the affections, and the conversations of angels of the inmost heaven are wholly beyond the perception of angels in the intermediate heaven because they are so transcendent; but when it pleases the Lord, they are visible in the lower heavens as something flamelike from the higher one, while conversations in the intermediate heaven are seen as something shining in the outmost heaven sometimes as a bright, iridescent cloud. The lower angels can to some extent tell what the higher ones are saying from the way the cloud rises and descends and from its form."

What is truly amazing about this hiearchical structure and rules discored hundreds of years ago by Swedenborg, is the correlation found with today's explorers like Monroe and Moen - who come from a completely different background.  The correlation of these divergent sources gives much of the "proof" Don asks for as to why retrievals by incarnate humans may be necessary, and why heavenly guides could not do the same thing.

Matthew

I have to add, I don't believe that what Swedenborg wrote is completely accurate.  Once a soul gets to the point where it can live according to love and light, there is no way that it's going to get corrupted just by looking at a lower realm.  It might pick up some negative energy, but it will have enough inner strength to not be corrupted by this energy. I've seen my fair share of unfriendly spirits and have had spirits cleansed through my energetic system, and it didn't corrupt me.  I figure that light beings are in a better position than me.

Once we have the wisdom and heart to choose light over darkness, that's it.

I figure there's more than one thing that Swedenborg said that isn't accurate.  For example, that business about how when male and female spirits marry each other, they merge together, the male half takes on the role of intellect, the female half takes on the role of volition, and the female half no longer thinks.

What the heh? I don't know of anybody else who has come up with the same viewpoint. It sure don't make sense to me.  I figure that either our souls have no gender at all, or they are both male and female. Plus, are volition and thinking actually separate from each other?

Bruce Moen's afterlife accounts don't accord with what Swedenborg claims, because according to Bruce, spirits who made there way out of a lower realm do return in order to help out.

Some sources state that higher level spirit beings surround themselves with protective energy fields when they enter lower realms.  One time I was shown how light beings go into lower realms in a symbolic way. They take a shower before they enter the realm, and they take a shower after they leave it.  Going by previous messages I've received, taking a shower was a way of saying being protected and cleansed, depending upon whether before or after visiting a lower realm is addressed.

Hi carl (and family),

I am no authority on angels by any means, but according to my understanding here is a possible answer to your question:

The immortal soul per se does not need any protection as it is completely and permanently identified with its Divinity/God and is immortal, eternal, indestructible - therefore it needs no protection. We use the term "soul" loosely to identify an individual being as a colloquialism, and it is probably the best way to speak of a human being since it speaks of the "most important" element in the life which is the individualized portion of the Highest.

What does need protection is the human being on the physical plane who is immersed in Ignorance, usually oblivious to God's Will, who's consciousness is primarily identified not with its own soul's directives/suggestions, but generally with the superficial demands of the ego, mind, the body, the "lower" emotions, etc., and is mostly not aware of the reality of the soul which often stands behind the life, supportive but not "assertive" while all this is going on.

Guardian angels may and do guide and protect someone who has limited, little or no awareness of their own "highest self"/soul/God within them. Their own soul may be more in touch with these angels than the soul's own instrumental being on the physical plane and the angel acts like a proxy for the soul.

Also, if someone is a genuine devotee with a well established connection to a great spiritual Master like the Christ, Krishna, Buddha, etc., it is possible that the Master may take direct responsibility for the life of the devotee, removing the need for any intercession by angels or other beings of benevolent service.  

Praying for protection and offering sincere gratitude strengthens these connections and helps to facilitate receptivity and further protection and awareness of the divine Grace and Compassion.

Hope this is helpful.

- u

Hi Carl and Family,

Some further thoughts and comments...

According to my understanding it is not true that the soul can be tainted in any way. The soul which is involved within the human being is the "direct representative" of the Highest, an individualized portion of God and as such is eternally pure, perfect, immortal, and fully irrevocably aware of its Divine Nature. It is just that "people" are generally not conscious of their soul which is above, beyond, and yet at the same time within and supporting the play of life in the Ignorance of physical existence while other lower parts of the being temporarily dominate - and that is where people can get into trouble. That is why any practice or attempt to increase awareness of the soul's reality in the life, which might be a good definition of spirituality - is important.

In some popularly held beliefs it is "the soul" that is seen as corruptible but this is not really possible. These beliefs seem to refer to the triple lower nature - the mind, body, lower emotions of the "personality" of human beings, which at some point in the development can be mistaken for the soul, particularly in a dualist conception where an unbridgeable division is seen to exist between Divinity and the physical world, including human life.

Physical life is itself rooted in a condition of Cosmic Ignorance or Nescience perhaps contributing greatly to origin of the dualist conception. Perhaps also related, this Cosmic Ignorance in which beings are not intrinsically aware of their innate Divinity is sometimes speciously referred to as "original sin".

This Cosmic Ignorance of physical plane existence is really just an aspect of Divinity in the process of evolution and not a separation from it. It is the soul which is the individual seed of the Divinity's own growth, self-discovery, realization within the physical plane being, and becoming.

Unless and until this lower nature which is temptable, corruptible and innately veiled from Truth is illumined and transformed by the gradual evolution of the soul's light within the lower nature, it is possible for the being to enter into further and/or prolonged darkness, but rest assured - this is not the soul's doing, nor is the soul corrupted by this process.

- u

Hi Don,

I have never had the pleasure of meeting my guides, but I'm not sure the imagination method can be employed with them for the purpose of verifications.

My understanding of guides is that they provide their help via circumstance and synchronicity - if we are able to recognize it while incarnate.  Seldom is there conversation, as if that were part of the communicative restrictions.  I could be wrong about this.....

With regard to speaking with a guide about getting verifiable information, I understand your post.  However, I wonder whether all of our specific information is available from stuck mental planes.  I know this sounds like a cop out, but I had a vivid dream while asleep last night, and I wonder what I would have said if quizzed on my address, date of birth etc. in the dream.  I'm not sure that I would have come up with even half of the requested information, though i feel like I might have.  That is the weird thing about altered mental states.  They are self consistent, but sometimes not logical. 

Matthew