Soul Realms

In our spiritual beliefs, many of us are drawn to the idea of existence beyond the material world. Our conception of such realms, in which the soul escapes the limitations of a physical body, may be shaped by religious tradition or by our own imaginings and experiences. The idea of the soul wandering in dreams or trance, for instance, is a common conviction among tribal peoples and still retains a hold on the Western psyche. Near-death experiences, recounted by those brought back from the brink of physical extinction, offer us a further, often comforting, perspective on the soul's potential for entering into another world.

The human realm is generally placed in the middle layer of the spiritual universe, with the heavens above and an underworld, usually associated with the souls of the dead, below. The World Tree often links the different cosmological tiers and in some cultures offers the possibility of moving between them. Water also provides a traditional demarcation of different realms, and crossing over water is a complex symbol, associated with forms of spiritual rebirth. In ancient Greek mythology, souls were brought across the River Styx by Chiron the boatman to the province of the dead, known by the name of its ruler, Hades. Modern Hindu traditions venerate the sites of unusual natural phenomena in the landscape, which are known as tirthas (meaning "fords" or "crossings"). These sacred sites are often literally fords, but they may also occur in mountain crevices or rivers, or on plains. Tirthas represent places where a divine presence enables those pure in spirit to move temporarily beyond the physical world to a transcendent, spiritual realm.

The Buddhist Wheel of Life can be interpreted either as a map showing states of mind, or as a literal guide to other worlds - all potential places of rebirth. The Wheel's lower spokes depict the realms of animals. Hungry ghosts, and several regions of hell, ranging from the frozen worlds of permanent snow and ice to one resembling a furnace. Illusion is often set at tormenting variance with reality in these nether hells. The apparently beautiful countryside of the hell known as the "Plain of Knives", for example, is agonizing for its inhabitants to walk upon. However, in contrast to other religions' eternal hells, the tortured souls will eventually be released through the Buddha's compassion, and will be reborn elsewhere. Even the heavenly realm of joy and flowers, set at the top of the Wheel of Life, is subject to mutability, despite its pleasures and illusion of permanence. Buddhist gods, or devas, are also held with samsara, the endless cycle of rebirth.

The Christian concept of heaven drawn largely from descriptions in the New Testament Book of Revelation combines the astrology and cosmology of ancient Greece and Rome with Jewish images of the Lamb. It presents a vision of God and Christ enthroned, surrounded by saints, elders, angelic hosts and the multitude of the redeemed. The heavenly realm offers believers a prospect of eternal, immutable bliss, in contrast to the finite, material realm of the Earth, which will be destroyed in an eventual Apocalypse. Yet in Judaism the relationship of the "World to Come" with the material world is less clearly defined. The sacred Jewish writings in the Talmud contain many references to the soul's afterlife, and emphasize the importance of informed preparation: "This world is like a vestibule before the World to Come. Prepare yourself in the vestibule that you may enter the hall." Yet whether the World to Come is to be seen as a separate realm, or whether it describes a resurrection of the dead in this world, depends upon the individual believer's interpretation of the Talmud.

This excerpt was taken from The Secret Language of the Soul : A visual guide to the spiritual world, by Jane Hope, with the permission from the publisher, Chronicle Books.