Sharp, brilliant extracts - see below - from some of the books of the teachings of Mons Hugh Benson, a beloved spirit teacher and a former Catholic Mons. Hugh Benson.

(The books - Transmitted directly from the afterlife)

Facts (1946)

Life in the World Unseen (1954)

More Light (1947)

More About Life in the World Unseen (1956)

Here and Hereafter (1959)

Heaven and Earth (1948)

DO YOU HAVE THE MORAL COURAGE TO READ MONS. HUGH BENSON's MOST POWERFUL SHARP AND SHORT QUOTES?

Robert Hugh Benson AFSC KC*SG KGCHS (18 November 1871 – 19 October 1914) was an English Anglican priest who in 1903 was received into the Roman Catholic Church in which he was ordained priest in 1904. Highly intelligent, highly spiritual, highly insightful, Mons. Hugh Benson brilliantly exposes directly from the afterlife much of the alleged misunderstood theology of orthodox Christianity – especially that of the Catholic Church.

Some of what Mons. Hugh Benson has to say may shock you, but absolutely the truth has to be revealed and disseminated everywhere. He tells us now is the time to spiritually wake up! And we are all very thankful to Mons Hugh Benson for having the tremendous courage to tell us exactly what the real situation is in the afterlife and why Christian orthodoxy is wrong and misleading us all.

BOOK 1: 'LIFE IN THE WORLD UNSEEN' (First published 1954, first edition 1978, second edition 1981, third edition 1984, fourth edition 1987, this edition below 1997)

The most famous and best loved book of Hugh Benson, this has become a classic of Spiritualism.
He describes his arrival in the spirit world and his surprise that there was no judgement, no eternal hell and that the only religion was love. His book contain details descriptions of the Summerland, the middle astral planes as well as descriptions of his excursions into lower and higher spheres.

1. “The writers of religious text-books tell us nothing exactly what takes place at the moment of separation, for one simple reason- they do not know.” p.15).

2. At my moment of my death: “I suddenly felt a great urge to rise up. I had no physical feeling whatever, very much in the same way that physical feeling is absent during a dream, but I was mentally alert, however much my body seemed to contradict such a condition. Immediately I had this distinct prompting to rise, I found that I was actually doing so.” (ibid p.16).

3. “I then discovered that those around my bed did not seem to perceive what I was doing, since they made no effort to come to my assistance, nor did they try in any way to hinder me. Turning, I then beheld what had taken place. I saw my physical body lying lifeless upon its bed, but there was I, the real I, alive and well.” (ibid p.16).

4. “I knew at once of the alteration that had taken place in my condition; I knew, in other words, that I had “died’. I knew, too, that I was alive, that I had shaken off my last illness sufficiently to be able to stand upright and look about me.” (ibid p17).


5 . “Here let me say that all idea of a “Judgment seat” or a “Day of Judgment” was entirely swept from my mind in the actual procedure of transition. It was all too normal and natural to suggest the frightful ordeal that Orthodox religion teaches that we must go through after “death”. (ibid p.18).

6. “The very conception of “Judgment” and “Hell” and “heaven” seemed utterly impossible. Indeed, they were wholly fantastic, now that I found myself alive and well, “clothed in my right mind,” and, in fact, clothed in my own familiar habiliments, and standing in the presence of an old friend who was shaking me cordially but the hand, and giving me greeting and good wishes and showing all the outward genuine manifestations of being pleased to see me, as I was pleased to see him.” (ibid p.18).

7. “One of the great facts of spirit life is that souls are exactly the same the instant after passing into spirit life as they were the instant before.” (ibid p. 24).

8. ‘… it is the law that, as we progress spiritually, so do we shake off the semblance of age as it is known on earth …We lose the wrinkles that age and worldly cares have marked upon our countenances, together with other indications of the passage of years, and we become younger in appearance, while we grow older in knowledge and wisdom and spirituality. (ibid p. 35).

9. “Here is perpetual day. The great celestial sun for ever shines. Neither do we have the many other indications of time that force themselves upon the earthly consciousness – such, for example, as hunger and fatigue. Nor in the more lengthy passage of time such as the ageing of the physical body and the dulling of the mental faculties. Here we have no recurrent seasons of spring, autumn, and winter. Instead we enjoy the glory of perpetual summer – and we never tire of it!” (ibid p. 42).

10.”We have our communal worship here, but it is purged of every trace of meaningless creeds of doctrines and dogmas. We worship the Great Eternal Father in truth, absolute truth. We are of one mind and one mind only. No one is called upon to believe blindly - or to profess to do so – something which is utterly incomprehensible to any mind. (ibid p. 45).

11. “Although we can thus send our thoughts, it must not be assumed that our minds are as an open book for all to read. By no means. We can, if we so will, deliberately keep our thoughts to ourselves; but if we should think idly as it were; if we should just let our thoughts ramble along under a loose control then they can be seen and read by others.” (ibid p. 57).

12.”To anyone who has a knowledge of earthly history, the volumes with which the shelves of this section of the great library were filled would prove illuminating. The reader would be able to gain, for the first time, the truth about the history of his country. Every word contained in these books was the literal truth. Concealment is impossible, because nothing but the truth can enter these realms.” (ibid p. 62).

13. “Each soul, as it passed into spirit, passed into that realm for which it had fitted itself when upon the earth - into that realm and no other. My friend Edwin had in the beginning described this land as the land of the great harvest- a harvest that was sown on earth. (ibid p. 71).

14 . Where is the boundary between the earth world and the spirit world? Upon the instant of my passing, of which, you will remember, I was fully conscious, when I arose from my bed in response to a very definite urge, at that moment I was in the spirit world. The two worlds, then, must interpenetrate one another.” (ibid p. 75).

15. “There is a surprising number of people who do not realise that they have passed from the earth in the death of the physical body. Resolutely they will not believe that they are what the earth would call “dead”. They are dimly aware that some sort of change has taken place, but what that change is they are not prepared to say. Some, after a little explanation – and even demonstration - can grasp what has actually happened; others are stubborn, and will be convinced only after prolonged reasoning.” (ibid p. 100).

16. “The whole fantastic doctrine of hell-fire – a fire which burns but never consumes – is one of the most outrageously stupid and ignorant doctrines that has ever been invented by equally stupid and ignorant churchmen.” (ibid p.108).

17. “When my friends Edwin, Ruth and I were on earth we were asked to believe that God, the Father of the Universe, punishes, actually punishes, people by condemning them to burn in the flames of hell for eternity. Could there ever be any grosser travesty of the God that Orthodoxy professes to worship?” (ibid p. 108).

18 . “God condemns no one. Man condemns himself, but he does not condemn himself eternally; it rests with himself as to when he shall move forward spiritually. Every spirit hates the lower realms for the unhappiness that is there and for no other reason.” (ibid p.109).

19. “Both Edwin and his friend told us that we should be appalled at the catalogue of names, well known in history, of people who were living deep down in these horrible, noxious regions – men who had perpetrated vile and wicked deeds in the name of holy religion, or for the furtherance of their own despicable, material ends. Many wretches were unapproachable, and they would remain so – perhaps for numberless more centuries - until, of their own wish and endeavor, they moved however feebly in the direction of the light of spiritual progression.” (ibid p. 110-111).

20. (When visiting the darkest lowest realm) - "We could see, as we walked along, whole bands of seemingly demented souls passing on their way upon some prospective evil intent - if they could find their way to it. Their bodies presented the outward appearance of the most hideous and repulsive malformations and distortions, the absolute reflection of their evil minds." (ibid p. 111).

21. "He (a recent arrival to the afterlife) refused to see that he had condemned himself to it (the inferior environment), and that there was none other to blame but himself. He complained that the Church had misled him all along, since his munificence - his significant financial generosity - had been received in such fashion that he believed his gifts to the Church would weigh heavily in his favor in the "hereafter". (ibid p. 104).

22. "Spirituality means warmth in the spirit world; lack of spirituality means coldness. The whole fantastic doctrine of hell-fire a fire which burns but never consumes - is one of the most outrageously stupid and ignorant doctrines that has ever been invented by equally stupid and ignorant churchmen." (ibid p. 108).

23. "When Edwin, Ruth (friends in the spirit world) and I were on earth we were asked to believe that God, the Father of the Universe, punishes, actually punishes, people by condemning them to burn in the flames of hell for all eternity. Could there ever be any grosser travesty of the God that Orthodoxy professes to worship? (ibid p. 108)

24. "God condemns no one. Man condemns himself, but he does not condemn himself eternally; it rests with himself as to when he shall move forward spiritually. Every spirit hates the lower realms for the unhappiness that is there and for not other reason. (ibid p. 109).

25 . "You will recall my mention of the many heavenly perfumes and scents that come from the flowers and that float upon the air. But in the dark places the very opposite was the case. The nostrils are first assailed by the most foul odours; odours that reminded us of the corruption of flesh in the earth world." p. 110.

26. "We still retain our sense of humour, and it causes us very great amusement, sometimes to hear some stupid priest, spiritually blind, professing to know about things of the spirit of which, in reality, he is totally and completely ignorant." (ibid p. 112)

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BOOK 2: 'FACTS' 1995 edition

In this book Monsignor Benson analysises the teachings of the Catholic Chruch which he had defended while alive.

1. “You must know, then, the spirit world has been in existence for countless millions of years of earthly time. The earth world is but a toddling infant by comparison with the seemingly incalculable age of the spirit world … beings in exalted realms have beheld the evolution of man on earth, and they have assisted in that evolution. They have watched man’s steady spiritual and maternal progression. (Facts, 1995, p.10).

2. “Man, as he now is, was not created upon the instant, as the Church teaches, in the image and likeness of his Creator. He was slowly and steadily evolved from a lower order of creatures.” ( ibid p.10).

3. “The story of the first man and woman, whom the earth world has come to name Adam and Eve, is a natural corollary to the legend of their creation … But some explanation was bound to be given as to why this earthly paradise was not still flourishing, and so there was invented the utterly nonsensical and completely false doctrine of the Fall of Man, and that from this fall the whole of mankind is for ever tainted with ‘original sin.’ (ibid p.10-11).

4. “The whole fabrication of the history of the creation of man and his subsequent disaster is a gross insult to the Infinite Mind.” (ibid p.11).

5. “About Satan … Did such a ‘person’ really exist? I was told (after crossing over to the afterlife) that there was no truth whatever in the story that somewhere in the lowest realms there was a Prince of Evil whose sole object was to place himself in direct opposition to the Father of all good, and whose function was to lure souls into the commission of base deeds that would encompass their eternal damnation.” (ibid p.12)

6. “The whole fabrication (by the orthodox Church) of the history of the creation of man and his subsequent disaster is a gross insult to the Infinite Mind.” (ibid p11).

7. “After hearing so much about him (Satan) … when I was incarnate , one of the early questions that I asked concerned Satan’s existence. Did such a person really exist? The (Higher Beings) informed me that there is no such truth - it is all sheer nonsense.” (ibid p.12).

8. “It is as impossible to find Adam and Eve, or their equivalent, in the spirit world, as it is impossible to find the devil, and for the same reason. They simply do not exist.” (ibid p.13).

9. “The ‘wrath of God’ is a stupid and wicked fiction". (ibid p.16).

10. “To teach that one great soul should suffer all the torments of persecution and a horrible ‘death’ in order to save the world from ‘damnation,’ and to teach that this same tragedy should be demanded by the Father of Heaven to appease His wrath, is not only revolting in itself to us here in the spirit world, but it is far, far worse than that. It is the grossest libel, the greatest defamation - to put it at its very least - that could ever be contemplated upon the character and nature of the very essence of the Great Father of the universe.”

11. “The many orthodox religions that have sprung up during the course of the two thousand years past are all of them completely out of touch with the realities of the spirit world. They are all of them based upon entirely false values and conceptions.” (ibid p.18).

12. “In the realms wherein I dwell, we have cast aside for ever the allegiance to the Church of our earthly lives. We have no orthodox religion here. We are all of one mind and that mind is regulated by the strict truth.” (ibid p.19).

13. “Adam and Eve as our first parents had no existence in fact. The story is a fantasy. Jesus was born upon earth two thousand years ago, and he is today an immense force upon the earth-plane. That is a fact. The fantasy and the fact have no relation whatever to one another …” (ibid p. 21)

14. “Jesus can wash away our sins if we have sufficient faith and do what the Church teaches. We must be repentant … and we shall be saved. That is a very comforting and comfortable thought and belief, but there is just one flaw. It simply is not true.” (ibid p. 21).

15. “What has been set down in the four gospels is but a tiny fraction of the great body of teachings that were originally given forth. They have been inaccurately set down; they were not – and are not – the inspired word of God. They have been mistranslated, misinterpreted, suffered interpolations and distortions, and they have been tampered with until it seems more than remarkable if a vestige of truth can remain.” (ibid p. 23-24).

16. “The very act of dying is the operation of a simple, natural law. By its operation, man casts of his physical body, which has served him for his life on earth. He then finds himself in the spirit world, there to be resident for all time. It is the normal, natural outcome of his earthly life. It is inescapable for all persons without exception, of high degree or low.” (ibid p. 27).

17. “But the truth, as we can see it in the spirit world, is that most religion, as it is at present constituted upon the earth-plane, is itself nothing but sheer superstition. It is superstition begotten of ignorance or lack of knowledge of the truths of life as it is lived in the spirit world.” (ibid p. 38).

18. “But as soon as we pass into the spirit world, mercy ceases. Justice takes its place, and justice is the operation of the law of cause and effect. It is a justice which is incorruptible, infallible, impartial, unfailing. There is no evading it; it must exert itself upon all persons alike, of whatever nation, creed, colour, age or gender.” (ibid p. 41).

19. “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. Here in the gospel we are supposed to have the very words with which God will condemn the transgressor. In the spirit world, it fills us with unspeakable horror to contemplate upon the enormity of any person authoritatively teaching others that the Father of all could utter words of such fearful condemnation. And these words are put into the mouth of Jesus …” (ibid p. 42).

20. “I speak from first-hand experience when I tell you of the abject terror that consumes so many poor souls when their moment of transition has come.
… they arrive here with that terror full upon them. Such beliefs are relics of pure paganism, but wicked fiction has been kept up and disseminated by the churches of earth as a measure of inspiring fear into the hearts of their ‘faithful’. As a former priest of the Church, I regret, deeply and earnestly, that I ever gave tongue to such misguided teaching. “(ibid p. 43).

21. “ … let me hasten to assure them that there are no flames here in the spirit world. Those dreadful flames of hell do not have any place in the economics of the spirit world.” (ibid p. 46).



BOOK 3: 'MORE LIGHT' (first published 1947. This edition 1995).


1 . “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” ... This statement as it appears in the printed copies of the New Testament is noting but a deliberate interpolation, a complete fabrication, and a mischievous one and that is not the only interpolation. There are many others of a similar character, inserted with similar intentions, namely, that of buttressing up a system of religious authority.” (MORE LIGHT 1995. p 11).

2 “The New Testament, wherein are alleged to be some of the acts and sayings of Jesus, has undergone all manner of accident from interpolations, omissions, deletions, mistranslations, mis-statements, and mis-interpretations. …As it is now the New Testament is one of the most dangerous of books since by its incompleteness it can so easily be mis-read.” (ibid p.13).

3. “Whatever a man sows upon earth that will he reap in the spirit world. That is the law. The great, inescapable, inevitable, infallible law of cause and effect. It is minutely exact and perfect in its operation. It is incorruptible; there is no bribery that will touch it; no privilege can lodge a claim against it. It operates alike upon all men, regardless of age or sex, regardless of social position; regardless of occupation. Whether ‘king or commoner,’ cleric or layman, rich or poor, all come alike under the supreme law of cause and effect, and it acts in exactly the same manner with each individual.”(ibid p. 27).

4. The belief that on the ‘last day’ dead bodies will rise up from their tombs is just plainly stupid. One moment’s thought will show the absurdity of it. For one thing, it assumes every human being is comfortably buried in a cemetery or other recognised burial-place, wholly ignoring the bodies of those other folk which by various means have become annihilated or totally consumed.” (ibid p. 35-36).

5. “Unfortunately for the earth world, Orthodoxy is two thousand years behind the times. It has lived in its narrow, restricted little theological world of creeds and dogmas and doctrines, blindly leading the blind deeper and deeper into the morass of spiritual ignorance. Theologians have transmogrified Jesus into a worker of ‘miracles’. By their total misunderstanding of his faculties and powers they assert that he is God.” (ibid p. 44).

6. “The narrowness, self-satisfaction and stupidity of Orthodoxy is an eternal insult to the Father of the Universe.” (ibid p. 45).

7. “For a prayer to be successful, it must have force and direction behind it. A disinterested muttering and mumbling of some prayerful formula is of no earthly use whatever, nor of any heavenly use either….”. (ibid p. 48).


8.”When the atheist finds himself in these lands, he discovers also that he has made a tremendous and vital mistake. The existence of the Father needs no proof in these realms. The fact is evident upon every hand in an immense variety of ways. The atheist does not require convincing. No lengthy or profound argument, no deep delving into hermeneutics, are necessary. He convinces himself, and most frequently in the shortest space of time, that there exists not only a God, but that same God is the Father of all of us.” (ibid p. 73).

9. “The Church is dolefully and dismally centuries behind the times, to use a familiar phrase. It might be objected that spiritual truths cannot become obsolete. No, of course they cannot, but spiritual truth is just the one very thing which the Churches do not possess. They have a peculiar substitute for it, but it bears no resemblance to the original, either in form or content. The Church is in possession of no facts, but relies upon beliefs such as the creeds set forth.” (ibid p. 78).

10. " ... The Father of the universe is a real Father, whose will is that all people shall be happy upon earth and ever afterwards in the spirit world, who is not, who never has been, and who never will be a judge to judge mankind, and who has not relegated, nor ever will relegate that function to any other single person or persons ..." (ibid p. 84).

11. "What a world of difference is there between the nightmarish notions of orthodox religion concerning the 'hereafter,' and the truth about this spirit world. They are leagues apart. On the one hand you have all the Church's trivial, petty, freakish ideas about us and our lands, and on the other you have the fact that we are a superlatively organised world, governed by natural laws, and containing all wisdom." (ibid p. 88).

12. "We are essentially solid and substantial. To us our own world and its inhabitants are relatively more material than are your earth world and its inhabitants to you. Among the superabundant advantages which we have over you is the fact that we are imperishable, while you are not." (ibid p 91).

13. "The spirit world is not a Christian world of the spirit. It acknowledges no allegiance to any doctrines, dogmas or creeds, whether they be Christian or otherwise. It recognises the truth alone, and the truth is the standard. .... The Christian religion has a vast deal yet to learn. ... The beliefs of the Christian religions of the earth taken as a whole, and comprising a wide variety of preposterous doctrines, are so far removed from the truth that they have no application to life as it is lived in the spirit world." (ibid p 92).

14. "The resurrection of Jesus was no 'miracle.' There was no resurrection. How could there be? There is no psychic process under which it could be designated. Whence did Jesus rise? and whither? The actual process of transition in the case of Jesus was no different in any detail from that of every other human being. It is precisely the same in every instance, without exception." (ibid p. 97).

15." ... there is no one of us in these realms who has not seen Jesus himself. He is a constant visitor, and it has been my privilege, as well as that of many another, to have spoken with him. And why not? There is no bar of barrier, no hindrance of any kind, to a being of the exalted realms visiting any lower realm he so chooses." (ibid p. 101).

16. "...Jesus had no Church; he founded no Church, and was not interested in founding any Church. The words which are quoted in this connection were never spoken by Jesus at any time, for Jesus spoke the truth. It is unthinkable that he should ever even harbour the merest thought upon such lines." (ibid p. 110).

17. "Remember always another sublime and eternal truth: that ALL the spirit realms are open to the whole race of humanity, and that faith or religious creeds can have no say in the matter. The spirit world is immeasurably greater than all the religions and all the creeds rolled into one. Keep in mind that the right of entry is yours to any of the spirit realms, even unto the very highest, provided you earn for yourself that right, which none can deny you ..." (ibid p. 113).

18. "We who are living in these realms are without fear of any kind. Just think what that means, my friends. You, too, need have no fear. If by speaking plainly and speaking only that which is true, I can help to cast out that fear from you, then I shall not have written altogether in vain ... The truth of life in the spirit world is as simple as ABC, as one day it will be your happy fortune to discover for yourself."

BOOK 4 : SOME OF MONS. HUGH BENSON’S GREAT AND POWERFUL QUOTES DIRECTLY FROM THE AFTERLIFE: FROM HIS MAGNIFICENT BOOK:- ____ ‘HERE AND HEREAFTER’ (1998 ed.)

1.”The death of the physical body, then, is simply the severance of the magnetic cord – from the ‘spirit body’ … the actual process of dissolution – death, is painless … the person who has just passed into spirit lands goes to his own self-appointed place. (ibid p. 16).

2. On crossing over, “There is no Judgment Day … man himself is his own judge. His thoughts, his words, and his deeds registered upon his mind, are his only judge, and according to how his earthly life has been lived, so will his place be in these lands of the spirit world.” (ibid p. 17).

3. What really counts in our earthly lives is the motive behind our deeds … for example, a man may give vast sums of money for some charitable purpose with the sole thought of personal publicity and self-aggrandisement. While the gift itself may do great good to those upon whom it is bestowed, the motive behind the gift will not be to the giver’s spiritual advantage. … It is the motive, always, that counts.” (ibid p. 18).

4. When we come to the spirit world at our dissolution we thus find ourselves in the precise environment for which we have fitted ourselves. That environment may be one of darkness or of light, or it may be one of gloomy greyness. But wherever it may be we have ourselves to thank, or blame for it. (ibid p. 18).

5. “Those who end down in the dark regions may live there for thousands of years …but never for eternity. They will remain there for just so long as they wish. Indeed, some of them have lived in the dark realms for thousands of years … But every soul so situated in darkness is free to terminate his sojourn there whenever he sees fit. The choice rests with himself. (ibid p. 18).

6. “I think if one were asked what was the most common mental state in which the majority of people arrive in the spirit world, I should be disposed to reply from a fairly extensive experience, that they arrive in a state of bewilderment and complete ignorance of the fact that they have passed from the earth world.” (ibid p. 21)

7. “In speaking of the magnetic cord, I mentioned that during sleep the spirit body sometimes visits other places either on earth or in the spirit world. It is not everyone, however, that travels during sleeping hours. …. Visits to the spirit world are frequently made for some more important purpose, because there is so much useful work that can be done upon such visits.” (ibid p. 24).


8. “These visits (to the afterlife) are usually made by people who are conversant with spirit truths, and who are eager to add to their knowledge. While these visitations are in progress they can meet and converse with such of their relatives and friends who have passed into spirit lands before them. Old relationships are renewed … The visitor can gain useful help and guidance upon his earthly affairs from people who, from their superior position in the spirit world, are able to offer assistance.” (ibid p. 25).

9. “The spirit world disapproves of mourning in every shape and form. Genuine, heartfelt sorrow is a human emotion that none of us is secure from, but so much mourning is spurious. “…. (ibid p. 26).

10. “What we in the spirit world, who are actively associated with newly-arrived people, would like to see is the complete abolition of all attendance at burial grounds and similar places of all relatives and friends, leaving the physical body to be disposed of in a hygienic manner by those who are properly constituted to do so, and entirely unattended by anyone else.” (ibid p. 29).

11. “It is safe rule to say that no person passing into the spirit world at dissolution does so unattended. There is always someone there. But in so many cases we are prevented from giving help by the spiritual state of the soul we are approaching. In fact, approach becomes impossible, and so we can do nothing but watch the soul depart upon its way into darkness. Naturally, if we can perceive the tiniest glimmer of light issuing from such a soul, we do our best to fan it into something more resembling a flame.” (ibid p. 35)

12. “A person who is uninstructed in spirit truths can be remarkably obstinate in clinging to his old earthly ideas of what exactly should have taken place when he ‘died’. Some may have no views upon the matter whatever, and so may be more amenable to reason and logic. Others may be good folk, but are completely dominated by orthodox religious views, and this type, if anything, is perhaps among the worst of them all to deal with.” (ibid p. 36).

13. Earthbound spirits: “In such cases where I have accosted earthbound people, I have always ascertained that the soul so circumstanced was totally unaware of any other state of existence to which he could depart from his present surroundings. He was ignorant of other realms higher or lower than that which he was occupying. Usually these unfortunate people are tied to their earthly environment whatever it may be.” (ibid p. 38).

14. “… and remember, too, that a person is exactly the same the moment after he has ‘died’ as he was the moment before. … We pass into the spirit world with all our earthly likes and dislikes, and all our fancies and foibles, all our idiosyncrasies, and with all our religious errors fast upon us.”(ibid p..39)

15. “ In my own case, I was ill for only a brief while upon earth. When I passed into the spirit world I did so without losing consciousness. I was able to gaze upon my physical body which I had just vacated, and a friend and colleague of my earthly days, who had passed on before me, came to me at the instant of my departure from earth, and took me to my new home in the spirit world.” (ibid p. 43)

16. “Normal transition, from the point of view of the spirit world, is that wherein the spirit body becomes gradually and easily detached from the earthly body in a slow and steady process of separation. The magnetic cord, in such cases, will become detached from the earthly body gently, it will fall away naturally, just as the leaf falls from the tree in the autumn.” (ibid pp. 46-7).

17. “Once dissolution has taken place, the physical body is finished with as far as its former owner is concerned. It has no place whatever in the spirit world. It cannot enter there. And there is no magical process in existence that can so alter its constituents or form or mode of being as to be able to penetrate into spirit realms of any degree of height or lowness, of light or darkness, whatsoever.” (ibid p. 49).

18. “To carry the matter still further, there is no such thing as resurrection of either the physical body or of the spirit body. As far as the spirit body is concerned, there is no ‘rising’. There is simply a continuity of existence. The earthly body comes to the end of its life; it ceases to function … and the spirit body is released and continues its life in the spirit world, in its proper element and its true home. No resurrection has taken place … the spirit body is free at last, unencumbered by its heavy earthly body; free to move and breathe, and enjoy the beauties of the realms of the light.” (ibid p. 50).

19. “We do not age (in the afterlife dimension). On the contrary, we grow younger if we should happen to have passed our prime of life when we left the earth.” (Ibid p. 52).

20. Orthodox religion upon earth has much, very much to answer for. It forges many spiritual fetters – spiritual deep-restrictions – which bind up the minds of countless souls upon earth, so that when they come here, we in the spirit world have to find means to strike off the irons that shackle them, so to release them to that freedom of spirit which is the natural, right, and proper mode of living in these lands. (ibid p. 60).

21.”We have no use for fire-places in our houses as a means of warming the room. We have no winter or autumn or spring in these realms. We have only the glories of perpetual summer. … Now, if you were to take the most perfect summer’s day upon earth that you can recall to your mind, in so far as the weather itself were concerned, you would still be far, far below the splendour of the heavenly summer of these realms. And with us every day is summertime.” (ibid p. 70).

22.”We have no physical hunger that calls for satisfaction; whatever fruit we eat acts as a life force, and, as it were, stirs us up mentally and charges us with vigour.” (ibid p. 73).

23.”There is no such thing as stagnant water here; every drop of it is everlastingly living water of jewel-like purity. We can bathe within it, we can ride upon its surface in many a splendid vessel, or we can descend beneath it without harm to ourselves, because it is our nature that no harm can come to us.” (ibid p. 76).

24. “You, who love the flowers and the gardens that grow them, can you not imagine our joy, here in these realms, where we have our favourite flowers always with us in our gardens, never at the mercy of the elements or the seasons, never withering with age, but ever presenting themselves to the world in all their beauty …” (ibid p. 89).

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BOOK 5 : SOME OF MONS. HUGH BENSON’S GREAT AND POWERFUL QUOTES DIRECTLY FROM THE AFTERLIFE: FROM HIS MAGNIFICENT BOOK

'HEAVEN AND EARTH'

1. "As we progress and advance from realm to realm, we retain our individuality as well as the outward form and features by which we are recognised. The light which bespeaks our spiritual elevation may become more intense, but never so much as to submerge, beneath its power and brilliance, that which is our very personality. Certainly, to a person of low spirituality, the brightness of the light would be blinding ..." (ibid p. 58)

2. "The highest realms of the spirit world are no abodes of idleness; on the countrary, they are brimful of useful activity." (ibid p. 60).

3. "High and low vibrations are taken as meaning of high spirituality on the one hand, and of low spirituality on the other. In fact, good and bad. The higher they are the more spiritual: the lower the less spiritual." (ibid p. 64).

4. "With us service does not mean an eternal round of distasteful and laborious tasks. What we do, we do willingly because we have chosen that particular form of work. We do the work that suits us, for which we have a natural aptitude or talent, the work that brings us the greatest satisfaction, work, moreover, which will produce the best results proportionate to our labour, and which will bring the greatest benefit to others, either directly or indirectly." (ibid p. 85).

5."Man is always understood to have sinned against God pretty well from the beginning, and to have kept up his sinning ever since with varying degrees of intensity. Major wars, plagues, famines, floods and other meteorological disturbances are all 'sent' - so you are taught - by a God who has been so continuously provoked that at last it was imperative that He should retaliate to bring mankind to his senses for the good of his 'immortal soul'. He does so, as it is alleged, by inflicting great punishment upon the people of earth through sufferings of body or mind, or both...that belief is utterly and completely erroneous. God punishes no man." (Ibid p. 66).

7. "How many times have I seen folk awakening here in these beautiful realms of light undergoing the most enjoyable surprise of their lives to find themselves where they are and not in some dark dungeon of hell! .... But during their lives, they did not forget their neighbour." (ibid p. 91)

8. "Orthodox religion is founded upon a series of dreadful errors, the most outrageous of which is the monstrous idea of the nature of the Father of the Universe.." (ibid p.100).

9."If the Churches do really and sincerely desire to become one, their only hope of ever achieving unity is by discovering the spiritual truth, and in the light of it casting out from their creeds and doctrines every article that is against that truth." (ibid p. 102)

10. "By whom are these dark realms inhabited? They are inhabited by people who formerly lived upon earth. It is not the spirit world that has made them what they are, nor placed them where they are - in the uttermost darkness. It is their life on earth that has fitted them for it..." (ibid p.118)

11."It would be the height of foolishness to think ... that all of the wicked men, or even a substantial proportion of them, who have come to these lands have, upon their dissolution, 'turned a new leaf' ... and become repentant .. The very nature of their passing has in so many instances served to intensify their hatred, and now their aim is to seek vengeance wherever and whenever it is possible."

12. "There are no foreigners in the spirit world. We may have belonged to any nation upon earth: here we belong to one land, the huge world of the spirit." (ibid p. 125).

13. "The congregation of evil men in the spirit world, who have been sent here by the earth, are not now idle or impotent. They are extremely active and powerful, It is for the people of earth to afford them no opportunity or channel for the fructification of their evil intent. While the leaders essay to pursue fugitive plans for peace upon earth, the evil men are doing their utmost to disrupt those plans, to interpose their malevolent powers in every way possible." (ibid p. 126).

14. "Praying for mercy because the Church pronounces the people of earth to be all 'miserable sinners', and reciting long and most inappropriate prayers, will produce no results whatsoever.It would be better if these important folk were to meet in their own chamber, and with earnestness in their hearts and with a deep and sincere resolve to act upon their impressions utterly regardless of preconceptions or prejudices, and to pray: 'Great Father, through your ministers of light show us what to do, and whatsoever it may be, that we promise to do unfailingly." (ibid 127).

15." That tranquility and prosperity will again be your pleasure is the profound wish of us all in these lands, and with God's help, through His able though unseen ministers, both will be restored to you."