Great Construction

THE HIERARCHY OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD


  
The spiritual world has a hierarchical structure which consists of three major domains: heaven, hell and Yachimata (the intermediate domain between heaven and hell; "Yachimata" is a Shintoism term, meaning the place where roads branch off into eight or more directions). This is just what I have already described and I will now explain that this hierarchical structure is closely connected with human fate.

  And when the above three major domains are subdivided, one domain consists of sixty stages, so there are one hundred and eighteen stages in all. I call this the hierarchy of the spiritual world.

  Human beings are born into this world by God's orders. This truth is indicated by the fact that "mei" of "生命 seimei," which means life, is the same "mei" as "mei" of "命令 meirei," which means order. Everyone asks, "Why was I born?" This is the universal question. Without solving this question, man can neither act rightly nor be at peace with the world; besides, he or she may possibly end up in living an empty, idle life to no purpose. Then, what is the purpose of God? It is to make this world an ideal one, that is to say, to build Heaven on Earth. However, as to its possible scale and scheme, it is not difficult to imagine how grand it will be; it will be beyond all words. This is because the civilization which is making progress without limitation; there is no ending. In this perspective, the world history up to now has been only a process of constructing the basic structure. And God gives each person his or her own mission, makes individuals have characteristics, and drives human beings toward the ideal end through a series of deaths and rebirths. Hence, we know that good and evil, peace and war, and destruction and creation; each of them is nothing more than a step which is necessary to evolution.

  What sort of time is it now in history? As I have explained somewhere in detail, it is the time of turning point from the Night to the Day, which I have insisted; it is the time when the whole world is about to make a big leap into the new age and flinging off clothes of their savageness, humankind is reaching to a stage of highly-cultivated people. This is the first time when wars, diseases and poverty will be over. Of course, the emergence of Johrei is a precursor and constitutes a core of it.

  As mentioned above, God gives orders to man all the time. I will explain the means by which He does this. Each person has a seed somewhere in the hierarchy of the spiritual world. I call this seed a departed soul. First God gives an order to each person's departed soul. And then, this departed soul send God's order to his or her corresponding soul present at the central part of the human spiritual body through the spiritual cord. However, it is extremely difficult for ordinary people to be able to intuit God's orders; it is possible for a person who has a spiritual body purified to some degree. That is because a large majority of people cannot perceive not only blocked by lots of their own spiritual clouds but also interrupted by evil deities who exploit those spiritual clouds.

  The evidence of this is that no matter who a person is, he or she cannot make things go as he or she wants them to be in spite of all his or her efforts and that fortune changes a course in an unexpected direction; a human being has a feeling to be controlled all the time by some unknown beings or follows his or her fortunes at the mercy of irresistible force. And departed souls in the hierarchy of the spiritual world have different missions and fortunes according to the stages where they belong. This means that the higher stage a person's departed soul belongs in, the greater and higher mission the person is ordered by God and the more fortunate he will be, while the lower the stage goes down, the less fortunate the person will be and a person whose departed soul belongs in the lowest stage will be the most hapless. For a higher stage correspond to Heaven, so it is a joyful world abundant in resources without any illness or conflicts, but, on the contrary, as a stage gets down lower and lower, it teems with more and more illness, conflicts, poverty and sufferings. In this way, if a human being will have true happiness, he or she has first to make his or her departed soul go up in the hierarchy of the spiritual world. Then what is the method for this? It is simply to purify his or her spiritual body. In essence, spiritual bodies go up or go down according to how much or how little they are clouded. In other words, purified souls go up because of the lightness, while clouded souls go down because of the gravity. Therefore, if you intend to have a more purified soul, you must keep on doing good deeds and cultivate virtue. You must spend much time and sacrifice on it. However, here is a method by which you can leap at once to a higher stage beyond several tens of stages up in the hierarchy of the spiritual world. This is to receive the lessons for our medical art: Johrei.

  Those who received the lesson for Johrei say with one voice that in terms of spirituality, first of all, their views of life have changed completely; they have become abundant in wisdom of spiritual awakening, so have been able to grasp the truth of things; they have recognized the light ahead of them and anxieties have been dispelled; they have become optimistic and had true feelings of security first time ever; and in terms of material, surprisingly, property has gathered around them and had nothing in want; less unhappiness and more happiness; it is amazing enough; they have been entirely delivered from distress, filled with gratitude. Day and night I receive such thankful messages innumerably through eye and ear.

Tidings of Great Joy from Heaven, February 5, 1947 (the 22nd year of Showa)
(06/12
/2 UL)


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This essay, or chapter rather, has previously appeared in translation six times. The citations are given below for reference.


“The Spiritual Realm and The Yukon,” Teachings of Meishu-sama, Volume One, 1960, page 17.


“The Spiritual Realm And The Yukon,” Teachings of Meishu-sama, Volume One, Revised Edition, 1965, 1967, page 22.


“Strata in the Spiritual Realm,” Teachings of Meishu-sama, Volume One, 1960, page 20.


“Strata In The Spiritual Realm,” Teachings of Meishu-sama, Volume One, Revised Edition, 1965, 1967, page 26.


“The Strata in the Spiritual Realm,” Foundation of Paradise, 1984, page 78.


“The Strata in the Spiritual World,” A Hundred Teachings of Meishu-sama, no date, page 169.