Although time has no objective meaning on any level of the spiritual world, once a spirit crosses over into the mainstream of Spirit, its mental perception of time regains its coherence. Remember that in our earlier discussion of the planes of illusion, everything that a spirit experiences is a very persistent illusion based on the memory of its life, and its memory of time is no exception. As a result, spirits there can also create coherent communal environments in which they can each evolve at their own pace.
In the summerlands, it is perpetually light, and the spirits there never get tired, sleepy or hungry. They never “age”. Summerland spirits are evolved enough to weave their psychological perceptions of time into their ambient spiritual existence. Mental time for them can exist on a moment by moment basis just as it does for us, so they can continue to learn and gain wisdom. However, because they exist in a realm where there is no matter (or objective time), clocks don’t exist. Synchronized events happen, because spirits can communicate and travel instantaneously by thought, so there is no need for schedules. On the transitional plane and in the hells where the spirits are not evolved enough to integrate their mental sense of time with their “daily” existence, it is perpetual twilight, or perpetual darkness, and time means little to the spirits that exist there.
The key to understanding time in the spiritual realm is that it is entirely personal. Each spirit experiences time in its own subjective way. For spirits, time does not involve a time of day or the coming and going of seasons. Spiritual time really amounts to changes of state. In the mainstream spiritual sequence, numerous spiritual experiences produce numerous small changes in a spirit’s state and depending on that spirit’s outlook and attitudes, these changes may be perceived as longer or shorter periods of time.
Thus if a spirit has been confined on the transitional plane for a hundred long, earthly years, it might have no idea that it has been dead for that long. On the other hand, a spirit trapped in a self-imposed timeless “bubble” for a relatively short time measured in earthly years might perceive its confinement to be hundreds of years. But in either case, when it finally crosses over, it will find its family and friends in a state mostly unchanged from when he or she died. This is because the wayward spirit will have experienced time in its own way, while its family, living in happier circumstances may not have noticed any time lapse at all.
Coordinated events in both the summerlands and the winterlands resemble modern “flash mobs”, but instead of cell phones and instant messaging, the mode of communication is pure thought, and transportation to the event is instantaneous. Thus, events are not scheduled, but rather happen spontaneously. In the summerlands, these sorts of events result in concerts, entertainments, or calls for constructive communal efforts. In the Hells, spirits perceive sequential events as well, but their “flash mobs” are destructive leading to robbery, torture and mayhem.
The key to understanding time in the spiritual realm is that it is entirely personal. Each spirit experiences time in its own subjective way. For spirits, time does not involve a time of day or the coming and going of seasons. Spiritual time really amounts to changes of state. In the mainstream spiritual sequence, numerous spiritual experiences produce numerous small changes in a spirit’s state and depending on that spirit’s outlook and attitudes, these changes may be perceived as longer or shorter periods of time.
Thus if a spirit has been confined on the transitional plane for a hundred long, earthly years, it might have no idea that it has been dead for that long. On the other hand, a spirit trapped in a self-imposed timeless “bubble” for a relatively short time measured in earthly years might perceive its confinement to be hundreds of years. But in either case, when it finally crosses over, it will find its family and friends in a state mostly unchanged from when he or she died. This is because the wayward spirit will have experienced time in its own way, while its family, living in happier circumstances may not have noticed any time lapse at all.