the animal-like grade of feeling
Upon death, the human being with a dark life of feeling can pass on to the Land of Hatred, Lust and Violence.
Illustration: Divina Commedia, see Dante and Doré.
Cities of hatred and violence
People who on earth are inwardly filled with hatred, lust or violence can pass on upon death to the sphere in the hereafter to which they attuned themselves during their earthly life.
In this dark sphere, they live together with millions of counterparts for whom the spiritual body has been deformed beastly by their hateful life of feeling.
The drawings by Doré for the ‘Divina Commedia’ by Dante give a good example of this.
This sphere is also called the animal-like grade of feeling, with inhabitants who look like wild animals.
The hatred has increased here so much that people have made cities of them, with pointed towers which stand out fiercely against the threatening sky.
The dominant colours are flaming red and pale green.
In this land people hold parties of lust and violence.
Everyone who does not want to take part in these parties is attacked and beaten because people consider them as weak.
Geniuses in evil also live in this dark sphere, who inspire some academics on earth to produce means of mass destruction.
From the claws of the ruler
The inhabitants of the Land of Hatred are ruled over by the ruler who wishes to impose his will on the masses by means of his deep hatred and strong concentration.
All the inhabitants of this land are attacked and brought before this ruler.
Those who do not wish to obey his will await a continuous torture and ill-treatment.
Most of them obey the ruler out of fear of being beaten.
The inhabitants of this sphere will only change their lives when they develop an aversion to themselves.
Then they try to avoid their wild counterparts, in order to be able to say farewell to the life filled with envy, ruin and lust.
They will have to suffer the ill-treatments by their counterparts for some time, in order to develop a strong will to free themselves from their own dark feelings.
Once they have developed that strong will, they are helped by spirits of light who descend into these dark spheres in order to help their fellow human being.
The spirits of light bring them to a transition sphere in the Land of Twilight, where they can rest and gain strength for beginning their long journey to the first sphere of light.
