THE SECOND SPIRIT PLANE

 With my guide I now passed on to the second spirit plane. This great realm I found to be merely a continuation of the first plane, except for the fact that there were there no earthbound souls. Its inhabitants were working for higher attainments and there were many spirit helpers to teach and assist, and guide the steady flow of newcomers through their varied periods of residence, until these learners were ready for higher planes. Thus the inhabitants were constantly changing, as those who move upward were replaced by others. Life there was pleasant, and varied to suit different tastes, some choosing to dwell in cities; others in the open country among the fields, delightfully established in their beautiful white houses of highly artistic architecture and ornamentation situated in the midst of charming gardens filled with masses of the loveliest flowers.

 The higher spiritual attainments of this plane demonstrated itself by the bright and lighter hues of the aura as well as by the elevation of the ideals of the new inhabitants. The dress of the women, I noted, resembled closely that of the spirit helper of the hospital, while the garb of the men was similar to that of my guide, a flowing garment like a toga. For there is, in the second plane, no desire to garb oneself in clothes of the general earthly appearance—an evidence of the weakening of earthly ideals. We spent little time there. As I have explained, I visited the third and fourth planes before I went, at my own request, to the lower spheres. Hence these two realms were the last I saw in the Spirit World.