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The First State: The State of Exteriors (HH 491-498)
The first state of awakening to life in the spiritual world is called “a state of exteriors”. It is the first state a spirit awakens to on their entry into the spiritual world and, as is suggested in the name given to it, it is largely concerned with the more external aspects of one’s inner or mental life.
This first state of man after death continues with some for days, with some for months, and with some for a year; but seldom with any one beyond a year; for a shorter or longer time with each one according to the agreement or disagreement of his interiors with his exteriors. For with everyone the exteriors and interior must make one and correspond. In the spiritual world no one is permitted to think and will in one way and speak and act in another. Everyone there must be an image of his own affection or his own love, and therefore such as he is inwardly such he must be outwardly;
and for this reason a spirit’s exteriors are first disclosed and reduced to order that they may serve the interiors as a corresponding plane. (HH 498)
Removal of Exteriorly Held Images of the Self
The main function involved in this first state is to create a plane in the exterior mind that can faithfully express what is more interior. This is achieved through a process involving the stripping away of the exteriors of the spirit and then reforming them so that they are responsive to interiors (HH 498). This process of stripping and ordering is necessary…
For man is accustomed from childhood to maintain a semblance of friendship, benevolence, and sincerity, and to conceal the thoughts of his own will, thereby living from habit a moral and civil life in externals, whatever he may be internally. As a result of this habit man scarcely knows what his interiors are, and gives little thought to them. (HH 492)
A spirit’s introduction to the spiritual world involves coming to terms with a few home truths concerning their sense of self and what the quality of the “thoughts of [their] own will” actually are. This process involves the removal of any self-deceptive images a spirit carries of themselves and the false thinking that supports this. As we can see in HH 498 the length of time (reflective of states) a newly arrived spirit undergoes of being processed in the world of spirits, is related to the depth of attachment they have to these false images they carry of themselves. This is described as a difficult and even a painful experience. It needs to be remembered that it is a spiritual law that exteriors must match interiors and that it is not permitted for a spirit to have an exterior that doesn’t align with their interiors.
For Logopraxis practitioners, the awakening to the spiritual or interior life of the mind through the practice of the Word, produces the same experience described here of having the exterior self-image one carries, exposed for what it is. When we begin to seek to live by truths from the Word through a practice of self-examination and repentance, our sense of self starts to experience varying degrees of disruption. The process involves coming to see that we are not in fact who we thought we were. This is often a painful experience and because of this there exists a strong cultural tendency to avoid the kind of introspective work required for developing a spiritual life.
Logopraxis looks to support its members so that they can engage in spiritual work but it doesn’t look to offer ways to help people escape from spiritual struggles or avoid passing through genuine spiritual processes. The core teaching in Logopraxis, that the Word is the Lord, applies here. If we are looking to the Lord as the Word to direct and guide our work, then it follows that no matter how difficult things may appear in the present, He has it all in hand and is able to carry us through. The Lord alone sees what the eternal ends for every life are. He alone as the Word, is the only one able to manage the incredible level of complexity involved in the regeneration of the individual and collective human mind.
A community that supports its members to engage in genuine spiritual struggles, is what we find described in the first phase of awakening to spiritual life. Upon awakening, a newly arrived spirit must be told that they have died and that they are actually a spirit. This is because their life upon awakening, at least initially, reflects their life in the world. There is hardly any perceptible difference seen in that new spirits after entering the spiritual world tend to forget that they have died and believe that they are still living in the world.
The first state of man after death resembles his state in the world, for he is then likewise in externals, having a like face, like speech, and a like disposition, thus a like moral and civil life; and in consequence he is made aware that he is not still in the world only by giving attention to what he encounters, and from his having been told by the angels when he was resuscitated that he had become a spirit (n.450). Thus is one life continued into the other, and death is merely transition. (HH 493)
While this “forgetfulness” may seem remarkable, it is not too dissimilar to our own experience of the process of awakening to spiritual life through the practice of the Word. This process not only continues over the duration of our whole life here but in fact we are never fully awake in this world or the next. We are, and will, perpetually, be awakening to the further wonders of spiritual life to eternity. At this level of natural life, we frequently forget that we are spirits in a physical body. Despite being constantly reminded by the Word of the nature of spiritual life, we often find ourselves being pulled into the sensual appearances of corporeal life where we forget that “real” life is found in what is spiritual and not in the natural world of appearances presenting to our senses.
The reality of this is acknowledged in Logopraxis through the provision of a structure that acts as a continual reminder to keep turning back to the Word as the anchor for our life. In this way we are constantly reminded that the core focus for the spiritual life is the inner life of the mind and that we receive our life from the Lord through the practice of the Word. It is this that brings us into a spiritually productive relationship with our outer sensual and corporeal life. The practice of truths from the Word opens up moments of insight because the focus is on “giving attention to what is encountered” HH 493. It is through being willing to see life from what the Word offers us to work with, that awakens our spiritual senses. Through the practice of the Word, we are reminded of what it teaches as to the true nature of spiritual life.
The Reworking of Relational Ties
Another aspect of the “state of exteriors” in the spiritual world is contact with friends and relatives who have died, including any marriage partners the spirit was with in the world. Spirits are reunited with spouses so that their mutual state of compatibility can be processed. The basis of their compatibility rests on whether they were initiated into “…a truly conjugial love, which is a conjunction of minds by heavenly love” (HH 494) while in the world. If this didn’t occur, couples can stay together until they feel the need to part and go their separate ways. Of some couples it is said that they even break out into open hostility towards each other.
Affectional bonds play a significant role in our sense of identity and so are a major focus in the first state of awakening, the state of exteriors. Again, this stage of the awakening process is about having the exterior mind undergo a reorganisation so that it forms a receptive plane for more interior aspects that make up a spirit’s life. As we were reminded earlier, it is a spiritual law that a spirit’s exterior and interior mind be congruent, so that what is expressed exteriorly faithfully corresponds to the interior state of mind.
The processing of affectional bonds in the spiritual or inner world of the mind, often presents as a significant area for inner work in Logopraxis. This is especially the case as we are continually having spiritual principles integrated and becoming active into our sense of what constitutes a spiritual life.
What we see in Logopraxis, is a tendency for practitioners to focus on issues presenting in their relationships with others. For this to be a rich source of material for spiritual work, the focus needs to shift from the other person or persons in the relationship to the actual states of mind that the relationship grounds within one’s own inner mental landscape.
So Logopraxis redefines how we hold the situations and circumstances of our outer life, through offering a perspective that places all that happens into a spiritual frame. The situations, circumstances, and relationships of outer life then become a catalyst for spiritual work as we attend to what arises within our inner mental life whilst interacting with the things of outer life. Working from the Word allows us to see how the outer and inner aspects of life stand in relation to one another.
We learn through the practice of the Word that it is our own states of mind where our attention needs to be and that the things of our outer life merely offer a way through which we can come to see the inner attachments, attitudes, and beliefs we hold or are even wedded to. Working through the relationships we have formed in our outer life with others such as spouses, family, relatives, friends and work colleagues, etc is all part of the process of awakening to spiritual life.
When in a state of exteriors, outer things tend to dominate interior things in such a way that the quality of interior things is hidden from our awareness. However, when we allow truths from the Word to bring light on what’s arising within our inner mental landscape, a shift occurs in how we view what life offers us. We begin to see that the things of the outer life are not the cause of our inner responses but merely ground interior mental states. We then can be made aware of the quality of our affections and thoughts and by extension our spiritual associations. Learning to apply truths more inwardly, reduces the tendency to project the cause for how we are being affected interiorly onto the situations, circumstances and/or people in the external world. We are then able to work on our responses. This being the only area where real change is possible. A crucial factor in being present to the spiritual work being offered, lies in accepting that our states of mind and thereby our quality of life reflect the quality of the affections and beliefs we are attached to. It is our attachment to these inner things that forms our identity and impacts on the quality of our sense of self and on whether it is grounded in a genuine love for what is spiritual and of the Lord.
