Limbo. Purgatory. The Other Side.

What was this place, with the white house, its surroundings challenging me to reach beyond my senses? One night, I mustered the courage to ask my teacher, Edward, directly.

“Those of you living in the Earth school refer to this place by many different names. Limbo. Purgatory. The Other Side. We are not particularly fond of these. The Learning Place seems the most accurate depiction to me. Names aside, this place is the next level—the first stop, once the body is left behind, as the cyclical spirit journey continues. Know this, Sandra. There is only one reason you and some others are granted access. Travel here cannot be used for one’s amusement alone. Be diligent. Take what you learn and use the wisdom in your earthly experience for a higher purpose. Share your knowledge abundantly. And keep in your awareness, Sandra, that the portal between worlds can slam shut at any moment. So be sure, my dear Sandra, that you are where you truly desire to be, in the event that the choice to move back or forth is no longer open to you. Know that if you want to ensure your continued life in the physical world, you would be wise to stay there and not come back here. ”

I didn’t really understand everything I heard from Edward that night, but his words added urgency to my life, as I walked the Earth day-to-day and as I walked through the portal to The Learning Place at night. From that moment on, I felt afraid, at some level—all the time. And yet, I was compelled to continue my nightly travels.

But slowly, I would learn surrender. With each journey made between my earthly life and the other side, I would let go just a bit more. I would come to trust that I would end up right where I needed to be, either here or there.

And isn’t that one of the spiritual skills we most covet in this life? To develop the ability to surrender to what is with peaceful certainty, that all is as it should be?

"You will meet him on your next visit, " Edward promised me. "Come at your best. You will begin by accessing The Book of Our Lives. It is time for you both to see for yourselves how all is recorded. No thought, no action, no love, ever dies."