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                     The
                       Third Heaven. 
                    In the third heaven most people have very little consciousness
                       for reasons explained in connection with the Region of Abstract Thought, for there the third
                       heaven is located. It is therefore more of a place of waiting where the spirit rests between
                       the time when its labors in the second heaven have been completed and the time when it again
                       experiences the desire for rebirth. But from this realm inventors bring down their original
                       ideas; there the philanthropist obtains the clearest vision of how to realize his utopian
                       dreams and the spiritual aspirations of the saintly minded are given renewed impetus. 
                    In time the desires of the spirit for further experiences draws
                       it back to rebirth, and the[pg 183]Great Celestial Beings who are known in the Christian Religion as Recording
                       Angels, assist the spirit to come to birth in the place best suited to give it the
                       experience necessary to further unfold its powers and possibilities. 
                    We have all been here many times and in different families, we
                       have had relations of varying nature with many different people and usually there are
                       several families among whom we may seek re-embodiment to work out our self-generated destiny
                       and reap what we have sown in former life. If there are nospecial reasons why we should take
                       birth in any particular family among certain friends or foes, the spirit is allowed to
                       choose its own place of birth. Thus it may be said that most of us are in our present places
                       by our own prenatal choice. 
                    In order to assist us in making that choice the Recording Angels
                       call up before the spirit's vision a panorama in general outlines of each of the offered
                       lives. This panorama will show what part of our past debts we are to pay, and what fruits we
                       may be expected to reap in the coming life. 
                    The spirit is left free to choose between the several lives
                       offered. But once a choice has[pg 184]been made no evasion is possible during life. We have free will with regard
                       to the future, but the past “mature” destiny we
                          cannot escape, as shown by the incident recorded inThe Rosicrucian Cosmo Conception, where the writer
                          warned a well known Los Angeles lecturer that if he left his home upon a certain day, he
                          would be injured by a conveyance, in head, neck, breast and shoulders. The gentleman
                          believed and intended to heed our warning. Nevertheless he went to Sierra Madre to
                          lecture upon the fateful day. He was injured in the places stated by a collision and
                          later explained: “I thought the twenty-eighth was the
                          twenty-ninth.” 
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