Do we return to the earth in another birth immediately after death?

Man on earth is not just his gross material body. He also bears within him an ethereal body and an animistic body. In addition, as his core, his real spiritual self, he bears spirit!. He takes on these various cloaks as he descends from the higher spheres down into the Material Worlds for further development.

The gross material body, being the densest, is also the most sluggish according to the Law of Spiritual Gravity. Consequently, it has a very short lifespan, and can only be animated by the spirit within for a comparatively short time. The ethereal body, on the other hand, being much finer and more mobile, can be animated for thousands and even millions of earth-years by comparision.

Hence, when man on earth dies, he has shed only his outermost gross material cloak and stands in the Ethereal World in his ethereal cloak, which now becomes the outermost cloak. The outermost cloak, according to the Law of Spiritual Gravity, is what weighs him down the most and is definitive for the plane or realm in which he is to work in. Therefore, after death, man is now in his ethereal cloak and compelled to work in the Ethereal Realm.

Man needs this time after his earthly passing in order to reflect on all the experiences gained during the earth-life that just ended. This reflection serves to mature him, and perhaps he can already atone for some of the guilt that he had incurred while on the earth. If we consider the earth to be a "school", then this period in the beyond following his death is like a temporary "vacation". If he still has more experiences to learn on earth and/or has karma to atone for, he is obliged or compelled to return to the earth in another subsequent birth. But if he has already atoned for everything, if he has attained perfection in all things, he is freed from the necessary cycle of rebirth and is then able to take the next step: the entry into the Animistic Realm (just above the Worlds of Matter), in preparation for the last and final step in the process of development: the return home to the Spiritual Realm from which he once originated as a mere unconscious spirit-seed in need of development!

Either way, there is still a certain amount of time that he must spend in the Ethereal World, which is also part of his long cycle of development. Consequently, man does not immediately return to the earth in a new birth after earthly death, as believed by many reincarnationists. This would be a hindrance to his path, because his soul would not be afforded the opportunity to examine the preceding earth-life from a higher standpoint. In addition, it would be a sudden jump in his development, leaping from one earth-life to the next, whereas everything in Creation only follows slow and gradual development. He needs to be able to fully understand the experiences of his former earth-life as a preparation for his next and needs a definite amount of time for this.

In former times, when the earth was still swinging more sluggishly, the period between these subsequent births would span even thousands of years. But now, as the Light encompasses the entire earth-sphere in the World Judgment, all gross matter is being reinvigorated through the ensuing enlightenment that is taking effect through this immense Light-pressure. Consequently, even karmaic cycles are being quickened, and mankind on earth are forced to atone for all their guilt. For this purpose, it can happen that the period between subsequent earth-lives is shortened and that where before they would have returned only after thousands of years, today they return only within a few decades.

But a certain period of reflection and possible atonement following an earth-life is always necessary in accordance with the Natural Law of Gradual Development!