James continues with his example of John Jones: “I gave up trying to impress him with the truth of his situation and merely stood by and watched as he went through his days. … Once in a while Jones looked at me and said, ‘This is a really weird dream. I wish I could wake up.’ Even after he had watched his own burial, however, he did not accept the fact he was dead. The day after his funeral Jones went to the stock exchange and stayed, as his wont, watching the rise and fall of stocks as avidly as he had ever done. This went on day after day. I found I could give him no assistance, so I soon left him, sitting in his office at the stock market, attempting to advise his fellow workers even though no one was aware of his presence. I checked back on him from time to time and always found him in this same situation. He told me he was getting bored with this silly dream, but he would not listen when I gave him the truth. Death has to be so different from life that this could not be death, and so he must be dreaming. This is the only explanation he would consider. If we multiply John Jones’ experience by the thousands and even millions who so live that their interests are entirely earthly and in no way spiritual, you will see that the sphere immediately after death is burdened with those who should be learning and progressing but instead are tied to the lives they formerly led.” What is Creator’s perspective?

The plight of this lost soul human spirit, in only having a semblance of his prior life activity to engage him and provide some kind of experiencing of things, if still hindered by a state of disconnection so that he was truly not influencing things directly, shows the tragic pointlessness of being in limbo, unable to do anything meaningful except mark time. You can see the examples in the many accounts of ghosts and hauntings where people experience doors opening and closing on their own, objects moving about on their own, voices, the sound of footsteps with no one there, tapping sounds, or interference with electrical devices to turn them on and off, for example. All such accounts have one thing in common which is there is some kind of being or entity in a location where they truly do not belong in terms of their existence serving any likely purpose or agenda. They are truly out of place and we would say, given the state of diminishment, are at risk of further disconnection and destructive influencing that can lead to greater and greater degrees of torment and suffering far more severe than loneliness and yearning for human contact. Spirits who haunt their former homes and are sometimes seen walking about are clearly getting little reward or satisfaction from their continued existence because they lack the wherewithal to get the most out of being still confined within the physical plane. There are many ways they can interact with the living indirectly, but not in ways to truly convey important knowledge or influence. They will more than likely disturb the living and frighten them. They might be a loved one but their low vibration will not be sensed, most likely, as a reassuring presence by a living human. They do not belong any longer in their prior environment and need to move on in order to continue learning and growth in service to their soul, and that is the greatest loss for them because they are, in effect, out of commission indefinitely until something happens to change things.