Symbols - What does heaven look like

Island

Seen from outside the egg, the cones are fitted together but each is separated by a ‘sea’ of chaos – unprogrammed energy. Thus an island is a soul cone seen as it were either from ‘below’ or from above, but where the higher levels of vibrational energy are largely invisible.

This is why the old maps of the world appear so strange. They are not old physical maps, they are mappings of the egg, showing the islands of spirituality in the egg.

Right: An Eighteenth Century Chinese 'wheelmap' of the world. Source: J. Brooman, Imperial China

Old spiritual maps – one Chinese one European showing the islands of function known by the spiritual traveller then in the area of common consciousness.

Georgia O’Keeffe – ‘Islands’

Paradise Islands

Some islands are not specific to the living soul, but are places of final resting for the disembodied spirit – but only certain spirits. Thus they are perceived as the place where these very specific spirits go when the body dies. And in some cases, more than one spirit may congregate there.

There are any number of such Paradise islands mentioned in myth and legend. Avalon is one, but the Islands of the Blessed, the Fortunate Isles, Utopia and so on are other examples. Paradise islands appear in a number of cultures.

The location of all these paradise islands is not in the world soul area, but in the area of the Created. The following diagram of the Egg may not be helpful in the explanation, but it attempts to show an area of the Egg in which our little soul cones lie and then another area in which all the Intelligences are. These mythical islands are found in this part of the spiritual world.

All the islands, whatever culture refers to them, are the places where souls that have led a good life and contributed to the creation process in positive ways are 'rewarded', or if you like, given a final resting place. Descriptions of these islands describe places of sheer bliss and great beauty.

Islands as systems

Islands are symbolic of growth and dissolution – system building and system decay, the addition of function and the decay of function – soul function, personal function, and also the systems of larger things too, nations and other soul groupings.

Some systems which appear to be substantial, even stable, even monster size, can collapse under us without us realising they aren’t solid at all. The Island as a symbol is perfect for representing these facets of system and personal change. There are waves of dissolution and the shore as the symbolic dividing line between the chaos of Ocean and sea and the order of land.

In some mythical tales the islands are so unstable they are represented as great sea monsters that submerge under the waves. Here a story is being used to demonstrate that any 'island' that has not been built steadily and slowly and painstakingly using experience and a solid foundation, can suddenly appear, untried untested, causing waves of disruption but just as quickly disappear into the sea again. Politicians have a habit of inventing systems like this – quick fix ill thought through inventions that have taken no time to think up, but may well cause years of misery. This is why evolution tends to be a better bet than revolution.

Examples of mythical spirit islands

There are a huge number of myths and legends based on the symbolism of the island. Because there are so many, I have placed some as observations and a small sample here in the text. The reason for including so many is to show how very similar the legends are across the world, how the symbolism of an island Paradise for heros is almost universal. What is also interesting is that whilst Paradise islands hold the good and the worthy souls after death, there are also islands in the spirit world that hold demons and ogres or are symbolically representative of unpleasant souls. Interestingly enough, these are often found below sea level indicating they are islands of the underworld or even of hell. The water has to be kept out of them using sea walls and gates thus adding the symbolic references to the flood.

Buyan (Буян)

Buyan - In Russian folklore, Buyan (Буян) is described as a ‘mysterious island’ in the western ocean with an ability to appear and disappear. Three brothers – Northern, Western, and Eastern Winds – live there. Koschei the Deathless keeps his soul hidden here inside a needle placed inside an egg in the mystical oak-tree.
Tol Eressëa - is a mythical island invented by J. R. R. Tolkien. The island provided the basis for the story of the Anglo-Saxon traveller Ælfwine, that later became The Silmarillion. The name is the Elvish for "Lonely Island". Tol Eressëa was designed as a kind of Isle of the Blessed inhabited by Elves. Its main city, Kortirion, was located at the very centre of the island. The island was situated ‘far to the west, within sight of Valinor’.
Mag Mell - In Irish mythology, Mag Mell ("plain of joy") was yet another mythical island far to the west of Ireland or a kingdom beneath the ocean where the souls of the dead went to if they had achieved a hero's end and died in glory (so similar to Tír na nÓg and Ablach). In Myles Dillon’s book Early Irish Literature, Mag Mell is described as being visited by various Irish heroes and monks forming the basis of the Adventure Myth or "echtrae". Mag Mell was “a pleasurable paradise, a place where sickness and death do not exist and a place of eternal youth and beauty. Here, music, strength, life and all pleasurable pursuits come together in a single place. Here happiness lasts forever, no one wants for food or drink”. Mag Mell's allure extended from the pagan era to Christian times and it is possible that Mag Mell and St. Brendan island are one and the same thing.

Observations

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WHAT AND WHERE IS HEAVEN?

VISIONS AND HALLUCINATIONS

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