Throughout the centuries opinions have been divided as to whether or not ghosts exist, and no definite conclusions have been firmly established at the present time.

My own conclusion on this subject is that they do exist. I say this because I know they are real; nobody can deny something that has been proven to him. Shakyamuni Buddha spoke about the existence of hell and of paradise; Dante‘s Divine Comedy tells about heaven, hell and purgatory. I am convinced these are not absurd hypotheses.

What, then, is the spiritual world like? In short, it can be said to be a world of consciousness. Since it is free from all the material obstructions of physical bodies, there is far greater mobility. If a spiritual being wishes to do so, he can go anywhere at a speed much faster than that of an airplane. In Shintoism, when spirits are invoked, the expressions used, “Please come flying across the sky and running over the land, for we invite you to enter this shrine in peace.”

Spiritual being can cover a distance of thousands of miles in a few minutes or even a few seconds. Their speed depends on their degree of evolvement. The higher their evolvement, the faster they can move, especially those who have attained the status of divine beings.

Divine beings of the highest order can reach places of the greatest distance faster than on ten-thousandth of one second, really instantaneously. Conversely, spiritual being of the lowest grade need up to an hour to cover distances of two to three thousand miles. The greater the accumulation of clouds on their beings, the heavier they are.

I wish also to inform you that spiritual beings can expand or contract at will, according to their consciousness. By standing in close rows, many hundreds of spirits can enter a small ancestral shrine or altar only one foot in width. As they gather there, they strictly maintain their won level, order and attire.

The spirits of the deceased are very pleased with the services surviving member give from the heart, but they are not very happy with anything given only for the sake of appearance. In Buddhism, posthumous names are given to the deceased and they are written on little tablets, which are placed on family altars. Spiritual beings are believed to come and enter the tablets when services are held. In Shintoism a small wooden cross is used for each family instead of tablets. A tiny piece of paper, on which the names of the deceased are written, is folded and inserted in a crevice behind the cross. As you hold your memorial services, you must do so with total sincerity and as splendidly as possible, according to your circumstances.

Since ancient days there have been reports of apparitions being sighted by some individuals. Most of these have not been gone for a long time. Their spiritual cells are still dense, however, and so they have sometimes been visible to human eyes.

As years pass by, the spirits of the deceased gradually become more purified and their cells become less dense so they are less visible to the physical eyes.

Spiritual beings can easily go through small openings as tiny as the eye of a needle. This is because they can contract, having discarded the physical bodies that previously obstructed such freedom of movement.

Thinking of only these points, it may seem to you that the spiritual world is an ideal place for individuals who love to do as they please, but this is not so, for the spiritual world is maintained by absolute laws which govern all actions there.

Let me briefly tell you about the appearance of a spiritual being. As seen in pictures or paintings, the features of a ghost are the same as that individual’s physical features looked at the moment of death. This is because it is a newly deceased being. As time passes in the spiritual world, however, the features gradually change, reflecting the inner consciousness exactly. For example, a person with a negative attitude, or one who is always sad, or one who tends to be withdrawn at all times, eventually looks emaciated, tragic, forlorn. A person of brutal nature comes to look just like an animal, while one with a diabolical consciousness begin to wear the expression of a demon. One with any ugly consciousness becomes truly ugly in appearance, and one with a beautiful consciousness comes to show the beauty and nobility of its awareness.

While in the physical world an individual can hide his thoughts from others by masking his expression, in the spiritual world all thoughts are totally revealed in time. According to my understanding of the laws there, it takes about one year after passing over before the real state of consciousness of the individual is fully revealed on his face.

February 5, 1947