spiritual states, they will cease to desire their society, unless they feel a spiritual nearness to, and affinity for, them. They will see, as they pass into more and more interior states, that the highest and only permanent relationships are spiritual; therefore they will have no desire to remain for ever with those to whom they have once stood in the relation of natural parents, unless they find themselves closely allied to them spiritually. Their former natural relationships will be forgotten, and new and higher relationships will be formed, determined by spiritual proximity. In the degree that this takes place, parents will lose all desire to have their natural offspring remain with them permanently, unless they are spiritually related to them. Therefore if a separation takes place in the other world, it will cause no pain either to parents or children, because the natural affections, which in this world formed the basis of this relationship, will have ceased their activity. Having performed their use on earth, these affections now give place to higher spiritual affections. Hence the Lord, addressing Himself to those who have passed into a state to act from spiritual affections, or according to the laws of spiritual order, says: "Call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father which is in heaven."
While, therefore, according to the New Theology, parents, who desire it, will be permitted to meet and recognize their children in the World of Spirits, and to remain with them as long as their society may be mutually agreeable, they will not, when their more
