Hello Kelly,

You asked, "What about the seriously evil people like serial killers, Hitler, Heussein, etc. Do they traverse to the other side and continue living in their evil states of being wreaking havoc there?

We have to define what someone means by "evil," first. Our conception of evil is very much bound up with our cultural expectations. When you have a moment, read my explanation at this link: http://youreternalself.com./evil.htm.

Hitler was abused by his alcoholic father and was produced by a time in which Germany was downtrodden from the first world war and oppression by the ruling parties. Darwin's teaching on evolution had profound effects on those who thought about social evolution, including Hitler. (Read From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany, by Weikart). Who was evil? His father? The society that created his father and created him? The German rulers? Charles Darwin? What Hitler did was a result of the physical realm society in which he was reared.

But in reality, as far as I know, Hitler never killed a single person. In Germany, under Hitler, the Nazi Party had over 8.5 million members. The Wehrmacht German armed forces numbered 17,893,200 from 1939-1945. Among them were the individual men and women who woke up each morning, brushed their teeth, walked out of their houses, and carried out the atrocities inspired by Hitler. Are they evil? More evil than Hitler because they actually killed?

I know a man who has been a strict, loyal Roman Catholic all of his life. He tells me if he could, he'd line up all the abortion doctors and shoot them. But he doesn't have access to a country's resources as a demagogue like Hitler had so he couldn't do it. But he would. Who is more evil? A man who would himself kill physicians if he could, or Hitler, who believed based on his times that he was making a purer human race and who never killed a single human being?

I don't mean to justify Hitler's acts or the acts of someone who kills abortion doctors. Saying they're evil or not evil is the problem. We would take out of society someone who harms other people to protect society. There's no doubt of that. But the fact is that people who feel as Hitler did sit in our churches and populate our societies today.

Now, let's look at each individual in his or her eternal journey toward spiritual maturity. Hitler is on his journey. The man I mentioned who would kill abortion doctors is on his journey. You're on yours and I'm on mine. We're all at points on our spiritual journey, and we'll all eventually mature spiritually.
Hitler was very backward spiritually. He condoned killing people. Among your neighbors, there are people who are equally vehement in condoning killing people, through war, the death penalty, or even to punish abortion doctors. Spiritually, they're at the same level as Hitler. They just don't have the resources to carry out their feelings. But the spiritual attitude is what matters, not whether a person can carry out atrocities or even the number of people victimized. What is in this person's spirit? Is there love, compassion, tolerance, peacemaking, and understanding? Or is there hate, anger, separation, exclusiveness, and the desire to punish others? All around you, there are people at the same spiritual level as Hitler, and people at the same spiritual level as Gandhi or the Dalai Lama. That's what matters.

There's no judgment. No one's spiritual level is better than another's. There are, however, more mature spiritual levels on the journey.

So when someone crosses over to the next plane of life, they may cross over as spiritually immature. They may be self-centered, cruel, insensitive, and destructive. They are at low spiritual levels and many will be spiritually at or lower than Hitler's spiritual level. They will continue at those levels until they grow, as we all must. If they are attached to the Earth plane because they want to enjoy the sensation of cruelty and destruction, they'll stay close to the Earth and try to influence others through thought to be cruel and destructive. They get vicarious enjoyment out of that. But they are there. We need to be filled with love, compassion, and regard for others. Then those mischievous spirits won't affect us.

Part of our growing in spiritual maturity is being able to see all other people as lovable and to understand all other people, regardless of their actions. That's going to be very difficult for us, but it is the mark of a spiritually mature person.

Love and peace, Craig