Where Do We Go?  Do Our Loved Ones Greet Us?  

Once released from the material body, the spirit returns to a particular "zone" of the spiritual realm, one to which it has the most affinity, according to its state of mentality at that time. Spirits who are deserving and who are in the required mental state, upon separation from the material body, will be met by loved ones and other friendly spirits who come to greet them and help him them transition back to the spirit realm.  These returning spirits may spend time in a place where they are helped in their adaptation to the spirit life, but they will eventually go to a spirit colony where they will continue their progression through work, study, and preparation for their next incarnation.

 Those who are less deserving, or whose minds do not have an affinity with such places, will not have such a fortunate fate, and they will encounter a state of suffering.  Still, as Richard Simonetti describes, in his book "Who's Afraid of Death", the state in which each spirit finds itself is only the result of its own behaviors, and for those who suffer, their affliction is never eternal.  He writes:

Obviously, the greater or lesser spiritual help provided is determined by the merits of the disincarnating person.  If the person is virtuous and dignified, he/she will deserve special attention, and once the disincarnating process is over, he will be guided to an institution that provides assistance in the re-adaptation to the spiritual Life.  On the other hand, those people entangled with addictions and crimes, who lacked discipline and discernment, will be disconnected at the proper time, but they will be left to their fate, remaining indefinitely in the lower realms, a dark belt that surrounds the Earth, formed by the mental vibrations of multitudes of incarnate and discarnate spirits that are still dominated by primitive impulses of bestiality.   

Simonetti then reminds us of Jesus' story of the prodigal son who, "stayed away from the comfort of his home...until he realized how miserable his life was, more depriving than the life of the most humble of his father's servants, and then began the long journey back home, where to his surprise, his father received him with immense joy".  To that, Simonetti makes an analogy with the spirit who suffers in lower realms.  He writes:

We are all sons of God, created to His image and likeness, provided with His creative potentialities and intrinsically destined to good.  Nevertheless, we become candidates for long periods of suffering in the inferior realms, every time we engage ourselves in wrongdoing, but one day, like the prodigal son, we sincerely repent and return to the paths of the Lord, starting the arduous journey of renovation.