Philosopher who has 'proof' of afterlife describes the seven 'levels of heaven and hell'

An Oxford-educated philosopher who believes that death is not the end has revealed the seven 'levels of heaven and hell'.

Chris Carter's interest in the supernatural came from living in a 'haunted' farmhouse in England, where he experienced unexplained phenomena like random slamming doors, as well as the sound of disembodied voices.

These experiences took him away from the world of finance to explore the nature of consciousness and the possibility of an afterlife beyond religion.

In his new book, The Case for the Afterlife, Carter has revealed why he thinks consciousness exists outside of the physical body.

Instead of going straight to heaven or hell, the Canadian suggests that there is a structured progression of consciousness after death, reports the Daily Mail.

Oxford-educated philosopher Chris Carter believes there is a structured progression of consciousness after death (Getty Stock Images)

From speaking to children who remember a previous life to people who have had near-death experiences, Carter has also examined deathbed visions and apparitions. All of this, he says, is evidence of reincarnation.

However, his outlook changed when he analysed the detailed, post-death 'messages' of Frederic Myers, the founder of the Society for Psychical Research in 1882.

"Myers described a stupendous journey of the immortal soul through the various planes or spheres of existence, beginning with Earth," Carter writes.

Carter's seven planes of the afterlife

Chris Carter's interest in the supernatural came from living in a 'haunted' farmhouse in England (Getty Stock Images)

• Earth

• Hades, the intermediate state

• The third plane, the sphere of terrene imagination

• Eido

• The Plane of Flame

• The Plane of Light

• Out-Yonder, flight from the physical universe

"Myers described Hades, the astral plane, as nothing sinister, but merely a temporary resting place on the borders of two worlds," Carter explained.

"The time spent in Hades is said to vary with the needs of the individual, with children often requiring hardly any rest at all."

Quoting 'Myers' post-death, he said: "I died in Italy, a land I loved, and I was very weary at the time of my passing. For me Hades was a place of rest, a place of half-lights and drowsy peace."

In his new book, The Case for the Afterlife, Carter has revealed why he thinks consciousness exists outside of the physical body (Getty Stock Images)

Carter insists that hell is more of a bad dream, rather than a place of physical torture.

The third plane, the sphere of terrene imagination, is the most similar to Earth, 'but with a beauty that far transcends the terrestrial' where 'communities of like-minded individuals with similar tastes come together and live in mutually constructed environments, while those of a more solitary nature may live in an environment entirely devised from their own preferences and desires'.

The fourth plane, Carter says, is the first 'true heaven-world', again, similar to Earth but with things we have never seen before.

Myers claimed to have reached the fourth plane, and Carter confessed that the next three planes are 'increasingly difficult to describe, as they are progressively more and more remote from our earthly experience'.

And the chances of actually seeing God are very slim, the author notes.

"Myers, in his post-mortem communications, describes God as being far, far above the human, and we… only can come close in what he describes as the seventh plane," he said.

"Based on my extensive reading of various communications via mediums, the reason the newly-departed do not see God is simply because we are, at first, too primitive and, immediately after leaving the Earth, occupy planes of existence not nearly exalted or advanced enough to closely approach the divine."