Claim. Earthly life is like life in the womb, preparing human beings for the wider world of spirit.
Elaboration. SMM compares the fetus in the mother’s womb to human beings living in the physical world (CSG 4.4 §7, Blessed Family 1062). Just as the fetus does not know the world outside the womb, physical people cannot perceive the spirit-world with their five senses, yet that world “really does exist.” Human beings pass through three ages: water, land, and air, with spirit as the stage in which humans can move beyond physical limitation (112-201, 1981.4.12). Physical life is therefore a preparation period for “the eternal spirit world filled with the air of love” (140-121, 1986.2.9). The transition called death is birth into the larger environment of love.
See also. spirit-world