Claim. Single Blessings — given to widows, widowers, and others who lacked a living spouse — were principled emergency measures that anticipated spirit-world reunion, since heaven is entered as a family, never alone.
Elaboration. SMM states the principle and its emergency clause together: “The single Blessing is premised on the idea that the spouses will be reunited in the spirit world. You must realize that it is a great blessing to be able to receive the Blessing as a couple on earth rather than alone” (CSG 9.3 §14, 101-307, 1978.11.7). The reason heaven cannot be entered solo is structural: “You cannot enter heaven alone. The Blessing is what is required in order to pass through the gates of heaven because that is a place where only families can enter” (ibid, 12-265, 1963.5.25). The era of the Cosmic Sabbath collapses the partition: “The time is coming when widows or widowers who have received the Single Blessing on earth can be blessed with their spouses in the spirit world. … such a couple is blessed, the spouse on earth and the spouse in the spirit world are blessed together” (ibid, 284-167, 1997.4.16). Single Blessing is therefore the providential adaptation for cases where spousal reunion must wait until the spirit-world is itself opened. (Source-cleanup note: §14 anchor in csg-09-03 exhibits prose-in-heading bug; cited at chapter level.)
See also. blessing, spirit-world