What seek ye ? An acute process of fermentation is going on. The public is being deluged with books. Scholars are poring over old manuscripts, exhausting themselves in erudition. Here and there prophets arise; each has a warning to give, some hope to hold out. It is as if from all sides feverish efforts were being made to diffuse new light.

The human soul is agitated and perturbed; here its vitals are allowed to parch, there they are preyed upon, so that the modicum of strength man had left to uplift him in the present time of tribulation is taken from him. Furtive hints and whisperings are abroad of something expected, something coming. Every nerve is taut with unconscious longing. But above all this unrest, an ominous cloud seems to hang. What mischief will it bring ? Confusion, despondency and ruin, unless indeed a mighty hand tear it asunder. At present a dark layer of dense ethereal matter surrounds the earth which resembles the clamminess of a slimy swamp. It absorbs every noble thought, chokes it before it matures and, like a gruesome bog, silently sucks down every feeling of goodwill in the bud, decomposing and destroying it before any good can come of it.

The seeker cries aloud for light, for he would be strong

enough with help to work his way out, but the sound of his voice is lost. Impenetrable walls have been built up by assiduous workers, by those indeed who think they are helping, but they offer stones for bread.

Glance at the innumerable number of books: they weary man; they do not strengthen him. That is sufficient proof of the barrenness of what is offered. What wearies the mind is never the right thing.

Mental food (spiritual bread) refreshes. Truth rehabilitates and Light animates. The unsophisticated man must despair when he sees what walls are built up round the next world by what they call psychic science. How can he understand the strange foreign terms and expressions ? Is the transcendental world exclusively reserved for occultists ? And as to the Almighty: is it necessary to erect a university, where the qualities must first be acquired to enable one to conceive the idea of Divinity ? Where is this tendency, the outcome of ambition, to lead ? Like inebriates the readers and hearers stumble along from one position to another, unsteadily, not free in themselves, prejudiced and one-sided, because they are not on the right path.

Listen, all you despondent ones, lift up your eyes all you that are seeking: the way upward lies open to all. Proficiency in learning is not the gate to this path.

Did Christ, our prototype, choose his disciples from among the Pharisees and Scribes ? He took them, rather, from the ranks of the plain and homely. Nor had they to depend upon mental qualities and deep learning to find the way to the Light. This idea is utterly false. It is man’s greatest enemy. Away, therefore, with all scientific research where it is a question of fully understanding what is most sacred for man. Science is an artificial product of the human brain: it is piece- work and defective and will always remain so.

Consider a moment: how should knowledge, acquired by hard study, lead to God ? What after all is knowledge ? Knowledge is what the brain can conceive. And how limited is the capacity of the human brain which is fast bound by space and time. The human brain is not even able to grasp the ideas of eternity and infinity, the inseparable attributes of the Most High.

But at the thought of that inconceivable power which vitalises all being, the human brain comes to a standstill, although it derives its working power from that very source.

It is an energy that we all feel, daily, hourly, every moment; that science has always recognised as existing; that we consider to be a matter of course, and yet that knowledge and reason try in vain to understand.

Such is the inadequacy of the human brain which is the basis and instrument of science. And its limitations are naturally shared by the work it does, i.e. by all science. Hence science is only useful to explain, sort and set in order what it takes over, ready-made, from the above mentioned creative power, but so long as it persists in clinging so closely to intellect, it must inevitably be inadequate if it would lead or criticise. It follows that erudition and those who pin their faith to it, always concern themselves with details, whereas it has been given to man to understand the great inconceivable whole and to attain to the highest and noblest ideals, without the trouble of any study.

Then away with all slavish adherence to psychic teaching! Let not our great Master’s exhortation to become like children be in vain.

He who has the earnest desire for righteousness and endeavours to be pure in thought, has found the way to celestial heights. All else «shall be added unto him». He does not need books, nor must he make any mental efforts; he need not practise asceticism, neither need he seek solitude. He will become sound in body and soul, and be freed from all morbid thoughts, for all extravagant exaggeration is harmful.

We are to be human beings, not hot-house plants, so forced that a breath of fresh air kills.

Awake! Look around you; listen to the still small voice within. That alone will open the way.

Heed not the dissensions of the Churches. The great Bringer of Truth, Christ Jesus, the personification of Divine Love, does not ask for your religious persuasions. What are the Churches today ? They shackle the free spirit of man and would extinguish the Divine spark in him; their dogmas strive to put limits to the work of the Creator and to the magnitude of His Love and to compress both into the narrow mould of the human mind. This is systematically dishonouring and disparaging the Godhead. The serious seeker feels repulsed by this artificial, arbitrary process; he can never realise the actual existence of the Truth, so his longing for it grows more and more hopeless and at last he despairs of himself and of the world.

Therefore, awake! Pull down the walls of dogma. Tear off the bandage that blindfolds you, so that the pure light from on high may shine in upon you unhindered. Then your soul will soar aloft and exult and magnify the great and limitless Love of the Father. You will perceive that you are a part of this love, grasp it, cling to it and you will daily and hourly grow in strength and leave all chaos far behind you.

Awake ye men out of your leaden slumber! Do you not see the ignoble burden that is pressing on you, the ponderous load which tenaciously clings to millions

Throw it off! Is it worth carrying ? No, not a second! What does it consist of ? But empty husks which the first breath of truth will scatter in the wind! You have been wasting your time and your energies for nothing.

Burst, therefore, the fetters that hold you down and free yourselves!

That man who is inwardly bound, will be a slave all his days, even if he were a king.

In aspiring to learning you constrain yourself to accept ideas which belong to another and you press yourself into a mould alien to you. You voluntarily subordinate your views to his and accept and take over convictions which he came to by his personal experience.

Take a thought! What is good for one is not good for all; what helps the one harms the other.

Each individual must make his way to perfection alone. The abilities that are given to him, are his equipment. He must be guided by them and build on them. If he does not, he will be a stranger to himself, he will stand outside or beside what he has learned. It will never come to life in him, thus he cannot profit in any way. He simply vegetates, all progress being impossible. Listen, all you who seriously aspire to the Light and to the Truth. The way there each individual must realise in himself. If he wants to travel safely, he must discover the way himself.

Only what a man has experienced inwardly (in its every mood) can he fully understand! Grief, affliction, sorrow, and joy are constantly rapping at the door to encourage and to rouse spiritual wakefulness. Grief or joy will often so completely absorb and turn aside a man’s thoughts from the paltry trifles of everyday life that, at such moments, he will vaguely suspect his affinity with the spirit that pulsates through all life.

All is alive, nothing is dead! Happy is he who seizes and holds on to such moments! The feeling of affinity such moments bring, he should use as stepping stones in his ascent. Man must not keep to rigid forms, each individual must develop from within.

Pity the scoffer and all those who are ignorant of the life of the soul. Do not let their sarcasms irritate you. They are to be commiserated, for they stand as if drunken, as if intoxicated before the great work of Creation or they are blind and grope their way through their earth-life without seeing any of the glorious sights around them! These unfortunates are confused

— they are asleep.

How can a man affirm that only what he sees, exists, that there is no life where his eyes do not perceive it, that, when he dies, he will cease to be, and this only because his blindness up till now prevented his convincing himself of the contrary ? Have not countless instances proved to him how very limited is the capacity of his physical eyesight which depends upon his brain ? The latter again is limited by time and space which precludes his seeing what is above and beyond those limitations. Is there not one among the scoffers who perceives that my assertions are logically justified ? The life of the spirit or the life to come is beyond terrestrial ideas of time and space and to be able to perceive it, means must be found that correspond to other conditions.

Our eyes do not even see all that time and space embrace. Look at a drop of water which appears immaculately pure to the naked eye, but looked at through a magnifying glass, contains millions of living organisms, fighting and destroying each other. Are there not bacilli in water and in air that are capable of destroying the human body and yet are imperceptible to the eye ? They become visible under a magnifying glass. Who then would still venture to affirm that nothing new, nothing not already known, will be seen when physical instruments are still further improved ? Improve them a thousand-fold, a million-fold, the objects presented for your inspection will multiply correspondingly: You will not exhaust the supply of matter, on the contrary, existing worlds you could not see or feel before, will unfold before you. We infer, reasoning logically, that the same is the case in all that science has hitherto revealed, a prospect of continuous development but never an end.

What now is the next world, the life to come ? Many are misled by the word: the next world. The next world is simply all that cannot be seen by terrestrial or physical appliances, i.e. our eyes, our brain, and other portions of the physical body, and the instruments which serve to assist these to extend their field of action and to do their work more accurately and minutely or in other words, the other world is beyond the range of our physical senses.

There is no partition between the next world and this one! Nor is there a gulf. All is unity like all else in Creation. One and the same energy pulsates here and there and in this life- stream all lives, all works, and all is inseparably interwoven. Here we have the explanation how it is that when one part sickens the other is affected likewise. When the physical body is ailing, unhealthy matter from the other side is attracted and forthwith proceeds to join it, thus strengthening the disease. Should the disorder prove to be incurable, the necessity arises to cut off the offending member if the whole body is not to suffer permanently.

For this reason, take off your blinkers and look at things from a different point of view! There is no this world and next world. There is but one uniform existence. Man alone has discovered and introduced the conception of an existing difference between them. For man cannot see all. He looks upon himself as the centre of importance in the surroundings visible to him. (But in truth his sphere of action is far greater.) In holding this erroneous idea man has forcibly hindered his own progress. He has allowed his imagination full play with the result that it has produced pictures of monstrosities.

Is it then astonishing if some smile incredulously while others bend the knee in excessive devotion which degenerates into slavish servility or morbid fanaticism ? Under such circumstances who can be surprised if the faint-hearted are alarmed, nay, seized with terror and consternation ? Away with all this! To what purpose this self- tormenting ? Break down this barrier that human error erected but which never really existed.

As your attitude was wrong hitherto, it consequently proved itself to be a wrong basis on which it was vain to try to build up the right faith or inner conviction. Questions would turn up that made you doubt, waver, and pull down what you had erected and then disheartened, discouraged and resentful you would give up all.

The loss would be yours alone, for it would mean standstill instead of progress — if not retrogression. The way that you must go would only be prolonged.

You are on the right path and are nearer your goal as soon as you have got so far that you look on Creation as a whole and make no distinctions between this world and the next. This advance will encourage you and give you satisfaction, you will then also be better able to understand the law of returns, the one driving and maintaining power, making all pulsate with warmth and vigour. Then the Light of Truth will dawn on you!

Many scoff, you will soon see, merely because they are too indolent to build up a new system which would involve their beginning to learn and to think afresh, whereas others do not wish to remodel their lives from motives of expediency.

Leave all such alone and do not argue with them, but offer your help and your knowledge to those who are not satisfied with temporal pleasures but seek for something more in their lives than simply to fill their stomachs. Impart to them what is revealed to you and do not bury your treasure, your talent, for, in imparting your knowledge, it will return to you enriched and extended.

Where it is a question of lasting treasure, an eternal law decrees that it is only by giving that one can receive. Like a sacred legacy bequeathed by the Creator, this law will be found in operation in all Creation. To give unselfish help where help is needed, to understand and feel for one’s neighbour in his grief as in his weakness, is receiving, for it is the plain and simple way to the highest heights.

Honest good-will will straightway help and strengthen you. A single ardent wish to do good, coming from your heart, will conjure forth a sword of flame from the other side that, with one mighty blow, will destroy the wall or partition that your own thoughts have erected, for you are one with the other world, inseparably bound to what you so feared, denied the existence of, or longed for but never could see.

Try and you will find it so! Your thoughts are the messengers that you send forth and which return to you heavily laden either with good or evil.

Thoughts are realities which shape into spiritual forms that outlive the earth-life of your physical body! When you understand this, much will become clear to you. Thus it is quite rightly said “For their works will pursue them” (or “find them out”). These works that await them are the forms that men create by their thoughts. They will form a circumambient belt of light or of darkness which must be traversed by the ego on its journey to the spiritual world.

Neither protection nor interference from the other side can help you because your will is free!

It is no difficult task, it all depends on the will-power that animates your thoughts. Thus you bear heaven as well as hell in yourselves.

You are free to decide, but having decided, you are then irrevocably doomed to bear the consequences of your decision. Thus I admonish you: Keep the seat of your thoughts clean. By doing so you will be a peacemaker and will be happy!

Do not forget that every thought you form and send forth either collects all analogous thoughts on its way or is attracted by similar thoughts, thus always increasing in potency till it finally attaches itself to a human brain that, in a moment of abstraction, admits the floating thought-form to operate there. Consider a moment what responsibility falls on the sender if such a thought becomes active through the man on whose brain it made the impression! As every thought keeps in constant connection with you by an unbreakable thread or link, it will return to torment you or to gladden you in the manner and to the extent (degree) which corresponds to what power you sent forth and herein you will be made aware of the share of responsibility you have incurred.

Thus, standing as we do, in the world of thought-forms, we unconsciously make room for and admit thoughts of similar nature to those we are indulging in at the time.

Do not, therefore, waste your thought-energy but keep it in reserve, so as to be able to project a keen thought at will, that it may, like a spear, hurled by a strong arm, penetrate and influence all things.

Let such a thought resemble the Holy Spear of the legend that it also may fight for the right, heal wounds and serve in furthering the progress and development of Creation. Concentrate your thoughts, therefore, on activity and on progress!

To do this you must upset many a time-honoured verdict and reveal errors in dogmatic teaching of long standing. Some phenomena wrongly understood and interpreted may be the obstacle in the way. One enlightening ray from above shows how wrong are the conclusions arrived at after so much speculation! When man at last recognises this, he will pause a while petrified, but then resume his work, for nothing may stand still in the universe.

Let us take the conception of time as an illustration: time flies, times change, one constantly hears men say — and a picture of changing time presents itself to our mind. It consolidates and becomes an accepted tenet or basis on which men build up further conclusions. But they soon come upon contradictions which they cannot reconcile. They lose their way and leave gaps in their deductions which cannot be filled in in spite of all their ingenuity. Many think that here faith must substitute what is missing in their arguments.

This is quite wrong, for man must not believe what he cannot understand; if he does, he leaves the door open for errors which then undermine the truth.

Belief without understanding is a proof of indolence in thinking which does not lead upwards but presses downwards.

Lift up your eyes therefore! It is right for us to test and investigate. The feeling that urges us to do so has not been implanted in man for no purpose.

Time! Does time really pass ? Why is it that one meets with contradictions when one would argue in favour of this accepted theory ? — The simple reason is that the premises are wrong: time stands still! We hurry to meet it! We rush into time (which is eternal) looking for, seeking the truth. Time is stationary, always the same today, yesterday and in a thousand years! It is only the outer form that changes. We plunge into time to cull from her records, for the purpose of enriching and furthering our knowledge. For time has allowed nothing to be lost and has faithfully recorded all things. Time does not change, it is eternal.

You too, oh man! will remain the ego that you were from the beginning. Have you not felt that yourself, not noticed a marked difference between the exterior form and the inner self? between your body that undergoes change and your soul or spirit which is eternal ?

Ye seek the truth: What is truth ? What you feel to be the truth today, you will recognise as error tomorrow, in which, however, still later, you will discover grains of truth, for the relation between phenomena also changes in form. And this constant changing matures you.

Albeit truth remains stable and consistent, it does not change, for it is eternal! And, being eternal it can never really and truly be understood by man’s physical senses which are cognizant of the constant change of form! Therefore develop your ego and free it from mundane restrictions and considerations and you will grasp the truth and the truth will be with you to enlighten you on your upward path.

Then it will no longer be necessary for you to trouble about science nor need you fear to err, for truth itself will answer every question. Moreover, you will have no questions open as, without thinking, you will know all things and understand the meaning of all things, for your spirit will be living in the pure light of truth.

Thus make yourselves independent, burst the fetters that hold you down! If obstacles present themselves, welcome them joyfully, for they mean that you are on the right way to freedom and to spiritual power.

Look on them as gifts by which you can profit, and then you will overcome them with ease.

They are either put in your way to teach and to mature you or, may be, they are the result of some debt you have incurred which you can settle in this way and free yourself. In either case they will help your advance. Set out to meet them with a bold heart — it is for your own good!

It is foolish to talk of reverses of fortune or of trials. Every conflict, every sorrow, means progress. They are opportunities accorded to man to drive away or weaken the results of former misdeeds. The only way of redemption lies in the ever rotating wheel of cosmic events in which the creative will of the Father manifests His Justice towards man, forgiving him and lightening his darkness.

The minutest swerving from this order and all the world would go to pieces, so clearly and so wisely is all arranged.

And supposing we have the case of a man who is burdened with a heavy debt from his former life, must he not despair ? Will he not tremble at the thought of how he must atone for and redeem his debt ?

No, he can take heart and, dismissing all care, gladly set to work if his will is honest; for then the countercurrent of his goodwill, will neutralise his debt and square his account.

Good-will, like a thought-form is a living thing, a mighty weapon, capable of upsetting every weighty and dark burden oppressing the ego, and thus of leading it to the light!

The power of volition! A mighty power, a never failing magnet, which, in attracting like powers, grows to avalanche. This again unites itself to spiritual potencies and can then return to the starting point, the origin, or better said, to the author himself, lifting him high up to the light or pressing him down into slime and mire, exactly corresponding to what the man willed in the first instance.

He who is acquainted with that law of returns which operates in all Creation knows that it will invariably and unavoidably act in his case also. He will know how to profit by it, will love it and fear it. It will gradually animate the invisible world around a man, he will feel its influence so distinctly that it will silence all doubt. If he pays attention he must become sensible of the vibrations that affect him and at last he will be aware that he is the focus of restless activity that he absorbs, like a lens absorbs the sun’s rays. Concentrating them on certain points he kindles a fire singeing and destructive but also healing and animating and bringing blessing.

Men are truly lenses that send forth invisible waves of power that they have absorbed by their will. They do good or evil, bring blessing or injury. We can and we are to light blazing fires in the souls of men, fire of enthusiasm for what is good and noble and uplifts man.

For this purpose, it is but needful for a man’s volition to be under control — indeed that would make man lord of Creation. It is man’s own will that brings him destruction or release, retribution or reward with unfailing certainty.

Do not fear that this knowledge will alienate you from your Creator or weaken your faith. On the contrary, the knowledge that we can make use of the eternal laws, makes Creation appear all the greater to us. It compels the investigator to bend the knee in veneration more profound than before.

Man will then never wish to do evil. He will eagerly and joyfully grasp at the best staff that exists: love, love of all the world and love for his neighbour. A love inciting him to make his neighbour share in the glorious enjoyment of this consciousness of power.

Man will then never wish for evil things. He will joyfully grasp at the best support that exists for him: Love! Love for the whole wonderful Creation, and love for his neighbor, that he too may be led upward to the glory of this enjoyment, of this consciousness of power!

If a thought suddenly strikes you, keep it to yourself and do not speak of it to another. It will crystallize and consolidate through retention and gain strength like steam under pressure. The pressure and condensation give the thought magnetic power, and it attracts and absorbs all weaker analogous thoughts. These thought-forms come from all sides, are retained and amalgamate with the original thought. They not only bring it reinforcement but serve also to file and remodel it, so that when the thought comes to maturity, its form differs somewhat from the original. You are conscious of this process going on within you, and you think it is your own will that has so ordered it, whereas in truth you are always under influence from outside; when you think, your thoughts are never quite independent. What does this fact teach you ?

That perfection can only be the result of a blending of many details or elements. This result is not a new creation, for there is nothing new in Creation. Its component parts are all there. It is only a matter of amalgamating and consolidating them into a new form. The object of amalgamating these component parts is to help build up perfection, and to do this they must necessarily combine and blend.

Do not lightly pass over this truth. Let the fact sink into your mind that maturity and perfection are only attained by the combination and fusion of individual elements, for you will find this to be so in all Creation. This precious truth ought to be recognized and brought into prominence. It stands in close affinity to the rule that we can only receive by giving. With what condition must we comply to understand these truths aright ?

How can we best realize them ? Through love. That is why love is the greatest power and why its potency is unlimited in the great mystery of existence. Creation on its way to perfection is in an unceasing condition of combining, fusing, and filing existing thought- forms through the agency and activity of will- power.

To attain to perfection is reserved for the human race in all its manifold varieties and manifestations as a whole, and can never be accomplished by a single individual, although each individual contributes some necessary element. Thus it is that a sage, possessing wisdom and understanding, no longer knowing the lusts of the flesh, will love all mankind but not the individual.

If we compare the human soul to a harp that has been buried in the sand, we shall find that only those strings that have been laid bare by the storm (this is the purification undergone) can give forth sound; but all the strings should sound to form an accord and be in heavenly harmony with our sage, for all the strings of his harp sound.

To return to the thought that has been attracting analogous thought-forms and has consequently been growing stronger and stronger: its powerful vibrations are projected beyond the person of the thinker; they penetrate his aura and influence his surroundings. Man calls this personal magnetism. The uninitiated say that the man sends forth rays or emanations which can either be pleasant or unpleasant, attractive or repulsive, as the case may be. They sense something. But in truth no rays, no emanations proceed from the man. He attracts all that is spiritually analogous like a magnet, and this is what they feel. Here also repercussion comes into operation, for sympathy awakes in those who feel the strong man’s attractive power.

Always bear in mind that all that is spiritual acts like a magnet and it is well known that the stronger influence dominates the weaker, attracts and absorbs it. This is the meaning of Christ’s words: “from him that hath not even that which he hath shall be taken away.” He becomes dependent. There is no injustice in this, it is the operation of Divine Law.

Man need only pull himself together and will aright, and he will be protected from this happening to him.

You will now probably ask: “How will it be, if all will to be strong, if none are left from whom to take ?” Then, friend, there will be voluntary interchange among men, for it also is the law that only he who gives can receive. There will be no standstill on that account, for all that is inferior will be swept away and become extinct.

Thus it happens that through indolence many fall into subjection and dependence and in some cases even lose altogether the capacity to develop their own thoughts.

Special attention must be called to the fact that only what is analogous attracts. Hence the proverb: Birds of a feather flock together. Drinkers will attract drinkers; smokers will sympathize with smokers. The same will be the case with gossips, gamblers, etc., and noble characters will attract each other and join in their high-minded aims.

Spiritual attraction finally manifests in matter, for the thought always remains connected with its origin, with its birthplace, and the law of reciprocal action compels it to return to the brain that generated it.

It must be distinctly understood that I am now only speaking of genuine serious thoughts, the result of spiritual impressions and animated by them. I do not mean those transient thoughts that are only a waste of brain-substance. Such fleeting thoughts are but a confused and wild medley of nebulous bubbles which fortunately are only short- lived. Do not fritter away your time in abuse of a precious gift entrusted to you.

On the other hand, if you have been seriously meditating on a subject and silence has lent your thought the aforesaid magnetic quality, it will be fructified by the thoughts it attracts and will mature. Then it will step out of the frame of the commonplace, and, penetrating other spheres, will assimilate sublimer thoughts — in other words be inspired.

Hence the basic thought in inspiration must always proceed from yourself and span a bridge over to the spiritual world, where it then consciously draws inspiration as from a spring. The thought now matures in you. By your own power you have condensed and consolidated into a whole countless elements that have been floating about as thought-forms. You produce a new form by amalgamating what has existed spiritually for ages. Thus everywhere in Creation the forms alone are ever- changing; all else is everlasting and indestructible.

Take care never to allow yourself to indulge in confused or shallow thoughts. The result of superficial thinking is that your brain degenerates into a playground for undesirable alien influences and makes you sullen, moody, and unjust to your surroundings.

If you have a really useful thought, cling to it; the concentrated energy or power you have put into it, will insist on the thought being put into practice and realized. Its future development is spiritual. What then appears on the surface, visible to all, is but the ultimate manifestation of the preceding, spiritual, magnetic process that ever repeats itself in the same order.

Introspection will tell you that all thinking and all emotion, all that belongs to life proper, must come from the spiritual plane, for all life has its origin and develops there. You will be compelled to admit that all you see with your physical eyes is produced by the never resting agency of the spirit.

Every action, even the slightest movement is but the expression of an act of volition. The role that the physical body plays here, is that of the tool animated by the spiritual energy that has fashioned it. This is the case with all matter: trees, stones, and the whole earth. The spirit that made them, animates them, courses through them and sets them in motion.

As all that we see with our physical eyes (all matter) is simply the result of spiritual life, it will not be hard for you to understand that the conditions of our life on earth automatically adapt themselves to harmonize with the spiritual atmosphere which immediately surrounds you. This wise and merciful provision enables mankind to shape its surroundings at will by the divine power which permeates Creation. Happy is the man who uses this for good, but woe unto him who allows himself to be tempted to misuse it!

The spirit of man is choked and darkened by the lusts of the world: they hold him, weigh on him and drag him down. Man’s thoughts are expressions of his will in which spiritual energy operates. He is free to think good thoughts or bad thoughts, and thus guide the heavenly power to good or to bad purpose. In this lies man’s responsibility. Reward or retribution will infallibly be his, as the results of all his thoughts will return to their author in obedience to the never failing, unalterable, inexorable and incorruptible law of returns, severe and just! Are not these the attributes of the Almighty ?

If free-thinkers reject the hypotheses of Divine Ordinance, it alters nothing of what I have said: they have but to leave out the little word God and search seriously in what genuine science teaches and they will find exactly the same truth expressed in other words. Is it, therefore, not absurd to argue about it ? There is no getting round the laws in Creation; no man can defy them. Through the power of Almighty God all natural laws are set in operation. This power man has neither seen nor grasped, and yet every day, every hour, every fraction of a second, he experiences the result of its work, which, if he would, he might observe and study, for it is manifest in every tree, every flower, in the fibre of every leaf breaking through its husk to come to the Light.

What blindness this obstinate opposition is, seeing that everyone, the scoffer included, confirms and acknowledges the existence of this power. What is it that prevents their seeing God in this power ? Is it childish perversity, or is it shame at being obliged to confess that, all the time, they have been denying or trying to deny something, of the existence of which they were always aware ? No, these are not the reasons. The cause lies in the absurd and outrageous representations of Almighty God which are held up to man on all sides.

The serious thinker is repelled by them and rejects them. To undertake to delineate God’s all-embracing and all-pervading power in a picture is debasing and dishonouring. The profounder a man’s thoughts are, the less will such a picture satisfy him. The spirit-spark that every man has in him, will instinctively object and refuse any restricting delineation of the inconceivably great power that made him and that guides him.

It is dogma that is responsible for a great number of opponents who, in their contentions, go far beyond their aim or their mark, of which they are often fully aware inwardly.

The hour is not far distant when spiritual awakening will take place. That will be when the words of the Redeemer are rightly interpreted and His great work of Redemption rightly understood, for Christ redeemed us from the Powers of Darkness by teaching us the truth and showing us how a human being should find the way to the Light above, and with His blood shed on the Cross He set the seal to his assurance.

Truth never changes; what was true in the past is now true and will be true in ten thousand years, for truth is eternal.

Therefore study the laws as they are laid down in that great book Creation. To obey them means to love God. Then there can be no discord, for you will be adding to and joining in the glorious harmonies of a hymn of praise.

Whether you say: “I voluntarily submit to the cosmic laws because it is good for me to do so,” or “I will obey God’s Will as manifested in these laws,” or “I subject myself to the all- pervading but unexplained power that operates in them,” what difference does it make to your future conduct ? The power is there, and you recognize it; if you take thought, you will see you have no option but to do so, and in doing so you will recognize and acknowledge your God, the Creator.

This power operates in you when you think, therefore do not abuse it, but think good thoughts and remember that by it you can attain to the purest, sublimest altitudes. Never forget that the result of what you think will come back to you as a blessing or a curse in proportion to the power, the importance and the extent of the effort lying in your thought.

As the thought is sent out from the spirit, the result will return in the spirit and will make itself felt either here on earth or after you have gone over. Thoughts are not bound to matter, so the dissolution of the physical body does not affect them. Repercussion will surely come sooner or later, here or hereafter. The author remains connected with his work even if it is executed in matter, for the thought that generated it remains after all that is material has passed away. It is rightly said: Your works are awaiting you and you must give account of them in so far as you have not suffered the reaction and expiated them. If you are still on earth, or if you have returned to incarnate here, the reaction you have incurred (coming from the spiritual sphere) will manifest itself either for good or for evil in the circumstances into which you are born, or may be, in your person, in your physical body.

Your attention is here particularly called to the fact that true life or life proper is spiritual. It knows neither time nor space; thus it knows no intermission, and is beyond the understanding of the earth-man. This explains why the reaction of all that man does or thinks, comes at the time appointed wherever he may be, and nothing will miscarry or be lost.

This answers the question so often put: why must apparently good people suffer such bitter adversity in their earthly lives ? One is sometimes tempted to think that their fate is unjust. It is, however, the effect of what they have made themselves liable to in former lives.

Now you will understand that your temporal body is of no consequence. Your physical body is not you. It is only a tool that you have chosen or that you have been obliged to accept, according as the case may stand in relation to the cosmic law. Your life on earth is but an episode of short duration in your existence.

Such reflections might well make a human soul despair if there were no possibility of escape, no protecting power as a counterpoise. Many that wake to a knowledge of spiritual life would gladly sleep again. They do not know what awaits them in the shape of reaction for sins in bygone lives which they must expiate. But take comfort, for another wise and merciful provision is, that when a man awakes, he is shown a way by which he can greatly modify the effects of his Karma, if indeed not avoid them altogether, that is by concentrating his will on what is good. I have before laid special stress on the necessity for doing this. The power of goodwill is so great that it forms a protective atmosphere round a man; it can ward off and disintegrate approaching evil or at least greatly modify its effect, like the protective zone of atmosphere round the earth. This strong and protective power, the attribute or quality of goodwill, is bred and nourished by the power that lies in silence. Thus again, I earnestly admonish those who are striving upwards: Keep the fountain of your thoughts pure and strive to acquire the great power that silence lends. The Heavenly Father has given you the power to do all this: you have only to use it.

You who are striving for recognition, do not entangle yourselves in a web, but become seeing!

You who are yearning for understanding, do not let yourselves be deceived. Each one of you in his thoughts and works has heaped up a heavy burden of wrong-doing for which each one of you must individually atone, for no part of it can be laid on the shoulders of another. Such is the law, otherwise Divine justice would be but an empty word, and without Divine justice all would crumble to ruins.

Lose no time, therefore, not an hour; free yourselves from your load!

The honest, sincere will to improve, to reform and lead a good life together with heart-felt prayer will bring about your redemption.

Without the honest, steadfast will to do what is right there can be no atonement, for by continuing on the wrong path, the evil in you will continually receive fresh nourishment, and you will keep on incurring fresh debts, so that finally your life must appear as a continuous course of transgression and affliction. Such a life is indeed an endless chain, for a new link is made before the former one is broken. Man is again and again constrained to atone and cannot be redeemed. The chain fetters him to the earth and may possibly drag him down still further. Therefore pull yourselves together, you who are in your physical bodies and you who are disembodied, and concentrate your wills on what is good! If your good intentions persist and are constant, you will and must come to the end of your obligations, for a soul, whose will is bent on doing good, will incur no fresh debts. Thus at last this soul will be redeemed and will be free to soar to the Light. Listen to my warning: “There is no other way for you, nor for anyone else.”

It follows from what is said that it can never be too late for you. There will still be a sin here or there to be expiated, but after having made up your mind to do good only, you will have put a limit to the ever recurring necessity of atonement. You are thus sure that the time must come when you will be free from debt and ready to begin your upward flight.

With this certainty you will gladly atone for the past, knowing that whatever happens, it is for your good, to bring you ever nearer to the hour of your release.

Do you now appreciate the importance and value of my injunction to begin at once to will what is good with all the strength of purpose you can summon and to keep your thoughts pure ? Keep up this practice; pursue it ardently and with energy, letting nothing deter you. It will uplift you and change your character and your surroundings. Remember, each earth-life is a short time of schooling, and that you yourself do not come to an end when you lay aside your physical body.

You will either go on living eternally or be dead for all time, either lastingly enjoy bliss or the reverse.

He who persists in thinking that all is over with him after his body is buried, may turn about and go his way — he is only deluding himself. Great will be his consternation when he sees himself face to face with the Truth and has to begin to go through all the stages of suffering that will then await him! His real self, bereft of his protective body, the dense substance which surrounded and encased him like a shield, will forthwith be attracted to analogous substance and held fast. It will be much harder for him, nay for a long time impossible, to summon up will-power to concentrate on improvement and amendment.

This alone can liberate him and help him to rise out of the surroundings then dominating him, for there he will find no enlightening thought that might awaken and support him. He will suffer doubly under conditions for which he knows he himself is to blame. Ascent is then much harder for a human soul than when it was in flesh and blood.

During his training-time on earth the ego can develop and advance, if it will. Here on earth only, can good and bad dwell side by side under the protection of physical matter. Rouse yourselves therefore: every thought of yours bears fruit that returns to you, and you must eat of it, and not one of you can escape! How can it help you to bury your head in the sand like the ostrich ? It will make it easier for you if you boldly look facts in the face; here on earth advancement is easier and progress quicker. Begin at once! Remember that all old debts must be settled, so do not expect blessings to rain down upon you immediately, as many fools do. It may be that some of you still have a long series of trespasses to expiate, but he whose heart fails him at this thought is at a disadvantage, for he cannot shirk this task nor in any way avoid it. Hesitation makes it harder to perform, perhaps even impossible for some time. This thought should spur him on not to delay another hour. He will only begin when he takes the first step. Happy is the man who braces himself to take this first step. He will find his chain of obligations loosen and fall from him link by link, and that he is able to forge ahead with giant strides and bounds. Jubilant and grateful he will overcome the last obstacles and be free!

The stones that his wrong-doing had heaped up like a wall before him, preventing his advancement, will not be cleared away, but will be carefully laid out before him that he may see them, and, recognizing his short-comings, surmount them. It will not be long before he becomes filled with awe and wonder when he sees the love that surrounds and guides him as soon as he evidences his good-will. The way is shown to him with the same delicate consideration as a mother has for her child when teaching it to walk.

Should there be things in his former life that are a secret source of apprehension to him, the memory of which he would fain let sleep for ever, suddenly they will rise up and confront him. They will compel him to act. If he then ventures to take the first step in the right direction, confident that his good-will will be victorious, the ominous knot will be cut, and he will pass on freed from this burden; but he has perhaps hardly settled this account, when another obligation in some form or other presents itself, inviting, as it were, his attention and asking for settlement.

Thus one by one, he can burst the fetters which held him back and weighed him down. A delightful sensation of lightness comes over him — a feeling which some among you have surely experienced at one time or another. This feeling is no illusion. The spirit freed from its oppression leaps up to the region corresponding to its weight, and from there it should — must — constantly ascend further till it has reached its longed-for goal: the Light. The human will, if concentrated on evil, presses the spirit down; if concentrated on good, buoys it up.

Jesus, the great Master, taught men the way that infallibly leads to the desired end; the deepest wisdom lies in the words: “Love thy neighbour as thyself.”

These words are the key to freedom, the secret of success in ascent. Why ? Because it is an irrefutable truth that what you do for your neighbour, you do in reality for yourself, as all returns to you. Whether good or bad, whether here or hereafter, reaction will come in obedience to the eternal law. Thus you are shown the simplest of ways to practice good-will: you are to prove your love by serving your neighbour. You are to serve him according to your special qualities. We are not necessarily concerned here with money or goods, for in that case the poor would not be able to give. Your love and service will show itself in the voluntary consideration and respect for your neighbour and in the help you afford him to change his course and ascend.

You are to be a source of strength to him and this is what Jesus meant.

The reaction of this loving service will in turn quickly uplift you. You will continually be reinforced with new strength to speed you on your way to the Light. Poor fools are they who still can ask: «What do I gain by giving up my old habits and changing my whole life ?» If all they gained were merely to be noble men, it would repay them, but their profit is far greater: the moment a man sets his will on doing that which is good, he sets a limit to the growth of his debt of sin. Whatever his sins may have been, he must atone for them all, and no one can take away any part of the burden from his shoulders, but what a happy relief to know that in consequence of his resolution, he will be free from his obligations within a specified time. Not all the treasure in the world can weigh in the balance against the possession of this knowledge. He tears himself free from fetters that enslaved him, which he himself was continually renewing. Rouse yourselves therefore from your enervating sleep! Awake! That fatally mistaken dogma that the Saviour will redeem all your sins has acted like a soporific. This terrible delusion serves you as a sort of letter of credit, on the strength of which you can lead a life of irresponsible levity and self- worship, trusting that all may go well provided you become serious towards the end of life and die repentant, believing in the Saviour and in His work.

Fools to expect God Almighty to be satisfied with such half measures, reconciled by such miserable piecework! It would indeed be encouraging and breeding evil. Think of this and make yourselves free!

This question is always one of the first to be considered. By far the greater number of men would like to disburden themselves of every responsibility and cast it on something or someone beside themselves. This being derogatory to themselves does not disconcert them. In this they are really very humble and modest, but unfortunately they only desire to go on living the more merrily and unscrupulously.

It would be so fine to gratify one’s every wish and let one’s desires run riot at the expense of others without having to pay for it! Mundane laws can, if necessary, easily be circumvented and conflicts avoided. The more cunning ones can even under their cover make quite successful raids and do many things that would not bear closer inspection, even while enjoying the reputation of being exceptionally praiseworthy people. Thus, with a certain amount of discernment, one could live quite comfortably in accordance with one’s own views, if ….

something did not awaken an uneasy sensation from time to time, a certain disquietude as to whether many a thing should not be different from that which is the outcome of one’s own wishes.

And this is really the case. Truth is serious and inexorable. The wish of man can in no wise bring about a deviation in this respect. The law that what a man sows, that will he reap remains adamant.

These few words contain and say much more than one might think. They correspond exactly to the actual process of action and reaction that is present in Creation. No more appropriate expression could be found for it. In the same way as the harvest brings the manifoldness of the seed, man receives back with interest what he has awakened in his own sensations and sent out in his thoughts. Thus man bears spiritually the responsibility for all that he does.

This responsibility begins at his taking a resolution and not at the time of the action which is but a consequence of the resolution. Resolution is the awakening of serious intention.

There is no partition between this life and life in the next world. All is an immense entirety. Like an extraordinarily ingenious, never failing mechanism, the whole mighty Creation, visible and invisible to us, interacts on itself. Uniform laws bear the whole, permeating it and connecting it like strands of nerves, in constant action and reaction.

When the churches and the schools speak of Heaven and of Hell, of God and of the Devil, they are right. The mistake lies in the teaching of good and bad powers. That must inevitably lead the serious seeker into misconceptions and doubts; for where there are two powers there must logically be two masters, in this case two Gods, a good one and an evil one. And this is not the case.

There is but one Creator, one God, and thus one Power only that permeates, animates and develops all Being. This pure, creative, divine Power pulses through the whole of Creation continually, and forms an integral part which cannot be severed from it. It is to be found everywhere, in the air, in every drop of water, in the growing rock, the struggling plant, in animals, and naturally also in man. There exists nothing where it is not also.

And as it permeates all things, it likewise permeates man without cessation. The structure of man resembles that of a lens. Just as a lens collects the sun’s rays as they pass through it, and sends them on in a concentrated form, so that the heat- giving rays, united on a given spot, singe it and set it on fire, so man, owing to his intrinsic qualities, gathers the divine creative force pulsing through him together in his soul and directs it on in a concentrated form by his thoughts.

According to the quality of his inner feeling and its accompanying thoughts man guides the Divine creative power which works unconsciously for good or for evil.

This is the responsibility which man must bear.

You who are often so painfully seeking the right path, why make it so hard for yourselves ? In all simplicity picture to yourselves the pure force of the Creator pulsating through you and how you are guiding it by your thoughts for good or for evil.

Then you have it all without trouble or effort. Consider that it simply depends on your own inner feeling and thoughts whether this immense force produces good or evil. What great constructive or destructive power has thus been given you!

You need make no effort, you need not cling to any so-called occult practices in order that you may attain, through all possible and impossible mental and physical contortions, to some step utterly worthless for your real spiritual advancement.

Cease wasting your time. This toying has often developed into a painful torment and means no less than the practices in convents of scourging and mortifying the flesh. It is only another form of the same thing and can bring as little gain.

The so-called occult masters and pupils are modern Pharisees, in the truest sense of the word. They are indeed a resuscitation of the Pharisees at the time of Jesus of Nazareth.

Reflect joyfully that merely by your good inner feeling and thoughts you are able to guide the one mighty, creative force. It works exactly corresponding to the quality of your inner feelings and thoughts. The force is constantly present. You need only to guide it, and this without any art or subtlety. No scholarship is required, not even the art of reading and writing. It is given to each one of you in the same degree. In this no difference exists.

As a child, playing with the switch, can let loose an electric current of enormous strength, it is given to you, through your mere thoughts, to guide divine force. You may rejoice and be proud so long as you use it for good, but tremble if you waste it, or still worse, use it for impure purposes, for you cannot escape the reciprocal action which lies in Creation. And if you had the wings of the morning, the hand of the Lord, whose force you have thus misused, would reach you by means of this self- acting law wherever you might hide yourself.

Evil is effected by the same pure, divine power as good. The free choice to decide in what manner one will use this Divine power, entails a responsibility from which none can escape. Therefore, I say to every seeker: “Keep your thoughts pure. You are a peacemaker by so doing, and are happy!”

Rejoice, you ignorant and feeble ones; for to you the same power is given as to the strong! Do not make it too hard for yourselves.

Do not forget that the pure, creative Divine power also flows through you, and that you too, being men, can guide this power in a particular direction by means of your inner feeling, that is your will, for good or for evil, destructively or constructively bringing joy or sorrow.

As there is but this one Divine power, the mystery becomes clear as to why darkness must give way to light, and why evil, in every serious, final struggle, must give way to good.

If you guide the Divine power to good, it remains in its original purity, undimmed, thereby developing greater force; whereas, dimmed by impurity, a loss of power ensues. Thus, in the final struggle, the purity of the power will be what penetrates and determines.

Every one of you feels, to the very fingertips, what is good and what is evil. To indulge in subtle inquiries would but confuse and be a waste of power. Refrain from so doing, for, like a swamp, which lays hold of all within its reach, it would paralyze and suffocate you. Gay joyousness dispels all gloomy thought. You need not be sad or depressed. At any moment you can begin the road upwards and make good the past, whatever it may have been. Do nothing but think of the process of the pure, divine power flowing through you, then you yourself will shrink from guiding this purity into the unclean channels of bad thoughts, because, without any effort, you can attain to the highest and noblest ones. You have but to guide. The power works on independently in the direction you desire.

Thus you have your happiness and your unhappiness in your own hand. Then hold up your heads courageously and wear a brave face. Evil cannot approach unless you call it. As you will so it will be unto you.

Men speak of merited and unmerited fate, of reward and punishment, or retaliation and Karma. These are only different names for one of the laws which govern the universe: the law of reaction, a law existing from the very beginning of all Creation, inseparably interwoven with the great, never ceasing process of development, and forming an integral part of Creation and development itself. As a gigantic system of the finest nerves it holds together and animates the mighty universe, in continual motion, in a never ceasing give- and-take.

The great Bringer of Truth, Jesus of Nazareth, said simply and plainly, and yet so aptly: “What a man sows, that he must reap.”

These few words reflect exactly the process of development and life in Creation. What they express is inextricably interwoven in all existence; it is ineradicable, inexorable, incorruptible.

You can perceive it yourselves, if you wish. Begin by observing your own visible surroundings. What you call natural laws are Divine laws, expressing the will and purpose of the Creator. You will quickly perceive how they are constantly at work, for if you sow wheat, you will not reap rye, and if you sow rye, you will not reap rice. This is so self-evident to every man that he never reflects on the process. He is, therefore, not even conscious of the great inalterable law behind it. And yet the answer to the riddle that should indeed be no riddle at all, is here.

It is the identical law that you are hereby enabled to observe. It operates with the same certainty and energy in the most delicate things, only capable of being perceived through a magnifying glass, and goes on working still further in the invisible, transcendental part of Creation, which is by far the larger part. Every process is subject to it, even to the most intricate development of one’s thoughts, for they, also, are material to a certain extent, else they would not be able to make any impression.

How can you imagine that this should be different just in such cases as you would have it so ? Your doubts are in reality nothing else but unexpressed wishes.

In all life, whether it is visible or invisible to you, every kind reproduces its own kind, no matter what its nature or constituent characteristics may be. It is the same continuous and uninterrupted process as in the growth and development of a plant, and reproduction of fruit of its own kind. This process goes on uniformly in all life; it makes no difference, leaves no gaps, and does not halt before another part of Creation, but carries it through, like an inseparable thread, without intermission.

Should even the greater number of mankind isolate themselves, the Divine Law or laws of nature would not cease to regard them as belonging to Creation, nor would they desist in working on, unaffected.

The law of reaction also necessitates that man must reap what he sowed where he gave the impulse which caused the reaction. Man is only free to decide at the very outset of a matter, in which direction the omnipotent power flowing through him shall act. He must then take the consequences resulting from the direction he gave to this energy.

In spite of this, many insist that, if man is subject to fate, he has no free will.

This foolish way of thinking is meant to act as a narcotic. It is but a grudging submission to the inevitable, discontented resignation, and above all self-justification.

In each case, fate started from a beginning. The ultimate accomplishment of fate depends from the very beginning on the free use of man’s will. An act of free-will has preceded the consummation of every decree of fate.

In exercising his own powerful free-will, man, in each case brings about conditions in which he must, sooner or later, himself live. It is quite uncertain at what period this will come to pass. It can happen in the same life on earth in which the act of free-will set the wheel of fate in motion; it may just as well happen in the life which follows in the transcendental world after laying aside the physical body, or again still later, in a later incarnation on earth. The changes in man’s condition matter nothing, but they do not free him from his obligations. He continues bound by the connecting link till the law of reaction has been complied with and he is set free. The author is bound to his work, even if he intended the effect for another.

If, therefore, a man today determines to do another an ill turn in thought, word, or deed, he has, by so doing, set some energy at work; whether this is visible, or invisible, material, or not, it has power, therefore life, and can develop and work on further in the desired direction. How it affects the person aimed at depends entirely on that person’s own spiritual qualities. The effect may indeed be quite different from what was intended; possibly there may be no effect whatever; it is the spiritual condition of the person in question, which restricts or limits the effect.

Thus no one is exposed to such influences unprotected. The case is different with the man whose will and determination set the activity in motion. His work remains inevitably bound up with himself and returns to him after a longer or shorter journey through the universe greatly increased in potency. This is owing to the operation of the law of reaction. Energy sent out into Creation attracts and is attracted by all that is of the same nature as itself. In this way a nucleus of energy is formed. From this centre, energy more potent than it was before, is returned to all those who are linked to it by their work.

This reinforced energy concentrates and consolidates till it forms a sediment of physical matter. This is the evil corresponding to the will and intention (the work and activity) of its author and he himself must now live and suffer in this condition till he is able to set himself free. This is the way man’s dreaded and misunderstood fate originates and develops. Down to the minutest details it is strictly just. As only what is of similar species or nature is attracted, nothing else can be reflected on man than what his will originally devised. It makes no difference whether it was intended for a particular individual or intended generally, and the process is the same when the intention is not directed to a fellow-man, nor towards a whole society of men, it suffices if this wish or will has formed the principle of his life.

The fruits that must finally be reaped, depend on what the

man’s will has decided on. Thus, numberless, invisible threads cling to man and he to them, by means of which all that he once seriously willed, reacts on himself. These currents constitute a complexity of influences which have an important part in forming character.

There are many things in the mighty machinery of Creation which co-operate in the fate of man, but there is nothing to which man did not himself give the first impulse.

He furnishes the threads out of which the ever-working loom of time weaves the cloak he has to wear.

Christ expresses the same plainly and distinctly when he says: “What a man sows, that he will reap.” He does not say can reap, but will reap. That is the same as “He must reap what he sows.” How often one hears, otherwise very reasonable, people say: “It is incomprehensible to me, how God should allow such a thing.”

It is incomprehensible that man should speak thus. How small they imagine God to be. They prove by their words that they think he acts arbitrarily.

But God does not interfere directly in all these small and great woes of man, such as war, misery, and other terrestrial matters.

From the very beginning He has woven his perfect laws into His creation. They do their work automatically and incorruptibly, so that all may be fulfilled and work on uniformly without ceasing, without prejudice in favour of or detriment to anyone. It is not necessary for the Creator to interfere in special cases, this work goes on without intermission and has no deficiencies.

One of the principal mistakes so many make, is that men only judge from the material point of view, regarding themselves to be in the centre and counting on but one incarnation, whereas they have had many lives behind them. These incarnations, together with the intervals of time in the ethereal world, constitute one single existence through which unbroken threads are tightly stretched and of which only quite small sections are apparent in the separate lives. Thus it is a great mistake to believe that with birth, a new life begins or that a child is innocent* and that all happenings can be accounted for in one short life. Were this the case, then justice would naturally require that causes, effects and reactions should work out in the span of the one life.

Discard this erroneous conclusion. You will then discover the

logical connection and perfect justice you have hitherto missed seeing in all occurrences.

Many are alarmed at this and fear that which they have to expect from reactions of the past under the workings of these laws.

But this is unnecessary anxiety for him who is serious in willing good, for, in the automatic action of the law, lies also the promise of forgiveness. Besides this, when the firm will for good comes into action, setting a limit to Karma and breaking the chain of consequences, another process of immense importance commences. By the continuous practice of goodwill in thought and deed, a steady reinforcement of power flows down from the same source, so that the good in man becomes more and more firmly established. Emanating from him, it then determines his spiritual surroundings and these cling to him like a *) Lecture No. 15: The mystery of birth.

protecting shield, just as the atmosphere provides a protecting veil round the earth.

When the evil consequences of former deeds set in for this man, they are staved off by the purity of his surroundings and are diverted.

Should, however, rays of this counteraction penetrate through this veil, they would either immediately decompose or at least be so considerably weakened, that no harm would be done him, or, if any, very little.

Besides this a transformation of the inner man, to whom the rays were directed, has taken place. Through the constant exercise of his will for good, he has been refined and has become lighter, so that he no longer responds to the coarser and denser vibrations, as in wireless telegraphy, when the receiving apparatus does not correspond with the vibrations sent out.

The natural consequence is, that the denser vibrations cannot take hold of anything and therefore pass by him without making any impression.

Therefore set to work without delay. Make use of your time. Every moment may bring failure or success, may mean loss or gain for you.

God created man in his own image and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. There are two separate processes: the fashioning and the animating. Both processes were strictly subject to the existing Divine Laws, outside which nothing can take place. No expression of God’s Will will set itself in opposition to His own inalterable laws. Every revelation and every promise is fulfilled in agreement with these laws and must find its fulfilment in them, as there is no other alternative.

Thus it was also with the Creation of man: a step forward in the mighty process, the transition from the material to quite a new and higher state.

Before coming to the making of man, it is necessary to know something of the ethereal world, for the man of flesh and blood has been interpolated as a stepping stone between the ethereal and physical part of Creation, whereas his spirit has its origin in the world of pure spirit.

God created man after his own image. This process was a long chain of development which went on strictly in accordance with the Divine Laws God interwoven in His Creation.

These laws, a part of Himself, work automatically and unceasingly to do His Will thus, also in the making of man, the crown of all His work, in whom all the different species existing in Creation were to be united. For this purpose, by a very gradual process of development, the vessel was formed in the material world, in which an immortal spark could be incarnated. This process of moulding, continuously striving towards perfection, in time produced the highest species of animal, an animal who could think and thus make use of external aids to assist him in his life and to serve him for defence. Today, we can notice lower species of animals who make use of certain aids in securing and storing their food and who exhibit astounding cunning in self-defence.

The above-mentioned higher species of animal became extinct, was swept away by the changes in the crust of the earth. They are called the primordial man. But it is great error to say that they are man’s ancestors. With equal right one could aver that the cow were part-mother to the child, as in the first months of their lives, children take cow’s milk to build up their bodies, and thus by the cow’s help, remain alive and grow.

That perfect, thinking animal, primordial man, has about as much as that to do with the actual man of the present day, for the physical body of man is but the indispensable instrument that he requires to enable him to exert power in every direction in the physical world, and to make himself understood.

To assert that man is descended from the ape, is going too far, this is making a small section of the process illustrate the whole. The main point has been left out.

It would be right if the physical body were the man himself. But the physical body is only the covering that he lays aside, when he returns into the ethereal world.

How then was the first human being produced ? The highest stage of physical development in the material world having been reached in a perfect animal, it became necessary to avoid coming to a standstill, or indeed retrogressing, that some change should take place. This eventuality had been foreseen and provided against, and, when the physical body had reached its highest state of development, the spirit of man who had begun as an immortal spark (which had travelled through the immaterial realms, renewing and purifying all on its path) stood fully developed on the threshold at the appointed time, to enter into the physical vessel for the purpose of its further advancement.

While the physical vessel was developing to perfection in the physical world, the human soul, in the other world was developing sufficient strength and power of resistance to be able to retain its independence in the physical world. It was the union of these two parts that connected the different worlds more closely, from the physical and invisible worlds up to the spiritual world.

The birth of man was the consummation of this process. Procreation itself is purely animal even today. The more or less elevated sentiments attending it, have no necessary connection with the act itself, but they have a certain spiritual effect, owing to their attracting other sentiments (vibrations) of the same nature, and this is of the greatest importance. The development of the foetus is also purely physical, till pregnancy is half-way through.

At this period, when the foetus has reached a certain point of development, the spiritual body or soul, intended for this particular birth, and which, up till then, has kept close to the future mother, is incarnated.

The entrance of the soul causes the first movements of the growing child. The pregnant woman now, for the first time, feels blessed in the consciousness of the second being in her, which she is able to sense by touch, and her sentiments will now be in harmony with the developing soul!

Such is the process at every human birth. But to return to the first birth of man. This was the great step in the development of Creation. On the one side, in the physical world, stood the most perfect animal ready to furnish the physical vessel for the coming man; on the other hand, in the invisible world, the fully developed human soul was waiting to incarnate in the physical vessel, in order together with it, to give a further impetus to the evolution of all matter towards spirituality. Thus, when an act of procreation between the most noble pair of the most perfect animals had taken place, it did not happen as before, at the hour of birth, that an animal soul,* but a human soul, containing an immortal spark, stood waiting and entered the physical vessel. *) Lecture No. 49: The difference in the origin of man and beast.

Those human souls whose abilities had principally developed a positive nature sought to incarnate in a male body and those whose abilities were of a more delicate and negative nature sought to incarnate in a female body,* each naturally choosing the sex with which its nature had most affinity.

This process does not justify the assertion that man, who has his origin in the spiritual world, descends from the animal called the primordial man (Urmensch) which could but furnish the physical vessel. Even the most extreme materialist of today would not dream of considering himself directly related to an animal and yet there is, and always was, a close physical relationship, whereas the real, the living man, the ego, has no conformity with, or derivation from, the animal.

After his birth the first man stood alone in the world, without parents, for he could not accept animals, however highly developed, as parents, or wish for any communion with them.

Now the woman, thanks to more valuable spiritual qualities, should and could be really more perfect than the man, if she had only endeavoured to render the impulses given her clearer and more harmonious: whereby she might have become a power that would have revolutionized and furthered the whole of material creation to a high degree of perfection.

Unfortunately, it was just she who failed; she made herself the toy of the strong sensations which were her part; thus she even tarnished and defiled her feelings and her imagination.

What deep significance lies in the Biblical narrative of the eating from the tree of knowledge: how the woman, tempted by the serpent, offered the man the apple. This event could not, from the physical point of view, have been better illustrated. The apple was offered by the woman. This means that she became conscious of her charms and intended to exploit them. Man, in taking and eating the fruit, responded, and desire waxed strong in him to draw the attention of the woman to himself by accumulating treasure and making himself master of desirable possessions, and thereby enhancing his value in her eyes. *) Lecture No. 78: Sex.

Thus it was that intellect with its accompanying attributes: greed of gain, falsehood, oppression, was nurtured and became all-powerful. In time it completely subjugated mankind; men of their own free-will made themselves slaves of what was in reality their tool. Intellect became their master and the result of this was that mankind’s power of comprehension was limited within the narrow horizon of material matters. Men could no longer understand what was transcendental and spiritual and indeed had cut themselves off from Paradise, where time and space in our sense do not exist. It follows that, for the intellectual man, the experiences of the intuitive man, his gift of intuitive sight, and tradition generally, become unintelligible fairy tales.

The ever increasing number of materialists, those who are only capable of detecting grosser matter, such as is confined to time and space, deride the idealists to whom, owing to their more intense and more developed inner life, the way to transcendentalism is not quite barred, and dismiss them as dreamers, if not fools and even impostors.

But now, the hour is at hand when the next great section in the history of Creation will be reached, and another great step in advance be made. And this will bring about what the first step in man’s evolution should have done: the birth of the intuitive man.

That is the man whose influence will further and ennoble all the physical part of the world, as it was originally purposed he should do on earth.

Then there will be no room left for the restraining or hindering work of the materialist, limited as it is by space and time. He will become a homeless stranger in every land. He will wither and pass away like chaff that is sifted from the wheat. Have a care that, when the time comes, you do not prove too light!

The manner of conducting his life that man has hitherto adopted in conformity with the methods and principles he has made the basis of his thoughts and actions, is not what was intended. He was to be intuitive and be guided by his inner voice and thus become the necessary connecting link in furthering evolution in all Creation. It is because he unites in himself the finer substance of the transcendental world with the grosser substance of the material world, that it is possible for him to survey them both and live in them both. To enable him to do this, he has a tool at his command: his intellect. With it he is in a position to guide as well as to lead.

Intellect ranks highest in all that is physical and should be the rudder to steer through life on earth, whereas the propelling power is the inner voice which comes from the spiritual world.

Man’s intellect is bound to time and space, as is all matter, it is only a product of the brain which belongs to the physical body. Man’s intellect will never be able to work outside time and space; nor will it be able at any time to go beyond the limits they set; although of a finer fibre than the body, it is too dense, i.e. it is earthbound.

The inner voice (not feeling but intuition) is independent of time and space. It originates in the spiritual world.

Equipped in this way, man could well be closely allied to ethereal substance and even be in touch with the spiritual world, and yet live and work in the midst of physical, material conditions. Only man is thus endowed. He alone could be a healthy, sound, vigorous, connecting link, and form the only possible bridge between transcendental heights and physical matter, so that through him they could coalesce.

It is only owing to his peculiar nature that the pure Light and Life from the fountain of Light could pour down into the lowest matter, and arise again in glorious, harmonious interaction.

Man stands as a connecting link between the two worlds, through him they become one. He did not, however, fulfil this, his task. He severed these two worlds instead of keeping them firmly united. This was the Fall of Man.

It was owing to this quality, as has been explained above, that man in fact became, in a way, lord of all the physical world. Matter depends on him as mediator, in as much as it must suffer with him or be lifted up through him; this again depends upon whether pure rays from the fountain of Light and Life can be sent through him or not. Man, however, intercepted this circulation so necessary for the transcendental and physical worlds. Just as a good circulation of the blood keeps the body strong and healthy, so it is with this circulation in Creation. Any interception must cause confusion and deterioration ending in disaster.

This miserable failure on the part of man was owing not only to his making use of his intellect which only originates in matter, but to his completely subjecting himself to it and making it lord over all.

In so doing he became the slave of his tool, the man of intellect or intellectual man who proudly calls himself materialist and is consequently fast bound to matter.

As the intellect cannot comprehend anything that is beyond the limit of time and space, it follows that neither can he do so who has subjected himself to it. His narrowed horizon is a result of its limited capacity.

The link with transcendental substance was thus severed and an impediment raised that became more and more insuperable.

The Almighty, the fountain of Life and Light, dwells far beyond time and space. His abode lies far beyond the transcendental world. All connection with him would naturally be made impossible, should the intellect predominate. For this reason materialists cannot discern God.

Eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge was nothing but the fostering and encouraging of the intellect. The result of this severance from the world of invisible substance was the shutting out from Paradise. Man expelled himself, and, guided by his intellect, gave himself wholly over to matter. He lowered himself of his own free-will and became a bond-slave, and where did this lead ?

His purely materialistic, i.e. earthbound, intellectual thoughts, with their accompanying base attributes: acquisitiveness, love of gain, prevarication, robbery, despotism, etc. could not fail to bring about corresponding counteraction. Unavoidable, inexorable Karma first manifested itself spiritually, then physically, moulding man, encouraging him on his downward course, coercing him. Finally it will overwhelm and annihilate him.

Do you now understand that the events of late years were unavoidable and necessary results ? And that man will continue to degenerate till the Day of Judgment ? The storm first brews, then it bursts, sending forth its lightning to strike and destroy, but at the same time it purifies the atmosphere.

Man did not, as was intended, serve as a link between the transcendental and material worlds, he did not permit free passage for the interaction necessary to reanimate and restore their vigour, but severed Creation into two worlds by refusing to be the connecting link, and by giving himself wholly over to matter. So that in time, both worlds sickened, especially the material world that was deprived of every ray of Light. The influence of the few who still would keep up a connection, proved too weak. That world of gross physical matter is now on the eve of a terrible crisis and will shortly be violently convulsed with fever spasms, till all the germs of disease be consumed. After this, by a strong, fresh impulse from above, recovery will be possible. Who, therefore, will perish ?

The answer to this question will come in the natural sequence of events. As soon as an intuitive thought arises in a man’s mind it produces, by means of its living creative power, an ethereal counterpart corresponding to the contents or burden of the thought. The thought- form remains connected, as with a thread, to its originator: The attraction of what is homogeneous in the ether of the universe causes it to wander forth in company with other vibrating currents and pursue an elliptical course like all else in Creation. The thought-form attracts and amalgamates with other homogeneous species on its journey, it comes to life and becomes real; then it returns to its author with whom it is still connected to unburden and discharge itself.

Thus, in the first instance, annihilation will come to those, whose thoughts and persuasions laid the foundation for, and encouraged the development of conditions such as now call for the great Reckoning, i.e. the materialists.

That the reaction of this destructive force should attack a somewhat wider circle and cut off those also, who are only distantly in sympathy with the above named, is unavoidable. After this, man will take the place intended for him in Creation.

Thanks to his nature, he will form a connecting link and draw his inspiration from above, which means that, guided by his inner voice, he will only make use of his intellect and experience as tools to carry out his behests in his life on earth. The pure influence from above, working in the world, will continually further, purify and ennoble it. This will make it possible for a healthier atmosphere to react from the material to the transcendental world, and will thus form a new, uniform and harmonious whole. If men will diligently attend to their duties and seek to acquire the right attitude, that is to say, know their proper place in Creation, they will develop into the noble race they should be. They will be equipped with powers they do not know at present, they will be content and enjoy permanent blessedness.

Original Sin or rightly translated Hereditary Sin was the cause of the Fall of Man. The sin or wrong-doing lay in the over-cultivation of the intellect, through which man voluntarily confined himself within the limits of time and space. Love of gain, cheating and oppression, etc. are characteristic traits of intellectual activity and have in their train many other, if not all evils.

The process of developing this purely intellectual type of humanity had an ever increasing influence in modifying the structure of the human body. The frontal brain developed more and more (from being continually exerted) to the detriment of the other part, so that this changing form naturally expressed itself in the material body of children who then came into the world with more highly developed frontal brains.

This lay, and still lies in the natural tendency to cultivate an intellect so powerful, that it should dominate all else. When his brain is over-developed, the owner runs the danger of being confined within the limits of time and space, thus is unable to comprehend what is transcendental or spiritual.

It is the artificially developed, abnormal brain physically transmitted to a child at birth, that exposes man to the danger of entanglement in every kind of evil and which has bred Original Sin.

This, however, does not free the soul from responsibility. It is still held responsible, for it only inherits the dangerous gift, not the sin itself. It is in no wise compelled to allow its intellect to rule unconditionally and to submit itself to its dictates. The soul can, on the contrary, wield the great power of its intellect as a sharp sword, to clear the path in the press and crush of the world that its inner voice points out.

But in case a child has been so trained and educated that its intellect dominates absolutely, then not all the blame would be laid at the child’s door, but owing to the law of returns a part would recoil on the teacher who trained it. He is then tied to this child till the latter is free from its mistakes and from their consequences, even should this take thousands of years. What such a child does, after it has had the first opportunity of considering and retracing its steps, would then reflect on it alone. A spoken or written word, a shock or something of similar nature offers such opportunities and is capable of causing a moment of deep inner emotion. Such opportunities surely come.

It would be useless to say more on this subject or to multiply examples, which would only be repetitions and lead to the same conclusion. He who will consider the matter, will soon find a veil lifted from before his eyes. He will, himself, find the answer to many questions.

A grave error exists and has been firmly established for centuries. It is the false assertion that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God and at the same time the Son of Man.

In Jesus of Nazareth a portion of the Godhead was incarnated to span a bridge over the cleft between God and man which man had made himself by over-cultivating his intellect and thus limiting himself within the boundaries of time and space.

Jesus of Nazareth was God’s Son, a part of God who came to fulfil His mission among men, which He could only do in a body of flesh and blood. Still while He was thus incarnated, He remained the Son of God.

If He was the Son of God He could not be the Son of Man, for those are two different persons. He was and still is the Son of God. Who then is the Son of Man ?*

It even struck the disciples at the time that Jesus spoke in the third person when speaking of the Son of Man, and they questioned Him. The tradition that descended to us originated in the writings of men who themselves believed that the Son of God and the Son of Man were one and the same person.

On this hypothesis all their reports were based and thus error was disseminated without their knowing or wishing it.

When Jesus spoke of the Son of Man, He spoke prophetically of his Coming. He announced it Himself, for the Coming of the Son of Man was closely connected with the work of the Son of God. He said :“When the Son of Man cometh …, etc.”

The process like everything else in the universe is cyclic. The *) Lecture No. 60: The Son of Man.

Godhead descended to man through Jesus to bring the Truth and sow the seed. The seed sprang up and brought forth fruit for the time of harvest; and now, matured by the Truth that the Son of God brought, mankind will ascend to the Godhead, in the person of the Son of Man. This is not merely to be taken symbolically as many think, but the Word will be fulfilled literally in a person, as it was with Jesus. Between the two persons, the Son of God and the Son of Man lies the mighty and woeful Karma of Mankind.

Jesus went up to Jerusalem where representatives of many nations of the earth were assembled to keep the Passover, and the people sent out messengers to Gethsemane to fetch Jesus. At that time the people were filled with hatred. It was in an inhuman and barbarous spirit that they were sent to look for the Son of God.

And now, observe what happened when He stepped out of the garden, and they were standing before Him, armed with weapons and torches, burning with the desire to destroy Him.

When the Son of God said the words: “I am He ” and thus delivered Himself into the hands of man, the grim and frightful Karma, man had thus incurred, set in. From that moment it weighed on mankind and in obedience to the inexorable everlasting laws of the universe, it forced them downwards, lower and lower to the earth until now by the Coming of the Son of Man the second advent is at hand. — We are standing on the threshold!

When mankind, discouraged by grievous events, despairs and is broken in spirit and humbled in the dust, it will long for and seek the promised Comforter. And when men know where He is, they will, as before, send out messengers. But this time they will not have hatred in their hearts and come to destroy Him. They will then be the representatives of a humbled and crushed humanity. They will come full of confidence and praying for mercy to Him whom the Almighty has chosen to loosen them from their ban and bring them help and deliverance in their spiritual as well as bodily distress.

These messengers also will question, and as the Son of God in Gethsemane once uttered the words: “I am He”, whereupon man’s Karma set in, so also this Divine Messenger will give answer in the same words: “I am He!” The very words which laid a heavy burden of guilt on mankind, whose hearts were then filled with hate, will, when again uttered by an Envoy from God, free mankind from his Karma; for these messengers will come full of fear, and yet they will trustfully supplicate for mercy. The magnitude of this Karma is appalling, yet its every detail will be discharged with precision and all the prophecies will be fulfilled in it. And from the hour that these words are uttered for the second time by an Envoy from God, the ascent will begin. Then, in obedience to the Will of the Most High, the reign of Peace will commence, but not before.

On one side you see the messengers of man approaching the

Son of God — they bind Him and maltreat Him, apparently triumphing over Him. Thereupon the gradual process of retrogression sets in, which men brought on themselves in obedience to the inevitable law of reciprocal action. On the other side, the seed sown by Jesus grew strong and matured.

And now the Son of Man is approaching, the Comforter, whom Jesus Himself proclaimed, an Envoy from God, who will, in the service of the Son of God, continue and complete His work and gather in the harvest. He will then, in conformity to Divine Justice, separate the wheat from the tares.

Jesus, the Son of God came among men for love’s sake, to reconstruct the bridge they had broken down. The Son of Man is the Man in God. He comes as the connecting link in the chain, so that pure harmony can henceforward reign in all the universe.

Why do men avoid this word so persistently ? It should be more familiar to them than all others. What prevents them from reflecting deeply on it, from trying to realise and understand it aright ? Is it awe ? No. Is this hesitation in any way commendable or profound ? In no wise: consider a moment, you pray to God, and whilst praying you cannot form a conception of what you are praying to; you are on the contrary puzzled and perplexed, for neither your school nor your church has given you clear information, such as could have satisfied your inner desire for the truth.

What the Trinity really meant, remained a puzzle which you sought to solve as best you could.

Can prayer, under such circumstances, be as heartfelt and confiding as it should be ? When you know your God and thus become more familiar with Him, will not your prayer be accompanied by deeper feelings and be more direct and fervent? You should come nearer to your God, and must do so. You must not stand afar off. How foolish to say, it might be wrong to investigate into the mystery of God’s nature. Indolence and slothfulness even say, it would be sacrilege. But I say to you: God wills you to do so.

The necessity of drawing near Him is a condition that lies in all Creation. Not to do so would not be humility but, on the contrary, boundless presumption.

It would be to demand of God that He should approach man so that man then might understand Him, instead of man trying to draw near to God, to be able to know Him. Wherever one turns, all is indolence and hypocrisy under the cloak of false humility.

But you who no longer wish to sleep, you who are seeking fervently and striving to attain the truth, accept the message, seek to comprehend what is right. What is your God ? You know He said: “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods but me.”

There is only one God, one Power. What then is the Trinity ? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost ?

When man shut himself out of Paradise by no longer letting his inner voice, which is purely spiritual and thus close to God, be his guide, and wilfully chose to cultivate his intellect, to subject himself to it and thus to make himself the slave of the tool given him for his use, he naturally fell further and further away from God. The cleavage was caused by the fact that mankind for the most part gave its preference to worldly interests which are absolutely bound to time and space and know nothing of the nature of God, such condition making it impossible to grasp or conceive God.

Every succeeding generation widened the cleft and became more and more closely bound to earth. He became the earthbound intellectual man who calls himself a materialist. He is even proud of this and does not perceive how closely he is fettered within the limits of time and space, and how limited his horizon is. How can the way back to God be found under such circumstances ? Never! If help should not come from God, reunion would be impossible. It was necessary again to span a bridge from Him, if help was to be brought. And He showed mercy. God in His purity could not now reveal Himself to debased intellectual man. Intellectual man was no longer capable of feeling, hearing or seeing His messengers. The few who were still able to do so, were laughed at. Man’s narrowed and limited horizon rejected, as impossible, ideas reaching beyond the recognised limits, because he could not understand them. Therefore the influence of the ancient prophets lost its power; it could no longer penetrate, for even all religious movements have become purely materialistic.

Thus it was necessary that a Mediator should come, endowed with more power to penetrate than all the others, to mediate between the Godhead and erring mankind.

Shall one say, for the sake of the few among blind materialists, who longed for God ? This would be the truth, although adversaries would rather call it presumption of the faithful to assert it, instead of recognising the immense love of God who deals out with equal justice both reward and punishment.

A Mediator, however, possessed of sufficient power to penetrate and deal with the present confusion, must himself be of Divine origin, as man’s debasement had already spread so far that even the words of the prophets were no longer heeded.

For this reason, God in His Love, by an act of His Will severed a piece from Himself and incarnated it in flesh and blood in the physical vehicle of a man: Jesus of Nazareth, the Incarnated Word, Incarnated Love of God, the Son of God.

This severed part, although one with the Father in the Spirit, had thus become personal. Also after laying aside the physical body and reuniting closely with the Father, it still remained personal through having become human. God the Father and God the Son are two and yet in reality only one. And the Holy Ghost ? Christ Himself said: the sins against the Father and against the Son could be forgiven, but never those against the Holy Ghost.

Is the Holy Ghost of higher standing or more than God the Father and God the Son ? Many have been vexed by this question and many a child confused by it.

The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Father which severed from Him, works separately and independently in all Creation and yet, like the Son, is closely united with and remains one with the Father.

The adamantine laws which spread like a fine network throughout Creation, acting and counteracting, and on which fate or Karma depends, are what is understood by the Holy

Ghost.* It was because of this that the Saviour said that no one could sin against the Holy Ghost unpunished, for the inexorable laws react for good or for evil and would inevitably deal out retribution to the sinner. God the Son is of the Father, so also is the Holy Ghost. Both are inseparable from Him, otherwise a part of Him would be missing. In the same way arms are inseparable parts of the body, they can act independently and yet only do so as long as they are united to the whole.

Such is God the Father, in His Omnipotence and Wisdom. On His right as a part of Himself — God the Son: Love; and on the left — God, the Holy Ghost: Divine Justice; both having proceeded from Him and belonging to Him as a unity. This is the Trinity of the One God.

Before Creation God was single. During the process of Creation He separated a portion of His Will to work independent in Creation and thus became two-fold. Later, the necessity arose to provide a mediator for erring humanity, who was lying fast bound in self-made fetters. With such the pure Divine substance of God allowed no direct communication. So in His Love and Mercy the Heavenly Father separated or severed a part of Himself for temporary incarnation on earth in order to be able once more to make himself understood. Thus with the birth of Christ He became a Trinity, a three- fold.

What God the Father and God the Son were, was comprehensible to many, but the Holy Ghost remained a confused idea. The Holy Ghost is executive Justice, whose irrevocable and incorruptible laws permeate the universe and which up to now have been but guessed at and called: Fate ….

Karma Divine Will. *) Lecture No. 52: The Process of development in Creation.

The so-called Inner Voice is the spiritual part of man, the voice he can listen to, if he will, is his intuition. It is not without cause that people say: it is always the first impression that is truest. Profound wisdom lies in all these sayings and proverbs, so also here. For example, the impression a man has the first time he meets a stranger, may be merely a warning to be careful, or go as far as a feeling of absolute repugnance; it may be a pleasurable sensation, or even a feeling of sympathy; in some cases it may be indifference. It is always the inner voice that has spoken.

If now, in the course of conversation or further intercourse, reason should upset or entirely efface this impression, so that the thought arises, it was wrong, it almost invariably turns out at the end of these acquaintances, that the first impression was the right one.

And this often occurs to the bitter pain of those who allowed themselves to be misled by the mask the other had assumed. The inner voice which is not limited to time and space, but is connected with correlative qualities in the spiritual and eternal world, immediately recognises the true nature of the other and does not allow itself to be deceived by the artifices of the intellect.

It is quite impossible for the inner voice to err. When man is led into error, as it so often happens, it has been for one of two reasons, either his feeling or his intellect has been the cause.

How often it is said: “In this or that matter, I allowed myself to be guided by my feelings and was deceived. One should only listen to one’s judgment.” Here they make the mistake of taking feelings for their inner voice. They praise their intellect and have no idea what an important part it plays in their feelings.

Be careful therefore and listen: Feeling is not the inner voice.

Feeling is an attribute of the physical body, born of instinct and directed by intellect.

This is very different to the inner voice.

Imagination is the product of the cooperative activity of feeling and intellect.

Thus on the spiritual side we have the inner voice unfettered by time and space; on the material side the physical body, which is limited by time and space.

Instincts are attributes of the physical body which, with the cooperation of the intellect, develop into feeling.

The intellect, a product of the brain, though consisting of the finest most ethereal substance, is bound to time and space. Together with feeling it produces imagination.

Imagination belongs to ethereal substance but it has no spiritual power. It can only act retroflectively, can only stir the feelings of its author but never send forth a source of strength to others, it can inflame his enthusiasm but never influence his surroundings. This stamps it as belonging to an inferior order of phenomena. How different if compared to the inner voice!

The inner voice has spiritual, creative and animating power which it can send forth to fire and convince others.

Thus we can observe on the one side the inner voice, which being purely spiritual is beyond the limits of time and space and on the other side the body comprising instincts, intellect, feelings and imagination all of which depend on time and space.

Although feeling belongs to the finest and most delicate part or quality of material substance, it can never coalesce with the inner voice, neither can it trouble it in any way. The inner voice (intuition) being purely spiritual is independent of time and space, whereas feeling belongs to ethereal matter and depends on instinct and intellect, is thus on a lower step.

If it is really the Inner Voice that manifests itself in man, it will always be a pure and true voice that he hears. But the greater number of men have cut themselves off from perceiving it. They have placed feeling in the foreground which they mistake for the inner voice. In following the suggestions of his feeling, a man is misled and suffers many disappointments. The result of these mistakes and failures is that he is inclined to rely all the more firmly on his intellect, his judgment alone, never guessing that it is the cooperation of the intellect with feeling that has deceived him; and a further result of these errors is that man forswears all spiritual phenomena as having no place in his experience and turns all his interests to the inferior phenomena of matter.

The fundamental error, here as elsewhere, is man’s voluntary subjection to his intellect which means that he also subjects himself to its limitations, within the narrow confines of time and space. The intellect is a product of the brain and the brain belongs to gross matter alone.

All that a man does, he does of his own free-will. He is fettered, but he fetters himself. If he were not willing, it could never be that his intellect so dominates him that he can no longer perceive or understand what lies beyond time and space. For such a man a curtain has fallen between the Temporal and the Spiritual. The only voice he can now hear, is that of his feeling which cooperates with his intellect, for his inner voice has been silenced.

It would be wrong to say that feeling subjugates the inner voice. For intuition or the inner voice is the most powerful gift of man and can never be subjugated or prejudiced by anything. The truth is that man makes himself incapable of recognising the inner voice. If man fails in this it is only through his own fault; it is never because of the strength or weakness of this or that gift. The supreme gift, the living power which is man’s most precious and immortal possession, each individual has received equally, and no man has an advantage over another. The only difference lies in the use to which it is put.

Neither can this essential gift, this immortal spark, ever be dimmed or tarnished. It remains unsullied, however degrading the surroundings may be. You must only tear down the barrier which you yourselves have raised by the voluntary limitation to which you have subjected your power of conception. Then without any transition whatever, it will arise again as pure and distinct as at the beginning, will develop to its full strength and link you to the Light and to the Spirit.

Rejoice that such a treasure lies safe and protected within you. It is of no consequence whether you may be highly esteemed by your neighbour or not. All uncleanness that has collected and formed a bulwark round this spark that comes from the spiritual world, can be cast aside with an effort of honest goodwill. If you have then done the work and lifted the treasure, you are just as good as he who never buried it. But woe to him who, from indolence continues to refrain from making this effort. In the Day of Judgment this treasure will be taken from him and he will then cease to exist.

Therefore awake, you who are holding aloof, you who have stifled your inner voice at the suggestion of your intellect whose power of conception is undeniably limited. Have a care and listen to the summons sent you! It may be in the shape of a terrible grief, a severe mental shock or supreme, pure joy which is capable of lifting the ominous cloud of base sentiment hanging over and oppressing you. Do not let such calls be made in vain! They are fingerposts to show you the way. But it is better that you do not wait for them, but set out with the serious intention to do good and rise spiritually. In this way the partition will soon become thinner and lighter, till it disappears altogether and the pure, untarnished spark bursts forth into flame. But this first step can and must be taken by the individual himself, else he cannot be helped. Meanwhile you must distinguish clearly between wish and will. Wishing is not sufficient to effect progress. It must be will which implies action, as a necessary condition, for he who seriously wills begins to act. Many a man will err being subject to his intellect and often take a wrong path; but he must not let himself be discouraged from striving forward on that account, for he also will reach the winning post. With him it is a case of restoring his judgment to its natural and proper condition, and during his wanderings on the side paths he will gradually be able to remove all hindrances. Therefore, advance bravely! If you are inspired with serious goodwill, every path will finally lead to the goal

The Religion of Love has been misunderstood, because the idea of what love is, has so often been disfigured and distorted. The greater part of love is severity. What is now called love is anything but love. If all so-called love were sifted to the bottom, nothing would remain but selfishness, vanity, weakness, indolence, conceit or instinct.

Genuine love will take no account of what gratifies the other, of what is agreeable to him and affords him satisfaction, but will only be guided by what is useful to him, without considering whether it affords him pleasure or not. That is real love and service.

If, therefore, it is written: love your enemy, it means: do that which is useful to him. Punish him if he cannot otherwise be made to understand. That is serving him. But justice must prevail, for love cannot be separated from justice. Misplaced indulgence would mean fostering the faults of the enemy and thus letting him slide further on the downward path. Would that be love ? On the contrary, by acting thus, one would burden oneself with guilt. By reason of man’s expressed wish, the Religion of Love has deteriorated to a Religion of Laxness, as also the person of the Bringer of Truth, Jesus Christ, has been distorted so as to appear weak, yielding and effeminate, which He never was. It was just because of His great love that He was austere and harsh to the men of intellect — the Scribes and Pharisees.

That He was often overcome by sadness is natural, when one considers His sacred mission and then the species of mankind He had to deal with. There was absolutely no effeminacy about it. After eliminating all marring and dogmatic restrictions, the religion of love will be strictly consistent. No weakness or illogical compliance will be found in it.

Our Saviour on the Cross! Crucifixes are erected by the thousand as tokens that Christ suffered and died for men.

On all sides they call out to the faithful: Remember! On the lonely plain, in the bustling thoroughfares of cities, in the chamber as in the church, on graves and at weddings, everywhere they serve as comfort, tonic, warning. Remember: it was for your sins that the Son of God, who brought salvation to man, suffered and died on the cross.

Stricken with grief, the faithful Christian approaches in deep veneration and gratitude. With a glad feeling he leaves the spot, in the consciousness that he also has been released from his sins by this sacrifice.

But you who are earnest seekers, approach the sacred token in holy awe and strive to understand your Saviour! Cast aside the protecting cloak that keeps you so warm and comfortable and tempts you to doze on till the last trump sounds. Then, you will suddenly be aroused from your slumber and freed from your earthly fetters and will find yourself facing the naked truth. The dream to which you clung so persistently and in which you gave yourself up to sluggish inertia, will be over. Therefore awake, your time on earth is precious! For our sins our Saviour came: that is unassailably and literally true. It is also true that it was for the sins of men He died.

But in spite of this, your sins are not taken from you. The Saviour’s work of Redemption was to give battle to the Dark Powers and to bring light to man — to open up the way for mankind to attain to the forgiveness of sin. But each one must tread this path alone in obedience to the inalterable laws of the Creator. Christ did not come to set aside the Law, but to fulfil it. Do not misunderstand Him who should be your best friend. Do not misinterpret the true meaning of the words.

It is quite right to say, for the sake of man’s sins all this happened, for it means that Jesus Christ’s Coming was only necessary because man alone could no longer find his way out of the Darkness he himself had created, nor could release himself from its grasp.

Christ had to open up this way afresh and to show it to man. Had man not so entangled himself in sin, i.e. had he not taken the wrong road, Jesus’ coming would not have been necessary. He would have been spared His life of struggle and pain. Therefore, it is quite right to say, He was obliged to come for the sake of man’s sins, if the latter was not to sink into the pit and into utter darkness.

This does not mean that herewith the personal guilt of each individual can be washed away at a moment’s notice, as soon as he really believes in and lives according to Jesus’ word. But provided he lives according to Jesus’ word, his sin will surely be forgiven him, this not at once but by degrees, as good-will to do reciprocal service by following Christ’s precepts is evidenced and has redeemed the sin, not otherwise. It is different with those who do not live according to Jesus’ word; for them forgiveness is impossible.

This does not mean that only members of the Christian religion can attain to the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus proclaimed the truth. His words, therefore, must embrace the truth in all other religions. He did not want to found a church, but to point out to mankind the right path, and this can equally well lead through the truths in other religions. For this reason so much in His words accords with the religious teaching then existing. Jesus did not borrow from them, but as He brought the truth, all that was true in other religions must necessarily also be in the truth He brought. In the same way, he who does not personally know Jesus’ words, will also surely attain to the true faith and to the forgiveness of his sins, if he strives earnestly for the truth and for spiritual progress and if his life is in perfect harmony with Jesus’ teaching.

Beware therefore of one-sidedness. It would be a detraction of the Redeemer’s work and a debasement of the Divine Spirit. Neither will he who seriously strives after the truth, after purity, be deficient in love.

Though sometimes fighting hard with doubts, he will be led up spiritually step by step, whatever his creed may be and either here or in the transcendental world he will unite with the Spirit of Christ which will lead him to the Father in the end. Thus, the Scripture will be fulfilled “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me”.

By the end not the last hours on earth are meant, the word here means a certain step in the development of the spiritual man, for whom the transition from the material to the transcendental world is but a change of condition.

And now to turn to the great work of Redemption itself. Mankind was erring in spiritual darkness. They had caused this themselves by subjecting themselves more and more to the intellect which they had fostered with so much care. In so doing they had circumscribed their power of comprehension so closely, that they and their brains were absolutely restricted to time and space and could no longer find the way to God or grasp the idea of what is limitless and eternal. Thus they became earthbound. All connection with the Light, with purity, with the spiritual was cut off. Man could only exercise his will- power in material matters, with the exception of the few, who though they were prophets had not sufficient power to penetrate and make a free way for the Light. The result of this condition of things was that ingress was possible to the Powers of Darkness which now welled up and flooded the earth with evil. This could only have one end: the spiritual death of man

— the most terrible fate that could overtake him.

All this misery was man’s own fault. He brought it about when he took this course of his own free choice. He had willed it to be so and had fostered it, and, in his utter blindness, was even proud of his achievement without perceiving the formidable nature of the result, owing to the self-imposed restriction of his understanding. To open up a path to the Light from mankind in such a state was impossible. The self-imposed restriction had gone too far.

If indeed the possibility of rescue could be considered, help must come from the Light. Otherwise the downfall of man into utter Darkness was inevitable. Man’s impurity had even made Darkness denser and heavier.

Darkness cannot of itself rise above a certain level, unless it is attracted. Light (luminosity), however, is also light in weight in proportion to its purity, and this makes it impossible for it to sink to the level of Darkness. Thus, there is an impassable gulf between both, in the middle of which stands man and his earth.

According to the manner he wills and wishes, man can approach the Light or approach Darkness. He can open the gates and smooth the passage so that either Light or Darkness can flood the earth.

Mankind forms a base of attraction on which Light or Darkness can get a firm hold and from which they can operate with more or less effect.

The greater the power Light or Darkness gains on earth, the more copiously can they bestow the gifts at their disposal on mankind: good or evil, well-being or misery, the joys of heaven or the torments of hell.

The Powers of Darkness had the upper hand and were choking everything on earth. Man’s desire for purity had become too weak to offer a hold for the Light to cling to and to unite with; otherwise unblemished purity would have had the power to cleave the Darkness and deliver man.

He could then have drawn strength from this bourne and found the way up to the Light. But it was not possible for the Light of itself to sink down so far into the mire, without there being a strong attraction. Thus a mediator was imperative. Only an envoy from heavenly heights could, by becoming incarnate, pull down this wall with which man had blocked the way. Only He could furnish the necessary foundation in physical matter that the Light needed to have a firm hold or resting place in this world of iniquity. From this anchorage its pure rays were able to cleave and disperse the Darkness, so that man should not sink and perish in it.

Then came Jesus, for man’s sake, and because of man’s sin. The anchorage made for the Light, could not be destroyed by the Powers of Darkness because of the purity and power of this Envoy from the Light. And thus a new path to spiritual heights was opened up to man. Jesus, who by His incarnation had become the material basis of the Light on earth, sent forth rays into the Darkness bringing the Truth by His Living Word. His link with the Light was so strong and so pure, that He could transmit this Truth unadulterated. Darkness could not assail it.

The miracles of Our Lord happening at the same time, aroused man from his slumbers, brought seekers to the Word. Hearing the Truth Jesus taught and reflecting on it, gradually made hundreds of thousands wish to enquire further and learn more. In so doing they slowly and unconsciously strove upwards to the Light. The wish itself loosened the Dark Power and one ray of Light after another successfully penetrated, while they were reflecting on the teaching and finding it right. Light increased around them, and the Powers of Darkness found nothing to lay hold of. They gradually fell back and lost their position. Thus the Word of Truth worked in the Darkness like the grain of mustard seed and as leaven does in bread.

And that was the Work of Redemption of Our Lord Jesus, the Son of God, the Bringer of Light and Truth.

The Powers of Darkness, who already thought they had the upper hand over all mankind, arose in vehement opposition to make the work of the Redeemer impossible. They could not approach Jesus Himself. His purity held them at bay. Thus they naturally made use of the willing tools at their disposal to do the fighting for them. These were the men, who so rightly called themselves Intellectuals. They utterly subjected themselves to their understanding and were thus bound by time and space and not able to grasp spiritual conceptions far beyond these limits. Therefore, it was impossible for them to follow the teaching of the Truth. All these were convinced they stood on the firm ground of commonsense, as many still do today. In reality, however, commonsense affords but a very narrow ledge to stand on. These men were for the greater part those in authority in civil as well as in religious matters.

Thus, the Powers of Darkness, in their furious resistance, fired men on to commit the brutal assaults that they perpetrated on Jesus, thanks to the worldly power that lay in their hands.

The Powers of Darkness hoped thus to make Jesus vacillate and at the last moment to destroy the Work of Redemption. That they were able to exercise this power upon earth was man’s own fault. He had narrowed his power of conception by his self-chosen wrong views and thereby given the Powers of Darkness the upper hand.

This fault alone was the sin of man, which drew all the others in its train.

And for this sin of man Jesus had to suffer! The Dark Powers continued to fan the flame to the uttermost. If he held to His assertions of being the Bringer of Light and Truth, He should be crucified.

The final decision had to be taken. To flee or to withdraw from his position would save Him from death on the cross. That would have given the victory to the Dark Powers at the last moment, for then all Jesus’ work would have slowly run to sand, and Darkness would have triumphed again and established its power. Jesus would not have fulfilled his mission and the Work of Redemption would have been left unfinished.

The inner struggle in Gethsemane was sharp but short. Jesus did not shun physical death, but remained firm and deliberately faced it for the sake of the Truth that He had brought into the world. With His blood on the Cross, He put

His seal on all that He had said and lived. By His death He completely subjugated the Powers of Darkness. They had played their last card and lost.

Jesus won the victory, for the Love of the Father, for the Love of Truth, and for the Love of Man. The way to the Light was now open, and man’s faith in the Truth of His Word was strengthened by His victory.

If he had withdrawn and fled from the enemies and thus given up His work, doubt must have assailed the faithful, so Jesus died for the sins of men. Had it not been for sin, i.e. the turning away from God in the narrowing of the understanding, Jesus would have been spared His coming, His suffering and His death on the cross. It is, therefore, quite right to say: for the sake of our sins Jesus came, suffered and was crucified. But this does not imply that you need not wash away your special sins yourself! It is only that now it is easy for you, because, by bringing the Truth in His Word, Jesus has shown you the way. Even Jesus’ Crucifixion cannot simply wash away your sins. Before this could take place, the eternal laws of the universe would have to be set at nought. This never happens.

Often enough Jesus Himself refers to what was written, that is to say to former times, and we see that the Gospel of Love did not intend to annul the old covenant of the law, but to supplement it. They should be made one.

Therefore do not forget the justice of the Almighty Creator of all things. His laws cannot be moved a hair’s breadth. They stand firmer than rocks from the beginning of the world to the end. They would never allow that one should take the sins of another on his shoulders to atone for them. Fighting for the Truth, Jesus could come, suffer, and die for the sins of others, He himself remained pure and untouched by these sins — He could not take them upon himself. His Work of Redemption is in no wise depreciated by this statement. It was the greatest imaginable sacrifice. From heavenly heights Jesus came down to thee in the mire, to bring thee Light on the path upwards, lest thou shouldst go astray and be lost in the Darkness!

Thus thy Redeemer stands before thee! That is His stupendous Work of Love!

God’s justice remains austere and severe in His eternal laws. What a man sows, that will he reap, says Jesus Himself in His Message. Divine justice does not allow that one farthing be remitted.

Remember that when you stand before the sacred token! Give your Redeemer heart-felt thanks that, by His Word, He reopened the path leading to the forgiveness of sins, and leave the spot with the serious intention to travel on the path shown you, that you also may be forgiven.

To take the path does not merely mean to learn the Word and believe in it, but it means to live accordingly. It would be quite useless for you to believe in it and to agree with it and then not to guide all your actions in a manner conformable to it. On the contrary, you would be worse off than those who know nothing of the Word.

Therefore awake! Your time on earth is precious!

If men say that great injustice lies in the unequal manner in which births are distributed, they do not know what they are saying.

One person persistently affirms: If justice exists, how can a child be burdened with a hereditary disease ? The innocent child must help bear the sins of its parents.

Another declares: One child is born in rich circumstances, the other in misery and bitter poverty. How can one then believe in Divine justice ? Or again: Granted, the parents deserve punishment, is it fair that this should happen by the illness and death of a child ? Why must the child who is innocent, suffer ? These and such like opinions circulate among men by the thousand. Even serious seekers for the truth rack their brains with regard to such subjects. The simple statement that the inexplicable ways of Providence are all for the best, does not answer the question satisfactorily. He who accepts such an answer, must either be of obtuse understanding, or he must immediately suppress every questioning thought as pernicious. Such a state of mind is not desired by God. By questioning one finds the right way. Obtuseness or forced suppression reminds one of slavery. God does not want slaves. He does not want blind subjection but free self-conscious looking upwards. His wonderful and wise dispositions do not require to be enveloped in mystic darkness. On the contrary, they gain in sublimity and perfection when they lie exposed before us. Immutable and incorruptible, deliberate and infallible, they are unceasing in their eternal work. They take no heed of man’s approval nor of his disapproval, nor do they consider his ignorance, but they return to each one with the minutest accuracy the ripe fruits of the seed he has sown.

Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding fine” is the saying that so aptly describes the never changing process of reciprocal action interwoven in the whole universe. The laws of God reign supreme and carry out Divine justice. Whether men are willing or not, they must submit and are either punished or rewarded by being raised to a higher spiritual level.

If a grumbler or a doubter could but throw a glance into the invisible world and could observe the wonderful and unceasing work of the spirit, weaving its threads through Creation, he would immediately be silenced and be filled with shame at the presumption of his thoughts. The reposeful sublimity and infallibility that he would see there would force him to his knees in the dust. How small did he imagine his God to be and what magnitude does he find in his works! He will then see that his highest earthly conceptions could only belittle God and depreciate His works, in the fruitless endeavour to compress them into the narrow limits indicated by his intellect, that earthbound, limited tool.

Man must not forget that he, himself, is a part of God’s work, and is thus unconditionally subject to the laws governing this work. Now the work does not only encompass things visible to the eye of physical man, but it encompasses the transcendental world in which man passes the greater part of his existence and in which the greater part of his work lies. His different lives on earth are only small sections in his existence, but they are always great turning-points.

Birth on earth only means the beginning of such a section, but not the beginning of man’s existence. When man, as such, begins his career no threads of fate whatever hinder him. Fate weaves the threads that knit man’s life on earth to his life in the transcendental world. On their passage backwards and forwards, the power of attraction compels them to intermingle and to amalgamate with homogeneous species by which they increase in strength. The original colours of returning threads intermingle and owing to this process of blending the colour of the thread changes and it takes a new shade.* The single strands are communicating channels on which the reactions travel back to the author until such time as his inner life is such that they no longer find an anchorage in him. He has not kept the communicating passage free, so, whether they were bringing him good or evil, they must perish.

Thus every strand of fate develops a form of invisible substance as soon as the human will has determined on an action. It remains attached to the author of its being and is the connection to homogeneous species to which it brings reinforcement and from which in return it receives strength which it carries back to its starting point. It is this process from which those who strive upwards get help; and likewise those who are inclined to evil are strengthened and encouraged in their downward course.**

The repercussion of these strands is the fate every man has ordered for himself and to which he must submit. Arbitrariness or injustice are equally impossible. The Karma that a man carries about with him and that seems one-sided predetermination is, in reality, the inevitable result of his past, in so far as this has not already been made good by the law of reciprocal action.

The very beginning of man’s existence, is always good and for many the end, with the exception of those who have gone astray of their own free-will, who stretched out their hands to evil which then drew them down into perdition. The alternative possibilities only occur in the between time, the season of inner growth and ripening.

Thus man always shapes his future life himself. He provides the strands and decides the colour and the design of the garment which is woven for him, according to Divine laws in the loom of God. The causes influencing the surroundings and likewise the period into which a child is born, often lie far back; these outward circumstances are specially adapted to help a *) Lecture No. 6: Fate. **) Lecture No. 30: The Free Will of Man. soul lay aside its faults and to encourage its advancement and development during its life on earth.

This does not happen in a one-sided manner only for the child, but the strands spin on automatically so that the law of reciprocal action operates on earth also. The parents give the child just what it wants for its advancement and again the child does the same for its parents (it may be good or evil). For, in order to develop and advance, it is necessary to free the soul from evil, by personally experiencing its effect, whereby it is recognised for what it is and cast off. The opportunity to do so is brought about in the way of reciprocity. In no other way could man really ever be free from what has happened. This law of reciprocal action is really a great and merciful gift, as, through it, a path to freedom and further advancement is opened. It is quite erroneous to speak of punishment. Punishment is a wrong expression, for immeasurable love lies in this law. It is the Creator’s hand, stretched forth in forgiveness and for rehabilitation.

The coming of man to earth comprises procreation, incarnation and birth. The life of man proper begins with his incarnation.*

Thousands of strands cooperate in determining an incarnation. But here, as everywhere else in Creation, the most scrupulous and absolute justice prevails and contributes to the advancement of all concerned.

Therefore, the birth of a child into the world, is a far holier, more important and more felicitous event, than it is generally taken to be, for its parents, its brothers and sisters if any, and all other people that come into contact with the child, get, by the grace of God, fresh opportunities for development.

An illness of the child, requiring self-sacrificing nursing, great anxiety and care, may give the parents many opportunities for spiritual gain; it may be a corrective, a simple means to attain the end, or it may be the discharge of an old debt, perhaps even a preventive measure against threatening Karma. *) Lecture No. 7: The Creation of Man.

It often happens that a man, who of his own good-will, has nursed his own child or another person, with self-sacrificing devotion, has in consequence been mercifully permitted to escape from a severe illness which should have befallen him in the way of reacting Karma. He has discharged his debt in advance. Atonement can only be perfected inwardly by experience. In faithful and loving nursing it is possible that the feeling of anxiety for the other is even keener than it would be for oneself.

Anxiety and pain suffered during the illness of the child or of the other, the neighbour, whom one really loves, is more intense. And the joy at recovery is equally great. This impressive experience alone leaves its mark on the inner, the spiritual man, shapes him differently and, in so doing, cuts the thread of fate, which otherwise would have laid hold on him.

When these threads are thus severed or dropped they rebound, like elastic, in the opposite direction; they are attracted by and return to their own centre in the invisible world. With this all further influence ceases for want of a connecting bridge.

Thus, there are thousands of ways of liberation in this form, if a man voluntarily and gladly takes upon himself some duty towards another for love or for pity’s sake.

In His parables Jesus has shown us the best examples. Likewise in the Sermon on the Mount and in all his other sayings He has pointed out the results of such practices. In so doing He always spoke of the neighbour and indicated that love for one’s neighbour was the best way for man to find release from Karma and in truth the most simple, practical path to advancement. “Love your neighbour as yourself”, He charged them, thus giving them the key to all spiritual ascent. It need not always be a case of illness, children requiring training and education, give in the natural course of things so many opportunities that they embrace in themselves all that comes into consideration to emancipate a man from his Karma. For this reason children are blessings, no matter how they are born or developed.

What applies to parents, applies equally to brothers and sisters, and to all who have much to do with children. These also have opportunities to profit by the new-comer, by striving, it may be, to cast aside bad habits or defects in patience and in unselfish help of different kinds.

The child itself is not less helped. Birth gives each individual soul the possibility to advance greatly on his way upward. If this is not done, it is the fault of the individual himself. It was not his will. Hence every birth is to be looked on as a blessed and as an impartially distributed gift from God.

He also who, being childless, adopts a strange child, will be blessed and the blessing will be all the greater on account of the adoption, provided that it has been for the child’s sake and not to satisfy a selfish wish.

What determines the circumstances in an ordinary birth is the attraction to what is homogeneous in cooperation with the working of the law of reciprocal action.

Qualities regarded as hereditary are not really inherited; they are to be explained by the attraction that drew the soul to this birth. Nothing spiritual is inherited from father or mother, for the child is a distinct being for itself, as they are for themselves; it is only that they have the analogous qualities which attract it.

It is, however, not alone the attractive power of the homogeneous that determines the incarnation, other threads of fate which bind the soul to be incarnated have also a word to say; maybe they are in some way connected with a member of the family into which the soul is born. All these work together and draw and lead the soul to incarnate.

The case is different where the soul volunteers to undertake a mission, either to help some special person or to engage with others in some benevolent work for all mankind. That soul then accepts in advance all that will happen to it on earth. Neither is there here any question of injustice. If all has been done in self-sacrificing love without looking for a reward, reward will come automatically by the law of reciprocal action.

Souls are incarnated in families scourged with hereditary disease which need just these diseases to purify and redeem them and fit them for further advancement. The directing and compelling threads of destiny never allow a wrong or an unjust incarnation to take place. They exclude the possibility of error. To rebel against this Divine law would be to attempt to swim against a powerful current in a river bed. All resistance would be vain from the outset. If, however, the swimmer swims with the current, it will carry him safely for his good.

All circumstances are carefully taken into consideration in the case of voluntary incarnation in which diseases are voluntarily incurred in order to attain a certain end. If the father or the mother contract a disease by some sin, maybe only by neglecting to obey the strict laws nature lays down for the health of the body entrusted to their care, the grief at seeing the same illness reappear in the child would in itself be atonement. This, if genuinely felt, purifies and ennobles. It would be purposeless to give particular cases as examples. Every birth offers a new picture differing from the other, owing to the intermingled threads of fate; even homogeneous categories offer thousands of variations on account of the fine shades of difference in the interaction of influences.

Let one simple example suffice: a mother loves her son so dearly that she resorts to all manner of means to prevent his marrying and leaving her. She chains him to herself. Such love is wrong, purely egoistical and selfish, even if the mother does all she can think of to make her son’s life on earth as happy as possible. She has allowed her selfish love to interfere wrongfully in the life of her son. True love never thinks of itself but always of the advantage of the loved one, and is always unselfish, even if self-sacrifice is called for. When the hour of death comes, the mother is called away. Now the son stands alone. The time has passed when he could summon the energy that only glad youth has at its command to realise his own wishes. Still, in spite of this, he has gained something, for by this renunciation he has atoned for something. It may have been an analogous case in a former life, when he avoided the inner loneliness which must have fallen to his lot had he married. In such things there cannot but be gain for him.

On the other hand the mother has carried her selfish love over with her. The attraction of what is spiritually homogeneous draws her to people with similar qualities, for, in their company, when they are indulging in their selfish love to the detriment of others, she has the possibility of finding a part of her own passions reflected in their feelings. Thus she remains earthbound. Should it now happen that procreation takes place in the circle she frequents, she might, by the strength of these spiritual ties, become incarnated. But now the leaf is turned. She now must suffer what she made her child suffer from the same qualities in her present father or mother. She cannot sever herself from her home in spite of the longing and the opportunity to do so. In this her guilt is atoned, for she experiences personally the evil that such qualities occasion, and is thus released from them.

When the soul is incarnated, the physical body draws a veil over its perceptive faculties and prevents it from looking back on its previous existence. This also, like all happenings in Creation is but an advantage for the person in question. The wisdom and love of the Creator lie in it. If every one could remember his previous existence, he would, in his new life, merely stand aside as a passive observer, in the consciousness that, by so doing, he was making progress, or that he was working off some debt, which also means progress. This however would be to misapprehend, for it would be no advance, rather would there be a danger of back-sliding.

Life on earth must be really lived if it is to be profitable. A man can only call his own, experience that has made an indelible impression on his inner self. If man knew from the outset the course that would be the most profitable for him to take, there would be no occasion for him to weigh and consider.

Hence again, he could not acquire the strength and the independence that are indispensable for him. But so he realises every situation more fully. What has once possessed his soul is ineradicably stamped on it. Its memory is the distilled extract of his incarnation, and this is what man takes over with him as part of himself — his profit.

It is not necessary to experience all one learns, but it is only that learning which one has experienced that is one’s very own. All the rest of the profitless lumber that one learns and for which many a man sacrifices his whole life, remains behind as husks. For this reason it is not possible to take a moment of life too seriously. Strong, warm currents coining from our thoughts, words and deeds should pulsate through and animate our life so that it should not deteriorate into mere meaningless habit.

By reason of the afore-mentioned veil, a new born child appears utterly ignorant and is, therefore, erroneously taken to be innocent. Whereas it is often burdened with a grievous Karma and is now given the opportunity, in living, to atone for former errors. Karma in pre- ordaining is only the necessary result of past happenings. In the case of special missions, Karma is voluntarily accepted, in order to acquire proficiency in worldly knowledge and the physical maturity requisite to carry out the mission.

Hence man should no longer grumble at injustice at birth, but gratefully look up to the Creator, who has accorded him but a fresh proof of His mercy with each birth.

This question must be answered definitely in the negative. Occult training (to which exercises to acquire clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc. belong) is a hindrance to free inward development and real spiritual advancement. The product of this training, if fairly successful, was what in former times was called a magician.

It is a process of one-sided groping forward from below upwards, whereby the physical line of demarcation can never be crossed. Possible results will never be more than phenomena of the lowest, most inferior order, which in themselves cannot elevate the inner man but may well lead him astray. In this way man is but able to penetrate his immediate invisible surroundings where the disembodied spirits are, as often as not, more ignorant than mortal man himself. All that he accomplishes is that he lays himself open to dangers of which he knew nothing and from which he was protected before. A man who has become clairvoyant and clairaudient by training will often see and hear things in this lower plane that have the appearance of being sublime and pure, but which are far from it. Added to this, his own imagination, excited by his training, creates a surrounding that the pupil actually sees and hears. A state of utter confusion is the result. A man thus artificially trained, standing on unsteady ground cannot make distinctions. With the best of intentions he is unable to draw a line between truth and delusion knowing nothing of the thousandfold possibilities of forming invisible substance. And lastly, if he is not equipped with the necessary higher power with which to face these base and injurious influences to which he has with much trouble, voluntarily exposed himself, he will soon become a rudderless wreck on an unknown sea — a danger to all who come into contact with him.

It is just the same as with a man who cannot swim. He is able to cross an element unfamiliar to him with absolute safety in a boat. Should he, however, during his voyage, withdraw one of the planks of his boat, he will tear a hole in his protecting shield; the water will pour in, destroying his defence, and drag him down into the deep. This man, ignorant of the art of swimming, will then become a victim of the unfamiliar element. This is the procedure in occult training. The man only draws a plank out of his protecting boat but does not learn to swim.

However, there are swimmers who call themselves experts. These swimmers are to a certain extent competent by predisposition. They get a helping hand from training to put their ability to use and to develop it further. In such cases predisposition unites with training. But narrow limits are set even to the capacity of the best swimmer. If he dares go beyond them, his strength fails and he is as hopelessly lost as the non-swimmer, unless indeed, help comes to them both.

In the world of ethereal substance such help can but come from the realms of light, the spiritual world. And again such help can only approach the endangered individual provided his inner man has acquired a certain degree of purity to which this help can fasten. The purity here in question cannot be attained by occult exercises but can only be derived from the furtherance of true inner integrity — by a soul constantly striving upwards to the pure light.

By following this path, man will in time attain to a certain degree of purity. This will naturally be reflected in his thoughts, words and deeds, and by degrees he will become linked to spheres of sublimer purity and will receive increased strength from them in return. The contact is maintained through all the intermediary steps: a contact that holds him up and to which he can cling. Before long all that the swimmer strives in vain to attain, is given to him without his troubling himself, but it is given with the wisdom and precaution which are part of the law of reciprocal action for he only gets as much power as his own strength can counter-balance; all danger is, therefore, excluded from the outset. At last, the separating partition, which can be compared to the plank in the boat, becomes thinner and thinner and finally falls away. Then comes the moment, when he feels at home in the ethereal world, in sublime heights. That alone is the right way. What has artificially been forced by training, is premature. It is only for the fish that water is really safe. It is its element, for which it is properly equipped in a manner even an expert swimmer cannot be.

Before a man begins a course of training, he determines on

doing so. It is an act of his own free-will, and he must bear the consequences. He cannot reckon that help will and must be afforded him. He had the liberty of decision beforehand.

But a man who induces others to begin such training, whereby they incur all sorts of dangers, must take a great part of the consequences on his shoulders. He becomes irrevocably linked to them all in the transcendental world. After laying aside his material body, he must descend to those departed before him, to those who succumbed to the dangers, down to those who sank lowest of all. He cannot ascend himself till he has helped each one of them up, till he has put their errors right and retrieved what has been neglected. That is the penalty imposed by the law of returns and at the same time it is the merciful means by which he can make good the evil and rise up himself.

If such a man has not only influenced others through his work but also through his writings, the consequences are still worse for him, because his work goes on doing harm after his death. He must tarry in the other world till the last man who has been led astray by his writings, has come over. Centuries may pass before he is able to help this last one.

This is not saying that the ethereal world should remain untouched and unexplored by mortal man. When the hour comes for those who are inwardly matured, that which would be a danger to others will be revealed to them. They will be permitted to look upon the truth and to teach it. But at the same time, they will also recognise and be able to see the dangers that threaten those who by means of occult training have succeeded in entering the lower spheres of an unknown region. They will never advocate occult training.

Spiritism! Mediums! — There are heated discussions on this subject, both pro and con. It is, however, not my intention to speak of its opponents and disclaimers. It would be waste of time, for every logical mind needs but to read of the way the so-called investigations are carried on, and the nature of the tests applied, to perceive the crass ignorance and total incapacity of these worthies. If I want to investigate matter, I must enquire into its nature and its constituents. If I wish to fathom the secrets of the deep, I have no choice but to make use of such help as I can find in the nature and components of water. To set to work with spade and shovel or boring tools would not lead me far. Or should I perhaps deny the existence of water because my spade passes through it without finding the resistance it does in soil ? Or because I cannot walk upon it as I do on terra firma! Adversaries will say: that is a different thing, for I can both see and feel that water exists and nobody can deny that.

How long ago was it, that the existence of the myriads of gay coloured entities in a drop of water (of which every child now knows) was energetically denied ? And why was their existence denied ? Only because one did not see them. It was not until an instrument had been invented, adjustable to the nature of their composition that one could discern, perceive and study a new world.

It is the same with man’s attitude towards the ethereal, the so-called next world, because it is invisible to his physical organs of sense. The fault lies with man, not with the next world. You men have the substance of the next world in you as well as the substance of your outer bodies of physical matter, and yet you sit and wait and expect those who have laid aside their physical bodies to prove their existence to you by making signs through physical matter which they no longer control.

Open your inner eye! It is for you to span a bridge over to them. You can do so. Operate in the substance of their world which you can also command, and you will become clairvoyant. If you cannot manage to do this, be silent and continue to batten on base physical matter alone, thus depressing and weighing down ethereal substance more and more.

The day will come when fine ethereal substance must separate from ponderous physical substance.

The former will then be prostrate and incapable because it never practised soaring upwards.

The invisible body (the psychic organs) obey the same laws as the physical body. They must be strengthened by movement and exercise. You do not need mediums to observe psychic phenomena, it suffices to notice and study the psychic life in yourselves. Let your will supply it with what it needs to strengthen and develop. Or will you also disavow the existence of your will because you can neither see nor touch it ? How often do you feel the workings of your will in yourself ? You feel but cannot see or touch transport or joy, sorrow or envy.

As soon as man’s will becomes active, it exercises pressure. Where there is no pressure, there can be no effect, no sensation. And where there is a pressure, there must be a solid substance (something of the same nature) to resist, otherwise no pressure can be practised.

Thus there must be solid forms of a nature that you cannot see nor touch with your dense physical senses. That is the substance of the next world, and this transcendental substance you can only perceive by means of the similar substance, which you have within at your disposal. The arguments brought forward for and against the possibilities of life after physical death, are strange and even ridiculous. He who can reflect calmly without prejudice or self-seeking, will soon find it an undeniable fact, that everything, positively and truly everything speaks for an existing world of other matter which the present average man cannot perceive. There are so many evidences to remind one again and again, and such proofs as cannot be pushed aside heedlessly as not conclusive. On the other hand, the only argument in favour of the cessation of all life after the death of the physical body lies in the wish of many, who would willingly escape from being called to account later on, when their shrewdness and subtlety would no longer avail, and when the inner state of enlightenment will decide.

But to turn to the advocates of spiritism and kindred subjects of enquiry, their views teem with errors. The advocates often are more dangerous to the truth than the adversaries. They do more harm.

Of the millions there are but few who will listen to the truth. Most of them are entangled in a wide-spread network of small errors that hinder them from finding the path to the plain truth. Whose fault is it ? Is it the fault of the disembodied spirits ? No. Or of the mediums ? No, not theirs either. It is only the individual man who is at fault. He does not take himself seriously enough, does not practise self-criticism, will not do away with his preconceived opinions and shrinks from destroying the self-constructed picture of the next world which has long thrilled him with both holy awe and a certain feeling of well-being. Woe to him who would dare to trifle with it! Every adherent of the old school has a stone ready in his hand to throw at him.

He clings steadfastly to his opinion and is ready to accuse the spirits of deceiving him or the medium of being deficient, rather than enquire and examine within himself and consider whether it might not be that his conception was at fault.

Where then should I begin to root out the weeds ? It would be work without end. Therefore, what I will now say, is only for those who are really seeking seriously, for only such will find.

An example: a man visits a medium. It matters not whether it be one of note or not. There are others with him. A séance takes place, but it turns out a failure, for nothing happens.

What are the consequences ? Some say: the medium is not good; others say: all spiritism is rubbish. Again, would-be able critics will complacently declare that the gifts of the medium (in spite of their having often proved successful) are all a swindle, for “as soon as we come, the medium can do nothing and the spirits are silent”. Those present who are believers and convinced, go away much depressed. The reputation of the medium suffers, in the case of repeated failures, is ruined. If the medium has a sort of manager besides, and money is taken, the manager will become nervous. He will urge the medium to make an effort to satisfy the people who pay. In a word: doubt, derision and discontent ensue. These convulsive efforts to fall into a trance favour all sorts of self-delusion. The medium may say what she thinks she hears, but she may also simply resort to deception which is not hard for a speaking medium. The sentence passed is: All swindle, and a rejection of spiritism altogether, because some mediums under the stress of circumstances as described above, have recourse to imposture to avoid the growing animosity, anger and derision on the part of the public.

It may be asked here: 1. Among what class of men, wherever

they may come from, are there no impostors ? Is the work of the honest worker to be condemned on account of a few swindlers ? 2. And why just in this case and not elsewhere ? Everyone can easily answer these questions for himself.

But who is principally to blame for such an absurd state of affairs ? It is not the medium but the people themselves. By their extremely one- sided views and more especially by their utter ignorance, they force the medium to choose between suffering from unjustified hostility or practising deception. It is hard for the medium to find another way.

I am here speaking only of a serious medium, not of the numerous amateurs who would push themselves with their insignificant gifts into the foreground. I have not the least wish to break a lance for the great retinue of mediums. The spiritualists thronging round mediums are utterly insignificant with the exception of serious investigators who enter this unexplored region to learn and not (being ignorant as yet themselves) to pronounce judgment. These séances bring the so-called faithful believers no profit whatever; more likely they come to a stand- still or go backwards. They become so dependent that they cannot decide anything without first asking the help of a spirit, often in the most laughable matters and mostly for things of mundane triviality.

A serious investigator or an honest seeker will always be disgusted at the unspeakable narrow-mindedness of those who for years have been constant visitors at séances, where they felt quite at home. With an exceedingly wise and superior air of assurance, they talk the greatest rubbish and sit with upturned eyes in rapt, hypocritical devotion, enjoying the agreeable tickle of the nerves that intercourse with invisible powers causes them — the play of their imagination.

Many mediums sun themselves in the flattering speeches of their old customers who, in reality, only have the selfish wish to enjoy a sensation. What they see and hear only serves them as amusement. Real experience they will never have.

What has a serious man to weigh and consider in these circumstances ?

1. That the medium of herself can do nothing more to secure a success than to open herself, i.e. surrender herself, after which she must wait. A medium is an instrument which of itself gives forth no sound, till it is played upon. Therefore, there can be no question of the medium’s failing. He who says so, only shows his own narrow- mindedness. He had better keep silent, not having discrimination enough to have an opinion. In the same way, he who finds learning arduous should avoid the university. A medium is thus but a bridge, a means to an end.

2. In the second place the members of the circle play a very great role, not by their exterior or worldly rank, but by their inner life. The inner life, as all scoffers know, is a world of itself. Naturally it cannot be nothing with its sensations and productive inspiring thoughts. It follows logically that there must be invisible forms or influences which, by exerting pressure awaken corresponding sensations. Otherwise no corresponding sensations could arise. In the same way it is impossible to see transcendental scenes with the inner sight where there is nothing to be seen. To expect to do so would be flying in the face of all laws laid down by science. Something must be there and something is there, for the inspiring thought immediately creates a corresponding form in the invisible world. Its density and vitality depend on the force of the inspiring thought. Thus a man is encompassed by forms of ethereal substance corresponding to the nature of his inner life. And it is this surrounding which is beneficial or prejudicial, even painful to a medium who is peculiarly sensitive to the influences of the transcendental world. Thus it may happen that a genuine message from the other side cannot be transmitted so correctly if the medium is hindered, depressed or confused, by the presence of people who have a tainted or corrupt inner life. But this goes still further. This impurity is a barrier for purer influences, even if these are guided by an individual personal spirit (one possessing free- will in the next world), thus no message can be transmitted, or only one of the same impure nature as that of the sitters. Members who have pure inner lives can naturally get into contact with correspondingly pure surroundings. But every divergence, every shade of difference makes an impassable barrier. Hence the difference in so-called séances: hence often utter discomfiture or at least confusion of the medium. This all rests on unchangeable, purely physical laws, which are as valid for the ethereal world as they are for this.

The disparaging criticisms of investigators now appear in another light. And he that is able to observe the phenomena going on, must smile at the investigator who with his report pronounces judgment on himself and exposes the state of his own soul which alone he criticises.

A second example: a man visits a medium. It happens that a departed relation speaks to him through the medium. He asks his advice in some worldly affair of importance. The departed one gives him directions which the visitor looks upon as a gospel from the other world and obeys minutely, with the result that he follows a wrong course and suffers heavy loss.

And the result ? In the first place the visitor doubts the medium. The disappointment and annoyance at his loss may in some cases cause him to impugn her, and he may even feel himself constrained to proceed publicly against her to preserve others from similar loss and deception. (Here I would wish to interpolate an explanation of what goes on on the other side, and how a spiritualist opens himself by the power of attraction to homogeneous currents from there, and how, having become a tool of the reactions, he develops into a fanatic, in the proud consciousness of fighting for the truth and the service of mankind, whereas, in reality, he makes himself a slave to impurity and loads himself with a Karma which it will take a lifetime, if not more, to work off. The threads will make a network in which he will entangle himself, so that he cannot find his way out, and then, in his wrath, he will rage more furiously than before.)

Or again, the disappointed visitor, if he does not regard the medium as a swindle, will at least henceforth have great misgiving with regard to all spiritual manifestations, or again he may take the ordinary, comfortable view and say with thousands of others: “What have I to do with the other world ? Let others rack their brains. I have better things to do.” The better things resolve themselves into earning money to serve physical wants and wishes only and thus removing the man still further from spirituality. And where lies the fault ? Again, only in the man himself. He had made a mistake in taking what was said for gospel truth. That was his own fault, and not that of any one else. It came from taking it for granted that a disembodied spirit knew all things or at least knew much more than a mortal man, in virtue of his spirituality. Many hundreds of thousands make this mistake.

All that a departed spirit knows more after his going over, is that he has not ceased to exist after so-called death. More than this he does not know unless he makes use of the opportunity to advance in the spiritual world, which again depends on his own free-will. When therefore he is questioned on worldly matters he will give his opinion or advice in his desire to grant the expressed wish. He will also be convinced he is giving the best advice, but he does not know that he is not in a position to judge material matters and circumstances as clearly as a man still living in the flesh, the denser material or physical qualities he needs to form a right opinion no longer being at his disposal.

His point of view must, therefore, be quite different. Still he has done what he could. Neither he nor the medium can be blamed. Neither is he a lying spirit.

We should only distinguish between spirits that know and spirits that are ignorant; for as soon as a spirit sinks, i.e. becomes impurer and denser, his horizon narrows in the natural course of things. He gives and propagates only what he feels. He lets himself be guided by his intuitions. The intellect with which he was wont to calculate and reason belonged to his physical body (dependent on time and space) and is now no longer at his disposal. When it fell away at his death, he ceased thinking and calculating. Since then he lived in and through his sensations which are lasting actual experiences. Man’s fault lies in asking for advice in matters terrestrial depending on time and space from those who are no longer so tied and who, therefore, cannot understand.

Disembodied spirits are in a position to discern which direction is the right and which the wrong one in a given case, but then man must weigh and consider with the means at his disposal, i.e. his intellect and his experience, how best to follow the direction indicated. It is for him to bring his course into harmony with all mundane possibilities. That is his business. Even where a lower grade of spirit gets the opportunity of influencing or speaking, it cannot be said he lies or tries to lead astray, for he reflects what he experiences himself and would convince others.

He cannot supply anything else. Thus there are innumerable errors in the conception of spiritualists. Spiritism has come into disrepute, though not for its own sake but through the greater number of its advocates, who after but few and often very meagre experiences, imagine, in their enthusiasm, that the veil is drawn aside for them. They then eagerly try to enlighten others with a picture of the transcendental world that their unbridled imagination has conceived and which satisfies their own wishes, this being for them the first consideration. But these pictures seldom harmonise with the truth.

This expression is often used, but who really understands what is meant ? Earthbound sounds as if it were some terrible punishment, and most people have a sort of uncanny feeling about those who are earthbound, and fear them. Still the meaning of these words is not so sinister after all. Of course some gruesome event may have caused this or that soul to be earthbound. But as a general rule, quite simple events bind the soul to earth.

Let us take a special case: “The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation.”

A child puts some question about God or the other world; it has heard something in church or at school. The father dismisses it with the remark: “Don’t talk rubbish! When I am dead, it will be all over with me.” The child is startled and is filled with misgiving. The disparaging remarks of father or mother recur: it hears others speak in the same way; at last it embraces the same opinion. Now the hour comes when the father must go over. He then perceives to his dismay that he has not ceased to exist. He will be filled with the ardent wish to impart this knowledge to his child, this binds him to the child. But the child neither hears him nor feels his presence, for he lives in the conviction, that his father is no more, and that raises an impenetrable wall between him and the efforts of his father. The father is now obliged to witness how his child, following the directions he gave it, takes the wrong path, which leads further and further away from the truth. To his anguish at this is added the fear lest the child may not be able to avoid sinking still further into error, a danger to which it is now more exposed. This is he father’s so-called punishment for misleading his child. Very seldom will he succeed in inspiring his child with the right understanding of the truth. He must further witness the error passed on to his grand-children and so forth, all in part consequence of his failing. He is not released till one of his descendants, recognising the right way, determines on following it and influences the others. Not till then can the father gradually detach himself and think of his own advancement. Again: An habitual smoker takes his irrepressible longing to smoke over with him as this is the case with innate desires for longing is an attribute of the spirit. This longing becomes a fervid yearning with him and the thought of satisfying his desire keeps him there where alone he can do so

— on earth. He finds it in running after smokers and sharing in their enjoyment. If no harder Karma binds such as these, they feel quite comfortable and are seldom conscious of undergoing a punishment. It is only he who can survey the whole complexity of life, who can recognise the punishment to be the working of an inevitable law of returns which prevents the man in question from rising higher as long as, to satisfy his never ceasing craving, he binds himself to other souls, living on earth in the flesh, through whose sensations alone he can find satisfaction.

It is the same with the appeasing of sexual desires, with drinking, yes, even in the case of a pronounced love of eating. Many are bound by this propensity to rummage about in kitchens and cellars and to be present when the dishes are eaten by others, by which means they have a small share of the enjoyment experienced. In truth it is punishment, but the ardent wish of the earthbound man does not allow him to feel it. Desire outweighs all else. And for this reason a longing for nobler and higher things cannot become strong enough to take the first place, and thus free him from the baser desire and uplift him. Not until he finds his desire decreasing in intensity will he become conscious of the opportunities he has been missing in the meanwhile. The fact of only being able to partake so meagerly of the others’ enjoyment gradually weans him. Other desires of a less ardent character will then take its place and predominate, and influence him accordingly as a living power. The species of sensation which is now born in him, draws the man to where the analogous feelings are (either to a higher or lower plane) till it, like the first, is slowly effaced by disuse, and is replaced by the next and so on. Gradually, in the course of time, the man is purified from all the dross he brought over with him.

Can it happen, that a man remains stationary, that some lingering sensation holds him fast ? Or that he comes to a standstill from want of ardour or feeling ? No, for as soon as the baser feelings are gradually exhausted and effaced, a ceaseless longing for higher and purer heights wakens in him and impels him forward. This is the normal process. But there are thousands of variations. The danger of obstructions or of relapsing is much greater in his transcendental life than when the man is incarnated on earth. If you are on a higher plane and give way, but for a moment, to a base feeling, this impulse takes life and becomes real. You become denser and heavier and sink down into analogous regions. Thus your horizon narrows and you must gradually work up again, if, indeed it does not happen that you sink lower and lower.

Watch and pray” are not empty words. At present the spirit in you is still protected by the body, and firmly anchored. When, after so- called death and the dissolution of the body, you are emancipated, you are without this protection, and, being ethereal, are irresistibly drawn to spheres of homogenous principles whether higher or lower, you cannot escape.

There is but one great driving power that can help you upwards. Your determined will to do good and be good; this becomes a longing with you and fills your inner being; thus it takes life and becomes real, according to the eternal law of the spiritual world. Then arm yourself with this determination and practise it here, so that when you are called away, which may happen at any hour, it may not be overruled by more powerful physical longing. Have a care, man, and keep watch.

There will be less unhappiness in the world, when man frees himself from his mistaken view regarding the virtue of sexual continence. Compulsory continence means defying nature, an offence which, later on, nature will repay with interest. In whichever direction we look, all the laws in Creation plainly indicate the right path. Suppression is unnatural, and all that is unnatural, is rebellion against Divine laws which, here as elsewhere, is to be avoided. There is no exception on this one point. Only man must not let himself be mastered by his sexual desire and must not make himself the slave to his instinct; otherwise he will develop it to a passion, whereby his natural, wholesome instinct will become a morbid vice. Man should be master of his instinct; that is to say he should not practise compulsory continence but exercise a wise control over himself, lest others should suffer through him. Many a man may think that by refraining from sexual intercourse, he is advancing spiritually, whereas it may easily be that a contrary effect is produced. According to his disposition, this man will be constantly struggling against his natural instinct. This struggle will claim a great part of his spiritual strength, paralysing it, so that it can do no other work. Hence the free development of his spiritual power is checked. He will at times suffer from fits of depression that will hinder all joyful uplifting of the spirit.

The physical body is a gift. God has entrusted it to man’s care and he dare not neglect its needs, such as food, drink, rest, sleep, fresh air, exercise, etc. with impunity; neither may he toy with the craving for sexual intercourse (which is natural in a fully matured body), without doing mischief. Appeasing the natural cravings of the body furthers but never hinders the development of the spirit in the inner man, otherwise the Creator would not have given man this craving.

But take heed lest this craving be the result of the imagination, of enfeebled or overwrought nerves, excited by reading or by some other cause. It must be a question of the exigency of a healthy body, and this is by no means often the case.

Sexual intercourse is only permissible in cases where perfect spiritual harmony has existed between two persons of opposite sex, and who then sometimes seek carnal union as well.

All other reasons are dishonouring to both parties, are impure and immoral, even in wedlock. In cases where spiritual harmony does not exist, it is absolutely immoral to continue married life. And if the social code has as yet failed to find the right course in this matter, this deficiency in no way affects the action of nature’s laws which will never adapt themselves to human rules or to conclusions based on wrong premises. If man honestly strives to have a sound mind and a healthy body, to enjoy “the peace that passeth all understanding”, he has no choice but to adapt his social and civic institutions to the Divine laws of nature.

Neither has sexual continence anything to do with chastity, as it is the result of discipline, education and self-control. Genuine chastity is purity of thought in every respect down to the business of everyday life. Chastity is a purely spiritual and not a physical quality. In cases where purity of thought reigns on both sides, sexual intercourse is perfectly chaste.

Physical union not only serves to procreate but also furthers the equally valuable and necessary process of inner blending and exchanging of vibrations producing higher spiritual power.

The world — man often uses this word carelessly without ever picturing to himself what this world he speaks of, is in reality. But again there are many who try to imagine something positive and see in their mind’s eye numberless worlds, different in their components and size, circling on their appointed courses round their respective suns. They know that, in proportion to the improvements made in optical instruments, more and more new worlds are perceived. This the average man pleases to call infinity, and thus he starts from the beginning with an erroneous conception. The world is not infinite. The world is Creation, i.e. the work of the Creator and stands like all other works beside the Creator and is consequently finite.

The so-called advanced thinker often prides himself on possessing the knowledge that God rests in all Creation, in every flower, in every stone, and that the motive power in nature and in all that cannot be investigated, that which is felt but cannot be grasped by man, is God: That He is primeval Energy in permanent activity; a never failing, self- renewing bourne; that He is unsubstantiate Primigenous Light.

He considers himself mightily enlightened, in the consciousness of having discovered that God is the motive power, always at work to advance development and perfection.

This view is only right to a certain extent. What we meet everywhere in Creation is only His Will, that is to say His Spirit, His Power. He Himself stands far above Creation. Creation, being His work, the expression of His Will, was from the very first bound to the unalterable laws governing generation or the coming into being (or birth), and extinction (or death).

For what we call a law of nature is the Divine creative Will. This is continually at work forming and destroying worlds. Divine Will works uniformly in all Creation which embraces both the immaterial as well as the material world. All Creation as God’s handiwork is not only limited as all work is, but also transient!

The absolute and unalterable uniformity of primeval law, thus of primeval Divine Will, necessitates and requires that events should proceed in exactly the same order whether in the case of the minutest physical or in the most stupendous cosmic phenomena or in the creating process itself.

The stringent form of Divine, primeval Will is plain and simple. When once we have recognised it, we can easily discover it everywhere.

The complexity and incomprehensibility of so many events is only due to the interlacing of the circuitous by-paths formed by the various intentions of man.

God’s work, the world, being created, is subject to the unchangeable and perfect Divine laws. It has issued from them and thus is finite. Take for example, an artist: he also lives in his work and yet personally stands beside it. His work is finite and perishable, but his talent need not be so. The artist, the creator of the work — which was the expression of his intention — may destroy it, without himself being touched. He will still remain the artist. We discern the artist and recognise him in his work, and he becomes familiar to us without our having necessarily seen him personally. We have his works in which his intentions are expressed, and they affect us. He approaches us in them, and yet may be living his own life far away from us.

The artist and his work reflect vaguely the affinity of Creation to the Creator. Thus it is only the rotation of Creation, i.e. the process of coming into being, of passing away and of returning in a new form that is eternal and without end. All revelations and all prophecies are and will be accomplished in this way. And so also at last the Day of Judgment for this earth.

The Day of Judgment, the Last Judgment comes to each world once, but not to all the worlds in Creation at the same time.

It inevitably comes for each part or section of Creation in succession when this reaches a certain point in the great rotation where its disintegration must set in to allow reconstruction to begin afresh.

When we speak of this great eternal rotation, it is not the course of this earth and other stars round their respective suns that is meant, but the mighty rotation that embraces all the solar systems and in which they must join while each executes its own appointed work as well.

The point at which the disintegration of each globe is to take place, has been definitely decided by Divine laws and is a natural result of their operation. There is a special line of demarcation where this process is to begin and the process is quite independent of the condition of the globe in question and of its inhabitants. Each globe is being driven ceaselessly towards this consummation by its own revolving motion and disintegration will set in without delay as soon as the hour strikes. But, like all else in Creation, this is but a transformation, a change affording opportunity for further development. That then will be the hour that decides every man’s fate, i.e. the question is: to be or not to be ? Either he will be raised towards the Light if he strives towards spirituality or he will be chained to matter, which is the case when he is convinced that only matter is of value. Then, as a result of the decision of his own free will he cannot detach himself and so matter will draw him along to destruction. That, then, is spiritual death. It means effacement from the Book of Life. This, in itself quite a natural process, is called eternal damnation, because he who is thus doomed to decomposition, must cease to be. He becomes dust and mingles with the primeval elements permeating them with spirit. He will never again become personal — the most dreadful fate that can befall man. He is the stone the builders rejected for their spiritual edifice, and thus has to be ground to dust.

The separation of spirit from matter, the perfectly natural consequence of the working of the law, is the so-called Day of Judgment — a day that will bring great disturbances, convulsions and upheavals. Every one will easily understand that this disintegration cannot take place in one earth-day, for it is written: “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

But we are now in the beginning of this period. The earth is now approaching that point, when it will diverge from its habitual course; and this will make itself very evident materially as well as immaterially. Then the separation of all men, which has for some time been preparing, but till now, has only evidenced itself in expressed opinions and convictions, will declare itself more explicitly.

Hence every hour of human life is more precious than it ever was. He who wishes seriously to seek and to learn, must with all his energy forcibly free himself from all base ignoble manner of thinking which would chain him to the earth, else he runs the danger of remaining attached to matter and of hastening with it to destruction. Those, who, however, strive towards the Light, gradually become detached and are finally uplifted to the abiding-place of all spiritual life. Then the break between Light and Darkness will be perfect and Judgment passed.

The world, that is to say all Creation, will not thereby be destroyed, the heavenly bodies will not be subjected to a process of disintegration till each in its turn, has reached the point at which it has to set in. For the earth this process has already begun and is pushing forward with immense strides. The consummation is being brought about in the natural order of things by the agency of the Divine laws, which from the very beginning formed a part of the world and were also accessory in its creation, and which now, and in the future, continue unremittingly to carry out the Creator’s intentions. In the great rotation there follows, in everlasting succession: dissemination of fresh germs, then the maturing and reaping of the harvest and finally dissolution in order that by changing the combination of the constituents, other forms may evolve to join the next rotation with renewed vigour. In considering this process of rotatory movement in Creation one may fancy a gigantic funnel or cave of immaterial substance from which an incessant stream of immaterial primeval germs issue and which, in constant rotation, seek to enter into new unions and to develop. Science has recognised and rightly described this same process when it tells us that material nebulae condense and combine by friction to form celestial bodies, which, in obedience to Divine laws, group themselves into solar systems, which again, whilst themselves revolving, pursue their appointed course in the great revolution that is eternal.

The process we see with our physical eyes in the vegetable and animal kingdoms (as also in human bodies) of how the seed-germ develops, is fashioned, matures and is either harvested or perishes (which entails a change, a disintegration in favour of further development) is exactly the same as that in great cosmic happenings. The visible, celestial bodies, surrounded as they are by a far larger invisible, ethereal environment, are subject to the same phenomena in their eternal rotation because these same laws operate in them. The most fanatical sceptic does not deny the existence of primordial seed, yet this cannot be perceived by human eyesight as it is of a different nature. Let us call it ethereal substance. It is quite comprehensible that the first world that formed from this substance was likewise ethereal and therefore invisible to the physical eye. Later on it deposited a sediment of denser substance out of which, in the course of time, a world of dense matter with its physical bodies evolved which remained in close connection with and dependent on the ethereal world. It was not till then that the human eye, with the help of physical instruments could investigate its phenomena back to the first minutest beginnings. Whether it is a question of molecules or electrodes, etc., it will always be the material sediment of ethereal phenomena which long before has taken shape and life.

And so it is with the veils or coverings of the ego of man of which I will speak later on. In his wanderings through the different worlds he must have a cloak, shell, body, or tool that is of the same nature, texture or substance as the surroundings into which he steps, to protect him and to help him in case he wants to take an active part in these surroundings. As the material world evolved from the ethereal world and is dependent on it, it follows that whatever happens in the material world reacts on the ethereal world.

Original primitive seed produced this immense environment of immaterial substance. It takes part in the eternal rotation and is finally driven towards the one end of the gigantic funnel described above, which absorbs it. Then dissolution sets in and the disintegrated parts are ejected at the other end of the funnel to recommence rotating as primordial seed on the other side.

It is the same as the action of the human heart and the circulation of the blood. The funnel can be likened to the heart of Creation. Thus all Creation inclusive of the immaterial part is subject to dissolution as all disintegrates and revolves itself into primordial seed in order to form anew. There is nothing arbitrary in this, all evolves naturally in compliance with primeval laws which do not admit of any other course. Hence, at a certain point in the great rotation, the moment comes when dissolution sets in for all that is created whether material or ethereal. A process which has been preparing independently and sets to work automatically. This ethereal world (so closely connected with the material world that together they form one domaine) is the intermediary region where the departed sojourn for a while and which is generally called the next world.

At his death man passes into this world in his ethereal body which he has had together with a material body in his life on earth, leaving the latter behind.

This ethereal world, the next world, belonging, as it does, to Creation, is subject to the same laws of development and dissolution. When dissolution sets in, in the natural course of things the same separation of spirit and matter takes place there. According to the spiritual state of man in the material as well as in the ethereal world, his spirit or ego must either tend upwards or remain chained to matter. The first serious yearning for truth and light will, in virtue of the change it works in him, make the man spiritually purer and lighter, so that this circumstance will naturally detach him more and more from dense matter and must uplift him in proportion to his spiritual purity and light. He, however, who believes only in matter, remains bound to it by his conviction and thus cannot be uplifted. By virtue of an independent act of will on the part of each individual, a separation takes place between those who aspire to the Light and those who are bound over to Darkness in accordance with the laws relating to spiritual gravitation.

This separation is the Day of Judgment!

Hence it is evident that the period granted those who have departed this life to purify themselves in the next world will surely also come to an end, that there also the last decisive sentence will be pronounced.

Whether he is in this world or in the next world, man must either be so advanced that he can be uplifted to the regions of Light, or he must remain in his base state, bound thereto by his own desire, and will at last be doomed to everlasting damnation, that is to say be hurried along together with the matter from which he cannot detach himself to dissolution; he will also feel this dissolution as a painful process. After this he will cease to exist as an individual. He will be scattered like chaff in the wind; he will fall to dust and be erased from the Golden Book of Life. The Last Judgment must, therefore, naturally, quite as a matter of course, be the result of the operation of the laws on which the universe rests; it could not be otherwise. Man only reaps the fruits of what he himself willed and brought about by his way of thinking. It does not take from the sublimity of the Creator but rather adds to it to know that all that happens in Creation is strictly consistent and works automatically, that the direction in which a man’s fate lies is always determined by himself alone, by his wishes and intention and further more that the Creator does not interfere to reward and punish. His greatness lies in the perfection of His work which compels us to reverential awe. Proofs of the greatest love and the most incorruptible justice we find in the greatest as well as in the minutest occurrence.

Man has also been awarded an eminent position in Creation, for he is master of his own fate. He has the power to lift himself above the work and by his will to add to its higher development or else to drag it down and to entangle himself so that he can no longer free himself from it on its way to dissolution; and this may be from the physical or from the ethereal world. Therefore, free yourselves from all ties resulting from base feelings; it is high time to do so for the day of grace is coming to a close. Awake in yourselves a longing for purity, truth and virtue! — Far beyond the plane of eternally rotating Creation there is a floating island like a crown, an azure island, the abode of the blessed, of the pure spirits who may already dwell in the regions of Light. Because this island is separate from the world, it does not join in the rotation. Still, in spite of its altitude, it is the fountain and centre of outstreaming spiritual force. On the most elevated part of this island lies the far famed city, with its streets of pure gold, the heavenly Jerusalem. There, nothing is subject to change, no Day of Judgment to be feared. Those who may sojourn there are at home. But the sublimest spot, the culminating point on this azure island, inaccessible to the uninitiated, is the Castle of the Holy Grail, of which the poets of old have sung. Encompassed by legends, the object of longing to so many, it stands bathed in glorious Light and harbours the sacred vessel, the Grail, the symbol of the pure Love of the Almighty.

None but the purest spirits, those who stand nearest to God’s throne, are appointed to be its keepers. These are the bearers and transmitters of Divine Love in its purest form, very different from what man on earth understands by love, although he daily and hourly enjoys its blessings.

This Castle is the portal leading to the steps of the Throne of the Most High. No one can approach the steps without first passing through the Castle of the Grail. Before the golden gate, strict and relentless watch is ever kept to guard the purity of the Grail from contamination, so that it may pour out its blessings on all seekers unimpaired.

Tidings of this Castle were revealed and brought down stage by stage the long way from the Azure Island, till, after passing through the ethereal world, some few poets in our world were divinely inspired and could disseminate the tidings among men. In passing downwards, the truth, partly unintentionally, suffered much misrepresentation, so that the last version was but its dim reflection which again gave rise to many errors.

If now, from some quarter of God’s Creation, visited by dire distress and trouble, urgent and desperate appeals arise to the Almighty, a servant of the sacred Vessel is sent forth, so that as bearer of this Divine Love, he may intervene and help man in his spiritual need. What only existed as a fable or legend is now animated with life and is entering Creation as a reality, as a living power!

Such envoys are not often sent. They are always accompanied by decisive changes and great convulsions. Thousands of years mostly lie between them. These envoys bring Light and Truth to the erring and Peace to the despairing; with their message they stretch forth their hands to those who are seeking and they gather all the faithful together to inspire them with fresh courage, to give them new strength and to lead them up through the Darkness to the Light. They only come for those who are yearning for help from the Light, not for scoffers nor for the self-righteous.

Let the coming of the next envoy from the Holy Grail be a sign to all seekers to make a mighty effort towards righteousness, let his advent be a warning that the inevitable Day of Judgment must come one Day. Happy is he who is not fettered to matter in that day so that he may be uplifted to the Light.

One cannot say that up till now there have been two strictly opposing opinions or conflicting hypothesis on the cosmic position of man.

Conflict, therefore, is not quite the right word to describe the relative position of the intellectuals and the serious seekers for the truth. The former represent the aggressive party and the attacks they have hitherto made on the latter seem strikingly unreasonable and often even laughable to the dispassionate observer. Scorn, hostility, and even persecution await all those who seek to develop themselves spiritually even should they observe strictest discretion and reserve.

There are always some who would try by ridicule or by force to drag down aspiring souls to the obtuseness, hypocrisy or dull insensibility of the masses. Many have actually suffered martyrdom because not only the general public but the authorities were on the side of the intellectuals. What these latter have to offer is clearly expressed in the word intellect which means a narrowing of the range of human conception to purely mundane matters — the minutest part of being.

One can easily understand that these conditions neither produce what is complete in itself, nor what is of advantage for mankind at large, whose life lies for the greater part in regions inaccessible to the man of intellect. This is especially the case when one considers that one short incarnation on earth is an important turning point for all future existence and brings about results of a decisive nature in spheres absolutely inaccessible to the comprehension of the intellectual man. His responsibility is enormously increased and, added to his spiritual baseness, greatly helps to urge him on more and more swiftly to the end he has chosen, where he will be obliged to partake of the fruit, which he recommended so pertinaciously and presumptuously to others.

By intellectual man we are to understand the man who unconditionally submits himself to his intellect. These men, curiously enough, have for centuries believed that they had an absolute right to force their narrow views on those who had chosen other paths in obedience to their own convictions. This utterly illogical presumption again is due to the intellectual man’s limited powers of conception.

This very limitation is a sort of climax or culminating point in their power of conception. It is only through firmly believing that they have reached this climax that it is possible for such presumptuous thoughts to arise in their imagination. In truth they have arrived at the highest point they can attain where they come to the line of demarcation which they cannot cross.

Their attacks on the seekers of truth, which are so often accompanied by incomprehensible virulence, if closely considered, show only too clearly the goad with which the Powers of Darkness are driving them. It is but seldom that these attacks are accompanied by an honest wish to learn, which would somewhat excuse their unheard-of manner of proceeding. In the generality of cases it is but a blind and senseless raging. If we examine such attacks dispassionately, we shall seldom find that the charges made, show a wish to enter into honest controversy with the speeches or writings of a seeker of truth.

It is quite surprising how paltry and puerile their arguments are, never to the point and mostly containing direct or indirect calumnies of the person of the seeker.

It is only he who has nothing essential to say in reply who does that. In a seeker or bringer of the truth, there is no question of his person, he brings what his message expresses, namely the truth.

The “Word” must be considered, not the speaker. It is the practice of the intellectuals first to consider the person and then to decide whether they should listen to his word. These people need this hold because of their limited comprehension; they must cling to externals, or they would lose themselves in confusion of thought. This is the hollow edifice which they erect and which offers no shelter or support but a great obstruction to mankind’s advance. Had they a firm hold in themselves, they would bring argument against argument on the subject under discussion, leaving the speakers out of the question. This they cannot do and intentionally avoid doing, because they feel and partly know that, in a well-ordered or fair tournament, they would be unseated. The expressions so often heard lay preacher and lay interpreter show such a fund of ridiculous presumption that every serious person involuntarily feels that this is a shield to conceal hollowness, a sign-board hung out to hide the void behind — a clumsy piece of strategy which must be of short duration.

Its object is to put the disconcerted seeker from the very beginning into a false if not indeed in a laughable position, or at least to show him up as a bungler, so that he should not be taken seriously by anyone. In this way they seek to prevent everyone from studying the Word seriously, and their reason for so doing is not fear that their fellow-men might be delayed from making spiritual progress because of erroneous teaching, but a vague apprehension that they themselves might lose their authority and would thus be compelled to investigate more thoroughly than heretofore and make changes in teaching that suited them and had up till then been considered unassailable.

This underrating of the layman, this strange looking down on those who by virtue of their greater and finer sensitiveness stand much nearer the truth, and who do not build up around them high walls of unyielding precepts and prejudices, exposes a weakness which cannot escape the notice of a thinker. He, who harbours such opinions, is from the outset, excluded from being an unprejudiced teacher and guide, for he stands further from God and His Work than does any other man.

A knowledge of the development of the different religions with all their faults and errors, does not bring man nearer to God, neither does the intellectual interpretation of the Bible nor of other valuable religious writings. The intellect always remains bound to time and space, that is to say is earthbound, whereas the Almighty, and the understanding of His Divine Will stand high above time and space and over all that is transitory, and can therefore never be grasped by strictly limited human intelligence.

For this simple reason the human intellect is not empowered and not able to explain what belongs to eternity. It would be a contradiction, were it so. And he who would, in such matters, lay stress on university diplomas, despising the independent thinker, pronounces judgment himself on his own incapacity and limitation. Those who think, will recognise this one- sidedness at once, and be careful in their intercourse and know whom they may trust.

Only those who have a Vocation can be true teachers. Only they have the ability. This ability requires no university training; it only needs the vibrations of a refined sensibility, a sensibility which is able to soar above space and time and thus over the line of demarcation, the limit of man’s power of conception.

Besides this, a man of independent judgment will always estimate the value of teaching with regard to what it teaches and not with regard to the teacher. He would be but a poor judge who could judge thus. Gold is gold, whether a prince or a pauper has it in his hands. This undeniable fact, where it refers to spiritual matters (the most important question for men), is obstinately overlooked or ignored, but with as little success as in the case of the gold. Those who seek seriously do not allow themselves to be turned aside from examining the subject itself by such considerations. Those, however, who allow themselves to be so influenced, are not yet mature enough to receive the truth. The truth is not for them.

But the hour is not far distant, when the clash must come. Partiality will cease and all false presumption will be swept away, when hostilities open in earnest.

Take a seat in a tea-shop or in a restaurant and notice the people sitting at the tables around you. Listen to their conversation and hear what they have to say to one another. Go into the families of your acquaintance and observe their habits in their spare time, when work no longer presses.

You will be horrified at the hollowness of their talk when no longer speaking of their business. If you examine closely, you will sense with disgust the emptiness of their thoughts, the oppressive narrowness of the sphere of their interests, their terrible superficiality. The few exceptions you find, who in their leisure moments express a longing for spiritual enlightenment, will appear to you as solitary strangers in the midst of a fair.

It is in his leisure-hour that you are best able to perceive the inner man — when he is no longer busy with his daily tasks or under the spell of his habitual train of thought which runs on his special calling. What then remains is the real man. Consider him and listen dispassionately to his words. You will soon cease your study; it will become intolerable. Deep dejection will settle down on you, when you see how many men are no better than animals, not quite so dull, with better intellects, but, in the main the same. They go through life with blinkers on and only see what is purely material. They care for food and drink and aim at increasing to a greater or less extent their hoard of earthly treasure, seeking for all that affords physical enjoyment and regarding all reflections on things invisible as a waste of time, which they consider would be better employed in rest and recreation. They cannot and never will understand that their life on earth, in spite of all its physical enjoyment and delight, is only then a full life when they have become at least somewhat familiar with the ethereal world belonging to it and with the law of reciprocal action which does not allow life to be the plaything of chance. They repudiate the idea, under the misapprehension that, granted there exists an ethereal world, it would only bring them discomfort, if not dismay, should they meddle with it.

To them the idea is strange that physical life does not become really precious till it progresses upward. That then a new delightful warmth pulsates throughout all, including their physical enjoyment and pleasure. These are not pushed aside or discarded. On the contrary, as a happy result of reciprocal action those who seek purity and up-lifting are inspired with such an ardent love of life that it expresses itself in enthusiastic outbursts of admiration for all that exists and for all that existence proffers. Fools are they who pass by regardless! Cowards to whom the glorious felicity of those who advance courageously, will ever be denied. Rejoice therefore! Nothing is dead, nothing is void as it appears, but what surrounds you is alive, all is working and weaving in reciprocal activity according to Divine Law, far away to regions that appear immeasurably vast and you, human beings, are standing in the centre of this web. The threads of fate start from you and return to you and it is given to you to form and guide them. Mighty rulers are you! Each one of you establishing his own kingdom by means of which he will ascend or which, in falling, will bury him under its ruins.

Awake! and wield the power given you in full consciousness

of the mighty happenings in progress. At present, in your stupidity, obstinacy and laziness you bring forth mischievous abortions that check all healthy growth and finally cause the authors of their being to totter and fall.

Man’s immediate ethereal surroundings can do much to uplift him or debase him. And this is the strange world of thought-forms whose vitality only forms a small section of the huge network of manifestations in Creation. Its threads, however, find their way about not only in the material world, but ascend to the more ethereal world and descend to the realms of Darkness. Like a gigantic system of veins and nerves, all is intertwined, interwoven, untearable and undivisible. Take heed, therefore!

There are favoured ones who can from time to time see, or guess a part of this and, through them, some things have come to the knowledge of man. Building on this, man sought to construct a complete picture, but it was a picture full of gaps and defects. Then there were investigators into spiritual matters who again made such leaps and bounds that all consecutive connection was lost, and others filled up the gaps with fantastic imagery of their own, so disfiguring and distorting to the truth, that it tended to shake faith generally. The consequences were that the utter want of logic in the so- called spiritual investigators, called forth very justifiable derision, which then finally carried the day. It would be light on our path if we could perceive the hidden connection there is in all transcendental happenings.

Many processes that perplex the investigator have their origin in his immediate vicinity and one glance into the world of thought-forms would suffice to teach him much that seemed incomprehensible before. In law-suits it would often turn out that not the accused but the accusers were the real culprits and the former would call the latter to account. The clue to this lies in the connection between the individual and the world of thought-forms which world stands closest to humanity. For many, it is certainly a blessing that they are blind-folded and that they cannot see further than their physical eye will permit. The species of thought-forms in the present day would frighten them. Many naïve harmless- looking people who never the less lead dissolute unscrupulous lives would be paralyzed with horror, for every thought immediately takes shape in the invisible world, a shape, which (like all else in the ethereal world) embodies the essential meaning of the thought.

The living creative force which flows through man, collects ethereal substance by means of an act of his will-power, and moulds it into a shape that expresses the nature of the will lying in his thought.

It is something real and living that attracts or is attracted by what is homogeneous in this world of thought-forms in proportion to its vitality and strength. In the same degree as a thought, arising in the brain, is felt in the soul with greater or less intensity will the vitality of its counter-part be in the ethereal world.

This thought world is densely populated. Centres have formed through mutual attraction which, by virtue of their concentrated energy, can exercise a powerful influence on man, in the first instance always on those who have sympathy with the class of thought, who have something of similar nature in their own composition. They will be strengthened in their intention and encouraged to continue producing similar forms to do the same work in the world of thought-forms.

But also others who have not these special qualities can come under these influences and gradually succumb to the attraction of these nuclei and continually receive reinforcements from them.

Only those are immune whose characteristics are quite different and more positive. These qualities (characteristics) frustrate all efforts made by opposing influences.

Unfortunately man at the present day principally tends towards hatred, envy, ill-will, lustfulness, avarice and all other evils and thus these form the most powerful centre in the world of thought-forms. Whereas purity and love have lost ground. For this reason evil has spread abroad with uncanny rapidity. Not only this but the centres of strength of the thought-forms keep up a connection with analogous sections in the regions of Darkness. From these they are continually being urged on to greater activity, so that their progress is marked by desolation and havoc.

Blessed, therefore, be the hour when thoughts of pure Divine Love once again get the upper hand, so that homogeneous centres may develop in the world of thought-forms, which can be reinforced from higher spheres, and thus not only strengthen those striving towards the Light, but also slowly work on darker characters gradually purifying them also.

In the immaterial world yet another phenomenon is to be observed. Thought-forms can be directed to certain persons and made to cling to them at the desire of the person who wishes. If these thought-forms be of a pure and noble nature, they beautify the persons to whom they are sent, strengthen the shield of purity around them and can, if they meet with feelings of an analogous nature, uplift them still further. Impure thoughts, however, cannot fail to soil the person towards whom they are directed in just the same way as the physical body is soiled when bespattered with dirt and mud. If a man so bespattered is not inwardly intimately allied with light-giving centres, it may happen that in time his intuition will become confused. The clinging impure thoughts are able to attract analogous matter, which strengthens them so that they can by degrees poison the person so encompassed.

The greater part of the responsibility naturally falls back on the author of the impure thoughts, on him who sent them out by his desire or lust to the person in question, for thought- forms remain attached to their author and accordingly react on him. For this reason it is most important always to repeat the injunction to those who really seek: see to the purity of your thoughts! Put all your energies into this effort! You cannot conceive what you are thus doing; something stupendous lies in it. Then you can fight like mighty warriors, you will be pioneers on the way to the Light and thus save your fellow- men from the poisonous growth in the world of thought-forms.

If now the bandage should be taken from the eyes of a man, and he could look into the ethereal world around him, he would have good reason to be alarmed at the wild and terrifying confusion there, but this only till he becomes aware of the power within him, with which like a sharp sword he can without difficulty hew himself a free passage merely by exerting his will. He sees thought-forms in a hundred thousand varieties, in all possible and, for physical eyes, impossible shapes, each one, however, sharply defined, reproducing the living wish exactly as it was, when it issued from its author, unvarnished and free from all deception.

Still, in spite of the thousands of varieties, one learns in time to distinguish at a glance the nature of each, that is to say, one knows to what category they belong, in spite of their different shapes. Just as one distinguishes a man from an animal by his appearance, or indeed the different races of men by certain peculiarities. In precisely the same way thought-forms have definite expressions that clearly point out to what type they belong, whether their form is allied to hatred, to envy, to lust- fulness or to some other type. Each of these cardinal types has its own stamp which appears on each separate thought-forms to show to what type it generically belongs, without regard to the specific shape that it owes to the author of its being.

Thus, in spite of the most grotesque distortion of a form till it becomes a repulsive deformity, one can immediately recognise to which cardinal type it belongs. This knowledge once acquired dispels the illusion, the wild confusion.

One sees the inexorable order and rigour of the laws governing Creation which, when once one knows and has accommodated oneself to, afford unbounded protection and great blessing. He, however, who would oppose these laws will be attacked and, if not cast down and utterly crushed, will at least come between the great mill-stones which grind slowly and painfully. Bitter experience will remodel him till at last he no longer offers resistance but acknowledges the Divine Laws. Not till then can he be uplifted.

These thought-forms not only react on humanity, they go further: for in the same ethereal world in their immediate vicinity there lives the greater number of the elementals. He who recognises the fact, that all is alive and also has a shape, or form whether physically visible or not, will not find it difficult to go a step further and believe that the powers in the elements also take shape. To these belong the gnomes, elves, sylphs, and nixies, etc., earth, air, fire and waterspirits, which formerly were more often seen than they are now. These are likewise influenced by the thought-forms and thus much good and evil is done. One thing fits into another like cogwheels in the finest and most highly finished mechanism.

In the midst of all this locomotion stands man. He is provided with the gift to decide the nature of the web that shall proceed from the cosmic loom and to set the mechanism in motion in different directions. You must appreciate this unbounded responsibility, for all is taking place in the narrow circle of our earth-life. By wise ordinance of the Almighty, nothing goes beyond the ban of man’s earth-life. You are able to poison this world and the next with your wishes, thoughts and intentions, or to purify them and uplift them to the Light.

Therefore become lords of destiny: lead upwards by the purity of your thoughts.

t is as if a dense and heavy cloud were hanging over humanity. The very atmosphere is sultry. Man’s intuitive faculties labour under a dead weight. Only those nerves which animate and nourish animal instincts and feelings are in a highly strung condition. They have been artificially excited by a mistaken and wrong training, based on wrong and deceptive premises.

The man of today is not normal in this respect. His sexual instincts are morbidly over-developed and he seeks in a hundred ways to establish a cult for them, to the destruction and ruin of the human race.

Infectious as the plague itself, this tendency gradually spreads to those who would still persistently cling to an ideal that dwells hidden away somewhere in their subconsciousness. They stretch forth their arms longingly to seize it, but with a sigh, they let them sink again in despair when they cast a glance at what is going on around them.

In utter helplessness, they look with horror at the rapidity with which the right discernment of morality is getting dulled and right judgment perverted. The standard of propriety changes so quickly that what met with disapproval and disgust yesterday, appears quite normal today and does not even cause surprise. But the cup will soon be filled to the brim and then a terrible awakening must come.

The masses, with their over-excited animal instincts, are sometimes seized with shame. A momentary feeling of misgiving comes, but the effect is not strong enough to awaken them to a sense of their disgrace. After this feeling has passed they set to, with redoubled energy, to shake off what they call this “weakness” or the “last relic of obsolete views”, if not to do away with the old customs altogether. Progress, cost what it will, is the cry of today, but one can develop in two directions: upwards and downwards, as one chooses. At present the tendency is a downward one. Man is sinking, slipping with ever increasing rapidity to be utterly crushed eventually by the horrible concussion at the bottom, when the hour strikes for the final downfall.

In this sultry atmosphere the thunder-cloud gathers in density and looks more and more sinister. At any moment the first flash of lightning may be expected to sever the darkness. It will penetrate into the obscurest corner. It will light upon and clear up what is hidden, so as to set those free who long for the light, but to annihilate those who set their face against it. The longer the cloud has time to grow in darkness and intensity, the more dazzling and terrifying the lightning will be which the cloud has generated.

The enervating atmosphere which fostered the growth of sluggishness and sensuality will be dispelled by the first flash of lightning and give place to a current of fresh, bracing air, bringing new life with it. In the sober light of day, all abortions of a morbid imagination will be divested of their mask and stand naked before the eyes of horrified mankind. The awakening of the soul will be like the concussion of mighty thunder-clouds, after which the living water of truth will break forth and dash down the channel thus opened. The day of enlightenment is at hand and will free man from the spell that immorality has exercised over him for centuries and which has now reached its climax.

Look about you: the books that are read, the dances that are danced, and the dresses! The present time is more anxious than ever to defile the purity of the soul by tearing down all barriers between the sexes, by distorting moral sentiment and disguising it under misleading masks and, if possible, totally extinguishing them. If a misgiving arises, it is quieted by weighty arguments, which however, if examined closely, prove to be dictated by sexual instincts, whose aim it is, skilfully or unskilfully, openly or covertly, to find fresh means of satisfying men’s appetites in countless ways.

They speak of the inauguration of a new age, of an untrammelled independent humanity, of the development of the power of resistance, training of the body, beauty of the nude, higher sport. They would train the young to make true the saying: “to the pure all is pure”, in a word they would remodel and advance the human race by repudiating all prudery and thus producing the free noble specimen of manhood who should reign in the future. Woe to him who would dare remonstrate! An outcry would be raised against such an audacious critic. Accusations such as: “only impure thoughts could cause him to see anything amiss in it” would be hurled at him.

It is a mad whirl-pool of foul water, which spreads a suffocating poisonous miasma around. The effect is like that of opium and causes hallucinations. Hundreds of thousands are attracted, let themselves be drawn into the eddy, and there, overcome by lethargy and numbness they perish. Brothers seek to enlighten their sisters, and children their parents. Like a spring-tide the frenzy sweeps over mankind. Here and there one who is prudent, one who is revolted at what he sees, remains firmly fixed like a rock and lets the water surge around him. And there are many, who, not having the strength to battle in the storm alone, cling to these.

What is now preached under the plausible plea of progress is nothing but covert encouragement of utter shamelessness, tending to poison the higher intuition in man.

It is the most dangerous pestilence that ever attacked mankind. And strangely enough, it seems as though many had only waited for a plausible excuse to lower themselves to the level of animals: countless people heartily welcome this state of things.

But he who knows the spiritual laws that govern the universe will turn away disgusted. Let us take one of the most harmless of modern entertainments: the mixed public bath. “To the pure all is pure”, — these words are so reassuring that people think they give them licence to indulge in various ways. But let us look at the situation as it presents itself to the inner, the ethereal eye. Let us assume that of thirty bathers of both sexes, twenty-nine were absolutely pure-minded. This is an impossible assumption to begin with, the reverse would be more probable, although it would rarely be the case that one out of thirty was absolutely pure-minded. But for argument’s sake let us assume the thirtieth bather’s thoughts have been rendered impure by what he has seen. Although his conduct has been irreproachable, his thoughts have immediately become living though invisible forms and have attached themselves to the object that gave rise to them, and, whether they are expressed or not, they defile that person. That person must now carry these impure thoughts about, and they, again, attract similar thoughts floating in the air; these gather ever denser and darker round that person till they confuse and poison their victim, as a creeper can destroy the healthiest tree. This is how the proceedings at open-air public baths, at games, sports and dances etc. appear in the ethereal world.

Now one can observe, that it is just those who seek to excite their feelings and their thoughts by such exhibitions, who go to these places of entertainment. How much gross indecency is thus bred without provoking remark (as nothing of its true face is seen on the surface), it would be hard to say. It is natural that this continuously increasing and condensing mass of sensual thought-forms must gradually influence multitudes, who, of themselves, do not seek such things. At first vague thoughts of a similar nature come to these people, which in time grow clearer and more concentrated and take life, as they are ceaselessly being nourished by the present methods in the pursuit of progress. Thus one after another, they glide along with the darksome muddy stream, gradually losing their very understanding for what is clean and pure, till finally all is drawn down into utter darkness.

The opportunities and enticements to indulge in these erotic abnormalities must first of all be done away with. They are but breeding centres for the filthy thoughts of the lascivious. These spring up luxuriantly and spread destruction among men and, forming new centres, which amalgamate into one enormous field of noxious weeds, give forth a poisonous stench, suffocating both good and evil together. Tear yourselves out of this whirlpool! Like a deceptive narcotic it appears to brace, but in reality it relaxes and harms the system.

It is a grievous fact, but quite natural, that the female sex has been the first to break all fetters and to sink to the lowest possible grade of indelicacy, in the way they dress. This only proves that the explanation given above of what goes on in the ethereal world was right. Woman, having by nature the finer and more sensitive intuition, was the first, quite unconsciously, to absorb the pestiferous thought-forms of her invisible surroundings. She is more susceptible to this danger. She is the first to be led astray, and then she oversteps every limit. The saying is, “when a woman is bad, she is worse than a man”. And this is true in all cases of cruelty, hatred or love. What a woman does, will always be inspired by the invisible world around her. There are of course exceptions. She is not, on this account, however, free from responsibility, for she is always able to observe the influences at work on her and can guide her intentions and actions by her will-power. If she will! That the majority of women fail to do this is a regrettable fault of the female sex and is only owing to their absolute ignorance in these things.

It is a great misfortune for the present time, that woman actually holds the future of her nation in her hands, for her psyche influences her descendants more decisively than does that of the male. This being so, what a sorry prospect does the future promise! Inevitable retrogression which nothing can stay, neither arms, nor money, nor inventions, nor goodwill nor diplomacy. More drastic measures must, therefore, be employed. This enormous burden of sin does not fall on the woman alone. She will always only be a true reflexion of those thought-forms which hover over her nation. That must not be forgotten. Respect and honour woman as such, and she will develop accordingly, she will become what you see in her, so in honouring her, you uplift your whole nation!

Before this can be, a great revolution must take place in woman. As she is now, she can only be cured by a radical operation, a compelling, inexorable force must interfere and, as with a sharp knife, remove all excrescences and cast them into the flames, lest they destroy the healthy parts.

The present time is hurrying faster and faster towards the hour for this necessary operation to be performed on all mankind, and it will come of itself, be painful, fearful, but then, at last, health will again be restored. Not until then will it be time to speak of morals. To do so today would be like speaking to the wind — the word would die away. But the hour will come when corrupt Babylon must fall. Then look at the female sex! What it does and what it leaves undone will always show you, as in a mirror, what you are yourself. In virtue of her finer intuition she lives what the thought-forms intend her to express.

This circumstance suffices to give us the assurance that the female sex will be the first to soar to that ideal that we look for in the coming generation. Morality will then be enthroned in all her purity.

How often one hears this utterance of the Son of God quoted as well-meant advice or warning. But neither the giver of the good advice nor the receiver thereof trouble to reflect on the purport of these words.

What is meant by to pray every man knows or rather he thinks he knows, but in truth he does not know. He also imagines he understands what to watch means, but he is far from doing so.

Watch and pray is an admonition (given in figurative speech) to keep in constant activity the capacity for sensing inwardly, by which is meant the activity of the spirit of man apart from all cooperation of the mind or brain. The human spirit being the core or nucleus of the ego which evolved in the course of its wanderings through the spheres or planes of Subsequent Creation, expresses itself by the inner voice and in no other way. Watch and pray is the summons to man to subtilise and to amplify his capacity for inward sensing which is in other words, to stimulate the life of the spirit within him. This spirit alone is of permanent value, it alone can return to Paradise (Original Creation) from where it went forth. It will return either matured and self-conscious or it will have relapsed into its former state of unconsciousness; it will either be welcome to the Light as a unit which has been useful in Creation or rejected as a dismembered and lifeless ego which has proved itself useless.

Thus the admonition Watch and Pray is one of the weightiest the Son of God bequeathed to men. It is a grave warning to serve a purpose in Creation as otherwise men run the danger that the self-acting Divine Laws will exterminate them.

Look at woman! She has, as her most precious possession, a delicacy and subtlety of perception that no other creature can boast of. As she has the most powerful gifts to realise, to make true all that is good, it should by rights only be possible to speak of noble womanhood. And herein lies her superior responsibility. For this reason Lucifer, with all his hosts, in pursuance of his scheme to subjugate mankind, made her the principal point of his attack.

And, unfortunately, in the woman of Subsequent Creation, Lucifer found an easy field for his operations. With her eyes open, she flew into his meshes. Then she set to work after her fashion and poisoned all Creation. Pure conceptions were distorted to be unrecognisable, which necessarily resulted in confusing the human spirit. Noble womanhood, the pure flower, the crown of Subsequent Creation, soon debased itself to a poison-plant by giving ear to the Tempter. Its radiant colours, its seductive fragrance, attract all to the spot where it flourishes, namely the noisome swamp into which the victims, thus allured, sink.

Woe unto woman! She was the recipient of the highest of all spiritual gifts and she misused them! On her the sword of Divine Justice must first fall. The only alternative being that, in virtue of her peculiarly mobile spiritual impressibility, she should change and decide to put herself at the head of the necessary climb upwards that earth-man must now take, letting the deceptive erection of pernicious ideas, suggested by Lucifer, crumble to ruin. Instead of setting the example of honestly striving for the white blossom of noble purity and adorning herself with it as a jewel, she chose to indulge in coquetry and vanity for which she found an accommodating and suitable arena in the perverted customs and manners of so-called modern society. She was conscious of the fact that her doings were destroying what was the true beauty of her sex and greedily grasped at the substitute offered her in, the suggestions of the Dark Powers and, becoming the brainless puppet of a shameless decree of fashion, proceeded to put up her physical charms for sale. Hereby she still further sank into the abyss and drew men after her by stimulating their animal instincts and thus hindering their spiritual development.

In this manner they implanted the germ that will be their doom, for, when they come before the tribunal, retributive justice will condemn all this rotten fruit to perdition. Such as these would be incapable of holding out, of standing fast in the storms that are brewing, in the roaring gales and the howling blasts that are coming to winnow and to purify. In their terror and distress, those who have made coquetry and vanity their idols, will stretch out their hands to you in their eagerness to be saved. That no man, however, let his hands be soiled by these lost ones, these worshippers of vanity! Let them sink, push them back, they have no valuable qualities which could be of service in the reconstruction which has been predicted and which is to come.

They do not see how absurd and meaningless their proceedings are. Now they laugh at and ridicule the few who would preserve the decency and purity of true womanhood, that delicate bashfulness that was her most beautiful ornament. But soon their mocking will change to out-cries of despair and then they will be effectually silenced for all time.

The woman of Subsequent Creation is standing on the sharp and perilous edge of a blade because of the great gifts that were given her. She must now give an account for what she has done with them up till now. There is no excuse admissible for her, it is not possible for her to turn and retrace her steps, for the time is up! She should have taken thought before, for she must know that her views and opinions are as nothing in the sight of God for they cannot oppose His adamantine Will which is pure and clear as crystal.

That woman of the future who will successfully preserve her person and her gifts pure during a period of licentiousness, which can well be compared to that of Sodom and Gomorrah, will be as if born again. She will be the one to raise womanhood to that culminating point of excellence that thosewho approach her may do so in holy awe and purest veneration. She will be the woman whose life is ordered according to God’s Will; which means that she will be the radiating crown which reflects the vibrations it receives from on high undimmed, to permeate all things.

She can and she must do this, for she has the necessary ability and this lies in the great delicacy of female sensibility.

The Saviour’s Words Watch and Pray will be embodied in every woman of the future as they should be in every woman of the present, for in the vibrations of female sensibility lies that constant watchfulness, that heartfelt prayer that are pleasing to God, always provided that the end striven for, is purity and the Light.

To vibrate in this way makes woman realise and experience heartfelt gratitude and joy and such is prayer as it should be! Moreover the vibrations warn the sensitive to be on her guard, to watch unceasingly. This delicate impressibility recognises and registers all evil that would approach and can ward it off before it has developed into thoughts. Thus it is always easy for a woman to protect herself in time, unless she does not herself wish otherwise.

In spite of their delicacy, these vibrations are so powerful that they can remodel everything in Creation, nothing can withstand them, for in them is Light and thus Life.

This was well-known to Lucifer, consequently he assailed her in the first place, he knew that he would win all over if he succeeded in securing woman. Unfortunately he succeeded only too well as everybody who will, can clearly perceive for himself.

For this reason the Call from the Light is addressed in the first place to woman.

She would be compelled to recognise to what depth she has sunk if. . . her vanity permitted it. This is the snare with which Lucifer holds woman so fast bound that she cannot recognise the Light, that indeed she no longer has the wish to do so.

The modern woman cannot desist from her life of wanton trifling, although she is vaguely aware of what she has lost. Indeed she knows it but too well. And to stifle this warning sensation, she throws herself headlong into the newest fascinating folly, i.e. to be the counterpart of man in his calling and in his character instead of returning to true womanhood, the most precious possession of all Creation, and to the task allotted to her by the Light. It is she who robs man of all that is ideal, thus hindering noble manhood from coming to highest development.

No nation and no people can flourish and prosper where woman cannot be looked up to, where womanhood is not honoured as such. Only truest, purest womanhood and nothing else can lead and incite a man to do great deeds. That is the vocation of woman in Creation according to God’s Will. In this she uplifts her nation and all mankind, yes, all Subsequent Creation. For in her lies that sublime power, that gentle coercing influence which is irresistible and which, if exercised with purest intention, is blessed with Divine energy.

Nothing equals this power, for all that proceeds from it is a work of exquisite beauty. For this reason it is woman’s task to weave threads of gold throughout Creation to cheer, to uplift, to further, and to animate man with a breath of the longed-for Paradise.

This was the pearl among the gifts of your Creator that Lucifer grasped at, first of all, with all his cunning and all his malice, knowing that this was the way to destroy both your anchorage and your aspirations. For in woman lies the great secret. She can conjure forth purity and sublimity of thought, she knows how to incite to highest production and to noblest activity . . . that is if she is the woman that God intended her to be when he heaped these gifts on her.

You let yourselves be duped only too easily and succumbed to temptation without a fight and now are willing slaves, under the dominion of Lucifer. God’s precious gifts operate in a contrary sense to what God intended and thereby subject all

Subsequent Creation to the Dark Powers. Nothing but disgusting caricatures remain at the present day of all things God intended to be the joy and happiness of all creatures in the world. The things are there, but under Lucifer’s influence they are twisted and changed and altogether deceitful. It was the woman of Subsequent Creation who made the go-between. She was the agent… and a gruesome swamp spread over a pure foundation. Instead of being fired with enthusiasm, men, giddy, intoxicated with delight, indulge in orgies of the senses.

Now you are ready to fight, but not for the Light but against all its behests so as to remain in that state of vain self- satisfaction that intoxicates you!

There are not many today who can stand a clear and penetrating gaze being fixed on them. The greater number turn out to be leprous, their beauty, (true womanhood) eaten away, gone never to return. And of those who escape destruction and are saved, many will look back with loathing when they recall what they think beautiful and good today.

But in the same way as woman has dragged all Subsequent Creation down, she has the power to raise it up again and to advance it, for man will follow her lead in this.

Soon the time will come when the Great Winnowing will be over, then there will be a joyful outcry: “Look at woman as she should be, the genuine, ideal woman in her greatness, nobility, purity and power!”

Then you will realise the meaning of Christ’s words to her: “Watch and Pray!”

She will be the perfection of Nature in its most beauteous form.

Marriages are made in heaven. Some married couples repeat this axiom with resentment and bitterness, and others, who are still further away from heaven, repeat it hypocritically. The natural consequence is that one has taken to shrugging one’s shoulders, to smiling and even to sneering at the words.

In reviewing all the marriages that a man comes across in his circle of acquaintances in the course of time, this is quite comprehensible. Those who sneer are right, only it would be more correct not to sneer at the axiom but at the marriages. They, indeed for the most part, deserve not only ridicule and scorn, but contempt.

Marriage as it is today, and has been for centuries, has put the saying to shame and so discredited it, that no one can believe in its truth. Present-day marriages, with but few exceptions, are distinctly immoral. The sooner the modern conditions and usages come to an end the better, in order to keep thousands from running blindly into this disgraceful plight, thinking that it must be right, as it is what time- honoured custom dictates. Added to this, at the present time, everything is shamelessly concentrated on trying to dull, if not suffocate every purer ideal. No one thinks of making a human being what he ought to be, can be and must be, by showing the necessary respect and consideration to his physical vehicle.

The body, like the soul, is precious, and should, therefore, be something unapproachable and may not be exposed either as an enticement nor as an object of admiration. It is something sacred. Regarded in this light, it cannot be separated from the soul on earth. Both must command respect and be held holy if they are to have any value at all. Otherwise they are rubbish, something unclean, to be thrown into a corner or sold cheap to a passing hawker. Should an army of such hawkers come swarming over the earth today, they would find an untold quantity of this rubbish awaiting them. At every step they could add to their collections. And truly such hawkers are going about in great numbers. They are the ambassadors and emissaries of the Powers of Darkness. They greedily seize upon their easy prey and triumphantly drag it down farther and farther into their dark realm, till it is swallowed up and can never find its way back to the Light. No wonder then that all should laugh if anyone seriously affirms that marriages are made in heaven.

Civil marriage is but a business contract. The couples that thus bind themselves, do not intend seriously to begin life together mutually helping one another, to raise the standard of their inward and outward value, to attain together still higher ideals and thus to be a blessing to themselves, to all humanity and finally to Creation itself. It is a bargain, entered into to ensure each other’s material welfare, so that they should have no reason to reproach themselves that they surrendered themselves to each other for nothing. Where then remains the sanctity of the body that should be brought into marriage on both sides and held there in all honour ? Of the sanctity of the body no notice is taken!

In this bargain, woman plays such a deplorably unworthy part that one must fain turn away in disgust. In eighty out of a hundred cases she sells herself to her husband to serve him, for he does not seek an equal — a companion — but in case he does not wish to show her off, he wants her as a cheap and willing housekeeper to make his home comfortable, with whom he can also satisfy his animal instincts under the cover of respectability.

Young girls leave their parents to marry, often for the most trivial reasons. Some are tired of being at home and long for an independent sphere of action. Others think it would be more attractive to be a married woman and hope to lead a fuller life, or they may contemplate bettering their material circumstances. There are also cases where a young girl marries to defy or cross another, and cases where the motive is simply erotic, these feelings having been awakened and artificially nourished by reading bad books, or by suggestive games and sports.

It is seldom that real love urges them to take this most important step of their earth-lives. Countenanced by their parents, who consider them too worldly-wise to allow themselves to be guided by higher motives and their purer intuition, they rush into this perilous venture and they must often partly pay for their recklessness in their married life. But only partly, the bitter experience of the consequent reaction of such marriages comes much later, for the principal fault made was the neglect of the opportunity to advance spiritually. Many an incarnation has been utterly fruitless for the individual, as it has not been able to contribute anything to his advancement. Retrogression may even have begun and the lost ground must then painfully be made good again.

How different when a marriage has been built on the right

foundation and is harmonious. The husband serves his wife and the wife her husband, each the other joyfully, of their own free wills. They grow older side by side, ennobling one another, and smiling at all mundane trials. Such a marriage is a gain for life. In such happiness lies the guarantee for the upward flight, not only of the individuals, but for all humanity.

Woe to those parents who drive their children into false marriages by persuasion, by stratagem, by constraint or for conventional reasons. The burden of responsibility which extends further than for the child’s welfare only, falls back so weightily on them, sooner or later, that they will wish never to have entertained such “brilliant plans”.

The marriage ceremony in church is looked upon by many as only part of a purely mundane celebration. The churches themselves or their representative ministers say: “Whom God has united, let not man put asunder.” Their belief is that God has united the couple. The more “advanced” thinkers take the ceremony to mean that the couple are united in the sight of God. The latter interpretation is more justified than the former, but the words really mean something else.

The injunction is given on the understanding that marriages are really made in heaven.

When the false notions and interpretations of today are set aside, all cause for laughter, ridicule and sneering will cease immediately and the unimpeachable truth of the words will become evident in all its magnitude. The natural consequence will be that men will see and understand that marriage is intended to be something quite different to what it is now, that a marriage may only be celebrated under utterly different conditions to those accepted today and that the couples who unite should only do so from absolutely pure motives.

“Marriages are made in heaven.” These words show, in the first place, that every individual soul coming into the world has certain qualities that only another soul with corresponding suitable characteristics can help to develop harmoniously. The corresponding suitable qualities are not identical. They are their necessary complement and serve to make the individual in question of full value. The two souls should complete each other mutually to make a harmonious union. Their union is, as it were, a full chord, each note of which is of value and essential to the harmony of the whole.

That is the marriage that is made in heaven. From this, it must not be inferred that there is but one possible partner on earth with whom a person can enter into a harmonious union; there are generally a few who are furnished with the necessary complementary qualities.

It is, therefore, unnecessary to wander about the world in search of a really suitable consort. It is only a case of exercising due circumspection, and of keeping eyes, ears and heart open, and above all, of laying aside what, up till now, were considered justified pretentions, and which were made preliminary conditions. What is considered so necessary today is just what should not be. The conditions for a marriage on a sound basis are, that both parties work together and pursue high aims — conditions as necessary as air and exercise for physical health.

He who counts on ease and freedom from the cares of life and tries to adjust his union so that it should assure him these conditions, will make his life unwholesome in every sense.

Seek then to contract marriages that are made in heaven, and happiness will be yours!

To have been made in heaven means that the couple were intended for each other before or on entering the world. The being intended only refers to the qualities they are furnished with, to complete each other. Those who have the qualities are intended for one another. In other words, they suit each other and complement each other and thus their union is intended.

“What God has united, let not man put asunder.” The misunderstanding of these words of Christ has done much mischief. Many took the words what God united to mean marriage, but marriage has but little to do with the meaning. What God has united, is a union, in which the conditions required for full harmony, are fulfilled, and which has been contracted in heaven. Whether the union is ratified by the State or by the Church makes no essential difference.

But naturally it is necessary to obey also the laws of the State. If then a religious ceremony is celebrated in all reverence by those so united, it follows that, through their spiritual attitude, a still greater blessing descends on their union. Of such a marriage one can truly say, it has been made in heaven and before God.

Now follows the admonition: “let no man set asunder.” How has the sublime meaning of these words been degraded!

Their truth lies clear as noonday: wherever a union exists that has been made in heaven, i.e. when two people so complement each other that harmony results, a third shall not interfere, whether to make discord, to prevent the union taking place, or to cause it to be separated. Such wrongdoing will in the course of reaction cling as a heavy weight to the perpetrator, for he will have harmed two people and also turned away the blessing which their happiness would have spread around them in the material and ethereal worlds.

The simple truth that lies in these words is self-evident to all. The warning is intended to protect only such unions as have been made in heaven under the aforesaid conditions, and in confirmation of which they are born into the world with the necessary qualities to complement each other. Between such, no third person may interfere, not even parents.

The couple concerned will certainly never wish to part. The divine harmony, the result of the corresponding qualities of their souls, would not admit of such a thought. Their happiness and the permanence of their marriage is thus assured in advance. If one of the parties appeals for a divorce it is the best proof that the necessary harmony is wanting and that the marriage has not been made in heaven. In such a case the marriage should be separated, to reinstate the couple, living such an unworthy life, in their self-respect. The greater part of the marriages of the present time are of the wrong sort. This evil lies principally in the loose morals and in the dominating worship of the intellect.

“Putting asunder what God has united” does not only apply to marriage but also to those who wish to unite to develop harmonious qualities. If such a bond exists and a third party tries to interfere by slandering or by other well-known methods, then his intention alone is equal to adultery. The meaning of the words: “What God has united, let not man put asunder” is so simple and clear, that it is difficult to understand how they could have been so erroneously interpreted. The fault lies in having erected a barrier separating things spiritual from things temporal which is the reason man’s power of conception came in time to be limited by his intellect, a condition which cannot bear good fruit.

The words came from the spiritual world and it is only spiritually that they can be interpreted.

Many children live under a fatal delusion, the result of which will do them the greatest harm. They think they can charge their parents with having been the cause of

their life on earth, and one often hears it said: “Naturally my parents must provide for me, for they brought me into the world. It is not my fault that I am here.”

That is the most foolish thing they could say. Every individual is here on earth either because he has begged for the privilege, or because of his sins. The only office of the parents is to give the soul the opportunity to incarnate. And every incarnated soul should be grateful for the opportunity that is granted it.

The soul of the child is but the guest of its parents. It has no spiritual claim on them, and the mundane claims have been developed out of purely mundane social laws, authorised by the state in order to exempt it from having any responsibility.

Spiritually the child is a separate, independent individual. With the exception of its physical body, the tool it needs for its activity on earth, it has received nothing from its parents — only just a domicile that the incarnating soul could make use of.

Still, as the parents have furnished this abode, it is their duty to take care of it till the soul who has taken possession is able to care for it itself. The development of the child’s body will decide when this is to take place. What exceeds this office is a gift from the parents.

Hence it is time that children should discontinue to rely on their parents and rather look to become independent as soon as possible. They must work for themselves, it does not matter whether they work at home or elsewhere. It must be work, not amusement and the mere fulfilling of social duties, but the doing of some definite, useful duty that another person would have to be engaged to do if the child did not attend to it. Only in such cases can one speak of leading a useful life on earth: such a life matures and develops the spirit. If a child male or female does its duty in this way in its parent’s house, it should get the same salary for its work that the parents would pay a stranger. In other words, such a child must be respected and treated in the way an independent human being has a right to be treated. If parents and children are united by special bonds of love, of confidence and of friendship, so much the better for both. Such ties are entered into voluntarily, and are based upon the inner conviction and thus so much the more valuable. Such ties are genuine and endure after physical death. In the next world they serve to promote their mutual advancement and happiness.

But when children have reached a certain age, it is not desirable that they should continue subject to family rules and family thraldom. Neither have aunts, uncles, cousins or other relations any claims on the child whatever. This is an objectionable abuse of relationship which must disgust a free and independent spirit. These customs are due to tradition and have, unfortunately, become so ingrained that in most cases nobody tries to think differently and independently but resigns himself, although reluctantly. He, however, who troubles to think it over from an unbiased standpoint will inwardly be revolted at its preposterous absurdity and turn away in disgust.

All this unnatural nonsense must be done away with. A new and healthy generation will not suffer its continuance because it offends all healthy principles. If man is to be fettered by such artificially distorted views of life, he can never produce anything really great. A man will be more hindered than he thinks by these ties which may seem of secondary importance. To free all men, every individual should cast aside these unworthy fetters. Genuine freedom lies in doing what one recognises oneself as a duty. Only then can a claim be justified. And this applies to children also; only those, who do their duty faithfully have a right to claim.

But parents also have many pressing duties to fulfil that have nothing to do with the claims of children. Every grown-up should know what bringing a child into the world involves. The mischief done by wantonness, carelessness and thoughtlessness (based on utterly wrong views) has taken a terrible revenge on man. You must know and understand that in the immediate proximity of material life on the physical plane, a great number of souls are waiting ready and expecting an opportunity to incarnate on earth; these are human souls retained by their Karma who are anxious to atone in a new life. As soon as the possibility presents itself, i.e. a birth is expected, they attach themselves to the expectant mother waiting for the little body to mature in which they purpose dwelling. During this period of waiting, invisible threads are spun between the child’s body and the waiting soul who assiduously keeps as close as possible to the mother. When maturity is sufficiently advanced, these threads serve as a bridge to admit the stranger from the other world. This strange guest forthwith takes possession and his Karma, that accompanies him, may often cause grief and anxiety to his parents. A strange guest, what an uncanny thought! Something a mother should constantly keep in mind and never forget is that she also has the right of choice among the waiting souls, if she does not let the time she has be wasted carelessly.

Incarnation is subject to the law of attraction; still it is not absolutely necessary that the incarnating soul should be attracted by the parents, it may also be attracted by some person frequently in the company of the pregnant woman. When man knows how all happens and takes it into account, much mischief will be avoided. Now men wantonly toy with such matters, spending their time in gambling, dancing, and entertaining, utterly regardless of what important events are preparing — events that will play a leading role in their after- lives. Conscious prayer which should always be accompanied by intense wish, could greatly help to lessen the evil and strengthen the good, so that the little stranger who comes to live with them may in every respect remain a welcome guest to the parents.

The talk of pre-natal education is all nonsense. Conclusions drawn from misunderstood phenomena which appeared on the surface gave rise to this theory; it is not possible to train an unborn child; but, there is every possibility of influencing the attraction of a soul seeking to incarnate, if this is attended to in time with all serious intention. The result of attracting the right soul is immeasurably more important than what could be hoped for or expected from pre-natal education.

A human being who fully understands this and yet carelessly and thoughtlessly disregards it deserves no better than that a spirit should incarnate and intrude itself into his family circle, that later on becomes a constant source of trouble and perhaps danger.

To enlightened human beings, bringing a child into the world should merely be considered a proof of their willingness to receive a stranger as permanent guest into their family, in order to give him the opportunity to atone and to mature on earth. And only in cases where there is a heart-felt wish on both sides to attain this object, is it justifiable to give a soul the opportunity to incarnate.

When these facts are taken into serious consideration many of our present habits will change, as in the relations between members of a family, their manner of treating each other and education in general. All will be judged from a different and more serious standpoint. More consideration and more respect will be shown. Feelings of self-reliance and responsibility will become more general, which again will immensely further social advance, and children will learn to desist from claiming rights that were never rightfully theirs.

If the question of prayer is to be discussed at all, these words are naturally only addressed to those who are personally interested in prayer. He who does not feel the impulse to pray, may, without hesitation, refrain from doing so, because his words and his thoughts would necessarily evanesce. If a prayer is not deeply felt, it has no value and no result. A feeling of intense gratitude in moments of great joy, or the bitter pang of pain in time of trouble, constitute the best foundations for a prayer that may hope to be heard. At such a moment a man is filled with a concentrated burst of emotion that silences all else and at such a time the essence of the prayer, be it thanksgiving or a request, becomes endowed with unusual power.

Man mostly has quite a false notion of how a prayer operates and develops. It is not every prayer that penetrates to the Almighty. On the contrary it is a very exceptional case when a prayer ascends to the steps of the Throne. Here again the eternal law, the attraction of homogeneous species plays the principal role.

A serious and deeply-felt prayer is attracted by (and on its way attracts) analogous influence to a centre of power representing the principle which forms the essence of the prayer. These centres of power may be called sections of planes in the universe, or by any other name, their effect would be the same in every case. Reciprocal action brings the answer to whatever the principle wish, expressed in the prayer, was, whether for peace, strength, reconvalescence, or concerning plans suddenly arising in the mind, answers to difficult questions or other matters. Some benefit will always result from heart-felt prayer, if it only brings more composure and a greater power of concentration, that in their turn help find deliverance, or some way out of the difficulty.

It is also possible that these prayers, strengthened by the reciprocal co-operation of homogeneous centres of power, find their way spiritually to some charitable soul and induce it to afford help in some way, and thus bring an answer to the prayer.

All these operations can be easily understood by observing transcendental life. Here likewise, perfect impartiality will be found, for it is always the spiritual state of the one who prays, which gives life, strength and efficacy to the prayer.

In the immense expanse or amplitude of the transcendental life in the universe, every variety of sensation belongs to its special homogeneous class, and thus cannot be attracted, but rather would be repelled by any other class. It is only in the case of homogeneous sensations that their fusion and consequent increase of strength is possible.

A prayer that is instigated by different sensations which in spite of their disconnection, still possess a certain amount of vigour, will attract a variety of equivalent influences and thus react in various ways, but this will only be the case if the prayer has been offered up with intense fervour. Whether the petition is then granted, depends entirely on the nature of the different requests. By far the best way is to send forth but one thought, to express but one wish at a time, that there be no confusion.

Christ never meant that the whole of the Lord’s Prayer should be said at once. He only summed up all that a man may ask for with the certainty of being heard, provided he prays with fervent intention.

These petitions contain all that man needs for his bodily and spiritual welfare and advancement. And more still, for at the same time they indicate the direction in which man must strive in his life on earth. The order in which these petitions are grouped is a master-piece in itself.

For a man who can enter into and grasp its deep meaning, the Lord’s Prayer alone is sufficient in every way. He needs nothing else; in it he will find the whole Gospel in a concentrated form. The Lord’s Prayer is the key to the realms of Light for him who can live according to its precepts, everyone who wishes to advance and to rise will find it a staff in his hand and a lantern to his feet — so immeasurable is its power.*

This all-embracing plenitude indicates the purport of the Lord’s Prayer. In it Jesus gave the key to the Kingdom of Heaven, the pith of His Message. But He did not intend that it should be said straight off.

If a man will only take heed when he prays, he will himself see, when repeating the succession of petitions, how often his attention will wander, and how thereby, no matter how familiar the prayer is to him, his emotion loses in intensity!

Indeed it is impossible for him to pass from one request to the other with the deep and necessary fervency indispensable in real prayer.

But Jesus made everything easy to man in His own way. He expressly said: “Become as little children”, which means: think as simply, seek difficulties as little as they do. He would never have expected such an impossibility as to pray the Lord’s Prayer all through with the deep concentration required. This also should bring the conviction home to man that Jesus intended something different, something far greater. It was not simply a prayer that He gave. It was the key to the Kingdom of Heaven!

It weakens a prayer to make it multiform. Neither does a child come to its father with seven requests at a time, it will only come with what lies nearest to his heart, whether a grief or a wish.

Hence man also should turn to God in his trouble and utter his plaint. And in most cases it will be one particular matter and not with several at once that he will come. Man should not pray for matters that are of no special moment to him, for in such cases he would not be deeply enough interested to be inspired with the necessary life-giving fervour. He would but be uttering empty phrases, and so weaken a petition which might otherwise be of real import.

Only pray for what is really necessary. Never utter empty phrases which can but distract the attention and lead to insincerity! Prayer demands the deepest and most serious attention, seek therefore solitude and purity when you pray. Solitude will heighten the intensity, and purity will lend the spiritual illumination and the lightness required to carry the prayer up to the realms of Light. It will then be heard and granted in such a manner as will best help the petitioner and really advance him in his whole being.

It is not the impelling force of energy that uplifts a prayer, purity alone lends the needful lightness.

When the earnest desire to pray awakens in a man’s breast, he can attain to this purity, even if not in all his prayer. It is not necessary that his whole life be pure, if only he can from time to time, for a few seconds, uplift himself through the purity of his inner feelings in prayer.

Not only seclusion lends strength to the prayer by the facility it affords for deeper concentration, but the same results are arrived at by any strong emotion such as fear, anxiety or joy. It must not be expected that the answer to a prayer should always agree with and correspond to the picture that a man has formed in his mind. The prayer is granted in a much wider sense and brings about what is good for a man’s welfare in the future, not for the present moment.

Often it will appear as if the prayer had not been heard and later on, it will prove to have been granted in the best possible way, and the man is glad that it was not granted as he had wished at the moment.

It has often been asked how the law of returns will work in the case of intercession; how the prayer of another can find its way to a man who has not prayed himself, because the reaction must return to the petitioner. Neither is there any exception to the rule in such a case.

The interceder, in his prayer, thinks so intently of the one for whom he is praying, that his strong desire becomes fast anchored in his friend, it encircles him with living thoughts. Thus the prayer rises upwards from him and to him the reaction can come.

The one indispensable condition being that the person who is being prayed for, is of receptive nature and offers suitable anchorage and does not put any obstacles in the way.

If the person proves unworthy and thus cannot be helped, the prayer will pass by without taking effect. This again demonstrates the wonderful justice of Divine Law which does not permit that the unworthy be helped from outside by another. If it is impossible for the intercessary prayer to get a hold on the person prayed for, then the prayer is useless. Here again we find the automatic reciprocity so perfect that man stands dumbfounded at the just distribution of the fruits of man’s will and man’s work.

If this did not proceed so inexorably, the mechanism of Creation would be defective and allow of undue favour being shown to the unworthy. They deserve no interceder, although in consideration of past friendships, intercession is possible.

Intercession on the part of those who are not impelled to pray from intense desire and genuine feeling has no value whatever, and is but empty air.

There is still another result possible of genuine intercession. It may be a pointer. The prayer rises unhindered and points out one needing help. It may be that a messenger from spiritual heights be sent down on this mission. He can however only afford help to the person indicated under certain conditions prescribed by the law, and his success will depend upon whether the person in question deserves assistance or not, whether he will welcome it or repulse it. If the person needing help has a leaning towards what is evil, the messenger will not be able to get in touch with him, he will not be able to help and his mission will be fruitless, for here the working of the living law interposed. Where there is the right basis, intercession is of unspeakable value. Either it brings help to the sufferer (even if he is unconscious of it), or it unites itself to his wish or his prayer, thus giving it great increase in strength.

There are but few who, when praying, try to realise what they mean when they say “Our Father”, the introductory words of the Lord’s Prayer, and still fewer understand the meaning of the following sentences that they rattle off. To rattle off is the right expression for what, in this case, men call praying. He who after honestly examining himself does not acknowledge this, only proves that he has been superficial in all things all his life, and is not, and never was capable of thinking seriously. There are enough mortals on this earth who take themselves seriously but who, with the best will in the world, cannot be taken seriously by others.

It is the very beginning of this prayer which has always been misunderstood in different ways. A certain sense of safety and comfort steals over those who pray earnestly and from their hearts, when they say these introductory words, and this feeling remains with them for some moments after their prayers are over.

This explains two things: in the first place that the man can only concentrate his attention on these preliminary words, which have inspired him with these feelings and secondly, the fact that his inspiration is so short-lived shows, that he is far off from understanding what he has been saying.

It is clear that either he has not been able to keep up the strain of serious thought for any continuous time, or it reveals the superficiality of his nature; otherwise he would find that the next words, as soon as they became life in him, would inspire him with another feeling, one corresponding to their tenor. If he understood the real meaning of these words and their importance his sensation of comfort and safety would cease and a different feeling would be awakened in his breast. Some people (the more conceited) see in the words “Our

Father” a confirmation of their opinion that they descend from God Himself and, if properly developed, will finally become Divine, and that, in the meantime, they partake of Divine nature.

Besides this, there are other errors regarding this sentence, but most men look upon it as an invocation to the Almighty and say it mechanically, and as it costs the least effort in thinking, they repeat it thoughtlessly, although it is just these words which should be uttered with the greatest fervour of which man’s soul is capable.

But none of these interpretations are right. The Son of God chose these words to express the spirit in which the human soul should approach the Almighty if he hopes that his prayer should be granted; they distinctly define the nature of the only possible relationship to God, of which man must be conscious when he lays his petition at the steps of the Almighty’s Throne. There are three parts to this prayer. The first part shows the self- abasement of the soul, humbling itself before God, seeking to unfold itself before Him and declare its genuine and devoted subjection before it utters a desire.

The Son of God tries to make it evident that this is the feeling a man must be conscious of if he desires to approach the Almighty. Hence these introductory words appear in the light of a sacred vow of allegiance: “Our Father which art in Heaven.”

Consider a moment; a prayer is not synonymous with a request, otherwise there would be no thanksgiving prayers which contain no requests. To pray is not to beg.

In their mistaken way of thinking men are not in the habit of coming to God unless they expect something, if indeed they do not demand something of Him. A demand lies in every request, and man cannot deny that he always comes with some request. It may be only a vague desire to secure a place in heaven. He does not know what it is to praise God jubilantly for the glad enjoyment of his conscious being. For being able to do his appointed work of cooperation for the welfare of his surroundings in accordance with God’s Holy Will. He does not even suspect that just this, and only this, would further his own welfare, his progress and advancement.

This is the basis that the Lord’s Prayer rests on. The Son of God, who only sought to bring about man’s welfare (which depends on the right understanding and obeying of God’s behests) could not have worded it otherwise.

Thus the prayer He taught is anything but a begging petition; it is an earnest and comprehensive vow on the part of man to lay himself at his Master’s feet.

Jesus gave this prayer to His disciples who were then prepared to worship God in truth and purity, to serve God in or by their lives, and by this service to honour His Holy Will.

Before he begins, man should consider whether he dare make use of this prayer, and enquire of his conscience whether, in repeating it, he is not trying to deceive his God.

The introductory sentences admonish every one to examine his conscience to make sure whether he really is what he professes to be in this prayer; whether he may present himself before God’s throne without hypocrisy.

If the first three sentences strike root in you they will lead you to the steps of the throne of God. They are the way, the sure and the safe way, provided they are realised in a man’s soul.

But if these sentences do not live, i.e. become part of man’s living soul, they cannot reach God. When you say: Our Father which art in Heaven, it must be a humble but a joyful outcry, coming from your hearts. This cry voices your sincere vow. “I give Thee, Oh my God, all paternal rights over me; I will submit with the obedience of a child; I recognise, Oh my God, the wisdom of all Thy behests; I beg Thee to treat me as a Father treats his children: I am here, Oh Lord, to listen to Thee and to obey Thee like a child.”

The second sentence, Hallowed be Thy Name, contains the assurance of the worshipper that he is in profound earnest in

what he ventures to affirm; that every thought and every word comes from his inmost heart: that he is in no wise trivially profaning God’s Holy Name which he venerates too highly to abuse. Consider, ye worshippers, what ye are vowing! If you are honest you must confess that up till now you have lied to God. You were never as serious in your prayer as the Son of God took for granted you would be, and which He made conditional. The third sentence, Thy Kingdom come, is not a request but again a vow: The earth shall become like the heavenly Kingdom by the devotion and service of human souls. Thus the words Thy Kingdom come mean: we will improve and perfect this earth so far that Thy perfect reign may extend to us. We will prepare the soil, i.e. make conditions enabling all men to live according to Thy Holy Will, that Thy laws may all be implicitly obeyed, that it may become like the spiritual world where the blessed spirits dwell, who are washed free from burdens and sins, and whose whole lives are devoted to Thy service. For as Thy laws are perfect, good can only come from unconditionally obeying them. Thus it is man’s assurance that he will become fit and capable to found a kingdom on earth which will carry out God’s intentions and purposes. This assurance is accentuated in the next sentence Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is not only a declaration that man will implicitly obey God’s Holy Will, but it promises that man will diligently seek to know and understand this Will. This seeking must precede the obeying, for until man knows God’s Will he cannot adjust his feelings, thoughts, speech, and actions to suit it. What reprehensible carelessness of man repeatedly to give these assurances to his God, never troubling or caring to enquire what Divine Will decrees on which Creation rests. If this is the attitude of man, every word of his prayer is a lie, and he stands before his God as a hypocrite and deceiver. He would be adding new sins to the old ones and yet would expect commiseration when he breaks down under this burden of sin in the next world.

Man has now been given three opportunities to know God’s Holy Will. Once Moses brought it and was inspired to write the commandments. The second time was through the Son of God Himself, Jesus Christ, who was Truth incarnate, and now the third and last time in the Message from the Holy Grail, which has been educed from the Truth.

Not until these sentences have been fully digested and the vows observed as a preliminary process, can the soul proceed to say: Give us today our daily bread.

This says in other words: When I have done what I promised to do, let Thy blessing rest upon my work and, whilst attending to the physical necessities of my body, may I always find time to do Thy Holy Will.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. Here knowledge is communicated of the incorruptible justice of the spiritual law of returns in which God’s Will is made manifest. The petition to be forgiven and released from sin is conditional on the petitioner having previously forgiven all wrongs done by him to his fellow-men. He who is so far advanced that he has fully forgiven his neighbour what he has suffered at his hands, is so far matured that he would never intentionally do wrong. If so, he is also free of all guilt in God’s eyes, for with Him only that is wrong that has been done with evil intention. It all depends with what intentions the deed was done. Here there is a great difference from the opinions current in the world today.

Thus the burden of this sentence is also a promise: the soul aspiring to the Light declares its will to fulfil what it vows to God. In the concentration of prayer, it hopes to gain self- knowledge and self- control, and to him who prays in the right spirit, help will come according to the law of returns.

And lead us not into temptation. It is quite wrong for man to come to the conclusion that God would ever lead him into temptation. God tempts no man. In this case, owing to a doubtful transcription the unfortunate choice of the word tempt was made. The right meaning would be something like confusion, going astray, looking for the Light on the wrong path. Hence the petition would be “Let us not choose wrong paths and seek in the wrong direction, nor lose and waste, and fritter away our time in this way; but restrain us, if necessarily forcibly, even if the process causes us suffering and pain”. Man should realise that this is what is meant by the wording of the next sentence, which evidently belongs to it: But deliver us from evil. The little word but is a clear proof of their connections, and the meaning is identical with: “May we recognise what is evil at whatever cost, even at the cost of pain and suffering. May the inflexible law of returns teach us every time we sin, for in recognising our sins lies release also for those who are earnest seekers.”

Here the second part of the prayer, man’s converse with God, ends.

For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory for ever and ever. Amen.

This third and last part is the jubilant assurance of safety the soul enjoys in the protection of the Almighty. It lays its vows at His feet in prayer.

Thus we distinguish two parts in the prayer the Son of God gave us: the introduction and the converse with God to which Luther added the jubilant outcry expressing his knowledge that help will come to the petitioner and strength be given him to fulfil what he has promised.

The accomplishment of what it vowed must carry the soul up to God’s Kingdom, to the region of eternal joy and Light. In this way the Lord’s Prayer, when realised and made living will be a staff and a support to mount to the Spiritual Kingdom.

Man should not forget that in praying, properly speaking, he is only seeking the power to realise himself what he is praying for. And it is in this sense that the prayer the Son of God gave his disciples must be prayed.

It must be admitted that up till now man has not understood what it means to worship God; much less has man ever really worshipped God. To do this, however, is an absolutely indispensable necessity for man, and should be a matter of course.

Man knows how to pray, or rather to beg, and now and then he offers up heart-felt thanksgiving. This, however, occurs only on special, exceptional occasions, when, for instance, God has unexpectedly granted him a boon, or when he has suddenly been saved from some imminent danger. Unexpectedness and suddenness are the necessary incentives to make him do this. Stupendous things may fall to his share but, so long as they happen in the ordinary, normal every day fashion, he will never — or very seldom — think of offering up thanksgiving. Should it happen that he and all those he loves, permanently enjoy good health, should he be free from the cares of life, he will hardly bring himself to express serious gratitude. It is necessary that there should be a special incentive to arouse a strong emotion in a man. When all goes well, he will sometimes talk of it; he will go to church and murmur a prayer of thanksgiving, but it will never occur to him for a moment to put his whole soul into it. Only in cases where affliction befalls him, will he bethink himself that there is One who is capable of helping him. Fear will at last drive him to stammer a prayer. But here again this is begging and not worshipping.

Thus do they who consider themselves righteous and believers, and there are not many of them on earth — they are praiseworthy exceptions.

What a pitiable picture of mankind unfolds itself before him who cares to investigate more closely, and if man looks so abject in your eyes how much more so must he appear in the eyes of God! Turn and twist them as you will, these are real facts which unfortunately allow of no extenuation.

You will surely be abashed and discomfited when you consider this, for neither begging nor giving thanks is true worship.

To worship means to honour and revere, and this in truth is not to be found on earth. Look at the festivals and ceremonies instituted by man with a view of doing honour to God, in which there is no question of praying and thanking. There are Oratorios. Pick out the artists that are to worship God in song and observe them while they are preparing themselves in the hall or church beforehand. They are all anxious to achieve something to please the audience in the first place, God seeming to be of secondary importance, whereas it is just in His honour that the performance is given. Look at the conductor inviting applause — he wishes to show the people what he can do.

Then look at the proud buildings, churches and cathedrals raised with the intention of glorifying God. The artist, the architect and the builder are working for their own fame. The cities, in which these monuments are, esteem them highly, because they add to their renown and attract visitors, not indeed that these may worship there, but that their money should flow into the city’s coffers. Wherever you look, every one is engrossed by externals; all is done under the pretext of worshipping God.

It is true that here and there you meet a man whose soul awakens in the leafy forest or on the mountain heights, who may even at such times cursorily think of the Creator of all this beauty, but it is a Creator far away in the vague background. Such a man’s soul expands but does not take flight upwards; it just melts in the serene luxury of enjoyment. This must not be confounded with soaring aloft. It is but the same feeling of well-being that a glutton feels when sitting down to a richly appointed table. When the soul melts in this way, it is taken for worship, whereas it is but ecstasy — merely a physical sensation which is mistaken for feelings of gratitude. Many an enthusiastic lover of nature is convinced that this ecstasy is worshipping God and considers himself far superior to others who have never had the opportunity of enjoying the beauties of nature. This is a truly pharisaical view, originating in his feeling of satiety and well-being — sham gold, utterly worthless! When such men seek the treasures of their souls to serve them in their upward journey, they will find none, for the presumed treasures were but ecstasies at the sight of beauty — nothing else. Veneration for the Creator was wanting!

Ecstasy does not belong to true worship any more than murmured prayers or prayers offered up kneeling with uplifted hands do, or even trepidation of the soul. Worship must express itself in joyful activity, in glad acquiescence in whatever life brings; in a wish to benefit by the experience of every moment, which means to profit by it to make it a part of life itself. Gambling and dancing or other pastimes harmful to body and soul are waste of time. The intellect seeks these as a relaxation and restorative to balance its everyday work. Worship is looking up to and seeking to do the Will of the Light, which alone further upraises and ennobles all things in Creation! The indispensable condition is accurate acquaintance with the Divine Laws in Creation. These show man how to live if he wants to be well in body and soul, and they point out the way to the spiritual kingdom, at the same time they let him clearly see the dangers he would run, should he set himself in opposition to them!

As the effect of these self-acting laws is vital, adamantine and unchangeable, man is utterly powerless to oppose them; it is thus quite natural that it is an urgent necessity for him fully to understand a power against which he is at all times absolutely defenceless.

And people heedlessly neglect and pass over this essential point, so simple and so patent, and which lies nearer than anything else to their true interest. It is a truism that has often been observed that mankind never hits on the simplest thoughts. In this, curiously enough, every animal is wiser than man. The animal adapts itself to the scheme of Creation and progresses together with it in the natural course of things, as long as man does not seek to hinder it. Man wants to govern something quite beyond his control that acts quite independently, something to which he is and always will be subject. As soon as he has learned to turn to his profit the minutest fraction of the radiating powers of nature, of the living energy of air, water or fire, he thinks, in his presumption, that he is ruling that power; but he does not consider that before he could make the smallest practical use of the qualities inherent in these powers he must first learn by studying their peculiarities. He must accommodate himself to their nature, if he wants to make use of them successfully. This does not mean ruling and compelling, but submitting and accommodating himself to their laws.

Man ought surely to have noticed by this time that he can only learn what can be of service to him by humbly and submissively adapting himself to Divine Will and Ordinance and by gratefully persevering in the same. But no; because in such cases where he has stooped to obey and to serve God’s Will in Creation and has received prompt help, his conceit becomes inordinate and he childishly poses as conqueror, the subduer of nature! This senseless idea is the climax of stupidity. In so thinking, man overlooks something really grand, for were his principles right, he would really be a conqueror. In controlling himself and his vanity, he would see that all his notable achievements, all his successes up till then were owing to his having studied what already existed. Every inventor and all great men have adapted their thinking, their aims and intentions to accord with natural laws. All that opposed or indeed rebelled could not come to life, but was crushed, destroyed, shivered to atoms!

As in minor matters, so in man’s whole existence, all proceeds on the same plan. Man has not only to live the short span of time on earth, but must wander through all Creation and for this purpose needs knowledge of the laws which govern Creation and not only knowledge of his individual immediate and visible surroundings. If he does not know the eternal laws, he is hindered, deterred, bruised, thrown back, even crushed, because owing to his ignorance he cannot swim in the strong current, but exposes himself to its power in such a manner that it presses him downwards instead of upwards.

The man who stubbornly and blindly refuses to accept the teaching of the phenomena he must daily see around him, as soon as it does not regard his technical work but should be applied personally for the welfare of his soul, does not deserve to be praised and admired but rather to be laughed at. In his life and labours upon earth, man always has opportunities to observe the completeness and uniformness with which all basic operations proceed, unless he carelessly shuts his eyes or indeed wilfully remains asleep. There is not one exception in all Creation. Not a single human soul is exempt: if it is to advance, it must adapt itself. In his careless levity, man has up till now entirely overlooked this simple and self-evident fact. Its very simplicity made it more difficult for him to grasp it than all else, so difficult indeed that, in time, it became an impossibility. Thus to day he stands face to face with ruin, with a complete psychic breakdown including the loss of all that he has hitherto achieved. There is but one thing that can save him, viz. a perfect knowledge of Divine Laws in Creation. That alone can help him onwards and upwards, and with him all that he tries to build up in the future.

Do not argue that it is not so easy for a human being to understand these laws and to distinguish what is truth from what is illusion. That is not so, and he who argues thus seeks to conceal his indolence and the indifference of his soul, or he wishes to quieten his conscience with excuses. All this is but vain and will never help him, for every soul who is indifferent or indolent will be cast aside! Only he who, mustering all his strength, expends every particle of it in working for the benefit of his soul has a chance of saving it alive. All half-measures count for nothing. All hesitation and procrastination count the same as complete neglect of duty. Man has no more time left; he has waited till the last decisive moment. Naturally this time things will not be so easy for him. The careless negligence with which these matters have been treated hitherto has robbed man of belief in the deep earnestness and necessity of taking a last and final decision. Just herein lies the weak point, and this will be the ruin of many.

For thousands of years much has been done to teach you what you needed to know of God’s holy Will, to point out the regular workings of His Laws, to help you to rise and to find your way back to primeval, Original Creation from which you proceeded. And it was not by so- called science, nor by the churches, but it was by God’s servants, the prophets of all time, and then in the message brought you by the Son of God Himself, that you were taught, and this in the simplest language. Yet you only talked of it; you never troubled to understand it aright, much less to live according to its precepts. In your opinion that was asking far too much of you! Although this is your only hope of salvation, you are so lazy that you expect to be saved without giving yourselves the least trouble. If you will reflect a moment, you must confess that, however sad it appears, this is the case.

Every Divine Message you turned into some dogmatic creed that suited you. That was wrong: it was the greatest mistake you could make, for in so doing you disconnected the Will of God with everyday life or what comes to the same: you stood apart instead of uniting yourself to it, and making it the centre of your daily life and business. You should become one with it. You should accept every divine message naturally and interpret it practically, interweaving it with your work, your thoughts and your whole life, and not set it apart as you have done, by itself, only paying it a visit in your leisure hours to indulge for a short time in contrition or gratitude. So doing has not made it a matter of course: it has not become a part of you like hunger or sleep.

Understand this aright at last: you should live in the Divine Will so that you may find yourselves at home wherever there is the promise of good things for you. Divine messages are but precious hints that you need. Without knowing and obeying these, you are lost! Therefore, you must not place these messages in a glass shrine to gaze on them in awe and trembling on a Sunday or to hurry there in affliction or in terror to gain strength. Awake! The Message is not meant to be merely venerated, but to be made use of. Grasp it with hearty goodwill, not only when you are in Sunday attire . . . grasp it with the rugged fist of the workman. The precious gem shines with greater purity and brilliancy in a hand discoloured by sweat and dirt than in the well- cared-for fingers of the idler who spends his life in contemplation.

Every Divine Message should become an integral part of you: you must seek to understand its meaning. You must not look upon it as something set apart outside yourself and accustom yourself to approach it with shy timidity. Welcome God’s Word and keep it in your hearts that you may know how to live and to walk, so as finally to reach the Kingdom of Heaven!

Awake, and learn the laws in Creation. No worldly intelligence will help you here; the small amount of technical knowledge arrived at by observation is far too meagre to suffice for the journey your soul has to make. You must lift your eyes far above this earth and know where you are going, that it may become evident and plain to you why and for what purpose you are here on earth. And again you will see the reason for the circumstances under which you must pass your present life, whether poor or rich, healthy or unhealthy, whether in peace or in strife, in joy or in sorrow. You will learn the reason and also the purpose and will rejoice and feel disburdened and grateful for the experiences accorded you. You will learn to value every second and will turn it to good account and make use of it to soar up to existence in blessed realms of joy. But men had become perplexed and confused and as you gave no ear to the warnings of the prophets the Divine Message was sent you to point out the only way by which you could escape from suffocating in the swamp in which you had entangled yourselves. The Son of God sought to teach you by parables. Those who were willing to believe and those that were seekers lent them their ears, but no more. They never sought to live according to the precepts inculcated.

Religion and daily life with you likewise have always been two separate things. You always stood beside it, never in it. The effects resulting from the working of the laws in Creation were illustrated and embodied in the parables, but as you never sought to know them, they remained absolutely incomprehensible to you.

Now once more the same interpretation of the laws will be given in a form more easily understood by you at the present time, in the Message of the Holy Grail. In fact it is the same in every respect that Christ brought in the language of His day. He showed man how he should think, speak, and act to mature and to progress on his way through Creation. Mankind needed no more. His teaching was without a gap. The Message of the Holy Grail is just the same in the language of the present day.

He who closely observes these laws in his thoughts, speech, and actions practises the truest, purest worship of God, for this consists in deeds, and he who willingly submits and adapts himself to them, always does the right thing. In so doing, he proves his reverence for God’s Wisdom and joyfully bends to His Will expressed in His laws. They effect and promote his advance, free him from the sorrows of the world and raise him to the spiritual Kingdom of Light, where the omniscience of the Almighty, undimmed and unveiled, is visible to all eyes (then able to behold blissful reality), where life itself is worship, and every breath, every sensation, every action speaks of joyful gratitude and becomes a lasting delight, delight born of joy, disseminating joy and reaping joy:

To worship God in your life and in your work means to keep His Divine Laws.

This alone ensures happiness, the happiness that you will enjoy in the new Kingdom, which will last for a thousand years and be called the Kingdom of God on Earth; and the adherents of the Message of the Holy Grail will be the lights and finger- posts for mankind.

True worship of God must form a living part of man, of his thoughts, principles and actions. It must not only manifest itself in public life but form an integral part of his inner life. Worship is man’s first duty to God, and he will be truly worshipping Him when serving the Holy Grail.

Those who do not voluntarily acquiesce will not live to see the promised Kingdom but will perish unless Divine or terrestrial powers compel them to submit unconditionally.

This will be in the interest of all mankind, for all are looking forward to peace and happiness in the coming Kingdom.

To give a complete exposition of this problem, much that is extraneous and yet that more or less influences the question, must be taken into consideration.

Free Will: this is a subject which has been a puzzle to many a great thinker.

If man is a responsible being, it is but just that he have an absolutely free choice of decision.

From all sides the question re-echoes: wherein lies this free will, for it is evident that man really is subject to, or dependent on Providence, guidance, determination, astral influences and Karma. Man gets pushed, planed and moulded, whether he wish it or not.

It is quite easy to understand that serious thinkers eagerly seize upon all that is said on the subject of free will, as they are quite right in thinking this a question sorely needing explanation. As long as this is wanting, man cannot attune himself and take his right place in Creation. If then he is not attuned, he will remain a stranger there, will wander about and have to allow himself to be pushed, planed, and moulded, because he is not sure of his standing, his aim and his object!

Thus one thing leads to another, and the natural consequence is that man has become what he now is; but that is not what he should be.

The great difficulty lies in his not knowing wherein his will is free. This fact alone shows that he has completely lost the way to his free will and does not know how to find it. The entrance to the path of knowledge is so blocked by the drifting sand, that it is no longer visible; all traces are effaced, and man runs around irresolute and tired out, till a fresh breeze comes at last to make the path clear. It is evident that in so doing, the sand- drift will first be whirled up and, in descending again, fly into the eyes of many, blinding them, and these will still continue to seek the path they long to find.

For this reason, every one must be careful to keep his eyes fixed and steady, until the last grain of sand be blown away. Else it may well happen that, although the way lies just before him, being blinded by the sand, he may step aside, stumble and be lost.

The inability to conceive that free will really exists, comes from lack of understanding of what free will is.

The explanation lies in the words themselves, but here, as elsewhere, its very simplicity stands in the way of man’s recognising how simple the answer to the question is. The search is conducted in a wrong direction, and so there is no possibility of arriving at the truth.

Most men consider free will to be spontaneous activity of the physical brain in response to a decision of the intellect as to the direction that the feelings and thoughts are to take in a special case. However, that is not free but earthbound enslaved will!

Confounding the two has led to great mistakes, and has erected an impediment that makes it impossible to recognise and grasp the truth. Then man is surprised to find the arguments full of gaps and contradictions and absolutely wanting in logic.

The free will, whose all-powerful influence on life reaches far away into the invisible world, the free will that puts its stamp upon the soul and is able to form it, is of a quite different nature, much too vast in importance to be limited to earth alone. Hence, it has no connection whatever with the physical body, nor with man’s brain. It belongs to the spirit alone and lies in the soul of man.

If man would not persist in making his intellect his master, the free will of his spiritual ego, which can see much further into the future, could influence his physical brain by means of his intuition. Then that so-called free will that is limited to time and space, and is indispensable for the settling and carrying out of mundane matters, would very often work in another sense. That fate then would also be different is easily comprehensible, because Karma would spin other threads and bring about a different reaction.

This explanation is naturally not sufficient to give a right understanding of what free will is. It is necessary to know how free will evidenced itself in the past; also how the many intricate complications of an existing Karma came about, and how it has been possible to conceal and put aside free will so effectively, that it is hardly possible to recognise its presence at all.

Again it is only possible to explain this, if one goes back to the very beginnings of spiritual existence, and starts from the moment in which the spirit-spark descended and clothed itself in a body of finer substance on the very outskirts of the material world!

Then we see that man is in no way that which he often imagines himself to be: i.e. a being who has an absolute right to immortality and to eternal, individual existence.* The expression : we are all God’s children is wrong in the sense that man uses it. Not every man is a child of God; he is only a child of God when he has developed himself so far as to be one.

Man began by being a germ of spiritual substance which was implanted in Creation. This germ contained all that was necessary to develop into a child of God, conscious of its personality. But the condition was, that the corresponding abilities were to be developed and cultivated and not allowed to degenerate.

Grand and sublime as the process is in its every stage, still it is quite natural and simple. Logic is in all Divine work, for Divine work is perfect and what is perfect cannot be illogical. One spirit-germ has exactly the same abilities as the other, as they all issue from the same spirit, and what each of these separate abilities promises will certainly be attained, if the ability is developed, but not otherwise. That is what each germ has in prospect when it is sown. And yet. . . A Sower went forth to sow.

It is as if the Holy Ghost, eternal Divinity, ever hovering over Creation, were scattering seed.

It is as if sparks were flying out like lightning and striking the earth.

The seed-field is where invisible matter borders on the substance of the animistic kingdom.

Small sparks go over the boundary and sink into the virgin soil of the very finest part of material substance in Creation.

There the seed should slowly ripen against the harvest. Many seeds, however, are lost. These do not germinate, which means that they fail to develop their higher qualities (faculties) and decay, disintegrate, and perish.

But those that have germinated and work up above the surface are strictly sifted at the harvest, and again after the harvest is gathered in, when the chaff is carefully separated from the wheat.

This is a general outline of the scheme of evolution, but to come to a full understanding of human free will it is necessary to go into the problems of man’s development more thoroughly. The first principle is Divinity unsubstantiate in all its everlasting glory, the Origin of all things, the Beginning and the End; it is surrounded by pure spiritual substance.

Now when a spark flies over from this spiritual substance into the soil of the (ethereal) invisible part of the world of matter, a transparent covering of the delicate ether of this region closes round it. With this, the spirit-germ has begun its life in the world of matter where all is subject to transformation and decay. It is as yet free from Karma and awaits future events.

Now, the stirring events happening amidst the constant comings and goings in Creation, send their vibrations to the uttermost parts of that ethereal region, and, though they may be but the faintest of vibrations that pass like a breath into this most ethereal part of matter, they are sufficient to rouse or awaken the inclination or will lying latent in the spirit- germ. It will feel attracted by this or that vibration, and will follow it, or rather, let itself be drawn by it. This is the first occasion for an act of volition on the part of the many-sided spirit-germ. It is then led in the direction that it has itself chosen, and here the first delicate threads of Karma are knotted which are later woven into the many- coloured tapestry of man’s later life.

Now, it is in the power of the rapidly developing germ, at any moment, to follow other vibrations which are constantly crossing its path. As soon as it wishes, or determines to do so, it changes its course and follows the newly chosen one or rather allows itself to be drawn into it.

Its wish is the rudder, by which it can steer its course into a different current as soon as the one it is in no longer pleases it, and thus it can taste new sensations.

By these new experiences its character develops, it learns to distinguish, and acquires judgment. It becomes more and more conscious and assured, and finally determines on taking a definite direction. The class of vibrations that it intends to follow makes a deep impression on it and it is but natural that the vibrations with which it is its pleasure to be surrounded should in return influence it by their nature.

The spirit-germ itself has only noble and pure qualities. These are the talents with which it is to trade in the world. If it entrusts itself to the influence of pure vibrations, they will arouse its latent good qualities and will strengthen and cultivate them, so that they may, in time, bear good fruit and dispense blessings in the world. Thus a man developing spiritually becomes a good house-holder.

If, however, he mostly determines in favour of ignoble vibrations they can, in time, influence him so powerfully that their evil nature remains clinging to him, and over-rules his own good qualities, suffocating all purity and not permitting it to awaken and bring forth good fruit. These then are the buried talents and he is the slothful servant of the parable. A spirit-germ itself cannot be impure as it comes from the realms of purity. But after it has been sunk in matter, it can sully its outer garment by voluntarily following impure vibrations and by listening to temptation and allowing evil to overpower the good qualities it has brought with it.

The soul belongs exclusively to material Creation, it is but the most ethereal, gaseous covering of the spirit. After eventually returning to the higher regions of pure spirituality, the soul being but the garment is cast aside and only the spirit remains, for only the spirit can cross the border of the material world and enter the spiritual world. Whereas it entered Creation as an unconscious spirit-germ, it returns to the spiritual world as a self-conscious spirit.

All sin and Karma belong to the world of matter and do not exist elsewhere. Nor can they affect the spirit: they only weigh on it, therefore, it is possible to wash away all sin! This truth does not upset, but only confirms what religion and the church say symbolically. Above all we recognise more and more clearly the great truth that Christ brought to man.

It is only natural that a spirit-germ, having burdened itself with impurity in the material world, is not able to return to the spiritual world with this burden, and it must stay in the material world until it has rid itself of this weight. Indeed it must remain in that region to which the weight it bears, forcibly chains it — the greater or less impurity of its burden will decide the exact spot. If the soul does not succeed in ridding itself of its burden before the Day of Judgment, it will not be able to rise. For though the spirit-germ has retained its original purity within, this has been overlaid by impurity and has not been able to develop. Impurity detains it by its weight and draws it along to dissolution.*

The more self-conscious a spirit-germ becomes in the course of its development, the more pronounced will be the resemblance its outer covering will bear to its inner characteristic, exposing its tendency to what is noble or ignoble, to the beautiful or to the ugly. At every turn it takes, it makes a knot in the threads dragging behind it. In the many wrong turns and ups and downs the threads become looped, the loops again become an intricate network in which the spirit-germ is caught and perishes, or from which it must forcibly extricate itself.

The vibrations which it was man’s pleasure to follow and enjoy in the course of his life, remain attached to him and drag after him like threads, continually influencing him. If his course has lain in the same direction for some time, the older and the newer threads will all retain their vigour unimpaired. If he changes his course, the influence of the former vibrations will be weakened by being crossed, for they must first pass through the knot; this hinders them, because, in making the knot, they joined with new vibrations of quite different nature. They will further weaken, decompose and annul the influence, if the new course pursued is dissimilar to the old one, and so the process goes on and on. . .

As the spirit-germ grows, the threads become thicker and stouter and form Karma, the effect of which becomes so powerful that it gives the spirit a certain tendency which in time makes it incapable of exercising its free will and gives it a permanent predetermined direction. Free will is disabled in this way and can no longer operate unconstrainedly.

Thus, in the beginning, the will of man was free, but, in many cases, it later became so overburdened that it lost its independence in the aforesaid manner. In the process of developing itself the spirit-germ must come nearer to the earth, for there the vibrations are strongest. Steering more and more consciously, the spirit-germ follows these, or lets itself be attracted by them so as to enjoy those which give it the most pleasure. It begins by nipping, then it goes on to tasting and then to enjoying them.

The reason why the vibrations coming from the earth are so strong, is, that a new and very powerful adjunct is added to them, that is, physical, material sex-power.*

This latter has the mission and also the power to send an ardent glow through all spiritual life by means of which the spirit gets into the right connection with matter in Creation. Only then can it work there to the full extent of its power.

Then the spirit unites and embraces all that is requisite to strengthen and establish its position, from which again, it can penetrate matter and coerce it, and is armed and protected against danger.

Hence mighty waves of strength are sent out from man during his life on earth. It is true they only go as far as material substance in Creation, but there they penetrate to the uttermost regions.

Though a man’s feelings on earth were filled with lofty, spiritual love for his fellow-men, he would remain a stranger to them and would be unable to approach them if his sex-power were missing. Neither could he understand them nor inwardly sympathise with their feelings, as there would be no bridge over the gulf between them and him.

As soon, however, as this spiritual love enters into an immaculate union with sex-power and becomes animated by it, its emanation changes in character. The warmth radiating from this source being actual and mundane can influence men and their surroundings better and can be realised by them. It will be generally accepted and understood, and man can carry and distribute its blessings throughout Creation which is the office of the human spirit.

There is something stupendous in this union. And it is indeed the purpose, at least it is the principal purpose, of this natural instinct (so inexplicable to many) that by this union it should enable the spirit to unfold its full activity in the material world. Without it the spirit would be too distinct from matter to be able to work in it. The purpose of procreation comes in the advancement. second place. The principle thing is that this union gives the soul of man the power to soar upwards. By this means the soul attains to its full strength, warmth, and life and, so to speak, is perfected. For this reason (or as a result of this) man becomes a fully responsible being!

At this turning point in his existence, the wisdom and justice of God gives man not only the possibility, but also the wish to shake off all the burden Karma has laid on his free will. Man can again liberate his will, is then able to stand in Creation fully conscious of his power, and becomes a child of God, to do his will and soar up to that region to which he will be attracted when he has cast off his material body.

If man does not profit by this, it is his fault, for when sex- power sets in, he receives an immense impulse upwards to the ideal, the beautiful and the pure. This is distinctly visible in pure, unsullied youth. Hence the enthusiasms and sentimental fits, that call forth the smiles of their elders and have nothing to do with childhood’s moods.

Incomprehensible melancholy and gloomy moods oppress the young in these years of development. There are hours in which the young man or girl seems burdened with the sorrows of all the world, where they suffer from profound and serious presentiments. It should not be difficult to find out what gives rise to such sentiments. There is likewise much truth in their complaint when they say they are misunderstood.

It is just that from time to time they get a glimpse of the truth that makes them see that the world surrounding them is somehow wrong. It is a world that cannot and will not understand their soul’s wish to soar. The worldly-minded are not satisfied till this grave, warning instinct of youth becomes dulled as the soul develops. They want it to be dragged down to what they can better understand, to the “realities” and sobrieties of this world which they consider better suited to man and which, in their narrow intellectuality, they consider his normal state.

In spite of this, there are many crass materialists who have felt the same grave warnings in their youth. They will now and then enjoy speaking of the golden days of their first love. They will do so with a slight tinge of sentiment, even melancholy. Thus they unconsciously express a certain grief at having lost something they cannot define more closely. And, indeed, they are quite right. The most precious treasure has been taken from them; or, they themselves may have carelessly cast it away or shamefacedly buried it, whilst engrossed in the dull routine of daily work, or they may have done so because of the sneers of their men or women “friends”, or again by reading bad books or by bad example. And still the light shines forth from time to time and for a moment makes the hungering heart beat faster, oppressed and bewildered by an inexplicable feeling of sadness and longing.

Even if these sentiments be soon pushed aside and laughed and sneered at in self-contempt, they still prove the existence of the treasure, and fortunately there are but few who can assert that they never had such sentiments. Such men would indeed but excite pity, for they show they have never, properly speaking, been alive.

But even fallen ones, or let us rather call them pitiable beings, feel a longing when, by chance, they meet a man who uses this wonderful motive power in the right way. When a man feels this longing, he mostly begins, quite against his will, to recognise his own inferiority and remissness, then he proceeds to detest the good man, and this culminates in blind hatred.

It often happens that a man whose soul has attained to an exceptionally high degree of enlightenment attracts the hatred of the masses without his having given them any visible cause and the masses reiterate the cry: Crucify him! Crucify him! This feeling of senseless hatred was the incentive for the long series of martyrs in the history of man.

The feeling originates in their wild grief at seeing others possess a treasure they have lost. Their pain takes the form of hatred. With those who have more inner warmth, those who have only been kept down or dragged in the mud by the bad example of others, the longing for what they have not attained themselves, would show itself in unbounded love and veneration when they meet such a saintly man. Wherever he goes, he will excite love or hatred, but never indifference.

The magic charm that emanates from a pure virgin or a pure youth is nothing but the ebullition of the awaking sex-power that, united with the spiritual power of the mind, strives upwards to the purest regions.

The Creator in His Divine wisdom has provided that this awakening should come at a period in the life of man, when he is mature enough to be fully aware of what he is doing and of what he intends to do. That is a time when he can easily shake off the past, indeed it will fall off of itself, if he will but carry out his intentions to be really good, of which he is at that time unceasingly being reminded. Then, as his inner voice tells him, he could ascend without any trouble to the sphere to which man rightly belongs. If innocent youth or maiden appears to be dreaming, know that they are but under the influence of a sensation of rapture, of transport, of the wish to be free from impurity and the ardent longing for the ideal. Their unceasing restlessness too is a warning not to lose time, but energetically to cast off Karma and to start on the upward path.

Here we have another reason why a life on earth, a great turning- point, is of such stupendous importance to man!

How glorious it is to have such a great gift to work with, provided always that we do not abuse this power and squander it in fits of blind sexual passion, and by doing so, enfeeble the spirit, depriving it of the motive power that it needs to uplift itself.

And yet in most cases man fails to profit by this priceless period of transition and allows himself to be led astray by those already corrupted. They hinder him from rising and alas: only too often tempt him to fall. Thus he is unable to cast aside the evil vibrations clinging to him; on the contrary these only attract reinforcements and at last his free will gets more and more entangled, till it can no longer be recognised as free.

This is what accompanies man’s first incarnation on earth. In later, necessary incarnations, man brings a load of more serious Karma with him. But the possibility of shaking it off recurs in each life and no Karma can be stronger than the human spirit when fully developed; that is, when by means of sex-power it amalgamates union with matter, to which Karma belongs.

And even if man should have neglected making use of these periods by casting off his load of Karma and regaining his free will, and should moreover have further entangled himself, perhaps even degraded himself, still he has a mighty ally to stand by, and help him fight Karma and rise. This magic power which the Creator in His wisdom has conferred on matter and which man has at his command throughout his life is love. It is always at hand ready to help; it is generated by the union of sexual and spiritual power and can liberate from all Karma. It is not the physical attraction of the material body, but love in the highest, purest sense, whose every thought and wish is for the welfare of the beloved one, ever regardless of itself. This love also belongs to the world of matter, but it requires no renunciation, no asceticism; it only wishes for what is best for the other. It fears for the beloved, it suffers with him but also rejoices in his happiness.

This love is founded on the same longing for the ideal that characterises unsullied youth when it comes to puberty, and it also acts as a spur on a man, arrived at maturity, encouraging him to cultivate and practise all his abilities to the fullest extent, even to heroism, so that his powers develop to their utmost extent.

In this no limit is set as to age. As soon as man gives ear to pure love, whether it be man’s love for a woman, or woman’s love for a man, the love of friends, of parents, or of children, it is all the same; if only it is pure, it will bring, as its first gift, the opportunity of casting aside all Karma, that is to say

Karma will then only be evident symbolically.* Free will will once again awake to activity, man will again be able to practise it consciously, with the natural result that he will begin his ascent, released from the unworthy chains that kept him down.

The first sentiment that stirs the heart at the awakening of pure love, is the feeling of being unworthy of the beloved one. In other words, this is the dawn of modesty and humility, two great virtues. To this comes the wish to protect the other so that no harm should come to him from any quarter. Flowers and sunshine are to be on his path! The self-denial and great desire to serve implied in this, would alone suffice to cast aside Karma in a short time, provided the good intention remains uppermost and does not make room for sexual passion. Then finally, genuine love has the ardent wish to do something great and noble for the beloved one, not to offend or hurt him by look, thought or word, much less by an unworthy action. The most delicate consideration will govern all the lover’s actions.

The principal thing is to hold fast to these pure and noble sentiments and to put them before all else. Then no man will desire or do anything wrong. He simply will not be able to do so. On the contrary, he will enjoy the greatest protection and the greatest power by these sentiments that will give him the best advice and help.

For this reason, Christ again and again points out the supreme power of love. Love alone overcomes all things and can accomplish all things, always provided, however, that it is not the carnal-minded love of the world, accompanied as that is, by jealousy and kindred vices.

The Divine wisdom of the Creator gives each individual more than one opportunity in his life of saving himself. This help is offered to all. No distinctions are made, either in age or sex, between rich or poor, high or low. Therefore love is the greatest of God’s gifts. He who grasps this fact, is safe under all conditions of life! He frees himself and frees his will in the shortest possible time and in the easiest possible way. His free will can now uplift him.

Even if he is in the depths of despair, let him take heart, for love can snatch him up with the impetuosity of a whirlwind and raise him to the Eternal Light, to God, who is Love Itself. Man comes into direct contact with God, the Source of all Love, as soon as genuine love (no matter what has caused it) awakes in him. This is the greatest help he can get. “For if a man possess all things and he have no love, he would be but sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.” Without warmth, without life. A bubble!

But should he feel love for a fellow-creature, the love that strives to bring light and joy to the beloved one, not that love which would drag him down by foolish exactions, but which would protect and uplift him, he serves him unconsciously, he is the unselfish giver of good things and such service makes him free.

Here many will say: “This is exactly what I do, or strive to do! I summon up all my energy to make life easy for my wife and family and provide them with luxuries. I work to earn sufficient means for them to lead a comfortable and agreeable life, free from all anxiety.” Thousands, in thus praising themselves, feel uplifted, and undeniably good and noble. But they are mistaken! That is not genuine love! Genuine love is not so onesided and material. The effect of genuine love is to incite and urge to higher, nobler ideals. Surely no man can neglect physical necessities unpunished, i.e. without detriment to himself, but in attending to them, he must not make them the principal aim of his thoughts and actions. Over and above this is the great, strong, mysterious longing to be really the character that he appears to be to those that love him. This longing is indeed justifiable. It indicates the right path that leads upwards.

True, pure love requires no explanation. Every man feels exactly what it is. He would willingly deceive himself when he sees his own faults and feels distinctly, how far he is from possessing genuine pure love. But he must pull himself together, must not stop, hesitate and acknowledge himself beaten, for without genuine love he cannot possess free will!

How many neglected opportunities are thus offered to men to pull themselves together and climb upwards. Their complaints and their seeking is in most cases not sincere, for as soon as they, themselves, are to contribute something, be it but a slight re-arrangement of their habits and views, they are unwilling to do so. For the most part their love is falsehood and self- deception. God shall come to them, they think, and lift them up to Himself, without their needing to give up any of their precious comforts and self-worship, in which case they might condescend to give in, not, however, without expecting special thanks from Him for so doing.

Let these drones remain behind on the road to destruction! They do not deserve that one should trouble about them, for they will continue to let their opportunities pass by, whilst they are lamenting and praying. And should such a man avail himself of such an opportunity, he would be sure to rob it of its most precious jewel — purity and unselfishness — and drag this priceless possession into the mire.

Those who seek and those who have understanding should make up their minds to pass such people by unnoticed. They should not think that they are doing the Almighty a favour by disseminating His Holy Word and commands. Proposing to expound His Will makes it appear as if the Creator were obliged to go a-begging through His faithful, to extend the circle of His adherents and add to their number. It is defilement to offer His Word to such as would grasp it with unclean hands. The Scripture should not be forgotten which forbids pearls to be cast to swine. And it is nothing else in such cases; unnecessary waste of time, that cannot fail to react harmfully. Help should only be given to those who seek.

The unrest evident in so many at the present time, the seeking for and enquiring after the whereabouts of free will is quite justified. It is a sure sign that it is high time for man to seek. This feeling is strengthened by an unconscious presentiment that it might soon be too late. This is what at present keeps the energy of the investigators always alert, but for the most part they work in vain. Most men of today no longer have free will at their command, because they have entangled themselves too gravely! They have sold and bartered it for nothing.

They cannot make God responsible for this, although they often try to by all manner of misinterpretations. If a misgiving arises in their minds, that they might possibly later be called to account, they try to explain it away, instead of blaming themselves, as they should do. However bitter and painful this self-accusation must be, whatever deep- felt grief it may cause them, it could never, in the least degree, counterbalance the value of virtue lost, suppressed or senselessly wasted.

In spite of this, if the wish to do so comes from the very bottom of man’s heart, he can find the lost path again as soon as he seriously endeavours to do so.

Certainly in this case the wish must live and never weary. His most ardent desire must be to find the path. And were he to devote his whole life on earth to this end, it would only be to his own advantage, for it is a matter of profoundest gravity and urgency to man to regain free will. Instead of regain one could say to unearth free will, for that would be the same.

As long as man only thinks and broods on the subject, he will attain nothing; thinking and brooding, however persistent and persevering he may be, will never get him beyond the limits of time and space to the sphere where he would be enlightened. At the present time thinking and brooding are considered the correct methods of investigation so there is no prospect of progressing except in things purely material. Unless indeed a great transformation takes place in man.

Make use of your time on earth! Think of life’s great turning- point. Its coming makes a man a fully responsible human being.

A child is not responsible in the spiritual sense, for there the connection between spirit and matter has not been established, owing to the absence of sex-power.

The moment, however, sex-power awakens, the child’s passions will be sufficiently strong to revolutionise and remodel matter. Thus it automatically becomes responsible for its actions. Before that time the operation of the law of returns is less incisive, because the sensitive faculty of a child is less developed. Hence Karma in a first incarnation cannot be so trenchant: the most it could do, would be to influence the circumstances and surroundings in which the child was born, so that they might help the child’s spirit to throw off its Karma in its earth-life by pointing out its peculiar qualities and possibilities.

In this, the attraction of homogeneous species would play an important part, but all these influences would be but faint.

Powerful Karma proper begins its incisive effect with the union of sex-power with spiritual power. Thereupon man not only takes his proper place in the material world, but can, if he so desires, lift himself far above it in every way.

Until then the Powers of Darkness are not able to approach man directly. This gap between the child and the material world protects it; as the bridge is missing, it stands there as if detached.

Many readers will now understand how it comes that children are so much better protected from evil than grown- ups — this is even proverbial.

On this same path, i.e. the bridge spanned by sex-power, on which a man, having arrived at maturity, can sally forth armed for battle, influences from the other side, can in their turn, find their way to him and harm him, unless he be on the watch. In no case can this happen until he possesses adequate means of defence. The equal balance of power will never for a moment be disturbed; that there be inequality of power in this, could never serve him as an excuse.

This greatly increases the responsibility of parents. Woe unto those parents who rob their children of the opportunity of getting rid of Karma and of uplifting themselves by misplaced foolish ridicule, or by a wrong bringing up, or worse still, by giving all manner of bad example including that of unworthy place-hunting. The temptations of terrestrial life entice men hither and thither as it is. Young people are not enlightened as to their true power. The result is that, either they make no use or too little use of it, or they waste it in an irresponsible way, unless indeed they use it to their own detriment.

In cases where men are ignorant of the laws of Karma, they will operate with ever increasing power and where a man is predisposed in any way they can even influence his future decisions so that he will act under karmic compulsion.

Hence it comes, that most men of the present time no longer have free will at their command. They have tied, fettered and subjected themselves by their own folly. How childish and ignominious a man appears who refuses to entertain the thought of being in any way himself responsible, who prefers instead to accuse the Creator of injustice! How ridiculous of men to pretend that they never possessed free will, but were always led, pushed, planed and moulded, without possibility of resistance.

If they could but realise for a moment the pitiable role they play in so doing! Could they but once critically consider their position — the power given them — and notice how foolishly they squander it in trivialities and inanities and how they lend ridiculous importance to paltry nonsense, they would no longer pride themselves on achievements which appear utterly insignificant, when compared with what belongs to the proper office assigned to them as human beings.

Man of today may be likened to one to whom a kingdom is given but who prefers to pass his time playing with the most primitive of toys. It is quite comprehensible and indeed what one would naturally expect, that the mighty powers given to man will and must crush him if he cannot master them. It is high time to awake!

Man should utilise fully the time and the grace accorded him in each life. He has no conception how necessary it is to make haste. At the very moment that a man frees his encumbered will, everything that seemed against him, will serve him. Even the influences of the stars, so feared by many, are but there to serve and help him, no matter what the nature of their influence be. However, heavily Karma weighs on him, man can cast it aside, even if the stellar influences are for the most part unfavourable. Indeed their influence is only unfavourable where the will is bound. Even then they only appear so, for, in truth, all serves for man’s salvation and help when he is at a loss how to help himself. The stars force him to be on the defensive, to awaken and to keep awake.

Fear of stellar rays is quite out of place, because it is but man’s own Karma that they transmit. The ray of the star is but a channel into which all the Karma floating about a man (in as far as it is in harmony with that particular ray) is drawn. Should, therefore, the stellar ray be unfavourable, only that impending evil Karma which exactly corresponds to the nature of the ray, will travel with it (not otherwise), and the same is the case with favourable rays. Such rays have a more powerful influence on man and are more perceptible.

Where no evil Karma is in question, no unfavourable rays will have effect. Karma and stellar rays cannot be separated, they work together.

In this also the great love of the Creator can be seen. As the stars supervise and direct the results of Karma, evil Karma cannot continue in activity without interruption. Man has time between whiles to breathe. Good rays succeed bad rays, and evil Karma cannot have effect while the good rays are active, it must be quiescent till such time as unfavourable rays set in again; hence man cannot so easily be utterly crushed. Should a man have no good and only evil Karma, then, at least, when the rays are benevolent, his troubles will be less grievous to bear.

Here again there are wheels within wheels. One wheel controls the other and impels it, irregularities are, therefore, impossible. And thus it runs on — a huge mechanism. From all sides, the teeth of the wheels exactly fit into one another and propel the whole forward to its completion.

Right in the centre stands man, clothed with the immense power entrusted to him, and his will decides in what direction the huge mechanism is to work. But only for himself! The machine can propel him upwards or downwards. The direction given alone decides the result.

But the mechanism of Creation is not a setting together of inflexible parts; here living forms and beings cooperate. The purpose of this wonderful network of vibrations is but to help and to serve man so long as he does not childishly squander or misuse the power given him and thus himself form the impediment. He must readjust himself to become what he should be. To obey really means to understand! To serve is to help, but to help means to govern.

Every man can, in a short time, make his will free as it should be. And with that, all things will change for him, as he himself, has undergone an inner transformation to begin with.

But for thousands, for hundreds of thousands, indeed for millions, it will be too late, because they have no wish to alter. It is but natural that the driving power, wrongly applied, will destroy the mechanism and not help it to do the benevolent and charitable work it otherwise would.

And when the time of tribulation comes, all the laggards will suddenly bethink themselves of prayer, without, however, perceiving the right way to pray, which alone is able to bring help. When they notice that they cannot pray, they will turn to cursing and complain loudly that there can be no God, if He permits such tribulation. They will believe neither in immutable justice, nor that they had the power given them in time to readjust everything. Moreover they were warned often enough.

With childish obstinacy, they demand a loving and all- forgiving God; then only will they acknowledge His greatness.

How then should this Deity of their imaginings deal with those who have always seriously sought Him, and who for this very seeking were downtrodden, scorned and persecuted by those who now expect mercy ?

Fools — who in their self-elected blindness and deafness rush to their self-determined doom. Let them be abandoned to the Powers of Darkness for that is where their perverse self- sufficiency leads them. They must suffer in order to learn, and that will be the best school for them. But the day and the hour will come when this path will no longer be open to them, for when, self-taught by experience, they have at last acquired understanding, there will not be time enough left to tear themselves out of the clutches of Darkness and soar upwards.

It is therefore high time to apply close and profound attention to the study of truth.

Modern psychic science! Its students and acclaimers. What a motley crew! Some adherents harmonise, some clash. There are earnest seekers, and also those who have little knowledge but ambitious plans, much conceit but little understanding. One hears much boasting and finds still more mercenary unscrupulousness. It is natural that here the pervading atmosphere is full of envy, hatred, and malice, and all manner of spitefulness.

No wonder that so many scrupulously avoid these people, fearing to be infected by them, and indeed they are right, for untold numbers of the adherents of psychic science are anything but engaging, still less attractive; on the contrary, their ways and all that concerns them suffices to put one on one’s guard.

It is strange that the whole complex of so-called psychic science (which the malicious insist on calling spiritism) has, up till now, been considered a sort of common ground where every one can play pranks at his will without let or hindrance. It is understood to be so. But experience has often enough proved the contrary.

There have been innumerable pioneers who, without having the requisite knowledge, ventured a few steps too far in their investigations and fell helpless victims to their temerity. And it is a deplorable fact that all these victims fell without having accomplished the least thing for the benefit of humanity at large.

Every one of these cases should suffice to prove that the way adopted was not the right one; only mischief, even irreparable damage, was done, but no blessing brought to man.

Yet with singular persistence these methods are still adopted, and fresh victims sacrificed.

When they imagine they have discovered some atom of truth, already known for ages by the initiate, they make a great clamour and sound a flourish of trumpets; they write innumerable treatises on their discoveries, in which they betray such uncertain, ignorant groping that it must necessarily repel the serious.

All investigations up till now can be termed dangerous pastimes indulged in from good motives.

As long as man cannot fully understand the cosmic laws so as to accommodate himself to them, he will never be able to explore those regions unpunished. Whoever consciously or unconsciously puts himself in opposition to these laws or does not obey them, which means disobeys them, must suffer from the reaction, be he bold, frivolous or trivial.

To try to roam in the transcendental world, by means of terrestrial appliances and possibilities, would be like expecting an undeveloped child, ignorant of danger, to fend for itself in a virgin forest, where only a full-grown man’s strength and sagacity could hope to travel in safety. Nothing better awaits the modern votaries of psychic science, however serious they think they are, and where they really only venture in order to acquire knowledge to help man forward over the boundary- line, before which he has been waiting so long, knocking for admission to the beyond.

Like children, these explorers are still standing helpless and groping, unaware of the dangers which every moment face them, and which through their medium may beset others, when their bungling efforts have succeeded in breaking through the natural protection and in opening a door that had better have remained shut.

Until explorers are sure that they can immediately master all possible dangers, not only to themselves but also to the others present, they cannot be called bold pioneers, but reprehensible triflers.

Those investigators who experiment are the most irresponsible of all. More than once it has been pointed out that hypnotising is a sin.* The lamentable error that these misguided experimentory investigators make, is that, in their ignorance (for otherwise they would surely desist) they put a very sensitive person (a medium) into a magnetic or hypnotic trance, in order to approach closer to the influences of the other world in the hope of hearing or observing what they could not do, if the medium were normally awake, and what to the physical senses would remain unperceived.

In ninety-five cases at least out of a hundred they expose such a person to great danger, against which he is defenceless. Every artificial aid to a trance is a compelling of the soul; it is forced into a state of sensitiveness, which is beyond what natural development permits. The result is, that the victim of the experiment is transferred to a region where the soul is bereft of its natural protection. A protection which it can only possess after independent, personal, healthy development.

One must picture to oneself such a pitiable person, tied naked to a stake and pushed far ahead into dangerous country, as a bait to attract and even experience the unknown life and doings of that region in order to be able to report on the same, or that, by virtue of certain material substances out of his body, he may succeed in making the phenomena visible to others.

Such a medium is occasionally able, by virtue of the connection which his exteriorated soul must necessarily keep up with his material body, to report, as through a telephone, all that passes and transmit it to the observer.

Should, however, the sentinel, thus launched forward in the face of all natural law, be attacked, he cannot defend himself. With the help of others, he is forcibly placed in a world the conditions of which his development is in no wise equal to. Thus he is at the mercy of the forces prevailing there.

The so-called explorer, whose craving for knowledge pressed the medium into his service, cannot assist him, he himself being an inexperienced stranger in the region from which the danger comes, and thus unable to be any sort of protection.

Hence it comes that such an explorer unintentionally commits a crime which cannot be brought before a court of justice. This, however, does not hinder the law of returns from operating. Inexorable justice awaits the explorer and ties him fast to his victim.

Many a medium has suffered from attacks which, although originating in the ethereal world, sooner or later, even sometimes immediately, took effect in the material, physical world, causing illness or even death, without, in so doing, invalidating the injury to the soul.

The so-called investigator, having impelled his victim over the border into unexplored regions, mostly stands aside under the safe material covering of his physical body and normal consciousness. It is but seldom that he shares the dangers of the medium in the experiments, but, after his physical death and transfer to the other world, he must accompany the victim, to whom he is bound, to wherever the latter is drawn and must together with him slowly begin afresh the ascent from there.

When a soul is forced by unnatural means to explore the other world, it does not always leave its physical body and retreat to another region. In most cases it remains in the body, but it is made unnaturally sensitive by the magnetic or hypnotic trance and, therefore, responds to much finer vibrations and influences than would be possible in the normal state. A medium in the abnormal state of trance has not the power that it would have if it had gradually and naturally developed so as to be able to communicate with the ethereal world. In the latter case it would be fully armed and suitably equipped. It could stand firmly and securely in the new ethereal conditions and face the influences brought to bear on it. The fact of the body not being in a strong and healthy state, when under these abnormal conditions, causes an inequality in the balance of power and accompanying general derangement, which dulls all sensations and travesties reality.

It has always been the investigators themselves, who, by their mischievous practices, have spread false reports and innumerable errors. For this reason many secrets gained from occult experiments will not allow of logical investigation or criticism. That the statements made do not agree with one another, and that they are full of errors has not been noticed till today.

This mistaken method of exploring has done absolutely nothing that could be of the slightest use or blessing to humanity.

Only that which helps a man upwards or which shows him the way upwards, can be of use to him. It must never be expected that any such help could result from these experiments.

By subtle art the investigator may succeed in expelling the soul of some sensitive person from his physical, material body into the sphere next in order to his, but not a hair’s breadth further than to the limit corresponding to his inner development. On the contrary, the subtle investigator cannot even force the soul of the medium so far; he can only force it into the immediate surroundings of the material world.

This sphere (immediately next to the material world) can only contain of the other world that which is still closely bound to the earth, linked to it by its inferiority, its vicious and evil passions.

Now and then some entity of higher standing may possibly be met with in this sphere, but this cannot be depended on.

It is self-evident that the cosmic law would never permit anything really sublime to sojourn there. The world itself could more easily be upset, or indeed, anchorage for celestial Light were found in some human being!

This, it is needless to say, one could never expect to find in a medium or in such an explorer groping in the dark. All this goes to confirm the statement that these experiments are dangerous and useless.

Unless a pure soul were present to clear and purify the atmosphere, no higher spirit could approach such a medium, much less give utterance through it.

It is quite fruitless to expect a higher entity to materialise or to assist at table-turnings, spirit-rappings and such pastimes. The gulf between is too wide to be bridged over so easily.

All these things can only be carried on by such spirits as are still closely united to matter. If it were possible otherwise, that is to say, if sublime beings could so easily have intercourse with man, Christ would not have needed to become man, but could have fulfilled His mission without having sacrificed Himself.* The soul of man is certainly no further developed today than it was at His time on earth, so that one cannot assume that communication with celestial Light is easier now than it was at that time.

It is true, spiritists say that the aim they have in view, is to prove that spiritual life exists, more especially the continuance of life after the death of the material body, and they point out that, as scepticism is so prevalent today, very powerful and forcible arguments as well as tangible proofs are needed to confute the adversaries and break down their opposition.

This, however, is not sufficient to excuse the utterly irresponsible way in which human souls are again and again endangered. Besides this, there is not the least necessity to convince malevolent adversaries. It is well known and has been confirmed by Christ’s own words, that these would not be convinced, even if an angel were to come down from heaven to bring the truth. As soon as the messenger had gone, they would affirm that it was all hallucination and not an angel they saw, or make some other excuse. And again, if the messenger, or that which he brought, should not vanish but remain manifest, they would find some other objection; it would then be too mundane, too material just for those who disbelieve in another world. They would not hesitate to call such a proof a fraud, and the messenger a fanatic, or even an impostor. Whether it be too mundane or too transcendental, or both together, they would always find some objection, some cause for doubt. And if they know nothing else, they will have recourse to abuse, then to savage attack and will not even stop at violence.

It would be deplorable to sacrifice victims to convince such as these, and still more deplorable to do so in the interests of many of the so-called adherents. The latter imagine that, on account of their somewhat vague and fantastic belief in a future life, they are justified in demanding certain privileges. In their self-conceit they consider they have a right to see or to experience something. They expect their spirit- guide to make signs to them from the other side, as a reward for their docility. The pretensions they make are as absurd as the condescending smile with which they would seem kindly to forgive the ignorance of others, and at the same time hide their own. It is wicked to entertain such people with experiments; for as they imagine that they know so much already, they only regard the experiments as well-earned diversions in which the spirits play the role of music-hall artists.

But let us turn our attention from the great experiments to consider the small ones, such as table-turning. These are by no means so harmless as they would appear. On the contrary, the extreme ease with which they are popularised is a very grave danger.

Everybody should be warned against them! The more enlightened must turn away with horror when they see with what thoughtless frivolity these things are practised. How many devotees of spiritism seek to show off their “knowledge” by introducing table-turning into certain circles, or they will explain, with knowing look and plausible manner, the planchette (or some other arrangement with letters and a glass), on which the hand is lightly laid and then is drawn hither and thither, thus forming words and then sentences. With surprising and distressing rapidity these practices have spread and have developed so as to become a game in which the family joins, some laughing, some deriding, and some filled with a pleasantly tickling sensation of awe.

And daily one can find the family, or may be, a circle of elderly and young ladies, and even a single enquirer sitting at a small table on which they have a bit of cardboard, covered with letters or other hieroglyphics or suggestive mystic signs. All this hocus-pocus is quite unnecessary, if the persons playing are in any way mediums. The latter indeed are very numerous. When words and sentences, which have no connection with the consciousness or sub-consciousness of the medium, are formed, the modern psychic enquirer and the leaders of the occult meetings exult; they take this as convincing proofs of the truth of their statements and the adherents and believers in «occultism» increase in number.

Writers on occultism point to these, and lecturers make them their theme; mechanical aids are invented and sold, thus making all these mischievous practices more accessible; almost the whole occult world makes itself a willing tool in the hands of the Powers of Darkness, under the delusion that they are the priests of Celestial Light!

These facts alone prove the utter ignorance on which all occult efforts are based. They show that none of these persons are really clairvoyant. It is no proof to the contrary, if now and then a really good medium has proceeded from these beginnings, or rather, that a good medium has for a certain time temporarily been attracted to such a circle.

The few who are predestined for this office have from the very beginning of their natural development enjoyed special protection, which the others have not. It is only in cases where this development has been quite natural and independent of every external aid, that such protection has effect. Only what is natural can be protected.

As soon as the slightest assistance, such as exercises or magnetic or hypnotic trance, has been tried, it becomes unnatural, and is thus no longer in harmony with the cosmic laws which alone are able to protect. If the gross ignorance so generally prevalent is added to this, fatal mistakes must infallibly be made. It is not sufficient to will or intend to experiment, as that can never substitute the knowledge which is absolutely requisite before engaging in such practices. Nobody should meddle with what he does not understand and cannot do properly.

It is naturally possible that, among the hundreds of thousands who engage in this dangerous pastime, there may now and then be one who escapes unscathed, having an invulnerable shield. There will also be others where the harm done them does not show itself in this life: they will, however, suddenly perceive how foolish they have been, when they enter the next world. Again, there are many who are injured physically, but who, as long as they live on earth, never know the cause of their distressful state.

It is for this reason that an explanation of what goes on during these practices in the ethereal and spiritual world must be given: it is just as simple as all else in Creation, not so complicated and yet more difficult than many think.

In the present state of the earth, and in conformity with man’s express will, the Powers of Darkness have gained the upper hand in all that pertains to matter. Thus the Powers of Darkness stand, as it were, on their own familiar ground, where they are able to develop their full power and dominate. They are in their own element and fight on their own ground.

Hence at the time being in all that belongs to matter the influence of the Powers of Darkness exceeds that of the Powers of Light, i.e. in all material things Darkness is stronger than Light. In such pastimes as table-turning, sublime Light has no concern whatever. We can only speak of bad, i.e. dark influences, and better, i.e. less dark influences. When a man makes use of a table or a glass or indeed of any material object, he ventures on to the battle-field of the Dark Powers; thus from the very beginning they are in a position of ascendency, a vantage- ground, against which he has no corresponding means of defence.

Let us closely examine a séance, or a sitting at table-turning, and notice what happens: one or more persons sit down at a table with the intention of getting into touch with spirits, either by raps or movements of the table, from which signs they form words. The first result is that the connecting link, the material substance serving as medium attracts dark spirits, and they now undertake the office of making communications. With consummate skill they make use of highflown language, and seek to give satisfactory answers to the sitters whose thoughts it is an easy matter for them to read. In serious matters they invariably lead the enquirer astray; and, if the séances are often repeated, they will try to get him more and more into their power and slowly but surely drag him down. At the same time they cleverly manage to make their dupes fancy they are advancing spiritually.

Should a friend, or a relative, lately deceased, speak through the table (this often happens), the dark spirits can the more easily practise deception. The sitters will recognise their friend; they will be certain it is he who is manifesting, and then will believe it is always he when the table raps and gives information in his name.

But this is not the case! Not only does the dark spirit, who is constantly on the watch, skilfully use the friend’s name to make misleading information sound plausible, but also to gain the confidence of the questioner. The dark spirit will even go so far as to interrupt the friend in a sentence begun and finish it in a manner to serve his own ends. The following, although but little known, is nevertheless a fact: it can and does happen that two entities give information in the same consecutive sentence. One is the clean-minded friend, a luminous spirit, the other a dark, malevolent spirit. All this happens without the questioner noticing anything.

What results from this can easily be imagined. The confiding are deceived and their belief is shaken; fresh fuel is provided for the adversaries’ derision and fresh cause for their doubts and violent attacks on all spiritualism. The truth is: both sides are in the wrong owing to their utter ignorance in these matters. The process has taken place in quite a matter of fact way: a luminous spirit (the friend) comes to the table at the wish of the sitter, to manifest himself and to answer questions. A dark spirit interferes; the luminous spirit must give way and withdraw, because the darker spirit can develop more strength thanks to the table which is of material substance. All that belongs to matter is, at the present time, the special department of the Dark Powers.

The fault lies with man in choosing matter as a medium and thus from the outset putting himself on an unequal footing. What is dense and heavy, i.e. dark, stands nearer to matter, on account of its density, than what is luminous, pure and lighter, and because of this closer association the dark can develop more strength.

On the other hand, if a purer spirit is able to manifest through matter, he must still have a certain amount of density, otherwise it would be impossible for him to do so. Such manifestations presuppose a very close approach to matter, and in the connection thus entered into with the Dark Powers the purer spirit runs the danger of defiling himself, and to avoid this, he is obliged quickly to withdraw from the table (or whatever other medium has been chosen) as soon as a dark spirit touches it, so as to disconnect himself from the link which bridges over the natural separating and protecting gulf.

It is thus impossible from the other side to prevent the experimenter at the table from being duped by the Dark Powers.

In such cases spirits from the other side cannot prevent the operator at the table from falling a prey to base influences. By his actions he has proved he wants nothing better, for in this as in other cases, ignorance of the laws cannot be offered as excuse.

These examples will make clear to many what, up till now, seemed incomprehensible and they will solve many puzzling contradictions. Thus it is fervently to be hoped that the readers will henceforward keep their hands off such dangerous toys. In like manner one might enter into details with regard to the dangers of all other occult experiments, but for the present let this account of the most popular and well known one suffice.

It is necessary to point out just one more danger. By this method of putting questions and being answered and advised, people lose their independent judgment. This is just the reverse of what life on earth aims to establish.

These practices are wrong in every respect; man, grovelling on doubtful ground, exposes himself to the danger of encountering monsters; then having wasted his strength, he drops exhausted on the roadside — and all for nothing: Much harm done and no profit gained.

Great wrong is also done to the spirits from beyond by these investigations. Opportunities are offered to dark spirits; they are tempted to do evil and so they burden themselves anew with sins that they otherwise would have avoided. Others again have their thoughts and wishes diverted and perverted, and are thus prevented from soaring upward.

To explore and open out a country utterly unknown to the explorer, appears to the unbiased by-stander a proceeding so childishly obstinate, so utterly egoistical and absurd, that you can but shake your head and ask how it can be possible for any one to undertake to open out a region to the general public of which he is utterly ignorant.

It is also a mistake to pursue these investigations before the public at large. It encourages visionaries and charlatans, and it makes it difficult for men to believe that this work is carried on with honest intention.

Explorers have always had to suffer repeated failure in whatever field they have worked, although later on their success has been generally acknowledged, but the public was always excluded from participation in their work. The public wearies and, in time, loses all interest.

The result is that, when the truth has been arrived at, the impetus of a revolutionising enthusiasm to carry it through and put it into practice has been lost. That joyful and convincing exaltation, which carries all before it, is no longer at the command of the humanity of today.

The repercussion, which sets in when it becomes evident that the paths pursued were wrong, puts sharp weapons into the hands of the enemy, who is enabled to instil so much doubt and distrust in hundreds of thousands that these unfortunate people are no longer willing to examine seriously a new truth when it is promulgated, for fear of new deceptions. They shut their ears which they would otherwise have opened, and thus they miss making use of the last span of time that could offer them opportunity to soar upward to celestial Light.

Here the Powers of Darkness again have a victory to record. For this they can thank the explorers who reached out their hands to them, the same who proudly style themselves leaders of modern psychic science.

With but few exceptions, man labours under a great and fatal delusion: God is not constrained to run after man and beg him to believe in His existence, nor are His servants sent forth constantly to admonish man not to turn from Him. This would be ridiculous. To think so or expect it would be disparaging and derogatory to the Almighty. This erroneous view does much harm. It is sanctioned by many really serious Churchmen, who in all love to God and to man try again and again to convert the materialist, to convince him and win him over to the Church. But doing this only contributes to strengthen man in his conviction of his own immense importance, indeed, in the end it instils the mad idea into his mind that he must be asked to be good!

This is the singular standpoint of the greater number of the faithful, whose example is more often deterrent than encouraging. Many thousands inwardly feel a certain satisfaction, a pleasant sensation of superiority in the consciousness that they believe in God, that they say their prayers with all the gravity they are capable of, and that they do not wilfully injure their neighbour.

This serene assurance of superiority, they take to be a return for their virtue, the Almighty’s thanks for their docility, a union with God, which they sense with a gratifying thrill, leaving them in a state of beatitude in which to revel.

But these legions of the faithful are on the broad path which leadeth to destruction. The assurance they live in is self- created delusion, which, all unknown to them, stamps them as

Pharisees, who from genuine but mistaken feelings of gratitude, offer their small sacrifice and pray: “Lord, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are.” For although it may never be expressed or even really considered, this feeling of superiority is identical with that which moved the Pharisee to give thanks and which Christ censured as false. The feeling of superiority in such cases comes from the self-satisfaction resulting from such prayer or higher thoughts. Those who esteem themselves humble are generally far from being so in reality, and one needs to practise self- control and patience in speaking to such pharisees. So long as such be their state of mind, they can never be saved, although in their self- complacency they may consider salvation theirs already. Let them take heed in their spiritual pride (which they take for humility) lest they go astray altogether! Many who are now rank unbelievers will find it easier than these to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. In his false humility this just man’s attitude in prayer is not one of frank simplicity but rather of one claiming his reward for his prayers and pious thoughts. Such prayers are demands and those who pray thus are hypocrites. They will be swept away like chaff from before His countenance. They will have their reward, but it will be different to what they expect. They have surfeited themselves to repletion in the consciousness of their own importance on earth. This self-complacent, comfortable feeling will leave them when they go over into the ethereal world, for there their finer emotions will come into play, whereas their passions (feelings that are the result of thinking) will vanish. If we examine the attitude of mute, so-called humble expectancy of one of the just, we find that actually he is making a claim, no matter in what fine words this may be paraphrased, and every claim is presumption. God alone has a right to demand. Christ did not come unto men soliciting, but with warnings and demands.

It is true that He explained the Truth, but He did not hold out the prospects of rewards to the listeners in order to spur them on to be better. His command to those who sought seriously, was: Go and act accordingly!

God demands of man; He does not invite and solicit, nor does He complain and lament. The wicked and the wavering He will infallibly give over to the Powers of Darkness in order to protect from their attacks all those who would soar, and to allow the others to experience personally what they consider to be right, so that they may recognise their error.

Idealists — or let us rather call them would-be-idealists. Here we must make a distinction and carefully exclude all those who only call themselves idealists and like to be considered so by others, but who do not even belong to the group we call would-be-idealists. This latter is the large class of mawkish enthusiasts of both sexes, together with imaginative visionaries who can never learn to control their gifts or make use of them. We must also exclude those who are always dissatisfied with existing conditions and justify their dissatisfaction by saying that they are more ideal than their contemporaries, and therefore do not harmonise with the age. Then there is the great army of the “misunderstood” of which women and girls form the greater part. These imagine they are misunderstood, or — in other words — they are convinced they are in possession of valuable gifts which those around them are incapable of understanding. In reality these souls possess no hidden treasure of any kind but have an unfailing supply of immoderate and impossible wishes.

All such “misunderstood” people are simply useless people, for they prove themselves useless for the present time. They only incline to what is unreal, even to what is frivolous and always to what is unsuitable for a healthy life on earth. Unfortunately the way these eternally misunderstood girls and women choose to live too often ends in immorality. They want to be consoled and let themselves be consoled too easily and too often, which a certain class of men is quick to see and unscrupulous to profit by. These misunderstood people will always be unreliable in every respect.

They think themselves ideal but they are in truth absolutely worthless, so that a serious person free from selfish intention had better avoid them. It would be vain to try to help them. Those who approach them are mostly “comforters” with evil intentions, but here retributive reaction soon sets in, for on the breast or in the arms of such a comforter the woman or girl who felt misunderstood will feel so again in a few days or weeks, and will again long to be understood, for in fact she does not know what she wants.

To all these groups of useless and unprofitable people we must add another: the group of harmless dreamers, apparently as guileless as children. But the “harmless dreamer” is only harmless with regard to the effect on himself, that is to say on his own person; he is by no means harmless to his surroundings and to the people he meets.

On many people, intercourse with the harmless dreamer acts like a slow, corroding poison, destructive and consuming, because, by developing his far-fetched, impracticable ideas, he drags them out of normal healthy life into impossible regions of thought, unsuited to life on this earth.

I do not say that such a dreamer is impure or bad, on the contrary. He may have the best intentions, but he will always strive for something unreal, something impracticable for this earth, thus his influence does not advance man on earth but acts destructively, hinderingly.

Of the remaining would-be-idealists we must distinguish two kinds: those who are only followers or imitators, and those who are really striving after the ideal. These first are weaklings who are always longing for something quite impossible of attainment, at least on earth, who, therefore, can never be happy nor even glad. They greatly resemble the misunderstood group. In time they become morbid sentimentalists, and that leads to nothing good. Having thus thoroughly sifted and sorted them, we must now look for the remaining few, figuratively speaking, with a lantern.

Even these few are not really what one can call idealists in the true sense of the word, but, as I said above, men who are striving after the ideal (who have the quality of personally and actively striving after the ideal on earth). Here at last are those we can take seriously as of full value. These have a high aim, sometimes a stupendous goal before their eyes, but they never allow themselves to soar and hover about in the clouds, and have their feet firmly rooted in mother earth; they do not wander away into what is unreal and impractical for life here below. They strive on, step by step, towards the distant goal with practical eye and cunning hand without harming any who do not deserve punishment. The usefulness of that sort of people is seldom limited to single individuals, and there is no question of their taking unfair advantage of anyone, as to do so would not justify their title to idealism. Every man could and should strive towards the ideal, no matter what his profession is on earth. He can ennoble every kind of work in, so doing and give it wider future prospects, only he must not forget to keep within the compass of life on earth. If he goes beyond that, he becomes unreal and thus detrimental to the earth. The result is that advancement, the basic condition and mark of idealism can never be attained. It is man’s duty on earth to aim at the highest attainment possible for him, and to strive for it with all his heart and soul. It must be work worthy of a human being, not a mere troubling for food and drink as an animal does, and as, unfortunately, many men do; nor must he allow his intellect to incite him to compete for worldly fame and position regardless of the general welfare and advancement of mankind which must always be his first consideration. Those who disregard this are of less service to the world than animals; an animal is always natural and appropriately fills his appointed place in the world and does his work, even if it is but to keep other creatures alert, thus preventing them from relapsing into indolent ways. Indolence leads to destruction; activity and motion are conditions of life, — so keep awake! The distinguishing mark of the man who is honestly striving for the ideal is that he tries to lift what he finds in this mundane world on to a higher level, not in the sense of the intellectual materialist (in increasing dominion and power) but in ennobling it. His ideas will all be practicable and will bring profit and advantage to the individual as well as to mankind in general. Whereas the hare-brained ideas of the would- be- idealists lead away into dreamland with the mischievous result that man overlooks and neglects the present opportunity that actuality offers to all men to mature themselves as is intended.

Idealists with communistic tendencies are seriously detrimental, for the realisation of their ideas would, in spite of their being well- meaning, only bring about unhealthy conditions. They resemble builders who construct a house on their premises which is to be put up elsewhere. In the builder’s yard all seems admirable, but when taken to the place of its destination, it stands unsteadily and askew, so that nobody can inhabit it, for there the ground is uneven and it is impossible to level it in spite of every effort and greatest labour. The builder has forgotten to take this possibility into consideration or to reckon with existing conditions. He who is really striving for the ideal does not make such a mistake.

In the same way it will always be impossible to realise ideal communism, for men are on different stages of maturity: they are the uneven ground unsuitable for the builder’s erection. The ground will always be uneven, for it is not possible for all men on earth to attain the same degree of maturity. Each individual is and will always be a separate spiritual entity, a person who in virtue of his free will can develop in different ways. The free will to dispose of his own person will never be taken from him. But by the Cosmic Turning Point, mankind has lost the free will it hitherto enjoyed in matters external, for now at “the Time of the End”, Divine Will has become incarnate, which naturally must dominate human will, as it stands above it and is more powerful!

Once more only each individual may decide in his heart whether he will soar upwards to the Light that quickens or whether he will descend to Darkness which annihilates!

And now, reader, seek out those who are truly striving after the ideal, and help and further them, for they are builders of genuine utility to man.

This injunction, so often repeated, is one of the principal opiates used by all those who call themselves believing Christians. But this nostrum is an intoxicating poison. Poisons are often given to the patient to deaden bodily pain and they succeed apparently in calming him, and the words: “cast all your sins on Him, He has redeemed us and we shall be healed by His wounds” have a like effect in the spiritual sense.

As this doctrine has been accepted by the faithful as one of the chief tenets of the Christian Church, its effects are all the more pernicious. They build up their whole moral code on it, and thus come under the enervating dominion of blind faith and are only able to see as in a glass darkly, till at last the whole picture is blurred and a veil drawn over the truth. Then the Christian must needs hold to artificially built-up theories, which must break down on the day that the Light dawns.

“Cast your sins on Him.” What a foolish delusion! Like a flash of lightning the truth will strike the legions of false teachers and the inert believers and destroy all false doctrine! At present the masses are still sunning themselves in the belief that all the Saviour suffered and did was for them. In their indolence they reasoned, it would be presumptuous and blasphemous for a Christian to hold that man must contribute anything of himself to be able to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Surprising humility and modesty, not frequently to be found, characterises many in this point! According to them it would be sacrilegeous to harbour the thought, however faintly, that the coming to earth of the Saviour, His suffering and His death were not sufficient to wipe away the sins of all those who believe in His life on earth.

“Cast all your sins on Him”, they think with fervent devotion and do not know what they do. They sleep, but their awakening will be dreadful! Their faith, apparently so humble, is nothing but self- complacency. Their idea that, to serve them, a Son of God would descend to earth to prepare a path for them, on which, in their stolid stupidity, they could, without any trouble, saunter into the Kingdom of Heaven is unbounded insolence. In truth the hollowness of such a proposition is evident at first sight. To harbour such a thought must arise from indescribable frivolity and love of ease; unless indeed, shrewdness suggested the idea in the interests of worldly advantage.

Humanity has gone astray in thousands of erroneous ways, and in its foolish faith, it deceives itself. To think as men do is to belittle the Almighty. What is man that he should have the effrontery to expect that God would send down His only Son, a part of His own Divine Life, to give man the opportunity to cast his load of sin on Him, simply that he might be saved the trouble of washing his own dirty linen or expiating his dark burden of sin himself. Woe unto them who will have to give account of such thoughts. They belittle the supreme Godhead in the most impudent way. Christ’s mission was not so paltry, it was stupendous — Divinity claiming its just rights!

I have spoken earlier of the Son of God’s great work of Redemption.* The seeds that His Divine Love sowed have come up in this world and in the next, and have brought forth fruit of all kinds. In the meantime many, elected by men, have claimed to be called by God. They have seized on the pure doctrine with their unholy hands and drawn it down to their own dense and dark level. Those who trusted them, without seriously examining what they taught, fell with them. The Divine essence of the sacred truth was confined in narrow limits, so that, although the external form remained the same, all its glorious light was put out in the quest for earthly power and earthly influence. Dim twilight reigns where the shining brilliancy of Spiritual Life might be. Where is the treasure that Christ Jesus brought to all who desired to possess it ?

Ambitious egotists perverted the truth for their own ends and wilfully indicated the wrong path to those who were seeking, thus not only causing them to lose much precious time, but often leading them straight into the arms of the Dark Powers.

Heresies soon arose. They choked the truth. They clothed its simplicity in shining raiment, the brilliant colours of which, like poisonous plants, have exhalations which benumb all who approach, so that believers neglect and finally altogether give up keeping watch over themselves and, in so doing, lose the possibility of soaring to the true Light.

Once more truth will call aloud with a voice that will penetrate into all countries. After that, however, will come the great Day of Reckoning, when every man, having woven his own web of destiny, will have to settle his account with fate. Man will at last himself be made to feel what he so obstinately held up as right for others. He will have personally to undergo the effects of all the errors that, in his presumption, he defended and practised. The result will be wild and terrified out-cries and there will be gnashing of teeth, rage, and despair. Those, who in their lives on earth held their own code of morals to be the only right one, will (when they are obliged to take the consequences of the precepts they preached when tribulation befalls them and they are brought to judgment), suddenly cry out at the severity and injustice of their treatment. Then they will turn to their God, to whom they were so insolent, to help them, they will call upon Him and beseech Him, and they will expect that in His Divine benevolence He will certainly forgive poor ignorant man for any baseness. Suddenly, in their opinion, He will be too magnanimous to bear ill-will, too great to take revenge — He whom they treated so shamefully.

But He will not listen to them; neither will He help them, because they did not listen to His word which He sent them.

And herein lies that justice which can never be severed from His great love.

It was man’s duty himself to study the word God sent him, even, if he would not accept His envoys as God’s messengers. Therefore it shall be, that a voice, like thunder, will call to him: “Thou didst not accept my Word; thus thou art doomed to be exterminated and be wiped out of the Book of Life.”

Strange, but 20 years ago, men raged against the assertion that such a thing as hypnotism existed; and foremost among the opponents were many members of the medical profession. They did not hesitate to call hypnotism humbug and a swindle, as shortly before they had called treatment by magnetism, which has since proved a blessing to so many. Practitioners in this science were furiously attacked and called mountebanks and quacks. And today it is just the medical professions who have appropriated hypnotism; what they strenuously rejected twenty years ago, they now advocate.

Two opinions are possible on this change of front. He who, at that time, was an unprejudiced witness of the bitter strife that raged, cannot but smile when he sees how the stormy opponents of those days are now zealous advocates for experimenting with the hypnotism they despised so. And on the other hand it must be acknowledged that this grotesque change of front is praiseworthy, as it requires a certain amount of courage to expose oneself to the danger of being derided, which is very probable in this case. One must admire the genuine concern for all that is useful to man that those doctors show who do not shrink from perhaps being laughed at.

It is much to be regretted that people have not learnt a lesson from this; that they have not become more careful in passing judgment and do not refrain from their spiteful criticism of all research in subjects analogous to hypnotism. Every time a new subject is broached (in spite of this experience) men will behave just the same, or even worse. Again they will eagerly grasp at and acclaim, what up till then, they persistently rejected. They will even go farther and, pushing all competitors aside, will try by all the means in their power to get the exploitation of the discovery into their own hands, having left others, mostly laymen, to do the hard work of seeking and finding the article for them. Whether their conduct can be called excusable or even honest is another question. The reverse is more likely, i.e. that these eternal repetitions may put actions before held to be meritorious in another light. This is the external aspect of the matter critically considered.

It becomes much more serious when one examines the effects of hypnotic treatment. It is well that the existence of hypnotism is now generally acknowledged and confirmed and that the attacks of scientific men have ceased. But that hypnotic treatment should have become so general under the aegis of those thus suddenly enlightened scientists and former opponents, only proves that these wiseacres are as a general rule much further from the truth than the despised layman in his researches.

It is appalling to think of the mischief that is done today! Thousands, of their own free will, entrust themselves to so- called authorised proficients to be hypnotised, or they let themselves be persuaded to do so, or, worst of all, are subjected to it without their knowledge. Even when all is done with the best intentions it does not alter the fact that unspeakable harm is always the result of these practices.

These proficients are not authorised. Only one who is fully conversant with the whole complex of the phenomena of the invisible world (which embraces hypnotism) could be called authorised. And he who can really claim to have such knowledge (not one who in his presumption only imagines he has) will never make use of hypnotism as long as he has his neighbour’s welfare at heart and will only practise it in case he intends wilfully to do him great harm. Hence under whatever circumstances hypnotism is used, whether by laymen or others, it is wicked to practise it.

If we think logically we must come to the conclusion that it is indeed the height of folly to set free powers that we do not comprehend, and the effects of which pass far out of the reach of our control or understanding. It is no consolation that double responsibility falls on the practitioner for the thoughtless way he plays with the weal or woe of his patient, and for the harm done to him. People should not so trustfully go in for what they know nothing about. If they are hypnotised against their expressed will or wish, the proceeding amounts to a downright crime, even if the practitioner thinks, he is authorised to do it.

As it cannot be supposed that all practitioners in hypnotism intend to harm their patients, the fact remains evident that they are totally ignorant of the nature of hypnotism and are helplessly at a loss when brought face to face with the effects of their experiments. Here no uncertainty can exist, it must be one of the two alternatives, crime or ignorance. Hence ignorance must be made responsible.

When a man hypnotises another he lays a constraint on his spirit! This constraint, in taking away the other’s liberty, is in itself a spiritual sin and a crime. It is no excuse to say it was done to cure some bodily ailment or some psychic defect, nor can it be justified by the argument that the psychic changes produced were for the benefit of the patient, and that he had morally improved and profited by the treatment. To believe this is self-deception, for only what a human spirit does of his own free will, entirely uninfluenced from outside, can so profit him as to enable him to soar upward. What a man does under constraint, and not of his own free will, is superficial and temporary, and is only able to bring him apparent utility or harm. Every constraint laid on the spirit absolutely prevents it from advancing, it stops its further development. Besides this, the constraint itself would bring more danger than profit. A spirit thus constrained is not only subject to the influence of the person who hypnotised it, but it is at the mercy of transcendental influences as well, because, bound as it is, the shield that it had as protection, when free (and which it so urgently needs) is lost. That man sees nothing of this continuous strife, of the attacks on one side, of the resistance on the other, whether successful or not, is no argument against the vitality of the transcendental world nor of their own cooperation.

Thus every man who has been effectually and successfully hypnotised has been more or less hindered in the growth of his spirit. Whether the external condition of that man has suffered or the reverse, or whether a temporary improvement seems to have taken place, only plays quite a subordinate part and, therefore, need not be taken into account. The spirit must always have its freedom unimpaired, for, in truth, it is the spirit only which is concerned.

Take a case for argument’s sake where the outward condition of the man has visibly improved (experimenters in hypnotism are fond of pointing to such examples), still the patient really profits nothing. His constrained spirit is not able to devise, propose, and scheme in the ethereal world as a free spirit can. The creative work that enslaved, coerced volition is capable of doing there, is ineffectual and impotent, as it comes secondhand and soon fades or passes away. Nor can it benefit from the reaction of the creative work of its higher volition which a free spirit would certainly enjoy. The case is similar when a fettered spirit intends and does evil because so inspired by his master, these hypnotic influences, being ethereal, will not be lasting. They will cease or be absorbed by like influences, so that no ethereal reaction can take place. Thus, although the fettered spirit will be responsible for his deeds in physical matter, he will not be spiritually responsible. It is just the same with the insane.

Herein we again see how the perfect justice of the Almighty

works in the transcendental world through His Divine Law. The evil done by such an unfortunate victim under constraint will not be accounted to him as guilt, neither will he be blessed for good actions inspired by another, because his independent ego had nothing to do with them.

Something else, however, does happen; the effect of the compulsion used in hypnotic treatment so closely chains the practitioner to his victim that the practitioner is not set free, till he has undone his work and helped his victim forward, till the latter has reached the stage he ought to have reached had his freedom not been laid under constraint. After the death of his body, he must accompany his victim to wherever the latter goes, even though it be to the deepest depths. What, therefore, awaits those who regularly practise hypnotism can be imagined. When they awake from their death-sleep they will perceive with horror, how many of those gone before and of those still on earth are clinging on to them. Link by link they must sever the chains, even if they spend thousands of years in doing so. Most likely they will not come to the end of this work, but will be drawn into the general dissolution which will destroy their ego, their individuality, for their sin has been grievous; they have sinned against the Spirit.

Astrology is called the Art of Kings and not without reason: not because it is reserved for the kings of the earth, but because he who could effectively practise it, would be a king in a spiritual sense, for he would be able to guide and control the course of events in many respects. But there is not one human being on earth who can do this, to whom such power has been entrusted.

The work of an earnest astrological student is unreliable, and that of a self-sufficient braggart is a profanation of the art because of the unsupported and worthless conclusions of his faulty imagination.

Calculating star-aspects alone is of but little use, for their influence, to have effect, must be seconded by all the living, pulsating apparatus of the ethereal worlds, such as the world of thought-forms, of Karma, emanations from the dark and from the light regions, and still other factors. What human being can boast of being able to survey all this from the lowest depths to the highest heights ?

The rays the stars emit are channels into which ethereal life- substance collects and which transmit it in a concentrated form to the soul of man, there to do its appointed work. The stars, to speak figuratively, give the signals when a reaction due is about to take place. The rays from adverse, unfavourable aspects serve to transmit unfavourable, untoward reactions floating in the ether surrounding a man; and vice versa, favourable rays only attract analogous reactions. Astrological calculations are not altogether worthless, but it must be clearly understood that, if a man has inauspicious or beneficial aspects, he must at the same time have corresponding Karmic influences due for them to be effectual.

Otherwise no effects will ensue. Still, good emanations of the stars are not entirely negative, even if they are not seconded as above said. Within a certain limit they can act as a damper or check by intercepting unfavourable reaction or at least modifying the same. These good emanations may have effect for days or hours. — In the same way, when beneficial reaction is due, their virtue can be held up, driven back, or greatly modified, if the star-aspects are unfavourable.

If, therefore, the stellar rays are not effective owing to the absence of cooperation of analogous influences, still they serve at times as a check to contrary influences, and are thus never quite devoid of importance. It is only that good rays cannot be expected always to bring benefit, nor malignant rays always evil, unless Karmic reactions correspond to them.

Here astrologers may protest and exclaim: “Thus we are right!” They are only right conditionally, and in a very limited sense, and certainly are not justified in making their impudent professions, nor have they a right to do business with their advertised abilities. Aspects that are inactive because not seconded, can intercept influences, but nothing more, neither good nor evil. It must, however, be admitted that a short interception of evil is to a certain extent good, for it affords breathing time to those who are hardpressed to renew their strength to bear fresh trials.

If it were not for their boasting and self-advertisement, the calculations, of the astrologers might be very acceptable; but other important factors which must be considered make these calculations very unreliable, and, therefore, they do really more harm to the general public than good.

Not only do the few stars on which astrologers base their calculations, have to be taken into account, numberless others unknown to them play a great role in lessening or strengthening influences, in crossing or displacing them, so that the result arrived at is often just the contrary of what the best astrologers have been able to prognosticate.

And finally there is another postulate which is decisive and of the greatest importance: that is the psyche of the individual. After all else has been taken into consideration, it is only he who can weigh each individual soul with all its abilities, qualities and ambitions as well as all the Karma attaching to it, in a word, one who can judge to a nicety of its real state of maturity in a spiritual sense that might venture to make prognostications! If a human soul is enveloped and surrounded by dark influences, however favourable the stars’ rays may be for him, they will bring him no blessing from the Light; and on the other hand, if the condition of the human soul is such that it repels all that is not pure and light, and will not allow impurity to approach it, the most malignant stellar rays cannot do that man serious harm, and will, on the contrary, prove of benefit to him in the end.

The wisdom and the power of the Almighty are not so partial as the disciples of Astrology imagine. He does not make the weal and woe of His children depend wholly on stellar influences, although assuredly these vigorously cooperate, not only in the fate of each individual, but in the happenings of the whole world. After all, the influences are but tools. They work independently but also in cooperation with many other influences.

Some astrologers think that they work intuitively, but their inspiration is not more reliable than their calculations.

Their inspirations cannot be of high order, for there is a measureless gulf fixed and a veil drawn between Omniscience and humanity.

Calculations are but one-sided piece-work, inadequate and deficient: in a word, incomplete and consequently misleading. They disquiet a man, and disquiet is the soul’s greatest enemy, for it breaks down its natural defences and lets in evil which would otherwise never have found entrance. During periods of malevolent stellar rays, they will feel anxious, perturbed, and on the other hand, they will be over- confident and unwise when they are convinced that the stellar rays are favourable. Considering the inadequacy of all the calculations, they are only burdening themselves with unnecessary anxiety instead of cultivating a free, joyous spirit, which is a more powerful defence than the most malignant stellar rays could break through.

If the astrologers are so bent on their study, let them pursue it and seek to perfect themselves, but let it be in private, for themselves alone. This is what serious students do.

The public should not be molested with such incomplete work. It only does mischief; it shakes a man’s self-confidence and constrains a free spirit. This must be avoided in any case.

If men were not so entirely absorbed in the necessities and trivialities of daily life, but would pay some attention to the events great and small that are happening around them, and examine them more closely, their understanding would soon be widened. They would be surprised at themselves, and hardly believe it possible that they had never noticed or been impressed by the astonishing coincidences in the life around them. They have indeed every reason to shake their heads and pity their own dullness and want of observation. A whole world of strictly ordered, living phenomena suddenly reveals itself to open eyes, disclosing the unerring hand of the Supreme Guide: the world of symbolism.

This world, the roots of which reach deep down into the ethereal part of Creation, is the world of corresponding phenomena. And only the out-lying boundary, the very outskirts are visible in the material world. Like the ground- swell in an apparently perfectly smooth sea, it is not visible, and can only be perceived by the little ripples that lap the shore. Man has no idea how, with but little trouble and a modicum of attention, he can observe and follow what for him is so vitally important and yet terrifying: the alarming working of Karma. It is possible, however, for him to make himself familiar with it, and then it will lose the terrors it often has for the man who thinks. This may mean a way upwards for many. They learn to perceive and feel the deeper vibrations of transcendental life by observing what they see happening in physical life. They can follow the working of the law of returns, and will in time become convinced of the perfect justice in the development of all happenings. If a man has once got so far, he will gradually understand and get reconciled to the strictly logical and uninterrupted working of Divine Will in the physical as well as in the ethereal substance in Creation. From that moment he will reckon with it and submit to it of his own free will. For him it will mean swimming in a powerful current of strength. He who swims with the current will find the current help him. He makes use of its power by accommodating himself to it. Thus for him the reaction will only be beneficial. He will smile when he sees that the Scriptures are meant to be understood literally, and are literally fulfilled. In his childish simplicity, it seemed to him impossible to obey the demands made on man’s obedience, because they required the subjection of a slave. What offended him formerly, because it seemed to him that despotic calls were being made on his obedience, now with open eyes he counts as blessings and heavenly gifts endowing him with immense power so that he can consciously cooperate in God’s glorious universe. The modern man resents scriptural admonitions such as: “he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” or “whosoever humbleth himself, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”; man shall obey, shall serve and other similar passages. The words, although so simple, childlike and so apt, offend his intellectual pride. He will no longer be led as a blind man. He will himself understand and consciously cooperate in all things and inwardly feel the enthusiasm that can only come from conviction. This is necessary to accomplish anything great. As a man progresses in his development, it is right he should take his place more consciously in Creation. And when, having knowledge of the mighty laws, he will recognise that the simple scriptural admonitions — so strangely different in their diction to modern expressions — recommend exactly what he has now voluntarily and with full conviction made up his mind to, he will be amazed to find that he only rejected the old lore, because he interpreted it wrongly and never seriously tried to penetrate to its inner meaning, nor to bring it into harmony with modern conceptions.

Whether, as it stands written, man is humbly to submit to the Will of God, or whether, after having rightly comprehended the laws, he accommodates his actions to them, is one and the same thing; man can only make use of the powers that carry out God’s Will, when he studies them, thoroughly understands them and adapts himself to them. This in reality means yielding and submission, not rebellion against them, but working with them. Only when he adapts his will and brings it into harmony with nature can he avail himself of its help. This is not wielding power but humbly submitting to the Will of God.

When men ascribe useful discoveries to their own ingenuity or to scientific research, it only means that they have found out how the laws of nature operate. They recognise the Will of God and accommodate themselves to it. This is obedience and humble submission.

In Creation all operates in a circle. Every happening must find its appropriate conclusion, must be resolved at the point from which it started (i.e. it ceases to be a working unit).

This is the law of returns which dominates all Creation and every separate happening and on this rests symbolism. Every action in returning to exhaust its energy must do so in the same substance or matter in which it took its beginning. What began in ethereal invisible substance must exhaust itself in ethereal invisible substance and what began in gross physical substance must exhaust itself in gross physical substance.

What happens in ethereal matter or substance man cannot see, he only sees physical results and calls this symbolism. But as the causes of these results mostly lie in former lives in physical matter, he has no key by which to decipher the meaning of the symbols.

Although the greater part of reciprocal action takes place in the ethereal world, Karma requires that amends must also be made by some visible process in the place where the debt was incurred and by the same individual who incurred the debt. This is indispensable, whether the beginnings were good or evil, caused happiness or grief. Whether the later events brought blessings or forgiveness to the repentant and atoning sinner, a last visible discharge must come.

Should the character of the man in question have changed in the meantime and improved so much that he is no longer capable of his former behaviour, reciprocal action can no longer be so effective, as it cannot lay hold of this soaring soul, now so much lighter and more luminous, in obedience to the law of gravitation.*

The natural consequence is that as the time for retribution approaches its full force is dulled and neutralised by man’s aura having become lighter.

In spite of this, the circle must be closed and reaction must take place according to the automatic working of the law. Natural laws can never be circumvented. This is the reason that reaction, however weakened, must have visible effect in matter before it can be discharged. The end must merge into the beginning. Owing to his lighter aura, the evil Karma cannot do harm to the man in question; this weakened reaction can only act on his immediate surrounding in such a way that he is induced voluntarily to make amends by doing something corresponding in nature to the retribution he would otherwise have to suffer. This manner of return causes no pain, does him no harm — on the contrary, often gives him satisfaction.

Such is the purely symbolical atonement for many a grievous sin. Because of the change in the man’s character, the law has adapted itself to his case, and Karma is satisfied. The man himself is generally unconscious of this. There lies mercy of such magnitude in this process, the natural result of the Divine Law in perfect Creation, as only could come from Almighty Wisdom. There are many occasions and opportunities accorded man, by virtue of which he is able to discharge his obligations and ward off Karmic reaction symbolically.

Let us take an example: a hard, despotic character oppresses and torments his fellow-men, thus burdening himself with a heavy load of Karma. This now goes its way and rotates with the great wheel of events, attracting all analogous influences on its journey, and returns, like a huge wave, to permeate the aura of that man, till it works on the material surroundings also and produces such conditions as make him suffer from similar tyranny but to a far greater degree than he made his victims suffer.

If in the meantime, however, the man has come to a better understanding of the truth, he will have acquired a lighter and more luminous aura, and his Karma will change automatically. When the dark wave of evil comes in contact with the light, it gets more or less transfused by it, in proportion to its strength, and thus becomes more or less harmless. If the former tyrant has bettered himself quite exceptionally and made great progress upwards, it can happen that he will have no Karma to suffer from and only temporarily do something that resembles atonement.

Let us suppose it be the case of a woman. Here it would suffice, if she took the scrubbing-brush out of her maid- servant’s hand to show her, in all gentleness, how to scrub the floor. And if it is but making a few movements of this sort, still they symbolize menial service, and that is sufficient. This little action is the atonement that had to be made visibly and that, in spite of its insignificance, was capable of satisfying Karma. In the same way the changing of a room can atone for a misdeed that would otherwise have required far greater and harder changes. These are the results of the diminished strength of the reactionary wave. Sometimes an accidental action can be cleverly adapted by the spirit-guide, to bring about atonement.

In all these cases the condition is that a very decided change has already taken place in the state of the soul. These are circumstances that an astrologer is naturally unable to take into account, and, therefore, he often occasions unnecessary apprehension by his calculations, indeed the fear he instils can be so great that its power suffices to attract mischief and even to create it anew. In this case the calculations would apparently be right, whereas if the fear had not been excited, they would have proved wrong. Here man himself has opened a door in the luminous circle around him by his fear. If he voluntarily stretches his hand out of his protecting covering, nobody can help him. His own will suffices to break through every protection from within, whereas, nothing is able to penetrate from without to him through the light, against his will.

Hence every little service done to a fellow man, heartfelt sympathy for him in his troubles or indeed a single kind word is able to propitiate Karma as soon as the motive is an earnest striving for what is good.

This latter desire is naturally of the first importance; otherwise, there could be no question of symbolical atonement, and the reaction due would work out in its full power. As soon as the serious wish to rise spiritually awakes in a man, he will notice how his surroundings gradually get more and more animated. It will strike him, how all sorts of things are put in his path which always end successfully. Next it will strike him that his life becomes more restful and peaceful, and all that happens helps him to rise in the material world. Then the time of atonement is past. With a glad heart he can now gratefully indulge the thought that much guilt has fallen from him, for which he would otherwise have had to do heavy penance. Let him then watch and have a care that all the new threads of fate that his wishes and his will weave are only pure and good, so that Karma may henceforth bring him blessings!

What most believers hold to be faith is not real faith. Faith can only be real, when a man has entered into the very heart of Divine teaching, made it his own and thus arrived at a perfectly unbiased and living conviction of its truth.

God’s teaching comes to us through His Holy Word and through His Creation. Everything bears witness of Him and of His Divine Will; and, as soon as man consciously experiences all the phenomena of being and activity, all his sensations, his thoughts and his deeds will unite in acclaiming God’s Holy Truth. Then he will be silent, he will not often speak of it, but he will have become a person, inspired with that inner devotion, or perfect trust in God, that will enable him to stand firmly and securely in his place in the universe. He will not give way to fits of ecstasy, nor will he persist in leading a purely spiritual life on earth, but on the contrary he will fearlessly attend to his worldly duties according to the dictates of his sound understanding, at the same time skilfully use his wits in necessary self-defence when attacked, without being unfair. In no case is he to suffer himself to be treated with injustice without remonstrating, for this would be to encourage and strengthen evil.

Now there are many who only imagine themselves to have faith. In spite of inwardly acknowledging the existence of God and His Work, they fear the smile of the unbelievers. It is disagreeable and unpleasant to them. When this subject is discussed in their presence, they would pass it over with an inscrutable expression on their faces and in their embarrassment and by their behaviour constantly make concessions to the unbeliever. This is not faith, for although they may inwardly assent, in reality they are disowning the God to whom they pray and from whom they expect every blessing.

This false consideration for the disbeliever cannot be excused by saying that the subject was too holy and serious to admit of its being exposed to ridicule. Nor can one call it modesty; it is mean cowardice! Speak up and let us hear whose children you are! With the pride that becomes every child of God, fearlessly face every man! Only then will the incredulous be forced to bridle their sneers which really betray their uncertainty. At the present time, however, their ridicule is only fostered and encouraged by the behaviour of many believers.

People deceive themselves, because they have ascribed quite a different meaning to the word faith from what it really has. Faith must be a living thing, i.e. it must be even more than conviction, it must be active. It is active when it permeates everything; all sensations, all thoughts, all actions. Coming from within the man, it must unobtrusively be visible and be felt, as a matter of course, in all that appertains to him. It must not be hung out as a mask or a signboard. The emanations of the inner spiritual man must also appear externally. In plain words, right faith must be energy, which, coming from the spirit of man, must permeate his flesh and his blood as a matter of course — nothing artificial or forced, nothing studied, but life itself.

Look more closely at many of these believers. They pretend to believe in life after death and it would seem that they really mean it. If, however, they have the opportunity of getting a proof of this life in another world, somewhat out of the ordinary course of events, they are terrified and shaken, thus showing that, in truth, they were not so convinced after all of this life after death, for otherwise such a proof would have seemed quite natural. They would neither be frightened nor specially moved.

Besides these cases there are many others which show how little faith the so-called believers have. Theirs is no living faith.

When a man is striving to lay up for himself treasures in heaven, the question will often arise: is it necessary for him to part with his earthly wealth and to disregard all worldly possession ?

It would be folly indeed to teach such renunciation and recommend it as a principle.

When man is warned not to set his heart on worldly possessions, it does not mean he should give away or throw away his wealth and live in poverty. Man should joyfully accept and enjoy what God’s Creation offers him.

The admonition says: he is not to cling to his possessions to make their accumulation the aim of his life on earth. He is not to let that thought master him, for that would naturally turn him aside from pursuing higher aims. He would not find time for the latter. All his interests would be set on acquiring wealth, whether for its own sake or for the pleasure that it enables him to enjoy, or for whatever other reason, the result would be the same. He would bind himself to what is purely material and this would obstruct his spiritual vision and prevent his ascent.

The erroneous idea that worldly possessions are incompatible with spiritual advance, is responsible for the absurd view that spiritual advance, if serious, can never have anything in common with mundane possessions. Men are not aware of the disservice they do themselves, by giving away their wealth, for they disqualify and cripple the spiritual gifts that might fall to their share. Owing to this absurd view all spiritual work must depend for support on public charity, and gradually such work comes to look like beggary depending on almsgiving. Thus the spiritual worker or aspirant cannot command the respect that is unquestionably his right and his due. The work itself is doomed to be fruitless from the very beginning, because it would not stand on its own feet but always be dependent on the good-will of men.

He who is struggling heavenwards needs wealth more than any other, to protect and shield his spiritual treasure. Being a material weapon, he needs it to parry the attacks of the enemy. It would be indeed senseless to despise their most efficient weapon at a time when materialists are at the summit of their power. The results of such irresponsible negligence might well be disastrous. Therefore, all you who are true believers do not despise riches that could not have been acquired without the assent of the Will of God, the God you are seeking to honour. But make good use of them, do not let yourselves be lulled to sleep by them as riches are inclined to do.

A like standpoint is taken towards those who are blessed with special gifts enabling them to benefit mankind in different ways, such as the gift of healing the sick. In the most unabashed way, men consider that such gifts, having been accorded to man from heaven, as a particular blessing, should be placed at their free disposal. They even go so far as to expect that, when in their dire distress they have applied for such help, their condescension in so doing should be acknowledged with the expression of particular gratification. All help to such applicants, even if it be the only means to save them, should be unconditionally refused. Men blessed with such gifts should set a greater value on them, and not cast their pearls before swine. To afford serious help they must expend far greater physical and psychic energy, as well as more time on their treatment, than a barrister needs to plead in defence of the accused or a doctor, to go on his round of visits to patients, or an artist to paint his picture. It would never occur to any one to expect the barrister or the doctor, or the artist to do their work for nothing, although the ability they have to do their work at all, is also a heavenly gift.

Cast aside these beggar’s rags and don the garment that it is your good right to wear.

There is one thing in which all men believe without exception. It is death! Death is one of the few facts that have never been disputed nor doubted. Yet, although all men, from childhood upwards, reckon with the fact that they must once die, the greater number, by far, seek to ward off the thought. Many people, indeed, are even irritated if the subject is broached in their presence. Others again, carefully avoid cemeteries and if, by chance, they meet a funeral procession in the street, they seek to efface the impression made as soon as possible, for at such moments an inexplicable feeling of dread oppresses them; they fear that death may one day suddenly surprise them. A strange feeling of apprehension prevents their seriously meditating on this irrefutable fact.

There hardly exists another process that, though so inevitable, is so pushed aside in their thoughts as death. Nor is there another such important event in man’s life on earth unless it is birth. It is a striking fact that man will not and does not concern himself more with the beginning and the end of his life on earth, whereas to other, even quite secondary matters, he ascribes the greatest importance. He cogitates and speculates on the intervening periods of life more than on what would fully and effectively enlighten him: the beginning and the end of human life. Death and birth are so closely allied, because one is the result of the other.

In the first place procreation is regarded with a lamentable want of the consideration due to its importance. It would be a rare case in which one could find anything worthy of the dignity of man or of the importance of the occasion, for just on this point man is pleased to place himself on a level with the animal without being able to preserve its innocence. In this indeed man ranks below the beast. For the beast acts in harmony with the degree of development of the plane it is on in Creation. Man, however, cannot, or will not, keep to the plane that is his. He descends to a lower level and then wonders how it is that humanity gradually deteriorates. Wedding customs of the present day make marriage appear a purely mundane matter. In many cases the revelries indulged in at the festivities are so unworthy that parents should not allow their children to be present. Speeches are made of such a suggestive nature that young men and girls who do not turn away in disgust, show that they themselves are spiritually no better and belong to the same low order.

It is as if the dissolute reveller wished here also to deceive himself, lest he should think of the real issue. If, as it has already become the custom, man’s earth-life is built up on such a frivolous basis, one can understand that he also strives to deceive himself with regard to death by trying not to think of it. This pushing aside of all serious thoughts is closely connected with the fact of procreation taking place under such unworthy, degrading conditions. That mysterious feeling of apprehension that accompanies man, like his shadow throughout his life, has its source in the consciousness of all the wrong in the frivolous and unworthy life of men. And if he cannot otherwise allay his fears, he tries to deceive himself, either by arguing that death is the end of all things (whereby he openly acknowledges his inferiority and his cowardly fear of being called to account) or by clinging to the hope that he is not much worse than others.

But all this reasoning does not alter the fact in the slightest degree, that death is coming nearer and nearer, day by day, hour by hour! When the last hour has come, how deplorable those will look, who so positively denied the existence of another world where they could be made answerable for their doings. Then, in their alarm, they will begin to question, plainly showing how shaken they are, and how their convictions have begun to waver. This is now but of little use. It is again cowardice, for suddenly, when the end approaches, they recognise the possibility of a continuation of life and of a reckoning to come. Alarm, fear, cowardice do not affect, diminish or curtail the retributive reaction of Karma any more than does obduracy. It is not after this fashion that understanding and true contrition come about.

When the worldly man’s last hour approaches, his intellect (which he found so trustworthy during his life) will play him a sorry trick by suggesting that it would be prudent to turn pious. This, at the time when the process of the separation of body and soul has so far advanced, that the dying man’s intuition (the sensation of his ethereal body) has attained the same power as his intellect, which up till then had mercilessly subjugated his intuition. But the dying man profits nothing; he will reap what his thoughts and actions sowed on earth! He has changed nothing, nor improved, he will irresistibly be drawn under the reacting wheel of Karma, and must now himself learn by experience how he erred in his convictions, and, consequently, in his actions and thoughts. He has every reason to dread the hour when he must leave his physical body. That body protected him for a while against transcendental influences. It was intended as a shield behind which he was to work at his improvement undisturbed, where he could alter much and even redeem much wrong, which he could not do otherwise.

It is doubly sad, when this time of merciful respite is rioted through in frivolous self-deception as if it were a drunken revel. Many there are who have every reason for alarm and apprehension.

The case is quite different with those who have not wasted their time on earth, but who have discovered, although late, that they were on the wrong road and have turned before it was too late to lead a spiritual life. Their serious search for the truth will serve them as a staff and support in their passage into the next world. They need have no misgivings in taking this step from the physical material world into the ethereal transcendental world. It is a step every man must take. All matter, whether physical or ethereal, is transient. They may welcome this hour of release, for it means an advance in all cases, no matter what they have to experience in the ethereal world. Their good experiences will make them happy and the evil ones will be made surprisingly easy burdens to bear. Here their goodwill helps them more effectively than they could have imagined.

The process of dying, in itself, is nothing further than birth into a world of finer substance, similar to the process of birth into the physical world. The ethereal body remains attached to the physical as with a navel string for some time after death has taken place. The connection is more or less close (or slack) in proportion to the progress the soul, now born into the ethereal world, has already made on earth towards spirituality and how far it has got on its way to the Kingdom of God. The more the man tied himself to the world, i.e. to matter, and refused all knowledge of the spiritual world, the tighter this connecting link, made by his own volition, ties his ethereal body (which he wants as his clothing in transcendental life) to its physical vessel. According to the law it follows that the denser his ethereal body is, the heavier and the darker it appears. This great resemblance and close relation to matter makes it very hard for the soul to detach itself, so that it happens in such, cases that the last bodily pain and the process of decay is felt in the ethereal body too, and the same would be the case, when the physical body is cremated. After the final severance of this link, the ethereal body sinks to that level on which its surroundings are of corresponding density and weight. There man will be among those whose opinions and views agree with his. As all sensations in that region are far more acute and quite uncontrolled or restrained, one can understand that provocation is more bitter and strife more violent than on earth.

It is otherwise with a man, who aspired to all that is noble during his life on earth. Such a man is inspired with a conviction that this transit from the physical to the transcendental world must come, and for him the severance is much easier. His ethereal body and the connecting link are not dense. They are of a nature alien to the physical body, and are consequently easily and quickly detached, so that before and during the last death-struggle the ethereal body stands beside the physical body, if, indeed, there be such a thing as a death- struggle when a normal being passes over. The slender connecting link does not allow the ethereal body standing there to feel any pain, indeed feelings cannot be transmitted from the physical to the ethereal body. Owing to its frail and transient nature, such a strand soon tears and sets the ethereal body perfectly free to soar to that region where all is of finer, lighter nature. There in that sublime realm the liberated soul will only meet with kindred souls, happiness and peace. Such a light and porous body of invisible substance naturally becomes more and more luminous, till it is so transparent that the pure rays of the spirit within begin to break through. This process precedes the final evolution to a perfectly translucent human spirit which can then enter into the sphere of pure spiritual substance.

Those, however, who are present at a death-bed should take warning that they do not break out into loud lamentations. When the grief at parting is too extravagantly expressed, the ethereal body, in the process of detaching itself, or which has already detached itself and is standing by the physical body, can hear and feel and be so touched by the lamentations that a feeling of pity arises within him. He wishes now to say a few words of consolation to his friends, but to make himself understood to them he needs his physical brain. The effort to reconnect his ethereal body with his physical body, stops the process of disconnection which had already set in, or was, indeed, perhaps already accomplished; and the result of being drawn back into his physical body is, that he again must suffer the pangs that were already past. When the process of detachment begins afresh, it is much harder and more painful and even takes some days to accomplish. This is what is called the long fight for life, which is, indeed, painful. The natural process has been interrupted by the noisy grief of the egoistical mourners, and the slight effort to concentrate has made the reconnection compulsory. To dissolve this unnatural union is very difficult for a soul who does not know how to proceed, and no help can be afforded it, as it was its own desire to reconnect itself. It is easy for such a connection to take place before the physical body is cold, and the link which still holds the two bodies together is sometimes not severed for weeks. It is unnecessary suffering for the dying man and an utter want of consideration on the part of the bystanders.

Absolute peace should reign in the chamber of death — a gravity suitable to the importance of the hour. Those people who cannot control themselves should be forcibly removed even if they be the nearest relations.

A disembodied human spirit is standing apart and perplexed in the chamber of death. On looking around it is sorely troubled to see its body lying on its death-bed.

The man who is lying there, when alive, refused to believe in the continuity of life after the death of the physical body. It was a subject he had never seriously considered, and he had laughed at those who did so. Now he sees people he knew, standing weeping round his dead body; he hears what they are saying and feels the sorrow expressed in their regrets at his death. He would like to laugh and call out that he is alive. He does it, but to his surprise they do not hear him. He does it — again and again, louder and louder, but the mourners go on lamenting; they do not listen to him. An eerie feeling comes over him, and he begins to be frightened, for he hears his own voice quite loud and he distinctly feels his body. Again he calls out in anguish, but nobody pays attention to him. They go on weeping and gazing at that lifeless body, which he recognises as having been his own, but which now seems something strange that does not belong to him, for is he not standing next to it, free from the pain that he up till now suffered ?

Now he calls his loved wife by name, she who is kneeling at his bedside; but she weeps on, nor does she show by word or by sign that she has heard him. He steps up to her in desperation and vigorously shakes her shoulder, but she takes no notice.

He does not know that he is but touching her ethereal body, invisible and intangible to the senses of the physical body. Neither he nor his wife ever thought that there existed anything beyond the physical body, so she is quite insensible to his touch.

A horrible dread seizes him and makes him shudder. He feels utterly forsaken and forlorn, and weakness overcoming him, he loses consciousness.

The sound of a voice that he knows gradually wakes him, and now he sees his body lying embedded in flowers. He would fly away, but he finds it impossible to sever himself from this still, cold body. He distinctly feels he is bound to it. Then he again hears the voice speaking, that aroused him from his slumber. It is one of his friends speaking to another. They have each brought a wreath and are talking together while laying them down. No one else is in the room. His friend! He wishes to attract his attention and that of the other too, who was often a welcome guest at his house. He must tell them that, extraordinary as it may sound, he is still alive, that he can hear them speaking, and he calls out to his friend, but the latter, turning to his companion goes on speaking. And what does he hear ? He is thunder- struck. That, his friend! That is how he speaks of him! He is petrified at what they say — his genial and convivial table-companions! As long as they sat at his festive board and went in and out of his hospitable house, their words were honeyed.

These left and others came. How clearly he could see into their thoughts and hearts. So many that he had highly valued now filled him with disgust and anger, and others that he had passed over unnoticed made him feel he would like to press their hands gratefully. He shrieked and raved to prove to them that he was still alive, but they neither heard him nor felt him. In a solemn procession the body was conveyed to the grave, and he sat cross-legged on the coffin. Embittered and desperate though he was, he could but laugh, laugh! But his laughter soon gave way to hopeless despair — he felt terribly lonely, and again, utterly exhausted, he fell asleep When he awoke, darkness surrounded him. How long he had been sleeping, he could not tell, but he felt that he was no longer tied to his physical body — he was free, free, but in a strange and oppressive darkness. He called out, but no sound came. He could not hear his own voice. He groaned and sank back helpless, and in so doing struck his head against a sharp stone. When after a long time, he awoke, he still was in the same gruesome darkness, and in the same sinister silence. He wanted to jump up, but his limbs were as heavy as lead. Trembling with fear, he made a desperate effort to rise, summoning all his strength to his aid. When he was on his feet, he staggered to and fro, then forwards, groping his way. He often stumbled, fell and bruised himself badly against sharp corners and edges; still he pressed on unheeding, driven by a strong impulse within him to investigate further. He was seeking, but what was he seeking ? Onward, onward, he went till he again broke down.

Then again he pulled himself together and continued his wanderings. Years went by — decade after decade passed. At last tears came into his eyes and sobs shook his breast — then a thought took shape in him — it was a prayer, the outcry of a tired soul yearning for an end to this condition of ceaseless misery. The outcry of despair and hopeless suffering! But — it impelled him for the first time to think consecutively. His ardent wish to get away made him ask what had brought him into this terrible plight, what was it that was so cruelly forcing him to wander in darkness ? He stretched forth his hand and felt nothing but stark rocks! Was this the earth, or perhaps the other world, in the existence of which he had not believed ? The other world ? Then he was physically dead and yet alive. Was he alive ? He found thinking the greatest effort. Stumbling on, he sought further and again years passed. If he could but find a way out of the darkness! His ardent wish became a craving and his craving turned to longing. Longing is the purer spiritual sensation and gradually, and quite diffidently he began to pray. It was as if a clear spring were bubbling up within him bringing peace, humility and resignation, and then, when he arose to continue his wandering, what joy coursed through his body — what relief! Darkness had given way to twilight, and he could suddenly see. In the distance — a long way off — he saw a light, like a torch that greeted him. Jubilant, he stretched forth his arms to it and sank down, his heart overflowing with gratitude, and offered up thanks to Him who had granted him Light! With new-born strength he stepped out towards it. It did not come nearer to him, but taught by what he had gone through, he hoped to reach it at last, even if it should take centuries.

What had now happened, might happen again, and help come, which would lead him out of this stony desert into a warmer sunnier land, if he humbly and earnestly prayed for it. His heart was deeply moved with gratitude and hope, and he uttered the words: “My God, help me in this”, and, what untold joy, he could hear his own voice once more; it was a weak voice but still he heard it! He felt happy, and it gave him new strength, and again he went forward.

This is an example of the first experiences of a soul in the invisible world. This soul had not been a bad man on earth; he was accounted very good. He was a merchant-prince, very hardworking and honestly anxious to observe all mundane laws.

Now to explain this case, be it known that a man who rejects the idea of continuity of life after physical death and who does not believe that he will sometime have to answer for all he did and for all he left undone, will be blind and deaf to all phenomena in ethereal substance when he gets into the other world. It is only during the short span of time, it may be days, it may be weeks, that his ethereal body has not fully detached itself from his physical body, that he may be partly aware of what is going on around him.

When he is free from disintegrating matter, this possibility no longer exists for him. He no longer sees anything, neither does he hear anything. This is not punishment but a natural result. While he was in his physical body, he would neither hear nor see anything of ethereal substance. When he has gone over, a man’s will power can quickly adapt the senses belonging to the ethereal substance with which he is clothed, to the ethereal substance that surrounds him. This man prevented himself from seeing or hearing anything, for he refused to believe in ethereal substance. The condition such a man is then in, lasts until a change gradually takes place and this may not be for years, for decades, or for centuries. It is each individual’s own concern; he has his free will untrammelled. Neither will help come to him from outside, till he longs earnestly for it. He is under no constraint whatever.

The Light that this man saw and greeted with such delight, was always there, only he could not see it. Neither could he at first see it in all its clearness and brilliance. Whether a soul sees a strong or a feeble Light, is again its own concern, depending entirely on its condition at the time. The Light does not approach, but it is there, and every soul, that is desirous of enjoying it, can do so at any time.

What I am saying here concerns the one species of souls only. In the dark regions there is no light at all, and so it cannot happen that a developing soul suddenly comes face to face with it. The soul must first be led out of surroundings that retain it.

The condition we have been investigating is surely terrible, especially because of the agony of fear and hopelessness suffered; but this soul would have it so and only got what it insisted on. It had refused all knowledge of a continuance of life. The soul, however, cannot put an end to life; it can only turn it into a barren waste, suppressing and deadening its senses, so that it can neither see nor hear ethereal substance. This state lasts till he seeks enlightenment, and this is what happens to millions of souls on earth. They are upright and honourable, but they refuse to believe in eternity or in God.

The fate of the wicked is much more deplorable, but of them I shall not speak here. I have only depicted so-called respectable people.

When it is said: God will stretch out his hand to help man, the help meant here, is the Word that He has sent him, for in the Word man will find how he can get rid of the sin in which he has entangled himself. His mercy He has already shown in all the great possibilities that are at man’s disposal in Creation. The possibilities are greater and more numerous than man of the present day can conceive. He has never seriously turned his attention to these and when he has investigated, it has been but a pastime and for the purpose of self-aggrandisement. As soon as the human spirit recognises the true value of God’s Word and perceives its deep meaning, he will achieve great things in Creation.

Up till now, men have given preference to their own knowledge which consequently remained stagnant — piecework of the lowest quality in comparison to the fulness of wisdom in the Divine Word.

And now, again, they would push aside unheeded the Word, for no one knows the true value of the Message of the Holy Grail — not one man on earth.

Even if a man imagines he has grasped the meaning, even if he is spiritually aware of the advantage he has gained in his part-knowledge, still he does not know the true, the intrinsic value; he has not understood the hundredth part.

It is I who brought this Message, who tell you this: you do not know what treasure you have in your hands. It is the Way, the Gate, and the Key, which lead you to Life, Life that is not to be purchased with all the treasures of this earth, with all the treasures of the universe.

Draw from the bourne of Life offered you by my Message. Help yourselves to the most precious possession you could ever find. Take it as it is, without either analysing or criticising it, for then it would profit you nothing. Your task is not to interpret the Message but to make a shrine for it in your souls. It is there you should look to see if aught be unsightly or ill- favoured. Make a temple within you and remove all that is discordant, but do not touch my Message. All who do so will be helped.

A miracle is something that sets men wondering. It is something that they hold to be impossible. Yet, that it is possible, is proved by the fact of its occurring.

But miracles according to the imaginings of many faithful believers in God do not exist, for they consider that a miracle must be something that happens outside the laws of nature, even contrary to the laws of nature, by which they would recognise its Divine origin. For them a miracle is a thing only possible to God; for them it is a sign of His especial Grace, given to show them His Omnipotence.

Omnipotence, in their erroneous opinion, is the power of acting arbitrarily, and they consider a miracle to be an arbitrary act. But they do not reflect how they thus belittle the Almighty, for such miracles would be anything but Divine.

God’s work is perfect, without flaw or gap. Perfection implies a strictly logical sequence of events in every respect. The only difference being, that in a miracle a natural process that would ordinarily take a longer time, develops with such unparalleled rapidity, either owing to some individual’s special gift or to some other cause, that it is called miraculous, in a word a miracle.

Occasionally it may be that a miracle will happen owing to possibilities beyond the present state of the earth’s development and brought about by a concentration of energy, but the miracle will never be worked outside, or contrary to the natural law. Could one suppose such a thing (in itself an impossibility), it would lose all its Godliness and become an arbitrary act; thus just the contrary of what so many of the faithful believe. Nothing that is deficient in strictly logical sequence can come from God. Every miracle is an absolutely natural process, only that it proceeds with exceptional rapidity and with concentrated power. It is quite out of the question that anything unnatural can ever happen.

When diseases are healed, that up till now were considered incurable, it does not mean that a change in natural law has taken place, but only shows up the gaps and deficiencies in human knowledge. All the more must we praise the mercy of the Almighty, for giving certain chosen individuals special power which they can use for the welfare of suffering humanity. They will always be such who have kept themselves free from the self-conceit and presumption that scientific study lends. Worldly scholarship would naturally hinder the possibility of receiving higher gifts.

Worldly scholarship seeks to satisfy ambition and can never receive inspiration in the pure spirit of a child. Gifts that come from regions beyond space and time can only be received and never acquired. This circumstance alone shows which gifts are the more precious, the more powerful, and the more Divine.

If a child is baptized by a priest who looks upon the rite merely as one of the observances belonging to his office, the ceremonial is absolutely meaningless, doing neither good nor harm.

On the other hand when a person arrived at maturity is baptized, it depends upon the strength of his desire and the purity of his soul, how much of the spiritual gift he can assimilate.

In the case of a child, it is only the priest who, according to the strength and purity of his faith, can give the child a certain spiritual blessing as well as protection against evil influences.

Baptism is not a rite that every priest, ordained by the church, can effectually perform. Spiritual Light can only be transmitted by one who has affinity to the Light. The authority to baptize cannot be acquired by study nor by the sanction of the Church which ordained the priest. It has nothing whatever to do with mundane customs. It is a gift from above, and he who possesses it, has a Divine Call.

There are not many such, for if there be not corresponding conditions in the soul of the man, the connection with spiritual light is impossible. Where the spiritual basis is insecure or inclines in a contrary direction, the Divine Light cannot penetrate, for this proceeding, like all else, is strictly subject to spiritual laws.

Men thus inspired and gifted can really transmit spiritual strength, so that this rite really has the value that it expresses symbolically. In spite of this it is preferable only to baptize those who themselves are conscious of its inner meaning, and who have an ardent desire to be baptized. Thus, the rite of baptism should only be celebrated under the following conditions: the maturity of the candidate, his uninfluenced ardent desire for baptism, and a man inspired from on high to baptize. All the Christian Churches recognise that John the Baptist was such an inspired man of God. His most embittered adversaries were the Scribes and Pharisees, who held themselves called upon to judge and condemn him. The Israelites at that time were the people called by God. This is an undeniable fact. In their midst, the Son of God was to begin his ministration on earth. In the fulfilment of this promise their call came to an end. A new Israel must now arise to fulfil the Promise. But the Israelites of John the Baptist’s time were the chosen of God, thus their priests should have been those inspired to baptize. In spite of this, however, John the Baptist had to come as the only one Divinely called, to baptize the Son of God in his earthly vessel at the beginning of his ministration on earth. This clearly shows that if a man is ordained to an office by man, his call has nothing to do with Divine ordinance. Only those who have a Divine call, can effectively officiate in God’s name, as in baptism. John the Baptist, the inspired man of God, who was rejected by the High Priest of the chosen people, called his adversaries vipers. He refused them the right of coming to him. Neither did these same priests recognise the Son of God Himself. They pursued him ceaselessly, seeking to destroy him, because he was their superior and, therefore, a constant offence to them.

If Christ were to come again at the present time in a new form, he would meet with the same animosity and rejection, and that also would be the fate of one sent by Him, an envoy. Indeed the more likely today because people think they are more “advanced”.

Not only in the case of John the Baptist but in many others we have the proof that unless he has the vocation, no ecclesiastical ordinances or instalments in office by authority which is but temporal, can ever endow a man with the special and necessary qualification to perform spiritual rites. Looked at from an unprejudiced point of view, baptism by Church dignitaries is but the enrolment of the child in a particular religious community, which it later on ratifies in the rite of confirmation, which means that it can further profit by the usages of these communities. The priest only acts as the accredited servant of the Church, but God and the Church are not one and the same thing.

There is much diversity of opinion among the critics regarding the legends of the Holy Grail. The most learned scholars have investigated the matter and sought to solve

the mystery, and much of their writing has high moral value. But they all make the same mistake. They strive to build from the earth upwards and thus neglect the essential, which is the ray of Light that falls from above and which would animate and enlighten them.

All research that starts from below and makes its way upwards must come to a halt at the boundary-line of material substance, even in the case of a seeker so gifted that he could attain to the greatest possible heights. In most cases, however, under the most favourable circumstances, hardly half this distance can be traversed. What a great distance then is man from a real understanding of the Holy Grail!

The sense of its being so remote, so inaccessible and unapproachable grew on the seekers. The result was that they tried to explain the Holy Grail as the symbolical term for an idea, so as to place it on the sublime altitude that they rightly felt was its proper place. But in so doing they do not further a right understanding of the mystery, but rather retard it. They do not rise to the conception indicated by the poets, but descend to a lower plane of interpretation.

Their poems faintly reflect the truth, but only very faintly, for the lofty inspirations and heavenly visions in the poems have been transmitted by poets under the influence of their earthbound intellects, thus losing much of their sublimity and becoming very terrestrial. The transcribers clothed the spiritually received revelations in terms conformable to their worldly surroundings, with the object of making the meaning of the poems clear to men. In this, however, they failed, as they themselves could not get at the heart of the truth.

Thus the basis on which later investigators and seekers were to work was from the outset very uncertain and the possibility of success extremely limited. Hence one cannot wonder that they came to think the Holy Grail was meant to symbolise the process of making atonement and receiving absolution through the Grail.

The existing interpretations have much ethical merit, but they do not attempt to be explanations of the legends, nor can they claim to approach the truth of the Holy Grail.

It must be understood that the Holy Grail is not the cup that the Son of God and his disciples drank out of at the last supper after His having come to the end of His Ministry on earth, and in which afterwards His blood was caught when he was crucified. This vessel is a sacred memento of our Lord’s sublime Work of Redemption, but it is not the Holy Grail of which the inspired poets of the legends sang. These poems have been misunderstood.

They were meant as prophecies from on high. Man was to live in the expectation of their fulfilment. Had man understood them to be such, surely another way would have been found, by which the seekers could have penetrated further into the mystery than they have been able to do up till now. As it was, however, they all had to come to a dead stop. A full, satisfactory explanation could never be given, owing to the false start at the beginning of the quest.

The human soul, even if it has attained to its highest development and has become a pure spirit, will never be able to stand in the presence of the Holy Grail itself! It follows, therefore, that no detailed tidings can penetrate to the material world, unless a messenger be sent from there. Thus the Holy Grail will remain a mystery to the human soul for all eternity.

Let man keep to what he can understand spiritually and try to live up to what it teaches him and what fruit he can bring to perfection. Unfortunately, however, without correspondingly developing his ability, he demands what exceeds his legitimate right, he would grasp at what is far out of his reach. In so doing he makes himself guilty of remissness and negligence which hinders him from attaining to what he otherwise might. The ideal that he wishes for he can never attain. He only robs himself of his rarest and most precious gift, the why and the wherefore of his being, and thus the purpose of his life on earth is not accomplished.

The coming of Parzival is a glorious promise sung of by the bards. The defects and errors in their legends came from their too material interpretation, which misrepresents the true character of this central figure.

Parzival and the Son of Man are one and the same person whose advent was proclaimed by the Son of God Himself.* As envoy from the Almighty, he will come on earth with his spiritual sight blindfolded, to go through the bitterest experiences as a man among men. After a time, his spiritual sight will be restored. He will then recognise himself and remember the celestial home he came from and realise his mission on earth. His mission is to redeem those among men who are striving for the truth, and at the same time to call all men to account on the Day of Reckoning.

Not every man but only the chosen and special envoy of the Almighty can be vested with the gifts necessary to fulfil this mission.

God’s Holy Will, as laid down in His Divine Laws, decrees that everything, after it has gone through the process of development, must return to the place of its origin, but can never go beyond that point. Thus also the spirit of man, which as an unconscious germ has its origin in the world of spiritual substance, after completing its circle of experience in the world of material substance and after having arrived at the highest degree of perfection possible, will return as a pure and self- conscious spiritual being, to the place it left. But under the most favourable circumstances it may only reach as far as the forecourt of the Castle of the Holy Grail, which stands in the highest region of the spiritual world and forms a gate to the steps of the Throne, on which from time to time the Origin of all Being, God the Father, unsubstantiate Divinity, takes form and shape by clothing himself in the mantle of spiritual substance.

No spirit belonging to the spiritual world can ever be so high, so pure, so radiating that it could cross this boundary-line from the spiritual world into the sphere of unsubstantiate Divinity. Owing to the difference of substance, it lies in the natural order of things that there are boundary-lines between the many planes in spiritual substance and material substance which cannot be crossed.

God Almighty, Divine unsubstantiality, is the highest principle. Next comes, beneath that, the world of spiritual substance. Both of these are eternal. Descending lower and lower, comes material Creation, beginning with the gaseous ethereal spheres, and still lower, always becoming more dense, comes the material world that man can see with his physical eyes. The ethereal region is what man calls the other world or the next life. This is invisible to man’s physical eyes.

Both these worlds: the visible material and the ethereal material world, which belong to Creation, are not eternal with regard to their form, they are subject to mutation and will be thus rebuilt and re- animated in a new form.

The Castle of the Holy Grail is an edifice both spiritually visible and tangible because of the same spiritual substance. . . This building contains a Sanctuary which is the nearest approach to the region of Divinity, thus of still finer spiritual substance than the rest, and in this Sanctuary stands the sacred pledge of the Almighty Father’s eternal Love and the source of Divine energy: The Holy Grail!

This is a chalice in which a fluid like red blood unceasingly surges and bubbles without overflowing. It is surrounded by the most brilliant and penetrating light, but it is only vouchsafed to spirits of the purest spiritual substance to behold its glory. They are the guardians of the Holy Grail!

If the gifted bard, not being able to express it better, tells us that this office has been reserved for the purest of men, it is that he has drawn a too earthly picture, for no human spirit can cross the threshold into this Holy Sanctuary. Even when it has reached the highest step of spiritual perfection after its long wanderings in the material spheres its body would be too dense and a further etherisation would fully consume it. Its nature being different from the very beginning would not allow of a higher degree of luminosity.

The pure eternal spirits that are the guardians of the Holy Grail were never human, they are the sublimest examples of spiritual substance. Still, they also, like all else, need to draw strength from Divine unsubstantiality and are dependent on the Holy One, the source of all life.

From time to time on the Day of the Holy Dove, the Dove appears over the chalice, as a sign of the unfailing Love of God the Father. At this moment a union takes place and new strength is poured out. The guardians of the Holy Grail receive this in humble and profound devotion. It is their office to transmit this magic energy.

On this outpouring the existence of the whole universe depends! At this moment, the Love of the Creator wells up in the Holy Temple in glorious radiance to new life and fresh creative energy, and this pulsates downwards and diffuses itself in all the universe. Holy awe and a flutter of hope and delight vibrate through all the spheres. Only the spirit of man on earth still stands aside with the insensibility of a dolt, without knowing what a priceless gift he is receiving. Having voluntarily limited himself to what his physical brain can understand, such glorious sublimity finds no echo in his heart.

It is the moment of the renewal of all life for the whole universe!

It is the necessary, ever recurring ratification of the Creator’s covenant with His creature. Should this supply ever be cut off, all life would gradually dry up, grow old and decay. The end of all days would come and only God would remain alone, as it was at the beginning, for He alone is Life.

This is hinted at in the legend, for from the time that Amfortas ceased to uncover the Grail on the Day of the Holy Dove till the hour Parzival became king, the knights of the Holy Grail grew old.

Man should now no longer look upon the Holy Grail as something incomprehensible and inconceivable. It really exists! Although man’s spirit is not so constituted that it can perceive the Grail, he can receive and enjoy the blessing that proceeds from it and which the guardians can and do transmit. The bard has indeed caught something of the right meaning; his information is only unreliable when he would tell of the Holy Grail itself.

The coming of the Dove on the Day of the Holy Dove manifests the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, for this Dove is closely related to Him. But this is a thing man can only understand symbolically. To however high a degree of perfection a man’s spirit may have arrived, he cannot think or know of what is beyond the sphere of his origin, the sphere of eternal spiritual substance. In his thoughts even he never can cross this boundary. What is beyond his own sphere he cannot grasp. This is so simple and logical that every man should understand it. What is beyond him must, for this reason, be and remain a mystery to him.

Those men who cherish the erroneous dream that they possess divinity in themselves or can attain to this possession, are foolish visionaries. Man possesses pure spiritual substance, but nothing Divine. Here there is a deep gulf that cannot be bridged over. He is God’s creature and not a part of the Creator, as some would like to have it.

Man’s spirit comes from the Kingdom of God and will, when developed to its fullest maturity return there.

Thus it is wrong to affirm that it proceeds from God the Father, it having evolved from spiritual substance and not from Divine substance.

The Son of God has become the mediator between Divinity unsubstantiate and spiritual substance. He steps over from Divinity unsubstantiate to spiritual substance just as he once descended into the world of matter.

The Coming of the Son of Man will be the completion of the Son of God’s sublime Divine mission! When this is accomplished the Son of God will return to the state of Divine unsubstantiality, whereas the Son of Man will take His place as mediator and thus become the leader of the guardians of the Holy Grail — He will become their King, the guardian of the Holy Chalice.

The Son of Man will then be Alpha and Omega for the spirit of man, because he will be the first and the last of what the human spirit can understand. He can go beyond the boundary and enter the sphere of Divinity unsubstantiate and thus he can overlook all things.

An impenetrable veil shrouds the figure of Lucifer and all appertaining to him. It is as if no one were bold enough to lift a corner of this veil.

The reluctance to try is really the consciousness of the impossibility of penetrating into the kingdom of Darkness. It is quite natural that this should be impossible, for here again the component parts of the spirit of man set a limit. Just as man cannot and never will be able to reach to the highest heights, will he never be able to descend to the lowest depths.

Thus man’s creative imagination stepped in and found substitutes for what was missing to form a conception of Lucifer. Some suggested and pictured demons of excentric heterogeneous kinds, some said he was a fallen archangel, while others spoke of the embodiment of the principle of evil. Still, although Lucifer continually harasses the human soul, often involving it in mighty and bitter conflicts with itself, man knows and understands absolutely nothing of the intrinsic property of his real nature.

Those who speak of a fallen archangel and those who speak of evil incarnate are nearest to the truth. Only that starting from a wrong standpoint they get a wrong impression. Evil Incarnate pictures up in one’s mind, evil arrived at is climax, its culminating point where it has been crowned by being vested with life. Lucifer is just the reverse. He is the origin of the evil principle, the starting point and the driving force. One should rather say the mistaken, not the evil principle. The material part of Creation is the field in which this mistaken principle works. There alone can Light and Darkness come into contact with each other and there alone can these two opposing principles influence the soul of man while it is developing on its journey through matter, and it depends to which side its desires lean, whether the soul develops in the upward direction towards the Light or in the downward direction towards Darkness. The immense gulf which divides Light from Darkness is the region of material Creation, of forms that are transitory, i.e. forms that decompose, to resuscitate in another shape.

Celestial cycles, as instituted by Divine ordinance, can only be called complete (or said to have fulfilled their purpose) when their end returns to their starting point, so the career of a human spirit can only be looked upon as complete, when it has found its way back to the sphere of spiritual substance which is next to primordial Light, because the spiritual germ had its origin there.

If man allows himself to be enticed aside, attracted by the Powers of Darkness, he runs the danger of being drawn over the outer circle of his normal course into depths from which he can no longer find his way back or upward by himself; but he cannot step over the boundary line of the densest and lowest region of ethereal darkness and leave matter behind him, as he can do if he wills towards the region of spiritual substance, that being his original starting point. If he will not do this he must suffer himself to be whirled along in the mighty rotation of material Creation until finally decomposition sets in. His dark, ethereal clothing or body is so dense and heavy that it holds him down. In the process of decomposition, the spiritual personality he had acquired during his progress through Creation, is disintegrated. He dies the spiritual death and returns to mix with primordial seed.

Lucifer himself stands outside material Creation, therefore has no part in the process of decomposition, which is the fate of the victims of his principle; — for Lucifer is eternal. He proceeds from a part of the region of Divine substance. His dissention with God took place after the Creation of matter had begun. He was sent forth to foster and to develop spiritual substance in the material world. But he neglected to carry out this mission according to the intentions of the Divine Creator, and chose methods other than those indicated by the Almighty. Actuated by the persuasion that he knew better (this conviction having come to him whilst he was working in matter) he misused the power delegated to him, and introduced the system of temptation in place of the system of support and help. This latter system is identical with the service of love. Service of love in the heavenly sense, which has nothing to do with the menial service of a slave, but service which has the spiritual ascent of his neighbour at heart, considering his eternal welfare before all else.

The system of temptation is identical with the setting of traps, into which the unwary, when not quite steady, stumble, fall and are lost, whereas others, it is true, grow in strength and watchfulness, and finally bring forth splendid fruit and reach the highest heights. But weakness is doomed to destruction from the beginning. This method knows no benevolence, no pity; it is absolutely wanting in Divine Love which is the most powerful incitement to rise and the strongest help there is.

The Bible story of the temptation of Adam and Eve typifies the effect of Lucifer’s principle. The steadfastness of the pair was put to the test and, as soon as they began to vacillate, they were driven forth on to the road that leads to annihilation. Steadfastness would have been identical with glad subjection to the will of God, as expressed so plainly in the simple laws of nature. As they existed from the beginning of Creation, God’s commands were well-known to this pair of human beings. Not to hesitate would have meant to accept and obey these laws, thus only can man make use of them as intended and dominate as lord in Creation. If not opposed, all the powers of nature will be his willing servants and will work independently for his benefit.

This is what is meant by obeying the Almighty’s commands. All they purpose is to ensure that all possibilities of development in his glorious work should be encouraged and furthered. To do this is consciously to cooperate in the development of God’s wonderful work.

He who refuses to do this is a hindrance, an obstacle which must either be hewn into the right shape or be crushed to pieces in the wheels of the world’s mechanism, i.e. the laws of Creation, and be destroyed. He, who will not bend must break, as no stand-still may occur.

Lucifer refuses to be the Lord’s gardener and wait for the plant gradually to grow strong and the fruit to ripen. He pitilessly uproots all that show signs of weakness. In the meantime he has the greatest contempt for the victims who are beguiled by his temptations and who fall into the pitfalls he has dug for them; it is his wish that their weakness should destroy them.

Lucifer lays the snares and then loathes those caught in them, for they are disgusting to him in their depravity. The sight of their viciousness and corruption incenses him still more against them. They have proved themselves unworthy of love and encouragement and only fit for annihilation.

The natural result of the working of the principle of temptation, is that man is enticed to lead a life utterly devoid of moral control. This life, of unbridled passions strictly belongs to the lower regions of Darkness, but psycho-analysts allow, nay recommend, their adherents to give free play to their passions in their present life which they assure them will mature and liberate them. But what dreadful misery would and must ensue on earth, if such a principle were put into practice. What harm and mischief!

Conditions on earth and those in the regions of Darkness are very different, for there, only what is of similar nature, is herded together, whereas on earth darker and lighter spirits live together. One need only consider sexual life. If such a principle, put into practice, were let loose on mankind, the earth would be but one Sodom and Gomorrah, from which there would be no escape, but only an awful ending.

Quite apart from this, one sees many victims of psycho- analytical treatment wandering about helplessly, their self- reliance and indeed all power of individual judgment picked to pieces and destroyed by those to whom they had turned, trusting to obtain help. They stand there, their clothing systematically torn from them, so as to oblige them to put on the borrowed garments handed to them. The denuded ones generally do not see why they should put on new clothes. Through the systematic intrusion into their intimate personal affairs and rights they have lost what upholds and preserves their self-respect, viz.: the feeling of shame. Without shame there can be nothing individual, as shame is an integral part of personality.

A new building cannot be erected on such broken uneven ground. These unfortunate people lose their independence and become at times utterly helpless, having lost the slight prop that formerly upheld them.

The principle of allowing passions to run riot, uncontrolled, and the principle of testing character by temptation are closely allied, and the one naturally follows as the consequence of the other. This is how Lucifer proceeds.

The true physician of the soul does not pull down, he builds up, after having healed his patient. The right method is to transmute the patient’s desires by instilling spiritual understanding. It was by practising this utterly loveless method, in opposition to the will of the Almighty, who is the Source of Love, that removed Lucifer further and further from God, and ended in his being cut off from celestial Light and cast into the abyss. Lucifer is one who has cut himself adrift from Light, which means he is an outcast from heaven. This casting out was in evitable, for God the Almighty has expressed his Holy Will in the primordial unchangeable laws. No alternative was possible.

In the material world Lucifer is allowed to practise his system of temptation to a certain extent, but there are very strict limits given in the Divine Laws as to what he may do and how far he may go, for God alone is the Almighty in heaven and on earth.

In pursuit of his erroneous principle Lucifer tempts man to take the dangerous road, but unless man himself decides to do so, Lucifer cannot in any way compel him.

In truth Lucifer can only lure. But man stands firmer in material Creation than he does. His position is not only more secure but also more powerful, so that Lucifer’s influence is not irresistible. Every human being is so well protected, that it is a tenfold shame, if he allows this power, which is so much less in degree, to overcome him. Man must reflect that Lucifer stands outside matter, whereas he, man, stands firmly rooted in familiar ground. To work his principle, Lucifer can only make use of his auxiliary troops, who are composed of human spirits who have succumbed to temptation.

The spirit of every man who strives upwards is not only fully equal to these, but is their superior. Provided that they do not find a willing ear to their enticements, which gives them a hold, a single effort of concentrated volition is enough to drive away a legion of them.

Lucifer would indeed be quite powerless if man would seek to know and to obey the primordial laws of the Creator, but unfortunately men encouraged Lucifer’s methods more and more by their practices, and thus most of them will necessarily perish.

It is quite impossible that any human spirit could fight Lucifer; the different nature of their substance would prevent man approaching him. The human spirit can only approach or come in contact with those who have fallen, because they are of his own nature.

Only one whose origin was in the same sphere can approach this high and mighty spirit. Only such a one could get near enough; it needs an envoy, coming from the sphere of Divinity, inspired with the breath of God, armed with the holy fire of his mission and with perfect trust in the Source of all Power, in the Almighty Himself. This task is what has been delegated to the

Son of Man, whose advent has been proclaimed.

The combat will be personal, face to face, and not only general and symbolical, as many seekers in the traditions and prophecies would have it understood.

Thus the promise given in Parzival will be fulfilled. The Holy Spear of the legend expresses potency or power. Lucifer’s principle is the wrong use of Divine power or in other words “the Holy Spear wielded in the wrong hand”. In Lucifer’s hand the Spear dealt a terrible and grievous wound to all spiritual substance — a wound that would not heal.

What happened is very aptly illustrated in the legend, for the injury appears like an open wound that does not heal.

When, after the personal combat between the Son of Man and Lucifer, the Spear has been wrested from Lucifer, it will be wielded in the right hand. It will carry out the Will of the Creator and heal the wound it formerly dealt. It will also put into practice the teaching of the Holy Grail which is founded on pure love united to strict justice.

Human souls, which in the beginning were unconscious germs, leaped like sparks over the boundary from the lowest region of spiritual substance into the material world, expecting that after their wandering through matter they would awaken to self-consciousness and would, when developed return to their starting point, the spiritual world. It is a process like that of the circulation of the blood. But Lucifer’s method interrupts this circulating current, and diverts a great portion of it, so that much spiritual substance is lost. The circle cannot be closed and presents the spectacle of an open and exuding wound. When now the Holy Spear (i.e. Divine Power) is wielded by the right hand, it will close this open wound, for it will carry out the Creator’s Will and summoning all spiritual substance which permeates and animates matter, will point out the right way that leads to the celestial Kingdom of Light, to God the Father. So that it may no longer be lost but flow back to its origin, as the blood does to the heart. It is only the Spear that dealt the wound that can heal it.

First, however, the Spear must be wrenched from Lucifer and come into the right hand, and this takes place in the personal combat between the Son of Man and Lucifer.

The further wrestling that takes place in the ethereal and material worlds, are but after-struggles, results of this great combat, in which Lucifer is bound and fettered, and the promised reign of a thousand years begins. It means extermination and utter overthrow of the results of Lucifer’s methods and practices.

Lucifer is opposed to all the blessings of Divine Love which man enjoys during his progress through matter. If men would but simply strive for and cling to this Divine Love, they would be perfectly safe from every temptation that Lucifer could put in their way. His figure would be disrobed of all the terrors in which the imagination of man has clothed him.

The monstrous and hideous forms which man has erroneously given Lucifer are pure imagination. In truth no human eye has ever beheld him on account of the absolute difference in the nature of their constitution. Neither can man’s physical eye behold him, although it is often able to see beings of the ethereal world, in this life on earth. Contrary to the general opinion, Lucifer is proud and beautiful, of unearthly beauty, of dark majesty, with clear, large blue eyes; their expression is of icy coldness, telling of the utter absence of love. He is not as so often affirmed, an idea, a conception, he is personal.

Man should learn to understand how it is that he can never step over the limit of his sphere, because of his constitution, because of the intrinsic property of his nature, not even in his thoughts, and that he can only get messages from beyond this limit by the Almighty’s special grace. But these messages will not be transmitted by mediums, for these cannot change their nature, not even under supernatural conditions, nor can science convey them. Indeed chemistry has proved that the difference of substance, i.e. species, raises up insurmountable barriers. These are the primordial, everlasting laws that proceed from the Origin of all things and are to be found not only in Creation, but also outside it.

When one looks at pictures representing life in the infernal regions, commonly called Hell, one shrugs one’s shoulders and passes on with an ironical, half contemptuous smile,

thinking that only morbid fancy, or the blind faith of a fanatic could imagine such scenes. Very rarely there may be one who will seek for a grain of truth in these pictures. And yet the most ghastly imagination can hardly paint a picture that would come anywhere near truly depicting the torments of life in Hell. Poor blind simpletons, who imagine they can dispose of the question with a careless shrug of the shoulders! When the appalling truth dawns upon them, they will bitterly rue their thoughtless levity; no struggling or turning away will help them then; they will be drawn into the whirlpool which awaits them, unless, acknowledging their ignorance, they change their narrow-minded views in time.

The ethereal body will have hardly detached itself from the physical vessel when the first great surprise awaits the released spirit, namely that its consciousness and life have not come to an end.* At first this puzzles and confuses it, then terrible apprehension seizes it which again gives place to a state of resignation or deep despair; resistance is vain; lamentations and even prayers are useless, for they must reap what they have sown during their life on earth.

If they derided the word God sent them, which told them of life after death and of responsibility for every serious thought and action, the best they can expect is to find themselves in utter darkness.

The organs of their ethereal bodies: eyes, ears, and mouths are closed by their own doing; they are deaf, dumb, and blind in their new surroundings. That is the least misfortune that can happen to them. A helper on the other side cannot make himself understood, because they themselves have shut out the possibility.

A change in this sad condition can only very gradually be brought about by the maturing of the individual in question and by his increasing despair. The growing longing for light, which rises, like an uninterrupted cry for help, from such oppressed and tormented souls, is answered by increasing light around them, till they can discern others in a similar plight. If such a one is fired by the desire to help another in still greater darkness and brings him light, this would uplift the helper, so that others, still further advanced, can approach him, and they in their turn will help him upwards towards the light.

Thus these pitiable spirits squat about dejectedly. Their negative attitude has so effectively weakened their ethereal bodies that, if they want to move, they can but crawl about in a painful and uncertain manner, and as for those who manage to get on their legs, they do but stumble and fall and bruise themselves painfully. The dense, dark, and heavy human soul finds itself in exactly corresponding surroundings of denseness, darkness, and heaviness.

Objects are just as tangible and impenetrable to them there as they were on earth, and they feel every knock, fall, and injury just as acutely as they did on earth. This is the invariable rule; because every departed spirit is straightway drawn to the region where all is of the same darkness and density as itself. Every higher and lighter region can penetrate unhindered all those regions that are lower and denser than it is, all ethereal matter can penetrate physical matter.

The case is different with those who have been guilty of some special personal wrong doing, for which they must make amends. Their burden will be lifted from them the moment they can obtain full and sincere forgiveness from the person they injured. The effect of a wrong action works independently of the general tendency of the character.

It is propensity, the usual, habitual impulse which has been the mainspring of its evil deeds, that shackles and holds back the human soul. Propensity lives on after the ethereal body is detached from the physical body, and then when the limitations and restraints of the physical body fall away, all sensations become more acute and are absolutely untrammelled and propensities manifest themselves more conspicuously. It is, therefore, propensity that will decide the level to which a man belongs and the sphere to which he will go when he is released from his physical body. There he will find himself in the society of those who have the same propensity as he. Their emanations will foster and encourage his, till he is quite mastered by it, and he will indulge in it like a raging maniac. The others naturally will do likewise.

It is evident that such uncontrolled raging madness is torment to all that surrounds it. As, in those regions, all happens on the mutual principle, each one of these madmen must himself suffer bitterly what he is unintermittently trying to make others suffer. Thus life there becomes hell. Gradually such a lost soul becomes exhausted and disgusted; then, after a long spell, the desire awakens in him to come out of these surroundings. This desire and the disgust he feels is the beginning of improvement. Then his aversion culminates in an outcry, in a prayer. Not till then will a hand be held out to him, to help him to rise, and this may not happen till after decades or centuries have gone by.

Of all his burdens, it is his propensity that weighs on a human soul and encumbers it most. Hence one can see that it is much easier to make amends for an unintentional unpremeditated offence than to eradicate an evil propensity in a man’s nature, no matter whether it has become active or not.

A man, who has an unclean sinful propensity, but who has never let it play a part, because his worldly circumstances have been favourable, will suffer more than a man, who has sinned without evil intent. The unpremeditated deed can be forgiven at once, without its developing evil Karma, but the evil propensity in a man must be thoroughly eradicated. Of these propensities there are many: avarice, covetousness, unclean sensuality, larceny, murder, fraud, perhaps only careless negligence; no matter, any of these will draw a man down to where those of his own kind are. It is unnecessary to give illustrations of life in these regions. There are often situations of such a terrible nature, that a human being on earth could not believe the descriptions to be true unless he saw them. He would take them for the fancies of a disordered brain.

A feeling of profound aversion to human depravity will suffice to free a man and remove the obstacles to ascend to the light.

These are the dark regions, the result of what Lucifer’s principles strive to introduce generally. The eternal cycle of Creation rotates and comes in time to the point where decomposition sets in, and all matter loses its form to return to primordial seed, which rotating still further, forms new combinations with fresh powers and a virgin soil.

What up till then has not been able to detach itself from matter (either physical or ethereal) nor to cross the highest, finest and lightest boundary into spiritual substance, leaving all that belongs to matter behind, will unavoidably be drawn into the general dissolution, whereby its form and whatever else is personal about it will be destroyed.

This is eternal damnation: the extinguishing of all conscious personality.

Brightest of light — Dazzling purity — A blissful sensation of having no weight! This says so much that it hardly seems necessary to add any illustrating details. The less inclination to what is base the ethereal body takes over with it, the less it longs for physical delights, the less dense and, therefore, the lighter it is. Being less dense and having less weight, it will speedily allow the spirit to rise to the lighter and less dense regions which correspond to it.

In the same measure as the spiritual body, fashioned by man’s own volition, is purified and purged from all ignoble desires, it not only loses in weight but becomes porous in texture, that is to say, transparent, so that it appears luminous. The germ of luminous spiritual substance which dwells in every human soul is then able to shine forth through the outer covering, the ethereal body. In the lower regions, the latter was too dense too heavy it dimmed and hid the radiating germ.

Likewise, in these regions of Light, every human soul, in conformity with the nature of its ethereal body, will meet only its equals — those who think as it does. As only the really noble-minded and well-intentioned (those free from all ignoble passions) are capable of soaring, the noble soul will find only those who are on the same level with itself. That the dweller in such a region has no torments to suffer is only natural. He enjoys the blessings that radiate from the noble pure souls around him, each of them adding to and delighting in the general bliss. He can well say he is wandering in the fields of the blessed. Inspired by his surroundings, his joy in all that is glorious and sublime will always grow stronger and his ethereal body, thoroughly imbued by this sensation, will become more and more transparent, so that the bright light from the spirit within can break forth in increasing volume till, like a flame, it will burn up the last atom of the ethereal body. When that has fallen away, the human soul, having now become a perfect self-conscious individual, can cross the last barrier, the boundary-line into the Spiritual Kingdom. Not till then can he enter the everlasting Paradise of God the Father.

It is just as impossible for a painter to depict the torments of Hell, as it is for him to describe the delights enjoyed in the regions of Light, although these both belong to what is transient.

Every attempt to describe or to illustrate that life in a picture would but lessen its glory and thus do more harm than good to mankind.

There is no greater danger for the stability of a bridge or for the validity of an argument than to leave a gap in its construction, which must be filled up and the defectiveness rectified. It is of no use to ignore it and try to pass it over, for such a gap hinders all progress, and a building erected on it, however excellent the materials employed and however skilful the builders, will one day surely collapse.

This is the case with the various Christian religious communities of today: they persistently close their eyes and ears to certain points in their illogical teaching. They dismiss these points with empty phrases instead of taking thought in all seriousness. It is true they are fully aware that the bridge they have thrown over the lapse, thanks to their blind faith, will one day no longer serve its purpose and they dread the moment when the enlightened will perceive and point to its shaky and insecure character. After this they know that no one will trust, in them or be persuaded to follow in their footsteps, although their further teaching may be quite sound. They also know that a single flash of truth striking their artificial construction will cause it to break down altogether. And still for want of something better, they cling to their tottering plank. They are prepared to defend their position at all costs and would destroy him who would venture to substitute the truth for them to cling to. Unhesitatingly they would try to repeat what happened nearly two thousand years ago on this earth and that casts its shadow even unto the present day. They themselves make that event the subject of their accusation against the stubbornness and blindness of that generation, they have also made it the focus of their teaching and their faith. It was the teachers of religion and the scholars of that time, who, in their narrow dogmatism and blind self- conceit, were unable to grasp the truth and to recognise the Son of God (neither were they willing to admit it). It was they who feared, envied, and hated Him and His followers, whereas others, the unlearned, found it easier to open their hearts, and were quicker to perceive the truth of the Word.

Although the present heads of Christian religious communities lay special stress on the sufferings of Our Lord, they have learnt and profited nothing by their knowledge of this fact. For it is just these leaders (together with the leaders of the new movements of the present day) who would gladly dispatch any man who could endanger their position by throwing the light of truth on the insufficiencies of their explanations and the doubtful shifts in their interpretations. They would pursue him with a hatred born of fear and even more of wounded vanity, exactly as it happened once before.

They would not have the large-mindedness nor the generosity to acknowledge that their knowledge was insufficient to recognise the truth themselves, that they had not been able to fill the gap in the interpretations and smooth the path for man’s better understanding.

And yet it is only possible for mankind to soar upwards by fully grasping and understanding the Truth and never by blind ignorant faith!

One of these gaps, owing to wrong interpretation is the prevalent conception concerning the Son of Man. Here the churchmen have acted like the Pharisees, who convulsively clung to the dead letter of their traditions and rejected the truth with which the Son of God confronted them. Christ spoke of Himself only as the Son of God and was never guilty of such evident contradiction as to affirm at the same time that he was the Son of Man.

Possibly incited to do so by their own doubts, the interpreters tried with the greatest skill and ingenuity to explain this contradiction so evident to every sober thinker, but, in spite of their efforts to fuse the persons of the Son of God and the Son of Man into one person, it cannot be said that they have been successful. The best interpreters were forced to admit a double personality, one standing beside the other, but never appearing to be one.

This is quite natural. The Son of God cannot become the Son of Man, just because he was born of woman to enable Him to walk on earth.

Every Christian knows that the Son of God’s mission on earth was a spiritual mission and that all His sayings were meant spiritually and referred to the Spiritual Kingdom. He often spoke of the Son of Man and that also must be taken in the same way. Why should an exception be made here. In a spiritual sense Christ alone was and will always be the Son of God! Therefore, when He spoke of the Son of Man He could not mean Himself. There is something far greater and more lofty in this than the interpretations the Christian religions give today. The evident contradiction would long ago have induced men to reflect and consider had it not been for the fetters of dogmatism, darkening everything. Instead, therefore, of making the careful investigations such an exceptionally important matter demands, they turned and clung all the more convulsively to the letter of their traditions, thus putting on blinkers that completely shut out a free and more extensive view. The natural consequence is that these interpreters and teachers, although they stand in God’s Creation, are not able to understand it aright, and yet their only chance of approaching God, the origin of all that is created, is by this right understanding.

Christ’s teaching required as a first condition that man should be perfectly natural and adapt himself fully to the natural laws in Creation. It is only he, however, who knows the laws who can adapt himself to them. The Creator has expressed His will in the natural laws and knowledge of these laws is the only way to understand Him.

The slightest divergence in the operation of the laws would point to a divergence or change in Divine Will. Such a change would mean imperfection. But God the Father, the Source of all Being, has the property of unity and perfection. The minutest variation within the laws of nature which govern the process of evolution would be simply impossible and out of the question. It follows that the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of natural science must coincide and be perfectly lucid, the teaching must be continuous and uninterrupted, unbroken and consecutive, if it is to reflect the truth.

When compared to the vastness of Creation, it cannot be denied that the range of natural science today is very limited. That is because scholars limit their investigations to gross material substance. What is understood by intellect today does not venture to tackle what is beyond time and space. The one unpardonable mistake made is, that the disciples of science deny the existence of any thing beyond their ken. The few exceptions are scientists whose knowledge and abilities exceed the average and whose outlook is more extended. These few disdained to cloak the want of knowledge under the cover of presumptuous assertions. Although the philosophy of religion extends much further, it is also bound to coincide with what the laws of nature teach, but these, coming from the primordial source, unfettered by the limits of time and space, expand over the material earth without break or modification. For this reason, there must neither be gaps nor contradictions in religious teaching if it is to conform to the Truth, that is to say, correspond to the laws of nature in which the Truth lies.

— Blind faith must not be allowed to make suggestions of any kind with the object of influencing leadership or responsible teaching!

The erroneous conception concerning the Son of Man is a grave hindrance and stumbling block for adherents of genuine Christianity, and they will have to account for having quietly taken this error for granted and promulgated it. A warning doubt came to them from time to time but they did not listen to the still small voice within.

The very immutability of Divine Will precludes any arbitrary interference of the Almighty in Creation.

Thus, as after the severance of Lucifer, on account of his perverse proceedings* it was not possible simply to cut him out and put him out of circuit, thus man cannot simply be prevented from abusing of the Laws of Nature, for has he not the gift of free will in virtue of his origin ? ** It follows that the immutable perfection of the Creator’s Will must appear in a way bound when it evidences itself in material regions, whether they be of fine ethereal or of gross physical substance! Still only inferior and small minds can see in this a limitation to the Power and Magnitude of the Almighty. Such a view would only be a result of their narrow-mindedness.

It is the vastness of the whole problem that confuses man, for he is really only able to picture to himself something of narrower limits, something corresponding to the capacity of his comprehension.

He, however, who honestly seeks to know his Creator in his work will find the natural laws a sure guide. They will convince him of the vastness and extent of operations that have their beginning in the Primeval Source or Origin of all things and from where they radiate out and spread through all Creation on fixed and irremovable lines. These can be compared to a system of railway lines on which all men must travel according to how the points are turned. This is done automatically by the human spirit on its journey through the regions of material substance.***

Lucifer’s principle induces many to take the wrong line, with the result that their lives unroll in a downward direction. The unchangeable laws which govern continuous development are laid down from end to end in the material worlds, and the end must inevitably correspond to the start.

It is given to some clearly to see or to feel how a man has turned the points, and from that to see what the further course of his journey will be, for after the choice has once been made, the laws governing this system will compel continuous development to proceed on the corresponding lines.

This circumstance enables many events to be foreseen, because the impulse to develop always remains the same in the laws of nature (or laws of Creation). Here centuries make no difference.

These clearly foreseen goals or destinations form the basis of the great revelations made to the specially blessed, shown them in spiritual pictures and which, when passed on, come to the knowledge of men.

The mundane time, however, when the occurrence revealed is to take place, can never be precisely given. It will come to pass in the hour that the life in question, travelling along on the line it has chosen, comes to the terminus or to the intermediate station foreseen. The fate of man, of the nation, indeed of all mankind may be compared to a train standing on the rails waiting to be shunted onto one of the many lines before it. Man turns the points as it pleases him, jumps onto the engine and turns on the steam, which means he gives it life, he animates it. Although the names of all the stations on the line he has chosen are familiar to him as well as the name of the terminus, he cannot give the precise hour at which he will arrive at any of these, for that depends on the speed at which the train travels and this can greatly vary. One man drives his engine with slow deliberation, another with impatient haste, or again the speed may vary and progress once be fast, once slow. But when the train (whether it represents a single individual, a nation, or all mankind) approaches a station on the line or in the direction its fate lies, the event can be noted and foretold.

The main lines of this system are here and there connected by sidelines on to which the train can be shunted during the journey, if the driver wishes to change his course and direct the engine to another terminus. When the train approaches such a junction-point, it must needs slow up and stop to turn the points afresh. The slowing up corresponds to the process of reflecting, and when the train stops, it means that a decision has been arrived at (man is always free to change his mind up to the last station before the terminus) and the turning the points is the deed that follows on the decision.

In the same way as railway lines are laid down through a country, so the Divine Laws (God’s Will) are laid down in the Universe. Thus in each case one can overlook the lines from start to finish. Or the Divine Laws can be compared to a network of nerves which feel every obstacle that is in the way and give notice of the same to the Primeval Source of all Things. As the Almighty thus foresees all the dangers and difficulties on man’s path, it has pleased Him, in His mercy, from time to time to supplement the revelations made by His prophets with promises to send helpers. They come to warn men, when they are travelling on the wrong road, of approaching peril.

Woe to the man (whether he be in this, the physical world, or in the next, the ethereal world) if he disregards or misses the last junction- station where he could have shunted his train on to another and a better line, he is irretrievably lost.

As the Creator cannot disavow the perfection of His own Divine Will, He will keep to the established laws in helping man. Or, in other words: Being perfect from the beginning, every new expression of His Will is naturally perfect and subject to the same laws as all that have gone before.

It follows that every new act of volition will fully adapt itself to cosmic development, whether it be in gross material or in fine ethereal substance. The very perfection of the Almighty absolutely precludes any other possibility.

It was Divine foresight, as explained above, that prompted the Promise of the Coming of the Son of God in the flesh. He came to bring the truth and thus save man by inducing him to change his course. Man was, however, free to decide whether he would listen and obey or not. Which way he would decide could not be foreseen. It is only in cases where a man starts on a particular line he has chosen, that the end he must come to, can be foreseen, together with all the intermediary stations and dangerous curves on the line. But in cases where a man has voluntarily changed his course at one of the turning points, the end cannot been foreseen, for this, man’s privilege and right, is just as irreversible as the laws of development from which it proceeds and to which it belongs and which are all parts of Divine Perfection. As the Creator has granted this boon to human spirits, because of their origin in the sphere of spiritual substance, He does not seek to know beforehand which course they decide on, but when their decision has fallen, he clearly sees what will be the result, because that result will agree with the laws that govern the gross and the ethereal matter or substance in Creation. Were it not so, the cause could only be want of perfection and this is absolutely out of the question.

Man should always keep in mind and be fully conscious of his immense responsibility, for he is really independent in his fundamental decisions. Unfortunately he is of opinion that he is either a totally dependent slave, or, in ridiculous self- aggrandisement, he claims to be a part of Divinity Itself. Probably the reason is, that in both cases, he can consider himself free from all responsibility, in the one as being too base to be held responsible, in the other as being far above responsibility. Both these views are wrong. He should look upon himself as a steward who has the free right of decision in certain cases, but also full responsibility; as one who enjoys great confidence, but who must not abuse it by being a bad householder.

Again, Divine Perfection and consistency constrains the Almighty (when sending direct help to man erring on the wrong course) to reckon with the possibility of his failing to come to the right decision. In such cases Divine Wisdom and Love, the natural and legitimate attributes of the Creator, have still other means in reserve to help and to give another chance to those who have failed to profit by the first.

Thus before the Son of God was incarnated, another envoy was prepared in the Heavenly Kingdom for a Mission, in case mankind should fail to respond to the great sacrifice of love made by the Heavenly Father. Should the Son of God, whose attitude was purely Divine, not be heeded and mankind not listen to his warning, nor, turning from their evil ways, obey his precepts, if they should in their blindness, persist in keeping on the road to destruction, another Messenger should come to earth (one who could approach the inner nature of man more closely than the Son of God could) to warn them again at the last hour and to lead them to the truth, that is to say, if indeed they would listen to his call. That is the Son of Man.

Christ, the Son of God, knew this. As soon as He learned in His Ministry on earth, how debased and corrupt were the souls of men, it was evident to Him, that His life on earth would not bear the fruit that with good-will should have ripened. He grieved deeply at this. He could foresee what the end of mankind (if it should continue on such lines) would inevitably be, for were not the laws in Creation, the expression of the Will of His Heavenly Father, well known to Him ? It was then He began to speak of the Son of Man whose advent the coming events would make necessary. His great mission opened up two roads for men to choose from. Either they could follow Him and soar aloft and thus avoid all evils and all dangers or they could reject His teaching and rush on to destruction. The longer His Ministry lasted, the clearer He saw that the greater part of mankind would fail to follow Him and was consequently inevitably doomed.

What He then said of the Son of Man was an explicit promise, for His words were: “When the Son of Man cometh. . . ., etc.”

The Son of Man was to come just before “the time of the End”, the natural and necessary result of mankind’s failure with regard to Christ’s teaching and of their persisting on their course, the End that must come in obedience to the Divine Laws. This knowledge distressed Christ very sorely.

Every interpretation which affirms that Jesus, the Son of God, was at the same time the Son of Man is absolutely false. Such illogical assumptions are totally discordant with Divine ordinances, nor would Christ, the interpreter of these laws, have made such an assertion.

The disciples were ignorant in this matter, as is evident from their questions. They alone spread the error which has prevailed up to the present day. They thought, when He used the expression “The Son of Man”, the Son of God meant Himself, and taking this for granted they transmitted this error to posterity. Neither did succeeding generations trouble to investigate into this illogical and ambiguous statement, but passed it on partly from diffidence and partly from indolence. Had the error been rectified the great Love of the Creator would only have shone forth more clearly and more powerfully. The second envoy from Almighty God will disclose Himself to man, walking in the footsteps of the Son of God, taking up and carrying on His Mission. Proclaiming and propagating the Truth He will drag man back from the course they are steering and induce them voluntarily to turn aside and escape the disaster that otherwise surely awaits them.

Son of God and Son of Man! Surely it is not so hard to see that there must be a difference between them. Each of these words has its own clearly expressed meaning, and those who would mix them up and blend them into one must be stamped as too indolent to think. Readers of my essays will remember how the natural process of evolution beginning with Primordial Light, which is God the Father, descends to the physical world of matter. The Son of God issued from Divinity unsubstantiate and, quickly passing through the spheres of spiritual substance and of ethereal substance, descended to incarnate in the physical world of matter. Thus He is rightly called the incarnate portion of God or the Son of God. His rapid transit through the sphere of spiritual substance, the birthplace of the spirit of man, and then through the ethereal portions of Creation did not give Him time to clothe His Divine unsubstantiality with strong protecting shields of the different species of substance of the spheres He passed through. It was but a thin veil of these that He brought down with Him to earth.

This had the advantage that His Divine nature burst through and shone forth more clearly, but it also had the drawback that it attracted attention in the lower darker spheres of the earth, excited violent opposition and was furiously attacked. Divinity, so slightly veiled in a physical body, could but appear strange, for it was too distant. Metaphorically speaking one might say that His Divine Spirit was insufficiently equipped and armed with the substance of the intervening worlds for the battle in the physical world; the bridge over the wide gulf was too slight. As men neither heeded nor treasured this gift of Divine Love, but owing to the natural antipathy that exists between Darkness and Light, pursued the Son of God with animosity and hatred, a second envoy, better equipped for his sojourn in physical matter, had to be sent. This is the Son of Man.

He also is “One sent from God”, issued from unsubstantiate Divinity. But before beginning His Mission in the physical world, he was embodied in pure spiritual substance, closely connected to that species of spiritual substance of which the human spirit-spark consists. Thus the Divine unsubstantiality of this second envoy, in virtue of the covering it had donned, came nearer to the origin of man. Besides this He was better protected, strengthened and armed with better weapons to deal with man.

In the highest part of the sphere of spiritual substance from which man’s spirit issued, there lives an ideal type, a pattern of what all things existing should and can develop into in the course of their evolution.

Thus there is the prototype of ideal womanhood in all her eternal spiritual purity. Every female spirit-germ unconsciously longs to attain to this ideal of purity in its beauteous form. Unfortunately in the long journey through the world of material substance, this unconscious longing often degenerates into vanity. In such cases self-deception conjures up an imaginary picture, which must serve as a substitute for much that was longed for but was never realised. This longing gradually becomes conscious on the soul’s upward flight to the Light. Consciousness of this longing begins in the next world of ethereal substance, and makes itself felt with ever increasing energy as soon as all base desires are done with. Then it serves to animate and strengthen virtuous ideals.

The magnet and the focus of this noble aspiration to excel in female virtues is the Queen of Womanhood in the pure spiritual kingdom of the Father. The spark or germ of Divine unsubstantiality in the second envoy God sent was sunk into this ideal of womanhood in spiritual substance and was brought up by her as his mother in the eternal kingdom of the Father where the Castle of the Holy Grail was the home of his spiritual youth. It was from there that he was sent down to the physical world when the time was ripe for him to be on the field of battle, to show those who were seriously seeking the Father the way to His Heavenly Kingdom and at the same time to protect them against the attacks of the evil powers.

The Son of Man, unlike the Son of God, spent his spiritual youth in the sphere of spiritual substance, the sphere where the spirit of man has its origin; he is not only fast-rooted in Divine Unsubstantiality but also in spiritual substance, thus, by virtue of this duality of origin and of development, he is in truth a God-Man. He is called the Son of Man in contradistinction to the Son of God. To Him the way to Divine Unsubstantiality lies open.

He is, therefore, endowed with Divine strength and Divine power, and He stands before all mankind and before Lucifer fully armed and ready to do battle.

Therefore, all ye men be on the watch that you may recognise Him when His time comes; for that will also be your time.

To make the difference in the origin of man and beast more clear, it is necessary to analyse the separate regions or spheres of God’s wondrous Creation more closely than has been done hitherto. Up till now one spoke of the group-soul of the animal and of the ego of man. Though not in themselves wrong, these terms are not sufficiently exhaustive, for they only give a general outline of what lies nearest to the earth, and do not show clearly in what the real difference consists. It is taken for granted, that the essay on Development in Creation* where that is explained, has already been digested. A table, setting forth the order in which the principal steps succeed each other, starting from the highest, will demonstrate this best.

1. Divinity: Divinity Unsubstantiate, Divine Substance

2. Spirituality: Conscious, Unconscious

3. Animism: Conscious, Unconscious

4. Matter: Ethereal, Physical

Man has his spiritual origin in unconscious spiritual substance or spirituality, whereas the beast has its origin in unconscious natural substance or animism. These steps are very far apart. The animating part of man is spirit, the animating part of an animal is the life of natural substance. The life of the spirit stands far above the life of nature. Thus the origin of man is much higher than that of the animal.

What they have in common is merely the origin of their physical vehicle.

The spirit of man, however, has generated a body (originally purely animal) to a far higher state of perfection than it was possible for the beast to do.

The theory of the natural development of species from the lowest animal forms up to the human being is right. The process demonstrates the continuous and uninterrupted upward movement of creative purpose in nature, a proof of her perfection. But one very great mistake is that this theory does not take account of what is beyond matter. When it affirms that the physical body of man has developed from the beast, it is right. But these bodies alone are but vessels, they do not make man or beast; they belong to matter alone and are necessary coverings. But to affirm that the inner life of man developed from the inner life of an animal, is an absolutely misleading and irresponsible statement that must cause dissensions and confusion, and engender the very justifiable feeling of aversion that so many have against this doctrine. On the one hand they are attracted by what is true with regard to the body and on the other repulsed by the utter shallowness and superficiality of the arguments brought forward to prove that what is right of the body is equally right of the origin of the inner life.

It is true that up till now science could hardly do otherwise than assert that the natural development of the human race must have begun with the animal and that the last stage of this development was the descent from the ape species as it came nearest the human form. This was because up till now science investigated matter only and principally gross matter which forms but a very minute part of Creation, and of this scientists only know the grosser outer attributes. Thus their knowledge is, in reality, infinitesimal, next to nothing. Today they have at last been able to appropriate and adapt to their service much that is valuable; not, however, as yet understanding the qualities or nature of what they found, technical terms have to do duty for the scientists’ absence of knowledge. These terms merely designate the temporary classification of an existing something, they can utilise but the real nature of which they do not know, much less its origin.

Natural substance (animism) and in a greater degree spiritual substance, spirituality, stand above all matter. They form the connecting link in the upward direction between the earth (physical matter) and the origin of all things or, in other words: natural and spiritual substance have preceded physical matter in evolution.

It must be remembered that all spiritual substance and all natural substance must needs be clothed in a body of matter as a cloak or covering, as soon as, in obedience to the law of development, they descend to the physical world to animate physical matter, to shape it and build it up. All dissensions will cease as soon as investigators begin to climb upwards above matter or when they are able to study the natural stages of development from above downwards.

The time is at hand when the first move forward should be made. But the greatest care must be taken lest the strictly logical spiritual knowledge gained be not degraded, and imperceptibly deteriorated by flights of untutored imagination. It must be observed that to understand what natural substance and what spiritual substance are, the mind of man must be quite unbiased and unhampered, for it is not possible to penetrate these mysteries with scales, dissecting knives and test tubes, such as are used in studying physical phenomena, nor must the mind be hampered by prejudice.

The primordial laws, which work automatically would make this impossible and no creature, however presumptuous, can alter these or bend Divine Will.

The difference between man and beast must be looked for within; an animal can only return to natural substance, when it has cast aside its physical body, whereas man returns to spiritual substance which is far higher. It is true that in a certain sense man often descends to the level of the beast, but he must always remain human, for he cannot get rid of his responsibility, the adjunct of his spiritual origin, but an animal can never ascend to man’s level. The difference in the bodies is only external. The form is more nobly developed in man by the spirit after its entrance into the physical vessel.*

Why should science be considered incompatible with the mentality of the average human being ? No distinction need be made between those who may study science and those who may not do so, for all mankind has a perfect right to participate in its achievements. Science only tries to make Creation (God’s Gift) more comprehensible. Every branch of science is engaged in investigating the laws of the Creator, to the end that, by acquiring more exact knowledge, it can better exploit them for the service of man. This activity is but the voluntary subordination of man’s will to the Will of God.

Now as Creation and the laws on which it is based are not only perfect, but also very clear and simple, it naturally follows that they should be explained in a clear and simple manner by those who have grasped their meaning.

It is here that the mischievous tendency sets in to make a distinction between the average man and those who call themselves disciples of science, i.e. disciples of learning and of truth. These disciples, however, do not express themselves with the frank simplicity that would be consistent with true knowledge and that truth has the right to demand.

There are two, indeed three, reasons for this: these disciples consider, that an exceptional position is due to them for the particularly hard work they have done in studying, and they will not see that what they call study is but borrowing or appropriating what lies finished and perfect before them in Creation. They do what the simple peasant does when he observes the operations of nature and what others do in their practical work.

In the second place, until a disciple’s knowledge approaches the truth, he is constrained to express himself obscurely and ambiguously; when he has fully grasped the truth he will naturally be obliged to be simple and clear in his dissertations. It is no secret that it is just those who do not know, who, during the period of their study, like to hold forth more than those who know and they will of course be obliged to use obscure terms. They cannot do otherwise until they have attained the real knowledge of the truth.

In the third place, it must be acknowledged that the generality of men would pay very little attention to science, if it just spoke the truth in simple terms.

They would think what it told them too natural to be of much importance; they cannot see that this is the only right method and a proof that what it affirms is genuine and true. The very fact of its being a matter of course warrants its truth. But it is not so easy to convince men of this. They would not acknowledge Jesus to be the Son of God, because He came to them in all simplicity.

This danger the disciples of science clearly perceived from the beginning. Thus they sagaciously avoided simplicity in their expositions.

To make themselves and their science of more consequence, they continued to exaggerate the difficulties of their studies.

At last a scholar, who had come to some eminence in his profession, disdained to express himself simply so that all could understand him. This was often due to a reason, that he was hardly conscious of, namely that apart from his language which it would take years of study to understand there would be little of consequence left in his discourses!

This trick of not making himself generally understood, raised the scholar in time to a position of superiority which was then upheld by his pupils and successors at all costs, as otherwise, in the case of many, the long years of study and the corresponding sacrifice of money would indeed have been in vain.

And today this has gone so far, that many scholars are not even capable of expressing themselves clearly and comprehensibly to ordinary people. To be able to do so would require the hardest study and take more than a life-time. But above all it would have the result (distasteful to many) that only those men would come to prominence who were able, by virtue of their knowledge, to give man real values and who were willing to serve him with their knowledge. At present the practice of mystifying the public by incomprehensibilities is a particularly prominent peculiarity of the scientific world; similar to what was customary in religious observances, where ministers, ordained by men as guides and leaders, spoke in Latin to those who came to them to be edified, a language which they did not understand and, therefore, could not grasp and make their own, although only by comprehending could they have derived benefit. The result would have been the same, if the servants of God had spoken in the language of Siam. True knowledge need not make itself incomprehensible. It has the capacity to express itself in simple terms as well as the inherent desire to do so. To possess the truth is the right of all without exceptions, for man comes from the home of truth, the region where the spirit of truth dwells. For this reason truth, in its natural simplicity, can be understood by all men. As soon, however, as it is taught in a complicated and incomprehensible manner, it no longer is pure and true and loses itself in paltry details. Real truth, real knowledge must be comprehensible to all alike. Knowledge artificially complicated and far removed from what is natural, has little value.

Everybody who has grasped real knowledge can transmit it simply and naturally; if he cannot, he is trying to disguise his incompetence or he resembles a lifeless automaton. The further artificially forced culture departs from nature the less wisdom it contains.

He who leaves gaps in his reasonings and still expects to be believed blindly may be compared to one who would substitute a tottering idol for the perfection of the Almighty.

He proves that he cannot find the right way himself and, therefore, can be no trustworthy guide. May this be a warning to all serious seekers.

The word spirit is often used without the speaker being aware of what spirit really is. One person regards it as the inner life of man, and another confuses the terms spirit and soul. But no one tries to explain what spirit means. The most exalted meaning as yet given to the word lies in the expression “God is Spirit”, from which all the other ideas are deduced. In stating this, one sought to understand God Himself and to explain Him.

But it was just this that diverted seekers from the truth and disseminated errors, for it is wrong simply to say “God is Spirit”.

God is Divine and not spiritual. Herein lies the explanation. One must never call Divinity Spirit. Only spirituality is spirit.

The cause of this mistaken view is that, as man’s origin is in the spiritual sphere, he is not able to conceive anything beyond that sphere and to him spirit is the sublimest idea that he can conceive. It is, therefore, natural that he should consider the most perfect and undimmed conception he could formulate, to be the origin of Creation, to be God. Hence one can take it for granted, that, though the wrong idea sprang from men’s desire to picture to themselves their God, so as to feel more closely united to Him, the principal cause of their error lay in the impossibility of grasping the real exalted sublimity of the Almighty. God is Divine, His Will only is spirit. Out of this, his living Will, his immediate spiritual surroundings came into being: Paradise and its inhabitants. Out of this Paradise, which was the form God’s Will had taken, proceeded the spiritual life-germ of man to begin its journey through Creation, a little spark of God’s Will. Thus man is the bearer of

God’s Will; he bears or conveys the spirit into the whole of the material world. For this reason also he is bound to conform to the primordial Will of God in all his activity, and he is responsible if he allows influences coming from the material world to trouble, to invert, or indeed occasionally to entomb it. This was the talent of our Lord’s Parable that was given to the servant to bear interest. From the mistaken supposition that God Himself is Spirit, of the same substance as the origin of man, it is evident that man never could have had a right conception of the Almighty. He must not only imagine the most perfect example of his own kind, but he must uplift himself in his imagination far above and beyond, to a region that will always remain incomprehensible to him, because his own spiritual nature would be incapable of conceiving it.

Spirit, therefore, is the Will of God, the elixir that animates all Creation, which, if it is to continue to exist, must be permeated by it. Man is part-bearer of this spirit, which, in becoming conscious, should assist him in supporting and developing the whole universe. To do this, however, it is necessary that he should learn to use the powers of nature aright and make them subservient to the furtherance of the common welfare.

I have already pointed out that the written accounts of Creation which have come down to us, are not to be understood in a material sense.

The Bible narrative does not refer to this earth. The Creation of the earth was simply a natural consequence or result of the further development of Original Creation, the handiwork of the Almighty Himself. It is almost incredible that scholars should have jumped to the illogical conclusion that God, who is Perfection Itself, should, without any transition, have commenced creating the material earth.

To get nearer the truth it is not necessary to change the wording of the Scriptures. On the contrary the Scriptural Word makes the truth much clearer than do the mistaken and defective interpretations founded on hypothesis. The student quite rightly feels it a mistake to persist in locating the Paradise of the Bible on the material earth, so far remote from God. Surely it is well-known that the Bible is a spiritual book. It reveals special spiritual proceedings. Man is only introduced to illustrate and explain their meaning where they stand in immediate connection with these spiritual phenomena.

After all it must appear quite clear to the human understanding as a matter of course that the Bible narrative cannot refer to this distant earth. Nobody will venture to question the fact that the first and direct work of the Creator can only be looked for in His immediate neighbourhood; as it proceeded from Him, it must be in close connection with Him. No sober-minded enquirer can think that this earth, the latest evolved, the remotest from the Divine sphere, can be the scene of God’s Original Creation. Creation understood in the strict sense of the word.

Thus there never could be question of a Paradise having existed on this earth. What God personally made, as stated in the Bible, was naturally bound to Him and must be close to Him. In the same way it follows, as a natural consequence that all that was created in His immediate proximity or evolved from there, must participate in and resemble His perfection. There alone is the Kingdom of God, that only is Paradise. To locate this on the material earth must breed sceptics. The idea of Adam and Eve being driven out of a terrestrial paradise but then having to go on living on the same earth is so monstrous, is so evidently and grossly material that it is almost grotesque

— a lifeless picture with the stamp of dogma which no sensible person can reconcile with his reason, his common-sense. In proportion as perfection decreases, the greater the distance from what is perfect increases, hence the spiritual beings that evolved from perfection cannot be identical with the inhabitants of this world but must have their place close to the perfection that created them. They are ideal patterns of what man should strive to become. They are the eternal spirits who never clothed themselves in matter, never were human beings, but are luminous ideal forms. They influence the spirit-germs of the human race, attracting them like magnets and strengthening the abilities of those who have become conscious.

It will be necessary once more to give a comprehensive

descriptive survey of all existence to make it easier for the seeker to find the way to the eternal Kingdom of God, i.e. Paradise, his primordial home.

Let man imagine Divinity as the supreme head, the culminating point of all — God Himself — as the origin of all being, as the source of all life, absolute perfection without form or substance. From time to time He takes shape, that is, He clothes Himself in a cloak of Divine substance of which the sphere immediately below consists and of which the first beings were shaped. To these belong the four Archangels and secondly and thirdly a small number of Elders. Although the latter are not able to enter the precincts of unsubstantiality, they are of paramount importance for the development of spiritual substance. In the same way as, later on, the conscious beings of the sphere below, i.e. that of natural (animistic) substance, are of great importance for the development of matter.

Lucifer was sent from the sphere of Divine substance to be a staff and a stay for Creation in its automatic self-development. But the Son of God issued from Divine unsubstantiality as part of the Godhead, to return (after accomplishing his Mission of help) to rejoin the Father.

The Son of Man also issued from Divine unsubstantiality, from God direct. It is his connection with conscious spiritual substance which necessitates his being apart and distinct from Divine unsubstantiality, and yet he remains in direct, constant communion with unsubstantiate Divinity that he may be the eternal Mediator between God and His Work.

As Lucifer, who proceeded from the sphere of Divine substance, failed in his mission, it became necessary to send another envoy, one stronger than he, one who could bind him and bring Creation the help it so sorely needed. For this reason the Son of Man, who was entrusted with this office, issued from the highest sphere, that of Divinity Unsubstantiate.

Adjoining the sphere of Divine substance is Paradise, the eternal Kingdom of God. It comes next in order, it is the sphere of conscious spiritual substance, consisting of created immortal beings or spirits. These are the ideal examples of all that the human spirit, at the height of its development, can and should aspire to. Like magnets they automatically attract those who wish to rise and draw them up. Man responds by feeling an unexplained longing which urges him to seek and to uplift himself.

These spirits were never incarnated; they have always been pure spirits, the First Created by God Himself who is the source of all life and all being; and thus they are nearest to Him in perfection, being made in His own image, as is clearly stated in the Scriptures. These words must not be passed over unheeded, they are important: after His image they tell us, not after Himself! Divinity is single and unsubstantiate.

In order to make Himself visible, God must clothe Himself in Divine substance, as has been said above; but even then He cannot be seen by beings of spiritual substance, only those of Divine substance can see Him partially. All that is purely Divine must in its clearness and brightness dazzle and blind what is not Divine. Even beings of Divine substance cannot look into God’s countenance, for the difference between Divine substance and Divine unsubstantiality is far too great.

In this Paradise of conscious spiritual substance, there are also germs of unconscious spiritual substance which have the same fundamental components as conscious spiritual substance. These germs have life, and all life strives to develop consciousness in obedience to Divine ordinance. This natural and legitimate end aspired to, must be attained by experience, and this craving to develop by experience causes such ambitious germs to sever themselves of their own accord and to cast adrift from their anchorage in the sphere of spiritual substance. As their way cannot begin by leading upwards they must necessarily begin their journey in the quest of experience in the downward direction.

This is the real meaning of the Bible narrative, the natural and necessary severing of the germs from the sphere of spiritual substance — from Paradise. When we read: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread”, the picture is metaphorically quite correct. In the battle of life, in gaining experience, man must defend and fight for his own, against the influences of the lower sphere into which he has now intruded as a stranger.

This ejection (severance or banishment) from Paradise is in no wise a punishment, for the germ, which is longing to develop consciousness, naturally and of its own accord severs itself when it has reached a certain degree of maturity. It is the transition (or birth) of a germ out of unconscious spiritual substance into natural substance and then into the physical world, in order to gain experience. It is progression, not retrogression.

It is also quite right to say, man wanted to cover his nakedness, when he knew good and evil — and his self- consciousness began slowly to awaken.

As the germ’s desire for consciousness increased in intensity it followed as natural result that it cut itself adrift from its home, its unconscious state in Paradise, to begin its journey through the spheres, first of natural substance and then of material substance, down to this world of matter. As soon as the germ left the sphere of spiritual substance it would stand naked in the lower, different and denser surroundings. One could also say uncovered or unshielded. Thus it would not only feel the want of clothing but also the necessity to clothe itself in a protecting cloak of the substance of the spheres through which it has to pass. First it would clothe itself in a body of ethereal and finally of physical matter.

Not until man is clothed in a material body does the sensual passion fully awaken and with it physical shame. The greater this feeling of shame is, the nobler is this passion and the higher stands the man spiritually. This sense of physical shame will serve as a sure measure of a man’s inner spiritual worth. It is an infallible test, and man can easily be measured by it. When this feeling of physical shame has been choked or eradicated, the far finer, and quite different, shame or pudency of the soul, will also be destroyed and the inner man absolutely debased.

It is a sure sign of man’s degeneration and moral disorganisation, when under the plea of progress, sport, hygiene, fashion, children’s education, or other welcome excuses, he begins to discard this precious jewel modesty. It is a great help upwards to those who know how to value it. Collapse and fall can then no longer be prevented. It may be that a few who are thoughtlessly following the bad example of others may one day come to their senses when seized by some terrible panic.

From the moment the spiritual germ leaves its home on its journey through the spheres, its life in these lower worlds becomes more and more difficult and pressing necessities must be met.

The germ on its way helps to uplift and develop these spheres and, in return, its own development advances and is strengthened. Each worker is independent and yet all work is done in strictly logical order, weaving and interweaving, so that the life of each simple germ looks like the threads of a many-coloured carpet designed by the hand of an artist. Either the germs rise upwards to self-consciousness or they descend to be destroyed for the safety of the others. It is a mighty organism.

There are so many laws, working silently but surely in the wondrous cosmic workshop, that one could write an essay upon each of the thousand different processes in the life of man, but the inquirer would always fall back on the fundamental law, the fundamental origin, i.e. the perfection of the Creator whose Will is Creative Spirit: the Holy Spirit. All that is of the Spirit is His Work.

As man’s origin lies in the world of spiritual substance he bears a part of the Will of God in himself, i.e. freedom of decision (free will), which makes him fully responsible for his actions.

But to bear a part of God’s Divine Will in him is not the same as to be a part of Divinity itself, which many take for granted.

If one who knows were able to survey the wonderful workings of the Divine laws from above, he would see how feelings of thanksgiving and joy coming through a million channels unite and join in a wonderful hymn of praise.

All life proceeds in the same way: A spirit-germ, arrived at maturity, is cast off and falls down from Paradise to develop in its further life. It is an eternal repetition of the process of the apple or any other ripe fruit which falls from the tree to rot on the ground. The influences brought to bear on it, set the seed free to germinate and become a plant. The plant can only awaken to life and strength under the influence of rain, storm and sunshine. It is evident that the casting off of the germ is a necessary step in development. In the same way the successive spheres of spirituality, ethereal matter and lastly physical matter are only a necessary consequence of Creation in the higher spheres. The process always repeats itself, but the work done in each sphere is different, as it must necessarily correspond to the nature of the substance of the respective spheres. And in the world of gross physical matter, it is again the same: as soon as the spirit, passing through it, arrives at maturity, the soul is cast out or forth. That is called physical death, which is the automatic severance of the soul from physical matter to enable it to pass into ethereal matter. Again one can liken the process to fruit falling from a tree. When the weather is calm and peaceful, only the ripe fruit falls, in stormy and tempestuous weather the unripe fruit falls also. Those only are ripe fruits who go over with ripe seed at the right time. They are spiritually prepared for life in the other world, where they will quickly take root and shoot up. Unripe fruits are those whose fall (or death) is untimely. When their protecting physical body decays, it lays unripe seed bare, which is then exposed to and at the mercy of all inclement influences before its time. It either perishes or must ripen under unfavourable circumstances before it can take root and grow up in its new surroundings. Thus step by step development proceeds without intermission, unless untimely decay sets in and destroys unripe seed. Such seed is then lost and with it the life that could have become an independent fruit-bearing tree which could, in its turn, have helped carry on development in general.

He who looks round him attentively, will soon notice that the minutest occurrences in his immediate vicinity are faithful copies of the great operations in the scheme of Creation.

Next in order downwards from the sphere of spiritual substance or Paradise comes the region of natural substance (animism), which is either conscious or unconscious. To the conscious part belong the elementals and nature-beings, elves, gnomes, nixies, etc.

These are the connecting link with matter. These beings constituted a necessary step in development on the way to create physical matter, for matter can only evolve when united to natural substance (animism). Their office was to construct or form in matter, and this they do up till the present day.

The soul of the animal is of this natural substance. And here I must call attention to the difference between spiritual substance, spirituality, and natural substance (animism). All that comes from the spirit is endowed from the beginning with the gift of free-will, the power of decision, which makes the spirit responsible for its actions. This is not the case with the beings of natural substance, as they belong to a lower order of Creation. As development proceeded, it produced the world of matter which is both ethereal and physical; in both these there are many steps or stages. Physical matter begins with the finest of vapours that the human eye can detect; but it is impossible to imagine a Paradise even on the very outskirts of this material world. However, the time will come when there will be a reflection of Paradise on this earth under the rule of the Son of Man, when the millenium begins; then a building will be erected, a replica of the castle of the Holy Grail, which stands on the topmost height of Paradise proper, hitherto the only true Temple of God.

Where are those who really obey this first and most important commandment ? Where is the priest who teaches it in all its truth, purity and simplicity ?

“I am the Lord Thy God, Thou shalt have no other Gods but Me.” These words are spoken so plainly and unequivocally that it would seem impossible to take them in any other sense. Christ also repeatedly pointed to this commandment and laid special stress on it. The more deplorable it is that millions heedlessly overlook it and give themselves up to other cults diametrically opposed to it. And the worst is that they disobey this commandment of their God and their Lord in the fervent belief and delusion that they are honouring and pleasing him.

This great delusion can only originate and endure in blind faith, a faith wholly destitute of criticism. Blind faith is nothing but thoughtlessness and spiritual sloth. Such is the sluggard: he will neither awake nor arise, for he would evade the performance of the duties which await him. He looks with horror at the necessity of making any sort of effort. It is much more agreeable to let others work and think for us.

He, however, who lets others think for him puts himself in their power; he debases himself to be a slave and he fetters himself. God gave man freedom of will to decide, and the ability to think and to feel, so he will also make man responsible for all his actions. He wants free men and not bondmen. It is indeed sad, when a man from sheer sloth becomes a slave in the material sense — but the consequences are fearful, when he debases himself spiritually so far as to become an adherent of teaching that is in direct opposition to the Law of God. If now and then misgivings assail him, it avails him nothing to try to drive them away by thinking that the greater responsibility attaches to those who have introduced the false teaching. It is true that they also are responsible, but so is every one for what he thinks and does. Nothing will be remitted to any man.

He who does not practise the ability to think and to perceive with which he has been amply provided, incurs a debt. It is not doing wrong but the duty of every man who has come to maturity (and is thus a responsible being) to begin to consider what he has been taught up till then. If he cannot agree with any part of the teaching he must not blindly accept it for the truth. To do so would be harming himself. He would be making a bad bargain. What does not convince him, let him put aside, otherwise his thoughts and actions would be hypocritical.

He who declines or rejects teaching which is really sound, is not so despicable as he who adheres to a cult that he does not quite understand. All activity, whether mental or moral, resulting from this want of right comprehension is unsound and without life and cannot bring forth good fruit.

A sound superstructure cannot be raised on a rotten foundation.

To make a pretence of something non-existent would be hypocrisy and blasphemy in the sight of God. Here true intuition is missing. He who does so is truly despicable and will be rejected.

Millions, who from thoughtlessness do homage to things in direct opposition to God’s Divine commandment, fetter themselves to matter, and although they may be devout and fervent, they are thus totally cut off from spiritual uplifting and progress. It is only unbiased conviction, convinced faith, that has life in it and can animate. Genuine conviction can only result from honest investigation and intuitive perception. Where there is the slightest misunderstanding or the shade of a doubt, conviction is out of the question.

It is only where the subject has been fully and completely grasped, that conviction, which alone has spiritual value, can be arrived at. It is painful to observe how thoughtlessly the congregation automatically makes the sign of the Cross, bows down and kneels in church. Such automatons do not deserve to be numbered among thinking men. The sign of the Cross is the sign of Truth, a sign of Divinity. Unless his whole being is tuned to harmonise with the Truth, he who uses this sacred sign, is guilty of a crime. It would be a hundred times better for people to refrain from crossing themselves till a moment comes in which their whole soul is attuned to the Truth, that is to say in perfect harmony with the Almighty and His holy purpose, for He, their Lord, is Truth itself.

It is idolatry, disobedience to the first and holiest of Divine Commandments if they do homage to a mere symbol instead of doing homage to God, to whom homage is due.

“I am the Lord Thy God, thou shalt have no other Gods but Me.” This has been expressly said in brief, distinct unequivocal terms. Christ also specially pointed to the necessity of keeping this law. He designedly called it the first and foremost law in speaking to the Pharisees, i.e. the law that must not be broken or perverted under any circumstances. It follows that no manner of faith or of righteousness has full value unless this law be strictly obeyed. Indeed everything depends on its being strictly kept. Let us, for example, consider without prejudice the homage paid to the monstrance. Here we find most men acting in direct opposition to God’s first commandment. Does man expect that the Almighty will descend and enter into the consecrated wafer which can be replaced at will ? Is that his explanation for its claim to the adoration due to Divinity ? Or does man believe that the Almighty is compelled to enter the host because it is consecrated ? One hypothesis is as unthinkable as the other. Neither is it possible to bring about any relation whatever to God by means of such consecration. Indeed the way to God is not so simple nor so easy; neither can man hope that the human spirit can ever unite with God. If one man prostrates himself before a carven image, another before the sun and a third before the monstrance, each of them seeing the living God, Divinity itself in these symbols, each expecting direct grace and blessing in so doing, they are offending against God’s first commandment. The disobedience and open idolatry lie in the taking for granted that their conduct will have the desired effect, in their expecting the blessing and in their faith that they will receive it. This kind of idolatry is constantly practised by fervent worshippers in different forms and in many religious communities.

Every man who makes use of his thinking faculties, as it is his duty to do, will soon find himself the victim of clashing opinions which can only be forcibly silenced at times by clinging to blind faith, like the sluggard who silences the call of his daily duties by sleep. The earnest man will certainly feel that it is his first duty to make all that is to be holy to him perfectly explicit. How often Christ admonished his followers to live his precepts so as to derive profit from them, i.e. to make spiritual progress and attain everlasting life. The words alone everlasting life imply spiritual life, not spiritual sloth. When He spoke of living His teaching, He specially warned His disciples against lukewarmness and indifference in accepting His teaching, and said such acquiescence would be useless.

One can only live a doctrine when one is convinced of this truth, and then conviction must result from right understanding, and right understanding presupposes deep thinking and examination. The doctrine must be weighed and considered by the brain and by the heart. From this it follows that blind faith is utterly wrong. All error leads on the downward path to destruction and can never lead on to the upward path to the Light. To ascend means to liberate the soul from all burdens. Where there is a burden there can be no question of liberation. What is not understood burdens the soul, and this burden cannot be lifted till what is not understood has been explained and made fully clear.

Blind faith is synonymous with ignorance, it can, therefore, never be coordinate with conviction, can never liberate and redeem. Those who are content with a narrow and blind faith have no spiritual life. They are dead and worthless. If a man will think logically, and attentively weigh and consider all happenings, he will of himself come to the conclusion that God in His Divine purity in obedience to His own laws cannot descent to earth. The purity and perfection of Divinity excludes the possibility of its uniting directly with physical matter. The difference is too great for union to be possible unless the different intervening stages be traversed. This is what happened when our Lord, the Son of God, incarnated and became man. As our Lord has returned to the Father, i.e. to the sphere from which he came, he is again Divine and thus separated from all that is terrestrial.

If in this an exception were made, it would be a perversion of the Will of the Creator, it would mean imperfection.

As the attribute of perfection belongs to the conception of Divinity, God’s Will must be perfect and His laws unalterable. Were man perfect, all men would be walking in the same direction on the same path — there would naturally be no exception.

It is only imperfection which allows of exceptions. After the Son of God returned to the Father, Divine law would make it as impossible for Him to manifest Himself in physical matter as it would be for the Father Himself to do so, unless indeed he were reincarnated according to the law.

For this reason all adoration of any object that is of physical substance means disregarding the first commandment of God.

Divine adoration is due to God alone, to Him who cannot be manifest on earth for the very reason of His Divinity. Likewise the physical body of the Son of God was purely material in obedience to God’s Divine laws as laid down in all Creation and thus may not be called Divine or considered Divine.* He who would gainsay this proves that he doubts the perfect consistency of the Almighty. He would, in so doing, give an unfailing test of how far off he was from the true belief in God.

It is quite a different thing with symbolism. Every symbol is useful and does good service as long as it is really only regarded as a symbol. It will help many when they look on it to greater and deeper concentration. Many will find it easier to collect their thoughts and direct them to their Creator (no matter by what name they have learnt to call Him) when they gaze on the symbols their creeds have provided for that purpose. It would therefore be quite wrong to underrate the great value of religious ceremonies and symbolism, so long as the respect paid to them does not degenerate into adoration of the symbol itself in its material form. As Almighty God cannot descend into matter, it is the part of the human soul to find its way up to that region of spirituality from which it came, in which it originated. It was to show the way, that Divinity was incarnated on earth, for in Divinity alone lies that primordial power from which the living word can flow. But man must not think that Divinity dwelt on earth in order that whosoever might happen to wish for it, should immediately be accorded grace and redemption. Such indeed is not the case, for it is only by absolutely obeying the Divine and immutable laws that the soul of man can soar to the eternal Light.

The Almighty who is perfect, can never be compared to a king

of this earth, who can arbitrarily repeal a sentence passed by an equally arbitrary judge in his dominions. The perfect consistency of Almighty God’s Will would never allow of this. The human soul must accustom itself to the thought, that it must act personally and indeed work most energetically to obtain forgiveness and grace to do its duty; duty it has hitherto slothfully neglected. It must awake and work at its salvation, if it would not fall a prey to the Powers of Darkness and be destroyed.

To depend on our Saviour and trust in Him means to trust to His words and make them living by deeds. Nothing less will do. Mere empty faith will not avail. To believe in Him, simply means to believe Him, nothing more. Irretrievably lost is he who does not assiduously climb up by the rope tendered him in in the holy words of the Son of God.

If a man really longs for his Saviour he must pull himself together and set actively to work, both mentally and spiritually, not only to attain to worldly possessions and advantages but also to climb upwards to Him. He must not presume to expect God to descend. He has his directions given to him in the Holy Word.

If humanity insists on going astray on wrong paths owing to the untrue picture of God they have in their imagination, he will not run after them begging to be heard; although many may think so, he does not make it quite so easy for man. And because this absurd error is general, man must first learn to fear the Lord, and the repercussion which must result from his comfortable, blind and lifeless faith will teach him that God’s Divine Will in its perfect consistency can never be turned aside.

He who will not conform to Divine Law, not only injures himself seriously, he may even destroy his very soul. Those who practise idolatry must perish. Man must learn to understand and know that his Saviour is waiting for him but will not come to fetch him.

It was inevitable that the faith or rather insane delusion of the man of the present day should fail him and indeed bring about his distress and downfall, because it is as dead; it has no real life in it. As Christ once drove out the money-changers who were defiling the temple, so must his lethargy in thinking and feeling towards his God be driven out of man. But let him who will not be roused sleep on: the comfortable sleep of self- delusion, fully assured that his faith is unquestionably right and that it would only be sinful to seek further. A terrible awakening awaits him sooner than he expects. Then he will have to pay the penalty for his slothfulness.

How can a man, who believes in God, who has considered His nature and His greatness, and above all who knows how His Divine Will and intention works automatically in His Divine laws, expect that he can be released from his sins by a penalty imposed by man when that would be in direct opposition and contrary to the inevitable and never failing working of reciprocal action. Such a proceeding would not even be possible to God Himself, for His laws automatically develop man and provide for just reward or punishment by the ripening and harvesting of the good or bad seed sown by the human spirit.

Every fresh manifestation of God’s Divine Will must be perfect and can, therefore, in no way deviate in the slightest degree from the previous manifestations, but must in every way agree with them. The perfect harmony of Divine Work requires perfect consistency in every case. Thus every human soul who seeks to be forgiven, that he may enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, must absolutely submit himself to the working of the Divine laws. Strict obedience to these is the only way to obtain forgiveness. How can it be expected that exceptions should be made ? It would be taking from the Perfection of the Deity.

On one or two occasions during Christ’s life on earth, He said to a sinner who came to Him: “Thy sins be forgiven thee”, this was in cases where the sinner by his earnest prayer and faith showed that henceforth he would lead a new life according to Christ’s precepts, thus putting himself in harmony with and no longer remaining in opposition to Divine Law.

A man who arbitrarily dictates penances to another, after which he declares the other’s sins are remitted, deceives himself as well as the man who came to seek help, whether he knows it or not, for he presumptuously ranks himself above God. If men would but be more natural and simple towards their God whose Divine Will created nature! In their blindness and distorted imaginations, they have fashioned a phantom which has no resemblance whatever to God. God’s very being is absolute natural perfection, that is the essence of all life, and therein lies the magnitude of the Almighty which the mind of man cannot grasp.

We meet with so much incredible, nay wilful distortion in religious teaching, that pure and simple faith is subverted and made unnecessarily hard for man, and thus many do not believe because they cannot find the natural and simple faith they could understand. Those who are not merely superficial observers must see that such teaching detracts from the idea of the perfection of God Almighty.

It also follows quite naturally, that if men consider themselves justified and arrogate to themselves the right to forgive sins and introduce this custom generally, it would lead to shameful abuse. How much longer will man go on foolishly deceiving himself with the idea that he can make a bargain with his God, who is Justice personified ?

When Jesus of Nazareth once said to His disciples: “Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained”, His words were not meant in a general sense and never justified the system of arbitrary forgiveness of sins being established, as has been done. It would be upsetting the decrees of Heaven and opposing the working of Divine laws which automatically deal out reward and punishment in justice.

Jesus would never sanction this, as He had come into the world to fulfil, not to upset the laws.

The Divine ordinance only means that one man can forgive another for a personal injury that he has suffered at the other’s hands. The victim has the right and the power to do this. Sincere forgiveness will turn aside and cut off the avenging Karma which would otherwise infallibly overtake the culprit. This forgiveness can only come from the person who suffered the offence, none other can forgive the offender. Sincere forgiveness will bring absolution and disencumbrance to the offender and a great blessing to the offended. No other person can have any influence in such a matter, for the threads which connect cause and effect do not touch him; thus having no direct contact he cannot actively interfere, all he can do is to offer up a prayer of intercession, the effect of which again depends on the spiritual condition of the persons immediately concerned. Not being concerned himself he cannot forgive. Forgiveness lies alone in God’s Will as laid down in His laws, against which there is no repeal. Divine justice has ordained that only he who has suffered injury can forgive, either in this world or in the next. If he does not forgive the offender, the full weight of Karma will fall on the latter, it will wipe out the debt and at the same time in some way, bring the forgiveness of the offended person. Either the forgiveness or the sufferer himself are interwoven into the working of Karma. This must be so, as up till then the threads linking offender and sufferer are still unbroken. This is a blessing for both, for the sufferer could not enter the Light without having forgiven. He would inevitably be retained. Thus no man can forgive another an offence unless he has personally been the sufferer, Karma could only be influenced by a living intermediary factor. Reformation alone is the way to forgiveness.*

“I am the Lord Thy God, thou shalt have none other gods but me” should be written in words of flame in every man’s soul as a natural protection against all idolatry.

He who has the knowledge of God in all his magnitude must abhor all idolatrous practices as sacrilege.

A man can and should go to a priest to receive instruction, provided the latter is one capable of giving him real help. If, however, the priest expects and presumes to detract from the perfection of the Almighty prescribing some course of thought or action one must turn away from him, for a servant of God is not at the same time a plenipotentiary who has a right to demand and to grant in his name.

This matter can also be quite simply and naturally explained: a plenipotentiary of God can naturally never be a man unless the same came directly from God’s Divine kingdom, who thus bears the attribute of Divinity in himself. Only as such can he be a plenipotentiary. As a man, however, is not Divine, it follows that it is impossible for him to be an accredited messenger or representative of God. The power of the Almighty cannot be conferred on a man, because Divine power lies only in Divinity itself. The logical fact precludes, in its very simplicity, the possibility that man can appoint a human vice-regent to govern for God, or that he can proclaim a Christ. Whatever effort be made in such a direction must from the first be doomed to failure. In such things neither vote nor proclamation coming from man is of the least consequence or effect, for here the envoy must come from God Himself.

Man’s opinion is worthless and need not be taken into consideration, for hitherto his views have mostly proved that they rested on misconception of the truth and were not in harmony with God’s purpose. Thinking people stand amazed at the preposterous value man in his infatuation sets on himself. He who, when he has arrived at the highest possible spiritual perfection, has after all only attained to the lowest state of consciousness in the region of spirituality. Whereas a very great number of human beings of the present day, differ but little (except for their more powerful intellects) in what they feel, think and strive for, from the most highly developed animals. Thus they bustle about, alert and vigilant like insects, as if it were a question of racing to reach the highest goal. Closer examination, however, will expose the hollowness, the utter insignificance and worthlessness of the object of their feverish pursuit. And this chaotic medley, in its insane imaginings, has the effrontery to claim the right to appoint, to accept or to reject an envoy from God!

In so doing they are passing judgment on what they can neither understand nor appreciate, unless the Supreme Being graciously inclined to them and made himself known. At the same time the most glaring incongruities in vogue in the opinions at the present day are accepted, in spite of constant appeals to science, reason and logic.

In the case of thousands it were a pity to waste any further arguments on the question. These words are only addressed to those who have still common sense enough left, to form a sound opinion on a matter propounded to them, and not to those who accept every new teaching that comes into fashion, and who reject it again promptly, as soon as they hear a doubt expressed by some ignorant critic. A little quiet thought surely suffices to make it plain that the soul or inner being of one species cannot become the soul or inner being of another species to which it in no way belongs. As the natural laws issued from the ever-existing wisdom of God, it is evident that they continue to operate in the same logical consistency in all the spheres in which they rule, becoming clearer and more explicit the nearer they approach the region of their origin.

It is just as impossible to infuse a human spirit into an animal’s body, thus turning the animal into a man, as it is to infuse Divinity into a human body and make it God-like. Nothing but what was originally implanted can develop.

Experience has proved that the most astonishing varieties can be produced by the blending of components in the breeding of plants; and in the same way breeding and development have produced great differences of types in man, but the original essential components remain unchanged.

A cross between man and beast can be produced as far as their physical bodies are concerned, because the physical matter in both is of the same origin. Not so with the soul, for these have a different origin and the gulf between them cannot be bridged over.*Nothing can be taken away from components belonging to the original and nothing can be added. The same is the case with the difference between the spiritual origin of the soul of man and Divine origin.**

Christ as the Son of God came from unsubstantiate Divinity. He bore Divinity in Himself from all time. But it was impossible for Him to transmit this Divine attribute to another being, to one who issued from the sphere of the spirit; neither could He, for this reason, invest any one with Divine power enabling him, for example, to forgive sins.

Forgiveness of sins can only be attained by the automatic action of the eternal laws carrying out God’s Divine purpose in

Creation, the justice and perfection of which must ever be beyond the comprehension of a human being.

What authority the Son of God could, therefore, invest man with, merely related to things human, corresponding to man’s human spirit and never to anything Divine.

It is true, it can be argued that man’s origin can be logically traced back to God, but the origin did not lie in God Himself, but outside of Divinity, thus the source was but indirect and in this lies the great difference.

The authority vested in a vice-regent’s office can only be wielded by one coming from the same sphere as the one from which his authority proceeds. Every one can readily understand that a plenipotentiary must possess all the qualifications of his Chief in order to represent or substitute him in his office. The plenipotentiary must necessarily come from the region of Divine unsubstantiality as Christ did.

If a man, in all good faith, undertakes this office, it naturally follows that his directions and precepts can only be valid and have authority in purely human concerns. Those, however, who see more in him are under a delusion which they will only perceive, after death, to have prevented all the progress that could have been made during a lifetime. Lost sheep led astray by a false shepherd!

In the same way as this, the first commandment “I am the Lord Thy God, thou shalt have no other Gods but Me” — is often disregarded and not kept, not being understood, it is with the other commandments. And yet the commandments are nothing but the affirmation of the Almighty’s Divine Will on which, from the beginning, all Creation is based and that cannot be circumvented a hair’s-breadth.

Looking at it from this point of view, how foolish is that maxim of so many: “The end justifies the means.”

What mad confusion would result in Divine laws if they could be shifted about in such a way. Anyone having the slightest idea what perfection means, must from the very first refuse to consider such impossible conditions. As soon as a man tries to picture to himself the fulness of Divine perfection, he will find this serve him as guide and staff to a quicker understanding of all things in Creation. To know full well the perfection of God and to possess this knowledge is the key to understanding God’s work, of which man himself is a part.

Then he will recognise the compelling power, the serious warning that lies in the Scripture: “God is not mocked.” In other words, His laws act with unfailing regularity. He lets the wheels He has set in motion run on: a manikin will alter nothing in this. Should he try to, all he would accomplish would be that he and all those who followed him would be torn to pieces. It is of no consequence whether he believes this or not.

A blessing can only come to him who fully submits to God’s Will as it is manifested in His Divine laws. But only he who knows and rightly understands them can do this.

Those teachings which require blind faith are to be discarded as dead and pernicious. Only that teaching that, like Christ’s, prompts man to realise, to consider and to test so that conviction may result from real understanding, can bring freedom and redemption.

Only the most reprehensible thoughtlessness and levity could think that the aim and object of a human being’s existence was to toil in the first place for the necessities and delectation of the body, and then quietly to free itself from any responsibility for the consequences of his spiritual negligence and indolence on earth by some external ceremonies and well-sounding words. The passage through life and the step into the other world is not the same as an ordinary journey for which one can take a ticket at the last moment. To entertain such an idea is to double the gravity of sin; for every doubt in the perfect or impartial justice of the Almighty is a sacrilege, and to believe in arbitrary, easy forgiveness of sins is a proof of doubt in God’s just laws, and, even more, it implies and confirms the belief that God is arbitrary, which again means believing He is deficient and imperfect. Poor wretched pitiable “Believers”!

It were better you were still unbelievers. You would then be unhindered and it would be easier for you to find the way on which you think you are. The only remedy here is not anxiously to suppress thoughts that come and doubts that arise on many questions, for this is the natural outcome of the longing for the truth. To wrestle with doubt is the testing and verifying process which must necessarily follow after dogmas are cast aside. Only he whose mind is no longer perplexed can rejoice in the firm convinced faith necessary to free his spirit and enable it to climb up to Paradise.

The Immaculate Conception is not only meant in a physical sense; it is more specially meant in a spiritual sense, like so much else in the Bible. Only he who feels and recognises that a spiritual world exists in full activity can find the key to the right understanding of the Bible, and that it is the spirit that makes the word live. To all others the Bible is a book with seven seals.

In the physical sense every conception resulting from pure love is immaculate, provided man humbly and lovingly lifts up his eyes to the Creator, and that sensual instinct has not been the basis but merely the accompanying agent in the process.

This happens so very rarely that it is quite justifiable to give this case special prominence.

That sensual instinct was relegated to the background is vouched for by the annunciation which is specially mentioned, because otherwise a link between the natural and the spiritual happening which intimate conjunction would be missing. The Virgin Mary, provided with all the necessary gifts to fulfil her high mission and led by spiritual guidance, came into contact with persons who were acquainted with and deeply interested in all the revelations and prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah. This was her first preparation on earth, and impelled Mary on the path to her goal and made her familiar with all the circumstances in which she herself was to play such a great role, without knowing it at the time. The bandage which blindfolds the eyes of the elect is only carefully and gradually loosened, so as not to disturb the necessary process of development, for all intermediate phases must be seriously lived through, to make it possible to attain the result aimed at. To know one’s mission too early would result in leaving gaps which it would be harder to fill in later. By having the goal constantly in sight the danger would be incurred of pressing forward too rapidly, whereby much that absolutely must be seriously experienced to qualify for the appointed task would be overlooked or learnt too easily.

A man can only experience seriously that which he at the time regards as his life’s duty. So it was with Mary.

Thus, when the day came on which she was prepared both inwardly and outwardly, in a moment of perfect rest and spiritual tranquillity, she became clairvoyant and clairaudient,

i.e. her soul was opened to the other world of finer matter and she experienced the annunciation described in the Bible. The bandage fell from her eyes and she entered consciously into her mission. The Annunciation was such a stupendous spiritual experience for Mary that, from that hour, it wholly filled the life of her soul. From that time her whole being was concentrated on the Divine grace she was allowed to look forward to. The Light intended, by the Annunciation, to bring about this condition of soul so as to check and drive back from the outset all base instincts and to prepare a pure physical vessel (the child’s body), for the immaculate spiritual conception. By virtue of this exceptionally strong experience which stirred Mary’s soul, the ensuing physical conception, which corresponded to the natural laws, was immaculate.

For those who have some knowledge of the spiritual world, whose varied and extended activity prepares for all great events centuries in advance, it is not difficult to understand that Mary brought with her all the qualities necessary for her mission, i.e. she was prepared prenatally. Thus the physical conditions were present (the child’s body, the purest possible vehicle) for the immaculate spiritual conception that took place in the middle term of her pregnancy.

Here it was not one of the many waiting souls or spirit sparks, who, for the sake of further development, wish or are compelled to begin a new journey on earth; whose ethereal bodies are already somewhat tarnished, which means that they have but a dim connection with the Light, or are even from time to time altogether cut off from the Light. But here a whole portion of pure Divinity was given for love of man, erring in darkness. It was of such power that it precluded the possibility of a direct connection with the primeval Light ever being intercepted — a close tie between God and man. This Glorious One was Jesus Christ, a pillar of Light of unfailing purity and strength before which all baseness was forced to retreat! From the Light He received pure unadulterated truth and the gift of healing and his cures were accounted miraculous.

The account of the temptation in the wilderness shows how the dark influences tried to soil the purity of his soul and were repelled without doing him any harm.

After Mary’s immaculate physical conception and after her pregnancy was half way through, it was possible for a spirit of such strength and purity that it could not be tarnished or dimmed on its descent straight from the Light, to incarnate in the mother’s womb — an immaculate spiritual conception!

Thus it is quite right in Jesus’ case to speak of his immaculate conception, which proceeded both physically and spiritually, without any everlasting law being circumvented, altered or in any way remodelled for this special case. One must not think there is any contradiction in the terms of the promise which says that the Saviour should be born of a virgin.* The contradiction solely lies in the wrong interpretation of the word virgin. Even the narrow-minded must allow that pregnancy and birth, without thinking of procreation, alone exclude virginity in the ordinary sense. The promise does not mean this, it means that Christ was born of a virgin as her first-born, i.e. of a woman who had never been a mother. In such a case all the organs that have to do with the development of the human body are virginal, that means have never before come into activity for this purpose, which again signifies that no child has issued from this womb. The organs of the body must be virginal in the case of every first-born. And only in this sense is this prophecy to be understood. A prophecy can only be fulfilled, if the conditions of its fulfilment are in strict harmony with Divine law and can only be made on this understanding.*

In Divine Creation, which is perfect, it is ordained that copulation is absolutely necessary, for the Almighty in his infinite wisdom ordered all things in Creation so that there should be nothing superfluous. He who thinks otherwise holds that God’s work is imperfect. It is the same with him who affirms that the birth of Christ was not preceded by copulation. Copulation of flesh and blood must precede every normal birth and did so in this case.

A man who understands this, praises his Lord and Creator more than he who would admit and consider other possibilities. The former shows unshaken faith in the perfection of God and is convinced that no exception or change could take place. That is the greater faith. Besides this all other events entirely agree with this. Christ became a human being. It having been thus decided he was obliged to submit to all the physical laws his Father had decreed for physical propagation, as the perfection of God demands.

If it should be objected that with God nothing is impossible, this rejoinder does not hold good, for another quite different meaning lies in these words which does not occur to the indolent thinker. To refute this argument it is only necessary to say that such things as incompleteness, want of logic, injustice, arbitrariness and many other attributes are impossible to God. It could be further argued that if nothing is impossible to God, He could, with one act of His Divine Will, have made all the inhabitants of the earth believers, then he need not have let his Son become man, nor exposed him to the hardships of life on earth and death on the Cross. That stupendous sacrifice need not have been made. That things happened as they did, vouches for the inflexibility of Divine laws. They have governed all things from the very beginning and are perfect, so that it is impossible that violence could be done or change effected of any kind in Creation. The blind and stubborn opponent might now say that it was God’s Will that it should happen so. That is quite right, but is in no way a counter-argument. Putting aside the more naïve interpretation and seeking for the deeper spiritual meaning as it is man’s duty to do, we shall find our assertion confirmed.

It was the Will of God, but that has nothing to do with arbitrariness. On the contrary, we find confirmation of the laws that carry out God’s Will, that must be obeyed, allowing of no exception or circumvention whatever. It is just the fact that God’s laws compel obedience that makes it evident that God’s Will is manifesting itself.

For this reason it was inevitable that to fulfil his mission Christ was obliged to submit absolutely to natural laws, i.e. the Will of His Father. His whole life proves that Christ did this: His normal birth, His growth, His feeling hunger and fatigue, His suffering and finally His death on the Cross. He was subject to all that a human being is subject to. Why then should just His birth have been other than normal ? In that all happened naturally the Saviour’s task appears all the greater.

Mary was no less blessed in her high calling on that account.

That at Christ’s death the veil of the Temple, which shut out the Holy of Holies from the ordinary man, was rent in twain, was taken, later on, as a symbol, meaning that the separation between God and man ceased at the moment of the Saviour’s death and that direct communication was established in its stead. This interpretation is wrong. By crucifying Christ, men rejected the Son of God as their expected Messiah, and this made the separation all the greater. It was because, after this, the Holy of Holies was no longer necessary, that the veil was rent. Exposed to the eyes of the vulgar, open to all impure currents or vibrations, it further expressed that Divinity would no longer set its foot on earth after this deed had been committed — so that the Holy of Holies became superfluous. This is the exact contrary of the explanation hitherto accepted and which here, as elsewhere, shows the presumption of man’s mind. Neither was the Crucifixion a necessary sacrifice, but a murder, a dastardly crime. Every other explanation is a misrepresentation which either has its origin in ignorance or is intended as excuse.

Christ certainly did not come on earth with the intention of letting himself be crucified; neither does redemption lie in His Crucifixion! Christ was crucified because of his teaching, as being a troublesome Bringer of Truth. It was not his death on the Cross that could or should bring redemption, but the Truth that He gave man in His Word.

The Truth, however, was irksome to the teachers and heads of the Temple, because it shook their influence severely. It would be just the same today in many places. Mankind has not changed in this respect. The teachers of that time took their standing, it is true, on the old traditions, but these had become but rigid forms, rigid without life. The same we may often observe today. But He, who without rejecting the Scriptures, would have brought life into the Word, naturally also upset their practices and rejected their interpretations. He freed the people from the rigid and empty ceremonies which were compulsory, and this naturally was a great vexation to the false leaders who soon perceived how energetically He was taking the reins of government from their hands. And for this reason, He who brought the Truth, who came to clear away the obstructions their wrong interpretations had heaped up, was maligned, rendered suspect, and pursued. As, in spite of their efforts, they could not succeed in turning Him into ridicule, they sought to discredit what He said: to stamp Him as inferior. Thus incompetent to comprehend, they pointed to His past, His birth as the carpenter’s son. He was a layman, the same exactly as today one is called who would strike at and expose doctrines that kill every aspiring thought. His opponents were too cautious to enter into any dissertations or to challenge his interpretations, as they were aware they would be beaten if they hazarded entering into any discussions with him. They contented themselves, therefore, with maligning him maliciously through bribed agents, till, at last, they did not hesitate to avail themselves of a propitious moment, to accuse him publicly and falsely and have Him crucified, to remove Him, and with Him, the danger he represented to their authority and power.

Crucifixion was a form of violent death introduced by the

Romans. In it was no redemption, neither did it bring redemption. It atoned for no sins, it freed from nothing, but only burdened mankind still more by a dastardly murder. If here and there a cult has arisen teaching that a principal or necessary part of Christ’s Work of Redemption lies in this murder, it only robs man of the most valuable blessing that redemption alone could bring. It diverts his attention from the true mission of the Saviour, from what in the first place made

His coming, from Heaven to Earth, necessary. It was not to suffer death on the Cross but to bring the Light of Truth into the maze of dogmatic rigidity and emptiness that was pressing on and paralysing the mind of man, and to explain the relations between God, Creation, and man as they really exist. For with this knowledge of the real relations of God, Creation, and man, all that man’s limited understanding has added (thereby covering up and hiding the real meaning), would fall away of itself. Not till then could man clearly see the way that leads upwards.

Redemption lay in bringing the truth and freedom from error — in nothing else. Men’s vision was obscured, their faith blind. Blindness is the word that most suitably depicts their state.

The Passover that Christ kept with His disciples, before His death, was a farewell supper. When Christ said: “Take, eat, this is My Body. Drink ye all of It. This is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”, He declared that He was willing even to die on the Cross, to embrace that opportunity of testifying to erring man the truth of His teaching, which alone indicated the way to the remission of sins.

He says expressly, “forgiveness for many”, not for “all”, thus only for those who take His words to heart and live according to His precepts.

His body sacrificed on the Cross, His blood spilt was to emphasize the solemn necessity and the profound gravity of the interpretations His teaching had brought. The celebration of the Holy Communion, in remembrance of the Lord’s Supper, recalls and accentuates their urgency.

That the Son of God did not let Himself be deterred by man’s malignant enmity which was foreseen as a probable contingency, but continued to proclaim the Truth, speaks for the desperate plight of mankind who could only be saved from destruction by catching at the rope thrown to them.*

When at supper Christ refers to His death on the Cross, it is to lay solemn and particular stress for the last time on the compelling necessity of the teaching He came to bring.

In partaking of the Holy Communion, each communicant should realise afresh that the Son of God, even in face of death on the Cross, did not shrink from giving His Body and His Blood to open man’s eyes and enable him to understand the working of the Divine Laws governing Cosmic Evolution. The knowledge of the profound gravity, the burning necessity of this saving Gospel should give man new strength, new impetus to live and to act according to Christ’s teaching, not merely to understand it. In so doing his sins will be forgiven and he will be redeemed. But not directly. He must himself find the path Christ points out in His Message and follow it.

For this reason and to this end the Communion Service must always reanimate, must bring these events to life again, so that the zeal to obey precepts that were given at the cost of so great a sacrifice, should not slacken. Zeal alone insures success. Indolence and mere outward ceremony cause man to lose their hold on the rope thrown out to save them and sink back into error and ruin.

It is a fatal mistake for men to think that the Crucifixion guarantees the remission of their sins. Such a thought does terrible harm: all those who think thus are in truth kept back from Salvation, as Redemption only lies in living according to the Saviour’s precepts, teaching given by One who knew all things and could overlook all things. He gives men practical examples of the absolute necessity of keeping the laws on which Creation rests and shows what results when God’s Will is obeyed and what follows on disobedience.

His work of Redemption made evident the defects and abuses in religious practices of His day and it brought light into the atmosphere of ever increasing darkness surrounding man. Neither the Crucifixion, nor the Lord’s Supper, nor the Holy Wafer, can bring remission of sins unconditionally. Such a notion is antagonistic to all Divine ordinances. And thus it follows that neither has man power to forgive. A man only has the right and the power to forgive that which he has personally suffered at the hands of another, and then only when, of itself, his heart bids him do it.

He who will take thought in his heart (consult his inner voice) will recognise the Truth and thus also the way. Those who are too indolent to think, those who are too lazy carefully to trim and unremittingly keep in order the lamp they have within to give them light, will not have the ability to weigh and consider, and, like the foolish virgins of the parable, may perhaps find, “in such an hour as they think not”, that the Word of Truth has passed them by!

They let themselves fall asleep in their inertia and blind faith, consequently in their slothfulness they will be incapable of recognising the Bringer of Truth, the Bride-groom. Then they will perforce stay behind when the Wakeful enter into the Kingdom of Bliss.

If Thou art the Son of God, come down from the Cross and save Thyself and us. Those were the scornful cries addressed to the Son of God as He hung in agony on the Cross in the burning rays of the sun. Those who cried thus considered themselves specially clever. They scoffed, they triumphed, and they laughed; they were filled with hatred, but they did not know why, for of a truth Christ’s sufferings were no reason for scorn or ridicule, much less for laughter. If only for a moment they could have looked into the ethereal worlds and into the spiritual world and have seen what was reflected there, they would no longer have felt inclined to laugh. They would have learnt that their souls were incurring guilt which it would take thousands of years to work off. Even though the reaction was not immediately perceptible in the material world, these wicked souls were punished in every one of their succeeding, enforced incarnations.

They thought they were clever, but they could have given no better proof of their limitation than in what they said, for their words reveal childish ignorance. Those who speak thus are very far from understanding Creation and God’s Divine Will. How lamentable it is, therefore, that even today a great number of those who still believe in God and in the Coming of His Son, are convinced that Jesus of Nazareth could have come down from the Cross if He had so willed. Two thousand years passed since then, and still the same sluggish obtuseness — no change — no progress. The naïve believer says: “As He came from God, He must have been absolutely unrestricted in His actions on earth.” But to expect this shows both poverty of intellect and inertia in thinking.

Through His incarnation, the Son of God voluntarily subjected Himself to the Cosmic Law, the unalterable Will of God. Thus in all that concerned His physical body, nothing exceptional could take place. He said Himself that He did not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it. In becoming man, He was bound to matter as every human being is, and consequently, although He was the Son of God and possessed Divine power and might, He could not come down from the Cross as long as He was in a body of flesh and blood. To do so would have been upsetting the Divine ordinances, instituted by God’s Will in Creation. Divine Will was perfect from the beginning. It not only directs gross matter but also ethereal matter, and has dominion in the natural world and in the spiritual world in all their sub-divisions and all their stages of development up to Divinity, to God Himself.

God’s method of operating, His Divine power and might are not as man represents them. True godliness manifests itself in absolute obedience to God’s Will: true devotion will never seek anything other than the fulfilment of Divine behests. This is the attitude of a man arrived at a high state of spiritual maturity. The higher he stands, the readier he will be to obey unconditionally. Voluntarily and joyfully he will subject himself and never expect arbitrary operations, independent of the law, to take place because he believes that God’s law is perfect.

If a physical body is nailed to a cross of wood, really firmly nailed, it cannot free itself without extraneous physical aid. Such is the law as God laid it down in Creation and it allows of no exception. He who thinks differently and who expects another, a different solution to be possible, does not believe in God’s perfection, nor in the immutability of His Will. That the knowledge and understanding of men (their ability to grasp the truth) is the same now as it was then; that they have not changed or advanced one step, we see by their present cry: “If He be the Son of Man, He can bring about the catastrophes prophesied as soon as He will.” They take it for granted, which means in other words, if He cannot do so, He is not the Son of Man. They do not remember that Christ, the Son of God, pointed out that none but God alone knew the hour when the great Reckoning should begin. Thus in their words they express a double doubt. They doubt the Son of Man and they doubt the Son of God’s Word. They also expose their utter lack of comprehension of Creation as a whole and their lamentable ignorance in just those questions that it is urgently necessary for man to know.

If the Son of God, in becoming man, had to submit to the laws, the Son of Man can naturally not be exempt from obeying them. Cosmic laws cannot be disregarded. On entering Creation every man subjects himself to God’s unchangeable Will, and the Son of God and the Son of Man did the same. The difficulty in understanding this, lies in the circumstance that man has never sought to know the cosmic laws and that (with the exception of a few fragments of truth they happened to stumble on here and there) they have had no knowledge of these laws up till today.

If the miracles that Christ did were quite beyond what man can do, that does not mean that He set these laws aside. In performing His miracles He did nothing arbitrary but proceeded in perfect harmony with the Divine laws. He only showed that He performed His miracles with the Divine power He possessed, not with spiritual power : therefore, what He did naturally surpasses that of which man is capable. Still His miracles were not performed independently of the cosmic law, but they accommodated themselves to it.

Man is backward in his spiritual development, so that he cannot even make full use of the spiritual forces at his command.

Otherwise he would be able to achieve effects that would seem miraculous to the man of the present day. Naturally, it is possible to do things with Divine power that could never be done with spiritual power. The work of Divine power is different in its nature from the work done by the highest spiritual power; still, whichever work it is, whatever is done remains within the limits of the law, and never trespasses against it.

The only beings guilty of arbitrary action within their own domain are men, for they never really conformed to God’s Will in cases where they had a certain liberty of action. They always considered their own will first, and in so doing disabled themselves from ever soaring aloft, and had to remain on a level corresponding to the dictates of their earthbound intellect.

Thus men do not even know those cosmic laws through which their own spiritual powers are made free to operate, and in which, or by means of which, they could further develop them. They are all the more amazed and perplexed, therefore, at what Divine power can do, and they either do not recognise it as divine, or, if they do, expect it to accomplish what is outside the cosmic law. Among such impossible feats would be the descent of a physical body from a cross made of material substance.

To raise the dead by Divine agency is not contrary to the cosmic law, as long as it is done within a certain time after death (which is different in every case). The more mature the human soul, that is leaving its physical body, is, the quicker will it be released from it and consequently the shorter will be the span of time in which it can be recalled; this can only be done as long as the soul is still bound to the body. The soul, which is animated by the spirit, must obey the Will of God, and when it is called, it must return along the bridge of fine ethereal matter and re-enter its forsaken physical body, as long as the bridge is not destroyed.

When we speak of Divine power and spiritual power, this is no contradiction of the fact that there is only one power that proceeds from God and that permeates all Creation, but there is a difference between Divine power and spiritual power. The latter is dominated by the former from which it proceeds. Spiritual power is not Divine power diluted, but Divine power transformed and transferred to a category, which has a more limited field of action. Thus there are two species of active energy, working differently, but only one power. Next in order is the animistic power of nature, which again is a transformed species of spiritual power. Hence it appears that there are three basic powers of which the spiritual and the natural powers are supplied by the dominating Divine power. Yet all three are one. There are no other species of power, although there are many varieties, which result from the spiritual and the natural fundamental species. Each work in their own way, and are each controlled by their own rules. These rules or laws, appearing to differ in form, are but parts of the one law and all varieties of power are but parts of the highest, the one Divine power. Each species and each variety, with the exception of Divine Will itself, forms only a part-species which is governed by part-laws. It is also the object and ambition of all these parts and varieties to unite with the pure Divine power from which they proceeded. This power is identical with Divine Will, which again is translated into immutable, unchangeable, adamantine law.

Each species of power (with the exception of Divine power) with all its different varieties, sub-divisions and degrees, expresses itself in matter, both, gross physical and fine ethereal, corresponding to its nature, and fashions therein worlds or planes in countless varieties.

Each of these worlds or planes is but a segment of Creation, because the power that shaped or formed them is but a part, a fractional part, of the transmitted power of God. The laws that rule these worlds are also fractional. It is only when all these fractions are united that they combine to form the perfect law expressing God’s Divine Will established in Original Creation, the realm of pure spirit. It follows that the human seed-grain or spirit-germ must traverse all these worlds and planes, where it must personally experience the working of their separate laws and make them a part of itself. When man has gathered all the good possible out of them, they will become a part of his inner consciousness. He is then enabled by their help to enter Paradise. If he makes use of them as God wills, they will bear him there; from there, having attained to knowledge and understanding, he can work in the planes below, helping and advancing, which is the highest task of every mature human spirit. There can never be over-crowding as the worlds and planes, now existing, can be extended without limit: they are floating in the infinite.

Thus the Kingdom of God is ever increasing in size. The energy of pure human spirits adds to it and extends it, and the field of their future work will be in Subsequent Creation. This they will be able to direct from Paradise; having themselves wandered through all its stages, they will be thoroughly acquainted with every condition. These explanations are here given, so that there may be no misconception with regard to Divine power and spiritual power, for in truth it is but one power which has emanated from God, out of which the different species and varieties issue. He who is cognisant of all this will never childishly expect impossible things to occur — things outside the jurisdiction of the law.

Thus, even the Son of Man cannot, by stretching forth his hand, give rise to catastrophes which are to happen immediately. That would be contrary to the existing unchangeable natural law. The Son of Man, God’s servant, transmits God’s Will to the basic powers, whereupon they take a new course in obedience to the Divine directions they receive; but whatever they do, it is strictly within the laws. In this case they operate with the utmost speed, but never beyond what is possible within their limits.

As the spirit is more mobile, lighter and quicker than natural substance, it follows that it takes longer to affect natural substance (the elements) than spiritual substance, and that the manifestations in the natural world (the elements) will take place later than they did in the spiritual world.

In the same way the ethereal material worlds are more mobile, more quickly moved than the gross physical world.

All is strictly regulated by and dependent on the law. All these laws are familiar to the Light and the despatch of the messengers or of special orders is so arranged that the final results converge to do the Will of God.

An apparatus of a magnitude and complexity far beyond man’s power of comprehension has been necessary to organise the great Reckoning, the Day of Judgment, that is now at hand. Its mechanism is, however, in perfect working order, and where it works alone, there will be no delays, but wherever human agency is required and a call is sent out to man, he fails. Human vanity disinclines him to all reforms, and with stupid persistence he even aggressively interferes with the accomplishment of every promised blessing.

Fortunately this was considered and taken into account after the great and general failing of mankind during Christ’s life on earth. Man can only hinder the Son of Man on his path on earth by obliging him up to a certain time to wander on circuitous by-roads, but he is not able to delay or in any way to influence the ultimate result, the pre-ordained end, for he no longer has the Powers of Darkness behind him to give him strength and to encourage his foolishness. And as for that bulwark of intellectuality, from the shelter of which they still shoot off their poisoned arrows, it will soon crumble and fall before the rays of advancing Light. Then all will give way and tumble about their ears, and no mercy will be shown to them, for have they not ceaselessly planned new evil in their hearts ?

Thus the Day will break — the Great Day so earnestly longed for by the righteous, by those craving for Light — not an hour later than was originally ordained.

The Son of God said to His disciples: “He who hearkens to my Word and takes it in, admits Me. He really eats of my Body and drinks of my Blood.”

This is the sense of the words that the Son of God spoke at the Last Supper. These words together with the meal He meant to be symbolical of His Life on earth. The words were to be recalled and the meal partaken of, in His Memory.

How then was it possible that such violent conflicts could arise on this subject between the learned and the Churches ?

When man has grasped the fact that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was the incarnate Word of God, the words become perfectly simple, and their meaning self-evident. How could He express Himself more clearly than by saying «He who takes in my Word eats of my Body and drinks of my Blood». How could He put it differently ? He was himself the Living Word in flesh and blood. In all that has been transmitted to us, the salient point has been omitted again and again, i.e. the reference to the Word which was sojourning on earth. Because they did not understand this passage, men left it out, thinking it of secondary importance. The result of doing this was that Christ’s Mission was completely misunderstood and misconstrued. As in the case of so many of His sayings, not even the Son of God’s disciples were able to understand these words of their Master aright in spite of their faith. Christ Himself often expressed His sorrow at this. To them the Last Supper meant no more than what their child-like nature suggested to their imagination, and they naturally handed Christ’s words on to posterity as they understood them and not as the Son of God intended them to be understood.

Jesus was the incarnate Word of God. He, therefore, who took in the Word in the right sense, took in Jesus Himself; and if a man lets this Word that is offered to him become a living, integral part of himself, of his thoughts and his actions, he makes the spirit of Christ alive in him, for the Son of God was the incarnate, living Word. A man should make an effort to grasp fully and follow this train of thought, not only read of it and discuss it, but rather retire into his inmost self and picture it so vividly that it becomes a real thing to him. Naturally he must first know the meaning and understand the purport of the Word of God, then he must recognise the fact that this is what he is receiving in the Last Supper. This is the right way of celebrating this Sacrament, and he will experience the blessing that it gives. It is not quite so simple to achieve as many believers think. To partake of the Last Supper apathetically will bring no profit. What is living, as is the Word of God, must be taken in by a man who is fully alive and awake to what he is doing. The Church is not able to animate the Last Supper; it cannot breathe life into it for another, if the communicant has not prepared himself to receive it aright.

We often see a beautiful picture illustrating the words: “I am knocking.” This is so far right in that the Son of God is standing at the door of the hut and knocking, desiring to enter. But here again man has added something of his own, for the door is ajar and one sees a table laid in the hut, which gives rise to the thought that none will be turned away who beg for food and drink. It is a beautiful thought and corresponds to Christ’s words, only these have been interpreted in too narrow a sense. “I am knocking” means much more. Distributing charity is but the smallest part of what the words mean. It is the Incarnate Word of God that is knocking at the door of the human soul, not begging to be admitted but demanding admittance. The whole, the complete Word, as it has been given to mankind, must be received and accepted by him in its entirety. His soul must open its doors to admit the Word. If the soul obeys this call, it follows that the conduct of the physical body belonging to this soul will accord with what the Word demands. Man invariably seeks to explain what he does not understand in a manner that satisfies his intellect, which means that he analyses the question or the matter in hand, and compresses it into narrow limits, thereby running the danger of only grasping fragments of the great problems he is investigating. This is what has happened in this instance.

The Incarnation of the Word will always be a mystery to the earth- man, because he cannot penetrate into the sphere of Divine Substance, where the first link of this chain was forged. It having been denied man to see the process of the Word becoming flesh at its inception, he is unable to understand the incarnation, nor is it surprising that he could not understand what the Son of God wished to symbolise by distributing the bread and wine at the Last Supper. This explanation, however, should make it possible for man to construct a picture in his imagination. He, however, who still inveighs against and rejects the truth and persistently holds to the perfectly unnatural interpretation hitherto customary, shows that his power of conception is not equal to spiritual problems and his attitude proves him to be both unscrupulous and obstinate.

Perfect is the Lord God. Perfect is His Divine Will which creates and maintains the universe. Therefore, the Divine laws that carry out His Will are also perfect.

What is perfect is unalterable, therefore to doubt statements of a contrary nature is quite justifiable. Some doctrines are contradictory in themselves. On the one hand they teach that God is perfect, and on the other they make statements, and require them to be believed, which, if they were true, are absolutely incompatible with the idea of perfection, the attribute of God and of his laws. Such teaching is like a worm- eaten and shaky edifice, the collapse of which is only a matter of time.

There are contradictory statements that not only question but absolutely deny the perfection of God. This denial is even appended to the declaration of faith required for membership of certain religious communities.

For example, when speaking of the Resurrection of the physical body of the Son of God, we hear of the Resurrection of the Flesh. Most men accept this doctrine thoughtlessly, without even trying or troubling to comprehend it. Others again, having received no instruction, make it their belief although fully aware of their ignorance of its meaning.

What a sad picture presents itself to the calm and dispassionate observer. What a pitiful lot stands before him. Although in their hearts they may be proud zealots of their faiths, bigots exhibiting their zeal by looking down in ignorant presumption on those of other persuasions, not considering that by so doing they give undoubted proof of their hopeless want of comprehension. He who accepts without question and professes to be convinced of the truth of some doctrine, exhibits admirable equanimity but no real faith. And thus it is that he presents himself before Him whom he calls the Highest and Holiest, the purport of his being his guide and support for all time!

As such he is not a living member of his religious community, who may expect to be uplifted and redeemed, he is but “sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal”, one who does not understand the laws of his Maker and who does not trouble to understand them. All those who think and act thus have come to a standstill or indeed are receding on that path that should lead them through matter to the Light of Truth.

Like all other erroneous teaching, that of the resurrection of the flesh is an artificially constructed obstacle which those who believe it take over with them into the transcendental world. There again they have to halt before this error, not being able to get rid of it or free themselves without help. Wrong beliefs cling fast and fetter man; they cut off his outlook and he cannot see the Light of Truth. These misguided souls dare not think otherwise, and thus cannot advance. To this is added the danger that, by not being able to escape from their self-made fetters, they risk missing the last opportunity of getting free and rising to the Light, and must be disintegrated. Eternal damnation is exclusion in perpetuity from the Light. It is the self-determined cutting adrift for all eternity from the possibility of return as a self-conscious spirit, a fully self- conscious personality. The process of disintegration not only destroys all physical and ethereal matter, but also all the self- consciousness that the soul has acquired.* This dissolution is called spiritual death after which there can be no further development to the Light. Where disintegration does not take place, the soul continues developing, until it has reached spiritual perfection.

If a man thoughtlessly adopts a false creed he will find, when he goes over to the other world that this fetters him, nor will he be able to cast these fetters off and be free, till his inner man, by embracing other sounder views, awakens and clears away the obstacle wrong faith has raised, and which blocks his way upwards.

The soul requires enormous energy of purpose to conquer itself and cast aside this wrong faith. The spirit must make a huge effort to take the first step even to indulge this thought. Thus millions hold themselves in bondage and cannot even summon strength enough to move a step, labouring under the fatal delusion that by so doing they might sin. They are as if paralysed and would indeed be lost if the living power of God Himself did not open up the way to them. But He cannot interfere and help unless He is met half-way, unless there is in the human soul a wish, however slight, for such help.

Nothing is more terrible and fatal than this paralysed condition. Here the blessings of free will granted to man become a curse by being wrongly used. Each individual is free to join a community or to avoid it. He who has blindly embraced a doctrine without careful and serious examination will be called to account with the utmost severity. Here indolence can cost him his whole future life.

The worst enemy of man in terrestrial matters is indolence, but indolence in matters of faith is fatal and means spiritual death! Woe unto them who do not soon awaken and pull themselves together and submit all they call faith to the keenest scrutiny; but those who are to blame for causing all this evil, are doomed indeed, the false shepherds who led their sheep into the cheerless wilderness. There is no help for them but to lead back their erring sheep into the right way. The great question, however, is whether there still will be time enough left to do so. Hence let every one examine himself thoroughly before he attempts to teach his neighbour.

False doctrine is delusion. Erroneous opinion holds the spirit of man fast bound, both here and in the transcendental world, and bound so fast that only the living Word of God can release him. Therefore, let every man for whom it is meant harken to its call. Only he will hear it for whom it is intended. Let such a one look to it, consider, and free himself.

Let him not forget that it is only by an act of his own free will that he can burst the chains of his false faith. In the same way as he once resolved, from sloth or ignorance, to embrace a faith he had not seriously tested in all its parts, or again as when he was willing to deny God’s existence because he could not find a way to Him that satisfied his sense of logic, so now he must make the first advance. He must investigate and test, examine and search so as to be able to lift his foot, which had been fettered, by his own will, and take the first step towards the Truth, and progress from there to freedom and the Light.

It is always the man himself who can, shall and must, weigh and consider because he possesses the gift to do so. He must also take on himself all the responsibility for what he wills, purposes or intends, and for what he does, no matter what it may be. This fact alone should impel him to careful examination.

Responsibility not only gives man the absolute right to investigate and question, it makes it a compelling duty! A man may well regard such a habit as the healthy tendency to maintain his personal independence, and that is quite right. He does not sign a worldly contract, making him responsible for something, without going through it carefully, word for word, and considering whether he can keep the conditions it contains. It is just the same, only far more serious, in spiritual things, such as embracing a faith. If here a man would exercise a little more of the self-preservation instinct, described above, it would not be a sin but a blessing.

Resurrection of the flesh! How can the flesh, which is gross matter, rise up to the spiritual kingdom of God the Father, gross matter which cannot even pass over into the ethereal matter of the transcendental world ? All matter, including even ethereal matter, is subject to the law of dissolution. The eternal laws in their perfection allow of no exceptions or infractions. Hence after death gross matter cannot ascend into the

Kingdom of the Father, nor even into the transcendental world whose finer matter is also subject to dissolution. Such violation of the Divine natural laws is out of the question, because the laws are perfect!

Physical science demonstrates the operation of the same laws on a small scale and man can study these manifestations at any time.

Every thing that exists is subject to the same simple but inexorable law in which God’s Divine Will is clearly and distinctly expressed. Nothing is excepted.

Thus it is all the more to be regretted that in this case, where the manifestation of the law approaches near enough for man to understand, he persists in refusing to acknowledge its magnitude and consistency.

Every doctrine teaches that God is perfect. If, therefore, the origin and source of all being is perfect, it follows that all that issues from that source is also perfect, thus the eternal laws (the expression of the Divine Will) must also be perfect. All Creation rests on the laws and all being is governed by them. Perfection implies stability and permanence: a change in these fundamental laws is, therefore, impossible. In a word, any alteration in the natural order of events is quite out of the question, consequently there can be no resurrection of the flesh because matter remains bound to matter.

As all the primordial laws proceeded from Divine perfection, no new manifestation of God’s Will can take a form different from what was laid down in the first days of Creation.

If some teaching refuses to consider and accept this argument, it only shows that its basis, man’s understanding, is at fault. Built upon and limited by time and space, such teaching has no claim to be a message from God: God’s Message would have no flaws. Coming from Perfection itself, from Truth itself, it would be without blemish and simple enough despite its magnitude to be generally understood by all. In the first place, it is natural, for what man calls Nature proceeds from perfect Divine Will, and is, as it ever was, animated from above and subject to no exceptions.

When Christ came down to earth to proclaim God’s message of Truth, he was obliged to clothe Himself in a body of physical matter as every human soul must do. This fact together with the certitude that Christ’s physical body decomposed after His death on the Cross should convince every thinking man of the immutability of the eternal laws. His body, as every physical body, had to remain in the physical world, it could not rise and enter another world. Divine Laws would not allow of this, otherwise they would not be perfect: and then it would follow that God’s Will, His Power and He Himself, would not be perfect either.

All science will certify that, as this is impossible, it shows doubt in the perfection of God to affirm that His physical body was raised and after forty days ascended into another world.

If the flesh is really to come to life again the soul must be recalled, and this can only happen as long as the spiritual naval cord of ethereal matter, that continues to unite the two bodies for some time, is not severed. After this ligament is severed, it would be impossible to recall the soul into its physical body.* All this happens in strict conformity to the laws of nature and that being so, even God Himself could not call the soul back as this would be against His own perfect Laws and Will, which operate automatically in Nature. This very perfection would not allow such an arbitrary act even to be considered. Here apparently God seems bound by His Creation. Because of this absolute consistency, every condition must be fulfilled in every case, no alteration being possible. But this dependence is by no means real: it appears so to man in some things because he cannot overlook the whole complexity of events. This incapacity to overlook the whole is the cause of his expecting (in all reverence and devotion), arbitrary acts from his God, but which, if keenly criticised, would only belittle Divine perfection. What man here thinks to be a blessing would not help him to look upwards in greater veneration, but would draw him down into the quite natural limitations of the human mind.

In the case of the raising of Lazarus and of the youth of Nain, the natural laws were strictly observed. They could be awakened because the cord uniting body and soul was not severed. At the Master’s call the soul could reunite with the body. The latter then was obliged to remain in the physical world until the physical and ethereal bodies were separated afresh and the latter allowed to go into the ethereal world, i.e. a new death of the body had to take place.

If the spirit of Christ had returned into His body or if it had never left it, He would have been forced to remain in the physical world till He died again.

Ascension into another world in the flesh is an absolute impossibility for man, as it was then for the Christ who was in the flesh on earth.

The physical body of the Redeemer went the same way as every other physical body according to the natural law of the Creator. Thus Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, did not rise again in the flesh! In spite of all logic and notwithstanding the far greater reverence expressed in this view, there will still be many who, in the blindness and indolence of their erroneous faith, will not be willing to accept the simple teaching of the Truth. There will also be some who are not able to do so because of their self-imposed limitations. Others again will fight against it, for they very rightly fear that the comfortable creed they were at such pains to establish will break down.

It is useless for them to object that they base their assertions on literal, verbal tradition, for the Apostles were but men. If their renderings from memory were too strongly coloured by human methods of conception, it must be remembered that these simple men, the witnesses of miracles they had not as yet been able to understand, were now thrown into a state of the greatest agitation by the terrible events that had followed the Crucifixion. Many errors that crept into their writings and verbal accounts, as for instance the blending of the Son of God and the Son of Man into one person, were owing to their too human views and to their preconceived ideas which in spite of the strong spiritual inspiration they enjoyed, dimmed and marred their best pictures. Jesus Himself never wrote down anything, so there was no work which one could accept as an absolutely reliable authority as a basis for debate.

He never would have said or done anything that was not wholly and fully in harmony with His Father’s laws, the expression of His creative Will. Did He not expressly say: “I am come to fulfil the laws of God ?”

The laws of God are clearly evident in nature and their jurisdiction extends much further than the physical matter we see, but they always remain natural, whether in the ethereal, animistic or spiritual world. He who thinks, will see something that points out a way for really serious seekers in these significant words of the Redeemer.

Moreover, everybody can find confirmation of this in the Bible, for Jesus appeared to many — and what happened on these occasions ? Maria did not at first recognise Him, Magdalen did not recognise Him immediately, the two disciples who journeyed with Him to Emmaus and talked with Him, did not recognise Him for hours . . . What must be inferred from this ? That it was and must have been another body that they saw, otherwise they would have recognised Him directly.

Let him, however, remain deaf who will not hear and let him remain blind who is too indolent to open his eyes!

The expression Resurrection of the flesh in the general acceptation of the phrase, is justified if applied to rebirths on earth. It is a great blessing that rebirths are permitted, repeated incarnations, enabling the soul to advance rapidly and expiate sins by the reaction of bad Karma, which is forgiveness of sins.

A proof of the immeasurable Love of the Creator, who graciously permits that souls who have partly or wholly wasted their time on earth and are thus not prepared to rise into the spiritual world, should have another chance, by clothing themselves in a new mantle of physical matter, whereby the vessel that they laid aside celebrates a resurrection in the new body. The soul, that has already detached itself, experiences a new Resurrection in the flesh. The unspeakable blessing that lies in the constant recurrence of this high grace, the spirit of man, who cannot overlook all things, will not learn to appreciate till later on.

When we compare Divine Justice and human justice, it will be seen that in most cases they are diametrically opposite, for what is just in the eyes of God is not just in the eyes of man. This is because man’s space-bound and time- bound intellect often is not able to see nor to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong from outward appearances. The causes of man’s actions lie deep down in his heart hidden away and cannot be gauged or measured by dead paragraphs or by scholars’ erudition. Thus it comes that decrees of worldly justice do not correspond with Divine Justice but on the contrary run counter to it.

We need not revert to the Middle Ages and remind the reader of the horrible tortures the unfortunate culprits were sentenced to, the burning of witches and other juridical crimes. Nor need we recall the cases of victims burnt at the stake, tortured or murdered in the name of religion, for such crimes as these reciprocal action will make the perpetrators suffer doubly. They abused the sacred name of the Almighty and perfect God, for they committed these crimes in His Name and as they asserted they were agreeable to Him, they made Him responsible for them in the eyes of men.

These abuses and horrors ought not to be quickly forgotten, but should dwell in the memory of man as warnings when passing judgment today, particularly as they were then apparently justified and were practised zealously in all good faith.

Much has changed since then in several ways and yet naturally the time will come when future generations will consider our present laws barbarous and inhuman, as we, having arrived at our present state of culture, look back on those of that time.

This is the way of the world and in it lies evidence of a certain progress.

If we, however, look below the surface, the progress made between then and now is merely in the outer form. The authority and immense arbitrary power a single individual has over the fate of his fellow-men without the restraint of personal responsibility, is much the same now as it was then.

Nor have men and the principles that dictate their actions, perceptibly changed and where the life of the soul has remained the same, the reaction decreed by Divine Justice will also be the same.

Could men’s eyes be opened but for a moment to see things in their true light, they would utter a long-drawn cry of dismay and despair and be seized with horror. No man could raise his voice to reproach his neighbour, for each one would feel the same burden of guilt oppressing him.

As up till then, every one made the same mistake of judging from appearances and entirely overlooking real life, no man would have a right to blame another for doing so.

The first ray of light suddenly and unexpectedly illuminating the truth and enlightening man would cause many to despair utterly, while others who had never allowed themselves time to think, would be exasperated beyond measure at having been asleep so long.

Thus the time has come to admonish man to serious thought and encourage him to develop and cultivate his own independent judgment. He will then no longer blindly agree with the opinions of others, but will only adopt such views and principles for his guidance in thought, deed, and speech as he feels in his heart to be right. Man must never forget that he alone is responsible for his inner convictions, his thoughts and his actions, even if he has unconditionally adopted the views and principles of others and made them his own.

It is well for him who has advanced so far in insight and understanding that he puts to the test every statement he comes across and then acts according to the dictates of his own inner feeling.

By so doing he will not incur the heavy Karma that thousands incur by their thoughtlessness, love of sensation, by their prejudices or by slandering and maligning others which will cause them suffering and sorrow they need never otherwise know.

Thus they allow themselves to be deterred from and indeed robbed of much that is really good in this world; and not only suffer temporary loss but perhaps risk their very existence.

This is how the senseless hatred against Jesus was fanned into a blaze; only few of the malignant clamourers knew the real reason; the others who had never come into personal contact with him merely worked themselves up into blind passion and joined in the general outcry.

It were otherwise impossible that the insane tragedy should have occurred; that the Son of God Himself could be accused of blaspheming the Almighty and be crucified. And He, the only one who had come direct from God to bring man the truth about Him and to proclaim His Divine Will! That it did occur is simply grotesque and fully illustrates the narrow-mindedness of mankind.

Man’s true character has not improved since then. On the contrary, in spite of his discoveries and inventions, he has retrogressed. Mankind has only advanced in presumption and self-conceit on the strength of outward success. Arrogance is the special sign of narrow-mindedness.

The soil on which these proclivities grew has but become more fruitful during the past two thousand years and has brought forth the man of today with his perverse mentality. But he, never doubting, is still further entangling himself and thus hurrying on towards his doom.

It is but seldom that it becomes unmistakably obvious that the hardships and visitations a man has to bear, are but the reactionary results of his possibly well-meaning but wrong views which run contrary to Divine Laws and are opposed to Divine Truth.

There are many who suffer on this account, but in their self- sufficient blindness they actually pride themselves on being thus afflicted. It will be a terrible and awful awakening for them when the time comes that they find themselves face to face with Truth itself.

It will then be too late! The debt which they have incurred must be paid, their guilt expiated and to do so they must wrestle with themselves hereafter for long periods.

Having missed the favourable opportunity during his earth- life, where perhaps willingly or unwillingly, he even burdened himself with fresh sin, man will find the way to understanding long and arduous.

Every one can know if he wills to do so, excuses will neither be admitted nor accepted.

He who wants to learn to distinguish between Divine Justice and man’s idea of justice should observe the operations of the law of returns in the life around him. Let him pick out one case out of the many that he comes across daily and examine it to find out which side is right and which side is wrong. His innate sense of justice will soon awaken and become more and more assured and enlightened, so that at last he can cast aside all the prejudices and deficiencies that clogged his judgment. Then his sense of justice will be absolutely reliable, for he will see and accept God’s Will in the law of returns that governs the fate of man!

A terrible curse has lain on mankind since the crime committed in murdering Jesus of Nazareth, the Bringer of Truth. Men did not recognise the real importance of the most important prophecy of this greatest of prophets — and even today, they pass by this glad promise, their eyes closely blindfolded, and the consequences will be that a great part of the human race will stumble past the last and only possibility of saving themselves, into the abyss of destruction.

The prophecy concerning the coming of the Son of Man was meant to be a ray of hope and also a warning.

But Jesus, the Bringer of Truth, was naturally abhorred by the Powers of Darkness, who influenced the masses to hate and persecute Him, and so confused and misled them that, not only did they not recognise Him — the Son of God — but also evidently lacked all sense of the importance of His Message even at the time when it was given.

The human mind was too dense and too self-centred to be able to grasp and clearly understand such a message. Messages coming from heights so far above the region man came from, passed him by unheeded, leaving no impression behind. To understand this message aright, there should have been a substratum of convinced faith to welcome it, but this not even the apostles were possessed of at that time.

The soil on which the Redeemer’s Words fell, was too overgrown with weeds. To this must be added the excitement and agitation caused by the terrible experiences they had gone through in the Saviour’s vicinity, all pressed into a few years of time, which naturally caused their feelings to concentrate on His Person so that when He spoke of another person in the distant future, what He said was not taken literally as it was meant, but was again applied to Him.

Thus the error has lived on in the minds of men until the present day. The Unbelievers did not trouble themselves about the Saviour’s words and the Believers, just on account of their belief, violently opposed and prevented serious criticism of what tradition transmitted, from holy awe of offending against the Saviour’s Word. But in so doing they overlooked the fact that it was not a question of His own original words but of what had been written down from tradition, long after His life on earth.

Thus the words, quite naturally, were subject to unconscious modification in men’s minds, and were coloured by their personal views. There is a certain greatness, it is true, in this faithful adherence and up-holding of time-honoured human tradition, therefore, it shall not be blamed. Still, in spite of all this, the consequences resulting from erroneous conclusions based on faulty tradition do not fail to raise an obstacle in the way, for the law of returns cannot be circumvented in any case. And if this obstruction does no more than debar their progress, it is disastrous, for men must then perforce come to a standstill, till a word revealing the truth releases them.

He who believes in the Son of God and in His Word and does not regard it as a dead letter, but, having rightly interpreted it, lives according to its teaching, naturally must not wait for the Son of Man, for the latter only teaches what the Son of God already taught; but he can only forego the Son of Man’s teaching if he has rightly understood the Saviour’s words.

He, however, who clings to erroneous tradition and is blinded by error, cannot rise till his error is cleared up. It has been reserved for the Son of Man to do this, because the limited understanding of mankind is not capable of clearing away the brambles and creepers which have overgrown the truth.

Jesus spoke of the Coming of the Son of Man as the last possibility of salvation and pointed out that with His Coming judgment would take place and sentence be passed. Therefore, those who are then not willing, who are too stiff-necked or too indolent to accept explanation, must irrevocably be cast out. From this it follows that opportunity for man to reconsider and make up his mind anew will not recur.

After long and patient waiting the Time of the End will come; then there will be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world. That again will be accompanied by the fierce struggle between Light and Darkness, which must end in the complete annihilation of Darkness.

It is not to be expected that all these events will coincide with human expectations, wishes and ideas; all past experience shows that this is never the case. It never happened that what God willed, agreed with what man was looking forward to. Reality always proved to be different from what man had preconceived, and it was always only long, long after, that he slowly grasped the meaning of what had happened. The spirit of man has gained nothing in the course of the ages, but has, on the contrary, become much more material.

The Son of Man! A veil still hangs over Him and His time. And if here and there a vague presentiment arises in a man’s mind and awakens a longing for His Day to come, the many who are full of longing will probably pass Him by unsuspecting, nor will they wish to recognise Him, because their expectations promised them something different.

It is very difficult for man to accustom himself to the idea that a Divine being on the earth must externally be the same as other human beings in obedience to the Law of God.

Man will and must have His Divine being transcendental, and alas, he is so fast bound that he would not be capable of seeing aright what is transcendental, much less would he be able to bear the sight of it; nor is this in the least necessary.

The man who seeks to understand the Will of his Maker in the natural laws of the universe, will soon discover the truth, and will then perceive that Divinity can only come to him in a garb which harmonises with these adamantine laws and not otherwise. The result will be that he will become vigilant and will carefully scrutinise and apply the Divine law to all he meets and refrain from judging by human standards.

Hence, when the hour comes, he will recognise who it is, who brings him freedom through the Word. And he will be convinced by his own investigation and not by listening to the voice of the by-standers.

Every man who thinks, must of himself come to the conclusion that the Son of God and the Son of Man cannot be one and the same person. The difference is quite clearly expressed in the words themselves. Although Christ lived on earth in the flesh, it was a condition from the first that the pure Divinity in God the Son should be reunited to the pure Divinity of God the Father. This could not be otherwise.

The Son of God confirms this Himself when He says, He goes to His Father, and that He is one with His Father. For this reason His Mission of Mediator between God and His created universe could only last a limited time. The Son of God being purely Divine, was necessarily drawn by the attraction of the more powerful homogeneity to the sphere from which He came. That He must return thither and remain there after having laid aside all that was not Divine prevented Him from being a mediator between the Godhead and His created universe with mankind for all time. The result of the Son of God’s return and reunion with the Father would have been that a new cleft would have separated the Godhead from His Creation, for a mediator between them would have been missing. The Son of God himself announced the Coming of the Son of Man who then was to be the Mediator between the Godhead and His Creation in perpetuity. In this lies the sublime love of the Creator for His work.

The difference between the Son of Man and the Son of God is that, though proceeding from unsubstantiate Divinity itself, the Son of Man is at the same time connected with the sphere of self-conscious spiritual beings. He is a part of both and thus forms a bridge between Divinity and the culminating point of His Creation. This union involves the obligation of being separated from Divinity unsubstantiate, but allows of admittance to Divinity, which moreover is a necessary condition. The admixture of spirituality to Divinity prevents a reunion which would otherwise be unavoidable. This again is a sacrifice of Love on the part of the Creator, the fulfilment of a promise of such magnitude that only God Himself is capable of giving and of keeping. That is the difference between the Son of God and the Son of Man. Humanity will hardly ever be able to grasp its full significance.

This also justifies the designation Son of Man; for in Him a twin birth took place: there is the Son that was born of Divinity, and there is the Son that issued from the Region of Spirituality. From the lower sphere of that region the germs of the human souls come as unconscious spirit sparks.

The Mission of the Son of Man is the continuation and completion of the mission of the Son of God as the latter could only be a temporary mediator. Hence this continuation and completion is at the same time a confirmation, making the Mission stable and permanent. Whereas the Son of God was born into the world, without previous preparation of any kind and straightway began His Mission, the Son of Man went through a long preparatory course before beginning His Mission; His task being more terrestrial than that of the Son of God. Coming from the highest heights, he had to descend to the lowest depths not only before but after coming into the world, so as to experience in His own person all the misery and suffering man is heir to. Only then will He be able, when His hour comes, to interfere effectively in the grievances and short- comings of the world and help bring about salutary changes. For this reason, it was not enough for Him to learn the bitter sides of life; he had also to suffer from them.

Again it was for the sake of man that He had to undergo apprenticeship in this way. To man’s limited understanding such guidance from above is incomprehensible, for he can only judge by externals; therefore it was just the Son of Man’s life that they reproached Him with, thus trying to make His task more difficult. The very same that they did at the time of Christ. The Son of Man had to learn how painful are the results of error and underwent that suffering too in the interests of the future welfare of mankind; and the Powers of Darkness, trembling at the prospect of annihilation, will inflame man’s hatred and incite them to use these painful experiences as stones to throw at Him.

That such incredible things still can happen in spite of Christ’s life on earth, finds its explanation in the fact that in reality more than half the present inhabitants of the earth do not belong here but should be maturing in far lower regions. This is all owing to man’s gradual moral deterioration, the result of his having made himself the slave of his intellect.

When man’s limited intellect gets the upper-hand it will always further and encourage what is material and its accompanying evils. Thus the decline of a higher standard of morals made a breach through which a hand was held out to souls belonging to lower spheres, by grasping which they rose to incarnation here — souls who otherwise could never have come on the earth’s surface on account of their heavy weight and density.

But above all, this is due to the purely animal sensations indulged in during sexual intercourse and the general striving for the lusts of the flesh which has been customary for centuries past and has enabled inferior souls to climb up. These dark souls circle round the pregnant woman and profit by the opportunity presented to incarnate. The light souls have, until now, voluntarily retired before the darkness, to avoid soiling themselves.

Gradually it has come to pass that the ethereal surrounding of the earth has grown denser, darker and heavier, so heavy that the physical matter of the globe itself is kept out of its appointed course, a course that would have made it more accessible to higher spiritual influence. Therefore, as the greater number of all incarnated souls rightfully belong to regions which stand much lower than the earth itself, it will be but Divine justice that such souls be swept away to sink back to the place to which they belong.

There they are all on the same plane and have no opportunity of burdening themselves with fresh sin. They are better able to mature in their own sphere, rising by successive steps through suffering.

It does not lie with mankind to choose the Son of Man, God’s messenger. It will be by the power of God that He will come at the proper time; it will be in an hour when mankind, helpless and prostrate, is whining for mercy and deliverance. Then they will cease to revile; consternation and terror will silence them, and they will willingly accept the gifts the Creator gives them through His envoy. But he who will not accept shall be cast forth for all eternity.

There are many who lift up their eyes to the Light and to the Truth. They long to grasp it, but only too often their intention lacks firmness. More than half the seekers are not genuine seekers. They are swayed by their own pre- established and narrow-minded opinion, and rather than change it in the slightest detail, they would refuse all that was new to them, even if it contained truth.

In this way thousands go astray and get lost, because, entangled as they are in erroneous convictions, they lose all independent judgment by which they could save themselves and raise themselves to higher thoughts. There are those who, fancying themselves possessed of all truth, have no intention to subject themselves to strict self-examination.

My words are not addressed to such.

My teaching is not limited to any particular creed and can be accepted by believers of all denominations.

I am not addressing churches or communities, religious fraternities or sects of any kind, but speak simply to man himself. I have no intention of pulling down what exists; I am building up, and throwing light on questions as yet unsolved, questions that must puzzle every one who thinks a little.

There is just one essential condition for every one of my readers: it is that he should seek the truth seriously. He should test my words and let them take life in him without noticing the speaker: otherwise he has no profit. Those who do not proceed thus are wasting their time. Simple as my sentences may sometimes seem, the greatest attention and profound thought is requisite to understand them rightly. — Therefore apply yourselves carefully to what I say.

It is incredible how naively most men will perforce remain ignorant of the problems: Whence did they come ? And whither are they going ?

Birth and death, the inseparable poles of all life on earth, should be no secret to men.

Diverse and contradictory are the views on the problem of the origin of man. Earth-born man in his insane self- aggrandisement and super-exaltation, prides himself on having a Divine core.

But look at man. Can you discover anything Divine in him ? Such a foolish statement should be branded as blasphemy, for it debases the idea of Divinity. Man has not one grain of Divinity in him.

Only a morbid imagination, conscious of its inability to understand, could nourish such an idea. Where is the man who can honestly say that such faith has become a conviction with him ? If he seriously asks himself this question, he must deny it. He distinctly feels that it is only longing to harbour Divinity in himself, but not certainty that he does so. It is quite right to say man has a Divine spark within him. This spark issues from Divine substance, it is spirit. A spark develops and flies out, but it does not carry away any part of the substance which produced it. When such mistakes are made concerning the origin of all being it follows as a matter of course that all the teaching deduced therefrom must be unsound. If I build a house on an unsound foundation, the whole building will some day totter and fall. It is necessary to have a right understanding of man’s proper origin to understand the problem of life.

Investigators make the mistake of seeking for man’s origin in regions far beyond the proper region, in regions of a nature their understanding has not the power to grasp or understand, and, therefore, they lose the firm ground under their feet.

If I grasp at the branch of a tree, I can draw myself up by it, for it belongs to and is of the earth, as are the components of my physical body: it has the same consistency. But if I reach up above this branch into the air I cannot grasp it, nor pull myself up by it, for it has a different consistency to my physical body. And so it is exactly with the human soul and its core, the spirit. If this spirit seeks to draw the strength and support it needs to rise and develop from its origin, it must not look for this origin in Divinity; this would be contrary to nature. Divinity lies much too far away, above and beyond the sphere where it came from, and is of quite a different nature. And yet, in his self- conceit, man seeks contact at a point quite out of his reach, and interrupts the natural order of things. Like a dam or bulwark this foolish wish intrudes itself between him and the fountain- head, the source from which he draws his strength, i.e. his origin. He cuts himself adrift.

Therefore, away with error!

Not till then can the human spirit fully develop its power, for it is his to become Lord in Creation, a fact he heedlessly overlooks. But it is said in Creation; he is not to be Lord over Creation. Divinity alone stands over and above Creation — God Himself, the Source of all Being and all Life is Divine. Man did not issue from God but was created by His Spirit. Divinity and Spirit are two different things: spirit is the will of God from which Original Creation came into being as a result. Let us keep to this simple fact; it will explain much and help to understand better.

As a comparison, take the will of a man: Will is his activity, not a piece of himself, otherwise his activity would waste him away and there would be nothing left of him. It is not different with God. His Will created Paradise, His Will is called the Holy Spirit. Paradise was the product of His Spirit, not a part of God Himself. It is a step lower in the order of things. The Holy Spirit, the living Will of God, did not pass into His Creation, not the minutest portion of it. It remained outside, as is clearly stated in the Bible in the words “and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” — not God in Person. That is the difference. Neither has man anything of the Holy Spirit in him: he is only a product, the result of an act of volition of the Holy

Spirit. Instead of accepting and studying this fact man is willing, nay wishes to leave a gap in his argument here.

Let us consider the general and prevalent opinion as to the Original Creation of Paradise! This was supposed to be situated on this earth. The small mind of man, fast bound by the limits of time and space, sought to compress the work of millions of years within his own small horizon, man placed himself in the centre of this circle and made himself the focus of all happenings, with the result that he quite lost sight of the origin and meaning of life.

Then man introduced the word faith as a substitute for this clear and simple way of thinking of God of which he was no longer capable, that is indeed in case he did not propose himself to be the Creator of all Being and Life! Ever since this word faith has been the bane of mankind, and more than this, this word which was to have replaced what was missing, became the stumbling block that wrecked all.

Faith serves to satisfy all the requirements of the indolent; faith serves as a target for the ridicule of the scoffer; and the word faith, wrongly interpreted, is the barrier that bars the road to all progress. Faith is not meant to be a cloak generously covering slothful thinking, which like sleeping sickness gradually steals over and paralyses the spirit of man. Faith must become actual conviction. Close examination must precede the conviction here required, for where there is but a single gap, a single unsolved riddle, conviction is impossible. No man’s faith can be genuine as long as he has a question unanswered.

The expression blind faith rightly describes its unsound quality.

It is living faith that is requisite as Christ once said. To live means to move, to weigh and consider, to test and investigate, and never blindly to accept and repeat what others think and say. To believe blindly means not to understand.

What is not understood brings no spiritual profit, for what is not understood does not come to life. What does not awaken to an experience in man will never become his own, and only what he possesses can help him to rise. Nor can a man travel forward on a road full of yawning clefts. A man must stop on his upward path when his spiritual understanding will not carry him further. This fact is evident and easy to understand. Hence let him who would advance spiritually awake! He cannot find his way to the Light if he is asleep, nor if he has some fanciful picture or veil before his eyes.

The Creator wants human beings with open eyes, to see means to understand, to know; then away with blind faith — the refuge of the lazy and the indolent.

The advantage of being able to think involves the duty to investigate problems.

To avoid all this trouble man has belittled the Creator for convenience sake, and ascribes arbitrary acts to Him to prove his Omnipotence.

He who will but pause to consider, will see the great mistake made here: for an arbitrary act to be possible, it would be necessary to alter His Divine Laws, were this possible, perfection would be impossible, for perfection excludes change. Thus what, for a great section of mankind, proves the Omnipotence of the Almighty is for serious thinkers a proof of imperfection. God is perfect!

In the perfection of God you will find the key to the unsolved riddles of life. It shall be my endeavour to enlighten the serious seekers, and they will truly rejoice and exult to have these problems explained and find that there are no gaps and no mysteries in the happenings of the world. Then they will only need to mount by the path which they clearly see before them.

There is no call and no room for mysticism in all Creation. Without let or hindrance man will be able to survey all Creation as far back as to the region of his origin. Only what is above Creation belongs to Divinity alone, and that will have to remain a holy mystery to every human soul.

However strong man’s purpose, however deep his knowledge, Divinity can never be understood by him. This is quite natural as his component parts, at his inception, set a boundary-line beyond which he cannot go. Divinity is of quite different consistency to Spirituality, from which man’s spirit issued.

For example, an animal can never become a human being however highly developed its soul may be, for this is of natural substance and cannot evolve spiritual substance from which the human spirit is derived. The human spirit again can develop to the highest state of perfection but will always remain spiritual. It cannot ascend above that into the Divine Sphere.

Here again the different consistency erects a barrier. It is unnecessary to mention physical matter, as that has no individual life; it only serves as a shell or cloak and is modelled and formed by spirit and by animism.

The mighty domain of the Spirit extends throughout all the Creation, for this reason man can, should and must seek to understand and grasp it fully, for by so doing he will make himself master and reign in it. To reign, if rightly understood, means to serve!

At every point, up to the highest spiritual region of Creation, all is strictly consistent. This circumstance alone should make all things more familiar to man and cure him of his misplaced shyness and reluctance to face questions as yet unsolved.

When it is recognised that the order of all things is perfectly natural, a fresh breeze will blow through the sultry atmosphere of the morbid imaginings of those who like to push themselves forward; whose dismal imaginings serve to frighten the weak and give occasion to scoffers for ridicule, but which seem mere childish follies to him whose eyes are open to the glorious simplicity and unity of the system and method in all existence.

All things being so strictly regulated give the seeker such an open and extended outlook that he can even look back to the region where his own origin is situated.

For this he needs neither hard study nor imagination. The principal thing for him is to avoid all those who dabble in mysticism, seeking thereby to lend importance to some scanty knowledge they may be possessed of.

As men start, taking it for granted that the great work of Creation must be complicated and difficult to understand, the very fact of having all lying so clearly and simply before them, prevents them from understanding and grasping the truth. Here thousands, in spite of the best intention, stumble. They raise their eyes seeking far above, never suspecting that they have but to look before them and around them; they would then see that, being on earth, they are in the right place, with the path before them; they have only to step out, without haste or effort, but with open eyes and unprejudiced mind. Man must learn that genuine greatness is only expressed in the simplest and most natural form, indeed simplicity is a condition of greatness.

This is exemplified in all Creation, as also in man himself as being a part of Creation! Only by thinking and feeling simply, like a child does, can he get at a clear understanding.

Simplicity, clearness, and naturalness are identical in character, the one cannot well be conceived without the other. It is a triune expressing one idea. He who makes it the principle of his search will quickly break through dim and nebulous confusion; all artificiality falls away of itself. Man will see that the order of natural sequence must never be interrupted, and is nowhere intercepted. Herein lies the magnitude of the Almighty! The inexhaustible, automatic activity of His Holy Will! The adamantine Laws of God are always constantly evident to man; they speak to him urgently and in their regularity and steadfastness testify to the magnitude of the Creator.

There is no such thing as an exception, for oats can only reproduce oats, and wheat — wheat, and so on.

This is how it is in Original Creation, the work of God Himself, which stands nearest to Him in perfection. The fundamental principles there established were so vitalised by His Willpower that they naturally continued developing further Creation, descending stage by stage through substance which increased in density in proportion to its distance from original perfection.

Let us consider what Creation is: imagine to yourselves that all life therein, no matter in what part, is of two kinds: life that is conscious and life that is not conscious. It is very necessary and important to notice these two categories, as they bear a relation to the origin of man. It is this difference which incites to further development — the battle of life. The unconscious is the foil to set off the conscious, although the component parts of both are identical.

It is progress and development for the unconscious to become conscious. Associating with the conscious is a continual encouragement to attain to consciousness. Primeval Creation in its subsequent development subdivided successively into three great fundamental spheres: Spiritual substance, Original Creation, is the highest and first, next in order comes the denser and heavier sphere of animistic substance and lowest of all, because of its great density and weight, the great world of matter. This gradually sank down from Original Creation, detaching and consolidating itself. Thus the Kingdom of pure spiritual substance, embodying what is lightest and most luminous, remained above as the highest, the region called Paradise, the crown of Creation.

It is the law of gravitation which causes the sinking downward of the denser parts; which again shows us that the law of gravitation not only governs matter but is equally potent in all Creation, beginning in Paradise and descending to us. Every man should diligently study this law and instil its teaching into his mind, for it is the principal lever in the life and development of the human spirit.

I have already said weight is not only a dominant factor in physical matter but is of the same importance in those spheres into which men cannot see and thus call the other world.

Further to make a better understanding possible, I must again divide matter into two sections; into ethereal matter and into physical matter. The finer part of matter is invisible to man’s eyes on account of its different consistency, but still it is matter.

What is called the Other World must not be confounded with Paradise which is pure Spirit. Spirit, animism, and matter are qualities, states or consistencies which differ one from the other. What is invisible to the human eye is called the other world. Gross physical matter is called this world; its component parts being analogous to those of man, the physical eyes can see it.

Man should leave off considering things he cannot see as unnatural. All is natural; the other world is natural and so also is Paradise, although it is so far distant.

Our physical bodies can react on what surrounds us, for as it is of the same nature, we can see, hear and feel it. It is just the same in the other sections of Creation where the consistency is different from ours. When man is in his ethereal body in the other world, he will only feel and see matter of the same nature as his own. The higher spiritual man can again only perceive his spiritual surroundings. It sometimes happens that a man on earth can see and hear what is of the other world, before the severance from his gross physical vessel has taken place. There is nothing unnatural in this.

Next to the law of gravitation comes the equally important law of homogeneity, to which I referred when I said that only things of the same nature can recognise each other, and which is popularly illustrated by the saying: “birds of a feather flock together” and some others. This law also rules in all Creation.

A third primeval law is the law of returns. This law provides that what a man sows that shall he reap. He cannot reap wheat where he has sown rye, nor clover where he has sown thistles. And in the same way, in the world of immaterial substance: he cannot reap kindness where he hated, nor joy where he envied.

These three fundamental laws together are the signature of God’s Holy Will. They alone automatically deal out reward or punishment to man in inexorable justice. Although they control all mighty cosmic happenings, they work with the same marvellous accuracy in every minute detail; the slightest injustice is unthinkable, for these laws are incorruptible. It is owing to their agency that a human being is directed to that region or quarter that corresponds to his real character and inner attitude to a nicety. Error is impossible, for these three simple laws are inactive till impelled by the man himself; then they operate without fail.

The spiritual energy of a man’s inner feeling is the lever which makes the laws act, all else is without effect. For this reason the principle and sentiments by which a man steers his course alone determine the development of his future life in the world he must enter at his death on earth.

Pretence and self-deception are of no avail, for he must reap the fruit of what his will has sown. The vibrations set in motion will correspond exactly to the energy he put into his will and will awaken more or less similar vibrations in other regions, whether it be hatred, envy or love.

This is quite natural, perfectly simple and yet the result of sternest justice! He who seriously tries to realise life in the invisible worlds cannot fail to recognise how incorruptible is this automatic operation of justice.

Having declared His Will in His laws for all Creation, the Almighty has no further need to interfere. The human soul when it reascends to the spiritual world is purified of all sin, for it has passed through the millstones of God’s holy Will.

There is no other way to approach the Almighty. According to man’s inner life and purpose, he will be treated by these millstones. He can pass through them painlessly to higher spheres of Light, or be crushed and mangled and cast into the pit.

The spirit which is incarnated in the physical world is clothed in a body of fine ethereal matter which it needs as a covering and protection in its passage through the ethereal world. This body remains with the soul during its life on earth and forms a link between the two worlds.

Now gravitation in the first place affects dense gross matter, in this case the physical body. At death this falls away, and then the ethereal body which comes next in heaviness and density, is uncovered and unprotected and is fully exposed to the rigour of the above law.

When it is said that the spirit forms the body, this is true of the ethereal body. The inner man, his desires and principles lay its foundation, for will has the power to mould ethereal matter. Desire for mere physical well-being has a demoralising tendency and makes this body dense, therefore heavy and dark. This is because such wishes can only be granted in the material world. In seeking to satisfy them, man sinks in obedience to the law of gravitation.

To be able to partake of the enjoyments of the flesh after the death of the physical body, it is necessary for the ethereal body to approach the consistency of matter (the flesh) as nearly as possible.

The case is different with the man whose mind is set on higher and nobler things; his will-power of its own accord, automatically forms a lighter and more luminous ethereal body, thus he can approach the pure, luminous heights to which he aspires.

The destination of a human spirit, in each case, equips the ethereal body, so that after the death of the physical body the spirit is able to attain his end, whatever it may be. In this way the spirit actually forms the body. It is quite a natural process, for will, which is spirit, has the power to shape fine ethereal matter, indeed it cannot avoid doing so. Every time the spirit wills, a shape is formed, whether a pleasant or an unpleasant one and this remains with the man as long as his wish and feeling continue to nourish the shape or form. These shapes either further or hinder, raise or lower man according as the law of gravitation acts on them.

The moment, man’s will is turned in another direction, new forms appear and the old ones, receiving no more reinforcement, gradually fade and dissolve. In this way man remoulds his fate!

The anchorage that the physical body had in matter is lost when it dies; the soul set free, either sinks or rises in the ethereal world, called the other world. The law of gravitation provides that the soul goes straight to that region where the weight exactly corresponds to its own, from there it cannot move either higher or lower. There it will find spirits of the same manner of thinking as itself, for that which has the same weight is of the same nature and what is of the same nature naturally has the same weight.

As man behaved in his life on earth, he will now suffer from or rejoice with those of the same nature and disposition as his, until he again changes, first inwardly, then in his ethereal body, which now moves upwards or downwards as it is impelled by the difference in its weight. Thus man cannot complain, neither need he give thanks, for whether he be raised to the Light or whether he be cast into utter darkness, in either case it would be the result of his condition at the time. Still man has every reason to thank his Creator and praise Him for the perfect justice of these three laws. They have made man the absolute master of his fate, for it is his will (the actual condition of his inner man) which uplifts him or makes him sink. If you try to picture to yourself the interaction of these laws, you will see how exactly every one is rewarded or punished, enjoys mercy or perishes as he himself decides. It is simplicity itself, and shows that the will of man is the strong and never-failing rope which each one can seize to save himself. This simplicity is so sublime in itself that it compels him who understands it, to fall on his knees before his Creator. My writings repeatedly refer to the simple laws, pointing out how they operate under all circumstances, but I must go into their wonderful interaction more particularly further on. To understand this interaction means to be able to see the steps by which man can mount up to Paradise as well as those steps that lead downwards.

He need not even take the steps himself, he is carried up or cast down according as his inner nature decides. Which way he lets himself be carried is always a matter for him alone to decide.

Doubt and derision are really unexpressed wishes. Quite unconsciously every scoffer betrays what he really desires and thus exposes his inmost thoughts to the observer. The negligence, the poverty of spirit thus laid bare, are truly pitiable. But one’s indignation is justly aroused when a man degrades himself inwardly below the level of the ignorant beast as is often the case. One may pity such people without, however, being indulgent. Indulgence would mean preferring indolence to diligent investigation. Serious seekers must be sparing with their indulgence, they would harm themselves without helping the other.

Great then will man’s exultation be when he can contemplate this wondrous Creation with matured understanding and can let himself be carried up to luminous heights, which he may then truly call his home!

I would again point out that all life in Creation is of two kinds; unconscious life and conscious life. Unconscious life develops and advances to be conscious. Not till it becomes conscious does, what we call, the form of man take the likeness of the Creator. As the form of man gradually evolves he gradually becomes conscious.

Original Creation, which stands next in order to Divine substance, is spiritual and is peopled by the first or originally created conscious spiritual beings. Besides these conscious spiritual beings there is unconscious spirit. Unconscious spirit has the same qualities as the conscious and naturally feels an instinctive impulse to develop consciousness.

When this instinctive impulse reaches a certain degree of intensity a process somewhat similar to birth on earth takes place. When we look around us we see how physical matter automatically throws off the ripe fruit in man and beast. It is the same with a tree and its fruit. It is a repetition of a process of development after the order established in Original Creation, which is called Paradise.

There likewise at a certain stage of maturity unconscious spiritual substance (striving to become conscious) is automatically cast off, i.e. severed from the unconscious. It is these cast off, ejected particles of spirit that form the spirit- germs of men.

That is the process illustrated in the Bible by the expulsion from Paradise.

This process is necessary, for unconscious spirit is irresponsible, and responsibility goes hand in hand with growing consciousness.

As the spirit in striving to become self-conscious, must be severed, this is progression, not retrogression.

It is natural that when these germs are cut adrift, they must, to develop further, take the road downwards, as the next step upwards is perfection itself. They must enter the heavier, denser sphere below them: the sphere of natural substance (animism), where there is nothing spiritual.

Here the germ, seeking consciousness, finds itself in entirely strange surroundings of a different consistency. The spirit feels naked and uncovered in the density of this sphere, and it becomes necessary for it to provide itself with a covering of the same density if it is to stay there and achieve something. It is metaphorically stated in the Bible, how man in his pursuit of knowledge felt the want to cover his nakedness. Besides this, it was a necessary step on his road.

The germ of the developing human spirit now proceeds on the path which leads it into the realm of material substance; here again a covering of the denser consistency it enters forms around it. Now it has come to the boundary-line between the invisible, psychic matter of the transcendental world and the denser, visible matter of the physical world.

This, our earth, is the place where all that Creation embraces meets; all created beings, however separate, and divergent their nature may be, all threads, all roads converge to this earth as a common centre. Here they enter into new combinations and achieve new results; they send mighty currents of strength out into space such as come from no other part of the material world.

As every species, kind and race of things created, can unite here through the medium of physical matter, this earth is a veritable hot-bed of the most dissimilar and various happenings and experiences. But note, it is only an assemblage of things created that takes place and nothing whatever appertaining to the Holy Spirit or to Divinity. That stands far beyond and above Creation.

When the spirit-germ, as yet unfettered and innocent of all sin, comes to the threshold of ethereal substance, it is met by vibrations which tell it of the life it is approaching. It is environed by these influences. They tempt it, but at the same time awaken its self-consciousness and help to develop it.

Standing on the threshold, as yet unversed and unsullied, the spirit-germ is all the more impressed and the wish arises in it to become nearer acquainted with these things. As soon as it forms such a wish the spirit-germ connects itself, of its own free will, with one of these vibrations, be it good or bad. It thus immediately comes under the influence of the law of attraction and is drawn to homogeneous species stronger than itself, and to a region where, what it desired is still more coveted, still more esteemed, and exercises still greater attraction.

This inner craving immediately condenses its ethereal body or rather covering; it becomes heavier, and gravitation causes it to sink further and further and finally lands it in dense physical matter, for it is only here, on earth, that its desire can be granted, and that it can fully experience what it wished for. It was from its wish to proceed from nipping to tasting, from tasting to enjoying earth’s pleasures that it was pushed onwards; the more ardently the awakening spirit wishes for material pleasure, the denser grows its ethereal covering and its greater weight gradually draws it down to the plane of earth. When it has come so far, it is sufficiently mature to incarnate.

The law of attraction now manifests itself more conspicuously than before, and the aspiring, as yet still undeveloped spirit is magnetically attracted to human beings who are realising what he wishes to realise and who are practising what he wishes to practise.

If, for example, he had the wish to rule, he is not, be it observed, born into circumstances where he can indulge his wish, but he is attracted to a human being who has the lust of ruling, viz. to one who thinks and feels as he does, and so on. In this way he can, in part, atone for wrong wishes or can be made happy by having wished rightly and wisely; at least he is given the opportunity to do so.

This demonstrates the fact that the prevailing idea that peculiarities of character or spiritual gifts are inherited is entirely wrong. It may outwardly appear as if it were so, but in truth no man can bequeath any part of his living spirit to his child. There is no such thing as spiritual inheritance! To believe the contrary is a well-established, popular error that has cast its mischievous and confusing teaching abroad. A child need not thank its parents for its spiritual gifts, nor may it reproach them for its defects. To do so would be unjust and deserve punishment. The perfect laws would never allow such an arbitrary process as the inheritance of spiritual gifts.

The magnetic attraction which has lured the child may have come from the father or from the mother or from some person in the immediate neighbourhood of the pregnant woman. For this reason the latter ought to be very careful whom she allows to linger around her. Attention must be paid to the fact that it is not the outward character, but the inner weakness of man that has the effect of strength; periods of weakness produce experience and inner life which call forth powerful attraction.

There are three stages on the passage of the spirit germ from the invisible world to earth: procreation, incarnation, and birth. The incarnation of a soul takes place about the middle of pregnancy. During the time they are maturing, both the prospective mother and the soul preparing for incarnation form a connecting link. It is an emanation produced by the process of maturation. It produces a striving to unite which increases in intensity till, at the appointed time, the developing body in the womb absorbs the soul. The moment of absorption is naturally accompanied by movements in the little body, the first movements of the child. At this time there is often a change in the feelings and disposition of the mother. This is owing to the character of the human soul which has taken up its abode in her. It either delights or oppresses her.

With its little body, the human soul has donned the garb of physical matter which it needs to enable it fully to experience, to hear, to see, and to feel things material, which it can only do in a body of the same kind of substance. Now the time has come for it to proceed from nipping at what attracted it, to tasting it. It learns to discriminate, but first the soul, naturally, must learn to handle the new tool it has received and make it subservient to its wishes.

This, in a few words, is the process of man’s development till his first birth on earth.

It is a long, long time since a first incarnation took place on this globe. This is no longer feasible. Latterly only souls incarnate who have been at least once on earth before. Thus those who now incarnate are burdened with much and diverse Karma. The possibility of freeing themselves and working Karma off they find in the energy that generative power gives them.

During childhood the human soul is isolated by its dense physical body from all influences striving to reach it from outside. All that is dark and evil finds the way to the soul debarred, thus it cannot influence or harm the child. But the evil brought over from the former incarnation remains with it during childhood.

Until the child is developed and matured it is protected by being shut off; it is as if the soul were living in a fortress with the drawbridge up; an impassable gulf yawns between the child and the ethereal material world from where the vibrations of sin and its atonement proceed. The soul, safely housed in its dense body, meanwhile prepares for the moment when the drawbridge will be let down and it can go forth into the world, a fully developed responsible being. The Creator’s natural laws decree that every creature should be gifted with the imitative instinct to take the place of free will in cases where this has not yet been awakened. It is generally spoken of as the “receptivity of youth”. The imitative instinct is the preliminary training in the development of the creature for its life on earth, till in the case of animals it has been enriched and reinforced by experience and in the case of men uplifted by the spirit of free will to self-conscious activity.

When sex-power has come to maturity it forms a bridge to radiation and this is missing in the spirit incarnated in the child’s body. To become an efficient and successful worker in Creation, man needs the possibility of constant and uninterrupted radiation from all species in Creation. For only radiation is life and all activity is radiation.

A child can only influence on its surroundings by its animistic body, not by its spiritual core, therefore, during childhood it has but little more responsibility towards the laws of Creation than an animal at the highest grade of its development.

During the period that the young body is growing and maturing, generative power which is only to be found in dense physical matter gradually awakens in him. This power is the finest and noblest flower, the crowning achievement of Creation in dense physical matter which comes nearest to natural substance, because it is the outermost branch of matter. It is the pulsating life in matter that alone has the power to bridge over the gulf to the Kingdom of Nature, which in itself acts as intermediary to the spiritual sphere.

Generative power lets down the drawbridge of the fortress and the human soul steps forth fully caparisoned. But at the same time friends and foes are waiting outside, and these now can enter. In the first place these friends and foes are influences both good and bad, but there are also spirits of both kinds from the outside world who are only waiting for the soul to express some wish by which a hand is held out to them enabling them to approach; as soon as this happens they firmly attach themselves to the soul and, by their influence, encourage and strengthen the wish.

But the just laws of the merciful Creator do not allow temptations from without to be stronger than the power of resistance within, so that an unequal contest is out of the question. But the laws must not be sinned against. To arouse the generative power before its time by artificial means is sinning against nature; it would open the strong fortress and the soul, as yet immature, would be exposed and endangered. It would succumb to evil influence which it could otherwise easily have routed.

In normal circumstances the forces on both sides are of equal strength, but the issue of the struggle is decided by the dweller in the fortress and not by the besiegers. Thus, provided his will is pure, the owner of the fortress will always be the victor. Although the average man, during his earth-life cannot perceive what is going on in the invisible world, still it is closely connected with him and really much more alive than are his physical surroundings.

But where the inmate of the fortress of his own free will stretches out a hand to one of the besiegers, whether friend, foe, or influence, the case is different. His wish voluntarily accommodates itself to some outside influence and this gives it tenfold and a hundredfold more power to assail him.

If the influence is good it helps him and brings him a blessing; if evil, a curse. He has the option and can choose as he pleases, but when he has once decided he must abide by the consequences. Here his will is no longer free. By his own doing he has incurred good or bad Karma and is subject to this till he changes.

Generative power has the mission and the ability to send a glow through all the soul. By its means the spirit comes into intimate contact with the whole complexity of physical matter and thus attains its full value. Not till then does it comprise all that is necessary for it to make its way and establish a footing in the world where it can entrench itself securely and from where it can successfully resist the enemy.

There is something grand in this union. The principal purpose of this enigmatical, natural instinct is to help the spirit to develop its full power and activity in matter. Otherwise the spirit would be too detached to be able to influence matter in any way.

Generative Power gives the human spirit the warmth and the life it needs to fight the soul’s battles upon earth, and from the time it is thus equipped it is fully responsible for its deeds. This is a grave turning- point in every human life. Man will now feel a natural impulse to get rid of the Karma he has burdened himself with, and the Almighty Creator in His Wisdom and Justice will make it possible for him to do so easily and without effort.

If man lets the time go past and misses profiting by these opportunities it is his own fault. Consider a moment: when generative power awakens, a mighty impetus is given to all that is ideal, beautiful and pure. This shows itself very noticeably in unspoiled youth of both sexes, and it is to be regretted that the enthusiasms of the young at this period are often smiled at by their elders. The fits of unexplained melancholy that also occur at this time come from the same cause.

There are times in which it would appear as if the youth or maiden were burdened with the sorrows of the whole world.

They seem oppressed by dark and dismal thoughts; they feel themselves misunderstood, and this with all reason, for, from time to time, there come moments when they recognise and are fully aware of the false setting of the world around them. The others cannot and will not sympathise with their wish to soar upwards to a purer region, and these latter will not rest until they have silenced the warning voice in the developing young soul and have succeeded in dragging it down to their own commonplace and insipid way of thinking, which, in their narrow-mindedness, they consider more suitable for a normal human being.

The charm one feels, but cannot explain, which radiates from unspoilt youth or maiden, is but budding generative power which in cooperation with the spiritual power strives for the highest ideals.

The all-wise Creator has carefully provided that this awakening should not take place in a man till he is old enough to be fully conscious of what he wants and of what he does. Then is the time when it is possible for him easily to cast off all the burdens of the past. Indeed the burdens will fall off of their own accord if the man persists in striving for righteousness, the direction in which he is constantly impelled during this period. Then without effort he can rise to the step on which man ought to stand.

Notice the day-dreams of these as yet unspoiled youths and maidens! They are inwardly longing to be released from the corrupt world they are in; they are ardently yearning for the ideal. Their restlessness is their inner voice warning them not to tarry but to arise, cast Karma aside and start on an upward course. There is something grand in this serried body of energy, to stand in it and to be able to operate with it! But this only as long as man chooses the right direction. Nothing is more pitiable and contemptible than to waste and squander it in wild sensual revelries thus crippling the spirit. Unfortunately man does not often avail himself of this precious time of transition, he lets himself be led astray by the wiseacres around him and prefers to take the downward path which leads to destruction; there the evil he is already burdened with receives fresh nourishment; his free will becomes more and more curtailed by counter-influences till it is hardly recognisable as free will. The creeper that first clings to the healthy trunk for support in time cuts off the tree’s life and chokes it, so it is with free will when man is on the wrong path. If man would pay more attention to himself and to the happenings in the world, no Karma could thwart his will as soon as his spirit and his generative power have established themselves firmly as master on the physical plane, for Karma belongs to matter.

Even when man has missed this opportunity and has further entangled himself and sunk lower, another opportunity is offered him to rise — in love.

Not the impure love of the flesh, but that pure unselfish love which has no other thought but for the welfare of the beloved one. This love also belongs to the material plane and it requires no renunciation, no asceticism, but it invariably strives for the welfare of the other. This constant and unselfish purpose is the best protection against swerving aside.

The essential principle of real love lies in longing for the ideal and this love may animate a man advanced in years in the same way as a youth just come to maturity. Only it expresses itself differently. In the man of riper years this love works him up to such a pitch of enthusiasm that he is capable of heroic actions. Herein no limit is set as to age. Generative power remains, although sexual instinct is silenced, for the two are not identical.

As soon as man feels true, unselfish love, whether this love be between man and wife, parents and children, or between friends, if it be but pure it brings the inestimable blessing with it of enabling the person who feels this love to get rid of Karma. That this can be done at little cost, has been fully explained in the lecture on Symbolism.

Karma thus loses its power and its hold on the man, for it has no ground left to stand on; and he can cast off the unworthy fetters which kept him down, and is free to rise.

The first sensation this love awakens is the feeling of being unworthy of the one beloved. This is the beginning of modesty and humility, and here two great virtues have been acquired by him. His next sensation is the impulse to hold his hands protectingly over the other, so that no harm might befall him. This evidences self-sacrifice and a strong desire to serve, which alone would be sufficient to cast off all Karma in a short time, provided that his intention remains constant and his love pure. And finally comes the intense wish to do something great and noble for the loved one’s sake, and never to offend him in any way by looks, thoughts, words, and much less by deeds, but by always showing him the most delicate consideration.

It is of paramount importance to keep this love pure, to put its purity above and before all else. With such love in his heart no man will think or do any evil; it would be impossible. On the contrary such love will be his best protector, will give him strength and be his best adviser and helper.

The Almighty in His Wisdom gives every man more than one chance in his life to save himself in this way. This help is at the disposal of every one; no difference is made in person, age or sex, whether the man be rich or poor, of noble birth or not, this life-belt is thrown out to him. Hence love is the greatest of God’s gifts. He who is capable of this love is safe from all misery and danger.

Like the whirlwind, love can seize and lift him up to the Light, to God who is Love Itself.

When love awakens and impels a man to make another happy and joyful, not to lower him by impure desire, but to raise and protect him, he is serving him without being conscious of serving him, for is he not the unselfish giver ? Still it is serving, and by this service he frees himself from bondage.

Take heed of one thing, for it will show you the way: all men have one strong desire in common, it is to be in reality what they appear to be, what they are in the eyes of those that love them. This is the right way, and leads straight upwards.

Many opportunities are given to men to pull themselves together and to climb upwards, but they do not avail themselves of these.

The man of today is like a man to whom a kingdom is given, but who prefers to waste his time in playing with a child’s toys. It is quite plain and obvious that the mighty powers which are given to man must destroy him if he is not able to master them.

Thus also sexual power must destroy individuals and nations, if the principle object for which it is intended is neglected and its use abused. Its function for the purpose of procreation comes on the second place. How wonderful is the assistance that sexual power affords to man, that he may recognise his principal task and live for it!

The feeling of physical shame awakens at the same time as sexual power, and is given as a protection. Here as everywhere in Creation there is a triad, and in descending, things become denser and coarser.

The feeling of physical shame is intended to form an impediment between generative power and indulging sexual instinct, so that man should not descend from the dignified rank assigned to him and indulge his instincts indiscriminately like an animal. Woe to the people who disregard this!

A strong feeling of shame provides against the possibility of a man losing his self-control in gratifying his sexual desires, and against all excess in passion by not allowing him to forget himself for a moment.

It could only be of his own free will that man could rid himself of this precious gift and behave like a brute beast, and such forcible interference in the Divine Order of things will bring a curse on him.

Where the feeling of shame is lacking man becomes the slave instead of being the master; he falls from man’s estate far below the brute.

Let man consider: a strong feeling of shame alone will preclude all possibility of stumbling, and is thus the strongest shield.

The more intense this feeling of shame, the nobler is the passion and the higher the man stands spiritually. Indeed it is the true and reliable measure of his inner spiritual worth. It is an absolutely reliable measure evident to every man. In suppressing or discouraging this feeling of shame people destroy their inner value and choke the finer feelings of their souls.

And they do this under the pretext of progress, pretending that progress is incompatible with modesty, and thus, in the interest of sport, hygiene, fashion, children’s education, and other matters they find welcome excuses for indulging in their shamelessness. Such degenerate principles are the sure sign that these people are on the road to ruin; their fall is inevitable. It could only be some terrible catastrophe or panic befalling them that might bring some few individuals to their senses.

And yet it has been made so easy for man to find the right path by which to climb up.

All he has to do is to become more natural. To be natural is to listen attentively to the warnings of the inner voice and not to disregard them for the sake of being fashionable. To be natural does not mean to run about half-naked or disport yourself barefoot in eccentric clothing!

Unfortunately more than half of all men living at the present time, have fallen so far that they are too dull to understand natural feelings. Their moral sense seems to have shrivelled up and is wasting away. What shrieks of terror will resound when the end comes! Happy is he who can then reawaken his feeling of shame. It will be a sure staff and stay to protect him when the rest breaks down.

Jesus came from Divinity unsubstantiate, therefore, He had the right to use these words. He was the only one who could survey all things, and who could explain all things. Men were confused by erroneous teaching and false doctrines and He brought them His message (and this cannot be severed from His person, for it is one with His person) to show them the plain, straight way to the Light. His message made it possible for those human spirits who had descended into matter in order to develop, to rise again. Such resurrection means life for each individual soul.

Now listen and attend closely to what follows: all that is base, all that is evil, all that belongs to what we call the Powers of Darkness only exists in matter, in the denser, physical matter as well as in the less dense, ethereal matter. He who has fully grasped and understands this fact has advanced a step in understanding.

When man’s thoughts are wicked or even base, he does himself immense and grievous harm. The chief energy of his volition flows forth like a magnetic ray towards baseness; there it attracts other invisible matter of the same weight and density as its own and thus burdened, it returns to envelop the man’s spirit with its noxious effluvium. This dense and consequently dark covering precludes all possibility of his rising upwards and continues dominating the man till he changes his way of thinking. It requires firm, set purpose and untiring effort to lift this covering and cast it aside, and this can only be done if it is no longer nourished with the former thoughts.

Ethereal matter must not be looked upon as merely a finer sort of visible, physical matter, for it is something quite different and is of quite different consistency although still matter. It forms a bridge to the Natural World from which the souls of animals come. If man remains attached to matter, he must naturally share the common fate of all matter; he will not be able to get rid of his material covering in time to escape general disintegration. Those, who, incited by their own wish, have descended into matter, remain bound to it unless they keep to the right way! They are not able, of their own strength, to rise out of it towards the Light.

You must know that the spirit germ in order to develop into a self- conscious individual, must descend into matter. It can only develop by the experiences it gains in matter, and cannot do so in any other way. It is, however, under no sort of obligation to descend into matter. It is its longing to develop that impels it to leave Paradise, where its state was unconscious but also irresponsible.

If man then loses the right way back to the Light by foolish wishes he remains attached to matter.

Now look around at what happens in the dense, visible world you are in, notice the budding, growing, ripening and decaying of all matter, or in other words, how the component parts conjoin to a form, and how this form is destroyed when decomposition sets in, thus liberating the component parts which return to their original state. You can observe this in water, in stone and in the bodies of man and beast; and in the same way that this happens in miniature on this earth, it also happens in ethereal matter, the Beyond, to which Paradise does not belong.

The lowest stratum of Creation is matter. This hangs like a great wreath and rotates in an enormous circle which it takes millions of years to complete. Not only do all phenomena revolve round their centre, but also the whole of Creation rotates in a giant circle for itself. Matter clustered together in this great circuit at the beginning of all things, has continued to do so up to the present day, and will continue to do so till the process of disintegration sets in and the component parts return to their primeval condition. The circle, however, will continue to rotate with this pristine matter which will again conjoin and form new virgin worlds.

This is the great process of evolution, continually repeating itself in the smallest as well as in the greatest things and above this rotating circle is Paradise, firm and stable, God’s own, Original Creation. Paradise in contradistinction to formed matter is not subject to disintegration.

This eternal region stands high above the rotating circle of matter in radiant brightness. It is the spiritual home of the unconscious spirit- germ of man and it is also the destination to which it will return, after having become self-conscious and developed its individual personality in matter; it went forth unconscious and irresponsible and returns conscious and responsible, always provided it has not been turned aside from the path and become entangled in matter. Such resurrection from matter to the eternal Light is indeed indescribable blessedness.

During the time the human spirit is in the material world, it must naturally, though all unconsciously, participate in the eternal evolution. Thus, in time the day comes for it also to arrive at the boundary-line where that part of Creation it is in, will slowly begin to disintegrate. Then it is high time for all those human spirits who are still in the material world to hasten to prepare themselves to rise upwards to the safe haven of Light in the Eternal Kingdom, that is to say to find the right and the shortest way to escape from impending danger before they are overtaken by it.

If they do not make haste, the task will become harder and harder, and at last it will be too late for them.

They will then be drawn with all the rest into the slow process of disintegration, and this will tear to pieces the personality they have acquired. After suffering a thousand torments they will return to their original state of unconscious spirit germs — the most awful fate that can befall a spirit- germ that has attained to self-consciousness.

These are the souls who have developed their personality in the wrong direction, and this personality being both useless and detrimental must be forfeited. Disintegration is not the same as destruction, for destruction does not exist: it is only a relapse into a primeval state. What will be destroyed in these lost souls is the personality they have acquired and this destruction is accompanied by unspeakable torments.

Such lost, damned souls cease to be individual spirits, whereas the others, thanks to their individuality, can enter the celestial Kingdom of joy and peace and enjoy all its delights.

In the same way as a field will always bring forth poorer and poorer crops if the same grain is sown in it for a succession of years, and can only be restored to its original fertility by a change of seed, so it is with the whole material universe. After a time it becomes exhausted and must renew its strength by disintegrating and reconstructing. This process takes many millions of years, but at last a year comes, the decisive year, when what is used up and useless must be separated from what is useful.

We have now reached this point in the great evolution, and souls in the material world have finally to decide whether they will soar upwards, or whether matter shall encompass them and drag them on to disintegration, i.e. eternal damnation from which no self-conscious spirit can hope ever to rise again.

It is quite plain that, owing to the advanced stage of maturity this globe has reached, it has long since been impossible for spirit germs striving for self-consciousness to be incarnated here, as there would not be time enough left for them to develop into individual spirits. Spirit germs can only alight on globes with which they have a certain affinity with respect to their stage of development. It is only in surroundings where maturity has arrived at the same point that the spirit germ is able to unfold, whereas if the surrounding matter is in a more advanced state of maturity it would bar the way or set impossible limits to the immature spirit germ’s efforts. Thus here as elsewhere, perfect justice reigns and it is quite plain that every human spirit is able to keep pace with its material surroundings and can be as highly developed as they are when it comes to that boundary-line to which our part of Creation has now come.

There is not one human spirit that could not have got so far! That human spirits are in such different stages of advancement is the result of their own choice, of their own free- will. Now the time has come when the fruit is over-ripe. Matter is about to disintegrate preparatory to rejuvenation and the spiritual harvest of human souls will now take place. Those that are acceptable will be uplifted by the operation of natural law; their ethereal covering will gradually fall away and the liberated and conscious spirits will soar up to their brothers in the eternal Kingdom of Light. Those who have failed must remain behind; kept back by the density of their bodies, they will be subject to the same changes there that will take place in matter. Their sufferings during the slow process of disintegration will last thousands of years, and at last, become so terrible, that they will lose their self- consciousness and with their self-consciousness the form of man, shaped after God’s own image, will be lost for ever. When the process of disintegration has come to an end and all matter has returned to its pristine stage, the unconscious spirit will again be free to rise and it will return to the sphere to which it belongs, not to come back as a conscious human spirit, but if it is moved by the desire, as an unconscious spirit-germ to recommence its career from the beginning in some new part of the universe.

Christ chose His words as He always did, looking down from

His infinitely high standpoint, to suit the process as it appears from above, of the spirit-germs first descending into and then again rising out of matter.

Try to imagine yourself standing above matter: below you, like a great seed-field, is matter in all its endless varieties. You see the spirit- germs descending from above, burying themselves in this seed-field. After a lapse of time, at long intervals, human spirits, having attained to self-consciousness by their experiences on the earth and longing for higher things, cast their material covering from them and rise aloft. This is resurrection from matter. Many there be, however, who never come to the surface again; they perish having lived in vain. As the mystical development of the grain of wheat goes on in the depths of the earth, so it is with the spirit-germs whose principal development must take place in matter.

Christ explains all his teaching by illustrations taken from natural life. Whether Christ says: “ No man cometh to the Father but by My message ”, or by my word or by Me, He means: “No man findeth the way but by what I say.” The one expression means the same as the other, and it is just the same whether He says: “My message makes it possible for you to rise again to life”, or “I am, by My word, resurrection and life for you.”

Men should look to the meaning and grasp that, and not persist in confusing themselves by haggling over words.

Darkest, densest transcendental matter has for a long time past been encasing the earth like a cloud as black as night. In the same way as a flame dwindles down and extinguishes for want of oxygen, this suffocating atmosphere smothers every thought or feeling striving to the Light. This transcendental darkness which just now has arrived at its climax is so terrible that, could you but see it for five seconds, you would despair of any possibility of escape.

This is all brought about by man himself, by his predilection for what is low and base. He has been his worst enemy. The great majority are hurrying to their doom, and the few remaining souls seriously striving upwards are in danger of being forcibly dragged along with them. It is as if a noisome swamp sent out deadly miasma rendering the victims helpless. Their lethargy blinds them to their peril and, without a cry, without a struggle they sink into the quagmire.

This is the state of things on earth at the present time. It is not a picture I am painting. I am telling the bare truth and describing life itself; for all transcendental matter is shaped and lives as men think and feel and this is exactly the existing condition in the world of ethereal matter; it is what awaits those souls who go over and are not uplifted to brighter and happier regions.

And Darkness is gathering ever denser and denser. The time is approaching when the Powers of Darkness will have complete control over the earth for a span of time, for man has willed it to be so. No helping hand will be stretched out to him from the Light, It is the time of which St. John tells us that God will hide his countenance.

When the terrors of the night are at their height and it seems as if the good and the bad souls must perish together, day will dawn. But this day-break will bring purgation. A thorough purification must first take place and is inevitable before those souls striving upwards can be saved. But no helping hand will be stretched out to those whose bent is towards evil. They will suffer torments in the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth and they can only hope to come to their senses through the disgust they will be forced to feel for themselves.

Scoffers who ridiculed those seeking the Light, and who were pleased to put hindrances in their way and seemed to go unpunished, will be silenced and put to shame, and in time will come begging and supplicating to be taught the truth.

This will not be made easy for them; they must first be ground between the millstones of God’s just Laws, till bitter experience will have taught them to see their errors.

On my lecturing tours I had occasion to notice how indignation was aroused when I said that there was nothing divine in man; for lately great efforts have been made to discover Divinity in man, which would justify him to hope eventually to become a god himself. My words, therefore, created great consternation, and violent opposition was offered, for the audience only wanted to hear what was comforting and soothing and pleasing to the ear.

Those who rebel thus are really cowards — they do not wish to be enlightened but prefer to spend their lives unenlightened, dreaming pleasant dreams of their own imaginings.

It is not every one who can bear to be exposed to the Light of Truth, for it unmercifully shows up their defects and the spots on their garments.

By sneering and scoffing or by open enmity they would try to prevent the day coming, on which every one will see the feet of clay on which their tottering idol Self rests. To these masquerading fools Ash- Wednesday will surely come. Their cult is self-worship; this entirely satisfies their wants and they look upon the man who would arouse them out of their faint- hearted lethargy as their enemy. However, when the time comes, they will rebel in vain.

Self-worship pretends that there is divinity in man; this impudent effrontery would attack the very sublimity and purity of God Himself, and defile that which should be looked up to in perfect trust.

You have an altar in your hearts; it is there you should worship your God; it is your heart’s inmost feeling. If you keep this altar pure, it affords direct communication with the Spiritual Kingdom and thus with Paradise itself; then there will be moments when you really feel you are nearer to God — this happens especially in times of greatest trouble or greatest joy.

Then you feel God’s presence in the same way as the pure spirits in Paradise always feel it, and at such moments you are in close contact with them. Transports of joy or the shock of grief will set such strong vibrations in motion that all base material thoughts will be entirely banished and the pure feelings of the heart free for some seconds. These pure feelings will immediately seek connection with the like purity which reigns in Paradise.

Man, the Almighty’s crowning work in Creation, enjoys the climax of happiness at such moments, a joy that is habitual with the eternal spirits in Paradise. It is the blessed consciousness of being safely harboured near to their Great God, to be clothed with His Power. But at the same time they accept their position as being the highest, attainable step they can reach, quite as a matter of course, and never imagine that they are capable of becoming divinities, of being able to see God face to face.

This does not deject them, for they recognise and understand that they can never attain to such a height and they exultingly praise and thank Him for the unspeakable mercy He always shows to presumptuous man.

Man on earth can enjoy this blessed sensation and can really feel God’s presence in sublime moments, but it would be sacrilegious for man to claim to possess a particle of Divinity on account of this wonderful experience — it is derogatory to God’s love to do so.

At the same time, how can God’s Love be measured by man’s love, and indeed even accounted as less precious ? Consider for a moment what man’s idea of Divine Love is: Divine Love is all forbearance, all forgiveness. It suffers all manner of evil from base creatures without remonstrance, offences that the most miserable weaklings and cowards would be despised for allowing. What ignominious, outrageous conclusions are these!

Men would like to continue in their sin and then do God a favour by allowing Him to forgive them without their having in any way made atonement. How narrow-minded, how indolent they are who think thus, or is it that they recognise their utter incapacity for higher things ? One reason is as despicable as the other.

Picture to yourselves Divine Love as it really is: clear as crystal, radiating out purity and power, and then compare it with the weak, ignobly indulgent love that man would have it be. To quiet their conscience men only pretend that the God they worship is mighty and powerful, but in reality their deity is weak and impotent. Thus they make themselves agents of the powers of Darkness. The Love of God is inseparable from strictest justice. Love is identical with justice and justice is identical with Love, and in this alone lies Divine forgiveness.

The church is quite right in saying that the Almighty forgives all sin, and fully forgives, not like men do, who even condemn the culprit who has already atoned for some trifling misdeed, to be degraded for ever after, thereby making themselves doubly guilty, for such judgments are contrary to God’s Holy Will. Here human love lacks all justice.

The Divine Will of the Almighty has ordained that, as soon as the human soul begins to strive upwards to the Light he shall be freed from all sin; this freedom may result from the experiences he goes through in his life on earth, or it may result from voluntary effort at improvement. However this may be, when he has passed through the mill-stones in the physical world, he can stand in clean garments in the Kingdom of his Creator, no matter what his guilt may have been.

The question is often asked: how could God have allowed these terrible years of misery ? Where is His Divine Love and justice ? Men and nations, families and individuals, all ask: why did this happen ? This clearly shows that His Love is very different from what men think.

The all-forgiving love that man ascribes to the Almighty would, without any atonement being made, suffer the iniquities of all men to continue and then generously forgive them for the evil they have committed. What a pitiful picture! Does man consider himself so precious that God should suffer for his sake, thus even more precious than God Himself ? To what lengths man’s presumption goes!

If you try to think this question out, you will find countless obstacles to stumble over, and you will see you can only solve the contradictions by belittling the Creator and assuming Him to be inferior and imperfect. He, however, was, is, and always will be perfect, whatever man thinks. His forgiveness is just forgiveness, and in this justice he shows his love: so great and yet so misunderstood.

Desist, therefore, from judging by earthly standards. It is the human soul that God loves, and He deals out justice spiritually. Here matter does not come into consideration, for has not the shape of man been moulded by the human spirit without which it has no life ? Do not, therefore, let your conscience torment you because of some trivial, worldly offence you think yourself guilty of, but which is no offence in reality, for God’s laws only take into account what man’s intention is in all his doings. This intention is not the product of his thinking faculty but comes from the inmost feelings of his heart. This alone has the power to set the spiritual laws in motion.

God’s Love will not allow itself to be degraded by man, for the whole universe rests on his loving, inalterable laws. And these laws act on man according to the position he takes up towards them. It is in their power to connect him with the highest regions, close to the Almighty Himself, or they can build up a wall, an impassable barrier through which he can never pass unless indeed time works a change in him and he submits. Obedience alone can work out his salvation and bring him happiness. All is cast in one form (mould) wherein there is no fissure, no defect. He is a sorry fool who would rebel against the Almighty’s Work, for that would be his certain destruction. Divine Love grants to every man only what serves for his spiritual advancement and not what gives him pleasure or seems agreeable to him on earth.

There are many who think that if the time of tribulation is at hand and there will be great destruction to purify this corrupt world, God must in His justice send one beforehand to admonish to repentance. Man must be pre-warned. Where is John the Baptist who came to proclaim what was to come ? Misguided fools, so wise in their own estimation, but in truth so short-sighted! Such a Messenger would be scourged and cast into prison!

Open your eyes and your ears! Is not the fact that the catastrophes in nature are ever increasing a serious warning ? Look at the state of things in Russia and China, or think of all the Germans living behind the German frontiers! The oppressed cry out in their misery from all parts of the world, but their cries die away unheeded and the worldling continues leading a life of callous indifference. Those who live in affluence will neither see nor listen.

Two thousand years ago there came one crying in the wilderness who said: “Repent ye!” And Christ came: “The Word became flesh.” But men sought diligently to distort the meaning of the Word and to dim its purity, so that the rays of lights it sent forth were in time extinguished. And all those who seek to disentangle the Word from the brambles that would choke it, soon perceive how messengers from the Dark Powers obstruct them in their work of enlightenment.

What happened then will not be repeated today. At that time The Word came. Man had his free will and most of them decided to reject Him. From that time man was subject to the laws set in motion by his resolution and met the results thereof on his self-chosen path.

Soon the ring will be closed. Iniquity is perpetually increasing. Although it may now be a tower of strength, it will soon crumble and fall on all indolent and lethargic sleepers. When the Time of the End comes, man’s will will no longer be free; he will have no choice left. What he sowed in the olden times, added to all the evil he has since been guilty of, he must now reap.

All those who rejected the Word at that time, are incarnated again on earth today. They have no right to be pre-warned and to have time to decide again. They had time enough to reconsider in the two-thousand years gone by and change their minds by now. Also he who listens to and accepts misinterpretations and misrepresentations of God and His Creation, and does not endeavour to learn the truth more fully, has not received it in his heart. A wrong faith is worse than none at all, for it stands in the way of the seeker after the Light. Woe unto him who in order to attract followers would falsify or pervert the Truth by making the teaching more agreeable to man. He not only would be guilty of perverting and misleading those who listen to him because of the easier conditions he makes for them, but he would also be responsible for them. He will find no help when his hour comes; it will be his fate to be cast into the abyss from which there is no return. St. John saw the fate of such in his vision and warned man in the Book of Revelation. There will be no time for man to rebel or resist, when the great purification begins, for the Divine Laws which man persistently misconstrues, will relentlessly consign him to his doom.

When the great tribulation comes, of which we read that none such was since the beginning of the world, man will at last see that the Love of God is not weak and indulgent as they choose to believe. When the great tribulation comes, no time will be left for mankind to rebel against it. The Divine laws, of which man has such false notions, will then work unrelentingly. The tribulation will be such as was none since the beginning of the world and then man will at last see, that the Love of God is not weak and indulgent as they choose to believe.

More than half of the present inhabitants of the earth do not belong here at all!

Deterioration of the human race has been going on for centuries and the Dark Powers have got such a firm hold on this earth that a connection has been formed with spheres greatly inferior in development. The dark beings living there were formerly naturally precluded, by their greater density and consequent weight, from rising to this lighter region.

In this lay a protection both for the dwellers upon earth and for the dark beings afore-mentioned. They were separated by the natural law of ethereal gravitation, and there below they could indulge in their base passions among themselves without doing any mischief, for they only had intercourse with those on the same level as themselves. On the contrary, the continual rub of conflicting interests led to their improvement, for at last the suffering their selfishness caused each other showed up their nature in its true light, and filled them with loathing for themselves. This gain awakened the wish to leave these regions; the wish grew to be ardent longing and finally despair led to prayer and repentance and determination to better themselves.

This is how their development should have proceeded, but the perversity of man upset and changed the natural order of things. Man’s evil intentions spanned a bridge over to the regions of Darkness. This was holding out a hand to the beings living there and enabling them by the attraction similar natures to their own had for them to come on to earth. Here they naturally found opportunity to re-incarnate, a step their development did not justify or sanction.

On the earth-plane where they live together with better and lighter souls, they only do harm, thus burdening themselves with fresh guilt. In the dark regions among their like, their depravity is indeed useful, because in the course of time they perceive their own base characters mirrored in their fellow- associates and learn to abhor themselves which leads to improvement.

This is the normal course of all development which man disturbed. He shamefully misused his free will in building bridges of ethereal matter over to the dark regions whereupon the beings sunk there crowded over and invaded the earth, the greater part of which is now populated by them.

As light souls must perforce retreat before dark ones, where Darkness has established a firm footing, it was comparatively easy for the intruders on the earth-plane to incarnate there where by rights a light spirit should have entered. If it has found anchorage in some person near the pregnant woman, the dark spirit can push aside the light spirit, even in cases where both father and mother are light souls. This solves the riddle of how it happens that there are black sheep in a family. But if the pregnant woman takes heed who comes near her, this cannot happen.

Hence it is but a proof of Divine Love if the law decrees that all those who have obtruded themselves on this earth should be swept away and banished to the dark regions to which they belong. There they can do no mischief, nor can they hinder lighter beings from advancing and there they have a chance to mature in their loathing for themselves.

The time will certainly come when every human heart will quake, and spiritual pride be thoroughly eradicated. Then all doubts will be cleared up and man will see clearly that there is no Divinity within him. Divinity is high above him. It can only be a sublime picture on the altar in his heart to which he can look up in a fervent prayer.

It is not an error but a sin for man to pretend to be divine. Such presumption must cause his fall, as it implies wishing to tear God’s sceptre from His hand and to draw Him down to the level of man: to a level that man fails even to appreciate the value of and the possibilities of which he does not even profit by as he could, because he aspires to heights he can never reach and which his understanding cannot conceive.

In heedlessly disregarding reality he becomes not only useless but a harmful, objectionable unit.

Indeed it will become painfully evident to him that in his present depraved condition, he does not even reflect the shadow of Divinity. The whole treasure of his laboriously acquired erudition, the work of centuries, will prove to be as nothing, and he will see that the fruits of his efforts were indeed but detrimental to him. When that time comes he may seek the Divinity he so prides himself upon, in vain, but he will hear a stern voice cry out: “Down on your knees, miserable creature, at the feet of your Lord and Master, and do not venture to uplift yourself to God Almighty!”

Such claims as these show that man’s ego-centricity has reached its culminating point.

Not till he has grasped what position he holds, can he think of advancement. When that time comes, all that totters will fall. False prophets and the followers they have gathered around them will collapse, and their mistaken methods and teaching be exposed. Many who are now very confident and self-satisfied will be terrified to see that they are slipping down an incline leading to a precipice instead of rising to the Light as they fondly imagined. These are the fool-hardy who opened the protecting gates before they were armed and equipped to defend themselves from the danger to which they thus unnecessarily exposed themselves. Happy the man who can then extricate himself and find the right way in time.

Let us look more closely at those around us who are vociferously calling for and expecting a spiritual Leader, and who in their own estimation are spiritually thoroughly prepared to recognise him and to listen to his Word when he comes.

In the first place we shall observe that there are many different classes of these people. Christ’s Message has impressed many of them in a most curious manner. There are those who completely misunderstand its meaning, in consequence of their self-sufficiency.

In place of the veneration they had for their God in former days, which showed itself in keeping at a suitable respectful distance from Him, they draw near and molest Him with praying and begging; always willing to receive, but never to make the slightest return. When they are told to pray, they are willing to do so, but when they are told to work out their salvation, they decline to obey.

On the other hand, they pretend to be so independent, that they can do everything alone, and can with little trouble even become Divine.

There are others, who expect that God will seek them out Himself. Did he not once send His only Son, they ask, proving thereby how important mankind was to Him, even, that He probably needed them ?

Whichever way one turns: presumption on every side, no humility is to be found anywhere! Man’s self-esteem is quite out of proportion to his real value.

The first thing necessary for man is to descend from the artificial pedestal he is on, to be a human being and begin to ascend to the Light from the level of humanity. Puffed up with pride, he is like one sitting on a tree at the bottom of the hill that he has to ascend; he can never do this, till he climbs down or falls from the tree. Meanwhile others, sensible people, are standing under the tree with their feet firmly placed on the ground. He despises them from his height, but they advance with slow deliberation and will probably reach the summit of the hill before he does.

However, fate will soon come to his assistance, the tree will anyhow fall in a short time. Perhaps the shock of falling from his high position will bring him to his senses, but he must hasten, for he will not have an hour to lose.

Many think that things will continue to go on in the same way as they always have done for centuries.

They are comfortably sitting in their armchairs and are waiting for a strong Leader. And what do they expect ?

In the first place they expect and require one who will prepare the way up to the Light for each individual separately. It is for him to build bridges over to the Truth from every separate religion and make the way so clear and evident that every one can easily understand. His words must be so chosen that every one can perceive their meaning immediately and forthwith be convinced of their truth.

A leader who requires men to think for themselves is no proper leader, for if he is appointed to show the way and to lead man to it, it is necessary that he should trouble himself about men, it is his duty to convince and awaken. Did not Christ sacrifice His Life ?

Those who think thus (and there are many who do) need not trouble further, for they are like the foolish virgins, they will come too late. The appointed Leader will not disturb them but let them sleep on until the door is shut. It is not for them to enter into the Light, for they will not be able to extricate themselves from the coils of matter in time. This they could have done, had they listened to the voice of the Leader. For man is by no means as precious as he imagines himself to be.

God does not need him, but he needs God. As the so-called cultivated man of today no longer recognises his duty or knows what he should do, he must be coerced.

They are seekers, it is true, but in their self-deluding confidence they will pass by without noticing, as so many passed Him by in olden time in spite of being prepared for His coming by the revelations of the prophets.

What an impossible picture they make of a spiritual teacher! He who is coming, however, will not make the slightest concession. He will claim and exact, not distribute and give.

Every one who is capable of serious thoughts will see that if man is to be saved from mental atrophy, he must be forced to think seriously, however stern and uncompromising the means employed may be. The fact that mental activity and earnest intention are absolutely requisite for understanding the Leader’s Word, separates the grain from the husks at the very outset. Here again the laws give to each individual just what he himself needs automatically.

Now there is another class of men who pride themselves upon having a particularly active mentality. These again have drawn quite a different — an absurd — picture of the Leader, they expect no less than a spiritual acrobat.

Thousands of people believe that clairvoyance, clairaudience and so on, are clear proofs of high spiritual development, but this is not so. These arts are either the result of study or they may be natural gifts, but whatever they are, their field is strictly limited to the things of this earth, above the level of which they cannot rise.

Does any one seriously think it will help man on spiritually if he is shown things which, though invisible to the generality of mankind, still are on the same level of development as he is himself ? To be able to see and hear transcendental phenomena does not confer knowledge that will help the human spirit forward on the way to the Light, neither is such knowledge useful for his guidance in worldly matters, for though interesting to the individual, these practices are utterly useless to man in general.

Now one can understand that those who so highly value supernatural gifts and abilities, would expect a leader to possess greater power and knowledge in these things than they do. They require, for instance, that he should prove he is a genuine leader by not catching cold. Such a one cannot be an ideal guide, a strong leader must be above such trifles by virtue of his spiritually. It sounds incredible, but it is a fact, such views are current. Although it may appear exaggerated and absurd, it is a true picture and a faint echo of the cry: “If Thou be the Son of God, save Thyself and come down from the Cross.” They are calling out the same today, before the leader is in sight even.

Poor ignorant man! One who has specifically trained his body so that the spirit can make it insensible at will, is neither great nor eminent. Those who admire him are like the children of former times who stood admiring the tricks of mountebanks with open mouths and glistening eyes, filled with a burning longing to be able to do the same. The present seekers for the truth on the spiritual plane are not much in advance of those children on the physical plane.

And if we keep to the simile, we see how the aforementioned mountebanks developed into the acrobats of our circuses and music- halls. Their feats have become truly astounding and daily thousands witness their performances with wonder and occasionally shudder to see how many an acrobat risks his life to entertain them. And yet what profit have they, what have they to take home with them ? Nothing whatever.

All these arts are strictly limited to the music-hall and the circus, no matter to how high a degree of perfection they have reached. They can only serve to amuse and can never be of advantage to man. And is the value of the expected Leader to be measured by his proficiency in acrobatic feats on the spiritual plane ?

Do not envy these people their psychic clowns. They will soon enough find out where such practices lead. They do not know what they are striving after. They believe that only he is truly great who can so control his physical body that disease cannot touch him.

But listen: all such training is one-sided and partiality is prejudicial to the whole system: it weakens the mind and the body. The balance between body and soul necessary to perfect harmony is disturbed. The soul suffers, if its body can no longer provide the strong and healthy basis needed for a life on earth. Therefore, it frees itself from its mal-treated body and enters transcendental life before having attained the needful degree of maturity, and must then repeat an incarnation on earth.

These arts are but psychic tricks performed at the expense of the physical vessel which should in truth be a help to the spirit to which it belongs during a certain period of its spiritual development. If the body is so weakened and suppressed, its emanations are too feeble to be effective and provide the power the spirit needs to work in matter.

A man must work himself up into a transport of frenzy if he wishes to suppress an illness in the body, not unlike the effect fear of going to the dentist has in suppressing the pain in the diseased tooth.

The intense strain the nerves must bear when the physical vessel is put into such a state of transport may not do harm for once or even for several times but in the long run cannot fail to injure the constitution seriously.

If a leader practises such things or recommends them to others, he is not worthy to be called a leader, for he would be transgressing the eternal laws.

Man should cherish his body as he would a treasure entrusted to his care, and he must strive to bring his soul and his body into perfect harmony. It is no progress or advancement for a man to mortify the flesh; on the contrary, by so doing, he is putting an obstacle in the way of fulfilling his duty on earth. The spirit has no power to influence matter unless it can command the energy of a free, unfettered body to which it is united in perfect harmony.

One who is accounted Master because of his supernatural abilities is in truth worse off than the beginner who has no knowledge of supernatural functions or of the possibilities of development in such matters: he is detrimental to the spirit. These misguided people will soon come to a knowledge of their folly.

Each of these false teachers will have to suffer bitter experiences. Not until the very last of those whose development they have delayed by their mal-practices or whom they have led astray, have come to a right understanding of the truth, can they begin their ascent to the Light. As long as their books and writings continue to influence men on earth, they will be detained in the next world even though in the meantime they may have come to a better understanding.

He who recommends occult training, gives men stones instead of bread, and thus shows that he has not even a faint conception of life as it really is in the other world, still less of life in Creation in general.

I have been asked many questions respecting the meaning of the terms I use in my writings. These shall here be explained in detail.

Gross physical matter comprises all that man can see, hear and feel with his physical senses. To this belongs all that he can see by the aid of the instruments at present at his disposal, for example, the microscope, and all that he will be able to see later on when new inventions disclose new phenomena.

Gross physical matter is only a special kind of matter. The great field of matter comprises several species, essentially different one from the other. They can never intermingle.

The different varieties of matter lie, as it were, in layers one above the other; at the very bottom (or end) of the created universe, forming the lowest strata. The lightest matter at the top and the heaviest at the bottom, according to the order existing in all cosmic dispensation. The sole purpose of all these varieties of matter is to help to develop the spirit, which descends into it, to germinate like the seed in fruitful earth.

The different layers of matter are in themselves inert and helpless. It is not until the energy from the sphere above, the kingdom of nature (animism), penetrates and permeates it, giving it warmth and life, that it becomes active and can serve as an outer covering or garment to envelop all manner of different types and species.

As I have already said, different kinds of matter do not allow of fusion, but they can unite by virtue of animism which has given them life. This resulting compound of two or more different kinds of matter sends out heat-waves and emanations.

Each separate variety of matter has its own particular emanation, which unites with other harmonious emanations and forms a radiating halo round an object; this halo is already known to man, it is called “Od” or emanation. Every stone, every plant, every animal has its own individual halo of emanations which varies in appearance according to the condition of the body or outer covering of the object. Derangement in the normal condition of this halo points to disorders.

This radiating emanation gives each object a special surrounding aura, which serves as a defence in warding off discordant approach and also is the connecting bridge with the outer world. On the other hand it also reacts on its own inner self, helping its development forward in a general way. But in truth so many other influences are here at work that I can only take them one after the other, and, proceeding step by step, will make it easier for the serious inquirer to understand the eternal laws which order all things.

Where the energy of nature has not penetrated matter, it is as nothing, it is inanimate.

What we have now been considering is but the combination of the energy of the natural world with the different species of matter in the physical world.

It is this combination which provides the field into which the spirit descends to develop and also to rule, for animated matter is subordinate to it.

Sovereignty is thus offered to the spirit spontaneously, and it is indeed sad if it misuses or abuses its privileged position. The emanations, as we have just described, form the armour which protects the spirit during its period of development in the soil, which animism, the soul of nature, has carefully prepared in advance. It is the duty of the spirit to put the armour it is provided with to its proper use for its advantage and advancement and not to its harm and destruction.

It can easily be understood that the material element predominating in the covering will be decisive for the composition of the emanation, and likewise exercise a very great influence in all directions.

The quality and composition of the rays forming the emanation are of far greater importance than investigators have hitherto supposed. Not a tenth part of their proper purpose and office has been conjectured!

The power or ability to receive the vibrations in the universe is determined by the composition of this radiating halo or aura. The reader should not lightly dismiss this passage but concentrate his thoughts on its meaning, and then suddenly he will perceive that the nerve-strands of Creation, which it is for him to learn to employ, are disclosing themselves before him.

Imagine primeval radiating energy poured out on Creation. It pulsates through every part, and through every species of being. And every part and every species of being reflect these glorious rays and pass them on in an altered form and colour because of the difference in their composition. Thus Creation is one complexity of glorious rays of colour such as no painter could reproduce. Every part of the universe and every star, indeed every single object, be it ever so minute, is a finely-cut prism reflecting the rays it receives in numberless different hues.

The colours also give forth sounds that form harmonious accords. It is not that sounds have colours but that the colours produce sound, that is to say, radiating colours, not the dull colours used by the painter, which are dead in comparison with the colour of the rays.

The human spirit, protected by the various coverings it has received, stands in this mighty realm of coloured light. Till the generative power awakes, the proceedings are the same as with a babe. The material coverings suck up by radiating only what is necessary for their maturing. When the generative energy awakens and the spirit is fully equipped, the doors are thrown wide open and a direct and powerful connection with the outside world is established. The human spirit develops and controls the colour of its emanation and by so doing attunes its vibrations to those of the cosmos, it sends them forth like a radio and receives them back from there. Here again we see how the attraction of the analogous works.

The colours only show the species and the species give the colours.

And this is a key to unfold many mysteries, it is the lost key of the royal art of astrology, the secret of herbal medicine and of that much discussed subject, animal and spiritual magnetism; then also of the art of right living and of how to climb step by step to the Light. The steps are only meant as a help to climb by. It is a ladder leading to Heaven. And the knots in the network of the glorious rays of light and colour are the rungs of this ladder: they tell of all knowledge and reveal every secret in the universe.

You who are seeking with noble purpose, grasp boldly at this wonderful network of radiating light, and acknowledge the magnitude of God Almighty and His Creation! It is but child’s play to be master and ruler here, if you will but be honest and lay aside your presumptuous so-called knowledge! Cast off this false burden, and stand upright and free.

Normal conditions provide that the composition and harmonious blending of the rays should give the help and protection the spirit needs for its advancement.

The present manner of nourishing and exercising the body, and of living generally, have somewhat displaced the order of these rays, and this calls for remedy, for it is an utterly unhealthy, detrimental displacement.

From the foregoing, man can form an idea of what influence and effect food has on the distribution of the rays.

The choice of food makes it possible to assist and to strengthen or to weaken and diminish the intensity of certain rays, so that those rays dominate which are beneficial to the individual in question. The beneficial influence is the normal influence.

Still this in itself is not sufficient to bear man upwards, it only provides a sound basis for the soul’s full activity and it is left to its own free will to determine whether it shall rise, stray aside or take the downward road. These influences will not fail to invigorate the body as well as the soul, as soon as man is capable of attending to them; at present, through his ignorance, man grievously sins against them.

When I speak of invisible, ethereal matter and visible physical matter, it must not be concluded that the ethereal is but a refinement of the physical, for they are of quite different nature and consistency. Invisible ethereal matter can never become visible physical matter, for ethereal matter is an intermediate step in the upward direction. And besides this, it must be clearly understood that both these forms of matter are but the covering, the garment, of the spirit, provided and animated by animism, the soul of the natural world.

Whilst discussing this, I must point out that matter is not only animated by self-conscious and unconscious spirit and by the energy of the natural kingdom, but currents of energy from all manner of different species in creation join in furthering development and perfection. The activity of these currents comes next to the spiritual and natural influences, or one might say, prepares the way for them.

In analysing the details still further, many more influences will appear at work. Although linked together they succeed each other in activity and show a continuous series of new gradations. All is strictly consistent with logic and can easily be followed with the key which I will give in the course of my lectures. Then every individual can unravel the secrets of Creation for himself.

To give all the information at once would only confuse the reader. If, on the other hand, I reveal one thing after another, as I have hitherto done, it makes it easy to follow, specially easy for him who has followed me up till now.

To begin with I want to give the rudiments or first principles on which Creation rests and later on will go into the details.

My reader will perhaps sometimes feel like one to whom a human skeleton is shown and next to it a living man in the fulness of his perfection. If he knows nothing of man’s build, he will not recognise the skeleton in the living man. He may even say, these two have nothing to do with one another. And so it will be with one who will not patiently follow my explanations to the end. He, who does not earnestly strive to understand from the beginning, will not be able to grasp the whole complexity of Creation when I come to the last explanations. He must try to follow step by step.

As I am obliged to restrict myself to a general survey, I must go over slowly to new questions as I wish to avoid leaving any gaps. I have often been told that I only give the gist of the subject under discussion, and that makes it hard for the generality of readers to understand. But I am obliged to proceed thus, as it would take more than a life-time to write all I have to say in detail; I should only be able to get one fourth of my task done. But though I cannot expend more time, others will come who will write one or more books on each of my lectures.

As I have said before, ethereal matter is of a totally different nature from physical matter; I will now point out what this fact involves. Not to confuse the reader, I have hitherto in some cases kept to popular terms, these I will now explain further; for instance people say: “beyond time and space”. This always referred to the worlds above physical matter. But our further knowledge teaches us that we should say: beyond our earthly conception of time and space, for time and space exist in the ethereal world also, but they are different from our time and space and are suited to ethereal conditions. Some form of time and space is to be found in all the universe, but it is always suited to the nature of the different spheres; Creation itself has a limit and that involves the idea of space even for Creation itself.

It is the same with the eternal laws which govern the universe, they all accommodate themselves to the special peculiarity of the different spheres. It follows that the effects that they realise in the different quarters of the universe differ one from another. This diversity gives occasion to much misunderstanding, to seeming contradiction and to doubts as to the unity of the eternal laws or of Divine purpose, and thus leads men to believe that God acts arbitrarily.

The reason for all this lies merely in the ignorance of man respecting the universe itself.

I must postpone going into these subjects in detail till much later; at present it would divert the attention of the reader and confuse him.

As soon as it is necessary for further understanding I will give this information, so that there may be no gaps.

Clairvoyance — what fabulous importance, what a fantastic reputation it enjoys with some, while others ridicule the idea! Some enquirers are curious but timid, and others are respectfully silent. Those who have this gift strut about like peacocks; they consider themselves specially blessed by the Almighty and feel they are immensely superior to other men who are less gifted.

They are only too willing to be admired for what, in reality, is just as unaccountable to them as it is to their fellowmen. They habitually wear a meaningless smile to hide their hopeless ignorance when questions are put to them. In truth they do not know more of what they are doing than does the chisel in the hand of the sculptor. Here again, man is at fault, and does great disservice to clairvoyants by trying to make out they are superior to other men. This way of thinking is now general, but quite wrong. Clairvoyants in most cases really see transcendental things, but that is nothing special, nothing either to astonish or to intimidate. It should be something quite natural. But it is only natural when it develops of itself without any extraneous help, which would be just as reprehensible out of place here as in the case of helping a man to die.

Clairvoyance is really only valuable where it is accompanied by corresponding knowledge. Knowledge alone can put it to useful purposes on the right occasions and at the right time. But most clairvoyants lack this knowledge, as is evident by their exaggerated zeal, ambitious arrogance and air of possessing superior knowledge.

It is just this supposed knowledge that prevents such people from advancing and indeed proves fatal to them; for their misguided efforts lead them astray and, before they are aware of it, to destruction. The only hope for such people is that their psychic faculties should get weaker and that by some circumstances favourable to their welfare they should, in time, lose this faculty altogether — that would save them.

Let us look more closely at these clairvoyants who spread their mistaken convictions among men. It is their doing that this subject is so discredited and draggled in the mud.

To have an approximate scale to go by, let us imagine Creation divided or separated into twenty gradations or steps (not spheres) counting from the Light on the twentieth step, downwards to the first step at the bottom; it is to the second step at farthest that the most accomplished clairvoyant can see, and those who can do this are mightily pleased with themselves. Those who can only see to the first step, however, are still more self-satisfied.

But it must be remembered that the most gifted man can only see to the level allowed by his own inner development: he is restricted to the step his own inner self has reached. From this it follows that he can really only see what is analogous to himself, what belongs to the region to which he will be attracted when he casts off his physical vessels, and no farther, for the moment he steps over into a region above the one to which he naturally belongs, he will lose all consciousness of his surroundings.

Without help he could not cross the boundary of his own sphere in any case, but supposing that a spirit from the next step above him took his soul up with him, he would, on passing over to the higher sphere, become insensible, he would fall asleep in the arms of his spirit-guide, and on his return he would only be able to recall what his own state of maturity allows him to see when he is awake: thus his journey would profit him nothing, but his soul’s protecting body would suffer.

What he imagines he sees in regions beyond, whether landscapes or persons, are but pictures that have been shown to him, voices that he thinks he hears, that he has never really personally heard nor seen: all are so life-like that he cannot distinguish them from reality. It lies within the power of a stronger spirit to create such pictures at will. Hence it happens that so many imagine that they have been in much higher regions when they take their transcendental flights, than is the case really. This leads to many errors.

It is the same thing when many think they see or hear Christ Himself. What a misguided delusion! The absence of homogeneity between Christ and man puts such an immense gulf between them, that the eternal laws would absolutely forbid such an approach. It cannot be expected of the Son of God to appear as an afternoon-tea guest in a Séance to do the sitters a special favour; nor can this be expected of the great prophets or great spirits.

No human spirit, while it is in the flesh, is privileged to have free intercourse with the transcendental world, to see and hear its phenomena unveiled and thus, perhaps, climb upwards to the light by a quicker path. This, though quite natural, is not quite simple, for all must develop in strict accordance with the eternal laws. Furthermore, if such a gifted one neglects his earthly tasks to explore mysteries of the Beyond, he loses more than he gains, for when the time comes for his next life to begin, he will find he is prevented from advancing upwards, because of an unfilled gap in his mundane life. At a certain point he must pause: he remains bound and must return to earth to make good this intermission before he can continue to climb upwards. This is the simple and natural consequence of leaving something undone, of neglecting a duty. The omission must be made good.

Every stage of life must be lived through with the close attention its profound gravity demands. To neglect to do this causes a disruption, which makes itself felt with ever increasing acuteness the further man advances, and which eventually is the cause of the breakdown which precedes the final downfall, unless indeed measures are promptly taken to return, set the deficiency right, and clear the road. Unfortunately man has contracted the fatal habit of persistently grasping at what is out of his reach, because he imagines himself to be greater than he really is.

For a long time I hesitated to answer the different questions addressed to me on the subject of Clairvoyance.

Attentive readers of my Message ought to be sufficiently well informed to need no further instruction on this subject, that is to say, provided the Message has not been read as a pastime or from a prejudiced point of view, but with serious intentness. The reader must imbibe and digest its teaching and take in the deep meaning of every sentence, recognising its individual importance as well as its importance in connection with the whole. To take this trouble is a condition imposed on the reader; his mental and spiritual qualities must be wide awake and all superficial reading automatically excluded.

I have repeatedly pointed out that only units belonging to the same species (speaking cosmically) can recognise each other.

Classifying these species in their natural order from the lowest upwards, we have: species of gross physical substance, that of fine ethereal substance, of natural substance (animism) and, as highest, spiritual substance. Besides this in each class there are many finely differentiated grades, so that one is in danger of mistaking the higher grades of physical matter for the lowest and heaviest grades of ethereal matter. Nor is the transition abrupt from one grade to another: on the contrary, they melt into one another almost imperceptibly.

On each grade (step) life manifests itself in a different manner. Man has a veil or covering of each of the species or grades below the spiritual, for his core (kernel) is spirit. Each covering represents a body. Hence man is a spirit which, in developing consciousness, has taken human shape. The nearer development approaches the Light, the more idealised this shape becomes till it attains perfect beauty, but if development proceeds in a downward direction, it has the opposite effect and produces grotesque deformities. To avoid misconception, I will specially mention that the external, physical body is not subject to this development. Its span of life is too short and it only undergoes insignificant changes.

Man, therefore, in his physical body on earth is at the same time clothed in a body of each of the species mentioned above, and each of these bodies has its own separate organs of sense. His physical organs for instance can only serve him on his own plane or grade. Should they be exceptionally finely developed, they might at best permit him to see as far as a higher grade of gross matter, man call astral, but even those who introduced this term had no conception of what it means, still less those who repeat it. I make use of the word because it is generally known. Like other terms used by occult investigators astral serves as a collective name for what one knows and feels exists, but what one cannot understand or rightly explain. The mass of pseudo-knowledge that occultists have collected up till now, is but a labyrinth of ignorance, a veritable rubbish heap constructed by men not competent to deal with these subjects, consisting of the presumptuous pretensions of their intellectual thought. Nevertheless I will retain this word as it is so frequently used. What man, however, understands by astral is merely a higher, lighter grade of gross matter and is not even a part of ethereal matter.

The self-opinionated and conceited investigators in this field of research have not yet lifted themselves above gross matter, and are still on the lowest level of the phenomena of Subsequent Creation, and for that reason like to make use of high-sounding phrases. What they see is not transmitted to them by ethereal sight, their vision is simply the impression their physical eyes have received on the transitory stage to ethereal sight. One could call this preparatory or semi-intuitive sight.

When a man dies, he lays aside his physical body with its organs of sense. Death in the mundane sense is only the stripping off of the outer covering or shell which enabled the man to see and to act on the physical plane. As soon as he has cast aside his physical vessel, he stands in what is called the other world, or better still the realm of ethereal matter. Here he can only command the senses of the body which has now become his outer shell or covering. He sees with the eyes and hears with the ears of his fine material body.

It is natural that the human spirit on entering upon this new life, must learn to use the senses of his new body of ethereal matter which has suddenly been called upon to play an active role, as in former times he had to learn to use the senses of his physical body. But the new, lighter matter is not so awkward or so clumsy, so he can learn to use these organs faster and more easily. The same process is repeated in every case of transition from one form of existence to another.

It is to help the spirit to get naturalised in its new surroundings on the next grade that this intermediate intuitive sight has been given to him. Thus under exceptional circumstances and special physical conditions, the physical sight sees what is on the intermediate plane and likewise the sight of the ethereal body during its early days can look back on the plane where it joins the vision of the physical eye. This possibility is a certain comfort to the soul on its transit, for it will not feel so utterly helpless and lost. This is the same with every transition from one grade to another.

Currents of strong magnetic, cohesive power are sent forth from natural substance to prevent impassable gulfs from separating one grade from another and to hold them together, for two different species of substance can never intermingle.

When man’s spirit has passed through all the subdivisions of the world of ethereal matter and laid aside his ethereal body, he enters the realm of natural substance where his body and its organs are of corresponding substance. There he must live until such time as he is able to lay aside this covering (or body) also, and enter the Spiritual Kingdom. Here alone he is himself, he is unveiled, and must see, hear and speak with his spiritual organs.

These statements must have my readers’ profound and acutest attention to enable them to fully realise these things.

Materialisations of those departed this life, are apparitions of spirits wearing bodies of ethereal matter which, with the help of a medium, they enclose in a thin veil of gross, physical matter. This would be about the only case when the earth-man of today could clearly perceive fine physical matter with his gross material senses. His senses can do this because in spite of the greater fineness, the body of the apparition is of the same substance as his senses.

Man should, therefore, notice that gross matter can only be perceived by gross matter, ethereal matter only by ethereal matter, natural substance (animism) only by the same substance, and spirit only by spirit. It is not possible to mix or mingle the one with the other.

While it is sometimes possible for a man to see with intuitive vision and now and then, while still in the physical, gross material body, he may be permitted to see with the organ of his ethereal body, it is not possible to possess both visions at the same time, but only successively, one must be inactive. He will never be able distinctly to see ethereal matter with his physical eye, nor will the eye of his ethereal body ever be able clearly to distinguish gross matter. If the contrary is affirmed, it is from ignorance of the laws underlying all Creation. Those who believe that ethereal matter can be seen with physical eyesight, and that spiritual things can be seen by ethereal organs, labour under a delusion. He who will consider this carefully and try to picture the process clearly to himself will perceive what an indescribable confusion of opinions there is respecting clairvoyance, and that it is impossible to obtain reliable information on this subject until the laws governing it are known. This knowledge cannot be obtained through inspiration, nor by what the spirits on the other side say in séances, because neither the inspired ones nor the spirits can survey the whole question; they have to keep within the bounds of the stage of maturity to which they belong.

It would only be possible for one possessed of all-embracing knowledge to classify the information we already have concerning the wonderful web of phenomena in Subsequent Creation in the right way. But in his morbid faith in human knowledge, man would never believe this; from the outset he would set himself in opposition to all such instruction. He prefers to strut about alone in pursuit of his unprofitable search, never agreeing with the others, and never attaining any real success. Could he but once be broad-minded enough to conquer his presumptuous conceit and seriously, without prejudice, accept the explanation that the Message of the Holy Grail gives of the Cosmos, and, in studying it, lay aside his self- constructed systems, aspects would soon disclose themselves, that would clear up the secrets of phenomena hitherto not understood, and would open up the way to the unexplored.

However, it is a well-known fact that obstinacy is only one of the unmistakable signs of real stupidity and narrow- mindedness. All these people never suspect that they stamp themselves as utterly incapable; soon this mark will make them burn with shame, for when they can no longer hide or deny it, it will show them up as impossible.

In judging clairvoyance one must start with knowing with which organ of sight a clairvoyant sees, that is to say, to which plane his intuitive sight belongs; also how far he has developed spiritually. After having clearly defined all this, further conclusions may be drawn. The person who superintends these investigations must naturally himself be exhaustively informed of all particulars of the different steps or grades in the different species and likewise of the different ways in which they work and act.

And to think that it is just in this respect that man at the present day, persuaded that he knows, is so hopelessly ignorant and understands nothing!

It is truly pitiful to see the flood of publications, pamphlets, and books on occult research, giving the results of investigations and experiments, together with would-be explanations by writers pretending to possess certain knowledge, whereas they are really far from understanding the facts, and affirm the very opposite of the truth.

And how infuriated the army of wiseacres is if someone unfolds a true picture of the construction of Subsequent Creation before their eyes, explaining in simple language, easy for every one to follow, the different steps and stages, without which knowledge man can neither understand nor explain anything. Let us for the moment leave all the phenomena of Original Creation out of the question. He who would criticise clairvoyants or indeed condemn them, must be absolutely and thoroughly cognisant of all the phenomena of Creation. Until then let him be silent. In the same way, zealous defenders of the facts of clairvoyance, must not make positive statements of what cannot be proved to be true, without the same deep and all-embracing knowledge. Such mischievous errors are current concerning all that happens outside gross, physical matter, that it is high time light were thrown on the question and some order and system brought into the interpretations.

Fortunately, the time is not far off, when a clean sweep will be made among the many absurd figures found in all departments of occultism, especially among those that vociferate loudest and are the most obtrusive with their teachings. Unfortunately by their prattle they have led many seekers astray, but they will not escape the responsibility they have so forcibly incurred. Retribution will come to all those who have dared to handle this most serious subject in so frivolous a manner. Their misguided adherents have verily gained little profit; they have now to suffer for having been so credulous and listened to false teaching. One may say that occultists who very frequently give the grand name of investigation to their twaddle are but chatterers.

Thus among clairvoyants there are those who can see fine physical substance, ethereal substance and even further into the realm of natural substance; each with the vision belonging to the grade, plane or world in question. The power of seeing into the Spiritual Kingdom has been denied to man. It would have to be an exceptional case and for a special object that an elect human being should be accorded this boon whilst on earth.

There is not one such among the numerous clairvoyants we have now. Most of them can only see one of the different planes or steps in fine matter, and in time perhaps advance to distinguishing several steps. Their inner eye for fine matter has been opened. It is very seldom that this is also the case with the next finest vision belonging to the realm of natural substance.

There are special occasions when a clairvoyant is called in to help clear up the mystery in a criminal case. Here it is absolutely necessary for the person who is conducting the enquiry to know that the clairvoyant sees with the organ of his ethereal body and can, therefore, not see what the gross material process really was. Every gross material process has its ethereal counterpart which, if not exactly the same, is at least similar. For instance, if it is a case of murder, the clairvoyant would see the accompanying circumstances but not the event as it is physically represented, which is the only view of interest in the eyes of the law. If, therefore, what the clairvoyant says, does not agree in all respects with what are, physically, the facts of the case, it must not be concluded that the clairvoyant is a failure or does not keep to the truth.

If it is a case of murder or theft that is under inspection, the clairvoyant consulted will partly see the scene of the action as it appeared on the astral plane, and partly what took place in physical matter, i.e. the action itself. Added to this, he will see some thought- forms which were produced by the thoughts of the murderer or of his victims. To separate and keep these phenomena apart is what the person investigating the case must understand. Not till then will the result be satisfactory.

At present there are no persons so instructed and capable. Although it may sound grotesque and far-fetched, I should like here to point to the use the police make of dogs in the pursuit of the criminal. The dog’s master and fellow-worker must be thoroughly acquainted with his dog’s methods and indeed he is the responsible agent. There is an analogy in the work of the policeman and his dog to the nobler work of the investigator and his clairvoyant, for here again it is the investigator who must do the principal and responsible work; he must observe and combine; he is the active agent, whereas the clairvoyant is his passive help. Every judge should go through a protracted study of these phenomena before he begins to practise. It is a far more difficult study than the law.

To be able to follow this explanation, it is necessary for the reader to know and understand that mankind on this earth belongs to Subsequent Creation which is the further development of Original Creation. It is only the latter which is the eternal Spiritual Kingdom which man calls Paradise, at the very summit of which stands the Castle of the Holy Grail, the portal to the Divine sphere which lies outside of Creation.

Subsequent Creation is what is called the world. It rotates eternally below Original Creation, but its several solar systems, not being God’s own handiwork, like Original Creation which is everlasting, are transient; they come into being and mature, they grow old and disintegrate.

Subsequent Creation owes its existence to the will of the pure beings God made in the beginning and it is subject to influences coming from human spirits in process of development on their appointed course through its planes.

This accounts for its imperfections and deficiencies which are not to be found in Original Creation, for that is subject to the influences of the Holy Spirit alone. As time went on, these deficiencies became more and more flagrant and palpable to the despair of God’s first created beings. To comfort them a voice came from on high, calling out: “Await the coming of One I have chosen … to help you!” In these words the legend of the Holy Grail has fairly accurately described what happened.

To return to the subject in hand: Every proceeding of mortal man is but the external expression of an inner process by which intuitive volition is meant. Intuitive Volition is spiritual activity which either furthers or retards man’s spiritual advance. It is decisive for his whole being. This volition must never be put on the same level as the decisions come to by the brain, for it is his intuitive volition which represents the real man himself. What the physical brain wills and resolves on, is of less moment. And although the result may not be visible on the surface, both have unfailing Karmic consequences. No physical activity is necessary in order to create Karma. But all physical activity must be preceded either by intuitive volition or by decisions come to by the brain. Thus physical activity depends either on the decisions of the brain or on intuitive volition.

Man pays less attention to what his intuitive volition, than to what his brain tells him, and yet it is the former that decides whether he goes forward or backward. He must submit to the logical consequences of his want of discrimination. He must learn that intuitive volition is the only organ with which he can draw forth and command the latent power that lies dormant in all Creation waiting for the will of man to summon it into intensified action. Up till now he has scarcely, if ever, even noticed this important, nay all-important fact.

Thus I shall continue repeatedly to call man’s attention to an apparently simple matter, but one which indeed is of all- embracing importance. It is this latent energy or power that pulsates through all Creation. This neutral power lies inactive till it comes into touch with the human spirit with its intuitive volition. But it is only his spiritual activity that can arouse it. Intellectual volition has no access to this source of spiritual energy, much less have the thoughts his brain engenders. This again shows how vain it is for him to hope to utilise this power for his inventions! That possibility is denied him. Man neither knows this great power, nor what it can accomplish, although he lives in it.

The primeval power that some few scholars and inventors dream of and seek for, is something else. When this inferior order of energy is discovered, men will be able to do astonishing things with its aid, but this will not bring the operator one step nearer to the all-powerful spiritual energy above mentioned. And yet, the human spirit all unconsciously utilises it in daily life. Man trifles with this power, takes no heed of the terrible consequences of his levity. In his ignorance he throws all responsibility on the Creator, but this does not exculpate him; on the contrary, he is guilty of remissness in not wishing to gain knowledge.

Here is an example of the working of this power: let us take the feeling of envy in man. First it arises as a vague, general sensation. Until it has reached the brain and clothed itself in definite thought, man is hardly aware of its existence. But this inner feeling or intuition, being spiritual, has the key to the source of living energy, and before it becomes thought, it spans a bridge over to this reservoir of strength. No sooner is this done, than a portion of this energy corresponding in strength to the intensity of the feeling passes into it. This influx of energy animates man’s vague human sensation with spirit and endows him with astonishing productive power to construct forms in ethereal matter. This ability must not be confounded with creative power; still it makes man the first of all created beings and lord over all creatures, it gives him immense influence over all Subsequent Creation and makes him a personally responsible being which no other creature is beside him. Man alone is vested with spiritual power; he alone has spirit in his composition, and that is what gives him access to the spiritual energy pulsating through Subsequent Creation.

The spirit of the First Created (Urgeschaffene) in Paradise is not the same as the spirit of mankind on this earth. They are in connection with a superior and much more powerful wave of living energy which they can consciously utilise, and thus produce results vastly superior to those produced by human beings on earth. The power man has at his command is a lower gradation of the energy in Original Creation, in the same way as he is on a lower stage of spiritual development than that of primeval man in Paradise.

Up till now man on earth had no knowledge of the many gradations descending from Original Creation, nor did he know what signification these had for him. When this knowledge has been spread and generally accepted, man’s presumptuous pride will cease and the upward path be cleared of a great error.

The preposterous idea of claiming to be beings of the highest order and even of Divine origin will be dispelled, and relief sought and found in a feeling of shame. The pure beings originally created who stand so much higher and are so much more valuable beings, are not thus blinded by presumption. They smile indulgently at the earth-worms, as parents smile at the fantastic chatter of their children.

But to return to man and to his spiritual intuition: the first vague sensation of envy, when strengthened by the influx of spiritual energy from without, forthwith produces unconsciously and independently a form which exactly embodies the man’s sensation and reproduces it in a definite shape. At first this form only exists within its author; then it stands beside him, united to him by a cord (ligature) by which it receives nourishment. At the same time it becomes linked to the central nucleus of all similar sentiments in obedience to the law of attraction, and from there it is strongly reinforced. This then is the invisible atmosphere surrounding the man in question.

Meanwhile the sensation (envy) has arrived at the brain, where it causes thoughts of the same nature to be generated. These start off in a definite direction with the intention of injuring a person, if the opportunity offers.

If, however, the victim they have fixed upon is pure-minded and has pure intentions, they find no weak point to assail, no anchorage. But even if repulsed here, this does not make them harmless. The envious thought-forms wander about singly or attach themselves to thoughts of the same nature. Divine law decrees that all things of the same spiritual weight must dwell together, they form a plane on which only such as they are retained. From their haunts they still menace all men whose hearts are not single, and whose minds are not set on what is good. Finally they prove fatal to their authors with whom they maintain contact, and whose envious feelings they continually reinforce with new energy from the rich store at their disposal. Therefore, the author of such forms is sadly hindered and deterred when he tries to cultivate purer thoughts. It is a much greater effort for him to climb than for one who is not so hampered. It is not easy to sever the link connecting him with evil. If this link is gradually to wither, shrivel and fall away, good thoughts and good intentions must be diligently and unremittingly cultivated. And should the author of such evil forms be successful in doing this, he would be free — provided that the form he produced has meanwhile done no harm. If it has done harm, new ties have formed, and these also must be destroyed.

To free a man from obligations which tie him to the injured person, it is indispensable that he should once again cross his path either in this life on earth or in the ethereal world, so that he may be made to see his fault and be forgiven. From this it follows that the author of such forms cannot himself soar upwards before those who have suffered through him, do so.

The threads of fate which entangle him hold him back until he has atoned for his sins and been forgiven.

And yet this is not all by any means: these forms, strengthened as they are by the living energy which has animated them, not only people the ethereal world but direct the destiny of all Subsequent Creation to which our earth and the world surrounding her belong, thus they influence gross matter also, for good or for evil, either building up or destroying. This indeed should open men’s eyes to the utter folly of their habitual proceedings; and instead call them to do their duty and make use of their abilities for the benefit of this subsequently created world and all its creatures.

Man often asks why there should be this conflict in nature. . . Does he not perceive that nature in Subsequent Creation adapts itself to the example given by man ? Always excepting what belongs to primordial nature as that was created by God.

The forms that man’s intuitive volition has created, do not disintegrate when they are severed from their author, but go on living independently as long as they receive nourishment from people of their way of thinking or of people of similar propensities, it must not necessarily come from their author. They seek opportunities to attach themselves to those disposed to receive them or even to those whose power of resistance is weak. When their propensity is evil, they are demons born of envy, hatred and malice, and like passions, and if of good propensity, they are benevolent entities anxious to make peace and to encourage progress.

None of these happenings need necessarily be made evident by a visible act; nevertheless they spin new threads which in their turn have to be severed in the material world, and if this cannot be done in one life, a reincarnation takes place.

These forms produced by the intuitive volition of man and animated by the living, neutral energy which permeates the universe, have independent power not only because they are the product of the spiritual volition in combination with the neutral energy, but because they have also absorbed some substance of animism, that substance of which gnomes and their like are formed. The volition that animals have at their command has not this power, for their soul does not proceed from the spiritual kingdom but from that of nature.

Thus only forms produced by man’s intuitive volition have this power. If their author’s volition is good, the forms he produces will be great blessings; if evil, the forms will do incalculable mischief — they can even harm physical matter by virtue of their own motive power. Thus man’s responsibility is enormously increased, for, corresponding to the nature of his intuitive volition, he can produce well-meaning entities as well as living demons. Both these are the fruits of man’s spiritual abilities in Subsequent Creation. The spontaneous movement and activity of such forms cannot be controlled, for they do not proceed from animistic substance with power of volition like the animal, but from a lower gradation without this power.

In the Kingdom of Nature there are as many different spheres and planes as there are in the Spiritual Kingdom, but I must deal with this in detail another time.*

The beings belonging to the Kingdom of Nature also have access to a central source of living energy. It is of an order lower than that to which man has access. It is through these possibilities and impossibilities of connection and combination that strict order is kept in the process of birth and development, of decay and dissolution in Subsequent Creation.

If you consider how far-reaching man’s spiritual power of activity is, and then look at the man of the present day, you can imagine what mischief he has already done, especially when you think of the further consequences to all mankind, resulting from the work of these living forms. The stone once flung is no longer under the control of the thrower.

Besides the forms produced by man’s intuitive volition, it would need a separate volume to depict their extended activity and influence, there is another variety closely connected with them but less potent. Still they are dangerous enough to trouble many, even to cause men to stumble. These are thought-forms and phantoms born of the human brain. They likewise have their own will-power, but, not having access to the source of neutral energy, as the spiritual or intuitive forms have, they are not independent and self-acting. We may call them reflexes of the Animal Soul.

In the same way as forms produced by intuitive volition continue linked with their author, so also do thought-forms. Through this channel they have access to reinforcement and it also transmits the return due to the author who sent them forth. I have already fully described this in my lecture Thought-forms and so need not repeat what I have already said there.**

Of all cosmic reactions those of thought-forms are the weakest, yet they are mischievous enough to bring ruin to the individual, to the masses and even to whole continents, if men go on reinforcing and encouraging them, as they have done during the last couple of thousand years, in the course of which their power has become enormous. Thus man alone is to blame. His undisciplined will, whether it proceeds from the spirit or from the brain, together with his reprehensible and careless negligence in all these matters has caused all this evil. Hence mortals must necessarily live in two domains: the realm peopled by creations of the intuition (spiritual volition) and the realm peopled by forms produced by the brain (mental volition). The latter domain is the field in which the great “magicians” and “masters” of all time have worked, in which they have entangled themselves and which will finally retain them when their time comes to go over. And what do we see today ?

The great occultists, the “illuminated” of different sects and orders . . . they are no better off. They are only masters in realms peopled by self-constructed forms, and can only be masters there but never in the next life proper. Their power does not extend so far.

Whether they practise the white art or the black art depends upon whether they will good or evil. In either case they are to be pitied. They imagine themselves great in spiritual power, and in truth they are less than an ignorant man. The simple man stands far above the plane on which these marvels of erudition work. From the spiritual point of view he knows more than they do in their blind ignorance.

All would be comparatively well, if the results of their activities rebounded on themselves only, but unfortunately these masters agitate the lower spheres by their work; they stir them up by their efforts and by increasing their strength make them dangerous to all those whose resistance is weak. Others need have no fear, a simple-minded, harmless man, one who enjoys life like a child, safely passes over this swampy ground which these occultists seek to probe, and out of which they finally cannot free themselves, being retained by the forms to which they have given life and strength. Tricked out in ridiculous frippery, puffed up with false pride and presumption, they creep and crawl about in these realms, busily endeavouring to animate them. Truly a shadow-land, a world of deception and pretence, capable of shamming all that is possible and impossible. And he who first conjured it into existence can no longer undo his handiwork, and thus must succumb to its power. Zealously they dig and delve in these low regions, priding themselves on the height they have attained. A simple- minded man need never give all this a thought, for he runs no danger of being retained there.

Of what avail to say more of such “Great Ones” — not one of them would listen. In their sham world they can pretend for a certain time to be that which in real life (that is existence in the living Spirit) they could never be. There their playing at being master must cease, and they must serve. Thus they refuse to be enlightened, for the truth would rob them of what they cling to. Who would have the courage to stand this exposure ? Who would be willing to let all that his imagination and his vanity has created, be pulled down ? One who could and would do this, would be a truly great man, and such a one would not have fallen into the snares vanity had laid for him.

It is sad to think how few there are, who are so clear-sighted and have so steadfast a faith, how few there are that possess the simple gaiety of a child that they could safely traverse these regions so wantonly formed and so persistently reinforced. To all others they are a constantly increasing danger.

If only man’s eyes might be opened to see the truth, how much mischief could be avoided. Purer hearts and purer thoughts in each individual would soon lighten these dark and dismal spheres, and weaken their influence. Those also struggling there could sooner be released.

In the same way as the great “masters” (magicians) here on earth are convinced that the forms that surround them are living realities, the spirits of the departed also imagine their surroundings are real, and experience fear, joy, despair or relief according to whether they are in a lower, darker region or a brighter, lighter one. And yet, they are not in a realm of real life, they themselves are living here, nothing else! And yet all the while their manifold and everchanging surroundings are only what they and those who on earth think like them, have conjured up.

Hell itself has been produced by human spirits. Hell exists, it is true, and is a place of torment, but its existence depends solely on those whose spiritual attitude and thoughts continually reinforce it with the Divine neutral energy lying latent in Creation, at man’s disposal. Hell, therefore, is not a Divine institution but the work of man!

He, who understands this and wisely makes use of his knowledge, will help many. He also will be helped on his upward journey to the Light, for there alone all is real life.

If man could only develop so far that he could at least guess what a treasure lies hidden for him in Creation! Every human spirit should seek to secure it, for it is there to be used by him consciously. It is the neutral, primeval power I so often point to. It knows no difference between good and bad, for it is superior to these distinctions. It is simply living energy.

Every act of intuitive volition is a key that gives access to this treasure-house: good-will as well as malevolent will. Both are reinforced and animated by this great power which responds to human intuitive will, but to nothing else. Man alone decides whether it is to be for good or for evil, for the energy is neutral. It is only what man wills that this power vitalises. This animating energy is not within a man, but his intuition (spiritual perception) has the key to it.

He is the steward of this creative power and must give account of his stewardship. He makes use of it every hour, playing with it as an ignorant child plays with fire and all unconsciously may do great mischief. But there is no necessity for him to be ignorant. It is his own fault if he is. All the prophets and finally the Son of God Himself tried by teaching and by parables to enlighten men on this point showing them how they should feel, think and act in order to do right.

But it was in vain; men continued to toy with this stupendous power that was lent to them, as they thought best, without listening to the warnings and advice from the Light. And so they continue on the road to ruin, and finally they and their work will be destroyed. For this same power, being neutral, works for good and for evil according to man’s directions; it will not hesitate to wreck the car and its occupants, just as happens to a car when it is badly driven on the physical plane. Surely the subject has been illustrated sufficiently clearly. By their will and by their thoughts men, without knowing it, not only decide their own fate, but also the fate and fortune of Subsequent Creation. They promote growth and decay, they cause harmony and discord, as is seen by the confusion that exists at present. Instead of wisely spending their time in reconstructing, they lose it and waste their strength in petty nothings. Serious persons call the confusion existing today punishment or judgment, and they are right in a certain sense, and yet it is men themselves who have ordered all that is happening at present.

There were thinkers and scholars enough who surmised all this beforehand, but they erred in attributing this power to Divine properties of the human spirit of which they took it to be a confirmation. This error only came from judging by appearances. The human spirit is neither God nor Divine. Such wiseacres only see the external shell and not the core of the matter, and thus confuse the result with the cause. This proceeding has been unfortunately the cause of many false doctrines and of much presumption. For this reason I earnestly repeat: the Divine energy which pulsates permanently through Creation is only lent to man. He can guide it when he uses it, but it is not in him, it is not his own. That power lies in Divinity alone. Divinity only uses this energy for good, because Divinity knows no evil, but human spirits to which it is lent, make it serve thieves and murderers.

Thus I urgently adjure all men to see that their intentions and thoughts be pure, then they will be peace-makers and be happy. Then at last Subsequent Creation will begin to resemble its prototype, where all is light and joy. All this lies in man’s hand, in the power of every self- conscious human spirit who then will no longer be a stranger in Subsequent Creation.

Among my readers there will be some who would like me to illustrate, for their better understanding, what I have said by some example from real life; others would think this undesirable, and others again may think that examples from everyday life would detract from the gravity of what is said and would appear to everyday man as flights of fancy, or clairvoyant experiences. Similar criticism was passed when I published my Lectures entitled The Holy Grail and Lucifer. Those who delve deeper, and whose spiritual senses are awakened feel what is meant, and for these alone I will give an illustration, for they will know that this picture owes nothing to imagination or to clairvoyance. Here is the case of a mother who has drowned herself together with her little child of two. When she awakes to consciousness on the other side, she finds herself in the act of drowning in muggy water in a dismal place (for the last terrible impression on the soul has become alive in the ethereal world) where all those are assembled who are in the same position as she is and are likewise suffering perpetual torment. She has her child in her arms and it is clinging terrified to its mother, although really she had thrown it into the water before. She must suffer these agonising moments for a longer or shorter period, always on the verge of drowning but never accomplishing it, never losing consciousness. It may be, scores of years will pass before the true call for help will come from her uttered in all humility. This was not easy, for she was surrounded by her own kind and there was no light. She was obliged to listen to curses, maledictions and coarse language and to witness every sort of brutal unkindness.

Time may at last awaken the desire in her to save the child from the torment into which she herself dragged it, to protect the child at least, lift it out of its terrible surroundings to save it from the constant danger and torment. At the risk of submerging herself, she anxiously holds it up above the noisome slimy surface of the turpid water, whilst other beings near her are clinging to her and would drag her down into the depth.

Although they have as yet not taken a precise shape, still these heavy leaden waters are the ethereal, living thought forms of those who have committed suicide by drowning and of those still on earth whose thoughts are of a similar nature. These thought-forms unite and, in mutually attracting each other, they are unceasingly aggravated by new reinforcement, thus the torments are endlessly renewed. These waters would necessarily dry up, if instead of the continual reinforcement of analogous matter, brisk, happy, life-affirming thought-waves were sent from earth.

The nervous anxiety for the child, dictated by maternal instinct can intensify to anxious fear on its behalf; this would then be the mother’s first step out of the terrible situation into which the self-determined premature termination to existence on earth plunged her. The desire to save the child from the torments into which she herself dragged, generates nobler feelings in the mother which, in time, empower her to rise into a less gloomy and dismal region.

The child in her arms is not the living soul of the child she drowned with herself. No such injustice would be possible. The living soul of the child, in most cases, is merrily gambolling in sunny meadows, whereas the child in the arms of its struggling mother is but… a phantom, a form representing the inner feelings of the mother, who has committed murder and of the child, produced under the pressure of conscious sin, of despair, of hatred or of love. In any case the mother thinks it is the living child itself, because it exactly resembles it in looks, in movements, in voice (when it cries), etc.

It would be possible to depict numberless happenings which in the same way, are always bound to the deeds that preceded.

But I will give one more instance to show what a soul can experience on its leaving this world and arriving in the next. Take the case of a woman or a girl who becomes pregnant against her wish, and who (as it often happens) has taken measures to miscarry. Even if all goes well (in specially lucky cases) without doing any bodily harm, the sin has not been expiated. All happenings are carefully recorded in the ethereal sphere to which the soul passes after death. From the moment the transgression was committed a small body of ethereal substance fastens itself to the invisible ethereal body of the unnatural mother, where it remains clinging to her neck till the deed is atoned for. The woman (or girl) does not notice this as long as she is on earth in her physical body, (because the little body is as light as a feather in comparison with her material body) unless, may be, a vague feeling of misgiving oppresses her at times. Women of the present day are mostly much too obtuse to feel this light burden. Not that this insensibility is a sign of progress or of robust health; it rather points to atrophy of the human soul. As soon, however, as the woman dies, the weight and density of the child’s body corresponds to hers and then the burden of the child dragging at her neck will be just as irksome as if both were in the flesh. In some cases the mother will be tormented to suffocation, all this depends upon what happened on earth and what she is guilty of. She must now drag the child about with her in the other world, and will not be released from it until maternal love awakes in her, and she cares for and nurses the child unmindful and careless of her own comfort. It is a long and thorny path to get to such a point.

These happenings are not without tragically comic aspects.

Imagine someone at a family gathering or at a party, who is able to see on both sides of the partition that divides gross material matter from ethereal matter. There will be a group of ladies engaged in lively conversation, one of them (unmarried perhaps) expresses the greatest indignation at the immorality of her contemporaries and freely pronounces her condemnation; and all the while our visitor sees one or more children’s bodies hanging at the neck of this proud and zealous disclaimer.

Not only this person but every one has the works which his volition has produced hanging on to him, distinctly visible to those who can see. These are often in grotesque opposition to their words, to what they would like to appear, and to the character they would keep up in public.

Many a judge has a far greater burden of sin on his shoulders than the delinquent on whom he passes sentence. How soon the short span of life will be over; then he will stand before his judge where other laws are valid. What then ?

Unfortunately it is easy for man to deceive in the material world: in the transcendental world it is impossible. Fortunately, there, man must really reap what he sowed and, therefore, every wrong thought must be expiated, even if it has never developed into activity.