CULT

                            THE    DIVINE    LOVE    PUREST    JUSTIFICATION    (JUSTICE) 

                                                                                                                                     CULT 

CULT should be the endeavour which has taken on form, to make in some way acceptable to the earthly senses something that is beyond earthly comprehension. 

It ''should'' be the endeavour which has taken on form, but unfortunately this is not yet so; for otherwise many things would have to have quite different forms if they had ''emerged'' from the endeavour itself. 

The ''right'' way for this requires the breaking forth of the outward forms from the inmost being. 

But all we see today is an ''intellectual'' upbuilding, into which the intuitive perceptions are only ''afterwards'' to be pressed. 

Thus the opposite way is taken, which naturally might just as well be called the reserve or wrong way, that can never really be inwardly alive. 

As a result many a thing appears clumsy or obtrusive, which in another form would come much nearer to the ''real'' volition, and only then could have a convincing effect. 

Much that is well - intentioned must repel rather than convince, because the right form for it has not yet been found, which the intellect can never give for something that is beyond earthly comprehension! 

So is it also in the churches. 

The intellectual upbuilding here, which is directed towards earthly influence, is only too evident, and much that is good fails to impress because it has an unnatural effect. 

On the other hand only that which does not conform to the Laws of Creation can have an unnatural effect. 

Just such things, however, are very much in evidence in the present - day cults, where simply everything that is opposed to the natural Laws of Creation is shrouded in a mysterious darkness. 

However, just by unconsciously never speaking of a mysterious light in such matters, but always only of a mysterious darkness, men strike the right note; for the Light knows no veiling, therefore also no mysticism either, which should have no place in the Creator that arose out of the perfect Will of God, and works automatically in accordance with an unchangeable rhythm. 

Nothing is more clear in its weaving than just Creation, which is the Work of God! 

Therein lies the secret of success and continuity, or of collapse. 

Where something is built on these living Laws of Creation, there they help, bring success and also continuity. 

But where these Laws are not observed, either through ignorance or self - will, sooner or later collapse must inevitably follow; for nothing that does not stand on a firm and solid foundation can endure permanently. 

That is why so much of man's work is transient when it need not be so. 

This includes many kinds of cults, which have to undergo continual changes to prevent them from complete collapse. 

In the simplest and clearest manner, the Son of God gave to earthmen in His ''Word'' the ''right'' path on which to lead their lives on earth in accordance with this weaving of Creation; so that through the Laws of God that operate in the weaving of Creation they might be helped, sustained and uplifted to Luminous Heights, and so also attain to peace and joy on earth. 

Unfortunately, however, the churches have not followed the way to the redemption and upliftment of mankind, quite clearly explained and given to them by the Son of God Himself. 

Instead they have added to His teaching many of their own ideas as well, thereby naturally creating confusion, which was bound to cause dissensions because it was not in accordance with the Laws of Creation, and therefore, strange as it may sound, is also opposed to the clear teaching of the Son of God, although they call themselves Christians after Him. 

So is it, for example, with the mariolatry of the papal Christians. 

Did Jesus, Who taught men ''everything'', how they should think and act, yes even speak and pray, in order to do what is right and what lies in the Will of God, ever say even one single word of the kind? 

''No, He did not!'' 

And this is a proof that He did not wish it either, that it was not to be! 

There are even statements by Him which prove the opposite of what mariolatry implies. 

And surely Christians would wish through honest living to follow only Christ, otherwise they would not ''be'' Christians. 

If still more has now been added by men, and the papal churches act otherwise than as Christ taught, it is proof that this church has the effrontery to set itself ''above'' the Son of God; for it tries to improve on His Words by instituting practices which the Son of God did ''not'' want, because otherwise He would undoubtedly also have taught them, judging by all He gave to men. 

Certainly, there ''is'' a Queen of Heaven, Who according to earth conceptions could also be called the Primordial Mother, and Who yet possesses the purest virginity. 

She however has dwelt from all eternity in the ''Highest Heights'', and has never been incarnated in an earthly body! 

And it is She, Her ''radiated picture'', but not in reality Herself, that can occasionally be ''seen'' or ''intuitively perceived'' by persons who have been profoundly moved. 

Through Her, help often comes at such an accelerated speed that people call it a miracle. However, it is never possible, even for the most matured human spirit, to have an actual vision of this Primordial Queen ''Herself'', because in accordance with the inflexible Laws of Creation each species can only always see the same species. 

Thus the physical eye can only see earthly things, the ethereal eye only ethereal things, the spiritual eye only spiritual things, and so on. 

And since the human ''spirit'' can only see the spiritual, from which it has emerged, it is unable actually to behold the Primordial Queen, Who is of a much higher species. 

But should anyone ever be so blessed, it would ''only'' be possible to see ''Her spiritually radiated picture''. 

This, however, appears so lifelike, and can be so strong even in its radiation, that it works miracles wherever it finds the soil prepared for it, through unshakable faith or the deep emotions arising out of suffering or  joy. 

This lies in the working of Creation, which issues from and is sustained by the perfect Will of God. 

In this working also lies all help for men from the beginning and unto all eternity, providing they themselves do not turn away from it in their pretentious learnedness. 

God manifests in Creation; for it is His perfect Work. 

And it is just on account of this perfection that the earthly birth of the Son of God had also to be preceded by a physical procreation. 

Whoever asserts the contrary throws doubt on the perfection of the ''Works'' of God, and thus also on the perfection of God Himself, out of Whose Will Creation issued. 

An ''immaculate'' conception is a conception in the purest love, as opposed to a conception in sinful lust! 

But no earthly birth without procreation. 

If an earthly conception, that is, a physical procreation as such could not be immaculate, then every motherhood would have to be regarded as unclean! Through Creation God also speaks, and clearly shows His Will. 

To recognise this Will is the duty of man. 

And the Son of God in His Holy Word showed the right way to do so, because men had made no effort towards it, and had thus entangled themselves more and more in the self - acting Laws of Creation. 

This inflexible weaving of Creation was bound to destroy men in time through their ignorance and misapplication; whereas it will raise mankind on high if they live aright according to the Will of God. 

Reward and punishment for man lie in the weaving of Creation, which is perpetually and unswervingly guided by the Will of God Itself. 

In it also lies rejection or redemption! 

It is relentless and just, always impartial, never arbitrary. 

In it lies the indescribable Greatness of God, His Love and Justice. 

That is, in ''His Work'', which He made over to man and to many other beings, as a dwelling - place and a home. 

The time has now come for men to acquire the ''knowledge'' of it, so that with complete conviction they will come to the recognition of ''God's activity'', which is expressed in His ''Work!'' 

Then every earthman will stand quite unshakable here on earth, filled with the most joyful eagerness to work, most gratefully looking up to God, because recognition links him for all time through the ''knowledge!'' 

In order to convey to mankind such knowledge, which gives them a clear and intelligible conviction of the working of God in His Justice and Love, I have written the work ''In the Light of Truth'', which leaves no gap, contains the answer to ''every'' question, and clearly shows to mankind how wonderful are the ways in Creation that are upheld by many servants of His Will. 

''But God alone is Holy!''           

                                                                                             IS    OCCULT    TRAINING    ADVISABLE?

THIS question must be answered with a definite ''no''! 

Occult training, which generally includes exercises for the attainment of clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc., is a hindrance to a free development and to real spiritual ascent. 

As soon as the training is fairly successful it results in what in former times was described as a magician. 

It is a process of one - sided groping forward from below upwards, whereby the so - called terrestrial limits can never be crossed. 

All the phenomena likely to be achieved in such conditions will be of a lower and most inferior order, which cannot actually uplift a man inwardly, but may well lead him astray. 

Through these efforts man is only able to penetrate into his immediate ethereal environment, where the entities are often more ignorant than man on earth himself. 

All that he accomplishes here is that he exposes himself to unknown dangers, from which he otherwise remains protected by not opening himself. 

One who has become clairvoyant or clairaudience through such training will often see or hear things on this low plane which appear to be sublime and pure, and yet which are far from it. 

In addition there is his own imagination which, even more stimulated by his training, also creates a surrounding that the student actually sees and hears, with resultant confusion. 

A man thus artificially trained stands insecurely on his feet. 

He cannot discriminate, nor with the best will can he draw a sharp line between truth and deception or between the thousandfold ways in which the formative power works in ethereal life. 

Finally there are the base and, for him, decidedly injurious influences to which he voluntarily and with arduous efforts open himself, and which he cannot oppose with a higher power. 

Thus he soon becomes a rudderless wreck on an unknown sea, which is liable to be a menace to everything that comes into contact with it. 

It is exactly the same as with a person who cannot swim. 

He is quite capable of sailing in perfect safety over the unfamiliar element in a boat. 

This can be compared to earthly life. 

But if during the voyage he removes one of the protecting planks from the bottom, then he tears a hole in his boat through which the water will enter, depriving him of his protection and drawing him down. 

Through his inability to swim he will thus become a victim of the unfamiliar element. 

''Such is the procedure in occult training!'' 

Man only removes a plank from his protecting boat, ''but does not learn to swim!'' 

There are swimmers, however, who call themselves experts. In this category are those swimmers already possessed of a certain talent, which with a little training they make more effective, and also continually try to develop further. 

In such cases, then, a more or less natural talent will unite with artificial training. 

However, even the best swimmer is confined within rather narrow limits. 

Should he venture too far his strength will give out, and he will finally be just as lost as a non - swimmer unless, indeed, help comes to them both. 

In the Ethereal World such help can only come from the Luminous Heights, from the pure spiritual realm. 

And this help again can only approach if the one in danger has reached a certain degree of purity in his psychic development, with which it can unite to give a firm hold. 

Such purity cannot be obtained through experimental occult training, but only through developing true inner integrity by constantly looking upwards to the purity of the Light. 

If a man has followed ''this'' path it will in time bring him a certain measure of purity which will naturally be reflected in his thoughts, words and deeds. Then by degrees he will obtain a link with purer heights from which, through reciprocal actions, he will also receive increased strength. 

Throughout all the intermediary steps he then  has a connection which will hold him and to which he can cling. 

It will not be long before all that the swimmer has vainly tried to achieve will be given to him without any effort. 

But it is given with care and precaution which are inherent in the inexorable Laws of Reciprocal Action, so that he gets only as much of it as his own strength can counterbalance, whereby all danger is excluded from the outset. 

At last the separating partition, which may be compared to the planks of a boat, becomes thinner and thinner, and finally falls away altogether. 

That then is the moment when, in the same way as a fish is at home in water, he himself will feel quite at home in the Ethereal World right up to the Luminous Heights. 

That alone is the right way! 

What has been artificially forced by training is wrong. 

It is only the fish that is free from danger in water, because that is ''its element'', for which it has been properly equipped in a way which a trained swimmer can ''never attain''. 

When a man intends to take up this training, it is preceded by a voluntary decision, to the consequences of which he is then subjected. 

Therefore he cannot anticipate that help ''is certain'' to be given him! 

He had the freedom to decide beforehand! 

But a man who induces others to take up such training, as a result of which they are exposed to all sorts of dangers, must take a great part of the consequences of the guilt of each individual upon his own shoulders. 

He will become ethereally chained to them all. 

After laying aside his physical body he must irrevocably descend to those who have departed before him, to those who have succumbed to the dangers, right down to him who sank lowest of all. 

He is unable to ascend himself until he has helped every single one to rise again, until their wrong path has been obliterated and everything neglected through such training has been retrieved. 

Such is the balance brought about by reciprocal action and, at the same time, the merciful means by which he can put right the injustice and himself ascend. 

If such a man has not only influenced others through his words, but also through his writings, he will be hit even more severely, because his writings go on doing harm even after his earthly death. 

He must then wait in the Ethereal World till the last person he has led astray, and whom he is obliged to help on to the right path, has crossed over. Centuries may well elapse in this process! 

However, this does not mean that the field of the Ethereal World should remain untouched and unexplored during life on earth! 

At the appropriate hour it will be given to those who are inwardly matured to feel at home where others would still be in danger. 

They will be permitted to see the Truth and pass it on. 

But at the same time they will also be able clearly to survey the dangers which threaten those who, by means of occult training, wish to penetrate one - sidedly into the lower spheres of  unknown regions. 

They will never advocate occult training. 

                                                            OCCULT    TRAINING,    MEAT   DIET    OR     VEGETABLE      DIET 

THE EFFORTS of the occult schools as well as of those aiming to reform our way of living have set a high goal for themselves, the attainment of which will mean a further epoch in the development of humanity. 

The time when these valuable ''aims'' will be fulfilled will surely come, but the present rapidly growing efforts in this direction are only part of the process of fermentation of this new period. 

While with the best of intentions the leaders of occult schools have taken an entirely wrong road in this field which is unknown to them, thereby accomplishing nothing but clearing the road to darkness and exposing mankind to increased dangers from the beyond, the so - called health reformers in their efforts to reach their valuable goal far exceed what is possible in the ''present time!'' 

The activities of both parties must be directed differently! 

Fundamentally the psychic exercises must be carried out on a ''higher'' level than has been the practice so far. 

In these matters an entirely different road must be taken in order to reach the summit. 

The present road only leads into the undergrowth of the beyond, in which the majority of the followers are totally enveloped in darkness and dragged down! 

The ''right'' way must ''lead upwards from the very start'', and must not first lose itself in a lower environment and perhaps in an environment on the same level. 

These two roads are not in any way similar, but entirely different basically. 

The right way immediately uplifts the inner man, and thus goes upward from the very beginning, without first making contact with the ethereal environment on its own level, much less with one that is lower; for this is not necessary, as normally there should only be a striving upwards from the earth. 

Therefore let me again warn you seriously against all spiritual acrobatics! During its life on earth the spirit positively needs a strong and healthy body in a normal physical condition, in order ''completely'' to fulfil the purpose of its existence. 

If the condition of the body is disturbed, this derangement upsets the absolutely necessary harmony between body and spirit. 

Only ''such complete harmony'' brings about a healthy and strong development of the spirit, preventing the possibility of any morbid eccentricity! 

Due to its normal condition a healthy and unrestrained body will always quite naturally harmonise with the spirit, thereby providing it with a firm foundation in the World of Matter. 

The spirit does not stand in the World of Matter without a purpose, and therefore a healthy body will give it the best help wholly to fulfil the purpose of developing itself and simultaneously furthering Creation. 

Each body creates certain definite radiations which are absolutely essential to the spirit for its work in the World of Matter. 

Foremost of these is the so mysterious generative power, which is quite independent of sexual instinct. 

If the harmony between body and spirit is disturbed, the power of this penetrating radiation and emanation is drawn off in another direction, and thus weakened for its real purpose. 

This hinders or paralysis the fulfilment of the purpose of the spirit during its existence in the World of Matter, and consequently it cannot achieve normal development either. 

At some later point in its efforts to ascend it must therefore irrevocably sink back exhausted, and in the natural course of events will have to repeat a great part of its development. 

For what it misses in the World of Gross Matter it cannot make up in the Ethereal World, because there it does not have the radiations of its physical body at its disposal. 

It must go back in order to fill in this gap! 

Such a clear objectivity is to be found in these events, such naturalness and simplicity, that it just cannot be any different! 

Every child will understand this and take it for granted once it has grasped the basic laws aright! 

It will require a whole series of lectures to bring the vast Creation so close to mankind that they can survey all the great web of events and trace all the accompanying threads and influences in this incomparably glorious lawfulness. 

There are many ways in which this generative power so necessary for the spirit in the World of Matter can be diverted; through over - indulgence in sexual - intercourse, or even merely by stimulating the desire for it; also through occult training or wrong psychic exercises in which the spirit forcibly appropriates this power of the mature body, only to dissipate it in this false and unnecessary activity. 

In both cases it is a wrong application, which will also gradually bring in its train a weakening of the physical body! 

In turn the weakened body can then no longer send forth such strong radiations as are really needed by the spirit, and thus each becomes more and more ill through the other. 

This produces a one - sidedness which is ''always'' detrimental to the right goal and therefore harmful. 

Here I do not wish to deal with other by - paths on which the spirit also absorbs too much of the generative power for wrong purposes, such as through the reading of books which conjure up a false world in the imagination, and so on, as a result of which there is not enough power left for the main purpose. 

In all these cases the spirit arrives in the Ethereal World still ''immature'' and also takes a ''weak'' ethereal body along with it. 

The consequences of such earthly sins are so decisive for his entire existence that every man must atone for them heavily in manifold ways! 

Such a delay and such false actions during his time on earth cling to a man, hinder him and become ever heavier until, as already mentioned, at one point in his ascent he can continue no further and sinks back to the place where he began his wrongdoing! 

This is the borderline up to which he still possessed his harmony. 

The strength a spirit has cultivated through occult training at the cost of the body is also only ''apparent''. 

The spirit then is actually ''not strong'', but like a hot - house plant which can hardly withstand a wind, much less a storm! 

Such a spirit is ''sick'', and not advanced. 

Its condition resembles that of artificially produced fever. 

Periodically the fever patient may have considerable strength at his command, only to relapse into even greater weakness. 

What lasts only seconds or minutes in the case of a fever patient, lasts decades or centuries in the case of the spirit. 

The moment arrives when all this comes home to it bitterly! 

Harmony is the only right thing in every case! 

And harmony is only to be found in the ''middle way!'' 

When the beauty and power of harmony are so much extolled, why is it not approved in these matters and why is everything done to destroy it? 

The way all occult training has been carried out so far is wrong, even  though the goal is a high and necessary one! 

The case is quite different with the leaders and adherents of the movements aimed at reforming our way of living. 

Although they are on the right road, they wish to accomplish already ''today what'' will ''only'' be proper for ''future'' generations, and for this reason they are at present no less dangerous in their ultimate influence on most human beings. 

''The necessary transition is lacking!'' 

The time to begin is now at hand, but one must not jump into it with both feet without further ado! 

Man must be ''gradually'' led to accept it! 

Decades do not suffice for this! 

As practised today, the rapidity of the transition actually causes a weakening of the body, even if it appears to be in good health. 

And a body weakened in this way will never be able to regain its vigour! 

Vegetarianism! 

It is quite true that it brings about a refinement of the human body, ennobling it and also strengthening it and helping it towards a good recovery! 

The spirit is also still further uplifted thereby. 

''But all this is not meant to be adopted immediately by mankind of the present day!'' 

In all these efforts and struggles circumspect leadership is lacking! 

The human body of today should on no account be suddenly subjected to a vegetarian diet, as is so often tried! It is quite good when used temporarily,  and perhaps even for years at a time in the case of sick people; indeed, it may even be necessary in order to cure some ailment, or to assist in one - sidedly strengthening some physical organs, but it must not be lasting. 

If his body is to maintain its full vigour the patient must gradually return to the diet to which he is so much accustomed today. 

The appearance of well - being is deceptive! 

Certainly it is very beneficial if healthy people also adopt a strict vegetarian diet for a time. 

Without doubt they will feel well and will also feel a free soaring upward of the spirit. 

This, however, is the result of the ''change'', just as every change is refreshing, spiritually as well! 

If, however, they suddenly start this one - sided diet on a permanent basis, they will not notice that they are actually becoming weaker and much more sensitive over many things. 

In most cases the attributes of composure and equanimity do not indicate strength, but a definite kind of weakness. 

This shows itself in an agreeable manner and has nothing depressing about it, because it does not originate from any disease! 

This equanimity resembles the equanimity of healthy ''old age'' where only the body is becoming weak. 

At least it resembles this sort of weakness much more than the weakness resulting from illness! 

Suddenly deprived of what it has been accustomed to for thousands of years, the body cannot produce the generative power the spirit needs for the full accomplishment of its purpose in the World of Matter. 

Many confirmed vegetarians notice this in the slight abatement of their sexual instinct, which they joyfully acclaim as progress. 

But this by no means a sign that their spirit has been ennobled through vegetarian diet, only that their generative power has been ''lowered'', which must subsequently lessen their spiritual capacity to soar upwards in the World of Matter. 

The errors about this continue to grow, because man almost invariably sees only what is closest to him. 

Certainly it is to be welcomed, and may be regarded as a measure of progress, if by ennobling the spirit the baser sexual instinct is greatly moderated compared with what it is today! 

It is also true that eating meat aggravates sexual desire, but in these matters we must not judge by mankind of today, for in their case the sexual instinct has been ''cultivated one -sidedly and abnormally!'' 

It is altogether unnatural today. 

However, this cannot be attributed to the enjoyment of meat alone! 

The moderation of the sexual instinct is by no means dependent on the lessening of the generative power. 

On the contrary, the latter is able to help the human spirit ''advance'', and ''liberate'' it from its dependence upon the coarse instinct, which is so marked today. In fact, the generative power is the ''best means'' to accomplish this! 

The first step in the transition is to restrict oneself to ''white meat'' such as poultry, veal, lamb, and so on, together with an increased amount of vegetable food. 

''Do not neglect your body!'' 

I would call out as a warning to the one party! 

And ''Think of your spirit!'' 

I would say to the other party! 

The right way will then grow out of the present - day confusion!  

                                                                                                                                ERRORS

THERE is many a man who lifts up his eyes seekingly for Light and Truth. 

His longing is great, but very often he lacks earnest volition! 

More than half of the seekers are not genuine. 

They bring their own preconceived opinion. 

Should they have to change it in the slightest degree, then they would much rather reject all that is new to them, even if it contains the Truth. 

Thus thousands must go under because, entangled as they are in erroneous convictions, they have restricted the freedom of movement which they need to swing themselves upward to salvation. 

There are always some who imagine they have already grasped all that is right. 

They have no intention of subjecting ''themselves'' to a strict examination based on what they have heard and read. 

I am naturally ''not'' addressing such as these! 

Nor do I speak to churches and political parties, to fraternities, sects and societies, but only in all simplicity to ''man'' himself. 

Far be it from me to pull down what exists; for I am building up and completing the answers to questions as yet unsolved, questions that must arise in everyone as soon as he thinks just a little. 

Only one basic condition is essential for every listener: Earnest seeking for the Truth. He should inwardly examine ''the words'' and let them come to life, but not heed the speaker. 

Otherwise he derives no benefit. 

All who do ''not'' strive to do this are simply wasting their time from the start. 

It is incredible how naively the great majority of people cling tenaciously to their ignorance on such questions as whence they come, what they are, and whither they go! 

Birth and death, the inseparable poles of all life on earth, should not be a secret to man. 

There is a great deal of contradiction in the views of what constitutes the inner core of man. 

This is the result of the morbid self - aggrandisement of the earth - dwellers, who presumptuously boast that their inner core is ''Divine!'' 

Look at humanity! 

Can you discover anything Divine in them? 

Such a foolish statement should be branded as blasphemy, because it denotes a debasement of Divinity. 

Man does not carry a grain of Divinity within him! 

This idea is just morbid presumption, the cause of which is simply the consciousness of being unable to understand. 

Where is the man who can honestly say that for him such a belief has also become conviction? 

Whoever examines himself seriously must deny it. 

He will feel distinctly that it is only a longing and a desire to harbour something Divine within him, but not a certainty! 

It is quite right to say that man carries within him a spark of God. 

But this ''spark'' of God is ''spirit!'' 

It is not a part of Divinity. 

The term spark is a perfectly correct designation. 

A spark develops and flies out without taking along or bearing within it anything of the quality of the producer. 

It is the same here. 

A ''spark'' of God is not itself Divine. 

Where such mistakes can already be found in regard to the ''origin'' of a being, there failure ''must'' ensue in the whole development! 

If I have built on a wrong foundation, then one day the whole structure must totter and fall. 

For it is the origin that provides the ''mainstay'' for everyone's whole existence and development! 

Anyone who seeks to reach far beyond his origin, as usually happens, reaches for something he cannot grasp, and thereby loses all support in the quite natural course of events. 

If, for instance, I reach for the branch of a tree which through its material consistency is similar to my earthly body, I can gain a hold on this branch and thus swing myself up on it. 

But if I reach beyond this branch, then through the different consistency of the air I can find no support, and . . . cannot therefore pull myself up either! Surely this is clear enough. 

It is exactly the same with the ''inner'' consistency of man, called the soul, and its core, the spirit. 

If this spirit wishes to have the essential support that it needs from its origin, then it must not of course seek to reach into the Divine. 

That would be unnatural; for the Divine lies much too far above it, and is of an entirely different consistency! 

And yet in his conceit man seeks contact with that sphere to which he can never attain, and thus interrupts the natural order of things. 

His wrong desire is like a ''dam'' forming an obstruction between himself and his necessary supply of power from the origin. 

He cut himself off from it. 

Therefore away with such errors! 

Not until then can the human spirit develop its full power, which it still heedlessly disregards today, and become what it can and should be, ''lord in Creation!'' 

But mark well, only in Creation, not standing ''above'' it. 

Only ''Divinity'' stands above all Creation! -- 

God Himself, the Origin of all being and life, is Divine, as the very word implies! 

Man was created by ''His Spirit!'' 

Spirit is the ''Will'' of God. 

Now out of this ''Will'' the ''first'' Creation came into being. 

Do let us keep to this simple fact; provides the possibility for better understanding. 

By way of comparison, just picture your own will. 

It is an act, but not part of man himself; otherwise man would in time dissolve in his many acts of will. 

There would be nothing whatever left of him. 

It is no different with God! 

His Will created Paradise! 

But His Will is the Spirit, designated as the ''Holy Spirit''. 

Paradise, again, was only the ''work'' of the Spirit, not part of the Spirit Itself. 

There is a gradation ''downwards'' in this. 

The Creative Holy Spirit, that is, the Living Will of God, was not absorbed in His Creation. 

He did not even give one part of Himself to it; but He Himself remained wholly ''outside'' Creation. 

The Bible already states this quite clearly and plainly with the words: ''And the ''Spirit'' of God moved ''upon'' the face of the waters'', not God Himself! After all, that is different. 

Thus man does not carry within him anything of the Holy Spirit Itself either, but only of the ''spirit'' which is a work of the Holy Spirit, an act. Instead of concerning himself with this fact, man already exerts all his energy to form a gap here! 

You have only to think of the prevalent conception of the ''First'' Creation, of Paradise! 

It absolutely had to be on this earth. 

The small human intellect thereby compressed the event requiring millions of years within its own sphere, limited by space and time, imagining himself to be the centre and axis of all that happens in the world. 

As a result he immediately lost the way to the actual starting - point of life. 

In place of this clear path of which he could no longer command a view, a substitute had to be found in his religious conceptions, if he was not to designate himself as the creator of all being and life, and thus ''as God''. 

The term ''faith'' has given him this substitute until now! 

And all mankind has suffered ever since from the word ''faith''! 

What is more, this misunderstood word, which was meant to restore all that was lost, became a cliff against which everything was wrecked! 

Only the ''indolent one'' is content with faith. 

It is also faith which can become the butt of ''scoffers''. 

And the word ''faith'', ''wrongly'' interpreted, is the barrier which today obstructs the road to mankind's progress. 

Faith is not meant to be the cloak generously covering all slothful thinking, which like a sleeping - sickness gradually steals over and paralyses the spirit of man! 

Faith should really become ''conviction''. 

Conviction however demands life, the keenest examination! 

Wherever even ''one'' gap, ''one'' unsolved riddle remains, conviction becomes impossible. 

Therefore no one can have genuine faith so long as he has a question unanswered. 

Even the words ''blind faith'' show that there is something unsound! 

Faith must be ''alive'', as Christ already once demanded, otherwise it serves no purpose. 

But to be alive means to bestir oneself, to weigh and also to examine! 

Not dumbly accepting the thoughts of others. 

After all, blind faith plainly means lack of understanding. 

What a person does not understand, however, cannot bring him spiritual benefit either, for through lack of understanding it cannot come to life within him. 

But whatever he does not fully experience within never becomes his own either! 

And only what is his own helps him to ascend. 

After all, no one can walk and go forward along a road containing great yawning clefts. 

Where man's knowledge cannot take him any further he must come to a standstill. 

This fact is irrefutable and no doubt also easily understood. 

Hence he who wishes to advance spiritually should awaken! 

He can never proceed on his path to the Light of Truth in his sleep! 

Nor with a bandage or a veil over his eyes. 

The Creator want to have His humanity seeing in Creation. 

To be seeing, however, means to be knowing! 

And knowledge does not go with blind faith. 

Only indolence and slothful thinking lie in such a belief, not greatness! 

The privilege of being endowed with the ability to think also brings man the duty to ''investigate!'' 

In order to avoid all this, man out of laziness has simply so belittled the great Creator as to ascribe to Him arbitrary actions in proof of His Omnipotence. He who will but think a little must again find a great error therein. 

An arbitrary act implies the possibility of diverting the existing Laws of Nature. 

However, where such a thing is possible, perfection is lacking. 

For where there is perfection there can be no alteration. 

Thus a large part of humanity erroneously represents the Omnipotence of God in such a way that those who think more deeply would have to regard it as a proof of imperfection. 

And therein lies the root of much evil. 

Give God the honour of perfection! 

Then you will find the key to the unsolved riddles of all life. - 

It shall go through the circles of all seekers for the Truth. 

Finally they will joyfully recognise that there is no mystery, no gap in the entire course of world events. 

And then . . . they will see clearly before them the road to ascent. 

They only need to follow it. - 

In all Creation there is no justification whatever for mysticism! 

There is no room for it,  because everything should lie clearly and without gaps before the human spirit, right back to his origin. 

Only what is ''above'' that will have to remain a most sacred mystery to every human spirit. 

Therefore it will never  be able to grasp what is Divine. 

Not with the best will and the greatest knowledge. 

But in this inability to grasp what is Divine lies the ''most natural'' thing for man that one can think of; for as everyone knows, it is not possible for anything to go beyond the composition of its origin. 

Nor for the spirit of man either! 

A boundary is always set by the difference in composition. 

And the Divine is of an entirely different consistency from the spiritual, in which man originates. 

The animal, for instance, can never become a human being, however highly developed its soul may be. 

From its animistic substance there cannot possibly blossom forth the spiritual which brings forth the human spirit. 

In the composition of all animistic substance the spiritual basic species is missing. 

Man, who has issued from the spiritual part of Creation, can in turn never become Divine either, because the spiritual has not the nature of Divine substance. 

The human spirit may well be able to develop to the highest degree of perfection, but must nevertheless always remain ''spiritual''. 

It can never go above itself into the Divine. 

Here again the different consistency naturally forms the ever impassable limitations upwards. 

The world of Matter does not come into it at all here since it has no life of its own, but serves as a covering, motivated and formed by the spiritual and the animistic. 

The mighty field of the spirit extends through all Creation. 

Therefore man can, should and must fully grasp and recognise Creation! 

And through his knowledge he will rule therein. 

But rightly understood, to rule, however severely, simply means to serve! -- 

At no point in the entire Creation, up to the highest spiritual, is there any deviation from the natural happening! 

This fact alone surely makes all things much more familiar to everyone. 

The unhealthy and secret fear, the reluctance to face so many things as yet unknown, thus fall away of their own accord. 

With ''naturalness'' a fresh breeze blows through the sultry atmosphere formed by the morbid imaginings of those who like to cause a great stir. 

Their sickly fantastic creations, which terrify the weak and are mocked by the strong, have an absurd and childishly foolish effect on the sight that is becoming clear, and finally, joyfully and happy, takes in the glorious naturalness of every happening, which always moves only in simple straight lines that can be clearly recognised. 

It runs through everything uniformly, in the strictest regularity and order. 

And this makes it easier for every seeker to obtain the broad, free view right to the point of his actual origin! 

For this he needs neither painstaking research nor imagination. 

The main thing is for him to stand aloof from all those who in their muddled secretiveness try to make scanty part - knowledge appear greater. 

It all lie ''so'' simply before men that owing to the very simplicity they often do not come to recognition, because from the outset they assume that the  great work of Creation must be much more difficult and intricate. 

Here in spite of the best volition thousands stumble, they raise their eyes seekingly to the heavens, not realising that without effort they have only to look ''before'' and around them. 

They will then see that through their existence on earth they are already standing on the right road, and need only go calmly ahead! 

Without haste and without effort, but with ''open'' eyes and a free, unprejudiced mind! 

Man must at last learn that true greatness lies only in the most simple and natural happening. 

That greatness implies simplicity. 

So is it in Creation, so also in himself, who belongs to Creation as a part of it! 

Only ''simple'' thinking and intuitive perceiving can give him clarity! 

Such simplicity as children still possess! 

Calm reflection will show him that, in the ability to comprehend, simplicity is identical with clarity and also with naturalness! 

The one simply cannot be thought of without the others. 

They form a triad that expresses ''one'' concept! 

Whoever makes it the foundation - stone of his search will soon break through the nebulous confusion. 

Everything that has been added artificially will then collapse into nothingness. 

Man will realise that the natural order of events may nowhere be eliminated, and that at no place is it interrupted! 

And therein the greatness of ''God'' also reveals itself! 

The unchangeable vitality of the self - acting Creative Will! For the Laws of Nature are the inexorable Laws of God, continually visible to all men, appealing to them, testifying to the Greatness of the Creator, of an unshakable regularity, admitting of no exception! 

Of no exception! 

For a grain of oats can again bring forth only oats, likewise a grain if wheat only wheat, and so forth. 

So is it also in that first Creation, which as the Creators own Work stands nearest to His Perfection. 

There the fundamental Laws are anchored in such a way that, driven by the vitality of the Will, they were bound in the most natural order of events to result in the coming into being of the further Creation, right down finally to these celestial globes. 

Only becoming coarser the further Creation draws away in the process of development from the Perfection of the origin. - 

Let us first of all just consider Creation. 

Imagine that all life therein, no matter in what part it is found, is of two kinds only. 

The one kind is self - conscious and the other unconscious of itself. 

It is if the utmost value to observe these two different categories! 

This is connected with the ''origin of man''. 

The differences also give the stimulus to further development, to the apparent struggle. 

The unconscious is the basis of all the conscious, but its composition is of exactly the same nature. 

To become conscious is progress and development for the unconscious, which through association with the conscious  is continually being stimulated also to attain to this consciousness. 

In the process of developing downwards, the first Creation itself brought successively three great basic divisions: As uppermost and highest is the ''spiritual'', the Primordial Creation, followed by the denser and thus also gradually heavier Sphere of Animistic Substance. 

Lastly as the lowest, and because of its greatest density the heaviest, still follows the great Realm of Matter which, severing itself from Primordial Creation, has gradually sunk down! 

Through this there finally remained as the uppermost only the Primordial Spiritual Substance, because in its pure nature it embodies what is lightest and most luminous. 

It is the oft - mentioned Paradise, the crown of all Creation. 

With the sinking down of that which becomes denser we already touch upon the Law of Gravitation, which is not only anchored in matter, but has an effect in all Creation, from the so - called Paradise down to us. 

The Law of Gravitation is of such decisive importance that everyone should hammer it into his mind; for it is the main lever in the whole evolution and process of development of the human spirit. 

I have already said that this gravitation applies not only to earthly consistencies, but also works uniformly in those parts of Creation which earthmen can no longer see, and which they therefore simply call the beyond. 

For a better understanding I must still divide the ''World of Matter'' into two sections. 

Into ''ethereal matter'' and ''gross matter''. 

Ethereal matter is that matter which cannot become visible to the physical eye, owing to its different nature. 

And yet it still is matter. 

The so - called ''beyond'' must not be confused with the longed - for Paradise, which is purely spiritual. 

The spiritual must not be taken as something ''to do with thoughts'', but the spiritual is a ''consistency'', just as the animistic and the material are each a consistency. 

Therefore now this ethereal matter is simply called the ''beyond'', because it lies beyond earthly vision. 

Gross matter, however, is this side, all that is earthly, which on account of its similar species becomes visible to our gross material eyes. 

Man should get rid of the habit of regarding things that are invisible to him as also incomprehensible and unnatural. 

''Everything'' is natural, even the so - called beyond, and Paradise, which is still an immense distance from it. 

Now just as here our physical body is sensitive to its surroundings of a ''homogeneous'' nature, which it can therefore see, hear and feel, so is it exactly the same in those parts of Creation whose consistency is not like ours. 

The ethereal man in the so - called beyond feels, hears and sees only his homogeneous ''ethereal'' environment; the higher spiritual man again can only feel his ''spiritual'' environment. 

Thus it happens that many an earth - dweller now and then already sees and hears also the Ethereal World with his ethereal body, which he bears within, before the separation from the gross material earthly body takes place through physical death. 

There is absolutely nothing unnatural in this.  

Side by side and co - operating with the Law of Gravitation is also the no less valuable Law of Homogeneous Species. 

I have already touched upon this in saying that one species can only recognise the same species. 

The proverbs: ''Birds of a feather flock together'', and ''like father, like son'' seem to have been sensed from the Primordial Law. 

Together with the Law of Gravitation it swings throughout Creation. 

In addition to those already mentioned there is a third Primordial Law in Creation: The Law of Reciprocal Action. 

The effect of this Law is that man must reap what he has once sown, unconditionally. 

He cannot reap wheat where he sowed rye, nor clover where he sowed thistles. 

In the Ethereal World it is exactly the same. 

In the end he will not be able to reap kindness where he felt hatred, nor joy where he nourished envy!  

These three fundamental Laws form the corner - stones of the Divine Will! 

They alone automatically work out reward or punishment for a human spirit, with inexorable justice! 

So incorruptibly, in the most wonderful delicate gradations, that the thought of a slightest injustice in the gigantic world happening becomes impossible. The effect of these simple Laws brings every human spirit exactly to the place where, according to his inner attitude, he does belong. 

Any error here is impossible, because the manifestation of these Laws can only be set in motion by the ''inmost'' condition of a human being, which will, however, set it in motion without fail in every case! 

Thus to bring this about the spiritual power of ''intuitive perceptions'' which is ''in'' man is needed as the lever! 

Nothing else has any effect. 

For this reason only the real ''volition'', man's ''intuitive perception'', is decisive for what develops for him in the world that is invisible to him, and which he must enter after his earthly death.  

There neither pretence nor self - deception will help him. 

He must then unconditionally reap what he has sown through his ''volition!'' 

What is more, exactly according to the strength or weakness of his volition, sets in motion to a greater or lesser degree the homogeneous currents of the other worlds, no matter whether they are hatred, envy or love. 

An absolutely natural process, of the greatest simplicity, and yet with the inexorable effect of adamantine justice! 

He who tries to go seriously and deeply into these happenings in the beyond will recognise what incorruptible justice lies in this automatic working, and will see in this alone the inconceivable Greatness of God. 

He does not need to interfere, after having given His Will as Laws, thus perfect, into Creation. 

He who in the course of his ascent again enters the Spiritual Realm is purified; for he had first to pass through the self - acting mills of the Divine Will. 

No other road leads to the proximity of God. 

And ''how'' these mills work on the human spirit depends on its former inner life, its own ''volition''. 

They can carry it blissfully into the Luminous Height; or on the other hand they can also pull it agonisingly down into the night of horror, indeed even drag it to complete destruction. - 

It should be realised that at the time of its earthly birth the human spirit which has matured to the point of incarnation already wears an ethereal cloak or body, which it has needed on his journey through the Ethereal World. 

During its earthly existence this also remains with it as a connecting link to the physical body. 

Now the Law of Gravitation always exerts its main effect upon the densest and coarsest part. 

Thus during life on earth upon the physical body. 

But when this dies and falls away, the ethereal body again becomes free, and in this moment, being unprotected and now the coarsest part, is subject to this Law of Gravitation. 

When it is said that the spirit forms its body, that is true as regards the ethereal body. 

The inner quality of man, his desires and his actual volition lay the foundation for it. 

In the volition lies the power to form ethereal matter. 

Through the urge for what is base or for mere earthly pleasures the ethereal body becomes dense, and therewith heavy and dark, because the fulfilment of such desires lies in the World of Gross Matter. 

Thereby man binds himself to what is coarse and earthly. 

His desires draw along the ethereal body, that is to say, it is formed so densely that its consistency resembles as nearly as possible that of the earthly body. 

This alone holds the prospect of being able to participate in earthly pleasures or passions, as soon as the physical body has fallen away. 

Whoever strives after such things must sink through the Law of Gravitation. 

But it is different with those people whose minds are mainly directed towards higher and nobler things. 

Here the volition automatically makes the ethereal body lighter and thus also more luminous, so that it can draw near to what to these human beings is the goal of their earnest aspirations! 

That is, to the purity of the Luminous Height. 

Expressed in other words: Through the prevailing goal of the human spirit, the ethereal body in earthman is at the same time so equipped that after the death of the physical body it can strive towards this goal, whatever kind it may be. 

Here the spirit really forms the body; for its volition, being spiritual, also bears within it the power to make use of ethereal substance. 

The spirit can never evade this natural process. 

It happens with every volition, no matter whether it is pleasant or unpleasant for the spirit. 

And these forms remain clinging to it as long as the spirit nourishes them through its volition and intuition. 

They advance or retard the spirit according to their nature, which is subject to the Law of Gravitation. 

Yet the moment the spirit changes its volition and intuition new forms will thereby immediately arise, whereas the old ones, no longer receiving nourishment because of this change, must fade and dissolve. 

In this way man also changes his fate. 

Now as soon as the earthly anchorage falls away through death of the physical body, the ethereal body which is thereby released either sinks down or floats up like a cork in the Ethereal World, which is called the ''beyond''. 

Through the Law of Gravitation it will be held fast exactly in that place which corresponds with its own weight; for then it cannot move further, either up or down. 

Here it will naturally also find all homogeneous species or all like - minded people; for like nature implies like weight, and like weight of course like nature. 

According to how man himself, so will he have to suffer or be able to rejoice among those of like nature, until he changes anew inwardly, and with him his ethereal body, which under the effect of the altered weight must either lead him further upwards or downwards. 

Therefore man can neither complain nor need he give thanks; for if he is raised towards the Light it is his own consistency that inevitably causes him to be raised; if he falls into the Darkness, it is again his condition that forces him to do so. 

But every human being has reason to glorify and praise the Creator for the perfection that lies in the working of these three Laws. 

The human spirit is thereby unreservedly made the absolute master of its own fate! 

For its true volition, thus the genuine inner condition, must cause it either to rise or to sink. 

If you try to get a true picture of the effect of these Laws, singly and working together, you will find that they contain reward and punishment, mercy and also damnation, minutely weighed for each one according to his inner state. 

It is the most simple process, and shows the lifeline provided by every serious volition of a human being, which can never break and never fail. 

It is the greatness of such simplicity that forcibly drives him who recognises to his knees before the infinite Sublimity of the Creator! 

In every happening and in all my explanations we always again and again meet clearly and distinctly the effect of these simple Laws, whose wonderful interaction I must yet describe especially.  

Once man knows this interaction he thus  also has the step - ladder to the Luminous Realm of the Spirit, to Paradise. 

But he then also sees the road that leads down to Darkness! 

He need not even tread these steps himself, but the automatic mechanism raises him on high or drags him down, entirely according to how he adjusts the mechanism for himself through his ''inner'' life. 

Which way he wishes to let himself be borne along is always left to ''his'' decision.  

Man must allow himself to be confused by scoffers. 

Rightly viewed, doubt and derision are nothing but the expression of wishes. 

Quite unconsciously every doubter expresses what he wishes for himself, thus exposing his inner self to the searching glance. 

For denial and defence also harbour deeply hidden wishes which can be easily recognised. 

It is sad, or even revolting, to see what negligence or poverty of mind is thus sometimes revealed, because just through this a man often drags himself inwardly down below the level of any ignorant animal. 

One should have compassion for such people without, however, being indulgent; for indulgence would indeed mean cultivating indolence in serious investigation. 

He who seeks earnestly must become sparing with indulgence; otherwise he will ultimately harm himself without helping the other thereby. 

But with growing recognition man will jubilantly stand before the wonder of such a Creation, and consciously let himself be borne aloft to the Luminous Heights which he may call his home!           

                                                                           IN     THE     REALM     OF     DEMONS      AND      PHANTOMS

IN ORDER to follow this explanation it is necessary to know that man on earth does not live in Primordial Creation but in a subsequent Creation. 

Primordial Creation consists solely of the ''Spiritual Realm'', which exists quite independently and is known to men as Paradise. 

The Grail Castle stands at the summit of Paradise with the gate facing towards the Divine, which as such lies outside Creation. 

Subsequent Creation, on the other hand, is the so - called ''world'', eternally rotating ''below'' Primordial Creation, the various solar systems of which are subject to evolution and dissolution, that is, they ripen, grow old and decay, because they were not created by Divinity directly like the Eternal Primordial Creation, Paradise. 

Subsequent Creation came into existence through the volition of the Primordial Beings and is subject to the influence of the maturing human spirits, whose path of development leads through this Subsequent Creation. 

For this reason it also contains an imperfection not to be found in Primordial Creation, which is open to the direct influence of the Divine Holy Spirit. 

To comfort the Primordial Beings, who were extremely perturbed about the ever - increasing and noticeable imperfections in Subsequent Creation, a Voice from Divinity called: ''Wait for Him Whom I have chosen . . . to bring you help'' -- which to a certain extent is accurately transmitted from Primordial Creation in the legend of the Grail. 

Now to the subject at hand! 

''Every'' earthly action can only be considered as the outward expression of an inward process. 

By ''inward process'' is meant a spiritual intuitive volition. 

Each volition of the intuitive perception is a spiritual ''action'' which becomes decisive for every man's existence, because it brings about ascent or descent. 

In no case may it be put on the same level with thought volition! 

Intuitive volition concerns the core of man proper, thought volition merely a weaker outer circle! 

It is not always necessary for either of these to become visible on earth, despite their unfailing effect. 

An earthly gross material action is not necessary for the creation of karma. 

But, on the other hand, there is no earthly gross material activity that does not have to be preceded by a thought volition or an intuitive volition. 

The earthly visible action, therefore, is dependent upon either a thought volition or an intuitive volition, but not vice versa. 

However, what is really decisive for the existence of a human spirit, for his ascent or for his descent, is ''most strongly'' anchored in the ''intuitive volition'', to which man pays the least attention, and yet from the absolute and never - failing effects of which there is no escape, also no mitigation or falsification! 

This alone contains the real ''experiencing'' of the human spirit, for ''the intuitive volition is the sole lever for the release of the spiritual power waves'' which rest in the work of the Creator, waiting only for an impulse from the intuitive volition of the human spirits, which they immediately put into effect with manifold strength! 

Up till now mankind have hardly paid any attention to this so important, even most important process! For this reason I shall again and again draw attention to an apparently simple but essential point which contains ''everything'': The spiritual power permeating the work of Creation can make contact ''only'' with the ''intuitive volition'' of the human spirits, all else being excluded from making such contacts! 

Even the thought volition can no longer make any such contact, much less any ''products'' of the thought volition. 

This fact excludes ''every'' hope that the ''actual'' principal power in Creation could ever be associated with some ''invention''! 

This is irretrievably blocked! 

Man does not know  this principal power nor its effects, although he stands in it! What this or that thinker and inventor imagines as Primordial Power is not so! 

It is invariably a far inferior form of energy only, of which there can still be found many kinds with astonishing effects, but without mankind approaching even a step closer to the real power which the human spirit uses daily without being conscious of it. 

Unfortunately man trifles with it without being aware of the dreadful consequences of his boundless frivolity! 

And in his unbounded ignorance he always wantonly tries to cast the responsibility for the consequences upon God which, however, does not free him from the great guilt he has incurred by his refusal to gain knowledge! 

I want to try and give a clear picture here! As an example, let us assume that a man ''intuitively feels'' envy! 

Usually it is said: ''Envy arises within him!'' 

At first this is a general intuitive feeling, of which quite often the human spirit is not even clearly conscious. 

This intuitive perception, however, which as yet is not clad in definite thoughts, that is, which has yet has not ''risen'' to the brain, carries within it ''the key'' which ''alone'' can establish contact with the ''Living Power'', can build a bridge to it. 

Immediately this is done, as much of the ''Living Power'' resting in Creation passes into this particular intuitive perception as it is capable of absorbing, this in each case depending on the strength of the perception. 

Only ''through this '' is the ''human'' or ''spiritualised'' intuitive perception called to life within itself, thus receiving an enormous capacity to generate (not to create) in the Ethereal World. 

This makes man lord among all creatures, the highest of all creatures in Creation! 

This process also permits him to exert an immense influence upon the entire ''Subsequent Creation'', thereby . . . investing him with personal responsibility which no other creature besides him can have in Subsequent Creation, because only man possesses the ability which is decisive in this matter and which rests in the very nature of the ''spirit!'' 

And only ''he'' alone in the entire Subsequent Creation bears spirit in his innermost core, and ''as such'' he alone receives connection with the ''Supreme Living Power'' resting in Subsequent Creation! 

The Primordial Beings in Paradise are of a ''different'' species of spirit to the world wanderers, the so - called earth - men, and their capacity for connection is therefore directed towards another, a higher and far stronger wave of power. 

This they use consciously, being naturally able to create with it things quite different to those of the world wanderers to whom the earth - men belong. 

The highest wave of power of the earth - men is but a gradation of the power resting in Primordial Creation, just as they themselves are but a gradation of the Primordial Beings! 

The main lack in human knowledge so far is the realisation of the many gradations which become ever weaker as they descend from Primordial Creation, and the recognition that men themselves belong to these ''gradations'' only. 

Once this understanding has really penetrated, their hitherto presumptuous attitude will fall away and clear the path for ascent! 

The stupid vaingloriousness exhibited by men in claiming supremacy, even of carrying Divinity within themselves, will suffer an ignominious collapse, and finally there will only remain a liberating shame. 

The Primordial Beings, who stand so much higher and who are of much greater value, are not possessed of such conceit. 

They only smile indulgently at the straying earthworms, just as many parents smile at the fantastic chatter of their children! 

But let us return to the intuitive perception! 

A man's intuitive perception which has thus been strengthened now, in further gradation, immediately and automatically produces a form which exactly embodies ''the nature'' of the intuition, in this case of envy. 

In the beginning the form stands within its creator and later beside him, connected to him by a cord through which it receives nourishment. 

At the same time, however, in obedience to the Law of the Attraction of Homogeneous Species, it immediately and automatically makes no contact with the power - centre of the same species of forms and receives strong reinforcements therefrom. 

Together with the young form, these then fashion the ethereal environment of the person concerned. 

Meanwhile this intuitive perception rises higher and finally reaches the brain, exciting ''thoughts'' of a like nature which set themselves a very definite aim. 

Thus the thoughts become channels or roads upon which these forms drift towards a very definite goal, there to do harm if they find the proper soil. However, if the man who is to be the target of these forms is only pure within, that is, if he has a pure volition, he offers no point of attack for these forms, no anchorage! 

Still, this does not mean that they are rendered harmless again! 

Instead they continue to wander about singly, or unite themselves with their homogeneous species in places of assembly which one may well call ''planes'', because they are subject to the law of their spiritual gravity and therefore must form ''definite'' planes which can only admit and hold the same species. 

Thus they remain an absolute danger to all those human spirits whose volition to do what is good is not of sufficient strength and purity! 

Finally they also bring destruction upon their authors, who constantly remain in touch with them, and who through the cord of nourishment continually permit new envy - energy to flow back to them, which the forms themselves receive from the power - centres. 

This makes it difficult for such a creator to indulge again in purer intuitions, because he remains very badly handicapped by the return flow of envy - energies, which continually tear him away from it. 

He is forced to expend far greater efforts for his ascent than a human spirit not so hampered. 

And it is only through a constantly pure volition that such a nourishing - cord of evil gradually decays, until it finally shrivels up and falls feebly away. This means the liberation of the author of such evil, provided that this form has meanwhile done no harm; but if it has done some harm ''new'' ties are ''then'' immediately formed which must also be redeemed! 

To effect the redemption of such threads it is absolutely necessary that the author should again cross the path, either on this earth or in the beyond, of any person harmed by the evil, so that recognition and forgiveness can be obtained. 

Consequently the ascent of the author of such forms cannot take place before those persons who have suffered injury have made their ascent. 

The connecting thread or threads of fate hold him back until redemption has been effected through compensation and forgiveness. 

But this is not all! This intuitive volition, under the strengthening influence of the ''Living Power'', has far greater effect, for it not only populates the Ethereal World, but also influences the World of Gross Matter, either  building up or destroying! 

This b should at last make man recognise the folly which he has already perpetrated, instead of fulfilling the duties ordained through the abilities of his spirit for the benefit of Subsequent Creation and all creatures. 

Man often asks why  there should be such a conflict in nature, and yet what is of animistic substantiality adjusts itself in Subsequent Creation . . . to the nature of man! 

With the exception of the Primordial Elemental Beings! But let us continue! 

The creations of the intuitive volition of the human spirit, the forms mentioned above, do not cease to exist when detached from their author, but continue to exist ''independently'' as long as they receive nourishment from human spirits who by nature are like - minded! 

It need not be the author himself. 

They seek an opportunity to attach themselves to this or that person who is open to their influence, or even to  those whose power of resistance is weak. 

If evil they are ''the demons'' born of envy, hatred and all that is similar. 

If good they are benevolent beings which only lovingly make peace and further ascent! 

With all these processes a visible earthly action by a human being is not in the least necessary; it only adds further chains or threads which must be redeemed on the gross material plane, and would require a reincarnation if redemption cannot take place in one life on earth. 

These forms of the human intuitive volition have power ''within themselves'' because they come into being through ''spiritual'' volition in combination with the ''neutral principal power'' and, what is most important, because ''thereby'' during the process of their formation they also absorb ''animistic substantiality'', that is, ''that'' species from which gnomes and their like develop. 

The volition of an animal cannot achieve this because the animal soul is not of a spiritual nature, but only animistic. 

Thus this is a process which ''only'' takes place with the forms of the human intuitive volition and which must therefore bring great blessings if the volition is ''good'', but incalculable mischief if the volition is evil, because the animistic core of such forms carries its ''own motive power'', and is thus able to influence all that is gross material. 

And thereby the responsibility of the human spirit becomes enormous! 

According to its nature its intuitive volition creates ''benevolent entities'' as well as ''demons!'' 

Both are merely the products of man's spiritual abilities in Subsequent Creation. 

Their cores, self motivated and thus unpredictable in their influence, ''do not'' originate in ''that part of Animistic Substantiality which has the capacity to will'', and from which the animal souls come, but issue from ''a gradation therein which does not possess the personal ability to will''. 

In the World of Animistic Substantiality, as well as in the Spiritual Sphere above it, there are also many gradations and special species, about which I shall have to speak separately. 

Let me add as a further explanation that animistic substantiality ''also'' has contact with a living power resting in Creation which, however, is not the same as the Living Power with which the volition of the human spirit is connected, but a gradation of it. 

''It is just these possibilities and impossibilities of combination which are the strictest maintainers of order in Subsequent Creation and bring about a firm, immutable system in all evolution and dissolution!'' 

So far - reaching, then, is the activity of the human spirit! 

Now look closely at men of the present day, and you can imagine what mischief they have already done, especially when you consider the further consequences of the activity of these living forms which are let loose upon all creatures! 

These resemble a stone which, once it has left the hand, is no longer subject to the control and will of the thrower! 

Besides these forms, the far - reaching activity and influence of which it would take a whole book to describe, there is another species which is next to and closely connected with these, but forming a ''weaker'' section. 

Yet it is still dangerous enough to molest many people, to hinder them and even cause them to fall! 

These are the forms of thoughts, that is to say, the thought - forms or phantoms. 

The volition of the thoughts, being the product of the earthly brain, in contrast to the volition of the intuitive perception, does not have the ability to make direct contact with the neutral principal power resting in Creation. 

Therefore these forms lack self - acting core of the intuitive forms, which latter we might call ''animistic ''shadows'' of the soul''. 

Thought - forms remain absolutely dependent upon their creator, with whom they are connected in a similar way as the forms of the intuitive volition, that is, through a cord of nourishment which simultaneously constitutes the road for the returning reciprocal actions. 

I have already spoken about this species in the lecture on ''Thought - forms'', and therefore I need not repeat it here. 

Thought - forms have the weakest effect according to the Law of Reciprocal Action. 

Despite this they still work dangerously enough, and can not only bring about the doom of individual human spirits, but even that of great masses! 

They can also contribute to the devastation of whole parts of the world as soon as they are over - nourished and over - cultivated by men, thus receiving undreamt of power, as has happened in the last few thousand years. 

Thus the whole of this evil has been brought about by men ''alone'', due to their uncontrolled and false intuitive volition and thought volition, as well as through their levity in these matters! 

These two realms, the realm of the forms of the human intuitive volition and the realm of the forms of the human thought volition, in which naturally real human spirits are also forced to live, alone formed the field of action and the range of vision of the greatest ''magicians'' and ''masters'' of all time, who became entangled in them and who finally are retained there when they pass over. 

And what do we find today? 

The ''great masters of occultism'', the ''enlightened ones'' of so many different sects and lodges . . . are no better off! 

They are masters only in ''these'' realms! 

They live amid forms of their own devising, and only ''there'' can they be ''masters'', but not in ''the real life of the beyond!'' 

Their power and mastership never extend so far! 

Pitiable people, regardless of whether they have followed the black or the white art,  according to their evil or good volition . . . they imagined and still believe themselves mighty in their spiritual power, whereas in reality they are less than a man ''ignorant'' in these matters!  

In his childlike simplicity such a man stands far ''above'' these actually low fields of activity of such ''ignorant'' spiritual princes, that is, he stands ''higher'' than they do! 

All would be well if the retroactive effects of the work of such eminent ones could fall back upon themselves ''only'', but such ''masters'' through their efforts and activities agitate these nether regions, which are of no particular importance in themselves, stirring them up unnecessarily and thereby increasing their strength, so that they become a danger to all whose resistance is weak! 

For others, happily, they hold no danger, because a harmless human spirit, one who enjoys his life like a child, rises without any difficulty ''above'' these nether regions, into which the pseudo - scientists burrow and probe, finally being retained there by the forms and images which they themselves have helped to strengthen! 

Although this should all be taken seriously, yet seen from above it makes an unspeakably ridiculous and sad impression, entirely unworthy of the human spirit! 

Tricked out with ridiculous frippery and puffed up with false conceit, they creep and crawl about in this realm, busily endeavouring to animate it! 

A shadow - land in the truest sense, an entire world of ''sham'', which becomes capable of deception with everything possible and impossible! 

And he who first conjured it into existence can in the end no longer cast it out, but must succumb to it! 

Many eagerly dig and delve into these nether regions, priding themselves on the tremendous height they have reached thereby! 

A clear and simple human spirit, however, can pass through these nether regions without heed or further ado - there is no need to be detained there in any way! 

What else shall I say about these ''great ones''? 

Not one of them would listen to it, for in their sham world they can pretend for a time to be what, in the real existence of the ''living spirit'', they could never hope to become, for there they must ''serve'', and their desire to be master would quickly cease. 

For this reason many fight against it, because much is taken from them through the Truth! 

And they lack the courage to bear this! 

Who likes to have all that his imagination and vanity have created pulled down?  

He would indeed have to be a ''right'' and really ''great man!'' 

Such a person would never have fallen into these snares laid by vanity! 

But there is one distressing feature - how many or, better said, how few human beings are so clear and firm within themselves, how few still command such a childlike, with simplicity that they could ''safely'' traverse these planes, which are so wantonly created and constantly  reinforced by man's volition? 

For all others, however, a continually increasing danger is evoked! If only men could at last become ''really seeing'' in these things, how  much harm could be avoided! 

A purer intuitive perception and pure thinking on the part of every individual would soon so weaken the dark and dismal planes of the beyond that even the struggling human spirits retained there would be released the sooner, because they could more easily free themselves from their weakening surroundings! 

What holds true for many great ''masters'' here on earth also holds true for the human spirits in the beyond. 

They experience everything as being quite ''genuine'' in the various environments, in the forms and images, regardless of whether it be in the lower or gloomier regions or in the already higher ethereal  and more friendly regions . . . fear as well as joy, despair and also liberating release . . . and yet they are not in the realm of real life at all, but ''only they themselves are really alive!'' 

All else, their quite diversified and changing surroundings, can only exist through them and through those on earth who think as they do! 

''Even hell itself is but a product of the human spirits!'' 

Hell exists, it is true, and it holds serious dangers and causes terrible suffering, but it is completely dependent on the volition of all those human beings whose intuitive perceptions supply hell with strength to exist from the neutral Divine Power which rests in Creation for the use of human spirits. 

Thus hell is not a Divine institution, but the work of man! 

He who recognises ''this'' aright, and then consciously makes use of this knowledge, will help many, and he himself will also ascend more easily towards the Light, ''in which alone lies all real Life!'' 

If men would only just open themselves once ''so far'' as to be able to perceive what a treasure rests in Creation for them! 

A treasure which should be discovered and unearthed by every human spirit, which means that ''it should be used consciously'' - the neutral principal power that I have so often mentioned! 

It makes no distinction between good or evil, but stands outside these conceptions. 

It simply is ''Living Power''! 

''Every'' intuitive volition of a human being is ''the equivalent of a key'' to this treasure chamber and makes contact with this sublime power, the good volitions as well as the evil volitions. 

Both are reinforced and animated by this ''power'' because it immediately reacts upon the intuitive volition of the human spirit, but ''only'' upon this, and upon nothing else. 

Man determines the ''nature'' of the volition, this being in his hand alone. 

The power as such brings neither good nor evil, but simply ''power'', and it vitalises what man has willed. 

It is important, however, to know that man does not bear this life - giving power within himself, ''but only possesses the key to it in the ability of his intuitive perception''. 

Thus he is the steward of this creative forming power which works in accordance with his volition! 

For this reason he has to render account of his stewardship which he exercises every hour. 

But he unconsciously plays with fire in these matters like an ignorant child, and therefore causes great damage, as a child is apt to do! 

Yet he needs not be so ignorant! 

That is ''his'' fault alone! 

All the prophets and finally the Son of God Himself tried in their parables and teachings to enlighten men on this point, to show the way they should take, and ''how'' they should intuitively perceive, think and act in order to tread the ''right path!'' 

But it was in vain! 

Men continue to play with this tremendous power entrusted to them only in accordance with ''their'' opinions, without listening to the warnings and advice from the Light! 

Ultimately, therefore, they will bring about the collapse, the destruction of their works and also of themselves! 

For this power works in a completely neutral manner, strengthening the good as well as the evil volitions of the human spirit, and thus will not hesitate coldly to wreck the car and its driver, just as happens with any motor vehicle that is badly driven! 

Surely the picture has now been made clear enough! 

Through their volition and thoughts men direct the destiny of the entire Subsequent Creation as well as their own, without knowing anything about it! They further either progress or decadence, they can achieve either development in the fullest harmony or ''that'' wild confusion which ''now'' reigns! Instead of building up in a reasonable manner they waste their time and energy unnecessarily in a great deal of petty trifling! 

Intelligent people now call this punishment and judgment, which is correct in a certain sense. 

Yet it is men ''themselves'' who have forcibly brought about everything that must now happen! 

Often there have been thinkers and observers who already surmised all this, but they erred when they falsely assumed that in its manifestation this power of the human spirit is a sign of personal divinity. 

This is an error which only originates through a one - sided judging by appearances. 

The human spirit is neither God nor Divine! 

Such wiseacres see only external shell and not the core of the happening! 

They confuse the effect with the cause! 

Unfortunately many false doctrines and much presumption originated from this inadequacy. 

Therefore let me stress once more: The Divine Power which continually permeates and rests in Creation is ''only lent'' to all human spirits. 

As they ''use'' it they can ''guide'' it, but they do not have it within themselves, ''nor is it their own!'' 

Divinity alone possesses this power, but uses it only for the good, because Divinity does not know Darkness at all. 

The human spirits to whom it lent, however, only dig their own graves with it! 

Therefore I once more adjure all men: Keep the hearth of your volition and your thoughts pure, and you  will become peacemakers and be happy! 

Then at last Subsequent Creation will begin to resemble Primordial Creation, where all is Light and Joy! All this lies in the hands of man, in the capacity of every self - conscious human spirit, who will no longer remain a stranger in this Subsequent Creation. 

Many of my readers and hearers will quietly wish that I should give some suitable picture of such a happening in addition to my explanations, a living illustration that would help them understand better. 

Others again might think this disturbing. 

There may also be some who think that I would  thereby weaken the seriousness of what has been said, because the reproduction of a living happening in these planes might easily be construed as a flight of fancy or clairvoyance. 

I already heard similar remarks when I published my lectures ''The Holy Grail'' and ''Lucifer''. 

Those who investigate deeply, however, and whose spiritual ears are not closed, will understand the reason which prompts me. 

And this picture I wish to give about it is for these persons alone, for they will know that it is neither fantasy nor clairvoyance, but more! 

Therefore let us take an example! 

A mother has taken her life by drowning herself, and in so doing has carried her two - year - old child to its earthly death along with her! 

Upon awakening in the beyond she finds herself sinking in a dismal, muddy expanse of water, for the last terrible moment of the soul has come to life in the Ethereal World. 

This is the place where all those who belong to the same species suffer continual torment with her in a similar way. 

She has the child in her arms, and it clings to its mother in deadly terror, even though she had flung it into the water ''before'' throwing herself in! Depending on her psychic condition, she has to live through these agonising moments for a shorter or longer period, that is, she must always be on the verge of drowning but never accomplishing it, never losing consciousness! 

It may take decades and even longer before genuine cry for help, uttered in pure humility, awakens in her soul! 

This is not so easily done, for round about her there only what is of the same species, but no light. She hears only ghastly cursing, maledictions and coarse language, and sees nothing but the most callous brutality! 

First of all there may gradually awaken within her the urge at least to protect her child from this, or to remove it from such dreadful surroundings, with their perpetual danger and torment! 

Trembling with fear, while still on the verge of drowning, she therefore holds her child above the stinking, slimy surface, while many another being in the vicinity clings to her and tries to drag her down into depth! 

This heavy, leaden - coloured water is composed of thoughts of those who have committed suicide by drowning, thoughts which have not yet taken precise shape but which have come to life ethereally, as well as the thoughts of those still on earth who harbour similar ideas. 

These thoughts have contact with one another and, in the process of mutual attraction, constantly reinforce each other, whereby the torment is endlessly renewed. 

But these waters would have to dry up if, instead of receiving reinforcements of the same nature, waves of fresh, happy and joyful thoughts would stream  forth from the earth! 

Grief over the child, which the maternal instinct might gradually fan into apprehensive and fearful love, receives enough strength to form the first step of salvation towards the stairway leading the mother out of the torments, which she herself created through bringing her life on earth to a premature end! In trying to save the child from the horror into which she herself has plunged it, she nourishes within herself more noble qualities which can ultimately lift her into the next and less dismal environment! 

The child in her arms, however, is not in reality the living soul of the child she murdered when she dragged it into the water with herself. 

No such injustice would be possible! 

In most cases the ''living'' soul of the child is merrily gambolling about in sunny meadows, whereas the child in the arms of the struggling mother is only . . . a phantom, a living form of the intuitive perception of the murderess and also . . . of the intuitive perception of the child! 

This may be a guilt - form, arising perhaps from the pressure of a guilty conscience, or it may be a desperation - form, a hatred - form, a love - form, but whichever it is the mother imagines it to be the living child itself, because the form exactly resembles the child, also moves like it, cries like it, etc! 

I do not wish to go into such details nor into their many variations! It would be possible to describe numberless happenings, the nature of which is always bound precisely to the deeds which preceded them. 

But I wish to mention one more example as to how this world is interlocked with the beyond! 

Take the case of a woman or girl who, contrary to her wishes, has become pregnant and who has, as unfortunately very often happens, done something against it. 

Even if in specially favourable cases all went well without any ''bodily'' harm ensuing, it is not thereby simultaneously redeemed! 

The Ethereal World, as the environment in which the soul lives after physical death, records everything exactly and impartially. 

From the moment it happened an ethereal body of the growing child has fastened itself to the ethereal neck of the unnatural mother, where it remains clinging until the deed is atoned for. 

Naturally the woman or girl in question does not notice  this as long as she lives in her physical body here on earth. 

She may perhaps have an uneasy feeling now and then as a reaction, for the small ethereal body is as light as a feather in comparison with the physical body, and today most girls are much too obtuse to be able to feel this little burden! 

This dullness, however, is not in the least a sign of progress, nor of robust health, but indicates retrogression; it is a sign of being psychically buried! 

But at the moment of physical death the weight and density of the clinging child's body become the ''same in nature'' as that of the ethereal body of the mother (which has now left its earthly vessel), and it is thus a distinct burden! 

It will immediately cause as much  discomfort to the ethereal body of the mother as would a child's physical body when clinging around her neck here on earth. 

Depending on the nature of the happening which preceded this, it may well increase to a breath - taking agony! 

The mother must drag the child's body around with her in the beyond, and she does not become free of it until mother love awakens within her and, setting aside her own comfort, she faithfully tries to labour and provide for the relief and care of the little body. 

Very often a long and thorny path has to be traversed to reach that point! 

These happenings are naturally not without a certain tragicomic aspect! 

One need only imagine a man from whom the partition between this world and the beyond has been removed, entering a family gathering or a party! Perhaps there is a group of ladies sitting there in lively conversation. 

One of the women or ''virgins'', in a tone of moral indignation, voices a disdainful opinion of her fellow - men, and all the while the visitor sees one or even several little children's bodies hanging from the neck of this proud and zealous disclaimer! 

Not only that, but ''every'' other person also has the work of his real volition hanging on to him, distinctly visible, and often in the most grotesque contrast to his words, to how he wishes to appear and maintain himself before the world! 

Many a judge sitting before the person on whom he passes sentence has much greater burden of sin on his shoulders than the delinquent! 

How quickly his few years on earth will be over! 

Then he will stand before ''his'' Judge where other laws are valid! 

What then? 

Unhappily in most cases man is easily able to deceive the Gross Material World! 

In the Ethereal World, however, this is impossible! 

Fortunately there a man ''must'' really reap what he has sown! 

Therefore no one need despair if here on earth injustice temporarily has the upper hand! 

Not one single evil thought will remain unexpiated, even when it has not developed into physical deed!