1. Recognising

Holy is the Word! So holy that I would like to withdraw it once more from mankind on earth, because they have no conception, not even the faintest idea of Its magnitude! I feel urged to protect the Word, to veil it, so that it never comes into contact with the wanton conceit and indifference of these human souls, who in their spiritual indolence have become so incredibly narrow-minded and thus devoid of knowledge.

What do they still know about holiness! Of the holiness of God and also of His Word! It is pitiful! I feel urged to choose from all mankind only a few to whom I would continue to proclaim the Word. Yet even these few would not arrive at a concept of true Holiness, nor therefore the right attitude towards the Word.

Thus I stand before you in the knowledge that even the best among you will never really understand me, will not grasp a tenth part of what comes to them with my Word. You hear it, you hold it in your hands, but you do not make use of Its value for yourselves! I see how Its high values, Its immense powers remain unheeded, while instead you reach out for things that are no more than the most insignificant speck of dust in comparison with the Word that you have.

Only when a human soul enters the Ethereal Realm, only then does it gradually come to a new understanding of all that it was permitted personally to experience here on earth.

Although this too is but a shadow of the mightiness of the real happening, it is nevertheless enough to shake every human soul to its very depths! It can hardly believe that it has been permitted to experience all this, so great is the Grace of God that is revealed to it in these happenings. Filled with this, it would like to shake and jolt the human beings on earth, to make them break through their superficiality and exert themselves here and now to perceive these blessings more fully than in the past.

But a quite useless effort! It is through his own doing that man on earth has become far too obtuse. Through the most zealous efforts on his wrong paths he has rendered himself incapable of it. Therefore every soul that has awakened in the Ethereal Realm will turn away with bleeding heart, realising with deep remorse that while here on earth it was no different itself, and that it can scarcely expect anything better from those who are still on earth.

Thus when I think that I must now allow the Message to be spread abroad, everything in me rebels against it; for I know that not a single one among mankind will ever really know what he receives with it, or what an immeasurably high Grace of God lies in being permitted to hear it! In face of this ignorance, indifference and pretended knowledge of such men I am to allow something to be offered that comes in purity from the steps of God’s Throne! It is a struggle, it costs me a great effort! Every hour anew!

Years have passed since I first became horrified as I observed the human spirits, and began to realise from this the fate awaiting them in accordance with the Primordial Law of Creation.

I was appalled, because I saw that it would be impossible to help men other than by showing them the way that they must travel in order to escape destruction.

This made me inexpressibly sad, for with men as they are today there can be but one end: the certainty that the greater part of the entire humanity must inevitably be lost as long as they remain free to make all their own decisions!

In accordance with the Law in Creation, however, the human spirit can never be deprived of the free will to make decisions! It is an intrinsic part of the spirit! And through this, that is, through themselves, the great mass of mankind will now fall!

Every single decision made by man determines the roads he must journey along in Creation, as also here on earth. The little things connected with his profession and the needs of everyday life are only of minor importance, and often still the result of voluntary decisions made a long time ago. Yet only the decision is free for a human spirit! With the decision there is set in motion the automatic lever which permits the Laws of God in Creation to work according to the nature of the decision! Such is the free will that the human spirit possesses! It lies solely in the absolute freedom of decision.

The spiritual decision, however, immediately releases and sets in motion a hitherto mysterious automatic activity in Creation, which without the human spirit’s knowledge continues to develop the kind of volition contained in the decision, bringing it to maturity and so to a final manifestation, which will one day suddenly appear in accordance with the strength of the Original decision and the extent to which it has been increased and strengthened by other decisions of a like nature on its way through Creation.

Man must then patiently bear the final effects of every one of his decisions. He cannot and must not feel this to be unjust, for in the final manifestation it is always only what lay in his decision. It makes no difference if this decision was intended for someone else, the final effect will strike only its originator.

Very often when the final effect strikes, the original decision has long since been forgotten by the author, whose present volition and decisions may then be entirely different from or even contrary to what they formerly were; but the consequences of his earlier decision are quietly running their lawful automatic course to the end, even without his knowledge.

Man always stands amid the consequences of all his decisions, many of which he no longer knows or thinks of, and he then often regards it as unjust when this or that final effect strikes him unexpectedly. However he may rest assured that nothing will strike him which he has not at some former time caused to come into existence, or to which he has not literally once given life through one of his decisions, that is, “placed” into Creation to take effect under the laws. Be it through his thoughts, words, or actions! He has moved the lever for it. His is the volition first needed for all this, and every volition is a decision!

Through not recognising the Laws of Creation, men continually lament about injustice, and ask where is the much vaunted free will of man! Scholars write and speak about it, whereas it is really quite simple. After all, a free will can only rest in the capacity to make free decisions, and in nothing else. And this is, and always will be, maintained for the path of the human spirit in Creation.

In this connection man forgets or overlooks just one important fact: that despite all this he is and remains only a creature, a fruit of this Subsequent Creation, which has come into being out of its ever-existing and unchangeable laws, and he can therefore never circumvent or disregard these laws! They will take effect whether he likes it or not, whether it suits him or not. He is a nothing therein; like a child wandering off alone he can choose any road at will, but remains subject to that particular road, no matter whether it is smooth or rough, or whether it leads to a beautiful goal or to an abyss.

With every new decision man produces a new path and with it a new thread in his carpet of fate. But the old still unresolved paths continue to stretch ahead of the newer ones until they have been completely passed through. These are not yet cut off when a new one is formed, but must be lived through and travelled to the end. Thus old and new roads sometimes cross each other, thereby producing new turnings.

All this man has to work out in the experiences of his life, and then he often wonders how this or that can happen to him; for he is no longer conscious of his former decisions, whereas he remains subject to their consequences until these have been lived through and thereby “lived off”! They cannot be done away with except by the originator himself. He cannot turn away from them, because they remain firmly anchored in him until they are completely settled.

Thus all the consequences of every single decision must be carried through and settled to the end before they fall away from their originator and cease to exist. If the threads of new good decisions cross the still existing tracks of old evil decisions, then the effects of these old bad consequences will be correspondingly weakened through being crossed by what is new and good. They may even be completely dissolved if these new and good decisions are very strong, so that their evil consequences in the World of Gross Matter need only be redeemed symbolically. This too is perfectly lawful, and in accordance with the Will of God in Creation.

All this is living activity in Creation, without man’s ever being able to alter any of it, for it is an activity around and above him. Thus man stands in and under the Law of Creation.

In my Message you will find the way that leads you safely through the maze formed by the consequences of your decisions to the Luminous Heights!

However, one serious obstacle lies in your path! It is this obstacle that horrified me: because you must do all this yourselves, each one for himself alone.

This condition is also inherent in the lawfulness of your free will to make decisions, and in the ensuing automatic activity that takes place in Creation and within you!

The volition within the decision forms a path which leads either upwards or downwards according to the nature of the volition. However, at the present time men’s volition is leading you for the most part only downwards, and this downward trend, which you are quite unable to perceive, simultaneously narrows and lessens the power of your ability to understand.

Thereby the range of your comprehension, thus of your horizon, is diminished, and for that reason you always imagine that you are nevertheless still on the same high level as before; because for you this limit really is the actual highest level! You are unable to conceive of a wider boundary, nor to understand what lies beyond your own, and therefore you reject it all with scepticism, and are quick to call it false or even non-existent.

This is also why you do not readily cast aside your faults! You see them in others, but not in yourselves. No matter how plainly I try to make you understand this, you do not apply it to yourselves. You believe everything I say as long as it concerns others, but the faults I find in you,which often drive me to despair, you cannot grasp, because all the boundaries around your dear “ego” have become too narrow! This is the point at which so much fails, and where I cannot help you, for you yourselves have to burst these boundaries from within.

But that is not as easy as you think. Often you stand before me with troubled faces, and with love in your hearts for the great task. On that account you feel sorry for all those who either refuse to or who are unable to recognise their faults, and I, I know that many of these faults which you criticise so severely in others, and over whose actions you despair, are anchored to a far greater degree in you. That is the worst thing of all! That, too, is anchored in the freedom of decision, and is something that must be left to you because it is anchored in the spiritual. I can never force anyone to take the path that leads to the Luminous Heights! That lies solely in the hands of each individual.

Therefore I admonish you, and show you once more what actually happens: With every step downwards your ability to comprehend becomes ever more limited without you yourselves becoming conscious of it! Therefore you would never believe me when I tell you this, because you cannot grasp it, and so I cannot help you there unless a new, great and voluntary decision arises out of an intense longing or through faith.

Only there can I mediate power for the victory! The victory over yourselves, which will quickly enable the reviving spirit wanting to swing itself upward towards the Heights to break through the walls and the narrow confines! I show you the way and, if you have the right volition, give you the necessary power for it. Thus I can help wherever there is a genuine volition and genuine request for it.

But yet another obstacle then bars man’s road. It is the fact that this power can only benefit him if he not merely absorbs it, but uses it aright! He himself must use it in the right way and not let it rest within him, otherwise it will strive away from him to return to its source. Thus obstacle after obstacle arises if a man does not will honestly with all his strength! Only a very few people can overcome these obstacles. Humanity has already grown too spiritually indolent, whereas ascent is only possible through continuous movement and alertness!

This happening is natural simple and great. A wonderful, perfect justice lies anchored in it.

It is impossible for a human spirit to be saved without humility! Its conceit about its knowledge stands in the way and hinders true humility. Conceit about a knowledge that is no knowledge; for in comparison with his abilities man can really be described as the most stupid of all the creatures of this Subsequent Creation, because he is too conceited to receive anything in humility.

There is no point in arguing about this, for it is so. But man does not perceive it, he does not want to believe it. This, too, is a result of his boundless conceit, which is always the inevitable outcome of stupidity. Only stupidity begets conceit, for where there is real knowledge there is no room for conceit. It can grow only within the narrow confines of an inferior imagination, nowhere else.

Where knowledge begins conceit ends. And since today the greater part of mankind is steeped only in conceit, there is no knowledge.

Man has altogether lost the concept of genuine knowledge! He no longer knows what knowledge is! Not without reason does the old adage say: »A man only begins to be wise when he realises that he knows nothing!«

Therein lies truth! When man has attained to this conviction, conceit will die in him and he can begin to receive true knowledge.

All learning through studying has nothing to do with knowledge! An eager student can become a scholar yet be a long way from being called a knowing one. Therefore the expression »knowledge« in the sense in which it is used today is wrong. The man of today can speak of erudition but not of knowledge! What he acquires in universities is merely erudition, as the climax and crowning point of learning! It is something acquired, and not his own! Only what is one’s own is knowledge! Knowledge can come only from experience, not from learning!

Thus we have scholars and knowing ones. The scholars can and must learn from the knowing ones!

Thus in my Message I only show the way, so that the one who follows it may go through experiences which will bring him knowledge. Man must first »experience« Creation if he really wants to know of it. Through my knowledge I make it possible for him to experience, since I myself continually experience Creation!