Continued from last lecture

https://www.nairaland.com/6736489/light-truth-errors


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 is still matter.
The so-called “beyond” must not be confused with the longed-for Paradise, which is strictly pure-
spiritual. The spiritual must not be taken as something having “to do with thoughts” but the spiritual is a
species, just as the animistic and the material each is a species. This ethereal matter then is simply called
the beyond because it lies beyond earthly vision. Gross matter on the other hand is this world, all that is
earthly, which is visible to our gross material eyes because of its homogeneity.
Man should get out of the habit of considering things invisible to him as incomprehensible and
unnatural. Everything is natural, even the so-called beyond and Paradise, which still lies at an immense
distance from it.
Just as it is here, where our physical body is sensitive to its surroundings of a homogenous nature,
which it can therefore see, hear, and feel, so is it exactly in those parts of Creation whose species are not
like ours. The ethereal man in the so-called beyond feels, hears and sees only his homogeneous ethereal
environment; the higher spiritual man can again only feel his spiritual environment.
Thus it happens that some earth-dwellers will now and then already see and hear the Ethereal World
with their ethereal bodies, which they bear within before the separation from the gross material earthly
body takes place through physical death. There is absolutely nothing unnatural in this.
In addition to and of equal importance as the Law of Gravitation is the coactive Law of
Homogeneous Species.
I have already touched upon this by saying that any species can only recognize the same species. The
proverbs: “Birds of a feather flock together” and “like attracts like” seem to have been gleaned 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 once sowed, absolutely. He
cannot reap wheat where he sowed rye or clover where he spread 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
cultivated envy within himself!
These three fundamental Laws form the landmarks of the Divine Will! They alone automatically
work out reward or punishment for a human spirit, with inexorable justice! So incorruptibly, in the most
miraculous, precise gradations, that the thought of even the slightest injustice in the gigantic world
happening becomes impossible.
The effect of these simple Laws brings every human spirit exactly to the place where he belongs
according to his inner attitude. Any error here is impossible, because the manifestation of these Laws can
only be set in motion by the innermost condition of a human being, which will set it in motion without
fail in every case! Thus the lever for activating the reciprocal effects requires man’s innate pure-spiritual
power of intuitive perception! Nothing else has this 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.
Neither pretense nor self-deception will help him. He absolutely must reap what he has sown through
his volition! What is more, the homogeneous currents of the other worlds are set in motion to a greater or
lesser degree exactly according to the strength or weakness of his volition, no matter whether it is 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 seriously immerse his thinking into these happenings in the beyond will recognize
what incorruptible justice lies in this automatic working and in this alone will he see the inconceivable
Greatness of God. God does not need to intervene, after having placed His Will into Creation in the form
of perfect Laws.
He who, in the course of his ascent, returns to the Spiritual Realm is purified; for he had to first pass
through the self-acting mills of the Divine Will. No other road leads into the vicinity of God. And how
these mills work on the human spirit depends on the latter's preceding inner life, its own volition. They can carry it pleasantly into the Luminous Height; or they can pull it agonizingly down into the night of
horror, indeed even drag it into complete destruction. —
It should be realized 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 its journey through
the Ethereal World. During the spirit’s earthly existence this cloak remains with him as a connecting link
to the physical body. Now the Law of Gravitation always exerts its main effect upon the densest and
coarsest part. During life on earth this is the physical body. But when this body dies and falls away, the
ethereal body again becomes free and in this moment, unprotected and now the coarsest part, is subject to
this Law of Gravitation.
When it is said that the spirit forms its body then that is true as regards the ethereal body. The inner
quality of man, his desires and his actual volition lays the foundation for it. Volition harbors the power to
form ethereal matter. Through the urge for what is base or for mere earthly pleasures the ethereal body
becomes dense, therewith heavy and dark, because the fulfillment of such desires lies in the World of
Gross Matter. Thereby man binds himself to what is coarse and earthly. His desires pull along the ethereal
body which is formed so densely that its consistency resembles as nearly as possible that of the earthly
body, which alone holds the prospect of being able to participate in earthly pleasures or passions, after the
physical body has fallen away. Whoever strives after such things must sink according to the Law of
Gravitation.
It is different with people whose minds are mainly directed towards higher and nobler things. Here
the volition automatically makes the ethereal body lighter and thus more luminous, so that it can draw
near to the goal of their earnest aspirations! That is, to the purity of the Luminous Height.
Expressed in other words: The particular goal of the human spirit at the same time so equips the
ethereal body in earth-man that, after the death of the physical body, it can strive towards this goal,
whatever kind of goal this 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, whether he likes it or not. And these forms remain clinging to the
spirit as long as it nourishes them through its volition and intuitive sense. 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 immediately arise thereby, whereas the old ones, no
longer receiving nourishment because of this change, must die off and dissolve. In this way man also
changes his fate.
As soon as the earthly anchorage falls away through the 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, neither up nor down. Here it will naturally find all
that is of homogeneous species or of like mind; for like nature implies like weight, and like weight of
course implies like nature. According to the way he himself was, so will a man have to suffer or enjoy
himself 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 condition 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, its 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 as they work together, you will
find that they contain reward and punishment, mercy or damnation, minutely weighed for everyone
according to his inner state. It is a 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
forces him who recognizes this to his knees before the infinite Sublimity of the Creator!
In every happening and in all my explanations we always meet clearly and distinctly, again and
again, the effect of these simple Laws, whose wonderful interaction I must yet describe specifically. Once man knows this interaction he holds the step-ladder to the Luminous Realm of the Spirit, to
Paradise. But then he also sees the road that leads down to the 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.
It is always left to his decision, on which course he wishes to let himself be carried.
Man must not allow himself to be deterred by scoffers.
Rightly viewed, doubt and derision are nothing but the expression of desires. Quite unconsciously,
every doubter expresses what he desires for himself, thus exposing his inner self to a scrutinizing eye. For
denial and defense also harbor deeply hidden desires which can be easily recognized. It is sad or even
shocking to see what negligence or poverty is thus sometimes revealed, for it is precisely through this that
a man often drags himself down inwardly; below the level of any ignorant animal. One should have pity
on such people, without however, being indulgent; for indulgence would indeed mean preferring
indolence to serious investigation. He who seeks earnestly must use indulgence sparingly; otherwise he
will ultimately harm himself without helping the other.
With growing recognition, however, man will stand jubilantly before the wonder of such a Creation,
and consciously let himself be borne upward to the Luminous Heights which he may call his home!