Toward the Light

An unpublished version of the Postscript, by Harry Eric Prior, amalgamated from the three English Toward the Light translations of 1950, 1975 and 1979. Syntax has been improved and redundancies eliminated, resulting in 225 fewer words than the official 1979 translation of the Postscript. Editing notes available on request. <hprior1@tampabay.rr.com>

CAUTION: If type is difficult to read on-screen, enlarge the view with your computer. If you make a copy into your word processor and change the entire document to a single larger new point size for ease of reading, remember to click on “do not save” when you close, otherwise all differing size distinctions will be lost.

Postscript

4,629 WORDS

In conclusion, an account will be given of how this work came into being.

When the remorseful Elder had returned and had obtained forgiveness for all his transgressions against God, the Youngest knew their Father would give His eldest son the task of making known to humanity those truths that through the ages had been distorted or withheld: the truth concerning the creation of the human beings; the truth of how God, at the entreaty of some of the Eldest, bestowed spiritual life upon the human astral counterparts, enabling human beings to share in eternal life; and the truth concerning the voluntary assumption by the eldest of the Youngest of the task of guiding humanity to the Home of the Father of them all.

The Youngest knew the task to be given their eldest brother would likely be so difficult as to be nearly impossible for him were they not to render him all the help they could. Christ and those of the Youngest who had assisted in the emancipation of the Earth-bound spirits and the release of the Elder from the power of Darkness, agreed therefore to ask their Father’s permission to support and assist their brother in the rendering of his account to mankind. God granted this at once and promised also to be the Supreme Leader in the effort, and to help them overcome all greater difficulties that might arise while carrying out this work of love.

With God’s permission they then turned to the spiritualistic circle, the few members¹ of which had, two years before the Elder’s return, received Christ and his companions with understanding and trust when he had turned to this circle and established communication with them in his search² for earthly helpers.

During the year granted the Elder as a time of complete rest, Christ and his companions led some of the members of the circle who had engaged in psychic research onto some of the many questions that should be illuminated by the clear light of the truth. Thus it was essential to prepare the members of the circle before confronting them with the Elder, and especially to ensure that the medium who was to serve as intermediary had the insight and the willingness to accept those messages that ran counter to the hitherto known Biblical traditions and dogmas of the Church. It is quite impossible to establish an effective collaboration if the attitude of the medium toward the spiritual manifestations is one of reservation and reluctance whereas a greater understanding and readiness demonstrated by human beings will make it easier for the spirits through inspiration, and for the medium through intuition, to transfer the spiritual truths accurately to the earthly plane.

The circle participants had to agree not to put in writing immediately the answers given their questions. They were told that at a later date all questions would be returned from the transcendental world, arranged in a particular sequence and with a more complete continuity in their answers, which could then be put in writing as they were received during the later séances.

Christ and his helpers succeeded in conveying to their earthly co-workers a broad but clear summary of the creation of humanity, of the work of the Youngest, and of the deliverance of the Elder.

When one year after the return of the Elder, God requested³ of him that he reveal to human beings his transgressions against them and to seek to obtain their forgiveness by presenting them with the truth, Christ gave to the Elder those questions he and his brothers and sisters had answered during the séances with their earthly helpers⁴ in the course of the preceding year. It then became the Elder’s task to arrange them in proper sequence and on that basis to form a coherent and consistent account.

Accompanied by some of his brothers and sisters, the Elder made his invisible presence known to the earthly members of the circle in attendance. So as to be recognized and accepted as who he truly was, he gave his name as Ardor, an approximate synonym for Lucifer, since he wished to appear in his confession under a name not feared and accursed by human beings.

From the very first séance, one year to the day after Ardor's return on the 3rd of March, 1913, an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding was established between Ardor and the Youngest who had promised to support him, and with the earthly helpers.

Through the medium’s intuitive ability, Ardor’s inspirational thoughts were formed into words and sentences and put into writing by one of the séance  participants as quickly as these messages from the transcendental world were recited by the medium.

The séances⁵ were held once a week. Each lasted about 45 minutes, sometimes a little longer. After a suspension⁶ during June, July, August and September, the séances were resumed and held more frequently—usually three times every two weeks—until the start of the new year, 1914, when they were again reduced to once a week. They ceased the 3rd of February, when the final words of the Account were put into writing.

Despite the thorough preparations of the Youngest during Ardor’s year of rest, he met still with much difficulty in carrying out the proposed task as he who for millions of years had exercised his influence over mankind with the help of the magnetically attracting power of Darkness, experienced great difficulties in employing successfully the radiations of the Light so soon after his deliverance. But the Youngest helped him overcome this difficulty also by causing his thoughts, which were to be rendered by the medium, to pass through the waves of Light that emitted from their spirit-bodies in order to strengthen and to clarify them. In those passages of the Account where God speaks to the Youngest or to Christ, one of the Youngest stepped forth to assist and guide Ardor; however, this should not be understood to mean that God literally spoke exactly those words. That which is said represents the quintessence of God’s thought and words translated into earthly language so that the past events of the transcendental world can be grasped by human thought. In the same way, Christ himself was present when his earthly life as Jesus of Nazareth was recounted, to ensure accuracy. This part of the Account was especially trying for Ardor, deeply distressed upon recollection of the many obstacles he had placed in the way of his younger brother in life on Earth as Jesus of Nazareth. Ardor’s thoughts were therefore at times somewhat unclear, but with Christ’s help he succeeded also in communicating this part of the Account in full accordance with the truth.

Although the Youngest did their utmost to help Ardor overcome his grief, his remorse and his despair, the medium nevertheless found it exceedingly difficult to follow his narration. As a result, not everything came through with equal clarity and continuity. But when all the questions had been linked and answered it turned out that the greater part of the Account had been expressed far more accurately than any had dared hope, even though there were a few weaker passages here and there, for example words that expressed not fully Ardor’s thought, a number of unclear sentences and a few answers that had been too abbreviated in the medium’s repetition to represent satisfactorily the subject matter. In addition, among the periods of time spoken of, one clearly inaccurate reference occurred. Among the many specific periods of time spoken of there also appeared a clearly inaccurate example when the medium mistakenly identified a certain period as an eon (about three million years) which should actually have been conveyed as "thousands of years", thus producing a completely distorted idea of the period.

Some minor inaccuracies occurred in a few places through similar misconceptions by the medium, but these were immediately pointed out from the transcendental world and then corrected.

However, the weaknesses of the Account must on the whole be ascribed to Ardor himself, as in addition to his difficulties in communicating with the medium through the ethereal waves of the Light, he had to overcome also his deep grief when the memories evoked by the narrative overwhelmed him.

Some time after the account had been underway, the spiritual guide asked if anyone of the séance circle would undertake the task of compiling the subject matter given should Ardor not be able to form his thoughts clearly enough to present them solidly and wholly.

When the account had been concluded, the guide pointed out its deficiencies to the medium and to one of the other participants who, however, said they felt not that they could revise or improve upon the less than complete passages, and Ardor therefore sought and obtained God’s permission to undertake the necessary changes himself after a rest of about six months. The changes were then made with the help of the medium, who, in the presence of Ardor, read slowly several portions of the material during which certain words were replaced by more appropriate ones, a number of sentences rephrased to clarify their meanings, and a few passages of three to seven lines each entered where the material had been too abbreviated in its original presentation.

Since the relationship of Jesus to suffering and grieving humanity had not, in Ardor’s view, been elucidated with sufficient clarity through the questions posed by the séance members themselves, he obtained permission to insert (at a later séance) Chapter 18—one among many incidents of which human beings have received no knowledge through the Gospels.

Revised and amended in this way, Ardor's confession appears at all points in exact accordance with the truth and the actual events.

Since Christ had accustomed the medium through earlier séances to convey his thoughts in his own preferred form, partly through answers to various questions and partly through the narration of parables,⁷ it would have been an unnecessary waste of time to acquaint the earthly helpers with the contents of his discourse (Speech of Christ) at preparatory séances. In order, however, to create a precise coordination between the thought-inspiration of Christ and the intuitive capability of the medium, she was given permission to release⁸ her spiritual self from her physical body during its nightly sleep, so as to acquaint herself with the various passages of the discourse. It thereby became easier for the medium’s spirit to influence her physical brain during the séances, so that Christ’s thoughts could be conveyed with more rapidity and clarity than would otherwise have been the case.

While reading through the discourse in accordance with the recommendations of certain members of the circle, a few words were replaced by others that better expressed the underlying thought. For instance, “Straighten your will” was replaced with “harden your will”, “ugly” with “impure”, and “invariable” with “unchangeable”; likewise, at Christ's wish, a few sentences were inserted that had not, because of fatigue by the medium during their conveyance, registered in the physical brain.

The discourse was commenced at a séance held the 10th of February 1914, and was continued with one séance every week until its completion April 14th of the same year.

In the reproduction of the discourse of God’s Servant (Speech of God’s Servant), the medium again perceived a very long period as an “eon”, which was corrected from the transcendental world to “many ages”. The remainder was rendered clearly and correctly. The medium had in this case also acquainted herself beforehand with the contents of the discourse during sleep release.⁹

This discourse was given at a single séance, the 27th of October 1914.

Ardor’s Account, the Speeches of Christ and of God’s Servant, and the Commentary to Ardor’s Account were given through thought-inspiration and reproduced by the medium’s intuitive perception. In order to achieve good results with this form of spiritual collaboration the medium must be able to withhold all personal thoughts and thus render the psychic and the physical brains receptive to the thought-images of outside intelligences. The medium should also command a certain vocabulary, so that the spiritual self can without too much difficulty translate what is given with as few and as well-chosen words as possible; for even though clear and concise thought-images are presented from the transcendental world, these suffice not if the medium lacks the words to express the thoughts of the communicating intelligence. Since earthly languages often contain synonyms that can express the thought with varying degrees of precision, it is also often difficult for the medium’s spiritual self to select at a moment’s notice just those words best suited to transpose the thought into an easily comprehensible form. When from the transcendental world an expression is desired other than the one applied by the medium, the words required are recited by the communicating spirit itself or by the spiritual guide. They are then received by the medium’s psychic ear and transmitted by sound waves to the physical ear.

All the higher and the highest spirits¹⁰ can, of course, communicate audibly in any earthly language they wish with attentive, responsive and clairaudient mediums. But in this case, where the medium perceived mainly through intuition—by way of thought—and was only slightly clairaudient, this procedure would present severe difficulty since, first, the frequency of the sound waves from the speaking spirit to the listening medium would have had to be very much reduced in order to be received at all. In addition, each word would have had to be repeated over and over until all the sound waves had passed both the psychic and the physical ear clearly and correctly. Such a process would have extended over a period greatly exceeding that required for thought-inspiration, tiring the medium quite needlessly and delaying the work. For this reason, direct speech was employed only when the medium was unable to find the best possible word or to understand the correct numerical quantity.

Thought-inspiration is on the whole the form of communication best suited to human conditions, whether employed during séances where several people in addition to the medium are present or used when the medium is alone. The process calls for none or, under the most adverse circumstances, for little or none of the medium’s own psychic power;¹¹ on the contrary, the medium usually receives great psychic strength through the abundant emissions of Light from the communicating spirits, a particularly desirable situation in this instance when a major work had to be conveyed to the human world with an overall continuity important to so high a degree of accuracy to the Youngest. Obviously the first consideration was to make such arrangements as to ensure that the medium—the intermediary—would suffer neither spiritually nor bodily under the many demands that would be made from the transcendental world. The method for direct transmission mentioned in the section concerning mediums¹² was not used in the production of this work as it would in the first place have required numerous disembodiments so that the medium’s spirit could memorize such a work, section by section, a procedure that would have denied the medium the necessary rest required for any spirit bound to a human body; secondly, the transmission from the psychical to the physical brain would require repeated attenuations in the thickness of the layer of insulation that would likely have resulted to some degree in rupture of the layer itself which, however, although it could be healed again by the Will of God, would for a time have exposed the medium to much spiritual suffering. For these reasons direct transfer has been used on only a few occasions to reply to questions¹³ in the Commentary, where it was quite impossible for the spiritual guide by the method of inspiration to give to the medium a clear understanding of the subject matter to be reproduced.

Automatic writing was not used since it will always be difficult, even for accomplished mediums, to prevent their own thoughts¹⁴ from interfering with the subject matter as it is put into writing and from influencing the given messages in some way.

It is hoped this explanation will indicate why thought-inspiration was chosen in preference to all other forms of mediumistic communication.

A few of the questions in the Commentary were answered at conversational séances but most were given the medium under the inspirational influence of thought alone, one by one, as the questions were posed. Through co-operation between the medium and the spiritual guide the many answers were finally arranged in a sequence corresponding to the main questions in Ardor’s Account.

The reasons the questions¹⁵ in the Commentary have come to be answered primarily through cooperation between the medium and the spiritual guide and his helpers, without the presence of séance participants, was because the Youngest wished to show human beings how much can be achieved by means of inspiration without resorting to the usual procedures employed at spiritualistic séances, and thus establish the point that spiritualism is not the goal but only one of the ways by which the goal may be reached under the guidance of God. And since the medium promised to place herself completely at the disposal of her spiritual guide, they succeeded after persistent work in translating those thoughts that were alien to the medium into words and sentences. This part of the work presented the guide and his helpers with great difficulty, as the medium was not familiar with abstract thought or experienced in constructing or linking in proper order the questions to be posed. The questions were therefore presented in a very disjointed and disordered form, hampering the answers because too many interjacent questions were missing so that the answers were not sufficiently adequate at the first attempt. But through a steadfast, systematic effort the guide and his helpers (others of the discarnate Youngest) succeeded finally in eliciting the missing questions either from the medium or from the other participants, so that this part of the work gave also the result intended from the transcendental world.

The answers concerning the purely religious questions have been given in sufficient detail from the transcendental world, whereas a number of the other answers have been provided merely as indications or pointers in the direction in which humans may continue to search in greater detail that they may themselves verify the information given.

It is quite likely that questions will arise for the individual reader of the Commentary that have not been clarified, as it cannot be expected that all will agree on asking exactly the same questions. Only that which from the transcendental world has been deemed of general interest is included, for which reason those who do not feel satisfied can continue to investigate further in the desired direction. All possible help will always come in such searching. But all should realize that the capacity and comprehension of the human spirit in the earthly world is limited, and hence that there will always be questions that cannot be answered.

It is also likely that many will regard the answers to the questions as undocumented assertions. Human beings can, however, examine a number of these statements for themselves and thereby learn whether they have any validity. But other answers cannot be investigated by humans since the transcendental world is in the final analysis beyond direct examination; in these areas individuals must be content with the inner and logical consistency of the answers.

To the dogmatic believer, the fanatic, the narrow-minded, and to those human beings to whose bodies are bound young and undeveloped spirits, the notion will in all likelihood occur that this message is the work of Antichrist (Satan¹⁶ or his emissary). For the benefit of such people, the following examples suggest how they may compare that given in this work—under the guidance of God and through the influence of the Light—with that given through age-old scriptures, through tradition and through orthodox dogma of human origin, all of which came into being during the time Ardor fought to withhold from mankind as much as possible of the truth and the Light.

Which is the mightiest, the highest God?

He who hitherto has appeared in human consciousness as the creator of the imperfect human body, of that world of sin and death in which human beings live; who caused one part of his divinity to appear as a human being in order through his blood sacrifice to reconcile the other part of his divine being with the fallen and sinful beings created by his full being?

Or:

He Who in His foresight arranged all things so that He could bring His fallen children and their creatures under the harmonizing influence of the Light, in order thus to restore His children and make their creatures His own; who in all ways, by every possible means, and along many roads tries to lead the human beings away from Darkness and sin and toward Light and truth?

Which God is the more just?

He who sentences the human spirit after one brief earthly lifetime; who demands blind obedience and belief without understanding; who demands through his emissaries that the true faith shall be spread by the sword; who sanctifies war; who is the supreme warlord for one belligerent party, for the other or for all parties, and who thus contradicts himself; who selects one people as his own over all others?

Or:

He Who allows human beings the number of earthly lifetimes needed to ripen their spirit and overcome the powers of Darkness; Who compels none to blind obedience and blind faith in human dogmas; Who through His emissaries calls ever to human beings: you shall not kill, nor take by force, nor rob; Who turns away in grief from human beings when they wage war; who selects not one people, but says: all human beings are equal before Me, all stand equally near to My Paternal Heart?

Which is the more loving, the more compassionate God?

He who gifts a chosen few with everlasting life; who lets sinful human beings be condemned to punishment in an everlasting hell, that the pleasures of the blessed in the Kingdom of Heaven be the greater against the backdrop of the sufferings of the lost; who demands that human beings torment and confine themselves in narrow cloisters and hide away from life and from the Light; who demands that people pray at given hours and recite prescribed words; who must be continually bribed with blood sacrifice, sweet incense, with gold, silver and precious stones before granting any prayer; who demands baptism, communion and so on in order to receive the true believers and to forgive the repentant; and he who chains the Prince of Evil forever in the darkest abyss of Hell?

Or:

He Who bestows the gift of eternal life upon all who will receive it; Who opens His Paternal Home to all and bids all welcome when they have overcome sin and Darkness, and when their spirit has been made fully pure by the Light; Who seeks to open human eyes to all that is good and beautiful, that the joys in earthly existence may help them bear its burdens of Darkness; Who has ever an open ear and a loving heart for the yearning and the heartfelt prayers of repentant human beings; Who gives with no demand of tribute— or even thanks; Who says: that which you have sinned against Me, that I forgive when you repent and when you pray; Who could forgive the one who had sinned the most and fallen the deepest, and who had opposed Him through millions of years?

In this way, all that is now given mankind through this work should be arranged and compared with that previously given, and should there still be those who insist that this is the work of Antichrist, there is but one answer to such an assertion: the spiritually blind and the spiritually deaf can also, through new incarnations, come to realize the truth.

——————————

When Christ and his helpers sought some years ago to come into communication with the spiritualistic circle whose medium subsequently took part in the transmission of this message from the transcendental to the sensory world, it was first imperative to find a spiritual guide in whom the medium had utmost trust in everything. One of the Youngest, who in his last incarnation had been the medium’s father, then undertook, at Christ's request, the spiritual guidance of the séances of the circle.

As the medium before her incarnation had pledged to attempt to act as the required¹⁷ intermediary between the spirits of the Light and human beings, she was called upon from the transcendental world when her guardian spirit believed that she had attained sufficient knowledge of spiritualistic communication. The connection was thus established at the request of the spirits of the Light, and not after a demand or wish made from the earthly world. The medium’s guardian spirit had been the spiritual leader of the séances until the time that Christ made contact with the circle, and the medium’s “deceased” father took over its direction.

The medium’s unshakable trust in God and absolute faith in the truthfulness of her spiritual guide, as well as the firm resolve of the séance participants to seek and to find the truth, together resulted in the accord needed for the successful communication of this message to humanity.

Just as Ardor, Christ and God's Servant each answers for the truth of the information they have given, in this way so do I, the medium's spiritual leader, attest, with the name that I bore in my previous earthly life, to the truth of all that has appeared in the Commentary given by me with the permission of our God and Father, and under His direction.

R. Malling-Hansen

Late pastor and principal of

the Royal Copenhagen Institute

for the Deaf and Dumb, May, 1916

FOOTNOTES

(Page references apply to the 1979 edition.)

1) The circle originally consisted of six members, later reduced to four.

2) Ardor’s Account, page 100, and Commentary to Ardor’s Account, page 238.

3) Ardor’s Account, page 104.

4) Only two members of the circle were present at these séances except once, when there were three.

5) Three members were present at these séances.

6) The members were absent on travels during these months. Two of the six members had by summer withdrawn from the circle because of illness.

7) See Addendum.

8) Concluding Summary, page 293.

9) Not trance, but natural sleep.

10) God’s Servants can when necessary transform the vibrations of their thought into sound-waves by strength of their will, in the same manner that God can do this.

11) The fatigue mediums often feel under this form of séance comes from the effort to keep their own thoughts from being occupied by the thoughts coming from the outside. The condition is only passing, whereas fatigue due to loss of psychic strength will be felt as a protracted despondency.

12) Commentary to Ardor’s Account, page 245.

13) The many questions asked by the séance members while receiving Ardor’s Account and which could not be included in the Account, were deferred to be answered later by the medium’s spiritual guide.

14) If a medium writes automatically in trance, the spirit has more power over the medium. But spirits of Light never employ mediums in a trance—that is, they never put their mediums under duress.

15) All the members of the circle (also those who withdrew) have contributed to making the questions so plentiful. At a number of meetings the answers were read out loud, which usually brought about new questions—and new answers.

16) Of course this can be said with some justification with regard to Ardor, but one must bear in mind that Ardor was not the representative of evil when he rendered his Account, and also that he communicated with the human beings at God’s request.

17) Commentary, page 237.