When a scribe asked which commandment was the greatest, Jesus answered (Mark 12: 29): “Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord . . .” Since Jesus quoted this ancient Hebraic tenet with deep conviction, should we not assume that he himself taught that God is one?

If so, how can the Church teach that God is three equal beings Father, Son and the Holy Ghost—who together are One?

The clergy should actually be asked this. They should be fully qualified to answer it truthfully, as difficult as it might appear to make these words of Jesus conform to the “Dogma of the Trinity”. But so as not to trouble the clergy, we shall give the answer according to the knowledge we possess.

Jesus did not “believe” in a triune God, of course. To him, indeed, such a concept of the personal Being of the true God was entirely unknown. To him, God was the Father—the One, the only One!

The doctrine of the Trinity is the work of man, but behind its original thought stood Ardor. The unity of the Son with the Father was agreed upon at the Church Council of Nicea in the year 325 A.D. (by the prevailing calendar)—or long after the time of Jesus. The “Holy Ghost” was included in parenthesis as the third part of this entity, but the parenthesis was deleted at the Church Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. and the “Holy Ghost” accorded, instead, equal status with the Father and the Son.

As many know, and all should know, the “Synoptic Gospels” and the Gospel of John have been much altered. None now appear in their original forms. To make all four Gospels conform to the teachings of the early Church, during the first centuries, much was deleted or amended—or rather, fabricated—as judged best by the learned Fathers of the Church. But by such arbitrary deletions from, or additions to the text, the inherent contradictions of the Gospels became even more conspicuous than they had been from the start. The place referred to in Mark 12: 29 was simply overlooked during these revisions.¹ In the corresponding passages in Matthew 22: 37 and Luke 10: 27, the first sentence of the answer by Jesus is missing: “Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is One”. (The absence of these words is easily verified by looking up the relevant passages.) The learned Church Fathers had “overlooked” Mark 12: 29, and when discovered it was too late to correct the error. The “camel” was there to stay! And generation after generation of prelates have “swallowed the camel”, feeling no obligation to reinstate the words of Jesus and expunge² the Doctrine of the Trinity, the work of man, from the teachings of the Church.

Many a sensitive mind has been disturbed deeply by these words of Jesus, and because of this overlooked quotation many have dissociated themselves from the doctrine of the Trinity.

We await that man of the Church who, in view of these words of Jesus overlooked³ at the Church councils of Nicea and Constantinople, will have sufficient courage to undertake this necessary purging of the Christian teaching.

Some biblical scholars believe an ancient original Gospel was perhaps the source of the now known Gospels. Did such an original Gospel exist?

The present Gospels, both the Synoptic ones and the Gospel of John, are only copies of copies. Back of these scriptures were not only one, but several “original Gospels”.

Our task is not to restore the Gospels⁴ to their original form and wording. Besides, it would be an impossible task. Therefore, rather than elaborate needlessly, we shall refer to the life, words and acts of Jesus as set forth in Toward the Light, both in Ardor’s Account and in the Commentary, as well as in the two Supplements, for what is stated in these works is the truth!

We must also point out that Jesus himself had some knowledge of the older mystic religions⁵ and that his beliefs and pronouncements were therefore influenced in certain respects by his knowledge of the ancient cults.

It would thus be a hopeless task for any biblical scholar to attempt to separate the true from the false in the many doubtful passages, for despite the many distortions, arbitrary insertions and deletions all the Gospels do contain glimpses of truth, and words actually uttered by Jesus.

Why did Jesus demand that Joseph of Arimathea give away his wealth to the poor and renounce all power, honors and rank? (Toward the Light, page 57: 2.) Had Joseph declared himself a follower of Jesus, could he not have exercised great influence upon his fellow citizens, precisely because of his wealth and esteem?

Although Jesus belonged not to the Essene communities he did practice some of their ideas, believing many had great virtue. Thus, he fully agreed with the Essenes that all should share the good things of life and none amass unnecessary wealth for themselves. From his purely human point of view, therefore, he reasoned that those possessed of abundant worldly goods ought to share with those who had none—that they should be poor among the poor. He was for the same reason contemptuous of all earthly power and esteem.

Had Jesus suggested that Joseph contribute part of his great wealth to help the poor, he would then have been in accord with God’s Thought. For never does God demand of the rich that they give away all that they possess and retain nothing for themselves. God most definitely respects the individual’s rights of ownership. And Joseph’s position in life on Earth was indeed such that in accordance with God’s desire and intention he could have supported Jesus through his wealth, esteem, power and authority. Thus, in this instance, Jesus was much too Earth-bound, his demands of Joseph much too harsh.

It is stated (Toward the Light (page 145) that Jesus searched the Earth’s astral plane for centuries before finding Joseph of Arimathea. Was he absent all that time from his work in the sixth sphere, or did he search but intermittently? To human eyes this seems an unreasonably severe penance for an apparently minor guilt by Jesus. Why could he not with God’s help find his missing brother sooner?

During the time the eldest of the Youngest, Christ, searched for Joseph, he could return as often as he wished to his home in the sixth sphere. He also discharged in full the task⁶ God had entrusted him—to lead the Youngest and mankind. He searched for Joseph every day and at every available moment.

But in the centuries that passed before he found Joseph, he was never once with God in the Paternal Home. This should be compared with the parable of the “Two brothers” wherein the son says: “Father, I will go forth and seek my brother—I will not return, except that I bring him with me.” This is thus a penance that the son—Christ—imposes upon himself, and not a penance imposed by the father—by God. For in the parable the father says: “Take up your staff and turn back; seek until you find the brother who fell behind you upon the way!” He says not that the son cannot return without his brother.

The inquirer suggests this penance was too severe for an apparently minor guilt ascribed to Jesus. But God looked not in this way upon that which passed between Jesus and Joseph in Palestine. The guilt that Jesus in his earthly life incurred toward his “brother” was—in God’s view—by no means trivial. By his uncompromising attitude, Jesus alienated Joseph rather than drawing him closer as had been God’s intention.

God had chosen these two among the Youngest, known to man as Jesus of Nazareth and Joseph of Arimathea, to cooperate during life on Earth. They were to support one another in the difficult task He had entrusted them; together they should counter the anger, hatred, misunderstanding, opposition and condemnation of their contemporaries. But by his attitude, unrelenting despite the urgent promptings of his conscience to draw Joseph toward him, Jesus thus came to bear some of the guilt for the failure of their joint mission. Similarly, he cannot be held entirely blameless for the fact that Joseph followed the ways of Darkness, that he took the life of his old servant so that he should not reveal that he had removed the body of Jesus from the tomb. Perhaps, in the eyes of man, this guilt might appear of little significance, but to God it was of importance. And the penance which God imposed upon the eldest of the Youngest was therefore no more than just: he was to seek the missing brother and help him find the road back to their Father, because, during the course of his life on Earth, he had failed to concern himself with the fate of his fellow-worker, because, never once on the road of his journey, had he turned to call his brother back.

God of course knew where Joseph could be found. After many years of aimless wandering on the Earth’s astral plane, Joseph had sought refuge in the Darkness of “Hell”—drawn there by his guilt of sin. And God could have conveyed this knowledge to Christ. But would it have been of any use? Joseph could still not return, could still not be released from the bonds of Darkness until grief and remorse would overcome him. But there was a possibility that Christ in searching for him would be able to evoke this grief and remorse when he suddenly stood before him as the good Samaritan who sought for the one he could help and sustain. And this is what did come to pass. When Christ suddenly stood before Joseph in the Darkness of Hell, when his radiant figure cast a clear light on the dismal surroundings, then did a yearning for the Father’s forgiveness awaken in the darkened mind of Joseph, and he followed his brother.

But behind Christ’s search was God’s Thought, and the moment God saw the first feeling of unease emerge in Joseph’s mind, saw Joseph’s first shudder of horror at the memory of his act of murder, God led Christ to his brother’s refuge, for then He knew there was a possibility that the son lost in the depth of Darkness might be overcome by grief and remorse over the failure of his earthly life. He knew that now there existed a possibility the son might return home to ask his Father’s forgiveness.

According to Toward the Light Jesus confirmed before Caiaphas that he was the Son of the Most High. Did Jesus mean that he was in fact⁷ the Son of God and thus of a different nature from God’s other children?

Through his spiritual struggles, Jesus had come to a full understanding that he indeed was the Messiah, God’s emissary. He recollected, faintly, that he held an exceptional position in the heavenly abodes as the chosen one among his peers. He faintly recalled that God had entrusted him the power and authority over beings who lived and existed in the “heavens”.⁸

Jesus said often: “My Kingdom is not of this world”, showing clearly that he was aware of his exceptional position in the world invisible to man. However, he felt that not only he but all human beings were children of God, and that as such they were all equal. When Jesus spoke of God he would as often say “my Father” as “your Father” or “our Father”. And in his teaching he emphasized again and again that God was the loving Father of all.

At the time that Caiaphas questioned him, fatigue had overcome Jesus. He knew he had been chosen to be sacrificed, knew he was to pay with his life for the attempted revolt by the priests and the Sanhedrin⁹ against the Roman overlordship. He knew his answers would be of no consequence, for Caiaphas would be certain to turn and twist his words so that they would express exactly what Caiaphas desired to hear, that Caiaphas might deliver him to Pilate. The Sanhedrin was determined to be rid of him—and Jesus knew this. When Caiaphas asked if he were the Son of the Most High, Jesus could have answered according to his teachings: the Most High is my Father as He is your Father and the Father of all! But as said, Jesus was in a state of fatigue when he stood before Caiaphas, and his answer was not well considered. His words were such that the Sanhedrin saw blasphemy in them—and the fate of Jesus was thereby sealed.

The clergy are reproached (in the Appendix to Supplement 1) for applying the expression “The Bride of Christ” to the congregation in the terminology of the Church. But can they properly be reproached for this, since for example John 3: 29¹⁰ and Revelation 19: 7, 21: 9 and 22: 17 can be said to set a precedent for this expression?

The wording of these passages has its origin in the older mystic religions. These words stem from ancient rituals but have since been distorted.¹¹ They were spoken at the festivals consecrated to the nuptials of the God of Fertility and the Earth. The God of Fertility was represented by a handsome youth chosen by the priests of the temple from among the young disciples, while the Earth was represented by a fair maiden chosen by the priestesses from among the young temple maidens. The youth was subjected to various lengthy rituals to render his body worthy as an abode for the “god” during his stay on Earth. These rituals were climaxed with a “baptism”, which purged the soul and body of all sin and earthly impurity. Afterward, the youth was led to the altar where he knelt in a prescribed manner and inhaled narcotic vapors rising from the glowing embers in a brazier before him. And when he fell into a stupor, at that moment the god took possession of his body! After the administering of some stimulants, he regained consciousness and was hailed by the priests as the god descended from heaven—the bridegroom. Outside the temple, in the center of a semi-circle of white-robed and flower-bedecked priestesses and temple maidens, the chosen bride, adorned also in white and bedecked with flowers, awaited the bridegroom’s arrival. The priests, chanting softly, led the “god” to his waiting bride. The priests then all gathered before her, and the high priest stepped forward, raised his staff and called out: “Behold, the bridegroom is come! Where is the bride?” In chorus, the priestesses answered: “The Earth stands adorned as the bride, longingly she awaits the coming of the bridegroom!” Again the high priest called out: “Behold, the bridegroom is come! Where is the bride?” The young maiden then stepped forward and bowed deeply before the “god.” Under alternating chants by the priests, priestesses and temple maidens the chosen bride was forthwith delivered over to the “god”—the bridegroom.

The mystic cult from which this account is taken belongs to the more ancient cults, but we are not permitted to reveal from which people or from which time it originated. In antiquity, this festival, or rather this drama, was enacted with a certain chaste beauty and solemnity. Only those chosen to take part in the invocation were present. And a tragic drama it was! For as soon as the youth had enacted his role as the God of Fertility, he was put to death by the chief priest so that the “god” who had descended into the body of the youth could again be released. This was also done so that sin or earthly impurity would never taint the earthly body that had served briefly as the god’s abode .

This feast, once so exalted and solemn, also developed later into an orgy in which all the people participated.

The comparison of Christ with the heavenly bridegroom springs therefore from an ancient mystic cult. And in view of the foregoing, the congregation—the bride—thus becomes an expression of earthly fertility.

With the knowledge that the quotations cited from the New Testament are offshoots of an ancient pagan cult, a symbol of the union of the God of Fertility with the flourishing Earth, one can rightfully say that it is unethical, unesthetic and unseemly to compare Christ to the bridegroom who awaits his bride, the congregation. And if the Church had not brought human marriage contracts under its domain, this metaphor of Christ’s relationship with the congregation would probably long since have been removed from the terminology of the Church as a most offensive expression.

Why did many followers of Jesus and the Apostles believe baptism¹²—as practiced by John—cleansed them not only of past but of future sins as well, even though Jesus said repeatedly that baptism was only symbolic?

Both in his day and in earlier times, the general populace of the native land of Jesus knew about as much concerning older mystic cults as the general public of, say, Denmark knows today about the ancient pagan feasts of the Winter Solstice (now “Christmas”), the New Year and Shrovetide.

“Baptism” was thus widely known in Palestine as an initiation, as a cleansing that purified and consecrated those who dedicated their lives to the service of the mystic god. But then came John the Baptist, bringing baptism to all. With his ceremony, that is, he consecrated all who would accept what he proclaimed. But when he took water from the River Jordan and poured it over his disciples, he said: “As with water I cleanse your bodies of earthly dust and soil, so shall the Lord cleanse your hearts with heavenly fire, cleanse you from the impurities¹³of sin and evil.” This was therefore a twofold cleansing, for the heart—the soul—should be purified by the “heavenly fire” of the Lord. Many therefore understood this to mean that the Lord let His fire cleanse their souls while John poured water from the river over their bodies. And when the fire had purified their “hearts” of the taints of sin and evil, being thus doubly cleansed they could no longer be tainted by sin—even though they sinned. A remarkable logic, but thus they reasoned! And it was this erroneous conception that Jesus sought to root out by countering the question of baptism with the analogy of the daily cleansing of the body, as related in chapter 19 of Ardor’s Account.

Christ says (Speech of Christ in Toward the Light, page 113, line 19): “For there shall be no progress for you, nor shall you be able to begin a new life upon the Earth before you have acknowledged your errors, before you have repented of your sins.” Elsewhere he says: “. . .for each must atone in full for that sinned. But if you will not right your wrongs—for no one compels you to do right—then you cease your progress toward the Light and the Kingdom, and through many lives upon the Earth shall you remain at the same place.” Do not these two pronouncements contradict one another?

No! These two statements fully agree with and supplement one another.

In the first instance, Christ says the human spirit must acknowledge and repent of its guilt of sin before a new life on Earth can commence, otherwise the spirit cannot advance. That is, it cannot develop further spiritually. According to God’s Law of Incarnation, each new earthly life normally advances the human spirit in development, knowledge and experience. It is this that Christ emphasizes by saying: “For there shall be no progress for you.” But—and it is this that Christ emphasizes in the second instance—neither is any progress possible for the spirit that refuses to submit to the Law of Retribution¹⁵, that is to say refuses to atone for its guilt of sin. Provided that it has repented of its guilt, a spirit that refuses to atone for this guilt can well be incarnated to a new life on Earth, but that earthly life will never advance or develop it spiritually. The spirit will therefore remain at the same level it had reached when it refused to atone for the errors and transgressions committed in its last normal incarnation. In the second passage quoted, from the section dealing with the Law of Retribution, Christ speaks not of prior repentance, he speaks only of spirits who refuse to restore what they have destroyed, refuse to atone for what they have sinned. But in the other quotation Christ speaks of repentance, the remorse that all must sooner or later fully experience before a new earthly life of progressive spiritual development can begin.

Numerous human spirits are willing enough to acknowledge their errors and repent of their sins, but however deep and true their remorse may be, many a spirit will still attempt to evade the Law of Retribution, evade the atonement, will refuse outright to submit to the provisions of this law. Since none, however, are incarnated under the regular Law¹⁶ of Incarnation without their consent, the spirits who refuse to atone for their sins must remain in their homes in the spheres with no possibility of further progress. (Toward the Light, page 184: 4.) Thus they take part in no preparatory instruction that could be useful to them in their coming incarnation. However, this idle and lonely existence will usually soon bring the spirits to reason so that they willingly submit to the provisions of the Law of Retribution. But if, after a certain time, the spirits are yet unwilling to submit to these provisions, they will be permitted to incarnate again rather than stay in their home in the spheres. This permission has always been accepted, since everyone prefers to live as humans on Earth among others, rather than remain utterly alone in their home in the spheres. But such extraordinary incarnations bring no spiritual progress to the individual. In such instances, many incarnations are often required before the recalcitrant spirit yields. When the human spirit finally understands that almost all its contemporaries have progressed and moved on to higher spheres, the full weight of solitude will make itself felt and the spirit will submit to the unavoidable—the incarnation of atonement.

These extraordinary incarnations count not in the development of the human spirit, and it is this circumstance to which Christ refers with the words: “. . .then through many lives on Earth you remain at the same place.”

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Christ says (Speech of Christ, Toward the Light, page 111: 1): “I speak to you of some of our Father’s laws!” Thus he mentions there only the most important laws—those that all humans should know of. But of course under the principal laws are also found numerous sections and subsections, each important for the continuous development of the human spirit, although it is not essential that they all be made familiar to mankind. If information on all these sections and subsections were to be given, that subject alone would fill heavy volumes—an impossible task. However, there is one provisional clause, referred to in Question 18 (First Supplement), which we shall describe in greater detail. It is found under the principal law for the incarnations of human spirits and pertains to the position of “Christian” spirits under the Law of Retribution:

The majority of human spirits who have lived and worked in Christian societies during their last previous incarnation will, during the contemplation of the errors and sins of their earthly lives, sooner or later come to understand the erroneous implication in the principal dogma of Christian teaching, namely the teaching of the Death of Atonement of Jesus. They realize that it must be absurd that someone else should atone or suffer for their wrongdoing in life on Earth. And even though numerous human spirits have sighed and grieved because they have had to renounce this—to them so convenient—mode of atonement, they fully concede that a loving and just divinity would never allow a “Christ” to suffer or atone for the sins of mankind. And having so conceded, they understand that only they alone can make amends for their errors and atone for their sins. These spirits then enter their incarnations of atonement in the normal manner. But among the “Christian” human spirits are unfortunately a great many not open to reason. All arguments founder on that one single, at times differently formulated but invariably repeated, tenet: “Jesus Christ has atoned for my sins, and I am saved and absolved of my guilt of sin through my belief in his death of atonement.” Remorse is out of the question for these beings. Repent they will not, because, as they insist, they have already repented, having done so when they partook of the Sacrament of the Communion on Earth and received the “remission of sin”.

But when God has seen that their repentance on Earth is superficial, is anything but deep-felt, then must they indeed consider carefully the errors and transgressions of the life they have just ended, until they become truly and deeply remorseful. It cannot be avoided, for to God the remission of sin through Communion is of no significance at all. But these obstinate “Christian” human spirits refuse to submit, and in most cases are even greatly dissatisfied with their stay in their home in the spheres because: 1) the spiritual self does not “sleep” until the “Day of Judgment”, as many imagine that it does after the death of the body; 2) they are not in Paradise, although, to be sure, neither are they in the dreaded Hell; 3) They see no host of angels with great white wings, harps or palm fronds; 4) There are no songs of jubilation, no hosannas, no hallelujahs! There is nothing of all that they had expected, hoped for or believed in. There is but a grey and dismal existence,¹⁷ a total solitude and silence, when the conscience does not speak. But because of their trust in Christian teaching, these spirits find such a condition utterly intolerable and understand not that this solitude and this silence is necessary for the voice of conscience to be heard within themselves, so that everything from the completed life on Earth can be recalled and carefully pondered. They brood therefore first and foremost upon how they may escape from this unendurable, this quite incomprehensible existence. Again and again they cry out that they wish to return to life on Earth! For they would rather live in the human world, among others, than reflect in solitary silence upon the errors and transgressions that in their view had long since been forgiven through participation in the Sacrament of Communion, and removed by their belief in the Death of Atonement of Jesus Christ. When God after a time sees that nothing can be done with these spirits, He grants their request to return to life on Earth. But even though they are told that in the new incarnation they must themselves atone for the sins they would neither consider nor repent of, they all seize eagerly upon the prospect of living once more among their fellow beings. They all hope yet that in one way or another they will manage to avoid atonement when they enter a new life on Earth. Not until they have endured one or more earthly lives in which—under the Law of Retribution—they have had to atone for previous sins and errors, do they finally concede and admit they were wrong in their “Christian” views. With this concession, their obstinacy is broken and then acknowledgment of sin and feelings of remorse awaken.

The journey of these “Christian” human spirits is indeed a longer one; but it is a necessary detour, and it must continue to be followed until human beings understand that the doctrines and postulates of the Christian religion are in error. Not until then can there be any expectation that all human spirits, when confronted in the beyond with their completed earthly life, will be more open to the prospect of penance and atonement for the transgressions of their human life. (See also Question 18 of the First Supplement to Toward the Light.)

In answer to Question 36, Supplement I, it is stated that the total time of incarnations will be longer in future than in the past. Assuming of course that the activities of the Eldest have greatly hindered and delayed human progress, and considering that these activities have now ceased, mankind should consequently make faster progress, leading to a more rapid completion of the total time of incarnations. But the answer to Question 36 is that the opposite will prevail—the total time will be lengthened. How can this be understood and explained?

This should need no further explanation beyond that given in reply to Question 36, where it is clearly said that the willful incarnations of the Eldest have brought disorder to the calm and steady progress of the human spirits through earthly rebirth. And since the nature of this disorder is explained with equal clarity in Toward the light, everyone should be able to see why both the total number and the total duration of incarnations will increase rather than decrease. However, since the logic of this appears difficult for humans to comprehend we will explain it further, though this would seem unnecessary:

First, above all, remember that millions upon millions of human spirits remained on the astral plane of the Earth for thousands of years, thus evading the normal succession of rebirths. These millions must therefore atone in times to come not only for transgressions in their lives on Earth in the remote past, but also for the guilt incurred during their Earth-bound existence through the incitement—by the influence of their thought—of human crimes, misdeeds and transgressions. Consider also the transgressions of humans while they lived on Earth during the time of the willful incarnations of the Eldest. All this must be atoned for in full, inevitably demanding a longer series of incarnations than previously needed for the earthly development of the human spirit—before the self-incarnations of the Eldest began. To the questioner this might appear as a gross injustice, but in no way is it unjust. This provision is founded upon perfect justice. Remember that the individual is entirely free to decide to give way or not to the influence of Darkness and sin, and remember, as often stated, that all human beings are guided by their conscience. Had the humans during that period followed their conscience rather than allowed themselves to be tempted or guided by the self-incarnated Eldest, there would of course have been no reason to increase the number of incarnations; for then mankind would not have transgressed to so great a degree. By studying world history from known ancient times to the present, anyone can learn of the misdeeds and crimes of the successive generations. But as humans are easily tempted, as they easily submit to the guidance of the emissaries of Darkness, they must also fully atone for what they have sinned. They were not compelled to follow the ways of Darkness. Had they so willed, they could have chosen the ways of the Light. At some time, millions of years from now, when atonement is completed—for there must be balance according to God’s laws—it is possible the number of incarnations can once more be reduced. And since those Eldest whom Ardor had incarnated will, at some time, be removed from the Earth forever, it is likely that, as time passes, man’s lot in life—and the circumstances for atonement on Earth—will be more favorable than if the Eldest had continued their incarnations.

In answer to Question 36 (First Supplement) it is stated: “. . .and since the sequence of incarnations of human spirits will be longer in the future than hitherto, the period of development in the worlds of Light will be of shorter duration for these spirits than for those who have been released from earthly life and now live in the worlds of Light”. The reason is of course that these first-mentioned spirits, through the numerous rebirths, will learn much that was unknown when the previously released spirits lived through their periods of learning and development upon Earth.

Words as we know them are of Earthly origin (Toward the Light, page 3: 3). Do transcendental beings also make use of audible language for song and speech? If so, do all spiritual beings speak one identical language?

All spiritual beings can use audible language in speech and song. They can also communicate by means of thought over short as well as over long distances.

The language by which God, His Servants and His first children—the Eldest and the Youngest—communicated and still communicate among themselves is very different from earthly language. No further information regarding this language will be given.

The human spirits in the spheres speak the earthly languages familiar to them, but can also communicate by thought if they desire. They possess no knowledge of the language spoken by God, by His Servants and by His first children. When these “speak” to human spirits, they do so usually by thought or in the language familiar to the spirits from their most recent life on Earth. (Regarding God’s speech to the human spirits in the spheres, see Toward the Light, page 186: 2. 3).

When the human spirits have been released from their earthly incarnations to continue their development in the distant transcendental worlds, they will also be taught the “Divine language”. Thus, all God’s children will speak the same language when finally gathered in their Father’s Kingdom. They will also be able to communicate by thought and, if they desire, by the earthly languages they once spoke.

The Youngest taught humans the use of speech (Toward the Light, page 19: 10). Why then are languages so different, so grammatically complex? Can the transcendental world advise if humanity ought to adopt an artificial or an existing language as a common tongue?

When some of the Youngest went through their first lives on Earth, bound to the human bodies that Ardor had created, their intelligence stood at a very low level. To enable the Youngest to dwell with the animal-like human beings of the first ages, it was necessary to limit and reduce their high intelligence to the lowest possible level. The spiritually life-giving cord that connects the psychic and the physical brains was therefore brought into contact with only a few sharply defined centers in the psychic brains of these Youngest. Consequently, the first groping attempts to establish any form of language were vague and deficient. And since these Youngest—the first leaders of mankind—were incarnated at widely scattered places across the Earth, it was impossible for them to communicate with one another. Guided by their guardian spirits, each had to think and act independently and according to the intelligence allotted them. It was thus quite impossible to create and develop a common form of speech for all peoples. However, with each rebirth on Earth the life-giving cord of the Youngest was interwoven with additional centers in the psychic brain, thereby increasing their human intelligence by some few degrees and enabling them to broaden the mental horizon of their fellow beings who then gradually achieved greater fluency of speech so as to be able to create new words, devise better sentence structure, and invent better designations. Even so, progress was exceedingly slow, groping and faltering, building always upon the existing but diverse forms of speech. Later, when human intelligence began to awaken in earnest, people themselves—within each nation—contributed new words to their languages, new names for objects, animals, plants and natural phenomena, and so on. Later still, when the discarnate Eldest began to intervene through the influence of their thought in what the Youngest were teaching mankind, they also left their stamp upon the various language groups. During their many and long migrations from place to place in the earliest times, in the pre-historic era and in the later age of ancient history, humans again and again borrowed words and expressions from one another, adopted them into their own language and in many instances built further upon them.

And when the Eldest began to incarnate on Earth, beginning around 12,000 B.C., these also improved upon and expanded the vocabulary and grammar of a number of the existing languages through the mighty intelligence of their personalities. Further development then took place in the course of thousands of years upon the basis laid down by the Eldest, or upon their linguistic innovations. The forms of speech of the many nations and peoples thus were created not in a single event. They all gradually developed over time from the primitive, hesitant and unsure attempts to build a bridge between human individuals—a bridge over which thought could be communicated in words that could be gathered into sentences and resound in audible speech and thus convey to others the thoughts and feelings of the individual and express joy, sorrow, passion, pain and suffering.

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Humanity must itself choose if it is expedient and desirable to adopt an artificial language as a common tongue, or to employ one of the existing, living languages.

Some readers have expressed surprise that Ardor’s Account was given in an archaic style of language. Was that style more familiar to Ardor, or was the intent simply to establish a more solemn and “biblical” tone?

Ardor did not employ an archaic form of speech so as to to give his Account a “Bible-like” effect but rather to give it a more solemn tone than would have been possible with modern idioms and style, especially when recited aloud.

He could of course have presented his Account in accordance with modern usage, but since he wished to bestow upon it a more personal stamp and to show how beautifully the Danish language can be formed and can sound when shaped by a highly developed spiritual intelligence, he composed his words in the form presented.

To compare Ardor’s language with that of the Bible would be to its disadvantage.¹⁸Ardor’s entire account, from first word to last, is couched in an eloquent and graphically descriptive style. (The same cannot be said of the Bible, a work pieced together from manuscripts of widely varying composition.) The first chapters of Ardor’s Account, especially, are so styled that even someone of moderate poetic gift cannot only appreciate the outstanding beauty of the language¹⁹ but can also clearly “visualize” the events described as they pass before the inner eye. Gradually, as Ardor enters historical ground, his language becomes freer, becomes more descriptive. Yet he retains his characteristic choice of words and sentence structure.

Not until scholars of Danish language and literature undertake a close study of Toward the Light at some future time will the full beauty of its poetic form be widely understood, for it is not given to everyone to recognize the linguistic quality of this work without some guidance.

With the hope of being recognized as Jesus of Nazareth, Christ presented his discourse (Speech of Christ) in a language similar to that of the New Testament.²⁰ But it will soon become apparent to the observant reader that Christ’s discourse is, in its form and choice of words, much more poetic than the New Testament. His discourse is authoritative, is dignified and eloquent, and in every way transcends the quite ordinary language of the New Testament.

One cannot expect that the general populace will be able to judge the linguistic quality of Toward the Light; though in future that aspect of this work will also be fully recognized, when the spirit of the time has matured sufficiently to allow understanding and acknowledgment of the unique significance of Toward the Light for all mankind.

Why was Toward the Light not given in a better known language, such as English, which would have made it accessible to many more people without translation? Did it appear in Denmark for a reason similar to that for which Jesus was sent to Palestine?

At the time that God incarnated a multitude of the Youngest, both male and female, to be human helpers for Christ in his special task of winning back Ardor, they were incarnated in all civilized countries. Among many other considerations, attention also had to be given to Ardor’s ether-recordings, some of which loomed ominously on the horizon of human life at the exact time when these incarnated Youngest were to extend their help to Christ in his difficult mission. We refer to the so-called World War, planned and pre-determined by Ardor but brought to reality through human action. And when God saw that there was a possibility—albeit faint—that Denmark would remain neutral, He sent to that country some of the Youngest who in previous incarnations had proven especially suited to allowing themselves to be guided by the voice of their “conscience”. It was among these that Christ succeeded in finding the needed assistance.²¹ For this reason, then, Toward the Light and its supplementary works were presented in the Danish language. But with the knowledge of various languages that people possess today, it should not prove too difficult to find qualified translators so that in time these works may become universally known, may become a possession of all.

Why is the structure of Toward the Light based on questions from human beings? Would it not have been easier for the spiritual intelligences to create this work from their own knowledge of the truths important to humanity?

The answer can be both yes and no.

It would have been a great relief for the spiritual intelligences could they have so proceeded. But had the work originated exclusively with the transcendental world, a great difficulty that probably could not have been overcome would have presented itself when it came to “transferring” it to the earthly world. The only possible method would then have been for our helper on Earth to memorize the complete manuscript page by page during many nightly sleep releases²² from her human body; and page by page the spiritual intelligences would have had to transfer each day the memorized subject matter from the helper’s psychic to her physical brain. In other words, by the same method as was employed by some “deceased” Danish poets when they produced a collection of poems, Greetings from Denmark, as a proof that the “dead” were alive and able to send a greeting to their former native country and its people. But even though the first part of the work, the production and the composition of Toward the Light, would have been an easy task for the discarnate spiritual intelligences, the many nightly sleep releases²² could have harmed considerably their earthly helper, just as the transfer from the psychic to the physical brain would have been difficult, perhaps quite impossible. And since it involved so many significant truths and important explanations, which would have had to be reproduced exactly according to the manuscripts of the spheres, it was too risky a procedure to embark upon when in all likelihood it could not have been successfully concluded. But we cannot give an account of all these many and severe difficulties, because humans lack any basis for understanding them. We can only ask you to bear in mind that the human brain tissue will always lose some of its original elasticity over the years, a condition which in this specific case probably would have left “voids” in the text while transferring it from the psychic to the physical brain of the earthly helper. And since it is most unlikely that sufficient resilience could be restored to the slackened physical brain cells and brain-centers in order to fill possible “voids” by repeated transpositions of the missing sentences and paragraphs, it would still have been necessary to resort to a different procedure for these sections. But the only recourse would then be to use thought-dictation, the inspirational and intuitive procedure, or in other words the method that was in fact used for the production of the greater part of this work in the Danish language (See also the Postscript to Toward the Light).

But one other aspect of the matter must also be considered. Had the work been successfully conveyed to the human world from a text prepared by spiritual intelligences, then humanity could with some justification ask: “What should we in fact do with this work? We have surely had enough ‘revelations’. Spare us yet another of this kind”, and so forth. God pointed this out to those of the Youngest whom He selected for the task of creating Toward the Light. He therefore said to them: “Lead the thoughts of your earthly helper and her closest friends toward questions of religion, ethics, science and philosophy. Say to them that within those limits they may ask about anything that they believe could be of interest to them and to their fellow humans. For then can you give them answers to their questions, then can they receive answers on the subjects about which they believe it is necessary to ask, then can they receive solutions to some of the riddles over which human beings have puzzled for thousands of years and more without being able to unravel them.” In accordance with God’s wish it was thus left to certain individual humans to pose questions upon which Toward the Light could be based and drafted by the spiritual intelligences chosen for that task. But great freedom was also left to these intelligences to lead the chosen human beings to ask at least the most essential questions. Thus no one has any right to say: “This work has no significance for us, it does not tell us what we need to know, it gives little of the information that is of interest to us, the whole work is quite meaningless, our own interpretations are much superior”, and so on. For that which is now given to mankind through Ardor and a number of the discarnate Youngest is the very answer to that which has been asked by human beings. And those who have posed the questions show, through their questions, that they represent that part of humanity—though doubtless only a smaller part—whose spiritual level is higher than that of the average human being. This therefore means that only a few people—few in relation to the total population of the Earth—will be able to fully understand the answers given. But the others, the greater part of humanity, will at some future time through numerous incarnations achieve the same spiritual level, if all will heed the “Message” that is now given.

At the time our earthly helper announced that neither she nor her circle had any further questions, the work was temporarily concluded. But as God had seen that there were still many matters of importance to mankind not asked about yet, He chose to augment the work so far given with one or possibly two supplements. God therefore entrusted some of the Youngest the task—within a certain number of years—of leading those people who had accepted or shown interest in the “Message” to submit written or oral questions to our earthly assistant, in order to have them answered through her intuition and through the inspiration of the Youngest. These Youngest thus became the helpers of the spiritual guide who had been assigned to our earthly interpreter and translator.

The structure of the First and Second Supplements is therefore also based on questions from humans. Only the Appendix to the First Supplement was, at God’s wish and direction, given solely from the transcendental world,²³ since it had not been possible to elicit any questions relating to sexual matters before the First Supplement had been concluded.

Discarnate spiritual intelligences and human beings have thus worked hand in hand. And the work will continue in this way until the point has been reached established by God as the ultimate limit in time for obtaining answers to questions on matters spiritual and of the Spheres and of the Earth. But if we succeed in eliciting the still missing questions and answering them before the time established by God has been reached, the work will be definitely concluded with no further additions.

The language style in the Commentary to Toward the Light appears somewhat different than that of Questions and Answers. Did the same intelligence originate both texts, or do their origins lie with a number of different intelligences?

In answer, we must go back to the time when The Doctrine of Atonement and the Shorter Road was concluded. With the completion of that work, the promise given our earthly helper that she should receive a gift consisting of “three golden fruits”²⁴ was fulfilled. However, as stated in answer to Question 15, there still remained a number of essential matters to be elucidated in order to give human beings a more complete picture and a fuller understanding of the transcendental world, and of the circumstances that form the basis of the individual personality of the human spirit. Similarly, there remained a number of answers in Toward the Light that could well be further clarified and expanded through new questions, thus contributing to a clearer understanding of the subjects already treated. Our Father then chose—as previously stated—some of the discarnate Youngest to assist our earthly helper’s spiritual guide, and He instructed them to elicit with the means at their disposal the missing questions from the people who had accepted Toward the Light and who understood its significance. With our earthly helper’s permission, the time for answering such questions was stipulated to be for as long as she lived on Earth. However, should it prove possible to elicit and answer the missing questions within a shorter period, the work would then be brought to a final conclusion so that all response to any further questions would cease, even though our helper’s life on Earth had not yet ended.

As Toward the Light and The Doctrine of Atonement and the Shorter Road were being given, the spiritual intelligences were present in our intermediary’s earthly home. Invisible to her, we stood each at her side and communicated what we intended to convey with the help of our thought—but these words and sentences of thought were expressed in the Danish language.²⁵ The style of language thus directly expressed the individual personality of each of the spiritual intelligences present. But this intensive and concentrated procedure could clearly not be employed in the case of the subsequent questions, because the chosen Youngest—the helpers of the spiritual guide—first had to elicit these questions in the thoughts of several different human beings before the spiritual guide could answer them. Our Father then established a direct spiritual “radio” link between our intermediary and her guide. Wherever he happened to be in the spiritual²⁶ world or in the spheres, the guide would thus at any time be able to answer the questions posed through the intermediary. These answers were, as usual, given by thought, but given in the “divine language.”²⁷ When her spiritual leader’s thought-messages reached our earthly helper’s psychic brain, her thought²⁸ would automatically convert the given words and sentences into the Danish language. And because of this “translation” minor departures have occurred from the literary style of the Commentary, which was conveyed in her mother tongue.

Were the entire human race to follow the course suggested in the Appendix to the First Supplement and have no more children—a logical possibility—how would the Law of Reincarnation then operate? Would it cease to function and bring to a halt that form of development of the human race?

A suggestion to limit the number of children is not the same as a command to bring no more children into the world under any circumstances. The questioner suggests there is no logical hindrance to envisaging the possibility that the whole human race might cease to bear children on account of the suggestion in the First Supplement that humans should limit the number of children. Can this truly be called a logical thought? We think not! First, because no consideration is given to the individual’s need to have children, the need to give love to beings of one’s own flesh and blood. This instinct cannot be eliminated from the human race by decree, much less by a mere appeal to limit the number of children. This is quite out of the question. Secondly, no account is taken of the primitive peoples, nor of those millions of humans not yet benefited by civilization in, for example, China and other places. 3) No account is taken of the survival instinct of the various races. It is hardly likely that any one race would willingly eliminate itself in favor of any other.

Thus: God demands not that humans should refrain from bringing children into the world under any circumstances, since such a demand would be in deep conflict with His love for His children and with His sense of justice. But He does ask that none bear more children than they are fully able to support. And this request is perfectly justified.²⁹

In theory, birth control could be practiced to the extent that the human race would eventually die out. How would God and the Youngest view such a possibility—or the prospect of a drastic reduction in the Earth’s population?

God and the pioneers of humanity—the Youngest—would only welcome a drastic reduction in the number of people on Earth. It would in every way bring about better circumstances and conditions for mankind. However, not the least danger exists far into the future that the human race will become extinct through birth control. Should, however, the possibility of extinction ever arise, humanity would have no cause for anxiety, for God would certainly know of other ways to continue the development and education of the human spirits according to His plans and wishes. And such a continuation would take a form that would create no injustice whatsoever for those human spirits who would—should such an hour ever come—have concluded their earthly development.

Some see a discrepancy between Toward the Light where it states (page 328) that divorce should be “a means of last resort”, and the Appendix to the First Supplement which recommends easy access to divorce. Should it be understood that the first statement applies as a moral obligation, and that easy access to divorce is demanded only because freedom strengthens the individual’s sense of responsibility and facilitates divorce in those cases where it is definitely justified?

In Toward the Light, the statement on divorce as the last resort should not be understood as a question of morality but as a norm for marriage, a goal for which all people who are married should strive. What is stated is thus the ideal of human marriage, an ideal pointed out also in the First Supplement, page 108 1. Human beings can give substance to this ideal, and it has been fulfilled in many marriages both present and past. But as long as rigorous laws for the dissolution of marriage bind people and as long as marriage is regarded as a Sacrament and divorce in general as a disgrace, the average human being cannot attain to this ideal. Then, also, people should be given the freedom to dissolve or to continue their marriage. The more difficult it is to obtain divorce, the heavier the “yoke of matrimony” for either one or both partners. Forget not that humanity, on average, stands yet at such a low level in very many respects that it would be quite unrealistic to attempt to tie people down through rigorous laws for the dissolution of marriage. Such laws give rise only to anger, hatred and bitterness. Many who could have led happy and peaceful lives with someone other than the partner first chosen have stagnated in life or broken down completely, both morally and spiritually, because their marriage was regarded as a Sacrament and its dissolution a disgrace, or because one of the partners has clung tenaciously to his or her “right”. Humans—especially the male—must seek to reject the archaic view that marriage partners are each other’s property. Under God’s law the man has no more right of ownership over the woman than she of him. Both partners must be equally free in their relationship, but if this cannot be, then divorce is much to be preferred—especially if there are children. For the mental character of the children can be considerably impaired by constantly witnessing parental disputes and quarrels.

The questioner is right in stating that complete freedom in questions of marriage strengthens the individual’s sense of responsibility, and that easy access to divorce should be granted in all justified cases.

Many will likely also see a contradiction between the insistence on purity and the easy access to means of contraception recommended in the First Supplement. Should this be understood to mean that abstinence—also within marriage—is preferable when consistent with bodily and spiritual health?

Easy access to contraceptive means should be seen from the point of view of birth control. For according to God’s laws human beings have no right to give life to more children than they are fully able to support and educate.

The demand for purity has nothing to do with birth control and nothing to do with sexual abstinence. And In Toward the Light there is nowhere any condemnation of bodily union. This union has once and for all time been given humanity by the creators of the human body as the basis for its propagation. The sexual instinct and its satisfaction must be regarded as a part of human life in the same way as are all other functions of the body. Human beings cannot refrain from taking nourishment, though this may seem an unesthetic process, unless they wish to expose themselves to death from starvation. Nor can they retain in the body the wastes that must normally be expelled. For if humans defy nature they will simply destroy their bodies, even though their action be based on apparently esthetic considerations. It is necessary for all to respect the body’s various demands and processes; no good can come of seeking to ignore the natural functions given the human body by its creator at the dawn of earthly time. But everyone can—by the strength of their God-given will—subdue and refine the crude sexual instinct that dwells in the body. Through the strength of the will, humans can thus govern and regulate their sexual life so as not to give way without restraint or moderation to the sexual instinct. For if humans seek not to govern this instinct, it may manifest itself in atavistic and abnormal behavior and result in abusive or criminal sexual conduct.

Thus, God demands not that bodily abstinence be regarded as an ideal expression of “purity”. This would be quite absurd in view of the natural functions originally established for the human body. What God does ask of people is purity of mind and thought! The will can also be employed for this purpose, for everyone can by power of will cleanse the mind and thought from that which gives impure, amoral and obscene ideas and fantasies. But those who are subjected to compulsory abstinence, for example through the Catholic vow of celibacy, are seldom pure of mind and thought. Often they practice in secret—not only in thought, but often also in reality—what the vow of celibacy denies them.

If abstinence is practiced within marriage, without damage to spiritual and bodily health—and with the full agreement of both partners—then God objects not. But never does He uphold sexual abstinence as an ideal of “purity”, either for the married or the unmarried.

Thus: the purity demanded by the laws of God is purity of mind and thought! It means not that one must force the body to refrain from satisfaction of the sexual instinct. It means that all, through the power of their will, should seek to hold the urges of the body within the proper and normal limits and not become slaves to their instincts, so as to commit lewd, unchaste, atavistic, abnormal or criminal acts.

One should thus respond to the demands of the body within the limits that one’s inner self and the conscience believe proper for the satisfaction of the sexual instinct.

How should the ancient commandment³⁰ “Thou shalt not commit adultery” be properly understood, and how far-reaching is its significance?

Adultery in the sense of the Old Testament covers many different forms of transgression. Various sinful and morally wrong acts, both within and outside marriage, are described in Leviticus 20: 10-21. The transgressions within marriage discussed there, and the penalties cited, must first and foremost be judged in the light of the very stringent view held in those ancient times of the male’s absolute ownership of one or of a number of women, and of the inadmissibility and immorality of sexual relationships between close relatives.³¹

The sexually immoral, abnormal, lewd, atavistic and criminal conduct of human beings was far worse and widespread in those times than today. Thus from a human point of view there had to be severe penalties for these offences and crimes.

The New Testament not only supports the views of the Old Testament on such matters but adds a new element, with the words of Jesus:³² “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart”.

As stated earlier, Jesus agreed in many ways with the dogmas and ideas of the Essenes. He was deeply disturbed by the immorality of his time. Chaste himself, he felt the Essene demand for sexual abstinence justified. But he saw deeper than his contemporaries. He understood that not only the act itself but what preceded the act, the background for it, was important, namely the feelings of the heart and the thought’s desire. Jesus thus touches upon what God asks of humans: purity of thought, purity of mind, purity of feeling! For if the mind and thought are clean, the individual is no longer drawn toward the unclean, toward immorality, toward sexual transgressions and sexual crimes. But Jesus understood not that even though male desire can be aroused at the sight of an attractive woman, this desire can still be clean, the thoughts and feelings still be clean.

Therefore, although Jesus went a step further by including the mind, the thought and the heart in the concept of adultery, he was still unable to differentiate between clean and unclean desires, between clean and unclean thoughts.

Every age has its laws for immorality and sexual crime. Each period in time has its views on such offenses, but only God can determine how deeply these sexual transgressions and crimes are rooted in the mind and thought of the individual. Consequently, no fully valid definition of adultery can be given from the transcendental world for all peoples and for all times. Only this can be said: each individual must first of all strive to cleanse the mind, the thought and the feelings. If this is done, one’s³³ attitude toward all sexual excesses, toward all abnormal or immoral sexual offenses will remain pure.

It is stated (Toward the Light, page 5: 3) that God created thousands upon thousands of glorious, graceful figures—spiritual beings—the angels. Further on, the guardian spirits of human beings are mentioned. From this it appears the “angels” should be counted at least by the millions, rather than by the vague number “thousands upon thousands”. Is it not possible to give the correct number of God’s first children?

No! The actual number will not be given.

When Ardor rendered this part of his Account, he knew, from conversing with God, that this number should not be revealed. But God also pointed out to him the fact that since the number of human spirits far exceeded the number of God’s first-created children, Ardor should employ a numerical quantity that would indicate this difference. And this he did when he used the expression “thousands upon thousands” for the number of the angels, and “legion upon legion” for the number of the “shadows”. (Toward the Light, page 19: 2.)

However, this refers only to the number of “shadows” as compared to God’s first children—the Youngest and the Eldest.

In Toward the Light, page 17: 3, Ardor explains how the “shadows” were transformed into human spirits when endowed with a spark of God’s own flaming Being, that is to say with Thought and Will. But through millions of years this first contingent of human spirits was increased many times over through numerous new creations, whereas the number of God’s first children was established once and for all time.

According to God’s wish, no further information will be given concerning this matter. Humans must therefore each content themselves with their own conception of the collective number of all God’s children. Not until the pilgrimage of mankind to God’s Kingdom has ended will the exact number be revealed, for human thought is too feeble, too limited in scope to be able to comprehend this number in terms of living beings.

Although no more spirits remain Earth-bound—according to Toward the Light—spiritualistic mediums nevertheless can still communicate with all manner of spirits at any time. But is it conceivable that the incarnate Eldest—during nightly sleep release—can be responsible for all these manifestations?

As so often stated, spiritualistic mediums have no further contact with “Earth-bound spirits”, since these are no longer present on the Earth’s astral plane. Thus, authentic manifestations are due to the incarnated Eldest when disembodied during nightly sleep and also to a number of human spirits from the fifth and to some extent the sixth sphere. But these humans have no permission to visit the plane of the Earth and so must atone for their disobedience through an incarnation undertaken much sooner than usual.³⁴

A further explanation is that the spiritual ego of a medium happens often to be one of the Eldest. The numerous “releases” through the unlawful³⁵ excursions during sleep of these Eldest have in many cases caused the connection between body and spirit to slacken to a greater or lesser degree over time. And since a number of these Eldest during life on Earth act as mediums—in the spiritualistic sense—they are able to be simultaneously both medium and manifesting “spirit” or “spirits”. It is not even necessary for these mediums to be in semi- or full trance. They may well be wide awake and apparently normal because, however weak, a continuous rapport exists between their spirit and the physical body. This type of medium can thus seem to be in contact with “several different spirits”, but in reality it is the medium’s own spirit that is released from the body and imitates, or poses as different spirits. Even though the medium might appear trustworthy in everyday life, this is no guarantee that the medium’s claims regarding the origins of the many spiritual manifestations are true. Many persons have a certain ability to mask their nature from others so as to appear different in character. At times the mediums themselves act in good faith, but at other times are knowingly fraudulent.

However, it is self-evident that such unlawful releases of the spirit—which should normally be firmly bound to the visible body—must eventually slacken the rapport between the spirit’s psychic brain and the body’s physical brain. If such releases continue frequently over the years they can give rise to longer or shorter states of insanity—possibly over the remainder of an individual’s earthly life.

All mediums who perform under the cloak of spiritualism do so in conflict with God’s law. It cannot be repeated enough: no human being should attempt to act spiritualistically as a link between the “living” and the “dead”.

It is written (Toward the Light, page 84: 4) that the human spirit must incarnate voluntarily. But on page 249 it says that those spirits who—against their better judgment and without permission—return to the Earth, then lose, for each such visit, the equivalent of one earthly year from their allotted time for rest and development in the spheres. How can these two statements be reconciled with each other?

Until Spring of 1918, the new incarnations of the human spirits took place as described in Toward the Light (pages 84: 3 to 85: 1). But since a risk arose during the World War that a new lower class of spirits might develop on account of the prohibited, but in fact frequent excursions of the spirits to the plane of the Earth, the provisions described on page 249 were adopted.

These provisions can be attributed, first, to a request from a multitude of spirits who frequented the plane of the Earth without the necessary permission. These spirits were distressed and exhausted by the repeated visits to the Earth, “imposed” upon them by the demanding thoughts and wishes of friends, relatives and mediums. Many clearly saw that they lacked sufficient will to resist the strong “earthly attraction” to which they were exposed, and they therefore appealed to God for help. Then God, in order to increase the capacity of their will, made a temporary law for these beings who had such difficulty in refraining from visiting the Earth. And it was approved by all the spirits, even though it provided that each unlawful visit would result in the deduction of a year from their time of rest and learning in the spheres. God chose this procedure because He knew the prospect of a curtailed sojourn in their homes in the spheres would cause the affected spirits to do their utmost to resist the powerful attraction from the Earth. And by thus exerting their will, they would in most cases remain in the spheres despite the compelling thoughts of relatives, friends and mediums.

This statute therefore applies only to those human spirits who visit the plane of the Earth even though aware that such visits are not permitted. They know beforehand that they are violating the law, and they know the consequence will be incarnation earlier than usual, that they must enter that incarnation without any preparation for the coming life on Earth, and that the incarnation will bring them no spiritual progress. Possessing this knowledge, they themselves must decide whether to act against the law or not. It is only a question of will. The will may freely choose to visit the Earth without permission and bring about an early incarnation, or to remain calmly in the home in the spheres, followed by a normal incarnation.

People live in the communities of Earth under many laws with many sections and subsections, yet retain their freedom until they transgress against the laws of society and thereby lose that freedom for a longer or shorter time. All who live in a civilized society know that they must not kill and rob and so on. Those who violate these laws of their own free will must suffer the penalty nevertheless. The punishment is a natural consequence of the individual’s misuse of the will. And the incarnations that the human spirits bring upon themselves through their unlawful visits to the Earth can only be regarded as a “sentence of temporary confinement”, that is, an atonement invoked by violation of the section of the law in question.

Those human spirits who are in fact immature because of a poorly developed will, receive God’s help in a different way. They are restrained by a “barrier” across the Passage of Light that leads to the Earth (Toward the Light, page. 249: 2).

This barrier was established according to the wish of these beings at the time they besought God to provide them protection against the human, the earthly attraction.

Thus, the barrier and the stated section of the law are only temporary measures, to be abolished when people have learned that no one must call upon the “dead”. But a number of centuries may pass before this can be fully accomplished.

In reply to Question 6, First Supplement, it is stated: “Daily thousands of human spirits are drawn to the Earth and daily the spirits of Light lead these insubordinate spirits back to their homes in the spheres”. How can the calling thoughts of mediums bring these comparatively advanced spirits from the fifth and sixth spheres to transgress so readily against the law, and to surmount the restraining “barrier” of Light? Compared to earthly conditions, it can hardly be imagined that people would travel hundreds of miles to violate the law because of an external thought-influence.

The questioner’s comparison between the situation in the spheres and on Earth applies not in this particular case inasmuch as the thought-influence of one human upon another follows other laws than those forming the background for thought-influence of a human being upon a discarnate spirit, or vice versa. However, in the earthly world a coded telegram or a coded message delivered over the telephone would often have a similar effect. A considerable number of people could be persuaded by such a message to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to commit an unlawful act.

If a spiritualistic medium exerts thought-influence upon discarnate spirits it should be taken into consideration that such mediums are usually the “Eldest”, whose capacity for thought-concentration is enormous compared with that of ordinary humans.³⁶ Many human spirits also yearn strongly for their relatives and friends on Earth. They are therefore readily attracted to the Earth, to their earthly homes or to spiritualistic séances, but usually only to say that they are alive! Others return again and again because their yearning for life on Earth grows stronger with each visit and because the Darkness on Earth gains ever greater power over them by reason of the unlawful nature of their visits. The Light-”barrier” offers no appreciable hindrance to spirits determined to visit the Earth. However, it does present an obstacle to those drawn to the Earth against their will. Often they venture only as far as the barrier, hesitate and return to their home in the spheres. But others fail to resist the calling from the Earth if the medium is one of the Eldest, and when they arrive at the barrier of Light they penetrate it by power of will.³⁷ These distressing conditions for many human spirits cannot improve until people have learned to be less selfish in their grief over the beloved, departed ones; they cannot improve until all spiritualistic séances have ceased forever. Not until then will it also be possible in this respect to improve the general conditions of existence, both for the “dead” and for the “living”.

Christian Wilster’s poem, “Memento”, in Greetings to Denmark, contains this passage: “I followed my life from birth until death, a hand unseen held me fast”. Since the human spirit has a free will and should decide it does not want to review its past life, how can it be forced to do so by an ‘unseen hand’?”

Recollections of the many stages of the earthly life just ended arise quite spontaneously in the thoughts of the spirit. No one—neither God nor the guardian spirit—compels the spirit to “listen” to the emerging thoughts or to “look” at the scenes of the past life as they pass before the eye. If the spirit wishes not to consider its past actions and wishes not to contemplate the visions of its past life then it can—by strength of will—suppress these things. But they will reappear time after time and invite reflection. It is this state of self-searching that Wilster poetically likens to the grip of an unseen hand.

The automatic appearance of these visions and memories of life is due to the divine origin of the human spirit. The divine element will always react to any wicked or unlawful thought or action borne in the memory of the spirit from life on Earth. What happens is thus the attempt of the spiritual self to cleanse itself of earthly Darkness and cast off the oppressive yoke of the guilt of sin.

During incarnation, the role of the guardian spirit is essential to the human being since the divine spark in the self is often so faint that its “protests” are unable to penetrate the Darkness surrounding the spirit bound to the human body. The guardian spirit is thus the “reinforced conscience” of the human being. But when the spirit is released from its body and finds itself in its home in the spheres, far from the earthly Darkness, then the spark of divinity—the divine element—is strong enough to react to the periods of Darkness in the completed life.

The task of the guardian spirit in the home in the spheres is thus to help and sustain its charge during the time of self-searching. With love and patience the guardian spirit seeks to reason with and to convince its charge that every aspect of the life on Earth must be considered, acknowledged and, where necessary, repented of before rest and peace of mind can come to the spirit.

Since humans pave the way for their life on Earth by their own deeds, what part does coincidence play through sickness, misdeeds and accidents? Or does nothing happen by coincidence?

Since the Earth is first and foremost a world of Darkness, life there must by the very nature of Darkness be full of coincidences, many of them unavoidable.

The old adage, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and not one of them shall not fall on the ground without the will of your Father”, does not apply to earthly conditions. Sparrows fall to the ground day in and day out without the slightest involvement of God’s Will. And thousands upon thousands of humans die daily, long before the actual day and hour appointed by God—without His Will!

In the parable, “Two Brothers”³⁸, the father says to his returned children: “Many of you came before I called. . . .³⁹” This passage refers to the return home of numerous human spirits before the time determined for the death of the earthly body. Never does God predetermine the death of anyone through criminal acts, warfare, natural disasters, or by accidents of any kind. But if, through no fault of their own, people are exposed to death by catastrophes, sickness, random accidents or criminal acts, God will always utilize such occurrences to counter-balance previous guilt of sin (Toward the Light, page 306: 2).

God employs not directly the blindly acting powers of Darkness in outlining the forthcoming earthly lives of human spirits. If a spirit is to live an earthly life under the Law of Retribution, that individual will usually be bound to a fetus conceived in a family wherein disposition for disease or deficiency is latent or active in the body or in the brain. The spirit is thus born to life in homes or surroundings that can produce exactly what is demanded by the Law of Retribution—a deformed and sickly body, mental deficiency or insanity, or a life of poverty, want and misery.

If someone has been rendered liable under the Law of Retribution to suffer some accident or disaster, God determines not that this person shall be afflicted by any particular catastrophe. Rather, when and how is left to “chance”. The individual will therefore not be warned⁴⁰ by the guardian spirit if suddenly threatened by an imminent catastrophe during life on Earth. Should death thus come before the appointed time, the missing years will be added to the time of rest in the spheres. Neither does God determine, for one who under the Law of Retribution must save another’s life, that an accident will occur at any certain time so that the individual can carry out a penance. But God does inform the spirit—before its incarnation begins—that since life on Earth abounds with accidents it must seek its own opportunity to save the life of another. The guardian spirit will, however, assist in finding an occasion for possible action of this kind. If the spirit in the coming life on Earth carries out its penance and dies while saving another from death, thereby returning to the spheres sooner than intended, there will be no reproach. The missing years will then also be added to the spirit’s time of rest in the sphere home.

But if the individual dies at the appointed time without having done penance, then the spiritual self—after rendering its account—is incarnated to a new life on Earth in circumstances paralleling those of the life just ended, for no time of learning is needed for such parallel incarnations.

Since God determines the duration of human lives on Earth and their manner of death (Toward the Light, page 85), how can the many deaths through apparent accidents be explained?

The many deaths from unpredictable accidents—by lightning, by fire, by other natural catastrophes, and by accidents at sea, on land or in the air—are applied by God to counter-balance the guilt of sin of the present or previous lives on Earth, provided the individual is not to blame for what happened. If the individual is to blame there is then no counter-balancing.

If humans interrupt their own lives prematurely, they must assume full responsibility for the action. And on the very day that God had determined was to have been their last on Earth, the spirit that had been bound to the prematurely deceased body will be incarnated to a new earthly life paralleling the unfinished one. The period of the spirit’s stay in its home in the spheres between such parallel incarnations is regarded as one of rest only, not of learning. (Regarding suicide, see Toward the Light, page 114: 3 and page 105: 1, 2.).

Even though God pre-ordains each life span, the chosen hour of death is often not reached. (Question 26.) The blindly acting powers of Darkness are chiefly to blame for this. So are Ardor’s pre-determinations for the lives of individual human beings as well as for entire nations; and finally to blame is human recklessness, foolhardiness, competitiveness, irresponsibility, and so on, as well as the fact that people fail to heed the warnings of their guardian spirits.

The answer to Question 16 (First Supplement) would seem to indicate that the full severity of the Law of Retribution is rarely brought into force since it is applied only to those who fail to repent at the opportune moment. How then can the immensity of suffering on Earth be explained in terms of retribution for transgressions of the past?

Not all suffering in this world can be explained in terms of retribution for past transgressions. As so often said, humans themselves are the cause of much and quite needless suffering because, first, it could have been avoided had people exercised greater care and acted less rashly (First Supplement, Question 63). Secondly, remember Ardor’s “images” for the future which humans themselves bring to reality on the plane of the Earth, and, thirdly, consider the unpredictable suffering brought about, for example, through natural disaster. None of this is in any way the result of retribution. It is, however, an entirely different matter that God happens to employ this apparently “undeserved” suffering to counter-balance past human transgressions. (Questions 26 and 27, Second Supplement.)

Perhaps the inquirer understands not the true meaning of the expression, “the opportune moment”. The meaning under God’s laws is that humans must, during life on Earth, fully repent of their guilt of sin, both toward God and toward their fellow beings. This means that they all must ask, during the same life span in which they sin, the forgiveness of both God and of human beings; for then there will be no retribution. Yet, how many ask forgiveness? Some, while yet living on Earth, may reach a feeling of guilt of sin and remorse toward God. But if there is guilt among humans, their mutual anger and hatred increases rather than diminishes during their common life on Earth, for few only will ask their victims to forgive them. But the opportune moment is lost if there is not repentance and forgiveness during that same life in which the transgressions took place. The guilty ones will then be confronted in the beyond with their transgressions, with their thoughtless, evil or criminal deeds. By then it is usually too late to obtain the forgiveness of the victim, even though God may have forgiven the sinner. (First Supplement, page 37: 5.)

Let us look at some examples from life on Earth:

How often down through the ages have fathers and mothers not pronounced curses against unruly sons and daughters who went astray and sank deeper and deeper into sin and Darkness? How many fathers and mothers have in their self-righteousness, bitterness and anger closed the door of their home to an errant son or daughter? How many sons and daughters have left home despite the wishes and pleadings of their parents? And how many have remorsefully returned home to ask the forgiveness of their father and mother? They can be easily counted, for they are few! And how many fathers and mothers have during their lifetime called back their sons and daughters whom they have cursed, called them back to forgive them and to bestow their blessing upon them before death ended their earthly life? They too are easily counted, for they also are few!

And how many wedded couples have separated in anger, spite and hatred? And how many have asked each other’s forgiveness before their lives ended? They are still more easily counted, for their number is appallingly small!

Let us look at other examples from daily life:

If someone through lack of responsibility, recklessness, foolhardiness or the like causes one or more fellow beings to become maimed, wounded or disfigured, does that individual then ask forgiveness of the victims? Rarely. Mostly the matter is settled in the courts through proceedings against the guilty person, who must then pay proper compensation to those injured; but it occurs not to the guilty one to first attempt to seek the forgiveness of the victims. And if the transgressor does happen to consider this—perhaps thinking about it even for quite a long time—he or she still shrinks from taking such action because of a feeling that it would be “beneath dignity” to approach the victims with an apology. Yet, if this is not done, the opportune moment is forfeited.

Or how many curses have been called down upon those entrusted the care of funds and property of others who have then betrayed this trust and deceived and plundered both rich and poor, both widows and orphans? Have such individuals sought forgiveness of their victims? Rarely. But their conduct has caused endless grief, despair, anger and hatred. Such guilty persons have often taken their own lives rather than face earthly judgment and punishment. They too have forfeited the opportune moment for remorse and forgiveness.

Many further examples could be given when people, not repenting opportunely and seeking forgiveness while they still can, instead shirk their obligations and evade earthly judgment and punishment—or take their own lives. But retribution in one form or another will visit them all in a future incarnation.

Hopefully, humanity will finally come to understand what individual responsibility means, what timely repentance signifies, for then there will be less spiritual and bodily suffering, less poverty, less misery, fewer accidents, fewer transgressions and fewer unlawful acts in earthly life.

Let us hope this will become a reality in the not too distant future.

It is stated (Toward the Light, page 306) that all must clearly understand that no human beings endure any greater spiritual or physical suffering than that they bring upon themselves from previous lives. Can such awareness not serve to blunt sympathy for those who suffer, or even to arouse reproach for their unknown past sins?

That should be out of the question. Should not the sight of the sufferings of others rather increase one’s sympathy and compassion? Would not most people reason thus: What have I myself transgressed in the past? Of what sins am I guilty in my present life? Perhaps I have endured the same sufferings, the same sorrows myself—perhaps I shall in some future life come to endure similar pain and misery. Would not these thoughts arouse compassion in the heart? And would not the sight of the suffering of others bring human beings into closer contact with their conscience? Awareness that none suffer more than they have brought upon themselves should in any case cause everyone to reflect a little more than hitherto on the possible guilt in their own present lives, rather than speculate on their neighbors’ possible transgressions in previous ones. But one thing is certain: those who have themselves suffered on account of previous guilt of sin will feel the deepest compassion for those who suffer and grieve, because they carry some faint remembrance of the significance of grief and suffering for the development and education of humanity.

Once the meaning, for the individual, of free will and responsibility has been fully understood, then humans will exercise greater care and vigilance in all of life’s aspects. Then will people not wait for their neighbors to first better themselves and then perhaps follow their example. No, then will they begin by improving themselves, by seeking to become examples inspiring enough that their neighbors will hopefully emulate them. Thus should it be, and thus will it be one day when humans have fully assimilated the ethical and religious teaching given in Toward the Light.

How do the efforts of mankind to prevent accidents and suffering and to improve the world affect the Law of Retribution? If the sum of all human suffering is reduced, can humans then expect a lesser penance than would otherwise be their due?

The unrepentant will never escape with a lesser penance than is their due. The scales of God never err, for the guilt of sin and the penance of atonement will always balance. But if humans will grieve for themselves, will repent fully of their guilt of sin, will pray for God’s forgiveness and for that of their fellow beings, then atonement under the Law of Retribution is annulled. It becomes no longer necessary.

Gradually, as people come to better understand what responsibility means and grow more considerate in thought, in word and in action—so that increasingly they commit fewer thoughtless, wicked or unlawful deeds—life on Earth will become correspondingly brighter and better, not only for the individual but for everyone. The guilt of sin will thus lessen and the atonement will then be in proportion to the lesser guilt.

When all the Eldest presently incarnated on the Earth have been removed through physical death, Darkness will no longer influence mankind as strongly as it once did and does still. But humans will then—in proportion to their degree of spiritual development—receive lessened help through their conscience than previously, for in this respect will balance also be maintained.

Time and again during the 14,000 years⁴¹ that the Eldest held almost exclusive sway over mankind, they drew huge accumulations of Darkness from encapsulation in the Light, gathering these accumulations closely about the globe so as to strengthen their own position in the struggle against the influence of the Youngest upon earthly life. Thus it was necessary for the “conscience” to be ever alert and ready to intervene, to lead and to guide the spirit that was bound to the human body. But once the reign of the Eldest on Earth has finally ceased, it will no longer be possible to bring any “newly separated” Darkness to this globe and then—infinitely slowly—the separated accumulations of Darkness will be eliminated through the earthly lives of the Youngest and of the human spirits, and a new era in the history of human existence will begin—an era during which it will be necessary for all to exert greater vigilance against the influence and temptations of Darkness!

Therefore: Once the reign of the Eldest on Earth has come to an end, human responsibility for self-purification will increase, and because of the ego’s inherent knowledge of evil, every single human being will need to strive more fully than ever to depart from the influence of Darkness, for only in instances of exceptional difficulty will the guardian spirit be permitted to offer help as a “strengthened conscience”. Humanity should never forget, however, that a prayer to God for help will always be heard if deep-felt and earnest.

In the spheres the spirit assumes the appearance of the human body at age 30 to 40 years (Toward the Light, page 191: 4). Does this mean the spirit-body suffers the same deficiencies and deformities that may have afflicted its human body?

When God promised some of His fallen children that He would take mankind into His care—that He would endow each human being with thought and will, that is—He had also to give these spiritually weak and undeveloped individualities an embodiment to serve them in the Spheres between incarnations. God then formed from the Light a pliable and elastic substance with which He clothed these spiritual individualities, giving each individual Light-body a plastic form at the same time. Just as the prototype of a blossom is hidden in the seed, so God conceals in this plastic form an ethereal “something”, a super-prototype for the ultimate embodiment of the “self”, or ego. This first manifests visibly upon the spiritual self’s release from further earthly rebirth. This embodiment of thought and the will has always preceded the entry of each “new spirit” into the earthly world, and each spirit therefore carries in its visible⁴² body an invisible ethereal prototype of its true form. In this way God endows His child with a concealed characteristic for eternal life in the Paternal Home.

The pliability and elasticity of this substance of the Light, and its plastic properties—its ability to reflect and conform to any shape and its ability to expand and contract—enables the spirit-body to assume, at each rebirth on Earth, the shape of the new-born human infant. This substance also—after the binding of the spirit to the human fetus—assumes a misty state as the fetus develops. In other words the spirit-body is prepared quite automatically to assume the shape and appearance of the little body at the moment of its birth. If the body of the newborn child is malformed in any way, the spirit-body assumes the same malformed appearance down to the smallest detail. By virtue of the Light-body’s ability to expand, it conforms at all times to the human body as this grows and takes on greater dimensions. When the human body “dies”—regardless at what age—the corresponding spirit-body will appear in every detail as an exact copy of it. It will thus either appear aged and bear the various characteristics of same, or appear young and supple with handsome, plain or unlovely features, or it will be deformed, as it was when the corresponding human body was born to life. If a child dies immediately after birth or in childhood, the spirit grows up⁴³ in the sphere where its home is located; and as the body assumes larger dimensions it is shaped and developed according to the characteristics it received when the corresponding earthly body was born.

If the human body during life on Earth is exposed to surgery, accidents, natural disasters, wars, and the like, and thereby loses part of a limb or loses arms, legs, the nose, an eye or an ear, and so on, and the person survives, then the corresponding part of the spirit-body will fade and disappear. The substance of which these parts are formed does not dissolve but slowly retracts into the remaining undamaged substance. However, if a person dies by sudden accident, for instance is struck by lightning, if the body is sundered by explosives or torn by wild animals, or if it is crushed under heavy objects, destroyed by fire, or if a person expires immediately following surgery, or after an accident that severs the head, arms or legs, if the body is lacerated by sharp blades or mutilated through a criminal act, if death is through wounds inflicted by guns, bayonets or knives, or the like, then the spirit-body is automatically released—no matter how extensively the human body is maimed—and thus will not be permanently damaged, will not be marked by the occurrence. It therefore retains the appearance it had before the fatal catastrophe. (Regarding suicide, see further on.)

Similarly, the spirit-body will be released automatically if death is by decapitation, hanging or electrocution. But if these modes of death have been decreed by an earthly court of justice, the spirit-body will be marked by the injury. However, in the instance of decapitation the head of the spiritual body will not be missing. A crimson ring will instead be formed around the neck. If a miscarriage of justice was the cause of death, the spirit-body will not be marked by the act of violence but will appear as it was before the physical body expired.

If anyone takes their own life, by whatever method⁴⁴—and it is not carried out in delirium or while of unsound mind—the spirit-body will be conspicuously marked⁴⁴ by the wilful action. If one commits suicide and destroys the body by explosives, or pours flammable liquid over the body and ignites it so that the fire partly or completely consumes the body, if one throws oneself before a train and is lacerated by the wheels, and so on, then the spirit-body is released in the normal way at the moment of death, but it enters a black, misty state shortly afterward. If suicide is by firearms and the head is partly or completely shattered, the head of the spirit-body will, to a greater or lesser extent, assume a black, misty appearance. In all suicides—except committed in delirium—the thought will without cease reflect on that which has happened. And the state wherein the spirit finds itself after death will continue until the hour that was appointed to be the last has been reached. The dreadful appearance of a person who has committed suicide will also remain until that hour, and is therefore often retained for many years.

Thus: any manner of wilful death by the individual will leave its unmistakable mark on the spirit-body.

When at death the spirit is released from the human body, the guardian spirit⁴⁵ brings it to the home in the spheres where it regains consciousness after a longer or shorter period of sleep. The characteristics the spiritual body carries from life on Earth are thus retained until the spirit has rendered its account to God. But even though those spirits who during life on Earth have been bound to blind, deaf, lame or retarded beings also retain the stamp of these afflictions until their accounts have been rendered, they are yet able to see, hear, talk, think and move about from place to place in their home in the spheres. The reason for this is that in the plastic substance from which God created—and still creates—the spirit’s body for its life in the worlds of the spheres, He has concealed the “ideal” of the spirit’s true, eternal body. And by the help of this prototype’s psychic organs of vision, hearing, speech and its ability to move about, the former human beings that were defective in these respects can then as spirits see, hear, talk, think and move about.

When the account has been rendered, when the spirit has fully grieved and fully repented of its errors, sins or transgressions, then the spirit-body assumes the appearance it had at age 30 to 40 years. If the human being dies earlier, the spirit-body retains the younger appearance. All marks and blemishes acquired during life and work on Earth are taken away and “smoothed out” by God. Lost limbs or organs are drawn forth and reconstituted by the power of God’s Will, and the spirit-body thus resumes a normal appearance. But those spirits whose human bodies were—in accordance with the Law of Retribution—born more or less malformed, lame or with a feeble-minded appearance, will, under the same law, bear a modified stamp of such deformities or of feeble-mindedness.

Those spirits who refuse for a long time to repent, retain the earthly body’s signs of old age, suffering and misery until remorse at last arises—perhaps not until they have spent many years in their home in the spheres. If the spirit insists that it be incarnated earlier than would be normal,⁴⁶ this appearance is retained until the request can be accommodated. And also, those spirits that committed suicide as humans will see their mutilated spirit-bodies restored in the same way as all others after the rendering of the account and after repentance in full. But when all or part of the spirit-body has assumed a dark, misty consistency, God clothes the thought and the will once more with new Light-substance⁴⁷, from which a new spirit-body can be formed. The Spirit is then bound immediately to a human fetus to live through another earthly life parallel to the one abruptly terminated through suicide. Even though God clothes the thought and the will in new plastic Light-substance, it means not that the spiritual self must begin again its series of incarnations, only that God enables the thought and the will—the spiritual self—to continue, through earthly rebirth, the development already begun.

Thus: all deformities and disfigurements acquired by the spirit-body through the life and work of the corresponding human body in the earthly world will be made straight and “smoothed out”, its missing limbs reconstituted and the body’s signs of sickness and suffering replaced by a youthful appearance from the age of 30 to 40, or earlier. This happens not until the spirit has rendered its account, has grieved, has shown regret and has repented of its guilt of sin. But all the malformations that the spirit-body acquired from the birth of the corresponding human body—in accordance with the karma⁴⁸ of the spiritual self—are retained, although in milder form, until a new incarnation is entered.

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If the human body, in warfare, through fire or through other forms of accidents caused by one or more fellow humans, is disfigured or mutilated beyond recognition but yet survives—even as a totally deformed mass of flesh—then the spirit-body is deformed in the same dreadful manner. But in such instances the love and the mercy of God intervene. His deep compassion for the fate and sufferings of such wrecks of humanity move Him to suspend the existing laws for the destruction and reconstitution of the spirit-body, as well as for the incarnation of the human spirit. And when death comes to these unfortunate beings, the Spirit is brought—in a sleep-like state—not home to the spheres, but to be bound immediately to a human fetus so as to begin a new incarnation. The spirit is then reborn in a home where circumstances will ensure the newborn being a bright and happy life. A generous portion of the spirit’s past guilt of sin will similarly be weighed against the bodily and spiritual sufferings it has endured. When the spirit returns from this special incarnation it must then render an account both of the life just ended and of its preceding life.

If one attempts to save another’s life, whether demanded under the Law of Retribution or not, and survives, disfigured or mutilated, the spirit will also then be reborn into a brighter and happier existence immediately after death in that life.

Thus: through the love, mercy and compassion of God these unfortunate beings will, through a new birth immediately after death be removed far enough from the bodily and spiritual sufferings they have endured that the spirit can, more calmly, review its previous life on Earth.

It is stated (Question 31) that human bodies malformed at birth will retain such appearance in the spiritual world. Why does God not allow these beings a normal form of spirit-body once they have rendered their account?

1) The form or characteristic assumed by the plastic substance⁴⁹ of the spirit-body at the birth of the corresponding human body cannot be altered until a new rebirth, that is, until a new incarnation, takes place. Only then can there be a change both in the spiritual self and in the human body. This change is brought about through the inheritance received by the reborn spirit from its parents and their ancestors—bodily as well as spiritually.⁵⁰

2) If God were to restore the “spirit-bodies” that were malformed from birth to normal characteristics, to a normal appearance, once these spirits had rendered their account, these beings would be “strangers” to themselves, just as relatives and friends from life on Earth would be unable to recognize, on meeting in the beyond, those on whom they had once bestowed their love, protection and tender care.

3) Finally, the question should be viewed with regard to the Law of Retribution, since the deformity is due to a karma⁵¹ to which the individual is subjected.

Nursing homes are provided for such unfortunate beings in the various spheres, where they remain under the loving care of male and female attendants until they enter a new incarnation.

Therefore: the spiritual and physical characteristics received by a human spirit through earthly birth are retained both in its present life on Earth and in the spheres, until a new incarnation is entered whereby the spirit is endowed with new characteristics, both in a spiritual and in a physical sense.

Since the embodied spirit, according to Toward the Light, enshrouds the body of the newborn child like a mantle, how then can the organs of the spirit-body assume the characteristics or shapes of the corresponding organs in the earthly body?

Remember that the visible human body is of the earthly three dimensions, whereas the invisible spirit-body—created from a plastic substance of the Light—is four-dimensional. Seen from the transcendental world, the human body appears as a misty,⁵² insubstantial figure. The astral spirit-body is molded around this figure, but since the Light-substance is four-dimensional it also extends into the misty figure where, quite automatically, it shapes itself in every detail to both the inner and outer forms of the human body. The Light-substance will also quite automatically form a layer of isolation, which separates the internal organs of the astral spirit-body from those of the human body. This layer is released and ejected at the death of the earthly body, but when the spirit is reincarnated it is replaced with a new substance that is added at the same time as the spirit is bound to the fetus. The moment the astral body has been shaped to conform to the inner and outer forms of the child’s body, the parts that reproduce the bone structure harden and thus become as solid as the corresponding bone-structure of the physical body seen from the earthly world. But as for the arterial system, it only appears to be carrying blood. No actual fluid is found in the vessels. The ability of the astral spirit-body to survive is therefore based on laws other than those of the physical body. These laws cannot be explained. Concealed in the Light-substance rests the spirit’s true eternal body, created and formed by God. But since this body is of a dimension unknown to human beings, it has no space-filling properties in the four-dimensional astral world and is therefore not affected by the various metamorphoses of the astral body. The inner structure of this truly spiritual body—which to avoid any misunderstanding could be called the “ethereal body” is the same for all beings created by God and is identical with the spirit-body described in Toward the Light, page 187: 4 to page 188: 4.

Once the Youngest have given account of their earthly lives to God, the astral spirit-body in which their true selves have been concealed during life on Earth is automatically cast off and dissolved. In their dwellings—in the last plane of the sixth sphere—they therefore appear in the “ethereal body”—their eternal form. But when the Youngest labor in the spheres—during their service as tutors—they reduce their ethereal vibrations by power of will and thus become visible to their charges. In those few cases where the human bodies of the Youngest have been malformed through karma, their misshapen bodies will also be cast off once the account to God has been rendered. This is possible because their ethereal bodies have space-filling properties within the plane of their homes in the sixth sphere, whereas the corresponding ethereal body of the human spirit has no space-filling properties within the four-dimensional worlds of the spheres.

The human spirit must therefore retain its deformity until the following incarnation provides it a new form. God can make use of this condition when human spirits must atone under the Law of Retribution.

Some people feel justified in helping others to die when their suffering is great, and death is imminent anyway. How should we regard this? And though “mercy killing” may not be justifiable, to what extent may we relieve pain by narcotics, even though they might shorten life?

Under God’s laws it is never permitted to take the life⁵³ of a fellow human, not even at the wish and request of the person concerned. If someone suffers a painful disease, suffers after surgery, or because of wounds or injuries from accidents or the like, the doctor may administer narcotics to any extent deemed necessary and justified. But if a patient’s body is weaker than the doctors in all sincerity and to the best of their judgment had presumed, and the narcotics therefore hasten death, the doctors will not be assigned any guilt. However, if they are aware that the ailing body cannot tolerate the prescribed doses they will be regarded as having taken a life unlawfully under God’s laws. The same applies to those who end a life out of “compassion” in order to spare a relative or a friend prolonged suffering from an illness. And the person who through the “merciful help” of a fellow human has been given death so as to escape human suffering will be regarded as a suicide. Such persons must then, like others who took their own lives, endure in their home in the spheres the sufferings that they evaded until that moment arrives when the earthly body should normally have died. If a life is terminated without the ailing person’s request, then of course that person bears no guilt. The responsibility then rests only with the one who carried out the “mercy killing”.

How regard alcohol, tobacco, coffee and other more or less harmful stimulants? Must these be considered when humans after death render their accounts of earthly life? What are the consequences if a life is thereby shortened and the spirit returns to the spheres before the appointed day of death?

Account must be given after death for the entire course of one’s earthly life—including any misuse of stimulants.

Christ (Speech of Christ, Toward the Light, page 128: 10) says: “Be prudent with all strong drink and dulling drugs; for know that you yourselves must bear the full responsibility for the foolish, evil, wicked deeds you commit when you lose control of your senses and of your will through carelessness or base habits.” Mankind is thus admonished to exercise caution in the use of certain stimulants. Their use is not forbidden, but it is said that they should be used in such manner that they do not damage one’s health and do not form bad habits, nor cause the individual to lose self-control.

As far as tobacco, tea and coffee are concerned these “poisons” are not harmful when used in moderation. But if alcoholic beverages and other stimulants are used to excess, so that they destroy the health of the body and cause the human spirit to return home earlier than intended, then this will not be regarded as suicide. Such cases are judged according to God’s law that none shall treat their earthly body with neglect, and those who violate this provision will be incarnated in circumstances that will have an improving and educative effect, so that the corresponding human spirit may learn to guard against the excessive use of stimulants.

If a law that bans alcoholic beverages—the so-called “Prohibition”, for example—is compared with a “temperance” movement, would “Prohibition” rightly be seen as rooted in Darkness and temperance in the Light?

Yes.

Under God’s laws no government has the right to shackle the free will of its people with something as rigorous as “Prohibition”. A law that constrains and binds the initiative of the will is of the evil and can only serve to create an indefensible situation, since all who will not be constrained will certainly find ways of obtaining what the law attempts to deny them. On the other hand, an effective campaign of enlightenment regarding the misfortunes, sufferings and crimes that can result from intemperate alcoholic consumption will always be appropriate, for it then becomes the concern of the individual to stay within the proper limits. The penalties for causing accidents and committing crimes while intoxicated should likewise be much more stringent. It is no excuse for those involved that at the time of the accident or while committing a crime, they had not full control of their mental faculties⁵⁴ or of their will.

If those who lack the will can find strength and help by joining a temperance society, there is no objection. But this must only be at one’s own wish, not by the moral coercion of friends or relatives nor by court decree or at an employer’s demand. Refer further to the Speech of Christ in Toward the Light, page 128: 10, and to the Speech of God’s Servant in the same work, page 137: 1, which includes the following words: “For Almighty God compels no one, and no one shall compel his neighbor. But pray you all to your Father to strengthen your will, that it may overcome the evil and lead you forward toward the Light!”

How view the political principles of Liberalism versus those of Socialism?

Humans themselves must resolve political strife. However, in this as in all other matters the individual will always be able to obtain the necessary guidance through the guardian spirit, the conscience. But it can be said with certainty from the transcendental world that all political disputes are of the evil. The governing and legislative authorities of the nations and the various communities have (Speech of Christ, Toward the Light, pages 124-26: 2) received a guideline that clearly indicates the direction of God’s wishes. If Christ’s discourse was in its entirety to become, in spirit and in truth, the guide for all life on Earth, it would soon transpire that all political factions and the incessant tugs-of-war among the various party leaders were quite needless and caused nothing but harm. They are harmful because they can in no way create calm and peaceful working conditions for those with whom the responsibility lays.

Why does Toward the Light tell us the insulation layer is one eighth of a millimeter thick? This would seem a superfluous, a useless fact—beyond human observation and verification.

Toward the Light is a message to all humanity, and therefore would include the human spirits who inhabit the various spheres. Thus, much apparently “useless” information can be found in this work, useless to humans on Earth, but of importance to these spirits in the spheres. One example is the information that the measure for the thickness of the insulation layer is one-eighth of a millimeter. That this information is correct can never be verified by the earthly world, but from the transcendental world it is easily seen that it corresponds to fact. This information may be of great value to a doubting human spirit, since the leaders of the various institutes of higher learning in the spheres can bring their students to the plane of the Earth to observe a dying human being. After the body’s death it is easy to examine the separated casing—the insulation layer—and verify the accuracy of the given measurement. Similarly, for some years to come it will also be possible to demonstrate to human spirits that the thickness of the insulation layer of Darkness employed by the Eldest for their own incarnations also conforms to the given thickness of about one-half millimeter.⁵⁵

Both human beings and human spirits alike who have doubts can thus find proof for the information given in Toward the Light.

Moreover, humans have themselves inquired about the thickness of the insulation layer.

Was there any special reason—for example, the Earth’s location—why God chose this globe⁵⁶ as the habitat for His intended beings of Light?

Yes, many special reasons, but a more detailed explanation⁵⁷ will not be given here. Only this can be said: the Earth’s location in the universe was one of the main reasons.

Even though God’s first children were created as equals⁵⁸, they developed differently. Were they also able, each within their own field of spiritual endeavor, to be of benefit and enjoyment to each other—for example as scientists, poets and artists? And could they attain fame among their brothers and sisters as happens on Earth?

Before the advent of the great schism, the relationship among God’s first children was ideal in every respect. They brought great enjoyment and enrichment to one another through their scientific or artistic achievements. They fully acknowledged one another’s individual accomplishments without envy, since envy was, and still is, a concept unknown in God’s Kingdom. But fame, as known among human beings, existed not among these brothers and sisters. For a “famous” person on Earth has, as a rule, almost as many enviers as understanding friends and admirers; but as has already been stated, envy is non-existent in God’s Kingdom.

What was in fact the first sinful thought that made the Eldest vulnerable to the onslaughts of Darkness? And what exactly is the nature of sin?

The first influence of the “accumulation” of Darkness to which God—unknown to them⁵⁹—exposed His children, after He had spoken⁶⁰ to them, evoked in those who were scientifically inclined thoughts of self-admiration, and after that, feelings of pride. At almost the same time arose lust for power—in other words the conviction that their Father would entrust them with authority over, and leadership of His contemplated and spiritually undeveloped beings of the Light, inasmuch as they imagined themselves much superior in knowledge and accomplishment to their more artistically inclined brothers and sisters. Since the others of God’s children were not affected by the accumulation of Darkness that God had separated from its encapsulation in the Light, they were quite unable to understand this attitude adopted by their scientifically inclined brothers and sisters.

No exact explanation can be given of the nature of sin; only this much can be said: that wherever Darkness—and with it, sin—gains hold, there will arise the danger that all that is noble, good and beautiful in the thought may be distorted and destroyed, and that the power of the will may be turned in the direction of evil. Darkness thus has a distorting, dividing, disintegrating and debasing influence upon thought and will. But the core of thought and will, both springing from God’s own Being, can never be destroyed by the powers of Darkness. There will thus always be a possibility that a personality destroyed by Darkness can, with the help of God and of the Light, rebuild and restore what has been debased and broken down.

Why was the hope of leading the proposed beings⁶¹ on Earth so tempting as to cause the Eldest to defy God’s warning and risk subjugation to the power of Darkness? Had they learned nothing of the nature and the power of Darkness from God and His servants during the preceding millions of years?

The reason that God would give His first children the task of leading immature beings in the process of their development was first and foremost to provide an occasion for confronting them directly with the influence of Darkness. He therefore said nothing about who He would select for the task. Whether this task would be of any importance for them individually, from the viewpoint of their thoughts and feelings, God could not know on account of His self-imposed limitation. He had to leave it to His children to form their own thoughts and ideas about the task He would give them. And He would then have to choose those whose desire lay in the direction of undertaking that work. But there are various ways in which the desire to lead others can manifest itself, just as the eagerness to undertake such a task can be expressed in very different ways. Had the scientifically inclined of God’s children thought thus: that they would much like to be worthy of their Father’s trust, that they greatly wished to undertake that work, that they longed to share their knowledge and their joy with immature beings, to open these beings’ eyes to the good and the beautiful and to awaken their intellectual and emotional life, then they would have acted rightly, then their thoughts and their wishes would have been pure and unsullied by Darkness. But they thought not in this way. They failed to be on guard against the Darkness that was upon them, and the first thought of the Eldest upon the matter put to them was thus self-admiration—the first step on the road to arrogance and to lust for power. Why it should have happened so cannot be explained. The roots of this are in the individual’s thought and will, whose innermost nature is inexplicable and therefore incomprehensible to human beings.

With deep grief God saw that Darkness had overcome some of His children—and He warned them. Thus began the great schism between the Eldest and the Youngest, thus began the power that Darkness wielded over the Eldest. And despite all of God’s warnings, they allowed Darkness to draw them further and further away from Him—and deeper and deeper they fell. More and more did Darkness distort and debase these once so radiantly bright, beautiful and harmonious personalities.

All of God’s first children had been taught by God and His Servants about the nature and powers of Darkness, and had been given knowledge of the possibilities for evil contained within it. But this knowledge was not accompanied by experiment. God wished not to confront them directly with the actual influence of Darkness until such time that there was in all probability a justified hope that they would all be capable—by the power of their thought and will—to recoil from the radiations of Darkness, and thereby gain the first victory over it. And had they all managed to emerge unscathed from this first encounter with Darkness and its possibilities for evil, God would then have exposed them gradually to the various radiations of this primal force and allowed them—under His guidance—to experiment with its many forms of powers and radiations so that they could learn to know all its manifestations.

Although God had informed them that at some point—unknown to them—He would confront them directly with a separated accumulation of Darkness, the scientifically inclined among His children nevertheless still allowed themselves to be influenced by its radiations; they failed to resist the evil which met them. And despite God’s warnings not to concern themselves with evil, and not to be overcome by that which it would be unworthy for the self to heed, they sought not to free themselves from the influence of Darkness. God’s warnings had been in vain.

And so it is in life on Earth. Time after time human beings are warned by their conscience; but again and again they follow their own ways, succumbing repeatedly to the influence of Darkness and falling prey to its temptations. Time after time humans lose themselves in self-admiration, in pride and in lust for power. These downfalls, these victories of Darkness, draw humans ever deeper into its power, leading them ever further away from the ways of God. Only deep grief and remorse can free the fallen from the oppressive bonds and lead them onto the right path back to God.

How could the Eldest be so enchanted by the newly-created world around the Earth as to absent themselves for extended periods from God’s Kingdom and from their brothers and sisters? Was God’s Kingdom not a perfect habitat compared to this new world? Or had it become so familiar as to cause them boredom?

None of God’s first children have ever known boredom in the world of the Paternal Home. The concept is unknown there.

Even though the newly-created world around the Earth was as a pearl of exquisite beauty, it could in no way compare with the splendor of God’s Kingdom. For that Kingdom is—in its form, in the variety of scenery, and in its richness of color—of sublime perfection. The true reason the Eldest took such great pleasure in these sojourns was first and foremost that when they stayed in the Home of their Father they felt His grief stream toward them, they felt that their love for Him and for their artistically inclined brothers and sisters had lessened. They no longer felt at ease in the surroundings of their Home, and it was for this reason that they were drawn toward the small, exquisite world around the Earth. It became a refuge for them. For by staying there they avoided their Father’s sorrowful countenance, they avoided the sorrowful reproaches of their brothers and sisters. And their sojourns in this new world lengthened and lengthened, even though it was slowly being transformed by the Darkness⁶² that they had been harboring within themselves since their fall. Time and again, their Father’s voice called, bidding them return lest they succumb wholly to the power of Darkness. But their willfulness bound them. and thus for a time God had to accept the loss of some of His beloved children.

When God made known to Ardor that if he created beings from Darkness, it would bind him and his helpers until their children had come to conceive pity for them, was this an arbitrary condition imposed by God for the redemption of the Eldest, or was it imposed by the nature of Darkness itself for the release of the Eldest from its bondage?

God knew that if the Eldest succeeded in creating viable beings from Darkness, they would be bound to these children by a life-giving connection. And God saw—shortly before His warning to the fallen children against creating from Darkness—that some of the Eldest had begun to yearn for the distant home of the Father. And He foresaw that if beings were created from Darkness, these Eldest would turn to Him for help when they saw how imperfect their creatures were. And in the knowledge that He would at some time grant this help by giving these creatures thought and will—that is, spiritual life—He warned Ardor that Darkness would bind him and his fallen brothers and sisters until his creatures had learned to take pity on them.

Thus it was no arbitrary condition imposed by God. Darkness by its very nature would form a bond between creator and created—a bond that only grief and remorse could loosen, arising either through the “creator’s” awakening acknowledgment of the sinfulness of the act, or through feelings of compassion by the created for the creator who had been overcome by Darkness. And when God saw that Ardor’s nature at that time was so permeated by Darkness that he would in all probability be unable to comprehend the enormity of the wrongful action he contemplated, He pointed with His words to a shorter road to grief and repentance for Ardor and his fallen brothers and sisters, a shorter road opened to them through the compassion of his own progeny for him, for his life in the deepest Darkness, in sin and in suffering. For every thought of compassion draws the Light to whomever is the subject of the thought, and the Light that embraces that individual may then make it possible to break defiance, and in this way awaken grief and remorse.

Regarding the prayer of intercession for the Eldest that Christ and others of the Youngest were to attempt whilst in human form: Is this prayer’s significance due to the condition for Ardor’s redemption as explained in answer to question 44? Are the Youngest regarded as Ardor’s children while in human form, and would prayer by them thus have greater impact than if uttered while not so embodied?

Ardor and the Eldest, through their fall, had not transgressed against their other brothers and sisters in any way. Thus an act of intercession by them could not free the Eldest from Darkness, yet could call forth a help that in the Eldest might precipitate an understanding of their sin against God and in this way awaken grief and remorse. (Toward the Light, page 10: 5, and page 174: 1)

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When God called upon the Youngest to serve, in human embodiment, as leaders for the creatures of the Eldest—once He had inspirited the “shadows”, had given them thought and will—He did this for three reasons: 1) He knew the help the Youngest could offer mankind as pioneers in every respect could shorten the journey of the human spirits to His Kingdom by millions of years; 2) The Youngest would, through their lives on Earth, come to know Darkness in its many and varied forms and manifestations, would learn fully to counter its incursions and fully to overcome it; 3) Once the Youngest were bound to the beings created by Ardor, they would be equal to the human spirits in knowing pity, that is to say, in feeling compassion for the creator and creators of the human body. And since all the Youngest without exception felt only love for their fallen brothers and sisters and yearned to win them back, the possibility arose, when they accepted the task God gave them, that one or more of them during an earthly life would take pity on the fallen, and through a prayer of intercession call forth the necessary grief and remorse. Intercession would come about, in this way, much sooner than in the time conceivably needed for a human spirit to reach the necessary degree of compassion for the fallen Eldest, and then pray God to forgive the creator and creators of the human body. God thus strove in every way to shorten as much as possible the road for all the fallen Eldest—the road leading back to their Father’s Home.

Can we learn more about the life and work of our Father’s Helpers—the twelve Servants—than already given in Toward the Light? And what import does their mighty intellect, their great spiritual knowledge and their love, have for the work of the Youngest in the development of the human spirits?

All twelve Servants, or Helpers, of God are mighty personalities. In appearance they are youthful and graceful, bright and radiant. By nature they are pure, loving, understanding and helpful. Always they were, and always they will be the helpers of the Youngest in the latter’s so difficult task of serving as the pioneers of mankind. Time and again these radiant personalities have been the leaders and guardian spirits of the Youngest during their earthly incarnations, especially when anything new of science, art or invention should be imparted to humanity.

Before the onset of the great schism between the Eldest and the Youngest, God’s twelve Helpers served as tutors and educators for His first children, by whom they were all beloved, both for their kind, affectionate nature and for the knowledge and learning they gave.

When the great schism had come about and the twelve beheld the profound grief of their beloved Lord and Master, they all went forth to the kingdom around the Earth to attempt through their influence to call back the fallen children to the Father. But in vain. Their words went unheeded. The power of Darkness was too great! Time and again both before and after the creation of humanity they came to the fallen to speak with them, to re-awaken their memory of the splendor, the joy and the life in their Father’s Kingdom. When their words fell on barren ground, then they too grieved as their beloved Lord grieved. But now and again, when their sorrowful words sounded to the Eldest, when their bright and radiant figures cast a blinding light over the ugly scenery of the “ruined” kingdom, they succeeded in calling forth the memory of the glorious Kingdom of God in the darkened minds and thoughts of some of the Eldest. Then was their joy profound, and they brought these remorseful, grief-stricken children back to their Father’s embrace.

When the first multitude of human spirits had completed their earthly incarnations and fully released themselves from the power of earthly Darkness, they were brought by the twelve Helpers to one of the distant globes of the Light, chosen by God as their temporary habitat. The twelve Helpers then became by turns their tutors and educators. Since that time numerous human spirits—released from rebirth on Earth—have set out upon their journey from one world of Light to another, toward their Father’s Home, under the loving care and guidance of the twelve Helpers. Those Eldest who are interned on distant globes are also under the care and protection of the twelve Helpers. The task of the Helpers is now so great and so comprehensive that a number of the Youngest share—between their incarnations—in this work of education, upbringing and protection. The task of the twelve Helpers has indeed become so great that only one or two at a time can stay in the Home of the Father, so that the burden of loneliness does not weigh too heavily upon Him in His vast and mighty Kingdom.

Since all God’s children were created as equal beings, how did Ardor among the Eldest and Christ among the Youngest become so much greater than their brothers? Will this difference continue through eternity?

Among the more scientifically inclined of God’s children, Ardor was the one most advanced in knowledge. And among the more artistically and emotionally inclined, he who was called the eldest of the Youngest was the most highly developed. Influenced by the thoughts of their duals—thoughts of self-admiration and compassion respectively—these two therefore became the leaders of their respective groups of God’s children. (Toward the Light, page 181).

The difference that then prevailed, and still prevails, will presumably—it cannot be said with certainty—cease to be when God’s first children are gathered with the human spirits in His Kingdom. But individual differences will, of course, remain through eternity.

It is also likely that both the “Eldest” and the “Youngest”, as well as the human spirits, will preserve through eternity their great love for the eldest of the Youngest, out of their memory of his deep, pure and faithful love for them all, out of the memory of his great patience, which could not be conquered by Darkness, of his great unselfishness, his never-failing trust in God’s leadership, and his inner strength and ability to help and sustain wherever his help was needed and desired.

On the globes of the Light where they continue their development, all human spirits will at some time—millions of years ahead—be confronted with Ardor and his dual, so that through long acquaintance they may conceive a truly deep love for them both. And when they have fully learned to love these two, who were the first and direct cause of the creation of mankind, then will they be easily able to transfer this love to all the Eldest, even though they may not become acquainted with them until later, as these Eldest regain their lost personalities of Light. For long before the time arrives when all the Eldest will have restored their personalities, every human spirit will have fully understood that however difficult it was for them to live through the suffering, sorrow and struggle of their many lives in the earthly world of Darkness, nothing that they had to endure could compare with the misery, sin and suffering of the Eldest. And on the basis of this understanding will in their minds and thought arise—however slowly—a deep and lasting feeling for their older brothers and sisters.

A major typographical error in the answer to Question 48, in the original Danish-language edition of the First Supplement, was not discovered until after publication. It was therefore decided to give the necessary correction at the corresponding point in the Second Supplement, which was to be published a few months later, in February of 1930.

This correction has, of course, now been incorporated in the English language edition of the First Supplement, thus rendering superfluous any translation of the Danish text originally included at this point. —Translators’ note

Why did millions of years pass before the Youngest started to miss the absent Eldest? Had both become alienated from each other?

The love of the Youngest for their fallen brothers and sisters who had withdrawn from them, lessened not because of this. They longed deeply and sincerely for the absent ones. They saw their Father grieve, and they themselves grieved over that which had come about. But they understood not the full extent of the schism. And if such a seemingly lengthy period elapsed before they turned to God’s Servants to gain full knowledge of the absence of the Eldest, these millions of years should not be judged by earthly standards. This number was given so as not to confuse the human understanding of the immense span of time that, seen with earthly eyes, preceded the creation of humanity after the fall of the Eldest—a time when all earthly possibilities for life were transformed or completely destroyed by the Darkness that streamed in over the globe. These millions of years must therefore be viewed according to the old adage: One day is to the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. However, humans would be nearer the truth if instead of “a thousand years” they said: millions of years. The span of time referred to in Toward the Light, page 174: 3, is so immense as to be incomprehensible to humans; but to the Youngest in God’s Kingdom it was in reality a short period.

And what has otherwise been stated in Ardor's Account and in the Commentary to Ardor’s Account—page 9: 14 to page 10: 6 and page 174: 3, 4—in no way indicates that there was any coolness between the Youngest and the Eldest. Never did the love of the Youngest for their fallen brothers and sisters lessen. Nor did even the suffering of the many earthly lives the Youngest had to endure lessen their love. Rather did their suffering and grief deepen and strengthen it, for through their own pain and sorrow they gained a true understanding of the misery and dismal existence of the fallen brothers and sisters in Darkness and in horror, far away from their common Father. Through their incarnations they gained an understanding of the life and actions of their brothers and sisters—an understanding they could otherwise never have reached.

But no human being can conceive of the depth of the grief felt by the Youngest in God’s Kingdom when the Youngest came to know the truth about the disappearance into Darkness of their beloved, their fallen brothers and sisters, for there will always be one or more elements of selfishness in human grief over deceased, departed relatives and friends. For the Youngest this was not so; their grief was completely unselfish, pure, sincere and profound. Had the opposite been so, they would never have had the courage—through their earthly incarnations—to engage the Darkness in order to vanquish it and to win their beloved, absent brothers and sisters back to the life that they had known in the Paternal Home.

Can the transcendental world clarify the different perceptions of the concept of time? When the Youngest (Question 49) felt the absence of the Eldest as but a brief time, did the Eldest in the new world of Light around the Earth then experience this as millions of years? Or does the perception of time depend on the nature of the intelligences rather than on their location?

The concept of time is highly relative, is very different for the various beings and extremely different under the time rhythms of the two primal forces—Light and Darkness. From the transcendental world we may possibly clarify this to some extent but cannot give an exact explanation, for even the most gifted among human intellects will be unable to comprehend the core of the matter: the differing time-rhythms of Light and Darkness.

1) The two primal powers, Light and Darkness, are each of a different nature, since the ethereal, spiritual and material vibrations of the Light are based on very high frequencies and the corresponding vibrations of Darkness on very low frequencies (in comparison with those of the Light). If Darkness is enclosed in the Light, it is drawn forward with the circulation of the Light through God’s flaming Being. But it can never keep pace with the strong forward thrust of the Light and thus becomes a slow undercurrent in the swift forward surge of the Light-ether. The flow of time for the movements of the ether of Darkness is therefore exceedingly slow compared to that of the Light-ether.

2) If the Darkness has been separated from encapsulation in the Light-ether, its movement, its forward thrust slows yet more, even though the

vibrations of polarized Darkness on average are faster than those of depolarized Darkness.

3) Since God’s Kingdom is created and formed of the ethereal-material radiations of the Light, the concept of “time” in His realm is based on a rhythm very different from that of earthly time.

4) Earthly life is primordially based on the material or molecular vibrations of Darkness, thus the concept of time in the earthly world must express the slow time-rhythm of this primal force. This must of necessity cause a great difference in the perception of time in God’s Kingdom and the same in the earthly world.

5) Since the astral worlds around the Earth are based partly on the vibrations of astral Darkness and partly, in the case of the higher spheres, upon the vibrations of astral-material Light, the concept of time will similarly differ for the beings who inhabit these transcendental worlds. But none of these time-concepts can be measured against the rhythm of time in God’s Kingdom.

6) The spiritual disposition of the various intelligences must also be taken into account. The higher the intelligence, the faster the rhythm of time so that the differences in its perception can also arise for this reason. In God’s Kingdom such differences were predominant between God and His Servants, and between His Servants and God’s first children, so that the time-rhythm increased in speed upwards from God’s children to God Himself.

7) Similar differences in the relativity of time apply also in the earthly world. To a certain extent this is due to the higher or lower levels of intelligence of the beings who live in that world, but there are also other causes.

Let us consider a few examples:

To a young, normal child, “one day” is endlessly long, but a day seems brief to the adult and the aged. Those who are highly gifted and occupied during their day by scientific research or artistic creativity, for example, will experience the day as much shorter than it would seem to the less gifted or to an “idler”. For a healthy and happy person a day can pass as if an hour, while an hour can seem an entire day for one who suffers physically or spiritually.

Relativity must therefore always be taken into account, whether in connection with fixed or non-fixed concepts and determinations of time.

8) Life in God’s Kingdom was splendid, glorious and happy. The rhythm of time was therefore swift and fleeting for God’s children.

When the Eldest departed in significant numbers to settle in the Kingdom around the Earth, while the Youngest lived on in the familiar surroundings and environment of God’s Kingdom, the rhythm of time slowed for the Youngest because of their grief for the beloved brothers and sisters who had disappeared. But they understood not the reason for this, for the millions of years that elapsed—in terms of earthly time—before they turned to God’s Servants to inquire about those absent, were experienced by them as but a brief span of time.

9) For the Eldest in the Kingdom around the Earth, the rhythm of time slowly changed as Darkness destroyed more and more of their Kingdom. But engrossed in attempting to restore the former splendor of their environment, the Eldest were not immediately aware of the full extent of the change. Not until they descended to the globe to investigate the destruction caused there by Darkness did they understand that the time-rhythm of Darkness was quite different from that of the Light. And when they had created mankind and become bound to their creatures through the Darkness, they became subject in every way to earthly conditions and concepts of time. And time became infinitely long for them all.

10) So that the Youngest could more or less accustom themselves to earthly concepts of time, God had to transfer them from His Kingdom and give them dwellings in the sixth sphere around the Earth. Therefore, as long as their leadership of mankind’s journeying toward the Light continues they must abide there between their human incarnations, except for visits to the Paternal Home from time to time for rest and renewal of their strength and courage in discourse with God, and through His strong and intense radiations of Light.

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No further explanation can be given from the transcendental world.

In answer to Question 32 (Supplement I) it is stated that humans must themselves solve the problem of the nebulae. However, current astronomical theories suggest that nebulae are very distant galactic systems, thus cannot belong to the Earth’s “Milky Way”. But in Toward the Light we are informed the nebulae do belong to the Earth’s galactic system. Can further explanation be given?

Current theory which holds that the distant nebulae are galactic systems separate from that of the Earth is incorrect, and so we have been permitted to answer this question and present the facts.

Immense accumulations of Darkness exist at a number of places in the ether around the galactic (“Milky Way”) system of the Earth. They were separated by the fallen Eldest at the dawn of earthly time from encapsulation in the ether, and radiation-images of the stars within the region of the accumulations (or nebulae) are caught and reflected in these accumulations. Just as a raindrop in the earthly world can capture and reflect a “picture” of the sun, so can “pictures” of stars be caught and reflected by the accumulations of Darkness surrounding the respective globes, which are actually few compared to the enormous numbers the nebulae display in the telescope. The nebulae are therefore an optical illusion.

A) It is stated (Toward the Light, page 322 and First Supplement, page 23) that the Eldest yet living on Earth will be removed to astral habitats in one of the other three “Milky Way” systems. Will this occur at their physical death and do they go willingly or is it a “compulsory transfer”? They have previously been unwilling to leave the earthly scene. How can they now agree to be banished immediately after physical death? Or is it compulsory in certain cases?

The removal immediately after physical death of those Eldest⁶³ as yet incarnated on Earth is definitely not a “compulsory transfer”. On the contrary, it is a help that God extends to both the Eldest and to humanity.

When God obliterated the “ruined kingdom” (the so-called “Hell”)⁶⁴ following the return of the Earth-bound spirits to the spheres, the Eldest were all left homeless. Therefore, before He removed the “Hell-sphere”, God had created dwellings on the distant globes of the Light for both the discarnate and the incarnated Eldest. Those of the Eldest who had—along with the Earth-bound human spirits—heeded God’s calling (in the year 1911) were brought at once to these new habitats where they may rest in calm and quiet until they enter their earthly incarnations of atonement. When this will take place is not yet known. These homes, provided by God for His unfortunate fallen children, are bright and splendid contrasted to the desolate surroundings of the “Hell-sphere”. All were therefore only too happy to leave the harrowing and oppressive Darkness of the “ruined kingdom”—their home for millions of years. No pressure was exerted upon them. It was a gift, a help extended by God, and these Eldest understood it as such. However, since it is likely some will now ask why the Eldest could not have stayed in one of the spheres around the Earth, we shall here explain why not. Between incarnations, the self-incarnated Eldest stayed partly in the “Hell-sphere” and partly on the Earth’s astral plane, but not in the spheres that God had created as habitats for rest and learning for the human spirits. However, those among the Eldest⁶⁵ who, through grief and remorse, had bitterly regretted their willful incarnations and had asked for help and for their Father’s forgiveness, were in time provided dwellings in the spheres upon returning from their first incarnation of atonement. In other words, those of the Eldest who had subjected themselves voluntarily to the Law of Retribution were, and still are considered on equal footing with human spirits, since they must restore their personalities through numerous incarnations. But since those Eldest who responded to God’s calling in the year 1911 were so numerous that it was impossible to incarnate them all simultaneously, God provided them with bright, beautiful and peaceful habitats in order to uplift and to sustain them during their difficult time of self-searching before they could be incarnated under His leadership. (Many of the deepest fallen repose there in peaceful sleep, and this is also a help from their Father. These unfortunate beings, through a long and restful sleep, are removed far enough from their earthly existence that, when they re-awaken, they can with greater calm look back upon their numerous unlawful incarnations—for which they must account to God.)

Upon Ardor’s return, God reinstated the laws he had given for the development of the human spirit—laws that Ardor had overturned in order to hinder this gradual progress. Among these was the so-called “Law of Sleep”.⁶⁶ The remaining Eldest—incarnated by Ardor—will therefore, like the human spirits, fall asleep at the moment of death when their earthly human bodies cease to function, whereupon they are brought to the dwellings awaiting them on the distant globes of the Light. And when they awaken from their “sleep of death”, they will feel only gratitude to find themselves in these pure and bright surroundings. All the Eldest incarnated by Ardor know of this provision⁶⁷ and none have raised any objections. And why should they object to living in bright and beautiful surroundings rather than in the deep Darkness, squalor and hideousness of the ruined kingdom? Forget not that the Eldest began their unlawful incarnations because their life in the “Hell-sphere” had become quite unendurable.

B) Once upon a time the Eldest were able to traverse great distances in space—for instance between God’s Kingdom and the Kingdom around the Earth. How then can the Eldest now be contained in isolation?

Since the Eldest have been, and still are brought to globes of the Light, and since their thought and their will have for millions upon millions of years been able to control only the powers of Darkness and not those of the Light, they are not now able by their thought and will—nor so inclined—to penetrate the Light-ether surrounding their habitats, even though long ago they did have the ability to move through the Light-ether. By this arrangement—transferring the Eldest to globes of the Light—God gives help to the Eldest and mankind alike. Since these Eldest cannot reach the Earth, mankind need never fear an unwelcome invasion from those interned in these worlds of Light.

But can this help given the Eldest and mankind be called compulsion? Does not this arrangement by God spring rather from His boundless love, both for His fallen children and for the children who strive in the earthly Darkness toward His kingdom? None of the Eldest—discarnate or incarnate—has objected in the slightest to this procedure, and neither should anyone among mankind have any cause for complaint.

When the incarnated Eldest have died out and God no longer creates human spirits, what becomes of the most primitive human fetuses to which spirits, previously created, are not to be bound?⁶⁸

A number of the most primitive races have long ago died out, and others are about to do so. As “civilization” spreads, many races that cannot assimilate the benefits of same, only its evils, will gradually become extinct. The most primitive of the existing races will therefore not suddenly disappear, but their fertility will gradually diminish, fewer and fewer children will be born to them and they will finally die out when God has no further need for them.

Multitudes of human spirits who have undergone only one or two lives on Earth are to be found in the first sphere and, in time, God can employ these spirits by binding them to fetuses of the dying races.

Will the number of spirits be finally determined with the death of the last of the Eldest, or is it possible God will create new beings in future?

The number of human spirits will not be increased after the Eldest, presently incarnated, have died out. The number reached at that time will be the ultimate number of human spirits.

We do not know whether God might create new beings at some time in the eternal future.

It is related (Toward the Light, page 31: 8) that “God walked among them, and He spoke to each one”. Are God and the Youngest of the same bodily stature as humans on Earth, or is this a figure of speech?

The expression should be taken quite literally. God did walk among His children and He spoke to them.

In stature, God and His first children stand somewhat taller than the normal height of men and women on Earth. When human spirits are released from earthly life, their ethereal figures are of the same size as the ethereal bodies of the Eldest and the Youngest.

The mystery of the “uncreated” is beyond human comprehension. Does this mean the question “from where comes everything”?—asked again and again by human thought—is unwarranted, since the question exists not for the more highly developed intelligences, nor did it for primal Thought?

As said in Toward the Light, page 164: 4, it is possible one of the Youngest will at some time undertake an earthly mission to attempt to explain the riddle of eternity and the mystery of the “uncreated”. When that might happen cannot be said. It could be in a hundred years, perhaps thousands, for it depends on how soon mankind will be guided by the truths given in Toward the Light.

One should not say, however, that the question “from where?” is unwarranted, for humanity is perfectly justified in asking this. But as long as humans have not progressed further spiritually, it will be impossible to impart to them any true understanding of this “mystery”.

In His state of “primal Thought”, God was also confronted with the problems of eternal life and the uncreated, and He solved them from the inner knowledge of primal Thought. God’s Servants and His first children are all fully acquainted with the answers to these questions. But as already said, it is at present impossible to clarify this for humans—even the most gifted. Consider also that there is a limit to what the human brain can absorb without disrupting the self. For this reason it would be impossible to answer such complex questions through the physical brain of our earthly helper, even if it served merely as a “passage” for the thought-messages received from outside spiritual intelligences. And if we cannot impart to our intermediary the slightest understanding of the matter it is futile to give answers that cannot pass the physical brain, because the individual, the medium, who must receive them will be incapable of translating the given thought-answers into words that humans can understand. There is a limit to the serviceability of our medium’s brain.

The only way for humanity to receive the solutions to these riddles is for one of the Youngest in a coming incarnation to undertake the task, endowed by God in such a way that this personage will be able, from inner knowledge and with help from the guardian spirit, to explain these matters to others. Until then, humans must await patiently the solution to the riddle of eternity and the mystery of the “uncreated”.

Before primal Thought and primal Will reacted to the radiations of Darkness,

was the Thought conscious of itself? Did it reflect the cosmos within itself and conceive thoughts about itself and the surrounding world—Light, Darkness

and Will?

Primal Thought and primal Will can each to some extent be regarded as a conglomerate—a collection of widely differing components. But their cores cannot be defined.

Before primal Thought and primal Will reacted to the radiations of Darkness, with its possibilities for evil (Toward the Light, page 3: 8), the Thought was not conscious of itself. But when Thought and Will simultaneously reached the latent poles of the Light, they awoke—as also described in Toward the Light — to fully conscious and willed activity. In the inactive state, both primal Thought and primal Will contained “complexes” that could be influenced by the radiations from either the Light or Darkness. The Thought thus contained complexes for the good and for the evil—for a good, beautiful, harmonious and bright cosmos, and for an evil, hideous, disharmonious and dark cosmos.

When the Thought reached one of the poles of the Light, with which it merged, it became fully conscious of itself. It knew that it contained complexes for the good and for the evil, it knew that the evil should be overcome, separated and eliminated, and that the good should be retained, developed and strengthened. It knew that it had to strive to achieve a perfect union with its “Will”. When primal Will reached the other pole of the Light, with which it merged, it became pervaded by the radiations of the Light, which purged and eliminated the complexes that were susceptible to the influence of Darkness. But Darkness thereby lost all possible influence over it. And it then became the task of the Will, by virtue of its inherent power of attraction, to sustain and guide the Thought in its struggle out of and away from Darkness, and in its process of self-purification. Each time the Thought—fully consciously—had eliminated some of its complexes that were susceptible to Darkness, and had thereby drawn nearer to the Will, a reaction occurred—a state of rest—accompanied by an intense desire to cease the struggle. But the ever stronger and ever approaching influence of the Light-Will imparted to the Thought new strength, new courage; and the Thought continued its struggle, continued to purify itself until all complexes that could be influenced by Darkness had been eliminated.

In this way, primal Thought was cleansed of impurities. In this way it gained knowledge of its own self, gained knowledge of all the forms and manifestations of evil. In this way it gained knowledge of the impermanence of Darkness and of the existence of the Light through eternity. And the moment that the Thought—infused with, and purified by the concentrated radiations of the Light—met with the Will, they became united in a harmony of perfect beauty; became one, an entity, indissoluble for eternity, an entity no outside force could undo or destroy (Toward the Light, page 259: 3 to page 260: 1).

Thus: Throughout eternity primal Thought and primal Will contained complexes that could be called to life through the radiations either of Darkness or of the Light. But the first reaction to the effect of Darkness caused them to drift, infinitely slowly, further and further away from its influence. And under the influence of the ever-increasing power and radiations of the Light, after its union with the one pole of the Light, primal Thought began its long struggle against Darkness, eliminating the complexes that could be influenced by its radiations. In this way, Thought overcame Darkness and in this way victory was fully gained over the evil.

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It is not feasible for the transcendental world—through a human being—to explain in more detail the concepts of primal Thought and primal Will, since it will always be difficult, if not impossible, in an earthly language to find adequate words, expressions or images that fully accord with, or that fully cover, these complex questions, abstractions or concepts.

Thus it is not possible in earthly language to give a more detailed answer to this Question, or a more exact explanation than given here.

It is stated (Question 57) that primal Will led primal Thought out of and away from Darkness. How should this be understood? Primal Thought and primal Will had by then moved into the Light to unite with its two poles, leading one to assume both were beyond the reach of the radiations of Darkness.

In Toward the Light, page 159: 3, it is stated: “Between the two primal forces, on the boundary between Light and Darkness, rested the Thought and the Will”. With this passage as a beginning, we shall try to throw more light on this matter.

The primordial power called the Light rested as a faintly luminous globe⁶⁹ in the surrounding Darkness. The globe was perfectly circular, and in this globe of Light rested the two latent “cores of the poles”. If one imagines this globe projected as a circle with primal Thought as a tangent at the left, and primal Will as a tangent at the right of the circle’s circumference, a line can be drawn from the Thought through the core of one pole to the center of the circle, and from there through the core of the other pole to the Will. Both cores of the poles in the projected drawing should lie one third of the distance along the bisecting line—the diameter—from the Thought and the Will respectively. When primal Thought and primal Will simultaneously responded to the radiations of the surrounding Darkness, their movement into the Light and toward each other⁷⁰ began. But at the same time the powers of both Light and Darkness awoke slowly to an ever-rising activity. The radiance of both primal forces automatically increased in strength and intensity of energy manifestation each time that Thought and Will moved further into the Light. One should therefore visualize how the Darkness that encompassed the globe of Light would, from time to time, encroach upon the area of this Light-globe like gigantic “tentacles”. These tentacles sent rays of Darkness forth over the Thought and the Will in order to draw them both back and into the Darkness. When Thought and Will each reached the core of their respective poles with which they became united, the poles awoke from their latent state, became vitalized and were transformed from a “polar core” to a male (positive) and a female (negative) pole, respectively. At the union of primal Will with the core of its pole, it acquired so much strength and energy that it was able to repel the radiations of Darkness from the right-hand side of the globe of Light. This primal force thus withdrew its tentacles from the Light and retracted them into itself. But since the Will was still far away from the female pole, it was impossible for it to repel the radiations of Darkness that penetrated the globe of Light from the opposite side of its area. The tentacles and radiations of Darkness thus pursued the Thought on its way in toward the center of the Light and forward toward the Will. And in this way Darkness impeded the self-purification of the Thought. But, sustained by the increasing power of attraction of the ever-nearing pole of the Will, the Thought moved—with longer or shorter pauses⁷¹—continually forward until it had succeeded in fully purifying itself (an accomplishment that must be visualized as having occurred near the center). The poles of Thought and Will then moved simultaneously into the center of the globe of Light—their union was complete, and God arose as a personal Being, as the center of the universe.

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No further information on this subject can be given from the transcendental world.

Are we, in the opinion of the higher intelligences, justified in asking why we and the world exist? If so, is it conceivable that primal Thought during its struggle against Darkness also questioned the purpose and value of existence?

This question is of course justified, both in the opinion of the higher intelligences and from the human point of view.

When primal Thought was confronted with the possibility of a struggle against Darkness, it asked itself over and over again: 1) Whether the purpose, the object, of its existence was a union with primal Will, a personal existence—an embodiment within a surrounding world of Light, an eternal life in wisdom, omnipotence, love,⁷² beauty, peace and harmony; or 2) a continued existence as Thought without Will and without embodiment; or 3) an absolute extinction called forth through a life lived in a cosmos of Darkness, in which the powers of Darkness would ultimately cause disintegration and annihilation⁷³ of primal Thought and of primal Will.

Primal Thought weighed the opposing possibilities in these questions, seeking to clarify for itself whether a struggle against Darkness was worthwhile in order to achieve eternal life in a sublime and eternal world of Light. It pondered deeply and to the full on the value of eternal life, and when it had considered all the arguments, for and against, it resolved to take up the struggle against Darkness. And from its inner conviction that the goal of eternal life in wisdom, omnipotence, beauty, peace and harmony was truly worth the struggle, it continued to strive against Darkness until it was victorious.

Since the spiritual human being has its origin in God’s own Being, it is natural that human beings should likewise question the purpose and value of existence. The purpose of the existence of the human spirit in a “world of Darkness” is fully explained in Toward the Light. It was because of His fallen children, the Eldest, that God did not create beings of Light on the globe He had chosen—the Earth—as had been His thought and purpose. Toward the Light also explains why God gave human beings—the imperfect creatures of the Eldest—a spark of His own Being, gave them thought and will, clothed thought and will in a spiritual body, and thus gifted the human spirit with eternal life. God did all this to help His beloved fallen children gain victory over the Darkness that they had drawn forth, in their pride and willfulness, from encapsulation in the Light. God did all this in the hope that each human spirit would, by its own thought and will, contribute toward overcoming a part of the Darkness of earthly life and thereby eliminating it. And He gave the human spirit the gift of eternal life that it should have a goal at which to aim, a goal for which to strive, a goal for whose attainment to yearn. But whether this gift is of value to the individual human spirit must each alone decide. Every human spirit is therefore confronted—when mature enough to draw its own conclusions—with the choice: an eternal life in God’s Kingdom, or eternal extinction. The human spirit must then itself decide if eternal life in God’s Kingdom can outweigh the struggle against Darkness, against the temptations and the sin and the evil of Darkness. The decision must be the spirit’s own, whether to continue in numerous earthly lives—interrupted by physical death—to strive against Darkness, to overcome it and to journey victoriously onward to God’s Kingdom, or choose non-existence for eternity. Human spirits during their sojourn in the spheres have again and again been confronted with this choice, and will again and again in future be given the same choice. For the choice is not made once and for all; the possibility always remains open to human spirits—when they have chosen to continue—that after a completed life on Earth they may choose complete extinction. God compels none to continue the journey; each spirit can always decide for itself, therefore, if the cup of suffering has become so full that eternal life in God’s Kingdom can no longer compensate for the suffering and misery of earthly life. But God always extends His help to those spirits who are in doubt regarding this decision, who are weighed down by the burden of their struggle, weighed down by the temptations, the evil, the sin and the suffering of Darkness. He calls forth before them images of the splendor of His Kingdom.⁷⁴ He shows them the life and existence of His first children in the Paternal Home before the great schism between the Eldest and the Youngest began. He explains to them what they will gain by striving through Darkness to the Light, and what they will give up if they cease the struggle. And no human spirit has yet chosen eternal extinction, all preferring to continue their journey until victory over Darkness can be gained.

Can one say it would have been better for God and all His children if primal Darkness had never existed and the cosmos had been entirely a world of Light? Or should one agree with Leibnitz that evil in fact emphasizes the harmony of existence as, say, the shadow sets off the light in a painting? Can it be said that Darkness was necessary so that spiritual beings as a result could attain to a deeper and richer development and their joy be otherwise the greater after a victorious struggle against Darkness?

The inquirer has in fact answered these questions.

The example—shadow accentuating light in a painting—is especially well chosen. A painting without shadow, even if executed in pure, bright and beautiful colors, would still appear flat, lifeless and uninteresting to the viewer. And the old saying that happiness becomes greater against a background of sorrow is also perfectly true.

Darkness was necessary in order for a harmonious and perfected personal Being to arise from primal Thought and primal Will. And when God thought to create His first children, He knew that at some time he would have to confront them with Darkness so that through this direct acquaintance they could learn to repudiate its powers and possibilities for evil. For did He not, they would eternally remain dependent, protected children.⁷⁵ They would then never have become fully developed and integrated personal beings, would never have attained to the sublime development of their intellectual and emotional life.

If a human being in life on Earth is able to overcome a difficulty, if the individual can ward off the temptations of Darkness, can overcome a vice or the desire to hurt, sadden or ruin a fellow human, then the victory—be it ever so small—will always bring joy to the mind, and this gladness will then become a contributing factor to a richer, deeper and more harmonious emotional life. It should not be necessary to provide any examples, since most people have experienced such feelings of joy or gladness in their everyday life. Most people have also experienced the grief and shame resulting when the evil, the Darkness, in life has gained victory over them. But grief and shame can also contribute to the development of the human personality; for if these feelings are deep and true, the individual will become more mindful, more careful in thought, word and action. And if people later succeed in gaining a victory where they formerly failed or were defeated, then the joy of the victory will be greater and richer. The will for the good and the true grows stronger, the thought and the mind become brighter, the feelings towards others grow friendlier, kindlier and more loving, and individual humans become more understanding, more forgiving of the errors, failures, sufferings and sorrows of their fellow beings.

Therefore: Darkness serves to develop that which is good, true, beautiful, loving and harmonious within the spiritual self. The darker and more painful the background for the victory gained, the purer, the brighter, the more harmonious, the more understanding will be the personality of the individual who gained the victory.

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The heartfelt joy that God’s first children experienced when they lived in God’s Kingdom under His care, attention and leadership is best compared to the spontaneous feelings of a young human child. Their joy was harmonious, was sincere, yet a perfect, jubilant elation—the sublime feeling beyond all human conception—was unknown to them. The Youngest came to know this feeling the moment they learned that Ardor, their beloved lost brother, had been redeemed through God’s forgiving love, had been delivered through their struggle against Darkness, delivered through their victories over the evil and hideousness of Darkness.

Every one of the Eldest and every human spirit will be held fast by this jubilant, sublime feeling when they enter God’s Kingdom—the Eldest because they have returned to the Home of the Father, and the human spirits because they have reached the goal of their struggle, the goal of their journeys under the Law of Retribution.

And when all God’s children are gathered together in the Home of the Father, the faint memory of the horror, suffering, evil and grief of their life in Darkness will for eternity be the background, the shadow that brings out the perfect harmony, the peaceful beauty and the joy of everlasting life.

How can God experience everything in the present—the future also (Toward the Light, page 271: 2)—when, because of human free will not even He, as so often said, can know what will happen?

The relevant passage concerns first and foremost the retrospection of the human spirit within its memory upon the struggle out of Darkness and toward the Light. The same passage states also: “But to God it is not retrospection but experience in the present.” It is thus a review of the past and not a preview of the future that is experienced in the present. It is further stated: “. . .for as He carries all time—finite as well as infinite—in His all-embracing Thought, the concept of time does not exist for Him.” Neither in this passage is there any question of a prescience that depends upon God’s knowledge of a progressive series of events. It in fact explains the preceding passage: that the concept of time exists not for God, so that all recollection of the past is for Him experience in the present. Had it been the intent to state that God knew in every detail the events both of the Heavenly and of the earthly future, this would have been stated more explicitly, for example: and just as God can experience the past in the present, so can He also in the present experience what is to come. But no such statement can be made, for it would contradict reality and conflict with the truth. For the free will of all God’s children limits His foreknowledge of all that the future may bring. The expression, “His all-embracing Thought”, thus means that God’s Thought encompasses all that was and all that is, but not that which does not exist, nor does it embrace the events that through the future enter into existence, enter into the present. Because of the free will of His children, God can only deduce the events of the future from those of the present. Yet He carries all time—the finite as well as the infinite—within His Thought; for He has only given the concept of “time” for the use of all created beings. Human free will is thus not a fiction but an absolute reality, as has so often been emphasized from the transcendental world. The questioner must therefore have overlooked: 1) That there is nothing in the relevant passage to indicate that God experiences the future in the present, as one must suppose from the manner in which the Question was formulated; 2) The following passage must presumably also have been overlooked, which explicitly states: “The concepts of time and space are given by God for the use of all created beings.” ⁷⁶ God Himself is thus completely independent of time and space.

God lives in the present with all His children. From their thoughts, their deeds and their conduct He can only see what the near future holds in the earthly sense for the individual, or for nations as a whole. For God cannot know beforehand whether the individual human being will choose for the good or for the evil.⁷⁷ Not until the choice has been made—in each individual case—is God able to deduce the earthly future from the earthly present, and then He plans accordingly. But again and again His plans and determinations are nullified by the free will of humanity. Thus it is, and thus will it continue to be, until human beings have learned to unite their will with the Will of God, have learned to unite their thought with God’s Thought.

Thus: the earthly future is known to God only from the conduct of humans, from their thoughts, their deeds and their choices, because He has given every human being—every human spirit—a free will. God has for a time thus limited His omniscience and thereby limited His prescience, His omnipotence.

Does the spiritual element of Light originating with the Eldest contain only the possibility of thought, of bringing order? Or does it also contain the corresponding possibility of will?

The faint current⁷⁸ of spiritual Light that flowed from the Eldest (during their attempts at creation) into the astral counterparts of their creatures—the shadows—contained not the least suggestion of thought or will. It served only to bind the particles of astral Darkness together, and thereby prevented the dissolution of the corresponding human body, at the same time preventing the astral counterpart from itself dissolving after death of the physical body.

According to Toward the Light ⁷⁹, God united a spark of His own flaming Being with the astral counterparts—the shadows— of the first human beings. Did this spark contain thought and will, and was it conveyed to the shadows through the stream of Light that binds humanity to God? And when, during pregnancy, is a newly-created spirit bound to the fetus?

The spark of His own flaming Being which God united with each single shadow was thought and will. It was conveyed to them directly, independently of the stream of Light. Some time after God had endowed the shadows with thought and will, He clothed each in a plastic substance of Light⁸⁰, whereupon they were each bound to a human fetus so as to enter the earthly world as beings gifted with spiritual life—with thought and will, that is.

Each newly-created spirit is also clothed in a plastic substance of Light before it is brought to the Earth to be incarnated. The binding to the fetus⁸¹ takes place during the same period of pregnancy in which all spirits of Light are bound to the human fetus, that is to say, from the beginning of the fourth month to the end of the fifth.

Since God created His children after arising as a personal Being and at a point when His Thought and Will were free of complexes of Darkness, the spark of thought and will that He gave His children—the Eldest, the Youngest, the human beings—would therefore be all Light. How could Darkness then influence these thoughts and wills of Light in any way?

Those portions of thought and will of the Light that God bestowed upon each of His created beings contained from the first beginning absolutely no complexes of Darkness. But to understand why Darkness could yet exert an influence upon them, we must first explain in what form and under which conditions these portions of thought and will were bestowed upon God’s children.

Since God wished to create His children as duals—as single beings belonging together in pairs destined to fulfill and supplement each other’s spiritual being as an expression of the male and female principles of primal Thought and primal Will, yet each endowed with personal thought and personal will—He had to consider carefully the approach to His work of creation. The portions of thought and will with which God would endow His children, and by which they would develop as independent personal beings, therefore had to be separated from each other so as to represent one portion of thought and one portion of will extracted from His own firmly and harmoniously merged primal Thought and primal Will. For if God, at the creation of His children as spiritual individuals, had endowed each with a spark of His own firmly merged primal Thought and primal Will, His children would in a spiritual sense have become both male and female beings as Himself and His Servants, and their personalities of Light would for eternity have been impervious to the influence of the radiations of Darkness. But then would they also have eternally remained immature beings, with no prospect of ever developing fully into intelligences of firm will and independent thought, for then they would have had no knowledge of the radiations, properties and powers of Darkness as had God’s Servants. For as thoughts within God’s Thought and wills within God’s Will, His Servants had experienced and taken part in His struggle out of Darkness. And God therefore gave all His children—both those created first, as well as the later human spirits—an absolute free thought and an absolute free will. In other words, the portions of the integrated and merged primal Thought and primal Will that God bestowed upon His children were caused to become separated as He created them and were given as one portion of thought and one portion of will. In the male dual part the element of will was greater than the element of thought, and the reverse for the female dual part. But so that none of His children should in the course of time face possible loss of their thought or will, God joined these elements with a bond of Light that can never be disrupted no matter how far they should be separated from each other through the possible influence of the radiations of Darkness. And so as to form an unbreakable union between the male and the female duals, God likewise bonded each complementary pair. These bonds between thought and will, between the male and the female dual, are spun from the spiritual-ethereal substance of the Light and are therefore invisible, not only in the earthly world but in the spheres and in the perfect spiritual worlds of the Light.

Thus equipped and thus protected, God’s children were created—and for a short time will still be created—for a life of independence and development continued for eternity. And even though there is no limit set to the possibilities for development of God’s children, never will they be able to attain to God’s own fullness of love, His knowledge or His omnipotence, for the portions of thought and will given them can never achieve as firm, harmonious and united a whole as was formed by primal Thought and primal Will when God arose as a personal Being. That the union of the individual thought and will of God’s children can never exhibit the same harmony as can the nature of God and of His Servants is primarily due to the fact that the male dual’s portion of will is greater than his portion of thought, and the other way around for the female dual part. But through a progressive development and by the innate tendency of thought and will to merge with each other, each single individual must reach a point of culmination in which the individual’s thought and will merge to form an entity. When this takes place the individual becomes impervious to the radiations of Darkness. And at the moment of merging of thought and will, the bond between them is eliminated.

But apart from this merging of each individual spirit’s portions of thought and will, the complementary dual pairs will through a gradual development similarly achieve a perfect balancing of one another’s lives of thought and will. In other words, since the male dual represents the primal principle of Will and the female dual represents the primal principle of Thought, these two spiritually complementary beings must develop into exact reflections of each other. Thought and will must be balanced—but must not merge. Should they merge, their bodily personalities must then also merge to form a single personality with a spiritual nature both male and female just as that of God and of His Servants.

The foregoing explains why and how God gave separate portions of thought and will to His children. Now we will explain how these pristine portions of the thought and the will of the Light could be influenced by the radiations of Darkness.

The reason, in creating His children, that God gave each a separate portion of thought and will was that the innate properties of absorption, attraction and repulsion of the primal Thought and primal Will which merged in God’s Being, passed at that moment into a latent state—a state of rest. If portions of this firmly merged Thought and Will were bestowed un-separated upon created beings, these portions would therefore remain latent—would be impervious to Darkness. They therefore had to be separated, so that the properties of absorption, attraction and repulsion of each portion of thought and each portion of will could once more awaken to activity.

The portion of thought and will that God binds to each newly-created spirit has its own permanent but concealed center in the psychic brain of the spirit. But the portions of thought and will that God bestowed upon His first children—the Eldest and the Youngest—were much greater than the corresponding portions given the future human spirits.

A life of beauty, of love and of joy was God’s gift to His first children. But so that they should become personalities of independent thought and will the hour had to come when they must be confronted with Darkness. And this had to happen before each individual’s thought and will—through spiritual development— had reached the point of culmination, the moment of merging.

In Toward the Light it is related (page 66) that: “After God’s children through countless eons had lived a life of beauty, splendor and joy in their Father’s Kingdom, He saw that they had advanced far enough in their understanding of the mastery of the will over the thought, and in their understanding of the need to limit the desires of the thought according to the ability of the will to make fruitful the thought and carry it into action, that there was a possibility for them all to emerge victoriously from a confrontation with Darkness. He then decided to set them a difficult task — . . .” Thus God’s children were far advanced in their knowledge of the relationship of thought and will to each other, but the thought and will of each had not yet become united. And when God confronted all His first children with Darkness, some—because of the distinctive character of each single individual—fell prey to its influence while others remained unaffected by this first attempt. In other words, those who fell prey were those who did not recoil from the radiations of the approaching Darkness but instead allowed their thought and will to “absorb” its rays without resistance. Complexes of Darkness were thereby formed in their thought and will, complexes that came into contact with Darkness and thus formed active areas for the degrading, destructive and divisive properties of that primal force.

At the time that God confronted his first children with Darkness, the dual pairs had not yet become perfect reflections of each other’s nature. In other words, each single pair—the male as “will” and the female as “thought”—had not yet become fully balanced. But the moment some of the female duals had succumbed to the thought, inspired by Darkness, that their knowledge entitled them to claim leadership of the as yet uncreated beings of the Light, and were joined by their male duals in this dark thought, the balancing between them was completed. And the moment that God—much later—approached the other children (those who had not succumbed to Darkness) to ask their help in leading the humans, the progeny of His fallen children, and the female dual of the eldest of the Youngest then—through her desire to bring this help—influenced the eldest of the Youngest to step forward to offer his help⁸², the balance between them was attained. When all the other Youngest then joined these two, the same balancing of their nature took place. The balancing of the spiritual nature of these male and female duals—both the Eldest and the Youngest—can never be undone; they are and will for eternity be a reflection of each other’s life of thought and will. And the moment the balancing took place—for both the Youngest and the Eldest—the bond between the dual pairs was dissolved.

Thus, the balancing of the dual nature of God’s first children came about long before the elements of thought and will of each individual had merged into an entity.

When God began to create spiritual beings destined to be united with the human beings—the creatures of the Eldest—He employed the same method by which He had created the Eldest and the Youngest. But since these beings from the outset were to begin their life in a world of Darkness, God had to endow them with a much smaller portion of thought and will than His first children had received. This was done so that excessively large areas should not be exposed to the influence and activity of the radiations of Darkness. However, the given elements of thought and will from the very first were, and still are, nothing but Light.

Thus God sent, and still sends, the newly-created spirit to its first human embodiment as a perfectly “pure” being of the Light, as a true child of His own nature. But these pure spiritual beings are bound to impure⁸³ bodies of Darkness. And since the human body from the hand of its creator is formed and brought to life from a double substance—astral and molecular Darkness—and since the spirit that is bound to the body is connected directly⁸⁴ to both the astral and physical (molecular) brain of this body, the spirit—the self—can be influenced both from the “inside” and the “outside” through the “life-giving cord.”⁸⁵ From within—that is to say, through the astral brain—the psychic brain of the self (the thought and the will) is influenced by the accumulated and summated matter of Light or Darkness automatically retained in the astral brain—the spiritual inheritance. From the outside, in other words through the physical, molecular brain, the self is influenced by the accumulations of Darkness or streams of Light that exist wherever the person happens to be. But so that God’s children of the Light are not left to fend for themselves on their arduous journeys in the human world, the child is accompanied, as so often explained, by a guardian spirit—the conscience of the human beings. With loving care, these guardians watch gently and patiently over their charges and seek in all ways to sustain, guide and correct their faltering, uncertain steps in the earthly world of Darkness. If humans would—as spiritual personalities—from the very beginning and at all times in the various circumstances of life not only listen to but follow the guidance of their conscience, the spirit bound to the human body would return to the home in the spheres, after the ending of each incarnation, as pure in thought, in mind and in will as it was when originally incarnated for the first time. The portions of thought and will possessed by each newly-created spirit, however, are as but faintly glowing embers compared with God’s “blazing” Thought and Will, and rather than heed the promptings of its ever-alert conscience, the spirit allows itself to be influenced by the impulses of Darkness and the fantasies and images of thought coming both from within (from the astral brain) and from without (through the physical brain). By means of the “life-giving cord”, the spirit absorbs in its thought and in its will the inner and the outer Darkness which is then deposited there as complexes of Darkness, and through these complexes the thought and the will of the ego recede from one another—the bond between them is slackened. With the help of these absorbed complexes of Darkness, active areas are also created in the human spirit for the debasing, distorting, divisive and destructive abilities, radiations and forces of Darkness. The will becomes ready to draw the thought toward evil and wicked deeds, and the thought lets itself be drawn in the direction determined by the will.

Should the strength of the thought and of the will of God’s children—during their human existence—never be increased through a direct infusion⁸⁶ of Light from God, the spiritual self—because of repeated incarnations—would soon be completely abandoned to the powers of Darkness. It would succumb to sin, evil and misdeed, for its spiritual armament would be too weak to offer an effective resistance. The spirit bound to the human body therefore receives additional Light from God at each rebirth, and the infusion strengthens the thought and the will. That is, the ability and the desire to offer resistance is awakened. The thought and the will thus become more and more capable of repelling the Darkness coming from both within and from without. Gradually, as the successive incarnations increase this capacity, desire and strength to resist, an active reaction against the Darkness will develop. The will awakens to an active movement toward the Light, and slowly the thought is influenced to follow the direction given by the will, and the purification of the self begins. The absorbed complexes of Darkness are eliminated, as the self gradually overcomes the evil, the sinful in its nature. And through the continually progressing earthly lives the moment eventually arrives when the forward movement of both thought and will toward each other results in a union. As a rule, the incarnation that sees this is the final one for that particular spirit. Once all complexes of Darkness are eliminated, so that thought and will form a solid entity, Darkness will have nothing on which to work its influence. But not all human spirits have succeeded in expiating their karmas in full at the point that the merger of thought and the will in their egos comes about. Then must their karmas be expiated in one, or a few following incarnations, after which Christ finally releases the spirit from any further lives on Earth.

Cleansed and purified, the released spirit enters its further development on the globes of the Light. The duals will accompany each other during this development. Two and two the human spirits progress from one world of Light to the next, toward their Father’s Home and Kingdom. The one, the male—whose nature represents “will”—and the other, the female—who represents “thought”—must in this close relationship attain to a perfect reflection of each other’s life in thought and will.

The lives of the human spirits in the glorious worlds of the Light correspond to the lives of the Eldest and the Youngest during their first many millions of years in God’s Kingdom. The duals will come nearer each other’s life in thought, feeling and will. Gradually, the duals attain to a purer and clearer reflection of each other’s nature, while retaining their own individual thought and will, which have become firmly merged through their lives on Earth. And when the perfect balance of the duals has been reached, the bond between them is dissolved—they enter God’s Kingdom, and their Father will then receive His children and bid them welcome out of His deep and His rich paternal love.

At the time that all the Youngest promised their Father to become the pioneers of mankind, the nature of these male and female duals was—as already stated—balanced, but their individual thought and will had not yet merged into an entity. This union therefore had to be attained during their earthly incarnations while they worked for mankind. As humans they were thus to gain knowledge of Darkness, were to learn to struggle against its temptations, against its influence in all aspects of life, in order to conquer it and become perfected personalities. At the same time they were also to lead the human beings forward spiritually and in every way seek to counteract the influence of the Eldest on the earthly, the human situation. A most difficult task! Thus the Youngest were often of a divided nature and unsure in their conduct, which must be attributed to the struggle of their incompletely merged thought and will against the Darkness within the self, as well as that in the earthly environment. Through numerous incarnations they must then dispel—as must the human spirits—all the complexes of Darkness that during their first many earthly lives were formed in their individual thought and will, until the point of culmination when the individual thought and will form a merged entity. Numerous of the Youngest have over time attained to this union of thought and will, but they will continue their incarnations for as long as their Father has need of their help.

When the Eldest succumbed to the onslaughts of Darkness, the nature of the male and female duals—as already stated—also at that point became balanced. But the individual thought and will of these beings, like those of the Youngest, had not merged at that stage of their existence. And the complexes of Darkness that were formed in their thought and will at the fall were continually increased through the subsequently deeper and deeper falls—especially through the arbitrary and unlawful incarnations of the Eldest. Those of the Eldest who returned⁸⁷ to their Father sooner than the others and who had not taken part in the unlawful⁸⁸ incarnations, have regained—under God’s care and protection—their personalities of Light, that had been distorted and destroyed under the influence of Darkness. This purification of the self took place in the habitats that God had provided them, and as the purification and elimination of the absorbed Darkness progressed, the thought and will of these Eldest drew closer, ever closer to each other. And when the complete purification had been attained, their individual thought and will became one.

But those of the Eldest who bear the guilt of unlawful self-incarnations must all—under the Law of Retribution and under the guidance of God—struggle out of Darkness through numerous earthly rebirths to regain thereby their lost personalities of Light. That is, the struggle will continue until the point of culmination when the individual thought and will form a solid entity.

God thus created, and will for a short time

continue to create all His children as duals, the male expressing the primal principle of Will, the female expressing the primal principle of Thought. These duals are mutually connected by a spiritual-ethereal bond⁸⁹ that dissolves the moment the duals exhibit a perfect balance between each other’s lives of thought and will. God gives all His children an individual ability of thought and will at their creation. To the first ones He gave a larger, while to the human spirits He gives a smaller spark of His own firmly and harmoniously merged primal Thought and primal Will. But so that His children can become personal beings of independent and creative thought and with wills of their own, God separates the given portion of the Thought-Will that is found merged in His own Being, so that the gift takes the form of one independent and free portion of thought and one independent and free portion of will. These parts are, however, linked by a spiritual-ethereal bond that acts as a correlating channel. Under the influence of Darkness, and through struggle against Darkness, every one of God’s children must reach a point at which individual thought and will merge and form an entity. At this culmination, the bond between the thought and the will is dissolved and the child emerges as a personality strong in the Light in every way. This personality will then remain impervious to the radiations and manifold powers of Darkness for eternity.

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When explanations must be given from the transcendental world of such difficult and important matters as those raised here, it is not always easy—in earthly language—to separate abstractions from realities in a complete and fully understandable manner. The words, expressions and images employed can therefore not always precisely define the reality and truth of the matter to be explained. For example, it is stated that in order for His children not to lose the portions of thought and will given their psychic brain, God bonded these portions one with the other. No one should imagine that the thought, or possibly the will, could therefore disappear in some mysterious way from the psychic brain of the self, for example through elimination by Darkness. Such can never happen! These words are intended to illustrate that in order to help His children and to facilitate the mutual attraction and interchange between the individual thought and will God bound them together, or in other words reinforced their capacity for mutual attraction. But even though human beings can only comprehend this in the abstract, it is nevertheless a reality. The bond between thought and will—as with the bond between the duals—is an absolute reality, seen from the standpoint and with the knowledge of God and His Servants.

The answer to this Question thus cannot come any closer to the reality than attempted here, for behind all apparent abstractions lie absolute realities. But that which should be the main endeavor of human beings—even though they cannot fully understand the explanations given—is to strive toward the goal of becoming personalities of the Light, or in other words, to strive in all the circumstances of life to direct the thought and the will toward the Light, toward truth, love and compassion. They must endeavor in spirit and in truth to be God’s children, to become expressions—albeit as pale reflections—of His pure, loving and exalted Being.

Does the faint spark of thought and will that the newly-created human spirit receives from God have the inherent strength to grow spiritually? Or is it augmented at each new incarnation with new portions of God’s Thought and Will? When did our God and Father implant the seed⁹⁰ of love in the human mind?

The spark of thought and will that God gives each newly-created spirit must be developed through the many incarnations under the influence of the two primal powers of Light and Darkness. The portion of God’s Thought and Will once given is not augmented through new additions, but the stream⁹¹ of Light that binds humanity to God strengthens the faint spark of thought and the will at each new incarnation. In other words it reinforces the ability of the human spirit to recoil from the influence of Darkness, and it thereby becomes easier for the will to offer resistance to the various phases of the radiations of Darkness, and to overcome its influence.

The seed of love—the ability to express love—is given simultaneously with thought and will. It is implanted as a basis for the emotional life of the human spirit—an infinitely faint reflection of God’s own emotional life. (No further explanation can be given.)

A) Life on Earth and in its spheres appears more burdensome than life in the worlds of Light where, for example, there is no suffering due to separation and death. But a longer succession of incarnations would seem to indicate that those humans now on Earth and in the spheres must be subjected to the often difficult earthly conditions for longer than were the generations previously released from the Earth. Thus, the humans released in the past seem to have had an easier lot than those of the present. How can this be explained?

As sin and atonement will always be properly balanced, it should be obvious that those human spirits who in life on Earth have sinned to a lesser degree also have less to atone for, whereas those who continually oppose the promptings of their conscience during earthly life must clearly have more to atone for than those who only occasionally act against their conscience. Furthermore, it should be remembered that the generations⁹² of the distant past lived under far more difficult conditions than did the later generations. They also endured temptation, grief and suffering, as have all succeeding generations up to the present day. Consequently, neither in this case is there any injustice whatsoever by God.

B) For the same reason the Youngest would seem to live under far more burdensome conditions than any human being, inasmuch as the Youngest are “condemned” to remain bound to the plane of the Earth for millions of years, while many of the human race have long since been transferred to globes of the Light. There appears also in this case to be inequality, not to say injustice.

Neither in this case is there the least injustice.

The questioner refers to the Youngest as “condemned” to remain bound to the plane of the Earth for millions of years! How can the term “condemned” be applied in this case? Who has “condemned” the Youngest to carry out their task? Certainly not God! Is it not clearly explained in Toward the Light⁹³ that the Youngest of their own accord promised their Father to lead humanity to His Home and Kingdom? Is it not understandable that by undertaking this work they had to live their earthly lives under the Law of Retribution, the law under which the development of the human spirit takes place? The Youngest submitted voluntarily to the Law of Retribution, that is to say, that if they transgress against the human beings they are to lead, or if they sin against their Father or against the divine within the self, like all other beings created by God they must of course atone for what they have sinned. Is there any injustice in this? Do not ever forget that we, the Youngest, have promised our Father to help His immature children find the way to their rightful Home; we have promised to ease, in many and various ways, the journeying of our immature earthly brothers and sisters. And we shall continue to be of help to our Father, shall continue to be of help to mankind for as long as our help is needed, for as long as it is necessary—even if this help causes us disappointment and sorrow. But no one has “condemned” us to undertake this work of love and compassion. And if we had been “condemned” to carry it out, what value would our work have for humanity or for ourselves? All our efforts would be worthless! For only the actions that spring from an absolute desire within oneself to support and be of help, only the deeds that spring from the deepest love and compassion can have everlasting value for the helper and those who receive the help.

C) One can also consider those of the Eldest who have never been and never will be incarnated. They also seem to travel an easier road of development than do either the Youngest or the humans. How can it be said that an exact and just balancing of the length and difficulty of the journey has taken place in all these cases?

How can any injustice whatsoever by God be found in these circumstances? On the contrary, would it not be an inconceivable injustice had God treated all the fallen Eldest alike?

God would in truth be unjust had he judged alike the more deeply fallen Eldest and those Eldest who heeded⁹⁴ His call and returned from the “ruined kingdom” long, long before the others began to feel grief and repentance over their evil deeds—those who never violated their Father’s Law of Incarnation, who never, that is, took part in the willful incarnations of the others. But God is not unjust! And for this reason those of the Eldest who returned to God when He called, before the arbitrary incarnations began, were not and never will be incarnated. They have long since rendered their account to their Father, their guilt of sin has been forgiven and expunged, since they themselves—but with their Father’s help—had dispelled and overcome the Darkness and sin that had debased their personalities. And so as to atone for their previous evil deeds against humanity, they offered⁹⁵ their Father, voluntarily, to assist in the education of the human spirits in the spheres, and to assist the Youngest by acting as guardian spirits. God has accepted this offer long ago and He has assigned them various tasks within these areas, so that these Eldest have now become helpers of the Youngest.

The length and difficulty of the path of development depends fully upon the individual’s own free choice. But can God be blamed if many of His children choose, spiritually speaking, to make long and arduous detours on the road to His Kingdom? Can God be blamed that His children cast themselves into the chasms and bottomless pits of Darkness? Can He be blamed that they blindly, carelessly, thoughtlessly and—heedless of the voice of conscience—stray over ditches and fences into the clinging mire of impassable marshes? Can God be blamed that His children cast themselves into the maelstroms of earthly life, or seek to clamber over steep rocks and mountains instead of keeping to the paved road of life?⁹⁶ No indeed. None have the right to reproach Him, for in this He is blameless. It must be remembered that He has given each of His children a free will, freedom to do good or to do evil. It is thus self-evident that those who voluntarily—despite the guidance of their conscience⁹⁷—choose the longer road to the Father’s Home, must face a longer and more difficult journey to their destination than those who travel directly toward the goal.

But why always assume that everything given in Toward the Light concerning the acts of God and His laws is based on injustice? It is incomparably easier to understand that work if trust in God’s absolute justice is taken as the basis on which to determine the value of all the information given there. And if everyone should act in this way, there would be no more erroneous “preconceptions” from which everything would be judged and criticized mistakenly. If God’s justice was made the firm, unshakable foundation for the judgment of Toward the Light, it would soon transpire that no human being nor any spiritual being has ever been, or ever will be, confronted with an unjust action or an unjust disposition by God.

It has been said that material causality and the laws of the conservation of energy and matter would render impossible God’s intervention in earthly life or in the world order in general. It is written in Toward the Light that God has ample means at His disposal. Can this be explained in more detail?

Since God is both the Creator and the Keeper of the world order, and since He gave the laws both for material and immaterial life, He must obviously be able—by virtue of His knowledge of these laws to fully and at all times govern and observe them without breaking them.

When the Eldest⁹⁸ in the past drew enormous masses of Darkness out of encapsulation in the ether, this Darkness streamed over the Earth, whose germinating and budding life was subject to the laws given by God for its growth and continued existence. But even though Darkness ravaged, coarsened and made ugly all life called forth by God, it was still not powerful enough to annul completely the laws⁹⁹ that He had established for life on Earth. And through these laws, God was and still is connected with the matter visible to human beings. Infinitely slowly and almost imperceptibly—through millions of years—a steadily increasing order has been called forth under these laws in the purely material conditions on Earth.

However, concerning material causality and the continuation of energy and matter, humans possess not yet full knowledge of the true reason¹⁰⁰ for cause, effect and continued existence. For the energy of the Light is eternal, whereas the energy of Darkness is transient. And if Darkness—when it streamed in over the globe at the fall of the Eldest—had possessed strength enough to annul completely the laws that God had given for the then existing life of the material Light on Earth, that life would have ceased¹⁰¹ long ago. For only through the eternal energy¹⁰² of the material Light is earthly matter constantly supplied with new energy¹⁰³ as replenishment for the loss of energy suffered. The cause of the continuity and energy of earthly material life must therefore be sought in the law of the eternal energy of the Light. This is one way in which God maintains a connection with, and influence upon, earthly material life and earthly conditions.

But the most important connection is through the energy of spiritual Light, which is also eternal. God can, if He so wishes, intervene by His Thought wherever His help is needed or desired. But everything takes place under the laws of the Light that in many ways intervene, or may intervene, in temporary earthly-material life. Even though human beings will not acknowledge God’s supremacy over all life—be it spiritual, Dark-material or Light-material—His power is still undisputed and everlasting. And not until humans include God and His laws in their considerations will they be able to achieve a clear view of either the world structure or the world order, and not until then will they be able to reach the true core of cause, effect, their interrelation, energy and continued existence. But it must be clear to all that it is impossible from the transcendental world to provide any survey of the laws that for a time bind the earthly-material Darkness to the material Light, and through this to the eternal energy of the Light and to God. Humans must be satisfied with the clear explanations regarding these matters given in Toward the Light, and with this as a basis continue their own searching.

The view has also been presented that the doctrine of a free will would conflict with the theory of energy in the field of physiology. Does this present a problem? if so, how can it be solved?

A great many things on which people base their points of view must be changed before they enter into a true relationship to reality, for not all theories are irrefutable truths.

The only answer to this question is that not only human will, but also human thought¹⁰⁴ is completely free and individual. All the previously given information and the information in the Second Supplement on the absolute freedom of individual thought and will, and also the information on the spiritual and physical heredity¹⁰⁵ of the individual, should enable qualified people—on the basis of this work—to reach the correct conclusions. The problem that this question might present must therefore be solved by humans themselves.

Some believe God to be so exalted, so “hallowed”, so remote that human beings cannot make contact with Him and thus the concept of “The Father” cannot rightfully apply to Him. Is there an answer to this?

Toward the Light is presented to humanity so that all can know what the relationship of the true God—and not a divinity formed by human thought—is to each human being and to life on Earth.

Whatever concepts people formed in older times, or still form today regarding God and His nature, the concepts held by the individual will always characterize that individual’s own spiritual level. The various levels of development of human spirits determine the widely differing stages of spiritual maturity seen among human beings themselves. The greater the spiritual maturity expressed by individuals in their natures—their thoughts, their feelings, their actions—the better can they in their religious life comprehend God as the Father, as the Creator of the spiritual self. But if the individual has as yet reached only a relatively low spiritual stage—as is so with most humans—then God will appear so remote, so unapproachable that the individual can perceive nothing of His deep and boundless paternal love. God is then veiled in a halo of mystique and holiness. He becomes arbitrary in His actions, indefinable and unpredictable in His hidden and incomprehensible nature; His personal Being dissolves into nothing, replaced by a vague “something”—in short, the individual human comprehends Him not. And this results in the fear of God in its worst form—servility. Or, the feelings of the ego in religious matters become stunted, resulting in an indifference to the thought, the idea of the existence or non-existence of God.

For when God in His relationship to humanity apparently fails to evince justice and lets, for example, “mercy” or “choice” determine if the individual be blessed with eternal life in beauty and joy, or abandoned to Darkness and suffering, then many will clearly become indifferent in their relationship to God, since they can of course do nothing themselves to alter such predeterminations. For the one who—like the potter’s vessel unto honor— is destined to be good, is good, and the one who—like the potter’s vessel unto dishonor—is destined to be evil and wicked, is evil and wicked in life. And why should individuals then seek to better themselves, seek to cleanse themselves of sin and evil? Individuals are and will remain wicked and sinful, because they were created as vessels unto dishonor!! To many, then, “belief” in the atoning death of Christ appears as the only possible means of salvation. Through belief in Christ as “Saviour”, through belief in the “Mystery of the Cross”, through trust in the mercy of God, a door is opened to the Kingdom of Heaven for those who would otherwise be denied admission, a door the faithful can now slip through. Foolish thoughts!—expressions of the timidity of spiritually immature people before God, expressions of their dark conception of His Being, expressions of a “paganistic” way of thought. But those individuals, whose maturity and development greatly exceed that of the spiritually undeveloped, have thus assumed a grave responsibility by leading the immature into these misconceptions and misunderstandings of God and of His nature. From their inner knowledge, from their sense of logic, they must know that the concept of God in the Christian teachings accords not with the truth, accords not with the nature of God. And with the knowledge that many of the more highly developed intelligences possess of the “pagan” religions, they must know that much of Christianity derives from pagan conceptions, must know that the dogmas of Christianity are influenced by the thoughts of pagan times and thus cannot be and indeed are not in accord with the truth. For as long as those who should be the leaders of the immature purge not Christian dogma and give not the spiritually young a true and clear summary of what is proclaimed in Toward the Light about God, about His nature and His relationship to humanity, then for that long will the fear of God, and servility and indifference not change into true love for God, true submission to His care, with trust in His just guidance, or into true yearning for Him and for life in His Kingdom. And not before this happens can the immature achieve a true understanding that all—with God’s help—must purge themselves of sin and Darkness.

When all human beings have in the future advanced far enough to be able to understand some of God’s nature, to comprehend Him as the Father, comprehend His love, care and justice, this will mean not that anyone should attempt to place themselves parallel with God. For even though God does share, in full, all human suffering, sorrows and joys, He is, and will ever be the distant Father of mankind—though near in thought and in prayer—to whose Home and Kingdom the journey's road is long and arduous. Therefore shall none abuse God's exalted Being, neither in thought nor in word, none trail His love, gentleness, compassion and justice in the dust. For though God is paternal, gentle and loving in His nature, He is also firm and authoritative in what He asks. He asks that His children pursue their lives in truth, in peace amongst themselves, and in love and purity—that is to say, purity of thought, of mind and of feeling. He asks that each of His children, by the thought and the will that He has given them, shall cleanse their inner selves of sin, of evil and of the impurities of Darkness. And none therefore have the right to speak of the “small holy flock” nor of the “Communion of Saints”,¹⁰⁶ nor to consider themselves included in any such designation or concept.

“Hallowed be thy name!” Thus echoes to human beings the ancient prayer Jesus taught his disciples. Jesus himself loved God as his Heavenly Father, yet he clearly felt God’s purity and exaltation over everything pertaining to the Earth, and this feeling was translated in the human thoughts and words of Jesus into the wish that the expression, the name¹⁰⁷ of God should be “hallowed” to human beings. That is to say, no one should take God’s name in vain, and none ever curse or swear in His name. And indeed so it should be—or so it should become—for each and every human being.

Can one rightfully call Toward the Light a religious system like all others, even though it is ideal in every way?

If Toward the Light is compared with all existing religions, one problem will immediately present itself to any truly thoughtful person and be quite incapable of resolution if one will not accept the explanation given in the work of how it came to be produced and brought into the earthly world. This problem is that the entire Message, including its two supplements of questions and answers, and The Doctrine of Atonement and the Shorter Road, is presented in such an exceptionally beautiful, clear, logical and ethically irreproachable form that one must ask how any single human being—even if a genius—could possibly create from within the self a religious system so complete in every respect? This is the point at which most people stop! And since they wish not to trust the explanation of how Toward the Light has come to be produced they prefer to dissociate themselves from it, for they will not probe its truths in depth. And therefore one receives such answers as “it is a religious system like all others”, or “it stems from the subconscious”. This is the easiest, the quickest way—such is the hope of most—in which to dispose of this highly bothersome work. For regarded as just another work by human beings it means nothing to the common populace.

But let us look more closely at the question of Toward the Light compared with existent religions.¹⁰⁸

No religion, even the most primitive, has ever entered into human life in its completed form. All have a first, a definite source¹⁰⁸; they are born as vague, often indefinable, random thoughts, ideas and feelings that grow stronger, become ordered (as far as this is possible), gradually cease further development, and emerge as definite religious views, dogmas, acts and ceremonies. The person who within each religion or the various religious sects was the first to bring new thoughts, new ideas into these areas was ordinarily able to give only a more or a less incomplete outline of the teachings that were to form the foundation for the emergent religion.¹⁰⁹ After the death of the founder, his disciples usually continued to develop and propagate this system of thought according to their own perceptions. Some sought to adapt their heritage in a direction of their own choice, others remembered not what their teacher had said on certain subjects and spoke from their own thoughts and opinions. Yet others laid quite new—often erroneous—interpretations upon the teachings of the founder. After the passage of a certain time—often the passing of one or more generations—the adherents¹¹⁰ began to record in writing what had before been passed on by oral tradition. Again new formulations were devised, new additions and alterations made in various directions and within various areas of the particular religious system. In other words, religions¹¹¹ were slowly evolved according to the needs and desires of successive generations until they solidified into dogmatic formulas, postulates and doctrines. Each individual religion thus became a system sacrosanct to its adherents. Even in the most complete and consistent systems there were many changes and additions over the course of time.

But Toward the Light came not about in this manner, for this work was compiled from the direct questions of human beings, and these questions were answered directly by purely spiritual intelligences—by discarnate individualities. They have been answered according to the wish of God and by His guidance, and therefore the answers given must correspond with the existing order. And since God is Logos itself, it should be obvious that there must be order, sense, clarity and logic—in short, system—in the answers to the questions that have been asked. But this work is not a religious system like all other religious systems, inasmuch as it has not evolved from generation to generation. In its present form, this work has been presented over a certain number of years by transcendental individualities through the co-operation of an intuitively gifted human being. That which has been given is the truth, the absolute truth that can never be changed. Nor will it ever be changed by the transcendental world, even though there be those who will not accept the work, will not acknowledge that it expresses the truth. Indeed, even if people “invent” new systems which—in their opinion—are more in agreement with their conceptions of the divine, of the religious, of the ethical life and of the world order, it still alters not the existing state. Yet, though Toward the Light and its related works are expressions of eternal truths, God will never by decree compel human beings to acknowledge that which has been given, or to comply with it. For no individual can grasp more than the spiritual self, according to its development, is capable of comprehending. What God does ask is that those of His incarnated emissaries who comprehend this work from their inner knowledge and recognize its truths should also fully acknowledge these truths to the world and share them in full with their fellow beings, so that in this matter they also become pioneers for those whose thoughts are too weak, too immature to recognize that they are confronted with a work presented them as a gift, a gift from God to all His children.

Thus, Toward the Light is not a religious system created by human thought, human opinion and human conclusions. It is a work that presents many eternal truths, a work that offers far, far more than all the religious systems together can bring humanity. Its answers enter into areas hitherto unknown to mankind. Mysteries that have occupied the human mind and remained unsolved for thousands of years are now explained. Pointers are given in widely different directions in which clear-thinking and gifted people can, if they desire, continue to search. Answers are given as to the origin of mankind, as to conditions upon the Earth, as to the relationship to God and the relationship to evil in the world. Reasons for the endless suffering and grief in human existence are explained. Indeed, answers are given on numerous subjects, and humans themselves must study the messages of this Work—must make their own comparisons, must judge for themselves!

Is it conceivable that one single human being—even the greatest genius—could be so lucid, so logical, so concise in answering all these questions without the least contradiction? Must it not be Divine Thought—Logos itself, God—that is behind that which is given? Could the intelligence of one human being alone penetrate and illuminate the dark mystery of human existence with such clarity? We must ask—we, the individualities from the spiritual world who have answered the questions and produced this disputed work through our answers—could any human being have created all this?

Now it is we who are asking, and human beings themselves must answer!

In discussion of how Toward the Light was produced, it has been often asserted that it stems from the “subconscious”. What is the subconscious and what is the supraconscious?

Human mental life exists on three levels: 1) The supraconscious, 2) the conscious, and 3) the subconscious.

1) The supraconscious comprises all that is contained in the brain (the large nerve-center) of the embodied spirit and which lies outside human awareness during earthly existence. That is to say, the individual is not conscious of the matter withheld in those areas of the psychic brain that lie outside the contact areas of the life-giving cord. Human personality, as it appears in life on Earth, normally¹¹² represents only a fraction of the knowledge that conjointly characterizes the true personality of the discarnate or fully released spirit. The knowledge, learning and experience acquired by the spirit through the numerous, varied and progressive incarnations is retained by, and comes into the permanent possession of the psychic brain. When a spirit is to be incarnated, the transcendental world duly considers the impending life on Earth, as follows: the life-giving cord, which is the correlating channel between the three brains of a human being¹¹³—the psychic, the astral and the physical brains—is woven into those centers only of the psychic brain that will be needed by the spirit in earthly existence. All else not connected by this weaving process thus lies above the ordinary consciousness of the human personality. And this supraconscious knowledge will not ordinarily be able to pass through the channel (the life-giving cord) to the astral and physical brains. However, in exceptional circumstances, such as, for example, intense mental pressure (the individual gets not enough rest or sleep, say, but works all hours of the day and night) or during times of profound grief and worry, the fine fibers extending from the life-giving cord that are interwoven with areas of the psychic brain can rupture. The ruptures may be of greater or lesser extent and may manifest in various ways in the nature and conduct of the individual’s visible personality. For example, if the broken fibers are displaced and thus come into contact with the contents of other areas of the psychic brain—with the knowledge, experience and memory of the spirit’s previous incarnations—the individual can then feel as if possessed of two or more personalities, a state that can lead to insanity. Such splitting of the personality¹¹⁴ can also arise through lesions in the “casing”, for the surrounding Darkness can in rare cases cause destruction of the insulation layer and of the fibers of the life-giving cord. These ruptures can further be brought about by participation in spiritualistic trance séances. When the spirit is released during trance from its dormant body, the fine fibers can be damaged to a greater or lesser extent through the repeated releases. And, as said, if these loose fibers move across otherwise excluded psychic areas, the spirit may—through the life-giving cord that connects it to the physical brain of the inactive body—be capable of giving information and answers not possible to give during the normal state of the body. It is of course evident that these repeated trances must have a destructive effect upon the ordinary consciousness of the individual.

2) All who desire information on the normal human conscious state and its relation to the psychic and astral brains will find this in Toward the Light, page 277: 4 to page 288: 2. But we add the following here because the questioner assumes that with the help of the “subconscious” one can, for example, awaken from nightly sleep at a specified time if, before going to sleep, one impresses upon the mind the intent to awaken at a particular hour. This “phenomenon” has absolutely nothing to do with the so-called subconscious, but rather to the activity of the normal consciousness. If the individual impresses upon the mind the intent to awaken precisely at 7 o’clock for example, this “command” is conveyed to the psychic brain of the spiritual self and “recorded” in a center there. The self thus knows it must be alert at the specified time. When the hour arrives, the thought and the will begin jointly to send “vibrations” through the life-giving cord to the physical brain of the sleeping individual, and these rouse the individual’s brain to consciousness—the person awakens at the predetermined hour. But sometimes the brain of the sleeping body must be “called” repeatedly before it reacts—so that one awakens shortly or long after the specified time. Not everyone can rely, however, on perfect contact between the sleeping body and the vigilant spiritual self. If one is in deep sleep, the transmitted vibrations cannot call with sufficient insistence even though they may be repeated again and again; then one will not awaken until the body is fully rested or until some external means is used, such as an alarm clock!

3) The subconscious, or in other words all that lies below the threshold or borderline of the normal conscious state and is the psychically and astrally retained knowledge and experience accumulated during the individual’s present incarnation, must be divided into two categories: a) the purely “non-conscious”, which is the content of the astral brain, whether this accumulated material is due to inheritance, conscious thought, or to the “thoughtless” recording of what is seen, experienced, heard or read. That which is received during the individual’s earthly life is retained in the astral brain to rest there inertly. It can then be transmitted to and reproduced in the physical brain in response to some outside or internal prompting. Usually it emerges exactly as it had been received and retained, with no additions. The reproduction is completely automatic—without the least involvement of any thought process (Toward the Light, page 274: 5 to page 285: 3). But in advanced age, when the cells and centers of the human brain slacken or harden, the reproduction is often deficient, for then the vibrations of the astral brain, which are quite automatic, cannot awaken and activate the cells of the “lethargic” physical brain, and for this reason the memories emerging from the astral brain either cannot be reproduced at all, or are reproduced with a greater or lesser number of “voids”. The astral brain can at other times function abnormally, so that it continually reproduces matter that should remain dormant. The same sentence, same motto, date, musical notes or poetic stanza, the same melody or image may thus be repeated endlessly and at all hours. This irritating condition is quite abnormal and is caused by a nervous disorder. Since the human astral counterpar—which includes the astral brain—is interwoven with the cells of the physical body, the nervous system of this brain is easily stimulated by the nervous system of the physical brain to produce such meaningless, disturbing and endless repetitions. One should seek to control this disturbing nervous disorder through the power of will—or calm the nervous system by other means.

b) The “psychic subconscious” is all that the self retains in the psychic brain, related to the life and activity of the individual’s normal conscious personality during the present incarnation. All events from earliest childhood, all learning acquired at schools, universities or elsewhere during the spirit’s human existence will rest as well-defined centers in the psychic brain, but all lies within the fiber-area of the life-giving cord. All carefully considered thoughts are likewise retained there, but everything lies dormant unless the individual has a need for this accrued matter in daily life. If the automatically acting astral brain for some reason responds not to an outside stimulus through the physical brain such as sight, hearing and so on, the “thought” must search for the desired subject matter in the psychic brain. The apparently “forgotten” matter can then through a persistent thought process be revived and—through the life-giving cord—move forward into the astral brain where it activates the corresponding memory-centers. From there it passes into the physical brain to the individual’s consciousness, but usually in fragments because the psychic memory-centers become “stunted”¹¹⁵ through lengthy periods of dormancy. Loss of memory is therefore not alone due to a weakening of the physical brain tissue. If one for some reason wishes to come into contact with the matter retained in the psychic brain, a thought process is therefore initiated. The psychic brain areas must be “awakened” from their state of dormancy. Everyone has surely experienced this probing of the memory for details of some past event, this searching for a name, a word, a date or a quotation with which one was familiar in the past. (It is assumed that for some reason the astral retention function is unable to react and respond automatically.) The intense probing apparently fails—the person gives up the search! But suddenly the forgotten matter presents itself—perhaps at a moment when “the thoughts” are far away from that for which they previously searched within the memory. But the reason for this unexpected reappearance of the previously acquired matter that emerges belatedly is due to the fact that the many thought-vibrations—initiated by the probing thoughts—will continue to prod the “dormant” centers in the psychic brain and the corresponding cells or centers in the astral brain, even though the initial thought has left the subject for which it searched. The vibrations will therefore continue their probing until they have caused sufficient activity to awaken the “dormant centers”. But a certain time elapses from this awakening until the matter can be dispatched through the channel—the life-giving cord—to “awaken” the corresponding astral cells to an automatically supportive function before it passes through to the physical brain. The subject matter one has been seeking therefore often emerges at a moment when the physical brain is occupied with other activities. And if it fails to respond immediately, the vibrations will continue to call for attention, that is, they will continue to vibrate until the physical cells respond, and the subject will then appear clearly in that person’s consciousness—but only if the psychic brain-centers have not become disabled.

When science speaks of repressed complexes in the “subconscious”, the word “repressed” already implies that some “effort” has taken place—that the individual has willfully repressed the memory of a vice, of obscene images or actions that once beset the “thoughts”. All this appears to lie dormant below the threshold of the conscious mind. But this is only apparently so. These experiences, events and memories have merely been repressed through an act of will but not eliminated by the thought, so that from time to time they will emerge in the normal conscious mind. The person has not through a serious and penetrating thought process eliminated—that is to say, removed—that which is causing agony or uneasiness of the mind. But this remarkable, and to many so incomprehensible, emergence of the repressed or—in rare cases—truly “forgotten” matter, forgotten by the consciousness of the ego, can also emerge during sleep. Then it comes as veiled, confused dreams but with a core of reality, and these dreams can then at times be clearly recalled upon awakening. But this emergence of repressed complexes—either in dreams or when awake—is always brought about through a process of thought. The thought is disturbed by the “Darkness” radiated from these complexes, it wishes to be rid of these areas of disturbance, it reacts to the uneasiness and calls for attention through the channel to the individual’s astral and physical brain. The vigilant will, however, forces the advancing disturbance back under the threshold of the ordinary consciousness. But at an unguarded moment, when the will is otherwise occupied, the suppressed disturbance breaks through into the channel and advances upon the physical brain. Again the will must force it back into obscurity if the individual does not then seek to analyze the matter, and through intense concentration rid the “thought” of the complexes that radiate from Darkness. Once this has happened, peace of mind returns, the centers of the psychic brain are brought to rest until the ego calls them to life once more by an act of will, or until the spirit—the self—after the death of the body must render its account of the completed life on Earth. But when Darkness—during earthly life—has been cleansed from the once repressed complexes, these will not cause the individual any sorrow, pain or shame when the account must be rendered unto God. For then nothing will remain but a calm introspective recollection.

The supraconscious is thus the knowledge and the experience the spirit has acquired during its numerous incarnations—but which are outside the fiber-area of the life-giving cord.

The subconscious is: a) The astral retentive function that during the formation of the fetus receives and retains the “spiritual inheritance”¹¹⁶ of the family, and in which all of the individual’s experiences and impressions from the present life on Earth are recorded and preserved. All is reproduced fully automatically to the physical brain, either through external influence or through vibrations—set in motion by the “thought”—from the corresponding areas and centers of the psychic brain, since these vibrations can awaken the astral retentive facility to perform its automatic function; b) The “psychic subconscious” is all that is received and acquired during the individual’s present life on Earth through conscious thought, but which lies dormant in the psychic brain because the individual has no use for it or does not “think” about it. But if anything is suppressed by an act of will, forced back below the threshold of the ordinary consciousness, then areas of “unease” are formed in the psychic brain. All this is called forth through a process of thought and can—likewise through a process of thought—be dispatched through the life-giving cord, both to the astral and to the physical brain.

——————————

No further details can be given in this manner. Though it must be added that those scientifically trained persons who seek in various ways to explore the psychic life of human beings will not be able to obtain any true results unless they take into account the three brain factors of the individual personality: the psychic, the astral and the physical.¹¹⁷ It is likewise impossible to explain further the “subconscious” life unless two classifications are considered: the automatically functioning retentive ability and the psychic subconscious, which “apparently” rest “forgotten” below the threshold of the ordinary consciousness.

Since the manner in which Toward the Light was produced has been explained sufficiently often, it is left to human beings themselves to judge if the two categories of the “subconscious” discussed and explained here can have played any part in the production of this work in the earthly world.

How will the future shape itself for humanity when all of the Eldest incarnated by Ardor have at their death been removed from the Earth? Will the line of development interrupted by their willful incarnations now resume, so that the intelligence of the incarnated Youngest will in future stand only a few degrees above that of human beings?

This we cannot fully answer, for our Father has not yet determined the course He will follow in times to come. But we know that our God And Father at present bides His time; He waits to see what attitude the Danish theological and literary leaders will in the near future adopt to Toward the Light and its associated works. And thereafter He will determine the future line of development for humanity.

But there is much to indicate that the earlier line of development interrupted by the arbitrary incarnations of the Eldest must now be continued along the same path. For in recent decades a multitude of God’s emissaries—the incarnated Youngest—have oddly changed their attitude toward the human beings whose spiritual development they were to lead during their life on Earth. Thus, rather than lead others, they allow themselves to be led by the dominant contemporary “mainstreams” in their evaluation of religious sects and of the various forms of art, literature and, in a few instances, science. These “trends” of the present—this contemporary “culture”, or whatever one may choose to call it—are due partly to the decadent leadership of the Eldest, incarnated by Ardor, and partly to advanced, incarnated human spirits who in their earthly existence consider themselves capable of bringing new life to the numerous art forms or religions, and in this way seek to impress upon the “spirit of the times” the individual characteristic and stamp of their personal spiritual level. It should be obvious that if the incarnated Youngest are unable to impart to their fellow beings a full realization that contemporary taste, many forms of contemporary entertainment and the culture of the times, as well as the teachings of the Church, bear the stamp of decadence, their leadership is then of little value. Clearly also, if the leaders fall into step with the common people and take cover behind their broad backs, if the leaders relinquish their leadership to those of spiritual mediocrity, or to those whose intelligence is below average, then God has no use for His emissaries, for then they are of no value for the work that they were to carry out. The leadership of the Youngest should aim far beyond today, far beyond the boundary of contemporary life. Their leadership must spring from their own desire to share with their fellow beings an appreciation for, an understanding of the best, the most beautiful, the noblest and the truest in all spiritual life, in all forms of art, in all science as well as in religion. The aim of their leadership should be for the eternal—never for the present. But when the spiritual courage of these leaders can be cowed and bound by the “spirit of man” and the “spirit of the Eldest”, when their trust in the invisible Father Who sent them on their mission to the Darkness of the Earth is destroyed, when they court public opinion, public acclaim and popularity, they are no longer useful in any way. If therefore the majority of the Youngest continue to bear the stamp of “the spirit of man and the spirit of the Eldest”, it is possible that as the present emissaries return from earthly life, our God and Father will replace them with other emissaries, whose spiritual level, whose intelligence will stand but a few degrees above that of the human spirit. And all humanity must then slowly work its way out of and above the present earthly chaos, until normal conditions and normal relationships have been attained. Infinitely slowly, that is—through numerous generations—human beings must assimilate that already presented through the ages by the geniuses in the various arts and sciences, and that given in technology and invention by those of the Youngest who were, and still are, able to assert themselves as the unique personal beings they truly are. However, we might envisage one area in which the standard would continue to be held high, and that would be in the healing arts.

But if Toward the Light and its supplementary works are accepted as the firm, broad and unshakeable foundation upon which all present and future generations on Earth can meet in good will and understanding, led by God’s present and coming emissaries, it is likely our Father will allow the “human” intelligence of His emissaries to continue standing somewhat or many degrees above that of the human spirit. However, our Father has not yet determined, has not yet spoken to us about this matter. He could choose other ways—ways of which we as yet have no knowledge. No one knows. Only the future can tell!

May we receive more comprehensive and more concrete knowledge of the appearance and personal characteristics of our God and Father than we can imagine from Toward the Light and the First and Second Supplements? And how are we to understand the expression “God’s flaming Being”?

No exact, detailed description of God—of our Father’s appearance and of His personal presence—can be given. Earthly languages lack the words, none possessing expressions that can describe the appearance of this exalted, pure and glorious figure. And no earthly artist can with brush and palette conjure forth even the faintest suggestion of the form of His body or His countenance.

A flaming Being is God! For the ethereal rays of the Light issue from His body and they glorify its radiant beauty. Youthfulness, purity and beauty in their most sublime form are expressions of His personal presence. His countenance bespeaks infinite but sorrowful love. Grief and pain dwell in the depth of His unfathomable look, for He carries the suffering and grief of all creation in His mind. With yearning, with sorrow and with pain, He gazes into the vastness of space. His eye seeks the Earth, He beholds suffering and struggling humanity. His Thought follows the much-missed and so distant beings who are His beloved children. And when He sees that they go in the ways of Darkness, when He hears their quarrels, when He sees their unworthy conduct in mutual intolerance, in hostility, anger and hatred, His eye is veiled with shame and sorrow for the children to whom He gave eternal spiritual life, to whom He gave thought and will, and whose minds He endowed with a spark of the purity, love and beauty of His own Being. But when He also sees that some of His children follow the ways that He has indicated for the journeying of their earthly life, He rejoices profoundly and a loving smile dawns over His sorrowful and solemn countenance.

Humanity! If you knew how your Father grieves over you, if you knew the depth of His agonizing sorrow for you, if you knew the anguish of His mind called forth by your unworthy conduct, by your wicked, ugly and unlawful thoughts and actions, then would you be ashamed! If you knew the horror and revulsion that fill His Being on observing your conduct, when with weapons at hand, with explosive substances and with poisons you war with one another, destroy peoples, realms and nations, corrupting all that is splendid, pure and good both in your own minds and in the minds of others, then would your shame deepen yet more! Then would you grieve over yourselves, then would you turn in thought and in mind toward your distant yet so near Father. Then would you answer Him when He calls. Then would you beseech Him to lead you in the ways and paths that lead to Him, that lead to His Kingdom. Yes, then would you fully show your Father that you love Him, that you are worthy of His love and care. And then would your Father rejoice over you! The anguish, the suffering, the sorrow that now impress His countenance, and oppress His mind would vanish, and from His deep and boundless love He would bless you, He would in spirit and in truth be your Father, God, Protector and Supreme Leader, both in your earthly life and in the worlds of the spheres, indeed, wherever you should walk.

Our God and Father is calling you—day and night. At all times His voice is calling!

Humanity, give Him your answer!

Do you not hear Him?

FOOTNOTES

Question 1

1) The scribe’s reply to Jesus, Mark 12: 32, was also overlooked. Here he confirms that God is one, but it is deleted in the two other Synoptic Gospels.

2) The fact that various sects and societies have been established to proclaim that God is One is of no consequence. Nothing will help until the Church itself undertakes a complete purging of its own teachings.

3) In a number of other places in the Gospels and the Epistles are words by Jesus, overlooked and not in accord with the teaching of the Church. The original evangelists, the actual authors of the “synoptic books” and of the Gospel of St. John cannot, of course, be held responsible for the numerous distortions, deletions and additions. It was they who received help from the transcendental world. (See Toward the Light, page 233: 2-3). But even so, the first scriptures were still deficient and often misleading.

Question 2

4) Toward the Light, page 233: 2.

5) Toward the Light, page 208: 6

Question 4

6) It is stated in the parable that he bore no burden, meaning that he was not incarnated.

Question 5

7) See Supplement I, Question 47, regarding Jesus as the Son of God in the earthly sense.

8) These faint recollections of the beyond brought Jesus through his spiritual struggles to an understanding that he was in fact the chosen of God, the “Anointed One”, God’s emissary. His conscience (God’s voice) constantly reminded him that he was the Messiah, that he was to teach the Jewish people of God’s love and compassion, that he must lead the people away from and out of the constraining Mosaic Law. But Jesus was not able to make these ideas conform to the expectations of the people concerning the mission of the coming Messiah. For he felt not that he was the “King of the House of David”, nor the “Savior” of all the people, sent by God. His conduct in those matters therefore became uncertain. But had he, according to God’s intention, openly acknowledged that he and no one else was the “promised” Messiah, he would have stood forth with much greater authority, and the Jewish people would perhaps have understood that their conception of the mission of the Messiah did not conform with God’s intention.

9) Supplement I, Questions 50 and 51.

Question 6

10) The original form of this Gospel has undergone many alterations, and the words now attributed to John the Baptist were, of course, never uttered by him.

11) For example, Revelation. 19: 7 originally read: “The nuptials of the God are come”. Later, “Lamb” was substituted for “God”. Revelation, 21: 9 read “the wife of the bridegroom”, and Revelation, 22: 17 included “bridegroom” where it now says “spirit”.

Question 7

12) Toward the Light, page 51, footnote 2, and page 52, chapter 20.

13) Toward the Light, page 38: 6.

Question 8

15) If the human spirit cannot obtain the forgiveness of the victim of its transgression, it becomes subject to the Law of Retribution and must atone for its sin through the sufferings of its own making. For example, in cases involving murder or killing, including also infanticide and abortion, the forgiveness of the victims can seldom be obtained since the “deceased” reside in a higher sphere, or because they have entered upon new incarnations. Transgressors cannot then face their victims in the spheres in order to ask forgiveness.

16) See Toward the Light, page 249: 3, concerning the law for spirits who visit the Earth without permission, drawn by the demands of relatives, friends and mediums. See also Question 23 in this Second Supplement.

17) This state of existence lasts until grief and remorse awaken.

Question 12

18) The implied comparison is, of course, between the original Danish text of Ardor’s Account and the Danish-language Bible. —Translator’s note.

19) In translating from Danish to English, the style of Ardor’s Account has inevitably been altered. However, the translators have tried their best to reproduce the corresponding stylistic effect in the English language. —Translator’s note.

20) The words of the Speech of Christ, in Toward the Light, as well as his discourse in The Doctrine of Atonement and the Shorter Road, have both been translated into language that attempts somewhat to emulate the vocabulary and style of the Synoptic Gospels. —Translator’s note.

Question 13

21) Since these Youngest were merely to serve as Christ’s earthly helpers in his special task, they were incarnated in such a way that their human personalities stood only slightly above the level of those of advanced human spirits.

Question 14

22 twice) See Postscript to Toward the Light, page 343: 1.

23) In the same way as, for instance, in the Speech of God’s Servant, in Toward the Light and the discourses of Christ and Ignatius in The Doctrine of Atonement and the Shorter Road. No questions from human beings form the basis for these discourses.

Question 15

24) See Some Psychic Experiences, page 22.

25) Our intermediary nevertheless had to memorize certain passages while disembodied during sleep. See Postscript to Toward the Light.

26) The globes of the Light, where human spirits dwell after release from life on Earth.

27) See Question 10 in Supplement 2 regarding this language.

28) When the thought-messages were given in the Danish language there were instances—such as with synonyms—in which the intermediary’s thought might take the nearest available word in her psychic brain and use it in rendering the “thought-dictation”, although another more suitable word was used by the sender. This could occur whether the thought-dictation was given in Danish or in the “Divine” language.

Question 16

29) See also the answer to Question 17.

Question 20

30) God did not of course literally inscribe the ten commandments on the two stone tablets of the law as related in the ancient myth. The commandments originate with humans, although some were inspired by God’s Thought, for example the commandment “Thou shalt not kill”.

31) Related both by birth and by marriage.

32) Matthew 5: 27-28.

33) This applies only to the normal individual, not to sickly, abnormal persons not in full possession of their faculties.

Question 22

34) Toward the Light, page 249: 3.

35) Toward the Light, page 293: 2.

Question 24

36) Concerning the mutual thought-influence among humans see Toward the Light, page 310: 1-2 and First Supplement, Question 1.

37) Concerning the Light-Barrier see Toward the Light, page 249: 1-3.

Question 26

38) Toward the Light, page 141.

39) The continuation of this passage refers to the many “Earth-bound” spirits who returned belatedly to the spheres.

40) Toward the Light, page 252: 4.

Question 30

41) The incarnations of the Eldest began about 14,000 years ago.

Question 31

42) “Visible” or “invisible” according to transcendental concepts.

43) Toward the Light, page 190: 3.

44 two times) If suicide is by a poisonous substance, the spirit-body will lie perfectly still in its home in the spheres. But the thought is “awake” and will revolve ceaselessly around this action until the hour when the appointed death in human form was to have occurred—which could be many years.

45) Toward the Light, page 186: 1-3.

46) Second Supplement, Question 8.

47) The “ethereal prototype” can never be destroyed, regardless the extent to which the spirit-body may be dissolved. See also Question 33 (Second Supplement) concerning the “ethereal prototype”, the true body of the spirit, or in other words, its eternal form.

48) See Question 33.

Question 32

49) See Question 31.

50) Through the astral brain.

51) See Question 33.

Question 33

52) Even mistier than the human body would appear on an X-ray photograph.

Question 34

53) If a woman’s life is endangered during pregnancy or birth, the fetus must be sacrificed to save the mother’s life. See the Appendix to First Supplement, page 3: 3.

Question 36

54) Certain allowances must, of course, be made for the mentally retarded. The foregoing applies only to normal persons mentally impaired by alcohol.

Question 38

55) Toward the Light, page 199: 7, and footnote 1, page 200.

Question 39

56) Toward the Light, page 6: 5 to page 7: 2.

57) A more detailed explanation will not be given because humans themselves should be able to arrive at some of the reasons for the choice of the Earth.

Question 40

58) Toward the Light, page 165: 9 to page 166: 2.

Question 41

59) See Question 42.

60) Toward the Light, page 7: 4.

Question 42

61) Toward the Light, page 7: 4 to page 8: 4.

Question 43

62) Not until later, when the Eldest themselves sought to separate Darkness from its encapsulation in the Light so as to use it for “creation”, was the kingdom around the Earth completely darkened and destroyed. None of its former splendor remained.

Question 52

63) Incarnated by Ardor and not to be confused with those of the Eldest who are incarnated under the Law of Retribution.

64) Toward the Light, page 100: 8 to page 101: 10

65) Toward the Light, page 321: 5.

66) Toward the Light, page 284: 4 to page 205: 3.

67) They were informed of this during one of their nightly sleep releases.

Question 53

68) Nothing appears in Toward the Light saying that an already existing human spirit may not be bound to a fetus of the most primitive races. On page 313: 6, it is stated that newly-created and young spirits are mostly incarnated among primitive or fairly primitive peoples. There is thus no compelling reason to create new human spirits when the Eldest are no longer bound to their creatures.

Question 58

69) Like the core, in the illustration of primal cosmos (First Supplement, Question 22, page 46).

70) At that moment the Thought and the Will were compared to the seeds in the core, that is to say, the globe of Light. See again First Supplement, Question 22, page 46.

71) Toward the Light, page 160: 1, 2.

Question 59

72) In the event that primal Thought—as an embodied personal being—should create beings predestined for eternal life.

73) First Supplement, Question 64, page 87: 3.

74) However, the richness of color and the radiance of such images are always subdued, since the human spirit would otherwise be unable to perceive them.

Question 60

75) Toward the Light, page 164: 1-3.

Question 61

76) God’s Servants are also to some extent dependent on the concepts of time and space (Toward the Light. page 271).

77) This refers to Ardor’s future-images, and since these can be read by clairvoyants it might appear as though the future has been determined by God.

Question 62

78) Toward the Light, page 13: 8. No distinction is made in Ardor’s Account between spiritual and astral Darkness.

Question 63

79) Toward the Light, page 18: 3.

80) See first and second paragraphs, Question 31, Second Supplement.

81) During the production of Toward the Light, no direct questions were asked regarding the embodiment of thought and will, or regarding the binding of the newly-created spirit to the fetus. A more detailed account could therefore not be given than that in Toward the Light, page 189: 3, of the first appearance through earthly birth of a newly-created spirit. However, direct questions were asked as to how the Youngest and the more highly developed human spirits were bound to the fetus; these were answered in Toward the Light, page 189: 4 and page 201: 1. It was left to humans themselves to form their own conception of the absent link between these two sections. Thus, the information on page 189: 3 pertains mainly to the absorption of the Light-elements into the astral counterpart.

Question 64

82) Toward the Light, page 15: 11 to page 16: 1 and page 180: 5 to page 181: 2.

83) In a spiritual sense.

84) Toward the Light, page 282: 3 to 288: 2.

85) Toward the Light, page 189: 4 and page 278: 8.

86) Toward the Light, page 188: 5 and page 322: 2.

87) Toward the Light, page 14: 12 to page 15: 5.

88) Toward the Light, page 23: 8 to page 26: 14.

89) These spiritual-ethereal bonds are based on ethereal vibrations whose frequencies are varied in such a way that the bonds never collide with one another.

Question 65

90) Doctrine of Atonement and the Shorter Road, page 38.

91) Toward the Light, page 188: 5, and page 122: 2.

Question 66

92) All the spirits who have been released from the Earth underwent their earthly development during the period between the first incarnations of the Youngest and the unlawful incarnations of the Eldest.

93) Toward the Light, page 15: 6 to page 16: 4.

94) Toward the Light, page 14: 16 to page 15: 5.

95) Toward the Light, page 318: 6.

96) Refers to the conscience.

97) God was the “conscience” of the Eldest until—because of the Darkness—they could no longer hear His voice.

Question 67

98) Toward the Light, page 9: 6-12.

99) Regarding the corona of Light see Toward the Light, pages 261: 1 to 265: 3 - 266: 2 - 269: 1 - 272: 3 - 272: 4 - 273: 3 - 295: 5 to 296: 1.

100) The true cause can be learned for the first time in Toward the Light, in the information given about the Light-corona.

101) Toward the Light, page 266: 3 to page 267: 1.

102) Dependent on the ethereal Light-corona.

103) Toward the Light, page 273: 3 to page 274.

Question 68

104) See Question 64, Second Supplement.

105) Concerning the relationship of the three brains to the psychic and the physical areas, see Toward the Light, page 274: 4 to p. 289: 4.

Question 69

106) Refers to the article of faith.

107) It should also be noted here that in certain of the more ancient religions, the name of the divinity was too “sacrosanct”, too hallowed to be spoken. As a result it was replaced with various other forms of expression.

Question 70

108 twice) All older religions, that is. Since the more modern “religions” are all more or less derivatives of the older ones, these “sects” are not considered here.

109) This refers not to the “sages”, who as humans in one nation or another expressed to others their own conception of the world and their views on life and its phenomena. Even though certain truths or glimpses of the truth exist in profound writings of this kind, these suffer also from shortcomings and misconceptions. The sages cannot be regarded as religious founders in the full meaning of the word.

110) Only rarely—among the older religions—has the founder personally expressed his thoughts and religious opinions through the written word.

111) The quite primitive religions, such as those of the savages, have been passed on only by word of mouth through shamans and “medicine men”. But in these cases there have also been additions and changes over the course of time.

Question 71

112) The psychic brain of the newly-created spirit and of the very young spirits will, of course, have no areas withheld from their conscious mental life.

113) Regarding these brains see Toward the Light, page 274: 4 to page 288: 2.

114) See Toward the Light, page 312: 6 to page 313: regarding split personality.

115) When the spirit at physical death returns home to the spheres, the memory-centers or areas of the psychic brain quite automatically awaken to full activity.

116) See Toward the Light, page 274: 4 to page 278: 1 regarding family inheritance.

117) See Toward the Light, page 274: 4 to page 288 regarding these brains and their interrelationship.

END

Toward the Light

Second Supplement

Questions & Answers

Copy-edited by Harry Prior

CONTENTS

1. Mark 12: 29, on the subject of a divine trinity.

2. The question of an original Gospel.

3. The demand of Jesus on Joseph of Arimathea.

4. Search by Jesus for Joseph of Arimathea on the astral stratum of the Earth.

5. The attitude of Jesus to Caiaphas’s question as to whether Jesus was the Son of God.

6. Jesus regarded as the groom and the congregation as the bride.

7. The significance of baptism as practiced by John the Baptist.

8. Development of the human spirit through earthly rebirths (Speech of Christ).

9. Increased total time of incarnations.

10. The “divine language”.

11. Origin of languages.

12. Language style of Ardor’s Account.

13. Production of Toward the Light in the Danish language.

14. Toward the Light based on questions by human beings.

15. Style of language in the Commentary to Toward the Light and in the two Supplements.

16. Birth control and the Law of Reincarnation.

17. Ultimate effect of birth control on world population.

18. Divorce.

19. The demand for sexual abstinence.

20. The meaning of adultery.

21. Number of God’s first children compared to the number of human spirits.

22. Spiritualistic mediums and manifestations of spirits.

23. The voluntary incarnation of the human spirit.

24. Mediums calling on the “dead”.

25. Christian Wilster’s poem, “Memento”.

26. The role of “coincidence” in human life.

27. Predetermination of the human life span in relation to accidents.

28. The Law of Retribution and the suffering of humanity.

29. Compassion for those suffering under the Law of Retribution.

30. The Law of Retribution and the prevention of accidents.

31. Form and appearance of the spirit-body in the spheres.

32. Why a deformed spirit-body retains its characteristics.

33. Imprints of the physical organs on the spirit-body.

34. Euthanasia.

35. Harmful intoxicants and stimulants.

36. “Prohibition” and the “Temperance Movement”.

37. Liberalism versus Socialism.

38. Thickness of the insulation layer.

39. The Earth’s location in the universe.

40. The diverse development of God’s children.

41. The first sinful thought of the fallen Eldest.

42. The desire of the Eldest for the leadership of the contemplated beings of the Light.

43. The delight of the Eldest in the newly-created world around the Earth.

44. The prayer of human beings for Ardor.

45. Christ and the Youngest in relation to the prayer for Ardor.

46. God’s Servants.

47. Christ and Ardor as leaders of the Youngest and the Eldest.

48. Correction to the first edition of Supplement I.

49. Relationship between the Eldest and the Youngest in God’s Kingdom.

50. The concept of time, the time-rhythm in the two primal forces of Darkness and the

Light.

51. The problem of the nebulae.

52. a) Removal of the Eldest from the Earth; b) barring of the Eldest from the outer world.

53. Creation of new human spirits in relation to the most primitive human races.

54. The number of human spirits.

55. Height of transcendental beings.

56. Mystery of the uncreated.

57. Primal Thought and primal Will.

58. Relation of primal Thought and primal Will to Darkness.

59. The purpose and value of existence.

60. Evil by contrast accentuating world harmony (light and shadow in a painting).

61. God and His knowledge of the future.

62. The element of spiritual Light from the Eldest.

63. The spark of “God’s flaming Being” bestowed on the “shadows”.

64. Influence of Darkness on the spark of divine Thought and Will bestowed upon each of God’s children.

65. Spiritual enhancement of the divine element in human thought and will.

66 a) The longer time of incarnations for human spirits in the future; b) The fallen Eldest who never took part in the unlawful incarnations, and those who did.

67. Material causality and the laws of conservation of energy and matter.

68. Free will and the theory of energy.

69. The exalted remoteness of God.

70. Toward the Light as a religious system.

71. The subconscious and the supraconscious.

72. Future of humanity.

73. Form and appearance of God.