Spiritual Wisdom:

"It is not only woman who gives birth. Woman gives birth physically, while man can give birth in soul, so to speak. The same laws governing physical birth hold true for spiritual birth, for lack of a better expression. According to the health of his soul, the births taking place will be healthy or abortive.

QUESTION: "What exactly is meant by this that man gives spiritual birth?"
ANSWER: "Man, in his real creative self, can give birth to beautiful and constructive ideas which can become useful and workable on all realms, not only in the physical world. Ideas, thoughts are alive. You have often heard the expression, but you take this as a figure of speech. In reality, the process of the birth of an idea takes place according to the same principles as physical birth. Since woman is also creative, she too can give spiritual birth -- and she does. It is only the female side in an entity's nature which is capable of giving birth. In woman, the female side is mostly and foremostly turned outwardly on the "disc" so that physical birth manifests. However, this does not prevent her from also giving mental and spiritual births at other times when this facet may slide inwardly. (I realize this is hard to express, and therefore my words may often appear oversimplified when it comes to such matters.) Man, on the other hand, has the female, birth-giving side of his nature turned inwardly at all times. It is almost impossible to find the right words to explain these things to you, but it may open new vistas for you to broaden your understanding and perception even though my words are limited at best." (PL #62)

QUESTION: "I cannot visualize how the law of karma and heredity works and how the process of birth takes place. The baby, being born, and the soul -- does the soul exist before the baby is being born? How does that work?
 ANSWER: "Perhaps the best way for you to perceive these principles would be to think that the human body is a direct result of the personality, which of course exists previous to the baby's birth. The personality's thinking, attitudes, emotions, actions, all of these have their result in effects. The body with its environment, the life and life situation, the personal "fate" -- all these are effects of the mentality and personality and character. Not only your body, but your life conditions are a result of what you are. If you look at the question from this point of view, you will avoid a great deal of confusion. Karmic law, heredity, and specific conditions of birth are then no longer a problem. The way you now perceive it is something like this: a body is built by forces outside the personality. This creates confusion because such thinking occurs in a spirit of duality rather than the spirit of unity, where you perceive that you are an immediate result of yourself, including your body, your country, as well as every other factor in your life." (PL #132)

"Birth is always traumatic and painful. I spoke about this before in another context. The personality needs to squeeze into a very tight stricture that is experienced as painful. When you see the baby's struggle and resistance, it is not difficult to perceive this. It is also traumatic for the entity, before the birthing process into matter begins, to temporarily abdicate full consciousness and to await that it slowly reawakens by stages. This seems often risky. Will all that you know as unencumbered spirit reach the brain through matter and through the dimmed experiences of earth life? Is it not much more preferable to stay in the continuity you have gained through your growth and development? The break in consciousness can be avoided in that way. This is not always possible, but there are instances when development proceeds very fast and very well when this opportunity arises." (PL #255)

"Divine birth is never a one-time event. It is always an extended birthing process." (PL #255)

"For all who still find themselves in the cycle of incarnation, the time comes for rebirth on earth. At that moment, the respective entity is brought again to the quarters or the authority that is competent for his whole cycle and that has arranged previous incarnations with him and done the accounting after the last one. That is where his particular and personal ledger is looked into and where temporary plans have been made for the next life, subject to change, according to the attitudes and activities of the being since this plan has been constructed.

 "Now the final plan will be made for the incarnation to come; this takes considerable time. The proper choice of parents, nationality, religion to be born into, life circumstances, certain phases that are called fateful in life, are set down and considered. All these choices are being made in the most practical way. For instance, parents may be chosen to afford an environment best suited to bring out certain disharmonies in the soul; for that purpose, it needs certain imperfections in the environment; for if everything were perfect, these shortcomings would not have an opportunity to come to the surface. At the same time, the parents may also be karmically linked to the entity so that a karmic debt may be paid off. Difficulties and advantages in the life to follow are considered from the point of view of the plan. It is carefully weighed how much should be taken on, how much the entity should concentrate in this life on one character trend, or perhaps it would be better in this life to concentrate on a heretofore unsolved psychological problem. For entities of higher development -- all this is, of course, relative -- tasks for the plan of salvation are planned that they may best combine the entity's own purification problems. Talents are chosen that may be brought forth, others are planned to remain hidden in this earth life.
"When all this is considered, the entity then has the chance to make his own choice in some ways; and where this choice cannot possibly be made yet, he is asked theoretically how he would choose if he could. Denials of choice are not made dogmatically, but the reasons are conscientiously explained. All this I have mentioned before.

 "After an intensive period of study, the final plan is made for the life on earth to come. Special spirits are sent to various places, also on earth, to smooth the way, to make preparations by guidance and inspiration. And here or there, they may come back and report that conditions are not as hoped and therefore unsuitable for the purpose; then other karmic ties are used for this life that would have been concentrated on in a later incarnation if the first considered circumstances would have turned out as expected.

"When the plan is finally concluded and the conditions and preparations on earth checked, the entity is led into a different sphere. It is a great, great sphere, consisting mainly of what in your earth language you might call a hospital. Spiritual physicians are working there. Many physicians on this earth plane have been incarnated from such hospital spheres that exist on various levels. They are learning in these spheres. But there are also a great number of spirits active there who are out of the cycle of incarnations, as well as some who have never been in it. They have more responsible tasks. Others learn under them. This hospital sphere consists of several parts. To mention just one of them, there is one department where spirits are brought who have died in accidents or another form of sudden and violent death. In such cases, their fluidal bodies may be injured, and they are nursed back to health, if I may use this expression, before they begin the other activities in the spirit world that I have explained to you here. This is just one of the many parts of this sphere.

 "A great part is the one where lives on earth are prepared. The entity ready for incarnation appears there before a certain spirit who has high authority and great responsibility. He, the entity to be incarnated, comes in company of his guardian spirit or spirits; it may be the same that has guided him through several lives before, it may be a different one. It will certainly be the one who will lead him through the coming life. This guardian delivers the plan to this spirit in charge in this sphere, where the plan is carefully studied again by this spirit. He will then call some of his assistants who will work on this entity. And again, minutely everything is discussed, planned, and preparations made.

 "My dear friends, I can sense that some of you think all this is impossible. It sounds too human, it sounds too concrete for you to be credible, I know. Yet, as the saying goes, truth is often stranger than fiction! And this is the way it is, although, again it is different -- different than on earth and different than you imagine. And yet, the words I have to use describe it the nearest. For all these spheres and hospitals and physicians and higher-placed authorities and assistants and ledgers and plans and whatnot, all this exists, for you have nothing on your earth plane that is not a poor copy of what has existed in spirit first, in some other way, but still it has existed.

 "Now, when this plan has been carefully studied and preparations have been made, the entity to be incarnated is waiting until conception of the future parents has taken place. Astrological factors of conception are being taken into consideration, as well as a number of other factors of which you either know still very little or which you completely ignore. "Conception cannot happen unless it is the will of God, to put it plainly. If a conception today would not serve a purpose for the entity to come into your world, it is prevented by spiritual means, but it may take place next month. And then, according to the so-called genes of the parents, which of course have been studied beforehand and which again must be in correspondence with the entity to be born, certain magnetic fields, rays, fluids get to work -- partly automatically as an effect of causes set in motion, partly by spiritual helpers. This is extremely difficult to explain to you.

 "At the moment conception has taken place, the entity to be born is made unconscious. It is such a deep state of unconsciousness that a great part of his knowledge will come back only after life on earth has been completed. Another part of knowledge will come back during earth life, but only when the entity leaves the body -- in other words, during sleep. But a certain feeling of self-consciousness will gradually and slowly come awake as a living human being while growing up. That all this can happen in exactly that way is due to preparations with certain types of fluids in the entity that are being made by these experts in the sphere I have described you here. It is a question of measurement, of a certain way of treatment of these fluids, and of a highly specialized form of processing. There is a refraction and extension of fluids. There are different types of fluids, each representing a different facet of the personality.

 "Let us talk first about the physical aspects of the future human being. The parental genes are made to correspond and to effect the physical shell -- in the meantime growing in the body of the mother in such a way that the physical karmic necessities of the entity to be born can be fulfilled. There is no coincidence possible. Nothing is just left to itself. And when it says in the Bible that God has counted each hair on your head, it is no exaggeration, my friends. This saying is to be understood in this sense. For every smallest detail has to correspond and has a meaning, a much deeper meaning and significance than you can possibly imagine. Symbolism is not the way humanity thinks. It is mostly the other way around. Your bodies are often symbols in one way or another for your spiritual development, for psychological trends, and so forth. But beware of rules and generalizations here. There are none.

"So these genes are worked in such a way that the shell is prepared properly. Some genes will therefore have an influence, some will not. In one instance, the genes of the mother have a greater influence; in another, of the father. In one instance, genes of the parents do not work at all; in another case, the genes of a grandparent or even a great aunt may all of a sudden be at work. All this is not arbitrary or left to coincidence. For every detail, there is a reason. This physical shell grows in the mother's body although there is no spirit in it, but it grows according to the rays, to the magnetic fields that work in correspondence to the treatment in this particular sphere that is taken exactly according to plan.

 "Also, many other factors are taken into consideration. There are certain highly trained specialists who concentrate on the physical shell, as I have just explained. Other specialists, equally highly trained, concentrate on psychological and spiritual factors. Furthermore, it is also a question of treatment of certain other fluids that some consciousness will return as the human being grows, other types of consciousness must remain hidden. Thus, one person will grow up with a strong feeling of God consciousness, perhaps even in spite of atheistic and materialistic parental influence and other influences. In another case, it is the other way around. In some instances, there is a strong urge to become, let us say, an artist or a scientist in spite of contrary environmental influences early in youth. This is due to the preparation of certain fluidal matter that has been made before birth. In other words, it is determined there what urges, trends, and leanings should come to the surface at what period. Others are prepared and processed in such a way that it is conditional on other factors, whether they have been fulfilled or not.

"You can perhaps glimpse vaguely on how infinitely complicated and exact this preparation in the so-called soul must be. By the same token, the faults that have been planned to work on in this life are, as you know and as I have often told you, energies or currents. These are treated in the fluidal bodies in such a way that they need very little outer challenge to come to the surface. These outer challenges are provided for in the choice of parents and other conditions in the incarnation. If faults remain dormant in the depth of your soul, you cannot become aware of them, and if you are not aware of them, you cannot overcome them. So not all problems or faults are prepared for raising to the surface. Some are supposed to remain hidden and are planned to be worked on in a future incarnation or, as I said, only if and when the plan of this life has been fulfilled. All this must be carefully studied in the plan by these experts and prepared properly. The same applies of course to talents, to psychological problems and complexities. Some are prepared so lightly that they will rise immediately, others only under definite conditions. This preparation in the fluidal bodies will perhaps be easier to understand if you think of each quality, each trend, each attitude, good or bad, as a power current, which it truly is! Now it depends very much on how these power currents are treated, insulated, or channeled.

 "All this may be an explanation to some of you who have experienced a case in your family or your environment when someone has been known to be always a very decent person, conscious of his shortcomings, working at them, and obviously making great spiritual progress. And all of a sudden, something apparently quite new comes to the surface. Everyone is suddenly shocked and disappointed. From now on you will understand that this is often due to the fact that this person is working spiritually very well, and after having accomplished these trends that were on the surface, other trends left deeper embedded by the spiritual workers can now evolve to be worked on in the purification process. This is exactly why people on the spiritual path often display at certain periods trends that have never been noticed before. Of course, this may also be due to the fact that they were hidden by the mask self, but it may also be on account of the taking out of trends that have been left for consideration only until after certain other things have been accomplished. The same may apply to a good trend or a talent. These specialists look at their charts exactly. In one case, a strong talent is supposed to come out very soon. This has to be prepared. In another case, a talent is supposed to come to the surface only much later; in still another case, a talent is left conditional according to certain circumstances and whether the person is following through the plan or not. All this is shown on the plan, and the preparations have to be made in the fluids, in their processing in an exceedingly difficult procedure that is impossible for you to grasp entirely.

 "This period of processing and treatment of the fluidal bodies takes approximately nine months, the time the human shell needs to grow. Sometimes the processing is completed a little before the nine months are over; then the entity is just waiting in an unconscious state. Sometimes life should start a little earlier than nine months because then conditions may be better suited for that entity to begin life under; and yet the parents in question also fulfill the best mutual conditions. In such a case, a premature birth will occur. In other instances, birth may be delayed a little.

 "At this opportunity, I will just add one more detail in this connection. The attitude of the mother, as well as of the father, during the time of pregnancy may often determine a change. If the parents or even one of the parents should change their spiritual attitude, then the entity first planned to come to these parents would not fit into these circumstances anymore. It is not only that perhaps the parents are now deserving a higher developed spirit as their child if their attitude has changed for the better, spiritually speaking; but it is also that the being, first destined for these parents, may not find the necessary fulfillment with parents of this spiritualized outlook. There are enough parents available whose attitude would afford the limitations that the particular entity needs for growth. But there are fewer, indeed, who will represent the proper environment for a spirit who has more to give to this world. But this is also a task and a responsibility for the parents who have to be worthy to rear a child who has greater tasks to fulfill. This worthiness is often determined by the spiritualized way of looking at life. So, last minute changes can be made if the mother or the father or both change their attitude during pregnancy, either to the better or to the worse. There are enough possibilities available for such changes to be effected. "The spirit world can foresee fairly well whether or not such changes are within the realm of the possible, knowing the capacities of each soul much better than the human beings themselves, having the Book of Life available. So, tentative arrangements may be made already during the time of pregnancy, for instance the time of preparation for birth, that if the parents first chosen should change enough to warrant a different child for them, the first intended child will go without difficulty or delay to another pregnant woman. Therefore it is advisable for the mother in particular to become quiet within, to turn to God, and to spiritualize her whole being and attitude during pregnancy.

 "Now there remains only this to say: when finally the time of birth has arrived, many spirits assist so that the fluidal bodies that have been treated in the manner described enter the body of the baby. And then the incarnation has been effected." (PL #34)

"Another determining factor is, of course, your attitude. When difficulties come, it is human to be discouraged. When you are puzzled or in pain, when you are disappointed or unhappy about something, it is most normal to lose courage. You cannot help it. But with this inner consciousness growing in you, you will perhaps gradually learn that it is most essential to keep the vigor toward life intact, to not allow negative experiences to weaken your inner pulse. Your inner will directly effects the pulse beat of your life force. Your choice to want to master the situation, make the best of it, learn from it, live it to the fullest, directly affects the vigor of the cosmic pulse beat that enlivens your personal existence.
 
"This requires, in addition to the understanding I mentioned, good will, courage, and faith, which come to the degree you truly want to fulfill your part in creation. Every created being plays such a part, without exception. For every being is a direct expression of the Creator. In every being, a part of the Creator lives. The entire plan of salvation is a conjoint effort to penetrate all with life, with consciousness, with the divine joy that is so exquisite that it cannot be conveyed in words." (PL #255)

"Now what about salvation? Traditionally the interpretation of this word leaves a lot to be desired. It lends itself easily to misunderstanding, although the more enlightened among religionists do perceive the truth. Salvation means, among other things, Christ's endless forgiveness and acceptance. It means that you can always find your way to God, no matter what you have done, what your lower self still wishes to do. The door is always open, you are never, never closed out. All you have to do is knock. Ask for the bread of God's mercy, love, forgiveness, and personal help in all ways, and you shall not receive a stone. Ask to know yourself, your lovability, your nobility of spirit, your beauty of your true being through His redemptive love of you, and you shall receive it. That is salvation, all that, and more. God's personalized aspect has brought it about. The incarnated Christ has made it possible for all other incarnated entities to be saved from their painful state of untruth (sin) and consequent destructiveness of self and others.
 
"Let us now discuss some aspects of salvation that create a lot of confusion and contradictions among mankind. I would like to give three elements that are all a necessary part of salvation. One without the other cannot function. I now mean by that, a specific aspect of salvation, namely the salvation of man's personal soul. As I said before, there are other aspects of salvation that go beyond that. To repeat, they have to do with the possibility of every created entity to leave behind the state of consciousness that might be called hell, or various lesser stages of it: states of consciousness that reflect error and therefore suffering, the wheel of death and rebirth, with all its attached fears due to a break in consciousness. Christ's demonstration of supreme love, forgiveness, and mercy, of acceptance due to the deep penetration of His vision into man's ultimate nature, opened all doors that were closed to man before -- not closed because God punished man and therefore locked the doors, but closed because man was deeply immersed in the conviction that he cannot be forgiven and that he is therefore doomed to suffer eternally. This, in turn, took all his incentive away to work on any process of self-purification. Where there is no hope, there also lacks will and incentive. Through Jesus' life and death a new modality was created within the mind of man, a new model was created that enabled human beings to choose the path the Master has shown. He has said that He is the way, He is truth, He is life. It was no longer futile to try. Forgiveness for all sins, for all transgression exists already because God recognizes in much deeper terms why you are driven as you are, why you must go through your sins in order to recognize them for what they are, so that a new incentive spurs you on to the great journey you, here on this path, are now embarked on.
 
"The personal aspect of salvation seems contradictory to the mind that is steeped in the dualism of either/or. Let me cite these three aspects. (1) Only you yourself can effect your salvation. It is your responsibility. (2) You cannot possibly do it alone. You need the help of others who share the journey with you, who may often see what you do not see. (3) Without God, without the personal assistance of the personal aspect of God, the undertaking is too vast to accomplish it.
 
"Yes, it is obviously true that your salvation is your choice, your intent, your responsibility, your will, your effort -- and often what seems to be your sacrifice. It seems, at first, a sacrifice to give up time and energy for the undertaking of your self-work. It often seems even more of a sacrifice to shed a habit that stems from your lower self and gives you some lower self gratifications for a while before higher pleasures can take root in you. No one else, not even the Creator, can make you do what you do not wish and choose to do. This would go directly against all spiritual law whose author, after all, He is.
 
"Yet, you are often too involved in your misperceptions of your reality and too blind as far as your role in your interaction with others is concerned to be able to set distorted perceptions right. You need the mirror of others; you need to learn being open to them; you need to learn giving up your pretenses and therefore your defenses in your relationship with them. You need to show yourself as you are, with all your vulnerability and total inner truth. This in itself is already an integral part of your journey toward self-realization. You need to learn receiving even though this may make you at first feel weak and vulnerable, for only then can you give of yourself. You can give many things before, but you cannot give yourself unless you can receive in the sense I mentioned.

"Working with others, being open to and with them, fulfills the law of brotherhood. I spoke about this many years ago. There are spiritual aspirants who deceive themselves to reach the goal by seclusion and separateness. They have their rationales. But the truth is that they never want to expose themselves to others, and thus whatever their "success," it can, at best, be only a half measure that cannot last, that is never grounded in spiritual as well as practical reality.
 
"And how could you ever overcome the hurdle of your self-hate that festers underneath all your defenses if it were not for the experience of Christ's personal love, forgiveness, acceptance, and total vision of you? How could you learn to love yourself without at least knowing and finally experiencing His love for you? How could you activate the power to change involuntary aspects that do not directly respond to your outer will? The outer will and the outer aspects that respond to it need to be aggressively activated by your dedication to your path; by the many decisions every day to face the truth in difficult or confusing situations; by your choice to fulfill the law of brotherhood and overcome the initial resistance to show yourself as you are. But then comes a point in which you deal with involuntary emotions, responses, reactions, and even beliefs that, no matter how sincerely your outer self wants to change them, do not respond to that level. So you constantly need the higher powers to help you find the way into those deeper levels and effect a change that your own mind, alone, cannot bring about.
 
"All this also teaches you the wisdom to distinguish between where the self is the master and where you desperately need the Great Master without whom nothing can be accomplished. " (PL #258)

"Communication is a by-product of a highly developed consciousness. To the degree development of spirit exists, the ability to communicate, to listen and express adequately and appropriately also exists. To the degree development is still impaired, the ability to communicate is limited. So you see innumerable people who cannot and will not even try to put into words what they really feel and think. They are too proud, or they demand from others to be understood without having to labor to make themselves understood. For it does require some labor. The ability to communicate is an art that can and, indeed, must be learned by everyone. It contains good will. It contains a positive intentionality and a will to cooperate.

 "It is no coincidence that one of the major by-products of modern technology is communication. Even though this level of communication applies to outer events only, it has a tremendous impact on inner levels of humanity. In the first place, it brings people much closer together. In former times the sense of separateness was much greater because the distance between people, the lack of communication, created illusions in the minds that others are intrinsically different, alien, and therefore enemies to be distrusted. Seeing others being so similar when it comes to the basics of living, dying, suffering, longing eliminates much of illusion, fear, and enmity. It contributes to the ever growing unity.
 
"Even knowing what is going on in the world has an impact on spiritual growth. The sense of isolation that people lived in in former times contributed to separateness. It made your world appear too vast to encompass it. One's own tragedies seemed unique, hence the sense of brotherhood and sisterhood was totally lacking. Today even the least spiritually inclined individuals experience your entire planet in an entirely different way in which much that was strange and different no longer exists. Even knowing the events that happen right now in a different corner of this earth has an impact on the soul's development. So you see, my friends, technology is not in opposition to spiritual development and to the spiritual life although it is often being used that way -- or rather abused. Therefore it is often seen that way.
 
"This serves again as an example of how everything in the universe and on this earth is intrinsically an expression of divine will and creation and can and should serve the great plan. It cannot be different, for nothing can be created that does not have its roots in the world of spirit. All demonic manifestations can only be distortions and misuses of divine creation. They can never have been self-creative.
 
"Communication is a most important by-product of advanced spiritual states. On more subtle levels this ability has also greatly improved over the last decades. The event of psychological approaches has created a greater awareness of self and therefore a greater ability to explain oneself, to express oneself to others, and thereby to communicate. You must imagine how, before this particular influx, human beings were completely in the dark about themselves, their feelings, their needs, their true reactions, let alone those of others. It was therefore impossible to create a bridge with another person in a significant way. It is similar with children now. A child does not really know that it knows it is hurt, lonely, that it needs more love or attention or understanding. If this awareness were articulate in the child, it would be a relatively small step to convey these feelings to another person. Without communication, you live in the dark, in a fog of confusion with yourself, and isolated from others. The Christ spirit represents exactly the opposite. It means the great light of awareness, of articulation, and of brotherhood.
 
"Obviously this means primarily communication with self, with inner levels of being that were inaccessible before. This must always be the groundwork. For you cannot convey, explain, and communicate that which you do not even know. So a path such as the one I guide you on must always be primarily concerned with self-knowledge, self-exploration. But it must never stop there. This is only the preliminary phase. The next organic step is the learning of the great art of communication. This requires thought, intentionality, practice, self-observation. It means giving up the state of being only half awake in which you unthinkingly take for granted that others should know. It means taking the effort to explain, to reach out, to search through the mazes of misunderstanding -- patiently, lovingly. Here, like in everything else, practice leads to an increasingly more spontaneous and automatic ability to be outwardly what you have been only secretly and inwardly to yourself before, and to communicate this to others.
 
"Just use your imagination, and think about the enormous difference this makes in human communication. How often do you believe someone is mean to you when, in reality, this other person fears you and erroneously uses a coldness or rejecting attitude as a defense. Knowing this removes your fear, your false pride, your anger and may enable you to meet this person in an entirely different way that, in turn, will dissolve his/her negative defense that alienates others. So you see how communication brings souls together instead of creating fearful and therefore hating walls between humans. Communication is an intrinsic part of the good life.
 
"This art not only consists of that you attempt to explain yourself. It most definitely also includes the how. If you explain yourself in a way that implies blame and accusation, you only create a bigger wall. But if you attempt to explain yourself by simply conveying your own feelings and needs, your impressions and assumptions, without insisting that they be the truth, in a questioning, open spirit, then a true understanding can be reached. Clarity, light, truth will be established. Love and brotherhood are being fostered through the art, and craft, of learning how to communicate.
 
"How can your loneliness be assuaged unless you establish bridges with others? How can you ever lose your fear of people unless you truly expose the misconception that others want to be your enemy? And that cannot be achieved unless you go through the trouble of exploring yourself sufficiently so that you know what it is you really feel. How often do you believe what you feel is not at all what is really going on in you. And then you need to take the apparent risk of explaining yourself even if this can rarely be done in one simple stroke. It means a continuous dialogue full of good will and being willing to shed pride and your stake in being blaming. This is what communication means on an emotional level. And this will increasingly establish the great oneness among all human beings. It will increasingly remove fear and hate -- hence war on large and small scales. In other words, this will contribute to bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth.
 
"But there is yet a deeper level of communication at work of which you know nothing. This is a level that is still very obscure but that will reveal itself as clearly as those other levels I have now discussed, once you focus your attention and awareness to it. All interaction between human beings somehow conspires to contribute to the final aim: reconciliation, oneness, brotherhood, love, understanding, truth. Thus the most negative interaction between individuals serves this purpose in the final analysis.
 
"When two entities -- individual or collective ones -- are involved in a negative interaction and even if this interaction has a most undesirable result at the moment, a deeper purpose is being fulfilled. The higher self of both entities is always at work. It is not that the higher self has created the negative interaction per se. It is that what already exists is being used for the purpose of dissolving it. This dissolution and transformation of negative material could not possibly take place unless there is an outright manifestation. Even if the involved entities are totally in the dark about the part they themselves play in this interaction and are still on the level of self-righteous one-sidedness, a higher purpose is served nevertheless. How much more so when entities recognize the total truth of the interaction that may be hidden from their immediate view.
 
"So you can see, my friends, that underneath the lower self exchange, there simultaneously also exists a higher self exchange between the same entities in question. This is a very important new thought for you to contemplate. Just imagine: two people (or groups of people) are at war on the surface. They hate and accuse each other. They even wish each other the worst and want to harm each other. At the same time, on a deeper level, these entities agree. They know what occurs on the surface serves the common good, serves truth and love, serves their unity although their surface levels know nothing of this.
 
"When you work on this path profoundly to come to the truth of the issue when two of you are at odds with each other, you often experience a wonderful conciliation in which love unites the same two individuals who hated and accused each other before. You witness what I explained just now. On your earth sphere, in this dimension, the manifestation of conciliation happens in sequential time: first the hate, then the search for truth, then love and unity. On the deeper level of being, these sequences do not exist. The truth, love, and unity exist all the while.
 
"It is important for you to take this new vision into account. It will help you to perceive that there is no situation, no matter how hopelessly confused and negative it may appear, that does not simultaneously harbor its inner truth, love, and unity. Your understanding this fact will accelerate the conciliations on the level of sequential time so that enmity/search/truth/love/unity follow each other in ever quicker succession. 

"Never forget, love, union with God and other people, is the result of communication. And communication is a result of serious effort, commitment to use your attention, your effort, your energies, to make yourself understood in the best possible way and to understand the other. For both purposes, you need to empty your mind of all preconceived ideas your lower self has a stake in retaining. You need to put aside enmity and distrust. You need to listen deeply and openly. You need to convince the other of your good will for the truth. You need to summon the maturity to realize that others do not know what you mean, feel, think, and want. You need to explain yourself on the deepest, most sincere way possible. In that way, there is no problem between you and others that cannot be resolved. What strength and self-esteem will grow from this, my friends!

"But you do need to sacrifice your pride, your stubbornness, your pleasure in having a case, your fear of finding out that you are wrong and bad. All this must be put aside. In that way you will greatly contribute to the ever growing flow of communication in your era that is unprecedented as compared to previous times. In that way you help herald an important aspect of the Christ consciousness -- within yourself and others. You then truly become a servant of God's plan. Desist from the temptation to keep yourself locked up in isolation and resentment. Equally desist from the temptation to accuse and to blame. Make yourself neutral, at least temporarily until you have the chance of finding out what the truth is. Do not fear this truth. It will be so liberating, it will let you off the hook of secret self-accusation as much as it will let others off the hook of your accusations although you may well find imperfections in both. However, these imperfections will have a new connotation that will free you of hurt and shame as well as of the need to put hurt and shame on others. "(PL #257)

There exists a certain rhythm that needs to be discovered, sensed, and accepted. Again I use the analogy of the sea. Ebb and flow function according to a very specific rhythm, a rhythm that has been established under higher orders. This rhythm is never broken. Only when specific upheavals, like earthquakes, tidal waves, or human destructive measures interfere is the rhythm temporarily disrupted. The sea is in crisis, as it were, but even this crisis conspires to reestablish its unique rhythm, its harmony with the rest of creation. The sea has the wisdom to follow this pattern. Man, with his often disruptive mind, makes himself too often insensitive to his unique rhythm pattern with which he needs to be in harmony.
 
"So when you seek connections between event and your inner person, when you work for recognition of it and pray for help and the answer still fails to come, then you may be out of rhythm. You may have to use this waiting time to learn certain qualities within yourself that can only be learned in the time of ebb, never in the time of flow. The time element of ebb and flow of the sea, high tide and low tide, never coordinate exactly in equal time slots. Mostly one lasts longer than the other, if measured with earthly time. Often these time relationships change. It is the same way with the human being's rhythm. The time of fruition may come sooner in some areas, the time of waiting may last longer in other areas.
 
"Sense your rhythm in all things. Feel your daily life in accordance with your personal universal rhythm pattern. It exists as definitively as you carry your life pattern within your soul substance. If you work, rest, play, live, move, and have your being in harmony with your unique rhythm pattern, you will live a much more fruitful, creative, joyful, and peaceful life. So much harassment and restlessness will fall off your burdened shoulders. This requires, again, a specifically raised consciousness to this phenomenon. You need to think about this concept, to begin with. You need to meditate that it exists. You need to stir up your imagination and feel into how it would feel to live a day in rhythm, as contrasted with your usual unconscious rhythmless existence. Once you can visualize this difference, you can concentrate daily on it and ask your personal guidance to help you to focus on it and stay increasingly in your rhythm pattern.
 
"When a painful personal event seems utterly disconnected from any personal cause or meaning after a comparatively long time of search and work, something in your rhythm pattern demands that you accept this as a rhythmic phenomenon. True, the rhythmic phenomenon is also determined by consciousness, that is, by underlying causes existing within the particular consciousness. But only when the rhythm pattern is respected, accepted, adhered to, and utilized in the most constructive way, will the rhythm be able to flow without disturbance and take its natural course. Doubt, rebellion, anger, belief in a meaningless universe that makes you suffer, are all destructive responses to the rhythm pattern that takes place, thereby delaying its natural flow. Equally disruptive is the self-rejecting attitude 'I am so bad that I deserve to be punished this way.'
 
"You all know, you have all learned on this path, what a constructive response is. 'What can I learn here? What could my response to this seeming delay be that would most further my development? If there is anything in my lower self that I am not yet aware of or not sufficiently connected with, I want to fully see it, yet never lose sight of the fact that I am loved by God and am His unique expression.' These are positive responses that will further the rhythm to take its harmonious course. Then in its own time, often when you perhaps least expect it, new connections will open up and sometimes pour out with such rich profusion that suddenly all woe will disappear, and the former suffering will turn into the blessing it could always be made of.
 
"Again I say that personal contact with Jesus Christ will help you to live in this harmony and to make all the necessary connections. But here, too, the rhythm pattern is at work. You may be mentally completely reconciled to His reality. You may have used your personal will to make this total surrender, and you may sincerely mean it. Yet you may not have experienced the emotional reality of His sweet and loving presence. You may wait and wait for this to happen. Often man becomes impatient and then begins to doubt. He thus disrupts the plant he has sown. When the emotional experience fails to materialize for a while, it is not that He keeps you waiting. It is that your inner barriers need to give way. And that can happen only within the context of your unique, personal rhythm pattern. Remember that and do not despair. Christ is here, He hears you, He loves you, He protects you, He is deeply concerned with you even though our senses are still too dull to perceive it. But suddenly the time will come when you will be intensely aware of this fact. You will feel His loving, healing arms in which you can always rest and find new sustenance for your life task." (PL #258)

"If what caused a negative experience is not elicited into the foreground of consciousness, it can never be given a chance to transform itself.
 
"In this case it is fear that perhaps the world is an arbitrary, chaotic, senseless place without rhyme and reason; that there is no God, no eternal life, no eternal soul, no meaning to the experiences man encounters. As you so well know from previous discoveries on your path, your attitude may be totally different on one level of your personality from that on another level. This certainly applies to faith in God and His creation, and, as part of that, to faith in the meaning and purpose of all that comes to pass in your lives in an endless, ongoing chain of being, of consciousness.
 
"It is the ultimate aim of self-realization to establish the truth of God, of eternal life, of the benign meaning of everything in every crevice of consciousness. This process is the very reason for incarnation and purification. What do you think purification is all about? It is not just to become 'good.' Being 'good' in and by itself is almost a meaningless phrase. The deeper you go in your work of fulfilling yourself, the more you become aware of goodness often being a matter of different approaches and values, of the mores of a particular culture. Sometimes what is considered 'bad' by a certain society may be of the highest value on deeper levels of reality -- and vice versa, of course. Absolute good can be found only on the most profound levels of truth through the mundane and personal 'little truths' often so difficult to face. The greatest truth of God's reality and immediacy brings you to the ultimate good that is beyond all question and doubt.
 
"The path I have the privilege to bring to you and help you on prepares you for this process. Little by little you deal first with the personal, individual violations of integrity and truth, level by level. The more open you are to this process and consequently the more you recognize and the more you loosen up your defenses so that a state of open flow is established, the easier it becomes to lift out the existential fear that grips all mankind. This is the common denominator that unites all human beings on the deepest level. When this deepest of all doubts and fears existing in all human beings is individually and personally being dealt with, then a new phase in the total process can begin.
 
"It is very different to be clearly aware of this fear and doubt and, for a while, live with it and deal with it again and again than to be in the previous state when these doubts and fears were covered up and consequently manifested indirectly. To know, feel, experience, and suffer these doubts and fears is the first step on this vital new phase in your evolution. Your longing for eternal life must be totally conscious. This is by no means so, as a general rule. Usually this longing is suppressed and repressed. It then becomes transformed into subsidiary longings such as longing for health, for happiness, for abundance, for avoiding physical death as long as possible.
 
"Obviously every one of these longings is most legitimate. You should by no means infer from my words that these longings are wrong and immature and that you should attempt to eliminate them. Quite the contrary is true. These longings are most legitimate. However, there is an enormous difference between seeing these longings as the original ones and seeing them as natural by-products of a genuinely basic state of soul that could exist, is meant to exist, and that the personality first unconsciously and finally consciously longs for.
 
"When this longing is unfulfilled, in a part of the total personality the separation between the created being and the Christ still exists. This separation exists not only between the individual (to the extent he or she is still in this darkness) and the Christ, but also within the personality. The personality is split. One part is in the light of knowing -- and there the longing is fulfilled. The other part is still in darkness, therefore in fear, doubt, suffering; for this part, the longing is unfulfilled.
 
"But when this latter part is not even conscious, it creates commensurate painful experiences. For experience is constantly being created as an ongoing process from the consciousness, attitudes, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings of the person. How painful it is when the result of these inner creative agents is so separated from what created the experiences that the person is under the illusion that the experience comes to him without rhyme or reason. This is the most painful state of consciousness. It leads to the assumption that the universe is one of chaos and meaningless arbitrariness.
 
"When a human being dies in that state of darkness, the disruption of conscious connection will temporarily create the impression of nonexistence in the life outside the physical body. That is, the personality aspects that are in light and true knowledge will experience life after death accordingly, while the personality aspects that live in the darkness of unconscious fear and doubt will be unconscious after separation from the body. Through this process, the illusion is perpetrated that physical death is an extinction of consciousness. The aspects that have not yet awakened are then incorporated into the reincarnating personality and carried with it, to be dealt with when the total personality is ready on its evolutionary journey.
 
"When this separated, fearful, doubting part remains unconscious, the longing for eternal life is also unconscious. As the fears, doubts, and terrors manifest indirectly as if the manifestation had nothing to do with the specific fears, doubts, and terrors of nonexistence, so does the longing for eternal life manifest indirectly. It manifests in various ways. The longing may manifest in conscious subsidiary but legitimate longings such as those I mentioned before. Or the longing may manifest in displaced longings -- longings for false, unreal fulfillments. The longing may also manifest in compulsive drives. Whatever it may be, it is important to make conscious the underlying, real longing for eternal life.
 
"All this will make it clear that there is a direct connection between the dark corner of fear, doubt, terror, and the longing. To the degree these fears, doubts, and terrors are unconscious, the longing is unconscious. To the degree they are conscious, the longing is conscious. And to the degree they are conscious, the first step toward transforming the level of fears, doubts, terrors into faith, knowledge of truth, security, and peace can be undertaken systematically, meaningfully, and intelligently. And obviously this in itself is the process by which the longing is being fulfilled.
 
"As it required courage, integrity, openness, good will, positive intentionality, and utter commitment to the truth to get to know yourself, to face the lower self, and thereby begin to transform it, so does it require exactly the same courage, integrity, openness, good will, positive intentionality, and utter commitment to the truth to face, live through, and transform the deep, universal, existential fears, doubts, and terrors.
 
"Let us now deal with two further points in this connection. The first is a vision or concept about the state of fulfillment of this longing which alone eliminates the fears and terrors, and stills all doubt. Without even a vague idea that such a state exists, it is impossible to be conscious of your longing for it. Nor can you visualize it. And that brings me to the second point which is, how you should work on establishing awareness of the dark level of doubt and fear, and awareness of the longing; and, further, how should you work on directly establishing the state in which this basic longing is fulfilled and from which all other fulfillments naturally derive.
 
"So let me first describe the fulfilled state. Let us be quite clear that we are here not discussing any outer state of fulfillment. Health, abundance, success, a sense of self-worth, emotional fulfillment in love with a mate, all these are desired by all human beings. Yet even if or when they do exist, they mean nothing without the inner state. This inner state of fulfilled longing is most difficult to describe in words. Once again we meet the already familiar obstruction of squeezing a cosmic state or concept into the narrow confines of human language which is geared to three-dimensional concepts. Nevertheless, I shall attempt to give you a vision or description of this state so that you can further attempt to grasp and sense it in order to eventually make it your own.
 
"This state has been variously described in mystical and spiritual literature and has been given various names such as nirvana, satori, cosmic consciousness, etc. But I am not interested to find a name. Let us rather see what this state -- that is of course a deep union with and awareness of God -- means in your personal experience.
 
"In the first place I would say that in this state there is no fear. A sense of being utterly safe and at home in the world permeates your whole being; a sense of security about life, yourself, all things, that might perhaps also be described as 'being cozy' with life. Life fits you like a glove.
 
"It is impossible to attain this sense of safety and of living in security and without fear unless you first ascertain that there is fear in you. For that is not obvious or self-understood, as I explained before. The fear is often submerged, covered up, or displaced onto substitute levels and manifestations. Once the deep existential fear is conscious, you can then sense the longing for another state in which there is nothing to fear -- not in wishful thinking, not in escaping, but in the deep, most realistic, experiential knowledge that you are held by God, that you live in a creation in which there is absolutely nothing to fear.
 
"There is a vibrancy in this state of safety that bears no resemblance to a false faith. It is not superimposed in order to avoid facing the underlying fear. In this vibrancy there is a most realistic attitude toward all things in life. Through this sense of belonging in the world, true joyousness exists, a joyousness combined with the peace which surpasses all understanding, an excitement and fascination with life and its manifold possibilities of meaningful experiences.
 
"Part of the safety and peace I mention here is a deep knowledge and perception of the meaning of life and experience. A deep meaning is being sensed in your own existence from the largest issues to the most mundane and seemingly insignificant ones. The more you become aware in you of the fear of chaos and meaninglessness, the more this state of emotion can be replaced by an experience of meaning and significance. And the more this is the case, the greater the sense of security becomes.
 
"Shall we simply say that this signifies the experience of the presence of God in your life? Surely He has always been present, only you did not know it. Your mind could not perceive the immediacy of Him and the meaning He is bringing into your events and experiences, into the sequences of your days and into what they contain. The experience of the reality of Christ colors all you see, touch, hear, and feel. A glow of joy and peace is attached to your own being and to your surroundings. The joyous excitement, the peaceful fascination with living and with all that is created in a continuum of creation is the most desirable state imaginable. Whether he knows it or not, man wants nothing more than this state.
 
"I could try to describe this state with more words, but I find it difficult to do so. You need to listen with your innermost potential to understand in order to glean what is meant here. It is usually assumed that these higher states of consciousness, whatever name may be given to them according to cultures and eras, are removed from this world; that having them means living in another world. But this is far from being so. The true and genuine state of union with the Christ means being deeply anchored in this life of matter. It is far more correct to state that the higher spiritual states I attempted to describe here are brought into the world of matter, the matter-mind and the matter-body, so that they are being penetrated by the great light of eternal life, peace, and joy. It is most certainly not a separation from the matter which you are meant to imbue with the spirit to whatever extent you can.
 
"In this state you sense the unification of all opposites. You no longer need to battle them. So, for example, you know your own power to create, to resolve, to recreate, to heal in full autonomy. Simultaneously you know the necessity to be in a state of divine grace without which you cannot accomplish anything. You feel the compatibility and union of these two ways of being, in fact, the interconnectedness and interdependence of these two states.
 
"When the great longing is being fulfilled, connections are discovered that give life a most exciting and safe new face. All the fragmentation that is the result of being split off from God is mended, and this new wholeness increasingly permeates your person. Your own possibilities become a new playground for living. Knowing your infinite ability to bend with life, you can 'snuggle in with it sweetly,' as it were. In this soft, yielding, life-accepting, life-affirming attitude, your own strength grows effectively, powerfully, and yet so softly. Conversely, your softness can manifest in strong assertion and determination. But what a subtle and yet distinct difference there is between the brittle, stubborn, rebellious strength (that is nothing but concealed weakness) and the real strength that comes from being true to God's will!
 
"Knowing that life is unending, ongoing, eternal, and infinite does not necessarily mean that God reveals an exact blueprint to you of how you are going to feel, think, sense, experience, and be when you leave your present body behind. The sense of your eternal existence, of the impossibility of ceasing to be, may come in a deep inner knowing, without an actual sight or sound experience.
 
"Thinking of your desires and your surface longings, your emphasis in prayer may be on outer needs such as health, emotional, and vocational fulfillment, and so on. Even the fulfillment of your spiritual task in itself cannot fulfill the longing we are discussing here. All outer fulfillment can be, and often is, a direct by-product of the great, deep, universal longing for the state of consciousness in which there is no fear, in which there is the realization of God's immediate presence in you, now and always.
 
"This leads us to the second point: what should be your activity or attitude so as to attain this state? First I wish to repeat that you need to look at your feelings, moods, and various mental states in a new light. You will, for instance, find that many moods or states you have interpreted to mean one thing, have yet a deeper and more profound meaning in the light of the topic of this lecture. A restlessness, a discontent, a vague feeling of insecurity may all be rooted in psychological problems on levels you need indeed to explore and resolve. But in addition to these psychological origins and explanations, there is the repressed great existential longing as is the fear of nonexistence and meaninglessness that result directly from the unfulfillment of the longing.
 
"So it is essential that you now uncover a yet deeper level of your being that lies beyond the mask and the lower self, beyond the psychological and emotional problems, beyond the images and mental misconceptions. All of these are the result of the great existential longing and the fear that it can never be fulfilled. On your evolutionary path, you need to trace your steps back through the outer mazes, level by level, as you have learned to do. Only then can the discovery of the fear and the longing be a real experience rather than a theoretical understanding.
 
"Once you experience the fear and the longing, do not push it away and assuage it busily with substitute problems, pains, and fears. Have the courage to fully experience the pain of the fear and the longing. Do not wait for the deeply hidden fear and longing to manifest in outer experience that forces you to turn inward in this direction. Unfortunately, most human beings do not heed the signs even then. They may go on and on during a succession of incarnations, carrying these manifestations with them as karmic ballast. But the point must come when the soul awakens to the meaning of these manifestations and experiences and uses them as pointing arrows, as the red threads leading to the source.
 
"You are in illusion when you shirk full experience of the pain of this fear and longing. When you fully savor the experience of it, you dissolve it little by little. Yes, it is necessary to go through these approaches and experiences many, many times again and again, with patience, perseverance, and wisdom. The wisdom to comprehend that the highest, most desirable, most unified state of consciousness, the ultimate of all fulfillment that includes and encompasses and transcends all other desirable states and attainments, cannot come quickly, cheaply, easily. By this, I mean that your total focus, commitment, devotion must be generated and activated by your active mind and will. Your total goal in life must be to find the reality of the living God as immediate experience. Not as theoretical speculation and a luxury of belief, but as living reality in your inner and outer life.
 
"You may have started the pathwork because you were merely unhappy and vaguely or specifically unfulfilled. You may even have consciously sought spiritual meaning to life. But none of you started out being aware of this longing, of the pain and fear of not being able to fulfill it because you were too afraid to consciously deal with it. Perhaps you are not quite ready yet to deal with it, perhaps you still need more specific purification work on other levels of your outer personality. But you may begin to contemplate this aspect in you and pray for direct guidance to deal with it further.
 
"There may have been short spans of time in which you experienced temporarily a state of ultimate fulfillment in mind and being similar to the one I described. If this is so, it will be helpful to connect with it retrospectively and coordinate it with the meaning I am giving to it in this lecture. These short periods of elation, vibrant peace and security, excitement, fascination, profound joyousness, and intense aliveness can then serve as the vision you need in order to motivate yourself with more vigor. But even if you cannot ever remember such a state or if you experienced only lesser aspects of it, some deep inner knowing in you is fully aware of this as yet unrealized potential. And you can tap this knowledge.
 
"You can, without a doubt, with some effort and focus, experience the fear and the longing. These feelings may perhaps at first be vague, but as you allow them to rise to the surface, you will know their exact meaning as I have described it in this lecture. And as you experience the fear of a fragmented, meaningless, disconnected world in which you exist without rhyme or reason, in which you can cease to exist at any time, in which you hang isolated over an abyss without an all-loving Creator and Creative Principle that gives sense to all things, you will also discover that you intensely long for this all-loving Creator, for a world in which you and all that exists has a purpose and a benign meaning. Do not push this fear and longing away any longer, neither by false reassurances without first knowing the fear and longing; nor by the false cynicism of accepting a mean, godless world; nor by simply displacing the fear and longing into more superficial, even though in themselves quite legitimate, fears and longings. Have the courage and commitment to go deeply through these most essential aspects of your being. Repeat it, feel the feelings of pain, fear, and longing most specifically. Pray in the simplest and most humble way for Christ's intervention to help you attain the state that religion often calls salvation. Be wise and humble enough to know that you may attain an inkling of this new state for a short while, only to lose it again, so that your battle and search be repeated again and again, never ceasing the inner effort, never relinquishing this new goal.
 
"Doubt is, of course, part and parcel of the state of separation. Meet the doubt as you meet the fear and the longing for not being in doubt and fear. But make it an honest doubt in which you give the state you long for at least as much possibility as the state you fear exists. Question yourself: could there be a state of doubt, fear, pain, and unfulfilled longing if there would not also exist on some other level of consciousness a state of total certainty, joy, and utter fulfillment of all longing?
 
"We are now dealing with the most central of all issues of human life that every single religion has taken up in its own way. Salvation is a very real concept, by no means a religious fanatic's whim. The terminology may possibly offend you because you unnecessarily associate it with a religion you have outgrown. But this does not alter the fact that your soul cries for salvation in the sense of this lecture. As long as all of your soul and mind, your total thinking, knowing, feeling, and being has not experienced the living, eternal God as immediate presence; your soul is, at least in part, in a state of painful separation and darkness, in the fear of not knowing the reality of God, not knowing the continuum of your own life, no matter what you believe consciously.
 
"Ask Jesus Christ to give you a hand. He is there, always with you, always loving you. But you cannot always sense it; your state of separation still prevents you. So be patient and surge on with this greatest of all surges of the human soul. In your terms, this particular journey may seem long; all else you have done so far was preliminary work. But according to the great clock of eternal 'time,' it is but a minute, a second.
 
"It is your task to surge forward deeply into the world of matter, filling the void with divine life. In this process, particles of your consciousness have temporarily separated themselves and lost their knowing, eternal, and inevitable connectedness with the All-Consciousness. You need to reestablish this connection by the process I now describe, and put all your heart, soul, mind, and will in this undertaking, for this alone will make all else you do, all your tasks, your duties, your fulfillments, your pleasures, deeply meaningful and joyous. It will lend to all else a new glow, a glow you longed for but did not know you missed, did not know you knew." (PL #243)