The Great Gospel of John
Volume 9
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in Jesaira
- Chapter 141 -
The nature of the beyond.
When the fishes were brought to their spot I went with the former-mentioned friends and with the 20 fishermen to the terrace that we already know, and there we waited for the sunrise. The morning was completely pure and clear because a wind, blowing from the south, blew away the vapors of the lake and also of the surrounding mountains, and therefore, on all sides there was a beautiful view, which was especially praised by our fishermen.
2
When our skipper was completely delighted at the beautiful view of the environment he said: "O Lord and Master, what are all Your works beautiful and wonderful. The one who looks at them with a pure mind must certainly experience much pleasure and joy, and this all the more if he feels in himself that they are never lost for his soul who lives forever. What do You think, o dear Lord and Master, of this opinion of mine, which is maybe still very immature?"
3
I said: "Your opinion is very good and also true, because a perfect soul who is born again in My Spirit of love and truth will not only not loose anything when his body will fall away - except its heaviness and burden that bounds him to this material world - but will gain unspeakably more by it. For truly I say to you: no physical eye has ever seen, no ear ever heard and no human sense organ has ever felt all the happiness that awaits in the big beyond for those who love Me and live and act according to My teaching. I do not need to tell you more"
4
Now the skipper said again: "O dear Lord and Master, where is actually that big, extremely beautiful beyond, where a perfect soul after the death of his body is taken up? Is it above all the stars, or in the midst of the stars, or in the free airspace where the clouds are floating?"
5
I said: "My friend, you still are asking questions now in a very earthly, human manner, which however can also not be different with you. Look, the most blissful beyond is the true Kingdom of God, which is mainly inwardly in man, actually in the deepest inward part of his soul. From there, it is then also above the stars, everywhere in the endless space, in all directions, thus also in and under the stars, in the free airspace, on and in this Earth, and thus also everywhere, wherever you can think. Because everything that you see and feel on this world is also present in a similar way in the spiritual world, without which nothing material would exist nor could exist.
6
Because look, this Earth, the moon, the sun and all those numberless stars, which are also merely big celestial bodies, and where just like on this Earth, all kinds of beings and creatures are living, are in fact also only purely spiritual, because they are only, by God's will, fixed expressions of His thoughts, ideas and visions in Himself. If God would push out such an idea outside the reach of His will and would not want to keep it fixed in His vision, then it also would not be there - which God is able to do if He would want that in His eternal order. But God wants that everything, just like He Himself, will exist forever, even though under many changings which are determined by God in such a way that everything will change from the first condition, in which all matter exists that are fixed by God's will, into a free and as it were independent condition which is spiritual and divine.
7
When you will be perfected in the Spirit of God in your soul, you will be able to vision and use everything in yourself on a small scale what God has in Himself in the most endless measure. And then you will see and understand - indescribably much more clearly than now with your obscure and imperfect sense organs - the Earth as it is now and as it was in all former periods of existence and as it will be in the future periods until its material end, and after that, eternally further in its unchangeable spiritual and purest state. And also the moon, the sun and all those endlessly many other celestial bodies from the smallest to the greatest. That is why the sense organs were given to man in an obscure and imperfect form, to make it necessary for him to continuously think and search inwardly, because for the soul, who is related to the original light of God, there is nothing more disturbing and unbearable than the obscurity and unclearness of everything that he can only perceive with his obscure and imperfect sense organs of the body and of which he hardly can distinguish the outer layer.
8
So the soul wants continuously to know the full truth, and thinks and asks and seeks then also unceasingly. And this activity of the soul results in a continuous increase of the awakening and strengthening of the inner spiritual ability regarding the seeing, hearing and observing, as well as the feeling and experiencing.
9
If the soul would come directly in this world with a completely awakened inner awareness, he would immediately fall back into the greatest possible laziness and passivity, which would mean the same as if he would possess no life.
10
But life's happiness consists most of all of activity, and so it is more useful for the soul to exercise himself in all kinds of activities instead of being continuously in a condition in which he can very clearly observe the inner life in all directions.
11
If you well think about all this, you will by that already attain to a great clearness in yourself and understand many things which you were not able to understand up to now."