Secrets of Life
Disclosures about important questions of life
- Chapter 3 -
HEAVEN, HELL, EARTH
9 July 1870
YOU asked Me for three words and, it goes without saying, for their explanation. Well, I gave you these three significant words: heaven, hell and earth. Now we will see what can be extracted from these three words that may be
elevating, edifying and instructive for you, as well as for mankind as a whole.
The first of the three words signifies the greatest, so that even you, when saying it, must raise your voice and lend greater tension to your vocal cords, if you want to pronounce this word in the manner it deserves to be pronounced.
Do you know what you really utter when pronouncing this word? No, you do not know it but can only surmise; for look, "Heaven" is and signifies the highest abode, as dwelling of the highest spirits, and also My more permanent abode. Heaven is the sum total of all beatitudes, where all the spirits in the purest light, without faults, striving only for My sublime personal attributes, lead a life of bliss which here you cannot ever understand and hardly ever imagine.
There are certainly in these places various degrees of perfection. Indeed, the process of perfecting never ceases since I, continually creating something new, allow new spheres of action to develop.
Issuing from heaven, all the life-sparks out of Me travel via My greatest angel spirits to the lowest strata where only a spark of Myself dimly glimmers, encased in heavy matter. In the heavens, which lie far beyond all the shell globes and materially created solar systems, eternal peace and eternal love are radiating and, since the first fundamental principle of the sublime spiritual life is to imitate My attributes and out of love for Me to fulfill My commands and wishes, the highest bliss is reigning there.
In the highest heavens, where eternal harmony of the spirits prevails, there are also simplicity, humility and neighborly love in their highest perfection, the expression of which I Myself Am.
There I have arranged My abode, as it should be in accordance with My thoughts and wishes in the whole of creation and as it will be after countless eons, when all that is lost spiritually, having found itself, and purified by trials, through conflicts will have found its way back to Me.
Once this is the case, all the worlds, as I have once said, will be transformed. For then they all have as schools of trial and purification fulfilled their purpose and accomplished everything. Of course, for higher spiritual beings they must then be differently arranged and equipped with greater radiance, splendor and beatitudes, so that these very same purified spirits will find new material for their further perfection, their higher spiritual maturity. For infinite is space, infinite are the grades of perfection, and infinite Am I Myself - as the supreme All in all!
This spiritual heaven, where eternal, mild light of grace out of Me flows into all spirits, where the purest harmonies breathe into the spiritual ears and hearts the greatest longing for Me, is the quintessence of My unlimited love, expressed in sounds, colors and words.
There, all live in all, and every one is only happy in the happiness of another!
The greatest exaltation, be it in prayer, in poetry or in song, of which you human beings on this earth are capable and which, as you express it, "carries you to the highest heavens, affording you a foretaste of a better existence - there in My heavens it is the lowest degree of bliss, and that as a permanent, not a transient sensation.
I cannot explain and even less make you feel what a spirit feels there. For you could not bear it in your earthly body and everything on this earth would fill you with disgust, if you could retain in your memory but one second of such bliss. This again I tell you only to encourage you so that you may understand what beatitudes await the sorely tried as reward for his perseverance and his love for Me.
As I am telling you here of the highest heavens where day does not alternate with night, cold with warmth or life with death, where an even, permanent, eternal sea of light surrounds the blissful spirits, lighting up everything around them, there everything created on other worlds is in turn displayed spiritually. For instance, you see a flower whose color delights your eye, whose scent pleases your nerves, but you do not know its spiritual meaning, its spiritual substance, the Spiritual flowing up and down in its tiny tubules or veins, all emanations of a higher nature, beginning with the sun whose light is the mother of these floral colors and scents, up to the highest and most refined potencies.
You see, this flower is also found in My heavens, as spiritual reflection of all that is created. If you could see this flower there - its form only light, its color only radiance, and its scent in the highest spiritual correspondence an eternal hymn of praise to its Creator!
Only there would you understand what spiritual contemplation means, and only then realize how dull your senses are in this world. However, do not worry about this state of your senses while on this earth; remember, only the wise hand of your most loving Father has arranged it so, and although you do not, and cannot ever, wholly understand His aims, they are always based on the highest wisdom and love, and there must be grave reasons for the fact that all this bliss will be yours only after long conflicts and periods of time, and even then not for all, but only for some (according to their love).
My dear children, if I allowed you to enjoy all this at once (which I reserve only for those who truly love Me and have striven in all earnest to become My children), without conflict these inexpressibly great beatitudes would be without great value and permanent attraction, for they would not have been your own achievement but only a gift, so to speak, without any effort on your part, and would only have half the value and be of short duration.
Only what is gained by effort is enjoyed in full measure, as a due reward for merit!
What merit has a prince or king born as the son of a king once his head is adorned by a crown? You can be assured it is of far less importance to him than those of lesser rank believe. What is such a hereditary monarch compared to a man who, having battled against all adversities both physical and spiritual, has finally reached his goal, which he has never lost sight oil The latter is a spiritual giant, whereas the other perhaps amounts to very little and is sometimes despite his exalted station a mere non-entity.
For this reason, whosoever wants to become My child for whom I have reserved the greatest bliss, must earn this name, and only then will he bless all the sufferings and conflicts which led him to that degree of bliss where he begins to have an inkling of the spirituality of all existence and where, in the very fulfillment and performance of all the duties of an angel, the higher bliss for a created spirit begins.
As I once said that every human being carries the whole universe within him, he also carries, albeit on the smallest scale, this now described heaven within.
With every good deed, with every victory gained over his passions, a ray of light of this little love-heaven from the sphere of the spirit penetrates into his heart. It is a transient beam, a foreknowledge, a shouting of the soul for joy, but (alas) not permanent. It is only a moment when the spirit shows man what he carries within, what will one day be his, if he faithfully perseveres on the difficult roads of life.
The spirit of man leaves to the soul only a gentle after breeze of it, nothing else. The ray from the heavens was only a warning call, meaning:
"Do not waver, but endure! One day you will have for ever what here only rushes past you with the speed of lightning! "
So do not despair, My children! Heaven is open to you! In order to encourage you, I let you feel it sometimes, as far as your physical and spiritual constitution allows. More you cannot bear; and if one of you were capable of bearing more, in the midst of the other people he would then be unhappy and instead of pursuing his course diligently he would be overcome by weariness and despair. Therefore, remember that I, your Father, in My wisdom have arranged everything in such a way that My children can bear it and profit from it. Now let us turn to hell. What I have told you about heaven, more or less the same you can assume of hell, but - it goes without saying - in the opposite sense.
I shall not tell you so much about hell, its organization and nature because it gives Me no pleasure to think of it and it is of little benefit to have it described in detail. Suffice it for you to know that it really exists, and that for My and your disadvantage. However, in order to tell you at least something about this contrast to My heavens, I will merely hint at its existence, that is, also in several departments and gradations, representing evil in various degrees, in their midst the residence of Satan himself.
Satan, as personified evil, in contrast to Me, is the personification of all passions, which are opposed to My attributes. Whereas I, for instance, out of love endeavor to preserve everything, he wants to destroy everything, out of hatred against everything created, firstly, because it is created by Me and, secondly, simply because it is created.
If he had his way, he would continually create beings of every kind, however, not in order to rejoice in their existence, but to rejoice (satanically) in their destruction, then again, resuming the game, begin to create anew.
His subordinate spirits who, created by Me as living beings, became so dark that they only enjoy the darkness, just as My angels enjoy the light, are according to the intensity of their wickedness closer to, or further from, Satan and in various sections placed in and on the earth. There they pursue their (devilish) pleasures, striving to emulate their master as much as possible; and so it is their greatest pleasure under all possible kinds of pretences to turn mankind from the good or better path and onto their wide highway.
Since in them as well as in their master there is only a satanic love, they take pleasure in planting the same also into the hearts of those who are willing to listen to them.
There they do not neglect to describe to their victims the world and its pleasures as agreeable as possible, to engender in them a taste for cunning, deceit, lust and all low passions, thus making them ready to be their worthy "brothers".
You will ask Me: "But how can You, the Creator, allow such mighty hordes of evil spirits and their master to continue to exist? Why do You not with one word of command destroy such beings who are so opposed to the gentle drawing of Your love and Your divine attributes, and besides - why did You banish them into and onto the earth of all places, while millions of other earths and suns are orbiting around in infinity, whose inhabitants can take to their roads of betterment and purification unhindered, without being exposed to such torment? Why is it only we, whom You call 'Your children', for whose sake You came down to this small globe, where You suffered for their sake; why are we the ones who are on the one hand the privileged, but on the other hand the most severely tried and exposed to all seductions and temptations?"
My dear children! This complaint made by you as people of this your earth is, seen from your side, quite natural and I have to justify Myself for it so that you, although it does not look like it, nevertheless recognize that I Am always the most loving and benevolent Father, have at all times arranged everything only for your benefit and shall always conduct everything for the welfare of My children.
In an earlier (the preceding) word I have mentioned a fallen angel who pulled along an uncountable number of other spirits in his fall. In "The Household of God" I explained to you also that then all his soul substance was taken from him, divided into particles and bound in matter, and is now returning to Me gradually on the road of perfection; furthermore, that all those born on this earth, except for spirits from other worlds, who had been transplanted here in order to become My children, are parts of the fallen one that also have to take the same road as all spirits bound in matter.
I also said that this very same fallen angel spirit was banned to where My plant nursery for My heavens is located, namely, into the earth, and that he is there most active, in opposition to Me and My ordinance.
Look, all this I have explained to you earlier, and also the "why" - why the greatest temptations and dangers must be exactly where spirits and souls have taken on the task of attaining to My Kingdom, carrying right through hell and damnation the cross of suffering and love in My honor and to shame My great adversary; and that despite all seductions and seeming comforts heaped upon his future pupils by Satan, so as to ensnare them, while later making them pay for every pleasure and every comfort with a thousand torments of hell, there are still souls on this earth who defy all his temptations, turn their back on all his grand promises, do not want to belong to him but solely to Me and amid suffering and conflict hold high the banner of faith, humility and love!
When Satan apostatized from Me, I had to leave him and his whole following their individual freedom, which every spirit needs so that as a free spirit he may become worthy of Me.
The conversion to Me must occur from within and voluntarily, not under coercion. For this very reason I must tolerate the behavior of this My greatest adversary including his brood and let them do as they like, as long as they do not interfere with My established order.
The fact that whatever they do, the result will always be the opposite of what they originally had intended, is the triumph of the good cause since also the evil, even the worst that creation has to show, must and can only contribute towards its (and their) own betterment and the furthering of what is good generally.
For this very reason Satan with his realm is banned to that place where he has a chance to try everything possible to defend his lifetheory against Mine. Indeed, he was even permitted to personally tempt Me during My earthly sojourn, Me, who was not a created spirit, but the Creator of all that is created (including himself). Since I did not avoid him when he met Me as a man, exposed to all human passions, he dared to tempt also the Most High, which was allowed him. But with what result you know, namely, that he might gradually realize on a great and on a small scale that all his effort is in vain and that through so many eons he has been resisting in vain the One who had created him and who, would he return today repenting, would receive him with open arms like a "prodigal non", as I have already told you in "The Twelve Hours', and that it will not happen all at once, but gradually and with certainty.
When I said of My heavens that every human spirit carries them within him on a small scale, thus also the germ of bell or the inclination to sin and act contrary to My order, or hell in miniature, is in every man's breast
It is there because virtue, without the recognition of its opposite, vice, would not be a virtue, and love without the opposite, not love! If darkness did not exist, you would not appreciate light, if it were not for the freezing effect of cold, you could not understand the pleasant feelings of the gradually entering warmth.
Therefore, where My "children-plant-nursery" is, there also had to be the school of the overcoming and subduing of all passions!
What would life be without conflict? A monotonous passing of periods of time, without an awareness of the coming of one and the passing of another. Life would have no purpose, no spice!
Just as the salt in all your foods, in all herbs, metals, plants and even in the air and in your stomachs because of the proper digestion constitutes an important component, which incites to life and through this incitement furthers the same, the salt of spiritual life is the temptation, or the tendency to think and act differently from the way one actually should. Through this very contrast or this incitement the better part of your Self is strengthened and the physical and spiritual life within you is sustained through this food, its continuance is assured and the enjoyment of having attained to another, new degree of perfection, and that through conflict and self-denial, whereas you would not become aware of progress if you advanced without obstacles.
When the sun in the morning sends its first rays over the pastures of the earth, the whole living nature shouts with joy in answer. Every being, each in its own way, twitters, coos and hums its hymn of praise to the light and its Giver. Even the dewdrop attached to the leaf of a moss plant, clothing itself with diamond brilliance, mirrors the great hemisphere of light arched above it and in its radiance as it were rejoices at the daylight returning after the darkness! - Why? Because from one evening to the next morning the night, or darkness, had let all living creatures feel the value of the light!
Thus it is also in a spiritual respect. The soul of a created being recognizes the sweet awareness of spiritual love, spiritual progress and of a spiritual, higher soul-life only when it has come to know the chasms and wrong paths threatening on its road of trial. Only after the soul has advanced a small step does it take pleasure in the same and renews all its strength for the attainment of the next. And so the incentive, enjoyment and bliss are enhanced, not so much with the better condition gained, but on account of the obstacles overcome.
You see, My children, what would all the heavens mean without hell! And how much other beings in other suns and earths miss in bliss, which is reserved only for My children, because the other beings in other suns and worlds know only light and little or no darkness!
Do you still want to complain that hell is so close to you, even within you? Or would you not rather, thanking Me, ask Me maybe for more hell, so that you may be able to battle and suffer even more so as to deserve in even greater measure to be called "My children"?
So set your minds at rest. I know what you need for your trialschool; do not ask for more than what you are given by Me, and be assured, you have enough with what My loving hand imposes on you; where it more, it would be a punishing hand and this I, as your Father, do not have!
Now I have shown you how even the totally evil, indeed, the most evil in the whole of creation, with all its actions is still used and exploited by Me for the benefit of all that lives and how Satan with his henchmen, instead of harming Me, on the whole must contribute to the greatest good. So let us now pass to your abode, "the earth", as the third, above mentioned word, so that there you may again see the love and wise prudence of your Father in its whole glory. (Note by the Translator: For the sake of clarity in the following paragraphs the original German terms for "heaven", "hell" and "earth" are retained, with the English terms added in brackets).When pronouncing the word "Himme1" (heaven), where you have to raise the pitch of your voice while having to lower it when pronouncing "Hölle" (hell), you will have noticed that each of these words requires a different movement of the vocal muscles, and look, it is again different in the pronunciation of the word "Erde" (earth), where you have to open your mouth wide (three different tones. The Ed.). Look, in the pronouncing of these words in your language, including the movements of the vocal organ, everything is arranged in such a way that spirits who are more familiar than you are with the correspondence formulas of creation, find fully expressed in the movements of the oral muscles what one or the other pronounced word signifies. When pronouncing the word "Himmel" (heaven) you have seen that the raising of the vocal pitch corresponds to the closer description of the same. When pronouncing the word "Hölle" (hell) where the mouth has to be closed like a cave, you will not fail to see the close connection between this muscular movement and the description of hell, where by the way the word "Himmel" (heaven) is pronounced with an upward glance and the word "Hölle" (hell) with a downward glance -certainly never upward, and finally "die Erde" (earth) by opening the mouth broadly and looking straight ahead. Having discussed the first two, what remains to be scrutinized is merely the last word broadly pronounced, with its spiritual correspondence, and earth itself as your abode. The fact that in pronouncing the word "Erde" (earth) the mouth has to be pulled horizontally to the corners and the lips must move upward showing the rows of white teeth, has a spiritual correspondence to the earth, where, in a spiritual sense, what is softer, namely the flesh, is under restraint, laying open for consideration the firmer, more compact parts - ethics, or the teeth. Now look, My dear children, in the spiritual correspondence the teeth, as firm, bonelike parts, signify the permanent and first support, both in man and earth, giving a beautiful form to the face and imparting the moral beauty to man's whole exterior. As well, this support creates the inner vitality of the body of the earth itself and what is beautiful on its surface. The teeth amongst other things signify also the moral-spiritual and are the first spiritual organ of digestion, which in worldly life should sift the good from the bad. And as in the mouth the salt in the digestive juice of the saliva is added after the crushing of the food through the teeth, correspondingly the salt is the enticement always to act contrary to the good, and it is your main task to resist this temptation and finally be the victor.
Here on this earth you receive everything mixed, the good with the bad, love with hatred, life with death; that is, both easily change their role with each other, or, in other words, each changes easily into its counter-pole. If you have enough strength to eliminate the wicked and bad, then evil, no matter how often it assails you, cannot leave a permanent impression in your soul and will completely disappear in the beyond, and only what is good will be your actual worth! The fact that when pronouncing the word "Erde" (earth) you have to open your mouth wide horizontally, means in correspondence that in a spiritual respect your earth - albeit physically small - reaches far beyond all solar galaxies, even as far as My heavens, for this little planet became firstly the abode of My children, and secondly also Mine, where, through suffering and death, I became the victor over evil.
If you were a little more familiar with this spirit-language, you would in every word referring to Me discover the important and far greater spiritual meaning and not be satisfied with the comprehension of the word - the bark, so to speak, but feel more joy and bliss at its inner contents than you could ever have imagined. Then you would find amongst other things that each people according to its spiritual level will reveal itself in the words and expressions relating to Me, or do you think that the languages were invented, as your linguists believe they can prove? Oh, there you are badly mistaken! The words were not always made simultaneously with the invented objects and new requirements of a people, but the language - being a spiritual product - has always progressed parallel with the spiritual perception of a people. You can see for yourselves from the history of the nations that with the spiritual progress or regression of a nation its language likewise progressed or regressed and with the cessation of a nation also its language (as a living thing) has utterly ceased.
Language is the expression of the soul. The more exalted and beautiful the language, the greater the intensity of its expressions. However, this can only be appreciated by spirits, or those enlightened by My love and grace, who discover behind the various movements of the muscles of the mouth and larynx, among the twittering, clicking, trilling and whistling sounds which in this and that combination form one or the other word, a higher, spiritual meaning which has become for you incomprehensible like the hieroglyphs - of a lost Paradise.
Thus the earth is also in this different from many other worlds. Whereas in these only one language prevails and all created beings pursue one and the same path, there are on earth thousands of different languages, as offshoots of a single one. And in this way the dweller on this earth, in addition to many tests of his patience and perseverance, is also burdened with this task, namely, that when he wants to communicate with the brothers of other nations, he must learn their language in order to convey his thoughts and feelings to them; or, if he wants to learn something from his foreign brother, or tell him something, he must make himself understood in that language.
Wherever you look on earth, beginning with the most primitive peoples up to you civilized nations, you see the small earth with its restless spirits spread itself beyond everything known. Of course, the main motivation with the crowd is always self-seeking. However, in this way the nations are brought together, they come to know each other and learn to appreciate and love each other.
Those who investigate nature, the stars, the inside and surface of the earth, impart their knowledge about the thing which out of My grace I let the individual find, as common knowledge to mankind. Without realizing it, they carry out only My plans, not theirs, and so I educate the souls of this earth, which was once for a short time also My abode, to a better life.
Now the thoughts of people race with the speed of lightning from one pole to the other and they themselves roll on iron roads like a hurricane from one place to another.
The roads are made from iron and the majority of those traveling on them also have a heart of iron (at least for their human brothers). But this is immaterial; My plans are nevertheless more advanced through the fast communication existing between towns and villages, and the getting together of the people dwelling there, than all the builders and owners of railroads believe.
Here I have often mixed together in one carnage -heaven, hell and earth, or spiritually good, bad or materially thinking people. On entering they all had their own opinion; on leaving, hell has perhaps extracted from heaven and earth a permanent spark of knowledge by way of conversation, which throughout life will not be forgotten.
Thus I carry out My plans, utilizing also this traveling together, and where formerly rigid rules separated people, there I make them forget their prejudices. And even though self-seeking, the urge for enjoyment and greed for money are the motivating force why people come together, travel to other countries exposing themselves to all sorts of danger, I still have achieved My purpose, namely that of fraternization. Now it only needs one more mighty push and spiritual impulse and the people stand there like brothers, united in the desire to follow Me, the Eternal Shepherd. Then the spiritual significance of the earth is achieved, then is the time when I shall again come personally among you, after the stubborn have been removed and only the willing are left.
Thus, My dear children, you see how heaven, hell and earth, be it in great or in small things, must serve only the purpose of love, the fundamental idea of My creation.
However, do not count it by years what I have just told you, for with Me there is no time. I know neither day nor night by which to measure time; with Me there is always day, and the sun of love always shines, and will shine, for all until all will have found the road to Me, their most loving, benevolent Father.
Now I think that you, too, can be satisfied with this supplement. It is another light in the great valleys of My creation. Consider well how much love and grace I bestow on you and that I offer you so much spiritual bread so that you may no longer doubt that everything you see is from the Father's hand!
This for your comfort with My blessing! Amen.