The Call

By The Pathwork Guide

Greetings in the Name of the Lord. I bring you His blessings, my friends. There are very few people who have no belief in God at all. Almost everyone has at least a very feeble belief in a Higher Intelligence, in a Superior Wisdom who created this universe. Yet there are few people who know how to continue consequentially from this thought. They limit God all the time. There are many of you who admit that God exists, and God or this Higher Intelligence -- or whatever you choose to call it -- is, of course, one and the same. Yet you do not believe that it could be possible in this wonderful creation that an entity of higher intelligence than a human being should find it possible, if certain conditions are prepared and fulfilled, to manifest to you through a human instrument. You think that this is incredible. This is something that you cannot believe. By why, my friends? Wht is it so hard to believe? It is certainly not incredible that there should exist creatures of higher intelligence, of greater wisdom, and endowed with more love that human beings. So, there should be a possibility of having communication with them. A hundred years ago it would have seemed impossible to you that a machine could fly in the sky; or that you could turn a knob and hear music which is played hundreds of miles away, and so forth. Merely because some other people in whom you seem to trust declare that this is possible and scientific, you admit it, even if you yourself have never experienced it. By the same token, if communication with the spirit world of God is being manifested to you, then you still say, somewhere in your mind, that it is impossible. You insist that it must be, if not a trick, then a delusion, or the subconscious of the medium, or something of the sort. Is that really reasonable? If so many other astounding things are possible in this world of yours, then why should it not be equally possible that God sends you His emissaries of truth for your benefit? This is no more astounding than many other things that you have already freely accepted.

There are a number of people who know and who admit that a communication with the Beyond is possible. They have experienced it, so now they have no doubt about it. Yet they deny the possibility of such a communication with higher entities than themselves. This is even more unreasonable. Although it is quite true that a communication with divine creatures is infinitely more difficult to obtain, which is as it should be, it is the height of illogical thinking to insist that that it is impossible. If God has created the possibility of communication with any people on the other side, then He must also have given you the means of communicating with higher spheres, from where you can receive teachings that further you spiritually and that bring you nearer to God. So, a communication with the divine spheres is possible -- it has always existed and it will always exist. How frequent it is depends solely on man, on whether he fulfills the necessary requirements. What these requirements are has occasionally been mentioned by me in the past and may be mentioned again in the future. But it is too lengthy for me to go into now. However, anyone of you who is seriously interested can find out about the mechanics of this and what is necessary to obtain communication with divine spheres; what the difference is -- and how to determine it -- between such an advisable communication and one with earth-bound and erring spirits. In fact, anyone of you who really wants to judge has the duty to do so. Otherwise you have no right to say, even to yourself, that this is impossible. You have no right to pass judgment.

There are many people who are called. God is calling them. It depends on the person's spiritual development for this call to come forth. Granted, there are many people living on earth who have not experienced such a call. They are still in their spiritual childhood, and therefore such a call would be meaningless for them. They have not yet attained the necessary strength and the necessary development to allow it. Therefore, God waits until they have reached the necessary maturity in the course of various incarnations, where they gather experience and wisdom and step-by-step spiritual development. But at one time this call must come forth, and I venture to say that every one of you has been called. How do you feel this call, you might ask? As I have said repeatedly, man consists of two natures: his higher self and his lower self, which are constantly fighting with one another. His higher self registers this call and pushes the person into a certain direction which the conscious self often cannot immediately interpret. The conscious self merely feels a certain longing, a certain dissatisfaction with the present life. Even if you fulfill all of your earthly duties to the best of your ability, nonetheless there is a certain voice within you, a certain pressure. It seems as though you were being pushed in a certain direction. But you do not know where as yet. But you will find out, provided you do not fight against it, and provided you do not give in to your lower self. At the beginning, you do not know where it comes from, why it is there, and what it all means. If your lower self were not also alive within you, then it would be comparatively easy to follow that call. But your lower self does not want to make any effort; it does not want any change; it holds you back, and it furnishes you with many excuses in order for you not to follow your higher self. The excuses are manifold: "There is no time." Or else they come in the form of doubts, and so on and so forth. These are all rationalizations. And you, who are still inexperienced in differentiating between these two aspects of yourself -- just as you are still inexperienced in pulling off your masks, your pretexts, and your self-illusions -- believe the voice of your lower self because you want to believe these rationalizations. It is so much easier. But until this fight is successfully over with once and for all, then you will never have peace -- never, my friends. This call will become stronger and stronger as you go on, and the more you resist it, the more dissatisfied you must become with your life. The more God can expect from you, due to your basic spiritual development, then the more dissatisfied you must be if you do not follow this call.

Mankind has asked time and time again why there are so many people who are inferior to others who are much happier than they are. This appears to be an injustice. Why is this so? This is because less can be expected of a child in a lower class than of a child in a higher class. If you do not deliver according to your development, then you must be dissatisfied with your outer life, as well as with your inner life.

Now that you have understood how the call is felt, I will explain to you what follows it and what is expected of you. Your lower self has some idea of it. If it had not, then it would not fight against it. What does God want from you when He calls you? He does not expect you to be a martyr or to fulfill tremendous tasks, though of some of you He may expect the latter. He does not expect it from most of you. You can fulfill what He wants from you between your own four walls, and no one has to know about it. Who is to say what is a big task and what is a little one? Simply because you are famous and in the limelight does not necessarily mean that your task is a bigger one than if you work spiritually in solitude, with no one knowing about it. What God wants from each and every one of you -- as the first step and as the necessary preliminary before you can fulfill your task and give to others -- is self-development, self-purification, and self-knoweldge. It is the tearing off of your masks, the tearing off of all your self-delusions concerning yourself and your inner motives and your outer motives. God expects this from you. Whoever is not happy and is not harmonious can ask himself this question: "Why have I not followed God's call?" Only you yourself will be able to answer a question about this. How happy are you? How well-balanced are you? How harmonious are you inside? It does not necessarily mean outside, for outside you may have trouble. But if you are truly on the right path and if you fulfill all the things that God wants you to fulfill, then no matter what your outer difficulties may be, you must be happy. And that should be your yardstick and the confirmation of where you are and how much you are fulfilling. I want each one of you to think about the following: "How happy am I? How satisfied am I with my life? How satisfied am I with myself?" If there is any disharmony or any dissatisfaction, then you will know the answer. If you really want to follow the call, then you can. Do not say: "I do not know how or I do not know where to turn. I cannot do it alone." Of course you cannot do it alone. However, first you must really want to do it; first you must decide clearly and unconditionally, and then God will guide you wherever it may be and through whatever means may be best for you in order that you will receive the necessary help from outside, so that you can develop yourself inwardly to the best degree that can be expected of you. It is not enough that you lead a decent life and that are a so-called ethical person who does no harm to others and who does not violate the earthly laws. This may be enough for a person who is a younger soul, but not for any of you, my friends.

So give yourself the answer and then test yourself: "How much do I really want to follow the call, even if it means that I have to use will power, effort, patience, and perhaps suffer some pain?" Self-recognition and the tearing off of masks is always painful during the process, although it is a great relief afterwards. It is a relief that will bring a new peace into your soul, once you have overcome the initial resistance. So you must realize that first you have to go to battle with your lower self; you have to enlist your conscious willpower in order to be able to conquer your lower self. Combined with your higher self, your will-directing consciousness must win. But do not be superficial about it. Test yourself again and again as to how sincere and how deep is your desire to do what is God's will. How much are you willing to sacrifice? This sacrifice may be one of comfort, of self-delusion, of selfishness, of the holding on to your various faults and weaknesses. How much are you willing to give up all of this? At first this will appear like a tremendous sacrifice on your part, but only while you are in the midst of the battle. Afterwards will come the realization that you have actually freed yourself of burdens and of chains that were directly responsible for your unhappiness. Afterwards you will recognize without the shadow of a doubt that what is God's will for you is really no sacrifice, for it brings you happiness on every plane of existence: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

But as long as you have not actually won this vicyory, then the decision and its consequences will appear to you like a sacrifice. And this God also wants from you. This is why He does not give you the realization of all this before, but only afterwards. In other words, until you have not completely decided to do the will of God, whatever this may mean, and until you have not made your lower self submissive -- and this can be done only if you penetrate your will power into all the layers of your consciousness -- then you should not even try to think about what you should do or what the practical consequences are concerning this decision of yours. What follows next will be made known to you through guidance and through inspiration. You do not have to worry about it now. First, you have to prepare the ground, to lay the foundation stone through this initial fight within yourself to be able to make the great decision. Only then can you cross the first threshold on the Path to God. But this fight cannot be settled in one day. Sometimes it is a hard battle. And when you go into it, then you should know what you are letting yourself in for. However, I can promise you that if you go about it in this way and if you have reached the stage when you can say, "I want it 100 percent," then you have won the most important and the most difficult of all the battles. Then nothing that follows on this Path can be compared to it. You will evolve from this battle not only victorious, but also a great deal stronger than you were before, and also a somewhat happier person. You will not be the same person you were before you entered this battle. Then God will help you along to the next step, and this you may safely believe. Ask God for the strength to win this battle. All you have to do is to think of asking God for His help. Many people make wonderful prayers using beautiful and poetic words, but they seldom think of their immediate spiritual problems. This is a great mistake. For there are certain laws covering this question. If you ask for help -- particularly such help as I have mentioned to you -- then you will receive it. You are expected to turn to God with these difficulties. And if it does not occur to you to do so, then it is just too bad. If you really want this help with all your heart and if you ask God for it, then He will answer you. I can promise you. The only question remaining is this: how honestly do you really want it? How much of your lower self is still in you, which is powerful enough to pull you into the opposite direction? And as long as you do not face this and you do not want to realize the significance of it, then you cannot win. And therefore your prayer will not have the desired effect because it is both half-hearted and full of reservations. This is why I am giving you these words, so that you will know how to win your battle and how to follow your call. Only then will you find the peace, the harmony, and the fulfillment for which all of you are still longing.

Everyone knows that selfishness is wrong. By the same token, everyone knows that to give to your brothers and sisters is right. It is according to divine law, and it also makes you happy to do so. But there are many differences in this giving. For many people, the easiest way is to give financially. It hurts the least and it means the smallest sacrifice. On the other hand, everyone knows that to give love is the greatest gift of all. So each one of you wants nothing better than to be able to give love. But how many of you find yourselves in the position of saying to yourselves: "If only I could, but how? I cannot, but I would like to do so. I am unable to love as much as I want to love." My dear ones, this means that your soul is sick in some way, and therefore it must be cured. You cannot affect this cure alone. But God will help you. If all your inner currents were according to divine law, then you would certainly be able to love. Each one of your faults and each one of your shortcomings is a direct hindrance to the unfolding of your own love. When I say unfoldment, I mean that this love that you wish to give forth is already within you. In other words, you cannot receive it from the outside. It exists within you already. It is only covered by certain layers that block your love from shining through, so that it can manifest itself. These layers are you faults, your fears, and your ignorance of spiritual law. Therefore, these layers have to disappear, and this can be accomplished only by your personal and serious endeavors. This IS the Path to God. To take this Path means to follow the call. Each one of your faults is either a direct or an indirect hindrance to your love. You can never learn love through forcing yourself to do so directly. But your love will grow and will evolve when you purify yourself. One of the best meditations is to ask yourself this: "What are my faults? How could this particular fault be a hindrance to the manifestation of the love that must be hidden within myself?" I challenge each one of you to present me with an example, for at first you may think that a number of faults have absolutely no bearing on the unfoldment of your love. And yet it is so.

At the same time, there is a wonderful direct road, contrary to the indirect one I just mentioned. Both should be taken simultaneously to further the growth of the love that is within you. If you could bring yourself to learn to do what I will tell you, then you will use a powerful weapon to cure yourself of the many sick currents within your soul. Then you will unfold the love that exists in you. Each living individual has the understandable tendency to want to appear superior when dealing with his fellow creatures. He hides his faults, his shortcomings, and he wants to show his best side. Why? This is because he craves admiration, because he craves acceptance, and because he craves love. He thinks that by showing his best side he will receive this love. If you want to receive love, then you have to give it first. Do you really give love by trying so hard to impress other people? In effect, this is what you are actually doing, either consciously or subconsciously. On the other hand, you do give love, in the deepest sense, if you show yourself as you really are, without any masks -- even if this means a little humiliation. In this way you give the greatest gift. Why? This is because your fellow creatures feel just as unsure as you do. If they see you looking as perfect as you want to appear, then their own inferiority complexes will grow even more. They will think or feel, either consciously or subconsciously: "He is so perfect, or she is so perfect, why can't I be that way?" Then they will feel even lonelier and even more deflated, and thus they will despise themselves even more. Therefore, in their blindness -- and as their defense -- they will put an even tighter shell around themselves, which separates them even more from their brothers and from their sisters, quite similarly to what you are doing by trying so hard to appear so independent, so good, and oh so perfect. On the other hand, if you show yourself as you really are, with all your weaknesses and without any pretense, then you make a great and generous gift, because then your brother or your sister will say and feel: "Well, he is not any better than I am." This will give him a lift. He will relax, he will feel less lonely. Do you know what will happen then? You will receive exactly what you have set out to gain: love and admiration. You will receive it because you have given it first. You know the spiritual law: First you have to give up what you want to gain. You have given up wanting admiration -- which means that you have given up trying to make an impression. You have given up wanting love from others by appearing so wonderful, and instead you have made a gift to the others by helping them to diminish their feeling of loneliness in their supposed imperfection. For everyone thinks that he is quite alone with his imperfections, even though he may see and criticize the imperfections of others all the time. This is one of the paradoxes of the blind and undeveloped self. You have given up your vanity. You have given up some of your ego. In this is why you must receive what you have never succeeded in receiving the other way. So far your lower self has chosen blindly. If you give yourself up in this way, then you bestow the greatest gift that you can possibly give to another human being -- and therefore the law must take effect.

It is such a simple means, so simple that none of you will ever think of it. And yet at first it does not appear easy. It seems difficult to pull yourself down from that high place that you either consciously or subconsciously have built for yourself. Once you have taken this step in spite of all your resistance, then you must see the divine law working both within you and outside of you. This result must come. So, where there is a problem that you cannot solve, then try this. Try it! You do not have to exaggerate; you do not have to go to any strangers and pull yourself down. This might even be embarrassing for others if it is not done naturally and unostentatiously. Just take off your masks and be natural. Find out what you really are and who you really are, and then be that person. Here, too, you will receive help. The opportunity and the inspiration as to when and how you can do it will come, provided you decide to do so and provided you ask God for His help in this respect too. If you leave yourself open for it, then all of a sudden you will find yourself in a position -- perhaps with a member of your family or with a friend -- when you discover for the first time in your life that so far you have put on an act. In other words, that you have not given yourself as you really are. Once you become conscious of this, then you will be able to act as you really are, and do so without any pretense.

No sickly exaggerations! No extremes! For, as in everything else, here too two extremes exist. There are also a number of people who indulge in self-despisal, pulling themselves down in the eyes of others. They say: "I am so bad, I am such a sinner, I am this and I am that." This is just as insincere a mask as the other extreme. Such a person by these means wants to accomplish the same thing as the other group of people. This is rather shrewd, although this measure is often taken unconsciously. By accusing yourself, then you take the weapon out of the hands of the others. In this way they will find it impossible to accuse you, and they may even be inclined to contradict your self-accusations. Thus your ego is puffed up. Furthermore, you often think that by accusing yourself, it is quite sufficient. In other words, you do not have to do anything further about it. You do not have to overcome your shortcomings. This exists, too, and it is just as bad as the other extreme. So when you think about these words, then think of the two extremes. Whoever tends more toward one of them will not find it so easy to slip into the opposite extreme anyway. At the beginning it is important that you know your weaknesses and your tendencies, for only what is truly genuine will have an effect. Of that you can be quite sure. This, too, is a law.

And now, my dear friends, I am ready for your questions.

QUESTION: May I have some help in finding the psychological problem underlying my physical condition?

ANSWER: Yes, my dear friend. I will answer your question in a general way, which will also apply partly to yourself. I cannot answer in a completely personal way now. It would not be fair to the others, and it would not be fair to yourself. However, I will give a general explanation that will help you to search in the right direction and which will, at the same time, be useful to everyone. When there is a so-called psychosomatic illness, then the cause or the root has to be found in the subconscious. This is very difficult to do alone. Nevertheless, there are certain points which I can give you to help you get a little further on this road. In the first place, I would advise you to find out all your faults, for there is hardly a human being -- unless you have gone through such a purification process with help from the outside -- who is really aware of all his faults. And this can be found out. But it is not easy. It means a little humiliation, which is good and healthy for you, particularly in the connection I have just mentioned. Ask your dear ones and those who are closest to you, along with the people you know best: "Please, tell me what my faults are. You can tell me frankly. I will not be angry with you. I will consider what you say carefully." After you have gotten them to do so, then consider every one of the faults that have been mentioned, even if you are convinced that it is unjust, for you will still find out some grain of truth that will give you a further clue.

This is very important, and is a direct road in coming to the roots. To begin with, the fewer faults you know, the more proof you have that you do not know yourself very well. After that, I would advise that the best way to find out about your subconscious (and this is a part of dream analysis -- but not everyone knows how to do that) is what I call the Daily Review. In that way you can find out your true reactions about certain things, and you can begin to pull off certain masks and pretenses. You can find out where your actions go against spiritual law. This should be conducted in the following manner. Let the whole day pass in front of your eyes and in your memory. Then think of everything that has happened that has given you a disharmonious feeling or reaction. And no matter how wrong the other person may have been, the moment you have been touched by it, then there must be something wrong within you. If you follow this through for some time to come, and if do so not just once or twice but faithfully, then after a while you will see a clear pattern coming out of it. At first these incidents will appear entirely unconnected and isolated; they will be meaningless for you at the beginning. Eventually, you will begin to first sense a pattern and then to clearly understand it. I suggest that you write down the occasions, your reactions, and your associations. This will help you greatly. You should pray for enlightenment and for guidance every time you conduct this daily review. Then ideas will flow into you and they will eventually furnish you with further clues, though at first they may make no sense to you. Do not discard these ideas; do not resist them. Later on these will form a clear picture. It is like a puzzle. When you begin by looking for the stones through you, then you cannot yet see the whole picture. But if you are patient, then you will succeed. Thus you will uncover your hidden anxieties and your hidden complexes which are responsible for your disease. Most of it is anxiety or fear. This is true of almost all of it, in one form or another. It is a fear that you do not permit yourself to realize consciously, one that you have pushed back into your subconscious. Thus you have to take it out -- and this takes a little time and some effort -- before you can deal with it properly in your conscious mind and in the awareness of certain spiritual laws from which you have deviated within your soul. The recognition of your faults is of the utmost importance. It stands in direct relationship to your hidden anxieties. This is the only way it can be solved. And I tell you, my friend, there is a great fear in you, part of which you do not want to realize. It is a fear that creates a sort of hostility in certain aspects of your life which, again, you do not want to realize. When you find this out, then you will have the root. Then all that remains to be accomplished is the re-education of certain emotional currents. If you go about it seriously, and if you do not expect a result tomorrow or next week, and yet you keep on working, then you must come to the root, and thus dissolve this knot in your soul which creates certain physical symptoms. Is that clear? (Yes, thank you.)

QUESTION: I would like to ask if you could explain the micracle of Therese V.?

ANSWER: What is it you do not understand about it? (She is bleeding every week; she does not eat and has not for many years.) Well, I cannot possibly give you in this short time a sort of technical explanation of how these things work, but there are many, many things that are possible in this world. What you call miracles are simply laws which you do not understand, in a similar way that many people do not know the laws governing a communication with the beyond. For example, that a spirit can manifest through a medium. I could not even begin to explain this in such a short period, for it would take many lectures to attempt this, and then only to some degree. However, there are many spiritual laws governing a person's obtaining mastery over his physical body. And this person is not the only one who has done it. There are others as well, where the physical functions are completely controlled. When this happens, then certain influences from the spirit world can occur. It is all one chapter. (Does it necessarily mean that such a person is spiritually very highly developed?) Usually yes. Those people have a task to fulfill. They bring something to mankind so that the people will wake up. They produce what is called a miracle. Here I want to stress the point that there is no such thing as a miracle in the sense this word is usually understood, unless you consider the whole universe a miracle, which it is, of course. There are only laws, some of which you understand and many of which you do not understand. Mankind has fallen into the habit of calling laws or happenings it does not understand miracles.

QUESTION: I would like to ask about the evolution of animals. When the highest animal becomes a human being. For instance, when a nice gentle horse becomes the lowest type of human being, such as a criminal, I can't imagine that.

ANSWER: No, you cannot say that one horse turns into a human being. That is not correct. There are many parts that form one whole. And it does not necessarily have to be a criminal. No, it is not so. It is merely that such a person knows very little, is still blind, and if he becomes a criminal, then it is only because his free will directs him to give in to the lower part of his nature. You see, the particles of souls contained in animals are -- if I might explain it sort of visually -- different aspects of the human inner make-up. Perhaps one horse -- if I may explain it in such a coarse way -- would represent one aspect, and so on. Because the animal's soul is not the whole, it is just one particle of it. Before the incarnation happens, the group souls of these respective animals are collected in the spirit world and are put through an extremely complicated process for a long time, one which would be impossible to explain to you. They are made unconscious and their fluids and their subtle bodies are dissolved and are put through a process where new subtle bodies can form around the original divine spark nearer the state it once was. Then the first incarnation can begin and then there is a clean state. Whatever this being decides, it can do. Is that somehow clearer? (Yes) I realize that this is extremely complicated for any of you to understand. (For instance, animals have the same diseases as human beings, but human beings learn from their diseases; what can an animal learn from having a disease?) That is not the point. At that stage, before the human incarnation, there is nothing for it to learn. It is just something to go through.

QUESTION: Are the great ideas started in the spirit world, or do they start here on earth and then are taken back?

ANSWER: Oh, no. They start in the spirit world, of course. There are special spheres for each specialty, for each art, for each science -- and I have mentioned this before. There are different creatures living in these respective spheres who work and who create. When these beings are incarnated, then they bring something of it with them. Only part of it, of course. They cannot remember all of it. And this they unfold here with the help of their friends in the spirit world who guide them accordingly. But it is created in the spirit world, because the entire earth is not the origin or the cause. It is only the effect. So everything must be created in the spirit world.

QUESTION: Are the spirits or doctors or masters in the spirit world limited in the extent of their ability to advise us as to some material problems?

ANSWER: Oh, yes, they are indeed limited to an extent. They can only do it according to law, which is firmly regulated -- and very wisely. Here, again, you touch upon a question that is impossible for you to understand. You can only have a vague idea of it. For example, the spirits cannot possibly interfere in guidance if the interference would hamper the free will, because you live on earth with your free will for a very definite purpose. It is not important whether anything is pleasant and painless. Only you human beings think that this is of the utmost importance. When you have a disease, when you have a pain, or when you have some sort of unhappiness, then you think that this is the end of the world. Your goal is always to be happy and to eliminate your problems the easy way. But that is not the point. The point is how can you overcome them? How can you solve your problems? How can you meet them from a spiritual point of view? Only in that way can you become strong and really independent. If there were to be undue interference, then you would not be capable of learning what you have to learn.

QUESTION: Even if we ask for a certain specific help?

ANSWER: Certainly, help can be given, and this is, once again, regulated according to law. Even the fact that you ask for it is already a sign that you have learned something. But here, again, you have to be careful about how to ask. I would advise you to ask in the following way: "Father, show me the real reason for my difficulties, so that I can solve them." Do not ask that this difficulty simply be taken away. This would be the wrong and imature way of asking. But if you ask in the right way, then you will be answered. Try to learn from your difficulties, and when you ask in this way, then you will be answered. And perhaps you will be answered in a different way than you had thought.

QUESTION: To what extent can we expect to be of help by meditation and prayer to friends in healing?

ANSWER: I will not commit myself on this subject because there are very few people who have the strength to heal through prayer. However, your prayer and your thinking of friends in your meditation, or of anyone for that matter, is of tremendous help. You cannot even begin to judge how much you help in that way. As you know, each thought and each feeling is a substantial form in the spirit world, and no thought is ever lost, especially not a constructive and good thought that comes from you out of your love and your good will. These thoughts add to the cosmic reservoir and to the universal flow, so that the forces of good become that much stronger compared to the forces of evil. For each evil thought is added to that reservoir and furnishes it with strength. And if -- according to many factors which I cannot go into here -- direct help can be given to this friend, perhaps in a different form than you human beings can conceive at present, then your prayer will have an immediate result. If, on the other hand, this dear one has to go through some difficulties for the sake of his eventual permanent happiness and freedom from his own inner bonds, then this prayer will not be lost either. You can be sure of that. This form remains preserved, so to speak, and it will have its proper effect at the proper time. So nothing of that sort is ever lost. I cannot recommend strongly enough that the few privileged people who have found God in their souls to some extent devote more time to prayer, not only for themselves, but also for other people also. These prayers should be offered for general development, for the unhappy souls who have not yet reached a glimmer of light. So many thoughts are wasted in brooding, which is not only unproductive but even harmful. If that same time could be used productively -- and there is nothing more productive than prayer -- then you would add a great force to the plan of salvation that is going on in the whole universe.

QUESTION: I would like to know if everything is a manifestation of man's belief system?

ANSWER: How exactly do you man that, my dear? What do you mean by the words, "a manifestation of man's beliefs?"

QUESTION: I mean everything that we know on earth. Is it the result of what man believes it to be?

ANSWER: It is very difficult to answer either with a yes or with a no. I will try to put it this way. The earth sphere, or the material world, has been created for man for a certain purpose. The main purpose is development. On this earth sphere development proceeds infinitely faster than anywhere else. However, your earth sphere -- with all the things contained in it, such as landscapes, mountains, seas, houses, any object you have -- exists objectively, and does not alter its shape according to people's attitudes. In other words, you see this room in the same way as a person of much higher development or a person of much lower development. The objects in this room remain the same for any human being with normal sense perception. But the spirit world is really an outpicturing of the spirits' ideas, attitudes, thoughts, and mentality. There, everything is the result of thoughts, of feelings, and of deeds. Therefore, there are always spirits of the same development together in one sphere. Other spirits, let us say lower ones, could not even see these landscapes or these objects which the spirits see and which are the products of their personalities. But on earth it is not that way, and there is a very good reason for it. Yet, in another way, there is some particle of truth in what you say, but not as far as the actual objects are concerned. It has to do with what man does with his life. He can guide and determine his own life to a very large degree, and in that way you are right. Anyone who has sufficient faith will also automatically follow the divine laws. And anyone who is seriously trying to first learn and then keep the divine laws will gain this faith that may still be lacking at the beginning of this path. Here, too, nobody can have this faith by forcing himself. It can only grow organically by self-development. It will grow by living these laws, even though it may be difficult at the beginning. And then man guides his own life and produces all that he needs in order to find God. While by not following these divine laws, he produces unfavorable conditions. In that respect what you think is true. Do you understand the difference that I am trying to explain?

QUESTION: Let me ask another question. The reason I said that is because we read in the Bible that "your faith or your belief can move mountains, that which is unmovable."

ANSWER: Yes, that is quite true. These are the so-called miracles, the so-called supernatural happenings. Any more questions?

QUESTION: Could you give us in a few words the difference between Mysticism and Black Magic?

ANSWER: This is too long a subject for now. I suggest that you remember this question for the next time, and perhaps you can ask it at the beginning of the question period, when I have more time to go into it.

I will retire and leave you with the blessings of the Lord. Receive His love, for there is actually a great blessing here right now. And if you are open for it -- though not all of you can see this shining force -- then you may feel it, receive it, and then use it for God. Be in peace.

November 22, 1957