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4
Have human beings been created by God? From where, and why has sin and death come to the human race?
Many eons passed.
Then God saw that dense fogs veiled certain of the maturing globes. And He saw in His wisdom that after some eons had passed these would become suitable to serve as dwelling places for the beings He thought to create.
And He selected one globe, your world—the Earth.1
By the Thought and from the Light, God brought into being a gloriously radiant spiritual world above and about the fogs and vapors of the globe, so that the Light from that realm of beauty might penetrate and irradiate the globe and make it conform to the likeness of the spiritual prototype formed by Him.
Slowly, the Light spread over the Earth to ripen it for life, to make it fruitful, and to draw forth from its bosom the dormant possibilities for the many forms of life.
Some eternities passed.
Then God saw that the fogs about the globe grew less dense. And He knew, in His wisdom, that after a time the Earth would be ready.
Then God spoke to His children,
And He said, “I, your Father, shall give you a part in My creation for I shall bring forth new beings, bring them forth from My own Being and from the strong radiations of the globe. I shall create them beautiful and good, with the possibilities for them to receive, under your guidance, all that can be given from the Light. And they shall lead a life in beauty and glory on one of the developed globes, on the one that I have chosen for that purpose. In the fullness of time shall I choose from among you some, and to these shall I give a dwelling in the world that I have placed about the Earth; for from there shall they lead My youngest children—lead them along the paths of the Light, until they reach my Kingdom of Glory. But those whom I choose may, when they so desire, return to their abodes in My Kingdom that they may rest—for no work can be well done if it is not accompanied by rest.”
And God bade His Helpers show them the Earth and the world around it, to which it was conforming
And they all went there.
And God’s Helpers instructed His children in much of what was to come. And they knew that the Father would give them a difficult task.
Some time passed.
God’s children spoke with one another of whom their Father would choose. And many among the older children—the “Eldest”—believed that the choice would fall upon them.
These often journeyed to, and remained at length in the new-formed world that had been placed around the Earth, and they took great pleasure in staying there, for it was truly beautiful.
Some time passed.
Then said some of the Eldest: “Why does our Father not create? See, the Earth is now ready for habitation. Why does our Father then tarry?”
Whereupon God caused His voice to be heard in warning at that moment.
And He said: “My children, return to your abodes in My Kingdom; for you have not been chosen; those only are fit who are possessed of patience."
And all heard their Father’s voice but returned not, for they still believed the choice should fall upon them.
Again some time passed.
Then said one of the Eldest: “Still our Father tarries, and we become restless. Let us seek to solve the secret of life and let us ourselves create the new beings. Then will they be our children, and our power over them shall be greater.”
And they were all agreed.
By their thought and from the Light, the Eldest attempted to form and to create spiritual beings. But they were not able to solve the secret of life.
Then their impatience grew. And some said: “We know that there is life also in the Darkness. Let us make use of that.”
Again God caused His voice to be heard, and he said: “My children, return to your abodes in My Kingdom, for you have not been chosen. Those only are fit who are possessed of patience. You who waver between good and evil, between Light and the Darkness, are not worthy to lead others. My children, I tell you that though you seek through eternity never will you fathom the secret of life that is in the Light; for you have arisen not by reason of your own will, but are formed and created by Me, your Father, formed and created of My own Being. But you, who are of Me, though you may possess the power to create from the Darkness, the power to solve its secret of life, yet I say to you: concern yourselves not therewith! For the life of Darkness is not everlasting. For in Darkness is the potential for all that is evil—for sin and for death! Should you nevertheless choose to partake of the evil and call yourselves its masters, beware lest you become its servants!"
And they all heard God’s voice.
But none heeded it, for their impatience was great.
Then the Elder of the Eldest stood forth.
And he said: “Our Father says the life of Darkness is not everlasting, but we know not this to be so!
“Let us seek to create from Darkness, and is the life thereof not everlasting then will we return to our abodes and remain there to await our Father’s call.”
Again God's voice sounded.
And God said: “My son, why concern yourself with the Darkness? Beware, lest you become its servant! For I alone am Lord, and almighty.
“Know you, My son, that the beings whom you can by your thought bring forth from the Darkness, will never bless you but will only curse you and that whereof they were created. For know that every form of life, however wretched and lowly, will strive ever toward the Light, toward that which became victorious through My Being. My son, do you take of the evil, then will Darkness bind you and all who follow you—bind you until your children have learned to take pity on you rather than curse you.
“My son, my children! I have spoken to you, that you may choose that which is right.”
And they all heard God’s voice. But none took heed, for they were all of one accord.
Then God, their Father fell silent; for He compels none to do right. In sorrow, he looked upon their conduct.
Much time passed.
By the combined power of their thought and will, the Eldest sought to draw the Darkness from the concealing sea of the Light.
Slowly the Light receded and Darkness broke forth.
In heavy waves it whelmed over the Eldest, flowed through them, bound itself to them, tainted and confused their thoughts.
In heavy waves Darkness surged through their beautiful world and laid it waste, while dense fogs laid their dwellings in ruin and took away the pure, brilliant colors; while evil vapors spread everywhere.
In heavy waves Darkness whelmed over the globe, made it fruitful and brought forth some of the many dormant forms of life.
In horror, the Eldest saw the destruction of all that was beautiful.
And they said: “How came this to pass? This was not our will, this was not in our thoughts.
“Truly, the power of Darkness is awesome!”
Much time passed.
The Youngest among God’s children grieved deeply over the evil that had come to pass.
And they determined that they would visit the ruined kingdom in order to call upon their brothers and sisters to return to their abodes in God's Kingdom.
And they all went there.
The Eldest heard their calling voices and they all listened. But the calls sounded faint and distant and the Eldest gave no answer, for they could not see the radiant forms of their younger brothers and sisters. The vapors of the Darkness obscured everything.
Then did the Youngest grieve still more.
And they returned to God’s beautiful Kingdom, unable to forget the evil they had seen.
And they went to their Father.
And they said: “Father, forgive our brothers and sisters! Father, bid them return!”
But God answered: “I bid none do right, and not I but their own evil deeds bind them to the Darkness. But for the sake of your plea will I sound My voice to them at the passing of each eon of time, that they should remember that which they have forsaken, and repent of that which they have done. For are they able to repent, then will the Light in their hearts release them from the binding power of Darkness and draw them back to their rightful Home; and I, their Father, shall forgive them; for my love is for all.”
Then the Youngest fell silent, for they saw that their Father’s grief was without bound.
Much time passed.
The Eldest tried to restore their ruined kingdom but in vain. Dense vapors laid waste all that they attempted to rebuild. And they were homeless amidst their unfinished dwellings.
All was barren and dark.
And there was no gladness.
Much time passed.
Then said the Elder: “We are not able to put this in order, for we have not the power. Let us, therefore, descend to the Earth itself, for I can see that it also has darkened."
And they all went there.
But then were they met with yet greater horrors, for the Darkness here was even deeper, the fogs still more dense, the vapors very hot.
But life was everywhere.
The Darkness had caused many forms of monstrous, hideous and fearsome beasts to be drawn forth and spawned a profusion of ugly, pallid growths. Devoid of order, these sprouted and budded amongst each other—small, large and gigantic.
For the Eldest, these ugly growths and these hideous creatures were the first forms of plant and animal life upon the Earth, since they had not witnessed the corruption by the Darkness of all that which had already been created under the radiance of the Light, had not seen how the Darkness had made fruitful and called forth some of the many dormant forms of life.
In awe the Eldest beheld the evil and the ugliness.
Huge beasts waded in the swamps and trampled the ground. Some moved ponderously through the air, others slid through the waters, many gave forth roars and terrifying cries.
Everywhere was chaos.
The Eldest saw the beasts mate and bring forth new creatures.
And they saw them fall upon one another, hurl one another to the ground, tear and trample one another asunder.
And those that fell rose not again.
And the Eldest saw the sundered bodies of the monsters slowly disintegrate to be absorbed into the ground as evil exhalations spread everywhere. And they saw dark shadows rise from the sundered bodies, saw them slowly be absorbed into the surrounding Darkness.
Then said the Elder: “Truly, the life of the Darkness is not lasting, for we have seen the earthly bodies disintegrate and be absorbed into the ground, and we see the immaterial bodies be absorbed by the Darkness about them. Thus, all returns to that from whence it has been taken. Truly, this is death! The power of the Darkness is awesome!”
And they journeyed further over the globe.
But everywhere they found the same life, the same chaos.
Then said the Elder: “These creatures we can never lead, for we have not the power. Let us, therefore, now carry out our intent: to form and to create earthly beings after our own likeness; let us endow them with the ability and the will to multiply and to bring forth new beings. For we have seen that not the single being, but the kind lives on. And when we have formed and created our children, then shall we guide them that they may become rulers over this globe, and we shall give them such power that they can make themselves masters over the beasts.”
And the Eldest were all agreed, for they believed that this was good.
But then God’s voice sounded to them, for now an eon had passed from the time God had promised His youngest children that He would help their fallen brothers and sisters.
And God said: “My children, I, your Father, speak to you that you may remember that which you have forsaken and repent of that which you have done; for are you able to repent, then will the Light in your hearts deliver you from the binding power of Darkness and draw you back to your rightful Home; and I, your Father, shall forgive you.”
The Eldest heard God’s voice, but it sounded distant and faint.
And they all feared.
And they dared not answer.
Then God fell silent, for He compels none to do right. But he looked with sorrow upon their conduct.
Much time passed.
By thought and from the emissions of the Darkness and of the Earth, the Eldest attempted to form and to create earthly beings in their own likeness. But their thoughts were confused and their many experiments were in vain.
Again, much time passed while they attempted to fashion the images of their thoughts in the earthly clay.
And at length, after much difficulty, the Eldest were able to bring forth beings who could breathe and live in the dense vapors of the Earth.
These were the first of the human race; but in no way had they any beauty, neither were they good, and their creators were unable to give them power, only lust for power.
Thus, in truth, were the human beings not brought into existence by God, but were instead developed and created by God’s fallen children.
FOOTNOTES FOR THE ACCOUNT
1) Ardor refers here to the globe by the name mankind later gave it.
Additional Commentary
From Question 4
Eons were to pass while the universe was formed, before the time came when God chose the Earth to be the first dwelling place for the uncreated beings as yet in His Thought.
When God informed His children of the difficult task He would give them—to lead immature beings forward to greater spiritual ripeness—He actually confronted them all with Darkness the moment He said: “In the fullness of time shall I choose from among you some. . .”
God revealed not to whom or to how many He would entrust this task. He left it undecided so as to observe how His children would react to the possibility that some might be chosen over others. Since God at the creation of His children had limited His foreknowledge of their future choice between good and evil, He could know nothing of the impression His words would have on anyone individually until all had carefully considered the proposed task. When He had disclosed to them the new-formed world that was slowly ripening to life as the Light irradiated and fructified it, he allowed them time to themselves so that all might become familiar with the contemplated work.
In Ardor’s Account, the children of God are referred to as the “Eldest” and the “Youngest”. However, these designations serve merely to distinguish between them, since all were created at the same time—that is, they emerged simultaneously as visible individualities. But there was a passage of time between their creation and their visible appearance, since God created one after the other in His Thought. Thus, not until His Thought had created the last one did they all—by the power of His Will—simultaneously emerge as visible beings.
Those of God’s children called the Eldest had primarily displayed an interest in abstractions of thought and in the cosmic laws, while the Youngest were those who had applied themselves more to the arts of color, form and tone, and so forth.
The Eldest soon came to assume that they must be the best qualified to lead immature beings, and God then knew that lust for power—a result of the influence of Darkness—had begun to awaken in them and that their power of will was not strong enough to limit or to contain their desirous thoughts. And God cautioned them, but they heeded not the warning and remained in the world of Light that lay around the Earth and irradiated the globe, whereupon Darkness began gradually (but imperceptibly to the Eldest) to break forth and separate itself from the circulation of the Light.
Over time, Darkness gained ever greater influence over the Eldest in whom it found expression as self-righteousness, impatience and lust for power.
When, through the Eldest’s disregard of God’s warning, Darkness began to separate from the Light, it commenced also its work of destruction on the Earth itself, millions of years before this became known to the Eldest. Slowly—inconceivably slowly—the Earth’s core of Darkness11 absorbed the in-flowing Darkness, and slowly—inconceivably slowly—the Earth was transformed over the course of millions of years from a world of Light to a world of Darkness.
The Darkness that took the Earth into its possession and transformed it was of the astral and the molecular forms. Astral Darkness, a lower form of spiritual Darkness, consists of smaller particles with somewhat greater capacity for cohesion and adhesion than the molecular Darkness.
When God saw the first signs of the destruction of His work, He knew His eldest children would meet with downfall; but although the Eldest in their impatience and lust for power were themselves intent on creating living beings, God would not abandon them and He warned them once again—though with the same negative result. Each time that the Eldest ignored God’s warning, Darkness gained ever greater power over them so that at last, when they were fully agreed to attempt the creation of beings from the Darkness, they had departed so far from God and from the influence of the Light that their will for the good had been completely broken.
Through the combined strength of the determined thoughts and wills of the Eldest, large amounts of the precipitated Darkness were drawn forth from the concealing waves—or streams—of the Light and completed the destruction long since begun; and since the Eldest in their powerlessness were incapable of stemming the onrush of Darkness,12 they had to stand by as helpless and bewildered spectators to the dreadful catastrophe that overwhelmed their beautiful world. In their horror at what had happened, they forgot for a long time the very cause of the destruction: their resolve to create living beings themselves, and therefore they all devoted themselves to vain attempts once more to come into contact with the Light; but despite their many exertions they did not succeed and were therefore incapable of restoring or recreating the world of Light that Darkness had destroyed. Since they had all voluntarily allied themselves with Darkness, they became completely bound by its magnetic power; and in the same way that the Light streams through God, Darkness streamed through the Eldest. In this way, through the thought and will for evil of the Eldest, the poles of Darkness were awakened from their latent state—even though the Eldest themselves understood not the cause of this.
Having thus of their own free will been brought under the binding influence of Darkness, the Eldest could not be redeemed before they had fully repented of their sinful actions. Had God forcibly13 interrupted the stream of Darkness, they would have immediately lost all possibility of ever returning to their Father. Such action would have doomed them to an everlasting and irrevocable state of spiritual ruin that could never be reconciled with God’s paternal love. The Darkness that streamed through them would have to be neutralized by the free will for the Light of the Eldest themselves, before the Light could once more absorb it.
Neutral Darkness—in this case the neutral spiritual Darkness produced by the highest vibrations of Darkness—is a form of Darkness that in one way or another has become depolarized. This depolarization can occur, for example, when the spiritual sufferings of an individual evoke grief and thereby remorse over sinful thoughts or sinful actions.
The spiritual Darkness that influenced the Eldest— and is identical to the Darkness that afflicts humanity—can be depolarized in two ways:14
1) Through the base, sinful or criminal act that is committed at the moment the corresponding thought is realized through the individual’s will for evil. The action results from the meeting of thought and will and with this result, or action, Darkness is depolarized, losing for a time its capacity for attraction. But this depolarization takes place only in the one particular “grain” of Darkness that impels the individual to action. A moment later a new wave of Darkness may influence the same person to the same thought and action, or to commit another act of Darkness.
2) Through the individual’s grief over the impure or sinful thoughts, thought and will lose their reciprocal power of attraction toward evil since there now occurs a first movement towards the Light, whereby Darkness is depolarized. The evil thought and the evil will are eliminated through remorse, since the Light gains full victory over Darkness15 with the remorse of the individual.
In order possibly to evoke sorrow and remorse sooner among the Eldest, God promised His youngest children to call to their fallen brothers and sisters; for if the sound of God’s voice could awaken memories in the thoughts of the Eldest, and if these memories could in turn awaken grief over that which had been lost through their arbitrary actions, then remorse would soon follow and break the stream of Darkness, enabling the Light to carry them back to the glorious world of their Father’s Home.
The Youngest sought not the counsel of their Father until several million years after the Darkness had begun disengaging itself. They had gradually become accustomed to the idea that their older brothers and sisters would be the ones chosen, and since the Eldest so often visited the new, radiant world of Light around the Earth, unaccompanied by the Youngest and without informing them of their excursions, the Youngest had grown accustomed to the prolonged absence of their brothers and sisters. But as time passed and the Eldest failed to return, the Youngest grew apprehensive and sought the counsel of God’s Helpers who then informed them of what had happened. And their grief was boundless.
Despite their continuous interrelationship with God, He had said nothing to the Youngest about the fall of the others. In His infinite love, He wished them not to know of the sorrow and painful separation until they themselves inquired about their absent brothers and sisters.
Through the millions of years that passed while the Eldest attempted in vain to purge Darkness from, and to recreate their kingdom, Darkness flowed ever closer about the Earth, united itself with the Earth’s core of Darkness and brought to life some of the seeds of life16 that God had given. These seeds—both those intended to become animal forms and those intended to become plant forms—would not have been subject to death and decay had they been called forth under the direct radiance of the Light. For it had been God’s intention that they should retain their original forms for the joy and the benefit of the beings of the Light that He had thought to create. Once the Earth had served its purpose as the first dwelling place for these beings, the animal and plant kingdoms would then by the power of God’s Will be dissolved again and absorbed by the Light.
However, since it was Darkness that made the latent seeds fruitful and vitalized them, nothing developed as God in His Thought had planned at the beginning. Everything became grotesque, hideous and without meaning; and because of the low capacity of Darkness for cohesion, adhesion17 and regeneration, all animal and plant forms became subject to a limited life span of longer or shorter duration.
When the many attempts at reconstructing their kingdom had failed to give the Eldest any positive result, they decided to descend to the earthly sphere to investigate the destruction that had occurred there.
Besides the monstrous beasts mentioned in Ardor’s Account there were also certain micro-organisms, such as decay-causing bacteria. But most of the disease-causing spores came into existence after this time, called forth by Darkness and often planned and created by the Eldest. Numerous species have thus appeared, degenerated or become extinct, while new ones have come into existence. And this will continue through countless ages, but in decreasing measure as Darkness is eliminated. Nevertheless, some individual micro-organisms, such as the aforementioned decay-causing bacteria, or similar varieties, will exist as long as there is life on Earth.
In the millions of years that passed since the time Darkness began spreading over the Earth, there gradually developed the numerous forms of plant and animal life in existence when the Eldest discovered the destruction that had taken place on the globe. The development progressed very slowly through many and diverse stages, from single-celled18 to multi-celled,18 to more and more complex organisms and forms. And as Darkness concentrated further on and about the globe the gruesome, gigantic and fantastic animal figures appeared.
Some of these creatures that appalled the Eldest with their horrifying appearance, became progenitors of many of the later animal species; though some of these later animal forms developed through the continued vitalization of the still dormant seeds of life by Darkness. This evolution also progressed slowly from the primitive to the higher organisms. The material effect of Darkness on the Earth did not subside until the connection between the Light and the Earth that had been interrupted by the fall of the Eldest was re-established.19
Until the globe was once again drawn in under the circulation of Light, the animals mated at random. Innumerable species resulted from these cross-breedings. Not until later, as the Light gradually gained more orderly influence, did conditions meet the requirements for better-regulated reproduction of the prevailing species, thus in many ways improving and ennobling both the animal and the plant kingdoms.
The molecular vibrations of Darkness (the vibrations of its largest particles), which then produced—and still produce — the earthly forms and figures visible to the human eye, are stabilized and held together by the somewhat faster vibrations of the astral Darkness.
Were the molecules of Darkness not astrally stabilized,20 they would easily loosen and split apart because of their lower frequency. Therefore, all earthly forms of plant and animal, all organic and inorganic matter and all that is issued from or made thereof have an astral counterpart, invisible to the human eye, consisting of the faster vibrations of astral Darkness—smaller particles, that is, with greater capacity for cohesion and adhesion.21 These counterparts are so closely interwoven with the earthly substance that even for observers from the transcendental world it can be difficult to determine where one ends and the other begins.
The frequencies of astral Darkness lie about midway between the highest and the lowest frequencies of Darkness. Spiritual Darkness has the highest frequency and is the form that influences the thought and the will to sin. In his account, Ardor makes no distinction between spiritual and astral Darkness.
When the earthly creatures and forms are attacked by disease—that is, accumulations of Darkness, microbes, malnutrition, heat, drought, cold, and the like—the connection between the astral counterparts and the earthly molecular formations is loosened, since the frequency of vibration of the molecules is reduced. If such diseases and conditions are not remedied (by resuming normal functioning through a strengthening of the slackened connection), the living organism dies away, becomes lifeless. The astral counterparts of the soft substances of the expired bodies and plants will disengage, and after a shorter or a longer time they are absorbed by Darkness, only to be transformed into or to reappear in other forms.
By the separation of the astral counterparts and their earthly forms, the molecular vibrations of Darkness again become considerably reduced, so that the molecules entirely lose their resistance to attack by micro-organisms. The soft substances of the expired bodies and the withered plants will then decompose unless artificially preserved by drying, freezing or by chemical means, and are absorbed into the ground and the atmospheric layers. Later they are transformed again, partly into earthly and partly into astral forms.
The counterparts of the more solid substances of the expired bodies and plants such as bones, horns, teeth, bark and wood22 are not released until these substances in one way or another are destroyed by natural decay, attack by fungus, fire or the like; but the connection between these counterparts and the earthly forms continues to be loose, that is, the somewhat lower frequencies are maintained. As these counterparts are gradually released, they are also absorbed by the astral Darkness.23
Even though the former Light-world of the Eldest had been completely saturated by the influx of Darkness, the Eldest were yet able to distinguish and differentiate in the Darkness because of their divine origin, just as all the structures in their ruined realm were real and tangible to them, whereas everything on Earth produced by the molecular oscillations of Darkness appeared to them as hazy and unreal forms of life.
When the Eldest on their journeying across the Earth had seen that the plant and animal life of Darkness was perishable, they realized that they were not able to create immortal beings in their own likeness. Even so, they were still determined to make the attempt. However, their efforts invariably failed until they agreed upon taking the animals for a model,24 especially in matters of propagation and nourishment.
For about two million years—a long time by human perception—the Eldest worked at shaping their thoughts in the astral as well as in the earthly material.25 At length they succeeded in creating the first individual beings of the human race capable of surviving—animal-like creatures. But since many were involved in this work, and since their sense of beauty and form had been confused and distorted by the influence of Darkness and was no longer on a level with the capability of each individual’s will, a number of much differing types were brought forth—all only slightly above the animals.
Thus: the human race descended not through various evolutionary stages from the animals, but evolved from created beings.
The manner in which the Eldest accomplished this act of creation will never be divulged to mankind.
FOOTNOTES FOR COMMENTARY
11) Concluding Summary, pages 260-61.
12) The Darkness that ravaged the world of Light of the Eldest and flowed through their spiritual bodies was of the astral and spiritual form.
13) Concluding Summary, pages 257-68.
14) There is a third way known to God alone.
15) Concluding Summary, pages 297-301, regarding depolarization of Darkness.
16) Concluding Summary, pages 261-63.
17) Concluding Summary, pages 266-67.
18 twice) Concluding Summary, pages 260-63.
19) Ardor’s Account, pages 15-19.
20) Concluding Summary, pages 266-67.
21) Concluding Summary, pages 266-67.
22) When live leaves, flowers or stems are cut and shortly afterwards exposed to drying or similar processes, the counterparts are not separated until the objects or anything made thereof have been destroyed in some way or other. When fresh twigs, shoots, or branches are cut to be planted or grafted, the counterparts are not separated; the connection slackened after cutting is restored with the fresh supply of nourishment.
23) Concluding Summary, page 295.
24) Concluding Summary, pages 267-70.
25) Concluding Summary, page 269.
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