When the incarnated Eldest have died out and God no longer creates human spirits, what becomes of the most primitive human fetuses to which spirits, previously created, are not to be bound?⁶⁸

Multitudes of human spirits who have undergone only one or two lives on Earth are to be found in the first sphere and, in time, God can employ these spirits by binding them to fetuses of the dying races.

Will the number of spirits be finally determined with the death of the last of the Eldest, or is it possible God will create new beings in future?

The number of human spirits will not be increased after the Eldest, presently incarnated, have died out. The number reached at that time will be the ultimate number of human spirits.

It is related (Toward the Light, page 31: 8) that “God walked among them, and He spoke to each one”. Are God and the Youngest of the same bodily stature as humans on Earth, or is this a figure of speech?

The expression should be taken quite literally. God did walk among His children and He spoke to them.

The mystery of the “uncreated” is beyond human comprehension. Does this mean the question “from where comes everything”?—asked again and again by human thought—is unwarranted, since the question exists not for the more highly developed intelligences, nor did it for primal Thought?

As said in Toward the Light, page 164: 4, it is possible one of the Youngest will at some time undertake an earthly mission to attempt to explain the riddle of eternity and the mystery of the “uncreated”. When that might happen cannot be said. It could be in a hundred years, perhaps thousands, for it depends on how soon mankind will be guided by the truths given in Toward the Light.

In His state of “primal Thought”, God was also confronted with the problems of eternal life and the uncreated, and He solved them from the inner knowledge of primal Thought. God’s Servants and His first children are all fully acquainted with the answers to these questions. But as already said, it is at present impossible to clarify this for humans—even the most gifted. Consider also that there is a limit to what the human brain can absorb without disrupting the self.  For this reason it would be impossible to answer such complex questions through the physical brain of our earthly helper, even if it served merely as a “passage” for the thought-messages received from outside spiritual intelligences. And if we cannot impart to our intermediary the slightest understanding of the matter it is futile to give answers that cannot pass the physical brain, because the individual, the medium, who must receive them will be incapable of translating the given thought-answers into words that humans can understand. There is a limit to the serviceability of our medium’s brain.

The only way for humanity to receive the solutions to these riddles is for one of the Youngest in a coming incarnation to undertake the task, endowed by God in such a way that this personage will be able, from inner knowledge and with help from the guardian spirit, to explain these matters to others. Until then, humans must await patiently the solution to the riddle of eternity and the mystery of the “uncreated”.

and Will?

Primal Thought and primal Will can each to some extent be regarded as a conglomerate—a collection of widely differing components. But their cores cannot be defined.

Before primal Thought and primal Will reacted to the radiations of Darkness, with its possibilities for evil (Toward the Light, page 3: 8), the Thought was not conscious of itself. But when Thought and Will simultaneously reached the latent poles of the Light, they awoke—as also described in Toward the Light — to fully conscious and willed activity. In the inactive state, both primal Thought and primal Will contained “complexes” that could be influenced by the radiations from either the Light or Darkness. The Thought thus contained complexes for the good and for the evil—for a good, beautiful, harmonious and bright cosmos, and for an evil, hideous, disharmonious and dark cosmos.

Thus: Throughout eternity primal Thought and primal Will contained complexes that could be called to life through the radiations either of Darkness or of the Light. But the first reaction to the effect of Darkness caused them to drift, infinitely slowly, further and further away from its influence. And under the influence of the ever-increasing power and radiations of the Light, after its union with the one pole of the Light, primal Thought began its long struggle against Darkness, eliminating the complexes that could be influenced by its radiations. In this way, Thought overcame Darkness and in this way victory was fully gained over the evil.

It is stated (Question 57) that primal Will led primal Thought out of and away from Darkness. How should this be understood? Primal Thought and primal Will had by then moved into the Light to unite with its two poles, leading one to assume both were beyond the reach of the radiations of Darkness.

The primordial power called the Light rested as a faintly luminous globe⁶⁹ in the surrounding Darkness. The globe was perfectly circular, and in this globe of Light rested the two latent “cores of the poles”. If one imagines this globe projected as a circle with primal Thought as a tangent at the left, and primal Will as a tangent at the right of the circle’s circumference, a line can be drawn from the Thought through the core of one pole to the center of the circle, and from there through the core of the other pole to the Will. Both cores of the poles in the projected drawing should lie one third of the distance along the bisecting line—the diameter—from the Thought and the Will respectively. When primal Thought and primal Will simultaneously responded to the radiations of the surrounding Darkness, their movement into the Light and toward each other⁷⁰ began. But at the same time the powers of both Light and Darkness awoke slowly to an ever-rising activity. The radiance of both primal forces automatically increased in strength and intensity of energy manifestation each time that Thought and Will moved further into the Light. One should therefore visualize how the Darkness that encompassed the globe of Light would, from time to time, encroach upon the area of this Light-globe like gigantic “tentacles”. These tentacles sent rays of Darkness forth over the Thought and the Will in order to draw them both back and into the Darkness. When Thought and Will each reached the core of their respective poles with which they became united, the poles awoke from their latent state, became vitalized and were transformed from a “polar core” to a male (positive) and a female (negative) pole, respectively. At the union of primal Will with the core of its pole, it acquired so much strength and energy that it was able to repel the radiations of Darkness from the right-hand side of the globe of Light. This primal force thus withdrew its tentacles from the Light and retracted them into itself. But since the Will was still far away from the female pole, it was impossible for it to repel the radiations of Darkness that penetrated the globe of Light from the opposite side of its area. The tentacles and radiations of Darkness thus pursued the Thought on its way in toward the center of the Light and forward toward the Will. And in this way Darkness impeded the self-purification of the Thought. But, sustained by the increasing power of attraction of the ever-nearing pole of the Will, the Thought moved—with longer or shorter pauses⁷¹—continually forward until it had succeeded in fully purifying itself (an accomplishment that must be visualized as having occurred near the center). The poles of Thought and Will then moved simultaneously into the center of the globe of Light—their union was complete, and God arose as a personal Being, as the center of the universe.

Are we, in the opinion of the higher intelligences, justified in asking why we and the world exist? If so, is it conceivable that primal Thought during its struggle against Darkness also questioned the purpose and value of existence?

Primal Thought weighed the opposing possibilities in these questions, seeking to clarify for itself whether a struggle against Darkness was worthwhile in order to achieve eternal life in a sublime and eternal world of Light. It pondered deeply and to the full on the value of eternal life, and when it had considered all the arguments, for and against, it resolved to take up the struggle against Darkness. And from its inner conviction that the goal of eternal life in wisdom, omnipotence, beauty, peace and harmony was truly worth the struggle, it continued to strive against Darkness until it was victorious.

Since the spiritual human being has its origin in God’s own Being, it is natural that human beings should likewise question the purpose and value of existence. The purpose of the existence of the human spirit in a “world of Darkness” is fully explained in Toward the Light. It was because of His fallen children, the Eldest, that God did not create beings of Light on the globe He had chosen—the Earth—as had been His thought and purpose. Toward the Light also explains why God gave human beings—the imperfect creatures of the Eldest—a spark of His own Being, gave them thought and will, clothed thought and will in a spiritual body, and thus gifted the human spirit with eternal life. God did all this to help His beloved fallen children gain victory over the Darkness that they had drawn forth, in their pride and willfulness, from encapsulation in the Light. God did all this in the hope that each human spirit would, by its own thought and will, contribute toward overcoming a part of the Darkness of earthly life and thereby eliminating it. And He gave the human spirit the gift of eternal life that it should have a goal at which to aim, a goal for which to strive, a goal for whose attainment to yearn. But whether this gift is of value to the individual human spirit must each alone decide. Every human spirit is therefore confronted—when mature enough to draw its own conclusions—with the choice: an eternal life in God’s Kingdom, or eternal extinction. The human spirit must then itself decide if eternal life in God’s Kingdom can outweigh the struggle against Darkness, against the temptations and the sin and the evil of Darkness. The decision must be the spirit’s own, whether to continue in numerous earthly lives—interrupted by physical death—to strive against Darkness, to overcome it and to journey victoriously onward to God’s Kingdom, or choose non-existence for eternity. Human spirits during their sojourn in the spheres have again and again been confronted with this choice, and will again and again in future be given the same choice. For the choice is not made once and for all; the possibility always remains open to human spirits—when they have chosen to continue—that after a completed life on Earth they may choose complete extinction. God compels none to continue the journey; each spirit can always decide for itself, therefore, if the cup of suffering has become so full that eternal life in God’s Kingdom can no longer compensate for the suffering and misery of earthly life. But God always extends His help to those spirits who are in doubt regarding this decision, who are weighed down by the burden of their struggle, weighed down by the temptations, the evil, the sin and the suffering of Darkness. He calls forth before them images of the splendor of His Kingdom.⁷⁴ He shows them the life and existence of His first children in the Paternal Home before the great schism between the Eldest and the Youngest began. He explains to them what they will gain by striving through Darkness to the Light, and what they will give up if they cease the struggle. And no human spirit has yet chosen eternal extinction, all preferring to continue their journey until victory over Darkness can be gained.

Can one say it would have been better for God and all His children if primal Darkness had never existed and the cosmos had been entirely a world of Light? Or should one agree with Leibnitz that evil in fact emphasizes the harmony of existence as, say, the shadow sets off the light in a painting? Can it be said that Darkness was necessary so that spiritual beings as a result could attain to a deeper and richer development and their joy be otherwise the greater after a victorious struggle against Darkness?

The inquirer has in fact answered these questions.

If a human being in life on Earth is able to overcome a difficulty, if the individual can ward off the temptations of Darkness, can overcome a vice or the desire to hurt, sadden or ruin a fellow human, then the victory—be it ever so small—will always bring joy to the mind, and this gladness will then become a contributing factor to a richer, deeper and more harmonious emotional life. It should not be necessary to provide any examples, since most people have experienced such feelings of joy or gladness in their everyday life. Most people have also experienced the grief and shame resulting when the evil, the Darkness, in life has gained victory over them. But grief and shame can also contribute to the development of the human personality; for if these feelings are deep and true, the individual will become more mindful, more careful in thought, word and action. And if people later succeed in gaining a victory where they formerly failed or were defeated, then the joy of the victory will be greater and richer. The will for the good and the true grows stronger, the thought and the mind become brighter, the feelings towards others grow friendlier, kindlier and more loving, and individual humans become more understanding, more forgiving of the errors, failures, sufferings and sorrows of their fellow beings.

Therefore: Darkness serves to develop that which is good, true, beautiful, loving and harmonious within the spiritual self. The darker and more painful the background for the victory gained, the purer, the brighter, the more harmonious, the more understanding will be the personality of the individual who gained the victory.

And when all God’s children are gathered together in the Home of the Father, the faint memory of the horror, suffering, evil and grief of their life in Darkness will for eternity be the background, the shadow that brings out the perfect harmony, the peaceful beauty and the joy of everlasting life.

How can God experience everything in the present—the future also (Toward the Light, page 271: 2)—when, because of human free will not even He, as so often said, can know what will happen?

The relevant passage concerns first and foremost the retrospection of the human spirit within its memory upon the struggle out of Darkness and toward the Light. The same passage states also: “But to God it is not retrospection but experience in the present.” It is thus a review of the past and not a preview of the future that is experienced in the present. It is further stated: “. . .for as He carries all time—finite as well as infinite—in His all-embracing Thought, the concept of time does not exist for Him.” Neither in this passage is there any question of a prescience that depends upon God’s knowledge of a progressive series of events. It in fact explains the preceding passage: that the concept of time exists not for God, so that all recollection of the past is for Him experience in the present. Had it been the intent to state that God knew in every detail the events both of the Heavenly and of the earthly future, this would have been stated more explicitly, for example: and just as God can experience the past in the present, so can He also in the present experience what is to come. But no such statement can be made, for it would contradict reality and conflict with the truth. For the free will of all God’s children limits His foreknowledge of all that the future may bring. The expression, “His all-embracing Thought”, thus means that God’s Thought encompasses all that was and all that is, but not that which does not exist, nor does it embrace the events that through the future enter into existence, enter into the present. Because of the free will of His children, God can only deduce the events of the future from those of the present. Yet He carries all time—the finite as well as the infinite—within His Thought; for He has only given the concept of “time” for the use of all created beings. Human free will is thus not a fiction but an absolute reality, as has so often been emphasized from the transcendental world. The questioner must therefore have overlooked: 1) That there is nothing in the relevant passage to indicate that God experiences the future in the present, as one must suppose from the manner in which the Question was formulated; 2) The following passage must presumably also have been overlooked, which explicitly states: “The concepts of time and space are given by God for the use of all created beings.” ⁷⁶ God Himself is thus completely independent of time and space.

God lives in the present with all His children. From their thoughts, their deeds and their conduct He can only see what the near future holds in the earthly sense for the individual, or for nations as a whole. For God cannot know beforehand whether the individual human being will choose for the good or for the evil.⁷⁷ Not until the choice has been made—in each individual case—is God able to deduce the earthly future from the earthly present, and then He plans accordingly. But again and again His plans and determinations are nullified by the free will of humanity. Thus it is, and thus will it continue to be, until human beings have learned to unite their will with the Will of God, have learned to unite their thought with God’s Thought.

Thus: the earthly future is known to God only from the conduct of humans, from their thoughts, their deeds and their choices, because He has given every human being—every human spirit—a free will. God has for a time thus limited His omniscience and thereby limited His prescience, His omnipotence.

Does the spiritual element of Light originating with the Eldest contain only the possibility of thought, of bringing order? Or does it also contain the corresponding possibility of will?

The faint current⁷⁸ of spiritual Light that flowed from the Eldest (during their attempts at creation) into the astral counterparts of their creatures—the shadows—contained not the least suggestion of thought or will. It served only to bind the particles of astral Darkness together, and thereby prevented the dissolution of the corresponding human body, at the same time preventing the astral counterpart from itself dissolving after death of the physical body.

According to Toward the Light ⁷⁹, God united a spark of His own flaming Being with the astral counterparts—the shadows— of the first human beings. Did this spark contain thought and will, and was it conveyed to the shadows through the stream of Light that binds humanity to God? And when, during pregnancy, is a newly-created spirit bound to the fetus?

Each newly-created spirit is also clothed in a plastic substance of Light before it is brought to the Earth to be incarnated. The binding to the fetus⁸¹ takes place during the same period of pregnancy in which all spirits of Light are bound to the human fetus, that is to say, from the beginning of the fourth month to the end of the fifth.

Since God created His children after arising as a personal Being and at a point when His Thought and Will were free of complexes of Darkness, the spark of thought and will that He gave His children—the Eldest, the Youngest, the human beings—would therefore be all Light. How could Darkness then influence these thoughts and wills of Light in any way?

Those portions of thought and will of the Light that God bestowed upon each of His created beings contained from the first beginning absolutely no complexes of Darkness. But to understand why Darkness could yet exert an influence upon them, we must first explain in what form and under which conditions these portions of thought and will were bestowed upon God’s children.

Thus equipped and thus protected, God’s children were created—and for a short time will still be created—for a life of independence and development continued for eternity. And even though there is no limit set to the possibilities for development of God’s children, never will they be able to attain to God’s own fullness of love, His knowledge or His omnipotence, for the portions of thought and will given them can never achieve as firm, harmonious and united a whole as was formed by primal Thought and primal Will when God arose as a personal Being. That the union of the individual thought and will of God’s children can never exhibit the same harmony as can the nature of God and of His Servants is primarily due to the fact that the male dual’s portion of will is greater than his portion of thought, and the other way around for the female dual part. But through a progressive development and by the innate tendency of thought and will to merge with each other, each single individual must reach a point of culmination in which the individual’s thought and will merge to form an entity. When this takes place the individual becomes impervious to the radiations of Darkness. And at the moment of merging of thought and will, the bond between them is eliminated.

The reason, in creating His children, that God gave each a separate portion of thought and will was that the innate properties of absorption, attraction and repulsion of the primal Thought and primal Will which merged in God’s Being, passed at that moment into a latent state—a state of rest. If portions of this firmly merged Thought and Will were bestowed un-separated upon created beings, these portions would therefore remain latent—would be impervious to Darkness. They therefore had to be separated, so that the properties of absorption, attraction and repulsion of each portion of thought and each portion of will could once more awaken to activity.

A life of beauty, of love and of joy was God’s gift to His first children. But so that they should become personalities of independent thought and will the hour had to come when they must be confronted with Darkness. And this had to happen before each individual’s thought and will—through spiritual development— had reached the point of culmination, the moment of merging.

In Toward the Light it is related (page 66) that: “After God’s children through countless eons had lived a life of beauty, splendor and joy in their Father’s Kingdom, He saw that they had advanced far enough in their understanding of the mastery of the will over the thought, and in their understanding of the need to limit the desires of the thought according to the ability of the will to make fruitful the thought and carry it into action, that there was a possibility for them all to emerge victoriously from a confrontation with Darkness. He then decided to set them a difficult task — . . .” Thus God’s children were far advanced in their knowledge of the relationship of thought and will to each other, but the thought and will of each had not yet become united. And when God confronted all His first children with Darkness, some—because of the distinctive character of each single individual—fell prey to its influence while others remained unaffected by this first attempt. In other words, those who fell prey were those who did not recoil from the radiations of the approaching Darkness but instead allowed their thought and will to “absorb” its rays without resistance. Complexes of Darkness were thereby formed in their thought and will, complexes that came into contact with Darkness and thus formed active areas for the degrading, destructive and divisive properties of that primal force.

At the time that God confronted his first children with Darkness, the dual pairs had not yet become perfect reflections of each other’s nature. In other words, each single pair—the male as “will” and the female as “thought”—had not yet become fully balanced. But the moment some of the female duals had succumbed to the thought, inspired by Darkness, that their knowledge entitled them to claim leadership of the as yet uncreated beings of the Light, and were joined by their male duals in this dark thought, the balancing between them was completed. And the moment that God—much later—approached the other children (those who had not succumbed to Darkness) to ask their help in leading the humans, the progeny of His fallen children, and the female dual of the eldest of the Youngest then—through her desire to bring this help—influenced the eldest of the Youngest to step forward to offer his help⁸², the balance between them was attained. When all the other Youngest then joined these two, the same balancing of their nature took place. The balancing of the spiritual nature of these male and female duals—both the Eldest and the Youngest—can never be undone; they are and will for eternity be a reflection of each other’s life of thought and will. And the moment the balancing took place—for both the Youngest and the Eldest—the bond between the dual pairs was dissolved.

Thus, the balancing of the dual nature of God’s first children came about long before the elements of thought and will of each individual had merged into an entity.

When God began to create spiritual beings destined to be united with the human beings—the creatures of the Eldest—He employed the same method by which He had created the Eldest and the Youngest. But since these beings from the outset were to begin their life in a world of Darkness, God had to endow them with a much smaller portion of thought and will than His first children had received. This was done so that excessively large areas should not be exposed to the influence and activity of the radiations of Darkness. However, the given elements of thought and will from the very first were, and still are, nothing but Light.

Thus God sent, and still sends, the newly-created spirit to its first human embodiment as a perfectly “pure” being of the Light, as a true child of His own nature. But these pure spiritual beings are bound to impure⁸³ bodies of Darkness. And since the human body from the hand of its creator is formed and brought to life from a double substance—astral and molecular Darkness—and since the spirit that is bound to the body is connected directly⁸⁴ to both the astral and physical (molecular) brain of this body, the spirit—the self—can be influenced both from the “inside” and the “outside” through the “life-giving cord.”⁸⁵ From within—that is to say, through the astral brain—the psychic brain of the self (the thought and the will) is influenced by the accumulated and summated matter of Light or Darkness automatically retained in the astral brain—the spiritual inheritance. From the outside, in other words through the physical, molecular brain, the self is influenced by the accumulations of Darkness or streams of Light that exist wherever the person happens to be. But so that God’s children of the Light are not left to fend for themselves on their arduous journeys in the human world, the child is accompanied, as so often explained, by a guardian spirit—the conscience of the human beings. With loving care, these guardians watch gently and patiently over their charges and seek in all ways to sustain, guide and correct their faltering, uncertain steps in the earthly world of Darkness. If humans would—as spiritual personalities—from the very beginning and at all times in the various circumstances of life not only listen to but follow the guidance of their conscience, the spirit bound to the human body would return to the home in the spheres, after the ending of each incarnation, as pure in thought, in mind and in will as it was when originally incarnated for the first time. The portions of thought and will possessed by each newly-created spirit, however, are as but faintly glowing embers compared with God’s “blazing” Thought and Will, and rather than heed the promptings of its ever-alert conscience, the spirit allows itself to be influenced by the impulses of Darkness and the fantasies and images of thought coming both from within (from the astral brain) and from without (through the physical brain). By means of the “life-giving cord”, the spirit absorbs in its thought and in its will the inner and the outer Darkness which is then deposited there as complexes of Darkness, and through these complexes the thought and the will of the ego recede from one another—the bond between them is slackened. With the help of these absorbed complexes of Darkness, active areas are also created in the human spirit for the debasing, distorting, divisive and destructive abilities, radiations and forces of Darkness. The will becomes ready to draw the thought toward evil and wicked deeds, and the thought lets itself be drawn in the direction determined by the will.

Should the strength of the thought and of the will of God’s children—during their human existence—never be increased through a direct infusion⁸⁶ of Light from God, the spiritual self—because of repeated incarnations—would soon be completely abandoned to the powers of Darkness. It would succumb to sin, evil and misdeed, for its spiritual armament would be too weak to offer an effective resistance. The spirit bound to the human body therefore receives additional Light from God at each rebirth, and the infusion strengthens the thought and the will. That is, the ability and the desire to offer resistance is awakened. The thought and the will thus become more and more capable of repelling the Darkness coming from both within and from without. Gradually, as the successive incarnations increase this capacity, desire and strength to resist, an active reaction against the Darkness will develop. The will awakens to an active movement toward the Light, and slowly the thought is influenced to follow the direction given by the will, and the purification of the self begins. The absorbed complexes of Darkness are eliminated, as the self gradually overcomes the evil, the sinful in its nature. And through the continually progressing earthly lives the moment eventually arrives when the forward movement of both thought and will toward each other results in a union. As a rule, the incarnation that sees this is the final one for that particular spirit. Once all complexes of Darkness are eliminated, so that thought and will form a solid entity, Darkness will have nothing on which to work its influence. But not all human spirits have succeeded in expiating their karmas in full at the point that the merger of thought and the will in their egos comes about. Then must their karmas be expiated in one, or a few following incarnations, after which Christ finally releases the spirit from any further lives on Earth.

The lives of the human spirits in the glorious worlds of the Light correspond to the lives of the Eldest and the Youngest during their first many millions of years in God’s Kingdom. The duals will come nearer each other’s life in thought, feeling and will. Gradually, the duals attain to a purer and clearer reflection of each other’s nature, while retaining their own individual thought and will, which have become firmly merged through their lives on Earth. And when the perfect balance of the duals has been reached, the bond between them is dissolved—they enter God’s Kingdom, and their Father will then receive His children and bid them welcome out of His deep and His rich paternal love.

At the time that all the Youngest promised their Father to become the pioneers of mankind, the nature of these male and female duals was—as already stated—balanced, but their individual thought and will had not yet merged into an entity. This union therefore had to be attained during their earthly incarnations while they worked for mankind. As humans they were thus to gain knowledge of Darkness, were to learn to struggle against its temptations, against its influence in all aspects of life, in order to conquer it and become perfected personalities. At the same time they were also to lead the human beings forward spiritually and in every way seek to counteract the influence of the Eldest on the earthly, the human situation. A most difficult task! Thus the Youngest were often of a divided nature and unsure in their conduct, which must be attributed to the struggle of their incompletely merged thought and will against the Darkness within the self, as well as that in the earthly environment. Through numerous incarnations they must then dispel—as must the human spirits—all the complexes of Darkness that during their first many earthly lives were formed in their individual thought and will, until the point of culmination when the individual thought and will form a merged entity. Numerous of the Youngest have over time attained to this union of thought and will, but they will continue their incarnations for as long as their Father has need of their help.

When the Eldest succumbed to the onslaughts of Darkness, the nature of the male and female duals—as already stated—also at that point became balanced. But the individual thought and will of these beings, like those of the Youngest, had not merged at that stage of their existence. And the complexes of Darkness that were formed in their thought and will at the fall were continually increased through the subsequently deeper and deeper falls—especially through the arbitrary and unlawful incarnations of the Eldest. Those of the Eldest who returned⁸⁷ to their Father sooner than the others and who had not taken part in the unlawful⁸⁸ incarnations, have regained—under God’s care and protection—their personalities of Light, that had been distorted and destroyed under the influence of Darkness. This purification of the self took place in the habitats that God had provided them, and as the purification and elimination of the absorbed Darkness progressed, the thought and will of these Eldest drew closer, ever closer to each other. And when the complete purification had been attained, their individual thought and will became one.

But those of the Eldest who bear the guilt of unlawful self-incarnations must all—under the Law of Retribution and under the guidance of God—struggle out of Darkness through numerous earthly rebirths to regain thereby their lost personalities of Light. That is, the struggle will continue until the point of culmination when the individual thought and will form a solid entity.

God thus created, and will for a short time

continue to create all His children as duals, the male expressing the primal principle of Will, the female expressing the primal principle of Thought. These duals are mutually connected by a spiritual-ethereal bond⁸⁹ that dissolves the moment the duals exhibit a perfect balance between each other’s lives of thought and will. God gives all His children an individual ability of thought and will at their creation. To the first ones He gave a larger, while to the human spirits He gives a smaller spark of His own firmly and harmoniously merged primal Thought and primal Will. But so that His children can become personal beings of independent and creative thought and with wills of their own, God separates the given portion of the Thought-Will that is found merged in His own Being, so that the gift takes the form of one independent and free portion of thought and one independent and free portion of will. These parts are, however, linked by a spiritual-ethereal bond that acts as a correlating channel. Under the influence of Darkness, and through struggle against Darkness, every one of God’s children must reach a point at which individual thought and will merge and form an entity. At this culmination, the bond between the thought and the will is dissolved and the child emerges as a personality strong in the Light in every way. This personality will then remain impervious to the radiations and manifold powers of Darkness for eternity.

When explanations must be given from the transcendental world of such difficult and important matters as those raised here, it is not always easy—in earthly language—to separate abstractions from realities in a complete and fully understandable manner. The words, expressions and images employed can therefore not always precisely define the reality and truth of the matter to be explained. For example, it is stated that in order for His children not to lose the portions of thought and will given their psychic brain, God bonded these portions one with the other. No one should imagine that the thought, or possibly the will, could therefore disappear in some mysterious way from the psychic brain of the self, for example through elimination by Darkness. Such can never happen! These words are intended to illustrate that in order to help His children and to facilitate the mutual attraction and interchange between the individual thought and will God bound them together, or in other words reinforced their capacity for mutual attraction. But even though human beings can only comprehend this in the abstract, it is nevertheless a reality. The bond between thought and will—as with the bond between the duals—is an absolute reality, seen from the standpoint and with the knowledge of God and His Servants.

The answer to this Question thus cannot come any closer to the reality than attempted here, for behind all apparent abstractions lie absolute realities. But that which should be the main endeavor of human beings—even though they cannot fully understand the explanations given—is to strive toward the goal of becoming personalities of the Light, or in other words, to strive in all the circumstances of life to direct the thought and the will toward the Light, toward truth, love and compassion. They must endeavor in spirit and in truth to be God’s children, to become expressions—albeit as pale reflections—of His pure, loving and exalted Being.

A) Life on Earth and in its spheres appears more burdensome than life in the worlds of Light where, for example, there is no suffering due to separation and death. But a longer succession of incarnations would seem to indicate that those humans now on Earth and in the spheres must be subjected to the often difficult earthly conditions for longer than were the generations previously released from the Earth. Thus, the humans released in the past seem to have had an easier lot than those of the present. How can this be explained?

As sin and atonement will always be properly balanced, it should be obvious that those human spirits who in life on Earth have sinned to a lesser degree also have less to atone for, whereas those who continually oppose the promptings of their conscience during earthly life must clearly have more to atone for than those who only occasionally act against their conscience. Furthermore, it should be remembered that the generations⁹² of the distant past lived under far more difficult conditions than did the later generations. They also endured temptation, grief and suffering, as have all succeeding generations up to the present day. Consequently, neither in this case is there any injustice whatsoever by God.

B) For the same reason the Youngest would seem to live under far more burdensome conditions than any human being, inasmuch as the Youngest are “condemned” to remain bound to the plane of the Earth for millions of years, while many of the human race have long since been transferred to globes of the Light. There appears also in this case to be inequality, not to say injustice.

Neither in this case is there the least injustice.

The questioner refers to the Youngest as “condemned” to remain bound to the plane of the Earth for millions of years! How can the term “condemned” be applied in this case? Who has “condemned” the Youngest to carry out their task? Certainly not God! Is it not clearly explained in Toward the Light⁹³ that the Youngest of their own accord promised their Father to lead humanity to His Home and Kingdom? Is it not understandable that by undertaking this work they had to live their earthly lives under the Law of Retribution, the law under which the development of the human spirit takes place? The Youngest submitted voluntarily to the Law of Retribution, that is to say, that if they transgress against the human beings they are to lead, or if they sin against their Father or against the divine within the self, like all other beings created by God they must of course atone for what they have sinned. Is there any injustice in this? Do not ever forget that we, the Youngest, have promised our Father to help His immature children find the way to their rightful Home; we have promised to ease, in many and various ways, the journeying of our immature earthly brothers and sisters. And we shall continue to be of help to our Father, shall continue to be of help to mankind for as long as our help is needed, for as long as it is necessary—even if this help causes us disappointment and sorrow. But no one has “condemned” us to undertake this work of love and compassion. And if we had been “condemned” to carry it out, what value would our work have for humanity or for ourselves? All our efforts would be worthless! For only the actions that spring from an absolute desire within oneself to support and be of help, only the deeds that spring from the deepest love and compassion can have everlasting value for the helper and those who receive the help.

C) One can also consider those of the Eldest who have never been and never will be incarnated. They also seem to travel an easier road of development than do either the Youngest or the humans. How can it be said that an exact and just balancing of the length and difficulty of the journey has taken place in all these cases?

God would in truth be unjust had he judged alike the more deeply fallen Eldest and those Eldest who heeded⁹⁴ His call and returned from the “ruined kingdom” long, long before the others began to feel grief and repentance over their evil deeds—those who never violated their Father’s Law of Incarnation, who never, that is, took part in the willful incarnations of the others. But God is not unjust! And for this reason those of the Eldest who returned to God when He called, before the arbitrary incarnations began, were not and never will be incarnated. They have long since rendered their account to their Father, their guilt of sin has been forgiven and expunged, since they themselves—but with their Father’s help—had dispelled and overcome the Darkness and sin that had debased their personalities. And so as to atone for their previous evil deeds against humanity, they offered⁹⁵ their Father, voluntarily, to assist in the education of the human spirits in the spheres, and to assist the Youngest by acting as guardian spirits. God has accepted this offer long ago and He has assigned them various tasks within these areas, so that these Eldest have now become helpers of the Youngest.

The length and difficulty of the path of development depends fully upon the individual’s own free choice. But can God be blamed if many of His children choose, spiritually speaking, to make long and arduous detours on the road to His Kingdom? Can God be blamed that His children cast themselves into the chasms and bottomless pits of Darkness? Can He be blamed that they blindly, carelessly, thoughtlessly and—heedless of the voice of conscience—stray over ditches and fences into the clinging mire of impassable marshes? Can God be blamed that His children cast themselves into the maelstroms of earthly life, or seek to clamber over steep rocks and mountains instead of keeping to the paved road of life?⁹⁶ No indeed. None have the right to reproach Him, for in this He is blameless. It must be remembered that He has given each of His children a free will, freedom to do good or to do evil. It is thus self-evident that those who voluntarily—despite the guidance of their conscience⁹⁷—choose the longer road to the Father’s Home, must face a longer and more difficult journey to their destination than those who travel directly toward the goal.

But why always assume that everything given in Toward the Light concerning the acts of God and His laws is based on injustice? It is incomparably easier to understand that work if trust in God’s absolute justice is taken as the basis on which to determine the value of all the information given there. And if everyone should act in this way, there would be no more erroneous “preconceptions” from which everything would be judged and criticized mistakenly. If God’s justice was made the firm, unshakable foundation for the judgment of Toward the Light, it would soon transpire that no human being nor any spiritual being has ever been, or ever will be, confronted with an unjust action or an unjust disposition by God.

 It has been said that material causality and the laws of the conservation of energy and matter would render impossible God’s intervention in earthly life or in the world order in general. It is written in Toward the Light that God has ample means at His disposal. Can this be explained in more detail?

However, concerning material causality and the continuation of energy and matter, humans possess not yet full knowledge of the true reason¹⁰⁰ for cause, effect and continued existence. For the energy of the Light is eternal, whereas the energy of Darkness is transient. And if Darkness—when it streamed in over the globe at the fall of the Eldest—had possessed strength enough to annul completely the laws that God had given for the then existing life of the material Light on Earth, that life would have ceased¹⁰¹ long ago. For only through the eternal energy¹⁰² of the material Light is earthly matter constantly supplied with new energy¹⁰³ as replenishment for the loss of energy suffered. The cause of the continuity and energy of earthly material life must therefore be sought in the law of the eternal energy of the Light. This is one way in which God maintains a connection with, and influence upon, earthly material life and earthly conditions.

But the most important connection is through the energy of spiritual Light, which is also eternal. God can, if He so wishes, intervene by His Thought wherever His help is needed or desired. But everything takes place under the laws of the Light that in many ways intervene, or may intervene, in temporary earthly-material life. Even though human beings will not acknowledge God’s supremacy over all life—be it spiritual, Dark-material or Light-material—His power is still undisputed and everlasting. And not until humans include God and His laws in their considerations will they be able to achieve a clear view of either the world structure or the world order, and not until then will they be able to reach the true core of cause, effect, their interrelation, energy and continued existence. But it must be clear to all that it is impossible from the transcendental world to provide any survey of the laws that for a time bind the earthly-material Darkness to the material Light, and through this to the eternal energy of the Light and to God. Humans must be satisfied with the clear explanations regarding these matters given in Toward the Light, and with this as a basis continue their own searching.

The view has also been presented that the doctrine of a free will would conflict with the theory of energy in the field of physiology. Does this present a problem? if so, how can it be solved?

A great many things on which people base their points of view must be changed before they enter into a true relationship to reality, for not all theories are irrefutable truths.

Some believe God to be so exalted, so “hallowed”, so remote that human beings cannot make contact with Him and thus the concept of “The Father” cannot rightfully apply to Him. Is there an answer to this?

For when God in His relationship to humanity apparently fails to evince justice and lets, for example, “mercy” or “choice” determine if the individual be blessed with eternal life in beauty and joy, or abandoned to Darkness and suffering, then many will clearly become indifferent in their relationship to God, since they can of course do nothing themselves to alter such predeterminations. For the one who—like the potter’s vessel unto honor— is destined to be good, is good, and the one who—like the potter’s vessel unto dishonor—is destined to be evil and wicked, is evil and wicked in life. And why should individuals then seek to better themselves, seek to cleanse themselves of sin and evil? Individuals are and will remain wicked and sinful, because they were created as vessels unto dishonor!! To many, then, “belief” in the atoning death of Christ appears as the only possible means of salvation. Through belief in Christ as “Saviour”, through belief in the “Mystery of the Cross”, through trust in the mercy of God, a door is opened to the Kingdom of Heaven for those who would otherwise be denied admission, a door the faithful can now slip through. Foolish thoughts!—expressions of the timidity of spiritually immature people before God, expressions of their dark conception of His Being, expressions of a “paganistic” way of thought. But those individuals, whose maturity and development greatly exceed that of the spiritually undeveloped, have thus assumed a grave responsibility by leading the immature into these misconceptions and misunderstandings of God and of His nature. From their inner knowledge, from their sense of logic, they must know that the concept of God in the Christian teachings accords not with the truth, accords not with the nature of God. And with the knowledge that many of the more highly developed intelligences possess of the “pagan” religions, they must know that much of Christianity derives from pagan conceptions, must know that the dogmas of Christianity are influenced by the thoughts of pagan times and thus cannot be and indeed are not in accord with the truth. For as long as those who should be the leaders of the immature purge not Christian dogma and give not the spiritually young a true and clear summary of what is proclaimed in Toward the Light about God, about His nature and His relationship to humanity, then for that long will the fear of God, and servility and indifference not change into true love for God, true submission to His care, with trust in His just guidance, or into true yearning for Him and for life in His Kingdom. And not before this happens can the immature achieve a true understanding that all—with God’s help—must purge themselves of sin and Darkness.

When all human beings have in the future advanced far enough to be able to understand some of God’s nature, to comprehend Him as the Father, comprehend His love, care and justice, this will mean not that anyone should attempt to place themselves parallel with God. For even though God does share, in full, all human suffering, sorrows and joys, He is, and will ever be the distant Father of mankind—though near in thought and in prayer—to whose Home and Kingdom the journey's road is long and arduous. Therefore shall none abuse God's exalted Being, neither in thought nor in word, none trail His love, gentleness, compassion and justice in the dust. For though God is paternal, gentle and loving in His nature, He is also firm and authoritative in what He asks. He asks that His children pursue their lives in truth, in peace amongst themselves, and in love and purity—that is to say, purity of thought, of mind and of feeling. He asks that each of His children, by the thought and the will that He has given them, shall cleanse their inner selves of sin, of evil and of the impurities of Darkness. And none therefore have the right to speak of the “small holy flock” nor of the “Communion of Saints”, ¹⁰⁶ nor to consider themselves included in any such designation or concept.

“Hallowed be thy name!” Thus echoes to human beings the ancient prayer Jesus taught his disciples. Jesus himself loved God as his Heavenly Father, yet he clearly felt God’s purity and exaltation over everything pertaining to the Earth, and this feeling was translated in the human thoughts and words of Jesus into the wish that the expression, the name¹⁰⁷ of God should be “hallowed” to human beings. That is to say, no one should take God’s name in vain, and none ever curse or swear in His name. And indeed so it should be—or so it should become—for each and every human being.

Can one rightfully call Toward the Light a religious system like all others, even though it is ideal in every way?

If Toward the Light is compared with all existing religions, one problem will immediately present itself to any truly thoughtful person and be quite incapable of resolution if one will not accept the explanation given in the work of how it came to be produced and brought into the earthly world. This problem is that the entire Message, including its two supplements of questions and answers, and The Doctrine of Atonement and the Shorter Road, is presented in such an exceptionally beautiful, clear, logical and ethically irreproachable form that one must ask how any single human being—even if a genius—could possibly create from within the self a religious system so complete in every respect? This is the point at which most people stop! And since they wish not to trust the explanation of how Toward the Light has come to be produced they prefer to dissociate themselves from it, for they will not probe its truths in depth. And therefore one receives such answers as “it is a religious system like all others”, or “it stems from the subconscious”. This is the easiest, the quickest way—such is the hope of most—in which to dispose of this highly bothersome work. For regarded as just another work by human beings it means nothing to the common populace.

But let us look more closely at the question of Toward the Light compared with existent religions.¹⁰⁸

But Toward the Light came not about in this manner, for this work was compiled from the direct questions of human beings, and these questions were answered directly by purely spiritual intelligences—by discarnate individualities. They have been answered according to the wish of God and by His guidance, and therefore the answers given must correspond with the existing order. And since God is Logos itself, it should be obvious that there must be order, sense, clarity and logic—in short, system—in the answers to the questions that have been asked. But this work is not a religious system like all other religious systems, inasmuch as it has not evolved from generation to generation. In its present form, this work has been presented over a certain number of years by transcendental individualities through the co-operation of an intuitively gifted human being. That which has been given is the truth, the absolute truth that can never be changed. Nor will it ever be changed by the transcendental world, even though there be those who will not accept the work, will not acknowledge that it expresses the truth. Indeed, even if people “invent” new systems which—in their opinion—are more in agreement with their conceptions of the divine, of the religious, of the ethical life and of the world order, it still alters not the existing state. Yet, though Toward the Light and its related works are expressions of eternal truths, God will never by decree compel human beings to acknowledge that which has been given, or to comply with it. For no individual can grasp more than the spiritual self, according to its development, is capable of comprehending. What God does ask is that those of His incarnated emissaries who comprehend this work from their inner knowledge and recognize its truths should also fully acknowledge these truths to the world and share them in full with their fellow beings, so that in this matter they also become pioneers for those whose thoughts are too weak, too immature to recognize that they are confronted with a work presented them as a gift, a gift from God to all His children.

Is it conceivable that one single human being—even the greatest genius—could be so lucid, so logical, so concise in answering all these questions without the least contradiction? Must it not be Divine Thought—Logos itself, God—that is behind that which is given? Could the intelligence of one human being alone penetrate and illuminate the dark mystery of human existence with such clarity? We must ask—we, the individualities from the spiritual world who have answered the questions and produced this disputed work through our answers—could any human being have created all this?

Now it is we who are asking, and human beings themselves must answer!

In discussion of how Toward the Light was produced, it has been often asserted that it stems from the “subconscious”. What is the subconscious and what is the supraconscious?

3) The subconscious, or in other words all that lies below the threshold or borderline of the normal conscious state and is the psychically and astrally retained knowledge and experience accumulated during the individual’s present incarnation, must be divided into two categories: a) the purely “non-conscious”, which is the content of the astral brain, whether this accumulated material is due to inheritance, conscious thought, or to the “thoughtless” recording of what is seen, experienced, heard or read. That which is received during the individual’s earthly life is retained in the astral brain to rest there inertly. It can then be transmitted to and reproduced in the physical brain in response to some outside or internal prompting. Usually it emerges exactly as it had been received and retained, with no additions. The reproduction is completely automatic—without the least involvement of any thought process (Toward the Light, page 274: 5 to page 285: 3). But in advanced age, when the cells and centers of the human brain slacken or harden, the reproduction is often deficient, for then the vibrations of the astral brain, which are quite automatic, cannot awaken and activate the cells of the “lethargic” physical brain, and for this reason the memories emerging from the astral brain either cannot be reproduced at all, or are reproduced with a greater or lesser number of “voids”. The astral brain can at other times function abnormally, so that it continually reproduces matter that should remain dormant. The same sentence, same motto, date, musical notes or poetic stanza, the same melody or image may thus be repeated endlessly and at all hours. This irritating condition is quite abnormal and is caused by a nervous disorder. Since the human astral counterpar—which includes the astral brain—is interwoven with the cells of the physical body, the nervous system of this brain is easily stimulated by the nervous system of the physical brain to produce such meaningless, disturbing and endless repetitions. One should seek to control this disturbing nervous disorder through the power of will—or calm the nervous system by other means.

b) The “psychic subconscious” is all that the self retains in the psychic brain, related to the life and activity of the individual’s normal conscious personality during the present incarnation. All events from earliest childhood, all learning acquired at schools, universities or elsewhere during the spirit’s human existence will rest as well-defined centers in the psychic brain, but all lies within the fiber-area of the life-giving cord. All carefully considered thoughts are likewise retained there, but everything lies dormant unless the individual has a need for this accrued matter in daily life. If the automatically acting astral brain for some reason responds not to an outside stimulus through the physical brain such as sight, hearing and so on, the “thought” must search for the desired subject matter in the psychic brain. The apparently “forgotten” matter can then through a persistent thought process be revived and—through the life-giving cord—move forward into the astral brain where it activates the corresponding memory-centers. From there it passes into the physical brain to the individual’s consciousness, but usually in fragments because the psychic memory-centers become “stunted”¹¹⁵ through lengthy periods of dormancy. Loss of memory is therefore not alone due to a weakening of the physical brain tissue. If one for some reason wishes to come into contact with the matter retained in the psychic brain, a thought process is therefore initiated. The psychic brain areas must be “awakened” from their state of dormancy. Everyone has surely experienced this probing of the memory for details of some past event, this searching for a name, a word, a date or a quotation with which one was familiar in the past. (It is assumed that for some reason the astral retention function is unable to react and respond automatically.) The intense probing apparently fails—the person gives up the search! But suddenly the forgotten matter presents itself—perhaps at a moment when “the thoughts” are far away from that for which they previously searched within the memory. But the reason for this unexpected reappearance of the previously acquired matter that emerges belatedly is due to the fact that the many thought-vibrations—initiated by the probing thoughts—will continue to prod the “dormant” centers in the psychic brain and the corresponding cells or centers in the astral brain, even though the initial thought has left the subject for which it searched. The vibrations will therefore continue their probing until they have caused sufficient activity to awaken the “dormant centers”. But a certain time elapses from this awakening until the matter can be dispatched through the channel—the life-giving cord—to “awaken” the corresponding astral cells to an automatically supportive function before it passes through to the physical brain. The subject matter one has been seeking therefore often emerges at a moment when the physical brain is occupied with other activities. And if it fails to respond immediately, the vibrations will continue to call for attention, that is, they will continue to vibrate until the physical cells respond, and the subject will then appear clearly in that person’s consciousness—but only if the psychic brain-centers have not become disabled.

When science speaks of repressed complexes in the “subconscious”, the word “repressed” already implies that some “effort” has taken place—that the individual has willfully repressed the memory of a vice, of obscene images or actions that once beset the “thoughts”. All this appears to lie dormant below the threshold of the conscious mind. But this is only apparently so. These experiences, events and memories have merely been repressed through an act of will but not eliminated by the thought, so that from time to time they will emerge in the normal conscious mind. The person has not through a serious and penetrating thought process eliminated—that is to say, removed—that which is causing agony or uneasiness of the mind. But this remarkable, and to many so incomprehensible, emergence of the repressed or—in rare cases—truly “forgotten” matter, forgotten by the consciousness of the ego, can also emerge during sleep. Then it comes as veiled, confused dreams but with a core of reality, and these dreams can then at times be clearly recalled upon awakening. But this emergence of repressed complexes—either in dreams or when awake—is always brought about through a process of thought. The thought is disturbed by the “Darkness” radiated from these complexes, it wishes to be rid of these areas of disturbance, it reacts to the uneasiness and calls for attention through the channel to the individual’s astral and physical brain. The vigilant will, however, forces the advancing disturbance back under the threshold of the ordinary consciousness. But at an unguarded moment, when the will is otherwise occupied, the suppressed disturbance breaks through into the channel and advances upon the physical brain. Again the will must force it back into obscurity if the individual does not then seek to analyze the matter, and through intense concentration rid the “thought” of the complexes that radiate from Darkness. Once this has happened, peace of mind returns, the centers of the psychic brain are brought to rest until the ego calls them to life once more by an act of will, or until the spirit—the self—after the death of the body must render its account of the completed life on Earth. But when Darkness—during earthly life—has been cleansed from the once repressed complexes, these will not cause the individual any sorrow, pain or shame when the account must be rendered unto God. For then nothing will remain but a calm introspective recollection.

The supraconscious is thus the knowledge and the experience the spirit has acquired during its numerous incarnations—but which are outside the fiber-area of the life-giving cord.

The subconscious is: a) The astral retentive function that during the formation of the fetus receives and retains the “spiritual inheritance” ¹¹⁶ of the family, and in which all of the individual’s experiences and impressions from the present life on Earth are recorded and preserved. All is reproduced fully automatically to the physical brain, either through external influence or through vibrations—set in motion by the “thought”—from the corresponding areas and centers of the psychic brain, since these vibrations can awaken the astral retentive facility to perform its automatic function; b) The “psychic subconscious” is all that is received and acquired during the individual’s present life on Earth through conscious thought, but which lies dormant in the psychic brain because the individual has no use for it or does not “think” about it. But if anything is suppressed by an act of will, forced back below the threshold of the ordinary consciousness, then areas of “unease” are formed in the psychic brain. All this is called forth through a process of thought and can—likewise through a process of thought—be dispatched through the life-giving cord, both to the astral and to the physical brain.

Since the manner in which Toward the Light was produced has been explained sufficiently often, it is left to human beings themselves to judge if the two categories of the “subconscious” discussed and explained here can have played any part in the production of this work in the earthly world.

How will the future shape itself for humanity when all of the Eldest incarnated by Ardor have at their death been removed from the Earth? Will the line of development interrupted by their willful incarnations now resume, so that the intelligence of the incarnated Youngest will in future stand only a few degrees above that of human beings?

This we cannot fully answer, for our Father has not yet determined the course He will follow in times to come. But we know that our God And Father at present bides His time; He waits to see what attitude the Danish theological and literary leaders will in the near future adopt to Toward the Light and its associated works. And thereafter He will determine the future line of development for humanity.

But there is much to indicate that the earlier line of development interrupted by the arbitrary incarnations of the Eldest must now be continued along the same path. For in recent decades a multitude of God’s emissaries—the incarnated Youngest—have oddly changed their attitude toward the human beings whose spiritual development they were to lead during their life on Earth. Thus, rather than lead others, they allow themselves to be led by the dominant contemporary “mainstreams” in their evaluation of religious sects and of the various forms of art, literature and, in a few instances, science. These “trends” of the present—this contemporary “culture”, or whatever one may choose to call it—are due partly to the decadent leadership of the Eldest, incarnated by Ardor, and partly to advanced, incarnated human spirits who in their earthly existence consider themselves capable of bringing new life to the numerous art forms or religions, and in this way seek to impress upon the “spirit of the times” the individual characteristic and stamp of their personal spiritual level. It should be obvious that if the incarnated Youngest are unable to impart to their fellow beings a full realization that contemporary taste, many forms of contemporary entertainment and the culture of the times, as well as the teachings of the Church, bear the stamp of decadence, their leadership is then of little value. Clearly also, if the leaders fall into step with the common people and take cover behind their broad backs, if the leaders relinquish their leadership to those of spiritual mediocrity, or to those whose intelligence is below average, then God has no use for His emissaries, for then they are of no value for the work that they were to carry out. The leadership of the Youngest should aim far beyond today, far beyond the boundary of contemporary life. Their leadership must spring from their own desire to share with their fellow beings an appreciation for, an understanding of the best, the most beautiful, the noblest and the truest in all spiritual life, in all forms of art, in all science as well as in religion. The aim of their leadership should be for the eternal—never for the present. But when the spiritual courage of these leaders can be cowed and bound by the “spirit of man” and the “spirit of the Eldest”, when their trust in the invisible Father Who sent them on their mission to the Darkness of the Earth is destroyed, when they court public opinion, public acclaim and popularity, they are no longer useful in any way. If therefore the majority of the Youngest continue to bear the stamp of “the spirit of man and the spirit of the Eldest”, it is possible that as the present emissaries return from earthly life, our God and Father will replace them with other emissaries, whose spiritual level, whose intelligence will stand but a few degrees above that of the human spirit. And all humanity must then slowly work its way out of and above the present earthly chaos, until normal conditions and normal relationships have been attained. Infinitely slowly, that is—through numerous generations—human beings must assimilate that already presented through the ages by the geniuses in the various arts and sciences, and that given in technology and invention by those of the Youngest who were, and still are, able to assert themselves as the unique personal beings they truly are. However, we might envisage one area in which the standard would continue to be held high, and that would be in the healing arts.

But if Toward the Light and its supplementary works are accepted as the firm, broad and unshakeable foundation upon which all present and future generations on Earth can meet in good will and understanding, led by God’s present and coming emissaries, it is likely our Father will allow the “human” intelligence of His emissaries to continue standing somewhat or many degrees above that of the human spirit. However, our Father has not yet determined, has not yet spoken to us about this matter. He could choose other ways—ways of which we as yet have no knowledge. No one knows. Only the future can tell!

May we receive more comprehensive and more concrete knowledge of the appearance and personal characteristics of our God and Father than we can imagine from Toward the Light and the First and Second Supplements? And how are we to understand the expression “God’s flaming Being”?

A flaming Being is God! For the ethereal rays of the Light issue from His body and they glorify its radiant beauty. Youthfulness, purity and beauty in their most sublime form are expressions of His personal presence. His countenance bespeaks infinite but sorrowful love. Grief and pain dwell in the depth of His unfathomable look, for He carries the suffering and grief of all creation in His mind. With yearning, with sorrow and with pain, He gazes into the vastness of space. His eye seeks the Earth, He beholds suffering and struggling humanity. His Thought follows the much-missed and so distant beings who are His beloved children. And when He sees that they go in the ways of Darkness, when He hears their quarrels, when He sees their unworthy conduct in mutual intolerance, in hostility, anger and hatred, His eye is veiled with shame and sorrow for the children to whom He gave eternal spiritual life, to whom He gave thought and will, and whose minds He endowed with a spark of the purity, love and beauty of His own Being. But when He also sees that some of His children follow the ways that He has indicated for the journeying of their earthly life, He rejoices profoundly and a loving smile dawns over His sorrowful and solemn countenance.

Humanity! If you knew how your Father grieves over you, if you knew the depth of His agonizing sorrow for you, if you knew the anguish of His mind called forth by your unworthy conduct, by your wicked, ugly and unlawful thoughts and actions, then would you be ashamed! If you knew the horror and revulsion that fill His Being on observing your conduct, when with weapons at hand, with explosive substances and with poisons you war with one another, destroy peoples, realms and nations, corrupting all that is splendid, pure and good both in your own minds and in the minds of others, then would your shame deepen yet more! Then would you grieve over yourselves, then would you turn in thought and in mind toward your distant yet so near Father. Then would you answer Him when He calls. Then would you beseech Him to lead you in the ways and paths that lead to Him, that lead to His Kingdom. Yes, then would you fully show your Father that you love Him, that you are worthy of His love and care. And then would your Father rejoice over you! The anguish, the suffering, the sorrow that now impress His countenance, and oppress His mind would vanish, and from His deep and boundless love He would bless you, He would in spirit and in truth be your Father, God, Protector and Supreme Leader, both in your earthly life and in the worlds of the spheres, indeed, wherever you should walk.

Humanity, give Him your answer!